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Leiier 6T Johhi tow »a^1^407s:\&4=-a'H*l--&5 years ago—is A w r i 11 e n by an The last of this group of letters from Racine county settlers in the ■sj an Englishman to a friend in London, and is chiefly interesting for its . enthusiastic testimony to the d e s i r ability of these lands over those of any oth- ' *ir"l HF er section of *"'■'■■■''■■■"" northern Ameri ca, including the Canadas, through and over which he had previous- 1 ly traveled on a tour of explora- E."w. LEACH tl0" and inspec-i tion. In one respect these six letters have been very similar—there has been no minor note struck in, any of them; no complaints; no whimpering. The writers have all soft-pedaled on the drawbacks, and stressed the advantages of conditions as they', found them. These men left home, looking for farms, and certainly were prepared to find adverse wilderness conditions, and to grapple with them, but when they arrived in Racine county, their fears were disappointed, and their hopes realized beyond all expectation. It is no wonder that they anticipated incredulity and perhaps charges of exaggeration by their readers, though they did in fact stick close to the truth. In the weekly Dispatch—printed and published at 139 Fleet street, London, April 11, 1841, is the following copy of a letter from Mr. ' John Cole, farmer, late of Mensiss, Somerset, to his friend, Mr. Gibbons, of No. 2 Arbor street, Commercial Road, East LondOn: Wisconsin Territory. Nov. 16, 1840.1 Dear Sir: I promised when I left! England to better my condition by emigrating, that if successful I! would write to you.' At length 11 have been as good'as my word. I had a fair passage from Bristol to j New York; after remaining here aj few days, I began my labors in this; wide country, and traveled through; the whole of the northern states, (the Canadas) but could see no chance for a farmer of small capi-: tal to begin farming upon new land; in these heavy timbered countries,! to bring about anything like comfort in my lifetime. Every rod of j ground is covered with timber, the Work of a man's life-time to clear a small farm, and cleared farms are very dear—entirely out of my reach. So I' began to think of returning to England again, but seeing a great emigration in this country from the other states and Canadas, I resolved to go back and look at it, and believe me, I found it as much before any other country here as it is possible to be in any point of view. This country is as handsome in appearance as any part I have seen in England. If any industrious person with £100 to £200 does not get a good independent and certain living here, it must be entirely his own fault. I am located three miles Of the seaport town of Racine. The land all about this part is of the best quality—principally black loam, and already fit for cultivation—not a stick, bramble, or stump in your way. The timbe*r is in clumps or groves of about one mfle apart, enough for fuel and building purposes' only; and there are tamarack nearly fit for rails without splitting, to fence in your farm in any quantity, (a great advantage not to be found in .any other part,) as a person can fence in his farm with very trifling trouble. There are no land speculators here, or land companies puffing out their flattering delusions, to get a high price and profit for their land, like there are in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The government office is open daily for the sale of any of the vacant lands, at $5 per acre, and no more, title deeds included. I purchased 80 acres and the whole of my taxes do not amount to more than £7 per year, including school tax. No poor rates and more-wanted: no tithes—ho po- licmen lurking about your peaceable homes inquiring what you have in your pot for dinner" nor is there any need of them. I will just state how rapidly this country is settling by emigration from Canada and other states here. It is four years since the Indians left this territory (about the size of England,) The capital, Milwaukee, was then two log huts—now it is a large town with 24 taverns, and churches, court house, gaol—many large offices for government professional men, too, many shops ofv every kind, and three newspapers, printed Weekly, and a reading room with English newspapers there at present, 23 days old. Four steamboats and several large vessels lying in the harbor. ' Farming stock- is very plentiful, the old settlements are so very near —good cows $16 each—horses $30, pigs you may have almost for nothing, they are so plentiful, and almost, every kind of fish, too, particularly trout, showing that the water is of , the best kind. , This is the best watered country I have ever seen—equal to any part of England, so that you can locate in any part, all having water privileges; not like Australia) where you can only locate in certain spots, for want of water; and a healthier cOXin- try there cannot be. I have seen no sickness these two years I have been here, from the effect of the climate very different from the
Object Description
Pagination | Box 4, Folder 3: "Letters of Pioneers" Chapter 2 No. 3 |
Title | Box 4, Folder 3: "Letters of Pioneers" Chapter 2 No. 3 |
Creator | Leach, Eugene Walter, 1857-1938 |
Folder Description | This folder contains information on Joel Sage, A.G. Knight, and Henry S. Durand, and early settlements as described by the pioneers Nicholas LePrevost, Alex O. Birch, A.C. Barry, Philo White (editor), and John Cole. |
State | Wisconsin |
Place | Racine |
Subject | Sage, Joel; Knight, A.G.; Durand, Henry S.; LePrevost, Nicholas; Birch, Alex O.; Barry, A.C.; White, Philo; Cole, John; early settlements |
Language | English |
Source | Eugene Walter Leach Papers, 1842-1851, 1898-1938 (Parkside Mss 6 UW-Parkside, Box 4, Folder 3); WIHV99-A283 |
Type | Text |
Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
Publication Date-Electronic | 2017 |
Rights | Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited. |
Digital Format | XML |
Digital Identifier | UWPMss006_B4_F3_000 |
Description
Pagination | Page 1 |
Title | Letter of John Cole |
