Precisely what motivated Ryan to attempt the documentation of the history of Outagamie County can only be guessed, but there appeared to be a general feeling that with the founding of the state being just over 60 years past, there was an immediate danger of losing the first-hand knowledge of the area's settlement. Perhaps the death of his father in 1907 also had some effect in this matter.

As a local judge, Ryan had ready access to an extensive store of records held in county archives.

History of Outagamie County - This 1391-page book has everything from local geology to biographical sketches of local citizens. As was not uncommon years ago, there is no publishing date in the book, but the various materials seem complete through 1910, but nothing later is included.

Transcription and photos make it a fascinating read, but it must be added that it is truly aimed at a history junkie. Because of the breadth of the book, it has been broken into sections such as politics, religion, settlement, etc., and each tends to follow a chronological path. This means that big events such as the Civil War appear again and again in various sections, but with a differening perspective.

It seems unlikely that a copy may be located, but the entire book has been converted to HTML coding so it may be read over the Internet. Ryan's "History of Outagamie County" may be read here.