HISTORY OF REEDSBURG AND THE UPPER BARABOO VALLEY
PART 1
Before The Day of Ox and Plow
If you could have climbed to the top of Pine Rock, or any other point of great altitude in the northern part of Sauk County, Wisconsin, during the summer of 1838, more than ninety years ago, you could have gazed out across a breadth of unbroken forest: not unbroken, but broken-broken by the Baraboo River in the distance, as it wends its way from the north, and gushes on toward the southeast, on, even to the Wisconsin and Mississippi, nay, even to the sea. But the forest, it still was in a primeval state.
It is a magnificent view that we get today, gazing south from Pine Rock, which is centrally situated in the town of Winfield, perhaps a quarter of a mile south of the St. Patrick's Catholic Church. Far away stretches the valley, the beautiful Baraboo Valley. Reedsburg is visible in the distance, resting on the banks of the Baraboo. There can be seen but little timber: The Baraboo does not break a great forest, but a vast stretch of valley and field. The breach is decided. For along the banks of the Baraboo still stand great and seasoned trees.
But to go back to the day, before the ox and the plow: to the day, when the presence of white men gave alarm to the Indians then dwelling in peace in this fertile, timbered region. Surveying the valley, ninety years ago, you might have seen smoke arising from an ancient Indian village located on land now owned by Mr. H. L. Maxham. This for ages had been a Winnebago rendevous and the settlers who were to come to Reedsburg were to note its fall as their own village grew.
Directing your gaze to the southeast, the following year, you might have seen a column of smoke arising above the trees, somewhere in Excelsior. This would be from the mouth of a stone chimney. It is now the summer of 1839. A cabin has been built. Captain Joseph E. Finley, an officer of the War of 1812, has come hither from the East, has broken land, has startled the indians in their village, and they exclaim:
He come! He come! The white man, with his oxen to break the sod, his axe to cut our forests!
But they did not know that the day of Indian supremacy in the Baraboo Valley was at an end. Leaving Captain Finley to enjoy the comforts of his fire, let us turn to the territory nearer Reedsburg, then, and learn of the first settlement in the town.
The Copper Mine on Copper Creek
Copper! That was the magic word in the remote days of the early 1840s. Traces of that medal, found in section 1, town of Reedsburg, in the Autumn of 1844, were directly responsible for the attraction of the first men to the territory now known as the town of Reedsburg. Don Carlos Barry, accompanied by a man named Henry Perry, had come in search of a suitable lumbering location with the Big Creek region as his destination, but, upon discovering what they supposed was a copper mine, they turned their attention to that. A claim was immediately staked and Mr. Perry left in charge of it, while Barry returned to Baraboo, his home. The following year he came, bringing two miners. He found the claim, built a house, and moved his family into it. But sometime during the winter Mr. Perry had died, and Barry was alone in his rights to the claim.
Although James W. Babb settled in Babb's Prairie prior to Don Carlos Barry's return in the spring of 1845, the latter, because of having staked his claim in 1844, the first one in Reedsburg township, may be called the earliest settler of the town. An attempt will not be made to give the ancestry of the settlers in general, but there is a queer coincidence related about Barry's people that merits mention.
John and Cynthia Rollson, Barry's maternal grandparents, were married in an eastern state. Shortly afterward, Rollson enlisted as a soldier in the Turkish War. He participated in the siege of Tripoli under Commodore Bainbridge, and was there taken prisoner, but was exchanged. Upon his return advice was received that his wife had passed away, so he duly married his second wife by whom he had three children. Then she died. Meanwhile, informed that he was dead, his first wife married Thomas Hill, 1807. By her second marriage she also had three children, sons, and her husband died. By 1819, both Mr. and Mrs. Rollson had lost their second mates. In that year Rollson, with a son by his second wife, made a trip to Colechester where he had married and lived with his first wife, then the Widow Hill. There he found one of his children by his first marriage, a daughter, grown up and the happy wife of John Barry. Don Carlos Barry was then a small boy. He was called Carl. His mother dispatched him in haste to inform her sister who lived nearby that her father had returned. It so happened that the Widow Hill was visiting with this sister, but she was unable to make out who had come, by what Carl had said, and went with much curiosity to see. Each had supposed the other dead; each had married a second time; and the second partner of each was dead. Don Carlos witnessed this singular reunion of his grandparents. In a short time, they were reunited and-lived happily ever after!
