Red River and Property Assessment: 1863

Red River empties into Green Bay, 2010

Assessment and reassessment are always enough to raise one’s blood pressure. It is understandable. Seldom do taxes go down. Property owners look at their assessments and their neighbor’s, and then wonder about fairness.

How fair is it if a cow born on June 2 is assessed to be worth more than the cow born on May 31? Who judges whether a cow is a good or fair producer? How fair is it when a pig 5 months and 30 days is worth less than a pig 6 months and 1 day old? How accurately are animal birthdays recorded? At what point do animals become too old to be worth much? During the 1860s, it appeared that those with more animals were assessed a bit less than those with few animals. Did assessors in the 1860s think like one recently who told property owners that amount of property was just like buying a gross of pencils rather than just one: the price for one pencil is greater than for the same pencil if one buys all 144.

Red River’s assessor in 1863 was Joseph Wery. Wery was the man, who nearly ten years later, applied for and got a post office for Darbellay which he ran from his store at the crossroads that today is Highway S and SS. A glance at the town's tax questionnaires provides a glimpse into the early farming community. Assessors throughout the Kewaunee County used the same questionnaire.

Joseph Demuese’s statement of property included 4 cattle valued at $50 in total because they were over 2 years old on June 1, 1863. His 3 hogs, over 6 months old on the same date, were valued at $6.00. Rosalie Motard was assessed $40 for her 3 neat cattle.* They were over 2 years old. Victor Moreaux was listed as having no property. He might have been a boarder, hired man, or one without animals over 2 years old, but that was not explained. Pierre Martin had one pig to declare.

Jean J. Lemieux appears to have been quite prosperous. He had a horse over 2 years old that was valued at $25. The 5 neat cattle were valued at $60, the same value placed on his 5 sheep. His sheep and 3 hogs - valued at $2 each - were over 2 years old. Michael Braedal’s horse was valued as Lemieux’s, but his one head of neat cattle was assessed more at $15. His three hogs were over 6 months old and valued collectively at $4.50. Justin Barbiau’s 3 hogs were worth even less - $3.00. Michael DeGreve was another who appears prosperous with a horse, 5 neat cattle and 5 hogs, valued at $20, $80 and $15 respectively. DeGreve's cattle had to be some of the town’s finest, although not as fine as Constant Thiry’s whose cattle appear to be the highest assessed in town. With 7 horses, Thiry had more than anyone in Red River. Those horses were assessed less than his cattle. The horses were valued at $65 while his 3 neat cattle were worth $60. His 4 pigs came to $8.

Antoine Ricor had been in Red River since the town’s beginnings. His horse was valued at $20 while his 2 neat cattle amounted to $30. In a town where most residents had neat cattle and hogs, David Cezar was unusual. His assessment was just for two horses. Hubert Loeze also stands out. He had the only mule or ass in town, or at least the only one declared, however it was 1 ½ years old by June 1 and, therefore, not valued for tax purposes.

Henry Leurquin was assessed on June 29, 1863. He was a businessman whose “Moneys and Credit” was valued at $40. The term described “the aggregate excess of credits not secured by lien of real estate, above the aggregate indebtedness of the person or company listed.” Leurquin was also assessed for “Merchant and Manufacturing Stock” at $50. That was defined by law to mean, “personal property from which there is allowed no deduction for indebtedness.” Leurquin was also assessed $30 for 2 neat cattle.

Peter Muler’s Merchant and Manufacturing Stock was placed at $60.00. Muler (or Muller) and his brother Francis were located in the “Flemish Settlement.” Judging from Louis Van Dycke’s assessment, he was the richest man in Red River. His Merchant and Manufacturing Stock was assessed at $416.00.

It is possible that not all assessment papers were kept together, or that some were lost over time. Noteworthy in the valuations is the absence of Speer Brothers’ sawmill and Barrette’s Dock.

More than likely Red River had many more farm animals than assessment papers suggest. At the time the human population was not required by law to file birth certificates, how many kept accurate records of an animal’s birth?  And, if a few days made a difference in one’s taxes, who could remember?

Note: Neat cattle was an old term meant to indicate domestic cattle.

