LA CROSSE HISTORY
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THE LA CROSSE AREA'S HISTORY, DIGITIZED

Pioneers & Settlers


Resources

—Pioneers and Settlers—


Author:
Lewis Publishing Company
Subject:
La Crosse County (Wis.) -- Biography
Monroe County (Wis.) -- Biography
Juneau County (Wis.) -- Biography
Author:
W.C. Rogers
Subject:
United States
Wisconsin
La Crosse
La Crosse (Wis.)--History
La Crosse (WIs.)--Directories
Creator:
Spencer Carr 1811-1880
Description:
this list includes men and eligible women and is not a comprehensive listing of La Crosse residents at the time of publication; it was an attempt to draw young people to the fledgling community on the prairie
Carr was pastor at First Baptist Church
Author:
Wisconsin Historical Society
Creator:
McMillan, Morrison
Description:
"Early Settlement of La Crosse and Monroe Counties" by Morrison McMillan, describes the advantages of the location that first attracted Indians and then white settlers to the area. The organization of the town, the construction of buildings and organization of churches, and the leading citizens in La Crosse are discussed. McMillan then moves to describe the history of Monroe County, the first white settler Franklin Pettit, relations with Indians, and the establishment of other towns in the county.
Part of Wisconsin Historical Collections, Volume IV (1859), pp.387-
Author:
State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Subject:
Frontier and pioneer liffe -- Wisconsin
Wisconsin -- Description and travel
Fort Howard (Wis.)
Creator:
State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Description:
Includes chapters three and four only: III. Recollections of a pioneer woman of La Crosse / by [Fredericka] Augusta Levy (ed. by Albert H. Sanford) -- IV. Another La Crosse pioneer's statement / by John S. Harris.
"From the proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin for 1911, ..."; Includes bibliographical references.
Subject:
Brice, George F
Brice family
Creator:
Brice, George F.
Description:
Memoirs, marriage announcement, and obituary of George F. Brice, Sr.
Author:
Western Historical Company
Subject:
United States
Wisconsin
La Crosse
La Crosse County (Wis.)--History
La Crosse County (Wis.)--Biography
Creator:
Butterfield, Consul Willshire
Subject:
Welsh Americans -- Wisconsin -- Bangor -- History
Assimilation (Sociology)
Bangor (Wis.) -- History
Creator:
Forrester-Jones, Rachel
Author:
La Crosse County Historical Society
Subject:
Mississippi River--Navigation--History
La Crosse River--Navigation--History
Steamboats--Mississippi River--History
Boats and boating
La Crosse (Wis.)--History
Creator:
Hirshheimer, Harry J.
Description:
A chapter in the La Crosse County Historical Sketches, series 7, about the La Crosse River and the Davidson family, well known steamboat and packet company owners and manufacturers in La Crosse. Other lines and the influence of the railroad is also discussed. Written by Harry J. Hirshheimer.
Author:
Western Historical Association
Subject:
United States
Wisconsin
La Crosse
La Crosse County (Wis.)--History
La Crosse County (Wis.)--Biography
Creator:
Bryant, Benjamin F.
Author:
Area Research Center, Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
Subject:
La Crosse County (Wis.) -- History -- Indexes
La Crosse County (Wis.) -- Biography -- Indexes
La Crosse County (Wis.) -- History
Description:
A name index to the History of La Crosse, Wisconsin, 1881.
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Subject:
Olson, Palmer -- Interviews
Oral history
Oral history -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
Interviews -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
La Crosse (Wis.) -- History
Outdoor recreation -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
Entertaining -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
La Crosse (Wis.) -- Social life and customs
Description:
Agnes Osborne discusses her family and memories of her childhood in La Crosse during the turn of the century. Topics include but are not limited to: education, outdoor recreation, social activities, dances, parties, WWI, Great Depression, winter time, and summer time.
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Subject:
Ragland, Geneva F. -- Interviews
Oral history
Oral history -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
Interviews -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
La Crosse (Wis.) -- History
La Crosse (Wis.) -- Social life and customs
Description:
Geneva Ragland discusses her family history and social life and customs in early La Crosse history. Topics include but are not limited to: log riding, Ho-Chunk community members in 1870, baseball, Hixon family and home, Gillette family, Johns family, horse racing, and teaching and education. Tape 2
Author:
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Oral History Program
