County cemetery tour introduces early settlers

By Kay James, Dells Events

wde-news@capitalnewspapers.com

Early settlers in Adams County returned to the living and described their lives to visitors at four cemeteries Oct. 24.

The early settlers were actually members of the Adams County Historical Society, which arranged a tour of the Woolsey, County Poor Farm, Big Spring and Davis Corners cemeteries Saturday. The tour drew more than 50 people who filled a school bus provided by the society and several private cars. Lucille Davis, a member of the society, said it was the largest turnout the society had in its nine years of doing the tours.

Woolsey Cemetery

The bus first made a stop at the Woolsey Cemetery, where Civil War Privates Samuel and James Woolsey, played by Dale Chetney and Josh Babcock, described their short-lived service in the war. The cemetery is a private one, and tour members met with the Woolsey brothers on the bus.

Samuel Woolsey joined the 25th Wisconsin Infantry, which first went to Minnesota to put down an Indian uprising at New Ulm, but by the time the Wisconsin troops arrived, the battle was over. Next he went to Camp Randall in Madison then to Illinois, where he died of a fever. He was 33. His younger brother, James, joined in early 1865 and trained at Camp Randall. The war ended and James came home that summer, but died in November. He was 30.

County Poor Farm

The tour stopped at the corner of County Highway G and Fur Drive, where a couple of gravestones mark the cemetery where the county buried residents of its poor farm. Mary Bassett, played by Mary Eggebrecht, was a resident of the farm who died in 1899. She said not everyone at the farm was poor. It was for those too feeble to care for themselves, those who were called feeble-minded at the time but now would be labeled developmentally disabled. Others might have convulsions, epilepsy, mental illness or be orphans.

The county bought 160 acres for the farm in 1871 and added to it to bring it to 500 acres by the 1890s. It was a working farm and residents worked the land with help from neighbors hired to do some work, Bassett said. The county had an overseer or “poorkeeper” and his wife was the matron. The farm had a two-story house with a wing for men and one for women. It had a cow barn, stable, wagon and tool sheds and silo. In the early part of the 20th Century, the farm became a home for old folks. It closed in 1951.

Big Spring

Next stop on the tour was the Big Spring Cemetery on Golden Court. Here, the visitors met James Crothers, Margaret Landt, Sophronius Landt, Jared Walsworth and Amelia Seward Hyatt.

James Crothers, played by Donald Hollman said he was born Sept. 14, 1847 in Montreal, Canada and moved to Adams County in 1856 with his parents James and Ann Briggs Crothers. His first job at 17 was a sawyer for a sawmill in Grand Rapids, which is now known as Wisconsin Rapids. Crothers saved his money and bought a farm in New Haven, which is now owned by his grandson Erwin and wife Ruth, and great-grandson Kenneth and wife Conny. James Crothers was twice a delegate to the state Congressional Convention as a Republican and served in many township offices. He also served as Adams County Sheriff.

Margaret and Sophronius Landt were played by Lucille and Harry Davis. Sophronius or “Phron” came to Big Spring to take over his brother Henry’s store. Later he farmed there and in during the Civil War served as a recruiting sergeant in Kilbourn. He also ran stores in Packwaukee and at one time shipped supplies to North Dakota. In 1866, he was elected treasurer of Adams County and in 1894, he was elected to the state Assembly as a Republican. From there he went on to become superintendent of the state school at Sparta until the Progressives came into office. He and his brothers also opened a radiator company in Milwaukee, and one of their first customers was Henry Ford.

Next spirit to make an appearance at Big Spring was Jared Walsworth, played by Michael Goc. Goc said Walsworth moved to the Big Spring area in 1836 when the land still belonged to the Menomonee Indians. He married a Native American, Mary or Marie, who spoke Menomonee and Ho Chunk, and he worked for the Indians. He also sold them whiskey and traded with them. After building a cabin along the Pinery Road that ran from Portage to Wisconsin Rapids, Walsworth turned it into a tavern and inn for travelers. He claims to be the first white, American settler in Adams County despite the claim of another near Necedah, who Walsworth said was French.

The last to meet the tour participants at Big Spring was Amelia Seward Hyatt, who was born in 1838 in New York. Her father was a relative of William Seward, a free soiler who opposed slavery and opposed Lincoln for the presidential nomination. Lincoln later appointed William Seward, secretary of state, and Seward is the man responsible for the purchase of Alaska from Russia. Alaska was known for many years as “Seward’s Folly.”

Of her own life, Hyatt, played by Joan Jones, said she was a school teacher who taught in the first school in the township. The school was a smokehouse converted to a small, one-room school. She received $1 a week for teaching, but quit in 1858 when she married William Hyatt and because a farmer’s wife.

Davis Corners

From Big Spring, the tour went to the Davis Corners Cemetery where participants were greeted by William Ward, played by Dennis McFarlin. Ward, born in 1835, came to Wisconsin with his parents, and they settled in Waukesha. When gold was discovered in California, William Ward, his father and brother headed for California. The brother died on the way out and Ward’s father on the way back.

Many who came to farm in Adams County had received land grants from their service in the War of 1812, but not Ward. He walked from Waukesha to land in what is now Springville, where he staked a claim and then had to walk to Stevens Point to pay for the land with gold. Ward later moved to Missouri, but found his abolitionist views were not much appreciated in the border states and came back to Adams County. Back here, he bought and traded farms until he had his own back.

Next, Richard Church introduced himself as the Rev. Cal Robinson, an early evangelical preacher who hosted revivals in the area. He was pastor of the Davis Corners Church for two years and pastor of the Whitecreek Church for three years.

Karen Church played the part of Marie Bork, a relatively recently departed person who died in February 2001, after meeting the dawn of two centuries. She was born in 1899. She and her husband, Ed, moved to several different cities in Wisconsin including Beloit, Kenosha, Wisconsin Dells and Baraboo, where she ran the City Service Station.

Next to be introduced to the tour was Sam Stone played by Tom Davis. The real Sam Stone’s daughter, Gen Foss, was on the tour and had a chance to talk with Davis.

Stone was sheriff of Adams County from 1929 to 1932, from 1941 to 1944 and from 1947 to 1950. Davis said Stone never carried a gun. He described the most popular theft during the Depression as chickens, saying he chased chicken thieves all over the county. A lot of illegal hunting and fishing also went on in the Depression years.

During the World War II, theft of rationing stamps was the main crime. People had to have stamps for sugar, flour, and gas. Stone said one person collected 500 stamps for gas, claiming the gas was for a tractor, although the man did not own a tractor.

The last member of the society to meet with the tour was Eleanor Bonnet, who played Iva Bonnet, wife of Abraham Bonnet. She and Abraham moved by oxen and wagon to the Dakota Territory after they married, but she came back when she became pregnant with her first child, Viola. She did not want to raise children in a sod hut. She came back by train while Abraham came back with oxen and wagon. She said Abraham’s pride and joy were the registered Holsteins, lambs and swine on the farm, while hers were the house and children.

After visiting the Davis Corners Cemetery, the tour moved to the Davis Corners United Methodist Church where lunch was served by the Methodist Women, and Dan Boehmke gave a history of Davis Corners.