Wisconsin Biography

Online Resources

 * County and Town Histories with biographies
 * Wisconsin Historical Society Local History and Biography Articles Index only.
 * Wisconsin Name Index, Wisconsin Historical Society
 * Wisconsin Pioneer Experience, index
 * Wisconsin Men of Progress, ($), index
 * History of northern Wisconsin ....biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers, ($), index/images
 * Wisconsin Notable Men
 * Wisconsin, its story and biography 1848-1913, by Ellis Baker Usher Vol. 1, Vol. 2, vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5, Vol. 6, Vol. 7, Vol. 8, e-books

Biographies provide useful genealogical information such as a person’s birth date and place; names of family members, including maiden names; education; occupation; and social, political, and religious affiliation. They may also contain a physical description of the person, previous residences, and immigration information. Biographies are the product of family knowledge or previous research about early settlers and prominent citizens of a state, county, or town. Local histories may contain biographical sketches of lesser-known people.

Biographies in Local Histories

 * Biographical information is often found in state, county, and town histories.
 * Towards the end of the 19th century, began publishers soliciting short biographical/family histories from local founding families, offering to publish them in an upcoming local history. This then became an incentive for family members to buy a copy of the book.
 * Families represented were not necessarily prominent. Practically everyone living there, especially in the Midwest, counted as an early settler.
 * These biographies often start with the first member of the family to settle in the area, and detail their descendants at the time of publishing. They may tell where the family moved in from. Children's marriages often are given, with maiden names included.

Finding Biographies

 * The county Wiki page lists several county histories. It also lists local libraries, and societies which probably have copies of local histories.
 * Many histories are no longer under copyright and can be found in the following online, digitized book collections. Search with keywords "History" and "the name of your locality" (state, county, or town).
 * FamilySearch Books
 * Google Books
 * World Cat
 * HathiTrust
 * Internet Archive
 * The FamilySearch library has extensive collections of these local histories. Many are digitized. Search the FamilySearch Catalog under your locality for the topics "Biography" and "History".

Statewide Collections
The Wisconsin Historical Society has an extensive biography file created by the staff and volunteers. The biographies come from biographical sketches, local histories, and biographical compendia of the state that were published before 1940. The sketches are indexed in the Wisconsin Genealogy Index.

County histories also contain biographical information on selected residents. The Wisconsin Historical Society has published digitized versions of 80 county histories on its website. The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society has published every-name indexes to about fifty of them. The Family History Library has purchased most of these.

An important Wisconsin collection with biographical information about early settlers, traders, missionaries, etc., is:


 * Draper, Lyman Copeland. Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. 24 vols. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1855–. (Family History Library ; films beginning with .) Volume 21 is an index to volumes 1–20. These volumes discuss various aspects of the early history of Wisconsin.

An interesting collection of biographical information about persons involved in circuses between 1793 and the present is at:

Circus World Museum Attention: Library and Research Center 426 Water Street Baraboo, WI 53913 Telephone: 608-356-8341 Internet: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/circusworld/

This center has an index of 360,000 names, personal papers, newspaper ads, periodicals, and route books.

The Family History Library has collected biographical works on subjects such as soldiers, lawyers, women, and prominent citizens and pioneers of various regions of the state. Useful biographical encyclopedias include:


 * United States Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery of Eminent and Self-made Men: Wisconsin Volume. Chicago, Illinois: American Biographical Pub., 1877. (Family History Library film item 3; fiche .) An index is included.
 * Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography. Madison, Wisconsin: State Historical Society, 1960. The biographies are in alphabetical order.
 * Nelke, David I. Columbian Biographical Dictionary and Portrait Gallery. . . . Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Co., 1895. (Family History Library book ; film .) An index is included.
 * Usher, Ellis B. Wisconsin: Its Story and Biography, 1848-1913. 8 vols. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Co., 1914. (Family History Library book ; films .) Volume one has an index to the persons for whom there are biographical sketches in volumes 1–8.
 * Waterstreet, Darlene E. Biography Index to the Wisconsin Blue Books. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Badger Infosearch, 1974. (Family History Library book index.) This indexes the Wisconsin Blue Books, which list 5,000 prominent persons who lived during the period 1870–1973. The Blue Books have biographical information.

Websites
Wisconsin Historical Society