1850's

  In 1850, one year before Oconto County was organized, sawyer Jonathan Hale and his wife, Sophia, lived in town of Pittsfield, Brown County, Wisconsin, having moved from New York State. In 1852 he was the first elected chairman of the Board of Supervisors in Oconto County.

  The way that Mr. Hale has tied his necktie helps date this photograph to the early 1850's, when it became a widely used style to pull out one end resulting in asymmetry. He has a shawl-collored, single breasted vest over a white bib shirt, stiff high collar and fitted trousers. His hair is worn with a fullness over each ear that was the fashion. His jacket is long cut with natural shoulders and sleeve placement , also moderate width knotched lapel, correct for the late 1840's and early 1850's. There is no velvet jacket collar trim that is present later in the decade.

  Mrs. Hale is in a dark colored, expensive, silk, full length gown. In the 1850's the bell of the sleeves had gradually become very wide and fell above the wrist. A wide dark velvet ribbon trim at the upper and lower edge of the sleeves was the height of fashion in the second half of the decade.  The upper arm was closely fitted onto drop shoulders. The bodice is very fitted over a tightly waisted corset with a single set of velvet fabric covered front buttons.  The skirt has cartridge pleats rather than flat pleats at the waist and is over a full hoop, the edge of which can be seen a few inched from the bottom. Her center-parted hair covers her ears and is held in the back by a net. She is wearing very fashonable open lace, beaded "mitts". The fingertips were not covered by these formal, tight fitting gloves. She also has a full sleeved white blouse and a detachable white lace full collar with a center broach.

  Pose of the couple is formal and serious, each maintaining individualism and showing prosperity.

  There were no known photographers in the newly established Oconto County of the 1850's, but the Wisconsin State Historical Society holdings include photographs taken in neighboring Green Bay, Brown County, Wisconsin, dating to the mid 1840's. This photograph could also have been taken in New York.

Lyman and son AbramPlace

Place Family Page

 
   Lyman Place (left) was born about 1798 in Vermont, and died 9 April 1865 in Canton, Saint Lawrence, New York.

   Son Abram (Abraham) Place was born 20 January 1818 in Chittenden, Vermont, and died 27 November 1892 in what is now Grover, Marinette County (Oconto County until 1880), Wisconsin. In 1837, he came to Green Bay, WI. In the spring of 1838, he moved to Peshtigo, then Brown County, Territory of Wisconsin (statehood 1848). In 1851 Abram was living in the newly organized Oconto County after his marriage that year.

   Dressed in the turn of the decade style this 1850 father and son duo struck a comfortable pose.  Lyman, on the left, is clean shaven in the 1840's fashion, with natural ear length hair. His son Abram, probably on a trip home to New York from his fronteer home in the new state of Wisconsin, wears a short beard and moustach. His hair covers his ears and is long at the back. Both wear what appear to be readymade work shirts of unstarched cotton with attached collars and no neckties. 

    Lyman has more formal posture and attire, which includes a silk, shawl collar patterned vest and fitted wool jacket that is cut long. Trousers are difficult to see but appear to be made of matching material to the jacket. His hat is called a "wideawake" and is black. This style had a broad, stiff brim, that he has turned up at the sides, and a deep crown that could be shaped at the top to suit the wearer. His shirt is buttoned at the neck and the collar is pressed. His hands are held comfortably together and his head is tilted up toward the camera with a direct look. His posture is upright but not rigid. There is a hint of a smile, projecting contentment and wisdom.

