Images from the Cooksvillle Archives

The historic Village of Cooksville has an extensive collection of photographs, biographies, newspaper clippings, books, genealogical information, paintings, pottery, furniture and other items. These comprise the Village's "Archives and Collections," begun informally more than a hundred years ago and maintained today by the Historic Cooksville Trust, Inc.

Here are some of the historic images from photographs, magazines, scrapbooks and other documents illustrating the Village's people, places and activities.

This early, fold-out, 3-dimensional Valentine's Day card is unsigned and undated, but is labeled "Printed in Germany" and "10."

A map from the 1830s  surveys, with the "Bad Fish River" (Sugar River), the Four Lakes, and the "Gooshkehawn" (Yahara) and Rock rivers. 

Tin-type of three unidentified men, perhaps from Cooksville.

The Chambers Store, the first in Cooksville, changes hands in 1846.

Chester Gilley (1873-1944), who lived just east of Cooksville, where the Gilley Farmhouse still stands.

Caledonia Springs Railroad Bridge to Cooksville, constructed in 1857. But soon became the bridge to nowhere when the RR never came to the village. Photograph from the 1950s.

Isaac Hoxie (1825-1903), born in Maine, came to Cooksville in 1846, operated a sash and blind (shutter) factory and a broom factory in the village, then founded the Stoughton Reporter and the Evansville Review newspapers in the 1860s and 1870s.

          St. Michael's Cemetery near Cooksville on Caledonia Road, next to the site of its church, which was demolished in 1948.

The fancy invitation  to the Cooksville Unity Society Supper and Ball in 1885 included the assurance of "Good Stabling for Teams" of horses, as well as supper and dancing, all for the price of $1.50.

Malvina ("Vie") Howard Campbell (1846-1922), born in Cooksville, was an active leader and lecturer in several movements in Wisconsin including the W,C.T.U., Wisconsin Woman's Suffrage Society, as well as in agriculture and horticulture issues.

A map of Cooksville (and Waucoma) in 1891.

A landscape by Leila Dow (1864-1930), Cooksville artist, teacher and co-founder of the Madison Art Guild.

The early Hoxie barn served several purposes including this blacksmith shop and, eventually, Dorothy and Arthur Kramers'  pottery studio until it burned down in 1956.

The Cooksville School Class of 1925.
 

A 1939 photograph: left to right, Tommy Osgood, Standley Naysmith, his son Jim, Dorothy Kramer, Arthur Kramer, and Vicki, at the Morgan House.

The Old Settlers Picnic at the Cooksville School, a newspaper clipping about 1945.

Some Cooksville School students,1947.

Cooksville School students in the one-room school: Class of 1952-53

Cooksville School's basement gym games, from the Class of 1953 Year Book.

Cooksville Community Center's First Dinner Meeting, May 6, 1962, which 90 people attended and where a school-house-decorated cake was auctioned off.

John Wilde (1919-2006), Cooksville, was a University of Wisconsin professor and "Magic Realist" artist, with his Wildeview II print, 1985.

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Cooksville Founded 180 Years Ago in 1840

The history of Cooksville began 180 years ago, on May 9, 1840, when its eponymous founder John Cook, from Ohio, first purchased 40 acres on America’s frontier in the new Wisconsin Territory (1836-1848).

Later, on June 22, 1840, records indicate he purchased an additional adjacent 120 acres, owning a total of 160 acres. The cost at the time was just $1.25 per acre.

Then, 180 years ago, John Cook with his brother, Daniel, and other fellow travelers set out for their new Wisconsin lands. Besides John and Daniel, the pioneering group included Daniel’s wife Elizabeth and daughter Rhoda; Mrs. Cook’s brother James Shurrum and his wife Hannah Courter; and Hannah’s sister Angeline Courter Johnson and her husband David Johnson and their three children.

The Cooks, Shurrums and Johnsons traveled in wagons, probably covered and pulled by yoked oxen, probably accompanied by a horse or two, probably with a cow or two, and, no doubt, with chickens. 

They were a typical family group migrating westward, traveling from Ohio to Wisconsin across prairies, over rivers, through oak openings and oak savannas, and typically following dirt trails made by government land surveyors, by soldiers, by early traders, and by Native Americans.

Union Stagecoach Inn and Tavern built c.1837

On June 25, 1840, the families arrived at the growing village of Union in Rock County, the midway stagecoach stop between Janesville and Madison and the only village in the area. Union already had a stagecoach inn and tavern and was a jumping off place for new settlers in the area.

