Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2013, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== Centennial History of Menominee County by Hon. E. S. Ingalls, Menominee: Herald Power Presses; 1876 [page 11] CHAPTER II THE FIRST WHITE SETTLERS ON THE MENOMINEE Tradition says that the first white man on the Menominee was a negro; although old "Joe Bart," as he was called, a half breed, always claimed that honor. In support of the first claim, how- ever, traditionary lore informs us that in early times, a negro Indian trader, accompanied by a Canadian voyageur in his em- ployment, visited this shore many years before Chappee came here, and that both were killed at a place on the Peshtigo river, several miles above where the village of that name now stands. It is said he had previously traded with the Indians and given them credit, and that at the time he was killed, a party of Indi- ans living at Sturgeon Bay, came across to trade with him; that he insisted on their paying up for goods for which he had previ- ously trusted them before he began to trade with them again. which they consented to do. This took about all the furs and deerskins they had with them, and after he got square with them he refused to trust them any more or to sell them anything for which they could not pay down. This arrangement did not suit the Indians. They thought the Trader had taken an unfair advantage of them and got their furs and peltries. They lost sight of the fact that they had so many months before had their pay for them, and had had so many months enjoyment of the trader's [page 12] property, and thought they had been wronged because he had got his pay for the property they had previously bought of him. There are very many white men at the present day who reason just like them, but, unlike the white men, they had the remedy of their fancied wrongs in their own hands, which they immediate- ly applied; that is, they lifted the hair of the negro and his com- panion, and confiscated his goods, and thus paid their debts and obtained a large supply of plunder at the same time. This is a tradition common among the early settlers. The only proof we have to support it is the fact that there is a place up the Peshtigo river called "Nigger's Hill," where, the tradition says, the un- fortunate trader lost his wool. The reader may call this history or tradition, which he chooses, but in early times there were many who believed it, and there are some even now who believe he buried quite a sum of money in silver, which still lies there. The first white man who came to Menominee to stay was Chappee, an Indian trader, who came here as an agent for the American Fur Company and established a post in 1796. At that time many thousand Indians visited the Menominee river ev- ery season, while at the north and about the headquarters of the river, and towards Lake Superior, the Chippewas had numerous villages which were accessible by birch canoes. There was an abundance of beaver, otter, mink, muskrat, martin and fishers, bear, deer, and less valuable game, throughout the country, and this post became an important trading point. Chappee was a French-Canadian voyageur, with sufficient education to keep what books were necessary for an Indian trading post, and was apparently the right man for the place. He was stirring and ac- tive, and had sufficient courage and nerve for any emergency that might arise. He had a large number of men, picked up from that class of Canadian voyageurs who preferred a life in the solitude of the forests to a home with civilization, and his post sometimes presented the appearance of a well garrisoned fort, and at other times he was left almost solitary and alone to de- fend it if hostile Indians approached. His post was solidly built of logs with palisades made of heavy timbers set in the ground around it. Some portions of the one near Chappee's Rapids were remaining when the writer of this came in the coun- try in 1859. [page 13] A story is told illustrating his nerve in danger as well as the uncomfortable position an Indian trader is sometimes placed in when his post is far out on the frontier, away from civilized men. I state the story as it was related to me by the late John G. Kitt- son, several years before his death. All of the white men belonging to the post had been sent away on various expeditions, leaving only Chappee and one white man. A band of Indians from a distance, who were none too friendly, came to the post, and before Chappee had discovered the char- acter of his visitors they had come within the stockade and in- side the building used for the store-room. At first they began peaceably to talk of trade, but soon got noisy and threatening, and it was not long before he became satisfied, from their ac- tions, that the object of their visit was to rob him of his goods and probably to lift his scalp. To fight them was out of the question, for not only were they inside of the stockade, but were crowding around his small counter inside of the store building, and all of his reliable men were miles away and where he could not recall them. He tried by pleasant words to still the storm and avert the danger, without avail; they grew more and more threatening, and when, as he thought, the crisis had nearly