Histories

On the second day of April, 1837, under the guidance of Deacon Chauncey Tuttle, who had visited this section of the country the fall previous, accompanied by “Aunt Amy's prayers and recipe for making bread," Dr. Dennis Mills, Milton S. Warner, Charles Tuttle and Wm. S. Murray, started from Meacham's Grove in Illinois, for some place on or near the Rock River in Wisconsin.

After five days of hard toiling through mud, sloughs and un-bridged rivers and creeks, they arrived at "Blodgett's Place" (Beloit). It was a cold, rainy day and the only lodging accommodation on the scene was Blodgett's two-story log house. The only other building was Monsieur Tebo's shanty occupied by himself and two squaw wives.

On the 8th, the company visited Clinton Township and decided upon locating there. On the 9th, with the aid for Tebo and his little canoe, they re-crossed Turtle Creek with their effects, and commenced a settlement in the name of the Jefferson Prairie Company.

Tuttle, Mills, Warner, Tuttle and Murray had all been residents of Jefferson County, New York and chose the name Jefferson Prairie in honor of their old home. This first settlement was in the area now known as Clinton Corners, the intersection of Highway X and Highway J. At the first town meeting, the name Clinton was suggested in remembrance of DeWitt Clinton, New York Governor.

Their first shelter consisted of four crutches set in the ground with poles thrown across; a brush heap for a roof and Indian blankets for sides. The floor was made of a wagon box carefully taken to pieces and laid upon the ground and this served every purpose of a house for eight days and nights. The next business was to cut and haul logs from which a house 12x16 was soon constructed without the use of a single foot of sawed lumber, the building afterwards served as a shelter for many of Clinton's first residents.

The first white women in the township were Mrs. Stephen E. Downer and Mrs. Daniel Tasker, who, with their husbands visited the prairie in June. Ezekiel Brownell and Adaline Pratt were the first couple married, Joseph S. Pierce, Justice of the Peace officiated. In 1838 Mrs.S.S. Downer gave birth to a daughter, Lucy, the first white child born here.

In the years '40 and 41 many settlers added to the numbers already here.

This settlement continued here until 1856 when two railroads, the Racine and Mississippi and the Chicago and Fond du Lac arrived together at a dead heat, both construction crews trying to arrive first so they wouldn't have the expense of the hardware needed to join their rails to those laid first. The Chicago Road won by ten minutes with 1,000 people on hand to see the outcome.

Clinton thereupon moved to the railroad junction. In 1857 the name was changed to Ogden, supposedly in honor of Wm. B. Ogden, president of the Chicago and Fond du Lac line. Residents didn't take to the new name and early in 1864 the postal department approved the change back to Clinton. In the meantime, the railroads had continued to call it Clinton Junction.

This was not the most ideal site for a business district. On an early territorial map of Wisconsin this spot was called Pleasant Lake and residents told of catching 14-pound fish in it. Accounts tell of the terrible struggle to get up Allen Street with empty wagons and it is recalled hearing that fence posts could be driven out of sight in a muddy season.

The first new building constructed in the business area was a "groggery'' which was located near the railroad junction, for the convenience of their men. That same fall, Sidney Allen put up a store and hotel. Mr. Sheldon occupied the hotel and the May brothers of New York, the store.

The town grew rapidly. Dwelling houses of all grades were being built, and three elevators were erected that same year, also an addition to the little schoolhouse, which was already too small. The next summer was a busy one. Mr. Snyder built the Simmons block and Mr. Simmons put in his first stock of goods. P.H. Colegrove built the Taylor House and started a hotel.

Among the pioneer business houses there was Martin and Carpenter, lumber merchants, Weaver and Pierce, grain and cattle dealers, Warner and Irish, dry goods, Mr. Hale supplied the town with meat, Holmes Hammond was available with livery rigs, and Hiram Salisbury provided their horses with shoes.

 (for more click here)

Compiled by June Voge & Joyce Splan - Published by the Rock County Genealogical Society - Copyright 2005

The Town of Turtle is bordered by Beloit to the west, the town of LaPrairie to the North, and the town of Clinton to the east and the Illinois state line to the South. The township was named for the Turtle Indians, a Winnebago tribe of Native Americans, whose totem was the Turtle. 

In 1832 Abraham LINCOLN camped along the Turtle Creek in what later became the town of Turtle while scouting for Chief Black Hawk under Captain Jacob EARLY. While the earliest titles to land in the town of Turtle are dated February 18, 1839, the official date that the Town of Turtle was organized is February 2, 1846. The town was made up of what had been part of Beloit, Clinton and some of LaPrairie. 

The first town meeting was held April 7, 1846. In 1866 Township supervisors asked the railroad, which later became the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, to make the road leading from Shopiere east, to run under the track not over it. After over two years of planning, the railroad built the bridge at Tiffany across the Turtle Creek Valley. 

The Tiffany Five Arched Bridge was modeled after a bridge in France. It was designed by Mr. VAN MEINEN and built by John WATSON and Henry CRANE. It was made from limestone quarried from near Green Bay and Waupun. Each of the arches has a 50 foot span and a radius of about 26 feet. The famous bridge is still in use today looking much the same at when it was built in 1869. 

