Daniel Whitney (Wisconsin entrepreneur)
| Daniel Whitney | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
September 3, 1795 Gilsum, New Hampshire |
| Died | November 4, 1862 Green Bay, Wisconsin |
| Occupation | Pioneering Wisconsin entrepreneur |
| Spouse(s) | Emeline S. Henshaw (1803-1890) (m. 1826–62) |
| Children | Daniel, Harriett, Joshua, William, Charles, John, Henry |
| Parent(s) | Samuel Whitney and Mary Whitney |
Daniel Whitney (September 3, 1795 – November 4, 1862) was an early entrepreneur in territorial Wisconsin, whose businesses were responsible for much of the early development of that state in the period between the War of 1812 and statehood. He was the first "Yankee" to settle in Green Bay. He was the first to start many of the type of business ventures that the state became known for, such as the first lead shot tower and the first saw mill on the Wisconsin River. He was the private founder of the town of Navarino, a direct forerunner to the municipality of Green Bay. He died in 1862 in the home he lived in for over 30 years in Green Bay,
Whitney was born 3 September 1795 in Gilsum, New Hampshire, the son of Samuel and Mary Whitney. Samuel was a Revolutionary War veteran who served in the unit of his father-in-law, Captain Joshua Whitney. (Samuel and Mary Whitney were distant cousins, having a common great-great-grandfather.) After the war he settled in the then frontier town of Gilsum, where he farmed and was involved in community service and government. Daniel was the seventh of nine children of Samuel and Mary.
Prior to the War of 1812, the United States nominally owned the far reaches of the Northwest Territory — Michigan, Wisconsin and northern Illinois — but was too weak to effectively assert sovereignty in the region. After that war, federal authorities began a systemic program of exploration, fort building, arrangements of treaties between tribes, purchasing of land from tribes, surveying, and licensing of merchants (primarily fur traders). In this atmosphere, young merchants from throughout New York and New England departed from western New York and travelled up the Great Lakes to various towns and outposts to engage in trade. Whitney was one such merchant, settling in Green Bay in 1819.
Whitney engaged in a series of trade expeditions, sometimes by himself but usually while employing hired hands as voyageurs, freight haulers and clerks. In these expeditions, Whitney explored the Fox to its source, and the Wisconsin from Point Basse to Prairie du Chien. He established trading posts on the upper Mississippi to the west and to the north beyond Mackinaw. In 1821-22 he was the sutler at Fort Snelling (modern day Minneapolis). In one trading trip, he travelled from Fort Snelling to Detroit by foot with one assistant to help haul the goods and supplies on a toboggan. Through these early trips, Whitney gained first-hand knowledge of the conditions under which his future enterprises would be founded.
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