New Haven History - From Ice Age to Recent
Map shows terminal moraine (leading edge of last glacier) in relation to Glacial Lake Wisconsin. It actually only extended to the west side of New Haven, not all the way to the Dells.
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New Haven was on the edge of the last glacier 12,000 yrs agoThe glacier whose meltwater formed Lake Wisconsin began its retreat about 12,000 years ago. The line where its advance halted--the terminal moraine--runs through the county. It enters Adams County from the east just south of where County Hwy J meets the Marquette County line. Then it proceeds southwest, passing between Grand Marsh and Patrick's Lake, then winds south along a line wavering from one-quarter mile to two miles east of County Highway B all the way to the Columbia County line. The moraine is a boundary line in the county, separating soils and drainage. West of the moraine, the soils are less fertile and the streams run to the Wisconsin River. East of the moraine, the soils are more fertile and the streams run south and east to the Fox River. West of the moraine, Adams County is part of the non-glaciated Driftless Area that extends all the way to the Mississippi River; east of the moraine, Adams County is part of the glaciated eastern Wisconsin that reaches to the shores of Lake Michigan.
Goc, Michael J. From past to present : the history of Adams County |
Cataclysmic draining of Glacial Lake Wisconsin occurred west of New Haven 14,000 yrs ago
About 14,000 years ago, a dam of ice south of what is now Wisconsin Dells gave way and glacial Lake Wisconsin drained. In a matter of weeks, water poured down the bed of the Wisconsin River, cutting and shaping the gorges and rock formations of the Dells. In Adams County water levels dropped one hundred feet or more and the flat, sandy lakebed began to dry out. Streams formed, most of them running from the still melting glacier on the east of the county to the river on the west. Extensive wetlands remained throughout the county, especially in the future towns of Colburn and Leola, but also in Adams, Easton and Quincy. Soil began to form, plants to grow, wildlife to appear.
Goc, Michael J. From past to present : the history of Adams County
Goc, Michael J. From past to present : the history of Adams County
Menominee and Ho-Chunk here before and during settlement
Snagged off bottom of Lake Mason with fishing pole close to The Cove Restaurant. May have been used as a fish club.
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Ho-Chunk Man and Woman near Winter Lodge
Menominee family by winter lodge.
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Settlement and growth of early New Haven and Big Spring
Big Spring Pond, the dam and Ward Mill. Hindes and Hanson General Store in background. Around 1900.
Landscape photograph by Sid Boyum of a fisherman on the bank of Big Spring Creek near a power house and dam. The fisherman to the right blends into the building. June 1962
Thompson farm in 1900 (currently 304 State Road 23)
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Early Days of Briggsville 1850-1950 by Helene Bloss, Carla Lovesy, Marie Beyer
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Early Adams County chronology related to New Haven
(Goc, Michael J. From past to present : the history of Adams County)
1832 * Daniel Whitney and Amable Grignon are both authorized by the Menominee Indians to build sawmills on the left bank of the Wisconsin across from what will become Nekoosa. * Whitney builds his mill and, to supply it with equipment and supplies hauled by oxcart, blazes the "Pinery Road" north from Portage through Adams County.
1837 Men from the Wisconsin Ho-Chunk tribe visiting Washington D. C. are coerced into signing a treaty by which they give up all their remaining land in Wisconsin.
1838 Jared Walsworth marries a Menominee woman and is allowed to settle near the Indian village located about two miles east of Lake Mason. Robert Allen builds a cabin on Blackhawk Island, at the head of the Wisconsin Dells.
1840 Federal troops arrive at Portage to gather the Ho Chunk people and remove them to reservations in Iowa.
1845 The Ward family settles on Indian land in what is not yet the Town of New Haven.
1847 The Menominee Indians sign a treaty relinquishing their rights to land in east central Wisconsin, including Adams County.
1849 Settlers in the Briggsville area, who are "squatting" on unsurveyed land not yet for sale, organize a "Claim Protection Society."
1850 Alexander Briggs and Amphilius Chamberlain dam Neenah Creek and create Lake Mason to supply water power for their mill. Federal surveyors complete the survey of all but three towns in northeast Adams County, finally opening the land to legal purchase and settlement.
1853 John Baptiste Du Bay establishes a stage coach line to carry mail and passengers from Portage to Stevens Point with stops at Big Spring, the Marsh House and Coloma Corners.
