During the quarter ending December 31, 1917, five new life and
twenty-four annual members were added to the State Historical Society.
The new life members are: Henry F. De Puy, of New York City; Walter S.
Lacher, of La Grange, Illinois; Thomas E. Lyons, of Madison; Chester
H. Thordarson, of Chicago; and J. Russell Wheeler, of Columbus,
Wisconsin. The list of new annual members is as follows: Rev. A. S.
Badger, Waukesha; George Banta, Menasha; George Banta, Jr., Menasha;
Dr. Robert C. Brown, Milwaukee; Arthur J. Dopp, Waukesha; Emerson Ela,
Madison; Judge Oscar M. Fritz, Milwaukee; Professor J. L. Gillen,
Madison; L. H. Gingles, Waukesha; George Bird Grinnell, New York City;
William G. Hanson, Milwaukee; George C. Holmes, Madison; John T.
Kenney, Madison; Professor A. C. Kingsford, Baraboo; Gilbert L.
Lacher, Chicago; Judge David W. Maloney, Ladysmith; Dean Lois K.
Mathews, Madison; Carl E. Nord, Sioux City; Cyril A. Peerenboom,
Appleton; A. L. Saltzstein, Milwaukee; Judge James E. Thomas,
Waukesha; Frank J. Wilder, Boston; Edwin E. Witte, Madison; and Henry
M. Youmans, Waukesha.
Dr. James W. Vance of Madison died October 31, 1917. Dr. Vance had
been a member of the State Historical Society for thirty years. Mr.
Walter P. Bishop, vice president of the E. P. Bacon Company of
Milwaukee and since 1909 a member of the State Historical Society,
died October 10, 1917. Mr. Michael A. Hurley of Wausau, a member of
the Society since 1906, died September 25, 1917. Mr. Archie E. Wood,
of Whitehall, died October 8, 1917.
Rev. Eugene G. Updike, of Madison, whose completion of a
twenty-seven-year pastorate of the First Congregational Church was
noted in a recent number of this magazine, died at the Madison General
Hospital December 24, 1917. Dr. Updike was a life member of the State
Historical Society, and throughout his long pastorate at Madison had
taken an active part in civic and educational affairs generally.
Hon. Thomas E. Nash, of Grand Rapids, for sixteen years a life member
of the State Historical Society, died at his home December 13, 1917.
Mr. Nash was brought to Wisconsin in infancy by his parents. He had
been engaged in railroad work for many years when in 1882 he was
appointed by Postmaster General Vilas chief clerk of the post office
department and the following year general superintendent of the
railway mail service. In 1888 Mr. Nash organized the Nekoosa Pulp and
Paper Company with which he continued to be prominently associated
until ill health forced his retirement from active work a few years
ago.
Volume XXIV of the Society’s _Collections_, entitled _Frontier Retreat
on the Upper Ohio, 1779-1781_, copy for which was sent to the state
printer in December, 1916, at length came from the press in December,
1917, and was distributed the first of the year to the Society’s
members and exchanges. The reading of galley proof on Volume XXV of
the _Collections_ was completed early in December. The contents of
this volume, entitled _An English Settler in Pioneer Wisconsin: the
Letters of Edwin Bottomley, 1842-1850_, differ markedly from those of
any preceding volume of the _Collections_. The papers printed present
a rarely intimate picture of the life and problems of the pioneer
Wisconsin farmer and constitute, it is believed, a valuable
contribution of source material to the history of the territorial
period of Wisconsin’s development.
With the establishment of the WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY it is no
longer necessary, as it has been for upwards of a generation, to print
historical contributions and discussions in the annual volume known as
the _Proceedings_ of the Society. Shorn of this supplementary
historical matter, the official report of the activities of the
Society and its auxiliaries for 1917 shrinks to a document of less
than 100 pages. Copy for this was sent to the state printer in
January. Should the MAGAZINE prove, on sufficient trial, to justify
the continuance of its existence, the scope and character of the
contents of the _Proceedings_ for 1917 will set the standard,
presumably, for the issues of succeeding years.
A brief statement concerning four important editorial enterprises now
being prosecuted may be in order. Work on the series of volumes
designed to constitute a documentary history of Wisconsin’s
constitution, which has been prosecuted intermittently by the
Superintendent for the past two years, has now reached a stage where
it seems likely that copy for one volume can be sent to the printer
before the close of the Society’s present fiscal year. Probably four
volumes will be requisite to complete the series. After the editing of
the first one shall have been completed, the remaining ones may be
expected to follow in fairly rapid order. Work on the second volume of
the Draper Calendar series, mention of which was made in the MAGAZINE
for September, 1917, has progressed haltingly, due to the war-time
disruption of the office staff. It now seems safe to predict that the
copy will be ready for the printer by the end of the month. The other
enterprises alluded to were both initiated in the autumn of 1917. Dr.
