Name/Title
Histories, Incidents and Descriptions of Early WaupunDescription
Incidents and Descriptions of Early Waupun. Told by George Newton (Jud) Wilcox, son of Seymour Wilcox (one of the first settlers in Waupun). Upper right corner written in pencil reads "Bertsch." Written by Horatio H. Hoard. Page 10. Typed on onion paper.
Early Waupun:
January 10, 1910 con't.
One day Al Carter, myself, and two girls started in a boat to go to a sugaring off across the marsh. We went over in fine shape, had a fine time eating maple wax and hot syrup. They filled our boat with maple sugar free of cost to us and we started home. The wind came up and we were several hours on the marsh. When we got to the shore our boat was half full of water and our maple sugar was all melted. We did not feel the loss very much as maple sugar was worth only four cents a pound.
Up where the old cemetery is (Wilcox Park now) we, Thurst and I, were up there barefooted. Father told us to go up there and cut wood enough to buy us some boots. We cut it and delivered the wood at fifty cents per cord. We cut and piled wood for twenty cents per cord. We went to Milwaukee with wheat and came back after selling it and had a barrel of salt left and that was all we had left after paying expenses. Whiskey sold for ten cents per gallon. We used to go to the distillery at the Upper Town on Collins farm.
Jan. 12, 1910 (subj food and clothing)
For years we used to kill a cow every year and eight or ten hogs. We always made our own candles and soap. I have made candles from two o'clock in the afternoon and worked until after midnight. Mother used to spin and weave the cloth out of wool. We at first had to wash and card the wool into rolls to spin into yarn to weave and knit into cloth and socks. We used to sald down a barrel or so of suckers every spring to last us all summer.
Jan. 13, 1910 (subj. wedding)
Fifty-two years ago I was married [ed. note: 1858]. We started for Fond du Lac in the morning. Carrington had bought forty acres by E. Duer's. I drove there for dinner. Then we drove to Fond du Lac. There was no snow all winter. We moved into log house on George Newton's farm and sowed all our wheat in March.
Sargent came here May 20, 1847. We started farming by the corner where the five bridges are (Alto). It was opening land that meant a scattering burr and white oak and brush of all kinds. We broke up ten acres with twelve ox teams. The plow was a fourteen foot beam breaking plow. We found grass that was three feet high on the upland, and six feet high in the marshes. Pea vine and blue joint on the edges of the sloughs was six to seven feet high.