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I ran across this picture while I was working on the biography of George Herbert Anderson.  George was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1897 but came to live with his grandmother, Christina Olson Long, in Stockholm township, Pepin county, Wisconsin after the death of his mother in 1901.  He lived most of his life in the Stockholm area until later in life when he moved to Minneapolis.  He is pictured here holding a dead wolf.   The wolf population of Wisconsin prior to European settlement was estimated to be from 3,000 to 8,000.  No one really knows for sure.  What we do know is that as fur trappers and farmers began to move in to the area in the 1830's, the animals that the wolves preyed on began to disappear. Typically the wolves prey included bison, elk, and white-tailed deer in the south and moose, deer, caribou, and beaver in the north. Hungry wolves began to feed on easy-to-capture livestock.  This was unpopular with farmers as one would expect.  The Wisconsin Legislature, under

 Luan Goodman, 2nd cousin once removed of mine, daughter of Aloysius and Irene Kuhl Goodman, married a man by the name of R. Wiley Brownlee during a time that he was employed in France.  I have not been able to find a marriage record for this couple but their marriage information has been passed down through family interviews.  This blog post is concerned with Wiley Brownlee. Richard Wiley Brownlee was born August 5, 1928 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  He was a well educated man, receiving a bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan in 1951.  After completing a master's degree from Michigan State University he accepted a teaching position in Newfoundland with Pepperrill Air Force Base, later transferring to administration in Spain and France.  While in France he married Luan. He returned to the US to pursue a Ph.D. at MSU.   In 1970 he accepted a high school principalship in Willow Run Community Schools.  Willow Run is located 35 miles west of Detroit.  There is a long histor

John Peter Anderson was born August 17, 1932 in Stockholm, Wisconsin, the fifth child of George Herbert and Mabel Elenora Johnson Anderson.  He was the name sake of his grandfathers, John Peter Johnson and Peter Anderson (Per Andersson).  John was baptized at the Little Pl um Lutheran Church located in Frankfort, Wisconsin, a few miles outside of Pepin.  The Little Plum church was the Johnson family church. John entered the Air Force on July 30, 1951 and graduated a year later from radio school at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi. In 1953 he was stationed in Gottingen, Germany.  He served in the Korean and Vietnam Conflict as a radio operator.   John married Mary Elizabeth Thompson on July 28, 1956.  They were blessed with the birth of two daughters, Denise and Diane.   John passed away at his home in Red Wing, August 1, 2020  at the age of 87.

My cousin, Jude Tropp, emailed the other day asking about whether John B. Kauffman (JB), our grandfather, had been in a railroad accident at some time in his career.  Railroad accidents were extremely common when the railroad was at its height in the 1900's so it wouldn't be surprising.  The reason Jude asked was that his mother had shared a story about JB being in an accident that caused him to have all his hair burned off and when it grew back his hair was pure white. John B. Kauffman began working for the Chicago and North Western Railroad in 1904 working continuously for 41 years and 6 months and retiring in 1947.  It is likely that he heard about many railroad accidents over the years that he was employed.  Upon researching the accidents that occurred in Janesville involving the Chicago and North Western railroad during the time that JB was working I found three accidents that I would categorize as being quite severe and injuring railroad workers. In the reports that I rea

In the old days of genealogy, it was difficult to always see the original source.   Because of distance and time constraints I relied on letter writing and the goodness of others to help me research family stories.   Such was the case when trying to find records of the Anderson and Long families in Stockholm, Wisconsin.     I wrote a letter to the Pastor of the Sabylünd Lutheran church in Stockholm where Dennis’ family worshipped.  This is the reply to my question regarding the Lång family.   In fact, twice in this letter Pastor Fehr named the wife of Peter Nilson Lång as Stina Kajsa Long.   Not being familiar with Swedish names, for years I assumed her maiden name was Kajsa.   While researching the family at one point I noticed that many other researchers had listed her name as Kristina Olson.   Where did they get that from?   When I was finally able to look at the original document, I understood why Pastor Fehr gave me the information that he did.   Stina’s information is the second

While preparing to write a Life Story on my grandmother, Emilie Stark Schachtschneider, I reviewed some of the documents that I had collected.  What power there is in review of what you already have!  I was looking at the New York ship manifest (which gave me a reminder that Emilie came through Ellis Island) when it came to my attention that Emilie was not traveling alone.  Listed with her was an Edmund Stark, age 26.   This made many things go through my head.  Of course, the first thing was, who the heck is Edmund Stark?  I had never heard of him before.  Then I thought, is this the correct Emilie?  Could this be a husband and wife instead of my grandmother and potentially a brother?  The one notation that made me continue to think that this was my grandmother was the destination of these two Starks:  Edgerton, Wis.  What are the odds that two young people from Germany would specifically say they were going to the exact small Wisconsin town that they lived in for years afterward? So

Thomas Edison invented a light bulb that was reliable and long-lasting in 1879.  In 1882, with the help of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of New York, Thomas Edison installed electric lights in parts of Manhattan.  Most homes continued to use gas and candle light for many years after this. By 1925 about 50% of all American homes had installed electric lights.   While indexing the 1919 Janesville Daily Gazette I find interesting articles.  Sometimes they pertain to family but not always.  This article does not pertain to family but it certainly illustrates how dangerous electricity was in the early days of its use.   The article reads: The city council has awarded damages to the extent of $5,000 to Edward Draeger for the death of his wife, due to electric shocks when she attempted to turn on one of the city's incandescent lights a few weeks ago.  After a search, I was not able to locate any more information about this accident.  I think the city got off pretty easy. Refere

