“Memories of Early Days”
by
Melinda Ann Warren Weaver,
Darlington Wis., December 21, 1875
Transcribed and Edited by Michael R. Reilly
Last Revised 07/17/2014
The Journey From Home
I was born in the town of Augusta, county of Oneida andstate of New York, and had always lived there until I was twenty-four years old[Editor’s Note: She was born February 25, 1813 in Augusta, Oneida, New York, and died October 24, 1886, daughter of DANIELWARREN.].My husband was born in England, and lived there until he was twenty-two. Afterour marriage he often had a touch of the Western fever, (as the phrase was in those days), but it did not meet my mind exactly to leave theold place with all the comforts and conveniences, and high privileges that weenjoyed, neither could I make up my mind to leave my parents, brothers andsisters and many other relatives and friends, until the summer of 1836, when we had a flattering account of Wisconsin, andparticularly on Milwaukee, sent to us by a brother-in-law [David Bonham] of my husband who wentto Milwaukee from our place in the spring, he seemed to think he had found theright place in the spring, just the place for young people to commence life inearnest, and make homes for themselves and families.
That part of the territory that he had been to look at, and where he had madehis claim, was situated about eighteen miles west of Milwaukee. Was verypleasant, just rolling enough to be healthy, plenty of wood, some prairie andopenings, so that it would be very easy to clear a farm, and large marshes wheregrass grew in abundance, that would supply both green feed and hay, to feed suchanimals as would be necessary for people to have on the land; in fact, it seemedto him an earthly paradise, and he seemed to think it would be best for us, andall of our family that he was connected with, to sell what we could not takewith us conveniently, and come to this fair haven, the land of promise and rest.The western fever again began to manifest in the mind of my husband and also ofone of my brother. My husband made up his mind almost immediately to settle hisaffairs and make ready as fast as possible to move, and to try the “farwest” as it was then called. I then began to think seriously on thesubject, and we began to talk about it thoughtfully and seriously, and finallyconcluded that as we had no home of our own, as we lived on a hired farm, that perhaps we had better tryto make us a home in a new county, and when our brother [Editor’s note: James, brother of John Weaver] knew what we had made up our minds to do, told us hewas in the same mind himself if he could only be satisfied that he should likethe new country as well as his brother-in-law appeared to, but he had a largefamily and did not like to risk pulling up stakes and going so far, until hecould have more than one person’s opinion and advice on the subject, and wasanxious that his own relatives should go first and if they liked it and thoughtwe would stay, he would if possible, come to us in the spring, but if we did notlike it and thought it best to come back in the spring, which we could not dountil the opening of navigation, that he would pay our expenses back, as he saidit would be an advantage to him to do this rather than to go with his largefamily and then perhaps not be satisfied and think best to go back, and if wewould go ahead he would do all he could to help us getready, so that we might start early enough to get through before the closing ofnavigation, as we had to sail up the chain of lakes from Buffalo to Milwaukee,and where we had a good deal to do to get ready for the journey.
We only allowed ourselves one month to sell off what wehad to sell, and to make ready for the start. My husband sold his crops on thenground, except wheat and barley, which were harvested. There were potatoes,hops, and corn not harvested, besides a good, large and fine vegetablegarden and some fruit. He also has a yoke of oxen and one horse and a number ofcows, a flock of sheep, a number of swine and farming utensils, which all soldto good advantage. We sold some of our household furniture and some we saved tobring with us. My husband thought of doing as his-brother-in-law (Editor’s note:David Bonham) did, that was to sell all our furniture to save the trouble andexpense of moving it so far, but I would not consent to that, for I thought thatwhat we did take with us of household goods, that it was almost certain weshould have to do without for several years, and that it would be lesstrouble in the end and more convenient for us if we took some furniture, it ifwas but a few pieces, than to leave all behind, and not be able to replace itwhen we got to housekeeping again, which surely would have been the case, for wedid not see the time for several years that we felt able to buy anything but thebarest necessities of life for ourselves and children, and oftentimes had tomake up our minds to go without many things that we could wish to have and feltthe need of.
Well, after all this preamble, and it might be thoughtunnecessary and not a very interesting introduction, perhaps, to say so much asto the narrator and him who participated together in all these events of ourearly life, but it is interesting for us to look back for nearly forty years andthink and talk over our troubles and trials that we passes through at times, andthe comforts and pleasures that we experienced at other times likewise merciesand blessings, which we acknowledge and fell thankful for,as coming from the hand of our Heavenly Father, whose loving kindness andcondescending goodness we always felt it our duty and privilege to acknowledge,and after all this, as I have said, I feel like relating some of the particularsof our journey, which to me are very interesting, as I hadnever been over forty miles from my native town.