Forbidden to Court: A Wolf River Romance

Though Wolf River had few more than a handful of people in 1854, it had its own Shakespearean love story. It began in Scotland when youngster David Youngs, his younger sister and their parents set sail for a new life in the new world.

The Youngs traveled to Chicago where Mrs. Youngs remained with the children while her husband went west to seek his fortune. He never returned. Word was that he was killed by Indians, but nobody really knew. Both Mrs. Youngs and her daughter got sick and died, leaving 9 year old Dave alone in Chicago, a city with a population of a little less than 5,000 in 1840. Somehow, Dave was taken in and raised by Alymira and A.D. (Abram) Eveland who eventually relocated to Racine. Abram was an entrepreneur and, when he grew to manhood, Dave took up sailing and became the captain of his own boat named the Amelia.

Amelia was named for the joy of Dave's life, Amelia Harkins whom he married in 1849. Amelia's brother Henry was Dave's best friend and another ship owner and captain. Amelia and Dave had three children. Then Amelia died, possibly in childbirth, leaving Dave with three young children. Frank died in 1863 and was buried in Wolf River. Jennie and G.W., who was known as Scotty, survived to adulthood. In a time when widowers remarried almost immediately because of the need for a woman to do for them, Dave did not. He had Alymira to see to the children. She was raising her own children including teen aged Lucy Ann.

Henry and Lucy Ann were attracted to each other and wanted to court. Abram and Alymira put their collective foot down. Women married earlier in the 1850s but the Evelands would not have their 14 year old daughter courted by a man in his 20s. Since the courtship was forbidden, the couple figured they could go right to the wedding. One's imagination can supply that scenario.

Dave had heard about the area called Wolf River in a new place called Kewaunee County where there was plenty of cheap land. One could get rich. Entrepreneur that Abram was, he recognized a good deal. Besides that, Wolf River was hours and hours from Racine and he'd get rid of that infernal Henry Harkins for good. End of story. But, it was not.

It wasn't long before Capt. Henry Harkins sailed his Lucy Ann into Wolf River. Spiriting the fair Lucy aboard, and with Dave as his first mate, they sailed away to Racine where they were married. Henry could have sailed his ship alone, but with Dave as mate and chaperon, nobody could accuse anybody of scandalous behavior.

What came later isn't what one would expect. If it was, it was not recorded. Abram and Alymira surely weren't happy, but the couple was legally married and life goes on. They gave their daughter and new son-in-law Block 5, the triangular lot that older Algoma residents best remember as Perlewitz' blacksmith shop and then the 1960 post office. Henry and Lucy built a home that was said to be one of the finest in Wolf River, though the stockade type fence around it reminded some of a fort.

Lucy and Henry raised a family. She taught Sunday School and he continued to sail, owning the schooner Pride during the 1860s. The very social Henry said whatever was on his mind, and the entire village had experience with his practical jokes. Serving in the Great War, Henry was among the survivors of the Cumberland, on which he manned the guns. He also served as an officer with Porter and Selfridge on the Mississippi River fleets. When the town's bridge was knocked out, it was Henry who ferried passengers back and forth across the river, and when a flat-bottomed boat with a big square sail was spotted coming down river, everybody knew Henry was on his way back from a trip to Forestville.

From all that is written about the young couple, they gave to God, their family and their community. Whatever Abram and Alymira Eveland initially felt about Henry and Lucy, it certainly changed.


The photo of Dave Youngs predates 1873. It was given to this author by Wayne and Nancy Anderson. The photo of Lucy Ann Harkins tombstone was taken at the Evergreen Cemetery in Algoma by Thomas R. Duescher.

There's music, my friend, right here in River City.....

McDonald's Music Hall and Perry's Opera House were long time centers of Ahnapee culture, a culture that was said to arrive with the 1854 landing of Simon and Desiah Smith Hall. Andy McDonald was a popular village showman who made it to the big-time when he left to work as assistant manager in Barnum and Costello's Great Combination Show.

Entertainment from German singers, to the Sturgeon Bay Silver Cornet Band, debates, a traveling production of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1877, lecturers and more filled the stage. At a time when political correctness was unheard of, Tom Osborne, Mike McDonald and Billy Dingman were doing minstrel shows featuring the popular "black faces."

