Autobiography, Orrin Henry Ingram: May, 1830–December, 1912
Ingram, Orrin Henry
Eau Claire, WI: 1912
Ingram was a successful lumberman in the Chippewa Valley and influential resident of Eau Claire.
Ingram, Orrin Henry (1830-1918)
The Farm West of Mars
Isherwood, Justin
Heartland 1988
Justin Isherwood grew up on a farm south of Stevens Point, Wisconsin, and continued to live there and work the farm while he wrote this volume; a memoir of his youth in the 1950s.
Isherwood, Justin (1946 – )
Solomon Juneau, A Biography. With Sketches of the Juneau Family – Famous People from Wisconsin
Fox, Isabella
Milwaukee, WI: Evening Wisconsin Printing Co. 1916
Solomon Juneau is considered the founder of Milwaukee. He was a French-Canadian fur trader who settled with his Metis wife on the Milwaukee River near Lake Michigan in 1818, establishing a post there when the area was still wilderness. He put his business skills to work in developing the village of Milwaukee, and was for many years one of its leading citizens. He served as mayor of Milwaukee from 1846 to 1847 and was also the town’s first postmaster.
Juneau, Solomon (1793-1856)
George Kennan: A Writing Life – Wisconsin Biographies Free
Congdon, Lee
ISI 2008
There were two George F. Kennans. The first was the well-known diplomat and ambassador to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia—a tough political realist and man of the world who gained fame as the theorist of America’s Cold War “containment” strategy. This was a “persona” that Kennan adopted in order to carry out his professional responsibilities. The second, largely unknown, but real George Kennan was a writer and aesthete—a shy, lonely man who felt alienated from both his country and his times, and a man who made major contributions to American literature.
Thus argues Lee Congdon in George Kennan: A Writing Life, a groundbreaking study of Kennan’s life and thought. Congdon narrates Kennan’s legendary work in the foreign service, his later career as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, and the schools of thought to which he made significant contributions: political realism, antidemocratic social and political criticism, Spenglerian gloom, and conservative cultural analysis. Congdon concludes that notwithstanding his great accomplishments as a diplomat and geopolitical strategist, Kennan merits consideration above all else as an original and penetrating American writer.
Kennan, George Frost (1904-2005)
George Kennan: A Study of Character
Lukacs, John
Yale University 2007
A man of impressive mental powers, of extraordinary intellectual range, and—last but not least—of exceptional integrity, George Frost Kennan (1904-2005) was an adviser to presidents and secretaries of state, with a decisive role in the history of this country (and of the entire world) for a few crucial years in the 1940s, after which he was made to retire; but then he became a scholar who wrote seventeen books, scores of essays and articles, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir. He also wrote remarkable public lectures and many thousands of incisive letters, laying down his pen only in the hundredth year of his life.
Having risen within the American Foreign Service and been posted to various European capitals, and twice to Moscow, Kennan was called back to Washington in 1946, where he helped to inspire the Truman Doctrine and draft the Marshall Plan. Among other things, he wrote the ‘X’ or ‘Containment’ article for which he became, and still is, world famous (an article which he regarded as not very important and liable to misreading). John Lukacs describes the development and the essence of Kennan’s thinking; the—perhaps unavoidable—misinterpretations of his advocacies; his self-imposed task as a leading realist critic during the Cold War; and the importance of his work as a historian during the second half of his long life.
Kennan, George Frost (1904-2005)
“Rufus King, Soldier, Editor, and Statesman”
Wisconsin Magazine of History Vol 4, No. 4, 1921, 371-381
King, Charles
Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin
King, Rufus (1814-1876)
Wau-bun, the “Early Day” of the North-west
Kinzie, Juliette Augusta
Chicago: Caxton Club 1901
Juliette Kinzie published this memoir in 1856 about her life at Fort Winnebago (Portage) in 1830-1834, where her husband was the U.S. Indian sub-agent. Memoir of Juliette Kinzie.
“This book recounts the experiences of a young, genteel wife adjusting to the military life and frontier conditions of life at Fort Winnebago, Wisconsin, in the early 1830s. She describes her perilous journeys back and forth to the early settlement of Chicago, her complex cultural encounters with a diverse frontier society, and her determination to instill her own standards of civilized behavior and Christian observance. There is abundant information on the customs, folklore, economic practices, life-cycle events, medical treatments, diet, warfare, environmental responses, social hierarchies, and gender roles of the different groups of people that Kinzie comes to know best. She also provides detailed portraits of individual native Americans, voyageurs, fur traders, missionaries, pioneers, soldiers, and African Americans who impressed her positively or negatively. As pieces of local and family history, Kinzie retells stories of settlers captured by Indians; battle scenes from the wars with the British, the Sioux (Dakota) and other native Americans; and the fall of Fort Dearborn.”
-Library of Congress American Memory website.
See also: Books about 19th Century American Women Authors
Kinzie, Juliette Augusta (1806-1870)
La Follette’s Autobiography: A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences
La Follette, Robert M.
