The collection consists of three manuscripts compiled by Earl Belisle including Somerset, Wisconsin: 125 Pioneer Families and Canadian Connection, 125th Year, The Parent Family: First Settlers of Somerset, Wisconsin, and The Apple River Settlement Range, Polk County, Wisconsin.
Somerset, Wisconsin: 125 Pioneer Families and Canadian Connection, 125th Year, by Rosalie Parnell, Cora Belisle, and Earl Belisle, was published in 1984 and 1988. The manuscript reprints most of L'Histoire Raconte (Resume of History) by Rosalie Parnell (1952), a short book which recounts the early history of Somerset, St. Anne's Parish, and the surrounding “Pomme de Terre” region. The manuscript also reprints excerpts on the history of St. Croix County and both the village and the township of Somerset from History of the St. Croix Valley by A. B. Easton (1909) and History of Northern Wisconsin by Western Historical Company of Chicago, Illinois (1881). Included with the manuscript are maps of Somerset, St. Croix County, Quebec, and France, a brief history of the French Canadians, copies of newspaper articles, a commencement program for St. Ann's School (1914), and photographs. The most voluminous section of the manuscript consists of genealogical information on local families in the form of ancestor charts and family group sheets, arranged alphabetically, some of which are supplemented with photographs and brief biographical sketches.
Another manuscript is that of The Parent Family: First Settlers of Somerset, Wisconsin by Earl Belisle (1990). It contains the genealogy of the Parent families of Somerset consisting of family group sheets and ancestor charts supplemented with birth, death, and marriage certificates, probate documents, brief published biographies, articles on French-Canadian history, and maps of Quebec and France.
The third manuscript is that of The Apple River Settlement Range, Polk County, Wisconsin by Earl Belisle (1990). It begins with a brief compiled history of the settlement including photographs, and also includes in Part I histories of Polk County reprinted from History of the St. Croix Valley by A. B. Easton (1909) and History of Northern Wisconsin by Western Historical Company of Chicago, Illinois (1881). Also included are photographs of Quebec churches, land deeds, and maps of the Saint Croix valley, the Apple River Settlement and surrounding areas, Franklin and Clinton Counties of New York, Quebec, and France. Part II consists of genealogical information on the ancestors of the Apple River settlers and includes reprinted biographies from various sources, ancestor charts with notes and cross-listings, and copies of records including census records, birth, death, and marriage certificates and land records. Part III consists of family group sheets dealing with the descendants of the Apple River settlers, supplemented with photographs, land records, obituaries, birth, marriage, and death certificates, probate records, and brief biographical sketches by family members. Parts II and III both contain numerous handwritten notations and added resources not found in the published version. Volume III of the manuscript is an unpublished appendix to the published work and contains further ancestor charts and family group sheets supplemented with biographical sketches, probate records, birth certificates, baptismal records, census records, and photographs. It also contains correspondence of Earl Belisle regarding his genealogical research (1986).
