Kewaunee County: A Home for Amelia

Amelia had just turned three when her parents married. She was born out of wedlock. In the area of Saxonia in which she was born – as in other areas of Germany – fully 50% of the children born about that time period were to parents not yet married. Economic conditions were such that marriage was not sanctioned unless the couple had a place to live and see to their own livelihood, or were immigrating. Amelia’s parents were married just months before they left their homeland.

Arriving in New York in October 1853,* Amelia and her parents proceeded to Sheboygan where there were relatives and fellow countrymen. Not long after, Amelia’s father walked to the federal land office in Menasha to purchase land, sight unseen, in 2 year old Kewaunee County, on its line with Door Co. just north of the fledgling community of Wolf River. After spending weeks and weeks on an ocean-going vessel, then a canal boat, and then a schooner through the Great Lakes, in Spring 1854 the family was again on a schooner, this time from Sheboygan to Wolf River where they boarded yet another boat that would take them up the Wolf River to the county line. It was a time before the wide, deep Wolf was nearly denuded by logging, baking in the hot dry sun, no longer kept within its banks. To disembark and to follow the land cruiser to the purchased property over a mile from the river was no small feat. The cedars near the river were so tightly packed that one could barely push oneself through. Cedar branches slapping exposed skin left welts as itchy as the mosquito bites. To finally reach an area of hardwoods was to see no sun. Tree canopies formed a roof that left in little sunlight.

Alone in the wilderness, Amelia's parents began the arduous clearing the huge virgin timber. All they had was a saw and ax. Just as soon as there was a tiny patch of sunlight, her mother planted what she could. Amelia's family ate beets and potatoes in Germany, but it wasn't until they arrived in Sheboygan that they learned about squash and other vegetables that would keep well. They had to think of winter. Always winter. Birds were snared for meat. Finding pigeon eggs was like finding gold. There were deer, rabbits and squirrels, but what if traps failed or if deer were elusive? There were fish in the river, but that meant going through the thick woods.

Survival meant 24-7 work. Winter would come and Amelia's family would depend only on itself for subsistence. Never ending chopping down mammoth trees provided a sun-reached plot of land to, hopefully, ensure food crops. There were so many trees that building a shelter was no problem, but then where to go with all the branches when the trees were cut? Those trees offered enough wood to cover all their purposes over a lifetime. Or so they thought. By 1860 things were a little better. Land had been cleared and during the winter snow cover allowed the constant burning of the branches. There were times that the huge fires provided more warmth outdoors than the fireplace inside did. But then there were new worries.

Abraham Lincoln had been elected. Amelia’s father heard disturbing things the few times he walked to Marcus, now Forestville, or the community renamed Ahnepee from Wolf River. And when William Fagg brought the news about the firing at Fort Sumter and war between two parts of their new country, Amelia’s father knew it would not affect them. They were so far away in the wilds of Wisconsin. They were Germans. What did they have to do with it? From what he heard, he knew the liberty of people he did not understand was part of it. He did understand liberty though. Wasn’t that part of the reason he immigrated? He was 39 years old and too old to soldier. Conscription existed in Germany, not the United States. Not to worry.

Amelia’s father was wrong. On September 4, 1864, he was drafted.  He was placed on the roll of Co. E, 17th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry with the remark that he was a conscript, temporarily assigned to the command from the 14th Wisconsin Volunteers.  His brother, younger by 7 years, was drafted at the same time.

Thousands of histories are written about the Civil War and its men. What of a family who’d eked out a living in the wilderness? What of the farm with no man? Taxes had to be paid. Women who did more than their share to settle the country could not vote. They stepped in for the men who left.  Fourteen year old Amelia was able to be of much help to her mother, who by then had a toddler. They made it through the 10 months that her father served. He got sick a few weeks after being drafted and before being mustered out in June 1865, much of his service time was spent in the hospital. Continued ill health forced the sale of the farm in 1868. Moving to Ahnepee in 1870, Amelia’s father opened a butcher shop. He had some experience as his father was a butcher in Saxony. Amelia married in 1871 and a few years later, her father and new husband began making soda pop, the first such business venture in the community. How much her father did physically is questionable because everything written about him from then until his death in 1889 indicates he was unfit for any kind of manual labor.

With her father's death, her mother owned the Steele Street butcher shop, however the estate was put in the hands of Amelia's husband. It was said her mother was incompetent. She wasn't incompetent by today's standards. She was a widow in her 60s and, of course, old ladies were indeed incompetent. How could a mere woman handle money or take care of herself? Amelia's husband sold the property to the Melchiors who in 1896 built a shoe, boot and gentleman's furnishings store on the southeast corner of 3rd and Steele. Another Melchior built a jewelry store across 3rd St. The shoe store is now Algoma Sew 'n Vac while the jewelry store is Steele Street Florists and time continues to march on.

Amelia was born in Germany and died in Algoma, Wisconsin. The circumstances of Amelia's birth, and indeed her entire life, provides a reflection on social mores. Eleven years following her husband's death, hastened by Civil War injuries, the 19th Amendment was passed. Amelia voted. The Progressive Era brought some awareness. Nobody called Amelia incompetent just because she was a woman.


Amelia is the blogger's great-grandmother. There are discrepancies. Civil War Pension Files indicate Amelia's parents were married in December 1853 in their native land, while her father's Declaration of Intent indicates he arrived in October 1853. It is most probable that her parents were married in 1852 and an error was made in the pension records. 

 

 

Luxemburg & Belgium: No Postal Mix-Up

It's a good story, and one that's been around for a long time. It is humorous, and even plausible, but it never happened. Or at least it didn't happen with the naming of Luxemburg, Wisconsin.

From time to time the story about the Wisconsin villages of Luxemburg and Belgium surfaces. Some wags contend they were misnamed in a postal mix-up by the Post Office Department in Washington D.C. back in the 1800s. When Peter Hanbrich* requested  a post office for the area in Northeast Wisconsin in 1880, he requested the name Luxembourg. Of that, there is no doubt. A portion of his approved site location request is at left. At the time, today's Town of Luxemburg didn't exist. It was mostly carved out of Casco Town by action of the County Board during a late night session in March 1883, three years after the naming of the post office.

It was the Belgians who populated the Towns of Red River and Lincoln, and there are Belgians living through out Kewaunee County, but it was Luxembourgers who settled what is now Luxemburg.  One who had a notable impact on the area was Nick Kaut, born in Luxembourg, Europe in 1847. He was 8 when he came with his parents John and Katherine Kaut to the Wisconsin wilderness. While initially living in a brush hut, the family began clearing land and building a new life. It was Nick who was later called "The Father of Luxemburg." His land purchases included four 40-acre plots along what today is the west side of Luxemburg's Main Street. In 1891 he began selling parcels and building homes, a grist mill and a hotel.

There were other Luxembourgers such as Nicholas Merens who were also were forces in the area.  When Michael Arndt filed his Naturalization documents, he said he was born in Luxemburg, however his brother Peter noted Saxonburg, Germany on his documents. Peter Mittler was Naturalized in 1914, saying he was born in Luxemburg. A look at Naturalizations in Kewaunee County reveals family members being born in the same place but noting a different country. It is especially true with those from southwest of Pilsen in today's Czech Republic who identified themselves as German, Austrian or Bohemian.

Luxembourg's post office was established at Freiman's Place in the Town of Casco, which was just about a mile south from today's location.*  Freiman was the operator of a saloon and store at the NE 1/4 of the NE 1/4 in Section 28, but it was Peter Hanbrich who filed the application. On his application, Hanbrich noted the closest post office was at Peot, about a mile directly east of his, and the post office at Ellisville, a few miles south on the same road as his. Hanbrich said the Kewaunee River was the closest river and that School Creek was the nearest creek. Hanbrich indicated he would be serving about 350 families, but that line was crossed off. A note at the bottom said the post office "would serve 10-15 families, if that." It appears that Walhain postmaster J. B. Puissant added the notation.

The Enterprise felt Hanbrich would provide excellent service and that the office would be a great convenience to the populous neighborhood, which would be supplied with mail three times weekly from Walhain by the Green Bay carrier. Walhain was a commercial center that had one of Kewaunee County's earliest post offices. Of the three postal communities listed on the site request, Walhain and Ellisville each today have a crossroads' business while Peot is made up of farmers' fields. On the other hand, late-comer Luxemburg is Kewaunee County's most vibrant and fastest growing community.

Luxembourg's post office operated from April 21, 1880 and, for some reason, discontinued on October 12, 1882. The office remained at Freiman's Place at Joseph Filz' appointment when service was reestablished on January 17, 1895. Albert Liebl was postmaster on October 1, 1924 when the official name of the office was changed from Luxembourg to Luxemburg. Note: Luxembourg postmark.

