in health from lack of commonest necessaries of life. The struggle was not for ease or luxury, but was a constant one for the sustaining means of life itself.

John McCullough was the first settler in | what is now Vernon county. Where he located was then (1844) in Crawford county.

The first couple married in Vernon county were George P. Taylor and Martha J. De Frees, April 8, 1847.

The first white child born, of American parents, in the county was Electa S. De Frees, May 10, 1847.

The first death was Mrs. Samuel Rice in the fall of 1847.

The first school was opened in the spring and summer of 1849, taught by Jennie Clark, now Mrs. Messerssmith.

The first school house was erected on the ridge between Viroqua and Brookville, built by George Swain, Abram Stiles and T. J. De Frees. It was intended also as a church.

The first Church organized was a Methodist, at the house of T. J. De Frees, in 1848; the services were monthly.

John Graham commenced, in 1846, the erection of the first grist mill, at Springville.

The first professional lawyer in the county was William F. Terhume, in 1851.

The first county officers chosen in the county were: Thomas J. De Frees, county judge; Orrin Wisel, clerk of the court and county board of supervisors; James A. Cooke, county treasurer; Jacob Higgins, register of deeds; and Samuel McMichael, county surveyor.

The first frame dwelling in the county was erected in Viroqua by Messrs. Terhume and

Bullard.

Orrin Wisel was the first blacksmith in the county; located at Liberty Pole in 1848.

John Graham erected the first mill in the county at Springville in 1847.

The first actual settlement in the county was near Liberty Pole, in the present town of Franklin.

The first post office in the county was at Liberty Pole.

The first person who held family worship in the county was Mrs. Samuel Rice.

The first camp-meeting was held in the summer of 1849 in the valley near the place where afterward resided Rev. J. A. Cooke. The only minister (Methodist) present was Jesse Per

The first child born, of Norwegian parents, in the couuty was Brown Olson, in the now town of Christiana on the southwest quarter of section 35. His birth was March 30, 1850.

The first Methodist class-meeting in the county was led by J. A. Cooke, who afterward became a Methodist preacher. This was in the year 1849.

FIRST PREACHING IN THE COUNTY.

Among the first settlers of the county there was a distant, yet distinct form of religion, acknowledged by a few; but the power thereof was weak. The first settlers had left their old homes in other States and emigrated hither for the purpose of improving their worldly condition; and, as they located at that time in, as it were, an isolated country, away from settlements to the distance of fifty miles, on wild and never before occupied prairies except by the aboriginees, their minds would, very naturally, seem to partake of the wilderness and the indifference which characterize the first settler of every new country. The support of their families must of necessity be the first desideratum, and when this is done, there was but little time remaining for worship, especially where the toils and difficulties of a pioneer life had unnerved the inclination; and the spirit of what is sometimes called luke-warmness prevailed to

some extent.

However, near the close of the first year's settlement, the modern pilgrims in the inchoate county of Bad Ax, had become somewhat organized; and as there were but few of them, a spirit of warm friendship and congeniality very naturally arose between them; which sympathy and kindred feelings stole unobtrusively over the mind and heart, inspiring a higher devotion and sense of obligation to a higher Being.

In the summer of the year 1847, a Mr. Lee, from Illinois, visited the settlement, and the settlement, and preached the first sermon ever delivered in the county. It was at the dwelling of Samuel Rice. There were on this occasion not to exceed twelve hearers, mostly men. During the delivery of this introductory sermon a huge black bear passed by the assembly, whereupon mostly all the male portion of the congregation immediately dismissed themselves and went in pursuit

of the animal, leaving the minister to finish his sermon in the presence of the few remaining females. Mr. Lee preached occasionally during the summer of 1847 to the people at their dwellings, took a claim of land near the head of the branch afterward familiarly known as "Lee's Branch," about three miles northeast of where the village of Viroqua now stands.

"The first religious service in the county," writes Flora D. Weeden, "was conducted by a wandering miner, (Mr. Lee), who was prospecting through the county, stopped over Sabbath at the house of Samuel Rice. The entire settlement assembled to hear him preach. About the time the service had fairly commenced a black bear passed through the yard. All the men took their rifles and followed the bear, leaving the women and children to listen to the sermon. I was then twelve years old, but I remember the incident. This occurred in the summer of 1847."

FIRST CHURCH ORGANIZED.

The first Church organized in what is now Vernon county was by the Methodists. It was called the Bad Ax Church, and embraced the whole of the county in its district. In 1847 Elder Wood, of Prairie du Chien, left an appointment to preach at the dwelling of T. J. De Frees, which appointment was filled by Mr. Thomas, formerly of Philadelphia, but at that time from Prairie du Chien. Among the settlers of the county that are remembered at that date, were John McCullough, Samuel and Hiram Rice, Henry Seifert, Mr. Pike, John Graham, T. J. De Frees, Jacob Johnson, John Harrison, Abram Stiles, Solomon Decker, James Foster, Thomas Gillett, J. A. Cooke, G. A. Swain, E. P. Kelly and Robert Foster and their families.

