I was driving between South Wayne and Browntown on Sunday and was struck with the beauty of the gently sloping hills and the lush green fields that surrounded me.
I know that the first settlers here didn't see a landscape like this. It was prairie, with fewer trees and more native grasses. It was beautiful, but in late June it was also hot.
So hot at times that little could be done to keep cool.
As I've researched early Green County, I've often wondered why the stories of early settlers had them traveling to find new lands during winter. How dangerous that would be: Away from home, open to the elements and having no protection from a three-day blizzard.
In piecing it together, I've come to understand that spring was for planting, the hot months of June, July and August were among the most difficult to do anything and the fall was the all-important harvest, on which life depended.
Having a root cellar that kept its temperature and was secure from rodents was so important to those who lived in Wisconsin in its early years. A family story from my Johnson line of relatives from the 1880s deals with the root cellar.
One of my great-grandfather's sisters was put in charge of gathering up potatoes and carrots for a family meal and was sent into the root cellar. She also had to fill some lanterns and do other chores. There were 15 children plus my great-great-grandfather and grandmother. This occurred in Forrest County near Wabeno, Wisconsin, in the tiny town of Padus.
As my long-since passed aunt was carrying out her chores, she spilled a half-gallon of kerosene on the potatoes. As she tried to clean it up things got worse. Pretty soon she had about 100 pounds of potatoes coated with kerosene. And those starchy, dry potatoes drank in that coating of kerosene quite easily.
Although she tried to cover up her accident, it was soon found out.
The potatoes could not be thrown away. They were necessary food for the winter. Instead they had to be washed, scrubbed and then eaten with meals. And all winter long the family had regular servings of "kerosene potatoes." There wasn't enough fuel in them to make anybody sick, just sick to their tastebuds. And at every meal her brothers and sisters old enough to complain did plenty of that.
It's not like you can escape your siblings at dinner time, otherwise you'd go hungry.
I was always amazed at how fast my father ate. He learned from his dad, who learned from my great-grandfather that if you didn't get grabby at the dinner table, you were left hungry. The winter of the "kerosene potatoes" was among the most poor in my family's history.
Those who settled this area found and marked new places to live during the winter because that was the only time they could travel. In spring you were working the land, in summer you were keeping everything alive from the heat - taking the animals to a shady tree by a creek and just lying in the shade. When fall came you packed away the harvest, hopefully a blessed one that would tide you over for another year while you improved your land and made whatever cash you could. It was unlikely a farmer would have much of a "cash crop." Much of the crop had to be stowed away for later use. And God forbid there be worms, mice or some ill-spilled kerosene.
Winter was the time that, on foot, a group of men could set out to look for a place to stake out and then head to the land office with the cash they had saved to try and buy it. And from my recent story about Janesville, sometimes that one winter's trip would be wasted, because somebody beat you to the land office.
On these hot days, how easy is it for us to come home and walk into air conditioning? Getting the electric bill isn't always a thrill, but what a convenience.
In this agricultural community our farmers work hard - as do all of the people around them. If you don't work hard, life is hard. Few people have an easy life plopped down in their laps and if they do, sometimes that is the most difficult life to live. After all, it's true that money can't buy happiness. I guess that a usually well-fed family with 15 children in the 1880s would make its own fun and as I've witnessed my aunts and uncles as I grew up. I was always impressed at their ingenuity to have fun and their inventiveness.
Fifteen children would help raise themselves. There were two sets of twins, which thankfully came toward the end of the line. Men talk so much about their fathers, but I imagine the strength of my great-great grandmother. I have just one photograph of her, standing in the snow in Padus with about 12 of the children. One of the babies was in her arms. She had two more to go, but what an amazing, stalwart woman she must have been.
The Green County Historical Society "News" has collected a number of wonderful local stories over the years and I hope to include more of those in coming columns. I toured the museum for the first time last week and was amazed at the treasure that is inside of its walls. Even its walls, being the former Universalist church, are priceless.
Each generation will be given some time to explore during a season and discover new things. One thing I hope we protect is how beautiful it is to live in Wisconsin and we hand down the importance of maintaining the natural beauty of our state while we also earn a living.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
I know that the first settlers here didn't see a landscape like this. It was prairie, with fewer trees and more native grasses. It was beautiful, but in late June it was also hot.
