In 1845, Dr. John Porter of Duxbury, Massachusetts, acquired title to land east of the present highway 183 in Rock County, Wisconsin. This included most of what is now known as Cooksville. Two years later Dr. Porter's nephew, Joseph, moved to Wisconsin with his young bride to settle on this land. Ann Eliza Bacon Porter had grown up in the cultural atmosphere of Boston, and took with her to Wisconsin Territory her talent as a musician and homemaker as well as a New England stoicism that enabled her to endure the rigorous farm life of which she became an important part.
Ann Eliza Porter faithfully kept a diary until the pressures of her household duties interfered, making it necessary for her diary entries to become only occasional notes, with wide gaps in time. There are many household and farm accounts also contained in the six small volumes she kept, as well as some poems.
In 1964, Lillian Russell Porter, wife of Eliza's and Joseph's grandson, used the diaries as a basis for her book, Choice Seed in the Wilderness. At the time she was writing, she and her husband, Joseph Porter, were still occupying the home farm. The manuscript for Mrs. Porter's book is contained in this collection, along with Eliza's original diaries, and a few letters exchanged between Eliza Porter and her relatives and friends. Volumes 1-4 and 6 are also available on microfilm.
