[1915 Clark Co., WI West 1/2 & Legend] [East 1/2]
Its Inspiring Past, Prosperous Present, and Its Glorious Future
Clark County was named after the intrepid explorer who in the Lewis and Clark expedition, blazed a way across the continent, then a vast pathless wilderness, and proclaimed to the world the wonderful resources of the great area west of the Mississippi. It was created by act of legislature out of Jackson county July 6th, 1853, five years after the state was admitted to the union. It had hut a sparse population at that time and Sew persons dreamed that within two generations it would be far-famed as an agricultural paradise, particularly for dairying and stock raising.
In those early days it was not unknown to fame, however, as the great forests of white pine along the banks of the Black River and its tributaries had attracted the covetous eyes of the pioneer nation builders from the days of the first explorers.
The primitive red men who inhabited the hills and valleys of what is now Clark County were of the Chippewa tribe, the dividing line between them and the more quarrelsome Winnebago being at the confluence of the East Fork with the Black River, near the present county line between Clark and Jackson. The Chippewa were more intelligent and cleanly than the Winnebago, were very friendly to the early white explorers and settlers, and although given to stealing, it was the boast of the Chippewa chiefs that none of that tribe had shed the blood of a white man or his family.
St. Germain was probably the first white man to touch foot to what is now Clark County soil. In the fall of 1836, when he was in his sixteenth year, he hired out in Canada of Wisconsin by the Lake Superior route and was sent south with a party of trappers, passing the ensuing winter on the East Fork of the Black river. Eight years later, In 1844, a number of Mormons, attracted by the immense pine forests, to the American Fur Company and made his way to the then territory came up the Black river, cut a supply of logs, which they floated down to Black River Falls and thence as lumber down the Mississippi for use at Nauvoo in the erection of a great Mormon tabernacle projected at that point. For a year after their departure, Clark County was uninhabited by white men.
It was in the spring of 1845 that the first white persons who became permanent settlers, arrived in Clark County. James and Alexander O’Neill. who had come in 1839 from New York state and stopped at Prairie du Chien, decided to push on and found a new community of civilization in the wealth of the trackless wilderness to the north. They loaded a canoe with provisions and some meager household goods and proceeded up the Mississippi and up the Black river to Black River Falls, erected a mill and for six years did a large and profitable business. Six years later, in 1845, they decided to push still further on and James and Henry O’Neill, with E. L. Brockway, Samuel and William Ferguson and a number of laborers, came to the site of the present city of Neillsville and became the first settlers of Clark County. They came overland In a wagon drawn by an ox-team cutting their way through brush and over fallen logs and were two days on the trip. This was the first road ever made in the county.
At that time, the wilderness into which these pioneers had come, was full of game — deer, wolves, otter, mink, beaver and martin. The kindly Chippewa made the newcomers welcome. A rough cabin 18x24 was erected on the bank of O’Neill creek near where the mill was soon afterwards built, about where the Merchants Hotel now stands. The mill had one upright saw with a capacity of 4000 feet a day. The lumber was rafted to the foot of the creek and there combined and arranged and sent on down to the falls, where large rafts of 40 to 50 thousand feet were run on down to Burlington, consigned to Alexander O’Neill, the elder brother of the lumbermen, who sold the product at an average price of $10 a thousand.
The next year few newcomers settled in Clark County, but James O’Neill built a more commodious house, on the site of what is now the Brooks residence. The old log house was undermined by the stream, fell and floated down towards the Mississippi. During this second year, Mr. O’Neill tired of trying to keep house without the aid of woman’s skillful supervision, induced Mrs. Robert Kennedy, accompanied by her husband, to take charge of his household and so the first argument for woman’s suffrage following shortly after the first settlers in Clark County.
The Mormons had retained their interests in the pine forests along Black river. One of them named Cunningham slipped into the creek while logging and was drowned, and the creek is known to this day as Cunningham creek. His was the first death of a white man in Clark County. In 1846 Andrew Grover together with Hamilton McCullom and a man named Beebe, built a mill on Cunningham’s creek two miles below Neillsville. Jonathan Nicholas and John Perry and wife located in what is now the town of Weston. It was in 1846 that James O’Neill courted Miss Jane Douglas, much to the rejoicing of the little community. This happy event followed and presumably was occasioned by a Christmas Eve dancing party at Mr. O’Neill’s house, to which everyone was invited. Miss Douglas was one of the guests and the dance was kept up till dawn, when the host escorted the young lady, who undoubtedly was the belle of the ball, to the Douglas farm, near Melrose, going down Black River on the ice, and no young swain or maiden now resident of Clark county, can doubt that the witchery of the early morning ride, the tingle of the snappy dawn, the echo of the merry fiddlers, and the innate desire of sturdy men and lovely women, led this pioneer to make the proposition which led to the first holy union of matrimony of Clark County settlers. It was not performed in Clark County, however, the ceremony being at Melrose in Jackson county by a Justice of the Peace, on March 7, 1847. The happy couple came to Neillsville to live, however. The first marriage In the present limits of Clark County is said to have been performed the same year when Simon Winfield took to wife a girl in the employ of Mr. O’Neill, but they soon left the community and were heard of no more.
