Town of WhitewaterCity of WhitewaterTownship Maps Township Cemeteries Township 4 north, range 15 east, was at first one-quarter of the town of Elkhorn. It was detached August 13, 1840. The town has Cold Spring, Jefferson county, next nortward and Lima, Rock county, next westward. About 1836, Alvah FOSTER marked his name on a tree. in section 4. A few weeks later William BARRON laid claim to the same land. Other early settlers were: Samuel PRINCE, Norman PRATT, Freeman L. PRATT, and Dean WILLIAMS. Others who followed were Richard HOPPIN, David J. POWERS, and Dr. James TRIPP. Excerpts from "The History of Walworth County Wisconsin, Vol. 1," by Albert Clayton Beckwith, publ. 1912. RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES - Page 466-470 In the summer of 1842 Elders Alva BURGESS and Phipps W. LAKE assembled resident Baptists in William BIRGE's barn for permanent organization. Elder A. B. WINCHELL was engaged for service on alternate Sundays. A church was built in 1850, and a second one was undertaken several years later, a fine-looking building of cut stone; but this was sold without having finished it. There is, no doubt, a record of pastoral services, not hidden, but in unknown custody. Martin LONIGAN with his family came in 1844 to section 23 about three miles from the village. At his house Rev. Thomas MORRISSEY came from Milwaukee in 1845 to say mass, and for a period not recorded he held like service each month at this and other dwellings. Rev. Fathers KERNAN and SMITH continued this mission work as did Very Rev. Martin KUNDIG after them, and he also gave money for a church building fund. Nora MOORE's baptism, December 28, 1853, by Rev. James DOYLE, was the first at the new St. Patrick's church. John TIERNAN supplied the short-interval before Richard DUMPHY came to the village in 1857 as first resident-priest. After him were Thaddeus KIRWAN, 1869; Francis Xavier ETECHMANN for one month of that year; Hiram F. FAIRBANKS, 1870; James FITZGIBBON, 1881; Sylvester J. DOWLING, part of 1897; Francis P. REILLY, 1897; Matthew E. DOWNS, 1903-1912. In 1866 a new church was built with house, schoolhouse and other improvements costing in all about twelve thousand dollars. Father FITZGIBBON had been Mr. Lincoln's personal friend, and from him received in 1861 the military chaplaincy at Harper's Ferry. In the later years of his long pastorate at Whitewater he was assisted in turn by Fathers E. P. LORIGAN, Philip KLEIN, M. E. DOWNS, and S. J. DOWLING. He was born in 1827 and died February 5, 1897. Father DOWNS is a native of Delavan. Justus and Wealthy A. CARPENTER, Deacon Prosper CRAVATH and wife Miriam (KINNEY), their daughter-in-law Maria P. and daughter Sophronia CRAVATH, Harriet, James, Roxy and Zerah HULL, Zerah and Ada KINNEY, Emily (CRAVATH) SALISBURY, Laura (CRAVATH) SMITH, and Jenny (McGEE) WILLIAMS met July 3, 1840, at Deacon CRAVATH's house in Lima, led by Rev. Daniel SMITH, to form the Presbyterian church of Whitewater. Most of these became residents at or near the village. For a few months they met at the larger houses of the members, and in June 1841, housed themselves for service at the log schoolhouse, or in pleasant weather, met under the old trees. In 1842 they met, alternately with the Baptists, on the upper floor of Mr. WEED's wagon shop. In this or in the next year the Congregationalists built a church at cost of four hundred dollars, on a lot with eight rods front, given by Doctor TRIPP for one dollar. This society built again in 1850, and a third time in 1871. This church was burned February 9, 1880, by which event the society's loss was twenty-five thousand dollars. Rebuilding, on a more liberal scale than before, began at one The