Albert Fisher owned the big house in Angelica. It is still there but now it's the white house instead of the pink and green house that I remember in my childhood. It is across the road from where Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Graf are now living.

Harry and Albert Fisher owned the general store, which they bought from Andrew Spence. The merchandise they sold at that time was mostly sold in bulk, very little was in packages. Coffee brands that I remember are Champaine, Arbuckles 4XXXX, Mexaha and Blue Rose plus others. Tea came in bamboo-woven casts with gunmetal and paper linings. Grandma Fisher made beautiful sunbonnets out of this woven material and I owned one of them. Rice, sugar, brown sugar, coffee, peanuts, oatmeal, starch, etc. were all in large covered bins. Syrup molasses and vinegar were in large barrels. Some brands of syrup were Clover Leaf and Kara. Eggs were brought to trade for groceries and were brought in containers or were packed in oats to keep them from breaking. There was box for the oats underneath the counter. The merchants used this oats for their horses and for extra income. Butter was also brought in crocks and traded for merchandise.

Crackers came in 30 pound boxes, as did gingersnaps and other cookies. Later they came in 10 pound boxes but they all would get soggy in the summertime.

Candy came in large wooden pails fitted 5 pound containers like peanut candy, creams, chocolates, hard mixes and stick candy. Horehound, anise and peppermint were the most popular flavors and always a bag of candy for free was among your grocery order.

K.C., Royal and Calumet were brands of baking powder and another brand as sold in lamp chimneys, I don't remember the brand name. Arm and Hammer soda was on the market long before I was born. There was a series of animal pictures in the first boxes and later on it was birds - all in beautiful color. Nobody forgot their kerosene can when they came to the store. If you didn't have a cork to fit the end of the spout, why they just stuck a small potato or a prune on the end. It all served the same purpose.

There was also a box of free tobacco for the farmers to fill their pipes or to take a chew as they sat about talking of the current events and the local news while the women did their shopping. There were spittoons in most every place of business or if there was a knot in the floor they used that and were pretty good at hitting the hole. Men chewed a lot of plug tobacco such as Horse Shoe (my dad's brand), Star, Plow Boy, Standard, Navy, Spearhead and Rope Twist. A cutting machine was used to cut off 5 or 10 cent pieces of plug. Snuff was also sold in bulk and was carried in fancy snuff boxes made of cowhorn - polished boxes with ornamental covers to carry the precious contents. Some women did some snuff sniffing on the sly, but not in polite society.

Then there was tanglefoot fly paper, two sheets for $.05, it came in two sheets stuck together and was pulled apart to set in desirable places where flies could sit on it and get stuck. There was one caution about setting it out - be sure it was weighted down as a stiff breeze could send it flying and then it caught more than flies and was a mess to clean up. A black poison fly paper came in sheets of five in an envelope at $.50 and was set out in shallow dishes of water sprinkled with sugar to induce the flies, but this was not one of the best poisons-as children were inclined to taste and in some cases proved fatal.

Thread was in a special cabinet as were ribbons and chewing gum. You put a cent in a slot and got a large stick of gum which we would break in half and still get a pretty good mouth full. Oh, yes we learned to keep our overhead down when we were quite young and made our pennies go as far as possible.

Clay pipes were a cent apiece and we kids would have bubble blowing parties with pipes that had broken stems. Uncle Harry Fisher would give them to us children. A clay pipe usually went with a pail of smoking tobacco. They were appreciated, as some of those pipe smoker's pipes got pretty ripe.

There was a lot of yard goods like Calicoes, ginghams, lawns, heavy cottons and wool materials. There weren't too many ladies that had readymade clothes. There was a lot of men's wear and underwear. You could usually tell the size of the family by the underwear on the clothesline - it was Pa, Ma and all the kids. Wool was spun and knitted into stockings. Various dyes were used like sumac, it gave a henna color, onion skins brown, rhubarb leaves green and then there were the commercial dyes which were Diamond and Putman.

There was no such thing as buying bread. Most all women were good at the art of baking. If you ran out of bread, you borrowed a loaf from your neighbor; or, if you had time you made Johnny cake or soda biscuits. The brands of flour used at that time were Cream of Wheat, manufactured in DePere, Wisconsin. Rose, Pillsbury, New Deal, A and P's special, Sweet Loaf, Ethan Allen, Gold Medal and others that I don't recollect. Cake or pie was not bought either.