Abram is more casual in posture and style, with his shirt collar unbuttoned and unpressed. He had a plaid patterned fine wool vest and a dark wool long jacket with softly sloping shoulders and naturally set sleeves. His working style trousers are of corsely woven wool blend fabric, untailored fit, rolled at the cuff and look new. His hat is well worn wool felt, with a once flat crown that is now domed from use. The medium width brim is stiff and rolled up at the edges all around. Abram's hands are placed, extended separately, at his waist. He sits back with his chin down and head tilted slightly to one side;  eyes looking up at the camera. He leans comfortably toward his father. His face is serious and unsmiling as if studying what he is looking at. There is a more youthful tension and energy to his pose.
Luhn Couple

Luhn Family Page

1860's

   Brothers Samuel and Cyrus Thomas families were among the very earliest pioneer commercial fishermen in Oconto County. Northeast Wisconsin was still a dense forest and distant wilderness, before lumberjacks, when these brothers established their homes on the north shore of the Oconto area. Samuel Thomas is found well established in Oconto County on the 1860 census with his wife, children, younger sister and several crew members boarding in the household. White fish, trout and herring were caught, cleaned, salted and packed in wooden barrels (kegs) for shipping to Great  Lakes' markets in the east. There was no market in the 1860's for plentiful perch or sturgeon, which were tossed aside and used later in the year for furtilizer on the fisherman's family farms that helped sustained them.

   Here Cyrus and his future wife, Lois, pose for their engagement photograph. They were married in in the mid 1860's. Cyrus and his brother were born in Pennsylvania, in 1840 and 1838 respectively. Lois was born in Michigan in 1846.

 Lois Thomas is lightly corseted with a very popular Zouave jacket made of dark silk and trimmed with matching braiding at the neck, front and cuffs. The jackets were often cut and sewn from larger outdated skirts for ecomony. She has box pleats to ease the great fullness of the large sleeves into the dropped shoulder and small pleats at the wrist to accommodate the tailored cuff,  which is more like a Garibaldi shirt. These styles became popular in 1858 and were worn well into the early 1860's.  She has a small, separate, straight white collar set in at the throat and held in place by a broach.  Her full, patterned dark silk skirt is pleated simply at the waist and appears to have a moderate hoop beneath. Her hair is center parted, and pulled gently back just above the ears and gathered into a net at the back of the nhead. This is a modest but up tp date and youthful turn of the decade outfit.

Cyrus Thomas features much of that was high style for men in the late 1850's that carried over to the 1860's.  This is seen in the purposeful mix of patterns in vest and trousers, considered "sporty" and appropriate for young adult men.  Oversized checked trousers were made of wool and these appear saved for "dress." The vest could be patterned velvet or a very fine knit and hugs the torso. The jacket has the much seen dark velvet collar but is more tailored in fit than the oversized ones of the previous decade, with a more narrow lapel. This looks like it was a ready made rather than a home made jacket. He wears the moderately high stiff  upright collar and the asymmetric bow tie with one horizontal side. He has the 1860's beginnings of a moustash and beard on what looks like the clean shaven face of the 1850's. His curly hair is naturally worn and full but not long.

   Adam Prinz and Mary A. Simon were both born in, what is today, Germany. Mary Simons was the first to immigrate at age 6 in 1846. Adam Prinzimmigrated in 1853. They were married in Wisconsin in 1862. Shortly afterward, Adam served in the Army of the North during the American Civi; War (1861-1865). He was a veteran in the Oconto County GAR (Grand American Republic). The couple farmed in town of How, owned a sawmill and raised a family.

    Mary Simon has a hand made dress of new striped polished cotton or silk. The pattern is right in fashion for the time of their marriage. This may have been an engagement picture, which was the custom of the times. She is softly corsetted. Shoulders of her dress are round and dropped down over the arm where the sleeve is attached with pleats. The sleeve is not as full as the pattern would have called for and the cuff shows little gathering where it attaches. Economy and practicality were no doubt the reasons. Brides often made their dresses to be used at gatherings after the wedding. After being worn it was either recut and sewn, if the fabric was still in good condition, or it was eventually used for everyday wear.  She has the expected stand up collar and the much desired ribbon over the top, held in the front at the neck with a broach or costume pin. There is a skillfully sewn front placket for small buttons. Around her waist is a solid fabric belt tied in back. Her bodice is cut in sections to save on material, with the front sections slightly gathered at the waist. The skirt is fairly full with gathering at the waist and appears to have a modest hoop beneath for bit of fullness. Mary wears her naturally curly hair fashionably parted in the middle and combed back above the ears, caught in a net.