So hot at times that little could be done to keep cool.
As I've researched early Green County, I've often wondered why the stories of early settlers had them traveling to find new lands during winter. How dangerous that would be: Away from home, open to the elements and having no protection from a three-day blizzard.
In piecing it together, I've come to understand that spring was for planting, the hot months of June, July and August were among the most difficult to do anything and the fall was the all-important harvest, on which life depended.
Having a root cellar that kept its temperature and was secure from rodents was so important to those who lived in Wisconsin in its early years. A family story from my Johnson line of relatives from the 1880s deals with the root cellar.
One of my great-grandfather's sisters was put in charge of gathering up potatoes and carrots for a family meal and was sent into the root cellar. She also had to fill some lanterns and do other chores. There were 15 children plus my great-great-grandfather and grandmother. This occurred in Forrest County near Wabeno, Wisconsin, in the tiny town of Padus.
As my long-since passed aunt was carrying out her chores, she spilled a half-gallon of kerosene on the potatoes. As she tried to clean it up things got worse. Pretty soon she had about 100 pounds of potatoes coated with kerosene. And those starchy, dry potatoes drank in that coating of kerosene quite easily.
Although she tried to cover up her accident, it was soon found out.
The potatoes could not be thrown away. They were necessary food for the winter. Instead they had to be washed, scrubbed and then eaten with meals. And all winter long the family had regular servings of "kerosene potatoes." There wasn't enough fuel in them to make anybody sick, just sick to their tastebuds. And at every meal her brothers and sisters old enough to complain did plenty of that.
It's not like you can escape your siblings at dinner time, otherwise you'd go hungry.
I was always amazed at how fast my father ate. He learned from his dad, who learned from my great-grandfather that if you didn't get grabby at the dinner table, you were left hungry. The winter of the "kerosene potatoes" was among the most poor in my family's history.
Those who settled this area found and marked new places to live during the winter because that was the only time they could travel. In spring you were working the land, in summer you were keeping everything alive from the heat - taking the animals to a shady tree by a creek and just lying in the shade. When fall came you packed away the harvest, hopefully a blessed one that would tide you over for another year while you improved your land and made whatever cash you could. It was unlikely a farmer would have much of a "cash crop." Much of the crop had to be stowed away for later use. And God forbid there be worms, mice or some ill-spilled kerosene.
Winter was the time that, on foot, a group of men could set out to look for a place to stake out and then head to the land office with the cash they had saved to try and buy it. And from my recent story about Janesville, sometimes that one winter's trip would be wasted, because somebody beat you to the land office.
On these hot days, how easy is it for us to come home and walk into air conditioning? Getting the electric bill isn't always a thrill, but what a convenience.
In this agricultural community our farmers work hard - as do all of the people around them. If you don't work hard, life is hard. Few people have an easy life plopped down in their laps and if they do, sometimes that is the most difficult life to live. After all, it's true that money can't buy happiness. I guess that a usually well-fed family with 15 children in the 1880s would make its own fun and as I've witnessed my aunts and uncles as I grew up. I was always impressed at their ingenuity to have fun and their inventiveness.
Fifteen children would help raise themselves. There were two sets of twins, which thankfully came toward the end of the line. Men talk so much about their fathers, but I imagine the strength of my great-great grandmother. I have just one photograph of her, standing in the snow in Padus with about 12 of the children. One of the babies was in her arms. She had two more to go, but what an amazing, stalwart woman she must have been.
The Green County Historical Society "News" has collected a number of wonderful local stories over the years and I hope to include more of those in coming columns. I toured the museum for the first time last week and was amazed at the treasure that is inside of its walls. Even its walls, being the former Universalist church, are priceless.
Each generation will be given some time to explore during a season and discover new things. One thing I hope we protect is how beautiful it is to live in Wisconsin and we hand down the importance of maintaining the natural beauty of our state while we also earn a living.
- Matt Johnson is publisher of the Monroe Times. His column is published Wednesdays.