Fishers also sold pianos, lightening rods, eye glasses, stump pullers, windmills, wet stones (that we kids had to turn for hours so as to have knives, scythes and sickles sharp). Like all general stores they sold most everything else, also oilcloth and buggy whips. Athol McKenna sold the first aluminum utensils that we ever used in our home, it was a coffee percolator.

Fishers also had a large horse stable where they kept their horses and a large carriage house. It was one place in Angelica that we kids had to keep out of, as we were cautioned to keep away from the horses so as not to get hurt. I guess it was for our own good but at that time we couldn't see it that way. Adolph Deering, Frank Burmeister and Frank Lutz were Fisher's salesmen.

There was a little red and white barn between the house and store where Bertie kept his little brown pony. I guess Bertie's right name was Albert. Anyway I enjoyed his pony and liked to ride in his little cart. He and I were playmates and went to Sunday School together. I didn't know too much about Harrison Fisher. He was brother Ray's age and he didn't interest me. He liked the older girls. He went to high school in Seymour and his mother kept house for him there.

Then Fishers bought an automobile - a beautiful five passenger "Wisco". It had doors in the back but not in front and a large rubber ball called a horn that when you gave it a squeeze it made a noise loud enough to wake the dead. I don't know why it was needed because people sure could hear that car coming, at that time cars didn't run top quiet.

Horses were scared stiff when they met these cars, drivers got out of their buggy, and drove their horses in the ditch next to a fence post, and lady drivers covered their horses face with their aprons so that their horses couldn't see the contraption that made the terrible noise; but never the less the autos won out. Now you seldom see a horse and buggy except in Amish country.

Phil Amhouser was the chauffer and he wore a special cap and duster when he drove the grand car. The Fisher's second car was a seven passenger Kissel.

One Sunday afternoon, Mrs. Fisher invited Dad, Mother and I to go for a ride in their automobile. This was my first auto ride. We went somewhere near Zachow, had a picnic lunch and gathered beechnuts. That was one day in my memory that I'll never forget.

Grandpa and Grandma Fisher came from Canada. They were the parents of Albert, Harry and William. Will lived with his parents in a little house north of the Fisher's big house. Grandpa and Grandma Fisher were a dear old couple and all the neighboring children loved them as well as anyone else.

Fishers also built houses for their help and in the space of time several different families lived in them. Emil and I lived in one of these houses. It was while we lived there our two children were born, Carl in 1923 and Marie in 1925. Later we sold the house to Ray and Clara Martin. They lived there until they passed away and now their grandson occupies it. He is a technician for Curtiss Breeding Service. A storage barn was between Fisher's house and Grandpa and Grandma Fisher's, this house and the storage shed beside it was sold to Frank Muck and later to Louis Polczinski, later on it was torn down and Thad Black built a home where the shed stood. Julius Robaidek's son-in-law Orville Schulke now lives there.

THE OLD MILL HORSE BARNS
from “Memories of Old Angelica”
by Mrs. Richard McGillivray & Mrs. Emil (Matie) Berndt
Contributed by Carol Paska

The mill where they sawed lumber was directly across from our house. It was later converted into a stable where we children used to play. We would swing from the beams and slide down from the haymow and have a grand time.

During the time the railroad was being built through Pulaski, in 1905, it was a hangout for the hobos to sleep in. There were a lot of them at that time, and we children were told not to play there unless there was older young folks with us. There was a stable beneath the barn floor and this is where Stronach's kept their livestock. Another barn was between our shop and the Muck house, this was a horse barn for the millworkers, but the Muck's kept their livestock there after the mills closed. Neither of these barns had the conveniences of the dairy barns of today but it was a place to keep their cattle and the owners were thankful for them.

At that time mail was delivered to Angelica from Green Bay by stage, but now this was discontinued and was now delivered to Angelica from Pulaski by Frank Wendzikowski on horseback or by foot. He was nicknamed "Junction Pete". Christ Christensen carried mail from Welhaven to Frazer Corners and met the stage at the Angelica Post Office. His daughter Hilda carried the mail for him. In return she took the mail that came in on the stage and brought it back to Frazer Corners and Welhaven. There it was picked up by L. Tonn and delivered to Navarino.

