Title: Anne Eliza Bacon Porter Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1839-1890, 1963-1965

Creator:

• Porter, Anne Eliza Bacon, 1821-1890

Call Number: Whitewater Mss M; Micro 615

Quantity: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)

Repository:

Housed at the University Archives & Area Research Center, Harold Andersen Library, University of Wisconsin-Whitewater; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Whitewater Library / Whitewater Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of Porter, a farm wife who settled with her husband near Cooksville, Rock County, Wis., in 1848. Included are nine letters, diaries, farm and household expense books, and a manuscript for Lillian Russell Porter's book, Choice Seed in the Wilderness, based on the diaries of Anne Porter.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-whit000m

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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.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Lillian Russell (Mrs. J. K. P.) Porter, Evansville, Wis., 1959, 1962, 1965, 1968. Accession Number: M59-142, M62-226, M65-003, M65-044 , M68-342

Box   1	Nine letters, 1838-1882
Box   1	Miscellaneous Scope and Content Note: One envelope of miscellaneous material, including copies of photographs of the Bacon and Porter families.
Box-Volume   1-1 Reel   1	Diary, 1845, July 9 - 1864, Oct. 23; poems
Box-Volume   1-2 Reel   1	Diary, 1847, Dec. 25 - 1860, Nov. 9
Box-Volume   1-2 Reel   1	Account for sales of shoes, boots, and lumber, 1847, Oct. - circa 1850
Box-Volume   1-2 Reel   1	Living expenses, 1860, Apr. 1 - 1861, Aug. 14
Box-Volume   1-3 Reel   1	Diary, expense book, and recipes, circa 1865-1871
Box-Volume   1-4 Reel   1	Diary, 1867, May 18 - 1875, Jan. 23
Box-Volume   1-5	Farm and household account book, 1848, Aug. 17 - 1865
Box-Volume   1-6 Reel   1	Three poems, 1859, 1882, and 1890
Box-Volume   1-7	Manuscript for Choice Seed in the Wilderness by Lillian Russell Porter, 1963; Clippings, , 1964-1965