Far out amid the white-capped waves of Lake Michigan lies Washington
Island. Its nearest point is about twenty-five miles from the mainland of Northern Michigan, while the tip end of the Door Countv peninsula comes up within ten miles on the south. North, east and south lie a number of islands, constituting "the islands of Green Bay" and known as a dangerous zone of navigation ever since the first sailing vessel that plowed the waters of the great lakes-the Griffin of the famous explorer La Salle-was wrecked there in the year 1679.
Washington Island is about six miles square and has a shoreline of twenty-six miles. On the north and west sides the shores are high and precipitous, particularly at the northwestern extremity, where Bowyer's Bluff towers its limestone ledge imposingly to the height of almost 200 feet from the water's edge.
These
cliff's are seamed with cares and fissures,
and carved into fantastic figures by the storms
of bygone ages, but now the clinging cedars
are weaving a drapery of green for their rugged
sides. The south and east sides, on the contrary,
are mostly low and sandy with a shallow water
front. On the north side is Washington harbor,
a bay which extends into the island about a
mile and a half, surrounded by sloping timbered
hills.
On
the south, too, is a big indentation, known
as Detroit Harbor, which is made a landlocked
anchorage by the long Detroit Island, which
lies across its mouth. The water here is, however,
too shallow except for vessels of light draft.
Around the shores of this beautiful harbor the clearings come down to the water's edge and the shore is dotted with substantial summer hotels, cottages and farm buildings. But the traveler on the big passenger boats sees none of these. He passes the island on the west, north or east and sees only frowning shores crowned with the primeval woods- apparently the guardians of Nature's undisturbed solitude.
Residents of the interior parts of the state, knowing Washington Island only from the little spot it occupies on the map, have even a smaller conception of what it contains. To them Washington Island is only a storm-beaten rock in the sea, far removed from every human activity. They do not dream that this little island is throbbing with the multitudinous interests of one of the most progressive communities in Wisconsin.
It
has a population of almost a thousand people,
mostly engaged in farming by the most up-to-date
methods. As a potato growing
center it ranks high, exporting about 40,000
bushels annually, besides a quantity of grains
and fruits. Its farmhouses are of such superior
construction as to compare favorably with those
of most townships in the state. It has three
churches and four schools and one of the best co-operative telephone systems in America.
This
is connected by a cable on the sea bottom with
the mainland so that practically every farmer
on Washington Island can talk with Chicago or
Minneapolis from his own home. Although the
roads are fair, the islanders are voting substantial
appropriations for macadamizing them and the
island will therefore shortly have one of
the best paved road systems in the state. All in all, Washington Island is a place of great natural beauty, fertility, industry and progress.
Washington
Island, as has been told in another chapter,
was a favorite place of abode for the Indians.
Nowhere else in the state are to be found
so many village sites, cemeteries, mounds and
cornfields as here. There is here such a wealth
of Indian remains that as one archaeologist
says, "there is little left to desire." The
entire shoreline around Detroit Harbor shows
remains of village sites. So also do the
shores of Little Lake and Jackson Harbor.
Even
at this late date a very well defined Indian
cornfield can be seen in the grove of timber
adjoining the Washington Harbor School on the
north. Judging by the amount of Indian remains
Washington Island was the most favored region
in the western country.
The first permanent settlement of white people in Door County, as has been told, was on Rock Island. About 1850 many moved away from there, particularly those who had children, as those were growing up “without knowing the difference between a cow and a horse." Such supposed necessities of civilization and a hundred others were not to be found on little Rock Island. They therefore moved over to Washington Island, where there was abundant room for other activities besides fishing.
Before this immigration to Washington Island began there were two or three attempts at settlement which must be briefly recorded.
In the spring of 1834 two young fishermen came to Detroit Island, felled some cedar trees, and built themselves a substantial home. This was about fifteen or twenty rods south of the northwest point of Detroit Island and was the first white man's habitation within the present limits of Door and Kewaunee counties. For a year they lived pleasantly in their new home, busy with their hunting and fishing.
