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The Story of the Halfway House
By Sarah
Weippert
A term Paper Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for Wisconsin History 154
Wisconsin State
College at Eau Claire
July 1960
The Story of HALFWAY HOUSE
On a plot of ground
about nine miles west of Eau Claire on County Highway E, one and a quarter miles west of Elk Creek Lake, Surrounded by tall
stately oaks, lies a crumbling pile of cream-colored Wisconsin sandstone. To the casual passerby it would probably remain
unnoticed. However, on close examination a viewer might be able to discern the faint outline of what was once the foundation
of a rather large building. If the massive oaks were articulate, they might tell of a structure that once stood here-----
a neat white frame house with a large wing extending from the rear. They would describe the friendly atmosphere that
prevailed, of a stage coach rattling to a stop before the door, of a genial host, his wife and family, and of the inviting
warmth of a lamp -lighted window that welcomed many a traveler to Halfway House.
The proprietor of Halfway
Hose was Daniel Barnes Fuller. He was born in Vermont, lived for a time in southern Michigan, and then seeking better
opportunities, he came to Jefferson County, Wisconsin in approximately 1850.
Six years prior to this (1844),
the Job Lee family, in the town of Berlin, Renselaer County, New York, migrated to southern Wisconsin. The family consisted
of Mr. Lee, his wife, Rachel, one daughter, Martha Jane, and seven sons----- William, Joseph, Phillip, Robert, David, Harvey,
and Charles. They traveled west from Albany to Buffalo by boat on the Erie Canal. There, with ox Team and wagon,
they made their way to Jefferson County where they settled on a small farm near Heborn and Rome.
Mr. Fuller must have found what he was seeking in souther Wisconsin, in part at least, for in 1853 he married Martha Jane
Lee. They went to live in Palmyra, a small town not far from Martha's folks. She saw her family quite often, for
it was here they came to get their mail.
Daniel worked at various jobs such as carpentry and wood-cutting,
but he actually made more money through his shrewd dealing and became a typical "Yankee Trader." he would trade, it has been
said, anything, except his wife.
A visitor seldom saw the same horse, cow, cat, dog, tool or implement on a later call
at the Fuller house.
News came to the Lee family of the fertile and productive land just north
of Chippewa River. David Cartwright a brother of Mrs. Lee had hunted and trapped in this area for many years. His glowing
accounts of the areas of open land on which settlers were growing wheat convinced the Lees that opportunity was beckoning.
In 1854 they moved to the town of Springbrook, in Dunn County.
Daniel had a prosperous trading business,
so he and Martha Jane remained in Palmyra. Brother Robert also remained in Jefferson County as he had recently married
and settled on a farm in Pumpkin Hollow. If anyone inquired of Daniel of the direction to Robert's home, his usual answer
was. "Go straight north out of town, and it's two hoops (two hills) and a hollar (valley) and a right smart distance beyond.
The Fullers received many letters in the next ten years from the family in Dunn County. The reports of the good life
there convinced Daniel and Martha
they too, should move to that part of the state. In 1864 they made the trip
by wagon an a team of horses. Most of their household goods had been sent to LaCrosse via the railroad. From there
it was transported by steamboat up the Mississippi and Chippawa Rivers to Ramsey's landing. Here on the Chippewa, at
the mouth of Mud Creek, the Ramsey brothers operated a general store, blacksmith shop, steamboat landing, and operated a ferry
for people wishing to cross the river.
A day or so after their arrival in Dunn County, Martha wrote
the following letter to brother Robert whom had entered the Union Army shortly before she and Daniel left Jefferson
County. Robert was located in an army camp in Illinois.
The letter reveals her impression of what they found
in Dunn County.
Waneka, Dunn Co., Wis
Sept. 11, 1864 Dear brother
I will write you a few lines to let you know that we are all well at present
and hope these few lines will find you well. We got here last Sunday nite safe and sound. we had a very good time
to go as the weather was cool and dry. ......I like this place very well. The crops look a good deal better here
than they do down there. Wheat looks very well. Mother has got 3 stakes. They haint thrashed their grain yet.