According to a daughter of the Johnson’s, when the families arrived in Janesville there were several houses and one general store and only one house stood between Janesville and Union.  Besides the stagecoach inn, she observed only two houses in Union, which was the only settlement for many miles around,

Cook’s new lands lay three miles further to the east of Union. The Johnson family remained in Union, but the Cooks and the Shurrums traveled the three miles further east to Cook’s prairie land in the oak-openings along a fast-flowing, fish-filled creek. The creek originally was called “Waucoma” by the Native Americans, apparently named after an American Indian chief.  But the creek had also been re-named “Bad Fish” by surveyors and map-makers in the 1830s. (Maybe it had too many catfish in it, like the nearby Yahara or "Catfish Creek.")

When the Cooks and Shurrums arrived at their destination that day in 1840, they initially resided in their wagons and tents. Most likely, before winter set in, they built themselves a log cabin—the first dwelling in Cooksville—to shelter the families. They probably also built a log shelter for their animals ( barns for the animals were often built first). The log house reportedly was about 14 feet square without floors or doors or windows, probably with a crude earthen and stone fireplace on a dirt floor. A split log floor typically added later.

Typical log cabin in the area

It was reported that the families were bothered by howling prairie wolves and frequent deer foraging in their gardens.
 

Cooksville Saw Mill (1842-1910), painting by Leila Dow c.1900

The Cooks built a saw mill on the Bad Fish Creek in 1842, which provided sawn lumber for their new permanent house built in 1842. The house featured hand-hewn beams and some hand-split or riven lath to hold the plaster on the interior walls. The Cook House remains standing as the oldest house in Cooksville.

Also in 1842, the Cooks officially platted three blocks of a village they named “Cooksville.”  Located on the edge of their quarter-section of land, Cooks’ village plat included three blocks of six lots each, all on the west side of what became  the village’s “Main Street,” now State Highway 138.

Cook House c.1910

Apparently, John Cook married his wife, Nancy Ann, sometime after 1840.  Little, in fact, is known about John and Daniel Cook and their families, or about the Shurrums. The Cooks did not stay long in Wisconsin. By 1850, the Cooks had all gone further west, to West Union, Iowa. 

Cook House as Van Wormer's Groceries, c.1920

Cook House c.1930s

Of course, other migrants soon followed, settling in the southern part of the Wisconsin Territory. In fact, the population of Wisconsin jumped dramatically from about 3,000 in 1830 to 11,683 in 1836, and then to 305,391 in 1850 after becoming a state in 1848.  One by one, family by family, the early settlers arrived, lured by inexpensive land and great expectations.

Several other villages were planned and “platted” nearby in the area. They were named “Saratoga,” “Carramana,” “Van Buren,” and “Warsaw”— but the speculators’ lands mostly went unsold and those “paper villages” went unsettled.

Cook House as The Red Door Antique Shop, c.1960

In 1849, John Cook sold his holdings and moved west to West Union, Iowa, never to return. His pioneering brother Daniel would follow him in a year. There they operated a general store as well as the first hotel in town.

Cook House 

The Cooks left behind a very nice accomplishment: their name on the growing and lively little Village of Cooksville, which soon had  another village platted next to it in 1846 by the Porter brothers of Massachusetts: the Village of Waucoma. 

The two villages attracted new settlers, reaching a total population of about 175 persons, even after the expanding railroad companies by-passed the villages in the 1850s and ‘60s. 

The historic Village of Cooksville was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973, with the NRHP listing expanded in 1980. The Cook families would be pleased.

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Life in Old Cooksville: Families and Friends

Lillian Graves Smith’s memories of life in the Village of Cooksville provide a window into the past. Lillian (1875- 1977) grew up in Cooksville, and later in life, thanks to her son, she recorded many fond memories—and some not so fond—of  life among those first settlers in the Cook brothers’ village  as well as next door in the Porters’ Village of Waucoma.

Here are a few of Lillian’s “Vignettes,” in her own words, recorded in 1973, recalling those 19^th-century pioneers and their families in an early Wisconsin settlement.

The Joseph Porters.  “The Porter families were such an institution in Cooksville that they can scarcely be ignored. I remember “Aunt” Eliza Porter [1821-1890, ed.] as a woman of great personal charm and undeniable talents.  She used to call upon my mother and they would discuss the latest in literature and the arts. 

"One remembers the large dining table in the Porter Homestead where the tables were extended cornerwise across the room in order to accommodate the many men who worked on the Porter Farms. As domestic help was plentiful, Aunt Eliza always had several “hired girls” in the kitchen and dining room. While the help consumed the hearty meals, Aunt Eliza would entertain them at the piano. 

