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HEBRON
Jefferson
County
Watertown Democrat, 10 15 1874
The
first steps toward the settlement of the town of Hebron, state of Wisconsin,
Jefferson County, was made by the Rock river claim company, who, December 20th,
1835, made a claim of about half a section of land on section 2, embracing a
water-power formed by Bark river. This
company consisted of sixteen persons, among whom were,
Solomon Juneau, Dwight Foster, Jonas Folts, Enoch G.
Darling, Elisha W. Ajitant David Sergeant, Milo
Jones, George Homer, Lu I. Barber, Daniel Wells, William Paine, William Brown,
Thomas Holmes and John Gale. The next
year the company commenced the erection of a sawmill, under the superintendence
of Alvin Foster .
And notwithstanding the many inconveniences resulting from high prices,
scarcity of provisions, and the difficulty of transportation, the company
pushed forward the enterprise. They
completed the mill in the fall and winter of 1836 and ‘37. In the spring of 1837, it was set an
operation by Enoch G. Darling, one of the company --
and took the name of the Bark River Mills.
The company continued the ownership until the fall of 1839, when it
passed into the hands of Daniel Wells, of Milwaukee; and subsequently into the
hands of the John F. Fields, the hand from him it was purchased,
About
this time, Horace Churchell, Cyrus Cushman, Samuel M.
Jones, and Darius F. Jones, settled in the town near the mills, but did not to
any extent turn their attention to farming -- the lumbering interest absorbing
their attention. From this time up to
the spring of 1842, the town was only visited by the inhabitants of the
surrounding prairies and openings on account of its lumbering interest, and by
the Indians in winter as a safe and comfortable retreat, and to hunt the deer
with which the woods abounded. In the
spring and fall of 1842, it commenced settling with great rigidity. The writer was among the first who commenced
a settlement east of Bark River, at a place known as Cushman’s Mills, in the fall
of 1842. My dwelling was a small log
cabin, near the banks of the Bark River.
I made a claim about 100 rods from my dwelling. The first meal I ate at my own board was off
the clean side of a basswood chip, near my shanty, beside a log heap fire, in a
snowstorm, with a jackknife for my carver, and never did a meal better
justice.
Here
the winter was spent isolated and alone.
Day after day passed, not a note was heard save the chirp of the winter
birds that were about me by day as I was felling the forest, and by night the
boding of owls and howling of wolves. I
was about four weeks at one time without seeing the face of a white man, my
nearest neighbor being about four miles.
Before winter closed, I had a number of neighbors from one to two miles
distant. The west side of the river
settled more rapidly -- marks of civilization were everywhere
visible, and the cultivation of the soil became an object of interest. .
The
town is now thickly settled, containing about 300 inhabitants. It is a beautiful glade of woodland,
interspersed with valuable marshes. Its
area is four and a half miles wide by six in length, formed from part of towns
five and six and lying between ranges 14 and 15. Schools became an object of early attention. The writer was one of the members that
districted the town, helped erect in the first school house, and taught as a
teacher the first school in the town.
There are now six schools. The
first public house was erected and kept by Solomon Ellis, in the summer of
1845. There are now six sawmills, two
blacksmiths shops, one store, and a fine grist mill in the town, erected by
Joseph Powers, designed for three run of stone.
The village is small, though flourishing, numbering about 100 to 200
inhabitants.
Ten
years have passed since the town of Hebron commenced its march in civilization,
and how changed the scene! Then we were
difficult of access, now we have good roads and bridges, then nearly half of
our products were consumed in marketing, now we can stand in our doors and hear
the snort of the iron horse, and his firm tread as he moves on in strength and
majesty, bearer of the varied products of our rich soil on an almost unbroken
track to the great metropolis of the union.
