Partridge Case is Unsolved Mystery
Of Pioneer Period
Contributed by: Kay


PARTRIDGE

Oshkosh Daily Northwestern June 29, 1931

(handwritten on article: Was son of Indian woman or White mother?)

PARTRIDGE CASE IS UNSOLVED MYSTERY OF PIONEER PERIOD

Silas M. ALLEN Reviews Incident Which Stirred Winnebago County in its Early Days

(Editor's note - Probably no incident in the history of Winnebago county has created such continued interest as the exciting event at Allenville in April, 1850, when the PARTRIDGE child, Caspar, was lost and supposedly stolen by Indians. From time to time, various stories of a sketchy character have been written but at no time to the present has there been prepared a complete account, with all the details. Silas M. ALLEN, of this city, whose recent stories of early events at Allenville have excited the wildest interest, has prepared what is believed to be the most comprehensive article on that historic event which has ever been compiled, and it is given in full herewith.

In securing data, Mr. ALLEN perused old newspapers, talked with early residents of the community who had personal knowledge of some of the incidents, and even copied portions of the testimony taken at the trial. In presenting this story by Mr. ALLEN, The Daily Northwestern does so in the full belief that it is the best, and most complete recital of the historic event ever prepared. While there may be some errors in matters of detail, they would be of minor consequence and due entirely to the difficulty in obtaining accurate and authentic information after a lapse of so great a number of years.)

In the fall of the year 1846 Alvin PARTRIDGE, his wife and two children removed from McHenry, McHenry county, Ill. to Winnebago county, Wisconsin, At that time the county comprised but one town. Mr. PARTRIDGE selected for his residence a section of land which has been laid off in the township of Vinland, northwest quarter, of southwest quarter of Section 4. There upon a small "oak opening" he erected a little "popple" shanty as a temporary residence for his family against the approach of the coming winter. The Indian trail leading from Winneconne to Winnebago Rapids passed within a few rods of the shanty.

The following winter was one of great severity with long periods of extreme cold and heavy falls of snow; the Indians, traveling from place to place almost constantly, seldom passed this "cottage in the wilderness" without calling to beg for food or the comfort of the fireside. Not infrequently eight or ten would call at one time for these wants to be supplied and were never refused.

At such times they paid particular attention to the two children, especially to the boy Caspar, who was yet an infant, inquiring of the parents whether he was a man or a squaw papoose. These natives of the forest were almost the only persons who, during the long winter, visited the lowly roof of the pioneer.

GET FARMS IN ORDER

The summer of 1847 and the following winter were consumed by the new settlers in getting their farms in order and their houses built. In the spring of 1848 there were enough settlers to justify the establishment of a school. Accordingly a school house was erected within a quarter of a mile of the "popple" shanty.

During the summer of 1847, they sold this place to Dan EMERY, then located on the northeast quarter of Section 5, their home being of logs and built on the Vinland-Clayton town line road, about 40 rods west of the corners. This property now comprises the farms of Ernest CHURCH and the ZELLERS.

What an experience it must have been to be one of the first settlers in a new county and every few weeks to have a new family locating near you, and you wondering who they were and where they were from!

We feel sure that from the first there were some neighbors. John AXTELL and William BERRY were "keeping bach" one mile north of them near Thompson's corners, now Mikesville. Dan EMERY must have been nearby, if not across the road, and some were already located at Allenville.

PARTRIDGE IS LEADER

Alvin PARTRIDGE from the first took an active interest and part in the political and religious life of the community. He and Washington MANUEL were leaders in organizing on June 9, 1848, the society which grew into the Allenville church.

In 1848 Mr. PARTRIDGE was elected one of the town officers of Winneconne, and also was named in 1849 by the town superintendent of schools, to call voters together to establish a public school in what is now District No. 7 in Vinland.

By another year the parents, Wakeman PARTRIDGE and his wife, Mary, and the remainder of the family had arrived and had located near the Vinland town hall. There were the sons, William, Frederick and a younger son, George. There were also three daughters, Sarah, Myra and Mary. By 1848 Sarah had married Philip HABER and was living on county trunk G, west of Erdman's corner.

