UCSB LIBRARY X- ft Early Milwaukee Papers from the Archives of the Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee County Published by the Club MILWAUKEE, MCMXVI Prefatory The formal organization of the Old Settlers' Club of Milwau- kee County dates from July 5, 1869. There had been a tentative organization before that time and no fewer than eighty persons possibly more had taken part in it. It possessed a written con- stitution. This appears from the following call which was pub- lished in the newspapers prior to the date set forth above: "Old Settlers' Club. There will be a meeting of the Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee County, at the Court House, on Mon- day, July 5, 1869, at 11 o'clock A. M., for the purpose of electing officers and completing the organization of the club. All who have signed the constitution, and all others who settled in Milwau- kee County previous to January, 1839, and desire to join the club, are requested to be present." To this call were appended fourteen signatures, followed by the words "and sixty-six others." The fourteen were men still well remembered by the older residents of Milwaukee Samuel Brown, Eliphalet Cramer, S. Pettibone, Harrison Ludington, Elisha Starr, J. A. Noonan, D. A. J. Upham, W. A. Prentiss, Fred Wardner, Levi Blossom, Horace Chase, George A. Trayser, Cyrus Hawley and Richard L. Edwards. The Court House in which they met was not the present building, but the historic structure on the same site, described in "McLeod's History of Wiskonsan" as "a large and spacious building of finished workmanship," "built by Mr. Juneau in 1836, at a cost of six thousand dollars, which he gave to the county as a present, with two and a half acres of land." Adjoining it on the east was the old county jail, the scene in 1854 of the Glover rescue, one of the conspicuous incidents illustrating the conflict of sentiment on the subject of slavery which brought on the Civil War. At the meeting in the old Court House Judge Andrew Galbraith Miller presided, and Fenimore Cooper Pomeroy acted as secretary, and the organization of the Old Settlers' Club of Milwaukee County was perfected. Its object, as set forth in the preamble to its constitution, was the reviving of old associations and the renew- 4 EARLY MILWAUKEE ing of the ties of former years. Under the constitution which it adopted any person of good moral character who had settled in Milwaukee County, as organized before January 1st, 1839, might become a member of the club by signing the constitution and pay- ing the initiation fee and the annual dues. Milwaukee County as organized before the 1st of January, 1839, comprised an expanse of territory which by comparison would make European principalities look small. The name was first used to describe a political division in 1834, two years before the erection of the territory of Wisconsin, and when what is now Wisconsin was part of the territory of Michigan. On September 6th of that year the Michigan territorial Legislature passed "an act to establish the Counties of Brown and Iowa, and to lay off the County of Mil- waukee." The County of Milwaukee created by the act extended from the northern boundary of Illinois to about the present north line of Washington County, and west to a line that would include what are now known as Madison and Portage City. Under this constitution the club flourished until 1881, the original organization of old settlers and pioneers, the only associa- tion of Milwaukeeans with the object of preserving the associations, the memories and the traditions of old Milwaukee. In that year it adopted an amendment to its constitution, with the object of making the organization perpetual. The resolution proposing this amendment was as follows: "Resolved, That all male descendants of those who settled in Milwaukee County prior to January 1, 1843, of good moral char- acter, upon attaining the age of 21 years and complying with the conditions of this constitution, shall be eligible to membership upon the recommendation of the executive committee." Nearly coincident with this expansion of the scope of the Old Settlers' Club was the institution of another organization identified with the preservation of old associations per- taining to the settlement of Milwaukee the Early Pioneer Asso- ciation of Milwaukee County. This organization confined its standard of eligibility to male persons who had reached the age of fifty years prior to January 1, 1879, and were of good standing in the community and who had become residents of Milwaukee PREFATORY 5 County previous to January 1, 1844. A large number of the mem- bers of the Old Settlers' Club became members of the Pioneer Asso- ciation. The membership of the Old Settlers' Club was for several years considerably reduced. But the spirit of the Old Settlers' Club was preserved in the Pioneer Association, and the Old Settlers' Club continued to exist. Moreover, a resolution of the Pioneer Association, adopted on January 1, 1880, the date of its organiza- tion, provided that its members should wear the badge of the Old Settlers' Club. The two organizations held their annual banquets together for several years "twin cherries on a single stem." Their objects were identical, the only difference was in respect to the requirements for membership the Pioneers restricted their mem- bership to pioneers, and the time would arrive when an association of pioneers must become extinct. The Old Settlers aimed for per- petuity. They had planned an organization that should last as loi\r as Milwaukee lasts, and that should carry on from generation to generation the traditions and memories which bind old Milwau- keeans together, and stimulate civic pride and incite civic pat- riotism. From 1882 to 1889, inclusive, the annual banquets of the Old Settlers' Club and the Pioneer Association were held jointly, and the names of members of the respective organizations were printed on the menu cards. From the menu card for the banquet of February 22, 1882, it appears that the membership of the Old Settlers' Club had shriveled to fourteen, while the Pioneer Asso- ciation at that time had fifty-two members. The number of living members of each of the clubs whose names were printed on suc- ceeding banquet menu cards were as follows: 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 Old Settlers 19 30 32 38 47 83 82 Pioneers 57 54 54 51 44 33 43 That the life of the Old Settlers' Club at one time seemed to tremble in the balance may be inferred from a newspaper report of the annual meeting of 1887, which states that Peter Van Vech- ten said he hoped the movement threatening to disorganize the Old Settlers' Club would not succeed, and that John A. Dadd said he hoped the term of residence making persons eligible as Old Settlers would be shortened to twenty-five years. "After some discussion," 6 EARLY MILWAUKEE the report states, "a committee consisting of John G. Ogden, W. B. Miller and John A. Dadd was appointed to revise the constitu- tion of the Old Settlers' Club." The incorporation of the Old Settlers' Club was effected on the 19th of September, 1887. The membership of the club has approximated five hundred for a num- ber of years. The rooms of the Old Settlers' Club, which since 1891 have been in the Loan and Trust building, contain an interesting -and valuable collection of books, pictures and relics pertaining to the history of Milwaukee. Numerous additions have been made since the publication of the catalogue compiled by M. A. Boardman in 1895. Very useful for reference are the file of city directories and the collections of scrap books presented by James A. Buck and Peter Van Vechten, Jr. The Van Vechten scrap books are rich in biographical material relating to Milwaukee old settlers, and the information which they contain is made easily accessible by care- fully compiled indexes. The pictures include photographs, paint- ings and prints of old-time Milwaukee buildings and several hun- dred portraits. The relics are of a wide variety, many of them vividly recalling the cruder conditions of living in former