Editing Pepin County, Wisconsin (section)

==History==
[[File:OldCourthousePepinCountyWI.jpg|thumb|left|Historic [[Pepin County Courthouse and Jail]] in [[Durand, Wisconsin]]]]
Pepin County was formed in the year 1858 from portions of neighboring [[Dunn County, Wisconsin|Dunn County]]. Both the [[Pepin (town), Wisconsin|town of Pepin]] (originally named North Pepin in 1856), and the [[Pepin, Wisconsin|village of Pepin]] were named after [[Lake Pepin]], a broadening of the [[Mississippi River]] between Pepin County and the Counties of [[Goodhue County, Minnesota|Goodhue]] and [[Wabasha County, Minnesota|Wabasha]] in the state of [[Minnesota]]. The lake itself is likely named for one or more of the Pepin families from the French Canadian city of [[Trois-Rivières]] in [[Quebec]], [[Canada]]. Several Pepins appear in the early records, including the senior figure Guillaume dit Tranchemontagne and his descendants Pierre and Jean Pepin du Chardonnets. One or both of the latter may have accompanied [[Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut|Daniel Greysolon, the Sieur du Lhut]], from [[Montreal]] to what is now [[Duluth, Minnesota]], in 1679. Exactly when the body of water was first named Pepin is not known, but the name has been used as early as 1700, making it by far one of the oldest recorded place names in Wisconsin. The name was well accepted by the mid-1760s when [[Jonathan Carver]] wrote in his journal, "Arrived at Lake Pepin called by some Lake St. Anthony."<ref>{{Cite book|title=Place Names of Wisconsin|last=Callary|first=Edward|publisher=University of Wisconsin Press|year=2016|isbn=9780299309640|location=Madison, Wisconsin}}</ref>