Mariette Huntly Snell: Fort Atkinson Innkeeper

Mariette Huntly Snell was one of the first married women in Wisconsin to own property in her own name.(1) A native of Lyme, Connecticut, Snell had come to Wisconsin in 1838 with her husband, Erastus. They came by boat from New York, landing at Milwaukee, and according to local history Mariette Snell was the only woman in the group to walk the entire distance from Milwaukee to their new home at Ft. Atkinson.(2)

Actually, the Snells blazed a trail seven miles farther west of Ft. Atkinson to Red Cedar Lake where they staked a claim on the lake shore and built a crude shelter with no windows and a blanket for a door. Later, they bought 100 acres on that site from the government and built a large, sturdy home. Erastus Snell was a day laborer in Ft. Atkinson, walking into town on Monday morning and returning home on Saturday night. Left alone during the week, Mariette Snell took care of the property and livestock and the six children she bore between 1840 and 1854. By 1840, Mrs. Snell was also running an inn in her home. She called the inn the Red Cedar Lake House and as it was a regular stopping place for the stage coach en route from Milwaukee to Madison, Mariette Snell did a brisk business.(3)

As time passed, both Erastus and Mariette Snell prospered. With his savings, Erastus Snell purchased an additional 160 acres and was able to stop working in town and devote himself to farming. Mariette Snell also decided to purchase 160 acres with her savings. It was upon purchase of this land in 1855 that Mariette Snell petitioned the legislature to have the title put in her name. As she explained in her petition, she had earned the money herself and she wanted to own the land herself. Mariette Snell continued to prosper as an innkeeper until her death in 1877.

(1) Information on Marlette Huntly Snell was derived from an interview with Mrs. Hannah Swart, curator of the Hoard Museum in Fort Atkinson, and from materials on file at the Hoard Museum.
(2) “Genealogy of the Snells,” Jefferson County Union, December 12, 1924.
(3) Purucker, Mrs. George. “The Snell Family.” Paper presented to the Fort Atkinson Tuesday Club, April 27, 1971.

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