HISTORY OF WAUPACA GYPSIES.

By Dorothy Button

 

American History II

April 1940

 

 

 

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Population and Imigration.

           

            There are probably 750,000 gypsies in Europe (03), Asia also has a large population of them, which are continually emigrating to the United States and Australia.

            Germany tried to get rid of them in 1768, but was not successful. (04)

            The gypsies were thought to have started coming to Waupaca about fifty years ago, or about the time the Indians left. (5)

 

Occupation of the Gypsy.

 

            The gypsies turn to many different wandering occupations, such as basket-making, blacksmithing, tinkering, etc.  Horse-trading is one of the favorite activities of the men, and almost the only one in England and America, while the women’s are telling fortunes. (06)

            In Waupaca the Gypsy men did mostly horse-trading, which was their greatest attraction, while the women made baskets, beaded purses, and earrings, they also did a great deal of fortune-telling.  (07).

            The gypsies were well known for their stealing of things and kidnapping. (08).

 

The Lost Child.

 

            Mrs. Randall’s great aunt, who lived near Ogdensburg, was taken by the gypsies when she was about four years old.  People searched the woods and lakes for her, but she was nowhere to be found.

            A little while later her mother wrote this poem:

At my first stand on British land,

Just four weeks to a day –

Before I knew the savage crew,

They stole my child away.

 

‘Though yet unknown which way she’d gone,

We thought to the woods she’d strayed,

The settlers turned out volunteers –

Great search for her was made.

 

They searched the lakes with shining lights,

As they came sailing by,

They searched the woods with listening ear,

Thinking to hear her cry.

 

Some said “the mosquitoes have killed your child,”

Some said, “in the lake she is drowned,”

Others said, “the wolves have eaten your child,

Therefore, she can’t be found.”

Let infants stray from mother’s arms,

See what their care will be.

My usual sleep forsook my eyes

And I forgot to eat.

 

I did beseech Almighty God

In that distressing hour,

That He would furnish me with grace,

While He displaced His power.

                                                                                        Mrs. O.M. Collier.

 

            About sixteen years later a tribe of gypsies came to Waupaca.  This mother was there, too, observing them.

            She saw a girl about twenty years of age, having the same facial expressions and resembling the little girl whom she had lost.

            She asked one of the gypsy women if she might look at the arm of the young girl.

            The scar that she found on her arm, was proof that the girl was her daughter.

            The gypsies were willing to let her return to her parents if she wished, but the girl preferred to keep her position as princess of the tribe. With the tribe she remained in and about Waupaca for a few days and then were again on their merry way.

            The mother returned home happy in her knowledge that her daughter was well cared for. (09).

 

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A Visit at a Gypsy Camp.

 

            About fifty years ago some Cedar Lake boys stopped to watch a band of gypsies, that were camping near a lake where Ralph Bailey lives now.  There were other people there, too.

            The audience took up a small collection to watch a gypsy “bear and dog fight”.

            The gypsies had the bear tied to a long chain. Then they would give a gypsy yell and about three or four dogs ran toward him making enough noise to be hard by neighbors living a few miles away.  They would rassel [wrestle] until the bear began getting tired, then the gypsies would yell again and all the dogs would lie down.

            The next thing for entertainment was a “dance and a song for a dime”, given by some gypsy girls, which the boys enjoyed most.

            In the late hours of the night they noticed some gypsy men coming into the rear of the camp with full sacks over their backs, with things that they had gathered from the neighbors.

            Someone threw an old tin pan among the gypsy women when they were putting on their dances.

            The entertainment was stopped and the women went to get their guns.

            The boys ran like deer down the road.  I doubt whether there was any kind of shot that would ever caught up with them. (11)

 

 

(03).  O’shea and Locke, Op cit., pp. 2647

(04).  American Corp., The Americana, Chicago, 1938 Vol. XIII

(05).  Interview of Mr. Guy Mumbrue, March 17, 1940, at the City Hall.

(06).  O’shea and Locke, Op cit., pp. 2648

(07).  Interview of Mrs. Randall, March 6, 1940, at her home.

(08).  F.E. Compton and Co., Compton’s Pictured Encyclopedia, Chicago, 1929, Vol. VI., pp. 1462.

(09).  Interview – Mrs. Randall, March 6, 1940, op cit.

(11).  George Button – Interview, March 23, 1940, his home.