Some of the most important pieces of history are the written or verbal histories left behind by our forefathers.
I recently received a call about one of my past columns in the Times regarding the spread of settlers in Wisconsin. A woman, quite knowledgeable in local history, said it was funny I mentioned that settlers used their summer months to bide their time and just sit under the shade trees with the cows by the creek. Obviously, no matter how hot it was, there was certain work that needed to be done and my comment was specific only to the hottest of the hot days of the year - a handful - not the entire season.
But, how did I come to the conclusion that during those crushing hot spells that settlers did this? I found it when reading written histories from settlers during a look at history local history when I worked in Grant County.
My story of Henry Janes settling "Janesville," in this column previously, followed his travels to find suitable farming and plat land. His personal story was recorded and his travels to mark possible new land to purchase happened in the winter - December through February. Janesville was named after Janes, but he wasn't first to settle in what we know as Janesville, because settlers John Inman, George Follmer, Joshua Holmes and William Holmes Jr., built a log cabin in the area where Janesville is located before Janes arrived.
Still, Janes marked out his claim and had it recorded and then became very active in helping the area grow and eventually become the Rock County seat. But not all was perfect with Janes' plans and less than a decade later, he moved further west.
Today, histories, both written and oral, have become an important staple of recording the history of lives of people. This is especially true post World War II, because we've moved more and more away from writing letters. First letters were replaced partly by the telephone. Now we know there are so many ways of communicating that the actual act of letter-writing is almost a lost art. The generation we're raising now uses Snapchat and Instagram, where bits and pieces of messages or photos are only available for view for short periods of time before they can no longer been seen or found in a search.
We record history every day in the Monroe Times. We tell peoples' stories. Many things are being recorded. Are they the right things to give people a picture of life in this time and place? It's hard to guess.
Almost all of our records are now kept electronically. In the Green County Historical Society's Museum, there is a "records room" in which you can find volumes of history of this area. There are tax records from 1859. Photos from all eras. Scrapbooks people kept and donated to the society. If you have a family tree with a long history of roots spreading deep into the county, there's a lot of information on your family in that room.
Matt Figi of the society called the archives room at the museum the "hidden gem of Green County."
The society has so many physical artifacts. Even its building, the former Universalist Church in downtown Monroe, is an artifact.
The Green County Historical Society Newsletter has included all sorts of interesting pieces of Green County history over the years. I've browsed through copies dating back the last six years and found many interesting news accounts of the happenings in the county through the past couple centuries.
As telephone lines became our favorite and easiest mode of communication, people still couldn't get enough communication. Homes used to be joined by "party lines" with each residence on the line having a distinctive ring, which let them know a call was for them. A phone on a line with a bunch of families could have its "phone ringing off the hook" all day with different rings for all of those with access.
And as some people eavesdrop today on each other's communication - such as suspicious spouses trying to check the calls on each other's cell phone - back in the time of party lines, people liked to pick up a call not meant for them and listen in to what was said. This practice was called "rubbering." Items gleaned from rubbering was shared in gossip throughout a neighborhood or the town.
According to the Monroe Evening Times in 1923 (this is a tidbit from one of the historical society's newsletters), traffic was tied up on the Square in Monroe one August Saturday evening. The traffic jam was caused as people witnessed a fight between two women. The cause of the brouhaha? Eavesdropping on the party line.
"One had overheard a conversation of the other, it is said, and a vigorous show of resentment was in order when they met," according to the Times. It took the police to arrive to break up the fist-fight and hair-pulling.
Imagine if we had a written history of what was overheard during these rubbering sessions to give us a picture of what life was like back in 1923? I'm guessing all of the drama that engages our lives today would have been there, too. Technology is evolving much faster than humans.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
I recently received a call about one of my past columns in the Times regarding the spread of settlers in Wisconsin. A woman, quite knowledgeable in local history, said it was funny I mentioned that settlers used their summer months to bide their time and just sit under the shade trees with the cows by the creek. Obviously, no matter how hot it was, there was certain work that needed to be done and my comment was specific only to the hottest of the hot days of the year - a handful - not the entire season.
But, how did I come to the conclusion that during those crushing hot spells that settlers did this? I found it when reading written histories from settlers during a look at history local history when I worked in Grant County.
My story of Henry Janes settling "Janesville," in this column previously, followed his travels to find suitable farming and plat land. His personal story was recorded and his travels to mark possible new land to purchase happened in the winter - December through February. Janesville was named after Janes, but he wasn't first to settle in what we know as Janesville, because settlers John Inman, George Follmer, Joshua Holmes and William Holmes Jr., built a log cabin in the area where Janesville is located before Janes arrived.
Still, Janes marked out his claim and had it recorded and then became very active in helping the area grow and eventually become the Rock County seat. But not all was perfect with Janes' plans and less than a decade later, he moved further west.
Today, histories, both written and oral, have become an important staple of recording the history of lives of people. This is especially true post World War II, because we've moved more and more away from writing letters. First letters were replaced partly by the telephone. Now we know there are so many ways of communicating that the actual act of letter-writing is almost a lost art. The generation we're raising now uses Snapchat and Instagram, where bits and pieces of messages or photos are only available for view for short periods of time before they can no longer been seen or found in a search.
We record history every day in the Monroe Times. We tell peoples' stories. Many things are being recorded. Are they the right things to give people a picture of life in this time and place? It's hard to guess.
Almost all of our records are now kept electronically. In the Green County Historical Society's Museum, there is a "records room" in which you can find volumes of history of this area. There are tax records from 1859. Photos from all eras. Scrapbooks people kept and donated to the society. If you have a family tree with a long history of roots spreading deep into the county, there's a lot of information on your family in that room.
Matt Figi of the society called the archives room at the museum the "hidden gem of Green County."
The society has so many physical artifacts. Even its building, the former Universalist Church in downtown Monroe, is an artifact.
The Green County Historical Society Newsletter has included all sorts of interesting pieces of Green County history over the years. I've browsed through copies dating back the last six years and found many interesting news accounts of the happenings in the county through the past couple centuries.
As telephone lines became our favorite and easiest mode of communication, people still couldn't get enough communication. Homes used to be joined by "party lines" with each residence on the line having a distinctive ring, which let them know a call was for them. A phone on a line with a bunch of families could have its "phone ringing off the hook" all day with different rings for all of those with access.
And as some people eavesdrop today on each other's communication - such as suspicious spouses trying to check the calls on each other's cell phone - back in the time of party lines, people liked to pick up a call not meant for them and listen in to what was said. This practice was called "rubbering." Items gleaned from rubbering was shared in gossip throughout a neighborhood or the town.
According to the Monroe Evening Times in 1923 (this is a tidbit from one of the historical society's newsletters), traffic was tied up on the Square in Monroe one August Saturday evening. The traffic jam was caused as people witnessed a fight between two women. The cause of the brouhaha? Eavesdropping on the party line.
"One had overheard a conversation of the other, it is said, and a vigorous show of resentment was in order when they met," according to the Times. It took the police to arrive to break up the fist-fight and hair-pulling.
Imagine if we had a written history of what was overheard during these rubbering sessions to give us a picture of what life was like back in 1923? I'm guessing all of the drama that engages our lives today would have been there, too. Technology is evolving much faster than humans.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
