Cedarburg

Talking about the Civil War

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 3 Comments

That was fun!

I had a great time last Saturday evening at the Cedarburg History Museum, giving an illustrated talk as part of their big 2024 Civil War exhibition and lecture series. My subject was “From the ‘Burg to the Battlefield…and Back: Cedarburg’s Beckmann Family and the Civil War.” I tried to take a more personal and local look at the war by examining the military service of few of the Cedarburg relatives and future in-laws of 1868-1873 Clark House resident Fred Beckmann. In my research, I found some unique stories of their years of Union service in the 9th and 26th Wisconsin Infantry Regiments, as well as the impact of the war on families and friends back home in Wisconsin.

1864 National Color, 26th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment (Wisconsin Veterans Museum, V1964.219.119)

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I’m deep in documents…

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

…as I prepare my March 9th Civil War presentation for the Cedarburg History Museum, try to sort out the full story of Mequon-Thiensville’s earliest settlers and landowners (including first postmaster John Weston), and look through a bushel of fresh sources in our ongoing search for Jonathan Clark’s kin who hail, we think, from somewhere up around where Derby, Vermont meets Stanstead, Québec.

The Clark House Historian and his crack research team, searching for answers in the written record…1

As you can see, I’ve got work to do in order to dig out from under—and make sense of—the big pile of historical documents that I’ve accumulated over the past several weeks.

So no new CHH post today, but I’ll be back soon with more Clark House history.

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CHH blog roundup, 2023

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 2 Comments

As the volunteer historian for the Jonathan Clark House Museum, it’s my privilege to investigate, document, and share with you the stories of the Clarks, their relatives, neighbors, friends, and try to bring to life the world in which they lived. Much of my work involves finding, studying and analyzing relevant documents and visual images, and much of that work happens “behind the scenes,” so to speak.

The Clark House Historian at work (note discarded drafts and as-yet unfinished projects).1

Each week (well, “each week” is the goal…) I share some of my findings with you on this blog. Now that the old year is gone, I thought it might be worthwhile to see what we accomplished at Clark House Historian in 2023. Let’s begin by taking a quick look at the numbers…

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Thomas Day: farmer, prospector, preacher

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

I’m still collating information about how and when the members of the Bonniwell gold rush expedition(s) returned to Wisconsin. I hope to have the full list posted here, shortly. In the meanwhile, I thought you might be interested in learning more about Clark family neighbor Thomas Day. He was a member of the Bonniwell 1849 by-land-and-sea expedition to the California gold fields and was a friend and colleague to Clark House neighbor and Methodist evangelist William W. Woodworth. Thomas Day’s life story sheds light on the early Washington/Ozaukee county settler experience, and illuminates various aspects of immigration, religion, and family life in pioneer days.

As we begin, be sure to note that our subject, Thomas Day, immigrated to Wisconsin from England in 1846, and is not directly related to the Tennessee-born, 1836 Mequon pioneer Isham Day.

Rev. Thomas Day, 1809 – 1901

Let’s start at the end, with the longer of two versions of Thomas Day’s obituary, as published on page 3 of the Indianapolis News, Sunday, April 21, 1901:

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The Cooper

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 2 Comments

In the 1800s there were no corrugated cardboard boxes or padded shipping envelopes. If you needed to store or ship any liquid—and most dry goods—the barrel (and its larger and smaller cousins) was almost always your container of choice.

Anderson, Alexander, engraver. Five Men on a Flatboat With Barrels and Sacks; One Man Operates the Keel from Above the Boathouse, the Others Are Resting on the Freight, circa 1830-1860, Library of Congress.

And when you needed a barrel, hogshead, keg, cask or firkin, or just an oaken bucket for your well, you would get it from a cooper.

Unknown photographer. Occupational Portrait of a Cooper, Three-Quarter Length, With Barrel and Tools, circa 1840-1860, Library of Congress.

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Have you voted?

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

It’s not too late to cast your ballot in the reader’s poll from our previous post, asking how I should archive the contents of my April 22 Cedarburg History Museum talk here at Clark House Historian. Should I publish the words and images as a series of usual-format CHH blog posts, or as one or more YouTube videos, featuring all the original PowerPoint slides, accompanied by my re-recorded narration?

The polls are still open, and the lines are short. Just scroll down to the Leave a Reply box, below, and where it says “Enter your comment here…” leave your vote for “Blog posts” or “YouTube videos.”  Questions? For the full story, just click this link and read the second part of Monday’s post, beginning at “That was fun!”

In the words of the late, great, Mayor Richard J. Daley, “vote early and vote often!”

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Time flies!

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 6 Comments

[Editor], daguerreotype with added color highlights c.1855 (slightly cropped, and color adjusted), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Charles Isaacs, (link), Creative Commons CC0 license. Click to open larger image in new window.

Hey! It’s almost been a month since my last post. Sorry about that. I haven’t gone this long between posts in several years, I think, and now I’ve got (the digital equivalent of) a towering pile of half-written posts to finish and topics to discuss. That said, I have been busy…

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