History
Darlington takes its name from Joshua Darling
Joshua Darling, a banker from Warsaw, New York and his agents, James M. Keep and J. B. Lynde purchased land from pioneer Jamison Hamilton for the purpose of developing a village to accomodate the flood of mining and farming settlers coming into the area in the 1850’s.
Joshua Darling
Darlington derives its slogan, “Pearl of the Pecatonica” from its history of pearling on the Pecatonica River in the late 1800s. Thousands of dollars of pearls were taken from the waters of the Pecatonica River. So many clams were also taken from the river that a button factory was established in 1901 to utilize the discarded clam shells.
Darlington proudly claims its place among them with its own Parson Brothers Circus. In the early 1800s the six Parson brothers operated their circus around Wisconsin and the neighboring states. Probably the most notable thing that happened was that Al Ringling joined the brothers for the tenting season of 1881. When the Parson’s show folded several of the brothers joined the newly formed Ringling Brothers Circus and traveled with them for a number of years.
Lafayette Genealogy Society The purpose of the society is to assist others in their pursuits to learn more of their heritage; to inform, instruct and educate through programs, meetings and sharing of recourse material, along with promoting the fellowship of persons interested in genealogy. The society is grateful they now have a facility to house and share information and resources that the Matls and others have contributed, not to mention the society’s years of publishing, indexing and charting cemeteries and so much more. The society looks forward to being a productive and contributing asset to the community.
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Visit Darlington in 2022