In 1856 the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad line was opened. When the right of way was planned Philo PORTER gave some land for a station which was named after him, “Porter’s Station”. It was basically a switch track, a home and a creamery also operated there. Porter’s station was located near the former Turtle Town Hall on what is currently called Turtle Town hall Road. 

Annexations of land to the City of Beloit and two major interstate highways, I-43 and I-39/ 90 have covered or divided much of the land of the town of Turtle. It has remained a progressive independent community with its own police department and volunteer fire department.  

Since farming has had such a major role in the history of Turtle, there were active Turtle Grange and 4-H organizations. The last farm with a milking herd was the MaCABE farm on County Road P. We must recognize that the history of the town of Turtle is closely tied to that of Clinton, Bradford and LaPrairie townships, the city of Beloit and the village of Clinton, since early school districts, churches and community organizations were shared by neighboring townships and villages. 

Evidences of Indian occupation have been numerous through out history. In Turtleville on the south bank of Turtle Creek was evidence of a small village site. When the first settlers came a small band of Indians were living there. Additional Campsites reported were BALDEZAR-Section 4, PORTER-Section 9, HOPKINS-Section 3, KLINGBIEL-Section 2, SPICER-Section 2. In 1895-1896 several skeletons were disinterred at a Spring Brook Burial Site. Evidence of Indian Mounds has also been found but because of urban sprawl and lack of knowledge of preserving history most have been destroyed. 

Early Settlers The record on exactly who was the first pioneer to arrive in what would become the town of Turtle differs according to various written histories. Most of the early settlers came west from Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Vermont and New York. It is agreed that Nathan ALLYN and James CHAMBERLAIN arrived in Turtle Township area around 1835. They are both buried in Shopiere Cemetery. In 1839 Caleb CULVER settled in Turtle Township. The Earliest Recorded Landowners (1835-1843) consists of 113 names. Some of the names of other early settlers are Hudson CASE, Horace RICE, Richard DOLE, Samuel COLLEY, Caleb BLODGETT, John and Abel LEWIS, William SMITH, Silvy KIDDER, John HACKETT, John BENEDICT, Milton WARNER, Charles and Chauncey TUTTLE, John HOPKINS, D.B. EGERY and Corydon FARR. The 1873 Landowner List shows 207 landowners. The 1936 Landowners List includes 420 landowners. 

The first seat of government in Turtle was the little settlement of Turtleville, which was west of Shopiere, in section 4 by the Turtle Creek near the intersections of what is now, Shopiere, Lathers, and Creek Roads. Land for the first Town Hall was donated in 1883 by Amos REIGART. The Township Chairman at that time was Samuel SLAYMAKER. That building burned in 1923 and was rebuilt that same year under the direction of William J. LATHERS who was Chairman at that time. This building still exists today and served as Turtle Town Hall (c.1936) until the opening of the New Community Center in 2001. 

Some of the early farm families in Turtle were the Merritt BOSTWICK family, Diantha NASH and family, the Michael MURPHY family, the Samuel HART family, the Harmon CHRISTMAN family, the James JACK family, the Chauncey ROSS family, the Jacob FLOREY family, John H. POOLE, Daniel EGERY, William MAXWORTHY, Thomas CROSBY family, John and William HAMMOND, Philo PORTER, Simon C. MARSTON, Henry McLENEGAN family and the E. J. CARPENTER family. 

Turtleville, all that remains of the once vital little village is an iron bridge and a cemetery. John and Abel LEWIS were some of the original settlers, arriving from Pennsylvania in 1838.They erected a timber house at Turtleville, even before they received title to the land. In 1839, they with William SMITH and Selvy KIDDER took title to Section 9 of what would later become Turtle Township. There they built a water powered saw mill, opened a store, built a stone schoolhouse and founded the first Baptist Church Society. Early Turtleville also had a blacksmith shop. Its location along a stream and Turtle Creek made it an ideal milling site. 

Other early settlers named in Turtleville history include Horace RICE, Hudson CASE, Thomas PATRICK, George FERN [sic, FEIRN] and John W. LATHERS. In 1850 William HODSON arrived in the area and built a flouring bill and distillery (The Hodson Site). It was a large operation employing many people. 

On the site overlooking his distillery, HODSON built a mansion on the banks of the Turtle Creek on the NE corner of Lathers and Shopiere Road, which stood until 1979. The house was Greek revival in style and had 17 rooms with 12 foot ceilings and several fireplaces. In the cellar, arched vaults were built to store the “spirits”. Because he was sympathetic to the south during the Civil War he refused to put U. S Government stamps on his whiskey as was required by the government, and shipped barrels of liquor hidden under loads of potatoes to conceal them. When one of his hired hands turned out to be a government agent, the government took action against HODSON and seized everything he owned. When he failed to pay some $98,000 in taxes his property was transferred to the U.S. Government. It was sold on June 30th, 1876 on the courthouse steps in Janesville for the sum of just $3,000.00. 

