"It Wouldn't Feed Snipe": Irish Immigrants in Janesville

If you had to guess where Irish ancestry ranked among Wisconsin citizens, what would you say?

Perhaps fourth--after Germans, Norwegians, and Swedes or Finns? No! In the 2000 census, 11% of Wisconsin citiziens identified themselves as Irish, making Irish ancestry second only to German in the state.

A Canadian man has written a new history of an Irish immigrant family that once lived in Janesville. Intrigued by several mysteries about his maternal grandparents' Irish roots, Thomas Baxter researched and wrote about John Regan and Mary Sheehan Regan in his 2009 book, It Wouldn’t Feed Snipe. Some of the author’s questions were:

--What made his grandfather decide to leave Ireland in 1907, long after the Potato Famine?

--What brought him (and his future wife, also an Irish immigrant) to Janesville in particular?

--Why did his maternal grandmother leave Ireland without saying goodbye to her family and fail to resume contact with them once she returned?

--Why did the family return permanently to Ireland in 1924?

--What kind of people were the grandparents he had never known?

The author has done considerable research. He discovered the Janesville places where his grandparents lived (406 and 496 W. Holmes; 218 S. Park St.) and where his grandfather worked (the Janesville Fire Department, the railroad, and as a stockman at the School for the Blind, among others), and provides a useful map of where his grandparents and their fellow Irish immigrants lived in Janesville’s Fourth Ward. He found out a lot about his grandmother’s difficult personality and ambitions, and shows the stark contrast between life in the U.S. and life in Ireland in the 1920s. Ultimately, however, he is unable to answer all the questions that prompted him to write the book, and what he does uncover about his grandmother’s personality is not very flattering. But his firmest conclusion—why the family returned to Ireland—appears to be related to the significance of owning land in Ireland. When the author’s grandfather was finally able to own the family farm in Ireland—even though its quality was so poor “it wouldn’t feed snipe”—the lure to return and to try to operate it proved irresistible.

One of the most interesting aspects of this family's story is how the Regans embodied many of the characteristics of other Irish immigrants described in The Irish in Wisconsin, by David G. Holmes (Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2004). Like other people from Ireland, the Regan family passed on their Irish land only to one son, the eldest. Consequently, if one were a younger son--as John Regan was--one's career choices in Ireland were limited. There were few thriving businesses in the rural areas and virtually no free land to buy or rent. Such people believed that their only opportunity for a better life lay overseas.

Another characteristic of Irish immigrants is that, unlike other ethnic groups, women emigrated in roughly the same numbers that men did, and--another uniquely Irish characteristic--many of these women were single. The author's grandmother--Mary Sheehan--actually left Ireland on her own, without telling her family that she was leaving. And, like her future husband and most other Irish immigrants, she settled on Janesville as her ultimate destination when she met other Irish people who had already immigrated to the town or who were actually heading to that town and who encouraged her to join her there.

Author Tomas Baxter makes the point that Irish women in Wisconsin had a degree of independence unthinkable in Ireland, a situation that made life particularly difficult for Mary Sheehan Regan when she returned to her native country and her relatives, married and with three children, 17 years after leaving it.

The major difference between the author's grandparents and other Irish immigrants is

that, drawn back by the fact that his family's Irish farm had finally become available to him, John Regan and his wife returned to Ireland permanently, putting them among the fewer than 10% of Irish immigrants who went home for good.

A short book printed on glossy paper richly illustrated with family photos, maps, official documents, and family letters, It Wouldn’t Feed Snipe is a memoir about Irish immigrants who came to the United States but chose not to stay. You can read it at Hedberg Public Library.

--LG

Janesville High School Construction Photos 1922-23

In September 2009 the Janesville Performing Arts Center celebrated its 5th anniversary. JPAC is located on Main Street next to our library, in what was the original 'new' Janesville High School, which opened in 1923. J.P. Cullen of Janesville did the original construction. Here's how it appeared then. The auditorium is known for its superior acoustics. Singer Tony Bennett graced the stage for JPAC's grand opening, and marveled at the sound - as did the audience!




