Stopped at the Polls: Kewaaunee County Voting & 1st Papers

Having spent years compiling an index of significant data regarding well over 1,300 men Naturalized in Kewaunee County, trends in required information began to pop out. An index is exactly that; it contains the names, dates and location of the actual documents. Building a database from the documents themselves reveals other bits of information, some of it quite surprising.

1870 Naturalization, Kewaunee Co.

Looking at the county Naturalization index from the beginning to 1920, a greater number of Bohemians and Germans were Naturalized than any other ethnic group. That's not unusual because the county was heavily made up of those two factions. Belgians represent one of the big three ethnicities, but a lesser percentage of Belgian immigrants applied for citizenship. Documents indicate which of those Naturalized in Kewaunee County filed their Declaration of Intent in another county or state, and a look at the Kewaunee County Declarations suggests that many failed to apply for Naturalization, or perhaps moved on and applied elsewhere.

Actual documents indicate that quite often a Bohemian man's surname was spelled three different ways on a single sheet of paper. It appears as if the first name was as spelled on the Declaration of Intent. The second name seems to be what the public official in charge felt he heard. The man's own signature was another spelling. From the beginning, Naturalization applications generally included the country of birth, and port and year of entry to the United States, as did the Declarations of Intent. Most documents renounced allegiance to a foreign power.

1852 Declaration, Manitowoc Co.

Gradually the pre-printed documents became more complex, requiring the place of birth and actual date rather than just year. As the documents changed in Kewaunee County, so did such papers in other places. Not all were alike. Occupations were included as time went on. and after Rural Free Delivery came to Kewaunee County on November 30, 1904, the information included place of residence such as Rt. 2, Luxemburg or Rt. 6, Kewaunee. Distinguishing characteristics - such as a wart on the nose – was noted. The wife’s name, the ship, ports of departure and arrival, and finally children and their birthdays are found in some documents. At one point, the occupation of witnesses was listed. Dates of the Declarations were always there, however following the Civil War, Declaration and Naturalization of those who served sometimes occurred at the same time. Before the 1876 plat map, witnesses often provided a clue to a man’s area of residence.* Sometimes called first papers, a Declaration of Intent to become a citizen was all some filed. Because the foreign born could vote and own land, many felt those first papers were all that was necessary.
 

In early 1914, there were some eye openers among many who felt they were citizens. In compiling the expanded records, a significant number of Naturalization records were found to have attached affidavits from men telling how someone in authority –  the sheriff – was at the polls preventing their vote, saying they were not citizens. If the affected were only Germans, one might think  the war eventually known as World War l that started in Europe  the following summer was beginning to rumble in Kewaunee County, however the affected were Bohemian and Belgian too. 

In each case, men including those such as Germans Fred Gaulke, William Hannemann and August Moede felt they were citizens because their fathers told them they were. Since they were under the age of majority at the time of immigration, they were thought to be Naturalized when their fathers were. Without question men including Charles Zuege, Wenzel Bauer, Peter Seidl and Joseph Bader said they had voted in all elections. Alexander Wautlet, Joseph Gilson and Louis Villers were among those who had held elected office, serving on school boards, as road commissioner and more. Joseph Wisnewsky was another stopped from voting. He said he was Naturalized in Spring Valley, Illinois. Joseph Pankratz thought he had been Naturalized 30 years earlier and had exercised the vote all that time. Others had filed their first papers understanding that gave them the right to vote. Which first papers did. Why was this happening?

When West Kewaunee men Frank Mach, Herman Feger and Vincent Paul were granted citizenship in 1908, all three had been county residents for a quarter of a century. They all attested to reading the Constitution and their approval of it, and had no "anarchistic or bigamous connections." One could say these men "lucked out." These men had their second papers, their Naturalization documents, and could vote.

At issue was a 1908 Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling that said in order to vote after 1912, foreign born residents had to be full citizens. The November 2, 1908 Wisconsin State Journal thought it was clarifying the ruling in saying the changes to the Constitution meant "Persons of foreign birth who, prior to the first day of December A.D. 1908, shall have declared their intentions to become citizens conformable to the laws of the United States on the subject of naturalization; provided that the rights hereby granted to such persons shall cease on the first day of December, A.D. 1912"  The Journal could have made it plain and simple if it had written that full citizenship meant that one needed to be Naturalized, or having what was called second papers. It was a ruling affecting thousands of Wisconsin residents, and within the next few years parts of Wisconsin saw a rush to file the papers guaranteeing full citizenship. The rush did not appear to affect Kewaunee County.

Until 1912, men were legally permitted to vote if they had filed their first papers, or Declaration of Intent. Beginning in 1912, men were required to have their second papers or lose their right to vote. If older men such as Wisnewsky lost their documents, it was not an easy task to get a copy from another state. Pankratz thought he was a citizen for 30 years, however there were others who had voted for 50 years before they were denied the vote. Door County Clerk of Court Allen Higgins spelled out the ruling before the 1912 elections when he said those of foreign birth lacking second papers were barred from any election whether it was for school board, town laws, bonding issues or anything else.

Kewaunee County Clerk of Court Carl Andre reminded county residents in February 1913 that Naturalization had to be applied for at least 90 days prior to the upcoming court session, which would be in May. He pointed out that anybody applying needed to bring their first papers and that their petition needed affidavits with signatures of two credible witnesses who were already citizens. A month later the paper carried an article saying full citizenship was necessary for those planning to vote in the spring elections and that anyone having only first papers prior to January 1, 1907 would be turned away at the polls.

Late in 1914 when Door County Judge Grasse offered his opinion, he said the Court could reverse itself or let the original amendment stand. Grasse's advice seemed to be to get the second papers to be on the safe side. Confusion continued because in early January 1915, the Supreme Court said the 1908 amendment was improperly passed and that thousands who had been dropped from the poll list could now vote. That included about 75 Algoma men.

The Naturalization applications following the Court’s initial decision tells us a great deal about Kewaunee County. Affidavits were several paragraphs, some of which were essentially the same. Others contained additional  information, but each man felt he was a citizen with the accorded rights and privileges. Some had fought in the Civil War.

Looking at Kewaunee County Naturalization, it would seem the county reflected the state. The Record mentioned the number of Algoma men stopped at the polls, but how many men across the county were affected is unclear. At least 27 signed an affidavit applying for and achieving full citizenship. The 1908 Amendment was publicized so men should have been aware of it even though language barriers still existed. One would think a rush within the county would have occurred after that date, but a review of Naturalization dates indicates that for some reason it didn’t happen. Few Naturalization occurred between 1908 and 1914, however 8 or 10 men were awarded citizenship in 1914 without the affidavits, which suggests they were not stopped at the polls..

Looking at Wisconsin’s immigrant population, the 1908 Amendment and its 1915 reversal, and the events in Europe, one wonders about political expediency. There is more to the story.


*1876 is Kewaunee County's first existing plat map. There is another indicating it is Franklin 1858, however the map was platted by a 4-H club during the 1960s using land records.