Just west of the HODSON mansion site, is the historic Turtleville Iron Bridge. It was built on Lathers Road in 1887 by Milwaukee Bridge and Iron Company. The bridge is still in use in 2007. 

According to an April 1929 Janesville Gazette article, “Turtleville became a deserted village after the Civil War. The “boys”, Will WHEELER, John BARKHAUFF, Richard SPENCER, Truman, William and Orlon HARVEY, George MERRY, Nelson WHEELER, and Chauncey VAN ALLEN were no longer interested in farming or the life of the small community when they returned from the war”. 

Shopiere East of Turtleville is the settlement of what is now Shopiere. One of the first men to the area of Shopiere was Caleb E CULVER. He built the first log house, followed by Jarad RANDALL who built the first farmhouse. The settlement was originally named Waterloo. Early township lore tells us that the name resulted from a hayfield battle between factions of settlers, thus the battle of Waterloo! When it was discovered that Wisconsin had another Waterloo, James BUCKLEY, John HOPKINS and Louis HARVEY were chosen to elect a new name. They decided on Shopiere (French words shaux, (sho) meaning “lime” and piere meaning “stone”). 

In 1849 Louis P. HARVEY became postmaster of Shopiere. The Shopiere post office was discontinued in 1919 at which time most of its patrons received their mail out of Clinton. Mr. HARVEY also purchased the general store. That Shopiere General Store building is still in use today as a coffee shop and restaurant. In 1853, as an early member of the Republican Party, HARVEY was elected to the Wisconsin senate. In 1859 he moved to Madison with his wife Cordelia PERRINE HARVEY. In 1861 he was elected Governor of Wisconsin. His term was short-lived. During the early part of the civil war, hearing that Wisconsin troops were badly in need of hospital supplies, he traveled with the supplies he had gathered and a party of surgeons to the battle fields. On April 19, 1862, during the return trip he lost his footing while changing boats, fell into the Tennessee River and drowned. When his body was recovered on May 3, 1862 he was laid to rest in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Madison Wisconsin. His wife Cordelia continued to serve as a war angel by presenting President Abraham LINCOLN a petition with 8,000 signatures seeking his aid in establishing convalescent hospitals in the north to receive sick and wounded Union soldiers from southern battlefields. 

The Louis HARVEY home still exists in Shopiere. Known as the Harvey House, it is recognized by a Wisconsin State Historical Marker. In the lawn of this historic home stands the Corporal Lester BUTLER Shopiere Memorial Clock. Dedicated in 1919 the clock originally stood in the center of the intersection of Shopiere Road and County J but was moved to the current site after it was knocked down by a team of runaway horses coming down Butterfly road killing one of the horses.

Other early names in Shopiere and Waterloo history are Alden Isaac BENNETT, John VANSCOY, James Scott PARKER, Thomas HOLMES, William ANDRE (treasurer of the town of Turtle from 1864-1865, Benjamin, Charles, and A. F. MACK. 

Early businesses in Shopiere included a wool carding business owned by Aaron BRIGGS and William SCHENCK, a millinery shop owned by Mrs. BUNDY, a cooper shop belonging to Mr. Artimus SMITH and a cheese factory built in 1872 or 1873 by Frank PARKER. 

In 1848-1849 a four-story (with basement) flour mill was built by Louis HARVEY, Jacob DOCKSTADER, and Jarad RANDALL at the water-power site of the damn, located on Turtle Creek, in what later became the Sweet Allyn Park. In 1866 George SEARS acquired a half-interest in it and became the sole proprietor in 1873. The dam was removed by order of the DNR in 2000. The Original Shopiere Mill burned and was replaced by the new mill structure that is now a private residence. 

A point of interest to researchers is some of the former street names in the Shopiere: 

• Creek Road was known as Turtle Street. 

• The current section of County Rd J and Butterfly Road that runs North-South through Shopiere was called Bridge Street. 

• The current section of County Rd J and Shopiere Road that runs East- West through Shopiere was called Main Street. 

• BUSS Road was called School Street 

• PETTER Road was called Forest Street 

Northeast of Shopiere was the settlement of Tiffany. That settlement began in 1840 when the CHAMBERLAIN family homesteaded the area. A tavern site became a stagecoach stop. George TIFFANY operated the stage lines out of Milwaukee and also served as deputy postmaster. While Mr. Tiffany acquired land, money and influence he never lived in the village that became his namesake. 

Tiffany was originally called Shopiere Station. On March 6, 1857 a post office was established at the Shopiere station of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway with Mr. Peter SMITH as Postmaster. At some unknown date the post office and station were changed to Tiffany and it remained a post office until 1978 under the direction of the last postmistress Diane TOWNSEND. 

Smith Road Iron Bridge

In 1887 the Milwaukee Bridge and Iron Company built an iron bridge like the one in Turtleville, on SMITH Road east of Tiffany and that historic bridge, known as Smith Road Bridge, it was replaced in 2020.

