Starting in the 1780s, a number of French-Creole settlements emerged in Wisconsin. Among these were La Baie (Green Bay), Portage, Prairie du Chien, and La Pointe. These settlements are referred to as "creole" due to their multiracial, multicultural nature. Inhabitants were a mixture of Europeans, Indians, and Métis that originally gathered due to the fur trade. The culture of these settlements was also a unique combination of all these groups with some local adaptations as well. These Creole settlements were a rather unique outcome of the fur trade.
The Creoles continued to be an important element to these settlements until after Wisconsin becomes American in 1816. With the coming of the new Yankee government, businesses, and settlers; the "French" are slowly and systematically marginalized.
Above: A photo from the Fur Trade weekend at Madeline Island where I was reenacting and teaching about Creole farm life. Notice the dog and cart.
A note on the term "creole" - There is a wave in current scholarship to start using the term "creole" whereas some have used the word Métis. This is seen especially in some of the recent work of Lucy Eldersveld Murphy, however was used early by the Rentmeester's in their work on Wisconsin Creoles. Additonally a lot of historic sources use this term. Anyway, I have come to prefer it for two reasons. 1.) it avoids the issues that many Indian communities have with the word métis/Métis and with the fact that there are federally recognized people that are Métis. 2.) there were many non-métis folks living in these communities (full Indian and full Euro) that took on the culture of the overall. Creole is a better term for these multi-racial, multi-cultural settlements that form in Wisconsin; as it looks at the whole group regardless of their race and focuses on the shared cultural metissage that forms in these communities.
The above two collages are of original 18th and 19th century images of French-Canadians and Métis. The various images give us an idea what these people in Wisconsin may have looked like.
Below: A few assorted images of me and ma famille (my family) as Wisconsin Creoles.
