In our own back yard
Fatigued from Saving America, on the seventh day, the Head Groundskeeper rested. What do you expect? It was the last Sunday in September; how many more days remain with temps in the upper 70s under bright hazy skies?
Blaska fired up the HD Softail Slim and headed out for parts unknown. I.E., no particular place to go and no deadline to get there. Which is how we rest at the Stately Manor. We get lost.
The leaves are only beginning to turn this early autumn but the soybean fields draping the hillsides of western Dane County are a rich butterscotch color, streaked with mocha. The field corn stands tall but has not completely yellowed; farmers have only begun to chop for silage.
Mineral Point Road (County Hwy S) took us out to the unincorporated hamlet of Pine Bluff and from there it is decision time: north on County Hwy P or south on County P or stop at the Red Mouse for a beer. (That can wait for the Slimy Crud next Sunday.) We turned north and bobbed up and down the unglaciated hills past a vineyard and a hop farm until we hit Cross Plains. Remaining on P through town, a last-second decision took us through the unincorporated hamlet of Martinsville, which pretty much consists of St. Martin’s Catholic Church and an ancient fieldstone mechanic’s shop that looks like it once housed a blacksmith. These little hamlets served their farm communities in the horse and buggy days.
Worked our way to WI Hwy 19 and past Indian Lake Park, which — Wait A Minute! What Was That?!
As a member of the Dane County Board committee responsible for county parks, we had visited Indian Lake, with its tiny chapel built by immigrants thankful for being spared a smallpox epidemic. But had never noticed the stark ruins looming against the blue sky on the north side of the road. The specter dominates the 138 acres of Halfway Prairie wildlife area; the Ice Age trail runs through it. The dominant feature is the quarried-stone shell of the Friedrich and Katharina Matz home. The still-imposing structure was built shortly after the Old Guy’s return from the Civil War but burned in 1949, leaving the shell and an echo of history. The lone remaining out-building is mostly intact.
The Matzes raised corn, potatoes and oxen (the tractors of the day) when they homesteaded here in 1852. Goats now patrol the grounds to keep down the invasives, although they weren’t home when we visited 09-26-21.
A story board pictures a son and his family in the house, intact. And this quote from the founder, an immigrant from Germany in 1848 (the year of Wisconsin statehood and revolution in Europe): “I’ve often said out loud that I’m happy with America; but I say it privately to myself more often. I owe God many thousand thanks for putting me in a free and better country.” Works for the Werkes.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: We give thanks that pioneers like the Matzes made the USA a freer and better country. And that Dane County preserved such treasures. The site opened to the public in 2012. Bonus: we returned back to the Stately Manor in time to watch the Brewers clinch!
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
“I’ve often said out loud that I’m happy with America; but I say it privately to myself more often.
I owe God many thousand thanks for putting me in a free and better country.”
Those are the kind of legal immigrants America historically welcomed. We still do.
Our shared American values of faith, freedom and family dovetailed with the legal immigrant.
Did you know, it’s still illegal to come into America illegally?
Yes. Really. No kidding.
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Read Herr Matz’s quote and then imagine it refashioned by one of today’s immigrants–Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, for instance. I expect it would read something like this: “I owe no one, including Allah, any thanks for putting me in an oppressive, racist patriarchy like America. I’ve often said out loud that I loathe America, but I say it privately to myself more often.”
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Sounds like a good ride.
I saw the weather forecast for next Sunday and it looks like there “may” be rain for the Slimy Crud Run. 😦
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I did 130 total miles in the saddle verifying the longer possible route for Slimy Crud Run. I only changed a couple of things so the group didn’t have any left turns on to high-speed two-lane highways and still kept it down to 1½ hours from Pine Bluff to Leland.
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Blaska’s Bottom Line: We give thanks that pioneers like the Matzes made the USA a freer and better country.
Native Americans might have something to say about that.
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And they have. Didn’t some of the current “tribal nations” in Wisconsin migrate here from long distances and brutally drive the previous tribes here off their land? How far back do you want to go? This business of “first nations” meekly minding their business before the evil Europeans came is as much a myth as Columbus if not more. Human sacrifice, brutal invasions and genocide, and slavery are INDIGENOUS to the Americas, no matter what the liberal myths say.
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I know enough history to comprehend the reality of Indian life in the Americas Adam.
Dave’s assertion is that early settlers *improved* on the existing Americas by making the country “freer and better.” Are you making the same argument?
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Batman & AdamC,
This is a bottomless pit of a rabbit hole deflection surrounded by crumbing walls of opinions regarding the cherry picked words “freer and better”. You two can fall in that rabbit hole and keep digging until the walls cave in around you both, in the end there’s no reasonable conclusion to come to when discussing “freer and better”, just opinions that are usually the result of some tunnel vision.