ap- proached, he rolled out a keg of gunpowder which was open at the end, and catching up a loaded pistol he cocked it and point- ed in into the gunpowder, and with flashing eyes turned to their chief and told him that if every Indian was not out of the stock- ade in two minutes he would fire into the gunpowder, and send them and go with them into the happy hunting grounds. They knew by his tone and the flash of his eye that he meant business, and being suddenly impressed with the idea that discretion was the better part of valor, in less than two minutes not an Indian was to be seen inside the stockade. The best of the matter was that they became so favorably impressed with his bravery, they immediately made friends with him, and he got a good trade with them, and they always remained his friends, and often af- terwards visited him, to his and the American Fur Company's great profit. Chappee built his first trading post on the Wisconsin side of the Menominee river, near where Marinette's house now stands, and not far from where the railroad bridge reaches that bank of [page 14] the river. He carried on his trade with the Indians for many years, until dis-possessed by Farnsworth & Brush, as will be hereafter stated. After being dis-possessed of his property by them, he crossed the Menominee river and built a new trading post near the foot of "Chappee's Rapids" -- which were nam- ed after him -- about five miles up the river from the village of Menominee, where he remained trading with the Indians until he died; in 1852. He surrounded this post with palisades in the same manner as he did the first one, and some of these re- mained standing until after I came into the country. Chappee took to himself a squaw, with whom he lived, and raised children, as was the custom with the traders in those days, but to whom he was never married. Some of the descendants a few years ago were, and probably now are, living about the Peshtigo river, in Oconto County, Wisconsin. The next permanent white settlers who came were William Farnsworth and Charles Brush, who came the same season, and operated together after their arrival. They arrived in 1822. They were stirring, wide-awake business men, but without so nice a sense of meum and teum as would stand particularly in the way of their carrying out any enterprise that they might undertake. About the first important enterprise they entered into was to root out Chappee from his trading post, before alluded to. Un- fortunately, Chappee, through want of discretion, or perhaps forgetting that he was then the only white settler in the country having authority, opened the way for them, and made the oppor- tunity, of which they were only too ready to avail themselves. Owing to some difficulty Chappee, soon after they came on the river, got into a quarrel with the chiefs - Spaniard and Shenege- sick, and a brother of the latter. During the fracas he lost a thumb. Making more of the matter than prudence required, he caused these chiefs to be arrested and taken to Green Bay, (Fort Howard) and imprisoned in the fort there by the Uni- ted States troops stationed at that place. These chiefs were told that they were to be taken to Detroit and imprisoned there, and in some way they got the idea that as a punishment for the loss of Chappee's thumb they were to have their teeth knocked out. These stories were, undoubtedly, started by some of the white men, and told the Indians to get a sell on them, (to use a slang [page 15] term.) The Indians being very credulous, believed the reports and told the chiefs, who, as well as their followers, were very much frightened and supposed the offense was a very serious one. This was an opportunity for Farnsworth. For many years be- fore he came to Menominee he had been employed by the Amer- ican Fur Company, and was well acquainted with Indian cus- toms, their language and habits of thought. Possibly he had something to do in circulating the stories, though that such is the fact, tradition saith not. At any rate the chance was too good to be lost, and when their terror had approached its climax, he made his way to Green Bay and interceded for the chiefs with such good effect that he obtained their release. This made the tribe his fast friends for life, and a blow was thus struck at Chappee's popularity from which he never fully recovered. The good will of the chiefs did not end with words. They strove to show their appreciation of one who had proved a friend indeed, when they were in need, by making him a grant of all the land on that side of the river, from the mouth to the rapids, which grant included Chappee's trading post. How far back from the river the grant extended, tradition does not show, and as there is no written record of the grant, there is now no means of ascertaining, but as land at that time had no stated market value, it is presumable that it extended as far back as he might choose to consider it, so that it did not interfere with anybody's rights who might be living on the Peshtigo river. This presump- tion is strengthened by the fact that the Indians, who only wanted the land for hunting purposes, could continue to have just as much use of it as if they had not given it away. The one thing that Farnsworth did want he got, and that was