Historical Accounts

Selected Text and Articles on the McCann Family

 

 

McCann Brothers in Wilmington, Ohio
History and Biography of Clinton County, Ohio
Beer 1882, Union Twp., pg 484-485

        "As early as 1811-12, Thomas and Arthur McCann came to Wilmington and built and operated a pottery near the middle of the block, between South and Mulberry Streets, and north of Locust Street. They manufactured a dark colored, finely-polished ware, which was in great demand in the place, as that previously in use had been pewter. The Delft-ware was next introduced.
        The McCanns, who were natives of the Emerald Isle, were energetic men and good citizens. In February of 1815, when the news of Jackson's victory at New Orleans reached Wilmington a month after the battle, the McCanns headed a movement toward getting up a celebration in honor of the event. They were successful in the attempt and a "good time" was indulged in. Holes were bored in trees, and after powder had been placed in them, they were plugged up, the fuses lighted, and the trees were blown to pieces. Other things were done to make the day a memorable one.
        The McCanns left the place previous to 1819." There is another small reference to the McCanns indicating that they were early members of the Catholic Church.

 

McCann Brothers Were Symbolic of Valley
Chippewa Herald Telegram Oct. 26, 1959
Tales Of A River, Episode 94

        They came from Marietta, Ohio. They knew rivers. The McCann brothers came to the vast Chippewa Valley in the Spring of 1839. The name McCann may never go down in history books as builders of the Chippewa Valley, but the three McCann boys were symbolic of this vast, gigantic, pine scented area which stretched from the broad levees of the Mississippi to the shores of Lake Superior.
        Stephen, Arthur and Daniel McCann knew the river. They knew logs. They knew women. Fun loving, carefree, but willing and able to fight at the drop of a logger cap, the McCann brothers were loved, hated, admired, respected and feared. There were no better men on the Chippewa river than the McCanns. No man along the entire front of this rampaging giant could ride logs better; no man could handle a pike pole, or his fists, with as much finesse. And their hearts were as large as the Chippewa Valley.
      Stephen McCann smilingly invited the Methodists to use his home as an edifice until a new church could be built in the wilderness. Steve served as a member of the first board of supervisors in Chippewa County. It was Daniel McCann who purchased 'Old Abe', the Civil War eagle from Chippewa Indian 'Chief Sky' and presented the bird to the 'Eau Claire Badgers Company' of soldiers.
        Arthur McCann, youngest of the river brothers, did not live long in the valley. He and J. C. Thomas were partners in the old Blue Mills on the Chippewa river. He was married to Rosalie Demarie at the Falls in 1840. Thomas and McCann had hired a man by the name of Sawyer to work for them at Blue Mills. Sawyer came to the McCann place one night asking for his pay. He said he was leaving. McCann paid the man and offered him a drink. The first drink led to another and another. The two men sat down and began to play cards. "Art figured he'd get those wages back." brother Daniel McCann said, shaking his head. The cards led to an argument. McCann stood up and dropped Sawyer with his fists. Sawyer pulled himself to the door, swearing to get revenge. He went to the cabin of Philo Stone nearby, pulling a loaded rifle off the pegs above the door, and returned to McCann's place. Knocking on the door, Sawyer waited until McCann stood in the opening and then he pressed the trigger. McCann fell, mortally wounded, on his own doorstep. The waters of Spring Creek (now located in what is Eau Claire County) ran red for days, but the murderer of Arthur McCann was never apprehended.
        Dan and Steve Mccann lived out their lives on the prairie of Eagle Point, leaving behind them a name that still stands as a symbol of this great country.

 

Ghost Towns in Wisconsin

        Dunnville began 12 miles south of Menominee on Hwy 25. Easton Co. Y and one mile further at the bridge on the Red Cedar River. In 1840, Samuel Lamb built a house on the bank of the Red Cedar about a mile above the point where the river joins the Chippewa. He turned it into a tavern. The following year he sold it to his brother-in-law Arthur McCann.

 

History of the Chippewa Valley
Page 196-197

        No further attempt was made to settle in this locality until the summer of 1845, when Stephen S. McCann, from Spring Creek, a tributary of the Menomonie river, near Menomonie, and Jeremiah C. Thomas entered into partnership and erected a claim shanty near the site of what was afterward the Eau Claire Lumber Company's water mill on the Eau Claire river. This corperation has now become merged in the Mississippi River Logging Company. Stephen S. McCann also built a cabin near the confluence of the Eau Claire with the Chippewa, which he designated as a warehouse, and another on the site of what was subsequently the American House. These structures were erected for the express purpose of establishing the right of the settler to an uncertain quantity of government land. McCann transformed the last named cabin into a home for his family, who moved into it.
        These were the first attempts at civilization in what was subsequently to be the village of Eau Claire, and finally the present city. Thus it will be seen that Stephen S. McCann and Jeremiah Thomas were the first actual settlers in this region. The main object of this firm in locating at this place was to build a saw mill and manufacture lumber from the logs to be obtained in the pine forests on the Eau Claire river and it's tributaries. The product could be easily and inexpensively floated down the Chippewa to markets on the Mississippi river. They had not, however, the adequate means to launch such an enterprise, but were successful in starting two logging camps on the Eau Claire for the winter's work. In the following year Simon and George W. Randall secured a half interest in the claim of McCann and Thomas at the mouth of the Eau Claire. They associated themselves together under the firm name of McCann, Randall and Thomas. The construction of a dam and saw mill was at once begun by them on the site of what was, later on, the Eau Claire Lumber Company's water power mill. The dam was completed in October 1846.
        Thomas E. Randall conducted the first religious services here. They were started in September of this year at the residence of S. S. McCann and were continued each alternate Sunday until the setting in of winter, when a severe illness prevented the continuation of them. The first wedding in Eau Claire took place in the fall of the same year. The parties to it were George W. Randall, a member of the firm of McCann, Randall and Thomas, and Miss Mary LaPointe, of Prairie du Chien. The ceremony was performed at the home, a very comfortable dwelling in those primitive times, of Mr. and Mrs. McCann, by Jacob W. Bass, of Chippewa Falls, who had received from the governor of the territory a commission as justice of the peace. The marriage was looked upon as a notable event in those days, and was made the occasion of unusual festivities. The bridegroom's brother Simon Randall, the junior member of the firm, found it desirable to go and do likewise in the same winter. He chose for his bride one of the Indian maidens of the forest, but however securely the nuptial knot was tied, they were not to remain long united. Death stepped in and claimed the young wife for it's own only a few months afterward. The funeral service was performed by Thomas E. Randall. He selected for his text, I Cor. xv, 21,22. "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." This was the first funeral that occurred in the settlement.

