SUSAN PORTER REMEMBERS HER GRANDMOTHER

 In 1929, Susan Malvina Porter (1859-1939) of Cooksville wrote a remembrance—or a “sketch,” as she called it— of her grandmother, Amey Pitman Potter Porter (1789-1871). Susan recited her story as part of a family reunion and as part of the popular annual “Old Settlers Picnics” held in the village. And she may have used the Cooksville Cemetery as a backdrop for her story.

Susan Porter (1859-1939)

Susan Porter's grandmother, Amey Porter, was born in Rhode Island and married Dr. Isaac Porter (1783-1854). They had four children: William Micaiah, Joseph Kinnicutt, Phebe Rebecca and Isaac Gallup. The family decided to settle in the new lands of Wisconsin, but unfortunately when Dr, Porter traveled later to join his family in Wisconsin, he acquired cholera from an ill boat passenger whom he had treated on the voyage through the Great Lakes. The Porters’ daughter Phebe, unfortunately, also died of cholera that same year. After the deaths, Grandmother Amey continued to live in Wisconsin with her sons.

Susan Porter  was the daughter of William Micaiah Porter (1818-1891), one of the three Porter brothers born to Amey in Massachusetts. All three brothers eventually settled in and near Cooksville. William had traveled to South America (his diary of that trip is in the Cooksville Archives) and came to Cooksville in 1849, but soon joined the Gold Rush to California. He eHereturned in 1852 and married Aura Virginia Wheeler (1832-1884) in nearby Green County. William and Aura lived there before settling down in Cooksville, near William’s two brothers.

Susan was a life-long teacher in various southern Wisconsin communities. She wrote this brief story about her Grandmother, which provides glimpses of early life in the Wisconsin frontier settlement established by the Porters in 1846 on land they had purchased from the famous Senator Daniel Webster. The Porters named their newly-platted village “Waucoma,” which they located next to John and Daniel Cook’s earlier Village of Cooksville platted in 1842.

Here is Susan’s hand-written story from 1929, titled “Amey Pitman Potter Porter.” 

"Our Grandmother, Amey Pitman Potter Porter, was born 140 years ago in Providence, R. I., that is, in 1789, six years after the Revolutionary War ended. She was the daughter of Capt. Wm. Potter and Amey Pitman. Capt. Wm. Potter raised a company in Providence, R. I., was chosen Lieut, but acted as captain, and then marched during the night to join the force at Boston. They had already reached Dorchester Heights when the battle of Bunker Hill had begun.

Amey Porter's D.A.R. plaque in the Cooksville Cemetery

Our Grandmother, Amey Pitman Potter Porter, was the oldest daughter of Capt. Wm. Potter in a family of eight. She had great beauty and intelligence. After she returned from Boarding School, she had many suitors who sought her in marriage. The successful wooer was Dr. Isaac Porter, at that time a student in Brown University, Providence. He took his degree from Brown in 1808 and received his medical degree from Dartmouth College in 1814.

Our Grandmother, Amey Pitman Potter Porter, was married to Dr. Isaac Porter in 1817. They established a home at Charlton, Mass., fifty miles from Boston. Four children were born to them: William, Joseph, Phebe Rebecca, and Isaac.

William Micaiah Porter (1818-1891), son of Amey.: Susan Porter's father

Joseph K.P. Porter (1819-1907) son of Amey, and wife Ann Eliza Porter

..

Isaac Gallup Porter (1827-1899), son of Amey, and his wife, Anna (1827-1866)

Dr. Porter was especially skilled in surgery and much of his practice was in Boston. Our Grandmother was proud of her able husband, but she longed for more of his companionship in their home. She always encouraged her sons to take up the independent life of a farmer.

The Middle West was beckoning. Wisconsin had a fair name.

This very spot on which the Cemetery is located is a part of the area taken up by Daniel Webster in 1837. He planned to have his sons establish an estate here. They were not of that mind. In 1842, he sold the land to his friend and physician, Dr. John Porter, brother of Dr. Isaac Porter. He had six sons whom he expected to place upon this area. The Golden West lured them, and they settled in California.

The sons of Dr. Isaac and Amey Pitman Potter Porter bought these fair acres and reared their families here. But to go back to Massachusetts: The whole family decided to migrate to Wisconsin. Dr. Porter was detained by business.

And now a crushing blow fell upon our Grandmother. As Dr. Isaac Porter was voyaging to Wisconsin, a case of Asiatic cholera developed on the boat. He volunteered to care for the patient.