Sources: Algoma and Door County newspapers;Wisconsin State Journal; Kewaunee County Declaration and Naturalization indexes and Naturalization documents to 1920 found in the ARC at UW-Green Bay. Documents are from the blogger's family history.

Joshua Hathaway, Jr.: Kewaunee County's First Mover & Shaker

Joshua Hathaway, Jr. was the earliest of Kewaunee County’s movers and shakers. The thing about Hathaway though is that Kewaunee wasn’t a county when he was making his mark. Wisconsin wasn’t even a state and it had yet to become the Wisconsin Territory. The prominent Hathaway was making a huge impact when what would become Wisconsin was still part of the Michigan Territory, an impact affecting what would become Kewaunee County.

Hathaway was born in 1810 to an affluent, educated family in Rome, New York. As both a lawyer and a civil engineer before entering government service, he was sent to Chicago in 1833. The following year his job took him from Chicago to Milwaukee where he met pioneer Solomon Juneau and set up his tent at what became Broadway and Mason Streets, later his home site and eventually part of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. Following his marriage to his second cousin Ann Jeanette Hathaway in Buffalo in 1842, the couple lived most of their married life in Milwaukee where he died in 1863.

Joshua Hathaway, Jr. got rich in real estate. His advice was sought regarding lands and taxes.  Additionally he was a botanist and geologist who enjoyed map making, and when Wisconsin was organized as a territory he was the first to be appointed in the Office of District Surveyor. Two years later he was appointed to the Office of Public Administrator of Milwaukee County. It was during the two-year period from 1834 to 1836 that ensured Hathaway’s place in Kewaunee County history. 

Much can be learned about the and his times in old histories, but it is his lively correspondence during the Territorial days of both Michigan and Wisconsin that provides far more than a glimpse into the era. A great deal of his correspondence remained well preserved in water-tight leather pouches in the dry attic of his Milwaukee home. A great deal of that historical collection made its way to Wisconsin Historical Society, but other correspondence went into the hands of private collectors such as the person with whom this blogger collaborated. This part of the collection was scanned before being sold in recent years, and again to private collectors. Specifically this portion of the correspondence reflects lands particularly along Lake Michigan in what is now northern Manitowoc County and southern Kewaunee County, including the city by the same name. The correspondence notes obstacles made worse by the day’s primitive communications. 

Hathaway was surveying on the western shore of Lake Michigan in the (then) Michigan Territory while finding time to correspond with his family in New York. His nephew was planning to visit his Uncle Joshua in October 1835, however when he wrote he was still “awaiting conveyance” as he could not get a steamboat captain to stop in Milwaukee for “any consideration.” But, young Hathaway said, the brig White Pigeon was expected hourly and that possibly he could get to Grand River.* He continued the letter telling his uncle that the rifle he (Joshua) took from Ebertz’ store was not paid for. “Mr. E. asked about it” saying Joshua was going to return later to pay the $30 but never did. The rifle was in the closet and Uncle Joshua was asked to advise. Concerns about a map of Milwaukee were also part of the dispatch.

Deputized in 1836 by the Brown County District Surveyor to lay out Kewaunee, Hathaway went forward designing seventy-five foot wide avenues and lots of 50 x 150’. Six blocks along the lake were kept for parks, commons or any other improvements future public spirited citizens might want. As agent and owner Hathaway placed an ad in the Milwaukee Advertiser saying that in due time Kewaunee would send a “full quota of minerals south.” By then there was talk of gold in Kewaunee and during the rush that followed, James Duane Doty, later Territorial Governor, paid $15,000 for land bought from Hathaway, property worth about $3,000 in 1881 when the Leindeckers owned it. Ironically, some of the land bought by Justice Solomon P. Chase* at the same time is the land on which the county court house was built.

Following the gold rush and Hathaway’s surveying in 1837, the Chicago firm of Montgomery and Patterson began their saw milling efforts. When company failed because of an inability to keep the mill stocked, the property reverted to Hathaway, sitting vacant until John Volk came north in 1843.

Timber was the subject of most of the correspondence, but what drew attention to Kewaunee and prompted the huge investments in land was gold. When someone found something along the Kewaunee River that was said to be gold, the story spread like wildfire. Fur trade magnate John Jacob Astor bought land as did James Duane Doty. They were joined by Doty’s cousin Morgan L. Martin who served as President of Wisconsin Territorial Council and was prominent in the drafting of Wisconsin’s constitution. There were Hathaway’s relative New York Judge and Attorney General Samuel Beardsley, Chief Justice Solomon P. Chase and a number of others whose names are prominent in Wisconsin and U.S. history. Several of the names appear in Kewaunee’s original plat and streets. It wasn’t long before State Geologist Chamberlain said the geologic formations of Kewaunee County preclude gold or any other precious metal. By the time the “gold” was known to be iron pyrite, investor Abell wrote Hathaway on how the land he purchased in Kewaunee caused him much trouble and loss of reputation. Abell was not alone.

An October 1836 letter from John W. Cotton forwarded a deed for Samuel Beardsley,* and says he (Cotton) has notes due in Milwaukee. Asking Hathaway to collect what was due, Cotton additionally wrote that he had some lots that he wanted Hathaway to sell.  Cotton’s return address was Green Bay, W.T., Wisconsin Territory. Peter Johnson wrote on June 12, 1838 that Twin Rivers* fishermen were cutting good timber for cord wood. If that wasn’t stopped, the destroyed timber land would be worth little. Johnson suggested that Hathaway write to factors in Kewaunee while questioning legal and moral claims to the timberland in question. Just who were the factors? Hathaway sold water rights to W. Montgomery of Chicago, and in 1837 hired Peter Johnson to build a sawmill.

Charles C.P. Arndt* wrote from Green Bay for his father, Charles P. Arndt, in 1838. In the letter difficult to understand, Arndt uses “Mr.” followed by initials or straight lines to indicate what Hathaway should realize. Sealing wax did not always mean mail was private and the men were speculating. Once again, land ownership and money.

1836 Survey of the Kewaunee River

In September 1838 Hathaway received a letter regarding harbor plans for Kewaunee from George Hosmer who owned about 700 acres of prime lands near the mouth of the river to anywhere from 2 to 5 miles inland. Hosmer was wondering about what was being done to improve navigation and about settlement, about the mill, value of the lumber and whatever else might be of importance. The big issue was the timber that had to be floated downstream on the Kewaunee River. A constantly shifting shoreline prevented logs from getting into the lake. Hosmer also asked for advice about pine land near Chicago as he felt the 1838 pine from Kewaunee was inadequate to supply the increasing demands of the southern shore of Lake Michigan. Hosmer was acting for Henry Hosmer and said he would reciprocate with Hathaway as was possible. Kewaunee’s lack of a good harbor (at the time) was still an issue 10 years later when mill man's John Volk concluded that he would not build a pier there.

