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in 


TWO  RIVERS  SONG 


BY    .].   N.    DAVIDSON. 

Where  music  of  pines  blonds  with  roar  of  the  lake. 
And  foam-crested  billows  on  roughened  sands  break  ; 
Where  suns  rise  in  splendor  on  Michigan's  breast 
And  sink  in  the  glory  of  bright  skies  to  rest :  - 

There,  there,  there's  my  home; 

There  lingers  my  heart 's-love,  wherever  I  rot    i 


Presented  to  the 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO 
LIBRARY 

by  the 

ONTARIO  LEGISLATIVE 
LIBRARY 

1988 


rin, 


Simon  whose  .-.,,,,,,,11.-  wo»  x-eter;  tne  i^ord  called  him  <     \~  a.s ;  and  Andrew. 
James  and  John;  sons  of  thunder — Boanerges,  their  Master  once  called  them. 
Philip  who  sought  for  Nathanael,  found  him  and  brought  him  to  Jesus, 
Brought  to  the  Saviour  Nathanael,  true  son  of  Israel,  guileless, 
Called  oft  Bartholomew.    Matthew,  once  Levi;  and  Thomas  who  doubted. 
James  who  was  son  of  Alphreus;  Lebbaeus,  or  Judas  the  faithful, 
Surnamed  Thaddams ;  and  Simon  Zelotes.    Next,  Judas  the  traitor. 
His  place  was  taken  by  one  named  Matthias ;  with  him  the  list  endeth. 


\ 


.-  ***' 


•V-* 


INI... 


DISCARD] 


1 


IN 


UNNAMED    WISCONSIN 


u. 


STUDIES  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  REGION   BETWEEN    LAKE 


MICHIGAN  AND  THE  MISSISSIPPI 


BY 


J.  N.  DAVIDSON,  A.   M. 


TO  WHICH  IS  APPENDED! 


MEMOIR  OF 


SEEN  BY 

PRESERVATION 

SERVICES 


MRS.  HARRIET  WOOD   WHEELER 


MIL  \V  A  I '  K  I :  K .    \\'  [SCO  N  SI  N 
'I   IU.ISlli;i)    HY    SII.AS    CHAPMAN 


Copyright   1894 

by 

J.   N.   DAVIDSON 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


If,  in  the  pages  that  follow,  sons  and  daughters  of  Wisconsin  find  reason 
for  deeper  interest  in  the  history  of  their  own  state,  and  for  increase  of  honor- 
able civic  pride,  I  shall  be  glad.  But  if  any  reader  look  for  the  indifference, 
real  or  affected,  that  treats  of  men  and  causes,  good  and  bad,  as  if  all  were 
alike  merely  curious,  he  will  surely  count  what  I  have  written  as  most  unphilos- 
ophical,  if  indeed  he  take  the  trouble  to  think  about  it. 

Most  of  my  story  is  of  a  time  when  there  was  no  Wisconsin ;  when  this 
region  was  only  an  undefined  portion,  first  of  New  France  and  in  part,  perhaps, 
of  Louisiana;  then  of  the  province  of  Quebec;  next  of  Virginia,  when  she 
was  passing  from  the  condition  of  a  colony  to  that  of  a  state ;  then  of  the  old 
Northwest  Territory  and,  afterward,  successively  of  Indiana,  Illinois  and 
Michigan.  In  the  course  of  my  study  one  thing  has  been  made  clear  to  me: 
The^  who  first  settled  on  this  soil  were  not  the  founders  of  Wisconsin.  There 
was  a  'vide  difference  between  those  who  would  have  had  this  region  remain  a 
part  01  Canada,  —  whether  under  France  or  under  Britain, —  and  those  who 
established  here  the  institutions  of  an  American  state. 

One  thing  I  hope, —  that  good  done  by  humble  and  unpretending  men  and 
women  may,  by  these  pages,  become  a  little  more  widely  known  and  that  they 
who  did  it  may  receive  somewhat  more  of  honor.  Their  cheeks  will  not  flush 
now,  if  we  speak  their  praise.  For  one  of  them  filial  love  has  prepared  a  me- 
morial that  is  fittingly  appended  to  the  record  herein  given  of  her  own  and  of 
others'  faithful  service. 

The  knowledge  that  this  work  was  in  progress  brought  to  the  writer,  even 
after  the  first  few  chapters  had  been  sent  to  the  press,  certain  material  which, 
had  it  been  found  earlier,  might  have  been  better  used.  Hence,  notwithstand- 
ing the  awkwardness  of  so  doing,  there  was  reason  to  add  some  closing  para- 
graphs containing  statements  that  properly  belong  in  the  narrative  itself. 

Among  those  who,  in  Wisconsin's  early  days,  came  hither  from  a  land 
that  we  can  scarcely  call  foreign,  was  one  who,  by  precept  and  by  life,  gave  me 
a  faith  from  which  I  have  found  no  reason  to  depart;  who  taught  me  that 
"man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever;"  who,  without 
effort  and  almost  unconsciously,  showed  me  that  the  eternal  things  are  as  real 
as  those  that  perish  with  the  using;  who,  through  all  my  life,  has  upheld  me 
with  a  strong  tenderness.  They  who  read  thus  far  will  say  "his  mother,"  and 
to  her,  without  permission,  this  book  is  dedicated  with  a  son's  reverent  love. 

Two  RIVERS,  WISCONSIN, 
July,  1895. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  F AC-SI  MILES. 

REV.  CUTTING   MARSH 

facing   page   116. 
REV.   LEONARD  HEMENWAY  WHEELER 

faciqg   page    165. 
MRS".   HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER 

facing   page  229.     ..  . 
'FAG-SIMILE- pages  of    Muh-^e-ka-ne-ew    booklets.         See    end    of 

volume. 


CONTENTS. 


<  1IA1TER    I. DISCOVERY    AND    EXPLORATION. 

Settlement  of  the  Northwest  Territory  —  Discovery   of  the    Wisconsin  region 

—  Death  of  Jean  Nicolet — Radisson  and  Groseillers — Their  Discovery 

of  the  Upper  Mississippi  —  Voyage  on  Lake  Superior  —  Their  "Fort"  on 

Chequamegon   Bay — Their   Explorations   in  what  is  now   Minnesota  — 

Return  to  the  French   Settlements  and  Escape  thence  to  Boston  —  They 

enter    English    Service  1-6 

CHAPTER    II. EARLY    MISSIONS. 

IJeiialiis  Menard — His  labors  with  the  Ottawas  —  His  death  —  Claude  Allouez 
—  Jacques  Marquette  —  Mission  at  Depere  —  Proces-verbal  at  Sault  Ste. 
Marie  —  Nicholas  Perrot  —  Accusations  against  the  Jesuits — Louis  Hen- 
nepin  —  Coureurs  de  Bois  —  The  Outagamies  7-16 

CHAPTER    III. THE    OUTAGAMIE    WAR. 

Plundering  the  Traders  —  "Siege  of  Detroit"  —  Attempted  Destruction  of  the 
Outagamies — Building  of  Forts  St.  Francis  and  Beauharnois  —  A  Sum- 
mer of  Horrors  —  Effect  of  the  Outagamie  War  17-23 

CHAPTER  IV. END  OF  FRENCH  DOMINION. 

Perriere  Marin — 'Massacre  of  Outagamies  —  Treaty  of  Paris — The  British 
take  Possession  of  Green  Bay  —  French  Kings  who  ruled  in  the  Wiscon- 
sin Region  24-27 

CHAPTER    V. BRITISH    DOMINION. 

K  eepi  ng  the  Western  Posts  —  The   "  Quebec  Act " —  Carver's   Travels  —  Lan- 
glade —  Events  of  the  Time  of  the  Revolution  —  Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler  — 
Ordinance  of  1787  —  Settlement  at  Marrietta —  Witchcraft  —  Slavery  — 
Kvents  of   the  War  of   1812  —Americans  take   Possession  of  the  Wiscon- 
sin   Region  28-44 

<  H.UTER    VI. THK    IONA    <>F    OUR    INLAND    SEAS. 

Kichilimackinac  —  David  Bacon  and  his  Mission  Work  —  The  American  Fur 
Company  —  Expedition  to  the  Pacific  —  Dr.  Morse  at  Mackinaw  —  Mis- 
sion He-established  there  —  Appeal  fora  Mission  among  the  Ojibways  — 
U.ibert  Stuart  ......  45-51 


vi  roNTKXTS. 

CHAPTER    VII. DR.    MORSE    AND    HIS    ERRAND    IN    THE    WEST. 

First  Protestant  Service  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin  —  Projected  Indian  Terri- 
tory—  The  "New  York  Indians" — John  Metoxen  52-61 

CHAPTER    VIII. ONEIDAS    AND    THE    BROTHERTOWNS. 

Samuel  Kirkland  —  Eleazar  Williams — John  Clark  —  First  Methodist  Church- 
Building  in  Wisconsin  —  Samson  Occoni  62-72 

CHAPTER    IX. THE    MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK. 

Their  Legendary  History  —  Their  Language  —  Settlement  at  Stockbridge,  Mas- 
sachusetts— John  Sergeant  —  A  Total  Abstinence  Movement — David 
Brainerd  —  Specimens  of  the  Mohegan  Language  —  British  Gifts  to  the 
Stockbridge  Mission  —  Wars  with  the  French  —  Jonathan  Edwards  —  Dr. 
Stephen  West  —  John  Sergeant,  the  Younger  —  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew  Service 
in  the  Revolution  —  Removal  to  New  York  —  Council  in  Indiana  —  Tate- 
pahqsect  —  Removal  to  Indiana  73-108 

CHAPTER    X. —  STATESBURG    AND    STOCKBRIDGE. 

Removal  from  Indiana  and  New  York  to  Fox  river  —  The  first  Congregational 
Church  in  Wisconsin  —  Rev.  Jesse  Miner  —  First  Protestant  Church-Build- 
ing in  Wisconsin  —  First  School-Mistress  here — Rev.  Cutting  Marsh  — 
Commissioner  McCall  —  The  "Orchard  party"  of  Oneidas  —  A  Booklet 
and  a  Psalm  in  the  Mohegan  Language  —  Letter  to  Jefferson  Davis  — 
Mission  Work  Begun  among  the  Sioux  —  An  Indian  Temperance  Conven- 
tion —  Letter  by  Chauncey  Hall  —  Mission  Trip  beyond  the  Mississippi  — 
Stockbridge  (Wisconsin)  Built  —  Capital  Punishment  by  Indian  Tribal 
Authority  —  The  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  are  made  Citizens  —  Divisive  Religious 
Movements  —  Removal  to  Shawano  County  —  Present  Condition  of  the 
Tribe  109-145 

CHAPTER    XI. AMONG    THE    OJIBWAYS. 

Legendary  History  —  Trading-Station  at  La  Pointe  —  Alexander  Henry  —  The 
Cadottes  and  the  Warrens  —  Alvin  Coe  and  J.  D.  Stevens  "Manner  of 
Traveling  on  the  Upper  Waters  of  the  Great  Lakes  "  —  Mission  begun  at 
La  Pointe  —  Jeremiah  Porter  and  W.  T.  Boutwell  —  Naming  of  Lake 
Itasca  —  First  Book  written  here  —  First  Organization  of  a  Congregational 
Church  in  Wisconsin  —  Meeting-Houses  at  La  Pointe,  Congregational  and 
Roman  Catholic — Missions  in  Minnesota  —  Fight  at  Pokeguma — Mur- 
der of  Benjamin  Terry  and  Mrs.  Spencer — Ojibway  New  Testament  — 
Rev.  L.  H.  Wheeler — Odanah  founded  —  Mission  Work  by  the  Metho- 
dists —  Rev.  Alfred  Brunson  —  Attempt  to  remove  the  Ojibways  —  Ef- 
fect of  the  War  —  Rev.  Frederic  Baraga  —  Death  of  Mr.  Wheeler  — 
Covenant  of  the  Ojibway  Churches  146-174 

CHAPTER    XII. BY    THE    MIZI    SIBI. 

Louisiana  —  Religious  Intolerance  —  Prairie  du  Chien  —  Fort  Crawford  —  Mr. 
Lockwood's  Narrative  —  First  Sunday-School  in  Wisconsin  —  Rev.  Aratus 


CONTEXTS.  vii 

Kent  —  David  Lowrey — Abolitionists  from  the  South  175-186 

CHAPTER    XIII. —  AMONG    THE    MINES. 

An  "Island   in  a  Sea  of  Drift" — Discovery  of  Lead  —  The  Winnebago   War 

—  Surrender  of  Red  Bird — Dr.  NewhalFs  Letter  —  Father  Kent  comes 
to  Galena  —  Black  Hawk  and  his  "British  Band" — War — Henry  Dodge 
becomes  Governor  187—200 

CHAPTER    XIV.— WISCONSIN'S    OPEN    DOOR. 

Permanent  Settlement  at  Green  Bay  —  British  leave  the  place  —  Fort  Howard 

—  A.  G.  Ellis  and  other  Early  Teachers  —  First  Methodist  Services  in  the 
Green  Bay  Region  —  Rev.  R.  F.  Cadle  -  Episcopal  Mission  —  Organiza- 
tion of  the   First   Presbyterian  Church  of  Green  Bay  201-206 

CHAPTER   XV. —  FORT   WINNEBAGO. 

Topography --"  Wau-bun  " — Rev.  A.   L.   Barber  —  "Portage  of  the   Siskoin- 
•   sin" — Transportation  there  207-210 

CHAPTER    XVI. BY    THE    LAKE    AND    ON    THE    PRAIRIE. 

A  Sloop  of  War  at  "Millwakey  " — Threat  by  Robert  Dickson — Joliet  and 
Marquette  —  The  Brothers  La  Framboise  —  Jacques  Vieau  —  Juneau — 
Samuel  Brown  —  Reports  from  the  "Home  Missionary" — Protestant  Epis- 
copal Service  at  Milwaukee  —  J.  F.  Ostrander  —  Organization  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church — First  Protestant  House  of  Worship  for  Whites  in 
Wisconsin  —  Rev.  Gilbert  Crawford  —  Settlement  of  Racine  —  Scarcity  of 
Food  —  Jesse  Walker  and  Cyrus  Nichols  —  Settlements  formed  at  Kenosha 
and  Beloit — Madison  —  Rev.  S.  A.  Dwinnell  —  His  Account  of  Chicago 
and  Wisconsin  in  1836  211-226 

APPENDIX. 

Memoir  of  Mrs.  Harriet  Wood  Wheeler  —  Ancestry  —  Education  —  Marriage — 
Arrival  at  La  Pointe  —  Work  there  —  Guests  —  Covenant  —  Visit  to  Fond 
du  Lac- — Education  of  Children  —  Mr.  Wheeler  Founds  Odanah  —  Mrs. 
Wheeler  as  Teacher  —  Anniversary  Days  —  Winter  at  the  Lowell  Home- 
Small-pox  at  La  Pointe  and  Odanah  —  Medical  Service  —  Odanah  Train- 
ing School  —  Reservations  Saved  for  the  Indians  —  Removal  to  Beloit —  In- 
vention of  Wind-Mill — Death  of  Mr.  Wheeler  and  a  Daughter  —  Mrs. 
Wheeler's  Last  Years  —  Her  Injury  and  Death  227-261 

TRIBUTES. 

Memories  of  Home  —  Tribute  of  Mrs.  Kennedy  -Letter  and  Poem  of  Rev.  H. 
C.  Me  Arthur  -Letter  of  Mrs.  Mary  Warren  English  -Of  Mrs.  M.  E. 
Vaughn  -Of  Professor  Whitney  -Of  Mrs.  Anna  S.  Rogers  —  Of  Dr. 
Roy  —  Of  Mrs.  Mary  H.  Hull  —  A  Neighbor's  Message  —  From  a  Friend 
of  Mrs.  Wheeler's  Last  Years  262-274 


Biographical    Sketches  of    Rev.  Frederic  Ayer  and    Rev.  Cutting    Marsh - 
Chauncey  Hall    -  Additional  Paragraphs    -Corrections  275-280 


CHAPTER  I. 

DISCOVERY  AM)  HX  I»L<  )KATI()N. 

Not  Ohio  alone  but  the  entire  Northwest  Territory  received  Christian  civ- 
ili/.ation  when,  1788,  April  7th,?  the  historic  company  of  the  .second  Mayflower 
landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum.  Marietta  is  a  second  Plymouth  as,  in 
some  respects,  Ohio  is  a  second  Massachusetts.  For  the  possession  of  the  great 
empire,  part  of  which  was  thus  entered  up:>n,  a  series  of  wars  lasting  almost  a 
century  had  been  fought.  We  may  call  this  the  second  War  of  a  Hundred 
Years.  Its  beginning  properly  dates  from  the  time  when  a  great-grandson  of 
William  the  Silent,  representing  the  principles  of  his  murdered  ancestor,  was 
crowned  king  in  Westminster  in  1689.  The  first  Hundred  Years'  War,  not- 
withstanding the  brilliant  victories  of  Edward  the  Black  Prince,  saw  the  Briton 
driven  from  the  mainland  of  Europe  ;  in  the  second,  the  armies  of  the  French 
were  driven  from  North  America.  The  descendants  of  the  men  who  conquered 
at  Crecy  and  Poitiers  were  themselves  victorious  at  Louisburg  and  Quebec. 
Then  the  struggle  took  a  new  aspect,  and  it  was  settled  that  those  living  in 
America  should  rule  it.  Britons  and  Protestants  had  founded  a  new  nation  of 
which  Wisconsin  is  a  part.  Hence  it  comes  to  pass  that  we  who  dwell  in  Wis- 
consin are  American,  not  Canadian  ;  Saxon,  not  French  ;  a  fact  that  seems  to 
he  lost,  sight  of  in  some  academic  discussions  on  the  early  history  of  our  state. 

But  the  first  whites  who  saw  the  western  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  and 
the  southern  shores  of  Lake  Superior,  the  first  to  row  up  the  Fox  and  to  float 
down  the  Wisconsin,  were  Frenchmen  from  Canada,  then  New  France.  To 
their  settlements  0:1  the  S!;.  Liwrence  rumors  came  of  the  "Men  of  the  Sea." 
For  the  purpose  of  making  a  treaty  with  these  people,  whom  imagination  pict- 
ured as  Orientals  rather  than  Indians,  Jean  Nicolet, ''interpreter  and  clerk  of 
tin  gentlemen  of  the  company  of  New  France,"  left  Quebec  1634,  July  1st,2 
and  came  to  the  Green  Bay  region,  having  made,  it  is  said,  a  voyage  of  one 
thousand  one  hundred  miles  in  a  birch-bark  canoe.  To  meet  with  suitable  cer- 
eiirmy  the  people  whom  he  had  come  so  far  to  see  on  such  important  business. 
he  cl.)t!i'.»d  himself  "in  a  large  gar  in  ant  of  Ciiina  damask  strewn  with  flowers 
and  b'rds  of  various  c •>!  >rs,"  and  went  forward  carrying  a  pistol  in  each  hand. 

1  Tho  day  of  the;  weyk  was  Monday  as  was  that  of  the  landing  at  Plymouth.    Of  course 

Itoth  parti  -s  \v:-r  •  li-il  by  men  who  honor-d  tin-  Sabbath. 

-  A  tlat  •  nior  •  easily  n-m  -ml) -red  is  th»  4th  of  .Inly,  th:*  time  when  he  left  Three  Rivt-rs. 
thi-n  almost  tin-  outward  post  of  civilization.     Xirolct  probably  went  up  the  Ottawa. 


2  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

The  '-Men  of  the  Sea"  were  the  Oiiinipigou,  or,  as  they  are  commonly  called, 
the  Winnebagoes.  The  sight  of  these  naked  savages  must  have  been  a  rude 
shock  to  Nicolet's  fancies.  However,  he  made  a  treaty  with  them,  and  went 
farther  up  the  Fox  to  a  village  of  the  Mascoutins  probably  in  what  is  now 
Green  Lake  county.  Here  he  heard  of  the  "Great  Water,"  by  which  he  un- 
derstood the  sea,  but  which  is  probably  the  Mississippi.  There  is  reason  to 
think  that  from  the  Mascoutin  country  he  went  southward  to  the  region  inhab- 
ited by  the  Illinois.  In  the  autumn  of  1635  he  returned  to  Quebec.  In  De- 
cember of  that  same  year,  occurred  the  death  of  the  governor  of  New  France, 
the  illustrious  Samuel  de  Champlain,  the  founder,  in  1608,  of  the  French  colo- 
ny that  has  since  grown  into  the  Dominion  of  Canada.  His  death  seenn  to 
have  put  an  end  for  the  time  to  further  explorations.  Nicolet,  still  in  the 
company's  service,  was  stationed  at  Three  Rivers.  Seven  years  after  his 
return  from  the  West,  while  at  Quebec,  he  was  sent  for  to  come  to  his  home  to 
save,  if  possible,  the  life  of  a  New  England  Indian  whom  captors  that  lived 
near  Three  Rivers  were  threatening  with  death  by  torture.  Nicolet  started 
promptly,  but  on  his  way  up  the  St.  Lawrence  was  accidentally  drowned, 
1642,  November  1st.  The  Indian  was  afterward  sent  home  in  safety. 

Nicolet's  discovery,  which  he  does  not  seem  to  have  regarded  as  of  any 
special  importance,  seems  to  have  been  soon  forgotten.  Only  the  patient  labor 
of  historians  of  our  own  time  has  rescued  from  oblivion  the  name  of  the  first 
civilized  man  who  saw  any  part  of  what  is  now  Wisconsin.  We  honor  him  as 
a  man  who  came  hither  on  an  errand  of  peace  and  died  on  one  of  mercy.  He 
was  deeply  religious. 

For  many  years  the  French  were  kept  from  further  exploration.  Cham- 
plain,  dying,  left  to  the  colony  the  heritage  of  war  with  the  Iroquois,  often 
called  the  Five  Nations,  to  whom  the  Dutch  and,  later,  the  English  supplied 
fire-arms  while  the  French  furnished  their  allies  with  "kettles  and  missionaries." 

Among  those  hostile  to  the  Iroquois  was  a  kindred  tribe,  the  Hurons,1  wh  > 
were  utterly  defeated  and  driven  from  their  former  homes.  These  were  within 
the  present  limits  of  New  York.  Leaving  their  domain  to  enlarge  the  posses- 
sions of  their  conquerors,  the  Hurons  fled  into  the  interior  of  the  continent. 
After  the  fiercest  «>f  the  struggle  was  over,  an  expedition  of  thirty-one  French- 
men, accompanied  by  a  number  of  Hurons,  started  about  the  middle  of  June, 
1658,  to  go  up  the  Ottawa  river,  and  thence  to  Lake  Huron  and  beyond. 
An  attack  by  Iroquois  turned  back  all  the  whites  except  two,  Pierre  d'Esprit 
and  his  brother-in-law,  Medart  Chouart,  better  known  by  their  titles  as  Sieur 
Radisson  and  Sieur  des  Groseilliers  (pronounced  Gro-zay-yay).  These  two  had 
made  a  compact  "to  travel  and  see  countreys."  Radisson,  the  first  named, 
though  the  younger,  seems  to  have  been  the  leader.  At  any  rate  he  has  the 
advantage  of  telling  the  story,  which  he  did,  in  perplexing  English  and  very  bad 

1  "  Quelles  hures!"  [word  used  of  a  boar  etc. :  "What  heads  of-hair !"]  said  the  French  when 
they  first  saw  them;  hence  the  word  "Hurons."— CHARLEVOIX. 
They  called  themselves  Wyandots  (Y-en-dats). 


DISCOVERY  AND  EXPLORATION.  3 

spelling,  in  a  narrative  probably  intended  for  the  use  of  Charles  II.  of  Eng- 
land. He  and  his  companion  made  almost  the  entire  circuit  of  Lake  Huron. 
On  one  of  the  Manitoulin  islands  they  aided  the  Hurons  in  a  fight  with  the 
Iroquois.  What  followed  Radissoh  thus  describes  :  "The  dead  weare  eaten  and 
the  living  weare  burned  with  a  small  fire  to  the  rigour  of  cruelties."  Invited  by 
Pottawattomies  who  were  then  living  on  the  islands  at  the  mouth  of  Green 
Bay  and  the  peninsula  between  the  bay  and  the  lake,  our  travelers  spent  the 
winter  with  that  tribe.  "I  can  assure  you  I  liked  noe  country  as  I  have  that 
wherein  we  wintered,"  says  Radiaaen,  "ff  jr  whatever  a  man  desired  was  to  be 
had  in  great  plenty  ;  viz.,  staggs,  fishes  in  abundance,  &  all  sorts  of  meat,  corn 
enough."  The  aboriginal  population  of  the  Green  Bay  country  was  very  large. 

In  the  spring  of  the  following  year,  1659,  they  visited  "an  other  nation 
called  Escotecke  [Mascoutins],  which  signified  fire."1  These  people  were  liv- 
ing where  Nicolet  found  them  twenty-five  years  before.  Here  the  Frenchmen 
heard  of  "a  nation  called  Nadoneceronon 2  [Sioux]  which  is  very  strong."  They 
were  told  also  of  the  Christines  [Crees,  now  of  British  America].  "Their 
dwelling  was  on  the  side  of  the  salt  watter  [Hudson's  Bay]  in  summer  time  & 
in  the  land  in  the  winter  time,  for  it's  cold  in  their  country."  The  account  of  a 
great  discovery  is  thus  given  ; 

"We  weare  4  moneths  without  doing  anything  but  goe  from  river  to  river. 
We  mett  several  sorts  of  people.  We  conversed  with  them,  being  long  time  in 
alliance  with  them  By  persuasion  of  som  of  them  we  went  into  the  great 
river  that  divides  itself  in  2."  Radisson  calls  it  the  "forked  river"  and  adds  : 
"It  is  so  called  because  it  has  2  branches,  the  one  toward  the  west,  the  other 
toward  the  South,  which  we  believe  runs  toward  Mexico  by  the  tokens  they  gave 
us."  How  far  south  they  went  we  do  not  know,  but  speaking  of  the  barbarous 
punishment3  of  a  captive  by  some  Indians  whom  they  visited  they  remark  :  "So 
they  doe  with  them  that  they  take,  and  kill  them  with  clubbs,  &  doe  often  eat 
them.  They  doe  not  burn  their  prisoners  as  those  of  the  northern  parts." 

The  "forked  river"  is  doubtless  the  Mississippi.  "A  beautiful  river,  grand, 
wide,  deep  and  comparable  to  our.  own  great  river,  the  St.  Lawrence,"  says  a 
description  made  at  the  time  from  Radisson's  reports.  To  measure  the  great- 
ness of  this  discovery  we  must  remember  that,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
some  wandering  fur-traders  like  themselves,  there  were  at  that  time, — summer 
of  1659, — probably,  no  other  white  men  west  of  the  Alleghany  mountains. 

1  Charlevoix,  a  Jesuit  traveler  and  historian,  states  that  the  true  name  is"Mascoutenec," 
signifying  "an  open  country."  The  Pottawattomies'  word  for  fire  was  like  their  corruption  of 
this  name  "Mascouten."  From  them,  it  is  said,  the  French  obtained  the  incorrect  form  and 
the  untrue  meaning. 

Francis  S.  Drake,  in  his  great  work  "The  North  American  Indians,"  says:  "Miishkoosi  is 
grass  or  herhage  in  general.  Ishkado  means  fire.  The  only  difference  in  the  root  form  is  that 
between  ushko  and  ishko." 

3  NADOWSIB,  an  Algonquin  expression  signifying  enemy.  It  is  derived  from  Nadowa,  an 
Iroquois  or  a  Dakota ;  the  word  was  originally  applied  to  a  serpent  The  termination  in  xie  is 
from  awatie,  an  animal  or  creature.  This  term  is  the  root,  it  is  apprehended,  of  the  French 
soubriquet  Sioux.— H.  R.  SCHOOLCRAFT. 

3  "  His  arms  &  leggs  weare  turned  outside." 


4  IX   r\\AMKI)  WISCONSIN. 

For  the  missions, — even  those  as  far  east  as  the  Mohawk  valley, — that  the  Jes- 
uits had  established  among  the  Hurons,  were  utterly  broken  up  in  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  homes  of  that  people. 

Before  our  adventurers  returned  to  the  French  .settlements,  they  coasted 
along  the  eastward  part  of  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior.1  Thus  they 
were  the  discoverers  not  only  of  the  upper  Mississippi  but  probably  also  of  our 
greatest  North  American  lake.  About  the  1st  of  June,  1660,  they  came  by 
way  of  the  Ottawa  to  Three  Rivers  on  the  St.  Lawrence.  Thus  ended  what 
Radisson  calls  his  third  "voyage."2 

In  August,  1661,  Radisson  began  his  next  and  fourth  "voyage."  His 
brother-in-law  again  accompanied  him.  They  intended  to  go  by  way  of  Lake 
Superior  to  the  usalt  watter"  of  which  they  had  heard  two  years  before.  They 
coasted  along  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior,  entered  Chequamegon3  bay 
by  a  portage  across  Oak  Point,  which  is  on  the  east  side  of  the  bay,  and  in  the 
autumn  or  early  winter,  built  what  they  call  "a  fort  of  sUkea"4  This  was 
doubtless  the  first  structure  put  up  by  civilized  men  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin. 
"There  we  stayed  still  full  12  days  without  any  news.  The  12  day  we  per- 
ceived afarr  off  some  50  yong  men  coming  toward  us.  with  some  of  our  for- 
mer compagnions.  They  stayed  there  three  days."  These  "compagnions" 
were  probably  Hurons.  Some  of  this  tribe,  driven  westward  by  their  relent- 
less enemies  the  Iroquois,  had  first  sought  refuge  on  an  island  in  the  Mississippi 
above  Lake  Pepin.  Driven  thence  by  the  Sioux,  they  came  into  the  country 
about  the  head  waters  of  the  Chippewa.  To  one  of  their  villages  on  aa  little 
lake  some  8  leagues  in  circuit," — probably  Namekagon  in  the  southern  part  of 

1  In  the  spring  of  1660. 

2  Radisson's  first  "voyage,"  in  1652,  an  individual  experience,  was  in  the  character  of 
prisoner,  a  party  of  Mohawks  having  captured  him  in  the  neighborhood  of  Three  Rivers  and 
carried  him  with  them  to  their  village,  where  he  was  adopted;  but  he  ran  away.  October  L".». 
1653,  went  to  the  Dutch  at  Albany  and  from  Manhattan  sailed  for  Holland.    In  May,  1  <;r>4,  lie 
was  back  again  at  Three  Rivers.    In  July,  1657,  he  accompanied  the  Jesuit  Fathers,  Paul  Ra- 
gueneau  and  Joseph  Inbert  Duperon,  to  their  mission  among  the  Onondagas,  which  was  clan- 
destinely abandoned  on  the  night  of  March  20,1658.    This  constituted  Radisson's  second 
"voyage."^REUBEN  GOLD  THWAITES. 

Radisson's  narrative  was  republished  in  this  co'untry  by  the  Prince  Society  of  Boston,  an 
organization  named  in  honor  of  Rev.  Thomas  Prince,  so  long  pastor  of  the  old  South  church 
of  that  city. 

3  I  use  this  conventional  orthography,  though  I  do  not  like  it.  In  the  opinion  of  R:;v. 
Edward  Payson  Wheeler,  of  Ashland,  a  native  of  Madelains  island,  it  is  peculiarly  unfortu- 
nate that  we  get  names  used  by  the  Indians  under  a  Gallicized  disguise.  What  seems  to  me 
evidence  of  the  correctness  of  this  opinion  is  found  in  the  changing  of  "Ojibway"  to  "Cliip- 
peway,"  and  also  in  the  spelling  of  the  name  of  the  bay  mentioned  above.  This,  by  William 
Whipple  Warren  in  whose  veins  flowed  honorably  Ojibway  blood,  is  written  "Chagouami- 
gon"  ("History  of  the  Ojibways"  Minn>'x-t1n  /fistorical  Collections,  vol.  V.).  The  miming, 
"place  of  shallow  water,"  is  given  by  Mr.  Wheeler  (Sheh  "  the,"  yu  "of,"  wall  "shallow  [wa- 
ter],"/ni  a  particle  denoting  specific  place,  kuny  "place")-  The  italicized  syllables  suggest 
also  his  pronunciation  (u  like  oo  in  cool;  other  vowels  short).  "Shah-kah-wah-mee-kunk," 
seems  to  represent  the  name  as  I  hsard  it  spoken  by  Rev.  John  Clark,  the  native  pastor  lately 
at  Odanah.  The  last  syllable  receives  the  primary  accent.  Mr.  Wheeler,  whose  boylioo  1  was 
spent  among  the  Ojibways,  in  the  mission  that  Mr.  Warren's  father  helped  to  found,  thinks 
that  the  younger  Warren's  pronunciation  of  the  name  was  like  his  own  as  given  above. 

4  This  may  have  been  at  the  mouth  of  Whittlesey  creek,  about  three  miles  from  Ashland 
and  between  that  city  and  Washburn.  See  note  on  the  place  of  Allouez's  mission,  page  1 1 


DISCOVERY  AND  EXPLORATION.  5 

what  is  now  Bayfield  county, — came  the  Frenchmen  accompanied  by  friends 
who  had  visited  the  "fort"  "The  winter  comes  on,  that  warns  us;  the  snow 
begins  to  fall,  soe  we  must  retire  from  the  place  to  seeke  our  living  in  the 
woods.  Soe  away  we  goe,  but  not  all  to  the  same  place.  Butt  let  where  we 
will,  we  can  not  escape  the  myghty  hand  of  God,  that  disposes  us  as  he  pleases, 
and  who  chastes  us  a  good  &  a  common  loving  ffather,  and  not  as  our  sins  doe 
deserve."  Among  the  Hurons  with  whom  they  were  spending  the  winter  there 
was  distress  for  want  of  food.  "To  augment  our  misery  we  receive  news  of 
the  Octanaks  [Ottawas]  uwho  weare  abont  a  hundred  and  fifty  with  their  fam- 
ilies. They  had  [had]  a  quarrell  with  the  hurrons  in  the  Isle  where  we  had 
come  from  some  years  before  in  the  lake  of  the  stairing  hairs l  [Huron].  "But 
lett  us  see  if  they  have  brought  anything  to  subsist  withall.  But  they  were 
worse  provided  than  we ;  having  no  huntsmen  they  are  reduced  to  famine." 

Our  travelers  wandered  westward  and  were  the  first  white  men  to  enter 
what  is  now  Minnesota.  Before  winter  was  over  they  were  in  the  country  of 
the  Dakotas,  otherwise  called  Sioux,  a  little  south-of-west  from  Lake  Superior, 
in  the  Mille  Lacs  region,  whose  streams  are  tributary  to  the  Mississippi.  As 
to  food,  they  were  then  in  better  condition  than  they  had  been.  Yet  there  was 
still  such  a  degree  of  famine  that  some  of  the  company  saved  the  snow  upon 
which  fell  the  blood  of  a  half-starved  dog  which  Radisson  killed  one  night  for 
food,  having  previously  stolen  the  wretched  creature  from  two  Sioux  as  they  lay 
asleep.  More  than  five  hundred  Hurons  and  Ottawas  died  that  winter  of  star- 
vation. 

In  the  late  winter  or  early  spring,  they  visited  "the  nation  of  the  beefe" 
[Boeuf,  or  Buffalo,  Sioux].  Thence  they  went  seven  days'  journey,  apparently 
northward,  and  visited  the  Christinos.  The  ice  was  still  in  the  lakes.  "Com- 
ing back  we  passed  a  lake  hardly  frozen"  [frozen  hard].  They  came  again  to 
Oak  Point  which  they  had  crossed  the  autumn  before.  "Here  we  built  a  fort." 
In  August  of  the  next  year,  1662,  they  returned  to  Three  Rivers,  bringing , 
with  them  furs  to  the  value  of  200,000  livres  ($37,000).  New  France  was 
burdened  with  a  monopoly  which  sought  to  control  the  fur  trade.  •  Radisson 
and  Groselliers,  finding  the  governor  intent  up  an  plundering  them,  escaped  to 
BDston.  Thus  the  explorers  of  our  Wisconsin  streams  and  forests  found  ref- 
u  '(•  in  the  city  of  the  Puritans.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know  what  they 
thought  of  the  home  of  John  Endecott2  and  Increase  Mather.  From  Boston 
they  sailed  to  England.  There  Radisson  married  the  daughter  of  a  Sir  John 
Kirk.3  Here,  after  the  fashion  of  a  romance,  we  might  leave  our  adventurers. 

1  Probably,  hair  brushed  or  push-ad  up.  Compare  the  speech  of  Brutus  in  Shakespeare's 
"Julius  Cresar:" 

Art  thou  soma  god,  some  angel,  or  some  devil. 
That  mak'st  my  blood  cold  and  my  hair  to  stare? 
3  Commonly  spelled  Endicott. 

3  Sir  John  Kirk  (or  Kertk)  was  a  zealous  Huguenot.  The  daughter  probably  shared  her 
father's  faith.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  Kidisson  himself,  with  the  change  in  his  political  alle- 
giance, mada  a  corresponding  change  in  his  religious  connection.  But  I  do  not  know  that  he 
did.  Like  many  another  he  probably  held,  in  a  general  way,  the  Christian  faith  without  car- 


<>  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

But  they  were  yet  to  do  some  of  their  greatest  achievements.  They  en- 
tered English  service  and,  in  1667,  led  an  expedition  to  the  "salt  watter"  men- 
tioned above.  There  they  established  trading-posts  and  thus  became  active 
agents  in  founding  the  Hudson's  Bay  company  which  virtually  controlled  for 
two  hundred  years  the  northern  half  of  our  continent,  and  ni9re  than  once 
has  vitally  affected  the  history  of  the  United  States.1  Thinking  themselves 
wronged  by  some  officials  of  the  company,  they  again  entered  French  service , 
sailed  in  1682  to  Hudson's  Bay,  captured  Port  Nelson,  which  they  themselves 
had  founded,  raised  over  it  the  lilies  of  France  and  changed  its  name  to  Port 
Bourbon.  This  action  was  of  course  made  the  subject  of  diplomatic  correspond- 
ence. Lord  Preston,  the  English  ambassador  at  Paris,  thus  wrote  home,  under 
date  of  1684,  January  19 :  "Sent  to  know  if  the  king  had  ordered  any  answer 
concerning  the  attack  upon  Nelson's  post.  I  find  the  great  support  of  Mnns 
de  la  Barre,  the  present  governor  of  Canada,  is  from  the  Jesuits  of  this  court, 
which  order  hath  always  had  a  great  number  of  missionaries  in  that  region, 
who,  besides  the  conversion  of  infidels,  have  had  the  address  to  engross  the 
whole  castor  [beaver]  trade  from  which  they  draw  considerable  advantage." 

Presumably  his  lordship  had  no  objection  to  "the  conversion  of  infidels." 
But  that  "  the  Jesuits  of  this  court,"  whose  "  address "  he  probably  somewhat 
exaggerated,  or  any  other  Frenchmen,  should  have  a  monopoly  of  the  fur 
trade,  was  intolerable.  To  put  an  end  to  such  a  state  of  things,  there  were  no 
better  agents  than  Radisson  and  Groseilliers.  By  the  persuasions  of  Lord 
Preston  and  their  friend  Sir  James  Hayes  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  company,  aid- 
ed perhaps  by  the  entreaties  of  Radisson's  English  wife,  they  again  exchanged, 
this  time  for  good,  the  land  of  their  nativity  for  that  of  their  adoption.  A 
second  time  they  aided  in  establishing  English  authority  over  the  Hudson's  Bay 
region.  Thus  these  men  who  have  so  large  a  part  in  the  history  of  the  explo- 
ration of  North  America  widened  therein  the  domain  of  Saxon  Protestantism- 


ing  much  for  differences  in  doctrine  or  ritual. 

1  Thus  it  is  probi 
states  of  our  Union. 


1  Thus  it  is  probable  that  but  for  its  influence  British  Columbia  would  now  be  one  of  the 


CHAPTER  II. 


EARLY  MISSIONS. 

In  order  of  time,  the  brief,  touching  story  of  one  who  is  often  called 
Wisconsin's  first  missionary  belongs  between  Radisson's  third  "voyage"  and  his 
fourth.  On  the  28th  of  August,  1660,  Renahis  (commonly  written  Rene)  Me- 
nard,  who  had  labored  among  the  Hurons  before  their  utter  defeat  by  the  Iro- 
quois  in  1649  and  the  blotting  out  of  the  missions  in  the  same  year,  started 
from  Three  Rivers  in  search  of  the  vanquished  tribe,  who  were  so  broken  in 
spirit  that  they  hid  even  from  their  former  teachers.  He  came  on  the  15th  of 
October,  St.  Theresa's1  day,  to  the  most  prominent  cape  on  the  southern  shore 
of  Lake  Superior,  Keweenaw  Point,  in  what  is  now  Michigan.  No  Hurons 
there;  only  Ottawas,  who  seem,  like  most  other  Algonquians, 2  to  have  been 
friendly  to  the  whites,  with  perhaps  a  partiality  for  the  French.  But  these 
Ottawas  treated  Menard  with  a  cruelty  that  might  be  expected  from  a  tribe 

1  Though  not  the  discoverer  of  the  adjacent  bay,  Menard  gave  it  St.  Theresa's  name.    We 
have  here  a  suggestion,  first  recognized  by  the  late  eminent  Roman  Catholic  historian  J.  G. 
Shea,  that  dates  of  discovery  can,  in  some  cases,  be  determined  by  the  names  that  were  given 
by  the  early  explorers.    This  principle  must,  of  course,  be  applied  with  caution.    Thus  of  the 
Arched  Rock,  Lake  Superior,  Ridisson  writes:  "  I  gave  it  the  name  of  the  portal  of  St.  Peter, 
li  -causa  my  name  is  so  called,  and  that  I  was  th3  first  Christian  who  ever  saw  it." 

St.  Theresa  is  known  to  some  by  the  fact  that  an  account  of  her  vision  of  hell  has  been 
published  under  the  sanction  of  Roman  Catholic  dignitaries.  Many  "visions"  of  some  of  the 
saints  suggest  that  the  subjects  thereof  would,  with  a  slightly  different  religious  training, 
ha\e  made  first-class  "spirit  mediums."  We  shall  not  understand  men  like  Menard  and  his1 
compeers  unless  we  remember  that  narratives  of  the  sort  indicated  formed  no  small  part  of 
their  reading  and  were  regarded  by  them  as  almost  on  a  parity  with  divine  revelation.  The 
"lesser  devotion"  paid  to  the  saints  was  not  only  a  matter  of  religious  observance,  it  was  a 
dictate  of  prudence  as  well.  For  their  aid  was  almost  indispensable  in  contests  with  Satan, 
\vhos:-  dominion  the  missionaries  were  invading,  whose  subjects  they  were  endeavoring  to 
\\  ivst  from  him,  and  who  might  be  expected  to  appear  in  tangible  presence  under  almost  any 
guise,  in  almost  any  place  .and  at  almost  any  time. 

2  The  spelling  given  above  is  that  used  by  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  (Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion).   For  the  entire  Algonquian  (Algonquin,  Algonkin)  family  Schoolcraft  suggested  the 
i  run  "Algics."    Using  this  name,  thus  wrote  W.  W.  Warren^of  whom  we  have  already  heard, 
;i  descendant  of  a  Mayflower  pilgrim,  as  well  as  of  Ojibways: 

"The  red  men  who  first  greeted  our  pilgrim  fathers,  and  who  are  so  vitally  connected  with 
their  early  history,  were  Algics.  The  people  who  treated  with  good  William  Penn  [with 
whom  good  William  Penn  treated]  for  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  who 
named  him  '  me  guon,'  meaning,  in  the  Ojibway  language. '  a  pen  '  or  '  a  feather,'  were  of  the 
Algic  stock.  The  tribe  over  whom  Pow-hat-tan  (signifying  'a dream')  ruled  as  chief  belonged 
to  this  wide  spread  family." 

But  J.  Hammond  Trumbull  says  that  Powhat  hanne,  or  Powhau't-hanne,  denotes  "falls 
in  a  stream."  Also  that  the  famous  chief  and  his  people  derived  their  name  from  the  falls  in 
tin-  .lames  river,  near  Richmond,  Virginia. 


8  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

some1  of  whose  number  as  known  the  next  winter  by  Radisson  called  forth  from 
him  this  fierce  invective:  "They  are  the  coursedest,  unablest,  the  most  unfaimms 
&  cowardliest  people  that  T  have  scene  amongst  fower  score  nations  that  I  have 
frequented."  Of  Menard's  success  or,  rather,  want  of  success,  among  such  a 
people  let  the  "Jesuit  Relations"  speak: 

"During  the  winter  that  he  spent  with  the  Ontaouak,  he  started  a  church 
among  these  savages,  a  very  small  one  indeed  but  very  precious,  for  it  cost  him 
much  sweat  and  many  tears.  Hence  it  seemed  to  be  composed  only  of  predes- 
tined souls,  the  greatest  part  of  whom  were  dying  infants  whom  he  was  obliged 
to  baptize  stealthily,  for  their  parents  used  to  conceal  them  when  he  would  en- 
ter their  wigwams,  having  the  old  erroneous  notion  of  the  Hurons  that  baptism 
caused  their  deaths.2  Among  the  adults  he  found  two  old  men  whom  grace 
had  prepared  for  Christianity."  Here  follows  an  account  of  them  and  of 
some  good  women  who  also  became  Christians.  "Excepting  these  elect,  the 
Father,  amongst  the  rest  of  these  barbarians,  found  nothing  but  opposition  to 
the  faith,  on  account  of  their  great  brutality  and  infamaus  polygamy.  The 
little  hope  he  had  of  converting  these  people,  plunged  in  all  sorts  of  vices, 
made  him  resolve  to  undertake  a  new  journey  of  a  hundred  leagues  in  order  to 
instruct  a  tribe  of  poor  Hurons,  whom  the  Iroquois  had  caused  to  fly  to  that 
end  of  the  world.  Among  these  Hurons  there  were  a  great  many  old  Chris- 
tians who  asked  most  urgently  for  the  Father.  They  promised  that  at  his  arri- 
val at  their  place  all  the  rest  of  their  countrymen  would  embrace  the  faith. 
But  before  starting  to  this  distant  country,  the  Father  begged  three  young 
Frenchmen  of  his  flock  to  go  ahead  to  reconnoiter."  These  young  men,  "after 
undergoing  many  hardships,  finally  arrived  at  the  village  of  this  poor,  agoniz- 
ing tribe.  Entering  the  wigwams  they  found  but  living  skeletons,  so  feeble 
that  they  could  scarcely  stir  and  stand  on  their  feet."  Having  returned,  Me- 
nard's messengers  sought  to  persuade  the  old  missionary  not  to  attempt  the  dif- 
ficult and  dangerous  journey.  He  answered  :^"  This  is  the  most  beautiful  occa- 
sion to  show  to  angels  and  men  that  I  love  my  Creator  more  than  the  life  which 

1  The  "  hundred  and  fifty  with  their  families." 

a  We  have  the  following  with  its  delicious  bit  of  absurdity  from  Rev.  Ohryostom  Verwyst, 
historian  of  these  early  missions  in  the  Lake  Superior  region,  hhmelf  a  R)in:inist: 

"As  the  early  Jesuit  Fathers  realized  the  absolut3  necessity  of  Baptism  for  salvation,  they 
most  eagerly  sought  to  confer  that  Sacrament  upon  the  dying  children  of  Pagan  parents. 
Seeing  that  their  children  generally  died  after  Baptism,  the  natives  in  their  ignorance  and 
superstition  attributed  their  death  to  Baptism,  which  they  regarded  as  an  evil  charm  for  the 
destruction  of  their  offspring." 

Mr.  Verwyst  is  surely  right  in  assuming  that  such  a  belief  as  that  he  indicates  on  the  part 
of  the  Indians  is  evidence  of  both  ignorance  and  superstition.  The  kindlier  belief  of  the  Jes- 
uits, shared  evidently  by  himself,  that  children  dying  unbaptized  will  be  eternally  lost  must 
be  regarded,  of  course,  as  evidence  of  wisdom  and  piety.  But  as  the  Jndians  were  not  to  be 
blamed  for  their  belief  so,  perhaps,  the  Jesuits  are  not  to  be  praised  for  theirs. 

"I  have  bsen  most  amply  rewarded  for  all  my  trials  and  suffering*,"  says  one  of  the  early 
Jesuits  who  labored  in  801113  part  of  the  interior  of  oar  continent,  though  not,  so  far  as  I 
know,  in  the  Wisconsin  region,  "  I  have  this  day  rescued  from  the  burning  an  infant  who  died 
from  hunger,  its  mother's  resources  in  the  general  famine  having  failed  her;  I  administered 
to  the  dying  infant  the  sacred  rites  of  baptism;  and,  thank  Gol,  it  is  now  safe  from  the 
dreadful  destiny  which  befalls  those  who  die  without  the  pale  of  our  most  holy  church."  Ha 
himself  had  been  compelled  by  hunger  to  eat  part  of  an  Indian  moccasin.  This  group  of  starv- 


EARLY  MISSIONS.  0 

I  have  from  him,  and  would  you  wish  me  to  let  it  escape  ?"  )  "  Some  Hurons," 
continues  the  "  Relation,"  "  who  had  come  to  traffic  with  the  Outaouak  offered 
themselves  to  the  Father  to  act  as  guides.  He  gave  them  some  luggage  to  car- 
ry, and  chose  one  of  the  Frenchmen  (Jean  Guerin,  a  blacksmith)  to  accompany 
him.  So  he  set  out  on  his  journey  the  13th  of  July,  1661,  nine  months  after 
his  arrival  in  the  Outaouak  country.  But  the  poor  Hurons,  thongh  they  had  little 
t:>  carry,  soon  lost  courage ;  their  strength  failed  through  want  of  nourishment. 
They  abandoned  the  Father,  telling  him  they  were  going  in  haste  to  inform  the 
head  men  that  he  was  on  the  way  coming,  and  thus  induce  some  strong  young 
man  to  get  him.  About  fifteen  days  the  Father  stopped  near  a  lake,"  perhaps 
Lac  Vieux  Desert  on  the  boundary  between  Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  "  expect- 
ing help."  But,  as  the  Hurons  did  not  come,  he  continued  the  journey.  "About 
the  10th  of  August,"  says  the  "  Relation,"  "  the  poor  Father,  whilst  following  a 
companion  [around  a  portage]  went  astray."  It  is  almost  certain  that  he  was 
murdered.  "His  camp-kettle  was  found  in  a  Sauk's  hand,  and  some  years  after 
his  disappearance  his  robe  and  prayer-book  were  fonnd  in  a  Dakota  lodge,  and 
were  looked  upon  as  'wawkawn,'  or  supernatural."1 

There  seems  no  sufficient  reason  for  the  supposition  that  Menard  went  by 
way  of  Green  Bay  and  the  Fox- Wisconsin  route  to  the  Mississippi  and  thence 
up  the  Black.  The  so-called  evidence  supporting  this  notion  is  late,  and  comes 
t'r.mi  what  is  almost  conclusively  shown  by  Mr.  Verwyst  to  be  a  mistake  of 
Perrot's.  The  "Jesuit  Relations"  seldom  indulge  in  the  rhetoric  of  under- 
statement in  speaking  of  the  hardships,  dangers  and  achievements  of  any  of 
their  order.  They  call  Menard's  proposed  journey  one  "of  a  hundred  leagues." 
But  twice  that  distance  would  not  equal  such  a  journey  as  that  described  by 
Perrot.  Nor  does  the  narrative  speak  of  any  such  discovery  as  that  of  the 
.Mississippi.  Its  language  accords  with  the  probability  that  Menard  went  to 
Lac  Vieux  Desert  and  thence  followed  the  Wisconsin.  This  route  was  proba- 
bly also  that  of  his  three  messengers  whom,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose,  he 
would  endeavor  to  follow.  "  It  took  the^i  fifteen  days  to  return  to  the  place 
whence  they  had  started."  The  village  which  they  visited  and  to  which  Menard 
was  going  was  near  the  headwaters  of  the  Black  river,  perhaps  in  what  is  now 
Taylor  county.  If  they  went  by  the  upper  Wisconsin  we  can  understand  the 
Ht.itement  that  "they  set  out  on  their  way  to  return,  which  was  a  great  deal 
harder,  being  obliged  to  go  up  the  river  in  returning,  whereas  they  had  gone 
down  stream  when  going  to  the  Huron  village."  But  this  account  does  not 
harmonize  at  all  with  the  theory  that,  on  their  return,  they  went  down  the 
Black,  down  the  Mississippi,  up  the  lower  Wisconsin,  and  down  the  Fox.  Mr. 
Verwyst  thinks  that  Menard  perished  near  the  confluence  of  the  Copper  river 
witli  the  Wisconsin,  not  far  from  the  present  village  of  Merrill. 

Though  the  writer  of  the  "  Relation  "  thinks  it  probable  that   Menard  was 

in*;  inures,  in  M  wretched  wigwam  or,  perhaps,  shelterless,  would  form  a  titling  subject  for 
t  lie  pencil  of  a  Doro,  and  the  entire  narrative  a  theme  for  a  Dante. 

1  Rev.  Edward  Duttielil  Neill,  historian  of  Minnesota  and  one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  first, 
to  labor  therein  under  commission  from  the  American  Home  Missionary  society. 


10  IN  UNNAMED 

murdered,  yet  he  indulges  the  following  supposition,  which  we  copy  as  illustrat- 
ing a  source  of  great  suffering  in  the  Wisconsin  woods : 

"Behold  the  priest  left,  abandoned;  but  in  the  hands  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence. God,  no  doubt,  gave  him  the  courage  to  suffer  with  constancy,  in  that 
extremity,  the  deprivation  of  all  human  succor  when  tormented  by  the  stings  of 
mosquitoes,  which  are  exceedingly  numerous  in  these  parts,  and  so  intolerable 
that  the  three  Frenchmen  who  had  made  the  voyage  [journey  to  the  Huron 
village]  declare  that  there  was  no  other  way  of  protecting  themselves  from 
their  bites  than  to  run  incessantly,  that  it  was  even  necessary  that  two  of  them 
should  chase  away  those  little  beasts  whilst  the  third  was  taking  a  drink.  Thus 
the  poor  Father,  stretched  out  on  the  ground  or  on  some  rock,  remained  exposed 
to  their  stings  and  endured  their  cruel  torment  as  long  as  life  held  out.  Hunger 
and  other  miseries  completed  his  sufferings  and  caused  this  happy  soul  to  leave 
its  body,  in  order  to  go  and  enjoy  the  fruit  of  so  many  hardships  endured  for  the 
conversion  of  savages." 

Four  years  passed  before  the  work  in  which  Menard  had  lost  his  life  was 
undertaken  by  another.  Meanwhile  Chequamegon  bay  became  the  gathering 
place  of  a  large  Indian  population  of  whom  the  first  to  come  were  the  Hurons 
and  the  Ottawas.  The  successor  to  Menard  in  missionary  labor  among  them  or, 
rather,  for  them  was  another  French  Jesuit,  Claude  Allouez.  French  traders 
who  had  been  at  Chequamegon  bay  invited  him  to  return  with  them.  He  thus 
writes  : 

"The  eighth  day  of  August  of  the  year  1665,  I  embarked  at  Three  Riv- 
ers, with  six  Frenchmen,  in  company  with  more  than  four  hundred  savages  of 
divers  nations.  The  devil  formed  all  opposition  imaginable  to  our  voyage, 
making  use  of  the  false  prejudice  these  Indians  have,  namely,  that  baptism 
causes  death  to  their  children.  On  the  second  of  September,  we  entered  into 
the  upper  lake  (Superior),  which  will  hereafter  bear  the  name  of  Monsieur 
Tracy.1  After  having  gone  a  hundred  and  eighty  leagues  along  that  coast 
of  Lake  Tracy  that  looks  toward  the  south,  we  arrived  on  the  1st  of  October. 
1665,  at  'Chequamegon.  It  is  a  beautiful  bay  at  the  head  of  which  is  situated 
the  large  village  of  Indians,  who  there  cultivate  fields  of  Indian  corn  and  do 
not  lead  a  wandering  life.  There  are  at  this  place  men  bearing  arms  who 
number  about  eight  hundred;  but  these  are  gathered  together  from  seven  dif- 
ferent tribes,  and  live  in  a  peaceable  community."  The  particular  place  where 
he  made  his  home  he  thus  describes :  "The  section  of  the  lake  shore  where  we 
have  settled  down  is  between  two  large  villages,  and  is,  as  it  were,  the  center 
of  all  the  tribes  of  the  countries,  because  the  fishing  here  is  very  good,  which 
forms  the  principal  source  of  support  to  these  people.  We  have  erected  there 
a  small  chapel  of  bark,  where  my  sole  occupation  is  to  receive  the  Algonquin 
and  Huron  Christians,  instruct  them,  baptize,  and  catechise  the  children,"  etc. 
The  name  of  the  Holy  Spirit  was  given  by  Allouez  to  mission,  chapel  and  place. 

1  Jean  Baptiste  Tracy,  then  intendam  of  New  France,  an  office  which  was  designed  to  he 
a  check  upon  that  of  governor. 


EARLY  MISSIONS.  H 

This  was  probably  where  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  built  their  first  "fort,"  or 
but  little  distance  therefrom.1  What  Allouez  calls  "La  Pointe  d'Esprit"  is  the 
wide  cape  on  the  west  side  of  the  bay,  not  the  part  of  Madelaine  island  now 
known  by  that  name,  where  the  first  mission  established  was  that  of  the  Amer- 
ican Board. 

One  reason,  apparently,  that  so  many  Indians  chose  the  shores  of  Chequ- 
amegon bay  as  a  home  was  that  there  they  were  at  a  safe  distance  from  the 
Iroquois  on  the  east  and  supposed  themselves  to  be  out  of  danger  from  the 
Sioux  on  the  west  or  had  not  yet  had  reason  to  fear  them.  Says  one  of  the 
writers  in  the  "Jesuit  Relations"  for  1668  and  1669:  "God  has  found  some 
elect  in  every  tribe  during  the  time  in  which  the  fear  of  the  Iroquois  has  kept 
them  assembled  there.  But  finally  the  danger  having  passed,  each  tribe  re- 
turned to  its  own  country."  However,  the  Hurons,  Ottawas  and  perhaps  some 
of  other  tribes  remained. 

In  1667,  the  year  in  which  Marquette  was  sent  to  found  a  mission  at  Sault 
Ste.  Marie,  Allouez  went  back  to  Quebec,  arriving  there  on  the  3rd  of  August. 
He  returned  to  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  where  he  stayed  two  years  longer. 
In  1669  he  went  again  to  Quebec  whence  he  once  more  came  west  to  establish 
a  mission  in  the  Green  Bay  region. 

Jamas  Marquette  succeeded  Allouez  in  the  mission  on  Chequamegon  bay. 
This  worthy  man,  whose  bad  fortune  it  has  been  to  receive  more  honor  for  the 
<leeds  of  others  mistakenly  attributed  to  him  than  for  what  he  did  himself,  ar- 
rived at  his  new  station  on  the  13th  of  September,  1669.  "  I  went,"  he  says, 
u  to  visit  the  Indians,  who  were  living  in  clearings  divided,  as  it  were,  into  five 
villages.  The  Hurons,  to  the  number  of  four  or  five  hundred  souls,  are  nearly 
all  baptized,  and  still  preserve  a  little  Christianity.2  Those  of  the  Keinou- 

1  The  late  Secretary  L.  C.  Drapsr,  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical  society,  bslieved  that  Ra- 
disson's  "fort"  and  the  mission  of  Allouez  wer?,  on  or  about  the  same  site.  Where  was  this? 
O'ie  suggestion  has  baen  given.  Mr.  Wheeler  believes  that  it  was  in  the  southwestern  part  of 
U'.ishburn  itself.  These  are  his  reasons: 

1.  There  were  two  Indian  villages  on  the  Chequamegon ;  one  at  the  head  (sometimes 
c  tiled  the  "bottom")  of  th3  bay;  the  other  probably  at  the  mouth  of  Onion  river,  and  so  a 
short  distanca  south-west  of  Bayfiald.    (A  reason  for  supposing  that  this  second  village  was  at 
t!r>  mouth  of  ths  river  is  that  there  is  sacond -growth  timber  there  and  not  at  Bayfield.)    Al- 
lo-r;z  says  that  he  sat  up  his  establishment  "  between  two  large  villages." 

2.  The  Ojibway  nam3  of  Washburn,  han:l3cl  down  from  th3  earliest  times,  is  Gah-nu- 
k-.vash -koh-dah-ding:  "that  which  was  th3  place  of  meeting"  (n  like  oo;  a  in  kwash  long;  oth- 
er vowels  short). 

3.  Convenience  of  landing. 

4.  Policy  of  traders  to  have  their  posts  outside  of  Indian  villages  to  prevent  collision  of 
hostile  bands. 

/      2  This  remark  of  Marquette's  is  suggestive.    He  and  John  Eliot,  the  Puritan  apostle  to  the 

/  Indians,  were  contamporaries.    After  contrasting  the  wanderings  of  the  Jesuits  witli  tln> 

J    much  shorter  journeys  of  the  Protestant  missionaries,  the  historian  Parkmanadds:  "Yet  in 

/     judging  thw  relative  nurits  of  the  Romish  and  Protestant  missionaries,  it  must  not  be  forgot 

in.  i  lint  while  the  former  contented  themselves  with  sprinkling  a  few  drops  of  water  on  the 

for .'h'>ad  of  the  pros -lyt  •,  the  latter  sought  to  wean  him  from  his  barbarism  and  penetrate 

his  savage  heart  with  the  truth  of  Christianity." 

\  In  speaking  of  this  early  work  among  the  Massachusetts  Indians,  Bancroft  says  that  no 
puins  were  spur ^d  to  taach  them  to  read  and  to  write  and  that  in  a  short  time  the  proportion 
of  th'in  wlio  could  doso  was  I  ir.-c  -r  than  the  corresponding  number  among  the  inhabitants  of 
i;-i^i;i  at  the  present  day.  And  on  tli  •  sun  •  >ul>j.vt  K-lwanl  Kiske  Kimball  ("New  England 


12  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

che  tribe1  (an  Ottawa  clan)  declare  loudly  that  the  time  is  not  yet  come  [to 
embrace  the  Christian  religion].  The  Outaouacs  (Ottawas)  seem  to  harden 
themselves  against  the  instructions  imparted  to  them.  The  Kiskakonk  nation, 
which  for  three  years  has  refused  to  receive  the  gospel  announced  to  them  by 
Father  Allouez,  finally  resolved,  in  the  autumn  of  the  year  1668,  to  obey  God. 
This  resolution  was  taken  in  a  council  and  declared  to  the  Father  who  was  to 
winter  with  them  for  the  fourth  time  in  order  to  instruct  and  baptize  them. 
The  Father  having  gone  to  another  mission,  the  charge  of  this  one  was  given 
to  me."  2 

At  this  time  the  Illinois  were  living  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Some  of 
them  came  to  the  mission.  Marquette  gives  an  account  of  them  and  adds  : 
"  When  the  Illinois  come  to  La  Pointe,  they  pass  a  great  river  about  a  league  in 
width.  It  runs  from  north  to  south  and  so  far  that  the  Illinois,  who  know  not 
what  a  canoe  is,3  have  not  heard  of  its  mouth.  It  is  hardly  credible  that  this 
large  river  empties  [into  the  sea]  at  Virginia;  and  we  rather  believe  that  it  has 
its  mouth  in  California.  If  the  Indians  who  have  promised  to  make  me  a  ca- 
noe do  not  fail  in  their  word,  we  shall  travel  on  this  river  as  far  as  possible." 
As  is  well  known,  this  purpose  was  carried  out  in  1673  when  Joliet  and  Mar- 
quette entered  the  upper  Mississippi  by  the  Fox- Wisconsin  route  as  Radisson 
had  done  fourteen  years  before. 

Marquette's  stay  at  Chequamegon  bay  was  a  short  one.  The  last  account 
of  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  in  the  "Relations"  for  1671  and  1672: 
"The  quarters  of  the  north  have  their  Iroquois,  as  well  as  those  of  the  south : 
there  are  certain  called  Nadouessi  [Sioux]  who  make  themselves  dreaded  by  all 
their  neighbors. 4  Our  Outaouacs  and  Hurons  had,  up  to  the  present  time,  kept 
up  a  kind  of  peace  with  them;  but  affairs  having  become  embroiled,  and  some 
murders  having  been  committed  on  both  sides,  our  savages  had  reason  to  appre- 

Maga/ine,"  September,  1892)  writes:  "It  was  the'missionaries  as  well  as  the  soldiers  who 
saved  New  England." 

It  is  evident  from  accounts  given  by  the  Jesuits  themselves,  that  many  of  their  "con- 
verts "looked  upon  the  rites  of  the  church  as  a  new  kind  of  magic  which  it  might  be  worth 
while  at  least  to  try.  Says  Rev.  S.  S.  Hebberd,  author  of  "  French  Dominion  in  Wisconsin  :" 
"All  revered  the  black-robed  stranger  as  at  least  a  mighty  magician  armed  with  a  mysterious 
power  and  possessed  of  more  potent  spells  than  had  ever  before  been  witnessed  in  the  wilder- 
ness. One  day  a  war  party  (among  the  Fox  Indians)  were  so  wrought  upon  by  the  harangues 
of  Allouez  that  they  daubed  the  figure  of  a  cross  upon  their  shields  of  bull-hide  before  going 
to  battle;  they  returned  victorious,  extolling  the  sacred  symbol  as  the  greatest  of  '  war-mcdi 
cines.'  This  test  convinced  multitudes.  It  is  the  first  recorded  attempt  to  apply  the  scientific 
method  to  the  verifying  of  religious  truth." 

1  Keinouche,  the  kind  of  fish  known  as  pike.    Of  this  name,  a  modified  form  is  Kenosha. 

2  Marquette  made  a  fatal  mistake  as  a  minister  of  Christ.    Ha  allowed  tho  Indians  to  re- 
tain such  sacrifices  to  imaginary  spirits  as  he  thought  were  harmless.— REV.  E.  D.  NEILL. 

3  "How  did  they  cross  the  river?"  is  a  natural  inquiry.    But  Marquette  had  in  mind,  prob- 
ably, the  larger  boats  made  by  Indians  who  dwelt  on  the  shores  of  the  Great  Lakes. 

4  These  Nadouessi  having  bsen  irritated  by  the  Hurons  and  the  Outaouacs,  war  was  kin 
died  among  them,  and  they  began  it  with  so  much  fury  that  some  prisoners  which  were  made 
on  both  sides  were  put  to  death  by  burning  them."— Relation  of  the  Mission  of  St.  /(/tut  fin*  «1 
Missilimackinac. 

We  wish  that  the  record  added  that  Marquette  tried  to  prevent  the  burning  of  living  men 
by  the  Indians  of  his  own  party.    But  I  find  no  such  statement. 


EARLY  MISSIONS.  13 

hend  that  the  storm  would  burst  upon  them,  and  judged  that  it  was  safer  for 
them  to  leave  the  place.  They  retired  to  the  Lake  of  the  Hurons.  Father 
Marquette  was  obliged  to  follow  his  flock,  submitting  the  same  fatigues  and  en- 
countering the  same  dangers  with  them."  The  Hurons  went  to  "  Missilimacki- 
nac,"  the  mainland  north  of  the  island  now  called  Mackinaw  though  the  name 
was  applied  to  both.  The  "Outaouacs"  found  a  home  on  the  island  of  Ekaen- 
touton,  now  called  Manitoulin.  Not  until  our  own  Mr.  Ayer  came  in  1830  was 
the  gospel  of  Christ  again  proclaimed  on  the  shores  of  Chequamegon  bay. 
Then  another  Indian  nation,  the  Ojibways,  held  the  land. 

But  before  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  came  to  an  end,  another  had 
been  established.  Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  large  aboriginal 
population  about  Green  bay.  To  the  mouth  of  the  Fox  river  or  thereabout, 
came  Allouez  on  the  2nd  of  D.ecember,  1669.  French  traders  were  there 
ahead  of  him,1  and  on  the  following  day,  dedicated  in  the  calendar  of  the 
church  of  Rome  to  St.  Francis  Xavier,  eight  of  them  attended  mass.  This 
mission,  named  from  the  day  on  which  its  first  service  was  held,  was  main- 
tained for  almost  sixty  years.  It  may  be  that  Allouez  built  its  first  chapel 
somewhere  between  the  mouth  of  Fox  river  and  Sturgeon  bay.  In  1671  the 
headquarters  of  the  mission  were  established  where  is  now  the  village  of  De 
Pere  (originally  Des  Peres ;  that  is,  "of  the  father"). 

Following  the  establishment  of  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier  came  the 
formal  act  of  taking  possession  of  this  continent  by  the  deputy  of  the  French 
king.  This  took  place  1671,  June  14th,  at  a  great  gathering  of  the  Indian 
tribes  held  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  Nicholas  Perrot  gathered  the  Indians  together. 
Allouez  was  there,  and  made  an  address  to  the  Indians  concerning  the  king 
in  terms  that  lead  us  to  wonder  what  more  he  could  have  said  had  he  been 
speaking  of  the  Lord  of  earth  and  heaven.  The  ceremony  is  spoken  of  in  the 
"Jesuit  Relations"  as  one  "worthy  of  the  eldest  son  of  the  church  and  of  a 
mast  Christian  sovereign."  These  expressions  are  not  meant  for  irony,  though 
the  king  spoken  of  is  no  other  than  the  infamous  Louis  XIV.  who  was  so  soon 
(1685),  with  the  support  and  almost  certainly  at  the  instigation  of  Jesuits,  to 
drive  into  exile  thousands  of  his  best  subjects  because  they  were  Protestants. 
It  is  a  curious  fact  that  one  time  the  only  forms  of  religion  that  would  have 
been  tolerated  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin  were  Romanism  and  the  various  forms 
of  heathenism  that  prevailed  among  the  Indians. 

It  is  evident  from  the  terms  of  the  proces-werbal,  set  forth  at  Sault  Ste. 
Marie  by  "  Simon  Francois  Daumont,  Esquire,  Sieur  de  St.  Lusson,  commission- 
er subdelegate  of  my  Lord  the  Intendant  of  New  France  "  (Jean  Baptiste  Ta- 
lon), that  he  did  not  intend  that  anything  should  be  lost  because  it  had  not 
been  claimed.  "  We  take  possession  of  the  said  place  of  Ste.  Mary  of  the  Falls 

1  Despite  Bancroft's  statement,  in  regard  to  the  exploration  of  the  interior  of  North  Amer- 
ir.1.  that  "not  a  cape  was  turned,  nor  a  river  entered,  but  a  Jesuit  led  the  way,"  the  trader, 
almost  without  exception,  preceded  the  missionary.  Professor  Frederick  Jackson  Turner  of 
our  state  university  stated,  to  the  writer  hereof,  in  regard  to  this  entire  region,  that  he  knew 
of  no  ease  in  which  a  Jesuit  led  in  the  work  of  exploration. 


14  HT UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

as  well  as  of  lakes  Huron  and  Superieur,  the  island  of  Caientonton  [Manitou- 
lin]  and  of  all  other  countries,  rivers,  lakes  and  tributaries,  contiguous  and  ad- 
jacent thereunto,  as  well  discovered  as  to  be  discovered,  which  are  bounded  on 
the  one  side  by  the  Northern  and  Western  Seas  and  on  the  other  side  by  the 
South  Sea  (Pacific  ocean)  including  all  its  length  or  breadth." 

Nicholas  Perrot,  commanding  for  the  king  at  the  post  of  the  Nadouesionx 
(Sioux)  took  formal  possession  of  the  country  about  the  Bay  des  Puants !  and 
the  upper  Mississippi  at  Post  St.  Anthony,  8th  of  May,  1689.  He  called  at- 
tention to  our  Wisconsin  lead  mines,  discovered,  it  is  believed,  by  a  previous  ex- 
plorer Le  Sueur  who  came  to  the  Upper  Mississippi  from  Green  Bay,  in  1  (>8.S. 

To  human  sight  it  would  have  seemed,  in  1671,  that  the  St.  Lawrence  and 
Mississippi  valleys  were  to  be  closed  forever  to  other  than  French  and  Raman 
Catholic  influence.  2  We  honor  the  early  missionaries  though  they  erred  both 
in  method  and  teaching  and  were  the  active  supporters  of  an  abominable  politi- 
cal despotism,  and  the  agents  of  an  ecclesiastical  tyranny  which  has  justly 
brought  upon  itself  the  suspicion  of  the  world.  "  The  individual  Jesuit  might 
be,  and  often  was,  a  hero,  saint,  and  martyr,  but  the  system  of  which  he  was  a 
part;  and  which  he  was  obliged  to  administer,  is  fundamentally  unsound,  and  in 
contravention  of  inevitable  laws  of  nature,  so  that  his  noblest  toils  were  forever 
doomed  to  failure,  save  in  so  far  as  they  tended  to  ennoble  and  perfect  himself, 
and  offered  a  model  for  others  to  imitate."3  The  courage  and  devotion  of  men 
like  Menard,  Allouez  and  Marquette  are  the  clean  pages  upon  the  blood-stained 
history  of  French  rule  in  the  region  of  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Upper  Mississ- 
ippi. But  the  Jesuit  missions  there  were  failures.  To  be  sure  there  were 
many  baptisms.  Marquette  who  returned  to  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xav- 
ier  late  in  September,  1673,  and  spent  there  possibly  the  following  winter  and 
certainly  the  next  summer  puts  the  number  at  two  thousand.  In  1676,  a  chap- 
el was  built  at  De  Pere.  This  with  the  mission  house  was  burned  eleven  years 
later,  by  hostile  Foxes,  Kickapoos  and  Mascoutins.  There  was  no  school  house 
to  burn.  "No  evidence  can  be  found  that  the  Jesuits  ever  opened  a  mission- 
ary school  in  Wisconsin  before  the  American  troops  took  possession  of  Fort 
Howard."4  No  doubt  there  was  oral  religious  instruction.  It  is  said,  how- 


1  "Bay  des  Puants,"— Bay  of  the  Bad  Smell,— was  the  unpleasant  name  given  to  Green 
bay  by  the  French  who  first  came  thither.    They  sometimes,  also,  applied  the  name  to  Lake 
Michigan.    The  reference,  however,  is  to  the  Winnebago  Indians,  and  to  them  not  on  account 
of  their  habits  as  might  well  be  the  case,  but  because  of  the  tradition  that  they  originally  came 
from  the  "ill-smelling,"  that  is  the  salt,  water.    "  The  Bay,"  says  Marquette,  "  bears  a  name 
that  has  not  so  bad  a  meaning  in  the  Indian  language,  as  they  call  it  Salt  Bay  rather  than 
Fetid  Bay,  although  among  them  it  is  about  the  same." 

2  On  the  western  side  of  the  Mississippi  the  profession  of  any  form  of  Christian  faith  save 
Romanism  was  illegal  until  (1800,  October  1st)  Spain  receded  the  province  of  Louisiana  to 
France.    In  practice,  however,  there  was  tolerance  to  the  American  settlers  who  even  at  that 
early  day  had  found  homes  beyond  the  Mississippi.    An  inquisitor  who  came  to  New  Orleans 
to  exercise  the  functions  of  his  "  Holy  Office, "—which  a  son  of  General  Sherman  thinks  so 
bejieficient  in  its  practical  working, — was  shipped  back  to  Spain  by  (acting)  Governor  Estavan 
Mh 

v.  R.  F.  Littledale,  LL.  D.,  D.  D.,  D.  C.  L. 

7.  W.  C.  Whitford,  ex  superintendent  of  public  instruction. 


KARLY  MISSIONS.  IT, 

ever,  that  there   was  a  school  at   Michilimackinac  (Point  Ste.  Ignace). 

But  the  pagan  Indians  were  not  the  worst  foes  whom  the  early  mission- 
aries had  to  encounter.  Nor  was  the  fact  that  most  of  their  "  converts  "  con- 
tinued in  practical  heathenism,  the  only  charge  brought  against  them.  ."  With 
the  Jesuits  the  conversion  of  souls  is  but  a  pious  phrase  for  trading  in  beaver 
skins."  These  bitter  words  of  Frontenac,  governor  of  New  France  from  1672 
to  1682,  and  agun  from  1688  until  his  death  in  November,  1698,  show  a  feel- 
ing which  he  did  not  possess  alone.  La  Salle  accuses  the  Jesuits  of  plotting 
against  his  life.  Yet  it  dulls  the  edge  of  these  charges  to  know  that  they  were 
m  ide  by  those  who  were  virtually  business  rivals,  and  that  one  of  the  points  of 
controversy  between  Frontenac  and  the  ecclesiastical  authorities  was  in  regard 
to  the  sale  of  liquor  to  Indians,  which  the  missionaries  wished  to  forbid.  And 
I  believe  the  frightful  accusation  made  by  La  Salle  to  be  wholly  false.  Yet  we 
must  grant  that  the  Jesuits  should  not  have  gone  into  the  fur  trade.  As  it  was 
their  missions  here  came  to  an  end  under  suspicion  and  reproach.  The  civil 
authorities  and  rival  orders1  within  the  church  of  Rome  itself  were  alike  hos- 
tile to  them/  Thus  Louis  Hennepin, — a  Franciscan  of  the  stricter  sort  known 
as  Recollects, — who,  in  his  wanderings  with  La  Salle  in  1679,  came  into  Green 
Bay2  ignores  the  existence  of  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier.  This  is  the 
mare  remarkable  because  in  the  following  year,  1680,  he  enjoyed  the  hospital- 
ity of  those  laboring  there. 

Besides  this  strife  within  New  France  there  was  a  contest  between  the  au- 
thorities of  that  province  and  those  of  Louisiana.  A  bad  government  at  home 
naturally  produced  its  like  in  the  colonies.  Corruption  in  administration  seems 
t  >  have  been  expected  as  a  matter  of  course.  Burdensome  monopolies  were 
made  legal.  Unchristian  intolerance  and  exclusion  were  expressly  command* 
44  Precise  orders  were  given  by  Louis  XIII.  that  no  Protestant  should  settle  in 
Canada,  and  that  no  other  religion  than  the  Catholic  should  be  tolerated."  3 
There  was  not  even  the  thought  of  popular  education. 

That  the  government  of  New  France  was  less  oppressive  than  that  of  the 
nv>ther  country  was  merely  because  men  in  Canada  could  easily  find  the  free- 
dom of  lake,  forest,  and  prairie,  a  freedom,  however,  that  was  purely  natural 
and  not  legal.  Thus  the  fur  trade  monopolies  could  not  prevent  the  existence 
of  a  large  class  of  unlicensed  traders,  or  coureurs  de  bois.  Among  these  were 
found  some  of  the  most  venturesome  explorers,  men  like  Radisson  and  Groseil- 
liers.  The  trader  rather  than  the  priest  was  the  first  who  found  a  path  in  the 


1  No  true  judgment  of  the  church  of  Rome  can  be  formed  which  ignores  the  denomina- 
tion:!! divisions  within  her  ranks.    These  are  known  as  "orders,"  and  the   history  of  their 
unit  iiiil  contests  forms  some  of  the  worst  chapters  of  sectarian  controversy. 

2  This  was  soon  after  his  discovery  (1080)  of  the  falls  at  the  present  city  of  Minneapolis. 
Thrsi>,  called  Kara  by  the  Dakotas  from  irara  to  laugh,  he  named  after  St.  Anthony  of  Padua 
(Italy).    Five  hundred  feet  was  the  bight  he  gave  them  in  his  narrative  as  first  published. 
Later  he  put  it  at  six  hundred  feet.  t\t)| 

3  John  Law,  a  eulogist  of  the  Jesuits,  addressing  the  Young  Men's  Catholic  Literarj 
tute  of  Cincinnati. 


1(>  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

wilderness,  and  it  was  commonly  in  canoes  laden  with  goods  for  the  Indians 
that  the  missionary  found  conveyance  to  his  Western  home. 

The  French,  willing  to  step  down  almost  to  the  plane  of  barbarism,  were 
for  the  most  part  successful  in  winning  allies  among  the  Indians  of  the  interior. 
But  the  cargoes  of  goods  which  the  traders  brought  were  of  course  tempting  ob- 
jects of  plunder.  Soon  the  Indians,  especially  the  Outagamies,  or  Foxes, l 
learned  enough  of  the  ways  of  civilization  to  m?,ke  themselves  toll-gatherers. 
Their  service  was  to  help  bring  the  laden  canoes  up  the  Fox  river  rapids, — 
since  developed  into  some  of  the  best  water-powers  in  the  United  States, — and 
over  the  portage  to  the  Wisconsin.  Their  charges  were  quite  as  just  as  those 
of  the  French  colonial  authorities  and  far  more  reasonable.  Thus  the  gover- 
nor demanded  of  Radisson  and  Groseilliers,  as  the  price  of  a  license,  one-half 
of  all  they  might  get.  Refusal  to  pay  forced  them  to  go  without  legal  permis- 
sion and  so  exposed  them  to  the  exactions  from  which,  as  already  narrated, 
they  fled  to  Boston.  In  the  general  game  of  grab,  the  Outagamies, —  crude 
reasoners  of  the  wilderness ! —  may  have  thought  themselves  entitled  to  all  that 
they  could  compel  others  to  pay. 

Of  the  many  evils  with  which  New  France  was  afflicted,  none  was  more 
hurtful  to  the  Indians  than  the  fur-trade  monopoly.  It  lowered  the  price  of 
what  they  had  to  sell  and  increased  the  cost  of  what  they  wished  to  buy.  They 
soon  learned  that  the  English  would  give  sometimes  from  four  to  six  times  as 
much  for  beaver  skins  as  the  French  did.  But  these  commanded  the  lakes  and 
were  at  hand ;  the  English  were  far  away.  The  sturdiest  young  men  of  the 
Puritan  commonwealths  and  of  New  York  did  not  go  into  the  wilderness  to  be- 
come semi-savages.  The  British  colonists  sought  to  turn  forests  into  farms  and 
thus  found  enough  to  do  at  home.  Moreover,  the  great  water-courses  were  not 
open  to  them,  and  the  frequent  wars  made  their  settlements  compact  and  put 
them  much  of  the  time  on  the  defensive. 

1  The  Foxes  were  of  two  stocks  :  one  calling  themselves  Outagamies,  or  Foxes,  whence  our 
English  name;  the  other,  Musquakink,  or  men  of  red  clay,  the  name  now  used  by  the  tribe. 
They  lived  in  early  times  with  their  kindred  the  Sacs  east  of  Detroit,  and  some  say  near  the 
St.  Lawrence.  They  were  driven  west  and  settled  at  Saginaw,  a  name  derived  from  the  Sabs. 
Thence  they  were  forced  by  the  Iroquois  to  Green  Bay ;  but  were  compelled  to  leave  that  place 
and  settle  on  Fox  River."— 0.  W.  BUTTERFIELD. 


CHAPTER  III. 


THE  OFT  Ad  AMI  K   WAR. 

With  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  to  the  thrones  of  England  and 
Scotland  began  the  struggle  between  the  French  and  the  British,  elsewhere 
called  the  second  War  of  a  Hundred  Years.  During  its  first  distinct  phase, 
known  in  American  history  as  King  William's  war,  the  Outagamies,  or  Fox 
Indians,  became  bold  enough  to  plunder, l  as  early  as  1693,  some  of  the  French 
traders  who,  they  alleged,  were  furnishing  arms  to  the  Sioux,  the  Outagamies' 
traditional  enemies.  The  war  that  followed  in  the  Mississippi  valley  and  the 
Upper  Lake  region  was  virtually  the  beginning  of  the  struggle  by  which  the 
French  were  dispossessed  of  their  North  American  dominions. 

The  history  of  much  of  this  war  is  obscure  as  to  both  time  and  circum- 
stance. But  it  is  known  that  few  wars  of  modern  time  have  surpassed  it  in  fe- 
rocity or  iji  the  number  of  those  s^ii'n  as  compared  with  the  number  taking 
part.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  by  1712  the  French  and  their  Indian  allies 
had  formed  the  purpose  to  destroy  the  Outagamies.  In  the  spring  of  that  year 
a  large  force  of  that  tribe,  with  whom  were  Mascoutins  and  some  Sauks,  en- 
camped near  Detroit  where  a  post  had  been  built  by  the  French  to  keep  the 
British  from  the  upper  lakes.  Here  the  Outagamies  and  their  allies  made 
themselves  troublesome.  But  though  the  fort  was  virtually  at  their  mercy  they 
made  no  assault  and  took  no  lives.  On  the  12th  of  May,  Indian  allies  of  the 
French  arrived.  The  united  force  immediately  beset  the  camp  of  the  Outaga- 
mies, whom  the  fire  of  the  enemy,  hunger  and  the  want  of  water  brought  to 
the  humiliation  of  offering  surrender.  "My  father,"  said  their  great  war  chief 
IVrmoussa  to  Du  Buisson,  the  French  commander,  "I  come  to  you  to  demand 
life.  It  is  no  longer  ours.  You  are  masters  of  it.  All  the  nations  have  aban- 
doned us."  (He  speaks  for  the  Oatagamies  and  Mascoutins;  the  Sauks  had 
•  leserted.)  "  But  do  not  believe  I  am  afraid  to  die.  It  is  the  life  of  our  wom- 
en and  children  that  I  ask  of  you."  "I  confess,"  says  Du  Buisson,  "that  I 
was  touched  with  compassion  at  their  misfortunes;  but  as  war  and  pity  do  not 
a^reo  together,  and  particularly  as  I  understood  they  were  paid  by  the  English 
for  our  destruction,  I  abandoned  them  to  their  unfortunate  fate;  indeed  I  has- 

1  The  charge  made  by  the  French  that  tho  Outagamies  were  incited  to  hostility  by  the 
Hritish  is  not  supported  by  evidence.  However,  it  would  be  probable  enough  save  for  the 
lack  of  communication  between  tin-  Knglish  colonies  and  the  distant  interior. 


is  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

tened  to  have  this  tragedy  finished,  in  order  that  the  example  might  strike  ter- 
ror to  the  English  and  to  themselves." 

In  their  first  encampment  the  Outagamies  withstood  a  siege  of  nineteen 
days.  Then,  under  cover  of  storm  and  night,  they  sought  a  second  place  of 
defence  where  they  held  out  against  overwhelming  odds  four  days  more,  "fight- 
ing with  much  courage,"  says  Du  Buisson,  who  adds :  u  Finally,  not  being  able 
to  do  any  thing  more  they  surrendered  at  discretion  to  our  people  wh:>  gave 
them  no  quarter.  All  were  killed  except  the  women  and  children,  whose  lives 
were  spared,  and  one  hundred  men  who  had  been  tied  but  escaped. 

"All  our  allies  returned  to  our  fort  with  their  slaves"  [the  ca,ptive  WOIIKMI 
and  children,  it  would  seem].  "Their  amusement  was  to  shoot  four  or  five  of 
them  every  day.  The  Hurons  did  not  spare  a  single  one  of  theirs. 

"  In  this  manner  came  to  an  end  these  two  wicked  nations  who  so  badly 
afflicted  and  troubled  all  the  country.  Our  Rev.  Father  chanted  a  grand  mass 
to  render  thanks  to  God  for  having  preserved  us  from  the  enemy.  The  enemy 
lost  a  thousand  souls,  men,  women  and  children." 

Thus  ended  the  so-called  siege  of  Detroit. 

At  the  end  of  his  report  which  is  dated  "  au  Fort  du  Detroit,  Pontchar- 
train,  June  15,  1712,"  Du  Buisson  expresses  to  Marquis  de  Vaudreuil,  gover- 
nor-general of  Canada,  the  hope  that  "you  will  not  suffer  a  devil  to  bs  reduced 
to  beggary."  He  means  himself,  using  the  term  devil  after  the  manner  of 
those  who  mistake  coarseness  for  humor.  Most  of  us,  however,  will  be  inclined 
to  give  his  expression  a  very  literal  interpretation.  :  , 

Notwithstanding  the  fond  hopes  of  Da  Buisson,  the  Outagamies  were  not 
exterminated.  According  to  the  estimate  of  the  missionary  Gabriel  Marest, 1 
who  lays  the  blame  of  the  war  on  his  own  countrymen,  there  were  four  hun- 
dred warriors  of  that  nation  at  Green  Bay.  With  diplomatic  skill  the  Outaga- 
mies sought  alliances.  They  almost  annihilated  French  trade  in  what  is  now 
Wisconsin  and  Minnesota.  They  blocked  the  Fox-Wisconsin  route2  and  threat- 
ened that  of  the  Chicago  and  the  Illinois.  It  was  evident  that  something 
must  be,  done.  It  was  even  proposed  to  bring  about  reforms  in  law  and  ad- 

1  We  turn  for  a  moment  from  graver  matters  to  note  that  in  connection  with  the  name  ol 
Marest,  there  may  be  offered  a  humble  contribution  to  the  history  of  a  bad  joke.    Writing 
1712,  November  9th,  from  "  Cascaskias  "  (old  Kaskaskia,  Illinois),  which  he  describes  as  mid- 
way batween  the  Ohio  and  the  "  Pekitanoui "  (the  Missouri),  Marest  states  that  "  omne  genus 
muscarum "  (every  kind  of  fly)  abounds  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  that  since 
Frenchmen  cams  thither  the  mosquitoes  hava  caused  an  unmeasured  amount  of  profanity. 
We  could  wish  that  the  statement  of  the  age  of  this  bit  of  supposed  humor  might  prevent  its 
use  hereafter:  a  use  that,  in  regard  to  a  senseless  and  wicked  habit,  is  too  often  both  sugges- 
tion and  apology. 

Marest  for  a  time  was  at  Plymouth,  Massachusetts,  as  a  captive,  having  baen  taken  with 
other  prisoners  when,  in  1095,  the  English  seized  the  forts  on  Hudson's  hay. 

2  These  were  the  principal  routes  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi : 

1.  From  Lake  Erie,  by  way  of  the  Miami  and  the  Wabash. 

2.  From  Lake  Michigan,  by  way  of  the  St.  Joseph  river  and  the  Wabash. 

3.  From  the  St.  Joseph,  by  way  of  the  Kankakee  river,  to  the  Illinois. 

4.  By  the  Chicago  river  to  the  Illinois. 

5.  The  Fox- Wisconsin  route, 

6.  From  Lake  Superior  ,  by  way  of  the  Bois  Brule  and  the  St.  Croix. 


THE  OFTACAMII-:   WAIL.  1<) 

ministration.  But  this  was  too  revolutionary,  of  course,  and  instead  of  doing 
justice  to  the  Indians,  as  was  advised  by  Perrot  and  others,  the  French  authori- 
ties resolved  to  try  a  second  time  to  exterminate  their  hated  enemies. 

Accordingly  there  set  out  from  Quebec  1716,  March  14th,  the  first  hostile 
expedition  of  white  men  that  ever  trod  Wisconsin  soil.  "  Every  one  believed," 
said  Charlevoix,  "  that  the  Fox  nation  was  about  to  be  destroyed,  and  so  they 
themselves  judged.  They,  therefore,  determined  to  sell  their  lives  as  dearly  as 
possible. " 

It  was,  according  to  tradition,  at  the  little  Butte  des  Morts,  near  the  pres- 
ent city  of  Menasha,  at  the  outlet  of  Lake  Winnebago,  that  the  Outagamies 
prepared  for  what  they  supposed  to  be  their  final  defence.  But  their  bravery 
won  from  De  Louvigny,  the  French  commander,  honorable  terms,  which  we  are 
sorry  tD  say  they  did  not  faithfully  keep.  So  the  war  went  on.  In  these  years 
of  strife  and  bloodshed  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier  found  shelter  in  a  fort, 
to  which  it  gave  name,  built  some  time  between  1718  and  1721  a  mile  and  a 
half  from  the  month  of  Fox  river  and  on  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Green 
Bay.  Hither,  in  the  summer  of  1721,  came  Peter  Francis  Xavier  Charlevoix, 
and  found  there  his  fellow  Jesuit,  Jean  Baptiste  Chardon,  one  of  the  last  of  the 
early  missionaries  in  the  region  west  of  Lake  Michigan.  Chardon  was  present 
at  a  great  council  held  at  Green  Bay,  7th  of  June,  1726,  for  the  real  or  pretend- 
ed purpose  of  making  peace  between  the  French  and  Indians.  Of  these,  Out- 
ajamies,  Sauks  and  Winnebagoes  took  part  in  the  council.  The  truce  rather 
than  peace  then  agreed  upon  lasted  less  than  two  years.  But  it  gave  Beauhar- 
nois,  then  viceroy  of  New  France,  the  opportunity  of  sending  an  expedition  to 
establish  among  the  Sioux  a  fort  on  the  west  side  of  Lake  Pepin.  To  command 
this  force  he  chose  Rene  Boucher,  the  Sieur  de  la  Perriere,  who  in  1708  left 
behind  him  in  New  England1  a  trail  of  blood.  The  Foxes  permitted  this' 
Bjucher  to  pass  unmolested  from  Fort  St.  Francis  to  the  site  chosen  for  the 
new  fort  to  which  the  viceroy's  name  was  given.  Nor  did  they  interfere  with 
his  return. 

Strengthened  by  their  new  military  post  Fort  Beauharnois,  the  French  be- 
came bolder.  Rev.  Emanuel  Crespel,  of  the  order  of  Recollects,  gives  an  ac- 
c;>unt  of  an  expedition  which  he  accompanied  as  chaplain.  His  story  needs  no 
<•  niiment  and  little  explanation.  He  writes  very  unconcernedly  about  the  pro- 
j»  xrd  destruction  of  a  people.  "Four  hundred  French,  to  be  joined  by  eight 
or  nine  hundred  Indians  of  several  nations,  the  whole  under  command  of  M. 
de  Lignerie,  were  dispatched  with  orders  to  destroy  a  nation  of  Indians,  called 

1  ( )n  the  25»th  of  August,  1708,  a  force  of  two  hundred  fifty  men,  consisting  of  French  and 
Indians,  reached  Haverhill.  The  house  of  Rev.  Benjamin  Rolf e  was  the  first  attacked.  It 
\\ -as  garrisoned  by  three  soldiers,  who  when  the  enemy  appeared  became  terrified  and  fled. 
The  enemy  broke  through  the  door  .and  soon  captured  Mr.  Rolf  e  whom  they  tomahawked. 
Mrs.  Rolf o  and  one  child  were  also  killed.— RKV.  G.  L.  GLKASON,  Haverhill,  Massachusetts. 

A  more  vivid  narrative  says  that  Rene  Boucher,  the  Sieur  de  la  Perriere  was  "the  officer 
in  command  of  the  Indians  who,"  with  a  party  of  French,  1708,  August  2'.>th,  "surprised 
Haverhill,  M.issarhus.-tts,  killed,"  among  forty  others,  "the  minister  of  the  town,  scalped 
his  wife  and  broke  the  skull  of  his  ehild  against  a  rock." 


L>0  IX   I'NNAMKl)   WISCONSIN. 

by  the  French  the  Fox  Indians;  but  in  their  own  language  the 

"  We  halted  on  the  17th  [of  August,  1728],  to  avoid  arriving  at  the  post 
of  La  Baye  before  night,  wishing  to  surprise  our  enemies,  whom  we  knew  to  be 
in  company  with  the  Saguis  [Sauks],  whose  village  lay  near  Fort  St.  Francis. 
The  enemies  had  information  and  all  the  inhabitants  escaped  except  four,  \vh:> 
were  delivered  to  our  Indians ;  and  they,  after  having  long  amused  'themselves 
with  tormenting  them,  shot  them  with  arrows,  making  them  suffer  the  pain  of 
twenty  deaths  before  they  deprived  them  of  life.  I  was  a  painful  witness  l  > 
this  cruel  transaction,  and  wished  to  point  out  what  I  thought  reprehensible  in 
their  proceeding;  but  all  our  interpreters  were  on  the  other  side  of  the  river." 

"After  this  affair  we  ascended  the  Fox  river.  The  24th  of  August,  we 
arrived  at  the  village  of  the  Puans  Indians.  Our  men  were  well  disposed  to 
destroy  such  men  as  they  found  there,  but  the  flight  of  the  inhabitants  saved 
them,  and  we  could  only  burn  their  huts,  and  destroy  the  harvest  of  corn  on 
which  they  subsist." 

"The  next  day,  being  St.  Lawrence's,  we  had  mass,  and  entered  a  small 
river  which  led  us  to  a  marshy  ground,  on  the  borders  of  which  was  situated 
the  chief  settlement  of  those  Indians  of  whom  we  were  in  search.  We  found 
in  their  village  some  women  only,  whom  our  Indians  made  slaves,  and  an  old 
man  whom  they  burned  by  a  slow  fire,  without  manifesting  the  least  repugnance 
for  committing  so  barbarous  an  action." 

These  murders  of  five  helpless  victims  moved  the  chaplain  to  give  the  of- 
fending Indians  a  moral  lecture.  It  does  not  appear  that  he  gave  De  Lignery 
who  permitted  these  atrocities  the  benefit  of  any  part  of  his  excellent  sermon. 
'  He  goes  on  with  something  like  Unconscious  satire  to  say,  "I  was  proceeding  to 
give  further  reasons,  when  orders  were  given  to  advance  against  the  last  post  of 
the  enemy  which  was  situated  on  a  little  river  which  runs  into  another  river, 
that  communicates  with  the  Mississippi.  We  did  not  find  any  Indians,  and  as 
we  had  no  orders  to  advance  farther,  we  employed  some  days  in  laying  waste 
the  country  to  deprive  the  enemy  of  the  means  of  subsistence. 

"  After  this  expedition,  if  such  a  useless  march  deserves  the  name,  we  pre- 
pared to  return  to  Montreal,  from  which  we  were  now  four  hundred  and  fifty 
leagues  distant.  In  our  passage  we  destroyed  the  fort  at  La  Baye,  because  be- 
ing so  near  so  near  the  enemy,  it  would  not  afford  a  secure  retreat  to  the 
French  who  must  be  left  as  a  garrison." 

Beauharnois  did  not  regard  the  march  as  useless.  "  It  is  certain,"  he 
wrote  1728,  September  1st,  to  the  French  minister  of  war,  "  that  one-half  these 
nations,  who  number  four  thousand  souls,  will  die  of  hunger,  and  that  the  rest 
will  come  in  and  sue  for  mercy." 

"  The  Foxes  would  have  found  refuge  with  the  Sioux,  if  the  French  fort 
had  not  been  established  there,"  said  an  official  dispatch  from  New  France  to 
the  home  government.  But  the  Sioux,  whom  the  Outagamies  had  won  to  a 
brief  alliance,  proved  faithless  to  them  in  their  hour  of  greatest  need.  Yet  so 
much  dreaded  were  the  Outagamies,  even  in  defeat,  that  Fort  Beauharnois  was 


KM)  OF  FHKNCI1   DOMINION.  k  21 

abandoned  at  their  approach.  Fugitives  themselves,  they  did  not  pursue  the 
garrison  but  sought  ^fuge  among  the  lowas.  Soon  they  returned  to  the 
Wisconsin  region.  No*  the  Sioux  alone,  but  all  their  allies,  the  Mascoutins 
and  the  Kiokapoos,  the  ^auks  and  the  Winnebagoes,  had  deserted  them.  And 
of  these  the  Mascoutins  and  at  least  some  of  the  Winnebagoes  became  open 
enemies. 

Almost  fifty-nine  years  elapsed  from  the  coming  of  Allouez  to  Green  Bay 
in  1669  until  the  departure  of  the  last  missionary  with  the  garrison  of  Fort  St. 
Francis  in  September,  1728.  Yet  the  Indian  allies  of  the  French  seem  to  have 
received  very  little  practical  Christianity.  They  continued  to  act  like  savages. 
Thus,  probably  in  the  autumn  of  1729,  an  expedition  of  Ottawas,  Ojibways, 
Menomonees  and  Winnebagoes  surprised  a  hunting-party  of  Outagamies.  Of 
this  event  the  cheerful  Beauharnois  made  report  under  date  of  1730,  May  6th : 

"I  have  the  honor  to  communicate  to  you  the  favorable  news  I  have  re- 
ceived this  winter,  through  different  letters  of  officers  who  command  in  the 
upper  country. 

"A  party  of  over  two  hundred  Indians,  Outaouacs,  Sauteux,  Folles- 
Avoines  and  Puants,  fell  on  the  Foxes,  surprised  and  destroyed  twenty  flat-boats 
of  this  nation  who  were  returning  from  a  buffalo  hunt,  containing  eighty  men, 
who  were  all  killed  or  burned,  except  three, — the  allied  Indians  having  burned 
the  boats,  three  hundred  women  and  children  shared  the  same  fate. 

"  I  have  the  honor,  my  lord,  to  communicate  the  news  with  so  much  the 
more  pleasure,  as  there  is  no  doubt  existing  on  the  subject,  circumstances  and 
letters,  received  by  me  from  all  parts,  which  do. not  contradict  themselves  con- 
cerning this  affair,  corroborate  the  fact." 

Then  the  Outagamies  did  sue  for  peace.  Their  chief,  in  the  depth  of  winter, 
sought  the  distant  fort  that  the  French  had  built  on  the  river  St.  Joseph,  near 
the  southern  end  of  Lake  Michigan.  But  though  he  asked  "for  nothing,  ex- 
cept the  lives  of  the  women  and  children,"1  and  "promised  that  his  people 
would  send  deputies  the  next  spring  to  Montreal  to  sue  for  mercy," l  he  appealed , 
in  vain  to  a  people  of  whom  one  of  their  own  number,  La  Mothe  Cadillac, 
said  :  "  Among  the  wolves  we  have  learned  to  howl."  In  March,  1730,  some  of 
their  number  were  attacked  by  a  French  force  under  command  of  Marin,  of 
whom  we  shall  hear  again,  and  an  action  ensued  u  of  the  warmest  kind."  More 
of  this  tight,  unless  it  is  identical  with  one  yet  to  be  described,  we  do  not  know. 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  river  from  the  site  of  Fort  St.  Francis,  near 
the  place  where,  eighty-six  years  later,  American  troops  built  Fort  Howard,  the 
French,  in  1730,  established  a  military  and  trading  post.  But  the  mission  was 
not  revived.  The  general  name  La  Baye,  already  in  use,  was  given  not  only 
to  the  station  but  to  what  may  be  called  in  modern  phrase  the  kt sphere  of  in- 
fluence" which  it  commanded.  That  summer  was  given  to  a  campaign  against 
the  persecuted  Outagamies.  Its  scenes  suggest  the  words  of  the  prophet  Joel  : 


1  Hebberd's  "  History  of  Wisconsin,  under  the  Dominion  of  France,"  patfe  i:J(). 


±.>  IN  I'NNAMKI)  WISCONSIN. 

"Blood,  and  fire,  and  pillars  of  smoke."  The  war  became,  if  possible,  even 
more  cruel.  The  slaughter  of  warriors  in  battle  is  to  be  expected,  but  not 
when  the  fight  is  over  the  burning  alive  of  captives  and  the  destruction  of 
women  and  children.  To  the  eternal  disgrace  of  the  French  commanders  these 
things  were  done. 

The  worst  events  of  the  war  occurred  near  Rock  St.  Louis l  on  the  Illinois 
river.  They  are  thus  described  in  a  letter  addressed  1730,  November  3rd,  by 
Beauharnois  and  Hocquart  to  the  French  government : 

"  An  affair  took  place  in  September  under  the  command  of  the  Sieur  de 
Villiers,  commanding  at  the  river  St.  Joseph's,  to  whom  were  united  the  Sieur 
de  Noyelle  commanding  the  Miamis,  and  the  Sieurs  de  St.  Ange,  father  and 
son,  with  the  French  of  that  distant  colony,  together  with  those  of  our  posts, 
and  all  the  neighboring  Indians  our  allies  (we  numbered  from  twelve  to  thir- 
teen hundred  men)  which  resulted  in  the  almost  total  defeat  of  the  Foxes.  Two 
hundred  of  their  warriors  have  been  killed  on  the  spot,  or  burned  after  being 
taken  as  slaves,  and  six  hundred  women  and  children  were  absolutely  de- 
stroyed. 

"  This  is  a  brilliant  action  which  sheds  great  honor  on  Sieur  de  Villiers." 

The  battle  began  on  the  19th  of  August,  1730 ;  the  massacre  began  on  the 
9th  of  September.  The  whole  affair  lasted  twenty-two  days.  Nor  was  this  the 
end  of  slaughter.  At  Starved  Rock  nine  hundred  of  the  Outagamies,  men  and 
women,  were  destroyed  either  in  battle  or  in  murder  by  knife  and  fire.  Two 
years  later,  1732,  October  17th  (it  may  be),  their  village  on  the  Wisconsin  and 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Kickapoo  was  surprised  by  Indian  allies  of  the  French, 
—  Iroquois2  from  the  St.  Lawrence,  who  had  become  Christians  (of  a  peculiar 
sort,  certainly),  and  some  Hurons.  These  fell  upon  the  peaceful  village  and 
soon  massacred  three  hundred  men,  women  and  children. 

A  party  of  seventy  or  eighty  of  the  survivors  went  to  Green  Bay  to  sue 
for  mercy.  Among  them  was  the  chief  Kiala,  who  was  sent  as  a  slave  to 
Martinique,  one  of  the  West  Indies.  His  wife  chose  to  share  his  living  death. 

Some  of  the  unhappy  remnant  of  the  Outagamie  nation  found  refuge  for 
almost  a  year  among  the  Sauks  (Sacs)  near  Green  Bay.  When  these  refused 
to  surrender  the  fugitives  they  became  themselves  the  objects  of  French  hatred. 
A  fight  occurred  in  which  De  Villiers,  the  French  commander,  was  killed.3 
Then  the  Sauks  and  Outagamies  fled.  According  to  Augustus  Grignon  the 
former,  at  least,  found  refuge  on  the  Wisconsin  river  where  they  built  a  village. 
Another  account  states  that  the  united  party  found  a  home  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi on  the  Wapsipinnicon  river.4  In  August,  1734,  the  French  with  some  of 
their  "Christian"  Indians  set  out  to  attack  them  there.  They  fled  to  the  Des 

1  Sometimes  called  Starved  Rock.    It  is  in  the  town  of  Deer  Park,  La  Salle  county,  Illi- 
nois, on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  between  the  cities  of  La  Salle  and  Ottawa. 

2  Very  few  of  that  people  were  friendly  to  the  French. 

3  Different  versions  are  given  of  this  story,  all  agreeing  that  the  French  commander  was 
slain. 

4  As  the  Sauk  village  may  have  been  built  after  this  time  both  stories  may  be  true.    It 


TIIK  Ol'TAC  JAMIE   WAR  23 

Moiiies  where  the  French,  failing  of  success,  made  a  kind  of  peace  at  least 
with  the  Sauks.  Under  date  of  1737,  October  16th,  Beauharnois  announced 
that  peace  had  at  length  been  established  with  the  Sauks  and  the  Foxes.  We 
do  not  know  how  long  it  lasted.  But  we  do  know  that  in  1742  the  French  dis- 
tributed presents  among  those  whom  they  had  sought,  so  long  and  fiercely,  to 
destroy. 

If  we  reckon  from  the  destruction,  in  1687,  of  the  mission  establishment 
at  De  Pere  we  have  half  a  century  of  conflict.  The  deed  mentioned  shows 
matured  rather  than  incipient  hostility.  It  occurred  before  British  influence  hail 
penetrated  this  region,  before  England  herself  had  "flung  the  burden  of  the 
second  James."  Her  government  was  then  in  a  state  almost  of  vassalage  to 
Louis  XIV.  and  her  colonies  were  but  a  fringe  on  the  Atlantic  sea-board.  It 
could  not,  then,  have  been  in  hope  of  alliance  with  the  people  of  these  distant 
settlements,  that  the  Outagamies  first  braved  the  enmity  of  the  French.  For 
this  action  of  theirs  the  simplest  explanations  seem  most  likely  to  be  true.  The 
Outagamies  desired  to  rule  rather  than  to  be  ruled,  and  they  coveted  a  share 
of  the  traders'  profits.  If  they  were  incited  to  hostility,  or  encouraged  in  war- 
fare, by  the  Iroquois  the  support  does  not  seem  to  have  been  of  the  kind  that 
shares  danger  or  helps  fight  a  battle. 

Events  yet  to  be  narrated  may  belong  to  the  history  of  this  long  struggle  ; 
if  not,  they  mark  a  renewal  of  it.  But  in  1737  the  attempted  destruction  of  a 
people  was  at  an  end.  Twenty-five  years  of  such  fighting  as  the  world  has  sel- 
dom seen  had  weakened  the  power  of  the  French  and  not  exterminated  the 
Outagamies. 

Taking,  for  a  moment,  a  forward  look,  we  see  that  almost  a  century  later 
these  same  people  with  their  kindred  Sauks  (the  Sacs  and  Foxes)  were  again  in 
arms,  this  time  against  a  nation  the  greatness  of  which,  if  not  its  very  existence, 
they  had  helped  to  make  possible.  For  theirs  was  effective  aid  in  the  over- 
throw of  French  power  in  North  America.  By  this  overthrow  the  American 
Revolution  was,  if  not  occasioned,  at  least  brought  more  quickly  to  pass,  and 
the  United  States  had  opportunity  to  become  a  great  as  well  as  an  independent 
nation. 


will  l>e  noticed  also  that  a  general  name  as  "  Foxes  "  is  sometimes  used  now  of  one  party  and 
again  of  another,  and  that  what  is  said  of  one  of  these  two  closely  related  tribes  may  be  true 
also  of  the  other  or  of  both. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


END  OF  FRENCH  DOMINION. 

Perriere  Marin  is  one  of  the  notable  men  of  what  we  may  call  the  Green 
Bay  district  of  New  France.  Himself  a  trader,  having  posts  nine  miles  west 
of  Mackinaw  (probably  the  old  fort)  and  on  the  eastern  bank  of  Mississippi1 
eight  or  nine  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin,  he  was  deeply  interested 
in  putting  a  stop  to  the  exactions  of  the  Outagamies.  He  planned  a  massacre. 
With  armed  men  hidden  in  boats,  under  oil-cloth  or  tarpaulin  as  goods  were  cov- 
ered from  the  rain,  Marin  approached  Winnebago  rapids  which  are  near  the 
outlet  of  the  lake.  The  unsuspecting  Outagamies  had  come  to  the  river  side 
to  levy  their  customary  tribute.  Marin's  men  sprang  from  their  concealment 
and  poured  a  murderous  fire  upon  the  hated  toll-gatherers.  Unprepared  for 
fight,  the  Outagamies  fled  to  their  village  to  find  that  it  was  in  flames,  and  that 
an  enemy,  the  Menominees,  whom  the  crafty  Marin  had  sent  thither,  awaited 
them.  No  quarter  was  asked  and  none  was  given.  If  the  stories  are  to  be 
believed,  there  perished  of  fifteen  hundred  Outagamies  not  fewer  than  a 
thousand. 

This  assault,  with  that  of  De  Louvigny,  have  made  the  conntry  about  the 
outlet  of  Lake  Winnebago  a  veritable  Aceldama,  a  field  of  blood. 

Stories  are  told  of  two  other  expeditions  against  the  Outagamies,  and  Ma- 
rin's name  is  connected  with  both.  One,  if  it  occurred  at  all, 2  was  a  f ollowing- 

1  Each  of  these  is  called  Fort  Morand  by  Grignon,  who  writss  thus  the  trader's  name  also. 

2  Hon.  Moses  M.  Strong  ("  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  volume  VIII., page  247)  says : 
"The  only  account  of  this  expedition  is  a  traditionary  one."    This  remark  follows  his  state- 
ment that  in  May,  1730,  "Du  Buisson,  who  commanded  at  Mackinaw,  left  that  post  with  six 
hundred  men,  among  whom  were  fifty  Frenchmen,  to  complete  the  extermination  of  the 
Foxes,  so  effectually  commenced  two  months  before.    Marin  went  with  him."    Mr.  Strong's 
reference  in  "effectually  commenced"  is  to  the  massacre  by  Marin,— the  one  described 
above.    It  took  place,  Mr.  Strong  believes,  in  1730.    The  "winter  expedition,"  against  the 
Outagamies  near  the  mouth  of  the  Kickapoo,  he  credits  to  Mar  in,  and  follows,  substantially, 
Augustus  Grignon  in  saying  that  the  victor,  "having  fully  conquered  the  Foxes,  and  having 
the  last  remnant  of  them  in  his  power,  gave  them  their  freedom ;  but  required  them  to  retire 
beyond  the  Mississippi,  which  they  did."    He  adds:  "  It  seems  probable  that  the  Foxes  and 
Sauks,  having  become  confederates,  wrested  from  the  Illinois  their  possessions,  and,  incor- 
porating the  remnant  which  they  spared  of  that  numerous  tribe  with  their  own,  occupied 
the  territory  which  had  been  the  home  of  the  Illinois.    The  principal  seat  of  their  power  was 
the  country  about  the  mouth  of  Rock  river,  whence  in  1831,  and  more  formidably  and  effect- 
ively in  1832,  they  made  those  forays  upon  the  pioneer  settlers  of  Illinois  and  Wisconsin 
which  resulted  in  what  is  generally  known  as  the  Black  Hawk  war." 


KNI)  OF   FKKNCH    DOMINION.  IT. 

up  of  the  horrible  u  victory  "  at  Winnebago  rapids.  The  attack  was  a  surprise 
to  the  fugitives, —  who  had  made  a  stand  or,  at  least,  an  encampment  near  the 
Great  Butte  des  Morts,1  — and,  for  them,  another  hopeless  defeat. 

"The  surviving  Foxes,"  says  Augustus  Grignon,3  "located  themselves  on 
the  northern  bank  of  the  Wisconsin,  twenty-one  miles  above  its  mouth,  and 
some  little  distance  below  the  creek  next  below  the  mouth  of  Kickapoo  river ; 
when  I  first  passed  there,  in  1795,  I  saw  some  crude  remains  of  this  village. 
As  soon  as  the  enterprising  Morand  [Marin]  heard  of  the  new  locality  of  his 
determined  enemies,  who  still  seemed  bent  on  obstructing  his  great  trading 
thoroughfare,  he  concluded  it  would  be  unsafe  for  him  to  suffer  them  to  remain 
there,  and  consequently  lost  no  time,  even  though  winter  had  commenced,  to 
collect  his  tried  and  trusty  band  of  French  and  Indians,  and  make  a  distant 
winter  expedition  against  the  Foxes.  Perhaps  he  thought,  as  he  had  once  de- 
feated them  by  stratagem  and  then  by  the  usual  mode  of  Indian  warfare,  that 
it  would  now  be  policy  to  push  his  fortunes  by  a  winter  campaign,  fall  upon  his 
inveterate  foes  and  strike  a  fatal  blow  when  they  would  least  expect  it.  Cap- 
tain Morand  pursued  on  foot  with  troops  up  Fox  river  and  down  the  Wisconsin, 
taking  with  them  snow-shoes  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  season  and  pursue 
their  tedious  march  over  the  snow  for  a  distance  of  fully  two  hundred  miles. 
The  Foxes  were  taken  completely  by  surprise,  for  Morand's  men  found  them 
engaged  in  the  amusement  of  jeu  de  paille,  or  game  of  straw;  and 
surrounding  the  place  and  falling  suddenly  upon  them,  killed  some  and  captured 
the  others.  So  well  planned  was  Morand's  attack  and  so  complete  the  sur- 
prise, that  not  one  of  the  Foxes  escaped.  Only  twenty  warriors  were  taken, 
with  a  large  number  of  women  and  children." 

As  we  read  this  story  of  Grignon 's  we  wonder  if  it  is  not  merely  an  incor- 
rect version  of  the  narrative,  in  chapter  III.,  that  it  so  much  resembles. 

The  time  of  Marin's  bloody  deeds  is  uncertain.  Grignon  seems  to  think 
that  they  resulted  in  driving  the  Outagamies  beyond  the  Mississippi.  This  re- 
moval took  place,  he  thinks,  in  1746.  Some  writers  change  the  order  of  these 
battles ;  and  the  approximate  dates  given  vary,  in  the  case  of  the  massacre  at 
Winnebago  rapids,  not  less  than  forty  years.  There  is  reason  for  adopting 
Grignon's  view  of  a  later  date.  The  events  in  question  may  have  occurred 
even  as  late  as  Marin's  administration  at  Green  Bay,  which  began  in  1750  and 
ended  two  years  later. 

Savage  as  was  Marin's  treatment  of  the  Outagamies,  he  seems  to  have 
had  more  humanity  than  most  of  those  who  preceded  him  in  warfare  against 
them.  He  was  brave  and  efficient.  He  won  to  the  support  of  the  French  all 
or  nearly  all  the  tribes  in  the  region  of  the  Upper  Lakes  and  the  Upper  Missis- 
sis  ijjpi.  It  .  miy  ba  th.it  even  the  remnant  of  the  Outagamies  agreed 
to  do  service  against  the  British.  The  treaty  bringing  all  these  tribes  into  al- 
liance with  the  French,  during  (at  least  part  of)  the  "French  and  Indian  war," 

1  On  tin*  Fox  river  above  Oshkosh,  and  in  what  is  now  Winnebaffo  county. 
a  "  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  volume  III.,  pages  208,  uou. 


26  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

was  made  in  1754.  "  I  conquered  more  than  twenty  nations,"  wrote  Marin, 
"•  who  have  since  made  war  on  our  behalf."  Transferred  by  Du  Qtiesne  to  com- 
mand on  the  Ohio,  Marin  was  succeeded  here  by  his  son,  who  in  1749  had  been 
stationed  on  the  Chequamegon.  The  feeble  hold  of  the  French  was  soon  lost. 

La  Baye  is  a  name  foreign  to  mission  annals.  It  would  seem  that  from 
the  day  when  priestly  lips  last  sang  k'Introibo  ad  altare  Dai,"1 — "I  will  go  to 
the  altar  of  God," —  at  Fort  St.  Francis  until  John  Metoxen,  of  whom  we  are 
yet  to  learn,  here  led  in  the  worship  of  God  according  to  the  simple  rites 
of  the  ancient  churches,  as  followed  by  our  Puritan  fathers,  there  was  within 
the  limits  (of  the  then  future)  Wisconsin  no  regularly  maintained  public  Chris- 
tian service.  In  the  first  part  of  this  long  interval  of  ninety-five  years,  there 
seem  to  have  been  no  pastoral  or  missionary  visitors,  and  in  the  later  time  so 
little  shepherding  did  the  nominal  Romanists  of  Green  Bay  receive  that  even 
marriage  was  entered  into  by  many  of  them  without  any  religious  or  civil  rite. 

Thus  for  almost  a  century  there  was  resident  within  the  present  limits  of 
our  state  neither  minister  nor  so-called  priest.  Meanwhile  the  authority  of  the 
French  in  North  America  came  to  an  end .  The  greatest  failure  in  colonization 
that  the  world  has  ever  known  became  an  acknowledged  fact.  The  treaty  of 
Paris,  1763,  February  10th,  gave  to  Britain  "a  vast,  compact  and  flourishing 
empire,  reaching  from  the  Arctic  zone  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico." 

But  earlier  than  this  (1761,  October  12th),  when  British  troops  occupied 
La  Baye, —  to  which  their  commander,  Captain  Henry  Belfour  gave  the  name 
Fort  Edward  Augustus, —  French  dominion  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin  had 
come  to  an  end.  It  left  here  imperfect  explorations,  abandoned  missions,  two 
or  three  miserable  trading-posts,  and  a  non-Indian  population  few  in  number 
and  so  poor  in  quality  that  it  required  the  authority  of  the  first  American  court 
established  among  them  to  compel  proper  honor  to  the  rites  of  marriage.  The 
story  of  French  rule  in  the  country  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Missis- 
sippi has  been  written,3  and  we  feel  as  we  read  it  that,  save  for  the  places  men- 
tioned, it  is  utterly  foreign.  It  is  part  of  the  annals  of  New  France.  The 
cruelties  that  disgraced  it  bring  reproach  chiefly  upon  men  of  another  race  and 
language  than  our  own.  We  may  not  in  pharasaic  manner  blame  the  French 
people. 3  But  we  may  say  with  truth  that  the  Bourbons  had  fitting  agents  in 
these  forests  and  plains  of  the  interior.  It  is  retributive  justice  that  sovereign- 
ty like  theirs  should  be  overthrown. 

When  Nicolet  came  to  Green  Bay  in  1634,  Louis  XIII.  was  king.  He 
was  the  eldest  son  of  the  famous  Henry  of  Navarre  who  succeeded  to  the 


1  The  first  words  of  the  communion  service  of  the  church  of  Rome,  commonly  called  the 
mass. 

8  "  History  of  Wisconsin  under  the  Dominion  of  the  French,"  by  Rev.  S.  S.  Hebberd,  of 
Viroqua. 

3  On  the  contrary,  we  are  to  remember  that  the  vast  majority  of  them  were  hopelessly 
oppressed  by  their  ecclesiastical  and  political  masters.  Had  the  Huguenots  received  from 
France  such  privileges  and  help  in  colonization  as  England  extended  to  her  Puritans,  her 
Roman  Catholics  and  her  Quakers,  a  New  France  might  have  disputed  with  New  England 
for  the  intellectual  and  moral  leadership  of  North  America. 


END  OF  FRENCH  DOMINION.  27 

crown  of  France  when,  1589,  August  2nd,  his  distant  cousin  Henry  III.  died 
from  the  effects  of  a  wound  inflicted  the  day  before  by  a  Dominican  priest. 
As  Henry  IV.  had  been  the  leader  of  the  Huguenots,  the  party  of  the  Roman- 
ists opposed  by  force  of  arms  his  accession  to  the  royal  dignity  until  (1593) 
he  ''allowed  himself  to  be  converted  to  Catholicism."  This  action  of  Henry's 
has  been  much  commended  as  master  stroke  of  politics.  Those  who  agree  with 
Gibbon  that  "to  the  statesman  all  religions  are  equally  useful  and  to  the  phil- 
osopher equally  false  "  will  of  course  agree  with  the  king's  alleged  statement 
that  "  Paris  is  well  worth  a  mass."  Worth  a  mass,  perhaps,  but  not  the  integ- 
rity of  an  immortal  soul.  And  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  the  infamous  sov- 
ereigns who,  by  their  tyranny  and  vice,  helped  to  bring  upon  France  the  storm 
of  the  Revolution  were  descendants  of  the  man  who  denied  his  faith  for  the 
sake  of  the  kingdom  which  they  brought  almost  to  ruin.  Those  who  held  what 
is  now  Wisconsin  as  part  of  their  vast  domain  in  North  America  were  Louis 
XIII.1  named  above,  wlu  reigned  from  the  assassination  of  his  father  (whose 
acceptance  of  R  miaiiism  did  not  prevent  his  murder  by  a  fanatic  of  that  faith) 
1610,  May  14th,  until  his  own  death,  thirty-three  years  later  to  a  day.  Then 
came  his  son,  Louis  XIV.,  infamous  but  called  Le  Grande,  whose  reign  is  the 
longest  on  record  in  the  history  of  the  w  >rld.  Dying  1715,  September  1st,  he 
left  the  throne  to  his  great-grandson,  Louis  XV.  who  parted  with  New  France 
(Canada,  including  all  the  country  of  the  upper  Lakes)  by  the  treaty  of  Paris, 
1763.  On  the  ratification  of  this  treaty  Voltaire  congratulated  the  king  on 
having  got  rid  of  fifteen  hundred  leagues  of  snow !  By  a  secret  treaty  Louisi- 
ana (as  afterward  bought  by  the  United  States)  had  been  ceded  to  Spain,  1762, 
November  3rd,  as  a  set-off  for  Florida  which  Great  Britain  demanded  as  part 
of  the  price  of  peace  and  which  she  secured  by  the  same  treaty  of  1763,  thus 
humiliating  his  Catholic  Majesty  of  Spain  as  well  as  his  Christian  Majesty 
of  Franqe. 

So  completely  has  French  influence  ceased  to  exist  in  Wisconsin  that  even 
the  church  of  the  early  explorers  has  among  us  not  a  Gallican  but  a  German, 
Irish  or  Slavic  aspect.  Its  "bishops"  in  this  state  trace  their  ecclesiastical 
lineage  not  through  the  see  of  Quebec  but  through  that  of  Baltimore.  A  few 
troublesome  measurements  of  land  by  "arpents"  in  the  neighborhood  of  Green 
Bay,  and  some  melodious  names, — most  of  these  corrupted  forms  of  Indian 
words, — are  all  that  is  left  of  a  dominion  that  has  utterly  passed  away  and 
left  the  world  better  for  its  going.2  The  sons  of  the  French  are  Americans. 

1  The  French  colonies  were  the  special  solicitude  of  the  home  country.  Louis  XIII.  was 
proud  of  Canada,  the  new  France.  They  had  a  governor,  and  an  intendant  who  had  an  eye 
on  the  governor  to  report  him  at  home,  to  see  that  all  the  wants  of  the  people  were  provided 
for.  This  in  Canada  was  quite  proper,  but  in  New  England  it  would  have  been  hooted  at. 
Tlie  French  government  even  selected  wives  for  the  colonists;  each  had  a  dowry  paid  by  the 
kintf,  and  all  bachelors  must  get  married  at  two  weeks'  notice  or  not  hunt,  catch  fish  or  trade 
with  th«>  Indians.  But  the  experiment  failed.  The  English  planted  self-supporting  colonies. 
The  tittest  has  survived  and  the  world  is  the  better  for  it.— PROFESSOR  JOHN  FISKB. 

3  A  careful  student  of  the  early  history  of  this  region,  Rev.A.  O.  Wright,  secretary  of  the 
National  Board  of  Charities  and  Correction,  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  was  an  im- 
provement in  tho  condition  of  the  Indians  among  whom  the  French  had  any  considerable  in- 


CHAPTER  V. 


BRITISH  DOMINION. 

The  period  of  British  dominion  in  the  region  bounded  on  the  north  and 
east  by  the  Great  Lakes,  on  the  south  by  the  Ohio  and  on  the  west  by  the  up- 
per Mississippi  lasted  from  the  end  of  the  French  and  Indian  war,  in  1763, 
until  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace,  1783,  September  3rd,  between  the  Ameri- 
can states  and  the  mother  country.  Indeed  the  northern  and  northwestern 
parts  of  this  domain,  now  comprised  within  the  states  of  Michigan  and  Wis- 
consin, were  kept  in  possession  by  the  British  until  the  1st  of  June,  1796. 
Then  the  western  posts,  which  had  been  held  without  regard  to  the  treaty  of 
1783,  were  given  up  to  the  Americans.  This  was  in  accordance  with  the 
treaty  signed  by  John  Jay,  1794,  November  19th  and  ratified  the  following 
August.1 

fluence.    Morever,  among  these  tribes,  the  practice  of  cannibalism  almost  entirely  ceased. 
The  very  fe*w  instances  of  it  in  the  war  of  1812  were  acts  of  bravado  rather  than  custom. 

"Ought  you  not,"  asks  Mr.  Consul  Will  shire  Butterfield,  so  favorably  known  as  a  writer 
on  the  history  of  Wisconsin,  "  to  modify  what  you  say  about  the  entire  Northwest  territory's 
receiving  Christian  civilization,  April  7th  1788  ?  Thero  was  a  good  deal  of  it  at  Detroit, 
Michilimackinac,  Green  Bay  ("the  Baye  "),  Prairie  du  Chien,  in  the  Illinois,  and  on  the  Wab- 
ash  before  that  date,  but  of  course  nearly  all  Roman  Catholic." 

In  reply  it  may  be  said  that  the  civilization  and  the  Christianity  were  both  of  a  question- 
able kind,  and  further  that  these  places  did  not  become  centers  of  religious,  intellectual  or 
moral  life,  or  even  of  any  kind  of  business  that  does  not  flourish  in  barbarous  communities, 
until  they  were  changed  by  American  emigration,  bringing  with  it  a  purer  faith  and  a  more 
vital  civilization.  These  came  with  the  emigrants  that  crossed  the  Alleghanies  to  make 
homes,  not  with  the  wanderers  who  went  up  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great  Lakes  to  gather 
furs. 

1  "  The  unexpected  reverse  in  Europe  induced  Ministers  to  compromise  with  the  Americans. 
Jay's  treaty  was  concluded,  a  cessation  of  the  Indian  war  promis  :d,  the  Indians  themselves, 
now  unsupported  and  dispirited  by  the  defeat  at  the  Miimis,  concluded  a  treity  with  WaiiKi 
(Wayne).  The  cession  of  one  of  the  finest  Countrys  on  Earth,  with  Public  Works  estimated 
at  300,000  Sterling  was  the  immediate  result,  the  loss  of  the  fur  trade  and  of  the  Canadas 
will  be  the  ultimate  consequence,  if  strong  measures  bo  not  adopted  and  in  due  time." 

The  foregoing  is  from  "a  statement  of  the  Province  of  Upper  Canada  sent  with  the  ap- 
probation of  Lieutenant-General  Hunter  to  Field  Marshal  his  royal  highness  the  Duk  •>,  of 
Kent  (father  of  Queen  Victoria),  commander-in-chief  of  British  North  America-  in  the  year 
1800."  By  the  "reverse  in  Europe"  the  writer  probably  means  the  conquest  of  the  Nether 
lands  (Holland)  by  the  French,  1794-5,  and  the  other  successes  of  that  people  by  which  they 
were  able  to  conclude  with  Prussia,  1795,  April  5th  the  treaty  of  Basle. 

The  "  statement "  makes  admissions  that  show  reason  for  the  strong  feeling  in  the  minds 
of  Western  pioneers  against  the  British:  "The  Indians  resolved  to  defend  their  country 
extending  from  the  Ohio  Northward  to  the  Great  Lakes  and  westward  to  the  Mississippi. 
They  employed  the  Tomahawk  and  the  Scalping  Knife  against  such  deluded  Settlers  who  on 


BRITISH  DOMINION.  29 

By  proclamation  "given  at  our  court  at  St.  James's,  the  7th  day  of  Oc- 
tober, 1763,  in  the  third  year  of  our  reign,"  King  George  III.  established  the 
provinces  of  Quebec,  East  Florida,  West  Florida  and  Grenada, l  and  enlarged 
Georgia  by  the  gift  of  the  territory  lying  between  the  Altamaha  river  and  the 
St.  Mary's. 

This  proclamation  made  Quebec  a  "royal  province"  after  the  models  then 
existing  among  the  original  English  colonies.  By  this  action  two  classes  were 
greatly  irritated,  the  R  mian  Catholic  priests,  because  theirs  was  no  longer  the 
established  church  of  the  province,  and  the  proprietors  of  large  estates  who  had 
been  striving  to  establish  in  America  the  feudal  institutions  of  France.  In  1774 
when  troubles  in  the  English  colonies  began  to  threaten  war,  the  British  parlia- 
ment passed  the  celebrated  "  Quebec  act. "  By  this  act  the  boundaries  of  the 
province  of  Quebec  were  enlarged  so  as  to  include  a  great  part  of  the  present 
province  of  Ontario  as  well  as  what  is  now  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 
Wisconsin  and  the  part  of  Minnesota  east  of  the  Mississippi.  The  measure 
was  entitled  "  An  act  for  making  more  effectual  provision  for  the  government 
of  the  province  of  Quebec  in  North  America."2  It  should  have  been  called 
"  An  act  to  please  priests  and  claimants  of  land  and  seigneurial  titles."  This 
so-called  "Quebec  act"  secured  to  the  Roman  Catholic  clergy  the  "dues  and 
rights  "  as  related  to  members  of  that  church  which  French  law  had  given. 
Innocent-looking  phrases  sometimes  cover  evil  things,  and  these  "  dues  and 
rights "  practically  gave  the  priests  the  power  to  support  themselves  and  build 
churches  by  public  taxation  of  their  people.  The  result  has  been  the  virtual 
establishment  of  Romanism  as  a  state  religion  in  the  province  of  Quebec.  It 
was  enacted  that  "  in  all  matters  of  controversy  relative  to  Property  and  Civil 
Rights,  Resort  shall  be  had  to  the  Laws  of  Canada "  (as  they  were  under  French 
rule).  Thus  those  claiming  rank  and  property  under  the  old  laws  were  satis- 
fied. For  its  immediate  purpose  the  measure  was  successful.  The  popular 
feeling  was  stifled,  the  feeling  that  would  have  led  Canada  to  join  the  colonies 
about  to  revolt.  The  invitation  held  out  in  the  American  Articles  of  Confed- 
eration was  given  in  vain  to  a  people  ruled  by  priests  and  a  Bourbon-made 
gentry.  Fortunately  for  our  state  it  was  delivered  by  the  American  Revolu- 
tion from  the  effects  of  this  mischievous  act,  as  well  as  from  the  consequences 
of  other  mistakes  and  wrongs  in  British  legislation  of  the  last  century. 

the  faith  of  the  treaty  to  which  they  (the  Indians)  did  not  consent,  ventured  to  cross  the 
Ohio.  Secretly  encouraged  by  the  Agents  of  Government,  supplied  with  Arms,  Ammunition 
and  provisions  they  maintained  an  obstinate  and  destructive  War  against  the  States." 

1  The  latter  embraced  some  islands  in  the  West  Indies. 

2  The  passage  of  this  act  was  one  of  the  grievances  that  led  to  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence.   Oar  fathers  feared  Roman  Catholicism  both  as  falsa  religion  and  political  tyran- 
ny.   They  wore  also  jealous  of  the  Church  of  England  and  its  daughter  in  this  country.    This 
from  Carnegie's  "Triumphant  Democracy  "  is  of  interest:    "The  fear  that  England  would 
establish  the  Episcopal  Church  in  America,  if  the  colonies  should  be  subdued,  drew  together 
all  other  sects  and  all  favorable  to  religious  equality,  and  therefore  opposed  to  the  claims  «>f 
tb.3  English  Church.    'This,'  says  John  A-lams,   'contributed  as  much  as  any  other  cause  to 
arousa  tha  attention  not  only  of  th )  inquiring  mind,  but  of  thj  common  people,  and  urge 
them  to  close  thinking  on  the  constitutional  authority  of  Parliament  over  the  colonies.' 
And  the  intensity  °f  colonial  opposition  to  th  i  Stat;'  Church   is  shown  by  the  special  instruc- 


30  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

In  settlement,  nothing  was  done  in  the  upper  lake  region  during  the  time 
of  British  occupancy;  in  exploration,  we  note  the  travels  of  Captain  Jonathan 
Carver,  a  native  of  Canterbury,  Connecticut.  He  started  from  Boston  on  his 
long  journey  in  June,  1766,  went  by  way  of  Albany  and  Niagara  Falls  to  Mack- 
inaw, and  on  the  20th  of  September  of  the  same  year  left  Green  Bay  for  the 
Mississippi.  He  returned  to  Boston  in  October,  1768,  having  traversed  nearly 
seven  thousand  miles.  About  ten  years  afterward  his  "Travels  through  the 
Interior  Parts  of  North  America"  was  published  in  London  with  a  dedication 
to  the  eminent  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  dated  July  20th,  1778.  He  gives  a  favorable 
account  of  the  countries  through  which  he  passed,  and  tells  his  readers  that 
even  before  beginning  his  journey  he  was  convinced  that  the  French  had  been 
trying  to  keep  from  all  other  nations,  and  especially  from  the  English,  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  interior  of  the  great  North  American  continent.  Carver 
was  a  good  observer,  and  gives  an  interesting  account  of  his  trip  up  the  Fox 
and  down  the  Wisconsin.  He  died  in  London  31st  (or  the  29th)  of  January, 
1780.1 

During  the  storm  of  the  Revolution  the  Wisconsin  region  was  to  the  colo- 
nists foreign  territory.  The  few  civilized  or  semi-civilized  men  here  were  their 
enemies.  One  of  them,  Charles  de  Langlade,  held  a  commission  as  captain  in 
the  British  army.  He  had  commanded  a  force  of  Indians  against  the  British 
and  Americans  at  Braddock's  defeat  1755,  July  9th,  in  the  French  and  Indian 
war,  and  was  with  the  Indians — -perhaps  he  could  not  command  them  or  did 
not  wish  to, — when  they  massacred  British  and  colonial  troops  at  Fort  William 
Henry,  on  Lake  George  in  one  of  the  early  days  of  August,  1757.  He  was 
present, —  as  were  also,  according  to  Parkman,  "Sac  Indians  from  the  river 
Wisconsin,"  —  when  the  massacre  at  Mackinaw  occurred,  June  4th,  1763,  and 
did  nothing  to  prevent  it.  Cannibalism  was  one  of  the  horrors  of  that  fright- 
ful time. 

British  interests  in  this  region  were  cared  for  by  Colonel  Henry  Hamilton, 
at  Detroit,  and  his  subordinate,  Major  A.  S.  De  Peyster,  at  Mackinaw.  Hamil- 

tions  of  the  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  to  its  agent  in  London,  in  1768  '  The  establishment 
of  a  Protestant  episcopate  in  America  is  very  zealously  contended  for  (by  a  party  in  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament);  and  it  is  very  alarming  to  a  people  whose  fathers,  from  the  hardships  they 
suffered  junder  such  an  establishment,  were  obliged  to  fly  their  native  country  into  a 
wilderness  in  order  to  peaceably  enjoy  their  privileges  —  civil  and  religious.  We  hope  in  God 
that  such  an  establishment  will  never  take  place  in  America ;  and  we  desire  you  would  stren- 
ously  oppose  it!'  In  addition,  therefore,  to  the  dissatisfaction  which  the  State  Church  pro- 
duces at  home,  it  is  justly  to  be  charged  with  being  one  of  the  chief  causes  which  led  to  the 
loss  of  the  colonies  abroad." 

1  He  was  attended  in  his  last  illness  by  the  mendacious  Tory  clergyman,  Samuel  Peters, 
LL.  D.,  whose  "  Blue  Laws  of  Connecticut "  still  deceive  some  ill-informed  people.  Dr.  Peters 
came  to  this  country  to  prosecute  a  claim  to  the  so-called  "  Carver's  grant "  an  account  of 
which  does  not  belong  here.  He  spent  some  time  in  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  it  is  in  a  letter  ad- 
dressed to  him  that  we  have  an  account  of  the  first  school  there, — one  of  the  first  in  Wiscon- 
sin. To  this  school  reference  will  be  made  later.  Dr.  Peters  says  that  Carver  was  "  by  profes- 
sion an  Anabaptist"  (Baptist)  in  religion,  and  that  he  was  a  great-grandson  of  John.  Carver, 
first  governor  of  Plymouth  colony.  As  is  well  known,  Peters  was  singularly  inaccurate,  if 
not  habitually  untruthful.  Thus  while  the  first  of  the  above  statements  is  very  likely  true, 
the  second  in  all  reasonable  probability  is  not.  For  Governor  Carver  left  only  one  child  and 
that  a  daughter. 


BRITISH  DOMINION.  31 

ton  was  taken  prisoner  25th  February,  1779,  by  Colonel  George  Rogers  Clark, 
at  Fort  Sackville  (Vincennes),  Indiana.  Hearing  of  this,  Langlade  who,  with 
a  party  of  Indians  was  hastening  to  his  relief,  turned  back  at  "Milwakie."1 

Captain  (afterward   Lieutenant-Colonel)  Patrick   Sinclair2  who  succeeded 

De  Peyster  in  command  at  Mackinaw  when  the  latter  took  Hamilton's  place  at 

Detroit,   rejoices  in  a  letter  dated  29th   of  May,  1780,  over  an  exploit  of  some 

of  his  forces.      He  thus  addressee   Sir  Frederick  Haldimand,  governor  of  Can- 

5    ada  from  1778  until  1784  : 

"Your  Excellency  was  informed  by  my  letter  of  February  last,  that  a 
Party  was  to  leave  this  place  on  the  10 bh  of  March  to  engage  the  Indians  to 
the  Westward  in  an  attack  on  the  Spanish  and  Illinois  country.  Seven  Hun- 
dred &  fifty  men  including  the  Traders,  servants  and  Indians,  proceeded  with 
them  down  the  Mississippi  for  that  purpose  on  the  2nd  day  of  May. 

"  During  the  time  necessary  for  assembling  the  Indians  at  La  Prairie  du 
Chien,  detachments  were  made  to  watch  the  River  to  intercept  craft  coming  up 
with  provisions  and  to  seize  upon  the  people  working  in  the  lead  mines.  Both 
one  and  the  other  were  effected  without  an  accident. 

"Thirty-six  Minomies  (at  first  intended  as  an  escort)  have  brought  to 
this  place  a  large  armed  boat,3  loaded  at  Pencour,  in  which  were  twelve  men  & 
a  Rebel  Commissary. 

"From  the  mines  they  have  brought  seventeen  Spanish  &  Rebel  Prisoners, 
&  stopped  Fifty  Tonns  of  Lead  ore  and  from  both  they  obtained  a  good  sup- 
ply of  Provisions. 

"Captain  Langlade  with  a  chosen  Band  of  Indians  and  Canadians  will 
join  a  party  assembled  at  Chicago  to  mike  his  attack  by  the  Illinois  River,  and 
another  party  are  sent  to  watch  the  plains  between  the  Wabash  and  the  Missis- 
sippi." 

The  expedition  which  went  to  Prairie  du  Chien  was  fitted  out  with  the  de- 
sign of  capturing  St.  Louis  then  of  course  in  possession  of  Spain.  The  inhab- 
itants sent  Charles  Gratiot  to  ask  aid  of  Colonel  George  Rogers  Clark,  then  at 
Fort  Jefferson  on  the  Kentucky  side  of  the  Mississippi  a  few  miles  below  the 

1  It  may  be  that  ha  mat  thare  no  friendly  recaption.    After  a  council  of  the  Indians  that 
year  at  old  Fort  Mackinaw  on  the  4th  of  July,  Major  De  Peyster  addressed  some  of  his  Indian 
allies  in  verses  very  poor  in  quality  but  unmistakable  in  meaning: 

Those  renegates  of  Milwakie, 

Must  now  perforce  with  you  agree; 
Sly  Siggenaak  and  Naakewoin, 

Must  with  Langlade  their  forces  join. 

2  In  his  journal  (yet  in  manuscript),  written  at  Michilimackinac  in  the  summer  of  1H20, 
ex-Governor  Doty  descrihes  Sinclair  as  "a  wild,  thoughtless,  crazy  Irishman." 

8  The  boat  spoken  of  belonged  to  Charles  Gratiot,  a  son  of  an  exiled  Huguenot.  He  had 
h.M-ii  ;i  Mackinaw  trader,  but  at  this  data  was  living  at  Cahokia,  in  the  Illinois  country.  Un- 
like Langlade  he  aided  tha  American  cause.  "Gratiot's  Grove,"  well  known  to  the  early  set- 
tlers in  the  mining  region,  and  the  town  and  post-office  of  Gratiot  in  La  Fayette  county,  were 
name.l  in  honor  of  his  son  Henry.  A  daughter  of  Hanry  Gratiot  became  1845,  July  31,  the 
wife  of  Hon.  E.  B.  Washbunu,  long  a  citizen  of  Galena,  Illinois,  a  city  whose  early  history  is 
rlos.-ly  linked  with  that  of  southwestern  Wisconsin.  For  many  years  Mrs.  Washburne  was  a 
member  of  the  South  Presbyterian  church  of  that  city.  Her  son  Hempstead  Washburne 
was  lately  mayor  of  Chicago. 


32  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

month  of  the  Ohio.     Clark  came  promptly  and  the  enemies  were  driven  back. 

But,  though  it  is  not  likely  that  the  American  flag  was  displayed  in  the 
Wisconsin  region  more  than  once,  if  at  all,  during  the  whole  Revolutionary 
war,  the  schemes  of  Hamilton,  whose  fifteen  expeditions  against  the  frontier 
settlements  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  were  probably  scalping  parties  rather 
than  anything  else;  of  De  Peyster,  who  afterward  was  addressed  by  Robert 
Burns  in  his  "Poem  on  Life"  as  "my  honored  colonel"  and  of  Langlade  for 
whom  a  sapient  legislature  of  Wisconsin  named  a  county,  were  more  than  off- 
set by  the  successes  of  Colonel  George  Rogers  Clark. l  His  expedition  more 
than  any  other  military  movement  determined  that  this  region  should  become 
in  time  states  of  the  American  Union  and  not  provinces  of  Canada.  However 
the  acquisition  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  of  the  entire  country  lying  be- 
tween the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi  was  a  triumph  of 
diplomacy  rather  than  of  arms.  Thus  the  old  Northwest  Territory  became  a 
part  of  the  new  nation  "conceived  in  liberty  and  dedicated  to  the  proposition 
that  all  men  are  created  equal." 

There  was  significance  in  the  fact  that  Haldimand,  British  governor  of 
Canada,  in  an  address  dated  Quebec,  2nd  of  July,  1779,  and  delivered  by 
proxy  to  the  Indians  who  were  wont  to  assemble  at  Mackinaw  always  speaks  of 
the  Americans  as  "  Bostonians."  Since  the  landing  of  the  first  Mayflower 
Puritans  had  taught  the  world  that  nations  did  not  need  kings  nor  churches 
lord-bishops.  The  Saxon  "folk-moot"  had  become  the  New  England  town. 
The  men  of  these  New  Testament  churches  and  self-governed  towns  had  estab- 
lished free  schools  for  all  the  children  of  their  commonwealths.  Out  of  their 
love  for  learning  had  grown  the  American  college.  They  had  given  their  fel- 
low-colonists as  early  as  1643,  the  first  lessons  in  practical  union,  and  thus  laid 
the  foundation  of  our  present  system  of  government.  They  made  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution  a  necessity  and  a  success.  From  them  more  than  from  any 
others  came  the  men  who  won  the  victory.  Next  were  the  sturdy  Presbyterians. 
Among  these  were  the  Irish  who  won  so  just  a  fame  in  the  contest  with  the 
British  king,  and  who  had  an  honorable  place  in  what  Theodore  Roosevelt  has 
happily  called  "the  winning  of  the  West."  The  Episcopal  clergy  were  nearly 
all  Tories.  Even  Jacob  Duche,  whose  extemporaneous  prayer  before  Con- 
gress has  been  the  subject  of  so  much  admiration,  remained  a  loyalist,  and  tried 
to  persuade  Washington  to  renounce  the  came  of  the  new  nation  then  strug- 
gling to  be  free.  John  Wesley,  good  man  as  he  was,  condemned  the  colonists 
for  their  rebellion.  We  cannot  blame  him,  for  we  remember  that  he  was  an 
Englishman. 

Of  all  classes  in  that  trying  time  none  were,  more  generally  patriotic  than 

1  On  January  2nd  1778,  Patrick  Henry,  then  governor  of  Virginia,  issued  instructions  to 
Lieutenant-Colonel  George  Rogers  Clark  to  raise  seven  companies,  to  consist  of  fifty  men 
each,  properly  officered,  with  which  to  attack  the  British  force  in  the  Illinois  country,  and 
thus  put  a  stop  to  their  inciting  Indian  forays  against  the  frontier  settlements  of  Kentucky, 
Virginia  and  Pennsylvania.  In  that  year  Clark  wrested  from  the  British  government  Kas- 
kaskia  and  Cohokia  in  Illinois;  and,  early  in  the  ensuing  year,  Vincennes  in  Indiana. 


BRITISH    DOMINION.  #< 

Congregational  clergy  of  New  England.  Many,  with  the  younger  men  of  their 
congregations,  engaged  in  army  service.  Among  these  was  one  who  is  entitled 
t:>  rank  among  the  founders  of  states.1  William  Bradford  of  Plymouth  colony, 
John  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  Thomas  Hooker  of  Connecticut, 
had  a  worthy  successor  of  their  own  faith  in  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  pastor  for 
fifty-two  years  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Ipswich  Hamlet,  later  Hamil- 
ton, Massachusetts.  He  belongs  to  Wisconsin  though  he  never  set  foot  upon 
our  soil. 

While  the  convention  that  frame  A  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 
w.is  in  session  in  Philadelphia  the  continental  congress  was  sitting  in  New 
York.  Hither  came  1787,  July  6th,  Dr.  Cutler,  "bearing,"  says  Senator  G.  F. 
Hv>ar,  "the  fate  of  the  Northwest."  He  was  agent  of  the  Ohio  company,  the 
object  of  which  was  to  found  a  settlement  in  what  was  then  called  the  West. 
For  this  purpose  land  was  needed  and  Dr.  Cutler  came  to  buy  it.  That  he 
should  have  been  chosen  for  this  delicate  and  responsible  duty  does  not  surprise 
us  when  we  learn  the  varied  abilities  of  this  extraordinary  man.  After  grad- 
uating from'  Yale  college  in  1765  he  went  into  business.  Then  he  studied  law 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Preferring  the  ministry,  he  entered  that  calling. 
In  the  exercise  of  it  he  studied  medicine  to  such  good  purpose  that  he  became 
a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  medical  society.  While  serving  as  chaplain  in 
the  army  he  had  at  one  time  under  his  care  forty-two  patients  ill  with  varioloid. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  party  of  white  men  that  explored  the  White  mountains. 
He  was  the  second  American  writer  on  botany,  and  made  astronomical  calcula- 
tions which  at  that  time  had  not  been  surpassed  in  this  country. 2 

There  were  many  reasons  why  Congress  desired  to  sell  land  on  the  Ohio. 
The  proceeds  would  aid  in  lessoning  the  enormous  public  debt.  Such  a  settle- 
ment as  that  proposed  would  bind  the  Western  country  to  the  rest  of  the  Union. 
The  possibility  of  separation  was  then  felt  to  be  a  real  danger.  "  The  West- 


1  Manasseh  Cutler  is  entitled  to  rank  with  Bradford,  Winthrop,  Penn,  Calvert  and  Ogle- 
thorpe,  as  the  founder  of  a  state."—  The  Nation,  JJO</i  August,  1888. 

2  .Since  writing  the  above  I  have  foaml  the  following  in  Carnegie's  "  Triumphant  Democ- 
racy:" 

"Here  arawbhe  words  of  Rev.  Manasseh  Cutler,  D.  D..  LL.  D.,  of  Ipswich,  Massachusetts, 
who  was  at  once  minister,  scientist,  statesman  and  the  agent  of  the  New  England  and  Ohio 
Company,  which  started  [th  j  settlement]  at  Marietta,  Ohio.  Blessed  man,  he  it  was  who  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  passed  the  famous  ordinance  of  1787,  which  prohibited  slavery  in  the  old 
Northwest  Territory,  and  secured  that  fair  domain  forever  to  freedom.  Here  is  the  prediction 
he  made  in  a  pamphlet  published  in  1787  : 

" '  The  current  down  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio,  for  heavy  articles  that  suit  the  Florida  (Mis- 
sissippi) and  West  Indian  markets,  such  as  Indian  corn,  flour,  beef,  timber,  etc.,  will  be  more 
loaded  than  any  [other]  stream  on  earth !  It  was  found  by  late  experiments  that  sails  arc  used 
to  great  advantage  against  the  current  of  the  Ohio;  and  it  is  worthy  of  observation  that,  in 
all  possibility,  steamboats  will  be  found  to  be  of  infinite  service  in  all  our  river  navigation.' 

"That  was  written  twenty  years  before  Fulton's  practically  successful  application  of 
st  am  to  navigation,  and  a  quarter  of  a  century  before  the  first  s  eamboat  that  ever  plowed 
the  Western  rivers  was  built  at  Pittsburg." 

It  appears  also  that  while  Dr.  Cutler  was  at  Marietta  he  was  one  of  a  party  that  made  ex- 
periments with  a  screw-propellor  of  such  sort  as  those  now  used  by  our  lake  and  ocean 
st' Miners.  Dr.  Cutler  anticipated  the  usefulness  of  the  invention  though  there  was  no  avail- 
able power  to  apply  to  it.  See  McMaster's  account  of  the  Marietta  colony. 


34  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

ern  states,"  Washington  wrote,  "  stand,  as  it  were,  upon  a  pivot.     The  touch  of 
a  feather  would  turn  them  either  way."     The  English  had  not  yet  given  up  the 
Western  posts.1      Against   them  as  well  as  against  the  Indians  and  the  Span- 
iards the  new  colony  would  be  a  defence.      Nearly  all  the  men  who  purposed  to 
/  go  had  served  in  the  Revolutionary  army.      To  such  an  extent  was  this  the  case 
/     that  when  a  few  years  later,  1796,  the  Congregational  church  of  Marietta,  the 
\    first  in  the  town,  was  organized  nine  out  of  the  twenty-live  men  who  entered 
\  into  covenant  had  been  officers  in  military  service. 

Not  only  in  his  own  character  but  as  the  representative  of  men  like  these 
and  as  the  possible  purchaser  of  a  million  and  a  half  acres  of  land  was  the 
Ipswich  pastor  a  power.     Massachusetts  as  well  as  Congress  had  land  to  sell 
and  this  fact  doubtless  had  weight  with  the  latter  body.     A  measure  for  the 
government  of  the  Northwest   Territory  was  then  pending.     But  it  was  not 
satisfactory  to  Dr.  Cutler  and  he  would  make  no  purchase  until  an  ordinance 
was  passed  which  pleased  him.     With  consummate  tact  he  addressed  himself 
to  the  Southern  members  especially  those  from  Virginia.     Some  men  of  the 
South   gave  the  proposed  measure  hearty  support.     Without  their  aid  it  could 
not  have  been  enacted.     It  was  well  known  that  Washington  favored  keeping 
slavery  out  of  the  West.     On   the  13th  of  July,  1787,  was  passed  that   "im- 
mortal  ordinance"  as  the  late  President  I.  W.  Andrews  of  Marietta  calls  it. 
For  it,  he  adds,  "we  are  largely  perhaps  chiefly  indebted  to  Dr.  Cutler."     Be- 
fore it  was  passed  his  keen  eyes  read  it  and  his  pen  amended  it  in  some  of  its 
most  important  articles.     Doubtless  he  insisted  on  the  anti-slavery  clause  which 
Nathan  Dane  who  favored  it  had  given  up  in  despair.      Without  the  reserva- 
.  tion  of  land  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  university  he  would  not  buy.     He 
/  drew  up  a  scheme  for  the  establishment  and  government  of  the  university  sys- 
J     tern.     His,  probably,  is  the  noble  declaration :  "  Religion,  morality  and  know- 
\     ledge,    being  necessary   to  the   good  government    and   happiness   of  mankind, 
\   schools  and  the  means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged." 

