Wisconsin Hometown Stories

>> This part of the state was populated largely by what was called the "Yankee Exodus" from the northeast, everything from pretty much from New York northward. >> Wisconsin is opened up for settlement just about the time that the Erie Canal opens up in upstate New York. >> Good land was becoming a premium in that area. And so sons, particularly younger sons, were kind of being forced to look for new grounds. >> People leaving upstate New York would take the Erie Canal, which shortened what had been a trip of six weeks to two months, easily, overland became a trip of a matter of a couple of weeks on the Great Lakes by boat. >> It is true, that in the 1830s that this area in upstate New York was known as the Burned-Over District. A great deal of religious revivalism had taken place in the preceding 20 or 30 years, and out of that had come a lot of new ideas regarding how society should be organized. >> In upstate New York, what becomes called the Burned-Over District because of the fires of a passion for reform that are lit there. There is this need to say, It is not enough for us to ensure that we live a righteous life. We, the religious, live a righteous life, and we shall therefore go to heaven. Instead, you need to really create a heaven on earth, where people are not downtrodden, beaten, enslaved. You look around and you say, I am not really a righteous person if I have closed my eyes to the suffering of those around me. I shall witness my faith. I shall look and see what I can do to change the way life is. As they examine it and say, why is it that some of us live this good life and others don't? And look and say, well, there's slavery; there's the lack of women's rights; there's the social customs, which are so injurious to women and children, such as rampant alcoholism. And that gets these people religiously motivated into founding the abolition movement in the 1830s, the women's movement, women's rights movement, from the 1840s on. >> There was still, to a much higher degree, there was still the belief in the perfectibility of man and the idea that, particularly in the west, which was kind of a tabula rasa, kind of a blank tablet on which anything could be written, it was a chance to produce this perfect society. >> And so, as they moved further west. They not only acquired lands but they brought these new ideas with them. >> And increasingly, more and more reformers are drawn to Janesville. >> And they seemed to have the idea that this might be the place you could put together a perfect society. >> In the 1850s, William Tallman, who migrated from the Burned-Over District of New York, built one of the largest and grandest homes in the state. A home now maintained as a museum by the Rock County Historical Society. >> William Tallman came here from Rome, New York, where his family had been involved in abolitionist activities. Very possibly involved in some Underground Railroad activity. >> The house in Rome, New York, was a station on the Underground Railroad, taking in escaped slaves, providing them with accommodations, food and whatever they needed, passage, money, and so forth, and sending them on their way within the next few days. He himself is kind of representative of this whole new idea of coming west, the new man coming west. >> He came to this area as kind of a typical western entrepreneur. He got into land speculation. >> Tallman saw an opportunity in the lands that were available in the west. He thought it was a gamble. And he came out here, purchased the land and almost immediately upon returning home, started to advertise it, and advertised it not just to make money. His advertisements speak about having "actual settlers" to come. So, he's part of that general movement, encouraging people to come westward >> He became probably, I'd say without doubt, the richest man in Rock Country in the 1850s. >> A lot of his money he plowed back into the building of "The Finest House in the Upper Midwest," as he said. You know, a showplace. >> He used only the best material at the time. Milwaukee Cream City Brick, Italian Marble, French Polished Mirror Glass. And he also included all the modern conveniences at the time. As you go through the house, you'll see that it has running water. It has a communication system, ( bells ringing ) central heating, and indoor privy, which is a real hit with the third graders when they come through to tour. But if there was any sort of convenience that was available, you name it, he put it in. >> As an active member of the recently-formed Republican party, William Tallman's most famous houseguest was an up-and-coming presidential candidate named Abraham Lincoln. >> This is the actual room where Lincoln slept. And this is the bed that he slept in. >> Lincoln's visit came at a time when many in Janesville were outraged by the efforts of southern states to expand slavery into new, western territories. >> Well, there was a great deal of abolitionist sentiment in Janesville. As a matter of fact, the area had a state-wide or area-wide reputation for being-- They called it a hotbed of abolitionist activity. >> Frederick Douglass, a freed slave and leader of the abolitionist cause, spoke twice in Janesville, each time drawing large crowds. And Lincoln, an aspiring presidential candidate, came to build on his growing reputation as an opponent of the expansion of slavery. >> Lincoln was on a speaking tour, actually invited to speak at the Wisconsin State Fair in 1859. >> The Republican Club of Beloit found out about this and issued an invitation to him to come and speak in Beloit. But William Tallman jumped in his buggy and went to Beloit. He buttonholed Lincoln and said, "While you're here, would you come and speak in Janesville?" Lincoln, probably not understanding the rivalry between the two communities, consented. So, when he finished his speech at Hanset Hall in Beloit, he got into Mr. Tallman's buggy, and Mr. Tallman brought him north to Janesville. He did make a very, very positive impression. His speech did. His appearance didn't. And they said that he looked for all the world like a farmer dressed up for circus day in the city. The Janesville Gazette said "...his physiognomy was peculiar." (laugh) His voice was high-pitched and squeaky. But the power of his arguments against the spread of slavery were so logical and so down-to-earth, that even the most simple individual could understand them and support them. >> The next year, Abraham Lincoln won the election. But shortly after his inauguration, southern states seceded from the union. The nation, now split in two, plunged into civil war, and Janesville's support for the Republican cause was put to the test. >> That political enthusiasm for Republicanism was also expressed in the number of men who stepped forward very early in the war. It's always been claimed, and I've never seen it refuted that proportionate to it's population, Rock County sent more men to the Union Army in the Civil War than any other county in the state.