I know, I know, I’m an opinionated hardass. 😉
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“How far back do you want to go?” Only as far as will support the approved narrative of brutal oppression by whites–and only whites.
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Bingo!
Aztec human sacrifice will NEVER get as much attention. Ever.
Just like no one wants to have a “conversation” about Native tribes practicing land theft, genocide, and slavery.
It’s totally inconsistent with The Narrative.
It makes many moderate to conservative folks highly uncomfortable.
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I am still bitter and bent out of shape by those darn Anglos and Saxons, not to mention the romans.
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Thank you for sharing!
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Dave that is a Catholic Church in beautiful downtown Martinsville.Please genuflect when passing on your Harley.!!!
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You’re correct. The NW quadrant of Dane County is very Catholic. Reflects its German immigrants.
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Here’s another view of the farmstead…
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Wisconsin’s answer to Tintern Abbey!
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Still missing the point Adam despite my clarification to help you along:
“Dave’s assertion is that early settlers *improved* on the existing Americas by making the country “freer and better.” Are you making the same argument?”
I’m not arguing if man’s inhumanity towards man is better now or during pre-white genocide in the Americas. Indians left a virtually pristine environment before succumbing to reservations and broken treaties but even that isn’t my point.
Using the words “freer and better” reeks of white supremacy but I know Dave is not so it was simply a poor choice of words that implies white culture is more free and superior, but it is not. Moreover, attaching “freer and better” to greedy pioneers who steamrolled over the existing tribes is the language of imperialism. Manifest destiny is what it is, but I for one do not want to rub salt in the wounds of those who inhabited the Americas with still more lies. Language matters.
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These people, (The Matzes), were part of a major wave of immigrants known as the “Forty-Eighters”, fleeing the bitter and bloody revolutions sweeping Europe at the time. (basically involving the working class vs oppressive governments and monarchies, and exacerbated by crop failures) Staunch abolitionists, the “Forty-Eighters” and their children would go on to comprise a significant percentage of the Union Army a few years later.
Thus, “a free and better country” is in comparison to what they left behind in Europe. Mr. Blaska merely acknowledges their contributions.
As to the plight of the native people the terms “land theft”, genocide, racism, etc., are all appropriate. But, their way of life was doomed before Columbus ever set sail. Knapping flint for arrow points is the very definition of “stone age”, the idea that the modern world (of ANY century) would not conquer and consume them is naive. The greatest tragedy is that once conquered, they weren’t assimilated. There has never been an American Indian President, and only ONE Vice-President, (Charles Curtis, Kaw Tribe, Hoover Administration, and a REPUBLICAN). Kamala is a Brahman, the highest in India’s repressive caste system, (and that’s not a tribe).
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“Thus, “a free and better country” is in comparison to what they left behind in Europe. Mr. Blaska merely acknowledges their contributions.”
So one must research The Matzes to arrive at your conclusion, and even then it’s a stretch. Not buying it.
Nevertheless, the early pioneers steamrolled the Indian tribes and should not be celebrated for doing so. Do I really have to explain what I mean by steamrolled?
Dave’s words “freer and better” are more than an acknowledgement and there should be no confusion or whitewashing when discussing this topic.
I already addressed manifest destiny and romanticizing Indians so your last paragraph is superfluous except for one sentence, “The greatest tragedy is that once conquered, they weren’t assimilated” has tremendous value and is mostly overlooked.
There was a great deal to learn from native tribes and modern culture would have benefited tremendously and evolved differently, but instead Indians were treated like vermin, exploited, and defrauded.
And that’s a wrap!
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The quote is from the old German immigrant. He gave thanks that Wisconsin was a better place. I agree. No question, great harm was done to the indigenous population before Mr. Matz arrived. But raise your hand if you want to undo the European settlement and the civilization it produced.
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There’s good chance that the Matzes were fleeing Prussia with its rigid class system, militarism, limited economic opportunities, and conscription. What they found–and made–here was no doubt in their eyes a vast improvement.
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Blaska’s Bottom Line: We give thanks that pioneers like the Matzes made the USA a freer and better country.
Well of course it was all nicey better freer for the thieves who stole the land they farmed. It is all a matter of perspective but my argument isn’t about that but rather how people describe (sugarcoat,whitewash) the brutal erasure of indigenous people to capitalize on the bounty of the land.
It would be more historically honest/accurate if white people would stop ignoring that uncomfortable truth when discussing that time period. No need to romanticize the greedy bastard settlers who just took what they wanted because they could. Is there a plaque commemorating the Matzes paying homage to the generous Indians who just voluntarily donated the land they lived on?
Btw, noticed a bunch of raised hands on the rez.
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