Not
far from there was a large Indian village, temporarily
deserted bv its migratory owners. In the summer of
1835, when the Indians returned and found some white
men settled in one of their old cornfields and cemeteries,
war broke out at once.
The Indians were armed with smooth-bore rifles and bows and arrows, and when it got dark they opened a fusillade of shot against the cabin. This caused no damage as the logs were thick. The one window in the cabin was protected by a heavy plank shutter. After some time one of the men in the cabin got up to peer through the cracks in this plank shield. This was discovered and he was killed by a volley of bullets.
During the night the other man kept up a vigilant fight and as he was a good shot he picked off a number of the redskins. When light came the Indians saw a government vessel sailing close by. They hastily withdrew to Washington Island with their dead and wounded. The lone survivor, overcome by fatigue and fighting, managed to hail the boat and was taken on board.
This boat was on its way to the Government Bluff near Sturgeon Bay to get stone to improve the Chicago River front near Fort Dearborn. When they finally arrived there the story of the rescue of the beleaguered fisherman was told in the presence, among others, of F. H. and T. T. Miner. The latter, about ten years later, became a resident of Door County and to these men we are indebted for the story.
A few years later two other fishermen came to Washington Harbor to make their homes. We know the names of these men because they were among the first men to enter lands within Door County John J. Robertson entered lot 5, section 25, town 34,range 29, 22 acres; January 7, 1839; and John Ball entered lots 2, 3 and 4 in the same section May 23, 1840.
Both
of these entries were on the south and east
shore of Washington Island. They antedate the
Rock Island entries, the next in time, by four
or five years.
I have been unable to learn anymore about these men. Very likely they, too, were driven off by the Indians, or, still more probable, suffered an untimely death at the hands of the redskins-martyrs to the cause of that army of pioneers which was soon to follow.
In 1848 this first vanguard of the approaching civilization arrived. These were Jonathan Roe, Henry Gardner, Amos Saunders, Henry D. Miner and Sapoleon Stem. The same year the first marriage in the county was solemnized by Henry D. Miner, who, in the capacity of an exhorter, undertook to unite Elizabeth Roe and Henry Gardner in matrimonial bonds.
The
next year or two they were joined by James Cornell,
Jonathan Herrick, Josiah Temple, Joseph Smith,
John Munger and Richard Mapson- all good Yankees
from Illinois, who had spent some time on Rock
Island and St. Martin's Island.
There was also Dr. William Ellis, who at this very early date aspired to minister to the physical needs of the little community. He evidently was quite a hustler, as it is told of him that he once skated from Washington Island to Green Bay- ninety miles- in one day.
In spite of his hustling he found the locality too healthy for a physician, and after some years he moved west. In fact, according to reliable testimony, obstetrics was the only department of therapeutics for which there was any demand. In this field there was quite a lively business, as might be illustrated by the growth of James Cornell's family.
He
had ten children- Joseph, Thomas, Elizabeth
(Root), Jane (Anderson), Mary Ann (Boice) ,
Margareth (Cady), Euretta (Wellman), James,
John and William-who all grew up and had good
sized families. With their grandchildren and
great-grandchildren they now number more than
two hundred.
Of other fishermen who came in during the early '30s can be mentioned Volney S. Garrett, Pat and Dennis McDonald, John Beam, Robert McBride, Wm. J. Nolan, John Kenwood, Richard Whaling, Sam Graham, Joel Westbrook, Chauncey Haskell. David Hains, and William and Jacob Stall.
To many readers the enumeration of these names may mean little, but they recall long chapters of forgotten events to the old time survivors of these days. Many of these that have been mentioned have passed completely out of sight while the descendants of others
have risen to positions of eminence in the county and state.
It
is the historian's duty, however, to impartially
make record of all the pathfinders of those
early days and not by discriminating selection
flatter the vanity of the present-day survivors.