Not  to  speak  of  the  constitution,  three  state  papers  have  been  produced  in 
America  which  will  command  always  and  everywhere  the  attention  of  thought- 
ful men.  These  are  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  ordinance  of  1787 
and  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  The  first,  notwithstanding  what  Rufus 
Choate  called  its  "  glittering  generalities,"  and  the  strained  character  of  some  of 
its  charges  against  the  king,  is  worthy  of  its  place  in  history.  The  second  im- 
pressed the  Puritanism  of  the  free  state,  the  free  church  and  the  free  school 
first  upon  the  Northwest  Territory  and  the  states  formed  from  it,  and  then  up- 
on a  majority  of  the  newer  American  commonwealths.  "Copied  in  succeed- 
ing acts  for  the  organization  of  Territories  "  says  Alexander  Johnson,  "  and 

1  "  The  government  of  the  United  States  not  having  fulfilled  some  Articles  of  the  treaty  of 
peace,  which  established  their  independence,  it  was  thought  proper  by  the  Britisli  govern- 
ment to  retain  the  Military  Posts  of  Oswego,  Niagara,  Detroit  and  Michilimackinac,  which 
had  been  injudiciously  ceded  by  Oswald  the  British  Commissioner,  a  man  of  little  political, 
and  less  local  knowledge,  if  Men's  talents  may  be  estimated  by  their  Measures."  See  note 
on  page  28. 


HKITISH  DOMINION.  35 

still  controlling  the  spirit  of  such  acts,  the  ordinance  of  1787  is  the  found- 
ation of  almost  everything  which  makes  the  American  system  peculiar."  It 
abolished  primogeniture  and  entail.  It  secured  equal  rights  of  inheritance.  It 
made  possible  the  Emancipation  Proclamation,  and,  in  1865,  what  is  substan- 
tially its  sixth  article,  appears  as  the  thirteenth  amendment  to  the  constitution 
of  the  United  States.  In  it  was  in  embryo  the  constitution  of  Wisconsin,  and 
the  anti-slavery  clause  thereof  is  a  transcript  of  that  found  in  the  ordinance. 
"  God  is  manifest  in  history." 

Under  the  sanction  of  the  solemn  compact  thus  entered  into  by  Congress 
the  Ohio  company  made  its  settlement.     The  story   does  not  need  to  be  told 
here.     It   is  not  foreign  history;  it   is   a   part  of  our  own.     The  Marietta   of 
Manasseh    Cutler,    the  Congregational    minister,    and   of  Rufus   Putnam  who 
fought  for  his  country  and  ours  in  the  Revolution,  is  much  nearer  to  us  than  the 
Green  Bay  of  Allouez,  the  French  Jesuit,  and  Charles  Langlade  whose  ninety- 
nine  real  and  mythical  battles  were  always  fought  against  the  people  whose  en- 
/  sign  is  now  the  stars  and  stripes.     This  Puritan  settlement  on  the  Ohio  has  the 
I    same  kind  of  primacy  over  the   old  French  settlements  in  all  this    region    that 
Plymouth  has  over  St.  Augustine  or  Santa  Fe. 

^Wisconsin,  as  well   as  her  sister  commonwealths,  received  evangelical  re-  T 
ligion,  popular   education,    English  law  and  language,  with  attendant  civiliza-  j 
tion,  through  settlements  begun  at  Marietta.     Speaking  in  that  historic  place   ) 
at  the  centennial  celebration   1888,  April  7th,  Senator  George   Frisbie   Hoar  \ 
used  these  words : 

"Here  was  the  first  human  government  under  which  absolute  civil  and 
religious  liberty  has  always  prevailed.  Here  no  witch  was  ever  hanged  or 
burned.  When  older  states  or  nations,  where  the  chains  of  human  bondage  ( 
have  been  broken,  shall  utter  the  proud  boast,  k  With  a  great  price  I  obtained 
this  freedom,'  each  sister  of  this  imperial  group,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michi- 
gan and  Wisconsin,  may  lift  up  her  queenly  head  with  the  yet  prouder  answer, 
'  But  I  was  free-born  1^ 

We  could  wish  that  these  statements  were  entirely  accurate.  It  is  true 
that  the  witchcraft  delusion  that  has  slain  its  hundreds  of  thousands  of  victims 
in  Germany,  France  and  Britain,  and  its  twenty  or  more  even  in  New  England, 
found  none  in  the  region  between  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  after 
American  government  was  firmly  established  here.  But  this  statement,  even 
as  thus  qualified,  must  not  be  understood  as  applying  to  the  Indians.  Among 
them  were  many  cases,  doubtless,  of  the  death  penalty  for  supposed  witchcraft. 
One  such  is  mentioned  in  a  late  history  of  Indiana  as  having  taken  place  within 
what  are  now  the  limits  of  that  state  in  one  of  the  early  years  of  this  century. 
In  or  about  1840  a  squaw  wa^s  put  to  death  in  Iowa  by  the  famous  chief  Keo- 
kuk,  on  the  charge  of  having  bewitched  one  of  his  children. l  But  this  sup- 
posed witch,  more  fortunate  than  the  Indiana  victim,  was  not  burned.  It  mr 


.*  J.  B.  Newhall,  in  "  Sk«'trhe«  of  Iowa." 


IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 
be  remarked,  in  passing,  that  death  for  witchcraft  was  one  of  the  patent  factors 
in  reducing  the  number  of  the  Indian  population  both  before  and  after  the  ad- 
vent of  white  men  to  this  country.  Major  J.  W.  Powell  makes  this  statement: 
"It  may  safely  be  said  that  while  famine,  pestilence,  disease  and  war  may  have 
killed  many,  superstition  killed  more." 

All  this  many  would  be  ready  to  believe  who  yet  would  be  inclined  to 
doubt  that  an  American  officer  ever  gave  an  order  for  the  execution  of  the  sen- 
tence of  a  court  that  had  commanded  death  by  burning  as  the  penalty  of  witch- 
craft. But  we  have  documentary  evidence  that  such  an  order  was  given,  and 
that  by  the  uncle  or  grand-uncle  of  Mary  Todd,  the  woman  who  became  the 
wife  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  By  appointment  (dated  at  Williamsburg,  1778, 
December  12th)  of  Governor  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia,  John  Todd  was 
made  "commandant  of  the  country  of  Illinois"  after  its  conquest  by  Calonel 
George  Rogers  Clark.  The  subjoined  order  was  found  in  Colonel  Todd's  note- 
book : 

"  ILLINOIS,  to-wit :  To  Richard  Winston.  Esq.,  Sheriff  in  chief  of  the  Dis- 
trict of  Kaskaskia: 

"Negro  Manuel,  a  Slave  in  your  custody,  is  condemned  by  the  Court  of 
Kaskaskia,  after  having  made  honorable  Fine  at  the  Door  of  the  Church1  to 
be  chained  to  a  post  at  the  Water  Side  and  there  to  be  burnt  alive  and  his  ashes 
scattered,  as  appears  to  me  by  the  Record.  This  sentence  you  are  hereby  re- 
quired to  put  in  execution  oh  tuesday  next  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning,  and  this 
shall  be  your  warrant.  Given  under  my  hand  and  seal  at  Kaskaskia,  the  13th 
day  of  June,  in  the  third  year  of  the  commonwealth." 

An  unknown  pen  has  drawn  black  lines  in  Colonel  Todd's  note-book  across 
the  record  as  found  above.  From  this  circumstance  some  have  hoped  that  the 
sentence  was  never  carried  out.  But  in  the  opinion  of  Edward  G.  Mason  of 
Chicago,  who  has  carefully  studied  this  subject,  "  it  is  probable  that  the  sen- 
tence was  actually  executed." 

"The  third  year  of  the  Commonwealth"  was  of  course  1779.  On  June 
15th  of  that  year  another  order  was  given  by  Todd  in  regard  to  the  execution 
of  a  sentence  of  death  for  alleged  witchcraft,  this  time  in  the  case  of  "  Mo- 
reau,  a  slave  condemned  to  execution, "  doubtless  for  the  same  offense;  voudim- 
ism,  or  witchcraft.  To  this  unhappy  victim  was  given  the  more  merciful  death 

1  "To  make  honorable  Fine  at  the  Door  of  the  Church  "  is  a  puzzling  expression  to  most 
of  us.  In  a  personal  interview  with  Archbishop  F.  X.  Katzer  of  Milwaukee  that  gentleman 
expressed  the  opinion  that  it  meant  to  do  some  prescribed  form  of  penance.  More  definitely 
Bishop  S.  J.  Messmer  of  Green  Bay  wrote  me  under  date  of  1894:,  February  12th:  "I  have 
asked  different  gentlemen  about  it.  They  all  agree  that  it  is  only  a  bad  literal  translation  of 
the  French  '  faire  une  amende  honorable,'  which  means  to  make  proper  amends  for  an  injus- 
tice or  wrong.  As  to  the  custom  mentioned  in  your  reference,  you  will  get  an  idea  of  it  by 
referring  to  Webster's  Dictionary  under  the  word  amende.  Why  Webster  should  call  it  an 
'  infamous '  punishment,  I  can  not  understand  except  it  be  in  the  same  sense  as  the  legal 
phrase  posna  infamis,  a  punishment  for  a  crime  which  renders  the  culprit  legally  infamous; 
i.  e.,  deprives  him  of  his  civil  rights." 

However,  the  punishment  as  described  by  Webster  would  seem  to  be  infamous  enough. 
And  thus,  very  possibly,  it  was  that  the  poor  victim  at  Kaskaskia  paid  part  of  the  penalty  of 
his  imaginary  offense  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago. 


BRITISH  DOMINION.  :<7 

of  hanging.     Is  he  not  the  last  legally  to  suffer  death  for  his  imagined  offense? 

These  condemnations  for  witchcraft  took  place  under  French  law.  How 
far  the  "  Quebec  act "  was  responsible  for  the  revival  of  the  statute,  or  ordinance, 
under  which  these  convictions  were  had  I  can  not  say.  "The  law  against  sor- 
cery held  its  place  in  French  legal  works  till  at  least  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury."1 That,  as  we  have  seen,  was  about  the  time  of  the  enforced  separation 
between  New  France  and  the  mother  country.  There  the  penalty  for  witch- 
craft was  death  by  burning.  What  was  law  in  the  Illinois  region  was,  of 
course,  law  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin. 

Accordingly,  if  the  Kaskaskia  court  was  right,  witchcraft  scarcely  more 
than  a  century  ago,  was  a  legal  offense  in  all  this  region  and  the  penalty  was 
death  by  being  burned  alive.  That  in  a  time  of  panic,  such  as  almost  undoubt- 
edly there  was  at  Kaskaskia  in  the  summer  of  1779,  and  in  a  distant  colony, 
the  old  law  should  have  been  held  to  be  in  force  is  not  surprising.  For  the 
American  officers  there  is  this  measure  of  excuse,  that  they  sought  to  interfere 
as  little  as  possible  with  existing  laws  and  customs.  The  Revolutionary  war 
was  not  at  an  end. 

As  the  stain  of  death  for  witchcraft  is  upon  the  history  of  this  western 
part  of  the  old  province  of  Quebec,  so  the  foul  mark  of  negro  slavery  blots 
the  early  record  of  the  same  region  after  the  old  NorthVest  Territory  was  suc- 
ceeded by  those  organized  from  it.  With  the  western  movement  of  emigra- 
tion from  Virginia  and  other  Southern  states  came  a  reaction  from  the  lofty 
sentiment  and  good  sense  which  found  expression  in  the  great  ordinance.  "No 
person  shall  be  held  in  slavery,  if  a  male,  after  he  is  thirty-five  years  of  age  ; 
or  a  female,  after  twenty-five  years  of  age."  There  was  danger  that  this  clause 
would  be  incorporated  into  the  first  constitution  of  Ohio.  It  had  the  approval, 
as  was  known,  of  President  Jefferson  who  was  sentimentally  an  enemy  of  slav- 
ery, practically  a  supporter  of  it.2  But  at  Rufus  Putnam's  call  Ephraim  Cut- 
ler rose  from  a  bed  of  illness  and,  by  an  earnest  appeal,  prevented  the  marring 
of  his  father's  work.  "  It  cost  me  every  effort  I  was  capable  of  making,"  and 
his  own  proposition  utterly  forbidding  slavery  "passed  by  a  majority  of  one 
vote  only."  And  that  vote  was  secured  by  Mr.  Cutler's  appeal.  He  adds:  "I 
prepared  and  introduced  all  that  part  of  the  constitution "  which  relates  to 
slavery,  religion  and  schools  or  education."3  Thus  Puritanism  secured  to  Ohio 
the  freedom  it  had  established  there. 

Negro  slaves  were  held  in  Indiana  and  Illinois.  In  four  years  as  many  as 
five  petitions  were  sent  from  (the  Territory  of)  Indiana  asking  for  the  suspen- 

1  Legislation  .against  witchcraft  is  certainly  as  old  as,  and  perhaps  older  than,  the  "  Twelve 
Tables  "  of  Roman  law.    Until  1821  there  was  a  statute  in  force  in  Ireland  enacting  "  that  if 
a  person  bewitched  in  one  country  died  in  another  the  person  guilty  of  causing  his  death 
mitflit  be  tried  in  the  country  where  the  death  happened,  so  that  Ireland  appears  to  be  dis- 
tinguished as  the  last  country  in  which  penalties  against  witchcraft  were  retained  in  statute 

l;i\v." 

2  The   handwriting  (of  the  proposed  clause) "  I  had  no  doubt   was  Mr.  Jefferson's."- 
EPHRAIM  CUTLER. 

8  Outside  of  New  England  none  of  the  states,  except  Pennsylvania,  had  at  that  time  a 
system  of  common  schools. 


/ 


:{s  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

sion  or  repeal  of  the  anti-slavery  clause  of  the  ordinance.  What  wonder  that 
years  later  she  denied  to  men,  simply  because  they  were  black,  a  right  to  have 
a  home  within  her  borders,  and  that,  during  the  struggle  for  the  life  of  the  na- 
tion, the  most  malignant  copperheadism  stained  her  honor?  And  in  all  these 
respects  her  shame  was  shared  by  her  great  neighbor  on  the  west.  Only  by 
heroic  efforts  was  slavery  prevented  from  getting  legal  foothold  in  these  states. 
Illinois  furnished  a  martyr  to  the  anti-slavery  cause  in  the  person  of  Elijah 
Parish  Lovejoy,  a  Congregational  minister  who  was  killed  by  a  mob  at  Upper 
Alton,  7th  of  November,  1837.  Even  in  Wisconsin  several  negro  slaves  were 
held.  Of  these  two  at  least  were  returned  to  slave  soil  and  to  legal  bondage. l 

Forty-one  anenjanded  at  Plymouth;  forty-eight  at  Marietta.  Religious 
belief  was  strong  in  both  companies.  It  was  fitting  that  the  faith  of  the  men 
who  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock  should  be  the  first  preached  to  white  men  in 
Ohio.  The  first  sermon  to  the  settlers  at  Marietta  was  by  Rev.  Daniel  Breck 
on  the  20th  of  July,  1788.  The  text  was  significant :  "  Now,  therefore,  if  ye 
will  obey  my  voice  indeed  and  keep  my  covenant,  then  shall  ye  be  a  peculiar 
treasure  unto  me  above  all  people:  for  all  the  earth  is  mine.  And  ye  shall  be 
unto  me  a  kingdom  of  priests  and  an  holy  nation.  These  are  the  words  which 
thou  shalt  speak  unto  the  children  of  Israel." — Exodus  XIX.  5,  6.  In  the 
congregation  was  Colonel  John  May  of  Boston.  The  following  is  from  his 
journal  of  the  date  given  above  : 

"At  eleven  o'clock  to-day  a  religious  service.  Mr.  Daniel  Breck  began  the 
observance  by  singing,  praying  and  preaching.  The  place  of  worship  was  our 
bowery,  on  the  bank  directly  over  my  ship.  A  large  number  of  people  were 
assembled  from  the  garrison  [of  Fort  Harmar],  Virginia,  and  our  own  settle- 
ment, in  all  about  three  hundred;  some  women  and  children,  which  was  a 
pleasing,  though  somewhat  unusual  sight  for  us  to  see.  Mr.  Breck  made  out 
pretty  well.  The  singing  was  excellent.  We  had  'Billings'  to  perfection. 
Governor  St.  Clair  was  much  pleased  with  the  whole  exercise." 

The  bowery  was  an  arbor  prepared  for  the  Fourth  of  July  celebration. 
The  "  ship "  was  the  boat  in  which  Colonel  May  had  come  from  Pittsburg,  and 
in  which  he  lived  until  he  could  build  a  house.  "  At  that  time  there  was  not  a 
Protestant  church  for  white  people  in  the  Northwest  Territory,  and  not  another 
clergyman  there  to  preach  the  gospel  in  the  English  language."2  Only  one 
family  had  then  arrived  at  Marietta.  The  women  and  children  of  whom  Col- 
onel May  speaks  were  from  the  Virginia  side  of  the  river. 

The  second  who  preached  in  the  new  colony  was  Dr.  Cutler  himself.  His 
sermon,  delivered  on  the  20th  of  August  1788,  from  Malachi  I.  11,  was  worthy 
of  a  man  who,  to  use  the  words  of  the  Westminster  catechism,  believed  that 

1  These  were  girls  from  the  home  of  Rev.  James  Mitchell.    When  it  became  unsafe  to  hold 
them  longer  as  slaves  in  Wisconsin  they  were  sent  to  Missouri.  This  James  Mitchell  must  not 
be  confounded  with  John  T.  Mitchell,  his  father,  nor  with  Samuel  Mitchell,  familiarly  called 
"  Father  "  Mitchell,  his  grandfather.    While  living  in  Virginia  Samuel  Mitchell,  on  becoming 
a  Christian,  set  his  slaves  free.    See  "  Negro  Slavery  in  Wisconsin  "  by  J.  N.  Davidson,  "  Pro 
ceedings  of  the  Wisconsin  State  Historical  Society  for  1892." 

2  From  an  historical  sermon  by  Rev.  C.  E.  Dickinson,  Marietta,  Ohio. 


BRITISH  DOMINION.  39 

u  man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  enjoy  him  forever."  It  recognizes 
the  excellencies  and  speaks  frankly  of  the  faults  of  the  older  Puritan  charac- 
ter. It  argues  against  the  union  of  church  and  state.  In  it  we  have  evidence 
that  a  man  might  he  a  Calvinist  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  yet  a  broad, 
liberal-minded  man.  Dr.  Cutler  never  became  a  resident  of  the  Northwest 
Territory  though  Washington  offered  him  a  judge's  commission  therein.  Later 
he  was  for  two  terms  a  member  of  Congress  from  Massachusetts.  But  he  kept 
his  pastorate,  an  example  to  those  upon  whom  ministerial  vows  seem  to  rest 
with  little  weight. 

Settlements  rapidly  extended  in  the  Northwest  Territory.  Twenty  thou- 
sand came  in  1788.  By  the  purchase  of  Louisiana  in  1803  it  ceased  to  be  on 
the  west  the  political  frontier  of  the  United  States.  The  army  of  emigration 
which  swept  westward  from  the  Atlantic  states  was  reinforced  by  those  whom 
the  sinister  influences  of  slavery  drove  from  the  South.  But  years  elapsed 
before  it  took  possession  of  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  which  thus  remained  un- 
organized and  without  distinctive  name  or  defined  area  until  1836.  In  1800  it 
was  made  part  of  Indiana  Territory,  in  1809  part  of  Illinois  and  in  1818  part 
of  Michigan.  When,  by  act  of  Congress  approved  1836,  April  20th,  the  Ter- 
ritory of  Wisconsin  was  organized,  it  included  not  only  the  present  state  of 
that  name  but  also  what  is  now  Iowa  and  Minnesota  as  well  as  all  that  part  of 
South  Dakota  lying  east  of  the  Missouri,  and  of  North  Dakota  lying  east  of 
the  Missouri  and  the  White  Earth.  All  this  had  previously  belonged  to  Mich- 
igan. This  act  made  Wisconsin  an  organized  Territory,  1836,  July  4th.  By 
act  of  12th  June,  1838  the  Territory  of  Iowa  was  organized,  taking  all  of  Wis- 
consin west  of  the  Mississippi.  The  act  of  1846,  August  6th,  enabling  the 
people  of  Wisconsin  to  form  a  state  government  separated  from  the  prospect- 
ive state  all  that  part  of  what  is  now  Minnesota  lying  east  of  the  boundary 
formed  by  the  Mississippi  to  its  source  (Lake  Itasca)  and  thence  by  a  line 
drawn  due  north  to  the  *'  northwest  corner  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,"  that  is 
to  the  British  possessions.  Thus  to  Wisconsin  were  given  her  present  limits.  ' 

The  Americans  were  slower  in  taking  actual  possession  of  this  region  be- 
tween Lake  Michigan  and  the  Mississippi  than  in  acquiring  title  to  it.  The 
French  hated  and  dreaded  the  Yankees.  "  Great  danger  both  to  individuals 
and  to  the  government  is  to  be  apprehended  from  the  Canadian  traders." 
Thus  in  1811  wrote  Nicholas  Boilvin,  Indian  agent  at  Prairie  du  Chien, —  the 
only  one  in  the  Wisconsin  region,  —  to  the  war  department. 

During  the  second  war  with  Britain  the  military  ]>osts  in  Michigan  and 
what  was  then  northern  Illinois1  fell  again  into  the  hands  of  the  British.  That 

1  When,  1809,  February  3.  the  Territory  of  Illinois  was  created  by  act  of  Congress,  her 
eastern  boundary  extended  to  Lake  Superior;  her  western  "  to  the  most  northwestern  point " 
of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  That  is  northward  from  the  confluence  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mis- 
sissippi, her  western  boundary  was  that  of  the  United  States  until  the  Louisiana  purchase. 
"The  most  northwestern  point,"  —  we  use  the  words  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  —  was  then  unde- 
termined. It  is  now  known  to  be  in  longitude  05  8  56.7  wast  of  Greenwich,  and  latitude  40 
23  50.28  north.  Thus  even  the  little  point  of  land  projecting  into  the  Lake  of  the  Woods 
from  the  west,  and  now  forming  part  of  Minn.'sota  though  separated  from  it,  was  on«e  a  part 


40  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

at  Mackinaw  was  surrendered  without  resistance,  1812,  July  17th,  to  a  superior 
force  of  the  enemy.  This  event  turned  back  Brigadier-General  William  Hull 
from  his  proposed  invasion  of  Canada,  perhaps  decided  the  fate  of  Detroit 
(surrendered  1812,  August  6th)  and  made  the  British  masters  of  the  region  be- 
tween Lake  Michigan  and  the  Mississippi.  All  that  Boilvin,  unsupported  by 
military  force,  could  do  was  more  than  offset  by  the  influence  among  the  In- 
dians of  Robert  Dickson,  a  British  trader,  whose  home  had  been  at  Prairie  du 
Chien  since  about  1790  or  1795.  * 

About  the  first  of  May  (or  perhaps  a  little  later),  1814,  William  Clark,3 
governor  of  Missouri  Territory  and  commander  of  the  United  States  troops  of 
the  upper  Mississippi,  started  from  St.  Louis  for  Prairie  du  Chien.  There  he 
held  a  council  with  the  Indians,  and  left  a  force  under  command  of  Lieutenant 
Joseph  Perkins,  of  the  twenty-fourth  United  States  infantry,  to  build  and  garri- 
son a  fort.  After  Governor  Clark's  return  we  hear  of  the  expedition  in  a  letter 
dated  at  St.  Louis,  1814,  July  2nd:  "On  Sunday  last  [June  26th],  an  armed 
boat  arrived  from  Prairie  du  Chien  under  command  of  Captain  John  Sullivan , 
with  his  company  of  militia  and  thirty-two  men  from  the  gunboat  '  Governor 
Clark,'  their  terms  of  service  (sixty  days)  having  expired.  Captain  Zeizer 
[or  Yeizer],  who  commands  on  board  the  'Governor  Clark'  off  Prairie  du 
Chien,  reports  that  his  vessel  is  completely  manned,  that  the  fort  is  finished, 
christened  l  Fort  Shelby '  and  occupied  by  his  regulars,  and  that  all  are  anxious 
for  a  visit  from  Dickson  and  his  red  troops." 

Probably  Dickson  did  not  come  for  he  was  at  Mackinaw  when,  1814,  Aug- 
gust  4th,  the  Americans  made  an  unsuccessful  attack  on  that  stronghold.  But 
an  enemy  came  who  put  to  silence  all  boastful  words.  Part  of  the  story  is 
told  in  an  official  record  from  Lieutenant-Colonel  Robert  McDouall  to  Lieuten- 
ant-General  Sir  George  Gordon  Drummond  dated  at  "  Michilimackinac,"  16th 
July,  1814 : 

"  I  beg  leave  to  acquaint  you  that  on  the  21st  ulto.  I  received  information 

•of  Illinois.  But  on  her  admission  into  the  Union  all  of  the  former  Territory  lying  north  of 
latitude  42  30,— that  is  the  whole  of  Wisconsin,  except  most  of  the  peninsula  between  Green 
Bay  and  the  lake,  more  than  half  of  the  Upper  Peninsula  of  Michigan  and  almost  a  third  of 
Minnesota,  —  was  added  to  Michigan  "  for  temporary  purposes  only." 

1  Perhaps  even  longer.  The  following  is  from  the  reminiscences  of  "  Colonel "  John 
Shaw,  a  well  known  pioneer : 

"  Colonel  Robert  Dickson  obtained  an  unbounded  influence  over  the  Indians  of  the  North- 
west. He  established  a  law  that  no  Indians  should  engage  in  war  with  each  other  within 
twenty-five  leagues  of  Prairie  du  Chien :  that  wide  belt  of  country  should  be  strictly  neu- 
tral ground.  I  think  he  must  have  made  Prairie  du  Chien  his  summer  home  for  some  thirty 
years  prior  to  the  final  pacification  in  1815." 

Dickson  was  faithful  in  his  allegiance  to  "the  best  of  Kings  and  Our  Glorious  Constitu- 
tion." I  use  his  own  words.  Shaw  continues :"  When  peace  was  proclaimed,  he  spoke  to  a 
large  assembly  of  his  red  children,  and  informed  them  that  the  treaty  rendered  it  necessary 
for  him  to  retire  to  the  Red  River  of  the  North  and  Hudson's  Bay ;  that  it  caused  the  deepest 
gloom  in  his  mind  to  be  compelled  to  leave  his  much  loved  children,  and  that  he  could  never 
recover  from  this  sorrow.  The  Indians  by  their  tears  and  grief  for  many  days  evinced  their 
strong  attachment  for  their  father  and  friend." 

2-  A  brother  of  George  Rogers  Clark,  and  the  associate  of  Captain  Meriwether  Lewis  in  the 
famous  expedition  known  by  their  names ;  the  first  sent  by  the  United  States  government 
across  the  Rocky  Mountains. 


BRITISH  DOMINION.  41 

of  the  capture  of  Prairie  des  Chiens  on  the  Mississippi  by  the  American  Genl. 
Clarke  who  had  advanced  from  St.  Louis  with  six  or  eight  very  large  Boats  with 
about  three  hundred  men  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  himself  at  that  post 
by  building  a  Fort  the  situation  being  very  eligible  for  that  purpose. 

"I  saw  at  once  the  imperious  necessity  which  existed  of  endeavoring  by 
every  means  to  dislodge  the  American  Genl  from  his  new  conquest,  &  make 
him  relinquish  the  immense  tract  of  country  he  had  seized  upon  in  consequence 
&  which  brought  him  into  the  very  heart  of  that  occupied  by  our  friendly 
Indians.  There  was  no  alternative  it  must  either  be  done  or  there  would  be  an 
end  to  our  connextion  with  the  Indians  for,  if  allowed  to  settle  themselves,  by 
dint  of  threats,  bribes,  &  sowing  divisions  among  them,  tribe  after  tribe  would 
be  gained  over  or  subdued  &  thus  would  be  destroyed  the  only  barrier  which 
protects  the  great  trading  establishment  of  the  Northwest  and  the  Hudson's  Bay 
Companys.  Nothing  could  then  prevent  the  enemy  from  gaining  the  source  of 
the  Mississippi,  gradually  extending  themselves  by  the  Red  River  to  Lake  Win- 
nipic,  from  whence  the  descent  of  Nelson's  River  to  York  Fort  would  in  time 
be  easy.  The  subjugation  of  the  Indians  on  the  Mississippi  would  either  lead 
to  their  extermination  by  the  enemy  or  they  would  be  spared  on  the  express 
condition  of  assisting  them  to  expel  us  from  upper  Canada.  Viewing  the  sub- 
ject in  this  light  I  determined  to  part  with  the  Sioux  and  Winnebago  Indians 
to  give  them  every  encouragement  and  assistance,  &  even  to  weaken  ourselves 
here,  rather  than  the  enterprise  should  not  succeed.  I  appointed  Mr.  Rolette 
and  Mr.  Anderson,  &  Mr.  Grignion  of  Green  Bay  to  be  captains  of  volunteers, 
the  two  former  raised  63  men  in  two  days,  whom  I  completed,  armed  and 
cloathed,  the  latter  takes  with  him  all  the  settlers  of  Green  Bay.  I  held 
several  councils  with  the  Indians  on  this  important  business. 

"Everything  being  prepared,  Lt.  Col.  McKay  sailed  under  a  salute  from 
the  garrison  on  the  28th  ultimo,  taking  75  of  the  Michigan  Fencibles  and 
Canadian  Volunteers  &  about  136  Indians.  He  arrived  at  Green  Bay  about 
six  days  after,  at  which  place  such  was  the  great  zeal  displayed,  that  his  force 
was  immediately  doubled,  but  as  every  arrangement  had  been  made  previous  to 
his  departure  for  the  junction  of  the  Winnebago  &  Follsovine  [Folles  Avoine l 
or  Menomonee]  Indians  at  the  portage  of  the  Ouisconsing  River,  I  have  scarce- 
ly a  doubt  but  that  his  force  at  that  place  will  be  at  least  1500  men,  besides  be- 
ing afterward  joined  by  the  Sioux  from  River  St.  Peters  &  other  tribes. 

"If  successful  and  the  thing  is  practicable,  I  have  directed  him  to  de- 
scend the  Mississippi  and  also  to  attack  the  Piorias2  Fort  on  the  Illinois  River." 

The  "arrangement  for  the  junction  of  Indians  at  the  portage  of  the  Ouis- 
consing "  was  doubtless  made  with  Dickson  who  had  spent  the  preceding  winter 
in  service  at  Lake  Winnebago.3 

1  Wildcats;  a  name  given  by  the  French  to  the  wild  rice,— zizania  aquatica,—ot  our 
marshes.    The  Indians  made  much  use  of  this  as  food. 

2  Fort  Clark,  at  Peoria,  built  by  American  troops  under  General  Benjamin  Howard,  in 
the  autumn  of  1813. 

8  Thence,  under  date  of  4th  February,  1814,  he  had  written  as  follows  to  John  Lawe  of 


42  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

When  McKay  and  his  men  landed  at  Green  Bay  on  the  4th  or  5th  of 
July,  they  found  no  American  force  to  oppose  them.  The  United  States  gov- 
ernment had  never  really  taken  possession  of  the  place.  Here,  to  use  a  state- 
ment more  precise  than  that  of  Colonel  McDouall,  the  British  received  an  ac- 
cession of  "thirty  militia  almost  all  old  men  unfit  for  service,"  and  about  one 
hundred  Indians.  We  do  not  hear  of  any  increase  in  number  at  the  "  portage 
of  the  Ouisconsing."  Twenty-one  miles  from  Prairie  du  Chien  the  party  halted 
at  the  old  deserted  village  of  the  Outagamies.  From  this  place  scouts  were  sent 
out  who  found  that  the  Americans  were  totally  unaware  of  the  coming  of  their 
enemies.  The  next  day,  says  one  of  the  scouts  (Augustus  Grignon),  "We 
reached  the  town  about  ten  o'clock  unperceived.  As  this  was  Sunday  [July 
17th],  and  a  very  pleasant  day,  the  officers  of  the  garrison  were  getting  ready 
to  take  a  pleasure  ride  into  the  country,  and  had  McKay  been  an  hour. or  two 
later  the  garrison  would  have  been  caught  without  an  officer." 

McKay's  force  of  Indians, — four  or  five  hundred  Sioux,  Winnebagoes, 
Menomonees,  and  Ojibways,  —  was  "perfectly  useless,"  he  tells  us,  and  he  had 
only  one  hundred  fifty  whites  of  whom  twenty  were  regulars  and  officers. 
However  he  was  successful  in  his  attack  on  Fort  Shelby,  though  Perkins  made 
a  vigorous  defence.  Part  of  the  American  force  of  one  hundred  fifty  was 
on  the  "Governor  Clark,  Gunboat  No.  1."  "She  goes  remarkably  fast,"  wrote 
McKay  descriptively  not  sarcastically,  "particularly  down  the  current,  being 
rowed  by  32  oars."1  Driven  by  the  fire  of  the  enemy  she  was  obliged  to  leave 
the  fort  to  its  fate.  It  was  surrendered  on  the  evening  of  July  19th,  and 
received  the  name  of  its  captor.  This  was  the  only  actual  warfare  between 
whites  on  Wisconsin  soil  in  the  war  of  1812.  No  lives  were  lost  at  the  taking 
of  Fort  Shelby. 

It  required  McKay's  utmost  exertions  to  save  his  prisoners  from  massacre 
by  the  Indians,  most  of  whom,  as  in  the  Revolution,  were  hostile  to  the  "  Big 
Knives,"  as  they  called  the  Americans.  And  the  whites  of  Prairie  du  Chien, 
like  those  of  Green  Bay,  preferred  British  rule. 

To  McDouall's  more  ambitious  scheme  McKay  thus  refers :  *»  As  to  going 
down  the  Mississippi  and  returning"  (to  Mackinaw)  "by  way  of  Chicago,  [it] 
is  now  rendered  impracticable  for  the  present,  —  no  dependence  whatever  to 
be  placed  in  the  Indians  except  the  Sioux." 

Green  Bay,  then  lieutenant  in  the  British  service : 

"Fort  Madison  was  evacuated  &  burnt  late  in  the  season.  *  St.  Louis  might  he  taken  this 
spring  with  5  or  600  men.  *  From  all  appearances,  even  from  the  Democratic  papers,  the) 
Americans  tremble  for  the  consequences  of  the  war  in  Europe.  They  already  figure  the! 
Russians  and  Cossacks  at  their  doors.  The  Emperor  of  Austria  has  joined  the  Russians  and 
Prussians  &  Swedes  &  their  Combined  forces  amount  to  540,000  men.  *  Lord  Wellington  i 
had  taken  the  two  important  Fortresses  of  Pampeluna  &  St.  Sebastian,  and  was  advancing] 
into  France.  I  think  that  Bony  must  be  knocked  up  as  all  Europe  are  now  in  arms. 

"The  crisis  is  not  far  off  when  I  trust  in  God  that  the  Tyrant  will  be  humbled,  &  the] 
Scoundrel  American  Democrats  be  obliged  to  go  on  their  knees  to  Britain." 

1  But  four  steamboats  had  at  that  time  been  built  on  the  rivers  of  the  Mississippi  valley. 
Of  these  the  first  built,  called  the  New  Orleans,  had  sunk  a  few  days  before  (July  15th),    Tlu 
other  three  were  the  Comet,  a  diminutive  vessel  of  twenty-five  tons'  burden,  the  Vesuvii 
and  the  Enterprise. 


BRITISH  DOMINION.  43 

Though  somewhat  damaged,  the  Governor  Clark,  with  Agent  Boilvin  on 
board,  made  her  way  to  Rack  Island  pursued  "  till  within  a  league  of  the  rapids  " 
by  a  force  of  British.  These  turned  back  on  meeting  another  American  gun- 
boat which,  it  is  probable,  was  part  of  an  expedition  dispatched  under  command 
of  Lieutenant  John  Campbell  from  St.  Louis  for  the  reinforcement  of  Fort 
Shelby.  Here  Campbell  at  the  hands  of  Indians  under  command  of  the  famous 
Black  Hawk1  suffered  a  defeat  deserved  apparently  by  his  own  carelessness 
and  disobedience  (22  July,  1814).  Twelve  of  his  men  were  killed  ;  between 
twenty  and  thirty  wounded.  Soon  a  British  force  went  down  the  Mississippi 
as  far  as  Rock  Island  and  there  on  the  Illinois  side  erected  a  battery.  Major 
Zachary  Taylor,  afterwards  President  of  the  United  States,  started  from  St. 
Louis,  August  12th,  with  four  hundred  fifty  men  to  take  this,  but,  for  want  of 
artillery,  was  repulsed,  1814,  September  6th.  Again  Black  Hawk  commanded 
the  Indians,  thus  defeating  the  future  President. 

Though  the  Americans  were  unsuccessful  in  their  attempt,  already  men- 
tioned, to  recover  Mackinaw  they  put  the  British  in  the  Upper  Lake  region  to 
serious  inconvenience,  and  delayed  the  furnishing  of  supplies  to  Fort  McKay. 
Nor  was  there  an  abundance  when  they  came.  "  Here  we  are,"  wrote  one  of 
the  garrison,  14th  March,  1815,  "posted  since  last  fall  without  news  from  any 
quarter,  and  destitute  of  provisions,  sociability,  harmony  or  good  understand- 
ing. Not  even  a  glass  of  grog  nor  a  pipe  of  tobacco,  to  pass  away  the  time, 
and  if  a  brief  period  don't  bring  a  change  for  the  better,  I  much  dread  the 
United  Irishmen's  wish  will  befall  the  place, —  a  bad  Winter,  a  worse  Spring, 
a  bloody  Summer  and  no  king.  Owing  to  a  scarcity  of  Provisions  here  a 
gloom  appears  on  every  countenance;  and  if  ever  I  take  an  idea  to  resign,  I 
mean  to  recommend  Mr.  Hurtibis  to  supply  my  place  as  I  think  him  the  prop- 
erest  person  in  the  time  of  famine  as  he  has  no  teeth. 

"I  must  conclude  this  long  and  useless  letter  after  having  endeavored  in 
vain  to  give  you  an  idea  of  the  wretchedness  of  this  country  —  a  task  for 
which  nature  has  not  qualified  me.  To  give  it  in  its  true  light  would  require 
the  pen  of  an  able  historian. r' 

The  war  was  then  over.  Though  the  British  commissioners  at  Ghent  sought 
to  acquire  the  region  on  the  American  side  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes,  or  more 
strictly  speaking  to  have  made  it  into  a  neutral  Indian  country  under  the  pro- 
tection of  their  government,  the  treaty  of  Ghent  to  the  rage  and  almost  the 
despair  of  nearly  all  the  whites  living  there,  confirmed  it  to  the  United  States. 

The  official  announcement  of  peace  did  not  reach  Captain  Andrew  A. 
Bulger,  then  in  command  at  Prairie  du  Chien  until  the  22nd  of  May,  1815. 
The  next  day  he  wrote  to  Governor  Clark  of  St.  Louis,  u  I  propose  evacuating 
this  post  to-morrow."  He  did  not  wish  to  have  British  and  American  troops  at 
Prairie  du  Chien  at  the  same  time.  It  may  be  that  his  departure  was  earlier 
by  one  day  than  he  had  proposed  to  make  it.  For  Lieutenant-Colonel  McDou- 

1   McDouall  stairs  that    P.lark    Hawk    was    in  command  of   the   Indians.     Src  "Michigan 
Historical  Collections,"  volume  XIV.  page  285. 


44  IN   UNNAMED   WISCONSIN, 

i 

all  states  that  Bulger  evacuated  Prairie  du  Chien  May  23rd  and  arrived 
at  Mackinaw  on  the  17th  of  June.  Doubtless  he  went  by  way  of  Green  Bay. 
The  unknown  date  of  his  departure  thence  marks  the  end  of  British  dominion 
in  what  is  now  Wisconsin. l 

It  cost  McDouall  a  bitter  struggle  to  give  up  Mackinaw.  His  Indian  al- 
lies shared  his  feeling.  uWe  hate  those  Big  Knives!"  said  a  Winnebago  chief 
at  a  council  held  at  Mackinaw  1815,  June  3rd.  "  Our  Great  Father  beyond  the 
Great  Lake  is  a  tender  parent ;  but  when  he  agreed  to  give  up  this  place  to  the 
Big  Knives,  he  did  not  reflect  that  he  was  putting  us  in  the  power  of  our  great 
enemy."  McDouall  had  reflected  upon  it.  His  reiterated  argument  is  that 
the  region  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Mississippi  had  never  really  been 
in  the  possession  of  the  Americans,  but  belonged  to  Indian  tribes  that  were 
allies  of  the  British. 

His  protests  were  in  vain.  Not  only  had  the  British  flag  for  the  last  time 
floated  in  mastery  on  the  banks  of  the  upper  Mississippi  and  at  Green  Bay ;  it 
was  now  to  be  taken  from  the  heights  of  Mackinaw.  Accordingly  at  noon, 
1815,  July  19th,  the  British  evacuated  the  Malta  of  our  fresh-water  Mediter- 
ranean. McDouall  withdrew  to  Drummond's  Island.  As  he  went  royal  author- 
ity on  the  southern  and  western  shores  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes  passed  away. 

1  Thus  British  influence  was  in  ascendency  at  Green  Bay  during  almost  all  the  reign  of 
George  III.  and  he  was  the  only  English  king  who  held  sway  on  what  is  now  the  American 
side  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  (the  future)  Wisconsin  was  under 
royal  government  during  three  of  the  longest  reigns  known  to  history,  those  of  Louis  XIV. 
and  Louis  XV.  of  France,  and  that  of  George  III.  of  Great  Britain. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  ION  A  OF  OUR  INLAND  SEAS. 

The  eastern  part  of  the  Upper  Peninsula  of  what  is  now  Michigan  was 
known  to  early  French  explorers  at  Michilimackinac.  It  gave  name  (now  usu- 
ally shortened  to  Mackinac  or,  spelled  phonetically,  Mackinaw)  to  the  neigh- 
boring strait  through  which  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  pass  on  their  way  to 
the  sea.  On  the  north  side  of  this  strait,  Marquette  and  the  fugitive  Hurons 
found  refuge  in  1671,  when  they  fled  from  Chequamegon  bay  to  escape  the 
fury  of  the  Dakotas.  The  mission  of  St.  Ignatius,  thus  established,  was 
strengthened  by  a  French  military  post.  But  after  Cardillac  founded  Detroit 
in  1701,  he  withdrew  the  garrison  from  the  older  settlement,  despite  the  en- 
treaties of  the  Jesuits,  and  prevailed  upon  many  of  the  Indians  to  leave. 1  To 
prevent  the  desecration  of  their  church  by  pagan  Indians,  the  priests  set  fire  to 
it  with  their  own  hands  and  abandoned  the  mission.  When,  in  1712,  De  Lou- 
vigny  came  by  command  of  Governor-General  De  Vaudreuil  to  re-establish  a 
fort  in  the"  Michilimackinac  region,  he  placed  it  on  the  south  side  of  the  strait. 
This  is  what  is  often  called  "Old  Fort  Mackinaw."  During  the  French  and 

I  Indian  war  the  English  flag  was  raised  over  Detroit  1760,  November  29th,  by 
Major  Robert  Rogers,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire.  Fort  Mackinaw  was  occu- 
pied 1761,  September  28th,  by  British  troops  under  command  of  Captain  Hen- 
ry Balfour3  who,  with  the  greater  part  of  his  force,  sailed  on  the  1st  of  the  fol- 
lowing October  to  take  possession  of  Green  Bay.  A  part  of  the  war  that  fol- 
lowed Pontiac's  conspiracy  was  the  massacre  of  the  the  British  garrison  at  Old 
Fort  Mackinaw. 3  This  event  the  story  of  which  does  not  need  to  be  told  here, 


1  There  was  no  love  lost  between  Cardillac  and  the  Jesuits.  He  thus  wrote  of  them  to 
the  I M n i H-  government : 

"  You  wish  me  to  be  a  friend  of  the  Jesuits  and  to  have  no  trouble  with  them.  After  much 
reflection  I  have  found  only  three  ways  in  which  this  can  be  accomplished ;  the  first  is,  to  let 
them  do  as  they  please ;  the  second,  to  do  whatever  they  desire ;  and  the  third,  to  say  nothing 
of  what  thay  do."  The  letter  was  dated  At  "  Fort  Ponchartrain,  August  31,  1703."  Said  fort 
occupied  a  site  in  what  is  now  the  business  portion  of  Detroit. 

According  to  E.  M.  Sheldon's  "  Early  History  of  Michigan,"  Cardillac  was  a  "zealous 
I  Koinun]  Catholic."  He  favored  the  Franciscans.  These,  in  a  sense,  are  the  Methodists  of 
Kouinn  Catholicism,  as  the  Jesuits  are  its  "high  church  "  Episcopalians. 

a  Following  the  Wisconsin  "  Blue  Book  "  and  "  Historical  Collections"  this  name  is  spell- 
ed "  Belfour  "  on  page  2(5.  But  the  British  "  Army  List "  gives  it  as  "  Balfour." 

?  Pontiac's  conspiracy  was  so  far  successful  that  by  Aug\ist  13th  of  that  year  (1763),  with 


4(5  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

took  place  on  the  4th  of  June,  1763.  Remembering,  it  may  be,  this  occurence, 
Major  De  Peyster,  who  commanded  there  during  the  Revolutionary  war,  made 
preparations,  as  a  measure  of  safety  from  the  Americans,  to  remove  the  Brit- 
ish garrison  to  Michilimackinac  island.  On  the  4th  of  November,  1780,  his 
successor,  Captain  (and  Lieutenant-Governor)  Sinclair  made  the  formal  re- 
moval. Thus  the  beautiful  island,  now  the  delight  of  summer  tourists,  the  sup- 
posed birthplace  of  the  legendary  Hiawatha,  became  the  center  of  trade  and 
political  influence  for  all  the  region  of  the  upper  Great  Lakes. 

It  was  destined  also  to  be  the  center  of  religious,  educational  and  mission- 
ary influence.     Thither  the  Roman  Catholic  congregation   hauled  over  the  ice 
from  Old  Mackinaw,  in  1780,  the  timbers  of  their  house  of  worship  and  there 
re-erected  it.     But  for  half  a   century  they  enjoyed  the  services  of  only  non- 
-resident priests* 

In  1800  a  young  man,  David  Bacon,  was  sent  West  by  the  Missionary  so- 
ciety of  Connecticut.  "  Afoot  and  alone  he  was  to  make  his  way  towards  the 
wilderness,  with  no  baggage  more  than  he  could  carry  on  his  person,  thank- 
fully accepting  any  offer  of  a  seat  for  a  few  miles  in  some  passing  vehicle. 
Such  was  the  equipment  with  which  the  good  people  of  Connecticut,  seventy- 
four  years  ago,  sent  forth  their  first  missionary  to  the  heathen."1 

His  first  tour  was  one  of  exploration.  He  arrived  at  Detroit  on  the  llth 
of  September,  1800.  Thence  he  went  northward  as  far  as  Harson's  Island, 
River  St.  Clair.  Having  returned  to  New  England  he  was  married  and  or- 
dained. Again  he  came  to  Michigan  and  settled  at  Detroit.  Here  was  born 
19th  February,  1802,  his  son  Leonard,  afterwards  the  famous  New  Haven  pas- 
tor and  member  of  the  Yale  corporation.  In  June,  1802,  Mr.  Bacon  removed 
to  Mackinaw  and  thus  became  the  first  Protestant  missionary  in  the  region  of 
the  upper  Great  Lakes.  Great  were  the  obstacles  to  his  work,  among  the 
whites  as  well  as  the  Indians,  both  there  and  Detroit.  Those  whom  he  speaks 
of  as  "bigoted,  persecuting  papists"  of  course  opposed  his  work.  British  in- 
fluence, still  strong  in  these  regions,  was  against  him  because  he  was  a  Yankee, 
by  which,  was  meant  an  American.  The  fur  traders  did  not  wish  to  have  the 
Indians  become  civilized.  It  would  seem  that  Mr.  Bacon's  best  and  almost 
\only  friends  were  the  officers  of  the  United  States  army. 

This  first  Protestant  mission  at  Mackinaw  ended  with  the  removal  of  the 
missionary  about  the  1st  of  August,  1804.  A  canoe  voyage  from  Detroit  to 
Cleveland  took  him  with  wife  and  two  infants  to  what  was  then  known  as  "  New 
Connecticut"  (Western  Reserve).  Mr.  Bacon  was  one  of  those  who  impressed 
Puritanism  upon  Northern  Ohio,  the  land  of  Giddings  and  Garfield,  of  Ober- 
lin  college  and  Western  Reserve  university. 

Before  the  clash  of  arms  in  1812,  there  was  in  the  fur  trade  a  commer- 
cial war  of  which  Mackinaw  was  in  a  sense  the  center  and  in  which  John  Jacob 

the  exception  of  the  garrison  at  Detroit,  there  was  not  a  British  soldier  in  the  region  of  the 
upper  Great  Lakes. 

1  Congregational  Quarterly,  January,  1876. 


THE  IONA  OF  Ot'K  INLAND  SEAS.  47 

Astor,  his  partner,  Wilson  Price  Hunt,  and  others,  represented  the  American 
cause.  A  sturdy  Scotchman,  Ramsey  Crooks,  was  among  Astor's  trusted  lieu- 
tenants. Starting  from  Mackinaw  about  the  12th  of  August,  1809,  Hunt  and 
Crooks  made  their  way  by  the  Fox- Wisconsin  route,1  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Missouri  to  the  Rocky  mountains  and  thence  to  the  Pacific.  They  are  sure  of 
abiding  renown  for  Irving  has  written  of  them  in  his  "Astoria." 

The  importance  of  Mackinaw  both  in  the  Revolution  and  in  the  second 
war  with  Britain  has  been  shown.  With  the  return  of  peace  came  better  sub- 
jects for  the  historian  than  strife  and  bloodshed.  Again  Mackinaw  became  the 
center  of  an  extensive  fur  trade.  By  favoring  legislation  the  American  Fur 
company,  in  which  Astor  had  a  controlling  interest,  was  able  to  command  a 
great  part  of  the  commerce  of  the  Northwest.  At  no  time,  perhaps,  was  it 
more  prosperous  than  in  1820. 

In  this  year,  June  16th,  Jedidiah  Morse,  D.  D.,  father  of  S.  F.  B.  Morse, 
the  inventor  of  the  telegraph,  landed  at  Mackinaw. 2  He  was  accompanied  by 
his  son  Richard  Gary  Morse,  long  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  "New  York 
Observer,"  who  wrote  thus  of  their  stay : 

"There  had  not  been  a  Protestant  sermon  preached  in  the  place  for  ten 
years  or  more.  During  our  fortnight's  stay  the  gospel  was  preached  by  us  in 
the  court  house  to  full  and  attentive  audiences.  At  his  [Dr.  Morse's]  sugges- 
tion and  by  his  personal  aid  a  Sabbath  school  and  a  day  school  were  formed 
for  the  children ;  a  Bible  and  Tract  society."  From  Mackinaw,  as  already 
stated,  our  travelers  went  to  Green  Bay. 

A  letter  written  by  Dr.  Morse  soon  after  his  return  to  New  Haven  shows 
his  interest  in  supplying  the  people  at  Mackinaw  with  a  pastor.  He  had  come 
west  not  only  under  commission  from  the  United  States  government,  —  of 
which  service  we  shall  soon  hear, —  but  also  as  agent  of  the  Northern  Mission- 
ary society  of  New  York.?  This  organization  was  soon  absorbed  by  another, 


1  They  had  much  difficulty  in  securing  a  crew.  Irving  thus  describes  the  only  kind  of 
men  to  be  had:  "  Like  sailors,  the  Canadian  voyagjrs  generally  prafaco  a  long  cruise  with  a 
carouse.  They  have  their  cronies,  their  brothers,  their  cousins,  their  wives,  their  sweet- 
ie-arts, all  to  be  entertained  at  their  expense.  They  feast,  they  fiddle,  they  drink,  they  sing, 
1 1  icy  dance,  they  frolic  and  fight,  until  they  are  mad  so  many  drunken  Indians.  *  *  * 
It  was  with  the  utmost  difficulty  they  could  be  extricated  from  the  clutches  of  the  publicans 
[liquor  sellers],  and  the  embraces  of  their  pot  companions,  who  followed  them  to  the  water's 
edge  with  many  a  hug,  a  kiss  on  each  cheek  and  a  maudlin  benediction  in  Canadian  French." 

8  Dr.  Morse,  born  1761,  August  23rd,  died  182(J,  June  9th,  was  one  of  the  corporate  mem 
bers  of  the  American  Board,  and  was  onco  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Harvard 
college.  When,  180/>,  February  5th,  the  corporation  elected  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  a  Unitarian,  to 
tli."  llollis  professorship  of  divinity,  Dr.  Morse,  as  one  of  the  overseers,  strongly  opposed  the 
confirmation  of  their  action  which  he  regarded  as  a  broach  of  trust.  For  one  of  the  condi- 
tions of  tho  gift  establishing  the  professorship  was  that  the  incumbent  should  bo,  in  religion, 
of  orthodox  belief.  Following  the  election  of  Ware,  Dr.  Morse  resigned  hisotHce  as  overseer. 

3  "Organized  in  17i)7.  Albany,  New  York,  seems  to  have  been  its  headquarters.  It  was 
'  absorbed,'  in  your  fitting  tarm,  about  1821.  Its  missions,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  were  chiefly 
anioiiLT  Indians  in  the  state  of  New  York.  Dr.  Chester,  a  noble  man  of  great  influence,  was 
the  pastor  of  one  of  the  principal  churches  in  that  city,  and  was  connected  with  the  North 
ern  Missionary  society  perhaps  as  chairman  or  president.  His  grandson  is  in  Milwaukee, 
K  -\  William  Chester,  pastor  of  Immanuel  Presbyterian  church."  — REV.  JOHN  C.  LOWKIK.  of 
the  Presbyterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  185)3,  March  31st. 


4N  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

and  this  United  Foreign  Missionary  society,  as  it  was  called,  represent- 
ing the  Presbyterian,  the  (then  Dutch)  Reformed  and  the  Associate  Re- 
formed churches,  re-established  the  mission  at  Mackinaw  which,  for  various 
reasons,  finds  place  in  our  Wisconsin  history.  Here  were  the  headquarters  of 
our  missionary  work  for  this  part  of  the  world.  As  we  have  seen  the  story  of 
Wisconsin  can  not  be  told  without  reference  to  that  of  Mackinaw.  And  at  one 
time,  February,  1828,  the  committee  on  Territories  in  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives was  committed  to  the  project  of  making  the  Upper  Peninsula  (now)  of 
Michigan  with  the  adjacent  islands,  Mackinaw  among  them,  a  part  of  the  pro- 
posed Territory  of  "Wiskonsin,"  a  name  then  recently  substituted  in  congres- 
sional proceedings  for  "Chippewau." 

In  1822  Rev.  William  Montague  Ferry  visited  Mackinaw  and  organized  a 
church  there.1  The  following  statement  of  special  need  for  Christian  work  is 
from  the  missionary  report  of  a  later  year : 

"  It  had  long  been  a  common,  though  not  a  universal  practice,  among  the 
many  traders,  clerks  and  other  whites  in  this  whole  region  to  live  with  Indian 
women,  either  as  wives  or  concubines,  and  to  desert  them  and  their  children  on 
returning  to  civilized  life.  This  practice  was  introduced  while  the  French  held 
possession  of  Canada,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  half-breeds  were  still  of 
French  descent.  They  and  many  of  the  Indians  were  nominally  Roman  Cath- 
olics, but  were  almost  entirely  ignorant  of  Christianity." 

Mr.  Ferry  returned  next  year  with  his  wife,  arriving  19th  October,  1823. 
The  mission  and  boarding  school  which  formed  part  of  his  plan  was  opened 
Monday,  3rd  of  the  following  November,  with  twelve  Indian  children.  The 
school  increased  and  at  one  time  had  an  attendance  of  one  hundred  eighty. 
The  children  from  the  village  attended  as  day  pupils,  and  those  from  the  sev- 
eral tribes  as  boarders.  These  were  collected  from  the  whole  region  extending 
from  the  white  settlements  south  of  the  Great  Lakes  to  Red  River  and  Lake 
Athabasca.  The  children  were  trained  in  habits  of  industry,  taught  trades  and 
how  to  cultivate  the  soil,  besides  receiving  a  common-school  education.  Most 
of  the  Ojibway  traders  sent  their  half-breed  children  to  this  school.  "Great 
good  was  desseminated  from  it,  which  spread  over  the  whole  Northwest  terri- 
tory. Many  of  our  most  promising  half-breeds,  now  engaged  as  missionaries 
or  in  mercantile  pursuits,  received  their  education  at  the  Mackinaw  mission. 
After  its  dissolution  such  of  the  traders  as  were  financially  able  sent  their  child- 
dren  to  receive  an  education  in  some  of  the  Eastern  states."2 

The  school  was  first  held  in  the  old  court  house.  In  1825,  the  building 
now  known  as  the  "  Mission  House,"  was  erected  for  missionary  and  school  pur- 
poses. 3 

1  Previous  to  the  location  of   this  mission,  Mr.  Ferry  spent  a  year  in  Mackinaw,  in 
which  time  lie  organized  a  church ;  persuaded  the  inhabitants,  generally,  to  abandon  secular 
employments  on  the  Sabbath,  and  attend  public  worship."— Missionary  Gazetteer  by  Rev. 
Walter  Chapin,  of  Woodstock,  Vermont. 

2  "History  of  the  Ojibways,"  by  William  Whipple  Warren. 

3  During  the  late  war  this  old  mission  house  was  used  for  a  time  as  the  home  of  certain 


THE  IONA  OF  OUR  INLAND  SKAS.  41) 

In  this  same  year  the  United  Foreign  Missionary  society,1  which,  as  al- 
ready stated,  had  previously  absorbed  the  Northern  Missionary  society,  gave 
up  its  own  distinctive  name  and  work  by  union  with  the  American  Board. 
This  action  was  ratified  the  following  year  and,  in  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Board  for  1827,  we  find — quoted  from  above  —  its  first  report,  of  the  Macki- 
naw mission.  In  August  of  that  year,  there  were  one  hundred  twelve  pupils 
in  the  boarding  school,  and  there  had  been  several  interesting  cases  of  conver- 
sion.2 French  priests  occasionally  visited  this  region  and  opposed  this  mission 
to  the  extent  of  their  power. 

Thus  the  mission  grappled  at  once  with  heathenism  and  a  corrupted  form 
of  Christianity.  It  has  a  history  written  in  the  lives  of  men  and  women  who 
have  left  their  imprint  upon  all  this  region.  It  made  Mackinaw  a  St.  Co- 
lumba's  island  of  the  West. 

Among  those  who  became  earnest  Christians  in  a  revival  there,  as  early  as 
1826,  was  Lyman  Marcus  Warren,  a  trader  in  the  employ  of  the  American 
Fur  company.  He  at  once  desired  that  a  mission  be  established  at  his  trading 
post.  La  Pointe,  on  the  largest  of  the  many  islands  in  Chequamegon  Bay,  not 
far  from  the  scene  of  the  labors  of  Allouez  and  Marquette  more  than  one  hun- 
dred fifty  years  before.  Then,  among  others,  Hurons  dwelt  there,  but  Mr. 
Warren's  Indian  neighbors  were  Ojibways.  His  earnest  entreaty  reached  some 
students  at  Hamilton  college,  and  in  response  to  it  came,  in  1827,  Rev.  Jedidiah 
Dwight  Stevens  who  fills  so  large  a  place  in  the  early  history  of  our  Wisconsin 
churches.  He  and  his  wife  arrived  July  21st.  He  came  with  the  purpose  of 
establishing  a  mission  among  the  Ojibways.  But  Mr.  Ferry  thought  that  this 
project  was  premature.  Accordingly  Mr.  Stevens  remained  at  Mackinaw  to 
strengthen  Ihe  mission  there  and,  to  use  his  own  words,  "was  at  once  installed 
principal  of  the  male  department  of  the  school.  There  was  gathered  a  motley  ) 
mass  of  boys  from  five  to  twenty  years  of  age,  of  various  colors,  tongues  and 
bloods,  pure  and  mixed,  French  and  English,  Irish,  Scotch,  American  and  In- 
dian ;  nearly  all  born  of  heathen  mothers.  These  boys  were  to  be  educated  and 

state  prisoners  from  Tennessee. 

1  Formed  in  New  York  City  in  1817  by  a  joint  committee  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the 
Presbyterian  church,  the  General  Synod  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  church,  and  the  General 
Synod  of  the  Associate  Reformed  church. 

2  Yet  the  school  failed  to  accomplish  the  object  for  which  it  was  founded.    "  In  1826-7," 
says  the  late  A.  G.  Ellis,  then  a  missionary  teacher  at  Green  Bay,  "  I  was  requested  [by  the 
Episcopal  church  committee]  to  acquire  all  the  information  possible  of  the  best  manner  of 
organising  and  conducting  a  large  boarding  school  for  Indian  children."    He  visited  Mack- 
inaw x    "Mr.  Ferry  received  me  courteously.    I  acquainted  him  with  the  object  of  my  inquir- 
ies; that  they  were  made  in  behalf  of  the  committee  of  the  Episcopal  church,  who  designed 
establishing  such  a  school  at  Green  Bay.    Ho  candidly  advised  against  it  and  gave  his  rea- 
sons: informing  me  that  this  school,  which  had  been  put  in  operation  at  great  expense,  had 
failed  of  the  object  sought,  and  that  he  had  already  received  instructions  to  reduce  it  in 
numbers  as  fast  as  could  be  done,  and  eventually  discontinue  it  entirely;  that  with  all  their 
<Miilr:ivorsthey  had  baen  able  to  secure  the  entrance  into  it  of  comparatively  very  few  Indian 
children ;  that  the  great  proportion  of  their  nearly  two  hundred  attendants  were  children  of 
Indian  traders,  who  were  reaping  all  the  benefits  of   education  from  which  the  Indian 
children  were  being  almost  wholly  excluded."     Accordingly,  Mr.  Ellis  reported  against 
attempting  to  establish  a  like  school  at  Green  Bay. 

But  was  it  not  as  good  a  thing  to  educate  a  half-breed  as  an  Indian  ? 


50  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

molded  into  a  Christian  civilization  and  religion,  and  made  to  be  educators  of 
the  tribes  now  perishing  in  heathenism." 

As  we  soon  leave  Mackinaw  to  follow  Mr.  Stevens  on  more  adventurous 
service,  we  may  give  an  epitome  of  the  remaining  history  of  the  mission  there. 
The  building  known  as  the  "mission  church  "  was  erected  in  1830.  It  was  ded- 
icated 1831,  March  4th.  As  it  was  thought  that  the  Indian  children  could  be 
more  advantageously  educated  near  their  homes,  the  school  which  according 
to  the  "  Missionary  Herald "  for  June,  1829,  had  numbered  one  hundred  sixty 
or  one  hundred  seventy,  including  thirty  or  forty  from  the  village  of  Mackinaw, 
was,  as  we  have  learned,  purposely  made  smaller.  Mr.  Ferry's  health  failed 
and  6th  August,  1834,  he  was  released  from  missionary  service. l  During  his 
stay  at  Mackinaw  there  was  born  to  him  a  son,  Thomas  White  Ferry,  who,  on 
the  death  of  the  late  Hon.  Henry  Wilson  became  acting  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States.  In  1836  the  mission  was  discontinued.  Mackinaw  had  ceased 
to  be  a  place  of  rendezvous  for  the  Indians  and  of  trade  for  the  whites.  The 
island  was  almost  deserted  until  it  became  a  place  of  resort  for  summer  visitors. 
The  old  church  gave  to  other  communities, —  Green  Bay  and  La  Pointe  among 
them, —  its  membership  and  its  very  life.  The  work  of  the  mission  passed  to 
other  stations  in  some  of  which  it  is  still  continued. 

As  a  picture  of  what  it  accomplished,  the  following  from  "  Wau-bun,  the 
*  Early  Day,'  in  the  North- West,"  is  suggestive,  though  colored  no  doubt  by  the 
warmth  of  friendship  and  brightened  by  the  gladness  of  a  young  wife's  jour- 
ney to  a  new  home  in  a  land  which  she  had  always  regarded  as  a  region  of 
romance.  At  Fort  Winnebago,  whither  at  this  time,  September,  1830,  she  and 
her  husband  were  going,  we  shall  again  meet  the  writer,  Mrs.  John  H.  Kinzie, 
well  known  in  the  early  history  of  Chicago: 

"  We  were  received  with  the  most  affectionate  cordiality  by  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Stuart,  at  whose  hospitable  mansion  we  had  been  for  some  days  expected.  Af- 
ter a  season  of  pleasant  conversation,  the  servants  were  assembled,  the  chapter 
of  God's  word  was  solemnly  read,  the  hymn  chanted,  the  prayer  of  praise  and 
thanksgiving  offered,  and  we  were  conducted  to  our  place  of  repose. 

"It  is  not  my  purpose  here  to  attempt  a  portrait  of  those  noble  friends 
whom  I  thus  met  for  the  first  time.  To  an  abler  pen  than  mine  should  be  as- 
signed the  honor  of  writing  the  biography  of  Robert  Stuart.  All  who  have 
enjoyed  the  happiness  of  his  acquaintance,  or  still  more,  a  sojourn  under  his 
hospitable  roof,  will  carry  with  them,  to  their  latest  hour,  the  impress  of  his 
noble  bearing,  his  genial  humor,  his  untiring  benevolence,  his  upright,  uncom- 
promising adherence  to  principle,  his  ardent  philanthropy,  his  noble  disinterest- 

1  Mr.  Ferry  was  one  of  five  ministers  who,  in  1827,  established  the  presbytery  of  Detroit. 
From  Mackinaw  he  removed  to  what  is  now  Grand  Haven,  Michigan.  His  was  the  first  white 
family  that  settled  there.  They  landed  Sabbath,  2nd  November,  1834.  Directly  the  father 
called  them  into  a  log  house,— he  had  been  at  the  place  previously  himself,—  and  preached 
from  the  text:  "For  who  hath  despised  the  day  of  small  things?"  He  died  1867,  December 
30th,  honored  and  beloved.  By  will,  he  left  to  various  objects  of  Christian  benevolence  one 
hundred  forty-seven  thousand  dollars.  Ferry  Hall,  Lake  Forest  university,  Illinois,  bears  his 
name. 


THE  IONA  OF  OUR  INLAND  SEAS.  51 

edness.  Irving  in  his  i  Astoria,'  and  Franchere  in  his 'Narrative,' give  many 
striking  traits  of  his  early  character,  together  with  events  of  his  history  of 
thrilling  and  romantic  interest,  but  both  have  left  the  most  valuable  portion  un- 
said, namely,  his  after-life  as  a  Christian  gentleman. 

u  Michilimackinac  !  that  gem  of  the  lakes  !  How  bright  and  beautiful  it 
looked  as  we  walked  abroad  on  the  following  morning!  The  object  of  our 
early  walk  was  to  visit  the  mission  house  and  school.  This  was  an  object  of 
especial  interest  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stuart.  They  had  lived  many  years  on  the 
island,  and  had  witnessed  its  transformation,  through  God's  blessing  on  Chris- 
tian efforts,  from  a  worldly,  dissipated  community  to  one  of  which  it  might 
almost  be  said,  l  Religion  was  every  man's  business.'  " 

The  commercial  ruin  of  Mackinaw  was  brought  about  by  the  use  of  larger 
vessels  in  the  Indian  trade,  especially  that  on  Lake  Superior.  This,  in  the  way 
of  navigation,  was  cut  off  from  the  other  lakes  by  the  falls  in  the  St.  Mary's 
river.  As  the  first  canal  around  the  "  Sault "  was  not  completed  until  1855, 
May  19th,  vessels  needed  on  Lake  Superior  in  the  early  years  had  to  be  built 
or  put  together  there.  That  done,  La  Pointe  became,  in  a  sense,  the  successor 
to  Mackinaw. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


DR.  MORSE  AND  HIS  ERRAND  IN  THE  WEST. 

Within  little  more  than  five  years  of  the  time  when  the  British  flag  was 
floating  at  Green  Bay,  Dr.  Jedidiah  Morse  held  public  religious  service  in  Fort 
Howard.  ^He  was  the  first  Congregational  minister,  and,  so  far  as  is  known, 
the  first  Protestant  minister,  who  ever  preached  in  the  part  of  Michigan  Terri- 
tory that  is  now  Wisconsin^/  He  came  as  did  Jean  Nicolet,  the  first  explorer  of 
this  region,  by  the  broad  way  of  the  Great  Lakes.  Leaving  Mackinaw  on  the 
3rd  of  July,  1820,  he  attended,  at  L'Arbre  Croche,  a  council  held  with  the 
Ottawa  Indians,  and  arrived  at  Fort  Howard  July  7th.  Having  come  under  a 
commission  issued  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  he  was  made  the  guest  of  Colonel 
Joseph  Lee  Smith, 1  commandant  at  the  post.  Dr.  Morse's  mission  was  one  of 
investigation  into  the  condition  and  needs  of  the  Indians  of  the  West  and 
South.  He  made  it  part  of  his  duty  to  aid  a  movement  which,  after  vexatious 
delays,  provided  a  home  for  those  who  are  known  in  the  history  of  our  state  as 
the  "New  York  Indians."  These  aborigines  were  the  first  emigrants  from  any 
of  the  older  states  who  came  with  the  purpose  of  making  here  their  perma- 
nent homes.  With  Dr.  Morse  and  his  service,  which  was  especially  in  behalf 
of  the  little  tribe  of  Indians  commonly  called  Stockbridges,  begins  properly 
not  only  the  history  of  Congregationalism  in  Wisconsin  but  almost  of  Christian 
civilization  therein.  He  was  the  herald  of  a  great  company  of  the  universal 
church. 

As  Dr.  Morse  did  not  leave  Green  Bay  until  the  23rd  of  July,  it  is  prob- 
able that  he  or  his  son  held  service  in  the  fort  on  both  the  Sabbaths  of  their 
stay,  the  9th  and  the  16th. 

A  letter  written  at  "Mackinaw,  July  25th.  1820,"  and  addressed  to  "Mr. 
John  Law,2  Green  Bay,"  shows  on  what  errands  Dr.  Morse  went  thither,  and 
implies  certain  sadly  defective  social  condiitons  that  then  prevailed  there : 

"I  was  sorry  to  leave  Green  Bay  without  having  another  interview  with 
you  &  your  friends  on  subjects  on  which  we  had  conversed  relating  to  the  In- 
dians, &  to  the  establishment  of  a  school  for  the  children  of  your  village.  This 
was  the  principal  business  left  unfinished.  A  few  hours  employed  together 

1  Colonel  Smith  was  a  native  of  New  Britain,  Connecticut,  and  the  father  of  Brigadier  - 
General  Edmond  Kirby  Smith  of  the  Confederate  army. 

2  Mr.  John  Lawe.    The  letter  itself  I  copy  by  permission  of  Herbert  Battles  Tanner,  M.  D. 


DR.  MORSE  AND  HIS  ERRAND  IN  THE  WEST.  :.:: 

would  have  completed  it.  I  have  left  it  with  Dr.  Comstock  to  complete  it  with 
you,  &  to  forward  to  me  the  result  at  this  place  before  I  shall  quit  it  —  whh  will 
be  in  the  course  of  10  days  or  probably  a  fortnight. —  Having  been  expected  by 
this  opp'y  to  write  you,  I  improve  it  to  drop  you  a  line  in  order  to  aid  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  business,  that  I  may  have  the  result  by  the  return  of  this 
vessel  —  whh  will  furnish  you  a  good  opp'y  for  you  to  write  me. —  I  wish  par- 
ticularly to  know  definitely  what  funds  can  be  raised  &  calculated  on  for  the 
support  of  a  School  for  the  children  of  mixed  blood  in  your  village. — Or  if 
you  prefer  it,  a  subscription  School,  to  embrace  the  children  of  white  parents 
in  the  village,  and  of  the  0  ficers  of  the  Garrison. —  Dr.  Comstock  suggested 
this  last  idea.  I  had  supposed  your  intention  was  to  have  a  school  for  children 
of  mixed  blood  only  &  that  your  subscription  was  intended  to  let  me  know 
what  support  you  were  willing  to  give  to  such  a  school.  If  this  was  your  idea, 
as  I  suppose,  you  have  only  to  head  a  subscription  to  suit  yourselves,  &  to  put 
your  names,  &  annex  the  sum  you  are  willing  to  give  yearly  for  one  or  more 
years  —  with  liberty  to  send  as  many  children  as  you  please  —  or  so  much  for 
every  child  you  may  send  —  adding  what  you  will  do  as  to  furnishing  a  School 
room,  house  &  provisions  for  the  Instructor  in  addition.  I  shall  then  know 
what  will  be  necessary  to  supply  in  addition,  if  any,  &  thus  matters  would  be 
prepared  for  me  to  act.  Without  something  like  this  I  have  no  basis  to  pro- 
ceed upon. 

4*If  you  prefer  a  subscription  School  to  embrace  white  children  —  accord- 
ing to  Dr.  Cjmstock's  idea — you  might  make  up  probably  a  full  school  in  this 
way  —  and  another  might  then  be  established  at  the  public  expense  for  the 
children  of  those  who  are  unable  to  pay  much,  or  perhaps  nothing. —  I  wish 
your  letter  in  answer  to  this,  may  be  explicit  on  this  subject.1 

"If  you  and  your  friends  will  complete  the  communications  you  were  so 
good  as  to  make  to  me  in  part,  relative  to  the  Indians  with  whose  country 
you  are  familiarly  acquainted,  I  shall  be  much  obliged.  From  the  ques- 
tions I  asked  concerning  the  Menominees,  &  their  country,  you  will  know  what 
I  wish  concerning  the  Winnebagoes  (of  whom  I  have  your  information  in  part) 
of  the  Sacs,  Sioux,  and  any  other  tribes  with  whom  you  are  acquainted  —  par- 
ticularly their  number,  distinguishing  m3n,  w Jinen  &  children  —  the  limits  & 
situation  of  their  territory,  the  soil  &  productions,  the  character,  dispositions  & 
habits  of  the  Indians  —  means  of  subsistence  &c.  —  If  you,  Sir,  &  the  Gentle- 
men, will  sit  down,  as  we  did,  for  an  hour  or  two  with  Dr.  Com.stock,  and  let 
him  put  on  paper  your  remarks  for  me,  you  will  add  much  to  the  obligation  I 
am  already  under  to  you. — 

"I  would  have  written  you  this  before  I  left  Green  Bay  —  but  I  had  ex- 
pected a  personal  interview  till  it  was  too  late  to  do  it. 

4-  We  had  a  passage  of  40  hours  only  to  this  place.     In  a  few  days  we 

1  Apparently  there  was  no  school  at  Green  Bay  when  Dr.  Morse  visitad  the  place.  How- 
ever, there  had  baen  three  or  more,  the  first  of  which  was  established  in  the  autumn  of  1817. 
Of  this  and  others  that  succeeded  it,  we  shall  hear  later. 


T4  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

visit  the  Saut  &  back  here  for  a  few  days  mare,  &  then  shall  go  on  to   Detroit 
&  home. 

The  situation  of  the  inhabitants  of  your  village  has  deeply  interested  my 
feelings,  &  I  shall  do  what  I  can  for  your  relief  &  welfare  —  With  my  regards 
to  your  associates,  I  am,  Dr.  Sir,  with  esteem 

Your  obdt  Servt. 

JEDH.  MORSE." 

Though  a  nobler  destiny,  as  most  will  think,  has  come  to  Wisconsin  than 
Dr.  Morse  planned  for  her,  yet  his  was  a  benevolent  design.  It  is  evident 
from  his  report  to  the  secretary  of  war  that  he  wished  the  country  west  of  Lake 
Michigan  to  be  made  a  permanent  home  for  the  Indians.  "  Let  regulations  be 
made,"  he  said,  "to  prohibit  the  introduction  of  white  settlers  within  the  limits 
of  this  territory, — that  is,  within  limits  bounded  south  by  Illinois,  east  by  Mich- 
igan, north  by  Superior  and  west  by  the  Mississippi.  Let  this  territory  be  re- 
served exclusively  for  Indians,  in  which  to  make  the  proposed  experiment  of 
gathering  into*  one  body  as  many  of  the  scattered  and  other  Indians  as  may 
choose  to  settle  there,  —  to  be  educated,  become  citizens,  and  in  due  time  to  be 
admitted  to  all  the  privileges  common  to  other  territories  and  states  of  the  Un- 
ion. Such  a  course  would  probably  save  the  Indians."  The  worthy  doctor 
had  also  a  plan  for  endowing  a  college  in  the  proposed  new  Territory.  "  The 
funds  belonging  to  Moor's  Indian  school,  which  is  connected  at  present  with 
Dartmouth  college,  together  with  funds  in  the  treasury  of  Harvard  college  and 
of  •  the  society  for  propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians  and  others  in 
North  America  might  be  appropriated  in  whole  or  in  part  to  this  institution." 
He  even  had  hopes  of  making  it  an  international  institution,  and  thus  securing 
also  funds  held  in  Great  Britain  for  Indian  education. 

Mr.  Sergeant  also,  the  Stockbridge  pastor,  had  his  own  philanthropic  hope : 
"Means  will  now  be  used  to  obtain  an  act  of  Congress  to  exclude  spirituous 
liquor  and  white  heathen  from  Green  Bay."  There  is  heart-ache  under  our 
smile  as  we  read  the  old  man's  fond  dream.  Spirituous  liquor,  we  believe,  has 
not  been  wholly  excluded  from  Green  Bay,  though  it  is  to  be  presumed,  of 
course,  that  there  are  no  white  heathen  there. 

In  1830  the  Indians  told  Mr.  Colton,  of  whose  visit  to  Green  Bay  we 
shall  hear  later,  that  Dr.  Morse  advising  removal  from  New  York  to  what  was 
so  soon  to  become  Wisconsin  said  to  them  in  all  sincerity,  things  like  these : 
"You  will  never  again  be  disturbed.  The  white  man  will  never  go  there.  He 
will  never  desire  those  lands.  They  are  too  far  off."  Fi*om  which  it  appears 
that  a  man  might  be  an  eminent  geographer,  as  Di\  Morse  was,  and  yet  be  mis- 
taken as  to  the  progress  of  settlement. 

Efforts  were  made  to  secure  land  west  of  Lake  Michigan  not  only  for  the 
Stockbridges  and  an  allied  tribe  the  Munsees, l  but  also  for  the  remnants  of  the 

1  A  bra^ph  of  the  Datawares  (Leni-Lennappss).  The  Munsees  S3em  to  have  been  scat- 
tered in  cofis&nence  of  having  taken  sides  against  the  colonists  in  the  American  Revolution. 
From  homes  fflft  New  York,  Canada  and  perhaps  Indiana  and  elsewhere,  some  came  in  later 


Dll.   MOKSIC  AND  HIS  ERRAND  IN  THK  WKST. 

Iroquois  or  Six  Nations,1  then  living  in  New  York.  To  this  end  three  parties 
were  working,  Dr.  Morse  that  the  Stockbridges  and  others  might  have  a  home 
free  from  liquor  and  "  white  heathen  "  the  Ogden  Land  Company  of  New  York 
because  they  wanted  the  land  held  in  that  state,  by  the  Six  Nations ;  and  Elea- 
zar  Williams,  an  Episcopal  missionary  among  the  Oneidas.  who  dreamed  of 
establishing  a  great  Indian  confederacy  in  the  West,  of  which  he,  presumably, 
was  to  be  the  head.  His  schemes  accorded  well  with  the  plans  of  the  Ogden 
company,  but  were  finally  baffled  because  the  great  majority  of  the  Iroquois, 
unlike  the  Stockbridges,  did  not  wish  to  leave  New  York. 

This  project  of  settling  Indians  from  New  York  on  lands  in  the  Green  Bay 
region  had  the  hearty  support  of  John  Caldwell  Calhoun,  then  secretary  of 
war,  who  is  more  than  suspected  of  having  entertained  the  plan  of  turning  the 
whole  Wisconsin  region  into  an  Indian  territory  in  order  to  reduce  the  number 
of  possible  free  states.  In  his  official  report  for  1818  Mr.  Calhoun  proposed 
the  formation  of  two  reservations  for  the  Indians,  one  in  the  northern  and  the 
other  in  the  southern  pirfc  of  the  vast  region  then  occupied  by  the  various 
tribes.  With  this  motive  on  the  part  of  many  of  its  members,  Congress  had 
enlarged  Illinois  beyond  the  requirement  of  the  ordinance  of  1787.  It  was 
thought  that  Wisconsin  thus  reduced  in  size,  would  never  have  population 
enough  to  claim  admission  as  a  state  into  the  Union. 

We  have  seen  of  what  sort  were  the  first  white  settlers  in  the  Wisconsin 
region,  and  hav«  recognized  their  unfitness  and  inability  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  a  state.  It  may  be  said  of  them  that  they  were  half-civilized  whites  hostile 
to  the  colonists  and  to  the  new  nation  called  into  existence  by  the  Revolution ; 
now  treaties  were  made  to  provide  for  the  coming  hither  of  half-civilized  In- 
dians loyal  to  the  United  States. 

"  Previous  to  1820,  and  in  that  year  especially,  the  government  of  the 
United  States  took  active  and  efficient  measures  to  facilitate  the  purchase  of  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  Northwestern  Territory  for  the  accommodation  and  future 
settlement  of  the  New  York  Indians.  This  was  done  for  the  avowed  purpose  of 
carrying  into  effect  beneficially,  a  compromise  with  the  Stockbridge  and  Munsee 
'Indians  for  lands  on  the  White  river,  purchased  by  the  Delawares  and  partly 
owned  by  the  former;  and  to  accommodate  them  and  their  red  brethren  of  New 


years  to  Wisconsin  wh  >r3  thay  havj  unit3;lwith  tli3  Stockbridg38. 

1  Those  were  the  Mohawks,  Oueidas.  Onoudagas,  C  vyugas,  Sjnecas  and  Tuscaroras.    Un- 
til the  last-nam-ad  trib^,  defeated  in  1712  and  driven  from  thair  southern  horns,  joined  their 
northern  brethren  than  or  two  —  possibly  thrje —  yaars  latar,  the  Iroquois  confederacy  was 
often  called  the  Five  Nations.    "  Massawomekes"  was  the  name  given  them  by  the  Virginia 
and  Southern  Indians.    With  allied  Hurons  and  Mississoquas(Algonquians  from  Canada  i  they 
\\viv  called  Mingoss  by  the  English.   A  nam-3  U83d  among  th3ins3lves  was  Ko  uosh-o  ni.  They 
W3rj  pro:id  enough  to  spjak  of  th3ins3lves  collectively  as  O:i?W3lumwe  [Suparior  Man].    In> 
quois  is  a  Flinch  adaptation  probably,  says  Charlevoix,  of  the  native  word  hiro,  used  to  con 
(In  1 .'  a  sp3ech,  and  koue,  an  exclamation.    Possible  derivations  are  from  ierokw<t,  the  imle 
terminal  ••  form  of  the  verb  to  smoke,  signifying  "they  who  smoke ;"  from  the  Cayuga  form 
of  the  word  for  a  bear,  iakwai;  and  from  the  Algonquian  irin,  true  or  real ;  and  ako,  a  snake, 
with  the  French  tarmination  ois.    Compare  with  this  last  Schoolcraft's derivation  of  Nadoue- 
sioux  (page  8). 

See  "  Report  of  the  Bureau  of  Ethnology  for  lH8f.-6,"  page  77. 


56  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

York  with  a  permanent  home  remote  from  the  vicinity  of  any  white  settlement 
and  the  temptation  to  the  use  of  ardent  spirits,  that  'bane  of  Indian  improvement.' 
It  was  a  desirable  object  with  the  government  to  place  these  friendly  Indians, 
who  had  made  desirable  advances  in  civilization  and  improvement,  on  a  distant 
outpost  where  they  might  serve  to  check  or  harmonize  the  disaffected  or  hostile 
savages  of  that  region.  Their  attachment  to  the  American  cause  and  the  as- 
sistance they  afforded  in  the  late  war  was  also  avowed  as  an  additional  reason 
for  the  extension  to  them  of  the  fostering  care  of  the  governmant."1 

To  secure  land  near  Green  Bay  for  the  New  York  Indians  was  a  long 
struggle  rendered  more  difficult  by  the  fact  that  most  of  them  were  well  con- 
tent to  stay  where  they  were.  Nor  was  their  coming  desired  by  the  few  whites 
then  at  and  about  the  Bay.  To  nip  in  the  bud  the  whole  plan  of  Indian  settle- 
ment thereabout,  and  for  other  reasons,  Colonel  John  Bowyer,  Indian  agent  at 
Green  Bay,  bought  of  the  Menomonees,  for  an  annuity  of  $800,  a  tract  of  land 
forty  miles  square,  "on  both  sides  of  Fox  river,  extending  from  the  mouth  of 
that  stream  upwards."  Of  this  transaction  Dr.  Morse  thus  wrote :  "  We 
found  the  Menomonees  of  Green  Bay  distressed  by  an  attempt  of  wicked  spec- 
ulators to  defraud  them  of  valuable  lands."  Aided  by  the  Stockbridges  Dr. 
Morse  took  an  active  part  in  securing  the  rejection  of  this  treaty.  President 
Monroe  did  not  even  submit  it  to  the  Senate. 

In  1821,  though  at  first, — influenced  by  the  traders  and  the  French,  — the 
Indians  of  the  Green  Bay  region, —  Menomonees  and  Winnebagoes, — refused 
any  concession  whatever,  an  agreement,  or  "treaty,"  was  made,  August  18th, 
by  which  they  ceded  to  the  Not-ta-ways, 2  as  they  called  the  New  York  Indians, 
a  strip  of  land  four  or  five  miles  wide,  crossing  Fox  river  at  right  angles,  with 
the  "Little  Chute"  (now  Little  Kaukauna),  as  its  center,  and  extending  north- 
west and  southeast  as  far  as  the  Menomonees  and  Winnebagoes  held  the  land. 
Solomon  U.  Hendrick3  and  four  others  represented  the  Stockbridges ;  Rufus 
Turkey  (Indian  name  Katakosakont),  the  Munsees. 

As  more  land  was  needed  an  effort  was  made  next  year  to  secure  it.  John 
Sergeant  ,of  the  third  generation  was  one  of  those  who  represented  the  United 
States  government  which,  however,  was  party  neither  to  this  treaty  nor  to  the 
one  of  the  year  before.  Wawauquekoh.  or  "  Last  Night,"  was  the  Munsee 
deputy ;  Solomon  U.  Handrick  was  spokesman  for  the  Stockbridges.  He  ad- 
dressed the  Wisconsin  Indians  as  "grandchildren,"  a  relationship  which  was 
duly  acknowledged.  In  their  own  languages,  the  Stockbridges  and  Menomo- 
nees understood  each  other.4  The  Winnebagoes  utterly  refused  any  extension 

1  Part  of  an  official  report  of  a  council  held  in  August,  IS.iO,  signed  by  Erastus  Root  and 
James  McCall,  two  of  the  three  United  States  commissioners.    The  third  was  John  T.  Mason. 
A  grand-daughter  of  Mr.  McCall's,  Marie  Miner,  wife  of  Charles  H.  Richards,  long  of  Mul- 
ison,  now  of  Philadelphia,  is  well  known  in  Wisconsin. 

2  Meaning  doubtless  theO.isidas  and  othar  Iroiuois.    S)e  not3  on  page  55.    The  name 
Nottaway,  or  Nadowa,  is  not  properly  applicable  to  the  Stockbridges.    It  is  borne  specifically 
by  an  almost  extinct  tribe  in  Virginia,—  a  tribe  which  may  be  an  offshoot  from  the  Tusca- 

3  The  "  U"  probably  stands  for  his  Indian  name  Uhhaunnowwaunmut. 

4  Both  tribes  are  of  Algonquian  stock  and  language.    Of  different  race  and  speech  are 


DR.  MORSE  AM)  HIS  KRRAND  IN  THE  WEST.  ." 

of  the  grant  of  the  year  before,  and  left  the  council.  But,  1822,  September 
23rd,  the  Menomonees  made  the  New  York  Indians  joint  occupants  of  their 
territory.  This  treaty  was  afterward  disowned  by  them, —  an  act  that  made 
no  end  of  trouble.  However,  before  this  was  done  the  treaty  was  ratified  by 
President  Monroe  with  a  reduction  of  the  limits  within  which  the  new-comers 
might  settle. 

In  speaking  of  the  favorable  terms  given  by  the  Menomonees  in  1822,  A. 
G.  Ellis  says:  "These  Green  Bay  Indians,  especially  the  Menomonees,  were 
greatly  under  the  influence  of  the  French  inhabitants,  with  whom  they  were 
largely  intermarried.  The  better  class  of  these  French  people  had  come  to  set 
a  high  estimate  on  education ;  they  were  at  that  very  time  endeavoring  to  get 
English  schools  established  in  the  settlement.  The  Indians  as 

well  as  the  French  people  comprehended  the  importance "  of  a  proposition  to 
establish  schools;  "and  the  latter  especially  noticed  that  many  of  the  New 
York  Indian  deputies  wore  the  dress  of  civilization;  that  they  spoke  the  white 
men's  language,  and  even  some  of  them  could  read  books  and  write  on  paper." l 

In  1827,  August  llth,  a  treaty  was  made  with  the  Green  Bay  Indians  by 
the  United  States  government.  By  this  treaty  of  Little  Butte  des  Morts,  as  it 
is  called,  the  Winnebagoes  and  Menomonees  sold  land  to  the  United  States 
without  any  regard  to  their  former  sales  to  the  New  York  Indians,  whose 
claims,  however,  were  referred  to  the  President  for  arbitration.  But  the  Sen- 
ate took  care  that  u  said  treaty  shall  not  impair  or  affect  any  rights  "  of  the  New 
York  Indians. 

An  attempt  at  adjustment  was  made  by  a  council  which  held  an  eight 
days'  session  beginning  on  the  24th  of  August,  1830.  Commissioners  Root, 
McCall  and  Mason  represented  the  United  States  ;  John  Metoxen,  John  W. 
Qninney,  B.  Konkapot,  Jacob  Chicks  and  Andrew  Miller,  the  Stockbridges ; 
William  Dick,  N.  Towles  and  John  Jonston,  the  Brothertowns ;  John  Anthony, 
Daniel  Bread,  Henry  Powles,  Comly  Stevens  and  N.  Autsequitt,  the  Oneidas. 
Eleazar  Williams  assumed  to  represent  the  St.  Regis  tribe, — which  was  not 
then  in  the  Wisconsin  region  and  never  intended  to  remove  thither.  Oshkosh,2 
then  head  chief  of  the  Menomonees  refused  to  acknowledge  that  the  New  York 
Indians  had  any  right  to  land  in  the  Green  Bay  region,  adding  that  as  they  were 
here  they  might  stay  during  good  behavior.  Mr.  Colton  was  a  witness  of  the 
proceedings  of  this  council.  His  words  of  praise  are  for  the  New  York 
Indians,  who  in  u  moral  worth  and  good  manners  towered  above  every- 
thing around  them,  not  excepting  the  white  population.  Among  them  I 
could  be  sure  of  exemption  from  anything  vulgar,  profane  or  indecent."  Of 
one,  already  named,  he  thus  speaks :  "  Metoxen  is  about  sixty  years  of  age,  an 
exemplary  Christian,  of  uncommon  meekness,  a  chief  ruler  in  the  civil  and  relig- 

tho  Winnebagoes  who  use  a  dialect  of  the  Siouan  (Sioux)  tongue  and  are  akin  to  the  Dakotas. 

1  "  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  volume  VIII.,  page  339. 

-  Who  is  mentioned  in  Dr.  John  H.  Hanson's  "  Lost  Prince  "  as  "  Oiscoss,  alias  Claw:"— 
a  spoiling  and  designation  for  which  Eleazar  Williams  is  probably  responsible.  In  the  treaty 
as  printrd  the  name  is  spelled  Oskoshc.  It  was  at  this  council  that  he  was  made  head  chief. 


! 


58  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

ious  concerns  of  his  tribe."  Mr.  Colton  tells  that  the  New  York  Indians  said 
little,  relying  on  written  statements  of  the  treaties  already  made.  He  gives, 
however,  the  following  report  of  a  speech  by  Metoxen. l 

"  Brothers :  hear  what  I  have  to  say.  Thanks  to  the  Great  Spirit  who  has 
brought  your  faces  to  our  faces  in  health  and  peace.  May  the 

chain  of  friendship  which  has  so  long  bound  us  together,  still  bind  us  while  the 
sun  comes  up  in  the  Great  Lakes  and  goes  down  in  our  forest. 

"  Brothers :  you  know  we  have  always  been  friends  of  our  great  father 
the  President  who  has  promised  to  keep  off  our  enemies,  if  we  will  help  him 
keep  off  his  enemies.  Our  father  said  we  should  keep  the  peace 

between  him  and  the  wild  people  of  the  Northwest,  that  he  would  gives  us  and 
our  children  this  land  forever,  that  he  would  never  let  his  white  children  come 
among  us  to  sell  our  people  strong  water,  and  cheat  them  and  get  away  our 
land.  We  were  glad  at  his  words.  We  let  his  white  children 

take  away  our  lands,  and  we  took  our  wives  and  our  children  in  our  arms,  and 
came  across  the  Great  Lakes  to  live  here  on  the  Fox  river.  We  lighted  the 
council  fire  and  made  peace  with  our  brethren,  the  Winnebagoes  and  Menomo- 
nees.  We  gave  them  money  for  lands.  They  said  they  were  glad  to  have  us 
come  and  live  among  them,  and  that  we  would  all  be  one  people.  They  prom- 
ised to  leave  hunting  and  fishing  and  raise  corn  like  us,  and  that  their  women 
should  spin  like  our  women.  You  see,  brothers,  the  white  man 

is  here ;  he  has  brought  the  strong  water  to  sell  to  our  people.  The 

Indian  is  good  for  nothing  when  he  can  get  strong  water.  It  makes  him  mad. 
He  will  not  work,  he  will  whip  his  wife  and  his  child,  and  perhaps  kill  one  to 
be  sorry  for  it  the  next  day  when  he  can  not  help  it.  The  white 

man  tells  our  brethren  tha$  we  are  their  enemies,  that  if  they 

will  get  back  the  lands  which  they  sold  to  us  they  can  sell  them  again  to  the 
whites.  Three  years  ago  our  brethren  received  a  great  bag  of 

money  from  the  city  of  Washington  to  buy  these  very  lands  on  Fox  river  which 
they  had  once  sold  to  us. 

"Brothers:  there  is  no  longer  peace  between  us  and  our  brethren  here." 

In  part  this  is  a  temperance  speech.  Who  in  Wisconsin  spoke  earlier  on 
this  subject? 

On  the  last  day  of  the  council,  says  Mr.  Colton,  "John  TVIetoxen  (than 
whom  a  man  of  more  exalted  worth  can  not  be  found  on  earth)  addressed  him- 
self to  his  brethren  of  the  Menomonees  and  Winnebagoes  in  a  strain  most  sub- 
lime and  touching.  By  his  language  and  manner  he  brought  us  into  the  pres- 
ence of  God  so  that  we  felt  ourselves  to  be  there."  A  part  of  his  speech  Mr. 
Colton  reports  to  us  in  the  following  words : 

u  Brothers  :  I  speak  now  both  to  my  white  and  red  brothers  and  to  all  who 
are  here.  I  am  an  old  man  and  my  spirit  will  soon  be  with  the  spirits  of  my 

1  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  this  and  the  other  report  given  by  Mr.  Colton  are  merely 
from  memory.  He  took  notes  at  the  time  but  did  not  have  them  when  he  prepared  for  publi- 
cation his  book.—  "  Tour  of  the  American  Lakes,"  —  from  which  these  extracts  are  taken. 


DR.  MORSE  AM)  HIS  ERRAM)  IN  THE  WEST.  r,l) 

fathers.  I  have  been  at  the  head  of  my  people  for  many  years.  I  have  been 
anxious  for  them.  When  I  came  before  them  from  New  York  to  Green  Bay  I 
thought  that  they  would  have  peace.  But  I  see  that  I  must  go  down  to  the 
grave  without  comfort.  It  is  not  peace.  All  the  doings  in  this  council  show 
that  there  is  no  rest  for  my  people  who  came  here  for  rest. 

"  I  wish  to  say  a  word  to  the  Winnebagoes  and  Menomonees.  It  is  not 
good  that  the  white  man  has  stood  between  us  and  kept  us  apart.  We  told 
you  that  there  was  no  more  room  for  us  among  the  graves  of  our  fathers, 
because  the  white  man  had  come  there.  You  took  us  by  the  hand  and  said 
<We  are  glad  to  see  you.  Here  is  our  country.  Come  and  live  among  us.' 
We  said  to  you,  'Give  us  land  that  we  may  call  our  own,  and  we  will  pay  you 
for  it.'  You  did  so,  and  we  made  a  covenant. 

"I  speak  again  to  my  white  brothers.  We  left  our  land  in 

the  east  country  and  came  here  on  the  understanding  of  those  treaties.  * 
*  You  offer  to  make  a  new  treaty  in  the  name  of  our  great  father.  Make 
the  old  treaty  good,  brothers,  and  then,  if  there  be  any  need,  we  shall  have 
some  reason  to  trust  in  a  new  one. 

"  We  have  learned  one  good  thing  from  the  white  man,  to  trust  in  the 
white  man's  God.  We  feel  that  we  need  to  trust  him  now.  We  are  injured, 
and  I  know  not  what  new  injuries  await  the  destiny  of  my  people.  I  shall  go 
down  to  the  grave  thinking  of  the  words  of  King  David's  son  which  I  read  in 
the  book  presented  to  my  father's  father  by  your  father's  father  from  over  the 
big  salt  lake :  t  So  I  returned,  ami  considered  all  the  oppressions  that  are  done 
under  the  sun" :  and  behold  the  tears  of  such  as  were  oppressed,  and  they  had 
no  comforter;  and  on  the  side  of  their  oppressors  there  was  power;  but  they 
had  no  comforter.' 

"God  is  witness  of  our  engagements,  Go(l  will  reward  us  according  to  our 
deeds. 

"Brothers  I  have  done." 

The  best  account  we  have  of  this  council  is  to  be  found  in  the  journal 
kept  by  Commissioner  McCall.  He  attempts  none  but  the  briefest  report  of 
any  of  the  speeches  and  of  those  by  Metoxen  he  says  nothing.  Under  date  of 
August  27th,  Friday,  the  journal  says:  "There  are  now  1740  Indians  attend- 
ing. Oushcoush  arose  and  stated  that  the  [Menomonees]  had 
not  sold  the  Wappinackies  any  land."  On  Saturday  the  Wappinackies  [New 
York  Indians]  laid  claim  to  a  tract  on  Fox  river  "making  about  748,800  acres." 
They  were  offered  by  the  Menomonees  and  Winnsbagoes  "something  less  than 
one-third  of  the  amount  asked."  The  proposition  of  the  commissioners  "was 
to  give  the  New  York  Indians  about  295,000  acres,  being  nearly  120  acres  to 
every  soul  interested  among  them."  But,  August  31st,  "the  Menominees  and 
Winnebagos  told  us  they  would  not  give  or  let  one  foot  more  land  than  they 
had  offered." 

Mr.  McCall  complains  that  the  "greatest  part  of  the  inhabitants  of  this 


60  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

place"  were  striving  to  prevent  the  Menomonees  and  the  Winnebagoes  "from 
agreeing  to  anything."  As  the  New  York  Indians  were  Protestants,  Roman 
Catholic  influence  at  Green  Bay  was  averse  to  giving  them  homes  there.  An- 
other obstacle  in  the  way  of  securing  land  west  of  Lake  Michigan,  for  the  tribes 
that  needed  and  desired  it,  was  that  Williams  and  the  Ogden  land  company 
had  been  trying  to  get  homes  there  for  those  who  did  not  wish  to  leave  New 
York. 

But  those  who  had  come  to  the  Wisconsin  region, — the  Stockbridges  (and 
Munsees),  a  large  part  of  the  Oneidas  and  the  Brothertowns,-  -  of  whom  we 
shall  have  some  account, —  were  provided  for  by  a  treaty  made  in  Washington, 
8th  February,  1831.  To  this  treaty  only  the  Menomonees  and  United  States 
government  were  parties.  The  latter  secured  a  large  cession  of  land,1  —  2,500- 
000  acres, —  for  white  settlement;  and  500,000  acres  were  assigned  to  the  New 
York  Indians.  A  supplementary  article  was  added  on  the  17th  of  the  same 
month,  and  the  Senate  made  as  a  condition  of  ratification  that  three  addi- 
tional townships,  on  the  east  side  of  Lake  Winnebago,  —  each  of  23,040  acres, — 
be  set  apart;  two  for  the  Stockbridges  and  Munsees,  one  for  the  Brothertowns. 
Further  conditions  were  these:  That  for  their  improvements  at  Statesburg3 
the  Stockbridges,  were  to  be  paid  a  sum  not  to  exceed  twenty-five  thousand 
dollars,  while  the  Brothertowns  were  to  receive  for  theirs  (at  Little  Kaukauna) 
one  thousand  six  hundred  dollars.  The  tract  of  land  assigned  to  the  other 
New  York  Indians, — a  part  of  the  Oneidas, — was  enlarged  by  adding  two 
hundred  thousand  acres  on  the  south-west  side  and  diminished  by  an  equal 
amount  to  be  "taken  off  from  the  north-eastern  side  of  said  tract." 

But  it  was  necessary  to  get  the  consent  of  the  Menomonees  to  the  condi- 
tions made  by  the  Senate.  This  was  secured  1832,  October  27th,  by  United 
States  Commissioner  George  B.  Porter.3  All  parties  were  satified  save  Elea- 
zar  Williams  and  the  Ogden  land  company. 4  Williams  could  no  longer  dream 

This  tract  was  ceded  to  the  United  States."  —  A.  G.  ELLIS. 

1  "All  the  lands  east  of  Fox  river,  Green  Bay  and  Lake  Winnebago,  and  from  Fond  du 
Lac  southeasterly  to  the  sources  of  the  Milwaukee  river,  and  down  the  same  to  its  mouth. 

2  South  Kaukauna. 

3  Perhaps  one  reason  why  the  promises  made  the  New  York  Indians  by  the  Menomonees  in 
the  treaty  of  1822  were  not  fulfilled,  and  why  subsequent  treaties  were  so  difficult  of  negoti- 
ation, was  the  utter  loss  of  confidence  in  Williams.    His  failure  to  carry  out  promises  that  he 
made  in  regard  to  schools  is  specifically  mentioned,  by  Mr.  Ellis,  as  one  cause  of  the  trouble. 
Yet  that  the  majority  of  the  Menomonees,  or  any  considerable  number  of  them,  cared  much 
about  schools  is  rendered  doubtful  by  a  further  statement  for  which  Mr.  Ellis  makes  himself 
responsible:    That  the  treaty  of  1831  made  "provision  for  an  extensive  farming  and  educa- 
tional establishment "  for  the  benefit  of  the  Menomonees;  and  that  the  plan  "proved  abor- 
tive, the  traders  and  Roman  Catholics  persuading  the  Indians  to  reject  all  its  proposed  bene- 
fits."   See  "  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  volume  II.,  page  437. 

4  This  it  was  that  furnished  Williams  with  part  of  the  money  needed  in  the  prosecution 
of  his  scheme  and  theirs.    It  is  not  certain  that  either  of  them  originated  it,  though  Williams 
claimed  that  he  did.    However,  the  Ogden  company  had  been  in  existence  since  1810  in 
which  year  it  bought  from  its  predecessor,  the  Holland  land  company,  "  the  pre-emption 
right  of  purchase  from  the  Indians  to  most  of  the  land  of  western  New  York,  having  derived 
it  from  Massachusetts  originally,  subsequently  confirmed  by  the  state  of  New  York  "  (A.  G. 
Ellis).    The  Green  Bay  region,  as  a  place  to  which  removal  might  be  made,  was  suggested, 
very  possibly,  by  Dr.  Morse,  to  whom  John  Sergeant,  in  a  letter  dated  1821,  Deecmber  16th, 
credits  the  entire  plan,  as  far  as  it  related  to  the  Stockbridges.    These  people,  however, 


DR.  MORSE  AND  HIS  ERRAND  IN  THE  WEST.  61 

of  an  Indian  empire  at  Green  Bay,  with  himself  at  its  head,  and  the  company 
could  no  longer  hope  to  get  possession  of  land  in  New  York  by  removing  the 
Iroquois  to  what  is  now  Wisconsin.  It  continued  operations,  however,  and  at 
a  later  date  attempted  to  secure  the  removal  of  the  Iroquois  then  in  New  York 
to  the  region  drained  by  the  Little  Osage  river  (southeastern  Kansas).  There  a 
reservation  was  conditionally  provided  for  by  a  "treaty"  made  1838,  January 
15th,  at  Buffalo  Creek,  New  York.1  By  this  "treaty"  there  was  assigned  to 
the  United  States  whatever  right  or  interest, —  if  there  ever  was  any, — that 
the  New  York  Iroquois  retained  in  the  five  hundred  thousand  acres  of  Wiscon- 
sin land  above  mentioned.  Thus  the  title  to  said  land  was  left  in  the  Oneidas 
of  Wisconsin,  and  these,  by  treaty  made  February  3rd  of  the  same  year, 
ceded  to  the  United  States  all  of  this  great  possession  save  about  sixty-two 
thousand  acres.  Thus  was  constituted  the  present  Oneida  reservation  near 
Green  Bay.  Iroquois  from  New  York  had  found  homes  near  "that  end  of  the 
world"2  to  which,  in  the  time  of  Radisson,  their  ancestors  had  driven  the 
helpless  Hurons  whom  Menard  sought,  and  in  seeking  gave  his  life. 

rlaimr.ltliat  they  had  a  «-i-ntury-oM  invitation  from  tln-ir  "grandrhildn-n."  the  .Mriiomonrcs 
of  Green  Bay,  thither  to  come  and  there  to  make  their  homes. 

1  A  suit  that  grew  out  of  this  "  treaty  "  is  now  (June,  1894)  pending  in  the  United  States 
court  of  claims.  It  is  brought  in  the  name  of  the  Iroquois  with  whom,  it  is  alleged,  the. 
Stockbridges  and  Brothertowns,  while  in  New  York,  were  duly  incorporated.  Though  a  few 
Indians  from  New  York  and  still  fewer  from  Wisconsin  removed  to  the  proposed  reservation, 
it  was  never  really  occupied  according  to  the  terms  of  the  "  treaty."  As  before,  the  Iroquois 
of  New  York  preferred  to  remain  there,  and  the  plans  of  the  Ogden  company  were  again  de 
feated.  Hence  the  proposed  Kansas  reservation  never  ceased  to  be  public  land.  It  was 
opened  to  white'settlement  when  the  Territory  of  Kansas  was  organized.  In  the  rush  of  the 
whites  for  land,  and  in  the  fierce  conflict  about  slavery,  whatever  claims  the  Indians  had 
were  lost  sight  of  utterly,  and  the  /ew  of  them  who  were  there  removed  to  Indian  Territory, 
where  they  became  incorporated  with  kindred  tribes.  The  suit  aforesaid  is  brought  for  the 
recovery  of  damages  alleged  to  be  due  for  the  loss  of  this  proposed  reservation.  Some  of  our 
Stockbridges  are  deeply  interested  in  this  action,  and  to  the  whole  matter  several  of  their 
numerous  statesmen  are  giving  close  attention,— gentlemen  who  would  much  better  be  em- 
ployed in  hoeing  potatoes  or  in  raising  pigs  and  poultry. 

a  See  page  8. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


ONEIDAS  AND  THE    BROTHERTOWNS. 

The  Oneidas  are  an  Iroquois  tribe  which,  unlike  the  most  of  the  others  of 
that  confederacy,  was,  with  the  Tuscaroras,  friendly  to  the  colonists  during  the 
Revolution.  This  fact,  in  reasonable  probability,  was  almost  wholly  owing  to 
missionary  influence  from  New  England,  especially  that  of  Rev.  Samuel  Kirk- 
land,  a  native  of  Lisbon  (then  Newent  parish,  Norwich),  Connecticut,  who  in 
1761  entered  the  famous  Lebanon  school,  whence  he  went  to  Princeton  college 
from  which  in  1765  he  received  —  though  not  present  —  the  degree  of  bachelor 
of  arts.  The  autumn  before  he  had  aided  in  establishing  a  school  among  the 
Mohawks;  1765,  February  7th,  after  a  twenty-three  days'  journey  with  two 
Indian  attendants,  he  reached  Kanadesaga,  the  principal  town  of  the  Senecas, 
and  began  missionary  work  among  them. 

Of  this  an  account  was  given,  many  years  afterward,  to  Rev.  Thompson 
S.  Harris,  missionary  of  the  American  Board  among  the  same  people,  by  some 
aged  chiefs.  "These  men  state,"  wrote  Mr.  Harris  in  the  "Missionary  Her- 
ald" for  March,  1829,  "that  the  first  attempt  they  ever  recollect  to  teach  their 
people  the  gospel  of  Christ  was  a  fruitless  effort  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kirkland 
about  sixty-five  or  seventy  years  ago.  He  remained  with  them  at  their  village 
(now  Geneva),  nearly  two  years;  had  begun  to  excite  some  attention  among 
the  Indians,  and  had  opened  a  school  for  the  instruction  of  their  children,  when 
the  person  with  whom  Mr.  Kirkland  lived,  of  whose  hospitality  he  had  always 
faithfully  shared,  suddenly  fell  down  dead.  The  superstition  of  the  Indians 
was  such,  at  that  time,  as  to  lead  them  to  account  for  this  man's  sudden  death 
on  the  supposition  that  it  was  a  judgment  of  heaven  for  harboring  some 
wicked  person;  and  they  soon  after  passed  a  resolution  that  he, —  Mr.  Kirkland, 
— be  expelled  the  village.  He  was  afterwards  accepted  by  the  Oneidas." 

Another  account,  probably  by  Mr.  Kirkland  himself,  states  that  though  he 
came  near  being  murdered  among  the  Senecas  that  fact  did  not  drive  him  from 
them.  But  he  thought  the  Oneidas  a  "nobler  race,"  and  after  his  ordination  at 
Lebanon,  1766,  June  19th,  he  began  labor  among  that  people.  In  this  service 
he  was  the  successor  of  Rev.  Samson  Occom,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  more  in 
connection  with  the  history  of  the  Brothertowns. 

On  the  day  of  Mr.  Kirkland's  ordination  he  received  a  commission  from 


ONKIDAS  AM)  TIIK  BROTHE&TOWNS,  03 

the  Connecticut  ••  Board  of  Correspondents "  of  an  organization  in  Scotland 
entitled  "the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowledge."  But  before  he 
received  aid  from  that  source  he  was  put  to  great  straits  as  is  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  from  a  letter  written  in  1767 : 

•'From  week  to  week  I  am  obliged  to  go  with  the  Indians  to  Oneida  Lake 
to  catch  eels  for  my  subsistence.  I  have  lodged  and  slept  with  them  till  I  am 
as  lousy  as  a  dog.  Flour  and  milk,  with  a  few  eels,  have  been  my  only  living. 
My  strength  begins  to  fail.  My  poor  people  are  almost  starved  to  death. 
There  is  one  family  consisting  of  four  persons  whom  I  must  support  the  best 
way  I  can,  or  they  would  certainly  perish.  Indeed  I  would  myself  be  glad  of 
an  opportunity  to  fall  on  my  knees  for  such  a  bone  as  I  have  often  seen  cast  to 
the  dogs.  Without  relief  I  shall  soon  perish.  My  constitution  is  almost 
broken,  my  spirits  sunk,  yet  my  heart  still  bleeds  for  these  poor  creatures.  I 
had  rather  die  than  leave  them  alone  in  their  present  miserable  condition."  Mr. 
Kirkland's  needs  were  promptly  supplied,  and  in  June,  1773,  the  Scotch  so- 
ciety, in  conjunction  with  the  corporation  of  Harvard  college,  agreed  to  pay  Mr. 
Kirkland's  salary.  The  aid  from  Scotland  was  continued  until  1797. 

Mr.  Kirkland  had  more  than  his  share  of  the  fight  against  liquor.  His 
courage  almost  cost  him  his  life.  His  loyalty  to  the  cause  of  the  colonists  lost 
him  the  support  of  his  former  friend,  Sir  William  Johnson,  governor  of  New 
York,  who,  as  an  Jlpiscopalian  and  a  loyalist,  came  to  oppose  M  r.  Kirkland  both 
on  religious  and  political  grounds.  During  the  war  the  village  and  the  churches 
of  the  Oneidas  were  destroyed  by  the  British.  Mr.  Kirkland  served  as  chap- 
lain in  the  American  army.  But  his  great  service  in  the  cause  was  done 
among  the  Indians.  After  the  Revolution  he  resumed  his  missionary  labors. 
For  a  time  two  Frenchmen,  one  a  Jesuit,  gave  him  serious  annoyance.  Gov- 
ernor De  Witt  Clinton  wrote  the  Indians  a  letter  warning  them  against  these 
schemers.  Mr.  Kirkland  died  in  1808,  March  18th.  In  the  same  year  the 
Northern  Missionary  society  of  New  York  J  provided  as  his  successor  an  inef- 
ficient man  named  William  Jenkins  who  was  supplanted  by  the  notorious  Elea/ar 
Williams.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  Episcopal  mission  work  among  the  Onei- 
das was  a  continuation  of  that  of  Mr.  Kirkland,  a  Congregationalist,  whose 
service  began  in  July,  1766.  His  home  was  at  Ga-no-a-lo-ha-le,  now  the  village 
of  Oneida  Castle.  He  was  virtually  the  founder  of  Hamilton  college,  Clinton, 
New  York.  Rev.  John  Thornton  Kirkland,  president  of  Harvard  from  1810 
until  1828  was  his  son. 

Williams  was  a  remarkable  though  most  unworthy  man.  "  In  the  Mo- 
hawk2 he  was  a  born  orator."  Thus  he  was  perfectly  understood  by  the  Onei- 
das  among  whom  he  begun  to  labor  as  catechist  and  lay-reader  probably  in 
1816  or  the  year  following.  He  began  his  work  by  winning  over  to  his  own 
denomination  those  who  had  been  trained  in  the  mission  begun  by  Occom  and 


1  See  page  47. 

8  His  native  language.    He  was  of  the  St.  Regis  tribe,  which,  in  race  and  origin,  seems  to 
In-  of  the  Mohawk  "nation." 


64  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

continued  by  Kirkland  and  Jenkins.  These  he  represented  as  intruders,  re- 
calling the  labors,  among  the  Mohawks,  of  Rev.  Henry  Barclay  (1735)  and 
Rev.  John  Ogilvie  (1756-62),  missionaries  of  the  church  of  England.  We 
may  anticipate  a  part  of  our  narrative  by  remarking  here  that  those  whom  Wil- 
liams thus  influenced  became  known  as  the  first  Christian  party.  Next  he  ad- 
dressed himself  to  the  pagans,  and  with  such  success  that  they  soon  became 
known  as  the  second  Christian  party.  Soon  he  began  to  promulgate  those 
plans,  to  which  reference  has  already  been  made,  of  a  great  Indian  empire  in 
the  region  of  Green  Bay.  "I  could  but  admire,"  says  the  late  A.  G.  Ellis,1 
the  comprehension  [comprehensiveness],  grandeur,  even,  of  his  scheme.  Not 
the  Oneidas  only,  but  the  whole  Six  Nations  were  to  be  included.  The  coun- 
try west  of  Lake  Michigan  to  the  Mississippi,  and  perhaps  further  [farther], 
was  to  be  mapped  out,  and  a  large  area  to  be  set  off  to  each  of  the  tribes  — 
the  St.  Regis  to  occupy  the  mouth  of  Fox  river  and  head  of  Green  bay.  A 
new  form  of  government  was  to  be  adopted.  The  wisdom  of  the  past  was  to 
be  searched  for  a  model ;  it  should  not  be  a  republic,  but  some  plan  of  empire, 
with  one  supreme  head." 

Williams's  modesty  was  not  so  excessive  but  that  he  indicated  clearly 
enough  the  person  whom  he  thought  best  fitted  for  this  exalted  position.  In 
furtherance  of  his  plans  he  went  West  in  the  summer  of  1821,  but  turned 
back  at  Detroit  on  learning  of  Bowyer's  treaty.  This,  however,  as  we  have 
learned,  proved  to  be  no  obstacle  at  all  to  the  settlement  in  the  Fox  river  coun- 
try of  such  of  the  New  York  Indians  as  wished  to  remove  thither. 

But  Williams  himself  proved  to  be  the  most  serious  obstacle  to  the  carry- 
ing out  of  his  own  schemes.  By  a  continued  course  of  advice  and  falsehood 
he  had  lost  the  confidence  of  nearly  all  the  Indians,  and  both  parties, —  first 
Christian  and  second  Christian  or  pagan, —  among  the  Oneidas  united  1821, 
November  21st,  in  a  remonstrance  against  him,  addressed  to  Bishop  J.  H.  Ho- 
bart  of  his  church  and  asking  for  Williams's  immediate  removal  as  a  religious 
teacher  among  them.  So  far  from  doing  this,  Dr.  Hobart  sustained  Williams, 
who  was  thus  left  free  for  the  further  development  of  his  schemes.  The  next 
year,  1822,  he  came  to  Green  Bay  accompanied  by  Oneida  "  delegates "  and 
followed  in  1823  by  others  of  the  same  tribe.  The  first  Oneida  settlement  in 
this  region  was  at  Little  Kau-kau-lin  (Little  Kaukauna;  post-office,  Little  Rap- 
ids). There  they  came  to  number  about  one  hundred  fifty,  and  thence  they  re- 
moved when,  in  1825,  there  came  on  of  their  people  from  New  York  a  number 
larger  than  in  any  former  year.  On  Duck  creek,  and  about  eight  miles  from 
Fort  Howard,  they  formed  a  settlement,  the  present  village,  as  I  suppose,  of 

1  Mr.  Ellis  came  to  be  associated  with  Williams  in  November,  1820.  The  schemes  of  em- 
pire did  not  attract  Ellis,  but  in  1824  he  cams  to  Green  Bay  and  for  about  three  years  was  as- 
sistant in  the  Episcopal  mission  of  which  Williams  was  nominally  the  head.  See  volumes 
II.  and  VIII.  of  the  "  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections."  It  should  be  said  that  the  late  Judge 
Morgan  Lewis  Martin  of  Green  Bay  thinks  that  Ellis  is  too  severe  on  Williams.  On  the  other 
hand  the  latter  has  received  credit  not  due  him.  For  example  it  is  said  that  he  translated 
the  Episcopal  prayer-book  into  the  Mohawk  tongue  whereas  his  work  thereon,  though  good, 
was  one  only  of  revision. 


OXK1DAS  AM)  THE  BROTHERTOWNS.  <>:> 

Oneida.  At  this  place  and  at  Little  Kau-kau-liu  among  the  Indians,  at  Fort 
Howard  and  elsewhere  among  the  whites,  Williams  continued  the  exercise  of 
his  ecclesiastical  functions, — a  service  which  soon  became  as  unacceptable  here 
as  it  had  been  in  New  York.  Of  part  of  his  homiletic  material  we  have  an 
account  that  takes  us  back  to  New  England  history  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  to  Williams's  ancestry.  Thus  runs,  in  brief,  the  story : 

Rev.  John  Williams,  ordained  pastor  of  Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  in  1688, 
and  known  as  the  "Redeemed  Captive"  from  a  narrative  of  which  he  was  sub- 
ject and  author,  had  a  daughter  Eunice,  a  child  of  seven  years1  when  the  fam- 
ily were  taken  captive  by  French  and  Indians,  1704,  February  29th.  She  was 
brought  up  among  the  Indians  and  married  one  of  them.  Though  she  after- 
ward visited  her  kindred  she  adhered  to  the  faith  of  the  church  of  Rome  in 
which  she  had  been  trained  and  returned  to  the  Indian  mode  of  life,  lest  she 
imperil  her  soul  by  staying  among  Protestants!  Her  family,  according  to  a 
custom  not  uncommon  among  those  of  mixed  blood,  took  the  name  of  their 
white  ancestor.  About  1800  or  later,  her  grandson  Thomas,  was  persuaded  to 
put  his  two  sons  John  and  Eleazar  in  school  at  Longmeadow,  Massachusetts. 
Somehow  Elea/.ar  became  possessed  of  sermons  of  his  Puritan  ancestors  of  which, 
says  Mr.  Ellis,  he  ''had  at  least  a  barrel."  A  suspicious  quantity !  Some  of 
these,  after  much  tutoring  by  Ellis,  Williams  managed  to  preach  at  Green  Bay. 
It  is  curious  enough  to  think  of  the  New  England  minister  of  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries  thus  preaching  to  Wisconsin's  early  residents  through 
the  false  lips  of  an  Indian  descendant, —  Williams  was  a  man  of  extraordinary 
mendacity, —  baptized  by  a  Romanist  and  ordained,  though  not  till  1826  and 
then  as  a  deacon,  by  an  Episcopalian.  ••  He  connected  himself  with  our  church 
from  conviction,  and  appears  warmly  attached  t  >  her  doctrines,  her  apostolic 
ministry  and  her  worship,"  says  the  journal  of  t.iki  dijcasa  of  New  York  for 
1818.  But  in  1827  the  Djme.stic  and  Foreign  Missionary  society  of  the  Pro- 
testant Episcopal  church,  having  lost  confidence  in  Williams,  appointed  as  their 
missionary  in  the  Green  Bay  region  Rev.  Richard  Fish  Cadle.  His  work,  how- 
ever, was  among  the  whites  and  the  Menonunees  rather  am  >ng  the  Oneidas, 
and  these  people  did  not  get  rid  of  their  incubus  Williams,  weary  as  all, — 
even  those  who  had  been  his  partisans,  —  had  become  of  him,  until  1832  when 
the  "confidence  and  patronage"  of  his  church  were  finally  withdrawn  from 
the  crownless  would-be  emperor. 

Years  later  Williams  attempted  to  pass  himself  off  as  the  son  of  Louis 
XVI.  of  France  and  Marie  Antoinette.  Incredible  as  it  may  seem  he  succeed- 
ed thereby  in  deluding  a  number  of  people  who,  so  far  I  know,  gave  no  other 
evidence  of  idiocy.  Born  at  Caughnawaga  (Sault  St.  Louis),  Canada,  about 
1790,  Williams  died  1858,  August  28th,  at  Hogansburg,*  New  York. 

All  the    early  Oneida  emigrants  to  Green  Bay  were  of  the  first  Christian 

1  Eunice  Williams's  as j  at  tin  tiin  5  of  h  >r  capture  is  variously  flrivou.  I  accept  the  state- 
ment in  Gjor.*)  S!i  i\  Ion's  "  History  and  GMI  jalopy  of  D  lortield." 

8  Both  these  places,  however,  are  on  the  reservation  belonging  to  the  St.  Re«ris  Indians 
and  lying  on  the  St.  Lawrence  partly  in  New  York  and  partly  in  Canada. 


66  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

(once  Williams's)  party.  After  a  time,  the  second  Christian  party,  which  had 
determinedly  opposed  removal  from  New  York,  divided,  not  only  in  regard  to 
this  proposition  but,  perhaps  first,  on  church  matters  as  well.  About  half  of 
them  came  under  the  care  of  the  Methodists,  and  this  Orchard  party,  as  it  was 
called,  "adopted  the  emigration  policy  and  removed  to  Green  Bay." 

In  1832,  July  21st,  there  arrived  among  them  a  man  of  fervent  spirit,  Rev. 
John  Clark,  a  member  of  the  New  York  conference  of  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal church.  On  the  16th1  of  the  following  September  he  dedicated  a  combined 
church-and-school, — "an  unpretentious  structure  built  of  logs."2  In  size  it 
was  twenty-four  feet  by  thirty  and  it  "was  the  first  Methodist  house  of  worship 
west  of  Lake  Michigan,  and  north  of  a  line  extending  west  from  a  point  fifty 
miles  south  of  Chicago  to  the  Pacific  ocean."  The  occasion  was  one  of  happy 
Christian  fellowship.  For  in  the  congregation,  worshiping  with  their  Metho- 
dist brethren,  and  with  them  receiving  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper, 
were  some  of  the  Stockbridges  among  whom  the  American  Board  had  estab- 
lished a  mission  where  is  now  South  Kaukauna,  five  years  before. 

On  the  day  following  the  dedication,  that  is  on  Monday,  17^h  September, 
1832,  a  school  was  organized.  Of  this  a  woman  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe,  Miss 
Electa  W.  Quinney,  was  made  teacher.  Previously  she  had  taught  among  her 
own  people. 

Mr.  Clark  was  a  true  itinerant.  That  he  might  be  free  for  the  work  of 
mission  organization  and  superintendence,  he  put  his  Oneida  flock  in  charge  of 
one  of  their  own  number,  Mr.  Daniel  Adams,  who  had  been  a  preacher  among 
them  in  New  York.  The  mission  thus  begun  is  still  continued,  and,  that  of  the 
Episcopalians  survived  even  Williams  and  also  abides  to  this  day.  One  estab- 
lished by  Father  Clark  among  the  Menomonees  at  what  is  now  Marinette  did 
not  prove  to  be  permanent.  Of  his  work  among  the  Ojibways  we  shall  yet 
have  some  account. 

Mr.  Adams  won  a  wife  in  the  person  of  Miss  Quinney,  and  in  1835,  or 
thereabout,  the  twain  found  a  new  home  among  the  Senecas  of  Indian  Terri- 
tory. Among  these  people  Mr.  Adams  continued  his  work  as  pastor  and  evan- 
gelist. Is  he  not  Wisconsin's  first  missionary? 

Among  our  Oneidas  there  continued  to  be  somewhat  of  strife.  The  build- 
ing in  which  the  Methodists  opened  a  second  school  was  "razed  to  the  ground," 
says  Mr.  Bennett,  "  by  a  mob  composed  of  chiefs  and  others  under  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  missionary."  Fortunately,  however,  minis- 
ters are  not  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  doings  of  all  who  may  be,  in  a  great- 
er or  less  degree,  under  their  pastoral  charge,  and  we  may  charitably  suppose 
that  the  evident  quarrel  among  the  Oneidas  arose  from  quite  other  causes  than 

1  The  exercises  may  have  begun  on  Saturday,  the  16th.    • 

2  "History  of  Methodism  in  Wisconsin,"  by  Rev.  P.  S.  Bennett,  A.  M.    Where  did  this 
building  stand  ?    At  Grand  Kau-kau-lin,  Mr.  Bennett  seems  to  imply.    I  am  sure  it  was  not 
there;  it  may  have  been  at  Little  Kaukauna.    The  Methodist  church  building  at  "Oneida 
West."— the  first,  apparently,  of  that  mission  that  was  used  exclusively  as  a  house  of  wor- 
ship, was  dedicated,  1840,  January  4th. 


ONEIDAS  AM)  THE  BROTHERTOWNS.  67 

the  difference  in  their  religious  training. 

Of  both  parties  among  them  there  came  to  the  Duck  creek  reservation, — 
their  new  home  in  the  Wisconsin  region, —  about  eleven  hundred.  According 
to  the  census  of  1890,  the  Oneidas  of  the  Green  Bay  agency,  "including  home- 
less Indians,"  numbered  1716.  They  have  not  become  citizens,  and  therein 
have  been  wisely  conservative.  During  the  late  war,  ninety-six  of .  their  num- 
ber enlisted  in  the  Union  army. 

As  a  tribe,  the  Oneidas  seem  to  have  been  unusually  generous.  To  them 
James  B.  Jenkins 1  gives  the  credit  of  "  adopting "  the  Tuscaroras  who  came, 
he  says,  "from  South  Carolina  in  1715"  [1714].  In  1774,  October  4th,  at 
Oriskany  Creek,  New  York,  they  made,  by  formal  deed,  a  gift  of  land  to  cer- 
tain of  their  Indian  brethren  from  New  England  and  Long  Island.  These,  ten 
years  later,  formed  the  Brothertown  "nation."  The  chief  settlement, —  not 
made  until  years  later, —  in  the  new  home  of  these  united  peoples  was  fourteen 
miles  south  of  where  is  now  the  city  of  Utica,  New  York,  and  the  land  given 
comprised  a  tract  ten  miles  square.  Between  givers  and  receivers  the  chief 
agents  of  communication  were  Samson  Occom,  the  missionary,  and  David  Fow- 
ler, a  teacher. 

Occom  was  a  Mohegan,  born  in  1723  at  the  place  of  that  name  on  the 
western  bank  of  the  Thames  in  Connecticut.  The  settlement  was  founded  by 
his  father  who  "  was  known  in  his  native  tongue  as  Aukum  (Aucum,  Maucum, 
Mawcum)  and  subsequently  Occom"  (Occum).  When  the  son  was  ten  years 
old  a  missionary  school  was  established  in  his  native  village.  This  school  he 
probably  attended  but  it  was  soon  given  up  as  a  failure.  "  Man  seeth  not  as 
God  seeth."  "  Ministers  from  the  region  round  about  came,  and  the  result  was 
the  awakening  of  a  few  in  the  tribe  to  a  sense  of  their  heathen  condition. 
Samson  Occum,  then  sixteen  years  of  age,  was  one  of  these,  and  for  six  months 
he  was  struggling  out  of  darkness  toward  the  light.  When  he  was  seventeen 
he  found  the  light,  which  roused  anew  his  thirst  for  learning,  and  kindled  a 
pity  for  his  poor  people."  He  was  one  of  the  converts  in  the  "Great  Awak- 
ening," as  the  great  revival  is  called  that  under  Jonathan  Edwards  and  others 
swept  over  a  great  part  of  New  England.  In  1743,  Occum  came  under  the 
instruction  of  Rev.  Eleazar  Wheelock,  D.  D.,  pastor  of  the  Second  (Congrega- 
tional) church  of  Lebanon,  Connecticut.  "It  has  been  generally  supposed," 
says  Rev.  William  DeLoss  Love,  Jr.,'-  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  "that  Rev. 
Eleazar  Wheelock  dug  this  diamond  from  the  earth  and  polished  it,  but  it 
seems  to  have  been  already  glittering  before  Wheelock  met  with  it.  It  was 
Occum  who  sought  out  Wheelock  "  with  whom  he  spent  four  years  and  whom, 
apparently,  he  inspired  to  establish  a  school  to  educate  other  Indians,  and  also 
to  train  whites  to  be  missionaries  and  teachers  among  the  native  tribes.  It  was 


1  Attorney  for  some  of  the  Stockbridges  and  others  before  the  United  States  court  of 
claims  in  the  suit  mentioned  on  page  01. 

a  Son  of  the  author  of  "  Wisconsin  in  the  War."  The  father  was  for  many  years  pastor 
of  th<-  (Jraml  Avenue  (then  Spring  street)  Congregational  church  in  Milwaukee. 


6S  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

opened  for  the  latter  service  in  1748  and  more  fully  established  in  1754.  Af- 
ter receiving  in  1755,  July  17th,  a  certain  gift  it  was  called  Moore's  (or  Moor's) 
charity  school.1 

"In  November,  1749,  Occom  began  a  work  as  schoolmaster,  counselor, 
judge  and  preacher  among  the  Montauk  Indians  in  Long  Island,  which  lasted 
twelve  years  and  was  greatly  blessed.  About  1751  he  married  Mary  Fowler, 
of  the  Montauk  tribe."  Two  brothers  of  his  wife,  David,  born  in  1735,  and 
Jacob,  probably  younger,  became  closely  associated  with  Occom  as  his  work 
extended,  as  did  also  one  Joseph  Johnson,  who  married  Occom's  daughter 
Tabitha.  Probably  during  the  early  years  of  his  work  on  Long  Island,  Occom 
received,  from  the  Windham  association,  of  Connecticut,  approbation  to  preach, 
and  in  1759  he  was  ordained  by  the  presbytery  of  Long  Island.2  In  June, 
1761,  Occom  and  David  Fowler  visited  the  Oneidas.  Occom  remained  until 
autumn,  Fowler  returned  in  August  taking  with  him  to  the  Lebanon  school 
three  Mohawk  youths,  one  of  whom  was  the  celebrated  Joseph  Brant3  (Thay- 
endanegea).  Fowler  continued  his  own  studies  until  (March,  1675)  he  was 
"approved"  as  an  Indian  teacher  or,  more  strictly  speaking,  as  a  teacher  for 
Indians.  On  the  29th  of  April  following  he  set  out  for  the  Oneida  nation. 
There  he  opened  a  school  at  Canajoharie.  But  the  famine  of  that  year  drove 
the  Oneidas  from  their  homes  and  Fowler  back  to  New  England. 

Preceding  Fowler's  coming  as  a  teacher,  Occom  had  cared,  as  best  he  could, 
for  the  Oneidas  by  spending  among  them  a  considerable  part  of  the  summers 
of  1762,  '63,  '64,  continuing  the  mission  work  that  he  had  begun  among  them. 
This,  as  we  have  seen,  was  taken  up  in  1766  by  Samuel  Kirkland  to  whom 
David  Fowler  and  Joseph  Johnson  became  assistants. 

The  names  of  Occom  and  Jacob  Fowler  link  the  history  of  our  Brother- 
towns  to  that  of  the  beginnings  of  Dartmouth  college.  More's  charity  school 
needed  money  of  course,  and  in  company  with  Rev.  Nathaniel  Whitaker  of 
Norwich,  Connecticut,  Occom  was  sent  to  England  on  what  inconsiderate  people 
sometimes  call  a  "begging  trip."  Thither  they  sailed  1765,  December  23rd. 
Occom  was  the  first  Indian  to  preach  in  Great  Britain,  and  he  aroused  there  a 
wonderful  interest.  "From  February  16,  1766,  to  July  22,  1767,  he  preached 
more  than  three  hundred  times,  and  usually  to  crowded  houses."  He  had  even 
the  honor  of  preaching  before  King  George  III.  who  gave  £200  of  the  £12- 
000  raised  in  England  and  Scotland  for  the  school  which  had  educated  such  a 
prodigy.  With  its  enlarged  means  there  was  planned  for  the  institution  a  great- 
er work.  It  was  removed  in  1770  to  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  a  place  chosen 
despite  the  protests  of  both  Occom  and  Kirkland.  For  one  year.  1774-5, 
Jacob  Fowler  was  preceptor  of  the  school,  which  had  already  been  virtually 

1  The  giver,  however,  wrote  his  name  Joshua  More. 

2  The  difference,  then,  between  Congregationalists  and  Presbyterians  was  largely  one  of 
geography.    The  same  man  would  be  a  Congregational ist  in  New  England,  and  a  Presbyte- 
rian elsewhere. 

3  Chiefly  celebrated  for  two  very  unlike  things:  his  supposed  or  real  connection  with  the 
massacre  at  Wyoming,  during  the  Revolution,  and  his  translation  into  the  Mohawk  tongue  of 
the  Episcopal  prayer-book ;  the  translation  afterwards  revised  by  Eleazar  Williams. 


ONEIDAS  AND  THE  BKOTHERTCMVXS.  «» 

absorbed  into  Dartmouth  college. 

After  Occom's  return  from  England  he  u  seems  to  have  exercised  a  mis- 
sionary's care  over  seven  different  places :  Montauk,  Long  Island;  Mohegan,  Ni- 
antic,  Groton,  Farmington,  Stonington,  Connecticut;  and  Charlestown,  Rhode 
Island.  He  it  was,  probably,  who  formed  the  plan  of  gathering  into  one  com- 
munity the  Christianized  tribes  among  which  he  was  doing  the  work  of  an 
evangelist  and  pastor.  But  so  active  was  David  Fowler  in  carrying  out  the 
plan  that  his  name,  more  than  any  other,  seems  to  be  held  in  remembrance  by 
our  Wisconsin  Brothertowns. l  It  was  he  who  started  with  Occom,  1774,  July 
8th,  "to  view  the  land  offered  by  the  Oneidas  and  settle  its  boundaries.  They 
took  back  with  them  the  deed  of  gift,  an  instrument  which  seems  to  have  been 
drawn  up  by  Occom  himself  with  the  purpose  of  keeping  the  New  England 
blood  pure  and  preserving  a  tribal  unity.  Then  came  the  revolutionary  war 
which  interfered  with  the  plans  made.  During  the  war  Occom,  the  Fowlers 
and  Johnson  were  the  Indian  heroes  of  New  England."  They  deserve  to  be 
remembered  also  as  the  founders  of  Brothertown,  New  York.  "About  twenty 
families  started  for  the  Oneida  country  on  May  8th,  1784."  Some  families 
had  gone  thither  earlier.  In  the  autumn  of  the  next  year  Occom  visited  them, 
and  was  present  when,  1785,  November  7th,  they  organized  their  government 
and  named  their  town. 

The  new  "nation"  came  to  include  remants  of  various  New  England  and 
Long  Island  tribes:  Narragansetts,  Pequods,  Montauks,  Mohegans,  Nanticokes 
(Nahanticks)  and  Farmingtons. 

Through  most  of  these  tribes  the  religious  history  of  our  state  is  linked  with 
that  of  Connecticut  and  of  the  settlements  about  Massachusetts  bay.  Though 
in  their  dealings  with  the  Indians,  the  New  England  colonists  were  sometimes 
neither  wise  nor  just,  their  record  in  this  respect  is,  on  the  whole,  better  than 
that  made  by  our  American  people  in  later  years.  In  missionary  service  there 
were  abundant  labors.  Upon  the  first  seal  of  Masaschusetts  was  a  star  (to  sug- 
gest that  of  Bethlehem),  the, figure  of  an  Indian,  and  the  Macedonian  cry 
"Come  over  and  help  us."  The  Indian  and  the  star  are  upon  the  seal  now  in 
use.  John  Eliot  preached  the  gospel  even  to  Philip  of  Mount  Hope.  The 
Puritan  "Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  among  the  Indians  in  North 
America,"  was  the  first  of  organized  missionary  societies.2  Thousands  of  In- 

1  See  "Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  volume  IV.,  page  291. 

2  It  was  incorporated  in  England,  1(J4S),  July  27th,  by  the  famous  "  long  parliament."    In 
connection  with  the  act  of  incorporation,  it  was  "  enacted  that  a  general  collection  be  made 
for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  through  all  England  and  Wales;  and  that  the  ministers  read  this 
act,  and  exhort  the  people  to  a  cheerful  contribution."    This  first-formed  missionary  board  of 
Great  Britain  grew  out  of  the  labors  of  Eliot.    Its  charter  was  renewed  when  Charles  II. 
came  to  the  throne,  in  ItftiO.    Under  its  patronage  there  was  published  the  first  entire  Bible 
printed  in  America,— the  translation  made  by  Eliot  into  the  language  of  the  Indians  among 
whom  he  labored. 

For  many  years  the  eminent  philosopher,  Robert  Boyle,  served  as  president  of  this  soci- 
ety (which  must  not  be  confounded  with  the  existing  "  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts").  The  older  society  "  employ ed  as  its  distributing  agents  and  corre- 
spondents the  commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  [first  union;  the  one  formed  in  16431 
so  long  as  that  confederacy  lasted.  When  that  arrangement  came  to  an  end,  amid  the  politi- 


70  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

dians  received  Christianity  and  a  considerable  degree  of  civilization.  In  entire 
tribes  there  was  a  larger  percentage  able  to  read  than  there  is  in  Russia  at  the 
present  day.  Without  the  help  of  these  Christian  and  other  friendly  Indians 
the  whites  would  have  found  it  difficult  to 'maintain  their  position  in  New  P]ng- 
land.  It  may  be  that  otherwise  the  colonies  would  have  been  blotted  out.  The 
punishment  of  those  who  murdered  a  Christian  Indian  for  making  known  King 
Philip's  plans  was  the  immediate  occasion  of  the  war  called  by  the  name  of 
that  chief, — a  war  that  in  part  was  one  of  heathenism  upon  Christianity.  Yet, 
notwithstanding  the  strife  and  disturbance  of  that  time  and  the  years  follow- 
ing, we  find  that  in  all,  or  nearly  all,  the  tribes  whose  names  are  given  above 
converts  were  made  to  the  Christian  faith. 

After  the  organization  of  the  new  "  nation  "  at  Brothertown,  Occom  spent 
his  summers  there.  On  "his  journeys  to  and  fro  he  preached  and  performed 
pastoral  labors  among  the  new  settlements  along  the  thoroughfare  of  emigra- 
tion. He  was  known  as  the  missionary  of  the  wilderness.  On  November  28th 
and  29th,  the  Stockbridges  and  Brothertowns  conjointly  and  formally  called 
Occom  to  be  their  minister,  and  he  accepted  their  call.  A  creed  or  confession 
of  unusual  interest  was  drawn  up,  which  also  declared  their  purpose  in  going 
into  the  wilderness.  The  church  subsequently  became  Presbyterian,  and  Oc- 
com says  it  was  the  first  ever  organized  among  the  Indians  without  the  assis- 
tance of  a  white  man."  The  Stockbridge  church,  however,  had  been  organized 
before  that  tribe  removed  from  Massachusetts.  In  1789,  the  pastor-elect  re- 
moved to  New  York  and  made  his  home  first  at  Bi-othertown  and  then  for  a 
few  months  at  New  Stockbridge  where  he  died  on  the  14th  of  July,  1792. 

With  a  just  enthusiasm  Mr.  Love  calls  Occum  kk  the  glory  of  the  Indian 
nation."  He  has  some  renown  as  an  author.  The  most  famous  temperance  ser- 
mon of  its  time  was  one  preached  by  him,  1772,  September  2nd,  at  the  hanging 
of  Moses  Paul,  an  Indian  who,  notwithstanding  the  authority  of  lawgiver  and 
teaching  of  apostle  suggested  by  his  names,  had  committed  murder.  Perhaps 
no  man  is  ever  quite  ready  to  be  hanged,  but  this  sermon,  good  as  it  is,  has 
parts  that  must  have  made  the  unhappy  wretch  almost  wish  that  the  execution' 
had  come  first  and  the  sermon  afterward.  "Your  grave  is  dug,"  says  the 
preacher  addressing  him,  "  your  coffin  is  ready."  Yet  something  of  this  awful 
sternness  is  needed  among  '"fools  who  make  a  mock  at  sin."  A  treatise  by  Oc- 
com on  the  Montauk  language  lay  in  manuscript  for  the  greater  part  of  a  cen- 
tury, but  within  a  few  years  has  been  published  by  the  Massachusetts  historical 
society.  Part  of  his  diary,  begun  in  1743,  is  now  in  the  library  of  Dartmouth 
college.  He  was  one  of  the  editors  of  a  hymn-book  of  which  three  editions 
were  called  for.  Two  of  the  hymns  therein  are  from  his  own  pen,  and  one 
that  he  wrote  later,  "  Waked  by  the  Gospel's  Joyful  Sound,"  appears  in  many 
of  our  modern  books  under  the  disguise,  "Awaked  by  Sinai's  Awful  Sound." 

cal  disorders  of  1686,  '  Commissioners  were  especially  appointed  by  the  corporation,  consist- 
ing of  the  principal  gentlemen  of  the  civil  order,  and  of  the  clergy  in  New  England,'  with 
power  to  fill  their  own  vacancies." 


OXK1DAS  AM)  THE  BROTHERTOWNS.  71 

I  Ho  was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  presbytery  of  Albany,  constituted 
in  1790.  A  century  has  passed  since  Samuel  Kirkland  delivered  the  sermon  at 
burial  of  this  Whitefield  of  the  Indian  race,  and  at  length  men  are  doing  a 

|  tardy  justice  to  the  name  and  work  of  Samson  Occom. 

David   Fowler  died  1807,  March  31st.      His  last  years  saw  a  lessening  of 

j  the  strife  that  embittered  the  dying  of  Occom  whom  it  drove  from  Brother- 

j  town, — strife  in  which  a  part  of  the  newly  formed  "nation," — as  is  always  the 

I  case  among  Indians, —  took  the  part  of  interlopers  who  came  among  the  Broth- 
.  ertowns  to  get  land.      Perhaps  the  beginning  of  the  trouble  was  the  desire  on 
j  the  part  of  some  of  the  Oneidas   that  the    Brothertowns  yield  to  the   common 
possession  of  both  '; nations"  the  tract  that   had  been   assigned  to  the   sole  use 
and  ownership  of  Occom  and  his  fellow-emigrants.     Their  exclusive   title  was 
confirmed,  however,  by  a  "  treaty,"  made  1788,  September  22nd.     By  this,  the 
original   tract  assigned   to  the  Brothertowns  was  reduced  to  one  three  miles  in 
length  by  two  in  breadth. 

But  though  white  men  could  not  own  land  in  the  Br.>thertown  settlement 
they  could  get  ten-year  leases  which  some  of  the  tribe  were  foolish  enough  to 
make  to  them.  Under  these  circumstances  disputes  arose  as  a  matter  of 
course.  Finally  the  entire  reservation  was  divided  into  two  parts  equal  in  area. 
Choice  of  these  was  given  to  the  Indians,  and  the  whites  on  the  selected  area 
were  compelled  to  remove.  The  other  half  was  sold.  Out  of  the  sum  thus 
realized,  the  whites  were  indemnified  for  their  losses,  and  the  remainder  was 
deposited  in  the  treasury  of  New  York  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians.  Until 
1841  they  drew  only  the  interest  but  in  that  year,  the  principal,  amounting  to 
about  $30,000  was  paid  to  them. 

But  even  this  somewhat  heroic  remedy  of  separation  and  division  did  not 
prove  effectual.  The  legislative  act  by  which  (1795,  March  31st)  it  was  ac- 
complished did  indeed  make  it  impossible  for  the  individual  members  of  the 
Brothertown  "nation"  alienate  their  lands.  But  in  the  ways  in  which  a  strong- 
er and  shrewder  race  can  take  advantage  of  one  inferior  in  these  respects,  the 
whites  got  the  better  of  the  Indians  until  the  latter  were  ready  to  try  the 
universal  American  panacea  for  social  and  financial  troubles.  So  the  Brother- 
towns  "moved  West."  Hither  in  1823  came  the  first, —  a  small  party  that 
settled  at  Little  Kau-kau-lin.  Of  the  Brothertowns  who  were  there  in  1830, 
Commissioners  Root  and  McCall  say,  under  date  of  September  30th:  "These 
are  farther  advanced  in  civilization  and  the  arts  of  domestic  life  than  perhaps 
most  of  the  borderers  on  a  distant  frontier.''  The  settlement,  however,  could  not 
havf  been  a  large  one  inasmuch  as  the  Senate  proviso,  appended  for  the  benefit 
of  the  Brothertowns  to  the  treaty  of  1831,  grants  them  only  "one  thousand 
and  six  hundrejl  dollars  for  the  improvements  on  the  lands  now  in  their  posses- 
sion on  the  east  side  of  Fox  river."  And  as  no  mention  is  made  of  other 
lands  or  other  improvements  we  may  conclude  that  there  were  none. 

Emigration  to  the  new  reservation  began,  probably,  in  that  year  (1831). 
There  they  and,  northward  of  them,  their  neighbors,  the  Stockbridges,  were 


72  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

again  the  pioneers  of  civilization  in  the  wilderness.  u  The  first  steamboat  that 
ever  graced  the  crystal  bosom  of  Lake  Winnebago,  was  built  in  our  [CalumetJ 
county  by  the  Brothertown  Indians  under  the  superintendence  of  Peter  Hotel- 
ing,  who  was  a  white  man  and  the  captain  of  said  boat.  Having  no  laws 
which  they  could  enforce,  for  the  protection  of  their  lives  and  property,  and 
having  in  all  their  ways,  manner  of  living,  appearance  in  dress,  and  [in] 
speech  (not  having  spoken  their  own  tongue  for  one  hundred 

years),  become  perfectly  assimilated  to  their  white  brethren,  they  concluded  to 
petition  Congress  for  citizenship.  Their  prayer  was  granted,  and  an  act  passed 
for  their  benefit  on  the  third  day  of  March,  1839.  From  that  time  they  have 
lived  under  the  laws  of  the  state,  have  officers  of  their  own  in  most  cases,  and 
have  sent  three  of  their  own  men  as  members  of  the  legislature,  to-wit:  Wil- 
liam Fowler,  Alonzo  D.  Dick,  and  W.  H.  Dick."  Thus  wrote  Thomas  Corn- 
muck,  a  Brothertown,  22nd  August,  1855.  He  added :  "  Already  has  inter- 
marriage with  the  whites  so  changed  the  Brothertowns  in  complexion  that  three- 
quarters  of  them  would  be  readily  considered  white  where  they  were  not 
known." 

"Fifty  or  more"1  of  those  having  Brothertown  blood  in  their  veins  en- 
listed in  the  Union  army.  •'  We  have  furnished  ten  teachers  during  the  last 
thirty  years." l 

One  of  the  first  Methodist  Episcopal  churches  in  Wisconsin  was  estab- 
lished at  Deansburg,  the  name  given  first  to  what  is  now  Brothertown.  That 
was  in  1839  and  the  pastor  of  that  early-  day  has  been  followed  to  the  present 
time  by  successors  of  his  noble  brotherhood.2 

1  Mr.  E.  M.  Dick  of  Brothertown,  Wisconsin. 

2>  The  data  furnished  by  Mr.  Love,  from  his  forthcoming  biography  of  Occom,  led  to  a  re- 
casting of  what  I  had  written  concerning  the  Brothertowns.  Mr.  Love's  work  possesses  a  de- 
finiteness  that  is  wanting  in  what  Commuck  wrote  on  the  history  of  his  people.  Incident- 
ally, we  observe  here  that,  notwithstanding  Dr.  Draper's  suggestion  (Collections,  IV.,  298) 
that  Commuck  may  have  been  murdered,  there  is  no  good  reason  to  think  that  such  was  the 
case.  Of  Occom's  life  there  is  a  good  sketch  in  Dr.  E.  F.  Hatfield's  "Poets  of  the  Church." 

Some  time  since,  a  statement  was  made  in  the  "  Standard,"  a  Baptist  paper  of  Chicago, 
that  the  first  church  of  that  denomination,  in  Wisconsin,  was  one  among  the  Brothertowns  at 
Little  Kaukauna  in  1828.  But  I  find  no  evidence  of  the  existence  of  such  a  church,  and  a 
note  of  inquiry,  addressed  to  the  writer  of  the  article  in  the  "Standard,"  brought,— owing, 
perhaps,  to  his  illness,— no  reply. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

*THE  MCH-HE-KA-XE-OK. 

Under  the  name  of  Stockbridges  we  have  had  mention  of  a  people  who, 
in  their  own  language,  call  themselves  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. l  According  txrtheir 
legendary  history  of  the  tribe,  k4  a  great  people  came  from  the  Northwest ; 
crossed  over  the  salt  waters,2  and  after  long  and  weary  pilgrimages  (planting 
many  colonies  on  their  track),  took  possession  and  built  their  tires  upon  the  At- 
lantic coast,  extending  from  the  Delaware  on  the  south  to  the  Penobscot  on  the 
north.  They  became,  in  process  of  time,  divided  into  different  tribes  and  inter- 
ests ;  all,  however,  speaking  one  common  dialect.  This  great  confederacy,  com- 
prising Delawares,  Munsees,  Mohegans,  Narragansetts,  Pequots,  Penobscots, 
and  many  others  held  its  council  once  a  year  to  deliberate  on 

the  general  welfare.! 

"The  tribe  to  which  your  speaker3  belongs,  and  of  which  there  were  many 
bands,  occupied  and  possessed  the  country  from  the  sea-shore  at  Manhattan  to 
Lake  Champlain.  Having  found  an  ebb  and  flow  of  the  tide,  they  said: 
4  This  is  Muh-he-con-new,— like  our  waters,  which  are  never  still.'  From  this 
expression  and  by  this  name  they  were  afterwards  known,  until  their  removal  to 
Stockbridge  in.  the  year  1730.  Housatonic  River  Indians,  Mohegans,  Manhat- 
tas,  were  all  names  of  bands  in  different  localities  but  bound  together,  as  one 
family,  by  blood,  marriage  and  descent. 

"  Where  are  the  twenty-h' ve  thousand  in  number,  and  the  four  thousand 
warriors,  who  constituted  the  power  and  population  of  the  great  Muh-he-con-new 
Nation  in  1604  ?  They  have  been  victims  to  vice  and  disease  which  the  white 
man  Imported.  The  small-pox,  measles  and  'strong  waters'  have  done  the 
work  of  annihilation." 

In  regard  to  the  name  and  language  of  these  people  we  have  an  authority 
that  is  both  older  and  better  than  of  Mr.  Quinney.  u  When  I  was  but  six 

1  If  I  were  to  write  this  name  as  I  heard  it  spoken  by  Henry  Sprague  and  wife,— the  for- 
mer a  Munsee,  the  latter  a  grand-daughter  of  John  Metoxen,—  I  should  change  the  spelling: 
by  using:,  in  the  last  syllable,  a  with  the  sound  as  in  ami.  For  further  remarks  on  this  sub- 
ject ,  see  appendix,  and  also  the  author's  monograph,  "Muh-he-ka-ne-ok ;  a  History  of  the  Stock- 
bridge  Nation."  To  that  booklet  this  chapter  is,  in  part,  purposely  made  supplementary. 

3  "At  the  place  where  this  and  the  other  country  are  nearly  connected,"  says  the  legrend 
as  given  in  Miss  Electa  Jones's  history  of  Stockbridge,  Mawachusetts. 

3  These  quotations  are  from  a  Fourth  of  July  speech  made  at  Reidsville,  New  York,  in 
1KA4,  by  John  W.  Quinney  (Waun-nau-con),  of  Stockbridge,  Wisconsin. 


74  IN  UNNAMP:D  WISCONSIN. 

years  of  age,"  wrote  the  younger  Jonathan  Edwards,1  afterward  president  of 
Union  college,  "  my  father  removed  with  his  family  to  Stockbridge  [Massachu- 
setts], which  at  that  time  was  inhabited  by  Indians  almost  solely ;  as  there  were 
in  the  town  but  twelve  families  of  whites,  or  Anglo-Americans ;  and  perhaps 
one  hundred  and  fifty  families  of  Indians.  The  Indians  being  the  nearest 
neighbors,  I  constantly  associated  with  them ;  their  boys  were  my  daily  school- 
mates and  play-fellows.  Out  of  my  father's  house  I  seldom  heard  any  lan- 
guage spoken,  beside  the  Indian.  By  these  means  I  acquired  the  knowledge 
of  that  language,  and  a  great  facility  in  speaking  it.  It  became  more  familiar 
to  me  than  my  mother  tongue."  "•  Both  at  this  time,  and  in  after  life,"  says 
his  grandson  and  biographer,  Rev.  Tryon  Edwards,  D.  D.,  "he  was  so  familiar 
with  the  Indian  language  that  he  often  dreamed  in  it."  President  Edwards 
continues:  "I  knew  the  names  of  some  things  in  Indian,  which  I  did  not  know 
in  English ;  even  all  my  thoughts  ran  in  Indian;  and  though  the  true  pronunci- 
ation of  the  language  is  extremely  difficult  to  all  but  themselves,  they  acknow- 
ledged that  I  had  acquired  it  perfectly ;  which,  as  they  said,  never  had  been 
acquired  before  by  any  Anglo-American.  *  * 

"When  I  was  in  my  tenth  year,  my  father  sent  me  among  the  Six  Na- 
tions, with  a  design  that  I  should  learn  their  language,  and  thus  become  quali- 
fied to  be  a  missionary  among  them.  But  on  account  of  the  war  with  France, 
which  then  existed,  I  continued  among  them  but  about  six  months.  Therefore 
the  knowledge  which  I  acquired  of  that  language  was  but  imperfect;  and  at 
this  time 2  I  retain  so  little  of  it,  that  I  will  not  hazard  any  particular  critical 
remarks  on  it.  I  may  observe,  however,  that  though  the  words  of  the  two  lan- 
guages are  totally  different,  yet  their  structure  is,  in  some  respects,  analogous, 
particularly  in  the  use  of  prefixes  and  suffixes. 

