Frenchtown chronicles of Prairie du Chien : history and folklore from Wisconsin's frontier
(eBook)

eBook

English

9780870207600 (e-book)

Includes index.

"Albert Coryer, the grandson of a fur trade voyageur-turned-farmer, had a gift for storytelling. Born in 1877, he grew up in Prairie du Chien hearing tales of days gone by from his parents, grandparents, and neighbors who lived in the Frenchtown area. Because his mother's first language was English and his father's French, Albert was bilingual as well as bicultural. Throughout his life, Albert soaked up the local oral traditions, including narratives about early residents, local landmarks, interesting and funny events, ethnic customs, myths, and folklore. Late in life, this lively man who had worked as a farm laborer and janitor drew a detailed illustrated map of the Prairie du Chien area and began to write his stories out longhand, and gave an interview to a local historian and a folklore scholar. The map, stories, and interview transcript provide a colorful account of the old fur trade town of Prairie du Chien in the late nineteenth century, when it was undergoing significant demographic, social, and economic change. They provide a window into the ethnic community comprised of the old fur trade families, Native Americans, French Canadian farmers, and their descendants. Editors Mary Antoine and Lucy Murphy have collected these narratives into four sections: stories centering on agricultural life, tales about the more wide-ranging adventures and travels of his ancestors, a collection of ghost stories from the time, and the 1951 interview transcript. An introduction and a headnote accompanying each section offer historical background and context for Coryer's writings"--Provided by publisher.

Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest, 2016. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest affiliated libraries.