Well, whaddya know? Christmas is just around the corner…
JCH Parlour with Christmas tree and decor. Photo credit Reed Perkins
Holiday Lights 2024
December 2 & 3, 2024, brought us the latest edition of our Holiday Lights gathering of Clark house friends old and new. There was good food, tasty beverages, lively conversation, and fine seasonal music, all dished up in the unique ambience of our historic Jonathan Clark House Museum.
As we do every year, the house was decorated with appropriate 1840s-style decorations, including the table-top Christmas tree and ornaments, and the evergreen bough decorations on the window sills, shown above.
The Clark House Historian at his desk, wondering where October went…1
It’s been over a month since our last Clark House Historian post! Sorry about that. It’s not that I haven’t been busy with JCH writing and organizing. I have been. But most of my work for the last month has been done behind the scenes as the Jonathan Clark House graphic designer and webmaster.
For a good roundup of what’s been going on, please head over to our JCH official website and click on the News & Events page for details.
UPDATED October 5, 2024, at 9;30 pm to correct a number of typos and other infelicities.
Phew! What a busy September! I got to talk about some very interesting topics last month, to some very enthusiastic and attentive audiences. Lots of work, but very enjoyable. The first of these events was my September 13, 2024, after-dinner presentation at the Fall Workshop of the Wisconsin Society, Daughters of the American Revolution (WSDAR). My topic was “Building the Military Road, Wisconsin Territory’s First Federal Road.”
Photo credit: Laura Rexroth
I incorporated into the talk some important parts of the 1830s and ’40s army and road-building information that I’ve blogged about here at CHH, as well as new primary source materials and a whole bunch of relevant photographs and illustrations.
The WSDAR and the Military Road
An important, ongoing part of the WSDAR’s mission over the decades is historic preservation and education. The Wisconsin Society DAR’s main historic preservation effort involves the care and presentation of the last bit of Fort Winnebago still standing, the historic Fort Winnebago Surgeon’s Quarters.
“Fortifying the Border,” slide from my “Old Military Road” presentation.
This image of Fort Winnebago, at the Portage between the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, was created in the mid-nineteenth century and reproduced on a 1909 postcard. In the detail shown here, the building that is now the WSDAR’s historic Fort Winnebago Surgeon’s Quarters museum is indicated by green arrow. The uncropped full image—including a view of the Historic Indian Agency House—is available from the Library of Congress.
The WSDAR also has an interest in Wisconsin’s Old Military Road that dates back at least to 1930, when Columbia County’s Wau-Bun Chapter, WSDAR placed a series of handsome cast-steel markers along their portion of the route of the Old Military Road. As you might imagine, these have suffered from almost a century of Wisconsin weather and random damage or theft. State regent Sandra Snow has made the restoration and replacement of the 1930 markers one of her signature projects. Here’s a before and after of one of those markers:
Join us at the Cedarburg History Museum this Saturday!
Just a reminder: I’ve been asked back to the Cedarburg History Museum to give another talk in their 2024 Civil War lecture series. My topic will be “They Fought Like Devils” – the Black soldier and Wisconsin’s Civil War experience , a multi-faceted subject that is often overlooked when discussing Wisconsin’s part in the Civil War. All are invited to the presentation at 6:00 p.m., Saturday, September 28. Seating is limited, so to attend my talk—or any of the CHM free lectures—don’t forget to RSVP to museum director Joel Willems at 262-377-5856 or joel@cedarburghm.org to reserve a place.
I just put the final edits on my upcoming presentation for the Fall Meeting of the Wisconsin Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. I’ll be talking about Wisconsin’s first federal road—the Old Military Road—and the men that built it, including our own Jonathan M. Clark.
One of my WSDAR presentation slides. From left: JMC’s army post, Fort Howard (Green Bay), JMC’s army enlistment paper, JMC portrait photo.
My talk is scheduled to run for 30 minutes and, as is often the case, I had to cut a lot of information from the presentation in order to keep it inside the time limit. But I don’t want all of those research tidbits to go to waste, so I’m going to post them in a few posts here on the blog. Today, I’m going to list, comment on, and link to some of the key sources that helped me put my WSDAR presentation together. If you have any interest in Wisconsin’s early roads and related transportation issues, I encourage you to check out these sources. Most are freely available online, and I’ll provide links where I can. Happy reading!
Durbin & Durbin, 1984
To my knowledge, the best, most detailed, and most comprehensively researched and documented article about the Military Road remains “Wisconsin’s Military Road: Its Genesis and Construction” by Richard D. Durbin and Elizabeth Durbin. It was published in Wisconsin Magazine of History (WMH), Vol. 68, No. 1, Fall, 1984.