"  The  language  which  is  now  the  subject  of  observation  is  that  of  the 
Muhhekaneew  or  Stockbridge  Indians.  They,  as  well  as  the  tribe  at  New 
London,  are  by  the  Anglo-Americans,  called  Mohegans,  which  is  a  corruption 
of  Muhhekaneew,  in  the  singular,  or  Muhhekaneok  in  the  plural.  This  lan- 
guage is  spoken  by  all  the  Indians  throughout  New  England.  Every  tribe,  as 
that  of  Stockbridge,  that  of  Farmington,  that  of  New  London3  etc.  has  a  dif- 
ferent dialect;  but  the  language  is  radically  the  same.  Mr.  Eliot's  translation 
of  the  Bible  is  in  a  particular  dialect  of  this  language.  The  dialect  followed 
in  these  observations  is  that  of  Stockbridge.  This  language  appears  to  be 
much  more  extensive  than  any  other  language  in  North  America.  The  Ian 

1  He  was  born  1745,  May  26th.  The  above  quotations  are  made  from  his  treatise  "Ob- 
servations on  the  Language  of  the  Muhhekaneew  Indians,"  published  at  the  request  of  the 
Connecticut  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 

In  the  Appleton  Cyclopedia  (first  edition)  the  remark  is  made  that  this  treatise  "  led 
Humboldtto  say  that  if  he  [Edwards]  had  not  been  the  greatest  theologian,  he  would  have 
been  the  greatest  philologist  of  his  age." 

a  The  first  edition  of  President  Edwards's  "  Observations"  etc.  was  probably  issued  in 
1788.  In  the  same  year  it  was  reprinted  in  England  in  connection  with  the  famous  sermon 
delivered  by  Occom  at  the  hanging  of  Moses  Paul. 

3  By  this,  Dr.  Edwards  doubtless  meant  the  tribe  whose  chief  settlement  was  at  Mohegan, 
Occom  s  birthplace. 


THK  MUH-HK-KA-NK-OK.  73 

guages  of  the  Delawares  in  Pennsylvania,  of  the  Penobscots  bordering  on  Nova 
Scotia  [which  then  comprised  what  is  now  New  Brunswick],  of  the  Indians  of 
St.  Francis  in  Canada,  of  the  Shawanese  on  the  Ohio,  and  of  the  Chippewaus 
at  the  westward  of  Lake  Huron,  are  all  radically  the  same  with  the  Mohegan. 
The  same  is  said  concerning  the  languages  of  the  Ottawaus,  Nanticooks,  Mun- 
sees,  Menomonees,  Messitaugas,  Saukies,  Ottagaumies,  Killistinoes,,  Nipegons, 
Winnebagoes l  etc.  That  the  languages  of  the  several  tribes  in  New  England, 
of  the  Delawares  and  of  Mr.  Eliot's  Bible,  are  radically  the  same  with  the  Mo- 
hegan, I  assert  from  my  own  knowledge." 

Dr.  Edwards  then  gives  authorities, — '*  Captain  Yoghum  of  the  Stock- 
bridge  tribe,  and  Carver's  Travels," — for  his  other  statements,  and  proceeds 
with  his  dissertation  on  the  Mohegan  language.  And  notwithstanding  his  cau- 
tion, he  remarks  of  "  the  Mohauk*  which  is  the  language  of  the  Six  Nations," 
that  it  "  is  entirely  different  from  that  of  the  Mohegans.  There  is  no  more 
appearance  of  a  derivation  of  one  of  these  last  mentioned  languages  from  the 
other,  than  there  is  of  a  derivation  of  either  of  them  from  the  English.  One 
obvious  diversity,  and  in  which  the  Mohauk  is  perhaps  different  from  every 
other  language,  is  that  it  is  wholly  destitute  of  labials ;  whereas  the  Mohegan 
abounds  with  labials."  It  is  this  fact,  presumably,  that  enabled  Eleazar  Wil- 
liams to  write  his  native  language  with  the  use  of  only  eleven  letters  of  the 
English  alphabet.2 

Notwithstanding  Mr.  Quinney's  implied  statement,  it  was  not  from  the 
Housatonic  but  from  the  Hudson,  wherein,  after  their  long  legendary  journey, 
the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  first  saw  on  the  Atlantic  coast  the  ebbing  and  flowing  of 
the  tide,  that  they  received  their  name  "  River  Indians."  Yet  when  the  atten- 
tion of  the  Anglo-Americans, —  to  use  Dr.  Edwards's  happy  term, —  was  first 
drawn  to  these  people,  their  home  was  in  the  upper  part  of  the  valley  of  the 
Housatonic,  and,  therefore,  in  western  Massachusetts. 

It  is  in  early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  that  these  people  come  into 
some  prominence  in  the  history  of  the  Massachusetts  frontier.  Some  of  them 
may  have  borne  arms  for  tho  colonists  in  u  Queen  Anne's  war," —  the  one 
known  in  European  history  as  the  "war  of  the  Spanish  succession."  If  not' 
then,  they  probably  took  the  side  of  the  Anglo-Americans  in  the  Indian  or, 
more  correctly,  the  inter-colonial  war  that  was  -resumed"  in  1722  and  ended 
in  1725,  when  a  "treaty"  was  made,  ending  a  war  that  had  really  lasted  about 
forty  years.  Whatever  was  the  service  and  whenever  rendered,  we  find  that  in 
May,  1734,  two  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew  chiefs,  Konkapot  and  Umpachene,  received 
at  Springfield  from  Governor  Jonathan  Belcher  of  Massachusetts  commissions 
in  the  British  colonial  militia,  Konkajwt  that  of  captain ;  Umpachene,  of  lieu- 


1  In  this,  as  we  have  seen,  Dr.  Edwards  was  in  error.  This  of  course  may  be  an  incorroct 
inference  of  his  own  or,  for  aught  I  know,  there  may  be  a  mis-statement  in  Carver's  "Travels." 
It  is  not  likely  that  Yoghum,  "  a  principal  Indian  of  the  [Stockbridge]  tribe,''  would  know 
anything  about  the  Winnebagoes. 

a  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,  volume  VIII.,  page  3BO. 


76  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

tenant.  Konkapot*s  home  was  at  Wnahtukook  (Stockbridge)  ;  Umpachene's  at 
Skatekook  (now  Sheffield).  These  places  the  Indians  had  reserved  for  them- 
selves when,  by  deed  dated  1724,  April  25th  (May  6th),1  they  made  a  sale  of 
land  to  some  white  men  to  whom  the  right  of  purchase  had  been  granted  1722 
June  30th  (July  llth),  by  act  of  the  general  court  (legislature)  of  Massachu- 
setts. These  early  settlers  came  into  a  wilderness  unbroken  save  by  a  few 
clearings  made — "under  the  grant  of  the  Livingston  manor,"2 —  by  Dutchmen 
from  New  York,  between  which  and  Massachusetts  the  boundary  line  was  yet 
undetermined. 

Ebenezer  Miller,  a  humble  parishioner  of  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins  of  West 
Springfield,  learned  that  Konkapot  and  his  people  seemed  ready  to  receive  in- 
struction in  Christianity.  This  fact  he  made  known  to  his  pastor  who  inter- 
ested in  the  matter  Colonel  John  Stoddard  of  Northampton  and  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Stephen  Williams3  of  Longmeadow.  Desiring  to  establish  a  mission  among 
the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, —  the  "River  Indians,"  as  they  were  commonly  called, — 
Mr.  Hopkins  and  his  associates  applied  for  aid  to  a  "  Board  of  Indian  Commis- 
sioners" in  Boston.4  Aid  was  promised.  Now  for  the  needed  man. 

He  was  ready.  A  New  Jersey  boy,  John  Sergeant,  born  at  Newark  in 
1710,  had  the  misfortune,  as  it  seemed  at  the  time,  to  cripple  his  left  hand  by 
a  cut  with  a  scythe.  That  he  might  earn  a  living  in  some  other  way  than  by 
manual  labor,  he  was  sent  to  Yale  college.  "  He  proceeded  Bachelor  of 
Arts,  September  1729,  and  commenc'd  Master  1732,  before  which  he  was 
elected  Tutor  of  the  College,  in  which  he  had  his  Education.  In  that  Post  he 
continu'd  four  Years,  to  the  Satisfaction  of  those  who  repos'd  in  him  that 
Trust,  and  to  the  Advantage  of  those  who  were  under  his  Instruction. 

"By  this  Time  he  was  determin'd  for  the  Work  of  the  Ministry,  and  tho' 
he  was  well  pleased  with  the  Business  he  was  now  in,  and  stood  as  fair  as  any 
Man  whatever,  for  a  Call  &  Settlement  in  any,  even  the  best  Parish,  that  might 
become  vacant;  yet  he  preferred  a  Mission  to  the  Heathen:  not  from  any 
Views  he  could  have  of  Worldly  Advantage  from  thence,  but  from  a  pious, 
generous  and  ardent  Desire  of  being  an  Instrument  in  the  Hand  of  God  of 
Good  to  the  Indians,  who  were  sunk  below  the  Dignity  of  human  Nature,  and 
even  to  the  lowest  Degree  of  Ignorance  and  Barbarity. 

"There  was  something  very  uncommon,  and  which  seems  to  have  been 
from  above,  in  the  Disposition  and  Inclination  there  was  in  him  to  this  self- 
denying  Service :  For  before  there  was  any  Prospect  of  his  being  imploy'd 
among  the  Natives,  his  tender  Mind  was  so  affected  with  the  Tho'ts  of  their 
perishing  State,  that  it  had  been  his  Practice,  for  a  long  Time,  to  make  Daily 

1  The  use  of  the  Gregorian  (new  style)  calendar  was  not  legally  established  in  England 
and  her  colonies  until  1751.  Then  it  was  enacted  that  the  day  following  the  2nd  of  Sep- 
tember, 1752,  should  be  accounted  the  14th  of  that  month. 

»  E.  W.  B.  Canning. 

8  Son  of  Rev.  John  Williams,  the  "Redeemed  Captive."  The  son  was  taken  prisoner  with 
the  others  of  his  father's  family. 

4  An  organization  to  be  identified,  probably,  with  that  mentioned  on  page  G9  as  existing 
in  New  England. 


THK  MrH-HK-KA-NE-OK.  77 

an  article  in  his  secret  Addivsst-s  to  God.  that  he  would  send  him  to  the  Hea- 
then, and  make  him  an  Instrument  in  turniny  them  from  J)'H'km*ss  to  LtyJit, 
&c.  Gad  granted  him  thdt  irhirh  he  requested;  for  which  lie  returned  his 
grateful  Acknowledgments  to  //////  ir/io  hestreth  Prayer.  And  of  these  Things 
he  inform'd  Mr.  Woodbridye*  his  Fellow- Lahourer,  at  his  first  going  to  Housa- 
tiumuk;  but  strictly  injoin'd  him  to  keep  them  secret,  which  he  accordingly 
did  till  since  Mr.  SERGEANT'S  Death." 

The  above  is  from  a  book  that  was  new  one  hundred  fifty  years  ago:  a 
biography  of  Sergeant  and  an  account  of  his  work  among  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, 
by  Samuel  Hopkins,  who  thus  became  the  historian  as  he  had  been  a  founder 
of  the  mission.  The  few  copies  of  the  book  that  are  left, —  possibly  not  more 
than  six  in  number, —  are  among  the  choicest  possessions  of  the  libraries  in 
which  they  are  found.  The  man*  of  whom  it  was  written  deserved  the  eulogy 
of  his  biographer  and  won  the  prize  most  to  be  desired  by  the  noblest  ambi- 
tion, —  a  place  among  those  who  have  turned  many  to  righteousness. 

When  Konkapot  and  Umpachene  came  to  Springfield  to  be  invested  by 
Governor  Belcher  with  the  insignia  denoting  the  rank  of  eacli  in  British  ser- 
vice, they  were  met  also  by  Messrs.  Hopkins  and  Williams  who  had  been  asked 
by  the  commissioners  in  Boston  to  try  to  get  the  consent  of  the  chiefs  to  the 
establishment  of  the  proposed  mission.  These,  like  men  of  good  sense,  referred 
the  matter  to  their  people,  by  whom  under  Konkapot's  leadership, — despite  the 
opposition  of  traders  who  had  been  accustomed  to  furnish  liquor  to  the  Indians, 
—  the  desired  consent  was  given  at  a  four  days'  meeting  beginning  8th  (19th) 
July,  1734,  in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Great  Harrington,  Massachusetts. 

The  way  for  his  coming  being  thus  prepared.  Sergeant,  who  was  still  en- 
gaged as  tutor  in  Yale  college,  visited  the  people  among  whom  he  purposed 
soon  to  make  his  home.  He  was  accompanied  by  one  of  the  neighboring  pas- 
tors, Rev.  Xehemiah  Bull  of  Westfield.  On  the  day  after  their  arrival,  Sun- 
day, the  13th  (24th)  of  October,  1734,  they  gathered  a  congregation  in  which 
were  about  twenty  adults.  Then  or  soon  thereafter,  Mr.  Sergeant's  interpre- 
ter, Kbenezer  Poohpoonuc,  desired  to  be  baptized.  After  what  seems  to  have 
been  a  very  thorough  examination, —  inasmuch  as  the  candidate  was  brought  to 
declare  that  he  would  rather  burn  in  the  tire  than  deny  the  truth, —  Mr.  Bull 
baptized  him  18th  (29th)  October,  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  wigwam  of  Lieu- 
tenant Umpachene  at  Skatekook.  From  this  confession  of  faith  and  baptism 
of  an  Indian  convert,  the  old  church  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  counts  the 
number  of  its  years. 

The  mission  was  first  established  in  what  is  now  the  town  of  Great  Bar- 
rington.  Here  on  the  21st  October  (1st  November),  was  begun  the  erection  of 
a  building  which  was  to  serve  for  church  and  school.  So  rapidly  was  the  work 
pushed  forward  that  the  school  itself  was  opened  on  Tuesday,  the  5th  (16th)  of 
November.  Mr.  Sergeant  himself  was  the  teacher.  Think  of  the  college 
tutor,  who  had  been  giving  instruction  to  such  men  as  Joseph  Bellamy,  Aaron 
Burr,  afterwards  president  of  the  college  of  New  Jersey  (Princeton),  and 


78  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

James  Lockwood  who  was  once  oft'ered  the  presidency  of  Yale, —  think  of  him 
thus  teaching  Indian  children  the  very  rudiments  of  book  knowledge  ! 

This  work  was  soon  interrupted  by  service  in  behalf  of  another  people. 
From  his  own  diary  we  have  the  story : 

"Monday,  November  the  25th  [6  December,  1734].  I  went  to  Albany, 
being  desir'd  by  the  Ministers  of  the  Country,  to  inquire  after  the  disposition 
of  the  Mohawks,  and  the  rest  of  the  Indians  in  friendship  with  the  English, 
towards  the  Christian  Religion;  carrying  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williams 
of  Hatfield,  to  the  Hon.  Philip  Livingston,  Esq;  to  desire  of  him  Information 
in  that  Matter.  Mr.  Livingston  told  me  there  was  a  Probability  that  the  Pro- 
testant Religion  might,  if  proper  Means  were  us'd,  be  introduc'd  among  most  of 
those  Nations ;  and  he  looked  upon  it  [as]  absolutely  necessary  in  Order  to  pre- 
serve the  Trade  with  them,  and  keep  them  in  Friendship  with  the  English ;  for 
the  French  of  Canada  were  very  industrious  to  gain  them  over  to  their  Inter- 
est ;  and  that  they  have  Missionaries  among  them,  who  came  as  near  to  their 1 
Government  as  they  dare;  that  the  Indians  are  drawn  off  more  or  less,  every 
Year  to  Canada.  Much  the  same  Account  other  Gentlemen  gave  me.  Mr. 
Barclay,  an  ingenious  and  religious  young  Gentleman,  has  been  about  a  Year 
and  a  half  among  the  Mohawks,  and  is  learning  their  language,  and  designs  to 
get  Episcopal  Ordination,  to  be  a  Missionary  among  them,  if  the  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  in  foreign  Parts  will  support  him. 

"  Upon  my  Return  from  Albany,  (which  was  on  Saturday  November  30th) 
I  found  Mr.  Timothy  Woodbridge,  a  young  Gentleman  very  well  qualify 'd  for 
the  Business,  sent  up  here,  to  take  Care  of  the  School,  and  to  instruct  the  In- 
dians in  a  Catechetical  Way,  when  I  should  return  to  my  Business  at  College." 

Soon  began  the  contest  that  every  faithful  missionary  to  the  Indians  is 
obliged  to  carry  on  with  those  who  sell  them  intoxicants.  The  Indians  were 
exposed  to  the  evil  influences  of  certain  Dutch  traders  from  New  York  who 
were  "  very  industrious  to  discourage  the  Indians  from  being  Christians,  think- 
ing it  would  lessen  their  Trade  with  them,  or  at  least  they  should  not  be  under 
so  good  Advantages  to  cheat  and  impose  upon  them.  For  they  make  vast 
Profit  by  selling  them  Rum,  and  making  Bargains  with  them  when  they  are 
drunk ;  and  Drunkenness  is  a  vice  the  Indians  are  extremely  addicted  to.  These 
Traders  tell  them,  that  the  Religion  we  are  about  to  teach  them,  is  not  a  good 
one ;  that  we  design  in  the  End  to  serve  ourselves  by  them,  to  make  Slaves  of 
them  and  their  Children,  and  the  like.  They  also  took  Occasion,  from  the  law 
there  is  in  this  Province,  against  private  Persons  selling  the  Indians  strong 
Drink,  to  prejudice  them  against  the  Government  and  People;  as  though  we 
were  not  their  Friends." 

With  a  little, —  and  very  little, —  change  how  modern  and  familiar  ail  this 
sounds  !  Upon  the  ignorant  Indians  it  produced  at  first  much  the  same  effect 
as  like  talk  produces  upon  unthinking  white  men  at  the  present  day.  In  com- 
bating these  influences,  Mr.  Sergeant  did  not  at  first  propose  total  abstinence, 

1  Ambiguous.    Perhaps  Mr.  Livingston  said  "  our  government." 


THE  MUl-HK-KA-NE-OK.  79 

—if  he  ever  did, —  but  showed  the  Indians  that  the  restrictions  on  the  sale  of 
liquor  under  Massachusetts  law  were  designed  for  their  benefit;  "that  the 
Traders  doubtless  were  the  Men  that  intended  to  make  a  Prey  of  them,  and 
their  Children.  *  With  what  I  said  they  seemed  well  satisfied ; 

especially  Kunkapot;  for  he  saw  thro'  the  design  of  the  Traders.          *          * 

"Then  I  asked  them  if  they  would  let  two  of  their  Children  go  and  live 
with  me  at  New-Haven  the  Rest  of  the  Winter ;  and  they  agreed  that  the  Cap- 
tains only  Son  Ntmykawwat,  and  the  Lieutenant's  oldest  Son  Etowaukaum, 
(who  by  the  Way  is  Grandson  by  his  Mother  to  Etowoukaum,  Chief  of  the 
River-Indians,  who  was  in  England  in  Queen  Ann's  Heign)  should  be  the 
Children.  And  the  next  Morning,  Monday  December  the  9th 

[20th],  we  set  out  for  New-Haven,  leaving  Mr.  Woodbridye  in  the  School." 

Evidently  Mr.  Sergeant  was  not  one  of  the  so-called  "  Christians "  who 
act  as  if  they  think  that  people  can  be  saved  while  they  are  held  off  at  arm's 
length.  He  writes:  "December  14th  [25th].  We  got  to  New-Haven.  I  took 
the  Boys  into  my  own  Chamber  at  College,  and  sent  them  to  the  free  School. 
They  lived  very  contentedly,  were  made  much  of  by  every  Body ; 
for  indeed  they  were  a  couple  of  very  likely  B.>ys,  especially  the  Lieutenant's 
Son." 

In  a  letter  to  "  Adam  Winthrop,  Esq ; "  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Com- 
missioners, Mr.  Sergeant  shows  the  spirit  that  makes  lovers,  enthusiasts,  mis- 
sionaries and  martyrs :  "  'Tis  no  small  Satisfaction  to  me  that  your  Honour, 
with  the  Rest  of  the  Honourable  and  Reverend  Commissioners,  are  pleased  to 
entertain  a  good  Opinion  of  me.  I  have  had  the  Approbation  of  my  Con- 
science in  the  Business  I  have  undertaken,  nor  have  I  been  at  all  discontented. 
Thro'  the  Blessing  of  God,  the  Design  has  hitherto  succeeded  full  to  my  Ex- 
pectation, excepting  that  I  have  not  had  quite  so  many  Auditors  as  I  hop'd  to 
have  (there  being  generally  about  30.)  There  has  been  about  25  Scholars  in 
the  School,  besides  some  older  ones  who  took  some  Pains  to  learn  the  Letters ; 
but  I  suppose  their  Patience  will  hardly  hold  out  to  learn  to  read  well.  They 
have  always  treated  me  with  Respect  &  Kindness,  in  their  Way.  The  Chil- 
dren in  the  School,  I  think,  were  fond  of  me,  and  they  all  seemed  to  put  great 
Confidence  in  me,  and  what  I  believe  you  will  think  a  sufficient  Evidence  of 
it,  is,  I  have  brought  a  Way  with  me  too  little  Boys.  *  The  Lads 

had  a  great  mind  to  come  with  me.  They  are  two  very  likely 

Lads,  and  if  I  do  not  judge  amiss,  the  Indian  Children  excell  the  generality 
of  ours,  in  Pregnancy  of  Parts  and  good  Humor.  I  am  sure  I  could  not  have 
found  an  English  School,  any  where,  that  would  have  pleas'd  me  so  much. 
Capt.  Kwnkapot  is  an  excellent  Man,  and  I  do  believe  has  the  true  Spirit  of 
Christianity  in  him.  I  found  them  generally  possest  with  the 

belief  of  One  supreme  Being,  the  Maker  and  Governor  of  all  Things,  and 
that  they  acknowledged  the  Difference  between  Moral  Good  and  Evil ;  that  God 
regards  the  Actions  of  Mankind,  in  order  to  reward  or  punish  them,  in  some 
future  State  of  Existence." 


80  IN   UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

''It  is  a  Custom  among  the  Indians,"  says  Mr.  Hopkins,  *knot  to  proceed 
in  any  Affair  of  Importance,  till  they  have  the  Consent  of  the  several  ('fans 
belonging  to  their  Nation;  and  the  Indian*  at  Housatunnnh\  having  pro- 
ceeded so  far  without  the  general  Consent  of  their  Brethren*  were  much  con- 
cern'd  lest  they  should  be  frowned  upon  at  the  approaching  Meeting;  and  the 
more  so,  because  they  had  heard,  that  the  Indians  of  If  unison's  River  highly 
resented  their  receiving  a  Minister  and  School-Master,  before  they  had  gain'd 
the  Approbation  of  the  Rest  of  their  Tribe ;  yea,  there  was  a  report  that  a  De- 
sign was  on  Foot  to  poison  the  Captain  and  Lieutenant,  on  that  Account;  as 
also,  because  they  had  received  Commissions  from  his  Excellency  Governor 
Belcher.  Whether  there  was  any  just  Ground  for  these  Reports,  or  whether 
they  were  set  on  Foot  by  the  Dutch  Traders  to  discourage  the  Indians,  at 
Housatunnuk,  I  am  not  able  to  say.  But  however  that  was,  the  Indians 
were  so  affected  with  these  flying  Stories,  that  they  sent  desiring  some  of  the 
Ministers  of  the  County  would  come  to  them,  and  be  present  at  their  general 
Meeting. 

Accordingly,  January  loth  1734, 5, l  the  Rev.  Mr.  Stephen  Williams  of 
Springfield,  and  I,  accompany 'd  by  John  Ashley,  Escj ;  of  Westfield,  went  to 
Housatunnuk."  They  were  successful,  evidently,  in  winning  the  confidence  of 
the  Indians  who,  as  Mr.  Williams  wrote,  k'gave  us  Encouragement  that  they 
would  as  a  Nation  submit  to  Instruction." 

This  following  paragraph  and  the  next  are  by  Mr.  Sergeant :  •»  It  happeird 
as  soon  as  this  Meeting2  was  over,  that  several  of  our  Indians  were  taken  sick  ; 
and  two  Men  seiz'd  with  a  violent  Fever,  died  suddenly.  This,  with  the  Ap- 
prehension they  had  before  of  Mischief,  design'd  by  some  of  the  other  Indians 
that  came  from  the  neighboring  Government  [New  York],  put  them  into  a 
great  Fright;  and  made  them  suspect  that  those  Persons  were  poison'd.  Tho', 
I  believe,  the  Suspicion  was  groundless.  For  it  is  so  far  from  being  strange  to 
me,  that  some  are  sick  after  such  a  Frolick,  that  I  rather  wonder  they  don't 
half  [of  them]  die.  For  their  Dancing  is  a  most  laborious  Exercise.  They 
dance  'round  a  hot  Fire,  till  they  are  almost  ready  to  faint,  and  are  wet  with 
Sweat ;  and  then  run  out,  and,  striping  themselves  naked,  expose  their  Bodies 
to  the  cold  Air,  and,  if  there  be  Snow  upon  the  Ground,  roll  in  it  till  they  are 
cold,  and 'then  return  to  their  dancing  again,  and  when  they  are  hot,  and  tired, 


1  Though  the  change  from  "  old  style  "  to  "new  style  "  was  made  in  Scotland  in  the  year 
1600,  England  did  not  adopt  the  Gregorian  calendar  until  1752.    With  this  change  came  the 
substitution  of  January  1st  for  March  25th  as  the  date  of  the  beginning  of  the  new  year. 
For  a  time  thereafter  the  custom  was  followed  by  many  of  writing  the  dates  thus  transferred 
from  one  year  to  that  following  with  the  number  of  each  of  the  years  as  Mr.  Williams  does 
above.    The  January  in  which  he  made  the  visit  that  he  is  telling  us  about  was  reckoned,  at 
the  time,  as  part  of  1784 ;  when  he  published,  it  was  considered  as  part  of  1735.   His  reckoning 
of  days  is  probably  old  style,  but  he  makes  an  error,— for  which  Williams  who  kept  a  journal 
of  their  proceedings  is  perhaps  responsible,— in  saying  that  "the  Indians,  who  were  expected 
from  Hudxon'ft  Hive)',  came  not  till  Saturday,  which  was  the  19th  of  the  Month."    It  was  the 
18th  or  the  29th  according  as  we  use  the  Julian  calendar  or  the  Gregorian. 

2  Mr.  Hopkins  here  inserts,  in  brackets,  the  words  "Drinking  and  Frolicking  always  con- 
clude such  Meetings.'' 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  81 

cool  themselves  in  the  same  Manner,  and,  it  may  be,  repeat  this  four  or  five 
Times  in  a  Night ;  concluding  the  Frolick  with  excessive  drinking.  And  when 
they  are  drunk,  often  fall  asleep  in  the  open  Air,  perhaps  huried  in  Snow. 

"  This  general  Meeting  happen'd  in  a  very  cold  Season,  and  when  there 
was  a  very  deep  Snow  upon  the  Ground.  And  I  never  could  learn  that  there 
was  any  certain  symptom  of  poison.  However,  the  Indians  were  persuaded 
they  were  poison'd,  and  concluded  to  apply  to  some  invisible  Power  for  the 
Discovery  of  the  Murderers." 

It  is  evident  that  this  invisible  power  was  to  their  minds  most  immedi- 
ately represented  by  their  "Priests  or  Paw waws."  At  an  effort  to  make  the 
desired  "discovery", — a  performance  given  by  some  of  these  gentry, —  Mr. 
Woodbridge  was  present,  as  were  also  some  of  the  Indians  to  whom  he  was 
giving  religious  instruction.  These  being  warned  by  their  teacher  not  to  take 
part  in  such  heathenish  performances,  "  resolved  never  to  do  so  any  more." l 

"  Mr.  Sergeant  goes  on  and  observes,  that  the  Indians  used  to  have  a  high 
Opinion  of  these  Pawwaws,  (whose  Character  answers  pretty  well  to  the  vulgar 
Notions  of  Wizards  and  Conjurers)  and  tell  Stories  of  the  great  Feats  which 
they  can  do.  However,  they  confess  they  have  no  Power  over  Christians.  And 
concludes  with  these  Words.  '  There  may  he  something,  for  ought  I  know,  in 
what  they  say :  But  I  am  apt  to  think,  they  are  very  much  imposed  upon  by 
such  kind  of  Pretenders,  as  the  Rest  of  the  ignorant  Part  of  the  World  is.' " 

Let  us  remember  that  the  witchcraft  horror  at  Salem  occurred  but  eight- 
een years  before  Sergeant  was  born. 

Mr.  Woodbridge's  school  was  broken  up  in  February  by  the  going  of  the 
Indian  children  into  the  woods  with  their  parents  to  make  maple  sugar.  This 
leads  Mr.  Hopkins  to  suggest  that  the  white  people  apply  themselves  to  the 
same  form  of  industry.  He  takes  the  trouble  to  tell  how  the  sugar  is  made, 
and  adds  that  it  is  "  of  a  very  agreeable  Taste,  and  is  esteemed  the  most  whole- 
some of  any.  It  might  doubtless  be  made  in  great  Plenty  ;  and,  I  can  not  but 
think,  to  the  great  Profit  of  the  Undertakers."2  We  wish  we  had  not  taken 
the  trouble  to  suggest  how  "excellent  limn,"  as  he  supposes,  could  be  made 
from  the  sap,  but  the  fact  that  he  did  so  suggests  how  difficult  must  have  been 
the  struggle  which,  as  we  shall  see,  our  poor  Indians  soon  began  against  their 
greatest  enemy. 

Under  date  of  May  6th  (17th),  1735  Mr.  Sergeant  wrote:  "Came  Capt. 
Kunkapot,  Lieut.  Umpachenee,  his  brother  JohtohkuhkoonaiU,  and  Ebenezer 
[Poopoonuc],  to  New-Haven,  to  wait  upon  me  up,  and  to  carry  the  Boys  back 
who  had  been  with  me  all' winter.  Johtohkuhkoonaut  had  been  a  very  vicious 
fellow,  and  a  very  bitter  enemy  to  the  Gospel-,  but  a  little  before  this  he  came 

1  Is  it  not  a  most  hurtful  thing  that,  even  in  our  day,  certain  people,  for  the  sake  of  what 
is  to  their  vicious  and  vulgar  taste  an  entertaining  spectacle,  encourage  the  Indians  in  these 
and  like  displays  that  connect  the  poor  creatures  with  the  demomism  of  the  past  and  make 
worthless  dancers  and  jugglers  the  centers  of  attraction  and  interest? 

3  "To  the  Indians  we  owe  maple  sugar  and  the  as  ku-ta  squash,-  in  English,  vine-apple. "- 
Miss  Jones's  "  History  of  Stockbridge."  Doubtless,  Mr.  Hopkins's  suggestion  proved  useful. 


82  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

strangely  about,  and  was  much  in  Favour  of  the  Christian  Religion ;  undertook 
to  learn  to  read,  and  made  extraordinary  Proficiency  in  it." 

4>I  entertained  these  men  with  as  much  Respect,  and  Kindness,  as  I  could  ; 
showed  them  our  Library,  and  the  Rarities  of  the  College;  with  which  they 
seemed  to  be  well  pleased ;  and  behaved  themselves  while  they  were  there,  well, 
and  with  much  Decency." 

The  little  company  set  out  from  New  Haven  on  the  8th  (19th)  ''and  got 
to  jfousatunnuk  on  the  10th,  at  Night."  Mr.  Sergeant's  stay  was  limited  by 
his  duties  at  college  to  sixteen  days  during  which  time  *»  he  and  Mr.  Wood- 
bridge  both  kept  School ;  one  at  one  Place,  and  the  other  at  the  other,  each  tak- 
ing his  Turn  a  Week  at  a  Place;"  for  "'the  Indians  were  parted  again  from  the 
School-House;  and  lived  some  of  them  at  Wnahtukook,  and  some  at  Skate- 
kook;1  for  at  those  Places  they  planted  their  Corn  and  Beans,  which  is  all  the 
Husbandry  they  carry  on.  For  the  rest  of  their  Living  they  depend  upon 
Hunting." 

Of  this  second  visit  to  his  people,  Mi*.  Sergeant  wrote  an  account  to  one  of 
the  leading  members  of  the  u  Board  of  Indian  Commissioners,"  Rev.  Benjamin 
Colman,  D.  D.,  of  Boston.  Of  his  admirable  reply  only  parts  can  be  given: 
"  You  are  high  in  the  Heart  of  Governor  Belcher,  and  all  the  [other]  Commis- 
sioners. I  have  read  your  letter  to  him,  but  our  publick  Affairs  will  not  allow 
us  a  Meeting  presently.  I  have  taken  leave  this  Morning,  to 

insert  in  a  Letter  to  a  Gentleman  in  London  [Isaac  Hollis],  a  Copy  of  your's 
to  me.  The  Gentleman,  three  Years  ago,  press'd  me  to  receive  from  his  Hand 
a  Security  of  Twenty  Pounds  Sterling,  per  Annum,  for  ever,  for  a  fourth  Mis- 
sionary to  the  Indians  on  our  Borders.  But  as  I  could  not  see  that  the  other 
three  were  likely  to  benefit  the  Papisted  Indians.  I  refused  him ;  giving  my 
reasons.  But  I  have  now  shown  him  an  open  and  effectual  Door  at  Housatun- 
nuk,  and  said  all  I  can  to  fix  him  and  his  noble  Charity  on  the  Mission  thither 
[there].  If  the  Gentleman  (who  will  not  yet  let  me  name  him)  come  into  my 
Proposal,  it  will  please  me  much,  and  make  our  Way  easier.  But,  if  this  fail, 
I  trust  we  shall  be  able  to  support  the  good  Work  of  God,  begun  by  you." 

In  a  letter  written  many  years  later  (1743,  August  22d — 31st),  Dr. 
Colman  tells  of  the  answer  that  he  received  from  Mr.  Hollis : 

"It  was  about  the  Year  1731, 2 'that  Mr.  Isaac  Hollis,  (Nephew  to 
Thomas  Hollis,  Esq;  the  great  benefactor  to  Harvard  College,  and  soon  after 
his  pious  Uncle's  Decease)  sent  me  a  Hundred  Pounds  Sterling,  with  his  par- 
ticular Directions  how  to  distribute  and  lay  it  out. 

"In  the  Year  1734,  when  he  had  seen  a  printed  Account  of  the  Ordina- 
tion of  Messieurs  Parker,  Hinsdel  and  Secombe,  and  their  Mission  to  the  In- 
dian Tribes  on  the  Eastern  and  Western  Borders  of  New-England  ;  Mr.  Hol- 
lis then  made  me  a  most  generous  Offer  of  twenty  Pounds  Sterling  per  Annum, 

1  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  first  school  house  built  under  Mr.  Sergeant's  auspices 
stood  at  an  intermediate  place ;  in  the  town,—  and  perhaps  011  or  near  the  site  of  the  village,— 
of  Great  Barrington  which  "anciently  bore  the  name  of  Houssatonnock." 


THK  MTH-HE-KA-NE-OK  S3 

for  Kuer,  for  the  Support  of  a.  fourth  Missionary,  but  in  Faithfulness  I  advised 
against  such  a  Disposition  of  his  Money. 

"  Within  two  Years  after  this,  I  heard  of  a  very  promising  Door  opening 
for  the  Gospel  among  the  Indian  Tribe  at  Housntunnuk ;  Where- 

upon I  iminadiately  let  Mr.  Hjllis  kn  >w,  that  now  I  could  freely  and  earnestly 
advise  him  to  tix  his  twenty  Pounds  Sterling  per  An.  for  the  Support  of  this 
Mission: 

*'In  Answer  to  this  Motion,  November  19.  1736,  I  received  from  Mr.  Hol- 
lis  his  Bill  on  Col.  Wendell  to  pay  56  /  Sterl.  for  the  Education-  of  twelve  In- 
dian Boys  at  Housatunnuk,  under  the  Care  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sergeant; and  Aug. 
15.  1738,  I  had  a  second  Order  from  him  for  343  I.  our  Money;  and  again 
May  17.  1740,  a  third  Order  for  447  /.  9  *.:  (Errors  excepted). 

Dr.  Column's  second  letter  anticipates  a  portion  of  our  narrative.  Ac- 
cordingly we  return  to  Mr.  Hopkins's  narrative: 

"July,  the  1st,  1735,  Mr.  SERGEANT  (having  dismissed  his  Class  at  Col- 
lege) left  New-Haven,  intending  to  spend  the  Rest  of  the  Summer,  and  indeed 
of  his  Life,  with  the  Indians  at  Housatutmuk,  where  he  arrived  on  the  5th, 
and  the  next  Sabbath  preached  to  the  English,  there  being  no  Interpreter  pres- 
ent. And  he,  witli  Mr.  Woodbridye,  went  on  to  keep  the  School,  as  before ; 
one  above,  the  other  below, l  changing  Place  every  Week. 

'*  Lord's- Day,  July  13th.  Preach'd  to  the  Indians,  few  in  Number: — No 
Man  present  except  Kunkapot,  who  was  very  much  affected,  weeping  almost  all 
the  Time.  The  Men  were  gone  into  New-York  Government,  to  reap  for  the 
Dutch  People  there."2 

"The  Indians'  reaping  for  the  Dutch  does  not  turn  to  their  Advantage, 
(tho'  it  might,  if  they  had  Prudence  to  save  their  Wages)  but  proves  a  Snare 
to  them.  For  (as  Mr.  SERGEANT  observes  in  his  Journal)  when  the  Harvest  is 
over,  the  Indians  at  Hudson' s-River  drink  up  all  their  Wages.  But  he  had 
the  Pleasure  to  hear  that  Wnampee,  one  of  his  Hearers,  on  this  Occasion,  over- 
came the  Temptation,  and  told  the  Indians^  at  Hudson's  River,  plainly,  that  he 
design'd  to  go  to  Heaven,  and  therefore  must  leave  off  such  Wickedness.  But 
some  of  them,  to  his  great  Grief,  did  not  come  off  so  well.  Neither  is  it  to  be 
wondered  at,  that  Men,  who  for  a  long  Course  of  Years,  have  addicted  them- 
selves to  Excess,  should  be  overcome,  when  such  Temptations  are  laid  before 
them  by  their  Brethren,  and  urg'd  on  by  others  for  the  sake  of  Gain. 

'•The  Pains  some  of  the  Hoiisatuniiuk  Indians  have  taken  to  cure  them- 
selves of  this  ill  Habit,  has  been  very  great.  And  some  instances  there  have 
been  of  Persons  among  them,  who,  when  strong  Drink  has  been  offered  them, 
have  ref  us'd  to  taste  of  it,  giving  this  as  a  Reason,  viz.  that  if  they  once  taste 
it,  they  are  in  the  utmost  Danger  of  exceeding  the  Bounds  of  Temperance." 

Was  not  this  the  first  total  abstinence  movement  in  America?     It  does  not 

1  That  is,  above  and  below  what  is  now  called  Monument  mountain ;  or.  in  other  words,  at 
\\nutukook  and  Skatekook. 

a  The  foregoing  paragraph  is  evidently  from  Mr.  Sergeant's  diary. 


84  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

seem  to  have  occurred  to  Dr.  Hopkins  to  recommend  to  whites  a  course  that 
he  evidently  regards  as  good  for  Indians.  But  we  should  not  blame  a  man  for 
not  being  in  all  things  in  advance  of  his  age,  and  we  must  give  the  Doctor 
due  credit  for  zeal  in  founding  missions  and  interest  in  making  maple  sugar. 

In  this  matter  of  temperance  the  Indians  soon  took  a  farther  step.  About 
the  7th  (18th)  of  December,  1735,  "the  Indians  agreed  to  have  no  trading  in 
JRum;  which  they  remained  by."  In  1739,  apparently  the  autumn  or  early 
winter,  Mr.  Sergeant  and  others  interested  in  the  good  of  the  Indians  proposed 
to  them  "  to  restrain  those  among  themselves,  who  were  wont  to  make  Gain 
by  bringing  Rum  into  the  Place."  This  proposal  "the  well  disposed  Indians 
freely  came  into ;  and  agreed  upon  a  penalty  of  Forty  Pounds  York  Money 1  to 
be  laid  upon  those  who  should  do  it.  Those  also  who  kept  Taverns  in  neigh- 
boring Places,  and  had  sold  Drink  to  such  Indians  as  were  given  to  Excess, 
they  reproved,  and  endeavor 'd  to  dissuade  them  from  a  Practice  which  prov'd 
so  hurtful  to  the  Indians.  But  some  evil-minded  Persons  among  the  English 
and  Dutch,  made  a  Handle  of  those  Things  to  disgust  the  Indians;  telling 
them  that  this  was  an  unreasonable  Enroachment  upon  their  Liberties;  that 
they  were  us'd  worse  than  Slaves ;  that  they  were  treated  as  if  they  were  Dogs, 
and  the  like." 

The  Indians  at  Stockbridge  were,  it  may  be,  strengthened  in  their  own 
temperance  resolutions  by  learning  the  effect  that  had  been  produced  by  some 
advice  that  they  had  given  to  their  kinsmen,  the  Shawanoes.  Let  Mr.  Ser- 
geant tell  the  story : 

"May  the  12.  Came  hither  Jeremy  Aunauwauneekhheck,  lately  return'd 
from  the  Showwanoos,  who  brought  with  him  three  Belts  and  a  String  of  Wom- 
pum,  with  the  following  Messages,  viz.  [those  with  the  belts  have  no  special 
interest] : 

"  The  String  of  Wompum  brought  an  Answer  to  what  our  Indians  sent 
to  them  some  Time  ago. 

" ' Brother )  I  thank  you  for  your  Word  of  Advice,  you  told  me  drinking 
was  not  good.  I  now  leave  it  off,  and  you  shall  not  find  your  Brother  drunk 
again? 

"The  Messenger  added,  that  they  actually  had  made  a  Law  against  buy- 
ing any  Rum  of  the  Traders,  and  had  broken  some  Gags  in  which  they  had 
brought  it  to  them,  and  spilt  the  Rum." 

When  Mr.  Sergeant  came  to  live  among  his  people  nothing  was  more  nec- 
essary for  their  good  than  that  they  should  be  brought  into  one  settlement. 
That  this  might  be  done,  the  "general  court"  (legislature)  of  Massachusetts, 

1  "York  money,"  say s  Professor  Arthur  Latham  Perry  of  Williams  college,  "  was  issued 
at  an  avowed  discount  of  twenty -five  per  cent."  The  people  who  want  "  cheap  money  "  and 
a  "flexible  currency  "  might  read  to  their  advantage  the  following  paragraph: 

"  That  charitable  and  generous  gentleman,  Mr.  Hollis,  had  been  at  the  Expence  of  about 
two  Hundred  and  eight  Pounds  Sterling,  in  the  Space  of  about  four  or  five  Years,  for  the  ben- 
efit of  the  Indians  at  Stockbridge,  which  was  then  upwards  of  one  Thousand  Pounds  our 
Money." 

This  statement  Mr.  Hopkins  puts  in  his  narrative  of  the  events  of  1742. 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NK-OK.  sr, 

"early  in  1736,  granted  the  Indians  a  township  which  in  April  was  laid  out  in 
an  exact  square,  six  miles  in  length  and  breadth.  This  included  the  present 
townships  of  Stockbridge  and  West  Stockbridge."1  It  is  worthy  of  especial 
mention  that  just  titles  held  by  white  men2  to  a  large  portion  of  this  land 
had  to  be  purchased,  and  some  white  settlers  had  to  be  won  to  consent  to  their 
own  removal  thus  to  make  place  for  Indians.  If  there  is  another  instance  like 
this  in  American  history,  save  one  of  the  same  sort  in  behalf  of  some  of  Eliot's 
converts,  it  has  not  come  to  my  knowledge.  In  dealing  with  her  Indians,  as  in 
almost  all  other  matters,  Massachusetts  has  a  most  honorable  record. 

Within  the  tract  thus  provided  for  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  was  the  place 
where  Konkapot  lived,  "  Wnahtukook,  alias  the  Great-Meadow."  This  received 
the  name  of  the  English  village  of  Stockbridge  from  some  resemblance  in  the 
situation  and  appearance  of  the  two  places.3  To  this  new  home  of  the  united 
clans  came  Umpachene  and  the  other  Indians  whose  home  had  been  at  Skate- 
kook.  Their  lands  there  were  given  up  in  partial  payment  for  the  enlarged 
area  at  Wnatukook  whereon  it  was  designed  to  gather  not  only  the  Muh-he-ka- 
ne-ok  but  also  as  many  of  other  tribes  as  might  choose  the  way  of  civilization 
and  Christianity,  and  wish  to  remove  thither. 

"As  to  the  Situation  of  the  Place  where  Mr.  SERGEANT  settled,"  Mr.  Hop- 
kins gave  his  readers  the  following  interesting  information :  "  I  observed  before, 
that  Housatunnuk  is  in  the  S.  W.  Corner  of  the  Massachusetts  Province,  but- 
ting upon  Connecticut  Colony  South,  and  upon  New-York  Government  West. 
For  tho'  by  Charter  the  Massachusetts  Province  extends  West  to  the  South 
Sea,  and  must  therefore  Butt  upon  the  Gulf  of  California  near  the  North  Part 
of  it,  yet  the  Dutch  being  previously  settled  upon  Hudson's  River,  cut  this 
Province  in  two,  and  at  present  we  inhabit  no  further  West  than  to  the  Dutch 
Settlements.  Stockbridge  lies  at  the  North  End  of  what  goes  by  the  Name  of 
Housatunnuk. 

u  And  as  for  the  Condition  of  the  Country  round  it; — South,  upon  Hou- 
satunnuk River,  it  has  lately  been  purchased  of  the  Indians,  and  is  settled  by 
Inhabitants  of  this  Province.  The  name  of  the  Town  is  Sheffield;  it  is  divided 
into  two  Parishes,  in  each  of  which  there  is  a  Minister  settled.  East  of  Stock- 
bridge  there  is  a  Wilderness  of  about  40  Miles  extent,  which  reaches  to  the 
English  Settlements  upon  Connecticut  River;  it  is  Mountainous,  and  loaded 
with  immense  Quantities  of  Timber,  of  almost  all  Sorts,4  West  is  a  Wood  of 
about  20  Miles  extent,  reaching  to  the  Dutch  Settlements  in  New-York  Gov- 
ernment. And  North  lies  that  great  and  terrible  Wilderness,  of  several  Hun- 
dred Miles  extent,  which  reaches  to  Canada." 

1  "Historical  Sketch/'  by  Rev.  David  Dudley  Field,  D.  D.,  in  the  manual  of  the  (Congre- 
gational)  church  of  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts. 

a  See  (page  7G)  account  of  grant  and  purchase. 

8  Or  the  name  was  given  first  anil  the  resjmblance  discovered  afterward.  Stockbridge, 
England,  is  on  the  river  Test  and  in  Hampshire. 

4  In  Stockbridge  Bounds,  and  in  ths  adjoining  Wilderness,  is  found  Plenty  of  that  famous 
East  India  Root,  Gin  Sang.  In  Summer.  1751,  it  was  first  found.—  Note  by  Mr.  Hopkins. 


8(5  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

"In  the  Beginning  of  May  [1736],  the  [Muh-he-ka-ne-ok]  Indians  all  set- 
tled in  their  new  Town ;  were  greatly  pleased  with  it.  '  They  gave  very  much 
into  Husbandry,  (says  Mr.  Sergeant)  planted  more  this  Year  than  ever  they  did 
before,  by  three  Times  at  least.'  '  Thus  in  a  manner  honorable  to  both  white 
men  and  Indians  was  laid  the  foundation  of  Stockbridge.  * 

At  Deerfield,  in  1735,  Governor  Belcher  had  met  the  Indians  and  there, 
August  31st  (old  style),  Mr.  Sergeant  had  been  set  apart  to  be  their  pastor. 

"As  an  introduction  to  the  Ordination,  the  Rev.  Mr.  William  Williams  of 
Hatfield  made  a  speech  to  His  Excellency  the  Governor,  in  which  he  took  notice 
of  God's  inclining  the  hearts  of  some  generous  Persons  in  Great-Britain,  by 
their  charitable  Donations,  to  seek  the  Salvation  of  the  benighted  Heathen  ; 
and  of  its  being  submitted  to  the  Direction  of  an  honourable  Corporation^ 
there;  and  that  by  them  a  Number  of  Honourable  and  Reverend  Commission- 
ers (of  which  His  Excellency  is  at  the  Head)  were  here  appointed  for  the  same 
End ;  and  of  their  having  found  a  suitable  Person  for  the  Instruction  of  the 
Indians,  of  which  those  at  Housatunnuk  were  desirous:  And  humbly  asked,  if 
it  were  His  Excellency's  Pleasure,  that  the  Pastors  then  aonven'd  should  pro- 
ceed to  set  him  a-part  for  that  Work. 

"To  which  His  Excellency  manifested  his  Approbation.'' 

To  do  well  the  work  of  a  bishop  to  which  he  was  thus  called  and  set  apart, 
Mr.  Sergeant  applied  himself  to  learning  the  language  of  his  people.  In  this 
he  made  such  progress  that  on  the  18th  (29th)  of  February,  1736,  he  used  it 
in  public  prayer.  He  was  then  absent  with  his  people  who  were  on  their  an- 
nual sugar-making  expedition.  During  or  about  April  of  this  year  "the  hon- 
ourable Samuel  Holden,  Esq;  of  London,  directed  the  Rev.  Dr.  Colman  to 
bestow  one  Hundred  Pounds  of  his  Money  for  the  benefit  of  the  Indians  at 
Stockbridge,  which  Mr.  SERGEANT,  with  Dr.  Colman 's  Approbation,  thought  best 
to  expend  for  the  benefit  of  the  Females;  'seeing  Mr.  Holliss  Donation  was 
confined  to  the  Males." 

On  the  7th  (18th)  of  August,  1737,  Mr.  Sergeant  for  the  first  time, 
preached  to  the  Indians  in  their  own  tongue.  He  had  previously  translated 
into  that  language  Watts's  catechism  for  children,  and  also  a  marriage  service. 
To  these  he  added,  in  time,  nearly  all  of  the  New  Testament  and  a  great  part 
of  the  Old.  What  proportion  of  these  translations  passed  out  of  manuscript 
into  type,  I  do  not  know.  It  was  probably  small. 

He  did  not  confine  his  pastoral  labors  to  Stockbridge.  On  the  llth  (22nd) 
of  September,  1737,  he  preached  to  the  Indians  at  Kaunaumeek.  "I  had  pre- 
pared a  sermon  in  Indian  for  the  Occasion.  They  heard  me  with  great  Atten- 
tion, and  said  they  understood  me."  Here  in  1743,  the  illustrious  David 
Brainerd  began  his  missionary  labors,  and  in  the  following  year,  by  his  advice, 
the  Indians  of  Kaunaumeek  removed  te  Stockbridge,  and  he  himself  sought 
more  distant  fields  of  labor  among  the  Delaware  and  other  Indians  of  Penn- 

1  Probably  either  the  same  society  that  aided  Eliot  or  a  successor  to  its  funds  and  its  work. 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  87 

sylvania  and  New  Jersey.  In  this  he  was  carrying  out  a  plan  originated  very 
probably  by  Mr.  Sergeant  who,  three  years  before  (1741),  "according  to  his 
Purpose,  set  out  on  his  Journey,  accompanied  by  some  of  his  Indians  to  the 
Shawanoos,  May  the  26th. l  June  3d  he  arrived  at  Sasquahannah.  June, 
7th  he  preach 'd  to  the  Indians  living  on  Delaware-River,  as  he  returned  from 
Sasquahannah." 

44 1  found,"  he  wrote,  "that  they  had  strong  and  invincible  Prejudices 
against  Christianity,  at  least  the  Protestant  Religion ;  derived,  it  would  seem, 
from  the  French,  and  confirmed  by  their  own  Observation  of  the  Behaviour  of 
that  vile  Sort  of  Men  the  Traders,  that  go  among  them ;  for  they  said  (which 
I  believe  is  an  unhappy  and  reproachful  Truth)  that  they  would  lie,  cheat,  and 
debauch  their  Women,  and  even  their  Wives,  if  their  Husbands  were  not  at 
Home.  They  were  further  prejudiced  against  Christianity  from  the  inhospit- 
able Treatment  they  had  sometimes  met  with  from  those  who  call  themselves 
Christians.  They  said  the  Sinnicas  (a  tribe  of  Indians  much  under  the  Influ- 
ence of  the  French)  gave  them  their  Country  where  they  now  live ;  but  charged 
them  withal  never  to  receive  Christianity  from  us. 

"The  French  spread  their  influence  far  and  wide,  and  indeed  I  believe 
(which  I  was  not  so  much  aware  of  before  this  Journey)  that  they  have  scat- 
ter'd  their  Poison  among  all  the  Indians  of  North-America,  and  have  been  the 
Means  of  stirring  up  that  Jealousy  and  Suspicion  among  our  Indians,  which 
has  made  us  so  much  Difficulty  in  dealing  with  them.  *  * 

"  When  I  returned  to  [the]  Delaware,  I  got  the  Indians  inhabiting  there, 
together,  and  preached  to  them  in  our  Dialect,  which  they  could  understand 
without  an  Interpreter.  The  whole  Tribe  is  about  400  in  Number;  but  is  much 
dispersed,  having  no  Accommodation  of  Land;  but  I  have  engaged  some 
Gentlemen  to  endeavour  to  provide  for  them  in  that  Respect;  which,  if  it  can 
be  eft'ected  to  their  Satisfaction,  there  is  hopeful  Prospect  of  a  successful  Mis- 
sion among  them." 

But  no  plan  of  Mr.  Sergeant's  has  had  wider  or  better  influence  than  that 
of  the  boarding-school  that  he  founded,  which  in  many  respects  anticipated  the 
methods  of  the  institutions  at  Hampton  and  Carlisle.  "  I  began  to  keep  the  12 
Indian  Boys  on  Mr.  Hollis's  Foundation.  I  took  them  into  my  own  House, 
and  under  my  own  Instruction."  Thus  he  wrote  1737,  January  llth  (22nd). 
Soon  other  labors  compelled  him  to  find  homes  in  English  families  for  as  many 
of  these  boys  as  could  be  persuaded  to  leave  Stockbridge.  The  others  stayed 
ut  home,  were  clothed  by  Mr.  Hollis's  bounty,  and  attended  the  school  taught 
by  Mr.  Woodbridge. 

It  was  on  the  4th  (15th)  of  June,  1738.  that  Mr.  Sergeant  first  celebrated 
with  his  people  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper.  There  were  eleven  In- 
dian communicants.  On  Thanksgiving  day,  1739,  November  29th  (December 
10th),  the  little  congregation  worshiped  for  the  first  time  in  a  meeting-house 

1  "  I  found  the  Place  about  220  Miles  distant  from  us,  about  fiO  from  any  finatish  Inhabi- 
tants, and  the  Road  to  it  exceeding  difficult." 


88  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

built  for  them  by  the  colonial  government. l  The  site  of  this  old  bethel, — 
house  of  God, —  is  now  marked  by  a  memorial  tower  erected  by  the  late  emi- 
nent lawyer,  David  Dudley  Field,  whose  father  was  for  many  years  the  pastor 
of  the  Stockbridge  church. 

Soon  the  new  meeting-house  contained  an  interesting  audience.  On  the 
20th  (31st)  of  January,  1740,  Mr.  Sergeant  "preached  to  a  large  Auditory, 
consisting  of  many  Strangers,  who  were  gathered  together  here  with  a  Design 
to  promote,  and  confirm,  a  League  of  Neutrality  among  the  several  Tribes  of 
Indians  in  North-America,  in  case  there  should  be  a  War  between  England  & 
France,  which  was  then  expected.  This  Tribe  had,  about  two  Months  before, 
receiv'd  a  Message,  which  then  came  directly  from  the  Scattekooks,  which  im- 
ported that  the  French  and  English  Mohawks  had  already  consented  to  stand 
Neuter.  And  this  Tribe  were  now  desired  to  come  into  the  Projection.  They 
therefore  prepared  three  Belts  of  Wompum,  with  distinct  Messages  to  each"." 

The  first  of  these  messages  is  a  reminder  of  former  and  continued  friend- 
ship. The  second  is  decidedly  practical,  and  has  a  suggestion  of  grim  humor: 

" Brother  at  Wtanshekaunhtukko.  By  this  we  may  know  we  are  Breth- 
ren, because  we  have  one  Father  in  Heaven,  the  Lord  of  all.  Let  us  have  a 
tender  Regard  to  our  Families.  The  white  People,  with  whom  we  respective- 
ly live  in  Alliance,  are  about  to  enter  into  a  War.  We  only  destroy  ourselves 
by  medling  with  their  Wars.  They  are  great  and  strong,  and  reach  to  the 
Clouds. 

"  Let  us  sit  and  look  on  when  they  engage.  Don't  let  any  of  your  People 
assist  in  their  Wars.  And  while  they  fight,  let  us  sit  and  smoke  together. 

"  Therefore  three  of  your  Brethren  send  you  this  Message,  from  the 
Highlands,  Mohekun,  and  Skatekook.2 

Third  belt : 

"  Brother  at  Naunauchoowuk. 3      Though  you  had  begun  a  War  with  the 
English,  you  would  regard  us,  if  we  should  desire  you  to  leave  off.      You  will 
without  Doubt  not   intermeddle  if  we  insist  upon  it.     May   be,  the  English 
think  the  Indians  prevent  their  conquering  their  Enemies  the  French ;  there- 
fore let  us  sit  and  smoke  together,  and  see  who  will  be  Conquerers." 

"A  very  just  and  rational  Scheme  this,"  says  Mr.  Hopkins,  "and,  had  it 
succeeded,  would  have  been  much  to  the  Advantage  of  the  Indians,  as  well  as 
to  us.  But  there  is  little  or  no  Prospect  of  such  a  Neutrality  taking  Place,  so 
long  as  the  French  have  such  an  Ascendent  over  many  of  them." 

Thus  amid   wars   and  rumors  of  wars,  Mr.  Sergeant  pursued  his  work. 

1  In  Puritan  and  correct  usage  the  "  meeting-house  "  is  the  place  where,  in  a  special  sense, 
God  meets  man,— not  simply,  as  some  ignorantly  think,  where  men  meet  each  other.    Com- 
pare the  expression  "  Tent  of  Meeting,"  as  used  in  the  Revised  Version  of  the  Old  Testament. 

2  That  is,  three  tribes,  not  three  individuals.    The  Indians  carefully  preserved  the  tradi- 
tions of  tribal  relationship.    It  will  be  remembered  that  when  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  came  to 
what  is  now  Wisconsin  that  our  Menomonees  recognized  them  as  "  grandfathers." 

3/'The  same  I  suppose  which  is  generally  in  New  England,  call'd  Norridyewock"  says 
Mr.  Sergeant. 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  89 

Upon  petition  of  the  Indians  themselves,  the  general  court,  May  session, 
1739,  ordered  that  the  tribal  land  be  divided  to  them  in  severalty.  At  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Stockbridge  settlement  a  few  white  families  had  been  brought  in 
to  settle  among  the  Indians  to  be,  in  a  measure,  models  of  industry  and  right 
living.  The  number  of  white  families  gradually  increased  after  the  Indians 
had  power  to  sell  their  land,  and  thus  most  of  the  tribe  were  dispossessed  of 
their  former  homes.  The  change  was  wrought  in  the  generation  that  suc- 
ceeded the  first  settlers, —  those  of  1736  and  the  next  few  years  thereafter. 

But  Mr.  Sergeant  did  not  live  to  see  it.  Indefatigable  in  labor  he  estab- 
lished the  Indian  boarding-school  on  broader  foundations,  planned  for  a  like  in- 
stitution for  girls  at  Stockbridge  and  had  it  in  mind  to  go  among  the  Mohawks 
to  try  to  persuade  them  to  send  thither  some  of  their  children.  In  this  design, 
he  had  reason  to  expect  aid  from  Mr.  Barclay  who  still  continued  his  mission- 
ary labors  among  the  Mohawks  but  was  also  chaplain  "  in  the  King's  Garrison 
at  Albany,  and  oblige'd  to  spend  half  his  Time  there,  40  Miles  distant  from 
them." 

But  these  two  friends  were  not  to  meet  again  on  earth.  Mr.  Sergeant 
was  taken  from  his  people  1749,  July  27th  (August  7th),  in  the  thirty-ninth 
year  of  his  age.  He  was  one  of  the  men  who  make  it  easy  to  believe  in  God. 

The  record  of  his  work  makes  us  wonder  that  he  lived  as  long  as  he  did. 
"  He  was  obliged  to  compose  four  Sermons  every  Week,  two  for  the  English 
and  two  for  the  Indians;  his  Congregation  consisting  of  both.  Those  he  pre- 
pared for  the  Indians*  he  first  wrote  at  large  in  English,  and  then  translated 
into  the  Indian  Tongue,  as  he  did  also  a  Portion  of  Scripture  to  be  read  to  the 
Indians  on  the  Sabbath ;  and  notwithstanding  he  had  so  many  Sermons  to 
make,  they  were  well  studied  excellent  Discourses.  * 

"  He  had  a  most  laborious  Task  to  perform  every  Lord's-Day.  His  Man- 
ner was  to  begin  the  Publick  Exercise  in  the  Morning,  with  a  short  pathetic 
Prayer  for  a  Blessing  on  the  Word,  in  both  languages.  Then  he  read  a  Por- 
tion of  Scripture,  with  explanatory  Notes  and  Observations,  on  such  Passages 
as  seemed  most  to  need  them,  in  both.  All  his  publick  Prayers  and  the  Com- 
munion Service  were  in  both  Languages;  and  it  was  his  steady  Practice  to 
preach  four  Sermons  every  Lord's-Day,  two  to  the  English  and  two  to  the  In- 
dians; except  in  the  short  Days  and  cold  Season  of  the  Winter  he  preached 
but  three,  one  to  the  English  and  two  to  the  Indians.  And  besides  all  this,  it 
was  his  constant  Custom,  in  the  Summer  Season,  to  spend  about  an  Hour  with 
the  Indians,  after  Divine  Service  was  over  in  the  Afternoon;  instructing,  ex- 
horting, warning  and  cautioning  of  them  in  a  free,  familiar  and  pathetic  Man- 
ner in  their  own  Tongue.  The  Indian  Language['s]  abounding  in  Gutturals 
renders  the  Pronunciation  of  it  a  most  laborious  Exercise  to  the  Lungs;  that, 
therefore,  with  his  other  Exercises,  so  exhausted  Mr.  SERGEANT'S  Spirits  and 
Strength,  that  he  was  scarcely  able  to  speak  when  they  were  over." l 

1  The  wonder  is  that  the  poor  man  could  speak  at  all.    Here  is  the  first  paragraph  of  his 


90  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Mr.  Sergeant  left  three  children,  one  of  whom  was  the  grandmother  of 
the  late  President  Hopkins  of  Williams  college,  an  institution  that  bears  the 
name  and  perpetuates  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Sergeant's  brother.  One  of  the 
three,  an  unconscious  babe  bearing  the  father's  name,  was  destined,  in  the 
providence  of  God,  to  continue  his  father's  work  among  that  father's  people,  and 
a  John  Sergeant  of  the  third  generation  was  to  accompany  them  to  new  homes 
within  what  is  now  Wisconsin. 

A  pity  it  is  that  they  ever  had  to  leave  the  'old  one.  There  about  the 
time  of  Mr.  Sergeant's  death  they  had  come  to  number  two  hundred  eighteen 
in  fifty-three  families.  Mr.  Sergeant  had  baptized  one  hundred  eighty-two,  of 
whom  one !  twenty-nine  were  living.  Forty-two  were  communicants.  One  of 
the  deacons'  of  the  church  was  an  Indian,  Peter  Pau-quau-nau-peet.  The  vil- 
lage school  (attended  by  both  whites  and  Indians  until  1760)  had  at  this  time 
an  enrollment  of  fifty-five.  Living  in  peace  and  good-will  with  their  Indian 
neighbors  were  twelve  families  'of  whites.  •» 

The  boarding-school,  then  under  charge  of  a  Captain  Martin  Kellogg,  had 
made  an  interesting  history.  In  1743  (August  1st,  old  style)  Mr.  Sergeant 
stated  his  plan  at  some  length  to  Dr.  Colman  of  Boston,  by  whom  public  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  matter  and  considerable  interest  aroused  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic.  "Thomas  Coram,  gentleman,'''  of  London,  who,  as  his  "  humble 
Petition  [to  the  Prince  of  Wales]  most  'humbly  showeth,  *  in 

the  Reigns  of  King  William,  and  Queen  ;Anne  transacted  Affairs  of  Commerce 
in  His  Majesty's  Plantations,  in  North  America,  where  he  resided  many  Years," 
became  so  much  interested  as  to  attempt  to  secure  subscriptions  for  the  work. 
Through  Rev.  Dr.  Francis  Ayscough,  "  Clerk  of  the  Closet  and  first  Chaplain  " 
to  the  father  of  King  George  III.,  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  Captain  Coram 
was  able  to  present  his  petition  for  aid  in  the  undertaking  to  his  royal  highness. 
The  response  was  a  gift  of  twenty  guineas.  An  equal  sum  was  given  by  the 
Prince's  brother,  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  victor  at  Culloden.  Other  titled 
persons  also  gave,  and  a  man  better  than  the  whole  of  them  put  together,  good 
old  Dr.  Watts,  the  hymn-writer,  sent,  though  perhaps  not  at  this  timer  as  a  gift 
made  by  himself  and  friends,  not  less  than  £  70. 

But  Captain   Coram  received  a  rebuff  from  a  "certain  Gentleman  and 

"  Prayer  before  Sermon :" 

"  Oe  Taupaunnumeauk  Pohtummauwaus,  maukhkenun,  quauwauntnriv  wonk,  knoi  Ke- 
yuh  keshehtouwaunoop  wauweh  ohquauekeh,  wonk  kaukhhunnouwauntummun  mauweh 
ohquoiekeh.  Keyuh  kesheh  keyaukoop  kruppauntummuh  neen  nhokkaunaun.  Konomp- 
tumnuh  mauweh  oquoiekeh.  Quauwehtaunuh  neen  ndohnaun  oinenaunquokh,  waunehk 
pshooq  ktohchoowaun  turn,  kshekenummun  ne  mautchk." 

The  "  Morning  Prayer,"— perhaps  the  one  whose  first  use  is  mentioned  on  page  86,— pre- 
sents an  appearance  even  more  formidable.  Here  follow  the  first  two  sentences: 

"  Oe  Keuh  maukhkenun  Pohtummouwaus,  Keuk  kesheh  touwunnoop  ne  spummuk  wonk 
no  Hkeek.  Ktinneh  weenwumnoohhannuh  pnouwenaunuh  ne  spummuk  woocheh ;  Kuttum- 
maukaunummenaunuh,  nwauwehtaunaunuh  ktaupeh  aum  eshtoh,  kuttttmmaukaunummuh- 
annuh,  ktaupeh  aum  ommuchchoonnophhannuh,  ndinnahtannaunuh  nhpkkaunaun  wau- 
cheh  aum  taupeh  mummukhhuhwenouwuhheauk  hannummeweh  ne  mtantowenauk  tan- 
neh,  neek  ndauhunaunk  mummutsoowuh  mautchk  pshooq  uhwauntummauk  neen  ndoinoie- 
naunaun,  maumutihkeh  neen  shekenummunneh  kuhhuh  kmaumucheliannehhoonhannuh." 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  91 

Lady  "  who  in  some  way  were  greatly  affronted  at  something  the  worthy  cap- 
tain, with  no  thought  of  offense,  had  done  or  failed  to  do.  And  thus  the  ama- 
teur soliciting  agency  came  to  an  end.  Perhaps,  however,  it  helped  prepare 
the  way  for  Occom's  later  and  more  successful  mission. 

But  the  school, —  regarding  it  as  an  outgrowth  of  the  work  supported  by 
Mr.  Hollis, l  —  was  continued,  and  in  1748  a  building  still  standing,  was  put  up 
for  it  at  Stockbridge.  After  the  dispersion  already  mentioned,  the  recipients 
of  his  bounty  were  a  second  time  brought  together,  and  were  put  under  the 
care  of  Captain  Kellogg,  of  Newington,  Connecticut.  Teacher  and  pupils,  at 
Mr.  Sergeant's  request,  came  to  Stockbridge  in  April,  1749,  and,  it  would  seem 
from  the  narrative,  remained  there. 

After  Mr.  Sergeant's  death  the  position  of  missionary  among  the  Muh-he- 
ka-ne-ok  was  offered  to  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins  of  Great  Barrington,  nephew  of 
the  historian  of  the  mission.  Destined  himself  to  be  one  of  the  world's  great 
teachers  of  unselfishness,  he  declined  the  offered  position,  with  its  larger  salary, 
in  favor  of  his  friend  and  instructor  Jonathan  Edwards,  who  was  installed  pas- 
tor at  Stockbridge,  1751,  August  8th  (19th).  To  him  the  comparative  retire- 
ment of  the  Indian  mission  gave  opportunity  for  the  production  of  some  of  his 
greatest  works,  among  them  the  famous  treatise  on  the  "  Freedom  of  the  Will." 

A  wonderful  command  this  man  must  have  had  over  himself  thus  to  give 
his  mind  to  metaphysical  subtilities  in  the  midst  of  the  alarms  of  war. 
In  the  preceding  struggle,  commonly  called  '» King  George's  war,"  Mr.  Ser- 
geant had  written  (1744,  July  2nd,  or  13th),  "  We  are  situated  upon  the  Borders 
of  the  Massachusetts  Province,  open  to  the  French  Settlements,  and  in  the 
K  >;i<l  where  the  French  and  Indians  us'd  to  make  their  Irruptions.  My  House 
is  garrison'd ;  .a  Number  of  Soldiers  are  sent  into  the  Town."  Nor  was  the 
danger  soon  over.  We  find  entries  like  these  among  others  in  the  diary  of  the 
younger  Hopkins:  "November  22  [1745].  Some  time  after  midnight  there 
came  a  man  to  my  lodgings,  and  cried  out  with  all  earnestness,  saying  that 
Stackbridge  was  beset  and  taken  by  the  Indians.  But  the  report  was  false. 
This  day  the  most  of  my  people  moved  off  into  forts.  Tuesday, 

August  26  ^September  7th)  1746.  The  Indians  killed  five  men  and  a  girl  at 
Deerfield  yesterday.  *  *  Sunday,  September  28  (October  9th). 
Have  been  strongly  urged  to  go  into  the  woods  with  a  scout  of  a  hundred  men. 
Stockbridge,  Monday,  September  29.  Came  here  to-day  from  home  with  the 
design  to  go  in  the  scout  if  Mr.  Sergeant  should  advise  to  it,  and  with  his  ad- 
vice have  concluded  to  set  out  with  them.  September  30.  Set  out  in  the  after- 
noon with  a  scout  of  one  hundred  white  men  and  nineteen  Indians." 

Though  this  narrative  belongs  to  the  time  of  Mr.  Sergeant,  yet  it  serves 
here  a  double  office  as  showing  the  dangers, —  described  not  less  vividly  by  the 
same  pen, —  that,  in  the  French  and  Indian  war,  surrounded  Mr.  Edwards, 
He  was  urged  to  seek  a  place  of  greater  safety  than  Stockbridge.  But  as  his 

1  In  1747  (January  27th)  Mr.  Hollis  agreed  to  support  twelve  more  "Heathen  boys;"  a  to- 
tal of  twenty-four.    All  were  to  be  of  heathen  parentage, 


92  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

flock,  not  less  than  himself,  were  in  danger,  he  refused  to  leave  them  pastorless. 

His  people  were  steadfast  friends  of  the  colonists  and  the  English.  Al- 
most every  man  among  them,  capable  of  bearing  arms,  went  with  Governor 
Shirley  in  1755  on  his  expedition  against  Niagara.  They  rendered  most  ef- 
ficient service.  For  the  protection  of  the  settlers  of  western  Massachusetts,  the 
little  Indian  settlement  at  Stockbridge  was  better  than  a  fort. 

Another  source  of  anxiety  Mr.  Edwards  had,  greater,  probably,  than  that 
occasioned  by  the  war.  One  of  his  parishioners, —  Ephraim  Williams, l  we  are 
sorry  to  say, —  sought  to  secure  the  management  of  the  Indian  boarding-school 
and  to  make  it, —  and  in  this  he  was  partly  successful, —  the  opportunity  of 
pecuniary  gain  to  himself  and  to  what  in  modern  parlance  would  be  called  a 
"ring."  The  school  had  been,  in  some  measure,  successful.  Sergeant  "being 
dead  yet  spoke "  with  the  persuasiveness  of  his  holy  purpose,  and  some  of  the 
Mohawks  moved  by  his  invitations  and  those  of  his  people,  had  removed  to 
Stockbridge.  Of  these  new-comers,  there  were  in  the  winter  of  1750-51, 
"about  ninety." 

Apparently,  however,  Mr.  Kellogg  did  not  give  satisfaction  as  master  of 
what  I  am  inclined  to  call  the  industrial  rather  than  than  the  boarding-school.2 
Probably,  also,  Williams  was  then  busy  with  his  knavish  schemes.  This,  how- 
ever, is  merely  an  inference  from  the  following  statement,  condensed  from  an 
English  edition  of  President  Edwards's  works:3 

On  Tuesday,  13th.  (24th)  August,  1751,  the  chiefs  of  the  Mohawks  came 
from  their  two  principal  settlements  to  Stockbridge,  and  met  there  the  "com- 
missioners of  the  province,"— representatives,  probably,  of  the  board  of  In- 
dian commissioners  at  Boston.  The  chiefs  expressed  a  very  strong  desire  that 
their  children  should  be  educated,  but  objected  to  removal  to  Stockbridge  on  the 
ground  that  the  affairs  of  the  Mohawks  there  were  left  in  the  utmost  confu- 
sion, that  no  regular  school  was  established,  and  no  thorough  means  taken  for 
the  education  of  their  children.  The  commissioners  agreed  to  get  another  man 
in  place  of  Kellogg,  and  the  chiefs  agreed  to  send  their  children  to  the  school. 
The  council  seems  to  have  been  in  session  for  a  full  week,  or  even  more.  In 
reporting  its  proceedings  to  Hon.  Thomas  ffubbard,  speaker  of  the  Massachu- 
setts House  of  Representatives,  Mr.  Edwards  spoke  of  the  agreement  to  en- 
courage the  education  of  the  children  of  the  Mohawks, —  who  evidently  had  a 
special  interest  (shared  by  the  Oneidas  and  some  of  the  Tuscaroras),  in  the 
advantages  thus  offered  to  all  of  the  Six  Nations,  whose  friendship,  in  the  then 

1  His  was  one  of  the  first  four  white  families  that  settled  in  Stockbridge.    These,  as  al- 
ready stated,  were  to  be  models  and  exemplars  to  their  Indian  neighbors.    This  Williams 
must  not  be  confounded  with  his  son  of  the  same  name,  the  founder  of  Williams  college. 

2  And  should  be  more  inclined  to  do  so  had  not  the  word  been  almost  spoiled  by  the  silly 
sentimentalists  who  have  succeeded  in  getting  it  applied  to  the  state  homes  for  the  correc- 
tion of  young  hoodlums  who  need,  in  about  equal  proportions,  the  bath-tub,  the  Westminster 
catechism,  and  the  activity  of  a  good  hickory  switch. 

8  The  American  edition  that  I  have  at  hand,— that  published  in  four  volumes  by  Leavitt 
&  Allen  in  1843,  seems  to  be  expurgated  as  far  as  this  matter  is  concerned.  There  seems  to  be 
no  sufficient  reason  for  its  suppression  now,  and  no  one  can  be  harmed  by  knowing  what  it 
was  that  brought  to  naught  much  of  the  best  planning  and  work  of  Sergeant  and  of  Edwards. 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  93 

existing  crisis,  it  was  most  necessary  to  secure.  Mr.  Edwards  mentioned  the 
hostile  movements  of  the  French  in  the  West,  recited  their  "  machinations  to  se- 
duce the  Six  Nations  from  the  English  interest,"  and  pointed  out  the  ''religious 
and  literary  instruction  "  of  the  Indians  as  the  only  means  of  securing  their  at- 
tachment to  the  British  cause,  and  detailed  the  measures  necessary  to  be  pur- 
sued at  Stockbridge  to  promote  these  great  objects. 

To  do  the  enlarged  and  better  work  promised  by  the  commissioners  they 
employed  as  Kellogg's  successor,  a  graduate  of  Yale  college,  Gideon  Hawley,  of 
the  class  of  1749.  He  came  to  Stockbridge,  1752,  February  5th  (16th).  His 
work  there  seems  for  the  most  part  to  have  been  among  "  Mohawks,  Oneidas 
and  Tuscaroras  from  Kanajohary  and  Onohoghwage."  To  the  kindred  of  these 
people,  Iroquois  in  New  York,  he  paid  a  visit  in  September,  1752.  Apparently 
he  determined  to  establish  a  mission  among  them.  His  leaving  Stockbridge 
may  have  been  occasioned  by  the  mischievous  conduct  of  Williams  who  "took 
on  arrogant  airs,  renewed  his  quarrel  with  Mr.  Woodbridge,  went  into  the 
boarding-school  and,  usurping  its  direction,  conducted  himself 

in  such  a  manner  as  to  disgust  the  Oneida  parents,  who  removed  their  children 
and  returned  to  New  York." 

Mr.  Canning  who  tells  us  of  these  evil  deeds  and  the  natural  consequence 
thereof,  does  not  give  the  year  of  their  occurence,  nor  that  of  the  commission- 
ers' summons  to  Mr.  Edwards  to  meet  them  in  Boston, —  an  opportunity  which 
he  used  to  such  good  purpose  that  the  schemes  of  Williams  and  his  accomplices 
were  subverted.  Soon  thereafter  the  chief  mischief-maker  removed  from 
Stockbridge.  But  the  school  had  been  hurt  beyond  remedy.  The  Oneidas  re- 
fused to  return,  "the  Mohawks  lingered  a  little  longer  and  then  left  also." 

These  events  seem  to  have  led  to  the  final  breaking-up  of  the  institution  for 
which  Mr.  Sergeant  so  long  labored  and  prayed.  Again, —  perhaps  on  account 
of  the  war, — boys  were  sent  from  Stockbridge  to  be  taught.  Thus,  writing  to 
Mr.  Edwards  under  date  of  31st  May,  1756,  the  famous  theologian  of  Beth- 
lem,  Connecticut,  Joseph  Bellamy,  makes  report  concerning  some  Indian  boys  in 
his  own  family. 

The  troubles  mentioned  above  continued,  doubtless,  through  several  years. 
Some  of  them,  it  may  be,  occurred  in  1754  or  even  later.  However,  Mr. 
Hawley 's  second  departure  for  New  York  took  place  on  "Tuesday,  May  22nd, 
1753, 1  when  Mr.  Woodbridge,  myself  and  company  set  out  from  Stockbridge 
for  the  Indian  country.  Our  departure  upon  so  great  an  errand  as  the  plant- 
ing of  Christianity  in  the  wilderness  about  a  hundred  miles  beyond  any  settle- 
ment of  Christian  people  drew  the  attention  of  the  whole  town.  And  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Edwards,  his  wife  and  others  accompanied  us  a  considerable  distance  into 
the  woods  toward  Kinderhook."  The  end  of  their  journey  seems  to  have  been 
"Onohquaga"2  on  the  Susquehanna  (now  Windsor,  eastward  from  Binghamton). 

These  men  found  among  the  Indians  a  wish  for  a  prohibitory  liquor-law. 

1  It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  Mr.  Hawley  here  uses  the  new-style  mode  of  reckoning. 

2  Probably  the  "  Qnohoghwage  "  named  above. 


94  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Mr.  Woodbridge  represents  *  Indians  as  desiring  to  say  to  the  governor,  "  My 
brother,  I  would  have  you  tell  the  great  men  at  Albany,  Skenectetee  and  Sko- 
hary  not  to  bring  us  any  more  rum." 

Mr.  Hawley's  stay  in  New  York  could  nt>t  have  been  a  long  one.  "  I  was 
ordained  in  the  Old  South  meeting-house  (Boston)  31st  July,  1754."  Immedi- 
ately thereafter  he  removed  again  to  Stockbridge. 

Then  may  have  occurred  the  conflict  described  above.  Let  that  be  as  it 
may,  Mr.  Hawley,  starting  in  April,  1755,  and  taking  with  him  Mr.  Edwards's 
son  Jonathan,  returned  to  "Oughquauga,2  by  way  of  Canajoharie.  Owing  to 
the  distractions  and  dangers  of  war  their  stay  there  was  but  a  short  one,  and 
Mr.  Hawley  became  "chaplain  in  the  army  marching  against  Crown  Point."3 

How  great  was  the  influence  that  in  all  these  and  other  ways  went  from 
the  mission  established  among  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  a  people  who  were  to  aid 
in  laying  the  foundations  of  civilization  in  Wisconsin,  no  one  can  measure.4 
The  Christianization  of  fche  Mohawks  was,  no  doubt,  effected  in  part,  at  Stock- 
bridge.5  Sergeant,  Edwards  and  Hawley  opened  the  way  for  Occom  and  Kirk- 
land.  Thus  of  the  churches  existing  among  our  own  Oneidas  at  the  present 
time  the  foundation  was  really  laid  in  old  Stockbridge.  Not  in  vain  did  Ser- 
geant find  a  home  and  a  grave  among  a  once  barbarous  people,  not  in  vain  was 
Hawley  driven  into  a  more  distant  wilderness.  Now  we  know  why  it  was  good 

1  In  a  letter  to  Governor  Sir  William  Johnson,  dated  at  Albany,  1753,  June  26th.   "Sclu 
nectady"  and  "Skoharie"  are"  forms  more  familiar  to  us  than  those  used  by  Mr.  Wood  bridge. 

2  Probably  the  "  Onohoghwage  "  named  above. 

3  In  a  " narrative  "  enclosed  in  a  letter  by  Major  General  Charles  Lee,  dated  1758,  Sep- 
tember 16th,  we  have  reference  to  service  by  Iroquois,— among  whom  Sir  William  Johnson 
was  then  the  great  leader,— and  Stockbridges  in  behalf  of  the  British  and  the  colonists: 

"On  the  5th  of  July  we  embarked  on  Lake  George  with  an  army  of  Fifteen  thousand  men , 
consisting  of  9  thousand  Provincials,  5000  Regulars  &  1000  Rangers,  all  in  perfect  health  & 
spirits. 

"We  here  took  one  Prisoner,  who  informed  us  that  the  Enemy  had  near  four  thousand  Reg- 
ulars at  Tikenderoga,  very  few  Canadians  &  no  Indians.  The  same  morning  we  moved  on  in 
Columns  thro'  the  wood  towards  the  Fort. 

"(July  6th)  Our  troops  were  numerous  &  in  vast  spirits,  both  men  and  officers  the  French 
by  all  appearances  in  the  extreamest  confusion  and  panick.  They  without  a  single  Indian, 
We  with  a  most  formidable  body,  for  at  this  place  we  were  joined  by  four  hundred  of  the 
choicest  warriors  of  the  six  nations  (a  greater  number  than  ever  we  cou'd  assemble  together 
before)  we  had  likewise  one  hundred  choice  Stockbridge  Indians." 

4  "  Such  was  the  influence  of  this  mission  upon  other  tribes  that  the  French  Papists  of 
Canada,  while  they  sedulously  shut  out  the  light  from  their  own  countrymen  were  compelled 
to  open  schools  for  the  Indians  to  prevent  their  secession  to  the  English."— Miss  Electa  Jones's 
biographical  notice  of  Konkapot. 

No  doubt,  Miss  Jones  wrote  from  a  somewhat  prejudiced  point  of  view.  However,  it  is 
well  known  that  the  Roman  Catholic  church  bestirs  herself  in  the  matter  of  popular  educa- 
tion chiefly  when  it  is  evident  that  if  she  do  not  take  some  action  of  the  sort  the  children  of 
her  homes  will  attend  schools  which  priests  can  not  control. 

5  It  will  be  remembered  that  missionaries  from  England  had  labored  among  the  Mo- 
hawks, and  that  they  were  much  under  the  influence  of  Sir  William  Johnson.  Hence  it  is 
not  a  matter  of  surprise  that  they  espoused  the  cause  of  the  British  as  against  the  colonists 
in  the  Revolution.  Thus  it  was  that  they  lost  their  possessions  in  New  York.  It  is  to  the 
honor  of  Great  Britain  that  she  does  not  forget  those  who  have  done  her  service,  and  the  Mo- 
hawks were  provided  for  in  what  is  now  Ontario.  Joseph  Brant  (Thayendanegea)  was  then 
their  leader. 

The  familiar  name  of  these  people  is  derived  from  the  name  "  Mahaquas  "  given  them  by 
the  Algonquians.  Another  name,— perhaps  the  one  in  their  own  speech,— is  Agmegue,  or 
Gagmegue,  derived,  it  may  be,  from  a  word  that  signifies  "  she  bear." 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  95 

that,  among  men  of  his  own  race,  Edwards  lost  parish  and  popularity  and  was 
put  into  the  seclusion  of  a  frontier  hamlet  of  Indians.  There  he  did  the  work 
that  has  enrolled  his  name  in  the  short  list  of  the  world's  most  profound  think- 
ers, and  won  for  him  the  presidency  of  one  of  America's  greatest  colleges.  By 
a  council  that  took  action  1758,  January  4th,  he  was  advised  to  accept  the  call 
to  Princeton.  On  the  Sunday  before  (January  1st)  he  had  preached  from  the 
text  "This  year  thou  shalt  die."  The  foreboding  was  literally  fulfilled  in  his 
own  person.  Scarcely  had  he  assumed  the  duties  of  the  presidency  when, 
March  22nd,  there  came  to  him  the  end  of  life. 

His  successor  at  Stockbridge,  Stephen  West,  afterward  doctor  of  divinity, 
—that  title  had  meaning  then, —  was  "introduced  to  the  town"  or,  what  is 
the  same  thing,  to  the  parish,  —the  two  were  then,  in  Massachusetts,  merely 
the  civil  and  religious  aspects  of  the  same  institution, —  in  November,  1758, 
and  was  ordained  on  the  13th  of  the  following  June.  There  were  then,  says 
Dr.  Field,  "about  twenty  log  huts  in  Pittsfield  [Massachusetts];  but  with  • 
that  exception  the  whole  country  northward  was  a  wilderness  to  Canada.  To 
the  West  there  were  some  Dutch  settlements  near  the  Hudson  and  on  the  Mo- 
hawk ;  but  westward,  there  were  no  English  settlements  quite  onward  to  the 
Pacific  ocean,  and  but  few  French  settlements  and  those  distant  from  each 
other.  Wild  men  and  wild  beasts  held  dominion  over  almost  the  whole  of  this 
vast  region."  Stockbridge  still  continued  to  be  part  of  the  frontier. 

But  there  the  wilderness  did  not  master  the  colonist1  The  emigrant 
thither  found  the  Christian  home,  the  church  and  the  school.  The  persuasive- 
ness of  the  white  man's  money  made  peaceful  conquest  of  Indians'  land.  Soon 
the  Arabian  story  of  the  camel  that  got  his  nose  into  the  tent,  found  in  the  case 
of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  another  application.  The  white  population  of  Stock- 
bridge  became  mare  numerous  than  the  Indian.  The  old  church  divided  into 
two  congregations,  and  John  Sergeant,  the  younger,  assumed  the  pastoral 
charge  of  his  father's  people.  He  could  speak  their  language, —  a  thing  Presi- 
dent Edwards  and  Dr.  West  never  learned  to  do.^ 

At  the  beginning  of  the  ministry  of  the  younger  Sergeant  to  the  Stock- 
bridges,  they  were  called  upon  to  take  up  arms,  for  the  fourth  time,  in  support 
of  the  colonists.  Of  all  causes  that  have  combined  to  harm  the  Muh-he-ka-ne- 
ew  "nation,"  it  is  probable  that  no  other  was  so  hurtful  as  the  Revolutionary 
war.  Bingham's  ''Colombian  Orator"  preserves  a  speech  made  by  one  of 
their  chiefs  to  the  Massachusetts  legislature  in  offering  to  the  colonists  the  ser- 
vices of  his  people.  On  the  30th  of  June  of  this  same  year  (1775)  letters 
and  speeches  from  the  Stockbridge  Indians  were  laid  before  Congress  and  read. 
The  committee  on  Indian  affairs  was  directed  to  prepare  "proper  talks"  to  the 
different  tribes  of  Indians.  It  was  also  resolved  "that  the  securing  and  pre- 
serving the  friendship  of  the  Indian  nations  appears  to  be  a  subject  of  the  ut- 

1  Expression  adapted  from  Professor  Turner's  "Significance  of  the  Frontier  in  American 
History." 

'  The  English  edition,— already  referred  to,— of  Edwards's  works  states  that  Sergeant 
had  expressed  the  opinion  that  his  successor  would  better  not  attempt  this  task. 


96  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

most  moment  to  the  colonies."  In  the  memorable  year  1776,  August  7th, 
Washington  wrote  to  Timothy  Edwards,  then  commissioner  for  Indian  affairs, 
on  the  subject  of  employing  the  Stockbridges  in  the  service  of  the  United 
States.  Some  of  them  "fought  through  all  the  war,  threaded  the  wilderness 
with  Arnold  to  Canada,  aided  in  compelling  the  surrender  of  Burgoyne  and 
made  the  Jersey  campaigns  with  Washington."  "The  Stockbridges,"  says  the 
British  Lieutenant-Colonel  John  Graves  Simcoe,1  writing  of  an  affair  in  which 
more  than  thirty  of  them  lost  their  lives,  "  about  sixty  in  number,  excellent 
marksmen,  had  just  joined  Mr.  Washington's  army."  They  were  under  com- 
mand of  one  of  their  number,  Daniel  (or  Abraham)  Ninham,  who  fell  with  his 
men.  This  skirmish  or,  rather,  slaughter,  took  place  1778,  August  31st,  near 
White  Plains,  New  York,  where  "Mr."  Washington  was  then  commanding.  A 
large  proportion  of  their  most  promising  young  men  were  killed  in  battle.2 
Perhaps  the  tribe  has  never  recovered  from  losses  of  men,  homes  and  charac- 
ter then  suffered.  We. should  remember  this  if  we  are  inclined  to  think  of  its 
present  condition  almost  with  contempt.  Nor  should  we  forget  that  too  often 
then,  as  in  later  years,  drunkenness  was  made  easy  for  them.  At  the  close  of 
the  war,  apparently  after  the  warriors  had  returned  home,  a  barbecue  was  pre- 
pared for  them  by  command  of  Washington.  Whisky  was  furnished,  we  are 
sorry  to  add,  even  though  their  pastor  presided  at  one  of  the  tables.  This 
suggestion  of  what  camp  and  social  life  then  was,  prepares  us  for  the  sorrow- 
ful statement  that  many  of  those  who  survived  the  dangers  of  war  fell  victims 
to  the  habits  of  idleness  and  intemperance.  In  these  ways  many  got  into  debt 
to  their  white  neighbors  and  lost  their  lands. 

So  the  tribe  sought  a  new  home.  They  removed  to  a  tract  of  land  in 
New  York,3  part  of  which  is  now  in  Madison  county  and  part  in  Oneida. 
Hither  they  came  at  the  invitation  of  the  Oneidas,  whom,  it  is  said,  they  had 
once  saved  from  a  powerful  enemy.  This  place, —  a  tract  six  miles  square, — 
was  secured  to  them,  perhaps,  when,  1774,  October  4th,  the  Oneidas  gave  land 
to  those  who  afterward  took  the  name  of  Brothertowns.  More  likely,  however, 
the  gift  to  the  Stockbridges  was  made  in  1 783.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Muh-he- 

1  Afterwards  first  governor  of  Upper  Canada,  now  Ontario. 

3  In  'the  catalogue  of  the  portrait  gallery,  belonging  to  our  Wisconsin  state  historical  so- 
ciety, we  find  the  following : 

"98.    Moshuebee. 

"A  very  aged  woman  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe  who  died  about  1867,  supposed  to  have 
been  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  of  age.  She  is  said  to  have  had  three  sons  engaged 
in  the  Revolutionary  war,  one  of  whom  lost  his  life  in  the  service,  and  she  was  a  camp-fol- 
lower of  the  patriot  army." 

Unfortunately  the  catalogue  does  not  tell  who  indulged  the  supposition  concerning  the 
woman's  age,  nor  who  made  the  statement  about  her  sons. 

3  Some,  who  must  ultimately  have  been  absorbed  into  other  tribes,  had  found,  at  an  ear- 
lier time,  another  home.  Mr.  Sergeant  (the  father)  tells  the  story  in  a  letter  to  Thomas  Coram ; 
a  letter  dated  at  Stockbridge,  1747,  January  22d  (February  2nd): 

"  Our  Number  increases  from  time  to  time  by  the  Addition  of  new  Families,  especially  of 
those  who  are  kindly  dispos'd  to  Christianity.  It  is  probable,  we  should  have  had  more  of 
them  before  now,  if  there  had  not  come  some  Moravian  Preachers  among  some  of  them  near 
to  us.  I  do  not  pretend  to  so  much  Acquaintance  with  that  Sort  of  People,  as  to  pass  any  pos- 
itive Judgment  about  them;  the  converts  they  have  made,  are,  I  think,  Enthusiastick  & 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  97 

ka-ne-ok  who  did  not  remove  to  New  York  until  after  the  Revolution.  Then 
the  little  band  of  ninety,  with  whom  the  elder  Sergeant  began  his  missionary 
labor,  had  increased  to  four  hundred1  or  four  hundred  twenty.2  A  very  few 
remained  at  Stockbridge,  the  home  once  so  carefully  provided  for  them,  but 
kept  for  less  than  half  a  century. 

Near  where  Kirkland  had  so  long  taught  and  preached,  nearer  the  place 
where  Hamilton  college  was  to  be  built,  and  nearer  yet  to  the  settlement  of  the 
Brothertowns,  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  built  New  Stockbridge.3  Little  enough, 
we  may  fear,  did  they  have  to  bring  with  them,  and  apparently  there  had  been 
a  division  of  sentiment  as  to  whether  they  should  go  at  all.  The  years  1783 
and  1788,  mark,  probably,  the  beginning  and  virtually  the  end  of  the  emigra- 
tion. The  greater  portion  of  the  tribe  made  the  removal,  we  have  reason  to 
think,  in  1785.  For  in  that  year,  according  to  the  good  custom  followed  more 
than  once  in  New  England  history,  a  church, —  of  sixteen  members, —  was  or- 
ganized of  those  purposing  to  become  settlers  in  the  new  town. 

Mr.  Sergeant  made  what,  after  this  lapse  of  time,  seems  to  be  the  mistake 
of  not  going  with  the  emigrants  of  1785.  The  next  year  when  he  did  go  he 
found,  it  would  seem,  that  Samson  Occom  was  ministering  to  his  people,  and 
had  gained  favor  with  many  of  them.  Then  followed,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
organization  of  a  church  composed  in  part  of  Brothertowns,  in  part  of  Stock- 
bridges, —  the  one  which  in  1787,  November  28th  and  29th,  called  Mr.  Occom 
to  its  pastorate.4  To  this  office  he  could  not  have  given  his  full  time  until 
1789.  The  united  parish  had  "  two  places  of  worship,  one  in  Brothertown  at 
David  Fowler's  and  the  other  in  Stockbridge  at  Hendrick  Aupaumut's  or  Cap- 
tain Hendrick,  as  he  was  usually  called.  This  relation  continued  to  Occom 's 
death,  the  Stockbridgers  going  to  Fowler's  and  the  Brothertowns  to  Hendrick's 
on  alternate  Sundays."5  Meanwhile  Mr.  Sergeant  ** regularly  spent  six  months 
yearly"6  with  the  people  of  New  Stockbridge.  Let  us  hope  that  he  and  Oc- 

Bigotted.  They  have  rendered  themselves  so  much  suspected  in  the  Governments  of  New- 
York  and  Connecticut,  that  they  would  not  tolerate  them  within  their  Bounds.  They  refused 
to  take  the  Oath  of  Allegiance  to  King  George,  or  even  the  Quakers [']  solemn  Declaration. 
What  was  the  meaning  of  this  I  can  not  tell.  They  drew  off  a  number  of  Indians  from  these 
Parts,  and  some  from  this  Place  to  Pennsylvania." 

"  Enthusiastic,"  as  then  used,  commonly  bore  the  meaning  of  "  visionary  "  or  "  fanatical." 
It  is  very  likely  that  some  of  the  Moravians  of  that  time,  excellent  people  as  they  were,  did 
measurably  possess  that  characteristic.  Such  was  the  case  certainly  with  the  earlier  Quak- 
ers. 

"Mr.  Sergeant  was  no  Higot,"  says  Mr.  Hopkins,  "but  of  a  most  generous  &  catholick 
Temper.  Higottry  was  what  he  had  a  great  Aversion  to;  and  he  was  far  from  the  rigged  and 
narrow  Spirit  those  are  of,  who  confine  Salvation  to  themselves,  with  those  who  think  just  as 
they  do." 

1  According  to  Mr.  Canning. 

a  The  number  given  by  a  local  historian  as  of  those  who  removed  to  New  York. 

s  The  "  New  "  has  been  dropped  from  the  name,  and  it  is  now  simply  "  Stockbridge."  The 
little  village  is  in  Madison  county. 

In  the  town  where  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  made  their  settlement  there  was  born,  1836,  Oc- 
tober 10th,  to  a  Methodist  clergyman,  a  son,  William  Dempster  Hoard,  lately  governor  of 
Wisconsin,  and  more  honored  in  his  defeat  in  18!>0  than  two  years  before  in  his  election. 
48^0  page  70,  where,  unfortunately,  the  year  of  the  "call,"  1787,  is  omitted. 

8  Rev.  William  De  Loss  Love,  Jr. 
6  Dr.  Field. 


98  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

com  each  made  his  work  supplementary  to  that  of  the  other.  After  Occom's 
death  the  church  to  which  he  had  ministered  passed  out  of  existence,  and  the 
Stockbridge  branch  of  it  united  with  their  brethren  of  the  older  church  that  was 
formed  before  the  tribe  left  Massachusetts. 

During  their  stay  in  New  York,  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  and  the  Brother- 
towns  seem  to  have  become  regarded,  through  union  with  the  Oneidas,  as  part 
of  the  "Six  Nations."  "In  accordance  with  your  views  [I]  estimate  the  Stock- 
bridges  as  a  part  of  the  Six  Nations,"  says  Commissioner  T.  H.  Crawford  in  a 
report  approved  1843,  February  3rd,  by  John  C.  Spencer,  secretary  of  war. 
Iroquois  and  Stockbridge  delegates  together  visited  President  Washington  in 
1792,  that,  in  the  words,  probably,  of  his  message  of  invitation,  "measures 
might  be  concerted  to  impart  such  of  the  blessings  of  civilization  as  might  suit 
their  condition." 

As  was  the  case  years  later  in  nascent  Wisconsin,  so  when  central  New 
York  was  receiving  its  first  strong  current  of  emigration,  the  mission  among  the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  was  a  fountain  whence  flowed  the  water  of  life  to  surrounding 
communities.  One  narrative  of  many  that  might  doubtless  be  given  is  found 
in  the  history  of  the  (Congregational  for  seventy  years,  now  Presbyterian) 
church  of  Clinton,  New  York,  the  spiritual  home  in  successive  years  of  so  many 
hundreds  of  the  students  of  Hamilton  college. 

Here  we  may  stop  to  note  the  fact  that  this  region  "  was  originally  granted 
by  the  mother  country  to  the  colonies  of  New  England.  The  conflicting  claims 
of  New  York  and  Massachusetts  to  this  territory  were  settled  by  the  grant  of 
pre-emption  right,  on  the  part  of  New  York,  to  the  state  of  Massachusetts. 
This  pre-emption  right  was  purchased  of  Massachusetts  by  New  England  men, 
Messrs.  Phelps  and  Gorham ; l  and  by  them  the  Indian  title  to  a  large  portion 
of  the  soil  was  extinguished ;  so  that  it  was  at  an  early  day  advertised  and 
offered  for  sale  in  New  England.  *  *  Hence,  most  of  the  early  set- 
tlers of  this  region  were  New  Englanders,  and  brought  with  them  their  New 
England  preferences."2  Thus  it  came  naturally  to  pass  that  before  there  was 
time  to  put  even  a  roof  on  the  home  in  which  they  met,  the  first  settlers  of 
Clinton  gathered  for  the  public  worship  of  God.3  Such  men  as  these  are  the 
ones  who  found  communities  that  are  worth  living  in. 

"  Only  occasionally  was  Clinton,  during  1787-88,  visited  by  a  clergyman. 
Samuel  Kirkland  was  at  Oneida.  John  Sergeant  was  with  the  Stockbridge  In- 
dians over  the  West  Hills.  Now  and  then  these  brethren  came  to  Clinton  and 
preached  to  the  people.  Sometimes,  too,  they  had  the  privilege  of  hearing 
that  famous  Indian  preacher,  Rev.  Samson  Occom,  whose  gifts  and  eloquence 
were  not  inferior  to  [those  of]  any  of  his  white  brethren."  When  the  church 
of  Clinton  was  organized  (August,  1791)  the  younger  President  Edwards  pre- 
sided at  the  service,  and  John  Sergeant  and  Samuel  Kirkland  were  members  of 

1  This  was  the  origin  of  the  Holland,  later  the  Ogden,  land  company .    See  note  4,  page  60. 

2  "Congregational  Quarterly,"  volume  I.,  page  152. 

3  1787,  April  8th.    One  year,  lacking  a  day,  before  the  settlement  of  Marietta. 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  99 

the  council  that,  on  the  18th  of  September,  1793,  helped  to  install  its  first  pastor. 

We  come  now  in  our  narrative  to  the  "journal  of  John  Sergeant,  the  mis- 
sionary to  the  Stockbridge  Indians,  living  in  the  vicinity  of  Oneida,  from  the 
society  for  Propagating  Christian  Knowledge  in  Scotland,  from  the  22nd  of 
November,  1793,  to  "  And  the  place  was  left  blank  forever.  Had  he  been 
endowed  with  prophetic  vision  he  might  have  written  "1824,  September  7th."1 
For  then  this  labor  and  his  life  ended  together. 

The  society  from  which  Mr.  Sergeant  derived  the  support  that  the  Indians 
were  unable  to  give  is  still  extant,  and  has  its  headquarters  in  Edinburgh.  A 
letter  of  interest  and  inquiry  from  its  president,  George  Drummond,  Esq.,  was 
answered  by  the  elder  Sergeant  1741,  April  29th  (May  10th),  and  on  the  23rd 
of  the  following  June  (July  4th)  he  made  report  to  Mr.  Drummond  in  regard 
to  his  visit  to  the  Delawares  and  "  Showanoos."5  Two  years  later  Dr.  Colman 
sought  to  secure  a  portion  of  the  society's  beneficence  for  the  industrial  school  at 
**  Housatunnuk."  3  To  neither  school  nor  mission  came  anything  from  that  source 
during  Mr.  Sergeant's  life-time.4  But  said  society  was  the  chief  support  of 
Mr.  Edwards  during  his  residence  at  Stockbridge.  It  continued  to  aid  the 
Stockbridge  church  in  supporting  Dr.  West  until  its  help  was  needed  in  provid- 
ing a  stipend  for  the  younger  Sergeant.  This  was  withheld  during  the  Revo- 
lutionary war,  but,  at  the  close  thereof,  arrearages  thus  incurred  were  paid,  ac- 
cording to  the  honorable  customs  of  our  British  brethren.  This  society  con- 
tinued to  give  some  aid  to  the  Stockbridge  mission  until  the  withdrawal  there- 
from of  Rev,  Cutting  Marsh  in  1848. 

,j.       Again  we  turn  to  Mr.   Sergeant's  diary,  and  reproduce  some  of  the  more 
significant  portions : 5 

''November  22nd.  1793. —  This  day  set  out  to  visit  my  people  at  New 
Stockbridge."  Perhaps  he  uses  the  term  "visit"  because  his  home  was  still  at 
Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  whence  he  did  not  remove  to  the  field  of  his  pas- 
toral labor  until  1796. 

"24th,  Lord's  Day. —  Intended  to  preach  this  day  at  Guy  Park  (so  called), 
where  I  arrived  last  evening,  but  being  sick  put  up  at  an  inn. 

"25th. —  Continued  my  journey;  the  roads  very  bad. 

"28th. —  Arrived  at  New  Stockbridge. 

1  Yet  it  is  probable  that  had  he  filled  the  blank  it  would  have  been  with  the  last  date  in 
this  particular  portion  of  his  journal,— 1794,  February  9th. 

a  See  page  87. 

3  He  tells  of  this  in  his  letter  of  22nd  (31st)  August,  1743. 

4  This  seems  to  be  a  safe  inference  from  the  following  remark  by  Mr.  Hopkins:  "  I  find  no 
Return  he  [Mr.  Sergeant]  ever  had  from  Mr.  Drummond,  or  any  other  Member  of  that  Soci- 
ety, nor  any  further  Correspondence  with  it ;  except  a  letter  Mr.  SBROKANT  wrote  to  the  Pres- 
ident, for  the  Time,  of  that  Society  of  May  the  18th  1749,  desiring,  if  it  fell  within  their 
sphere,  that  they  would  assist  in  promoting  the  Boarding-School,  then  begun  at  Stockbridye. 
Whether  Mr.  Sergeant's  Letter  fail'd  by  the  way,  or  what  else  happened  to  prevent  a  friendly 
Correspondence,  I  am  not  able  to  say." 

8  Certain  contractions  used  by  Mr.  Sergeant  might  perplex  many  readers.  Accordingly 
for  the  purposes  of  our  narrative  it  seemed  best  to  treat  his  manuscript  as  he  himself  would 
have  wished  to  do  had  he  been  preparing  it  for  the  press.  A  transcript  of  the  original  can  be 
found  in  the  library  of  the  state  historical  society. 


100  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

u  December  1st,  Lord's  Day. —  Preached  from  Acts  III.  19.  From  these 
words  endeavored  to  show  the  nature  of  repentance  and  conversion. 

"  2nd. —  This  day  went  to  Oneida  to  visit  Mr.  Caulking  who,  I  understood, 
was  about  to  leave  the  place  and  business  because  he  had  no  school  house  pro- 
vided for  him.  I  visited  some  of  the  chiefs,  exhorted  them  to  make  provision 
for  the  school.  They  encouraged  me  they  would  attend  to  it. 

"5th. —  This  day  my  people  agreed  to  set  apart  as  a  day  of  public  thanks- 
giving. Accordingly  we  met  at  12  o'clock  at  the  church  where  I  exhorted  them 
to  the  duties  of  the  day  by  repeating  to  my  hearers  the  many  reasons  they  had 
for  devoting  this  day  to  praise  and  thankfulness.  Mentioned  among  other 
things  that  God  had  not  forsaken  them,  but  continued  the  gospel  among  them. 
That  it  was  owing  to  the  goodness  of  God  that  they  had  advanced  in  religion 
and  a  civilized  life  far  beyond  their  ancestors,  &c. 

"  After  the  assembly  was  dismissed  I  was  invited  to  dine  with  a  part  of 
the  tribe  who  were  collected  at  one  house,  where  a  table  was  spread  sufficient 
to  accommodate  about  thirty  or  forty  persons.  We  were  served  with  puddings, 
boiled  meats  and  a  variety  of  pies.  Our  drink  was  good,  wholesome  spring 
water.  After  dinner  our  chief  in  a  long  address  to  the  company,  among  other 
things,  said :  '  My  friends,  we  have  reason  to  be  thankful  that  we  have,  through 
the  goodness  of  God,  been  carried  through  all  the  trials  that  we  have  experi- 
enced the  year  past,  that  we  are  brought  to  see  this  happy  day,  that  we  have 
now  been  allowed  to  sit  together  in  love  and  peace,  and  partake  of  the  bounties 
of  heaven ;  that  in  eating  food  we  might  have  obtained  [it]  from  white  people, 
our  neighbors,  which  was  our  state  of  dependence  in  the  country  where  we 
came  from,  but  we  have  now  been  fed  by  such  things  as  we  have  obtained  by 
the  labor  of  our  own  hands;  this  is  matter  of  thankfulness.'  - ; 

"  The  provisions  that  were  left  were  given  to  the  old  and  poor  who  went 
away  rejoicing. 

"8th,  Lord's  Day,  A.  M. —  Concluded  my  subject  from  Acts  III.  19.  [In 
the  afternoon]  after  I  had  dismissed  my  people  [I]  delivered  a  short  discourse 
to  the  Tuscaroras  and  Oneidas  present. l 

"  14th. —  This  morning  sent  for  to  visit  one  of  the  strangers  who  lately 
came  from  the  westward2  with  Cant  Nendrol,3  found  her  very  sick, — let  a  lit- 
tle blood,  since  have  heard  she  is  a  little  recovered. 

1  Mr.  Sergeant's  constant  spelling  is  "  Oniedas  and  Tuskaroras." 

a.  I  think  it  very  likely  that  these  "strangers  from  the  westward"  were  Munsees.  This 
little  tribe  is  a  branch  of  the  Delawares  (Leni-Lennappes).  The  Munsees  seem  to  have  be<  n 
scattered  in  consequence  of  having  taken  sides  against  the  colonists  in  the  American  Revo- 
lution. From  homes  in  New  York,  Canada  and  perhaps  Indiana  and  elsewhere,  some  came  in 
later  years  to  Wisconsin,  where  they  have  united  with  the  Stockbridges. 

From  Brown's  "  History  of  Missions  "  we  have  the  following  most  uncomplimentary  ref- 
erence to  the  Munsees : 

"While  several  of  the  Indian  tribes  joined  either  with  the  English  or  the  Americans,  and 
committed  the  most  shocking  outrages  on  their  enemies,  the  chiefs  of  the  Delaware  nation , 
determined  to  maintain  a  strict  neutrality.  The  Monsys,  indeed,  one  of  the  Delaware  tribes 
secretly  resolved  to  separate  from  the  body  of  the  nation,  and  to  join  the  Mingoes,  a  gang  of 

thieves  and  murderers." 

3  The  best  reading  that  I  can  make  of  a  very  poorly  written  name. 


THE  MUH-UE-KA-NE-OK.  101 

"17th. —  Tais  cUy  visited  another  of  the  strangers  who  came  from  the 
westward,  a  widjw  with  four  children.  I  asked  her  miny  questions  upon  the 
subject  of  religion ;  told  me  she  had  never  heard  preaching  in  her  life,  but 
would  attend  the  next  Lord's  Day. 

"  This  day  also  several  of  our  young  men  returned  from  hunting." 

But  probably  at  no  time  during  their  life  in  New  York  were  the  Stock- 
bridges  dependent  upon  hunting  for  their  means  of  living.  It  must  have  been 
soon  after  their  removal  thither  that  they  divided  the  tribal  land  so  that  each 
family  had  its  particular  possession  but,  probably,  without  the  right  of  dispos- 
ing of  it  to  any  one  outside  of  the  tribe. 

"20th. —  This  day  evening  a  conference  meeting  at  my  house  at  which  I 
gave  my  hearers  an  exhortation  upon  the  nature  of  religion.  That  it  consisted 
much  in  humility.  For  any  one  to  commend  himself  and  speak  much  in  his 
own  praise  was  a  sign  of  spiritual  pride.  There  having  been  some  separate 
Baptists  in  town  the  day  before  from  Brothertown  (so  called)  l  and  preached 
up  their  sentiments,  I  thought  proper  to  explain  some  passages  of  Scripture 
with  a  design  to  show  [the]  folly  of  some  of  their  doctrines.  After  this  many 
questions  were  asked  and  answered. 

U22nd,  Lard's  Day,  A.M. —  Read  and  expounded  upon  that  passage  of 
that  Scripture  recorded  in  Matthew  XVIII.  from  the  first  to  the  sixth  verse,  in 
which  I  endeavored  to  hold  up  the  doctrine  of  humility. 

"P.  M.  Took  my  text  from  the  seventh  verse  of  this  chapter.  After 
meeting,  a  number  of  the  Tuscaroras  and  some  Oneida  chiefs  came  in  to  see 
me;  when  I  repeated  my  sermon  to  them  by  an  interpreter.  They  appeared 
to  go  away  rejoicing  that  they  had  heard  the  word  of  God. 

"27th. — This  evening  a  conference  meeting,  at  which  several  questions 
were  asked,  (viz.);  If  any  one  entertains  revengeful  feelings  toward  his  neigh- 
bor, whether  it  is  not,  in  the  sight  of  God,  murder?  Answer:  In  a  degree. 

"29th,  P.M. —  Preached  from  Psalm  XXXVII.  37.  From  thence  en- 
deavored to  prove  the  future  happy  state  and  condition  of  the  righteous. 

"After  I  had  dismissed  my  people,  repeated  my  subject  to  the  Tuscaroras 
by  an  interpreter. 

"January  10th. —  A  conference  meeting  at  which  several  questions  were 
asked,  (viz.):  What  is  the  reason  Indians  always  c:>me  so  short  —  they  appear 
for  a  while  to  prosper  in  spiritual  concerns  and  their  temporal,  and  then  fall 
into  a  state  of  poverty  ?  Answer :  That  it  arises  in  a  great  measure  from  the 

1  It  will  be  remembered  that  Brothertown  was  then  a  place  of  sharp  contention.  Prob- 
ably,—such  is  the  weakness  of  human  nature  and  the  wickedness  of  sectarianism,— the 
division  extended  to  church  matters  also.  Without  this,  it  is  not  likely  that  Occom  would 
have  been  driven  from  his  home  to  New  Stockbridge,—  which,  as  we  have  reason  to  believe, 
was  virtually  the  case. 

Of  course  we  can  not  now  tell  whether  or  not  Mr.  Sergeant  was  justified  in  his  somewhat 
severe  remarks.  But  I  am  free  to  say  that  I  don't  like  them.  The  presumption  is  certainly 
against  any  who  intrude  upon  mission  work  among  an  unstable  people,  whether  the  intruders 
are  "separate  "  Baptists,—  whatever  they  are  or  were,— or,  as  is  quite  as  commonly  the  case, 
bear  some  other  name.  And  "separatism  "  of  the  kin. I  suggested  though  too  often  found  in 
the  church  is  yet  oftener  found  outside  of  all  churches. 


102  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

prejudices  of  their  education  from  their  childhood,  contracting  bad  habits,  &c. 
Question :  What  was  the  occasion  that  Christ  after  his  resurrection  repeatedly 
asked  Peter  whether  he  loved  him?  Answer  :  It  was  likely  meant  as  a  gentle 
reproof  for  his  bold  declaration  of  attachment  to  his  person  at  the  time  he 
was  taken  the  evening  before  his  crucifixion.  Question,  by  a  woman:  Is  it 
their  duty  to  meet  together  by  themselves  for  prayer  to  implore  the  divine  inter- 
position in  a  time  of  great  darkness  and  inattention  to  religion?  Answer:  It 
is  no  doubt  an  important  duty. 

u  19th,  Lord's  Day. —  Read  and  expounded  on  the  XV.  chapter  [of] 
Matthew  from  the  1st  to  the  3rd  verses.  After  I  had  dismissed  my  people, 
preached  by  an  interpreter  to  a  considerable  number  of  the  Tuscaroras  and 
Oneidas  present. 

"25th. —  This  day  an  Oneida  chief  came  to  my  house  with  a  number  of 
young  people,  and  informed  me  that  he  was  sent  with  a  young  man  and  woman 
to  request  me  to  join  them  together  in  marriage.  After  examining  the  relations 
on  both  sides, —  found  no  objection  could  arise, —  I  performed  the  ceremony. 
After  this  I  instructed  them  into  the  duties  of  the  marriage  relation,  &c.  The 
chief  thanked  me  for  my  instructions,  and  said  he  would  use  his  influence  to 
enforce  my  instructions  upon  that  young  married  pair,  that  they  never  may 
lose  this  pleasant  path  of  friendship  which  you  have  just  marked  out  to  them. 

"26th,  Lord's  Day. —  Forbade  the  young  people  the  practice  of  hollowing 
nights.  Also  announced  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper  to  be  adminis- 
tered here  the  next  Lord's  day.  Spoke  by  an  interpreter  to  the  Tuskaries  and 
Oneidas  as  usual. 

U31st. —  Attended  a  sacramental  lecture. 

"February  1st. —  About  twenty  of  the  Oneidas  came  to  my  house  with  a 
desire  that  I  should  marry  a  couple  of  young  people.  After  I  had  performed 
the  ceremony  agreeably  to  desire,  I  instructed  the  young  people  into  the  nature 
and  importance  of  the  marriage  covenant.  The  parents  thanked  me  arid 
promised  to  enforce  my  instructions  when  they  returned  to  their  habitation. 

"  2nd,  A.  M. —  Baptized  two  children  and  administered  the  Lord's  supper. 
Before  I  dismissed  the  assembly,  invited  all  the  men  who  had  any  concern  about 
their  own  souls,  and  wished  for  a  reformation,  would  [to]  meet  at  my  house  for 
prayer;  the  .women  to  meet  at  another  house  for  the  same  purpose.  In  the 
evening  all  the  principal  men  in  town  came,  to  the  number  of  fifteen  or  twenty. 
We  spent  the  evening  in  prayer  and  conversation.  All  agreed  to  use  their 
utmost  influence  to  restrain  the  young  people  from  every  bad  practice. 

"I  understood  the  women  universally  met  and  made  two  or  three  prayers. 
Agreed  to  use  their  utmost  influence  also  to  reform  the  young  women  in  par- 
ticular. I  thought  both  meetings  were  tokens  for  good. 

"Note. —  Since  I  solemnly  warned  the  young  people  of  the  bad,  heathenish 
practice  of  hollowing,  &c.,  out  [on]  the  streets  nights,  have  this  satisfaction  that 
it  appears  to  be  entirely  dropped. 

"7th. —  This  day  set  out  agreeably  to  invitation  and  promise  to  visit  the 


THK  MITH-IUC-KA-NK-OK.  103 

Tuscaroras  and  Oneidas,  and  preach  the  following  Sabbath  at  the  Oneida  Town. 

"  Held  a  conference  meeting  on  my  way  with  the  Tuscaroras  about  noon. 
Thence  proceeded  with  my  friend  Cushik  for  an  interpreter  towards  Oneida. 
Called  at  the  first  village,  about  ten  houses.  The  people  gathered  at  one  house, 
when  I  endeavored  to  set  before  them  the  importance  of  religion.  They  ap- 
peared to  be  very  attentive,  and  thanked  me  on  parting.  Then  we  proceeded  on.  I 
visited  two  other  houses.  Night  coming  on,  I  put  up  at  [the  home  of]  Shonandon, 
a  worthy  Oneida  chief.  We  spent  the  evening  in  agreeable  conversation  upon 
religion.  He  thanked  me  that  I  was  so  kind  to  begin  this  friendly  visit;  [saidj 
that  I  was  heartily  welcome  to  his  house.  Note :  This  man  has  a  numerous 
family,  very  industrious,  raises  all  kinds  of  grain,  has  a  good  number  of  horses, 
cows,  hogs,  &c.,  owns  a  sleigh  and  wagon.  Understood  the  last  year  he  raised 
nearly  one  hundred  bushels  of  wheat.  We  had  a  supper  of  tea,  good  wheat 
bread  and  butter.  Cushik  returned  home  this  evening.  But  as  all  the  young 
men  who  understood  English  and  [whom  I]  had  heretofore  made  use  of  as  inter- 
preters were  not  in  town,  and  without  an  interpreter  I  should  lose  the  useful- 
ness of  my  visit,  I  requested  him  to  return  the  next  day  and  tarry  with  me  till 
after  the  Sabbath,  and  I  would  request  the  society  at  Boston  to  give  him  some- 
thing for  Iris  time  and  service,  to  which  he  agreed. 

"8th. —  SaLurday  noon  Cushik  returned.  We  then  proceeded  on  our  visit. 
Called  to  see  the  widow  of  the  famous  Indian  known  by  the  name  of  Good 
Peter. l  She  received  me  with  the  greatest  possible  tokens  of  joy.  told  me 
they  were  all  asleep  as  to  religion ;  had  heard  no  preaching  for  three  months. 
I  proposed  a  conference  meeting  in  the  evening,  to  which  she  heartily  agreed. 
I  had  time  to  visit  but  eight  houses  more,  two  where  there  were  sick  with  whom 
I  conversed  freely.  Prayed  with  the  sick.  In  the  evening  put  up  at  [the  home 
of]  one  Scuranis  (?),  a  very  good  family  who  came  from  Ohnaquango  and  [are] 
members  of  Mr.  Crasbury's-  church.  Here  we  held  our  conference  meeting. 

"9th,  Lord's  Day. —  A  full  meeting,  house  about  twenty  feet  square. 
Many  stood  at  tho  door  and  windows,  could  not  get  into  the  house.  I  preached 
from  the  same  words  I  had  lately  done  to  my  people,  viz.,  O  that  they  were 
wise,  that  they  understood  this,  that  they  would  consider  their  latter  end. 

44  At  the  conclusion  of  my  sermon  observed  that  they  had  told  me  they 
longed  for  the  constant  instruction  of  God's  word,  that  their  church  affairs 
might  be  regulated,  that  they  might  enjoy  the  privilege  of  the  sacrament  of  the 
Lord  s  supper,  that  a  reformation  might  take  place  in  their  town,  that  a  stop 
might  be  put  to  excessive  drinking  and  polygamy, :{  that  if  they  really  desired 
these  things  they  must  pray  for  them,  that  God  expected  his  children  would 
cry  for  spiritual  blessing.  I  then  exhorted  them  to  meet  in  prayer  once  a  week 


1  ** '  Good  Peter,'  catuchist  and  teacher,  and  the  most  eloquent  man  among  the  Six  Na- 
tions, was  Mr.  Kirkland's  assistant."— Miss  Electa  Jones. 

'*  Or  "Crasburg's." 

3  Tins  reading  is  in  accord  with  a  suggestion  made  by  Secretary  ThwaiteK.  Whatever  the 
word,  it  is  probably  misspelled,  and  is  really  indecipherable. 


104  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

for  these  blessings.  After  this,  baptized  a  child.  After  the  assembly  was  dis- 
missed a  number,  both  men  and  women,  took  me  by  the  hand,  thanked  me  for 
my  advice  [to]  them,  [and  promised]  that  they  would  set  apart  certain  seasons 
for  prayer,  agreeably  to  my  advice,  &c. 

"  Before  I  left  the  house,  one  of  the  chiefs  desired  me  to  inform  the  soci- 
ety that  although  Mr.  Caulking  had  left  them  through  their  neglect,  yet  they 
hoped  the  society  would  not  think  they  rejected  this  great  gift,  that  they  should 
early  in  the  spring  erect  a  school  house  and  call  the  master  back.  For  they 
considered  a  good  school  in  their  own  town  to  be  much  more  beneficial  to  them 
than  to  send  only  a  few  of  their  children  to  be  taught  in  a  school  among  the 
white  people.  Note  :  They  sent  a  sleigh  with  me  about  half-way.  [I]  returned 
home  before  dark ;  my  people  came  in.  I  then  gave  them  a  particular  account 
of  my  proceedings.  We  spent  the  evening  in  religious  conversation  and  prayer 
for  the  outpouring  of  God's  Spirit.  The  women  also  met  this  evening  for  the 
same  purpose." 

This  report  of  the  work  of  a  winter  that  passed  a  century  ago  would  pro- 
bably serve,  except  in  mere  date  and  detail,  for  the  service  done  in  many  an- 
other season. 

The  supposition  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  that,  while  in  New 
York,  the  Stockbridge  tribe  was  considered  as  forming  part  of  the  Iroquois  con- 
federacy seems  to  be  strengthened  by  the  fact  that  on  the  llth  of  November, 
1794,  when  the  United  States  government  made  a  treaty  with  the  "  Six  Na- 
tions :'  the  Stockbridges  also  were  made  a  party  thereto,  and  received  a  propor- 
tionate share  of  annuities  paid  out  of  the  national  treasury. l 

At  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  there  was  published,  in  1795,  doubtless  un- 
der Mr.  Sergeant's  auspices,  a  little  manual  of  religious  instruction  containing 
two  catechisms:  the  one  commonly  called  "'shorter," — merely  by  comparison 
with  another,  also  put  forth  by  the  Westminster  assembly, —  and  one  for  child- 
dren,  by  that  good  old  bachelor,  Dr.  Watts.  On  page  31  of  this  little  pamph- 
let, the  printed  matter  ends  with  the  words:  "The  foregoing  is  Printed  in  the 
Moheakunnuk  or  Stockbridge  Indian  language."  There  may  have  been  an  ear- 
lier edition,  though  I  doubt  it.  These  translations  were  doubtless  made  by  the 
elder  Sergeant  and  his  assistant, —  perhaps  John  Quinney,  whose  son,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  made  chief  of  the  tribe  in  1777. 

In  1796  Mr.  Sergeant  and  his  people  had  a  visit  from  Dr.  Jedidiah  Morse, 
then  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  still  existing  (Boston)  "Society  for  Propagating 
the  Gospel  among  the  Indians."2  At  that  time  the  population  of  New  Stockbridge 
was  about  three  hundred,  a  number  soon  increased.  None  were  professed  pag- 
ans, though  only  about  thirty  were  members  of  the  church.  About  two-thirds 

1  Under  this  treaty  they  continued  to  receive  gifts  or  payments  until  1830,  inclusive. 
These  varied  in  different  years,  being  commonly  $350  but  sinking  in  1827, 1828,  and  1829  to 
$261.    Payments  on  this  account  were  made  as  lately  as  1836  and  1842. 

2  The  organization,  in  1787,  of  this  society,  which  now  co  operates  with  the  American 
Missionary  Association,  is  one  of  the  evidences  of  the  vitality  of  our  churches  in  that  un- 
happy time. 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  105 

of  the  men  and  nine-tenths  of  the  women  were  considered  industrious.  In  this 
year  a  white  man  was  convicted  of  bringing  liquor  into  the  "  nation,"  an  act 
contrary  to  tribal  law.  Soon  after,  through  Mr.  Sergeant's  influence,  the  legis- 
lature of  New  York  passed  an  act  forbidding  the  sale  of  liquor  to  these  In- 
dians. For  his  action  in  this  matter  the  worthy  pastor  was  bitterly  persecuted. 
A  term,  "  white  heathen,"  which  he  uses  more  than  once,  probably  acquired 
vivid  significance  at  this  time.  His  people  were  tempted  and  ill-treated. 
While  Indians  sought  to  keep  the  Sabbath,  white  men  violated  it.  Articles 
would  be  pressed  upon  the  Indians  in  the  way  of  sale,  and  later  those  who  sup- 
posed themselves  to  be  honest  purchasers  would  be  arrested  as  thieves  and  the 
possession  of  what  they  had  bought  would  be  used  as  evidence  against  them. 
It  may  be,  as  old  President  Dwight  of  Yale  states  in  his  journal  of  "  Travels," 
in  a  letter  that  gives  account  of  a  journey  begun  1798,  September  16th:  uThe 
body  of  them  have,  in  many  respects,  sustained  a  very  imperfect  character." 
Yet,  when  we  remember  the  good  man's  high  standard  of  character,  and 
read  his  other  statement,  that  "several  of  them  have  been  eminent  for  their 
understanding  and  more  for  their  piety,"  we  do  not  doubt  that  they  compared 
favorably  with  their  white  neighbors. 

Several  other  of  Dr.  Dwight's  remarks  give  information  in  regard  to  mat- 
ters that  have  already  interested  us :  »*  At  the  last  interview  which  I  had  with 
Mr.  Sergeant  he  informed  me  that  his  own  people  were  increasing  £in  number]]; 
not  by  accumulations  from  other  tribes,  but  in  the  ordinary  course  of  popula- 
tion." This  was  not  the  case  during  the  life-time  of  his  father,  as  the  elder 
Sergeant  himself  tells  us.  Of  Brothertown,  President  Dwight  says  that  those 
who  came  thither  had  been  resident  chiefly  in  Montauk  and  Fannington,  and 
were  in  number  about  one  hundred  fifty.  He  is  lead  to  speak  of  the  possessions 
of  the  Holland  land  company.  These  are  in  the  states  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania,  he  tells  us,  and  in  area  equal  Connecticut. 

The  missionary  spirit  that  we  have  seen  in  Mr.  Sergeant's  service  to  neigh- 
boring tribes  must  have  communicated  itself  to  his  people,  for  in  1802  we  find 
them  sending  a  delegation  to  the  Delawares,  whom,  after  an  Indian  fashion, 
they  called  their  grandfathers,  and  to  some  other  tribes,  to  urge  them  to  receive 
the  gospel.  Of  this  Mr.  Sergeant  writes: 

UA  council  was  held  at  Wappecommehkoke  on  the  banks  of  the  White 
river  [Indiana],  by  Delawares  and  the  delegates  of  the  Moheakunnuk  nation. 
The  former  then  accepted  all  the  proposals  made  by  the  latter,  among  which 
was  civilization,  of  which,  said  the  chief  (Tatepahqsect)  l  i  we  take  hold  with 
both  hands.'  ' 

Poor  Tatepahqsect !  He  was  then  an  old  man  doomed  to  perish  soon  and 
in  a  most  barbarous  manner.  In  February,  1806,  a  Shawano  witch-finder  came 

1  Spelled  Tettepachsit  in  Brown's  "  History  of  Missions."  This  orthography,  it  is  probable, 
comes  to  us  through  the  narratives  of  the  Moravian  missionaries,  and  these  were  Germans. 
In  some  respects,  the  German  alphabet  is  a  better  medium  than  the  English  for  the  translit- 
eration of  Indian  words. 

In  the  narrative  given  in  Brown's  "History  "  we  find  mention  of  "  Woapikamikunk."  It 
is  safe,  I  suppose,  to  identify  this  with  Mr.  Sergeant's  "  Wappeoommehkoke." 


106  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

among  his  people.  This  villainous  heathen  accused  the  poor  old  man  of  deal- 
ing in  poisons.  Accordingly  he  was  bound  to  two  posts  and  his  accusers  began 
to  roast  him  over  a  slow  fire.  Unable  to  stand  the  torture  he  was  driven  to  say 
that  he  kept  poison  in  the  house  of  a  Christian  Indian,  named  Joshua.  But 
when  the  latter  was  seized  and  brought  to  him  Tatepahqsect  acknowledged  that 
the  charge  was  false  and  was  made  only  to  escape  torture.  To  make  the  dis- 
mal story  as  short  as  possible,  the  heathens  murdered  both,  throwing  the  un- 
happy chief  on  the  fire  before  life  was  extinct,  and  also  burning  to  death  a 
Christian  woman.  These  ferocities  led  to  the  breaking  up  of  a  Moravian  mis- 
sion that  had  been  established  in  the  neighborhood. 

In  June,  1806,  Mr.  Sergeant  visited  the  Onondagas.  In  reply  to  his  ad- 
dress one  of  their  chiefs  u  said  that  they  designed  to  follow  his  advice,  to  cease 
from  working  on  the  Sabbath,  to  meet  together  to  worship  God,  to  labor  dili- 
gently on  their  lands  and  to  abandon  the  use  of  spirituous  liq- 
uors." *  *  The  narrative  from  which  this  is  taken1  thus  continues 
(but  without  date) :  "  There  appears  some  prospect  of  the  establishment  of  a 
school,  the  introduction  of  Christianity  and  the  progress  of  the  arts  of  civiliza- 
tion, among  some  of  the  western  tribes  by  means  of  several  of  the  Stockbridge 
Indians  who  have  been  sent  to  settle  among  them  for  these  important  purposes." 

The  foregoing  statement  may  refer  to  the  beginning  of  the  movement  by 
which,  in  time,  the  entire  tribe  was  transferred  from  New  York.  At  the  time 
of  the  visit  of  the  Stockbridges  to  President  Washington  in  1792,  one  of  the 
delegation,  Captain  Hendrick  (Aupaumut),  was  chosen  by  Major-General  Henry 
Knox,  secretary  of  war,  to  go  on  a  mission  to  the  western  tribes.  Hendrick 
had  been  a  soldier  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  was  present  at  the  surrender  of 
Burgoyne  and,  it  is  said,  had  received  from  Washington  himself  a  commission 
as  captain. 

The  time  of  his  first  service  in  the  West  was  that  between  the  terrible  de- 
feat of  the  Americans  under  St.  Clair  (1791,  November  4th)  and  the  victory  of 
"Mad"  Anthony  Wayne  (1794,  August  20th). 

The  success  with  which  Hendrick  discharged  the  duties  of  his  mission  to 
the  West  shows  that  Mr.  Kirkland  (by  whom  he  was  brought  to  the  notice  of 
the  secretary)  did  not  overrate  the  abilities  and  fidelity  of  the  Stockbridge  chief. 
He  was  one  of  the  most  effective  opponents  of  Tecumseh  and  his  brother  Elsk- 
watawa,  the  "prophet,"  in  their  great  scheme  of  organizing  an  Indian  confed- 
eracy designed  to  crush  American  power  in  the  West.  By  his  advice  and  ex- 
ertions the  Delawares  and  others  were  kept  aloof  from  this  mischievous  scheme. 
He  took  personal  part  in  the  war  in  which  Major-General  William  Henry  Har- 
rison won  the  military  reputation,  that,  in  1840,  helped  make  him  President  of 
the  United  States. 

Soon  came  the  war  of  1812,  and  in  this  also  Hendrick,  with  others  of  his 
people,  took  the  part  of  the  United  States  against  Great  Britain. 

No  doubt  this  war,  like  that  of  the  Revolution,  was  an  injury  to  the  Stock- 

1  Brown's  "History  of  Missions,"  I.,  90. 


THE  MUH-HE-KA-NE-OK.  107 

bridge  <;  nation."  Probably,  also,  it  prevented  their  getting  a  home  on  the 
White  river.  Before  what  we  may  call  the  Tecumseh  war  began,  Hendrick 
had  formed  the  plan  of  leading  his  people  to  a  new  home  in  the  West.  More 
than  a  century  before,  the  Miamis  had  given  land  there  to  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok, 
and,  at  some  time,  to  the  Delawares  also.  Settlements  of  these  people  in  the 
White  river  region  numbered,  in  1818,  about  eight  hundred  souls.  The  title  of 
the  Stockbridges  to  what  was  probably  part  of  the  Miami  grant,  was,  in  a  care- 
fully guarded  manner,  attested  by  President  Jefferson  1808,  December  21st. 
In  this  transaction  Hendrick  was  the  representative  of  his  people.  In  1810  he 
and  his  son  Abner  were  in  the  White  river  country  and  purposed  to  settle  there. 
There  is  good  authority  for  saying  that  it  was  Captain  Hendrick  who  "  formed 
the  plan  of  collecting  all  the  eastern  Indians  in  that  region,  where  they  might 
live  in  peace  with  the  whites,  and  in  fellowship  with  each  other  and,  he  hoped, 
be  no  farther  wasted." l  We  have  seen  how  this  project  was  interrupted. 

But  though  it  remained  in  abeyance  during  the  war  and  for  some  years 
thereafter  it  was  not  forgotten.  But  in  the  spring  of  1817  the  Stockbridges 
were  made  uneasy  by  the  report  that  the  land  to  which  they  had  a  claim,  had 
been  sold  by  the  Delawares.  But  these,  in  answer  to  a  letter  of  inquiry,  denied 
the  charge,  adding :  "  When  we  rise  in  the  morning,  we  have  our  eyes  fixed 
toward  the  way  you  are  to  come,  in  expectation  of  seeing  you  coming  to  sit 
down  by  us  as  a  nation." 

Accordingly,  some  of  the  Stockbridges  prepared  for  removal.  Two  or 
three  families  went  that  year.  In  June,  1818,  Mr.  Sergeant  thus  wrote  to  Dr. 
Morse :  "  About  five  families  of  my  people  will  start  for  White  river  in  three 
weeks.  But  they  are  still  troubled  by  reports  that  the  state  government  of  In- 
diana intends  to  purchase  the  Indian  lands." 

Others  were  added  to  the  number  of  those  proposing  to  emigrate.  Mr. 
Sergeant  collected  the  whole  tribe  on  Friday,  24th  of  July,  of  that  year,  "  with 
the  view  to  have  them  present  at  the  forming  of  a  church  from  their  tribe  "  of 
those  *»  who,  with  a  number  of  others  of  the  tribe,  were  about  to  remove  and 
form  a  new  settlement.  According  to  a  good  Puritan  custom,  a  church  was 
organized  of  those  who  were  preparing  to  make  the  removal.  In  the  following 
December  Mr.  Sergeant  wrote :  »'  The  families  left  in  August,  consisting  of  a 
third  part  of  my  church-members,  and  a  quarter  part  of  the  tribes, —  in  all 
from  sixty  to  seventy  souls  from  Oneida."  The  "  tribes  "  are  doubtless  the 
Stockbridges  and  Munsees.  None  of  the  Oneidas,  so  far  as  I  know,  removed 
to  Indiana,  and  the  agitation  among  them  by  Eleazar  Williams  in  favor  of  emi- 
gration westward  had  scarcely  then  begun.  Yet  this  movement  of  the  Stock- 
bridges  could  hardly  be  without  effect  upon  their  neighbors. 

But  between  the  two  there  was  this  great  difference.  The  Stockbridges 
had  left  the  land  of  their  fathers,  and  were  in  a  country  that  to  them  had 
scarcely  ceased  to  be  new  and  strange.  One  removal  often  prepares  the  way 

1  Miss  Electa  Jones. 


108  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

for  another.  But  the  Oneidas  and  the  other  Iroquois  were  in  their  ancestral 
home.  Among  these,  the  persuasions  of  Eleazar  Williams  produced,  outside  of 
his  own  congregation,  little  effect;  opposed,  as  they  were,  by  the  pagan  faith 
that  still  prevailed  among  the  majority  of  the  Iroquois,  and  by  the  influence  of 
their  proud  tribal  traditions.  Moreover,  they  had  land  enough,  and  that  by  no 
one's  gift.  But,  among  the  Stockbridges,  it  would  seem  that  all  the  influences 
favored  removal.  Hendrick  (Aupaumut)  had  formed  the  plan,  it  is  said,  as  far 
back  as  1809.  In  favor  of  it,  there  seems  to  have  been  a  feeling  virtually 
unanimous.  For  this,  there  were  many  reasons.  Notwithstanding  the  worthi- 
ness of  perhaps  a  decided  majority  of  the  white  settlers  in  the  surrounding 
community,  men  of  the  evil  class  that  is  always  to  be  found  about  Indian  res- 
ervations were  doing  mischief  and  bringing  corruption.  No  doubt,  the  then 
late  war  had  increased  the  tendency  to  drunkenness.  At  the  same  time,  the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok's  faithful  service  therein  had  made  the  United  States  govern- 
ment desirous  of  using  them  in  the  West  as  a  barrier  against  barbarous  and 
hostile  tribes.  The  state  government  of  New  York  was  more  than  willing  to 
have  them  go.  Their  Brothertown  neighbors  were  ready  for  removal.  Both 
of  these  little  tribes  would  find  Algonquian  kindred  in  the  West ;  their  Iroquois 
neighbors  in  New  York  were  of  alien  speech  and  blood.  Among  the  Delawares 
or  Menomonees  the  little  Stockbridge  church  could  do  a  service  that  was  impos- 
sible in  New  York.  No  doubt  there  was  a  genuine  missionary  spirit  in  Mr. 
Sergeant's  flock,  and  he  believed  that  in  sending  his  people  forth  into  the  wil- 
derness he  was  sending  teachers  of  civilization  and  Christianity. 

Thus  was  made  the  beginning  of  a  movement  that  was  to  add  many  pages 
of  exceeding  interest  to  the  history  of  Wisconsin. l 

1  The  excerpts  from  the  diary  of  the  elder  Sergeant,  from  the  letters  of  Dr.  Colman,  and 
other  documents  of  that  time,  are  chiefly  if  not  wholly  from  Hopkins's  "Historical  Memoirs." 
In  whatever  has  been  taken  from  that  source,  there  has  been  an  attempt  to  follow  the  pecu- 
liarities in  the  usage  of  the  printers  of  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  except  in  regard  to  the  use 
of  catch' words  and  an  antique  style  of  type.  Certain  failures  to  observe  this  rule  should  be 
noted:  On  page  82,  the  name  "  Woodbridge  "  appears  in  Roman  when  it  should  be  in  italic; 
and,  on  page  83,  the  name  "Sergeant"  (in  the  extract  from  Dr.  Col  man's  letter)  is  in  italic 
when  it  should  be  in  small  capitals.  On  page  85  the  words  "  alias  the  Great  Meadow  "  should 
be  in  parentheses,  and  on  89  the  "e "  in  "  oblige'd "  is  superfluous. 

The  punctuation  of  Mr.  Hopkins's  most  interesting  book  is  not  only  of  a  sort  now  obso- 
lete,—as,  for  example,  the  semicolon  after  "Esq;"— -but  shows  some  manifest  omissions. 
These  I  have  not  felt  it  my  duty  to  supply  nor  has  it  been  deemed  best  even  to  correct  one  or 
two  evident  errors  of  orthography. 

The  portion  of  the  younger  Sergeant's  diary  herewith  given,  has,  so  far  as  I  know,  never 
before  appeared  in  print.  For  the  use  of  it,  and  for  other  favors,  I  am  indebted  to  his  grand- 
daughter, Mrs.  Mary  E.  Niles,  of  Trumansburg,  New  York.  It  will  interest  many  to  know 
that  the  late  Henry  Sergeant  West,  M.  D.,  missionary  physician  of  the  American  Board  in 
Asiatic  Turkey  was  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Niles,  and  that  a  daughter  of  that  good  lady,  Mary  West 
Niles,  M.  D.,  is  a  medical  missionary  in  Canton,  China. 

Some  doubtful  readings  in  Mr.  Sergeant's  diary  are  marked,  and  it  may  be  that  more 
should  have  been.  "  Cushik  "  may  be  "  Cusik,"  or  even  "  Cussick."  In  certain  places  where 
Mr.  Sergeant  says  that  "  several  questions  were  asked  "  there  has  been  given  only  the  one 
that  seemed  of  special  interest. 

Mr.  E.  W.  B.  Canning  (Williams  college,  class  of  '34)  to  whom  I  owe  much  in  the  way  both 
of  impulse  and  information,  died  1890,  August  llth.  He  was  a  church  clerk  who  appreci- 
ated the  importance  and  dignity  of  his  office. 

To  the  Rev.  Professor  Arthur  Latham  Perry,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.  I  owe  thanks  for  special  favors. 


CHAPTER  X. 


HTATESBURG  AND  STOCKBK1DGE. 

Before  the  westward  bound  party  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  could  reach  their 
destination  they  heard  that  the  land  upon  which  they  were  intending  to  settle 
had  been  bought  by  the  United  States  government. l  "  What  deception  some- 
where ! "  exclaims  Dr.  Morse  in  mentioning  this  transaction,  and  contrasting  it 
with  the  rights  claimed  by  the  Stockbridges  and  the  assurances  held  out  to  them 
before  beginning  their  journey.  But  the  Delawares  who  had  given  the  invita- 
tion could  not  prevent  the  sale  even  of  their  own  homes  and  another  grief  was 
added  to  the  long  catalogue  of  their  sorrows.  From  the  time  of  the  visit  of 
the  elder  Sergeant,  their  history  and  that  of  the  Moravian  missions,  so  closely 
connected  with  it,  is  one  of  shame  to  almost  every  one  who  is  mentioned  there- 
in, save  the  Christian  Indians  and  their  gentle  teachers  whom  Sergeant  misun- 
derstood rather  than  misjudged.  Yet  it  seems  to  be  true  that  these  too  often 
acted  as  if  the  command  to  be  wise  as  serpents  were  not  as  much  a  divine  re- 
quirement as  the  one  that  bids  us  be  harmless  as  doves.  It  is  pleasant  to  know 
that  their  work  and  that  of  Sergeant  had  blended  together  even  in  the  little 
company  of  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew  emigrants  from  New  York  whose  leader,  John 
Metoxen,  had  been  educated  in  a  Moravian  school  at  Bethlehem,  Pennsylvania. 2 

On  hearing  of  the  loss  of  the  land  some  of  the  company  turned  back,  but . 
Metoxen  and  others,  perhaps  forty  in  number,  pushed  on.  We  trace  their 
course,  in  part,  by  notices  concerning  their  little  church.  "In  May,  1819, 
James  McCockle  wrote  to  Mr.  Sergeant  from  Piqua,  Ohio,  saying  that  the 
papers  of  the  church-members  had  been  received  at  that  place  with  cordiality, 
and  a  communion  service  appointed  on  their  account.  The  pastor  of  the  Piqua 
church 3  frequently  preached  to  them.  They  had  spent  the  winter  in  that  vicin- 

1  By  the  treaty  of  St.  Mary's,  1818,  August  8th.  Apparently  this  contained  no  reference 
to  the  Stock  bridges.  Says  Commissioner  W.  Medell  in  a  report  to  Secretary  Marcy  (1846.  Jan- 
uary 23rd):  "  I  have  examined  the  treaty  with  the  Delawares,  made  in  1818,  for  a  cession  of 
their  lands  in  Indiana,  and  can  tin. I  nothing  that  would  lead  to  the  remotest  idea  that  the 
Stockbridges  had  any  interest  therein." 

"  Also  prominent  in  this  movement  was  Austin  E^Quinney.  The  "  E.  "  is  probably  for  his 
Indian  name:  Ee  tow-o  kaum,  as  given  in  Catlin's  "North  American  Indians;"  or,  E-tow- 
wah-koon  (accent  on  last  syllable),  as  given  by  Mrs.  Frances  Jane  Pendleton,  of  Stockbridge 
blood,  Shawano,  Wisconsin.  The  meaning  is  said  to  be  "  On  both  sides  of  the  river." 

8  The  old  church  is  probably  the  one  that  is  now  in  the  United  Presbyterian  body,  and  if 
so,  was  then,  I  suppose,  connected  with  the  Associate  Reformed  synod. 


110  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

ity,  and  generally  been  ornaments  to  their  profession."1  They  regularly  main- 
tained meetings  of  their  own  in  which  the  reading  of  Scott's  Commentaries 
took  the  place  of  sermons.  This  continued  until  (long  after  their  coining  to 
the  Green  Bay  country)  they  again  enjoyed  the  services  of  a  settled  pastor. 

Sickness  weakened  the  little  band  and  death  lessened  its  number.  We 
may  be  reasonably  sure  that  they  waited  eagerly  to  hear  what  Dr.  Morse  might 
accomplish  for  them  at  Green  Bay.  Thither  a  hundred  years  before,  they  had 
been  invited  to  come,  if  we  can  trust  a  tradition  that  Metoxen  fully  believed, 
by  the  Outagamies  and  the  Sauks.  That  must  have  been  when  these  were  dis- 
puting with  the  French  for  the  mastery  of  the  region  between  Lake  Michigan 
and  the  upper  Mississippi.  There,  too,  were  '•  grandchildren  "  of  the  Stock- 
bridges,  the  Menomonees,  from  whom,  evidently,  favors  were  expected. 

All  these  reasons  make  it  probable  that  as  soon  as  Metoxen  and  his  party 
heard  that  a  new  home  had  been  provided  for  their  people  they  would  set 
about  getting  there  as  soon  as  possible.  But  their  journey  must  needs  be  de- 
layed until  the  cattle  could  feed  by  the  way,  and  perhaps  until  food  could  be 
raised  for  themselves.  For  these  reasons,  we  may  conclude  that  it  was  summer 
or  autumn  of  1822  when  the  little  company  turned  their  backs  upon  the  region 
where  poor  Tatepahqsect  had  been  burned  and  murdered  by  the  ferocious  Sha- 
wano  witch-hunter. 

On  their  way,  after  reaching  Lake  Michigan,  the  Stockbridge  emigrants 
went  in  part  by  canoes  upon  the  water  and  in  part  on  foot  upon  the  land. 
"They  drove  their  cattle  along  the  shore,  camping  where  night  overtook  them. 
They  swam  their  cattle  across  the  streams.  They  had  great  difficulty  in  get- 
ting- them  to  cross  the  river  at  Chicago,  but  finally  one  large  animal,  bolder 
than  the  rest,  plunged  in  and  the  others  followed."2  It  would  be  a  bold  ox 
that  would  swim  the  Chicago  river  in  these  days ! 

"  The  small  immigrant  party  of  some  fifty  of  the  Stockbridges,  which  came 
on  this  year,  located  late  in  the  fall  at  the  Grand  Kakalin,  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Fox  river."  The  site  thus  occupied  is  that  of  South  Kaukauna;  the  year 
1822.  Mr.  Ellis  from  whom  I  quote  this  remark,  seems  to  assume  that  these 
immigrants  came  from  New  York.  Certainly  a  party  did  come  thence  in  1822, 
for  on  December  21st  of  that  year  (the  third)  John  Sergeant  has  among  the 
items  of  the  report  of  his  mission  to  Green  Bay  a  charge  of  $1,670.99  "to  ex- 
penses in  maintenance,  transportation  and  supplies  for  the  colony  left  at  Green 
Bay."  Was  it  he  who  chose  for  his  father's  people  the  marvelous  site  of  South 
Kaukauna?  It  is  quite  as  likely  that  the  choice  was  made  in  1821,  under 
the  leadership  of  Solomon  U.  Hendrick  (Aupaumut),  the  son  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary hero,  for  the  narrow  tract3  secured  that  year  included  the  place  where 
there  was  made  in  1822  the  first  settlement  of  Stockbridges  in  what  is  now 
Wisconsin.  Probably,  however,  the  selection  was  made  by  many  rather  than  * 
by  one ;  perhaps  by  the  party  from  Indiana,  who  may  have  come  earlier  than 

1  Miss  Electa  Jones. 

2  Miss  Helen  C.  Storm,  Stockbridge,  Wisconsin. 

3  With  the  Little  Chute,— which  is  not  Little  Kaukauna,— as  its  center. 


STATESBURG  AND  STOOKBR1DGE.  Ill 

"the  small  immigrant  party"  of  which  Mr.  Ellis  speaks, —  though  I  have  been 
inclined,  without  sufficient  reason,  perhaps,  to  identify  the  two.  And  notwith- 
standing his  express  statement  that  "  the  next  year  [1823]  the  White  river  band 
of  Stockbridges,  headed  by  John  Metoxen,  came  through  by  land  to  the  Bay,"  I 
feel  sure  that,  on  this  point,  he  is  in  error.  For  Rev.  Cutting  Marsh,  who  from 
1830  to  1848  was  missionary  pastor  of  the  little  church  among  the  Stock- 
bridge  Indians,  calls  the  sojourn  in  Indiana  ua  period  of  three  or  four  years. 
*  Whilst  there,  three  of  their  number  died."  He  is  speaking,  appar- 

ently, of  members  of  the  church,  and  thus  continues :  "  In  1822  they  removed 
to  Green  Bay  with  the  rest  of  the  remaining  colony."  This  accords  with  what 
we  might  expect. l  For  when  the  Delawares  sold  the  White  river  land  they 
reserved  the  right  of  occupancy  for  three  years  only,  and  therefore  the  limit 
expired  in  1821.  The  pressure  of  white  emigration  then  pouring  into  that  re- 
gion would  make  it  exceedingly  difficult  for  the  Stockbridges  to  remain  there, 
however,  much  they  might  desire  to  do  so.  By  the  change  in  ownership  of  the 
land  on  which  they  had  sought  to  settle  they  had  become  trespassers  rather 
than  tenants  at  will.  Soon,  we  may  be  sure,  the  little  church  of  the  pilgrim- 
age, with  its  attendant  band,  would  be  compelled,  even  if  they  did  not  desire, 
to  turn  their  faces  northward  toward  the  promised  home  of  all  their  people. 

Thus  came  to  Wisconsin  its  first  Puritan  church.  There  was  here  neither 
minister  nor  priest.  But  these  spiritual  children  of  Sergeant  and  Edwards  did 
not,  in  the  wilderness,  forget  their  God.  "They  kept  up  their  meetings  here 
also." 

They  had  a  worthy  leader  in  Metoxen  whose  knowledge  of  Scripture  is 
shown  in  a  letter  written  1823,  December  2nd,  from  "Cades,  Green  Bay"  (pro- 
bably Grand  Kaukaulin),  to  John  Sergeant,  his  old  pastor.  Mentioning  the 
arrival  of  a  new  band  he  says :  "  Our  brethren  appear  to  be  quite  different  from 
what  they  were  when  I  first  saw  them.  I  trust  that  some  of  them  are  choos- 
ing God  for  their  portion,  remembering  that  he  is  the  only  source  of  true  hap- 
piness for  the  immortal  soul,  and  grieving  because  they  had  forsaken  the  only 
King  of  the  universe.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  the 

soul  was  made  for  God, —  it  came  from  God  and  can  never  be  happy  but  in  re- 
turning to  him  again. 2  Thus  we  may  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  is  moving  upon  them,  saying,  4  Arise  ye  and  depart,  for  this  is  not  your 
rest  If  ye  then  be  risen  with  Christ,  seek  those  things  which  are  above,  where 
Christ  sitteth  on  the  right  hand  of  God.'  ' 

Special  significance  is  given  to  this  letter  by  the  remark :  "  He  and  Mrs. 
Metoxen  found  their  backsliding  brethren  in  deep  waters.  They  had  exposed 
themselves  to  err  by  the  use  of  ardent  spirits."3  What  temperance  work  in 

1  It  is  no  disparagement  to  Mr.  Ellis,— certainly  one  of  our  best  authorities  on  early  Wis- 
consin history,— to  believe  that  of  the  two  Mr.  Marsh  was  likely  to  be  the  better  informed  on 
this  particular  point. 

