My husband and family is from Wisconsin, I grew up in Missouri. This morning early had an email from his brother with family history info. In looking at the dates of the land patents...I wondered if MO was a state before WI. Sure enough MO is about 27 years older as a state. Struck me as being strange that WI would have younger being on the east side of the Mississippi. Only reason I can think of is the westward expansion thing....but am not yet satisfied with that answer. Any thoughts? Have got to get my day going again, am going to check later to see how many other (if any) states east of the Mississippi are younger. I don't consider this a stumper...as I have no answer, just one of those things that will bug me through the day:) Lacey

-- Lacey (cddllt@webtv.net), November 06, 2001

Answers

the reason WI was later is because it is north of the Arctic Circle...

Rose (who lives in balmy coastal Texas)

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), November 06, 2001.

Well, haven't quite got my day rolling yet...in betwen hanging up laundry have done some history 101. Guess for now will have to settle for the westard expansion movement. Just thought it strange with people pushing basically west, and the St. Lawrence riverway, it would have been settled & adopted quicker. Has much the same eary history as Mo, fur trappers and all.....found it interesting it is a big cranberry state...wouldn't have guessed that. Will probably be some of the stuff I will read up on this winter:) .

-- Lacey (cddllt@webtv.net), November 06, 2001.

I know that a lot of Michigan was part of the French occupied territory for quite some time. Perhaps Wisconsin was also??

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), November 06, 2001.

Missouri became a state sooner than Wisconsin because of its location at the junction of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. Water was the method of transportation to all points west of Missouri. Lewis and Clark even went through St.Louis on theirway west.

Talk to you later.

-- Bob in WI (bjwick@hotmail.com), November 06, 2001.

Bob, that was exactly one of the reason it struck me so odd....WI right there mainly between two of the Great Lakes (might be 3 but would have to look) Just thought people would have crept around those shorelines a little faster :)

-- Lacey (cddllt@webtv.net), November 06, 2001.

Fur trapping trade depended a great deal on being able to be the first ones into the settlements with the Spring thaw. It would not have done much good to be located in an area where the winter freeze lasts longer, you'd be the last guy to the buyers. St.Louis in mid- March has been known to often be unexpectedly warm..at least enough to have the huge rivers all running big time...the traders from the North just floated right down to St. Louis with no problems..the currents were/are so strong. St. Louis was a thriving area way before the 19th century, as mentioned previously..it served traders from all directions because of the waterways. When a person went more than 25 miles West of the city in those days, they were in totally unsettled areas. When I lived there, I loved to take the children up along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and visit the old French settlement forts. The whole area has tons of history..a really exciting place to visit with the family if you are into American history.

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), November 06, 2001.

Hi Lacey, you got me wondering too, so I looked it up in some real old encycopedias I have. Wisonsin, as Diane stated, was first occupied by the French in 1639, then the French surrendered it to Great Britain in 1763. Canadian law governed it until 1796 when it reverted to the Americans, who included it within the extended limits of their government of the Northwest territories. In 1809 Wisconsin was annexed to the territory of Illinois, and so continued until Illinois became a State in in 1818, when Wisconsin, which was yet a wilderness, was annexed to the Michigan Territory. In 1827, lead was discovered in Wisconsin and there was a great rush of immigrants. In the ensuing years, there were fights with the Indians, more political manuvering with other close territories and then finally Wisconsin was admitted as a state in 1848. Missouri, Arkansas and Iowa were all part of the Louisiana purchase, so that might have had something to do with these states being admitted sooner, also.

-- Annie (mistletoe@kconline.com), November 11, 2001.