It surely must have been a coup when local actors presented HMS Pinafore at the Music Hall in July 1882. When it was all over, it was said that if the ability of the troupe had been understood, the Music Hall would never accommodated all those who would have wished to come. HMS Pinafore was the fourth collaboration by the team of Gilbert and Sullivan. Following its opening in London in May 1878, it became an international hit. Within four years, Libbie Crane of Green Bay was directing it on the Ahnapee stage.

Ahnapee had a number of talented people, or at least they thought they were. Their names ranked among the leaders of the community - Boalt, McDonald, Youngs, Pies, Perry, Dudley, Ross and Manville. Acting groups formed in other places called themselves Thespians, while musicians often referred to themselves as the Philharmonic or Choral. There were no false pretenses in Ahnapee and when the actors' group was founded in 1870, they chose the generic Dramatic Club as a name. A few years later that group took an hiatus and a German group took over, keeping the name. By the time the club was offering Pinafore, one wag opined that Ahnapee was fortunate in the numbers of residents who declined stage or concert careers for a less exacting life in commerce or other pursuits. When plans for the Pinafore went forward, there were more than a few who raised their eyebrows. A doctor, a merchant, a lawyer? On a stage? For an admission? Doing justice to a work that was sweeping professional theater?                                                                     

In general, the community felt a lifeless, colorless production was a sure thing. Opening night and the audience with no expectations was amazed. None other than Michael McDonald played the captain. Phenie LeClair's singing and acting ability as Josephine earned much applause.  Judge Boat was Sir Joseph Porter and was considered one of the hits. Druggist James Dudley's portrayal of Dick Deadeye could not have been better. Some said his performance would probably not be equaled on a professional stage. Ahnapee's star baseball player Abisha Perry played the Boatswain. Mrs. Harris was Buttercup and Myra Ross was Hebe. Pianist and chorus director was a Miss Schuette from Green Bay. It was said she performed her duties admirably. The only problem anybody had with the whole thing was that there were so many good sets that the small stage didn't have enough room to display them effectively. Articles in the paper seemed to suggest that the high standards' bar reached by HMS Pinafore would be maintained. And, maintained it was.

Music in all its forms was especially important among the ethnic groups of Kewaunee County. Bohemian priest Father Adalbert Cipin was instrumental in Joseph Swoboda's altars and in the beginnings of his company. Cipin was a carver himself, however his biggest contribution was to sacred music in Catholic parishes, a point long forgotten. Cipin's musical ear and demand for excellence didn't always make him popular with his congregations. Bohemian dance bands sprung up in a number of places, but those in the Town of Franklin were considered the finest.  A Turn Versin society was organized in 1866 and the Ahnapee Maennechor, another musical group, was organized in 1869. John Sonderegger and William Bastar organized a Liederkranz in 1871. It performed around the area. Kewaunee's Vincent Stepan began offering music classes in Ahnapee in 1873.

Music and performance remained important in the community. Algoma schools continue to delight. David Looze put Algoma High School on the state map with one act plays and forensics. Algoma FFA was recognized nationally after a quartet consisting of Hans Feld, Martin Heuer, Don Tebon and Dick Cornette was named state champions in 1952.  A few weeks later the quartet won national honors at the 1952 National FFA Convention and were featured performing for an audience of 35,000 at the Civic Music Hall. Barber Russ Zimmermann and his Polka Dots, The Penquins and the Rhythm Boys played dance music throughout the area. Barbershop singing came to Algoma in the 1940's, apparently with a quartet formed by Arnie Meyer, Harold Mraz, Scott Canney and Ray Marquardt. A number of Barbershop quartets followed. Not to be outdone, Gertrude Heuer, Enid Schabow, Collette Bohman and Mrs. Graff organized a women's barbershop group called the Melodears.

Ahnapee's dancing and love of music brought comment from the Enterprise in the 1880s when it said that "those Ahnapee folks for wind and bottom can beat the world at dancing and hot weather don't bother them a bit." There are not so many dances today, but there are the city band, the schools and a heritage of meeting the high standard set so long ago in 1882 when there were no expectations. Meredith Wilson could have been talking about Ahnapee and Algoma, rather Iowa, when he wrote, "There's music, my friend. Right here in River City."