list of pastors, with dates of service is full, continuous and correct, thanks to the kindly helpfulness of one of its congregation: Daniel SMITH, 1839; Seth SMALLEY, 1841; F. Henry CASE, 1842; Martin P. KINNEY, 1844; William Sidney HUGGINS, 1853; William A. BALDWIN, 1854; Edward Goddard MINER, 1859; Theron Gaylord COLTON, 1866; Benjamin Drake CONKLIN, 1874; Edward P. SALMON, 1880; Theodore B. WILLSON, 1882; Frank T. LEE, 1884; Elihu C. BARNARD, 1888; Bryant C. PRESTON, 1896; Frederick V. STEVENS, 1900; Watson L. LEWIS, 1906; Robert HOPKIN, 1911. Mr. COLTON was born in 1820 and died in 1896. Mr. CONKLIN was born in 1840 and died in 1908. Rev. Richard F. CADLE came in 1842 to form an Episcopal parish. He held service in the useful log school house. (Rev. Washington PHILO had been here in the previous year.) But it was not until 1852 that St. Luke's parish was permanently organized. Doctor TRIPP had given a lot at Church and Center streets. His widow, Rosepha Ann (COMSTOCK), was one of the early few and always faithful. In that year a chapel was built, and was consecrated by Rt. Rev. Jackson KEMPER. This building was burned February 17, 1869, and the corner stone of a new church, of gray stone, was laid in July. In 1880 Mrs. Flavia WHITE gave a fine organ as a memorial to her son, Hon. Samuel Austin WHITE. She had given a bell, worth five hundred dollars, to the chapel. The parish property is now valued at twenty-five thousand dollars. With occasional intermissions in the earlier years the service of this church has been supplied by L. R. HUMPHREY, 1851-62; Henry W. SPAULDING, 1864-5; John McNAMARA, 1865-8; W. E. WALKER, 1868; Charles J. HENDLEY, 1870; Erastus B. SMITH, 1872; Rufus D. STEARNS, 1873; Andrew J. McGLONE, 1883; Smith Delancey TOWNSEND, 1884; Joseph Marshall FRANCIS, 1887; John Howe JENKINS, 1889; Joseph MORAN, Jr., 1890; Myron Alfred JOHNSON, 1896; Henry Benton SMITH, 1900; Daniel Wellesley WISE, 1904; Rudolph Frederick KEICHER, 1907-12. Mr. FRANCIS was consecrated in 1899 as bishop of the diocese of Indiana. Mr. McNAMARA had been rector at Delavan, Elkhorn, Lake Geneva, and had served as chaplain of a volunteer regiment of 1861. Mr. MORAN was killed by a railway accident in 1900. Rev. Johann M. HAMETTER and Rev. Johann MEIER supplied in 1856 the missions at Cold Spring and Whitewater of the Evangelical Association, here a German-speaking body whose creed and discipline ally it to Methodism. In 1865 the two missions joined in one and in 1869 built a church and parsonage in Janesville street. The minister list is: J. G. MUELLER, 1857; C. A. SCHNAKE, 1865; Johann MEIER, 1866; Johann M. HAMETTER and Tobias RABUS, 1868; Wilhelm HUELSTER, 1869; Carl Friedrich ZIMMERMANN, 1870; John DIETRICH, 1872; F. William PFEFFERKORN, 1873; Carl SCHNEIDER, 1876; Leonard STROBEL, 1879; Julius KAHL, 1881; F. DITE, 1884; J. A. SIEWERT, 1887; John SCHNELLER, 1890; F. ILLIAN, 1892; John E. KLEIN, 1895; August F. HABERMAN, 1897; Michael UEBELE, 1898; Emanuel S. ZIMMERMANN, 1901; George REICHERT, 1906; Herman A. FRANZKE, 1909-12. St. John's Evangelical Lutheran church, of the unaltered Augsburg confession of 1580, was organized May 17, 1881. The society bought one of the old church buildings, beside which is a comfortable parsonage. Before organization Rev. Heinrich ERNST had ministered to the few families from 1865 to 1872, and Christian Johann KOERNER to 1880. George WILDERMUTH came in 1881, Heinrich BERGMANN, 1882; W. HUTH, 1883; Henry OHDE, 1887-1912. Norwegian Lutherans of Heart Prairie, Scuppernong, Sugar Creek and Whitewater have long been joined under one pastorate. A few of the pastors named were Germans who were also masters of the Norsk tongue. Johann Wilhelm