Peter Johnson wrote to Hathaway again in 1838 about “Mr. V” and did Hathaway think “V” owned land and a sawmill about 4 miles up the Menominee River. Johnson said he was too poor to journey to Milwaukee for information and was going to commence keeping a public house unless Mr. Jones built a suitable house for him. That portion of the letter was not clear, however “V” was John Volk who operated a Kewaunee sawmill on and off. Years later Volk indicated to others that he owned hundreds of acres along the Kewaunee River until 1854 when he met his match in James Slausson who felt something was not right. It wasn’t and Slausson bought the land Volk claimed was his. Forced out. Volk removed to Oconto Falls where he had done business some years earlier, to which Johnson referred in the letter.

December 1838 brought a letter from David Blish about the schooner Juliet stuck in the ice in Little Sturgeon while bound for Chicago. Blish wrote about Judge John Lawe, another early Brown County resident, who was concerned about of tract of land in Green Bay. Blish wondered if the sale would pay the taxes. Included with the letter was a receipt for $15. Money was mentioned in most letters and was in part at the root of most problems.

Morgan L. Martin was awaiting a steamboat when he penned a few lines to Hathaway on August 18, 1834. In the letter, he told Hathaway that they should be thinking of laying off a new county. Wisconsin was part of the Michigan Territory which was on the verge of statehood and Martin knew there was money to be made. Martin’s address on that letter to Hathaway was simply “In the Woods.” It is the first known letter to go through Kewaunee County, but was outside of government mail service, which had not yet been established. Hathaway received the letter, but how? This blogger questioned postal historian Bill Robinson who said that it was known in which area Hathaway was surveying. Martin’s letter was no doubt left at a place serving the public and when one was going in the direction, he took the letter as far as he was going and left it at another public place. One who stopped there while traveling took the letter in that direction and within a few days, Hathaway got his communication. The address was surely among the most unusual to go through Wisconsin, but the letter did arrive. And the county to be laid off? In 1838 Wisconsin Territory laid off Manitowoc County from Brown. Peter Johnson, who served as an oversight judge of the in Manitowoc's organization vote in March 1839, was elected as Collector.

Today - a period of slow home sales in Kewaunee County - the anticipated growth and money to be made in speculation in the mid-1830s seems incomprehensible. The county today numbers roughly 20,500 residents while in 1835 there was not one non-Native American inhabitant. Until 1851, the present Kewaunee County was a part of Brown County which was the taxing agent. By today's standards, the taxes on the heavily timbered land also seems incomprehensible, especially the land having a "water view." Tax records from 1838, for example, show Hathaway paying 21 cents on 56 1/2 acres valued at $70.63, 28 cents on 73.85 acres valued at $92.31 and 80 acres valued at $100 for 30 cents. Morgan L, Martin paid 29 cents for 79.10 acres valued at $98.88 and C.P. Arndt was charged 28 cents for 74.20 acres valued at $92.75. Time marches on!

Following is brief information about related people and events which have faded away.

*The map dates to 1850 when Calumet County came into existence and before Door County was laid off of Brown in 1851 and Kewaunee laid off of Door in 1852.

*The mouth of the Grand River is at today's Grand Haven, Michigan.

*Solomon P. Chase was elected to the Senate from Ohio in 1848. He became Ohio's first Republican governor in 1855 and served as Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln during the early days of the Civil War. Lincoln appointed Chase as Chief Justice of the U.S. late in 1864. It was Chase who presided at the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. Chase ran for the presidential nomination against Lincoln, but it was Lincoln who secured the nomination.

*Charles C.P. Arndt was a Green Bay attorney who was shot and killed on February 11, 1842 in the Wisconsin Territorial Council’s meeting room following a heated argument with James Vineyard. Vineyard was tried but was acquitted on self-defense grounds. When Arndt fell from the shot, he fell at the feet of his father who was a part of the same council.

*Judge Samuel Beardsley was also Attorney General of New York and the brother-in-law of Joshua Hathaway, Jr. It was through the influence of Beardsley that Hathaway won the appointment as a federal surveyor in the Northwest Territory.

Sources: Bill Robinson,postal historian interview 2009; Deborah Beaumont Martin,  History of Brown Co., 1913; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010; History of Northern Wisconsin, c. 1881; Wisconsin, Its Story & Biography, Usher c. 1914.

Krok: Much More Than "A Crock!"

This cover was postmarked at the 3rd Krok post office in November 1898 just after Anton Swagel became postmaster.

Perusing an hors d’oeuvres table a few years ago, the conversation of two older men caught my attention. One was telling the other how he and his wife had sold the family farm, homesteaded by his great-grandpa well before 1900. As it turned out, the fellow was the much younger son of older parents. His father was also the younger son and, at the time, it was customary for the youngest son to inherit the farm, providing for his parents in their advancing years.

The gentleman continued saying he and his wife went through everything, cleaning out and clearing out what was stuffed in the attic during the last 100 years. They came across the most surprising things in the attic that because. after all, who has time to clean an attic full of junk when there is a farm to run?

Included  in the "junk" were old letters. As the conversation developed, chatter around the table faded as others began listening to an increasingly entertaining story. When he mentioned Krok, my ears really perked up. He was talking about Kewaunee County. The fellow’s grandparents were courting when the letters were written. She lived with her parents on the farm in Krok while her sweetheart had gone to find work in the big city – Milwaukee. His letters were addressed to her at “Krok, Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.” Letters were addressed to him at Harnishfeger Foundry, rather than his rooming house. He wasn’t in management; he was a laborer who received mail at the plant.

Kewaunee County postal history tells us there are three places named Krok and had I stopped to think, I could have answered the question that I put to him. I asked about the dates of the postmarks, prompting him to ask why I wanted to know. My response was that because there were three post offices named Krok, the post mark indicated the specific office. He didn’t miss a beat when he asked if I was telling him Kewaunee County was nothing but a crock! He had somewhat of an audience by then and it erupted with peals of laughter. He had been waiting to use the one-liner and my question was ripe. Krok and crock are not synonymous!

Krok defines an area in Kewaunee County today, but beyond a few miles few know it. It has lasted longer than Zavis, Rushford and Royal Creek, but just as in those places corn has replaced the halls, cheese factories, the saloons, mills or whatever might have been there. If corn could tell the stories in their roots, there would be some good ones. The gentleman at that hors d’ouerves table represents generations of Krok Bohemians who enjoyed socializing, telling stories while finding pleasure in a good drink and good food. He was not drinking a Bohemian pilsner or enjoying kolaches or knee-caps that night, but it was good just the same. And, incidentally, it was the last of the three Kroks that carried the post between his grandparents.

Krok #1

When Kewaunee was incorporated as a village in April 1873, the West Kewaunee of today was named Krok, a name given by Judge Woyta Stransky after his native home in Bohemia. Records indicate that the name Krok was abandoned in April 1881 when West Kewaunee came into being.