days. The club rooms are open on week days, furnishing an agreeable place of resort for members. They are also the scene of the stated monthly meetings and the annual New Year's reception. At the New Year's reception of 1912 a committee, of which Jeremiah Quin was chairman and spokesman, presented a testimonial ad- dress to Frederick Layton, thanking him, in the name of the people of Milwaukee, for the Layton Art Gallery and the Layton Hospital for Incurables, erected and endowed by his generosity. The pro- ceedings at this meeting were recorded by means of the phonograph and are preserved in the archives of the club, so that at some dis- tant time it may be possible for later residents of Milwaukee to hear the voices of old settlers who expressed themselves on that occasion. The annual banquets of the Old Settlers' Club have been given on Washington's Birthday since 1879. They have been held at different times at the Newhall House, the Kirby House, the Pfister Hotel, the Hotel Wisconsin, and the Plankinton House. These banquets have been the occasions of many noteworthy addresses and PREFATORY 7 have left a long train of pleasant memories. Another social fea- ture of yearly occurrence is the annual basket picnic of Old Settlers and their families on the grounds of the National Soldiers' Home. The Old Settlers' Club has been interested in the marking of historic sites by suitable tablets. It contributed to the erection of the memorial log cabin near the site of the old Jacques Vieau resi- dence in Mitchell Park, which is not far from where the old Chi- cago and Green Bay trail crossed the Menomonee river. With the generous assistance of George W. Ogden it was instrumental in procuring the memorial recently erected for Professor I. A. Lap- ham in Lapham Park. Bronze tablets which it has affixed are lo- cated as follows : On the Milwaukee County court house, Jackson street, noting the sites of the old jail and court house; on the Pabst building, marking the site of the first house on the east side of the river, built by Solomon Juneau; on the Uihlein building, East Water street near Michigan, marking the birthplace of the first white child born in Milwaukee ; on the First National Bank build- ing, marking the birthplace of Milwaukee's first white boy. Following is a list of the officers of the Old Settlers' Club for every year since its organization: 1869. President, Horace Chase; vice-presidents, Samuel Brown, George Bowman and Enoch Chase; secretary, Fenimore C. Pom- eroy; treasurer, Clark Shephardson. 1870. President, Samuel Brown; vice-presidents, George Bowman, Enoch Chase and William A. Prentiss; secretary, Fenimore C. Pomeroy; treasurer, Fred Wardner; marshal, James S. Buck. 1871. President, Enoch Chase; vice-presidents, Henry Miller, George Bowman and William A. Prentiss ; secretary, John M. Miller ; treas- urer, Frederick Wardner; marshal, James S. Buck. 1872. President, Andrew G. Miller ; vice-presidents, William A. Pren- tiss, John Crawford and George Abert; secretary, John M. Miller; treasurer, Fred Wardner; marshal, James S. Buck. 8 EARLY MILWAUKEE 1873. President, Andrew G. Miller; vice-presidents, William A. Pren- tiss, John Crawford and George Abert ; secretary, John M. Miller ; treasurer, George Bowman; marshal, James S. Buck. 1874. President, Increase A. Lapham ; vice-presidents, Hiram Haertel, Morgan L. Burdick and Robert Davies ; secretary, John M. Miller ; treasurer, George Bowman ; marshal, James S. Buck. 1875. President, William A. Prentiss; vice-presidents, John Furlong, Giles A. Waite and Abner Kirby ; secretary, John M. Miller ; treas- urer, George J. Rogers; marshal, James S. Buck. 1876. President, Daniel Wells, Jr.; vice-presidents, George Abert, Matthew Keenan and L. H. Lane; secretary, John M. Miller; treasurer, George J. Rogers ; marshal, James S. Buck. 1877. President, Don A. J. Upham; vice-presidents, Morgan L. Bur- dick, Herman Haertel and John Dahlman; secretary, John M. Miller; treasurer, George J. Rogers; marshal, James S. Buck. 1878. President, Morgan L. Burdick; vice-presidents, Rufus Cheney, George Abert, Uriel B. Smith; secretary and treasurer, John M. Miller; marshal, James S. Buck. 1879. President, William P. Merrill; vice-presidents, Rufus Cheney, George Abert and Uriel B. Smith; secretary and treasurer, John M. Miller; marshal, James S. Buck. 1880. President, William A. Prentiss; vice-presidents, John H. Tweedy and William P. Merrill; secretary and treasurer, John M. Miller ; marshal, James S. Buck. PREFATORY 9 1881. President, Daniel W. Fowler; vice-presidents, T. H. Brown, T. H. Smith and George Abert; secretary and treasurer, Charles D. Simonds; marshal, James S. Buck. 1882. President, George H. Chase; vice-president, George A. Abert; secretary and treasurer, Charles D. Simonds; marshal, James S. Buck. 1883. President, Tully H. Smith; vice-presidents, Thomas H. Brown. George A. Abert, M. A. Boardman; secretary and treasurer, C. D. Simonds; marshal, James S. Buck. 1884.* 1885.* 1886.* 1887. President, M. A. Boardman; vice-presidents, J. A. Dadd and Hugo von Broich ; secretary and treasurer, C. D. Simonds; marshal, James S. Buck. 1888. President, John A. Dadd; first vice-president, Hugo von Broich second vice-president, C. A. Place; secretary and treasurer, James M. Pereles. 1889. President, John A. Dadd; vice-presidents, C. A. Place and Hugo von Broich ; secretary and treasurer, James M. Pereles. 1890. President, John A. Dadd; vice-presidents, N. Masson, M. Bod- den; secretary and treasurer, George H. D. Johnson; marshal, W. H. Wallis. *Records missing. 10 EARLY MILWAUKEE 1891. President, Ninian Masson ; first vice-president, John B. Merrill ; second vice-president, John Black; secretary and treasurer, Henry M. Ogden ; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1892. President, Ninian Masson; first vice-president, Peter Van Vechten, Jr.; second vice-president, Daniel W. Fowler; secretary and treasurer, Henry M. Ogden ; marshal, Morillo A. Boardman. 1893. President, Ninian Masson; first vice-president, Peter Van Vechten, Jr., second vice-president, Daniel W. Fowler; secretary and treasurer, Henry M. Ogden; marshal, Morillo A. Boardman. 1894. President, Ninian Masson; first vice-president, David Adler; second vice-president, F. Y. Horning; secretary and treasurer, F. W. Sivyer; marshal, Morillo A. Boardman. 1895. President, Peter Van Vechten, Jr.; first vice-president, D. W. Fowler ; second vice-president, W. M. Brigham ; secretary and treas- urer, Frederick W. Sivyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1896. President, Peter Van Vechten, Jr.; first vice-president, Joshua Stark; second vice-president, W. M. Brigham; secretary and treas- urer, George W. Lee; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1897. President, Joshua Stark; first vice-president, W. M. Brigham; second vice-president, John Black ; secretary and treasurer, George W. Lee; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1898. President, Joshua Stark; first vice-president, W. M. Brigham; second vice-president, John Black; secretary and treasurer, George W. Lee; marshal, M. A. Boardman; historian, Henry W. Bleyer. , PREFATORY 11 1899. President, A. G. Weissert; first vice-president, J. M. Pereles; second vice president, George W. Ogden; secretary and treasurer, A. G. Wright; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Board- man. 1900. President, A. G. Weissert; first vice-president, J. M. Pereles; second vice-president, George W. Ogden; secretary and treasurer, A. G. Wright ; historian, Henry W. Bleyer ; marshal, M. A. Board- man. 1901. President, J. M. Pereles ; first vice-president, George W. Ogden ; second vice-president, Jeremiah Quin; secretary and treasurer, A. G. Wright; historian, Henry W. Bleyer, marshal, M. A. Board- man. 1902. President, J. M. Pereles ; first vice-president, George W. Ogden ; second vice-president, Jeremiah Quin; secretary and treasurer, A. G. Wright ; historian, Henry W. Bleyer ; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1903. President, George W. Ogden; first vice-president, Jeremiah Quin; second vice-president, Gerry W. Hazelton; secretary and treasurer, A. G. Wright; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1904. President, Jeremiah Quin; first vice-president, G. W. Hazel- ton ; second vice-president, E. B. Simpson ; secretary and treasurer, A. G. Wright; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Board- man. 1905. President, Gerry W. Hazelton ; first, vice-president, E. B. Simp- son ; second vice-president, F. W. Sivyer ; secretary and treasurer, A. G. Wright ; historian, Henry AV. Bleyer ; marshal, M. A. Board- man. J 12 EARLY MILWAUKEE 1906. President, Edward B. Simpson; first vice-president, William George Bruce ; second vice-president, George W. Lee ; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal M. A. Boardman. 