Amos Elliot/Elliott

Clark County, Wisconsin Lumberman

Amos Elliott is among the earliest recorded lumbermen of Clark County, Wisconsin.  In a paper prepared in 1907, he told something of the operations in those days. In his narrative he stated that he was born in Chester County, Pa., in 1822.  That was the same year the Florida Territory was organized and Steven Austin founded his colony in Texas.  Twenty-three years later, he moved to Black River Falls.  Texas joined the union that same year, but Wisconsin didn't gain statehood until three years later.  Nathan Myrick, of La Crosse, was then logging with Jacob Spaulding, on the river above Neillsville that year.  Amos Elliott hired out as an ox teamster for Myrick, who furnished four yoke of cattle, and board for men and team, and paid 50 cents a thousand for the work. Amos left Black River Falls in September, 1845, and went through where Neillsville is now located, and found Henry O’Neill, brother of James O’Neill, Sr., building a shanty on the creek. Elliott logged the winter of 1845-46 on the east side of Black River, north of Cawley Creek which was being logged by Jonathan Nichols and John Perry whose wife was with him.  That same winter, William T. Price logged south of Elliott on the west side of the river, having his camp on the river bank.

The winter of 1846-47, Mr. Elliott states that he went up the river from the Falls, with Tom Wilson, an old Quaker from Pennsylvania, and put in logs for one Grover, just opposite the mouth of Cunningham Creek; they stayed there all that winter, without a letter, paper, or communication whatever with the outside world. They had no stoves in those days, and all the cooking was done in the fireplace. In the fall of 1848, Mr. Elliott formed a partnership with William T. Price who had previously worked as a business manager for Jacob Spaulding at the falls and as a driver and cook for Samuel Crawley.  The partnership of Elliott and Price continued for several years.

In the spring of 1848, Wisconsin became the 30th state to join the union.  That winter, Elliot ran a camp in partnership with W. T. Price, putting in logs on the west side of Black River, four miles above Cawley Creek. These logs were put in for Col. B. F. Johnson.

The winter of 1849-50, according to Mr. Elliot, the snow throughout Clark County was very deep, deeper, in his opinion, than it was some years later in, 1856-57, a winter that has ever since been known as the "winter of the deep snow." In the fall of 1850, Mr. Elliot took a logging job from Andrew Sheppard, on the East Side of Black River, two or three miles below what is now Greenwood. That winter, Thomas J. La Flesh worked for him.

The winter of 1849-50, according to Mr. Elliot the snow throughout Clark county was very deep, deeper in his judgment, then it was some years after in 1856-57, a winter that has been called, the "winter of the deep snow."

In the fall of 1850 he took a logging job from Andrew Sheppard, on the east side of Black River, two or three miles above Eaton’s (Greenwood). That winter T. J. La Flesh worked for him.

In 1851, Mr. Elliot, with a companion purchased ponies, and took a trip of inspection into the northwestern wilderness. It is best to give Mr. Elliot’s own language with reference to it.

*Reedsville mentioned by Mr. Elliot, (what is now called Trempealeau) was settled by a man by the name of James Reed, and was called Reedstown.

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Transcribed from: History of Northern Wisconsin 1881; Jackson County, pages 398-399 (a paragraph)

The Winter, Spring and Summer of 1845, came and went without any particular change or incident worthy of mention occurring to any of the settlers in Jackson County as at present described. During the summer, Levi S. Avery, among the first carpenters to locate in the village arrived; the same season, Hon. William T. Price, who had labored so devotedly in behalf of his adopted home, and accomplished so much in that connection, anchored here. Like all new comers, he engaged in lumbering, and to a greater or less extent has been engaged in extensive operations of that character. Aside from his he has been a successful lawyer, judge, legislator, merchant and operator, and is known as a man of the most undaunted nerve, as also the most unimpeachable character and integrity. The Fall of this year, C. J. Johnson, came up Black River to Douglas’ Mills, in the employ of John S. Lockwood, of Prairie du Chien, but removed to the Falls of the following Spring, when he engaged as a hand to Spaulding. He is today a prominent lawyer, having passed through the various gradations of laborer, school teacher, student, soldier and advocate. Among those who came in during 1845, in addition to the above, were: Amos Elliott, Samuel Papple, Michael C. and James Conlon, Moses Clark, Zedekiah Root, Aaron Work, Josephine Gillinger, Ward and James Chandler, Abraham Mericle, L. T. Judd, Henry Atkinson, John O’Connell, James William and Lemuel Hall, and possibly some few others.

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Source: The Daily Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wis.) Sat., 22 July 1905, Vol. 38; No. 173

Pioneer Badger Lumberman

How Some of Them Escaped Becoming Millionaires

(By a Wisconsin ex-Editor)

Amos Elliot of Washburn spent several days in Milwaukee last week. Mr. Elliot is an old time Wisconsin lumberman. He began his career in that industry on Black River at about the time the state was admitted to the union, the 1848, and he remained a resident of Black River Falls until two years ago. Though eighty-two years of age he looks like a man of fifty-five. He remembers and talks interestingly of the lumbermen of Black River in the old days as well as in later years.

In speaking of the old days he said: "If ex-Congressman Bill Price, Dudley Spaulding and Leander Merrill of Black River Falls, G. C. Hixton, Charles Coleman, John Paul and other of La Crosse, James O’Neill, John Ross, Daniel Gates and Len Stafford of Neillsville had possessed even a moderate sum of many which he could spare when we first reached the Black River country, and had invested it in pine lands on the banks of that river, every last man of us would have been obliged to fight in order to escape becoming not only millionaires but multi-millionaires.