 

History of Eau Claire County
Page 297-298

        Other settlements had been made at the Red Falls and on the Red River, but none at the junction of the Chippewa and the Eau Claire. Hence it follows that Arthur McCann, Stephen S. McCann and Jeremiah Thomas were the first actual settlers of this city. A shanty was erected, as above mentioned, and also one lower down, near the Chippewa, which was dignified by calling it a warehouse. Another was built by Arthur McCann, opposite the present site of the Galloway House in the second ward. The parties had no means to build a mill, but succeeded in putting up a couple of logging camps on the Eau Claire, for the Winter. Arthur McCann was shot by an employee named Sawyer, the following year, at his own door. A single frame house was built that year by Arthur McCann, near where Hart's Hotel now stands. There was also a cabin near the upper or water-power mill, on the Eau Claire.
        Arthur McCann and J. C. Thomas had, in 1844, built a saw mill on the river, which is now called the Blue Mill, a few miles above the city. Stephen McCann died in 1880, very much reduced in circumstances but for a pension procured a short time before his death. The buildings alluded to were little better than mere shanties, to establish the right of the claimant to an uncertain amount of government land. McCann's house however, was quite a comfortable dwelling.
        The next year McCann and Thomas associated themselves with some new comers, Simon and George Randall. They proceded to erect a mill and build a dam on the site of the present mill of the Eau Claire Lumber Company. It was completed and ready to commence operations, when an unlooked for misfortune came upon the struggling firm. A tremendous freshet swept away the mill, together with the booms and the logs which had been accumulated by so much toil. All was gone; nothing was left for their season's labor or the money invested. Their means had been expended, and to rebuild it required more capitol. McCann and Thomas retired from the firm, and the following year, 1847, the mill was rebuilt on the opposite side of the river, where the flouring mill now stands. The new firm that erected this mill was Gage, Dix and Reed.

 

History of Northern Wisconsin

Vol 1

        In the year 1832, Mr. H. S. Allen, who had come West from his native state of Vermont, to Galena, the largest city in the then Northwest, turned his attention to the Chippewa lumber region, going up the river as far as the Falls of the Chippewa, but located finally at Menomonie, where he engaged in getting out square timber and logs, soon, however, discovering that without booms to secure the logs, they must be sawed into lumber here.
        In 1835, Mr. Allen bought an interest in the Street & Lockwood mills, and in 1837, the company built another mill. Mr. Allen put his good business qualities, his energy and perseverance, all imbued with a public spirit, into the business, and in 1839, he bought the whole interest of Street & Lockwood, and associated with him G. S. Branham. In 1844, Mr. Green purchased the upper mill. The middle mill was sold to Samuel Gilbert & Son in 1846.
        Meantime, Capt. George Wales built a mill on the Eau Galle, taking Capt. Dix, a millwright, into company, with Thomas Savage. This was in 1828-9. As this mill went into operation, two enterprising young men, one from Canada and the other from New England, William Carson and Henry Eaton, put in an appearance on the lower Eau Galle, and began, in a small way, to shave shingles and get out square timber. By hard knocks and a rigid economy, the business was remunerative.
        This firm, by using the finest timber and somewhat interferring with getting down lumber from the upper mills, seriously annoyed the Eau Galle Lumber Company, although that firm had no exclusive right to anything, except their own mill property and improvements, and notwithstanding the pressure to induce them to leave, they kept on for several years.
        The company finally sold an interest in the mill to Carson & Eaton. The withdrawal of Savage and Dix soon afterward, left a strong firm in the name of Carson, Eaton & Wales. Capt. Wales had his wife here, although he spent most of his time below, selling lumber, and is said to have involved the firm in financial embarrassment. At all events, there was considerable gossip connected with the affair, and he retired from the concern, while diverse opinions prevailed as to the merits of the case.
        About 1840, a Mr. Lamb, an old soldier who freely patronized his canteen, came to Dunnville, which was considered a valuable location, and built the first house there. It soon became a noted tavern. He married Margaret DeMarie, at the Falls. His lack of business habits made a failure of his attempt to supply the wants of the public, and he sold his place to Arthur McCann, who had just married Rosalie DeMarie.
        The three McCanns, Stephen, Arthur and Daniel, came upon the Chippewa in 1840. In 1843, Arthur, in company with J. D. Thomas, built the Blue Mill below the Falls. He was killed by a man named Sawyer, and his tavern was occupied by Philo Stone, while Rosalie went home and subsequently married George P. Warren, the first Chairman of the Board of Supervisors at the Falls, and a Chippewa interpreter. Philo Stone had a full-blooded Chippewa squaw for a wife, who got along quite well as a hotel housekeeper.
        A mill was built, in 1839, by Mr. Allen on the west side of the Red Cedar, some two miles below Gilbert's Creek, making three mills run by him at that time. This mill was rebuilt in 1841, and about that time the lower, or Spring Creek mill was sold to Stephen McCann. Simon and George Randall, who figure largely in the early settlement of Eau Claire, first worked in this mill. In 1843, this mill was burned, and the loss fell upon Mr. Allen.

