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The ImportailSrof Local History. 
 
 
 3^ D^S^BURRIi:^ 
 
 Librarian Wisconsin State Historical Society. 
 
 There are few branches of knowledjie 
 whose importance has been so generally and 
 justly extolled, as that of History. From 
 the days of Cicero, who proclaimed it to be 
 " the light ot truth, the life of memory and 
 the preceptress of life," the world has been 
 accustomed to hear its prais<^s and listen to 
 the recital of its powers. History has been 
 justly termed "philosophy teaching by ex 
 ample," and in a broad sense " the whole 
 past course of humanity from the first mo- 
 ment of its existence to the present hour. 
 
 The love of history seems inseparable from 
 human nature. It is natural for man to pre- 
 serve as far as is in his power the memory of 
 those of his own time and of those that pre- 
 ceded it. Rrde heaps of stone and earth 
 have been raised and ruder hymns or rhymes 
 have been composed by nations who had not 
 yet the use of arts and letters. An applica- 
 tion of the study of history that dots not 
 tend to make us better men and better citi- 
 zens is at least but an ingenious sort of idle- 
 ness; and the knowledge thus acquired is at 
 best a creditable kind of ignorance. The 
 study of history, however, of all otiiers is 
 the most proper to train us up to private 
 and public virtue. 
 
 Important, however, and Instructive as is 
 the narrative of past events and the influ- 
 ence they have exerted on the worM in civil- 
 ization and refinement, history is seldom so 
 interesting as when descending from the lof- 
 tier and more splendid regions of general 
 narration, it dwells for a while in an humbler 
 place, and delights in the details of events 
 of every-day life, and of the history of the 
 people. 
 
 "The struggles of empires and the convul- 
 sions of nations," says a writer, " while they 
 have much of sublimity have also much of 
 
 uncertainty and indistinctness. They are 
 too lurge for the grasp of ordinary minds, or 
 too indefinite to act. on common sensibilities ; 
 while the interests awakened by the details 
 of local history are such as from the facility 
 of comprehension and the identity of the 
 objects presented, must necessarily come 
 home at once to the feelings of every reader. 
 They place us by the firesides, or walk with 
 us among the graves of our fathers, attach- 
 ing a living story to the thousanvl inanimate 
 objects with which they are surrounded." 
 
 Under all forms of government, in this 
 country, whether colonial, provincial or re- 
 publican, many important measures have 
 been submitted to the primary assemblies of 
 the people to be examined and acted on by 
 them. Thus we find in the revolutionary 
 war, in particular, towns and parishes not 
 only expressed their opinion on many sub- 
 jects connected with that event, but they 
 actually exercised much of the jurisdiction 
 of a national government in prosecuting that 
 war. How these small corporations organ- 
 ized solely for municipal or parochial pur- 
 poses, transacted that business in that war, 
 as well as the more subsequent ones, in pro- 
 curing solaiers, storey and the means for 
 carrying them forward is well known. 
 
 " The great object of local history ,"says Mr. 
 Shattuck, " is to turnish the first elements of 
 general history, to record facts rather than 
 deductions from facts. In these small settle- 
 ments dotted over this country (as well as 
 others) are to be found many of the first 
 moving causes which operate upon and rev- 
 olutionize public opinion. Many facts, mi- 
 nute in themselves, and regarded, by many 
 as trivial and unimportant, are really of 
 great service. The details, which it is the 
 appropriate province of the local historian 
 
 t.TsT. 
 
to spread bi tore the public, are not so much 
 history itself as materials for history. It is 
 the work of the general historian, who has 
 before him all the particulars of the great 
 natural and political landscape, to exhibit 
 the connection of the several parts and to 
 show how they depend one upon another io 
 bringing about the great chanL^es which 
 have been taking place and afftcting the 
 condition of society." 
 
 No people in the world can have so ereat 
 an interest in the history of their country as 
 that of the United States ; for tbere are none 
 who enjoy an equally great sbare in their 
 country's historical acts. The histories ot 
 Bancroft, Hildreth and others have a world- 
 wide reputation. The histories of the War 
 of the Revolution, the War of 1812, the 
 Mexican War and the War of the Rettellion 
 have found able and impartial writers, and 
 there is perhaps no nation in the world 
 whose history has been more fully written 
 and with which the pef^ple are more familiar. 
 The histories of the individual States of the 
 Union have been written by competent par- 
 ties, detailing their rise and progress from 
 early times to the preseut, and in a spirit of 
 enlightened liberality many of the States 
 have made generous appropriations for pub- 
 lishing their colonial records. The States of 
 New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, 
 Connecticut and Rhode Island have done 
 nobly in rescuing from oblivion their early 
 documentary history, and furnishing an ex- 
 ample for imitation by other States. 
 
