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Duck Creek is a creek originating in the Burma Swamp located in Outagamie County and flows through
Hobart and Howard townships. Early trappers settled the area and named it Duck Creek because of the number of ducks along
the bank in spring. The town of Howard was established in 1835. The site of Duck Creek is now part of the Village of
Howard. It had been a Menominee Indian Village and the French were the first Europeans to settle there. With intermarriage
between the French and Indians, a new group called the French Creoles developed. In 1840, more than thirty families were in
Duck Creek. This number doubled by 1850 with a high percentage of French ancestry. This percentage decreased as other European
families settled there. Early settlers included Marston, Brunette, Athey, Rioux, Hussin, Rodaer, Delaney, and Ryan.
Inhabitants were drawn by the access to the Duck Creek River
and ample food supply. Transportation was by water and the old Indian trail. Fur trading, quarrying, lumbering and brick making
were early occupations. Early products shipped from Duck Creek included quarried stone, lumber, Durham boats, bricks, shingles
and charcoal. The construction of Fort Howard Military Post brought the need for more products from Duck Creek such as lumber
and food. Brown County, formally established as part of the MIchigan territory in 1818, comprised the entire eastern
half of the State of Wisconsin. It was named for Major General Jacob Brown, one of the successful military leaders of the
War of 1812 and subsequently General-In-Chief of the United States Army. Fort Howard was named for Brig. General Benjamin
Howard, an otherwise undistinguished soldier, who died while in command in the West during the war. With the establishment
of a town system, the Town of Howard was very large but by the Civil War, it was reduced down to it's current size when
other cities, towns and counties were created from sections. The village of Howard was established
in 1959. The population in 2010 was 17,399.
Majority of this information came from Early Duck Creek History by
Jeanne and Lester Rentmeester.
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