Page 196

        The Blue Mill, now operated by the Badger State Company, located down the river about six miles, was built in 1843, by Arthur McCann and J. C. Thomas, whose names appear in the history of other counties down the river. The three brothers - Stephen, Arthur and Daniel McCann were from Marietta, Ohio. Arthur married Rosalie De Marie.
        They had employed a man by the name of Sawyer, and one evening he went to McCann's house to settle. During the evening, while playing cards and drinking freely, they got into a scuffle. Sawyer went out into Philo Stone's cabin, procured his rifle, and called McCann to the door and shot him dead on the spot. Sawyer fled and has never been found.

 

History of the Chippewa Valley

Chapter 4

        These operations continued for several years, and in the meant time, several others found their way on to that stream and the Red Cedar River; amongst them a man named Lamb, who stuck his stakes and built the first house in Dunnville, which very soon became a noted "stopping place" for all the lumbermen and hunters that came to the country. It was then considered one of the best locations of the kind in the valley, and its owner soon found it necessary to procure 'a help mate," which he found in the person of Margaret Demarie, adopted daughter of Louis Demarie, at the Falls (Frenchtown). Lamb was an old soldier, very dissipated, with no business habits or industry, and having been able to keep the place up to the wants of the public, in 1841 sold out to his more energetic brother-in-law, Arthur McCann, who had just married Rosalie Demarie, sister of Mrs. Allen.
        Three of these brothers, Stephan, Arthur, and Dan McCann, had come on to the river a years previous; they were originally from Marietta, Ohio, had followed the river round and like many other river men of that day, belonged to the more reckless strata of society.
        Some two miles below Gilbert's Creek on the west side of the Red Cedar River, a small spring creek makes into the river, on which in 1839 H.S. Allen built a sawmill, making three mills owned and run by him at the same time, which gave to the one on Gilbert Creek, the name of the 'Middle Mill,' by which it was known for many years. It was rebuilt in 1841. The same year Allen sold the lower or Spring Creek mill to Stephen S. McCann; and it was to this mill that Simon and George Randall first came and took employment with McCann. It was burned in 1843, the loss falling on the original owner, Allen. In the fall of the year 1841, the mill on Wilson's Creek was sold to one Green, and by him soon transferred to Mr. Pearson, by whom the first dam across the Red Cedar River was erected, with a view to the establishment of a big mill, but for want of means was unable to go on, finally sold out to an old man named Black, who in 1844 transferred a half interest to Knapp and Wilson, to of the present wealthy owners, and in the fall of the same year, Black went down on a raft to Keokuk, Iowa, sickened and died, leaving the property to the other members of the firm, who, the following year associated themselves with Mr. Stout, under the firm name Knapp, Stout and Company. While Mr. Black was in possession of this point in 1844, a most unprovoked murder was committed by a man whose name my informant cannot recall, the victim had retired for the night to garret of an old log house, where he was stealthily shot. A warrant was issued by Mr. Branham, the offender arrested, taken to Prairie du Chien and tried before Judge Dunn and acquitted. This is supposed to be the first murder of a white man in the valley, but was soon followed by another, under the following circumstances: Arthur McCann and J.C. Thomas, in partnership had in 1843 commenced and nearly completed the Blue Mill, now so called, the former residing at Dunnville; they had employed on the work for some time, a man by the name of Sawyer, who when his time was up, went down to McCann's for a settlement, after which McCann proposed cards, at the same time treating freely.
        The game went on until evening, when some dispute arose the latter threw a scale weight at the former, where upon he repaired to the cabin of Philo Stone, nearby, carefully loaded his rifle, went back to the door of McCann's house and called him; on his appearance at the door Sawyer took deliberate aim, and McCann fell dead on his own doorstep, the victim of a drunken brawl. Sawyer made his way up the river to Eau Claire, and thence to the Falls of the Chippewa, where his pursuers lost track of him, since when he has never been heard of, although a large reward was offered for his apprehension by McCann's friends. His wife returned to her parents, and Philo Stone took possession of the tavern.

Chippewa Falls Items - A Patriotic Family

        We learn that S.S. McCann, who volunteered for the war a few days ago, has two sons, and three son-in-laws in our country's service. Mrs. McCann, the Squire's lady, says they have one son left, and if the government makes another call for volunteers, he must go also. Such patriotism should be remembered.

