German Villages Become a Part of Wisconsin

Saint John the Baptist Catholic Church in St. John, Wisconsin

My "German" ancestors did not think of themselves as people who came from Germany - because at the time they arrived in Wisconsin, there was no land called Germany.  They were Germanic peoples who called themselves Bavarians, Prussians from the Rhineland, and Egerlanders (German Bohemians from the Austrian Empire).  Somehow, they all converged in two townships in tiny Calumet County and became "Wisconsinites."  

In the 1860s, the Rhinelanders who had been ruled by Prussia settled in a small area of Woodville Township in Calumet County.  It was heavily wooded, with mostly uncleared land.  The "125th Aniversary of St. John the Baptist Congregation, St. John Wisconsin," refers to the township as one of the most fertile farming districts that can be found in the State of Wisconsin.  

While he is almost unknown in any of the histories of the Town of Woodville or in the list of immigrants from the tiny village of Irish One of the first Irsch settlers in the Town of Woodville, Calumet County, Wisconsin was Philip Thomas.  His name and the names of his wife and children, appear in the 1860 Census of the United States.   He was the brother-in-law of Heinrich Britten who, along with my ancestor and several other families from Irsch, set out for the Town of Woodville by way of the Port of Le Havre in March of 1861.  Very possibly, he had written one of the famous "America Letters" which urged German countrymen to come to the new world.  

There was also a little pamphlet called "Wisconsin: What it Offers to the Immigrant." published in English and German by the State Board of Imimigration of Wisconsin, along with another called "Wisconsin: Bevölkerung, Bodenbeschaffenheit und Klima im Norden Wisconsin." (The Population, Soil Condition and Climate of Northern Wisconsin).  Both were distributed by the Wisconsin Office of Emigration from 1852-1855.

Over the next 15 years, an American version of a very small German village formed and called itself St. John, in honor of St. John the Baptist.  Possibly it was letters written by Philip Thomas to Heinrich Britten that brought about this "little Irsch."

The same thing was happening all over Wisconsin.  Settlers from the Rhineland villages of Zerf and Oberzerf, in the 1850s made their way to rich farm land west of Madison to a near a town appropriately called "Black Earth."  Matthias Rauls of Oberzerf was one of them; his sister and my great grandmother, Magdalena Rauls, settled in St. John with her husband John Meier who came from Irsch. 

The first concern for the settlers who arrived in 1861 was shelter, then clearing and planting some land, enough to see them through the winter.  But by 1862, they were feeling the need for a Catholic parish.  On November 24, 1862, four acres of land had been donated for the building of a log church, a mission church which was serviced by the various pastors of St. Francis Church of Hollandtown, Wisconsin.  

Settlers, including many more from Irsch, continued to arrive and purchase land in the Township and by about 1865, the log church was too small to accomodate all of the Catholic population in the area.  A frame church was constructed and named St. John the Baptist when it was blessed and dedicated by Bishop Henni, who later became the first Archbishop of Milwaukee.  

Five years later, still not satisfied with their church, which was the heart of the village now called St. John, the brick church, remodeled a little but still standing, was built at a cost of $6,545.  

Sources:

125th Anniversary of St. John The Baptist Congregation, St. John Wisconsin, 1862-1987

State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Germans in Wisconsin by Richard H. Zeitlin, 1977

The Great American Sport - Base Ball

Vintage baseball team, the Eagle Diamonds, sponsored by Old World Wisconsin.


Base ball teams in small villages in 1860's Wisconsin? Yes, indeed. Soldiers played base ball during their free time in camp during the Civil War; and when they came home, they continued to play, introducing it to their communities. At that time, the sport was spelled as two words, base ball. Players were called ballists.

The game supposedly started in Boston Massachusetts and spread to New York, where there was codification of the rules. Those rules were considerably different than those we know today. For instance some rules could be decided by the home team, such as those for stealing bases.

Team members did have uniforms. Those for the Eagle Diamonds in the picture above are reproductions of uniforms typical of the 1860's and 1870's. Local sawmills made the bats. The balls were leather and in the beginning, there were no baseball gloves. The game was played bare-handed.

Base ball games between local teams started in 1865 in towns like Baraboo and Beloit Wisconsin. One game in a town in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, had a score of 52 to 31. Quite a slugfest.

One bit of historical trivial: Enterprising publishers began issuing baseball trading cards with pictures of star athletes in the 1870s.

Sources:
Wisconsin Historical Society Internet Site
Notes from "Behind the Scenes Tour for Friends of Old World Wisconsin"

From Sheep to Dye Pot

Wild tansy












Before the wool was placed in the drying basket, many hours of work had been performed. In spring, the sheep had to be sheared. The shearer, seated on a low stool, held the head of the sheep under the chin and tilted it backward so that it was sitting between the shearer's legs. Because it was positioned on its spine just above its tail, the animal was off balance and fairly comfortable. Thus the sheep did not struggle much as they lost their heavy winter coats to the shearer. When released many of the sheep staggered as they walked away. The loss of their heavy coats put them off balance and it took a few minutes for them to regain it.

To dye wool, the women had to search for wild plants or, at times, waste parts of the plants from the garden.