Mr. Rollson died some years later and Mrs. Rollson came to live with her granddaughter, Mrs T. Shepard, on Copper Creek, in Reedsburg township, where she died, in 1856. At the time of her death, Don Carlos had a married daughter (Mrs. Munger), who had a son Adelbert Munger, and she was therefore a great-great-grandmother. For some years prior to her death, she was blind, and saw her great-great-grandson only by the touch of her fingers and the sound of his voice.
The paternal side of Don Carlos Barry's ancestry likewise is noteworthy. Patrick Barry, the grandfather, was an Irishman and came to America when quite young. In 1774 he married Lucretia Westover, and lived with her about a year, in Sheffield, Mass., teaching school. While residing there he was mistrusted by the people who thought him a British spy. He tried to induce his wife to go to England and when she refused he suddenly left and was never heard from. A short ime later his son, John Barry, was born. Seven years after his departure his wife obtained a divorce and married again, Dubartius Willard. John Barry grew to manhood and married Hannah Rollson, as has been stated. They were the parents of Mrs. Shepard and Don Carlos Barry.
In company with his father's half-brothers, Edward and George Willard, Don Carlos came, in the spring of 1844, to Baraboo where they erected the upper mill. It was to find a location to get logs for this mill that in 1845 had eventually landed Don Carlos and his family on his copper claim in Reedsburg. During that summer he worked the copper mine, taking out two tons of ore which had to be drawn to Mineral Point to market. Finally the mine was abandoned and Barry moved his family to Iowa where his later years were spent.
His sister and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Shepard, who have already been mentioned, came in the winter of 1847. Their daughter Josephine, born January 14, 1848, was the first white child born in Reedsburg township. A few weeks later occurred the second birth in the town, twin girls, Agnes and Alice, to Mr. and Mrs. Barry. With this incident we dismiss them from our narrative.
James W. Babb
Foremost in the vanguard of early pioneers comes this gentleman. If Barry can claim the distinction of having been the earliest pioneer, then Mr. Babb will rest content with the honor of having been the First Permanent Settler, arriving in May, 1845, and the first man who tilled the soil in the town of Reedsburg.
In undertaking to tell the story of Mr. Babb's we are aware of a little question of date. But the fact that he did come and that he was first is more important than the exact date. In 1875 Mrs. Bella French wrote for the American Sketch Book Company a history of the town. No doubt she spent much time looking up the history and conversing with the early settlers still living at that time, so in every instance where questions arise we will refer to her book for authority.
James W. Babb was born near Winchester, Frederick County, Va., September 26, 1789. In 1810 the family moved to Ohio. A year or two later James W., a young man of some 22 years, returned to Virginia, where he married Rebecca Scarrf. He then returned to Ohio where he resided until 1845. That spring he had become so embarrassed financially that he determined to sell out and seek a home in the unsettled regions of the upper Mississippi valley. "Accordingly", says the Sauk County History of 1880, "in April 1845, he started for Wisconsin Territory. The journey was made with a horse team across the states of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois and after a short stop at the Kilpatrick house (they were his relatives) the party pushed on to this place". Mr Babb was accompanied by his son John.
N. V. Chandler, editor of the Free Press at the time of Mr. Babb's death, published Mr. Babb's life story, 1875:
The story: Having arrived at Baraboo, then a mere hamlet, the party was augmented by several persons, among others by a Mr. Clark, who knew the way. They probably came through the Narrows Creek Gap, as the first view they obtained of the prairie was from the bluff back of the Dixon place, on the 12th of May (1845)--just as nearly thirty years as may be from the day of his death (May 14, 1875). Mr. Babb was then upward of fifty-five years of age, in the very prime of his manhood, of strong physical frame, robust health, and iron will, and the difficulties and hardships of such an undertaking as he contemplated, and which would be sufficient to appeal one of lesser courage and powers of endurance, had no terrors for him.