October 3, 1861 - More Men From Chippewa County

        Lieutenant Luxton passed through this place from Chippewa Falls, on Friday last, with twenty athletic fellows to join the Milwaukee Tiger Rifles. Among them we notice that bold pioneer, Stephen S. McCann. Mr. McCann has been in actual service through the Black Hawk War, and came out with an honorable discharge. He is a man of undoubted pluck and patriotism, and although he has passed the noon of life, he could not turn a deaf ear to his country's call for "more men."

 

American Law Grows Out Of Response To Situations
Eau Claire Leader Telegram, Bicentennial Edition July 4, 1976
Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond, Vol IV

        In the late 1840's, there was no law in the Chippewa Valley. Some felt it wasn't needed. Thomas Randall in the History of the Chippewa Valley wrote: ...the country (1849-50) still continued without any administration of law except when very grave questions arose. The parties went to Prairie du Chien for justice, the whole intervening country still comprising a part of Crawford County. Disputes and personal assaults were, however, speedily settled by reference to mutual friends and the social condition of the settlements, notwithstanding the heterogeneous complexion of the people, was daily improving and many began to think that law was an unnecessary evil. Leaving town or out of sight, out of mind, appeared to be the best punishment for a crime.

First Murder of a White Man

        One of the first recorded murders of a white man in the valley took place in 1843 at Dunnville, where a man named Sawyer shot and killed Arthur McCann following a dispute. McCann answered a call at his own cabin and Sawyer shot him. Sawyer made his way up the river to Eau Claire, then to Chippewa where his pursuers lost him. He was never found although a large reward was offered.
          The world was so large and the cities so small, and there were none of the modern crime-solving techniques like fingerprints and quick communications. Another account notes that when a man had killed a troublemaker, the sheriff was called, saw the victim and remarked that fella needed killing. He then asked which way the murderer had gone. Told he had gone north, the sheriff went south.

 

Area Meets Criteria for Sawmills
Eau Claire Leader Telegram, Bicentennial Edition July 4, 1976
Our Story, The Chippewa Valley and Beyond, Vol II

        Louis Demarie and his family built a cabin on the west side of the Chippewa across from the Eau Claire River in 1832 and spent one winter there. He is credited with being the first person to have lived in what is now Eau Claire over the winter months. He went the following year to Prairie du Chien but returned in 1838-39 to Chippewa Falls and lived there many years with his family.
        Hiram S. Allen, who was among the leading lumbermen at the Falls, married one of the DeMarie girls, Mary. Another daughter, Rosalie, married Arthur McCann, who was shot and killed at Dunnville in what is said to be the first murder of a white man by another white in the Chippewa Valley.
        In 1835, H. S. Allen who would become one of the best known among early Chippewa Falls residents, came up the Red Cedar, purchased towels owned by James Lockwood and Joseph Rolette, and retained the agreement with the Indians. Allen paid for his investment by selling lumber at $30 per thousand feet.
        Other mills were built by H. S. Allen near Menomonie in 1839. He sold one mill to Steven S. McCann in 1841 and when the mill burned later, Allen took the financial loss. McCann had operated a mill and shingle mill between the Falls and Eau Claire.
        Allen moved on to Chippewa Falls and built a mill there. Jeremiah Thomas and Arthur McCann started to operate the Blue Mills near present Lake Hallie. After McCann's death, Thomas sold the mill to Thomas E. Randall.

 

Traders, First Settlers Tread Unknown Paths
Eau Claire Leader Telegram, Bicentennial Edition July 4, 1976
Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond, Vol I

        Halfbreed and white trappers were the first, other than Indians, to establish any type of residence in the Chippewa Valley. The first ones did have some problems with Indians as the story of LeDuc and Penasha, two traders, reveals. One account has it that in 1784, they built a trading post on the west side of the river at the lower rapids across from Mt. Simon. The story says one day Chippewa Indians were bringing in furs and to obtain a gun for furs, had to have a pile as high as the gun. As the Indians piled up fur, the traders not only packed them down but had the butt of the rifle on the foot of one of them and kept raising the gun. Whether it is true or just a story, it is recorded that LeDuc and Penasha fell into disagreement with the Chippewa and were holed up in their cabin while under Indian attack. After two of the Chippewa were slain, the Indians went for more help and LeDuc and Penasha hustled downstream where they established trade with the Sioux near the mouth of the Chippewa River. Indian settlements at the time were said to be on land now opposite the paper mill in Eau Claire and at the dells opposite Mt. Simon.
        Michel Cadotte, son of a French Canadian fur trading family, lived near the area of Chippewa City as early as 1791. Other trading posts were located in the Prairie Rice Lake area near Chetek, farther north at Rice Lake and at Lac Courte Orielles near the headwaters of the Chippewa River. An early white man living on the Chippewa was Lyman Warren of LaPoint, formally of Newburg, N.Y., who was appointed to head the Indian agency at what is known as Chippewa City according to terms of the 1825 treaty signed at Prairie du Chien. It was his task to distribute annuities and establish a farm and blacksmith on the Chippewa, not too far from the falls. He was later joined by the Gothy family and the location became an important point for collection of furs under the control of the American Fur Company.
        Louis DeMarie and his family built a cabin on the west side of the Chippewa River across from the Eau Claire River in 1832 and spent one winter there. He is credited with being the first person to have lived in what is now Eau Claire over the winter months. He went the following year to Prairie du Chien but returned in 1838-39 to Chippewa Falls and lived there many years with his family. Hiram S. Allen, who was among the leading lumbermen at the Falls, married one of the DeMarie girls, Mary. Another daughter, Rosalie, married Arthur McCann, who was shot and killed at Dunnville in what is said to be the first white murder of a white man by another white in the Chippewa Valley. Stephen S. McCann and Jeremiah Thomas, in 1845, came to Eau Claire, started a sawmill and were the first persons to make a permanent home here.