The Turtle Grange #655 was officially chartered in May 20, 1920 with 63 members. Meetings were held in the Turtle Town Hall or in the homes of members. The first slate of officers elected was Mr. & Mrs. Elmer BARTH, J. Wm. WESTBY, Mrs. Cora PECK, Mrs. Gertrude HIGGINS, Mrs. Frank JOHNSON, Edward ZICKERT, Rev. W. J. DOGAN, S. K. BLODGETT, Mrs. Nellie BLODGETT, Mrs. Floyd BUMSTED, Mrs. Annie HIGGINS, M. A. PECK, Frank JOHNSON, and George HIGGINS. 

The first action taken by the Turtle Grange was the adoption of a resolution which was sent to the Beloit Chamber of Commerce, stating that the organization would “co-operate in anything which would be of benefit to the community.” 

When the Turtle Town Hall burned in 1923 the Grange cooperated in the building of the new town hall. The Grange solicited funds and supplied labor to build a basement with kitchen and dining facilities and the township would build the hall. Many grangers donated work on the hall also. The new hall was dedicated on November 1, 1923. 

Others who have served as officers of Turtle Grange are Edwin DRESSER, J. M HALDERSON, Lyle DANIELS, Charles MAXWORTHY, Fred WALLACE, Albert MARSTON, Edwin SOMMERS, Lester WALLACE, Ray LANG, Milton BUMSTED, Edwin BUMSTED, James GILBANK, Phil HOLMES, Edwin HAHN, Willis WATSON, Berl WILDERMUTH, and Burton BEALS.  

Town of Turtle Volunteer Fire Department

In November 7, 1955 the Turtle Town Board rejected the contract for fire protection from the city of Beloit. A special meeting was arranged to be held at 8:00 PM on November 25, 1955 to discuss the possibility of a Turtle Volunteer Fire Department. Request for the special meeting was filed and the undersigned qualified voters of Turtle Township were Chester GEMPLER, Dan REESE, Wm. J. PRESS, Wayne L. SCOTT, Bertha PRESS, Elsie SCOTT, Ralph G. HOWARD, Frieda HOWARD, Fred KLENZ, Florence CARLSON, Terry SMITH, and Bertha CHAMBERS. 

The first meeting of the original 1955 Turtle Volunteer Fire Department Members took place on December 16th 1955. The volunteer fire department is still active. The current location on the Fire Station is on the corner of Creek Road and County J 

Bradford is situated in the southeast part of the county on its eastern boundary line. 

This town, in the point of production, is surpassed by few, if any, in the county. The greater part of it is prairie, yet the Turtle, a creek passing through the southern part of the town, is skirted by fine burr and white-oak openings; there is also a small grove on the west line of the township, and Emerald Grove, one of the most beautiful groves in the county; the township is well watered. The farms are all under a good state of cultivation. The improvements are first class; evidence of which may be seen by reference to lithographic cuts of many of them in the an atlas.

It was organized for municipal purposes under an act of Legislature, approved Feb. 2, 1846. Previously the south half of the present town was included in Clinton and the north half in Janesville. 

Erastus DEAN was the first settler, in 1836. Other early comers were Andrew McCULLAGH, William C. CHASE, James WINNEGAR, Joseph MAXON, William B. ALDRICH, C. DYKEMAN, William WYMAN, S. S. BLOCKMAN [L. S. BLACKMAN] and Alva BLOCKMAN [BLACKMAN]. 

There were two post offices in this town, Avalon, Emerald Grove and Fairfield. 

Emerald Grove, in the town of Bradford, eight miles east of Janesville, contained in 1856 a post office, a tavern, a church, a blacksmith shop, a store, a grocery, a school-house and fifteen dwellings.  It contains a steam feed mill, the property of Alexander McGREGOR, a general store, a hotel, a Congregational church and a Methodist church and a population of about one hundred. 

The farms are all under a good state of cultivation. The improvements are first class; evidence of which may be seen by reference to lithographic cuts of many of them in an atlas.  

BRADFORD TOWNSHIP OVER FIFTY YEARS AGO 

Recollections of Some of its Early Residents and Farm Conditions 

(From Clinton Banner  - February 21, 1924)

Emerald Grove is situated almost In corner of Bradford township and in a little picturesque hollow at the edge of the prairie we had crossed. There has been practically no change of Appearance in this little hamlet in over 50 years. With the exception of the church property hardly a building has been put up or one torn down. Only the people have changed. Probably not one Inhabitant is there now who lived in the place half a century Ago, and the population has neither Increased nor decreased since that time, 

Just before entering the village we turned off and went over the hill between the town and cemetery. That was the only road out toward the South. Avalon, It’s railroad and highway to the north, came many years. later. 

As we passed the remaining four miles I will speak of the "old settlers” at that time as I came to know them. The Cheeny farm was at the corner where we turned. Mr and Mrs. Russel Cheeney were a fine and distinguished looking old couple. Their countenances fairly became with the true Christian character.they possessed. They were singerily widely known for their talent on their wonderful voices considering their years. Two of their songs, favorites equally with themselves and their audiences, were "The Ninety, And Nine" and "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight. 