In 1847 there were but few newcomers. Among them were Samuel Cawley who gave his name to Cawley Creek; I. S. Mason, Thomas La Flesh, Nathan Myrick, H. J. (Scoots) Miller, and a man named Dible (Dibble) who built a mill on Cunningham creek. Jonathan Nichols built a mill on Cawley creek. On June 7, 1847 there was a disastrous flood which practically washed away all the improvements so laboriously planned and executed, and it was about this time that the first murder in the county occurred. Bill Flynn, a logger, became involved in a drunken row with a Chippewa Indian and so injured him in a hand to hand encounter that death ensued. Flynn fled and was never apprehended.
In 1848 the emigration to Clark County brought J. W. Sturdevant, Mr. Van Dusen, Mr. Waterman, Leander Merrill, Benjamin Merrill, John Morrison, probably Moses Clark, John Lane, Robert Ross, Elijah Eaton, Albert Lambert and perhaps a few others. The Merrills built a mill, also Lane, also Morrison, and Myrick and Miller had already built one. Van Dusen and Waterman began milling 1881 miles above Neillsville and so did Albert Lambert. Later Elijah Eaton bought the Van Dusen mill and operated it for years, giving his name to the town of Eaton. In March 1849 Isabella Jane O’Neill was born to James and Jane O’Neill, the first birth in the county, and the most important arrival of that year.
In 1850 about 50 acres of land was cleared including the ground where the school house now stands and little by little the mill owners added agriculture to their logging activities, and with such good results that one clearing appeared after another rapidly. The California fever at this time prevented emigration to Clark County and few if any new comers appeared for several years, and as a rule the lumber jacks refused to stay after the run of logs had been started. The prospects that Clark County would ever be dotted with fully developed farms with commodious houses, immense barns and silos, with herds of thoroughbred cattle grazing the broad acres, seemed poor indeed, and it is doubtful if even the most sanguine of those pioneers ever dreamed of the development which has actually taken place in two or three generations. In those days all supplies came from LaCrosse, Burlington, St. Louis and other markets, landed at the mouth of Black river and laboriously poled tip the swift current in craft of the most primitive construction.
It was in 1853, on July 6th, that Clark County was created out of Jackson county, with the same area which it now contains, except that the north tier of towns was added from Taylor county in 1875. When organized, the county had but a single town — Pine Valley — and James O’Neill was chairman of the board of Supervisors and Hugh Wedge and James French were side supervisors; B. F. French, treasurer; Samuel C. Boardman, clerk. It was in this year that Samuel Weston with David Robinson came from Maine and located above Neillsville and established a village. Later he gave his name to the town of Weston. When the proceedings to have the county created were pending, the petition to the legislature that the county seat be located at Neillsville, was changed some way and Weston was substituted for Neillsville in which shape the petition was granted. As can be readily understood, this created consternation, indignation. and determination to offset the alleged treachery. An act of legislature was passed authorizing the people to vote a change from Weston to Neillsville and a lively struggle took place. There were two polling places, O’Neill’s tavern at the village and Parker’s tavern, 11 miles below and according to reliable reports imported voters were not rejected, The result at the Neillsville polling place was 4 majority for Weston while at Parker’s the vote resulted 21 in favor of Neillsville, making a net lead of 17 votes out of 104 cast, for Neillsville, thus determining probably for all time the location of the metropolis and county seat of the new county. In the fall of 1854 G. Hall was elected sheriff, B. F. French treasurer, S. C. Boardman county clerk and register of deeds. Chauncey Blakeslee as county judge was soon succeeded by R. Dewhurst. New arrivals came each year and the town of Levis was apportioned in 1857, Weston in 1859, Lynn in 1862, Loyal in 1863, Mentor in 1867, Grant in 1868, Eaton in 1870, Beaver in 1871; York, Hixon and Sherman in 1873; Colby, Unity, Mayville and Washburn in 1874; Sherwood Forest, Hewett and Warner in 1875; Thorp in 1876, Withee in 1880 and the newer towns in comparatively recent years. At the new county seat Jas. O’Neill appropriated four acres to village purposes and the same was surveyed and platted by Allen Boardman, surveyor. There were only two or three cabins, Robert Roix’s hotel, Dr. Baxter’s hut, and the humble domiciles of Jas. O’Neill, Nathan Boardman, Nathan Clapp, B. F. French and Mr. Dickey.
