Turning Points
in Wisconsin History
19th-Century Immigration
The first quarter of the nineteenth century was marked by westward migration into the regions north and west of the Ohio River. Though Wisconsin was initially a distant frontier, the small numbers of French, English, Americans, and American Indians who resided there had nonetheless explored and used the rich land and water resources that would soon bring thousands of immigrants into Wisconsin.
Prior to the Black Hawk War in 1832, Indians primarily inhabited much of Wisconsin. By the mid nineteenth century, though, Indians had been induced to cede most of their lands to the federal government. Some were relocated west of... more...
Original Documents and Other Primary Sources
 | Carl Schurz describes why he settled in Wisconsin. |
| Recollections of Old Superior |
| Milwaukee's Irish neighborhood in the 19th century |
| The early Jewish history of LaCrosse |
| Milwaukee's 19th-c. Jewish neighborhood recollected |
| The roots of Milwaukee's Jewish community in the mid-19th century |
| An overview of Polish immigration through 1896 |
| Theodore Rodolf recounts his life in the lead region in the 1830s |
| The first German women to settle in Milwaukee. |
| The first Norwegian immigrants are recalled. |
| Madison's Italian community in the early 20th century |
| A Polish immigrant recalls coming to Milwaukee as a boy in 1868 |
| A Connecticut Yankee writes home about Wisconsin's virtues in 1847. |
| A real-life "Little House" girlhood in Waupaca County. |
| Recollections of Wisconsin slaves by pioneer settlers. |
| Early History of the Brothertown Indians |
| The character and activities of Bohemian immigrants, 1901 |
| A description of the early Polish immigrants to Wisconsin, 1901 |
| Fifty years of Polish settlement in Portage County, 1857-1907 |
| Czech immigrants settle in Langlade County in the 1880s |
| A Polish couple braves the loneliness to settle Pike Lake |
| The history and settlement of Langlade County |
| A little bit of Italy in Vernon County |
| A Yankee Childhood in Dodge County |
| An Immigrant Who Became a Northwoods Missionary |
 | A costume from a Racine Purim carnival |
| A traditional Ukrainian Easter egg |
| A violin becomes a Norwegian fiddle, 1893 |
| The oldest toast in Wisconsin |
| A Norwegian trinket box |
| Two sausage stuffers |
| Rosemaled Norwegian Immigrant Trunk, 1845 |
 | Promoters describe Superior in its infancy |
| Promoters try to entice settlers to Bayfield County |
| A teenager's diary of coming overland from Ohio in 1846 |
| A popular handbook teaches immigrants about Wisconsin, 1851. |
| Barron County officials encourage settlers to emigrate to the northwoods. |
| Northwoods officials try to attract settlers onto cutover lands, 1902. |
| A German immigrant advises others about coming to Wisconsin (1849) |
| An Abolitionist Recalls Anti-Slavery Days in Wisconsin |
| A survey report of migratory labor in Wisconsin in 1962 |
| A German emigrant guidebook, 1841 |
| Horse thieves on the Wisconsin frontier, 1832-1865 |
| Folklore and folktales collected by Charles E. Brown |
| A speech by Brothertown Indian leader Samsom Occom, 1771 |
| A guide to the Mohican language, 1789 |
| The state markets itself to immigrants, 1867-1896 |
| An 1875 history of the Chippewa Valley |
 | Stories by and about German immigrants. |
| Stories by and about Norwegian immigrants. |
| Stories by and about immigrants from Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. |
| Stories by and about Swiss immigrants. |
| Stories by and about Czech and Hungarian immigrants. |
| Stories by and about Italian immigrants. |
| Stories by and about Dutch and Belgian immigrants. |
 | An Austrian painter depicts Wisconsin in the 1850s |
| Pictures of John Muir |
| An advertisement tries to attract settlers to the cutover region. |
 | Ma Ingalls describes family life in 1861 |
| 30 original manuscript letters of John Muir, 1861-1914 |
| John Muir's younger brother recalls their boyhood. |
| An Austrian painter describes sketches made while traveling Wisconsin, 1856-1860 |
| A German immigrant describes coming to Wisconsin. |
| A Norwegian immigrant describes coming to Wisconsin in 1840. |
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