Turck Family

Monday: Map Day! – Another look at Ouisconsin Territory, 1836

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

UPDATED, February 11, 2024, to include a revised annotated map. But for the full update—with additional notes and corrections—please see the most recent version of this, posted on February 12, 2024.

As a kind of postscript to our look at the early Wisconsin territorial, state and federal censuses, today’s Monday: Map Day! revisits an interesting map that we first discussed on October 29, 2017. Today’s post includes a few updates and corrections based on new information. 

It’s 1836. Where’s…Wisconsin?

In September, 1836, Sgt. Jonathan M. Clark was discharged from the U.S. Army at “Camp Hamilton,” Wisconsin Territory. after serving his three-year term of service with Co. K, Fifth Regiment of Infantry.1  One year later, in the autumn of 1837, Jonathan’s future wife Mary Turck would make the long trip from Palmyra, New York, to Milwaukee and finally Mequon, Washington County, Wisconsin, with her parents Peter and Rachael Turck and six younger siblings. By the end of 1840 Jonathan and Mary would be married and starting their family in Mequon.

That seems simple enough, until you take a moment to wonder how much Jonathan—or especially Mary and her family—knew about this new Wisconsin Territory.  Jonathan had been in the territory since October, 1833, mostly on post at Ft. Howard. In the last year or so of his service he was busy cutting trees and building bridges for the military road along the Fox River waterway from Ft. Howard (Green Bay) towards Ft. Winnebago (near modern Portage). As a road-building soldier, Jonathan might have done some surveying and seen—or helped draw—a variety of maps of the military road and its vicinity. But for a better overview of this new territory, Jonathan or Mary might have sought out a map such as this2:

Continue reading →

Census Records for the In-Between Years: 1838

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 3 Comments

UPDATED, July 24, 2021 with another spelling and additional info on early settler S. McEvony-McEvery-McEvany.

The Second Wisconsin Territorial Census

The second Wisconsin territorial census, taken in 1838, is the only Wisconsin territorial census we have not yet discussed here at Clark House Historian. If you need to catch up, at the end of this post is a list of our previous discussions of Jonathan Clark, Mary Turck, and their family on the federal, territorial and state censuses enumerated between 1836 to 1855.

By early 1838, several new counties—Dodge, Jefferson and Washington—had been created from the original, larger, Milwaukee and Brown counties, although the new counties were still “attached” to Milwaukee county for judicial purposes.1 This means that the 1838 territorial census of the newly-created Jefferson, Dodge and Washington counties was the responsibility of the Milwaukee county enumerator, Sheriff Own (sic) Aldrich.

The filmed images for the second Wisconsin territorial census, enumerated in 1838, are available online as FHL film no.1,293,919 , aka DGS film 7,897,817 (Item 2, following the 1836 census. The 1838 census begins at image 118 of 532). Here’s the first page of the Milwaukee county census (including the attached counties of Jefferson, Dodge and Washington):

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Census Records for the In-Between Years: 1836

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 5 Comments

Where’s Jonathan Clark?

Wisconsin’s first territorial census was enumerated in the summer of 1836. Our previous Monday: Map Day! post discussed the extent of the Wisconsin Territory in 1836, and outlined the few—very large and lightly populated—counties that were enumerated on that first census. If you missed it, you might want to read that post first.

Today’s post was originally planned to be a quick few paragraphs outlining the 1836 territorial census procedures and explaining how Jonathan M. Clark was, alas, probably not enumerated on this census; and if he had been, then we’d never find him; why that might have been; how this was not unusual for its era; and so forth. But! It turns out that we can find the “family” that Jonathan was enumerated with, though it’s kind of complicated, so bear with me.

The Wisconsin Territorial Census of 1836

The 1836 Wisconsin territorial census was typical for its time and purpose. The sheriff of each county was charged with enumerating four categories of white persons in his area:

  • Number of males under 21 years
  • Number of females under 21 years
  • Number of males over 21 years
  • Number of females over 21 years

There were no pre-printed forms; each sheriff used blank paper, a pen and a ruler to record the data. If you look at the actual returns (available online as FHL film no.1,293,919 , aka DGS film 7,897,817), you’ll find that the enumerators often recorded additional information not required by the authorizing legislation. (The Crawford county sheriff was particularly enthusiastic, subdividing his information into 13 age-groups for white males, 13 age-groups for white females, 6 age-groups for enslaved males and 4 age-groups for enslaved females.) The Brown county sheriff, as you can see (below), remained closer to his legislated mandate, and chose to enumerate five categories of white settlers:

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Census Records for the In-Between Years: 1855

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 5 Comments

A Growing Family in a Growing State

The late-1840s and early-1850s were boom years for Wisconsin settlement. The final territorial census was enumerated in 1847, and statehood arrived in 1848. The seventh decennial federal census was taken in 1850. (If you’re late to the party, we covered the Clark family and the 1850 census here, here, here, here and here.) And in 1853, the seven easternmost townships of old Washington county were established as Ozaukee county.

Such rapid growth called for frequent changes in political boundaries and representation. To make that happen, a number of state censuses were produced during the years between decennial federal censuses. The first of these was officially enumerated on June 1, 1855. The “Jon. M. Clark” family appears on line 20, page 1 of the Enumeration of the Inhabitants of the Town of Mequon, in Ozaukee County, State of Wisconsin […] taken by me, Wm. Zimmermann, Town Clerk.

