Red River Township and the Two Darbellays.....

Friend Sally lives near one of Kewaunee County's tiniest, but most well-known, communities. For most, it is a 45 mph limit nuisance with a tavern. Sally mused that if she lived near Darbellay, she wouldn't even know it. But, does she know that she lives near Rushford and Royal Creek which disappeared before Joseph Wery even thought of naming his area - nearly 25 miles north - Darbellay? And, Darbellay? There were two of them!

The first Darbellay was actually a postal community that opened on March 16, 1874 in the SW 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Section 21 in the Town of Red River. Joseph Wery requested the office which brought business to his store, the site of the office. That office closed on January 1, 1875 and was relocated to Thiry Daems where Constant Thiry became the postmaster. It took Wery until July 7, 1887 to establish the second post office to be called Darbellay and in the same location. That Darbellay was closed in 1904 with the advent of Rural Free Delivery in Kewaunee County.

Darbellay appears in Wisconsin's 1901-1902 business directory. It was in the approximate area of the intersection of today's Kewaunee County Highways S and SS, an area of cornfields. There isn't even a 45 mph sign. Why Darbellay when Wery could have easily named the spot for himself? Joseph Darbellay was a Kewaunee resident who was appointed a postal inspector in 1867. More importantly, he was in charge of relief work following the horrendous Peshtigo fire in 1871. The fire ravished much of the northern portion of Kewaunee County, especially the towns of Red River and Lincoln. The high esteem in which area residents held Darbellay is evident in the naming of the postal community.

If Sally should venture north to find Darbellay, she won't find a 45 mph sign marking the community, but she will find corn growing on some of the finest farms around.

Silver Creek: Where Did It Go?

Silver Creek was so tiny that using the word "hamlet" implies too much. Had it been settled by Germans, such words as "dorf" or "flecken" might have been an appropriate  part of its name, which now indicates an area north of Algoma, but then Wolf River.

James Norman purchased 58 ½ acres in Section 7 of the Town of Ahnapee at the mouth of Silver Creek from the federal government in 1855. One acre was set aside for the school that became known as Woodside and ½ acre for a burying ground. Captain Zeb Shaw’s grave is about all that remains visible in the old cemetery.

Early businessman Albert Wells built a pier a few hundred feet out into water deep enough to allow sail boats in to load wood products. Pine, hemlock, cedar and hardwood was brought to the pier by oxen or horse drawn sleds and loaded onto schooners to be shipped, primarily, to Chicago markets. In the early days, the highway called County S did not exist. The road going out from (then) Ahnapee turned east at the Shaw farm, now the intersection of County Highways S and U, and followed the lakeshore most of the way to Sturgeon Bay, thus avoiding swampland. 

Captain Zeb Shaw was Silver Creek’s third resident and surely the most illustrious. Born in Nova Scotia in 1815, he married in Memphis and met and sailed with George Fellows, Sr. in Chicago. Shaw arrived in Wolf River, now Algoma, in 1851 and began hauling wood products. Later he relocated to the farm that remained in the family for well over 100 years. Eventually Shaw carried mail between Ahnapee and Two Rivers. Shaw and Fellows’ son Charles had a significant historical impact on Silver Creek, the village of Foscoro, now Stony Creek, and the Town of Ahnapee in general.

Today it is difficult to believe that Mrs. Perry Austin operated a restaurant a short distance from the mouth of the river or that the area had its own post office. Theodore Tronson used windmills to provide power to his sawmill business and Charles Serrahn built a cheese factory, the area’s last place of business. There is no sign of the pier or any of the other businesses in another of Kewaunee County’s long-forgotten early villages.

When Captain Shaw's son Moses applied to the federal government for a post office, the request was honored and the office opened on March 13, 1899. It was discontinued on November 15, 1902 when its papers were sent to Algoma. Moses Shaw was its only postmaster. Following the example set by his father and grandfather, Norman Shaw retired from Algoma post office in 1958.

Note: The map is part of Moses Shaw's request for a post office. It has been taken from Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County.