Stransky had served as sheriff and was postmaster when the first Krok post office opened on December 21, 1874. Stransky applied for the office which was located on the northeast side of the Kewaunee River in Section 14 of Town 23N, Ranger 24E. Located at Stransky’s mill, that first Krok post office closed four years later in November 1878.

Krok #2, 2007

After a six year hiatus, Krok post office reopened in May 1884, but this time it was in the northeast corner of Section 24, Town 23N, Range 23E. The Town of Montpelier. Joseph Shimonek (or Shimanek) took charge of the new office which was just about 2 miles east of Ellisville on what is now County Highway F. Why Shimonek’s office was only in business for two weeks before being closed is quite unusual and remains a mystery. Four years later, in April 1888, Krok post office was again back in business, back in West Kewaunee but this time in Section 3. Joseph J. Walecka was the postmaster at the place sometimes called Walecka’s Corner. Prokop J. Walecka followed him. Anton Swagel was Krok’s last postmaster, operating from his store, saloon and hotel.

Swagel's, Krok #3, just after 1900

Swagel's Krok 3 post office was discontinued on November 30, 1904 with the coming of Rural Free Delivery in Kewaunee County. Early post offices moved around frequently, as was the case with Krok. Some offices were surprisingly close to another office. Zavis opened in 1877. It was a mile and a half east of Krok 3, but Zavis closed in 1879, five years before Krok 2 came into being. There were needs to be served.

Postmaster Swagel profited far more than his predecessors in terms of postal remuneration. His 1901 compensation of $92.85 more than doubled his pay for any other year. However, the post office brought business to his store and saloon and that’s where his money was made.

Many of the pre-RFD postmasters were against such a service. RFD was an economic issue as home delivery brought more than personal letters. It brought current newspapers and magazines. One could get and digest the news at home without stopping at the saloon. If mail wasn’t picked up, fewer drinks were sold. Catalogues such as Sear-Roebuck and Montgomery Ward brought wants beyond the stock in rural stores, wants which could be delivered. It wasn’t only RFD that spurned the demise of postal communities though. Autos were making inroads and Algoma and Kewaunee, which already had telephone service, were seeing electricity. Time was marching on.

Had Krok survived the Advent of RFD, more than likely its postmark would be as popular as Christmas, Michigan, Zip Code 49862, Winter, Wisconsin 54896 and Hell, Michigan 48169. The U.S. has other spots such as Loveland, Colorado 80538 remembered only at holidays. For an elderly man, he has a real knee-slapper in his stories of growing up in a place that was nothing but a “Krok.”

Sources: Photos are from the blogger's collection; stories from an unidentified gentleman; postal information from Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010.

Hall's Mills: Kewaunee County's 1st Grist and Saw Mills

Abraham Hall was a Lake Michigan mariner until he lost his schooner Rochester off Two Rivers Point in 1848. Hall was shipping on the west shore of the lake but, without a vessel, entered the employ of John Volk’s Kewaunee lumbering business. He didn’t remain long and in May 1852 opened the first mercantile on the Door Peninsula.*  Known as Wolf River when Hall settled there, the place is called Algoma today.

The lumber Hall’s account book shows sold in 1851 appears to be in error based on land records, but from May 1852 on, there was a steady stream of notations of items sold, price and the names of purchasers who came from as far as Bailey’s Harbor and Sandy Bay, the town now known as Carlton.

Having opened his store, Hall began building his saw and grist mills on the South Branch of the (now) Ahnapee River just beyond the present Algoma Hardwoods. When Hall’s brother Simon and family arrived from New York in 1855, they moved into a log house near the frame store building, the log blacksmith shop and the mills and Simon began working with his brother.

Hall’s gristmill was the only such place east of Green Bay and north of Manitowoc. It drew customers from Door County and the southernmost parts of Kewaunee County who brought their grain by boat. It was a boon to the Belgians who had recently arrived in the two counties. As they walked through the thick forests, they carried grain sacks hanging down their backs attached to their heads with a corner of the sack wound in a cap-like fashion. Keeping their hands free, they could push away the almost impenetrable branches while carrying a stick to assist in walking or perhaps to frighten an animal.

Water powered the mill that was felt to be quite an impressive place. Impressive as it was for the time, Hall’s was a small mill compared to those being built 20 years later. Hall's high dam held the water in a mill pond thus furnishing the power. When the Record described the mill’s workings during the 1870s, it explained with the following: “To release water from the pond and permit it to flow thru the race and exert its forces against the paddles of the old water wheel that moved the machinery and made the stones go round, a small gate was raised by the aid of a long sweep lever.” 

Grinding was not always fine, said the paper, because the mill stones were old fashioned, however Hall’s stones were French burr stones that were thought to be far superior to any other, It was said the French stones speedily pulverized the grain to a uniform thickness. More than likely Hall’s stones came from John Noye’s warehouse in Buffalo, a place destroyed in a May 1879 fire.

The Hall mill had its own fires. When the grist and sawmills were destroyed by fire in late 1866 or early 1867, they were rebuilt only to burn again in the 1870s. The brothers were still operating in the spring of 1881 when “Anonymous” wrote a letter to the Record's editor. Anonymous called for a new first class mill that would meet the needs of residents while not being built “after the fashion of bygone days.” While the author felt a new mill would increase business, the author seemed to be saluting the accomplishments of the Halls, saying he didn’t want outsiders to come to compete with those who “assisted in developing the county.”Simon Hall and his sons went into milling at Maplewood, 10 or 12 miles north in Door County, after the brothers retired from the Ahnapee business in 1888,

As the timber along the river and in the surrounding area disappeared, the need for a small mill disappeared as well. As new and more modern gristmills were being built, Hall’s faded away. The machinery was removed and it wasn’t long before the old mill began its decay. Michael Haney and his brother John owned the property in 1893 when a storm leveled the old frame structure, the oldest mill in the county. The grist mill, which was connected to the sawmill, saw little damage then. Eventually some of the buildings were razed and in time the dam washed away.

The postcard dates to the early 1900s after the dam mill had deterioriated and the dam had washed away. The photo was taken facing northeast toward Plumbers Woodwork, the large brownish building. The Veneer and Seating Co., today the Hardwoods, is visible to the right of the Plumbers, behind the trees.

During the cleanup after the Haneys bought the property, one of the old mill stones was among the articles they found. The Haney brothers felt they were preserving history by saving one old, well preserved and almost perfect stone when they put it in the wall of the new one-story brick structure they built in 1906 on the southeast corner of 2^nd and Steele.  The Haney building was sold and resold over the years, finally being torn down and replaced with the Savings and Loan building that is now the Bank of Luxemburg. The old millstone was lost during demolition and surely buried in some landfill. It was found during the clean-up 100 years ago and might well be found again. Will anybody know what it is or that it came from the first gristmill on the Peninsula?

*Door County was created in 1851. Kewaunee was set off from Door in 1852. Jacques Vieau had a “jack knife” trading post along Jambo Creek years before. He was also known to be in Kewaunee at times. A “jack knife” trading post was one that opened and closed quickly.

