Would he qualify as a Wisconsin Pioneer? [closed]

Question

A while back (2017), this profile had a wanted category of Wisconsin Colonist. I removed that and started a G2G thread - see https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/418765/comments-category-wisconsin-pioneers-suggestion-categories

The end result was that "Category:Wisconsin Pioneers and Settlers" would be an appropriate category, under Westward Ho! project's

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:US_Pioneers_and_Settlers

 

But... I didn't know if he would qualify. If he does, could someone add [[Category:Wisconsin Pioneers and Settlers]] to his profile & then create the category? Or, let me know if he qualifies, and why, and I'll do it. 

Thanks!

Comments

Since Wisconsin became a state in 1848, seems to me that anyone who moved there before statehood was a pioneer.  Anyone who moved after statehood simply ‘moved to Wisconsin’.

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Westward Ho has an existing category to use: Immigrant Pioneers. There is a relatively new sticker to use which can be found by following the link.

- T Stanton, Project Coordinator Westward Ho

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My understanding of the Immigrant Pioneer sticker is that it only applies if you came from another country and settled in the west.

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Henry Bierman came from Germany. Technically Westward Ho sub-projects include states west of the Mississippi. I suppose the use depends on how rigid people wish to be in classifying someone who was a pioneer in Wisconsin.

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T - are you saying that since Wisconsin's westward border is the Mississippi River, Wisconsin pioneers do not qualify to be included in Category:Immigrant Pioneers, the category for the Westward Ho! sub-project of the same name?

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since discussion is continuing, I reopened the question (it had been closed, with "question answered").

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No, Liz. I am saying I am perfectly fine with his inclusion. I'm just averting a narrow reading of things that might try to exclude him since he didn't get any Mississippi mud on his boots.

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And, thanks for reopening...that will save confusion.

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He's going to be in the Wisconsin Pioneer Ancestors category. The appropriateness of his inclusion in that category is pretty clear.

But if I understand correctly, the Wisconsin Pioneer Ancestors category should not come under Category:Immigrant Pioneers, since that is a project category for the sub-project Immigrant Pioneers and - as a subproject of Westward Ho! - that project/category should include only pioneers in locations west of the Mississippi River. Right?

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I think this needs some extended discussion. I'm not saying exclude this from Immigrant Pioneers--I am saying the opposite. Westward Ho is not rigidly defined as west of Mississippi nor is Immigrant Pioneers. Immigrant Pioneers should not be rigidly defined. I'm wondering about effects of the creation of multiple Immigrant Pioneer categories that are not part of a common structure.

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Oh I did not realize Westward Ho was that far west - I mean it seems west was only that far later on.  I don't mean to be cryptic but I am not sure how to say it... ok for instance some of my ancestors headed out from New Uork, New Jersey and New Hampshire to Ohio - it was not yet Ohio but is now, anyhow that was very west of what was settled by whites in late 1790s early 1800s

A couple generations later some of the family moved on further to Illinois, the then westward frontier - and so on.  So to me the term Western Frontier is relative to time period

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me too Navarro. That kind of surprised me. I have a lot of pioneer ancestors... some who pushed the Virginia frontier!

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So sounds like there's still some discussion about this.  So until I hear otherwise I'm going to just use the sticker that Ellen proposed below.

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Ellen's sticker is the solution and should resolve the discussion on the particular Wisconsin question. And, to follow on Navarro's comment above, it is not the intent of Immigrant Pioneers or other Westward Ho categories to be rigid on geographic location and, in fact, the original set-up left some flexibility by design.

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s'ok then. I'll close this question (again). Thanks everyone.

Answer 1

The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society offers certificates to descendants of pioneer settlers.  Their definition of pioneer is anyone who settled in Wisconsin prior to 1851.

Pioneer Ancestor Certificate - awarded to applicants who submit evidence to prove direct descent of persons who settled in Wisconsin prior to 1851.

