DUCK CREEK CEMETERY ~

aka OLD ST. JOHN THE BAPTISTE CEMETERY

There is a reference to the Menominee Indian burial-ground at Duck Creek in a story about the murder, in 1840, of the local Medicine-Man, Skinny Otter, by another Indian, PA SHA KE SICK. After the murder, the Menominee’s passed a death sentence on BA TE SIK, but the white settlers took away their guns in order to prevent a hasty execution. According to the story, the Menominee Indian women then massacred PA SHA KE SICK and displayed his battered body on the Indian burial-ground. Finally, some of the more compassionate people then dug a grave for the body. According to the old records, some of the French and Creoles were already buried there and later, the burial-ground became a Catholic cemetery.

^{Source: Early Duck Creek History by Jeanne & Lester Rentmeester}

HISTORY OF THE DUCK CREEK BRICK

The Menominee Indians had long ago found that there was a deposit of red clay suitable for making pots and storage vessels on the west shore of the Duck Creek river, just to the south of their burial ground. They built a corral of saplings around it in which they held a number of deer, which were kept in a half-starved condition. Then, after a heavy rain, the Indians threw corn into the corral, causing the deer to mill about, working the clay into a pliable state. The resulting pottery, which was fragile and short-lived, was used by the tribe and also was a desirable trade item.

Two brickyards were located in the vicinity of Duck Creek, one of which was operated by the Green Bay Brick Company and the other by the Duck Creek Brick Company. The clay was moved from the banks to the mill on cars operated with a cable and revolving drum. It was passed through a disintegrator and from there directly into the pug mill connected with a Potts soft mud machine in which the bricks were molded. The capacity of the machine was about 31,000 a day. The bricks were dried on pallets under sheds and burned in scove kilns. The total kiln capacity was 250,000. It required 8 to 9 days to burn the brick and about one half cord of wood per thousand was consumed in burning. The bricks had a cream color when properly burned. (Taken from "The Clays and Clay Industries")

According to one of Les and Jeanne Rentmeester's publications...

Shortly after it became a state in 1848, Wisconsin started a promotional campaign in the German, Dutch and French languages to lure European immigrants to Wisconsin with the promise of low-cost land and plentiful jobs. Around 1850, Lucas Rioux of the Duck Creek Quarry along with the proprietor of the Duck Creek Brickyard both ran advertisements in European papers aimed at the French-speaking Walloon of Southern Belgium. Letters sent back to relatives and friends from these immigrants contained glowing accounts of fertile land and plentiful jobs and set a wave of migration into motion. The Flemish and Walloon possessed a variety of skills, which accelerated the growth of the Duck Creek community, including brick makers.

DUCK CREEK STONE QUARRIES

In 1863, David and Zepherine Cormier started the second quarry in the area, across from the Rioux Quarry; the Cormier Quarry is on the South side of Glendale Avenue. It was later owned by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad Company and is now a scenic duck refuge belonging to the Village of Howard.

By 1880, there were three quarries in operation; the original Lucas Rioux Quarry, operated by his son, Louis Rioux; the Cormier Quarry, operated by the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad; and the Manuel Brunette Quarry, which was started in 1873 on property purchased from the Milwaukee Diocese. The Perrault Quarry, while still in existence, was not being commerically operated.

In 1872, the number of employees working in the Rioux Quarry was 127. Many of the names were written in the ledgers according to the way they sounded by French-speaking Lucas Rioux and it takes considerable imagination to figure out the correct name of the person.

The Duck Creek Stone Quarries produced a very hard building material until the introduction of concrete around 1900. Most of the railway companies replaced their wooden spile-bridges with this stone. The railroad would give the bridge design to the quarry manager along with their contract: the quarry workers would custom build the bridge at the quarry and number all of the pieces so that they could be easily reassembled at the bridge site. Some of the other uses for Duck Creek stone, as shown in the Rioux Quarry records were a Green Bay stone fountain, a Marinette church, a bath tub with lions carved on it was sent to Chicago, an Iron Mountain saloon, the Marinette Courthouse, etc.

Source: Early Duck Creek History by Jeanne & Lester Rentmeester

THE SHINGLE BUSINESS

The shingle industry began in the Belgian Settlement in Suamico and Howard before the Civil War. The shingles were made from cedar by hand which was very time consuming.

John Bruce bought the first shingle machine and others soon purchased machines to greatly improve the process of making shingles. Shaved shingles, which were more expensive were made of white pine and were said to be better then the sawed shingles. Soon machines took over the hand made shingles.

