How do you define "Owen-Withee"? It's a term we hear and use often, but what exactly do you mean when you say Owen-Withee? Is it a place? Does it have a boundary? Is it a concept? It's not as easy to define as one might think. Tim Nolan, who is the administrator of the Owen-Withee Facebook social media group often uses the term "Blackhawk Nation". What is Blackhawk Nation? According to Mr. Nolan, Blackhawk Nation is “those of you living, have lived, or just LOVE Owen and Withee.”

The broad definition for Owen-Withee that I use, for purposes of historical research, and at the Owen-Withee Area Historical Society, is the geographic area of Longwood, Hixon, Hoard, Green Grove, plus a sliver of eastern Reseburg townships in Clark County, and Maplehurst township in Taylor County. That is approximately the boundary of the Owen-Withee public school district. The school district boundaries are irregular lines and do not precisely follow the township boundaries. The total area of Owen–Withee is around 200 square miles.

As a reader of this History Series newspaper column, what is your affiliation and interest in Owen-Withee, by whatever definition you may use? Are you a resident? Are you a former resident? Do you have friends or relatives who live, or once lived in the area?

My own personal roots in the area now known as Owen-Withee date back to 1877. My great-grandfather Henry Hodnett settled in what was then a remote wooded area on the west side of the Black River. There were no roads then, only old logging and old Indian trails through dense pine forests. Grandfather Henry settled on land adjacent to Charles L. Colman’s large logging business of that era, and Robert Schofield’s Logging Camp. Colman was a lumber baron who owned thousands of acres of choice Wisconsin Pineries timber land. Grandpa Henry eventually acquired 150 acres of land that he cleared over the course of the next 20 years and built a set of farm buildings. He worked in the logging camps in winter and worked to clear his land in the summer.

Grandpa Henry was a native of Aroostook County, Maine. The journey from Maine to Wisconsin took four months by wagon train. It was a harsh journey that took longer than expected. Their horses got sick, and the men were exhausted. Winter was close at hand when Grandpa Henry arrived in Clark County, Wisconsin in the late fall of 1877. Somehow, he managed to find shelter and survive the winter. He went on to marry, and to raise a family, while working hard long hours in winter logging camps and summer farming. He died in 1902 from typhoid fever.

Grandpa Henry knew of the 1870s lumber baron Withee and Owen families, but he never knew the term "Owen-Withee". That wouldn't come until decades later.

How deep do your roots to Owen-Withee go? I’d love to hear from you.