The occupant of the next farm at that time is not remembered, but a few years later, Charles H. Stoller was the owner. It was said of him that he wore kid gloves when working in the field and doing chores at the barn: His favorite occupation was dealing in live stock and for years his spirited matched bay roadsters and top carriage was a familiar object passing along the roads. 

Jerome Boynton, the man with a hearty, cheery and almost boisterous greeting for all the wit and life at all gatherings, admired and respected by the community, has but recently passed away. With one exception I think Mr. Boynton the sole survivor of those days. The exception we have in mind is Mr. Andrew Bradt and the time 1863. Some one may take issue in regard to this. If so, we welcome the correction. 

The parents of Mr, Boynton lived on the next farm. They were a very old couple and I only knew them by sight. At the comer where we turned was the James Plantz farm, They had one son Samuel, now President of Lawrence University, Appleton. Sam did not take to farm life.. We were not in the same neighborhood but I knew him quite well.. Off across the field the homo to which I was going was plainly in view from where he lived. Once Sam came to our house canvassing for subscriptions, to a boy's paper. He knew his story wonderfully well. His talent for talking was inherited from his mother. He came on horseback and when he left, either because he was so small or the horse so large he had to have help and so I boosted him on. 

All of the buildings of the Plantz farm were later moved on the hill toward Avalon. Additions and new buildings have made a fine farm home now owned and occupied by Chas. S. Boynton, chairman of the township.. Probably no one who reads these lines remembers Hanford Fowle across the road. Many years later Wm. Gardner and Stephen Scott farms yielded land on which the small but thriving town of Avalon stands. The railroad came through there about 1900.

Between the next corner and where we turned were the Samuel: J. Cuckow, George Chilcott and Levi Davis farms. Cuckow was an Englishman who had been an editor in New York City- kind of like Horace Greeley makeup-a high order of intelligence and a shrewd debater, He couldn't be worsted in an argument. Davis had taught school and probably was one of the first teachers of early times in Bradford. Two brothers, Fred and Veddor, a son Charles and four daughters composed the family then. Marion and Mrs.. Geo. Hubbel, two of them, live in Clinton. 

At the foot of the hill began the farm to which we were moving. The fine from the elevation has often caused me to pause before descending.  Peter D. Wemple choose a good quarter section of land, in fact I doubt if there is better one in the township. The good improvements on the place however are limited to the house built about 1854 of limestone from the Turtle Creek quarries and lumber hauled by teams from Milwaukee. It stands a monument to good masonry. Seventy years  has had little effect on its outward appearance. A long low barn, part of stone, the balance frame extended almost to the road fence. Back of the house was the negro quarters. Mrs. Wemple was a southerner and brought a colored family from Virginia. The slaves were freed and gone when we arrived, and all the old buildings disappeared within the next few years. The present owner Otto Draeger, is excusable if he appears to be overly proud up the place as it is today.

Four board road fences were becoming quite common today when we settled in Bradford. Winter was a season in which the scoop shovel was used more than any other time in the year as the fences made ideal lanes for snow drifts to block the roads. 

However the first fences to be built on the Wemple farm were of a primitive character and almost wholly devoid of cause for road obstruction. These fences were simply a plain ditch about 3 feet wide and 2 or more feet deep, the dirt taken out and piled in the highway close to the ditch. They were pretty effective when newly made but after their usefulness had passed they became obviously a great nuisance. The Wample farm had 3 miles of this “old sod" fencing.

The first wire for fencing that I recall was a smooth heavy wire to which, with a special tool we attached a barbs as needed. Though not as sharp as barbs are now made, the fence was considered a menace to live stock and a narrow steel band was substitute, Neither kind met with much favor and both were soon superseded by the present day patterns. About this time live fences came into vogue with much enthusiast and years later regret became even more enthusiastic. One style of live fence was the tall straight picturesque populars. A few of these trees are still to be seen.. They have the habit of  shedding small dry limbs when the wind blows as a porcupine is said to sled it quills, much to the detriment of tilling the field crops alongside. To gather them up was A tedious task as, L. M. Larson of this village can testify. It was his first job upon landing in this country and before he had acquired a word of English if I remember correctly.

(F. H. Helmer 1924) 

SOME WILD GAME IN BRADFORD 50 YEARS AGO 

Fear of Man Had Not Become Maked In Those Early Days

(March 6, 1924) 

The year the school house burned down proved to be an open winter. Such roads as we then had, on account of the mud, would now be termed "impassable." Farmers worked out their poll and highway tax by plowing a few furrows and scraping the loose earth into the middle of the road; and some times plowing up the road bed itself. Gravel or crushed rock for roads were unknown.

My sister Grace was taken desperately ill in the middle of  February. It is because of her sickness that I recollect distinctly  the highway conditions at that time. Dr. Dixon lived at Allen Grove, a distance of nine miles. To make the trip one must start as soon as the chores were done in the morning and it would be chore time at night when team and driver  returned. Once it was necessary to go to Janesville. Our neighbor Volney Winegar, volunteered. With our best span of horses he set out in early afternoon, and it was after midnight when he returned, having made a strenuous post haste trip. 

