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The history of the land now called Oconto County goes back to
before humans walked the earth. The shores of Lake Michigan
along Oconto's eastern border yield fossil evidence of the great sea that
once covered the land. Among these findings are the "Petoskey Stones" which
are actually the petrified remains of abundant underwater plant life.
Later in time, tiny horses and huge, tusked Mastadons left their bones for
modern discovery in the marshes and swamps of the area.
Archeologists have identified that ancient humans lived along the
Lake Michigan shoreline just north of present day Oconto City. In
Copper Culture Mound State Park the relics of Oconto County's
earliest found human inhabitants date back to 5600 and 5500 B.C.
They were a peace loving and artistic people who developed the
skills that allowed them to live in relative comfort midst the
abundant plant, fish, and animal life of the area.
Their lifestyle included time for more than mere survival, which afforded them the opportunity to expand religious traditions and enrich their lives with art, jewelry, ceremonial and improved weaponry, and likely a wealth of oral traditions, some of which may have passed down the years to the present Native American Menominee people thought to be the early inhabitant's decendants. Copper, mined to the north around Lake Superior, was used to fashion impliments and ornament used in ceremonal and everyday life.
The great purity of the copper mined in the area made further
processing of the metal unnecessary, since the easily worked metal just
needed to be pounded into the desired shape. The use of copper initiated
the advancement from the stone age to a more modern way of life and it is
estimated that the copper age Native Americans began this transition as
far back as 7,000 B.C.
James Guthry, retired industrial chemist, estimates that 20 million
pounds of copper was mined by copper age inhabitants of the
Michigan and Wisconsin, yet only 10 thousand pounds have been
discovered and recovered from old sites. This leads many to
speculate about what happen to the rest.
Although there has been no proof yet produced, some experts feel
it is strongly possibility that trade existed with what is now Europe,
since the amount of copper used there exceeds the deposits of the time.
Not until the 1850's did white settlers begin mining Great Lakes Copper.
The Menominee People (meaning rice eaters) were the first nation to control Oconto County land. They were a peaceful nation whose main diet centered around the fish and wild rice of the area. Using dug-out canoes, and later developed birch-bark canoes, the women would paddle up to the wild rice growning in shallow water and bend the stalks over the edge of the boat, shaking the ripened grains into the canoe. In botanical terms, the wild rice that grows in Oconto is not really rice at all. It is actually a form of wild wheat that grows in the wetlands, but resembled rice to the eyes of European people who were only familiar with Asian rice planting in wet ground. The Menominee also had a large settlement to the north in what is now Marinette. The city derives it's name from a famous Indian woman who developed a large trading post where that city now stands. The canoe and walking were the major forms of transportation for the Menominee, and the size of the family determined the size of the canoe.
The extensive trade system established between different tribes was also used to communicate information and descriptions of distant places.
These people also had , as the French put it, "a wondering foot" that lead them to travel extensively, not only to visit
family and friends, but to "see the sights", much as we do today. It was not unusual for them to travel east to Nigara Falls,
west to the plains, or south through the Ohio River Valley. Having a non-aggressive reputation, the Menominee were often able to travel safely
through the lands of other tribes, including the Fox, who diligently controlled what is now the Green Bay area along the Fox River.
Early descriptions of the Menominee People, from both white explorers and other tribes, describe them as attractive, healthy, and well proportioned, with lighter skin color. They were considered honest, kind, and industrious, having spent a great deal of time perfecting their tools for gathering food. Unlike the Fox to the south, the Menominee did not grow food. They relied on fishing, gathering, some hunting and trapping, and were experts at preserving and storing foods. Their system of trade allowed them to obtain maze (corn), squash, and beans, which they dried, in exchange for their produce of preserved fish, rice, berries, nut meats, and smoked foul.
Fish was dried and smoked to preserve it for winter use and trade. Another important food item was Maple Sugar. The abundant
sugar maples of Oconto County were tapped each spring and the sap boiled down to crystalized sugar, which was
molded in birch bark cones for storage. Like any other nation, the Native American had a sweet tooth, and properly
prepared and stored maple sugar was much in demand as a trade item. Years of extensive trade between various tribes exchanged
furs, leather goods, clothing, technology, foods, art objects, weaponry, and oral history.
The first Europeans to write about being in the area of Oconto County were the French who worked for Canadian Samuel de Champlain. Men were sent from the colony of New France (Canada), founded in 1608, to learn the languages and customs of the Native Americans and form economic, political and military ties with them. Etienne Brule explored what is now northern Wisconsin in the 1620's, but it is not known if he came as far south as Oconto County. More likely the first to set foot in Oconto County was Jean Nicolet, who explored the Bay in 1634 for a short time, just 14 years after the founding of a colony Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in New England. Twenty years later, the next Frenchmen to visit Wisconsin and the Oconto County area were probably traders Medart Chouart Sieur Des Groselliers and Pierre- Esprit Radisson in 1656. These two men were brothers-in-law and spent years exploring "Le Baye" as it was now called, and the surrounding area. Large amounts of furs were already being exchanged in Montreal, Canada, for European goods such as cloth, knives, and guns. But these two Frenchmen were more interested in exploration.