The first day of September, 1836, we left our parents,brothers and sisters and many other relatives, friends and neighbors, and bidgood bye to our old home, and to all the was near and dear to us, and with oursmall children, a son and daughter, we started on our journey. Slowand tedious was the way of traveling in those days, compared with the faster andmuch more comfortable way of the present, when we have railroads on which weride in comfortable carriages, drawn by the steam engine, or the iron horse, asit is often called and can get over as much land in twodays as in three weeks at that time, and when we started from our old home wehad to go fourteen miles to a place called Lenox Basin [Madison County, New York], and then go on a canalboat to Buffalo. Two teams conveyed us, with our luggage to Lennox, where wewaited two hours for a boat, and so anxious were we to beon the way that we went on board the first boat that came along, and so slow didwe travel or move along, that we were from Thursday noon until the next Tuesdaymorning at two o’clock going to Buffalo. The time seemed long for the Captainhad told us that he expected to get here in three days. We had to go on thesteamboat Monroe at eight o’clock that morning, a boatthat only ran to and from Buffalo to Detroit, and just as our goods were beingmoved from one boat to the other, we were told that if we had Eastern bills wemust exchange them for Western money, for Eastern money would not pass when wewent farther west, so my husband left me to see that the goods were put on theboat all right, and be ready with the children to go on board with him when hereturned, and went to change his money with three other men who were on the boatat the same time. There was a bell to ring three timesbefore the boat should start, and there was to be fifteen minutes between thefirst and second bell, and then fifteen again between the second and third, andthen in five minutes the boat was to start, and as the second bell was ringingthere were three young men, and took my children and theother led me on a long single plank, right over the deep water to the steamboat.I was worried about my husband for fear that the boat would be off before hecame back, and I did not know how I should manage to get along with my littleones, but when the third and last bell began to ring, hecame, but only just in time not to be left. He changed his money, but he mightas well have saved himself the trouble, for when we got to Milwaukee, theEastern money was considered the best. We were fortunate, however, and did notlose ours.
We were hoping to get to Detroit in time to start fromthere on a boat that was advertised to go out on Wednesday evening, and boundfor Milwaukee, but were from eight o’clock Tuesday morning until two o’clockThursday afternoon before landing, and the steamboat had gone the eveningbefore, and we could neither see nor hear of any vessel that was going out for aweek, so we went to a hotel expecting to have to wait a week, but there came upa heavy thunder storm just at night, the rain seemed to fairly pour, and thewater ran like a river down the streets, the wind blowing fearfully, and aboutmidnight there was a schooner driven into the harbor. It had come from Sackett’sHarbor, up through the Welland Canal, and was bound for Chicago, laden withgoods for that place and Milwaukee, but was to be sold there and not taken backthat fall, and as we were anxious to go along, we made upour minds to Chicago on this schooner, Alleghan she was called, and from theretake some vessel to Milwaukee. We went on board about noon on Friday, expectingto go immediately, but after all we did not go out until Saturday at 4 o’clock.The wind being in the right direct and brisk, we expected to get of the pointoff Huron about nine o’clock. The Captain went to bed early so as to take histurn on the watch at midnight, and gave orders to the sailors to lay anchor,when we got to this point, until morning, but we got there sooner than weexpected, and the first we knew we had run on a sand bar and stuck fast, and hadto lay there still until morning.
As soon as it was day light the men went to work to getthe vessel off the sand bar so that she could sail again, as the weather wasfair and the wind favorable to take us along on our way; but it was threeo’clock in the afternoon before the vessel was liberated, and we sailed onlyabout an hour before the wind went down, and we had to lay there still until thenext day at three o’clock when a steamboat came puffing along and took ourschooner on one side and the brig Illinois on the other, and towed both vesselsabout six miles, around a point called Fiddler’s Elbow, where the wind was allright to take us along again. The Illinois was a large brig, and lay about ahalf mile from us in the same predicament that we were in, and could not sailfor want of wind. It was quite a novelty to some of us passengers that had neverbeen on the lake before, to be helped along in that style, but very convenientwhen we had no other way of moving on the face of the deep, and were anxious tobe on our way. When we had turned the point our two captains paid the captain ofthe steamboat forty dollars each for his services, and then he bade us good-bye,wheeled around and went in another direction, and left us, being soon out ofsight. The brig sailed faster than we did and was nearly lost to our view beforedark.
As for our little vessel, she sailed only about two hours when the wind againceased and left us still again on the bosom of the lake, where we had to layagain for twenty-four hours before there was any wind to move us at all, andthat was as much headway as we made all the way from Detroit to Milwaukee, andeven more than we made some of the way, for we lay threedays in one place by the shore of the Manitou Islands and withina mile of the shore. There were five families of us, besides the captain,his mates, men, cook and assistant, and a dozen or more of youngsingle people. The most of them went ashore in the course of time thatwe lay here all but an old lady seventy years old, another lady who wassick, and myself and my two children. I did not care to go to the islandin the jolly boat.
We made such poor headway that we all became discouraged.The captain told us when we had only been two or threedays from Detroit that as we had never seen Milwaukee, andwould like to see it, and as he found that he had about adozen passengers that were going there, and that if the windand weather was favorable, he would try and land us there and not takeus to Chicago. We were all pleased with that idea but so slow did wemove that we almost despaired of getting to our journey’s end before navigationwould close for the season. When we first started from Detroitthe captain told us that if we had good weather and favorable wind,and didn’t get taken by pirates, he hoped to get us to Chicago in aweek. We all thought he was joking about the pirates, but he said that itwas no joke at all, for there had been a pirate vessel on the lakes thatsummer, and that vessel had been taken by authority and the men arrestedand tired, but as nothing could be fairly proved against them theywere set free, but had been closely watched, and be verily believed thatthey were pirates, but he hoped that he should be able to keep out oftheir way.