1907. President, William George Bruce; first vice-president, Julius Wechselberg; second vice-president, John H. Kopmeier; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1908. President, Julius Wechselberg; first vice-president, John H. Kopmeier; second vice-president, James A. Bryden; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1909. President, John H. Kopmeier; first vice-president, James A. Bryden; second vice-president, E. P. Matthews; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young ; historian, Henry W. Bleyer ; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1910. President, James A. Bryden; first vice-president, John G. Gregory ; second vice-president, Fred Scheiber ; secretary and treas- urer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1911. President, John G. Gregory; first vice-president, Fred Scheiber; second vice-president, Frank P. Wilbur; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1912. President, Fred Scheiber ; first vice-president, Frank P. Wilbur ; second vice-president, Simon Kander; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. PREFATORY 13 1913. President, Frank P. Wilbur; first vice-president, Simon Kander ; second vice-president, George W. Lee ; secretary and treas- urer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1914. President, Simon Kander; first vice-president, George W. Lee; second vice-president, F. C. Winkler; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1915. y President, George W. Lee; first vice-president, Lawrence W. Halsey; second vice-president, Charles W. Norris; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. 1916. / President, L. W. Halsey; first vice-president, C. W. Norris; second vice-president, Henry Fink; secretary and treasurer, George W. Young; historian, Henry W. Bleyer; marshal, M. A. Boardman. This book, compiled by a committee of the club appointed for the purpose, presents a selection of papers, bearing upon the history of Milwaukee. The originals of these papers, with many others of similar character, are preserved in the archives of the club. A HENRY W. BLEYER, GEORGE W. YOUNG, GEORGE RICHARDSON, Committee. 14 EAKLY MILWAUKEE Here is appended a memorandum which was handed to the special committee by the late T. J. Pereles: OUR CLUB PRIOR TO INCORPORATION : Several of our older members were persuaded by the old fire marshal and his- torian, the late James S. Buck, to become members of the Old Settlers' Club. The Club at that time was not incorporated, but it was part and parcel of the old Pioneers' Club, which was com- posed of those sturdy Milwaukeeans who did much in building up, and through their own actions, promoting the welfare of the "Cream City of the West." They met annually on Washington's Birthday to join in a dinner and relate their personal experiences of early hardships, privations and the comforts of life, how they built for themselves and their small families a comfortable early home and partook of the rights of citizenship and in the upbuild- ing of this city, so that those who might come after them would enjoy all of the pleasures of what we today call "civic pride." At no time, in the relating of these early hardships, was the important part taken by the wife of the pioneer overlooked to be commented on. At these annual dinners there were invited the members of the Old Settlers' Club, composed of the sons of those pioneers and those early residents who came here later. These meetings were harmonious and most pleasant, and did much to inspire the younger element with a greater desire to help in building up our then small city and making its existence more conspicuous upon our State map. We, of the Old Settlers' Club, would look forward to these gatherings, they became a fixed custom, when, on a certain even- ing in July, 1887, without prior notice or intimation, we were very plainly informed that our presence at the Pioneer meetings would no longer be permitted. The suddenness of this notice, unex- pectedly to those present, was such a surprise that it took us some moments to recover. We immediately retired to Parlor A. of the Plankinton House, and discovered that we had no legal rights and no cause to complain of such peremptory informality. At that gathering there were present Daniel W. Fowler, M. A. Boardman, Charles D. Simonds, George W. Ogden, my brother James M. Pere- les, Dr. John A. Dadd, William B. Miller, Hugo von Broich, John G. Ogden, and your humble self. Two of the members thought PREFATORY 15 consensus of opinion was in favor of a permanent organization, in- corporated under the laws of our State, and one that would live to become a factor in making and preserving the local history of our city. My brother suggested that he be given an opportunity and he would within two weeks secure a membership that would insure life to the organization. We held several conferences or meetings, which to a certain extent, had resolved itself, without intention, into a little debating society, and it was one of the humorous oc- casions when our genial old friend, Dr. Dadd, would propose or make a suggestion to become part of the object of our Club, to immediately hear his neighbor, William B. Miller, express in logical argument his opposition to the same. The Club was incorporated on the 19th of September, 1887, and it was a pleasure to the few of us who met at the first in- formal gathering, to notice that among those desiring membership were many of the members of the then Pioneers' Club. The record of the names, the copy of the Incorporation, and the By-Laws, you will find in the Minute Book of the first Secretary, kept by my brother. Our first President was Dr. John A. Dadd, the pioneer druggist ; our first Vice President was Hugo von Broich, the pioneer photographer and artist; the second Vice President, C. A. Place, who was, I believe, the first paymaster of the old Milwaukee Road ; Secretary and Treasurer, James M. Pereles; and our first Marshal was James S. Buck. The executive committee was composed of John G. Ogden, our present Marshal M. A. Boardman, and Thomas P. Collingbourne, and from that time on, the Club grew not only in numbers but in sociability, and took the front rank as a historical club; and we did more, we invited for many years, the Pioneers Club to join with us on the evening of Washington's Birthday to celebrate that great historical day. Regular monthly meetings were held, and at each occasion, a paper on some early Milwaukee topic, was read by one of the members. The Club, that we have today, is the one that was then incorporated. Of the organizers of the Club, the survivors are our uncle Peter Van Vechten, Jr., George W. Ogden, and myself. We have never had any cause to regret; on the contrary, we have always been proud of our Club, and we still hope that some day in the near future, we may have a home owned by the Club, in which all of the pleasures of companionship and membership may be enjoyed to the fullest extent, and to which many more of the early historical relics can be added. ji j PERELES 16 EARLY MILWAUKEE CONTENTS 1 Prefatory 2 Early Settlers Peter Johnson 3 In the 'Thirties H. C. White 4 Pioneer Land Speculation Silas Chapman 5 Boyhood Memories A. W. Kellogg 6 Girlhood Memories Mrs. M. D. Ellsworth 7 A Popular Street Corner D. W. Fowler 8 Anecdotes of Pioneers Peter Van