History of Milwaukee, (Milwaukee County) Wisconsin United States of America

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Local History Notes:

MILWAUKEE, a city, port of entry, capital of Milwaukee county, and the most populous town of Wisconsin, is situated on the west shore of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of Milwaukee river, 90 miles N. from Chicago, and 75 miles E. from Madison. Lat. 43° 3' 45" N., lon. 87° 57' W. It is pleasantly situated on the flats bordering the river, and on the bluffs which rise abruptly from the margin of the lake to the height of about 100 feet. The river approaches from the N. in a direction nearly parallel with the lake shore, and is joined, about 1 mile from its mouth, by the Menomonee river, which comes from the W. The largest boats of the lake can ascend the river 2 miles from its mouth. The general appearance of the city is peculiar and striking from the color and superior quality of the bricks manufactured here. They have a delicate and enduring cream or straw color, which is highly agreeable to the eye, and is not affected by the action of the elements. Many of these bricks are exported to distant parts of the Union. Milwaukee contains about 30 churches, of which 26 are Protestant and 4 Roman Catholic, 5 public schools, the Milwaukee University Institute, a female college, several academies, 3 orphan asylums, and other benevolent institutions. The public press consists of 7 daily newspapers, and about the same number of weekly issues. There are 3 or 4 banks, and several insurance companies. The streets, stores, &c. are lighted with gas. In 1853 the citizens voted a loan of $50,000, to be expended in the improvement of the harbor, Congress having previously appropriated $15,000 to that purpose.

The Milwaukee and Mississippi railroad is completed from this place to Janesville, 70 miles, and is to be extended next year to Madison. Other railroads are in progress to Chicago, Green Bay, Beloit, &c. Plank-roads extend from the city in six directions, with an aggregate length of about 200 miles. Milwaukee is the outlet of the productions of a rich and rapidly improving country. The following quantities of produce were shipped here in 1852, viz. 394,386 bushels of wheat; 345,620 of barley; 428,800 of oats; 88,597 barrels of flour; 1,771,314 pounds of pork in bulk; 19,603 barrels of pork; 321,121 pounds of wool; about 1,000,000 pounds of lead, and 700,000 bricks. The number of arrivals at this port in 1852 was about 1600. The tonnage of vessels owned here, 8548. The navigation is usually open about 8 months in the year, from March to November. Milwaukee enjoys a healthy climate, the great lakes having a sensible influence in modifying the extremes of heat and cold. The mean annual temperature in 3 years was 47°. The extensive water-power of the river constitutes an important element in the prosperity of Milwaukee. At the head of the navigable part of the river, a dam has been built, which raises the water 12 feet, and a canal conveys it to the city. Here are 5 large flouring mills, a woollen factory, several machine shops, and other establishments. The reported value of articles manufactured in 1852 was over $2,000,000. Milwaukee is remarkable for the rapidity of its growth, which has not been surpassed, if equalled, by any of the Western towns. It maintains intimate relations with a region to which a vast emigration is flowing - a region which a few years ago was a solitary waste, or a field of savage warfare, but is now appropriated to the peaceful pursuits and liberal institutions of civilized society. The place was settled in 1835. The city was incorporated in January, 1846. population in 1840, 1751; in 1850, 20,061; and in 1853, about 30,000.

Biographies:

