Name/Title
DANCES - Folk Dances, Nationalities settled in WaupunScope and Content
Dances/folk dances of the people that settled in Waupun, arranged in the order of their settlement to the area. A typed page on non-archival, discolored paper with some additional handwritten notes in the margins.
The back of this page has a handwritten in pencil, notation of the merging of the Upper and Lower town.
DANCES.
Folk dances of the different nationalities represented, in order of their settlement in the vicinity.
1839 on - People from New England and New York, chiefly of English descent.
1841- beginning of settlement of Scotch settlers, together with the Scotch Irish.
Bag Pipes - Peter Allen, J. Jarvis
Early 1850's - coming of the Celtic Irish. Many worked on the railroad building, both in Waupun and at Chester.
The Welsh also began coming about this time - although is lesser numbers.
The first settler of Holland extraction came in 1845 - Derrick Meenk.
1846 - John Landaal. 1847 - B. Lemeness and John Kastein.
Many more came in the 18501s. Dutch Windmill.
1847 - Mention is made of the first Norwegian settlers. M. K. Dahl and August Spanagel.
Germans -
Polish - recent comers.
Some outstanding pioneer dances.
About 1844 - One held at Bruce's tavern when a fiddler could not be procured and Denis Morse whistled and beat time on a pan for the entire dance.
Jan. 1, 1845 - The opening dance in the Exchange Hotel - Seymour Wilcox, proprietor.
*May - Heavy snow - melted. Had to swim horses across .....
Dancing school - conducted by Charles Whiting for 22 years -
1886 - 1908. Always ending with a CLOSING PARTY.
*Waltz, Polka, Schottische Galop
Fine dances during the 1890s and 1900's held by the Knights of Pythias.
*M. D. Wells Employees K. of P.
*Two - step, Tycoon, Redo...a, G....te
D. A. R. Colonial parties
*Minuet - 1900's
* hand written notes
*1857 Norwegians - Holland
"Our village", says a writer of 1857, "like other Western settlements, is made up of all kinds of materials, and its society is exceedingly miscellaneous. We have the inquisitive Yankee, pushing forward his new inventions; the industrious Pennsylvanian, amassing wealth by the aid of his iron sinews; the shrewd Irishman, digging out trenches and looking as cheerful as the blue smoke that curls up from his woodland cabin; the deliberate Englishman, boasting the superiority of his country and its laws; the canny Scotchman, making his few acres blossom like the rose; and the ruddy-looking German, singing his songs of 'Faderland' and hoarding up every little 'shiner' that gets between his fingers. Each has brought along with him his early habits and associations; his
own views of business, laws and religion; and, as a natural consequence, when brought together on public questions, they are apt to boil up like a mixture of salt and soda.
* Hand written on the back side of this page:
Upper T (Town ?) reluctantly submitted to the inevitable and on March 6, 1857 a charter was approved which united Upper and Lower town into the village of Waupun.Acquisition
Accession
2016.0083Source or Donor
Waupun Historical SocietyAcquisition Method
Collected by Staff