Vechten 9 Waterfront and Shipping M. A. Boardman 10 A Sailor's Narrative Capt. William Callaway 11 Milwaukee's First Railway James Seville 12 First Locomotive Built in Milwaukee G. Richardson 13 An Up-River Mystery Jeremiah Quin 14 Early Physicians and Druggists John A. Dadd 15 First Small-pox Epidemic Dr. J. B. Selby 16 Milwaukee in the Mexican War H. W. Bleyer 17 Dr. I. A. Lapham W. W. Wight Early Settlers Paper Read by Peter Johnston Sept. 6th, 1897. Henry Legler, in his excellent "Story of the State," gives a par- tial history of some of the early pioneers of Wisconsin from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century. But they were not settlers in the proper sense of the term. They were exploring adventurers and agents and employees of various fur companies of Canada and the United States and were sent by them to trade with the Indians for furs and peltries. And they had no desire or intention of open- ing the country to permanent settlement, or to civilization. In fact it was their intent and aim to keep as far from that as possible, be- cause the fewer the settlers the more Indians and the more furs and better trade and larger profits. By treaty with the Indians at Chicago in 1833 they ceded to the government the title to their lands in the State, excepting some reservations to which they could retire and live more closely and sociably together and where the Great Father at Washington could look after them and care for them until they became extinct or nearly so as at present. It was not till 1834 that lands were surveyed and opened to settlers, and the first land sale was at Mineral Point in 1834. The population of the state was only 4,795. and it was scattered at a few places, the lead mines and trading posts along the rivers and at Green Bay. In June 1835, the first steamboat landed at Milwaukee and from that time we may date the first waves of immigration that during the succeeding quarter of the Century rolled on these .shores. I think it is James Fenimore Cooper, who in a couplet in- troductory to his novel of the Pioneers describes the situation at that time very well: I hear the tread of Pioneers, A mighty Nation yet to be, The first lone waves upon the Shore, Where soon shall roll a human Sea. In 1836 eight hundred and seventy-eight thousand acres of land had been sold to settlers and speculators. But the waves of immi- gration did not assume large proportions till after 1840. At that 18 EAELY MILWAUKEE date the population of the State was only 31,000. In 1846 it was 155,000, in 1850 it was 305,000, in 1855 it was 552,000, and in 1860 it was 776,000. In the early forties the advice of Horace Greeley to "Go West Young Man Go West" began to be heeded. And the tide of immigration to Wisconsin increased from year to year till it assumed vast proportions and the state was being set- tled rapidly with an enterprising and industrious population. I speak first of the foreign immigration. From what countries did it come and who and what were they as a class ? They came from the best and most intelligent nations of Europe. Probably the great- est number were those speaking the German language. Germans, Austrians, Bohemians, Hungarians, Belgians and Hollanders. Scandinavians from Denmark, Sweden and Norway, English, Scotch and Irish from the British Isles. Some from Switzerland and France. And a few from some countries not mentioned. In most of those nations education of the masses is general and very few of the immigrants were without some education in their own language. There were few old people. They were from middle age to younger, married and single, young men and maidens and children. They were intelligent, enterprising and industrious. None were paupers or tramps. They intended to better their fortunes in Wisconsin by honest industry. They were of all trades and pro- ficient farmers, mechanics, lawyers, teachers and preachers, mer- chants and sailors. No better class ever settled a new state. Webster says that an immigrant is one who moves from one country to an- other or from one state to another in the same country. I call the latter domestic immigration. There was a great tide of immigra- tion from the Eastern states during those years. They came largely from New England and the empire state, some from Pennsylvania and from Canada. They were from the best families and blood of those states, descendants of pilgrims and Revolutionary ancestors. They came west for room to expand and grow up with the country. It is of no use to tell you what they did here. Their work speaks for them. There is another class of early settlers who were not immigrants that came here during those years. They were very few in num- ber at first, but they increased to many thousands as the years EARLY SETTLERS 19 rolled on, and I give in illustration of the class the early history of our friend Capt. J. V. Quarles, as told by himself at the banquet of the Old Settlers' Club in February, 1896. As near as I remember he said in part : "I came here in 1843. I was a very small boy and I came alone. I was a stranger and I had no money, and no clothes to mention. A kind family took me and cared for me. They were farmers and I helped on the farm. I did some milking and I raised much provisions with a spoon. They were good to me and sent me to school and educated me to be a lawyer." I hope that others of his class had a different fate. But I don't know. I do know lawyers are very plenty. In 1861 when our Southern brethren attempted to destroy this nation and commenced war against it, no state responded more quickly to the president's call for troops than did Wisconsin, and no better or braver men ever followed the flag than Wisconsin soldiers. And no state lost more men, killed, wounded and by the accidents of war, in proportion to their number than Wisconsin. Her soldiers were nearly all early settlers of native and foreign birth, and their sons who were old enough to go to war. There was no difference in the ranks. All were Americans. In illustration of the loyalty of foreign born citizens to the country, I will relate one instance and to me it is a sad memory and the example is not extreme there were thousands of similar cases. When the war commenced in 1861 I had four brothers, native born Scotchmen and adopted citizens of Wisconsin. Three of them enlisted in the early regiments and one later. Two of them returned when the war ended and two were killed in battle and sleep where they fell in unknown graves in Tennessee and Virginia. Could any men do more for their country ? It is generally supposed that settlers suffered many hardships during early years, but I doubt if they were aware of them to any great extent. It is true they worked hard, but they were able and willing to work and did not count it hardship. They had plenty of good plain food and did not suffer hunger good warm clothing and did not suffer cold. They had few luxuries for the table be- cause they were not to be had and few fine clothes for the same rea- 20 EARLY MILWAUKEE son. But they were contented with what they could get and did not consider it any hardship. Many of them came from large cities and densely populated districts where a struggle for existence was their only prospect in future. But here they had a feeling of free- dom and independence and assurance of future welfare that was new to them, and more than balanced any privation or hardships they might encounter. But they suffered some privations incident to a new country. Markets were few and distant, roads were bad, schools and churches were few and often far away, and in sickness or accidents, medical aid might be hard to get. Farming tools and machinery were crude but no better were in use anywhere. The strong arm of the farmer scattered the seeds, the scythe and grain cradle were mowers and self-binders and the flail and old horse- power thresher prepared the grain for use. To be fashionable did not trouble them very much. Men were fashionable in satinet, jeans or hard times, ladies in alpaca, de- laines or calicos. There were no high hat laws and their heads were