 

First Explorers Came Seeking Passage, Furs
Eau Claire Leader Telegram, Bicentennial Edition July 4, 1976
Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond, Vol I

        Prairie du Chien trader, Louis DeMarie, brought his family up the Chippewa River in 1832 and built a trading post on the west bank near the mouth of the Eau Claire River. One account states the Sioux forced him to pay them $300 for the privilege of trading with them. Another source states he made that amount in a profitable winter's trade with the Indian's. The family returned to Prairie du Chien the following spring. DeMarie, his wife and his family of five sons and three daughters returned to the Chippewa City area when Brunet enlisted old voyagers, trappers and hunters to construct and manage a sawmill erected at the falls after the Treaty of Fort Snelling in 1837. Mrs. DeMarie, a half-breed, was noted for her culture and medical folklore. Their daughters reputedly created great interest among eligible bachelors between Prairie du Chien and the falls.

 

Demarie Women Hardy, Talented, Helpful
Eau Claire Leader Telegram, Bicentennial Edition July 4, 1976
Our Story 'The Chippewa Valley and Beyond, Vol III

        There were few women in this region when the first men arrived to start building mills on the rivers. However, the first women who arrived in the area made their presence felt in lending a helping hand to those in need. The wife of Louis DeMarie, Angeline DeMarie, a Huron Indian by some sources and a Chippewa by others, became well known for her uncommon natural abilities.
        Thomas Randall wrote, "...and with education and culture she would have graced a high social position in any community. She was a born physician and for many years the only one in the valley, and of making a diagnosis of disease, and her knowledge of the healing properties and proper application of many of the remedies used in the Materia Medica, exhibited extraordinary insight and skill in her practice.
        Mrs. DeMarie had five daughters and nearly all of them figured in the early life of the valley. Her daughter, Rosalie DeMarie was married to Arthur McCann, one of the first men to build a sawmill in Eau Claire. McCann was murdered in 1843 after a card game near Dunnville. Rosalie returned to live with her parents before marrying again.
        Another daughter, Mary DeMarie married H. S. Allen in 1836. He became one of the famous names in the early history of logging at Chippewa Falls. They met in Menomonie when Mary and her sister Rosalie walked from Chippewa to Menomonie to procure supplies.

 

DeMarais Family
Chippewa Falls Genealogical Society, 1991

        Rosalie, born about 1827, died Aug. 19, 1889. Married 1st Arthur McCann in 1841; 2nd Franswa Truckey in 1846; 3rd George P. Warren, Dec. 15, 1862. One child by 1st marriage: Jackson born 1842, died 1843 at Frenchtown; 2nd marriage: Gabriel, born April 1844, at Frenchtown, enlisted in the Civil War, shot inn the leg, causing amputation, and died Oct. 1, 1865, from hiccups at Chippewa Falls, Wis.

 

First White Settler Arrived in Eau Claire Area in 1845
Eau Claire Leader Daily Telegram Progress Edition 1968

        The first white settler came to what is now Eau Claire in 1845. He was Stephen S. McCann who formed a partnership with a Jeremiah C. Thomas. They erected a claim shanty on the Eau Claire River and later McCann constructed a cabin near the mouth of the Eau Claire River and still another on the location of what is now Eau Claire St. and S. Farwell.
        In 1847 the two men had joined with Simon Randall and had constructed a dam across the Eau Claire River and erected a new double saw mill. But on June 5, the same year, a cloudburst struck the area. The river rose and swept away the dam and sawmill. The mill was slated to open later that month. The firm went bankrupt. McCann went to the Eagle Prairie where he farmed and died in 1880. Thomas went back to Blue Mills, which today is Lake Hallie.

 

Eau Claire Prior to its Incorporation as a City in 1872
The History of Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, 1914

