In 1843, Edward Gilley
(1811-1897) arrived in the Cooksville area from his home in Northumberland
County, England and settled on 80 acres of land that he immediately purchased and
began to farm just east of the newly established Village of Cooksville (1842). In
1845 he wrote a detailed and expressive letter home, very pleased with his
decision.
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| Edward Gilley portrait, c.1890s |
Edward had come to America with his brother
George Gilley (1819-1888) to begin a new life on the new lands in the Wisconsin
Territory that the U.S. government had been selling since 1837. In 1855 a
third brother, John Gilley (1817-1856) migrated
with his family to Cooksville but he died the following year. All three
brothers and several other family members are buried in the old Cooksville Cemetery. A fourth brother,
William, remained in England.
A brief biographical
sketch of two sentences in the 1879 “History of Rock County, Wisconsin,”
describes: “Edward Gilley, retired farmer, Sec.4; P.O. Cooksville; born in
Northumberland, England, Feb. 11, 1811; he came to America in 1843, locating in
Porter Township, Rock Co., Wis., in May of that year, and purchased of the
Government 200 acres of land, on which he has since remained. He married in
Porter Township, Rock Co., Wis., April 1, 1854, and his wife died May 28,,
1875.” In the 1889 “Portrait and
Biographical Album of Rock County,” both Edward and George Gilley merited longer
biographies as significant early pioneer settlers and farmers in southern
Wisconsin.
Edward’s letter home in
1845 to his relatives in England, written 171 years ago, reveals as much about
himself as the new land he now owned and farmed.
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| Edward Gilley Farmstead, east of Cooksville, etching from 1873 |
The letter written on September
28, 1845, to his sister Anne (or possibly to his half-sister Jane) in Rothbury,
England, appears to have been his first letter sent to his family from
Wisconsin. His return address on the
letter was “Union [the nearby
stagecoach-mail stop], Rock County, Wisconsin Territory, United States,
North America.” The envelope had post marks of “Janesville, Wis. Sep 30” and “America-Liverpool
Oct. 27, 1845,” and “Morpeth [near Rothbury; no day/month] 1845.”
A transcribed copy of
Edward’s letter was recently given to the Cooksville Archives through the combined
efforts of Gilley descendents now living in Iowa, North Carolina, Scotland and England.
In the letter— a glowing
report of his new home on a “smooth prairie” —Edward wrote, “I believe this is
going to be the greatest wheat growing country in the world.”
Edward’s sister had apparently
written that she was “poorly” and “much fatigued,” and in his letter Edward
assured her that “if you were this side of the Atlantic Ocean I could soon put
you in to a comfortable way of living. You might make a good living here by
keeping a few milk cows.”
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| Ellen Pratt Gilley (1860-1944), niece of Edward |
He boasted about the prices
of crops and the rich soil and compared the geography and climate of Wisconsin
with that of England. He also mentioned a few set-backs in the challenges he
faced living on the new American frontier.
“Butter sells now from 8
pence to 9 pence per lb your money, that is from 16 to 18 cts….There are many a
thousand acres that wants nothing more than turning over the sward [the grassy soil surface] and sowing the
seed—it will produce from 10 to 12 bolls
[about 50-60 bushels] an acre and by cross plowing it will produce 16 or18
bolls per acre.”
Edward continued: “Our
cattle costs us nothing to keep them, except mowing hay for the winter feed.
About 1 half of the land here where we are is clear of timber [and] it grows abundantly of wild grass
and weeds where the soil is very rich, the other half is occupied with oak
timber not very great size from 5 to 15 yds apart and the soil in general very
good… the melons and cucumbers here are so numerous we feed the hoggs with
them, likewise onions, cabbage, pease, beans, potatoes and turnips grow
abundantly here without manure—in fact, it lacks nothing here for being a good
farming country except coals….”
Then Edward explained how
he managed to acquire his rich lands: “Dear Sister, I must now turn to giving
you some account of my own transactions since I came to Wisconsin and my
circumstances now. First move I made I bought 80 acres land 5s. [about $1.25] per acre and claimed
another 80 acres calculating to pay for it as soon as I am able as the 80
bought is mostly timber and marsh with a small stream of water running along one
side of it, and the other 80 acres is smooth prairie or plough land so the one
will not make a good farm without the other… I have got along pretty well
except last year one of my horses happened an accident, she broke one of her
hind legs—it was a great hindrance to me in getting along with my improvements
not being able to buy another to put in her place for some time.”
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| Stebbins-Tofsland-Gilley Octagonal Barn, owned by Edward's nephew |
He described his animal
stock and his living conditions: “I will also give you a small account of my
stock—1 aged work horse, 1 yearling colt which the mare had when or before she
died—it is a very fine one now, 3 milk cows, 2 yearling heighers [heifers], 1 calf, 2 yoke of oxen, 1
bull, 2 sows, 10 pigs, 7 shot [young] pigs
for pork this fall….and about 2 score hens and chickens together and I have now
got my house made pretty comfortable. It contains 3 rooms and a good
cellar—building is also rather expensive here, as mechanics wages are high—they
charge pretty near 1 dollar a day…”
Edward praised a grain new
to him: “There is also another plant called Indian Corn, a very useful thing it
is, it is good for either Man or Beast. I like it better than oatmeal made into
pottage and it is better than anything else to fatten hoggs with and horses likewise. I think the climate varies a little more
here than it does in England. It is a little hotter here in summer and cooler
in winter but the air is more clear… Our land is very even with a little
decline and well watered.”
But Edward was lonely and
needed a helpmate. “And I found when I got settled that I could not get on
without a Housekeeper so I got me a wife last January, but she by casting [sic] some clothes in the month of June
caught cold which turned to inflammation of the bowels and died in the month of
July which causes me to feel very destitute as am living alone with a great
deal of care.”
Edward hoped he would have
enough money to pay off his additional 80 acres at the Land Office, “and have
as much left as will bear my expenses to England and back, I should like to pay
you a visit in the Fall and stay all winter and return in April if all go well
with us.”
He wrote that his brother
George “bought 40 acres of land which is in cultivation and claims another 40…He
likes the country very well and has a better prospect than in England but is
rather scant of means to build and improve. But if he have his health to put in
his crops in the Spring, they will raise considerable of means…”
He hoped he would hear
back from his family. “But I must conclude with George joining me in love to
you and all inquiring friends, Your affectionate brother, E. Gilley.”
And so ends Edward
Gilley’s wonderfully detailed, enthusiastic, newsy letter home to his family
and friends in England describing his satisfying, successful life that he began
on America’s frontier in the Territory of Wisconsin, United States, North
America.
* *
* *
[Many thanks to Diane Gabrielsen Scholl of Iowa, and
all her Gilley relatives including Janet
Hancock of North Carolina, Edward
Freeborn of Kent, England, and Julia Carter of Scotland, descendents
of the Gilley family and distant cousins, for sharing the transcribed copy of Gilley’s letter with me, along with other information. The “Gilley Family” file is part of the
Cooksville Archives maintained in Cooksville, Town of Porter, Rock County, State
of Wisconsin, United States, North America, the Earth, the Milky Way, the
Universe. The Cooksville Archives is available to interested people by
appointment with Larry Reed, (608) 873-5066.]
