HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS
WISCONSIN’S FIRST VERSIFIERS
The first volume of verse printed in Wisconsin and written by a resident of that state, was long supposed to be a volume by Elizabeth Farnsworth Mears entitled, Voyage of Pere Marquette and the Romance of Charles de Langlade, or the Magic Queen. This book was published at Fond du Lac in 1860.[60] Recently, however, three different books of early Wisconsin verse have been discovered antedating Mrs. Mears’s work, and since they are without doubt the earliest attempts at versification made in the Badger State, it seems worth while to describe them.
The earliest is a hitherto unknown edition of a book which is humorously described by “Nym Krinkle” in his Chronicles of Milwaukee. Two editions of this book were published in New York in 1848 and 1849, but the edition recently discovered was issued in Milwaukee in 1846 and, though bearing no imprint, is without doubt the production of a western press.[61] Its title is as follows: “The History/ of/ Black Hawk,/ with which is interwoven/ a Description/ of the/ Black Hawk War/ and other/ Scenes in the West/ by E. H. Smith/ Milwaukee/ 1848./ 12mo. pp. 6† 120.” This title is somewhat shorter than those of the later editions and the text varies considerably from that of the later issues. This edition has no illustrations, but the New York editions have several. The only copy that can be traced of this firstling of the “Wisconsin Muse” is in the Harris Collection of American Poetry in the library of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
The next in point of time is a curious book, or pamphlet, with title as follows: “The/ Poetical/ Geography, [cut of lyre]/ with the Rules of Arithmetic in Verse, &c. &C./ By George Van Waters/ Published for the Author by Sidney L. Rood,/ Bookseller,/ Milwaukee:/
Wilson & King,/ 1848,”/ This is a duodecimo of ninety-six pages, with green paper covers. The cover title is somewhat longer: “The/ Poetical Geography,/ made to accompany any of the/ Common School Atlases;/ to which is added/ The Rules of Arithmetic,/ and a sketch of English History,/ in Verse./ by George Van Waters./ This work is sold by subscription and cannot be obtained/ at any bookstore in the United States./ Milwaukee:/ Wilson & King./ 1848./ Price 25 cents.”/
The end cover contains an advertisement of a line of stage coaches: “To the Travelling Public/ Stage Routes from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.”/ Signed, “John Frink & Co., Proprietors,” The routes are to Galena, Green Bay, Janesville, Madison, Fort Winnebago, Dixon, Chicago, Sheboygan, and other places.
Mr. Legler informs me that he has another edition, which was published at Cincinnati. Several of the poems contain local allusions to Wisconsin.
The book begins with “Geographical Definitions,” and the first lines describe geography:
The surface of the Earth, with all its tribes
Of sea and land Geography describes.
The divisions of water are next described, beginning with the following couplet:
An ocean is a vast extent of brine,
Or salt sea water boundless and sublime.
Lakes are described as—“
Fresh water seas, by land surrounded;
As Lake Champlain, whose waves by land are bounded.
Couplets similar to these follow on straits, channels, sounds, rivers, and other divisions of water. After explanation necessary to the use of maps, there follows a poetical chapter on North America. Its capes and rivers are poetically described and then, in turn, its towns, each state being separately mentioned. The author begins with Maine and ends with his own state, Wisconsin. A chapter on British America is next in order and this in turn is followed by chapters on Mexico, Guatamala, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The book ends with rhymed delineations of islands, volcanoes, and “The Rules of Arithmetic” and a sketch of English
history. A number of notes are interspersed throughout the work, and a prose preface follows the title. A rhymed introduction is also introduced.
This book and also the following are in the fine collection of Wisconsin poetry formed by Mr. Henry E. Legler, now in the possession of Mr. Henry C. Sturges of New York.[62]
Probably the earliest specimen of German verse written in Wisconsin, is that from the pen of one of the German immigrants of 1848. Its title is: “Lieder/ aus/ Wisconsin/ von/ Adolf Schults./ Elberfeld und Iserlohn./ Verlag von Julius Bädeker./ 1848.”/ This is a 16mo. pamphlet of forty-one pages followed by an unnumbered page.