Washington
Island with the adjacent islands were organized into a
municipality, or town, June 20, 1850. This was a year
or two before Door
County was organized. The first town meeting was held at the house of H. D. Miner on Rock Island. Capt. Amos Saunders was elected the first chairman, H. D. Miner clerk and John A. Boone justice of the peace.
These were the first public officials within what is now Door County. Captain Amos Saunders , the first chairman of the county, came to Wisconsin in 1839. For many years he owned a vessel, of which he also was captain, which sailed between Chicago and Buffalo. In 1848 he settled at Washington Harbor, where he built a pier and supplied the Buffalo boats with cordwood for fuel. He was also the first wholesale fish buyer.
For
a time he owned all the land around Washington
Harbor- about six hundred acres- and did a large
and profitable business. In the early 50s he
sold all his Washington Island interests to
a man by the name of James M. Craw and moved
West.
James
M. Craw, the new leader of Washington Island, was
one of the most remarkable men who have settled in
Door County. He was a business man of many interests
who with his son Marsden came from Cleveland, Ohio
in 1831. He is reported to have been "upwards
of ninety years old" when he came but this great
age did not prevent him from undertaking several large
enterprises with great energy and enthusiasm.
He
bought at least a thousand acres of land, mostly
shore property, for which lie paid several thousand
dollars. Most of these entries are dated between
May 1 and November 1, 1853. He equipped several
fishing crews to fish for him, started lumbering,
and built a mill. He built a commodious dwelling
house the same pear, which is still standing
and is now the oldest house in the county. It
is known as "the white house," and
stands on the west side of Washington Harbor.
Near
the house he also erected a barn which must have
been a big one as it is reported to have cost more
than three thousand dollars. From the very meager
glimpses we have of this energetic old gentleman
it is evident that he was a most interesting personality.
But because he was of a different type from those
around him it seems that misunderstandings caused
him many enemies.
There was an oldish man living a little distance from Craw. His name was Joel Westbrook. His wife, Lucinda, is remembered as “one of the most respected women that ever lived on the island," but there is an equal unanimity of opinion that crafty old Joe was a worthless mischief. He used to stay around the Craw house a great deal, but as he spent his time there in fomenting trouble and playing mischievous and silly jokes, Mr. Craw finally forbade him the house. This enraged Westbrook greatly and he vowed vengeance.
During the summer of 1852 Westbrook cut five or six tons of hay on state lands on the island. He then went outside and bought some oxen, intending to haul logs the coming winter. During his absence the Craws, who had lands in that vicinity, hauled away the
hay and put it into their barn.
Westbrook
on his return demanded payment but a quarrel
only resulted. It is told that shortly after
dark one evening in March, 1853, he returned
to the barn, and emptied a bottle of kerosene
on the hay and set fire to it. Just at that
moment he was startled by the bark of an approaching
dog and hurriedly ran off, leaving his mittens which he had laid down while lighting the fire.
The
barn blazed up a roaring furnace of flames but
not before the mittens were discovered. As Westbrook
had made threats, a party of men at once started
in pursuit. Soon a scarf was picked up which
had dropped
from his pocket during his flight, and before
he reached his cabin Westbrook himself was overhauled.
He was brought back to the place of his crime
amid great escitement.
Cries
of "throw him into the fire!" sounded on all sides. Finally the more temperate men present succeeded in quieting the crowd and Westbrook was taken away under strong guard. He was committed to the Brown County jail where he lay for eight months until his trial came off. He was defended by two very able lawyers and the jury disagreed. A strong public feeling was in the meantime worked up in his behalf, urging that he had great provocation and had been punished enough.
He
was then discharged. The loss of Craw & Son
was placed at between three
thousand six hundred and four thousand dollars.
Shortly after this J. M. Craw returned to Ohio,
presumably disgusted with the western sense of justice.
When Mr. Craw returned to Cleveland, Ohio, his principal business interests on Washington Island were bought up by the brothers W. H. and Delbert Ranney. They also came from Cleveland, Ohio. As the steamboats plying between Buffalo and Chicago stopped here once or twice a week there was a lively exchange of commodities.