No sorrow since then has seemed: quite the same as that which I experience in the loss of my sister. About a week later the spring term of school began in Clinton and I became one of the pupils. It was an cvent I dreaded. I didn't want to go among strangers nor did I want my knowledge tested with an exam by a heartless and exacting principal as I thought he must be. 

There was, however, one consolation. On those daily horseback journeys of four miles each way. I had for a companion neighbor lad, James Winegar. He was of a different temperament and not at all sensitive. No ordinary "quying" at school would hurt his feelings and he way quick witted enough to beat the offender at his own game. 

In those early days in Bradford I looked upon the wild game in fields and woods as much a part of nature as the wind that turned my crude weather vanes or the water that moved between the banks of Turtle Creek. The thought that the abundance of prairie chickens, wild ducks, wild geese, quails, partridges, and the now extinct passenger pigeon would become less in numbers would disappear altogether never once entered my mind.

The fall I was eleven years old I plowed 100 acres. I drove a three horse team and sulky plow, one of the first riding plows to come into use. The wheel, plow beam and frame were made of wood. To raise the plow from the ground I turned a four arm windlass.

Some who red these lines may remember that old “Skinner Plow.” My success at that work was recognized and I spent a large portion of my summer vacation and also Saturdays, during the spring and fall terms of school, in the field. I had a good opportunity to study the habits of the game so abundant then - During the migrating season of the  passenger pigeon I have counted as many as thirty large flocks in the sky at one time. There was no hour during the day that flocks were not in sight The catching of pigeons for market with nets was fully described in the Banner recently by Mr. E. R. Inman of Franklin, Pa., and I can add nothing to it at this time except to voice the universal regret that this beautiful and useful bird should perish completely from the earth. 

Following the term of school mentioned I was adjudged old enough to carry a gun. No boy was ever more proud and in this I was quite justified since breach loaders were not common then. Most guns then in use old army muskets bored out for shot-anything but convenient or safe for a lad to use. 

The game I have spoken of "wild." That was hardly a correct description. Fear of man had not then become a characteristic of the feathered tribe to any extent

A covey of quail, instead of flushing as the hunter approached would do little more than keep out from under your feet. I once secured a dozen at one shot. Partridges would often remain on the low limbs of a tree until two or three shots had been fired and pigeons that had lighted in a tall tree would watch inquisitively as you walked beneath. If there was a flock of prairie chickens in the field you'd be pretty certain to get one or two from the top of fence posts or corn shocks. Sometimes a field would seem literally covered with wild ducks during the spring or fall migrations. Creeping for a distance in the shelter of a sod fence to a suitable range would four or five fine birds. I knew nothing about wing shooting so depended on stationary targets. In passing of feathered game in Bradford I think I missed most of the “boom boom” of the prairie chickens as they strutted back and forth in the field behind our house. Sometimes I was even close enough to see that odd performance then their wing tips scraped the ground, their throats swelled out and turned to orange and they told that peculiar sound which, tho near, seemed to have come from a long distance. Every clear morning at sun rise during the early spring days when the air was sharp and the frost lay white on the plowed furrows and stubbled fields I would pause in the path toward the barn charmed by the music of the many feathered  orchestras, some plainly heard, others, far away and faint, and I'd think how beautiful the world seemed. I was never that fortunate to witness the drumming' of a partridge on a log but the woods in those times were alive with those mysterious and enchanting sounds. Ideal forest conditions are still to be found in Bradford and had it not been  for a ruthless extermination, the motorists on the roads to Carvers Rocks would doubtless have frequent glimpses in mid-summer of half-grown broods or later in autumn the whirr of swift wings.

Those were the days when the trapper and the wolf hunter enjoyed good sport in Bradford. Separated by nearly a mile in distance lay an 80 acre tract of land belonging to the home farm.  It was mostly covered with timber except for a slough that ran across it and a large clearing at the entrance. My daily job for number of years in summer time was to drive the milch [milk] cows to this pasture lot and when seeking them in the woods to drive then home for the night milking. I had the most vivid recollection of the pack of nine wolves that I and my father encountered in that lot the winter we moved into the township. They did not seem to fear us but when we approached quite near the team they turned and went into the timber. My fears that I might meet with members of the pack when looking for cows was never justified. It was thru that wood lot that I took a short cut to Carvers Rocks to get a horse shod at the old stone blacksmith shop still to be seen. Levi Carver, the man at the forge, was one of the earliest pioneers. He was a great talker and I enjoyed the visits to his shop. Jessie Pramer was the miller at Carvers Rocks, another interesting personality of those days. The old mill stood close to the bluff on which number of Clinton's residents have built summer homes. On the road to the wood lot and Carvers Rocky I passed the home of Joseph McMichael, another pioneer whose narratives of his earliest experiences in this section of the country held me spellbound for hours, when he came to our house to spend the evening as he frequently did. 