Chappee's trading post. One day when the latter was away, taking advantage of his absence, Farnsworth and his followers entered and took possession of the post. They piled the goods, wares, whiskey, furs, squaws, pappooses &c., out, and as writs for "forcible entry and detainer" were not in fashion then on the Menominee, and the aggressors were the stronger party, Chappee, on his return, feeling completely disgusted with the turn things had taken, piled his traps into his canoes and paddled them up to the foot of the rapids which still bear his name, and there [page 16] built another stockade, as I have before stated, and made a final stand for his rights. While the course taken by Farnsworth in this matter, may not have been strictly according to the code now supposed to regu- late the acts of the people of the State of Wisconsin, it was one step forward in the course of civilization on the Menominee Riv- er; in fact it was the first step or led to it. Though Farnsworth was an Indian trader, he was also something more; he had good business capacity, and Brush, who was associated with him, had quite as good. They were not long in coming to the conclusion that there was something better than furs and peltries, and when they cast their eyes around as they journeyed up the Menomi- nee, and saw the tall pines on its banks, they began to speculate on their probable value if sawed into boards, and got into a market, where white men lived; also seeing the schools of white fish coming up the river, out of Green Bay, the thought struck them that they could be caught and packed in barrels and ship- ped to some place where whitefish would be esteemed a luxury and return to them many a silver dollar for the silver scales of the whitefish. It is true there was then no Chicago to furnish a market for its thousand million feet of lumber each year, nor to handle its ten thousand barrels of fish. There was no Milwaukee to rival Chi- cago, and no railroads to carry these articles of produce to thou- sands of cities and villages now spread out over the west; no steamboats, even, to take them down the lakes to cities and vil- lages of white men. Green Bay settlement was just where the city now stands, but there was very little of it then. There was the fort on the Fort Howard side of the Fox river, and a small rambling village on the Green Bay side, whose inhabitants were principally fur trad- ers or men who were employed by the traders, and here and there, for a few miles up the river, were some of the old voyag- eurs, who, getting old and tired of wild life, had taken land and opened up small farms. But these men were not to be discour- aged by the untoward prospects of a market. If there was no market in the West there was in the East, and they would find one somewhere; besides, they believed in the future of the west- ern country, and they lived to see their beliefs verified, though [page 17] not to the extent to realize to themselves all the advantages which they expected to derive from their labors. Their first en- terprise was the building of a sawmill, which was commenced in 1832, and was the first mill built on the Menominee river. It was a water mill, and was built on the Wisconsin side, a short distance above where the Chicago and Northwestern Railway now leaves the bank in crossing. A dam was constructed across to one of the islands, which gave them a pond and a head of wat- er, and what we would now call an old fashioned sawmill was built, one that would cut six or eight thousand feet of lumber each day, and not such an one as we have at present, with their clock work machinery and capacity of from one to two hundred thousand feet of lumber each day. The mill was run by them a few years. At some time not know precisely known, one Sam- uel H. Farnsworth bought an interest either in the mill or in the water power formed by the rapids. It has been stated, however, that this mill had been sold at Sheriff's sale for debt, and the bid for it was purchased from the bidder, D. M. Whitney of Green Bay, for eighteen barrels of white fish, by Samuel H. Farnsworth. I cannot learn, fully, at what time or how he was interested, but only learn the fact that about the year 1839, Dr. J. C. Hall came on the river and bought out Samuel H. Farnsworth's inter- est, and also bought into this mill with Farnsworth & Brush, and within two or three years after that time, the dam went out and the mill was abandoned, and in 1844 Dr. Hall built anoth- er dam and mill which will be hereafter referred to. Besides furnishing the power for sawing lumber, the building of the dam opened the way for the fish business. After it was constructed, they built a wier along on the apron below the dam; and in the season when the fish were running, they caught great quantities, with no other trouble than going out in the morning with scoop nets and scooping them out of the wier. In some seasons they caught as many as five hundred and fifty barrels, with no expense, comparitively, except dressing, salting and packing. William Farnsworth was lost on the steamer Lady Elgin, which was sunk in 1860 by a collision with a vessel between [page 18] Waukegan, Illinois, and Chicago. It is not known what be- came of Brush, or whether he still lives. The next white man to follow