Sources: Ahnapee Record; The Commercial Development in Algoma, Wisconsin c. 2006; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010; Old Peninsula Days, Hjalmar Holand, c. 1925; Yours Truly, From Kewaunee County, c. 2013.

The Town of Lincoln: A Hotspot for Doctors

U.S. Census figures tell us that based on percentage of population, Kewaunee County's Town of Lincoln is the 4th largest Belgian-American township in the United States today. Most immigration occurred in the late 1850s when the area was originally called GrandLez, named for a place in the Province of Namur, Belgium.

Within 35 years those Town of Lincoln immigrants produced 6 men who would become medical doctors. Why all those doctors? That most are Belgian is not surprising. Lincoln was filled with young immigrants raising large families, a fact reflected in the 1880 Eleventh Census of the United States which counted 1,147 residents in the town's growing population. 

One of those doctors, Dr. Edward J. Kerscher, was among the town's most prominent and beloved citizens. Of German descent, he was born there in 1885 and taught school in Euren* before attending medical school. As one held high in regard in both Door and Kewaunee Counties, he was feted at a day in his honor in June 1950. Nearly 25 years later, on March 22, 1974, Wisconsin Assembly passed a Resolution honoring Kerscher on his 89th birthday.  Kerscher’s predecessor Dr. LaFortune was practicing in the hamlet of Lincoln in 1887, planning to relocate to Bottkolville (Euren) later in the year. Dr. Kerscher followed him. When Kerscher was honored, it was noted that he spoke German, Belgian and English, but more than likely the others did too.

Green Bay's Bellin Hospital was founded by Dr. Julius Bellin, born in Lincoln in 1870. The father of former Green Bay Mayor Sam Halloin also went from Lincoln to make a mark on Green Bay. Records say Dr. Louis Halloin was born in Lincoln Town, though other records say he was born in the Town of Red River. But, he definitely practiced in Lincoln where he and his wife were known as "pedagogues." Finishing at New York's Rush Medical School in May 1887, Dr. John J. Looze was welcomed back to the area. At the time the Record reported him to be an "ambitious man of exemplary habits who deserves a good practice." Looze didn't remain in the county for the rest of his life as he relocated to Seymour in January 1898. Dr. William Witcpalek was a Bohemian who was born on a farm in Lincoln in 1871, just three months before the horrific event that came to be called the Peshtigo Fire.

Bizarre - or even hilarious - as it is today, Witcpalek left school to work in a meat market. It was said he was a competent butcher who eventually bought an interest in a butcher shop. He returned to school and became a teacher, serving in Lincoln for a few years, and then at other schools until 1907 when he moved his wife and children to Milwaukee so he could attend medical school. Two years later he went to Northwestern University, graduating in medicine and dentistry in 1911 and opening his Algoma practice in 1914. Witcpalek was said to inherit his desire to serve the sick from his mother mother, an herbalist and midwife.

Dr. Herb Foshion was another Belgian physician, born in 1895 at Thiry Daems, in Red River Town, a stone's throw from the others' birthplaces.  From there his family moved to the Town of Gardner in Door County. He attended Algoma High School and Door-Kewaunee County Normal School, not because he wanted to be a teacher, but because he wanted to further his education. Foshion enrolled in medical school at UW-Madison, an education interrupted by World War l. Receiving his M.D. degree at the University of Minnesota in 1923, Foshion arrived in Algoma on January 1, 1925 where, a few years later, he spear-headed a community hospital such as Bellin had done in Green Bay a few years earlier. Foshion wasn't born in the Town of Lincoln, but he was Belgian and the second to organize a hospital.

So why did all those men become doctors? It has been suggested they were children of those who had experienced the horrors of the Peshtigo fire and knew the way to a better life was a an education and making money. However, country doctors didn't make much money and often times were paid in fireplace wood, a pig, bushels of apples or whatever medium could be used. Perhaps those men recognized a need and filled it.

For generations following immigration, the Belgian-Americans were an insular people. Though other immigrant groups stuck together, they gradually assimilated. Assimilation took the Belgians generations however, and no doubt the assimilation was rooted in school consolidation.

Schools in the Belgian districts were thought to be of lesser quality than the non-Belgian districts. In the early days, an education wasn't essential. It was clearing the land, raising crops, cutting wood and everything else crucial for a survival that was little more than subsistence.  It was not only the Belgians who relied on those within their community. Those sharing a common language offered protection and comfort. There were always folk remedies such as poultices for colds and fevers, herbal teas for constipation and such complaints. Even cobwebs were regarded as valuable for stopping bleeding. Typhoid and diphtheria wiped out entire families and some never recovered from the grippe. Forests were so dense in the early days that getting the sick to a doctor would have been nearly impossible. Even as forests were cut down, travel and distance remained a drawback.

The six Town of Lincoln doctors provided an exceptional service to the Belgian community and to Kewaunee County beyond. Kerscher has  record of sorts among Wisconsin's country doctors. When he retired, it was noted that he had delivered over 4,100 babies.

For whatever reason, capable, hard-working men born within a few miles of each other within a generation gave all they had to family, relatives, neighbors and friends and those they met for the first time. They spoke the language and they were trusted. 

Algoma no longer has the hospital that began with Foshion, however its residents, those in Kewaunee County and all over Northeast Wisconsin are served at Bellin Hospital. Julius Bellin lives on. So do the other men!


*Euren was also known as Bottkolville and given its name by the Bottkol family that settled the area. Euren takes that name from the place from which the Bottkols came near Trier, Germany. Thiry Daems in Red River Township is an easy bike ride from any of the other birthplaces. Grandma's first cousin was one of the deaconesses working with Dr. Bellin at the founding of the hospital.

Sources include Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record Herald, Ancestry and Wikipedia.




  

  

Kewaunee County History: Silos

As small farms fade farther and farther into the past, once proud barns deteriorate and old silos standing sentinel crumble. As an entire rural history dims, deteriorates and crumbles with all the rest, an old Pennsylvania Dutch adage comes to mind. True as it was in Lancaster County - “A plump wife and a full barn never did a man any harm” - was just as true in Kewaunee County. In 1900 it was true all over, however times - and what works or doesn’t or what is healthy or not - have changed.

On March 1, 1941, Lawrence and Millie rented, with the option to buy, what was known as the Miller farm on Highway 42 south of Algoma. Not long after the couple ended their five-year rental in March 1946, the significantly improved farm was purchased. The young couple relocated to the Town of Carlton where they bought the old McNally farm, a place chock full of history that was swallowed up years later with the advent of the nuclear plant

Just eighteen when his father died, Lawrence promised to remain on the farm caring for his mother and six younger siblings. Leaving school following his confirmation, he worked alongside his father who knew the young man had what it takes. Lawrence continued to consult with his father even when Pa was confined to the sickbed and dying. Including his father in a decision about buying a horse, the horse was brought to the bedroom window so Pa could pass judgment and be satisfied with the purchase.