The Durbins appear to have consulted a huge number of primary sources, especially the deep collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Their article is lavishly illustrated with vintage and modern maps, and will allow the reader to retrace the path of the original Military Road through modern Wisconsin. The authors also document in great detail the many twists and turns of the road’s legislative and appropriations history and the military’s involvement in the project.
Durbin and Durbin is essential reading for this subject, and can be read for free via the Wisconsin Magazine of History Archives at WHS’s excellent website (link to article). And speaking of the Wisconsin Magazine of History…
I know it’s been a while since my last post, but I’ve been busy! Jonathan Clark House executive director Nina Look and I just finished the latest JCH newsletter, and there’s a lot of Clark House history coming your way this fall, both here on the blog, and “live and in person.” In particular, I’m currently racing to finish not one, but two, illustrated presentations that I’ll be giving in September.
JMC, the Old Military Road, and the DAR
I’ve been asked to speak at the Fall Workshop of the Wisconsin Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. My topic will be “Building the Military Road, Wisconsin Territory’s First Federal Road.” I’ll be incorporating much of the 1830s and ’40s army and road-building information that I’ve blogged about here at CHH, as well as new primary source materials and contemporary illustrations.
The presentation will take place after dinner, Friday, September 13, at the WSDAR Fall Workshop in Oshkosh. The event is limited to registered DAR members and their guests. My thanks to Wisconsin State Regent Sandra Snow and the members of the WSDAR for their kind invitation to speak.
There’s a lot going on at the Jonathan Clark House this summer! Here’s a quick look at two upcoming June celebrations, as well as information about our other 2024 summer events. Be sure to click Continue reading (below) to see all the details.
Pie on the Patio 2024
As a reminder, Pie on the Patio, our annual salute to donors and Friends of the Jonathan Clark House will be held at the museum this Wednesday, June 12, from 5:00-7:00 p.m. There is limited space for the event and RSVPs were due June 5. But if you have questions or last-minute changes in plans, please contact executive director Nina Look via email at jchmuseum@gmail.com or call 262-618-2051.
And if you don’t want to miss next year’s Pie on the Patio, become a Clark House donor, today! Just click this link to our JCH donor page, or scan the QR code, below, and scroll down to the Donate Online info. And thank you for your support!
This Saturday! – Heritage Day 2024
Put away the electronics and experience life in Mequon-Thiensville as it was in the 1850s. On Saturday, June 15, from Noon to 3:00 p.m., the Jonathan Clark House Museum hosts its annual Heritage Day, where everyone steps back in time to learn more about early settler life. Each event features hands-on activities and fun for all ages. Admission is free and open to the public. Come see us at the corner of Cedarburg and Bonniwell Roads in Mequon!
Sorry for the “radio silence” lately. I’ve been occupied with a number of tasks on- and off-line and then, early last morning, we had a big thunderstorm, and it seems that one or more of the storm’s lightning strikes managed to fry our family’s wi-fi modem-router. Imagine that. No internet! How does a blogger cope?
The cold realization of an off-line Monday was followed by the prospect of what lay ahead: going to my day job (meh), and then, after work, needing to choose and purchase a new modem-router (not too bad, perhaps) and then having to spend hours trying to follow the inevitable—and laughably & misleadingly-labeled—”few easy steps” to set up the new Wi-Fi hub and connect it to our existing internet service and other devices (I’ve done this before and, frankly, I’d rather visit the dentist).
The Spring edition of the Jonathan Clark House Museum newsletter is here! It’s filled with Clark House news and updates, notices of upcoming events, and recaps and photos of a variety of JCH happenings since last November. There’s also a “Meet the Historian” article on page 7, in which I discuss how I got involved with the museum and what I do as Clark House historian. I hope you find it interesting.
Click the image (below) to view and/or download your own PDF copy of the complete Spring | May 2024 newsletter.
You can also view the May newsletter at the Jonathan Clark House Museum website. Just click this link.
Adventures in Graphic Design…
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently signed on as the part-time graphic designer for the Jonathan Clark House Museum newsletter, posters, and other visual products. I will continue my independent, volunteer, Clark House Historian research and blog posting, but I’ll also help prepare various JCH publications, using the design and layout skills that I’ve developed over the decades, including more than 400 illustrated blog posts here at CHH. And speaking of graphic design…
Clark House Historian 