On Jan. 1, 1851, Myra PARTRIDGE married Myron BOUGHTON, from New York who had been a school teacher. This young couple moved to Waupaca county and located two miles north of Waupaca city on the road to Iola, on what was known for years as the John WARE farm.

During 1849 Wakeman PARTRIDGE had secured from the United States government 40 acres of wooded land in Section 10, town of Clayton. This parcel was the southwest quarter of the northwest quarter of Section 10. In this lot was a grove of the rock or hard maple, called a sugarbush.

IS STILL WOOD LOT

This wood lot is just a mile and a half north of the Clayton town hall and is still a wood lot.

On Sunday, May 24, 1931, we visited this spot accompanied by Orville BABCOCK. A gravel pit is in the corner next to the road and about 30 rods back he showed us the spot where the fireplace was on which the PARTRIDGE's had the kettle for boiling sap.

This spot is on a rise of ground in an open space surrounded by trees. On one side of this space is a runway which in wet times would be quite a creek and is, in fact, one of the sources of the Rat river. Some of the trees around this space are quite large and were probably small trees 81 years ago.

If they could only tell what went on in that open space on April 19, 1850!

Originally the land to the east and north of this locality was heavily timbered, thus much of the searching for this child was done in the woods. To the west can be seen a marsh which is part of the Rat river drainage area.

In the spring of 1850 Mr. PARTRIDGE made sugar on this timber tract five miles north of his farm. On the morning of the nineteenth of April, they planned to go to the camp to finish his sugar making for that season. The wife objected; it was on a Friday, and she said, "We have preaching on the Sabbath, and my work must be done." But after some hesitation, she concluded to go, and soon the parents and the three children were on their way to this spot.

(There is a picture included with this article. "This is the old sugarbush from which Caspar PARTRIDGE disappeared. The arrow points to the fireplace of stones, now overgrown with grass, upon which the maple syrup kettle stood. Except that some trees have since been removed, the scene is practically the same as it was in 1850.")

CHILD IS MISSING

Early in the day, while busy collecting the sap, they missed the boy. They instantly started in search, calling loudly for him. Not finding him they then rode to an adjoining bush and called two young men who were there to their assistance. More assistance being thought necessary one of the young men started to raise the alarm.

About 12:30 o'clock 15 men came to help in the search. As no traces of the child were discovered it was thought best to procure more aid. Two men mounted the horses and rode off at full speed. Numbers soon came, the line was enlarged and so continued to enlarge until evening when there were more than 100 men on the spot.

The search was kept up through Tuesday and on Wednesday, a last attempt was made by sending out a company on horseback. Placing one man upon the road and spreading out in two wings on either side, every path, trail and byway for a distance of many miles, was carefully examined.

This search was kept up for several days before they gave up, and the life settled back into its old way.

A certain band of Menominee Indians under the direction of Big Peter of Kosh-kosh-e-ka had been accustomed for years to make visits from the neighborhood of Vinland to Waupaca Falls, now Waupaca city. Being suspected of having this child in their possession, the people were on the alert, and carefully examined the Indian children brought with them to that village.

SPEAKS IN ENGLISH

On their usual visit in the year 1852, in January, they appeared with an additional child among their number. The Indian mother was called Nah-Kom. It was soon reported that a white child was among them. This aroused Mrs. Myron BOUGHTON's interest, and she planned to investigate. The children appeared at her home, asking for food. In giving them a lunch, the child spoke something in English.

She knew that little Caspar PARTRIDGE had a scar on one of his feet, and she managed to see this little boy's feet and thought she saw that scar.

Her interest was now fully aroused, and she insisted that the relatives in Vinland be notified. So on a Saturday night, after dark, so the Indians wouldn't see him leave, her husband, Myron BOUGHTON, started on foot for Vinland. He arrived during the church hour.

(Now, in the Allenville church story the writer said the location of an early log schoolhouse, where church services were held, could not be definitely stated. We know now that schoolhouse was located on the Vinland-Clayton town line road west of what is now CHURCH's corners. This would bring it between the then homes of Washington MANUEL and Alvin PARTRIDGE. For a place to baptize the many converts to the church during the winters of 1850-51, a small creek across the road was dammed up to make a pond large enough to immerse the new members.)