When he reached Porter, Wis., he fell ill. As he rested on his bed the day of his arrival at Porter, he looked over the broad fields of golden grain and said to his son, “William, if it should be that I have but a few days to live, I am thankful I am here to see this rich and beautiful land.” In three days he had passed to the other shore—a victim of Asiatic cholera.

But this was not the only sorrow that came to our Grandmother. In three weeks her only daughter, Phebe Rebecca—dearly beloved and lovely in mind and heart—was stricken with the same dread disease, Asiatic cholera, and died.

Phebe Porter (1824-1854)

Grandmother weakened in body under these great sorrows, but she was a true daughter of a Revolutionary soldier and her spirit was not quenched: she lived seventeen years after these sad events.

She used to sit by the fireside in her black silk dress and white lace cap and kerchief and cheer and advise her sons as they met the difficulties of pioneer life.

Grandmother was over fond of her grandchildren and because she thought we were so dear and good, we tried to be.

 Blessing and being blessed, Grandmother finally said good-bye to us and passed to the house not made with hands.”

Amey Porter's tombstone, Cooksville Cemetery

So concludes Susan Porter’s story of her Grandmother, which she apparently recited at an event in the old Waucoma Cemetery (now the Cooksville Cemetery) where many of the Porter family members are buried.

Susan Porter at home in Cooksville, 1938

More such stories of the early village settlers written by relatives would be nice to have. Even now, stories of more recent or present-day people living in or near Cooksville in the Town of Porter would be welcome additions to the Archives, for future generations to read and enjoy.

*   *   *   *   *

Cooksville Archives and Collections: More Images

Here are more images from the Cooksville Archives and Collections, documenting, in part, the history of the village since the 1840s to the present...

Cooksville School Class, 1954: "Save the Badfish Creek"

Eddie Julseth (1915-2011), Cooksville General Store owner.

Katie and Dennis Ehle in the Cooksville General Store, owners, photo c.1987.

John Savage (1879-1967) with Chinese children, c.1944, where he designed the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River. John grew up in Cooksville with its three dams on the Badfish Creek.

Larry Reed signing the Three Gorges Dam Museum
guest book after donating John Savage materials
from Cooksville to China in 2000

Most of the subjects of John Wilde's "15 Cooksvillians" painting and print, at the Schoolhouse, 1997.


Bob and Martha Degner's Cooksville Float on their historic truck.

*   *   *   *   *

The Cooksville Archives: More Photographs and Other Collected Items

For the past 180 years (almost), people in the Village of Cooksville and the Town of Porter have been saving and collecting items that tell the stories of their lives. Those items---photographs, newspaper clippings, letters, diaries, books, ledgers, memoires, paintings, art works, property records and genealogies, as well as furniture, rugs, utensils, pottery, and other objects---have been gathered together by residents over the years to create a "Cooksville Archives and Collections," in order to preserve and share the items. 

And items continue to be donated and added to the collection.

Here are some of the photographs and other images, old and new, that help tell the stories of Cooksville and the surrounding area.

Justin Wells and Mary Jane Woodbury, Cooksville wedding photo 1866.

150 years later, the 2015 Molly Zimmerman and Matt Brody wedding, Cooksville Schoolhouse.

Cooksville Cornhuskers baseball team, 1900.

About 120 years later, the Cooksville 59ers baseball team.

                              Log cabin near Cooksville, c.1840s.

Wallin Log Cabin, Town of Porter, c.1840s.

                                               

Land speculators platted "paper cities," named Van Buren and Warsaw, north and east  of Cooksville, in the1830s-40s. Others named Saratoga and Caramana were also "plotted" nearby. 

But no buyers,  no communities.       

A 1903 essay about the origins of the name "Wisconsin."

A  c.1930 pamphlet about the Agency House at Fort Winnebago.

.

Another pamphlet: "Paul Bunyan Tales," 1922.

John Van Vleck's obituary, 1910.

                

 George and Eunice Mattakat  at their Red Door Antique Shop in the historic Cook House (1842). They lived nearby in the Van Vleck House (c.1852).

A cute"outhouse" pamphlet, 1930.

One of the "gems": The Tourist.

Another "gem": The Sportsman, for hunting and traveling trips.

Elton Breckenridge, newspaper photo, 1975, as he worked  to create his "Breckhurst" from the old Gunn House in Cooksville.

The old Gunn House before Elton Breckenridge transformed it.

                           (To be continued....)

