First Children of Farmington

First Children of Farmington is a series of historical fiction children's picture stories based on real-life people and a documented event, part of a series of six ethnic tales.

The descendants of these Farmington pioneers agree that these stories should not be lost.

Weaving the United States together from the disparate threads of European, western-moving Yankees and Native Americans took a great deal of fortitude. Families survived, thrived, and suffered. They learned how to pick themselves up again with the help of their new neighbors. Children of the pioneers experienced much of the same life predicaments and adventures as children of the present day.

One child, the Potawatomi Boy, carries a running thread through each of the six books.

The community of Farmington in Wisconsin was a typical melting pot of Irish, German, French, Native American and Yankees between 1850 and 1865. The newcomers had to adapt by accepting new customs, learning a new language, eating new foods, dealing with tragedy and finding friends. Oral traditions indicate the immigrant experiences are common beyond our particular township.

Each story carries a theme such as learning to adapt, obeying your parents, and understanding each other.

The illustrations were done by Laurie Holle, a Cedar Grove resident.

The Potwatomi Boy 

Little Green Leaf is the only  made-up character in the series; however, he befriends the Luxembourger boy, Henri Brinker, a true historical person. Little Green Leaf and Henri learn that friendship transcends language barriers.

Little Green Leaf is a young boy, one of the last of the Strolling Potawatomi, of the Silver Birch clan, who lived in what is now Farmington Township of Washington County, Wisconsin. 

The story is set in the early 1850’s, the last days of Indian tribal occupation of their homeland of the past two hundred years. 

The Saxon Boy

John Klessig’s young father dies suddenly. His mother has five little children to care for on her own. When Mother marries again, John must learn to accept his new father, who is very different from his happy inn-keeping father.

This is a story of growing up in the Saxonia House in Fillmore, a newly registered historic property in Wisconsin and on the National Register of Historic Places.

John Klessig's parents immigrated from Saxony in 1845 and 1848, settling in Washington County. They married at St. Martin’s Church and built the Saxonia House Inn in 1854. John, the sixth child born to his parents, was born in 1858. His sisters were Mary, Johanna, Emma, and Ida.

The Irish Girl

Ann Riley is the first settler’s child born in Farmington. She came overland from New York with her parents, her uncles and aunts and Grandmother. Ann’s friend, Katie Murphy, has a grandfather. When Katie’s little sister insists that everyone has to have a grandfather, Ann sets out to find one in Boltonville. She realizes that, while no one particular person has all the gifts to be a grandfather, anyone who loves her can be her grandfather. The letters of Catherine Riley, older sister of Ann, are held by a descendant, and describe life in Farmington during the mid-nineteenth century.

The Yankee Boy

Matthew LaCraft’s father is giving up his ship. He’ll no longer be captain of the Mary Jean, a Great Lakes clipper. Worse, Matthew is going to have to stay home and go to school - not even in town, but with the nuns. The LaCrafts don’t attend mass; they are FreeWill Baptists. Why can’t he go to school with the boys he knows? When a Potawatomi boy attends school, everyone learns a lesson. The LaCrafts helped found the St. John of God School, in partnership with the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes, begun by Father Casper Rehrl in Barton, Wisconsin.

The French Girl