February 27, 1903, among our sketches of the lives of our county's
pioneers, we published the following the data for which was furnished us
by Mr. John himself:

Frederick William John whose portrait we present herewith, is one of
the best known pioneers of Oconto county. Mr. John was born in Prussia,
March 3, 1827 and resided there until 1852, when he came to this country
and resided in Milwaukee until the fall of 1854, when he came to Oconto in
one of the Ludington lumber vessels and worked for Mr. Hubbell in the
Ludington Mill. Here he remained until forty six years ago this coming May when
he, with Mrs. (Johanna) John who at first remained in Milwaukee, but had now
joined him, moved to Gillett where together, out of the virgin forest,
they carved a home in which the weary and hungry traveler or woodsman was
always welcome and assured of needed rest and food.

When they first sought a home in this now thriving county of Oconto, the
only way to reach it was by water or over the ice or by an indian trail
without bridges from Green Bay. The only white woman they saw on their
way to their Gillett home was a Mrs. Timothy  Casey in a small shanty up the
river. In the town of Gillett, on the site of what for a number of years
after was his home, Mr. John first erected a small shanty in which he
and his wife and four small children resided cheered at night by the howling
of the wolves outside, which at that time abounded.

When flour was needed for their subsistence, Mr. John was compelled to
carry it home on his back and when the oldest son and daughter first
attended school they were compelled to go five miles through the woods
without a house on the way.

Fish and game were abundant but so monotonous did this become that the
children occasionally murmured over the unchanging venison diet.

One of the hardest experiences of their lives, however, came in 1871,
when the sun was obscured by the smoke for two weeks during all of which
time the woods surrounding them was on fire. They carried water and
fought fire day and night without rest. On the night of October 8, which old
residents remember with horror as the night of the famed Peshtigo fire,
the children spent the night on a blanket in the road while their parents
fought off the fire, the parents not daring to allow them to remain in the
shanty for fear it with the children would be consumed.

Mr. John has seen considerable military service, first in his native
country, where as a member of the heavy cavalry, he assisted in putting
down the revolution of 1847-8, which drove Carl Schurtz and General Sigel out
of Germany and later in the 38th Wisconsin infantry in which he enlisted in
this city in 1864 and served until the end of the war participating in
the battles of Hatcher¹s Run, siege of Petersburg and capture of Petersburg
and in the big review at Washington, returning with the rank of Sergeant. He
is the present postmaster of the village of Gillett and has filled all the
offices within the gift of the people of his town including that of
treasurer when the town was a large one and the treasurer required to
give a bond of $25,000.

Mr. John recalls many interesting incidents of the early days among
which is one of Senator Philetus Sawyer when out on one of his
campaigning trips through the lumbering country. It seems that while attempting to
drive from Shawano through this county, Mr. Sawyer was overtaken by night,
became lost and off the road, stopped his team and alighted from his vehicle to
search for the road but after finally finding it was unable to find the
team, but succeeded in reaching the John's home and secured assistance
and lanterns by means of which the team was recovered and made comfortable
for the night.

The prevailing prices about this time were, cotton batting $1.00 a
pound, calico .40 cents a yard, sheeting .50 cents, beans $8.00 a
bushel, flour $12.00 a barrel.

Mr. and Mrs. John celebrated their golden wedding on the 21st of last
November (1902) and have, now living, as the fruits of that marriage of
a half century ago, five children, seventeen grand children and one great
grand child, five and one half years old.

Mr. and Mrs. John are still hale and hearty and likely to live many
years to enjoy the fruits of their industrious younger days.
 

Nine-year-old Clarence Neubauer, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Louis Neubauer, was playing with Leo Marek, son of Mr.
and Mrs. August Marek at the Marek home. Mrs. Marek
took an air gun away from them for fear they would get
hurt.  Later the boys went upstairs to play. They found
Mr. Marek's loaded revolver in a drawer. Clarence said,
"Let's see if it's loaded and caught hold of the barrel to
pull it when the revolver discharged. The bullet entered
Clarence's head between his eyes. He lived a little more
than an hour.
 

Charles Norton Jr., who was coming home on the train
from Milwaukee Monday was injured when the train went
down an embankment about 10 feet high. He was taken
to St. Agnes hospital, Fond du Lac, with a badly injured
back. One man was killed and 20 injured..

A special meeting of the Oconto Woman's Club was
called for Monday afternoon at the home of  Mrs. J.  B.
Atwood.