1854 The Big Spring Post Office opens.
1860 Adams County Board adjusts the borders of the Towns of Adams, Easton, New Haven, Preston and Strongs Prairie.
1861 The Civil War begins. County supervisors vote to pay the families of volunteers $2 a month for every child under age 12 as long as the man remains in service.
1862 Violence between Sioux Indians and settlers at New Ulm, Minnesota prompts an "Indian Scare" in Wiscon- sin: White Creek settlers board their windows and stay home at night and farmers at Big Spring organize a "military company" which drills at the village.
1865 The Civil War ends. The hops boom begins in central Wisconsin.
1868 There are seven grain mills in the county, Friendship, Arkdale, Olin, Leola, Easton, White Creek and Big Spring.
1874 * The federal government makes its final, futile attempt to remove the Ho- Chunk people from Wisconsin. *In New Haven, Congregationalists and Free Will Baptists join to build a church building on John Stowell's property in Big Spring.
1875 George M. Marshall, Big Spring, is elected to the state assembly.
1878 Local farmers run the Big Spring cheese factory, using about 500 pounds of milk a day.
1885 Cyclones strike in Rome and at Big Spring where big winds move the Methodist Church ten inches off its foundation.
1908 Railroad Talk: if county taxpayers put up $75,000 in bonds, the Western Transportation Company will build a railroad from Portage to Briggsville, Big Springs, Easton, Friendship and Wisconsin Rapids.
1911 A meteorite, weighing 1.75 pounds, crashes through the roof of the William Gaffney barn in New Haven: scientists buy what is known as "the Kilbourn Meteorite" and distribute pieces to museums throughout the United States.
1918 Due to the Spanish flu epidemic the Adams Village Board of Health orders all "schools, churches, Sunday schools, theaters, moving picture houses, saloons, billiard halls, other places of amusement and all public gatherings closed for an indefinite period of time."
1922 Sheriff Hoard finds a 'still in operation on the Cusack farm in New Haven.
1940 New Haven tavernkeeper and two women are arrested for keeping "a house of ill- fame."
1952 School consolidation accelerates: the county has eleven one room schools left; Arkdale, Monroe and Prairie View schools are consolidated; Twin Valley closes; schools in Springville, Jackson, Dell Prairie and New Haven merge into the Wisconsin Dells system.
1832 * Daniel Whitney and Amable Grignon are both authorized by the Menominee Indians to build sawmills on the left bank of the Wisconsin across from what will become Nekoosa. * Whitney builds his mill and, to supply it with equipment and supplies hauled by oxcart, blazes the "Pinery Road" north from Portage through Adams County.
1837 Men from the Wisconsin Ho-Chunk tribe visiting Washington D. C. are coerced into signing a treaty by which they give up all their remaining land in Wisconsin.
1838 Jared Walsworth marries a Menominee woman and is allowed to settle near the Indian village located about two miles east of Lake Mason. Robert Allen builds a cabin on Blackhawk Island, at the head of the Wisconsin Dells.
1840 Federal troops arrive at Portage to gather the Ho Chunk people and remove them to reservations in Iowa.
1845 The Ward family settles on Indian land in what is not yet the Town of New Haven.
1847 The Menominee Indians sign a treaty relinquishing their rights to land in east central Wisconsin, including Adams County.
1849 Settlers in the Briggsville area, who are "squatting" on unsurveyed land not yet for sale, organize a "Claim Protection Society."
1850 Alexander Briggs and Amphilius Chamberlain dam Neenah Creek and create Lake Mason to supply water power for their mill. Federal surveyors complete the survey of all but three towns in northeast Adams County, finally opening the land to legal purchase and settlement.
1853 John Baptiste Du Bay establishes a stage coach line to carry mail and passengers from Portage to Stevens Point with stops at Big Spring, the Marsh House and Coloma Corners.
1854 The Big Spring Post Office opens.
1860 Adams County Board adjusts the borders of the Towns of Adams, Easton, New Haven, Preston and Strongs Prairie.
1861 The Civil War begins. County supervisors vote to pay the families of volunteers $2 a month for every child under age 12 as long as the man remains in service.
1862 Violence between Sioux Indians and settlers at New Ulm, Minnesota prompts an "Indian Scare" in Wiscon- sin: White Creek settlers board their windows and stay home at night and farmers at Big Spring organize a "military company" which drills at the village.