Hardly a more picturesque or eccentric character could be found among the early settlers of Bradford then Willim Wyman. He was a ship builder by trade and the Turtle creek farm on which he located is conspicuous for the fine buildings he erected. The large stone barn bears an early date--I think 1853. The brick mansion was built about fifteen years later. Mr. Wyman met with some reverses in his plans which did not improve his temper. The main highway past his home. About the year In moved to Bradford the bridge over the  Turtle Creek was carried out by ice and high water. The bridge was not rebuilt and the supervisors of Bradford "took up” the road. Travel to Clinton from our part of the township was obliged to ford the creek by going east as far as Willian Voelz's place. Mr. Wyman bitterly opposed the laying out of the road on his farm where it la now located. He also opposed the laying out of the road that goes past Archie Wait's place and set out an orchard as it was understood by some to be the law that a road could not be laid through an orchard or  grave yard. One of his latest enterprises that proved to big financial failure was the erection of hotel Clinton, a three story brick building. This did not prove a lasting monument to his name as he had predicted when he said “Here I will leave my mark.” 

However Mr. Wyman possessed a somewhat kindly disposition beneath a gruff and obstinate exterior. He would trat you kind and be accommodating if your approached him exactly right. 

The Wyman farm with others along both sides of Turtle Creek as far as Carvers Rocks to the East where perhaps the ones in Bradford to undergo the most change as a result of cutting off the timber and clearing up the land. On our old timber lot scarcely tree is left standing. The Thor Thompson farm was carved from a forest. There was not a single house between Carvers Rocks and VanTassel corners to the west. From those corners of the north side of the road to the building on the Robert Finster farm was dense forest. Other changes in Bradford could be noted but they are not so marked as along the township waterway. Turtle Creek itself is unchanged. It was the same fifty-years ago, it will probably be the same from now.   (F. R, HELMER, 1924)

From: History of Rock County and Transactions of the Rock County Agricultural Society and Mechanics' Institute

Edited and compiled by Orrin Guernsey and Josiah F. Willard

Published by the Rock County Agricultural Society & Mechanics' Institute

©1856 Wm. M. Doty and Brother, Printers, Janesville, Wis. p. 91-94

LA PRAIRIE, is town 2 range 13 east. This town is almost entirely open, unbroken 

La Prairie; Its euphonious name is at the same time very significant. It is from the French, and simply means "the meadow," or "the pasture." It is southeast from the city of Janesville, on which it corners, a small portion of which was severed by the corporation act, to help constitute the city. The early settlers in this county, although they thought highly of prairie lands, carefully avoided the middle portions of Rock prairie, because of the great lack of wood and water; but subsequently, public opinion changed in that matter, and now La Prairie contains some of the largest and most successful farmers in the county. 

The population of this town in 1850 was 378; in 1855, 602. It has nine school districts and five school houses. The present number of scholars is 198, and received the present year from the State School Fund, $152.14. 

Number of farms, 79. The following communication from J. P. WHEELER, Esq., gives a brief, but very comprehensive view of the town. 

LA PRAIRIE, so named, at the suggestion of S. Porter WHEELER, by the inhabitants of town 2, range 13, convened for the purpose of petitioning the legislature, then in session, to pass a law organizing the south of Harmony and the north part of Turtle as a legal town. The law was passed, and approved March 26th, 1849, by Gov. Dewey, making it the duty of the electors of said town to hold their first town meeting at the house of Justus P. WHEELER. The first town meeting was held at the place appointed, on the 3d day of April, 1849. By a vote of a majority of the electors of the town, the meeting for 1850, and the election for 1849 and 1850 was held at the house of Mr. Samuel L. HALSTEAD, on the east line of the northwest quarter of section 15. From thence removed to the house of Freeman HITCHCOCK, on the west line of section 28, and is for the present held at the house of Hiram FINCH, on the east line of the northeast quarter of section 14. The whole number of votes cast at the first meeting, was 56. The names of the town officers elected, were Justus P. WHEELER, Henry CHEESEBRO and James CHAMBERLAIN for Supervisors. Guy WHEELER, Town Clerk; Charles C. CHENEY, Town Treasurer, and Levi ST. JOHN, Assessor. 

The number of inhabitants, as by United States census for 1850, was 335. The first State tax was $300.37. County tax, $339.16. School tax, $361. Town tax, $290. The population of the town, as by State census for 1855, was 602. The whole number of votes cast, April, 1855, 78. The State tax, $666.88; County tax, $1,234.98. School tax, $305.83; Town tax, $320. The assessed valuation of the town for 1850, was $66,830. The assessment for 1855, $194,061. 

The town is a rolling prairie, of deep soil, with an underlay of sand and gravel in the west and northwest part. There is plenty of lime rock in the bluffs of the central and eastern part of the town. The only surface water we can boast of, is Turtle creek, which rises in Walworth county, watering and fertilizing the town of Bradford from side to side - enters the town on the east line of section 26 and passes out on the south line of 35, into the town of Turtle. Running within the limits of this town less than two miles, it passes through the town of Turtle nearly from corner to corner, and falls into Rock river near the State line at Beloit. This stream rose during the night of June, 1851, 10 or 12 feet above its usual level, carrying off mill dams, bridges, fences, sheep, hogs and other property, to aq great amount. The water was the highest about day light, reaching as high as Mr. Clark W. LAWRENCE's house above the window stools. 

