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The list was complied by my great-great grandfather James Peter McPherson, acting in his capacity as town clerk. On May 23rd, 1850, J. P McPherson first set foot in Springdale after leaving New York City, traveling up the Hudson River to Albany, then by “canoe boat” through the Erie Canal. In Buffalo, the family transferred to the Steamer “Globe Sterns” for the trip on the Great Lakes, and finally by wagon from Milwaukee to Madison. So to me, it is quite surprising that J. P. McPherson so quickly became a town leader. However, there may not have been many of the townsfolk who could read and write well. The following is from the Centennial History Township of Springdale, Dane County, Wisconsin 184-1948, p.140.


There is no indication of why this Militia List was drawn up; however, the “old timers” relate that “there were numerous indians in the area when the first white settlers arrived in 1846.”

MILITIA LIST, 1852
SPRINGDALE, DANE CO. WISCONSIN

James P. McPherson		Foster Thomson
Barnet Brink		John L. Bartell
Thos. Anderson		Franz Bartell
John Edi		Erie Olson
James Lyle		Harold H. Huff
Abram Jacket James		Arney Huff
William Thomson		Hets Hulverson
George Harlow		Tony Lee
Richard Blackburn		John Olson
Thomas Blackburn		William Dryden
William Blackburn		Krund Mikelson
Thomas Thomson		A. H. Ashmore
Michael Brown		H. H. Dryden
Levi Jacket		A. Malone
Michael Jacket		Hawley Childs
Samuel Whalley		David Bright
William Jackman		Morgan L.Curtis
John Oley		Hanry Boland
James Connor		William Morigh
William W. Kechnie		Philander Hash
James W. Kechnie		Andrew Hash
Ole Hansen		William Anderson
Hendrich Johnston		Thomas Bentley
Evor Losen		Henry Olson
Lever Anderson		Toston Tostonson
Andrew Knudson		Lurs Stinson
Ole Finhert		John Michel
Ole Hauvdet		Lanford Shumhumway
John Knudson		Henry H. Lewis
Knud Knudson		Edmund Spears
Knud Sorenson		W. J. Reed
Ole Sorenson		Henry Davis
Gilbert Olson		Laurence Smith
Michael Larson		William Cairncrop

Springdale, Dane Co., Wisconsin, July 1st, 1852. The above is a full return of the able bodied males between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age residing in said town, so far as I could ascertain by diligent inquiry. James P. McPherson