"When daughter Helen Rebecca Porter Richardson was home, I would often go down and ask to play with baby Clara and wheel her around the yard. If any neighborhood children were around at meal time, they were always invited to stay and eat.

"Aunt Eliza," as we always called her, was also an elocutionist and would give readings at church or village gatherings. She was intensely dramatic, and the poems and sagas were usually accompanied by gestures as was the custom in those days. When she read from Longfellow’s “Psalm of Life” —the lines “Be not like dumb-driven cattle”—she would quickly drop to all fours on the floor, and as quickly straighten up with hand raised skyward on the following verse: “Be a hero in the strife!” Of course, this was a little much for the uninitiated who found it somewhat amusing, but as children, we were all duly impressed.”

William Porter

The William Porters. “William Porter [Joseph’s brother, ed.] lived across the street from the Congregational Church. In fact, he gave the land on which the church was built. I look back with some amusement regarding my father’s attitude to this location which he heartily disapproved. He did not want the church to be built down in Bill Porter’s sheep pen... For this reason and some others, he seldom if ever attended services.

William Porter House

“These Porters had four children: Susie, Phoebe, William and Frank. Susie never married and taught school in Racine for many years. She acquired the old Backenstoe home on the Square, and divided her summer vacation between Cooksville and the Maine Coast. The last time I saw her was at the Old Settlers Picnic many years ago. She was always a very charming person. 

Susan Porter

 "Phoebe died young from a tumor that grew to gargantuan proportions. This was sad when one realizes what modern surgery might have done for her. Frank Porter was always very popular with the Cooksville children, as any child who wished was free to go to the pasture and ride on Frank’s pony. In later years, Frank’s mind became affected and he was in and out of mental institutions. His sister Susie tried to look after him for a time, but finally had to have him institutionalized.”

The Isaac Porters.  “Isaac Porter [Joseph’s other brother, ed.] lived in the large brick house facing south on the north side of the Square. As a child, I thought that this was the most beautiful home I had ever seen, and only hoped that one day I might have one as fine as this. Isaac Porter was a gentleman of the old school. I do not remember his wife who died young leaving four children: John, Anna, Henry and Edward. Isaac was always kind to the children in Cooksville, and I recall that he once took Avis Savage and me to the Sunday School Picnic at Lake Kegonsa when we had no way to get there. He stayed around all day and saw us safely home.  
    

Isaac Porter

“Henry Porter married Ethel Van Vleck who lived close by on the Square…. For a time, Ethel and Henry lived in the old Isaac Porter home, but later purchased a farm a few miles southwest of Evansville. They had four children….John Porter married Carrie Evans and lived in Evansville. He was the Cashier of the Grange Store….Anna Porter married Sanford Soverhill and lived in Janesville…. Eddie Porter was a great favorite with the Cooksville children. He was never too busy, or in too much of a hurry to stop and pick up the youngsters in his wagon and give them short rides. He was a kind and generous young man, and we all mourned his early passing. He had taken his girl friend to a dance on perhaps the coldest night of the winter, and probably became thoroughly chilled riding in an open cutter. His was a lingering illness and during that time, his beard had been allowed to grow, and it was somewhat of a shock when we saw him for the last time in his casket.”       

The Ray Boys.  “Two middle-ages bachelors lived on the Square for a time and owned some farm land outside the village. They worked their farm with a pair of mules which made them somewhat unique. They were unique in some other respects also, as they became the butt of numerous practical jokes on the part of village boys. Actually, they were very decent men and considerate of their neighbors. The boys really liked them and would go over and visit with them in the evening. However, this did not preclude their pranks on those unsuspecting old bachelors.

“One night, the boys—my two younger brothers, Wayne and Willie included—managed to get the mules out of the barn and change their color from brown to white by administering liberal coats of whitewash. Then Wayne and another boy went out to call upon the Ray brothers who were sitting on their front porch. The other boys had been delegated to hitch up the mules and drive them by the Ray home. As they came in sight, one of the Ray brothers remarked with some surprise: “Other folks have mules as well as we.” This simple yarn was repeated over and again in Cooksville, and almost became a folk legend.”

Duncan House

Henry Duncan. “Mr. Duncan [1807-1892 ed.] lived in the “House Next Door”… I can vaguely recall him as a small child. He was totally blind in this last years, and in good weather, various neighbors would volunteer to take Mr. Duncan for a walk around the village so that he might have some exercise and fresh air. One day, my mother instructed my sister Harriet to go over and take “poor Mr. Duncan” for a walk. My sister Harriet complied at once, but during the walk, she allowed her mind to wander and inadvertently led him forthwith into a rather deep ditch. She managed to get the old gentleman back on his feet with no greater injury than perhaps to his pride, and her own deep chagrin.  She did not hear that last of that for some time and my mother scolded her unmercifully for her thoughtlessness. Harriet often related this incident in later years long after her chagrin had quite disappeared when she and other members of the family could get a good laugh out of it.”