Conflagration at Forest Hill.......

Forest Hill in the eastern-most part of Town of Carlton numbers among Kewaunee County’s long forgotten communities. Forest Hill, in Section 7 along Lake Michigan, was completely destroyed by fire on June 26, 1864. U.S. Post Office Department records indicate the place was also called Carlton, and one of the two places known as Sandy Bay.

Two conflagrations that come to mind when one thinks of such destruction in Kewaunee County are the Peshtigo fire of 1871 and the 1898 fire within the City of Kewaunee. However there were others. Perhaps it was because fewer people were affected, or maybe it was due to the era's primitive communications that these fires don’t have much of a place in county history.

Throughout May and June 1864 forest fires raged all over the county.Thousands of dollars were lost in the burned timber lands. Finally, fire destroyed Forest Hill.

Fire had been ravaging the woods near the small community for several days. Its residents had been working day and night to keep the fires at bay but then, just as in the Peshtigo fire years later, it was a strong wind - a south wind - that brought the fire into the small village destroying the entire settlement’s 25 buildings in less than an hour. Saving anything was nearly impossible. Some families threw whatever they could over the lake bank while they themselves were escaping to safety. A team of horses hauling water for Dean and Borland was cut off from safety and perished in the fire, as did dogs, pigs and other animals.

Villagers spent that Sunday night on the beach. As soon as the news got out, teams were sent from Kewaunee to get women and children, however most preferred to stay until they could plan for themselves. Area residents sent food and whatever they could.

Dean and Borland’s store, sawmill, warehouses, 12,000,000 shingles, 1,000 cords of wood, wagons, sleds and more were destroyed. Even the bridge pier that extended hundreds of feet into Lake Michigan was consumed by the fire.

The loss of the pier meant a loss of shipping, but Dean and Borland rebuilt. Forest Hill never regained its economic importance and faded into the annals of history along with Carlton Pier and Dean’s Pier, later names for the same place.

Ironically, seven years later, the Peshtigo fire also occurred on the Lord's Day.

Note: The above photo was taken from Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County.

Kewaunee County and the Election of 1860

Hundreds of thousands of vacationers will travel to Mount Rushmore this summer. Visitors will marvel over the history and the four presidents whose heads are carved 60' tall into the South Dakota mountain.

One hundred fifty two years ago, few residents of Kewaunee County would have believed such a thing would have ever taken root. Abraham Lincoln was not popular in Kewaunee County. He was most unpopular in Red River. When the town's votes were counted for the 1860 election, of the 105 votes cast, Lincoln received only one.

Abraham Lincoln was nominated as the Republican candidate on May 18, 1860, though the news didn't reach Kewaunee County until  the Racine came in on the 22nd. Capt. Smith brought newspapers that were read and reread. Kewaunee County's few Republicans, led by Kewaunee's James Slausson and J.R. McDonald of Ahnapee, were enthusiastic about Lincoln's nomination while Democrats were enthusiastic Douglas men who felt a compromise with the South could be reached. John Breckenridge, the third candidate who ran as an Ultra Democrat, represented Southern Democrats. Though Breckenridge had no following within Kewaunee County, he came in third place nationally behind Lincoln and Douglas, a Northern Democrat. Breckenridge finished second in the Electoral College vote.

Election day 1860 dawned crisp and clear. Lincoln and the Republican ticket carried the small village of Kewaunee by a mere seven ballots, 76-69. Lincoln carried Pierce Town by even fewer votes. Three. However, it was his opponent Stephen A. Douglas who swept the county of 5,530 persons - most of whom were women and children - by 362 votes. Little did county residents know until a week later that Lincoln had been elected. Then they thought of the great internal conflict facing the country.

When Congress met in Washington on December 3, 1860, South Carolina had already passed an ordinance of secession following the confirmation of Lincoln's election. President James Buchanan's cabinet was in a state of flux while the citizens of Kewaunee County nervously awaited steamers bringing newspapers. It was February when South Carolina's ultimatum demanding all federal property in the state be turned over to the state government.