As the eldest son charged with the task of keeping the family together, it was understood that the farm would still pass to his youngest brother as tradition dictated. The youngest son was then responsible for the care of the parents in their declining years. The year before his youngest brother registered for the World War ll draft in 1941, Lawrence and two of his sister married. At 32 Lawrence was a little older than average when he married Millie, 11 years his junior. Farmers generally were not drafted for World War ll, a time when it was assumed some non-farmers bought farms just to evade military service.

The young marrieds stayed on the family farm for the first season after their wedding, working the farm while seeking one to purchase themselves, and buying furniture for their eventual home. During the winter, the Miller farm in the Town of Pierce came up for rent with an option to buy. Feeling the rent of $500 per year plus payment of taxes was fair, the couple moved to the farm. $13,000 was the farm’s asking price, a price they felt was too high because the new Highway 42 separated the house and barn, both of which were in poor condition. What they really didn’t like was the in-ground silo.

The Miller farm’s 28’ silo went down into the ground, rather than up as a traditional silo is built. Rats that plagued the farm often fell into the silo. Farmers climb up into conventional silos, however getting into the in-ground silo wasn’t as easy. To get silage out, a bucket was lowered on a track – much like a bucket going into a well - filled and then pulled up. If Lawrence had to go into the silo, he tied his pant legs because of the rats. Build up of methane gas had to be addressed. Being built down below the barn floor rather than being outdoors, with the exception of the opening, the pit was covered with timbers and boards that were covered over with hay. That silo was dangerous and there there was next to nothing that was good about it. The day Lawrence almost fell in was well etched in his memory. This faith-filled man knew it was more than good fortune smiling on him when he managed to catch his arms on the timbers, able to drag himself up. 

The farm had not yet been sold in March 1946 when Millie and Lawrence’s contract terminated, and because they had not yet purchased their own farm, they had to sell the herd as there was no place to go with the cows. Cow buyers came when the couple was not at home, and when they arrived a short time later, the cows were milling about and walking in the barn floor. The buyers were inspecting the cows, not knowing about the in-ground silo. It was more than good fortune that day too because there was no loss of life or injuries to the buyers or the cattle.

Whether the in-ground silo brought more rats than any other is anyone’s guess, however rats were always a problem. Perhaps they came from a neighboring abandoned farm. Perhaps the chicken coop attracted the rats too. Putting out strychnine was the only way to get rid of them. Each evening the chickens were locked in the coop. After using the strychnine, the couple easily picked up a bushel of rats each morning. In the day, such an incredible story was called “talking through your hat.” Milkman Ed Hunsader thought so too until the day he arrived early and saw them himself.

There were other in-ground Kewaunee County silos that are long forgotten. If any remain, who would know they were there unless someone fell in? Beautiful square stone silos can still be found on farms in southern Kewaunee County, but mostly it is the squatty round silos that have survived, outlasting the barns that stood next to them.

There were few silos in the U.S. before the mid-1890s, however a mere 10 or 15 years later they were springing up all over. A silo was not an easy sell to a dairy farmer though. The University of Wisconsin advocated silos as a way to preserve crops for winter feeding. Since dairy cattle were pastured from spring to fall, that diet increased milk production, thus affecting the farmer's economic interests. If the same cow could be fed silage, reasoning was that milk production would increase during the winter, a historically low time for milk production. There were those who were sure the silage was bad for a cow’s stomach, affected proper digestion and even made the cow sick. For some time, silos were controversial. They also cost money. But, so did maintaining the herd during the long months of scanty production.

The concept of silos was not really anything new. Ancient Romans and Greeks used air-tight pits for storing grain, documented by Roman writers, and contemporary Europeans continued working on methods ensuring preservation of the summer harvest. It was well-known by the pioneering settlers that keeping vegetables in a pit - sometimes the well pit - would preserve food for use during the winter.

Horizontal, or pit silos – much like Lawrence and Millie’s – were introduced in the U.S. during the 1870s. They were built of wood or stone and either dug partially or entirely into the ground. Square vertical silos came about 10 years later. They too were wood or stone. The shape was a problem as air pockets were created in the corners. Sometimes the walls bowed out. Silage rotted more easily and few square silos were built after about 1900. Round silos came into vogue and were far superior to the others. Wooden silos deteriorated while brick and cement became the construction method of choice. Cement stave silos were popular, but are no longer built. Harvestores (below) became the silo of choice a generation ago although today's farmers tend toward bunkers and flat storage in plastic bags, allowing for far speedier access. Though towering cement silos are still seen at grain elevators and steel silos are built at rail heads, silos are rarely built on the mega farms that have replaced the small family farms that shaped much of the country.

Wisconsin Historical Society says Wisconsin has more silos than any other state. Driving the highways and byways of the state, the iconic structures stand out, begging to be noticed. Newer silos with manufactured domes often have the manufacturer’s name imprinted. The concrete squatty silos built before World War ll often sport some decorative piece reaching skyward as the builder’s trademark. One traveling Highway 54 between Algoma and Green Bay will spot at least 9 of William Diefenbach’s silos. He left his mark with a cement ball mid-way up a steel rod. Look hard to see one or two others off the highway. Traveling the side roads proves how busy Diefenbach and many other builders were more than 70 or 80 years ago.

Lonely silos tell a story of agrarian roots, the small family farms and folks like Lawrence and Millie who are no longer there. To see a dilapidated barn and no silo means that searching the area will probably yield footings or a ring of a once proud silo, a place where there was once a story. And there probably still is if one looks hard enough.

Sources: Algoma Record Herald; Blogger's interview with Millie, WHS farm facts; Wikipedia;  
ad from Algoma Record Herald; blogger's photos.

Kewaunee County & Valentine Days of Yore

Fifty years ago schools were festooned with red, white and pink hearts made by the kids who could hardly wait for the Valentine Day party and the exchange of cards that went with it. In a day when the word “love” brought the kind of twitters that “underwear” did, some kids wondered if they’d get a valentine from a girl or boy they especially liked. It was as true of first grade as it was of 8^th. In the days of the valentine boxes, sweet thoughts could be anonymously sent, but when each had to distribute his or her own, there was too much chance for error. Then there were the candy hearts with the printed sayings. To put any in the envelopes, or even to offer some hearts, meant one had to be sure the words were just right. Candy often led to total embarrassment. Besides that, a school kid can’t buy two dozen cards and envelopes for 10 cents anymore.

The origins of St. Valentine’s Day are all but forgotten in a time when it is all economics. It just happens to be crowded into a short month that also remembers George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Edison. Nobody buys candy, flowers or sends cards to remember them though. They were lucky enough to live before the guilt trips laid on by newspapers, TV and pop-ups about buying candy, flowers, restaurant meals and cards for that special someone.