level. Boys and girls were not yet masters and misses, and the new woman was not yet invented. The old woman was perfectly satisfactory, and divorce courts were a luxury reserved for the present, generation. They took their pleasure rides on the old buckboard or spring wagons or by Foot and Walker's line in place of bicycle, phaeton or electric car. Money was scarce and hard to get. Gold and silver were at par, but 16 to 1, they had none of it. But an order on the store was just as good and easier to get. In fact they were not aware how much they were suffering and where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise. The early settlers found Wisconsin a wilderness. They made it a cultivated, beautiful and prosperous state. They created state and local governments ; they enacted wise, just and liberal laws ; they founded public schools and the higher institutions of learning ; they built hospitals and asylums for the insane and other unfor- tunates, churches for the good and prisons for the bad. And all that has been added in later years is built on the foundations laid by them, and to them belongs the credit of the state. At the close of the Civil War in 1865 the population of the state was about 900,000. By immigration and natural increase it KAKLY SETTLERS 21 has more than doubled and also doubled in wealth, commerce and production. All the early settlers now living are indeed Old Set- tlers, and a younger generation of men must guide the Ship of State. May they be as wise, prudent and honest as their Fathers were, and guide her in the safe channel of equal rights and justice to all, and all will be well with the State. In the 'Thirties Paper read by C. H. White at Old Settlers' Picnic, Aug. 18, 1898. You may be unable to reconcile my age which is twenty-seven with these reminiscences of the early days, still I was quite a chunk of a boy when I came to Wisconsin in 1836 during John I. Rockwell and S. V. R. Ableman's terms of office as United States Marshal, for I was deputy under each of these officers during the exciting trial of Sherman M. Booth. I had charge of the jury, and I think Booth and myself are the only parties living who figured in that trial. My father, Peter White, Sr., emigrated from Rome, New York, in May 1835 to Green Bay, Wisconsin. He established a store and returned in the fall to spend the winter in Rome. The following May he set sail again with his oldest son your humble servant. That year the ice proved very severe on boats bound for the upper lakes. We lay in sight of Buffalo two weeks, not able to move, on account of being locked in fields of ice, extending as far as the eye could see. The middle of June on Sunday morning, we anchored at the point where now lies the City of Green Bay being the first boat of the season, every inhabitant that was in sight of the Bay or in hearing of church bells was on the dock to receive us. The Indians outnumbered the whites by hundreds. My first visit to Milwaukee was in the summer of 1838. I drove a team and took Andrew J. Vieau and family from Green Bay to Mil- waukee. Vieau was a brother-in-law of Solomon Juneau who lived in a log house situated about where the Marine Bank now stands. All I can recall of Vieau's family is that he had a lumber wagon full of children ! One year later I visited Milwaukee and took refuge in the Cot- tage Inn kept by R. P. Harrison and George Vail, it was located on East Water street. On this occasion I took a load of fresh white- fish for speculation. Left the Bay with a whole ton of fresh shining fish, a brand new sleigh, a span of good horses and plenty of cour- age. IN THE 'THIETIES 23 The snow gradually melted from day to day until I reached Summit. There I ran into a rain storm, I was obliged to hire a wagon of a brother of H. N. Wells, who at that time was one of Milwaukee's noted lawyers. After a drag of 30 miles from Sum- mit to Milwaukee through the rain and mud, I made a desperate effort to sell my fish ; frozen and thawed fish do not present a very inviting or appetizing appearance. After driving from house to house for three hours, and making but one sale, I became thoroughly convinced it was only "fisher- man's luck," and in desperation I drove down to the river, cut a hole in the ice and dumped the load, then started on my return trip. Paid Mr. Wells 10 dollars for the use of his wagon, left my new sleigh and double harness in his care, rented a dilapidated saddle and started for Green Bay with the firm resolve that if Milwaukee folks wanted fish they would, as far as I was concerned, be obliged to come to Green Bay for them. When I reached homo I found it necessary to employ a veterinary surgeon to cure the damage the old saddle was accountable for. The surgeon charged me $15. The horse died within two weeks. The sleigh and harness have never been heard from to this day. Ton of fish $ 60.00 Sleigh $30.00, harness, $25.00 55.00 Use of wagon 10.00 Surgeon 15.00 Dead horse 125.00 Expenses on road 30.00 $295.00 All for the fun of lugging dead fish to this, then, benighted town. My next visit to Milwaukee was when the Hotel, called Mil- waukee House, stood on the summit of the city. I was sent by an uncle, who was a farmer, a hotel keeper and preacher. He lived on the edge of Calumet Prairie, 12 miles north of Fond du Lac. He was an extensive breeder of hogs and sent me with one of his sons to purchase a drove. He had a breed that was called Caseknife or Razorback. They would devour their weight in grain daily and not increase in weight. They would jump a six rail fence or lie down and squeeze between the rail, a space of about three inches. 24 EARLY MILWAUKEE For some reason we started home without purchasing the drove. Some man who was a guest of the Milwaukee House at that time, advised us to try the Indian trail leading to Fond du Lac, he said we would save fifty miles that way. We started, sixteen miles out of the city we passed the last house, we rode until night overtook us and concluded to camp; we were without food for our horses or ourselves ; we gathered brush for the horses and sat by a fire until daylight. During the night we were sure we saw and heard at least a thousand wolves. It was in October, the leaves had filled the trail so it was difficult to trace it, when the morning came, the trail was utterly obliterated. To make the story short, the night of the 3rd day, we found ourselves back al the sixteen mile house out of Milwaukee, nearly famished; during the time we were lost, if it had been possible to have gotten our clutches on one of those wolves, we felt equal to devouring it. We concluded that the "furtherest way round was the nearest way home," and went via Watertown. I took the contract for carrying the mail between Milwaukee and Green Bay that was carried otherwise than on a man's back in a mud wagon. I was allowed six days for making the trip. At that time postage on one letter was 25 cents. The trip is made in as many hours now. Pioneer Land Speculation in Milwaukee Paper by Silas Chapman, Read Before the Old Settlers' Club, Dec. 5, 1893. For some time previous to the year 1836, money, or what is sometimes called money, the bills of banks of issue, was very abundant. Speculation ran rampant, prices of everything went upward, and this speculation culminated in 1836 by platting and throwing on the market lots, not only in cities and villages, but on mountain tops and under water. It mattered not where the real estate was, it became real to the speculator, and his credit, if not his money, was invested in it. It was supposed to be a fact that lots were platted and sold that were then, and are to this day under water. It was nearly true of lots in Milwaukee. As a take off it was gravely announced one morning in a New York paper that two paupers had escaped from a county asylum, and before they could be recaptured, each had made $40,000 by speculating in lots. The land where our city now is had just been surveyed, and was an enticing field for speculation. The place was outside of civilization and only reached by tramp boats on the lake. The land was