Wolf River, Ahnepee, Ahnapee, Algoma: The Naming

Confusing to genealogists and historians are the place names that have changed over time. When it happens three times in less than 50 years, it can be even more challenging. So it is with Algoma.

What is now Kewaunee County was a part of Door in early summer 1851 when the Warners, Hughes and Tweedales settled in the wilderness at the place where the Wolf River emptied into Lake Michigan. The three families gave rise to the first permanent settlement in what became Kewaunee County the following April.

As surveying began in 1834, names were put to the major rivers. For a time Kewaunee River was called Wood's River though this map printed before April 1851 gives today's Ahnapee as Wool's River. Printing errors could have influenced calling it the Wolf.* 

Native Americans populating the area referred to it as Muk-wan-wish-ta-guon. "Muk-wan" has been said to be a Pottawatomie word meaning "whole bear's head." The Indian village was also called An-An-api-sebe, an Ojibwa word meaning, "Where is the river?" Historian George Wing wrote that perhaps parents called it Wolf River to frighten the children into staying close to the home, saying that a great gray wolf would get them. The woods were so thick that a child who walked into the woods would have easily been lost, perhaps prompting parents to feel there was safety promoting the fear of lurking wolves. History tells us others, including ship captains, referred to the place as Wolf River Trading Post.

By 1859, only eight years after the naming, the residents decided to revive the old Indian name and called the place Ahnepee. The problem was the state which consistently misspelled the place's name. It wasn't only the state that spelled Ahnepee as Ahnapee, so did some of the residents. When Ahnepee was chartered as a village in 1873, it changed its name to Ahnapee. Apparently residents felt, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." Wing would later write that perhaps the settlers chose it because, when properly spoken, Ah-ne-pee was a "beautiful and euphonious name."

There was a problem with Ahnapee too. Jokes involving the community's name were far worse than the Advocate referring to residents as "Ahnapeepers." Anna was a popular name for little girls in the late 1800s, but not in Ahnapee! Residents began looking for another name.

Alderman Mike McCosky presented a petition from residents to the City Council on June 7, 1897. It requested that the City of Ahnapee become the City of Algoma. Such a change would be made in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 108 of the Laws of 1897. On July 13, Ordinance 19 was unanimously passed and the City of Ahnapee passed out of existence just had Wolf River 30 years earlier. Algoma became official on September 7. Fair Haven was suggested as a replacement name by one who thought it was a beautiful name for a beautiful place, but it was not accepted. A Chicago resident, in a letter to the editor in 1897, said changing the city's name from Ahnapee to Algoma was no improvement. Proposed names came from all over, but Algoma won.

Years later, in 1991, Virgil Vogel wrote a book on Wisconsin place names. In it he said Ahnapee was hardly a credible name but that settlers probably chose such a name because it had a pleasing sound. He also wrote that Algoma seemed to be a picturesque and coined name. However, the word is really an Algonquin word meaning, "Where waters meet." Waters meet in other places called Algoma, including the Town of Algoma in Winnebago County and Algoma, Ontario, Canada.

Generations of Algoma students have learned that Algoma is a Pottawatomie word meaning "park of flowers" and as Vogel says, that name "is purely fanciful." "Park of flowers" does have some historical merit though. An August 25, 1896 Ahnapee Record described the Indians calling the hill above the lake shore "rosy hill" as it was covered with wild roses.  George Rosier was an early resident who lived in the area that is now the southwest corner of Jefferson and Lake Streets. Rosier was among the many whose name was pronounced differently than the ears which thought they heard "Rosy." Rosy's place was a bit out of the tiny village in those days. The area called rosy hill by the Indians and Rosy Place by the settlers somehow got tangled with other bits of history. Though Ahnapee and Algoma are both Indian words, "park of flowers" has nothing to do with either.

Algoma is generally thought to be the third name for the community, however, if   Wolf River Trading Post and Ahnepee are counted, that makes five names in under 50 years.Such naming could well be a Wisconsin record.

