George C. Daniels Documents

 

FROM: Saukville – The Gem of Ozaukee, by Evelyn Leach, 1976.

 

Chapter “Saukville Gains Independence in 1848” (p. 6)

 

            “ The town of Saukville was set off, and made an independent organization on Apr. 4, 1848. Prior to that time it formed a part of old Port Washington. It now comprises town 11 in range 12.

 

            Settlements were made as early as 1845 and improvements began in 1846. The first traces of civilization on the present site of the village appeared in the latter year.

 

            The Indians made several attempts at clearings at various points along the Milwaukee river, where they had in a small way cultivated the maize. They lingered in and around the vicinity of Saukville for a number of years. After the whites began to take up lands, they finally withdrew from the scene leaving the pioneers in full possession of their hunting grounds. ….

 

            Among the first to settle in this area were George C. Daniels, Lott Blanchard, Joseph Fischbein, William Foster, E. Wadsworth, William Payne, Lemuel Sizer, Stephen McIntosh, Jonathan Tibbetts and Joseph Fowler.”

 

Chapter “Saukville Center of Activities in 1800s” (p. 16)

 

            “Then, as now, disputes arose concerning land and water rights. In one case, George C. Daniels, Harvey Moore and Benjamin F. Pidge were commissioners appointed by the district court of the United States of America for the district of Wisconsin. After taking the oath of office, it was their duty to make personal inspection of the land in question before rendering a decision.

 

            In this case of Jabez H. Foster vs. William Payne, et. al., these facts and findings are recorded: one of the lots known as 1 block 1 has on it a building occupied in the year 1848 as a store by Joseph Fischbein, and a log house then occupied by William Payne. Lot 19 and the south one-half of lot 20 in block 14 were dedicated by Payne and Foster for school purposes. A burial lot of two acres, lying on the west side of Green Bay Rd., so-called south of said village, now used as a highway ground and dedicated to the public for such use.

 

            Other buildings were named also: the Cooper shop, and a barn and log house near the dam on the east side of the Milwaukee river known as the Payne and Foster buildings. The commissioners settled the matter by assigning Payne all of the water power of the Milwaukee river on said premises north of the Green Bay Rd. with the right to construct, maintain and reconstruct a dam where the dam now is. The others in the case were assigned land. Water power was an important factor in those early times. …

 

[At the time] The business portion of the town is laid out in a triangle and contains four stores, three hotels, two wagon and blacksmith shops, and a number of dwelling houses. There are two churches, a Catholic and a German Lutheran, and two schoolhouses, one public and one private.

 

            The first house in the village was built by George C. Daniels in 1846. In 1848 a footbridge was built across the river at the cost of $500, the county furnishing half this sum. ….”

 

            “The first storekeeper was Joseph Fischbein. In 1848, William Payne built a hotel. William Richards took possession and christened it Pulaski hotel. This pioneer inn is still standing but now used for a private dwelling. ….”

 

FROM Memories from a Rural, Ethnic Community at “The Crossroads”; the Saukville, Wisconsin area, by John Boatman, University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, 1993. Edited by Angela M. Schefft.

 

p. 47 - “On January 3, 1844 the County Commissioners of “old” Washington County met at Hamburg Village (now Grafton), which, as previously noted, had been selected by a vote of the Commissioners as the official County seat.  … At the meeting, several tavern licenses were issued, including one to T.H. Thein of Mequon. (C.W. Butterfield, History of Washington and Ozaukee Counties (Chicago, Western Historical Company, 1881), p. 332)

 

p. 48 – The Name “Port Washington” Becomes Official

 

            “That year [1844], the name of the old Sauk Harbor village, which had been called both Washington City and Sauk Washington, was officially changed to “Port Washington.” The name was changed largely as a result of the leadership of George C. Daniels, who stated that the name “Sauk Washington,” which was commonly used at that time, was “uncouth.” (Gregory, John Goadby, Southeastern Wisconsin; a history of Old Milwaukee County [Chicago: S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1932 – 4 vols, p. 1187)

 

p. 51 – Saukville Gets Its first “European Style” House

 

“In 1846 the first European style house used as a residence in the Village of Saukville was built for George C. Daniels, ... The location of the Daniels' house may be pinpointed by using the following description:

        Beginning at a stone in Elm Street, said stone is 58 rods South from the North [Section 35] line, and 28.16 rods West from the East line of the section [35], then S. degrees-00'W.220 rods, then S.2 degrees-00'W.60 rods to the center of the Road near Mr. Daniels corner.

