The Cornish were the first settlers from the British Isles to arrive in Wisconsin. Calling themselves Cornish rather than English, they came from Cornwall County in England where they worked in lead and tin mining. The opening of mines in Illinois and Wisconsin brought a stream of Cornish settlers between 1830 and 1850.  In 1850, roughly 7,000 of the approximately 28,000 English settlers in the lead region were Cornish.  The lure of gold in the west and the decline of the lead industry in Wisconsin led many Cornish to leave Wisconsin in the mid-19th century.

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Cornish in Wisconsin

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