"Fighting Irish Pioneered As Fishermen at Islands Off the Door Peninsula" from the July 19, 1940 Door County Advocate
By G. Ruby Cornell
Fighting Irish Pioneered As Fishermen at Islands Off the Door Peninsula
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Rock, St. Martin's, First Choice of Settlers
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(Note — The following is the first of a series of two or more interesting articles of exciting early life on the islands off the Door peninsula, bringing to light many incidences hitherto not published.)
By G. Ruby Cornell
Washington Is.—The article published in The Advocate during the past winter about the early Dutch settlers on Washington Island, who preceded the Scandinavians, contrary to popular belief, brought forth many interesting anecdotes and led to much of the material in this article on the completely vanished Irish (————), the noisy Irish as they have been called.
But show us a healthy, happy Irishman who does not make himself heard! And there was plenty of good fellowship bolstered up with a "nip that cheers" during those long cold winters of the early forties and on into the days of the Civil war when the records of Washington Island show with well deserved pride a long list of fighting men who left these shores — the noisy perhaps but "fighting Irish Americans."
Contrary to the common talk, as mentioned above, the Scandinavians and Icelanders were not the first white settlers on Washington Island. Before they arrived, many thousands of dollars in fish had been taken from this locality by the Irish, who pioneered from the early forties to the close of the Civil war when they began leaving to make homes for themselves where there were fewer hardships. One finds many descendants of these early settlers, however, still living in towns and cities near the waters that so intrigued their sailor and fisherman ancestors.
Lighthouse Early as 1837
The first settlement in Door county, although not permanent, was in the early thirties on Detroit Island. Later, on June 20, 1950, the town of Washington was organized on Rock Island with Amos Sanders as town chairman. H. D. Minor, town clerk, and John A. Boon, justice of the peace. The light on Rock Island is probably the oldest on the Great Lakes and was cared for by D. E. Corbin as early as 1837 and for many years after.
The group of three islands, St. Martin's, Rock and Detroit, played a large part in peopling Washington Island, but for a number of years each island had a distinct life of its own although closely knit.
Take, for instance, Rock Island. There the harbors were not as good as at Washington Island so fish caught were brought over to the sister island to be sold to passing ships. Naturally the families were closely associated. The Robert Grahams and David Halnes families with their children, also Seth, Luther, Sergeant Lovejoy (who was afraid of women) and Miss Rosalie Rice, Rock Island's first school teacher, whose father owned the first kerosene lamp, were well acquainted with people living on the various harbors of Washington Island, although there were only foot trails to lead them through the heavily timbered woods should one be venturesome enough to go for an afternoon cup of coffee at a neighbor's.
Stuffed Sturgeon Feast
But as we find they were as sociable then as the Irish are today, and in 1850, just 90 years ago this year, there was a get-to-gether celebration on Rock Island that was long remembered. They called it Wisconsin's second birthday party in honor of statehood, and they feasted on stuffed sturgeon cooked over hot coals, baked potatoes, and hot biscuits made with cream of tartar, because this was before the day of baking powder.
One of the speakers was Mr. Minor who later moved to Washington Harbor and became one of the "historic land marks" of the Island. Others were John and Andrew Oliver who bought fish from the fishermen and were general traders and good promoters; Rufus Wright, a school teacher at Washington Harbor, Dr. Ellis, Robert Graham, Jim Gill, John A. Boon, Joseph and Seymour Hunt and Joseph Cornell, ancestor of the long line of Cornells who are with one or two exceptions the only name of the early pioneers still to be found on the Island.
War and Then Abandon
Then came the Civil war when Rock Island contributed an unbelievable number of men to the cause of union. But many changes took place during these years, and finally the lovely sand beach on the east side of the Island, the berries, the docks, and all the old homes were deserted, and Rock island was completely abandoned with the exception of the light and its keeper. Naturally those who loved this part of Wisconsin moved to Washington Island, especially along Washington Harbor which by this time was almost entirely Irish with a smathering of Scotch and English to give balance.