CALLED FROM CHURCH

Here on that Sunday morning, Jan. 4, 1952, Myron BOUGHTON arrived, and called Alvin PARTRIDGE out to tell him the news. PARTRIDGE went back and spoke to the minister, Church was dismissed and eight men immediately got two teams ready to leave for Waupaca. Horses were scarce but they probably secured them in some way to make the trip.

Just imagine such a trip at that time of the year! The roads were probably in such condition that the horses had to walk all the way, the men sitting in sleighs. Among those in these loads were this child's parents, who, after seeing the boy when they reached Waupaca, were in some doubt about the child's identity.

After urging by others of the family, the parents returned home and swore out a warrant against the Indians. The boy and his supposed Indian mother were brought to Oshkosh with a following of their Indian friends.

The trial was held in the then First Methodist church located where the First Presbyterian church is now situated and was decided in favor of the Indian mother,

"This was one of the most singular instances on record, two women claiming the same child and, what adds to the singularity, one was a white woman and the other an Indian," said one writer describing the scene.

"The case excited a great deal of interest. People's opinions were divided. The majority, however, believed the child to be the white woman's."

ALL DARKED SKINNED

On one side the whites traced their lineage back to the Massachusetts Bay colony, while the Indian woman was a pure blooded Menominee, But nature, with some of its mysterious ways, had stepped in to muddle the matter. The white family were of a very dark complexion with straight black hair, while if the child belonged to the Indian woman, its father, as admitted at trial, was a white trader, CALDWELL.

The Alvin PARTRIDGES moved away soon after this, but about two years later a zealous United States Indian agent brought the family and the child to Milwaukee for another trial. While waiting for the witnesses for both sides from Winnebago county to reach there, the parents, with the help of the jailer's wife, disappeared with the child, after which the matter was dropped.

The Alvin PARTRIDGES then settles in Orland, Steuben county, Indiana, the northeast county in the state. We cannot follow the after life of this boy clearly.

In the early 1860's when a contingent of Baptist young people from Allenville attended Hillsdale college, Michigan, this boy, Casper, now called Joseph, was a student there. Hillsdale, Michigan, was just over the line from Orland, Ind., so the young man was but a short way from home. This college was a Free Will Baptist school.

LOOKED LIKE INDIAN

These young people reported that Joseph appeared and acted very much like an Indian.

This would not be strange, as he was very dark with straight black hair, and, with his past history, he might think it smart to carry out such an impression.

In 1855 Wakeman PARTRIDGE with his wife and son, George, moved to Kansas, where George, becoming involved in the border warfare over the Kansas-Nebraska slavery troubles in 1856, was killed in one of the skirmishes between the pro and anti-slavery parties. Wakeman PARTRIDGE died in 1866. Fred PARTRIDGE bought the farm now owned by Lawrence FAHLEY, lived there until 1862, and moving away, died in North Carolina in 1886.

Sarah PARTRIDGE HABER lived on in Allenville, dying in 1882, and is buried in the cemetery adjoining the church there. Three of her children are still living - Mrs. W. D. OWEN in West Algoma, P.B. HABER of Fond du Lac, and George W. HABER of Fresno, Calif. Maria PARTRIDGE BOUGHTON died in Hammond, La., in 1899. Her husband, Myron, died in Perryville, Ky.,1862.

Mary PARTRIDGE, the youngest girl, followed Alvin PARTRIDGE to Indiana and lived near Orland.

TOPIC OF INTEREST

The alleged kidnapping of a white child continued to be a topic of live interest for many years, and The Oshkosh True Democrat in its issue of April 9, 1852, published the following statement:

"We this week publish a full abstract of the evidence in the trial of the lost child.."

"We intended to have published it in a pamphlet, with a narrative of the event, and had concluded the arrangement, Mr. Alvin PARTRIDGE, learning of it, came to us, and wished to buy us out, and publish it himself. He thought there was quite a speculation in it, and wished to monopolize it. We stated our price for writing the narration, copying the evidence and preparing the pamphlet for the press. He assented to the price, and a definite bargain was made.