Business slowed down for a while during the Civil War but then after a few years became the leading maker of shingles which were shipped to many places. From the growth of the industry came the need for packers. All these shingles had to be packed for shipping. Young women and young men became experts at packing these shingles.

Source: Johnstone, Lizzie Rice. A Story of Pittsfield and Suamico

ST. PAUL’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF SUAMICO

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Velp Avenue was completed in 1879. But that wasn’t the beginning of the church’s congregation or Episcopalian services in Suamico. Reverend Henry H. Ten Broeck had been holding services in homes in the community for five years before Bishop Brown organized the congregation in 1878.

Under Reverend Dafter’s leadership, construction began on the church. John Cook donated the land, Martin E. Tremble provided most of the lumber, and John Crooks contributed the stone. In addition, Mrs. George Horn and Mrs. Edwin Furgeson solicited funds from the community.

This building served the parish for over a century before they found that they had outgrown it. Other factors such as a lack of handicapped facilities and parking caused them to look at a new church. Land on Flintville Road was donated by Ken Nelson and a new church was built. A sad congregation made up of sixty families had their last service in the old church on December 11, 2005 and the first service in the new on December 18, 2005.

Sources: Green Bay Gazette. October 10, 1929 and Marie Schlitz, Church Secretary.

EARLY TRAVEL FOR SUAMICO RESIDENTS

Today, travel from Suamico to Green Bay is on paved roads but it wasn’t that way in the early 1800’s. Settlers to this area found that the best way to get to Green Bay was by boat traveling up the Suamico River and on the bay. During the winter, travel was possible on the ice from Green Bay all the way to Escanaba. Mail delivery, hauling lumber and shingles as well as mail delivery all were accomplished on the ice. When the ice would break up, it was reinforced with boards or slabs, which would freeze overnight making the ice useable again.

Travelers by foot or horseback used a trail to get to Green Bay. Around 1849, this trail became the first county road for Brown County. The first stretch of road was made of planks and ran from Fort Howard to Duck Creek. Later this was extended to Suamico by using slabs and sawdust as the construction materials.

We complain about pot holes in our roads but when you consider how it was in those early days, should we really complain?

Source: Johnstone, Lizzie Rice. A Story of Pittsfield and Suamico

TELEPHONES COME TO SUAMICO

Today, we take them for granted, but telephones were a novelty not so long ago. And cell phones? Probably no one could even conceive of them. In Suamico, the use of telephones began slowly. The first telephone appeared in the 1870’s at the Big Suamico depot. Not much interest was show in this new fangled invention, and the lines and poles were removed. But not for long. The poles and lines soon came back and were extended to Pittsfield as well as places in Shawano and Oconto Counties. As farmers and business people found it worked well and eliminated the time it took to travel by horse to transact business, more lines were run. Fifty years later, the Big Suamico Telephone Company strung ten miles of line making telephone service even more available. What an event that must have been, and today we don’t need to have poles and wires, but the telephone certainly was a huge success.

Source: Johnstone, Lizzie Rice. A Story of Pittsfield and Suamico

M.E. TREMBLE

Martin E. Tremble came to Suamico in 1870 and purchased a sawmill from John Bruce. He bought a large tract of pine land and operated the mill on a paying basis for more than fifteen years. He built a large boarding house, a row of several houses, and a store.

The dock at the mouth of the Suamico River was of good use. Twenty-five to thirty vessels anchored there in one week, waiting to be loaded with lumber or shingles from the dock. M.E. Tremble improved the dock and straightened the channel so boats could come up the river.

The “M.E. Tremble” a three-masted sailing vessel, was built at Suamico, and was launched on August 15, 1875. A gala day it was at Suamico. People came from far and near, to see the huge hulk slide into the water. The tall spar of this vessel was 60 feet long, “straight as an arrow;” it was cut by W.D. Rice’s crew and hauled with two teams from the woods north of Flintville. At the time it was built it was the largest sailing vessel on the “Lakes.” And was used in the grain trade almost entirely.

Mr. Tremble married Miss Sarah Cook, who died in 1879, leaving four young children. Mrs. Carrie Page Gannon was housekeeper in the home until the death of Mr. Tremble on December 12, 1883.

The 4^th district of Suamico, Tremble School, and the C., M. & St. Paul railroad station at Suamico were named “Tremble” in honor of the pioneer lumberman. (See photograph of M.E. Tremble on the Suamico Information page of this website).

Source: Johnstone, Lizzie Rice. A Story of Pittsfield and Suamico & other sources.