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Census Records for the In-Between Years: 1846

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 3 Comments

Our previous Clark House Historian post was an introduction to the Wisconsin territorial and state censuses, with a close look and complete images of Washington county’s pages from the 1842 census. If you missed that, or need a refresher on how to navigate the FamilySearch.org collection of (free!) census images, please read Part 1, here.

The focus of today’s post is the next Wisconsin territorial census, officially enumerated on June 1, 1846. It is available as FHL film number 1,293,920, aka DGS film number 8,117,163. Click one of the film numbers to navigate to the 1846 census images. The Washington county census page images begin on image number 922 of 1103

For this census, Washington county was divided into two districts, each with its own enumerator. Patrick Toland was the enumerator for District No. 1, the western division, consisting of the towns of Erin, Richfield, Germantown, Wright, Polk, Jackson, Addison and West Bend. His summary of the enumeration was placed at the front of the census folder (images 923-925). The essential results for District No. 1 are here, image 924 of 1103:

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Memorial Day 2020

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

Lest We Forget

Graves of Unknown Union Soldiers, Memphis National Cemetery, 
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/tn0320.photos.578083p/

In spite of the worst pandemic in a century, a quick glance at the news will show that many Americans are celebrating this Memorial Day in our now usual way, as “the first day of summer.” Beaches and parks are open, stores entice customers with deals and sales, and people are crowding shoulder to shoulder in swimming pools and along ocean boardwalks.

But for many of us, Memorial Day remains rooted in its origins as Decoration Day. The first national observance was in 1868, when retired general John A. Logan, commander and chief of the Grand Army of the Republic—the Union veterans’ organization—issued his General Order Number 11, designating May 30 as a memorial day “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.”

This Memorial Day, let’s remember those Clark House family, friends and Mequon neighbors who served in the Civil War, and what they fought—and died—for. The History of Washington and Ozaukee Counties of 1881 lists these 65 volunteers from Mequon:

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The Clark Family in 1850, part 3

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 10 Comments

Where y’all from? 

If you missed them, you might want to begin with Part 1 and Part 2 of our look at Jonathan and Mary Clark and their growing family on the 1850 federal decennial census. Those earlier posts focused in some detail on the names and ages of the various family members and how that information correlates with the manuscript Clark Family Record. In this post we’ll try and answer the question of where Jonathan, Mary, and the children were born, a simple question, right? Let’s start by taking another look at the census page: Continue reading →

The Clark Family in 1850, part 1

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 9 Comments

Looking at the 1850 Census: A Growing Family

Continuing our look at important sources for Clark family history, let’s return to the decennial U.S. federal census. If you missed it, be sure to read our earlier post on Jonathan, Mary, and ? on the 1840 Census. The 1850 census was the seventh United States federal —and first “all name”— decennial census; every free person—man, woman or child—living on June 1, 1850, was to be counted and named on a separate line on the census form. It was also the first federal census to ask for certain additional information, such as each individual’s place of birth and occupation. (Enslaved African-Americans were enumerated on a separate form and not by name, but by sex, age, and owner. Click here for more information on the 1850 and 1860 so-called Slave Schedules.)

Based on what we know from the Clark Family Record and other sources, as of the official enumeration day, June 1, 1850, if the census enumerator and his Clark family “informant” were both accurate in providing and recording the data, we should expect to find the following living family members listed on the 1850 census: parents Jonathan and Mary Clark and their children Caroline, Henry, Elizabeth, Persis, and new baby Teresa. Let’s look at the census page and see what the enumerator recorded: Continue reading →

History Mystery! No. 2

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins.

The Clark Family Record: What is it? Who created it?

Welcome to our second installment of the Clark House Historian’s History Mystery! in which you, the reader, are invited to Help the Historian and solve one of the many persistent mysteries surrounding Jonathan M. Clark, his family, and related unknowns of local history. In a previous post, we got to Meet the Children of the Clark family. One of the sources for that post is an image that I received from Clark descendant Liz Hickman (thanks, Liz!) of what looks like a single page removed from an old family bible. The page lists birth dates for Jonathan M. Clark, Mary Turck Clark, and their children, and death dates for Jonathan and his only son, Henry. It’s a key document for Clark family research and yet there is much we don’t know about it.  History Mystery! No. 2 seeks to answer: What is the Clark “Family Record,” who created it, and how accurate is it?

Here’s a copy of the image from our files: Continue reading →

Rev. Woodworth’s Autobiography

/ Clark House Historian Reed Perkins. / 2 Comments

James W. Woodworth (1813-1893) and his brother Ephraim were among the earliest settlers in Mequon. They came from Nova Scotia, as did several other early Mequon settlers and families, including Isaac Bigelow, Daniel Strickland and Stephen Loomer. On March 1, 1838, J. W. Woodworth married fellow Nova Scotia emigrant and Mequon neighbor Mary Cerena Loomer. The marriage was believed to be the first Christian marriage in old Washington county and was performed by Mary Turck Clark’s father, Peter Turck, “an anabaptist preacher.”

J. W. Woodworth, like so many Protestant Christians of his era, was a man in search of a powerful and authentic connection to God. He found his answer in the 1830s and ’40s through Methodism. And, after many years of intense self-instruction, camp meetings, private prayer and preaching at local worship services, Woodworth was certified as a Methodist minister.

For much of his life Rev. Woodworth kept a diary of both the spiritual and mundane events of his life. He published the diary in Milwaukee in 1878 as My Path and the Way the Lord Led Me.  Continue reading →