-'  With  this  remark  of  Metoxen's  it  is  interesting  the  famous  saying  by  St.  Augustine: 
"  Fecisti  nos  ad  to,  et  inquietum  est  cor  nostrum,  donee  requiescat  in  te."  "Thou  hast  made 
us  for  thyself  and  restless  is  the  heart  until  it  rests  in  thee. 

3  Even  some  of  the  delegation  of  1821  were  guilty  of  drunkenness. 


112  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Wisconsin  is  of  earlier  date  than  that  of  these  Indian  Puritans,  John  Metoxen 
and  his  wife?  With  them  the  struggle  against  intoxicants  was  part  of  the 
gospel. 

"  Previous  to  the  arrival  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Miner  as  missionary,  Mr.  Me- 
toxen was  in  the  habit,  as  his  wife  relates,  of  officiating  as  a  religious  teacher 
among  the  tribe,  when  they  had  good  meetings  and  were  much  engaged  in  re- 
ligion." X  Surely  this  first  of  Wisconsin's  deacons  "  served  well  and  gained  to 
himself  a  good  standing  and  great  boldness  in  the  faith  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus.1' 

Years  afterward  Metoxen  was  honored, —  probably  all  unknown  to  him- 
self,—  with  this  fine  tribute  from  his  pastor,  Rev.  Cutting  Marsh:  "In  points  of 
general  intelligence,  manliness  and  integrity  of  character,  he  will  not  suffer  in 
comparison  with  any  white  man." 

Deservedly  was  this  man  made  chief,  or  sachem,  of  his  tribe  "about  1823." 
He  was  chosen  to  this  position  after  the  death  of  Solomon  U.  Hendrick,  who  in 
1817  had  taken  the  place  formerly  held  by  his  father.  The  elder  Hendrick,  it 
grieves  us  to  know,  had  become  one  of  the  countless  victims  of  drunkenness. 
He  lived  on  but  was  no  longer  fit  for  the  duties  of  his  former  office.  His  ser- 
vice had  been  one  of  many  years.  "In  1771  Benjamin  Kok-ke-we-nau-naut, 
called  King  Ben,?  being  ninety-four  years  of  age  resigned  his  office  of  sachem, 
and  requested  his  people  to  elect  a  successor.  Solomon  Un-paun-nau-waun-nutt 
was  chosen.  But  Solomon  died  in  February,  1777,  while  Ben  lived  until  1781, 
dying  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  four.  After  the  death  of  King  Solomon,  the 
government,  it  is  said,  devolved  upon  Joseph  Quan-au-kaunt 
now  generally  spelled  Quinney.  He  divided  his  power  more  equally  with  his 
counselors,  Peter  Poh-quon-nop-peet,  Captain  Hendrick  Aupaumut  and  Captain 
John  Konkapot."3 

It  was  no  mock  government  that  these  men  maintained.  Pastor  Sergeant, 
the  younger,  drew  up  a  code  of  laws  for  his  people  while  they  were  in  New 
York.  »  The  legal  authority  of  the  tribe  was  not  dissolved  in  that  state  until 
1827.  Thus  for  a  time  there  was  tribal  rule  both  in  New  York  and  in  what  is 
now  Wisconsin. 

But  white  men  were  beyond  their  control.  The  ever-present  evil  of  intem- 
perance called  forth  a  letter  from  them  to  Governor  Cass  of  Michigan  Terri- 
tory. They  complained  of  "the  alarming  ravages  of  spirituous  liquors.  It  is 
an  evil  we  wished  to  be  free  from,  and  came  into  this  distant  clime  with  the 

1  From  "The  Last  of  the  Mohicans,"  by  Levi  Konkapot,  Jr.,  in  volume  IV.  of  the  "  Wis- 
consin Historical  Collections." 

2-  This  "  King  Ben  "  could  not,  of  course,  be  the  one  whom  John  W.  Quinney  calls  "  the 
last  of  the  hereditary  chiefs  of  the  Muh-he-con-new  Nation."  For  this  "King  Ben  was  in  his 
prime  in  1645,"  when  "a  grand  council  was  convened  of  the  Muh-he  con-new  tribe,  for  the 
purpose  of  conveying  from  the  old  to  the  young  men,  a  knowledge  of  the  past."  Of  this 
"  knowledge  "  we  have  a  portion  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  chapter. 

3  Miss  Jones's  "  History  of  Stockbridge."  This  John  Konkapot  was  probably  son  or  neph- 
ew of  the  old  captain.  Poh-quon-nop-peet  graduated  from  Dartmouth  college  in  1780,  was 
often  called  "  Sir  Peter  "  and  was  son  of  the  deacon  named  on  page  90. 


STATESBURO  AND  STOCKBR1DGE.  113 

hope  of  finding  a  resting-place,  and  the  hope  of  being  greatly  useful,  by  our 
examples,  toward  civilizing  that  portion  of  our  Indian  brethren  with  whom  we 
should  have  intercourse ;  but  we  are  sadly  disappointed  in  this."  Cass  called 
the  attention  of  the  government  to  the  matter,  and  writing  under  date  of  1826, 
December  9th,  expresses  the  wish  that  Congress  would  act  in  the  matter 
"  promptly  and  efficaciously.  Unless  they  do  so,"  he  adds,  "  vain  are  our  efforts 
to  improve  the  condition  of  the  Indians,  and  false  and  delusive  will  be  our 
hopes." 

The  following  year  must  have  been  one  of  keen  disappointment  to  the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok.  For,  by  the  treaty  of  Little  Butte  des  Morts,1  the  land  on 
which  they  were  living  was  sold  to  1827,  August  8th.  To  their  claims  and 
rights,  as  had  been  the  case  in  Indiana,  there  was  paid  practically  no  attention 
by  those  who  framed  the  treaty. a  How  the  Senate  secured  their  rights  we  have 
already  learned.  This  just  action  on  the  part  of  that  body  was  taken,  partly 
no  doubt,  in  consequence  of  "a  petition  and  appeal"  made  by  the  Indians  in- 
terested,— both  those  in  the  Green  Bay  region  and  their  brethren  in  New  York. 
In  this  matter,  John  W.  Quinney  seems  to  have  represented  all  the  "  New  York 
Indians"  then  living  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  and  for  a  number  of  years  he 
was  the  principal  business  agent  of  his  people. 

Notwithstanding  the  treaty  of  Little  Butte  des  Morts  the  Stockbridges  re- 
mained at  Grand  Kaukaulin,  which  sometime  during  the  years  of  early  occupancy 
came  to  be  called  Statesburg.  Indian  emigration  from  New  York  continued. 
"  The  plan  of  removal  was  by  detachments, —  one  to  go  each  year  until  all  were 
removed."3  Means  were  provided  by  the  sale  of  the  reservation  given  them 
by  the  Oneidas, — the  state  of  New  York  being  the  purchaser.  The  first  sale, 
thus  made,  was  of  four  thousand  five  hundred  acres  in  1813.  Other  purchases 
were  made  by  the  state  in  1822,  1823, 1825  (when  for  the  first  time,  according 
to  Mr.  Quinney,  the  New  York  legislature  paid  an  Indian  tribe  full  value  for 
its  land),  in  1826,  1829  and  1830.  Even  in  1842  and  1847  agreements  in  re- 
gard to  the  transfer  of  land  were  executed  by  the  New  York  land-commission- 
ers and  the  Stockbridges. 

The  '•  Winnebago  war  "  of  June,  1827,  gave  the  Stockbridges  and  Oneidas 
an  opportunity  of  showing  their  allegiance  to  the  United  States.  Sixty-two  of 
them  joined  a  company  raised  by  "General"  William  Dickinson  and  "Colonel" 
Ebenezer  Childs.  The  '*  war  "  was  scarcely  more  than  several  atrocious  mur- 
ders in  the  vicinity  of  Prairie  du  Chien.  There  is  reason  to  fear  that  associ- 
ation with  "Colonel"  Childs  would  offset  much  teaching  on  the  subject  of  tem- 
perance and  almost  every  other  virtue.  Those  who  wonder  that  Christianity 
has  accomplished  no  more  for  the  Indians  should  remember  that  in  its  work 
for  them  it  has  had  to  contend  with  the  vices  of  civilization  as  well  as  with 
those  of  savagery. 

1  See  page  57.    Also  on  page  24,  an  account  of  the  massacre  of  Outagamies  by  Marin. 
a  Governor  Lewis  Cass  and  Colonel  Thomas  L.  McKinney,  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States.    They  treated  with  the  Menomonees  and  Winnebasroes  only. 
8  John  W.  Quinney. 


114  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

But  the  year  1827  was  not,  to  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  one  simply  of  misfor- 
tune. In  July  of  that  year  Mr.  Sergeant's  successor  at  New  Stockbridge,  Rev. 
Jesse  Miner  came  to  Statesburg,  under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Board. 
He  was  evidently  considering  the  question  of  removal  westward  with  the  peo- 
ple whom  he  had  been  serving  in  New  Stockbridge.  He  spent  some  weeks 
with  the  little  pilgrimage  church  that  had  been  pastorless  ever  since  its  or- 
ganization in  1818.  Thus  began, —  if  we  except  Williams's  work,  and  the 
winter's  stay  (1824-1825)  of  Rev.  Norman  Nash,1 — the  first  Protestant  pas- 
torate in  what  is  now  Wisconsin. 

After  his  return  to  New  York  Mr.  Miner  made  ready  to  remove  his  fam- 
ily, and  engaged  the  late  John  Y.  Smith,  so  well  known  in  Wisconsin  history, 
to  come  West  "to  erect  or  work  upon  the  mission  buildings."  Of  the  two,  Mr. 
Smith  was  the  first  to  come,  next  spring,  to  Green  Bay  where  he  arrived  on  the 
18th  of  May,  1828.  That  was  Sunday,  and,  we  may  be  reasonably  sure  that  a 
strict  Presbyterian,  like  Mr.  Smith,  would  go  no  farther  that  day,  if  he  could 
avoid  doing  so.  His  passage  had  been  paid  by  Mr.  Miner,  who  also  furnished 
him  with  twenty  dollars  to  buy  tools.  But  when  the  young  missionary-carpen- 
ter started  from  Utica  he  had  only  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  in  his  pocket.  No 
doubt  he  would  get  at  work  as  soon  as  possible.  In  Librarian  Durrie's  sketch 
of  the  life  of  Mr.  Smith2  it  is  said  that  "his  first  employment  was  on  the  mis- 
sion-house near  Green  Bay,  and  afterwards  at  Kaukauna,  among  the  Stock- 
bridges."  The  reverse  of  this  much  more  likely  to  be  true.  Mr.  Durrie  wrote 
merely  from  a  somewhat  indistinct  recollection  of  what  Mr.  Smith  told  him. 3 
Mr.  Miner  was  soon  to  bring  on  his  family  and  a  house  would  be  needed  for 
their  reception.  For  all  these  reasons  we  may  conclude  that  Mr.  Smith's  first 
work  in  unnamed  Wisconsin  was  at  Statesburg. 

Nor  would  he  build  in  wood  alone.  This  reader  of  Milton  and  of  Ed- 
wards strove  no  doubt,  to  please  his  Indian  neighbors  "for  their  good  unto  edifi- 
cation." He  had  been  chosen  because  of  the  character  that  was  in  him  as  well 
as  for  the  skill  of  his  hands. 

The  home  that  he  built  for  Mr.  Miner  may  have  been  the  second  framed 
house  in  Wisconsin.  It  was  a  story-and-a-half  structure  and  stood  on  or  near 
the  present  site  of  the  railway  "round-house"  at  South  Kaukauna.  Distant 
three-fourths  of  a  mile,  or  thereabout,  stood,  or  was  soon  built,  a  church  that 
was  used  also  as  a  school.  This  was  of  logs,  and  may  have  been  built,  at  Mr. 
Miner's  suggestion,  the  summer  before.  However,  it  is  never  safe  to  presume  of 
a  body  of  Indians  that  they  will  be  in  haste  to  engage  in  any  work  of  this  kind 
or  show  much  perseverance  in  finishing  it.  A  living  witness,4  who  was  brought 
as  a  child  to  Statesburg  in  1829  seems  to  remember  the  building  as  standing 
when  he  came.  Afterward  he  attended  school  in  it.  Whether  built  in  1827 

1  See  chapter  on  the  history  of  Green  Bay. 

2  "Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  volume  VII.,  page  452. 

3  As  he  stated  in  conversation  with  the  writer  hereof. 

4  George  Thomas  Bennett,  born  at  Cedar  Hill,  Albany  county,  New  York,  22nd  of  Au- 
gust, 1823. 


STATESBUIW  AND  STOCKBR1DGK.  115 

or  in  1828  this  building  was,  for  a  time,  the  only  house  of  worship  in  Wiscon- 
sin. For  the  combination  church-and-school  which  the  Roman  Catholics  began 
at  Shanty  town  in  1823  had  been  burned. 

Mr.  Miner  arrived  at  his  new  home  (probably)  on  the  20th  of  June,  1828. 
Strengthened  by  the  work  of  the  summer  before,  his  people  had  proved  faithful. 
"During  the  preceding  winter,  when  no  missionary  or  teacher  was  among  them, 
they  kept  up  religious  worship  on  the  Sabbath,  the  monthly  concert  for  prayer, 
Sabbath  school,  weekly  conference,  female  prayer  meeting,  and  meeting  of 
young  people  for  reading  the  Scriptures." l  There  are  some  churches  that  do  no 
better  than  this  even  when  they  do  have  a  pastor. 

There  probably  never  was  a  genuine  Puritan  church  without  a  school  close 
at  hand.  One  was  established  at  Statesburg,  in  1828.  It  was  taught  by  Miss 
Elect u  Quinney2  who  had  spent  six  years  in  the  famous  foreign-mission  school 
at  Cornwall,  Connecticut,  and  had  been  a  teacher  among  her  own  people  in  New 
York.  Thus  Statesburg  has  the  honor  of  establishing  what  was  practically  the 
first  of  American  free  public  schools  in  the  region  between  Lake  Michigan  and 
the  Mississippi;  and  Miss  Quinney  herself,  with  one  possible  exception,3  was 
our  first  schoolmistress, —  the  first  teacher,  indeed,  of  a  free  school. 

An  assistant  missionary,  Augustus  T.  Ambler,  who  is  called  a  physician  in 
the  "Missionary  Herald"  for  January,  1829,  arrived  at  Statesburg,  1828,  No- 
vember 4th.  It  may  be  that  he  came  to  do  school  work,  but  if  so,  the  state  of 
his  health  forbade  it.  A  change  of  field  did  not  long  preserve  his  life.  Going 
southward  he  died  in  1831  at  one  of  the  missions  among  the  Choctaws. 

The  winter  of  1828-29  was  one  of  special  interest  in  the  re-organized  mis- 
sion. A  letter  from  Mr.  Miner  published,  without  date,  in  the  "Missionary 
Herald  "  of  June,  1829,  gives  the  subjoined  narrative :  "  The  good  work  of  God 
is  still  going  on  in  this  place,  and  I  hope  with  increasing  power.  Eight  of  the 
natives  were  added  to  the  church  the  first  Sabbath  in  this  month ; '  also  two  of 
my  sons,  and  one  mechanic  laboring  at  this  station,  making  the  whole  number 
added  since  my  arrival  twenty-five.  About  fifteen  others  are  indulging  hopes, 
some  of  them,  I  believe,  on  good  grounds.  Meetings  are  solemn,  still,  refresh- 
ing. Most  of  the  youth  are  seriously  concerned,  or  hoping.  Meetings  are  full 
on  the  Sabbath."  This  was  doubtless  the  first  religious  revival  in  Wisconsin. 

But  the  hand  that  sent  the  glad  tidings  was  even  then  forever  still.  His 
pastorate  had  ended  with  his  life  On  the  22nd  of  the  preceding  March.  Near 
where  he  labored  in  life  his  people  made  his  grave.  "  I  am  sorry,"  writes  Mr. 
Miner's  daughter, 5  that  I  can  tell  you  so  little  of  my  father.  An  old  Indian 
woman  whom  1  met  six  years  ago,  who  had  belonged  to  his  church,  said  that  he 
was  like  a  father  to  the  Indians  and  they  loved  him  much.  They  gave  him  an 

1  "Missionary  Herald,"  January,  1829. 

a  Indian  name:  "  Wuh-weh-wee-nee-meew ;"  or,  "  Woh-weh-wee-nee-meew." 

3  "  In  1828  the  five  American  families  at  Shanty  Town,  now  a  part  of  Qreen  Bay,  erected 
a  IOR  school  house  and  imported  a  young  lady  teacher  from  the  East  — Miss  Caroline  Russell." 
—  RKUBKN  GOLD  THWAITBS,  in  "  History  of  Education  in  Wisconsin." 

4  February,  perhaps.    But  the  winter  mails  of  that  time  were  few  and  irregular. 

*  Mrs.  M  A.  Whitney,  Grand  Crossing.  Illinois.  26th  of  May,  1891. 


116  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Indian  name,  Wah-nuh-wah-meet,  which  means  'very  true  man.'1  He  died  at 
the  age  of  forty-seven.  The  Indians  had  these  words  placed  on  his  tombstone : 
*  He  shall  gather  the  outcasts  of  Israel  together.'  He  had  translated  many  of 
our  hymns  into  their  language,  forming  quite  a  hymn-book,  from  which  they 
sang  at  his  funeral.  My  father  lies  buried  in  the  cemetery  at  Kaukauna,  to 
which  he  was  removed  from  the  old  mission  burying-ground. 2  Metoxen  was 
loved  of  my  father  and  revered  of  my  elder  brothers." 

In  the  spring  of  1829,  Mr.  Quinney,  who  had  been  in  New  York  and  Wash- 
ington to  protest  against  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  Little  Butte  des  Morts, 
"collected  the  poor  of  the  Stockbridge  nation,  who  were  unable  to  remove 
themselves,  to  the  number  of  thirty  souls,  and  returned  home  with  them."  This 
was  virtually  the  end  of  the  tribal  emigration,  though  our  warrior-friend,  Cap- 
tain Hendrick  (Aupaumut)  did  not  leave  New  York  until  the  following  Sep- 
tember. 

On  the  24th  of  the  same  month  Cutting  Marsh,  a  missionary  for  the  Stock- 
bridge  tribe,  was  ordained  in  the  famous  Park-street  church  of  Boston.3 

The  early  closing  of  navigation  that  year  prevented  Mr.  Marsh  from 
reaching  his  field  of  service  until  spring.  He  spent  the  winter, —  profitably  as 
he  thought, — with  friends  at  an  Indian  mission  station,  Maumee,  Ohio.  "  Thurs- 
day, April  9th,"  he  writes  in  his  diary,  "  took  my  leave  of  the  mission  friends 
at  Maumee.  The  Sabbath  following,  was  at  Monroe  [Michigan],  and  preached. 
The  next  Sabbath  was  at  Detroit,  and  Tuesday  following,  April 
20th,  set  sail  for  the  Bay;  passed  four  days  at  Mackinaw  very  pleasantly,  and 
arrived  at  the  Bay,  April  30th.  May  1st,  Saturday,  went  on  board  a  boat  at 
the  Bay,  for  Statesburgh,  and  arrived  about  half  past  ten  that  evening,  in  safe- 
ty, though  much  fatigued.  May  2nd,  Sabbath,  preached  for  the  first  time  to 
an  Indian  congregation.  Was  struck  with  the  order  which  prevailed  in  the 
house  of  God,  the  attention  with  which  they  listened,  and  their  apparent 
solemnity." 

Good  order  has  always  been  noted  as  a  characteristic  of  the  religious  meet- 
ings of  these  people.  Of  this  fact  and  others,  we  have  an  interesting  witness 
in  Mr.  Colton,  who  reported  for  us  his  recollection  of  the  speeches  made  by 

1  Without  doubt  Mrs.  Whitney  is  in  error.  It  is  probable  that  what  she  sought  to  trans- 
literate is  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew  term  "Wah-weh-nuh-maht,"  "This  true  man."  Literally  it 
may  be  "  This  true  one,"  for  the  word  for  "  man  "  is  "  mon-naow." 

a-This  was  done  chiefly  by  the  reverent  thoughtfulness  of  Herbert  Battles  Tanner,  M.  D., 
of  South  Kaukauna. 

The  stone  now  at  the  grave  bears  the  inscription  (with  errors) : 

IN  MEMORY  OF 

JESSE  MINER, 

BORN  SEPT.  26, 1781. 

COMMENCED  THE  MOHEAKUMUK  MISSION 

AT  THIS  PLACE,  JUNE  20,  1828. 

DIED  MARCH  22,  1829. 

AGED  49. 

3  The  occasion  must  have  been  one  of  peculiar  interest.  Fifteen  others  were  ordained  at 
the  same  time,  one  other  for  service  among  Indians,  two  for  work  in  foreign  lands,  three  to 
become  agents  for  benevolent  institutions,  and  nine  to  be  home  missionaries.  The  services 
were  under  the  direction  of  the  presbytery  of  Newburyport. 


8TATESBURG  AND  STOCK  BRIDGE.  117 

John  Metoxen  at  the  council  of  1830.  Writing  under  date  of  August  16th  of 
that  year,  Mr.  Colton  gives  a  most  entertaining  account  of  the  Stockbridge  set- 
tlement on  Fox  river,  at  "  Grande  Kawkawlin  "  as  he  calls  it.  He  explains  that 
"Kawkawlin"  means  "falls"  or  "rapids,"  adding  that  "Grande"  is  French  and 
needs  no  explanation.  "I  am  now  writing,"  he  says,  "from  the  mission  house 
of  the  American  Board.  The  Stockbridges  number  about  three  hundred  fifty 
souls,  and  have  probably  made  greater  attainments  in  the  English  language  and 
milliners,  and  in  the  useful  arts  of  civilized  life,  and  also  in  the  Christian  relig- 
ion, than  any  other  tribe  of  the  aborigines  on  the  continent;  except  that  the 
lir.itherton  Indians  have  so  long  used  English  as  to  have  lost  their  mother 
tongue.  But  in  the  moral  state  of  society  and  in  general  improvement  the 
Brothertons  are  far  behind  the  Stockbridges."1  The  day  before  was  Sunday 
and  Mr.  Colton  had  attended  service.  Amid  over-hanging  trees  there  was  a 
well-built  log  church,  used  also  as  a  school.  It  would  seat  a  congregation  of 
three  hundred.  There  was  a  Sunday-school  with  Indian  teachers  and  a  white 
superintendent  (probably  J.  D.  Stevens).  All  the  congregation  were  "  neatly 
dressed  in  a  costume  about  half  way  between  the  European  habit  and  that  of 
the  wild  tribes."  This,  to  Mr.  Colton's  mind,  suggested  the  degree  of  their 
civilization.  "The  men  seldom  wear  hats."  There  were  differences  in  dress 
indicating,  as  among  whites,  "social  standing,  degree  of  respectability,  and  do- 
mestic wealth."  The  afternoon  sermon  was  "interpreted  for  the  benefit  of  the 
small  portion  of  the  tribe  who  do  not  understand  English."  The  singing  is 
highly  and,  I  doubt  not,  deservedly  praised.  It  was  probably  in  both  lan- 
guages. 

"The  staff  and  office  of  parish  beadle"2  particularly  interested  our  trav- 
eler. He  thinks  it  probable  that  the  office,  with  its  peculiar  duties,  originated 
in  the  time  of  John  Sergeant,  and  makes  no  mention  of  the  probability  that  it 
was  merely  a  transference  to  an  Indian  church  of  a  custom, —  that  of  choosing  a 
tithiivr-inan, —  existing  at  that  time  ainjng  their  white  neighbors.  "The  staff  in 
the  present  instance  was  a  green  switch  about  ten  feet  long  which  the  function- 
ary had  cut  from  the  wood  as  he  came  to  church."  This  was  used  with  such 
vigor  about  the  ears  of  at  least  one  disorderly  boy  that  they  must  have  burned, 
Mr.  Colton  thinks,  the  rest  of  the  day.  A  sleeping  adult  was  roused  by  hitting, 
with  the  heavy  end  of  the  "switch,"  the  stove-pipe  until  it  rang,  the  beadle 
meanwhile  crying  out  in  Indian,  "  Wake  up  there!"  This  official  is  spoken  of 
verely  and  strictly  impartial,  and  our  traveler  does  not  doubt  that  even  a 
stranger  would  be  duly  admonished  if  there  should  be  need.  On  this  particu- 
lar occasion,  though  the  preacher  was  manifestly  disturbed,  the  congregation  re- 
mained unmoved,  taking  the  whole  proceding  as  a  matter  of  course.  The 
drowsy  one  gave  good  heed  to  the  rest  of  the  sermon,  and  the  fact  is  noted  that 
the  congregation  was  very  attentive. 

Another  thing  that  especially  interested  Mr.  Colton  was  the  fact  that  after 

1  Not  so  MOW,  whatever  may  have  heen  the  case  in  1830. 
a  Mr.  Colton's  book  was  meant  for  British  readers. 


US  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

the  benediction  the  congregation  sat  down,  giving  those  nearest  the  door  an  op- 
portunity to  retire.  Others  then  followed'  without  confusion. 

The  next  entry  in  Mr.  Marsh's  diary  is  dated  on  the  Sunday  after  Mr.  Col- 
ton's  visit,  August  22nd.  "  On  the  whole  I  have  passed  the  time  agreeably." 
He  has  been  led  to  believe  that  he  is  somewhat  esteemed  by  his  people,  but 
speaks  of  the  astonishing  fickleness  of  many  of  them.  "I  seem  almost  to  be 
amongst  the  children  of  Israel  who  one  day  sing  God's  praises  and  perhaps  the 
next  murmur  against  him."  There  had  been  one  case  of  discipline, —  for  in- 
temperance. He  continues : 

"  In  respect  to  these  Indians,  a  dark  cloud  seems  to  be  gathering  over  their 
future  prospects.  Notwithstanding  all  their  precautions,  government  seems  de- 
termined, if  possible,  to  drive  them  from  this,  their  supposed  last,  retreat. 
They  seem  to  be  in  trouble  and  hardly  know  what  to  do.  *  *  * 

"  August  29th  (Sabbath).  Things  outwardly  appear  dull  and  discouraging. 
Almost  all  of  my  dear  people,  both  men  and  women,  absent  at  the  Bay  attend- 
ing the  treaty  with  the  agents  of  government.  Oh !  when  will  they  become 
more  stable,  and  less  attracted  by  what  is  new  or  of  a  public  nature.  When 
will  they  feel  that  providing  for  their  families  both  food  and  clothing,  taking 
care  of  their  crops  and  farms,  are  objects  of  the  greatest  temporal  importance, 
or  more  [important]  than  running  where  they  are  not  asked  and  can  accom- 
plish no  real  good!  No  preaching;  the  number  so  small;  but  [I]  occupied  the 
time  in  the  morning,  after  reading  the  CIII.  psalm  in  making  remarks,  together 
with  Mr.  Stevens." 

With  this  entry  it  is  interesting  to  compare  those  made  about  the  same 
time  by  Commissioner  McCall.  We  have  had1  a  part  of  his  record, —  apart 
that  pertains  to  the  business  for  which  the  council  was  called  together.  Addi- 
tional portions  here  reproduced  make  known  some  of  the  utterly  demoralizing 
features  of  the  occasion,  and  show  to  what  sort  of  influences  the  Indians  were 
exposed  from  nearly  all  their  white  neighbors  at  the  vile,  mongrel  Green  Bay  of 
sixty-four  years  ago.  "At  night," — August  27th, —  says  Mr.  McCall,  "a  band 
of  the  Winnebagoes  appeared,  painted  all  coulors  —  not  only  their  faces  but 
their  bodies — before  the  door  of  the  house  where  we  boarded,  incouraged  by 
some  and  Treated  by  others  with  whiskey.  They  held  the  war  dance  and  kept 
it  up  until  10  o'clock  at  night,  with  all  their  disfigured  and  distorted  counte- 
nances—  naked  except  Breech  clouts.  All,  with  some  kind  of  warlike  weapon 
and  horrid  yell,  made  them  resemble  so  many  infernals."  On  Saturday,  the 
28th,  "after  we  adjourned  about  70  Pottowatimies  came  in  —  all  to  git  rations, 
as  they  had  no  concern  in  the  treaty  or  councel.  At  evening  the  Winnibagoes 
held  another  war  dance  in  which  the  head  chief,  Four-Legs,  displayed  great 

activity. 

"29.  Sunday.  Laid  by.  About  9  o'clock  Four-Legs  came  to  the  house 
and  asked  if  we  wanted  them  to  dance.  We  told  them  it  was  Sunday,  or  day 
to  worship  the  Great  Spirit.  He  said  white  man  sent  him  Telling  him  we 

1  On  page  60. 


}  AM)  STOTKBKIDUK.  119 

wished  to  have  them  dance,  as  there  would  be  no  councel.     No  doubt  some  per- 
son did  it  for  To  make  sport." 

The  heathen  Fore-Legs!  Were  he  only  living  now  he  would  find  many 
44  Christians  "  ready  to  dance  with  him, —  and,  for  that  matter,  to  get  drunk  with 
him, —  on  Sunday;  some  of  whom  would  be  moved  to  the  deepest  indigna- 
tion at  the  denial  of  religious  liberty  involved  in  the  proposition  that  the  state 
may  justly  require  the  use  of  its  official  language  in  the  instruction  of  the  chil- 
dren of  its  own  citizens. 

Had  Commissioner  McCall  been  of  the  sort  that  many  officials  are,  he 
would  have  had  u  Four-legs  "  and  his  company  dance,  have  given  them  whisky, 
and  then,  on  his  return  home,  been  ready  to  express  the  opinion  that  it  is  im- 
possible to  civilize  or  Christianize  the  Indians. 

<(il  have  forgot  to  mention,"  says  Mr.  McCall  in  his  entry  for  the  next 
Tuesday,  ••  that  a  drunken  soldier  posted  near  the  Indian  encampment  to  guard 
a  field  of  potatoes  &  corn,  stabed  a  Menominee  chief  — a  harmless  old  man  — 
by  the  name  of  Big  Soldier.  The  soldier  was  put  under  guard  and  probably 
will  be  punished  for  getting  drunk  on  his  post  and  for  improper  conduct  as  a 
soldier."  We  wonder  if  Mr.  McCall  smiled  when  he  wrote  next  day,  "To  the 
Indian  wounded  by  the  soldier  yesterday  we  presented  one  bbl.  pork,  one  bar- 
rel of  flour  and  3  bushels  of  corn,  and  then  the  councel  Broke  up"  (Septem- 
ber 1st.) 

u  Without  accomplishing  the  object  for  which  it  was  called  together,"  he 
might  have  added.  Reasons  for  this  we  have  already  learned:  There  was 
the  natural  desire  of  the  Menomonees  and  the  Winnebagoes  to  keep  their  land. 
To  be  sure  they  had  more  than  they  needed  and  had  accepted  from  the  New 
York  Indians  payment  for  part  of  it.  But  those  who  may  have  authority  to 
make  a  contract  do  not  always  have  the  continuance  of  life  and  power  to  carry 
it  out.  Such  was  the  case  in  this  instance,  Mr.  J.  W.  Quinney  tells  us.  More- 
over, in  every  community  there  is  always  a  dishonest  party,  and  the  Menomo- 
nees and  the  Winnebagoes  knew  very  well  that  what  they  could  keep  from  the 
New  York  Indians  they  could  sell  to  the  United  States.  That  was  what  the 
Americans  at  Green  Bay  wished  them  to  do.  This  class  of  whites  desired  to 
get  rid  of  the  Indians  already  there  rather  than  to  have  any  more  come.  To 
throw  all  obstacles  possible  in  the  way  of  further  Indian  immigration  was  a 
work  that  required  a  knowledge  not  possessed  by  the  ignorant  Menomonees  and 
Wiimebagoes,  and  there  were  not  wanting  means  by  which  payment  could  be 
secured  for  such  service.  As  to  the  French  of  Green  Bay  they,  of  course, 
would  be  inclined  to  take  sides  with  the  Menomonees  among  whom  they  had  so 
many  kinsmen.  Religion,  too,  which  like  so  many  other  things,  serves,  accord- 
ing to  its  quality,  one  extreme  or  the  other,  was  in  this  case,  if  Mr.  Ellis  has 
rightly  informed  us,  brought  to  bear  among  the  Roman  Catholics  of  Green  Bay 
against  the  coming  of  the  New  York  Indians  because  they  were  Protestants. 
Then  we  must  not  forget  the  preposterous  schemes  and  broken  promises  of 
Eleazar  Williams,  nor  the  extravagant  claims  of  the  New  York  Indians  them- 


120  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

selves, —  more  than  three  hundred  four  acres  of  land  to  "  every  soul  interested." 

After  the  breaking  up  of  the  council,  the  Indians  who  had  been  impudent 
in  their  refusals  as  related  to  the  k4  Wappinackies,"  or  New  York  Indians,  be- 
came equally  impudent  in  beggary  for  themselves.  Mr.  McCall  tells  the  story : 

"In  the  afternoon  [of  the  day  when  the  council  finally  adjourned]  the 
com'rs  were  invited  to  attend  at  the  agent's  house  to  hear  what  the  Indians  had 
to  say  to  him. 1  After  their  usual  formalities  they  began  by  stating  they  were 
poor  and  ignorant  creatures,  and  they  wanted  to  know  where  all  the  commis- 
sioners' instructions  came  from  and  no  presents.  That  they  were  going  home 
to  gather  their  rice  and  they  had  no  Tobacco  to  smoak,  and  instead  of  a  pipe 
they  had  to  put  a  stick  in  their  mouth.  That  they  wanted  2  days'  rations  to 
help  them  home.  That  they  wanted  powder  &  shot  to  assist  them  to  procure 
meat  for  their  children.  Besides,  the  current  was  strong  to  push  against  and 
they  wanted  to  suck  one  of  their  father's  breasts  — that  milk  would  make  them 
strong  —  meaning  a  keg  of  whiskey  to  suck  at.  Then  paused  a  little  and  said 
that  they  had  heard  of  their  great  father  the  president,  and  wanted  to  go  and 
'see  him,  but  was  so  poor  that  [they]  could  not  go  without  his  help,  and  wanted 
the  agent  to  write  to  the  president  to  furnish  them  with  clothing  and  expenses, 
and  for  the  agent  or  some  other  person  to  accompany  them  with  an  interpreter. 
Also  to  go  to  Washington.  A  fine  Job  for  two  or  three  to  make  money.  A 
plan  got  up  by  Judge  [James  D.]  Doty  and  the  Grigions  to  rob  the  Treasury 
'of  some  eight  or  ten  thousand  dollars." 

On  the  next  Friday  ''the  wounded  Indian  came  with  two  or  three  others, 
as  our  interpreter  informed  us,  To  take  his  leave  of  us  and  to  ask  for  a  blanket, 
a  shirt  and  some  Tobacco  which  we  gave  him,,  and  to  3  others  gave  each  a  shirt 
—  being  the  last  of  what  4  ps.  of  Blue  callico  made,  as  it  has  been  a  fashion 
to  give  every  one  a  shirt  that  comes  to  dine.  Towards  evening  the  old  man  was 
as  drunk  as  any  of  them." 

What  wonder  that  Mr.  Marsh  lamented  that  so  many  of  his  people  had 
gone  to  form  part  of  such  a  throng  as  Mr.  McCall  pictures  to  us !  The  mot- 
ley crowd  had  to  be  fed  by  the  commissioners,  and  by  the  greatest  number2  of 
rations  issued  in  any  one  day, — 1872, —  we  have  a  datum  from  which  to  esti- 
mate the  largest  attendance. 

Two  of  the  commissioners,  Mr.  McCall  and  Mr.  Root,3  believed  in  the 
substantial  justice  of  the  claims  made  by  the  Stockbridges,  the  Oneidas  and  the 
Brothertowns.  The  third  member  of  the  commission,  Mr.  John  T.  Mason,  did 
not  "  concur  in  the  position  taken  in  relation  to  the  claim  of  the  New  York  In- 
dians." But  his  colleagues  seem  to  be  supported  in  their  views  by  the  terms  of 
the  treaties  on  which  said  claim  was  based.  The  first, —  that  of  1821, —  sold  a 
tract,  the  boundaries  of  which  are  thus  given :  k'  Beginning  at  the  foot  of  the 
rapids  on  the  Fox  river,  usually  called  the  Grand  Kakalin ;  thence  up  said  river 

1  Samuel  C.  Stambaugh  was  then  in  charge  of  the  Indian  agency. 

2  "  Greatest  number  1,445  M.— 75  Win.— N.  Y.  191  — Chip.  161,  per  day,"  is  the  way  Mr. 
McCall  gives  the  statement..   ?  *.  • 

3  See  note  1,  page  56. 


AND  STOCK  BRIDGE.  121 

to  the  rapids  at  the  Winnebago  lake,  and  from  the  river  extending  back  in  this 
width  on  each  side  to  the  northwest  and  the  southeast  equidistant  with  the  lands 
claimed  by  the  said  Menominie  and  Winnebago  nations  of  Indians."  Mr.  El- 
lis describes  the  tract  as  having  "  the  Little  Chute  as  a  center." J  He  further 
tells  us  that  "after  much  deliberation, <and  a  good  deal  of  hesitation,  it  was  con- 
cluded, on  the  advice,  chiefly,  of  Hendrick,  the  Mo-he-kun-nuck  chief,  to  accept 
the  grant."2  For  this  the  New  York  'Indians  paid  two  thousand  dollars. 

"The  acquisition  by  this  treaty,",  say  Messrs.  McCall  and  Root  in  contin- 

•  aing  their  report,  "  did  not  give  perfect  satisfaction  to  every  portion  of  the  New 
York  Indians.          *          *          They  were  therefore  promoted  to  solicit  the  GQV- 
/ernment  for -its  aid  in  procuring  an  extension  of  the  cession.  The 
Government  ^efficiently   aided    them   in  the    accomplishment   of   their    object 

-  *          *          and  appointed  an  Agent  [John  Sergeant,  Jr.]  to  superintend  the 
negotiation  on  the  part  of  the  United  States.     Thus  encouraged  and  sustained, 
they  conclude^  a  treaty  with  the  Menominie  nation  at  Green 
Bay  on  tUe  23rd  of  September,  1822.     By  this  treaty  the  Menominies  ceded, 
released  ai>d  quit  claimed  to  the  New  York  Indians,  all  their  right,  title,, (inter- 
est and  claii^  to  a  large  tract  of  country  containing  at  least  five  million^  of 
acres,  rather,  undefined,  but,  limited  southwesterly  by  lands  cede(d  to  them  the 
year  before,  by  the  Winnebagoes  and  Menomini^a,.  and ;  by  the  jJNiannawahkiah 
(supposed  to  be  the  Minnewawkie)  river,3   easterly  q/ft^  northeasterly  by  Lake 
Michigan  and  the  Bay  des  Enock,-4   northerly  and  northwesterly  by  the  height 
of  laud  between  the  waters  of  Lake  Superior  and.  thofee  running  into  Green 
Bay  and  Lake  Michigan.     This  cession  was    made  in  consideration  of  .three 
thousand1  dollars." .                 ;#',  •• 

This  is  the  treaty  that  the  Menomonees  afterward  so  vehemently  repudi- 
/  ated.     But  the  New  York  Indians  strenuously  insiste<J:»on  the  rights.     What 
i!i« -si1  were  was  referred  by  the  next  treaty.— that  of  Little  Butte  <des,  Morts, 
;  —  to  the  President  for  arbitration,  and  it  was  to  aid  in  determining,  the  ques- 
tions  involved  that  the  commission,  of  1830  was  appointed.     Its  work  was  not 
wholly  in  vain,  though  the  Stockbridges  and  Brothertowns  wei*e  njpt  able  ,to  keep 
,,'the  peaces  where  they  bad  made  their  homes.     Again  Mr.  Quinney.was  called 
upon  to  represent  at  least  the  former  in  business  then  ?  peopling  at  Washington. 
For  the  scheme  so  indignantly  denounced  by  Mr.  McCall  was  in  some  measure 
carried  out  though,  not,  so  far  as  appears,  by  the  rnei>.  .whom  he, named.     Acting- 
Agent  Samuel  C.  Stambaugh,  who  had  been  a  leading  marplot  in  defeating  the 
aims  of  the  commissioners,  soon  made  ready  to  go  to  Washington  taking  with 
him  some  fourteen  of  the  Menomonees.     This  party  left  Green  Bay  on  the  8th 
of  November,  1830... 

We  learn  from  Mr.  Marsh's  diary  that  lie  was  fully  in  sympathy  with  his 

1  See  page  66,  where,  to  my  great  regret,  the  "  Little  Chute  "  i&mistakenly  identified  with 
ih«>  Lit  tie  Kaukaulin,  or  Little  Kaukauna.         i  u;  .?.?,.-£.,  •! 

'  "  \Yiscou8ja  Historical  Collections,"  volume  II,,  page  4?6.i     • 
;<  The  Milwaukee  river. 
4  Hither  the  Big  or  the  Little  Bay  de  Noquet.   Escanatia,  Upper  Michigan,  in  oil  the'  former. 


122  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

people.  Under  date  of  October  28th,  he  wrote:  "Went  to  Green  Bay  in  com- 
pany with  Mr.  Metoxen,  Saturday  night.  Stayed  at  the  Rev.  Mr.  Cadel's 
[Cadle's],  and  was  very  kindly  and  hospitably  entertained.  Sunday,  A.  M., 
heard  him  preach.  Sermon  upon  the  death  of  Bishop  Hobart.  In  the  after- 
noon, [I]  went  to  the  garrison  and  preached  to  the  soldiers.  About  100  present, 
and  all  gave  good  attention. 

"Monday,  November  1st.  Just  one  year  from  the  time  I  landed  at  De- 
troit. Parted  from  J.  W.  Quinney  and  Mr.  [Robert]  Stewart  [Stuart]  from 
Mackinaw  who  sailed  in  the  Mariner,  Captain  Johnson.  Tuesday,  2nd.  Re- 
turned to  Statesburgh. 

"  Wednesday,  10th.  Went  to  Green  Bay  and  passed  the  remainder  of  the 
week;  but,  alas,  little  satisfaction  can  be  taken  there:  all  is  discord  and  con- 
fusion. Hardly  knew  what  to  do  in  respect  to  the  affairs  of  the  Indians;  their 
state  is  indeed  precarious  and  involved  in  uncertainty. 

"  November  25th,  1830.  The  day  set  apart  for  Thanksgiving  and  prayer. 
*  *  Solemnized  a  marriage,  it  being  [of]  a  couple  who  had  lived  to- 
gether in  an  unlawful  manner.  The  manner  in  which  the  marriage  covenant  is 
treated  here  [is]  truly  a  great  evil,  and  in  consequence,  society  is  very  much 
disorganized,  and  it  is  but  one  of  the  lamentable  evils  that  abound  here. 

"  Sabbath,  December  5th.  Spoke  against  parents'  interfering  in  marriages 
of  adult  sons  and  daughters.  So  far  as  I  understand  the  Bible,  children  are 
not  under  obligation  to  obey  their  parents  in  this  respect  *  *  [though] 
their  consent  should  be  asked,  and,  if  possible,  obtained.  The  interference  of 
parents  has  caused  great  confusion  among  this  people.  *  * 

In  the  evening,  a  meeting  at  Mr.  Metoxen's  [at  which  he  notes  that  Austin 
E.  Quinney  spoke  in  English]. 

"Sabbath,  January  2d,  [1831].  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Whitney  from  Green  Bay 
attended  the  meeting.  6th.  Went  up  to  Smithfield,  and  made  sofiifef  calls  and 
addressed  a  few  at  Mr.  Smith's.  [On  the  llthj;he  went  again  to  Smithfield, 
which,  I  am  inclined  to  think,  was  an  Oneida  settlement  that  lie  is  soon  to  tell 
us  about.  A  hymn  that  he  gave  out  they  sang  in  Mohawk.] 

"  Saturday,  January  22nd.  In  the  forenoon  went  [from  Green  Bay]  to 
Duck  Creek.  Passed  the  night  and  Sabbath  at  Mr.  Beard's  who  belongs  to  the 
church.  Immediately  after  my  arrival,  received  a  message  from  some  of  the 
leading  men  that  they  had  received  orders  from  Mr.  Williams  not  to  hear  any 
minister  preach  of  another  denomination,  and  so  I  must  not  preach.  O  how 
unlike  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.  [He  attended  service  as  a  hearer.]  Found 
perhaps  sixty  or  seventy  present,  of  all  ages.  The  [Episcopal]  church  service 
was  read  and  accompanied  with  singing  twice,  and  a  short  portion  of  Scripture 
was  read  from  one  of  the  Gospels  and  then  the  services  were  concluded,  in  all 
occupying  perhaps  half  or  three-quarters  of  an  hour.  Alas,  how  jejune,  and 
how  little  calculated  to  enlighten  and  instruct  the  ignorant  are  such  services ! 
In  the  evening,  attended  what  was  called  a  prayer  meeting.  When  I  arrived, 
found  the  meeting  had  commenced,  and  after  I  arrived  they  sang  about  a  dozen 


STATKSBUim  AND  STOCKBIUIHiK.  123 

times,  and  then  read  a  prayer,  the  same  they  had  in  the  day  time,  and  the  meet- 
ing broke  up.  Felt  poorly  paid  for  walking  a  mile  to  attend  a  meeting  where 
there  seemed  to  be  neither  the  life  nor  the  power  of  godliness.  Still  I  hope 
that  I  am  unfeignedly  thankful  that  God  has  cast  my  lot  among  a  people  where 
it  is  entirely  different, —  where  there  appears  to  be  much  of  a  spirit  of  genuine 
piety,  and  where  our  social  meetings  are  often  highly  interesting  and  spiritual. 

"Was  very  hospitably  entertained  in  the  family  of  Mr.  Beard  who  is  a 
member  of  the  Episcopal  church.  His  appears  to  be  a  spirit  of  genuine  kind- 
ness, unmingled  with  ostentation,  or  without  expecting  a  reward.  His  family 
consists  of  a  wife  and  three  children  —  one  of  them  able  to  read  in  the  New 
Testament,  which  is  the  case  with  very  few  of  the  Oneidas. 

"Monday,  24th.  Returned  to  the  Kakalin.  Tuesday,  25th.  Went  to 
Smithfield,  and  attended  to  the  Sunday-school  there.1  On  the  way,  called  at 
Metoxen's  and  saw  his  infant  child  die. 

"Tuesday,  February  3rd.  *  *  Mr.  Stevens  absent  at  the  Bay. 
*  In  his  absence,  am  teaching  the  school.  *  *  Had  but 

just  commenced  my  school  when  word  came  that  Abram  Abrams  had  frozen  to 
death  in  a  drunken  fit !  At  two  o'clock,  went  and  attended  the 

funeral  of  a  young  man,  Dolly  Isaac's  son,  at  Smithfield.  Saturday,  12th. 
Eclipse  of  the  sun.  Commenced  a  little  after  10  o'clock,  A.  M.  The  whole  ob- 
scuration [lasted]  about  two  and  one-half,  or  perhaps,  two  and  one-fourth  hours/' 

On  the  2nd  of  May,  1831,  Mr.  Marsh  made  report  to  the  "  venerable  so- 
ciety" in  Scotland,  "having  been  certified  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Codman,  sec- 
retary of  your  Board  in  Boston,  of  my  appointment  *  *  as  mis- 
sionary among  the  Indians. 

"The  settlement  of  the  Stockbridge  Indians  is  situated  upon  the  south-east 
side  of  Fox  river,  near  what  is  called  the  Grand  Kacalin  or  Big  Rapids, 
and  extends  along  the  river  about  four  miles  in  length,  and  from 
one  and  a  half  to  two  in  breadth. 

"  About  one  hundred  of  the  Oneida  tribe  who  left  the  state  of  New  York 
last  summer  have  joined  the  Stockbridge  Indians;  [have]  settled  down  on  the 
Fox  [river],  two  or  three  miles  above  them."  When  Mr.  Marsh  made  his 
report,  he  and  Mr.  Stevens  were  holding  meetings,  once  each  Sabbath,  with 
these  Oneidas.  Other  services,  and  a  Sunday-school  of  twenty-five  or  thirty 
pupils,  they  maintained  by  themselves. 

This  settlement  is  probably  Mr.  Marsh's  "Smithfield."  We  may  be  sure 
that  these  Oneidas  were  of  the  "Orchard"  or  Methodist  party, — the  people  to 
whom  Mr.  Clark  came  in  the  following  year  (1832).  Here  it  was,  no  doubt, 
that  he  built  the  first  Methodist  chapel  in  the  vast  region  between  Lake  Mich- 
igan and  the  Pacific  ocean. 2 

1  "  Bible  school,"  or  "  school  for  religious  instruction."  is,  I  suppose,  what  Mr.  Marsh  had 
in  mind. 

a  See  page  00.  After  the  printing  thereof,  I  had  opportunity  by  the  favor  of  Rev.  A.  V.  C. 
Schenck,  D.  D..pf  Madison,  stated  clerk  of  the  Presbyterian  Synod  of  Wisconsin,  to  examine 
and  to  use  Mr.  Marsh  H  diary.  This  is  conclusive  on  some  points  of  our  early  Wisconsin  his- 


124  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

[1831]  Thursday,  July  7th.  Attended  a  wedding  at  M*s.  Hendrick's. 
Samuel  Miller  and  Harriet  Jehoiakim  were  united  in  the  conjugal  relation.  On 
account  of  difficulties  which  have  hitherto  been  occasioned  by  method  adopted 
in  marrying,  resolved  to  adopt  a  new  course,  viz. :  to  ask  the  individuals  if  it  is 
their  sincere  desire  to  marry,  &c.  ,,{- 

"At  Mrs.  Hendrick's."  Perhaps  the  widow  of  the  old  soldier.1  Hqn- 
drick  himself  died  some  time  the  summer  before.  Mr.  Marsh  was  with  him  in 
his  last  illness  and  made  report  of  his  death  to  the  "  Missionary  Herald."  Not- 
withstanding his  great  sin,  Kaukauna  may  well  be  proud  to  count  him  among 
her  founders.  Not  only  was  he  a  soldier;  if  Mr.  Pilling  is  right  he  was  a  trans- 
lator as  well, —  one  who  edited  what  is  likely  to  prove  the  last  book  is&tf&d  in 
the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ew  dialect.  That,  like  the  one  published  at.Stoekbridge,  Mas- 
sachusetts, in  1795,  is  a  manual  of  religious  instruction.  It  contains  the  shorter 
catechism,  Dr.  Watts's  catechism  for  children,  th a  first  twenty-one  verses  of  the 
third  chapter  of  the  gospel  of  John,  the  first  twenty  of  Matthew  V.  and  all  of 
Matthew  VII.  save  the  last  two  verses.  There  are  also  metrical  translations  of 
four  of  the  psalms  or  parts  thereof.  These,  I  doubt  not,  are  made  from  corre- 
sponding English  versions  by  Dj?<  Wjatts.  The  entire  compilation  closes  at  the 
.bottom  of  page  34  with  the  words:  The  foregoing  is  printed  in  the  MOHEA- 
KUNNUK,  or  Stockbridge  Indian  Lang*m>ge.  ., .  >r  K  .> 

Of  this  book  "the  first  twenty-five,  pages,"  says  Mr.  Pilling,  "contain  an 
exact  reprint  of  the  edition  o£  (1795 ;  the  remainder  was  probably  translated  by 
rCaptain  Hendrick,  at  the  suggestion  of  Rev.  J#hn  Sergeant  who  died  in  /1824. 
The  exact  date  of  its  publication  has  not  been  ascertained;  but  from  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  paper  and  typography,  it  would  seem  to  belong  to  the  period 
of  the  removal  of  the  tribe  from  New  Stockbridge,  New  York,  to  Indiana  in 
1818,  and  to  Wisconsin  in  1822.  Mr.  Sergeant  wished  to  have  his  people  well 
supplied  with  books  before  their  departure.  'My  people,'  he  writes,  March  30, 
1818,  'can  read  their  own  language  very  fluently,  when  they  pronounce  Eng- 
lish very  indifferently.  This  will  always  be  the  case,  so  long  as  they  speak 
their  own  language  in  their  families.'  Iri  Another  "letter,  dated  December. 16, 
1821,  he  says:  'I  am  in  hopes  to  obtain  copies  of  Elliot's  Bible  in  the  Indikn 
language,  and  am  of  opinion,  that  this  Bible  will  be  understood  by  a  good  part 
of  the  natives  in  the  N.  W.  Territory.'  " 

In  regard  to  the  booklet  with  which  he  connects  the  name  of  Captain  Hqn- 
drick,  Mr.  Pilling  gives,  interrogatively,  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  as  the 
place,  and  1818  as  the  time,  of  publication.  I  doubt  that  he  is  quite  right  iin 
his  opinion  that  Hendrick  was  the  translator  of  the  last  nine  pages.  Brainerd, 
while  at  Kaunaumeek  in  1743-44,  translated  "  sundry  psalms "  into  the  lan- 
guage of  his  people.  I  find  no  mention  in  Mr.  Hopkins's  "Historical  Memoirs" 
of  like  service  among  Mr.  Sergeant's  .varied  and  abundant  labors-  But  that  his 
people, —  among  whom  Mr.  Brainerd's  little  flock  came  to  dwell  in  1744, 

tory.    His  reports  to  the  society  in  Scotland  are  of  almost  equal  value. 
1  Or  the  wife,  or  widow,  of  a  son. 


STATKSIirKO  AND  STOCKBUIIHJK.  125 

sang  psalms,  and  in  their  own  language,  I  have  no  doubt.  The  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok 
are  now  and  always  have  been  fond  of  singing. 

Moreover,  the  Scripture  lessons  contained  in  the  passages  mentioned  above 
are  doubtless  among  the  very  first  that  Mr.  Sergeant  employed  in  the  instruc- 
tion of  his  people.  Certainly  they  are  all  included  in  the  translations  that  he 
made.  The  selection  of  particular  portions  would  probably  be  made  by  his 
son  and  he,  I  presume,  chose  also  the  versified  psalms  that  his  people  liked  best. l 

Though  for  the  reasons  given,  I  doubt  that  Hendrick  was  the  translator  of 
any  portion  of  the  book  of  1818,  yet  he  may  have  been  the  editor  or  reviser 
thereof.  Nor  would  it  be  fair  not  to  give  the  statement  found  in  a  manuscript 
note  in  a  copy  of  the  booklet ;  a  copy  now  in  the  Boston  Athenaeum,  and  at  one 
time  in  possession  of  Henry  Rowe  Schoolcraft,  by  whom  perhaps,  said  note 
was  written: 

"This  translation  was  made  by  John  Quinney  and  Captain  Hendrick  who 
received  his  commission  from  General  Washington.  Little  else  has  ever  been 
translated  into  the  Stockbridge  language  besides  this." 

With  this  it  is  interesting  to  compare  a  statement  made  by  Rev.  Cutting 
Marsh  in  a  letter  written  1838,  August  23rd.2  "The  Stockbridge  language 
has  never  been  reduced  to  a  system,  and  but  little  has  been  attempted  at  trans- 
lations into  it.  The  only  translation" — perhaps  Mr.  Marsh  did  not  know  of 
the  book  of  1795,  perhaps  he  regarded  the  two  as  virtually  one  —  "is  a  very 
small  book  (of  which  I  send  a  copy)  containing  the  assembly's  shorter  cate- 
chism, Dr.  Watts's  do.  for  children,  and  some  small  portions  of  Scripture,  and 
three  or  four  select  psalms.  This  book  is  little  used  except  by  the  old  people, 
because  hardly  any  of  them  are  able  to  read  their  own  language,  although  they 
sing  the  psalms  fluently."  He  does  not  say  by  whom  the  work  of  translation 
was  done. 

Yet,  on  the  2nd  of  September,  1832,  only  six  years  before  he  wrote  this 
letter,  Mr.  Marsh  made  entry  in  his  diary:  "At  the  evening  meeting  Deacon 
[Jacob  C.]  Chicks  prayed  in  English,  which  is  not  usual  for  the  members  of  the 
church."  Good  men  pray  and  bad-  men  swear  in  the  language  they  learned  in 
childhood. 

Whatever  part,  if  any,  Hendrick  may  have  had  in  the  making  of  this 
book,  it  will  always  possess  peculiar  interest  for  bibliographers  of  Wisconsin. 

1  How  any  one  can  sing  them  seems,  judging  from  their  looks,  to  be  a  marvel.  But  it  is  a 
pleasure,  not  simply  a  matter  of  curious  interest,  to  hear  these  harsh-looking  verses  sung  by 
the  few  Muh-he-ka  ne-ok  who  still  are  able  to  use  the  language  of  their  fathers.  I  subjoin 
psalm  IV.  It  is  written  in  long  meter: 

1  Lord  ptou  we  muh  ween  worn  non  nun ;  3    Ktennemmaunen  Caupohtommun ; 
Btannaumeweh  tnautippaunmeh ;  Yuhhuh  kesunnuhkiyau  neh, 
N'-yuh  quaukhoon  kaunwehkommauk.  Great  God!  nuhkauwthowaukonneh 
Mquaukhetoimnon  mautaunuhkaun.  Htauwkkuktammaukaunwaukonnuk. 

2  Thuhkeh  aunaukhemoohhiyuh,  4    Neh  aunkokhaut  neh,  neyuh  duh, 
Wonk  thuhkch  ounaukhemeyuh ;  Nmaukennuh,  nkeesquon  kawwenauk; 
\\ '••••krhaupfxiuot  inaumsaunonneh                      Kauehetoneh,  wuhkommauweh, 
(Jiifhmiw  weh  nun  duh  wonk  keyuh.  Kukhkhonnuwwaunmeh  kauwyauneh. 

3  To  George  Boyd,  then  Indian  agent  at  Green  Bay. 


126  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

It  was  for  the  use  of  a  people  who  became  our  own,  and  hither,  probably,  were 
brought  nearly  all  the  copies  ever  issued.  Few  of  these  are  left,  and  the  men 
and  women  who  can  read  the  language  of  Hendrick  and  Metoxen  can,  almost 
literally,  be  numbered  on  one's  lingers.  I  doubt  that  it  is  now  the  language  of 
a  single  home. 

Even  Hendrick  himself,  it  would  seem,  preferred  to  write  in  English. 
"During  his  residence  at  New  Stockbridge,"  says  Mr.  Pilling,  "Captain  Hen- 
drick compiled  and  wrote  in  English  the  traditional  history  of  the  '  Muh-he-con- 
nuk  Nation.'  Some  fragments  of  this  curious  and  interesting  work  have  been 
preserved  in  Dr.  Dwight's  Travels  (New  Haven,  1821-22),  and  in  Jones's 
StocHridge  (Springfield,  1854)." 

Of  Hendrick's  Revolutionary  service,  Mr.  Marsh,  in  the  letter  quoted  from 
above,  gives  some  particulars.  It  should  be  said,  however,  that  the  old  war- 
rior's name  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  list  of  Revolutionary  officers  at  the  depart- 
ment of  state.  Yet  President  Jefferson,  in  his  qualified  attestation  of  the 
Stockbridge  title  to  part  of  the  Miami  grant,1  calls  Hendrick  "captain."  But 
we  turn  to  Mr.  Marsh's  narrative : 

"Captain  Hendrick,  who  received  a  captain's  commission  from  General 
Washington,  was  actively  engaged  in  various  ways  during  the  war.  He  was  in 
the  battle  when  General  Burgoyne  was  taken  at  [Saratoga].  On  one  occasion 
General  Washington  employed  him  to  go  and  treat  with  the 

Ottawas  who  then  lived  on  the  Maumee  river,  in  [what  is  now]  Ohio.  The 
task  was  not  only  difficult  but  dangerous,  yet  he  executed  it  with  honor  and 
satisfaction  concerned,  although  the  Indians  violated  their  engagements.  Gen- 
eral Washington  offered  him  any  assistance  which  he  would  ask  or  number  to 
go  with  him.  He  replied:  'No,  I  only  want  some  gold  to  put  in  my  belt, 
which  I  wear  around  me,  and  one  friend  whom  I  shall  choose ; '  this,  of  course, 
was  granted. 

"Of  his  singular  adroitness,  an  instance  may  l>e  mentioned  while  on  this 
important  agency.  When  he  arrived  among  the  Indians  he  told  them  of  his 
errand.  They  wished  time  for  consultation,  &c.  There  were  three  British  of- 
ficers around  who  were  stirring  up  the  Indians  to  make  war  upon  the  frontier 
settlers,  and  were  suspected  by  Captain  Hewdrick  of  using  their  influence  to 
thwart  his  purposes.  The  Indians  replied:  'You  say  that  you  are  our  friends; 
we  are  glad  and  hope  that  you  are,  and,  if  so,  we  want  you  to  go  with  us  and 
help  destroy  these  white  people  (Americans)  who  live  near  us  and  are  intruding 
upon  our  lands,  and  then  we  shall  know  that  you  are  friends  indeed.'  Captain 
Hendrick  replied :  '  We  are  your  friends  and  are  willing  to  help  you  all  we  can, 
but  the  path  is  very  long  in  which  we  have  come,  and  our  feet  are  sore ;  now  if 
you  will  go  and  cut  off  those  troublesome  intruders  at  a  distance,  we,  in  the 
meantime,  will  kill  those  that  are  about  here  (meaning  the  British  officers). 
The  next  morning  not  a  British  officer  was  to  be  seen,  for  every  one  had  ab- 

1  See  page  107. 


STATESBURG  AND  STOCKBK1DGE.  127 

sconded  during  the  night.     After  this,  Captain  Hendrick  found  no  difficulty  in 
bringing  the  Indians  to  terms  and  accomplishing  his  object." 

Evidently  it  was  no  ordinary  man  whose  body  the  men  of  Statesburg 
buried  in  a  now  forgotten  grave  on  that  summer  day  three  score  and  four 
years  ago. 

There  appears  now  in  Mr.  Marsh's  narrative  a  man  who  thirty  years  later 
was  to  l>e  at  the  head  of  a  short-lived  but  most  famous  confederacy.  u  Wrote 
[1831,  July  25th]  to  Lieutenant  [Jefferson]  Davis,  Fort  Winnebago.  Contents 
of  the  letter :  First,  the  bill  of  the  Bibles  &c.  Second,  urged  the  importance 
of  his  inquiring  whether  he  could  not  do  something  for  the  moral  renovation  of 
the  soldiers  at  the  Fort.  Love  and  gratitude  to  the  Savior  should  induce  it  im- 
mediately. Although  alone,  he  should  not  feel  [that]  a  sufficient  excuse  for 
declining  to  make  an  effort.  David  went  alone  against  his  foe  and  the  defier 
of  the  armies  of  Israel,  but  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  of  hosts,  and  he  con- 
quered. God  has  without  doubt  something  for  you  to  do  in  thus  bringing  you, 
as  you  hope,  to  the  knowledge  and  to  the  acknowledgment  of  the  truth  as  it  is 
in  Jesus.  It  was  but  a  few  years  ago  when  Christians  began  to  make  the  in- 
quiry respecting  seamen  as  a  very  few  do  now  respecting  our  military  posts,  and 
behold  the  result! 

August  5th,  Friday.     Went  to  Green   Bay.  Saw  swarms 

of  flies  hopping  up  out  of  the  water,   which  appears1    like  flakes  of  snow  in  a 
stormy  day.  Says  Mr.  Metoxen  as  we  passed  along,  k  Moo-chau- 

now  sh-woon-ah-ah-kun,'a  'Look  like  foggy." 

Before  closing  our  narrative  for  1831  we  turn  again  almost  to  its  begin- 
ning to  observe  that,  writing  under  date  of  January  llth,  Mr.  Stevens  gave  the 
number  of  the  tribe  as  two  hundred  twenty-five.  Thus  it  is  almost  certain  that 
Mr.  Colton's  "three  hundred  fifty"  of  the  preceding  summer  was  an  over-esti- 
mate. There  were  in  the  church  fifteen  men,  twenty-seven  women.  It  is  pleas- 
ant to  read  in  a  later  communication  from  Mr.  Stevens  that  "  on  the  last  Sab- 
bath in  January,  1832,  Rev.  Richard  F.  Cadle,  superintendent  of  the  Episco- 
pal mission  at  Green  Bay,  administered  the  sacrament."  Mr.  Cadle's  worth 
redeemed  the  mission  that  he  had  in  charge  from  the  reproach  that  the  men- 
dacious Eleazar  Williams  had  brought  upon  it.  In  the  autumn  of  1833  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Stevens  left  Statesburg.  Soon  they  began  work  among  the  Sioux, 
and  in  1835  established  a  mission  at  Lake  Harriet,  within  the  present  limits  of 
Minneapolis.  This  was  part  of  the  beginning  of  the  great  work  that  has 
practically  changed  the  character  of  the  tribe,  known  from  the  time  of  Mar- 
quette  as  ferocious  and  dangerous  enemies;3  a  work  that,  begun  on  the  upper 
Mississippi,  has  place  now  in  Nebraska  and  the  Dakotas  by  the  turbid  waters 
of  the  Missouri. 

We  turn  again  to  a  report  by  Mr.  Marsh.     It  was  made  to  the  society  in 

1  I  can  not  but  think  that  Mr.  Marsh  meant  to  write  "  appear." 
3  Perhaps  for  "  kuu  "  1  should  have  read  "  keen." 
3  Among  whom  the  JemiitH  established  no  missions. 


128  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Scotland,  and  bears  date  1833,  August  1st:  "  This  church  was  organized  in  New 
Stockbridge,  New  York,  July  24th,  1818,  and  consisted  of  eleven  members, 
four  males  and  seven  females."1  The  membership  when  he  made  report  was 
fifty-nine,  of  whom  twenty-four  were  men  or  boys, —  "males,"  as  he  calls  them. 
c<  Forty-five  [of  the  church-members]  are  married.  In  twenty-four  of  these 
families  there  are  family  prayers,  morning  and  evening."  What  Wisconsin 
church  of  the  present  day  can  show,  in  this  respect,  as  good  a  record? 

"All  get  a  living  by  agriculture,"  says  Mr.  Marsh,  "and  some  of  the  men 
are  skilled  in  the  mechanic  arts.  The  women  all  understand  sewing,  and  some 
of  them  spinning,  weaving,  etc.  Three  have  taught  school,  and  one  female 
has  been  engaged  for  some  years  in  teaching,  and  a  few  weeks  ago  was  married 
to  a  Mohawk  Indian  from  Canada,  whom  the  Methodist  Episcopal  society  sent 
out  last  year  as  a  missionary  to  the  Oneidas  in  this  region."  Mr.  Marsh  writes 
also  of  the  annual  meeting  of  a  temperance  society,  probably  the  first  in  all 
this  region.  It  was  organized  soon  after  he  came  to  Statesburg.  The  newly 
married  missionary  and  his  wife  are  no  other,  of  course,  but  our  friends  Rev. 
Daniel  Adams  and  the  teacher  who  was  Miss  Quinney. 

On  the  morning  of  the  memorable  13th  of  November,  1833,  Mr.  Marsh 
"  was  awakened  between  four  and  five  o'clock  by  an  alarm  which  a  neighbor, 
part  Indian  (Mr.  G.),  had  given,  that  the  stars  were  falling.  *  *  Being 
somewhat  frightened,  he  came  to  call  me,  and  said  that  if  it  kept  on  they  would 
all  fall.  One  thing  appeared  very  remarkable,  and  was  that  the 

greater  part  of  them  appeared  from  a  point  near  the  zenith." 

On  the  28th  of  the  same  month  Mr.  Marsh  makes  note  of  the  "  annual 
Thanksgiving."  This  institution  his  people  were  doubtless  the  first  to  establish 
and  honor  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin.  Christmas,  too,  they  observed  in  a  relig- 
ious manner  "  of  their  own  accord,"  as  we  learn  from  the  record  made  by  Mr. 
Marsh  in  1832.  He  held  religious  service  in  the  morning,  and  a  temperance 
meeting  in  the  afternoon.  The  "  annual  fast "  also,  as  formerly  kept  each 
spring-time  in  Massachusetts,  the  people  of  Statesburg  remembered  and  ob- 
served after  the  manner  of  the  New  England  Puritans  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. In  this  they  have  found  no  followers,  and  even  the  old  Bay  state  herself  is 
seeking  to  recognize  legally  the  change  that  has  made  a  time  of  merriment  out 
of  the  day  that  was  meant  to  be  one  of  self-denial  and  of  worship,  Mr.  Marsh 
notes  that  he  held  a  preaching  service  on  the  1st  of  May,  1834,  a  day  that  he 
calls  the  "annual  fast."  A  few  days  before  this  (April  14th),  "a  number  of 
Menomonees,  very  decently  clad  and  in  a  very  orderly  manner,  came  up  to  hold 
a  council  with  the  Stockbridges  respecting  putting  a  stop  to  the  sending  of  ar- 
dent spirits  to  their  people."  Was  not  this  the  first  temperance  convention  in 
unnamed  Wisconsin?  What  a  measure  of  eternal  condemnation  men  of  the 

1  He  gives  their  names  and  ages:  John  Metoxen,  deacon,  fifty-two;  Robert  Konkapot, 
fifty-six ;  Joseph  Quinney,  dead ;  John  Bennet,  absent  and  standing  not  good ;  Esther  Thow- 
husquh,  seventy -nine ;  Margaret  Quinney,  dead ;  Elizabeth  Bennet,  sixty-four ;  Hannah  Kon- 
kapot, fifty-two;  Catherine  Metoxen,  forty -six;  Dolly  Now-ottokhunwoh,  (dead  ?);  Mary  Kon- 
kapot, age  not  given. 


STATESBURG  AND  STOCKBRIDGE.  129 

white   race  have   brought  upon   themselves  in  dealing  intoxicants  to  the  easily 
tempted  Indians ! 

The  time  was  drawing  near  when  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  must  give  up  their 
chosen  home  on  the  banks  of  the  Fox.  For  their  improvements  "  they  received 
a  reasonable  compensation,"  wrote  Mr.  Marsh.  The  sum  paid  by  the  United 
States  government, —  $25,000, —  certainly  does  not  seem  to  be  excessive.  We 
may  turn  back  to  Mr.  MeCaH's  narrative  to  notice  what  had  been  done  at  the 
time  of  his  visit.  Under  date  of  1830,  August  13th,  he  made  entry:  <•  Across 
the  river  up  to  the  lower  end  of  the  rappids  of  the  Grand  Kakalin,  where  the 
Stockbridge  tribe  settlement  begins,  unloaded  our  boat  and  hired  our  load  carted 
up  over  land  to  the  head  of  the  rappids  and  a  little  above  the  Mission  house, 
and  sent  our  Boat  to  that  place.  Hired  5  Indians,  making  eight  hands.  Stop- 
ped at  —  —  Gardners,  an  Indian  on  the  bank  of  the  river.  There  are  7 
islands  in  this  great  Rappid  which  falls  about  30  feet.  The  Stockbridge  tribe 
have  a  saw  Mill  and  are  preparing  to  [build]  and  [put]  the  frame  up  for  a  grist 
mill  on  one  of  the  branches  of  the  river. 

''Satterday  morning.  Rained  all  the  fournoon.  Staid  and  Breakfasted  at 
the  Mission  House." l 

'.;..  No  wonder  that  the  Indians  were  unwilling  to  leave  this  favored  place 
that  they  had  chosen  as  their  own,  and  in  whose  earth  they  had  already  hidden 
the  bodies  of  some  of  their  honored  dead.  In  a  letter3  written  1833,  October 
14th  to  the  American  Board,  they  had  expressed  "  much  solicitude  on  the  sub- 
ject." ''The  effects  and  consequences  of  removal  will  be  disastrous,"  wrote 
Mr.  Marsh  under  date  of  1834,  February  1st.  His  Oneida  friends  had  already 
gone,  for  on  the  28th,  perhaps  of  the  preceding  month,  he  <4went  to  Duck 
Creek,  about  twenty  miles  distant,  to  visit  a  band  of  Oneidas  who  had  lately 
moved  there,  and  who  formerly  lived  near  the  Stockbridges.  Some  have  lately 
built  their  houses,  and  others  are  now  building."  Thus  what  seems  to  be  the 
first  Methodist  church  in  unnamed  Wisconsin  found  a  new  home.3 

The  story  of  1834;  is  continued  in  a  letter  by  Chauncey  Hall,  dated  July 
2nd,  of  that  year,  at  Statesburg,  but  postmarked  u  Grand  Cakalin."  It  was 
addressed  to  Mr.  Edmund  F.  Ely  of  the  Ojibway  mission  at  Sandy  Lake,  in 
what  is  now  Minnesota.  The  postage,  eighteen  and  three-fourths  cents,  reminds 


1  It  was  on  their  return  that  the  commissioners  "  came  down  to  the  mission  house  [August 
17th,  Tuesday],  and  according:  to  appointment  when  we  went  up  met  the  chiefs  and  head 
mm  of  the  Stockbridge  Tribe  in  council;  gave  them  our  hands,  and  presented  them  with  a 
short  written  address  and  a  copy  of  extracts  from  our  instructions  as  far  as  related  to  them, 
to  prepare  their  minds  against  their  meeting  us  in  council  on  Tuesday  next.  They  appeared 
pleased  and  closed  our  business  for  this  Time.  In  the  meantime  Mrs.  Stephens  had  prepared 
an  excellent  dinner  of  which  we  partook  and  then  started  our  boat  down  the  rappids,  And 
\\  e  went  on  by  land  to  the  foot  of  the  rappids,  where  we  joined  the  boat  and  returned  to  the 
Day  about  1O  o'clock  at  night." 

8  It  was  signed  by  Jacob  Cheekthaukon,  John  Metoxen,  Austin  E.  Quinney,  Thomas  T. 
llendrick,  Andrew  Miller,  Timothy  T.  Jourdan,  Cornelius  S.  Charles,  John  W.  Quinney,  Sam- 
uel A.  Miller  and  Josiah  W.  Miller. 

3  Itsaems  to  me  that  Mr.  Marsh's  evidence  shows  conclusively  thatr  this  was  virtually,  if 
not  formally,  an  organized  church  more  than  a  year  before  Mr.  Clark  came  to  Green  Bay. 


130  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

us  that  certainly  in  some  things  the  former  days  were  not  better  than  these. 

''When  Rev.  Mr.  Green1  was  at  Mackinaw  last  summer,  an  arrangement 
was  made  for  my  future  labors  which  made  it  probable  that  I  should  in  the 
course  of  the  coming  fall  or  early  in  the  spring  leave  Mackinaw  for  the  place 
from  which  I  am  now  writing.  This  station  was  occupied  by  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Marsh  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stevens.  Mr.  Stevens  and  wife  left  last  fall,  but  it 
was  not  consistent  for  me  to  leave  till  spring.  We  [himself  and 

wife]  left  Mackinaw  on  the  21st  of  May  at  2  o'clock  P.  M.,  Monday,  and  ar- 
rived at  Green  Bay  on  Wednesday  evening.  Our  passage  was  in  the  steam- 
boat Oliver  Newbury  and,  though  we  were  detained  by  fogs,  was  very  pleasant. 

"We  left  Green  Bay  on  Friday  at  12  o'clock,  and  proceeded  up  the  Fox 
river.  *  We  reached  the  mission-house  at  3  P.  M.,  had  time  to 

get  our  baggage,  etc.,  from  the  landing  (one  and  one-half  miles  distant  in  con- 
sequence of  the  rapids)  and  get  very  comfortably  settled  before  evening.  Rev. 
Mr.  Marsh  gave  us  a  very  cordial  reception.  He  had  been  alone  since  last 
fall,  much  of  the  time  without  any  one  to  attend  to  his  domestic  concerns,  and 
he  was  truly  glad  to  receive  fellow-laborers.  We  found  in  him  what  we  ex- 
pected, a  kind  and  warm-hearted  Christian,  much  devoted  to  his  work,  and  en- 
joying to  a  great  degree  the  love  and  confidence  of  the  people  for  whom  he  la- 
bors. The  condition  of  the  Indians  among  whom  we  dwell 
presents  much  that  is  truly  encouraging  to  the  missionary,  and  methinks  a  view 
of  them  as  they  collect  together  for  the  worship  of  God,  or  talk  of  His  love  in 
their  dwellings,  would  make  the  heart  of  one  destined  to  labor  among  the  un- 
civilized Indians,  where  no  gospel  has  extended  its  benign  influence,  to  rejoice 
in  view  of  what  the  Lord  has  done,  and  encourage  him  to  pursue  his  labors  as- 
sured that  He  who  has  done  so  much  for  these  Indians  is  able  also  to  extend 
the  work  and  will  do  it  through  the  instrumentality  of  His  children.  The 
church  among  the  Stockbridge  Indians  consists  of  sixty  or  seventy  members. 
Most  of  them  adorn  their  profession.  Several  who  had  wandered  from  the  path 
of  duty  have  recently  returned  with  apparent  penitence,  and,  as  far  as  I  know, 
their  lives  give  evidence  that  it  is  sincere.  The  church  is  a  temperance  church, 
agreeing  to  abstain  from  the  use  of  all  strong  drink,  not  excepting  wine,  strong 
beer  and  cider.  Most  of  the  tribe  are  members  of  a  temperance  society  which 
exerts  a  salutary  influence.  At  their  last  annual  meeting,  a  few  weeks  since, 
they  resolved  to  give  up  the  use  of  wine,  strong  beer  and  cider.  (The  resolu- 
tion had  before  existed  but  in  the  church.) 

"  Perhaps  from  what  I  write,  you  will  conclude  that  we  are  among  a  peo- 
ple so  civilized  that  we  have  nothing  to  remind  us  that  we  are  on  missionary 
ground.  Truly  we  are  among  those  for  whom  'the  Lord  has  done  great  things.' 
Yet  had  I  time  and  room  I  could  tell  you  with  all  that  seems  to  be  cheering 
much  that  would  lead  you  to  feel  that,  if  we  are  not  in  the  midst  of  heathen- 
ism, we  have  enough  to  remind  us  of  heathen  wretchedness,  enough  to  call  forth 
the  compassion  of  feeling  hearts,  enough  to  call  forth  our  unwearied  labors  and 

1  Rev.  David  Greene,  secretary  of  the  American  Board,  1828-1832. 


STATESBURU  AND  STOCKBR1DGK.  131 

to  lead  us  to  ask  with  sincerity  for  an  interest  in  your  prayers. 

"  I  mentioned  the  absence  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Marsh.  He  left  with  five  of 
tin*  principal  Indians  on  the  12th  of  June.  In  the  < Missionary  Herald'  for 
April,  1834,  is  a  letter  from  the  chief  man  of  the  Stockbridge  Indians  which 
will  explain  to  you  the  object  of  this  journey.  Much  interest  has  been  and  ii 
still  manifested  by  the  Indians  in  the  mission  to  their  benighted  neighbors.  On 
the  Sabbath  previous  to  their  departure,  Mr.  John  Metoxen,  the  head  chief  of 
the  tribe,  addressed  his  people  at  the  evening  meeting.  He  was  one  of  the 
delegation,  and  he  reminded  his  friends  in  a  feeling  and  dignified  manner,  that 
they  were  soon  to  be  separated :  that  perhaps  this  was  their  last  meeting  upon 
earth.  Then  he  spoke  of  the  contemplated  journey  to  their  neighbors  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  he  appeared  deeply  to  feel  the  importance  of  the  errand 
on  which  they  were  going. 

"  He  said  it  was  the  first  time  their  people  had  undertaken  to  tell  the  *  glad 
tidings '  to  their  brethren  in  darkness. 1  He  expressed  his  sense  of  the  bless- 
ings which  had  been  conferred  on  them  through  the  gospel ;  of  the  preciousness 
of  their  privileges,  and  the  obligation  which  rested  upon  them  to  improve  them, 
as  well  as  to  discharge  their  duty  to  their  wretched  brethren.  With  much  feel- 
ing he  spoke  of  the  condition  of  the  heathen,  and  particularly  of  the  Indians, 
while  destiture  of  the  gospel.  His  heart  seemed  to  feel  for  their  wretchedness 
in  this  life,  but  the  burden  of  his  sorrows  seemed  to  be  the  hopelessness  of  their 
condition  in  the  future  world  while  destitute  of  a  saving  knowledge  of  Jesus. 
He  assured  them  of  his  attachment  to  home  and  his  desire  to  return,  but  ex- 
pressed the  most  cheerful  resignation  of  the  will  of  his  Heavenly  Father  re- 
specting this.  His  counsel  to  his  people  who  were  to  remain  was  faithful  and 
affectionate,  earnestly  desiring  their  prayers  for  a  blessing  upon  this  embassy. 

'*  The  absence  of  Mr.  Marsh  and  the  chief  men  takes  from  the  Indians 
those  who  have  been  their  counselors,  and  we  are  not  without  our  fears  respect- 
ing the  effect,  particularly  as  this  will  be  a  season  of  much  temptation,  as  the 
Indians  are  to  receive  their  money  for  their  improvements  and  are  much  unset- 
tled in  consequence  of  removing.  Our  hope  is  that  He  who  has  promised  that 
4  they  who  water  shall  be  watered '  will  watch  over  us.  We  have  had  cheering 
indications  that  the  Lord  was  with  us  for  two  or  more  weeks  past.  Christians 
have  been  evidently  revived,  and  two  or  three  individuals  have  publicly  ex- 
pressed anxiety  for  the  salvation  of  their  souls,  and  asked  for  the  counsels  and 
the  prayers  of  Christians.  Our  meetings  are  well  attended  and  our  Sunday 
school  is  interesting.  About  half  the  people  have  moved  to  the  new  station 
about  twenty  miles  from  us  and  forty  from  Green  Bay,  the  nearest  white  settle- 
ment. We  expect  to  remove  there  in  a  few  months  as  well  as  the  remainder 
of  the  people ;  have  yet  to  remove  the  timber  and  erect  a  dwelling." 

This  missionary  journey  of  Mr.  Marsh,  Metoxen  and  others  beyond  the 
Mississippi  was  an  event  of  rare  interest.  The  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  were  "crand- 

f  »  O 

1  We  wonder  if  Mr.  Metoxen  was  not  misunderstood.    The  statement,  as  it  stands,  is  of 
course  totally  erroneous. 


132  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

fathers"  to  the  Sacs  and  Foxes.  When  the  latter,  by  the  injustice  of  the  whites, 
were  driven  into  the  war  of  1832,  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  exposed  themselves  to 
some  suspicion  by  refusing  to  take  up  arms  against  them.  Theirs  was  a  nobler 
course  than  that  of  the  miserable  Winnebagoes.  The  Sacs  and  Foxes  sent  an 
embassy  asking  their  "grandfathers"  not  to  strike  them.  Loyal  as  the  Stock- 
bridge  tribe  was  and  always  has  been  to  the  United  States,  the  pledge  asked  for 
was  given  and  kept. l  The  year  following  the  defeat  of  Black  Hawk,  1833, 
seems  to  have  been,  on  the  part  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  one  of  special  interest 
in  his  people.  "The  Sacs  and  Fox  and  Delaware  tribes  of  Indians  are  our 
friends  and  relatives,  and  a  delegation  from  our  people  intend  visiting  them 
next  season."  We  have  seen  how  this  purpose  was  carried  out.  "Can  we  not 
tell  them  the  great  benefits  we  have  received  from  being  taught  the  gospel?" 
continues  the  letter. 2  "  Can  we  not  tell  them  that  your  society  is  ready  to  send 
them  teachers  if  they  are  willing  to  receive  them?  Can  you  not  appoint  a  mis- 
sionary to  accompany  us?  Fathers,  if  you  think  there  is  any  way  we  can  do 
good  in  our  visit  to;  our  poor  brethren  beyond  the  Mississippi,  we  wish  you  would 
give  us  some  instructions." 

This  letter  seems  to  have  found  a  ready  response.  .  A  sense  of  justice 
prompted  the  offer  of  a  mission  to  the  Sacs  and  Foxes.  Moreover,  it  was  at 
that  very  time  that  the  foundations  were  being  laid  of  the  wonderful  missions 
among  the  Sioux.  For  this  work,  Mr.  Stevens,  so  lately  at  Statesburg,  received, 
in  1834,  his  commission  from  the  American  Board.  The  summer  of  the  same 
year  Thomas  Smith  Williamson,  M.  D.,  spent  in  "  an  exploring  tour  among  the 
Indians  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  with  special  reference  to  the  Sacs  and  Foxes." 
It  was  also  an  object  "to  collect  what  information  he  could  in  regard  to  the  Sioux, 
Winnebagoes,  and  other  Indians."  He  was  then  in  the  mission  service. 
And  now  Mr.  Marsh  tells  the  story  of  his  summer's  pilgrimage:3 
"Set  out  on  the  12th  of  June  (1834).  Upon  the  14th  encamped  for  the 
Sabbath,  having  in  full  view  to  our  right  the  Big  Butte  des  Morte,  which  had 
taken  its  name  from  the  slaughter  of  an  entire  Sac  village  by  the  French  and 
Menominees  about  one  hundred  years  ago. 4  As  we  pursued  our  journey  we  oc- 
casionally saw  lodges  of  Winnebagoes  along  upon  the  banks  but  no  corn  fields 
or  vegetables  of  any  kind  which  they  had  growing.  Whenever  they  saw  us 
coming  they  would  *  beg  as  if  half  starved.  Col.  Cutler  in- 

formed me  that  they  were  the  most  indolent,  thieving  tribe  that 

he  knew  of.  He  had  known  as  many  as  three  or  four  hundred  drunk  at  one 
time.  *  *  The  Cumberland  Presbyterians  have  a  mission  among 
them  near  Prairie  du  Chien.  The  Catholics  are  making  some  effort  to  prose- 
lyte them  and  numbers  are  Catholics  at  the  present  time. 

1  Alexander  J.  Erwin  was  commissed  to  raise  two  or  three  hundred  Oneidas  and  Stock- 
bridges  for  the  Black  Hawk  war.    This  he  failed  to  do,  as  the  Indians  would  not  go.— State- 
ment of  James  M.  Boyd,  "Historical  Collections,"  vol.  XII.,  page  278. 

2  The  one  already  referred  to,— that  addressed  to  the  American  Board,  1833,  October  14th. 

3  In  a  report  dated  at  Stockbridge,  1835,  March  25th. 
4  See  page  25. 


STATESBUKG  AND  KTOCKBR1DGK.  133 

"  The  second  Sabbath,  June  22nd,  we  passed  at  a  place  called  the  Pine 
Bond  on  the  Wisconsin,  about  sixty  miles  from  Portage,  where  was  a  small  set- 
tlement. A  few  Indians  were  present  and  attended  religious  worship  with  us. 
We  arrived  at  Prairie  du  Chien  on  the  25th  and  finding  that  Dr.  Williamson 
had  left  we  made  no  tarry.  Saturday  evening,  the  28th,  we  arrived  at  Rock 
Island.  Dr.  Williamson  had  left  this  place  also  the  day  previous. 

"Mr.  Metoxen  had  an  interview  with  Black  Hawk  who  was  returning  from 
Rock  Island  to  his  village,  which  Mr.  Metoxen  had  just  been  to  visit. 

"  Black  Hawk  went  on  to  tell  how  kindly  he  was  treated  by  the  white  peo- 
ple wherever  he  went  when  on  his  tour.  'In  no  place,'  says  he,  *  did  I  see  white 
men  and  white  squaws  drinking  together  the  same  as  our  people  do.  When  I 
passed  through  you?  place  it  was  just  so,  and  I  want  to  have  my  people  just 
like  those  good  white  people,  for  I  see  where  they  do  not  drink  they  do  better 
and  live  better.  Now  what  do  you  think  is  best  about  receiving  missionaries?' 
'  •  By  all  means  receive  them,'  I  replied,'  says  Mr.  Metoxen,  *  for  they  will  do 
you  good.'  Black  Hawk  :  '  But  the  trader,  Mr.  Davenport,  told  me  not  to  have 
anything  to  do  with  them  for  they  would  only  make  you  worse.'1 

44  Our  attempt  to  establish  a  mission  amongst  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  entirely 
failed  of  success. 

"I  went  to  visit  old  Ke-o-kuck's  village  soon  after  my  arrival.  He  told 
my  interpreter  that  he  knew  what  I  had  come  for  but  he  wanted  to  learn  noth- 
ing about  it.3  The  head  chief,  called  the  'Stabber,'  said  the  same  thing  to  my 
interpreter  when  I  went  to  his  lodge.  As  they  had  no  previous  notice  of  my 
visit,  and  inasmuch  as  their  mode  of  treating  the  subject  was  so  contrary  to  the 
rules  of  Indian  etiquette,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  they  had  particular  in- 
structions previously. 

"After  a  few  days  the  Stockbridges  met  with  the  'Stabber,'  who  is  consid- 
ered by  the  Sacs  as  the  head  chief,  but  not  by  the  white  people.  They  pro- 
posed to  the  4  Stabber '  to  make  the  intended  visit  to  his  people.  At  first  he  ob- 
jected, but  consented  after  they  had  told  him  that  they  had  provisions  of  their 
own.  They  went  and  stayed  about  five  days,  but  having  no  interpreter  could 
converse  but  little  with  the  Sacs  and  so  the  latter  understood  little  of  the  object 
of  the  visit.  Still  I  had  reason  to  believe,  from  what  I  afterwards  ascertained, 
that  a  favorable  impression  was  made  on  the  minds  of  the  Sacs  by  the  visit. 
After  this  the  Stockhridges  set  their  faces  towards  home.  I  had  gone  down 
the  river  to  visit  one  of  the  most  remote  bands  upon  the  river  Des  Moines. 

"The  deportment  of  the  Stockbridge  delegation  during  the  whole  tour  was 
such  as  to  do  honor  to  themselves  and  to  the  cause  of  missions.  Many  white 

1  George  Davenport,  born  in  Lincolnshire,  England,  1783,  enlisted  in  the  United  States 
army  in  1805,  and  served  for  ten  years.  With  the  soldiers  who  came  to  build  Fort  Armstrong, 
he  landed  on  Rock  island  181(5,  May  10th.  In  the  autumn  of  1835,  he  became  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  city  in  Iowa  that  bears  his  name. 

-  Ke-o-kuk  continued  to  be  so  much  of  a  heathen  that,  as  already  stated,  during  or  about 
1840,  he  had  a  squaw  put  to  death  for  the  alleged  reason  that  she  bewitched  one  of  his  chil- 
dren. Mr.  <  'at  1  i n  says  the  name  Ke-o  kuk  means  "  the  running  fox." 


134  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

people  where  they  went  had  never  seen  a  civilized  or  Christian  Indian  before. 
Often  the  most  singular  inquiries  would  be  made,  as  'Do  they  belong  to  the 
church?'  'Can  they  speak  English?'  etc.  On  their  return  they  were  of  course 
alone  and  they  came  by  land  part  of  the  way.  In  the  mining  country,  not  far 
from  Galena,  the  Sabbath  overtook  them  and  there  they  stopped  until  it  was 
passed.  I  returned  the  same  way  and  heard  it  remarked  by  some  of  the  peo- 
ple 'that  they  sang  hymns  all  Sabbath  day.'  This  seemed  not  only  new  but 
strange  to  those  who  make  no  distinction  between  one  day  and  another  when 
traveling. 

"The  appearance  of  John  Metoxen,  his  conversation,  etc.,  were  universally 
spoken  of  with  admiration,  particularly  by  Christians. 

u  My  connection  with  Dr.  Williamson  was  short.  Together  we  visited  Ap 
penoose's  village,  one  hundred  twenty-five  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Des 
Moines.  After  Dr.  Williamson  left  to  return  to  his  friends  in  Ohio  I  was  at- 
tacked with  dysentery.  I  returned  about  one  hundred  miles  down  the  Des 
Moines  river  to  the  house  of  a  trader,  Mr.  William  Phelps,  where  I  was  sick 
one  week. 

"Mr.  Phelps,  though  a  professed  infidel  in  sentiment,  still  was  friendly  to 
my  object.  He  declared  that  if  something  were  not  done  soon  for  the  Sacs, 
etc.,  they  would  all  be  swept  off.  He  treated  me  with  great  hospitality.  He 
and  a  brother  of  his  are  trading  in  opposition  to  the  American  Fur  Company 
and  it  rather  operates  to  our  advantage  than  otherwise." 

"A  tour  by  land  and  water  of  over  1,300  miles;"  '-absence  of  three 
months  and  some  days,"  are  among  Mr.  Marsh's  comments  on  his  journey. 

"Take  the  American  Fur  Company  in  the  aggregate,"  General  Zachary 
Taylor  once  remarked,  "and  they  are  the  greatest  set  of  scoundrels  the  world 
ever  knew." l  For  their  purposes,  civilized  Indians  were  of  little  use.  Hence, 
and  for  other  reasons  even  less  creditable,  most  of  the  traders  opposed  such 
missions  as  proposed  to  turn  the  Indians  from  hunters  into  farmers. 

But  though  evil  influences  thus  prevailed  among  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  effec- 
tive work  was  begun  among  the  Sioux.  Of  these,  there  were  at  this  time  some 
within  the  present  limits  of  Wisconsin,  and  in  1836  missionary  work  was  under- 
taken for  them.  We  may  pardon  the  short  digression  that  tells  the  story. 

Two  men,  perhaps  from  the  St.  Crishona  seminary  though  more  probably 
from  the  mission  training  school  (both)  at  beautiful  Basel  in  Switzerland,  where 
the  swift  Rhine  turns  northward  on  its  course  from  the  Alps  to  the  sea,  came  to 
the  upper  Mississippi  region.  Amid  the  mountain-like  bluffs  near  the  present 
village  of  Trempealeau,  not  far  from  where  Nicholas  Perrot  spent  the  winter 
of  1685-6,  if  not  on  the  very  spot,  one  of  these  men,  Rev.  Daniel  Gavin,  with 
an  associate,  Louis  Straum,  whom  he  found  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  made  the  first 
modern  settlement  within  the  limits  of  Trempealeau  county.  His  Swiss  col- 
league, Rev.  Samuel  Dentonr  in  the  spring  of  1835,  established  a  mission  where 
is  now  the  village  of  Red  Wing,  Minnesota.  Rev.  Alfred  Brunson,  who  saw 

1  "Minnesota  Historical  Collections,"  vol.  VII.,  part  2,  page  239. 


STATKSBURU  AND  STOCKMUIHiK.  135 

both  these  missionaries  on  his  first  trip  up  the  river  above  Prairie  du  Chien 
(1837)  thinks  that  the  Red  Wing  establishment  was  founded  in  1834.  Both 
movements  were  unsuccessful,  as  was  also  an  attempt  by  Rev.  J.  D.  Stevens  to 
found  a  mission  at  Wah-pa-sha's  village,  now  Winona.  The  chief  named  was 
hostile  to  all  these  missionary  efforts,  and  as  they  were  neither  French  nor 
Romanist  the  traders  gave  them  no  favor.  In  1837  the  Sioux  transferred  to 
the  United  States  government  the  land  on  which  stood  the  Trempealeau  mis- 
sion, and  in  the  following  year  Mr.  Gavin  abandoned  the  field.  He  then  joined 
his  colleague  who  had  married  Miss  Persis  Skinner  of  the  Mackinaw  mission. 
He  himself  in  1839  married  Miss  Lucy  C.  Stevens,  niece  of  J.  D.  Stevens,  and 
this  missionary  quaternion  found  other  homes  among  the  Sioux  and,  in  connec- 
tion with  missionaries  of  the  American  Board,  continued  labor  with  them. 

Among  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  the  year  1834  was  a  memorable  one  not  only 
for  the  westward  missionary  journey  of  their  pastor  and  some  of  their  leading 
men,  it  was  the  time  of  their  "  nation's "  third  removal  within  less  than  fifty 
years.  It  was  also  the  centennial  anniversary  of  the  consent  given  by  the  tribe 
to  the  establishment  of  a  Christian  mission  among  them,  and  of  the  first  com- 
ing of  the  elder  Sergeant  to  the  people  to  whom  he  was  to  give  his  life.  Per- 
haps these  facts  were  quite  forgotten ;  I  find  no  allusion  to  them. 

To  the  "  new  station "  mentioned  by  Mr.  Hall  was  given  the  old  name 
Stockbridge.  There '» a  good  building  for  the  school  and  for  religious  meetings  " 
was  erected, l  principally  by  the  Indians  themselves, 2  and  thither  the  mission  es- 
tablishment was  removed  in  the  autumn  of  1834.  By  the  next  year  it  could 
be  said  that  "numbers  of  them  have  cleared  and  fenced  large  tracts  for  them- 
selves, have  erected  comfortable  houses,  and  are  laboring  industriously  on 
their  new  lands."  Not  a  bad  record  for  a  people  who  twice, —  and  some  of 
them  three  times, —  within  a  dozen  years  had  been  called  upon  to  battle  with 
the  difficulties  of  subduing  a  wilderness.  At  Statesburg  »*  they  had  begun  to 
live  quite  comfortably,"  says  Mr.  Marsh,  and  at  Stockbridge  *•  they  hoped  that 

1  It  still  stands,  though  at  some  distance  from  the  site  whereon  it  was  built.    The  old 
structure  suggests  tho  fact  that,  probably  more  than  any  other  place  in  Wisconsin.  Stock- 
bridge  reproduced  some  of  the  features  of  a  New  England  town  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
The  "  meeting  house"  was  used,  not  only  for  religious  service  but  for  other  public  gather- 
ings.   This  old  building,  after  serving  as  a  Congregational  church  until  1869,  December  19th, 
became  successively  a  school,  a  printing  office  and  a  blacksmith  shop.    It  has  had  in  it,  pro- 
bahly,  more  silver  money  than  has  been  at  one  time  in  any  other  house  of  worship  in  Wiscon- 
sin,    making  no  exception  for  Sundays  when  special  collections  have  been  taken  for  mis- 
sions, eit  her  home  or  foreign !    At  one  payment  (1849,  probably)  the  Indians  received  therein 
eighty  thousand  or  more  silver  half-dollars.    The  use  of  the  same  building  for  purposes  both 
•  if  rhureh  iind  state,— merely  different  aspects  of  the  same  Christian  commonwealth,— was 
judged  rurht  by  the  Puritan,  and  did  not  imply  any  unbecoming  use  of  the  house  wherein  he 
worshiped  God.    He  had  little  use  for  the  term  "secular"  in  its  present  meaning.    It  is  pro- 
hai.le  that  the  tribal  meetings  of  the  Stockbridges,  like  the  town  meetings  of  the  olden  time 
and  some  of  the  present,  in  New  England,  were  opened  with  prayer. 

Two  tithing-men  or  "  beadles,"  to  use  Mr.  Col  ton's  term,  were  chosen  at  the  annual  church 
meeting  to  keep  good  order  during  service.  We  may  suppose  that  this  included  the  preven- 
t  ion  of  "  gazing  about,  sleeping,  smiling  and  all  other  indecent  behavior,"— the  words  on  this 
subject  of  the  Presbyterian  "Directory  for  Worship." 

2  Report  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Board,  September,  1835. 


136  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

they  had  found  a  place  where  they  might  long  enjoy  peace  and  a  permanent 
resting-place." 

Mr.  Hall,  who,  by  reason  of  the  financial  straits  of  the  American  Board, 
was  compelled  to  leave  the  Stockbridge  mission  in  the  autumn  of  1838,  bore 
at  a  later  time  this  fine  testimony  to  the  virtues  of  the  people  among  whom 
he  made  his  home  for  more,  than  four  years : 

"  I  have  been  well  acquainted  with  the  early  settlements  of  the  whites  in 
Wisconsin  and  Illinois,  yet  never  knew  a  people  who  in  their  early  settlement 
manifested  so  much  attachment  to  the  ministrations  of  religion.  It  has  never 
been  our  privilege  to  dwell  with  a  people  so  distinguished  for  this,  and  so  moral. 
The  Sabbath  was  universally  kept  sacred ;  meetings  on  that  and  other  days  were 
well  attended;  intoxicating  drinks  were  prohibited  from  being  brought  upon 
their  lands ;  the  women  had  started  meetings  for  prayer,  besides  the  maternal 
association  and  a  meeting  for  improvement  in  sewing,  &c.  Fast  and  Thanks- 
giving days  were  always  observed  as  in  New  England.  The  men  lived  upon 
their  farms,  and  regarded  hunting  and  fishing  as  uncertain  employment.  A 
church  member  who  sought  direction  from  his  Bible  once  said  to  me,  '  I  thought 
about  going  a-hunting ;  I  thought  of  Esau ;  may  be  I  come  home  hungry.'  The 
rifle  was  laid  up,  and  he  went  to  his  field." 

But  scarcely  were  the  Stockbridges  settled  in  their  new  homes  when  an- 
other removal  was  proposed.  "  Even  now,"  says  the  annual  report  to  the  Board 
for  1836,  "when  the  Indians  have  hardly  put  up  their  houses  and  cleared  and 
enclosed  their  fields,  the  proposal  has  been  made  to  take  them  from  their  homes 
again,  and  transport  them  to  a  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  river.  Their 
minds  are  beginning  to  be  agitated  on  the  subject.  The  perplexity  and  discour- 
agement to  which  the  missionaries  are  subjected  from  this  source  are  very  great ; 
but  not  to  be  compared  with  the  disheartening  and  deteriorating  influence  ex- 
erted on  the  Indians  by  being  so  often  obliged  to  abandon  the  houses  and  fields 
which  they  were  just  beginning  to  enjoy,  and  to  prepare  for  themselves  other 
homes  of  which  they  may  be  despoiled  as  soon."  Of  their  condition  otherwise 
at  that  time  the  narrative  adds,  "Temperance,  industry  and  attention  to  relig- 
ious instruction,  have  been  more  general  than  for  the  preceding  two  or  three 
years.  Temptations  have  beset  the  people  from  the  white  settlers  who  are 
crowding  in  around  them.  Some  painful  cases  of  defection  have  occurred. 
Others  have  resisted  temptation  so  as  to  excite  the  admiration  of  unprincipled 
men. " 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  origin  of  this  proposed  removal  beyond  the 
Mississippi,  some  of  the  Indians  themselves  heartily  favored  it.  Hence,  and 
doubtless  for  other  reasons  also,  a  division  arose  among  them.  Their  pastor  op- 
posed removal.  To  Agent  Boyd  he  thus  wrote  under  date  of  1838,  August 

23rd: 

"The  Stockbridge,  or  Muh-hee-kun-neew  Indians  (*.  e.,  River  Nation,  or 
skilled  in  going  over  the  waves),1  have  so  long  resided  in  the  vicinity  of  the 

1  I  doubt  not  that  this  is  an  erroneous  translation.    However,  I  find  the  following  in  Cat- 


STATESBUKG  AND  KTOCKBR1DGE.  137 

white  people,  and  have  so  long  since  abandoned  most  of  their  Indian  habits  and 
customs,  that  little  can  be  said  of  them  that  is  peculiar  to  Indians.  All  now 
subsist  by  cultivating  their  lands  and,  if  properly  encouraged,  and  if  they  can 
remain  permanently  on  their  present  reservation,  [they]  will,  in  a  few  years, 
have  good  farms  cleared  up,  and  live  as  comfortably  as  their  white  neighbors." 

But  some  did  not  wish  to  remain  "  on  their  present  reservation,"  and  1839, 
September  3rd.  there  was  made  a  treaty  "  by  which  these  two  townships  were 
split  in  two  north  and  south,  and  the  east  half  was  receded  to  the  United  States, 
the  west  half  of  each  of  the  two  townships  remaining  as  a  reservation."  Hav- 
ing received,  doubtless,  their  share  of  the  proceeds  of  this  sale,  a  party  of  be- 
tween fifty  and  sixty  removed  to  what  is  now  Kansas.  Their  ultimate  destina- 
tion was,  I  suppose,  the  proposed  Osage  river  reservation1  but  "they  were  al- 
lowed to  settled  temporarily  upon  the  lands  of  the  Delaware  Indians  five  miles 
below  Fort  Leavenworth  on  the  Missouri."2 

This  removal  seems  to  have  rid  our  Wisconsin  Stockbridge  of  a  disturb- 
ing element.  But  there  speedily  rose  a  new  cause  of  dissension, —  the  pro- 
posal to  follow  the  example  of  the  Brothertowns  and  become  citizens  of  the 
United  States.  It  seems  to  have  been  some  time,  however,  before  this  became 
a  cause  of  bitterness. 

Meanwhile  tribal  authority  continued  to  be  exercised  in  full  vigor.  On 
the  17th  of  February,  1840,  Mr.  Marsh  heard  of  the  murder  of  Peter  Sher- 
man by  Isaac  Littleman.  With  a  promptness  that  puts  to  shame  the  courts  of 
the  present  day,  the  trial, —  which  was  by  "the  nation," — was  concluded  on  Sat- 
urday, the  22nd  of  the  same  month.  March  13th,  the  murderer  was  hanged. 
44  If  it  can  be  so  ordered,"  wrote  Mr.  Marsh,  "  I  desire  never  to  witness  another 
execution."  "The  sheriff,"  of  whom  he  speaks,  was  an  Indian,  Peter  Little- 
man, who  is  said  to  have  been  a  cousin  of  the  murderer.  Among  the  Wiscon- 
sin Oneidas  there  have  been  two  cases  of  capital  punishment  by  tribal  authority. 

In  1840  what  is  now  Calumet  county  "contained  about  two  hundred 
thirty  Stockbridge,  and  about  three  hundred  Brothertown  Indians,  and  only 
about  three  whites,"3 — if,  among  whites,  men  alone  are  to  be  counted.  A 
civil  organization  of  Calumet  county  was,  nominally  at  least,  both  effected  and 
dissolved  that  year  (January  6th  and  August  6th,  respectively). 

Three  years  later  Mr.  Marsh  was  able  to  give  this  hopeful  statement  of 
the  condition  of  his  people:4 

lin's  "North  American  Indians"  (London  edition):  "Mo  hee-con  neuks,  or  Mohegans  (the 
good  canoemen)."  But  I  do  not  trust  Mr.  Catlin's  translations.  Thus  J.  W.  Quinney's  Indian 
11:1111. •,  which  our  author  spells  Waun-naw-con,  he  translates  as  "the  dish,"  the  true  Mohegau 
tor  which  is  "  Waun  dath  "  (a  in  dath,  as  in  the  English  word  arm).  Mr.  Catlin  gives  portraits 
of  both  the  Quinneys.  Austin  E.  is  said  to  he  "  very  shrewd  and  intelligent  man,  a  professed 
and,  I  think,  a  sincere  Christian."  Mistakenly  he  calls  J.  W.  Quinney  "a  Baptist  missionary 
pr.'iu-her,"  and  adds  that  he  is  "  a  very  plausible  and  eloquent  speaker." 

1  See  page  01.    The  leaders  of  this  party  were  Thomas  Hendrick  and  Robert  Konkapot. 

*  Miss  Jones's  "  History  of  Stockbridge." 

8  Thomas  Commuck.    The  three  whites  were  a  tavern-keeper  named  Westfall,  Rev.  Cut- 
ting Marsh  and  Moody  Mann,  a  mill-wright,  afterward  county  judge. 

4  In  a  letter  to  "Julius  P.  B.  McCabe,  Green  Bay,"  written  1843,  January  3rd. 


13*  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

44  Although  the  evils  of  intemperance  are  far  from  being  banished  from  the 
nation,  still  the  good  accomplished  can  never  be  estimated  in  this  world  in  the 
marked  improvement  of  the  health,  habits  and  morals  of  the  people.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact  that  there  is  not  half  the  sickness  and  but  about  half  the  num- 
ber of  deaths  now  in  the  nation  that  there  were  twelve  years  ago ;  while  the  num- 
ber of  births,  which,  at  that  time,  was  only  about  equal  to  the  number  of  deaths, 
for  two  years  past  has  been  just  double  the  number  of  deaths. 

"There  is  also  a  Congregational  church  which  numbers  fifty-five  members 
in  regular  standing;  there  is  a  Sunday-school  also  which  is  attended  by  both 
young  and  old. 

"  The  situation  of  the  Reservation  on  the  east  side  of  Winnebago  lake  is 
delightful,  and  well  suited,  in  every  respect,  to  agricultural  purposes.  It  is  well 
watered  by  numerous  springs  which  come  out  of  the  limestone  ledges. 

"Schools  have  been  taught  in  the  nation  a  greater  part  of  the  time  since 
they  removed  to  this  country,  and  they  were  for  a  number  of  years  aided  by 
the  funds  of  the  American  Board  in  sustaining  them  until  the  pecuniary  embar- 
rassments commenced,  and  since  then  none  has  been  afforded. 

"  For  two  or  three  years  past  their  schools  have  greatly  languished  for  the 
want  of  funds  to  support  them  in  consequence  of  the  officers  of  the  general 
government  withholding  the  money  due  under  the  treaty  of  September  3rd, 
1839,  for  reasons  which  they  do  not  see  fit  to  give,  and  which  are  inexplicable 
to  the  Indians." 

Mr.  Marsh  speaks  of  "schools."  One  was  a  continuance  of  that  begun  at 
Statesburg.  Of  the  second,  Mr.  Marsh  wrote  1838,  August  23rd:1  "Another 
school,  it  is  expected,  will  go  into  operation  as  soon  as  a  house  which  they  [the 
Indians]  have  commenced  can  be  completed.  The  children  are  taught  reading, 
spelling,  writing,  arithmetic,  geography,  English  grammar  and  composition. 
Latterly,  one  half  day  in  each  week  has  been  appropriated  to  teaching  the  small 
girls  to  sew.  Our  school  has  been  kept  up  the  year  round  excepting  vacation 
at  the  close  of  quarters,  or  in  the  spring  when  the  traveling  is  very  bad,  and 
during  the  short  season  in  harvest  time  when  the  parents  want  their  children  at 
home. 

"  In  general  the  children  appear  quite  as  tractable  and  make  as  good  pro- 
ficiency in  their  studies,  according  to  their  advantages,  as  the  children  of  white 
people. 

"A  majority  of  the  people  can  speak  and  read  the  English  language  intel- 
ligibly, and  many  fluently,  and  the  use  of  English  in  giving  instruction  and  in 
common  conversation  in  becoming  more  and  more  in  vogue  and  soon,  I  hope, 
all  interpretation  will  be  superseded."  This,  we  remember,  was  in  1838. 

"As  the  Indians  have  taken  their  schools  under  their  own  direction,"  says 
the  annual  report  of  the  American  Board  for  1840-41,  "Mr.  Marsh  has  for- 
warded no  account  of  them  during  the  year." 

As  nearly  as  I  can  determine,  the  Stockbridge  tribe  has  had  in  this  region 

1  In  his  letter  to  Agent  Boyd. 


STATKS1UTK(}  AM)  STOrKIWlIXIE.  139 

west  of  Lake  Michigan  no  happier  years  than  those  from  1835  to  1842,  inclusive. 
On  the  3rd  of  March,  1843,  an  act  was  approved  making  the  Muh-he-ka- 
ne-ok  citizens  of  the  United  States.  This  measure  was  strongly  opposed 
by  what  seems  to  have  been  the  better  portion  of  the  "nation," — Metoxen,  the 
Quinneys,  Samuel  Miller  and  others.  Henceforth  the  story  is  one  chiefly  of 
strife  and  conflict  within  the  tribe  itself.  Thus  of  a  council  held  1843,  March 
24th,  at  Mr.  Metoxen's,  there  is  this  record  in  Mr.  Marsh's  diary:  "Accom- 
plished nothing,  on  account  of  the  objections  made  by  the  citizen  party  to  my 
assisting."  Somewhat  more  than  a  year  afterward  (1844,  April  13th),  J.  N. 
Chicks,  a  leader  of  that  party,  "came  before  the  church  [in  answer  to  a  sum- 
mons], but  it  was  to  read  a  paper  of  a  slanderous  character  which  he  had  drawn 
up  against  myself."1 

If  the  impression  I  have  received  from  living  witnesses  is  the  correct  one, 
Mr.  Marsh  sought  to  avoid  identifying  himself  with  either  party.  He  had  prob- 
ably looked  forward  to  American  citizenship  as  the  ultimate  condition  of  the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  and  he  may  at  first  heve  favored  the  Congressional  act  of 
1843  in  regard  to  his  people.  But  if  he  did,  he  doubtless  came  soon  to  see 
that  the  measure  was  premature  and  so  unwise.  I  doubt  that  the  opposition 
scheme  of  the  tribal  party, —  "to  remove  forthwith  to  some  region  beyond 
the  Mississippi,"2 — met  his  approval.  It  is  almost  certain  that  much  that  was 
said  and  done  by  men  of  both  parties  was  to  him  a  source  of  great  mortifica- 
tion and  grief.  In  the  report  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Board  in 
1844,  it  is  said :  "  Such  has  been  the  state  of  the  church  that  the  missionary 
has  not  felt  at  liberty  to  administer  the  Lord's  supper  during  the  year."  It 
seems,  however,  that  both  parties  continued  to  attend  church. 

I  come  now  to  paragraphs  that  I  wish  I  did  not  feel  called  upon  the  write. 
That  I  may  be  just,  I  will  give  certain  statements  from  "  Thirty  Years  in  the 
Itineracy,"  by  the  late  Wesson  Gage  Miller,  D.  D.,  a  very  worthy  and  a  very 
useful  man,  I  have  no  doubt.  He  is  speaking  of  the  beginnings  of  his  minis- 
terial service  in  Wisconsin.  **  But  we  had  hardly  got  our  home  work  [at  Broth- 
ertown]  fully  in  hand,  when  there  came  an  invitation  from  Stockbridge,  several 
miles  below,  to  extend  our  labors  into  that  settlement.  There  had  been  a 
Congregational  mission  among  the  Stockbridge  nation  for  many  years,  but  its 
condition  was  not  very  promising.  [It]  was  now  in  charge  of 

Dr.  Marsh,  a  gentleman  of  education  and  ability.  He  divided  his  time,  how- 
ever, between  the  ministerial  and  medical  professions,  and,  as  a  result,  the  spirit- 
ual interests  necessarily  languished."  «• 

It  was  not  brotherly  of  Mr.  Miller  thus  to  write.  We  have  seen  sufficient 
reason  why  "spiritual  interests  languished"  among  the  Stockbridges.  These 
interests  were  destined  to  "languish,"  yet  more,  and  his  own  work,  I  have  no 

1  Though  the  offender,—  for  such  he  seems  to  have  been,—  was  excluded  from  the  church, 
these  men  seem  to  have  become  reconciled,  for  1848,  June  10th,  Mr.  Marsh  "  attended  the 
funeral  of  an  infant  child  of  J.  N.  Chicks." 

a  Letter  of  1844,  May  1st,  signed  by  Austin  E.  Quinney,  John  Metoxen  and  J.  W.  Quinney, 
and  addressed  to  "  his  excellency  Governor  Doty,  superintendent  of  Indian  affairs." 


140  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

doubt,  contributed  to  this  result.  Mr.  Marsh's  attendance  upon  the  sick  was 
merely  incidental  to  his  missionary  work.  This  Mr.  Miller  should  have  said  or 
been  silent.  There  is  for  him  this  measure  of  excuse,  that  with  a  warm  and,  I 
doubt  not,  a  good  heart,  he  had  but  a  boyish  and  biased  judgment.  In  1845, 
probably  April,  he  began  a  series  of  meetings  in  Mr.  Chicks's  barn.  Mr.  Mil- 
ler "gushes"  to  a  surprising  extent  over  this  man  whom  he  calls  the  "head 
chief  of  the  Stockbridge  nation."1  This  could  not  have  been  the  case,  for 
Chicks  was  a  leader  of  the  "citizens'  party"  in  whose  view, —  and  indeed,  ac- 
cording to  the  then  unrepealed  statute  of  1843, —  there  was  no  Stockbridge  na- 
tion. In  regard  to  this  matter,  Mr.  Miller  seems  to  have  been,  in  his  mature 
years,  as  uncritical  in  his  writing  as  in  his  youth  he  was  inconsiderate  in  his 
action. 

No  doubt  this  unhappy  religious  movement  increased  the  division  that  was 
not  healed  by  the  repeal  1846,  August  6th,  of  the  act  that  had  made  the  Stock- 
bridges  citizens.  The  tribal  organization,  which  its  supporters  had  not  permit- 
ted to  lapse,  was  able  to  resume  at  least  a  limited  degree  of  authority.  But  it 
could  not  rule  the  white  men  who  had  bought  homes  on  the  reservation,  and 
who  soon  came  to  out-number  the  Indians.  There  was  the  old  and  easy  and 
ruinous  remedy, —  sale  and  removal.  Whatever  lands  had  not  been  allotted  in 
severalty  were  sold  by  the  tribe  to  the  United  States  government  by  a  treaty 
made  1848,  November  24tfi. 

But  a  little  time  before,  Mr.  Marsh,  their  constant  friend  and  faithful  pas- 
tor, had  been  constrained  to  leave  them.  One  of  the  tribe,  Jeremiah  Slinger- 
land,  seems  to  have  taken  up  the  work  for  so  much  of  the  time  as  he  spent 
among  his  people. 

The  faithful  memory  of  one  still  among  the  living  has  preserved  for  us  a 
picture  of  the  condition  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  just  before  this  time  of  hurt- 
ful change.  Nearly  all  the  homes  of  the  people  were  of  logs,  but  there  were  a 
few  frame  houses.  For  years  Mrs.  Marsh  had  been  a  teacher  of  good  house- 
keeping to  the  women  and  many  followed,  at  least  in  some  measure,  her  ex- 
ample. But  there  was  a  considerable  number  who  did  not  properly  guard 
against  dirt  and  vermin.  Naturally  there  were  sneers  for  those  who  tried  to 
fashion  their  apparel  after  the  manners  of  the  whites.  The  women  of  the  pro- 
gressive party  wore  at  church  and  other  public  places  beaver  hats  shaped  some- 
what like  the  silk  hats  so  commonly  worn  by  gentlemen.  The  other  women 
wore  neither  hat  nor  bonnet.  Men  and  women  alike,  to  the  number  of  perhaps 

1  lam  much  afraid  that  even  in  his  "conversion,"— real  or  pretended,— at  this  time, 
Chicks  acted  the  part  of  a  deceiver.  Mr.  Miller  reports  him  as  saying  "  Me  great  sinner."  I 
don't  doubt  the  entire  truthfulness  of  this  statement  but  I  don't  believe  that  he  needed  to 
say  it  in  broken  English.  He  had  been  at  school  among  the  whites,  probably  at  the  Oneida 
Institute,  New  York,  and  almost  certainly  at  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  was,  I  have 
reason  to  believe,  enrolled  as  a  student  either  in  Dartmouth  college  or  in  Moor's  "Charity 
school "  (see  pages  67  and  (58).  What  he  acquired  among  the  whites  was,  apparently,  chiefly 
an  unfitness  for  the  conditions  of  life  then  existing  among  his  own  people.  Had  he  never  re- 
turned to  them  it  would  doubtless  have  been  a  blessing  for  both.  He  was  one  of  the  factors 
in  bringing  about  the  removal  of  the  Indians  from  Stockbridge,—  an  injury  from  which  the 
tribe  can  never  recover,— and  he  himself  died  a  drunkard. 


STATESW'IKi  AND  STOrKBRIDGE.  141 

half  or  more  of  the  tribe,  wore  ''blankets."  These  were  commonly  of  blue 
broadcloth,  and  were  worn  in  public.  The  men  all  wore  pantaloons  and  shirts. 
But  the  order  in  which  were  worn  the  parts  of  these  garments  that  are  next  to 
each  other  does  not  accord  with  our  ideas  of  propriety.  The  want  of  suspend- 
ers was  manifest  by  the  constant  *•  hitching"  needed  to  keep  the  pantaloons  in 
place.  The  women  did  most  of  the  work,  even  of  that  in  the  field.  Yet  there 
were  men  who  had  accepted  enough  of  Christian  teaching  to  know  that  this 
kind  of  work  was  especially  their  duty  and  to  act  accordingly.  Some  of  the 
families  lived  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  school  but  all  the  children  re- 
ceived therein  more  or  less  training.  Nearly  all  the  tribe  attended  church. 
Their  Sabbath,  as  in  former  years,  began  at  sunset  on  Saturday  evening.  Mrs. 
Benson  remembers  a  peeled  stick  used  to  keep  order  and  secure  wakef  ulness  in 
church.  There  must  then  still  have  been  a  *•  tithing-man."  So  many  of  the 
tribe  understood  the  language  of  their  fathers  that  Mr.  Slingerland  occasionally 
preached  in  it.  This  Mr.  Marsh  did  not  think  necessary.  Some  of  the  young 
men  had  been  educated  in  Eastern  colleges.  These,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  Mr.  Slingerland,  did  no  credit  to  their  training.  They  married  half-civilized 
women  and  lapsed  into  something  worse  than  their  former  mode  of  life.  Mrs. 
Benson's  work  among  this  people,  like  that  of  Mr.  Marsh,  came  to  an  end  in 
1848.  Then  the  American  Board  gave  up  its  mission.  This  seems  now  and  is 
judged  by  Mrs.  Benson  to  have  been  a  serious  mistake. 

By  the  treaty  of  1848,  "  the  Stockbridges  belonging  to  the  tribal  organiza- 
tion stipulated  to  remove  west  of  the  Mississippi. l  It  was  proposed  to  form  a 
reservation  for  them  on  the  Crow  river,  Minnesota,  "but  the  removal  of  the 
Indians  was  delayed  by  the  Government's]  not  succeeding,  until  1852,  in  pur- 
chasing lands  from  the  Sioux."1  Then  the  Stockbridges  refused  to  go,  and  soon 
the  Crow  river  lands  were  occupied  by  white  squatters. 

Preliminary,  perhaps,  to  this  proposed  removal  what  seems  to  have  been  a 
census  of  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  was  taken  in  May,  1851.  The  total  enumera- 
tion was  two  hundred  thirty-five,  of  whom  twenty-five  or  thirty  were  in  the 
Kansas  region.2 

Of  the  condition  in  which  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  were  living  in  the  spring 
of  1852,  we  have  these  recollections  from  Mrs.  Mary  A.  Niles,  a  grand-daugh- 
ter of  John  Sergeant,  the  younger : 

"  We  found  the  Indians  living  very  comfortably,  in  very  good  houses,  New- 
England  fashion,  on  one  long  street.  One  of  them  invited  us  to  dinner  and 
served  us  very  handsomely  on  a  table,  set  according  to  our  own  ideas,  with  blue 
china,  and  every  thing  neat  and  nice.  The  Indian  woman  waited  and  served  us 
very  handsomely." 

But  soon  the  Indians  seem  to  have  drifted  into  the  sadly  demoralizing  con- 
dition of  living  on  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  their  lands  rather  than  upon  the 

1  House  Mis.  Doc.,  No.  14,  Forty  sixth  Congress,  Third  session. 

*  Most  of  those  who  removed  thither  died  within  a  few  years  or  returned  to  Wisconsin 
See  also  not.-  1,  page  61. 


142  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

products  of  their  labor.  Presumably  a  town  government  was  set  up  soon  after 
the  enactment  of  1843.  Between  this  and  tribal  authority  somewhat  of  conflict 
was  inevitable.  There  came  to  be  three  times  as  many  whites  as  Indians  upon 
the  old  Stockbridge  reservation.  Again  the  camel  drove  the  Arab  from  the 
tent,1  and  on  the  5th  of  February,  1856,  a  treaty3  was  made  assigning  to  the 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  two  townships  of  land  in  Wisconsin,  unear  the  southern  boun- 
dary of  the  Menomonee  reservation."  The  land  that  from  promises  made  them 
they  had  a  right  to  expect  is  that  lying  on  and  near  the  southern  shore  of  Lake 
Shawano.  But  this  was  too  good  to  set  apart  for  Indians,— r- though  the  Lake 
Winnebago  reservation  which  the  Stockbridges  had  given  up  is  one  of  the  finest 
regions  in  Wisconsin, —  and  so  the  tract  assigned  them  consists  of  land  inferior 
both  in  quality  and  location.  However,  it  contains  a  small  lake,  and  through 
it,  over  a  bed  of  red  granite,  and  broken  at  places  into  rapids,  courses  the  Red 
river,  a  tributary  of  the  Wolf. 

Following  the  course  of  these  streams  and  of  the  Fox,  or  going  over  the 
horrible  roads  of  that  tin^e,  the  wronged  tribe  sought  its  new  home.  Removal 
began  in  1856.  Some  went  in  October.  I  have  been  told  that  most  of  the 
tribe  made  the  change  in  1857.  The  last  to  remove  "came  two  years  after  the 
treaty  was  made."3  Some  Indians  from  New  York,4 — about  eighty  in  all,  I 
have  been  told, — joined  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  at  the  time  of  this  last  removal. 

1  In  spite  of  the  efforts  of  the  Indians  to  have  the  township  on  Lake  Winnebago  restored 
to  them.    By  a  treaty  agreed  to  1855,  June  1st,  by  the  commissioner  of  the  United  States  gen- 
eral land-office  and  signed  by  the  Indians  "  almost  unanimously  "  it  was  provided  that  such 
restoration  should  take  place.    But  Francis    Huebschmann,  then  Indian    superintendent, 
recommended  that  this  treaty  be  not  submitted  to  the  Senate  for  ratification .    His  advice  was 
followed,  and  the  Indians  lost  their  home. 

It  may  be  added  that  in  1854  Samuel  Miller  was  a  member  of  the  "  Presbyterian  and  Con- 
gregational Convention  of  Wisconsin."  He  presented  the  case  of  his  people,  and  the  Conven- 
tion appointed  a  committee  to  "memorialize  the  proper  department  of  the  government,  in 
our  name,  in  behalf  of  the  Stockbridge  tribe,  setting  forth  their  grievances,  and  petitioning 
for  the  restoration  to  them  of  their  lands."  How  nearly  successful  this  movement  was,  has 
just  been  stated. 

2  The  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  have  suffered  no  greater  wrong  than  this  treaty  of  1856.    I  have 
little  doubt  that  Dr.  Huebschmann  acted  most  arrogantly  and  unjustly  in  procuring  thereto 
the  alleged  consent  of  the  Indians.    He  assumed  authority  t^  depose  the  tribal  chief,  Austin 
E.  Quinney,  and  the  councilors  who  served  with  him.    To  fill  the  places  thus  made  vacant, 
Huebschmann  ordered  a  special  election.    The  favor  of  the  "citizens'  party,"— and,  it  is  al- 
leged, of  others  who  were  not,  and  never  had  been,  of  the  Stockbridge-Munsee  "nation,"— 
was  secured  by  allowing  them  to  vote  and  promising  them  equal  shares  in  whatever  was  due 
the  tribe  or  might  be  given  to  it.    Perhaps  other  means  even  less  creditable  were  employed. 
The  sachem  thus  elected,— Ziba  T.  Peters,— and  the  new  councilors,  were  of  course  favorable 
to  the  proposed  treaty,  which  all  of  both  parties  were  invited  to  sign.    This  Austin  E.  Quin- 
ney and  others  of  the  Indian  party,—  in  all,  perhaps,  a  majority  of  the  true  "nation,"  as  dis- 
tinct from  the  "citizens,"  refused  to  do.    But,  counting  both  parties,  Huebschmann  probably 
secured  a  majority.    This  done,  his  supporters  found  that  they  were  his  dupes.    For  it  was 
not  "nominated  in  the  bond  "  that  the  tract  they  expected  was  the  one  they  should  get. 
Huebschmann  saw  to  it  that  the  white  man  was  to  have  the  turkey  and  the  Indian  might 
take  the  owl.    Slingerland,  Chicks  and.their  ilk  found  a  trickery  and  cunning  that  more  than 
matched  their  own. 

3  Mrs.  Sarah  Irene  (Seymour)  Slingerland.    For  thirty  years  she  was  associated  with  her 
husband  in  teaching  the  government  school  among  the  Stockbridges.    She  won  a  measure  of 
esteem  that  was  given  to  her  husband  only  by  those  who  did  not  know  him  well.    It  is  due, 
however,  to  both  to  say  that  the  wife,— a  white  woman,— had  full  confidence  in  her  husband 
and  the  highest  regard  for  him.    Mrs.  Slingerland  died  1892,  August  15th. 

4  Representative  Munsees  from  that  state  were  allowed  to  sign  the  treaty  of  18.r><;. 


STATF.SBPRd  AND  STorKBItlPGE.  14:; 

lint,  as  in  Massachusetts  and  New  York  some  of  their  own  number  remained 
in  the  old  home. 

Among  these  was  Austin  E.  Quinney.  He  indeed  made  a  brief  sojourn 
at  the  Red  river  settlement  but  returned  to  Stockbridge,  where  he  died  1864, 
August  17th.1  We  are  glad  that  of  the  other  two  leaders  in  the  Wisconsin- 
ward  migration  of  their  people  neither  was  called  upon  to  leave  the  home  to 
which  they  had  led  their  people.  John  W.  Quinney  died  at  Stockbridge,  1855, 
July  21st.  There  was  reason  at  that  time  to  entertain  the  hope  that  the  Lake 
Winnebago  reservation  might  be  restored  to  the  Stockbridges.  This  project  is 
said  to  have  been  his  own.2  Upon  a  marble  slab,  in  the  old  Indian  cemetery 
near  Stockbridge,  is  the  legend,  "John  Metoxen,  died  April  8th,  1858,  aged  87 
years."  We  have  a  right  to  claim  as  our  own  this  son  of  Massachusetts.  Let 
his  name  stand  first  in  the  list  of  Wisconsin's  honored  laymen.  Aside  from 
Dr.  Morse,  he  was  probably  the  first  to  hold  public  worship  on  Wisconsin  soil 
according  to  the  simple  rites  of  the  Puritan.  And  he  was  the  first,  after  the 
departure  of  the  early  French  Jesuits  (who  are  so  much  overpraised  and  whose 
work  is  so  much  overvalued  by  sentimentalists  and  sectarians)  to  maintain  here 
regularly  the  public  worship  of  Almighty  God. 

Almost  immediately  after  removal  the  tribe  adopted  a  new  constitution.3 
This  superseded  one  drawn  up  by  J.  W.  Quinney  in  1833.  Probably  the  two 
were  much  alike.  I  understand  that  the  constitution  adopted  in  1857  has  since 
been  laid  aside  and  another  adopted.  The  name  first  given  to  the  new  reser- 
vation was  "  Moh-he-con-nuck,"  an  historic  designation  and  one  worth  keeping. 
But  the  place, —  there  is  neither  village  nor  post-office, —  seems  now  to  be  called 
44  Red  Springs."  The  central  part  of  the  reservation  where  is  the  poor  old 
church-building,  the  manse  and  the  cemetery  bears  the  name  "Stockbridge." 

By  act  of  1871,  February  6th,  three-fourths  of  the  "Red  Springs"  reser- 
vation was  sold  and,  it  would  seem,  all  of  the  pine  that  was  fit  for  lumber. 
Also  under  this  act  citizenship  was  bestowed  upon  a  number  of  the  tribe  who 
desired  it.  These  form  the  "  new  citizens'  party,"  and  have  gone  forth  from 
the  reservation.  At  least  a  semblance  of  tribal  organization  is  still  kept  up  by 
the  "Indian  party"  between  which  and  what  is  left  of  the  "old  citizens'  party" 
the  chronic  quarrel  still  continues. 

Again  the  deaths  among  these  people  out-number  the  births.  The  logging 
camps  where  most  of  the  young  men  of  both  the  Stockbridge  and  Menomonee 
tribes  spend  the  long  winters  and  the  delayed  springs  of  northern  Wisconsin 
are  poor  schools  for  the  development  of  right  character,  or  even  for  training  in 
habits  of  steady  industry.  The  white  neighbors  of  these  people  are,  for  the 
most  part,  not  of  a  sort  to  teach  needed  lessons  of  temperance.  The  frequent 
removals  of  the  Indians,  and  the  practical  socialism  in  which  they  are  living, 
have  made  it  impossible  for  a  man  to  feel  sure  that  if  he  made  a  good  home  he 

1  He  WHS  born  175W,  January  1st,  and  served  in  the  war  of  1812. 
a  See  "Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  volume  IV..  page  310. 
:<  Sec  "  Muh  h<  -ka-ne-ok,"  page  48. 


144  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

could  leave  it  to  his  children.  Indeed,  there  are  on  the  reservation  farms  that 
in  equity  ought  to  belong  to  the  children  of  the  men  who  cleared  and  improved 
them,  but  that  are  now  in  possession  of  intruders.  Men  who  have  no  right  to 
any  share  in  tribal  property  crowd  in  upon  the  reservation  or  claim  tribal  rela- 
tionship so  as  to  get,  if  possible,  a  share  of  the  common  property  when  the  di- 
vision, believed  to  be  not  far  off,  shall  be  made.  Indeed  the  question  now  at 
issue  is  not  so  much,  Shall  this  be  done  ?  as  it  is,  Who  are  entitled  to  share  the 
proceeds  ?  As  a  socialistic  experiment  we  have  here  a  most  wretched  failure. 
Nearly  all  the  people  on  the  reservation  a^e  poor  and  dispirited.  They  do  not 
use  to  advantage  even  the  few  opportunities  they  have.  And  the  most  serious 
effect  is  that  made  upon  habits  and  character. 

Most  painfully  is  manifest  the  lack  of  effective  pastoral  oversight. l  Mr. 
Miller's  work  was  short-lived  and  better  adapted  to  the  inclinations  than  to  the 
needs  of  this  somewhat  fickle-minded  people.  It  was  doubtless  a  factor,  though 
probably  a  minor  one,  in  bringing  about  the  removal  of  Rev.  Cutting  Marsh 
from  the  position  that  long  experience  had  enabled  him  to  fill  so  well.  It  may 
be  said  now, — for  both  men  are  in  their  graves, —  that  Mr.  Marsh  had  no  confi- 
dence in  his  successor  or,  rather,  supplanter,  Jeremiah  Slingerland.  He  had  been, 
it  is  said,  somewhat  of  a  ladies'  pet  both  at  Dartmouth  and  Bangor. 2  By  Wil- 
liam Parsons,  "United  States  special  Indian  agent,"  he  is  described  as  ua  spec- 
ulative and  dishonest  Stockbridge  Indian."  However,  Mr.  Parsons's  report3  is 
one  of  great,  though  I  dare  not  say  undeserved,  severity, —  a  severity  that 
spares  neither  white  man  nor  Indian.  Even  of  certain  men  high  in  political 
standing  he  writes  as  if  he  believed  that  they  would  take  and  keep  what  did 
not  honestly  belong  to  them ! 

To  influences  proceeding  from  an  unfavorable  location ;  from  a  soil  that 
offers  the  agriculturist  but  a  poor  reward;  from  a  debasing  environment;  from 
a  practical  socialism, —  and  even  that  ill-organized ;  from  hateful  disputes 
thence  and  otherwise  arising ;  from  unwise  abandonment  of  missionary  work ; 
from  a  mistaken  sectarianism;  from  unworthy  leaders;  from  grasping  white 
men  in  high  positions  and  low ;  and  from  the  ever-present  evil  of  drunkenness ; 
— to  all  these  influences  there  has  been  opposed  no  adequate  resistant.  The 


1  No  church  was  organized  preliminary  to  removal,  as  was  done  in  1786  and  1818.  Nor 
did  the  emigrants  follow  the  example  set  by  their  fathers  at  the  time  of  the  removal  from 
Statesburgand  take  with  them  the  old  organization.  Mr.  Slingerland  became  a  local  preacher 
in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  body,  and,  later,  joined  the  Presbyterians.  A  church  of  that  order 
was  organized  1867,  September  18th,  and  still  exists.  It  has  been  mistakenly  put  under  the 
care  of  the  Home  Mission  board.  But  churches  of  the  Indians  and  of  other  weak  races  need, 
for  their  proper  oversight  and  care,  an  organization  specially  adapted  to  just  that  kind  of 
work  —such,  for  example,  as  the  American  Missionary  Association. 

There  is  now  no  resident  pastor  on  the  reservation.  Rev.  Jacob  Van  Rensselaer  Hughes,  of 
Shawano,  does  what  he  can,  in  feeble  health  and  limited  time,  for  this  otherwise  pastorless 
people. 

a-  "Jeremiah  Slingerland,  (Indian),  Moor's  Charity  School,  Hanover,  New  Hampshire ;  In- 
dian teacher,  [Lake]  Winnebago  and  Green  Bay,  Wisconsin ;  died  1884,  June  4th,  Neshina, 
Wisconsin."  The  foregoing  is  from  the  general  catalogue  of  Bangor  seminary,  "class  of  1845." 
For  "  Neshina  "  we  are  to  read  "  Keshena,"  and  we  should  notice  the  fact  that  Mr.  Slinger- 
land did  not  teach  at  Green  Bay,  but  on  the  present  Stockbridge  reservation. 

3  Dated  1888,  January  l«th. 


STATESBURG  AND  STOCKBRIDGE.  145 

mission  among  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  was  not  a  failure,  but  the  want  of  one  has 
been  a  failure  most  unmistakably. 

In  the  old  days  of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  a  woman  who  in  giving  life 
lay  dying  named  her  son  Ichabod,  saying,  "The  glory  is  departed."  Thus  it  is 
with  the  people  whose  ancestry  made  so  noble  a  history,  the  greater  and  better 
part  of  which  seems,  even  by  their  descendants,  to  be  forgotten.  But  the  great 
state  that  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  helped  to  found  has  reason  to  remember  with 
honor  and  gratitude  the  spiritual  children  of  John  Sergeant  and  Jonathan  Ed- 
wards. The  mighty  impulse  that  these  men  gave  their  people  reached  us  in  the 
making  here  of  Christian  homes,  in  the  founding  of  churches1  and  other  relig- 
ious institutions  that  still  abide,2  in  the  establishment  of  schools,  in  a  valiant 
struggle  in  behalf  of  temperance,  in  prohibitory  legislation  as  regards  intoxi- 
cants, in  anti-slavery  sentiment  and  in  continued  loyalty  to  the  United  States 
government. 

During  the  late  war  the  Stockbridges  furnished  thirty-eight  volunteers  for 
the  Union  army,  more  than  one-tenth  of  the  entire  tribe.3  Not  one  deserted. 
But  their  losses  were  heavy,  especially  by  disease.  Far  from  home,  no  doubt, 
most  of  those  who  died  in  the  service  had  burial.  And  in  the  little  cemetery 
on  the  reservation  there  are  nine  soldiers'  graves.  ' 

The  people  who,  for  us  and  for  our  fathers,  gave  these  men  and  their  kin- 
dred of  former  generations  to  the  silence  of  death,  have  made  their  distinctive 
history.  Let  it  not  be  unread  nor  unheeded.  For  though  it  has  much  that  is 
to  their  shame,  and  more  that  is  to  ours,  the  story  of  the  nation  named  for  ••  the 
waters  that  are  never  still "  is  one  that  makes  for  righteousness. 

1  At  Stock  bridge  (Wisconsin),  they  received  whites  to  the  membership  of  their  church, 
which  thus  lived  on,  was  re-organized  in  1860,  and  continues  at  the  present  time  its  unbro- 
ken life  and  uninterrupted  service.  The  whites  who  formed  the  (so-called)  Presbyterian 
church  of  Green  Bay,  the  First  Presbyterian  (now  Immanuel)  of  Milwaukee,  a  church  among 
the  soldiers  at  Fort  Winnebago.  and  one  long  since  extinct  at  Calumetville,  sent  to  Stock- 
bridge  for  the  help  of  the  pastor  there  in  the  work  of  organization.  The  Indians  aided  in  the 
support  of  Rev.  O.  P.  Clinton  when  he  was  doing  his  early  and  effective  missionary  service  in 
the  region  about  Lake  Winnebago. 

1  Somewhat  of  their  direct  relation  to  the  establishment  of  missions  in  the  region  west  of 
the  upper  Mississippi,  we  have  already  learned.  Their  church  was  the  first,  not  of  the  num- 
ber that  formed  the  organization,  to  join  the  Presbyterian  and  Congregational  Convention  of 
Wisconsin.  It  was  received  at  a  meeting  held,  by  commission,  at  Green  Bay  1841,  January 
2nd.  John  Metoxen  was  the  delegate  of  the  church,  which,  when  local  conventions  were  or- 
ganized became  successively  a  member  of  those  bearing  the  names  of  Milwaukee,  Beloit, 
Madison  and  Winnebago.  The  Madison  Convention,  Austin  E.  Quinney  helped  to  organize. 

Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  in  the  early  time  of  few  settlements  and  of  long  journeys, 
many  a  weary  traveler  found  shelter  at  Stockbridge. 

3  Report  of  the  commissioner  of  Indian  affairs.  1864. 


CHAPTER  XL 


AMONG  THE  OJ  IB  WAYS. 

Notwithstanding  the  flight  of  the  Hurons  and  the  Ottawas  from  Chequam- 
egon  bay  in  1671 l  the  Sioux  (Dakotas)  did  not  become  masters  there.  The 
strong  and  determined  enemies  of  that  tribe,  the  Ojibways,  either  had  not  then 

I  arrived  or  could  not  be  displaced^  These,  according  to  their  own  tradition, 
"  first  reached  Point  Sha-ga-waum-ik-ong  "  about  1490.  There  '» for  many  years 
they  concentrated  their  numbers  in  one  village.  They  were  surrounded  by 
fierce  and  inveterate  enemies  whom  they  denominated  the  O-dug-aum-eeg  (op- 
posite-side people,  best  known  at  this  day  as  the  Foxes),  and  the  A-boin-ug  (or 
roasters),  by  which  ,  significant  name  they  have  ever  known  the  powerful  tribe 
of  the  Dakotas."2 

A          Pressed  ^y,  these  enemies,  the  Ojibways  removed  to  the  adjacent  island  of 

J  Mon-ing-wun-a-kaun-ing  (the  place  of  the   golden-breasted  woodpecker),  now 

/  called  Madelaine.     But  through  some  superstitious  fears  increased  if  not  caused 

by  their  magicians,  commonly  called  "medicine  men,"  who  in  many  respects 

i  correspond  to  our  »4  spirit  mediums,"  this  place  was  afterward  so  utterly  aban- 

I   doned  that  an  Ojibway  would  scarcely  venture  to  set  foot  upon  it. 

IFrom  this  legendary  history  which  almost  certainly  errs  in  assigning  to  the 
Ojibway  occupancy  of  Chequamegpn  bay  too  early  a  beginning,  but  otherwise 

1  See  page  13. 

I  2  The  meaning  of  their  own  tribal  name  is  suggestive :  *'  To  roast  till  puckered  up  " ;  from 
\  ''o-jib,"  "puckered  up;"  and  "ab-way,"  "  to  roast."  Both  names,  Ojibway  and  Aboinug,  pro- 
*  bably  originated  from  the  practice  of  putting  captives  to  death  by  torture  with  fire. 

Another  name  Saulteaux  or  Sauteurs  "the  people  of  the  falls,"  properly  used  only  of  the 
part  that  remained  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  is  used  sometimes  apparently  of  the  whole  tribe. 

"  Chippewa "  the  Gallicized  form  of  "Ojibway,"  or  as  Schoolcraft  writes  it  "Odjibwa,"  is 
familiar  to  all. 

William  Whipple  Warren,  already  named,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  most  of  these 
statements  concerning  the  Ojibways,  states  that  the  present  tribal  name  has  been  in  use  "  cer- 
tainly not  more  than  three  centuries,  and  in  all  probability  much  less.  It  is  only  in  this  term 
of  time  that  they  have  been  disconnected  as  a  distinct  or  separate  tribe  from  the  Ottaways 
and  Potta-wat-um-ies.  The  name  by  which  they  were  known  when  incorporated  In  one  body 
is  at  the  present  day  uncertain.  The  final  separation  of  these  three  tribes  took  place  at  the 
straits  of  Michilimackinac  from  natural  causes." 

From  these  straits  "  the  Potta-wat-um  ies  moved  up  Lake  Michigan  and  by  taking  with 
them,  or  for  a  time  perpetuating,  the  national  fire,  which,  according  to  tradition,  was  sacred- 
ly kept  alive  in  their  more  primitive  days,  they  have  obtained  the  name  of  '  those  who  make 
or  keep  the  fire,'  which  is  the  literal  meaning  of  their  tribal  cognomen." 

Those  who  remained  eastward  of  both  divisions  of  their  kindred  came  first  in  contact 
with  the  French  and  thus,  as  their  name  signifies,  became  " Ottawas:"  that  is,  "  traders." 


A  MONO  T1IK  OJlIiWAYS.  147 

to  In*  substantially  correct,  we  turn  to  the  fragmentary  narrative  of  the 
time  that  follows  the  flight  of  the  Hurons. 

A  few  years  after  the  great  council  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  in  1671,  the  French 
began  to  take  practical  possession  of  the  Lake  Superior  region.  The  mission- 
ary did  not  return,  but  the  explorer  and  the  trader  did.  Daniel  Grayson  du 
Lhut  ( 'Du  Luth),  Pierre  Le  Sueur  and  others  made  bold  explorations  and  erect- 
«*d  military  ami  trading-posts.  On  the  lake  shore,  a  few  miles  above  Kah-man- 
a-tig-wa-yah  (Pigeon  river),  Du  Lhut  established,  perhaps  in  1679,  the  first  per- 
manent station  held  by  white  men  within  the  present  limits  of  Minnesota. 

Some  years  later,  apparently  in  1692,  or  1693,  Le  Sueur  built  some  sort 
of  a  structure  on  Madelaine  island,  probably  at  the  south  end  of  it,  a  place 
which  was  long  held  by  his  countrymen.  It  is  the  site  known  now  as  that  of 
the  "old  fort." 

It  was  at  this  time,  according  to  Rev.  E.  D.  Neill,  that  <*the  Ojibways  be- 
gan to  concentrate  in  a  village  upon  the  shore  of  Chequamegon  bay."  Rev.  E. 
P.  Wheeler,  of  Ashland,  also  differs  in  opinion,  on  this  subject,  with  Mr.  War- 
ren and  writes : 

•'The  Ojibways,  I  think,  can  not  be  shown  to  have  known  anything  about 
Chequamegon  bay  before  1660  when  from  a  point  toward  Green  Bay  they  were 
going  up  there  to  trade.  Neill  seems  to  me  to  be  safer  by  far  to  follow  than 
Warren.  The  second-growth  trees  which  Mr.  Warren  instances  as  showing  the 
early  occupation  of  La  Pointe  can  easily  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  in 
1762  a  French  trader  was  known  to  have  summered  there  not  because  there 
were  Indians  there  but  because  they  were  on  the  opposite  side.  Following 
down  from  1762  to  1791  when  John  Johnson  summered  there  and  the  Cadottes 
al><»  came  to  the  island,  there  were  occasional  traders  who  found  it  safer  to 
trade  from  over  across  the  channel  on  La  Pointe  island  than  at  Bayfield  and 
vicinity  where  the  Indians  were  congregated.  These  transient  traders  at  La 
Pointe  would  account  for  the  second-growth  timber  which  existed  at  the  time  of 
his  early  recollections  as  a  boy  (born  in  1824)." 

Whatever  is  the  fact  in  regard  to  the  coming  of  the  Ojibways  to  Chequam- 
cn-on  Hay  the  trading-station  on  Madelaine  island  is  one  of  the  oldest  in  the 
Wisconsin  region.  There  is  no  record  of  continuous  occupancy  by  the  French, 
though  doubtless  their  traders,  at  least,  kept  coming  and  going.  The  last  officer 
of  that  nationality  at  Chequamegon  Point  was  Hertel  de  Beaubassin  who  left 
tin-re  in  1756  with  Ojibways  as  allies  for  the  French  in  the  war  then  raging 
between  them  and  the  British  (with  whom  before  the  American  revolution  the 
colonists  are  to  be  counted).  Nine  years  later  when  the  whole  country  had 
passed  under  the  sway  of  King  George  Alexander  Henry,  the  English  trader 
and  author  who  so  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life  at  the  time  of  the  massacre 
at  (old)  F.»rt  M  ickinavv,  1763,  June  4th,  re-established  the  Madelaine  island 
trading-post.  To  this  place  the  name  of  La  Pointe  was  applied  some  time  dur- 
ing the  present  century,  a  name  afterwards  transferred  to  the  "new  fort"  built 
by  the  American  Fur  Company  two  miles  farther  north,  when,  on  account  of 


148  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

the  use  of  steamers  in  the  Lake  Superior  trade,  a  deeper  harbor  became  a  ne- 
cessity. Thus  when  we  see  the  name  La  Pointe  we  need  to  remember  that  it 
once  meant  the  mainland  west  of  Chequamegon  bay,  then  the  southern  end  of 
Madelaine  island  and  last  of  all  the  village  that  still  bears  it. 

From  Henry  the  trade  seems  to  have  passed  to  the  brothers  Cadotte,  Jean 
Baptiste  and  Michael,  descendants  of  a  Mons.  Cadeau  who,  it  is  said,  came  to 
the  Lake  Superior  region  in  1671,  in  the  company  of  the  French  deputy  al- 
ready named,  Simon  Francis  Daumont,  the  Sieur  de  St.  Lusson.  * 

In  1818  a  young  man,  Lyman  Marcus  Warren,  a  native  of  Berkshire 
county,  Massachusetts,2  came  with  his  younger  brother,  Truman  Abraham,  to 
the  Lake  Superior  region  "to  engage  in  the  fur  trade.  They  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  Michael  Cadotte  and  soon  became  great  favorites  with  the  Ojibways." 
"They  married  daughters  of  their  employer  and  succeeded  to  his  trade  which 
they  carried  on  at  first  in  rivalry  to  the  American  Fur  Company  but  afterward 
in  connection  with  it."  In  1825  Truman  died  while  on  a  voyage  from  Macki- 
naw to  Detroit.  He  left  a  son,  James  Henry  who,  even  as  these  pages  are  in 
course  of  preparation  (October,  1891),  has  retired  from  a  service  of  twenty- 
seven  years  and  three  months  as  the  Congregational  Home  Missionary  superin- 
tendent for  California. 

To  the  elder  brother  were  given  more  years  of  life.  Of  his  conversion  at 
Mackinaw  we  have  already  read.  His  eager  zeal  for  the  good  of  the  Indians 
and  others  with  whom  he  lived  led  to  the  establishment  of  the  first  mission  at 
La  Pointe  on  Madelaine  island.  He  was  obliged  to  wait  four  years  for  the 
fulfillment  of  his  cherished  desire.  But  at  last  the  mission  that  he  so  earnestly 
pleaded  for  was  begun.  The  object  for  which  Mr.  Stevens  came  west  had  not 
been  forgotten,  and  we  now  return  to  him  and  his  work.3 

In  1828  he  visited  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Green  Bay,  the  Stockbridges  and  the 
Oneidas.  He  made  the  acquaintance  of  Lewis  Cass,  then  governor  of  Michi- 
gan ;  of  many  officers  of  the  United  States  army ;  of  Rev.  Alvin  Coe,  who  had 
come  west  under  under  the  auspices  of  the  Presbyterian  Board ;  and  of  Henry 
Rowe  Schoolcraft,  known  both  as  an  explorer  and  a  student  of  Indian  languages 
and  customs.  Late  in  the  autumn  of  1828,  the  condition  of  Mr.  Stevens's 
health  compelled  him  to  go  back  to  New  York.  Rest  and  change  gave  him 
strength  and  he  "  began  to  cherish  the  hope  of  soon  re-entering  upon  mission 
work  in  the  great  northwest.  Late  in  March,  1829,':  he  writes  "we  were 
greatly  and  agreeably  surprised  to  meet  the  Rev.  Alvin  Coe,  whose  acquaint- 
ance we  made  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie.  In  company  with  Dr.  Ely,  secretary  of 
the  Presbyterian  Board  of  missions,  he  had  visited  Washington  for  the  purpose 
of  laying  the  subject  of  evangelizing  the  North  American  Indians  before  the 

1  A  son  of  Cadeau's  whose  name  is  written  Jean  Baptiste  Cadotte,  resident  at  Sault  St. 
Marie,  was  the  father  of  the  two  named  above.    Their  mother  was  an  Ojibway  woman,  a  law- 
ful wife.    The  marriage  was  celebrated  by  a  priest  of  Rome.    W.  W.  Warren,  a  great-grand- 
son, gives  us  these  statements. 

2  Born  1794,  August  9th. 

3  See  page  49. 


AMONG  THE  O.I  IB  WAYS.  149 

president  [John  Quincy  Adams]  and  obtaining  the  sanction  and  protection 
of  the  government  in  prosecuting  the  work.  The  programme  of  the  Board 
was  to  send  out  two  men  to  explore  the  country  between  the  Mississippi  river, 
Green  Bay  and  Lake  Superior,  ascertaining  the  different  tribes,  their  locality, 
number,  disposition  toward  the  Americans  and  the  needs  of  each;  and  select  a 
few  prominent  sites  for  the  establishment  of  mission  schools  if  the  outlook 
should  be  favorable  to  the  enterprise.  Bro.  Coe  and  myself  were  commissioned 
to  make  this  exploration  the  following  season  and  make  our  report  to  the  Board. 
In  the  meantime  the  Mackinaw  mission  had  been  transferred  to  the  care  of  the 
American  Board  and  re-enforced.  I  immediately  wrote  to  Mr.  Everts,  secre- 
tary of  the  American  B  >ard,  and  received  the  approval  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee- and  further  [was  informed]  that  the  Rev.  David  Greene,  one  of  the 
assistant  secretaries,  would  meet  me  and  Bro.  Coe  in  June  at  Green  Bay  for 
consultation  on  the  proposed  tour." 

As  far  as  rapidity  of  transportation  is  concerned,  the  modern  age  began  in 
this  century.  Abraham  could  travel  as  fast  as  Washington.  The  then  newly 
invented  steamboat  was  all  that  gave  Mr.  Stevens  an  advantage  in  speed  over 
the  Apostle  Paul.  Says  our  Wisconsin  missionary:  "No  railroad  in  the  United 
States  yet.  From  Buffalo  by  the  lake  to  Green  Bay,  reaching  there  by  the  14th 
of  June.  Death  had  entered  the  mission  family  with  the  Stockbridge  Indians, 
the  family  whom  I  left  the  last  November,  and  removed  the  Rev.  Mr.  Miner 
from  his  labors.  Bro.  Coe  and  Bro.  Greene  arrived  in  a  few  days.  Matters 
were  soon  arranged  and  preparation  made  for  the  bereaved  family  to  accom- 
pany Mr.  Greene  down  the  lakes  to  New  York,  and  for  Bro.  Coe  and  myself  to 
start  on  our  work  of  exploration.  We  procured  horses  to  take  us  to  Fort 
Winnebago  near  the  Wisconsin  river.  Thence  we  traveled  by  canoe  down 
that  river  to  the  Mississippi  at  Prairie  du  Cliien.  There  we  spent  some  [about] 
two  weeks.  Between  three  [thousand]  and  four  thousand  Indians,  Winneba- 
giws  and  Menomonees,  were  assembled  here  to  treat  with  the  government  for 
the  sale  of  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  river.  All  these  lands  were  at 
that  time  ceded  to  the  United  States.  The  Indians  were  to  have  five  years  to 
remove  to  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi. 