Searchable Text | Leiier 6T Johhi tow »a^1^407s:\&4=-a'H*l--&5 years ago—is A w r i 11 e n by an The last of this group of letters from Racine county settlers in the ■sj an Englishman to a friend in London, and is chiefly interesting for its . enthusiastic testimony to the d e s i r ability of these lands over those of any oth- ' *ir"l HF er section of *"'■'■■■''■■■"" northern Ameri ca, including the Canadas, through and over which he had previous- 1 ly traveled on a tour of explora- E."w. LEACH tl0" and inspec-i tion. In one respect these six letters have been very similar—there has been no minor note struck in, any of them; no complaints; no whimpering. The writers have all soft-pedaled on the drawbacks, and stressed the advantages of conditions as they', found them. These men left home, looking for farms, and certainly were prepared to find adverse wilderness conditions, and to grapple with them, but when they arrived in Racine county, their fears were disappointed, and their hopes realized beyond all expectation. It is no wonder that they anticipated incredulity and perhaps charges of exaggeration by their readers, though they did in fact stick close to the truth. In the weekly Dispatch—printed and published at 139 Fleet street, London, April 11, 1841, is the following copy of a letter from Mr. ' John Cole, farmer, late of Mensiss, Somerset, to his friend, Mr. Gibbons, of No. 2 Arbor street, Commercial Road, East LondOn: Wisconsin Territory. Nov. 16, 1840.1 Dear Sir: I promised when I left! England to better my condition by emigrating, that if successful I! would write to you.' At length 11 have been as good'as my word. I had a fair passage from Bristol to j New York; after remaining here aj few days, I began my labors in this; wide country, and traveled through; the whole of the northern states, (the Canadas) but could see no chance for a farmer of small capi-: tal to begin farming upon new land; in these heavy timbered countries,! to bring about anything like comfort in my lifetime. Every rod of j ground is covered with timber, the Work of a man's life-time to clear a small farm, and cleared farms are very dear—entirely out of my reach. So I' began to think of returning to England again, but seeing a great emigration in this country from the other states and Canadas, I resolved to go back and look at it, and believe me, I found it as much before any other country here as it is possible to be in any point of view. This country is as handsome in appearance as any part I have seen in England. If any industrious person with £100 to £200 does not get a good independent and certain living here, it must be entirely his own fault. I am located three miles Of the seaport town of Racine. The land all about this part is of the best quality—principally black loam, and already fit for cultivation—not a stick, bramble, or stump in your way. The timbe*r is in clumps or groves of about one mfle apart, enough for fuel and building purposes' only; and there are tamarack nearly fit for rails without splitting, to fence in your farm in any quantity, (a great advantage not to be found in .any other part,) as a person can fence in his farm with very trifling trouble. There are no land speculators here, or land companies puffing out their flattering delusions, to get a high price and profit for their land, like there are in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The government office is open daily for the sale of any of the vacant lands, at $5 per acre, and no more, title deeds included. I purchased 80 acres and the whole of my taxes do not amount to more than £7 per year, including school tax. No poor rates and more-wanted: no tithes—ho po- licmen lurking about your peaceable homes inquiring what you have in your pot for dinner" nor is there any need of them. I will just state how rapidly this country is settling by emigration from Canada and other states here. It is four years since the Indians left this territory (about the size of England,) The capital, Milwaukee, was then two log huts—now it is a large town with 24 taverns, and churches, court house, gaol—many large offices for government professional men, too, many shops ofv every kind, and three newspapers, printed Weekly, and a reading room with English newspapers there at present, 23 days old. Four steamboats and several large vessels lying in the harbor. ' Farming stock- is very plentiful, the old settlements are so very near —good cows $16 each—horses $30, pigs you may have almost for nothing, they are so plentiful, and almost, every kind of fish, too, particularly trout, showing that the water is of , the best kind. , This is the best watered country I have ever seen—equal to any part of England, so that you can locate in any part, all having water privileges; not like Australia) where you can only locate in certain spots, for want of water; and a healthier cOXin- try there cannot be. I have seen no sickness these two years I have been here, from the effect of the climate very different from the |
Language | English |
Source | Eugene Walter Leach Papers, 1842-1851, 1898-1938 (Parkside Mss 6 UW-Parkside, Box 4, Folder 3) |
Type | Text |
Publisher-Electronic | Wisconsin Historical Society |
Publication Date-Electronic | 2017 |
Rights | Copyright to these documents belongs to the individuals who created them or the organizations for which they worked. The principal organizations have been defunct for many years and copyright to their unpublished records is uncertain. We share them here strictly for non-profit educational purposes. We have attempted to contact individuals who created personal papers of significant length or importance. Nearly all have generously permitted us to include their work. If you believe that you possess copyright to material included here, please contact us at asklibrary@wisconsinhistory.org. Under the fair use provisions of the U.S. copyright law, teachers and students are free to reproduce any document for nonprofit classroom use. Commercial use of copyright-protected material is generally prohibited. |
Digital Format | JPEG2000 |
Digital Identifier | UWPMss006_B4_F3_016_1 |