The growth in population was slow. Indians abounded and rough characters came for a season or two in the woods and went again. A man named Pattengiil with his partner, Page, engaged in an altercation with Indians during which three of half breed was shot at Hunsicker’s (Huntzicker) the red men were killed and later a tavern 12 miles north of Neillsville. The chief made complaint to Mr. O’Neill but nothing was done about it. In 1856-7 the settlers suffered hard times. Money often became worthless in a day and wages dropped to nothing. From 1857 to 1865 there were more exits than entrances upon the Clark County stage, but after the civil war, the value of lumber appreciated and a large number of new comers were attracted to the immense pine forests. In 1867 the village of Greenwood was laid out, and in 1869 Humbird was apportioned. Neillsville grew very gradually until 1876 when it began to develop more quickly, due to the railroad from Humbird. The first court house was of frame, two stories high, 40x50 in dimension, built at a cost of $1800 and located in the center of the village. In 1875 it was removed and the present handsome structure erected of brick, 2 stories high and surmounted by a cupola on which a statue of Justice stands. It cost $35,000. The county jail was built in 1881. The county farm was located in the town of York in 1880, 160 acres of fertile land with a large house and several barns and out buildings which makes a model institution for the care of the indigent.
WELL KNOWN MEN OF CLARK COUNTY, WISCONSIN
Anderson, O. C., County Treasurer [Biography] [Photo]
Berg, C. C., Granton [Biography] [Photo]
Clark, Homer C., Neillsville [Obituary] [Photo]
Cresswell, Dr. W. B., Neillsville [Biography] [Photo]
Crosby, Emery W., Assemblyman [Biography] [Photo]
Davis, Fred W., Granton [Biography] [Photo]
Devos, A. L., Neillsville [Biography] [Photo]
Graves, A. A., Loyal [Biography] [Photo]
Hantke, Louis, Sheriff [Obituary] [Photo]
O'Neill, Hon. James, Judge of the Circuit Court [Biography] [Photo]
Rossman, Elmer, Register of Deeds [Photo]
Rush, W. J., District Attorney [Photo]
Schoengarth, O. W., County Judge [Biography] [Photo]
Sniteman, C. C., Neillsville [Biography] [Photo]
Ure, George A., Clerk of the Court [Biography] [Photo]
Wilding, Myron E., County Clerk [Biography #1] [Biography #2][ Photo]
Woelffer, Victor C., Neillsville [Photo]
Zimmerman, J. G., Neillsville [Biography] [Photo]
HOW CLARK COUNTY WAS NAMED
My attention is called to the brief history of Clark County which appears in the first pages of this publication. It is stated that this county was named after the explorer Clark of the Lewis and Clark expedition. I am certain that Clark County was named after Moses Clark, one of the early settlers here, a brother of A. W. Clark who resided on the Clark farm two miles south of Neillsville at the Cunningham creek. I came to Neillsville in 1873 and for the first three years lived with my uncle James O’Neill the First settler of Clark County and the founder of Neillsville. He located at Neillsville in 1844 and was a member of the legislature in 1849. He must have been active in procuring the organization of Clark County in 1853. I have often heard him say this county was named after Moses Clark. I am corroborated in this by some of the oldest settlers. Mrs. Nettle Youmans, daughter of Dr. B. F. French, one of the early settlers informs me that she has heard her father say this county was named for Moses Clark. Mrs. Emma F. Robinson who has resided here since 1858 and who was intimate with the Clark Family states that the county was named for Moses Clark. I have interviewed Fernando Wage and Mrs. Wage. Mr. Wage came here in June 1856 and located on the farm adjoining the Clark place. He states that there is no doubt this county was named for Moses Clark. Mrs. Wage says that there was a gathering of school children at Mr. O’Neill’s residence and that Mr. O’Neill talked to them about the early history of the county and told them the county was named after Moses Clark.
It is beyond dispute that Price county was named after William T. Price and Rusk county after Governor Rusk. Also that the town of Eaton was named after Elijah Eaton, the town of Withee after N. H. Withee, the town of Warner after M. (Mark) Warner, and the town of Hendren after Rev. W. P. Hendren. These are matters which were well understood at the time these counties and towns were organized. The common understanding by the old settlers that this county was named after Moses Clark and the statement of such men as James O’Neill the first settler and so prominent a man as Dr. French are sufficient proof of the fact. It is only within a few years that I have heard of the claim that the county was named for Clark the explorer, or Satterlee Clark who resided in the southern part of the state.
I will add something further in the way of accuracy. The founder of Neillsville was born in Lisbon, St. Lawrence county, New York. He told me that in the winter of 1838-9 he chopped cordwood along the Mississippi river near New Orleans; that he came up the river to La Crosse and thence to Black River Falls in 1839 and built a sawmill south of that city on the east side of the river. He came with his brother Henry to Neillsville in 1844. Henry O’Neill later went to a place a few miles north of Chippewa Falls and went into the lumber business.
Alexander O’Neill lived at Prairie du Chien and not Burlington. I visited his widow and children there in 1865.
The first white child born in this county was Isabella Jane O’Neill now Mrs. Wilson S. Covill, who is living at Shelton, Washington.
James O’Neill, Neillsville.
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