"About  the  middle  of  August  we  proceeded  up  the  Mississippi  in  bark 
canoes  rowed  by  four  Menomonees,  thirteen  days  en  route.  Spent  several  days 
at  Fort  Snelling,  l  and  in  visiting  the  several  villages  or  bands  of  Dakota  (alias 
Sioux)  Indians.  At  our  request  several  hunters  came  to  the  council  house  at 
this  place  and  we  told  them  through  our  interpreter  the  object  of  our  visit:  To 
extend  to  them  the  hand  of  friendship;  to  invite  them  to  participate  in  all  the 
good  things  the  Great  Spirit  had  bestowed  upon  us.  The  good  book  the  Great 
Spirit  had  given  us  to  guide  us  in  the  straight  path  was  as  good  for  the  Red 


1  In  S.-iitiMiiln-r.  1«2!»,  K  <v.  A.  Coe  and  J.  D.  Stevens  arrived  at  Fort  Snelling.  Atfent  Ta- 
liaferro  (Major  Lawrence  Taliaferro  of  the  United  States  army)  treated  them  kindly  and  of- 
ferred  the  old  mill  and  buildings  at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  for  a  Presbyterian  mission  school 
for  the  Hakot  IN.  as  well  as  the  Indian  farm  opened  at  Callumn  and  called  Eatonville.—  "  His- 


or te     aot  IN.  as  we     as  te    nan   arm  ope 
tory  of  Minnesota."  hy  Rev.  Kdward  Dutti"l<l  Ne 


ill. 


150  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

man  as  the  White,  and  it  required  us  to  carry  it  to  all  people,  both  the  Red  and 
the  Black  as  well  as  the  White.  Many  of  you  are  becoming  old  and  gray- 
headed,  and  your  eyes  are  becoming  dim  and  will  never  learn  to  read  this  book. 
But  your  children  may  be  taught  to  read  it,  and  you  can  hear  from  them  the 
sweet  words  of  love  which  will  make  you  wise  and  happy  here  and  in  the  coun- 
try of  spirits  where  all  our  fathers  have  gone  and  to  which  we  shall  soon  go. 
We  want  you  to  consent  to  let  us  come  and  live  with  you,  and  learn  your  lan- 
guage, and  make  books  in  your  language,  and  teach  your  children  to  read  them. 
This  is  what  we  have  to  say. 

"  The  old  chief  Shonka-shan l  (Red  Dog)  arose  and  said :  *  We  have  lis- 
tened to  your  words.  The  Great  Spirit  loved  his  white  children  better  than  his 
red  children  and  gave  them  this  book,  and  they  are  wise  and  happy.  Now  we 
are  glad  to  hear  that  he  has  pity  for  us  and  has  sent  you  to  us  to  speak  to  us 
these  words  and  give  us  this  book  to  make  us  wise  and  happy  that  we  may  have 
warm  houses  and  fine  clothes  and  plenty  to  eat  like  his  white  children.  This 
was  what  he  had  to  say.'  ' 

From  Fort  Snelling  our  travelers  started  toward  Lake  Superior.     Their- 
Dakota  friends  gave  them  the  use  of  two  horses,  and  two  of  the  Indians  went! 
along  as  guides.     "The  third  day,"  continues  Mr.  Stevens,  "we  came  to  a  small! 
river.     The  Indians  said  the  name  was  Sunrise  river.     Here  we  camped  for  the? 
night  and  our  guides  told  us  that   when  they  had   slept  one   night  they  should 
leave  us  and  go  back  to  the  Dakotas ;  they  were  afraid  to  go  farther  in  the  O jib- 
way  country;  if  we  followed  down  that  river  " — it  flows  northward  —  "  we  should 
come  to  the  St.  Croix  river,  then  following  up  the  St.  Croix,  we  should  find  the  I 
Indian  trading-post.     No  offers  we  could  make  could  induce  them  to  go  any 
farther." 

Near  noon  the  next  day  the  guides  started  homeward,  taking  with  them  the 
horses,  the  shot-gun  and  a  large  part  of  the  provisions  of  the  party.  The  mis- 
sionary explorers  were  thus  left  in  a  dense  wilderness  defenseless  and  alone. 
"We  peeled  some  bark,  made  our  blankets  and  the  provisions  we  had  left  int 
packs,  hung  them  upon  our  backs  and  proceeded  down  the  river.  It  flow* 
through  a  tamarack  and  cedar  swamp  which  was  almost  impassable.  Befc 
noon  of  the  next  day,  Bro.  Coe  became  exhausted  and  could  not  proct 
I  proposed  leaving  the  river  to  find  better  traveling.  He  proposed  construct!! 
a  raft  and  floating  down  the  river.  This  last  plan  was  adopted.  Six  days 
poled  and  floated  slowly  down  this  serpentine  stream  without  seeing  or  hearing 
a  human  being.  Our  rations  were  growing  short  and  when  we  were  going  to 
get  new  supplies  who  could  tell?" 

Becoming  impatient  of  their  slow  progress,  Mr.  Stevens  left  the  raft  to 
if  they  could  not  do  better  by  walking.     Avoiding  bends  in  the  river  he  we 
farther  down  and  awaited  the  coming  of  his  friend.     "  I  sat  down  on  the  hij 

1  Mr  Stevens  writes  the  name  Shonka-shan,  the  n  in  both  cases  being  nasal.    The  lastj 
is  not  proper.    It  is  a  mis-pronunciation  when  the  sound  is  heard.    As  we  spell  now,  we  W 
write  the  name  Shunka  Sha,  which  is  Red  Dog.    Red  Dog's  village  was  only  a  short  dist 
above  Fort  Snelling  —  A.  L.  Riggs,  D.  D.,  Principal  ot  the  Santee  Normal  Training  School. 


AMONG  THE  OJ1BWAYS.  151 

est  point  of  the  bluff,  and  watched  and  sang,  and  hallooed  long  and  loud  to  the 
going  down  of  the  sun,  but  no  response.  No  raft  came.  The  shades  of  night 
were  rapidly  approaching,  and  I  felt  as  much  alone  as  though  there  were  not 
another  being  on  the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  What  had  befallen  Bro.  Coe  ? 
I  sprang  to  my  feet  and  made  rapid  strides  up  the  stream,  calling  loudly  lest  I 
should  pass  him  and  be  hopelessly  separated.  The  stars  came  out  one  after  an- 
other, but  there  came  no  response  or  indication  of  another  human  being  upon 
the  face  of  the  whole  earth.  The  dark,  turbid,  narrow  stream,  overhung  by  the 
tall  grass  upon  its  banks,  was  nearly  concealed  from  my  sight  as  the  shades  of 
night  stealthily  crept  over  me,  so  that  I  found  it  difficult  and  dangerous  to  fol- 
low its  course.  The  marshy  ground  was  full  of  holes  and  frog-ponds  and  bogs, 
that  I  could  not  see  to  avoid.  One  moment  I  was  stumbling  over  the  bogs,  the 
next  sinking  deep  into  the  mire  or  about  to  slip  off  a  steep  bank  into  the  river. 
I  had  no  apparatus  for  striking  fire  " —  this  was  before  the  days  of  matches  — 
"  and  kindling  up  a  beacon  light  upon  the  bluff  that  could  be  seen  from  the 
river.  Bro.  Coe  had  these  and,  if  some  terrible  calamity  had  not  befallen  him, 
he  would  certainly  before  this  have  struck  up  a  light  to  indicate  his  where- 
abouts. As  these  thoughts  were  passing  through  my  mind,  I  cast  my  eyes  across 
the  river  toward  the  opposite  bluffs  and  there,  to  my  great  surprise,  I  saw  a 
bright  light  upon  the  top  of  the  bluff.  The  awful  solitude  in  a  moment  was 
gone.  There  were  other  human  beings  in  the  world  besides  myself.  Hope 
gave  new  energy  to  my  feet,  and  although  a  wide  marsh,  covered  with  high 
grass  and  bogs,  and  a  deep  stream  were  to  be  crossed  amid  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  I  had  not  a  doubt  that  I  should  soon  be  enjoying  the  fellowship  of  a 
companion  in  travel  and  a  fellow-laborer  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ."  The  raft 
had  been  broken  in  pieces  upon  a  rock  in  a  slight  rapid. 

Mr.  Stevens's  narrative  was  never  finished.  The  hand,  tremulous  with  age, 
laid  down  the  pen  forever. 

Somehow  the  explorers  made  their  way  from  the  little  Sunrise  river  to  the 
shores  of  Lake  Superior.  Doubtless  they  went  to  La  Pointe  on  Madelaine 
island  where  the  American  Fur  company  then  maintained  an  establishment. 
There  they  would  find  a  friend  in  Mr.  Warren,  the  superintendent,  whose  en- 
treaty for  the  establishment  of  a  mission  at  La  Pointe  had  seemed  to  the  labor- 
ers like  a  call  from  God. l 

Mr.  Stevens's  journey  of  exploration  finished,  the  autumn  of  this  year, 
1829,  saw  him  in  Mr.  Ambler's  place  as  teacher  at  the  Stockbridge  mission. 

In  the  summer  of  1829,  when  Mr.  Warren  made  his  annual  trip  to  Mack- 
inaw he  took  a  boat  for  the  special  purpose  of  bringing  back  with  him  a  mis- 
sionary. No  one  could  go  that  year,  but  in  1830  Fredrick  Ayer,  returned  with 
him,  opened  a  school, —  attended  at  first  only  by  white  children — studied  the 

1  Mr.  Warren  was  a  most  helpful  friend  to  the  mission.  He  rests  in  death  where  he  labored 
faithfully  in  life,  at  La  Pointe.  (Died  1847,  October  10th.)  A  son,  William  Whipple  Warren, 
now  dead,  is  the  author  of  a  "  History  of  the  Ojibwavs,"  published  bv  the  Minnesota  Histori- 
cal society  A  daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  (Warren)  English,  labors  in  the  Episcopal  mission  at  Red 
Lake,  Minnesota. 


152  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Ojibway  language,  and  made  the  beginning  of  a  mission  at  La  Pointe  on  Mad- 
elaine  island  three  miles  across  from  the  site  of  the  present  village  of  Bayfield. 
At  that  time  there  was  no  other  mission  on  Lake  Superior.  There  was  neither 
minfster  nor  priest, —  Mr.  Ayer  was  not  yet  ordained, —  west  of  Sault  Ste.  Marie. 
The  Ojibways  were  in  the  rudest  state  of  savage  life."1 

The  next  year  the  mission  was  strengthened  by  the  coming  of  Rev.  Sher- 
man Hall  and  wife,  with  an  interpreter,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  (John)  Campbell.  The 
mission  family  left  Mackinaw  on  the  5th  of  August,  1831,  in  company  with 
Mr.  Warren  and  arrived  at  La  Pointe  on  the  30th  of  the  same  month.  Under 
the  former  date  Mr.  Hall  wrote  as  follows: 

"The  manner  of  traveling  on  the  upper  waters  of  the  great  lakes,  is  with 
open  canoes  and  batteaux.  The  former  are  made  in  the  Indian  style,  the  ma- 
terials of  which  are  the  bark  of  the  white  birch,  and  the  wood  of  the  white 
cedar.  The  cedar  forms  the  ribbing,  and  the  bark  the  part  which  comes  in 
contact  with  the  water.  These  are  made  of  various  sizes,  from  ten  to  thirty 
feet  in  length.  The  largest  are  sufficiently  strong  to  carry  from  two  to  three 
tons  of  lading.  They  are  propelled  by  the  paddle,  and  when  well  built  and 
well  manned,  without  lading,  will  go  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  miles  in  a  day, 
in  calm  weather. 

"Batteaux  are  light-made  boats,  about  forty  feet  in  length  and  ten  or 
twelve  feet  wide  at  the  center,  capable  of  carrying  about  five  tons'  burden 
each,  and  are  rowed  by  six  or  seven  men.  They  have  no  deck.  Upon  articles 
of  lading  with  which  the  boat  is  filled,  is  the  place  for  the  passengers :  who  have 
no  other  seats  than  they  ean  form  for  themselver,  out  of  their  traveling  trunks, 
boxes,  beds,  etc.  On  these  they  place  themselves  in  any  position  necessity  may 
require,  or  convenience  suggest.  Such  is  the  vehicle  which  is  to  convey  us  to 
the  place  of  our  destination.  In  the  small  compass  of  this  boat  we  have  to  find 
room  for  eleven  persons. 

"  At  night  our  tent  is  pitched  on  some  convenient  place  on  shore." 

This  company  took  care  not  to  travel  on  the  Sabbath.  Their  first  Sunday, 
August  7th,  was  spent  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  "where  they  were  received  with 
Christian  hospitality  by  the  Rev.  Abel  Bingham,  Baptist  missionary  there." 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter  began  his  work  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  this  year,  but  not  un- 
til about  Thanksgiving. 

Mr.  Hall's  journal  for  August  14th  shows  how  the  second  Sabbath  was 
honored:  "We  commenced  the  day  with  our  private  and  family  devotions. 
The  heat  was  very  oppressive,  but  we  raised  a  canopy.  A  large  proportion  of 
those  in  company  with  us  are  French  Catholics,  and  do  not  understand  the  Eng- 

1  Of  an  earlier  time  than  this,  Mr.  \V.  W.  Warren,  a  warm  friend  of  missions  and  a  faith 
ful  Christian,  wrote  in  1851  or  1852. 

"  The  Ojibways  were  more  deserving  of  respect  in  those  days  while  living  in  their  natu- 
ral state,  and  under  the  full  force  of  their  primitive  moral  beliefs,  than  they  are  at  the  present 
day,  after  being  degenerated  by  a  close  contact  with  an  unprincipled  frontier  population." 

This  last  remark  suggests  the  fact  that  the  great  question  for  us  to  consider  in  connection 
with  mission  work  among  the  Indians  is  whether  that  race  shall  have  good  from  our  people 
or  only  evil. 


AMONG  THE  OJ1BWAYS.  153 

lish  language.  In  the  morning  our  service  was  in  the  French  language,  consist- 
ing of  a  chapter  from  the  Bible  and  a  tract  read  hy  one  of  the  clerks.  A  few 
of  the  men  attended.  We  also  had  a  service  for  the  Indians,  attended  by  a 
few.  In  the  evening  we  held  a  prayer-meeting." 

A  wind  from  the  north  the  next  Sunday  rendered  overcoats  a  necessity. 
"  On  our  arrival  at  this  place  [then  called  Petit  Marais]  last  evening,  we  found 
the  traders  of  the  Fond  du  Lac1  department  encamped  here,  they  having 
come  to  the  determination  not  to  travel  on  the  Sabbath.  There  were  therefore 
fourteen  boats  in  the  harbor  together  to-day,  and  not  less  than  two  hundred 
persons  camped  on  the  shore.  At  half-past  ten,  A.  M.,  we  had  a  service  in  Eng- 
lish. In  the  afternoon  we  had  a  service  in  French  which  was  conducted  by 
singing,  prayer,  reading  the  Scriptures  and  a  French  tract.  A  much  larger 
number  attended  than  was  present  last  Sabbath.  In  the  evening  we  had  a 
prayer-meeting.  Thus  has  the  gospel  been  preached  in  this  wilderness  to-day." 
On  the  following  Sunday  a  French  service  was  held,  attended  by  a  "large 
number  of  men."  The  Tuesday  thereafter  the  long  voyage  of  more  than  four 
hundred  eighty-five  miles  came  to  an  end. 

The  La  Pointe  to  which  the  missionaries  came  was  very  different  from  the 
deserted  village  that  still  bears  the  name.  It  was  the  "  old  "  fort  on  the  south- 
ern end  of  Madelaine  island  soon  to  be  supplanted  by  the  "  new  fort,"  or  Fort 
Ramsey,2  two  miles  northward.  Each  in  turn  was  the  chief  place  of  trade  on 
Lake  Superior.  "The -first  sermon  ever  delivered  at  this  place  by  a  regularly 
ordained  Christian  minister  "  was  by  Mr.  Hall  on  the  afternoon  of  the  Sabbath 
after  his  arrival.  He  had  held  a  meeting  in  the  morning  attended  by  a  consid- 
erable number  of  Frenchmen.  It  is  pleasant  to  read  his  acknowledgement  of 
"kindness  received  from  Catholic  families." 

About  the  first  of  September  the  school  averaged  twenty-five.  "The  in- 
struction given  has  been  wholly  in  the  English  language  on  account  of  our  hav- 
ing no  books  in  the  language  of  the  natives.  Some  elementary  Indian  books 
are  very  much  needed.  Some  of  the  children  begin  to  read  in  the  English  Tes- 
tament. A  Sabbath-school  exercise  has  been  held  on  Sabbath  mornings  with 
the  children."  Meetings  for  adults  also  were  held  at  which  a  few  verses  were 
often  read  from  a  small  Scripture  tract  prepared  by  Dr.  James3  of  the  United 
States  army.  The  hymn-book  used  was  one  published  for  the  use  of  the  Meth- 
odist missions  to  the  Ojibways  in  Upper  Canada. 

From  La  Pointe  we  return  to  Sault  Ste.  Marie  where  during  the  following 
winter  1831-32 4  Rev.  William  Thurston  Boutwell  was  making  special  prepar- 

1  Fond  du  Lac :  source  of  the  lake.    This  Fond  du  Lac  is  in  Minnesota,  near  Duluth. 

2  A  name  little  used,  apparently,  and  but  for  a  short  time. 

3  Though  not  at  that  time  a  professed  Christian,  Dr.  James  aided,  as  we  shall  see,  in  estab- 
lishing the  first  Sunday-school  in  Wisconsin.    Later  he  became  a  member  of  the  Baptist 
church  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie.    He  accompanied,  in  1819-20  Major  Long's  expedition  to  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  three  years  later  published  an  account  of  it. 

4  During  this  same  winter  (March,  1832),  Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter,  himself  a  Congregation- 
alist,  organized  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie  a  church  that  was  in  name  Presbyterian  though  never  in 
4-01 11  unction  with  any  presbytery.  Henry  Rowe  Schoolcraft  was  one  of  the  founders  of  this 


154  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

ation  to  join  the  Ojibway  mission.  Of  what  sort  this  preparation  was  we  learn 
in  a  letter  dated  1831,  October  13th:  "I  regret  one  thing — that  Iliad  not 
come  here  immediately  after  the  subject  was  first  proposed,  in  which  case  I 
should  have  been  nearly,  if  not  quite,  three  months'  advance  in  Indian  of  where 
I  now  am.  I  am  satisfied  that  it  is  not  a  difficult,  though  it  may  be  somewhat 
of  a  laborious  task  to  acquire  the  language.  As  yet  I  have  devoted  the  major 
part  of  my  time  to  the  variation  of  the  verb  which  is,  comparatively  speaking, 
endless,  both  in  the  affirmative  and  the  negative  form.  And  here  I  wish  you  to 
give  all  who  have  undertaken  to  learn  Indian  to  understand  that  no  one  will  do 
for  a  missionary  to  Lake  Superior  who  shrinks  from  apparent  difficulty  at  the 
outset  —  here  is  only  the  beginning  of  sorrow."  In  the  same  letter  he  writes 
for  his  "Greek  Lexion,  Greek  Grammar,  Ernesti  on  Interpretation,  Woods  on 
Baptism,  Family  Monitor,  one  of  the  blank  account  books  and  the  little  Mem- 
oirs of  Nathan  Dickerman." l 

Years  later  Mr.  Boutwell  wrote  the  subjoined  narrative : 
"  Dr.  James,  on  a  visit  to  the  officers  at  the  Fort  at  Mackinaw,  made  a 
brief  call  at  the  mission  and  learned  from  Rev.  Mr.  Ferry  that  I  was  anxious 
to  learn  the  Chippewa  language.  I  was  called  and  introduced.  As  he 
leaving  he  made  this  proposition  to  me :  •  If  you  will  accept  a  bed,  and  a  plate 
at  my  table,  you  shall  be  a  thrice  welcome  guest  on  this  one  condition,  give  me 
one  hour  a  day  in  the  study  of  Hebrew.  In  addition,  you  shall  have  the  use 
of  my  office  and  my  Indian  interpreter  who,  when  a  mere  lad,  was  taken  cap- 
tive, and  adopted  by  an  old  squaw,  and  speaks  the  language  like  an  Indian.' 
Such  an  offer  was  too  valuable  to  be  declined. 

"From  Mackinaw,  ninety  miles  to  the  Sault,  I  passed  my  first  canoe  voy-< 

, J 

church  iind  an  elder  in  it.    Captain,  afterward  Major,  D.  La  Fayette  Wilcox,  commandant  at 
Fort  Brady  (Sault  Ste.  Marie),  entered  into  Christian  covenant  first  with  this  church,  and  the) 
wife  of  his  successor,  Major  John  Fowle  was  also  a  member.    Pauline  Adelaine,  then  a  babej 
in  arms,  daughter  of  Major  Fowle,  is  known  to  the  world  as  herself  a  benefactor  of  Wellei 
ley  college  and  the  widow  of  its  founder,  Henry  Fowle  Durant. 

In  a  letter  begun  1833,  May  4th,  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  and  finished  on  the  14th  of  the  sat 
month  at  Chicago,  Mr.  Porter,  in  speaking  of  the  former  place,  tells  us  that  "about  sevem 
have  expressed  hope  in  Christ  since  I  first  reached  there.    May  5th  I  preached  in  that  fav 
spot  for  the  last  time.    Eight  were  admitted  to  the  church."    He  gave  his  reasons  for  leavini 
Most  of  the  church  were  connected  with  the  garrison,  and  that  had  been  ordered  to  Fort 
born.    Mr.  Schoolcraft,  his  patron  and  faithful  friend,  expected  soon  to  remove  to  Mackina1 
though  he  did  not  go  until  1839.    At  Sault  Ste.  Marie  there  was  a  Baptist  minister  and 
Episcopal.    A  third,  a  Methodist,  was  expected  soon.    Chicago  needed  a  minister.    Mi 
Fowle  invited  Mr.  Porter  to  go  with  him  and  his  command.    They  embarked  May  6th. 
hope  we  have  brought  in  our  colony  military  church  the  leaven  of  the  gospel."    It  bee; 
the  mother  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Chicago,  organized  by  Mr.  Porter,  mostly 
of  Congregational  material,  Wednesday,  26th  June,  1833.    One  of  its  ruling  elders  was  Mi 
Wilcox  who,  in  about  a  month  after  Major  Fowle's  arrival,  relieved  him  in  command  of  tl 
fort     Major  Fowle  was  transferred  to  West  Point  as  professor  of  military  tactics. 

Mr.  Porter  was  the  first  resident  Protestant  pastor  in  Chicago.  "  A  Papal  priest  [John 
Irenaeus  St.  Cyr]  reached  this  place  from  St.  Louis  a  fortnight  since,"  adds  Mr.  Porter.  J< 
Walker,  a  Methodist,  had  been  coming  in  once  a  month  or  thereabout  to  hold  meetings.  F*j 
ther  Kent  of  Galena,  who  seems  to  have  made  a  Pauline  tour  this  spring  was  glad  to  find  Mr. 
Porter  at  Chicago,  a  village  which  he  thought  would  grow  as  rapidly  as  any  in  this  WesteM 
country.  Mr.  Porter  thought  that  it  would  soon  be  large  enough  to  support  a  minister. 

1  This  letter  was  written  from  "  Saut  de  St.  Marie  "  to  Mr.  Abel  D.  Newton  at  Maekinaig 
It  is  dated  1831,  October  13th. 


AMONG  THE  O.I1BWAYS.  155 

ago  in  silence,  save   that,  as  oft  as   its   remembrance  occurs,  I  thank  God  that 
my  bones  and  those  of  the  crew  are  not  at  the  bottom  of  Lake  Huron. 

"  At  the  table  Christmas  morning  Dr.  James  said  to  me,  '  Mr.  Boutwell, 
when  among  the  Romans  you  must  do  as  the  Romans  do.  Now  visit  every  fam- 
ily in  the  village ;  kiss  every  female  you  meet  on  the  way  and  wish  her  a  merry 
Christmas;  accept  a  cake  and  a  sip  of  wine  from  each  hostess.'  Puritan  blood 
flushed  my  face.  I  replied:  'If  such  is  your  Christmas  I  take  none  of  it.' 

"At  ten  A.  M.,  I  ventured  to  step  outside,  and  take  a  look  up  and  down 
the  street.  Squads  of  ten  and  twenty,  men,  women  and  children,  of  all  tinges, 
from  the  pure  native  to  the  white  French,  were  toggled  in  their  best,  going  the 
rounds  for  cakes  and  cookies.  The  nights  were  made  hideous  by  Indians,  half- 
breeds  and  French  in  drunken  revelry.  Such  was  my  first  Christmas  in  this 
country." l 

Li  the  spring  of  1832  Mr.  Schoolcraft  organized  an  expedition  with  the 
purpose  of  ascertaining  the  true  source  of  the  Mississippi,  and  making  other 
geographical  and  scientific  discoveries.  Accompanying  this  expedition,  Mr. 
Boutwell  came  to  La  Pointe,  June  20th.  Thence  the  party  went  westward  by 
way  of  Fond  du  Lac.  The  first  sermon  ever  preached  at  this  old  trading-post, 
now  a  station  on  the  Northern  Pacific  railway,  was  by  Mr.  Boutwell,  probably 
on  Sunday,  June  24th.  "  On  the  following  Sabbath  the  rain  and  the  mosquitoes 
rendered' it  impossible  for  us  to  have  divine  service." 

Under  date  of  13th  of  July  Mr.  Boutwell  wrote:  "At  two  P.  M.,  we 
reached  Elk  lake "  (now  called  Itasca).  Before  that  time  Cass  lake  had 
been  regarded  as  the  source  of  the  Mississippi.  Apparently  not  satisfied  with 
"Omoshkos,"^  the  Ojibway  word  for  "Elk,"  Mr.  Schoolcraft  desired,  for  the  lake 
of  new  renown,  what  he  awkwardly  calls  a  "  female "  name.  Not  being  him- 
self a  classical  scholar,  he  asked  Mr.  Boutwell  the  Latin  words  for  "true"  and 
4>  head."  As  "  verum  "  did  not  seem  to  be  suited  to  his  purpose,  Mr.  School- 
craft  took  the  kindred  noun  "veritas,"  and  from  its  two  last  syllables  and  the 
first  of  "caput"  formed  "Itasca."3 

1  During  the  writing  of  these  pages  Mr.  Boutwell  has  passed  from  earth  (1800,  October 
llth).  He  was  born  in  Hillsborough  county.  New  Hampshire,  1803,  February  3rd.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  at  Phillips  (Exeter)  academy,  Dartmouth  college  and  Andover  seminary. 
In  school  life  he  was  associated  for  nine  years  with  Sherman  Hall,  with  whom  for  so  many 
years  he  shared  the  labors  of  the  Ojibway  mission.  In  1847,  feeling  that  he  could  thus  be 
more  useful,  lie  abandoned  work  among  the  Indians  and  began  home  missionary  service 
among  the  lumbermen  in  and  about  Still  water,  Minnesota. 

a  The  o  in  ?/to.*/i  Is  printed  in  Mr.  Schoolcraft's  book  after  the  fashion  of  a  German  o  with 
an  umlaut. 

3  The  writer  was  one  of  a  party  of  fourteen  who,  during  the  month  of  August,  1891,  un- 
<ler  the  leadership  of  Captain  Willard  Glazier,  explored  the  region  of  Lake  Itasca. 

Itasca  was  found  to  be  a  lake  consisting  of  three  narrow  arms;  at  their  point  of  meeting 
lies  Sohoolcraft  Island.  The  greatest  length  of  the  lake  is  about  four  miles.  The  outlet  is  at 
the  end  of  the  north  arm ;  at  the  end  of  the  southwest  arm,  within  one-fourth  mile  of  each 
other,  enter  the  two  principal  feeders  of  the  lake.  The  more  westerly  and  larger  of  these, 
Nicollet  creek,  drains  a  tamarack  swamp.  It  is  a  fine  stream  of  clear,  cold  water.  It  has  sev- 
eral small  tributaries:  near  its  head  are  two  ponds  of  three  and  twelve  acres  in  extent.  The 
source  of  the  creek  is  springs.  The  total  length  of  the  creek  is  one  and  two  fifths  miles.  The 
other  en-ek  entering  Itasca,  the  one  comtnoulf  called  Elk,  is  about  half  as  large.  It  is  but 
OIK-  tilth  of  a  mile  long  and  affords  an  outlet  for  the  waters  of  the  lake  known  variously  as 


156  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Mr.  Boutwell  returned  by  the  same  route  which,  probably,  Mr.  Stevens  had 
traversed  three  years  before,  the  way  of  the  St.  Croix  (270  miles)  and  the  Bois 
Brule  (100  miles). l  The  entire  distance  traveled  by  him  is  estimated  at  2400 
miles.  During  the  course  of  the  journey,  which  occupied  about  sixty  days,  he 
visited  "twelve  or  fifteen  bands  of  Indians  embracing  about  3000  souls." 

A  mission-house,  still  standing  but  unoccupied,  was  built  at  La  Pointe 
about  half-way  between  the  old  fort  and  the  new.  Besides  affording  a  place 
for  worship  and  teaching,  it  became  the  home  of  all  the  missionaries  who 
labored  on  the  island.  It  was  erected  and  occupied  in  1834. 

Again  a  pioneer  of  pioneers,  Mr.  Ayer,  in  the  autumn  of  1832,  pressed 
farther  into  the  wilderness  on  a  tour  of  missionary  exploration.  He  visited 
Sandy  Lake  and  Leech  Lake.  The  former  lying  "on  the  great  portage  route2 
from  Winnepeg.  by  way  of  the  St.  Louis  river  to  Lake  Superior,  has  been  a 
noted  point  on  that  route  for  two  hundred  years."  Very  near  the  confluence  of 
the  lake's  short  outlet  with  the  Mississippi,  was  the  home  and  trading-post  of 
William  A.  Aitkin,  for  whom  a  Minnesota  county  has  been  named.  Mr.  Ayer 
wintered  with  him,  taught  school  and  finished  an  Ojibway  spelling-book,  begun 
at  La  Pointe.  Early  in  the  spring,  with  eighty  dollars  paid  by  Mr.  Aitkin, 
who  also  furnished  an  experienced  guide,  Mr.  Ayer  started  on  foot  for  Macki- 
naw, bound  for  Utica,  New  York,  to  get  his  book  printed  soon  enough  to  make 
it  possible  for  him  to  return  to  Lake  Superior  that  season  with  the  traders. 
That  was  a  journey  for  a  hero,  and  very  nearly  cost  him  his  life.  Once,  hav- 
ing broken  through  the  ice,  he  would  have  been  drowned  but  for  a  long  pole 
which  prudently  he  was  carrying. 

The  missionaries  of  that  time  were  not  strangers  to  long  and  hard  jour- 
neys. Nor  were  these  always  undertaken  in  summer.  "  It  requires  an  athletic 
constitution,"  write  Messrs.  Hall  and  Boutwell  from  La  Pointe,  1833,  Febru- 
ary 7th,  "to  shoulder  one's  pack  and  march  five  or  six  days  in  succession 
through  the  uninhabited  wilderness,  perhaps  with  a  pair  of  snowshoes  on  the 

the  Elk  or  Glazier,  which  is  situated  one-fifth  of  a  mile  south  of  this  southwest  arm  of  Itasca. 
The  greatest  length  of  this  lake  is  one  and  one-fourth  miles,  its  width  about  half  its  length, 
its  area  two  hundred  fifty-five  acres,  its  depth  forty -five  feet.  It  is  fed  by  four  crooks.  The 
respective  lengths  of  these  are :  one-fourth  mile,  one  and  one-fourth  miles,  one  and  one-fourth 
miles,  one  and  five-eighths  miles.  On  one  of  them  is  a  pond  of  nine  and  one-half  acres,  on  an- 
other a  pond  of  two  and  one-half  acres.  They  all  drain  tamarack  swamps.  The  total  dis- 
tance from  Lake  Itasca  to  the  longest  of  these  is  two  and  three-fifths  miles.  It  is  the  opinion 
of  the  writer  and  I  think  of  all  of  our  party,  that  this  lake  (Elk  or  Glazier)  fulfills  the  great- 
est number  of  conditions  for  being  the  source  of  the  river.— ALBRRT  WURTS  WHITNEY, 
Beloit,  Wisconsin. 

1  During  the  second  glacial  epoch  the  eastern  end  of  what  is  now  Lake  Superior  was  prob- 
ably filled  with  ice.    The  lake  thus  reduced  in  area  stood  at  a  surface  level  at  least  four  hun- 
dred twenty-five  feet  above  that  of  the  present  day  and  found  an  outlet  into  the  Mississippi 
through  the  Brule-St.  Croix  valley.    Therein  is  now  a  low  portage  of  only  two  miles. 

2  This  route  must  not  be  confounded  with  another  between  the  same  lakes,  one  shorter 
and  more  used,— that  by  way  of  Grand  Portage  and  the  Pigeon  river.    See  page  147  for  a  ref- 
erence to  the  founding  of  Grand  Portage.    This  place  was  the  destination  of  the  first  British 
expedition  that,— "  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  1762,"  under  command  of  Lieutenant  Thomas 
Bennett.— sailed  the  waters  of  Lake  Superior.    The  words  just  quoted  are  those  of  Thomp- 
son Maxwell,  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  afterward   one  of  the  famous  '  Boston  tea 
party  "    See  '*  Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,"  volume  XL,  page  213.    His  fuller  narrative 
is  published  in  the  "Essex  Institute  Historical  Collections,"  volume  VII. 


AMONG  THE  OJ1BWAYS.  157 

feet,  and  at  night  to  encamp  in  the  open  air  with  only  a  blanket  or  two  for  a 
covering."  With  men  who  would  thus  endure  hardness  as  good  soldiers  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  mission  was  sure  to  do  good  work. 

The  first  organization  of  a  Congregational  church  within  the  present  limits 
of  Wisconsin  took  place  at  La  Pointe,  1833,  August  20th,  Tuesday,  in  connec- 
tion with  this  mission. l  The  first  record-book  of  the  church,  recovered  during 
the  preparation  of  this  narrative,  thus  tells  the  story : 

"LA  POINTE,  Aug.  20,  1833. 

"The  re-enforcement  of  the  Chippiwa  Mission  having  arrived,  and  all  the 
members  being  present,  together  with  several  other  professors  of  religion,  it 
was  thought  best  that  a  church  should  be  organized  before  those  who  were  des- 
tined to  other  stations  should  leave  this  place;  accordingly  a  meeting  was  held 
this  evening  for  this  purpose.  After  appropriate  devotional  exercises,  a  confes- 
sion of  faith,  and  Covenant  were  read  by  Mr.  Boutwell  and  formally  consented 
to  by  the  members  present.  Mr.  L.  M.  Warren  was  elected  Clerk.  It  was 
thought  inexpedient  to  elect  other  officers  at  this  time. 

u  The  individuals  present  who  gave  their  consent  to  the  Confession  of  faith 
and  Covenant,  were  Rev.  W.  T.  Boutwell,  Rev.  S.  Hall,  Mrs.  B.  P.  Hall,  Ly- 
man  M.  Warren,  Edmund  F.  Ely,  C.  W.  Borup,  Mrs.  E.  Borup,  Mr.  John 
Campbell,  Mrs.  E.  Campbell,  Mr.  F.  Ayer,  Mrs.  E.  Ayer,  Misses  Delia  Cook 
&  Sabina  Stevens." 

This  church  maintained  its  Congregational  character  until  after  the  trans- 
fer of  the  mission  to  the  Presbyterian  Board  in  1870.  It  was  re-organized,  ac- 
cording to  Presbyterian  polity,  1876,  August  6th,  Sunday.2 

In  the  autumn  of  1833,  Mr.  Ayer  sought  a  new  field.  September  16th, 
he  went  to  Yellow  Lake  and  at  its  outlet  established  a  branch  mission.  "  This," 
says  W.  H.  Folsom,  in  his  book  "Fifty  Years  in  the  Northwest,"  "was 
the  first  actual  movement  in  opening  the  way  for  white  settlements  in  the  St. 
Croix  valley."  Here  was  the  gospel  first  preached  within  the  limits  of  what  is 
now  Burnett  county,  Wisconsin.  A  school  was  begun  there  1834,  September 
24th.  On  the  third  of  October,  1833,  Mr.  Boutwell  arrived  at  Leech  Lake, 
near  the  head  of  the  Mississippi,  and  there  established  a  mission,  the  first  west 
of  that  river  and  in  what  is  now  Minnesota.  To  this,  the  Seneca  Indians  of  New 
York  made  a  contribution.  On  his  way  to  Leech  Lake,  one  of  the  dark  places 
of  the  earth,  Mr.  Boutwell  stopped  at  Mr.  Aitkin's  where  Edmund  F.  Ely  had 
become  Mr.  Ayer's  successor,  arriving  1833,  September  19th,  and  beginning 
In-  school  September  23rd. 

One  other  branch  station,  Fond  du  Lac,  had  a  beginning  the  following 
year,  as  noted  in  the  report  of  the  mission  for  1835 : 

"  La  Pointe:  Sherman  Hall,  missionary,  and  his  wife;  Joseph  Town,  farm- 
er and  mechanic ;  Delia  Cook,  teacher.  Yellow  Lake :  Frederic  Ayer,  catechist 

1  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  Stockbridge  church  had  been  organized  before  its  first 
members  left  New  York. 

-  Tn  wisely,  this  too,  like  the  Stockbridge  Indian  church,  has  been  put  by  the  Presbyteri- 
ans in  chance  of  their  Home  Mission  board.  See  note  1,  page  144. 


158  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

and  teacher,  and  his  wife ;  John  L.  Seymour,  teacher  ;  Sabina  Stevens,  assistant. 
Leech  Lake :  William  T.  Boutwell,  missionary,  and  his  wife.  Fond  du  Lac : 
Edmund  F.  Ely,  teacher  and  catechist. 

"Mr.  Ely  removed  from  Sandy  Lake  to  Fond  du  Lac  in  the  summer  of 
last  year;  the  latter  place,  which  is  at  the  western  extremity  of  Lake  Superior, 
affording,  in  his  opinion,  a  more  promising  field  for  permanent  missionary  labor . 
Since  his  removal  he  has  had  a  small  school,  in  which  he  was  more  successful 
than  he  anticipated,  has  held  various  meetings  for  giving  religious  instruction, 
and  visited  and  conversed  with  the  people.  An  ordained  missionary  is  much 
needed  at  this  station." 

Of  this  "small  school,"  at  Fond  du  Lac  (of  Lake  Superior),  Mr.  Ely,  un- 
der date  of  1835,  October  23rd,  thus  wrote : 

"  I  am   much   engaged  in  my  school.  It  is  on  the   whole 

very  interesting.  Some  are  making  good  progress.  I  think  that  a  class  of  five 
or  six  will  be  able  to  read  and  write  intelligibly  in  the  spring.  We  have  some 
inconveniences.  For  instance,  family,  school,  cooking,  baggage  and  beds  are 
put  into  a  house  sixteen  and  one-half  by  fourteen,  and  about  sixteen  square  feet 
of  that  is  occupied  by  the  chimney,  but  this  is  so  much  better  than  no  school 
room  that  we  rejoice  instead  of  murmur.  I  trust  that  we  shall  be  provided 
with  a  convenient  room  in  due  time." 

We  turn  again  to  the  mission  report  made  in  1835 : 

*•  Mr.  Boutwell  still  remains  at  Leech  Lake.  More  than  a  year  since  he 
was  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Hester  Crooks, l  heretofore  a  teacher  at  Yel- 
low Lake.  He  is  received  and  kindly  treated  by  the  Indians,  large  numbers  of 
whom  reside  in  the  vicinity,  but  his  instructions  seem  to  make  little  impression 
on  them.  His  remoteness  from  the  white  settlements  exposes  him  to  many  in- 
conveniences, and  compels  him  to  depend  for  subsistence  almost  entirely  on  the 
fish  of  the  lakes,  and  the  wild  rice  gathered  in  the  marshes  and  creeks;  and 
these  afford  but  a  precarious  supply. 

<*  At  Yellow  Lake  the  scarcity  of  provisions  compelled  the  Indians  to  dis- 
perse in  various  directions  in  search  of  food,  which,  as  all  the  children  left  the 
place,  caused  the  school  to  be  suspended  for  some  months.  The  whole  number 
of  pupils  there  has  been  about  thirty,  and  the  average  attendance  twelve.  As 
game  is  every  year  becoming  scarcer,  and  their  wild  rice  so  frequently  fails,  the 
Indians  will  soon  be  driven  to  the  alternative  of  cultivating  the  land  or  perish- 
ing by  famine. 

"  During  the  last  winter  the  school  at  La  Pointe  increased  to  the  number  of 
thirty  daily  attendants,  the  pupils  and  their  parents  manifesting  more  interest 
than  at  any  former  period.  Most  of  the  pupils  are  taught  in  both  the  English 
and  Ojibway  languages.  Two  public  religious  exercises  are  held  at  this  station 


1  Mrs.  Boutwell  was  a  daughter  of  Ramsey  Crooks,  of  whom  Irving  writes  in  his  "Astoria." 
oks  was  a  member  of  the  American  Fur  Company.    Mrs.  Boutwelrs  mother  was  of  Indian 
origin     The  first  dwelling  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Boutwell  after  their  marriage  was  a  lodge  of  bark. 
At  Leech  Lake  such  provisions  as  they  go't  from  white  settlements  had  to  be  brought  from 
Fort  Snelling,  part  of  the  way  on  men's  backs.    The  Indians  at  Leech  Lake  did  not  long 


treat  them  kindly. 


AMONG  THE  OJ1BWAYS.  l.VJ 

on  the  Sabbath :  one  in  English  and  one  in  Ojibway  language.  As  the  number 
of  persons  speaking  the  English  language  is  already  considerable  at  La  Pointe, 
and  is  likely  to  increase  (since  that  place  has  become  the  principal  depot  for 
the  business  of  the  American  Fur  company  in  the  Northwest),  it  is  highly  im- 
portant that  regular  public  religious  services  should  be  maintained  in  that  lan- 
guage. The  number  of  Indians  who  attend  meeting  has  considerably  increased, 
though  most  of  the  men  still  stand  aloof  and  some  ridicule  and  oppose." 

A  second  mission,  one  of  the  Roman  Catholic  communion,  was  begun  by 
Rev.  Frederic  Baraga.  a  native  of  Austria,  who  arrived  at  La  Pointe  27th  July, 
1835.  In  the  year  of  his  arrival  he  caused  to  be  built  what  Rev.  Chrysostom 
Verwyst  calls  a  chapel.  Six  years  later  some  logs  of  this  building  were  used  in 
the  construction  of  the  present  church,  dedicated  1st  August,  1841.  This  is 
the  church  over  which,  in  spite  of  what  Messrs.  Warren  (W.  W.)  and  Verwyst 
both  have  written,  some  ill-informed  people,  supposing  it  was  erected  by  Mar- 
quette,  indulge  in  much  wasted  sentiment. 1  In  it  hangs  a  pleasing  though  not 
a  great  picture,  a  Descent  from  the  Cross,  probably  by  some  Italian  painter  or 
copyist.  The  story  given  in  some  guide  books  that  this  painting  was  brought 
to  America  by  M arquette  is  preposterous  and  absurd.  If  it  had  been  in  Mar- 
quette's  mission, —  which  it  will  be  remembered  was  not  on  Madelaine  island  at 
all, —  he  would  doubtless  have  taken  it  with  him  when  he  and  his  people  were 
driven  to  kkMissilimackilnac.':  If,  on  this  subject,  any  doubt  is  left,  it  will  surely 
be  removed  by  the  subjoined  letter,  perhaps  the  last  ever  written  by  the  late 
Captain  John  Daniel  Angus,  of  La  Pointe:2 

Jan  27th  94 

Dear  Sir 

Yours  of  the  18th  is  at  hand  and  I  hasten  to  Answer  it  I  have 
Lived  at  La  pointe  the  most  of  the  time  since  1835.  Bishop  Baraga  brought 
picture  as  stated  in  1840  from  Rome  I  know,  for  I  assisted  him  to  unpack  the 
same  and  he  told  me  at  the  [time]  that  the  pope  presented  [it]  to  him  and  at 
the  time  that  he  did  not  know  its  age.  at  the  same  time  the  Bishop's  sister  the 
Countess  de  Hefferon  came  with  her  brother  and  remained  one  [year]  and  then 
returned  home  to  berlin  She  was  a  widow  about  45  years  of  age  and  possessed 
of  A  Large  fortune.  No  Marquette  never  Saw  that  picture  unless  he  saw  it  in 
Rome  Hoping  that  this  find  [you]  well  while 

I  remain  yours 

J  D.  Angus.3 

1  An  innocently  meant,  but  droll  inscription  upon  a  tombstone  in  the  cemetery  adjoining 
the  church  is  here  reproduced : 

To  The  Memory 

of 

Abraham  Beaulieu 
Born  15,  September 

1822. 

Accidently  Shot 
4th  April  1844. 

As  a  mark  of  affection  from  his  brother. 

a  The  dispatch  announcing  his  death,  is  dated  (1894)  February  15th. 
8  Of  course,  a  statement  of  the  fact  will  make,  to  many,  not  the  slightest  difference.   Our 


160  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Close  by  the  lake  shore,  on  the  right-hand  side  of  the  landing-place,  stands 
the  church  begun,  perhaps,  in  1839,  and  finished,  says  Rev.  E.  P.  Wheeler, 
"early  in  the  summer  of  1840."  It  was  built  by  subscription  by  the  Protest- 
ant mission  and  congregation.  According  to  Captain  Angus  there  was  a  differ- 
ence of  only  a  few  days  in  beginning  work  on  this  building  and  that  belonging 
to  the  Roman  Catholics.  He  does  not  remember  which  was  begun  first.  The 
Protestant  church  was  built  on  land  that,  in  spite  of  the  claim  of  the  mission, 
the  government  years  afterward  offered  for  sale.  Notice  of  the  proposed  sale 
did  not  reach  the  missionaries  and  the  site  was  bought  by  a  Jewish  trader.  In- 
dians and  whites  had  both  left  La  Pointe  and  it  was  not  thought  worth  while 
either  to  buy  his  claim  or  dispute  his  title. 

In  our  narrative  we  return  to  Yellow  Lake  whence  the  mission  force  re- 
moved to  Pokeguma  lake,  on  the  west  of  the  St.  Croix,  arriving  there  in  May, 
1836.  Though  they  were  thus  beyond  our  proper  field,  it  may  be  noted  that  a 
church  numbering  at  first  only  seven  members,  three  of  whom  were  Indians, 
was  organized  there  by  Mr.  Hall  in  February,  1837.  He  baptized  eight  per- 
sons, and  married  two  couples.  These  services  were  the  first  of  the  kind  in  the 
St.  Croix  valley.  Some  understanding  of  the  difficulty  of  the  mission  work,  at 
least  in  its  beginning,  may  be  gained  from  the  following  statement :  "The  mo- 
tives of  the  gospel,  in  themselves  considered,  have  no  more  influence  over  the 
Indian  than  over  the  deer  he  follows  in  the  chase."  The  missionaries,  there- 
fore, first  encouraged  the  Indian  to  work,  and  always  purchased  of  him  his 
spare  provisions. 

The  mission  at  Leech  Lake  was  less  successful.  The  Ojibways  there  were 
of  the  band  fitly  known  as  the  Pillagers.  On  an  August  day  in  1836,  Mr. 
Boutwell  heard  shouts  and  noises  across  the  lake.  Having  rowed  across,  he 
found  Jean  N.  Nicollet,  a  distinguished  French  astronomer,  who,  in  the  service 
of  the  United  States  government,  had  come  to  determine  the  latitude  and  longi- 
tude of  various  places  about  the  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi.  The  Indians, 
totally  unable  Jo  understand  what  he  was  doing  with  his  mysterious  instruments, 
and  vexed  because  he  made  them  no  presents  of  tobacco  or  anything  else,  were 
giving  him  serious  annoyance.  The  meeting  of  these  missionaries  of  religion 
and  science  was  a  mutual  pleasure.  In  his  official  report  Mr.  Nicollet  acknowl- 
edges "kind  attentions"  from  Mr.  Boutwell,  and  expresses  his  personal  "affec- 
tion and  gratitude  "  toward  him. 

In  the  following  December,  the  Leech  Lake  Indians  murdered  the  agent 
of  the  American  Fur.  Company.1  But  not  until  they  poisoned  one  of  his  chil- 
dren,—  without,  however,  causing  death, —  did  Mr.  Boutwell  leave  them.  In 

true  Marquette  devotee  is  on  that  particular  subject  of  her  admiration,  simply  irrational ;  and 
the  insincere  one  is  playing  a  game  to  win  Roman  Catholic  votes. 

1  It  may  be  that  this  agent  and  he  whose  burial  is  spoken  of  in  the  subjoined  note  are  one 
and  the  same : 

"  This  afternoon  I  followed  the  remains  of  poor  Alfred  Aitkin  to  the  grave.  The  wretched 
father  arrived  with  them  yesterday.  It  is  impossible  to  see  and  riot  to  pity  him.  He  is  the 
picture  of  distress  and  almost  of  despair.  By  his  request  the  [Episcopal]  church  burial  ser- 
vice was  read  at  the  house.  The  scene  at  the  grave  was  impressive  and  affecting."— DELIA 
COOK,  Fond  du  Lac,  25th  February,  1837. 


AMONG  THE  OJ1BWAYS.  161 

the  summer  of  1838  he  removed  to  Pokeguma  Lake,  and  Mr.  Ayer  went  thence 
to  Fond  du  Lac. 

For  a  time,  the  work  at  Pokeguma  was  one  of  great  promise.  "  We  have 
reason  to  bless  God  for  what  our  eyes  are  permitted  to  behold  at  this  place. 
We  believe  that  Christ  has  set  his  seal  upon  some  here,  and  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  now  leading  others  to  him.  Three,  we  believe,  have  the  seal 

of  Christ  in  their  hearts." l 

.  But  soon  there  was  a  change.  The  heathen  Indians  became  openly  hostile : 
"At  Fond  du  Lac  and  Pokeguma  they  have  been  much  tried  this  summer 
with  the  Indians.  They  have  killed  several  cattle  at  the  latter  place  for  the 
mission,  and  one  at  Fond  du  Lac.  Some  have  appeared  otherwise  hostile. 
What  the  Lord  intends  to  do  with  us  and  the  Indians,  I  do  not  know.  I  have 
no  further  anxiety  than  to  be  ascertained  of  his  will.  At  present,  I  do  not  see 
any  reason  why  we  should  not  persevere  in  efforts  to  save,  these  wretched 
heathen."  a 

The  next  year  Mr.  Hall  was  able  to  say : 3  "  The  station  at  Pokeguma  ap- 
pears more  promising  than  it  did  last  summer."  Of  Fond  du  Lac  whence,  it 
seems,  the  Indians  had  meanwhile  removed, —  whether  voluntarily  or  by  com- 
pulsion I  do  not  know, —  he  wrote  under  date  of  1839,  September  5th: 

"Our  station  at  Fond  du  Lac  has  been  given  up  and  the  missionaries 
[have]  removed  to  Pokeguma." 

But  the  Pokeguma  mission  was  not  to  escape  violence.  The  Ojibways  had 
reason  to  expect  an  attack  from  the  Sioux.  But  these,  Indian-like,  had  sur- 
rounded the  mission  settlement  and  had  a  force  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  lake, 
in  all  one  hundred  and  eleven  warriors,  before  the  Ojibways  suspected  their  ar- 
rival. The  plan  of  the  Sioux  was  to  slay  their  enemies  when  at  work.  But, 
fearing  an  attack,  the  Ojibways  had  been  spending  their  nights  on  an  island  in 
the  lake  half  a  mile  from  the  shore.  So  they  were  late  in  getting  to  the  gar- 
dens which  they  were  learning  to  cultivate.  Meanwhile  three  of  their  young 
men  rowed  across  the  lake  on  their  way  to  warn  another  portion  of  their  tribe. 
Two  of  the  mission  school-girls,  about  twelve  years  old,  went  with  them  to  bring 
the  canoe  back.  The  warriors  who  had  been  stationed  on  that  side  of  the  lake  to 
cut  off  the  escape  of  the  fugitives  fired,  prematurely  for  the  carrying  out  of  their 
plan.  The  three  young  men  on  the  shore  got  off  safe,  but  the  Sioux,  in  whose 
code  of  warfare  the  slaughter  of  a  child  is  as  honorable  as  the  killing  of  a  war- 
rior, followed  the  girls,  who  were  attempting  to  row  back  to  the  mission,  and 
killed  both.  Thus  the  alarm  was  given  and  a  tierce  fight  followed  (1841, 
Ma/ 24th). 

The  Sioux  were  driven  off  after  a  two  or  three  days'  struggle,  but  the  vic- 
I    tory  of  the  Ojibways  was  marred  by  the  cannibalism  of  some  of  their  pagan 
warriors.     In  contrast  with  this  heathen  feast   was  the  Christian  service  at  the 


1  .John  L.  Seymour,  PokoRuma,  1837,  February  6th. 

"•  R«>\.  Sherman  Hall,  La  Pointe,  1K38,  October  13th,  to  his  friend  and  former  mission- 

ft«>,  Mr.  Abel  I).  Newton,  Green  Bay. 
:1  under  date  of  1830,  March  nth. 


1 


162  IN  I:NNAMKI>  WISCONSIN. 

burial  of  the  poor  girls,  the  first  victims  of  the  massacre.  As  soon  as  possible, 
Mr.  Ely  went  in  search  of  the  bodies  of  his  murdered  pupils.  Struck  into  the 
brain  of  each  was  a  tomahawk.  A  tragic  ending  for  a  school-girl's  life!  "The 
Indians  were  scattered,"  writes  Mrs.  Ayer,  "  and  dared  not  return."  For  two 
years  they  were  thus  kept  from  their  homes.  The  Pokeguma  church  removed 
for  a  time  to  Fond  du  Lac.  But  uwhen  the  spring  of  1843  came,  the  fear  of 
their  eifemies  had  so  far  passed  away  that  many  of  the  old  settlers  at  Pokegu- 
ma returned,  pagans  as  well  as  Christians,  and  again  cultivated  their  fields  and 
occupied  their  houses." 1  But  soon  the  Doming  of  white  settlers  displaced  the 
Indians.  Pokeguma  as  a  missionary  station  was  abandoned  in  1845  and.  by 
the  removal  of  its  people,  the  Indian  church  there  became  extinct. 

The  fight  at  Pokeguma  was  but  one  of  the  occurences  of  a  war  that  ulti- 
mately broke  up  not  only  the  mission  station  at  Pokeguma,  but  that  established 
at  Lake  Harriet  by  Mr.  Stevens  and  a  third,  of  which  we  shall  learn  more,  that 
was  at  Little  Crow's2  village,  Kaposia. 

A  winter  journey  in  1843  took  Mr.  Ayer  to  Leech  lake,  west  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  to  Red  Lake  whose  waters  flow  northward  into  Hudson's  Bay.  At 
Red  Lake,  a  mission  was  begun  1843,  April  17th,  probably  by  Mr.  Ayer  him- 
self 3  and  Mr.  Ely.  Though  this  field  also  is  outside  the  limits  of  our  state, 
yet  an  account  of  it  shows  that  the  work  of  the  missionaries  whose  history  we 
have  been  following  was  confined  within  no  narrow  geographical  lines.  Nor 
has  their  influence  and  following  been  limited  to  the  operations  of  one  mis- 
sionary society  or  of  one  denomination  of  Christians.  At  Red  Lake  the  Epis- 
copalians now  carry  on  the  work.4  In  the  first  establishment  of  this  station, 
we  notice  with  the  familiar  names  of  Ayer  and  Ely  a  new  one,  that  of  David 
Brainerd  Spencer.  At  this  time  he  was  the  representative  of  a  new  movement, 
though  at  a  later  date  he  labored  for  a  time  under  the  auspices  of  the  American 
Board.  < 

As  early  as  1837  or  1838  part  of  the  intensely  evangelistic  spirit  of  Ober- 
lin  was  turned  toward  the  Indians  as  objects  of  missionary  work.  About  this 
time  Professor,  afterwards  President,  Finney  said  in  his  characteristic  way  that 
no  man  was  fit  to  be  a  missionary  who  could  not  take  an  ear  of  corn  in  his 
pocket  and  start  for  the  Rocky  Mountains.  Filled  with  this  spirit,  earnest 

1  S.  R.  Riggs,  D.  D. 

*  Father. of  the  Little  Crow  who  became  so  notorious  in  the  massacre  of  18»52. 

3  "Mr.  Ayer  spent  a  few  years  at  Rad  Lake  and,  in  the  winter  of  1848-S),  settled  on  the 
borders  of  the  newly  purchased  Territory.  In  due  time  he  opened  a  school  for  the  more 
promising  children  in  different  parts  of  the  Indian-country.  This  school  was  kept  up  for  sev- 
eral years,  and  when  Belle  Prairie  was  sufficiently  settled  to  have  an  organization,  they 
joined  with  us.  We  worked  together  till  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war."  Thus  writes 
his  wife,  Elizabeth  Taylor  Ayer.  It  should  be  added  that  Mr.  Ayer  was  ordained  at  Oberlin 
in  1842,  and  when  he  returned  to  his  work  Mr.  Spencer  came  with  him.  Mr.  Ayer  was  a 
member  of  the  constitutional  convention  which,  sitting  from  the  13th  of  July  until  the  29th 
of  August,  1857,  framed  the  present  constitution  of  Minnesota.  Born  at  Stockbridge,  Massa'- 
chusetts,  1803,  he  died  in  the  service  of  the  American  Missionary  Association  and  was  buried 
at  Atlanta,  Georgia,  1st  October,  18(J7. 

4  For  reasons  satisfactory  to  themselves,— mainlv,  it  is  believed,  financial,— the  Congre- 
gational church[es]  relinquished  their  mission  at  Red  Lake  in  1877,  and,  in  1H75»,  their  srh  ' 
at  Leech  Lake,  and  both  places  have  been  occupied  by  Bishop  Whipple.— S.  R.  RIOGS,  D.  D. 


THI:  OJIBWAY&  i«a 

young  men  and  women  sought  distant  fields,  and  among  them  were  some  who 
came  to  the  Minnesota  region.  At  that  time  the  places  of  labor  which  these 
chose  as  their  own  were,  as  ex-President  Fairchild  remarks,  perhaps  more  inac- 
cessible than  is  any  mission  field  on  earth  at  the  present  day.  Thither  were 
two  routes,  presenting  almost  equal  difficulties,  one  by  way  of  Lake  Superior 
the  other  by  way  of  the  Mississippi.  On  both  were  stations  of  the  American 
Board  where,  as  a  matter  of  course,  these  recruits  for  the  Master's  work  found 
a  welcome, l  and  at  some  of  which,  as  at  La  Pointe  and  elsewhere,  they  enjoyed 
opportunities  for  learning  the  language  of  the  people  among  whom  they  pro- 
posed to  labor.  Thus  the  old  missions  became  the  fostering  sisters  of  the  new. 
But  at  this  time  there  were  those  at  Oberlin  and  elsewhere  who  expressed, 
sometimes  in  fervid  language,  their  distrust  of  the  Board  on  the  subject  of  slav- 
ery, and  in  turn  many  of  the  supporters  of  the  Board,  and  others,  looked  with 
grave  suspicion  upon  "Oberlin  theology."  And  as  President  Finney's  state- 
ment was  found  to  require  very  great  modification  when  reduced  to  actual  prac- 
tice, there  was  organized,  15th  June,  1843,  by  the  Western  Reserve  (Congre- 
gational) Association,  the  Western  Evangelical  Missionary  society,  which  sup- 
ported the  missionaries  spoken  of  above  until  1848,  when  it  gave  up  its  distinc- 
tive life  and  work  to  the  American  Missionary  Association  which  had  been  or- 
anized  two  years  before. 

From  this  digression  we  turn  to  a  later  date  and  follow  Mr.  Spencer  to  a 
more  distant  field,  St.  Joseph's,  in  what  is  now  North  Dakota,  in  the  Red  River 
region,  not  far  from  the  international  boundary.  Here  in  1852  Benjamin  Ter- 
ry, a  young  Baptist  missionary,  began  labor.  But  before  the  close  of  the  sum- 
mer he  was,  like  St.  Sebastian  according  to  the  legend,  "shot  full  of  arrows." 
The  hostile  Sioux  did  the  murder  and  scalped  their  victim.  It  was  with  diffi- 
culty that  his  associate  secured  permission  to  bury  the  body  in  the  "consecrated" 
earth  of  the  Roman  Catholic  cemetery.  As  if  a  burial  place  could  have  a  truer 
consecration  than  to  receive  the  dust  of  one  slain  in  carrying  Christ's  message 
to  souls  in  darkness ! 

To  the  place  thus  marked  with  blood,  came  Revs.  Alonzo  Barnard  and  D. 
B.  Spencer,  already  named,  their  wives  and  children.  With  them  came  an 
elderly  associate.  The  party  arrived,  1853,  June  1st.  "They  came  thither," 
says  the  narrator,-  "in  carts  from  the  vicinity  of  Cass  and  Red  Lakes,  Minne- 
sota, where  for  ten  years  they  had  labored  among  the  Chippewas  as  mission- 
aries of  the  American  Board.3  They  removed  to  St.  Joseph  (now  Walhalla) 
at  the  earnest  request  of  Governor  Alexander  Ramsey,  of  Minnesota,  and  oth- 
ers familiar  with  their  labors  and  the  needs  of  the  Pembina  natives.  Mrs. 
Barnard  died  1853,  October  25th,  of  quick  consumption,  as  the  result  of  ten 
years  of  suffering  and  exposure  for  the  welfare  of  the  Indians. 

1  I'mler  date  of  1K4.M,  July  uist.  Rev.  P.  Y.  Sprout  wrote  from  La  Pointe:  "Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Ayer  are  here.  They  are  going  on  to  Red  Lake,  and  with  them  a  reinforcement  of  missiona- 
ries." These  may  have  been  a  party  sent  out  from  Ol>erlin,  for  thence  to  Red  Lake  there 
eame  that  veair  Rev.  AloilEO  Barnard  and  wife,  and  S.  <T.  Wright. 

-  K"v.  K.  .1.  ( [raswell,  in  the  "  New  York  Observer." 

3  An  error:  The  American  Missionary  Association. 


164  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

"  Late  in  1854  the  hostile  Sioux  were  infesting  the  Pembina  region.  Mrs. 
Spencer  arose  at  night  to  care  for  her  sick  babe.  She  heard  a  noise  at  the 
window.  She  withdrew  the  curtain  to  discover  the  cause.  Three  Indians  stood 
there  with  loaded  guns  and  fired.  Three  balls  took  effect,  one  in  her  breast 
and  two  in  her  throat.  She  neither  cried  out  nor  fell,  but,  reeling  to  the  bed 
with  the  infant  child  still  in  her  arms,  knelt  down,  where  she  was  soon  discov- 
ered by  her  husband  when  he  returned  from  barricading  the  door.  She  lin- 
gered several  hours  before  she  died.  When  the  neighbors  came  in  in  the  morn- 
ing, they  beheld  a  most  distressing  scene.  Mr.  Spencer  sat  as  in  a  dream,  hold- 
ing his  dead  wife  in  his  arms.  The  poor  babe  lay  in  the  cradle  near  by,  his 
clothing  saturated  with  his  mother's  blood.  The  two  elder  children  stood  near 
by,  terrified  and  weeping.  The  friendly  half-breeds  came  in  and  cared  for  the 
children,  and  prepared  the  dead  mother  for  burial.  A  half-breed  dug  the  grave 
and  nailed  together  a  rude  box  for  a  coffin ;  then,  with  broken  voice  and  bleed- 
ing heart,  the  poor  man  assigned  to  the  friendly  earth  the  mortal  remains  of 
his  murdered  wife."  The  babe  thus  baptized  in  his  mother's  blood  is  now  a 
Congregational  minister  in  Illinois. 

From  these  scenes  of  blood  we  turn  to  a  happier  subject,  the  creation  of  a 
literature  in  a  language  in  which  men  can  not  blaspheme  the  name  of  God. 
"  There  is  no  word  in  the  Ojibway  language  expressive  of  a  profane  oath,"  says 
Mr.  Warren.  In  the  report  of  the  mission  given  at  the  [Hartford]  meeting  of 
the  Board  in  1836,  we  have  given  the  names  of  five  books  printed  in  the  Ojih- 
way  language  during  the  year."  The  list  does  not  include  "the  gospel  of  Luke 
translated  into  the  Ojibway  language  by  Mr.  Hall,  assisted  by  a  native  young 
man"  [Henry  Blatchford],  This  is  spoken  of  as  "now  ready  for  the  press." 
Mr.  Hall  carried  on  this  work  of  translation  until  he  had  made  from  the  Greek 
an  excellent  version  of  the  New  Testament.  In  this  work  he  had  the  advan- 
tage of  the  prior  but  less  accurate  translations  made  by  Dr.  James.  The  story 
of  publication  is  thus  told  by  Secretary  Edward  W.  Gilman,  of  the  American 
Bible  Society: 

,  "The  Annual  Report  of  this  Society  for  1844  announced  that  this  work 
[the  Ojibway  Testament]  which  had  been  translated  with  much  pains  by  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Hall  and  others,  missionaries  of  the  American  Board  near  Lake  Su- 
perior, was  in  course  of  publication  under  the  inspection  of  Mr.  Hall.  The 
Report  for  1857  said  that  a  new  edition  of  the  Testament  had  been  printed, 
which  had  been  revised  and  carried  through  the  press  by  the  Rev.  Sherman 
Hall,  of  Minnesota,  who  was  for  many  years  a  missionary  among  the  Ojibways. 
Another  edition  was  published  in  1875,  but  I  am  not  aware  that  any  material 
change  was  made  in  it. 

"Among  other  Scriptures  in  Ojibway,  or  Chippewa,  I  note  these:  Mat- 
thew, York,  1831.  Genesis,  Toronto,  1835.  New  Testament,  Toronto,  1854. 
The  Chippewa  Testament  printed  at  Albany  in  1833  is  said  to  have  been  made 
by  Edwin  James,  assisted  by  John  Tanner.  The  Toronto  Genesis  was  Peter 
Jones's,  and  his  Matthew  is  said  to  have  been  reprinted  by  the  American  Board 


AMONG  THE  OJ1BWAYS.  ir,5 

in  1839,  Luke  is  said  to  have  been  issued  by  that  Board  in  1837,  from  a  ver- 
sion made  by  George  Copway  and  Mr.  Hall.  It  is  impossible  to  tell  how  far 
any  one  individual  contributed  to  the  grand  result." 

In  1841  Rev.  Leonard  Hemenway  Wheeler  and  wife,  Rev.  Woodbridge 
L.  James  and  wife,  and  Abigail  Spooner  came  to  the  La  Pointe  mission.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  James  did  not  long  remain.  Miss  Spooner  rendered  years  of  service. 
It  is  no  disparagement  to  the  other  laborers  there  to  say  that  Mr.  Wheeler  was 
the  first  among  equals.  "  It  is  safe  to  say,"  writes  Edwin  Ellis,  M.  D.,  of  Ash- 
land, who  personally  knew  him,  "that  no  man  was  ever  more  thoroughly  devoted 
to  the  work  of  rescuing  the  Indian  from  barbarism,  vice,  and  degradation,  than 
was  Mr.  Wheeler.  His  primary  object  was  to  preach  Christ,  but  he  saw  clear- 
ly that  the  Indian  must  be  civilized  or  exterminated.  When  unscrupulous  and 
grasping  men  were  to  rob  and  wrong  the  Red  men,  his  watchful  eye  and  sound 
judgment  saw  the  danger  and,  like  the  old  cavilier  without  fear  and  without  re- 
proach, he  raised  his  voice  and  used  his  pen  for  their  defence.  His  intercession 
in  their  behalf  was  usually  productive  of  essential  good,  for  those  that  knew 
him  knew  that  truth  and  justice  were  at  his  back,  and  that  it  was  not  safe  to 
take  up  the  gauntlet  against  so  unselfish  a  champion.  It  was  not  for  himself 
that  he  plea/led  but  for  those  who  could  not  defend  themselves." 

They  needed  a  defender.  In  1842,  when  the  value  of  the  copper  deposits 
on  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Superior  began  to  be  known,  the  Indians  of  that 
region  made  a  treaty  with  the  United  States  government,  selling  their  land,  but 
reserving  their  right  of  occupancy.  It  would  seem  that  both  they  and  the  gov- 
ernment commissioner,  Robert  Stuart,  Esq.,  long  an  honored  member  of  the 
church  at  Mackinaw  and  sincerely  their  friend,  thought  the  whites  would  want 
nothing  of  the  country  save  the  right  of  mining  in  it.  It  appears  that  the  In- 
dians thought  that  this  was  all  they  granted,  and  for  a  time  nothing  more  was 
asked. 

During  these  years  of  tranquility  the  work  of  the  mission  made  good  pro- 
gross.  As  is  everywhere  the  case,  the  missionaries  had  a  great  variety  of 
duties.  Thus  Rev.  Alfred  Branson,  well  known  in  connection  with  the  history 
of  Methodism  in  Wisconsin,  who  for  a  time  was  Indian  agent,  tells  of  medical 
care  done  by  Mr.  Wheeler  to  the  needy  people  among  whom  he  labored. 

Here,  in  our  story  of  honorable  service,  we  may  link  Mr.  Brunson's  name 
with  that  of  Father  Clark,  whose  work  among  the  Indians  has  been  already 
iiH-nt.  But  to  know  well  what  they  did  we  turn  back  to  the  record  of  a  work 
that  antedates  their  own.  4*In  1819,  John  Steward,  a  free  colored  man,  com- 
nit  need  a  successful  religious  and  educational  work  among  the  Wyandots,  on 
the  upper  Sandusky.  The  influence  of  this  effort  extended  over  into  Canada, 
to  others  of  the  Hurons.  John  Sunday  and  Peter  Jones,  of  the  Ojibway  tribe 
weiv  converted  and  became  active  helpers.  This  was  in  1823.  In  1830,  and 
onward,  we  find  John  Sunday  and  George  Copway  and  others,  going  on  mis- 
sionary tours  on  Lake  Superior.  In  1833,  they  established  a  successful  and 
permanent  mission  at  L'Anse,  on  Keweenaw  bay,  in  Michigan.  Here  was  coin- 


166  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

menced  a  civilized  and  Christian  community  —  the  Indians  laying  by  their  an- 
nuity money,  after  1842,  to  enter  their  lands  as  white  men.  Of  these  and  of 
other  missions,  Rev.  John  Clark,  whose  headquarters  were  at  Sault  8te.  Marie, 
was  the  superintendent."1 

Under  Mr.  Clark's  direction,  George  Cop  way  and  two  associates,  John 
Tounchy  and  Peter  Marksman,  were  sent  to  what  is  now  the  Lac  Court  Oreilles 
reservation.  This  movement  was  not  immediately  followed  by  the  establish- 
ment of  a  mission.  "The  next  summer  (July,  1836),  Mr.  Clark  visited  the 
place  himself,  was  treated  very  kindly  by  the  chief,  Moo-zoo-jeele  (Moose  Tail), 
and  accomplished  his  object.  He  left  Copway  and  Tounchy  in  charge  of  the 
mission,  and  made  his  way  to  the  Mississippi,  about  two  hundred  miles  above 
Prairie  du  Chien.  Here  he  met  Rev.  A.  Brunson,  who," — and  here  I  turn  from 
the  narrative  of  Mr.  Bennett2  again  to  that  of  Dr.  Riggs,  "had  become  inter- 
ested in  the  Indians  of  the  Northwest  by  reading  Lieutenant  Allen's  account  of 
his  voyage  with  Schoolcraft,  when  in  search  of  the  head  of  the  Mississippi. 
He  communicated  this  interest  to  the  Conference  at  its  meeting  in  July,  1835, 
and,  receiving  an  appointment  to  the  work,  he  immediately  set  out  on  horse- 
back and  traveled  through  the  states  of  Ohio,  Indiana  and  Illinois,  and  up  to 
Fort  Crawford,  at  Prairie  du  Chien."  Under  Mr.  Brunson 's  supervision  a  mis- 
sion among  the  Sioux  was  established  at  Little  Crow's  village,  Kaposia,  on  the 
west  side  of  the  Mississippi,  "six  or  eight  miles"  below  Fort  Snelling.  To 
man  this  station  he  drew  upon  the  one  established  by  John  Clark  at  Lac  Court 
Oreilles.  In  this  service  we  find  again  the  names  of  George  Copway  and  Peter 
Marksman.  The  third  was  a  John  Johnson.3  "The  Sioux  could  hardly  be- 
lieve that  they  were  Ojibways,  for  they  worked,  they  said,  like  Frenchmen."4 
From  this  mission  at  Kaposia  dates  the  history  of  Methodism  in  Minnesota. 
It  was  not  sustained,  financially,  as  it  should  have  been,  but  in  time,  with 
transfer  of  place,  became  the  beginning  of  a  work  among  the  whites.  Mr. 
Clark  left  the  upper  lake  region  in  1836,  and  some  years  afterward  (1841) 
went  to  Texas  to  engage  once  more  in  frontier  missionary  service. 

In  becoming  an  Indian  agent,  Mr.  Brunson  did  not  cease  to  have  a  hearty 
interest  in  mission  work.  However,  he  was  not  judicial  in  his  cast  of  mind, 
and  his  manuscript  reports  of  service  as  agent  are  prolix  to  a  degree  that  is  dis- 
couraging to  the  one  who  remembers  the  brevity  of  human  life.  He  complains 
(1843,  September)  that  government  money  (tribal  annuities)  was  unfairly  dis- 
tributed among  the  schools  of  the  different  missions,  those  of  the  American 
Board  with  91  pupils  receiving  $1000 ;  those  of  the  Methodist  with  121  pupils 

1  Stephen  Return  Riggs,  D.  D.,  "Minnesota  Historical  Collections,"  volume  VI.,  part  2, 
pages  136, 136. 

2  "  Methodism  in  Wisconsin,"  pages  17,  18. 

3  Mr.  Johnson,  whose  Indian  name  was  Enmegahbowh,  afterward  entered  the  ministry 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  and  engaged  in  mission  work  under  direction  of  Bishop 
Whipple. 

4 Dr.  S.  R.  Riggs.  The  remark  which  he  quotes,  was  probably  meant  for  a  compliment, 
though,  considering  what  class  of  Frenchmen  the  Sioux  had  met,  it  seems  like  a  somewhat 
dubious  one. 


AMONG  THE  OJ1BWAYS.  167 

receiving  only  $750,  and  the  Romanists  with  no  pupils  receiving  $250.  But  as 
this  money  was  tribal  annuities  it  was  probably  due  in  varying  amounts  to  the 
different  bands  of  Indians.  What  statement  others,  from  a  different  point  of 
view,  would  have  made,  I  can  not  say. l 

When  Mr.  Wheeler  came  to  La  Pointe  "the  Indians  spent  their  time  in 
hunting  and  fishing  and,  as  Mr.  Wheeler  mingled  among  them  and  studied  their 
customs,  he  became  thoroughly  convinced  that  no  permanent  good  could  be  done 
the  Indians  until  these  roaming  habits  were  broken  up."2  Moreover,  the  long 
reign  of  the  fur-trader  in  the  old  Northwest  was  drawing  to  an  end.  Of  the 
change  that  followed  the  opening  of  the  mines  in  the  Lake  Superior  region,  Dr. 
Riggs  thus  writes:  ''The  influx  of  white  settlers  brought  evil  more  than  good 
to  the  Ojibways.  The  men  who  came  to  work  the  mines  were  neither  religious, 
nor  very  moral,  as  a  class,  and  their  influence  upon  the  Indians  was,  in  the  first 
instance,  debasing.  At  every  point  plenty  of  fire-water  came  into  the  country, 
and  thus  the  red  men  were  tempted  too  strongly-  on  their  weakest  side."  It 
was  desirable  that  the  Indians  leave  La  Pointe  and,  apart  from  the  whites, 
found  an  agricultural  community. 

Across  the  south  channel  of  Chequamegon  Bay  from  La  Pointe  is  a  tract 
of  land  which  on  account  of  its  rich  bottom,  large  rice  fields,  extended  "sugar 
bushes,"  abundant  fisheries  and  remoteness  from  white  settlements,  Mr.  Stuart 
noticed,  in  1842  as  possessing  advantages  for  an  Indian  reservation  that  no 
other  point  in  that  region  had.  Mr.  Wheeler  believing  that  for  Indians, —  and 
white  men  as  well, —  industry  is  a  necessary  part  of  Christianity,  determined  to 
found  an  agricultural  settlement.  This  he  established  on  the  Mushkesibi,3  or 
Bad  river,  and  named  "Odanah,"  an  Ojibway  word  meaning  "  village."  Thither 
he  removed  1845,  May  1st.  Mr.  Hall  remained  at  La  Pointe  until  1853  when 
he  removed  to  Crow  Wing,  on  the  Mississippi. 

Among  the  Indians  in  this  new  settlement  Mr.  Wheeler  established  civil 
government.  He  aided  in  the  same  service  among  the  whites,  holding,  after  La 
Pointe  county  was  organized,  various  offices  which  increased  his  responsibilities 
rather  than  his  income.  Nor  did  he  forget  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  whites. 
He  was  the  first  to  preach  at  Ashland,  and  probably  at  Bayfield.  We  quote 
again  from  Dr.  Ellis  who  wrote  in  1874.  * "  Amid  all  the  trials  and  discourage- 
ments of  Ashland's  early  settlers,  he  was  ever  ready  to  offer  words  of  encour- 
incnt  and  cheer.  In  its  darkest  periods  he  prophesied  of  Ashland's  final  suc- 

1    We  are  Mr.  Branson's  debtors  for  a  table  of  distances  that  suggests  one  of  the  difficul- 
ties in  the  work  of  all  the  Ojibway  missions: 
From  La  Pointe  to  Fond  du  Lac.  00  miles. 
From  Fond  du  Lac  to  Sandy  Lake,  15t)  miles. 

' to  Crow  Wing,  150  miles. 

"       "    "    to  Pokeguma,  !/>()  miles. 
"       "    "    to  Chippewa  Falls,  15O  miles. 
From  Chippewa  Falls  to  La  Pointe,  25O  miles. 
Evidently  thesa  tiguros  arj  approximate  rather  than  exiet. 

"  Bibliography  of  the  Algonquian  Languages,"  by  James  Constantino  Pilling. 
3  From  tniwhkeey,  a  marsh,  and  xrebi  or  zeebi,  a  river.    In  pronouncing,  give  the  letter  i 
its  short  sound. 


168  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

cess,  and  his  words  were  influential  in  including  some  of  us  to  hold  on  when 
otherwise  we  should  have  given  up  in  despair.  He  was  a  frequent  visitor  among 
us  in  those  early  days,  and  his  social  influence  was  purifying  and  ennobling. 
He  participated  in  the  first  public  celebration  ever  held  in  Ashland,  July  4th, 
1856.  He  was  a  man  of  much  mechanical  ingenuity ;  and  during  his  residence 
at  Odanah  he  invented  a  wind-mill  which  has  since  been  patented  under  the 
name  of  the  Eclipse  Wind-Mill,  a  very  useful  invention,  which  is  now  exten- 
sively used  all  over  the  United  States  and  to  some  extent  in  Europe." 

Soon  after  Mr.  Wheeler's  removal  to  Odanah,  perhaps  the  following  year, 
a  log  school  house  was  erected  which  was  used  also  as  a  place  of  worship  until 
a  commodious  chapel  was  built  in  1853. 

About  1850  came  a  determined  effort  to  compel  the  Indians  to  remove 
west  of  the  Mississippi.  Their  annuities  for  that  year  were  paid  at  Fond  du 
Lac,1  whence  Mr.  Ely  had  removed  in  February  of  the  preceeding  year. 2  Mr. 
Wheeler  could  not  advise  the  Indians  to  refuse  to  do  what  the  government  com- 
manded but  he  did  not  conscientiously  advise  removal.  "They  appear  to  be 
fully  determined,"  he  wrote  at  a  later  date,  "to  remain  on  the  shores  of  Lake 
Superior,  and  even  forego  their  annuities,  if  the  government  choose  to  withhold 
them."  This  for  two  years  they  were  obliged  to  do. 

In  the  winter  of  1850-51  "Mr.  Wheeler,  being  on  a  visit  to  New  Eng- 
land, went  with  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Board,  Rev.  S.  B.  Treat,  to  Wash- 
ington, to  represent  to  the  Commissioner  of  Indian  Affairs  the  desirableness  and 
propriety  of  permitting  these  Indians  to  remain  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior. On  his  return  to  Bad  River  [Odanah]  in  the  spring,  he  could  not  give 
the  Indians  any  assurance  that  the  government  would  comply  with  their  request 
to  remain;  but  he  could  tell  them  that  the  only  possible  conditions  on  which 
they  could  stay  were  that  they  should  adopt  the  dress  and  habits  of  white 
people. 

"  This  information  and  advice  had  a  good  effect.  The  Indians  were  put 
on  their  character.  They  planted  more.  They  did  not  make  dances.  They 
sent  their  children  to  school,  and  they  themselves  came  to  church.  And  they 
greatly  abstained  from  intoxicating  drinks." 

And  yet  in  1851  the  pressure  to  compel  removal  was  made  stronger  than  be- 
fore. It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  there  was  a  corrupt  "Indian  ring"  back  of 
this  effort,  and  it  will  cause  no  surprise  to  say  that  a  man  who  afterward  held 
the  office  of  United  States  senator  from  Minnesota  was  a  member  thereof.  In 
this  year  Messrs.  Hall  and  Wheeler  made  a  tour  of  exploration  in  the  country 
to  which  it  was  proposed  that  the  Lake  Superior  Ojibways  should  go.  They 
left  La  Pointe  June  5th  and  returned  July  llth.  Mr.  Wheeler  returned  with 
the  conviction  that  it  would  be  a  deed  of  mercy  on  the  part  of  the  governmant 
to  shoot  the  Indians  rather  than  to  send  them  to  the  new  region  assigned  them 
where  they  would  be  exposed  to  the  fury  of  their  relentless  enemies,  the  Sioux. 


1  Dr.  Riggssays  "at  Sandy  Lake,"  and  adds:  "Some  went  and  some  did  not;  and  those 
fared 


who  went  fared  the  worst,  as  the  provisions  were  scanty  and  poor." 

a  It  would  seem  that  Fond  du  Lac  had  again  been  made  a  mission  station. 


AMONG  THE  OJIBWAYS.  109 

In  1852  the  dismal  struggle  continued.  The  United  States  agent  prom- 
ised the  Indians  that  he  would  support  them  for  one  year  at  the  expense  of  the 
government  if  they  would  remove  to  Fond  du  Lac.  He  permitted  gambling 
and  violation  of  the  Sahhath  by  men  under  his  control.  To  destroy  liquor  held 
in  violation  of  law,  he  sent  men  who  themselves  got  drunk  upon  it. 

A  letter  written  at  La  Pointe  1853,  July  llth,  by  Mrs.  -Wheeler  to  her 
pai cuts  draws  to  the  following  gloomy  picture  : 

"The  last  winter  was  one  of  the  most  dreary,  lonely  and  trying  ones  we 
have  ever  spent  in  the  country.  The  breaking  up  of  the  mission  here  and  the 
unsettled  and  confused  state  of  Indian  affairs  threw  a  gloom  over  the  future. 
Often  did  I  flee  into  my  bed-room  to  hide  the  tears  I  could  not  control.  The 
heat  and  burden  of  the  day  press  heavily  upon  my  dear  husband.  He  has 
grown  old  fast  since  we  returned  from  the  East  and  I  sometimes  look  anxiously 
forward  to  the  future.  He  is  obliged  to  attend  to  all  the  secular  affairs  of  our 
station,  and  has  charge  of  the  property  of  the  Board  here,  oversees  all  our  own 
and  the  Indians'  farming, — giving  out  their  seed,  plowing  their  ground,  etc. 
He  is  doctor  for  both  places  [Odanah  and  La  Pointe]  chairman  of  the  board  of 
county  commissioners,  besides  numberless  other  things  too  small  to  mention  per- 
haps, but  which  nevertheless  break  in  upon  his  time  and  divert  his  mind  from 
his  more  appropriate  work.  To  human  appearance  our  people  were  never  in  a 
better  condition  to  profit  by  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  We  think  there  is 
hardly  a  possibility  of  removing  them.  They  are  fully  determined  not  to  go. 
They  have  lived  two  yea'rs  without  their  payments  and  find  that  they  do  not 
starve  or  freeze.  Indeed  I  doubt  very  much  whether  there  is  a  band  of  Chip- 
pewas  beyond  the  Mississippi,  with  all  their  annuities,  that  are  as  well  fed  and 
clothed  as  ours  are." 

Again  Mrs.  Wheeler  writes  from  the  same  place: 

"October  20th,  1853. —  Will  you  believe  me  when  I  tell  you  that  we  are 
just  in  the  midst  of  the  bustle  and  excitement  of  payment?  America  does  not 
contain  a  happier  company  than  is  congregated  on  this  island  to-night.  I  have 
been  out  this  eve  to  some  of  the  lodges  of  rejoice  with  thot»e  who  rejoice.  The 
payment  is  one  of  the  best  that  has  ever  been  made.  It  took  us  all  bv  surprise." 

"October  29,  1853. —  I  will  add  [it  is  Mr.  Wheeler  who  writes]  a  few 
lines  before  the  boat  leaves.  We  are  expecting  to  leave  for  Bad  river  to-mor- 
row  where  we  shall  spend  the  winter.  It  is  now  almost  certain  that  no  farther 
attempts  will  be  made  to  remove  our  Indians.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  old 
order  of  things  will  be  restored;  that  the  farmers,  carpenters,  blacksmiths  will  j 
be  given  hack  to  them,  and  missionaries  be  encouraged  to  go  on  with  their  la- 
hoix  as  formerly.  The  late  efforts  to  remove  the  Indians  have  not  only  proved 
a  failure,  but  are  now  clearly  seen  by  the  Department  at  Washington  to  have 
originated  with  a  few  designing  men  who  wanted  the  Indians  removed  that  they 
might  get  their  money.  An  astonishing  amount  of  fraud  has  been  discovered 
and  the  former  agent  is  now  under  arrest  to  answer  for  some  of  his  vilfamous 
conduct.  The  Lord  reigns." 


170  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  these  letters  are  written  from  La  Pointe.  Mr.  Hall 
with  family  and  assistants,  removed  in  June  of  that  year  (1853)  to  Crow  Wing, 
Minnesota,  whither  they  arrived  in  the  following  month.  Promises  made  by 
one  agent  were  not  fulfilled  by  his  successor  and  this  movement  proved  a  fail- 
ure. Mr.  Hall  entered  home  missionary  service  among  the  whites. 

As  a  suggestion  of  the  need  that  still  existed  of  missionary  work  I  quote 
from  a  letter  written  from  La  Pointe,  1853,  August  31st,  by  Mr.  Wheeler's  eld- 
est son,  then  a  boy  of  ten: 

"  I  was  going  to  tell  you  about  an  Indian  funeral.  Julia  was  writing  about 
it,  but  she  did  not  tell  what  the  Indians  said  in  their  speeches  to  the  dead  child. 
I  understood  them,  so  I  will  tell  you  some  as  near  as  I  can  remember.  Old 
Buffalo,  the  first  chief,  made  his  speech  first  and  told  the  child  it  would  take 
him  two  days  to  get  to  the  spirit  land,  and  before  he  got  there  his  friends  would 
would  come  to  meet  him,  and  that  the  fishes  would  jump  into  his  canoe  and 
would  be  his  food,  and  when  he  got  to  the  mouth  of  the  Bad  river  he  would 
hear  the  roar  of  the  guns  of  the  spirit  land  and  his  friends  would  come  and 
meet  him  and  would  be  his  playmates.  One  of  them  said,  'Once  I  shot  a 
Frenchman  and  blowed  his  brains  out.  Then  I  cut  oft  a  piece  of  his  flesh  and 
eat  it,  and  it  was  very  good  and  you  may  have  the  same  for  your  food  on  your 
journey.'  "  Perhaps  this  is  the  last  trace  of  genuine  cannibalism  in  Wisconsin. 

The  medical  resources  of  the  mission  were  taxed  in  February  and  March, 
1854,  by  an  epidemic  of  small-pox.  However,  this  enemy  proved  to  be  a  com- 
paratively easy  one  to  grapple  with. 

Mr.  Wheeler's  ideas  of  justice  toward  the  Ojibway  Indians  were  substan- 
tially embodied  in  a  treaty  made  with  them,  1854,  September  30th,  by  which 
three  reservations  were  provided  for, —  at  Odanah,  where  he  had  made  a  settle- 
ment so  many  years  before,  at  Lac  Court  Oreilles  and  at  Lac  du  Flambeau. 
The  action  of  Agent  Henry  Gilbert,  who  framed  the  treaty,  was  approved  by 
Commissioner  Manypenny  who  came  to  Odanah  the  following  season.  Both 
were  honest  men,  and  preferred  the  counsel  of  the  missionaries  to  that  of  the 
Indian  traders.  The  commissioner  soon  found  himself  honored  with  the  ill- 
will  of  the  latter  class.  "  Mr.  Wheeler,"  he  said  on  one  occasion,  "  these  trad- 
ers would  like  to  hang  us  both."  To  have  the  government  give  the  head  of 
each  Indiau  family  eighty  acres  of  land,  and  to  induce  the  Indians  to  settle  up- 
on farms  and  improve  them,  were  favorite  projects  with  Mr.  Wheeler.  In 
short,  he  anticipated  what  enlightened  public  sentiment  now  demands  as  the  only 
just  and  sensible  method  of  dealing  with  the  Indians. 

From  the  first  establishment  of  the  mission,  much  was  made,  of  school 
work.  At  Mrs.  Wheeler's  first  coming  to  La  Pointe,  her  direct  service  to  the 
mission  was  in  the  line  of  teaching.  From  her  school  Mr.  Baraga,  afterward 
"bishop,"  was  at  the  pains,  on  two  separate  occasions,  to  have  the  children  of 
Roman  Catholic  families  removed  on  accouut  of  religious  exercises,  the  chief 
feature  of  which  was  the  use  in  common  of  the  Lord's  prayer.  But  it  was 
hard  to  keep  the  children  away  and  their  mistaken  spiritual  guide  did  not  fully 


AMONG  THE  OJIBWAYS.  171 

succeed  in  doing  so.  Notwithstanding  his  action,  the  missionaries  of  the  two 
creeds  remembered  that  they  were  all  Christians,  and  the  two  bishops, —  such  in 
truth  they  were, —  Baraga  and  Wheeler,  met  more  than  once  even  in  prayer. 

For  years  it  was  a  cherished  plan  with  Mr.  Wheeler  to  establish  a  board- 
ing-school into  which  children  could  be  gathered  from  wigwam  life.  Part  of 
the  story  of  his  success,  and  some  account  of  the  labor  involved  in  the  school, 
is  thus  told  by  Rev.  D.  Irenaeus  Miner,  now  of  Hayward,  Wisconsin : 

"In  May,  1859,  Miss  Jennie  L.  Cooley  and  I  were  united  in  marriage 
and,  about  the  first  of  June  following,  started  by  steamer  from  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
to  join  the  mission  forces  at  Bad  river,  Wisconsin.  The  missionaries  then  on 
the  ground  were  Rev.  and  Mrs.  L.  H.  Wheeler  and  Henry  Blatchford.  The 
building  for  the  boarding-school  was  taken  going  up,  and  was  completed  that 
summer,  so  that  we  commenced  taking  in  boys  and  girls  as  boarding-scholars  in 
the  fall  of  that  same  year.  My  duties  from  the  first  were  teaching  the  school 
and  looking  after  the  work  of  the  boys  out  of  school  hours  till  evening,  when 
Rev.  D.  B.  Spencer,  who  joined  us  about  the  opening  of  the  fall  term,  took  the 
boys  under  his  care.  Mrs.  Miner  had  charge  of  the  manufacturing  of  the 
clothing  for  both  boys  and  girls,  had  the  task  of  instructing  the  girls  in  sewing, 
and  the  entire  care  of  the  girls  out  of  school  hours,  except  while  they  were 
working  in  the  kitchen,  until  -Miss  Rhoda  Spicer  joined  us  as  assistant  teacher." 

As  the  burden  proved  to  be  too  great  for  Mrs.  Miner,  she  and  her  hus- 
band, in  June,  1861,  gave  up  their  work  at  Odanah.  This  Wisconsin  mission- 
ary family  has  sent  in  later  years  a  daughter  to  the  work  in  China.  Mr.  Spen- 
cer in  the  spring  of  1863,  sought  another  field  of  labor  and  in  1864  the  mis- 
sion had  a  bit  of  romance  in  the  marriage  of  Miss  Spicer  to  the  young  man 
who  as  a  boy  gave  an  account,  ten  years  before,  of  an  Indian  child's  funeral. 

For  many  years  the  Odanah  boarding-school  afforded  the  best  educational 
facilities  that  the  Wisconsin  Ojibways  have  yet  enjoyed.  It  was  judged  worthy 
of  governmental  recognition  and  aid. 

But  with  the  realization  of  his  cherished  hope  came  an  ominous  change  in 
Mr.  Wheeler's  health.  A  hemorrhage  from  the  lungs  in  the  spring  of  1859 
warned  him  that  he  must  never  again  sleep  out  of  doors  in  the  bitter  cold  of  a 
Lake  Superior  winter  night  with  the  thermometer  at  twenty-eight  degrees  below 
zero.  He  must  take  no  more  journeys  that  would  bring  him  home  with  feet 
bleeding  from  cuts  made  by  the  thongs  of  his  snow-shoes.  Yet  his  work  was 
not  done. 

The  years  of  the  war  were  years  of  anxiety  and  danger.  The  little  mis- 
sion church  of  Odanah  made  ita  offering  of  precious  life.  The  rascality  of  cer- 
tain officials  in  dealing  with  the  Indians  threatened  serious  disturbance.  Mr. 
Wheeler  went  to  warn  the  government  of  impending  danger.  While  he  was 
gone  the  Sioux  outbreak  occurred  in  Minnesota  (August,  1862)  and  an  embassy 
came  to  stir  up  his  own  people  to  revolt.  But  these  remained  loyal  to  the  in- 
fluence and  teaching  of  the  missionaries.  They  wished  even  to  raise  a  com- 
pany to  help  the  Great  Father  in  Washington  subdue  his  enemies,  with  the  par- 


172  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

ticular  thought,  it  may  be,  of  making  war  upon  their  own  traditional  enemies, 
the  Sioux.  But  it  was  not  thought  best  that  they  should  engage  in  warfare  or 
be  led  to  believe  that  their  Great  Father  could  not  do  without  their  help.  An 
Ojibway  delegation  visited  President  Lincoln  in  1864  and  were  much  gratified^ 
by  his  evident  interest  in  them  and  their  cause.  When  his  great  heart  was  still' 
in  death  no  tears  were  more  sincere  than  theirs. 

"  Why  was  he  at  that  play-house  ?  Why  did  his  young  men  let  an  enemy] 
come  so  near  him?"  These  were  their  lamentations  repeated  again  and  again.j 

After  serving,  for  a  quarter-century,  those  whom  so  many  despise  amlj 
wrong.  Mr.  Wheeler's  spqpial  labors  in  their  behalf  came  to  an  end  in  October, 
1866.  The  wasting  of  consumption  compelled  removal  and  left  him  but  six! 
years  of  life.  These  were  spent  at  Beloit  in  establishing  the  manufacture  o'fj 
the  wind-mill  already  referred  to.  It  was  invented  the  spring  before  his  re4 
moval  while  he  was  crippled  with  a  broken  wrist  and  while  his  eldest  son  who' 
aided  him  in  the  work  was  lame  from  an  injury  to  the  knee.  This  invention  pro- 
vided support  for  his  family  and  education  for  his  children. 

Up  to  the  time  (1869)  of  the  re-union  of  the  old-school  and  the  new-school] 
branches  of  the  Presbyterian  church  the  latter  division  did  its  foreign  mission- 
ary work  through  the  American  Board.     Thereafter  this  work  was  done  through": 
the  Presbyterian  Board  to  which,  in  justice,  certain  missions  were  transferred, 
among  them,  in  1870,  the  one  at  Odanah.     The  missionary  then  and  still  hrj 
charge,  Henry  Blatchford,  is  an  Indian  of  mixed  race,  educated  in  the  mission 
school  at  Mackinaw  and  named  in  honor  of  the  father  of  the  vice-president;  of 
the  American  Board.     We  have  heard  of  him  as  one  of  the  translators  of  th< 
Ojibway  Testament.     He  thus  wrote  under  date  of  March  1st,  1890: 

"When  this  church  was  first  organized,1  the  membership  was  up  to  75  mei 
hers,  but  in  about  two  years  from  the  time  it  was  organized  some  began  to  di 
off  by  joining  an  Indian  dance,  and  some  have  died.  Our  people  are  not  he 
the  year  round,  they  have  to  go  and  work  in  the  logging  camps.  But  when 
they  are  all  here  we  have  a  full  attendance.  ,  I  am  getting  old  and  am  troubled 
with  the  congestion  of  the  brain  and  am  weak.  Iain  now 'on  my  seventy- 
seventh  year.  In  June  next  I  will  have  reached  my  seventy-eighth  year.  And 
I  have  been  connected  with  this  missionary  field  fifty-five  years  without  ces- 
sation." 

Some  years  ago  the  Presbyterian  Boal-d  sold  the  mission  school  property 
upon  which  Mr.  Wheeler  bestowed  so  much  planning  and  labor.  By  another 
purchase  this  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Roman  Catholics  who  have  so  much  of 
the  benefits  of  Mr.  Wheeler's  judgment  and  foresight. '  Their  mission  is  now 
apparently  the  more  prosperous  of  the  two  and,  out  of  the  gift  made  by  Miss 
Catherine  Drexel  for  Indian  education,  is  certainly  better  supported.. 


1  He  refers  to  the  re-organization  already  noted.    This  letter  is  remarkable  for  th<-  st.-ud 
ness  and  legibility  of  the  handwriting.    The  peculiarities  of  expression  I  leave  unrhani 
He  gives  the  membership  at  that  date  as  forty  seven,  the  population  between  live  hundi 
and  six  hundred. 


AMONG  THE  OJ1BWAYS.  173 

Father  Baraga,  having  been  made  first  bishop  of  Marquette,  Michigan 
(consecrated  1853,  November  1st),  withdrew  personally  from  the  Odanah  mis- 
sion years  before  his  death.  This  occurred  1868,  January  19th.  Of  this 
worthy  pastor,  but  without  reference  to  his  death,  the  late  James  Parton  thus 
wrote : 

"I  have  had  the  pleasure,  once  in  my  life,  of  conversing  with  an  absolute 
gentleman :  one  in  whom  all  the  little  vanities,  all  the  little  greedinesses,  all  the 
paltry  fuss,  worry,  affectation,  haste,  and  anxiety  springing  from  imperfectly 
disciplined  self-love, —  all  had  been  consumed;  and  the  whole  man  was  kind, 
serene,  urbane,  and  utterly  sincere.  This  perfect  gentleman  was  a  Roman 
Catholic  bishop,  who  had  spent  thirty  years  of  his  life  in  the  woods  near  Lake 
Superior,  trying  (and  failing,  as  he  frankly  owned)  to  convert  rascally  Chippe- 
ways  into  tolerable  human  beings.  "  I  make  pretty  good  Christians  of  some  of 
them,"  said  he;  "but  men?  No:  it  is  impossible."1 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  how  much  this  confession  of  failure  has 
been  affected  by  Mr.  Parton's  interpretation.  . 

We  return  in  our  narrative  to  follow  Mr.  Wheeler  to  his  final  rest.     To    / 
him  the  end  of  life  came  on  the  22nd  of  February,  1872.     On  Sabbath,  three  / 
days  afterward,  the  wasted  body  of  this  faithful  missionary  of  the  cross  was  I 
borne   beneath  the  cathedral-like  arches  of  the  great  First  church   in  Beloit  1 
whence  so  much  precious  dust  has  been  carried  to  the  grave.  \ 

"Mr.  Wheeler,"  says  Dr.  Ellis,  "was  beloved  almost  equally  by  white  men 
and  red  men,  by  Protestant  and  Catholic.  In  the  delirium  of  death  he  was 
among  the  members  of  the  native  church  at  Odanah  praying  still  for  their 
preservation  from  the  dangers  to  which  he  knew  full  well  they  would  be  ex- 
posed. Time  will  not  fully  disclose  the  value  of  the  results  of  his  labors. 
Those  who  have  known  the  Indians  twenty-five  years  will  agree  with  me  that 
very  great  progress  has  been  made,  and  Mr.  Wheeler,  I  believe,  more  than  any 
other  man,  has  contributed  to  this  result,  and  aided  by  his  labors  to  raise  thou- 
sands from  a  condition  of  low  and  degraded  heathenism,  if  not  to  a  state  of 
high  civilization,  at  least  to  a  state  far  above  that  in  which  he  found  them." 

"God  buries  his  workmen  but  carries  on  his  work."  The  great  results  of 
all  missionary  and  church  work  are  written  only  in  the  Book  of  Life.  But 
upon  the  pages  of  history,  even  as  men  write  it,  there  is  honorable  place  for  the 
record  of  twenty-five  years'  labor  among  a  once  barbarous  people,  the  establish- 
ment of  civil  government  among  them,  the  development  of  improved  plans  of 
missionary  and  educational  work,  the  training  of  laborers  for  other  fields,  the 
founding  of  a  town  and  the  establishment  of  a  successful  business  carried  on  in 
the  spirit  of  the  Master. 

We  may  fitly  close  this  portion  of  narrative  with  the  English  form  of  the 
solemn  "covenant "  of  the  churches  connected  with  the  Ojibway  mission : 

"You  do  now,  in  the  presence  of  the  heart-searching  God,  and  before  an- 

and  men,  choose  the  Lord  Jehovah,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  to  be 

"lAtlantic  Monthly,"  April,  18H8. 


174  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

your  God;  the  supreme  object  of  your  affections,  and  your  portion 
You  cordially  acknowledge  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  all  his*  mediatorial  offices, 
Prophet,  Priest  and  King,  as  your  only  Saviour  and  final  Judge; — and  the 
Holy  Spirit,  as  your  Sanctifier,  Comforter  and  Guide. 

"You  humbly  and  cheerfully  devote  yourself  to  God  in  an  everlasting  cov- 
enant of  grace.  You  consecrate  all  your  powers  and  faculties  to  his  service 
and  glory ;  and  you  promise  to  take  the  Holy  Scriptures  as  the  rule  of  your  life 
and  conversation :  and  that,  through  the  assistance  of  His  Spirit  and  grace,  you 
will  cleave  to  Him  as  your  chief  good,  and  that  you  will  give  diligent  attention 
to  his  Word  and  ordinances,  to  family  and  secret  prayer,  to  public  worship,  and 
to  the  conscientious  observance  of  the  Sabbath ; —  that  you  will  seek  the  honor 
of  his  name  and  the  interests  of  his  Kingdom,  and  that  henceforth,  denying 
ungodliness  and  worldly  lusts,  you  will  live  soberly,  righteously,  and  godly,  in 
this  present  world. 

"Yrou  do  now  cordially  unite  yourself  to  this  church  as  a  church  of  Christ, 
promising  to  submit  to  its  discipline,  so  far  as  conformable  to  the  rules  of  the 
gospel,  and  you  solemnly  covenant  to  promote  its  edification,  purity  and  peace, 
and  to  walk  with  its  members  in  Christian  love,  faithfulness,  circumspection, 
sobriety  and  meekness.  All  this  you  promise  to  do  with  humble  reliance  on  the 
grace  of  God,  and  with  an  affecting  belief  that  your  vows  are  recorded  on  high, 
and  will  be  reviewed  in  the  day  of  judgment. 

"  Thus  you  solemnly  covenant,  promise  and  engage  ?  " 

Response  in  behalf  of  the  church : 

"We  do  now  receive  you  into  our  communion  and  fellowship,  and  we  pro- 
mise to  watch  over  you  with  Christian  affection  and  tenderness,  ever  treating 
you  in  love  as  a  member  of  the  body  of  Christ,  who  is  head  over  all  things  in 
the  church.  This  we  do,  earnestly  imploring  the  great  Shepherd  of  Israel,  our 
Lord  and  Redeemer,  that  both  you  and  we  may  have  wisdom  and  grace  to  be 
faithful  in  his  covenant,  and  to  glorify  him  with  that  holiness  which  becometh 
his  house  for  ever.  Amen." 


CHAPTER  XII. 


BY  THE   MI/,1    SIBI.i 

In  the  structure  of  colonial  intercourse  that  the  French  built  in  North 
America,  the  Fox-Wisconsin  route  may  be  described  as  the  key  of  an  arch,  one 
of  whose  abutments  rested  on  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  the  other  on  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  Accordingly  the  early  history  of  this  region  stands  related  not  only, 
as  we  have  seen,  to  that  of  New  France,  or  Canada,  but  also  to  that  of  Louisi- 
ana. Apparently  the  line  of  demarkation  between  these  provinces  was  not  well 
defined  and  the  authorities  of  the  two  came  often  into  somewhat  of  conflict. 

White  settlement  on  the  lower  Mississippi  had  almost  its  beginning  in  John 
Law's  knavish  scheme.  Nor  did  the  new  colony  escape  the  curse  of  slavery. 
s  was  permitted  and  regulated  by  a  decree  of  Louis  XV.  4*  given  at  Ver- 
sailles, in  the  year  of  Grace  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  twenty-four." 

While  most  of  this  decree  is  taken  up  with  matters  regarding  to  slavery, 
—  in  which  respect  it  seems  to  be  neither  better  nor  worse  than  its  time, —  it 
contains  certain  other  commands  that  make  the  expression  "  year  of  Grace" 
si-cm  like  bitter  irony.  The  "precise  orders"1  given  by  Louis  XIII.  "that  no 
Huguenot  should  settle  in  New  France"-  find  their  counterpart  in  this  decree 
issiu-d  almost  a  century  later  by  his  great-great-grandson. 

Here  is  the  bidding  of  "his  Most  Christian  Majesty," — uthe  eldest  son  of 
the  church,"  etc.: 

1  "  Tin-  Indians  never  speak  of  the  Mississippi  as  the  Father  of  Water*,  but  in  variably  refer 
toil  as////'  />'///  Hiwr.  The  Winnebagoes  called  it  Xcc  foontx  Hah-ta  kah  —  the  former  part 
•  it  ili  it  compound  word  meaning  river,  and  hah-ta-kah,  large.  The  Sioux  called  it  Wat-pa- 
To,,  i/,i;  in  if  IHI,  river,  and  ton-mi,  large.  The  Sauks  designated  it  as  Me  -cha-Ha-po;  the  Me- 
iii.-..v,  Mc-i'/n'-Se  i>na;  the  Kickapoos,  Mf-che-Se-pe;  the  Chippewas,  Me-zc-Ze-be;  and  the 
<  M  ta  was,  .»//'*  *;.s-,SV>  pi.  Me-cha.  ine-che,  me-zc,  and  mix  .v/.v,  all  mean  the  same  thing  -  large  or 
;  and  .sv  //o,  *«•  pna,  xe-pv,  ze-be  and  *e-pi,  all  mean  river."— B.  W.  BRISBOIS,  IltMt.  Coll.,  IX. 
Ignorant  as  I  am  of  the  Algomjuian  language,  in  the  Ojibway  or  any  other  dialect,  I  am 
cominred  that  " Mississippi  "  does  not  mean  simply  the  "great  river,"  but  that  Mr.  W.  H. 
N\  heeler  of  Bdoit  is  substantially  correct  in  translating  it  as  the  "everywhere  river."  This 
h<-  atlirms  from  his  own  knowledge  of  the  language.  But  any  one  of  us  can  gut  an  Ojibway 
TeMamcnt.  In  reading  this,  we  are  to  remember  that  the  vowels  are  used  according  to  the 
Frenc -h  or  German,  rather  than  an  English,  system  of  orthoepy.  Thus  nuz't  is  pronounced 
< .  with  tin-  last  syllable  shortened  perhaps,  in  time  of  utterance.  This  word  seems  to 
lii\-  tin-  meaning  of  "every"  hi  relation  to  place.  We  rind  it  in  Luke  IX.  «,  where  the 
l«xMti\,  >  >nse  is  apparent,  and  in  PhilippiaiiN  IV.  12,  where  the  translators  of  the  Ojibway 
m-iit  may  have  followed  the  Authorized  Version  in  its  rendering  of  the  Greek  e/i  pantL 
in  .  zee  way)  in  the  sense  of  "everywhere"  is  found  in  Acts  XVII.  HO  and  XXVIII. 
•_"J  :  in  I  <  or  IV.  I  7.  and  II.  Timothy  II.  8.  Kiji  is  the  Ojibway  word  for  "great  "  or  "large." 
^••e  page  ir». 


-     t 


176  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

"ARTICLE  I. —  We  enjoin  the  directors  general  of  said  company,1  and  all 
our  officers,  to  remove  from  said  country  all  the  Jews  who  may  have  taken  up 
their  abode  there — the  departure  of  whom,  as  declared  enemies  of  the  Chris- 
tian name,  we  command  within  three  months,  including  the  day  when  these 
presents  are  published,  under  pain  of  forfeiture  of  their  bodies  and  estates. 

"ARTICLE  III.  [First  Part]. —  We  prohibit  any  other  religious  rites  than 
those  of  the  Apostolic  Roman  Catholic  church ;  requiring  that  those  who  violate 
this  shall  be  punished  as  rebels  disobedient  to  our  commands." 

With  the  colony  thus  inauspiciously  begun,  the  western  part  of  what 
is  now  Wisconsin,  had  easy  communication  by  way  of  the  Mississippi.  This  in 
the  early  time  was  not  regarded  as  a  line  of  division.  Thus  it  was  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Great  River,  at  Post  St.  Antoine,3  that  Nicholas  Perrot,  who  in 
1685  had  been  appointed  "commandant  of  the  West,"3  formally  took  possession 
1689,  May  8th.  in  the  name  of  the  French  king,  of  the  entire  region  drained 
by  the  St.  Peter  or  Minnesota,  the  St.  Croix  and  the  upper  Mississippi.  Seven 
years  previously, — 1682,  March  14th,  and  April  9th, —  La  Salle  had  taken  pos- 
session of  the  lower  Mississippi  region.  Indeed,  he  then  laid  claim  to  the  whole 
country  "along  the  river  Colbert  or  Mississippi,  and  rivers  which  discharge 
themselves  therein  from  its  source."  So  that  Perrot's  proces-verbal  was,  in  a 
sense,  merely  supplementary  to  the  more  extensive  claim  made  by  La  Salle. 4 

Thus  early  and  in  this  interesting  way  is  the  history  of  the  western  part 
of  Wisconsin  connected  with  that  of  Louisiana, —  the  vast  Louisiana  that  was 
but  an  official  name  for  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi, —  a  name  not  restricted  to 
the  region  on  the  westward  side  of  the  Great  River  until  after  the  treaty  of 
v  Paris  in  1763. 

But  early  explorations  in  the  upper  part  of  this  vast  region, —  those  of 
Radisson,  Joliet,  Perrot  and  others, —  were  made  by  parties  that  descended  the 
Wisconsin  rather  than  by  those  that  ascended  the  Mississippi.  Soon  both  routes 
came  to  be  commonly  used  and  France  possessed  in  North  America,  a  water- 
way the  extent  of  which  equaled  the  breadth  of  oceans, —  a  water-way  that,  as 
we  have  seen,  offered,  in  the  interior,  more  courses  than  one  to  the  trader  and 
explorer.  Of  these,  none  was  traversed  more  frequently  than  that  by  way  of 
the  Fox  and  the  Wisconsin.  Hence,  after  their  long  and  disastrous  war  with  the 
French,  it  was  "with  characteristic  sagacity,"  as  Mr.  Hebberd  remarks,  that 
the  Outagamies  selected  the  site  of  Prairie  du  Chien  as  that  whereon  they 
could  still  use  most  effectively  whatever  of  power  was  left  them. 

Of  this  place  Captain  Jonathan  Carver  gives  some  account  in  his  famous 
book,  "  Three  Years'  Travels  throughout  the  Interior  Parts  of  North  America." 

1  The  "Company  of  the  Indies,"  established  1717,  August,  under  the  management  of  the 
famous  John  Law. 

2  .The  site  of  which  is  on  the  Wisconsin  shore  of  Lake  Pepin  and  between  the  villages  of 
Stockholm  and  Pepin. 

3  The  winter  following  he  spent  at  an  encampment  near  the  majestic  bluff  that  has 
given  name  to  the  village  of  Trempealeau     See  page  134. 

*  We  must  remember,  however,  that  Perrot  held  his  commission,  not  from  La  Salle, 
from  the  authorities  of  New  France. 


BY  THE   MTZI  SIBI.  177 

Thus  begins  his  "Journal:"  "In  June,  1766,  I  set  out  from  Boston,  and 
proceeded  by  way  of  Albany  and  Niagara  to  Michillimackinac, l  a  fort  situated 
between  the  lakes  Huron  and  Michigan,  and  distant  from  Boston  1300  miles." 
This  place  he  left  on  the  3rd  of  September,  and  "  on  the  18th  arrived  at  fort 
La  Bay.  *  *  On  the  20th  of  September  I  left  the  Green  Bay. 
*  *  On  the  25th  I  arrived  at  the  great  town  of  the  Winnebagoes,  situ- 
ated on  a  small  island,2. just  as  you  enter  the  east  end  of  the  lake  Winnebago. 
Here  the  queen  who  presided  over  this  tribe  instead  of  a  Sachem,  received  me 
with  great  civility,  and  entertained  me  in  a  very  distinguished  manner,  during 
the  four  days  I  continued  with  her.3  *  On  the  7th  of  October  [we]  ar- 

rived at  the  great  Carrying  Place  [Portage],  which  divides  it  [the  Fox  river] 
from  the  Ouisconsin.  *  *  On  the  15th  of  October,  we  entered  that  exten- 
sive river,  the  Mississippi."  We  may  presume  that  on  the  same  day  he  arrived 
at  Prairie  du  Chien.  Thither  the  people  had  come,  they  told  him,  about  thirty 
years  before  from  a  place  not  far  distant  which  had  been  their  home  but  which 
the  Great  Spirit,  speaking  in  an  audible  voice,  had  told  them  that  he  wished  for 
himself.  Carver  supposes  that  the  Indians  were  victims  of  some  trick  played 
by  French  or  Spaniards.  "The  people  soon  after  their  removal,"  he  contini 
built  a  town  near  the  Ouisconsin  at  a  place  called  by  the  French  La  Prairie  d< 
Chims.  which  signifies  the  Dog  Plains;  it  is  a  large  town  and  contains  about' 
three  hundred  families.  I  saw  here  many  horses  of  a  good  size  and  shape. 
This  town  is  the  great  mart  where  all  the  adjacent  tribes,  and  even  those  who 
inhabit  the  most  remote  branches  of  the  Mississippi,  annually  assemble  about 
the  latter  end  of  May,  bringing  with  them  their  furs  to  dispose  of  to  the  trad- 
ers. But  it  is  not  always  that  they  conclude  the  sale  here ;  this  is  determined 
by  a  general  council  of  the  chiefs,  who  consult  whether  it  would  be  more  con- 
ducive to  their  interest,  to  sell  their  goods  at  this  place  or  carry  them  to  Louisi- 
ana, or  Michilimackinac.  According  to  the  decision  of  this  council,  they  either 
proceed  further,  or  return  to  their  different  homes." 

Before  the  permanent  settlement  of  Prairie  du  Chien  by  whites,  American 
colonial  troops  may  have  come  thither.  We  have  already  had  a  report,  in  Sin- 
clair's letter,  of  the  British  expedition  which  returned  to  Mackinaw  probably  in 
May,  1780.  From  that  place  in  the  same  year  a  second  expedition  was  sent, 
perhaps  in  June,  to  secure  furs  left  at  Prairie  du  Chien  by  the  traders.  Cap- 
tain J.  Long,  a  British  Indian-trader,  was  in  command.  In  their  nine  canoes 
he  and  his  men  carried  off  about  three  hundred  packs  of  furs.  Sixty  packs 
more  they  burned,  probably  by  setting  fire  to  the  buildings4  in  which  the  furs 
had  been  stored.  The  reason  for  this  is  easily  inferred  from  Long's  statement 
that  "  about  five  days  after  our  departure  we  were  informed  that  the  Americans 

1  Carver's  "  Michillimackinac  "  is  the  "  old  fort "  on  the  southern  side  of  the  strait. 

-  The  island  lying:  between  Neenah  and  Menasha. 

8  In  reference  to  note  1,  page  75,  it  should  be  said  that  Carver  noticed  the  radical  differ- 
ence between  the  Ojibway  lansruage  and  that  of  the  WinnebaRoes. 

4  This  store-house  and  the  old  French  "  fort "  are  probably  one  and  the  same.  The  "  fort," 
However,  may  have  been  a  similar  structure  of  logs  built  earlier,  perhaps  as  soon  as  174fi,  for 
a  like  purpose  . 


r 


178  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

came  to  attack  us ;  but  to  their  extreme  mortification  we  were  out  of  their 
reach." 

Notwithstanding  the  popular  impression  that  "Prairie  du  Chien  is  as  old 
as  Philadelphia,"  no  evidence  appears  of  permanent  settlement  there  by  whites 
prior  to  1781.  As  Prairie  du  Chien  was  on  one  of  the  great  water-courses  from 
the  Upper  Lakes  to  the  more  distant  interior,  traders  and  others  from  New 
France  were  often  there  before  any  whites  made  a  permanent  settlement  in  the 
place.  Some  may  have  remained  even  for  years. 

The  first  official  report  by  any  United  States  officer  in  regard  to  Prairie 
du  Chien  is  by  Lieutenant  (afterwards  Brigadier-General)  Zebulon  Montgom- 
ery Pike.  On  the  9th  of  August,  1805,  he  left  St.  Louis  on  an  exploring  ex- 
pedition toward  the  headwaters  of  the  Mississippi.  He  reports  that,  with  three 
houses  on  the  west  side  of  the  river,  there  were  in  Prairie  du  Chien  and  vicin- 
ity thirty-seven  in  all,  "  which  it  will  not  be  too  much  to  calculate  at  ten  persons 
each.  This  calculation  will  not  answer  for  the  spring  or  autumn 

as  there  are  then  at  least  five  hundred  or  six  hundred  white  persons." 

Uuder  date  of  1811,  February  2nd,  Nicholas  Boilvin,  an  Indian  agent  al- 
ready spoken  of,  made  a  report  to  William  Eustis,  secretary  of  war:  ''Prairie 
du  Chiens  is  an  old  Indian  town  which  was  sold  by  the  Indians  to  the  Canadian 
traders  about  thirty  years  ago,  where  they  have  ever  since  rendezvoused,  and 
dispersed  their  merchandise  in  various  directions.  The  Indians  also  sold  them 
at  the  same  time  a  tract  of  land  measuring  six  leagues  up  and  down  the  river, 
and  six  leagues  back  of  it.  The  village  contains  between  thirty  and  forty 
houses,  and  on  the  tract  just  mentioned  about  thirty-two  families,  so  that  the 
whole  settlement  contains  about  one  hundred  families.  The  men  are  generally 
French  Canadians,  who  have  mostly  married  Indian  wives ;  perhaps  not  more 
than  twelve  white  females  are  to  be  found  in  the  settlement." 

British  and  Canadian  influence  continued  to  be  supreme  at  Prairie  du 
Chien  until  after  the  war  of  1812.  We  have  already  had  mention  of  Robert 
Dickson  and  Lieutenant-Colonel  McKay,  honorable  men  both,  who  as  far  as 
possible,  restrained  the  Indians  from  outrages  against  their  American  enemies. 
On  the  return  of  peace  the  place  was  evacuated  by  the  British  1815,  May  24th. 
But  it  was  not  until  the  21st  of  June,  1816,  that  the  fort  which  the  Americans 
had  named  Shelby  and  the  British  called  McKay  was  re-occupied  by  United 
States  troops.  These  were  under  command  of  Colonel  Thomas  A.  Smith,  brig- 
adier-general by  brevet.  He  and  his  men  were  most  unwelcome.  They  occur 
pied  and  repaired  the  old  fort,  thereafter  known  as  Fort  Crawford  in  honor  of 
William  Harris  Crawford  of  Georgia,  then  secretary  of  the  treasury.  In  the 
spring  of  1817  Colonel  Talbot  Chambers  succeeded  Smith.  Complaint  is  made 
that  he  treated  the  inhabitants  as  conquered  people.  Probably  there  was  rea- 
son for  his  doing  so.  With  the  subsequent  commanders  save  one,  Colonel 
Zachary  Taylor,  afterward  President,  we  have  no  special  concern.  He  suc- 
ceeded'Major  Stephen  Watts  Kearney  in  1829,  probably  in  June. 

The  old  fort  stood  on  low  ground  as  described  hereafter.      One  of  stone 


NY  THE   MIZI   SIBI.  179 

was  erected  on  higher  land.  This  was  begun  in  1830,  occupied  by  part  of  the 
troops  in  1831<  and  completed  in  1832. 

Colonel  Taylor  remained  in  command  until  the  autumn  of  1836  when  he 
was  ordered  to  Florida  to  take  part  in  the  Seminole  war  then  raging. 

Among  the  subordinate  officers  at  Fort  Crawford  was  the  late  Jefferson 
Davis,  whose  service  here  was  interrupted  by  that  at  Fort  Winnebago.  A  gar- 
rison was  kept  at  Fort  Crawford  until  the  9th  of  June,  1856. 

With  the  secure  possession  of  the  place  by  United  States  troops  came 
thither  an  American  population.  Among  the  first  was  James  H.  Lockwood. 
"On  the  16th  of  September,  1816,"  he  says,  "I  arrived  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  a 
traders'  village  of  between  twenty-five  and  thirty  houses,  situated  on  the  banks 
of  tin-  .Mississippi  on  what,  in  high  water,  is  an  island.  The  houses  were  built 
by  planting  posts  upright  in  the  ground  with  grooves  in  them,  so  that  the  sides 
could  be  filled  in  with  split  timber  or* round  poles,  and  then  plastered  over  with 
clay,  and  whitewashed  with  a  white  earth  found  in  the  vicinity,  and  then  cov- 
ered with  bark,  or  clap-boards  riven  from  oak.  [Mr.  Lockwood  himself  in 
luiilt  the  first  frame  house]. 

'•  Indian  traders,  as  a  class,  possess  no  enterprise,  at  least  none  that  is  of 
any  advantage  to  the  settlement  and  improvement  of  a  country.  They  are  en- 
terprising in  going  into  the  unexplored  Indian  country  to  traffic,  and  collect 
furs  and  peltries;  but  I  have  never  seen  a  man  who  made  money  in  the  Indian 
trade  apply  it  to  the  ordinary  improvements  that  foster  and  encourage  the 
growth  of  a  country. 

"Of  all  the  foreigners  that  came,  to  this  country,  the  Canadians  of  French 
extraction  seemed  to  have  the  least  idea  of  the  privileges  of  American  citizen- 
ship. It  appeared  almost  impossible  to  instill  into  their  minds  anything  of  the 
independence  of  self-government,  and  this  was  not  confined  entirely  to  the  un- 
educated, but  would  apply  more  or  less  to  the  partially  educated  classes. 

"The  coutume  de  Part*  [French  law]  so  far  prevailed' in  this  country  gen- 
erally, that  a  part  of  the  ceremony  of  marriage  was  the  entering  into  a  con- 
tract in  writing,  generally  giving,  if  no  issue,  the  property  to  the  survivor;  and 
it  they  desired  to  be  divorced,  they  went  together  before  the  magistrate  and 
made  known  their  wishes,  and  he,  in  their  presence,  tore  up  the  marriage  con- 
tract, and  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  they  were  then  divorced.  I 
was  once  present  at  Judge  Abbott's  at  Mackinaw  when  a  couple  presented  them- 
selves before  him  and  were  divorced  in  this  manner.  When  the  laws  of  Mich- 
igan were  tirst  introduced  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the 
justice  of  the  peace  could  persuade  them  that  a  written  contract  was  not  neces- 
:md  some  of  them  believed  that,  because  the  contract  of  marriage  gave 
tlie  property  to  the  survivor,  they  were  not  obliged  to  pay  the  debts  which  the 
d«'.-ras,-d  owed  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

"  In  speaking  of  the  early  settlers  and  their  marriage  connections,  1  should 
perhaps  explain  a  little.  In  the  absence  of  religious  instructions,  and  it  be- 
)  common  to  see  the  Indians  use  so  little  ceremony  about  marriage,  the 


180  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

idea  of  a  verbal  matrimonial  contract  became  familiar  to  the  early  French  set- 
tlers, and  they  generally  believed  that  such  a  contract  of  marriage  was  valid 
without  any  other  ceremony.  Many  of  the  women  married  in  this  way  be- 
lieved, in  their  simplicity  and  ignorance,  that  they  were  as  lawfully  the  wives 
of  the  men  they  lived  with,  as  though  they  had  been  married  with  all  the  cere- 
mony and  solemnity  possible. 

"In  the  spring  of  1817  a  Roman  Catholic  priest,  from  St.  Louis,  called 
Pere  Priere,1  visited  Prairie  du  Chien.  He  was  the  first  that  had  been  there 
for  many  years,  and  perhaps  since  the  settlement,  and  organized  the  Roman 
Catholic  church,  and  disturbed  some  of  the  domestic  arrangements  of  the  in- 
habitants. He  found  several  women  who  had  left  their  husbands  and  were 
living  with  other  men ;  these  he  made  by  the  terror  of  his  church  to  return  and 
ask  pardon  of  their  husbands,  and  to  be  taken  back  by  them,  which  they  of 
course  could  not  refuse. 

"The  first   Sunday-school   established  in  the   place  was   by  my  first   wife, 
Mrs.  Julianna  Lockwood.2      Mrs.  Lockwood  was  raised  among  the   Presbyteri- 
ans or  Congregationalists  of  New  England,  and  early  imbibed  the  strong  pre- 
judices of  those   people   against  the  Roman  Catholics,  but  afterwards,  having 
lived  in  Canada  two  or  three  years,  and  having  become  intimately  acquainted 
with  several  ladies  of  that  faith,  who  were  apparently  good  pious  people,  she 
concluded  that  there  were  good  and  bad  among  all  sects,  or  denominations,  call- 
ing themselves  Christians,  and  her  early  prejudices  in  great   measure  wore  off.. 
We  were  married  in  the  summer  of  the  year   1824,   and  came  to   Prairie  du 
Chien  in  the  autumn.     There  was  not  at  that  time  any  church  or  meeting  to  at- 
tend on  Sunday.     Even  the  Roman  Catholics  had  a  priest  visit  them  only  oc- 
casionally,  and  Mrs.  Lockwood,   having  been   accustomed  to  see   the  children 
collected  in  Sunday-schools,  and  seeing  a  large  number  playing  about  the  stree 
on  the  Sabbath,  concluded  it  would  be  doing  them  a  good  service  to  gather 
into  a  Sunday-school,  and  proposed  to  Miss  Crawford,  a  young  lady  raised 
the  place,  who  spoke  English  and  French  fluently,  and  who  had  a  good  educa- 
/  tion,  to  assist  her.     To  this  she  agreed  at  once,  and  they  influenced  Dr.  Edwin 
/   James,  surgeon  of  the   United  States   army,  then  stationed  at  Fort  Crawford, 
I     and  John  H.  Kinzie,  Esq.,   formerly  of  Chicago,  then  quite  a  young  man,  in 
1    the  employment  of  the  American  Fur  Company  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  to  assist 

1  Under  date  of  1893,  April  26th,  the  Rev.  H.  Van  der  Sanven,  chancellor  of  the  [Roman 
Catholic]  diocese  of  St.  Louis,  wrote :  "  The  priest  after  whom  you  inquire  can  not  be  any  other 
than  the  Rev.  Paul  de  St.  Pierre,       *       *       of  whom  Shea  says  that  he  belonged  to  the  Car- 
melite order.       *       *       Prairie  du  Chien,  in  my  collection  of  documents  is  mentioned  for 
the  first  time  on  September  29th,  1832." 

"  By  the  way,"  writes  Secretary  R.  G.  Thwaites,  under  date  of  1894,  January  13th,  "re- 
ferring to  the  matter  of  Father  Priere,  or  Pierre,  in  Wis.  Hist.  Colls,  v.  ii.,  page  127, 
tained  in  Prairie  du  Chien  yesterday,  the  baptismal,  marriage,  and  burial  records  of  the 
Catholic  church  there,  for  the  years  1817-1825,  and  they  are  now  before  me.  The  name  of 
the  officiating  priest  is  given  for  1816-17  as  M.  Dunaud ;  for  the  other  years,  there  is  no  priest- 
ly signature.  Doesn't  this  rather  upset,  at  least  the  year,  of  Pierre's  arrival  as  given  by 
Lockwood  ?  " 

2  Sister  of  L.  M.  Warren  of  La  Pointe.    "  She  was  a  noble-hearted  as  well  as  a  queenly- 
looking  woman ,"  writes  her  nephew,  Rev.  J.  H.  Warren  of  San  Francisco. 


BY  THE   MTZI   SIBI.  181 

them.  They  collected  the  children,  and  commenced  their  school  in  the  spring 
of  1825,  and  continued  it  until  the  winter  following,  but  not  without  opposition. 
As  this  measure  did  not  originate  with  Mr.  Roulette,1  he  felt  bound  to  oppose  it. 
He  took  what  he  thought  would  be  the  most  effectual  mode  of  suppressing  it, 
by  going  to  the  mothers  of  the  children  who  attended  the  school,  and  represent- 
ing to  them  that  it  was  the  design  to  make  Protestants  of  the  children.  To 
counteract  Mr.  Roulette,  they  introduced  and  taught  the  children  the  Roman 
Catholic  catechism,  finding  nothing  to  their  minds  very  objectionable  in  it:  and 
a-  I  said  before,  they  continued  their  school  until  winter,  during  which  time  Dr. 
James  was  ordered  to  some  other  post.  In  the  spring  of  1826,  my  wife  and 
mvM'lf  went  to  New  York  ;  Miss  Crawford  accompanied  us  as  far  as  Mackinaw, 
where  she  remained  until  she  was  married.  Mr.  Kinzie  went  also  to  Macki- 
naw, during  which  time  he  received  an  appointment  in  the  Indian  department 
under  Governor  Cass,  and  went  to  Detroit  to  reside.  The  Sunday-school  was 
not  again  resumed,  nor  was  one  again  attempted  in  the  place  until  about  1830, 
when  the  members  of  the  different  religious  denominations  united  in  forming 
the  Union  Sunday-school.  This  continued  a  few  years,  until  the  Methodists,  be- 
coming by  far  the  most  numerous  class,  assumed  the  management  of  it,  since 
which  time  they  have  claimed  it  as  a  Methodist  Sunday-school." 

With  a  possible  exception  noted  in  the  history  of  Green  Bay,  the  Sunday- 
school  by  Mrs.  Lockwood  appears  to  be  the  first  in  Wisconsin.  We  know  who, 
in  those  days,  were  ''the  Presbyterians  or  Congregationalists  of  New  England." 
The  work  done  by  Dr.  James  in  connection  with  the  Ojibway  mission  has  been 
mentioned. 

Not  only  does  Prairie  du  Chien  have  the  honor  of  the  first  or  second 
Sunday-school  in  Wisconsin,  one  of  the  first  day-schools  was  hers  also.  The 
teacher  was  a  Willard  Keyes  who  seems  to  have  come  from  southern  Illinois, 
an<l  who  probably  did  nothing  more  noteworthy  in  his  life  than  to  establish  th;s, 
school.  He  thus  speaks  of  it  in  a  letter  dated  1818,  June  7th,  and  addressed] 
to  Dr.  Samuel  Andrew  Peters:  2 

"On  the  25th  ultimo  I  commenced  a  school  in  this  .village;  have  about 
thirty  scholars,  mostly  bright  and  active,  at  two  dollars  a  month.  I  board  with 
your  old  landlord,  Mr.  Faribault,3  but  have  to  regret  the  loss  of  your  company. 
I  have  engaged  for  three  months,  and  before  the  expiration  of  that  time  I  trust 
your  business  will  be  amicably  settled  with  the  Indians." 

1'nder  date  of  January  3rd,  1820,  the  ex-teacher  again  addresses  Peters: 

"I  remained  at  Prairie  du  Chien  till  May,  1819,  when,  despairing  of  hear- 

1  An  t-iiriny,  or  at  least  a  rival,  of  Mr.  Lockwood. 

a  "  Samuel  Peters,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  Clerk  in  Holy  orders,"  as  he  signed  his  name  to  the  rec- 
ord of  two  marriages  at  which  he  officiated  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  Naturally  enough  this  story 
villiiicr  of  Connecticut  was  on  a  swindling  Kchenie.  He  affirmed  that  Carver,  whom  he  calls 
"an  Anabaptist  [Baptist]  in  religion"  had  a  valid  claim  to  a  vast  tract  of  land  extending  from 
the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony  *  *  [to]  the  mouth  of  the  Chippewa  river,  thence  eastward 
one  hundred  miles,  thence  northward  one  hundred  twenty  miles,  and  from  thence  in  a 
straight  I'm-  to  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony."  Certainly  this  was  a  tempting  plum  and  Peters 
and  two  grandsons  of  Carver  had  come  to  this  distant  land  to  pick  it. 

:l  For  whose  son  Faribault,  Minnesota,  wa«  named. 


182  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

ing  from  you,  and  believing  it  to  be  of  no  use  to  remain  longer  in  this  expensive 

place,  I  came  down  the  river,  and  am  now  in  Madison  county,  state  of  Illinois." 

Years  were  to  elapse  before  either  church  or  school  were  permanently  es- 
tablished at  Prairie  du  Chien.      Laymen  are  often,  as  they  ought  always  to  be, 
true  home  missionaries,  and  one  such,  apparently,  was  Joseph  Montfort  Street  i 
who,  in  October  or  November,  1827,  came  to  Prairie   du   Chien   as  an  Indian 
agent  to   succeed   Mr.  Boilvin  whose  life  had  come  to  an   end,—  perhaps   by) 
drowning, — the  summer  before.     Mr.  Street  was  a  Presbyterian  of  the  Cum- 
berland branch  of  that  church,  which  was  then  not  in  very  high  favor  with  the ; 
more  conservative  portion. 

In  1829,  as  we  have  learned,  Mr.  J.  D.  Stevens  and  Rev.  Alvin  Coe,  pass-j 
ing  through  Prairie  du  Chien,  spent  two  weeks  at  that  place.  The  latter  may  \ 
have  made  at  least  a  second  visit  and  it  is  he,  probably,  of  whom  Mr.  Lock-! 
wood  writes  thus  disparagingly: 

"In  1830,  a  man  by  the  name  of  Coe,  who  claimed  to  be  a  minister  of  the] 
Presbyterian  church,  and  missionary  to  the  Indians,  passed  through  the  country ! 
and  remained  over  Sunday  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  made  an  attempt  at  preach-] 
ing;   but  he  was  a  very   illiterate  man   and    not  over-burdened   with  common] 
sense. l      I  must  here  relate  an  anecdote  of  this  man.     He  made  several  tripsi 
to  the  upper  Indian  country,  and  on  one  occasion  took  passage  on  a  keel-boat, » 
and  arrived  within  about  thirty  miles  of  Fort  Snelling  on  Saturday  night;  and 
as  the  boat  would  start  early  in  the  morning,  and  he  would  not  travel  on  the! 
Sabbath,  he  went  on  shore  without  provisions,  and  encamped  over  Sunday,  and 
on  Monday  made  his  way  to  Fort  Snelling,  hungry  and  nearly  exhausted." 

If  this  was  Mr.  Stevens's  companion  we  may  doubt  his  illiteracy.     Who-3 
ever  he  was  we  cannot  but  honor  his  endurance  of  hunger,  loneliness,  fatigue 
and  danger  for  conscience's  sake. 

As  this  event  is  not  in  Mr.  Lockwood's  narrative  connected  in  date  witbl 
the  "attempt  at  preaching"  we  cannot  but  wonder  if  the  latter  may  not  have  i 
taken  place  in  1829.     If  in  1830,  it  is  remarkable  that  we  have  no  allusion  ta  j 
it  in  the  narrative  of  Rev.  Aratus  Kent,  the  first  who  labored  in  this  part  of  the 
world   under   commission   from  the   American    Home   Missionary  society.      In 
July,    1830,  he  held  religious   service  in  Prairie  du  Chien.      Let  us  have  thei 
story  in  his  own  words : 

"I  started  July  5th  for  Paairie  du  Chien  by  request  of  General  Street, 
fulfilled  several  appointments  on  my  circuitous  route,  and  after  great  fatigue 
rived  in  time  to  meet  my  engagement  to  preach  there  on  the  llth  at  the  nu 
ing  of  the  council  with  the  Indians,  of  whom  three  hundred  of  different 

1  Since  writing  the  above  I  have  become  convinced  that  Mr.  Lock  wood  was  exceedii 
unjust  to  Mr.  Coe.  The  following  transcript  is  made  (by  kindness  of  Rev.  O.  E.  Boyd  of 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions)  from  the  minutes  of  the  synod  of  Pittsburg: 

"1817  Presbytery  of  Grand  River  (Western  Reserve,  Ohio)  report  AJvin  Coe  licensed 
four  years.    At  the  request  of  the  Connecticut  Missionary  society,  the  presbytery  ordaii 
Mr.  Alvin  Coe  as  an  evangelist  on  the  10th  of  June  and  admitted  him  as  a  member  of  pre 
tery."    Such  a  request  would  have  been  neither  made  nor  granted  in  the  case  of  a 
illiterate  man." 


BY  THE   MIZI   SIBI.  183 

were  present.  My  congregation  of  two  hundred  presented  as  great  a  variety  of 
the  human  family  as  was  perhaps  ever  addressed  at  the  same  time  by  an  am- 
bassador of  Christ." 

It  seems  that  the  honor  of  holding  the  first  Protestant  service  in  Prairie 
du  Chien  belongs  either  to  Mr.  Coe  or  to  Mr.  Kent. 

From  this  time  until  a  resident  minister  came  thither  Mr.  Kent  seems  to 
have  regarded  Prairie  du  Chien  as  a  part  of  his  parish.  Of  one  of  his  visits, 
made  probably  in  the  autumn  of  1831,  he  writes  :  "I  came  at  a  late  hour  where 
many  were  gathered  together  praying."  Like  "  square  dealing  ''  people, —  to 
use  a  Western  and  very  expressive  term, —  Mr.  Kent's  hearers  paid  his  expen- 
ses. Before  he  left  they  also  made  an  offering  of  $11  for  the  work  of  the 
American  Home  Missionary  society.  We  may  doubt  that  there  was  one  of  ear- 
lier date  than  this,  for  said  object,  within  the  present  limits  of  our  state.  And, 
if  there  was,  we  can  readily  believe  that  Mr.  Kent  made  the  appeal  in  response 
to  which  it  was  given.  On  the  Monday  of  this  visit  of  Mr.  Kent  to  Prairie  du 
Chien,  there  was  observed  what  was  relatively  better  known  among  our  churches 
(the  move's  the  pity)  in  former  days  than  now, —  the  monthly  concert  of  prayer 
for  the  conversion  of  the  world.  The  little  congregation  voted  to  continue  it, 
and  appointed  a  committee  to  report  mission  news  both  foreign  and  domestic. 

Perhaps  good  Brother  Kent  took  a  little  satisfaction  in  adding  to  his  ac- 
count of  this  visit  to  Prairie  du  Chien :  "The  Methodists  have  not  been  there 
yet."  He  says  also:  "In  going  and  returning  1  preached  at  Cassville." 

An  agent  of  the  American  Home  Missionary  society,  Rev.  D.  W.  Lathrop, 
who  made  a  trip  in  the  West  in  the  summer  of  1831  wrote  of  Prairie  du  Chien 
.as  a  place  that  u needs  a  minister."  He  adds  that  it  has  4*a  population  of  eight 
hundred,  one-half  of  whom  are  French." 

"Some  time  in  the  year  1832,"  says  Mr.  Lockwood,  "a  student  of  divin- 
ity of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  sect  came  here  and  taught  school  for  about 
six  months,  and  on  Sundays  attempted  to  preach."  Whether  or  not  any  of  these 
attempts  were  successful  Mr.  Lockwood  does  not  tell  us.  He  thus  continues  his 
narrative : 

"In  same  of  the  treaties  with  the  Winnebagoes,  provision  had  been  made 
for  an  Indian  school  near  Prairie  du  Chien,  and  in  the  year  1833  the  Rev. 
David  Lowrey,  of  the  Cumberland  Presbyterian  denomination,  came  to  the  place 
superintendent  of  said  Indian  school.  But  it  was  about  a  year  thereafter 
jfore  suitable  buildings  were  erected  on  the  Yellow  river l  in  Iowa;  and  Mr. 
Lowrey  remained  in  Prairie  du  Chien  and  preached  on  Sundays;  and,  during 
tliis  time,  collected  those  professing  religion  of  the  different  denominations  into 
a  society.", 

Mr.  Lowrey  himself  gives  us  an  interesting  narrative  of  his  coming  to 
Prairie  du  Chien  and  his  early  work  there.  Bringing  his  family,  he  came  over- 
hind  from  Nashville,  Tennessee.  This  movement  he  calls  "leaving  his  native 
land."  He  arrived  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  1833,  September  7th.  The  Indians 

1  Three  or  four  miles  above  Prairie  du  Chiati. 


184  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

were  unwilling  to  remove  west  of  the  Mississippi.  Accordingly  the  execution 
of  the  order  to  erect  buildings  for  the  school  had  been  suspended.  u  It  is  a 
great  pity,"  wrote  Mr.  Lowrey  that  most  of  the  intercourse  kept  up  between  the 
white  people  and  [the]  Indians  is  by  men  of  dissipated  character,  traders,  whose 
sole  object  it  is  to  make  money,  and  who  frown  on  every  attempt  to  improve 
the  condition  of  the  poor  Indians,  for  they  know  if  they  [the  Indians]  turn 
their  attention  to  agriculture  and  civilized  habits,  the  fur  trade  with  them  would 
be  seriously  injured." 

True  to  his  calling  Mr.  Lowrey  at  once  began  to  hold  preaching  services. 
"I  never  saw  a  place  where  the  gospel  was  more  needed.  Settlements  forty 
and  fifty  miles  distant  are  very  desirous  of  preaching.  Schools  are  greatly 
needed  and  would  be  well  supported  could  suitable  teachers  be  obtained.  I 
have  recommended  an  itinerant  plan  of  school  keeping  until  teachers  can  be 
procured  for  every  neighborhood."  He  recommends  young  men  of  piety  and 
enterprise  to  teach.  UI  know  of  no  country  where  money  is  more  plenty  than 
it  is  here."  It  would  need  to  be,  one  would  think,  for  he  tells  us  that  ucorn 
and  wheat  bring  $1  per  bushel.  Fifteen  dollars  and  boarding  are  given  per 
month  for  laborers  on  a  farm." 

He  rejoices  that  ano  slavery  can  be  admitted  here."  Writing  under  date 
of  1833,  December  7th,  he  says:  k4The  cause  of  temperance  on  yesterday 
achieved  a  very  important  victory.  I  delivered  an  address  to  a  very  large  audi- 
ence mostly  of  officers  and  soldiers,  and  secured  sixty  pledges  to  abstain."  The 
letter  was  delayed  a  week.  Meanwhile  "  fifty  -five  anore  signatures  were  ob- 
tained ;  total,  one  hundred  fifteen :  more  than  half  the  garrison ! " 

Further  mention  of  Mr.  Lowry's  work  is  to  be  found  in  Butterfield's  "  His- 
tory of  Crawford  County:"  "In  1834  the  Rev.  David  Lo\vrey  organized  the 
first  Protestant  society  in  Prairie  du  Chien :  it  afterwards  was  merged  into  the 
Congregational  society." 

General  Street  as  he  is  commonly  called, —  he  did  efficient  service  in  the 
Black  Hawk  war, —  was  one  of  the  founder^  of  the  church.  Another  was  one 
who  yet  abides  with  us,  ex-Judge  J.  T.  Mills,  now  of  the  Lancaster  church. l 
A  native  of  Paris,  Bourbon  county,  Kentucky,  he  nevertheless  early  became  a 
temperance  man  and  an  opponent  of  slavery.  These  "  abolitionists  "  from  the 
South  were,  more  than  any  others,  the  men  who  made  southwestern  Wisconsin 
strongly  anti-slavery.  Wiser  than  the  sharp-tongued  followers  of  Garrison  they 
did  not  believe  in  disunion.  From  Illinois  college,  whither  he  had  been  drawn 
by  the  name  of  Edward  Beecher,  president  there  from  1830  until  1834,  young 
Mills  came  to  Prairie  du  Chien.  On  his  way  he  saw  Black  Hawk,  then  a  cap- 
tive. The  young  collegian  became  tutor  in  the  family  of  Colonel  Taylor  and 
later  in  the  home  of  General  Street.  It  was  with  some  misgivings  and  ques- 
tions of  duty  that  this  sturdy  Kentucky  abolitionist  became  one  of  the  brother- 
hood of  this  church.  For  one  of  its  members,  Andrew  Cochran,  held  slaves  ii 
Missouri. 

1  Since  the  above  was  written,  lie  has  become  a  resident  of  Manitowoc. 


BY  THE   MIZI    SIBI.  185 

I  n  abaut  a  year  Mr.  Lowrey's  official  duties  prevented  his  rendering  the 
church  more  than  occasional  service.  u  There  is  a  Presbyterian  church,  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  members  in  the  place,"  says  Rev.  Stephen  Peet  speaking 
of  Prairie  du  Chien  in  the  "Home  Missionary "  for  September,  1838,  "sup- 
plied half  the  time  by  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  minister  who  occupies  a  sta- 
tion a  few  miles  above."  Rev.  Isaac  Erving  Heaton  still  living1  in  honored  age 
at  Fremont,  Nebraska,  removed  about  October,  1839,  from  Belmont,  one  of 
Wisconsin's  early  capitals,  to  Prairie  du  Chien. 

He  writes:  "At  Prairie  du  Chien  I  preached  only  occasionally  to  supply 
a  vacancy.  My  occupation  there  was  teaching.  For  one  year,  partly  before  I 
went  to  Prairie  du  Chien,  Rev.  Mr.  Bonham2  was  the  pastor.  He  was  a 
young  man,  I  think,  from  Tennessee.  He  was  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian." 
Thus,  as  Father  Kent  was  by  preference  a  new-school  Presbyterian,  Mr.  Hea- 
ton was  probably  the  first  Congregational  minister  to  preach  at  Prairie  du  Chien. 
H*  soon  removed  to  Mineral  Point,  and  at  that  place  was  one  of  the  first  to 
have  charge  of  its  public  school. 

Mr.  Stevens,  who  came  to  Prairie  du  Chien  first  in  1829,  removed  thither 
j  from  his  mission  among  the  Sioux,  and  in  December,  1841,  began  work  as  pas- 

Itor  of  the  church  organized  by  Mr.  Lowrey  in  1834.     Mr.  Stevens  filled  this 
office  until  September,  1843. 
Long  years  afterward  (1866),  Jeremiah  Porter  came  from  army  service 
to  take  the  pastorate  of  the  same  old  church  that  virtually  had  its  beginning 
in  1830  and  1831  under  his  friend  and  associate,  Father  Kent.3      From  Prairie 
du  Chien  Mr.  Porter  went  once  more  to  the  South, —  this  time  to  Brownsville, 
j  Texas,  and  soon  thereafter  a  son  and  a  daughter  became  missionaries  in  far-off 
I  Ciiina  where  they  yet  abide.4 

Another    sturdy    pioneer    was    Rev.   Alfred    Brunson    who,   as   we    have 

learned,  came  Prairie  du  Chien  first  on  a  tour  of  missionary  exploration  in  the 

autumn  of  1835.     Continuing  his  work  of  mission  superintendence,  he  came 

I   West  the  next  summer,  arriving  at  Prairie  du  Chien  1836,  July  16th.      He 

brought  with  him  from  Meadville,  Pennsylvania,  by  canal,  French  creek  and 

j  the  Alleghany  river  to  Pittsburgh,  thence  eighteen  hundred  miles  by  the  Ohio 

j  and  the   Mississippi  a  keel-boat   with  four   families,  including   his  own,  and  a 

dwelling-house  ready  to  be  put  together.     The  cost  of  towage  from  Pittsburg 

1  by  steamboats   was    $650  of  which  $400    was  the   charge   from   St.   Louis   to 

I    Prairie  du  Chien.5 

1  While  the  greater  part  of  this  narrative  was  in  course  of  preparation.    He  died  at  Fre- 
mont is»3,  September  18th. 

3  B.  B.  Bonham,  as  he  has  been  identified  by  Chancellor  N.  Green  of  Cumberland  univer- 
sity, Lebanon,  Tennessee. 

<  Mxanized  as  a  Cumberland  Presbyterian  church,  in  the  year  given  above,  it  dropped 
the  "Cumberland  "  in  1842  and  became  Congregational  in  185<>. 

4  It  may  be  that  even  as  the  pan  writes  these  lines  (1894,  September  llth)  Miss  Porter,— 
having  p:ii.l  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  her  mother,  and  rendered  to  her  father  the  last  ser- 
VH-  that  earthly  love  can  give,— is  traversing  the  Mediterranean  s^a  or  the  Red  on  her  return 
to  continue  the  work  from  which  she  was  taken  for  a  time  only  by  the  call  of  filial  piety. 

6  The  first  steambo.it  to  make  its  appearance  at  Prairie  du  Chien,— the  Virginia  of  St. 


18C>  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Mr.  Brunson  was  a  unique  gift  of  Connecticut  to  the  West  and  to  Metho- 
dism. Whether,  on  a  night  journey,  singing  hymns  to  drive  away  wolves  that 
seemed  ready  to  devour  him  and  his  horse,  fighting  his  opponents  in  Confer- 
ence, proposing  additional  articles  of  faith  for  the  Methodist  church,  or  demolish- 
ing Calvinism,  Campbellism  and  the  glacial  theory, —  all  of  which  he  seems  to 
have  held  in  about  equal  abhorrence, —  he  was  the  same  self-reliant,  aggressive, 
determined  man,  often  mistaken,  sometimes  unjust,  but  a  true  soldier  of  the 
church  militant. 

It  is  interesting  to  know  that  Duncan  Graham,  captain  in  the  British 
Indian  service,  who  in  1815  thought  of  Prairie  du  Chien  as  such  a  forlorn 
place,1  —  which  no  doubt  it  was, —  became  a  resident  there.  He  was  one  of 
those  who  had  charge  of  "three  Mackinaw  boats,  manned  with  six  hands  each, 
[and]  loaded  with  wheat,  oats  and  peas," — boats  that  on  Saturday  the  15th  of 
April,  1820,  "left  Prairie  du  Chien  for  Selkirk  colony  [Pembina]  on  Red 
river," — a  settlement  that  in  its  beginning  seems  to  have  found  its  base  of 
supplies  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  In  1827,  at  the  time  of  the  Winnebago  out- 
break, Graham  was  the  means  of  ridding  Mr.  Lockwood's  home  of  marauding 
Indians  who,  in  the  husband's  absence,  had  come  thither  with  the  intent,  prob- 
ably, of  taking  the  life  of  Mrs.  (Warren)  Lockwood  or  that  of  any  one  whom 
opportunity  might  put  in  the  way  of  their  guns  or  scalping-knives. 

Again  and  again  the  hopes  of  those  who  expected  a  great  city  at  Prairie 
du  Chien  have  been  disappointed.  In  1857  the  old  village  was  wakened  for  a 
little  time  to  new  life  by  the  coming  thither  of  the  first  railway  that  crossed  the 
state  of  Wisconsin.  That  was  a  generation  ago  and  even  now  when  men  hear  the 
name  of  Prairie  du  Chien, —  the  Kipisagee3  of  the  Ojibways  and  other  Algon- 
quians, —  they  think  not  of  the  future  but  of  the  past.3 

Louis,— came  in  1821.    "  It  was  a  stern-wheeler,  and  a  man  "with  a  pole  was  stationed  OH  the 
bow  to  aid  in  steering." 

1  See  page  43.    A  sketch  of  Captain  Graham's  life  is  given  by  Secretary  Draper  in  volume 
IX.  page  299  of  the  "Wisconsin  Historical  Collections." 

2  "  Meaning  the  place  of  the  jet  or  overflow  of  the  [Wisconsin]  river,    The  word  appears 
to  be  based  on  the  verb  kipa,  to  be  thick  or  turbid,  and  s(.uge,  outflow ;  the  river  at  the  floods 
being  little  less  than  a  moving  mass  of  sand  and  water."— H.  R.  SCHOOLCRAFT. 

In  1822  there  was  very  high  water  in  the  Mississippi.  The  parade  ground  of  the  old  fort 
was  flooded  to  the  depth  of  three  or  four  feet.  The  garrison  was  compelled  to  remove  to  the 
higher  land  back  of  the  slough.  See  Durrie's  "  Annals  of  Prairie  du  Chien." 

3  And  yet  I  hope  that  time  may  disprove  the  remark  of  Charles  J.  Latrobe,  an  English 
traveler  who  visited  Prairie  du  Chien  in  1833:  "The  place  seems  destined  to  remain  under 
the  same  spell  as  others  of  a  like  origin."    Yet  it  is  noticeable  that  whatever  American  com- 
munities were  early  afflicted  with  a  preponderance  of  Romanism  have  been  relatively  unpro- 
gressive.    Compare  Green  Bay  with  Milwaukee,  St.  Louis  with  Chicago,  New  Orleans  with 
Philadelphia,  Quebec  with  Boston. 

Of  a  still  more  distant  past  than  that  known  to  whites,  Mr.  Latrobe  gives  hint  when  h( 
tells  us  that  from  "an  Indian  mound  round  which  the  new  buildings  [of  the  fort]  were  con-; 
structed       *       forty -eight  bodies,  some  enclosed  in  wooden  or  bark  coflins,  were  removed." 
"  Ancient  mounds  and  fortifications  "  at  Prairie  du  Chien  are  described  in  Major  Long's 
journal  perhaps  of  1817. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


AMONG   THE  MINES. 

