Collected & edited by Amorin Mello

… continued from Number VI.

Early Recollections of Ashland: Number VII

by Asaph Whittlesey

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I am now brought to the more difficult task of making suitable mention of those who were associated with me as original proprietors of the place, some of whom have already passed the bounds of time.

Martin Beaser

Martin Beaser, was a man of much more than ordinary ability.  I am not informed as to his opportunities for education in early life, but judge that they were somewhat limited, while his individual experiences were wide spread.  Nothing ever passed his notice, nor would he abandon a subject until he fully comprehended it.  In form he was compact, and as he was capable of great endurance, no obstacle in his life seemed too great for him to surmount.  A look at his extended library will itself evince his inclination for the best of literature. – When I first met him (in August, 1854,) I took him to be something like forty-two or forty-three years of age.  I had often heard his name mentioned by my brother Charles, as having been associated with him during the season of 1846 in his geological explorations of the Lake region for the General Government in connection with Dr. Houghton, – but we had never met until in August, 1854.  Mr. Beaser had been very successful in business during the “palmy days” of Ontonagon, and was abundantly able to meet the expense of opening the town site of Ashland.

I think Mrs. Beaser first made Ashland her home in 1856.  On the 7th of June, 1855, there landed a large sized mackinaw at Ashland, (the boat being named Ashland,) containing the following persons:

Martin Beaser, Captain and owner; G. L. Brunschweiler, civil engineer and draftsman, Charles Day, J. S. Norton, Jonas Whitney, a man by the name of Weiber and a Menominie Half Breed from Green Bay.  This event was a signal for an onward movement, and during that season the town was greatly improved.

I think portions of the boat named may yet be seen near the base of Durfee’s Dock in Ashland.  An amusing incident took place during this trip from Ontonagon which is deserving of notice.  The boat, besides passengers, was heavily loaded with provisions, groceries, &c., so that the passengers were somewhat cramped for room.  As the wind was fair the party kept under way all night long, reaching the mouth of Bad River about day break.  Brunschweiler, who was a very passionate man, had passed the night in a very uncomfortable manner, on account of a box of saleratus taking up the room he needed for his comfort.  He had evidently felt it as a very great annoyance to him the live-long night, and he could restrain himself no longer.  He therefore, with an oath, pitches overboard the box of saleratus, and in doing so lost a very valuable meerschaum pipe belonging to himself, which created a roar of laughter from the party, Mr. Beaser himself joining therein.  I will only add regarding our association with Mr. Beaser and his family, that we found them to be most excellent, and accommodating neighbors.

Detail of Ashland and Bay City from inset map on Plat of Prentice’s Addition to Ashland circa late 1850s or early 1860s.
~ Wisconsin Historical Society

Mr. Beaser was drowned in Ashland Bay November 4th, 1866, having evidently reached near the center of the bay before falling overboard.  The wind was in the north east so that his boat landed a little south of Whittlesey’s landing at the head of the bay. – When the boat was found the sail was set and the boat contained the purchases he had made at Bayfield.  Immediate search was made for his body, but it was not found until the following spring, when a Half Breed first discovered it near the mouth of Boyd’s Creek on the west side of the bay.  The citizens of Bayfield gave the body a suitable burial, first at Bayfield, and subsequently it was removed to the Protestant burying ground on La Pointe Island.

Mr. Beaser was noted for his unusual good temper, and often indulged in practical jokes.  At one time he was inquired of as to the provisions made for the poor in the town of Ashland.  His answer was “we starve them out.”

BRIEF SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF GEORGE KILBOURN, JR.

While I lack much in his history to enable me to be as precise in my statements regarding him as I would like to be, I am, nevertheless, in a general way, fully acquainted with his entire history.  Long before I was born, George Kilbourn, Senior, (father to the subject of this notice,) purchased a farm in my native town in Ohio, and here it was that George, Jr., first displayed his qualities as an axeman, evincing the grudge he steadfastly bore towards growing timber.  Even before attaining his majority George, Jr., had cleared the principle portion of his father’s farm, and after his marriage he removed to Hudson, Ohio, where he purchased for himself a heavily timbered tract of 160 acres, the clearing of which afforded him the greatest comfort.  Unfortunately he married very unhappily, and in due time his wife and children virtually drove him from his own home.  I chanced to meet him something like two weeks previous to my leaving Ohio for this place, and informed him of the time I intended to stay, and bade him goodbye.  But on my passing through Hudson on the cars for Cleveland as the appointed time, Mr. Kilbourn came on board the train and informed me he had decided to accompany me on my trip to Lake Superior, that he could not endure it to remain at home any longer.  This was, in brief, his history up to the time of our leaving Ohio in 1854. – The Kilbourns are known as a long lived race, while the “old stocks” were all hard workers.  George, Jr., (better known as Uncle George,) was not far from fifty-five years of age when he first came to this country.  He died suddenly in July, 1870, while visiting a daughter then living at East Hartford, Michigan, being not far from seventy-one years of age. His father and mother lived together at Hudson, Ohio, quite a number of years after Uncle George left Ohio, and lived to pass something over seventy years together in married life.

Had it not been for Uncle George’s proclivity and skill in clearing land, the clearings in and about original Ashland would have been much more limited than they are now.  I have often known him to chop all day long, and during bright nights he not unfrequently left his bed and put in from one third to one half of the night felling timber.  He often requested me, in case I out-lived him, to bury a good axe and grind stone with him.  He had also another peculiarity belonging strictly to himself and that was a ravenous appetite, and usually ate the most and worked the hardest during his sick days.  At one time when he was boarding with Conrad Goeltz, he started out just at day break to get to his chopping, and as he passed through the dining room caught sight of extended preparations upon the table which had been specially arranged the evening previous for a party of six persons who had ordered their breakfast at an early hour, but without giving it a thought Uncle George placed himself outside of all there was in sight, and poor Conrad has not to this day forgotten how infernally mad he felt when he found out how he had been victimized.  I will add further that Uncle George called this a lunch only, and was on hand for breakfast at the usual hour.  We all regarded him as being a hardworking, conscientious and strictly honest man.  The settlers, whites, half breeds or Indians all addressed him by the familiar title of Uncle George.

To be continued in Number VIII…