The label in the lower right includes "Vanryn & DeGelleke, Architects"

This next photograph is dated April 7, 1922 with
'J.P. Cullen & Son Contr's., Janesville, Wisc.'
written on the right side.

Another view from April 7, 1922, with the sign 'Marquette Cement Furnished on this Job by Fifield Lumber Co.'.

A rear view of the new building, from the other side of Rock River:

The view from the Racine Street bridge.

This new building was the third Janesville High School, from 1923 to 1955, when a new school opened on Randall Avenue. This building became Marshall Junior High. Note: the street is brick in 1923!

--posted by sb

From Madison to Janesville with a stop in Union, 1864

From Madison to Janesville with a stop in Union, 1864

Union Tavern, August 2009

The Janesville Gazette recently noted the celebration of Paul Milz’s 50 years of owning the Union Tavern in the tiny village of Union, Wisconsin (August 9, 2009, 2A) . Because I pass this tavern regularly on my commute to Hedberg Public Library, the article grabbed my attention.


According to Evansville historian Ruth Ann Montgomery, early Union settler “Samuel Lewis operated a hotel (sometimes called a tavern)” and an informal post office shortly after he and his family arrived in Union in September 1839. Very soon afterward, Union became the half-way point between Janesville and Madison on what is now Highway 14, and stagecoach drivers always stopped at the “Half-Way House” to change horses and drivers. By 1858, she says, the village of Union was large enough to sustain two dry good stores, one hotel or tavern, one physician, 1 district school with 45 pupils, a Baptist minister, 1 blacksmith shop, 1 tailor’s shop, a shoemaker’s shop, 1 cabinet shop, 3 joiners, 1 painter, 1 wagon maker and 2 masons. In fact, for many years, Union provided the only grocery store in the greater Evansville region (Evansville Review, February 27, 1975). Union seemed likely to outpace Evansville in population until the early 1860s when the railroad bypassed the village in favor of Evansville, and Union’s population started to decline.

Interestingly enough, in 1864 another Madison resident, Sarah Hobbins (Mrs. Joseph Hobbins, Jr.) made the same trip I regularly make from Madison to Janesville. Unlike my regular commute by car, this was a once-in-a-decade summer outing for her. Disdaining the railroad available at that time, she and her husband—“the Dr.”-- made the journey by horse and carriage, stopping in Union village to eat lunch at a “wayside inn”—possibly the Union Tavern itself! Her lunch is a contrast with my usual "dashboard dining" on a Veggie Delite sandwich from Subway. She described her journey in a letter to her mother:

"This is the first journey from home we have taken for pleasure alone during the ten years we have been in Madison, but the Dr. thought we both required a change, so on a fine June morning with little preparation except some sandwiches and some fine strawberries from our garden which Josephine gathered for us, we started in a south-westerly direction to Janesville about 40 miles from here. The most novel and attractive feature of the scenery through which we passed were the wide rolling prairies for miles and miles which reminded me of the ocean. The rich grass waving on them is very beautiful. Then there are vast tracts richly cultivated, where wheat and different varieties of grain were grown and looked most promising and luxuriant. We also passed many pretty residences. Again we seemed to be in regions quite wild, sometimes losing our way, for it is very difficult in a prairie region to select the right road, but the Dr. is very clever at this, seldom making a mistake.

“About one o'clock we dined at a place called UNION. It was one of the wayside Inns where people are glad to put up where they can find refreshments of some kind for want of a better. The nicely broiled salt pork, fresh eggs, pies, cakes, doughnuts, and cheese was quite a tempting repast. The Dr. made his dinner of an egg and potato [and] cup of tea, and luckily I thought of my strawberries which the landlady smothered in cream…”

“In the evening we reached Janesville where we had as excellent accommodations for the night as we should find at the Astor House in New York. Janesville is very pleasantly situated on the Rock River, being mostly built on rising ground, about the same size as Madison. The Asylum for the Blind is here with some of the finest educational buildings in Wisconsin and some very beautiful residences.” (Mrs. Hobbins’ letter is from Three Hundred Years American: The Epic of a Family, by Alice F. and Bettina Jackson (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1951, pp. 280-281.)

