Archive:The Descendants of John Whitney, page 250
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The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635, by Frederick Clifton Pierce (Chicago: 1895)
Transcribed by the Whitney Research Group, 1999.
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| 250 | WHITNEY GENEALOGY. |
become most substantial farmers. From these early times until the light of cilviliza- tion shone across the country, and settlements formed, and roads opened from the lake shore to the interior, and until the improvements of the Fox river had so far progressed as to admit of partial steamboat navigation, Mr. WHITNEY was largely engaged in the ttransportation business. For many years all the supplies for Forts Winnebago and Crawford and the upper Mississippi, for troops, Indian treaties, etc., were conveyed in boats from Green Bay by the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and few persons, not familiar with those times can form any idea of the immense labor and cost involved in carrying it out. Between the years 1825 and 1830 Mr. WHITNEY explored the upper Wisconsin, and built mills at Plover Portage, and for more than fifteen years was engaged in the business of manufacturing lumber and running it down the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers to the St. Louis market. This was the first lumbering establishment erected on the Wisconsin river, and probably the first on any tributary of the Mississippi. During the same period he also built a shot tower at Helena, on the Wisconsin river, and inaugurated an extensive business at that point. From the time the Stockbridge Indians came into the state to commence their new homes, in 1827 or '28, until their removal to their present location in Shawano county, he kept a supply store among them and transacted their business for them, and during the whole time, about thirteen years, possessed their entire confidences as a strictly honest man, and a fair and liberal dealer, and down to the time of his death these Indians looked up to him as their father and friend. In the year 1831 he abandoned his residence near Camp Smith and moved his family and store to Navarino, now Green Bay, near the mouth of the river, where he continued to reside. From his earliest acquaintance with the locality and surroundings of Green Bay, he entertained the most unbounded confidence in its capabilites and fitness to become the most important commercial town in the state, and, acting upon this faith, he as early as possible secured the land where the city now stands, and in 1828 or '29 laid out the town of Navarino, since incorporated as Green Bay, and commenced building a city. In 1830 he had completed a wharf and spacious ware- house, a portion of the Washington house, a school house, and some dwelling houses for his mechanics and laborers. From 1830 to 1840 he continued to build, and as fast as materials could be obtained, erected eight or ten stores and a large number of dwelling houses to rent, and in the meantime gave away a considerable number of lots to mechanics and others who where desirous of building homes for themselves. He also contributed very largely towards the completion of the Episcopal church edifice, the first protestant house of worship in that city, and the first in the state. This church edifice was always a special object of interest to him, and from its completion in 1838 until all cares ended with him on earth, ne never ceased to watch about it, and many a dollar has he expended in repairs from time to time which no one but himself ever noted or recorded; for which the congregation can never cease to owe him a greatful remembrance. During the last fifteen years of his life he pursued no regular business, but devoted his whole time to the care of an immense land estate. His early life in the wilderness, upon the rivers, and upon the bay, was full of incidents, interesting, as showing the intrepidity of his character, and his indomitable perseverence under the most discouraging difficulties. On one occasion, while returning home from Grand Kaukauna with horse and train on the ice, in the night, his horse broke through. Being alone, and finding himself unable to extricate the horse without aid, in order to keep the horse's head above water tied it to the train, and then went three miles for assistance, rather than let his horse be drowned, as most men would have done. He returned with help aand saved the horse. Whenever there was danger in his path he was always at the head of his party and never required a man in his employ to go where he was afraid to lead. He was never a candidate, and never held an office. Honest and upright in all his dealings, he always possessed the confidence of his employes and dependants and all who had any business transactions with him. His heart was ever kind; and the poor, the unfortunate and the afflicted, in his death, have lost a friend who never forgot them. Many is the time that such in their greatest want have found the needed supply in the doorway, or at the kitchen corner at nightfall, or at the day- dawn, without ever knowing the hand that relieved them; and oft has the Christmas tide brought with it happiness when else no merry Christmas jubilee would have found its way around the fires where no Yule log was wont to burn, but for his ever benevolent and open hand. Such will remember him with affection, and it is feared, look in vain for one to take his place. He died in the house where he had resided almost thirty years, on the 4th day of November, 1862, at the age of 68 years, and by his will left his large and valuable estate entirely under the control of his widow, as sole executor. He d. Nov. 4, 1862; res. Green Bay, Wis.
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