Subject:
Van Loon, Maude -- Interviews
Oral history
Oral history -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
Interviews -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
La Crosse (Wis.) -- History
Farm life -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse
La Crosse (Wis.) -- Social life and customs
New Amsterdam (La Crosse County, Wis.) -- History
Description:
Van Loon discusses her ancestors' 1856 emigration from the Netherlands to Wisconsin, where they settled in New Amsterdam. She focuses on her father, John Van Loon, and also discusses general family life and her childhood growing up on a farm in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Topics also discussed include but are not limited to: ancestry, immigration from Holland, LaFleur family, New Amsterdam, Native Americans, Presbyterian Church, marriage and work, Childhood memories, diseases, Joseph Losey, her childhood home, her parents railroad tramps, birthday celebrations, farm animals, Christmas celebrations, farming and harvesting, education, Perkins family, Black Americans, childhood games, bluff hiking, agricultural and horticultural societies, traffic concerns with horses and cars, horse races, bird watching, food and cooking, farm labor, as well as local newspapers papers.
Warning, some bits of this recording has sound issues and the audio is incomprehensible.
Tape 2
Tape 3
Tape 4
Tape 5
Description:
Myer Katz (b.1910 - d.1993) grew up in La Crosse in a Jewish family. He would later become a prominent local La Crosse historian. In his interview, he mostly covers topics about his family heritage. The subjects include local Jewish history and immigration, Judaism, family customs and practices, antisemitism, education experiences, and general Jewish history.
Tape 2
Tape 3
Tape 4
Tape 5
Tape 6
Tape 7
Tape 8
Tape 9
Author:
Liesenfeld Press
Subject:
La Crosse (Wis.) -- History
La Crosse (Wis.) -- Biography
Creator:
Pammel, L.H.
Description:
This book written in 1928 is a comprehensive, first person account of people and events in La Crosse in the 19th century by Louis H. Pammel. At the time of publication of this 102 page book in 1928, Pammel was a professor of botany at Iowa State College. His book begins with a general history of La Crosse, a description of the flora and fauna of the area, and his father’s emigration from Germany and arrival in La Crosse in 1855. The focus of the book, though, is on the people that Pammel knew or had acquaintance of and events that occurred La Crosse primarily in the 1870s and 1880s. There is a name index at the back that was added at a later date. There are no illustrations.
Author:
Wingate
Subject:
Germans -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse County
Farms -- Location -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse County
Human geography
La Crosse County (Wis.) -- History
Ethnicity -- Wisconsin -- La Crosse County
Creator:
Wingate, Robert George
Description:
This PhD thesis (1975 University of Minnesota) by Dr. Robert Wingate, emeritus geography professor at UW-La Crosse, is a valuable research tool on the pioneer settlers of La Crosse County. As stated by the author, “The aim of the study is to examine the locational factors operative in decision making during initial selection of farmsteads in La Crosse County when the county was first settled between 1850 and 1875.” The thesis is divided into three major sections: the La Crosse County physical environment, cultural milieu, and settlement patterns. Wingate discusses the choices made by six ethnic groups - Norwegians, British-Irish, Germans, Dutch, French, and Bohemians - when choosing a homestead in La Crosse County. There are numerous graphs and charts along with an extensive bibliography.
Description:
The Wisconsin Pioneer Experience is a digital collection of diaries, letters, reminiscences, speeches and other writings of people who settled and built Wisconsin during the 19th century. The project has been made available through the partnership of the Council of University of Wisconsin Libraries (CUWL) and the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS). The historic papers included in the Wisconsin Pioneer Experience were drawn from the collections of the Area Research Centers (ARC) including the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, as well as the headquarters of the Wisconsin Historical Society. For the Wisconsin Pioneer Experience, the archivists of the ARCs selected numerous collections representative of the various corners of Wisconsin and Wisconsin’s pioneer history. Through these documents, students and non-students alike can learn about life in the early days of the Badger State from the words of those who lived it.
Specific entries from La Crosse include: Nathan Myrick letter, Friedrich Tillman diary.