Kellogg began work at that time on the preparation of a volume of
source material pertaining to the Indian treaties and land cessions
which are of more particular interest to Wisconsin. This project has
long been in mind, but its execution was necessarily deferred until
the search for documents in the Indian Office Files, begun three years
ago, should be completed. Dr. Oliver began in September the editing of
a volume of source material in the Society’s manuscript collection
pertaining to Wisconsin’s activities in the Civil War. With this
volume will be initiated a Civil War series of the _Collections_ which
will in time, it is hoped, run to many volumes.
A note may be inserted here concerning three items of lesser scope and
importance than the foregoing, all of them bibliographical in
character. A trenchant and thoroughgoing report on the state archives
situation in Wisconsin, prepared for the Society by Mr. Theodore
Blegen in the summer of 1917, was sent to the printer early in the
winter. Copy for a supplementary checklist of the collection of
newspapers in the Historical Library to list the accessions from the
time of publication in 1911 of the Society’s monumental _Annotated
Catalogue of Newspaper Files_ down to January 1, 1918, has been under
preparation for more than a year. It has at length been sent to the
printer, and will appear in due time as one of the Society’s
_Bulletins of Information_. Taken in conjunction with the _Annotated
Catalogue_, this bulletin will afford a complete index to the
Society’s splendid collection of newspapers, the second largest, it is
believed, in America. It is hoped that in the future, annual
supplements of the previous year’s accumulations may be issued in
connection with the annual checklist of _Periodicals and Newspapers
Currently Received_ by the Library. In February, 1917, the Society
began the publication of a monthly _Checklist of Wisconsin Public
Documents_ the contents of each number pertaining to the state
documents issued during the preceding month. This publication has
proved of much usefulness, apparently, and is in widespread demand by
librarians, students of the social sciences, and governmental
departments. A cumulative checklist of all state documents issued
during the year 1917 has been prepared and will be issued as soon as
practicable.
The project for the initial volume of the Society’s Hollister
Pharmaceutical Series, made possible by the bequest of the late
Colonel and Mrs. Hollister of Madison, has at length assumed definite
and, it is believed, interesting form. According to the original plan,
Dr. Edward Kremers of the University Pharmacy Department undertook to
translate and edit for the Society Pierre Jartu’s notable treatise on
the ginseng plant. In the course of the work this project has
gradually enlarged until now, with the coöperation of Dr. Richtmann,
it is proposed to prepare a comprehensive treatise of the several
aspects, pharmaceutical, commercial, and otherwise, of the history of
ginseng. Such a volume should worthily initiate this unique scientific
series for which the Society has long been planning.
Colonel John Hicks of Oshkosh, publisher of the _Daily Northwestern_
and one of the best known newspaper men in Wisconsin, died suddenly at
San Antonio, Texas, December 20, 1917. Colonel Hicks was much
interested in Wisconsin history, in the making of which he had been
for fifty years an active participant. At the time of his death, he
was engaged in writing his reminiscences for publication in the
_Northwestern_, and within a few days of his demise had taken up with
the State Historical Society the question of possible publication by
it of his reminiscences in book form. As a result of Colonel Hick’s
public beneficence, statues of Chief Oshkosh and of Carl Schurz adorn
his home city, while in several of the public schools are bronze busts
of prominent Americans for whom the buildings are severally named.
Mr. William H. Ellsworth of Milwaukee, one of Wisconsin’s best known
archeological collectors, died November 6, 1917. At the time of his
death Mr. Ellsworth was vice president of the Wisconsin Archeological
Society. To the work of that institution he had devoted a large part
of his time and means. Valuable archeological collections made by him
are found in the museums of Beloit College, in the Minnesota
Historical Society, and in the Milwaukee Public Museum.
