Results

Biographical Sketches: Like many families in the 19th century, the McHughs passed on family names to each generation, resulting in several people bearing the same name at any given time. A biographical description of the youngest son of Michael McHugh, William Edwin McHugh, published in 1895 provided basic information on three subsequent generations and presented a starting point for a family tree.

.

Introduction Contemporary documents can provide valuable information onhistoric sites not available when dealing with prehistoric site. However, historic documents frequently contain exaggeration, misinformation, misspellings, and illegible handwriting. Furthermore, such documents may be subject to poor preservation, if not complete destruction depending on their perceived worth. All of these issues were encountered during archival research on the Michael and Mary McCoy McHugh McHugh family of Waupaca, WI. Although a rich historical record documents the McHugh family presence in Waupaca County, over-emphasis on any one source provided only partial information, resulting in confusing and often conflicting ideas of how the family history played out. Developing a useful framework for interpretation required the study of many documents including land patents, land deeds, tax rolls, vital records, local biographies, Civil War rosters, and probate records. The resulting history paints a picture of the McHugh clan as a close-knit, patriotic, immigrant family that successfully adapted to changing conditions on the Wisconsin frontier.

Methods The McHugh site is located in Caledonia Township near the border between Waupaca County and Outagamie County. Consequently, archival repositories consulted include the Registers of Deeds of both Waupaca and Outagamie Counties, as well as a variety of regional and local data centers including the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS), the Waupaca Area Genealogical Society, the Holly History and Genealogy Center, and the New London Public Museum.

Online resources explored include Ancestry.com, the Patrick and Laura (Danks) McHugh website at LaonaHistory.com, and the Wisconsin Historical Society website. Early aerial photographs were available at the website of the Wisconsin State Cartographer. Civil War records were available from the National Park Service website.

Attempts were made to contact various McHugh family members residing in the Waupaca, Wisconsin area. However, these attempts have so far been unsuccessful. In the absence of thorough biographical accounts, a cross-referenced database of every available historical document provided the best account of the McHugh Family History.

Acknowledgments The author would like to thank the following people for their help and communication during the archival research:

Julie Hintz of the Holly History and Genealogy Center

Darlene Ryan, and all the members of the Waupaca Area Genealogical

Society

John Irish, webmaster for LaonaHistory.org,

The clerks at the Registers of Deeds of Waupaca and Outagamie

Counties

Conclusions

The McHughs of Waupaca County: An Irish Immigrant Family on the Wisconsin Frontier

Figure 1.

State of Wisconsin 1875 Wisconsin State Census Record. Madison, WI, published by The Genealogical Society, Salt Lake City, 1979. microfilm. Trinrud, Geraldine 2005 McHugh Family, manuscript and correspondence available at Waupaca Area Genealogical Society. Wisconsin Historical Society 1914 Roster of Wisconsin Volunteers, War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865, available online at http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/roster/index.asp. Accessed 7/6/2012

Literature Cited J.H. Beers & Co. 1895 Commemorative Biographical Record of the Upper Wisconsin Counties of

Waupaca, Portage, Wood, Marathon, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Langlade, and Shawano. Available WHS ArCat http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wch,5650, accessed 5/30/2012

Harney, E.M. 1874 Map of Waupaca County, Wisconsin, Drawn by E.M. Harney, Winneconne, WI, Published by J. Knauber & Co. Steam Lithographic Printers, Milwaukee, WI. Accessed 5/31/2012. Digitized 6/1/2012

Elissa Hulit Department of Anthropology, College of Letters and Science

Land Records: The earliest land deed for the ¼ section on which the McHugh site is located is the original US Government land patent deeding the 160 acre property to Michael McHugh in 1850. This and later deeds track the movement of family members in Waupaca and Outagamie Counties. Tax rolls also provide measures of value through time and indicate several periods of property improvement.

Military Warrant Volume 1021, page 75

Patrick and Laura McHugh, 1908 photo from LaonaHistory.com

For Further Information The McHugh site investigations are reported in: Drew, B. L. and J. D. Richards 2012 Phase II Archaeological Investigation of The McHugh Site (47WP294), A Nineteenth Century Irish Farmstead in Waupaca County, Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archaeological Research Laboratory Reports of Investigations No. 188.

For a copy of this poster or a PDF of the McHugh site report, scan the QRC symbol or point your browser to: http://archaeolab.anthro.uwm.edu/McHugh_Site/

Photo from McDonald, M. J. (1956) The Irish of the North Country. Wisconsin Magazine of History 40:126-132.

Map of Waupaca County, Wisconsin, E.M Harney, 1874

Vital Records: Available vital records for the period between 1850 and 1950 included birth, marriage, and death records. These documents also provided maiden names for many of the women who married into the McHugh family. Census Records: Wisconsin State Census records were compiled every ten years between 1855 and 1905 while Federal Census records were collected every ten years between 1790 and the present. This provided data on the McHugh family every 5 years, except 1865. Census data was combined with vital records information to reconstruct household occupancy and clarify spelling discrepancies.

Image from the 1875 Wisconsin State Census, Caledonia Twp, WI

Historic Plat Maps: Maps drawn between 1874 and 1953 help to visualize the rural neighborhood in which the McHughs lived. By 1874, the road facing the McHugh property was marked as a main county road. Many of the neighboring landowners appear to have been related to the McHugh’s through marriage as the surnames are repeated in the marriage records.. Also noted is the fact that the maps acknowledge the female landowners of the McHugh farm.

Civil War Rosters: Study of the Roster of Civil War Volunteers revealed that four of Michael McHugh’s sons joined the Wisconsin Infantry during the Civil War. Only the eldest three returned. Though he died of disease, the death of James McHugh in Corinth, MS, in June of 1862, indicates that he took part in the Siege of Corinth. Patrick McHugh was discharged due to disability from injuries. Probate Documents: The earliest probate document available references the estate of Michael McHugh, but it was filed nearly four decades after his death. This, and other court documents filed around the turn of the 19th century indicate that after running the family farm for approximately 40 years, Mary McCoy McHugh was living with one son on the property who was suing his brother for her partial support. Later probate documents provide insight into familial relationships as well as value estimates for farm property and livestock.

The McHugh site represents the homestead of Michael and Mary McHugh who patented the property in 1850. Michael was born in Ireland in 1815 and immigrated to the United States along with his father James in 1827. Michael and James McHugh originally settled in Ohio but James moved to the Wisconsin frontier in 1847 and is credited with building the first log structure in what was to become Caledonia Township in 1849. James’ son Michael followed in 1850 and purchased a quarter-section of land adjoining that owned by his father. By this time Michael was 32 years old and married to Mary McCoy. Michael and Mary’s household comprised seven children born in Ohio including six boys and one girl. Four more children were born in Wisconsin including two more boys and two girls. Michael McHugh died of unknown causes in 1856, only six years after arriving in Wisconsin. This left his widow, Mary, to single-handedly raise 11 children, including a one-year old, on a frontier subsistence farm. Five years after Michael’s death, the Civil War began and Mary’s four adult sons (Hugh, Patrick, James, and Alexander) left for military duty. James died in Corinth, Mississippi but the remaining three boys returned home following the war. Against all odds, Mary McHugh continued to run the family farm well into the 1890s. The original homestead was likely abandoned prior to 1899 when the existing two-story farmhouse was constructed.