Valentine Day was there over 100 years ago, but it morphed. As Valentine Day approached, the old papers carried serial love stories and articles. One such article mused about the number of unmarried woman and why that should be. The author thought a little valentine would be the right kind of “missile.” The author felt that there should be a way to trap the unmarried, getting them together socially. Maybe that is why the 1887 masquerade at Bottkol’s promised that “every care was taken to provide for the comfort and entertainment of visitors” who could expect a pleasant time. In the late 1890s the post office was offering valentines from 1 cent to 1 dollar. G.W. Warner’s store carried them too. The Record reminded people about Valentine’s Day in 1896 when it suggested not forgetting to send out “pretty letters.” That year saw a masquerade at the Opera House. First prize was $5. Perhaps masquerades offered the shy a way to be bold anonymously.

Things seemed to change a lot after 1900, prompting President Calvin Coolidge a little over 20 years later to be quoted saying, “The business of the country is business…” He wasn’t addressing Valentine Day, but the commercialization of Valentine Day had begun. Lace, embossed, and comic cards at Economical Drug were advertised in 1903 while Wilbur and Kwapil were claiming the finest boxed novelties ever, both up-to-date and dainty. Pity the poor man who bought a gift at L.C. Englebert’s. He was advertising American Beauty Corsets! Just as the day was really catching on, something happened. The post office felt that perhaps Valentine Day was losing favor as it delivered fewer valentines than any time in its history. Postal officials thought perhaps the majority forgot the event, but the officials were also hoping the day was marked with candy and flowers. They were feeling a good riddance to the vulgar, comic valentines that had gone through the mails. Years later a man nicknamed “Sqeegee” -destined to be Algoma’s postmaster - said that it was better to be “noted with a dastardly valentine than to go about unhonored and unhung.”

A few years after the post office noted the downswing, the paper was reporting school celebrations. It seemed as if Valentine's Day was coming back in another way. Pleasant View School Literary Society combined Lincoln’s birthday with Valentine’s Day in 1922 when parents were invited as special guests.  Recitations about Lincoln were delivered by scholars with names such as Besserdich, Kuehl, Schwantes and Steubs, and when the pieces were over the Valentine Box was the big thing.  The Mrs. Holly, Nooker, Wanie, Knutson and Ullman showed up for the short program at Bolt School, where part of the afternoon was spent distributing valentines. Longfellow School also had such an event with similar recitations. It was noted that Longfellow's Miss Barrand received many beautiful valentines, perhaps in part because her pupils were happy with the report cards they got a few days earlier. Woodside School combined the two events and it was noticed every child received their share of pretty valentines. There were kids in other schools whose valentines were mean-spirited.

Ahnapee Record had its start in June 1873 as Kewaunee County’s 2^nd newspaper. Its first editor-publishers were 16 year old George Wing and 17 year old Charles Borgman. The young men said their paper would be fair, addressing both sides of an issue. They lobbied for beautification, good schools, women’s rights, the county fair, and the environment. They also got into politics which made things quite heated with other newspapers that referred to them as “puny infants” and a host of other things. Wing and Borgman commented on Valentine Day 1874 when they said thanks to those who sent valentines their way – “the sentimental and otherwise.” More than likely, there were many more "otherwise."

Valentine Day is equated with love,  yet the day is the anniversary of its complete antithesis.  In the year 278, St. Valentine was beheaded in Rome. Al Capone and Chicago’s St. Valentine’s Day massacre are memories from 1929. President John F. Kennedy told U.S. Advisers in 1962 that they should fire in self defense. Things were happening in Vietnam. Some good things happened too. When Chicago was dealing with the massacre, the world was being told about the discovery of penicillin. In 1977 the B-52s played their first gig. They didn’t stop there and went on to make a lot of Valentine Days a little happier and memorable.

Sources: Algoma newspapers, An-An-api-sebe: Where is the River, c. 2001; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, Wikipedia.

A Claim to Fame: Harness Racing at Scarboro



Section from Kewaunee County 1912 Plat Map

 

Not quite mid-way while traveling Kewaunee County Highway A from Luxemburg to Kewaunee, one spots the Scarboro sign and wonders why it is there. Sportsmen today see the sign and think of fishing, however a little over 100 years ago it would have brought thoughts of horse racing. At the time, Scarboro was a small community with a cheese factory, sawmill, gristmill, blacksmith, ice house, saloon, school, church, store and more. Scarboro even had a cigar maker, but what it didn’t have was a post office and, as vibrant as the community was in the pre-Rural Free Delivery Days, the only reason was that nobody bothered to apply for one.

Scarboro’s claim to fame was the race track that attracted harness racers from all over Wisconsin. By 1910 racing events were bringing over 1,000 spectators paying an admission of 25 cents each to watch races on the circular, half mile track. Sometimes the purse was as much as $250, but that was when racers came from a distance. Local entrants such as August Spitzer, Billy Truedell, Frank Novak, John Hrabik, Joe Koss and Elmer Thibaudeau competed for much less - a $50 purse. Those locals represented the cream of Kewaunee County's crop.

Racing was a summer event until 1910 when some Luxemburg enthusiasts started talking about clearing the mill pond known as Scarboro Lake for horse racing. Before racing on the ice took place, Ed Kelliher and Otto Boness raced their horses right down Main Street in Luxemburg and when the race moved to the ice, it wasn’t either of those men who won. It was Camille Stage, the host of  Luxemburg’s Wisconsin House.

Novak-Kelnhofer Milling Company's Scarboro ice house supplied ice to taverns, restaurants and creameries. The ice harvest took precedence, and when it was taking place there were no races. Just as soon as that harvest ended, spectators again enjoyed the sport of horse racing on the ice.

Scarboro was on a roll when the unthinkable happened. Sometime around 1860, Slausson & Grimmer, the Kewaunee lumbering firm, built a sawmill on Scarboro Creek. For some reason a new dam was built in 187l, forming the mill pond referred to as Scarboro Lake, the site of the horse races. On July 7, 1912, lightening struck the gristmill, consuming it by fire. Two weeks later the heavy rains that caused destruction all over Kewaunee County brought the beginning of the end to Scarboro. The dam broke, spilling the water behind it into the valley below. It was a wonder nobody died as they were struck by logs and debris while trying to make it through waist deep water to higher ground. As a people, the community survived, however as a place of business, its vibrancy evaporated. At least for awhile, there was the racing.

Kewaunee County Racing Association had a new track at Scarboro in October 1916 when Door County Advocate took note of Scarboro, telling its readers that the Association was sponsoring events featuring the best horses in “this part of the state.” Featured were such Green Bay standouts as Noble, Pride Mate, Spyhnx and Duck Creek Lad. Sturgeon Bay’s own Paddy Gray was driving Melse. Management felt the crowds would be record breaking for the races that also included trot and pace colt races and races that were exclusively for Luxemburg horses.

