Thursday, April 4, 2013

Wisconsin Peoples

This image, showing the fondness families often have for their ancestors, is the cover of The Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin from October of 1942. The issue's title is "Wisconsin's Changing Population," and it features interesting summaries under the heading of Settlement and Population Growth, such as: Streams of Settlement, The Coming of the British, Yankee farmers Come from New England and New York, Continental Europeans Find Opportunities Here, and Census Reflects Changes in Place of Birth and Nationality of State's Citizens.

Here is one quote, up for discussion: "Dairying was initiated in Wisconsin under the leadership of a few Yankees who had sensed the bankruptcy of wheat culture and who were seeking a more solid and permanent base for agriculture. But dairying was accepted and made a practical working farm industry by the Germans and Swiss preeminently. The Yankees did not wish 'to be tied to a cow,' but the regularity of the work and of the income were the very things which appealed to the industrious Germans and Swiss. They had brought with them for Europe a familiarity with cheese and butter-making. Their practical pioneering became the basis for the Wisconsin dairy industry of today."

The frontispiece of the issue is the famous map, in color, by George W. Hill, "People of Wisconsin According to Ethnic Stocks, 1940." Hill used census statistics and other state information to create his map.