platted, the plats booked well on the map, and the maps were ready. All the present Seventh, Third and Fifth and parts of the Fourth, Second and Sixth wards were platted, and ready for sale. In all nearly 5,000 lots were in the market. It mattered very little to the original settler or buyer where the great city of the future was to be, if, indeed, he concerned him- self about the future. Only the owners of the south part of the Fifth ward named their plat "Milwaukee Proper" insisting that this was the true place for the city, and some of us uninterested agreed with them. Then began the furious and reckless sale of lots. Sellers were as reckless as buyers, for everybody was a seller, and everybody was a buyer. There was no limit to the prices and expectation of prices. Lots were sold for a given price with a guarantee that within a named period they could be sold at a certain per cent ad- 26 EARLY MILWAUKEE vance. Mr. Juneau is said to have sold lots with such guarantee, and afterwards, according to his ability, honorably redeemed his pledge. Stories have come down to us, the truth concerning which I am glad I do not know, that business men would deny themselves to their customers and in their back room, with their bottle of wine, make themselves famously rich in trading in town lots. Having seen the results of such transactions, should some old settler press me hard, I should acknowledge a belief therein. We can hardly realize it to be true, that while these lots were sold, and warranted titles given no individual owned in his own right one foot of ground, the title was still vested in the United States. At that time the United States recognized no preemption claims. A settler might squat on an 80 acre tract or any other number of acres, build his cabin, and make all his improvements, and yet if he had not actually paid for his land in gold, any other person might pay for the same, oust the settler, and seize the land and improvements, without paying anything for those improvements. On the east side, Solomon Juneau claimed all now the Seventh ward with a narrow strip south of Wisconsin street, Peter Juneau the rest of the Third ward, George Walker and others certain frac- tional lots now the Fifth ward and Byron Kilbourn was the first to perfect his title the Juneaus followed soon after. Walker's title was not settled till 1842, and then by an act of congress, some other claimant having "jumped" upon it. Late in 1836 business circles throughout the country began to fear a financial panic. It could not be averted. 1837 came in with great and extensive failures. There was crowding and rushing to cover. I was then a resident of New York City, saw the swirl in that center of whirlpool and the memory of that excitement will not leave me should I live as long as this Old Settlers' Club, that is, a thousand years. Land speculation came to a sudden close. The supposed values of real estate in Milwaukee all at once disappeared. Owners of lots in Milwaukee were living in eastern towns and cities. They had given value for that which was of no value something for nothing. Land was down nearly to its original acre value lots could not be given away. LAND SPECULATION 27 A carpenter named Thurston, doing business here in 1836, had done some work for and had a claim against a neighbor. The debtor could not pay. Thurston obtained judgment, the claim and costs amounting to $175. The 'debtor having a lot, offered to pass that over to Thurston for satisfaction of judgment. Mr. Juneau was consulted but being in the depths himself, could hardly give a fair judgment. He told Thurston to let the lot alone Milwaukee had gone to the dogs never to come back. Thurston did not take the lot nor anything else. The lot is the one on which the old insurance building now stands. Some few years ago I met Thurston directly in front of that building. We looked at it, but neither of us said a word about it. The recovery of real estate value was very slow. In 1841, four years after the crash, I met a gentleman of Salem, Mass., who said to me : "I have six lots in Milwaukee, my title is good, but there are some taxes still unpaid. If you will take these lots off my hands and save me from further anxiety I will give you a quit claim deed." I declined to relieve him. The lots are on West Water street, south of Grand avenue. One could hardly be in an eastern city, without meeting owners of Milwaukee lots. As late as 1850, thirteen years after the failures, being in Philadelphia, a capitalist who had held on to his invest- ments, wanted to know if he could get 50 per cent of what the lots cost him in 1836. "Doubtful." was my reply. In 1845 I purchased the northwest quarter of block 133, First ward, the block on which was Juneau's home now the property of John Black, for $300. Milwaukee did recover from the madness of 1836. It has since kept its real estate at a fair but not speculative value. What the condition is now and will be for the next ten years, I leave to the essavist who shall read to this club in 1950. Boyhood Memories Paper by A. W. Kellogg Read April 3d, 1889. I was born in the little hamlet of West Goshen in the some- what noted Litchfield County, Connecticut, which lies on the rough back-bone of the state between the broad Connecticut river valley on the east and the narrower Housatonic on the west. Among my early recollections is one of going through the orchard and across the lot back of my father's house without once touching the ground; not on wings to be sure but by stepping and jumping from stone to stone the whole distance. And as I was less than seven years old the stones must have been very thick, the fences already having been built of them. And I recall the remark of an old salt of a sea captain who said after living in the place for awhile, "That he had sailed around the world but had never been so long out of sight of land before !" But yet I have ever kept a warm place in my heart for the good old "land of steady habits," which I once put into these simple rhymes : "Backward, turn backward, oh time in thy flight, "Make me a child again just for to-night." In the last days of October 1836, my Father, Leverett S. Kel- logg, with his family left the dear old state and starting westward, traveling by the fastest conveyances then to be had with one small exception, was just four weeks making the journey. Teams took us and our goods from Goshen to Albany, N. Y., then we took the old strap railroad to its end at Schenectady, then the canal packet to Buffalo, where we shipped our goods by the last schooner for the season bound round the lakes, and ourselves got on board the old steamer Columbus for Detroit. There father bought a team of horses and a lumber wagon and kept up with the stage during the daytime and only got behind by not traveling nights. Of the inci- dents of that long journey I recall two or three distinctly, viz: the long climb of the locks at Lockport, N". Y., and the packet captain's cry of "Low bridge" as we swept under some bridge that nearly touched the deck of the packet ; the first venison steak ever tasted, at Tpsiianti, Mich., which, as it was cooked that morning, was as 29 dry and tasteless as a chip; of the hard climb of the long sand hills as we struck Lake Michigan a little this side of Niles; and of one night's lodging with thirty or more other travelers in a log tavern of two rooms, each about 12x14, where father, mother and the three children occupied the only bed in the house, the landlord's, cut off by a sheet in the corner and given to mother as the only woman and nearly sick, while the rest were lodged in bunks one above another three or four high all around the walls, like the berths in a Canal packet. Father had thought some of stopping in Chicago, but the ground was so low and the mud so deep that we stopped only for a night. And I can see now, the chicken tracks in the mud on the kitchen floor of that old "Lake House," as I have since seen on a wet day the men tracks in the mud on the thronged sidewalks of Chicago, something less than an inch deep. We reached Southport (now