        Previous to any settlement being made on the land on either side of the Chippewa River at or near the mouth of the Eau Claire River, or the land on either side of that stream, there was a rank growth of brush in nearly every direction. The whole country as far as the eye could see was in a wild state of nature. Not even a track made by man was to be found, nor the rudest hut for a resting place. Yet this spot was to attract hundreds of pioneers in a very few years from the time of the arrival of the first settler.
        In the summer of 1845, Stephen S. McCann, from Spring Creek, named from a tributary of the Menomonie river, near Menomonie, and Jeremiah C. Thomas entered into a partnership and erected a plain shanty near the site of what was afterward the Eau Claire Lumber Company's water mill on the Eau Claire river. Stephen S. McCann also built a cabin near the confluence of the Eau Claire with the Chippewa, which he designed as a warehouse, and another on the site of what was subsequently the American House. These structures were erected for the express purpose of establishing the right of the settler to an uncertain quantity of government land. McCann transformed the last-named cabin into a home for his family and moved into it. Thus it will be seen that Stephen S. McCann and Jeremiah Thomas were the first actual settlers in this region. The main object of this firm in locating at this place was to build a sawmill and manufacture lumber from the logs obtained from the pine forests on the Eau Claire river and its tributaries. The product could be easily and inexpensively floated down the Chippewa to markets on the Mississippi River. They had not, however, the adequate means to launch such an enterprise, but were successful in starting two logging camps on the Eau Claire for the winter's work. In the following year, Simon and George W. Randall secured a half interest in the claim of McCann & Thomas at the mouth of the Eau Claire. They associated themselves together under the firm name of McCann, Randall & Thomas. The construction of a dam and sawmill was at once begun by them on the site of what was later on the Eau Claire Lumber Company's waterpower mill. The dam was completed in October, 1846.
        Thomas E. Randall conducted the first religious services here. They were started in September of this year at the residence of S. S. McCann, and were continued each alternate Sunday until the setting in of winter, when a severe illness prevented the continuation of them. The first wedding in Eau Claire took place in the fall of the same year. The parties to it were George W. Randall and Miss Mary LaPoint, of Prairie du Chien. The ceremony was performed at the home (a very comfortable dwelling in those primitive times) of Mr. and Mrs. McCann by Jacob W. Bass, of Chippewa Falls, who had received from the governor of the territory a commission as justice of the peace. The marriage was looked upon as a notable event in those days, and was made the occasion of unusual festivities. The bridegroom's brother, Simon Randall, found it desirable to go and do likewise in the same winter. He chose for his bride one of the Indian maidens of the forest, but however securely the nuptial knot was tied, they were not long to remain untied. Death stepped in and claimed the young wife for its own a few months afterward. The funeral services were performed by Thomas E. Randall, and this was the first funeral that occurred in the settlement.
        The winter of 1846-47 was long remembered by the few residents of the embryo village, owing to the intensely cold weather. Scarcely any snow fell, but the rivers were frozen to their beds. The spring was quite as remarkable for lack of rain, especially during the months of April and May. The evening of June 5 was, however, visited by one of the most terrible thunderstorms on record in the valley. The rain came down in torrents until the following morning was well advanced toward noon, accompanied by vivid lightning and heavy peals of thunder. The storm was reported by eye-witnesses to have been fearful. The Chippewa rose twelve feet and was covered with driftwood, logs and the debris of piers and booms from the falls. Thomas E. Randall, in his history of the Chippewa valley, says: "In my endeavors to save part of my boom, I was taken into the wild and surging current on it as it floated away. I have been on many log drives and often placed in positions of extreme peril, but never has death stared me more directly in the face than while afloat on the frail boom -- bent, crushed and broken, between masses of logs and driftwood. I could do nothing with it, and on and on it went, with the rapidity of a railway train, passing repeatedly under the branches of reclining trees. I lay flat on my face and clung to those strained timbers, well knowing that once in that boiling flood, no skill in the art of swimming could save me from a watery grave; but as the fates would have it, my rickety craft shot like an arrow out of the current and went ashore at the eddy where Sherman's mill was afterward built."
        By noon of that day every log, pier and boom on the Eau claire was swept away by the fast swelling flood. In another hour the new double sawmill that had just been erected and was ready to be operated was borne almost bodily away by the resistless current. The results of the labor and savings of years were gone forever, and the firm of McCann, Randall & Thomas, with liabilities to meet, found themselves in a bankrupt condition. A dissolution of the partnership was the result. J. C. Thomas went back to the Blue Mill, and S. S. McCann engaged in farming on Eagle Prairie above the falls. George W. and Simon Randall entered into co-partnership with Philo Stone and H. Cady. They built the mill on the Eau Claire in the winter of 1847-48.

 

Daily Wisconsin July 1867

      The honor of the first settlement is claimed by Steve McCann, a big good natured Irishman. His cabin was put up in 1846. His wife was the first white woman to remain in the Chippewa Valley and his son, Stephen, Jr. was the first one to be sacredly immersed in the Chippewa River. McCann had seven sons and two sons-in-law all of whom fought with him in the Union Army. He has been Justice of the Peace for 21 years, holding his summer court at Chippewa Falls arrayed in hickory shirt and overalls with bare brown feet. McCann says he raised the first wheat in the valley in 1843. He helped put up the Blue Mills in 1837. Marshall Cousins calls him a man of superior intellect although lacking in formal education. He enlisted in the 1st. Wisconsin Infantry when an old man. Three sons also enlisted and all were wounded. He had been in the Black Hawk War. At the time of his death from dropsy at the home of his son-in-law, W. R. McDonald, it was stated that he settled at Blue Mills in 1837.

 

Chippewa Valley History - Organization of the County

        The county was organized December 29, 1854. George P. Warren was Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and Stephen S. McCann was the other Supervisor; Samuel H. Allison, Clerk. A petition for a road via Dunnar's Mill to Bloomer was deemed improper and rejected. The road authorized to Eau Claire (Clear Water) via Frenchtown and the Blue Mill was after deliberation declared highly injudicious and unnecessary. James Ermatinger, Henry O'Neil and Daniel McCann were appointed to lay out a road to Vermillion Falls. February 1, 1855, James Reed, who had been elected Supervisor, refused to serve. On motion of S. S. McCann, he was fined $10 for his refusal to act as Supervisor.

