Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2009, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: History of Vernon County, Wisconsin Published by Union Pub. Co., Springfield, IL, 1884 Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE COUNTY =========================================================================== Page 116 Among the questions which naturally interest the citizens of Vernon county to-day is this: "Who was the first settler within its limits?" There is a curiousity always manifested by those who come after the pioneers, to leave his name, where he settled and the date of his arrival. Especially is the time of his coming a matter of interest. The county itself, so far as the people constitute it, begins then, although its formation and organization date a number of years thereafter. The First Settlers The town of Franklin has the honor of being the one in which was located the first settler. His name was John McCullough. The exact date of his coming is unknown, only that it was in the spring of 1844. He built a house on the west half of the southeast quarter of section 25, township 12, range 5 west, during the summer of that year. It was near what was afterward Bad Ax, now Liberty Pole. The place is now owned by Thomas Sheridan. He also did some breaking, and made other preparations to bring on his family, which he effected the following spring. The section upon which McCullough located was not afterward entered by him, nor any part of it. Orrin Wisel entered forty acres of it June 17, 1848, Charles Wiederman, a quarter section, Nov. 13, 1849; Alexander C. Davis, eighty acres, Nov. 19, 1849; H. L. Dousman, forty acres, May 2, 1850; Jacob Higgins, forty acres, July 17, 1851; Julia Hart, forty acres, April 1, 1852; Thomas J. Gosling, a quarter section, July 27, 1852; Thomas J. Gosling, forty acres, Oct. 23, 1852, and Francis Sanford, forty acres, Aug. 11, 1855; in all 640 acres; the entire section. McCullough remained on his place until the year 1852, when, in company with a number of others, he started for California. He arrived there safely, and, after a sojourn there of a year, he wrote his brother that he was on the eve of returning home; that he would start in a day or two, but he was never after heard of. The general impression is that he started on his homeward trip and died on the plains. The next to make claims and erect a cabin (for houses in those days were little else), were two brothers, Samuel and Hiram Rice. This was in the spring of 1845. They settled at what was afterward Bad Ax, now Liberty Pole, in the town of Franklin, near McCullough. Samuel Rice brought his family with him. Mrs. Rice was a most excellent woman; a devoted Christian. She died in the fall of 1847. McCullough and the Rice brothers were soon followed by Henry Seifert, George P. Taylor and George Pike. Seifert was a bachelor. He settled at the place afterward known as the "Dowhower Farm," but now owned by Benjamin Williams, on section 18, township 12, in range 4 west, in the town of Franklin. Taylor located on section 30, township 12, of range 4 west, also in the town of Franklin. The place is now owned by J. C. Adkins. Mr. Taylor is now a resident of the county. Harvey Sterling came to what is now the town of Sterling in July, 1846, and settled on section 10, in township 11, of range 6 east. His family, consisting of his wife and two sons, Lewis and Le Grand, came on in the spring following. Le Grand Sterling is still a resident of the county. In the same month (July, 1846), that Harvey Sterling settled in what is now the town of --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Page 117 Sterling, John Graham, with his three sons -- Thomas, Baker, and Lamach, all grown -- settled in the present town of Jefferson, on section 23, in township 13, of range 5 west, at what is now Springville. In 1846 Moses Decker settled at what is now Viroqua; T. J. DeFrees, at the head of "DeFrees' Branch," and James Foster on Round Prairie. Mr. DeFrees was accompanied by his wife and seven children, Jacob Johnson, John Graham and family, and Saul Decker. Those mentioned were soon followed by others. Thomas Gillett and his sons, Nicholas Vought, James A. Cooke, George Dawson, and J. Shields -- all took up claims near the present site of Viroqua; and, about this time, (1846), Ira Stevens located at what is now Victory. William C. McMichael, Samuel McMichael and Robert McMichael, Charles Waters and Henry Waters -- these located at or near Springville. Those who came during the year 1846, or previous to that time, to what is now Vernon county, were, indeed, "ye ancient pioneers." "They were all subject to all the inconveniences and privations attending the establishment of new communities in remote sections of the country. They had at first to go to Prairie du Chien for their provisions and supplies." VERNON COUNTY IN MAY, 1847. by Alexander Latshaw "I settled, on the 14th of May, 1847, on West Prairie, in the present town of Sterling. There were before me, George Nichols, LeGrand Sterling, Lewis Sterling, and their father, Harvey Sterling, and James A. Clark. The whole of the present county of Vernon was then the town of Bad Ax, Crawford county. There were some Frenchmen at DeSoto, then called Winneshiek. There were three who had families and one who had none. Two lived in what was afterward Bad Ax county; the others in Crawford county. They had comfortable log houses and carried on trade with the Indians. Two of them had Indian wives; they were brothers by the name of Godfrey. They left not long after the Winnebagoes went away. They would chop a little wood for steamers sometimes. "Where the village of Victory now is, there was one Frenchman named Potwell, a trader. He was married to a squaw and had a family of children. Just above the mouth of the Bad Ax, there was another Frenchman, but he had no family. He, too, was a trader. Both left about the same time as the others who lived at Winneshiek (DeSoto). "At this time (May, 1847) there were no settlers in going east from West Prairie until the settlement that was afterwards called Liberty Pole was reached. The first settler one came to, in going east and north, was John McCullough; the next, Samuel Rice, and Hiram Rice lived with him. The next directly east was George P. Taylor. A little north and west from Samuel Rice's lived George Pike. In about two miles north of Rices (now in the town of Franklin), on the road from Liberty Pole, as often called, to what is now Viroqua, was the home of Henry Seifert. About a mile further north, on the same road, lived Jacob Johnson and T. J. DeFrees. "At what is now Springville, lived John Graham and his family. William C. McMichael was living on Taylor's place at that time. George A. Swain came soon after and settled on section 21, township 12, range 4 west (town of Franklin). Abram Stiles and James A. Cooke came with him. Cooke settled on section 4, in what is now the town of Viroqua. Stiles found a home on section 15, township 12, range 4 west, in the present town of Franklin." ===========================================================================