Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin. Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, 1890, P288 - 289 A great deal that is of interest in connection with the history of Marquette County will be found in the chapter on settlement of Green Lake County. The first settlement within the current county limits was made in the town of Buffalo in the spring of 1848 by H. F. Owen and J. I. O'Blainis. A schoolhouse was built shortly afterward, and the first term of school was taught by a man named Birdsall. The lands south of the lake were placed in the market by the Government several years prior to the offering of those lands situated north of that body of water. The first religious services were conducted by a Catholic priest, who officiated at a mission on an island in Spring Lake, in the town of Shields. This was as early as 1848. The first Protestant clergyman was Isaac Smith, a Primitive Methodist, who held meetings in the different settlements in the fall of 1848. S. A. Pease came to this county in 1850, and was its first practicing physician. The first entry of Government land was May 11, 1836, by John Noyes, in the present town of Packwaukee. This name is given in honor of a friendly Winnebago chief. Early in the history of this county, before actual settlement had advanced or was well begun, foreign speculators, charmed by the beautiful scenery which here abounds, and encouraged by the presence of the Fox River and Buffalo Lake and other bodies of water, located and platted several town sites, which they advertised thorughout the East, without accomplishing much in the inducement of settlement, however. The first deed of land in Marquette County (then Brown County) was dated August 22, 1836. The western towns are peopled mostly by Americans, while in the eastern and northern parts of the county the foreign element is well represented. James Daniels was the first settler upon the site of Montello, locating in 1849. About the same time the Darts, J. M. and Joseph R., came. Between 1850 and 1852 came John Lewis, Dr. H. S. Pratt, the Kelleys and others, including Phillips & Giddings, merchants, and E. K. Smith; hotel keeper. Among other pioneers in various parts of the county were the following: William Morgan, George Reed, Robert Lytle, James Foley, John Bremner, George, Robert and William McKay, John Madden, John Campion, James Graham, James Mair, David Taylor, David Eggleston, John Annis, Neil Diamond, Stephen and William Maynard, in Buffalo; William Murphy, H. S. Thomas, Patrick Clark, P. Mason, John Cleary, James Slowey, William McGinnis, James Briggs, H. H. Parrott, in Douglas; Christian Togats, in Crystal Lake; Alexander Potts, James Dyas, F. M. Wicks, Michael Barry, John Barry, William A. Stebbins, James Harris, Joseph Farrington, W. H. Peters, in Harris; the Darts, Patrick McDonald, James Barry, L. O. Evans, Richard Giddings, Bonaparte Baker, Joseph Lake, Elkanah Smith, Solon Davis, William and John Cogan, John Stinson, Timothy Hayes, Edward Murray in Montello; Stephen and William Fallis, in Mecan; William Boyden, the Slades, in Newton; Robert Hume, M. G. Ellison, Rev. Isaac Smith. Thomas Mills, Isaac Brown, W. L. Gaylord, H. Brown, L. Felton, R. Wells, D. Coon, George Skinner, William Walson, George Denby, George Bain, in Moundville; Michael Powers, Nicholas Gernon, L. D. Ralph, Benjamin Hayes, William Clay, Andrew Scobey, J. A. Wells, in Neshkoro; E. Pettingill, E. T. Older, C. G. Barker, Jesse Older, William Ewen, David Phelps, S. A. Pease, John Chapman, E. King, Samuel Wayman, E. McCoffrey, Robert Page, William Peet, Charles Metcalf, Chester Frink, Town Whitson, in Packwaukee; D. K. Deveney, James Clavin, P. Curley, James Croarken, in Shields; David Sands, William Stiles, in Springfield; Robert Cochran, Samuel Crockett, Frank and Samuel Russell, Thomas Hamilton, Thomas Block, Charles Crantz, Philo Lackey, in Westfield; William Alford, the Ormsby's, H. H. Taylor, William Johnson, Eli McNutt, in Oxford.
Back to the Marquette Pages Menu