The Richardson Family Story: Early Settlers in Porter Township

The Cooksville Archives contains many family histories of the early settlers in the Cooksville area. They are stories of migration from eastern American states and from the British Isles and other European countries— stories that document the eagerness and determination, the accomplishments and happiness—and the hardships— of their new lives .                

Europeans were emigrating from their home countries in the mid-19^th century for a number of reasons—spreading revolutions and wars, serious potato famines, divisive inheritance laws—all of which created a desire to improve their lives elsewhere in the world.

Some of the settlers’ stories handed down are more complete than others, usually because someone took the time to write down the experiences and the anecdotes, and then shared them with others—and they also frequently visited the popular new photography studios for portraits.

Helen Porter Richardson  (1848-1926)

The Richardson family’s story, now in the Cooksville Archives, is one of those, although it begins with a special twist. The story was related by Helen Porter Richardson (1848-1926), a prominent Cooksville area music and vocal teacher, who wrote a narrative about her Richardson family for her son, Robert (1887-1955).

Helen Porter Richardson, an earlier photograph

Helen’s father, Alexander Richardson (1814-1853), came to America from Scotland after he was a victim of a robbery in England, and Helen’s story begins with that incident.

Helen relates that Alexander Richardson was the owner of a large dry goods store in Edinburgh, Scotland, and that he was robbed of a reported $12,000 in gold on a buying trip to London. He then decided to migrate to Australia and join a brother in the “sheep business.” But an old schoolmate of Richardson’s, Alexander Mitchell, already in Milwaukee, persuaded Richardson that a better opportunity was in the New World, specifically  in Wisconsin, So Richardson  exchanged his tickets to Australia for passage to America instead.

The family sailed from Glasgow for Boston on April 7, 1849, arriving in Boston June 3, 1849.

At the time, the Richardson family consisted of Alexander (1814-1853), wife Elizabeth (1815-1892) and their children, Elizabeth (1842-1922), John (1843-1917), Alex (1846-1918), and Tom (1847-1931). After arrival, Lucy (1851- ?) and Frederick (1853-1890) were added.

Richardson had to remain in Boston after the family arrived to collect the luggage and furniture, but he sent his family onward, in the new railroad “cars,” with three changes, to the Erie Canal in New York State. There they boarded a boat for their journey on the canal westward to Buffalo, New York, and the shores of Lake Erie. From there, the mother and children took a longer boat-ride across the Great Lakes to Milwaukee, which took about a week.

Erie Canal, c. 1855

Helen continues her story: 

“There was no pier or landing at Milwaukee, so they put down planks from the boat to the shore and ropes on each side for the passengers to take hold of. They were met by Alexander Mitchell… Your grandfather did not come with furniture for two weeks, which caused great anxiety on the part of your grandmother, as she was afraid he would be robbed again. As soon as he arrived he went to Alexander Mitchell’s bank and deposited all his gold in Alexander Mitchell’s bank, where he met John White of the Town of Porter, and he and Mitchell advised him to come out to Cooksville and start a store.

“They then sold a lot of their furniture in Milwaukee, and Mr. White and his son, Alex, loaded the rest of the furniture into their two farm-wagons. On the third day out from Milwaukee coming over the hill, on the wide, open prairie, they saw a little farm nestling on the hillside with its deep wooded ravines and heavy foliage facing the wide expanse of prairie with its variety of beautiful flowers, and on the south bordered with a fine young orchard of peach, apple and plum trees.  Your grandmother exclaiming, 'Oh, what a beautiful place. If I were to live in the country this is just such a place as I would like.’ Mr. White said the place is for sale…as he was anxious to get all the Scotchmen he could into the neighborhood… Your grandfather bought the place… [with] the new lime-and­-gravel house.”

Richardson Grout House (1849)

The house, now known as the Richardson Grout House, was built early in 1849 and is now listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and still stands on Riley Road in the Town of Porter. The house and property were sold to William B. Porter in 1888..

Richardson Grout House, front porch

Town of Porter census 1850 with Richardsons

Helen’s story continues :“The farm proved a poor paying investment… he  [Alexander] sent money to England to bring an experienced farmer, named Robert Shepherd, to take charge of the farm and all the stock, cows, pigs, horses, sheep, and cattle. While planning for this he went to Indian Ford to the saw mill; on coming home it grew dark and stormy; the forward wheel went into a ditch. He was thrown from the wagon and a plank struck him in the back of the neck, breaking it and killing him instantly. This accident changed all plans. Your grandfather was thirty-eight years old at the time of his death. He was buried in the corner of the orchard.”