        According to this description, the Daniels' house was located on the corner of present-day Cedar-Sauk road and present-day south County Highway O )a portion of the Green Bay Road at that time). No record could be found showing that Daniels had title to the land. It is likely that he was a 'squatter.' allowed to build there by Jabez Foster, who held the land title. Foster was William Payne's business partner during that time when Saukville was the principal village in ''old' Washington County." (Mrs. Cloyd Leach, “History of Saukville,” Early Ozaukee County Historical Sketches (Cedarburg: Ozaukee County Historical Society, 1967), p. 22; (Leach, previously cited above; Ozaukee County Register of Deeds, Road Register for Ozaukee County, recorded in Survey Bill (Port Washington: April 1955); Donald McLeod, History of Wiskonsan (Spelled this way at that time) (Buffalo, NY: Steele’s Press, 1846), 254-255. )

 

p. 52 – George C. Daniels

 

            “George C. Daniels was one of three “old” Washington County Commissioners before the county changed to a township system of local government with a delegate County Board. When this change in government systems occurred, no one is recorded as representing the Saukville area on the County Board until 1848, when William Payne was selected to represent the Town of Saukville.

 

            Much later, in 1854, when Jabez H. Foster filed a lawsuit against William Payne and his associates, George C. Daniels was one of three Court Commissioners appointed by the United States District Court to investigate the case for the court. Daniels, who died in Ozaukee County at the age of seventy-six on April 27, 1875, had been commonly called “Captain Daniels”, and was “widely known in eastern Wisconsin; one of the oldest pioneers of his section of Wisconsin.” (Ozaukee Advertiser, April 29, 1875)

 

            An obituary published on April 29, 1875 in The Ozaukee Advertiser, a Port Washington newspaper, states in part, “Captain George C. Daniels … was a man of indomitable energy and stern will; when not crossed in his purpose he was genial and sociable. He kept a county tavern for several years on his old place, now owned by William F. Opitz, and had always the reputation of being a good landlord.” The Daniels obituary was also published in The Milwaukee News, May 4, 1875. The tavern referred to, which was also a hotel, was located at the junction of present day Cedar-Sauk Road and south County Highway O. The property, later known as the Kurtz farm, was at the town line between the Town of Saukville and “Old Town Ten.” (Butterfield, pp. 320-321; Also from the handwritten Court Record in the Ozaukee County Register of Deeds Office, Tract Index to Saukville Deeds, vol. 4, 132-138.; “Wisconsin necrology 1874-1875,” vol. 7, p. 468; Map of Washington and Ozaukee Counties for 1873-1874)

 

p. 52 – William F. Opitz

 

“William F. Opitz was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly. Later he operated a tavern “at the edge of Saukville”, as well as one in Cedarburg.” (J.H.A. Lacher, “Taverns and Stages of Early Wisconsin,” Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings of 1914 [Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin], p. 151.)

 

p. 113 – (Didn’t copy the beginning of the paragraph where it talks about this case. Must be the 1854 Jabez Foster/William Payne case)

 

            …“against Payne and his other associates, including George D. Dausman, John B. Dausman, Talbot C. Dausman, and Erastus B. Walcott and his wife Eliza Jane Walcott. Foster alleged he had been cheated in some land transactions. The court appointed George C. Daniels, Harvey Moore and Benjamin F. Pidge as Court Commissioners, with the responsibility of investigating the merits of the case. George C. Daniels has been discussed previously in this book. Harvey Moore was a Milwaukee lawyer who had his office on Wisconsin street above the old Milwaukee post office. No additional information was available on Pidge.

 

            The presiding Federal Judge for this case, according to information recorded in the Ozaukee County Register of Deeds Office, was Andrew G. Miller; however, there is no evidence that he actually sat in judgment of the case, and his signature is nowhere to be found in the court record of the case. The actual court records make it quite clear that on January 8, 1855 a man named McIntosh signed the court records in the capacity of a Justice of the Peace of Ozaukee County! McIntosh may be Stephen McIntosh, who was Town of Saukville Assessor and School District Clerk in 1848. McIntosh’s findings and signature is witnessed by Benjamin A. Miller, Clerk, United States District Court.”

