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Milwaukee County

Home » Wisconsin Counties and Towns » Milwaukee County

Established: 1834
County Seat: Milwaukee
Parent: Territorial County

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

Neighboring Counties

From: Handbook of Wisconsin by S. Silas, 1855

MILWAUKEE.--Population 46,067 (1855)

pg. 88-90

Is one of the smallest Counties, and depends upon its commerce more than its agriculture or manufacturers. It has been densely wooded with hard timber, and at least one half of its surface is yet covered with it. Every foot of public land is of course long since taken up, and the majority of the farms are small and well tilled.

Milwaukee, the County Seat, is the largest city in the State, and through this port a great part of the exports and imports pass. From it lead out the Milwaukee and Mississippi Rail Road, now completed to Madison, with a branch to Janesville--the Watertown, completed to Watertown, and partly graded to Columbus, to be continued to Portage or some other point on the Wisconsin--the La Crosse and Milwaukee, running to Hartford and nearly completed to Beaver Dam--and the Lake shore from Chicago to Milwaukee. Other Roads, either tributary to these or independent lines, are under way, which is fast rendering this city the centre of a large Rail Road system. No place in the west has combined so completely, healthiness of location, abundant water power, facilities of manufacture, and equal agricultural lands in its immediate vicinity.

A larger amount of wheat, by 360,000 bushels, was shipped from this port during 1854 than from any other port on the Lakes, and this difference will be increased during 1855 by over 1,000,000 bushels. The wheat of Wisconsin is from 3 to 5 cents more per bushel than that raised farther south, on account of its superior quality, which fact will always secure to this port the pre-eminance of being the largest wheat shipping one in the west.

To show the growth of Milwaukee, we copy the following from the Green Bay Intelligencer published in 1835:

"The Milwaukee country is attracting much attention. A settlement has commenced ear its mount; and there can be no doubt it will be much visited during the coming season by northern emigrants, and by all who fear the billious fevers and other diseases of more southern latitudes. Two or three young man from the State of New York have commenced the erection of the saw mill on the first rapid, about three miles above the mouth of the Milwaukee river."

The population of the city in 1850 was 20,025. In 1855 30,149, increase in five years 10,123.

General Genealogy and History Links

This section contains links to websites that have multiple databases or webpages with genealogical information.

Vital Records

Birth, Death, & Marriage Records:
Earliest Registration Dates*:
Births 1835
Deaths 1872
Marriages 1851

Milwaukee Register of Deeds
Courthouse Annex, 907 N 10th St
Milwaukee, WI 53233
Telephone: (414) 278-4010

Cemetery and Obituary Links

Census Links

Censuses contain valuable information about families. This section contains links to transcribed censuses, census indexes or census images for the county.

Residents of the County

This section contains links to family tree websites, biographies and information about individuals that lived in the county.

Area History

This section contains links of published histories and historical information about the county, its villages, cities or towns. Sometimes within these histories is information about founders, or other people that settled in the area. It may also include ethnic or religious histories of the communities.

Maps and Atlases

Military

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