Author: Amanda

Hello Forest County Residents!

I have been digitizing the photograph collection of the Forest County Historical and Genealogical Society for the few months. Recently I came across a photograph of a trolley driving down Lake Avenue in Crandon. The photo is not dated but the streets are dirt except for the trolley track so it is an early photo of Crandon.

“Frank Sprague installed a complete system of electric streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, in 1888. This was the first large scale and successful use of electricity to run a city’s entire system of streetcars.After 1888, many cities turned to electric-powered streetcars. To get electricity to the streetcars from the powerhouse where it was generated, an overhead wire was installed over city streets. A streetcar would touch this electric wire with a long pole on its roof. Back at the powerhouse, big steam engines would turn huge generators to produce the electricity needed to operate the streetcars. A new name was soon developed for streetcars powered by electricity; they were called trolley cars” (http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blstreetcars.htm).

If anyone has any information on or photo of the early trolley cars that operated in Crandon please let me know so we can explore a new aspect of Forest County history.

Happy Halloween Forest County Residents!
This week’s post is by request from some of the participants of the Flashlight Lakeside Cemetery Tour. During the tour the story of Sabra Ison was told, who at one time was one of the oldest people in the nation! When she turned 100 years old she received a birthday card from Mamie Eisenhower, the President’s wife.
This is Sabra’ s story:
Sabra was born in Virginia in 1858 to John Porter and Rhoda Salyers Porter. She was the youngest of twenty one siblings. When Sabra was one year old her family went west to Kentucky traveling in a covered wagon through the Cumberland Gap. She spent her childhood in Isonville, Kentucky. On the family farm she sewed all the clothing for the family, sheered sheep, carded the wool, spun and wove it into linen from flax. She also made soap, carried water from the well, and churned butter. The Porter’s had some fun times too. The community would gather together for house raisings and quilting bees.
Sabra recalled during the Civil War that a group of Quantrill raiders came to her family’s farm and forced her father to turn over nine horses. She hid in the bushes while the raiders threatened to kill her father. The raiders would steal livestock and sell them to both armies to make a large profit. The War Between the States was a dangerous time for everyone. At that time Sabra and her friends actually thought Abraham Lincoln was one of the ugliest men they had ever seen? They used to draw cartoons in school making fun of him!
Sabra met and married her husband Aaron Ison on Sept 30 of 1874.  Shortly after they were wed Sabra was hanging up the wash outside and a few rough looking men rode up on horseback. She ran into their cabin and locked the door. From the window she witnessed a brawl between the riders and a pursuing posse. After a member of the posse was wounded the fight ended and they all broke off. Sabra found out that the riders were Jesse James and two of his bandit friends.
Aaron and Sabra moved to Crandon on March 17, 1904 to the area known as “Siding One” which was four miles west of Crandon. All the Isons settled there, it was a small community with a church, school, store, and post office. They actually donated land for a cemetery in this area. Aaron made a living logging and farming. Aaron also had a license from the government to make whiskey. But during prohibition he would also brew moonshine to make some extra money. This landed him in jail. When he got out of jail he headed straight for the gold fields and did not come back for four years! Do you know what the first thing he said when he returned was?
“Would you be afraid if I took my boots off?” Can you believe it?!
Sabra had fifteen children, 68 grandchildren, 125 great grandchildren, and 25 great great grandchildren at the time of my death. She was one hundred years old when she passed away in 1958 of a heart attack (Deward Ison, Forest Republican).

 

