The McCann House
Sketch by Shirley Northern
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The McCann house was originally built as a granary on the NW 1/4 of the NE 1/4 of Section 29, Township 10 North, Range 5 West in the Town of Seneca, Crawford County, Wisconsin (Copper Creek Valley). The original homestead entry on this 40 acres of land was made on December 11, 1855, by Ingebret Peterson, who was born in Norway and emigrated to America in 1847. Ingebret made improvements on this land, and after having lived there for four years, he received a patent on it from the United States Government on October 28, 1859. He enlisted into military service in the Civil War on the 16th day of February, 1865, and served in the Union Army for 7 months and 4 days. He was mustered out of the service on the 27th day of September, 1865. His wife, Maria, died July 2, 1866, leaving him with four young children ranging in age from 4 years to 9 years. He sold his homestead to Cornelius Kane on September 24, 1867, and later moved to Miner County , South Dakota where he died and is buried.
Cornelius Kane lived on Ingebret’s homestead for six years and then sold it on March 17, 1873, to Ellen Bird. The land was owned by Ellen Bird until February 28, 1895, when she sold it to her daughter, Mary (Bird) McCann. Mary McCann and her husband, John J. McCann, had three children: John L., Mary Ellen (“Nellie”) and Thomas F. Around 1909 the house in which the McCann family was living was destroyed by fire, and they moved into the granary and made that their home. On June 4, 1938, Mary’s son, Thomas L., bought the farm from his mother, and he, his brother and his sister continued to live on the farm. Thomas died intestate on July 6, 1955, and on February 15, 1956 his brother and his sister, John L. and Mary Ellen, inherited the farm in equal shares. John L. died intestate on April 14, 1962, and Mary Ellen inherited the farm. May 11, 1962 Roger and Robert Sime purchased the cabin and land from Mary Ellen. October 21, 1966 Robert and Lila Sime purchased Roger’s share of the property. The house was donated to the Crawford County Historical Society by Robert and Lila Sime and it was moved to the Log Cabin Park. It is not known for sure who built the McCann House, but full dovetailing corner notches were used in its construction. This type of corner notching was characteristic of log houses built by Norwegian immigrants, and Ingebret Peterson was the only Norwegian immigrant who owned this land during the period when log houses were being constructed. |