1865 The Civil War ends. The hops boom begins in central Wisconsin.
1868 There are seven grain mills in the county, Friendship, Arkdale, Olin, Leola, Easton, White Creek and Big Spring.
1874 * The federal government makes its final, futile attempt to remove the Ho- Chunk people from Wisconsin. *In New Haven, Congregationalists and Free Will Baptists join to build a church building on John Stowell's property in Big Spring.
1875 George M. Marshall, Big Spring, is elected to the state assembly.
1878 Local farmers run the Big Spring cheese factory, using about 500 pounds of milk a day.
1885 Cyclones strike in Rome and at Big Spring where big winds move the Methodist Church ten inches off its foundation.
1908 Railroad Talk: if county taxpayers put up $75,000 in bonds, the Western Transportation Company will build a railroad from Portage to Briggsville, Big Springs, Easton, Friendship and Wisconsin Rapids.
1911 A meteorite, weighing 1.75 pounds, crashes through the roof of the William Gaffney barn in New Haven: scientists buy what is known as "the Kilbourn Meteorite" and distribute pieces to museums throughout the United States.
1918 Due to the Spanish flu epidemic the Adams Village Board of Health orders all "schools, churches, Sunday schools, theaters, moving picture houses, saloons, billiard halls, other places of amusement and all public gatherings closed for an indefinite period of time."
1922 Sheriff Hoard finds a 'still in operation on the Cusack farm in New Haven.
1940 New Haven tavernkeeper and two women are arrested for keeping "a house of ill- fame."
1952 School consolidation accelerates: the county has eleven one room schools left; Arkdale, Monroe and Prairie View schools are consolidated; Twin Valley closes; schools in Springville, Jackson, Dell Prairie and New Haven merge into the Wisconsin Dells system.
People from Big Spring and New Haven (unfinnished)
Jared S. Walsworth gravestone in Big Spring Cemetery
Alonzo L. Best (1854 – 1923)
Born in Big Spring, Adams County, Wisconsin, Best moved with his family to Dunn County, Wisconsin. Best owned the Meadow Side Stock Farm near Downing, Wisconsin, in the town of Tiffany and raised cattle and hogs. He also taught school. Best served as Tiffany town clerk and Tiffany town chairman. He also served on the Dunn County Board of Supervisors and as secretary on the school board. Best served in the Wisconsin State Assembly and was a Republican.
Sophronius Stocking Landt (1842 – 1926)
Landt was born in the town of Aztalan, Jefferson County, Wisconsin Territory. He moved with his parents to Big Spring, Wisconsin. Eventually he settled in the village of Friendship, in Adams County, Wisconsin. He served in the 10th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. He was a farmer and teacher. Landt served as the Adams County Treasurer from 1887 to 1893 and was a Republican. In 1889, Governor William D. Hoard of Wisconsin appointed Landt a delegate to the Farmer's National Congress in Birmingham, Alabama. He served in the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1895 and 1896. In 1911, Landt moved to Herman, Minnesota and managed a creamery with his son Homer. He died in Herman, Minnesota.[1][2][3] Landt's autobiography was published based on the diary he had kept: Your Country Calls."
Una Richardson Winter (1872 – 1956)
Una Richardson was born in Big Spring, Wisconsin, on December 29, 1872, the daughter of Newell Richardson and Grace Holmes. She had two brothers, Earl Holmes Richardson and J. Roy Richardson. Earl Holmes Richardson was the inventor of the Hotpoint electric iron, head of the General Electric Co. plant in Ontario and founder of the desert community of Adelanto, California, with his brother J. Roy Richardson.
Winter was an owner of citrus properties in CA. She prided herself on having been the first woman in Wisconsin to operate a typewriter when serving as secretary to a lumber concern at Tomah, Wisconsin.
She was the director of the Susan B. Anthony Memorial Committee of California and collected material about Susan B. Anthony and her family. Her papers are at the Huntington Library, Manuscripts Department, and include material about Mary Ritter Beard, Carrie Chapman Catt, and Alma Lutz, in addition to material about Susan B. Anthony. There are also some letters (1936–46) from various Congressmen to Una Richardson Winter regarding the Equal Rights Amendment. The bulk of the Susan B. Anthony Papers at the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, came by Una R. Winter.
Archie Crothers (1887-1987)
George Byers (1862-1915) - Arthur C. Byers (1901-1991)
John and Bridget McCall Gaffney
Jared Walsworth
Chief Prettyman
Jake Prettyman
George M. Marshall
Ramsey
Landt
Stowell
Huber
Krenshaw
Winchell
Ward
