Chadwick & McDonald: An Ahnapee Swindle

For the transient woodsmen and sailors who made Ahnapee their winter home, drinking, card playing and horseplay were, by far, the most popular activities. Every once in awhile, somebody who did not fit the mold spent the winter.

Bill Chadwick was one of the men who showed up in the fall of 1866, but he was different. Chadwick read. He went to church and Sunday school. Since Chadwick did not drink or play cards, Ahnapee residents thought he might be a useful member of society. Chadwick became quite popular when he inadvertently let it be known he had inherited a large sum of money and was philanthropic. Townspeople were excited when Chadwick announced he desired to enter business with Captain Bill McDonald, who then owned the Ahnapee House (today the Stebbins Hotel) at which Chadwick lodged.

The partnership of Chadwick and McDonald was formed after Chadwick looked into Mr. McDonald's character. Chadwick said he planned to open a mercantile and gristmill where "oppressed farmers" could get a better deal. He also felt the Ahnapee House needed refurbishing and engaged builders.

Giving them a $10,000 draft, Chadwick had McDonald and young Tom Osborn go to Chicago where they were to meet Chadwick's father at the Sherman House. The elder Mr. Chadwick was to give the men funds with which to purchase supplies.

While they were gone, Chadwick started a free-wheeling life. He began tending bar at the Ahnapee House where woodsmen were spending their pay. Passing out McDonald's finest alcohol, he took in more money. It seemed to be a good time for all. Then he swindled Charles Boalt out of a coat, and took McDonald's pride and joy, an exceptionally fine trotter, worth about $1,000. After inviting Neil Mclean to ride to Kewaunee for more lumber, he gave Mclean the slip, pawned the horse for $100 and started south on foot.

By then Captain McDonald was on his way home, knowing he had been swindled. Chadwick didn't have friends in Chicago. Upon reaching Racine, McDonald hired a fast team to take him home to Ahnapee. On the second day of the trip, McDonald and Osborn came upon Chadwick north of Two Rivers. Thinking fast, Chadwick told McDonald his father had come north rather than staying in Chicago and was in the big white house along the road. McDonald believed him and Chadwick climbed into the buggy. When they saw a man,.Chadwick said "that's father now," and, jumping from the buggy, ran up to him. After shaking hands, he ran into the house and disappeared. All Captain Bill was heard to say was "Hell."

It was believed Chadwick left the county. Captain Bill McDonald was often overheard to say in the barroom of the Ahnapee House that he would beat the stuffing out of anybody who ever referred disrespectfully to his late partner. Captain Bill paid all of Chadwick's bills.

Note: The photograph of the  lumbering oil painting is used with the permission of the artist whose paintings chronicle the history of both Door and Kewaunee County from ships, tugs, fishing and lighthouses to skunk trapping, farming that includes manure spreading, the post office and everything in between.

 

Tisch Mills, Pilsner & President Rutherford B. Hayes

Those who think history is dull would find it hard to believe that a Kewaunee Community came close to being named for a beer. They would find it harder to believe that a U.S. president would take much interest in the naming of a community that could only count 50 or so voters. They would find it still harder to believe that the community's name would send a first lady into "hysterics." But, it all happened.

Tisch Mills' post office opened in 1884, though an attempt was made in 1877 to open an office at Tisch’s Mills. Somehow there were questions regarding the place’s name and what it was called or should be called. Kewaunee Enterprise was there to weigh in on the facts, or perhaps that which was not quite factual.

On May 26, 1877, Kewaunee Enterprise told its readers, “In the last ‘Enterprise' the name of the new Post Office at Tisch’s Mills was given as Staus. We are informed that it was an error and that the name of the office is Pilsen. Everybody living in that vicinity is greatly pleased; and we are informed that the supply of Pilsen beer at that point is only limited by the capacity of Anton Langenkamp’s brewery.”

Continuing in the June 25, 1877 issue, the Enterprise wrote that “Mention was made a few weeks ago of the establishment of a new post office in the town of Mishicott, on the line between Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties, at Tisch’s Mills. The post office was first named Carlton Mills. Then some of the folks around there thought they would rather have it called Staus, so they wrote to the Postmaster General and he called it Staus. Then some other folks thought it would be nice to have it called Pilsner, and the Department was duly petitioned to call it Pilsner. Then Mr. Key (Postmaster General David McKendree Key) got mad and wrote back that he thought there was too much fooling going on about naming the post office from which it was not likely they would ever be able to collect an assessment for campaign purposes. Besides that, it would be more than his situation would be worth to call it Pilsner. Staus was bad enough, but Pilsner was worse. Rutherford (Key was referring to President Rutherford B. Hayes), he explained, got tight once on some Pilsner beer which he got from a Bohemian friend of his at Fremont who had obtained it from the old country, and went home, kicked over the cook stove, hugged the hired girl, and stood on his head on the front stoop. On that account Mrs. Hayes resolutely refuses to permit any other beverage than water to be used at state dinners at the White House, and the mere mention of Pilsner as the name of the new post office threw her into hysterics. A Cabinet meeting was called, and it was determined to discard both Staus and Pilsner and adopt the original name, Carlton Mills, and the President instructed the P.M. General to write that if anything more was said about it he would change the name of the Postmaster, Joseph Stangel, to John Jones, or maybe remove him and appoint somebody from Ohio, if he can find anybody down that way to whom he has not already given a government office. So it is settled that the new post office is to be henceforth known as Carlton Mills.”

A brief comment on the name change back to Tisch’s Mills appeared in the July 14, 1877 issue of the Enterprise: “When Postmaster Key said he wouldn’t change the name of that Carlton Mills-Staus-Pilsner post office again for any man alive, we thought he meant it but you can’t depend on any of these public men now-a-days. He has gone and changed it to Tisch’s Mills. It is a good name, however, and we won’t make any fuss about it, but the thing has got to stop right here.”