The  southwestern  part  of  Wisconsin  is  peculiar  geologically  from  the  fact 
that  its  surface  bears  no  evidence  of  the  glacial  action  that  has  marked  so 
unmistakably  all  the  rest  of  the  state.  Including  the  extreme  northwestern 
part  of  Illinois,  and  a  narrow  strip  along  the  Mississippi  in  Iowa  and  Minne- 
sota, this  "island  in  a  sea  of  drift"  has  an  area  of  about  ten  thousand  square 
miles.  In  it  is  the  Galena  lead  region. 

Here,  where  the  denudation  made  by  the  storms  and  floods  of  unnumbered 
irs  had  left  masses  of  ore  lying  almost  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground,  there 
needed  for  the  "  discovery  "  thereof  nothing  more  than  a  pair  of  eyes  even 
though  they  were  as  keen  as  those  of  the  ordinary  Indian  are  supposed  to  be. 
And  heat  no  greater  than  that  of  a  camp-fire  would  turn  this  substance  into  the 
material  of  bullets.  Indeed  the  soft  ore  itself  could  be  cut  or  beaten  into  the 
desired  form.  If  this  was  done, —  as  is  probable  enough, —  by  Indians,  it  would 
not  take  them  long  to  conclude  that,  in  addition  to  furs,  they  had  something 
that  the  Frenchman  would  value. 

Mines  were  always  an  object  of  the  explorer's  search.  It  must  have  been 
with  peculiar  interest  that  Perrot,  while  journeying  on  the  Wisconsin  river,  per- 
haps in  1692,  received  from  some  Miami  Indians1  a  specimen  of  lead  ore. 
Smirch  for  the  place  whence  it  was  brought  led  him,  perhaps,  to  the  site  of  the 
mines  that,  almost  a  century  afterward  (1788)  were  wrought  by  Julien  Du- 
buque.  On  the  opposite  side  of  the  Mississippi,  probably  not  far  above  the 
mouth  of  the  Galena  river,  Perrot,  it  is  said,  built  a  trading-post.  Yet  of  all 
this,  his  own  statements  say  nothing. 

In  our  story  of  La  Pointe,  there  appears  the  name  of  Pierre  Le  Seuer. 
His  building  of  a  "fort"  on  Madelaine  island  was  done  not  only  to  secure  the 
tia<l<«  of  the  region  round  about,  but  also,  with  another,  to  command  the  Brule- 
St.  Ooix  route  between  the  Great  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi.  This  second  post 
L* •  Seuer  built, —  in  1695?  —  on  an  island  near  Lake  Pepin.  Soon  we  find 
him  in  France  claiming  that  he  had  discovered.  k>at  the  source  of  the  Mississippi, 
mines  of  lead,  copper,  blue  and  green  earth,"  and  seeking  a  license  to  work 

1  With  the  Mascoutins  (see  page  2)  there  seem  to  heve  been  in  1(5(59  some  Mianris.  A  part 
of  thr  tribe  La  Salle  found  in  1«8()  on  the  St.  Joseph's  river  (Michigan  or  Indiana).  There 
ami  mi  tlx  Wahash  and  the  Mauiuee  all  the  Miamis  seem  by  1721,  to  have  found  a  home. 


188  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

them.     This  he  obtained,  and  in  1699  started  for  Louisiana.      In  the  following 
summer,  he  made  his  way  up  the  Mississippi,  and  on  the  25th  of  August,  1700, 
came  to  what  he  called  "the  river  of  the  mines,"  known  to  us  as  the  Fever  or 
the  Galena.     This  river  he  was  the  first  white  man  to  explore,  and  on  its  banks    I 
he  found  lead  mines  wrought  in  a  crude  way  by  Indians.     There,  and  on  or  near 
the  site  of  Dubuque,   and  also  in  what   came  to  be  known   as  "Snake  Hollow" 
(Potosi),  he  set  to  work  the    thirty   miners   whom   he  brought   with  him   from    I 
France.     Their  work  in  "Snake  Hollow," — so-called   when  the  Americans  be-    .] 
gan  coming  thither, —  brought  Le  Seuer  and  his  men  within  the  limits  of  what    I 
is  now  Wisconsin,  and  they  were  probably  the  first  whites  to  work   therein  for   i 
lead, —  the  first,  perhaps,  to  know  of  its  existence  there.      But  this  opening  of    • 
mines  only  a  few  miles  from  those  already  known  can  hardly  be  called  a  dis-   | 
covery. 

The  warlike  Outagamies  seem  to  have  prevented  the  French  miners  from  I 
accomplishing  much  in  this  region.  Whatever  the  Miamis  also  may  have  done  j 
there. —  which  was  not  much, —  soon  came  to  an  end,  and  the  Outagamies  won,  | 
in  the  lead  region,  a  mastery  strengthened  rather  than  weakened  by  the  change  | 
of  tribal  home  that  their  long  war  with  the  French  forced  upon  them.  In 
time,  however,  the  southwestern  part  of  what  is  now  Wisconsin  seems  to  have  j 
passed,  though,  apparently,  not  by  conquest,  into  the  possession  of  the  Winne-  ; 
bagoes.  In  1788  at  a  council  held  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  the  Outagamies  made  I 
to  Julien  Dubuque  a  grant  of  land  fronting  the  Mississippi  on  its  western  bank  $j 
for  twenty-one  miles.  But  they  came  to  hate  the  Americans,  and  when  Colo- 1 
nel  James  Johnson  and  his  men  first  came  to  Fevre  river, —  about  the  5th  of 
July,  1822, —  the  Outagamie  and  the  Sauk  Indians  would  have  forcibly  resisted  .? 
their  landing  had  not  the  utter  folly  of  such  action  been  made  manifest  by  the  M 
presence  of  United  States  troops. 

In  1811  Nicholas  Boilvin  recommended  that  the  United  States  govern- 
ment encourage  the  Indians  to  become  lead-producers  instead  of  fur-gatherers,  f 
"  This  would  put  an  end  to  the  subsisting  intercourse  between  the  Canadian 
traders  and  the  Indians."  He  adds  that  "during  the  last  season  they," — he  is 
speaking  of  the  Sacsf  Foxes  and  lowas, —  "manufactured  four  hundred  thou- 
sand pounds  of  that  article"  (lead).  It  would  not  be  at  all  like  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  race  to  leave  in  possession  of  barbarians  a  region  so  rich  in  mineral 
treasures.  Indeed  by  "treaty"  made  at  St.  Louis,  1804,  November  3rd  a  vast 
tract  including  the  lead  region  had  already  been  sold  to  the  United  States1  gov-i 
ernment.  That  the  chiefs  who  made  the  sale  had  the  right  to  do  so  was  after- 
ward denied  by  a  large  part  of  the  tribe, — the  Sacs  and  Foxes, —  in  whose 
name  the  deed  was  done.  By  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  the  united  tribe  was 
received  into  the  friendship  of  the  United  States,  and  placed  nnder  the  protec- 
tion of  our  government.  But  a  portion,  if  not  a  majority,  of  the  tribe  seem 
to  have  trusted  for  protection  chiefly  to  themselves. 

It  was  natural,  under  the  circumstances,  that  those  dissatisfied  with  the* 

1  Governor  William  Henry  Harrison  afterward  president,  represented  the  United  Stat 


AMONG   THE  MINES.  .    189 

•  treaty  of  1804  should  seek  alliance  with  the  British,  to  whom  they  had  given 
1  support  in  the  war  of  1812.     The  leader  of  this  "British  band"  (as  they  were 


|  called)  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes, — Sauks  and  Outagamies, —  was  a  chief  of  the 
^  former  people,    Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiah l  (Black  Sparrow-Hawk),  commonly 

I  known  as  Black  Hawk.  How  he  felt  toward  the  Americans  is  clearly  shown 
in  a  speech  delivered  by  him,  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  1815,  April  8th,  before  it 
was  known  there  that  peace  had  been  made  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States.  "I  have  been  sent  by  our  chiefs,"  he  said,  "to  ask  for  a  large 
gun  [cannon],  to  place  in  our  village.  The  Big  Knives  are  so  treacherous,  we 
are  afraid  that  they  may  come  up  to  deceive  us.  By  having  one  of  your  large 
guns  in  our  village,  we  will  live  in  safety ;  our  women  will  then  be  able  to 
plant  corn  and  hoe  the  ground  unmolested,  and  our  young  men  will  then  be 
able  to  hunt  for  their  families  without  dread  of  the  Big  Knives."2  As  late  as 
1821,  July  12th,  he  met  in  council  on  Drummond  Island,  Lake  Huron,  Lieu- 
tenant Colonel  McKay,  the  captor  of  Fort  Shelby.  "The  Americans,  my 
father,  surround  us,"  said  Black  Hawk,  "but  we  are  ever  ready  to  meet  them." 
His  home  was  at  the  confluence  of  the  Rock  river  with  the  Mississippi. 

Even  then  the  whites  were  beginning  to  occupy  the  lead  region.  They 
nd  there  Winnebagoes  and  apparently  some  of  the  Sacs  and  Foxes,  though 
most  of  the  latter  had  been  removed.  The  days  when  the  Indian  held  the  land 
and  the  fur-trader  carried  on  the  commerce  were  almost  at  an  end. 

Men  from  Kentucky  of  whom  James  Johnson  seems  to  have  been  leader 
came  in  1822.  They  brought  negro  slaves  with  them.  It  is  not  known,  how- 
ever, that  any  of  these  were  brought  over  the  line  into  what  is  now  Wisconsin. 
The  men  of  Kentucky  and  Missouri,  who  were  the  first  to  come,  thought  that 
tin-  country  was  too  far  north  for  successful  farming.  None  the  less,  hundreds 
at  first  and  then  thousands  rushed  into  the  region  though  the  whites  had  but 
doubtful  title  and  disputed  possession.  The  Winnebagoes  were  the  first  to 
threaten  disturbance. 3  In  the  spring  of  1827  some  murders,  to  which  reference 
has  been  made,  were  committed  by  them  in  the  neighborhood  of  Prairie  du 
Chien.  Some  men  were  also  killed  in  a  boat  on  the  Mississippi  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Bad  Axe4  (June  26th). 

The  miners  raised  a  company  of  mounted  volunteers  who  chose  Henry 
Dodge,  afterward  governor,  as  their  commander.  It  has  been  already  stated, 
that  a  company  was  raised  at  Green  Bay  also.  In  this  were  Oneida  and  Stock- 
bridge  Indians.  Fortunately  Governor  Cass  was  at  Green  Bay  when  the  dis- 
turbance began.  He  hastened  to  St  Louis  to  confer  with  Brigadier-General 
Henry  Atkinson  who  soon  started  up  the  Mississippi  with  a  force  of  regulars. 
Followed  by  Atkinson's  men  and  Dodge's  company,  the  Winnebagoes  fled  up 

1  Written- by  Captain  Henry  Smith,  Muck-ut-tay-mick-e  kaw-kiah  (Wisconsin  Historical 
Collections,  X.,  151).    Black  Hawk  is  sometimes  called  L'Epervier. 

*  This  report  of  Black  Hawk's  speech  was  made  by  Captain  T.  G.  Anderson,  of  the  British 
;irin\ 

3  The  events  that  followed  are  known  in  our  local  history  as  the  "  Winnebago  war." 
*  A  little  river  that  Hows  into  the  Mississippi  from  the  east  almost  opposite  the  boundary 
line  between  Iowa  and  Minnesota. 


190  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

the  Wisconsin  as  far  as  the  famous  portage  between  that  river  and  the  Fox. 
There,  by  giving  up  three  of  their  number  who  confessed  responsibility  for  the 
murders  that  had  been  committed,  they  made  end  both  of  their  flight  and  their 
struggle.  The  surrender  of  the  prisoners  was  made  to  Major  William  Whist- 
ler of  Fort  Howard  who  had  come  thence  with  all  the  force  of  his  command 
including  the  friendly  Indians. l  Among  these  may  have  been  some  Menom- 
onees. 

The  scene  was  highly  dramatic.  On  the  left  of  the  United  States  troops 
were  their  Indian  allies.  On  the  right  hand  was  the  band  of  musicians  who 
rendered  the  solemn  strains  of  "Pleyel's  Hymn."  The  Winnebagoes  ap- 
proached, bearing  three  flags  one  white,  the  others  the  familiar  stars  and  stripes. 
As  they  came  into  the  presence  of  the  United  States  commanding  officer,  their 
spokesman,  the  chief  Car-i-mau-nee,  said :  "  They  are  here.  Like  braves  they 
have  come  in.  Treat  them  as  braves.  Do  not  put  them  in  irons."  Then  all 
sat  down  and  a  "talk"  followed."  It  was  of  such  kind  as  might  be  expected. 
The  Indians  were  duly  admonished  in  regard  to  their  offenses  and  their  duty. 

The  chief  Red  Bird,  first  of  the  offenders  in  tribal  rank,  then  stood  up.     It 
was  the  great  day  of  his  life  and  the  resources  of  his  .toilet  had  doubtless  been 
exhausted  in  making  as  brave  a  display  as  possible.3      Facing  Major  Whistler,  he 
said :  4 1  am  ready ; '     Then  advancing  a  step  or  two,  he  paused  and  said  :  *  I  do 
not  wish  to  be  put  in  irons.     Let  me  be  free.     I  have  given  away  my  life  '- 
stooping  and  taking  dust  between  his  finger  and  thumb  and  blowing  it  away  — 
*  like  that,'  eye-ing   the  dust  as  it  fell  and   vanished,  then  adding :  "  I  will   not 
take  it  back.     It  is  gone."     Having  thus  spoken,  he  threw   his  hands   behind 
him,  and  marched  up  to  Major  Whistler,  breast  to  breast." 

Red  Bird's  request  was  granted.  He  was  not  put  in  irons.  While  the 
guard-tent  was  made  ready  the  sound  of  Atkinson's  cannon  was  heard.  Soon 
came  also  Dodge's  company. 

Before  the  time  for  his  trial  Red  Bird  died  a  prisoner  at  Fort  Crawford. 
His  accomplices,  We-kau  and  Chic-hon-sic  were  convicted  of  murder,  but  re- 
ceived from  President  John  Quincy  Adams  a  pardon  bearing  date  1828,  No- 
vember 3rd. 

With  the  Winnebagoes  thus  humbled  and  the  Sacs  and  Foxes  under  treaty 

1  He  arrived  at  the  portage  September  1st.    Having  been  commanded  by  Atkinson  to 
await  his  arrival  there.  Major  Whistler  encamped  on  the  night  where  in  the  following  year 
the  erection  of  Fort  Winnebago  was  begun. 

2  His  face  was  painted,  on  one  side  red,  the  other  intermixed  with  green  and  white.    He 
was  clothed  in  a  Yankton  suit  of  dressed  elk-skin,  perfectly  white,  and  as  soft  as  a  kid  glove, 
new  and  beautiful.    On  his  feet  he  wore  moccasins.    On  each  shoulder,  in  place  of  an  epau- 
lette, was  fastened  a  preserved  red  bird.    Around  his  neck  he  wore  a  collar  of  blue  wampum, 
beautifully  mixed  with  white,  whilst  the  claws  of  a  panther  or  wild  cat,  with  their  pointa 
inward,  formed  the  rim  of  the  collar.    Around  his  neck  were  hanging  strands  of  wampum  of 
various  lengths,  the  circles  enlarging  as  they  descended.    There  was  no  attempt  at  ornament- 
ing the  hair,  after  the  Indian  style;  but  it  was  cut  after  the  fashion  of  the  most  civilized. 
Across  his  breast,  in  a  diagonal  position,  and  bound  tightly  to  it,  was  his  war  pipe,  at  least 
three  feet  long,  brightly  ornamented  with  dyed  horse  hair,  and  the  feathers  and  bills  of  birds. 
In  one  of  his  hands  he  held  the  white  flag,  and  in  the  other  the  calumet  or  pipe  of  peace.— 
Strong's  "History  of  the  Territory  of  Wisconsin." 


AMON<;    THK  MINKS.  191 

obligation  to  remove  west  of  the  Mississippi,  the  white  immigrants  felt  safe  in 
their  new  homes. 

At  first  all  settlers  in  the  lead  region  were  practically  tenants  at  will  of  the 
United  States.  No  one  might  settle  there,  or  mine,  or  smelt  without  a  permit 
from  the  government  agent  who  was  usually  an  army  officer.  These  settled  dis- 
pute's without  the  help,  -or  hindrance,  -of  lawyers,  and  officiated  at  the  first  mar- 
riages. It  was  not  until  early  in  the  session  of  1846-47  that  Congress  author- 
ized the  sale  of  ore-bearing  lands.1  But  after  1836  little  attention  was  paid  to 
the  regulations  first  established.  What  these  were  is  shown  in  a  letter  written 
by  Dr.  Horatio  Newhall,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  as  being  some  years  later  at 
Fort  Winnebago.  Under  date  of  1827,  November  20th,  he  wrote  to  his  brother 
Isaac  Newhall,  of  Salem,  Massachusetts.  The  letter  bears  the  superscription: 
*' Galena,  Fevre  River  Lead  Mines,  supposed  to  be  in  Illinois."  He  gives  us  a 
lively  and  interesting  picture  of  the  country  as  it  was  then. 

**  I  received,  by  the  last  mail  brought  here  by  steamboat  "Jesephine,"  a 
newspaper  from  you  on  the  margin  of  which  were  endorsed  the  following 
words:  4  Write  a  full  account.'  I  was  rejoiced  to  see  once  more  a  Massachu- 
setts paper,  and  presume  you  meant  by  the  endorsement  a  full  account  of  Fevre 
River.  This  would  puzzle  me  or  any  other  person  on  the  river.  It  is  a  non- 
descript. It  is  such  a  place  as  no  one  could  conceive  of  without  seeing  it. 
Strangers  hate  it,  and  residents  like  it.  The  appearance  of  the  country  would 
convince  any  one  it  must  be  healthy ;  yet  last  season,  it  was  more  sickly  than 
Havana  or  New  Orleans.  There  is  no  civil  law  here,  nor  has  the  Gospel  been 
yet  introduced  ;  or,  to  make  use  of  a  common  phrase  here,  "  neither  law  nor 
Gospel  can  pass  the  rapids  of  the  Mississippi."  The  country  is  one  immense 
prairie  from  the  Rock  river  on  the  south  to  the  Ouisconsin  on  the  north  and 
from  the  Mississippi  on  the  west  to  Lake  Michigan  on  the  east.  It  is  a  hilly 
country,  and  abounding  with  lead  ore  of  that  species  called  by  mineralogists 
'  galena '  whence  is  derived  the  name  of  our  town.  The  lead  mines  of  the 
Upper  Mississippi,  as  well  as  those  of  Missouri,  are  under  the  control  of  the 
Secretary  of  War.  Lieutenant  [Martin]  Thomas  is  Superintendent.  He  re- 
sides at  St.  Louis;  a  sub-agent  resides  at  this  place.  Any  person  wishing  to  dig 
gets  a  permit  of  the  agent  to  do  so,  by  signing  certain  regulations,  the  .princi- 
pal of  which  is  that  he  will  sell  his  mineral  to  no  one  but  a  regularly  licensed 
sin  -Itcr.  He  has  all  the  mineral  he  can  raise,  and  sells  it  at  $17.50  per  thou- 
sand (pounds),  delivered  at  the  furnaces.  Any  person  who  gets  a  permit  stakes 
on"  two  hundred  yards  square.  This  is  his  lot  so  long  as  he  works  it,  and  no  one 
can  interfere  with  his  discoveries.  Any  person  who  will  give  bond  to  the  Gov- 

1  Of  this  sale  and  proceedings  preliminary  thereto  Mr.  Consul  Willshire  Buttertield  thus 
\\  rit.-s:  "Meetings  of  miners  and  settlers  were  hold  throughout  the  mineral  country,  and  the 
rights  of  miners  \\crc  adjusted  by  arbitrators  appointed  at  such  meetings.  Public  bidders 
wen-  appointed  also,  who  were  empowered  to  bid  off  the  mineral  lands  at  the  sale  June  1, 
1x47.  and  who  afterwards  deeded  the  tracts  to  each  party  who  had  been  designated  by  the 
arbitrators  as  the  rightful  claimant.  No  opposition  was  permitted  to  the  bidders,  whooffered 
only  regular  government  prices,''— $2.60  and  $1.2fi  per  acre  for  farming  ami  mineral  lands 
respectively. 


192  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

ernment  for  $5,000  can  have  half  a  mile  square,  on  condition  that  he  employs    j 
twenty  laborers  and  pays  the  Government  10  per  cent,  of  lead  made  from  min- 
eral raised  on  his  survey,  or  sells  his  mineral  to  a  public  smelter.     The  public 
smelters,  of  whom  I  am  one,  give  bond   for  $20,000  to  pay  the  Government    ^ 
one-tenth  of  all  lead  manufactured.     They  buy   mineral  of  any  one  who  has  a 
permit  to  dig,  manufacture  it  into  lead,  pay  the  Government  one-tenth  monthly,    j 
and  are  the  great  men  of  the  country.     The  mineral,  lead,  and  cash  all  go  into    ) 
their  hands.  The  privilege  of  working   these  mines,  you  know, 

was  first  given  by  the  Government  to  Col.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  five  years   j 
ago  (in  1822).     He  did  but  little  and  sunk  money.     No  lead  was  made  here    ! 
till  last  year.     There  were  then  four  log  buildings  in  Galena.     Now  there  are  I 
115  houses  and  stores  in  the  place.     It  is  the  place  of  deposit  for  lead  and  pro-   I 
visions,  etc.,  for  all  the   mining   country.     There  is  no  spot  in  America,  of  the  1 
same  size,  where  there  is  one-fourth  of  the  capital,  or  where  so  much  business    j 
is  done.     There  was  manufactured  here  in  the  year  ending  September  last,   \ 
5,000,740   pounds   of  lead.1      The    population   consists   mainly  of  Americans,  1 
Irish  and  French  (that  is  in  the  diggings).     There  are  but  comparatively  few  1 
females.     Hence  every  female  unmarried,  who   lands  on  these  shores,  is  imme-  \ 
diately  married.     Little  girls  fourteen  and  fifteen  years  old  are  often  married  1 
here.     Three  young  ladies  who  came,  fellow-passengers  with  me,  in  June,  and  J 
the  only  ones  on  board,  are  all  married  months  since.     Du'Buque's  Mines,  on  | 
opposite  side  of  the  Mississippi,  are  worked  by  the  Fox  Indians.     They,  how-  ? 
ever,  merely  skim  the  surface.     The  windlass  and  bucket  are  not  known  among    -; 
them.     Du'Buque's  Mines  is   a  delightful  spot,   particularly  the  Fox  Village,   1 
on  the    bank  of  the  Mississippi.     Bat    allot'  the   places  in  the  .United  States   Jj 
which  I  have  seen,  Rock  Island,  at  the  lower  rapids  of  the  Mississippi,  called  .-j 
the  rapids  of  the  Des  Moines,  is  by  far  the  most  beautiful.  -      Fort  Armstrong 
is  on  this  island.     At  the  mouth  of  Fevre  River   is   a   trading-house  of  the  1 
American  Fur  Company.     Their  trading-houses  are  scattered  up  and  down  the 
Mississippi,  on  the  river  Des  Moines,  St.  Peter,  etc.     Their  capital  is  so  large,    • 
and  they  give  such  extensive  credit  to  the  Indians  that  no  private  establishment 
can  compete  with  them.     An  Indian  debt  is  outlawed,  by  their  own  custom  in 
one  year.     The  fur  company  credits  each  Indian  hunter  a  certain  amount,  from 
$100  to  $500,  according  to  his  industry  and  skill  in  hunting  and  trapping.     If, 
when  they  return  in  the  spring,  they  have  not  furs  and  peltry  enough  to  pay 
the  debt,  the  trader  loses  it.     But  on  the  goods   sold  to  the  Indians,  there  is  a 
profit  of  200  or  300  per  cent,  made,  and  a  profit  on  the  furs  received  in  pay- 
ment." 

In  a  postscript  written  1827,  December  7th,  he  adds:  "Fevre  River  was 
closed  with  ice  on  the  21st  of  November,  and  of  course  navigation  is  ended, 
and  I  have  not  sent  my  letter.  I  now  have  an  opportunity  to  forward  it  by  pri- 


1  Including,  of  course,  the  region  round  about. 

2  Dr.  Newhall  makes  an  error  here.    Rock  Island  is  at  the  upper  rapids  of  the  Mississippi; 
the  lower  beside  which  is  now  the  city  of  Keokuk,  Iowa,  are  near  the  mouth  of  the  Des 
Moines. 


AMONG    THE  MINES.  193 

vate  conveyance  to  Vandalia.1  We  are  now  shut  out  from  intercourse  with  the 
world  until  the  river  opens  again  in  the  spring.  We  have  no  mail  as  yet,  but 
shall  have  a  mail  once  in  two  weeks,  to  commence  the  first  of  January  next. 
I  have  riot  received  a  letter  from  one  of  my  friends  since  I  have  been  in  Fevre 
River.  I  hope  you  will  write  me  before  1st  of  January,  or  as  soon  as  you  re- 
ceive this  letter." 

Law  and  gospel  soon  came,  law  first,  apparently,  and  with  some  provisos 
that  we  do  not  now  take  pride  in  recalling.  What  these  were  is  suggested  by 
;an  order  passed  1829,  March  10th,  by  the  commissioners  of  Jo  Daviess  county, 
—  of  which  Galena  is  the  county  seat, —  taxing,  with  other  property,  "slaves;" 
also  "indentured  or  registered  servants."  The  latter  expression  is  of  course  a 
mere  subterfuge,  taken  from  certain  statutes  of  Illinois  popularly  known  as  the 
"black  laws."  By  these  it  was  sought  to  evade  the  anti-slavery  clause  of  the 
state  constitution  adopted  in  conformity  to  the  requirement  of  the  Ordinance  of 
1787. 

When  the  gospel  came,  it  was  of  the  genuine  kind  that  proclaims  liberty 
to  the  captives.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  Dr.  Newhall  with  his  New  England 
training  brought  a  measure  of  it  himself.  But  though  he  afterward  became 
a  most  helpful  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church  of  Galena,  the  oldest 
in  the  city,  he  did  not  enter  into  it  at  its  organization. 

The  founder  and  first  pastor  of  this  church  and  the  bishop  of  all  the  re- 
gion of  which  Galena  was  then  the  metropolitan  city, —  or  rather  the  true  arch- 
bishop  thereof  needing  no  pallium  from  R  >ni3  as  the  symbol  of  his  great  office, 
—  was  Rev.  Aratus  Kent.  This  son  of  Connecticut  and  graduate  of  Yale  in  the 
last  class  taught  by  the  senior  President  Dwight,  was  of  the  same  Puritan  fam- 
ily that  gave  to  the  profession  of  law  the  renowned  Chancellor  Kent.3 

In  the  autumn  of  1828,  Galena  was  visited  by  Captain  John  Shackford, 
an  earnest  layman  of  one  of  the  St.  Lauis  churches.  Moved  by  the  spiritual 
destitution  of  the  place,  with  >ut  church  or  minister  or  active  Christian  layman 
of  any  denomination,  he  stirred  up  the  people  so  that  forty-four  of  the  citizens, 
n  >t  one  of  them  a  professor  of  religion,  joined  in  an  application  to  the  Home 
Missionary  society  for  a  minister,  and  pledged  five  hundred  thirty  dollars 
toward  his  support. 

Thus  the  way  was  prepared  for  Mr.  Kent's  coming.  Is  it  superstitious  to 
note  that  his  mind  was  n  >t  at  rest  in  his  (Bradford)  New  Hampshire  field  of 
lal>  >r  though  his  people  wished  him  to  stay?  Nor  did  the  invitation  to  return 
to  a  former  parish  at  L  >ckport.  New  York,  move  him  to  say  yes.  kt  I  must 
needs  call,"  he  says,  "  on  Dr.  Absalom  Peters,  secretary  of  the  American  Home 
Missionary  society,  and  inquire  after  a  field  of  missionary  labor.  He  proposed 
t!u»  lead  mines  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  of  which  I  knew  nothing  before,  but 
where  there  were  several  thousand  souls  with  no  preaching.  'I  go,  sir,'  was 
my  prompt  reply."  Leaving  his  horse  as  a  parting  gift  to  the  American  Tract 

1  Than,  and  until  1836.  tho  capital  of  Illinois. 

•  President  A.  L.  Chapin.  "Beloit  College  Monthly  "  (now  "Round  Table"),  March,  1870. 
To  this  article  I  am  indebted  for  most  of  what  is  here  stated  in  regard  to  Father  Kent. 


194  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

society,  he  went  without  waiting  even  for  his*  written  commission. l 

"I  am  as  one  that  dreams,"  he  wrote  under  date  of  1829,  April  3rd,  "with 
my  paper  on  a  trunk  and  my  pen  trembling  with  the  jarring  of  a  steamboat 
contending  with  the  strong  current  of  the  Mississippi.  I  am  urging  my  way 
up  the  great  valley,  to  the  lead  mines,  not  knowing  the  things  that  shall  befall 
me  there." 

He  landed  at  Galena  1829,  April  18th,  twenty-seven  days  after  leaving 
New  York.  Eight  of  these  were  spent  in  St.  Louis  "  where  he  stopped  for  con- 
sultation with  a  few  ministers,  the  nearest  to  the  mines." 

On  the  day  after  his  arrival  he  preached  in  Galena  the  first  sermon  heard 
there.  "Here  is  opened,"  he  wrote,  '-a  great  and  effectual  door  to  preach  the 
gospel."  It  was  a  vast  field  to  which  he  had  come,  but  "his  faith  and  courage 
were  equal  to  the  responsibility.  On  one  of  his  early  tours  of  exploration," 
says  President  Chapin,  "  he  alighted  from  his  horse  and  on  one  of  the  majestic 
bluffs  in  that  region  proclaimed  aloud,  'I  take  possession  of  this  land  for 
Christ,'  and  events  proved  it  not  an  empty  boast." 

He  preached  in  the  hotel  dining-room, —  though  his  first  service  was  held  in 
the  bar-room, —  and  in  the  court-house.  Not  satisfied  with  any  of  these  places 
he  bought,  with  his  own  means,  the  old  log  court-house,  and  thus  in  the  autumn 
his  congregation  had  a  stated  place  of  worship.  In  the  following  winter,  hav- 
ing a  helper  in  the  work  of  teaching,  he  had  charge  of  a  day-school  which  num- 
bered sixty  pupils. 

Not  until  1831,  October  23rd,  was  Mr.  Kent  able  to  organize  a  church, 
and  then  with  only  six  members.2  Of  these  Galena,  with  a  population  of  one 
thousand,  furnished  but  two,  and  two  lived  forty  miles  away  at  Mineral  Point, 
(then)  Michigan. 

Mr.  Kent  made  his  life  a  part  of  Wisconsin's  history  and  that  of  the 
Northwest,  as  the  term  was  used  at  that  time.  In  November,  1843,  he  wrote: 
*.  ,..  "  As  Paul  did,  so  may  I,  4  after  fourteen  years,' recount  the  events  that 
have  transpired  [occurred]  since  I  came  first  to  the  lead  mines  of  the  upper 
Mississippi.  My  parish  from  Rock  river  to  the  Wisconsin  has  been  surveyed. 
I  have  preached  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  Fort  Winnebago,  Madison,  Potosi,  Lan- 
caster, Cassville,  Mineral  Point,  Belmont,  Platteville,  Pecatonica  (now  R  >ck- 
ton),  Rockford,  Grand  Detour,  Lyndon,  Rock  Island,  Albany  and  Savannah. 
I  have  been  in  perils  of  waters  six  times,  perils  in  the  wilderness  three  nights, 
several  times  lost, —  but  out  of  them  all  the  Lord  has  delivered  me.  There 
was,  when  I  came,  no  church  of  any  denomination,  either  Protestant  or  [Rr>^ 
man]  Catholic  within  two  hundred  miles,  no  Sabbath,  no  minister,  no  God  rec- 
ognized. Now  we  have  churches,  presbyteries,  conventions  and  synods.  Our 
village  has  become  a  city  of  three  or  four  thousand.  Our  church  has  grown  to 
one  hundred  seventy-five,  besides  those  gone  to  four  new  churches.  We  have 


1  Very  possibly  some  formal  action  had  to  be  taken  before  this  could  be  issued.    It 
date,  1829,  March  21st. 

2  Facts  due,  no  doubt,  to  his  high  standard  of  church-membership. 


AMONG    THK  MIXES.  195 

thirteen  Sabbath-schools  in  the  country,  and  have  raised  for  foreign  missions 
$1,530.  God  has  done  great  things  tor  us." 

During  the  period  of  which  Mr.  Kent  wrote,  his  labors  were  interrupted 
by  the  Black  Hawk  war.  The  sad,  and  in  some  respects  disgraceful,  story  of 
th  tt  war  has  been  often  written.  On  the  one  side  it  was  the  last  great  struggle 
of  a  warlike  people  ;  on  the  other  it  was  part  of  the  resistless  and  relentless 
movement  by  which  a  nation  was  extending  its  domain. 

After  the  close  of  the  second  war  with  Britain,  the  treaty  of  1804  with 
the  Sacs  and  Foxes  was  renewed  (1816.  May  13th).  But  though  Black  Hawk 
then  ''touched  the  goose-quill"  he  afterward  asserted  stoutly  that  in  what  he 
signed  there  were  requirements  that  he  did  not  understand  and  to  which  he  did 
not  consent.  So  he  continued  to  deny  that  his  people  were  under  any  obliga- 
tion to  remove  to  the  western  side  of  the  Mississippi.  Moreover  he  remained 
•  under  the  influence  and  practically  in  the  pay  of  the  British. 

Besides  he  was  deluded  in  a  measure  by  an  Indian  ••  prophet"  who,  like 
the  others  of  his  worse  than  worthless  kind,  was  probably  what  among  whites 
is  called  a  "medium."  Stronger  minds  than  Black  -Hawk's  have  been  led  astray 
by  spiritism,  the  form,  it  may  be,  which  witchcraft  takes  in  these  modern  days 

Black  Hawk  was  not  a  hereditary  chief.  But  natural  leaders,  of  whom  he 
was  one,  rule  by  a  right  that  all  men  recognize. 

To  David,  afterward  king  of  Israel,  came  in  the  time  of  his  exile  from 
Saul's  court,  *4  every  one  that  was  in  distress,  and  every  one  that  was  in  debt, 
and  every  one  that  was  discontented  and  he  became  a  captain, 

over  them,  and  there  were  with  him  about  four  hundred  men."  Black  Hawk's 
adherents  were  perhaps  of  the  corresponding  classes  among  his  people,  or,  more 
strictly  speaking,  those  who  were  restive  under  what  was  to  the  Indians  legal 
authority.  Keokuk,  the  tribal  chief,  removed  in  1830  or  thereabout  to  the 
western  side  of  the  Mississippi.  With  him  were  most  of  the  tribe. 

The  treaty  of  1804  permitted  the  Indians  to  remain  in  their  old  posses- 
s'ons  until  settlers  occupied  the  land.  Black  Hawk  who  was  deeply  attached  to 
his  home,  which  was  also  the  place  of  his  nativity,  remained  at  his  village  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Rock.  The  story  of  the  injuries  which  he  and  his  people  re- 
ceived there  from  the  whites,  and  probably  returned  in  full  measure  whenever 
they  had  opportunity,  is  a  sorrowful  one.  More  than  once  when  the  Indians 
returned  from  their  hunting  expeditions  they  found  that  their  lodges  had 
1>  CM  burned.  The  sentiment  prevailed  among  some  of  the  border  settlers 
that  an  Indian  "has  no  rights  which  a  white  man  is  bound  to  respect." 

Having  returned  in  the  spring  of  1831  from  a  winter's  hunt  in  what  is 
HJW  Iowa,  Black  Hawk  and  his  people  found  that  the  site  of  their  village  had 
hem  pre-empted  by  some  white  men  and  that  the  burial  place  of  their  fathers 
had  been  turned  into  a  plowed  field.  Naturally  the  Indians  were  furious. 
I  liey  took  possession  of  what  they  regarded  as  their  own.  Met  with  com- 
mands to  recross  the  Mississippi  they  retorted  by  injuring  or  destroying  prop- 
erty belonging  to  the  white  settlers  and,  it  is  said,  threatened  them  with  death 


liH)  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

if  they  did  not  leave.      But  Black  Hawk  claims  that  they  did  not  intend  to  shed 
blood  unless  in  defense  of  their  homes  or  their  people. 

There  has  been,  it  must  be  confessed,  much  senseless  bluster  in  the  official 
papers   issued  by  many  of  our  state  executives.     At  this  time  Governor  John 
Reynolds  of  Illinois  called  for  volunteers  "to  repel  the  invasion  of  the   British 
band."     Fifteen   hundred  or  more   answered  the   call.     These   with  a  force  of , 
United  States  regulars  under  Brigadier-General  Edmund  P.  Gaines,  came  1831, 
June  26th,  to  Black   Hawk's  village.     But  the  night   before  the  Indians   had 
found   safety  on  the   other  side  of  the  great  river,   and   on  the  30th  of  June, 
Black  Hawk  and  his  party  agreed  not  to  return  to  the  eastern  side  without  p°r-  ] 
mission  from  the  President  or  the  governor  (of  Illinois). 

The  exiles  had  come  to  the  trans-Mississippi  part  of  Michigan,  now  Iowa, 
too  late  to  raise  a  crop.  They  got  little  game  for  the  next  winter.  Malcon- 
tents among  the  Winnebagoes  and  Pottawatomies  encouraged  them  to  take  up 
arms.  No  doubt  the  u prophet"  used  his  baleful  influence.  Accordingly  in  the 
spring  of  1832,  Black  Hawk  made  a  mistake  that  will  connect  his  name  for- 
ever with  the  history  of  all  this  region.  He  crossed  the  Mississippi,  April  (5th, 
with  a  band  of  five  hundred  warriors,  mostly  Sauks  like  himself,  their  women 
and  children.  War  followed  as  a  matter  of  course. 

The  campaign  on  the  part  of  the  Indians  may  be  described  as  a  flight  up 
the  Rock  to  Lake  Koshkonong,  thence  by  way  of  the  Four  Lakes  (of  Madison) 
to  the  Wisconsin  where  it  divides  Dane  c  mnty  from  Sauk,  thence  westward 
to  where  the  Bad  Axe  flows  into  the  Mississippi. 

More  in  detail:  The  Indians  first  went  to  Prophetstown  on  the  Rock.      At- 
kinson bade  them  recross  the  Mississippi.     "If  you  wish  to  fight  us,  come  on,"] 
was  Black  Hawk's  reply.      Some  of  the  Illinois  volunteers  under   Major  Still- j 
man  thought  that  they  did  wish  to  fight  them,  and  went  on  with  a  great  show 
of  bravery.     They  thought  that  they  were  on  a  "big  frolic"  and  conducted 
themselves  accordingly. 

While  this  choice  band  was  in  camp  on  the  creek  in  Ogle  county,  Illinois, 
that  now  bears  the  name  of  their  commander,  on  the  afternoon  of  the  14th  o 
May,  they  saw  at  a  distance  three  Indians.  These  were  Black  Hawk's  mes- 
sengers to  say  that  he  wished  to  come  to  terms.  But  the  half-drunken  white 
wretches  who  had  been  filling  themselves  with  whisky  gave  chase  to  the  Indians 
and  killed  one  of ,  them,  if  not  two.  These  were  the  first  victims  of  the 
and  their  blood  the  first  shed  therein. 

Black  Hawk,  seeing  how  his  messengers  of  peace  were  treated,  placed 
men  in  ambush  and  awaited  the  coming  of  the  pursuers.  A  volley  from  the 
Indians  put  the  rangers  to  flight.  Some  of  them  did  not  pull  rein  until  they 
got  to  their  own  homes,  but  most  were  content  to  stop  at  Dixon,  more  especially 
as 'a  Captain  Adams,  who  lost  his  life  thereby,  had  put  himself  with  his  com- 
mand between  them  and  their  Indian  pursuers.  This  "  spy  batallion  "  of 
hundred  seventy-five,  disgracefully  routed  by  a  party  said  to  number  not  mor< 
than  a  hundred  of  whom  thirty-five  joined  in  the  pursuit,  reported  that  Blacl' 


Hans 
war 

„„. 


AMOXIJ  THE  MIXES.  197 

1 1  auk  had  under  his  command  two  thousand  warriors."  The  Illinois  militia 
who  had  so  promptly  enlisted,  were  now  quite  as  prompt  in  disbanding. l  How- 
ever, out  of  their  number  a  regiment  was  formed  for  further  service,  and  their 
former  commander,  Brigadier-General2  Samuel  Whiteside  enlisted  as  a  private 
and  showed  himself  a  brave  fighter.  Better  men3  than  the  skulkers  and  more 
of  them  took  their  places.  Illinois  put  two  thousand  volunteers  in  the  field. 
As  they  had  done  in  the  Winnebago  "war,"  so  now  the  miners  in  Wisconsin 
and  about  Galena  raised  a  force  of  mounted  men, —  two  hundred  without  the 
(ialcna  company, —  and  again  Henry  Dodge  was  made  commander.  Black 
Hawk  afterward  said :  "  If  it  had  not  been  for  that  chief  Dodge,  '  the  hairy 
face'  I  could  easily  have  whipped  the  whites;  I  could  have  gone  anywhere  my 
people  pleased  in  the  mining  country."4 

Before  new  levies  were  ready  to  take  the  field  the  settlers  in  the  lead  re- 
gion, the  part  of  (the  future)  Wisconsin  which  suffered  most  in  the  Black  Hawk 
war,  were  exposed  to  great  danger.  Much  killing  was  done  on  both  sides, — 
murder,  if  of  whites  by  Indians ;  war,  if  of  Indians  by  whites.  One  of  the  worst 
deeds  was  by  Pottawatomies  and  Sauks  under  command  of  a  white  renegade 
Mike  Girty.  "In  these  border  strifes,"  says  Mr.  Thwaites,  "fully  two  hundred 
whites  and  nearly  as  many  Indians  lost  their  lives,  and  there  were  numerous 
instances  of  romantic  heroism  on  the  part  of  settlers,  men  and  women  alike." 

Soon  Atkinson  had  at  his  command  sufficient  force  to  take  the  field.  Af- 
ter Stillman's  defeat,  Black  Hawk  put  his  non-combatants  in  safety  at  Lake 
Koshkonong  where  they  stayed  while  the  warriors  engaged  in  forays  about  the 
Country. 

Driven  from  Lake  Koshkonong  the  Indians  made  a  stand  in  what  is  now 
tin-  town  of  Roxbury,  Dane  county.  There,  almast  opposite  the  site  of  Prairie 
du  Sac,  was  fought  the  "battle  of  Wisconsin  Hights."  In  this,  though  defeated, 
Black  Hawk  showed  the  qualities  of  a  good  commander  and  protected  the  re- 
treat of  his  people. 

But  the  end  was  at  hand.      Without  the  possibility  of  reinforcements,  with- 

1  The  first  intelligence  received  of  the  runaway  troops  by  Gan.  Atkinson,  was  that  they 
i  h:nl  proceeded  across  the  country  to  the  Illinois  river,  and  disbanded  themselves  or  had  been 
]  discharged.  This  was  said  to  have  been  brought  about  from  some  causa  connected  with  the 
l  local  politics  of  the  state.  It  may  ba  well  to  add  the  fact  that  Stillman's  corps  had  never 
j  boen  for  an  instant  under  GJII.  Atkinson's  orders,  they  having  joined  Gov.  Rjynolds  at  Dix- 
j  on's,  by  a  march  through  the  country.— Captain  Henry  Smith. 
-  In  state  service. 

3  Among  these  was  Abraham  Lincoln  who,  after  the  first  set  of  volunteers  had  been  dis- 
1  banded,  was  mustered  into  the  service  1832,  May  29th,  by  Robert  Anderson  whom  in  1861, 
I  he  made  brigadier-general  for  so  faithfully  defending  Fort  Sumpter. 

4  There  are  those  to  whom  the  mere  mention  of  Calvinism  is  like  shaking  a  red  rag  be- 
fore some  turkey  gobblers:  it  sets  th^m  to  making  a  noise.  But  as  study  of  human  thought, 
if  nothing  more,  it  is  interesting  to  note  the  attraction  this  form  of  philosophical  and  theo- 
logical dogma  has  had  for  many  of  the  world's  strong  and  determined  men.  Thus  Dodge, 
once  probably  an  irreligious  man,  found  in  his  last  days  a  favorite  study  in  Scott's  Bible,  the 
book  th  it  furnish  >d  tu  •  M  -i  >.\  -n  party  of  Sto -kbri  U  >s  with  nwlings  which  took  the  place 
of  sermons.  And  Scott,  as  every  one  knows,  though  like  Dodge  an  Episcopalian,  is  highly 
Calvinistie.  Andrew  Jackson  joined  the  1'ivsbyterian  church  before  his  death.  Such  CaTvin- 
ists  as  William  the  Silent  and  Cromwell  remind  us  of  Buckle's  rein  irk  that  every  great 
struggle  for  freedom  in  Europe  has  boen  preceded  by  some  form  of  Calvinism  in  the  religious 
belief  of  many  or  most  of  thepeo.de. 


198  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

out  supplies  or  shelter,  the  wretched  fugitives  went  on  marking  with  the  bodies 
of  their  dead  a  pathway  for  their  pursuers.  Their  way  could  also  be  traced,  in 
places,  by  trees  that  had  been  stripped  of  bark  for  food. 

"At  length,"  says  Black  Hawk,  '-we  arrived  at  the  Mississippi  having  lost 
some  of  our  old  women  and  little  children  who  perished  on  the  way  with  hun- 
ger. We  had  been  here  but  a  little  while  before  we  saw  a  steamboat  (the  War- 
rior) coming.  I  told  my  braves  not  to  shoot,  as  I  intended  going  on  board  so 
that  we  might  save  our  women  and  children.  I  knew  the  captain  (Throckmor- 
ton),  and  was  determined  to  give  myself  up  to  him.  I  then  sent  for  my  white 
flag.  While  the  messenger  was  gone,  I  took  a  small  piece  of  white  cotton  and 
put  it  on  a  pole,  and  called  to  the  captain  of  the  boat  and  told  him  to  send  his 
little  canoe  on  shore  and  let  me  come  on  board.  The  people  on  the  boat  asked 
whether  we  were  Sacs  or  Winnebagoes.  I  told  a  Winnebago  to  tell  them  we 
were  Sacs  and  wanted  to  give  ourselves  up.  A  Winnebago  on  the  boat  called 
to  us  "to  run  and  hide,  that  the  whites  were  going  to  shoot."  About  this  time, 
one  of  my  braves  had  jumped  into  the  river,  bearing  a  white  flag  to  the  boat, 
when  another  sprang  in  after  him  and  brought  him  to  shore.  The  firing  then 
commenced  from  the  boat,  which  was  returned  by  my  braves,  and  continued 
for  some  time. 

"The  Winnebagoes  on  the  steamboat  must  have  misunderstood  what  was 
told  or  did  not  tell  it  to  the  captain  correctly,  because  I  am  confident  he  would 
not  have  fired  upon  us  if  he  had  known  my  wishes.  I  have  always  considered 
him  a  good  man  and  too  great  a  brave  to  fire  upon  an  enemy  when  suing  for 

quarter. 

#**####'.#* 

"Early  in  the  morning,  a  party  of  whites,  being  in  advance  of  the  army, 
came  upon  our  people  who  were  attempting  to  cross  the  Mississippi.  They 
tried  to  give  themselves  up.  The  whites,  paid  no  attention  to  their  entreaties, 
but  commenced  slaughtering  them.  In  a  little  while  the  whole  army  arrived. 
Our  braves,  but  few  in  number,  finding  that  the  enemy  paid  no  respect  to  age 
or  sex,  and  seeing  that  they  were  murdering  helpless  women  and  little  children, 
determined  to  fight  until  they  were  killed.  As  many  women  as  could,  com- 
menced swimming  the  Mississippi  with  children  on  their  backs.  A  number  of 
them  were  drowned  and  some  shot  before  reaching  the  opposite  shore. 

"One  of  my  braves,  who  gave  me  this  information,  piled  some  saddles  upj| 
before  him,  when  the  fight  commenced,  to  shield  him  from  the  enemy's  fire,  and' 
killed  three  white  men ;  but,  seeing  that  the  whites  were  coming  too  close  for 
him,  he  crawled  to  the  bank  of  the  river  and  hid  himself  until  the  enemy  re- 
tired.    He  then  came  to  me  and  told  me  what  had  been  done.     After  hearing 
this  sorrowful  news,  I  started   with  my  little  party  for  the    Winnebago  village 

at  Prairie  La  Crosse." 

It  is   only  just   to  add  that  Captain   Hjnry  Smith  of  the  regular  army, 
apparently  a  brave  and  truthful  man,  says  that  "  quarter  was  in  no  instance  asl 
or  granted.     The  official  reports  give  the  number  killed  of  the  enemy  at 


AMONd    THI-:  MIXES.  199 

hundred  and  fifty,  though  doubtless  many  more  were  killed  at  the  river  and 
elsewhere,  whose  bodies  were  never  seen  afterwards.  Our  loss  was  but  twenty- 
Be  ven.  The  Black  Hawk,  the  Prophet,  and  some  other  chiefs  escaped  from  the 
;  action;  but  were  subsequently  brought  in  by  the  Winnebagoes,  and  the  friendly 
Sauks,  and  delivered  to  the  commanding  General.  After  the  action,  a  body  of 
one  hundred  Sioux  warriors  presented  themselves,  and  asked  leave  to  pursue  on 
'the  trail  of  such  of  the  enemy  as  had  escaped.  This  was  granted,  and  the 
Sioux,  after  two  days'  pursuit,  overtook  and  killed  fifty  or  sixty,  mostly,  it  is 
feared,  women  and  children." 

We  who  dwell  in  Wisconsin  do  not  boast  of  this  "battle." 

Though  the  affair  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bad  Axe  reflected  no  credit  upon 
the  whites  engaged  in  it,  their  march  thither  did.  From  the  Wisconsin  west- 
ward they  were  in  a  region  before  untraversed  by  white  men.  It  is  probable 
that  the  Indians  led  them  over  the  worst  of  a  very  rough  country, —  a  land  of 
forests,  streams,  almost  perpendicular  bluffs,  and  hills  that  rise  nearly  to  the 
hight  of  mountains. 

The  Black  Hawk  war  was  remarkable  for  the  number  of  men  engaged  in 
it  who  afterward  acquired  national  renown.  Two  have  been  named,  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  Robert  Anderson.  Colonel  Taylor  commanded  a  regiment  in  which 
Jefferson  Davis  served  as  lieutenant. l  Major-General  Winfield  Scott  also  was 
ordered  to  the  scene  of  disturbance  and  got  as  far  north  as  Prairie  du  Chien, 
but  arrived  too  late  to  take  any  part  in  the  lighting.2 

The  war  being  over,  the  settlers  felt  safe  in  venturing  out  of  the  dozen  or 
more  log  u  forts "  which  they  had  built,  one  at  every  place  of  any  importance  in 
the  mining  district.  The  activities  of  business  were  resumed  and  again  south- 
western Wisconsin  and  a  little  later  the  entire  region  west  of  Lake  Michigan 
invited  immigration. a 

The  attentive  reader  will  have  noticed  that  the  movement  which  first  occu- 
pied the  lead  region  had  its  origin  in  Kentucky  and  Missouri  and  preceded  the 
N»'\\  England  and  New  York  stream  of  immigration  which  found  resting-places 

1  A  characteristic  story  is  told  of  Taylor.  Some  of  the  Illinois  militia  infected  with  the 
state  rights  heresy  of  the  time,  which  was  then  leading  the  authorities  of  South  Carolina  to 
tin-  verge  of  treason  and  twenty  years  before  brought  disgrace  upon  Massachusetts  and  Con- 
necticut, refused  to  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  their  state  in  pursuit  of  Black  Hawk.  This  oc- 
curred on  the  banks  ef  the  Rock  beyond  which  was  the  route  which  must  be  taken.  Taylor 
stat  ioned  his  regulars  so  that  between  them  and  the  river  there  were  the  volunteers.  These 
he  then  addressed,  telling  them  that  orders  had  been  received  from  the  President  to  pursue 
the  Indians.  Some  of  their  number  might  yet  fill  the  office  of  President.  If  so,  they  would 
expert  to  be  obeyed.  At  any  rate  he  intended  to  obey  orders,  and  if  there  were  any  among 
tin-in  who  did  not  wish  to  cross  the  river,— there  stood  the  United  States  troops  behind  them. 
"  Forward,  march  !  "  They  marched! 

IVrhaps  Abraham  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  volunteers  addressed.  If  so  we  may  hope 
that  ho  was  too  careful  in  judgment  to  take  part  in  a  mutiny.  It  is  due  to  the  re-organized  Illi- 
nois militia  to  say  that,  aside  from  this  nonsense,  they  made  for  themselves  a  good  reputation. 

-  With  Scott  and  li is  troops  came  to  the  upper  Mississippi  valley,  for  the  first  time,  the 
Asiatic  cholera,  an  enemy  that  took  the  lives  of  more  soldiers  than  were  slain  in  the  war 
with  the  hostile  Sauks. 

:1  The  land  office  at  Mineral  Point  was  established  1H.SC5,  August  1st.  The  venerable 
George  Wallace  .Tones,  now  of  Dubuque,  Iowa,  says  that  his  entry  of  the  land  that  includes 
Sinsina\va  Mound  was  the  first  made. 


200  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

by  Lake  Michigan,  in  the  valley  of  the  Rock,  and  on  the  prairies  between  them. 
The  route  of  the  one  was  by  the  Mississippi;  of  the  other,  by  the  Great  Lakes. 
Thus  for  a  time  there  were,  in  what  is  now  Wisconsin,  two  distinct  areas  of  set- 
tlement. Of  these  the  one  in  the  mining  district  was  at  first  much  the  more 
important.  It  is  no  wonder  some  thought  that,  with  the  part  of  the  lead  region 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi,  it  would  form  the  political  and  commercial 
center  of  a  state  to  be  formed  of  what  is  now  Wisconsin  and  Iowa.  Nor  was 
this  dream  dispelled  when  the  act  was  passed  by  which  Wisconsin  became  an 
organized  Territory  of  the  United  States.  Said  act  was  approved  1836,  April 
20th,  and  went  into  effect  on  the  4th  of  the  next  July. 

The  Black  Hawk  war  had  drawn  public  attention  to  the  new  Territory. 
It  had  been  found  out  that  farming  could  be  successfully  carried  on  as  far  north 
as  the  lead  region.  Land  was  in  great  demand  there  and  elsewhere  in  the  fu- 
ture state.  But  of  878,014  acres  of  government  land  sold  in  Wisconsin  by  the 
end  of  1836,  Mr.  Moses  M.  Strong  estimates  that  600,000  had  gone  to  "specu- 
lators." Much  harm  was  done  the  country,  especially  the  mining  part  of  it,  by 
this  non-resident  ownership  though,  as  has  been  said,  an  effort  was  made  to  re- 
tain the  ore-bearing  lands  in  the  possession  of  the  government. l  However,  in 
spite  of  speculation,  the  farmer  began  his  work  in  developing  the  resources  of 
the  future  state.  The  miner  of  the  winter  was  often  the  farmer  of  the  sum- 
mer, and  thus  and  in  other  ways  the  two  classes  were  easily  blended. 

By  the  census  taken  in  August,  1836,  the  number  of  inhabitants  in  what 
is  now  Wisconsin  was  found  to  be  11,687.  Of  these  nearly  one-half,  5,234, 
were  in  Iowa  county  in  which  were  then  included  Grant  and  La  Fayette.  What 
is  now  the  state  of  Iowa, —  then  comprised  within  the  counties  of  Des  Moincs 
and  Dubuque, —  had  a  population  of  10,531.  This  weight  of  population  toward 
the  southwest  naturally  gave  the  lead  region  a  strong  claim  for  the  location  of 
the  capital  therein.  It  was  at  Mineral  Point3  that  Governor  Dodge  took  the 
oath  of  office,  and  the  first  legislature  of  Wisconsin  met  at  (old)  Belmont,  near  i 
Platteville,  in  1836,  October  25th.  3 

Wisconsm  thus  named  and  organized  extended  from  Lake  Michigan  to  the 
Missouri  river.  Its  most  southern  point  was  at  the  confluence  of  the  Des 
Moines  and  the  Mississippi;  its  most  northern,  the  point, —  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made,4 — called  in  the  British-American  treaty  of  1783  "the 
most  northwestern  corner"  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods.  In  other  words,  it  in- 
cluded all  of  the  present  states  of  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and,  of  the  I)a- 
kotas,  those  portions  that  lie  east  of  the  Missouri  and  the  White  Earth. 

1  Not  until  August,  1842,  was  there  passed  "an  act  for  the  relief  of  certain  settlers  in 
Wisconsin,"— those  who  had  been  refused  pre-emption  privileges  because  they  had  settled  on 
what  were  regarded  as  mineral  lands. 

2  Often  called  in  early  days  by  the  extraordinary  name  of  Shake-Rag  or  Shake-Rag  under- 
the-Hill  from  the  circumstance  that  a  woman  who  kept  a  boarding  house  there  made  known 
the  time  when  meals  were  ready  by  hanging  a  cloth  from  one  of  her  windows. 

8  The  legislative  session  held  at  Green  Bay,  beginning  183(>,  January  1st,  was  held  in 
name  and  under  the  authority  of  the  Territory  of  Michigan. 
4  See  page  39. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


WISCONSIN'S  OPEN  DOOR. 

The  beginning  of  a  permanent  settlement  was  made  on  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Green  Bay,  in  1745.  The  ungarrisoned  French  post  La  Baye, 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  river,  was  occupied  by  the  British,  as  already  stated, 
1761.  October  12th.  The  garrison  of  Fort  Edward  Augustus,  as  it  was  called  by 
its  new  possessors,  Lieutenant  James  Gorrel,  commander,  escaped  the  fate  of 
most  British  troops  in  the  West  at  the  time  of  Pontiac's  conspiracy.  By  the 
friendly  intervention  of  the  Dakotas  (Sioux),  Gorrel  and  his  men  departed  un- 
molested, 1763,  June  21st.  Pontiac's  war  was  soon  over,  but  no  garrison  was 
stationed  at  Fort  Edward  Augustus,  and  the  name  dropped  out  of  use. 

In  September,  1766,  Jonathan  Carver  visited  Green  Bay  on  his  famous 
journey,  and  thus  wrote:  "The  place  is  only  a  small  village  containing  about 
twenty -five  houses  and  sixty  or  seventy  warriors.  I  found  there  nothing  worthy 
of  further  remark. '  When  Carver  came  it  was  as  an  Englishman,  a  colonist  t3 
be  sure,  but  still  an  Englishman  loyal  to  George  III.  Soon  the  long  union  be- 
tween the  colonists  and  the  mother  country  was  broken,  but  Green  Bay  remained 
practically  a  part  of  Canada  until  after  the  treaty  of  Ghent. 

In  1815,  May  18th,  Louis  Grignon  wrote:  uWe  know  nothing  as  yet  of 
the  news  except  that  by  the  Gazette  we  see  that  we  are  ceded  to  the  Americans.'' 
On  the  29th  of  the  same  month  he  announces  his  departure  from  La  Baye,  ap- 
parently to  join  as  leader  a  party  bound  for  Mackinaw,  adding,  "  I  go  to-mor- 
low."  It  was  probably  about  the  middle  of  June,  1815,  the  British  finally 
withdrew  from  Green  Bay. 

But  the  American  flag  did  not  float  over  the  old  place  until  1816,  July  16th, 
three  schooners  with  a  portion  of  the  Third  United  States  infantry,  under 
r.inimiind  of  Colonel  John  Miller,  sailed  into  Fox  river.  In  two  months'  time, 
on  a  site  near  the  present  station  of  the  Chicago  and  Northwestern  railway, 
Fort  Howard  was  built. '  Here,  as  already  noted,  were  held  the  first  Protest- 
ant services  in  unnamed  Wisconsin.3  These,  as  stated,  were  by  Dr.  Morse, 

1  On  hearing  of  the  proposed  building:  of  this  fort,  McDouall  continues  his  lamentation 
that  tin-  British  an-  to  lose  all  control  of  the  Indians  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Missis- 
sippi an. I  all  iiiHuciH •. >«>\vr  them.  He  speaks  of  Green  Bay  as  being  in  a  country  that  the 
Americans  did  not  possess  before  the  war. 

The  notorious  Samuel  Peters,  "  LL.  I).  &  Clerk  in  Holy  Orders,"  as  he  subscribes  himself, 


'2M  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN, 

in  July   (probably  the   9th),   1820. 

The  name  Green  Bay  is  not  always  used  with  precision.  Thus  it  some- 
times denotes  the  mission  of  St.  Francis  Xavier,  sometimes  Fort  St.  Francis, 
sometimes  the  fort  called  first  La  Baye  and  then  Edward  Augustus.  Even  Fort 
Howard  is  sometimes  hidden  under  the  term  Green  Bay.  The  first  settlement 
of  importance,  after  American  possession,  had  its  beginning  when  Colonel  Smith 
in  1820  removed  his  troops  from  Fort  Howard  to  higher  land  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  river  two  miles  and  a  half  up  stream  and  half  a  mile  from  it.  Be- 
tween camp  and  river  grew  up  a  village  described  doubtless  by  its  suggestive 
name  "  Shantytown."  What  was  called  the  "  Grignon  tract  "  is  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Green  Bay,  the  northern  part  of  which  was  laid  out  in  1830  as 
Navarino  and  the  southern  in  1835  as  Astor. 

Vaguely  described  as  opposite  Shantytown  was  the  k'old  agency  house," 
erected  by  Colonel  John  Bowyer  whom  Dr.  Morse  found  exercising  the  office 
of  Indian  agent.  Of  this  building,  made  vacant  by  Bowyer's  death,  Eleazar 
Williams  on  his  second  arrival,  1822,  September  1st,  by  permission  of  Colonel 
Ninian  Pinkney,  took  possession.  Here  he  may  have  held  his  first  public  ser- 
vices after  coming  west.  That  he  delayed  this  duty  so  long  does  not  surprise 
us  knowing  as  we  do  the  character  of  the  man.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that 
these  services  in  the  summer  of  1823  were  at  Shantytown  or  the  Agency.  But 
in  the  following  winter  at  Colonel  John  McNeil's  invitation,  they  were  held  in 
Fort  Howard,  to  which  the  troops  had  been  brought  back  in  the  autumn  of  1822. 

Williams's  successor,  Rev.  Norman  Nash,  was  the  first  minister  of  the 
Episcopal  denomination  or  of  any  Protestant  church  to  come  to  what  is  now 
Wisconsin  apparently  with  the  purpose  of  making  his  home  here.  But  as  he 
arrived  late  in  August,  1824,  and  left  early  the  next  spring,  it  can  hardly  be : 
said  that  he  became  a  resident  of  Wisconsin.  Mission  work  among  the  In-] 
dians, —  though  he  did  very  little  of  it, —  seems  to  have  been  his  main  object  in' 
coming.  He,  too,  found  a  home  at  the  Agency,  where,  after  waiting  till  winter, 
he  opened  a  school  and  "  preached  to  the  neighbors  on  Sundays,"  to  use  the  words 
of  A.  G.  Ellis  who  was  nominally  his  assistant,  virtually,  it  would  seem,  his 
principal.  While  sustaining  a  like  relation  to  Williams,  Mr.  Ellis,  the  winter 
before,  taught  the  post  school  at  Fort  Howard.  Now,  having  practically  sepa- 
rated himself  from  Mr.  Nash,  who  was  apparently  a  good  but  not  an  energetic 
man,  he  opened  a  school  at  Shantytown  where,  "after  Mr.  Nash  left,"  he  says, 
"  I  began  lay  reading  on  Sundays  and  organized  an  Episcopal  Sunday-school  at 
my  school-room."  Thus  in  the  spring  of  1825,  two  Sunday-schools  were  started 
within  the  present  limits  of  our  state,  this  and  the  one  by  Mrs.  Lockwood  and 
Dr.  James  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  Which  preceded  the  other  and  so  was  the  first 
of  our  Wisconsin  schools  has  not  yet  been  found  out. 

In  a  community  with  such  a  population  as  Green  Bay  had  in  its  earlier 
years,  there  was  no  such  thing,  of  course,  as  popular  education.  The  first  set- 
was  at  Green  Bay  in  June,  1818,  and  baptized  children,  "  according  to  the  rubric  of  the  churcl 
of  England,"  on  the  fifth  and  ninth  of  June.  But  it  does  not  appear  that  he  held  public  sei 
vica  or  preached  there. 


WISCONSIN'S  OI'KN   DOOR.  20:J 

tier  at  the  place,  Augustine  de  Langlade, 1  who  with  his  Ottawa  wife  removed 
thither  from  Mackinaw,  probably  knew  at  least  how  to  read  and  write  himself, 
and  saw  to  it  that  his  children  or,  certainly,  one  of  them,  Charles  Michel,2 
received  a  measure  of  the  same  kind  of  training.  But  this, —  whatever  it  was 
in  extent  and  quality, —  Charles  received  before  his  father's  family  removed  from 
Mackinaw.  Other  children  of  one  or  more  favored  families  may  have  been 
taught  by  some  one  or  more  of  the  few  men  who  were  employed  in  the  fur 
business  because  they  knew  how  to  use  the  pen. 

In  1791  Jacques  Porlier  removed  from  Montreal  to  Green  Bay.  It  is 
said  that  he  taught  a  school.  But  Augustine  Grignon  who  gives  us  the  year  of 
Porlier's  arrival  and  was  then  of  such  an  age  that  a  school  could  hardly  have 
escaped  his  knowledge  and  his  memory,  says  :  "We  had  no  early  schools  —  none 
till  after  the  coming  of  the  American  troops."3  Thomas  S.  Johnson  of  Onon- 
dago,  New  York,  was  the  first  school-master.  His  first  contract  bears  date  "  the 
10  of  November,  1817."  The  school  was  to  be  continued  nine  months,  and 
seems  to  have  been  called, —  by  its  master  at  least, —  "the  Green  Bay  Seminary." 
In  the  year  when  Mr.  Johnson  began  his  "  seminary "  there  was,  it  is  said,  at 
least  a  proposition  to  establish  a  French  boarding  and  day  school.  If  such  an 
institution  came  into  being  there  appears  no  trace  of  its  existence. 

As  we  have  learned,  Dr.  Morse  when  at  Green  Bay  in  1820  seems  to  have 
roused  the  people  of  that  place  to  their  need  of  a  school.  We  may  be  per- 
fectly sure,  however,  that  Dr.  Morse  had  nothing  to  do  with  choosing  the  man 
who  was  employed  as  its  instructor, — •'  J.  Bte  S.  Jacobs,"  as  he  signed  his  name. 
/Under  date  of  "17  October,  1820,"  Jacobs  writes  to  Messrs.  John  Lawe  and 
Louis  Grignon,  4*  I  have  mentioned  to  you  boath,  that  I  intend  to  keep  school, 
being  the  onley  means  for  a  Liveleyhood."  But  under  date  of  20th  January, 
IS'J.S,  this  worthy  school-master  wrote  to  Mr.  Lawe  from  "Manomenie  River:" 
*%Had  [I]  been  incourage  to  keep  a  school  at  the  Bay  I  should  be  there  yet  but 
one  Gallon  Pease  15  Ibs.  Pork  per  Month  was  not  anueff  to  supp  me.  I  got 
drunk  to  drop  the  school  as  I  could  not  make  a  Lively  wood  on  one  Gallon 
P«-ase  15  Ibs.  Pork  per  Month." 

Next  on  the  list  of  early  teachers  at  Green  Bay  we  find  the  names  of  Amos 
Holton,  then  that  of  Daniel  Curtis,  a  grandfather  of  the  wife  of  General  Sher- 
idan. The  preceding  year  Curtis, —  once  a  captain  in  the  regular  army, —  had 
taught  the  p;>st  school  at  Fort  Crawford,  Prairie  du  Chien.  The  next  teacher 
at  (ireen  Bay  was  A.  G.  Ellis,  to  whom  we  are  debtors  for  so  much  of  infor- 
mation concerning  the  early  history  of  that  place  and  of  Wisconsin. 

It  is  an  evidence  of  the  foreign  sentiment  at  Green  Bay  that,  in  the  early 
schools  there,  the  soldiers'  children  were  called  by  the  others  "the  little  Bos- 
tonians." 


1  Horn  at  Three  Rivers,  Canada,  in  September,  1703. 

-  S  r  page  3O  for  some  mention  of  this  man.    He  it  is  in  honor  of  whom  Langlade  county 
was  named.    He  was  baptized  at  Mackinaw  1729,  May  Mb,  probably,  according  to  Roman 
Catholic  usage,  very  soon  after  his  birth.    He  is  credited  by  his  admirers  with  having  been 
toe  decisive  factor  in  the  defeat  of  Braddock.    Langlade  died  in  January,  18OO. 
"Historical  Collections."  III.,  Uf,;{. 


204  IX   rXXAMKI)  WISCOXSIN. 

In  July  of  that  year,  Christ  church  (Episcopal)  of  Green  Bay  was  organ- 
ized by  laymen.1  It  was  thus  the  second  Protestant  church  on  Wisconsin  soil, 
that  —  of  the  Congregational  order — among  the  Stockbridges  being  the  first. 

Mr.  Ellis  learned  in  the  autumn  of  1825  that  the  Episcopal  authorities 
had  "  decided  to  suspend  operations  with  the  Green  Bay  mission  till  a  suit- 
able superintendent  could  be  obtained."  He  then  became  teacher  in  the  post- 
school  at  Fort  Howard  where  there  had  been  "  a  change  in  the  army  officers 
and  soldiers," — a  change  that  apparently  was  favorable  to  both  religion  and 
education.  "In  connection  with  some  two  or  three  of  the  officers,  favorably 
disposed,  a  Sunday-school  was  organized  which  was  kindly  put  under  my  super- 
vision." It  would  seem  that  this  was  about  the  time  when  Mr.  Ellis  gave  up  his 
distinctive  mission  work.  However,  he  continued  to  report, —  once  in  six 
months, —  to  the  committee  of  his  church.  We  hear  nothing  more  about  the1 
Sunday-school  that  he  had  started  in  "Shanty  Town." 

"  Regular  religious  services,"  he  adds,  "  were  also  had  on  Sundays,  alter-j 
nating  those  of  the  Episcopal  and  Congregational  churches."  Who  conducted 
these  we  are  not  told,  but  we  may  infer  that  Mr.  Ellis  himself  was  reader  when;! 
the  Episcopal  ritual  was  used.  We  wish  we  knew  who  led  in  the  services  alter- 
nating with  his  own.  For,  if  he  has  made  no  error,  they  were  the  second  of 
the  Congregational  order, —  the  first  save  those  by  John  Metoxen, —  regularly, 
maintained  within  the  present  limits  of  our  state. 

The  first  Methodist  services  in  the  Wisconsin  region  were  held  in  Fort  How-, 
ard  by  one  of  the  officers,  Samuel  Ryan,  commonly  known  as  "colonel"  who 
came  thither  in  1826,  and  immediately  began  evangelistic  labor.?  About  this 
time,  it  would  seem,  Eleazar  Williams,  who  had  not  then  given  up  his  absurd 
scheme  of  an  Indian  confederacy,  ''returned  to  the  Bay," — probably  from  New* 
York  where  he  had  been  ordained, — "  aad  preached  a  few  times  at  the  post 
school-house." 

All  these  efforts  were  in  advance  of  the  coming  of  any  Roman  Catholic 
priest  for  permanent  residence.  "Father  Fauvel,  the  first  of  his  church,  I 
think,"  says  the  late  Morgan  Lewis  Martin,  so  well  known  in  Wisconsin  his- 
tory, "to  land  in  Green  Bay  after  the  close  of  the  early  missions,"  came  thither, 
1827,  May  20th.3  In  July  of  this  year  Rev.  Jesse  Miner  must  have  p 

1  But  a  second  organization,  and  the  one  recognized  by  Bishop  Brown,  was  effected 
September  16th.    Whether  the  first  had  elapsed  or  high  churchism  denies  that  laymen  ale 
can  organize  a  church  I  do  not  know.    But  most  of  us  are  ready  to  claim  that  the  action  i 
July,  1825,  was  valid  and  formed  a  real  church,  Christian  at  least,  if  not  Episcopal. 

2  lean  not  but  suspect  that  those  were  the  services  referred  to  above  by  Mr.  Ellis, 
there  called  "  Congregational."    This  supposition  is  favored  by  the  fact  that  a  real  Conf 
tional  service  as  far  west  as  Green  Bay  would  probably  at  that  time  have  been  called  Presby- 
terian. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  will  be  noticed  that  Mr.  Ellis  puts  the  first  of  these  services  bctc 
41  Colonel "  Ryan's  coming  and  would  have  been  likely  to  take  especial  notice  of  Method! 
as  a  somewhat  aggressive  child  of  his  own  church. 

3  Judge  Martin  is  in  error.    Priests  had  visited  Green  Bay,  says  Rev.  Chrysoatom  Verw; 
in  1793,  1823.  1824,  and  1820.    Verwyst  speaks  severely  of  Fauvel  whose  name  he  spells 
ferently :  "Rev.  J.  Vincent  Badin,  appointed  a  Frenchman  with  the  name  of  Favrell  to  k< 
school,  and  allowed  him  to  assemble  the  people  on  Sundays,  read  to  them  the  gospel  of 


WISCONSIN'S  OPEN   DOOR.  205 

through  Green  Bay  on  his  way  to  the  Stockbridge  settlement  at  Grand  Kau- 
kaulin.  The  removal  from  Fort  Howard  of  the  main  body  of  the  troops  closed 
Mr.  Ellis's  school  and  caused  him  to  engage  in  other  pursuits.  These  events 
also  occurred,  Mr.  Ellis  thinks,  in  1827.  The  Sunday-school  receives  no  men- 
,  tion  nor  the  alternate  Episcopal  and  Congregational  services.  It  is  claimed, 
however,  by  W.  G.  Miller,  D.  D.,  that,  until  the  arrival  at  Green  Bay  (1832, 
July  21st),  of  Missionary  Clark,  to  whom  reference  has  been  made  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Ojibway  mission.  Colonel  Ryan  continued  his  preaching  services.  If 
so,  and  if  he  remained  at  Green  Bay,  it  is  hard  to  understand  why  he  did  not 
keep  them  up,  for  Mr.  Clark  went  twenty-five  miles  from  the  white  settlement 
to  labor  among  the  Oneidas, —  the  service  for  which  he  had  come. 

In  1828,  Rev.  Richard  Fish  Cadle,  who  served  later  at  Fort  Winnebago 
and  Prairie  du  Chien  came*  to  Shantytown,  to  which  its  more  dignified 
inhabitants  sought  to  give  up  the  name  Menomonee  or  Menomoneeville.  He 
found  a  home  in  what  had  been  the  officers'  quarters  at  Camp  Smith,  and  there, 
in  November,  opened  a  school.  In  the  course  of  the  winter,  land  was  obtained 
for  a  boarding-school,  designed  for  Indian  children,  and  a  building  erected.  A 
school-house  was  built  the  following  summer  (1829),  probably  used  also  as  a 
place  of  worship,  and  a  second  large  building  soon  after.  Mr.  Ellis,  it  appears, 
doubted  the  wisdom  of  establishing  this  school.  From  him  we  learn  that  "  af- 
ter nearly  three  years  of  almost  insupportable  labor,  fatigue  and  anxiety,"  Mr. 
Cadle's  health  failed.  His  successor,  Rev.  Daniel  E.  Brown,  "continued  the 
school  for  some  two  years  more,  when,  for  reasons  similiar  to  those  named  to 
me  by  Rev.  Mr.  Ferry  of  Mackinaw,  the  establishment  was  reduced  and  finally 
discontinued." 

Dr.  Richard  S.  Satterlee  who,  with  his  wife,  both  from  Massachusetts,  had 
in  1823,  in  a  time  of  revival,  been  added  to  the  Mackinaw  church,  came  to 
Green  Bay,  September,  1832.  Probably  we  may  date  the  real  work  of  the 
church  at  Green  Bay  from  the  time  of  their  coming.  In  the  summer  of  1834, 
Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter  at  the  invitation  of  Mrs.  Satterlee  who  had  been  at  Chi- 
cago to  visit  her  sister,  Mrs.  Major  Wilcox,  came  to  Green  Bay  and  preached 
there.  While  here  he  baptized  three  children  of  Lieutenant  (afterwards  Brig- 
adier-General) Rudolph  Barnes  Marcy.  One  of  these  became  the  wife  of 
Major-General  G.  B.  McClellan. 

<la\ .  sing  hymns  and  read  prayers.  But  Favroll  soon  overstepped  the  limits  of  his  permit  and 
attempted  to  say  mass,  minus  the  consecration,  and  to  make  processions  accompanied  by  the 
soldiers  of  Fort  Howard.  He  made  a  trip  to  Europe  with  an  Indian  whom  he  everywhere  ex- 
hibited, and  the  presents  often  made  to  the  latter  found  their  way  into  the  Frenchman's 
pocket.  To  crown  his  hypocrisy  and  imposition  he  attempted  to  start  a  church  of  his  own,  but 
failed  egregiously.  In  1832,  Very  Rev.  Frederic  Reve  was  sent  to  Green  Bay  to  rid  the  coun- 
try of  this  impostor." 

This  case  and  that  of  Eleazar  Williams  do  not  particularly  commend  the  polities  which 
by  Un-ir  advocates  are  praised  as  so  much  superior,  for  example,  to  the  Congregational  in  this 
ver\  matter  of  keeping  and  putting  unworthy  men  out  of  the  oftico  of  religious  teacher.  In 
these  days  church  discipline  Is  ultimately  what  it  always  should  have  been,— simply  the  with- 
drawal of  fellowship  or  of  approval.  Such  action  has  as  much  weight  as  there  is  reason  for 
it,  and  may  be  tak.-n  a  church  or  a  council  as  well  as  by  a  so-called  bishop  or  any  other  ec- 
clesiastical authority.  We  de  not  suppose  that  our  advocates  of  vigorous  discipline  desire 
po\\  er  to  imprison,  hang  or  burn  anybody. 


206  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

In  the  following  year  Dr.  Satterlee  tried,  but  in  vain,  to  secure  Mr.  Por- 
ter as  pastor  of  the  church  soon  to  be  organized.  1835,  September  21st,  a 
meeting  was  held  at  which  it  was  resolved  "  that  it  is  expedient  to  form  a  Pres- 
byterian church  in  this  place."  At  an  adjourned  meeting  held  December  30th, 
a  resolution  was  passed  to  invite  "  Rev.  Cutting  Marsh  of  the  Stockbridge  mis- 
sion to  come  and  form  a  church  in  this  place,"  and  another  "that  said  church 
shall  be  conducted  upon  the  total  abstinence  principle,  from  all  intoxicating 
drinks." 

A  journey  of  forty  miles  brought  Mr.  Marsh  to  this  little  company  of  be- 
lievers. On  the  evening  of  Saturday,  9th  January,  1836,  he  organized  the 
church  with  twelve  members,  five  of  whom  came  from  the  church  at  Mackinaw. 
"The  old  church  there  died  some  years  ago,"  says  Pastor  William  Crawford, 
writing  in  1876,  "  but  in  the  members  it  sent  to  Green  Bay  and  elsewhere,  it 
enjoys  a  perpetual  life."  The  creed  adopted  by  the  new  church  is  described  as 
being  "rigid  and  orthodox  to  the  extent  of  heterodoxy."  It  was  strongly  Cal- 
vinistic.  But  there  is  a  suspicion  that  the  creed  as  found  upon  the  records  has 
been  made  to  differ  from  the  one  actually  adopted.  Though  Dr.  Satterlee,  the 
leading  man  in  the  movement,  preferred  the  Congregational  polity,  the  church 
voted  to  call  itself  Presbyterian.  No  one,  however,  seems  to  have  been  stren- 
uous on  this  point.  The  church  has  never  been  connected  with  any  Presbytery, 
and  the  first  case  of  discipline  was  the  trial  of  one  of  the  elders  before  the 
church. 

On  the  Sunday  afternoon  following  the  organization,  which  took  place  in  a 
private  house  in  Navarino,  "public  services  were  held  in  the  military  hospital 
in  Fort  Howard."  People  from  both  villages  attended.  A  candidate  for  mem- 
bership who  doubted  her  baptism  at  the  hands  of  a  Romish  priest  received  the 
rite  from  Mr.  Marsh.  "I  remember  distinctly,"  wrote  Mrs.  Satterlee  forty 
years  later,  "that  lovely,  calm  Sunday;  the  pale-faced  convalescents  sitting 
around ;  the  mirror-like  appearance  of  the  river  in  front ;  the  earnest  prayers ; 
the  service  of  song ;  the  stillness  all  around,  making  the  presence  of  God  seem 
nevery  ar." 

Thus  came  into  organized  existence  the  first  of  Wisconsin's  Puritan 
churches  that  has  made  a  record  of  unbroken  service  to  the  present  time. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


FORT  WINNEBAGO. 

Among  the  main  topographical  features  of  the  district  embraced  within  / 
Sank  and  Columbia  counties  Professor  R.  D.  Irving  enumerates1  "the  east  and 
west  ranges  of  the  Baraboo ;  the  Wisconsin  river,  which  traverses  the  area  cen- 
trally from  north  to  south,  making  a  great  bow  eastward  to  double  the  eastern 
point  of  the  uniting  quartzite  ranges ;  the  remarkable  course  of  the  Fox  river, 
which,  after  flowing  southwest  directly  towards  the  Wisconsin,  turns  abruptly 
iiortii  when  but  one  and  one-half  miles  from  it,  the  two  rivers  traversing  a  flat 
sandy  plain,  without  dividing  ridge,  and  passing  the  one  into  the  St.  Lawrence, 
the  other  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico." 

This  portage  in  the  otherwise  unbroken  water-course  from  Lake  Michigan 
to  the  Mississippi  is  often  mentioned  by  the  early  explorers.  To  the  commerce 
of  the  days  prior  to  the  steamboat  and  the  railway  it  was  a  serious  obstruction. 
For  though,  as  in  1828  when  the  fifth  regiment  of  the  United  States  infantry 
passed  without  obstruction  on  their  way  from  St.  Louis  to  Green  Bay,  it  was 
sometimes  overflowed  so  that  the  Wisconsin  sent  water  to  the  sea  through  the 
t Great  Lakes  as  well  as  through  the  Mississippi,2  the  times  when  canoes  could 
pass  from  one  water-course  to  the  other  were  very  rare. 

To  protect  trade,  perhaps  to  prevent  extortion  on  the  part  of  those  en- 
jigaged  in  the  transportation  business  and,  most  of  all,  to  command  effectively  a 
I  position  of  such  importance,  the  United  States  government  determined  to  build 
jthere  a  military  post.     Accordingly,  in  the  summer  of  1828,  part  of  the  first 
jinfantry  (three  companies)  commanded    by  Major,  afterward    brevet  Major- 
JGeneral,  David  Emanuel  Twiggs  (who,  1861,  February  18th,  surrendered  to 
the  Confederates  the  United  States  forces  in  Texas),    was  ordered   from  Fort 
Howard  to  build  Fort  Winnebago  at  the  Fox- Wisconsin  portage.     Almost  noth- 
ing of  the  old  fort  is  left  though  it  has  given  name  to  a  town.     The  garrison ' 

withdrawn  in  1845. 

As  a  matter  of  general   interest,  though  not  pertaining  to  the   subject  of 
this  work,  we  may  say  that  Jefferson  Davis  first  entered  active  army  service  at 
'ort  Crawford  in  1829  ;  was  at  Fort  Winnebago  the  same  year  and  remained 
re  until  1831,   when  he  was   transferred  to  Yellow   river,   near   Prairie  du 

1  Chamberlin's  "Geology  of  Wisconsin,"  volume  II.,  page  580. 
1  As  it  does  now  through  the  canal. 


208  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Chien  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Mississippi.  In  the  same  year  he  was  again 
at  Fort  Crawford  where  he  remained  until  about  the  time  of  his  promotion 
which  took  place  1833,  March  4th.  Zachary  Taylor  disliked  Davis l  and  seems 
to  have  taken  pains  to  keep  him  away  from  Fort  Crawford.  Nor  was  he  pop- 
ular among  the  officers  at  Fort'Winnebago  where  most  of  his  lii'e  in  the  Wis- 
consin region  was  spent.  A  new  broom  sweeps  clean  and  is  sometimes  fond  of 
sweeping.  A  certain  •' f ussiness "  is  alleged  of  Davis.  This  may  have  been 
nothing  but  attention  to  details,  but  whatever  it  was,  it  seems  to  have  made  him 
disliked.  While  at  Fort  Winnebago  the  young  West  Pointer  constructed  cer- 
tain wonderful  articles  of  furniture  which  were  so  unique  that  the  ladies  of  the 
garrison  dubbed  them  by  the  name  of  the  inventor.  The  "  Davis "  was  u  un- 
questionably designed  for  clothes-press,  store-room  and  china-closet ;  such  at  least 
were  the  uses  to  which  Mrs.  Twiggs  had  appropriated  the  one  assigned  to  her."  j 
We  have  heard  of  John  H.  Kinzie  as  aiding  in  starting  the  first  Sunday- 
school  at  Prairie  du  Chien.  After  his  marriage  he  lived  for  a  time  at  Fort 
Winnebago.  His  wife,  from  whose  "Wan-bun,"  already  referred  to,  I  have 
quoted  above,  was  a  faithful  Christian,  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church.  "  It 
was  on  Sunday,"  she  writes,  "that  I  most  missed  my  eastern  home.  I  thought 
that,  perhaps,  one  of  our  number  might  be  found  who  would  read  a  portion  of '• 
the  church-service,  and  a  sermon  from  one  of  our  different  selections.  I  ap-1 
proached  the  subject  cautiously.  ;Are  there  none  among  the  officers  who  are 
religiously  disposed  ? '  '  Oh,  yes,'  replied  the  one  whom  I  addressed,  '  there  is .] 

S ;  when  he  is  half  tipsy,  he  takes  his  Bible  and  k  Newton's  Works,'  and 

goes  to  bed  and  cries  over  them ;  he  thinks  in  this  way  he  is  excessively  pious.' 
The  hope  or  any  united  religious  service  was,  for  the  present,  laid  aside."  But 
efforts  were  made  to  secure  a  missionary.  Soon  Dr.  Newhall  of  Galena,  who 
became  one  of  the  first  trustees  of  Beloit  college,  relieved  for  a  time  the  post- 
surgeon.  It  is  probable  that  on  his  return  he  called  Father  Kent's  attention  to 
the  needs  of  Fort  Winnebago.  But  a  man  with  a  field  of  labor  larger  than 
many  a  European  kingdom  could  not  easily  give  time  to  all  the  plar.es  that 
callecj  for  his  services.  However,  kCin  the  course  of  the  spring"  (of  1833),  con4| 
tinues  Mrs.  Kinzie,  "  we  received  a  visit  from  the  Rev.  Mr.  Kent,  and  Mrs. 
Kent  of  Galena.  This  event  is  memorable,  as  being  the  first  occasion  on  which 
the  gospel,  according  to  the  Protestant  faith,  was  preached  at  Fort  Winnebago. 3 
The  large  parlor  of  the  hospital  was  fitted  up  for  the  service,  and  gladly  did 

1  This  the  venerable  George  W.  Jones  of  Dubuque,  who  knew  both  Taylor  and  Davis,  hi 
told  me,  was  not  the  case.    But  as  the  good,  old  gentleman  admires  Davis  so  much  that  it : 
almost  impossible  for  him  to  imagine  that  any  rational  man  could  dislike  the  Confederate 
president,  my  own  opinion,  as  expressed  above,  remains  unchanged. 

2  There  had  been  Roman  Catholic  service  in  or  near  the  Fort.    "Mr.  Mazzucholli,  a  ] 
man  Catholic  priest,  made  a  missionary  visit  to  the  portage,  during  our  residence  thorn 
after  some  instruction  to  them,  about  forty  [of  the  Winnebago  Indians]  consented  to  be  bap- 
tized."   But  Mrs.  Kinzie  doubts  that  they  had  much  understanding  of  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity or  any  desire  to  learn  more.    However,  she  states  that  an  Indian  woman  pointed  1<> 
crucifix  in  declining  a  glass  of  liquor  which  Mrs.  Kinzie,  believing  the  woman  to  be  exhaiu 
had  offered  her.    "  I  received  this  as  a  lesson  more  powerful  than  twenty  sermons.    It  was  i 
first  time  in  my  life  that  I  had  ever  seen  spiritous  liquors  rejected  upon  a  religious  principle.' 


FORT  WINNEBAGO.  209 

we  say  to  each  other,  '  Let  us  go  to  the  house  of  the  Lord.' 

"  For  nearly  three  years  had  we  lived  here  without  the  blessing  of  a  pub- 
lic service  of  praise  and  thanksgiving.  We  regarded  this  commencement  as  an 
omen  of  better  times,  and  our  little  sewing  society,  worked  with  renewed  indus- 
try, to  raise  a  fund  which  might  be  available  hereafter,  in  securing  the  perma- 
nent service  of  a  missionary."  Was  not  this  the  first  of  the  many  sewing 
societies  of  Wisconsin? 

Rev.  Jeremiah  Porter,  addressing  the  Home  Missionary  society  in  a  letter 
already  quoted  from,  begun  at  Sault  Ste.  Marie,  1833,  May  4th,  and  ended  at 
Chicago  ten  days  later,  says  that  he  has  learned  that  "at  Fort  Winnebago,  150 
miles  to  the  northwest,  they  have  already  subscribed  $400  for  the  support  of  a 
minister"  who,  when  sent,  would  better  go,  he  thinks,  by  way  of  Green  Bay  as 
there  is  no  road  from  Chicago.  Dr.  Richard  S.  Satterlee,  post-surgeon  at  Fort 
Howard  writes  also  to  the  society,  and  adds  to  what  follows  a  plea  for  the  post 
at  which  he  is  stationed :  "  It  gave  me  great  pleasure  to  receive  your  letter  of 
July  27th  [1833],  a  few  days  since  at  Fort  Winnebago;  and  I  assure  you  it  was 
a  source  of  gratification  to  the  officers  and  their  families,  and  to  many  of  the 
soldiers  stationed  there  that  there  seemed  some  prospect  that  a  minister  would 
be  sent  to  them.  If  one  should  be  sent  he  will  be  well  received  and,  I  have  no 
doubt,  honorably  sustained." 

At  last  the  long  desired  missionary  came.  "During  the  last  autumn,"  says 
the  report  of  the  American  Board,  given  in  1835,  "Mr.  Barber,1  who  was  then 
connected  with  the  Stockbridge  mission,  spent  some  weeks  at  Fort  Winnebago. 
While  there  his  labor*  were  attended  with  the  divine  blessing,  and  a  number  of 
persons  connected  with  the  garrison  were  hopefully  born  again.  In  February 
(1835),  Mr.  Marsh,  by  invitation,  visited  the  place  arid  organized  a  church 

1  Rav.  Abel  Lester  Barber,  the  first  resident  minister  in  Wisconsin  to  labor  under  com- 
mission  from  the  American  Home  Missionary  society,  was  born  at  Otis,  Massachusetts,  1803, 
December  28th,  and  graduated  at  Amherst  college,  in  the  class  of  1831.  He  received  his 
training  in  theology  from  R.;v.  Allen  M'Lean,  of  Simsbury,  Connecticut,  who  preached  the 
sermon  at  his  ordination.  This  took  place  at  West  Hartford,  in  the  same  state,  Wednesday, 
~'f>th  September,  1833.  He  and  his  wife,— he  was  married  on  the  llth  of  the  month  in  which 
In-  received  ordination,— devoted  themselves  to  mission  service.  They  arrived  at  Mackinaw 
3H:i3,  November  llth.  There  was  some  thought  of  their  starting  a  mission  among  the  Otta- 
was,  but  Mr  Barber's  health  became  impaired,  and,  perhaps  to  avoid  the  lake  climate,  he  and 
his  wife,  in  July,  1834,  removed  to  Stockbridge.  Thence,  as  we  have  learned,  Mr.  Barber 
went  to  Fort  Winnebago.  Later  we  shall  find  him  at  Milwaukee,  where,  for  a  short  time,  he 
served  as  pastor,  and  then  removed  to  a  farm.  Afterward  he  became  an  editor.  For  a  time 
lie  wjuj  connected  with  a  Prairieville  (Waukesha)  paper  and  later  with  the  free  Democrat  of 
Milwaukee.  About  1849  he  removed  to Kenosha.  In  that  year  or  the  following,  while  the 
cholera  was  raging  at  Kenosha,  Mr.  Barber,  "  broken  in  health  and  somewhat  discouraged, 
«i!Teivd  his  services  to  the  city  to  work  among  those  stricken  with  the  disease.  In  one  instance 
he  brought  to  his  own  home  a  little  boy  who  had  been  down  with  the  cholera  but  was  consid- 
er.d  convalescent,  and  afterward  two  of  his  own  children  died  of  the  disease,  and  a  third," 
—  a  son  from  whose  letter  I  make  these  quotations,—  "was  so  near  to  death,  apparently,  that 
a  shroud  was  provided  for  him  also,  as  I  have  been  told." 

Those  who  knew  Mr.  Barber  say  that  he  had  certain  infirmities  of  temper  that  made  it 
almost  impossible  for  others  to  get  on  with  him.  But  thesj  we  are  glad  to  forget  when  we 
think  of  his  heroism,  and  of  his  service  in  the  anti-slavery  cause.  HJ  died  of  nervous  pros- 
tration at  \\  allingford,  Connecticut,  187(5,  October  7th. 

At  Kenosha  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Barber  became  members  of  the  Baptist  church  and  continued  in 
that  communion  to  the  end  of  their  lives. 


L>10  IN   I'NNAMKD  WISCONSIN. 

there,  consisting  of  eleven  members,  some  of  whom  had  been  members  of  other 
churches,  and  others  had  recently  entered  the  kingdom.  During  the  last  fall 
and  winter  there  was  more  or  less  serious  attention  to  the  concerns  of  the  soul. 
and  a  number  of  hopeful  conversions,  in  not  less  than  three  or  four  of  the  mili- 
tary posts  on  the  northwestern  frontier." 

Brief  is  the  remaining  history  of  this  little  church.  Among  Mr.  Marsh's 
papers,  writes  his  daughter,  is  "a  letter  from  Fort  Winnebago  written  by  Dr. 
Charles  McDougall,"  the  post-surgeon,  dated  1835,  October  14th.  u  In  it  ho 
speaks  of  'our  little  church,'  and  with  the  exception  of  [sermons  by]  Mr. 
Brown  and  Mr.  Stevens  of  their  having  had  no  preaching  since  my  father  was 
there." 

The  need  at  Fort  Winnebago  was  long  a  burden  on  the  mind  and  heart 
of  the  few  brave  men  like  Kent  and  Porter  who  were  struggling  with  a  burden 
too  heavy  for  them.  The  answer  to  that  need  was  so  long  delayed  that  the  op- 
portunity seems,  humanly  speaking,  to  have  been  lost.  Yet  it  was  fitting  thai 
one  (Mr.  Barber)  who,  by  way  of  the  Great  Lakes,  came  West,  sent  to  Indians 
by  the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  should,  at  this 
place  of  the  dividing  of  the  waters,1  join  his  labor  to  that  of  another  (Father 
Kent)  who,  sent  by  the  Home  Missionary  society  to  minister  to  the  whites 
came  hither  by  way  of  the  Ohio  and  the  Mississippi.  Religious  effort  had 
found  a  place  of  blending,  and  made  prophecy  of  the  time,  then  drawing  near, 
when  the  interior  of  the  proposed  commonwealth  of  Wisconsin  should  no  longei 
separate,  with  its  forests  and  empty  prairies,  two  distinct  areas  of  settlement 
but,  with  farms  and  homes,  join  into  one,  socially  and  commercially,  the  banks 
of  the  Mississippi  and  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan. 

1  This  place  has  been  often  traversed.no  doubt,  from  the  time  when  man  first  occupied 
the  region  between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Mississippi.  The  Mascoutins,  we  may  be  sure, 
knew  of  this  route  when  they  told  Jaan  Nicolet  of  the  "Great  Water."  Probably  Riidisson 
and  Grosseilliers  journeyed  by  this  way  to  the  Mississippi  in  the  summer  of  iGfif).  If  so,  it  is 
probable  that  they  were  the  first  white  men  to  come  to  this  famous  "  Carrying  Place,"  as 
Carver  calls  it.  "I  always  understood,"  says  "Colonel"  John  Shaw  (Hist.  Coll,,  VII.,  221), 
that  when  the  trade  between  Mackinaw  and  the  Wisconsin  and  Upper  Mississippi  had  be- 
come important,  the  early  Fr«  nch  adventurers  were  induced  to  make  a  sort  of  pole  or  cordu- 
roy road  over  a  marsh,  for  a  mile  in  length,  between  the  Fox  and  Wisconsin,  and  construct  a 
large,  clumsily  formed  wagon  on  which  to  transport  boats  across  the  portage,  of  ten  tons  bur- 
then. This  wagon  was  fully  fifty-eight  feet  in  length.  The  lading  was  carried  on  the  backs 
of  the  boatmen  or  Indians,  or  on  the  rude  carriage." 

Hither,  during  the  Revolutionary  war  (1778,  May  27th)  came,  in  British  service,  a  nephew 
of  Langlade's,  Charles  Gautier.  with  his  party  of  "Scioux  and  folles  avoines[Menomonccs], 
and  did  my  carrying."  He  calls  the  place  "the  portage  of  the  Siskoinsin."— a  name  that  ho 
uses  not  only  as  that  of  the  Wisconsin  river  had  also,  apparently,  as  that  of  the  country 
through  which  he  was  passing.  However,  as  there  was  a  Sank  chief  Siskoiiisin,  Gauitcr's 
reference  may  be  merely  to  the  country  claimed  by  said  chief  or  by  his  people.  To  "all  tbe 
Villages  of  Siskoinsin  "  had  been  brought  a  "  so-called  belt  [of  wampum]  of  the  Bostonniens." 
that  is,  Americans. 

In  the  war  of  1812  Francis  Le  Roy,  a  brother  in-law  of  Jacques  Viean,— who  himself, 
about  1797  or  1798,  was  stationed  here  by  the  Northwest  Fur  company,— had  at  the  porta 
what  Secretary  Thwaites  calls  "  a  transportation  plant."    The  use  of  a  horse  in  this  busine 
was  began  by  Laurent  Barth  in  1793.    The  date  of  building  the  road  that  Shaw  speaks  of,- 
provided  it  was  built  at  all,— seems  to  be  unknown. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


BY  THE  LAKE  AND  ON  THE  PRAIRIE. 

In  the  autumn  of  1779,  his  majesty's  sloop  of  war  Felicity  was  making 
e  circuit  of  Lake  Michigan.  She  was  one  of  a  fleet  of  eight  vessels  that,  in 
the  American  revolution,  made  sure  to  the  British  the  command  of  that  lake  as 
well  as  of  those  then  more  important,  Erie  and  Huron.  On  a  stormy  morning, 
Thursday,  4th  November,  her  crew,  rated  the  preceding  January  at  five  men,  now 
evidently  larger,  cast  anchor  in  Milwaukee  bay.  To  use  the  precise  words  of 
her  pilot,  Samuel  Robertson,  whose  seamanship  was  doubtless  better  than  his 

8  spelling,  uAt  8  A.  M.  a  verry  strong   gale;   we  came  too  in  4  fathoms  watter; 

j  hoist  out  the   boat;  sent  out   M'Gautley  &  4  hands   on   shoer  with   difficulty. 
At  2  this  afternoon   M'Gautly  returned  with  3  indeans  and  a 

|  fiviioh  man  who  lives  at  Mill  wakey,  named  Morong  nephew  to  Monsier  St.  Pier." 
It  was  a  bad  omen  that  the  Felicity  brought  rum  and  tobacco  **to  Deliver 
[to]  the  indeans  at  Millwakey  which  is  a  mixed  tribe  of  different  nations." 
Ruggestive  description !  These  presents,  too,  had  an  object,  and  that,  as  is  usu- 
ally the  case  with  such  gifts,  a  mischievous  one.  "  M'Gautley  also  told  them 
the  manner  governor  Sinclair  could  wish  them  to  Behave,  at  which  they  seemed 
well  satisfied."  A  natural  combination :  rum,  bad  politics  and  perhaps  insincer- 
ity. For  otherwise  the  Milwaukee  Indians  seem  at  that  time  to  have  been 
\v»-ll  disposed  towards  the  Americans  or,  rather,  unfriendly  to  the  British.  We 
remember  De  Peyster's  "renegates  of  Milwakie."  And  in  the  second  war  with 
Britain  the  indignant  Dickson  writes  under  date  of  1814,  February  6th:  **I 
will  give  nothing  more  to  the  Indians  of  Millwackee;  they  are  a  sett  of  Impos- 
tors. '  Eight  days  later  he  utters  a  threat  of  fierce  vengeance  against  a  "Pou- 
bewatamie  "  who  had  come  to  "  Winebagoe  Lake,"  where  Dickson  then  was, 
"with  an  intention  of  cutting  us  off.  He  had  previously  send  round  tobacco  to 
tin-  young  people  about  Milwaukee  to  come  here  witli  him  to  dance.  Perhaps 
he  may  come  this  way  again;  if  he  does  he  will  not  return." 

Before  the  voyage  of  the  Felicity  the  site  and  harbor  of  Milwaukee  had 
been  frequently  visited  in  the  way  of  exploration  and  trade.  Who  was  the  first 
to  omit-?  That  no  one  knows.  It  was  by  way  of  the  Illinois  river  and  the 
Chicago  portage  that  Jaliet  and  Marquette  returned  from  their  famous  voyage 
of  1(>73.  As  they  voyaged  down  Lake  Michigan  to  the  mission  of  St.  Francis 


212  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Xavier, —  which  they  reached  in  September,  1674, —  they  may  have  entered 
Milwaukee  harbor.  '  Hither  came  Marquette  in  the  following  month  (1674,  Oc- 
tober 26th)  on  his  voyage  from  Green  Bay  to  the  site  of  Chicago.  Perhaps  it 
was  in  the  harbor  of  Milwaukee  that  La  Salle,  five  years  later,  found  refuge 
from  an  October  storm.  No  priest  made  his  home  here  in  the  early  years,  nor 
was  there  a  permanent  trading-station  until  Alexander  La  Framboise  removed 
hither  from  Mackinaw.  This,  Alexander  Grignon  thinks,  was  about  1785. ! 
"  At  first  he  went  there  himself  and  after  a  while  he  returned  to  Mackinaw, 
and  sent  a  brother  [Francis]  to  manage  the  business  for  him,  who  remained 
there  several  years,  and  raised  a  family."  A  daughter,  Josette,  was  married  in 
the  summer  of  1817,  at  Mackinaw  to  Lieutenant  John  S.  Pierce,  a  brother  of 
the  late  exPresident  of  the  United  States.  "  A  singularly  beautiful  girl,"  it 
is  said  that  she  was.  But  the  shadow  of  death  is  over  our  little  romance  of 
the  love  of  the  young  soldier  and  his  sweet  wife,  almost  the  first-born  of 
Milwaukee's  fair  daughters.  She  died  in  1821. 

The  evidence  of  a  letter  written  by  his  own  hand  shows  that  Francis  La 
Framboise  was  living  at "  Milwaukis,  20  Feb.,  1802."  Through  his  mismanage- 
ment, says  Grignon,  the  brother  (Alexander)  for  whom  he  was  doing  business, 
failed.  However,  the  Northwest  Fur  Company  had  entered  the  field  and  in 
1795  made  Milwaukee  one  of  its  places  of  business.2  That  fact  quite  as  much 
as  any  '•  mismanagement "  may  account  for  the  failure  of  an  individual  trader. 
The  company's  trade  along  the  western  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  seems  to  have 
been  under  the  superintendence  of  Jacques  Vieau,  who  made  his  home  at  Green 
I  Bay,  coming  to  Milwaukee,  and  that  with  interruptions,  for  the  winter  fur-trade. 
He  gave  aid  to  the  British  in  the  war  of  1812.  His  successor  m  trade  at  Mil- 
waukee was  Laurent  Solomon  Juneau,  who  became  his  son-in-law.  Of  Juneau, 
a  son  of  Vieau  says  that  he  came  to  Milwaukee  in  August,  1818 ;  that  his 
"  home  also  became  Green  Bay  and  remained  such  until  about  1834  or  1835, 
when  Milwaukee  began  to  grow  and  Juneau  platted  the  village  3  and  settled  there 
permanently.  Juneau'  was  one  of  the  last  to  recognize  that  Milwaukee  was 
destined  to  be  a  permanent  settlement,  and  had  to  be  persuaded  by  his  friends 
into  taking  advantage  of  the  fact.  Green  Bay  remained  his  home  and  that  of 
my  father,  despite  their  business  interests  at  Milwaukee." 

Juneau  did  not  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  until  1831.  His 
name  is  found  in  the  Green  Bay  poll-list  as  late  as  1834. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  the  treaty  with  the  Menomonees4  made  at 
Washington  1831,  February  8th,  ceded  to  the  United  States  government  a  great 
tract  of  land,  including  all  that  lies  between  the  Milwaukee  river  and  Lake 

1  The  "  History  of  Milwaukee  "  (Andreas)  says:  "  In  1784,  Alexander  La  Framboise 
ed  an  ample  building  of  logs  which  he  occupied  some  time." 

2  Other  posts  were  established  in  the  same  year  at  Kewaunee,  Manitowoc  and  Sheboygan. 

3  "  Juneau  and  I  were  joint  owners  of  the  original  plat  of  Milwaukee."    "  His  first  hint  ( ' 
the  prospective  value  of  his  location  at  Milwaukee  came  from  me."— MORGAN  LEWIS  MAI 
TIN,  Hist.  Coll.  XL,  406. 

4  Often  called  the  Stambaugh  treaty.    It  is  the  one  that,  as  amended,  provided  a  home 
for  the  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok.    See  page  6Q. 


BY  THE  LAKE  AND  OX  THE  PRAIRIE.  213 

Michigan.  Between  this  cession  and  that  made  by  the  Winnebagoes  at  Prairie 
du  Chien,  1829,  July  29th,  were  lands  claimed  by  the  Pottawatomies  and  ceded 
by  them  according  to  a  treaty  finally  ratified  1835,  February  21st.1 

On  the  evening  of  Monday,  8th  December,  1834,  a  party  of  three  men, 
Samuel  Brown,  Paul  Burdick  and  Horace  Chase,  passed  Vieau's  old  trading- 
p>st.  They  had  started  from  Chicago  on  the  4th,  had  come  overland3  and  not 
forgetting  to  honor  the  day  of  the  resurrection  had  rested  on  the  Christian  Sab- 
hat  h.  All  were  seeking  "claims."  These  found,  the  three  friends  started  back 
to  Chicago  on  the  14th. 

In  Chicago,  though  following  the  peaceful  occupation  of  builder,  Samuel 
Brown  had  come  to  be  known  as  "Captain."  Western  admiration  is  apt  to  ex- 
press itself  in  military  titles.  And  the  most  cynical  must  acknowledge  that  the 
spirit  of  the  soldier  is  needed  by  the  pioneer. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1835  Mr.  Brown  came  again  to  Milwaukee  without 
his  family,  but  soon  went  back  after  them.  The  journey  to  their  new  home 
was  one  of  five  days,  two  after  leaving  Racine.  On  this  part  of  the  trip  they 
were  first  to  take  a  wagon  over  what  was  known  later  as  the  "  lake  road." 
Tims  "the  emigrants  had  to  cut  much  of  their  way  before  them."3  Food  for 
the  horses  gave  out  and  their  owner  was  obliged  to  feed  them  on  bread. 

We  do  not  know  the  precise  date  of  the  arrival  in  Milwaukee  of  Samuel 
Br  >\vn  and  family.  The  lunar  of  miking  ''the  first  raised  bread  "  in  what  was 
to  become  the  metropolis  of  Wisconsin  has  often  been  claimed  for  Mrs.  Brown. 
It  has  been  said  of  her  tliat  "she  was  the  second  American  woman  to  settle  in 
Milwaukee  county,  and  the  first  in  the  present  city."4  Her  family  maintain  the 
Correctness  of  this  statement.5  By  the  children  of  Mrs.  Paul  Burdick  a  like 
claim  is  made  in  behalf  of  their  mother.  These  give  1835,  May  10th,  as  the 
date  of  their  parents'  arrival  at  Milwaukee.  There  the  Browns  and  the  Bur- 
dicks  became  neighbors. 

Having,  as  he  thought,  secured  his  "claim"  by  placing  his  family  thereon, 
Mr.  Brown  returned  to  Chicago  for  his  goods.6  There  he  met  his  brother  Dan- 
iel, a  man  of  kindred  spirit  who  had  come  with  his  wife  to  find  a  home  in  the 

1  The  last  of  the  Pottawatomies  were  not  removed  from  the  neighborhood  of  Milwaukee 
until  June.  1838. 

3  "  They  found  a  house  at  Grosse  Point  (now  Evanston),  where  resided  a  Frenchman  named 
(Juinette.  From  Grosse  Point  they  saw  no  house  until  five  or  six  miles  west  of  where  Racine 
n«»\v  is,  at  which  point  lived  Louis  and  Jacques  Viuau,  Jr.,  brothers-in-law  of  Solomon  Jun- 
eau.  The  next  house  found  by  the  homeseekers  was  that  of  Paul  Vieau,  which  stood  on  a 
liik'li  bluff  south  of  the  river."— "Milwaukee  Sentinel,"  1880,  September  2nd. 

:!  1  >r.  (J.  T.  Ladd,  formerly  pastor  of  the  Spring  street  (now  Grand  avenue)  Congregational 
church,  Milwaukee. 

4"  History  of  Milwaukee,"  published  by  the  Western  Historical  Company  (A.  T.  Andreas). 
6  The  recollections  of  Mrs.  Angeline  L.  Hill,  Samuel  Brown's  eldest  daughter,  seem  to  be 
especially  vivid.    She  remembers  distinctly  that  her  parents  and  their  family  reached  Mil- 
waukee on  Saturday.    But  the  day  of  the  month  she  can  not  recall.    The  10th,  the  day  of  the 
arrival  of  the  Bur.licks  was  Sunday. 

'•.  Making  ready  for  the  reason's  building,  Samuel  Brown  hired  a  number  of  workmen  in 
-:> >,    I le  Itought  a  large  boat  with  sail  and  oars.    Some  of  his  men  came  to  Milwank 
They  eamped  on  the  shore  at  night.    Others  came  overland  driving  some  cows  and  I><T- 
voke  of  oxi-n.    The  men  tfot  to  Milwaukee  before  their  employer  did. 


'2U  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

new  settlement.  Having  hired  a  vessel  of  thirty  tons'  burden  with  a  crew  con- 
sisting of  captain  and  mate,  the  brothers  Brown  left  Chicago  Monday  evening 
and  arrived  at  Milwaukee  early  in  the  morning  of  Wednesday,  10th  June, 
1835.  As  they  entered  the  mouth  of  the  river  the  men  got  ashore  to  tow  the 
boat,  and  the  tiller  was  put  into  the  hands  of  Mrs.  Daniel  Brown. l  Though 
she  obediently  followed  directions  in  the  matter  of  steering,  the  help  of  a  long 
pole  was  occasionally  needed  to  keep  the  boat  from  becoming  fast  upon  the 
muddy  banks.3 

Little  houses  could  hold  more  in  those  days  than  they  can  now,  and  for  a 
time  the  brothers  made  a  home  together,  in  the  cabin  that  Samuel  built3  before 
he  brought  his  own  family.  But  a  larger  house  was  a  necessity  and  one  was 
built  close  beside  the  other.  It  was  of  logs  covered  with  "shake"  shingles,4 
had  two  rooms  on  the  first  floor  and  a  loft  overhead.  "As  soon  as  it  was  fin- 
ished (it  might  have  been  two  weeks),  Mr.  Samuel  Brown  called  in  a  few  neigh- 
bors and  held  service  in  his  own  house,  reading  a  sermon  and  making  the  first 
public  prayer  in  Milwaukee."  Thus  writes  his  brother's  wife.  The  "two 
weeks"  are  to  be  reckoned  from  the  10th  of  June.  She  thinks  that  the  sermon 
was  one  of  Finney's.  Mr.  Ladd  tells  us  that  about  twenty  were  present  and 
that  others  took  part  beside  the  leader.  This  service  may  have  been  held  on 
the  21st  or  the  28th  of  June. 

"Then  and  there,"5  said  Dr.  Ladd  in  the  sermon  already  quoted  from, 
"was  formed  the  first  Sunday  school"  in  Milwaukee  "of  which  some  still 
connected  with  us  were  original  members."6 

1  Mrs.  Brown  was  the  fourth  white  woman  to  make  her  homo  in  Milwaukee.    In  1844  she 
and  her  husband,— now  fallen  asleep,— r  moved  to  Sheboygan,  where  she  still  resides.    Mr. 
(Daniel)  Brown  died  1892.  March  23rd.    His  brother  Samuel,  who  preceded  him  to  Milwau- 
kee, died  there  1874,  December  22nd. 

2  The  Milwaukee  river  then  flowed  into  the  lake  half  a  mile  south  of  the  present  outlet, 
which  is  the  work  of  man,  not  of  nature.    The  h'rst  steamboat  that  "  landed  "  at  Milwaukee 
came  1835,  June  17th.    We  may  be  sure  that  it  did  not  enter  the  river. 

3  Or  bought. 

4  The  "  shake  "  shingles  that  covered  the  first  house,  or  cabin,  are  thus  describes!  by  IJ .  -\ . 
G.  T.  Ladd,  now  of  Yale  university,  in  his  memorial  sermon  on  Daacon  Samuel  Brown :  "  ( )ak 
shingles,  four  feet  long,  bound  down  with  poles  which  were  withed  to  the  logs  of  the  hous:-.' 

5  That  is,  if  the  services  spoken  of  by  Mrs.  Daniel  Brown,  and  thos3  referred  toby  Mr. 
Ladd  are  the  same.    It  is  Mrs.  Hill's  impression1  that,  regularly  on  the  Sabbatbs  after  bring 
ing  his  family  to  Milwaukee,  and  until  a  minister  came,  her  father  held  in  his  own  home 
public  religious  service. 

6  The  house  in  which  the  little  congregation  met  was  in  what  is  now  the  block  bounded 
by  Galena,  Cherry,  Second  and  Third  Streets,  near  the  northeast  corner.    Near  by,  where  is 
now  the  corner  of  Cherry  and  Second  streets,  was  Mr.  Burdick's  home.    When  these  houses 
were  built  their  owners  expected  to  buy  at  the  approaching  government  sale,  which  was  at 
Green  Bay  and  did  not  begin  until  the  31st  of  August,  the  land  on  which  they  stood.    But  of 
this  Byron  Kilbourn.  gstting  ahead  of  them,  took  possession  by  means  of  a  "float,"  that  is.  a 
United  States  warrant  good  for  a  given  number  of  acres  of  unoccupied  land.    Technically  all 
government  land  was  unoccupied  until  it  was  sold  and  settlers  were  mere  trespassers.    Yet 
their  rights  were  so  far  respected  that  one  who  would  take  land  by  means  of  a  "  float  "  must 
needs  take  oath  that  there  was  no  actual  settler  upon  it.    He  who  swore  fals-U  incurred  the 
deepest  contempt  and  bitter  hatred  of  a  pioneer  community.    Mr.  Burdick's  daughter  has 
told  the  writer  that  but  for  her  mother's  entreaties  Mr.  Kilbourn  would  have  been  "tarred 
and  feathered  and  ridden  out  of  town  on  a  rail."    Mrs.  Burdick  even  opened  her  home  to  Mr. 
Kilbourn  when  with  wife  and  child  he  could  find  no  other  place  to  May.    Accommodations 
were  limited  then  in  Milwaukee. 

In  order  not  to  have  an  enemy,  or  at  least  an  opposer,  in  Mr.  Brown,  Kilbourn  transfei 


r,Y  THE  LAKE  AND  ON  THE  PRAIRIE.  215 

If  Mark  Robinson,  a  Methodist,  and  the  first  clergyman  to  come  to  Mil- 
waukee, was  in  the  village  when  this  meeting  was  held,  none  of  the  little  gath- 
ering, so  far  as  can  now  be  learned,  knew  of  it.  However,  Dr.  Chase,  who  had 
forgotten  his  name,  says  that  Mr.  Robinson  came  in  June  and  preached  in  his 
(Chase's)  log  house.  This  was  on  the  lake  shore,  below  the  old  mouth  of  the 
river  and  near  what  is  now  the  end  of  Mitchell  street.  "Of  the  subsequent 
history  of  Mr.  Robinson  we  know  little.  His  name  appears  no  more  (after 
IS.' 55)  in  the  Conference  minutes."1 

The  first  resident  minister  in  Milwaukee  was  Abel  Lester  Barber  of  Mack- 
inaw, the  Stockbridge  mission  and  Fort  Winnebago.  He,  also,  preached  in  Dr. 
Chase's  cabin  according  to  its  owner's  statement.  Of  this  our  living  authorities 
Daniel  Brown  aud  wife,  have  no  knowledge.  But  they  do  remember  that  he 
came  to  the  little  settlement  almost  before  place  could  be  found  for  himself, 
wife  and  child.  Soon,  h(owever,  a  cabin  was  built  for  him  "on  the  Chestnut 
street  hill."35  It  was  beside  the  old  Indian  trail  that  led  toward  Waukesha 
and  probably  stood  near  where  is  now  the  First  German  Methodist  church. 

In  the  "Home  Missionary"  for  September,  1835,  is  the  caption: 

"WISCONSIN   TERRITORY. 

"This  is  the  first  time  we  believe  that  we  have  had  occasion  to  place  the 
name  of  this  region  as  a  caption  to  our  correspondence. 

"  From  the  Rev.  A.  L.  Barber,  Milwalkee,  Wisconsin  Territory,  west  of 
Lake  Michigan : 

"  'I  came  here  about  eighteen  days  ago3  and  found  a  population  of  be- 
tween two  and  three  hundred,  mostly  from  the  states  and  of  New  England 
origin. 

"  'The  impression  is  extensively  prevalent  that  this  place  will,  in  a  few 
years,  be  second  in  importance  to  none  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  except 
Chicago.  Four  physicians  and  nearly  thirty  mechanics  are  already  here,  with 
a  view  to  permanent  residence,  though  one  year  has  not  yet  elapsed  since  an 
Indian  trader  and  the  men  in  his  employ  were  the  only  white  inhabitants. 

*•  '  We  have  twenty-four  professors  of  religion,  belonging  to  evangelical 
denominations,  of  which  number  fifteen  are  in  connection  with  Presbyterian  or 
Congregational  churches. 

"  'A  Bible  class  had  been  commenced  two  Sabbaths  before  my  arrival  and 

to  him  1 1n-  tract  on  which  stood  the  houses  that  Brown  himself  had  built.  Mr.  J.  S.  Buck  in 
his  "  Pioneer  History  of  Milwaukee,"  says  that  "  the  first  lot  sold  upon  the  west  side  was  from 
;  Kilhourn  to  the  late  Deacon  Samuel  Hrown,  October  l(>th,  1835." 

1  History  of  Methodism  in  Wisconsin,  by  RJV.  P.  S.  Bennett,  A.  M.  The  Rock  River  Con- 
<•  then  ext  -nded  imletinitejy  northward  and  is  the  one  to  which  Mr.  Bennett  makes  ref- 
ce. 

*  Mrs.  Daniel  Brown. 

1  We  do  not  know  the  precise  date  of  Mr.  Barber's  arrival,  but  as  he  was  in  "  Milwalkee  " 
oikrlitn  ii  d:i\-;  i.efore  he  wrote,  and  his  letter,  borne  by  the  slow  mails  of  those  days  reached 
N  i\v  V  »I-'A  iitini'  for  a  in  i;-\ cin  •,  tae  "cooy  "  for  which  was  apparently  made  up  by  the 
lift  .nth  of  August  or  sooner,  we  may  reasonably  suppose  that  h  is  coming  was  as  soon  as  the 
early  part  of  .July. 

The  imputation  of  two  or  three  hundred  was  of  course  not  a  settled  one. 


L>16  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

/is  attended  by  about  thirty.  A  weekly  prayer  meeting  to  be  held  Wednesday 
/  evening  has  been  established.'  ' 

Mr.  Barber  records  the  fact  that:  "We  have  infidelity,  coarse  and  clamsr- 
ous,  much  profane  swearing,  contempt  of  the  Sabbath,  most  determined  irrc- 
ligion.  A  strong  sweeping  current  of  worldly  enterprise,  a  push  and  scramble 
after  wealth  prevail  as  a  matter  of  course." 

At  this  time  Samuel  and  Daniel  Brown  were  building  for  Mr.  Juneau  a 
"store"  on  the  west  side  of  the  street  that  now  bears  the  name  East  Water. 
In  this  building1  Mr.  Barber  found  a  place  to  preach  and  "  there,"  says  Daniel 
Brown,  "we  continued  to  worship  until  it  was  finished  and  goads  put  in  for 
trade.  Then  we  had  other  buildings  under  way  that  we  occupied  all  the  fall." 

The  service  in  Mr.  Juneau's  store-room  seems  to  have  been  the  first  of  the 
kind  in  Milwaukee  outside  of  a  private  house.  What  we  may  call  Milwaukee's 
first  choir2  led  in  song.  Indians  stood  without  listening,  until  Mr.  Juneau, 
thinking  apparently  that  their  presence  detracted  from  the  dignity  of  the  occa- 
sion, drove  them  off  with  a  club.  It  may  be  that  the  date  of  this  service  was 
August  23rd. 

In  its  issue  for  February,  1836,  the  "  Home  Missionary "  makes  the  fol- 
lowing announcement:  *•  The  board  have  recently  resolved  to  assume  the  sup- 
port of  as  many  labjrers  as  the  parent  society  shall  be  able  to  procure  for  the 
territories  of  Ouisconsin  and  Missouri,  and  two  missionaries  have  already  been 
stationed  on  these  fields,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Barber  at  Milwalke,  Oaisconsin  Terri- 
tory, and  the  Rev.  Cyrus  L.  Watson  at  Dubuque's  Mills,  in  Missouri."3 

The  report  of  the  Home  Missionary  society  made  at  the  annual  meeting  in 
May,  1836,  makes  mention  of  Mr.  Barber's  work.  He  had  written:  "Temper- 
ance gaining  ground ;  field  extensive  and  needy." 

Mr.  Barber's  commission  from  the  Home  Missionary  society  was  for  six 
months  from  the  1st  of  July,  1835.  He  may  have  rendered  pastoral  service 

1  From  Daniel  Brown  and  wife  I  received  the  impression  that  this  structure  occupied  the 
northwest  corner  of  East  Water  and  Wisconsin  streets,—  the  site  now  occupied  by  the  only 
"  sky  scraper  "  of  which  Milwaukee  can  boast.    But  this  particular  building  put  up  by  the 
brothers  Brown  has  been  identified  by  William  W.  Wight  in  "The  Old  White  Church,"  as 
the  "  Pioneer  Store."    Of  the  place  where  it  stood  Mr.  Wight  says  that  "the  most  northerly 
of  the  stores  of  the  Bradley  &  Metcalf  Company,  at  No.  393  East  Water  Street,  rests  upon  the 
precise  spot." 

2  It  consisted  of  Mrs.  Daniel  Brown,  soprano;  Miss  Susan  Burdick,  Samuel  Brown  and 
Nelson  Olin,  tenors;  Daniel  Brown  and  Thomas  Olin,  bassos. 

3  An  error,    What  is  now  Iowa  ceasad  to  be  a  part  of  Missouri  Territory  (not  the  state) 
when,  1834,  June  28th,  Michigan  was  enlarged  so  as  to  include  all  the  region  north  of  the 
state  of  Missouri  and  south  of  the  British  Possessions,  lying  between  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Missouri. 

Another  way  of  stating  the  fact  is  to  say  that  all  of  the  Louisiana  purchase,  lying  north  of 
the  present  state  of  that  name,  was,  in  1804,  made  the  "district  of  Louisiana."  This,  in 
June,  1812,  was  organized  as  "Missouri  Territory."  From  this,  in  1811),  were  separated  the 
regions  that  now  form  the  states  of  Missouri  and  Arkansas.  Then,  in  1834,  as  aforesaid,  that 
portion  of  the  vast  mesopotamia  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Missouri,  lying  north  of  the 
southern  boundary  line  of  Iowa,  was  made,  "  for  temporary  purposes,"  a  portion  of  the  Terri- 
tory of  Michigan. 

I  hope  that  I  have  not  taken  an  unpardonable  liberty  in  venturing  to  use  "  mesopotamia  " 
("between  the  rivers  ")  as  a  common  noun  We  need  the  word.  There  are  other  mesopoUj 
mias  besides  the-one  between  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris. 


BY  THE  LAKE  AND  ON  THE  PRAIKIE.  217 

after  that  time  expired.  Rev.  Henry  Gregory,  an  Episcopal  minister,  who,  in 
Jami.uy,  1836,  spent  a  Sunday  at  Milwaukee,  speaks  of  there  being  a  "Pres- 
bvterian"  minister  in  the  place.  Mr.  Gregory  was  asked  to  officiate,  "which  I 
did,"  he  says,  "and  preached  in  the  afternoon;  and  that  was  the  first  service, 
according  tD  the  liturgy  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  in  Milwaukee,  and 
was  held  on  the  first  Sunday  after  the  Epiphany,  January  10,  1836."  With 
this  narrative  it  is  interesting  to  compare  one  given  the  writer  of  these  pages 
by  Mrs.  Daniel  Brown,  and  hereto  subjoined :% 

On  a  Sunday,  perhaps  in  January,  1836,  the  little  congregation  had  met  in 
a  building  which  the  brothers  Brown  were  putting  up  for  Talbot  Dousman  on 
the  southwest  corner  of  Huron  and  East  Water  streets.  They  had  no  minister. 
Dr.  J.  J.  Kemper,  so  long  the  Protestant  Episcopal  bishop  of  Wisconsin  had 
come  to  Milwaukee  on  his  first  missionary  visit  to  the  place.  He  came  to  the 
little  congregation  and  was  invited  to  lead  their  worship.  This  he  did  after  the 
forms  commonly  used  in  Congregational  churches,  offering  prayer  without  book 
and  wearing  no  gown.  He  pleased  his  hearers  greatly  and  in  the  afternoon  all 
come  out  to  join  in  worship  according  to  the  forms  of  his  own  denomination. 

I  have  little  doubt  that  these  accounts  are  of  one  and  the  same  incident. 
that  the  officiating  minister  of  the  day  was  Mr.  Gregory,  and  not  Dr.  Kemper. 
Whoever  it  was,  it  is  pleasant  to  remember  this  fraternal  beginning  of  the  work 
of  the  Episcopal  church  in  Milwaukee. 

If  Mrs.  Brown  is  right  in  her  recollections,  it  would  seem  that  Mr.  Bar- 
ber's service  as  pastor  had  come  to  an  end  in  January,  1836. l  But  meetings 
were  not  given  up  because  Mr.  Barber  moved  upon  a  "claim"  and  quit  preach- 
ing. There  was  an  admirable  vigor  of  Christian  sentiment  among  some  of 
those  early  settlers.3 

In  the  number  for  March,  1837,  the  "Home  Missionary"  contains  an  ap- 
peal from  Milwaukee  for  a  minister.  "An  attempt  has  been  made  to  form  a 
church  on  the  Congregational  Union  plan  which,  as  I  understand  it,  means  to 
break  down  all  other  denominational  distinctions  and  to  establish  one  on  their 
[  rnins.  Tliis  lias  been  proposed  and  advocated  by  a  young  clergyman  from  west- 
ern New  York.  The  population  at  present  is  about  1500." 

The  audacious  young  man  who,  according  to  this  evident  misrepresentation, 

had   undertaken  so  great  a  task  was  Jared  Fordham  Ostrander,  who  came  to 

Milwaukee  in  1836,   probably  in  the   latter  part  of  the   year.     "He  preached 

I  Sabbaths  for  six  months,"  says  his  wife,  "  from   house  to  house,  there  being  no 

|  chuioli  building  or  school-house  in  the  then  village  of  one  thousand  inhabitants. 


1  No  doubt  he  COD  tinned  to  s.irve  the  community  in  various  ways  as  a  minister  might. 
Thus  he  oiliciat  M!  at  out-  ol  the  early  marriages  in  Milwaukee,  that  of  Barzillai  Douglas  ami 
Harriet  M.  chun-h,  is;{<>,  July  17th.  Mr.  Douglas  is  the  only  man  living  who  was  elected  to 
office  ;vt  the  tirst  election  hel.l  at  Milwaukee  (1835,  September  19th).  He  now  lives  at  Brod- 
IHM.I,  Wisconsin. 

-  It  is  rein  Miilt  -ivil  that  Mrs.  Samuel  Hrovvn  refused  utterly  to  cook  fish  caught  on  Sunday 
by  her  husband's  workmen.  Nor  would  she  give  the  use  of  any  of  her  kitchen  utensils  when 
they  proposed  to  do  the  cooking  themselves.  Some  may  think  that  she  was  too  strict.  But 
her  strictness  showed  conscience.  Does  the  prevailing  laxity  show  anything  as  good? 


ins  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

and  no  organized  church.  He  endeavored  with  a  few  earnest  Christians  to  or- 
ganize a  union  church,  as  there  were  so  few  of  each  denomination,  but  failed, 
as  other  ministers  came  in  and  Christians  were  divided  up  into  small,  weak 
churches."  "  A  Congregationalist,  a  very  good  man  and  a  fair  preacher,"  says 
Daniel  Brown  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Ostrander.  He  had  come  West  with  an  edu- 
cational project  in  mind.  This  he  sought  to  carry  out  at  Aztalan  whither  he 
removed  in  1838. 

There  was  no  organization  of  a  Congregational  or  Presbyterian  church  un- 
til the  spring  of  1837.  "During  the  preceding  time,"  says  Daniel  Brown,  "we 
had  all  met  together  as  Christians.  Such  men  came  in  as  Deacon  Hinman,  A. 
Finch,  Jr.,  Harrison  Reed,  the  three  Clintons,  Deacon  Mendell,  Deacon  Love 
and  many  others.  As  loving  disciples  of  the  dear  Saviour  we  talked  of  church 
organization,  and  it  was  agreed  that  when  a  vote  was  taken  the  church  should 
be  called  as  the  voters  wished,  each  one  showing  preference."  In  February, 
1837,  the  late  John  Ogden  wrote  earnest  letters  to  Mr.  Marsh  of  Stockbridge 
and  to  Rev.  Moses  Ordway,  then  serving  as  pastor  at  Green  Bay,  "  urging  them  j 
to  come  to  Milwaukee  and  establish  a  church.  Down  through  the  Wisconsin 
woods,  feeling  their  way  by  blazed  trees,  stumbling  along  Indian  trails,  braving 
February  storms,  traveled  these  men  of  God  toward  the  Macedonian  cry.  Af- 
ter four  days  of  exposure  they  reached  their  destination." l 

Though  it  is  very   probable   that  a  church-home  on   the  west   side  of  the 
river  was  then  building  for  the  little  congregation,  it  seems  that  most  of  them 
lived  on  the  east  side.     There,  accordingly, —  in  the  court-house, —  were  held, - 
1837,    April   13th,   the    services  by    which    was   constituted  the    First   Pres-j 
byterian    church   of    Milwaukee.2      On   the   25th   of    the    same    month    Rev.  ] 
Gilbert  Crawford  of  Albion,  New  York,  was  ^chosen  pastor.     Upon  this  service ' 
he  entered  the  followirg  July. 

A  church  building,  the  first  in  Milwaukee,  had  been  completed  before  Mr.  '• 
Crawford's  arrival  and  was  dedicated  when  he  began  his  pastorate  there.  It 
seems  that  this  first  church  in  Milwaukee  was  also  the  first  in  Wisconsin  (save 
those  at  Indian  mission  stations),  erected  by  Protestants  for  divine  worship. :{ 
It  was  built  by  Samuel  Brown  and,  according  to  his  brother's  recollections,  was 
begun  the  autumn  or  winter  before  its  dedication.4  It  stood  on  Second  street 
near  Wells,5  was  painted  white,  and  would  seat  one  hundred  fifty  persons.  It 
was  used  as  a  hou^e  of  worship  until  August,  1840. 

»~"The  Old  White  Church."  by  William  W.  Wight. 

2  The  Presbyterian  polity  was  adopted  by  a  majority  of  one.    Deacon  Daniel  Brown  and 
wife  make  the  statsment  that  "the  time  [of  organization]  was  changed  to  one  day  sooner,  ami 
six  of  our  Congregational  members  were  out  of  town.       *       *       Part  of  our  number  export- 
ed some  time  in  the  course  of  the  year  to  move  to  Waukesha,''    Inasmuch  as  the  removal 
was  actually  made,  it  seems  probable  that  the  majority  of  those  who  remained  preferred  the 
Presbyterian  polity.    The  first  church  at  Waukesha  was  Congregational. 

3  The  Methodist  congregation  at  Platteville  was  using  as  a  church  a  little  log  building  put 
up  for  a  justice's  office. 

4Probably  he  bore  most  of  the  cost,  $619.91. 
5  It  Was  on  lot  thirteen,  block  fifty  six,  according  to  Rev.  S.  A.  Dwinnell.    He  adds  that  il 
was  the  first  painted  church  in  the  Territory. 


r,y  Tin:  LAKE  AND  ox  THE  PRAIRIE.  210 

Tliis  First  church  of  Milwaukee,  having  become  ore  with  the  North  Pres- 
byterian, organized  in  1849,  January  31st,  is  now  Immanuel.  Its  influence  has 
been  gr3at,  and  its  history  has  been  one  of  prosperity  and  good.  If  we  consider 
this  church  as  really  existing  before  its  formal  organization,  we  must  put  first 
in  the  list  of  its  pastors,  A.  L.  Barber,  then  J.  F.  Ostrander.  Nor  should  we 
forget  Moses  Ord way's  temporary  service.  Then,  July,  1837,  came  Rev.  Gil- 
bert Crawford.  He  seems  to  have  been  a  leader  in  the  organizational;  Milwau- 
kee, 1839,  January  17th,  of  the  first  "Presbytery  of  Wisconsin,"  a  body  which 
the  ecclesiastical  events  of  more  than  half  a  century  have  metamorphosed  into 
the  "Conore-'ational  Convention  of  Wisconsin."  The  old  church  suffered  divis- 

&        fy 

ion  that,  in  the  providence  of  God,  its  aggressive  sister,  Plymouth,  might  come 
into  life,  burning  with  the  revival  spirit  and  the  heat  of  the  anti-slavery  conflict. 
And  it  was  from  the  pastorate  of  the  First  church  that,  at  the  call  of  Father 
Kent  and  others,  Aaron  Lucius  Chapin  went  to  become  president  of  Beloit 
college. 

But  these  events  belong  to  a  later  time  than  that  of  unnamed  Wisconsin. 
Ours  is  a  story  of  explorers,  traders,  missionaries  and  pioneers.  Of  the  last 
class  those  who  came  to  mine, —  at  least  many  or  the  most  of  them, — had  not 
so  much  the  purpose  of  permanent  settlement  as  of  quickly  acquiring  wealth. 
But  in  the  southeastern  part  of  Michigan-west-of-the-lake  men  came  with  intent 
from  the  first  of  making  homes.  For  such  a  purpose,  there  is  scarcely  a  fairer 
land  under  the  sun.  But  nature  seemed  to  greet  the  new-comers  with  a  frown. 
Thus  in  the  summer  of  1835  there  was  in  the  neighborhood  of  Racine  frost 
every  month. l  Many  immigrants  turned  away.  Supplies  of  food  came  mostly 
by  the  way  of  the  lakes.  Fiour,  which  during  the  spring  and  summer  cost  from 
twenty  to  thirty  dollars  a  barrel,  was  in  the  autumn  still  as  high  as  fourteen. 
John  T.  Kingston  who  gives  these  facts-  adds  that  he  was  in  Chicago  before 
the  opening  of  navigation  in  1835  and  saw  the  last  barrel  of  flour  in  the  mar- 

>ld  for  twenty-eight  dollars.  The  following  winter,  Mr.  Kingston  says, 
••was  unusually  hard  on  the  new  com 3i*s;  they  were  mostly  without  sufficient 
means  to  buy  the  necessary  provisions  to  last  through  the  cold  season.  Many 
families  lived  entirely  upon  potatoes,  and  some  even  upon  oats  hulled  and  after- 
wards boiled.  But  game  was  plenty." 

Soon  came  also  the  want  of  money  brought  about  by  the  financial  stress 
of  1. 837.  Nor  was  the  scarcity  of  food  so  soon  at  an  end  as  one  might  expect 
in  a  < o  nitry  as  fertile  as  southeastern  Wisconsin.  "I  believe,"  wrote  Rev.  Cy- 
rus Nieh:>ls  in  tli9  ''Home  Missionary"  for  July,  1838,  "  nearly  one-half  of  the 
pi-uple  are  destitute  of  meat;  not  a  few  families  within  the  circle  of  my  ac- 
quaintance are  subsisting  on  potatoes  and  milk.  Many  during  the  past  winter 
had  nothing  to  eat  for  weeks  in  succession  but  potatoes  and  salt,  and  many,  I 
am  informed,  subsisted  weeks  on  turnips  alone.  There  is  no  credit  and  almost 
no  current  money.  Labor  will  not  procure  money  or  provisions  except  to  a 


! 


"  Back  from  tin-  immediate  lako  shore  and  east  of  Fox  river."— Hist.  Coll.  VI !.,  :::'.s 
This  Fox  river  is  the  0:10  that  Hows  into  the  Illinois. 
.-I'ereniv  iii  preceding  note. 


L>20  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

very  limited  extent."     "  Hard  times,"  surely,  there  were  in  those  early  days. 

Yet  in  the  "Home  Missionary"  for  October,  1838,  the  immigration  into 
to  Wisconsin  is  reported  to  be  at  the  rate  of  four  thousand  a  month.  In  the 
number  for  April,  1839,  we  are  told  that  "the  inhabitants  live  better  this  year 
than  the  last,  yet  very  few  have  what  they  used  to  call  the  necessaries  of  life." 
"Our  missionary  at  Racine,"  says  the  editor,  "received  but  $60  in  two 
years  from  the  people."  No  doubt  the  good  man  remembered  the  apostolic  in 
junction,  "trust  not  in  uncertain  riches."  But  we  wonder  if  he  would  have 
written,  as  Rev.  Stephen  Peet  did  in  the  report  of  a  famous  tour  of  exploration 
published,  in  the  "Home  Missionary"  for  September,  1838,  '-'The  financial 
struggle  is  over  in  Wisconsin." 

It  would  seem  that  Mr.  Nichols  was  the  first  resident  minister  at  Racine.1 
"  We  greatly  need  help  here,"  he  wrote  in  the  "  Home  Missionary  "  for  Janu- 
ary, 1838.  "I  have  seen  no  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  minister  since 
we  arrived  here  in  August,  1836.  There  is  no  such  minister  between  here  and 
Chicago,  a  distance  of  sixty-five  miles,  but  one  between  this  place  and  Green  Bay, 
about  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles,  and  none  between  this  place  and  the  Missis- 
sippi river  which  is  more  than  two  hundred  miles  distant.  Indeed  I  believe 
there  are  but  three  or  four  Presbyterian  or  Congregational  ministers  in  this  Ter- 
ritory on  this  side  of  the  Mississippi  river.  The  number  of  min- 
isters of  other  denominations  is  less  than  is  usual  in  a  new  country.  The 
Methodist  and  Baptist  preachers  are  comparatively  few." 

But  an  earlier  story  than  that  told  by  Mr.  Nichols  deserves  at  least  a  few 
words.  It  was  on  the  10th  of  October,  1699,  that  white  men  first  came  to  the 
Che-pe-ka-taw  sibi,2  or  Root  river,  which  they  or  other  early  French  explorers 
called  by  the  corresponding  name  in  their  own  language,  Racine.  These  men 
were  of  two  parties,  one  under  command  of  Francis  Morgan  de  Vincennes  who  in 
1702  founded  the  first  settlement  in  Indiana.  The  other  party  was  one  of  Jes- 
uit missionaries  who  remained  in  the  vicinity  seven  days  trying  to  find  a  port- 
age to  the  Fox  (tributary,  to  the  Illinois).  It  is  to  these,  perhaps,  that  we  owe 
the  name  Racine. 

In  November,  1834,  Captain  Gilbert  Knapp  brought  to  the  mouth  of  Ra- 
cine river  the  first  settlers  there,  William  and  Andrew  J.  Luce,  brothers  from 
Indiana.  In  honor  of  Captain  Knapp  the  new  settlement  was  called  for  a 
time  Fort  Gilbert. 

Though  among  the  early  settlers  was  William  Sell,  a  local  preacher  who 
had  been  government  blacksmith  at  Fort  Dearborn,  it  is  thought  that  the  first 
religious  service  at  or  near3  the  mouth  of  "Root  river"  was  in  June  or  July, 
1835  by  Rev.  Jesse  Walker  of  whom  we  have  heard  as  preaching  at  Chicago 
at  an  early  time.  Father  Walker,  as  he  was  deservedly  called,  was  a  Metho- 
dist pioneer  preacher  of  the  best  type, —  a  man  who  *'  was  never  turned  aside  by 

1  His  home  was  at  first  in  the  town  of  Caledonia,  where  he  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlors. 

2  Otherwise  written  Chippecotton  or  Schipicoten. 

3  Mr.  Bennett,  the  historian  of  Methodism  in  Wisconsin,  thinks  it  is  "probahle  that  Mr. 
Walker  visited  a  point  on  Root  river,  some  distance  from  Racine," 


BY  THE  l.AKK  AND  OX  THE  PRAIRIE.  221 

dangers  or  hardships,  always  seeking  out  the  frontier  settlers,  comforting  and 
administering  to  the  sick, —  spending  his  life,  in  fact,  for  the  good  of  his  fellow- 
men."  But  he  did  not  serve  as  pastor  or  stated  preacher  at  Racine,  and  died 
in  the  autumn  of  that  same  year, — 1835. 

In  the  spring  of  1835  a  certain  exploring  party  came  first  to  Milwaukee  and 
then  to  Racine.  But  at  neither  place  could  they  secure  " claims."  These  they 
were  seeking  not  only  for  themselves,  but  also  for  other  members  of  a  company 
that  had  been  organized  the  winter  before  (February  20th)  at  Hannibal,  New 
York.  On  the  6th  of  June,  1835,  this  party  of  explorers, —  Waters  Touslee, 
Sidney  Roberts  and  Charles  W.  Turner,  came  to  Pike  Creek  and  took  claims 
there.  A  post-office,  to  which  was  given  the  name  Pike  Creek,  was  established 
in  1836.  In  the  following  year  Southport  was  chosen  as  the  name  of  the  place, 
which  on  becoming  a  city,  in  1850,  took  the  name  of  Kenosha.  A  prayer 
meeting  was  held  and  a  Sunday  school1  organized  at  Pike  Creek  on  the  2nd  of 
August,  but  the  first  sermon  in  Pike  Creek  "  was  by  Rev.  Abner  Barlow,  at  the 
house  of  Waters  Touslee,  on  the  north  side  of  the  river  in  1835.  The  number 
of  inhabitants  here  at  that  time,  according  to  the  record  of  Isaac  G.  Northway, 
was  thirty-two.  Twenty  of  these  attended  the  meeting  and  quite  filled  the 
house,  which  had  only  one  room.  The  dwellings  of  the  early  inhabitants  were 
small,  usually  consisting  of  one  room,  and  sometimes  roofed  with  bark."  Col. 
Michael  Frank,  from  whom  I  have  quoted,  thinks  that  the  time  of  Mr.  Bar- 
low's  sermon  was  about  December,  1835.  Mr.  Barlow  was  then  in  deacon's 
orders  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.3  He  afterward  .entered  the  Congre- 
gational body,  and  became  a  pioneer  in  religious  work  in  Dane  county,  with  a 
parish  that  extended  over  into  Rock. 

Not  only  were  settlements  formed  beside  the  Mississippi, —  throughout  all 
the  lead  region, —  and  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Michigan  before  Wisconsin  had  sep- 
arate political  existence,  beginnings  were  made  also  in  the  interior, —  on  the 
prairie  traversed  by  the  Fox,  and  gemmed  with  lakes;  and  beside  the  Asseni 
sil»i,  or  Rock  river, —  a  stream  whose  banks  would  invite  settlement. 

"  It  being  natural  to  ask  what  sort  of  a  man  first  set  foot  on  the  site  of 
this  city  of  Beloit,  we  have  to  answer,  that  we  do  not  know.3  Some  pre-his- 
toric  man  perhaps.  Next,  and  certainly  the  mound-making  man,  for  here  are  his 
mounds,  on  which  we  stop  long  enough  to  note  his  eye  for  a  situation,  a  good  lo- 
cality. Next,  if  next  and  not  the  same,  the  Indian,  to  whom  this  was  a  favorite 

1  r.y  .Jonathan  Pierce  and  Austin  Kellogg:,  good  Methodists.  Twenty-eight  attended: 
twenty  OIK-  took  part. 

-  Mr.  1  Sal-low  was  not  a  resident  of  Pike  Creek,  hut  of  the  town  of  Pleasant  Prairie  which 
romprisi  -s  the  southeast  corner  of  Wisconsin.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  there,  hav- 
ing passed  \\aukt  i;an,  Illinois,  at  a  time  when,  to  use  his  own  humorous  description  "it  con- 
sisted of  a  coilVe  mill  nailed  to  a  stump."  He  was  ordained  as  an  elder  in  the  Methodist  Epis- 
c.opul  clmn-li  at  Chicago,  1842,  August  7th,  hy  Bishop  Robert  Rich  ford  Roberts.  On  one  oc- 
casion,—it  could  hardly  have  been  in  August,  however,— Mr.  Barlow,  walking  with  others 
toward  and  into  ( 'hicago,  was  obliged  to  wade  for  twenty  miles  through  water  over  his  shoe- 

8  Rev.  Lucien  Dwight  Mears,  historian  of  the  First  Congregational  church  of  Beloit,  and 

the  first  white  child  horn  in  that  city. 


! 


222  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

place  of  resort.1  Next,  the  first  white  man  to  sojourn,  though  not  to  settle, 
the  French  Canadian,  Joseph  Thiebeau,  with  his  two  Indian  wives  and  family 
of  half-and-half  children.  Sojourner  to  be  sure  and  not  settler,  but  he  was  the 
first  builder  of  anything  more  than  an  Indian  wigwam  —  of  a  log  house  • —  the 
first  house  here.  Next,  the  first  real  settler.  Caleb  Blodgett 

was  his  name,  originally,  I  have  reason  to  suppose,  from  Randolph,  Vermont. 
Coming  west  by  degrees,  he  was  here  in  this  region  with  one  or  two  sons,  as 
early  as  the  month  of  May,  1836,  exploring,  looking  for  land  and  a  location. 
With  him  also,  at  some  time  during  this  year  1836,  now  or  later,  the  first  of 
the  original  members  of  the  [First  Congregational]  church  to  visit  the  locality, 
though  he  did  not  come  to  settle  until  the  autumn  of  the  following  year, 
Chauncey  Tuttle.  In  the  month  of  June  of  this  year  1836,  Mr.  Blodgett  is 
ready  to  approve  the  judgment  of  the  mound  maker  and  the  Indian  and  decide 
for  this  place.  In  December,  year  1836,  he  brings  his  family, 

the  first  white  family;  hence  the  first  white  woman  to  come  to  stay,  Mrs. 
Caleb  Blodgett,  with  perhaps  two  of  her  daughters." 

A  story  of  early  Wisconsin-ward  emigrants  is  told  in  a  paragraph  of  the 
Beloit  college  "  Codex  "  issued  by  the  class  of  '95 : 

"  I  heard  the  word  Beloit  in  1836  for  the  first  time.  I  was  standing  in 
my  father's  yard  in  Vermont  one  June  day,  and  up  came  four  covered  wagons 
filled  with  people,  and  among  them  four  beautiful  girls,  just  blooming  into 
womanhood.  They  attracted  my  attention  and  I  began  to  ask  questions ;  they 
were  bound  for  Beloit,  Wisconsin." 

A  pretty  story  this,  and  told  by  a  worthy  man,  Dr.  Daniel  Kendall  Pear- 
sons, of  Chicago,  the  generous  giver  to  Beloit  college. 2  But  there  is  some  mis- 
take or  lapse  of  memory.  In  1836.  though  Beloit  had  a  mere  beginning,  it 
had  not  yet  its  present  name,3  and  probably  no  distinctive  name  at  all.  How- 
ever, we  need  make  the  date  only  a  year  later  to  think  of  such  a  group  as  Dr. 
Pearsons  describes,  emigrants  perhaps  frcm  Colebrook,  New  Hampshire,  where 
had  been  formed  the  "New  England  Emigrating  Company,"  under  the  auspices 
of  which  the  real  settlement  of  Beloit  was  affected  in  1837.  Thither  came  in 
its  early  years  Lewis  Homeri  Loss  who,  had  it  been  possible,  would  have  come 
west  in  response  to  Mr.  Warren's  call  to  found  a  mission  among  the  Ojibways. 
At  Beloit  he  founded  a  seminary  which  continued  its  existence  until  it  furnished 
to  Beloit  college  its  first  freshman  class,  of  four.  And  thus  was  laid,  in  part, 
the  foundation  of  the  oldest  institution  of  higher  education  in  Wisconsin.  A 

1  On  the  site  of  Beloit  was  a  Winnebago  village.    Its  name  in  English  form  is  preserved 
in  that  of  the  town  of  which  Beloit  once  was  a  part,—  the  town  of  Turtle. 

2  I  believe  that  Dr.  Pearsons's  gifts  to  Beloit  college  exceed  those  received  from  an  indi- 
vidual giver  by  any  other  Wisconsin  institution. 

3  What  follows  here  is  merely  from  memory,  but  I  seem  to  recall  a  story  in  which  it  was 
said  that  the  place  was  first  called  New  Albany;  that  a  committee  of  settlers  met  to  make 
choice  of  another  name  to  be  recommended  for  adoption ;  that  while  some  were  preparing 
letters  to  be  drawn  from  a  hat  until  some  pronouncable  combination  should  be  secured,  an- 
other was  trying  to  recall  an  Indian  name  that  he  thought  rhymed  with  "Detroit."    He  ut 
tered  something  that  was,  or  sounded  like,  "  Beloit,*'  a  name  that  pleased  all  so  well  that 
resource  to  the  hat  and  its  contents  was  deemed  needless. 


BY  THE  LAKE  AND  ON  THE  PRAIRIE.  223 

fuller  story  belongs  to  a  later  time,  and  has  been  often  told. 

The  peninsula,  or,  more  precisely, —  if  we  may  use  such  an  etymological 
nniistrosity, —  the  "  inter-lachen,"  whereon  Wisconsin's  capital  was  to  stand  and 
her  great  university  to  be  built,  had,  in  1836,  been  neither  marred  nor  beauti- 
h'«-<l  by  the  hand  of  man.  Where  now  more  than  a  thousand  students  come 
and  go,  then  not  a  family  had  made  a  home.  But  observing  eyes  had  seen 
the  beauty  of  the  site,  and  persistent  advocacy  by  James  Duane  Doty, —  who, 
we  are  sorry  to  have  to  add,  did  not  refrain  from  bribery, — led  to  the  choice 
thereof  as  the  capital  of  the  newly  organized  Territory.  That  was  done  at  (old) 
Belinont,  1836,  December  3rd.  At  the  same  place  there  was  held  the  first  ses- 
si.m  of  the  Territorial  supreme  court.  But  it  was  on  soil  not  now  belonging  to 
Wisconsin, —  at  Burlington,  Iowa,  that  an  act  was  passed  creating  the  univer- 
sity of  Wisconsin.  Not  until  1850,  however,  did  the  institution  begin  the  work 
iof  -instruction,  and  then  as  a  preparatory  school. 

Among  the  pioneers  of  1836  was  a  young  man  —  Rev.  Solomon  Ashley 
Dwinnell, — 1  who  thirty  years  later  told  well  and  briefly  the  story  of  that  early 
time.-  ''In  the  year  1836,"  he  says,  "Wisconsin  was  organized  as  a  Territory 
of  the  United  States,  and  its  material,  educational  and  religious  history  really 
began.  Little  had  been  done  before  that  time. 

"On  the  25th  of  October,  1836,  I  entered  Chicago  on  the  Great  Eastern 
Mail  Stage,  consisting  of  a  common  uncovered  lumber  wagon.  This,  with  an 
extra  for  baggage  and  a  few  passengers,  brought  all  the  travelers  from  the  East 
for  the  day,  as  navigation'  was  then  closed.  Chicago  was  then  a  frontier  vil- 
lage, with  apparently  some  1,500  inhabitants.  A  garrison  of  United  States 
troops  at  Fort  Dearborn,  near  the  mouth  of  the  river,  protected  the  inhabitants 
from  the  attacks  of  the  Indians.  The  village  was  mostly  limited  to  a  few 
squares  east  and  south  of  the  river.  There  were  three  small  buildings  on  the 
west  side.  * 

"  On  the  15th  of  November  *  *  I  entered  Wisconsin  *  * 
[and]  at  seven  o'clock,  evening,  I  reached  the  'Outlet  of  Big  Foot,'3  now  Ge- 
neva, having  traveled  thirty-five  miles  without  seeing  a  human  dwelling.  The 
settlement  consisted  of  five  families,  living  in  rude  log  cabins  without  floors, 
chimneys,  or  chambers,  the  roofs  covered  with  '  shakes '  and  hardly  a  nail  used 
in  the  construction  of  their  dwellings.  There  were  then  twenty-seven  families 
in  whit  is  now  the  county  of  Walworth,  and  all  but  four  in  the  eastern  half 
of  it;  all  living  in  log  cabins.  All  of  them  had  come  in  since  spring,  and  had 
put  under  cultivation  about  eighty  acres.  I  settled  on  Spring  Prairie,  in  what 
is  now  the  town  of  La  Fayette. 

1  Mr.  Dwinnell,  though  once  a  student  of  theology  at  Andover,  was  compelled  by  the 
threatened  failure  of  his  health  to  choose  an  out-of-door-life,  and  did  not  enter  the  ministry 
until  aft  T  IK-  had  been  in  Wisconsin  many  years. 

a  In  the  "  Wisconsin  Puritan,"  a  religious  paper  that,  in  1867,  was  absorbed  into  the  "  Ad- 
vaiuv"«.f  Chicago. 

s  Big  Foot  was  a  Pottawattomie  chief,  whose  name  was  borne  for  a  time  by  the  lake  now 
called  Geneva.  Mr.  Dwinnell  seems  to  use  "  Outlet  of  Big  Foot "  as  the  name  of  the  prospec- 
tive village. 