*George Wing wrote about the wolves in the area and author Liz Howell wrote the legend of the great gray wolf in a short book by the same name. The legend is didactic much as Grimm's fairy tales are.

Translations were provided to this author in 2001 by the linguist at the Pottawatomie Cultural Center in Wisconsin and at a First Nations Cultural Center in Algoma, Canada.

Algoma's Jahr Markt Fair

Lidral & Andre Hardware used this postcard of  Algoma's Jahr Markt Fair to place an order with William Frannfurth & Co. in 1907. The post card was sent via the Sturgeon Bay-Green Bay - also known as the Ahnapee & Western - Railway Post Office, indicated by the R.P.O. at the bottom of the postmark.

Celebrating German culture in Milwaukee with a Jahr Markt Fair was not unusual in the years surrounding the advent of the 20th century, but it was new to Algoma where at least 15,000 people attended the event on August 21, 22, and 23, 1901. When the fair closed on August 23rd, it was with a flourish and, by all accounts, was an immense success. Delegations came by train and ferry from Sturgeon Bay, Kewaunee, Green Bay, Manitowoc and Marinette,  and by road from the smaller towns in the area.

Most felt the daily balloon ascensions were the highlight of the three-day event while the Williams Circus and the Ferris wheel were right behind. Practical jokers ruled the day playing tricks and pranks on the unsuspecting and unwary. Midway festivities lasted well after midnight and when it was all over, everybody said it was the most successful fair in Northeast Wisconsin.

A Jahr Markt Fair  is an outdoor summer event with amusement rides and games for children and adults alike. Booths line the streets for the sale of ice cream, cigars, beer and more. Algoma's Jahr Markt Fair was not the annual thing  it was in other places. Jahr Markt Fairs continue to be held, though mostly in Europe. Kitzbuhel, Austria has had one yearly for nearly 100 years.

And railway mail? Although it didn't reach Kewaunee County until 1892, it was a boon to mail service from then on. It was in 1862 that a railroad clerk system was instituted in the U.S. By the mid-1890s, 500 railroad postal clerks were processing more than 700 million pieces of mail a year! Since mail was picked up and dropped off along the route, processing speed was essential. Postal clerks did not have time to spend deciphering handwriting thus hard-to-read pieces of mail were set aside.

Lidral & Andre Hardware, the Ahnapee & Western, R.P.O.s and a Jahr Markt fair have all faded into Algoma's history. A careful look at the postcard drawing of Steele Street reveals few changes in 100 years. The tent on the right is covering the space in which the Busch building was constructed a few years later. Today's Steele Street Florists' building was built as Melchior's jewelry a few years before the card was drawn. It is the building with the flag, on the right in the distance at 3rd and Steele. Buildings on the left are there today.

Lidral and Andre Hardware operated at the northwest corner of 4th and Steele in Algoma. The building remains and has been refurbished as the site of E-Z Computers.

Algoma's Depot is the subject of a postcard dated in 1910. The depot was at the foot of Steele, the site of today's marina. The depot was eventually moved to the foot of 6th Street and the building above was used for high school basketball games until the new school was constructed in the mid-1930s.

Tall Ships on the Ahnapee River

Such a sight would not have been unusual 100 years ago when  sailboats were still major transports plying the waters of Lake Michigan. Editions of the Ahnapee Record often mentioned the number of boats riding at anchor in the harbor.

At times, there were 20 or more ships awaiting loading, unloading or just awaiting their captain and crew. Perhaps it was Capt. William Armstrong’s Wren or Mary Ludwig, or Capt. Henry Harkins’ Lucy Ann or Union. It could have been Johnny Doak’s Ella Doak or John F. Price and his brother Alexander’s Sea Star and Hinsdale, or Capt. William Nelson’s Mary L. Collins or Margaret Dall.  Maybe the ships included the Ida,  the Truman Moss or one of the other ships owned by the Schuenemann brothers, Herman and August. Visits from Herman’s Christmas tree ship, the Rouse Simons, are not recorded, however it could have been in the harbor after 1910. Capt. Charlie Fellows was around from the community’s beginnings. He owned a number of ships, including the Julia Ann and the Whirlwind, which was the first ship to tie up at Dave Youngs’ new bridge pier. Capt. Billy Dingman owned the Robbie and Orin Vose was one of many captains owning the Industry.  Other ships would have included those belonging to either Capt. John or Capt. William McDonald such as Conquest, Amelia, Surprise or Sardinia. The Lady Ellen is at rest on the north side of the Ahnapee River, just west of the 2^nd St. Bridge. Capt. John McDonald used the Whiskey Pete in his stone trade during construction of the Sturgeon Bay ship canal, though the vessel was probably a lot more popular when Ahnapee Brewery manager Henry Sibilsky used it to take product north!

