“Math Tlachac history” and “A Daughter’s Tribute” from the 1974 Door County Advocate
[January 22, 1974]
Math Tlachac history
By KETA STEEBS
The name Tlachac (pronounced Klahatch) appears from time to time in Door county’s recorded history. Math Tlachac, an 1856 immigrant who decided southern Door was as good a place as any to earn a living, helped make local history.
I first became aware of the second Math Tlachac’s scholarly writings when two articles bearing his by-line were handed me by my editor accompanied by a terse directive to “follow up.”
Written in the fall of 1970, the stories dealt with the life and times of early southern Door settlers, the origin of Clay Banks, the founders of Forestville and the demise of a place called Fos-co-ro which gave up the ghost when the timber gave out.
Math, a prolific writer who carefully researched and double checked his findings, had written a series of six articles which were subsequently published in the Algoma Record-Herald along with a brief biography of the author. This biography, illustrated with Math’s picture, and two of the six articles reached my desk early this past summer, almost three years after publication. The “follow up” was conveniently put aside to be pursued at a less hectic time.
Last week I decided the time had come. Calling the Record-Herald I asked reporter Lois Pflughoeft how to get in touch with Math and was told any sort of contact would involve divine power. Math had died late last spring about the time his stories were brought to my attention.
So, all I had to go on then was this little pile of clippings and a one column head shot of Math wearing a plaid shirt, bow-rimmed spectacles and a pained expression. “He never did like that picture,” Lois told me. “He thought he should be wearing a white shirt, suit and tie.”
Clothes, however, do not make the man and Math’s photograph, taken near the end of his life, is a study in contrast. His bald head belies piercingly youthful eyes, an unwrinkled brow is made all the more noticeable by furrowed cheeks and an aura of youthful awareness is paradoxically combined with a half-cynical “I’m from Missouri” expression. Math Talchac looks like a man it would have been fun to know.
He was raised and educated in the town of Brussels, taught school (mostly one and two-room buildings) for 12 years and then took his first tentative step in the dairy industry. After making cheese for 11 years he decided to go into the warehousing end of the business and chose the Kraft Company as his teacher. So well did Math, the scholar, learn his craft, he was selected by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture to supervise cheese grading in 22 counties.
During these years he retained his early love of history and like Hjalmar Holand before him learned much of the past from his elders. The Algoma public library and Wisconsin state library at Madison were also rich research resources as were old newspaper files, courthouse records and almost forgotten correspondence stored in the attics of third and fourth generation pioneer families.
After retiring in 1953, Math’s quest to uncover southern Door’s earliest beginnings gathered momentum. Now he not only studied and took notes, he wrote. His stories about how the now extinct villages of Clay Banks lived and died are fascinating.
His stories tell us how William Helmholz, John Mackey, Charles L. Fellows and William Warren journeyed to Clay Banks in 1855 and pleased with the area’s scarcity of stones, deep rich clay soil and easily tillable land, decided to homestead. A year later this vanguard agricultural force was joined by D. B. Coon, Albert J. Schuyler and Chauncey Hitt.
The eruption of the Civil War in 1860 brought further settlement to an abrupt stop but as soon as the war ended, the Hosletts, Maddens, Tufts, Davidsons, Thayers, and Spalburys made their appearance. Many of these names are found in Door county phone books today.
The Norwegians came to Clay Banks in 1870, settled on the eastern edge of Forestville and extended their holdings up to Sawyer. Their exodus from Manitowoc county was prompted by the press agentry of a certain Capt. Andrew Larson who, after visiting Door county, gave glowing reports on the land. Assured that it was open to homesteading, a listener named Arne Knudson made a personal investigation, realized the voluble Larson had not exaggerated and set down stakes in what later proved to be one of Clay Banks’ most productive farm lands.
Knudson’s former countrymen wasted little time following his example. The year 1871 saw the arrival of Henry Jorgenson, Haldor Haldorson, G. J. Anderson, Erik Nelson, Knute Viste and Nils Viste.
The saga of how they and their fellow Norwegians built a church, kept their homeland’s traditions alive and to quote Math “distinguished themselves in many fields of endeavor” will be printed verbatim in author Tlachac’s own words in the next edition of the Advocate.
[February 21, 1974]
A DAUGHTER’S TRIBUTE
Only ten minutes before he died, my father Math Tlachac shared with me a folder containing ten articles which he had researched and written on “The History of the Belgian Settlements in Door, Kewaunee and Brown Counties.”
My brothers Norman and Norbert Tlachac and myself greatly appreciate the fact that the Door County Advocate is publishing these articles posthumously. I think the greatest tribute we could give to our father, is to say that we needed no commandment advising us to “Honor thy father.” For our love and respect for Dad began about the time we realized who our father was.
He was a hardy man, made of the same self-reliant essence of these Belgian emigrants of whom he writes. It is true death ravaged his body but Dad’s immortal spirit, that immaterial part of him with his ideas about patriotism and truth which no one could see or touch, lives on. He took an almost fierce pride in the humble peasant ancestry of both our Bohemian and Belgian forebearers and left his family that priceless heritage of a genealogy second to none. In his research back into the centuries, Dad sought and revealed the truths which motivated his ancestors to seek more God-fearing, and self-fulfilling lives.
In his funeral liturgy, the family requested as a closing song, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” My brothers and I feel Dad’s “truth is marching on,” through the publication of these articles.
Sister Mary Audri Tlachec
O.S.F.
Both courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[Tlachac Family History: http://www.tlachac.com/_Family_TlachacFamily.html
“Belgians Bring Along Their Customs.” by Math Tlachac https://sites.rootsweb.com/~inbr/VolAndNumber/BelgianLaces71Binder.pdf#page=9 ]
Articles by Keta Steebs
https://doorcounty.substack.com/t/keta-steebs