224  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

"In  the  fall  of  1836,  there  were  farming  settlements  near  Kenosha,  Racine 
and  Milwaukee.  There  were  probably  twenty  families  on  Fox  River,  from 
Burlington  to  Waukesha.  There  were  twenty-seven  in  Walworth  county. 
On  Rock  River,  there  were  five1  families  at  Beloit,  three  at  Watertown, 
two  at  and  near  Janes ville,  and  two  at  Fort  Atkinson.  The  number  of 
souls,  at  that  time,  from  the  settlements  by  the  lake  shore  to  Mineral  Point 
and  Dodgeville,  could  not  have  exceeded  three  hundred  and  fifty,  nearly  all  of 
whom  came  in  the  same  season.  Travelers  from  place  to  place  made  their  way 
by  Indian  trails,  which  were  numerous,  and  about  six  inches  in  depth  and 
eighteen  in  width. 

"  In  1836  the  amount  of  land  under  cultivation  was  about  three  or  four 
thousand  acres,  and  the  amount  of  grain  raised  could  not  have  exceeded  40,000 
bushels,  mostly  sod  corn  and  buckwheat. 

"Early  settlers  of  a  state  must  work  for  posterity.  During  the  first  fif- 
teen years  I  opened  two  farms,  upon  the  first  of  which  I  split  and  laid  up  three 
miles  of  rail  fence  with  my  own  hands,  raised  thousands  of  bushels  of  grain, 
most  of  which  was  sold  for  less  than  the  cost  of  production.  Not  a  bushel  of 
wheat  was  sold  for  a  dollar;  the  average  price  in  market  was  about  sixty  cents. 
The  first  grain  we  carried  to  market  was  the  best  quality  of  winter  wheat,  sold 
at  Southport,  September,  1840,  at  fifty-five  cents  per  bushel.  It  was  threshed 
by  treading  with  oxen,  and  driven  thirty-five  miles  to  market.  It  must  have 
cost  $1  per  bushel  to  produce  it.  In  subsequent  years,  the  farming  interest 
somewhat  improved. 

"In  1836  there  were  four  counties.  Milwaukee  county  extended  from  the 
state  of  Illinois  north  to  Manitowoc,  and  west  to  the  four  lakes,  where  Mad- 
ison now  stands,  with  a  population  of  2,893.  Brown  was  north  of  Milwaukee 
—  its  population  2,706.  Iowa  county  embraced  all  the  region  west  of  Milwau- 
kee county  to  the  Mississippi  and  Wisconsin  rivers,  with  a  population  of  3.218. 
Crawford  was  north  of  the  Wisconsin  river  and  west  of  Brown  County;  its 
population  1,220.  The  entire  population  was  11,683.  It  is  alleged  that  3,000 
Indians  of  the  Oneida,  Brothertown  and  Stockbridge  tribes,  not  then  citizens, 
were  enumerated  in  that  census.  If  so,  the  white  population  was  about  9,000. 

"  In  1836  there  were  303  miles  of  mail  route  established  in  the  territory ; 
from  the  state  line  of  Illinois,  near  Kenosha,  to  Milwaukee,  forty  miles,  by  a 
two-horse  lumber  wagon,  twice  a  week;  from  Milwaukee  to  Green  Bay,  one 
hundred  miles,  once  a  week,  on  the  back  of  a  man;  from  Galena  to  Mineral 
Point  via  Platteville,  forty-three  miles,  in  a  one-horse  wagon,  once  a  week;  from 
Platteville  to  Cassville,  twenty  miles,  and  from  Platteville  to  Prairie  du  Cliien, 
thirty  miles,  once  a  week,  on  horseback;  and  from  Mineral  Point  to  Fort  Wir.- 
nebago,  seventy  miles,  once  a  week,  on  the  back  of  a  man. 

"  In  1836  the  nearest  railroad  was  at  Utica,  New  York,  [and]  the  mag- 
netic telegraph  was  not  invented." 

1  An  error,  doubtless.    On  this  point  Mr.  Mears  is  much  more  likely  to  he  riprht  than  is 
Mr.  Dwinnell. 


BY  THE  LAKE  AND  ON  THE  PRAIRIE.  225 

"In  1836  there  were  four  weekly  newspapers  in  Wisconsin.  The  Green 
y  Intelligencer  was  established,  December  11,  1833,  by  P.  V.  Suydam  and 
G.  Ellis ;  the  Green  Bay  Spectator,  August,  1835,  by  H.  O.  Sholes  and  C. 
fc.  P.  Arndt.  In  1836,  the  above  named  papers  were  consolidated,  and  as- 
sumed the  name  of  the  Wisconsin  Democrat,  published  at  Green  Bay  by  H. 
O.  and  C.  C.  Sholes.  The  Green  Bay  Free  Press  was  established,  1836.  The 
Miln-aukee  Advertiser  was  established,  July,  1836,  by  Daniel  H.  Richards; 
name  changed  to  Courier  in  1841,  and  to  the  Wisconsin  in  1844.  The  Bel- 
ii> n, it  Gazette  was  commenced,  October,  1836,  and  was  published  during  the 
session  of  the  Territorial  legislature  at  that  place,  for  two  or  three  months,  and 
w;is  then  removed  to  Mineral  Point,  and  became  the  Miners'  Free  Press,  in 
B837. 

"In  1836  there  were  eight  small  private  schools,  and  no  public  schools. 
There  was  one  in  Pike,  now  Kenosha,  taught  by  Rev.  Jason  Lothrop,  in  a  log 
school  house.  The  school  was  opened  in  December,  1835.  There  was  a  school 
taught  in  Milwaukee,  by—  -West,  in  a  building  owned  by  Deacon  Samuel 
Brown,  on  lot  12,  block  39,  second  ward,  now  occupied  as  a  store.  The  first 
School  in  Milwaukee,  was  taught  by  David  Worthington,  in  the  winter  of  1835-6, 
in  a  room  on  East  Water  street,  one  block  east  of  Wisconsin  street.  There  was 
one  in  Sheboygan,  in  a  private  room,  by  T.  M.  Rublee;  one  in  Green  Bay  by 
Miss  Frances  Sears  of  35  scholars,  in  a  frame  school  house  24x30,  on  Cherry 
wtreet,  built  in  1834 ;  one  in  Prairie  du  Chien,  of  thirty  pupils,  taught  by  - 
and  an  infant  school  of  twenty  by  Miss  Kirby;  one  in  the  Methodist  log  meet- 
ing-house, at  Mineral  Point,  of  about  fifty  scholars,  and  one  in  Platteville,  of 
40  scholars,  taught  by  Dr.  A.  T.  Lacy,  in  a  log  school  house  20  by  22  feet, 
built  in  1834.  Samuel  Huntington  had  previously  taught  in  the  same  house. 
The  whole  number  of  scholars  taught  was  about  260. l 

"•  In  1836,   there  were   probably,  as  nearly  as   can  at  this   time  be  ascer- 
•  rtained,  six  Sabbath  schools  with  about  185  scholars. 

"  It  was  in  1836  and  onward  that  Eastern  emigration  poured  into  the  West 
as  u  mighty  stream.  Just  at  that  time  Wisconsin  was  opened  for  settlement. 
Its  hinds  were  surveyed  and  emigration  invited  to  its  shores.  The  financial 
crash  of  1837  succeeding  the  wild  speculation  of  1836,  reduced  many  families 

1  Supplementary  to  the  above  may  be  made  the  following  statements:  Rev.  Jason  La- 
throp  was  an  eccentric,  but  very  worthy.  Baptist  clergyman.  Mr.  West's  work  is  mentioned 
in  both  the  "  History  of  Milwaukee  "  (Western  Publishing  company)  and  the  "  History  of  Ed- 
ucation in  "Wisconsin."  His  Christian  name  is  not  given,  but  we  are  told  that  he  afterward 
removed  to  Appleton.  David  Worthington  was  one  of  three  who  held  in  May  or  June,  1835, 
what  Deacon  Daniel  Brown  thinks  was  the  first  prayer  meeting  in  Milwaukee.  Mr.  Worth- 
ington afterward  entered  the  ministry  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church.  But  neither  he 
noi  West  taught  what  was  absolutely  the  first  school  in  Milwaukee.  That  was  in  1835  by  a 
Mr.  «>r  Dr.  Heth.  He  had  few  pupils,  save  the  children  of  Solomon  and  Peter  Juneau.  "  F  " 
instead  of  "  T  "  should  appear  in  Mr.  Rublee's  name. 

It  may  be  added  that  to  Southport  (Kenosha)  belongs  the  honor  of  establishing  the  first 
public  school  in  Wisconsin.  Colonel  Michael  Frank,  historian  of  the  Congregational  church 
of  Kenosha,  did  more  than  any  other  man  to  secure  the  needed  legislation.  He  it  was,  also, 
who  "  framed  the  school  laws  of  this  state,  which,  by  subsequent  modification,  constitute  the 
school  code  of  to-day." 


22G  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

at  the  East  to  bankruptcy,  many  of  whom  in  order  to  retrieve  their  fortunes 
and  found  new  homes,  emigrated  here.  Among  these  were  many  men  and 
women  of  refinement  and  education,  and  of  sterling  moral  and  Christian  char- 
'acter,  some  of  whom  were  soon  found  in  almost  every  village  and  settlement. 
Their  cabins  were  opened  for  religious  meetings,  Sabbath  schools  and  the  preach- 
ing of  the  gospel.  They  became  the  members  and  officers  of  the  churches  soon 
after  formed.  Thus  the  moulding  of  the  Territory  in  its  laws,  its  educational, 
moral  and  religious  institutions  was  largely  given  into  the  hands  of  Eastern 
people." 

Well  did  these  men  do  their  work.  They  brought  hither  the  town  system 
of  local  government.  They  created  our  schools,  our  colleges  and  the  most 
highly  vitalized  of  our  churches.  They  led  the  way  wherein  have  followed 
men  of  multitudinous  nations.  Thus  has  been  brought  together  in  Wisconsin  a 
polyglot  people.  Of  these  a  majority  were  peasants  in  the  lands  whence  they 
came, —  that  is  men  without  social,  political  or  religious  responsibility,  men 
whose  chief  duty  was  unthinking  obedience  to  priest  and  king,  and  whose  chief 
privilege  was  the  stupefaction  of  the  beer  mug  on  Sundays.1  Yet  these  men, 
received  here  into  an  equality  of  political  and  social  privilege  that  perhaps  has 
not  a  parallel  in  the  world's  history,3  found  place  where  they, —  and  more  than 
they,  their  children, —  could  breathe  of  the  spirit  that  was  in  the  best  of  the  men 
who,  coming  some  from  the  South  and  more  from  the  East,  laid  here  the  founda- 
tions of  a  great  commonwealth, —  foundations  whereon  were  to  build  not  only 
their  own  children  and  the  sons  and  daughters  of  their  neighbors,  but  also  peo- 
ple of  strange  language  and  alien  citizenship.  Of  Wisconsin's  early  pioneers, 
we  may  say  in  the  words  of  Emerson  that  they  builded  better  than  they  knew. 

1  Sundays,  it  may  be  added,  which  ecclesiastical  and  political  tyranny  were  glad  to  have 
debased  into  times  of  frivolity  or  of  anything  rather  than  the  hallowing  thought  that  duty, 
rights  and  righteousness  are  found  primarily  in  the  personal  relation  of  every  soul  to  Al- 
mighty God. 

2  Under  the  laws  of  Wisconsin  a  man  does  not  need  to  be  a  citizen  to  be  a  voter.    It  is 
enough  that  he  has  merely  "  declared  his  intention  "to  become  a  citizen  and  has  lived  one 
year  in  the  state.    Our  present  system  is  well  illustrated  in  the  case  of  President  Eaton  of  Be- 
loit  college.    That  gentleman  is  a  native  of  Wisconsin,  was  educated  in  her  schools  and,  with 
absence  for  further  study,  made  his  home  here  until  he  entered  upon  professional  life.    Re- 
turning to  his  native  state  to  assume  the  presidency  of  his  alma  mater,  he  must  needs  wait 
for  the  privilege  of  voting,  as  long  as  the  foreign  emigrant.    That  is,  if  a  man  from  Sinope  in 
Asiatic  Turkey  or  from  Bjelometschetskaja  among  the  Caucasus  mountains  arrived  in  Wis- 
consin on  the  day  that  President  Eaton  returned  thither,  and  on  that  same  day  the  emigrant 
"  declared  his  intention  "  to  become  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  the  one  was  legally  enti- 
tled to  vote  as  soon  as  the  other.    It  is  said  that  men  have  voted  for  twenty  years  in  Wiscon- 
sin and  yet  been  in  a  position  to  repudiate  the  duties  of  American  citizenship.    Save,  per- 
haps, for  the  number  of  years,  this  statement  is  true  of  several  voters  in  the  little  city  where 
I  am  writing  on  the  day  following  the  autumn  election  of  1804. 


APPENDIX. 


IN  MEMORiAM. 


On  August  12th,  1894,  at  the  home  of  her  son,  Rev.  E.  P.  Wheeler,  in 
Ashland,  Wisconsin,  Mrs.  Harriet  Wood  Wheeler  breathed  her  last.  Her  death 
was  the  result  of  an  accidental  fall,  which  occasioned  concussion  of  the  brain 
and  a  broken  hip.  Her  case  was  a  hopeless  one  from  the  outset.  She  lingered 
along  for  eighteen  days,  enduring  the  greatest  suffering,  when  the  end  came.  A 
wide  circle  of  friends,  including  those  who  appreciated  the  worth  of  her  per- 
sonal qualities,  as  well  as  those  who  knew  of  her  missionary  services,  have 
united  in  asking  some  outline  sketch  of  her  life.  Filial  affection  yields  to  this 
request,  though  with  hesitation,  knowing  the  inadequacy  of  the  means  at  com- 
mand to  set  forth  in  words  the  spirit  of  the  life  it  would  portray.  The  follow- 
ing, however,  is  given,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  furnisli  some  fresh  suggestion  of 
grace  that  is  all-sufficient. 


MRS.  HARRIET  WOOD   WHEELER. 


The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Dracut,  now  a  part  of  Lowell,  Mas- 
sachusetts, on  December  4th,  1816.  She  was  of  Puritan  blood  in  both  lines  of 
descent.  Her  grandmother  on  her  father's  side  was  a  Whiting,  who  had  come 
down  from  a  long  line  of  godly  ancestors,  among  whom  were  several  ministers 
of  the  gospel.  Amjng  the  earliest  representatives  of  this  class  in  England, 
was  a  dissenting  clergyman  in  Lincolnshire,  in  the  early  days  of  non-conform- 
ity ;  another  a  mayor  of  Boston  of  the  same  shire,  and  a  third  ua  man  of  con- 
rable  note  in  the  time  of  Cromwell."  The  same  family  were  well  repre- 
sented in  the  religious  life  of  Boston,  in  the  early  days  of  New  England. 
Cotton  Mather  speaks  of  some  of  them  as  belonging  to  a  class  of  clergymen, 
who  were  ''reverend,  holy  and  faithful  ministers  of  the  gospel."  The  Wood 
ancestors  were  generally  represented  in  mercantile  pursuits.  From  them  she 
inherited  an  energetic  disposition  and  a  strong  constitution.  Her  mother  was  a 
Kendall  and  contributed  a  native  refinement  and  delicacy  in  the  make-up  of  her 
iiral  endowments.  From  all  lines  of  descent,  however,  there  was  given  her 
Puritan  conscience  which  subordinated  all  human  interests  to  the  divine  will, 
with  absolute  consent.  The  year  of  her  birth  was  a  crisis  in  the  religious  life 
of  her  parents.  Though  both  had  been  reared  with  all  the  strictness  and 
fidelity  common  to  the  orthodoxy  of  the  times,  neither  were  members  of  the 
church.  In  fact,  the  father  had  tried  to  justify  the  anomalous  attitude  he  was 
conscious  of  occupying,  by  the  ostensible  acceptance  of  the  Unitarian  faith. 
But  the  influence  of  early  training,  combined  with  growing  responsibilities 
made  an  issue  in  their  lives.  Weeks  of  mental  and  religious  struggle  followed. 
Out  of  it  all  came  the  clear  consciousness  and  acceptance  of  the  verities  of  the 
evangelical  faith.  They  united  with  the  Congregational  church  in  Dracut, 
and  later  on  became  charter  members  of  the  First  church  in  Lowell.  It  is  sig- 
nificant that  the  weekly  prayer  meetings  of  the  latter  church  were  held,  during 
the  first  year  of  its  history,  in  their  home.  Into  this  atmosphere  of  Christian 
/<  al,  Harriet  Wood  was  born.  That  it  had  its  effect  upon  the  very  beginnings 
of  her  moral  consciousness,  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  she  could  never  in  her 
after  life,  look  back  upon  a  time  when  she  was  not  a  Christian.  Her  earliest 
recollections  were  of  faith  and  trust  in  the  unseen  Father  of  all.  It  was  a  life 
of  trust  too,  out  of  which  poured  forth,  as  from  a  living  spring,  the  ministries 


232  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

of  Christian  service.  At  the  age  of  ten,  her  favorite  occupation,  Saturdays, 
was  to  visit  the  sick  and  needy  and  lavish  upon  them  the  sympathies  of  a  full 
heart,  as  well  as  to  supply,  as  generously  as  she  could,  the  means  for  their  physi- 
cal comfort.  When  she  had  reached  her  fourteenth  year,  the  home  was  bereft 
of  the  mother.  Her  dying  charge  to  the  daughter  Harriet  was  that  she  must 
now  become  the  mother  to  the  six  younger  sisters  and  one  brother.  Most 
prayerfully  and  devotedly  did  she  take  up  the  new  responsibility,  throwing  into 
it  all  that  ardent  and  generous  enthusiasm  so  native  to  her  spirit.  It  was  her 
habit  on  pleasant  mornings  to  gather  the  children  into  the  parlor  of  the  old 
home,  and,  after  reciting  a  verse  or  a  hymn,  marshal  them  all  off  into  the 
woods  for  a  romp  before  breakfast.  These  home  cares  accepted  so  heartily  and 
borne  with  such  loving  faithfulness,  developed  her  character  in  many  directions 
of  usefulness,  especially  on  its  religious  side.  And  s:>  it  came  about,  that  these 
early  responsibilities  matured  in  her  heart  the  conviction  that  the  consecrated 
life  was  the  only  true  life  to  live ;  and  it  was  this  thought  that  ultimately  be- 
came fixed  in  the  settled  purpose  to  give  her  life  in« missionary  service. 

During  her  sixteenth  year,  she  entered  Mary  Lyon's  school,  at  Ipswich. 
The  newly-awakened  zeal  in  missionary  work  was  in  full  tide  here,  and  Miss 
Lyon  lost  no  opportunity  of  inspiring  her  pupils  with  the  real  missionary 
spirit.  She  found  in  Miss  Wood  a  congenial  spirit  and  a  heart  tremblingly 
alive  to  the  missionary  appeal.  On  one  occasion  Miss  Lyon  invited  a  mission- 
ary from  Ohio  to  address  the  young  ladies  on  the  subject  of  Indian  missions. 
The  appeal  went  straight  to  hearts  that  were  responsive,  and  they  took  upon 
themselves  the  support  of  an  Indian  pupil  at  the  Mackinaw  mission  school. 
The  year  at  Ipswich  was  full  of  significance  for  Miss  Wood.  She  had  evi- 
dently caught  much  of  the  spirit  of  that  consecrated  genius  of  common  sense 
in  Christian  culture,  Mary  Lyon.  In  a  letter  to  her  father,  written  at  this 
time  she  says :  "  For  a  few  weeks  past  I  have  begun  to  look  around  and  con- 
sider what  I  must  become  when  I  leave  here,  and  the  more  I  think  of  it.  the 
more  I  am  bewildered.  I  very  much  wish  to  form  a  character  that  will  do 
some  good;  one  that  will  be  useful ;  not  one  that  will  live  only  for  the  gratifica- 
tion of  selfish  principles." 

She  returned  to  Lowell  to  take  up  her  home  duties  again ;  but  with  the 
added  purpose  of  serving  her  Master  more  unreservedly  than  ever  before  in  all 
the  relations  of  life.  It  was  not  without  a  struggle  that  she  renounced  her 
social  ambitions  from  the  worldly  standpoint  and  entered  with  fresh  consecia- 
tion  upon  the  work  of  the  church  with  which  she  had  become  identified.  Here 
her  Christian  aspiration  found  free  play.  Through  the  channels  of  the  Sun- 
day school,  and  through  the  varied  avenues  of  parish  work,  her  activities 
flowed  in  full  tide.  Her  visitings  among  the  poor  and  neglected  classes  and 
among  the  mill  operatives  of  Lowell  were  especially  fruitful ;  not  only  to  those 
thus  comforted,  but  reflexively  fruitful  in  the  culture  of  her  rare  spirit.  Be- 
fore the  days  of  deaconesses,  she  fully  sustained  that  relationship  to  her  church 
and  in  such  manner  as  to  merit  its  official  recognition.  It  was  in  the  midst  of 


MI  IS.    HAKUIKT  WOOD  WHEELKK.  233 

tin •>»•  labors  that  she  met  her  future  husband,  Leonard  Hemenway  Wheeler, 
who  was  completing  his  theological  course  with  a  view  of  entering  upon  mis- 
sion work  among  the  Chippewa  -Indiacs  of  Lake  Superior.  During  his  last 
term  at  Andover,  he  was  delegated  to  attend  certain  anniversary  exercises  at 
Lowell,  and  was  entertained  at  Mr.  Wood's  home.  The  acquaintance  thus  be- 
gun was  continued  for  the  few  months  Mr.  Wheeler  was  pursuing  medical 
studies  in  the  office  of  a  physician  at  Lowell,  as  supplementary  to  a  course  of 
medical  lectures  he  had  already  taken  at  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts.  The 
acquaintance  reached  its  destined  culmination  in  marriage,  April  26th,  1841. 
Mr.  Wheeler  was  already  under  commission  of  the  American  Board  to  labor 
among  the  Indians,  as  stated.  The  ordination  services  were  held  in  the 
Appleton  street  church,  with  which  Mrs.  Wheeler's  religious  activities  had  been 
so  intimately  identified.  From  its  benediction  and  blessing  they  proceded  to 
their  far  off  and  unfamiliar  field  of  labor,  visiting  for  a  short  time  on  their 
way  with  Mr.4  Wheeler's  family  in  Vermont. 

The  stay  at  the  old  homestead,  though  necessarily  brief,  made  its  impress 
on  the  young  bride.  Revisiting  the  scenes  of  Mr.  Wheeler's  boyhood,  recall- 
ing old  associations,  the  greetings  and  farewells  with  old  associates,  and  the 
mingling  of  all  in  the  chalice  of  sweet  Christian  fellowship,  made  this  final 
leave-taking  of  the  old  New  England  home  seem  like  the  passing  of  a  sacra- 
mental cup  of  true  communion  with  kindred  spirits  and  with  their  common 
Lord.  They  proceeded  at  once  to  their  field  of  labor.  The  journey  proved  a 
ng  and  wearisome  experience  in  those  days  of  slow  travel.  The  stage,  the 
am  packet,  the  bateau  and  sailing  craft  were  successively  brought  into  requi- 
tion  in  the  course  of  the  trip.  Arriving  at  Mackinaw,  they  found  it  essential 
d  profitable  to  tarry  a  week,  that  they  might  investigate  the  work  of  the  In- 
n  mission  at  that  point  and  also  gain  a  little  much  needed  rest.  From  this 
ion  they  set  out  again;  this  time  in  the  open  bateau  of  the  professional 

geur.  It  was  the  type  of  craft  that  had,  for  so  many  years,  served  the 
ilari  ii'.;-  and  zeal  of  the  French  discoverers  and  the  Jesuit  missionaries.  After 
nine  days  of  variable  weather  and  rough  sea-faring,  in  no  wise  tempered  to  the 
delicacy  of  Mrs.  Wheeler's  health,  they  reached  Madelaine  Island,  Sunday, 
August  1st,  1841.  The  missionaries  at  La  Pointe  gave  them  hearty  welcome, 
and  in  the  evening  of  this  first  Sabbath,  Mr.  Wheeler  preached  in  the  mis- 
sion church. 

At  the  time  of  their  arrival,  Madelaine  island  was  the  headquarters  of 
the  American  Fur  company,  and  through  this  corporation  the  emporium  of 
tra  If  for  all  the  region  north  and  west  of  Mackinaw.  Here  was  a  popula- 
tion varying  somewhat  with  the  seasons,  but  at  this  time  numbering  about  seven 
thousand  s>>uls.  principally  made  up  of  Ojibway  Indians.  Here  the  Fur  com- 
pany had  built  a  commodious  fort  and  official  residence  for  its  officers  and  their 
families-,  and  from  this  common  center  its  factors  and  agents  traversed  all  the 
adjacent  territory,  as  well  as  the  more  remote  regions  of  the  interior,  trading 


234  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

with  the  Indians  for  furs.  The  Indian  agent,  that  elusive  personality,  who,  in 
so  many  instances,  has  stood  as  the  unknown  quantity  in  his  alleged  media- 
torial capacity  between  the  Great  Father  at  Washington  and  his  much  pillaged 
children  of  the  forest,  was  also  quartered  at  the  island.  "  Payment  time,"  in 
the  fall  of  the  year,  was  always  an  occasion  of  much  interest  to  the  red  men, 
and  brought  large  companies  of  them  to  this  governmental  "  round-up,"  or  ren- 
dezvous, to  receive  the  annual  disbursements  of  money  and  miscellaneous 
items  due  them  under  terms  of  treaty.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  varied 
conditions  and  more  varied  people,  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wheeler  were  to  begin 
their  missionary  labor. 

The  young  couple  began  .housekeeping  in  the  mission  manse,  which  had 
already  been  provided  by  the  American  Board  for  the  use  of  its  missionaries.1 
The  structure,  comfortably  and  well  built  for  those  early  days  and,  at  that  time, 
remote  locality,  amply  accommodated  the  missionary  force  on  the  island.  It 
still  stands,  and  its  upper  rooms,  long  since  untenanted,  look  out  upon  the 
ever  varying  phase  of  water-view  and  landscape  that  still  yield  to  fancy  their 
old-time  spell  of  facination  and  charm.  Besides  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wheeler,  the 
manse  was  occupied  by  Rev.  Sherman  Hall  and  family,  founder  of  the  mission,2 
together  with  Miss  Abbie  Spooner  of  Athol,  Massachusetts,  who  had  accom- 
panied Mr.  Wheeler  to  the  island  to  teach  in  the  mission  school.  The  base- 
ment of  this  mission  home  was  fitted  up  as  a  school  room ;  and  here  Mrs. 
Wheeler  took  up  the  first  golden  threads  of  her  missionary  service,  the  day 
after  her  arrival.  She  began  as  teacher  in  this  mission  day-school,  but  the  un- 
stinted love  of  her  heart  saw  an  additional  opportunity,  and  she  soon  organized 
a  night  school  for  mothers.  Every  evening  from  fifteen  to  twenty  Indian 
mothers  gathered  in  her  rooms  for  instruction.  She  gave  them  lessons  in  sew- 
ing as  well  as  practical  talks  on  house-keeping;  some  also  learning  to  read  and 
write.  Prayer,  singing  and  reading  of  the  Bible,  gave  wing  and  spiritual  cheer 
to  every  session  of  the  mothers'  school;  and  souls  born  into  the  kingdom 
evidenced  the  Spirit's  blessing  on  the  work.  Mrs.  Wheeler  also  accompanied 
her  husband  in  his  daily  visits  to  the  wigwams  of  his  parish  and  assisted  him 
in  his  ministrations  to  the  sick  and  needy.  These  Indians  up  to  this  time3  were 
wholly  innocent  of  those  civilizing  influences  that  lead  to  better  things ;  were  in 
the  thick  darkness  of  heathenism  and  deep  in  poverty.  The  chase  and  fishing 
furnished  the  staples  of  a  more  or  less  precarious  subsistence.  AVearing  but 
little  clothing,  they  were  also  destitute  of  the  things  that  we  deem  the  m  >st 
common  comforts  of  life.  The  appeal  of  such  need  went  straight  to  the  heart 
of  Mrs.  Wheeler,  out  of  which  were  the  issues  of  such  untiring  ministries. 

She  writes  her  parents  at  this  time:  "You  can  hardly  imagine  how  much 
this  poor  people  suffer  in  sickness.  They  have  no  comfortable  houses,  no  soft 
pillows  to  recline  their  aching  heads  upon  and  no  palatable  food."  It  was  her 

1  See  page  156. 

3  I  should  prefer  to  call  Mr.  Ayer  the  "  founder  of  the  mission,"  though,  after  his  first 
coming  to  La  Pointe,  he  was  not  in  the  service  of  the  American  Board.— J.  N.  D. 
3  The  time  of  the  founding  of  the  mission. 


MRS.  HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  235 

daily  prayer  that  she  might  have  strength  and  grace  to  exert  a  saving  influence 
upon  these  people.  She  again  writes  home :  "  I  have  felt  for  some  time  that  I 
could  not  rest  satisfied  until  God  should  come  by  the  influence  of  His  Holy 
Spirit  and  convert  this  people.  Pray,  my  dear  parents,  that  we,  who  are  sent 
here  to  be  as  light  to  this  dark  people,  may  be,  indeed,  bright  and  shining  ones ; 
that  our  hearts  may  be  purified  and  sanctified,  and  made  meet  for  this  service." 

But  the  demands  on  her  time  and  strength  did  not  begin  and  end  in  this 
service  for  the  Indians  only.  During  the  summer  months  there  were  many  ar- 
rivals of  government  officials,  occasional  tourists,  and  of  those  in  search  of 
health.  The  sunny  temperament  and  rare  social  graces  of  the  new  hostess 
of  the  manse  invariably  attracted  these  new-comers  to  its  hearth  cheer.  It  was 
included  in  the  charge  of  the  American  Board  to  its  missionaries,  that  they 
should  give  entertainment  and  refreshment  to  the  stranger  within  their  gates  ; 
and,  for  this  purpose,  the  necessary  furnishings  were  provided.  Mrs.  Wheeler 
was  the  embodiment,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  of  unselfish,  unstinted  Christian 
cordiality.  Hers  was  a  heart  always  sympathetic  and  warm  toward  the  stranger. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  the  mission  home  on  the  island,  and  later  at  Odanah, 
was  a  veritable  "  wayside  inn  "  to  many  phases  of  humanity,  as  they  drifted  by 
in  tireless  search  of  wealth,  health  and  rest.  They  came  under  the  guise  of 
explorers,  tourists,  government  officials,  timbermen.  and  the  traditional  settler. 
Its  hospitality  was  impartial  and  its  slender  resources  were  made,  by  elastic  ad- 
justment, to  fit  all  occasions.  It  was  a  tabernacle  in  the  wilderness  for  those 
earlier  days, —  a  place  that  always  seemed  pervaded  with  the  sweet  incense  of 
two  consecrated  lives ;  a  house  of  prayerful  sunshine.  Hither  came  Grace  Green- 
wood in  search  of  rest  and  health.  Robert  Stuart  of  Irving's  "  Astoria,"  Indian 
Commissioner  Manypenny1  and  Agent  Richard  Smith,  all  friends  of  the  In- 
dians in  the  larger  sense,  were  among  the  "official  "  guests.  Professor  Joseph 
Emerson  also  came  from  the  classroom  of  a  Yale  tutorship  to  pass  a  vacation 
on  the  isl-md3  in  those  days  of  beginnings.  He  preached  in  the  newly-built 
mission  church,  and  thus  were  woven  those  golden  threads  of  friendship,  that 
twenty-five  years  later  drew  the  missionary,  worn  out  and  broken  in  health,  to 
Beloit  for  the  education  of  his  children.  It  was  in  this  home,  in  later  years, 
that  J.  Q.  Adams  Ward,  the  artist,  passed  some  weeks,  perfecting  his  models  of 
the  ideal  Indian  head,  which  he  subsequently  expanded  into  the  bronze  figure 
of  the  American  Indian  that  now  stands  in  Central  Park,  New  York.  But 
these  digressions  are  leading  us  too  widely  from  the  main  path  of  this  sketch. 

The  November  following  their  arrival  found  Mrs.  Wheeler  well  nigh  pros- 
trated with  the  summer's  work  and  the  growing  sense  of  the  magnitude  of  her 
mission.  The  twenty-fifth  of  the  month  was  a  memorable  day  with  her.  It 

the  anniversary  of  the  last  Thanksgiving  day  spent  in  her  New  England 
mie.  She  thus  writes  of  it  to  her  parents:  "This  has  been  an  interesting, 
igh  somewhat  trying,  day  to  me,  a  day  which  I  have  looked  forward  to  with 


1  (i.  W.  Manypenny,  commissioner  of  Indian  affairs  under  President  Pierce. 

2  About  the  time  that  he  began  work  in  Beloit  college,  and  that  was  in  1848. 


230.  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

interest  and  dread.  The  power  of  association  in  my  own  mind  is  so  strong, 
and  past  scenes,  looks  and  tones  come  rushing  upon  me  with  such  ovei  whelm- 
ing force,  that  I  dread  anything  that  has  a  tendency  to  remind  me  of  them. 
You  will,  I  think,  remember  the  occurences  of  that  day.  Oh,  what  a  day  of 
anxiety  and  trial  it  was  to  me.  With  what  fearfulness  and  trembling  did  1 
come  to  the  final  decision.  Never  can  I  forget  the  anxious  looks  of  my  dear 
parents.  The  enquiring  ones  of  my  little  sisters  have  come  up  before  me  to-day 
with  a  vividness  and  a  freshness  which  has  been  very  painful.  The  scenes  of 
that  evening  have  all  been  lived  over  again, —  our  parlor,  the  bright  fire,  my 
dear  parents,  that  happy  group  of  brothers  and  sisters. 

"When  I  seated  myself  in  my  chamber  this  morning,  the  thoughts  of 
home,  and  the  scenes  of  last  year  came  rushing  upon  me  with  such  force  as  al 
most  to  overwhelm  me.  For  a  few  moments  I  could  do  nothing  but  weep,  but 
soon  I  was  enabled  to  cast  myself  on  the  blessed  Redeemer,  to  look  to  him  for 
strength." 

This  25th  day  of  November,  1841,  was  one  of  great  struggle  in  her  soul, 
a  day  of  crisis  in  her  spiritual  life.  A  Thanksgiving  day  turned  into  one  of 
fasting  and  prayer  sufficiently  indicates  the  nature  and  intensity  of  the  struggle. 
The  picture  is  very  vivid  to  her  that  day,- — in  the  immediate  foreground  a  life 
of  privation  in  many  ways,  of  isolation,  of  the  giving  up  of  social  joys  and  its 
circle  of  kindred  spirits,  the  seemingly  narrower  path  of  influence  in  a  work 
among  a  degraded  people,  and  practical  renunciation  of  all  former  interests ; 
and  then  for  the  remote  background  of  this  picture,  that  far  away  New  Eng- 
land home,  with  its  cheer,  its  comforts,  its  kindred  and  plenty.  She  deeply 
felt  the  urgency  of  committing  her  way  unto  the  Lord  afresh,  and  she  can  not 
leave  that  chamber  of  fasting  and  prayer,  until  she  has,  in  solemn  covenant,  re- 
consecrated her  life  and  all  its  future  to  God.  That  covenant,  just  as  it  was 
penned  fifty-three  years  ago,  is  inserted  at  this  point,  as  it  seems  the  secret  of 
the  varied  fruitage  of  all  the  years  that  followed. 

COVENANT. 

"Almighty  and  most  merciful  God,  the  author  of  my  being  and  the  pre 
server  of  my  life,  I  desire  at  this  time,  with  the  deepest  reverence,  humility 
and  self-abasement  to  present  myself  before  thee,  sensible  of  my  utter  nn wor- 
thiness to  appear  in  thy  majesty's  presence,  especially  on  such  an  occasion  as 
this;  even  that  of  entering  into  a  solemn  and  everlasting  covenant  with  the 
King  of  Kings  and  Lord  of  Lords.  But  this  gracious  proposal  is  from  thee. 
Thine  infinite  mercy  and  condescension  have  opened  the  way,  and  thy  grace,  I 
trust,  has  inclined  my  heart  to  accept  the\ terms  of  that  gracious  covenant  ac- 
cording to  which  I  would  now  heartily  surrender  and  consecrate  myself  wholly 
to  thee,  to  be  thine  forever.  I  acknowledge  myself  a  great  sinner  and,  with  a 
penitent  heart,  beseech  thee  to  be  merciful  to  my  unrighteousness,  and  forgive 
all  my  sins  through  the  atonement  and  mediation  of  thy  dear  Son,  in  whom  are 
all  my  hopes  of  acceptance.  I  beseech  thee  to  pardon  and  receive  thy  prodigal 


MRS.  HAKiUET  WOOD  WHEELER.  237 

child,  who  desires  nothing  so  much  as  a  place  in  thy  family,  and  to  be  entirely 
devoted  to  thy  glory.  And  yet  such  is  the  exceeding  sinfulness  of  my  heart 
and  life  that  I  cannot  approach  this  solemn  transaction  without  trembling.  But 
convinced  that  it  is  but  a  reasonable  service,  I  do  this  day,  in  the  presence  of 
witnessing  angels,  make  an  entire  and  hearty  surrender  of  myself  to  thee.  I 
yield  to  thee  my  mortal  body  with  all  its  members,  faculties  and  senses  to  be 
henceforth  wholly  employed  in  thy  service  and  resigned  to  thy  will.  To  thee  I 
also  surrender  my  rational  and  immortal  soul  with  all  its  intellectual  and  moral 
powers,  to  be  used,  directed  and  disposed  of,  according  to  thy  holy  and  sov- 
ereign pleasure.  I  also  surrender  and  consecrate  to  thee  all  my  time,  property 
and  influence,  accounting  myself  (hy  servant  bound  to  improve  all  to  thy  glory, 
and  submit  all  my  interests  and  desires  to  thy  management  and  direction.  At 
the  same  time  I  renounce  all  other  Lords  which  have  had  dominion  over  me 
and  choose  and  avouch  the  Lord  Jehovah,  Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit  to  be 
my  God  and  portion  forever.  I  take  and  own  God,  the  Father,  as  my  Father 
in  heaven,  engaging  thus  the  aid  of  his  grace  to  love  and  obey  him  as  such,  and 
humbly  pray  to  be  owned  and  blessed  of  him  as  a  daughter  of  the  Lord  Al- 
mighty. The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  I  accept  as  my  only  Redeemer  and  Saviour, 
beseeching  him  to  wash  my  polluted  soul  in  the  fountain  of  his  blood  and  make 
me  a  meek,  exemplary  follower  of  him  till  death  and  then  receive  me  to  his 
everlasting  kingdom.  The  Holy  Ghost  I  also  avouch  as  my  Enlightener,  Guide, 
Sanctifier  and  Comforter  entreating  him  to  make  my  heart  the  temple  of  his 
residence,  to  shed  abroad  a  Saviour's  love  there,  to  lead  and  enliven  all  my  de- 
votion, and  bring  every  thought  and  desire  into  subjection  to  the  divine  will. 

And  now,  O  Lord,  behold  I  am  thine ;  oh  make  me  a  faithful  servant,  a 
willing  and  obedient  child.  Use  me  for  thy  glory  as  seemeth  good  in  thy  sight. 
Put  me  among  thy  children  and  number  me  among  thy  peculiar  people.  Feed 
and  nourish  my  soul  from  thy  bounteous  table  and  clothe  me  with  the  robe  of 
salvation  prepared  by  the  labors  and  sufferings  of  thy  dear  Son.  While  I  live 
enable  me  to  live  wholly  to  thee,  performing  the  duties  and  fulfilling  the  obli- 
gations of  this  solemn  covenant,  or  if  at  any  time,  through  indwelling  sin,  I 
violate  my  covenant  vows,  oh,  let  not  thy  loving  kindness  depart  from  me  nor 
thy  covenant  of  peace  be  removed ;  but  grant  me  evangelical  repentance  and 
faith  in  Christ,  and  then  save  me  from  all  my  backslidings  and  by  every  fall 
make  me  more  humbly  watchful  and  prayerful,  that  my  path  may  be  as  the  ris- 
ing light,  which  shineth  brighter  and  brighter  to  the  perfect  day.  And  when 
iy  warfare  shall  be  accomplished,  my  work  on  earth  finished,  receive  me  to 
tyself  in  that  time  and  way  which  shall  be  most  for  thy  glory,  only  grant,  I 
thee,  that  amid  the  struggles  of  dissolving  nature,  I  may  enjoy  thy 
cious  presence,  have  the  peace  of  God  ruling  in  my  heart  and  be  enabled  to 
ploy  the  last  breathings  of  mortality  in  thy  praise.  And  when  this  clay 
rnacle  shall  be  returned  to  the  earth  from  which  it  was  taken,  and  this  im- 
rtal  soul,  now  engaged  in  covenant  with  its  Maker,  shall  have  entered  on  the 
ibution  of  eternity,  should  this  memorial  meet  the  eye  of  survivors,  may  it 


238  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

prove  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  the  Spirit  of  awakening  and  saving  such 
as  are  impenitent  and  of  quickening  to  greater  care,  diligence  and  zeal  such  as 
have  tasted  that  the  Lord  is  gracious,  that  they  may  be  prepared  to  join  with 
the  covenant  people  of  God,  who  are  before  the  throne,  in  ascribing  blessing 
and  honor  and  glory  and  power  unto  him  that  sitteth  on  the  throne  and  to  the 
Lamb  forever  and  ever.  Amen. 

HARRIET  WHEELER. 
La  Pointe,  Lake  Superior,  Nov.  25th,  1841. 

During  the  summer  of  1842,  Mrs.  Wheeler  accompanied  her  husband  to 
the  Fond  du  Lac  mission,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  to  assist  Missionary 
Ely  in  revival  services.  The  mission  was  located  not  far  from  where  Duluth 
now  stands.  They  made  the  voyage  in  the  mission  sail-boat,  camping  two 
nights  on  the  way.  A  place  in  which  to  hold  the  services  was  the  first  requi- 
site after  arrival.  A  lodge  was  accordingly  built,  its  skeleton  of  cedar  poles 
serving  as  studding  and  rafters ;  the  top  covered  with  cedar  bark  and  the  sides 
left  open.  Such  was  the  somewhat  primitive  place  of  worship,  meant  to  serve 
only  a  temporary  purpose ;  but  the  Spirit  was  ther3  in  the  richness  of  his  power 
and  builded  for  all  eternity  in  the  hearts  of  humble  and  contrite  seekers.  In 
a  letter1  home,  Mrs.  Wheeler  thus  writes  of  the  services:  "The  meetings  to-day 
have  been  very  solemn  and  interesting,  this  evening  especially  so.  It  was  a 
prayer  and  confessional  meeting,  and  I  have  been  very  much  interested  in  hear- 
ing these  Spirit-taught  children  speak  and  pray.  The  first  one  who  spoke  had 
been  a  medicine  man  until  within  a  few  weeks.  When  the  war  party  fitted  out 
for  the  Sioux  country  this  spring,  he  called  on  Mr.  Ely,  the  missionary,  shook 
hands  with  him,  and  told  him  if  the  Lord  .spared  his  life  to  return  again,  he 
wonld  go  to  war  no  more,  but  would  live  differently.  He  went.  Towards  the 
close  of  a  battle,  the  Chippeways  were  obliged  to  flee.  The  Sioux  took  another 
route  and  came  out  directly  in  front  of  them.  The  balls  cf  the  enemy  were 
flying  about  his  head  on  every  side.  Death  stared  him  in  the  face.  He  says 
that  he  then  promised  the  Lord  in  his  heart,  that,  if  he  would  spare  his  life,  he 
would  listen  to  his  word.  When  he  returned  he  told  Mr.  Ely  his  promise, 
came  and  settled  down  with  his  people,  and  ever  since  has  been  an  attentive 
listener  to  the  preaching  of  the  gospel.  This  evening  he  has  publicly  renounced 
his  heathenism  and  expressed  his  determination  to  become  a  Christian.  He 
told  the  Indians  that  they  must  not  invite  him  again  to  their  metawfi  (relig- 
ious) dances  or  their  feasts.  He  appears  to  be  sincere-  This  afternoon  Mr. 
Wheeler  visited  him  at  his  lodge  and,  after  conversing  with  him,  turned  to 
his  wife  and  asked  her  how  she  felt.  'She,'  said  he,  'will  go  with  me. 
When  I  travel,  she  generally  sits  in  the  stern  of  the  canoe,  and  I  forward.  She 
is  not  quite  as  far  along  as  I,  for  I  am  the  length  of  the  boat  before  her,  but 

1  Dated  at  Fond  du  Lac  (of  Lake  Superior),  July  20th,  1842.  The  Sabbath  following  was 
July  24th,  "  the  interesting  day,"  probably,  that  Mrs.  Wheeler  writes  of  in  the  next  para- 
graph. Other  letters  that  have  been  quoted  from  bear  dates  as  follows:  That  from  Ipswich 
to  her  father:  1832,  July  27th.  That  from  La  Pointe,  telling  of  the  Indians'  suffering  in  ill- 
ness: 1841,  November  20th. 


MRS.   HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  239 

she  will  follow.'  A  number  of  the  Indians  spoke  this  evening;  one  of  them 
had  recently  united  with  the  church  at  Sandy  Lake.  Before  he  commenced 
speaking,  he  went  round  and  shook  hands  with  the  missionaries.  This  he  did, 
he  said,  to  keep  up  his  fellowship  with  them.  He  expressed  a  strong  desire 
that  all  the  natives  should  become  Christians.  He  said  that  he  wished  they 
would  all  be  like  little  children,  who,  when  any  danger  was  near,  would  run  to 
their  mother  and  cling  to  her.  So  he  wished  all  would  flee  to  Christ  and  cling 
to  Him.  In  his  address  to  the  Indians  he  told  them  to  look  about  upon  this 
world  and  to  see  the  works  of  God.  *  But,'  said  he,  '  where  are  the  tracks  of 
our  gods;  we  cannot  see  anything  that  they  have  made.'  Some  of  the  Chris- 
tian Indians  exhorted  each  other  to  live  more  holy;  and  to  renew  their  conse- 
cration to  the  service  of  God.  It  was  a  solemn  and  interesting  season.  All 
without  was  calm  and  still.  The  bright  moon  cast  its  silvery  rays  into  our  lit- 
tle tabernacle,  and  here  were  a  people  recently  sunk  in  all  the  horrors  and  de- 
gradation of  heathenism ;  now  singing  the  praises  of  God  and  calling  upon  his 
name.  I  remarked  to  L.  [Mr.  Wheeler]  this  evening,  that  it  was  enough  to 
repay  us  for  all  the  privation  we  were  called  to  endure  to  witness  such  a  scene. 

"Sabbath  evening:  This  has  truly  been  an  interesting  day.  This  after- 
noon the  sacrament  was  administered,  and  two  Indians  were  admitted  to  the 
church.  One  of  these  was  an  old  man.  He  is  the  head  chief  of  the  band. 
He  is  very  tall  and  dignified  in  appearance.  It  was  an  affecting  sight  to  see 
him  come  and  kneel  before  the  desk,  and  receive  the  ordinance  of  baptism. 
Mr.  Wheeler  baptized  him  and  gave  him  the  name  of  David.  Two  of  his 
children  were  baptized  also.  The  other  person  admitted  was  a  young  woman, 
wife  of  one  of  the  native  members.  I  cannot  describe  to  you  my  emotions,  as 
I  celebrated  the  dying  love  of  Jesus  with  this  little  band  in  the  wilderness." 
Soon  after  this,  the  joint  service  with  Mr.  Ely  of  this  Fond  du  Lac  mission  was 
brought  to  a  close.  The  return  trip  to  Madelaine  island,  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Wheeler,  was  not  without  incident.  They  were  wind-bound  for  several  days 
and  their  provisions  failed  them  before  it  was  safe  to  continue  the  voyage. 
They  committed  themselves  afresh  unto  the  care  of  the  Lord,  and  during  the 
night  following  the  day,  they  had  eaten  the  last  of  the  food,  the  wind  went 
down.  They  immediately  set  sail  and  reached  the .  mission  without  further  de- 
lay the  next  forenoon.  Here  the  work  was  taken  up  again  as  already  outlined 
and  pushed  forward  with  renewed  zeal. 

The  rearing  of  a  family  began,  in  the  year  following,  to  engage  the  thought 
and  love  of  Mrs.  Wheeler.  In  March  of  1843,  a  son  was  given  her  and  in 
January  of  1845,  a  daughter  was  added  to  the  family.  A  letter  to  her  par- 
ents at  this  time  is  interesting  as  setting  forth  her  views  with  reference  to  the 
problem  of  "  bringing  up  "  missionary  children.  She  writes:1  "They  call  me 
here  an  over-anxious  mother.  Be  this  as  it  may,  I  cannot  help  it.  Perhaps  you 
would  like  to  know  what  we  intend  to  do  with  the  children,  should  they  be 
spared  us.  My  present  opinion  is  that  we  shall  not  send  them  away  from  us, 

1  From  La  Pointe,  January  4th,  1846. 


240  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

at  least,  not  until  they  are  able  to  take  care  of  themselves.  I  can  not  yet  see 
the  consistency  of  missionaries'  neglecting  their  own  children  or  of  throwing 
them  upon  the  care  of  others,  that  they  may  be  at  liberty  to  devote  themselves 
exclusively  to  the  heathen.  Besides,  the  heathen  need  the  influence  and  ex- 
ample of  a  well-regulated  household.  They  need  to  see  the  great  principles  of 
the  gospel  embodied;  acted  out.  A  missionary's  family  should  be  a  model  one, 
exhibiting  to  the  heathen  all  that  is  lovely  and  desirable.  The  poor,  dark- 
minded  heathen  want  something  more  than  a  good  theory.  Will  you  not  pray, 
my  dear  parents,  that  your  children  may  be  enabled  to  emit  a  steady,  unwaver- 
ing light  in  this  dark  land.  Oh,  never  did  I  know  the  crushing  weight  of 
responsibility,  until  I  had  the  charge  of  a  family  on  missionary  ground." 

It  soon  became  apparent  to  Mr.  Wheeler,  that  the  location  of  the  mission 
on  Madelaine  island,  did  not  admit  of  reaching  the  Indians  under  settled  con- 
ditions of  life.  He  felt  that  the  work  could  not  be  established  there  on  per- 
manent foundations.  While  the  Indians  resorted  to  the  island  in  large  numbers 
for  their  "  payments "  and  for  trading,  the  conditions  did  not  seem  suited  to 
the  support  of  a  settled  population.  And  even  these  attractions  would  soon  be 
wanting,  in  the  withdrawal  of  the  American  Fur  company,  with  its  stores,  sup- 
plies and  trading  retinue.  Accordingly,  early  in  1845,  Mr.  Wheeler  had  se- 
lected a  site  at  the  confluence  of  the  White  with  the  Bad  river,  as  a  point 
having  resources  in  its  soil  and  products  that  would  invite  permanent  settle- 
ment. It  was  easily  accessible  from  the  main  lake  through  Bad  river,  and 
from  Chequamegon  bay  through  the  Caucaugon.  The  soil  of  the  river  bottom 
was  very  responsive  to  cultivation  and  the  remoter  banks  of  both  streams  heav- 
ily timbered,  including  a  large  percentage  of  hard  maple,  which  Indian  enter- 
prise soon  developed  into  thriving  "sugar  bushes."  Extensive  fields  of  wild  rice 
also  flanked  the  sluggish  current  of  the  Caucaugon  on  either  side.  Here  Mr. 
Wheeler  proceeded  to  make  a  clearing  and  to  build  the  necessary  structures  in 
which  to  begin  the  work  of  a  branch  mission.  The  place  soon  came  to  be 
known  as  Olanah,  the  Indians  later  adding  the  more  descriptive  appellative  of 
'•The  Gardens."  In  the  summer  of  1845,  Mrs.  Wheeler  came  to  Odanah. 
The  house  she  occupied  that  first  season  was  a  primitive  affair  of  logs,  with  a 
bark  roof.  The  space  thus  inclosed  served  as  parlor,  sleeping,  dining  and 
school  room,  and  on  the  Sabbath  as  a  chapel.  In  regard  to  the  Odanah  enter- 
prise thus  early  undertaken,  Mrs.  Wheeler  writes :  **  We  feel  that  there  is  but 
little  prospect  of  doing  the  Indians  permanent  good,  while  they  are  wandering 
about  from  place  to  place.  Nothing  can  be  done  for  their  civilization  under 
such  circumstances;  and  we  find  that  Christianity  and  civilization  go  hand  in 
hand.  They  are  inseparable."  At  Odanah  she  soon  gathered  for  instruction 
about  fifty  pupils,  the  majority  of  whom  were  boys.  It  was  indeed  at  first 
hand  that  she  took  them  for  training,  wholly  innocent  hitherto  of  any  touch  of 
culture.  She  thus  describes1  their  appearance:  "Some  of  them  came  with 
their  long  black  hair  streaming  over  their  shoulders.  Other  with  it  braided, 

1  Winter  of  1845. 


MRS.   HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  241 

with  thimbles  and  potato  balls  attached  to  the  ends.  Others  with  it  tied 
up  with  a  string  of  red  flannel,  and  others  again,  still  more  exquisite  in  their 
tastes,  had  a  bunch  of  wild  flowers  tied  in.  Their  hands  and  faces  looked  as  if 
they  were  perfect  strangers  to  the  blessings  of  cold  water.  However,  I  could 
not  help  loving  some  of  them  at  least;  and  I  spent  many  happy  hours  with  my 
wild,  bright-eyed  Indian  children  in  the  shanty."  An  extract  from  a  letter 
written  to  the  Young  People's  Missionary  society  of  Lowell,  Massachusetts,  is 
interesting  as  showing  how  one's  estimate  of  the  Indian  character  may  need  re- 
vision after  actual  contract  with  them.  She  writes:  *  *  "This 
whole  subject  is  invested  with  such  a  sacredness  and  encircled  with  such  a  halo 
of  romance,  that  it  is  impossible  for  others  to  get  the  subject  before  their  minds 
in  a  true  light ;  to  obtain  a  correct  impression.  They  have  heard  so  much  of 
the  poetry  of  Indian  character,  of  his  proud  and  lofty  bearing,  of  his  grati- 
tude for  favors,  and  of  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  nature's  children,  that  they 
entirely  lose  sight  of  the  darker  shades  of  the  picture.  Perhaps  few  have  had 
more  of  this  feeling  than  I  had  myself  when  I  first  came  to  this  country ;  but 
I  can  assure  you  that  it  did  not  require  many  weeks  of  actual  experience  on  the 
ground,  to  put  to  flight  all  such  ideas.  I  found  it  was  sober,  prose  business  ;  a 
stern  reality,  but  yet  a  most  precious,  a  most  blessed  work."  Mr.  Wheeler, 
while  appreciating  the  difficulty  of  the  problem,  felt  that  the  work  was  indeed 
a  blessed  one.  He  writes :  "  I  have  never  seen  the  day  yet,  when  I  regretted 
having  come  to  preach  the  gospel  to  these  poor  people.  Could  you  see  these 
poor  people  as  we  do,  in  all  their  blindness  and  sin,  you  would  feel  more  than 
ever  before,  that  it  was  not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord,  that  men  are  to  be  saved."  The  first  snow  storm  of  this  first  season  at 
Odanah,  was  the  signal  for  their  return  to  the  island  to  continue  there  the  work 
for  the  winter. 

In  the  spring  of  1846,  Mr.  Wheeler  began  laying  the  foundations  for  sub- 
stantial and  permanent  work  at  Odanah.  The  needed  buildings  were  erected, 
and  one.  which  was  completed  in  the  fall,  was  occupied  by  his  family ;  and 
from  that  time,  till  the  end  of  his  missionary  service,  continued  to  be  their 
home.  It  came  to  be  a  home  very  much  endeared  to  the  heart  of  every  mem- 
ber of  that  household ;  and  how  could  it  be  otherwise  with  two  such  lives  to 
hallow  it?  Now  that  both  have  been  gathered  to  the  home  above  and  the  "rest 
that  remaineth ; "  with  what  love  does  memory  cherish  all  the  associations  of 
that  dear  old  mission  home,  the  morning  and  evening  worship  with  the  never- 
failing  hymn  of  faith,  the  verses  of  Scripture,  the  prayer,  and  the  day  between 
these  two  gateways  filled  with  its  appointed  routine  of  service.  And  then  the 
anniversaries  in  the  old  home.  Its  Thanksgiving  days,  Christmasses,  New 
Year's  days  and  its  Fourths  of  July,  all  made  bright  and  gladsome  by  the 
'singleness"  of  the  one  heart  of  love  of  that  father  and  mother.  Nor  must 
26th  of  April  be  forgotten,  the  anniversary  of  their  marriage.  Many  a 
planted  on  that  day  keeps  green  the  memory  of  that  first  love.  But  the 
>bath»  of  that  home  touch  the  springs  of  tenderest  recollections.  How  full 


242  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

of  sweet  solicitude  were  these  hearts,  lest  the  day  should  be  misspent  and  its 
blessings  unappreciated.  How  careful  were  they  that  every  thing  in  that  home 
should  be  in  order  the  night  before  and  that  nothing  obtrude  to  weaken  the 
sense  of  sacredness  that  their  convictions  told  them  belonged  to  the  Sabbath, 
and  all  this  without  making  the  children  feel  that  it  was  either  an  irksome  or 
tiresome  day.  But  the  sentiment  of  that  line  of  the  old  hymn  came  to  be  theirs : 

"  Thine  earthly  Sabbaths  Lord  we  love," 

And  again  as  expressed  in  those  other  lines  of  the  hymn : 
"  Day  of  all  the  week  the  best, 
Emblem  of  eternal  rest." 

Aside  from  the  regular  church  services,  the  sweet  songs  of  Zion  from  the 
old  "Plymouth  Collection"  and  from  other  sources,  had  a  prominent  place 
in  the  home  observance  of  the  day ;  and  as  the  twilight  deepened  into  night, 
the  family  never  failed  to  gather  about  the  mother  to  listen,  with  rapt  attention, 
to  the  old  Bible  stories  and  the  lessons  she  invariably  drew  from  them.  But 
the  dear  old  mission  home  can  live  only  in  memory  till  the  coming  of  that  day 
of  redemption,  when  the  God  of  the  covenant  shall  complete  again  the  house- 
hold circle  of  those  old  mission  days,  now  broken  but  for  a  time. 

During  this  first  winter  in  the  new  home  at  Odanah,  Mr.  Wheeler  con- 
ducted seryices  at  the  mining  and  logging  camps  in  the  vicinity.  Mrs.  Wheeler 
frequently  accompanied  him  and  was  always  courteously  received.  The  greasy 
packs  of  cards  were  kept  in  the  background  and  rough  words  held  in  abeyance 
during  their  stay  at  the  camps.  She  rever  went  empty-handed,  but  always  filled 
with  good  things,  as  was  her  heart  with  love.  The  home-cooked  food  she  would 
take,  supplemented  with  papers,  magazines  and  books  that  might  be  spared  from 
the  mission  always  found  hungry  men  and  appreciative  hearts  in  these  camps. 
The  books  passed  from  one  circle  of .  readers  to  another,  and  in  this  way  eight- 
een volumes  of  Abbptt's  histories  were  literally  read  to  pieces  and  D'Aubigne's 
History  of  the  Reformation  was  about  as  seriously  devoured. 

In  her  own  home,  Mrs.  Wheeler  was  the  most  unselfish  and  devoted  of 
mothers.  Her  tasks  had  no  relation  to  the  hour-glass  of  mere  time  service,  but 
early  and  late  was  loving  toil  poured  forth  for  her  family  as  unstintedly  and 
joyously  as  a  lark's  song.  .  She  was  always  abounding  in  those  youthful  sym- 
pathies that  made  her  so  companionable  to  her  children  and  so  beloved  of  all 
young  pedple.  She  was  always  in  totfch  with  young  life; an  appreciative  sharer 
of  its  pains  and  pleasures.  And  so  it  was  not  much  less  than  intuitive  for  her 
to  kindle,  each  year,  the  enthusiasms  of  her  always  youthful  spirit  over  the  ob- 
servance of  recurring  anniversary  days*  She  was  the  inspiration,  and  at  the 
same  time,  the  happiest  expression  of  such  occasions.  Thanksgiving  day  must 
be  celebrated  with  all  its  delightful  features  of  .family  reunion  and  good  cheer 
as  in  the  old  New  England  home.  The  blessedness  of  giving,  rather  than  of 
receiving,  was  the  never-failing  lesson  of  the  Christmas  season.  She  never 
broke  the  spell  with  which  child-wonder  invested  all  the  preliminaries  leading 
up  to  the  Christmas  tree  and  the  mysteries  of  Santa  Glaus.  It  was  a  very 
happy  expectant  group  that  gathered  about  the  magic  tree,  which  had  been  set 


MRS.   HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  243 

up  either  in  the  large  dining-hall  of  the  boarding-school  or  in  the  school  house, 
as  convenience  might  suggest.  Its  glories  were  curtained  from  the  little  throng, 
—  in  which  were  included  the  Indian  girls  and  boys  of  the  boarding-school,  as 
well  as  the  members  of  the  mission  families, —  until  their  exuberance  of  spirits 
had  found  its  joyous  outlet  in  song.  And  while  the  strains  of  "Happy 
Greeting  to  All "  resounded  on  every  side,  those  behind  the  curtain,  and  in  the 
secret  of  Santa  Glaus,  were  lighting  up  the  innumerable  candles  of  the  little 
mother's  own  making.  And  then  the  veil  was  drawn  and  the  perennial  miracle 
of  the  evergreen  tree  stood  revealed.  The  candles  twinkled  to  the  music  of 
dancing  eyes.  The  numberless  little  cakes  in  every  variety  of  form,  sparkled 
in  holiday  frosting.  The  less  numerous  and  half-hidden  surprises  of  candy  and 
nuts  shown  wi'h  softened  glow  through  their  dainty  bags  of  gauze.  The  daz- 
zle of  Indian  bead-work  in  many  forms  of  fanciful  pattern  and  rich  coloring 
hightened  the  charm.  The  many  little  "  mokuks ';  of  birch  bark  curiously 
carved  and  filled  with  maple  sugar,  the  square  parcels  of  maple  gum-sugar  done 
up  in  birch  bark  and  tied  with  shreds  or  strings  of  basswood  bark,  the  pairs  of 
m  >ccasins  with  th'air  rich  embroideries,  the  mittens  of  buckskin  and  bright  col- 
ored yarns  —  these,  and  many  other  kinds  of  fruit,  burdened  that  tree  from  top- 
most bough  to  base.  Bat  that  base  had  its  own  peculiar  attractions  for  the 
boys.  About  it  were  grouped  the  coveted  sled  or  tobbogan,  the  pairs  of  snow- 
shoes  with  their  bright  trimmings,  the  gayly-stained  bows  and  arrows,  the  baby 
ox-yoke  for  yoking  up  pet  yearlings,  and  such  other  things  as  boys  prize.  Then 
began  the  disenchantment  of  the  tree  in  the  distribution  of  the  gifts ;  and,  after 
that,  a  short  address,  appropriate  to  the  occasion,  carried  home  to  the  heart  on 
the  wings  of  song.  A  round  of  good,  old-fashioned  games  concluded  the  fes- 
tivities. Thus  flowed  Christmas  tide  at  the  mission ;  and  its  warm  currents  of 
glad  cheer  never  failed  to  soften  down  the  sterner  realities  of  the  work  and  to 
make  its  privations  and  hardships. seem  less  drear. 

Mrs.  Wheeler's  thoughtful  care,  though  taxed  in  so  many  directions,  did 
not  overlook  the  children's  birthdays.  In  the  earlier  days  of  the  mission,  the 
mother,  attired  in  a  green  Irish  poplin  gown  of  rich  texture  and  elaborate  de- 
sign, was  inseparably  associated  in  the  minds  of  the  older  children  with  those 
celebrations.  A  table,  spread  with  the  linen  and  set  with  the  china,  reserved 
for  state  occasions  only,  still  further  dignified  such  days.  And  then  the  happy 
recipient  of  these  honors  was  remembered  with  some  delicacy  to  which  he  was 
specially  partial  and  which  had  been  fondly  hoarded  till  the  set  day  had  come. 
The  opportunity  was  not  lost  of  supplementing  all  with  kindly  words  of  coun- 
sel —  often  in  the  language  of  Scripture.  But  in  her  care  and  solicitude  for  her 
family,  all  days  were  as  birthdays.  How  many  and  delightful  evening  hours  of 
reading  before  the  good  nights  were  said ;  how  many  hours  of  plying  of  the 
needle  after  all  others  had  retired ;  and,  after  that,  how  many  hours  spent  with 
candle  or  lamp  in  hand,  making  the  nightly  round,  simply  to  assure  her  heart 
that  ;ill  was  well  with  the  sleeping  children  ;  and  finally  how  many  hours,  reach- 
ing far  into  the  night,  of  fervent  prayer  and  of  personal  communing  with  God 


244  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

and.  his  Scriptures.  The  sum  of  them  all  is  known  to  Him  only,  "whoseeth  in 
secret."  Nor  were  these  outgoings  of  her  life  for  her  own  children  alone ;  but 
under  the  hovering  of  these  wings  of  her  care  and  solicitude,  were  gathered,  at 
various  times  and  for  periods  of  many  years  in  some  instances,  the  motherless 
girl,  the  homeless  boy,  the  tired-out  teacher  and  the  broken-down  missionary. 

The  days  that  brought  the  missionary  box  and  annual  supplies  from  ''be- 
low" (a  word  mysteriously  significant,  in  the  minds  of  the  children,  of  teeming 
cities  and  of  cultured  white  people),  came  to  be  somewhat  of  the  nature  of 
anniversary  days,  and  looked  forward  to  with  expectation  that  was  never  dis- 
appointed. The  box  came  from  the  church  and  Lowell  relatives  of  Mrs. 
Wheeler,  and  its  opening  at  the  mission  home  was  always  an  occasion  of  joy, 
not  unmingled  with  the  tear  that  the  heart  could  not  keep  back  as  the  tokens  of 
loving  remembrance  were  brought  to  view.  But  this  sketch,  in  its  unfolding, 
must  not  linger  too  long  within  the  magnetic  circle  of  that  purely  household 
life ;  though  a  return  to  the  chronological  development  of  the  work  may  seem 
somewhat  abrupt. 

The  progress  of  the  work  among  the  Indians  at  Odanah  is  indicated  in  the 
following  extract  from  a  letter l  of  Mr.  Wheeler's  to  his  father.  *  "  We 
have  had  a  very  good  season  here  this  year.  The  Indians  have  gathered 
quite  a  crop  of  corn  this  fall  and  their  potatoes  will  be  good.  This  people  are 
making  sure  progress  in  civilization,  and,  during  the  spring  and  summer,  more 
attended  the  meetings  than  at  any  other  time  since  we  have  been  here,  and  our 
school  also  has  been  better  attended.  But  what  will  be  the  result  of  all  our  la- 
bor here  yet,  we  can  not  tell.  One  thing  to  our  minds  is  certain,  that  the  gospel 
is  the  only  thing  that  will  ever  save  this  people  even  for  time.  I  am  fully  con- 
vinced that  they  will  be  civilized  only  in  proportion  as  they  are  brought  under 
the  influences  of  religion.  We  feel  that  the  present  is  a  most  critical  time  with 
the  Indians  in  this  vicinity.  The  laws  of  the  state  are  such  that  any  Indian 
who  adopts  the  habits  of  civilized  life,  can  become  a  citizen.  And  as  the  gos- 
pel is  that  alone  which  will  make  any  fundamental  change  in  their  habits,  we 
feel  that  a  great  weight  of  responsibility  rests  upon  us,  to  do  what  we  can  to 
interpose  this  saving  influence  between  them  and  annihilation ;  and  what  we  do 
must  be  done  quickly." 

In  the  fall  of  1850,  Mrs.  Wheeler  with  the  children  returned,  for  the  first 
time  since  marriage,  to  her  Lowell  home.  She  not  only  needed  the  change  and 
rest,  but  wished  to  give  her  children  the  advantage  of  a  winter's  schooling  in  a 
thriving  city.  The  opportunity  was  well  improved,  and  all  returned  to  Odanah 
the  following  summer.  At  once  Mrs.  Wheeler  entered  upon  the  work  that, 
for  the  few  months  of  her  absence,  had  been  intermitted.  It  was  gratifying 
to  note  evidences  of  advancement  on  the  part  of  the  Indians.  One  by  one 
they  forsook  their  wigwams  and  began  to  establish  themselves  in  more  perma- 
nent dwellings,  to  cultivate  larger  tracts  of  land,  to  send  their  children  to  school 
more  freely,  and  in  many  ways  to  adopt  the  white  man's  methods.  But  the 

i  Dated  at  Bad  River,  September  28th,  1848. 


MRS     HAKKIET   WOOD  WHEELER.  245 

missionaries  felt  more  than  ever"  that  gospel  motives  should  be  the  basis  of  this 
upward  movement  in  the  lives  of  the  Indians.  In  a  letter  written  at  this  time, 
Mr.  Wheeler  gives  expression  to  this  feeling:  "We  are  becoming  more  thor- 
oughly convinced  that,  if  this  people  are  ever  saved  for  time  as  well  as  eternity, 
it  must  be  through  the  instrumentality  of  a  preached  gospel.  No  radical 
changes  can  be  expected,  even  in  their  mode  of  life,  except  they  be  made  upon 
a  gospel  basis.  Civilizing  influences  only,  do  not  go  deep  enough. ,  Not  even 
schools  or  boarding-schools  should  be  sustained  at  the  expense  of  the  direct 
preaching  of  the  gospel ;  though  they  are  both  [to  be]  desired  when  both  can 
go  together."  Again  he  writes :  '•  Those  children  who  are  most  regular  at 
school  are  most  constant  in  their  attendance  upon  our  meetings.  The  parents 
of  these  children,  too,  are  among  our  most  constant  hearers  on  the  Sabbath, 
and  thus  our  school  becomes  a  door  of  entrance  to  the  sanctuary."  A  more 
extended  extract  from  a  letter l  to  his  father,  details  some  interesting  phases  of 
the  work :  "  We  have  had  a  very  pleasant  winter  thus  far.  The  snow  is  not 
over  two  feet  deep.  We  rarely  have  more  than  three  feet  of  snow  in  this  re- 
gion, though  back  on  the  hills  it  is  from  five  to  six.  Our  Indians  received  their 
payment  again  last  fall  at  La  Pointe,2  in  goods  and  money.  There  is  a  pros- 
pect that  they  will  be  permitted  permanently  to  remain  here,  and  have  their 
farmer,  carpenter  and  blacksmith  restored  to  them.  The  people  feel  quite  en- 
couraged. They  are  making  great  calculations  about  planting  next  spring,  and 
we  shull  do  all  we  can  to  aid  them.  There  will  be  more  Indians  here  than  we 
have  seen  for  yeais.  Our  pec  pie  were  never  more  quiet  and  orderly  than  now. 
There  is  no  liquor  among  them.  I  have  not  seen  an  Indian  drunk  since  last 
fall,  and  that  was  not  here.  They  feel  fully  resolved  to  put  away  permanently 
the  ' Ish-ko-da-wa-bo,'  'fire  water.'  I  hope  they  will  be  as  good  as  their  word. 
Our  meetings  were  never  so  well  attended  as  this  winter.  Our  school-house  is 
full  and  some  of  them  listen  with  serious  attention.  Miss  Spooner  also  has  a 
good  school ;  much  better  than  we  have  ever  had  before.  We  have  a  singing- 
school  also  once  a  week,  attended  by  nearly  all  the  children  and  youth  of  the 
place.  The  singing  is  mostly  in  Indian.  They  sing  by  rote,  knowing  nothing 
about  the  rules ;  but  you  would  be  pleased  to  see  what  fine  voices  some  of  them 
have.  We  have  also  a  Sabbath  school  which  embraces  nearly  all  the  young 
people  of  the  place.  So  you  see  I  have  enough  to  occupy  all  my  working  hours, 
week  days  and  Sabbaths.  Our  religious  exercises  are  in  Indian,  which  requires 
considerable  labor  and  study  to  prepare  for.  We  hope  the  season  will  not  pass 
away  without  our  seeing  some  fruit  of  our  labor,  some  souls  brought  to  a  sav- 
ing knowledge  of  the  truth.  There  are  a  few  cases  of  earnest  religious  en- 
quiry. It  would  be  our  greatest  source  of  joy,  could  we  see  some  of  these 
dark-minded  ones  coining  to  Christ  for  salvation.  Our  station  needs  much  to 
be  re-inforced.  There  is  not  a  Christian  brother  to  offer  a  prayer  nearer  than 
a  hundred  miles  in  any  direction.  No  American  family  nearer  than  fifteen 

1  J)atc«l  at  Had  River,  .January  :tisi.  1854. 
a  See  pagrc  1 «','.). 


24G  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN, 

miles  and  but  three  of  them  within  a  hundred  miles." 

But  "  these  dark-minded  ones  "  had  mortal  bodies  that  needed  redemption 
as  well  as  minds  to  enlighten  and  souls  to  save,  and  so  these  two  servants  of 
God  found  that  the  medical  side  of  their  work  was  no  small  tax  upon  their 
sympathies  and  strength.  A  meager  set  of  dentist's  instruments,  a  medicine 
chest  well  filled,  a  pocket  leather-case  of  surgical  instruments,  and  a  small 
magnetic  battery,  comprised  the  equipment  for  this  branch  of  the  work.  The 
unenlightened  aboriginal  mind  naturally  invested  them  with  magical  powers. 
But  this  soon  gave  way  before  the  subtler  magic  of  sympathizing  hearts,  pour- 
ing the  oil  and  wine  of  self-sacrificing  love  into  lives  whose  very  helplessness 
constituted  the  strong  appeal;  "For  I  was  an  hungred,  and  ye  gave  me  meat: 
I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  drink :  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in 
naked  and  ye  clothed  me:  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me:  I  was  in  prison, 
and  ye  came  unto  me."  Daring  the  early  spring  of  1854,  the  epidemic  of 
small  pox  swept  the  reservation.  Two  Frenchmen  from  St.  Paul  had  brought 
the  contagion  to  Madelaine  island,  where  many  were  exposed  before  the  nature 
of  the  disease  was  known.  Mr.  Wheeler,  however,  was  sent  for,  and  promptly 
vaccinated  every  inhabitant  of  La  Pointe.  Returning  to  the  reservation,  he 
found  the  epidemic  had  preceded  him  and  the  Indians  in  a  state  of  panic  in 
consequence.  Vigorous  measures  were  necessary,  and  carefully  complied  with, 
on  the  part  of  the  people.  It  was  a  trying  ordeal  for  the  two  missionaries. 
The  little  daughter  Julia,  in  a  letter  to  her  grandparents,  uses  this  language : 
"Mother  would  write  you  if  she  had  time  to  do  so.  She  has  to  work  very 
hard,  and  sits  up  at  night  to  sew.  The  small  pox  is  at  L.  P.  [La  Pointe]  and 
yesterday  father  vaccinated  the  Indians  till  he  was  faint,  and  then  mother  vac- 
cinated a  while."  A  month  later  Mrs.  Wheeler  writes  her  parents,  under  date 
of  March  6th,  1854 :  u  I  had  intended  to  write  you  and  several  other  Lowell 
friends  long  letters  by  this  mail,  but  the  past  fortnight  has  been  one  of  peculiar 
trial  and  anxiety  to  us.  We  have  passed  through  all  the  horrors  of  the  small 
pox.  A  fortnight  ago,  a  company  of  Indians  cams  hare  from  across  the  lake 
in  a  state  of  the  greatest  excitement  and  alarm.  Three  or  four  of  their  num- 
ber had  been  taken  down  with  the  small  pox:  these  they  had  left  behind. 
Mr.  Wheeler  immediately  vaccinated  all  of  them,  but  the  next  day  two  more  were  . 
taken  down.  Mr.  Wheeler  fitted  up  a  house  and  put  them  into  it,  and  hired  a 
Frenchman  and  his  wife,  who  had  had  the  disease,  to  take  care  of  them.  The 
next  day  there  were  three  others  brought  down.  One  of  them  had  the  most 
virulent  kind;  the  confluent  small  pox,  and  died  in  about  a  week  after  he  was 
taken.  The  others  are  all  recovering,  and  we  think  will  be  able  to  be  out  this 
week.  We  have  all  been  much  exposed,  particularly  Mr.  Wheeler,  as  he  vis- 
ited the  patients  almost  every  day.  We  have  used  every  preventive  in  our 
power.  I  smoked  Mr.  Wheeler  most  thoroughly,  I  can  assure  you,  evary  time 
after  coming  from  the  hospital ;  and  every  time  before  he  went  in,  he  tied  up 
his  face  and  put  a  rag  round,  wet  with  the  chloride  of  lime.  The  families  that 
have  been  exposed,  have  been  kept  entirely  separate  from  the  others.  Vaccina- 


MRS    HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  247 

tion  lias  taken  well  everywhere,  and  we  hope  the  disease  is  arrested.  We  are 
all  in  the  hands  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  and  here  we  feel  we  are  safe.  We 
do  find  it  good  to  trust  in  the  Lord."  The  usual  routine  of  school  and  church 
work  was  necessarily  intermitted  for  the  time.  In  writing  home  of  the  matter, 
Mrs.  Wheeler  says :  **  We  have  dismissed  our  schools,  and  shall  have  no  meet- 
ings for  the  present.  Mr.  Wheeler  advised  the  Indians  not  to  visit  from  house 
to  house,  but  to  remain  quietly  at  home.  It  has  seemed  very  lonely  here  to-day, 
no  one  moving  ahout.  The  people  acquiesce  very  cheerfully  in  any  regulation 
Mr.  Wheeler  proposes.  One  man  told  me  yesterday  that  the  Indians  had  given 
their  bodies  to  Mr.  Wheeler.  They  trust  in  him,  and  anything  he  told  them  to 
do  they  should  do."  All  the  ill  effects  of  this  period  of  epidemic  were  soon  over- 
come, and  work  resumed  again  in  its  normal  order.  The  lessons  of  this  visita- 
tion were  full  of  significance  to  the  Indians.  It  helped  to  reveal  to  them  un- 
mistakably the  character  of  missionary  effort  in  their  behalf.  It  melted  the 
cold  reserve  that  excluded  the  gospel  and  opened  their  hearts  more  than  ever  to 
Christian  influences.  From  the  sanitary  standpoint  much  was  taught  them 
which  served  its  purpose  in  averting  any  repetition  of  such  an  experience. 

Many  incidents  of  interest  might  be  cited  from  this  medical  branch  of  the 
work,  as  showing  the  versatility  requisite  to  meet  emergencies  of  frequent  re- 
currence. One  case  will  serve  as  illustrative  of  this  feature  of  compulsory 
readiness  on  the  part  of  the  missionary  to  meet  the  unexpected  in  his  work. 
The  head  chief,  while  off  the  reservation,  had  yielded  to  liquor  and  in  a  drunk- 
en brawl,  had  received,  in  the  fleshy  part  of  the  leg,  an  ugly  gash  six  inches 
long  that  laid  bare  the  bone.  In  this  condition  he  remained  for  two  days  on  the 
sands  of  Chequamegon  Point,  under  the  stupor  of  the  accursed  ufire  water." 
On  the  third  day  he  was  brought  to  his  home  at  Odanah  and  the  help  of  the 
Mission  summoned.  Mr.  Wheeler  was  away,  and  there  was  no  other  alternat- 
ive but  for  Mrs.  Wheeler  to  respond  to  the  call.  She  found  the  chief  in  much 
pain  and  discomfort,  but  very  humble.  An  examination  of  the  wound  disclosed 
a  condition  of  things  from  which  she  instinctively  shrank,  and  yet  taxed  her 
sympathies  to  the  utmost.  The  sand,  with  neglect  and  hot  summer  weather, 
had  contributed  very  materially  to  the  repulsiveness  of  the  task  of  dressing 
such  a  wound.  A  thorough  cleansing  was  the  first  process.  The  gaping  edges 
were  then  brought  together  as  closely  as  possible  with  long  strips  of  adhesive 
plaster.  It  taxed  to  the  limit  all  the  strength  and  courage  she  could  command, 
to  push  the  surgeon's  needle  through  the  toughened  cuticle  and  make  secure  the 
stitches  that  had  to  be  taken.  A  liberal  anointing  of  fur  balsam  was  next  ap- 
plied, and  the  necessary  bandaging  to  keep  all  in  place  completed  the  dressing. 
In  three  weeks  the  chief  was  about  as  usual ;  but  just  prior  to  the  next  occasion 
th.it  called  him  from  the  reservation,  he  came  to  Mr.  Wheeler  to  borrow  his 
hat  which,  he  said,  would  keep  off  the  evil  spirit.  It  would  be  more  accurate 
to  infer  that,  as  there  had  never  been  a  "brick  in  that  hat,"  its  efficacy  to  pro- 
tect the  wearer  against  bad  spirits  would  be  more  apparent. 

It  was  in  these,  as  well  as  other  ways,  that  Mrs.  Wheeler  exhibited  re- 


:Ms  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

markable  powers  of  endurance.  In  a  letter  to  friends,  Mr.  Wheeler  writes  : 
"Harriet  is  truly  a  wonderful  worn  in.  With  an  amount  of  care  and  toil  which 
would  crush  an  ordinary  woman,  she  somehow  makes  her  way  through  it.  But 
she  has  a  wonderfully  elastic  constitution."  And  yet  the  constant  over-strain- 
ing of  that  "elastic  constitution"  made  serious  inroads  on  her  health  and,  under 
date  of  July  2nd,  1858,  Mrs.  Wheeler  writes  her  parents:  "My  health  during 
the  last  year  has  been  very  miserable.  Last  fall  and  winter  I  had  two  attacks 
of  congestion  of  the  lungs;  and  I  have  not  yet  fully  recovered  from  the  effects 
of  them.  I  was  very  much  disappointed  in  not  beinj  able  to  visit  home  last 
fall;  but  my  health  was  such  that  it  was  impossible  to  get  there.  You  have, 
doubtless,  thought  it  very  strange  that  I  did  not  write  you ;  but  I  am  sure,  could 
you  see  how  I  am  situated,  you  would  feel  that  I  am  excusable.  I  find  enough 
to  do  to  consume  three  times  the  amount  of  time  and  strength  I  have,  and  I 
am  obliged  to  leave  undone  many  things  which  seem  absolutely  necessary  to  be 
done.  My  children  suffered  much  last  fall  for  the  want  of  suitable  clothing ; 
and  when  I  was  able  to  work,  I  worked  day  and  night.  Twelve,  and  some- 
times one  o'clock  at  night,  still  found  me  plying  my  needle.  About  the  middle 
of  February  I  took  a  severe  cold  which  settled  on  my  lungs,  and  for  three 
weeks  I  could  not  speak  a  loud  word  and,  for  as  many  more,  only  with  the 
greatest  difficulty.  I  have  now  a  little  daughter  three  months  old.  Physicians 
still  tell  me,  that  if  I  wish  to  live,  I  must  leave  here.  The  Prudential  Com- 
mittee at  Boston  have  given  me  leave  to  visit  the  states,  and  Mr.  Clark,  one  of 
the  district  agents  of  the  Board,  who  is  now  on  a  visit  to  us,  says  I  must  go  by 
all  means,  as  soon  as  it  is  safe  to  leave  here."  Acting  under  these  instructions, 
Mrs.  Wheeler  and  her  children  left  the  mission  early  in  September,  to  spend 
the  winter  in  Lowell.  Mr.  Wheeler  accompanied  his  family  as  far  as  Detroit, 
where  they  attended  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Board,  and  then  on 
to  Cleveland,  where  the  two  older  children  at  school  were  to  join  the  mother  in 
the  trip  to  the  East. 

From  Cleveland  Mr.  Wheeler  returned  to  Odanah  to  superintend  the 
completion  of  the  buildings  of  the  manual  labor  training-school,  which  care  he 
found  it  necessary  to  carry  in  addition  to  his  usual  duties.  Mrs.  Wheeler,  in 
the  letter  just  quoted  from,  writes  of  the  matter  as  follows:  "'We  are  now 
in  the  midst  of  the  care,  labor  and  anxiety  of  erecting  buildings  for  our  board- 
ing-school operation.  Our  school  house  is  most  finished,  and  the  boarding-house 
will  be  commenced  in  a  few  days.  This  is  a  great  addition  to  Mr.  Wheeler's 
cares  and  labors,  and  I  sometimes  feel  he  will  sink  under  it.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances it  is  very  trying  for  me  to  leave  him  here  alone.  Pray  much  for 
us,  my  dear  parents,  that  we  may  be  guided  by  infinite  wisdom,  and  that  as 
tfur  day  is.  so  our  strength  may  be."  Aside  from  his  Sabbath  day  ministra- 
tions, which  comprised  two,  and  sometimes  three  services,  his  daily  rounds 
through  the  dwellings  of  the  settlement  to  read  and  expound  the  Scriptures  and 
visit  the  sick,  necessarily  took  much  of  his  time. 


MKS.   HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER. 


241) 


Early  in  the  year  1859,  Mr.  Wheeler  learned  that  the  government  was 
planning  to  open  for  sale  the  Red  Cliff  and  La  Pointe  portions  of  the  Indian 
reservation,  through  a  misconception  of  the  intimate  relation  these  localities  sus- 
tained to  the  Odanah  reserve,  and  so  not  appreciating  the  effect  such  ill-advised 
action  would  have  on  all  the  Indians  of  that  region.  It  had  also  come  to  his 
knowledge  that  the  Lac  Court  Oreilles  reserve,  of  three  townships,  was  to  be 
subdivided  and  offered  for  sale,  without  making  provision  for  another  locality 
for  those  Indians.  These,  with  other  matters  relating  to  the  welfare  of  the 
Odanah  Indians,  made  it  necessary  for  him  to  go  to  Washington  at  once.  With 
an  Indian  guide  he  set  out  in  the  depth  of  winter,  through  the  woods  as  far  as 
Chippewa  Falls.  The  exposure  and  hardship  incident  to  this  initial  stage  of 
the  journey  were  very  trying.  But  immediate  action  and  personal  represen- 
tation at  Washington  in  behalf  of  the  Indians,  were  essential.  While  on  his 
way,  he  writes  from  Oberlin,  Ohio,  under  date  of  March  12th,  1859,  to  Mrs. 
Wheeler  at  Lowell : 

"  I  wish  to  leave  by  the  middle  of  the  week,  but  must  come  East  by  way  of 
Washington.  Business  affecting  the  welfare  of  our  Indians  and  that  of  the  Lac 
Court  Oreilles  Indians,  concerning  their  reserve,  require  the  prompt  attention 
of  the  department.  The  whole  of  the  Lac  Court*  Oreilles  reserve,  three  town- 
ships, has  been  recently  subdivided,  and,  by  proclamation  of  the  President,  is 
to  be  offered  for  sale.  I  called  at  the  land-office  at  Eau  Claire  on  my  way 
down,  and  found  that  no  instructions  had  been  left  at  the  office  to  reserve  any 
land  for  the  Indians.  Mr.  Fitch  [of  the  Michigan  agency]  had  instructions 
from  the  department  to  locate  this  reserve,  but  neglected  to  do  so.  I  noted 
down  the  townships,  covering  the  land  the  Indians  want,  while  at  the  land-office. 
Mr.  Fitch  gives  me  a  letter  recommending  these  townships  to  be  withheld  from 
sale.  The  object  is  to  get  an  order  from  the  Indian  department  to  the  land- 
office  at  Eau  Claire,  to  respect  the  Indian  reserve,  and  all  will  be  right.  One 
hundred  thousand  acres  is  too  much  for  the  Indians  to  lose.  Other  matters  re. 
quire  attention,  affecting  the  interests  of  our  people  and  the  Indians  at  Lac  du 
Flambeau."  A  further  quotation  from  a  letter l  to  Mrs.  Wheeler  indicates  a. 
favorable  consideration  of  the  object  of  his  mission  to  the  capital :  "  I  attended 
an  interesting  prayer-meeting  this  morning,  where  something  like  a  dozen  cler- 
gymen, of  different  denominations,  for  the  most  part  conducted  the  devotions. 
Saw  my  old  friend,  now  Dr.  Sunderland,  a  warm-hearted  Christian  and  earnest 
preacher  of  the  gospel.  He  went  with  me  to  see  the  commissioner  [of  Indian 
affairs].  To-day  has  been  a  day  of  progress  with  me  in  Indian  matters.  I 
have  had  a  very  free  talk  with  Mr.  Mix,  and  he  is  disposed  to  look  carefully 
into  the  affairs  of  our  Indians  and  see  that  some  of  the  promises  made  our 
people  by  different  agents,  are  fulfilled.  But  we  could  not  finish  our  business 
to-day.  He  wishes  me  to  call  again  to-morrow  morning.  I  shall  think  the  day 
well  spent,  if  we  can  make  as  much  progress  as  we  have  to-day.  Let  us  have 
patience  then." 

1  Dated  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  March  23rd,  l«/>9. 


L>:>O  ix  rxxAMKD  WISCONSIN. 

After  bringing  his  business  at  Washington  to  a  satisfactory  conclusion,  he 
joined  his  family  at  Lowell,  very  much  worn  with  the  multiplicity  of  his  cares. 
A  two  weeks'  rest  was  the  utmost  limit  of  time  he  felt  he  could  allow  himself, 
before  undertaking  the  return  journey  with  his  family  to  the  mission  field. 
They  arrived  at  Odanah  early  in  May.  Two  weeks  after,  Mr.  Wheeler  was 
taken  with  hemorrhage  of  the  lungs,  and  for  weeks  his  life  was  despaired 
of.  In  a  letter1  to  her  parents,  Mrs.  Wheeler  writes  of  his  critical  condition: 
"  He  told  me  last  night  that  he  felt  he  was  standing  on  the  verge  of  the  dark 
valley,  ready  to  go  down  into  it,  or  to  return  to  life  just  as  the  Great  Master 
should  see  best.  I  feel  exceedingly  anxious  about  him.  It  seems  as  if  he 
could  not  be  spared  from  his  family  now;  and  our  poor  people  —  what  will 
they  do  without  him  ?  They  express  a  great  deal  of  sympathy  and  anxiety. 
Some  of  them  say  they  can  not  sleep,  for  they  feel  as  if  their  father  was  to  be 
taken  away  from  them.  Others,  as  they  take  my  hand,  exclaim:  'Oh,  surely 
trouble  has  come  to  us  now.'  I  have  admitted  a  few  to  see  him 

and  they  invariably  thank  the  Great  Spirit  for  permitting  them  to  see  him 
again."  Mrs.  Wheeler  also  writes  of  the  many  kindly  services  of  the  white 
friends  at  Ashland  and  Bay  City.  With  the  return  of  warmer  weather,  Mr. 
Wheeler's  strength  rallied  somewhat.  His  physician  warned  him,  however,  that 
he  must  discontinue  preaching  if  he  hoped  at  all  to  regain  any  measure  of 
health.  But  the  missionary  could  not  let  go  the  work,  into  which  his  heart's 
life  and  faith  had  gone  so  deeply ;  and  he  decided  to  remain  at  his  post,  though 
under  ever  narrowing  limitation  of  strength.  -The  burden  of  responsibility 
rested  each  year  more  heavily  on  Mrs.  Wheeler.  While  the  work  of  the  mis- 
sion was  carried  on  as  usual,  she  was  untiring  in  tender  care  of  her  husband, 
cheering  him  with  the  companionship  of  herN sunny  heart;  but  the  shadow  of 
wasting  consumption  was  creeping  on  apace.  In  the  fall  of  1866,  the  physi- 
cian told, them  that  Mr.  Wheeler  could  not  survive  the  winter  at  Odanah.  Re- 
moval was  imperative,  and  providential  indications  seemed  to  point  out  Beloit 
as  their  future  home.  This  sketch  can  not  dwell  on  the  sad  details  of  the 
breaking  up  of  that  mission  home  and  of  the  sundering  of  ties  that  had  taken 
deep  root  there. 

On  the  morning  of  departure,  the  baptism  of  a  child  of  Christian  Indian 
parents,  in  the  dining-hall  of  the  boarding-school,  was  the  impressive  close  of  a 
missionary  service  of  twenty -five  years.  When  the  family  reached  the  bank  of 
the  river,  where  the  mission  sail-boat  was  awaiting  them,  they  found  the  entire 
village  gathered  to  bid  them  farewell.  It  was  the  language  of  the  heart  that 
spoke  in  tears  as  the  boat  bore  from  their  sight  forever,  their  counselor  and 
trusted  friend  of  a  quarter  of  a  century.  In  touching  incident,  it  was  not  un- 
like that  historic  leave-taking  set  forth  in  such  tender  simplicity  in  the  closing 
verses  of  the  twentieth  chapter  of  the  Acts. 

That  first  winter  in  Beloit  was  memorable  for  the  untried  responsibilities 
it  brought  to  the  mother  of  that  household.  With  limited  means  of  subsistence, 

1  Dated  at  Odanah,  June  24th,  1859 


MRS.    HARRIET   WOOD   WHEELER.  251 

the  courage  of  faith  was  taxed  daily  to  meet  the  problems  involved  in  the  care 
of  a  stricken  husband  and  the  providing,  in  a  large  measure,  for  the  necessities 
of  eight  children.  It  was  an  experience  requiring  a  rare  degree  of  Christian 
fortitude,  and  yet  one  made  the  more  memorable  by  the  love  and  helpfulness 
of  new-found  friends.  And  thus  were  the  tendrils  of  new  friendships  rooted 
in  the  soil  of  apparent  adversity.  The  faith  of  the  true  believer  is  ever  find- 
ing its  fruitage  in  a  new  hope.  And  so  did  this  first  winter  of  trial  of  faith  at 
length  merge  into  the  spring-time  of  fresh  hopefulness.  Mr.  Wheeler's  health 
seemed  to  improve  and,  as  strength  returned,  he  devoted  his  time  to  the  further 
working  out  of  a  new  principle  as  applied  to  windmills,  which,  in  its  cruder 
form,  had  already  been  put  to  practical  test  on  mission  ground.  His  cousin, 
Samuel  Chipman,  Esq.,  of  Warsaw,  Indiana,  visited  him  at  this  time,  and  was 
deeply  interested  in  the  new  principle  for  regulating  windmills.  He  encour- 
aged Mr.  Wheeler  to  work  out  the  necessary  drawings  and  model  for  the  patent 
office.  This  was  done  and,  with  the  financial  aid  generously  contributed  by 
Mr.  Chipman,  the  patent  was  granted  September  10th,  1867.  Under  date  of 
January  23rd,  1868,  Mr.  Wheeler  writes  his  father,  now  well  on  in  years,  and 
still  at  the  old  Vermont  homestead :  "  I  do  not  regret  coming  to  this  place. 
We  find  many  kind  friends  here,  and  society  is  all  that  could  be  desired.  We 
have  a  snug  little  home,  which  makes  us  quite  comfortable  this  winter  weather. 
I  got  no  bees  as  I  expected  last  spring;  as  my  windmill  has  fully  occupied 
my  time,  and  may  take  me  away  from  home  much  for  the  next  few  months, 
if  health  will  permit  me  to  travel.  You  will  like  to  know,  perhaps,  how  I 
succeeded  with  the  mill.  I  have  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  on  it,  experiment- 
ing and  getting  it  into  good  shape.  It  now  suits,  so  far  as  the  general  plan  of 
it  is  concerned.  Two  points  have  especially  engaged  my  attention:  1:  To 
get  the  mill  so  as  to  run  nicely.  2 :  To  simplify  and  improve  the  construc- 
tion of  it,  so  that  it  will  be  strong  and  cheaply  built.  I  have,  as  yet,  put  up 
but  two  hundred-dollar  mills,  both  of  which  drive  pumps  in  wells  fifty  feet 
deep,  and  give  good  satisfaction.  Practical  mechanics  and  machinists  are  much 
pleased  with  it, —  it  is  so  simple  in  its  construction  and  accomplishes  such  im- 
portant ends.  It  is  self-regulating  and  will  take  care  of  itself  in  any  wind, 
wever  gusty  and  strong  it  may  blow.  For  deep  wells  on  our  prairies  to  raise 
ter  for  watering  stock,  it  is  a  mill,  we  think,  which  will  be  much  wanted.  It 
not  yet  remunerative,  the  balance  has  been  out  of  pocket  thus  far,  but  I  hope 
scale  will  turn  it  my  favor  before  long.  I  suffer,  as  many  inventors  do,  in 
t  having  the  means  to  bring  it  rapidly  into  notice.  But,  as  in  every  new  thing, 
must  be  contented  to  move  slowly  and  wait  patiently  for  results.  The  mill 
its  present  form,  is  used  only  to  work'  pumps.  I  hope  soon  to  get  up  another 
for  driving  machinery.  I  feel  quite  confident  I  can  get  one  up  in  a  shape 
t  will  give  better  satisfaction  than  anything  now  out,  though  it  must  be  con- 
ed  there  are  not  a  few  difficulties  in  the  way.  So  you  see  I  continue  to 
p  busy,  and,  having  something  of  the  versatility  common  to  the  Yankees,  if 
can  not  do  one  thing  I  turn  my  hand  to  another.  I  shall  never  be  able  to 


252  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

preach  any  more,  but  if  I  can  get  up  a  useful  mill  and  provide  for  the  wants 

of  my  family,  one  part  of  the  end  of  life  will  be  answered." 

In  the  mind  of  the  inventor,  as  well  as  in  that  of  Mrs.  Wheeler,  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  "Eclipse"  wind-mill  was  held  to  be  in  the  direct  line  of  their  faith 
and  as  much  the  outcome  of  that  same  missionary  spirit  and  effort  as  was  the 
fruitage  of  their  labors  among  the  Indians.  Five  years  of  life  were  left  Mr. 
Wheeler  in  which  to  lay  the  foundations  for  a  new  business.  In  the  early  win- 
ter of  1871,  he  was  again  prostrated  with  hemorrhage  and,  after  a  lingering  ill- 
ness, the  gentle  spirit  of  this  most  patient  sufferer  was  called  home  Sunday 
evening,  February  25th,  1872.  This  sketch  does  not  attempt  to  portray  the 
character  of  Leonard  Hemenway  Wheeler?  a  man  strong  in  his  convictions  of 
right,  but  not  obtrusive,  one  who  combined  Christian  gentility  with  sanctified 
tact.  The  funeral  discourse,  by  his  pastor,  Rev.  George  Bushnell,  was  sympa- 
thetic and  responsive  to  all  the  traits  of  that  character  which  were  justly  and 
beautifully  summed  up  in  his  text :  "Behold  an  Israelite  indeed,  in  whom  is  no 
guile." 

This  stroke  of  bereavement  pressed  with  almost  crushing  weight  upon 
Mrs.  Wheeler.  In  a  letter  to  her  father  two  days  before  his  death,  she  writes : 
"My  dear  father,  I  fear  my  precious  husband  is  going  rapidly  down  to  the 
grave.  Pray  for  us.  Pray  that  he  may  be  sustained  to  the  last ;  and  that  he 
may  be  spared  protracted  suffering.  It  seems  to  me  I  can  not  bear  to  see  him 
suffer.  I  can  not  tell  you  how  dark  and  desolate  the  future  looks  to  me  with- 
out him.  But  I  know  the  Lord  can  make  it  all  light,"  She  kept  the  letter  till 
Monday  morning,  when  these  few  lines  were  added: 

"My  dear  father,  brother  and  sisters:  My  precious  husband  has  gone 
home  to  his  rest.  He  died  last  night  at  nine  o'clock.  Will  be  buried  Wednes- 
day. Pray  for  us."  She  took  this  cup  of  affliction  as  from  her  Master. 

Again,  in  September  of  1873,  was  Mrs.  Wheeler's  heart  stricken; — this] 
time   in    the  death   of  her  eldest  daughter,  Julia.     In  a  letter  to  her  father 
under   date    of   November   6th,    1873,   she    writes :    "I   found   after    all   was 
over  and  sister  Hannah  had  left  me,  I  was  completely  prostrated.     I  was  very 
weak  and  a  little  exertion  would  bring  on  trembling  and  palpitation  of  the  heart. 
I  have  been  passing  through  the  deep  waters,  my  dear  father.       You  have 
doubtless  heard  before  this  something  about  Julia's  death.     She  died  very  sud- 
denly at  last.     We  thought  she  would  live  until  cold  weather.     She  failed  very 
rapidly  after  her  return.     She  seemed  to  make  a  great  effort  to  keep  about  un- 
til she  could  get  home.     She  had  no  wish  or  expectation  of  getting  well  for 
three  months  before  she  died.     She  said  to  me  that  her  only  hope  of    salvation 
was  that  Jesus  had  died  for  her.     She  frequently  asked  us  to  read  to  her  the   I 
53rd  chapter  of  Isaiah  and  the  hymn  'Just  as  I  am  without  one  plea.'     She  said   ! 
to  me  one  day  that  it  seemed  to  her  that  this  hymn  expressed  the  whole  gospel.  | 

"I  have  hope  that  she  is  now  at  rest  with  her  dear  father  in  the  better  land,  j 
Oh,  my  dear  father,  I  can  not  tell  you  what  a  comfort  it  is  to  me,  in  my  bereave- 
ments and  loneliness,  to  feel  that  they  are  at  rest.      Hearth  seems  so  changed  to  • 


MRS    HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  253 

me,  and  heaven  so  much  nearer.'' 

It  would  seem  not  inappropriate  to  the  purpose  of  this  memorial  that 
some  further  account  of  this  daughter  Julia  be  given  at  this  point.  She  was 
possessed  of  a  gifted  mind,  precocious  in  her  studies  and  an  omniverous  reader. 
None  of  the  books  at  the  mission  escaped  her,  not  excepting  Neander's  church 
history  and  some  bulky  volumes  in  theology.  At  seventeen,  she  was  teaching 
in  the  public  schools  of  Houghton,  Michigan,  where  she  found  opportunity, 
in  a  family  of  culture,  of  still  further  enlarging  her  acquaintance  with  books. 
She  had  marked  literary  instincts  and  recognized  ability  as  a  writer.  She  con- 
tributed a  series  of  sketches  on  "Early  Protestant  Missions  on  Lake  Superior," 
to  the  Lake  Superior  Miner^  over  the  signature  "  Kitche-gume-wekwa  "  (Lady 
of  the  Great  Lake),  a  name  her  Indian  friends  had  given  her.  It  was  natural 
that  she  should  soon  come  to  have  a  deep  interest  in  the  welfare  of  the  Indians, 
the  sense  of  justice  being  a  marked  part  of  her  strongly  developed  moral  nature. 
As  she  became  familiar  with  his  character  and  acquainted  with  the  wrongs  he 
suffered  at  the  hands  of  unscrupulous  whites,  she  championed  the  cause  of  the 
red  man  with  the  intensity  of  infatuation.  She  wrote  about  it  and  addressed 
Christian  audiences  in  its  behalf.  She  took  up  ihe  matter  by  correspondence 
with  Senator  Sumner  who  was  interested  to  the  degree  of  seeking  further  sug- 
gestions and  of  engaging  the  attention  of  Judge  Doolittle,  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  judicial  affairs,  with  whom  she  subsequently  corresponded.  Senator 
Sumner's  first  letter  is  given  in  full,  since  it  touches  the  core  of  the  difficulty, 
as  it  then  existed  : 

SENATE  CHAMBER,  JAN.  18th,  1865. 

"I  hasten  to  acknowledge  your  letter  of  January  13th.  The  condition  of 
our  Indian  tribes  has  always  caused  me  solicitude.  The  difficulty  seems  to  me 
to  be  njt  so  much  in  the  system  as  in  the  men  who  are  employed  to  carry  it 
out.  The  same  spirit  animating  its  agents,  no  system  could  succeed,  and  the 
problem  is  to  find  men  who,  coming  from  the  West,  and  familiar  with  Indian 
character  and  habits,  are  at  once  honest,  unprejudiced  and  willing  to  work  for 
the  small  compensation  which  the  government  can  offer.  Even  if  such  men 
could  be  found,  it  is  not  easy  for  the  appointing  power  to  discriminate  between 
honest  men  and  well  recommended  rogues ;  and  once  appointed,  there  are  great 
difficulties  in  detecting  fraud,  especially  as  the  feeling  of  the  border  population 
upon  the  subject  of  the  Indians  is  far  from  just.  I  shall  be  glad  of  any  sug- 
gestions you  may  be  able  to  give  me.  Accept  my  best  wishes  and  believe  me 

Faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  SUMNER." 

While  the  direct  outcome  of  her  effort  may  not  have  been  apparent  at  the 
time,  in  any  immediate  and  favorable  bearing  upon  the  Indians,  it  may  have 
had  some  weight  in  subsequently  shaping  the  so-called  peace  policy  of  Presi- 
dent Grant,  as  carried  out  in  the  department  of  Indian  affairs. 

Mrs.  Wheeler  was  wont  to  think  of  her  life  as  divided  into  periods  of  twen- 


254  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

ty-five  years.  The  first  quadrant  of  this  life-circle  arched  itself  over  the  days 
of  girlhood  and  young  womanhood  passed  under  the  home  roof  at  Lowell, 
Massachusetts.  One  base  limb  of  this  bow  of  promise  rested  on  the  date  of  her 
birth,  December  4th,  1816,  and  the  other  upon  the  date  that  closed  the  period 
culminating  in  marriage,  April  26th,  1841.  The  second  period  was  spanned  by 
the  shining  arc  of  twenty-five  years  of  consecrated  missionary  service  among 
the  Ojibway  Indians  of  Lake  Superior,  from  1841  to  1866.  The  third  quarter 
of  the  circle  bent  its  strong  bow  over  varied  experiences  and  successful  activities 
that  witnessed  the  firm  establishment  of  a  large  manufacturing  business  at  Be- 
loit.  She  made  no  note  of  the  fact  that  five  years  more  than  the  alloted  "three 
score  years  and  ten"  of  life  had  already  passed  over  her;  but  her  always  young 
and  hopeful  spirit  looked  to  the  future  with  expectancy.  Over  what  enterprise 
for  Christ  would  the  last  quadrant  of  the  circle  of  this  charmed  life,  arch  the 
halo  of  its  benediction? 

Early  in  1890,  her  son,  Rev.  E.  P.  Wheeler,  was  called  to  the  pastorate  of 
the  First  Congregational  church  of  Ashland,  Wisconsin. 

He  recognized  in  the  call  an  opportunity  to  take  up  some  phases  of  the 
work  so  reluctantly  laid  down  by  the  father,  and  to  link  the  history  of  past  service 
with  a  renewed  effort  toward  larger  things  for  the  larger  community  to  which 
he  might  minister.  At  the  same  time,  it  gave  opportunity  to  enter  again  the 
gospel  ministry,  from  which  broken  health  had  compelled  him  to  withdraw  for 
a  time.  While  he  felt  drawn  to  the  field  by  every  consideration  of  past  associa- 
tions that  had  become  historic,  and  especially  constrained  also  by  the  evident 
extremity  of  the  church  extending  the  call,  yet  he  felt  that  the  mother's  counsel 
must  determine  his  final  decision.  Without, disclosing  his  own  feelings  in  the 
matter,  he  sought  her  advice.  As  was  her  wont,  she  canvassed  the  whole  ques- 
tion before  God  in  most  earnest  prayer;  and,  when,  on  certain  Sunday  evening, 
he  asked  to  know  the  conclusion  she  had  reached,  she  told  him  she  thought  the 
call  to  go  to  Ashland  was  from  above.  On  the  following  Monday  morning,  he 
telegraphed  the  committee  his  acceptance.  The  prayer  of  the  mother  preceded 
him  as  he  went  to  take  up  the  work,  nor,  while  life  remained,  did  her  prayers 
cease  for  that  work,  which,  under  the  brooding  of  the  Spirit,  she  saw  develop 
and  expand  in  new  and  unexpected  directions. 

It  is  not  within  the  limitations  of  this  sketch  to  follow  in  detail  the  growth 
of  these  new  phases  of  the  work  referred  to,  which  seemed  the  direct  outcome 
of  the  acceptance  of  that  call.  As  the  work  unfolded,  Mr.  Wheeler  felt  more 
and  more  the  significance  of  the  early  missionary  labors  in  those  regions,  es- 
pecially in  their  relation  to  the  mission  he  was  sent  to  fulfill.  The  rapid  move- 
ment of  events  could  not  but  deepen  the  impression  that,  under  Providence,  he 
had,  in  an  important  sense,  "entered  into  their  labors."  He  found  a  growing 
interest  among  Christians  generally,  and  especially  among  Congregationalists, 
in  all  that  pertained  to  the  history  of  those  early  mission  days. 

This  newly  awakened  interest  centered  locally   in  the  old  church   and  mis- 


MRS.   HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  L».V> 

sion-house  still  standing  on  Madeleine  island.  These  stirrings  of  the  old  faith  in 
new  hearts,  crystallized  in  the  organization  of  the  Lake  Superior  Congregation- 
al club.  The  question  of  Christian  education  as  an  evangelizing  agent  for 
North  Wisconsin,  was  also  in  the  air  of  these  latter  days  of  new  beginnings. 
This  aspiration  and  prayer,  in  the  hearts  of  a  few,  soon  took  on  the  significance 
of  a  movement  culminating  in  the  conference  at  Pratt.  Wisconsin,  in  July,  1891. 
In  its  deliberations  were  represented  the  clergy  and  prominent  Christian  laity  of 
North  Wisconsin,  and  leading  Christian  educators  from  other  parts  of  the  state 
and  Minnesota.  Their  counsels  resulted  in  the  incorporation  of  the  North  Wis- 
consin academy,  and  this  action  was  subsequently  endorsed  by  the  Winnebago 
convention  of  the  Congregational  body. 

The  new  academy  enterprise,  to  stand  for  the  higher  ideals  of  Christian 
education,  readily  gathered  to  itself  the  support  of  all  the  Christian  element  as 
well  as  the  encouragement  of  all  those  not  professedly  Christian  who  yet  ap- 
preciated the  value  of  having  such  an  institution  in  their  community.  Promi- 
nent citizens  of  Ashland,  by  liberal  offers  of  land  for  a  site  and  generous 
pledges  to  the  subscription  list  for  necessary  buildings,  secured  the  location  of 
the  academy  to  their  city.  It  is  fitting,  in  connection  with  this  movement,  to 
mention  the  name  of  Dr.  Edwin  Ellis,  the  old-time  friend  and  helper  of  mis- 
sionary days.  The  academy  from  the  beginning  was  much  in  the  heart  and 
prayer  of  Mrs.  Wheeler.  It  seemed  to  take  up  again  the  scarlet  thread  of  pro- 
mise that  had  run  through  the  texture  of  those  former  days  of  consecration  to 
Christ's  kingdom  in  North  Wisconsin. 

In  June  of  1892,  she  received  an  invitation  from  the  Lake  Superior  Con- 
gregational club  to  be  present  at  exercises  to  be  held  on  Madeleine  island  and 
at  Ashland  commemorative  in  part  of  the  work  of  early  Protestant  missions  on 
the  island,  and  in  part  to  give  "local  habitation  and  a  name"  to  the  academy 
movement  in  the  laying  of  its  corner-stone  at  Ashland.  It  was  a  great*  joy  to 
Mrs.  Wheeler  to  be  able  to  accept  the  invitation  and  recognize  in  what  she  sub- 
sequently saw  and  heard,  the  good  hand  of  the  Lord  in  it  all.  By  courtesy  of 
Rev.  J.  N.  Davidson,  the  following  extracts  are  from  his  notes  made  at  the 
time.  "For  years  the  old  church  at  La  Pointe  stood  unused  and  desolate.  As 
it  was  but  a  few  feet  from  the  lake,  it  was  at  a  latter  time  degraded  by  becom- 
ing a  shelter  for  the  building  of  boats.  From  this  fate  it  was  rescued  by  one 
who  had  received  part  of  his  early  religious  training  within  its  walls,  Rev.  Ed- 
ward Payson  Wheeler,  then  Congregational  bishop  of  Ashland.  Having  ob- 
tained possession  of  the  old  church,  he  formally  presented  the  title  deed  thereof 
to  Mr.  Eugene  Arthur  Shores,  as  trustee  of  the  Lake  Superior  Congregational 
club.  This  was  on  Tuesday,  July  12th,  1892.  The  exercises  took  place  in  a 
tent  used  by  General  Missionary  George  W.  Nelson  in  his  evangelistic  work  in 
the  new  villages  of  Northern  Wisconsin.  The  tent  was  spread  between  the 
church  and  the  lake.  Among  those  presemt  was  the  gracious  woman,  who, 
fifty-one  years  before  had  come  to  those  shores  as  a  bride.  Beloit  college  and 


2.-)<)  IN   UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Carleton  were  represented,  and  there  was  attendance  also  from  Chicago  and 
Milwaukee.  From  the  old  Bible  presented  to  the  mission  by  Mr.  L.  M. 
Warren,  and  bearing  in  his  handwriting  the  date,  "July  10th,  1834, '  Rev.  T. 
G.  Grassie,  secretary  of  the  Wisconsin  Home  Missionary  society,  read  the  nine- 
tieth psalm.  There  followed  the  statement  of  some  facts  relating  to  the  early 
history  of  the  mission  and  the  work  therein  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wheeler.  Secre- 
tary Joseph  E.  Roy  showed  how  missionary  service  done  for  the  Indians,  had 
blessed  in  every  way  this  whole  nation.  A  Scripture  lesson  in  the  Ojibway 
language  was  read  by  Rev.  John  Clark.  Then  followed,  as  already  mentioned, 
the  formal  transfer  of  the  church  property.  The  reverent  voice,  active  mind 
and  tender  heart  of  our  beloved  Professor  Blaisdell  led  in  the  memorial  prayer. 
The  day  closed  with  an  address  on  the  '  Pilgrim  Faith '  by  Rev.  Judson  Tits- 
worth  of  Milwaukee. 

"  Fittingly  July  13th  was  called  Educational  Day.  Ex-President  Merrell 
of  Ripon  college  and  Professor  A.  H.  Pearson  of  Carleton,  spoke  of  different  as- 
pects of  Christian  education.  A  party  visited  the  old  mission-house  wherein 
Pastor  Wheeler  was  born.  Others  sought  the  site  of  the  old  "  Fort."  A 
delegation  of  Ojibways  from  Odanah  came  again  to  the  place  where  their  fathers 
had  been  taught  the  lessons  of  the  gospel.  On  this  day  also,  there  was  organ- 
ized, in  the  old  church,  the  North  Wisconsin  Home  Missionary  society. 

"Not  formally  connected  with  the  history  either  of  the  mission  or  of  the 
Ojibways,  but  in  very  truth  with  that  of  both,  came,  at  Ashland,  on  Thursday, 
July  14th,  1892,  the  laying  of  the  corner  stone  of  the  North  Wisconsin 
academy. " 

The  following  extracts  from  a  letter  written  at  Ashland  at  this  time  by 
Mrs.  Wheeler,  to  the  home  at  Beloit,  show  her  deep  interest  in  the  occasion : 
"  We  reached  here  after  a  tedious  trip  Saturday  at  ten  o'clock  and  have  been  in 
one  whirl  ever  since.  The  two  days  of  conference  closed  yesterday,  and  such 
days!  Edward's  hopes  and  expectations  have  been  more  than  realized. 
Crowds  have  attended  and  the  papers  that  have  been  read  have  been  remark- 
able papers.  Dr.  Roy's  paper  made  a  very  deep  impression.  I  can  give  you 
no  idea  of  it  till  I  see  you.  I  hope  it  will  be  published.  The  weather  has  been 
perfect.  Had  it  been  ordered  for  the  occasion  it  could  not  have  been  im- 
proved. How  I  wish  I  could  give  you  all  a  picture  of  the  day,  as  the  boats 
moved  out  with  band  playing,  flags  floating  in  the  breeze  and  loaded  down  to 
the  gunwale  with  a  happy,  enthusiastic  crowd.  The  wind  was  strong  enough 
to  ripple  the  water  thoroughly  but  not  enough  to  make  us  seasick.  Professors 
Blaisdell  and  Burr  enjoyed  it  to  the  full.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  tell  you  about 
the  meetings  on  the  island  until  I  see  you. 

"July  15th.  I  supposed  we  had  had  our  best  things  at  the  island,  but  the 
interest  culminated  yesterday  at  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of  the  academy. 
I  send  you  a  programme.  Professor  Blaisdell  outdid  himself.  He  made  a 
most  profound  impression.  I  think  the  citizens  of  Ashland  will  not  soon  for- 
get him. " 


MRS.  HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  257 

The  occasion,  as  a  whole  as  well  as  in  all  its  details,  was  one  of  rare  sig- 
nificance to  Mrs.  Wheeler.  The  old  enthusiasms  thrilled  her  soul  as  the  story 
of  those  morning  days  of  missionary  consecration  was  rehearsed.  Her  lively 
imagination  again  recalled  the  old  scenes  and  lived  over  the  old  experiences. 
The  old  faces  and  old  fellowships  came  again  to  a  memory  that  made  no  ac- 
count of  the  half  century  that  had  passed  away.  So  were  her  spiritual  eyes 
lifted  up  unto  the  hills  of  God. 

The  remaining  days  of  this  memorable  summer  of  1892  Mrs.  Wheeler 
spent  at  Ashland  and  vicinity,  greeting  again  the  narrowing  circle  of  old 
friends  that  had  grown  more  dear  to  her  as  time  passed.  She  revisited 
Odanah,  the  Indian  mission  with  the  founding  and  growth  of  which  her  prayer 
and  life  were  so  intimately  associated. 

With  what  tender  regard  did  the  heart  of  those  Indians  flow  out  to  her, 
their  old-time  teacher  and  helper.  How  they  clung  to  her  and  drank  in  every 
word  she  had  for  them.  With  the  pathos  of  genuineness  did  they  call  to  mind 
the  old  days  memorable  with  the  many-sided  helpfulness  of  her  own  life  and 
effort  in  their  behalf.  "  Now  when  we  are  sick,"  they  would  tell  her,  "  there  is 
none  to  help  as  you  did,  and  we  die.  "  While  at  the  mission,  it  was  a .  joy  to 
her  to  visit  once  more  the  man  who  had  been  the  faithful  interpreter  and  assist- 
ant pastor  for  Mr.  Wheeler  during  all  the  years  of  his  ministry  to  that  people, 
—  Rev.  Henry  Blatchford,  subsequently  ordained  as  pastor  by  the  presbytery 
and  still  ministering  to  the  Indians  in  spiritual  things.  For  fifty-three  years 
has  he  witnessed  for  Christ  among  his  people  and  the  evening  twilight  of  his 
days  finds  his  life  molded  into  a  character  that  will  endure. 

In  the  early  autumn  Mrs.  Wheeler  returned  to  the  home  at  Beloit  with 
much  improved  health  and  buoyancy  of  spirit.  For  a  number  of  years  previous 
she  had  not  known  what  it  was  to  go  through  a  winter  entirely  free  from  any 
illness  that  required  a  physician's  care.  During  the  winter  of  1892  and  1893, 
following  her  return,  she,  however,  enjoyed  exceptionally  good  health.  With 
renewed  interest  and  love,  she  took  up  again  the  thread  of  household  affairs 
and  felt  again  the  enriching  influences  of  all  those  fellowships  with  neighbors 
and  friends  and  of  that  which  came  through  the  activities  of  the  church,  all  of 
which,  in  their  combined  effect,  made  her  so  appreciative  of  such  privileges. 
Her  affection  for  the  old  church  had  deepened  under  the  pulpit  and  parish 
ministrations  of  her  beloved  pastor,  Rev.  Cyrus  Hamlin,  for  whom  she  had  the 
highest  esteem.  Thus  environed  she  felt  herself  still  a  child  of  the  covenant, 
one  to  whom  the  promises  of  a  loving  Father  had  been  fulfilled.  "  At  evening 
time  there  shall  be  light."  She  had  already  lived  a  long  and  serviceable  life, 
whether  the  time  be  measured  by  the  flight  of  years,  or  by  the  deeds  that  were 
the  fruitage  of  a  consuming  zeal  for  good  works. 

The  spring  and  summer  of  1893  found  her  health  very  variable,  culmi- 
nating in  the  winter  of  the  same  year  in  a  severe  attack  of  la  grippe.  So  pros- 
trating and  prolonged  was  this  illness  that  she  at  times  felt  she  could  never 
rally  from  it.  The  spring  of  1 894  brought  her  the  courage  to  undertake  a  visit 


258  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

to  her  son  and  family  in  Chicago  in  the  hope  that  the  change  might  prove  bene- 
ficial. Though  every  effort  was  made  to  relieve  her  of  all  burden  and  to  surround 
her  with  all  that  ministering  love  might  suggest,  her  stay,  thoroughly  enjoyed 
as  far  as  strength  permitted,  served  to  reveal  how  broken  was  her  strength. 
On  her  return  it  was  a  source  of  regret  to  her,  to  which  she  gave  expression  at 
different  times,  that  extreme  prostration  made  it  impossible  to  call  on  dear 
friends,  in  Chicago,  whom  she  felt  she  would  not  see  again  in  the  earthly  life. 
Her  constitution  was  of  that  responsive  type  that  quickly  regains  its  balance 
when  recovery  has  once  set  in.  But,  in  this  instance,  vitality  was  so  slow  in 
asserting  itself  that  her  physician  felt  she  must  have  the  tonic  of  a  more  in- 
vigorating air  than  prevailed  at  Beloit  during  the  summer  months,  in  order,  if 
possible,  to  regain  lost  ground  before  entering  another  winter.  She  knew  what 
the  oxygen  of  Lake  Superior  air  had  done  for  her  depleted  strength  in  other 
days,  and  it  was  thought  best  that  she  spend  three  months  or  more  at  Ashland, 
Madeleine  island  and  vicinity.  It  was  originally  planned  that  she  should  leave 
for  the  north  July  1st,  but  she  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  thus  missing  the 
intended  visit  of  the  two  grandchildren,  who  with  their  father  and  his  recent 
bride  were  to  spend  the  4th  of  July  at  the  old  home.  The  departure  was  ac- 
cordingly postponed  till  the  10th.  As  the  date  approached,  it  occurred  to  the 
elder  daughter,  Mrs.  Leonard,  that  a  gathering  of  old  neighbors  and  friends 
with  a  family  reunion  would  be  a  very  pleasant  association  for  the  mother  to 
carry  with  her.  The  plan  was  no  sooner  conceived  than  put  into  effect.  The 
thought  was  a  happy  one  delightfully  carried  out.  That  evening  of  greetings, 
good  fellowship  overflowing  in  songs,  the  genial  and  happy  mood  of  every  one 
present,  and  then  the  farewells, —  it  surely  was,  not  then  revealed  to  any  one  of 
that  dear  circle  that  "Mother"  Wheeler  would  never  be  greeted  again  save  in 
the  home  on  high. 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  10th,  in  company  with  her  daughter  Hattie,  the 
journey  to  Ashland  was  undertaken.  Her  son's  home  at  Ashland  was  reached 
the  day  following.  Though  forest  fires  had  been  prevailing  in  the  vicinity  for 
some  days  and  the  smoke  continued  to  shroud  the  city,  intensifying  the  heated 
term  through  which  it  was  passing,  yet  the  nights  were  cool  and  the  air  of  the 
tonic  nature  that  induces  sleep.  Mrs.  Wheeler  gained  strength  from  the  first, 
and  for  two  weeks  enjoyed  the  sense  of  slowly  returning  health.  The  two 
weeks  were  also  a  time  of  rare  blessing  to  her  in  that  she  was  privileged  again 
to  meet  with  old  friends  and  to  receive  the  greetings  and  kindly  attentions  of 
many  who  loved  her.  Above  all,  was  she  glad  to  revisit  once  more  the  scenes 
and  recall  the  memories  of  earlier  days.  In  a  letter  home  dated  July  21st, 
1894,  she  writes:  "I  have  not  been  able  to  go  on  the  lake  yet,  but  hope  to 
go  this  evening.  Mr.  Shores  has  a  new  steamboat,  to  be  christened  to-night. 
He  has  invited  us  all  to  be  present  and  to  go  over  to  Bayfield  on  an  excursion 
trip.  Mrs.  Shores  very  kindly  offered  to  send  her  carriage  if  I  would  go." 
And  then  with  the  buoyancy  of  her  always  youthful  spirit  she  speaks  in  the 


MRS.  HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  259 

letter  of  the  calls  she  had  received,  the  invitations  to  pass  the  summer  on  Made- 
leine island,  and  the  kindness  of  all.  And  so  it  seemed,  from  every  human 
consideration,  that  Mrs.  Wheeler  was  to  pass  a  season  under  most  favorable 
conditions  for  the  regaining  of  lost  strength.  But  the  Father,  in  whose  hands 
are  the  times  and  the  seasons,  had  appointed  otherwise. 

The  letter  just  referred  to  was  received  at  Beloit  on  the  24th  of  July  and 
on  the  evening  of  the  25th,  occured  the  accident,  as  we  say  in  our  human  way, 
through  which  the  Lord  who  had  given  took  again  his  own  to  himself.  It  was 
a  very  happy  group  of  three  that  sat  in  a  happy  home,  chatting  of  plans  for  the 
morrow.  They  were  the  mother,  the  daughter  and  the  granddaughter,  all  of 
the  same  age  in  the  lively  interest  manifested.  The  son,  Rev.  E.  P.  Wheeler, 
was  not  at  home  that  evening.  About  nine  o'clock,  the  youngest  of  the  three 
counted  the  strokes  of  a  fire-alarm  and  ran  to  the  door  with  the  remark  that  it 
meant  their  district.  The  other  two  followed  and  saw  the  burning  building  in  a 
neighboring  block  in  the  direction  of  the  woods.  A  short  walk  leads  from  the 
front  steps,  terminating  in  two  steps  down  to  the  broad  street-walk.  After  go- 
ing down  the  front  steps,  the  mother  had  apparently  gone  for  a  better  view  di- 
agonally across  the  lawn  and,  at  the  edge  of  it,  not  appreciating  at  night  the 
difference  in  level,  fell  forward  upon  the  walk  below.  Loving  helpers  were  at 
her  side  instantly  only  to  hear  her  exclaim,  "  Oh,  Hattie,  I  have  broken  my 
hip;  send  for  Dr.  Ellis  at  once."  And  then  the  prayer  that  she  might  be  spared 
to  her  family.  Next  door  neighbors,  the  family  of  Superintendent  Grassie, 
rendered  prompt  assistance  and  the  poor  bruised  body  was  tenderly  borne  into 
the  house.  Two  physicians  with  a  trained  nurse  soon  arrived  and  a  few  mo- 
ments later  came  Dr.  Edwin  Ellis,  "  the  beloved  physician  "  of  mission  days. 
As  he  took  the  hand  of  his  old-time  patient  and  life-long  friend  he  managed  to 
speak,  as  a  physician,  in  a  tone  of  confidence,  warmly  sympathetic  and  reassur- 
ing ;  but  as  he  felt  every  nerve  of  that  sensitive  body  quivering  under  the 
shock,  the  heart  of  the  friend  was  wrung  with  agony.  After  all  had  been  done 
that  professional  skill  could  suggest  and  the  sufferer  made  as  comfortable  as 
possible,  Dr.  Ellis  inquired  of  the  family  in  a  low  tone,  "  How  did  this  happen  ?" 
Before  other  reply  could  be  made,  Mrs.  Wheeler  spoke  up  quickly,  "Oh,  Doc- 
tor, this  is  all  for  the  best.  It  is  sent  to  teach  some  lesson.  Some  good  will 
come  of  this." 

Mrs.  Wheeler  lingered  for  three  weeks,  and  much  more  than  has  already 
been   written  would  fail  in  the  attempt  to  set  forth  all  the  revealings  of  that 
jart  in  its  expressions  of  love  and  thoughtfulness  toward  all  who  were  privi- 
3ged  to  be  with  her  in  those  last  days.     To  the  attending  physician  and  nurse 
ic  scene  was  an  unusual  exhibition  of  character.     In  the  wanderings  of  fevered 
iliriinn  her  thought  was  always  for  others.     How  it  would  run  out  to  the 
lildren  and  grandchildren,  recalling  their  names  and  uttering  some  prayer  for 
;ir  welfare;  and  then  she  would  fancy  herself  back  in  her  own  home  imagin- 
ig  her    family  physician  was   attending  her,  and  speaking  of  neighbors  and 


2&)  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

friends.  Her  love  for  little  children  was  expressed  in  a  touching  way  at  this 
time.  Three  little  German  children  were  indulging  in  childish  prattle  in  the 
yard  not  far  from  the  window  of  the  sick  chamber.  The  attendant  at  the  bed- 
side did  not  suppose  she  noticed  the  young  voices ;  but  presently  she  asked  who 
they  were.  The  attendant  told  her,  and  said  that  he  would  go  and  tell  them  to 
go  home.  She  quickly  replied  "Oh  no,  I  love  to  hear  them." 

As  the  days  wore  on  the  inherited  vitality  of  an  elastic  constitution  would, 
at  intervals,  assert  itself  in  a  way  to  inspire  hope,  and  yet  only  for  a  brief  time. 
Under  date  of  August  llth,  one  of  the  sons  writes  home:  "Our  hopes  of 
mother's  getting  better  are  again  under  a  cloud.  She  has  passed  through  a 
night  of  much  agony;  not  continuous  or  she  could  not  have  survived.  [Once], 
when  pain  was  extreme,  she  repeated  the  two  familiar  lines: 

'Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul, 
Let  me  to  thy  bosom  fly,' 

putting  the  emphasis  on  the  word  'let.'  God's  mercies,  the  kindnesses  of 
friends,  etc.,  are  the  ever  recurring  themes  of  her  wandering  talk ;  that  is,  out- 
side her  own  family.  *  But  I  must  tell  you  of  what  occurred  yesterday  in 
the  early  evening.  It  seems  that  in  the  afternoon,  when  mother  seemed  quiet 
and  a  little  rested,  Emily  told  her  of  the  letter  she  had  received  from  Mrs.  Dus- 
tin  and  how  the  neighbors  were  all  anxious  to  hear  how  she  was  getting  along. 
Well,  it  made  its  impression  on  her  mind,  and  as  it  began  to  wander  again  in  the 
early  evening,  she  was  back  home  again  with  all  the  old  friends  and  neighbors, 
and  it  seems  thought  she  was  entertaining  them  at  supper  in  the  old  home. 
Edward  came  into  the  room, —  I  was  already  there, —  and  remarked,  'Mother, 
you  look  as  bright  as  a  dollar.'  She  replied  -Now,  Edward,  I  know  I  must 
prink  up  a  little,'  and  began  to  try  to  fix  her  hair.  Her  smile  and  look  were 
so  natural  that  Edward  stooped  down  and  kissed  her.  She  looked  up  with  a 
coy  smile  and  said,  <  O,  I  know  what  you  mean ;  you  are  trying  to  ihake  me 
think  I  do  look  well.'  And  then  as  Edward  sat  down  in  a  chair  beside  me  at 
the  bedside,  she  thought  we  were  all  at  the  table,  and  said  in  her  old  sweet 
voice  so  full  of  sympathy,  "Edward,  will  you  ask  the  blessing?"  This  he  did, 
and  the  blessing  was  expanded  into  a  fervent  petition  for  the  suffering  mother. 
When  he  had  finished,  she  said,  "Now  turn  the  coffee,  please,"  and  then  for 
half  an  hour  or  more,  how  radiant  was  her  face  with  that  'light  that  never  was 
on  sea  or  land,'  as  she  thought  herself  entertaining  all  her  old  neighbors.  She 
began  to  greet  this  one  and  that  one  with  her  old-time  warmth.  Just  then  the 
nurse  stepped  into  the  room  and  mother  thought  it  was  another  old  neighbor 
and  stretched  out  her  hand  with  '  I'm  so  glad  to  see  all  my  dear  old  friends 
again.  I  don't,  just  for  the  moment,  recall  your  face,  but  all  my  good  neigh- 
bors are  welcome  to  my  hearth  and  home.'  Then  she  made  an  address  to  her 
neighbors  recounting,  'how  many  good  feasts  of  the  heart  we  have  had  to- 
gether and  this  last  seems  the  best  of  all,'  thanking  them  again  and  again  for 
their  many  kindnesses  to  her  and  telling  them  how  they  had  helped  her  along 
the  different  steps  of  the  pathway  of  life,  and  closing  with  k  but  Christ  will  help 


MRS.  HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  261 

us  all  to  take  the  last  step  into  the  glad  morning  land  of  the  new  life.'  And 
then  her  heart's  love  overflowed  in  prayer  for  her  'dear  neighbors.'  She  com- 
mended them  all  to  her  Saviour  in  most  touching  simplicity  and  heart-felt  fer- 
vor. *  It  was  such  a  spectacle  of  the  soul  conquering  the  pain-racked  body. 
She  was  supremely  happy  and  showed  it  in  every  line  and  feature  of  her  dear 
face.  Emily  and  Hattie  stepped  into  the  room  just  before  mother  finished  and 
not  hearing  did  not  quite  comprehend.  But  the  nurse  told  them.  4O,'  she 
said,  4 1  wish  you  could  have  heard  the  sweet  prayer  your  mother  made  for  her 
old  neighbors.' 

The  day  following  the  writing  of  this  letter  was  the  Sabbath,  August  12th. 
The  symptoms  of  final  dissolution  were  marked;  a  morning  and  forenoon  of 
much  evident  distress  and  restlessness  of  which  the  physician  assured  the 
family  the  sufferer  was  not  conscious  to  any  great  degree.  The  final  struggle 
of  mortality  had  set  in,  reaching  its  climax  in  one  triumphantly  spoken  "amen." 
It  was  the  last  word  of  one  who  had  always  unhesitatingly  accepted  the  deal- 
ings of  a  heavenly  Father  as  "yea  and  amen."  As  the  morning  wore  toward 
noon,  the  daughters  felt  something  might  be  given  their  mother  to  ally  in  some 
measure  the  expression  of  distress.  The  younger  got  the  mother's  attention  and 
suggested  an  anodyne.  She  indicated  assent  and  as  soon  as  it  was  administered 
smiled  back  her  gratitude,  reached  out  her  arms  and  drew  to  her  lips  the  face 
of  her  child  for  the  parting  and  final  expression  of  a  mother's  love.  And  then 
every  outward  evidence  of  distress  faded, —  every  muscle  at  rest,  no  further  re- 
cognition or  consciousness  of  things  mortal,  only  the  soft  passing  of  that  breath 
God  had  given.  Thus  all  the  hours  of  that  Sabbath  afternoon  ebbed  away  and, 
as  twilight  came  on,  the  peace  and  stillness  of  the  scene  in  that  chamber  seemed 
only  emphasized  as  the  tones  of  the  church  bell  called  to  evening  service : 
11  And  in  these  ears  till  hearing  dies, 

One  set  slow  bell  will  seem  to  toll 
The  passing  of  the  sweetest  soul, 

That  ever  looked  with  human  eyes." 

While  the  bell  still  tolled  and  the  twilight  deepened,  that  soul  passed 
through  the  "valley  of  the  shadow."  And  then  the  quiet  dawn  of  eternal 
day  broke  over  the  pain-worn  features,  transfiguring  every  line  of  suffering  and 
leaving  on  the  whole  face  an  expression  of  ineffable  sweetness  as  of  one  who 
had  conquered. 

•"Life,  we've  been  long  together, 

Through  pleasant  and  through  cloudy  weather. 
'Tis  hard  to  part  when  friends  are  dear : 

Perhaps  'twill  cost  a  sigh,  a  tear: 
Then  steal  away, give  little  warning; 

Choose  thine  own  time : 

Say  not  good-night,  but  in  some  brighter  clime 
Bid  me  good -morn  ing. 


TRIBUTES. 


MEMORIES  OF  THE  HOME  LIFE. 

The  early  memories  of  my  sister  are  very  sweet  to  me.  From  earliest 
childhood,  I  remember  two  faces  bending  over  me,  filled  with  love,  and  tender 
solicitude ;  one  was  that  of  my  mother,  the  other  of  sister  Harriet.  She  was 
the  eldest  of  a  family  of  seven  children, —  I,  the  youngest;  and  mother  used  to 
say  her  little  children  had  two  mothers,  for  Harriet  was  always  so  loving  and 
helpful  to  us  all.  And  how  devotedly  we  loved  her  in  return ! 

I  remember  Sabbath  days,  when  a  sister,  three  years  older  than  myself, 
and  I  were  kept  home  from  church  and  Sabbath-school  by  storm  or  illness. 
Harriet  was  always  ready  to  stay  with  us,  when  it  was  possible  for  her  to  do 
so,  and  she  would  tell  us  stories  from  the  Bible,  or  read  to  us ;  and  then  she 
would  tell  us  how  to  be  like  Him,  whom  not  having  seen,  she  loved.  In  mem- 
ory it  is  sacred  still — the  closet  where  she  knelt  —  and  prayed  that  our  hearts 
might  be  filled  with  the  blessed  Spirit,  and  our  young  lives  guided  and  con- 
trolled by  Him. 

Although  I  was  young  when  she  left  us  to,  enter  upon  her  missionary  life, 
I  remember  her  work  among  the  poor  and  needy  in  our  city.  She  was  frail  in 
those  early  days,  and  was  often  laid  aside  for  weeks,  but  as  soon  as  she  was 
able  to  take  up  her  work  again,  it  was  done  with  the  same  earnestness  as  before. 
She  taught  for  three  or  four  years,  and,  after  spending  all  the  week  in  the 
school-room,  Saturday  found  her  going  from  house  to  house,  among  the  needy, 
and  her  missionary  life  really  began  before  she  left  her  girlhood  home.  In  the 
city,  there  was  one  street  that  was  her  greatest  care.  It  was  filled  with  the 
poor  from  other  lands,  and  many  would  have  been  deterred  from  going  there 
by  fear ;  but,  for  a  time,  every  week  found  her  among  those  people,  caring  for 
the  children,  crooning  over  the  babies,  hushing  them  to  sleep,  or  giving  help  to 
weary  and  sick  mothers.  When  we  had  servants  in  the  house,  she  was  always 
interested  in  their  welfare,  and  sought  to  lead  them  into  a  spiritual  life. 

After  she  had  been  from  home  seven  or  eight  years,  one  Sabbath  just  as 
we  were  going  out  to  church,  to  the  afternoon  service  (which  was  always  held 
in  those  days),  we  met  a  woman  and  two  children  at  the  door.  She  had  been  a 
washerwoman  in  the  family  years  before.  She  asked,  "Will  you  tell  me  where 


MRS.  HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  263 

I  can  find  Miss  Harriet's  church?  I  promised  her  before  she  went  away  I 
would  sometime  go  to  her  church  and  I  have  never  been."  We  directed  her  to 
Appleton-street  church,  with  which  sister  was  so  closely  identified.  She  became 
interested  in  the  service,  and  some  one  became  interested  in  her.  She  took  her 
children  to  the  Sabbath  school  and  after  a  few  months  united  with  the  church 
herself  in  spite  of  opposition  and  persecution,  for  her  life  was  imperiled,  her 
Bible  was  stolen  from  her  room,  and  she  was  publicly  cursed,  and  excommuni- 
cated from  the  Catholic  church.  How  many  seeds  of  goodness  sown  in  human 
hearts  by  our  sister's  loving  thought,  have  ripened  and  born  fruit  to  the  honor  of 
the  Master  will  never  be  known,  until  the  harvest  time,  when  the  secrets  of  all 
hearts  shall  be  revealed. 

But  the  time  came  when  she  was  to  go  from  us.  The  subject  of  missions 
lay  very  near  her  heart,  and  the  great  desire  of  her  life  was  to  go  into  the 
wider  field  of  the  world.  We  all  knew  her  wishes,  but  their  fulfilment  seemed 
a  long  way  off  until  Mr.  Wheeler  came  so  often  from  the  seminary  at  An- 
dover  only  ten  miles  distant.  Then  we  realized  that  her  desires  were  soon 
to  be  gratified.  It  was  almost  hard  for  my  sister  Hannah  and  me  to  love  him, 
for  his  gain  would  be  such  a  loss  to  us. 

I  remember  so  well  that  wedding  day.  A  few  intimate  friends  and  the 
members  of  our  own  family  were  all  that  were  present,  and  every  one  was 
keeping  up  a  semblance  of  cheerfulness,  but  the  shadow  of  departure  would 
not  be  dispelled.  She  looked  so  sweet  and  lovely  in  her  simple  wedding  attire, 
as  she  stood  beside  the  tall  handsome  student,  just  from  his  studies,  who  was  to 
lead  her  away  from  us.  I  watched  every  expression  of  her  face  with  my  poor 
little  heart  almost  breaking,  but  when  the  minister  bade  them  "join  hands"  it 
was  too  much  for  me,  and  a  great  sob  broke  the  stillness  of  the  room,  but  the 
dear  sister  struggled  hard  to  keep  her  voice  from  faltering  and  to  repress  the 
tears  that  lay  so  near  the  surface. 

Well,  the  wedding  was  over,  and  they  left  us  for  a  few  weeks  of  visiting 
with  friends,  after  which  they  returned  and  made  ready  for  their  final  depart- 
ure. In  these  days  of  rapid  and  easy  transit  it  would  seem  a  light  thing  to 
travel  from  Massachusetts  to  Wisconsin,  but  it  was  not  so  then.  One  could  go 
to  India  now  witli  far  less  discomfort,  than  to  travel  the  thousand  miles  they 
were  undertaking. 

But  the  day  of  parting  came ;  breakfast  was  almost  untasted,  but  it  was  over. 
Trunks  and  boxes  were  packed,  waiting  to  be  taken  away,  and  we  had  all 
gathered  in  the  parlor  for  the  morning  prayer.  I  can  not  recall  the  Scripture 
my  father  read,  but  I  shall  never  forget  the  hymn  we  sang  or  tried  to  sing.  "Ye 
Christian  heroes  go,  proclaim."  I  seldom  hear  it  now  that  it  does  not  take  me 
back  to  that  morning  with  its  tearful  gathering,  so  long  ago.  It  was  a  sad 
parting,  and  as  the  sound  of  the  wheels  that  were  bearing  them  away  was  lost 
in  the  distance,  we  returned  to  the  house,  each  heart  burdened  with  grief.  How 
anxiously  we  watched  for  letters  from  her,  and  they  came  as  often  as  the  slow 
mails  could  bring  them.  She  was  happy  in  her  new  life,  hopeful  for  the  future 


264  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

and  eager  to  commence  her  chosen  work,  only  saddened  by  the  thought  of  those 
she  had  left.  There  were  always  sweet  words  for  the  little  ones,  and  loving 
counsel  for  us.  We  know  something  of  the  hardships  and  privations  she  en- 
dured, but  we  must  add  to  them,  home-sickness,  more  easily  experienced  than 
described.  She  said  little  about  it,  but  in  one  of  her  letters  to  mother,  she 
writes :  u  Send  the  children  away  from  home,  that  they  may  becortie  accustomed 
to  being  absent  from  the  family  circle  before  they  leave  it  and  suffer  as  I  have 
done."  But  all  was  cheerfully  borne  for  the  love  of  Him  whose  life  she  sought 
to  represent.  She  had  her  faults  as  we  all  have,  but  in  my  memory  of  her 
sweet  home  life  there  were  none. 

When  I  was  asked  to  give  some  incidents  in  her  early  life,  I  was  glad  to 
pay  a  loving  tribute  to  one  so  dear  to  me.  The  history  of  these  later  years  is 
known  to  you  all.  With  tears  we  have  laid  her  down  to  rest  and  covered  her 
grave  with  flowers.  They  will  fade,  but  the  memory  in  our  hearts  can  never 
die.  With  her,  "  it  is  well." 

GONE  HOME. 

Dear  form  so  still,  laid  away  from  our  sight, 

Dear  lips  to  us  closed  evermore, 
Dear  hands,— they  have  ceased  their  service  of  love, 

Weary  feet,  they  have  entered  heaven's  door. 
They  shall  go  no  more  out  to  tread  the  worn  path 

Of  the  world  with  its  labor  and  strife ; 
They  shall  walk  all  unwearied  the  pavement  of  gold, 

And  the  strand  of  the  "river  of  life." 
I  can  see  her  now  as  at  eventide. 

She  sat  with  God's  book  in  her  hand, 
Reading  of  Him  she  had  chosen  her  Guide, 

And  the  home  in  the  better  land. 
The  far  away  look  in  her  eyes  I  can  see, 

As  she  pondered  the  old  lessons  o'er, 
And  silently  offered  the  prayer  of  her  heart 

That  she  might  love  her  Saviour  yet  more. 
But  our  hearts,  how  they  ache  with  the  thought  that  no  more 

We  shall  hear  the  loved  voice ;  and  we  weep, 
Not  for  her  who  has  gone,  but  for  those  who  remain 

In  tears  the  life  vigil  to  keep. 
But  we  pause  mid  our  tears,  would  we  call  her  back, 

Though  her  lips  are  silent  and  cold ; 
And  we  miss  the  kind  word  and  loving  caress 

And  remember  life's  story  is  told? 
Would  we  call  back  from  her  Father's  side 

To  battle  with  sorrow  and  sin  ? 
To  tread  the  life  path  with  its  light  and  shade! 

To  be  tempted  without  and  within ! 

"  Not  my  will."  dear  Jesus,  "  but  thine,"  we  ask, 

Yet  we  can  not  from  heart  depths  say  this. 
Except  on  the  cloud  by  our  faith  we  can  read : 
"The  dear  Lord  doeth  nothing  amiss." 

O  teach  us,  dear  Father,  this  lesson  of  trust, 
And  may  we  forever  abide 


In  the  "  secret  place  "  overshadowed  by  Thee 
Who  hast  promised  Thy  children  to  hide, 
There  where  folded  hands  tell  of  work  that's  all  done, 


Who  hast  promised  Thy  children  to  hide, 
_Bre  where  folded  hands  tell  of  work  tl 
(The  word  of  the  Lord  standeth  sure). 
"  If  I  go,  I  will  come  and  receive  you  myself," 
No  more  cross,  but  the  crown,  evermore. 

MRS.  C.  F.  HARDY, 
Beloit,  Wisconsin,  September  13th  1894. 


MRS.   HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  265 


TRIBUTE  OF  MRS.  AUGUSTA  S.  KENNEDY. 


When  we  who  know  her  so  well  looked  at  her  frail  physique,  it  seemed 
as  if  she  must  have  been  crushed  beneath  her  load,  but  love  and  faith  buoyed 
up  her  flagging  health  and  carried  her  on.  For  the  last  few  months,  however, 
she  has  been  very  feeble  and  her  one  thought  has  been  that  she  must  have  Lake 
Superior  air  or  die. 

How  hard  and  mysterious  it  seems  to  us  that  she  should  have  left  her 
home  and  come  here  to  meet  her  fate.  Only  two  days  before  she  had  gone 
with  a  party  to  the  christening  of  a  steamer,  and  seemed  as  happy  and  delighted 
as  any  of  the  throng.  Little  did  we  think  that  it  was  to  be  her  last  time  with 
us.  Mercifully  are  the  times  and  seasons  hidden  from  our  eyes.  An  alarm  of 
fire  being  sounded,  she  rushed  out  in  the  quick  way  so  natural  to  her  but  missed 
her  footing  and  fell,  to  be  picked  up  bruised  and  broken.  For  three  long  weeks 
she  suffered  physical  torture,  but  whenever  a  gleam  of  consciousness  shone  upon 
her  she  lamented  that  she  must  be  a  trouble  to  others,  entirely  forgetting  her- 
self. 

Attended  by  her  devoted  children  she  lay  till  Sunday  night,  August  12th, 
when,  just  as  the  gates  of  sunset  shut  out  the  dying  day,  the  golden  portals  be- 
yond swung  open  and  our  beloved  friend  passed  through.  Life's  long,  weary 
day  ended.  She  bade  good-night  to  the  world,  to  wake  in  the  arms  of  Him 
whose  loving  mercies  she  had  so  long  trusted,  and  whom  she  had  so  faithfully 
served. 

Truly  a  mother  in  Israel  has  fallen.  Never  till  the  books  are  made  up  at 
the  end  of  time  will  she  know  of  all  good  she  has  done. 

The  years  of  utter  self-abnegation  which  have  been  hers  are  something 
wonderful  when  viewed  in  the  light  of  these  days  when  so  much  worldliness  in- 
fuses itself  into  the  best  efforts. 

From  the  east  and  the  west,  from  the  north  and  the  south,  will  they  rise 
up  and  call  her  blessed. 

None  were  too  lowly  or  too  poor  for  her  kind  ministration.  She  did  not 
give  money  alone  but  the  pressure  of  the  hand,  the  comforting  word  and  the 
sympathetic  tear  which  told  so  eloquently  the  burden  was  shared  by  her.  After 
all,  perhaps  she  would  have  chosen  to  die  here,  so  near  the  place  where  her 
heart  has  always  been.  And  in  a  conversation  with  her  before  the  delirium 


266  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

came  upon  her  she  said  to  me,  "It  has  always  been  my  prayer  that  Dr.  Ellis 
might  be  with  me  in  my  last  sickness,"  and  thus  it  came  about. 

When  asked  to  write  this  notice  I  accepted  the  trust  gladly  as  the  last  trib- 
ute I  could  pay  to  a  loving  friend,  but  my  heart  fails  me  when  I  think  how 
feeble  is  my  best  effort  to  do  justice  to  her  memory. 

Her  words  and  deeds  are  her  best  monument.     Her  life  was  a  constant 
praise-service  and  her  death  comes  like  the  benediction  that  follows  after  prayer. 
In  our  sorrow  for  our  bereavement  let  us  remember 
"The  strife  is  o'er,  the  battle  done, 
The  victory  of  life  is  won. 
The  song  of  triumph  is  begun." 

MBS.  AUGUSTA  S.  KENNEDY. 


LETTER  AND  POEM  OF  REV.  H.  G.  McARTHUR. 


FORT  ATKINSON,  WISCONSIN. 

AUGUST  21sT,  1894. 
Miss  HATTIE  WHEELEK: 

DEAR  AND  BEREAVED  FRIEND  :  We  learned  with  sorrow  of  the  sore 
accident  which  befell  your  mother ;  and  now,  later,  with  deeper  sorrow,  of  her 
death.  It  is  difficult  for  Us  to  realize  that  such  is  the  fact, —  that  your  mother 
and  our  much  esteemed  friend  has  passed  into  the  shadow  so  impenetrable  to 
human  vision. 

But  more  and  more  as  we  come  to  realize  that  she  is  gone,  may  we  rise 
into  that  sweet,  living  faith  which  will  enable  us  to  feel  that  she  has  only  passed 
from  the  lower  to  the  higher;  and  that  the  same  true  and  loving  spirit  is  still 
moving  on  with  a  growing  sanctified  purpose  and  impulse  toward  that  which  is 
diviner  and  more  blessed. 

Mrs.  McArthur  joins  me  in  expressions  of  heart  sympathy  to  all  the  family 
in  this,  your  great  bereavement.  And  our  thought  and  our  prayer  is  that  you 
all  may  be  supported  and  comforted  by  Him  who  deems  it  best  to  chasten  his 
children. 

Very  cordially  yours, 

H.  G.  McARTHUR. 
IN  MEMORIAM. 

A  mother  in  Israel,  esteemed  and  beloved, 
Ever  gracing  the  faith  in  which  she  moved : 

So  kind  and  so  true,  so  pure  and  so  good ; 
So  thoughtful  and  loving  in  motherhood ; 

So  genuine  her  devotion  to  truth, 

So  loyal  to  God  from  earliest  youth ; 


MRS    HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  267 

With  a  Christly  spirit  within  her  breast 

So  eager  to  serve  to  the  very  last, 
Reatly  to  sacrifice  comfort  and  ease 

The  needy  to  help,  the  Master  to  please  ;— 
The  mother,  the  saint  and  the  trusted  friend,— 

Alas',  has  reached  earth's  pilgrimage  end. 
But  'mid  flowing  tears  we  may  well  rejoice. 

Though  gone  from  our  sight,  though  hushed  be  her  voice, 
For  in  the  Beyond  what  an  infinite  gain, 

What  a  deep  soul-peace,  what  spiritual  reign 
,  To  the  faithful  one  whose  whole  life  below 

Seemed  bathed  with  the  light  of  a  heavenly  glow! l 

1  In  a  double  sense  this  is  a  memorial  of  the  dead.    Mr.  McArthur  passed  to  the  world 
above  on  the  2Oth  of  February,  1895. 


LETTER  OF  MARY  WARREN  ENGLISH. 


RED  LAKE  RESERVE,  [MINNESOTA,] 

NOVEMBER  4TH,  1894. 

MY  DEAR  HATTIE:  Your  dear  letter  so  full  of  the  sad  tidings  of 
your  sainted  mother's  death,  reached  me  a  few  days  since,  and  also  the  photo- 
graphs;—  and  many  thanks  for  the  same.  I  said  sad  tidings,  so  it  was  to  me, 
as  I  realized  there  will  be  no  more  meetings  on  earth  between  us,  but  oh  what 
gain  to  her, —  blessed  rest  now.  The  burden  and  worries  of  this  life  all  left  be- 
hind, which  she  has  borne  so  long  and  alone,  yet  not  alone — her  God  uwas  her 
very  strength  and  refuge." 

That  is  an  excellent  likeness  of  your  mother,  my  eyes  filled  with  tears  as  I 
gazed  on  that  dear,  sweet  old  face,  for  it  brought  to  mind  so  many,  many  scenes 
of  my  earliest  days,  and  of  my  girlhood  when  under  her  kind  and  motherly 
*e. 

My  first  recollection  of  your  father  and  mother  dates  from  the  very  first 
hour  they  landed  on  La  Pointe  island.  I  was  a  little  girl  not  five  years  old, 
and  the  first  meeting  happened  in  this  way,  (it  seems  like  a  dream  to  me  now 
i  I  think  of  it  but  it  is  very  vivid). 

My  brother  William  had  been  away  to  school  and  he  was  expected  to  re- 
turn home  on  that  same  vessel  which  brought  your  parents  to  the  island.  My 
own  parents  were  both  away  from  home  at  the  time  and  I  was  staying  with  my 
aunt  Julia  Defoe.  As  soon  as  the  vessel  landed,  my  aunt  and  myself  started  to 
find  my  brother,  and  we  met  him  and  your  father  and  mother  and  Miss  Abby 
Spooner  walking  up  the  sandy  beach  on  their  way  from  the  "Old  Company's 
Wharf "  to  the  mission-house  at  " Middle  Fort,"  as  it  was  then  called. 