After waiting along two or three weeks he got the notes taken by one of the attorneys, inquired and was told that the court minutes which we took were of public record, and he could have access to them. He then refused to fulfill his bargain with us, saying he could get the same thing at a good deal less price."

"The excitement has in a great measure died away, and fearing that we should meet with pecuniary loss if we publish it in pamphlet form, we have devoted a great portion of this number of our paper to an abstract. We have divested the testimony of much of its verbosity, and have omitted that which had no possible bearing on the case; but have given every idea, fact and point that bears upon the matter. It is a faithful abstract."

From that abstract are taken the following extracts of testimony given at the trial Feb. 12, 1852:

CHILD OF TWO MOTHERS

Writ of habeas Corpus ad. se., issued by Jedediah BROWN, Esq., county judge on Winnebago county, and sent to E. L. BUTTRICK, Esq., court commissioner for the said county, on account of the ill health of said judge and his inability to try the same. Jan. 20, 1852, the parties appeared before the court commissioner, at the court house in said county, and at the instance of the respective parties, the hearing upon the matter was continued until the 12th day of February, 1852, at 10 o'clock a. m. when said parties by their respective counsel, appeared, and the witnesses heard.

John LAW WILLIAMS sworn - Have known the Indian woman about five years, and have seen the child frequently at Winneconne; don't remember seeing it before Mr. PARTRIDGE's child was lost. Think I saw him three years ago at Poygan, but did not notice him positively till last summer; never heard him speak English.

(John LAW WILLIAMS was a son of Eleazer WILLIAMS, the famous missionary to the Oneida Indians, and by many believed to be "the lost dauphin" of France. At this time 1852 the son had the privilege of running a ferry at Winneconne. Later he moved to Oshkosh and lived at 100 Mt. Vernon street.)

KOSH-KOSH-E-KA (Big Peter) called - (Not a Christian) I know the nature of an oath - a falsehood would be killing my body and soul. Was there when the child was born - ever since it was born. NAH-KOM has made sugar where I have made it, and I have seen it every sugar making, I know it is NAH-KOM's child. She is my niece.

Cross-examined: I was at the payment when the child was born. I next saw it at the sugar camp - NAH-KOM make sugar at Poygan, on the west side of Wolf river, two years ago this spring.

THE INDIAN MOTHER

NAH-KOM - (Is Not a Christian. Believes the Great Spirit will punish her if she tells a lie.) I am the mother of this child in dispute. It was born on the payground, at payment time, seven years ago - in the spring it will be 8 years old. I have always lived in Poygan since the child was born. I lived at Winneconne last summer and summer before last, but not long. I stopped there with my sister.

I live now at Poygan, and have always lived there since I have had a child. I planted corn at COWEN's, but not opposite WInneconne. I generally go off in the woods winters with the hunters. Where I plant is my residence. I have lived at Poygan, at the mouth of Little river, for the last seven years. Three years ago I went to the Oconto river, I left my child with my father. I was gone five months. My father wintered at Rat river that winter. When I came back, I went, myself, after the child, in a team of Mr. COWEN's.

My father's name is AU SIN. I knew nothing of a child being lost. The first I heard of it, they came and took my child away. It will be eight years in the spring since my first husband died. The child was born two months before.

(The payground to which NAH-KOM referred, was on land, now in the HERBST farm on the shore of Lake Poygan. A sign in front of the schoolhouse shows where it is. This was the place where a treaty was made with the Indians for more land and is where Indians gathered each year to receive the payments due upon this treaty, hence called the payground.)

WHITE MOTHER'S STORY

Mrs. Lucia PARTRIDGE called - Reside in Vinland; was 29 last July, and married nine years ago to Alvin PARTRIDGE. Have four children, Loretta, a girl, 7 years old last July; Caspar Alphonso, a boy, 5 years old last May; Lucinda, a girl, 3 years old last December, and a babe. Caspar was lost on the nineteenth of April, 1850. We were making sugar that spring five miles north. On Friday morning we went to the camp, and took our children. After we had been there about an hour, Caspar was missing. We searched diligently, and found nothing of him that day. Next day we found some tracks. The search was kept up 10 days. The neighbors turned out, made a circle, and searched in every direction. Nothing was found of him. I thin the tracks found were his, because he had lost one shoe in the morning, and the print of one shoe was plain. Have had no tidings of him till now. First heard on Sunday, fourth of January last, that he was among the Indians. Immediately two teams, with eight men, started after him. They brought him to our house. This is the child. It is my child. I have no doubt that it is mine. I think his color has changed. His feet, ears, nose and shape of his face appear natural.