 

Selected Text From Articles Written by Fred Decker
Located in the Archives of Local Newspapers

        In 1835 the Lambs moved to Cedar Falls. Lamb Creek was named after him. Shortly after, they located at Dunnvillle, being the first settlers there also. Samuel Lamb was a carpenter and a millwright; he built the first houses at Dunnville, and also helped build a number of the mills in that section. In 1841, he sold out to his brother-in-law, Arthur McCann and moved to Brookville.
        McCann had two brothers, Stephen and Dan, with him. In 1843 he, in company with C. Thomas, began putting up a mill, afterward known as the Badger State Mill. One of the workmen on the mill, named Sawyer, had a disagreement with Arthur McCann over wages, and shot him dead, running away and never being heard of afterward. The young widow, a sister, of Mrs. Samuel Lamb, afterward married George P. Warren who was the first County Clerk of Chippewa Co. Samuel Lamb came to his death through injuries received in a fall from a mill he was building.

 

Distant Civil War "Close" to Region
Eau Claire Leader Telegram, Bicentennial Edition July 4, 1976
Our Story, The Chippewa Valley and Beyond, Vol V

        Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, headquartered at St. Louis, commanded the Union Military Department of the Missouri,which included Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas and the portion of Kentucky west of the Cumberland River. He had a force of 91,000 men. Brig. Gen. Don C. Buell, headquartered at Louisville, Ky., commanded the Department of the Ohio with 45,000 troops.
        Under Halleck, U. S. Grant had 20,000 men in the Cairo-Paducah area and Brig. Gens. Samuel R. Curtis and John Pope each had 15,000 troops in Missouri. With Buell's army, there were 25 men from Chippewa Falls, Chippewa City and Eau Claire in the 1st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, a part of Brig. Gen. James S. Negley's 7th Brigade. They were mustered into federal service at Milwaukee's Camp Scott.
        Two of the men were associated with Eau Claire's origins. Baptiste DeMarie, Chippewa Falls, was the son of Louis DeMarie who built the first log cabin along the Chippewa River opposite the mouth of the Eau Claire River in 1832. Stephen S. McCann, Chippewa City, settled here in 1856 and built the first sawmill on the river. A veteran of the Black Hawk War, he was an elderly man when he enlisted in Capt. Henry A. Mitchell's Milwaukee Union Rifles. He would be discharged because of a disability in April, but his seven sons and two sons-in-law would join companies in other regiments as the war continued.
        While camped at Munfordsville, Ky., the regiment was marched down to the north bank of the Green River as reserves with orders not to cross. They witnessed a desperate skirmish between an Indiana German regiment and Col. Terry's Texas Rangers.
        Confederate troops occupied the south bank of the river much of the winter, first under Brig. Gen. Lloyd Tilghman and then Brig. Gen. Simon B. Buckner. Tilghman was sent to fortify the two forts on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers 130 miles west of Munfordsville. He would surrender Ft. Henry to Flag Officer Andrew Foote's naval forces and Buckner would get terms of unconditional surrender from Grant at Ft. Donaldson.
        Johnston abandoned Bowling Green after Grant's victory and the 1st Wisconsin Regiment moved south with Buell's forces toward Nashville, Tenn., proudly led by their regimental colors which had a portion of Fort Sumter's flag staff placed in its own. The 103 men in the Eau Claire Eagles, Company C, in the 8th Wisconsin Eagle Regiment were on guard duty at Ft. Defiance near Cairo, Ill. They also took turns with other companies guarding rebel prisoners at Mound City, a few miles north up the Ohio River. On March 4th, regiment received orders to leave Gen. Pope's command at New Madrid, Mo., some 50 miles south of Columbus, Ky., on the Mississippi and a short distance from a strategic bend in the river and Island No. 10.

 

History of Eau Claire County, Past & Present, 1914
Eau Claire County in the Civil War, by W. W. Bartlett

        Among the names of those from Chippewa county who were in the Civil War, we find the name of that old pioneer Stephen S. McCann. It was he who with Jeremiah Thomas began the first lumbering operations in Eau Claire, in the middle (18)forties. At the time of his enlistment he must have been quite an old man.         The battle of North Anna began on the twenty-third. On the twenty-sixth Company H and Company K were ordered to charge a line of rebel works, which we took. Our loss was two men killed, twelve wounded and one taken prisoner. Both the men killed were from Company H. The pioneer lumberman, Stephen S. McCann, was a member of our company and was wounded in this engagement.

 

Wisconsin Magazine of History, Summer 1961

        A second warrant was issued for the arrest of Peter McCann, a violator of the Sunday law, McCann's father came to John Olin, not to La Follette, and begged him to squash the indictment if his son promised to close his saloon and enter another profession. Olin, pleased at this turn of events, gladly relented.

 

Past and Present of Chippewa Co., Vol. 1, pg. 238

        For several years Dan McCann, Old Dan as he was called, was the only hope of any terpsichorean assembly in this valley and it was to the touch of his fiddle bow that every light fantastic toe must yield active or passive obedience. He knew nothing of music as a science, but could play a number of marches, cotillions and one waltz very well by note and woe to the hapless ball or party that failed to procure his indispensable services. There were three men to every lady at the balls. The long dining room at the mill was utilized as a ballroom and the life and soul of the party, was of course, the musician. This was old Dan McCann who played the fiddle like an angel, or at least the devotees of terpsichord imagined so. No ball was complete without him and he was eagerly sought for on all such occasions. He could not read a note of music but could play by ear.