Black walnuts produced a brown dye if placed in an iron pot but a reddish color in a copper pot. Red onion skins gave wool either and orange or a green color, depending on how long it was kept in the pot. Summac yielded a gray color; yarrow, a beige. Queen Anne's lace produced a pale green; mullein, pale yellow. The tansy (shown above) gave wood a pale yellow color.

A cheese cloth bag held the herbs while the yarn was being dyed in the pot

Wisconsin pioneers thought of black wool as a bit of a curse. The women could not dye the wool of a black sheep. For that reason, there was disappointment when a black sheep was dropped by one of the ewes. Hence the expression "He was the black sheep of the family."

How do you dry wet wool

Here's an answer to a question I had never thought about. When a pioneer woman finally finished the tedious process of carding, spinning and dying her wool, how did she dry it? One effective way is by making and using a wool drying basket.  A wool drying basket would have been used by the fireside. According to a workshop brochure from Old World Wisconsin "this is not your average basket! This large basket is square with handles on each side and sits atop four-inch legs.

Wildflowers of the New Land

On a "Wildflower Walk" at the open-air museum in Waukesha County called Old World Wisconsin, a naturalist took us through the prairie fields that are being tended there. The objective is to bring back as many of the native species as possible. However, as any gardener knows, invaders are always present and so we discussed those as well. The naturalist also said that while southeastern Wisconsin had open oak prairies, the eastern counties upstate were usually heavily wooded.

As we walked, I took note of the unfamiliar plants which the 19th century immigrant might have found. And perhaps the alien species traveled as treasured seeds and a reminder of the homeland. The books, WILDFLOWERS OF WISCONSIN by Stan Tekiela and ROADSIDE PLANTS AND FLOWERS by Marian S. Edsall, helped me fill in the holes in my notes for some of the species that we saw.

*The Black-eyed Susan, a native wildflower of the Wisconsin prairies, needs disturbed earth to reseed. Because the American Indians burned off old, dry vegetation in spring, this wildflower flourished.

*Compass Plant takes its name from leaves that focus themselves north or south, depending on the time of day.

*Spiderwort, with its exotic purple-blue flowers that open in the morning and often wilt by noon, was sometimes called "Widow's Tears" because the wilted flower gave off a wet residue. Native plant.

*New Jersey Tea, a bushy plant with small white flowers, got its name because an ersatz tea could be made from the leaves. This plant's deep roots, which gave off a red juice, could stop a horse-drawn plow. Native plant.

*Wild Bergamot, often called Bee Balm, Oswego tea or Monarda, is a member of the mint family, and familiar in most Wisconsin gardens today. It was often used as a tea that to treat respiratory and digestive ailments. Native plant.

*Yarrow comes in many varieties, some native and some Eurasian. It grows in open fields and along roads. The leaves were sometimes chewed as a remedy for toothache.

*The Prairie Rose is a climbing, single pink rose; the rose hips were used for tea. Native plant.

*Black Medick is a legume type of plant from the clover family. Its blossoms form into small yellow balls. It increases the fertility of the soil with nitrogen, as do alfalfa and other clover-family plants.

*White Campion has a daisy-like petal and each petal is notched. There is a small bladder below each flower, distinguishing it from other members of the daisy family. There are both native and alien varieties.

*Plantain is a low growing plant that has big leaves with ridges that stand out. There is a legend that the plantain was once a woman who stood waiting for a lover who never came. Hence it is thought to heal sore feet. The young leaves can be used for tea.

*Soapwort, sometimes also called "Bouncing Bet" is a plant with pink or white flowers and indented petals. Its leaves give off a soapy substance and could be used to wash dishes

*Woodbine, sometimes called Virginia Creeper, looks very much like poison ivy. It is a member of the grape family and will climb trees and fences. It produces a blue-black berry.

*Fleabane has fringe-like tiny white or yellow daisies. Its crushed leaves were thought to help keep away fleas and insects.

*Butterfly Milkweed has narrow leaves and deep taproots that help it survive dry weather and mowing. The taproots were once boiled as a treatment for pleurisy. Monarch butterflies are fond of it but unlike the common mildewed, its juice is watery, not milky. Native plant.

*Wild Indigo, a relative of the clover family, produces a type of blue dye. Its green leaves turn black when dried. It is about the only clover that is a native plant.

*Common Mullein, sometimes called flannel leaf, is a member of the snapdragon family. Its flower is a club-like spike covered with tiny yellow flowers. It is a European import. It is said that in ancient times the flower heads would be combined, coated with tallow, and lighted to serve as a weapon somewhat similar to the modern flame-thrower. The upper leaves were an old remedy for respiratory problems.

*Ox-Eye Daisy, with a large flower head, can easily grow wild. The naturalist guide called it a native plant; my flower books say it is a European garden import. It flowers spring and summer. Each petal is actually a composite of several flowers and the center is made up of tiny yellow flower disks.

*Ragweed, the hay-fever sufferer's nightmare, is a native plant that thrives on disturbed soil. Its green flower heads release the yellow pollen that are the cause of the allergic reaction. It has bitter leaves and will make the milk of any cow desperate enough to eat it too bitter to drink.