At
Ranney's could be obtained anything from a paper
of pins to a fully equipped fishing smack involving
a deal of a thousand dollars or more. There
was little or no use for notes and receipts.
When the fishermen needed anything they went
to Ranneys and got it, and when they had a little
money to spare they commonly deposited with
him as a banking house. Both parties had the
utmost confidence in each other. Later when
tlie farmers began to carve out their little
clearings of the forest the Ranneys just as
readily extended to them the same easy credit.
These
later accounts were sometimes unprofitable because
of the slow pay, but reckoned by the esteem
the Ranneys gained for their kindness and generosity
toward the struggling farmers they were the
best investments the Ranneys have made.
About the time of the Civil War came Godfrey Kalmbach, Thomas and Timothy Coffey, Joe Lobdell, Chas. Johnson, Christian Jacobson, , Jacob Young, Levi Vorous, D. H. Rice and C. G. Lathrop. Joe Lobdell had been a member of the famous Mormon colony under King John Strang on Beaver Island. Most of the men mentioned above later became well known men in the county. D. H. Rice for several years represented the Town of Washington on the county board in the early '60s. Lathrop was also chairman of this town about 1870.
Over at West Harbor at "Bullock's Point" where later Freyburg's mill was located, there was in the earliest '50s quite a little settlement of negro fishermen. Of these are remembered two brothers by the name of Bullock, two brothers by the name of Woodruff, and others. Wm C. Betts, Gullickson and other old-timers had merry recollections when they recalled how "old Woodruff, who was a black as coal", used to boast that he was the "first white man on Menominee River."
The
chief man among these negroes was an old darkey
by the name of Bennett. He did not personally
fish but hired others to do it for him. He was
an expert boat builder when not too much occupied
with religious musings. He loved best to deliver
monologues on spiritualistic manifestations,
the gift of the foundations of the New Jerusalem
and similar sublimities. Frequently he would
be roused to great religious fervor by the wickedness
which he thought abounded around him and go
out and hold revival meetings.
He
is worthy of particular mention in this respect
as being the first man known to have conducted
public religious services in Door County. In
this endeavor he was not very successful. He
was more popular a person who possessed the
glamour of historical importance. It is reported
that he had stood at Commodore Perry's side
(as his cabin boy) during the battle at Put-in-Bay,
September 10, 1813, and accompanied
the commodore when he passed from the Lawrence
to the Niagara.
The
famous picture of the Battle of Lake Erie shows
a young darkey in the boat with Commodore Perry.
This was Bennett of Washington Island. He died
there in 1834.
When Bennett, the colored prophet, died his work was taken up by a white evangelist, a Baptist minister by the name of Wm. B. Hamblin. He seems to have been a most effective revivalist, obtaining numerous conversions, especially among the more hardened sinners. These revivals were wound up by a wholesale immersion down at Washington Harbor.
Among
the spectators of the solemn ceremony was also
a young scapegrace by the name of Mortimer Wellman.
Seeing so many of his old cronies from the card
table and whiskey jug among the proselytes,
he thought to have a little fun with them.
In the midst of the ceremony he was seen to suddenly topple backward with outstretched arms and with a scream of distress fall into the water. Instantly the baptismal ceremony was in confusion and uproar. Forgetting their white robes of baptism, the shepherd and his entire flock rushed to the rescue.
Some
began frantically to push out an old yawl boat
that lay on the beach, while others seized whatever
was loose and threw it to the gasping man in
the water. Finally two or three of the more
daring proselytes at the risk of their own lives
jumped in to save him. At this moment, however,
he let out a ringing ha-ha, turned a sommersault
in the water and swam off like an eel. It took
some time before the newly converted were able to
restrain the profanity which long habits prompted
them to utter.
This
Mortimer Wellman was one of a quartette of boys,
all of about seventeen years of age, who had
run away from their homes in Illinois and come
to Washington Island in 1832. The other three
were Volney Garrett, Geo. Roberts and Sam Runyon.