Madison: La Follette 1919
Written in a clear, vigorous style, this account of Robert M. La Follette’s political life and philosophy is not only a personal history but, in a large measure, a history of the Progressive cause throughout the United States.
This remarkably honest self-portraiture records in clear detail one of the most significant and inspiring upheavals of the past seventy-five years. From it the reader gains a clear understanding of Bossism, Reform, and Progressivism as they were known between 1890 and 1912. From it emerges the magnetic and powerful personality of “Fighting Bob” La Follette, loved by millions, but distrusted by millions more. Led by its principal proponent, the reader is carried to the very core of the Progressive movement, whose roots were anchored in a deep faith in democracy. Here is the complete La Follette story through 1912—his first campaign for district attorney, his early years in Congress, his years as governor, and his years in the Senate—recounting in fascinating detail a great movement from its inception to its height of national influence.
This is a book for every conscientious citizen. For, as Allan Nevins states in his Foreword, “. . . the battle La Follette led still goes on, and the lessons he instilled still need pondering.” Memoir of Bob LaFollette.
La Follette, Robert Marion Sr. (1855-1925)
See our Mystery Books PDF
Robert La Follette and the Insurgent Spirit
Thelen, David P.
Little, Brown 1976
Perhaps the most popular and respected radical in modern American history, Robert M. La Follette grappled with the fundamental problems of making government respond to the wishes of the majority in a world that was being transformed by large-scale industrial capitalism.
The career of “Fighting Bob” La Follette encompassed both the rise and fall of insurgency in American grass-roots politics. David P. Thelen recounts the senator’s life in order to explore the changes that occurred in the Progressive movement, of which he was the prominent leader. He focuses particularly on the relationship of La Follette to the shifting grass-roots bases from which he attacked concentrated wealth and power. The author also charts how other grassroots loyalties – to ethnic group, religion, political party, geographic region, sex, and race – influenced the actions and directions of the Progressive movement.
La Follette, Robert Marion Sr. (1855-1925)
“Young Bob” La Follette: A Biography of Robert M. La Follette, Jr. 1895-1953
Maney, Patrick J.
University of Missouri 1978
United States senator “Young Bob” La Follette entered politics as a young reformer in the shadow of his legendary father, “Fighting Bob” La Follette. He made his own mark as a key architect of Roosevelt’s New Deal and as a champion of labor rights and civil liberties. But in 1946 he was unexpectedly unseated by Joseph McCarthy, whose rise to Cold War notoriety foreshadowed La Follette’s despair and suicide in 1953. This new edition updates the only full scale biography of La Follette, Jr., the first to exploit his voluminous collection of personal papers. Patrick J. Maney makes clear that Young Bob’s story is as relevant today as it was when he died. His life stands as dramatic evidence of how one of the most respected politicians of his time bridged the political spectrum and was admired by both liberals like FDR and Harry Truman and conservatives like Robert Taft and Richard Nixon. Biography of Bob La Follette.
La Follette, Robert M., Jr. (1895-1953)
Of Things Natural, Wild, and Free: A Story about Aldo Leopold – Famous People from Wisconsin
Lorbiecki, Marybeth
1993
A biography for young people.
As a child, Aldo Leopold was always looking for adventures in nature. This led Leopold to become a forester, wildlife scientist, author, and ultimately one of the most well-known conservationists in American history. Award-winning author Marybeth Lorbiecki brings Leopold to life in this biography enhanced with historic photographs and a school resource section. Life of Aldo Leopold.
Leopold, Aldo (1886-1948)
A Sand County Almanac: and Sketches Here and There
Leopold, Aldo
Oxford Univ: 1969
Few books have had a greater impact than A Sand County Almanac, which many credit with launching a revolution in land management. Written as a series of sketches based principally upon the flora and fauna in a rural part of Wisconsin, the book, originally published by Oxford in 1949, gathers informal pieces written by Leopold over a forty-year period as he traveled through the woodlands of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arizona, Sonora, Oregon, Manitoba, and elsewhere; a final section addresses the philosophical issues involved in wildlife conservation. Beloved for its description and evocation of the natural world, Leopold’s book, which has sold well over 2 million copies, remains a foundational text in environmental science and a national treasure.
Leopold, Aldo (1886-1948)
“Liberace: The Milwaukee Maestro”
Wisconsin Magazine of History Vol 92, No. 2, 2008-9, 14-27
Povletich, William
Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Famous musician from Wisconsin, famous people from Milwaukee, life of Liberace.
Liberace, Władziu Valentino (1919-1987)
Liberace: An American Boy
Pyron, Darden Asbury
University of Chicago 2000
More people watched his nationally syndicated television show between 1953 and 1955 than followed ‘I Love Lucy’. Even a decade after his death, the attendance records he set at Madison Square Garden, the Hollywood Bowl, and Radio City Music Hall still stand. Arguably the most popular entertainer of the twentieth century, this very public figure nonetheless kept more than a few secrets. Darden Asbury Pyron, author of the acclaimed and bestselling ‘Southern Daughter: The Life of Margaret Mitchell’, leads us through the life of America’s foremost showman with his fresh, provocative, and definitive portrait of ‘Liberace, an American Boy’.
