Odd Wisconsin Archive
Wisconsin's First Poet
Dateline: Hazel Green, Grant County, May 2, 1856. On this day died one of Wisconsin's great eccentrics, the poet and scientist James Gates Percival. Utterly lacking in ambition and confidence, the outcast scholar mastered a dozen languages and the emerging science of geology while huddled in seclusion among his books. Named the first state geologist in middle age, he spent his days crouched in holes and caves and returned home “with weary knees to a supperless cottage to feast on moonshine.” Read more about him in our collection of Wisconsin Local History & Biography Articles.
:: Posted in Odd Lives on August 16, 2004
Did You Know?
The Wisconsin Historical Museum is currently featuring Odd Wisconsin objects in the latest exhibit: Odd Wisconsin. And don't miss the Odd Wisconsin book by author Erika Janik published by the Wisconsin Historical Society Press.
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