Then news reached us with a tardy step, now the telegraph is at our very
doors and we have intelligence just as quick as tap, tap, from all parts of the
union. -- -- -- Watertown Chronicle,
_________________________________________________________________________________
The
History of Hebron
Hebron, Wisconsin in 1847
[Jefferson County]
CROSS REFERENCE: Hebron – A Palestinian city
on the West Bank of the Jordan River; pop. 75,000.
Text derived from Rock
River Pilot [Watertown] issue of December 22, 1847 /
Map is contemporary.
To the Editor of the Rock
River Pilot:
Having been favored with your paper for a few weeks, I have
noticed with interest the descriptions which you have given of various towns in
Jefferson County, and as no one has yet brought the town of HEBRON into public
notice, I will attempt to give the Pilot
a brief description of the town.
It was organized by the Legislature in 1847 and is composed of
the south half of town six and the north part of town five, range fifteen –
Bark River and Scuppernong Creek being its southern boundary and separating it
from the town of Cold Spring. Onakick,
or Peel-Bark River is the Indian name.
This town has but recently been settled to any great
extent. Bark Mill, so called, was built
at an early day; and a few men who made lumbering their business were the first
pioneers to this beautiful and heavily timbered country.
Originally, all of the south part of this county was organized
as one town, called Bark River, containing 126 square miles. There is now no town bearing that name, but
in its place have arisen Cold Spring, Palmyra, Sullivan and Hebron [see four
arrows on above map].
Bark River enters the town at the northeast corner. Here is an extensive water-power, owned and
partly improved upon by Cyrus Cushman—a good saw-mill and turning lathe are in
full operation. Bark Mills, about three
miles southwest of Cushman’s Mill, is considered an excellent water-power, and
the proprietor, Mr. Joseph Powers, in an active, thorough-going mechanic, and
is preparing the way for extensive improvements. A good saw-mill, lathe mill and turning shop
are already in operation and in a short time we expect to see a flouring mill
erected, and salaeratus [saleratus: sodium bicarbonate used in cookery; baking
soda] is manufactured to some extent.
The site is good and we expect at no distant day to see it a
prosperous village. It is situated about
40 miles west of Milwaukee, and about 44 east of Madison – a direct road
connecting the two points passes through the center of the town. We have a post office, called Bark River
P.O., and at our elections poll about 100 votes, and have a population of
nearly 1000.
Our town is small, but has resources which must make it one of
the first towns in the county.
– S. T. C.,
Hebron, Dec. 13, 1847.
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The Water Powers of
Wisconsin by Leonard Sewall Smith, 1906.
Bark River rises in the southern part of Washington County in a
small lake of same name. Its drainage
area is 460 square miles. After a very circuitous course of 50 miles, it joins Rock
River at Ft. Atkinson. Bark and
Oconomowoc Rivers flow practically parallel to each other and only two to five
miles apart for the upper half of their length.
This river has a total fall of 190 feet or, 3.8 feet per mile, 100 feet
of which is found in the 20 miles above Crooked Lake. Like the Oconomowoc, Bark River drains eight
or more large lakes, four of which are simply expansions of the river.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The
History of Hebron
(As Written for the Jefferson County Union on January 19, 1900)
It was snowing briskly Monday morning the 15th, causing the men
of the milk can to seek shelter within the factory. Jim, taking the only chair
near the stove, said, "This reminds me of the weather of 1847, as the
people were all torn up about the division of the town
of Bark River. The territorial
legislature of 1846 passed an act taking three towns from Bark River; the town
of Sullivan, the town of Palmyra and the town of Tunbridge.
The latter was town 6, range 15 east,
now the north half of Hebron and the east part of Jefferson, leaving town 5,
range 15 east, as Bark River.
“This division was not satisfactory to the people of Bark River,
as there was a continuous jangle between the residents living east and west of
the river (Bark). Brinks Mills wish to
be considered the hub, while denizens on the west side were just as strenuous
for Bark Mills. While the two towns were
together in 1846, the town meeting was held at Brink Mills, and a compromise
ticket elected, namely: Jonas Folts, chairman; Elijah
T. Williams, Samuel Wing, supervisors; Ebenezer Giles, town clerk; D. B. Peck,
J. K. Pike, P.A. Feuner, justices of the peace;
Nelson Fryer, assessor; Noah Grover, collector; Isaac Joslin,
Noah Grover and Elijah Higgins, constables.