Ed Johnson became rural mail carrier from Angelica in August of 1905. Angelica was Route 2. Ed Johnson and his family moved to Pulaski and he was the Route 3 carrier out of Pulaski. His route ran through the village of Angelica and his old route.

One night when Angus had got back to Pulaski and brought the outgoing mail to be sorted in the post office someone stole his horse and buggy. He had a fresh horse as he had exchanged horses at his brother Dick's in Laney. So the thieves got away with a fresh horse and were never found.

In the meantime a public telephone was installed in the Angelica House. It was also connected to Dr. Fuller's office. This was done in the early 1900's.

I was born in the house that Van Lannen's now own in the year of 1901 on May 19th. Fred Johnson and I were baptized in this house on September 14th, it was the same day that President McKinnly was assassinated. On June 9, 1920 Emil Berndt and I were married by the late Rev. Edson Allen. Our wedding celebration was in my home and in the evening we were honored with a "chivaree' . I was born, baptized and married all in the same house.

EARLY DOCTORS
from “Memories of Old Angelica”
by Mrs. Richard McGillivray & Mrs. Emil (Matie) Berndt
Contributed by Carol Paska

The first doctor that is recorded was Mrs. William Upham who had a M.D. and was a great help at the time of the boiler explosion. There was also a practical unlicensed doctor, Emmit La Shay, who was called on by several in time & need. He was a bachelor and some called him a "quack". There was a Dr. Richardson, Dr. Campbell, Dr. Johnson - who had his office in a leanto on the Fisher Store - Dr. Maynard Fuller - who started his practice in the old Wescott house. Later on he built a house south of the M.E. Parsonage that is now owned by Frank Muck. He also built another house right across the road and sold the first house he built to Ferdinand Rueske. The Rueskes had three children - Laura, Oscar and Herbert. Oscar was a dentist and had his office in the front upstairs bedroom. After a short time Dr. Fuller sold his practice to Dr. J. L. DeCock, a young doctor from Green Bay. Dr. Fuller went to Germany to continue his studies in medicine and when he completed his course he came back and practiced in Bonduel.

In the meantime Rueskes sold their house to Robert Kuehne who had a grocery and meat meaket along side of Frank Polczynski's saloon. Robert Kuehne died while in Angelica, so Mrs. Kuehne sold her home to Mr. and Mrs. Frank Muck. Mrs. Kuehne went to Seymour to live and later on married Rev. Fred Olrogge whose wife had died and left him with a large family, I could never call her Mrs. Olrogge. She was always Mrs. Kuehne to me.

Dr. DeCock was the first doctor to own a car (Buick - when a better car is made it's a Buick). Art Cowden was the chauffeur who drove with him.

Dr. DeCock sold his practice to Dr. Alvin Sheller who committed suicide. Mrs. Sheller sold the practice to Dr, Richard. He in turn sold the practice to Alvin Dupont, a Belgian doctor from Green Bay and that was the end ot the doctor business.

Some of the remedies used in the early days were green cow manure compresses, also crushed plantian leaves to relieve pain, infection and fever. Bread & milk, mustard, onion poltuses were also used. Tea leaves were used to soothe the eyes from strain, and if a foreign substance got in the eye. Then there were mustard, onion and plantian leaf plasters. Leeches - leeches were used to draw out impure blood and a chamberpot half full of urine to draw out frost bite or chill blains. It burned like fury and it took the itching out too. You had to have some warm sudsy water to wash with after this ordeal. A fine comb was on hand for those unwelcome visitors that got in one's hair which was head lice, common among school children. Goose grease and camphor was used to rub on chests for chest colds. There was also sticking plaster - this came in packs of three colors, black, white and pink - about 2" x 4" which was the adhesive tape of those days. Various teas like horehound, catnip, sassaphras, etc. were used for colds. Bear grease if you had it, was used for chapped hands. Wool fat, Camphor and alcohol was used to swab a sore throat or a cut and really hurt like ..... but nevertheless when mother Martin was doctoring you gave in, no matter what. Watkins linament and castor oil were given freely. There were many other remedies such as Lydia Pinkhams compound (a baby in every bottle), Dr. Jayne's worm medicine, Fletchers Castoria, lashes and bitters and all the other good old patents that could be bought in any General Store.

