Canfield Day 2021–Sauk County 1859

CANFIELD Day will be held on April 8 with an online presentation to celebrate the birth of Sauk County’s first historian, William H. Canfield, who was born near Syracuse, New York in 1819. When Canfield arrived in Sauk County in 1842, he was 23 years old and his wife, Cordelia, was 19 and pregnant with the couple’s first child. The Canfields settled on Skillet Creek and lived under their dry goods boxes until a small log cabin could be constructed. William Canfield worked as a surveyor to support the family and eventually completed over 3,000 farm surveys. His work took him to all parts of Sauk County, meeting many people and hearing their stories. Canfield’s interest in survey work and history led him to create the first large scale map of Sauk County which was published in 1859. While not exactly a plat map, the map does indicate the names of over 1,700 landowners and their general location as well as 285 points of interest including sawmills, lime kilns, and schools to things far older like effigy mounds. Around the edge of the map Canfield included lithographic images of scenes from around Sauk County to highlight some of the important buildings and businesses in the area. Canfield’s 1859 map and the ten scenes will be the subject of the presentation on Thursday, April 8 at 7 pm. Historic photos exist of many of the places Canfield chose to highlight and will be shown along with the scenes from the map. Modern day images of the same locations will also be shown and discussed. Registration for the online presentation can be found on the Society websitesaukcountyhistory.org

The annual presentation of the William H. Canfield History Award will be delayed this year until the Society’s annual summer picnic which will be held later this summer if conditions permit.

Monetary Donations

January-February, 2021

General Operations

Dave & Joanne Gorak

Evelyn Krugman

Anonymous

In Memory of Bill Doepke

Phil Jauch

Linda Levenhagen

Mary Orlowski

Cup of Coffee

Ellen Bueno

Donald Deckman

Chuck Ecklund

Jean Judd

Susan Mossman

James O’Neill

Richard Ringelstetter

Geraldine Wolter

Ann Wolter www.saukcountyhistory.org

In 1857 Sauk County completed a six-sided stone jail building. Canfield included this extraordinary building on his 1859 map. The lithograph was created from a photo of the building. Today the Baraboo post office sits on the same site.

Early Sauk County Land Records Webinar

LAND records are often one of the overlooked resources when doing genealogy or researching people. Besides telling where a person lived or what property they owned, land records can contain valuable information such as the name of a spouse and where a party was living when they made a purchase or sale of a piece of property. They can also be helpful in finding the names of children and heirs after the death of a property owner. Land records can be daunting, however, when it comes to legal descriptions and types of conveyance like quit claim deeds versus warranty deeds. An online webinar on early Sauk County land records will be held on Thursday, May 6 at 7 pm. Property descriptions, grantor and grantee records, plat maps, mortgage records and other items related to land records will be discussed along with a question-and-answer period. To register for the webinar watch the Society’s eNewsletter for a signup link or email the historical society at history@saukcountyhistory.org

You can subscribe to the twice monthly eNewsletter by visiting the Society website at saukcountyhistory.org and clicking on ENEWS at the top of the homepage.