Sticking his claim stake, he proceeded at once to improve, employing parties upon Sauk Prairie to come up and break up seventy acres of land upon a portion of which he raised, that same season, buckwheat, potatoes, etc. He built a double log house after the southern style, two stories in height, consisting of two buildings, sixteen feet square, separated below by an open space twelve feet wide, but the upper story extending the whole length forty-four feet. The building faced the south. Upon the north side the alley between the buildings was extended twelve feet and closed at the north end, making a room twelve by twenty-eight, one story at the north high.The hole was covered with shingles, obtained from the pine grove, which used to stand a few miles this side of Wonowoc, and where there were already hearty lumbermen engaged in converting the timber into lumber and shingles. To raise this house, the logs having been prepared by Mr. Babb and son and perhaps some other persons, it was thought to utilize the labor of the friendly Indians; but after getting the building up some distance Mr. Babb became afraid that the reckless way they handled the heavy timbers would result in serious injury to them, procured help from Baraboo and Sauk, respectively sixteen and twenty-eight miles; and thus the building was raised. This was the first dwelling raised in Reedsburg township. That same summer (1845) he went to Baraboo, purchased lumber, built a flatboat, loaded it with provisions and other useful articles and poled it up the river to this place. The boat was afterwards used as a ferryboat for teams at this point when the water was too high to be forded.
Some time in December the Babbs returned to Ohio where they remained during the winter. Early in the spring of 1846, accompanied by his son John and John's wife and Strother, another son, and Washington Gray, he started again for Wisconsin, bringing some household goods, and a set of blacksmith tools, which Strother knew how to use. They arrived here in time to get in a crop that year. After harvest Mr. Babb journeyed again to Ohio, this time to get his family. He was somewhat hurried in his preparations for moving by the intelligence that the land sale in this district would take place on the first of December. On October 30 he started with his family, consisting of his wife, his son Philip, his daughter Betsy and her husband Stern Baker, bringing the remainder of his worldly goods, cattle, etc. The month of November was drawing to a close when the party reached Whitewater. Mr. Babb there left them, proceeding on to Mineral Point to enter his land, which he did, entering nine hundred and sixty acres, all in one body. Don Carlos Barry had gone thither about that time to enter his land and the two men accompanied each other home. Meanwhile, after a few days delay caused by cold, wet weather, the immigrant party journeyed north, arriving at Portage, at that time known as Fort Winnebago, on the 28th of November, where they found considerable anchoring ice and a high wind prevailing. They were obliged to camp there for eight days before the ferryman could be prevailed upon to pole them across. While encamped they were joined by Mr. Babb and Mr. Barry. They reached the Babb house on the prairie on the 8th of December, 1846.
Wrote Mrs. French: The Babbs immediately formed a friendly intercourse with the Indians and divided the family sustenance with them as though they had been members of it. If there was but one pound of flour or bacon in the cabin the Indians got half of it, did they become hungry. The affection of the natives for this family was truly remarkable. They never stole from Mr. Babb or his children as they did from other early settlers; but this need not be a subject of wonder when we remember that they had anything which they wanted for the asking. Nor was his generosity restricted to the red men. He gave liberally to white men. Neither was his bounty stingily bestowed. He would let out his land to a poor tenant, help him build a house, and give him seed for planting; at harvest he would help him cut the grain, and in the end he would refuse to take his own share because the poor fellow was having a hard time and needed it all. He died on May 14, 1875, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. He was buried, according to his wishes, without religious ceremony, on his own premises, by the side of his wife who preceeded him to her reward seventeen years, or in 1858.
The privations endured by these early settlers must have been great, continues Mrs. French.They often lived for weeks on cakes made of grated corn, for a time went as far as Whitewater to get wheat ground, and finally did their own grinding on a handmill, before any gristmills were erected in this part of the country. Groceries they never had-they did not want them and had no use for them, so they said. Mrs. Stern Baker claimed that the water drained carefully from the sediment is equal to the best of soda. There were times, too, when they had no bread; potatoes and salt, and sometimes with the salt lacking, being their entire food. Game and fruits, however, grew in abundance. But the season of fruit was short, then very few of the settlers were experts with the rifle, and consequently they were not always supplied with meat. As far as the Babbs were concerned, the Indians came to their assistance by dividing the spoils of the chase, thus returning kindness for kindness. Other settlers were not so favored by the Indians.