Members of both political parties attended the Union meetings that were held in some of the larger cities. "Save the Union at all hazards" was the slogan.  As Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, Kewaunee County Republicans and Democrats gathered to celebrate in Kewaunee. When Editor Garland wrote about the event, he said it was "a scene of beauty and splendor never before seen in this part of the state.* Eight days later, county residents were able to read President Lincoln's inaugural address when Ahnapee merchant David McCummins brought a copy of the Evening Wisconsin from Milwaukee.

When Algoma's John Densow died in October 1916, he had the distinction of being the last county person on the ticket that included Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was at the head of the ballot while Densow was at the bottom. He was running for coroner.

*Kewaunee County was  2 months short of its 9th anniversary when Garland made the comment.

Kewaunee County and the Civil War, 6

Historian George Wing said the news about Fort Sumter caused tobacco smoke at Ahnepee's Tremont and Kenosha Houses to thicken while William Nelson was scratching his bald spot, DeWayne Stebbins kept going to the tobacco box to fill his pipe and Judge Boalt kept nervously wiping his spectacles.

Hamp Smith took the news home to Hall's Mill and Bill Fagg went to Forestville the next day. Wing said that when the spring winds blew and the boats came in on the April 20th, throngs of people from Clay Banks, Silver Creek, Forestville and from the English, German and Belgian settlements came to Ahnapee to hear the news. By then there was also news of street fighting in Baltimore and the capture of Fort Pickens.

As nervous as Ahnapee's citizens continued to be, it was in August that Peter Schiesser told the Enterprize's Editor Dexter Garland that the war had little effect on Ahnapee. He went on to say that Boalt, McCummins and Strong were doing good business, new buildings were going up and Youngs was shipping large quantities of wood products for which he was being paid in gold.

Following the fall of Fort Sumter, President Lincoln asked for 75,000 soldiers for a three-month enlistment. A week later, Governor Randall issued a call and raised more volunteers - 36 companies - than the Union army would accept. Counting on a war of three months or less, Secretary of War Cameron advised cancelling all enlistments beyond one regiment, but the governor kept organizing regiments for the reserve.

By early May 1861, Col. J.C. Starkweather's 1st Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers was raised and uniformed at Milwaukee. Col. S, Park Coon's 2nd Regiment was at Madison and ready to respond. The 30th, 40th and 42nd Wisconsin were 90-day regiments, however things changed and the 43rd Wisconsin became a three year regiment.

Edward Decker served as president of a September 11, 1861 enthusiastic war meeting at Brandeis Hall in Kewaunee held to encourage enlistments. Math Simon was one of a committee of five appointed at the meeting, held in both German and English, to look after the destitute families of volunteers.

Privates were paid $13.00 per month plus $5.00 for their families. One hundred dollars in gold was to be paid upon honorable discharge and, based on other wars, the men felt they would probably also receive 100 acres of land. Then the Enterprize announced Congress raised pay to $15.00 in an effort to attract those with war experience. Fifteen dollars a month plus clothing and rations, in addition to the bounty, seemed to be a good deal.

Following the Battle of Bull Run, often called Manassas, Manitowoc's Carl Schmidt opened an office to recruit for the 9th Wisconsin, which was to be a German regiment ordered by the Adjutant General. Commanded by Col. Frederick Salomon, the regiment was expected to be attached to General Fremont's division in Missouri. It was said that volunteering was a way to demonstrate patriotism. Recruiting officers continued to come to Kewaunee County and when Manitowoc's Lt. George Waldo began organizing a company, he even brought a brass band.


From An-An-api-sebe, Where is the River (the history of what is now Algoma, Wisconsin from 1851-1897.)

Note: Enterprize was spelled as such until 1865 when it was renamed Enterprise. Ahnepee became Ahnapee in 1873, somewhat of an "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" as the State of Wisconsin consistently spelled it.

Chadwick Swindles McDonald.......