Edward Gilley. “Edward Gilley [1811-1897, ed.] came to Porter Township from England in 1843…He owned a good farm just east of Cooksville. “Uncle” Edward, never having married, the property was left to nieces and nephews, none of whom cared for farming, and the place became somewhat run down in later years.

Edward Gilley

"Edward Gilley was quite an elderly man when I knew him, and badly crippled with rheumatism. However, he always managed to drive his horse and buggy to church for services. Avis Savage and I always watched him as he made his laborious way down the aisle to the front of the church as he also was hard of hearing. He would sideways into the hard-backed pew, wait briefly, and the drop into his seat with a dull and sickening thud, whereupon Avis and I would snigger outrageously. Chet Gilley, a nephew of Uncle Edward, was one of my early boy friends, and his older brother Albert married my sister Miriam and moved to Stoughton where they lived the rest of their lives. In Stoughton, they developed a lucrative truck garden and greenhouse business.”

Morgan House

Tom Morgan.  “Tom Morgan [1824-1905, ed.] was a native of Wales, and built the house now owned by Helen Hansen Naysmith Toigo. Tom was a carpenter and joiner, but true to his Welsh tradition, considered himself quite a musician.  He directed the Village Choir, and my Father who had previously directed the choir in Clarence, Green County, took a somewhat dim view of Tom Morgan’s musical talents, and refused to sign in the choir.  The Morgans had a son whose name escapes me, and two daughters, Ella and Annette. Ella never married and lived in the old home until she passed away. At one time, she taught in the Cooksville Academy. Annette married Claudin Stebbins who with his brother Ernie operated the store formally owned by Charlie Woodbury…”

John Newell

The Newell Family. “The Newell Family lived next door just across the lane to the west… John Newell’s first wife died, and they had one daughter, Gertie… John’s second wife was a widow named Van Patten. She had one daughter, Lizzie Van Patten. Lizzie had a very fine voice and studied at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music… Mrs. Newell was a good neighbor, but definitely ruled the roost in her own home. Her own daughter Lizzie Van Patten was not expected to do much at home, but Gertie Newell, her husband’s daughter, was required to perform more unpleasant tasks. I recall that Gertie would sit for hours on the top of a circular covered cistern and strip feathers for feather beds. I could think of no worse punishment than to sit by the hour and strip chicken feathers.

“Mrs. Newell kept careful account of her neighbors, and often watched from behind closed blinds. One could easily detect her profile, and on one occasion a Stoughton boy friend who called upon me doffed his hat most gallantly and made an elaborate bow in the direction of Mrs. Newell’s window. We were neither surprised nor disappointed to see the apparition behind the blinds disappear at once.”        

The Savage Family. “Julius [1843?-1905, ed.] and Electa [1845-1927, ed.] Savage lived in the corner brick house  [Duncan house, ed.]. They also lived in the Hoxie House at one time. There were two children: Paul, and Avis who was my best friend. Avis later married Edson Brown and lived on a farm in Center Township, Rock County. I remember very little about son Paul. 

Avis and Paul Savage

"However, “Jule” Savage, as he was called, was a deeply religious man and would never miss a church service or prayer meeting, perhaps because it was some place to go in Cooksville. I can always recall his somewhat repetitious testimony at each and every prayer meeting as follows: “Since I gave my heart to God, I am trying in my feeble way to serve Him.” As a child, I had some difficulty in understanding just how one might physically give his heart to God. 

Electa Savage

“Electa Savage was not especially religious, and to my knowledge, did not attend services. She was a member of the Johnson Family who operated a hotel at one time in Cooksville. Jule Savage, despite his religious protestations, could be quite shrewd in a business deal. While I cannot recall the details, it had something to do with the sale of hogs. My Father in his customary blunt reaction mentioned that “some people wore God Almighty’s Cloak to cover up their deviltry!”

               Thanks for the memories, Lillian....

Lillian Graves Smith

 [The Cooksville Archives welcomes donations of historical materials—photographs, genealogies, stories, newspaper clippings, etc. — that help tell the story of the village. Contact Larry Reed at (608) 873-5066.]

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Cooksville Lutheran Church Autumn Fest for 2019

The 2019 Cooksville Lutheran Church Autumn Fest is almost here,

October 13^th. There will be activities for everybody, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.. Come and eat a home-cooked meal, listen to some live music and have fun!

