Join us as we pry open the lid on a forgotten 1830s community at the Fox-Wisconsin portage.
During the 1830s, mixed Indigenous/European families (Métis) constituted the resident majority at the portage beyond the walls of Fort Winnebago, second only to a larger seasonal Indigenous presence. This colorful community which stood at the intersection of converging cultures has largely faded from our collective memory today.
Who were these people? Come along as we reconnect the missing dots and endeavor to fill in the broader picture of le portage métis.
Join us as we investigate Portage, Wisconsin's widely unknown 1830s mixed ethnic community. Meet fascinating families, explore their lives, grasp the challenges they faced, and trace how they navigated the turbulence of the 19th century into our present day.
What brought the Métis community together at Portage during the 1820s and '30s? Two themes which have spurred movements of people groups all through history were at work here also: kinship and occupation.
As the life rhythms of two very different cultures were united to form families, each new household navigated its own route to determining what cultural model they would build their family upon. Join us for a birds-eye view of daily life and family at Métis Portage.
Portage's Métis were drawn into the realm of official intermediary public service during the turbulent 1830s. The result was a balancing act. Meet Portage's translators who danced this delicate waltz among cultures on a daily basis.
Of the known individuals employed in service roles at the Portage Indian sub-agency over a full decade’s time, only a handful cannot be identified as French or Métis—partly a reflection of the locally available workforce, but also perhaps reflective of something deeper.
Thinking back to Episode 4, the proverbial keg upon which Portage’s Métis community was balancing exploded when Ho-Chunks were forcibly expelled across the Mississippi in 1840. Portage's Métis families were faced with significant choices in the wake of this upheaval.
We’ve surveyed a broad picture of Métis people at the Portage beyond the walls of the Agency House throughout this series. As we conclude this investigation, we’ll explore one more aspect of this story at an international level and consider another meaning of “Métis.”
2026 Speaker Series: Métis Portage
"Métis Families of the Portage"
Dr. Patrick Jung
Professor of history and anthropology at Milwaukee School of Engineering