I love the description of the Hobbinses’ carriage ride through the prairie. Though it would be difficult in 2009 to lose one’s way on Highway 14, the rural character of its landscape—with corn and soybean crops replacing the wheat that once grew there--is still just as charming and peaceful as it was in 1864.


And I am longing to know: was it at the Union Tavern where the Hobbinses ate their lunch? Current Union Tavern owner Paul Milz stated that the original part of the tavern was built in 1846 and once served as a stagecoach stop, livery stable, and grocery store. He doesn’t mention its being a hotel or wayside inn. But as you can see in Montgomery’s description above, the lone tavern in the village in 1858 appears to have doubled as a hotel—a common occurrence on the frontier. Though Montgomery mentions that, at a later time, Union had a couple of hotels, one known—significantly enough--as the “Old Tavern” which was torn down in 1902, and another, known as the “Union Inn,” which was destroyed in a fire in 1934, both might have been built after the Hobbinses’s visit.


We’ll probably never know in which building the Hobbinses ate their salt pork, eggs, pies, and strawberries, but I like to think that it might have been Paul Milz’s Union Tavern that serves as a landmark on my own travels to Janesville.
--LG

Fair History in Rock County

Did you know that Janesville was the site of the very first Wisconsin State Fair on October 1-2, 1851? It was held on the banks of the Rock River and sponsored by the newly-formed State Agricultural Society. There were 461 total entries with a profit of $85.45. Popular features include a 200-pound squash and a quarter-acre plowing match.

(Click photograph to enlarge text)

The fairgrounds contained 6 acres and about 10,000 people attended. The fair was held just east of Upper Courthouse Park, now a residential area in the Courthouse Hill Historic District.

You can read more about it at Hedberg Public Library.

Our Local History Database contains many references

to the Wisconsin State Fair in Janesville here.

Or, email a Reference Librarian referencedesk@hedbergpubliclibrary.org or call us during open hours at 608-758-6581.

--SB

Civil War Rallies in Janesville

Civil War Rallies in Janesville




What do we know about this photo from Hedberg Public Library's Gruver Collection?


We believe that it is likely to have been taken on April 25, 1861. The Civil War had broken out on April 12, 1861 when Confederate troops attacked Fort Sumter off South Carolina. Fort Sumter
surrendered on April 14, 1861, and on the following day, President Abraham Lincoln called out the state militias. On April 17th, Governor Randall urged Wisconsin men to "join him in making common cause against a common enemy" by enrolling themselves into military companies.

Janesville did not hold back. The largest gathering of people ever convened in Janesville up to that time (History of Rock County, 1879) assembled at the Hyatt House Hall in downtown Janesville on the evening of April 20, 1861 to "take into consideration what could be done in the way of raising men and money to defend the flag of our country."


A few days later, on April 25, 1861, another large group gathered in downtown Janesville. The Janesville Gazette described the scene: "During the forenoon people poured into the city from the country. Not less than five thousand of the hardy yeomanry of Rock county were in attendance. The stores on Main and Milwaukee streets were tastefully beautified by almost innumerable flags of all sizes--some hung out of windows and others from ropes stretched across the street. There was a deep feeling manifested by all present. The excitement was intense and manifested itself in loud applause at the utterance of every patriotic sentiment in the meeting. The fine weather and the gay banners produced an animated scene well calculated to incite patriotic emotions."