There was another Island in this group which was closely connected with the life of Washington Island, and that was St. Martin's Island. Although St. Martin's does not belong to Door county but is in Michigan waters, the boundary line running about half way between Rock Island and St. Martin's, which was laid out at the time the town was organized in 1850, its life historically is closely knit with Washington Island. Today, the tourist on Washington Island stands peering across the water to St. Martin's Island asking to be taken there with no thought of its not being a part of Door county.
Linked With St. Martin's
Families on St. Martin's Island and Washington Island often intermarried and raised their children who again were likely to find their mates among their neighbors. St. Martin's was a beautiful Island with good harbors and splendid fishing facilities. On the north side, there still can be found the lovely old rounding stone fireplace of the prosperous Shipman home, the first to be papered with real wall paper. Living there were almost all Irish who later moved to Washington Island. The war played havoc with all these Islands, and naturally when the reconstruction came the better situated community became the most populated and this was Washington Island.
One of the most interesting personalities of St. Martin's Island among the women was one of the three Cornell sisters, Jane Anderson, who acted as a nurse to all the new born babies, a regular Dr. Dafoe, and her work in those pioneering days was equally amazing. During the war, she acted as treasurer to several of the men and returned every penny to them as well as a set of dishes and a feather bed which were to have been hers had they never returned.
Only a Cemetery Left
Among the well-to-do families were the Shipmans who owned the first tug while others were still operating sailing boats, but the first cow had to suffer a sailing trip to the home of the Dowlings. Others on St. Martin's Island were the Driscolls, Nortons, Cadys, Andersons, Roots, Allens, Grays, Jim Boyce, the Wellmans and Dowlings, all later associated with Washington Island. Today, with the exception of the light there is only the little cemetery left with its iron fence still intact to remind one of the prosperous group of pioneer sailors and fishermen who once made the island ring with their pursuit of love, life and liberty.
In 1865 a widow, Marry Flannigan, left Ireland and set sail to find her mother in America. At the end of seven weeks and three days, she finally set foot on St. Martin's Island which she ultimately reached the last week in August by one of the Buffalo boats that ran on no particular schedule. Her mother was a Mrs. Weaver and her step father was Ed Weaver who had lost his life off Boyer's Point but the week previous, the body never being recovered. On her arrival, the family was just about to leave to attend the funeral of a young child of the Trinkler family living in the Dutch Village on the east shore of Washington Island. The burial was to be in the Washington Harbor cemetery, so the little home made casket was placed in the sail boat of the Trinklers while sympathetic friends from St. Martin's Island entered their boats and all finally fathered at the little grave to hear the last words read for those who have passed beyond this life. Mary Flannigan also attended with her mother particularly that she might lay flowers on the graves of her grandmother, Mrs. Dennis McDonald, who had taken care of her when she was a small child in Ireland.
Pioneer Kept Records
Several years later, Mary married James Dowling and among their children was a little girl whom they called Mary Ellen, now a charming white haired little lady with all the fire and enthusiasm of her pioneering ancestors. She lives at 5532 Broadway, Chicago, Illinois, and her hobby ever since she was old enough to ask questions was to learn all she could about pioneer days especially around Washington Island, the Harbor in particular, where she lived with her family for many years. She has enough "memory books" to make a fair sized library and I speak sincerely when I say I believe no one in this part of the county has a more complete table of families and their descendants than she. Much of this material she has gathered from stories told her by members of her family and others who were grown people before she had seen the light of day, and preserved as only one who loves sagas can re-count them. Boats also fascinated her, and her record, pictures, and history of those plying the Lakes hereabouts for years is remarkable, as well as her records of lighthouses and their keepers. Naturally, with a name like Flannigan for a background, one could scarcely expect her to be anything but partial to members from the Emerald Isle, and although she admits those good friends of hers who later came to Washington Island from Scandinavian shores were fine people, she must say that they were sleeping in their cradle in Europe when the Irish with hearts as big as pies were fishing for a living on Washington Island.
From the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[G. Ruby Cornell’s first name is Garnet.]
Articles about history
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