Researching Cleveland Abbe

Guest Post by Avery Schulze

One of the greatest experiences for this this semester was the chance to work directly with finding and using primary sources for historical research, an obvious cornerstone to the course. Going back to the previous semester, I was in the middle of developing my central research questions for my capstone research paper for my Urban Studies undergrad on spatial mismatch and public transportation access in the Milwaukee Metro. I wanted to gain access to the library on campus to access primary source documents because I wanted my methodology of research to include some historical research. But Covid-19 came along which prevented me from being able to participate in accessing these primary sources which really was a blow and let down as in many cases I needed to see physical copies. This class, while online and of course despite still not being able to access primary source physically, has given me a taste of what it is like to work with primary source research. I really appreciated the outlined Bibliography of characters in our Twitter reenactment provided by Mark Langenfeld. I searched the UWM online archives and found it difficult to find information on Cleveland Abbe, perhaps because I was inexperienced in my methods of searching or perhaps because Cleveland Abbe while relevant to our course, may not have been relevant to Milwaukee outside of his collaborations with Lapham. It's possible that I would have found him mentioned in primary sources by Increase Lapham, but I needed primary sources by Cleveland Abbe which were not abundant in the UWM Archives, or like I said earlier maybe I was inexperienced in searching. Overall it would have been great to have had the hands-on experience of sitting in the archive section of the library to find sources, that's something I feel I would love to pursue in future research if the opportunity presents itself. Overall, I had some knowledge on primary sources and how to interpret them but I've learned quite a lot in this class on building that skill. I can say that it has really been a joy being able to get a taste of primary source research in this course. 

Albert Myer

Guest Post by Kayla Berendt

Albert Myer was in the US Army during the Civil War. He devised the wig-wag-signaling during the Civil War, which led to him becoming the Chief Signal Officer of the Signal Corps. After the Civil War ended, he was nominated to be ranked Brigadier General by President Andrew Johnson. When the U.S. Weather Bureau was created, it was put under the U.S. Signal Services Division, which put Albert Myer in control of it. He hired Increase, Lapham who laid down the groundwork for producing the first official forecast. Myer was Chief Signal Officer until 1880. Although Albert Myer and Increase Lapham didn’t always see eye-to-eye, they were important historical figures in the first forecast.

Grain Trader

Guest Post by Stephanie Serrato

My character is Grain Trader and I am a fictional composite figure. My twitter handle is @TraderGrain and I have conceptualized the character to be a trader of grain in the years leading up to and continuing after the first storm weather forecast made by Increase Lapham in Milwaukee. I was born in 1817 to Father Grain Trader and Mother Grain Trader. My character’s career and twitter account were started on the same day in the year 1837 when I was 20 years old.

Increase Lapham

 Guest Post by Henry Wehrs

Increase A. Lapham (1811 - 1875) is the central figure of this Twitter reenactment. He is a real historical figure, and he will be represented by the Twitter handle @IncreaseLapham. 

An engineer by trade, Lapham was also a self-taught geologist, botanist, cartographer, naturalist, and writer. He was a key figure in the development of natural sciences of the growing “western” frontier, especially in Wisconsin. Brought to Milwaukee in 1836 by the notorious capitalist Byron Kilbourn, Lapham played an important role in the development of the city. Initially working on development efforts with Kilbourn, Lapham built a career for himself as a scientist, writing the first thorough works on Wisconsin botany, geography, and American Indian effigy mounds in the state. 

Increase Lapham is also regarded as a founding father of the National Weather Service. Along with colleagues in across the U.S., Lapham pushed for a storm warning system that could serve the public, and especially commerce on the Great Lakes. After the end of the Civil War, Lapham’s efforts paid off. On November 8th, 1870, Lapham was appointed Assistant to the Chief Signal Officer of the U.S. Army, and he delivered the first official weather forecast in Chicago, Illinois. 

Byron Kilbourn

 Guest Post by Agnes Lopez Flores

The character I’ve chosen for the Twitter reenactment of the first weather report is Byron Kilbourn. Kilbourn was a real historical figure and important in the founding of Milwaukee, later becoming the city’s mayor twice. He was also a surveyor, state engineer and an executive in the emerging railroad industry. He was considered stubborn and not very popular among his contemporaries. Kilbourn was known to be ruthless and lacking a moral compass in business and politics. However, he did help the struggling residents of Milwaukee. He was a friendly and loyal figure to Lapham, assisting in Lapham’s scientific goals.

The Twitter handle I have set up is @ByronKilbourn with a drawing of him serving as the profile picture. I have set the location to Jacksonville, Florida as this is where he retired to prior to the weather announcement, and where he ultimately passed.

Alexander Mitchell

Guets Post by Brian Calabrese

Alexander Mitchell is one of the most successful men to ever reside in Wisconsin, having been a businessman, banker, railroad magnate, and Congressmen. His Twitter handle is @Alexand75158367 and his main relationship to the event will be to support the people in Wisconsin. He encourages the growth of the city through the grain trade, while also laying praise on Increase Lapham in order to convey the message that his storm warning system will help ensure the delivery of the cargo on the railways he owns. He was not a man of a large circle, havening been reserved in his public life; he is a man who is truly all about business. The son of a successful farmer and born in Scotland, one can look to Alexander Mitchell’s story in America as a great immigrant success upon his arrival to in May 1839.