Wheat is worth one dollar a bushel and oats 40 cents a bushel. Mother has got as large potatoes as can be had anywhere and
watermelon the best I ever did see. They are as large as a water pail. She made a barrel of pickles and has sold
one barrel. Yesterday Harvey picked three bushels of cucumbers. There is a plenty to eat and a plenty of work
to e done up here as wages is as hight here as they are down there. There is a plenty of grass to cut to winter the
cattle on. I think we shall stay here . . . ... Daniel has not bot a place yet. He offered David seven hundred
dollars for his farm with the corps on but David said he could not take it for he thought he could not better his self
. . . . . Mother said to tell you that she is very sorry to hear that you had gone to war and to hear that Martha (Robert's
wife) is sick. She said that if the children were up here she would take care of them . . . . Daniel is a going after our
goods tomorrow. He will have to go 40 miles after them. The water is so low that they cant get the goat up to the landing
There was a bair shot here the day we got here. I had some of it to eat. It was very good. David and George
went after the cows last night and they see 2 deer. David shot one of them. Mother milks 4 cows. She makes butter
and cheese to sell. I must stop of this time so good by from you sister.
Martha Jane Fuller
Daniel and Martha stayed with the Lee family
from the time they arrived in Dunn county until the following summer. Besides helping with the farm work, Daniel also
did a bit of trading as indicated in the following letter written to his brother Robert.
Waneka Dunn Co Oct 9 1864 Dear brother
I thought I would write you a few lines this morning to
let you know we are all well at present. We was all sorry to hear that you had gone south but you had best try to take
care of yourself the best you can and if you go into battle fall back behind the rest. The draft has comm off here and David
was not drafted. He expected to be but he had good luck this time. There was fifty four men drafted from this town.
Some of them are dead and some are in the army. The roll has not been corrected in 2 years so they are afraid that this
town will have to draft again to get the number of men they want. David went to work yesterday for a man while he is
gone to Lacross to get the roll fixed and the names taken off that is dead and them that is in the army so the cota wont be
so large. We are here at Mothers yet. Daniel has not bot a place yet. He bot a piece of corn and a hog. he give
15 dollars for it. He bot a piece of corn and potatoes and some turnips. He gave 30 dollars for them all. He had sug
the potatoes. he got 50 bushels and he husked the corn. There was 200 bushels of ears. There is any amount
of work here to be done. A man can get all the potatoes and corn that they want to husk on shares of they will give 5 cents
a bushel for husking. I think this is a very good place here for a man can get all the work he can do and they can raise as
good crops here as anywhere. Daniel is going to put up a granary for Mother. He and Charles is a going to Methomonie after
lumber tomorrow. No more at present so good by from you sister
Martha Jane Fuller
Daniel also found time to write. The following is a transcription of a letter
he wrote to Robert.
