Summary Information
Hans Crocker Papers
1836-1887
Milwaukee Mss 85
0.6 c.f. (2 archives boxes)
UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)
Scattered papers of a Milwaukeean active in Wisconsin economic development; consisting largely of quitclaims, property tax receipts, and financial records from Crocker's activities as a railroad receiver and an investor in land and other ventures. The papers include fragmentary correspondence, lists, and receipts on railroad business, debts and mortgages, and investments in City of Milwaukee bonds as well as on household and personal expenses. The bulk of the collection involves real estate transactions.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil00085 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Hans Crocker was born in Dublin, Ireland, on June 11, 1815. He immigrated with his parents to the United States, and lived his early years in Utica, New York. Later he studied law in the office of Butterfield & Collins, Chicago. In 1836 Crocker moved to Milwaukee to be editor of the Milwaukee Advertiser, but remained with the newspaper only a few months. He practiced law from November 1836 to 1844 as a member of the law firm of Wells. Crocker & Finch until 1839 and in partnership with John H. Tweedy until 1844. Crocker was judge advocate general in 1838, with the rank of colonel in the Wisconsin Territorial Guard; he was attorney for the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Company directed by George Smith and Alexander Mitchell. Crocker and Mitchell developed close professional and personal ties, and together they participated in many investments, especially railroad ventures.
Crocker was active in the economic life of Milwaukee and Wisconsin, encouraging the development of public improvements, such as the construction of canals, railroads, and a harbor at Milwaukee. This interest was reflected in the appointments he received and the positions he held: canal commissioner (1839); secretary to the River and Harbor Convention held in Chicago (1847); president of the Milwaukee Board of Trade (1850); director of the Milwaukee and Watertown Plank Road and president of the Lake Hydraulic Company (1852); director of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad and president of the Milwaukee Gas and Light Company (1853); commissioner reporting on the Fox River Valley Railroad (1856); receiver for the Portage and La Crosse Division of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad (1857); vice-president of the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railroad (1858); and receiver for all divisions of the railroad (1860).
Crocker also was active in politics and remained a staunch Democrat throughout his career. He was private secretary to Wisconsin's first territorial governor, Henry Dodge, in 1836, vice-president and president of the Milwaukee Lyceum (1839-40), member of the Territorial Council for two terms (1842-44), and principal author of Milwaukee's new City Charter (1852). In 1852 he was elected mayor of Milwaukee and served one term (1853). Crocker was married to Augusta Potter on March 21, 1844. He died on March 16, 1889.
Scope and Content Note
The papers document Crocker's business and financial activities as railroad receiver, property holder, investor, and lawyer in Wisconsin; and span the years 1836 to 1887, with the bulk of the material falling between the years 1846 and 1871. The papers are divided into three series: railroad papers, real estate papers, and financial papers. The first series relates principally to the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad, and includes a few items concerning the transportation of soldiers during the early years of the Civil War. The second series, the largest of the three, involves real estate transactions of Crocker, relatives by marriage (Augusta Crocker and Louisa E. Delafield, daughters of Paraclete Potter), business associates, and others. Consisting almost entirely of quitclaims and property tax receipts and containing little correspondence, it provides information on the price and ownership of land but not on the plans, calculations, and negotiations that concluded in the conveyances of real estate, or on the subsequent utilization of real estate. The third series pertains to Crocker's investments in City of Milwaukee bonds, to debts and mortgages, and to household and personal expenses.
The collection contains little information on the careers of the individuals whose names appear there, such as: Solomon Juneau, first mayor of Milwaukee (1846); Moses Kneeland, unsuccessful candidate for mayor in 1852; Alexander Mitchell, railroad builder, member of the Board of Debt Commissioners, and member of Congress (1870-74); William A. Prentiss, holder of all public offices of the city, except mayor; John H. Tweedy, territorial delegate to Congress (1847) and representative in the State Assembly (1853); Don A.J. Upham, twice mayor and unsuccessful candidate for governor in 1851; Daniel Wells, Jr., first justice of the peace of Milwaukee County (1836) and member of Congress (1853); and Crocker himself. Nor do the papers shed light on their character, except for a letter of December 6, 1883, in which Mary Anne Rice thanks Crocker for paying her the money he owed her late husband but that she could not claim, since the documents proving indebtedness no longer existed (box 2, folder 7). Although the Hans Crocker Papers lack detail, continuity, and completeness, they are a source of information for the real estate activities of these prominent Milwaukeeans in the 1840s-1860s.
BIBLIOGRAPHIC NOTE: Since quitclaims comprise the bulk of the collection, it might be useful to consult Maps and Atlases Showing Land Ownership in Wisconsin in the Collection of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, compiled by Michael J. Fox, assisted by Barbara A. Wilson (Madison, 1978); Silas Chapman, Map of the County of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Milwaukee, 1869); J.V. Dupre, Quarter-Sectional Atlas of the City of Milwaukee (Milwaukee, 1884); and The 1972 Atlas of Hancock County, Iowa (Harlan, 1972). For biographical information on notable Milwaukeeans, see Memoirs of Milwaukee County, v. 1, edited by Jerome A. Watrous (Madison, 1909).
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Mrs. Ralph Peirce, Hinsdale, Illinois, 1961 and 1965. Accession Number: M61-57, M61-57-1, M65-81
Processed by Leonard Wetzler and Joanne Hohler, 1981-1982.
