Wisconsin has had its share of hermits, such as the famously reclusive poet James Gates Percival, of Hazel Green. Unlike Percival, though, most of them died in obscurity, and eccentric Tom Towner, of Wyocena, is a classic specimen.

Towner was the son of the village blacksmith and hotel keeper who developed a hankering for wild places. During the 1850s he watched his village expand and its surrounding meadows sprout bustling farms. About 1885, fed up with civilization, he retreated into a swamp several miles west of town, where he lived until 1923.

"I have known Towner all my life," a friend recalled. "He trapped and fished a great deal and 'clammed' it, selling the shells and looking for pearls." He built a crude shack deep in the marsh, and as farmers drained and planted nearby acreage, Towner relocated ever deeper into the wetlands bordering the Wisconsin River.

He lived on fish, potatoes, flour, muskrat meat and freshwater clams, and kept hunters away from the owls and red squirrels in nearby hollow trees. He had a neurotic fear of detectives, so made the approach to his cabin treacherous and always kept loaded guns within reach. Neighbors thought he was a fugitive from the law.

Tom Towner finally died at age 75 after spending 40 years in the marsh, his life untouched by electricity, telephones or automobiles.

He was hardly missed by the townspeople but was perhaps mourned by the neighboring owls, muskrats, and squirrels who had known him better.

— Wisconsin Historical Society www.wisconsinhistory.org

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