 

            [Then there is a discussion of the case, with no further mention of GCD]

 

“In this federal court case, the Court Commissioners reported to the Court that they had inspected the lands in question, including and embracing most of the Sections 25, 26, 35 and 36 lands in the Village of “Sackville” (spelled this way at this point in the court record and spelled “Saukville” in some other places in same court record.” (Edward D. Holtan, et al, “Commercial History of Milwaukee,” Wisconsin Historical Collections, vol. 4, p. 257, 267; Property abstract of Fred J. and Anna Heim; original record, Deeds, col. 4 (April 28, 1855), p. 130-138; also see hand written court record, Ozaukee County Register of Deeds Office, Tract Index to Saukville Deeds, vol. 4, pp. 132-138.)

 

p. 136 – (Not all of pertinent section copied, although the case involves the will of Lemuel S. Sizer who wants to alter his original will because his wife, “Rosanna has left me and continues to remain away…”

 

            “On September 10, 1863, Judge Lutfring notified Isaac Hallows that as a result of the will and the codicil, he (Hallows) was appointed executor. On September 12^th, an inventory of the property of Lemuel S. Sizer was filed with the court.” [Description follows]

 

            “On September 29, Judge Lutfring appointed Isaac C. Loomis, George C. Daniels, and William Richards, “three discreet and disinterested persons,” as commissioners to “admeasure and set off said dower estate [the estate of Rosanna Sizer].” (From Abstract of Title to Lots 12-13-14-15-16-17+18 in Riverview Forest Subdivision No. 2 – Town of Saukville, Ozaukee County Wisconsin, Ada M. Ahlhauser, Abstractor of Titles, Port Washington, Wisconsin, pp. 2-3.)

 

[Other details about the case]

 

p. 137 -           “On November 2^nd, George C. Daniels, Isaac C. Loomis and William Richards reported to the Court that they had inspected the lands in question, and in the presence of Rosanna Sizer’s agent, Isaac Hollows, and his attorney, E.S. Turner (actually Hallows was the agent for the opposition), had “set off” for Rosanna Sizer “one-third part in value of said land.” The “set off” land included 45 acres of Lot 7 ….(land details). The Judge then ordered another hearing on the estate to be held on November 10^th. On November 7^th, the heirs of Lemuel S. Sizer notified the court, through their attorney, that they “would not further contest the dower right of said widow [Rosanna Sizer].” The November 10^th hearing did not take place. Finally on December 19^th, Judge Lutfring ordered that the purported last Will and Testament of Lemuel S. Size be rejected and that he would allow six months for creditors to file claims against the estate.” (See last note – p. 5-6.)

 

From: The History of Port Washington, in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin; a Dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in part fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, Department of History, by Sister M. Jane Frances Price. (Chicago, July 1943)

 

p. 8 – In the fall of 1836 he drew up the plan for Port Washington, which he called “Wisconsin City”. Later he changed the name to “Washington” under which the name of the first post office was established. [Didn’t copy page to find out who “he” was] FOOTNOTE 14: William R. Smith, Observations on the Wisconsin Territory. Philadelphia: E.L. Carey and A. Hart, 1838. p. 117. The popular name of the first settlement, after the name “Wisconsin City” had been changed, was “Sauk Washington”. Only in 1844 did George C. Daniels have the name altered to the less awkward “Port Washington”.

 

p. 20 – “The Town of Port Washington, incorporated on January 21, 1846, comprised towns 11 and 12, ranges 21 and 22, including the present towns of Fredonia, Saukville, and Belgium. The first poll list totals seventy-six voters, a sizeable list for a three-year-old town.

 

            The officers elected at the first Town Meeting in the school house in April of 1846, show that the political reins at this time were in the hands of the “Yankee” or Irish groups:

 

            Board of Supervisors:

                                                Solon Johnson

                                                William Teall

                                                John McLean

 

            Commissioner of Highways:

                                                Allen C. Daniels

 

            Assessors:                  Wooster Harrison

                                                Alva Cunningham

                                                William Hudson

 

            Collector:                   Isaac C. Loomis

                       

            School Commission:

                                                Sylvestor Watson

                                                Abram Bates

                                                Jerome Young

 

            Constables:                Sylvestor Watson

                                                L.D. Cunningham

 

            Justices of the Peace:

                                                George C. Daniels

                                                George W. Foster

            Sealer of Weights:    Orlando Watrous

 

            Town Clerk:              F.W. Merritt

 

(Washington County Records, West Bend, WI) (This list was also included in page 509 from the Butterfield book, see above..)