A few days later, on the 20th, Algoma Record reported that (what was thought to be) the first annual racing program brought upwards of 2,000 from as far away as Green Bay, Denmark and Gillett. The Casco correspondent to the paper wrote that at least 200 from the village were at the races, and that every auto in the village was there too. The Association's new track was considered to be in great shape for its first year. Enthusiasm was rampant and more races were sure to follow. Though the big names of Kewaunee County racing were competing, most prizes, unfortunately, went to Green Bay horses.

During the following June, the Record told readership that Luxemburg persons were thinking to build a racetrack there. Editorializing, the paper said that if they went ahead there would be enough interest and enough races to last long into the future. By 1919, most races were indeed at Luxemburg, and then at the fairgrounds. Scarboro’s dirt track continued to be use at times - one of those times being a Red Cross benefit in 1929 – although the fairgrounds at Luxemburg has been the most prominent place for horse racing for nearly 100 years.

Henry Veeser sold his popular saloon to Frank Novak who refurbished and enlarged the building, having his grand opening in June 1912. It was just about a month later when the flooding undermined the building. It was not totally lost and went on to remain popular, operated by numerous owners over the years. As Drew's Hideway, it was the last business in the once prosperous Scarboro. The dam was rebuilt, but the forests were receding and there were so many other mills that its mill eventually closed. And the racetrack?  As farmer's field today, it might well be growing corn.

Where at one time everybody knew about the racing, another generation knew of maple syrup. There were a number of such camps in the area, the largest of which belonged to the Minahan brothers - Casco merchant Hugh and his physician brothers William and John. John served medical needs in Algoma and Casco. William gained fame when he went down on the Titanic, not long after their camp opened. Today's oldsters salivate remembering Milton Thibaudeau's syrup and the spring treks to his place.

There was a time when it was believed Scarboro would rise like the Phoenix.  There were those who felt the area would be the next big oil field but it was not to be. It’s another story, one told in an earlier blog.

Sources: Information and ads from the newspapers mentioned and Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010. Postcard and racing photo are the blogger's.

Kewaunee County and Buried Forests

Buried Alaskan forests made local news in Algoma's Record in 1902. Since the buried forests were in places where trees did not then exist, discussions followed theories on whether the Arctic might have once been tropical or semi-tropical. Buried forests had been found in Kewaunee County years earlier, but as primitive as communications were, such finds were not well known.

Walking the Lake Michigan beach today in southernmost Carlton Town, one sees what appears to be tree trunks and branches sticking out of the bluff. What is visible is a small part of the Two Creeks Buried Forest, a unit of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve which has been a popular study site for North American geologists, botanists, glacial ecologists and climatologists. Designated a State Natural Area in 1967, the Two Creeks buried forest area is owned by the DNR and law prohibits the removal of any material. Googling Two Creeks Buried Forest will bring a wealth of information. A fascinating article in NPS Scientific Monograph No. 2 (online) tells us, “Few Pleistocene sites in the United States have gained more prominence in the recent literature than this forest bed.” In 1936 researcher Mr. Wilson found the same forest bed exposed near the lake in Section 35 of Carlton Township. The same article points out that Kewaunee County’s known buried forests were described much like researcher Mr. Goldthwaite described Two Creeks in 1905. 

The news about the State of Alaska seems to have prompted an article in the Enterprise. Over 100 years ago it ran an article pointing out that southern Casco and eastern Luxemburg towns were also built on buried forests, also reflecting periods of glaciations. Ordinary citizens knew little of such science, however at the same time - 1907 - publication of The Abandoned Shores-Lines of Eastern Wisconsin described the effects of glaciation the Lake Algonquin era and more.

As early as 1860 Dennis Shinnick suspected his property was sitting on top such a forest. Shinnick lived in what was then called Coryville (1869 postal site map, left) and was digging a well. Digging about 38’ down, he found a log that measured about 8” in diameter. As he kept digging, he came upon more of what appeared to be the same tree. Shinnick shared the find with Judge Abner Cory who told others. The somewhat porous and spongy wood was hard to identify. Shinnick said the first 10’ of his dig was through hard, yellow clay, but that the wood was found in muck. The feeling was that muck was the top of the soil at an earlier time.

1905 postcard

As unusual as Shinnick’s find was, it appears it never made real headlines. The fledgling Enterprize*  was the county’s only newspaper. In years that followed, here and there along the Kewaunee River, there were also evidences of a buried forest. Wenzel Pavlik was doing some digging about 1880 on his farm near Clyde and about 30’ down he found a well-preserved tree in a bed of solid clay. Intending to farm, Pavlik had been clearing much of the land over the area under which he found the specimen. Where did that tree come from? In the 1890s when railroad work was being accomplished at Clyde, the superintendent ordered a well be dug to provide water for the work crews. Digging just a bit west of the station, the crew came upon buried trees producing a smell that made them retch. Not risking water from the area, the hole that was about 20’ deep was filled in. The Shinnick, Pavlik and station sites were in the same general area.

Nearly 10 years after Shinnick’s find, Joseph Cmeyla had a similar experience in Pierce Town. Cmeyla didn’t come upon trees while digging his well, but he and those helping found ashes about 17’ down. Beneath that was vegetable matter consisting of cedars and so on, but just above that was sand and gravel.

Sturgeon Bay’s The Expositor began educating its readers about buried forests as early as 1876 when it wrote about such things in distant places such as New Jersey and London, England. The Expositor- Independent in 1879 described a find in Hesse Cassal, Germany, a description that could have been Shinnick’s or Pavlik’s. In 1890 the Advocate carried an article about buried cedar in Walworth County. Perhaps the area news didn’t travel or perhaps residents felt those kinds of things didn’t happen here. For whatever reason little was written about what was found in their own backyard.

According to Wisconsin Historical Markers website, the ancient forest near Two Creeks reflects a forested area of about 12,000 years ago. Parking is available for anyone wishing to walk the area and parking directions can be found on the site. Wisconsin income tax forms have a check-off for anyone wishing to donate to the protection of our endangered resources.

Notes: The Town of Coryville was organized by the Kewaunee County Board in November 1856  and named for Abner Cory. The town's July 27, 1860 census shows Coryville had 62 families living within its limits. Chapter 291 of the Laws of the State of Wisconsin in March 1867 changed the town's boundary lines and the Town of Coryville was dissolved. Some sections of the town went to Casco and others to Montpelier and the Town of Kewaunee.
Abner Cory was elected the first county judge in 1857 and served until 1865 when he was succeeded by C.G. Boalt of Ahnapee. Cory lived about a mile south of Clyde. He was Coryville’s first postmaster, appointed 10/16/1866. His office was in the NE quarter of Sec 4 in T23, R24.
*The Enterprize became Enterprise in 1865.

 

 Sources: Ahnapee Record, Algoma Record Herald, Kewaunee Enterprise, Sturgeon Bay Advocate, Expositor, Expositor-Independent; The Abandoned Shore-Lines of Eastern Wisconsin, c. 1907; Here Comes the Mail, Post Offices of Kewaunee County, c. 2010, Wikipedia, Wisconsin Historical Markers' website. Photos are from the blogger's collection.