Title: Henry I. Bliss Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1851-1897

Creator:

• Bliss, Henry I., 1831?-1896

Call Number: La Crosse Mss P

Quantity: 9.2 cubic feet (19 archives boxes, 6 card boxes, 1 flat box, and 3 oversize volumes)

Repository:

Housed at the Special Collections & Area Research Center, Murphy Library, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

UW-La Crosse Murphy Library / La Crosse Area Research Ctr. (Map)

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

Abstract:

Business papers of Henry I. Bliss, a La Crosse, Wisconsin, civil engineer, surveyor, and land agent. Correspondence deals with payment of taxes, rentals, collections, and western Wisconsin and southern Minnesota real estate transactions, with occasional reference to Bliss's position as city engineer. There are letters from Cadwallader C. Washburn, Levi Burnell, and Samuel D. Hastings concerning business affairs, and from Senator Angus Cameron in regard to the La Crosse post office building. In addition to the correspondence, there are bound and unbound deeds, abstracts, land plats, surveyors' field notes, office accounts, and other similar papers accumulated or produced by Bliss and his associates in their various business enterprises.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-lx000p

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The Bliss collection contains correspondence chiefly with clients, 1851-1896; records of deeds and mortgages recorded in the La Crosse County courthouse, 1886-1897; miscellaneous material consisting of deeds, mortgages, tax receipts, data on maps, law suits, and Minnesota land transactions, estimates, bills, and miscellaneous papers, 1856-1896, in connection with Bliss' office of city surveyor; and one box of receipted bills.

Ten volumes, 1856-1896, consist of the accounts of the La Crosse surveying firm of Bliss and [Wallace M.] Spear, 1856-1860, a daybook, lists of rents received, real estate sales, notes payable and receivable, and general accounts. There are seventeen volumes of abstracts for La Crosse County, 1856-1866; fifteen volumes of surveyors' field notes of work done in La Crosse County and in Fillmore and Houston counties in Minnesota; four volumes listing grantors of land in La Crosse County, 1856-1858, 1889-1895; three volumes of La Crosse and Vernon County land plats dated about 1870; a copy of the inventory of the estate of Cadwallader C. Washburn, 1882; excerpts from the proceedings of the La Crosse Common Council in regard to opening and extending streets and alleys, 1856-1864, 1876-1877; and a sketchy diary of [Otto A. Mueller, an employee of Bliss,] describing his work as a surveyor and draftsman in 1887.

Received with the Bliss Papers were many manuscript maps of La Crosse and vicinity. These have been added to the Historical Society's map holdings under the call number D GX9029 L14 B. A list is with the paper copy of this finding aid.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. H. I. Bliss and Mrs. Ellis B. Usher, place unknown and date unknown.

La Crosse Mss P	Correspondence
	Incoming
Box   1	1851-1870 January
Box   2	1870 February-1872
Box   3	1873-1878 January
Box   4	1878 February-1884 June
Box   5	1884 July-1896 and undated
	Letter books
Box   22 Volume   40	1857-1868
Box   24 Volume   41	1869-1874
Box   24 Volume   42	1874-1876
Box   24 Volume   43	1880-1882
Box   25 Volume   44	1882-1884
Box   25 Volume   45	1884-1886
Box   6	Abstracts
Box   16-21 Volume   1-17	Abstract books, La Crosse, 1851-1866
Box   6-7	Receipted bills
Box   7-8	Miscellaneous business papers, 1856-1896
Box   9-15	Land records of deeds and mortgages recorded in the La Crosse County Courthouse, 1886-1897
	Plat books
Box   21 Volume   18	La Crosse County, 1870-1871
Box   22 Volume   19	Vernon County, ante 1878
Box   24 Volume   39	Vernon County
	Surveyor's field notes
Box   23 Volume   20-27	La Crosse County
Box   24 Volume   35-37	La Crosse County
Box   23 Volume   28	Houston County, Minnesota
Box   24 Volume   29-30	Fillmore County, Minnesota
Box   24 Volume   38	Fillmore and Houston Counties, Minnesota
	Grantor index, La Crosse County
Box   22 Volume   34	1856-1858
Volume   31	1889-1891
Volume   32	1892
Volume   33	1894-1895
	Account book of Bliss and [Wallace M.] Spear, La Crosse
Box   25 Volume   46	1856-1860
Box   25 Volume   47	1866-1879
Box   26 Volume   48	1870-1878
Box   26 Volume   49	1878-1885
Box   26 Volume   50	1879-1884
	Rent books
Box   26 Volume   51	1887-1889
Box   26 Volume   52	1889-1896
Box   20 Volume   53	Day book, 1857-1865
Box   26 Volume   54	La Crosse, Wisconsin addresses
Box   26 Volume   55	Cadwallader C. Washburn inventory of his estate, 1882
Box   26 Volume   56	Petitions, resolutions and reports of the Common Council of the City of La Crosse in regard to opening and extending of streets and alleys, 1856-1864, 1876-1877
Box   26 Volume   57	Real estate sales, 1874-1889
Box   26 Volume   58	Bills bayable and receivable, 1856-1874
Box   26 Volume   59	Lists of lands and their owners
Box   26 Volume   60	Diary of [Otto A. Mueller, an employee of Bliss], 1887
Box   26 Volume   61	Index of names