Other Frenchmen to make their presence known in the Oconto County area were Father Allouez and his contemporary, Father Andre. Both these Catholic priests spent many years and endured enormous hardship in an effort to comfort, heal, educate, and sometimes convert members of the local tribes. Older Indians much preferred their own religious beliefs and the priests were sometimes treated with rude distain, but these "Black Robes" were bent on physical and spiritual works of kindness. They were often asked to act as mediators in settling intertribal disputes, and met with a great deal of success in avoiding the sometimes bloody battles that were the historic result of previous disputes. By the 1680's the hostility toward the French traders grew to the point of limiting their access to the Baye Indian lands. The missions were burned or abandoned, including the one in Oconto, and the "Black Robes" retreated to Canada. Local Baye tribes considered the French to be visitors to their land, and were becoming increasingly displeased with the behavior of the traders among their villagers.
France, by 1671, had claimed the Great Lakes area for its
own, which opened the forests of the region, including Oconto County,
to an invasion of illegal coureur de bois or "wood runners" which were unlicenced trappers and traders.
Only one canoe filled with beaver pelts would bring great wealth to a voyageur, so illicit trading had great alure.
By 1700, the French presence in the Great Lakes was strong and firmly established
in trade, which continued even after the loss of the "French and Indian War" to the British in 1763.
Because of the presence of so many French men and very few French women west of Montreal,
and the need for these men to have wives already posessing the skills to prepare and pack furs,
survive and raise families in the wilderness, and lead independant lives with the husband
gone a good amount of time each year, the Frenchmen turned to Native American women for marriage.
As for the women, there were several reasons which made marriage to a white male
a consideration. Women were often encouraged to marry Frenchmen by family members who were seeking favorable
trade agreements. Intertribal war had taken the lives of countless Native men of marriageable age, and
although there were some tribes where having more than one wife was accepted, a woman wanted her own marriage and home,
rather than be a secondary partner or servant to an older wife. More Native women converted to Christianity,
and found an understanding and supportive husband, in religion, with a French marriage. French traders were often financially well off
and this allowed the wife access to material items much in demand among Native Americans. The French husbands
were likely to easily and fully accept Native in-laws and "mixed-blood" children, and had no difficulty with a wife who maintained close family ties.
Lastly, although there were significant cultural differences between the tribes of the Great Lakes, it was the general custom of Native societies
for the man to underscore his manliness by abstaining from sexual relations with his partner, sometimes for several years.
Commonly, abstainance was practiced for two years after the birth of a child, which helped limit the number of offspring
needing food. According to sociological study, Native women seemed to be the more passionate of the two genders and
were often attracted to the less restrictive moral code lived by the Frenchmen in the region. Being the
object of increased attention and affection held high merit in considering a likely husband, and raising a large, healthy family
was the source of great pride and honor for the woman.
Initially, the French and Indian marriages were taken with all seriousness by the Frenchmen, as they had intended this new land to be their permanent home far away from most other Europeans. As the European population increased, unfortunately, a greater number of these French-Native unions were considered necessary only for the duration of the advantages to the traders. Afterward, the women and children were sometimes abandoned for a marriage and life in the Euopean settlements, or in other trading areas.. The Native women had been detached from their customary homes, where tribal culture was set up to accommodate the care and raising of children who had lost their fathers. Even though children of "mixed-blood" were treated no differently than any other child in Great Lakes Native American tribes, historic evidence indicates that the abandoned women of French-Native unions were not inclined to return to their tribes. It became neccessary for the woman to seek a union with another Frenchman for the survivial of her children and herself.
Children of these mixed unions became known as the Metis. By the end of the 1700's this group of people was numerous and began to live
in settlements all around the Great Lakes. They tended to separate themselved socially from both Indian tribes and European settlers, forming businesses
and marriages with each other. Some were directly involved in trade, while others grew food and animals for sale to military posts and
corporate trading towns, such as Green Bay, which in 1820 had a census of 337, not encluding military personnel.
Metis settlements tended to be small, and often were made up of "clans" of people lead by a "patriarch". As in all societies,
there were different social classes. The Bourgois were at the top. They owned the businesses, hired the workers,
and made the trading deals. The Commis kept the books and accounts and held their positions by vurture of being
able to read and write the languages necessary to business. They were also in line to become Bourgois if they
had good business sense. At the bottom were the Voyageurs who did the "grunt" work by traveling the waterways in canoes
to transport goods and furs. At first these were the full-blooded French, but as time went on, the Metis were recruited in the Great Lakes almost exclusively.