The residents on the west side of the river secured nine of the twelve
officers.
“The act creating the town of Tunbridge, designated the
house of Cyrus Cushman as the place for holding the first town meeting. Willard Grant was moderator of the meeting;
Stephen Benjamin McCune, clerk. (He is
the octogenarian of Whitewater, whose white whiskers are turning black). The supervisors elected were: Samuel T.
Clothier, chairman, S.B. McCune, John Jackson; town clerk, Edward F. Hutchins;
road commissioners, Rufus H. Parker, Daniel Marble and Spencer Thayer;
collector, William Reynolds; treasurer, H.J. Munroe.
“All of the officers lived on the south line of the town and on
the Fort road, and out-voting the Cushman contingent, and locating the next
meeting at the Munroe school house, which never occurred, as measures were on
the table that ended the town of Tunbridge. There were numerous meetings held by the
people of the two towns. Some at Brinks Mills and some at Bark Mills, and the
question agitated of dividing the town of Bark River.
Some were opposed.
“A petition that was numerously signed,
was to divide the town of Tunbridge, taking the south
half, and all of Bark River east of the river for a town, and all west of the
river for another, and attaching the north half of Tunbridge
to Jefferson. This prevailed. Laws were passed in accordance with the
prayer of the petitioners. There was a
great time in selecting a name. Meetings
were held to select names. Most every one suggested a
name.
“An adjournment was had to the Munroe school house for the next week. The night
agreed upon was a rainy one, and only three put in an appearance, namely,
Samuel T. Clothier, Wm. R. Case and J.R. Van Norman. A weekly singing school
was held at the school house, and the singing books left on the desks. The trio were all
singers, and to while away the time opened singing books, and sang piece after
piece, among the Hebron. They sang the
tune once, then again and again, at the suggestion of Clothier, who remarked,
‘I like this tune, and I think the name a good name for our town.’
“To this the others agreed, so says Case, and the report went
out that the adjourned meeting, to select a name, for the new town, had agreed
upon the name of Hebron. The name met
with favor, and the sentiment of the community was crystallized into law. Cold Spring was created and named the same
session, the name of Bark River disappearing, as the name of a town, likewise Tunbridge. An old
timer said, ‘There were many laughable features about the naming of the
town.’ The late Joseph Green suggested
the name of Greenbush, but was jumped upon.
It was claimed he wanted to hand down his name, and that of ten
children. N. P. Parsons was not in favor
of having two towns, and he proposed a name for the sections lying
each side of the river, "Uni," a
contraction of you and I.
“The first town meeting of the town of Hebron was held April,
7th, 1847. Samuel T. Clothier, Enos J. Higbee, Seth Peter, supervisors; Seth Peter, town clerk;
John Burnham, treasurer; committee of highways, Daniel Marble, Gideon Leavitt
and Corydon Culver."
"Well, well," says Jim, "This meeting has been a
little bit dry, but its OK for all that, for by and
by we old fellows will pass in our checks, and if some fellow a hundred years from
now will want to know about things, why if we get what we know in print, it may
be a help. Why, down East in
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and other New England states fellows are digging up
all the old historical facts that they can relating to
early settlements. It is all right to do
so. Now, I think of it, I will at our next meeting, which will be held on the
next stormy Monday morning, tell you about matters in Dixieland, when I was a
prisoner of war. Just the diet I had
that reduced my avoirdupois [weight] from 200 lbs. to less than 90 lbs. in six
months. It will be truthful and not over
drawn, as I have been cudgeling my memory as to dates, for a little time and I
think at our next meeting you will hear from me."