Census Data

The 1850 census lists 17 as the number of persons who died in Portage County during the year ending June 1, 1850--among them nine children under ten, and five between 18 and 23 years. Although child mortality was high, there were families (mostly farmers) with five, six, seven and even ten children.

One man, 63 years of age, lived with his wife and two sons (all born in Vermont). One of the sons had a wife from New York State and three children born in Wisconsin. In a house next door lived another son, also born in Vermont, with a wife from Pennsylvania and two small children born in Wisconsin. An Irishman had a wife and five children born in Vermont and two children born in Wisconsin. Others born in the East, with wives from the respective state, had children born in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois or Wisconsin.

The most numerous age groups (20-29 yrs. and 30-39 yrs.) consisted largely of single men. Some of these men had trades, but most were laborers, often living as groups in the households of lumbermen. Others lived with tavern keepers in hotels.

Lumbermen and laborers were not permanent settlers. When they had cut the best timber, they moved on. It was believed that farmers who came as pioneers would establish farms that would remain in the family for generations. But this did not happen--very few people listed in the 1850 census left descendants in the area.

There were about 450 family names listed in the townships of Plover and Stevens Point in the 1850 census. However in the 1983 telephone directories for Stevens Point, Almond, Amherst and Rosholt, only about 100 were the same names as those in the 1850 census, and most of those bore no relationship to the pioneers. Thirty-two more names were found in the Wisconsin Rapids directory, but again there were no more than one or two families who had linkage to pioneer ancestry in Plover or Stevens Point.

Recent plat books, especially farms in Almond and in the town of Pine Grove, bear names found in the 1850 census. Examples are Beggs (spelled Baggs in the census), Clark, Johnson, Larson, Precourt and Sanders. Archibald Beggs came from Ireland, married in Vermont, and according to the 1850 census, had seven children living at home. Antoine Precourt emigrated from Canada, married in Maine, and at 29 years, had three children living at home. David Sanders and his wife, both from New York State, had ten children living at home; H.H. Young and his wife was from Maine, with four children living at home. Elisha Larson, age 30, and his wife, age 20, came from Norway. All of the proceeding were listed as farmers.

W. Koilock, aged 29, and Francis, aged 17, and probably his sister, came from Canada. In the 1850 census, Kollock was listed as a tavern keeper with a wife from Illinois. However on the plat map of 1876, this same Kollock was said to be a farmer who owned a piece of land. Today there are still Koliocks with farms in the towns of Pine Grove and Almond. It is probable that some men listed as laborers in the 1850 census became farmers and that their descendants still live on farms in Stevens Point or in nearby villages.

Although it is likely the 1850 census missed some people, it still indicates Portage County as sparsely settled at that time with a total of only 909 inhabitants, compared to the 1980 census which counted 57,420 inhabitants in Portage County. Immigrants came from the east and homesteaded in southeastern, eastern, northeastern and western parts of the county.

Between 1850 and 1860, there was an enormous increase in the population in Portage County, larger than in any other decade thereafter. Census figures increased from 909 to 7,507. During this decade more immigrants came from Europe to the United States than in any previous decade. In the years ending December 31, 1860, 2,968,194 people from foreign lands arrived by ship in the United States. In the previous decade, ending September 30, 1849, there were 1,427,337 immigrants; in the decade ending December 3 1,1839, there were 538,381 immigrants, and in the decade ending September 30, 1829, there were 128,502 immigrants. Realistically the numbers should be increased by the immigrants who came through Canada and decreased by the number of people who were merchants, and visitors who traveled in and out of the country. Passenger arrivals in the United States have been officially recorded in custom houses since September, 1819.

Some light can be shed on immigration into Portage County from a booklet published in 1857 by Albert G. Ellis and J.G. Tracy, entitled “Stevens Point - Handbook.” The book’s foreward addresses the public: “The design of this little work is to lay before the reader some of the more prominent features of the country of the upper Wisconsin River, the business which has led to its occupancy and settlement.. .the capacity for sustaining a population...” Ellis was United States Land Office agent. He wanted to attract settlers, stating that in Portage County, “The northern and northwestern portions are mostly timbered containing considerable quantities of choice government land still in the market--75 cents per acre. The supply of pure timber is said to be inexhaustible.”

It was during the decade between 1850 and 1860 that most of the towns in Portage County were organized: Eau Pleine in 1851; Almond and Amherst in 1852; Stockton in 1855; Pine Grove, New Hope, Linwood, Lanark and Belmont in 1856; Hull in 1858 and Sharon in 1859. Stevens Point was incorporated as a city in 1858.