those above mentioned and take up a permanent residence here, was John G. Kittson. He came in 1826 as a clerk for the American Fur Company under Chap- pee. He was he son of a British officer who was, or had been stationed in Canada. Mr. Kittson spent the remainder of his life in this vicinity, and died in 1872, his death being hastened, as it is believed, by the exposure and suffering he and his fam- ily were subjected to, on the night of the great woods fire, in October 1871. He was a very intelligent and stirring man and was all his life actively engaged in the fur trade or in farming, and he had the honor of clearing and working the first farms ever opened in this County, one at Wausaukee Bend above Grand Rapids, and another at Chappee's Rapids, near the old trading post, where he resided for many years before the great fire. He had a great influence over the Indians, and was at all times a friend to their interests. The Indians always spoke of Mr Kitt- son as "the writer," a name they gave him on account of his doing all the writing for them in their various transactions with the Government. He has left many descendants who still make the Menominee their home. One son, John Kittson, was killed in the war of the Rebellion, in Sherman's march to the sea. In 1826 came also Joseph Duncan who was employed as a pack- er by the American Fur Company. He was a brave soldier and fought at the battle of Plattsburgh. He might be entitled to a pension, only, unfortunately, he was fighting on the wrong side. He was a British soldier, is still living, and makes his home with Charles McLeod, and believes himself to be between eighty and ninety years old, though he cannot tell exactly. The next white men who came to stay permanently were Baptiste Premeau and Charles McLeod, who arrived in 1832. They are still living here at Menominee, Charles McCleod being now 64 years old. Joseph De Coto came the same year and is still alive. He is living on a farm at White Rapids, and is now 70 years old. A good story is told of De Coto, who is French, and does not talk the best of English. A few years ago he had a lawsuit with John G. Kittson, with whom he was not on the best of terms, about a horse which Kittson replevined. De Coto [page 19] could not speak the name Kittson, but always called it "Dix- on." Soon after the time of the suit with Kittson, a Catholic Priest, who made occasional visits to the Menominee river, and through the wild settlements, came here and visited De-Coto at White Rapids, so De Coto made him a present of a pony to as- sist him in his travels on his missionary journeys. The matter of his suit with Kittson would occasionally come up, when he invariably worked himself into a passion, and after exhausting every expletive in the Canadian French vocabulary, he would cool off with, "Vell, I give vay two hoss; I give von to de Lord and I give von to de devil: I give von to de Priest and I give von to John Dixon." In this connection it may be well to state that the Jacobs have, since an early day, been a prominent family, and although their residence was on the Wisconsin side of the river, their history is blended with that of Menominee county, and it is proper that it should have its place in this brief sketch. When William Farnsworth first came to the Menominee, Ma- rinette was a blooming young woman, bright and intelligent. She was the daughter of a daughter of Wabashish (the Marten), a chief of the Menominees, and Bartholomew Shevaliere, a white man. When Bartholomew Shevaliere came to the Menominee, or whether or not he ever made his home here, tradition saith not, but from the best information obtainable, it is thought that he never did. Joseph Bartholomew Shevaliere (Joe Bart), a brother of Mari- nette, was his son, and it is owing to that fact that he made the claim, as before stated, that he was the first white man who lived at Menominee. It is not known whether or not Marinette was born on the Menominee. The first we know of her is, that John B. Jacobs, a man from Canada, who was employed in the fur trade in early times, had her for his wife at Mackinaw. While they lived to- gether they had several children, two of whom, John B. Jacobs and Elizabeth McCleod, are still living. John B. Jacobs is now fifty-eight years old, and resides in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Eliz- abeth McLeod is sixty years old, and lives here in Menominee, the wife of Charles McLeod. For some reason not known John [page 20] B. Jacobs Sr. parted from Marinette at Mackinaw. Afterwards William Farnsworth became enamored of her, and took her for his wife, and when he came to Menominee, in 1822, brought her and her children with him. He had children by her, one of whom, George Farnsworth, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, is still living. John B. Jacobs (the son) grew up on the Menominee and became closely identified with its interests, and was promi- nent in all enterprises which were started for its advancement. For many years he owned and run the steamboat "Queen City" between Menominee and Green Bay. Marinette died in 1863, highly honored by all the residents about the river. She was seventy-two years old when she died, and had been looked to as a mother by all the early settlers and Indians, for