Liberace’s career follows the trajectory of the classic American dream. Born in the Midwest to Polish-Italian immigrant parents, he was a child prodigy who, by the age of twenty, had performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Abandoning the concert stage for the lucrative and glittery world of nightclubs, celebrities, and television, Liberace became America’s most popular entertainer.
Pyron presents Liberace’s life as a metaphor, for both good and ill, of American culture, with its shopping malls and insatiable hunger for celebrity. In this fascinating biography, Pyron complicates and celebrates our image of the man for whom the streets were paved with gold lamé. -Publisher .
Liberace (1919-1987)
The Land Remembers: The Story of a Farm and its People
Logan, Ben
Avon 1976
This classic American memoir is about a farm and its people, of a boyhood on a southwestern Wisconsin hilltop world in the 1930s. Ben Logan grew up on Seldom Seen Farm with his three brothers, father, mother, and hired hand Lyle–“the fifth Logan boy.” The boys discussed and argued and joked over the events around their farm, marked the seasons by the demands of the land, tested each other and themselves, and grew up learning timeless lessons. Wisconsin memoir.
Lombardi: His Life and Times
Wells, Robert W.
Prairie Oak: 1997
This acclaimed biography of coach Vince Lombardi provides more than just another behind-the-scenes look. It is a study of a tough sentimentalist who demonstrated that dedication, integrity and discipline are not outdated virtues. A beautifully told story of an incredible man. Lombardi was the revered head coach of the Green Pay Packers in the 1960s.
Lombardi, Vince (1913-1970)
“Early Times and Events in Wisconsin” – Wisconsin Biographies Free
Wisconsin Historical Collections Volume 2, 1856, 98-196
Lockwood, James H.
Madison: Historical Society of Wisconsin
Lockwood (1793- ?) describes his life from the time he was raised on a farm in upstate New York. He worked for a sutler to an artillery regiment in Buffalo during the War of 1812, and at war’s end was offered a job working for the sutler to the military post at Green Bay. This 98-page memoir seems mainly to cover Lockwood’s first few years in Wisconsin and includes many details about Indian life.
Lockwood, James H. (1793-1857)
“The Macarthurs and the Mitchells: Wisconsin’s First Military Families”
Wisconsin Magazine of History Vol 94, No. 2, 2010, 14-27
McLean, Jeffrey
Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Life of Douglas Macarthur, life of Billy Mitchell.
A Conspiracy So Immense: The World of Joe McCarthy
Oshinsky, David M.
Collier Macmillan 1985
“Acclaimed historian David Oshinsky’s chronicling of the life of Senator Joe McCarthy has been called both “nuanced” and “masterful.” In this new paperback edition Oshinsky presents us with a work heralded as the finest account available of Joe McCarthy’s colorful career. With a storyteller’s eye for the dramatic and presentation of fact, and insightful interpretation of human complexity, Oshinsky uncovers the layers of myth to show the true McCarthy. His book reveals the senator from his humble beginnings as a hardworking Irish farmer’s son in Wisconsin to his glory days as the architect of America’s Cold War crusade against domestic subversion; a man whose advice if heeded, some believe, might have halted the spread of Communism in Southeast Asia and beyond.
A Conspiracy So Immense reveals the internal and external forces that launched McCarthy on this political career, carried him to national prominence, and finally triggered his decline and fall. More than the life of an intensely- even pathologically- ambitious man however, this book is a fascinating portrait of America in the grip of Cold War fear, anger, suspicion, and betrayal.” – Publisher.
McCarthy, Joseph (1908-1957)
The Life and Times of Joe McCarthy
Reeves, Thomas C.
Stein and Day 1982
“Provides an objective look at the life and career of Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy based on in-depth interviews and McCarthy’s personal papers, discussing his motivations, actions, and the era in which he lived.” – Publisher. Important people from Wisconsin, online life of Joe McCarthy.
McCarthy, Joseph (1908-1957)
Golda
Burkett, Elinoar
Harper 2008
Golda Meir immigrated from Russia to Milwaukee with her family when she was a small child. She lived in Milwaukee until she and her husband moved to Palestine in 1921. She was a graduate of North Division High School and briefly attended UW-Milwaukee (then Milwaukee State Normal School).
Golda Meir was the first female head of state in the Western world and one of the most influential women in modern history. A blend of Emma Goldman and Martin Luther King Jr. in the guise of a cookie-serving grandmother, her uncompromising devotion to shaping and defending a Jewish homeland against dogged enemies and skittish allies stunned political contemporaries and transformed Middle Eastern politics for decades to follow. She outmaneuvered Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger at their own game of Realpolitik, and led Israel through a bloody war even as she eloquently pleaded for peace, carrying her nation through its most perilous hours while she herself battled cancer.
In this masterful biography, critically acclaimed author Elinor Burkett paints a vivid portrait of a legendary woman defined by contradictions: an iron resolve coupled with magnetic charm, a kindly demeanor that disguised a stunning hard-heartedness, and a complete dedication to her country that often overwhelmed her personal relationships.