Chuck Miller the Farmer

 Guest Post by Jesus Sanchez

For the Twitter re-enactment, I am planning on being a farmer. Given that it is difficult to pinpoint an individual farmer with significant connections to the theme, I will be portraying a general farmer or the mass of all farmers into a single character. Therefore, my farmer character will essentially be a fictional individual. The Twitter handle I will be using is @ChuckTheFarmr.

 The farmer that I will be portraying will be named Chuck Miller and his farm was located in southeastern Wisconsin. Chuck has a relatively nice sized plot of land of about 115 acres where he plants corn, wheat, potatoes and cranberries. As a farmer, he faced a lot of issues such as overproduction, high interests rates, as well as high transportation costs. And the low crop value was not making their life any easier. However, the creation of railroads made it much easier to transport their produce and livestock to and from the farm and into cities. However, railroads were monopolistic and charged an unfair amount to use them.

The following is the image I plan on using for my profile picture because it exemplifies what a farmer is and looks like in the 19th century.

Cleveland Abbe

Guest Post by Avery Schulze

My Twitter reenactment character for History 450 at UW-Milwaukee is Cleveland Abbe. Cleveland Abbe, born in New York City December 3rd 1838, was raised by a prosperous family of the era. He went on to be most notably known as being among the very first weathermen in the nation. Abbe was a founder of the National Weather Bureau in 1870, which now known as the National Weather Service, which remains a top source of information on dangers presented by weather along with forecasting aimed at providing safety and information for the nation. Abbe was well educated, studying at prestigious universities of his time like Harvard. He was a man of great scientific background and exceptional observational skills with a keen eye for scientific process. He has many recordings of observational work in the science field, including published scientific observations on solar eclipses, sunspots, earth temperatures and more. Cleveland Abbe, leading up to his contributions to the founding of the National Weather Bureau, worked at the Cincinnati Observatory as the executive director. He went on to work directly with Increase Lapham in the creation of the very first official weather report in the United States in the wake of a deadly and powerful storm in 1869 that acted as a sort of wake up call to people of the time. He would go on to continue a successful career, being appointed as chief meteorologist in 1871 and the chief editor of numerous weather bulletins. Cleveland Abbe is also the founder of the scientific journal Monthly Weather Review, which he founded in the year 1872. For this year’s Twitter reenactment for History 450 at UW-Milwaukee I will be using the twitter handle @AbbeCleveland.

A Weather Prophet

 Guest Post by Jonathan Santiago

My character’s name is Joe. He is a 26-year-old white man who was always curious about the weather and who was also in desperate need of a job. This is how he ended up stumbling upon the career work of a weather prophet. He made good money banking on the curiosity of folks and even increased his prestige further after his publication UNDERSTANDING THE SKY gained a lot of traction. He wanted to keep this job; however, with the advancement of science as well as educated folk like increase Lapham around, things were not exactly in his favor, which greatly upset him considering the reputation he’s built for himself. So, as you can imagine, he was not happy when the huge first Milwaukee weather forecast event went down.

As indicated above, my Twitter character is known as a weather prophet. They were those that used to predict the weather since there was no way of telling what the weather would be like day in and day out. Therefore, they took on the responsibility to predict and prophesize the weather to people and would gain attention since no one knew what the weather would be like before Increase Lapham came along. They were real people I believe who used symbolism and folklore to make their weather predictions. They did not think fondly of those who were involved in science as well as other educated folk who were in the field of weather forecasting because they had seen this as a loss to their business and prestige. Their relationship with the theme of the Twitter re-enactment is that they would predict the weather before Increase Lapham came along, so with the huge event of the first weather forecast this would surely not only affect the people but also the weather prophets as well. They would also try to discredit increase Lapham or others in general who were involved since this event affects their livelihood.

The Widow Doomship

 Guest Post by Alexa Safer

My Twitter reenactment character is the Widow Doomship. She is a fictional composite character. Her Twitter handle is @Widow_Doomship. I imagine her being born in New York in 1819, getting married in 1838 to a young ship hand named Amadeus Doomship, and having her first child, @Captain_Doomship, in 1840. She moved to Milwaukee in the summer of 1849 with her husband and her first 4 children. She is a devout Catholic and has 5 children with Amadeus. He eventually rose in the ranks to become a captain but drowned during the storm of 1869. The storm and resulting death of her husband had a profound impact on her life. I imagine her being very nervous about her eldest son risking his life in the same way her husband did. Her outlook will be hopeful but also reflect the magnitude of her loss. Her relationship with @Captain_Doomship will offer an element of personal interaction. She will represent how everyday people’s lives were affected by the weather and how they may have reacted to the new storm alert system.

Julia Lapham

Guest Post by Lillian Pachner

Julia Alcott Lapham was a real historical figure. She was the daughter of Increase A. Lapham. Julia Lapham wrote extensively about her father's work with the weather. She wrote of the trials and tribulations her father went through to get people to get on board with his idea of a weather forecast. Julia also did a lot of work in local history and made a name for herself apart from her father. According to A Standard History of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Julia did work in women’s clubs. According to this same book, Julia, like her father did work preserving Native American burial mounds. She was even a chairwoman on the Landmarks Committee in Wisconsin. Interestingly she had a personal relationship with poet Ralph Waldo Emerson. Julia is also known for founding the Oconomowoc Library, and being its second Librarian. I will be using the twitter handle @JuliaAlcottLapham to tweet as her in the twitter re-enactment. Her relationship with the theme of the twitter re-enactment theme is that she was the daughter of the key figure, Increase Lapham, and was involved with his work.