A sad ending to this chapter in the Richardson family story.

Alexander Richardson (1814-1853) tombstone piece

Alexander Richardson tombstone, bottom 

Later, Alexander, Jr., apparently removed his father’s gravestone about 1888 from that Richardson family burial site when the farm was sold to the John Porter family. Perhaps Alex removed it hoping to preserve the tombstone from possible neglect or loss. The stone was stored in the barn on the historic Van Vleck House property in Cooksville, which Alex used as a summer home. When that home was sold in 1955, the gravestone was purchased by E. Marvin Raney, Cooksville historian and antique collector, who lived nearby in the Duncan House, Marvin stored the gravestone in his barn where it remains. No doubt, Marvin bought the memorial stone to keep it in the village.

Lyell Porter Richardson (1887-1947)

Clara Porter Richardson  (1895-1946)

The Richardson family went on to flourish and prosper in the Cooksville, Evansville and Rock County area over the years, along with their close relatives, the Porter family. And both generations of Richardsons and Porters participated in many village events including the famous Old Settlers Reunions and picnics held in Cooksville in the 19th and 20^th centuries.

Richardson children in a pony cart, Cooksville, photo c.1920s

                              

                     *   *   *   *   *   *

[Thanks to Helen Batty Porter and Amey Elizabeth (Lisa) DeSoto for recently sharing their family stories. Lisa DeSoto’s great-great-grandmother was Ann Eliza Bacon Porter, wife of Joseph K. P. Porter, and Lisa’s great-grandmother was Helen Porter Richardson, the story teller. Helen Porter’s husband was Bill Porter, whose great-grandfather was Joseph K. P. Porter, one of the three Porter brothers who originally settled at Cooksville-Waucoma in 1846. Thanks to Lisa and Helen for providing the story materials and thanks to their ancestors for telling the stories. The photographs and the Richardson and Porter information are in the Cooksville Archives.  Larry Reed, Chair, Historic Cooksville Trust.]

 

 

 

Images From the Historic Cooksville Archives

The  Archives and Collections of the historic Village of Cooksville in Rock County, Wisconsin, have grown over the years, and contributions continue to accumulate. The items date from the19th, 20th and 21st centuries, with a couple from earlier centuries before there was a Cooksville. (Previous blog news stories illustrated some of the items.)

The local Historic Cooksville Trust, Inc., now maintains the collection and is in the process of creating a permanent home for the contents---photographs, paintings, books, family histories, furniture, et cetera--- in the basement "parlor" of the historic Cooksville Congregational Church built in 1879.

This new home for the growing "Archives and Collections Center" was made possible by generous donations of funds which will make items more easily available to interested visitors to historic Cooksville. 

Here are samples of the some of the photographs and documents:

1858 Map of  the Town of Porter with "Waucoma" (Cooksville) in the upper-left corner with the railroad line that was never built running near the village.

An 1858 map of  the  large Village of Waucoma platted  in 1846 next to Cooksville on the far left above, which was platted in 1842 by the Cook brothers. Names of early structures in the two villages appear on the map. The  two villages  are now known as "Cooksville." 

Double-sided Wisconsin Historical Marker for  the villages of Cooksville and Waucoma.

A burr oak tree on the Cooksville Public Square, drawn by Dorothy Kramer, local artist and potter, c.1930s.

 

Anna Belle Rice (1862-1915), seamstress, left, and mother Margaret Brown Rice (1844-1925) born in Scotland, in their Cooksville parlor.

 

Flora Brown Wardel (or Warddell), with her kitchen stove, c.1900.

 

The Gilley brothers, who farmed east of the village, photo c.1880.

Phoebe Porter (1861-1886), portrait, died in
Chicago after a cancer operation.

Good Templars Charter, Cooksville, 1894.

"Twelve Songs" by Carrie Jacobs Bond, 1902.

"The One Hundred and One Best Songs," 1915.

Electa Savage, children Paul and Avis, c.1880s.

Mabel Woodbury (1868-1922).

Ralph Warner's parlor, in the "House Next Door," c.1930

Ralph Warner in his garden with four friends, c.1930.

Frank Lloyd Wright's "Chapel for Cooksville" 

designed in 1934 and commissioned by the 

village's Newman farm family. Wright called

 it a "Memorial to the Soil." 

 Never built, for reasons unknown.

*   *   *
[Donations to the Cooksville Archives and
Collections are always welcome,
documents or dollars. 
Thanks. Larry Reed (608) 873-5066.]