Martin was born in

his work has been reserved until now. Martinsburgh, N. Y., in 1805. In 1824 he was graduated from Hamilton College, and for two years studied law. At their expiration he went to Detroit, where he was admitted to the bar, and acting on the advice of his cousin, Judge Doty, he settled in Green Bay in 1827 and lived there until his death. Martin at once became a leading figure in the political life of the little place. We have in his reminiscences an interesting account of a horseback trip with Judge Doty, Henry S. Baird, and others in 1829 through the country south of the Fox and Wisconsin, the very practical result of which was additions to the government map of that part of the territory. The framing and passage of the bill for the Fox River improvement (1846), was largely due to the efforts of Mr. Martin while territorial delegate to congress from Wisconsin. He was president of the constitutional convention of 1848, and fathered the improvement scheme of 1853. Martin was for many years active in the political life of the state. During the War of Secession he was an army paymaster, and served as Indian agent in 1866. In this latter year he was defeated for congress by Philetus Sawyer. His political career ended as judge of Brown County where he served from 1875 until his death in 1887. Martin was a man of fine taste and presence. His home, "Hazelwood," remains as one of the best examples in the valley of the classic New England style of housebuilding.1

Capt. Joseph G. Lawton was a representative capitalist of the later period. Born in New York city (1822), on Broome Street in what was then a fine house, after a year at the University of Pennsylvania he conducted business with his father and brother in various places in Pennsylvania until about 1849. Then, like many another young man of the period, he began to study law. Hearing what great opportunities the West

1 See the narrative and sketch of Morgan L. Martin, in Wis. Hist. Colls., xi.

afforded, he came to Green Bay on a prospecting tour in 1851, starting business almost immediately, by entering into partnership in a factory with Otto Tank. In 1853 he organized the Fox River Bank, and in 1856 the Brown County Bank of De Pere. Next to Morgan L. Martin, Lawton was the most active director of the Fox River Improvement Company, and negotiated the sale of its lands. When the War of Secession broke out, Lawton gained his military title by raising a company of volunteers, with which he saw active service, but the illness of his wife compelled him to resign in 1863. He thereupon established a stave factory, a smelting furnace, and a flax factory at Pe Pere, platted a large part of that city, and built a wing dam and canal. The next year he built a bridge between East and West De Pere, and a sash and door factory at the latter place. Captain Lawton's energy increased the local population during the years 1863-64 from 150 to 2,500.1 He died in 1896.

Senator Philetus Sawyer was a representative politician, lumberman, and capitalist combined. Born in Vermont in 1816, the son of a small farmer and blacksmith, he early moved to the Adirondacks with his parents, and as a lad lived a hard and industrious life. By 1847 he had accumulated $2,000, and in 1849 came to Oshkosh to place his little capital in the Wolf River pineries. He finally bought a saw-mill and made a financial success of what had been a failure under other hands. From 1857 to 1861, Sawyer was in the state legislature, and from 1865 to 1875 in the lower house of congress, where he became widely known by his committee work on matters of Western expansion and improvement. The river and harbor bill of 1871, which provided about $7,000,000 for this purpose, was largely his work. In the United States senate he served two terms, 1881-93. Until 1880 he was vicepresident of the Chicago, St. Paul & Omaha Railway, and

1 See Biog. Record of Fox River Valley (Chicago, 1895), p. 28. 2 Ibid., p. 980.

vice-president of the First National Bank of Oshkosh. Mr. Sawyer remained identified with the lumber interests of Wisconsin, and died March 29, 1900.

Foreign Immigration

2

The foreign-born population of the valley soon after 1850 became a prominent factor in its life. Aside from the FrenchCanadian and English who came in individually all through the early part of the nineteenth century, there was the "canny Scot," with an eye to thrift, like Alexander Mitchell of Milwaukee; the Irishman, who turned his back upon Irish politics and misery, like the father of Henry S. Baird; the deserter from the British navy, like Col. Samuel Ryan of Appleton, and an occasional European refugee. These men, however, merely heralded the great movement of foreign population which took place about the middle of the century as a result of the democratic unrest pervading Europe and to some extent foreing the democratization of European governments. Before and after the War of Secession, settlers from our own Eastern states-especially from New York, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, and Ohio-steadily moved in to form the basis of the present generation. But during the last quarter of the century, the foreign element took a prominent place in municipal affairs, and by the century's end the population of the valley had become an amalgamation of Eastern-American, native Wisconsin, and foreign-born elements. The European-born citizens of the valley are mostly Germans (strongest in Outagamie and Winnebago), Scandinavians, English, Irish, and Dutch (strongest in Brown County), with a sprinkling of other nationalities. An interesting representative is John H. M.

1 Wis. Hist. Colls., xi, p. 435.

3

2 Elihu Spencer, Pioneers of Outagamie County (Appleton, 1895), p. 182.

3 See Men Who Are Making Green Bay (Green Bay, 1897); Pioneers of Outagamie County; and county histories of Brown, Outagamie, and Winnebago in History of Northern Wisconsin (Milwaukee, 1882).