David C. Reed
At the point where the city of Reedsburg now lifts its many lofty church spires, its flagtop schoolhouse belfries, and runs its miles of brick pavement, where it spans the river with a wide, pillar-railed, concrete bridge, here, in those early days when the site was but a black alder swamp, the dauntless pioneers saw a place to build a city. Mr. Babb soon ascertained that a magnificent water power could be obtained, and looked upon the section with a desire to possess it. He did not have money enough to enable him to invest in the enterprise at the time, but he hoped at some future day to lay claim to it.
Fate decreed otherwise. Before that day arrived some individual from Walworth County not only made the discovery of water-power, but also the existence of iron, not a great distance from it (the mines of Ironton). Unable to make use of the discovery at the time himself he returned to Walworth County and told of his discovery to David C. Reed, who was then living at that point. Then death cut down the discoverer of iron, even as it did Harry Perry, discoverer of the copper, and left Reed, as Don Carlos Berry had been left, to develop the discovery. This was in the autumn of 1846
In the spring of 1847 Mr. Reed came hither, leaving his family behind. He was accompanied by a Mr. Powell. The latter is said to have visited this part of the country prior to this trip and to have discovered the mine at Ironton also. It was also said that it was his advice, rather than that of the man who died, that caused Reed to come. Be that as it may, it is certain that Mr. Reed immediately sought out the place; and having satisfied himself regarding it's worth, proceeded to enter two hundred acres, including the mine, and a quarter section of land, taking in the mill power of what is now Reedsburg. It is apparent that he did not enter Iron Mine location until 1849, however. See history of Ironton.
Reed's Burgh at Babb's Ford
We have learned something of David C. Reed, to whom, more than any other person, may be attributed the founding of our town. Having decided to establish a mill, he employed a millright and other hands to help build it, and found it necessary to erect a number of dwellings for these men and their families. He understood the need of womanhood among men and set about to build houses suitable for female tenure. These dwellings, five in number, were located, so to speak, directly in the center of Main Street, some little distance east of the new bridge. It will be remembered that the river at that point was usually shallow enough to be forded. The Indians had long used this point as a ford and James W. Babb is said to have crossed here in May, 1845. From that date until 1851 this Indian ford was known as Babb's Ford. Just above the ford Reed had chosen to build his mill; east of it he now chose to build his town.
The row of houses is what local historians have always called Shanty Row, for the buildings were indeed nothing but shanties, and crude ones at that. After Don Carlos Barry left the mill at Baraboo his relatives, George and Edward Willard, continued its operation. They had a fine lumber camp farther up the river and cut their logs and floated them down to their mill. Reed's company were out of doors and without shelter, and when a detachment of these excellent, slender tamarack poles reached the mill they did not hestitate to confiscate them and turn them to building purposes.
The first house was a double house, that is, two apartments were built, each twelve by sixteen feet, twelve feet apart. The tamarack poles were long enough to bridge this twelve-foot space, so the roof was extended the entire distance, forty-four feet in all. It was such a house as Mr. Babb built, minus the upper story. The roof was of elm bark, peeled horizontally from adjacent trees and used in the same manner of shingles, two tiers of bark being sufficient to cover one side of the shanty. The other shanties appear to have built separately. Two were twelve-feet square and the fifth was two feet larger each way. Cracks between the poles were chinked and daubed with pieces of three-cornered wood and a liberal portion of the native swamp mud, which in soft weather existed in generous quantities. When this combination of bog and basswood dried there was no necessity for windows for light and ventilation. Probably one of the most annoying features of these frontier dwellings was the basswood doors, which during damp weather had a particular fondness for swelling, much too large for the aperture. If the door happened to be open during daytime often it could not be closed at night; but the terrors of this were little compared to waking in the morning and finding it could not be opened.