Continuing, the Janesville Gazette reported that "the volunteer company of this city, commanded by Capt. Ely, marched to the Haytt House Hall [located on the northwest corner of W. Milwaukee and N. Franklin streets, this building burned down in 1867] at about 2 o'clock, followed by an immense multitude of people who soon filled the hall. The hall at the Hyatt House proving insufficient for the accommodation of the immense crowd, an impromptu meeting was held on the public square. Judge Armstrong of this city spoke with thrilling effect upon the duty of sacrificing all feelings of party, and uniting as one man for the defense of the country."

Horrified by the"acts and plunders of the southern robbers and traitors of the self-styled 'Confederate States of America,' the group organized itself into The Rock County Union and Relief Society to "enroll, organize into companies and drill such men in this county as are willing to enter into active service as volunteers, and to raise funds for the support and relief of such volunteers and their families."

We suspect that the uniforms worn by the soldiers in this photograph were their state militia uniforms, since it seems too early in the war for them to have been issued Union uniforms.

"The square was alive with the right spirit," according to the newspaper--"women standing there encouraging the speakers by waving their handkerchiefs." The paper concluded by
stating that these rallies were worthy of "old Rock [County]" and show "that the spirit of 1776
animates the people, as effectually as it did in the days of the American revolution."

Another Civil War rally is said to have taken place in Janesville on July 27, 1862, but we are still seeking confirmation of that date and details about its events.

--LG

"Layoffs Swamp Library"

This was a headline in the Janesville Gazette on April 30, 1980. Sharon Ebel, of the Gazette staff, wrote of the effects of layoffs at the General Motors and Dana Corporation plants in Janesville and Edgerton, respectively.

The two men in the photo are Guy Hinkle, left, and Scott Jordan on the right.

In 1980, Library Director Dan Bradbury said circulation skyrocketed in part due to area layoffs. More patrons - especially men - visited the library, and were observed reading to their children in the children's department.

--Janesville Public Library, c. 1982

Books about automotive repair, home improvement, garden and landscaping, and career opportunity materials were popular. The first three months of 1980 saw a 15 percent increase in circulation compared to 1979.

In 1980 the library's reference department received more requests for "8mm and 16mm movie projectors, which are circulated almost daily. "

"With many persons unable to take long vacations because of the energy and economy pinch, [the library] hopes to saturate library shelves with information describing Wisconsin tourist attractions."

Other patrons requested information about job opportunities, pay scales, resumes and educational requirements in other fields.

In 2010, job-seekers have even more options at the library:

• Free computers to write a resume or search the Internet.



• A "Job-Seekers" lab held monthly - no registration required - for help with job hunting.



• A "Job Resource Center" with books, magazines and reference material located across from the Reference Desk. Find help with choosing a school, financial aid, selecting a career, studying for an entrance exam or writing that perfect resume.
  

See our online Job Resource Center for help - from home or at the library.

Contact the library Reference Desk if you have questions or need assistance.

Helpful library staff are available to assist with your information needs - just as in 1980.

We're here for you!

--posted by sb 9/17/2010

HOUSE HISTORY: The Lovejoy Mansion at 220 St. Lawrence Avenue

Lovejoy Mansion when it was the YWCA, c. 1981

The controver-sial renovations being made to the Lovejoy mansion at 220 St. Lawrence Avenue, detailed in The Janesville Gazette’s April 26, 2009 article, offer an opportunity to show how much material Hedberg Public Library has about this house, its architect, owners, and occupants. It also demonstrates the Reference Department’s ability to help researchers with “house history,” particularly when the house has been of historical interest for some time.

220 St. Lawrence Avenue around 1881.


THE FIRST OWNER: Allen P. Lovejoy (1825-1904) built the 10,000 square-foot mansion at 220 St. Lawrence Avenue shortly after his 1880 marriage to Julia Stowe. Born in Maine, Lovejoy began his working life as a teacher and a carpenter. He moved to Janesville in 1850 where he worked as a contractor and builder. He established a lumberyard in Janesville in 1859 and began investing in pine lands and sawmills in 1868, becoming one of the Midwest’s most important lumber barons. He was also involved in the Harris Manufacturing Company, the Janesville Machine Company—the largest agricultural implement factory in Rock County--and the Janesville Cotton Mill. A bank director as well, Lovejoy’s political career included being the mayor of Janesville for one year and also a state legislator for a couple of years.