The copy I have seen has blue paper covers, with the title on the cover the same as the foregoing. On the back cover are advertisements.
The pamphlet begins with a dedication to “Carl de Haas, Ph.D. The friend of my youth, later schoolmaster in Wupperthal [the author’s birthplace] and now farmer in Fond du Lac (Wis.).”
The first poem is entitled “Europa, alternde Königin.” The opening verse follows:
Europa, alternde Königin,
Dein abend ist gekommen!
Der fröhliche Morgen ist dahin,
Der Mittagstrahl verglommen.
The fifth and last stanza runs:
Europa, sterbende Königin,
Er wird die Herrschaft erben!
Die Krone, die dunkt ihm kein Gewinn,
Die lasst er Dir im Sterben.
Another poem is on the “Thal der Wupper, Mein Heimathland.” The eighth poem in the book is a stirring one on the Missouri River, “Missouri, Missouri, der mächtiger Strom,” while another is addressed to the author’s fatherland. In this he cries to the land of his birth, the land from which he has been exiled. The book contains altogether thirty-six different poems.
On the back cover is an advertisement of another book of verses by the same writer, “Märzlieder,” which is advertised “to appear shortly.” The publisher also advertises another book of interest
to the Wisconsin collector,—“Nordamerika Wisconsin. Winke für auswanderer von Dr. Carl de Haas. Farmer in Wisconsin.” This is described as the second edition, with three views and a map of Wisconsin. The statement is made that the first edition of one thousand copies was sold within four weeks. “Gedichte von Henriette Davidis, second edition,” is also advertised. This book was printed by the Groteschen Buchdruckerei in Arnsberg.
These three books are probably the earliest volumes of verse written and published by Wisconsin poets. They are of interest not only because of this fact but because each one relates in some way to Wisconsin.
Oscar Wegelin
MEMORANDUM ON THE SPELLING OF “JOLLIET”[63]
Usage in spelling names was very irregular in the seventeenth century. People spelled a name (or a word) just as it came into their minds to do so, without fixed rules or custom. Thus the spelling of the name of the discoverer of the Mississippi was varied—all the following forms being used: Joliet, Jolliet, Jolyet, Jollyet. Sometimes all forms were employed in the same document. Marquette in writing an account of his explorations speaks of his companion as “Jolyet,” “Jollyet,” and “Jolliet” indifferently.[64]
Under such circumstances it remains to be decided what the present usage is, and on what facts it is based. Many, indeed most English writers, follow Parkman, the greatest of our historians who have written on this subject, and use the form with one “l”—“Joliet.” This has become a part of geographical usage, and we have, for instance, Joliet, Illinois and Indiana, and Mount Joliet. And Dr. R. G. Thwaites, in his Jesuit Relations,[65] uses the one “l” in his spelling of the name. Later, however, Doctor Thwaites became convinced that the double “l” was the better form and often so remarked to his assistants.
The change from “Joliet” to “Jolliet” is based first on the constant custom of French writers, both in the Old World and the New. Pierre Margry, the great French archivist, the most learned man of his time concerning New France documents, always speaks of Jolliet. Félix Martin of the Jesuit order, who wrote in 1861, uses Jolliet. Father Tailhan, the learned editor of Perrot’s Memoire, uses Jolliet. The same is true of John G. Shea, Henri Harrisse, Abbé Ferland, and Jolliet’s latest biographer, Ernest Gagnon, who in 1902 published a life of Jolliet derived from many newly discovered and hitherto unpublished manuscripts. All these authors were familiar with the seventeenth-century documents in the original form. They decided that “Jolliet” was used more often and more consistently than any other form, though all of them would admit that in many documents the spelling “Joliet” may be found. For example, the baptismal register[66] spells the name by which Jolliet was christened, “Joliet.” While still a boy in the convent at Quebec he was known as young Joliet.[67]
After Jolliet entered active life the name was usually spelled with two “l’s.” His earliest voyage is reported by the Sulpician, Galinée, who met him in 1669 at the head of Lake Erie and calls him “le sieur Jolliet.”[68] In 1671 he took part in the pageant of Sault Ste. Marie, when he was again spoken of as “le sieur Jolliet.”[69] Father Claude Dablon, who first reported the voyage of 1673, says, August 1, 1674, “le sieur Jolliet” has come back from the West.[70] Count de Frontenac, the governor-general of New France, in his first mention of the voyager, speaks of him as “Joliet”;[71] but thereafter in reporting his voyage and mentioning his maps he always writes the name “Jolliet.”[72] Several unsigned documents of the same period refer to him as “Jolliet.”[73] In 1677 a concession in Illinois
was refused to “le sieur Jolliet.”[74] In 1680 a concession of the island of Anticosti was made to “Jolliet.”[75] Many more similar documents could be cited showing that the prevalent use in the seventeenth century was the form “Jolliet.”
