Cooksville Photographs: People from the Past

Photographs of people from the Village of Cooksville's past---from the 1800s to the 2000s---have been collected over the years by local Village historians. Now the collections are being assembled in a newly created Archives and Collections Center located in the renovated basement of the historic Cooksville Congregation Church, owned and managed by the Historic Cooksville Trust, Inc.

The Village of Cooksville, founded in 1842, is located in the Town of Porter, Rock County, Wisconsin. Part of the Village was later founded in 1846 by the Porter family and it was named Waucoma, apparently meaning "clear water." (Also, prior to 1848, the State's name had a succession of Native American names, including Meskonsing, Miscousing, Ouisconsin and Wiskonsan, all originating from the State's name for its large central river.) 

Some of Cooksville's archived photographs have appeared in earlier blog stories. Here are a few more images of Cooksvillians and neighbors from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.

Jack Robertson (1858-1930), fiddler, blacksmith

Cora Porter Atwood (1884-1952), historian

Leila Dow (1864-1930), artist

Stella (b.1866) and Charles Miller (1867-1948)

Ellen Pratt Gilley (1860-1944)

Isaac Gallup Porter (1827-1899)

John Savage (1879-1967) on the Yantzi River, 1940s: engineer/designer of dams 

A Cooksville School teacher

Cassius Newell (1856-1933}

Dorothy Kramer (1900-1971), artist

Joyce and Bill Wartmann, artists

Shirley and John Wilde, artists

Donations of photographs or other items to the Archives are always welcomed by the Historic Cooksville Trust. Contact Larry Reed (608) 873-5066.

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DANIEL WEBSTER ‘S PORTRAIT DONATED TO COOKVILLE’S HISTORY COLLECTION

A print of the famous early 19th century Senator, Daniel Webster (1782-1852), has recently been donated to the Village of Cooksville’s growing collection of portraits of people from the past.

Daniel Webster (1782-1852)

The portrait of the famous Senator Webster was donated by Kathryn Howarth Ryan who had purchased the print in Washington, D.C. and who had hung it in her home, in the historic Duncan House on Webster Street (of course) in the Village of Cooksville where she lived for a number of years.

Senator Webster of Massachusetts had an important early connection to the Village of Cooksville and the Town of Porter, as well as nearby Dane County. He had purchased about 1200 acres of land from the U.S. Government when it first went on sale in 1837, and eventually he sold it to his friends, the Porters in Massachusetts and to various other early settlers. 

Some other people, portrayed artistically in paint, plaster or print, are now in the Village’s collections, but not all were personally connected to Cooksville. However, they are an indication of the interest in cultural and historic figures that early settlers had. Here are some of these from the Village collection.

John Milton (1608-1674)

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

Henry Longfellow (1807-1882)

 

George Washington (right) (1732-1799)

George Washington family print (1792)

Andrew Jackson (1767-1845)

Henry Clay (1777-1852)

Here are a few artistic images of more recent people related to Cooksville that are in the collection:

 

Ann Eliza Porter (1821-1890)

 

Ralph Warner (1875-1941)

John Wilde (1919-2006) in his "WildeWorld II" print

Larry Reed, Cooksville

 

PEOPLE FROM COOKSVILE’S PAST: EARLY PHOTOGRAPHS

Many people from the Village of Cooksville’s past---from the 19^th, 20^th, and the early 21^st centuries---appear in old photographs and in some painted portraits in the Cooksville Archives. There they can be seen today, although they have passed on.

                                                            

Electa Johnson and L. Rowley in a family album.

 

William Porter c.1860

Two boys, tintype (unlabeled)

                      

New dresses (unlabeled)

Some of the earliest settlers in the 1840s village, or in the surrounding Town of Porter, sat for portraits by Louis Daguerre’s 1837 invention of photography and later posed for portraits by the improved photographic techniques—glass ambrotypes and iron tintypes developed in the 19^th century.

"Leut. Hoyt" and unknown, 1st Regiment
of the Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, album

About 250 of these early 19^th century metal, glass, tintypes and treated paper photographs are in the Archives.

Unfortunately, a number of the people in the older photographs are not identified: no names are written on the old albums’ pages or on the backsides of many of the more modern photos.

Here are more of those portraits of people from Cooksville’s past:

Millie Leedle Osborn

Phebe Rebeeca Porter (1824-1854), in a painting

Modern photos are in the Cooksville Archives as well.

 

Ralph Warner (1875-1941)

E. Marvin Raney (1918-1980)

Chester Holway (1908-1986)

  

Michael Saternus (1936-1990)

Hank Bova (1936-2013) and Maurice Gras (1928-2003)

Eddie Julseth (1915-2011)

 

Karl Wolter (1930-2021)

Other photographs—old or new, people or places— related to the Village of Cooksville or the Town of Porter are always welcome. Contact the Historic Cooksville Trust at (608) 873-5066.

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