Fifty Years In The Northwest
REV. ALFRED BRUNSON, a distinguished pioneer preacher in the West, was
born in Connecticut, 1793, and received there a common school
education. His father died while he was yet a minor, and with
commendable zeal and filial love he devoted himself to providing for
his mother and her bereaved family, working at the trade of a
shoemaker till he was seventeen years of age, when he enlisted as a
soldier under Gen. Harrison and served under him until the peace of
1815, when he entered the Methodist ministry, in which, by industry
and close application, he became quite learned and eminent as a
divine. His active ministry extended to the long period of sixty-seven
years. He was the first Methodist minister north of the Wisconsin
river. In 1837 he established a mission at Kaposia and thence removed
to Red Rock (Newport), in Washington county, Minnesota. In 1840 he was
a member of the Wisconsin legislature. In 1842 he was Indian agent at
Lapointe, on Lake Superior. Mr. Brunson was very prominent in the
councils of his own church, having represented his conference several
times in the general conference of that body. He is also the author of
many essays and other publications, among them "The Western Pioneer,"
in two volumes, a most entertaining and instructive account of life in
the West.
Mr. Brunson was married to Eunice Burr, a relative of the famous Aaron
Burr. She was a woman of great intelligence and of excellent qualities
of heart as well as mind. Her heart overflowed with sympathy for the
sick and distressed, and she won by her care for them the affectionate
title of "Mother Brunson." She died in 1847.
Rev. Alfred Brunson, though an itinerant, was so favored in his
various fields of labor that he was able to have his permanent home
at Prairie du Chien, where he lived from 1835 until the time of his
death in 1882.
Many incidents in Mr. Brunson's career are worthy of permanent record.
He was among the most hardy and daring of the pioneers. He came down
the Ohio and up the Mississippi in a barge to Prairie du Chien in
1835, the barge laden with household furniture and the material for a
frame building which, on landing, he proceeded immediately to erect.
This house, which he and his family occupied till his death, is still
standing.
When he established his mission at Kaposia he was greatly in need of
an interpreter. An officer at Fort Snelling owned a negro slave who
had been a Methodist before going into the army in the service of his
master. Afterward he had married a Dakota woman and by associating
with the Indians had learned their language. This young negro, James
Thompson, was a slave, and Mr. Brunson could only secure his services
by purchasing him outright, which he did, paying the price of $1,200,
the money for which was raised by subscription in Ohio. "Jim" was
presented with his "free papers," and was soon interpreting the Gospel
to the Indians at Kaposia. This is the only instance on record of a
slave being sold on Minnesota soil. It will be remembered, however,
that the historical "DRED SCOTT" was also the property of an officer
at the Fort, Surgeon Emerson. James Thompson resided in St. Paul in
the later years of his life, and died there in 1884.
IRA BRUNSON.--Ira, the eldest son of Rev. A. Brunson, was born in Ohio
in 1815, and came to Prairie du Chien in 1836. He was a member of the
legislature during the years 1837-38-39 and 40. He was also postmaster
many years. He was continuously in office in Crawford county until his
death in 1884. In 1840 he was appointed special deputy United States
marshal for the purpose of removing the settlers from the Fort
Snelling reservation. These settlers were mostly from Selkirk,
Manitoba. They had been driven out by the grasshoppers and, fleeing
southward, had settled about Fort Snelling to be under the protection
of the Fort. The government, however, considered them intruders and
ordered Mr. Brunson to remove them outside the reservation, and to
destroy all their dwellings and farm improvements, which disagreeable
duty he performed as well, perhaps, as it could be performed; he, as
he afterward told me, being satisfied in his own mind that the
removal would be for their ultimate good, the influences of the Fort
and of the associations of the motley crowd of hangers on around it
being somewhat demoralizing. At any rate the eviction of these western
Acadians has never aroused the sympathies of the poet and
sentimentalist as did that of the Acadians of the East.
JOHN H. FOLSOM, brother of W. H. C. Folsom, was born in Machias,
Maine, Dec. 27, 1813. He was engaged during his youth in clerking. In
1835 he made a voyage as supercargo of a vessel to the Congo coast. In
1836 he came to Michigan, and in 1837 to Prairie du Chien, where he
has since continuously resided. He was married in 1839 to Angelica
Pion, who died in 1878, leaving no children. He has a very retentive
memory, and is quoted as an authority in the local history of Prairie
du Chien. The writer is indebted to him for many particulars referring
to the early history of that city.
EZEKIEL TAINTER.--Mr. Tainter came to Prairie du Chien in 1833 from
Vermont. He had at first fort contracts, but afterward engaged in
merchandising, farming and hotel keeping. He also served as sheriff.
He was eccentric and original in his methods, and some amusing stories
are told of his prowess in arresting criminals. On one occasion he was
about to arrest a criminal. Having summoned his _posse_, he followed
the man until he took refuge in a cabin with one door and two windows.
Stationing his men before the door, he thus addressed them: "Brave
boys, I am about to go through this door. If I fall, as I undoubtedly
will, you must rush over my dead body and seize the ruffian." Giving
the word of command, he plunged through the door and captured the
criminal, apparently much astonished at finding himself still alive.
