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un:102_caledoniawales

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Caledonia, WI

Now an outer suburb south of Milwaukee, it borders Lake Michigan. Milwaukee of course is known as a destination for German immigrants, and some with names like Pabst, Schlitz, Busch, Blatz, and Miller started breweries. At one time over a quarter of Milwaukee residents had been born in Germany. When Johann Valentin Ungerecht, came to the U.S. he settled on a farm in Caledonia, next to his in-laws, the Erbes. The farm remained in the family for over 100 years, located where the rail road tracks cross Seven Mile Road. Descendants still live in the area. For most of her life, Emma Ungerecht Pietsch lived in an old farmhouse (made with tenons and wooden pegs) on a couple acres just to the north in Oak Creek, Wisconsin.

Wales, WI

Wales Plat, 1914 Wales Plat, 1900 Located west of Milwaukee and about 35 miles from Caledonia, this is rolling country with oaks and other trees. Johann Georg Ungerecht moved to Wales from Hebron (near Glen Ullin) ND, and farmed there for 15 years. Then, the story goes, he sold his land to the state in 1909 so they could build the Wisconsin State Tuberculosis Sanatorium - and we've found old plats that verify the story. The Sanatorium was a very scenic facility, and there are some interesting pictures on Flickr. At that time, the primary components for treating TB were fresh air and bed rest. In 1959 it was converted into the Ethan Allen Correctional Facility for Boys, that closed in 2011 and the site has been idle since then. The Ungerechts continued to live in Wales a couple more years after selling the original farm, it's unclear what prompted them to return to the Glen Ullin area, and they may have briefly lived in Caledonia (one source says Paul was born there).

un/102_caledoniawales.1473649427.txt.gz · Last modified: 2016-09-12 by nerfer