 

The Old McCann Farm

        The oldest house now standing in Chippewa County and maybe the Chippewa Valley was built by Stephen S. McCann, in 1849, who occupied it until the Spring of 1857, then moving to his upper farm, now known as the Jersey Hogan farm. It was then occupied by Ben Sprague, and by different tenants down to it's present owner, Mr. William Monroe, a bachelor and gentlemen who enjoys the whole mansion to himself and whose picture is seen standing to the right by the porch in the cut.
        Many events that have tended to shape the destiny of Chippewa County have transpired underneath it's ponderous roof. Mr. McCann was the first chairman of the county board in the county and the board of supervisors often convened in this building. He was in those days, with H. S. Allen and B. F. Manahan, one of the leading spirits of the county that then extended to Lake Superior, and took a hand in all public affairs. He was not a man of education, but had more than the ordinary quantity of intelligence allotted to man. Always a backwoods man, he had the backwoods manners and ways, but not of the blood-thirsty kind. In 1856, he was the only justice of the peace in the county, and it was in this historic house, one of the most memorable justice cases was ever tried.
        Joseph King and Baldwin Seval had a lawsuit about some corn. There was but one lawyer in the county then, Andrew Gregg his name. King employed him as his attorney. The case came up before Squire McCann. In those days everybody attended a lawsuit, they were the only shows they had, so several sleigh-loads started for the scene of action, and incidently to swap lies. On arriving at the house, the kitchen was transformed into a courtroom and the kitchen table into the judge's desk. The courtroom was pretty well filled when the judge came in. He was attired in a blue flannel shirt and overalls. Seating himself by his desk, he threw his stockened feet upon it. He announced that court was opened and for the gaffers to "Git Thar."
        Seval, the plaintiff, opened the case and pleaded his cause personally. When through, Gregg, King's attorney, rose and commenced to argue the cause of his client. He had said but a few words, when Seval jumped up, rushed towards him and hollered out: "What in the hell are you sticking your lip in this case for? Tain't none of your damned business." A dispute arose to the right of Gregg sticking his lip into other people's business. Blue who was present and considered high authority on law, was asked his opinion on the right of a lawyer to take sides in a lawsuit. The venerable Tom rose with great dignity and said that he had read somewhere in Blackstone that lawyers were permitted to appear for their clients, but that he believed that Blackstone was wrong. That no man had a right to stick his snoot into another man's business. Upon such high authority, Seval seized a stick of stove-wood and proceeded to disbar Gregg, who in turn seized a chair to protect the honor of the bar. This was too good a thing to let go by. The crowd took a hand in to uphold the dignity of the law as they thought right, and when the last man crawled out of the back door on his hands and knees, that courtroom looked like a portion of New Richmond after the cyclone had struck it. The records do not show that the case was settled.

 

Introduction to the 1884 Eau Claire City Directory

Settlement

        The advantages of Half Moon Lake as a reservoir for logs were early perceived. Stephen McCann was perhaps the first projector of a lumber town here, and in company with a few other early settlers erected the first building, a claim shanty, on the banks of the Eau Claire in 1835. Even thus early, there was rivalry between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls, which delayed the progress of both for more than thirty years. A lumbering village soon grew up here, but in 1846 a tremendous flood swept the river clear of logs, destroyed all improvements and suspended progress for ten years. About 1856, Adin Randall and several other early investors laid out the villages which have coalesced into the city of Eau Claire, more saw mills, and a weekly paper were established. This year witnessed the last battle of the Sioux and Chippewas, in whose debatable land the site of the future city lay. The reaction of 1857 and the war, delayed progress of Eau Claire till about 1865, when the old project of constructing a dam at the Dells, and making a canal into Half Moon lake was revived; and after several years of diplomacy and legislation, this was effected in 1878. Since that time the growth of the city (organized in 1872) has been perfectly steady, as well as extremely rapid.

 

Eau Claire Telegram
July 19, 1935

An 1854 Map of Wisconsin Found in an Old Town of Rhine Barn

        Arthur and Stephen McCann and Jeremiah Thomas, who established themselves in 1854, were the first actual settlers in Eau Claire, though Louis DeMarie had traded with the Indians and together with his wife and five children had lived at the junction of the Eau Claire and the Chippewa, in the fall and winter of 1832-3.
        A few miles away, where the Blue Mills (Badger Mills or Lower Lake Hallie), Arthur McCann and Jeremiah Thomas put up a small saw mill in 1844, and in 1845 they and Stephen McCann constructed three buildings within the present municipal limits of (Eau Claire), another being erected by Philo Stone and his brother Roswell, who came soon after. Arthur McCann later built a frame dwelling near the later site of Hart's Hotel (now the YMCA site). He did not live long enough to enjoy it, for the following year he was shot at his own door by an employee named Sawyer.
        Logging in the adjacent woods engaged the settlers during the winter. Lacking means to dam the river and build a mill, the surviving McCann brother and Thomas were hopeful that someone with money would come along and join forces with them for the purpose of effecting these improvements; and that is what occurred, the 'capitalists' being Simon and George Randall. The story of how the mill was built, and how, together with a large store of logs, it was swept away by floods had been told in a preceding chapter, which also tells of the building of a mill on the opposite side of the river by Gage, Dix, and Reed in 1847, and of the rebuilding of the mill on the Eau Claire by Philo Stone, H. Cady, and Simon and George Randall.
        The first wedding in Eau Claire was that of George W. Randall and Miss Mary LaPointe of Prairie du Chien, which took place at the residence of Stephen McCann, where the bride had been engaged as a housekeeper. A justice of the peace was imported from Chippewa Falls to conduct the ceremony but Thomas Randall was called upon to pronounce the blessing.

 

 

The McCann Family

My Elusive Ancestors

E-Mail Debra McCann