I think he recognized a little dog, and a toy dollar which he had. He kissed me when I gave him the dollar. A cloak which was not taken from the trunk from the time he was lost till now, and when held up to him, he said in Indian, so interpreted to me, that he saw it at my house last spring. He was pleased when I gave it to him. He also recognized a linen sack, and when presented to him, he said the same about it.

I think he recognized his grandmother, because he was afraid of others, but went directly to her.

ALL "MY CHILDREN"

These three children before me I think are my children. I know no difference among them, would as soon fight for one as for another. No doubt in my mind that they are all mine, that I gave birth to the three. Thought at first I had detected a scar, but it was so small, it was not plain to be seen. Thought his hair at first very thick, but it looks now much more natural. It was brown when he was lost. Since washing it becomes lighter. When brought to me, his hair was long and braided. I oiled and combed it, and it seemed much lighter then before. It was matted. The water in which it was washed was much colored - black, so that the bottom of the vessel could not be seen. It was gummy and sticky. I had not as much recourse to him as I wished, I washed his feet and they were white - not colored like the other part of his body.

He now has scars on each corner of his mouth, and on his stomach, four under his chin, and one on his side. He said they were put there by something the size of his finger, which he called medicine. There was smoke seen the morning after he was lost, on the little island, supposed to be made by Indians. My oldest girl thought him her brother when he was first brought back. She has no doubt of it.

(A question here, as to what the school children thought about it was objected to and overruled when it was agreed by both parties that all possible latitude should be given on both sides to get at the whole truth.) He has said he dare not tell that he is a white child. (This concludes the abstract of the trial proceedings.)

In another issue, The Oshkosh True Democrat, under the caption "The Child of Two Mothers," published a story of the supposed kidnapping and of the search for the missing child, as follows:

THE EARLY STORY

Mr. Wakeman PARTRIDGE, the father, and Mr. Alvin, Mr. Frederick, and Mr. William, sons, are well-to-do farmers, of good standing, in the town of Vinland, this county. They are from Ohio. Vinland is an openings town, and as is common with farmers on openings land, where they can, Mr. Alvin PARTRIDGE owns a timber lot, situated five miles north of his farm, in the town of Clayton.

In the spring of 1850 he made sugar on said timber lot. One day, soon after he had arrived at the camp, with his family, his boy, Caspar, a lad then 4 years old, was missed. Mr. PARTRIDGE immediately searched a short time, and, failing to find him, a few neighbors were summoned, who continued the search day and night, The next day the whole county was roused, and the people turned out in a body to assist in the search. As many as 2,000 were out. The search continued for a week, without any clue being discovered.

As the country was searched so thoroughly by so many, and no clue whatever found, it was thought the child must have been taken by the Indians. Mr. PARTRIDGE employed one or two to go among the Indians and search, but nothing was found.

Great excitement prevailed, the whole community was roused, hand bills were circulated, and advertisements published, but nothing was discovered.

Various rumors were put in circulation, about the boy being seen among the Indians, about Indians acknowledging having taken him, etc., but nothing was seen, heard, or learned of him, in a tangible, reliable form, till January last.

AT WAUPACA FALLS

A band of Indians, to which a woman called NAH-KOM belonged, had been sometime about Waupaca Falls. A child who was most generally seen with her, but often seen with other Indian women - one who seemed to belong to no one in particular - drew the attention of the white people there by its action, bright intelligence, its forlorn, haggard appearance, the fairness of its complexion, its frequently talking English to the children, its evidently understanding it, who, from these, and various circumstances, were led to suspect it to be a white child. It was, accordingly seized, and the loss of Mr. PARTRIDGE being known, he was sent for. A sister of Mr. PARTRIDGE, living at WAUPACA, examined it, and decided it to be her brother's child; and all the white people there became convinced that she was right.

