Hello, my name is Linda. I'm the site coordinator for the Fond du Lac County Biographies Project. This project was organized by Jeff Murphy in May of 1997 by using the established Kentucky Biographies Project as a model.  State coordinators were sought to set up their own state project.  They were offered the system design and tools created for the KY project, but were free to set up their project in any way they chose. 

Volunteers are needed to enter, edit, and archive the biographies for each project.  If you have biographies for Fond du Lac County families, whether related to you or not, please e-mail me Linda and I will post them here! I prefer that you copy and paste in an e-mail rather than sending as an attachment, but will accept them any way you need to send them.!

If you would like to volunteer to coordinate a county please contact the Wisconsin State Coordinator Linda Pingel There are still several counties up for adoption and we need your help.

How to Submit a Biography Send them to me via e-mail
Wisconsin Biographies Data Entry Guidelines
Wisconsin Biographies
US Biographies
 

ADDITIONAL SITES FOR FURTHER RESEARCH
Fond du Lac Local History Pages
Fond du Lac County Genweb
"The Omnibus Portal" The history of Germantown, Richfield, and Congregations of St. Boniface in Goldendale, St. Mary in Richfield, Christ Evangelical in Dheinsville, St. John United Church of Christ in Kuhburg, Our Savior United Church of Chirst in Rockfield/Germantown, or Stony Hills in Germantown and the history of the Catholic Church in early Washington County, Wisconsin.

Please note: Biographies and Obituaries submitted by Cherie Pennau were only transcribed and submitted for this site. Cherie is not researching, or related to the families.

HISTORY OF FOND DU LAC COUNTY

Through the first third of the nineteenth century Fond du Lac County was part of the Winnebago Indian nation. By the close of the 1830's, however, the central Wisconsin wilderness, the new Northwest, became a focal point for easterners hoping to create new lives for themselves. The county itself was created in 1836, the year that the first permanent settlers, Colwert and Edward Pier, arrived. The eventual city of Fond du Lac, which historian Joseph Schafer refers to as "the first location to be exploited entirely for speculative purposes," was effectively created by James Duane Doty, the Wisconsin territory's premier speculator. Doty had an eye to the transportation possibilities of Lake Winnebago and the construction of a canal to the the Rock River at the Horicon marsh and another to Sheboygan on Lake Michigan. Through Doty's lobbying efforts, the prospective city was made a candidate for the new Wisconsin territorial capital, although there were fewer than 140 white settlers in the entire county as late as the federal census of 1840. Growth came rapidly beginning in the mid-1840's, as Yankees began arriving by the thousands to rebuild the homes, farms, and communities they knew in New England, New York, and Pennsylvania. By 1850, the county's townships were established. In far western Fond du Lac County, the population of Metomen, first settled in 1844, grew from 460 in 1847 to 720 by 1850 and 1617 by 1860. By 1870, Fond du Lac was the state's second largest city, a major railroad hub, and the county was second only to Dane in wheat production.

INDEX OF SURNAMES
Click on the letters below to take you to the surname beginning
with that letter.

Send me your biographies I will post them!

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