HIS WIFE: Julia Stow Lovejoy (1849-1953) was a fascinating person in her own right. A thirty-year-old school teacher when she married Allen P. Lovejoy (who was 55 at the time), she became the first president of the Rock County Women’s Suffrage League, founded in February 1912. She was involved in the establishment of the first kindergarten in Janesville, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and Janesville’s first hospital. She also served for several years on the Janesville Public Library board. She celebrated her 100th birthday in December 1949, by which time she was referred to as “Janesville’s First Lady.”

THEIR ARCHITECT: The architect who designed the Lovejoy mansion was James Douglas. A Milwaukee architect, Douglas was born in Scotland in 1823. Forming a partnership with his brother, Alexander, as “J. A. Douglas, Architects and Builders,” he started out as a designer of churches, but later turned to domestic architecture. The Lovejoy mansion was described in a 1980 Janesville Gazette article as representing the “Late Picturesque” or "Queen Anne" style: “The cream brick veneer over a balloon frame includes protruding wings and steep-gabled roofs. Corner upstairs windows are hooded with overhangs. Decorative ‘bargeboards’ have crosses and curves punched into them, while brackets of the first story, wrap-around veranda have dot-encircled holes. Local quarry stone was used for the foundation below ground, with dressed Milwaukee stone above ground. It has several fireplaces, hardwood floors, fine quality wood moldings, plaster and glass.” Red oak, walnut and butternut are some of the woods used in the house but were painted over by the time the YWCA moved in. Door knobs and hinges were made of solid brass. Corn husks provided insulation in the walls. Because of Allen Lovejoy’s background as a carpenter, he is said to have sat on a camp stool, overlooking the work being done on his house to ensure that everything was built to his specifications.


SECOND OWNER: After Mrs. Lovejoy’s death in 1953, Joseph A. Craig bought the Lovejoy mansion but never lived in it. As soon as he bought it, he presented it to the YWCA. A prominent figure in Janesville business and philanthropic circles, Craig was responsible for the development of the General Motors Assembly Plant in Janesville. A manager of the Janesville Machine Company, he persuaded General Motors to acquire his company to establish GM’s Samson Tractor Company division. In 1919, GM built a large, new factory to produce tractors. When tractors failed to sell well, GM converted the factory to a Chevrolet automobile and Fisher body assembly plant.


THIRD OWNER: The YWCA occupied 220 St. Lawrence Avenue from 1954 until May 2001, when its new building was opened at 1735 S. Washington Street. According to the Janesville Gazette (21 May 2001, 1A), the YWCA put its building at 220 St. Lawrence Avenue on the market for $247,900 by Lee Sather & Associates, “who offered to sell the building for no commission.” YWCA staff reported that it was difficult to leave such a beautiful building.

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES STATUS: In 1980, while the building still belonged to the YWCA, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was nominated for that status by the YWCA and the Rock County Historical Society. The local paper pointed out that being on the National Register of Historic Places meant that “any restoration, preservation or stabilization project involving the structure is now eligible for matching federal grants.”

FOURTH OWNER: In 2002, a religious group, the Ekklasia Foundation, bought the
Lovejoy mansion from the YWCA for $190,000. Brad Goodrich represented the Foundation, according to the Janesville Gazette (25 July 2002, 1B). What the future holds for this mansion
is not clear, but its past can be traced pretty easily.

How to find the history of your house: The Janesville Gazette for 27 Oct 2002, 1E (a copy of which is in Hedberg Public Library's Janesville Room in a binder, 720.9775 HISTO) has an excellent article on resources for doing house histories in Janesville. The Reference Department staff is always willing to help.