Lastly, how did the man himself write his name? A map published in Dr. R. G. Thwaites’s Jesuit Relations,[76] gives in the cartouche a letter signed “Joliet.” This has usually been supposed to be the explorer’s writing. A glance, however, at two authentic signatures will convince that he never wrote the name on the map. The first signature is from a tracing secured by Henry Legler for an article in the Wisconsin Historical Society Proceedings, 1905, page 169. The second is the signature to the marriage contract of which a facsimile is given in Gagnon, page 122. A glance will show that these two names were written by the same hand, and both are spelled “Jolliet.”
In view, therefore, of first, the usage of the best French authors; second, the usage of the latter part of the seventeenth century, or contemporary usage; and third, the signature of the explorer himself, the spelling “Jolliet” is believed to be the proper one.
Louise P. Kellogg
THE FIRST EDITION OF THE ZENGER TRIAL, 1736[77]
The Wisconsin Historical Society recently purchased an important file of the New York Weekly Journal, consisting of 136 numbers, ranging from December 17, 1733 to July 11, 1737. Bound in the same volume with these issues of the second newspaper printed in New York is an imprint of excessive rarity—namely, the first edition of A Brief Narrative of the Case and Tryal of John Peter Zenger, 1736. Probably only one other copy—that in the New York Public Library—is extant. It is a folio of forty pages, printed by Zenger himself, without a separate title-page. At the head of the first page is this title: “A Brief Narrative of the Case and Try/al of John Peter Zenger, Printer of the/ New York weekly Journal.”/ The caption set between rows of printer’s ornaments,
and the colophon reads: “New York, Printed and sold by John Peter Zenger. MDCCXXXVI.” There are two lines of errata above the colophon. The most striking peculiarity of the edition is to be found in the pagination, pages 15 to 40 being numbered 17 to 42. James Alexander prepared the narrative for publication.
There are numerous editions of the Trial, including four published in London in 1738. The present copy is in unusually fine condition and the Wisconsin Historical Society is to be congratulated upon the possession (acquired with little effort, it is whispered) of this superlatively rare colonial imprint. It was picked up, so to speak, in the East, almost at the threshold of several institutions that would give much to place it upon their shelves. If put upon the market, it is not unlikely that the pamphlet would realize several thousand dollars. But, of course, no library ever parts with such a treasure.
Of the life of John Peter Zenger little is known. He was born in Germany in 1697, but the name of his native place is not recorded. He is said to have been one of a large company of Palatines who were sent to America by Queen Anne in 1710. After serving an apprenticeship of eight years to William Bradford, the printer, dating from October 26, 1711, Zenger went to Maryland. Returning to New York, he there married Anna Catharina Maulin on September 11, 1722. This was his second marriage, the date of the first being unknown. For a short time he was Bradford’s partner. One book only is known to bear their joint imprint. In 1726 he started business on his own account, and it is interesting to note that he printed the first arithmetic issued in the colony—Vanema’s Arithmetica, 1730.
The administration of William Cosby as governor of New York, 1732-1736, was marked by many arbitrary acts, which aroused deep public indignation. “The oppressions,” writes Mr. Livingston Rutherfurd in his useful book,[78] “culminated in the trial of John Peter Zenger which was one of the most stirring incidents of colonial days. Its results were of greater magnitude than any of the participants could have imagined. It established the freedom of the press in
North America, it wrought an important change in the law of libel, and marked the beginning of a new era in popular government.” Nor is this an overstatement of the case; for the trial of this humble printer constitutes an important episode in our colonial history.