Dec 17 1864
Dear brother I that I would right you a few lines to let you know how we get along we air all well at present
and I hope that those few lines will find you the same I got your letter and was glad to hear from you and hear that you was
well I will tell you how many but we hear got a yook of oxen and yook of 4 year old steers and a yoak of 8 year old steers
and a yoak of 2 year old steers and 3 cows and a cold and a calf and 3 pigs I that I would tell you about all
Daniel has a lot of cows and one of them will keck a man coat coar [clear] of I suppose Daniel has rote
all the news so I cant think of any think more at present so good by
this is from Charles H Lee to Richard A Lee right soon and all the
Robert
I haint got any thing to write that I can think of so I will just rite to let you know that I haint forgot you I wish you
good luck and health and that is all I can do for you rite as often you can to some one of us rite to Harvey some time goodnit
MFF
Spring Brook Dun Co. Wis dec 17 / 64
Dear Brother
Charles has begun this letter I cant find enough to write to finish it I said though I would help him I am well & tough
as a bear I aint a doing much now thir is neither sluhing nor wagon to do anything on harry has taking with a job of taning
40 Dear skins he gets one third. D.Thyer got a deed of my farm it joins Mother on the south 100 acres of it I am a going
to get 40 more that will make a square Think I am going to build me a house this summer. I hired another farm of 40
acres & owe 50 dollars for it I haid one half down the other nex fall that man that I traded your horse with came back
& offered me ten dollars to trade back but I told him that I could not but your Mother &Martha though I had better
give him something back but I havnt yet he is pretty sick for a for a minet . I never see the cattle but once I started
the other day to go & see them & I got lost & come back so I haint got them home yet I shall go & see them
in a few days write soon By your brother Charles
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In the spring of 1865, Daniel, with the help of his brothers-in-law, built his house. Before winter a barn was under
construction and in the next year a granary, a hen house, and a blacksmith shop were built. Daniel was a good manager and
a shrewd trader. As a result, his farm was very productive and he raised fine crops of wheat, corn, and oats. The wheat
was hauled to Rumsey's Landing where steamboats came regularly to transport the wheat that eventually found its way to eastern
and European ports. Part of the wheat was turned over to Rumsey's General Store to pay for the supplies bought on credit,
money was scarce and many of the farmers bought on credit and paid their debt in wheat each year when it was harvested.
It is interesting to note some of the items and the prices appearing in a merchandise book of the H.T. Ramsey company in the
years 1868-1869.
1 # tea
1.75
1 hoop skirt 2.00
1 lamp .60
1 slate .30
5 yd. calico .80
1 hood 2.00
1 gal
coal oil .50
1
whip 1.75
1 pr shoes
1.20
# tobacco
.75
3 doz eggs .60
1 pt whiskey .63
1 broom
.60
2 # shot
.15
1 #salaratus 1.00
1 plow point 1.00
1 gal molasses 1.00
6 # butter .52
1 pr gaiters
2.50
1 anath
1.00
12 # sugar 2.00
1 pair steelyards 1.00
1 oz Indigo 1.00
3/4 gal maple syrup 1.12
3 # coffee
1.00
1 washboard .30
2 schythes 3.00
1 bottle pain killer .25
1 coat 13.50
1 set
axel trees 10.00
1 bbl salt 5.50
2 pants and vests 12.00
1 yoke oxen 225.00
1 lumber wagon 115.00
1 shot gun
15.00
1 plow
22.00
1 plug tobacco .40
shoe threat .10
1 box stove
20.00
12 cold shuts
1.50
1 set bobsleds 30.00
3 ducks
& 1 chicken .50
As the Fuller family prospered, Daniel hired extra help to
do the field work and chores and he turned again to trading. The barn was large enough to hold about twenty head of
horses and oxen. The cow barn was a lean to on the side of the central barn.
While Daniel was busy with
his farm problems and trading, Martha Jane was busily raising her brood of three, Harriet, George, and Sarah.
She also managed to find time to tend the chickens, care for a vegetable garden, churn butter, and run the affairs of her
household.
In early fall or spring when the hogs were butchered, Martha Jane would put hams, shoulders, and
side pork down in pickling brime. After several weeks, these were removed and hung on hooks in the smoke house to hang
over a hickory fire for many days. They were left hanging there until needed for the family table.
At least once or twice a year she would make soft soap. All fats, such as meat drippings and rancid lard or grease was
always saved. After being heated and strained, the grease mixed with lye obtained from water poured on and drained through
hardwood ashes. This mixture was cooked in a hugh iron kettle hung over an outdoor hearth or fire. The resulting
product was a soft jelly like substance the color of caramel candy. This soap was stored in a barrel or large earthen
jar and supplied the family needs for cleaning and laundering for many months.
In about 1866, a stage
line extending from Black River Falls to Hudson used the Fuller home as an overnight stop and stage line and his wife occasionally
helped out at the inn when a large crowd was expected.
The inn also took in other travelers beside these traveling
by stage. Many on horseback and some had a horse and buggy.