After 1865 the majority of children born in the Great Lakes were Metis. Promintent names of Metis families in Oconto County included Cappe, Rankin, Grignon, de Langlade, Tourtillott, Gauthier, LaBelle, Polier, Gillett, Pecor, Courchaine, Mechaquette and Chappiere. Gradually English, Jewish and Scottish were added to the mix, but the result remained Metis. Names of these families included Farnsworth, Lawe, Bush, Moses, Wilber, Warrington, Tomas, Baxtor, Adams, Kenny, and Dodge. Some prominent Indian names of the time were Oaskash (The Claw), Ok-ko-me-chum (Great Wave), Sthai-ke-tok (Scare All), Kikatosh, Machickanee, Okachelum, Nikamiskamus, Kapous, Wapoose, Kachtey, Danpoose, Miokowico, Shawanokacik, Askenit, Corn, Shawanometer, Mazoma, Markinat, Kajachsiu, Opehtans, and Nacuti. Because the Indian did not originally have a written language using an alphabet, the spelling of their names was left to the skill and mercy of the record keepers. The result was different English, Germanic, and French interpretations of the same names.
Marriages were sometimes not recorded and were by mutual concent due to the lack of record keepers and clergy early in the Oconto County history. Much like the rest of the area, the Metis of Oconto County came under the pressure of change after the 1820's. The fur trading that had lead to their creation was waining, and newly arrived farmers began to harvest the furs for sale. New areas of employment had to be accepted since the Bourgeois were no longer needed as traders, and the Voyageurs were no longer needed for transportation. Lumbering became the most frequent source of employment, since skills from fur trading jobs could be transfered with relative ease.
With the increase in Irish, German, and Dutch settlers and their clergy after the 1830's, Metis men and women in Oconto County increasingly married
partners from these groups. Add the fact that at the same time there was the "Yankee" belief that people were either "White" or "Indian"
which forced many Metis to declare themsleves in one category or the other for record keepers. Thus the Metis culture died, as it was
assimilated and their numbers were overwhelmed in Oconto County.
The region including Oconto County was claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Virginia immediately after the American Revolution.
Ohio won the destinction of claiming the area in 1785, then Indiana, Illinois and finally Michigan each took at turn. The first saw mill in what became
Oconto County was built at Pensaukee in 1827 on land leased from the Menominee Indians for $15 a year and enough boad lumber to make caskets.
By the early 1830's, George Furwick was the first to pruchase land from the government in what is now the City of Oconto. The Territory of Wisconsin
was established in 1836, which then brought the local government to the area from it's original home in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1848 Wisconsin
achieved statehood, being the last in the Great Lakes Territory to do so. The first elections were held in what is now Oconto on November 4, 1851 to
form the boundaries and name this new county dividing from Brown County. Oconto City became the county seat at this time. The name "Oconto"
was taken from an early Native American settlement named "Oak-a-toe". With the act of Congress that created Oconto County in 1851 from the
northern part of Brown County, the white cities and villages officially came into existance and the Indian villages they replaced vanished forever.
By 1850 the US Census listed the county as having a population of 415 described as "wilderness dwellers". The first steam powered circular saw was brought into production by Samuel B. Gilkey in 1853. and the first steamboats began moving along the Oconto River the following spring in 1855. Steam power was increasingly used, but had not yet reached a level of assured safety, as statistics in 1860 reported that there was a major steam engine explosion every 4 days in this country. Also in 1854 Henry Tourtilotte and his Indian wife and four children came to the Gillett area being the first to build a split level log cabin on what is now First and Main Streets. He was soon followed by Henry Clark and his Indian wife and their three children. A Pottowatomi settlement was just north of them and artifacts are still unearthed by local residents. Older residents of the area remember seeing the Pottowatomi cemetery with small wooden roofs covering the graves.
In 1855 the first road between the cities of Green Bay and Menominee began construction, northward. On March 11 of 1869 Oconto was chartered as a city
by an Act of Legislature. Lumbering gave way to homestead farming, and in partiular, dairying, in the later half of the 1800's, and Oconto County was
one important reason for Wisconsin's rise to "Dairy Capitol of the World". Tracks for the train line between Green Bay and Menominee were being layed in 1871, but faced a major setback
when the huge "Peshitgo Fire" burned nearly every foot of track along the route. The first Christian Science Church was built in 1886. In 1879
the final boundaries were set for present day Oconto County with the inclusion of Town of How from Shawano County. There are approximately
1000 square miles in this north central Wisconsin County. It has an elongated shape that measures aproximately 66 mile north to south, and is bordered
by Brown, Marinette, Forest, Shawano and Langlade Counties and the Menominee Reservation.