HISTORY OF MANITOWOC COUNTY


In Manitowoc county people from Hanover are not distinguished from Mecklen-
burgers. Oldenburgers in large numbers settled in Liberty and Two Rivers.
Early settlers in Neshoto and Mishicot were from Holstein; also in Schleswig.
They settled there in i848-9, on account of political discontent.
In I847 Theodore Wettstein, of Barmen, came to the United States as the
leader of one hundred and fifty-six persons, a considerable portion of whom
finally located in this county. A considerable number of Bavarians also settled
here. Between i846 and i849 about fifteen Saxon families settled in the town
of Mishicot, by reason of which fact a part of the town was called Saxenburg.
They were mainly Lutherans. In 1847 a Saxon settlement was formed at
Centerville, its members being from Sachsen-Weimar and Sachsen-Gotha.
In i849 a pamphlet by Gustav Richter, a German citizen of Manitowoc, and
a land agent, was circulated in the Rhine provinces and was designed particu-
larly to show the advantages of Manitowoc and other Wisconsin points as a
place for German immigrants. The German immigration to Wisconsin was very
large early in the '50s. Many came first to Chicago and Milwaukee and then
by
boat to Manitowoc county.
By i847 the greater part of the land within fifty or one hundred miles of
Milwaukee had been settled, or was in the hands of speculators, while some
Germans from the Rhine provinces and Saxony had settled in the northeastern
counties-Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Calumet and Outagamie. This movement
was principally to the northward of Milwaukee, Sheboygan and Manitowoc
counties receiving large numbers.
NORWEGIANS
The Norwegians are very much in evidence as early settlers in this county.
Soren Ballensted came first, in I843, and was followed by his brother, Allie,
a
few years later. But the most prominent of them all, one who rose to a high
position of influence and attained an enviable standing in financial circles,
was
0. Torrison, who settled at Manitowoc Rapids in 1848, working as a clerk
in a
general store for some time. As with the Germans, so with the Norwegians,
many of them found their way to Manitowoc county and selected land in various
towns. The first settlement in Eaton was by 0. Swensen, a Norwegian, in 1849,
and 0. K. Gigstad, K. 0. Oppeti and J. Stephenson were among the early
arrivals in Liberty town. Others found land and locations to suit their needs
and fancies in other parts of the county. Like their German neighbors they
were
industrious,.frugal and determined. It naturally follows that they became
pros-
perous and among the best of American citizens.
THE IRISH
Many of the intrepid and hardy sons of the Emerald Isle took up their abode
in the county and joined their fortunes with that of the community. A large
number of the best element of the Irish race, immigrating from "the
land of the
shamrock so green" entered or bought land here in the '40s and stood
on a par
with those who came before them in industry and good deportment. They, of
course, also prospered and Maple Grove, Rockland, Cato, Meeme, Liberty and
Franklin are largely indebted to them for their coming so early in their
history


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