  Adam Prinz is in a new oversized jacket of the times. The sleeves are wide cut and attached at the natural shoulder. It has a fairly wide knotched lapel and single breasted buttons. A starched white bib shirt is tucked into a shawl collar vest of matching shiny material to the jacket. His dark silk tie is in a bow and worn fashionably asymmetrically with one side down and the other horizontal.. This looks like a ready-made suit rather than a home made one.  Adam's hair is worn full and natural, slighly puffed at the ears, with a side part. The front is bushed away from his foread and the back is cropped at the neckline.

   The pose is formal but comfortable with the photograph and each other. Their hands indicate that each has done considerable work in their young lives.

Sutton Family Page

   Mary Dillon was the daughter of Michael and Julia Dillon, farmers in Rockland, Brown County, Wisconsin in 1860, one of 8 children in the household. She was born in Ireland in August 1846.  Parents and the oldest 5 children immigrated to North America in 1847, during the disasterous Irish Potato Famine that lasted many years, which is said to have reduced the population of Ireland by two thirds (One third from death due to disease and starvation and one third from emigration).
 Her uncle Patrick Dillon and his family lived in the farm across the road from them.

  She met her future husband, Michael J. Sutton, after his tour of duty in the Army of the North ended in the American Civil War (1861-1865). They were married in 1865 and this photograph would indicate that it was taken before her marriage since she wears no wedding ring in an enlargement.

  Her style of dress also supports the mid 1860s. This studio portrait shows a dress of silk or silk blend in a dark small patterned plaid. The sleeves are attached at the dropped, slightly trimmed shoulders. Their fullness is eased in with box pleats at the top and small gathering at the fitted cuff, which has a narrow white ruffle. She has a separate white ruffled lace collar and a neat silk bow at the front of the neck, held with a broach. She is corsetted properly for her dress, with the much desired narrow waist surrounded by a ribbon-style solid color sash belt. The dress bodice has what appear to be fabric covered buttons matching the dress. The skirt is full, with cartridge pleats at the waist and overlays a modest round hoop.  Mary Dillon's hair has the standard center part and is combed back gently above the ears. It is caught in the back by a net trimmed at the top with a ribbon bow, just barely visible. Her pose is serious and formal, but comfortable. She is slightly turned to one side while her head is tilted and facing the camera. Her appearance is attactive, very well done and clothes are skillfully made.

   Mary Dillon Sutton lived in Oconto County in the 1870's and 1800's with her husband, who was a great lakes commercial shipping cook, and their children. Their first two children were born in Brown County, Wisconsin; children Thomas Sutton born 1873, James Edward Sutton born 1874, Henry Sutton, Julia Sutton VanDycke born 1880, Cora Sutton Parmentier born 1882 in Oconto County.

Sutton Family Page

 
   

  Michael J. Sutton was born in Ireland, May 1844. Family history has his mother dying when he was a baby. Census tells us he immigrated to North America in 1860, when he would have been about 16 years old.  Not long after coming to the United States, Michael joined the Army of the North in the American Civil War (1861-1865). He was later a member of the Oconto County GAR veterans (Grand American Army). 
 
    Michael Suttons clothing in this photograph would date it to the mid 1860's and probably was taken after his army discharge and before his marriage in 1865, since he wears no wedding band. His long dark coat was made of substantial wool with metal milliary style buttons down the front to just past the waist. His trousers are of similar dark wool fabric and tailored to fit close to the leg. This may be at the time that he was in Navy for a while after the war. Shoes are highly polished, with substantial substance and his pose it that of a man used to standing at attention. His hair has a side part, is medium length, combed back from the forehead and appears weathered. He is clean shaven except for the nicely trimmed moustach, and he has a starched high white collar peeking out at the open neck of the coat.