My  brother  knew  us  and  after  giving  us  a  hearty  greeting  he  turned 
around  and  introduced  us  to  his  companions,  who  also  greeted  us  in  a  most 


268  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

friendly  and  kindly  manner.  I  remember  your  mother  more  particularly  and  I 
thought "  What  a  lovely  lady !  Such  bright  eyes,  rosy  cheeks,  and  curling  hair 
each  side  of  her  face."  And  your  father  —  I  can  well  recall  just  how  he  ap- 
peared. His  kindly  voice  as  he  said,  "And  this  is  little  Mary,"  I  shall  never 
forget. 

I  have  often  thought  that  it  was  their  pleasant  and  friendly  ways  and 
manners  that  made  such  a  lasting  impression  even  on  the  mind  of  a  child  and 
which  has  never  faded  away  during  the  many  long  years  that  intervened  since 
that  hour,  and  it  is  just  this  very  same  cordial  and  friendly  feeling  they  both 
possessed  and  exercised  toward  all  with  whom  they  came  in  contact  in 
after  years  that  made  everybody  their  friend,  and  it  is  this  which  drew  the 
Indians  around  them  from  the  very  first  hour  they  came  amongst  them  bearing 
the  "glad  tidings  of  peace"  and  kept  them  in  friendship  firm,  steadfast  to  the 
very  last  hour  that  they  parted  from  them  twenty-five  years  afterward. 

This  was  the  true  missionary  spirit,  full  of  good  feeling  and  sympathy 
toward  all  with  whom  they  had  to  do.  I  have  never  met  their  equal  since, 
though  I  have  lived  in  the  Indian  country  all  my  life  and  have  met  many 
teachers  in  this  midst  but  no  one  like  them,  not  one. 

That  was  a  wonderful  covenant  of  November  25th,  1841,  and  how  well  it 
has  been  kept  even  to  the  close  of  life.  I  have  read  it  over  several  times  and 
have  been  impressed  by  its  purity  and  perfect  faith.  It  has  been  a  real 
lesson  to  me  and  it  is  my  most  earnest  prayer  that  I  may  remain  true  and  faith- 
ful to  my  profession,  even  like  these  dear  departed  friends  whom  God  raised  up 
for  me,  in  years  after,  when  I  was  left  homeless,  fatherless  and  motherless,  and 
through  their  faithful  teachings  of  Christian  principles  and  with  God's  help  I 
have  been  enabled  to  keep  the  faith,  even  in  the  most  trying  scenes  and  trials 
of  later  years. 

MARY  WARREN  ENGLISH. 


LETTER  OF  MRS.  M.  E.  VAUGHN. 


ASHLAND,  WISCONSIN, 
SEPTEMBER  28th,  1894. 

MY  DEAR  Miss  WHEELER:  Nothing  could  have  made  me  happier  than 
your  kind  letter  with  the  accompanying  pictures  and  the  covenant.  How  many 
pleasant  associations  these  dear  faces  recall, —  the  happiest  of  my  life.  You 
can  never,  unless  placed  in  similar  circumstances,  realize  what  your  dear  mother 
was  to  us  strangers,  who  came  to  Lake  Superior  in  those  early  years.  I  have 


MRS.  HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  269 

often  wondered  how  she,  coming  without  any  such  greeting,  ever  endured 
the  loneliness  of  the  first  few  years.  The  dear  Lord  was  very  good  to  her  to 
give  her  not  only  strengtli  and  patience  for  her  own  cares,  but  enough  to  spare 
for  others.  She  was,  to  my  mind,  the  best  example  of  a  perfect  woman  I  ever 
saw, —  and  I  am  so  thankful  to  you  for  sending  me  the  photographs. 

(MRS.)  M.  E.  VAUGHN. 


LETTER  OF  PROFESSOR  H.  M.  WHITNEY. 


SALISBURY,  WILTSHIRE,  ENGLAND, 

AUGUST  27ra,  1894. 

MY  DEAR  EUGENE:  I  have  just  heard  from  my  home  of  the  death 
and  burial  of  your  honored  and  beloved  mother,  and,  though  far  away,  I  will 
not  wait  to  get  home  in  order  to  bear  my  testimony  to  her  worth.  The  testi- 
mony is  all  one  way,  as  you  had  ample  occasion  to  find  out  even  before  she  was 
taken  away. 

You  were  all  comparatively  new  in  Beloit  when  we  came  there  to  live 
(in  1871),  and  it  took  me  a  good  while  to  find  you  all  out  and  to  begin  upon 
that  substantial  friendship  that  my  wife  and  I  so  much  rejoice  in  now.  But 
your  mother  was  alert  with  the  kind  word  and  deed  toward  us  as  well  as  to- 
ward others.  And  she  always  wanted  the  best  things.  Her  memory  is  blessed. 
I  never  knew  your  father,  but  I  shall  always  cherish  my  recollections  of  your 
mother.  Give  my  warm  sympathy,  and  indeed  I  may  well  say  congratulations, 
to  all  your  family  circle.  When  the  saints  are  gathered  in  fulness  of  years,  it 
is  a  matter  for  joy  that  triumphs  over  grief. 

Sincerely  your  friend, 

H.  M.  WHITNEY. 


LETTER  OF  MRS.  ANNA  S.  ROGERS. 


MY  DEAR  Miss  HATTIK:  Ever  since  the  sad  news  of  your  dear 
mother's  death  reached  me,  I  have  been  wanting  to  tell  you.  how  much  I  sym- 
pathize with  you  and  your  family  in  your  great  sorrow.  I  can  indeed  sympa- 


270  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

thize  with  you,  for  I  know  the  terrible  sense  of  loneliness  that  comes  from  los- 
ing a  dear  parent.  But  what  a  comfort  it  is  that  these  separations  are  only  for 
a  season,  and  what  a  help  in  our  grief  the  assurance  of  the  unspeakable  gain  to 
our  dear  ones.  Though  so  far  away  from  Beloit,  I  shall  always  cherish  the 
deepest  affection  for  my  friends  there;  and  your  mother,  the  mother  of  "our 
neighborhood,"  always  had  a  very  warm  place  in  my  heart.  Her  loss  comes  to 
me  very  deeply.  She  was  one  of  those  women  who  are  a  help  and  inspiration 
to  all  about  them, —  always  doing  good,  always  a  kind  word  for  every  one. 
And  her  noble  Christian  character, —  beautiful  example  for  us  all. 

ANNA  S.  ROGERS. 


LETTER  OF  DR.  J.  E.  ROY. 

AMERICAN  MISSIONARY  ASSOCIATION, 
BIBLE  HOUSE,  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

WESTERN  DISTRICT. 
DISTRICT  SECRETARY: 

REV.  J.  E.  ROY, 

OFFICE,  151  WASHINGTON  STREET. 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS, 
AUGUST  22ND,  1894. 
REV.  E.  P.  WHEELER, 

ASHLAND,  WISCONSIN: 

DEAR  BROTHER  :  On  the  same  day  I  received  "  The  Evangel "  with 
the  account  of  your  mother's  accident,  and  the  Beloit  "  Free  Press  "  with  a  copy 
of  the  long  article  from  the  Ashland  daily  press,  reporting  the  death  and  the 
useful  life.  The  sad  demise  reminds  me  of  the  first  time  I  saw  your  mother 
when  I  went  to  Beloit  to  secure  yourself  for  Colorado.  At  that  time  she  im- 
pressed me  with  the  geniality  and  the  breadth  of  her  character,  all  of  which 
was  confirmed  when  I  saw  her,  the  one  only  other  time,  at  the  old  mission.  It 
seems  sad  that  one  who  had  come  up  to  the  years  of  three  score  and  eighteen, 
should  then  be  taken  away  by  what  we  call  an  accident.  What  an  inspiration 
has  that  name,  Harriet  Newell,  been  to  the  missionary  cause  these  eighty  years  I 
Your  family  have  been  wonderfully  blessed  in  that  she  has  been  preserved  to 
you  so  long  after  the  taking  away  of  your  father.  Such  a  life  written  out 
would  be  a  romance  of  unusual  thrill,  and  all  of  it  is  in  the  mind  of  your  boys 
more  indelibly  imprinted  than  if  it  were  in  a  book.  It  will  always  be  a  com- 
fort to  me  that  my  first  paper, — read  at  the  old  mission, — upon  "The  Outside 
Influence  of  the  Indian  Missionaries  "  was  a  comfort  to  her. 


4 

MRS.   HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  271 

I  see  by  "The  Evangel"  that  you  are  now  to  be  the  principal  of  the 
academy.  I  hope  that  you  may  yet  realize  your  largest  aspiration  in  that 
institution. 

Sincerely  yours, 

J.  E.  ROY. 


LETTER  OF  MRS.  MARY  H.  HULL. 


ARMOUR  MISSION, 

CORNER  OF  33RD  STREET  AND  ARMOUR  AVENUE, 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS. 

AUGUST  30TH,  1894. 

How  much  it  brings  up  to  me  to  read  of  your  dear  mother's  life  and 
death,  which  is  only  life  anew!  Please  let  me  share  with  others  the  sorrow  at 
her  loss.  It  is  gain  to  her  How  sad,  though,  must  have  been  her 

pain  and  yours  at  the  last.  But  her  life  was  so  full  of  heroism  with  an  element 
of  tragedy  in  it,  it  seems  but  a  part  of  the  heroic  to  have  it  go  out  in  such  a 
way.  God  knows  whom  to  trust. 

MARY  H.  HULL. 


A  NEIGHBOR'S  MESSAGE. 


A  letter,  highly  appreciated  by  the  family,  is  one  received,  during  Mrs. 
Wheeler's  illness,  from  Miss  H.  S.  Martindale  of  Beloit: 

649  CHURCH  STREET,  BELOIT. 

MY  DEAR  HATTIE  :  You  don't  know  how  many  thoughts  are  going  out 
to  Ashland,  and  how  many  prayers  are  rising  to  Heaven  from  our  dear  church, 
as  we  remember  your  afflicted  family.  We  do  not  love  to  have  you  so  far 
away ;  we  do  not  love  to  be  told  that  we  can  not  see  the  dear  mother  again, 
whose  face  always  reflected  so  much  of  the  radiance  of  heaven.  We  ought  to 
rejoice  that  the  earthly  labor  and  discipline  are  so  nearly  over,  but  it  seems 
if  we  could  spare  no  more  of  our  Saints.  Our  pastor  was  with  us  again 
iterday  and  he  did  not  forget  those  who  are  so  painfully  missing.  Your 


272  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

family  pew  is  too  suggestive  of  life's  sad  changes.  By  and  by  we  will  try 
to  look  upward  along  the  radiant  pathway,  and  rejoice  in  the  clear  vision 
of  blessedness  wrought  out  of  so  many  years  of  patient  and  cheerful  endur- 
ance of  the  Father's  good  pleasure;  but  now,  while  the  dear  one  lingers,  we 
must  "  hope  against  hope  "  and  pray  to  keep  her  a  little  longer  if  she  can 
live  comfortably.  We  are  grateful  that  so  many  of  her  children  can  minister 
to  her  comfort  and  be  to  her  such  a  consolation  in  their  loving  fidelity.  And 
we  are  grateful  for  the  cooler  weather  rendering  a  sick  bed  so  much  more  en- 
durable. It  has  been  hard  for  even  the  well  to  endure. 

I  shall  always   think  of  your  mother  as   when  I  saw   her  last,  in   such 
cheery  circumstances.  If   she    still   lives   and   can    .1 

think  of  us,  please  assure  her  of  our  most  loving  sympathy,  and  our  hope  of 
meeting  her  again  in  our  one  Home. 

With  love  to  all  the  family  from  Mrs.  Hill  and  myself. 

H.  S.  MARTINDALE. 


FROM  A  FRIEND  OF  HER  LAST  YEARS. 


When  one  has  been  lifted  up  by  the  hallelujah  chorus  of  the  "  Messiah," 
he  is  likely  to  feel,  when  he  hears  the  remaining  part  of  the  oratorio,  that  it  is 
but  a  rhythmic  descent  to  the  plane  of  ordinary  emotion.  From  a  "crowded 
hour  of  glorious  life  "  on  the  Rigi-Kulm  or  even  on  the  majestic  tribune  of  one 
of  the  innumerable  basilicas  which  the  Creator's  hand  built  in  the  ancient 
shores  of  the  upper  Mississippi,  it  is  with  hesitation  and  reluctance  that  we  turn 
again  to  the  world  and  its  work.  After  the  "amen"  that  fell  from  the  lips  to 
become  so  soon  silent  forever  there  seems,  at  first,  place  for  nothing  but  tears 
and  nlournful  memories.  But  no  one  could  remember  Mrs.  Wheeler  without 
being  recalled  to  duty,  and  so,  from  the  soft  turf  of  the  God's-acre  where  tender 
hands  laid  away  her  covering  of  flesh,  we  go  to  put  our  hands  once  more  to 
plow  or  pen. 

To  me.  who  can  not  abide  words  that  have  not  been  weighed  in  the  scale 
of  truth,  the  tributes  of  Mrs.  Wheeler's  friends  seem  to  set  forth  what  she 
really  was.  My  intimate  acquaintance  with  her  began  when  I  sought  informa- 
tion that  she  could  give  better  than  any  other  then  among  the  living.  Telling 
the  story  in  her  own  way,  she  almost  confused  me  at  first  with  her  vivid  setting 
forth  of  the  wrong  done  to  the  Wisconsin  Ojibways  in  the  attempt  to  make 
them  give  up  their  ancestral  homes  and  remove  to  a  dangerous  nearness  to  their 
persistent  and  ferocious  enemies,  the  Sioux.  But  how  tender  was  her  con- 
science, and  how  careful  she  was  lest  she  should  say  something  that  was  unjust: 


MRS    HARRIET  WOOD  WHEELER.  273 

Nor  was  her  feeling  that  worse  than  weak  sentimentality  that  practically 
ignores  the  difference  between  right  and  wrong.  She  distinguished  between 
one  who  was  merely  misled  and  those  who,  if  only  a  proposed  measure  offered 
to  themselves  a  promise  of  gain,  did  not  care  much,  if  at  all,  whether,  to  the 
Indians,  it  would  bring  evil  or  good.  Clearness  of  moral  vision  was  a  charac- 
teristic of  Mrs.  Wheeler.  Her  eye  was  single,  the  body  of  her  activities  and 
interest  full  of  light.  The  poor,  petty  act  of  Bishop  Baraga  in  removing  chil- 
dren from  the  best  school  within  their  reach,  because  all  the  pupils  were  taught 
to  pray  the  Lord's  prayer  together,  did  not  prevent  Mrs.  Wheeler, —  though  it 
was  her  own  school  from  which  the  children  were  withdrawn, —  from  recogniz- 
ing the  man's  real  worth  and  excellence.  But  I  doubt  that  she  would  have 
agreed  with  the  bishop's  remark,  as  repeated  by  Mr.  Parton,  when,  speaking  of 
the  Ojibways,  he  said  UI  make  pretty  good  Christians  of  some  of  them.  But 
men? — no,  it  is  impossible."  Indeed.  I  don't  believe  that  Mrs.  Wheeler  could 
think  of  any  one,  whether  Indian  or  of  any  other  race,  as  being  a  Christian 
without  true  manliness  or  its  corresponding  quality  in  woman. 

The  hardships  and  trials  of  missionary  life  were  not  favorite  themes  with 
Mrs.  Wheeler.  She  was  never  the  heroine  of  any  narrative  of  her  own.  But 
interested  questions  would  recall  the  oppressive  sense  of  loneliness  and  isolation 
tiiat  fell  upon  the  mission  families  as  they  watched  the  last  boat  of  the  season 
glide  down  the  vast  curve  of  the  world  that  is  measured  by  the  ocean-like  expanse 
of  Lake  Superior.  There  was  plenty  of  food  to  be  sure,  but  how  limited  in 
variety !  How  children  and  adults  as  well,  were.—  as  the  Scotch  say. — *»  scun- 
nered" with  fresh  fish!  The  time  was  when,  in  the  spring,  the  seed  potatoes 
must  be  so  cut  as  to  yield  a  portion  for  food  as  well  as  the  parts  needed  for 
planting.  There  were  hours  that  seemed  dark.  One  such  was  when  the  hus- 
band, already  worn  with  the  disease  that  ended  his  life,  had  broken  his  wrist, 
and  the  eldest  son  was  brought  home,  from  an  attempted  journey  to  St.  Paul, 
injured  in  the  knee  and  lame  because  of  hurt  received  in  the  falling  of  a  bough 
as  he  was  cutting  wood  for  the  evening  camp-fire.  This  was  one  of  the  dark 
hours  that  come  before  the  dawn,  and  then  it  was  that  father  and  son  wrought 
together  to  make  the  model  of  the  "Eclipse"  windmill.  By  his  successful  in- 
vention the  father  provided  for  the  needs  of  the  family  that  he  was  so  soon 
thereafter  called  to  leave.  The  success  of  the  business  which  he  established 
made  Mrs.  Wheeler  both  glad  and  grateful.  But  more  glad  and  grateful  was 
she  that  he  had  won  the  hearts  of  the  people  to  whom  he  gave  the  best  of  his 
life;  that  he  loved  righteousness,  hated  iniquity  and  fought  it  with  the  persist- 
ence of  a  Calvinist  and  the  courage  of  a  soldier. 

Let  no  one  be  displeased  if  we  seem  to  have  passed  in  our  narrative  from 
the  story  of  •'  the  wife  to  that  of  the  husband.  She  would  have  wished  it  so. 

Happiest  of  my  memories  of  Mrs.  Wheeler, —  and  all  are  pleasant, —  is  that 
of  those  stirring  days  at  La  Pointe  and  Ashland  when  the  dear  mother  rejoiced 
not  only  over  what  had  been  accomplished  in  the  past  but  yet  more  over  what 
she  believed  would  be  done  in  years  to  come.  There  and  then  the  happy  little 


274  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Puritan  became  our  uncrowned  queen! 

At  that  time  there  had  been  taken  from  the  quarries  at  Prentice,  on  the 
rock-bound  western  shore  of  the  beautiful  Chequamegon,  a  huge  monolith  de- 
signed for  the  Columbian  Exhibition.  This  shaft  of  stone  surpasses  in  size  the 
largest  of  Egypt's  famed  obelisks.  But  hopes  were  disappointed.  Where  it 
lay  when  the  quarrymen  had  moved  it  from  its  ancient  bed  there  it  lies  yet.  It 
may  never  point  toward  the  sky.  It  was  not  needed  as  a  memorial  of  the  ex- 
hibition. No  more  fitting  use  could  be  made  of  this  obelisk  of  iron-reddened 
sandstone  than  to  place  it  erect  engraven  with  the  names  of  Ayer,  Hall, 
Wheeler, — husbands  and  wives, —  and  of  those  who  labored  with  them.  But 
these  men  and  women  have  a  better  memorial  than  one  of  stone.  In  the  lives 
and  love  of  those,  both  in  heaven  and  on  earth,  whom  they  served,  and  "in 
God's  still  memory  folded  deep"  is  their  record  both  of  deed  and  name. 


It  is  an  easy  transition  from  a  memorial  of  Mrs.  Wheeler  to  a  letter  by 
her  friend  and  associate  Mrs.  E.  T.  Ayer,  one  of  the  few  survivors  of  that 
heroic  mission  band  of  half  a  century  ago.  It  is  fitting  that  both  these  narra- 
tives appear  in  the  story  of  "Unnamed  Wisconsin."  For  it  was  not  until  a 
comparatively  late  time  that  the  people  dwelling  there  thought  of  the  Lake  Su- 
perior region  as  really  belonging  to  Wisconsin.  Long  after  the  Territory  was 
organized  they  dated  their  letters  at  "  La  Pointe,  Lake  Superior." 

Mrs.  Ayer's  letter  is  written  with  the  delicacy  and  firmness  of  hand  of  a 
school-girl.  An  answer  has  as  yet  brought  no  reply  but,  so  far  as  I  know,  the 
good  lady  is  still  among  the  living : 

BELLE  PKAIRIE,  January  26th,  1891. 
REV.  J.  N.  DAVIDSON: 

Yours  of  the  17th  inst.  was  duly  received.  I  have  to  say  that  you  sent  to 
a  dry  source  for  anything  like  dates  of  'a  day  concerning  the  early  missions  in 
Wisconsin.  We  always  kept  dates  of  important  occurences  in  our  journals, 
which  were  quite  voluminous  (particularly  my  husband's)  but  when  we  left  Red 
Lake,  our  last  station  among  the  Ojibwas,  they  were  accidentally  burned.  In 
some  cases  I  am  not  able  to  tell,  without  some  considerable  thought,  even  the 
year,  in  which  certain  events  occurred. 

Now  in  my  89th  year,  I  do  not  dwell  much  on  the  past,  nor  have  I  for 
years.  Forgetting  the  things  that  are  behind,  I  am  pressing  forward  to  those 
that  are  before  —  learning  more  fully  how  we  are  saved  by  Jesus  Christ;  and  I 
find  that  it  is  not  by  His  "paying  all  the  debt  we  owe,"  no,  no.  His  work  was 
far  greater,  and  far  more  necessary  than  this,  and  in  it  I  rejoice. 


FREDERIC  AYER.  275 

I  hope  you  may  be  successful  in  your  undertaking.     My  best  wishes  at- 
tend you. 

ELIZABETH  TAYLOR  AYER. 


Frederic  Ayer  was  born  in  1803,  in  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  but  from 
two  years  old  he  lived  in  central  New  York,  where  his  father  was  for  many 
years  a  home  missionary.  He,  too,  was  set  apart  by  his  parents  for  the  min- 
istry, but  his  health  was  not  sufficient  to  carry  him  through  his  necessary 
studies  and  he  took  a  clerkship  in  a  bookstore  iii  Utica.  In  1829  the  Indian 
mission  at  Mackinaw  needed  a  helper,  and,  hearing  of  Mr.  Ayer,  they  were  so 
sure  that  he  was  the  man  for  them,  that  one  of  the  missionaries  went  to  Utica 
iu  person  and  persuaded  him  to  leave  his  business  and  come  to  their  relief. 
B  it  his  labors  in  school,  with  a  class  of  small  boys  out  of  school  in  addition, 
were  too  much,  and,  as  he  was  an  independent  worker  in  1830,  he  went  up  Lake 
Superior  with  the  fur  traders,  wintered  with  Mr.  Warren  at  La  Pointe,  taught 
Mr.  Warren's  children  and  the  children  of  his  employers,  and  studied  the 
Ojibwa  language.  In  1831  missionaries  were  sent  out  by  the  American  Board 
to  La  Pointe,  and  Mr.  Ayer  wintered  there  the  second  time,  studying  and  teach- 
ing. The  next  winter  he  went  on  farther,  to  Sandy  Lake.  Here  he  finished 
an  Ojibwa  spelling-book  and  started  off  on  foot  with  an  experienced  guide  for 
Mackinaw  early  in  the  spring.  He  was  bound  for  Utica  to  get  his  book 
printed  early  enough  to  go  up  Lake  Superior  with  the  traders. 

This  year,  1833,  Mr.  Ayer  put  himself  under  the  direction  of  the  A.  B. 
C.  F.  M.,  and  was  sent  to  Yellow  Lake.  During  his  third  year  there,  he  was 
invited  by  another  band  to  a  more  promising  field  of  labor,  and  was  directed 
to  go  there.  The  mission  family  there  consisted  of  Mr.  Ayer  and  wife,  John 
L.  Seymour,  and  Miss  Sabina  Stevens.  Miss  Crooks,  who  was  there  in  the  be- 
ginning, had  married  Rev.  W.  T.  Boutwell,  and  had  gone  to  Leech  Lake. 
The  mission  at  Pokeguma,  on  Snake  River,  was  very  prosperous  for  a  few 
years,  but  in  1840  the  Sioux  came  there  to  avenge  some  real  or  supposed 
wrongs,  and  the  Indians  were  scattered  and  dared  not  return.  Mr.  Ayer  after- 
wards spent  a  few  years  at  Red  Lake,  and  in  the  winter  of  '48-9  settled  on  the 
borders  of  the  newly-purchased  Territory  [of  Minnesota]  and,  in  due  time, 
opened  a  school  there  for  the  more  promising  children  in  different  parts  of  the 
Indian  country.  This  school  was  kept  up  for  several  years  and  when  Belle 
Prairie  was  sufficiently  settled  to  have  an  organization  they  joined  with  us.  We 
worked  together  till  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war. 

Mr.  Ayer  was  a  "man  of  his  word,"  therefore  he  was  trusted.  When 
living  on  the  St.  Croix,  an  Indian  came  in  one  evening,  and  after  sitting  a  while 
in  silence,  he  said.  »*I  did  not  sleep  much  last  night,  I  was  thinking  hard,  and 
puzzled.  I  never  saw  a  man,  before  you,  but  what  had  two  tongues,"  and 
crossing  his  two  fore-fingers  held  them  up  as  an  explanation.  »*I  notice  you 
have  but  one  tongue, — that  is  the  reason  the  Indians  like  you."  Wherever  Mr. 


1 


276  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

Ayer  lived,  this  trait  of  character  was  noticeable.  In  1865,  after  the  close  of 
the  civil  war,  he  went  South  to  labor  among  the  freeclmen,  and  in  building  two 
large  houses  and  remodeling  another  of  still  greater  dimensions  for  a  church, 
furnishing  material  and  hiring  laborers,  he  had  much  to  do  with  the  business 
men  of  the  city,  and  this  trait  of  character  was  greatly  to  his  advantage.  He 
gained  many  warm  friends,  even  among  the  rebels. 

Yours  in  Christian  bonds, 

E.  T.  AVER. 


Mr.  Ayer's  biography  —  as  yet  written  only  in  fragments. —  unites  closely 
the  history  of  Wisconsin  and  of  Minnesota.  A  school  that  he  established  was 
probably  the  first  within  the  limits  of  the  last  named  state.  He  binds  together 
also  the  narrative  of  the  work,  among  the  Ojibways,  both  of  the  American 
Board  and  the  American  Missionary  Association. 

Of  those  who  labored  with  him  nearly  all  have  passed  away.  S.  G.  Wright 
is  left  at  Oberlin,  Ohio,  and  Alonzo  Barnard  at  Benzonia,  Michigan.  Mr. 
Barnard  was  compelled  to  leave  St.  Joseph  (Walhalla),  North  Dakota,  in  1855. 
He  removed  to  the  Lake  Winnipeg  region  where  he  did  missionary  work  among 
the  Indians  until  1863,  when  he  removed  to  his  present  home. 

Of  Rev.  Cutting  Marsh,  Mrs.  R.  M.  Hutton,  wife  of  Professor  A.  J.  Hut- 
ton  of  the  Whitewater  normal  school  writes,  under  date  of  1895,  March  4th: 
"Dr.  Marsh  was  our  pastor  when  I  was  a  child.  A  more  thoroughly  conse- 
crated man  never  lived."  A  brief  sketch  of  his  life  is  furnished  by  his  daugh- 
ter, Miss  Sarah  E.  Marsh,  of  Chicago: 

Cutting  Marsh  was  born  July  20th,  1800,  in  the  town  of  Danville,  Ver- 
mont, and  the  early  years  of  his  boyhood  were  spent  on  his  father's  farm.  He 
graduated  from  Dartmouth  college  in  1826,  and  from  the  seminary  at  And- 
over  in  1829. 

In  the  fall  of  that  same  year,  he  came  west,  expecting  to  go  t:>  Green  Bay 
to  labor  among  the  Indians  for  a  year,  but  on  reaching  Detroit,  he  found  that 
the  last  boat  up  the  lakes  for  the  season  had  left  two  months  before  his  arrival. 
Accordingly,  he  went  to  Maumee,  where  there  was  a  missionary  station  among 
the  Ottawas,  and  spent  the  winter.  In  the  spring  he  went  to  Green  Bay,  and 
from  there  to  the  station  among  the  Stockbridges,  about  twenty  miles  up  the 
river. 

When  the  Indians  moved  to  Stockbridge,  he  went  with  them  and  st;iy<-<l 
until  the  American  Board  discontinued  its  work  amjng  them  in  1848. 

In  1837,  he  was  married  at  Green  Bay  to  Miss  Eunice  Osmer,  a  lady  who 
had  been  for  twelve  years  a  teacher  in  the  mission  school  at  Mackinaw. 

After  the  mission  at  Stockbridge  was  broken  up,  Mr.  Marsh  moved  to 
Green  Bay,  and  lived  there  three  years,  and  there  it  was  that  he  was  employed 
by  the  Home  Missionary  society  to  travel  as  an  itinerant  missionary,  looking  up 
church  members,  organizing  them  into  churches,  and  starting  Sunday -schools. 


CORRECTIONS.  277 

In  the  year  1851,  he  moved  to  Waupaca,  situated  on  an  Indian  reserva- 
tion, the  land  of  which  had  just  been  opened  for  settlement.  The  country  was 
new,  and  for  several  years  he  had  appointments  for  preaching  at  different 
places  every  Sunday  in  the  month,  some  of  these  being  twenty  miles  from  the 
home.  His  wife,  his  wise  and  faithful  helper,  went  to  her  heavenly  home  in 
1855.  And,  worn  with  his  many  labors  and  hardships,  he  fell  asleep  in  the 
morning  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  in  1873. 


Of  Chauncey  (not  Sherman)  Hall,  the  coadjutor  of  Mr.  Marsh,  the  novel- 
ist "Ida  Glenwood"  (Mrs.  C.  M.  R.  Gorton  of  Fenton,  Michigan),  writing 
under  date  of  1893,  March  20th,  said:  "I  boarded  with  him  and  family  in 
Utica,  New  York.  He  was  a  colporteur.  Perhaps  you  do  not 

know  that  I  am  blind,  and  it  was  while  attending  to  my  eyes  at  the  oculist's 
that  I  became  acquainted  with  himself  and  family.  I  received 

the  foundation  of  ''The  Fatal  Secret"  [one  of  her  books]  from  Messrs.  Hall  and 
Ferry  (the  founder  of  the  Mackinac  school  as  you  probably  know),  while  Mr. 
Ferry  was  visiting  Mr.  Hall  an'd  family."  Mrs.  Gorton  does  not  give  the  date 
of  Mr.  Hall's  death  but  intimates  that  it  occurred  not  "  many  months "  after 
1876.  "His  wife  and  daughter  preceded  him  to  the  other  world.  Jennie  was 
a  sweet  girl,  and  father  and  child  were  tender  lovers." 


The  unusual  length  of  time  that  this  book  has  been  in  press  has  brought 
somewhat  of  correction  and  more  of  information.  Part  of  this  material  was 
ilized  even  after  the  manuscript  was  in  the  printer's  hands.  Some  other 
things  I  subjoin: 

To  the  account  given  of  Radisson  and  Groseilliers  it  should  be  added  that, 
if  Dr.  Neill  is  right,  they  were  of  Huguenot  origin.  If  so,  as  I  presume  was 
the  case,  we  have  another  reason  for  their  preferring  to  serve  the  English 
government  rather  than  the  French  king, —  especially  as  that  king  was  Louis 
XIV.  Dragonades  and  the  disposition  that  made  them  were  not  likely  to  win 
the  loyalty  of  men  whom  the  woods  had  made  free. 

But  early  and  extended  as  were  the  "  voyages "  of  Radisson,  I  should  not 
now  speak  of  him  and  Groseilliers  as  probably  the  discoverers  of  Lake  Superior. 


-'7s  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

But  they  were  among  its  earliest  explorers.  And  so  great,  for  many  reasons, 
is  the  honor  due  them  that,  if  Wisconsin  should  have,  in  one  of  the  two  niches 
assigned  her  in  the  old  representatives'  hall  of  our  national  capitol,  the  statue 
of  any  man  of  the  seventeenth  century,1  the  form  should  be  that  of  Radisson, 
the  self-reliant  explorer,  rather  than  that  of  Marquette,  one  of  that  type  of 
ecclesiastics  who  think  as  they  are  told  and  do  as  they  are  bidden. 

If  any  French  missionary  could  rightly  occupy  the  place  of  honor  given 
by  an  ignorant  legislature  to  Marquette, —  who,  moreover,  belongs  in  much 
less  degree  to  the  history  of  the  Wisconsin  region  than  to  that  of  a  small  part 
of  what  is  now  Michigan, —  no  one  has  a  better  claim  than  the  faithful  Menard. 


Since  the  first  part  of  this  book  was  in  type  the  view  therein  set  forth  of 
the  Franco-British  wars  that  followed  the  accession  of  William  and  Mary  has 
been  published  to  the  world  by  one  of  the  most  eminent  of  American  historians, 
Professor  John  Fiske.  It  may  be  permitted  me  to  say  that  my  conclusions 
were  reached  independently,  so  far  as  I  can  remember,  of  suggestion  from  any 
one. 

It  would  be  absurd  to  blame  the  few  civilized  (or  half-civilized)  inhabitants 
of  the  ''parish  of  Green  Bay,"2  as  this  region  was  sometimes  called,  for  the 
part  that  they  took  in  the  wars  aforesaid.  At  the  same  time  it  is  ignorance  not 
to  know  that  they  fought  and  the  Canadian  clergy  prayed  against  the  movement 
whose  issue  was  the  founding  of  our  nation.  It  was  the  democracy  of  Calvin- 
ism and  not  the  aristocracy  of  Roman  Catholicism  and  of  Episcopacy  that  made 
the  Americans  not  only  a  free  people, —  that  was  accomplished  before  our  Rev- 
olution,—  but  also  a  nation  separate  from  the  mother  country.  That  other  vig- 
orous form  of  Puritanism  that  is  now  most  numerously  represented  in  the  great 
and  patriotic  Methodist  Episcopal  church3  had,  in  America,  during  the  war  of 
separation,  scarcely  an  existence. 


It  ,may  seem  that  disproportionate  space  has  been  given  to  the  narrative 
concerning  the  Stockbridge  Indians.  Certainly  one  would  think  so  if  he  judged 
merely  from  the  present  insignificance  and  deplorable  condition  of  the  tribe. 
But  that,  as  a  people,  they  were  once  entitled  to  greater  consideration  than  they 
are  now,  and  actually  received  it,  has  been,  I  think,  clearly  shown.  And  since 
the  chapters  that  give  account  of  them  were  in  print,  I  have  found  part  of  the 
record  that  they  made  during  the  Revolution  in  volume  II.  of  Peter  Force's 
reprint  of  American  archives;  —  a  "speech  delivered  by  Captain  Solomon 
Unhaunauwaunmet,4  Chief  Sachem  of  [the]  Moheakumnut  Tribe  of  Indians 
residing  at  Stockbridge,  on  the  llth  day  of  April,  1775,  after  sitting  in  Council 

1  Which  I,  for  one,  do  not  believe. 

2  "  A  parish  "  sometimes  spoken  of  as  if  it  extended  as  far  northward  as  Lake  Athabasca. 

3  As  every  one  knows,  Methodism  is  essentially  Puritanic ;  and,  in  spite  of  the  logomachy 
of  theologians,  really  Calvinistic. 

4  See  page  112. 


CORRECTIONS. 


270 


two  clays,  being  an  answer  to  a  Message  sent  them  by  the  Congress."1 

"South  Kaukauna"  is  a  better  name  than  "  Statesburg."  But  the  latter, 
for  an  Indian  settlement,  is  certainly  suggestive.  Under  date  of  10th  August, 
1894,  Dr.  (and  Mayor)  Tanner  of  South  Kaukauna,  wrote: 

"I  am  unable  to  find  any  one  here  who  knows  anything  about  the  rea- 
son for  the  name  Statesburg.  They  know  it  was  called  that,  but  the  naming  was 
too  early  for  them." 

He  adds :  "  I  took  a  trip  out  to  the  cemetery  and  I  am  sure  I  have  a  cor- 
rect copy  of  the  inscription,  which  I  enclose."2 

"The  faithful  memory"  spoken  of  on  page  140  is  that  of  Sabra  Howes 
Adams,  now  the  wife  of  Rev.  H.  H.  Benson  of  Wauwatosa,  Wisconsin. 

Of  note  2,  page  3,  Rev.  E.  P.  Wheeler  says: 

"Whatever  may  have  been  the  case  in  1671,  the  Ojibways  now  use  the 
term  Nadouessi  as  applying  only  to  the  Iroquois  and  the  Hurons,  not  to  the 
Sioux. 

"On  page  166  you  spell  the  name  of  Moose  Tail,  Moo-zoo-jeele. 3  It 
should  be  Mo-zo-geede."4 

Hennepin's  statement  as  given  in  note  2,  page  15  becomes  somewhat  less 
absurd  when  it  is  known  that  it  was  made  in  regard  to  the  falls  of  Niagara, 
not  those  of  St.  Anthony. 

To  the  note  on  page  149,  it  may  be  added  that  the  "  Presbyterian  mission- 
school"  was  one  established  and  supported  by  the  American  Board. 

The  note  on  page  151  should  be  corrected  by  the  statement  that  Mrs.  M. 
W.  English  is  employed  in  the  government  school  at  Red  Lake,  and  not  in  the 
Episcopal  mission. 

An  error  in  note  2,  page  234  is  corrected  in  the  account  of  Mr.  Ayer's  life. 

Other  annoying  errors  are  these:  "Country,"  for  "county,"  line  3,  note  1, 
page  37  ;  "advice"  for  "avarice,"  page  64,  line  25;  "story"  for  "tory"  in  note 
2,  page  181;  the  omission  of  "not"  before  "as  keen"  on  page  187,  line  10; 
"elapsed"  for  "lapsed,"  note  1,  page  204;  "or"  for  "of"  on  page  208,  line  25. 

On  page  222  "  Kendall "  instead  of  "  Kimball "  is  given  as  Dr.  Pearsons's 
middle  name,  and  on  page  225  the  blank  before  Mr.  West's  name  should  be 
filled  with  "Edward." 

It  may  be  added  that  Mr.  West  still  lives,  has  been,  since  1852,  a  resident 
of  Appleton  and  believes  that  he  was  the  first  man  to  teach  in  Wisconsin 

1  800  page  95. 

2  IN  MEMORY  OF 

REV.  JESSE   MINER, 

BORN  SEPT.  29,  1781. 

COMMENCED  THE  MOHEAKUMUK 

MISSION  AT  THIS  PLACE, 

JUNE  20, 1828. 
DIED  MARCH  22,  1829, 

AOED  47. 
"  and  he  shall  assemble  the  outcasts  of  Israel." 

ISA.  11, 12, 

3  I  followed  the  spelling  of  the  author  from  whom  I  made  the  quotation. 

4  Accurate,  non  cauda  sed  anus. 


280  IN  UNNAMED  WISCONSIN. 

under  a  regularly  organized  school-board.  This  was  in  the  winter  of  '36-37. 
For  this  school  a  frame  building  was  erected  in  "Kilbourntovvn."  The  boys  and 
girls  of  to-day  will  think  it  strange  that  among  his  duties  was  the  making  of 
goose-quill  pens.  On  this  last  subject  ex-Judge  J.  T.  Mills,  now  of  Manitowoc, 
says  of  his  life  in  the  family  of  Colonel  Zachary  Taylor,  while  at  Prairie  du 
Chien :  <k  I  did  some  of  his  writing,  and  there  I  first  saw  a  steel  pen  and  wrote 
with  it." 

Principal  E.  P.  Wheeler  of  Ashland  thinks  that  Cadeau  came  to  the  Lake 
Superior  region  at  a  much  later  date  than  1671  (p.  148).  He  is  sure  that  of 
the  two  church  buildings  at  La  Pointe,  the  one  that  belonged  to  the  Protestant 
mission  is  the  older  (p.  160).  He  adds:  "I  would  not  add  your  authority  to  the 
idea  that  there  is  any  question  at  all  as  to  which  is  the  older  building." 

In  the  criticism  that  follows,  I  do  not  think  that  Mr.  Wheeler  establishes 
his  point.  I  take  it  that  nearly  all  cannibalism  had  its  origin  in  the  belief  he 
describes : 

"On  page  170  you  comment  on  the  incident  related  in  Brother  Leonard's 
letter,  that  it  was  the  last  trace  of  cannibalism  in  Wisconsin.  This  is  not  a 
correct  inference  from  the  story  which  he  relates.  The  practice  of  warriors' 
eating  a  piece  of  the  flesh  (usually  the  heart)  of  their  foes  when  killed  was  in 
obedience  to  a  vindictive  instinct,  and  under  the  idea  that  the  strength  of  the 
victim,  thus  eaten,  becomes  transferred  by  the  act  to  the  victor.  It  was  a  usage 
of  war  therefore  that  led  the  Indian  in  question  to  eat  a  piece  of  that  French- 
man." None  the  less  it  was  cannibalism:  "The  eating  of  human  flesh  by 
human  beings." 


He  who  would  do  such  work  as,  in  the  foregoing  pages,  I  have  attempted, 
must  needs  learn  all  he  can  of  those  whose  years  have  brought  them  close  to  the 
borders  of  the  unseen  world.  A  happy  part  of  my  long  task  has  been  to  try  to 
get  and  put  on  record  things  preserved  in  the  memory  of  Jeremiah  Porter, — 
in  the  majestic  presence  of  death  let  us  drop  the  titles  given  by  councils  and 
schools,- — Aaron  Lucius  Chapin,  Luther  Clapp,  Mrs.  Harriet  Wood  Wheeler, 
Daniel  Brown  and  Philo  S.  Bennett.  To  try  to  name  all  others  of  the  dead 
and  the  living  who  by  their  reminiscences  have  given  me  help,  would  be,  of 
necessity,  a  work  so  likely  to  be  unsatisfactory  that  it  is  better,  peihaps,  to 
leave  it  wholly  undone.  This,  perhaps,  should  be  said  that  the  contributions  of 
President  Chapin  and  Father  Clapp  have  been  chiefly  of  material  that  must  be 
reserved  for  another  volume.  However,  it  was  in  view  of  meeting  their  judg- 
ment and,  not  less,  that  of  men  like  them  that  this  book  was  written.  If  it 
stand  the  test,  I  have  succeeded  in  a  part,  at  least,  of  what  I  sought  to  do. 


INDEX. 


Abbott's  Histories,  242.  !% 

Abbott,  Judge -,  179. 

A-boin-ug,  the,  146. 

Abolitionists  from  the  South,  184. 

Abraham  (of  Scripture),  149. 

Abrams,  Abram,  123. 

Abstinence,  total,  among  Indians,  83. 

Academy,  North  Wisconsin,  255,  256 

Aceldama,  a  veritable.  24. 

Adams,  Captain  (HenTy?),  196. 

Adams,  Daniel,  66,  128. 

Adams,  John,  29. 

Adams,  President  J.  Q.,  149,  190. 

Adams,  Sabra  Howes,  279. 

Advance,  The,  223. 

Advertiser,  The  Milwaukee,  225. 

Agmegue,  (Gagmegue),  94. 

Agriculture  among  the  Ojibways,  244. 

Aitkin,  Alfred,  160. 

Aitkin  county  (Minnesota).  156. 

Aitkin,  W.  A.,  156,  157,  160. 

Albany  (Illinois),  194. 

Albany  (New  York),    30,  47,  71,  78, 

89,  94,  164,  177. 
Albion  (New  York),  218. 
Algics    (Algonkins,    Algonquians,    Al- 

gonquins),  7,  10,  55,  56,  94,  108. 
Alleghany  river,  185. 
Allen,  Lieutenant  —  — ,  166. 
Alps,  134. 
Altamaha  river,  29. 


Ambler,  Augustus,  115,  151. 
America,  Protestant  episcopate  in,  30. 
America,  state  papers  of,  34. 
Americans,  27,  28,  32,  39,  40,  42,  43, 

44,  46,  100,  106,  119, 126. 
American  Articles  of   Confedera- 
tion, 29. 

American  Bible  society,  164. 
American  Board,  11,  47,  49, 114,  133, 

129,  130,  135, 136,  138,  139,  141, 

149,  162,  163,  164,  166,  168,  169, 

172,  209,  210,  233,  234,  235,  248> 

275,  276. 

American  college,  origin  of  the,  32. 
American  commonwealths,  majority  of 

the  newer,  34. 

American  flag,  first  in  Wisconsin  (?),  32. 
American   Fur  company,  47,  49,  134, 

148,  151,  158,  159,  180,  192,  233, 

240. 
American    government,    establishment 

of,  in  the  Old  Northwest,  35. 
American    Home    Missionary    society, 

182,  183,  193,  209,  216. 
American  Lakes,  Tour  of  the,  58. 
American  Missionary  Association, 

144,  162,  163,  270,  276. 
American  Revolution,  the,  23,  29,  32, 

54,  100, 

American  Tract  society,  193. 
American   Union,  the    Old    Northwest 


INDEX. 


becomes  a  part  of  the,  32. 
Amherst  college,  209. 
Anderson,  Captain  T.  G.,  189. 
Anderson,  General  Robert,  197,  199. 
Andover  seminary,  155,  223,  233,  263, 

276. 

Andreas,  A.  T.,  213. 
Andrews,  President  I.  W.,  34. 
Anglo-Americans,  74,  75. 
Angus,  John  Daniel,  159,  160. 
Annals  of  Prairie  du  Chien,  186. 
Antoinette,  Marie,  65. 
Anthony,  John,  57. 
Appenoose,  an  Indian  chief,  134. 
Appletorfs  Cyclopaedia,  74. 
Appleton-street  church,  Lowell,  233. 
Arabian  story  of  the  camel,  95. 
Arctic  zone,  26. 
Arkansas,  216. 
Armour  mission,  271. 
Arnold,  Benedict,  96. 
Ashland,  4,  147,  1*65,  167,  168,  229, 

250,  254,  255,  256,  257,  258,  268, 

270,  271,  273,  280. 
Ashley,  John,  Esq.,  80. 
Asiatic  Turkey,  108. 
Assembly  of  Massachusetts,  30. 
Asseni  sibi,  221. 
Associate  Reformed  synod,  109. 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  47. 
Astoria,  47,  51,  158,  235. 
Athol  (Massachusetts),  234. 
Atkinson,  General  Henry,    189,   190, 

197. 

Atlanta,  162. 
Atlantic  coast,  73,  75. 
Atlantic  states,  emigration  from,  39. 
Atlantic,  Tlie,  173. 
Aunauwauneekhheck  Jeremy,  84. 
Aupaumut,    Captain    Hendrick,      116, 

124. 

Austria,  42,  159. 
Autsequitt,  Neddy,  57. 


Ayer,  Mrs.  E.  T.,  157,  162,  163,  274, 

275,  276. 
Ayer,   Rev.   Frederic,    13,    151,    152, 

156,  157,  161,  162.  163,  234,  274, 

275,  276. 

Ayscough.  Rev.  Dr.  Francis,  90. 
Aztalan,  218. 
Bacon,  Rev.  David,  46. 
Bad  Axe,  battle  of  the,  198,  199. 
Bad  river,  168,  169,  240,  244,  245. 
Bad  Smell,  Bay  of  the,  14. 
Badin,  Rev.  J.  V.,  204. 
Balfour    (or    Belfour)    Captain 

Henry,  26,  45. 
Baltimore,  27. 
Bancroft,  George,  11,  13. 
Banks,  Sir  Joseph,  30. 
Baptist  preachers,  few  in  number,   220. 
Baptism  of  an  Indian,  239. 
Baraboo  ranges,  207. 
Barber,  Rev.  Abel  L.,  209,  210,  215, 

216,  217. 

Barber,  Mrs.  A.  L.   (Elizabeth  Wood- 
ford),  209. 

Barclay,  Rev.  Henry,  64,  78,  89, 
Barlow,  Rev.  Abner,  221. 
Barnard,  Rev.  Alonzo,  163. 
do        Mrs.  Alonzo,  163. 
Barre,  Mons.  de  la,  6. 
Barega,  Rev.  Frederic,  159,  170,  171. 

173. 

Basel,  134;  treaty  of,  28. 
Batteaux  on  Lake  Superior,  152. 
Bay  City  (Wisconsin),  250. 
Bay  des  Enock,  121. 
Bayfield,  11,  147,  167. 
Bay  field  county,  5. 
Beard,  Mr.,  an  Oneida  Indian,  123. 
Beauharnois,  M.  de,  19,  20,  21,  22,  23. 
Beaulieu,  Abraham,  159. 
Beecher,  Edward,  184. 

Belcher,   Governor  Jonathan,    75,    77, 
80,  82. 


Bellamy,  Joseph,  D.  D.,  77,  93. 


INDEX. 

diana,  38. 


283 


Belle    Prairie  (Minnesota),  162,  274, 

275. 

Edmont  Gazette,  225. 
Belmont  (Wisconsin),  185,  194,  200, 

223. 
Beloit,  172,  175,  224,  235,  250,  254. 

256,  257,  258,  259,  269,  270,  271. 
Beloit    college,   208,  219,   222,    226, 

235,  255. 

Beloit  College  Monthly,  193. 
Beloit  convention,  145. 
Beloit,  First  church  of,  173.  221,  222. 
Beloit,  first  white  child  born  at,  221. 
Beloit,  naming  of,  222. 
Beloit  seminary,  222. 
Bennet,  Elizabeth,  128. 
Bennet.  John,  128. 
Bennett.  Lieutenant  Thomas,  156. 
Bennett,  Rev.  P.  S.,  66, 166,  215,  220. 
Benson,     Mrs.   H.    H.    (Sabra  Howes 

Adams),  141. 
Benzonia  (Michigan),  276. 
Berkshire  county  (Massachusetts),  148. 
Berlin,  159. 
Bethlehem,  69. 

Bethlehem  (Pennsylvania),  109. 
Bethlem  (Connecticut),  93. 
Bible,  authorized  version  of,  175. 

Bibliography  of  the  Algonquian  Lan- 
guages, 167. 

Big  Butte  des  Morts,  132. 
Big  Foot,  223. 
-Big  Knives,"  42,  44,  189. 
Billings,  38. 

Bingham,  Rev.  Abel,  152. 
Bingham's  Columbian  Orator,  95, 
Binghamton  (New  York),  93. 
Bjelometschetskaja,  226. 
Black  Hawk,  43,  132,  133,  184,  189, 

195,  196,  197,  198,  199. 
Black  Hawk  war,  24, 184,  195,  200. 
"Black  laws"  of  Illinois,  193;  of    In- 


Black  Prince,  Edward  the,  1. 

Black  river,  9. 

Black  Sparrow-Hawk,  189. 

Blaisdell,  Professor  J.  J.,  256. 

Blatchford,  Henry,  164, 171, 172,  257. 

Blodgett,  Caleb,  222. 

Blodgett,  Mrs.  Caleb,  222. 

Board   of  Indian   Commissioners,    76, 

79,  82,  92. 
Board   of  Overseers   of   Harvard 

college,  47. 

Boilvin.  Nicholas,  39,  40,  43, 178, 188. 
Bois  Brule,  18?  156. 
Bonham,  Rev.  B.  B.,  185. 
Borup,  C.  W.,  157. 
Borup,  Mrs.  E.,  157. 
Boston,  5,  16,  30,  38,  76,  77,  82,  90, 

92,  123,  177,  186. 
Boston,  Old  South  church  of,  4,  94. 
Boston,  Prince  society  of,  4. 
"Boston,  tea-party,"  156. 
"  Bostonians,"  32,  203,  210. 
Bourbons,  the,  26, 
Bourbon  county  (Kentucky),   184. 
Boutwell,   Mrs.    W.    T.     (Hester 

Crooks),  158. 
Boutwell,    Rev.   Wm.   Thurston,   153, 

154,  155,  156,  157,  158,  160,  275. 
Bowyer,  John,  Indian  agent,   56,   64, 

202. 

Boyd,  George,  125,  136,  138. 
Boyd,  Rev.  O.  E.,  182. 
Boyle,  Robert,  69. 
Braddock,  defeat  of,  30,  203. 
Bradford  (New  Hampshire),  193. 
Bradford,  William,  33. 
Brainerd,  David,  86,  124, 
Brant,  Joseph,  68,  94. 
Bread,  Daniel,  57. 
Breck,  Rev.  Daniel,  38. 
Bribery,  223. 
Brisbois,  B.  W.,  175. 


284 


Britain,  26,  35,  39,  42,  47. 

British  army,  the,  30. 

"  British  band,"  189,  196. 

British  Columbia,  6. 

British  dominion,  period  of,  28,  44. 

British  government,  the,  29,  32,  34. 

British  king,  the,  32. 

British  North  America,  28. 

British  Parliament,  the,  29,  30. 

Britons,  1. 

Brothertown  Indians,   57,   60,  61,   62, 

67,  68,  69,  70,  71,  72,  98,  108, 117, 

120,  121,  137,  224. 
Brothertown  (New  York),  69,  70,  71, 

97,  101,  105. 

Brothertown,  (Wisconsin),  72. 
Brown  county,  224. 
Brown,   Daniel,   213,   214,   215,   216, 

217,  218,  225,  280;— Mrs.  D.,  214, 

215,216,217. 
Brown,  J.  H.  H.,  Protestant  Episcopal 

bishop,  204. 

Brown,  Rev.  D.  E.,  205,  210. 
Brown,  Samuel,  213,  214,  216,  218, 

225;— Mrs.  Samuel,  213. 
Brown's    History   of    Missions,    100,  j 

105,  106. 

Brule-St.  droix  portage,  18,  156,  187. 
Brunson,  Rev.  Alfred,  134,  165,  166, 

167,  185,  186. 
Buck,  J.  S.  215. 
Buckle,  Henry  Thomas,  197. 
Buffalo  (New  York),  149. 
Buffalo  Creek  (New  York),  61. 
Bulger,  Capt.  Andrew  A.,  43,  44. 
Burdick,  Miss  Susan,  216. 
Burdick,  Mrs.  Paul,  213,  214. 
Burdick,  Paul,  213.  214. 
Bull,  Rev,  Nehemiah,  77. 


INDEX. 

•  Bushnell,  George,.  D.  D.,  252. 


Butte  des  Morts,  the  great,  25. 

Butterfield,  C.  W.,  16,  28,  184,  191. 

Cadeau,  Mons,  148,  280. 

Cades  (Wisconsin),  111. 

Cadillac,  La  Mothe,  21,  45. 

Cadle,  Rev.  Richard  F.,  65,  122,  127, 

205 

Cadotte,  Jean  Baptiste,  148. 
Cadotte,  Michael,  148. 
Cahokia,  (Illinois),  31, 
Caientouton,  island  of,  14. 
Calhoun,  John  Caldwell,  55. 
Calhoun  (Minnesota),  149. 
California,  12,  148. 
California,  gulf  of,  85. 
Calumet  county,  72,  137. 
Calumetville,  145. 

Calvert,  Cecil  (Lord  Baltimore),  33. 
Calvinism,  197 ;  democracy  of,  278. 
Camp  Smith,  205. 
Campbell,  John,  157. 
Campbell,  Lieutenant  John,  43. 
Campbell,  Mrs.  Elizabeth,  102,  157. 
Canada,  1,  2,  6,  15,  18,  27,  28?  29,  31, 

32,  40,  48,  54,  65,  75,  78,  85,  94, 

95,  96,  100,   153,  165,   175,    180, 

201,  203. 

Canadian  traders,  39. 
Canajoharie,  68,  93,  94. 
Cannibalism   in   Wisconsin,    28,     170, 

280. 

Canning,  E.  W.  B.,  76,  93,  97,  108. 
Canterbury,  (Conn.),  30. 
Canton,  (China),  108. 
Capital  fixed  at  Madison.  223. 
Cardillac,  45. 

Car-i-mau-nee,  Winnebago  chief,  190. 
Carleton  college,  256. 


Burgoyne,  surrender  of,  96,  106,  126.'  Carlisle,  Indian  school  at,  87. 
Burns,  Robert,  32.  Carver,    Captain    Jonathan,    30, 

Burlington  (Iowa),  223.  177,  181,  201,  210. 

Burr,  Aaron,  77.  '  "Carver's  grant,"  30,  181. 

Burr,  Professor  A.  W.,  256.  Carver,  John,  Governor,  30. 


176, 


IXDKX, 


"  Carver's  Travels"  30,  75. 

Cass  Lake,  155,  163. 

Cass,  Lewis,  112,  113,  148,  181,  189. 

Cassville,  183,  194,  224. 

Catlin,  George,  133,  136. 

Catlirfs  North  American  Indians,  109. 

Caughnawaga  (Canada),  65. 

Caulking,  Mr. ,  100,  104. 

Cayugas,  the,  55. 

Central  Park,  New  York,  235. 

Chambers,  Colonel  Talbot,  178. 

Chamberliris  Geology,  207. 

Cliapin,  Aaron  L.,  193,  194,  219,  280.1 

Chapin,  Rev.  Walter,  48. 

Chardon,  J.  B.,  19. 

Charles,  Cornelius  S.,  129. 

Charles  II.  of  England,  3,  69. 

Charlestown  (Rhode  Island),  69. 

Charlevoix,  P.  F.  X.,  2,  3,  19,  55. 

Chase,  Enoch,  215;  Horace,  212. 

Chepekataw  sibi,  220. 

Chequamegon  bay,  4, 10, 11, 12, 13,  26, 

45, 49, 146, 147,  148,  240,  274. 
Cheouamegon  point,  147. 
Chester,  William,  D.  D.,  47. 
Chester,  Rev.  William,  47. 
Childs,  "Colonel"  Ebenezer,  113. 
Chicago,  31,  36,  42,  154,  180,   186, 

205,  209,  212,  213,  214,  215,  219,| 

220,  223,  256,  258,  270,  271,  276. 
Chicago,  portage  at,  18,  211. 
Chicago  river,  18,  110. 
Chic-hon-sic,  a  Winnebago,  190. 
Chicks,  Jacob  C.,  57,  125. 
Chicks,  J.  N.,  139,  140,  142. 
China,  108,  171,  185. 
China  damask,  garment  of,  1. 
Chipman,  Samuel,  251. 
Chippecotton  sibi,  220. 
Chippewas  (Chippewaus),  75, 163,  173, 

175,  233,  238;  their  Irnguage,  154. 
Chippewa  Falls,  167,  249. 
Chippewa  river,  4,  181. 
"  Chippewau,"  48. 


Choate,  Rufus,  34. 

Choctaw  Indians,  115. 

Choir,  first  at  Milwaukee,  216. 

Cholera  in  upper  Mississippi  region,  199. 

Chouart,  Medart,  2. 

Christinos,  3,  5. 

Christmas  at  the  Odanah  mission,  242. 

Church,  first  in  Milwaukee,  218. 

Church  discipline,  205. 

Church.  Harriet  M.,  217. 

Church  of  England,  29. 

Cincinnati,  Catholic  Institute  of,  15. 

Citizenship  given  to  the  Muh-he-ka-ne- 
ok,  139. 

Claims,  court  of,  61,  67. 

Clapp,  Father  Luther,  280. 

Clark,  Colonel  George  Rogers,  31,  32, 
36,  40. 

Clark,  Rev.  John,  66, 123, 165, 166. 

Clark,  Rev.  John  (an  Ojibway),  4,  256. 

Clark,  William,  governor,  40,  41. 

Clergyman,  first  in  Milwaukee,  215. 

-Clerk  of   the  Closet,"  90. 

Cleveland  (Ohio),  46,  248. 

Clinton  brothers,  early  settlers  in  Mil- 
waukee, 218. 

Clinton,  Governor  De  Witt,  63. 

Clinton  (New  York),  63,  98. 

Cochran,  Andrew,  184. 

Codex.  Beloit  College,  222. 

Codman,  John,  D.  D,,  123. 

Coe,  Alvin,  148-151,   182,  183. 

Cohokia  (Illinois),  32. 

Colebrook  (New  Hampshire),  222. 

Colman,  Rev.  Benjamin,  D.  D.,  82,  83. 
86,  90,  99,  108. 

Colonial  troops  in   Wisconsin  (?),  177. 

Colorado,  270. 

Colton,  Professor  Calvin,  54,  57,  58, 
116-118,  127,  135. 

Columbia  county,  207. 

Columbian  exhibition,  274. 

Comet  (steamer),  42. 

Commentary,  Scott's,  110,  197. 


286 

Commuck,  Thomas,  72,  137. 

Communion  service  among  Indians,  239 

Comstock,  Dr.  William  S.,  53. 

Concert  of  prayer,  183. 

Congregational  church,  the  first  in  Wis- 
consin, 114;  the  first  one  organized 
in  Wisconsin,  157. 

Congregational  convention  of  Wiscon- 
sin, 219.  See  Presbyterian  and  Con- 
gregational convention. 

Congregational  club  of  Lake  Superior, 
255. 

Congregational  Quarterly,  46,  98. 

Congress  (of  the  Confederation),  33, 
34,  35. 

Connecticut,  30,  69,  85,  115,  181,  186, 
209;  academy  of  arts  and  sciences, 
74;  "board  of  correspondents,"  63; 
missionary  society  46,  182. 

Connecticut  river,  85. 

Convention,  Presbyterian  and  Congre- 
gational, 142,  145.  See  Congrega- 
tional convention. 

Cook,  Delia,  157,  160. 

Cooley,  Jennie  S.,  171. 

Copper  river,  9. 

Copway,  George,  165,  166. 

Coram,  Thomas,  90,  96. 

Coureurs  de  bois,  15. 

Coutume  de  Paris,  179. 

Covenant  of  Ojibway  churches,  173. 

Crasbury,  Mr. ,  103. 

Crawford  county,  history  of,    184. 

Crawford  Miss ,  180,  181. 

Crawford,  Rev.  Gilbert,  218,  219. 

Crawford,  T.  H.,  98. 

Crawford,  W.  H.,  178. 

Crecy,  battle  of,  1. 

Crees,  the  3. 

Crespel,  Rev.  Emanuel,  19. 

Creswell,  Rev.  R.  J.,  163. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  197. 

Crooks,  Hester,  158. 

Crooks,  Ramsey,  47,  158. 


INDEX. 

!  Crow  river,  141. 


Crow  Wing,  167,  170. 

Crown  Point,  94. 

Culloden,  victor  at,  90. 

Cumberland  Presbyterians,  132,  182, 
183. 

Cumberland  University,  185. 

Curtis,  Daniel,  203. 

Cushik,  103,  108. 

Cutler,  Colonel  Enos,  132. 

Cutler,  Ephraim,  37;  Rev.  Manasseh, 
33,  34,  35,  38,  39. 

Dakota  Indians,  5,  15,  57,  146,  201. 
See  Sioux. 

Dakotas,  the  (states),  127,  200. 

Dane  county,  196,  221. 

Dane,  Nathan,  34. 

Danville  (Vermont),  276. 

Dartmouth  college,  54,  68,  69,  70, 
112,  144,  155,  276. 

D'Aubigne's  History  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, 242. 

Daumont,  Simon  Francais,  13,  148. 

Davenport  (Iowa),  133. 

Davenport,  George,  133. 

Davidson,  J.  N.,  38,  255,  274. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  127,  207,  208. 

Deansburg,  72. 

Death  penalty  inflicted  by  the  Stock- 
bridges  in  Wisconsin,  137 ;  death 
rate  lessened  among  them,  138. 

Deeifield  (Massachusetts),  65,  86 ;  His- 
tory and  Genealogy  of,  65. 

Deer  Park  (Illinois),  22. 

Defoe,  Julia,  267. 

Delawares,  (Leni-Lennappes),  54,  55, 
73,  86,  99,  100, 105-109,  111,  132, 
137  ;  their  language,  75. 

Delaware  river,  73,  87 

Denton,  Rev.  Samuel,  134. 

De  Pere;  13,  14,  23. 

De  Peyster,  Major  A.  S.  30,  31. 

Des  Moines  county,  200;  river,  22, 
133,  134,  192,  200. 


INDEX. 


287 


Destitution  in  Wisconsin,  219. 
Detroit,    16-18,  28,  30,  31,  40,  45, 

46,  50,  54,  64,  116,  122,  148,  181 

248,  276. 
Dick,  Alonzo,  72;  E.  M.,  72;  William, 

57;  W.  H.,  72. 
Dickinson,  Rev.  C.  E.  38;  "General" 

William,  113. 

Dickson,  Robert,  40,  41,  178,  211. 
44 Diggings"  population  in  the,  192. 
Discipline  of  churches,  205. 
Dixon  (Illinois),  196,  197. 
Dog  Plains.     See  Prairie  du  Chien. 
Dodgeville,  224. 
Doolittle,  Senator  J.  R.,  253. 
Doty,  Ex-Governor.  31,  120,  139,  223. 
Douglas,  Barzillai  217. 
Dracut  (Massachusetts),  231. 
Dragonades,  277. 

Drake's  North  American  Indians,  3. 
Draper,  L.  C.,  11,  72. 
Dress,  mode  of  among  the  Stockbridges, 

140 ;   of   a  Winnebago  chief,  190. 
Drexel,  Miss  Catherine,  172. 
Drummond,  George,  Esq.,  99. 
Drummond,    Lieutenant    General    Sir 

George  Gordon,  40. 
Drummond's  Island,  44,  189. 

Du  Buisson,  Sieur ,24. 

Dubuque,  188,  199;  county,  200. 

Dubuque,  Julien,  187,  188. 

"Dubuque's  Mines,"  192. 

Duche,  Rev.  Jacob,  32. 

Duck  Creek,  64,  67,  122,  129. 

Duke  of  Cumberland,  90 ;  of  Kent,  28. 

Du  Lhut  (Luth),  Daniel  Grayson,  147. 

Duperon,  Joseph  Inbert,  4. 

Du  Quesne,  Marquis  —  — ,  26. 

Dunaud,  Rev.  M.,  180. 

Durant,    Henry    Fowle,   154 ;    Pauline 

Adeline,  154. 
Durrie  Daniel  S.,  114. 
Dustin,  Mrs.  Hannah,  252. 
Dutch,  the,  2,  4 ;  settlements  of,  85,  95. 


Dwighft  Travels  105,  126. 
Dwinnell,  Rev.  S.  A.,  218,  223,  224. 
Early  History  of  Michigan,  45. 
Eaton,  President  E.  D.,  226. 
Eatonville,  149. 
Eau  Claire  land-office,  249. 
"Eclipse"  wind-mill,    168,    251,   252, 

273. 

Edinburgh,  99. 
Education  in   Wisconsin,  History   of, 

115. 

Edward  the  Black  Prince,  1. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  67,  91-93,  95,  99, 

111,  114,  145. 
Edwards,  Jonathan,  the  younger,   74, 

75,  94,  98. 

Edwards,  Timothy,  96. 
Edwards,  Rev.  Tryon,   D.  D.,   74. 
Ee-tow-o-kaum,    (Austin  E.    Quinney), 

109. 
Egypt,  274. 
Ekaentouton,  13. 
Election,  first  in  Milwaukee,  217. 
Eliot's  Bible,  69,  74,  75,  124. 
Eliot,  John,  11,  69,  85,  86. 
Ellis,  A.  G.,  49,  57,  60,  64,  65,  110, 
111,  119,  121,  202,  203,  204,  205. 
Ellis,  Edwin,  165,  167,  173,  255,  259, 

266. 

Elk  Creek,  155. 
Elk  Lake,  155,  156. 
Elskwatawa    (brother    to    Tecumseh), 

106. 
Ely,  Rev.  Edmund  F.,  157,  158,  162, 

168,  238,  239. 

Emerson,  Professor  Joseph,  235. 
Endecott  (Endicott)  John,  5. 
England,  5,  17,  23,  26,  68,  69,  74,  76, 
79,  80,  88,  94,  133;  church  of,  29. 
English  colonies,  29. 
English,  Mrs.  M.  W.,  151,  267,  268, 

279. 

English,  the,  2,  16,  17,  18,  27,  30,  34, 
78,  84,  88,  89.  92,  94,  100. 


L'SS 

Enmegahbowk,  (missionary),  166. 
Enterprise  (steamer),  42. 
Episcopacy,  aristocracy  of,  278. 
Episcopal   church  among  Oneidas,   <>.">. 
Episcopal  church  in  America,  29. 
Episcopal  Missionary  society,  65. 
Erection  of  buildings  for  missions.  66, 

114,  248. 
Escanaba,  121. 
Escotecke,  the,  3. 
Esprit,  Pierre  d',  2. 
Esprit  Pointe  d',  11. 
Essex  Institute  Historical  Collections, 

vol.  vii.,  156. 
Ethnology,    Bureau    of,     Report   for 

1885-6,  55. 
Euphrates,  the,  216. 
Europe,  1,  28.  42,  168,  197,  205. 
Eustis,  Secretary  William,  178. 
Evanston,  213. 
Everts,  Jeremiah,  149. 
Exeter  (New  Hampshire),  155. 
Fail-child,  ex-President  James,  163. 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  15,  149,  279. 
Faribault,  Jean  Baptiste,  181. 
Faribault  (Minnesota),  181. 
Farmington,  69,  74,  105. 
Farmingtons,  the,  69,  74,  105. 
Fast,  annual,  observed  in  Massachusetts 

and  Wisconsin,  128,  136. 
Fatal  Secret,  the,  277. 

Fauvel  (Favrell), ,  204,  205. 

"  Father  of  waters,"  the,  175. 

Felicity,  (sloop  of  war),  211. 

Fenton  (Michigan),  277. 

Ferry  Hall  (Lake   Forest),  50. 

Ferry,  Thomas  White,  50. 

Ferry,  William  Montague,  48,  49,  50, j 

154,  205,  277. 

Festivities  at  the  Odanah  mission,  241. 
Fevre  river,  188,  192,  193. 
Field,  Rev.  David  Dudley,  D.   D.,  85, 

88,  95,  97. 
Fifty    Years   in  the  Northwest    (Fol- 


som),  157. 

Finch,  Asaliel,  Jr.,  218. 
Finney,  C.  G.,  162. 
Fiske,  Professor  John,  27,  278. 
Fitch,  A.  M.,  249. 
Five  Nations,  the,  55. 
Flambeau,  Lac  du,  249. 
" Float"  (land  warrant),  214. 
Florida,  27,  29,  33,  179. 
Folles  Avoines,  21,  210. 
Folsom,  W.  H.,  157. 
Fond  du  Lac  (Wisconsin),  60. 
Fond  du  Lac,   (Minnesota),  153,  155, 

157,  158,  160-162,  167-169,  2.S8, 

239. 

Force,  Peter,  "278. 
'•Forts"  on  Madelaine  island;   middle. 

267;  new,  153;  old,  147,  153,  256. 
"Forts,"  in  the  lead  region,  199. 
Fort  Armstrong,  133,  192. 
Fort  Atkinson,  224,  266. 
Fort  Beauharnois,  19,  20. 
Fort  Clark,  41. 
Fort  Crawford,  166,    178,    179,   190, 

203,  207,  208. 

Fort  Dearborn,  154,  220,  223. 
Fort  Edward  Augustus,  26,  201,  202. 
Fort  Gilbert,  220. 
Fort  Harmar,  garrison  of,  38. 
Fort  Howard,  14,  21,  52,  64,  60,  190, 

201,202,204,  205,206,  207.  209. 
Fort  Jefferson,  31. 
Fort  Leaven  worth,  137. 
Fort  Mackinaw,  Old,  31,  45,  177  ;   the 

new,  40,  46. 
Fort  Madison,  42. 
Fort  McKay,  43,  178. 
Fort  Morand,  224. 
Fort  Ponchartrain,  45. 
Fort  Ramsay,  153. 
Fort  Sackville  (Indiana),  31. 
Fort  St.  Francis,  19,  20,  21,  26,  202. 
Fort  Shelby,  40,  42,  43,  178,  189. 
Fort  Snelling,  149, 150,  158, 166, 162. 


INDKX. 


I'M  I 


Fort  Sumpter,  197. 

Fort  William  Henry,  30. 

Fort  Winnebago,   50,   127,   145,   149. 

190,  194,  205,  207,  208,  209,  210, 

224. 

Four  Lakes,  the  (of  Madison),  196. 
Four-Legs,  118,  119. 
Fowle,  Major  John,  154. 
Fowler,    David,    67,   68,   69,   71,   97; 

Jacob,  68, 69;  Mary,  68;  William,  72. 
Fox  Indians,  the,  12,  14,  17,  19,  20, 

21,  22,  23,24,  25,  188,  192.    See 

also  Outagamies. 

Foxes  (and  Sacs),  132,  134,  189,  195. 
Fox  river,    (tributary  of  the   Illinois), 

219,  220,  221,  224. 
Fox  river,  the,  1,  2,  13,  16,  19,  20,  25, 

30,  56,  58,  60,  64,  71,  110,  117, 

120,  123,  129,  180,  142, 176,  207. 
Fox-Wisconsin  canal,  207. 
Fox-Wisconsin   route  and    portage,    9, 

12,  18,  30,  47,  175,  176,  190,  207, 

210. 
France,  14,  26,  27,  29,  35,  44;  "His 

Christian  Majesty"  of,  27,  175. 
Franco-British  Wars,  1,  278. 
Frank,  Colonel  M.,  221,  225. 
Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  90. 
Fremont  (Nebraska),  85. 
French  and    Indian   war,   25,  28,   45, 

91,  147. 

French  colonies,  loss  of,  27. 
French  creek  (Pennsylvania),  185. 
French,  the,  2,  3,  1:6, -17*  27,  28,  30, 

41,  49,  78,  87,  88,  91,  93,  94,'  147. 
Frontenac,  Marquis  de,  15. 
Fulton,  Robert,  33. 
Gagmegue  (Agmegue),  94. 
Gah-nu-kwash-koh-dah-ding,  11: 
Gaines,  General  E.  P.,  196. 
Galena  (Illinois),    31,  134r  154,  -187, 

191-194,197,208,  224,  See  Fevre 

river. 
Ga-no-a-lo-ha-le,  63. 


Gardner, ,  an  Indian,  129. 

Garfield,  President  James  A.,  46. 

Garrison,  W.  L.,  184. 

Gauthier,  Charles.  210. 

Gavin,  Daniel,  134,  135. 

Geneva   (New   York),   62;  Wisconsin, 

223. 

Geology  of  Wisconsin,  207  ^ 
George  III.,  29,  44,  68,  90,  97, 147. 
Georgia,  29,  162. 
Germany,  35. 
GHent,  treaty  of,  43,  201. 
Gibbon,  Edward,  27. 
Giddings,  J.  R.,  46. 
Gilbert,  Henry,  170. 
Gilman,  Secretary  E.  W.,  164. 
Girty,  Mike,  197. 
Glacial  epoch,  the  second,  156. 
Glazier,  Willard,  155. 
Gleason,  Rev.  G   Li,  19. 

Gorham, .  98. 

Gorrel,  Lieutenant  James,  201. 

Gorton,  Mrs.  C.  M.  R.,  277. 

Governor  Clark  (gunboat),  40,  42,  43. 

Graham,  Duncan,  186. 

Grand  Crossing  (Chicago,  Illinois),  115. 

Grand  Detour,  194. 

Grand  Haven,  50. 

Grand  Kau-kau-lin  (South  Kaukauna), 

66,  110,  111,  113,  117,  120,  123, 

129,  205. 

Grand  Portage,  147,  156. 
Gratiot;  Charles,  31;' Henry,  31;  Gra- 

tiot's  Grove,  31. 

Grant,  President,  peace  policy  of,  253. 
Grant  county,  200. 
Grassie,  Rev.  T.  G.,  256,  259. 
Great  Harrington  (Massachusetts),  77, 

82,  91. 
Great  Britain,  27,  54,  68,  69,  86,  94, 

106. 
Great  Lakes  (and  upper  Lake  region), 

28,  30,  32,  43,  44,  46,  48,  52,  58. 

See  also  special  names. 


290 


INDEX. 


Gregorian  calendar,  76,  80. 

Green  Bay,  3,  9,  13,  14,  18,  121. 

Green  Bay,  region  or  "parish"  of,  1,  3, 
13,  16,  18,  21,  22,  24-27,  56,  57, 
60,  64,  65,  67,  110,  111,  118,  119, 
278;  Indians  of,  57.  See  also  Me- 
nominees,  Winnebagoes,  etc. 

Green  Bay,  post  and  city  of,  19,  28,  30, 
35,  36,  41,  42,  44,  45,  47,  49,  50, 
52-54,  56,  59-61,  64-66,  110,  111, 
114,  115,  116,  118,  119,  121,  122, 
125,  127,  129,  130,  137,  144,  145, 
147-149,  161,  177,  181,  186,  189, 
200-202,  204,  205,  207,  209,  212,| 
218,  224,  276. 

Green  Bay  newspapers:  Free  Press, 
Intelligencer,  Spectator,  225. 

Green,  Chancellor  N.,  185. 

Green  Lake  county,  2. 

Greene,  Secretary  David,  130,  149. 

Greenwood,  Grace,  235, 

Gregory,  Rev.  Henry,  217. 

Grignon,  Louis,  41,201,  203;  [Grig- 
nion],  Augustus,  22,  24,  25,  42,  203, 
212. 

Grosseilliers,  Sieur  des,  2,  5,  6,  11, 15. 

•    16,  210,  277. 

Grosse  Point,  213. 

Groton  (Connecticut),  69. 

Guerin,  Jean,  9. 

Gulf  of  Mexico,  26,  175,  207. 

Guy  Park,  99. 

Haldimand,  Sir  Frederick.  Governor  of 
Canada,  31,  32. 

Hall,  Chauncey,  129,  135,  136,  277; 
Miss  Jennie,  277 ;  Mrs.  B.  P.,  157, 
274;  Rev.  Sherman,  152,  153,  155, 
156.  157,  160,  161,  164,  165,  167, 
168,  170,  274. 

Hamilton  college,  49 ;  Colonel  Henry 
30,  32. 

Hamlin,  Rev.  Cyrus,  257. 

Hampton  (Virginia),  institution  at,  87.! 

Hanover  (New  Hampshire),  68,   140,! 


144. 

Hanson's  Lost  Prince,  57. 
"  Hard  times  "  in  Wisconsin,  220. 
Hardy,  Mrs.  C.  F.,  264. 
Harris,  Rev,  Thompson  S.,  62. 
Harrison,  Governor  and  President,  1 06, 

188. 

Harson's  Island,  46, 
Harvard  college,  47,  54,  63,  82. 
Hatfield  (Massachusetts),  78,  86. 
Hat  field's  Poets  of  the  Church,  72. 
Haverhill  (Massachusetts),  19. 
Hawley  Gideon,  93,  94. 
Hayes,  Sir  James,  6. 
Hay  ward  (Wisconsin),  171. 
Heaton,  Rev.  I.  E.,  185. 
Hebberd's   French  Dominion  in    Wis- 
consin, 12,  21,  26. 
Hetferon,  Countess  de,  159. 
Hendrick   (Aupaumut),  Captain,   106, 

107,  108,  112,  116,  121,  124  127; 

Mrs.,  124;    Solomon   U.,  56,    110; 

Thomas  T.,  129,  137. 
Hennepin,  Louis,  15,  279. 
Henry   JII,  27;    IV,  27;    Alexander, 

147, 148 ;  Governor  Patrjck,  32,  36. 
Hiawatha,  46. 
Hill,  Mrs.  A.  L.,  213,  214. 
Hinman,  Deacon  Samuel,  218. 

Hinsdel,  Rev. ,  82. 

Historical  Collections.  See  Wisconsin, 

Minnesota,  etc. 

Historical  Memoirs,  77,  108,  124. 
Histories.  See  particular  subjects. 
Hoar,  Senator  G.  F.,  33,  35. 
Hoard,  William  Dempster,  97. 
Hobart,  Bishop  J.,  64,  122. 

Hocquart, ,  22. 

Holden,  Samuel,  Esq.,  86. 

Holland  Land  company,   60,  98,   105. 

Hollis,    Isaac,    82,    83,   84,    87,    91; 

professorship,  47  ;  Thomas,  Esq.,  82. 
Holton,  Amos,  203. 
Holy  Spirit,  Mission  of  the,  10-13. 


INDEX. 


201 


Home  Missionary,  the,  185,  215-217, 

219,  220. 

Hooker,  Thomas,  33. 
Hopkins,  Rev.  Samuel  (the  elder),  76, 
77,  80,  81,  91,  97,  99,  108,  124; 

(the  younger),  91 ;  President  Mark, 

90. 

Houghton  (Michigan),  253. 
Housatonic   (unnuk)   Indians,   73,    75, 

80;  the  place,  77,  82,  83,  85,  86, 

99;  the  river,  75,85. 
Howard,  General  Benjamin,  41. 
Hubbard,  Thomas,  92. 
Hudson  bay,  3,  6,  18,  40 ;  company,  6, 

41 ;  river,  75,  80,  83,  85,  95. 
Huebschmann,  Francis,  142. 
Hughes.  Rev.  J.  V.,  144. 
Huguenots,  the,  5,  31,  175,  277. 
Hull,  Brigadier  General  William,  40 ; 

Mrs.  Mary,  271. 

Humboldt,  Karl  Wilhelm  (?),  74. 
Hundred  Years'  War,  the  first,  1 

second,  1,  17,  278. 
Hunt,  Wilson  Price,  47. 
Hunter,  Lieutenant-General,  28. 
Huntington,  Samuel,  225. 
Hurons,  the,  4,  5,  7-13,  18,  22,  45,  49,| 

55,  61,  146,  147,  165,  279. 
Hurtibis,  Mr.  —  — ,  43. 
Hutton,  A.  J.,  276;    Mrs.  A.  J.,  276. 
"Ida  Glenwood,"  277. 
Illinois,  18,  22,  24,  28,  31,  32,  36-40, 

50,  54,  55,  136,  164,  166,  182, 191, 

193,  224. 

Illinois  college,  184. 
Illinois,  commandant  of  the  country  of, 

36. 

Illinois,  the  (Indians),  2,  12,  24. 
Illinois  militia,  disbandment  of,  197. 
Illinois    river,    18,   22,   31,    41,    197, 

211,  219,  220. 
Illinois  volunteers  in  Black  Hawk  War,1 

197. 
Immanuel  church  (Milwaukee),  219. 


th 


Immigration  into  Wisconsin  from  South 
and  East,  199,  220. 

Inauguration  of  Wisconsin's  first  gover- 
nor, 200. 

Indian  affairs,  committee  on,  95. 

Indians'  suffering  in  illness,  234. 

Indian  Puritans,  112. 

Indian  Territory,  61,  66. 

Indian  Trade,  profit  in,  192. 

Indiana,  32  35,  37,  37,  39,  54,  100, 
105,  107,  109  111,  113,  124,  166, 
220. 

Inmiisition,  14. 

"Inter-lachen,"  an,  223. 

Intolerance,  Roman  Catholic,  13-15, 
176. 

Iowa,  35,  39,  133,  189,  195,  199, 
200,  216. 

Iowa  county,  200,  224. 

lowas,  the,  21,  188. 

Ish-ko-da-wa-bo  ("fire-water"),  245. 

Ipswich  Hamlet  (Hamilton,  Massachus- 
etts), 33. 

Ipswich,   Mary  Lyon's  school  at,  232. 

Ireland,  37. 

Iroquois  (Six  Nations),  2,  4,  7,  11,  12, 
16,  22,  23,  55,  56,  61,  62,  93,  94, 
98,  104,  108,  279. 

Irving,  Prof.  R.  D.,  207. 

Irving,  Washington,  47,  51. 

Irwin  (not  Erwin),  Alexander  J..  132. 

Isaac,  Dolly,  123. 

Ishkado,  3. 

Itasca,  origin  of  name,  155- 

Jackson,  President  Andrew,  197. 

James,  Edwin,  154, 164, 180, 181. 

James,  Mrs.  W.  L.,  165. 

James,  Rev.  W.  L.,  165. 

Janesville,  224. 

Jefferson,  President  Thomas,  126. 

Jesuits,  4,  6,  8,  10,  15.  127,  143. 

Jesuit  Relations,  8,  9,  12,  13. 

Jews,  order  for  persecution  of,  176, 

Johnson,  Colonel  James,  188, 189, 192. 


INDEX. 


Johnson,  John   (Enmegahbowk),    166.!  Kilbourn,  Byron,  214,  215. 


Johnson,  T.  S.  203. 

Johnston,  John,  147. 

Joliet,  Louis,  176,  211. 

Jones,  George  W.,  199,  208. 

Jones,  Miss  Electa,  94,  103 ;  her  His- 
tory of  Stockbridge,  73,  81,  126, 137. 

Jones,  Peter,  164,  165. 

Josephine,  (steamboat),  191. 

Jourdan,  Timothy  T.,  129. 

Journal,  Carver's,  177. 

Juneau,  L.  S.,  212,  213,  216,  225. 

Juneau,  Peter,  225. 

Julian  calendar,  80. 

Julius  Caesar  (Shakespeare),  5. 

Kanadesaga,  62, 

Kansas,  61 ;  territory  of  61,  137,  141. 

Kaposia  (Minnesota),  162,  166. 

Kaskaskia  (Illinois),  18,  32;  death  for 
witchcraft  at,  36;  court  of,  36,  37. 

Katakosakout,  56. 

Katzer,  Archbishop  F.  X,  36. 

Kaukauna,  See  South  Kaukauna  and 
Grand  Kau-kau-lin. 

Kaunaumeek,  86. 

Kearney,  Major  S.  W.,  178. 

Keinonche,  11,  12. 


Killistinoes,  the,  75. 

Kimball,  Edward  Fiske,  11. 

Kinderhook,  93. 

Kingston,  J.  T.,  219. 

Kinzie,  J.  H.,  180,  181,  208;  Mrs.  J. 

H.,  50,  208. 

Kirby,  Miss ,  225. 

Kirk,  Sir  John,  5;   daughter  of,  5. 
Kirkland,    Rev.    John    Thornton,    63; 

Rev.  Samuel,  62-64,  68,  71,  94,  98> 

103,  106. 

Kishkakonk  nation,  12. 
Knapp,  Gilbert,  220. 
Knox,  Major-General  Henry,  106. 
Konkapot,  B.,  57;  Captain  John,  75- 

77,  79,  81,  83,  85,  94,  112;  Hannah, 

128;     Levi,  Jr.,    112;    Mary,   128; 

Robert,  128;  Robert  137. 
Ko-nosh-o-ni,  the  55. 
Lancaster  Congregational  church,  184s 
L'Anse  (Michigan),  165- 
Lathrop,  Rev.  D.  W.,  183. 
Latrobe,  C.  J.,  186. 
La  Baye^O,  21,  26,  177,  201,  202. 
Lac  Court  Oreilles,  166,  170,  249. 
Lac  du  Flambeau,  170,  249., 


Kellogg,  Austin,  221;  Captain  Martin,!  Lacy,  Dr.  A.  T.,  225. 


90  93. 
Kemper,  Bishop  J.  J.  217. 
Kennedy,  Mrs.  Augusta  S.  265,  266. 
Kenosha,  12,  209,  221,  224,  225. 
Kent,  Mrs.  Aratus,  208 ;  Rev.  Aratus, 

154,  182,  183,  185,  193,  194,  208, 

210,  219. 

Kentucky,  32, 189, 199. 
Keokuk  (Iowa),  192 ;  famous  chief,  35, 

133,  195. 
Keshena,  144. 
Kewaunee,  212. 
Keweenaw  Point,  7 ;  bay,  165. 
Kiala,  an  Outagamie  chief,  22. 
Kickapoos,  the,  14,  21 ;  river,  22,  24, 

25. 


Ladd,  Professor  G.  T.,  213,  ,214. 

La  Fayette,    town   of,  223;  county    of, 

31,  200. 

La  Framboise,  Alexander,  212 ;   Fran- 
sis,  212 ;  Josette,  212. 
Lake  Athabasca,  48,  278. 
do.    Erie,  211. 
do.    Forest  university,  50.    '• 
do.    Geneva    (Wisconsin),    223;    the 

village,  223. 

do.    George,  30,  94.  i 

do.    Harriet,  127,  162. 
do.    Huron,  2,  3,  5,  13,  14,  75,  155, 

177,  189,  211. 
do.    Itasca,  39,  155,  156, 
do.    Koshkonong,  196,  197. 


INDEX. 

Lake  Michigan,  1,  14,  18,  21,  26,  39,  "Little  Chute,"  56,  110,  121. 

40,  44,  45,  54,  60,,  64,  66,  110, 121,      do.     Crow,  162,  166. 

123,  146,  177,  191,  200,  201,  207,!  Little  Kaukauna,  60,   64  66,  71,    72, 

211,  212,  215,  221. 
Lake  Namekegon,  4. 
do.    of  the  Woods,  39,  200. 
do.    Pepin,  176,  187. 
do.    road  to  Milwaukee,  213. 
do.    Superior  region,  147,  280. 
do.    Superior,    148,    150-154.    156, 


110.  121. 

do.      Osage  river,  61,  137. 

do.      Rapids,    64.      See   also    Little 

Kaukauna. 

Littledale,  Rev.  R.  F.,  14. 
Littleman,  Isaac,  137 ;  Peter,  137. 
Livingston,  Hon.  Philip,  78. 


158,  163,  165,  168,  171,  233,  238.'  Lockport  (New  York),  193. 


253,  254,  268,  277, 
do.    Winnipeg  (pic),  41,  156,  276. 
do.    Winnebago,  138,  211 ;  builders  of 

first  steamboat  on,  72. 


Lockwood,  James,  78 ;  James  H.,  179- 
183,  186;  Mrs.  James  H.  (Julianna 
Warren),  180,  181,  186,  202. 

Longmeadow  (Massachusetts),  65,  76. 


Land  speculations   in    Wisconsin,    200.  Long  Island,  67-69. 

Langlade,  Augustine,  203;  Charles  M.I  Long,  Major,   Stephen  Harriman,  153. 

London,  30,  86,  90. 

Loss,  Rev.  L.  H.  222. 

Lothrop,  Rev.  Jason,  225. 

Luuis  XIII.,  15,  26,27, 175;  XIV.,  13, 
23,  27,  44;  XV.,  27,  44 ;  XVI.,  65. 

Louisburg,  1. 

Louisiana,   14,  15,  27,   175-177,   188, 
216;  purchase,  39,  216. 

Louvigny,  M.  de,  19,  24,  45. 

Love,  Deacon  Robert,  218 ;   Rev.  Will- 
iam De,  67,  70,  72,  97. 

Lovejoy,  Rev.  Elijah  Parish,  38. 

Lowell  (Massachusetts),  231  233,  241, 
248-250,  254. 

Lowrey,  Rev  Daniel,  183-185. 

Lowrie,  Rev,  John  G.,  47. 

Luce,   Andrew  J.  220;   William,   220. 

Lyndon  (Illinois),  194. 

Lyon,  Mary,  at  Ipswich,  232. 

McArthur,  Rev.  H.  G.,  266, 267 ;  Mrs. 
H.  G.,  266. 

McCabe,  J.  P.  B.,  137. 

McCall,  James,  56,  57,  59,  71,  118- 
121. 

McCockle,  James,  109. 

McClellan,  General  G.  B.,  wife  of,  205. 

McDouall,  Lieut-Col.  Robert,    40,  44. 


de,  30-32,  35, 203, 2 10 ;  county.  203. 

La  Perriere,  Sieur  de  (Boucher),  19. 

La  Pointe,  49-51,  147,  148,  151  153, 
155-161,  163,  165,  167  170,  180, 
187,  233,  234,  238,  239,  245?  249, 
255,  267,  273-275;  county,  167. 

La  Salle,  15,  176,  187.  212. 

Law,  John,  15;  John,  175,  176.    | 

Lawe,  John,  41,  52,  203. 

Laws  of  Canada    ("Quebec  act"),    29' 

Lead  mines,  14,  31, 187, 188, 191, 192. 

Lebanon  (Tennessee),  185;  (Connecti- 
cut), school,  62,  67,  68. 

Lee,  Major-General  Charles,  94. 

Leech  Lake,  156  158,  160,  162,  275. 

Legislature,  of  Wisconsin,  32,  200,  278. 

Leonard,  Mrs.  Emily,  258,  260,  261. 

Le  Roy,  Francis,  210,  258. 

Leni  Lennappes,  54,  100.  See  also 
Delawares. 

Le  Sueur,  Pierre,  14,  147, 187,  188. 

L'Epervier  (Black  Hawk),  189. 

Lewis,  Captain,  Meriwether,  40. 

Life,  loss  of.  in  Black  Hawk  War,  197. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  36,  172,  197,  199. 

Lincolnshire,  133,  231. 

Lisbon  (Connecticut),  62. 


INDKX. 


McDougall,  Dr.  Charles,  210. 
McGaultley  (British  sailor),  211. 
McKay,    Lieutenant-Colonel    William, 

41,  42,  178,  189. 

McKinney,  Colonel  Thomas  L.,  113. 
McMaster's    account    of   the    Marietta 

colony,  33. 
Mackinaw  island,  trading-post  and  fort, 

40,  42-44,  46-52,  116,   122,  130. 

148,  151,  152,  154,  156,  179,  181,! 

205,  212,  233. 
Mackinaw  (the   "Old  Fort"),   24,    30, 

31,  32,  45,  177,  203,  210. 
Mackinaw  church,  mission  and  school. 

46,  48,  49,  50,  135,  165,  172,  205, 

206. 

Mackinaw,  straits  of,  45,  146,  147. 
Madelaine  island,  4,  11, 146  148, 151, 

152?  159,  233,  239,  240,  246,  255, 

258,  259. 

Madison,  56,  123,  194,   224;  conven- 
tion (of  churches),  145. 
Madison  county  (Illinois),  182. 
Madison  county  (New  York),  96,  97. 
Mail  routes  in  1836,  224. 
Ma-ka-tau-me-she-kia-kiah,  189. 
Manhattan,  4,  73. 
Manitoulin  islands,    one  of   the,  3;  is-| 

land,  13. 

Manhattas,  the,  73. 
Manitowoc,  184,  212,  224,  280. 
Mannawahkiah  river,  121. 
Mann,  Moody,  137. 
Manuel,    a    Negro    slave    burned    for 

witchcraft,  36. 
Manypenny,  Commissioner  G.  W.,  170, 

235. 

Marcy,  General  R.  B.,  205. 
Marest,  Gabriel,  18. 
Mary,  Queen  of  England,  17. 
Marietta  (Ohio),  1,33-35,  38;  settle- 
ment   of,    98;    first    Congregational 

church  of,  34. 
Marin,  Perriere,  21,  24,  26,  113. 


Marinette,  66. 

Marksman,  Peter,  166. 

Marquette,  Jacques,  11,  12,  13,  14,  45, 
49,  127,  159,  211,  212,  278. 

Marquette  (Michigan),  173. 

Marsh,  Mrs.  Eunice  (Osmer),  140. 

Marsh,  Rev.  Cutting,  99,  111,  112, 
116,  120, 124-131,  134,  137-141, 
206,  218,  276,  277. 

Marsh,  Rev.  Cutting,  diary  of,  118, 
121,123,125,139. 

Marsh,  Sarah  E.,  276. 

Martin,  Morgan  Lewis,  64,  204,  212. 

Martindale,  Miss  H.  S.,  271,  272. 

Martinque,  22. 

Mascoutins,  2,  3,  14,  17,  21,  210. 

Mason,  Edward  G.,  36. 

Mason,  John  T.,  56,  57,  120. 

Massachusetts,  1,  18,  85,  95,  98,  124, 
128,  143,  148,  156,  162,  205.  208, 
231,  233.  254,  275;  first  seal  of,  69, 
70;  general  court  of,  84;  historical 
society,  70,  75  77,  79;  Indians,  11; 
Medical  society,  33,  34,  39,  60,  65, 
69 ;  speaker  of  the  House  of,  92. 

Massachusetts  Bay,  33,  69. 

Massawomekes,  55. 

Maumee,  116,  276;  river,  126,  187. 

Maxwell,  Thompson,  156. 

Mather,  Cotton,  231 ;  Increase,  5. 

May,  Colonel  John,  38. 

Mayflower,  the  first,  32;  the  second,  1. 

Mazzuchelli,  Rev.  Samuel,  208. 

Meadville  (Pennsylvania),  185. 

Mears,  Rev.  L.  D.,  221,  224. 

Medell,  Commissioner  W.,  109. 

Medical  service  of  Odanah  mission, 
165,  246. 

Memorial  of  Mrs.  Harriet  W.  Wheel- 
er, 229,  et  sq. 

Menasha,  19,  177. 

Menard,  Rene,  7   10,  14,  61. 

Mendell,  Deacon  Ezra,  218. 

Menomonee  river,  203. 


IXDKX.  :*>.-) 

Menomonees,  21,  24,  31,  42,   53,  56-!      son  Gage,  D.  D.,  139, 140, 144,  205. 


61,  65,  66,  75,  88,  108,  110,  113 
119,  121,  128,  132,  143,  149,  190, 
210,  212 ;  their  language,  75 ;  their 
reservation,  142. 

Menomoneeville,  205. 

Merrell,  Ex-President  E.  H.,  256. 

Messitougas,  the,  75. 

Messmer,  Bishop  S.  J.,  36. 

Metawa,  the,  238. 

Meteoric  shower  of  1833,  128. 

Methodist  Episcopal  church,  278;  its 
first  church  building  in  Wisconsin, 
123;  missionary  society,  128;  preach- 
ers, few  in  1838,  220. 

Methodist  or  '•  Orchard  "  party  among 
the  Oneidas,  123. 

Methodist  missions  among  the  Wyan- 
dots,  165 ;  among  the  Ojibways,  153, 
165,  166. 

Methodism,  beginning  of  in  Minnesota, 
166. 

Metoxen,  Catherine,  111,  112,  128; 
J.mn,  26,  57,  58,  73,  109  112,  117, 
122,  123,  126  129,  131,  133,  134. 
139,  143,  145,  204;  party  of  Stock- 
bridges,  107,  109-111,  197. 

Mexico,  3;  Gulf  of,  26,  207. 

Miami     land-grant,    126;     river,     18. 

Miami*  the,  22,  28,  107,  188. 

Michigan,  7,  9,  28,  39,  40,  46,  50.  54. 


148,  165,  173,  179,  187,  194,  253, 
276,  277;  [Indian]  agency,  249; 
Fencibles,  41,  Historical  Collections, 


Mills,  J.  T.,  184,  280. 

Milwaukee,  31,  36,  47,  67,  186,  209, 
212,  214,  216-218,  221,  224,  225, 
256;  bay  of,  211;  convention  (of 
churches),  145;  county,  224;  first 
church  building  in,  218 ;  harbor,  212. 
Indians,  211;  river,  60,121,  214  \ 
churches  of:  First  Presbyterian,  219, 
Grand  Avenue  Congregational,  67, 
213;  Immanuel,  47, 145;  North  Pres- 
byterian, 219 ;  Plymouth,  219 ;  news- 
papers of,  Advertiser,  Courier,  225 » 
Sentinel,  213  225 ;  Wisconsin,  225. 

Miner,  D.  I.,  171;  Rev.  Jesse,  112, 
114-116,  149,  204,  278, 

Miners'  Free  Press,  225. 

Miner,  Lake  Superior,  253. 

Mineral  Point,  185,  194,  199,  200, 
224,  225. 

Mingoes,  55,  100. 

Mining,  first  in  Wisconsin,  188. 

Mining  region  (Upper  Mississippi), 
191.  See  also  Lead  Mines,  etc. 

Minister,  first  in  Wisconsin,  202. 

Minneapolis,  15,  127. 

Minnesota,  5,  9, 18?  29,  134, 141,  155, 
156,  162,  163,  170, 171,  200,  255, 
275,  276;  river,  176. 

Minnesota  Historical  Collections,  Vol. 
VII,  134. 

Miro,  Governor  Estavan,  14. 

Missionary  Gazetteer,  48 ;  Herald,  50, 
62,  115,  124,  131. 


43;  territorial    legislature    of,  200;'  Mississippi  valley,  17, 18;  rivers  of,  42. 


trans-Mississippi   part  of,  196,   216. 
Michilimackinac  (the   region;   also  the 

Jesuit  mission  and  post  north  of  the 

strait),  12, 13,  15,  28,  45.  159. 
Michilmackinac,  straits  of,  45, 146, 177. 
Military  posts  in  Michigan,  39. 
Miller,  Andrew,    129;     Colonel    John. 

201;  Ebenezer,  76;  Josiah  W.,  129; 

Samuel,  124,   129,139,   142;  Wes- 


Mississippi,  rapids  of  the,  191,  192. 

Mississippi,  the,  2-5,  9, 12,  14,  18,  20, 
22,  24-26,  28  35,  39  44,  47,  54*, 
65,  115,  127,  131,  132,  136,  139, 
145,  149,  155-157,  160,  163,  166- 
168,  176,  177,  184  189,  191,  192, 
194,  195,  198-201,  207,  210,  216, 
220,221,  224,272;  various  names 
of,  176. 


296 


INDEX. 


Missouri,  38,  184,  189,  216;  territory 

of,  40,  216. 

Missouri,  lead  mines  of,  191. 
Missouri  river,  18,  39,  47,  127,  137 

200,  216. 

Mitchell,  James,  John  T.,  Samuel,  38 
Mohawk  river,  the,  95 ;  the  valley,  4 
Mohawks,  the,  4,  55,  62,  63,  68,  78 

88,  89,  92  94 ;  their  language,   63, 

64,  68,  75,  122. 
Moheakumnut  tribe,  278. 
Mohegan   language.       See   Muh-he-ka- 

ne-ew. 

Mohegans,  69,  73-75,  137. 
Moh-he-con-nuck,  143. 
Mokuks  of  birch-bark,  243. 
Monroe  (Michigan),  116. 
Monroe,  President,  56,  57. 

Monrong, ,  211. 

Montauk,  69,  105. 

Montauk    Indians,    68,    69;     OccomV 

treatise  on  their  language,  70. 
Montreal,  20,  21. 
Monument  mountain,  83. 
Moor's  (or  Moore's)   " charity   school" 

(Indian)  54,  67,  68,  140,  144. 
Moose  Tail,  Moo-zoo-jeele,  Mo-zo-geede 

(Ojibway  chief),  166,  278  279. 
Moraud,  Captain  Perriere.    See  Marin. 
Moravians  and  Moravian  missions,  97, 

105,  106,  109. 
More,  Joshua,  68. 
Moreau,  a  slave,  36. 
Morse,  Jedidiah,  D.  D.,  47,  52-56,  60, 

143,  201  203. 

Morse,  Richard  Gary,  47 ;  S.  F.  B.,  47. 
Mound  builders,  the,  221,  222. 
Mount  Hope  (Rhode  Island)  69. 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ew    language,     74,    125 ; 

specimens  of,   90,   125;  booklets    in, 

104,  124,  125. 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,   the,  73  77,   85,  86,! 

88,  91,  94  98,   105,  107-109,   113, 

114,  120,  129,  131,  132,  135,  139, 


140  142,  145,  212.     See  also  Stock- 
bridges. 
Muh-he-ka-ne-ok  (history),  73,  143. 

Munsees,  the,  54  56,  60,  73,  75,   100, 
107,  142 ;  theii  language,  75. 

Mushke  sibi,  the,  167. 

Mushkoosi  (Indian  word),  3. 

Muskingum  river,  1. 

Musquakink,  the,  16. 

Mutiny  among  Illinois  volunteers,  199. 

Nadonoceronon,  3. 

Nadouessi  (sioux),  12,  14,  55,  279. 

Nadowa  and  Nadowasie,  3. 

Nanticpkes  (hanticks),  69,  75. 

Narragansett  Indians,  69,  73. 

Nash,  Rev.  Norman,  114,  202. 

Nashville,  (Tennessee),  183. 

Nation,  The,  33. 

National   Bjard  of   Charities  and   Cor- 
rection,.  27. 

Naunauchoowuk,  88. 

Navarre,  Henry  of,  26. 

Navarino,  206. 

Neanders  Church  History,  253. 

Nebraska,  127,  185. 

Nee-koouts  Hah-ta-kah,  175. 

Neenah,  177. 

Negro  Slavery  hi  Wisconsin,  38. 

Neill,  Rev.  E.  D.,  9,  12, 147, 149,  277. 

Nelson,  Rev.  George  W.,  255. 

Nelson's  post,  6;  river,  41. 

Nendrol,  Cant,  100. 

Netherlands  (Holland),  4,  28. 

New  Albany,  222. 

Newark  (New  Jersey),  16. 

New  Britain  (Connecticut),  52. 

New  Brunswick,  75. 

Newburyport,  presbytery  of,  116. 

New  Connecticut,  46. 

Newell,  Harriet,  270. 

New  England,  12,  19,  26,  27,  33,  35. 
37,  46,  62,  67  70,  74-76,  82,  88, 
136,168,  180,  181;  New  England 
homes,  233,  235. 


INDEX. 


Si- 


England,  the  town  and  town  meet-,  Nicollet,  Jean  N.,  160;  creek  called  by 


ings  of,  32,  125. 

New  England  emigrants  and  emigrat- 
ing companies,  33,  98, 199,  215,222. 

New  England  history,  65.  97. 

New  England  Magazine,  11. 

Newspapers  (Wisconsin)  in  1836,  225. 

New  Stockbridge,  97,  99,  101,  104, 
114,  124,  126,  128. 

New  France,  1,  2,  5,  10,  15,  16,  19, 
20,  24,  26,  27,  37,  175,  176, 178. 

New /tail's  Sketches  of  Iowa,  35. 

Newhall,  Horatio,  M.  D.,  191, 192,  208. 

New  Hampshire,  45,  68, 140,  144,  155, 
193. 

New  Haven,  46,  47,  79,  81-83. 

Newington  (Connecticut),  91. 


his  name,  155. 
Niles,  Mrs.  Mary  E.,  108;  Mary  West. 

M.  D.,  108. 

Ninham,  Daniel  (or  Abraham),  96. 
Nipegons,  the,  75. 

Non-glaciated  area  of  Wisconsin,  187. 
Nonnekagon,  Lake,  4. 
Norridgewock  (New  England),  88. 
North  America,    1,  6,    13,  23,    26,  27, 

29,  30,  54,  90,  175;  Indians  of,  87, 

88,  90. 
North  America,    Travels  through  the 

Interior  Part  of,  30,  75,  177. 
North  American  Indians,  109^  137. 
Northampton,  76. 
North  Dakota,  39,  163,  276. 


New  Jersey,  76,  87  ;  college  of  (Prince-  Northern  Missionary   society   of    New 

ton),  62,  77,  95. 
New  London  (Cannecticut),  74. 
New  Testament  (Ojibway  translation), 


York,  47,  49,  63. 
Northern  Pacific  railway,  155. 
Northway,  Isaac  G.,  221. 


Northwest  Fur  company,  12. 
Northwest  Territory,  1,  32-34,  37  39, 
55,  124;  the  northwest  territory,  48. 


164,  165. 

Newton,  Abel  D.,  154,  161,  208. 
New  Orleans,  186,  191. 
New  Orleans  (steamboat),  42.  North    Wisconsin  academy,  255,  256. 

New  York,  16,  47,  54,  55,  59-61,  63-'  North    Wisconsin     Home    Missionary 

67,  .70,  71,   73,  76,  78,  80,  83,  85J      society,  256. 

93,  94,  96  98,  100,  101,  105,  106,  Norwich  (Connecticut),  68: 

108-110,  112-114,  116,  123,   124,!  Not-ta-ways,  the,  56. 

128,  142,  143,  148,  157,  193,  203  j  Nova  Scota,  75. 

204,  217,  224,  275;  enigration  fromj  Noyelle,  Sieur  de,  22. 

199.  I  Oak  Point,  4,  5. 

New  York  City,  33,  49,  194,  215,  235  I  Oberlin,  162,  163,249,   276;  college, 

270.  46;  theology,  163. 

"New  York  Indians,"   52,  55  58,   60,  Observations,  President  Edwards's,  74. 

64,113,119-121.  jOccom,  Rev.  Samson,   62,   63,  67-72, 

New  York,   Methodist  *  Episcopal   con-1      74,91,94,97,98,101. 

ference  of,  66.  Odanah,   4,    167   173,   235,   240-242, 

New  York  Observer,  the,  47,  163.  244,  247,  248,  250,  256,  257 ;  reser. 

Niagara  Falls,  30,  279;  fort  near,  34,       vation,  249. 


92,  177. 

Niantic  (Cv>nneticut),  69. 
Nichols,  Rev.  Cyrus,  220. 
Nicolet,  Jean,  1,  2,  3,  26,  52,  210. 


I  Odgen  (Holland)    Land   company,   55, 

60.  61,  98. 
Odugaumeeg,  146. 
Ogden,  John,  218. 


INDEX. 


Ogilvie,  Rev.  John,  04. 

Ogle  county  (Illinois),  196. 

Oglethorpe,  GeneralJames  Edward,  33. 

Ohio,  1,  37,  38,  46, 109, 126, 134, 166, 
171,  182,232,  276;  first  constitu- 
tion of,  37 ;  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois, 
Michigan  and  Wisconsin,  29,  35. 

Ohio  company,  the,  33,  35. 

Ohio  river,  33,  185,  210. 

Ohnaquango  (New  York),  103. 

Ojibway  missions,  distances  between 
the,  167 ;  mission  at  Sandy  Lake 
129.  See  also  La  Pointe,  Odanah, 
etc.,  and  names  of  missionaries. 

Ojibways,  the,  4,  7,  13,  21,  42,  48,  49, 
66,  146,  147,  152,  153,  161,  165- 
168,  170,  186,  222,  233,  254,  256, 
272-276;  their  language,  75;  Testa- 
ment therein,  164,  165,  172,  175. 

Ojibways,  Warren's   history   of  the,  4. 

Old  South  church,  Boston,  94. 

Old  White  Church,  The,  216,  218. 

Olin,  Nelson,  216;  Thomas,  216. 

Oliver  Newbury  (steamer),  130. 

Oneida  Castle,  village  of,  63 ;  county, 
96 ;  institute,  140 ;  lake,  63. 

Oneida  (New  York),  98-100, 103, 107; 
(Wisconsin),  65;  Oneida  West,  66. 

Oneidas,  the,  55,  56,  62-64,  68,  69, 
71,  92,  93,  96,  98,  100  103,  107, 
108,  205,  224;  certain  "delegates" 
of,  64;  Oneidas  of  Wisconsin,  57, 
60,  61,65-67,94,  113,  120,  123, 
128,  129,  132,  189,  205,  224;  their 
early  settlements  here,  64,  122,  123, 
129;  capital  punishment  among, 
137;  their  reservation,  60,  61. 

Onion  river  (Wisconsin),  11. 

Onohoghwage,  (Oughquauga),   93,   94. 

Onondagas,  4,  55,  106. 

Onondaga  (New  York),  203. 

Ontario,  province  of,  29,  94,  96. 

Ordinance  of  1787,  34,  35,  37,  38, 
193. 


Ordway,  Rev.  Moses,  218,  219. 
Ore-bearing  lands,  sale  of,  191,  200. 
Oriskany  Creek  (New  York),  67. 
Oshkosh,  a  Menomonee  chief,  57,  59. 
Ostrander,  Rev.  J.  F.,  217,  219. 
Oswald,    Richard    (British  commission- 
er), 34. 

Oswego,  military  post  of,  34. 
Ottawa  river,  1,  2,  4. 
Ottawas   (Outaouacs),  5,  7,  11   13,  21, 

52,  75,  126,  146,  276. 
Otis  (Massachusetts).  209. 
Ouinipigou  (Winnebagoes),  2. 
Ouisconsin  river,  the,  41,  42,  177,  191; 

Territory,  216.     See  also  Wisconsin. 
Outagamies,  the.  16-23,  42,  110,  113, 

176,  188,  189 ;  their  language,  75. 

See  also  Foxes. 
"Outlet  of  Big  Foot,"  223. 
Pacific  ocean,  14,  47,  66,  95,  123. 
Paris    [France],  6,  27;    treaty  of  [in 

1763,  26,  27, 176;  (Kentucky),  184. 
Parker,  -   — ,  ordination  of,  82. 
Parkman,  Francis,  11,  30. 
Parsons,    William,  Indian  agent,    144. 
Parton,  James,  173,  273. 
Paul,  Moses,  70,  74. 
Pearsons,  Daniel  Kimball,  222,  279. 
Pearson,  A.  H.,  256. 
Pecatonica  (Illinois),  194. 
Peet,  Rev.  Stephen,  185,  220. 
Pekitanoui  (the  Missouri),  18. 
Pembina,  163,  186. 
Penn,  William,  7,  33. 
Pennsylvania,  32,  37,  75,  86,  97,  105, 

109,  185 

Penobscot   river,  73 ;  Indians,   73,   75. 
Pepin,  176;  lake,  4,  19,  176,  187. 
Pequods,  the,  69,  73. 
Perkins,  Lieutenant  Joseph,  40,  42. 
Permoussa.  an  Outagamie  chief,  17. 
Perrot,  Nicholas,   9,   13,   14,  19,   134, 

176,  187. 
Perry,  Arthur  Latham,  D.  D.,  84, 108. 


INDKX. 


Peters,  Samuel  Andrews,  LL.  D.,  (tory 
clergyman),  30,  181,  201;  Secre- 
tary Absolom,  193;  Ziba  T.,  142. 

Petit  Marais,  153. 

Plielps,  Oliver,  98;  William,  134. 

Philadelphia,  7,  33,  56,  178,  186. 

Pierce,  President  Franklin,  212,  255; 
J.  S.,  212;  Jonathan,  226. 

Pigeon  river  (Minnesota),  147,  156. 

Pillagers,  the  (an  Ojibway  tribe),    160. 


47,  148,149.  157,172;  of  home 
missions,  157,  182;  church,  reunion 
of,  172;  directory  for  worship,  135. 

Proces-verbal,  by  Daumont,  13;  by  La 
Salle,  176;  by  Perrot,  14,  176. 

Prophetstown  (Illinois),  196. 

Putnam,  Rufus,  35,  37. 

Quakers,  the,  26,  97. 

Quan-au-kaunt,  Joseph,  112. 

Quebec,  1,  2,  11,  19,  27,  29,  186. 


Pilling,  J.  C.,  124,  126,  167. 

Pike,  General  Z.  M.,  178. 

Pine  Bend,  133. 

Pinkney,  Colonel  Ninian,  202. 

Pioneer  History  of  Milwaukee,  215. 

Pioria's  Fort,  41. 

Pittstield  (Massachusetts),  95,  233. 

Pittsburg,  33,38,  185;    synod  of,  182. 

Platteville,  194,  218,  224,  225. 

Pleyels  Hymn,  190. 

Plymouth,  1,  18,  35,  38;  colony,  33, 
38;  rock,  38. 

Poets  of  the  Church,  72. 

Pokeguma  lake  and  mission,  160  162? 
167.  275. 

Ponchartrain,  18;  (Fort)  45. 

Porlier,  Jacques,  203. 

Portage,  Fox- Wisconsin,  41,  42,  117» 
190,207 ;  road  at,  210 ;  the  place,  133. 

Porter,  George  B.,  60;  Rev.  Jeremiah, 
152-154,  185,  205,  206,  209,  210, 
280;  Miss  Mary,  185. 

Potosi,  188  194. 

Pottawatomies,  118, 146,  196, 197,  213. 

Powles,  Henry,  57. 

Prairie  du  Chien,  28,  30,  31, 41, 42,  44, 
113,  133-135,  149,  166,  176-186^ 
188,  189,  194,  199,  203,  205,  207, 
213,  224,  280;  Indian  agent  at,  39, 
40,  43;  du  Sac,  197. 

Pratt  (Wisconsin),  255. 

Prentice,  274. 

Presbyterians  (in  time  of  the  Revolu- 
tion), 32  ;  board  of  foreign  missions, 


|  "Quebec  act,"  29,  37. 
|  Quebec,  province  of,  29,  37. 
Queen  Anne's  war,  75 ;  Indian  chief's 

visit  to  England  during  her  reign,  79. 
"  Quelles  hures  !"  origin  of  "Huron,"  2. 
Quinette,  a  Frenchman,  213. 
JQuinney,  Austin    E.,    109,    122,    137, 

139,  142,  143,  145. 
Quinney,  Flecta  W.,  66,  115,  128. 
Quinney,  John,  104,  125. 
Quinney,   John   W.,  57,   73,   75,   112, 

113,  116,  119,  121,  122,  137,  139, 

143. 

Quinney,  Joseph,  128. 
Quinney,  Margaret,  128. 
Racine,  213,  220,  224. 
Radisson,  Sieur,  2-8,   11,  12,   15,  16, 

61,  176,  210,  277,  278. 
Ragueneau,  Paul,  4. 
Railway  first  to  cross  Wisconsin,  186; 

nearest  in  1836,  224. 
Ramsey,  Governor  Alexander,  163. 
Randolph  (Vermont),  222. 
Recollects  (Recollets),  15,  19. 
Red  Bird,  Winnebago  chief,  190. 
Red  Cliff  reservation,  249. 
Red  Dog,  Sioux  chief,  150. 
Red  Lake  (Minnesota),  151,  162,  163, 

274,275,279;  reserve,  267. 
Red  river  of  the  North,  186 ;    of  Wis- 
consin, 142,  143. 
Red  Springs,  143;  Sea,  185. 
Reed,  Harrison,  218. 
Reidsville  (New  Yoik),  73. 


300 


INDEX. 


Representatives,  House  of,  48. 

Reve,  Rev.  Frederic,  205. 

Revival  at  the  Fond  du  Lac  mission  5 
238. 

Revolution  and  revolutionary  army  and 
war,  23,  30,  32,  34,  35,  37,  42,  46, 
47,  50,  62,  63,  68,  94  97,  99,  106, 
147 ;  events  of  in  the  Wisconsin  re- 
gion, 177,  210,  211. 

Reynolds,  Governor  John,  196,  197. 

Rhine,  the  river,  134. 

Rhode  Island,  69. 

Richards,  Charles  H.,  wife  of,  56. 

Richmond  (Virginia),  7. 

Riggs,  A.  L.,  D.  D.,  150 ;  Stephen  Re- 
turn, Rev.,  162,  166  168. 

Rigi  Kulm,  272. 

River  Indians,  75,  76,  79;  Nation,  136. 
See  also  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. 

Roherts,  Bishop,  221;  Sidney,  221. 

Robertson,  Samuel.  211. 

Robinson,  Mark,  215. 

Rockford,  194. 

Rock  Island  (Illinois),  43,  192,  194; 
the  island,  133. 

Rock  river,  24,  189,195,  196,  224; 
valley  of,  200 ;  conference,  215. 

Rock  St.  Louis,  22. 

Rockton  (Illinois),  194. 

Rocky  Mountains,  the,  40,  47,  162. 

Rogers,  Major  Robert,  45;  Mrs.  Anna 
S.,  269,,  270. 

Rolette,  Joseph,  41. 

Rolfe,  Benjamin,  19. 

Roman  Catholicism,  29. 

Rome  (Italy),  159 ;  church  of,  26,  65, 

Roosevelt,  Theodore,  32. 

Root,  Erastus,  56,  57,  120,  121. 

Roulette,  Mr.  -   — ,  181. 

Round  Table,  (Beloit  college).  193. 

Roxbury  (Wisconsin),  197. 

Roy,  Secretary  J.  E.,  256,  270,  271. 

Rublee,  F.  M.,  225. 

Russell,  Miss  Caroline,  115. 


Russia,  70;   Russians  and  Cossacks,  42. 

Ryan,  Colonel  Samuel,  204. 

Sabbath   begun    on   Saturday    evening, 

141 ;    dishonored    by   tyranny,   226 ; 

how   honored   at    Odanah,    241;    at 

Stockbridge,  136:   instances  of  Sab. 

bath-keeping,  1,  217  ;  early  Sabbath- 
schools  in  Wisconsin,  181,  202,  204; 

in  1836,  225. 
Sacs  (Sanks),   16,  17,   19  24,  30,   75, 

110.  133,  134,  175,  188,  196  199 
Sacs  and   Foxes,   132,   134,   188  190, 

195 ;  Sank  village,  22. 
Saginaw,  16. 

St.  Anthony,  falls  of.  15,  149,  279. 
St.  Antoine,  Post  of,  176. 
St.   Augustine,  quotation  from,  111. 
St.  Augustine  [Florida],  35. 
St.  Clair,  Governor  Arthur,  38,  106. 
St.  Clair  river,  46. 
St.  Croix,  portage,  river  and  valley,  18, 

156,  157,  160,  187. 
St.  Francis   [Canada],  Indians  of,  75. 
St.  Francis,    Xavier,    mission    of,    211 

212. 

St.  Ignatius,  mission  of,  12,  45. 
St.  Jacobs,  J.  B.,  203. 
St.  Joseph  (Walhalla,  North  Dakota), 

276;  St.  Joseph's  river,  187. 
St.  Louis,  40  43 ;  called  Pencour,  31 ; 

design  of  capturing,  31. 
St.  Mary's,  treaty  of,  109. 
St.  Mary's  river  (of  Georgia),  29;  (of 

Michigan),  51. 

St.  Peter,  portal  of  [Arched  Rock],  7. 
St.  Peter's  river,  41,  176,  192. 

St.  Pier, ,  211. 

St.  Pierre,  Rev.  Paul  de,  180. 

St.  Sebastian,  fortress  of,  42. 

Salem,  81. 

Salisbury  (England),  269. 

Sandusky  river,  165. 

Sandy    Lake    [Minnesota],    129,    156, 

158,  167,  168.  239,  275. 


INDKX.  301 

San  Francisco,  180.  Shawano,  144;  Lake,  142. 

Santa  Fe,  35.  Shawano  witchtinder.  a,  105,  110. 

Santee  Normal  school,  150.  ,  Shea,  John  G.,  7,  180. 

Saratoga,  126.  Sheboygan,  212,  214,  225. 

Sasquahannah  (Su.squehanna  river),  87.  Sheldon,  George,  65. 
Satterlee,  R.  S.,  M.  D.,  205,  206,  209;  Sheldon's  History  of  Michigan,  45. 

M.S.  R.  S.,  205,  206.  Sheridan,  Mrs.  General  P.  H.,  203. 

Sank  county.  196,  207.  Sherman,  General,  son  of,  14. 

Saulteaux  (Sauteurs),  146.  Shonandon  (an  Oneida  chief),  103. 

Sault   St.  Marie,   146-148,    152-154,1  Shores,  E.  A.,  255,  258;  Mrs.  E.A.?  258. 

166,  209.  Shunkasha  (Sioux  chief),  150. 

Sault  St.  Louis  (Canada),  65.  Significance  of  the  Frontier  in  Ameri- 

Savannah  (Illinois),  194.  can  History,  95. 

Scattekooks,  the,  88.  Simcoe,    Lieutenant   Colonel  J.  G.,  96. 

Schenck,  Rev.  Dr.  A.  V.,  123.  •  Simsbury  (Connecticut),  209. 

Schipicoten,  220.  Sinclair,  Patrick,  31,  46,  177.  211. 

Schoolcraft,  H.  R.,  3,  7,  55,^125,  146,  Sinope  (Asia  Minor),  226. 

148,  153  155,  166, 186;  island,  15,5.  Sinsinawa  Mound  (Grant  county),  199. 
Schools,  early,  in  Wisconsin,  115,  138,  Sioux,  the,  35,  11,  12,  14,  17,  19  21, 

181,  202,  203,  225;  school  code  of      41,  42,  53,  127,  132,  135,  141. 146, 

Wisconsin.  225.  149,  161,  163,  166,  168,  172,  175, 

Scotland,  11,  63,  68,  80, 123, 124,  128.       185,  199,  238,  272,  275,  279;  out- 
Scott,  General  Wintield,  199.  break  in  Minnesota,  171. 
Scotfs  Commentary,  110,  197.                Siskoinsin,  210. 

Scuranis, ,  103.  Six  Nations,  55,  64,  74, 92, 93,  98, 103, 

Secombe, ,  ordination  of,  82.  104 ;  their  language,  75.     See  also 

Selkirk  colony,  186.  Five  Nations   (2,  55),  and  Iroquois. 

Sell,  William,  220.  Skah-kah-wah-mee-kunk,  4. 

Seminole  war,  179.  Skatekook  (now  Sheffield),  76,  77,  82, 

Senecas,  the,  55.  62,  66.  83,  85,  88. 

Sergeant,  John,   76-97,  99,   104,  105,  Skenectetee  (Schenectady),  94. 

108,  109,  111.  117,  124,  125,  135.  Skinner,  Miss  Persis,  135. 

145;  the  younger,  54,  60.  90,95,  98,  Slavery,  decree  permitting,  175. 

99  101,104,106-108,111,112,114,  Slavery  in  Jo  Daviess  county,  193. 

124, 141 ;  the  third,  56,  90, 110, 121.  Slingerland,  Jeremiah,  140-142 ;    Mrs. 
Seymour,  J.  L..  158,  161,  275.  Sarah  Irene,  142. 

Shackford,  Captain  John,  193.  Small-pox,  epidemic  of,  170,  246. 

Shagawaumekong  Point,  146.  Smelters,  early,  in  lead  region,  192. 

Shake-Rag  (Mineral  Point;,  200.  Smith,   Brigadier-General    E.    K.,   52. 

Shake  shingles,  214,  223.  Smith,  Colonel  Joseph  Lee,  52,  202. 

Shantytown,  115,  202,  204,  205.  Smith,  Henry,  189,  198. 

Shaw,  Colonel  John,  40,  210.  Smith,  John,  114. 

Shawanese   Indians    (Showanoos),    75,  Smith,  Richard,  235. 

84.  87,  99.  Smith,  Colonel  T.  A.,  178. 


sou 


IM>EX 


Smithfield,  122,  123. 

'•Snake  Hollow."  188. 

Snake  river,  27"). 

Snow,  depth  of,  in  Northern  Wiscon- 
sin, 245. 

Socialism,  experiment  in,  144. 

Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Know- 
ledge, 63,  99;  for  propagating  the! 
Gospel  among  the  Indians  in  North 
America,  69,  78;  for  propagating 
the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  69,  78; 
for  propagating  the  Gospel  among; 
the  Indians  (Boston),  104. 

South  Carolina,  67;  South  Dakota,  39  ;| 
South  Kaukauna,  60,  66,  110,  114.| 

116,  279;  South  Sea,  14. 
Southport,  224. 

Spain,  14,  27,  31;  His  Catholic  Majes- 
ty of,  27  ;  the  Spaniards,  34. 

Spanish  and  Illinois  country,  31. 

Spencer,  I).  B.,  162-164,  171 ;  Mrs.! 
D.  B.,  163,  164. 

Spencer,  Secretary  John  C.,  98. 

Spicer,  Rhoda,  171. 

Spirit  mediums,  Indian,  146. 

Spooner,  Miss  Abbie,  234,  245,  267. 

Sprague,  Henry,  73. 

Springfield,  75,  77,  80,  126. 

Spring  Prairie,  223. 

"Stabber,"  the,  Sac  chief,  133. 

Stambaugh,  Samuel  C.,  120,  121. 

Standard,  the,  (of  Chicago),  72. 

Starved  Rock,  22. 

State  church,  evil  done  by,  3$. 

Statesburg,  60,  113  116,  122,  127-' 
129,  135,  138,  144,  279. 

Stevens,  Comly,  57. 

Stevens,  Rev.  Jedidiah  Dwight,  49,  50, 

117,  118,  123,  127,  130,  135,  148- 
151,156,  182,185,  210;    Mrs.   J. 
D.,  129,  130;    Miss  Lucy  C.,  135 ;! 
Miss  Sabina,  158,  275. 

Stillman,  Major  Isaiah,  196,  197. 
Stillwater,  155. 


Stockbridge  (England),  85. 

Stockbridge  Indians,  54-57,  60,  61, 
66,  67,  70,  71,  73-75,  84,  94-101, 
104  111,  113,  117,  120,  121,  123, 
129-133.  136  142,  145,  148,  149, 
189,  197,  276,  278;  Congregational 
churches  among  them,  70,  97,  9<S, 
107,108,  111,114,  115,128,  130, 
138,  139,  144,  145.  157;  tithing, 
men  in,  117.  141;  Methodist  Epis- 
copal church,  140,  144;  Presbyte- 
rian, 144.  See  also  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok. 
Prohibitory  laws  by  and  for,  84, 195. 
Interesting  characters,  see  Aupau- 
mut,  Konkapot,  Metoxen,  Quinney. 
Also  Pau-quau-nau-peet,  90;  Poh- 
quon-nop-peet,  112;  Pooh-poo-nuc, 
77,  81 ;  their  language,  see  Muh-he- 
ka-ne-ew;  an  interpretation  by  Mrs. 
Pendleton,  109. 

Stockbridge  Indians,  White  river  band 
of,  107,  109-112,  197;  at  Piqua 
(Ohio),  109;  their  church,  107,  109, 
128;  they  come  to  Wisconsin,  111. 

Stockbridge  (Massachusetts),  74,  85- 
87,  89,  91  97,  104,  124,  162,  278; 
church  of,  77,  88 ;  History  of,  see 
Jones,  Electa. 

Stockbridge  reservations:  in  Massachu- 
setts, 76,  85;  in  New  York,  96; 
in  Indiana.  107,  109;  in  Wisconsin 
(on  Fox  river),  56;  in  Calumet 
county,  60,  137,  138;  in  Shawano 
county,  142,  144,  145. 

Stockbridge  (Wisconsin.  Calumet  coun- 
ty), 73,  110,  132,  135,  139-141, 
143,  209.  218:  church  of,  145;  mis- 
sion-house at,  135;  (Shawano  coun- 
ty), 143;  church  of,  144. 

Stockbridge  and  West  Stockbridge,  85. 

Stoddard,  Colonel  John,  76. 

Stonington,  69. 

Storm,  Miss  Helen  C.,  110. 

Straum,  Louis,  134. 


INDEX.  :m 

Street,  General  J.  M.,  182,  184.  Titsworth,  Rev.  Judson,  256. 

Strong,  Hon.  Moses  M.,  24,  190,  200.  Tobbogans,  a  Christmas  gift,  243. 

Stuart,   Robert,  50,  122;  Mrs.   R,  51.  Todd,  John,  36. 

Sturgeon  bay,  13.  Todd,  Mary    (Mrs.  Lincoln).  36. 

Suffrage  in  Wisconsin,  226.  Tories,  clerical,  in  the    Revolution,  32. 

Sullivan,  Captain  John,  40.  Toronto  (Canada),  164. 

Sunnier,  Senator  Charles,  letter  of,  253.  Total  abstinence   among    Indians,    83, 

Sunday,  John,  165.  130.  208;  total  abstinence  churches, 

Sunday-school,  first  at  Milwaukee,  214;       130,  206. 

first  at   Prairie  du  Chien,   181 ;  first}  Tounchy,  John,  166. 

in  Wisconsin.  202.  I  Touslee,  Waters,  221. 


Sunderland.   Rev.  Byron,    D.  D..    219. 

Sunrise  river,  150,  151. 

Superior,  Lake,  258,265,273,274,275. 


Towles,  N.,  57. 

Town,  Joseph,  157. 

Town  system  of  local  government,  226. 


Surrender  of  Red  Bird,  190.  Tracy,  Jean  Baptiste,  10. 

Susquchanna,  93.  j  Travels   throughout   North    America, 

Tanner,  Dr.  H.  B.,  52,  116,  279.  30,  75,  176. 


Tanner,  John,  164. 
Talon,  Jean  Baptisle,  13. 
Tatepahqsect,  105,  106,  110. 


Travels,  by  President  I.) wight,  126. 

Treat,  S.  B.,  168. 

Treaty,  of  1725,  75;   of  Paris    (1763), 


Taylor  county,  9.  26,  176;  (1783),  28,  200;  with  the 

Taylor,  General  Zachary,  43,  134,  178,       Six  Nations,  104;  with  the  Sacs  a»d 

179,  184,  199,  208,  280.  Foxes  (1804),  188;  Ghent,  43?  201 ; 

Teachers,  early,  at  Green  Bay,  203.  of  St.    Mary's,  109 ;     with    the    Me- 

Tecumseh.  106;   war,  107.  nomonees  (Little  Butte  des  Morts), 

Temperance:  first  convention  in  Wis-       57,    113;      (Stambaugh),    60,     212.; 

consin,  128;  first  society  here,  128  ;       with   the    Winnebagoes,    149,    213; 

early  work,  at  Prairie  du  Chien,  184.;       with    the    Pottawatomies,    213;     of 
Tennessee,  49,  183,  185.  Buffalo  Creek,  61. 

Test  river,  85.  i  Trempealeau,  134,  176 ;    county,    first 

Texas,  166.  185,  207.  settlement  of  whites  therein,  134. 

Thames  (Connecticut)  river,  67.  Trumansburg  (New  York),  108. 

Thanksgiving,    early    observance  of    in  Trumbull,  J.  H.,  7. 

Wisconsin,  128,  136.  '  Triumphant  Democracy,  29,  33. 

Thayendanegea.    See  Brant,  Joseph.      :  Turkey,  Asiatic,  226. 
Thiebeau,  Joseph,  222.  '•  Turkey,  Rufus,  56. 

Thomas,  Lieutenant  Martin,  191.  Turner,  Professor  F.  J.,  13,  95. 

Thowhusquh,  Esther,  128.  j  Turtle,  town  of,  222. 

Three  Rivers  (Canada;,  2,  4, 5, 10,  203.J  Tuscaroras,  the,  55.  56,  62,  67,  92,  93, 
Throckmorton,  Captain  John,  198. 

Thwaites,  R.  G.,  4,  103, 180,  197,  210.'  Tuttle,  Chauncey,  222. 
Tigris  river,  the,  216.  i  Twiggs,  General  D.  E.,  207;    Mrs.  D. 

"Tikenderoga,"  94.  E.,  208. 

Tithing-men  in  Wisconsin,  135,  141.        Uhhaunnowwaunmut,  56. 


304 

Umpachene,  Stockbridge  chief,  75-77,,  Wabash  river,  18,  28,  31,  187. 

81,  85.  Wah-pa-sha  (Sioux  chief),  135. 

Umpachene,  Johtohkuhkoonart,  81.          Wales,  69;  Prince  of,  90. 
Unhaunauwaumnet.  Solomon,  278.          j  Walhalla  (North  Dakota),  163. 
Union  college,  74.  \  Walker,  Rev.  Jesse,  154,  220. 

Union,  the,  32,  33,  40,  54,  55,    army;  Wallingford  (Connecticut),  209. 

of,  67.  72;  the  united  colonies,  69. 1  Wai  worth  county,  223,  224. 
United     Foreign     Missionary     society,!  Wappecommekkoke,  105. 

48,  49.  Wappinackies,  the,  59,  120. 

United  States,  the,  16,  23,  27,  32,  33,j  Wapsipunicon  river,  22. 

35,    39,    43,50,61,    96,   106,   113,  War  of  a  Hundred  Years,  the  first,  1; 

121,132,226;    government,  34,  40.      the    second,    1,   17;  of    the    French 

42,  47,  55-57,  60,  104,   108,  109,       with  the  Iroquois,  2;  King  William's, 

129,   135,  165:  court  of  claims,  61,       17;  incident  of ,  65 ;  Queen  Anne's, 

67 ;  army,  46.  75 ;      Inter-colonial,    75 ;     following 

Un-paun-nau-waun-nutt,  Solomon,  112.       Pontiac's  conspiracy,  45;  in  North- 
Upper  Canada,    province    of,    28,    41,       west    Territory,    29,    106;     in    Eu- 

153;  first  governor  of,  96.  rope,  28,  (Napoleonic),  42;   against 

Upper  Lakes  region,  17,  25,  27.  43.  Tecumseh,   106,  107;  of   1812.  39- 

Upper  Mississippi,  the,    28,    44,    110  ;|      43,46;  of  secessiou,  171.      See  also 

region,  25,  40.  French  and  Indian,  Revolution,  and 

Upper  Pennisula,  Michigan,  40,  45,  48.  *     the  names  of    various  Indian    tribes, 
Utica,  67,  114,  156,  224,  275,  277.  Outagamies,     Sioux,     Winnebagoes, 

Vaccination,  by  missionaries,  246.  etc.     Also  names  of  chiefs,  as  Black 

Vandalia  (Illinois),  193.  Hawk,  etc. 

Van  der  Sauven,  Rev.  H.,  180.  j  Ward,  J.  Q.  A.,  235. 

Vaudreuil,  Governor-General  Philippe  j  Ware,  Jr.,  Henry,  47. 

de  Rigaud,  18,  45.  i  Warren,  J.  H.,  148,  180. 

Vaughn,  Mrs.  M.  E.,  268,  269.  j  Warren,  Lyman  Marcus,  49,  151,  157, 

Verwyst,  Rev.  Chrysostom,   8,  9,   159.       180,  222,  256,  275. 
Vermont,  48,  222,  233,  251,  276.          ',  Warren,  T.  A.,  148. 
Vesuvius  (steamboat),  42.  i  Warren,    William   Whipple,    4,    7,  48, 

Vieau,  Andrew  J.,  212;  Jacques,  210,       146  148,  151,  152,  159,  167. 

212,  213 ;  Louis,  213.  j  Warrior  (steamboat),  198. 

Vieux  Desert.  Lac,  9.  j  Warsaw  (Indiana),  251. 

Villiers,  Sieur  de,  22.  Washburn  (Wisconsin),  4,  11. 

Vincennes  (Indiana),  32.  Washburne,  Hon.    E.  B.,  31;  Mrs.    E. 

Virginia,  7,  32,  34,  37,  38,  56;  gover-       B.,    31;     Hempstead,    ex-Mayor    of 

nor  of,  32,  36.  Chicago,  31. 

Virginia  (steamboat),  185.  Washington,  General,   32,  34,   39,  96, 


Viroqua  (Wisconsin),  26. 


98,    106,125,   126,    149,    169;  his 


Voltaire,  27.  army,  96. 

Voyaging  on  Lake  Superior,  152;  first  Washington,  city  of,  58,  60,  116,  120, 
thereon  by  British  and  colonists,  156.       121,  148,  171,  212,  249,  250. 


305 

Watts,  Dr.  Isaac,  124.  Wheelock,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Eleazar,  67. 

\}'.i,i-l,un,  50.  Whipple.  Bishop,  H.  B.,  162,  166. 

Wanhakeeshik    (Black     Hawk's    "pr.>-  Whistler,  Major  William,  190. 
phet"),  195.  19C»,  199.  Whitaker,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  68. 

Wankesha.  '-'09.  215,  218,  224;    called  White  Earth  river.  39,  200. 

Prairieville,  209.  White  mountains  (New  Hampshire),  33. 

Waukegan,  221.  White  Plains  (NVw  York),  96. 

Wau-nau-oon  (J.  W.  Quinney),  73.  White  river  and  region    ( Indiana),   55, 

Waupaca,  277.  105,  107.  Ill  :   (Wisconsin),  240. 

Wauwatosa,  279.  Whiteside,  General  Samuel,  197. 

Wawauquekon,  56.  Whitewater,  276. 

Wayne,  "Mad"  Anthony,  28,  106.          Whitford.    Superintendent  W.  CM  14. 
Webster  s  Dictionary,  36.  Whitney,  A.  W..  156;  Mr.    and    Mrs. 

We-kau  (an  Indian  murderer),  190.  — ,  122;   Prof.  H.  M.,  269;  Mrs. 

Wellington,  Lord.  42.  M.  A.,  115,  116. 

Wendell,  Colonel ,  83:  Whittlesey  creek,  4. 

Wesley,  John,  32.  Wilcox,  Major  D.  L..  154;  Mrs.,  205. 

West,  Stephen,    D.    D.,   95,     99;     Ed-  William  III.,  1:  and    Mary,  17,    278. 

ward,  225,  279;  H.  S.,  M.  D.,  108.  William,  the  Silent,  1,  197. 
West,  Whining  of  the,  32.  Williamsburg,  36. 

Western  Evangelical  Missionary  socie-  Williams  college,  84,  90,  108. 

ty,  163.  Williamson.  T.  S..  132-134. 

Western  Historical  company,  213.  Williams,  Elea/ar,    55,  57.    60,  63-66, 

Western  posts,  34;  states,  33,  34.  68,  75. 107,  108, 114, 119, 122, 127, 

Western  Reserve  association,  163.  202,  205;  Ephraim,  92,  93;  Eunice, 

Westfall, ,  137.  65;  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen,   76,   77,   80; 

Westtield  (Massachusetts),  77,  80.  Rev.  John,  65.  76;   Rev.  William  of 

West  Hartford  (Connecticut),  209.  Hattield,  78,  86. 

West  Hills  (New  York),  98.  Wilson,  Vice-President  Henry.  50. 

West  Indies,  22,  29;     markets  of,    33.  Windham  association,  the,  68. 
Westminster  abbey,    1 ;  assembly,  104 ;  Winnebago     convention,      145,      255; 

catechism,  92.  county.  25;   Rapids,    24,    25;     war, 

West  Point  academy,  154.  the,  113,  186,  189,  197. 

West  Springfield    (Massachusetts),    76.  Winnehago  lake    and   region.    19,    24, 
Wheeler,  C.  E.,  269;  Miss  Hattie,  258.       41,  60.  72,  121.  142,  144,  145. 

259,  261,  271 ;  Miss  Julia,  170,  246,  Winnebagoes,  2, 14, 19,  21,  41,  42,  53, 

252,  253;  Mrs.  Harriet  Wood,  165,       56-60,  75,  113,  118,  119,  121,  132, 

229,  231,  233  235,  238-240,  242-      149,  175,  177.  183,  188,  190,  196, 

244.  246-250,  252,  253-274,  280;       198,  199,208,  213;  their  language, 

her  covenant.  236;  Rev.  E.  P.,  4,  11,       56,  75,  177. 

147,  229,  254,  256,  259,  260,  270,  Winnepeg.  156,  276. 

279.    280;  Rev.  L.  H.,    165,    167-  Winona,  135. 

17:5,  233,  234,  238  242,  244-252;  Winsdor  (New  York).  93. 

Leonard.  170,  280;   W.  H.,  175.          Winston.  Richard,  Esq.,  36. 


306  IN  DFX. 

Winthrope,  Adam,  Esq.,  79;  John,  33.   Wisconsin  river,  the,  1,  9,   16,  22,  24, 
Wisconsin,  1,  2,  4,  5,  7,  9,  10,  14,  19,       25,  30, 133. 149,  176,  186,  187, 190, 

21,  24,  26-28,  30,  31,  33,  35,  37         207,  210,  224. 

40,  42,  44,  48,  49,  52,  54,  55,  57,   Wisconsin  Puritrn,  the,  223. 

58,  60,61,  67,  72,  88,90,  94,  97,  |  Wisconsin    State   Historical    Society, 

98,    100,   108,   110-114,   123-125,|     Proceedings  for  1892,  38,  45. 

128,  134,  136,  139,  141,  142,  144, 1  Wisconsin  Territory,  History  of,  190. 


145,  157,  170,  171,  176,  189,  199. 
209,  215,  221,  222,  225,  226,  263, 
276,  278,  279;  organized  as  a  Terri- 
tory, 89,  200 ;  non-glaciated  area  in 
189;  pioneers  of,  65,  225,  226; 
presbytery  of.  219;  legislatures  of, 
32,  200,  278 ;  first  mining  in,  188 ; 
miners  raise  company  in  Black  Hawk 


Wisconsin,  the,  225. 
Witchcraft,  in    Britain,    France,    Ger- 
many, JSew  England,  Indiana,  Iowa, 
36;  deaths  for,  in  Illinois,  36;  Major 
Powell's  statement,  36. 
Wnahtukook,  76,  82,  83,  85. 
JFolf  river,  142. 

Wood, ,  233. 

war,  197;  early  schools  in,  66,  115,  Woodbridge,  Timothy,   77-79,  81-83, 
151,  181,  203,  225,  279,  280;  uni-i     87,  93,  94,  108. 
versity  of  223;  first  Roman  Catholic  i  Woodstock  (Vermont),  48. 
missionary  in,  see  Menard;  first  Pro-  Woopikamikimk  (Wapikamikunk)  105. 
testant  missionary,  see  Nash ;  Indians  !  Wright,  A.  O.,  27;  S.  G.,  163,  276. 
of,  see,    Menomonees,    Winnebagoes?  jWtanshekaunhtukko,  88. 
Ojibways,  Pottawattomies,  etc.;  wars*  jWyandots,  2.  165. 
in,  see  Black  Hawk,  Outagamies,  etc. 5  'W7yoming,  massacre  at,  68. 
State  historical  society,  portrait  gall-  jXavier,  St.  Francis,    Mission   of,    202, 
ery  of,  96;  library  of,  99.  211,  212. 

Wisconsin  Blue  Book,  245..  (Yale  college  and  university,  46,  76-78, 

Wisconsin  Democrat,  the  225.  93,  105,  193,  214. 

Wisconsin  Hights,  battle  of,  197.  Yankees,  the,  39;  versatility    of,    251. 

Wisconsin  Historical  Collections,  Vol.    Y-en-dats,  2.  -  /  v 

VIIL,   24,  57,  64.    75;    Vol.,    III.!  Yellow  Lake,  157*,  158,  160.  275. 
25,  203;  Vol.,  II.,  60,  64. 121,  180;  Yellow  river  (Iowa),  183,  207. 

Vol.,  IV.,  69,  72, 143;  Vol  XI.,  156;  :Yoghum,  Captain ,  75. 

Vol.,  IX.,  186;   Vol.,  X.,  189;  Vol..  York  (Toronto),  164. 
VII.,  210,  219.  York  Fort  (Hudson's  Bay),  41. 

Wisconsin,  Columbian  History  of  Edu-  ,Zeizer  (Yeizer),  Captain  -   — ,  40. 
cation  in,  115.  \Zizania  aquatica  (wild  rice),  41. 


ADVERTISEMENT.  ,  W7 

More  than  one  whose  childhood  was  spent  in  Wisconsin  has  had  the  experience  described 
by  Hanilin  Garland.  He,  found  the  homes  once  in  the  possession  of  friends  now  the  property 
of  strangers, -men  of  foreign  nativity  and  language.  A  part  of  the  social  history  of  our  state 
has  been,  on  the  whole,  a  sad  one.  Much  of  it  is  the  story  of  the  displacement  of  a  population. 
With  this  change  tie  P-  \\  as  hrought  about  the  extinction  of  many  institutions, —  especially  of 
churches.  One  such  was  the  spiritual  home  of  the  writer's  boyhood.  The  names  of  kindred 
of  three  generations  are  on  the  short  roll  of  its  membership.  The  community  wherein  it  was 
established,  the  town  of  Jamestown,  Grant  county,  had  but  a  meager  intellectual  and  spirit- 
ual life  but  the  best  there  was  of  it  found  stimulus  and  expression  in  the  old  church.  From 
its  pulpit  there  was  no  uncertain  sound  on  all  the  great  subjects  of  religion,  and  on  practical 
applications  of  it  in  patriotism,  the  struggle  against  slavery,  temperance  and  the  keeping  of 
the  Sabbath.  Surely,  I  thought,  some  one  should  write  of  the  good  that  has  thus  been  done; 
of  the  fathers  that  had  come  almost  with  the  removal  of  the  Indians,  and  some  even  before 
that  time;  of  the  soldier  boys  whose  funeral  sermons  were  preached  when,  in  the  common 
course  of  nature,  the  good  pastor  might  rather  have  been  pronouncing  for  them  a  marriage 
service:  and  of  other  sons  and  daughters  also  who  had  lived  to  make  a  little  of  the  world's 
great  work  their  own  duty.  To  tell  this  story  was  some  one's  privilege;  why  not  mine?  I 
knew  of  no  other  claimant  for  the  honor,  and  in  university  life  one  is  likely  to  become  con- 
scious of  the  impulse  to  make  some  little  field  of  work  distinctively  his  own. 

For  when  I  came  to  feel  thus,  days  at-Beloit  college  and  at  Doane  w<  re  behind  me  and  I 
was  spending  a  winter  in  Leipzig.  At  Beloit  it  had  been  my  delight  on  Wednesday  and  Sat- 
urday afternoons,— the  only  times  in  the  old  days  of  limited  privilege  when  the  library  was 
open,— to  fish  from  the  bottoms  of  seldom  opened  drawers  old  pamphlets  bearing  on  the  his- 
tory of  the  college.  At  Doane,  with  an  eagerness  that  I  still  approve  though  I  can  smile  now 
at  some,  of  its  manifestations,  I  made-it  my  duty  to  get  and  save  for  the  library  anything  I 
could  that  might  have  historic  or,  indeed,  any  other  value,— a  rule  that  I  heartily  wish  had 
been  followed  in  earlier  days  at  Beloit. 

Not  so  much  from  the  schools  that  I  attended, —  in  none  of  which  did  I  ever  hear  prayer 
offered,  — as  through  the  church  ran  the  path  that  led  me  to  college.  There  may  have  been 
SOUK-  connection,  though  I  am  not  conscious  of  any,  between  my  feeling  of  gratitude  and  the 
memories  that,  as  1  used  to  listen  to  the  motteten  in  the  Thomaskirche  on  the  market  place 
in  Leipzig,  brought  before  my  mental  vision  the  old  house  of  God  where  on  the  Sundays  of 
a  long  past  summer,  often  after  a  four  miles'  walk,  I  recited  to  my  teacher  the  greater  part  of 
the  gospel  of  John.  However  that  may  be,  it  was  with  the  loyalty  of  a  son  and,  perhaps,  with 
somewhat  of  the  interest  of  a  student  that  1885,  February  12th,  I  began,  in  distant  Germany, 
to  write  the  history,  not  yet  finished,  of  a  single  church,— the  one  to  which  I  owe  so  much. 
But  with  such  a  topic  who  could  withhold  himself  from  speaking  of  the  mingling  and  com 
mingling,  of  the  coming  and  the  going,  of  the  currents  of  humanity  that  finally  made  up  the 
population  of  the  lead  region?  Moreover,  across  the  diminishing  but  always  majestic  Missis- 
sippi lay  what  had  been  a  part  of  Louisiana.  These  topics,  and  others  like  them,  led  me  on 
until  this  volume,  different  from  anything  originally  planned,  is  ottered  to  the  public. 

But  the  original  design  has  not  been  forgotten.  Indeed  it  is  in  fulfilment  of  it,  on  a 
broader  scale,  that  "  In  I'nnamed  Wisconsin  "  has  been  written.  This  is  a  narrative  of  pre- 
paration and  of  beginnings,— of  that  marvelous  succession  of  changes  by  which  the  very  ex- 
istence of  all  our  civic  and  religious  institutions  became  possible.  Thus  its  genesis  is  natural 
enough.  The  story  of  one  church  led  to  that  of  many,  and  this  greater  work  came  to  include 
a  narrative  showing  how  this  region  became,  first  in  name  and  then  in  reality,  a  part  of  the 
United  States,  -a  change  prophetic  of  another  yet  to  come  to  a  great  portion  of  our  people. 

Incidentally,  in  the  progress  of  these  studies,  there  came  to  be  published  not  only  many 
newspaper  articles  but  also  "  Missions  on  the  Chequamegon  Bay,"  "  Negro  Slavery  in  Wiscon- 
sin "  and  "  Muh-he-ka-ne-ok,  a  History  of  the  Stockbridge  Nation."  The  first  two  of  these 
were  published  by  the  Wisconsin  state  historical  society. 

In  the  last  named  book  and  in  this  I  have  sought  to  preserve  the  record  of  a  good  work 
done  among  a  vanishing  people.  Let  them  spe'ak  the  last  words  of  this  volume,— on  the  fol- 
lowing page  the  first  part  of  the  shorter  catechism,  last  edition,  and  here,  in  lines  like  those 
from  which  I  copy,  the  first  three  beatitudes  and  the  beginning  of  the  third  chapter  of  John  : 

:t.  Wuh  wekoiwuk  neek  kauk  kauktommauk  kaunthechuh 
wchichchuhqueweh  :  quaum  nuh  win  is  nuin  numnawwuh  wuli 
kkewaukun  wuhwekoiwaukon  kunnuk  uhtauk. 

4.  Wuh  wekoiwuk,  cheh  neek  kawtummauk  taunnumme- 
cheek  quaum, neekeheh  kohetommehkowwauk. 

6.  Wuh  wekoiwukchehneek  noochmauntheeheek :  quauui 
neekeheh  nooh  wkenkeyaunauwuh. 

I.  N'eh  unnoqueh  queh  neh  wtiyenaup  nemonnauw  unne 
\\ethoow  Nicodemus.  kiweennoow  Jews  sehkoke  wchoi. 


THE  ASSEMBLY'S 

SHORTER  CATECHISM, 

1.  QffttemoeiiijuiEiaunkwti,    '-Kau'qul  uhautt  unnovnvavinmawu 
nooh  Kuteiuia\yusoct ? 

»$itkJtchcwcJt .  Nook  automiav/useet.  •  fthauri  «ftribwwatKVf 
niauuxuk,  aunch  aum  rnaunioothpeUbaut  PobtoiiiTnauwiHisun, 
don  wamvurowekihnaut  bonmdwcbu 

2.  Q,.  Kauqui  pobtomroawwaus  kincenkonuh  Ijuvkubkhtira- 
..mauquuq  wauch  awtiv  \Vauwchtiyuq  aunbqueii  aum  tnau  mc«dtJi- 
pebliauy uq,  don  \vm\mwvekilinauyuq ? 

A.  Nik  \vtuuptoonnauwauhun  Pohtomrnowwaus  autcnnauk- 
hauihccli,  neh  nikhowoi  w'onk  wskov  naiiktuhhaxisetup  wsohe-. 
kiin,  neh  nun  nquehcheh  kaukuhkhumniawquq  aunqueh  aum 
iTiai;mootlipehhait}'uq,  don  wairwauwekelmauyuq. 

3.  Q.  KauquikuK  neb  wsoowhekun  nhaim   unneh  kkuli 
kotom  ? 

:  .  A.  Nik  wsoowhckim  nhaun  unneh  kk«hkotom  taun  aum 
aunhq^eli  wiuthtummuk   nuh  wcheh  Pohtommauwau%  don 
•auiYch  dootuianquq. 
.    4.  Q.  Tauneck  wtefiaoiyen  null  Pohtommawwaus? 

A .  I<fiik  Politommuw  WHUS  paiique weh  wcheclmfckoow  nnno  - 
woiyoi    stnh    eyubquauyowch,   don  stub  pepeenwehnumv'eh  * 
neb  ^unawxisect,  wsaukbkunnubkauwaukun,  oneiwaukun,  don 
cnauiHauwaukun. 

5.  Q.  Kaukboowwuk  a\it  Fohtommuwwausuk? 

A.  Fauskowoow  kuh  psooq,  null  mau'yauweh  paupina\v- 
utiieet,  Pobtoni»nowwans. 

^.  Q.  Tayn  wtenkeeinquitbtlieem  nub  kobcheh  Pobtom-  ' 
uomvwauseet?- 

A.  Nkhaunnoikcek  unmiqqueb,'  cbseh  nub  wautog-bherjiulr, 
TX'tiomonj  don  rieen  kausekhoikeh  wcbejicbubqnii;  noke  nkhe- 
weh  aunow  pauskoo  Pohtousmuw  waur>,  pausqun  aunquchg 
kkjychteet,  wonk  neh  weekchaunauqsbwaukunnowub. 


^  -i.t 

jjjjfa. 


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F 

58M 

D?5 

1895 

C.i 

ROBA