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Last updated May 9, 2018

Waupaca County Website Index
(To search this site please find the search engine below)
 

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Becoming a County

Wisconsin became a state in 1848, with Waupaca County being formed February 1851 from the counties of Brown and Winnebago.  The first established county seat was Mukwa, with the county seat later being moved to the city of Waupaca where it remains today. Logging was a major part of the early days in Waupaca County with agriculture following closely behind.

Waupaca is presently divided into 22 townships.  Bear Creek's first settlement was in 1854.  Caledonia was separated from Mukwa with it's first settlement in 1849.  Dayton was separated from the Town of Lind in 1852. Chief Waupaca first purchased land in the Township of Dupont with early white settlers coming in about 1854-56.  Dupont was separated from the Town of Union in 1864.  Farmington was organized in 1853.  Fremont was first organized in 1865 and is the smallest township in Waupaca County.  Harrison organized from Iola Township in November 1890.  Helvetia was organized in 1861.  Iola being organized in 1844.  Larrabee was taken from Bear Creek in 1860. Lebanon was organized from Mukwa in 1852. Lind was one of the six original townships. At one time Little Wolf was part of the township including Union, Dupont and part of Royalton. 1848 was the year of the first settlement in Little Wolf.  Matteson, at one point in time, was in the County of Shawano.  The Attorney General declared Matteson in the County of Waupaca in the year of 1860, only after a dispute between Waupaca and Shawano County. Mukwa was the temporary county seat from 1850 to 1856.  Royalton was organized from Little Wolf in 1853.  Scandinavia was organized about 1852. First called Waupaca Settlement and then Danger before finally being called Scandinavia. St. Lawrence was organized in 1855. Union was organized from Little Wolf in 1857. Waupaca settled in about 1850. The first settlers of Weyauwega came in 1847. Wyoming the last to be organized in 1890 set off from Helvetia.
 

Historical Facts About Waupaca County

Historical Facts About Waupaca County

1848 Alpheus Hicks and Mrs. Elizabeth Hicks (Mother-in-law) settle near Fremont
1849 First furrow turned, Town of Lind
1849 First hotel and tavern, in Mukwa, owned by Horace Rolph
1850
1850
 
First Fourth of July celebration at Lone Pine Hill, Lind. 33 attended.
First stores, Brickley & Bergstressor, Fremont; Judge Beal, Weyauwega; C.E.P. Hobart, Mukwa; E.L. Gumaer, Weyauwega
1851 First school houses, Fremont, Lind, Weyauwega.
1851 First teachers: Miss Dora Thompson, Waupaca, 21 pupils; Miss Mary Chandler, Weyauwega, 34, pupils.
1851 First high school at a home in Bear Creek (2 pupils) taught by Mrs. L.B. Williams.
1853 First church built, Methodist, Waupaca.
1855 Population - 4,437
1867 Waupaca County Jail built for $7,725.
1871 First railroad from Green Bay to New London, a branch of "Green Bat & Minnesota"
1873 Waupaca County Poor Farm established for $5,500. William Masters, Superintendant
1882 Waupaca County Courthouse built for $15,000.
1895 First library, New London, (1,031 books) issued by Walter Trase; First Librairian, Mrs. Edna Jost.
1902 Waupaca County Asylum built for $55,000. Mr. and Mrs. C.M. Hayward, Supt. and Matron.

Counties that border Waupaca County are
Marathon   Outagamie   Portage   Shawano   Waushara and Winnebago

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Search the Waupaca County Website

Reminder:  When searching for a surname you may only find that surname as you have spelled it. Example: Girard may only be found as that - if the transcription of the surname is spelled as Gerard you will not find it by searching for the spelling Girard. (Wilson/Willson: Wetmore/Wentmore, etc.) Try various spellings of the surname you are seeking.

Also for example if you are searching for a Samuel Girard use the quotations marks "Samuel Girard". This will bring up only those names when they are together in that manner. If you put Samuel Girard in the search without the quotations marks all Samuels and Girards will come up - not just Samuel Girard.

The search engine does not pick up the hundreds (if not thousands) of names located in scanned items posted on this site. Many obituaries and newspaper articles are scanned copies. I suggest you take time to browse the site. 
 

site search by freefind

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The USGenWeb and WIGenWeb Projects

In the spring of 1996, a group of genealogists with mutual interests in Kentucky genealogy got together and discussed ways and means of using the internet for comprehensive genealogical resources. This resulted in a project to build web sites for every county in Kentucky. This idea quickly spread to other states and by the end of the summer of 1996, the USGenweb Project began.

The WIGenWeb Project was then established by a group of genealogists with an interest in providing free genealogical information to the public and providing a single entry point for all Wisconsin counties. Volunteers were found who were willing to coordinate the collection of information  and to oversee the contents of the web sites.

If you would like to contribute material to this site or other WIGenWeb Project sites, please contact Paula Vaughan, the County Coordinator of this site, or Tina Vickery, the State Coordinator. Enjoy your visit!

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Copyright Notice: All files on this site are copyrighted by their creator and/or contributor. They may be linked to but may not be reproduced on another site without specific permission from Paula Vaughan at pajolova@hotmail.com and/or their contributor. Although public information is not in and of itself copyrightable, the format in which they are presented, the notes and comments, etc., are. It is however, quite permissible to print or save the files to a personal computer for personal use ONLY.

Links to sites that are not part of the USGenWeb Project are provided for your convenience and do not imply any endorsement of the sites or their contents by the USGenWeb Project or its members. Neither the USGenWeb Project nor its members are responsible for the contents of any "third party" site which you may access from a link on this page.

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Copyright © 1999-2018 Paula Vaughan