Meir, Golda (1898-1978)
“Pioneer life in Wisconsin” – Wisconsin Biographies Free
Wisconsin Historical Collections Vol 7, 1876, 366-404
Merrell, Henry
Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society
Henry Merrell moved from Sackett’s Harbor, NY to Fort Winnebago, WI in 1834 where he was appointed sutler. Soon afterward he became postmaster, and served as superintendent of the Bank of Wisconsin. He was elected to the state senate in 1848. Throughout these years he was a merchant, and manufactured threshing machines and other farming implements. In this article Merrell relates the details of his journey from New York to Fort Winnebago, describes Fort Winnebago in the 1830s, and portrays life in the region with many lively anecdotes.
Merrell, Henry (1804-1876)
Old Times on the Upper Mississippi; the Recollections of a Steamboat Pilot from 1854 to 1863
Merrick, George Byron
Cleveland: Clark 1909
The ‘Upper Mississippi’ is defined in Wikipedia as the portion north of Cairo, IL, where the Ohio meets the Mississippi, but for this steamboat captain, the southern-most port on the Upper Mississippi seems to have been St. Louis. The northern port was in the vicinity of St. Paul; 800 miles by river. There are a number of photos of steamships, and of some of the locations featured in the text. In the appendix is a list of all the steamboats that traveled the Upper Mississippi from 1823-1863.
See also: Twain, Mark, Life on the Mississippi in Navigation on the Great Lakes & the Region’s Rivers
See also: Life on the River in Frontier Days
Merrick, George Byron (1838-1934)
Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet Without Honor – Famous People from Wisconsin
Gauvreau, Emile and Cohen, Lester
NY: Dutton 1942
Billy Mitchell: Founder of Our Air Force and Prophet without Honor, first published in 1942, is a look at the life and controversial career of William “Billy” Mitchell (1879-1936), considered the father of the U.S. Air Force. The book’s focus is on Mitchell’s campaign for increased spending for building new and improved aircraft and his vision of the role aircraft would play in any future wars, especially against naval ships. Mitchell’s outspokenness led to his court-martial for insubordination in 1925.
Mitchell, William Lendrum (1879-1936)
Billy Mitchell, Crusader for Air Power
Hurley, Alfred F.
Indiana University 1975
William ‘Billy’ Mitchell was the son of a U.S. Senator from Milwaukee who enlisted in the army during the Spanish American War and eventually became head of American air operations in France during WWI. In the years after the war, as a Brigadier General, he fought both the Army and Navy commands for a more independent and assertive Air Force. After being court-martialed in 1925 he retired from military service. Milwaukee’s Mitchell International Airport is named for him.
“In this biography, Mitchell emerges as a man with a mission and a true pioneer of modern aviation, a man whose ideas about leadership in aerial operations inspire and instruct today’s airmen and women.” – Book cover.
Mitchell, William Lendrum (1879-1936)
The Story of my Boyhood and Youth; with illustrations from sketches by the author
Muir, John
Boston: Houghton Mifflin 1913
John Muir (1838-1914), whose writings about the natural world have shaped the conservation and environmental movements for more than a century, wrote this autobiographical account near the end of his life about his childhood in Dunbar, Scotland, his immigration to America (1849), his adolescence on a pioneer farmstead near Kingston, Wisconsin, and his student years at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The Story of My Boyhood and Youth reveals the evolution of Muir’s scientific curiosity and the beginnings of his reverential attitude towards nature. Treating his encounters with wildlife as high adventure, he gives especially informed attention to bird life in both Scotland and Wisconsin.
-Summary of the entry at the Library of Congress American Memory website
“In essence it is largely a chronicle of two things, of many animal pets and of the Spartan upbringing which Muir’s father, to an even greater degree than other strongly religious Scotchmen of his day, felt wise for his children. Added to this are many well-told anecdotes of Scotch life and of times and habits in Wisconsin 60 years ago, when forests were being felled to make farms for the new settlers and when though there does not seem to have been actual menace from the Indians, livestock would occasionally be stolen or killed by a thieving redskin. But one of the most remarkable features of the book is to be found In the descriptions of Muir’s various inventions as a boy and later as a young man while painfully working his way through the University of Wisconsin before he began roamIng the world as a naturalist.”
“It is a notable piece of autobiographic writing – the story of an unusually interesting boyhood and youth told with an energy and an eye for the diverting and significant that distinguish it at once from the slipshod garrulity of most books of the kind.”
– The Book Review Digest. Wisconsin environmentalist, memoir of John Muir.
Muir, John (1838-1914)
Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir
Wolfe, Linnie Marash
University of Wisconsin 1978
Working closely with Muir’s family and with his papers, Wolfe was able to create a full portrait of her subject, not only as America’s firebrand conservationist and founder of the national park system, but also as husband, father, and friend. All readers who have admired Muir’s ruggedly individualistic lifestyle, and those who wish a greater appreciation for the history of environmental preservation in America, will be enthralled and enlightened by this splendid biography.