Kenosha) about sundown November 26th, and, as the weather had turned suddenly cold that after- noon, were nearly frozen when two miles this side we drove up to the log cabin of my father's brother who had come west the year before. After a day or two Father came on to Milwaukee, but mother and the three children stayed for a month in that one room log-house with a ladder-reached attic, in which there was al- ready a family of husband, wife and five children, and the im- pression remaining in memory is not that of being so greatly crowded, but rather of having had a nice visit. Besides cracking hickory and butter-nuts, one of onr amuse- ments was to go down through the trap door in the floor into the cellar, and, lifting the flat turnips by the roots, to judge by their weight which were solid and which pithy, to bring up the sound ones and scrape them with a table knife in lieu of apples, and I can almost taste now the cool, juicy flavor of those soft, white mouthfuls. Father having found his schooner sent furniture which went by to Chicago and had to be brought back, moved it into some rooms over a store on the river-bank on West Water street opposite what is now the Second Ward bank the only vacant place he could find came for us and the family arrived at Milwaukee the first of January 1837. Of that first winter I recall this incident. 30 EARLY MILWAUKEE One day I came bursting into the sitting-room, heard mother's "hush" and then saw on the bed in the corner a face almost as white as the pillow on which it lay surrounded by an aureole of silver hair, arfd it seemed to me that a saint had come out from one of the pictures of the old masters with the Halo about his head and gone to sleep there. Mother told me he was the presiding elder, the Rev. John Clark, and that he had said after sitting a few minutes, "Sister Kellogg, I have slept or tried to sleep beside a log in the woods for three nights on my way from my last appointment at Green Bay, and your feather-bed looks so tempting I must ask for the privilege of a nap on it even before dinner if you please," and the tired old man slept the restful sleep of the conscience free till long after my dinner was over and I was off to school. His district then covered the whole eastern half of the state, but soon after the old hero went to Texas, where in the scattered cabins and huge camp meetings he wrought a grand work for the Master, until worn out he at the last came back to his old friends in Chicago where feeble, but triumphant and greatly beloved, he waited a few months and then pitched his final camp on the heavenly hills. That winter my brother and I crossed the river on the ice every day to attend Eli Bates' school in the old Courthouse, which stood on the site of the present one, and was the northernmost limit of habitation. The river at that point was nearly or quite twice as wide as now, there being a bayou on the east side with a deep channel and separated from the main river by a marshy point or bar stretching down from Division street covered with rushes and wild rice. The east bank was steep and high, except for a depression near where Oneida street now is, which made it practicable for us to climb. At the foot of this flowed a fine spring whence we used to get our drinking 'water across the ice in winter and by use of a canoe in summer. It was a general resort for good water and long afterward furnished the water for the public pump in Market Square. In this valley-like situation, close by the bluff bank, was the one ball-alley bowling alley these politer days of the town. And between it and Wiscon- sin street, where the Ferry landed us in summer, was a very high bluff a good deal higher than the top of the Kirby House which was so steep as to be almost impossible for even boys to climb. Mr. BOYHOOD MEMORIES 31 Bates, the school teacher, was also keeper of the Lighthouse, a round brick tower which stood on the bluff at the foot of Wisconsin street, which bluff was then as high there as at any other point on the lake shore. Mr. Bates was a tall, large-framed man with great dignity of manner, but with one cork leg which gave to his walk a peculiar swinging hitch, and I can see now Gal. Miller Judge Miller's oldest son with the true American boy's want of reverence, fol- lowing close behind him into school one day and imitating the motion to perfection greatly to the amusement of the crowd. Mr. Bates was a type of the old-fashioned pedagogue, dignified, severe, respected, who understood thoroughly the branches he was ex- pected to teach, chiefly the old Yankee's three R's. Reading Riting and Rithmetic but he lacked the enthusiasm in his work which would inspire in his scholars the eager desire to push into the realms beyond. He loved his pipe and a quiet game of cards and his lighthouse home was therefore a frequent resort for some of the older boys and young men, which some parents, mine among them, were disposed to warn against. He afterward lost his lighthouse home, probably with the change of administration, in 1840, gave up his school and went to Chicago as a clerk in Chas. Mears' Lumber Yard and Office. After two or three years of faithful work at some $30 or $40 a month, a neighbor offered him an advance of $10 a month, and when he told Mr. Mears about it that gentleman replied "I am sorry to have you go but I can't afford to pay any more, but I'll tell you what I'll do I'll give you an interest in the business if you'll stay." And that interest resulted for Mr. Bates in a large for- tune, $30,000 of which was bequeathed to erect the beautiful bronze statute of Abraham Lincoln by St. Gaudens which was set up in Lincoln park a year or so ago. That next summer we used to make frequent parties of small boys to the tamarack swamp, which stretched from Wells street to Chestnut, just under the bluff, to gather gum and wintergreen. And we had to be careful to keep on the bogs or roots of trees to pre- vent from getting into the water and mire. And I remember that just east of the swamp our cow got mired one afternoon and nearly died before she was found, the next day, and by the help of neigh- bors, with planks, was lifted out of the mire and sand. That re- 32 EARLY MILWAUKEE minds me that father kept two cows, each having a different toned bell, and we boys used to have a good deal of travel and trouble to find them, sometimes among the brush of Chestnut street or Third street hills, and once when they had strayed beyond the second gulley on what is now Grand avenue at Thirteenth street, they were out over night and not found till the next day, as we could not believe they had gone so far away. That summer a fever smote my darling three year old sister, the pride and joy of our home and the sunshine of the neighbor- hood, and after two weeks of suffering (it seemed almost as much from the medicine as from the disease) her freed spirit took wing and soared away, leaving only the smile-crowned clay in the desolate home. As there was yet no regular cemetery we laid her to rest under the great oaks on the hillside beyond what was after- ward Cicero Comstock's home on Galena street for so long. Among my earlier recollections is one of seeing father sweep out the shavings from his carpenter shop Saturday nights and putting boards on nail kegs across the room, preparing it for the Methodist services for Sunday. That shop stood on posts set in the water on the southeast corner of East Water and Huron streets, and was reached by a plank from the sidewalk. From that point down to the ferry for Walker's Point ran a narrow roadway, and I have skated over the whole marsh from that point south to the river and east to the lake, though the marsh was generally too thickly covered with rushes and rice for skating. But sometimes a storm would drive the water in from the lake and cover it, which afterwards freezing, would make glare ice for the boys. That shop was afterwards converted into a school house for week days and a Methodist meeting house for Sundays, their first regular meeting place. In the fall of 1837 the great panic swept like a prairie fire