Page 185

    At a meeting of the Fort Atkinson chapter, Flag
Day, June 14th, which was held at the residence of Mrs.
J. M. Gannon in Jefferson, Mrs. Whipple was present and
related to the members some reminiscences of her father's
experiences in the Revolution which he told her himself.
She said: "He used to take me on his knee and tell me of
the battles and skirmishes he took part in and of the hard-
ships the men had to endure. There was great scarcity of
food and he said they often had no shoes to wear even in
winter and that they left bloody tracks upon the snow."
    At the close of the war Mr. Brown returned to Han-
over, was married there and there made his home. When
the troops were called for, for the war of 1812, he again
enlisted in his country's service and was on his way tod
join the army at Pittsburg when peace was declared.
    In 1837 he joined the great company of pioneers
moving westward, and settled with his family at Jeffer-
son on the shores of the beautiful, winding Rock and
there he remained until his death.
    Mrs. Whipple's life itself has been an interesting one,
and all of the early pioneer experiences were hers. She
was ten years old when her father settled on the banks
of Rock river and their's was the only house within a
radius of many miles.
    "Our little farm house was the only house in Jeffer-
son," she says. It stood where now stands the Jefferson
House, in a thick maple forest. I was the first white
girl in Jefferson. I roamed the woods with the Indians
whom I really enjoyed, never afraid of them. I could
paddle my own canoe up and down Rock river, bait my
hook and fish and fire off a gun when the occasion de-
manded it.
     As there were no schools at that time in the country,
 she was sent to Plainsfield, Ill., where her education, an
 excellent one for those days, was acquired.
                          185
p
U
I
p
U
I
p
U
I
p
U
I
p
U
I
p
U
I
p
U
I
p
U
I
p
: -
0