One morning not long after this conversation, the captainwas on deck just as it was light enough to see plainly, and he discovered astrange looking vessel laying quite still in a little nook or bay, close up to abank that lay about a quarter of a mile to the left of us, and he called theattention of his mates and men to it. Very soon the passengers were all astirand gazing at it. The captain did not like the looks of it. He said that he hada list and description of every vessel that had gone on before him for the lastmonth, but had not the description of any such vessel as that.
When we passed it there was no sail to be seen, nor smoke,nor the least sign of life. The captain kept watch of it,and so did the passengers. We had not got more than half amile past it, when all at once we saw smoke, and in ashorter space of time than it takes me to write it, sailswent up, the vessel whirled around, headed toward us and sailed alongin our track as if it were chasing us, and kept right along in thatcourse until three o’clock in the afternoon, when very soon after welost sight of her. The captain, however, kept close watch, and when hewent to his meals one of his mates watched. Sometimes we sailed so fastas to leave her so far in the distance as to look like a mere speck onthe water, and then at times she gained upon us. And came so near thatwe could see her very plainly. About noon the captain ordered his mento clew and load all the guns belonging to the vessel, and have them readyfor use in case that it might be necessary, and likewise requested thepassengers who had guns with them to do the same. When they were loadingthe guns the captain saw that some of the ladies as well as some ofthe gentlemen showed signs of being timid and somewhat frightened, he laughedat their fears, and pretended that he did not feel in the least alarmed,and only gave those orders just to see what effect it would haveon the men, and professed to be very sorry that he had alarmed the ladies.But I watched him and could see that he did not feel very easy; onthe contrary, he seemed to be very much concerned, and instead of goingto rest at his usual early hour to be ready for his turn on his nightwatch, as he did every night, he stayed upon deck and watched all night.But we never heard any more of the pirate vessel.
The time passed about as it usually had since thecommencement of our journey, sometimes sailing along quitefast, but oftener laying still, until the twenty-fifth ofthe month. We had been laying still for nearly two dayswhen on the twenty-fourth a fine breeze blew up and sent us on ourway rejoicing – for a few hours only. About four o’clock in the afternoonit began to be foggy and in a few minutes the fog was so thick andheavy that we could see nothing but fog. This was rather discouraging,as something had happened to the captain’s compass that dayso that it was of no use to him. The wind was strong enough as yet toallow us to sail along finely, and the captain had thought that we mightsee Milwaukee the next morning, and for fear of getting out of his wayhe concluded not to go ahead any further until the fog cleared away, sothey kept shifting the sails and sailing around all night, so as keep aboutin the same place, hoping that it would be clear in the morning. Butwhen morning came it was still very foggy, but not quite as thick as ithad been the night before. We could see only a few rods from the vessel. As soon as it was fairly day light the captain had his jolly boat lowered, and he took his gun and stepped into it, paddled off to explore, as he said, for he sounded with lead line, and thoughtthat he was not far from land. The first mate objected tohis going alone, or going at all, before the fog hadcleared away. The captain only laughed at him and paddledoff and the fog soon hid him from our sight. He was gonethree hours, and the fog had cleared a little more than when he started.The mate had become alarmed, and fired a gun three times before hegot an answer, when soon after the captain appeared in sight and threemen in the boat with him.
The seventy-year old lady and myself wereon deck looking over the side when he came, looking and seeing that theold lady seemed very much surprised, he put on a very sober face and said,”Well mother, I have taken three pirates this morning, and we are goingto have a hanging bee as soon as I have had my breakfast.” The nervousold lady was quite alarmed at this, but soon got over it when thecaptain came on board and told us that when about a mile from the vesselhe had run in to the mouth of a river, and when he had rowed abouta mile up the stream, he came to a saw mill and a small settlement,who near the mill he saw three men with packs upon their backs,and were just about to start for Milwaukee on foot. He asked them thename of the place. They told him it was Sheboygan and that it was theSheboygan River that he had run his boat in to. He askedthen if they had ever been on the lake to Milwaukee. They said theyhad, and then he wanted to know if they could pilot him to Milwaukee.They seemed to think they could, and he invited them to come onboard of his boat. The old lady was pleased to think that there would beno hanging bee after all. These men were surveyors. They said that it wasabout sixty miles to Milwaukee by land – they did not know the exact distanceby water, but when the fog cleared away a short time after, theyseemed to think that if we were favored with fair wind all day as wewere then, that we might reach Milwaukee by evening, but about two hourslater the wind went down again and so we made no more headway for twodays. On the 27th we were again favored with a fine breeze and about twelveo’clock, midnight, we were within a mile of Milwaukee.