How-To Essay #7 - Why Did They Come?
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- "I was wondering if anyone could
tell me if there was any kind of promotional deal around the
time of the 1850s to
- entice people to settle in Wisconsin.
It seems to me that most of the people in that area arrived around
then or in the 1840s."
-
- Well...
- The Black Hawk War drove out or killed
the most war waging Indians, the lead mining boom in southwestern
Wisconsin
- brought a lot of people into Wisconsin,
but until the Federal government changed the law (about 1836)
it was not possible to own land - only to stake a mining claim.
- Before the prairies west of the Mississippi
River were ever broken to the plow, Wisconsin was the major wheat
growing
- area in the United States (1836-1860).
The invasion of the chinch bug and loss of the loessial soil
cap due to erosion caused by poor farming practices put an end
to wheat production in Wisconsin.
- The lumber boom (1830-1890) with clear
cutting of mature stands of mostly white pine brought large numbers
of people
- and the resulting cleared land (except
for the stumps) brought many farmers behind it.
- The dairy industry developed after
about 1850 as the deforested areas grew grass for grazing and
cattle could harvest
- around the stumps left behind before
they rotted enough to make them easier to remove. There was a
famine in Ireland in the 1840's that drove a large number of
farmers who knew dairying to the USA. The consolidation of the
numerous German states from 1848-1870 drove a lot of Germans
who knew dairying to the USA.
- There was a large influx of immigrants
with farming backgrounds from Switzerland, Luxemburg, and Holland
that brought
- a lot more farmers. The Hottentot expulsion
from France caused a large number of farmers to settle in Wisconsin.
- By 1890 there had been so much emigration
from Europe that the original settlers of Wisconsin who had come
from the
- eastern US and were mostly English
in background became a minority.
- -----------------------------
Online references:
- WIGenWeb-Rock
County website
- <http://www.rootsweb.com/~wirock/>
- WI-ALHN-Rock
County website
- <http://www.usgennet.org/usa/wi/county/rock/>
-
- (c)2002 Lori
Niemuth* <dawnlea@ticon.net>
-
- *Please be aware that I'm not a genealogy,
history or geology expert. I welcome any corrections or additions.
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Last
updated: September 8, 2002