Garrett became a well known resident of Door
County but Roberts and Runyon did not live long.
One
day in March, 1855, they had come from St. Martin's
Island to Craw's store to get the mail and a
keg of Craw's wig-wam whiskey from Ohio. A heavy
snow storm was blowing and they never returned
to St. Martin's Island. A few days later they were
found frozen stiff on the ice with the keg of
whiskey between them.
At that time there were twelve or fourteen families on St. Martin's Island, who obtained their mail and many necessities by way of Washington Island. They were separated from the Washington Island colony by a twelve-mile strait over which it was exceedingly dangerous to pass in wintertime. The same winter that Roberts and Runyon perished a number of young fellows from St. Martin's had narrow escapes from drowning in passing over the ice.
The
older people therefore hired Henry D. Miner
to bring them the mail, for which he was to
receive 25 cents per letter or paper. One hardy
old grandmother on St. Martin's expressed great
disgust at their apparent cowardice, whereupon
they defended themselves by claiming that Miner
could walk on the water. At this she soundly
berated them and drove them from the house.
The following spring the ice thawed suddenly and left several inches of water on the ice. One day the men looked out and saw Miner come splashing through the water. A hurry call was sent for the old granny who was sitting outside in the warm spring sun sunning herself. They pointed out to her Miner walking on the water.
She
looked and rubbed her eyes. Finally she declared
with the greatest conviction that if anyone
had told her that
such
a miracle could happen she would never have
believed it but she could not disbelieve her
own eyes. There was Miner, sure enough, walking
at ease on the water!
The
conspirators met Mr. Miner and adjured him not
to make explanations. If he did they would surely
tar and feather him and ride him on a rail!
There was in Washington Island a hearty appreciation of a joke, no matter how crude. They were not squeamish about a laugh, or the cause of it, no matter if it savored a little of vulgarity. Yet in spite of this rollicking sense of humor, which is the best proof of the superabundant physical health of the community, there was an undercurrent of sadness in the life of the island.
That
big rolling sea that surrounded them and fed
them was also a grim taker of tolls. Scarcely
a family on the island but mourned one or more
of its members that had perished in its tricky
depths. Sudden storms are common around the
island, and often the greatest care was in vain,
and a widow with her little ones were left to
stare disconsolately out yonder where papa had
gone and never returned.
More often, however, these frequent tragedies were caused by the general love for strong drink. There was a boat builder by the name of Rill Stahl. His boats were clippers to sail but they soon got a very bad reputation for killing fishemen. A Stall boat and a bottle of whiskey was a combination which was soon looked upon as a sure end.
Among
the many who came to their end by means of a
Stahl boat and a bottle of whiskey are remembered
Peter Bridegroom, Robert Kennedy, James Love,
Frank Wolf, Ed Weaver and a fellow by the name
of Casper. Many others had narrow escapes.
THE COMING OF THE FARMERS
During the first thirty years after Robertson and Ball had erected their Fishing shacks at Washington Harbor no farming to speak of was attempted. Some of the fishermen had a patch of potatoes back in the woods where they by using abundant fish offal for fertilizing produced amazing crops.
William
Nolen, for instance, one year in the latter
'50s, produced almost a thousand bushels of
potatoes on his field in section 30, long afterwards
known as Nolen's field. There was also a man
by the name of Smith, "with a harelip",who
grew cabbages for the fishermen. This was on the
farm now said to be owned by Carl Koyen.
But this was all until the Danes came. Back in the woods the axe of an occasional wood chopper or lumberman was heard, but these were transient visitors of no account. The fishermen lined the shore and reigned supreme.
These hardy pioneers of the deep for many years constituted a sort of a fisherman aristocracy who looked with pity upon the poor devils who later came in as wood choppers and farmers. They esteemed the land as of little or no value except to supply the few "taters" they needed to mix with their finny diet. Their thoughts and plans were of the sea, and its vagaries were a constant subject of conversation with them.