These pioneer abodes were each numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, the number 1 being the fathermost west and number 5 in the extreme east. This plan of numbering was adopted from the plan then in vogue in the larger cities where each dwelling was numbered. No. 1 was not used as a dwelling but rather as a bachelor's hall where the men assembled in the evening to discuss the grave topics of the day, and to indulge in devotional exercises under Elder Locke, who professed to Seventh Day Adventism, prior to retiring to their own respective apartments. In No. 2 dwelt Mr. Powell and his family, consisting of his wife and four children, one son and three daughters. With this family lived a young man, Mr. Brace, who afterward married the eldest daughter, a girl of twenty. In house No. 3 resided Mr. McClung, the millright, and his wife and daughter. Dwelling No. 4 was the abode of Elder Alexander Locke. He had with him his wife and six children, John, Susan, James, Rebecca, Levi, Phoebe. The fifth shanty was the last one put up and apppears to have stood unoccupied until February, 1849. From this we gather that David C. Reed did not at that time move his family to the village. He probably remained with his men, moving his family here later.
Shanty No. 5 was occupied in February, 1849, by the J.H. Rork family, who had come from Racine. Unlike many settlers they came moderately well supplied with money and provisions. They had intended to come in the fall of 1848, but the illness of their son Reuben caused them several months delay. Thay found the few families dwelling in the shanties in a desperate state of destitution, the only eatable thing in the whole row being a shank of venison; and they at once shared their plenty with those less fortunate. But it was only a short time until they were in equal destitution with the other pioneers. Potatoes were all that remained. They had some money, but money was of little value when there was nothing nearer than Portage or Madison to buy, and neither time nor teams to haul them hither. There were seven members in the Rork family; J.H. and Diena, the father and mother, and their children L. E. Rork, A. Reuben Rork, Wealthy Elizabeth Rork, W. W. Rork and O. H. Rork
The family of Austin Seeley came to the village prior to the Rorks, but they did not take up residence in one of the five original shanties, so necessarily they are brought into our narrative at this point. Mr Seeley had known David C. Reed in Walworth County and it was the latter's inducements that had brought him here. But upon reaching the village he was discouraged, and is said to have offered the man his last three dollars to take him back to Baraboo, through which village he had passed on his way up. But the man is said to have required four dollars for the service, and not having that amount Mr. Seeley was obliged to remain. This was January, 1849.
In the meantime, that is, since June 1848, William McClung, assisted by two young, unmarried men. J. L. Green and Keyes Bishop and Mr. Powell and his future son-in-law, Mr. Brace, had reared the mill, and in May, 1849, it was ready to operate. From January until May, 1849, Seeley had no employment, and the completion of the mill offered him the work he wanted. However, he had worked but a few days when he had the misfortune to lose one of his thumbs, and was necessarily suspended from labor for some time. When a few boards had been produced by the mill Seeley built a part of a shanty, not in Shanty Row, but close to the mill. It was called the Mill-House. This was the first frame structure in Reedsburg, but it served as a human habitation only through the summer. That fall the Seeleys built a house, obviously the first frame house in the village; and in consequence of Seeley's missing thumb, Mrs. Seeley was obliged to lay the shingles. Thus were the first shingles in the city or Reedsburg laid by a woman!
The completion of the mill marked an important era in the history of Reedsburg. It's projectors had met with many difficulties in the form of bad weather, scarcity of provisions, impassable roads, sickness, etc. As early as June, 1847, work had been begun upon the dam. A pleasing feature of the work was the finding of a solid rock bottom in the river bed, upon which the dam was built. The weather being cold and the labor in the water a disagreeable task, a few of the many Indians in the vacinity were employed to wade into the stream to deposit the material for the dam. They were paid in economical quantities of whiskey. In June, 1848, the frame for the mill was erected. That fall the shanties were built. The next spring the mill began to operate. That is the romance of the Old Mill.
Since 1844 the Willard brothers of Baraboo had rafted their logs down the river. The dam of course put a stop to that. Out of this condition, which resulted in the Sawlog War in the spring of 1851, the town eventually was to lose its dam.
More Settlers
Before the year of 1849 passed a number of other new settlers had come. We cannot name them in the order of their arrival because there is no record of that.
Some time in 1849 Mr, Powell sold his interest in the mill to Mr. Caleb Croswell, and Croswell in turn sold his interest the same year to William Van Bergen. A post office was established during 1849, Horace Croswell, brother of Caleb, being appointed postmaster. The mail was brought once a week from Baraboo by a man who made the journey on foot. Horace for a time kept the post office in Lavina Reed's pocket-she was a nice young lady of course and he a single man. Later Eber Benedict was appointed deputy.