The only timber now standing in town, is on sections 5, 6, 35 and 36, amounting to less than a quarter section. The inhabitants are supplied with good water, in great abundance, by digging wells from 15 to 85 feet deep; and wood, by hauling it from the neighboring towns, a distance of from 3 to ten miles. The mail route from Racine and Chicago, passes through this town. The Chicago, Fond du Lac & St. Paul R.R. enters the town on the south line of section 35, and passes out on the west line of the southwest quarter of section 7. Some of the early settlers of this county made their first "pitch" in this town. Samuel ST. JOHN and family were among the first who made a permanent settlement on the Rock river. He wintered with the first 7 or 8 who built the log shanty on the east side of the river, at the rapids. His was the first claim made in town. He and his brother, Levi ST. JOHN, claimed and entered at the land sale at Milwaukee, the whole of section 6. He built a good log house on the west half of the section, now standing within the chartered limits of the city of Janesville. William MERTROM, about the same time, made a claim on section 5, and built a log house, which Nehemiah ST. JOHN, purchased and occupied for several years. Nathan ALLYNE, in 1835 or '36, made a claim on section 35, broke several acres, put in and raised crops without fence, except dogs. Lucius BURNHAM made a claim on section 36, in the spring of 1837, and made his first improvement in 1838, built the first frame barn, now standing in this town. Clark W. LAWRENCE came into this country with his father and family, Mr. William LAWRENCE of Beloit, in 1836, made a claim on section 36, and built the first frame house. Mr. WATERMAN, Julius CHAMBERLAIN and L. B. ALLYNE located on section 35, in 1837 or 1838. 

These early settlers, although located in a beautiful prairie country, where wheel carriages could be driven in almost all directions, had many hardships to endure. They were charmed with the country. When they found the unclaimed placed that suited, they pitched their tent, and built their shanty, not reflecting that it was seven days' journey to the nearest place where provisions could be obtained. Poor flour and rusty pork were great luxuries, at $30 and $40 per barrel, transported with ox teams from Chicago, Ottawa, Galena or Milwaukee, over the prairie, without places of entertainment, or bridges to cross the streams; having to cook their provisions, camping on the ground , under the wagon; frequently seven days on the road between this place and the nearest point where they could get supplies. Potatoes and other sauce could not be got at any price for seed. Rutabagas stood high in the market. After the mill was built at Beloit, and grinding done without bolting, many of the inhabitants lived on buckwheat cakes, with such games as they could catch. Their hardships were small during warm weather, to what they were in the winter, when streams had to be forded, or the family suffer for want of provisions, at home. After the land sale at Milwaukee, the settlement of the town remained stationary for several years. - The town being all prairie, with a small quantity of timber in the northwest and southeast corners of it, other towns in the county filled up rapidly with settlers, while La Prairie remained stationary with but one school house, located on section 36, built by Mr. James CHAMBERLAIN. Justus P. WHEELER made his purchase in the fall of 1840. Eliakim THATCHER, in 1843. A man by the name of HOCUM made a claim on section 3; afterwards sold to Mr. COVIL. Charles C. CHENEY, Henry CHESEBRO, William LOYD, Adelmorn SHERMAN and Ephraim LEACH, Jr., made their purchases in the years 1844 and 1845. Almerin SHERMAN, Pete SHUFELT James I. HOYT, William G. EASTERLY and Mr. FORD, in 1846. Jefferson SINCLAIR made his large purchase on the prairie, and William READ made improvement on it about the same time. Ralph W. SCHENCK, William SCHENCK and William H. STARK came into twon soon after SINCLAIR made his purchase. 

The second school house built, stands on town line road, on section 32. The third is located near the corner of sections 1, 2, 11 and 12. The fourth is near the corner of sections 13, 14, 23 and 34. The fifth, is now building, near the quarter stake, on the east line of section 5. We have no other public buildings; no store, grocery, or tavern. In fact we have to go to the neighboring towns for wood, lumber, all kinds of merchandise, and mechanism of every kind. For many years we have had but one mechanic in town - Mr. James CHAMBERLAIN. He built the court house at Janesville and the first bridge across the Rock river in this county. It was a toll bridge, built for Mr. Charles STEVENS and others, on Milwaukee street, where the new bridge now stands, in the city. He also built the first bridge at Beloit, and the bridge at Rockton. 

The progress of this town has been slow in comparison with other towns in the county. Almost all its inhabitants are farmers. No lawyers, or pettifoggers, and but one man who bears the title of Doctor, and he is one of our largest farmers. The Rev. Mr. CURTISS, the Congregational minister at Emerald Grove, resides within the limits of La Prairie; so that we can say, that we have one minister of the gospel. 

•   Yours, &c., 

• J. P. WHEELER. 

COL. O. GUERNSEY, 

Corresponding Secretary