Happy Friday Forest County Residents!
This Monday, October 27th the Crandon Public Library and Forest County Historical Society are hosting a “Flashlight Lakeside Cemetery Tour” at 6 pm at the Lakeside Cemetery in Crandon. The Crandon High School Drama Club will be enacting the stories of individuals laid to rest in Lakeside Cemetery next to the gravestones. So bring your flashlight and follow us through the graveyard while the actors bring to life the accounts of murder mysteries, victims of illness, and prominent historical figures.  For those of you that attended the cemetery tour this summer, this tour features all new stories brought to you in a new and exciting way! Please dress for the weather. The tour will be cancelled if there are thunderstorms.
Here is one of the stories from the previous cemetery tour this summer, just to give you a little taste of what to expect!
Hugh McGinnis Space 7 Lot 1 Block D
Hugh was born in Ireland in 1870. He spent his teenage years working as a grocer until he heard stories of the opportunities in the United States. He traveled to Chicago to work as a wrapper in a soap factory. Then he traveled to St. Louis to work as a hospital attendant. At the age of 20 year old he enlisted in the U. S. army and was sent to Missouri with the First Battalion of the seventh cavalry. He took part in the Battle of Wounded Knee against the Sioux Indians and was wounded in the arm and leg and spent a year in an army hospital. After he recovered he moved to Wisconsin to work in the lumber industry. He lived 55 years alone in a cottage outside of Crandon until his death in 1965.
Hugh remembered the famous battle this way ” Through the interpreter, Colonel Forsyth got down to the business at hand. But the Indians were very far from pleased when he requested them to surrender their arms. They argued that they needed their old fowling pieces to kill game in order to survive. This plea failed to move Colonel Forsyth, however and he insisted that the Sioux go back to their tents and return with their weapons. Forsyth then detailed a number of soldiers to search their tents and confiscate the Indians arsenal. The Sioux became agitated by the cries of their squaws, who attempted to prevent the soldiers from scattering their belongings. Fantastic as it sounds, the surrounding troops were firing wildly into this seething mass of humanity, subjecting us as well as the Indians to a deadly crossfire while the first volley from the Hotchkiss guns mowed down scores of women and children who had been watching the proceedings. Few escaped the merciless slaughter dealt out that dreadful day by members of the Seventh Calvary. There as no discrimination of age or sex, children as well as women with babes in their arms were brought down as far as two miles from the Wounded Knee Crossing”(Glasgow, McGinnis, 1965).

Hello Forest County Residents!
According to the Forest Republican the following events took place this week in 1905:

• The Lutheran people were about to purchase a new organ for their church
• Dr. S.M.B Smith of Wausau was in town Tuesday shaking hands with old friends . He was here for court matters.
• Dr. Decker had decided to open a hospital in his house
• The new locomotive purchased by Page and Landeck Lumber Company came Tuesday morning. It ran around the spur and side tracks “like a little daisy”
• Professor W.C. Hewitt of the Oshkosh Normal School came to Crandon to give a free lecture on “Common Sense Education”
• Jas Walsh’s brother and mother were here again this week, his brother was going away Tuesday

I encourage the community to visit the Local History Room at the Crandon Public Library where all of the local newspapers are available on microfilm. It is interesting to learn what was going on in the lives of ordinary citizens of the county and it fascinating that the newspaper editors chose to print it. Can you imagine what the paper would look like today  if they published it every time someone became sick or went on vacation?

Hello Forest County Residents!
I hope all the high school students around the county are enjoying the homecoming festivities. Homecoming week has long been a tradition throughout the country. It began in universities around 1910 and spread in popularity until it was a staple of every students’ high school experience (www. active.com). Featured in this blog are photos from Crandon’s homecoming of 1957.
The festivities were described in the 1958 yearbook:
” The fun started homecoming eve with the snake dance and went full blast to the end of the homecoming dance, the official end of the festivities. We had the usual roaring bonfire and coronation in the gym, and something new this year. Since the homecoming was centered around the Golden Anniversary of Crandon High, the guests of honor were living members of the graduating class of 1908. They each gave a little pep talk at the coronation ceremonies,  and were given seats on the 50 year line at the game. Game day was a brisk, sunny day,a perfect day for both parade and game. The parade was long and quite beautiful with 30 floats. Although we lost, the game was a good one. Then, to top off the homecoming, there was a beautiful dance, with Queen Glenda Adams and King Dale McKee”.

 
 

Hello Forest County Residents!

I thought you would enjoy this photo of N.H. Smith and the early surveyors of Northern Wisconsin. I cannot imagine how difficult it would have been to trek through the dense woods of Forest County to try and create maps and lay out boundaries. How would present day surveyors feel about operating with this early equipment? Has anyone ever used equipment like this?

Hello Forest County!