Contents List
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Series: Railroad Papers, 1850-1866
: Records of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Co., and the Milwaukee and Waukesha Railroad Co., and the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien Railway Co. held or created by H. Crocker as receiver. They include: right of way quitclaims of 1850 Feb 1, 1860 Nov 2, and 1866 May 18; an incoming letter of 1861 Apr 3 re the claim of Judge Hubbell against the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad Co.; War Department requests of 1861 Jul 24 for the free passage of soldiers; an inventory of soldiers transported and the cost, from 1861 Aug 15 to 1862 Jan 23; a statement of receipts and disbursements of the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad from 1860 Jun 11 to 1860 Dec 31; and “a list of rail road iron, imported into the port of New York and subsequently transferred to the port of Milwaukee and withdrawn by the La Crosse & Milwaukee R.R. Co. for consumption,” 1855 May 28-1857 Dec 12.
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Series: Real Estate Papers
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Real Estate Papers by Place, 1848-1882
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Columbia and Dodge Counties, Wisconsin, 1865
: Abstracts of title, 1865 Feb 28 and May 10.
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Hancock County, Iowa, 1848-1882
: Records of real estate transactions of H. Crocker, Walter and Louisa E. Delafield, and John Laurence McVickar. They include quitclaims of 1872 Dec 9 and 12 and 1882 May ?, and land grants to soldiers, 1848 Apr 1.
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Kneeland's Addition, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1851-1869
: Quitclaims and property tax receipt of H. Crocker, property tax receipts of James Kneeland, correspondence between H. Crocker and James Kneeland, circa 1868.
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Papers of Relatives by Marriage, 1842-1873
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Louisa E. Delafield, 1844-1873
: Business papers that include: a power of attorney of 1849 Apr 2, appointing John Thompson to sell the property of Louisa E. Delafield and Augusta Crocker in Dutchess County, New York; a warranty deed of 1873 Jan 22, Walter Delafield and wife to Hans Crocker; quitclaims and property tax receipts from the city and county of Milwaukee; and a statement of vouchers on mortgage bonds, 1864 May 9.
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Box
1
Folder
6
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Alonzo Potter, 1842-1849
: Quitclaims, mortgage bonds, and property tax receipts from the city and county of Milwaukee. (Paraclete Potter was the attorney for Alonzo Potter.)
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Box
1
Folder
7
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Paraclete Potter, 1842-1857
: Quitclaims, mortgage bonds, and property tax receipts from the city and county of Milwaukee.
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Papers of Other Persons, 1842-1864
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Frederick Cunningham and N.P. Tallmadge, 1842-1855
: Quitclaims and property tax receipts from the city and county of Milwaukee. (Paraclete Potter was the attorney for Frederick Cunningham.)
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Box
1
Folder
9
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William H. Rodway, 1863-1864
: Property tax receipts from the city and county of Milwaukee, one of which Rodway received for Louisa E. Delafield.
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Quitclaims to and from Hans Crocker, by Individual
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Box
1
Folder
10
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A-H
: John Atchinson, Levi Beardsley, Samuel Beardsley, Sarah Benson, H. Birchard, Edward Casey, Eliphalet Cramer, Albert Fowler, Newton B. Gard, Levi Hubbell
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Box
1
Folder
11
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I-K
: Alexander J. Irwin, Hiram Johnson, Solomon Juneau, Nancy E. Kellogg, Henry Klinker, John Knickerbacker
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Box
1
Folder
12
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M
: Stephen Mack, Morgan S: Martin, John M. McCarty, Edward Meissner, Alexander Mitchell
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Box
1
Folder
13
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N
: John Noble (includes his will)
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Box
2
Folder
1
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P - W
: J.W. Pixley, John Plankinton, William A. Prentiss, Kintzging Pritchette, James H. Rodgers, Joseph Schmidtkuntz, George Smith, William Smith, Jonathan Taylor, John H. Tweedy, Don A.J. Upham, Lindsey Ward, B. Webster, C.H. Williams, Hannah J. Williams
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Box
2
Folder
2-3
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Tax Records, 1850-1885
: City, county, state, federal, homestead, and railroad taxes paid by Hans Crocker.
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Series: Financial Papers
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Bonds and Stocks, 1836-1871
: City of Milwaukee bonds, bond to the Milwaukee and Watertown Railroad, 1863; stocks in the Milwaukee Iron Co. for the account of H. Crocker, 1870-1871; statement of City of Milwaukee bonds for the account of C.D. Cook, 1836-1857.
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Bonds, 1870-1873
: Wells, Colton and Miner in bond and mortgage account to H. Crocker.
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Papers Relating to Lawyers, 1860-1872
: Incoming Letters by P. Dow, S. Hartwell, J. Brown, J.A. Knickerbacker, Sarah Benson, L.S. Tinsdale, and Johnson & Rietbrock, 1862-1872; legal services, fees, and costs in association with Cary and Pratt, 1860-1861, Marshall & Ilsley, 1861 and 1864, and Fred Rietbrock, 1868-1870.
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Box
2
Folder
7
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Debts and Mortgages, 1857-1883
: Assignment of bond and mortgage to Morgan Carpenter, 1857 Jan 15; memoranda re bonds and mortgages; debts to J.B. Rice; payment to Alexander Mitchell, 1860; mortgage of John Plankinton, 1859; sums of money received for collection and accountance, 1871.
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Box
2
Folder
8
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Household Expenses, Personal Expenses, and Miscellaneous, 1855-1887
: Letter, Jefferson Davis, secretary of war, to H. Crocker, 1855 Mar 30; fire insurance policy, 1862 Aug 6; printed advertisements of inventions; costs for gravelling and paving; household expenses; receipts for personal expenses, e.g. from a music shop, bookstore, and physician, 1864-1887.
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