Painter, William -- 1819 - 1900

PAINTER, EARLE, MORSE, DAY, SNYDER, ADAMS, AMMON, BUTLER, BERNATZ

Posted By: C Street (email)
Date: 8/9/2005 at 23:25:13

Page 2, Col. 5, May 7, 1902

Death of William Painter
One of the founders of the town of Decorah
Owned and platted the west one half of it

Died at Dexter, S. D., last week at a ripe old age. His oldest son is a resident of Decorah.

Who that lived in Decorah during the fifties and on up to near 1880 can forget William Painter?

He had passed out of the thoughts of most old settlers for it is almost a quarter century ago that he went down into the timber near to Brainard in Fayette County, built a sawmill and lived an uneventful life for a number of years. After which he removed to Coddington, S.D.

A note from Hesper gives up information secure from Mr. Painter’s sister, Mrs. Rebecca Earle, that he been an invalid for more than ten years and at the last he lay in a stupor for three days and passed away without a struggle. His death took place July 26, 1900 in his 82nd year.

It is claimed that Mr. Painter was the really the first settler in Decorah, but the weight of evidence has been that as actual settlers, the Day Family came first. The latter squatted on what became when surveyed the east half of the southeast quarter of section 16-98-8. Mr. Painter located on the west side of the line. When the town was laid out, two deeds of dedication and plat had to be made and recorded. Cyrus Snyder united in the Painter dedication. The line between the two properties runs through the center of the hall in the courthouse. Turning to the files of this paper after Thanksgiving time in 1867, we find the priority in coming apparently settled by Rev. Ephram M. Adams in his memorable address on “The First Things of Decorah.” Mr. Adams came here in 1857 and had the best opportunity to get at the exact facts. After narrating the coming of the Day Family in June 1849, he speaks of the arrival of the Painter Family this way:

In the same season of 1849 there came a man with his family who, in the year previous on an exploring tour through this region had such visions of millstones, millwheels, of sawmills, turning lathes possibly of woolen mills even, in connection with the curves of our river, and the adjacent springs that he had already made his claim and put up his cabin to the square. A man who endowed by nature with more than ordinary mechanical skill has been following his vision ever since; one who is still frequently upon our streets, the fruits of whose labor all of us are reaping more or less; one of those by whom the world is more benefited than is by the world acknowledged.

This man of course, many of you know, was William Painter a native of Greene County, Ohio.

His cabin was built upon the property known as the Butler property, nearly opposite the present machine shop (J. Ammon & Co.) where as the fruits of his labor may now be seen the first well dug in town. In his family was the first birth - his son, George Patten born in the fall of 1849, in honor of which and also because he took the names of two sons of the Day family - George and Patten - he afterwards had the present of a town lot.

In his milling properties Mr. Painter commenced immediately in 1849 on what is known as the spring or Dunnings Mill. He brought a small set of Bohrs from Cincinnati and set them running by the simplest machinery possible in a log mill about sixteen feet square. The Heively power was in his claim, but he did not think it best to commence the improvement of this till his means should be more ample and the country more settled.

In 1851, Mr. Philip Morse bought of Mr. Painter, a portion of the Heively water power and commenced the sawmill now upon it; he and Mr. Painter building the dam and race together. Mr. Painter built about the same time, a grist mill, the frame of which still stands with the walls enclosing the present building (the known as the Heively Mill and now the property of A Bernatz and Sons.)

This sketch indicates the character of Mr. Painter. He was unselfish, but constructive and industrious. Others gleaned wealth after his sowing, and he lived and died poor in the world’s goods. His impulses were generous, his habits correct and in spite of a lack of educational advantage he showed himself the possessor of intelligence and talent in the departments of work and study to which he gave his attention. Mr. Painter was the father of five children: the eldest of whom spoken above is George Patten, is a resident of this city, living on Main Street just east of the bridge. A sister, Mrs. Rebecca Earle living in Hesper survives him.