The event will begin with worship and communion at 10:00 a.m. with Pastor Karla Brekke presiding. The following activities will begin on the Church grounds at 11:30 a.m.: judging of the BBQ pork loin cook-off; a bake sale featuring lefse, Norwegian treats, and other baked goods; and a themed-basket silent auction. The main feature of the themed Silent Auction will be a colorful quilt, made of batik fabric, 5’x5’.

At noon, an adult and child’s meal will be served. The main meal will be a barbecue pork loin dinner or a sloppy joe sandwich, served with cheesy potatoes, baked beans, homemade pie, and a drink. The child’s meal will consist of a hot dog, chips, a bar or cookie, and a drink. Both meals will be served until gone, in a fully handicapped accessible church.

One new feature this year will be the Old Fashioned Pie Contest. If you want to register, bring your pie/s to the Church between 12-1 p.m. Judging of the pies will follow at 1:30 p.m. Attendees will have the opportunity to buy one pie, or more, beginning at 2:00 p.m., thanks to the services of Dean George Auction.

Music and children’s activities, and the sale of 50/50 raffle tickets, will be ongoing during the afternoon. Mike and Jamie McCloskey will play their unique blend of acoustic swing blues and country music from noon-2 p.m. There will be a pumpkin decorating contest, bean-bag toss, and pumpkin bowling for children. The drawing time for the 50-50 raffle will be at 3:00 p.m. The winner will need to be present to win, as there will only be one winner.  

The address is 11927 West Church Street, Cooksville (not Evansville), near the Cooksville Cemetery, one block south of the intersection of Tolles Road and State Road 59. For more information, www.cooksvillelutheran.org or 608-882-4408.

"WELCOME TO HISTORIC COOKSVILLE": Newly Installed Signs on Village Entrances

“Welcome to Historic Cooksville” signs were recently installed on the four roads leading into the Village of Cooksville. The new “Welcome” signs are placed on the east and the west entries to the village on State Highway 59; on the north entry on State Highway 138; and on the Tolles Road entry from the south. The Village of Cooksville is located in the Town of Porter near the northwest corner of Rock County.

SIGNMASTERS Cory Wipperfurth and Joe Infusino-Braun begin installation

The “Welcome” signs were designed by Cooksville resident Joe Lawniczak, with project assistance from Susan Lawniczak and Mary Zimmerman, and with the cooperation of several local property owners and the Town of Porter. The project was funded by the Historic Cooksville Trust, Inc.

Joe Lawniczak assists with the Hwy 138 sign

The large white placard design features a black-painted image of the historic Cooksville Schoolhouse bell-tower and the “Welcome to Historic Cooksville, 1842” greeting in black.

"Welcome" on Hwy 138

The Village of Cooksville was established by John and Daniel Cook who arrived in 1840 and established their village in 1842. Their land was purchased near the Bad Fish Creek from the U.S. Government in 1837, when the Wisconsin Territory lands were first sold in the area.

"Welcome" om Hwy 59 west

The village expanded in 1846 when Dr. John Porter of Massachusetts platted the Village of Waucoma directly to the east of Cooksville on land he had purchased from Senator Daniel Webster, also of Massachusetts. (The nearby Badfish Creek had first been called “Waucoma Creek.”)

South on Tolles Road

The two villages grew together over the years, sharing blacksmith shops, various stores, small factory workshops, a stagecoach inn, a school, and two churches. The combined villages were alternately called “Waucoma” or “Cooksville” on maps depending in which of the two villages the officially appointed Postmaster was located. But the growth of the villages slowed considerably after one of the newly-planned Wisconsin railroads bypassed them in the late 1850s.

Joe Lawniczak with assistants Mary Zimmerman and Larry Reed, Tolles Road

The well-preserved community was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as the Cooksville Historic District. It was also listed in the Wisconsin Register of Historic Places and has been established as a Town of Porter Historic District.

The present-day Cooksville Community Center, located in the historic schoolhouse on the Public Square features community events, and the historic Cooksville General Store—the oldest operating in the state—specializes now in a variety of groceries. And the old Cooksville Cemetery still invites long-term residents.

Hwy 59 east of the Schoolhouse

It is hoped that the “Welcome” signs, manufactured by Busch’s Signs & Designs of Verona and installed by SignMaster of Sun Prairie on August 30, 2019, will bring attention to the historic village, especially to highway drivers who may then slow down to enjoy the historic setting—and avoid sending anyone to the nearby historic cemetery. 

[For information about the Historic Cooksville Trust, contact Larry Reed (608) 873-5066.]
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