Elizabeth Baird: Life in Territorial Wisconsin

[lively string music] [bright music] – Elizabeth Baird: The residents of Wisconsin, who are now of the busy world of civilization and enlightenment, seldom, if ever, think of those days when the pioneer of this fair state had very different living surroundings.

There are those among us who could narrate many a true, thrilling tale of that early date.

Michilimackinac, the Great Turtle Island, was the great emporium of the West.

All the fur traders came there to sell their furs and buy other goods.

I was an only and a spoiled child, but afforded much amusement to my great aunt, a fur trader on Mackinac Island.

A bride of but fourteen years, I went with my husband to live in Green Bay, and thenceforth my lot was cast with the new and growing territory west of Lake Michigan.

The resources of our small community were meager.

In those days, there were few schools, no churches, no markets, no bakeries, no one who sold cooked food in any form.

Everyone had to do their own cooking, which was all very well for those who knew how, but only think of the plight of those who, like myself, did not!

[chickens squawking] [cow mooing] At this time, I was trying to master the English language and learn to read.

I did not seek my neighbors, as I would have done had they spoken French.

[sighs] In consequence, my life was very solitary.

I was alone all day, with not a human being near me.

This day and generation can know little of the excitement that overwhelmed us when the mail was expected.

Once a month the mail arrived.

For two years I received but two letters a year from Mackinac.

In 1831, my husband bought a farm.

My husband thought that he could be both farmer and lawyer, but it turned out as I had predicted: he would be the lawyer and I the farmer’s wife.

Pfft… Mr. Baird’s father and mother came in August.

It was hard, indeed, to offer such a home to any city lady.

She could not see how a lady could put her hands into the dirty ground. Never had I been so near breaking down as when the cow kicked me.

[cow mooing] My aunt, Madame Laframboise, was a remarkable woman.

When my grandfather became ill, my maternal grandmother and great aunt bravely continued the business of fur trade with the Indians.

Remembering her, I became not easily discouraged.

I worked hard, because indeed, who did not in those days?

The first government land sale that took place brought many moneyed men to this place.

Mr. Baird, being the recorder of deeds, his work became very great, so I became the recorder of deeds.

Our town was growing fast for those days.

Civilization crawled in among us.

At this time, our town became quite joyous.

As a matter of course, dancing took the lead.

I still have the keenest recollection of it.

To the people of today, this would seem a life of romance.

One who lived the sturdy life of those early days did indeed pass through scenes strange and of more than ordinary interest.

But like many other things, it may have been forgotten if it had not been a marked event of my little life.

[upbeat folk music]