The story follows Muir from his ancestral home in Scotland, through his early years in the harsh Wisconsin wilderness, to his history-making pilgrimage to California.
This book, originally published in 1945 and based in large part on Wolfe’s personal interviews with people who knew and worked with Muir, is one that could never be written again. It is, and will remain, the standard Muir biography. Life of John Muir.
Muir, John (1838-1914)
The Art & Life of Georgia O’Keeffe
Castro, Jan Garden
Crown 1985
This volume contains a fairly brief biography, but its strength is the collection of large color photos of O’Keeffe’s works. Famous Wisconsin artists, life of Georgia O’Keeffe.
O’Keeffe, Georgia (1887-1986)
Full Bloom: The Art and Life of Georgia O’Keeffe – Wisconsin Biographies Free
Drohojowska-Philp, Hunter
Norton 2004
This volume is a biography of American artist Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1986). O’Keeffe is known for large-format paintings of enlarged blossoms, presenting them close up as if seen through a magnifying lens, desert landscapes, and stark white cow skulls. The author examines O’Keeffe’s life events in an attempt to discover their influence on her artistic works. He documents O’Keeffe’s breakdowns, her domination by husband Alfred Stieglitz, and the long affair between Stieglitz and Dorothy Norman. Driven to a nervous breakdown by Stieglitz’s affair, O’Keeffe relocated and redefined herself in New Mexico, where she created her unforgettable signature paintings. Through personal material – including interviews with Dorothy Norman, Stieglitz’s longtime paramour – this biography offers an insight into O’Keeffe’s defining relationships and the effect of her husband’s infidelity, and offers a portrayal of a life shrouded in myth. Art of Georgia O’Keeffe, biography of Georgia O’Keeffe.
O’Keeffe, Georgia (1887-1986)
“Pioneer Life in Wisconsin”
Wisconsin Historical Collections Vol. 2 (1856) pp 326- 364
Parkinson, Daniel M.
Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Parkinson was born in Tennessee in 1790 and migrated to southern Illinois in 1817. In 1826 there was great excitement about lead being discovered at Galena, so he joined the crowds of people flocking to that region to get rich. He stayed on, temporarily as a militia sergeant, then as a miner, then as a tavern keeper. In this article he describes the lively scene of the mining country during the ‘lead rush’.
Parkinson, Daniel M. (1790-1868)
“Memories of Early Wisconsin and the Gold Mines” – Famous People from Wisconsin
Wisconsin Magazine of History Vol 5, December 1, 1921, 119-141
Parkinson, John B.
Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society
The author’s family moved from Illinois to Wisconsin in 1836, when the author was two. They settled on a farm in Fayette, Lafayette County, and the author reminisces about their life there in the early days. In 1852 he went with a small group by wagon to the gold mines of California, and describes the journey and his experience at the mines.
Parkinson, John Barber (1834-1927)
Emanuel L. Philipp, Wisconsin Stalwart
Maxwell, Robert S.
State Historical Society of Wisconsin 1959
Wisconsin businessman and governor.
Philipp, Emanuel Lorenz (1861-1925)
Chapters in Fox River Valley History
Powell, William and Arndt, John Wallace
Madison: State Historical Society 1913
This booklet contains two papers: 1. William Powell’s Recollections; and 2. Pioneers and Durham Boats on Fox River, by John Wallace Arndt.
“William Powell’s Recollections in an Interview with Lyman C. Draper.”
A paper was dictated by Captain William Powell in 1877 or 1878 to Historical Society Secretary Draper, “embracing his recollections of the Menomonees and their prominent chiefs, Col. Robert Dickson, the British leader of the Northwestern Indian tribes during the War of 1812-15, and the derivation and meaning of many Indian geographical names in Wisconsin having a Menomonee origin.” When the Historical Society editors many years later prepared it for publication, they combined a letter written by William Powell detailing some additional facts in the lives of father and son. Wisconsin memoirs.
“Pioneers and Durham Boats on Fox River” by John Wallace Arndt.
Arndt arrived in 1824 at the age of nine with his father, and assisted him with transporting goods on the Fox river. This paper includes details about the introduction of the Durham boat on the river, glimpses of some notable early settlers in the Fox River Valley, and a chronicle of a typical voyage from Green Bay to Fort Winnebago in 1830.
Powell, William (1810-1885)
One Foot in Washington; The Perilous Life of a Senator’s Wife
Proxmire, Ellen
R.B. Luce 1964
Personal experiences of a woman active in the Wisconsin Democratic Party who became the wife of Senator William Proxmire, giving insights on senatorial life in the nation’s capital.
Proxmire, Ellen Hodges Sawill (1925-2015)
Rehnquist: A Personal Portrait of the Distinguished Chief Justice of the U.S.
Obermayer, Herman J.
