Welcome To
Outagamie County, Wisconsin
Biographies and Historical
Sketches Web Site
In May of 1997, this project
was organized by Jeff Murphy, using the established KY
Biographies Project as a model. State coordinators
were sought to set up their own state project. They
were offered the system design and tools created for the
KY project, but were free to set up their project in any
way they chose. My
name is Kathryn and I am the coordinator for Outagamie,
Wisconsin. Volunteers are needed
to enter, edit, and archive the biographies for each
project. If you have biographies you would like to
donate for Outagamie County, please contact me Submitting
biographies is really very simple. Please click on this Submitting Biographies
link for easy instructions. If you would like to
volunteer to coordinate a county please contact the
Wisconsin State Coordinator Linda
Pingel. Please
note: I do not live in Outagamie County, so I am unable
to help you with any individual research project,
but please feel free to post your queries concerning your
ancestors that resided in Outagamie County on the "Query"
section of this site.
Neighboring
Counties:
Brown - To the east
Calumet - To the southeast
Winnebago - to the southwest
Waupaca - to the west
Shawano - to the north
* The Oneida Indian Reservation overlaps northeastern
Outagamie County and northwestern Brown County
Click
here to see BIG map
A
Little Outagamie County History
Wisconsin became a State in 1848; Outagamie County was
created from Brown County in 1851. Fox Cities (10
communities along the Fox River) consist of Appleton,
Neenah, Menasha, Kaukauna, Kimberly, Combined Locks,
Grand Chute, Little Chute, Freedom, Vandenbroek. Early
residents of Outagamie County were the Menomonee,
Outagamie & Winnebago tribes. The name Fox Cities
derives from the Outagamie Indians whom the French
nicknamed "les renards", meaning foxes. In 1634,
French explorer Jean Nicollet was the first European to
the Outagamie area; soon followed by French fur traders.
Charles Grignon (pronounced Green-Yo) built his mansion
in the woods in 1837. Ethnic groups that settled in
Outagamie County included Dutch, German, Polish and Irish
immigrants. The first industry in the County was flour
and woolen mills; power was provided by the Fox River.
When wheat crops began to fail, the local farmers soon
converted to dairy farming for their livelihood. Other
early industry giants included Kimberly-Clark, Appleton
Papers, Wisconsin Tissue Mills and the Menasha
Corporation, hence the County has earned the nickname
"The Paper Valley."
In 1846, Amos Lawrence established Lawrence University in
the County, which now has a reputation for being one of
the finest liberal arts and music schools nationwide. It
is the second oldest co-educational college in the United
States.
Search this Site
INDEX OF NAMES & LINKS TO
COUNTY
BIOGRAPHIES & HISTORICAL SKETCHES
(Click on any letter below to
take you to Surname beginning with that letter)
* NOTE: All biographies posted that state "Taken
from The Outagamie County Pioneer Record" should
include the following site source: "Record of the
pioneers of Outagamie County, Wisconsin/also an appendix
containing the minutes and records of the Pioneer
Association since our annual meeting of 1895", Post
Publishing Company of Appleton, Wisconsin, 1898, 112
pages, compiled by Elihu Spencer.
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