Ahnapee was home to transient woodsmen and sailors during the winters. Drinking, card playing and horseplay figured highly among the men's activities.

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, residents thought he might be a useful member of society. Chadwick became quite popular when he let it slip that 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 the builders a $10,000 draft, Chadwick had McDonald and Mr. 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. But 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 McDonald and Osborn were on the way home, knowing McDonald had been swindled as Chadwick was without friends in Chicago. Upon reaching Racine, McDonald hired a fast team to take them 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. And, Captain Bill paid all of Chadwick's bills.

Rostok, A Crossroads Community...........

With travel in the land-locked areas of Kewaunee County – areas away from Lake Michigan – limited to horse and buggy or foot power, crossroad settlements sprang up to meet the need for essential services. Rostok, located in Pierce Town south of Alaska on Highway 42 between Algoma and Kewaunee, was one of these. Rostok’s early residents named it for the city in their German homeland.

Generally, such strategically placed settlements offered overnight accommodations for the traveling public. Most often here was a tavern, dance hall and the store, which usually held the post office, a livery barn, a cheese factory, often a school and sometimes a blacksmith shop.

As early as 1876, Rostok had most of these services. The tavern-dance hall in the photo was originally named the Pierce House as this early 1900 postcard illustrates. The young woman in the photo could be Ida Ousten Skala, wife of Joseph Skala who is possibly the young man on the right. Their wedding photo was taken in front of the Pierce House within the same time period. It was the Skalas who owned the establishment, though a closer look at the bench reveals the name W.J. Marek. Skala's place is still remembered by Kewaunee County residents as Butch Van’s, site of hundreds of wedding receptions, anniversaries, banquets and political meetings.

More well known as the Vans, the Vanderbloemen family remodeled and updated the above building many times over the years. Eventually Vans bought the cheese factory and cheese maker’s home, tearing down the buildings to use the property as a parking lot. The north end of the building above housed the dance hall. That section was torn down in 1992. Though remodeled, the lines of the original structure are visible to those traveling 42 who see a sign indicating Rostok and wonder what it is. Pots R Us occupies the Pierce House today.

The once bustling hamlet has disappeared from Kewaunee County’s landscape just as other places known as Pleasant View, Footbridge, Foscoro, Darbellay, Peot and more.

Always Taxes.........

“Always taxes,” bemoaned the Kewaunee Enterprise editor in a February 1870 edition of the paper. Twenty years later, Kewaunee’s New Era carried the county’s statistics for 1891 when County Clerk William Rogers compiled the following information for the City of Ahnapee, now Algoma. Its 1890 population stood at 1,015.

Collective value of the 140 horses found in the city was $6,150 for an average of $43.92 each. The 179 head of cattle averaged $11.96 each, however the city’s lone mule’s value was $15. Sheep and lambs, pigs, carriages and sleighs were assigned values. Pianos and melodeons had a total value of $2,252 while 74 gold watches came to $820. Merchandise and manufacturing stock amounted to $54,799, whereas the aggregate value of all city lots, including real and personal property, came to $288,830. Property as equalized by the Board of Review totaled $306,386.

Ahnapee’s farm grown products were measured in bushels and included 805 bushels of potatoes. Though oats, barley and wheat were grown within the city, corn was not. Root crops, apples, clover, timothy, flax, hops and tobacco were not measured, but the Enterprise pointed out that Red River grew 4,000 bushels of tobacco. At the same time the Town of Ahnapee produced 220,500 pounds of cheese. Only Carlton Town processed more.

When taxes were levied, state taxes and loans came to $597.50 for the city. School taxes amounted to a few dollars less at $546.19. Current expenses were $953.08 although there was nothing listed for road, bridge and poll taxes. One hundred dollars was included for the poor in both the city and town. In total, Ahnapee’s entire tax burden came to $3918.42, a figure many today pay in property taxes alone.


Always taxes? Some things never change.

Shoemaking in Slovan.........

Harold Heidmann snapped this photo of Slovan cobbler Anton Sisel in the late 1930's. The picture can be found in the collections at Algoma Public Library.

