Wisconsin Genealogy – Free Wisconsin Genealogy

Miami is thought to be derived from the Chippewa word Omaumeg, signifying “people on the peninsula,” but according to their own traditions, it came from the word for pigeon. The name used by themselves, as recorded and often used by early writers, is Twigbtwees, derived from the cry of a crane. Also called: Naked Indians, a common appellation used by the colonists, from a confusion of twanh, twanh, the cry of a crane, with tawa, “naked.” Pkíwi-léni, by the Shawnee, meaning “dust or ashes people.” Sänshkiá-a-rúnû, by the Wyandot, meaning “people dressing finely, or fantastically.” Tawatawas, meaning “naked.” (See Naked…

The influential farmer, James Duncan Mudd of Prairie du Rocher, is a member of the oldest family of settlers in Randolph County. Indeed, his family has been in America since the very earliest days, having come over to Maryland in the time of Lord Baltimore. This band of stout-hearted Englishmen set out from their native shores in 1633 and sought religious freedom in the new world. They established the Church in North America and guaranteed religious liberty, where until then there had been only Puritan fanaticism. The Mudd family were original settlers of this colony. After the Revolution, when the…

There are few citizens of American blood, native born in Randolph County, who date their birth back as far as does Mr. W. S. Conner, a resident of the southern part of Township five — eight. He was born within a quarter of a mile of his present residence, in the year of 1815. He was the son of Henry Conner, who was born in Maryland and moved to Kentucky when ten years old, about the year 1795. The Conner family is of Irish extraction. The name was formerly spelled “O’Connor,” in which form it will be easily recognized as…

Charlevoix and Tantiboth speak of Indians who inhabited the region of country around Lake Michigan, who were well skilled in the art of erecting mounds and fortifications, Charlevoix also states that the Wyandots and the Six Nations disinterred their dead and took the bones from their graves where they had lain for several years and carried them to a large pit previously prepared, in which they deposited them, with the property of the deceased, filling up the pit with earth and erected a mound over it. A string of sleigh-bells much corroded, but still capable of tinkling, is said to have been found among the…

Immediately after the peace of 1763 all the French forts in the west as far as Green Bay were garrisoned with English troops; and the Indians now began to realize, but too late, what they had long apprehended the selfish designs of both French and English threatening destruction, if not utter annihilation, to their entire race. These apprehensions brought upon the theatre of Indian warfare, at that period of time, the most remarkable Indian in the annals of history, Pontiac, the chief of the Ottawa’s and the principal sachem of the Algonquin Confederacy. He was not only distinguished for his…

De Soto and his band gave to the Choctaws at Moma Binah and the Chickasaws at Chikasahha their first lesson in the white man’s modus operandi to civilize and Christianize North American Indians; so has the same lesson been continued to be given to that unfortunate people by his white successors from that day to this, all over this continent, but which to them, was as the tones of an alarm-bell at midnight. And one hundred and twenty-three years have passed since our forefathers declared all men of every nationality to be free and equal on the soil of the North…

The concluding narrative of these personal recollections is that of Angelique Langlade, still living in Penetanguishene at an advanced age, and the last survivor but one of a somewhat noted family. Her command of English is very limited, but her mixed dialect so picturesque and pointed, that I am constrained to present it almost verbatim, in her own simple but expressive style, with apologies to several writers of dialect literature. Ma name, Angelique Langlade; born Drummon Islan; me Chippawa half-breed; ma mudder, Josephine Ah-quah-dah, Chippawa squaw, Yankee tribe; ma fadder, Charles Langlade, French half-breed, hees born Mackinaw, an move Drummon Islan…

The following is from the 1883 Business Directory of Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Brower, T. L., general store. Brower & Son, drugs and groceries. Beach, H., hardware and farm implements. Bassett, Huntington & Co., grain dealers. Butterfield, L. T., photographer. Baldwin, H., Tremont House. Bridenbauch, M., Central House. Chase, L. & Co., general store. Crehain, Dennis, St. Paul Hotel. Conant, Dr., Turkish Bath. Case & Co., grain dealers. Douglass, D. A., notion store. Evans, William, attorney. Eddy, E., physician. Famechon, J., grain dealer. Garvey Brothers, dry goods. Grelle, Charles, furniture. Griesbaugh, Christian, meat market. Haskins, Le Roy, soap manufacturer. Hewitt,…

Many tribes have sub-tribes, bands, gens, clans and phratry.  Often very little information is known or they no longer exist.  We have included them here to provide more information about the tribes. Atchaterakangouen. An Algonquian tribe or band living in the interior of Wisconsin in 1672, near the Mascouten and Kickapoo.