website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
Bad roads and "Latin"
farmers:
Watertown in 1848
Originally published in Der Weltbuerger, 09 26 1868.
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While every effort has been made to retain as much of the flavor of
this history as it was originally written, translators Charles J. Wallman and Susan Holzner made
no attempt for this to be a verbatim representation, as the author relied
heavily on legalistic phrasing and complicated sentence structure. A caution to the reader: The author has on occasion inserted pertinent
comments in his narrative in parentheses (like this) while the translators
have interjected explanatory notes in brackets [like this]. This article is part of a continuing series commemorating Watertown's
sesquicentennial. |
In that year the trade from north-northwest and west of Watertown went
through this locality to and from Milwaukee. The farmers of Portage, Baraboo,
Sun Prairie, Sauk City and the like brought their grain and other products
through Watertown to Milwaukee, to bring back farm necessities from there. The
way, however, was so bad and the ground of some places so bottomless, that even
in the then village of Watertown a certain Morris kept a pair of oxen to help
the farmers through the village from Van Alstine's Exchange
to Enos' house. In the middle of Main street, not far from the German store, a large pole stood
with a wisp of straw on it. Under the switch of straw, a panel of pasteboard
stood out with the inscription "No Bottom."
For farmers, those times were not golden, just as in recent years. John
Luber tells of an example, when in the fall of
this year, he brought a wagon full of water- and sugar- melons as well as
turnips from his farm to Watertown. After he had had his wares for sale for
hours, he had taken in 35 cents. The rest he had to throw to his hogs as
fodder.
The year 1848, with its revolutionary movements in Europe, increased the
emigration to America, especially in Germany, to a large extent as compared to
earlier years. Watertown also received its share of new arrivals from the old
homeland. Many so-called Latin farmers particularly came in that year.
Intelligent men such as civil servants, pastors, professors, etc., who, because
of their ignorance of the English language could not make use of their
intelligence, bought farmland with the money they had saved from the German
chaos, built a house on it and worked the farm without any practical knowledge
of farming, sometimes in a rather laughable manner, which earned them the title
"Latin farmers." There were also such farms near Watertown, however
not to such an extent as further east. Later the farms were usually sold
to real farmers, and the so-called Latin farmers came, after acquiring the
English language and proper understanding of American conditions, into their
proper environment where they could better utilize the knowledge they had
acquired from German schools. But those circumstances are to be regarded more
as an interjection brought about by the memory of the year 1848, and have
little to do with the history of Watertown.
In the spring of 1848, there came Dr. Fischer, John C. Halliger, Hohrmann
and Ernst Achilles together with families, then the first Baptist Fried.
Schielemann with wife, Nottorf,
Grossmann and Lorenz Fribert, Wilhelm Wiggenhorn
with family, among whom were his sons Constanz,
Alexis, Eugen and August; Adolf Beurhaus and Adolph Lange, both married, Henry Maldaner, Fritz Herrmann, Chas. M. Ducasse,
Gustav Schnasse, Martin Hopf,
George Schempf and
family, Schmidt Toelle, Henry and Louis Mulberger,
Carl Roedel, Georg Koenig, Louis Stallmann,
Leonard Meth with wife and several others.
Wilhelm Wiggenhorn arrived
here with his family in the month of October, after he had been on the farm
with Averbeck for several weeks, and bought the Buena
Vista House and the opposite lot from Henry Boegel
for the sum of $1680. The house [hotel] at that time, however, was in only a
half-finished condition, and only plastered one time, but it was furnished
comfortably as an inn and the upper story was even used for divine services of
the Ev.[angelical] Prot[estant]
parish, which, in the absence of a regular preacher, was presided over by Mr. Senator
Meyer. In his absence, Louis W. Ranis led
the parish, and special religious functions such as weddings, christenings,
etc. were performed by Pastor Dietrichsen from
Milwaukee who came here from time to time. In the vicinity of the Buena Vista
House, a German lathe operator had erected a windmill on a stump, in order to
operate his turning shop with it. His name, not accurately determined, was
declared by some as Schiess, by others as Spiess. He did not however achieve his wish with his
windmill, and for a long time afterward its rudder stood there, without being
used until finally this and other buildings had to make way for the German Cath.[olic] church. Dr. Fischer
went to Hustisford and practised
there with an American doctor by the name of Eggerston,
but he came back to Watertown again in 1849, to take over the practice of Louis
Meyer, who went to California. Hoeffner
and Frohne started a distillery in this year, and
that was at the site of the former Hoeffner's
brewery which later passed over to Joseph
Bursinger [north side of Cady, east of
bridge]. Beef cattle and hogs were fattened with "swill' and Frohne shot the hogs dead for his own use, and for
shipment, because he was an old hunter, and was heartily supported in his
shipping efforts by Jacob Hoeffner. In fall Frohne parted from Jacob Hoeffner and built a distillery with Fritz
Herrmann where his summer-garden is presently located [south of Fourth street
bridge] and began in the spring of 1849 to distill.
Lorenz Fribert
managed a clothing and book store on the corner of Main and Third Streets,
where the grocery of Widow Duffy is presently (southwest corner). At the
end of the year he took over the German Store with Peterson, whereupon Henry
Maldaner also joined the firm. Several years
later, Lorenz Fribert, after he had established a dry
goods business in Schimpf's block, opened an abstract
office in Juneau, in which place he later died; his brother L. Fribert now carries it on. Mr. L. Fribert
and his brother now living in Juneau were excellent well-informed lawyers from
Denmark and the elder had held a high government post in that country. Adolph
Beurhaus and Lange bought the later "Wedemeier's Farm," Chas. M. Ducasse the farm of Averbeck,
Leonhard Mertz a farm back of Richwood, which later passed over to
August van Trott and then to Ihk.
Martin Hopf founded the first
tannery near John Becker, where Rickert
brothers now have their tannery [southeast corner, North Water and
O'Connell].
