'Pioneer Wisconsin' From the Settlers' Perspective

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In 1830, most of Wisconsin’s inhabitants were Native Americans. Twenty years later, they were outnumbered by settlers 50 to one, according to Michael E. Stevens. In The Making of Pioneer Wisconsin: Voices of Early Settlers, the Wisconsin State Historian Emeritus focuses on the settlers by examining the paper trail they left behind, largely through the letters they wrote and the diaries they kept. They arrived in large number from the 1830s through 1850s, the period covered here; they came from back east and down south and from several European nations, they spoke many languages and wrestled with the emergence of a distinct American culture.

The letters often told of the difficulty of the journey, especially the trans-Atlantic crossing from Europe. Some immigrants flocked to the growing cities on the Lake Michigan shore, but those intent on farming told stories similar to the man who made “a shanty to live in” before cutting logs for more permanent housing. The help of neighbors could usually be counted on. Not everyone wrote glowingly to the folks back home of what they found in Wisconsin. A Norwegian settler complained of the difficulty in finding employment and the many diseases “raging here” in the Upper Midwest.

Especially interesting are letters written to the territorial authorities arguing for and against prohibition of alcohol and slavery—the latter institution finding support among Southern settlers in mining country. Temperance never took hold in Wisconsin outside communities of New England Protestants and Wisconsin’s black population were allowed to petition for their rights. By the close of The Making of Pioneer Wisconsin, letter writers commented on how rapidly the newly formed state had changed and on the enterprising character of the immigrants who brought energy and ideas to the U.S.