The establishment of the New York Weekly Journal came as the result of a determination on the part of the popular leaders to show Governor Cosby to the people of the colony in his true colors. Zenger, its printer, was probably aided financially in the venture. The first number was issued November 5, 1733—a folio of four pages. The chief contributors were Lewis Morris, James Alexander, William Smith, Cadwallader Colden, and Lewis Morris Jr. Apparently, Alexander was the editor, for among his papers are many articles intended for publication in the Journal. Zenger had been indifferently educated, and his skill as a printer was not great. Moreover, he was very poor. He appears to have entered upon the project for commercial considerations only, and without any clear understanding of its political significance or of where it might lead him.
The Journal was the sensation of the hour; in fact, it was so popular that of some numbers three editions were required to satisfy the demand. Although it abounds in errors due to Zenger’s imperfect knowledge of English, it is in every way superior to its competitor, Bradford’s Gazette, the organ of the Governor. “The paper was sold for three shillings per quarter, and advertisements cost three shillings for the first insertion and one shilling for each insertion thereafter.” It contained many articles of merit—and was extremely outspoken!
With such an administration in power it is not surprising that all this resulted in the arrest of Zenger on November 17, 1734, “for printing and publishing several Seditious Libels dispersed throughout his Journals or News Papers, entitled, The New York Weekly Journal, containing the freshest Advices, foreign and domestick.” After many vicissitudes, including nine months of imprisonment, Zenger was defended by Andrew Hamilton, of Philadelphia, an eminent advocate nearly eighty years old, and acquitted. There was much rejoicing among the people, for the victory was indeed a notable one, full of meaning for future generations. Gouverneur
Morris declared that “the trial of Zenger in 1735 was the germ of American freedom, the morning star of that liberty which subsequently revolutionized America.”
Johm Thomas Lee
A NOVEL TRANSPORTATION DEVICE
A recent request for information on the subject first brought to our attention the novel project of Norman Wiard for establishing a rapid-transit route between Prairie du Chien and St. Paul in 1859. A somewhat cursory examination of contemporary newspaper files revealed the notices of the project which follow. It seems probable that a more thorough search would disclose additional information concerning Wiard’s ingenious project.
The Ice Boat[79]
Prairie du Chien, Dec. 1, 1859.
Editor Courier. Dear Sir: As there have been many conjectures in regard to the Ice Boat published in the various newspapers of the Northwest, I thought that some definite and reliable information in regard to the invention would be of interest to the public.
Norman Wiard Esq., the inventor of the Ice Boat, is now constructing in New York City, an ice boat with a capacity for carrying twenty passengers, and will be here with it about the twentieth of December. He has proved to the satisfaction of some of the most scientific men of New York that his invention is a success.
It is intended by the parties having the route from here to Saint Paul to stock the line this winter, and to be prepared to do all business that may present itself.
The immense advantages arising to the Northwest from this invention must be apparent to all.
Yours truly, John Jay Chase
Ice Boats, Chariots, Cutter—Letter from Mr. Wiard[80]
New York, Nov. 22, 1859.
169 Broadway, Room 35.
J. H. Green, Editor of Leader:
Please say to all, or as much of what I have written as you please, in your own words, for I assure you I believe it all myself, and I believe that many of your readers will be glad to have the information.
Yours truly, Norman Wiard.
Accordingly, we say as requested, that Norman Wiard, inventor of the Ice Boat, will be in Prairie du Chien before long with a twenty-passenger steam ice boat, which he has now in process of construction at New York, and hopes by such means to keep open communication with St. Paul and Prairie du Chien, connecting, always up to time, with the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad.