The thing did not stop, and in another discussion about post office names in the August 4, 1877 Enterprise, the editor reviewed the naming problems for both Norman and Tisch’s Mills. Tisch’s Mills’ report follows: “A post office was established on the south line of the county, in the midst of a people who came from the neighborhood of the city of Pilsen. They were unanimous in desiring that the post office be called Pilsen, but their wishes were ignored, and the office became known as Tisch’s Mills. The Bohemian residents of Kewaunee County are an industrious, law-abiding people, and ready at all times to uphold the institutions of their adopted country. Why should they be denied so simple a thing as the commemoration of their place of birth in the naming of a post office in their midst – a privilege which we believe has been accorded to the people of all other nationalities. By what law, or under what authority, does the Department give an objectionable name to a post office in opposition to the expressed wish of the very people for whose convenience it is.”

The Enterprise seemed to stick up for county residents while keeping its readers informed.No doubt its stance helped boost circulation too.

Information for this article comes from Here Comes the Mail: Post Offices of Kewaunee County. The 1902 postcard of Frank Stangel's store comes from the same book.

On the Road to Appomatox: The Boys of Kewaunee County

Gravelly Run, east of Petersburg, Virginia, was one of the more obscure battles of the Civil War, however the fight - also known as  Hatcher’s Run, Boydton Road and White Oak Ridge - was not. Gravelly Run, on March 31, 1865 was part of the campaign that finally ended the war with Lee's April 9th surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.

Wisconsin's 6th, 7th and 36th Infantry regiments saw action in the battle where the Union losses of 1,900 men were about 2 1/2 times greater than those of the Confederacy. Pierce Town Private Franz Geneva, 6th Wis. Co. D, was killed during the battle. Eugene Delwich of Lincoln was taken prisoner and then badly wounded. Francis Francee of Red River as also wounded. Both were Privates in Co. B, 6th Wis. and the wounds kept both absent when the company was mustered out.

There were other Kewaunee County men at Gravelly Run. Lincoln's Corporal John Andre and Private Carl Schneider of Ahnepee* of Co. B. saw action. Private Carlton Hall of Montpelier served in Co. E, and Ahnepee Privates William Fagg, August Baumann and William Barrand, Co. G, H and K, respectively, saw action. Private Julius Bernhart, Co. B, 7th Inf., and Private William Graham, Co. C, were other Ahnepee men in the battle. Private Christian Peters  from Coryville was another in Co. C. Casco Private Adolphe Gouchee and  Private James Marshaw from Carlton served in Co. I. Frank Zivney came from Pierce Town.

During the closing battles of the war, the Iron Brigade, which included the 6th and 7th Wisconsin, was under the command of General U.S. Grant. The Brigade saw some of the heaviest fighting and saw the heaviest casualties of the war. At Gravelly Run, when the men were ordered to fall back, it was the Iron Brigade which was the last to leave the field. Men of the Iron Brigade served primarily in the south and were discharged on July 18, 1865, three months after Appomattox. When they returned to Milwaukee, the men were provided a dinner on the street given by the women of the city.

Kewaunee's George Froney appears to have held General Grant and General Philip Sheridan in high esteem. He named his twins Grant and Sheridan.

Wikipedia tells us that 13.4% of the Iron Brigade's total enlistment died. Three thousand seven hundred ninety four were killed in action or mortally wounded, 8,022 died of disease and 400 died accidental deaths. In total, the Brigade lost 12,216 men.

*Ahnepee was changed to Ahnapee when the Village of Ahnapee was chartered in 1873. Proper names have been taken from records and often do not reflect the spelling of the same in 2012.



 

 

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Rankin.....Kuke's Corner or Mallie?

A forty-five mile an hour traffic sign is all that remains of most of Kewaunee County's once thriving hamlets, however drivers don't even have to slow down at Rankin, between Algoma and Casco on Highway 54.

Rankin was originally known as Kuke's Corners until, according to George Wing in the story of The Ghost of Dettman's Swamp, Congressman Joe Rankin "gave the hamlet a post office and his loyal Democrats, as they were, gave it his name."

Whether or not Wing is right, it was merchant Fred Plinke who applied to the Post Office Department for an office at a place he called Mallie. Two weeks after Plinke was appointed on May 13, 1886, The Record announced that the new office would be called Rankin in honor of the late Congressman who had been instrumental in relief efforts following the horrendous Peshtigo fire. Washington proffered no reason for rejecting Plinke's choice of Mallie for the post office expected to serve 500 residents. Rankin post office remained in service until being discontinued on November 15, 1902 when mail began coming from Algoma. In those few years, the Rankin post office operated in four separate locations.

As early as February 28, 1902, Algoma Record was lamenting the poor postal service at Rankin as it pointed out opportunities to better the service.While  Rankin was only 6 miles from Algoma, mail sent to Algoma from Rankin went to Green Bay and back to Algoma, a distance of sixty miles. That took a couple of days. The paper suggested Rankin residents vigorously protest the service. It was further suggested that since mail carried to Two Rivers went by stage, the stage could go through Rankin making Two Rivers' service a trifle longer but thereby securing daily service for Rankin. Apparently the lobbying worked.

It was in June 1904 that the newspaper again delivered postal news when it told its readership, "Postmaster Entringer has received word from the Post Office Department that the post office would be discontinued on November 15 when Rural Free Delivery will be put into service.The farmers through the district are rejoicing over the good news."

St. John's Church has been Rankin's most prominent institution for nearly 150 years. All that remains of Rankin commerce is the current S & K's at N 7551 County Highway D, once the site of a Rankin post office.

When Fred Plinke submitted his 1892 map, he included building locations. The map and the cover above come from Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County.