Maritime port that it was, Ahnapee was the site of shipbuilding for a few years. William Henry was the area’s most noteworthy shipwright, building boats in a small bay that, when filled in later, became the site of Algoma Fuel Company’s ice house and coal piles. It was Henry who designed the 173-ton Bessie Boalt, the largest boat ever built in the village. When she was side launched into Lake Michigan in 1868, near the site that would become the Utility Plant, she was rumored to cost a whopping $32,000. Ahnapee's most impressive ship had a most unimpressive ending. She became water logged and sank off Two Rivers Point while being towed ashore in 1884.

Surprising today is to learn that the first boat begun in the Town of Ahnapee – christened the Ahnapee – was built about four miles upriver. When the ship was launched and came down river on August 10, 1867, the bridge had to be taken down.

Those who know the Ahnapee River today would say that it never happened as it is nearly impossible to even kayak past what locals call “The Bend.” But in the 1860s, the river was held in place by the trees that covered Kewaunee County, and most of the northern half of Wisconsin. The demands of a rapidly growing country meant jobs and money in timber. As the mostly cedar trees along the river were cut and shipped as fast as possible, there was nothing holding the river in its course and it was left to bake in the hot sun. In the 1850s and ‘60s, the Ahnapee - then called the Wolf - was a river road with almost daily boat traffic between Wolf River/Ahnapee and Forestville.

When the Ahnapee was launched on July 1, 1867, about 200 guests traveled to the launch site* upriver where they ate, drank and danced on board the boat, built by Martin Larkin and Co. for Chicago businessmen J.P. and Titus Horton. Built under the supervision of Neil McLean, the topsail, scow schooner had a 72' keel, 22' beam and a 6' hold carrying about 80 ton. As she came down river, it was necessary to take down the bridge thus allowing the rigged ship to get to the lake. Captained by Martin Larkin, the scow sailed to Chicago to complete being outfitted and registered. Because of its Chicago registry, the scow was renamed Ahnapee of Chicago.**

Taking down the bridge was probably not the job one would think today. Wolf River's first bridge in 1856 or '57 was a footbridge near the mouth of the river, which then was a few hundred feet north of the present channel. A year or so later, a log bridge was built from what today would be the end of Church Street to about the east side of the winery. That was the bridge that came down.

And the Ahnapee? She was wrecked, and all that remains of her is the wreckage photographed for this Sheboygan harbor postcard in the early 1900s.

 

Note: The ketch in the photo at the top is for sale and comes from Tad Harvey Yacht Sales website.  
*The launch site is on the west side of the Ahnapee River, in the southwest part of Section 9 of the Town of Ahnapee.
**Other boats were built at Ahnapee but all had to be registered at a point of entry such as Manitowoc, Milwaukee or Chicago.

 

 

Shabbily Treated: The Pottawatomie of Kewaunee County

Lands west of the bay of Green Bay that were owned by the Indians are noted on this pre-1851 map of Northeast Wisconsin. Kewaunee appears as Kewahne, Gibraltar is located in today's Kewaunee County rather than Door, and Wolf River, today the Ahnapee, is written as Wools River. A look at place names reveals both Indian and French heritages though the Pottawatomie seem only to be reflected in Pottawatomie Island, now known as Washington Island at the tip of Door County.