Martha Jane's Uncle David Cartwright,
the hunter and trapper was often a guest whenever he was in the area. He usually supplied them with a deer or other
game whenever he dropped in for a visit. The guests and the Fuller children never tired of his stories of hunting in
Wisconsin.
A school house was built about three-fourths of a mile east of Halfway House. The first teachers
received a very small wage and boarded round.
School was only in session during the winter months
as the boys were needed on the farm in the fall and in the spring. In 1902 the writer's mother taught in this same school
for $28 per month and paid her own board.
The first church services were held in the schoolhouse.
Later Mr. Fuller donated an acre of land in the southeast corner of his farm and here a church was built about 1877.
It was under the supervision of the Minnesota Baptist Association, but people of all denominations worshiped there.
Missionary ministers traveling through would conduct services. However, the elders of the church conducted services
at other times and a large Sunday School was well attended by people within a radius of five or six miles.
The first post office was established at Waneka. A few years later there was one at Elk Mound. In 1880 a post
office was opened at Amy across from the Schoolhouse. The first post mistress was Ella M. Dickson, wife of John Dickson
the owner of the local store. It was she whom gave the crossroad community its name.
With the coming of the West Wisconsin Railroad in 1871, later the Chicago and the Northwestern Line, the stage line was discontinued.
However, for some time occasional travelers still stopped overnight at Halfway House. Dances also were held on various
occasions.
In the late 1870's the Temperance Movement was quite active in this area. A local unit, Happy
Home Lodge, No. 301, Independent order of the Good Templara, was organized on December 3, 1878. Daniel Fuller was the
first member to be initiated. Some of the other charter and early members were John K. Brown, Flora Sutherland, O.T.
Remington, Austin H. Langdell, Robert R. Lee, Allie Frye, Mary Brackett, Melvin Knott, Charles Lee, Judson Sutherland and
John Dickson.
Meetings were held once a week in the local school house. After regular business procedure
and lodge rituals were dispensed with, programs, spelling bees, and debates on such subjects as "Have Women a Right to Vote"
were conducted.
The lodge was active even for a short time after 1900. It provided not only a worthy moral
service, but also a social function in the community.
The Fullers continued to live on their farm which was
operated by the son, George, after 1900. Daniel and Martha Jane celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1903.
In 1919 a birthday celebration was given at the local church in honor of Aunt Janes eighty-sixth birthday. The writer
was present on this occasion. A hugh crowd of relatives, friends, and neighbors were present. Among them was Mrs. Flora
Langdell one of the youngsters living in the community when the Fullers first came to Dunn County.
With the
passing of Daniel and Martha Fuller, Halfway House soon lost its identity, and the house was torn down in 1939. Today
only a pile of rubble marks the spot where once stood one of the landmarks of local History. -----Bibliography---
Flagler,
Lyla Dickson. 'The Story of a Scottish Family' Falmouth , Mass. The Kendall press, 1958. p. 172
Raney, William
Francis Raney, Ph.D. 'Wisconsin- A Story of Progress. New York: Prentice Hall, Inc, 1940 p 189
Rumsey, H.T. &
Co. ' Merchandise Book, 1868-1869. Bradford Family Collection: Possession of Mrs. Harold Bradford
Record
Book of Happy Home Lodge No. 301 Lee Family Collection: Possession of Mrs. Sarah Wieppert.
Record Book
of the Good Templer Lodge.
-----Interviews-----
Mr. and Mrs. Sam Lee, June 28, 1960
Mr. Fred Knott, July 10, 1960
Mrs
Marian Weiner, July 3, 1960
Mrs Leslie Lee, July 28 1960
Mr. Leon Cartwright , July 10, 1960
-----Letters-----
Martha
Jane Fuller to Robert R. Lee September 11, 1864. Lee Family Files; Possession of Mrs Sarah Weippert
Daniel
B. Fuller to Robert R. Lee. Nov 2 1864. Lee Family Files; Possession of Mrs Sarah Weippert.
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Gen. Service
Adm. Not archiv & record Ser. Wash 25 D.C.
The above story of the half way House was courtesy of Welton Lee (1894-1995).
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