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Established: 1836
County Seat: Fond du Lac
Parent: Territorial County

* Records before the establishment of the county may be in the parent records.

Neighboring Counties

Winnebago County – north Calumet County – northeast Sheboygan County – east Washington County – southeast Dodge County – southwest Green Lake County – west

From: Handbook of Wisconsin by S. Silas, 1855

FOND DU LAC.
pg. 69-71

Population 24,085; in 1850,15,511; increase 10,574 (1855)

This County lies in the eastern part of the State, and is one of the oldest, if the term old can be applied where all is new. It was incorporated in 1836, but remained under the tutelage of Brown till 1839. Less than fourteen years ago the writer had occasion to address circulars to different portions of the State, the one marked "Fond du Lac," was refused at the Post Office on the ground that there was no Post Office in that County! It is a beautiful and excellent agricultural County, embracing within itself almost all the products of Wisconsin. It is rolling, diversified with prairies, openings, timber and marsh; and is healthy, prosperous, and fast becoming rich. "As a whole, the soil of Fond du Lac County is not surpassed in fertility by any in the west. There probably is no tract of land of equal extent where less waste surface will be encountered by the agriculturist. The low lands are good meadows, or are the repositories of muck and shell marl, by which the adjoining high lands will be enriched for ages. In point of good building material, this County is liberally supplied with stone, the best of clay for brick, limestone for cement and walls, are every where abundant."

Fond du Lac, the County Seat, is located at the head of Lake Winnebago, and has steamboat communication with all the places on that Lake, and up the Rivers which flow into it. The northern terminus of the Fox River Valley Rail Road is at this point. It is already run to Waupun, about 18 miles, where it will shortly be met by the Milwaukee and Horicon Road. The City possesses a good trade, and its growth has been and still continues to be very rapid. The population of the City and Town is 5,083.

At Waupun, a thriving agricultural village, is located the State Prison. A temporary wooden building was erected in 1851. In 1854, a new stone edifice, intended as the south wing of the whole prison when completed, was built. The size of this wing is 204 by 54 feet, four stories high, capable of receiving 288 prisoners.

Ripon, another of those magic places which spring into manhood before the geographer can locate them, has, within three years, been built in the town of Ceresco, in the western part of the County. It is a thriving place--has its college edifice, its newspaper, and its innumerable signs of population and enterprise. Brockway College has not yet gone into operation as a college, though its building is erected, and an excellent collegiate school in operation.

There are no public lands in the County.

We are indebted for most of the above facts to an excellent pamphlet entitled a "History of the County of Fond du Lac," by Martin Mitchell, Esq., who, with commendable enterprise, has put on record the early history of the County, before the facts are forgotten.

General Genealogy and History Links

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Vital Records

Birth, Death, & Marriage Records:
Earliest Registration Dates*:
Births 1879
Deaths 1854
Marriages 1844

Fond du Lac Register of Deeds
160 S Macy St
P.O. Box 509
Fond du Lac, WI 54936
Telephone: (920) 929-3018

Cemetery and Obituary Links

Census Links

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Residents of the County

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Area History

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Maps and Atlases

Military

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