This week I was given a packet of interviews done by Mrs. DiMartino’s 7th grade Social Studies class in 2008. The students choose senior members of the community and asked them questions about the Great Depression. I am going to share with you a sample  of the interview done by Ronnie Krueger speaking about Marie Davis.

“Marie Davis was 10 years old when the stock market crashed. During the Great Depression money was scarce. To save electricity, Marie’s family would put candles o the Christmas tree. Marie’s family was one of the more fortunate families. Her mother was very good friends with a woman who got oranges from Florida, so they got fresh oranges. They only ate half an orange per sitting. Her father was very good friends with a man who worked at a creamery, so they also always had butter. They were also lucky in that they were one of the only families in the neighborhood with a radio. Her father would always make the family be quiet whenever President Roosevelt would come on the radio. She said her father absolutely adored President Roosevelt. He campaigned for him his second term. He once told Marie that Roosevelt, ” Pulled the nation together” (Krueger, 2008).

If anyone of the teachers at the local schools would like to do a similar project in their classrooms this year please let me know . The Crandon Public Library is always happy to facilitate kids with the opportunity to be involved in local history.

Hello Forest County Residents!

The Forest County Fair is this weekend September 5th-7th, and there is nothing more historic than an old fashioned county fair. I encourage everyone to visit the fairgrounds located in Crandon to check out the Forest County Historical Society booth which is filled with photographs of early Forest County events and people. There is also a booth featuring the history of the fair surrounded by objects that would have been used by residents to prepare for the festivities. There is also a lot of other fun activities such as the talent show, rides and games, and the Healthy Harvest Day on Saturday beginning at 9 am.

The fair has always been a momentous event in our county’s history. According to several of oral history interviews, this was one event that bought all the families that lived in the country into town. Steve Conway remembers the fair this way:

” The fairgrounds used to have cart races or trotters. They had a solid clay quarter mile track and a grand stand. Across from the grand stand they had a stage where they put on performances. They also had big round barn and that was where the horses were. They had another place where they kept the horses that they used for racing. They had two wheel carts and the horses would pull them and it was a lot of fun. At the end of the pens is where they kept the races horses that they brought in. The race horses were not local. They trotted, they could not run. It was the prettiest thing. The horses were so graceful. So county fair was a big thing. There was a wooden fence all around it so you had to pay to get in unless you removed some boards and snuck in”.

Hello Forest County Residents!

For those of you who were not on the Historic Lakeside Cemetery Tour I decided to share one of the stories that was told at the event.

Angus Plummer, the son of Anderson and Sallie Bowman Plummer, was born in Lee county, Kentucky.  Shortly after his birth, the extended Plummer family began the migration to Northern Wisconsin.  Angus’ father Anderson, and his uncles Matt and Sam Plummer, left Kentucky and made their way to Goodman, Wisconsin where, according to the Goodman Centennial book they helped build many of the original buildings that made up the town of Goodman.

Shortly after their time in Goodman, Matt and Sam Plummer settled in the Crandon area while Anderson, along with his wife and children, settled in Peshtigo.  It is here that Angus, at the age of 12, contracted and died as a result of scarlet fever.

Early in the 20th century scarlet fever was a leading cause of death among children in the United States.  In 1912, the State of Wisconsin reported 3,304 cases of Scarlet Fever with 283 resulting deaths.  The cause of Scarlet Fever was not known in 1912, although physicians knew that it was a “germ” disease and was very contagious.  The Wisconsin State Board of Health demanded that children who had contracted the disease be quarantined at home for at least 21 days from the beginning of the disease.  If the child was lucky enough to survive the disease he or she was required to stay home from school for at least six weeks while siblings or any other child associated with the child was banned from attending school 10 days after the quarantine had been lifted from their homes (Michelle Gobert 2014).

Angus’ death and burial in the Crandon cemetery was not reported in the Crandon newspapers even though his aunts, uncles and cousins were settled here.  Whether this was due to the fact that he was living in Peshtigo at the time or due in fact that his death was from the dreaded scarlet fever we will never know.  Family lore tells us that his father wanted him buried in Crandon so that he would be near family and if you look around we now know that this is true (Michelle Gobert 2014).