 John Quincy Adams once made a remark 
 ■which contains a world of truth : " That pos- 
 terity delights in details." And it is highly 
 creditable to the intelligence of the Au\eri- 
 can people, that so much of the early history 
 of the towns and villages of the country has 
 been written, and nothing comes closer to 
 the sensibilities of the people than the details 
 of events thai occured when their fathers or 
 ancestors were on the field of action and 
 took their part in building up their several 
 locations. This attachment to our homes is 
 a wise provision of Divine economy. It is em- 
 inently proper that every person should en- 
 tertain a particular attachment to the place 
 where he was bo.'n, and where he has made 
 his home. Change of location does not al- 
 ways wean the affection away from the old 
 fireside. By the aid of memory, we are 
 
 privileged to call back the early bygone 
 scenes, and apprecia'e the lessons we receiv- 
 ed that had so important a bearing on our 
 subsequent life. 
 
 To trace the history of our ancestors, and 
 transmit a record of their deeds to posterity, 
 is a duty we owe to the past and to the fu- 
 ture. Such a record must be preserved as 
 invaluable by the immediate descendants and 
 kindred of those who once lived and acted 
 where they now do, aLd whose ashes repose 
 in th( ir soil, and it cannot be without interest 
 to those who have gone out from their kin- 
 d'-cd to dwell in other parts of the country, 
 nor to those who have come to dwell in the 
 habitatiims made vacant by tlie removal or 
 death of the original occupants. What the 
 present place of our residence once was, 
 who originally occupied it and by what 
 means and by whom it has become what it 
 now is — are questions which can be answered 
 only by minute topographical history. 
 
 No part of the United States has 
 received more attention from writers than 
 the New England States. The last twenty 
 live years have produced the local history of 
 more towns and ci'ies in that section than 
 any part of the countrj'. The people of New 
 England have a history gohig back over two 
 hundred years, and the inhabitants justly 
 take pride in what their own towns have done 
 in reclaiming the country from barbarism and 
 what they have since performed for the pub- 
 lic good. 
 
 Other States of the Union have realized 
 in a more or less degree the vtlue of these 
 local histories. 
 
 The State ot New York, though for a long 
 period indifferent to the subject, has of laie 
 years found devoted antiquarians who have 
 brought to light much iijforraation that had 
 been for a long period buried in oblivion. 
 
 To Joel Munsell, the veteran printer of 
 Albany, that city is greatly indebted for the 
 reproduction and translation of her early 
 annals and subsequent history, and to give 
 some ide:i of what has been published and is 
 accessable to the inquirer, some statistics of 
 the local history that can be found in the li- 
 brary of the State Historical Society are here 
 given. Of the State of Massachusetts there 
 are 125 bound and about 300 unbound books 
 and pamphlets of her local history, consist- 
 ing of town and county histories, centennial 
 
and anniversary discourses ; of the State of 
 New York about 200 ; Connecticut 125; 
 Pennsylvania 70 ; Ohio 75 ; Maine, New 
 Hampshire and Vermont about 60 each, and 
 lesser numbers of the other States. The 
 whole number of volumes and pamphlets 
 nnmbering over 1,000. 
 
 It is interesting to note the fact that many 
 town authorities have liberally encouraged 
 this kind of literary labor. Prof. J. D. But- 
 ler informs the writer that the selecimen of 
 the town of Bradford, Vt., in accordance 
 with the vote of the inhabitants, contracted 
 with Rev. Dr. Silas McKeeu to write the 
 history of the town, and to pay him $500 to 
 publish it. We find also that the town of 
 Piltsfield, Mass., in 1866, appctinted a com- 
 mittee to compile, write and supervise the 
 publication of its history; and Hon. Chas. 
 Hudson has prepared two large octavo vol- 
 umes of the histories of the towns of Lexing- 
 ton and Marlborough, Mass., the manuscripts 
 of which were purchased by the authorities 
 and the work published at their expense. 
 
 Centennial celebrations of the orgf^niza- 
 tion of towns in New England have been 
 held in many towns, and funds raised by 
 subscription to secure the publication of 
 their local history ; and our worthy friend 
 Cyrus Woodman, of Cambridge, Mass., for- 
 merly of this State, appreciating the value of 
 the published records of his native town, 
 Buxton in the State of Maine, has published 
 a volume of its history at his own expense 
 for private distribution, and other instances 
 of this kind might be mentioned. 
 
