MAGAZINE O/HISTORY
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MAGAZINE o/HISTORY Published Quarterly by the STORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN September 1947 WISCONSIN MAGAZINE of HISTORY CLIFFORD L. LORD, Editor LILLIAN KRUEGER, Associate Editor CONTENTS Chats with the Editor Clifford Lord 1 Olaf Erickson, Scandinavian Frontiersman (I) Oluf Erickson 7 Elisha W. Keyes, the Bismarck of Western Politics Richard W. Hantke 29 The Founding of New Amsterdam in La Crosse County Henry S. Lucas 42 Peshtigo's Other Day Lillian N. Drees 61 The Late John Goadby Gregory William George Bruce 68 The Turner Thesis: A Historian's Controversy J. A. Burkhart 70 DOCUMENTS: History of St. Nazianz Translation by J. J. Schlicher 84 BOOK NOTES 92 THE SOCIETY AND THE STATE 110 The WISCONSIN MAGAZINE OF HISTORY is published quarterly by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN, 816 State Street, Madison, 6. Distributed to members as part of their dues (Annual Membership, $3.00; Life, $50). Yearly subscription, $3.00; single number, 75 cents. Communications should be addressed to the editor. The Society does not assume responsibility for statements made by contributors. Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Madison, Wis- consin, under the act of August 24, 1912. Copyright 1947 by the STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF WISCONSIN. Paid for by the Maria L. and Simeon Mills Editorial Fund and by the George B. Burrows Fund. THE COVER Little ST. NAZIANZ, MANITOWOC COUNTY, had its beginnings in the wilderness. The stumps in the foreground, the pines piercing the horizon, the snake fences in the clearings, the sturdy log houses all testify to the forest-region and to the backbreaking labor which chopped St. Nazianz out of the woods. A beehive of industry, the young colony fenced-out its cows and fenced-in its fields. Faith and work, never-ending, brought compensation to this Catholic community. The translation by the late Dr. Schlicher, found in the Document Section, provides additional in- formation. WISCONSIN MAGAZINE of HISTORY Jp2k Volume 31 September 1947 Number 1 Chats with the Editor T is A HAPPY DAY for the Society when it can repeat to its members the announcement recently made by the Uni- I versity of Wisconsin that the teaching of Wisconsin history at the University will be resumed in February. Work will be offered at undergraduate and graduate levels, according to Pro- _ r. fessor Paul Knaplund, head of the history depart- Wtsconstn ^. , . .,- r / c . ment. This alone is significant news for the Society, JL for here is assurance that interest in our field will be kindled among additional Badgers, promise that many of the major gaps in the written history of the State will be filled in, in the years ahead, by competent students trained in the niceties of professional research, certainty that the riches of our library will be appreciated and utilized by an additional bloc of students from "The Hill." But that is not the sum of the good news involved in this an- nouncement, for the man who will conduct this work is Dr. Vernon Carstensen who received his Doctor's degree at the Uni- versity of Iowa in 1937 and who for the past two years has been working with Professor Curti on the centennial history of the University. We welcome the decision of the University to offer work in Wisconsin history, we welcome their selection of Dr. Carstensen, 2 CHATS WITH THE EDITOR [September and we welcome him into even closer association with us in the field of our mutual interest. THE NEW FISCAL YEAR sees us operating an expanded program with an expanded staff. For those of you who were unable to meet the new heads of the divisions at Manitowoc, • we present them in thumbnail sketch in the hope Members , • 1 i i i i« i J that, in the months and years that lie ahead, you will get to know and to like them as well as we do. John Jenkins is no stranger to the Society. He first came to us in March 1942, serving briefly with the late Charley Brown in the Museum before joining the Army as a buck private. He served for three and a half years, rising to the rank of Captain, and saw service in the Pacific theater, including operations in the Philippines and occupation work in Japan. He, returned in March 1946 as acting curator of the Museum. This past May he became Chief Curator. Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, he lived at Kenosha most of his life. A graduate of the University and mar- ried, he has two children, Sally aged three and one-half, and John aged one. Jess Boell is also a familiar figure in Wisconsin historical circles. A native of Nebraska, he moved to Wisconsin in 1929, attended the University of Wisconsin, served briefly on the faculty, and succeeded Alice E. Smith as State director of the Historical Records Survey. In this position for five and a half years, he gained in- valuable insight into the archival problems of state, county, and municipality which will serve him in good stead in his new post of Chief of the Archives Division, heading the public records program which the Legislature recently established under the So- ciety. He left Madison in 1942 to serve as assistant chief and later acting chief of the War Records Office in the National Archives at Washington. In 1946 he became archival and records advisor for the military government of Greater Hesse, particularly concerning JOHN JENKINS JESS BOELL WILBUR H. GLOVER MRS. MARY T. RYAN 1947} CHATS WITH THE EDITOR 3 himself with the restoration of archives and libraries in that sector of occupied Germany. For the past year, he has been with the Navy and State departments on records management and analysis problems. He returns to Wisconsin and its archives with a wife and one daughter, aged three. Wilbur H. Glover, our new field representative, was born at Fort Atkinson, the son of the editor of Hoard's Dairyman. He was graduated from Milton College and took his doctorate in history at the University. He taught American history at the State teachers colleges at Stevens Point and LaCrosse for seven years, and since 1945 has been preparing the centennial history of the College of Agriculture at the University of Wisconsin. He will be spending much of his time on the road, forwarding the work of the Society and building interest in State and local history. He is also married, and boasts the largest brood of offspring on the society staff: Fleur aged seventeen, Evan aged six, and Deborah aged three. Mrs. Mary T. Ryan, who will head our school program, edit the junior magazine, and advise our junior chapters, is a native of Eagle. She has had a distinguished career in the Wisconsin school system, serving as teacher-librarian at the Algoma and Waukesha high schools, and as supervisor of libraries at the Cudahy High School. For the past seven years she has been assistant supervisor of school libraries in the Department of Public Instruction. Widely known in the school system, we are fortunate to have her to head our junior program. She has one daughter who enters the Uni- versity High School this fall. With these important additions to our staff, we look forward to a biennium of greatly increased activity and public service, and we feel more confident than ever of being able to do justice to the opportunities of the centennial. 4 CHATS WITH THE EDITOR [September IN OUR SOCIETY, from the days of Dr. Draper on, we have been blessed with a tradition of lengthy and devoted service from our staff. The list of those who have given us the better part of their „ _ _,. lives is impressive: Draper, Thwaites, Schafer, The Twenty-Five n . ^ xr u n r n ^T _ , Durne, Nunns, Kellogg, Beecroit, Foster, Year Club ____,,_ _ , r <• Welsh, Evans, Brown—to name but a few or those who have served both long and well. This year, at the annual meeting, the Society formally cited and presented certifi- cates of recognition to four present members of the staff who have been with the Society for twenty-five years or longer: Miss Esther E. DeBoos, Miss Ruth P. Hayward, Miss Dorothy L. Park, and Mrs. Sophia M. Brewer; and to two members of the staff recently retired after equally long tenure: Miss Mary S. Foster and Miss Iva A. Welsh (in absentia). Miss DeBoos came to the Society in 1912, one year after her graduation from the University and has been with us ever since. She is currently in the Reference Division of the Library. Miss Hayward has been a member of the staff since 1916. She has been head of the Catalog Division of the Library since 1944. Mrs. Brewer, who retires next February 1, has been with us since 1918, and is currently the guide in the Museum. Miss Park also joined the staff in 1918, and is presently the head of the Order Division, a position in which she succeeded her sister when the latter died last summer. Similar recognition was also accorded Miss Foster, former head of the Reference Division, and Miss Welsh, former head of the Catalog Division, who retired in 1944 after forty-seven years of service apiece. Miss Welsh now resides in California and was unable to be present for the ceremony. Certificates such as those bestowed on these faithful servants of Wisconsin and the Society are far more than mere pieces of paper, for they carry with them the affectionate gratitude not only of colleagues, past and present, but of the future users of our rich collections.