He will also be prepared with a pioneer machine to level a track, when it is necessary, where the ice is rough. His twenty-passenger boat can be raised or lowered, while in motion or at rest, to enable it to pass through a uniform depth of snow of three feet. It has devices that are ample and practical, by which it can pass over or through snow banks and drifts; even if it should be run into a bank of snow twenty feet in depth and there stopped, it can immediately be passed through it or over it, or be backed out with the greatest facility. It is an amphibious machine, is this Ice Boat, as it can be run off the ice at a speed of twenty miles an hour into the water with safety; and it can propel itself across the water to contact with the ice on the other side, and get out upon the ice and be put again in operation without any material delay. It is, also, almost dangerproof; for, if it should be thrown into the water by accident, on its side, or even bottom up, it would right itself instantly; and about thirty holes would have to be broken in the hull before it could be sunk, even if it were full of water.
Mr. Wiard exhibited a model of his Ice Boat at the fair of the American Institute, N. Y., and received therefor the highest award; the operations of his model corroborate the statements made above;
and the minutes of the Polytechnic Club, before whom he exhibited his plans at their request, says [sic] that the working of the model “proved his statements.” The practicability of the boat itself will soon be tested on the ice of the Mississippi, and the judgment which will then be pronounced [will be] a final one.
[Corner torn off] driver only, and can go up and down hill and into the water, safely! “Please to say all this,” says Mr. Wiard, “for I assure you, I believe it all!” So will we all, when we see it, and the sight is promised us.
Mr. John Cleveland, 35 Wall Street, N. Y., is now the trustee of the patent, and by the liberal subscription of a few intelligent and responsible gentlemen of that city Mr. Wiard is enabled to fully develop and test his plans. The machine he is now building is said to be beautiful as well as useful; and it seems likely to attract a number of New Yorkers to visit Prairie du Chien when Mr. Wiard brings it here.
Should this invention prove to be a practical one, Norman Wiard’s name will be ranked along with that of Fulton, Stephenson, and Morse. If his machine should prove valueless, the worst that can or will be said, will be that he deserved success.
The Ice Boat[81]
The Prairie du Chien Leader says it is not, and never has been, the intention of Mr. Wiard to test the practicability of his invention with the boat half built last winter, and which remains in statue [sic] quo yet, being too large, heavy, and unwieldy for the experiment.
[60] See article by Henry E. Legler, Early Wisconsin Imprints: A Preliminary Essay, in Wisconsin Historical Society, Proceedings, 1905, 121.
[61] The Racine Advocate of March 3, 1846, contains a half-column notice of Smith’s book, then newly published at Milwaukee.
[62] Copies of two later editions of the Poetical Geography are owned by the Wisconsin Historical Library. One was published at Cincinnati in 1852, the other at New York in 1853.
[63] This memorandum was prepared for submission to the Committee on State Affairs of the Wisconsin Assembly in April, 1917. A bill had been introduced in the assembly by the committee which provided that the name “Joliet” should be given to the state park at the mouth of the Wisconsin River. As a result of the memorandum, the bill was amended by substituting the spelling “Jolliet” in the name of the park.
[64] [Footnote missing in the original—Transcriber’s note]
[65] R. G. Thwaites, The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents (Cleveland, 1896-1901), LIX, 86, 121, 123, 159.
[66] Cited by Ernest Gagnon, Louis Jolliet, decouvreur du Mississippi et du pays des Illinois … (Quebec, 1902), 2.
[67] R. G. Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, XXX, 181; L, 191.
[68] L. P. Kellogg, Early Narratives of the Northwest (New York, 1917), 191-92.
[69] P. Margry, Découvertes et Etablissements des Français (Paris, 1876-86), I, 96.
[70] R. G. Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, LVIII, 92, 102.
[71] Margry, I, 255.
[72] Ibid., 257; Henri Harrisse, Notes pour Servir a la histoire … de la nouvelle France et des pays adjacents 1545-1700 (Paris, 1872, 131, 133).
[73] Margry, I, 259-62.
[74] Ibid., 329.
[75] Gagnon (see ante), 157.
[76] LXVIII, 86.
[77] Reprinted by permission from the New York Nation, February 22, 1917.
[78] Livingston Rutherfurd, John Peter Zenger: His Press, His Trial, and a Bibliography of Zenger Imprints (New York, 1904).
[79] From the Prairie du Chien Courier, December 1, 1859.
[80] From the Prairie du Chien Leader, December 8, 1859.
[81] From the Milwaukee Sentinel, December 9, 1859.