Threshold 2009
The impact of Chief Justice William Rehnquist — who served as a Supreme Court justice for a third of a century and headed the federal judiciary under four presidents — cannot be overstated. His dissenting opinion in Roe v. Wade, and his strongly stated positions on issues as various as freedom of the press, school prayer, and civil rights, would guarantee his memory on their own. Chiefly, though, William Rehnquist will always be remembered for his highly visible role in two of the most important and contentious political events of recent American history: the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999 and the Supreme Court’s decision that made George W. Bush the victor in the presidential election of 2000.
Despite his importance as a public figure, however, William Rehnquist scrupulously preserved his private life. And while his judicial opinions often inflamed passions and aroused both ire and praise, they were rarely personal. The underlying quirks, foibles, and eccentricities of the man were always under wraps.
Now, however, journalist Herman J. Obermayer has broken that silence in a memoir of their nineteen-year friendship that is both factually detailed and intensely moving, his own personal tribute to his dearest friend. In these pages, we meet for the first time William Rehnquist the man, in a portrait that can only serve to enhance the legacy of a Chief Justice who will be remembered in history as being among America’s most influential.
Rehnquist, William H. (1924-2005)
Life story of the Ringling Brothers …
Humorous Incidents, Thrilling Trials, Many Hardships, and Ups and Downs, Telling how the Boys built a Circus, and showing the True Road to Success
Ringling, Alfred
Chicago: Donnelley & Sons 1900
This appears to be sort of an ‘official’ biography, produced by the Ringling Brothers’ company. Five sons of German immigrants growing up in Baraboo, WI created an act in which they performed skits and juggling routines, performing at town halls around Wisconsin. In 1884 the brothers began their first circus, and by the end of the 1880s it was one of the best in the country. For many years the Ringling Brothers circus was based in Baraboo, and there is still a large circus museum there, at the site where it wintered.
“Pioneering in the Wisconsin Lead Region”
Wisconsin Historical Collections Vol. XV (1900) pp 338-389
Rodolf, Theodore
Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Theodore Rodolf came to Wisconsin from Switzerland in 1834, settling in the lead country of Lafayette County. Drawn to the area because of its rising economic importance, Rodolf met many prominent Wisconsin settlers, including the Gratiots, in his search for a new home and a new occupation. Rodolf tried his hand at a number of occupations, including farming and running a grocery store, but had little luck until he entered politics. In 1853, he was appointed to the land office in La Crosse. Rodolf later served in the state assembly and was mayor of La Crosse. Rodolf reminisces here about the growth of the lead region and his life since coming to Wisconsin.
– Summary from Wisconsin Historical Society site.
Rodolf, Theodore (1815-1892)
Uncle Jerry: Life of General Jeremiah M. Rusk. Stage Driver, Farmer, Soldier, Legislator, Governor, Cabinet Officer – Wisconsin Biographies Free
Casson, Henry
Madison: Hill 1895
Rusk moved from Ohio to Vernon County, WI (then Bad Axe County) in the early 1850s, rising quickly from tavern-keeper to Sheriff and then to legislator. The author of this admiring biography was Rusk’s personal secretary in his years as Governor and U.S. Cabinet member.
Rusk, Jeremiah McLain (1830-1893)
Intimate Letters of Carl Schurz, 1841-1869, translated and edited by Joseph Schafer
Schurz, Carl
Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin 1928
This is a collection of personal letters written by the eminent German- American statesman, Carl Schurz (1829-1906), to his immediate family and close friends. Schurz maintained a legal residence in Watertown, Wisconsin from 1855 to 1866, even though lecture tours and campaign speeches took him all across the northern United States. Several of these letters deal with Schurz’s Wisconsin years, and most are published here for the first time in English. They are filled with descriptive insights about German immigrants and native-born Americans as well as about the newly developing urban centers of the Upper Midwest. Schurz was a political revolutionary during his university years in his native Germany. When he emigrated to the United States, he became an outstanding spokesman for the anti-slavery cause and the Republican party. One of his missions was to mobilize German-American communities against slavery, but his rhetorical skills in English as well as German soon won him a broader following. Later, Schurz became an ardent champion of civil service reform. His other contributions to American life ranged from farming and practicing law to serving as Ambassador to Spain (1861-62), Civil War general (1862-63), Senator from Missouri (1869-75), organizer of the Liberal Republican Party (1872), and Secretary of the Interior (1877-81), where he made the conservation of natural resources an object of policy for the first time. Schurz was also considered one of the leading journalists of his day, editing the New York Evening Post (1881- 83) and writing for Harper’s Weekly (1892-1901). His biographies of Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln are still read today.
– from the Library of Congress American Memory website.
Schurz, Carl Christian (1829-1906)
“Narrative of a Pioneer of Wisconsin and Pike’s Peak”
The Wisconsin Magazine of History Volume 12, number 4, June 1929 pp 403-421
Sheldon, Thomas Hanford
Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Sheldon was a boy in the summer of 1833 when his family left their home in Detroit and traveled across Indiana and Illinois to a new home in Mineral Point, WI. In this account he describes some of the events that occurred during the journey, as well as the family’s life in Wisconsin in the early years. Wisconsin pioneer memoir.
