Brown County, Wisconsin

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Brown, Wisconsin, United States
Surname/tag: wisconsin

Welcome to Brown County, Wisconsin

Brown County Courthouse - Green Bay, Wisconsin. Photo taken by Tony Webster on December 31, 2016.

Contents 1 History of Brown County 1.1 Pre-Colonial 1.2 The French Period (1634-1763) 1.3 The British Period (1763-1783) 1.4 Territorial Period (1783-1848) 1.5 Early Statehood (1848-1900) 1.6 20th century (1900-2000) 2 Sources

History of Brown County

Pre-Colonial

Multiple Native American tribes were living in and around present day Wisconsin. These include the Mamaceqtaw (Menominee), Ojibwe (Chippewa), Neshnabé (Potawatomi), Odawa (Ottawa), Sauk (Sac), Meskwaki (Fox), Ho-Chunk (Winnebago), Dakota (Eastern Sioux) and many others.

Map of the Indian tribes of North America, about 1600 A.D. along the Atlantic, & about 1800 A.D. westwardly. 1836. Image from the library of Congress.[1]

Ho-Chunk (Winnebago)

The Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) are a Siouan-speaking people. Their name for themselves, Ho-Chunk, can be translated as "sacred voice" or "People of the Big Voice". The name Winnebago means “stinking water” or “dirty water" and was given by the neighboring Potawatomi’s referring to their homeland near Green Bay and the Fox River, full of the odorous sulfur rich marshes. According to oral tradition, the Ho-Chunk originated from the Red Banks of the Door Peninsula, Green Bay. There are a few theories on their place of origin before entering Wisconsin. Some Scholars have hypothesized that the tribe migrated from the lower Mississippi River valley and arrived in Wisconsin during the 1500s. Others suggest that they migrated into the Midwest from the Eastern seaboard and the branch that became the Ho-Chunk moved into Wisconsin sometime between AD 800 and 1200. Some have also asserted that the ancestors of the Ho-Chunk have been in Wisconsin since the Late Woodland period (BC 400 to AD 900), and had built the thousands of effigy mounds throughout Wisconsin.^[2]

Menominee

The Menominee are an Algonkian-speaking people who, lived along the Menominee River when first encountered by the French about 1634. Oral tradition indicates that they have always lived in Wisconsin, their origin being the mouth of the Menominee River that enters Green Bay. The Menominee refer to themselves as Mamaceqtaw which translates to "the people." Neighboring Tribes called them Menominee which is derived from an Algonkian word for wild rice as it was a staple crop of the tribe. The French also had called the Menominee Folles Avoines which translates to "the wild oats people." Before colonization, the people lived in permanent villages of dome-shaped houses at the mouth of the Menominee River.^[3][4]

The Anishinaabeg

The Ojibwe, Ottawa and Potawatomi tribes’ oral traditions state that all three were at one point of time one people. The ancestors of the Anishinaabeg migrated from the Atlantic Ocean traveling along the St. Lawrence Seaway and at approximately AD 1400, reaching the Straits of Mackinac. According to tradition, it was at the Straits of Mackinac, they split into the three groups. Archaeological and linguistic evidence supports that the three tribes descend from a common ethnic origin.^[5]

Resources

• Native American DNA Projects

The French Period (1634-1763)

In 1667, the Menomonee began participating in the fur trade. The Menominee spent increasing amounts of time dispersed in mobile bands living in semi-permanent villages and hunting camps across Wisconsin. They began living around Green Bay.^[3]

Resources

• The Wisconsin Creoles, L. and J. Rentmeester, 1987. Search within and order or view at library from Wisconsin Historical Society.

• La Baye (Present day Green Bay) was heavily connected to Michilimackinac during the Fur Trade. You might find some records here if you have connections to the fur trade. Library of Congress: Mackinac register of baptisms and internments, 1695-1821.

The British Period (1763-1783)

Territorial Period (1783-1848)

The Tourist's Pocket Map Of Michigan Exhibiting Its Internal Improvements Roads Distances &c. 1835. Image from the David Rumsey Map Collection courtesy Stanford University Libraries.[6]

Early Statehood (1848-1900)

Resources

• Wisconsin Historical Society Pre-1907 vital Records

20th century (1900-2000)

Sources

1. ↑ Gallatin, A. & American Antiquarian Society. (1836) Map of the Indian tribes of North America, about 1600 A.D. along the Atlantic, & about 1800 A.D. westwardly. [Washington, D.C.: The Society] [Map] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2002622260/.
2. ↑ Milwaukee Public Museum. (n.d.). Ho-chunk History. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://www.mpm.edu/educators/wirp/nations/ho-chunk/history.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Milwaukee Public Museum. (n.d.). Menominee History. Retrieved November 11, 2021, from https://www.mpm.edu/content/wirp/ICW-153.
4. ↑ Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2019, July 1). Menominee. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Menominee-people
5. ↑ Hirst, K. K. (2020, February 25). The Ojibwe people: History and culture. ThoughtCo. Retrieved November 19, 2021, from https://www.thoughtco.com/ojibwe-people-4797430.
6. ↑ Young J.H. (1835) Philadelphia: Published By S. Augustus Mitchell. The Tourist's Pocket Map Of Michigan Exhibiting Its Internal Improvements Roads Distances &c. Retrieved from the David Rumsey Map Collection courtesy Stanford University Libraries, https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/rg410ph3809.