Historical Society

It was June 1673, that Marquette and Joliet, with their Indian guides, crossed the “Portage” between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. “Red Bird”, the well known Indian leader, surrendered to government troops in 1827. Ground was broken for Fort Winnebago at Portage in 1828 and completed in 1830.

     In August 1832, the General Government commenced its survey of Wisconsin lands in earnest. In 1835, the first public sales of surveyed lands was held. It was 1836 when the sales of land in this area began. The Wisconsin Territory was created on April 20, 1836. February 18, 1841, this area became a part of Portage County. An election for county officers was ordered by the sheriff of Dane County in March 1842. Columbia County was organized on February 18 1846 and divided into eight townships as follows: Pleasant Valley, Dekorra, Winnebago, Portage, Lowville, Wyocena, Dyersburgh, Columbus, and LeRoy.

     In 1832, the Secretary of War, Lewis Cass, ordered the building of the “Military Road”. It began at Fort Howard and then went it from the south by the way of Townships of Marcellon, Scott, and Randolph, and onto Fox Lake, Waupun, and Fort Howard. However, while very crude in its construction, it allowed for the access to an area that was available to be claimed and settled by our forefathers.

On County Highway F, north of Fox Lake, is a historical marker that notes “Site of the first house built in Dodge County in 1838 by Jacob Brower.” Mr. Brower who came from New York traveling by Prairie Schooner, eventually took passage in a bark canoe navigated by Indians up to the Fox River to Lake Winnebago and to Fond Du Lac. From there they were driven in a wagon to their new home by a Mr. Ed Pier of Fond Du Lac.

     With the building of Fort Winnebago Road established through the area, access other than the Indian trails now began to open this unsettled area to the adventuresome of  other lands.

     They year 1844 seems to be the beginning of the arrival of those that can be identified with any certainty. The names of Dodge, McConochie, Torbert, Benj. Williams, and Langdon are families on which our history can be anchored.

     The hand written diary of Sam and John McConochie relates that the family came America from Scotland, settled in Canada until John and Sam set out again to Illinois and Iowa and then to Southern Wisconsin in 1843. In 1844, they would come to Columbia County, stopping at Fort Winnebago, where they were advised that there were no houses for the next 28 miles east of the Fort. On October 19, 1844, they settled in the town of Scott.

     John Dodge, who migrated from New Hampshire, first stayed for a short while in Iowa, then to Illinois and to Milwaukee in 1842. Milwaukee was then known as Walker’s Point, a little city of 4,000 souls, there were no docks or piers. The lake boats were obligated to anchor out in the lake and “re-ship” freight and passengers destined for the Port. Early in 1844, John joined his Brother, Perley, in Beloit on there way to their new home north of Cambria. They would settle in Section 34, Town of Scott.

     The Langdon family, John and his wife, sons Sam, James, Roland, and Fred, First settled in Illinois in the fall of 1836, but left their home in Boone County arriving to this area in March 1844. They built their first log cabin in Section 24, Town of Randolph.

    

 

More to come!

The Historical Society is selling copies of a book titled Early History of the Welsh originally written by Daniel Williams in 1894 in the Welsh language and called Hanes Boreuol Proscairon Wisconsin but is now available in the English language. If you would like to purchase a book please contact the Jane Morgan Library or mail a check for 12.95 plus 4.00 shipping to CF Historical Society P.O Box 501 Cambria Wi. 53923