Long before the white men arrived in what is now Algoma, it was the site of a small Pottawatomie village called An-An-api-sebe, an Ojibwa word meaning "Where is the river?" Since the Pottawatomie who inhabited most of the western shore of Lake Michigan belonged to the Three Fires Tribes, which included the Ottawa and Ojibwa, words and culture blended somewhat as they intermarried. The name was descriptive. Just as today's lake shore residents coming home in fogs look for their driveways, the Pottawatomie looked for the river over 160 years ago.

Pottawatomie Indians were the inhabitants of what is now Algoma when the three first white families took up residence in the summer of 1851. It didn't take long before the white man outnumbered the Indians who lived on the bluff above the river's north side. Early Wolf River housewives such as Jane Warner, Elizabeth Hughes or Mary Jane Tweedale would often be surprised to see Pottawatomie such as Chenaub, Pawco-waupee or Quetetke at their doors with hands extended looking for a "big eat." Orrin and Jane Warner's children played with the Indian children and, from all accounts, the two cultures got along well. At least in Wolf River.

It isn't only today's tourists that enjoy Crescent Beach. It was a Pottawatomie stop too. Historian George Wing wrote about the dog feasts where as many as 200 men and their families gathered in the area to celebrate, just as families and friends host reunions and picnics generations later.

Approximately 200 acres on the west bank of the East Twin River in the south part of Section 29 in the Town of Carlton was a common planting ground used by the Pottawatomie of Door, Kewaunee and Manitowoc Counties.  Each spring people from various camps met to plant corn, squash, beans and other vegetables. The site was so vital that the chiefs appointed a sub-chief to supervise those who stayed during the growing season to care for the fields, working with wooden tools. In the fall, they again met to carry the produce back to their individual camps.

Wing also writes that with the coming of the white man, the Indians feared the loss of their land. It was a fear well founded. Kewaunee County was not the scene of atrocities Indian people experienced in other places, but they were shabbily treated.

Andrew Vieau, son of trader Jacques Vieau and a brother-in-law of Solomon Juneau, patented the Indians' acreage in 1847 in order to hold it in trust for them. The following year Vieau gave the land to the chiefs. In 1853, Vieau gave the Indians another piece of land and as late as August 3, 1859, he wrote to County Treasurer Luther Hammond asking about taxes due in Township 22. There were questions.

The Indians continued to cultivate the land on which they lived, believing the deed from the white man's government protected them. Whether they didn't understand or just didn't know they were required to pay taxes was something that does not appear to have been investigated. Settlers determined to get the rich Indian land allowed the Indians to neglect their taxes. Land sharks took out tax deeds and told the Indians to get out.

An early Ahnapee Record indicates Edward Decker eventually bought land from the Indians after a portion of it was sold for taxes. When Decker sold land to other whites, the Indians did not readily leave. After John Axtell was given the deed to the planting grounds in 1858, the Indians were evicted.They had cultivated the land for so many years and threatened violence. In response, Sheriff Woyta Stransky led a posse to drive the Indians off. Some moved into Montpelier for a year before moving to lands along the Wisconsin River. Others moved into northern Wisconsin. Kewaunee County lost a rich heritage.

U.S. Indian Agent A.D. Bonsteel of Fond du Lac had one of his letters reprinted in an 1859 Enterprize* after Governor Alexander Randall had called his attention to complaints against the Indians of Kewaunee County. Bonsteel passed off Randall's complaints saying the Indians in question were Pottawatomie who were "roving and strolling about" and not under his jurisdiction. But, Bonsteel said, he would forward complaints to the Indian Department in Washington, D.C. What happened then is anyone's guess.

The Pottawatomie have been gone from Kewaunee County for most of its 161 years of existence. There are places in the woods of Carlton where some say there is a feeling of reverence. There are places where pointing trees are still maintained. Burial grounds are remembered. The Pottawatomie are gone, they are not forgotten.


Note: *Spelling until 1865.
Map is in the author's collection.

Kewaunee County: Beer and a Good Cigar

Beer's importance to Kewaunee County's Belgian, German and Bohemian immigrant populations cannot be understated. At first it was homemade, but then came Pilsner and Lager.

John Powell and George Laux started a short-lived brewery in Ahnapee in 1866. Ahnapee Brewery came next. Kewaunee County had other breweries in Casco, Tisch Mills, Red River and Kewaunee. Some folks made their own, but fortune smiled on Ahnapee.