The reader may think that life on the island in those days was of necessity a lonesome and beggarly existence. This, however, is far from true. On the contrary, it was if anything too extravagant and hilarious. The waters of Washington Island have always been the best fishing grounds in the Great Lakes and amazing catches of fish were frequent.
While
few records have been kept, some authentic cases
may be cited as illustrations. In the spring
of 1860 Joseph Cornell caught a seventy-pound
trout off Rock Island. In 1862 William Cornell,
a fourteen-year-old boy, caught seven trout,
the smallest weighing forty, the largest forty-eight,
pounds. In the spring of 1882 two trout were
caught on Fisherman's Shoal weighing fifty eight
and sixty-five pounds. They were not infrequently
just as numerous as they were large. In 1869
Godfrey Nelson caught two hundred and twenty
trout in two days.
In
the winter of 1875 Charley Sloop caught one
hundred and twenty in one day and one hundred
and forty in the next. Sometimes it required
perseverance but the results were usually satisfactory,
as was the case with Silas Wright, who fished
for eleven days without a bite and then caught
three boat loads on the twelfth. These are all
authentic catches.
With
such generous returns for the labor expended
there was the usual extravagance that goes with
easy money. To make up for the restrictions
in life and diet imposed upon them by their
surroundings the fishermen were lavish in their
expenditures whenever an opportunity presented
itself. A dollar was a very small coin in those days. Canned goods, fancy toys, laces and costly furnishings were imported in reckless quantities.
Ranney,
their easy-going merchant and fishbuyer, was
also their banker and handed out liberal quantities
of cash without any formality of notes and securities.
Nor was there any lack of merrymaking. As most
of the fishermen kept a number of girls to help
them in overhauling and ''taking up" the nets-hanging them on reels to dry- a "shin dig" or
dance was arranged at a moment's notice. On
special holidays, like the Fourth of July, there
was particularly much boisterous celebration.
A
schooner or tug would be hired to take a large
crowd to Escanaba for grand doings. Another
crowd would secure a rival boat, whereupon there
would be a great race with immense shouting
and laughter. On such occasions drunkeness was,
of course, common, and fights would start and
end in two seconds.
The
year 1868 marks the change from a fishing to
a farming community on the island. This was
brought about by the Danes. In the fall of 1867
a young Dane by the name of Mellemberg, who
had been spending a busy season as assistant
to a fisherman at Harbor, decided to go to Chicago
for the winter to "have a good
time." In the Windy City he stopped at
the boarding house of one H. P. Anderson.
This
was the center for a small colony of countrymen
of his who had just arrived in the land of promise
and were eking out a precarious existence by
doing odd jobs. They were lamenting the difficulties
of getting
a start in a strange land whose language they did
not understand. But Mellenberg assured them fluently:
"If you will keep it a dark secret," he said, "I will tell you how you can start right in with a good income and soon be on Easy Street."
This sounded very good. “What was it?”
“Well, it is the easiest snap in the world " he said, "but you must not tell others about it."
No, they assured him they would be as silent as the grave about it provided they could only get a chance.
"Well, all you hare to do is to get an axe and come with me to Washington Ialand and cut wood whenever you please you will get $2.50 per cord for it."
"But what will the owner of the land say?"
"There is no owner. It is everybody’s land. It belongs to the Government."
"How will we get our wood out?" they said: "we have no horses."
The Sheboygan Times of May I2, 1870. has the following account of St. Martin's Island: "The Island of St. Martins, situated at the northerly end of Lake Michigan and containing ahout seven thousand acres, with a population of between one and two hundred, has been settled over fifteen years, and during that time they hare not had any town organization- do not know to what county they belong- have no officers whatever- and have never paid a tax of any kind. It possesses the full average of wealth, sustains a voluntary church and school, but has never felt the need of any legal organization; and as they have no offices to give, office seekers are unknown, and our only hesitation in giving them this notice is, that it may lead to a large emigration to this Utopia."