Mr. Thomas formed a society of Church members during his labors among the people of the settlement. He warmed the hearts of the luke-warm Christians, and inspired into them new life and higher hopes, encouraged their zeal, and placed their feet upon the high

way whither many of them continued to travel so long as they lived. The first who joined this new-born band of Christians in the wilderness, were J. A. Cook and wife, G. A. Swain and wife, Henry Seifert and his mother, and the wife of Samuel Rice; the last mentioned being the first person in the county to hold family worship. All who knew her testify to her deep and inward piety, her true devotion to her Savior, and her love for everything of a sacred character. Mr. Thomas continued preaching occasionally in the settlement during the remainder of the year 1847, and often in the following year.

During the summer of 1849, the number of inhabitants had so increased in the settlements, that it became convenient to have schools as well as meetings for religious worship; so the people of the thinly settled district, united and put up a cabin in the grove through which the road passed, from Virginia to Liberty Pole, then called Bad Ax. It was both a school house and a church. In the fall of that year (1849), Jesse Perdunn, from Grant county, visited the settlement, and, as a matter of course, the cabin school house was his appointed place to preach.

Religion and a general spirit of piety at this time, began to pervade the minds of the settlers and prayer and class meetings were held fre

quently, at the dwellings of the people. J. A. Cooke led the first class-meeting that was held in the county, and from that time others began to work more zealously in the cause. A spirit of Christian freedom began to rest upon the minds of the community.

In the summer of 1849, the first camp-meeting was held in the county. It was near the place where Rev. J. A. Cooke afterward resided. Mr. Perdunn was the only minister present. Many were converted and a large number were added to the Church, which, at this time, had assumed an active power, and wielded a strong influence throughout the community; but there also were many back-sliders.

The Church continued to progress, and gradually increased in numbers during the year following (1850); when, in the month of August, a large number met at the place occupied the previous year and held another camp-meeting. At this meeting Elder Hobart was present, Mr. Perdunn, James Bishop and other ministering brethren. Elder Hobart was the first elder to visit the Church, and his district comprised the entire State of Wisconsin, north of the Wisconsin river. Mr. Perdunn's labors here closed for a few years, but he had the satisfaction of knowing that he had been instrumental in building up the first religious denomination in the county.

of what is now Barron county, separated Crawford from the county of Michilimackinac on the north; a line drawn due north from the northern boundary of Illinois, through the mid

Crosse shall be organized for judicial (and) county purposes, and for all purposes and matters whatever, and the county of Chippewa shall be attached to the county of La Crosse for judicial purposes. The circuit court shall be holden in the county of Bad Ax on the third Monday of May and fourth Monday of November of each year, and in the county of La Crosse on the fourth Monday of February and the fourth Monday of August of each year. "SEC. 7. All writs, process, appeals, suits, recognizances, or other proceedings whatever already commenced, or that may hereafter be commenced, previous to the third Monday of May next, in the county or circuit court of Crawford county, shall be prosecuted to a final judgment, order or decree, and execution may issue thereon and judgment, order or decree may be carried into execution in like manner, and the sheriff of said county shall execute all | process therein, in like manner as if this act had not passed, anything in this act to the contrary notwithstanding.

"SEC. 8. The returns of all elections provided for in this act shall be made for the county of Bad Ax to the clerk of the board of supervisors of the present town of Bad Ax, who shall issue certificates, within ten days from the time of holding such election, to the persons elected to the respective offices. The returns for the county of La Crosse, shall, so far as county officers are concerned, be made to the clerk of the board of town supervisors for the town of Albion, and said clerk shall issue like certificates of election within fifteen days after said election, to the persons duly elected.

"SEC. 9. The county seat of the county of Bad Ax shall be at such place as the board of supervisors shall designate, until a place shall be permanently located by election upon that subject, and the qualified electors may vote at any election for the permanent location, and the place (designated by ballot) that shall have a majority of all the votes cast upon that

subject, shall be the permanent county seat for said county.

"SEC. 10. The location of the county seat of La Crosse county, is provided for by this section. GEORGE H. WALKER,

Speaker of the Assembly, pro tempore.
SAMUEL W. BEALL,

Lt.-Gov. and President of the Senate. Approved March 1, 1851.

NELSON DEWEY."

II.

"An Act to amend an act entitled "An act to

divide the county of Crawford and organize the counties of Bad Ax and La Crosse."

The people of the State of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: "SEC. 1. All that portion of the county of Crawford included within the following boundaries, shall form and constitute, and is hereby organized into a separate county to be known and called by the name of Bad Ax, viz: Beginning at the northwest corner of the county of Richland, thence running south on the range

line between ranges 2 and 3 west, to the northeast corner of section 24, of township 11, north

of range 3 west, thence west on the section line to the boundary line of this State, in the main channel of the Mississippi river, thence northerly on the boundary line of this State in the said river, to the point of intersection of said boundary line and the township line between townships 14 and 15 north, thence east on said township line to the northeast corner of township 14 north, of range 1 east, thence south on the range line between ranges 1 and 2 east, to the southeast corner of township 13, of range 1 east, thence west on the township line between 12 and 13 to the place of beginning. And all of that portion of the county of Crawford lying north and northwest of the said county of Bad Ax be, and hereby is organized into a separate county to be known and called by the name of La Crosse.