Patrick Degan was the first settler to the area after serving in the American Civil War. He was followed by a number of fellow Irishmen and by 1880 there was a log cabin school. Peter Heaney, a Civil War comrade of Degan, was next to build a cabin, then Tim O'Leary, Sam Bruce, John and Peter Heaney and Jim Hurley. William Ketter brought blacksmithing in 1866.

Going for supplies meant a walk to and from Oconto in the earliest days. The first non-Irish resident was a Dane named Johnson, who was married to Bertha Birr of town of Morgan. Widowed, Bertha then married Martin Delzer and they started the oldest and largest of the sugar bushes (Maple sap harvesting for syrup and sugar production) in the county with over 2,000 trees.The first Catholic Church was built in 1886. Until that time services were held in the cabin of William Ketter and his wife, the widow of Peter Heaney. Information provided by Mrs. Ernest Wesley