Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-08-20

LIN oPi iiiS VI r. I'll oulioio ~ oiAiS,
about three miles south of the vii
lage above named where my par
ents resided for three or four years,
but from which your humble
correspondent sailed forth in
April, 1912, bare-footed and dress
ed in buckskin pants, justian
roundabout and straw hat, having
made the pants and hat himself
from the raw material, and without
cent of money, and not able to
write his name or multiply II by
II. Having first declared the
causes that induced the separation
we determined to make or break
on our own hook.
| first went to work in a wag-
on shop, but found the same
stumbling block in the way there
that had induced me to leave the
parent roof, and called for settle
ment and quit the shop. From
there | went to Henderson Grove,
Knox county, ILL.,, where l work
ed in a SaWmill or in cabinet Or
joiner shop for three years for one
man, and from there | went, in
the spring Of I845, to Red Oak
Grove, Henry county, ILL.,, at or
near which | worked during the
greater part of 1886. In the
fall of 1916 | returned to Buffalo
Prairie for the purpose of putting
in the winter in school, as |
needed that more than anything
else, although during the winters
of IS42-43 and IS43-44, | had
managed to fitch from other press
ing necessities eighty-two days for
school, and during the winter Of
I846-47 | managed to get sixty
six days in school, making a total
number of days in school after I
was u years old, of I4S days,
which was all | ever had, except
few weeks while very young
But [ have been continually edu-
eating myself from 1912 to the
present time, and do not calculate
to stop that course of education
until | stop breathing. But al
though | claim to be self educat-
ed | have made it point to shun
those most damnable of all educa-
tional institutions, the saloon, the
brothel and the gamblers den.
After trying and investigating
various speculative projects in the
fore part of the year IS47, with the
hope of hitting something that
would prove profitable l was
taken violently sick with fever
about the Ist of Aug, to the extent
that I was threatened with con-
gestion Of the brain, in SO much
that I was delerious for 2I days.
That set me to thinking that the
then malarious districts of Illinois,
Iowa and Missouri was not suited
to our constitution, and we deter
mined to find a more healthful
country, or at least one better
adapted to our constitution, if we
had to go to "Greenlands Icy
Mountains for it, and acting upon
that determination we started for
Wisconsin in the latter part of
September, I847, and found a stop
ping place on Dell Creek, in Sank
county, Wis, where we went into
partnership with our brother-in-
law, VIM. w Shutes, to build
saw-mill, but owing to a difficulty
about the title to the land, that
speculation failed, and | sold out
my interest to our brother-in-law.
In January, IS4S, and while at
work on the timber for that pros
pective saw-mill, at Dell Creek, |
formed the acquaintance of Miss
Susannah Washburn, of Baraboo,
Wis, with whom l was joined
in marriage on the 18th day of
June following. About ten days
after our marriage started in COM
pany with one Stephen Palmer on
an excursion up the Wisconsin
river in quest of profitable employ
ment, and arrived at Grand Rapids
in the forenoon of the 2oth of June
and found the river there in good
running stage and plenty of lum-
Der to run and a scarcity of help
to run it. The grand rapids look