Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1879-02-27
PIONEER LIFE.
Letter by an earlYGrant
County Settler.

Acller Dy an earlyGrant
/ County Settler.
The Preliminarias of His Own
History.
Something about Sam Druen, Free vii.
liams and Others.
Discovery Of Pososl Alinss.
The following letter, if our notes
are correct, has some mistakes bat
it is good reading and there are
many 10 Grant County who will en-.
JOY reviewing its recolleotions
To the Editor Of the Dubuque Times
WASHINGTON, Feb. 18.-In the
spring Of 1892, l, as a boy, la pded 10
GalenA TO seek my fortune ia the
lead mines; how it happened that I
ever found my way there has always
Deen to nae mystery and won.
der. was raised in that section of
Kentucky that has been made his.
toric by the late whiskey raid that
was made by the minions of that
wicked law for the suppression of
moonshiners up into that part of
Kentucky and Tennessee near the
head of the Cumberland river this
winter, whore the women will spin
and weave their own dresses. and
make the stripes and checks by col.
oring the threads according to their
fancy with different kinds of banks.
roots and leaves used in dyeing the
thread before being made into Cloth:
q section OF country that has not
been contaminated by civilization. A
lock IS unknown in all that region |:
the door-latches are of wood with a
string always hanging outside. Mon
ey panics or civilized hard times are
unknown to these people; thew have
but single trouble, to make whisky
in the old-fashioned worm still which
has come down to them from Noah's
ark as they fully believe, and it would
be debatable question with them
whether they would surrender the
right Of marrying and being given in
marriage, or to give up their stills and
the privilege of making whisky, the
Simon pure bold.face,i with no other
poison in it than the regular corn
juice. They do not make nor want
to make much; they do not make as
much in a whole county in q year as
Christian, civilized Chicago will SNUG.
gle off free of tax in week. Thew
do not want to pay taxes on their
whisky-they have no money to paw
taxes with. Their whisky is a matter
Of taste. They make it on shares for
their nelghbors who happen to have
corn. l like these people and wish
they could be let alone. That district
was probably the only district in the
United States that ever elected a man
to Congress because he had whipped
his wife. Sherrod Williams, who had
grown up as sort of tramp, making
rails, clearing grounds and doing odd
jobs as his necessities required. to
keep soul and body together, one hot
day threw down his tools and took an
oath to work no more. He went to
Judge Bridges, very able Judge but
of the Ben Hardin type, and told him
that be wanted to be lawyer. Bridg.
es, who was of the rougher sort and
liked the fellow, told him to 90 into
his Office and read his law books
This Williams did. and made his
bread pettifogging until he was ad.
mitted as lawyer and was sent to
the legislature couple of times, and
then announced himself as a CLAW
Wing candidate for Congress against
a popular Jackson candidate that liv.
ed in q civilized portion of the district.
and was supposed to hold the district
at his own will. Much sport was
made of Williams as a candidate, and
amongst other charges made against
him was that he had whipped his wife.
Williams took the stump-he was a
fine speaker-and confessed that he
had whipped his wife. He told the
people that they all knew how poor
he had been, and what an effort he
had made to rise in the world. SAYING
that when he returned home from the
Legislature he told his wife that he
wanted hogs head and greens cook
ed for dinner-a favorite dish with
him-but she refused to do it, saying
that he was then legislator, a great
man. and must not have q hogs head
on his table. When other means
failed he gave her @ good whipping,
and she cooked the hogs head, and
from that day on she had been good
wife, and they had been a happy and
prosperous family. Now, says Viii.
liams, If | bad allowed her pride to
rule we would have been ruined. To
this there would come up unanimous
shout of approval, and Williams got
almost a solid mountain vote and was
elected and reelected again and again
until he got to be useful member of
Congress, end ended his political ca.
reer by writing to both Clay and Van
Buren, in the winter OF 1884, and
asking their views on the question of
the annexation of Texas, a question
then agitating the country. They
both declared against annexation
These letters beat Martin Van Buren,
for q nomination in the Democratic
Presidential convention, and Clay be-
fore the people, giving the country
Polk for President, the Mexican war
and Texas annexation. While in
Congress Williams got to drinking
civilized whisky, and it was a differ
ert article from his homemade corn
juice, and it used HIM as it does all
others who enter the contest; it first
maddens them, then robs them, then
disgraces them and then kills them.
A few days before l reached Gale.
ma the surveyors surveying in Wis
consin discovered lead on branch
about two miles from the Mississippi
river where Potosi is located. The
excitement in Galena was then verv
great for what was called the new
discovery, and our party that had got
acquainted in the least afarfad at onca