Sheldon, Thomas Hanford (1825-1909)
“Reuben Gold Thwaites” – Famous People from Wisconsin
Historical Collections Vol 39, 1915, 387-391
Wood, Edwin O.
Lansing: Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society
A biographical sketch and appreciation of Dr. Thwaites (1853-1913), who led the State Historical Society of Wisconsin from 1887 to 1913, and was the author or editor of numerous historical works.
Thwaites, Reuben Gold (1853-1913)
Spencer Tracy: Tragic Idol
Davidson, Bill
Dutton 1988
Actor Spencer Tracy was born in Milwaukee and educated in Catholic schools. He served briefly in the Navy in World War I, then returned to complete high school and afterward began classes at Ripon College, where he started his acting career.
“Complemented by reminiscences of Tracy by Elizabeth Taylor, Gene Kelly, Elia Kazan, Pat O’Brien, and other celebrities, this [book] exposes the more troubled side of one of Hollywood’s greatest stars.” – Publisher. Wisconsin celebrities, actors from Wisconsin, famous people from Milwaukee, free biography of Spencer Tracy, life of Spencer Tracy.
Tracy, Spencer (1900-1967)
Memories of Early Days
Weaver, Melinda A.
1876
A woman looks back 40 years to when she and her husband moved to Waukesha County, Wisconsin from New York.
Weaver, Melinda Ann Warren (1813-1886)
The Worlds and I – Wisconsin Biographies Free
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
New York: Doran 1918
An autobiography of a popular writer. Wilcox grew up at Lake Mendota, near Madison, where she remained until her late 20s. She became widely known for contributions to leading newspapers and for her poetry. Her poem Solitude began with the still-familiar lines: “Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone”
“These intimate reminiscences disclose to us the complete life of Ella Wheeler Wilcox from her earliest babyhood days. The final chapters contain much comment on spiritualistic phenomena. Her mother’s dreams and ambitions for the coming baby; the rather queer little girl’s early life in the meagre, discordant Wheeler household; her unique “breaking into print”; her many subsequent successes; her romance; her happy married life with its abundance of acquaintances; and finally her real sorrow, and the consolation she found in spirit communion with her dead husband, are here recorded with much vivid detail. Numerous photographs at the close of the book repeat Mrs Wilcox’s narrative, presenting “In a unique and appealing way the chief events of Mrs Wilcox’s life to the beginning of 1919.”
“Her meteoric career she discusses delightfully. Her American friends compose a remarkable company of notable people.”
– The Book Review Digest.
Wilcox, Ella Wheeler (1850-1919)
The Life and Works of Frank Lloyd Wright
Heinz, Thomas A.
Barnes & Noble 2002
“Frank Lloyd Wright is justly regarded as one of the most important and prolific architects there has ever been, and the defining genius of American architecture…. Wright had an innate understanding of materials and their possibilities. He was fearless when it came to experimenting with modern technology and produced some of the most remarkable buildings of his time.” – Book jacket
The author was an architect. In addition to information about Wright’s life, this volume contains numerous color photos of Wright’s buildings, with commentary. Famous architect of Wisconsin, free biography of Frank Lloyd Wright.
Wright, Frank Lloyd (1867-1959)
Wisconsin: My Home
The Story of Thurine Oleson as told to her daughter
Xan, Erna Oleson
University of Wisconsin 1975
Wisconsin My Home is the story of Thurine Oleson, born in Wisconsin in 1866 to parents who had emigrated from Telemarken, Norway. This much-loved book was first published in 1950 when Thurine was a spry octogenarian. In it she not only vividly recalls the pioneer life of her childhood in a Norwegian American settlement, but also tells her parents’ stories of their life in Norway and their reasons for emigration.
Oleson, Thurine (1866-1955)
Wisconsin Collective Biographies
American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936 to 1940
Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress
This collection of life histories consists of approximately 2,900 documents, compiled and transcribed by more than 300 writers from 24 states, working on the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program that was part of the U.S. Works Progress (later Work Projects) Administration (WPA) from 1936 to 1940. Typically 2,000-15,000 words in length, the documents vary in form from narratives to dialogues to reports to case histories. They chronicle vivid life stories of Americans who lived at the turn of the century and include tales of meeting Billy the Kid, surviving the 1871 Chicago fire, pioneer journeys out West, grueling factory work, and the immigrant experience.
– From the Collection’s Website.
The Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Representative Men of Chicago, Milwaukee and the World’s Columbian Exposition
Chicago: American Biographical Publishing Company 1892
The book has two parts, both together in one volume at this link.
Commemorative Biographical Record of the Fox River Valley Counties of Brown, Outagamie and Winnebago … – Wisconsin Biographies Free
containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families
Chicago: J. H. Beers and Co., 1895
See the notes at the entry immediately below for the Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Lake Region for information about the J. H. Beers biographical publications.