On September 1, 1869, the Kewaunee Enterprise announced the good news: Stransky and Siederman were beginning a new foundation on the south bank of the Ahnapee River near the center of town and Ahnapee was going to have a brewery! Plans included a 36' x 50', two-story building with two cellars of 50' long and 100' long. Capacity - 2,000 barrels of beer - was the best part. According to the paper, the brewery would be Wisconsin's most substantial.

When the newly organized Ahnapee Record wrote about the brewery in 1873, it was with pride that it pointed out the, then, three-story building. Owned by Wojta Stransky, Franz Swaty and Co., the brewery was the largest brick building in the county, as the courthouse had not been totally completed. Ahnapee's large brick brewery seemed to have been furnished with everything anybody could possibly want except for an ice house which wasn't built until 1880.

Beer bottles, originally developed in Milwaukee, made their way to Ahnapee and the flourishing brewing business. It wasn't long before more Milwaukee product made its way north. Ahnapee Brewery's end came in the mid-1880s when owner John Skala moved the building's contents to Menominee. By then Rahr and Hagemeister beers had become quite popular. As a 1900 era Hagemeister ad points out, their product was "pure wholesome family and lager beer."

Some saw Temperance as a problem, but it really didn't have much effect on Kewaunee County. Following the Civil War, the Good Templers Lodge was established by a large number of influential Ahnapee men and women including Judge Charles Boalt, DeWayne Stebbins, Simon Hall and Rufus Wing who was known as an advocate of Temperance since his arrival in 1860. Lodge #111 was the village's first Temperance movement, giving parties and masquerades in addition to other entertainments. It was pointed out that in Sweden it was forbidden to purchase alcoholic beverages unless a food purchase was made at the same time. The idea did not catch on in Ahnapee. However, the Enterprise opined that the Temperance Lodge was a "good move and should be sustained." Cream City House host Charles Hennemann must have been a part of the movement as he pointed out in a February 12, 1875 Sturgeon Bay Advocate ad that his hotel was a Temperance House.

Temperance was not held in high esteem by the vast majority of county residents and the Lodge and its movement eventually faded from the scene, though as late as 1909 St. Patrick's Temperance Society existed in Casco.

Sometimes Lager and Pilsner needed a little something to go with the brew, and that was a good cigar. Before 1900, cigars were manufactured in Ahnapee by such makers as Boalt, Neuzil, Rosenberg, Hagman and Boehm, and they made news.

Numbers of cigars smoked in Ahnapee were felt to be overwhelming by the editors of the Sturgeon Bay Advocate. Readership was told in September 1884 that 3,500 cigars had been consumed in Ahnapee during the previous week. Anyone who thought about it would have realized such a thing was nearly impossible.

As surprising as it is today, Wisconsin had 27,000 acres devoted to growing tobacco in 1885. Mr. Bastar said the following May that he was constructing a small addition to his hotel for use as F. Rosenberg's cigar factory. It was announced in 1897 that William Boalt's cigar factory manufactured more cigars than any other factory on the peninsula. His brands included Lake Shore League, The Air Ship, The North Star - called "the great wonder" - and Boalt's Plantation. During the same year, Mr. Benoit opened a small factory on Steele and just after that, J.H. Hagman of Iron Mountain rented the small building on 3rd, just behind Mike Melchior's store, for use as his cigar factory and residence. Hagman's tobacco was known to be purchased in Milwaukee. A few years later, in 1907, John Boehm was manufacturing cigars on Mill Street.

The brewery came to an end in the mid-1880s. Cigar manufacturing faded years later. The old brewery building was used for a number of manufacturing ventures including washing machines and folding chairs, but nothing really stuck until Dr. Charles Stiehl, who had been manufacturing cherry wine, purchased the building and refurbished it to the gem it is today. Von Stiehl wines - favorites across the country - are manufactured in the building which is on the Historic Register. As for the cigar factories, most of the buildings remain as shops or residences without a clue suggesting of their former use.

Note: The Hagemeister ad was found in Commercial History of Algoma, WI Vol. 2.