Mr. PARTRIDGE took the child home, together with the Indian woman, NAH-KOM, who claimed it as her child, and her husband and family.

When the child was brought there, Mrs. PARTRIDGE did not recognize it, and Mr. PARTRIDGE was not satisfied it was his. But his brothers, and other members of the family, and the neighbors who flocked in, were. But he, after keeping them over night, took the Indians back, and the child with them, and relinquished all claim to it.

BROUGHT INTO COURT

The finding raised a good deal of excitement, and the delivering it back a great deal more. The impression became general that the reason why the child was delivered back to the Indians was that its parents were ashamed of it, and circumstances strengthened this opinion.

But Mr. F. H. PARTRIDGE was satisfied it was his brother's child, and as soon as he learned it was given back to the Indians, he started for it again, but not finding it, Mr. William PARTRIDGE petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus, which was granted and the child brought before Court Commissioner BUTTRICK.

The trial continued for seven days, and the most intense excitement prevailed throughout. It was held in the Methodist church, a large building, which was filled to its utmost capacity every day. People from 10 to 15 miles from the county attended.

Public opinion was a good deal divided, and is yet, in regard to it. Though a large majority, who attended the trial, became satisfied it is Mr. PARTRIDGE's child. But the number and respectability of the witnesses who testified to their knowledge that it is an Indian child necessarily made many waver, notwithstanding the strong evidence the other way.

On the 27th of March, after a long consideration upon it, the commissioner decided in favor of the Indians, and an order for the child placed in the sheriff's hands, for it to be delivered to the Indian woman, NAH-KOM. In the interval between the trial and the decision Mr. Alvin PARTRIDGE had custody of the child, under bonds of $2,000, for its delivery to the commissioner, on his order.

NEIGHBORS IN PROTEST

The sheriff proceeded to Mr. PARTRIDGE's home for the child. Mr. PARTRIDGE did not resist the sheriff's taking the child, but said if it went he must go too. While waiting for him to harness his tam, the neighbors to the number of some 30 assembled, and finally told the sheriff he could not have the child, and he retired without it.

The conviction now, of Mr. PARTRIDGE's neighbors, and of Mr. PARTRIDGE's family and friends, is that it is Mr. PARTRIDGE's child. The longer the child was with them, the stronger the conviction became in the neighborhood.

It is rumored now, on authority which is thought correct, that the child is out of the country, and will not, in any event, be delivered to the Indians.

What further will be done in the matter is not known.

Public opinion is as much divided now, in regard to the merits of the case, as it has been.

The appearance of the child, when first brought here, was in perfect accordance with the Indian race. It was light enough, in color, to be supposed a half-breed, but nothing more.

And even now, its hair is dark and straight, and its complexion very dark - as dark as many half-breeds. For a white child, it is very tawny.

The other children of Mr. PARTRIDGE are very dark - as dark as any white child we ever saw; and the family resemblance between this child, and the other children of Mr. PARTRIDGE is very striking - much more so than the resemblance between it and the other children of NAH-KOM. Indeed, we think it as great as is often found between members of the same family.

It is very active and intelligent, and our convictions are, that it is Mr. PARTRIDGE's boy.

HERE STORY ENDS

(And here ends the story as published by The Oshkosh True Democrat and the story as compiled by the writer, who now lapses into the use of the first person as he says:

For much of the material used in this story of "The Lost Child" I am indebted to several people.

First of all to Mrs. O. A. SMITH, of Waupaca, a granddaughter of Myra PARTRIDGE BOUGHTON; to Ernest and Adalla CHURCH, of Allenville, who live on a part of the Alvin PARTRIDGE farm; to the Oshkosh city library for permission to use extracts from the printed evidence given at the trial from The Oshkosh True Democrat; to Mrs. W. D. OWEN, of West Algoma; Dr. Orrin THOMPSON, of Neenah, and A. J. CROSS and William CROSS, of Ball Prairie, for historical incidents handed down in their families. To these I extend my thanks.)


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