 Turning our attention to our own section 
 of the country we find that Wisconsin and 
 Minnesota have made an excellent beginning 
 in this department of history, and made more 
 progress, perhaps, in proportion to their age 
 and population than many ot the older west- 
 ern Stated. Michigan has done less than 
 Wisconsin, a matter of surprise when it. is 
 Considered what might have been accom- 
 plished in that flourishing State if proper at- 
 tention had been directed toward it. In our 
 State there have been published in proper 
 form for preservation, histories of the coun- 
 ties of Brown, Crawford, Dane, Door, Rock, 
 Fond du Lac, Green, Green Lake, Oconto, 
 Pierce, Racine, St. Croix, Sauk, Walworth 
 and Winnebago— these are in pamphlet form 
 and a portion ot them designed for immigra- 
 
 tion purposes, but contain much that is valu- 
 able. There are also histories of the towns 
 of Ashland, Baraboo, Beloit, Elkhorn, Green 
 Bay, Hudson, Janesvilie, Kenosha, Madison, 
 Milwaukee, Mineral Point, Nashota, Osh- 
 kosh, Prairie du Chien, Plymouth, Prescott, 
 Racine, Stevens Point, Watertown, White- 
 water, and perhaps some others in pamphlet 
 form, and some prepared for the collections 
 of the State Historical S'>cietv. 
 
 There are also a few towns whose local 
 history has been published in a series of arti- 
 cles in the newspaper press. These articles 
 have been collated, neatly mounted and 
 bound in volumes. Ot this class may be 
 mentioned the " History of Plymouth, She- 
 boygan Co.," by Mrs. H. N. Smith ; the " His- 
 tory of Geneva, Walworth Co,," by J. Sim- 
 raonds ;" "Early Reminiscences of White- 
 water," and a valuable series of papers on the 
 " History of the Chippewa Valley," by T. E. 
 Randall. Ot the larger class of works 
 may be named " History of Milwaukee," by 
 Dr. R. A. Koss, in the German lautjuage, 472 
 po. 8o ; the " Chronicles of Milwaukee," by 
 A. C. Wlieeler, 303 pp. 12o ; Guernsey and 
 Willurd's History of Rock Co, 192 pp. So, 
 and the recent " History of Madison and the 
 Four Lake Country," by D. S. Durrie, 420 
 pp. '^o. 
 
 It will be seen from what has been written 
 that while the State of Wisconsiu has made 
 some progress in preserving its history, 
 there is still very much to be accomplished. 
 The materials for the preparation of works 
 of this kind are now available, but may not 
 be many years hence. Every village, or city 
 in this Stale has a distinct history of its 
 own. Parties are now living who came here 
 as pioneer'i, — the history of their experiences 
 and hardships should be preserved, as well 
 as the progress and growth of their several 
 localities. These men are passing away, 
 some to other homos, and others soon will 
 have finished their earthly labors and gone 
 to the world unseen. 
 
 This work, hovvever,must be done from un- 
 selfish motives. It is useless to disguise the 
 fact that the labor of collecting the materials 
 and preparing the same for publication, brief 
 and imperfect as they may be, is one of mag- 
 nitude. No one until he has tried the experi- 
 ment can fully appreciate the labor and pa- 
 tience which are requisite in connecting 
 
isolated facta, and the perplexity which is 
 caused in reconciling apparent, contradic- 
 tions and removing doubts. Such kind of 
 labor is never remunerative, but the con- 
 sciousness of having redeemed from unde- 
 served neglect the history of our homes and 
 of our forefathers, and rescuing from oblivion 
 many facts which would otherwise have been 
 lost, will be a source of gratification if no 
 other reward is received. 
 
 We wish we could suitably impress the im- 
 portance of this subject on the attention of 
 the people of this State and in fact on all 
 others. In almost every locality there are 
 persons interested in history; let such per- 
 sons cultivate their gifis by collecting mate 
 rials of the early settlement of their places of 
 residence and subsequent progress, and pre- 
 pare the same for publication. Should there 
 not be sufficient encouragement to publish 
 sucb a history in a volume, the editor of j 
 
 your county paper will gladly publish it in 
 his paper, even if continued for a long series 
 of numbers. 
 
 The Historical Society is desirous ol col- 
 lecting every thing that has a bearing on the 
 history of the State, general or local, and 
 fully appreciates the labors of those who 
 feel disposed to " gather up the fragments ' 
 and tiie library of that Society is rich in such 
 collections. If in your power to add to its 
 usefulness (and the benefit for the Society is 
 for the benefit of the whole people) the Soci- 
 et}- will be thankful for your co-operation. 
 
 Of late years it has been the custom in 
 some places to have annual gatherings of the 
 old settlers to recount their experiences. It 
 would be well if the custom could become 
 universal and a printed account of the same 
 preserved. How valuable such papers would 
 become in after time, no one can fully appre 
 ciate. 
 
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