Jeremiah Curtin, philologist and author, was born in Milwaukee, Wis., Sept. 6, 1838; son of David and Ellen (Furlong) Curtin, and grandson of Jeremiah Curtin. He was graduated from Harvard in 1863, where he had shown rare facility as a linguist. He understood all the modern European languages, was thorough in his knowledge of Latin and Greek, and soon made good progress in Hebrew, Sanskrit and Persian. Having a slight knowledge of Russian, he took advantage of the visit of Admiral Lissofsky's fleet to America in 1864 to become acquainted with the admiral and officers, and soon spoke with them in their native tongue. In October, 1864, at the instance of James Russell Lowell, George William Curtis and Senator Foster of Connecticut Secretary Seward appointed him secretary of the U.S. legation at St. Petersburg, and he remained in that position until 1869, taking advantage of his opportunity to study Polish and some other Slav languages, as well as the languages of Central Asia. He went to Prague in 1869, to be present at the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Huss, and he delivered in Bohemian the oration of the day. During his tour he mastered the languages of the southern Slavs, thus completing the linguistic Slav circle. In 1877, after one year in London, spent mainly at the British museum, during which time he read the Hebrew Old Testament through twice and the Koran once in Arabic, he returned to America and devoted himself to the study of the languages of the American Indians. From 1883 he was connected with the Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian institution, as assistant ethnologist, Major Powell, director of the bureau, being ethnologist, till 1891 actively, and from 1891 actively only as occasion required. Between 1883 and 1891 he collected the vocabularies of sixteen Indian languages, of which eight were on the Pacific coast, and spent much time in investigation in California and Central America. He is the author of Myths and Folklore of Ireland (1890); Myths and Folk Tales of the Russians, Western Slavs and Magyars (1890); Myths and Hero Tales of Ireland (1894); Fairy Tales of Ireland. He translated from the Polish the following books by Sienkiewicz: With Fire and Sword (1890); The Deluge (2 vois., 1891); Pan Michael (1893); Children of the Soil (1895); Quo Vadis (1896); Hania (1897); Sielanka, a Forest Picture, and Other Stories (1898); The Knights of the Cross (1898); and from the Russian: Tales of Three Centuries, by Michael Zageskin (1891); Prince Serebryani, by Alexis Tolstoi (1892); Creation Myths of Primitive America in Relation to the Religious History and Mental Development of Mankind (1899). In 1899 he had several works well under way, including Russia and Poland in Their Historical Relations to America, Great Britain and Russia; and a number of volumes on American mythology and linguistics.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Edmond Armitage, 2d bishop of Milwaukee, and 82d in succession in the American episcopate, was born in New York city, Sept. 6, 1830. He was graduated at Columbia college in 1849, and finished a course at the General theological seminary in 1852. He was ordained a deacon, June 27, 1852, and admitted to the priesthood, Sept. 27, 1854. His first curacy was at St. John's church, Portsmouth, N. H.; his second at St. Mark's, Augusta, Me. He next became rector of St. John's, Detroit, and there officiated until his election as assistant bishop of Milwaukee. He was consecrated Dec. 6, 1866, and labored harmoniously with his diocesan, Dr. Kemper, until the death of that venerable prelate in 1870, when he succeeded him in the bishopric of Wisconsin. He received the degree of S.T.D. from Columbia in 1866. He was an earnest preacher and a polished writer. He died from the effects of a surgical operation at St. Luke's hospital, N.Y., Dec. 7, 1873.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

John Lendrum Mitchell, senator, was born in Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 19, 1842; son of Alexander and Martha (Reed) Mitchell, and grandson of John Mitchell, a farmer of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and of Seth Reed, a native of New England, and one of the earliest settlers of Milwaukee. He attended the public schools of Milwaukee, the military school at Hampton, Conn., and the universities of Dresden, Munich and Geneva. He was appointed 2d lieutenant in the 24th Wisconsin volunteers in 1861, was promoted 1st lieutenant on the staff of General Sill, and was subsequently made chief of ordnance on the staff of Gen. Absalom Bayard and served until 1864, when his eyesight failed, forcing him to resign. He was a state senator, 1872-73 and 1875-76. He was married July 11, 1878, to Harriet, daughter of Abraham Becker of South Worcester, N.Y. He was president of the Milwaukee school board, 1884-85; a member of the Democratic national committee, 1888-92, and chairman of the Democratic congressional committee in 1892. He was a Democratic representative from the fourth district of Wisconsin in the 52d congress, 1891-93, and U.S. senator, 1893-99. He was president of the Wisconsin State Agricultural society, and the Northwestern Trotting-Horse Breeders' association and a member of the board of managers of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers from 1886, and vice-president of the board in 1895. He was president of the 24th Wisconsin regimental organization for some years, manager of the Milwaukee Home for Disabled Veterans; vice-president of the Marine National Bank of Milwaukee, Wis., and an officer or stockholder in other commercial and financial institutions of his native city.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

William Livingston Crounse, journalist, was born in Milwaukee, Wis., July 17, 1861: son of Lorenzo L. and Mary C. Crounse. He was prepared for college at the "Gunnery," Washington, Conn., entered the Massachusetts institute of technology, but deciding upon an academical course, was admitted to Harvard, class of 1884. He left college at the death of his father to become manager of a manufacturing concern in which he was interested. Later he disposed of his interest and entered the government service at Washington as disbursing officer, at the same time engaging in journalism. He left the government service in 1885 and began to write regularly for the New York Sun and World, the Boston Globe, the Philadelphia Times and Press, the Pittsburg Despatch, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and other papers. In October, 1888, he was appointed chief correspondent of the New York World, writing principally political news, and travelling extensively in the interest of the paper. He is the author of a volume of letters (1889) originally published in the World, of a monograph on the Chilian question (1892), and of a critical narrative of the Bering sea controversy, publisbed in 1891 in Harper's Weekly.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor