Where in the World is San Sauveur?

Finding the area of Kewaunee County once called San Sauveur is indeed a challenge today. The settlement was one of many originating with the Belgian immigrants to Kewaunee, Door and Brown Counties in the mid-1850s. The largest concentration of Walloon immigrants came from the region around Grez-Doiceau in Brabant, Belgium and settled in the tri-county area where, in Kewaunee County, they founded such settlements as Walhain, Rosiere, Tonet, Thiry Daems and San Sauveur. Populated by those named LeCaptain, Alberts, Flavion, Ferron, DeGrave, Moens, Moreau, Fabry nd more, their descendants are still found in Red River and throughout Kewaunee and Door Counties.

Door County historian Hjlamar Holand says the place was first called St. Savior, however newspapers and other articles refer to the community as San Sauver, San Savior. San Sauveir, San Sauvuer and perhaps others.

San Sauveur never had a “downtown” such as the nearby hamlets of Lincoln and Thiry Daems, but if there would have been one, it surely would have straddled the Lincoln-Red River town lines, the northwestern corner of Section 19 and the southwestern corner of Section 13 of the towns, respectively, the locations of a cheese factory and church.

Lincoln Farmers’ Cheese Factory was nearly on the town line on its Red River side, about a half mile north of the tiny village of Lincoln, from its founding in 1923 to closing in 1989 when it was affiliated with the National Farmers Organization, or NFO. There was an earlier factory about which little is known.

By 1925 Wisconsin cheese inspectors identified the newly constructed Lincoln Farmers as a model factory. Whey was stored in tanks above the boiler room ensuring there were no frozen pumps during the winter simply because there were none. The plant’s 65 patrons were able to drive to a hose and thus fill up without finding frozen whey in winter or flies in summer. And, dirt was not a factor. Cheese makers Peter Sticka and William Vlies lived with their families in on-site housing offered by the brick duplex that matched the factory.

At the time, there were many who felt the high quality cheese produced at the plant was a no-brainer. After all, its milk came from some of the well-kept farms around. Henry LeCaptain, for instance, had a herd of Holsteins in a stanchioned barn with a concrete floor. His cows had water in easy reach. Besides that, LeCaptain had electricity. His brother Joseph LeCaptain, who served as Red River town clerk, was another Holstein farmer.

Charlie Alberts was one on the cutting edge in his advocacy for wooden silos, although not all agreed with him. He felt silage froze fast in concrete silos while there were others who thought any kind of silo was bunk and that contents were certain to be detrimental to cows. Charlie’s brother Jule’s herd included Guernseys with the popular Holsteins. Jule even had running water in the barn. Another Alberts – Moses – was known for his clean, white, dustless, neat-as-a-pin barn with all the necessary cow equipment. His farm was called one of Red River’s model farms. It boasted a concrete stable with a mow above it, a stone hog building at the rear of the barn and a machine shed with a blacksmith shop. Louis Moreau was another of the Holstein milkers.

William Flavion bought pure-bred Guernseys as the foundation of his herd. Hubert DeGrave also raised Guernseys in his refurbished barn that was complete with stanchions and water cups. Peter Moens lived across the road and often worked in company with DeGrave. Emil Fabry’s farm was near San Sauveur School. He and son William continued to grow the farm on the land purchased in 1856 by Emil’s father. Fabry was another with a full set of blacksmithing equipment.

Red River didn’t forget its children and in 1925 planned to build a new school to replace the original San Sauveur School. The district hoped to attach to nearby Lincoln and build a graded school, but that did not happen and a new, rural one-room District #5 school was built. Years later, the school even had a hot lunch program. District #5 children were offered educational enrichment in bus trips to places such as Milwaukee, but that came later.

San Sauveur pupils began attending Casco Graded School when some grades were absorbed during the 1960s. That followed the selected grades’ absorption at both Fayette and Lincoln. With that consolidation, San Suaveur School faded into history. Several years later both Red River and Lincoln were two of the Kewaunee County towns that joined in the creation of the Luxemburg-Casco School District.

Gospel of Truth Hall, also called both San Sauvior and Lincoln Presbyterian Church, had its beginnings in 1920 as the Plymouth Brethren Church on the corner of today’s Townline and Martin Roads. What prompted the location of the church? Was it the proximity of the old cheese factory and the possible location of a much older store? Or, was it something else? There were Catholic churches in nearby Lincoln and Thiry Daems

Peter (Pierre Joseph) Houart was an early San Sauveur businessman who had other interests in Red River, in Ahnapee,* and was also in the lumbering and flouring business in Door Co. with George Bottkol of Bottkolville.* Houart was born in Belgium and married Mary (Marie) Noel there just before immigration. Mary’s brother, Amand Noel, joined Peter in a general merchandise store that opened in 1860. The men operated their San Sauveur store until 1881 when Houart bought out his brother-in-law.

Houart owned property in Sections 7 and 18 in the Town of Lincoln. The 1876 Kewaunee County Plat Map shows Noels and Houarts owning much of the western halves of both sections.  It shows additionally that Catherine Noel was the owner of the NE ¼ of Section 24 in the Town of Red River, immediately to the west of what would become church property years later. It seems logical that the store would have been in Lincoln’s Section 18 because of property ownership, however “store” does not appear in that area on the 1876 map.

Also fading into memory is the church, however the cemetery remains as a testament to those who lived in the area. The cheese factory is long gone but the rich farmland remains. San Sauveur Kermis isn’t like it was when it was celebrated at Gigot’s Hall in Lincoln, but Belgian pie, cheese curds, booyah and beer are still popular. Gigot’s hall has become history, but Joe Rouer’s isn’t far.

Finding San Sauveur might be a challenge, but it is still there.

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Notes:  Wisconsin Historical Collections gives St. Peter/St. Pierre in business with Mr. Noel. It is most likely that St. Savior and Peter Houart were confused.

*Ahnapee was renamed Algoma in 1897 and Bottkolville was renamed Euren, reflecting the Bottkols’ ancestral home near Trier, Germany.

Photos of the cows were found online from Hoard’s Dairymen.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald; An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River? c. 2001; Cox-Nell House Histories, c. 2013; History of Commercial Development in the Youngs and Steele Plat and Other Selected Properties in Algoma , Wisconsin, c. 2006; History of Door County, Wisconsin, The County Beautiful, Hjalmar R. Holand, c. 1917; Wisconsin Historical Collections, V 13; Wisconsin 1901-02 Gazetteer; Wisconsin: Its Story and Biography, c. 1914