There were midwives for childbirth; their fee was $1.00 for delivering a baby. Bands of 4" wide were wrapped tight around the baby's abdomen so as to prevent the baby from a hernia in the case of excessive crying. Babies were most all breast fed - bottle fed babies were in the minority and the only solid food that was given to babies was warm milk on bread and then topped off with sweet cream and sugar. Cornstarch pudding was given too - also graham crackers moistened with warm water and dotted with butter and mashed potatoes - and that was the solid food - no commercial products whatsoever were sold at that time. Fletchers Castoria was a must to relieve baby's tummy ache - and sometimes brandy and sugar water was given to quiet and make baby more comfortable. Oh - there were doctors too, but then you had to be very sick.

Turpentine was also used to bring boils to a head. There is a story that one old man who lived near Angelica had a boil on his posterior and his wife rubbed it with turpentine. The poor old man sat in his goose pond all night. I never heard the outcome of the boil - if it came to a head or not - anyway, with all these home remedies, the good citizens of Angelica lived to a happy ripe old age.

Fishers sold the General Store to Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Melchior from Oconto. There were five children in the Melchior family. They were Celia, Wallace, Ernest, Orton and Howard, the house barn and land was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Jeffery Van Dermoss from Rose Lawn there were ten children in the Van Dermoss family; they were Celia, Marie, George, Ernest.   Helen, Jeffery Jr., Daniel, Raymond and Richard.

CHEESE FACTORIES
from “Memories of Old Angelica”
by Mrs. Richard McGillivray & Mrs. Emil (Matie) Berndt
Contributed by Carol Paska

I was told that there was a 99 year land grant on the corner next to the Frank Muck Saloon that was given for the purpose of building a cheese factory. None was ever built there, neither was anything else, so maybe there is some truth to this story. (Now remember this is hearsay).

The first cheese factory in Angelica was managed by Joe Linsmeyer and located a mile east of Angelica, the last one to operate it was Hugh Magee. It was destroyed by fire.

A few years after Joe Melchior bought the Fisher Store he converted the back part of the store into a cheese factory and the first cheese maker was Neil Stronach. Melchoir later sold the factory to Joe Oganaski of Oshkosh and Oganaski sold it to Frank Timbler. Elmer Detert at that time owned the former Linsmeyer factory and he traded this factory with Frank Timbler. Elmer ran the store and made cheese for a few years and then bought the old Murawski store building that at that time was owned by Frank Prokash and made another cheese factory. There was no more cheese made in the old Fisher store, the store building was sold to Ernest Van Dermoss, and he tore it down and built a filling station and ran it for a while and in 1939 he sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Nissen. Oscar trucked and operated the Shell Filling Station until 1941, the building has since remodeled and is now the home of Louis Splitgerber.

Elmer sold the Murawski property to Earl Terrian, about 1920. On Oct. 21, 1921 fire destroyed the factory and sparks from the burning building flew across the road and set fire to the Methodist Church and the Church burned down also. Earl bought another factory and moved it on the old foundation. Later he traded it for another factory in Tilleda with a man by the name of Malueg, Malueg sold the factory to Xavier Chieslczyk who operated it until Consolidated Badger Cooperative of Shawano started. Then Xavier stopped making cheese and sold the building to Wymer Schroeder who moved it to Frazer Corners where he ran a factory and made a living quarters out of it for his help.

In the meantime Elmer bought the North Star Garage from Louis Polczynski and started another factory, Melvin Muck helped him make cheese for a while. Elmer then sold the factory to his brother-in-law, Conrad Kolp, Kolp sold the factory to Edwin Zuller. Some of his patrons left him and went to Badger so he sold the equipment to Wymer Schroeder and Hilbert Wagner, the partons that did stay with him were divided between the two of them.

The empty building was sold to Ray Martin and he started another Blacksmith shop in it.

The factory that Frank Timbler traded with Elmer Deter for, was sold to Hugh Magee and it later burned down. There were miles of pine root fences in the Angelica area and these fences were all torn down to be replaced with the modern barbed wire fence. The old stumps were chopped up and used to stoke the boilers that were used to produce steam to make cheese. These old stumps were also used as fuel for threshing machines and Dad used them to set wagon tires. Thus, ends the cheese business.