she had always been ready to assist the needy and comfort the distressed. The first orchard of apple trees was set out by her, which is still growing and bearing fruit. Her house is still standing in Mari- nette village, and is the first frame house built on the Menomi- nee river. The earliest settlers came from Canada in Batteaux, sailing and poling them up the St. Lawrence river and Lake Ontario, and, before the Welland Canal was constructed, up the Niagara river, by portage around the Falls into Lake Erie, up Lake Erie and Detroit river through Lake and River St. Clair; along Lake Huron and through the Straits of Mackinaw into Lake Michi- gan, and up Green Bay to the Menominee River; the voyage requiring several months, and being attended with great hard- ships and exposure. It was many years before a steamer was seen here, or before even sail vessels became frequent on the waters of Green Bay. The country was then all wilderness, from the Detroit river to the Pacific Ocean, excepting a few trading posts; those at Mackinaw and Green Bay being the only ones in this section. We who can now step on the cars and in forty-eight hours reach Montreal, can hardly realize that less than fifty years ago it took a whole season to come from there; nor can we understand the hardships the early traders had to endure when they made the first settlement in Menominee. The next permanent settler was Andrew Eveland. He came in 1842, and in 1853 built the first frame building in what is now the village of Menominee. He is still living here. His [page 21] business has usually been fishing. Charles McLeod built a frame house in 1852 and still resides in it, on the river bank, just out- side the village. This was the first frame house in the county. Next among the old settlers in John Quimby, who came in 1845 and died in 1874, aged 65 years. At first he had charge of the fisheries and the boarding house of Dr. Hall's water-mill at the rapids. He afterwards built a tavern where the Kirby House now stands, which was destroyed by fire in 1859. Quimby im- mediately began to rebuild. He first put up a small building which he added to from time to time until, with the exception of one addition made since he sold it, it formed what is now the Kirby House. Here he kept the only hotel in Menominee un- til 1864, when he sold the property to S. P. Saxton, and its name was changed to "Saxton House." Saxton sold the house to a man named Bopard, who made the last addition to it and sold it to Fred Waltz, who sold it to Abner Kirby, of the firm of Kir- by-Carpenter Company, and ex-Mayor of Milwaukee, who fitted it up again, and named it "Kirby House." John Quimby was a man of marked characteristics and either a warm friend or a good hater. There was never any trouble in learning which relation he bore to a person, for he never hesitated to make it known, yet he was so kind hearted that if he saw an enemy suf- fering and in want he would be the first to assist him. He was a great fighter, and so long as his opponent resisted would nev- er give an inch, yet he never bore malice, and when the resist- ance was over, if his opponent came to grief, he was the first to extend a helping hand. He was also a great hunter, and found his greatest enjoyment in going with rifle, hounds, and a few friends, to some place along the shore of Green Bay, there to camp out for a few days and run deer into the bay and, with a boat, to catch them. When the writer first came to Menominee he frequently joined him in these expeditions, and many a deer have they taken together. Quimby owned very much of the land on which the village of Menominee now stands, and fully performed his part of the work in building it up, though he could never fully realize that Menominee was to become a large place. When the writer first came, and after he had resided here long enough to become acquainted with its resources for build- ing up a large town, he frequently talked with him about build- [page 22] ing a railroad through the country, and his reply usually was that he never wanted to live any longer than to see a railroad through these woods. He did live to see one several years. His widow is still living here and she was always considered a mother to the white settlers on the river, and many a foot sore and sick traveler or woodsman has been relieved by her care and sympathy, some there are who, without it, would have been long ago in their graves. She is now nearly seventy years of age, and is still active. I have given a short history of the coming of the first settlers, none of whom are now living except Charles McLeod, Almira Quimby, Andreas Eveland, and Baptiste Pre- meau, who may be truly called old settlers. Moses Hardwick came here in 1826, and lived here several years. He is still liv- ing at Bay Settlement, on the east shore of Green Bay. An- other class, who may also be called old settlers as compared with late comers, and who built the mills now on the river and gave the country its real start in prosperity, but who came later than those hereinbefore referred to, will necessarily be named in connec- tion with the building of the several mills, and will thus appear in the order of their coming here. ==========================================================================