The sixty-seven-year-old impoverished widow of George Martin, Susannah North Martin of Amesbury, was hanged as a witch on July 19, 1692 on the basis of the testimony of the accusing circle of girls of Salem Village and other neighbors. Although she maintained her innocence to the end, a previous history of witchcraft accusations and the momentum of Salem's accusations carried her to the gallows. Susannah Martin figures in historian Carol Karlsen's account of the Salem outbreak as an example of a woman who was easily targeted as a threat to the orderly transmission of property down the paternal line because of Martin's role in an ongoing court dispute over her father's will.  Women were not supposed to step outside of their assigned roles.    There are 23 depositions/testimonies at the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project ( http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n92.html ), University of Virginia Library,  related to Susannah Martin.  Here is the depos

Michael Goodman immigrated as a child to Wisconsin from Ireland with his family.   The family lived south of LaValle, Sauk county, close to Michael’s uncle, Thomas Goodman.   Michael’s father, Peter, and his uncle Thomas worked at the pig iron foundry in Ironton.   After processing, the iron was shipped to Lake Michigan, but when the port facilities did not materialize the foundry closed.   This is probably what prompted a move to Janesville by the Peter Goodman family where Michael eventually became a livery man.   Because horses and wagons were the primary mode of transportation in the 1800’s livery stables were an integral part of the community.  A livery stable offered horses, teams and wagons of all sorts for hire.  Funeral Cortege in front of livery stable in Janesville, Wisconsin   As automobiles became available in the early 1900’s livery stables slowly converted to include the use of cars for taxiing individuals.  Michael Goodman’s livery stable was no different.  He was the f

  This 1865 photo shows Main Street in Janesville, Wisconsin.   The store, Lamont & Fuller, can be seen in the foreground.  Lamont  & Fuller dealt in groceries, crockery, flour, feed, butter, cheese and fruits.   Their store was located at 8 North Main Street.   The sidewalks are constructed of wooden planks, and the road is dirt.   There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to the traffic, or to the parking, either.   I wonder how a pedestrian ever crossed the street without bumping into a horse or dragging a long skirt in manure.  Considering that the first white settlers arrived in Janesville in 1835, this photo shows a great deal of development in just 30 years.     The photo is from a stereopticon image available online; (1860 - 1920) Main St. Janesville, Wis. Retrieved from the Digital Public Library of America, http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-bec8-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99   The information about Lamont & Fuller is from “ Holland's Janesville city direct

Oswald J. Hitz [1] married Sarah J. Harper in December of 1883.  While researching Sarah Harper an interesting incident was discovered that involved her father, Manadier D. Harper.  The event is known as the Great Hanging of 1862 at Gainesville, Texas.    Rising tensions in Cooke county, Texas were the result of increased migration to the area following an expansion of the Butterfield Overland Mail route, a semi-weekly mail and passenger stage service that traveled from St. Louis, through northern Texas, terminating in San Francisco.  The new migrants to the area did not own slaves which caused the numbers of slave owners to dwindle.  By 1862 only 10% of the population of Cooke county owned slaves.  Cooke and surrounding counties voted against secession which focused the fears of the slave holders in the county on the residents of the county that did not own slaves.  A rumor circulated that 1,700 men had joined a Union League and were going to attack Confederate militia arsenals.  Due

July 26, 2020   Dennis and I took a trip up to Woodland township, Sauk county to see if we could find the old Goodman homestead and then to visit Goodman graves at St. Patrick’s cemetery outside Hillsboro.  Using a combination of 1859 and 1906 plat maps, a modern highway map of Wisconsin, two pictures of the homestead, one from about 1901, the other from 1992, and relying on my memory of a visit many years ago, we were able to locate the homestead.  It had changed greatly since I had seen it last.  The barn that had stood to the left of the house was gone and there was a new pole barn standing to the right of the house.  The house looked dilapidated, but it did look like it was being worked on.  There was a new roof and a portion of the exterior was covered in sheathing.  There was a lot of vegetation standing in front of it which made it difficult to see the entire building.  When I had seen the house previously there was a pretty pond that stood between the road and the house. The po

Cecilia Goodman was born to Irish immigrant parents on a homestead located on the headwaters of Plum Creek in Woodland township, Sauk county, Wisconsin.  The setting was idyllic with large trees surrounding the cabin and a small pond located just steps from the front door.  But the homestead was isolated.  The closest towns were Wonewoc and Hillsboro, small villages with little to offer a young woman looking for excitement and opportunity.  Luckily for Cecilia, she had an uncle, a brother-in-law and nieces and nephews that lived in the city of Janesville, located in southern Wisconsin.   Cecilia Goodman Moyer Cecilia got more excitement than she was hoping for when she met young Ira Sankey Moyer in Janesville.  Ira was born in Indiana but was attending a school in Janesville studying telegraphy.  Ira and Cecilia married on 2 August 1904 in Union City, Juneau county, Wisconsin.  At the time of their marriage Ira was living in Harvard, Illinois, working for the railroad while Cecilia was

Problem:  Place and date of birth for Benjamin Coffman (Kauffman, Kaufman) The process of finding the date and place of birth for Benjamin Coffman was probably no different than what other researchers have faced.   Family stories led us all astray for many years.  The family told us that Benjamin was born in Germany.  The tales went on to say that on the journey from Germany, Benjamin's father died.  We were told that Benjamin had 12 brothers that also traveled with him and his parents to America.  The one kernel of truth that was related to us was that a name associated with the family, besides Kauffman, was Omlör.   Unraveling the family stories Through DNA analysis, I found a match with the surname Omlor.  A record was found for Catherine Omlor who married Lewis Kauffman in Lorain County, Ohio on 27 SEP 1835.  In the 1840 U.S. Census a record was found for a Lewis Coffman household in Sherman township, in the adjoining county of Huron.  This record just gave the number of males