over the whole country and was specially severe in the new settlements of the west, bankrupting nearly the whole community. All the money in circulation was of the wildcat or reddog variety and became entirely worthless. My father had contracts for several stores and other buildings nearly completed, on which he had paid out all his own means and gone into debt besides for labor and materials and, in the general BOYHOOD MEMORIES 33 ruin, he was left largely involved. Too conscientious to take the benefit of the bankrupt law which Congress hastened to pass to relieve the general distress, he struggled on in debt for years, often praying that God would let him live long enough to see the last debt paid ; which prayer was granted, he having taken up the last note (for a debt which by the neglect of his lawyer he felt that he had had to pay twice) the summer before he died in 1854. One man for whom he built a store and house on East Water street, though able, refused to pay, and when suit was brought pleaded the "baby act," proving that he was under age and so es- caped payment. The winter of 1837 and 8 was known as the hard winter all through this section, when many families considered themselves fortunate in getting enough potatoes and salt to maintain life, and this was the chief food for the community. Our family was more fortunate in having a merchant friend, Mr. Vinton, who had two dry goods boxes, the one filled with buck- wheat and the other with shelled corn, to which he allowed us two brothers access. And taking a hand sled and a tin pail, we would bring home a large pail of buckwheat, grind it in a coffee mill, sift in a hand sieve and make pancakes, varied with corn treated in the same way, and made into "johnny cake." And father having secured a firkin of butter in the fall, we were regarded the specially favored family as living like fighting cocks. It was that same winter that father, one bitter cold day, put a dry goods box on a hand sled and went after some potatoes on the ice, away up the Menomonee river, somewhere. Perhaps he got more than he ex- pected, at any rate, overtaken by a driving snow storm on the way home, his sled stuck fast and he was obliged to leave it and come home for help. Not daring to leave it till morning for fear of them freezing, tired as he was, he took a lantern and the two boys and went back and, after a great effort, succeeded in getting the box of potatoes home about midnight before a bitter cold morning. The same winter a farmer from near Southport brought in some freshly made butter, in which luxury Byron Kilbourn indulged himself at the cost of 75 cents a pound, an unheard of price in those days. 'Twas either this or the next winter that we brothers went to school in Kilbourntown, just north of Chestnut street, on Third, taught 34 EARLY MILWAUKEE by a man named West. The older boys annoyed him greatly by going skating and coming in late after recess. He had forbidden it and threatened punishment. Bill Smith, a youth of 18 or 19, and much larger than the master, persisted in disobedience and having come in late one afternoon the master waited till nearly time for school to close and then called Bill up and told him to take off his coat. He reluctantly obeyed, but when the master took a rawhide from his desk Bill caught up a big iron fire shovel by the stove and defied him. The teacher took a long hickory club from his desk which was so much handier a weapon that Bill offered to put down the shovel if he would put away the club. But as the teacher struck him with the rawhide, Bill clinched him, and they had a fearful tussle, rolling over and over on the floor amid blows and kicks and bites, during which the teacher had two of his front teeth knocked out. But at the last the teacher came out on top, and then reaching for his rawhide, stood up and as Bill lay on his back on the floor (turning up his feet and turning round as the master walked round him) gave him a most severe lashing. One of his blows was so hard as to cut Bill's cotton shirt-sleeve nearly the whole way round his arm as clean as though cut with scissors. But Bill was subdued, promised to keep the rules and from that time there was no more trouble from that kind of disobedience. In the spring Mr. West gave up the school and we went back to the East Side for education. Mr. West now lives at Appleton, where he owns a nice property on the south side of the river. Bill went to the pineries and I lost sight of him. When we first came to Milwaukee the high-toned hotel of the town was the American House, which covered nearly the whole tri- angular block where the Second Ward bank stands (not to be con- founded with the other American once owned by J. L. Bean and afterwards kept so long by the Kanes, and which stood on part of the Plankinton House site). This old American had for its rival Vail's Cottage Inn next to Juneau's house on East Water street, about the middle of the Mitchell Bank block. Both were eclipsed later by the Milwaukee house, which stood on the hill, which was much higher than now, and somewhat back from the street where the Library block stands next the postoffice. But to come back to the old American. The panic knocked the BOYHOOD MEMORIES 35 life out of it, perhaps because it was too far from business and it stood empty for a long time, except as some few of its rooms were rented to families for housekeeping. I remember a family of Gra- hams from auld Scotia once occupied the north end which had been the kitchen, and as we then lived opposite on Third street, I had to pass it several times a day on the way to school or town. And it impresses me now that I never passed it morning, noon or night without hearing old man Graham's fiddle. He played well, but never anything but sacred music psalm tunes, the boys called them and though the young bloods tried to get him to play for their dances, which were much more common then than now, he resolutely refused. Among the several boys and girls in the lean old fellow's family I most distinctly recall a big strapping young man named Joe, from this simple incident. One Saturday afternoon for school kept a half day Saturday then a lot of us boys were having a grand game of pom-pom-pullaway on skates on the marsh which began at Spring street and the river, reached back to Third and Fourth streets, and stretched away down past the Menomonee to the high ground on Walker's Point. I was chasing Joe and pressing him hard when he turned for the river, but to reach it he had to cross a sort of higher ridge in the marsh on which was an upper layer of ice from beneath which the water had sunk away, and as he struck that he broke through and fell flat on his face and I tumbled on top of him, protected by his huge frame from the shallow water below in which he was about half submerged. He had to leave the game and go home for some dry clothes, while I got off with the wetting of only one arm to the elbow. With one more suggestion I will close. I am often asked "how it is possible that coming here at so early a day your father did not get hold of some real estate the rise of which would have made you a fortune." There are many answers and among them these : When Juneau moved his home from the Mitchell bank corner where we boys often had great sport watching and teasing two tame bears that he kept in his front yard to the corner now occupied by Mayor Black's residence, he was anxious to have our family for neighbors as mother and Mrs. Juneau had become good friends; and he offered to sell father either one or two lots I am not sure 36 EAKLY MILWAUKEE which on the opposite corner for $50 and let him take his own time for payment. But mother, after going up to look at the place, concluded that it was so far up in the woods, out of the way, that she wouldn't take the lots for a gift and be compelled to live on them. Another answer is, that hampered by the debts resulting from the panic, he was like the man in Chicago a few years ago, who was telling a friend that he was once offered the lot where the Sherman house stands in exchange for a pair of boots.