State Standards:
B.8.1 Interpret the past using a variety of sources, such as biographies, diaries, journals, artifacts, eyewitness interviews, and other primary source materials, and evaluate the credibility of sources
used
B.8.4 Explain how and why events may be interpreted diff erently depending upon the perspectives of participants, witnesses, reporters, and historians.
Early SettlersOur Stories: The History of Marathon County Exhibit
Marathon County Historical Society
Map from www.worldtimezones.com
Why Leave Europe?
Economic
Religion
Military
Economic recessionsFamine Scarcity of farmlandWages for farm hands and peasants in the old
country were too low for a decent lifestyle.
Ecomonic Problems
Religious persecution in Prussia in the 1870sCatholics in Poland were severely affected
after Jesuit priests were expelled from Prussia
Religious Problems
Franco-Prussian War of 1870 included the Prussian military conscription forcing all men to serve four years in the army
Many families with sons left Poland and Prussia
Military Conflicts
Think about the natural resources of Wisconsin as you drive to school, a friend’s house, or to the store. What do you see?
Would it look nice to someone from another country?Vast forests for loggingWisconsin River and its tributaries for
transportation
Why come to Wisconsin?
“My mother came over from Berlin, Germany with her parents and they located in the Town of McMillan where my grandfather started a farm. My grandfather was a soldier in Kaiser Wilhelm’s army before they came over here. The reason they came from Germany was on account of the oppression of the people. They didn’t have a very good living there anymore, so they were looking for a new country to settle in.”
-Harry Metzke
Why did Harry Metzke's mother leave Europe?
“Then they say we got the sponsorship papers back from the United States. [I was] really happy and really sad at the same time. The part that I’m glad – I had a chance to go to the United States. I get out of communist hands, but sad, yes I was sad, I had to leave Asia and go to another country and start a new life in another country. What should I do? How do I survive? Two different things happen at one time made me happy and sad at the same time. I’m really glad that I did the right thing.”
–Tong Xeng Thao
Imagine moving to another country with a new language, would you feel
the same way?
The advertisements did not match the actual expereince in Marathon County
“In Holland everything was neat and clean and raked up and planted and here we saw nothing but stump land- stumps that had been burned and so black. My mother kept shaking her head and saying “Oh my, I don’t know what we’re getting into.”-Wilhemlmina Geurink
August Kickbusch
Recruited German immigrants to help develop Marathon County
Traveled to Germany with a large ship to bring immigrants to Marathon County
Helped immigrants set up farms, find jobs at lumber companies and local businesses.
Recruited Polish immigrants to create cities on his land
Created the cities of Rietbrock, Bevent, and Athens
Helped settle the citiesBrought in electricity,
phone lines, and other services
Helped cities transition from lumbering to farming
How did they get here?
Frederick Rietbrock
Map from geology.com
“He migrated from Switzerland. They came in a sailboat. Eventually there was land to be homesteaded in the Rib Mountain area. So my great grandfather came up here in a covered wagon from New Glarus and my grandfather said he walked behind the wagon all the way up here. They homesteaded a quarter section of land just the other side of Rib Mountain.”
-Myron Rhyner
Would you walk miles every day to get to your destination?
How did his great-grandfather get here?
“I remember that the Germans and the French didn’t get along too good together. My mother never liked the German people, I don’t know why. But I married a German girl.”
-Marshall Duranso
Did the immigrants get along?
Who will be the next immigrants?
Where were the immigrants from?
Why did immigrants leave countries in Europe and Asia?
Why did the immigrants come to Marathon County?
How do you think immigrants reacted to the land once they arrived in Marathon County? Why?
Why would people continue to come to this land after they found out the truth? Would you still come?
How would people like Kickbusch and Rietbrock benefit from bringing large groups to Marathon County?
Discussion Questions
End of Immigrant Presentation