Christian DIETRICHSON came in 1844 to Scuppernong in the northwest corner of Lagrange; Claus Luaritz CLAUSEN, 1845; Adolph Carl PREUSS, 1850; Hans Andreas STUB, about 1851; Mr. PREUSS again in 1855; Nels BRANDT, 1856; Olavus Frederick DUUS, resident pastor, November, 1858 to June 1859. The parish was organized formally December 8, 1858. Rev. Herman Amberg PREUSS came in 1859, Henrich P. DUBORG in 1861. In Mr. DUBORG's ten years pastorate the four congregations previously named were definitely grouped in one pastorate. Mr. DUBORG's field of usefulness reached also to Elkhorn, and across into Kenosha county. He was at times assisted by Herman A. PREUSS, Abraham JACOBSON, Marcus Frederick R. WIESE, and William KOERN, all of whom are named in the record at Whitewater. Carl Christian AAS came in 1871; Eskild Peter JENSEN, 1876; Christian Matthias HVISTENDAL, 1880; Rev. Prof. Knudt BJOERGO, 1881; A. H. DAHL, 1881; Iver O. SCHIE, 1882; Ole Johnson AKRE, 1901; Nels Cornelius A. GARNESS, 1907-12. These services are without noticeable interruption. The first church was built in 1868 in Cravath street near Wakeley street, and is now a hospital. Ole BULL, the once world-famous violinist, gave one hundred dollars to build this church. In 1907 the society bought the stone church at Main and Fourth streets, built by the Baptists. In the summer of 1843 a Methodist Episcopal society was organized by Rev. Alpha WARREN, of Johnstown. A class of five members was formed with Talma HAMILTON as leader. Until 1848 this church was joined with that at Milton for pastoral service, and the service at Whitewater then became weekly. In 1849 the frame work of a church building was raised, but was not ready for dedication until February 1852. It was enlarged and again dedicated in 1860. A third building was begun in 1872 and finished in 1878 at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. It is said to be one of the finest Methodist churches, excepting at Milwaukee, in the state. This church is at Centre and Prairie streets, in the neighborhood of the Catholic, Episcopal and other churches, the public schools, and the normal school is but little farther away. The ground is high and gives some dignity to the outwardness of these buildings. The pastor-list is, as usual to this denomination, rather a long one; Alpha WARREN, 1843 and again in 1846; L. GALLUP and William WOOD, 1844; Nelson S. GREEN and Joseph S. HURLBUT, 1845; Mr. GREEN in 1846; M. BENNETT, 1847; L. DICKENS, 1848; James HARRINGTON, 1849; William B. SCHROFF, 1849; J. N. SCOTT, 1850; Joseph M. WALKER, 1851; A. D. HENDRICKSON, 1856; George W. ROBINSON, 1859 (but this may be another clergyman's name); Alexander C. HUNTLEY, 1860; William Harkness SAMPSON, 1861; Rossiter C. PARSONS, 1862; Rufus H. STINCHFIELD, 1864; Eli W. KIRKHAM, 1865; A. C. MANWELL, 1868; Charles N. STOWERS, 1870; Oliver J. COWLES, 1873; A. A. REED, 1874; George W. WELLS, 1877; Henry SEWELL, 1880; Henry COLEMAN, 1883; Samuel JOLLIFFE, 1885; Andrew J. BENJAMIN, 1887; Walter D. COLE, 1892; Walter A. HALL, 1895; Enoch PERRY, 1897; George H. TREVER, 1901; John J. LUGG, 1904; James CHURM, 1907; John S. LEAN, 1909; Charles F. SPRAY, 1911. Universalists organized early in 1868, began building in the fall, and in the next year dedicated their church, its cost ten thousand dollars. Barton F. ROGERS, Judson FISHER and Holmes SLADE filled the pulpit for the next dozen years. Frederick C. MALLAR came about 1894. Wedding announcement of Rev. S. DeLancey Townsend and Kathryn Smith. (PDF File)
Township Map circa 1900 Township Map circa 1907 Township Map circa 1923 Copyright 2013 Walworth County Genealogical Society
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