Tell people that Kewaunee County had a number of shoe manufactories in years gone by and you’ll see some raised eyebrows. Many remember Reinhart’s shoe store in Algoma. It had its beginning as Reinhart and Melchior’s manufactory and appears on fire maps as a shoe factory. Ballering's three-story building still stands on the southeast corner of Milwaukee and Harrison Streets in Kewaunee but Pavlik’s huge building in Stangelville is long gone. The four Pavlik brothers took their shoemaking skills to other Wisconsin communities when the Stangelville business failed to provide a living. Anton Sisel’s Slovan shoemaking shop was moved in 1983 to Old World Wisconsin where an interpreter demonstrates the art of shoe making while reflecting on the county’s Bohemian heritage.

Anton Sisel’s was born on the ocean in 1857 when his father Frank and mother came to America. The family eventually got to the Slovan area, known then as Ripley’s Corners.  Anton apprenticed in Kewaunee with John Bangert, whose wife was Theodora Ballering. Following the apprenticeship, Sisel returned to his tiny community and began making and repairing shoes. It was a time when the area was experiencing the heyday of its commercial growth.

What is now Slovan had little identify before the coming of a post office in 1878. The post office gave the place its name. In the late 1870’s Joseph Ouradnik was running monthly cattle fairs that brought crowds of people from as far as Green Bay. Ouradnik operated the village’s only general store and was the postmaster. Albert Dworzak was the cheese maker. There was a hotel, church, school and saloon. After Sisel set up his shop, he married Ouradnik’s daughter, however by 1910, the market for custom made shoes was disappearing and Sisel turned to harness work, selling ready-made shoes and shoe repair.

Though Sisel retired in 1938, the Kewaunee County Bohemian shoemaker and his craft live on in the park which also reflects county Norwegians. A fence from the Merlin Knutson farm near Bolt surrounds a Norwegian cabin. Not to be outdone, Green Bay’s Heritage Hill showcases the Ryan cheese factory and the Massart farm, formerly of Rosiere. Even closer is the Ag Heritage Resources farm just south of Kewaunee. It will not be long before they are all open.


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A Wrestling Powerhouse......

                                  Luxemburg High School 1939 Wrestling Team

Luxemburg-Casco high school is known throughout Wisconsin for its wrestling teams. What few know is that it all began because of the curiosity of young George Gregor, from the Town of Lincoln, who went on to become Luxemburg’s high school principal.

As a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1920, Gregor happened to peak in an open doorway of the old red armory on Madison’s Lake Mendota. What he saw was Coach George Hitchcock and the UW wrestling team. Hitchcock invited Gregor to don a suit and work out. Gregor continued the work-outs and won an all university tournament that same year. As a freshman he was ineligible for intercollegiate competitions.

Gregor joined the Luxemburg faculty four years later, in 1924, as an ag teacher who taught biology, physics, general science and geometry. He also started the wrestling team with boys named Gashe, Kollross, Boness and Nellis. Mats were about the only expense, but Gregor felt they need not be pretentious. After all his boys wrestled at home in the hay or on turf

While in the early days few schools had teams, Luxemburg had two matches a year with Green Bay East and West and Sevastopol, another of today’s well-known programs. By the 1940’s Neenah had a team though after Luxemburg trounced them 27 – 6, Neenah never asked for another match.

During Gregor’s days at Madison, the wrestlers went 12 minutes straight with two additional three minute periods. In his first years at Luxemburg, matches were a straight seven minutes.

Luxemburg was one of the first schools in this part of the state to offer wrestling. It’s been a successful part of the athletic program ever since.

Picture identification: Top: George Gregor, 1939 State Heavyweight Champion Lee Hoppe, former Green Bay mayor Sam Halloin, Gaylord Ropson. Seated, Irvin Jonet, Francis Seidl, Elmer Frisque, Nelson Frisque and Marvin Sell. The photo is believed to be from Algoma Record Herald.