Comments

Arizona, where I live now, is a relatively new state and any of the people who lived here when it was ALL uninhabited or barely are pioneers to my mind. They certainly had to have coping skills. We had to learn them just to live here with reasonable comfort. Yes, it's possible.

We have mountains across the top third(?) of AZ, making for a fairly-near summer holiday getaway, and in the bottom south are our cooler climes than the central desert parch-ment, and yes I meant it is parching.

We (then-husband and I) came here one night (it was only 100 degrees) in August. We mourned for quite a while and then gradually became desert-dwellers. 40 years later, I'm still here in our house and my sons visit, rarely, trying only for winter. Husband has moved on to California (of course), but now CA is in trouble with weather for, I think, the region they're nestled in.

So It Goes! . . . .

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Liz Shifflet, Shouldn't every (or every Western state) be an opportunity for Pioneers to be applicable to them. While Phoenix was very populated in the 70s, Tucson was more wild and wooly at that time. Flagstaff is still small and is by now has lots of helpful commercialism to support its population and its year-round visitors. 

These three towns are our largest, and of them Phoenix is verging on cosmopolitan (or is that!)Tucson is a very large active, and smart bedroom community and Flag is a mountain town that harbors lots of snow country folks in winters and Phoenicians hoping for cool !. 

I think we all simply drive through the mainly uninhabited parts to visit parks and legitimate camping spots. It's beautiful, but quite rugged, in all varieties of same. And that's a special kind of pleasure.

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Roberta - you probably should start a new G2G discussion for Arizona. This discussion was specific to Wisconsin.

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P.S. If you haven't found it already Roberta, you should check out the "Immigrant Pioneers" sub-project of Westward Ho!

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My understanding:  G2G has been deleted.

I can't tell if you know that or if I'm in the dark (smiles).

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G2G questions can be deleted?  wow

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I've revised the Wisconsin Sticker to allow free-form wording, so it can be used to recognize Wisconsin Pioneers (or whatever you want).

Navarro: G2G questions can be hidden by the person who created them or by a moderator.

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i'm not seeing any hidden posts, and the main question is still showing. Roberta - What G2G question are you referring to?

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Liz, hi--It was nothing like that.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw the announcement that  the G2G space itself would be deleted.

Confusing tho, since it seems to have continued as was its usual.

Ah, well. . . ..

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I definitely missed that announcement, Roberta!

Answer 2

I think I have a solution.

Some time ago, after similar questions arose from people active in other State sub-projects of the United States Project, I started a process of revising the state stickers to allow for free-form content. For an example, see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Template:Illinois_Sticker . A member can choose to have the sticker say "[Name of Ancestor] was an Illinoisan" (this is the default) or create their own text such as "[Name of Ancestor] was an early pioneer in Illinois" or "[Name of Ancestor] was born in Illinois before it became a state" -- whatever they want.

I didn't finish setting these up for all of the states (because of conflicting priorities). I think it's the perfect solution for this situation, because I perceive that the intent here is not to have a WikiTree Project manage these people's profiles, but rather to recognize these people by highlighting this aspect of their lives on their profiles. That's the function of a sticker -- and because it's free-form, it could be used for anything, to include "[Name of Ancestor] was a Wisconsin Dairy Princess" or "[Name of Ancestor] was a proud Wisconsin farmer" or "[Name of Ancestor] was born in Wisconsin and lived there until the age of 5."

I can go edit the Wisconsin sticker to resemble the Illinois sticker. This should be done anyway. But I must warn: Unless I finish super-fast and get the changes reviewed by the template overseers almost immediately, the changes are likely to generate a DB "error" in this coming week's suggestions report.

Comments

I have revised the Wisconsin sticker to allow for free-form text, such as "... was a Wisconsin pioneer."

To use the sticker in that fashion, add this to the biography section of the profile:

{{Wisconsin Sticker|a Wisconsin pioneer}}

See Template:Wisconsin_Sticker for more information.

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wonderful! Thanks Ellen!

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Thanks, Ellen.  I've added the sticker to my Wisconsin Pioneer.