668 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
den, which he had painted while at Upsala. These were used to 
decorate the walls of their new home. Aunt Sophia lived and 
died there. After the death of his wife Christina, September 22, 
1874, from cancer, Sophia took charge of the family, and after a 
long, noble, and useful life she died at ninety years of age and 
sleeps in the family cemetery. She was beloved by all the coun¬ 
tryside. The old log house was removed in 1908. 
The location of the house on the shore of the beautiful lake 
proved a paradise for the young naturalist. 
“The region abounded in game of all kinds common to this section. 
Even Buffalo horns were found by the early settlers. The lake was a 
favorite resort for water fowl, and these, with the fish and the animals, 
were new to him. The grand old forests, as yet untouched by the settlers, 
were swarming with birds. A great treat was in store for him in the 
study of the flowers which at that time had only been disturbed by the 
grazing of the wild deer. The entomology of this country was an end¬ 
less source of pleasure to him”( 10 ). 
Gustaf Unonius, a Swedish Episcopal clergyman, who came to 
this country in 1841, and who visited Koshkonong in 1845, says 
in his “Minnen”, in reference to Thure Kumlien: 
“It was quite remarkable to see how he divided his time between farm¬ 
ing and scientific researches. Necessity bound [his] hands to the plough 
and to the hoe, while interest and desire held [his] thoughts on flowers, 
birds, and insects. A rich herbarium and an ornithological cabinet, of no 
mean importance, but on account of its small capacity, not arranged in 
order, possibly also bears evidence to a greater field of work as a natural¬ 
ist than as an agriculturist. It could very well happen that the oxen 
would be permitted to stand in the furrow a little longer than was nec¬ 
essary for their rest, in case the ploughman’s eye accidentally caught a 
glimpse of some rare insect or of some flower of the field that had not as 
yet been analyzed. He united with a real scientific education also an ex¬ 
cellent ability for mounting birds and other animals, and worked in this 
manner in order to bring himself a small income” ( 13 ). 
On August 28, 1843, eight days after Thure Kumlien landed on 
our shores, and as soon as he arrived in Milwaukee, he sought 
out the clerk of the circuit court for the county of Milwaukee 
and swore out his first papers in the process of naturalization. 
Five years later, on October 23, 1849, the circuit court of Jeffer¬ 
son county issued to him his second papers, declaring him a full 
citizen of the United States (14). 
In his earliest days in his new home, Kumlien was obliged to 
meet and overcome difficulties that for him were very formidable. 
In a letter to Dr. Brewer he writes of this: 