In the 1860 federal census, the following facts about Wisconsin can be found. Wisconsin’s population: 772,693 whites; 1,171 free-colored; 613 Indians and 494 half-breeds, making a total of 775,881 inhabitants. Of these, 247,177 were born in Wisconsin. At that time 31,185 people born in Wisconsin moved west and south especially to settle in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois and California. Of Wisconsin’s total census, 498,954 had been born in the United States and 276,927 were foreign-born. Of those born in the United States, about half were born in Wisconsin; 120,000 in New York State; 55,000 in New England and 68,000 in the northern states, east of Wisconsin.

Among the foreign born, about 123,000 were from Germany; 44,000 from Great Britain; 18,000 from British America (Canada and Newfoundland) and 21,500 from Norway. Among occupations, fanning was by far the most important with about 94,000 farmers and 31,500 farm laborers. There were 28,000 laborers without their specific occupation named and 1,500 lumbermen. The rest were divided among approximately 280 occupations.

The published book of the 1860 federal census does not give many details on the counties. The population of Portage amounts to 7,507 (4,015 males and 3,488 females) in one table but 7,359 (3,934 males and 3,425 females) in another table. No explanation is given for the discrepancy.

It is possible to form a picture of the county at that time from manuscripts of the census takers. Plover had lost its importance and Stevens Point had now become the central place of the county and the only city. In Plover there were still a hotel, two clergymen, a physician, two lawyers, county treasurer, two saloon keepers, some merchants, craftsmen and laborers. At the same time Stevens Point counted among its citizens: several professional men, merchants, craftsmen and two brewers, both from Germany. There was also a daguerreo artist (a photographer) and an Englishman who gave as an occupation--gentleman.

The first railroad line in Wisconsin, from Milwaukee to Wauwatosa, was built in 1850. Companies began building lines to serve the whole state in order to provide transportation to the east and especially to the west, which was considered “the promised land.” But in 1860, no railroad line had reached Stevens Point and the river was used as a waterway for boats and for rafting logs. There were stagecoaches to various localities and consequently the census numbered among occupations: river pilots, raftsmen and a ferryman who lived in the city.

In the city at that time the number of females was almost equal to the number of males. Among the adult single females were teachers, seamstresses and servants.

Although many Stevens Point residents were natives to Wisconsin, many adults came from New York State or from New England. In many families, the father and the mother came from different states, and in some cases one of them was born in a foreign country. Although there were a number of foreign-born residents, they did not seem to form groups according to their ethnic origins.

Almond and Amherst became small centers with some services; there were stores, a church, a school and saloons. The good land on the outwash plain in the south and southeast were settled by farmers who came primarily from New England, New York, Canada and the British Isles. There were some Irish farmers who settled in the towns of Stockton, Belmont, Almond, Lanark, Plover, Buena Vista and Pine Grove. It does not appear that farmers came in groups from other towns or districts. The census indicates that most farmers moved from their place of birth and married women from other states. It seems that farmers first settled in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois where they had one or several children. They moved further west, settled, and had other children until they finally came to Wisconsin where their youngest children were born. The immigrants who came later settled in the central and northeastern part of the county where glaciation had taken place and farming was more difficult. There were few flat areas and dense woods. In the northwestern part, settlers occupied land that had been forested. Lumbermen had taken out large trees, leaving settlers the work to clear space for farming.

The towns of Sharon and New Hope are good examples of settlement in areas that were unoccupied before. In Sharon the 1860 census lists 454 inhabitants, of which more than half were born in foreign countries. There were 82 dwellings--in this case, a farm with its buildings and inhabitants of the farmer, his family, relatives and laborers. Sixty-six heads of households were farmers: nine born in America (six in New York State, one each in Maine, Vermont and Pennsylvania), 20 born in Germany (Prussia, Bavaria, Baden, Hanover, Hamburg), 16 from Ireland, six with Irish names from Canada, six from Poland, two from England and two from Norway.

Almost all farmers were married and had children, some born in Wisconsin and others born in one of the states between the coast and Wisconsin. In the case of Matthis Simonis for example, he and his wife were born in Prussia, five children were born in New Jersey, three in Pennsylvania and three in Wisconsin.

Only four people indicated occupations other than fanning or as laborers--one lumberman from New York, two carpenters (one from Canada and the other, the son of a farmer and living with the family) and one teacher from Vermont living on a farm. With the exception of the families of American farmers, lumbermen and teachers, all other native Americans were children of foreign immigrants. There were clearly three different groups in which families created bonds through language: Germans, Poles and Irish