"There was billions upon billions of feet of the finest pine timber along Black River at that time that the would ever saw. Some of the men I have mentioned made a good deal of money by purchasing pine land and pine logs, including Judge Price, Hixon, the Westons, Merrill, Gates, Ross and Stafford, but it was nothing compared with what all of them might have made had circumstances been different and had we been wise enough to look ahead. Some of the later comers, including the late Gen. C. C. Washburn of La Crosse, were wise enough to look ahead and invested all the money they could rake and scrape in pine lands on Black River and its tributaries, and it is those lands that made Governor Washburn a millionaire very soon after the civil war.

"Most of my old Black River lumber friends have passed away. Judge Price died in 1886, after a wonderfully active and useful life. He served in both branches of our state legislature and was three times elected to congress. His son Hugh succeeded him in congress. He, too, is dead. Hixon died in La Crosse some years ago a man of large wealth, president of a bank, respected by all classes. Sheppard, Brockaway, Merrill, Gates and Ross crossed the river long ago.  Andrew Sheppard, or "Old Shep," as nearly everybody on the river called him, was a famous character. At one time he was worth a good deal of money but he enjoyed drinking and when under the influence nothing pleased him so well as to scatter funds broadcast. A day of reckoning came. Old Shep became a poor man and he died poor, but the last ten or fifteen years of his life he was one of the most upright, manly Christians in the community.

"At one time it was said that Leander Merrill - was worth a million or more, but his million was like that of a great many accredited millionaires; it fell short when it was counted. Merrill got ambitious politically. While a Republican he persisted in running independent against a Republican candidate for the assembly for Jackson and Clark counties and defeated him. The defeated candidate was editor of the local paper in Jackson County. The editor’s partner was nominated the next year and Mr. Merrill guessed he would have to give another editor a chance to stay at home and attend to his business, and he ran independent again. The partner had but recently come out of the army and didn’t know much about political affairs, but his friends did, and they showed Mr. Merrill under. He never seemed quite the same man after that.

"Len Stafford was a hustling, bustling business man and had a host of friends. Some of the other Black River lumbermen enjoyed telling Stafford that it was not himself and his great abilities that made him popular, but his large family of handsome daughters. One of the Stafford’s daughters married Fred D. Underwood, a long time conductor on the St. Paul and later general manager of the Sioux, then of the Baltimore & Ohio and now president of the New York & Erie Railroad, drawing a salary of $60,000 a year.

"Dudley Spaulding of Black River Falls worked hard enough to become a very rich man. I guess he divided his forces too much. He had a large farm, one or two sawmills, a grist mill, a planning mill, was an extensive logger, kept two or three stores, and for a time had an interest in a newspaper. He was an everlasting worker and one of the best natured men I ever knew. He was, as long as I can remember, a leading member of the Methodist Church. He was brother-in-law to Judge Price. Price was not a church member, but he was always a firm supporter of churches.

"There was a time, soon after we reached Black River, when nearly all of us could take a ration of whisky without making a face. Price was of the number. Away back fifty years ago the judge made a trip to La Crosse. He went on horseback. While there it occurred to him that he didn’t need any more strong drink and he mounted his horse and rode home. He never touched another drop. More than that. He became one of the most active and common sense advocates of and workers for practical temperance that I ever met. No one ever questioned the honesty of Mr. Price in his temperance efforts. He exerted a wide influence. Nearly all of the lumbermen on that river, not to mention thousands of men employed by them, became total abstainers as the result of Price’s example and earnest work.

"I could go on and tell you a whole lot more about the lumbermen, only a few of whom I have mentioned, but I have engagement. I will be in Milwaukee ten years from now an tell you more about them.  Good-day!" - Lieut. Col. J. A. Watrous, U. S. A.

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Census Records

Wisconsin Marriages, pre-1907

Name: Amos Elliott

Marriage Date: 15 Jun 1882

County: Jackson 

Volume: 01 

Page: 0299 

Name: Erept B Thomps Hort [Hart]

Marriage Date: 15 Jun 1882

County: Jackson 

Volume: 01 

Page: 0299 

Wisconsin Marriages, 1835-1900

Name: AMOS ELLIOT

Spouse: EREPTA B. T. HORT

Marriage Date: 15 Jun 1882

County: Jackson 

State: WI 

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Wisconsin Marriages, pre-1907

Name: Georgia Elliott

Marriage Date: 15 Jul 1885

County: Jackson 

Volume: 01 

Page: 0366 

Name: Pat O'Brien

Marriage Date: 15 Jul 1885

County: Jackson 

Volume: 01 

Page: 0366 

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Wisconsin Leader Newspaper Index Volume 1; 1877-1899

Page 27

July 24, 1885 - O’Brien, Pat and Georgie Elliot both from Black River Falls married 15 July. Another notation says Pat is from Ashland.

Page 58

Oct. 10, 1890 - O’Brien, Pat, son born 20 September.

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Wisconsin Marriages, pre-1907

Name: Emma Maria Eliotte

Marriage Date: 29 Sep 1873

County: Eau Claire 

Volume: 01 

Page: 0167 

Bride & Groom Index (Eau Claire Co., Wis.)

Georg Mink

County: Eau Claire 

Volume: 03

Page: 10

Bride & Groom Index (Eau Claire Co., Wis.)

Emma Eliotte

County: Eau Claire 

Volume: 03

Page: 10