Mr. Benedict and family had come up from Walworth County sometime during the early fall of 1849. He was a native of Connecticut, born in 1800; and was therefore in his forty-ninth year. By vocation he was a carpenter and built a shop near the mill. The building was fourteen by twenty feet and served the needs of a dwelling-house, post office, boarding house, shop. The house was erected on a Friday. On Saturday night it became a dance hall. On Sunday it was used as a church. But Monday Mrs. Benedict moved her family in. Needless to say, Mr. Benedict was the first professional carpenter in Reedsburg.
Mrs. Benedict, whose maiden name was Harriet Skidmore, was 35 at her invasion of the village. She was a lady of considerable skill, an excellent nurse, and for a time the only physician the village had. Her services were always to be had and the price was nothing but gratitude. She can be called Reedsburg's pioneer nurse and doctor.
The year 1849 brought a few other settlers. Z. T. Carver and his wife and two children came. So did Daniel Carver. The latter located on a farm. Mr. Vernoy and family, J. P. Mowers, Horace Carver and Samuel Chase also settled here that year. Two brothers, D. B. Rudd and E. O. Rudd, later proprietors of Rudd's Mills on the line of the West Wisconsin Railway, were also pioneers in 1849. They were single, and brought with them their mother and sister to keep house for them. This sister, some years later, married Rollin M. Strong
Samuel Leonard and his two sons were also forty-niners. His sons were Alfred F. Leonard, later a grocer on Main Street, and John Leonard. They were accompanied by George Huffnail. Mr. Huffnail and Albert F. Leonard were married, with children, and had come with the intention of opening a farm. They staked their claim in Winfield, but soon Mr. Huffnail bought the Leonard's interest in the tract and the latter returned to the village where they established various businesses. Interesting stories of Mr. Huffnail's early struggles are related in the chapter on Winfield. Another gentleman of 1849 was J. S. Saxby. He was married and had a daughter, Amanda. Lucian B. Swallow and his family came also in 1849. He had a daughter, Frances. At first the Swallows appear to have been farmers, for Mr. Swallow did not open his blacksmith shop until 1853. Mrs. Swallow, whose maiden name was Malinda Cutter, was a descendant of John Rolfe. Another daughter, Julia Swallow, then a mere child, later became Mrs. David Bryden of quite recent memory
Of the young, adult, unmarried people who helped make the history of Reedsburg, we have the records of the following:
Frances Swallow, and Washington Gray, the young man who came from Ohio with James W. Babb, whose marriage in May, 1849, was the first in the township.
Horace Croswell, first postmaster.
Joseph L. Green, and Miss Lavina Reed, who were later husband and wife.
Samuel Chase.
Keyes Bishop.
Miss Rudd, who became the wife of Rollin M. Strong.
Agnes McClung, the millright's daughter.
Amanda Saxby. This lady conducted the first missionary school, in her father's shanty, during the winter of 1849. There were seven scholars. This school, however, was of short duration.
Elder Alexander Locke
Elder Alexander Locke was one of the earliest pioneers. As early as 1847 he is said to have invaded this wilderness with the idea of establishing a home. He was a man of marvelous mental capacity and deeply religious. Equipped thus with a desire to remain and with spiritual stamina sufficent for the needs of a struggling frontier village, he was just the man to fill his mission. In 1847 he staked his claim in Winfield, the farm that is now known perhaps most widely as the William Breene farm. It was formerly owned by D. H. Donahue; and is about two miles north of Reedsburg, on County Trunk K. This was the first claim staked in that township. In 1848 the elder moved his family to Reedsburg, locating, as has been said, in House No. 4 of Shanty Row. He had intended to go directly to his claim but delayed going there until April of 1849. During his residence in the village he held devotionals as frequently as he could get an audience and was not stopped by the mere egress of his hearers. Nor did he always preach under shelter. More than once he used his chair for a pulpit and the open sky for his temple. Shortly after his arrival he dlivered his first sermon. He never aspired to a pastorate and would accept no pay for his services. He is said to have had the Bible at tongue's end and to have made his sermons therefrom.
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