At his tavern, one morning, a boarder announced that he had been
robbed. Uncle Zeke quieted him, and, quickly examining his rooms,
found one boarder missing. It was gray twilight. He ordered all to
retire but the man who had been robbed. The two sat quietly down as
they saw a man approaching the house from the bluffs. To their
surprise it was the absentee approaching. As he stepped on the piazza,
Uncle Zeke dexterously tripped him up with his stiff leg, and seizing
him by the throat, shouted to the astonished miscreant: "Where is the
money you stole? Tell me at once, or you will never get up." The
prostrate culprit, thoroughly frightened, tremblingly answered, "I
hid it in the bluff." They marched him to the spot, recovered the
money and generously allowed the thief his freedom on the condition of
his leaving the country. Uncle Zeke lived to a good old age, and died
at the residence of his son Andrew, in Menomonie, Wisconsin.
WYRAM KNOWLTON.--Mr. Knowlton was born in Chenango county, New York,
in 1816, came to Wisconsin in 1837, and commenced the study of law. He
was admitted to practice in Platteville, and in 1840 came to Prairie
du Chien and opened a law office. In 1846 he enlisted and served in
the Mexican War, after which he resumed practice. In 1850 he was
appointed judge of the Sixth Judicial district of Wisconsin, and
served six years. He held the first court in Pierce county in 1854. He
was a man of fine ability. He died in the north part of the State in
1873.
ROBERT LESTER.--A melancholy interest attaches to the memory of this
man on account of his early tragical death. He had come to Prairie du
Chien in 1840, and in 1842 had been elected sheriff. Next year his
official duties called him to the Menomonie and Chippewa valleys. On
his return he had left Lockwood's mills on the Menomonie, and had
passed through Trempealeau and was coasting along the west shore, when
an Indian hailed him, calling for bread. Lester passed on without
responding. As he reached a point of land the Indian ran across the
point and, awaiting his approach, shot him through the heart. Lester
rose as the ball struck him, and fell overboard. Mr. Jean Bruno,
proprietor of the Chippewa mills, was on his way up river in a canoe,
and witnessed the whole transaction. Mr. Bruno described the whole
tragic scene. Popular excitement ran high at Prairie du Chien. A party
of men volunteered to search for Lester's body, which was found at the
place of the murder and brought back for interment at Prairie du
Chien. The Indian, a Sioux, was arrested and kept in jail a long time,
and although he had acknowledged to some of his Indian friends that he
had killed Lester, he was acquitted. It was a cold blooded and
atrocious murder, and the proof of the Indian's guilt was
overwhelming, as he was, by his own confession, the murderer; still he
was not punished. In this case the prisoner did not languish and die
in jail of a broken heart as did Red Bird, the murderer of Gagner and
Lipcap. As a rule the courts dealt very leniently with Indian
criminals.
THOMAS PENDLETON BURNETT was born in Virginia in 1800. He studied law
and was admitted to the bar in Paris, Kentucky. He was appointed
sub-Indian agent under J. M. Street, in 1829. He came to Prairie du
Chien in 1830 and entered upon the duties of the agency. He also
practiced law. In 1835 he was a member of the Michigan territorial
council and its president. In 1836, after his term of office expired,
he married a daughter of Alfred Brunson and, continuing the practice
of law, became quite eminent for his skill, and acquired an extensive
practice. He was a fluent speaker, well skilled in the management of
the cases intrusted to his care. In 1840 he removed to a farm at Patch
Grove, Grant county. He was a member of the Wisconsin constitutional
convention which met in 1846. He served but a few weeks when he was
called home by the death of his mother and the sickness of his wife.
The fatigue of a twenty-four hours' ride of eighty-five miles in a
rude lumber wagon was too much for his not very rugged constitution,
and four days after his mother's death he followed her to the world of
spirits. His devoted wife survived him but three hours. Under
circumstances of such unusual sadness did this brilliant and promising
lawyer and citizen take his departure from earth. His death created a
profound sensation throughout the entire Northwest, where he was so
well and favorably known.
HENRY DODGE, the first governor of Wisconsin Territory, was born in
Vincennes, Indiana, Oct. 12, 1782. He came to the lead mines of
Wisconsin in 1828. In 1832 he took part in the Black Hawk War, an
uprising of the Sac and Fox Indians against the United States
government. Mr. Dodge participated as a general at the battle of Bad
Axe, his regiment occupying the front rank in that battle. April 30,
1836, he was appointed governor of Wisconsin by President Andrew
Jackson, reappointed in 1839 by President Van Buren, and by President
Polk in 1845, serving three terms. From 1841 to 1845, during the
presidency of Harrison and his successor (Tyler), he served as
territorial delegate to Congress. In 1848 he was elected United States
senator for the short term, and re-elected in 1851, Senator Walker
being his colleague. On the occasion of the motion to admit
California, the Wisconsin senators were instructed by the legislature
to vote against the measure. Senator Walker disregarded the
instruction and voted for the measure. Senator Dodge, although
extremely ill at the time, had himself carried to the senate chamber
that he might record his vote adversely to the bill. Gov. Dodge rose
to the highest position in his State, and chiefly by his own unaided
efforts. As a soldier he was brave and efficient, as a governor,
congressional delegate and senator he was clear headed, cautious and