John F. Appleby, inventor of the Appleby twine binder, died at his
home in Chicago, November 8, 1917. Mr. Appleby was one of the notable
Wisconsin inventors who have contributed materially to the scientific
and economic development of the country. During the decade of the
fifties, when the great West was unfolding its agricultural riches,
the farmers suddenly realized that the only limitation upon the amount
of their wheat acreage was their ability to harvest the crop. The
McCormick reaper had already made its appearance, but it served only
to cut the grain, leaving it lying loose upon the ground to be bound
by hand. Some device for holding the grain and binding it into sheaves
was essential before the wheat acreage of the West could be materially
increased. After years of experimentation in a little shop in Beloit,
Appleby announced the construction of a mechanical twine binder. The
original model of his invention, which is substantially identical with
the device now in use on scores of thousands of farms in America and
abroad, may be seen in the museum of the State Historical Society at
Madison.
Mr. Christian Abrahamson, of Chicago, has recently painted a portrait
of former Supreme Court Judge J. E. Dodge, of Milwaukee, for
presentation to the State Historical Society. A replica of the
portrait has also been prepared for the Supreme Court room in the
Capitol.
Mr. C. E. Freeman, of Menomonie, Wisconsin, has presented to the
Society an interesting document pertaining to the railroad
farm-mortgage projects of the fifties in Wisconsin. Readers of Mr.
Merk’s _Economic History of Wisconsin During the Civil War Decade_,
published by the Society last year, need not be told how important was
the rôle played by the railroad farm mortgage in the economic and
political annals of early Wisconsin. The document presented by Mr.
Freeman is a contract between the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad and
a farmer, whereby the railroad company agrees to cancel the interest
on the individual’s farm mortgage in return for the relinquishment by
the latter of his prospective dividends on his railroad stock. This
was a central feature of the farm mortgage scheme, yet at the time of
writing his _Economic History_, Mr. Merk was unable to uncover any
direct documentary evidence concerning it. This hiatus in the
Society’s collection of historical material pertaining to the subject
of railroad farm mortgages is now filled by the gift of Mr. Freeman.
A fine bronze bas relief of Mary Elizabeth Mears, better known,
perhaps, by her pen name, Nellie Wildwood, has been received by the
Society from her daughter in New York. The bas relief is the work of
another daughter of Mrs. Mears, Helen Farnsworth Mears, who was for
many years prior to her death in 1916 one of Wisconsin’s most notable
artists. The “Recollections” of Mrs. Mears were published in the
_Proceedings_ of the Society for 1916. The Madison Art Association has
secured for hanging in the State Historical Museum a copy of Miss
Mears’s Augustus St. Gaudens.
Colonel Michael Frank, “father of the free public school system of
Wisconsin,” was born in New York in 1804 and died in Kenosha in 1895.
He came to Southport (now Kenosha) to reside in October, 1839. Three
months later, on January 1, 1840, he began keeping a diary. Upon its
conclusion, December 31, 1890, this work had continued half a century
and filled thirty-nine bound manuscript volumes. Throughout this
half-century Colonel Frank figured as one of the prominently useful
citizens of the territory and state. His voluminous diary has now come
to the State Historical Society from its possessor, Mr. F. H. Lyman,
of Kenosha, an old neighbor and friend of Colonel Frank. The diary is
well preserved and written in an excellent hand. Although only a
cursory examination has as yet been made of its contents, it seems
evident that the work will prove a valuable aid to students interested
in this period of Wisconsin’s history.
[Illustration: MARY ELIZABETH MEARS
From a bas relief owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society]
A collection of papers of Governor Nelson Dewey, consisting
principally of a business account book and several annual volumes of
his diary, has been presented to the Society by Mr. R. A. Watkins of
Lancaster. The diary of Governor Dewey seems to have been widely
scattered. Some volumes of it have long been in the Historical
Library, and several more are in the possession of a resident of
Cassville.
Several interesting additions of noncurrent newspaper files were made
to the Library during the quarter ending December 31, 1917. Most
interesting locally, perhaps, is a file of _Lucifer_, 1884-98, in
fifteen bound volumes. Publication of _Lucifer_ was begun at Madison
in 1882; later it was continued at Milwaukee until the demise of the
paper in 1898. Published in German, it was the organ of the Turner
societies, and manifested a liberal and anti-Catholic viewpoint. To
the Society’s slowly-growing file of photostatic copies of the _Boston
News Letter_ all known existing issues for the years 1726-29,
inclusive, were acquired during the quarter. Other files of
Massachusetts papers acquired are the Newburyport _Evening Union_
(daily), January 1-September 18, 1851, and _Russell’s Gazette_
(Boston, semi-weekly), January-July, 1800. Finally, two Ohio papers
were added: the Cleveland _Recorder_, 1896-97, and July-December,
1899, in four volumes, and the Cincinnati _Graphic_, August,
1885-November, 1886, in two volumes.