Commemorative Biographical Record of Prominent and Representative Men of Racine and Kenosha Counties Wisconsin
Containing Biographical Sketches of Business and Professional Men and Many of the Early Settled Families
Chicago: Beers 1906
Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Lake Region, containing biographical sketches …
of prominent and representative citizens and many of the early settled families
Chicago: J.H. Beers 1905
There are almost 500 biographies in this book. Normally the profiles are of people alive at the time the book was published (1905). The length and depth of articles vary, depending on the perceived importance of the individual. Some publishers of group biographies like these, which were commonly a part of county histories, charged fees to the individuals profiled, and a generous payment could often inflate the size of the profile.
These profiles can be very useful for tracing family history because they normally contain biographical information about the parents, and sometimes the grandparents and in-laws, of a subject. However, publisher’s researchers did not normally attempt to verify information provided by subjects, so factual errors are common.
Wisconsin Women Making History – Website
Wisconsin Women Making Historynbsp;
A searchable database of notable Wisconsin women, present and past. The profiles are brief, but often contain references to other works, or links to videos, articles etc. Important women of Wisconsin.
Fifty Years in the Northwest; With an introduction and appendix containing reminiscences, incidents and notes – Wisconsin Biographies Free
Folsom, William H. C., edited by Edwards, E.E.
St. Paul: Pioneer Press 1888
While the title suggests this volume is an autobiography, it consists mostly of county histories of a number of counties in northern Wisconsin and northern Minnesota, with a collection of biographies for each county. The author lived in the region for fifty years and has also included his own reminiscences and some autobiographical material.
Memorial Record of the Fathers of Wisconsin Containing Sketches …
of the Lives and Career of the Members of the Constitutional Conventions of 1846 and 1847-8, with a History of Early Settlement in Wisconsin
Tenney, Horace Addison
Madison: Atwood 1880
This book is about the two constitutional conventions held in Wisconsin in 1846 and 1847, and the men who participated in that effort to pass a progressive constitution. There is a brief early history of Wisconsin, a chapter describing the two conventions, and then the bulk of the volume contains biographies of those political figures. The full text of the two constitutions – the rejected one and the approved one – are also included.
Notable Men of Wisconsin
Milwaukee: Williams 1902
This book contains portraits only, not biographies, of about 700 men. The index begins on page 21.
Portrait and Biographical Record of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, containing biographical sketches of old settlers and representative citizens of the county
Chicago: Excelsior 1894
There may be about 450 profiles of Waukesha citizens in this volume. A glance through some of them indicates that all or nearly all were alive at the time of publication in 1894, and the majority would not have been considered ‘pioneers’ as they were not among the earliest arrivals in the region. Presumably many of the leading citizens can be found here.
Sketches of Wisconsin Pioneer Women
Dexheimer, Florence Chambers
Ft. Atkinson, WI: Daughters of the American Revolution in Wisconsin 1924
About 75 individual women around Wisconsin are profiled, many of whom, in addition to being pioneers in their regions, had notable achievements in voluntary service or professional careers. There are also group profiles for the ‘pioneer women’ of Racine and Superior.
The United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-made Men: Wisconsin Volume
Chicago: American Biographical 1877
This volume was produced in 1877, in an early phase of this popular late-nineteenth century genre of biographical collections. It contains profiles for a few hundred prominent men in Wisconsin, of up to two or three pages and occasionally with a full-page illustration. As is usual with this type of book, a profile normally contains, at a minimum, names of parents, date of arrival in Wisconsin, a few interesting details of his personal story, some professional background, details about Civil War service if any, and some basic data about marriage, wife and children.
See the list of resources on this website for: Genealogy & Local History Research
Wisconsin Lives of National Interest; Sketches of some Prominent People Identified with the History of the Badger State
Crow, William L.
Appleton, WI: Nelson 1937
49 Wisconsinites in various professions are profiled.
Wisconsin Pioneer Experience
Madison: University of Wisconsin Digital Collections
A digital collection of diaries, letters, reminiscences, speeches and other writings of people who settled and built Wisconsin during the 19th century. This includes transcriptions of hand-written documents and translations of documents written by immigrants. Documents are provided in digital images and as OCR-converted electronic text. There appears to be 48 documents in this collection.
Included is a sub-collection called “Wisconsin Territorial Letters, 1837-1852”. These are, “selections from letters from various places in Wisconsin, addressed for the most part to residents of Eastern states, reflecting living conditions in rural Wisconsin during territorial and early statehood days. They contain frequent references to the prevalence of fever and ague among the settlers, and notations of wages and the prices of commodities and real estate. Among the letters are small groups from leaders of two religious denominations–the Congregational minister E. D. Seward of Lake Mills and the Presbyterian minister Jeremiah Porter at Green Bay– and 10 letters from ministers of the Baptist Home Missionary Society to the Reverend Benjamin M. Hill, corresponding secretary of the Society. A calendar of the collection is included. 222 photostated pages of handwritten text.”
– quote from the Wisconsin Territorial Letters entry on the collection site.
Wisconsin, Its Story and Biography, 1848-1913
Usher, Ellis Baker
Chicago: Lewis 1914
There are 8 volumes. Volumes 1-3 are a history of Wisconsin from the 18th to the early 20th century. The remaining volumes appear to be made up entirely of biographies.