La Crosse County Historical Society Occasional Paper, No.1 2002 OCCASIONAL PAPERS: La Crosse Country Historical Society Occasional Papers explore topics specific to greater La Crosse area history. The LCHS especially seeks original research manuscripts that either shed new light on traditional local topics or explore previously uncovered areas of interest. We invite proposals by query for future publications. All queries will. be considered on a case-by-case basis. ABSTRACT: Between 1850 and 1906, La Crosse, Wisconsin, was typical of Mississippi River towns that received waves of Black settlers who followed the promise of an expanding frontier and available paths to that frontier. This work on Black La Crosse provides biographical sketches of recorded heads-of-household and families that lived in La Crosse during this half-century and presents data in comparative forms respecting residence, occupation, and personal information for all known persons of African descent who lived in La Crosse before 1906 and a narrative analysis of that data. The author also includes reproductions of three articles respecting La Crosse's Black experience, written for and published by the La Crosse County Historical Society in its magazine, Past, Present, & Future. The work concludes with a bibliography of works cited and consulted in this study and a name-index for persons mentioned. The research was conducted, in part, with the support of the University of Wisconsin System American Ethnic Studies Coordinating Committee. KEY WORDS: Black, African-American, settlers, exodusers, La Crosse, occupations, Mississippi River, barbers, whitewashers, domestics, coachman, bootblack, porter, migration, George Taylor, George Poage, genealogy, historical method, historiography, urban history. AUTHOR: Bruce L. Mouser is Emeritus Professor of History, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, where he taught African history, World history, Historical Research Methods, and Japanese history from 1968 to 1996. His principal research interest has been African history, with a focus on the transition of commerce along the upper Guinea coast of Africa that accompanied the ending of the slave trade and before the imposition of colonial regimes in that area. He has contributed numerous chapters in works by other authors and has published scholarly articles in the Journal of African History, International Journal ofAfrican Historical Studies, History in Africa, Journal ofNegro History, The American Neptune, Africana Research Bulletin (Freetown), Bulletin de 'Institut Fondamental d'Afrique Noire (Dakar), Revue Frangaise d'Histoire d'Outre-mer (Paris), Cahiers d'Etudes Afrigaines (Paris), Bulletin des Siances, Academie Royal des Sciences d'Outre-mer (Bruxelles), and Feminist Collections. His monographs include edited Guinea Journals: Journeys into Guinea-Conakry During the Sierra Leone Phase, 1800-1821 (1979); edited Journal ofJames Watt, Expedition to Timbo, Capital ofthe Fula Empire in 1794 (1994); edited Journal ofa Missionary Tour to the Labaya Country (Guinea/Conakry) in 1850 (1998); co-edited Second Edition of Travels into the Baga and Soosoo Countries in 1821 by Peter McLachlan (1999); edited Account of the Mandingoes, Susoos, & Other Nations, c.1815 by Leopold Butscher (2000); and edited A Slaving Voyage to Africa and Jamaica: The Log of the Sandown, 1793-1794 (2002). His writings on Black settlers in La Crosse have been widely published by the La Crosse County Historical Society in its Past, Present, & Future bimonthly magazine. PUBLISHED: ISBN-0-9720475-0-6. Printed in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in June 2002, for the La Crosse Country Historical Society as an Occasional Paper. Copyright held by LCHS; requests for permission to use or duplicate parts of this work should be addressed to the Society. Copies are available by writing directly to the La Crosse County Historical Society, P.O. Box 1272, La Crosse, Wisconsin 54602, by telephoning 608-782- 1980, or by e-mailing . Copies are also obtainable at the Society's Museum and at Hixon House Gift Shop. i.