From Captain George Jackson of Chicago the Society has received a rare
volume possessed of much sentimental interest. It is “Dr. Mort.
Luther’s _Lesser Catechism_,” published in New York in 1842. But one
other copy of the book is known to be in existence and this is in
private hands. The _Lesser Catechism_ was the first book in the
Norwegian language to be printed in America.
A scrapbook filled with clippings concerning the Kansas troubles and
the Civil War has been presented to the State Historical Society by
Louis W. Bridgman, son of Edward Bridgman, who died in Madison in
August, 1915. Mr. Bridgman migrated to “Bleeding Kansas” from
Massachusetts in the spring of 1856. Staking out a claim near
Osawatomie, he soon took up living quarters with the brother of Susan
B. Anthony, who was also a Massachusetts crusader in the cause of
freedom. To their cabin one evening late in August, 1856, came John
Brown with his band of tired followers. Here they spent the night and
were having breakfast the next morning, when news arrived of the
impending attack upon Osawatomie by a large band of proslavery
Missourians. Leaving the unfinished meal, Brown and his men started to
meet the invaders. Bridgman and Anthony followed as soon as they could
pull their cooking utensils from the open fire. Thus Bridgman
participated in Osawatomie, John Brown’s most notable battle, and
lived to become probably the last survivor of Brown’s band of
followers on that day.
A few years later, having returned to Massachusetts, he enlisted in
the Thirty-seventh Infantry in which he served during the Civil War. A
school teacher by profession, he wrote frequent letters to the press,
both during his Civil War career and in later years, describing his
experiences, and retailing his recollections. The scrapbook now
presented by his son, and largely made up of such clippings,
constitutes a valuable contribution to the Society’s collection of
Civil War material.
The September number of the MAGAZINE contained an account of the gift
to the state of Perrot State Park, including in its limits Trempealeau
Mountain and the site of Perrot’s “fort” or wintering place of 1689.
It is gratifying to be able to record the gift at Christmas time of
another splendid park site to the state. Mr. Martin Pattison of
Superior is the donor whose enlightened generosity makes possible the
preservation for public use and enjoyment of the Manitou Falls of
Black River, some fifteen miles out of Superior. Mr. Pattison has been
quietly at work for several years securing the title to some 600 acres
of woodland around the falls, “Douglas County’s most cherished beauty
spot,” in order to make this public disposition of it. Thus another
bit of historic Wisconsin scenery gives promise of being permanently
preserved in its virgin state for the enjoyment of future generations
of Wisconsin citizens.
During the holiday season the State Historical Museum had on exhibit a
small Christmas tree, decorated with patriotic emblems of all the
allied countries. Diminutive flags representing the national colors,
Red Cross flags, food conservation buttons, a miniature Red Cross
service flag, tiny bundles of liberty bonds, diminutive airplanes, and
machine guns were all displayed. Small gilt discs, representing each
of the camps in which Wisconsin boys are training, were also
displayed. All of the decorations were arranged so as to embody the
red, white, and blue color scheme.
Mr. Charles E. Graves, formerly exchange librarian of the University
of Illinois, became librarian of the Minnesota Historical Society at
St. Paul, November 1, 1917.
During the closing months of 1917 the Minnesota Historical Society
moved into its splendid new home which has been in the process of
erection during the last two years. As the historical development of
Wisconsin and of Minnesota has much in common, it is but natural that
the relations between the historical societies of the two states
should be cordial and intimate. That the further career of the
Minnesota Historical Society shall be such that before many years the
new home will prove to be as inadequate as the old one has long been,
is the best wish we, in behalf of the State Historical Society of
Wisconsin, can extend to it at this season of congratulation.
The Michigan Historical Commission is actively engaged in a campaign
to save the important state documents and archives of the
commonwealth. Recently the original copy of the first Michigan
constitution (1835) was found in the state capitol hidden away in an
old tin can, where it had been placed many years ago. The ends of the
document were so badly mutilated that the names of some of the signers
could no longer be read. Appropriate treatment to insure against
further deterioration of this priceless manuscript was applied, and it
is now suitably housed in the capitol building. The preliminary step
looking to the establishment of an archival department for Michigan
has already been taken by the historical commission. Messrs. F. B.
Streeter and J. H. Russell have been engaged to collect, arrange, and
classify the archives of the state, and have already entered upon this
important work.