Since we’re reviving a 13-year-old thread, the exact phrase shows up in 1900 in the Century magazine, vol. 61, p. 146, in a story called “Her Mountain Lover” by Hamlin Garland, who was from Wisconsin (b. 1860). It also shows up on p. 301, in the voice of the same character. Published as a novel in 1901. I’ve never heard of the guy, but he seems to have been well-enough known to have perhaps made it up and popularized it.
It seems unlikely that the phrase was current in Victorian Wisconsin, but what do I know?