So, where did the story of the postal mix-up come from? The following is from Belgium, Wisconsin's website, http://www.village.belgium.wi.us/ : "Belgic Luxembourgers - from the part of old Luxembourg annexed by Belgium - settled in the area of the present Township and Village of Belgium, Wisconsin, in the middle of the 19th century. Descendants of the original families still live in the area today, and preserve their heritage. While the first immigrants came from Luxembourg, neighboring settlers referred to this as "the Belgium area" because at that time much of Luxembourg was ruled by Belgium."

Both Luxemburg and Belgium have fascinating histories. Much is available on Northeast Wisconsin's Luxemburg in Kewaunee and Brown County libraries and in the Archives at UW-Green Bay. More about the Belgic Luxembourgers and the rich heritage of all Luxembourgers can be found by visiting the cultural center museum at Belgium or by going to its website: http://www.luxamculturalsociety.org/directions.html.



* In 1903 the Post Office Department ordered the office to move north into the village.

Peter Hanbrich signed the request with that spelling of his name. The approved document was sent to Peter Hanbrecht in care of the Walhain postmaster because it was the postmaster of a federally recognized post office that, in effect, vouched for the new office.

Information is taken from Here Comes the Mail: The Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010. Photos and documents are from the blogger's collection.

   

Algoma-Ahnapee House Histories: Cox & Nell

Here and there home owners are interested in the history of their residences. Construction methods of the periods, woods, craftsmanship and more tell stories of  homes. If homes were built or lived in by the prominent or famous, there is more of a story. If George Washington slept there, the house could star in a movie.

Nearly 10 years ago, Wes Cox, Sr. learned he was living in a funeral home. What happened next is mind-boggling. It culminated on April 26, 2014 with Wisconsin’s Historic Preservation Excellence Award being presented to Cox and Harold (Hans) Nell. Born in Northeast Wisconsin, Nell has always been interested in local architecture. As an employee of the City of Algoma, he had a view that very few do. Cox is a transplant from Missouri who relocated to the city about 10 or so years ago. His natural curiosity set the stage for what came next.

The Weisner and Massart families began their undertaking services in Casco before 1900. When the company opened a second location, it was in the old Wunderlich home on Algoma's Fremont Street, a classy area being known as "Residence Street" around 1900. Cox learned a great deal and eventually compiled a history of the Weisner-Massart Funeral Home which included the family histories and genealogies of those connected with it. He learned Charles Nelson, foster son of State Senator DeWayne Stebbins - after whom the Stebbins Hotel is named - lived next door and started in on that. Five McDonald families lived on Fremont at the same time, and Cox kept right on going. By then he had 3 substantial binders. Enter Nell. After men finished Residence Street, Cox said they'd do the whole city. Being as tenacious, focused and hard-working as they are, they did. But, there was a lot more.....

Cox and Nell chronicled each of Algoma’s more than 1,300 homes, going block by block while scouring the microfilmed newspapers from Ahnapee/Algoma, and those of Kewaunee which originated 14 years earlier. They used available records in Algoma’s City Hall, tax and land records available in Kewaunee Co. Court House, records available in the Area Research Center at UW-Green Bay and records on Ancestry. They combed through histories of the area, commemorative biographies, plat maps, Sanborn fire maps and birdseye views dating to 1883. Research didn’t stop with those 1,300 plus homes. The men went back to research the homes that no longer exist in the City of Algoma and then compiled the history of each home in the Town of Ahnapee. Their index is cross-referenced by surname and address.

The Algoma compilation alone fills 19 binders in Algoma Public Library, where the donated collection of almost 8,000 pages is being scanned for safe-keeping, and key-worded for instant access.

Cox and Nell's house histories are an on-going project that is constantly being updated. A project of this kind and magnitude is unprecedented. It is a remarkable addition to Algoma Library’s local history and genealogy collection and a source of community pride. Use of their copyright has been assigned to Algoma Library, to which the entire compilation has been donated.

Historical preservation of the community, its people and its architecture is impressive. But there are other factors. Most of the information would have never surfaced without the research methods employed. It is not only the location and construction of the homes: local history and genealogy are huge parts of these homes. The work provides a social commentary that would possibly have never come to light. Cox is a civil engineer who was able to use that education in looking at trends over 150 years and explaining them. Nell, as a popular city resident, was given access and information that few others would. The two men point to the abilities of the other and say it would have never happened without the partnership. If there were questions or disagreements about a particular property, it was not added to the collection until all the evidence pointed to certainty.

Hans Nell and Wes Cox, Sr. have made a significant, and on-going, contribution to the City of Algoma, and to Wisconsin as a whole. While their preservation is in print form, rather than hands and bricks and mortar, they were certainly most worthy of Wisconsin’s Historic Preservation Excellence Award and serve as role models for others.