USA > Wisconsin > Biographical sketches of old settlers and prominent people of Wisconsin > Part 5
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never allowed it to usurp her domestic duties, for with her, home and home duties were paramount. She was an active member of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church for several years prior to her death. Although she was to a remarkable degree liberal in her religious views, feeling that she could not conscientiously endorse or adopt all the dogmas of the Church, and caring but little for theology. She was a firm believer in God and His goodness and accepted Him with a faith that was simple and childlike. She was particularly happy in her married life, and it was her constant aim to make all happy around her. Dr. Willard feels her loss keenly, and as the days go by he more and more misses her cheerful companionship and her wise counsel, and he proudly acknowledges that to her he is greatly indebted for his success in life.
Now, in the evening of life, when the shadows are rapidly lengthen- ing, Dr. Willard expresses himself as having no reason to murmur or complain, feeling contented, from the fact that he has overrun the allotment of human life by four years. He expresses himself as having had his full share of blessings and is disposed to yield cheerfully to the execution of a just and beneficient law.
Dr. Willard has resided in Jefferson County for over half a century. and during the time, aside from his election to the Assembly, has been called to other positions of trust and emolument. He held the office of Town Clerk, and was County Supervisor for many years. He is a man in whom the public have always reposed confidence, and who has always endeavored to bear his share of the burdens of society.
GEN. GEO. W. BURCHARD.
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GENERAL GEORGE W. BURCHARD.
EORGE WASHINGTON BURCHARD was born in Oneida County, New York, December 26, 1835, and with his parents moved to Chautauqua County, New York, in 1836, remaining there until the spring of 1850, when they came to Wisconsin, settling at Waukesha. He entered Carroll College at Waukesha, from which insti- tution he graduated in 1857, and the same year removed to Fox Lake, where he was the principal of the "Union" school for one year, after which he attended law school at Poughkeepsie, New York, returning to Wisconsin in 1859, where, after an examination in open court, he was admitted to the bar.
Mr. Burchard was married October 20, 1860, at Fox Lake, Wiscon- sin, to Emma Almeda Clark, who was born at Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, October 8, 1837, and died April 12, 1862, aged 24 years, 6 months and 24 days. One son was the result of this union, Andrew Clark Burchard, who was born August 23, 1861, and died March 20, 1862, aged 6 months and 27 days.
Mr. Burchard practiced law at Fox Lake until August 1862, when he enlisted in Company E, 29th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and in April 1863 he was promoted to Major of the 2nd Regiment Arkansas Volunteers of African Descent, afterwards known as the 54th Regiment of U. S. Colored Troops, serving mostly in Arkansas, and on staff duty with Generals B. M. Prentiss (battle of Helena), Frederick Soloman (Camden expedition, including battle of Jenkins Ferry and minor affairs, and the defense of Little Rock) and Joseph J. Reynolds. His last assignment was as Provost Marshal General of the Department of Arkansas. He was mustered out September 16, 1866, and returning to Wisconsin by way of Iowa City, Iowa, he was united in marriage September 26, 1866 to Miss Lucinda Elizabeth, daughter of J. Scott and Elizabeth (Wilcox) Charles. She was born in Mayfield, Ohio, September 6, 1840. In the year 1867, Col, Burchard removed to Fort Atkinson, and in 1868 he was elected President of the village and continued in the practice of his profession until invited by Governor William E. Smith to be- come his Private and Military Secretary in January 1878. He served as one of the Directors of the Wisconsin State Prison, by appointment of Governor Ludington, from 1876 to 1881, and was a member of the State Board of Supervision of Wisconsin Charitable, Reformatory and Penal Institu- tions from 1881 to 1885. In 1885 Governor Rusk appointed him agent for the settlement of Wisconsin Swamp Lands and War Claims which position he filled acceptably until 1888. When Governor Hoard was inaugurated in 1889, he appointed Col. Burchard as Adjutant General of Wisconsin, (thus giving him the rank of Brigadier General) which position he filled during the Governor's term of service. Since June
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1892, he has been the associate editor of Hoard's Dairyman. In 1896-7 he was the President of the Wisconsin . Dairyman's Association, and at the present time is its Secretary. In recognition of his general worth and his services to the Republican party, President Mckinley appointed him Postmaster of Fort Atkinson, and he has served in that position from June 16, 1898. He is a member of the Masonic Fraternity, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Military Order of the Loyal Legion.
General Burchard has always taken an active part in the political campaigns, and several times has been elected a delegate to the Repub- lican State Convention. At the Convention in 1888, he made a brief speech seconding the nomination of his friend and neighbor, William Dempster Hoard, as the nominee for Governor, which was highly com- mended as being one of the best speeches of the session.
Five children were born to the General and Mrs. Burchard, in the house where they first made their home in Fort Atkinson and still live, as follows: John Charles, September 26. 1866. graduated at Beloit College in 1892 and is now practicing law in Chicago, and was married October 18, 1899, to Daisy Fleeter Plummer of that city: Robert Charles, June 16, 1869, who was for some time Captain of the Hoard Rifles (Company B. 1st Regiment Wisconsin National Guard) and commanded that Company during its service in the Spanish War. He married Harriet Louise Stevens, of Jefferson. Wisconsin, November 17. 1896 and has one daughter, Roberta, born July 13, 1898, and is living on a farm one and one-half miles north of Fort Atkinson; Henry Charles. Septem- ber 7, 1872, a graduate of the Wisconsin Short Course in Agriculture, and is living on the farm with his brother. Robert C .; Frederick Charles, November 29, 1874, died September 4, 1886, aged 11 years. 9 months and 5 days; Paul Charles, September 8, 1876. now a student (Senior Class) of Beloit College.
George Washington Burchard is descended in direct line from Thomas Burchard, who was born in Roxbury, England, in 1595, coming to America in the ship "True Love, " with his wife, one son and five daughters, in 1635, and died at Saybrook, Connecticut in 1657. His son, John (1), was the first Town Clerk of Norwich, Connecticut, and held that office for many successive years. Following him was John (2) 1671-1708; John (3) 1704-1780; John (4) 1730-1802: Jabez. Sr., 1765-1844, who served in the Revolutionary War, having enlisted July 12. 1780, when less than 16 years of age in Captain David Barton's (8th) Company of Colonel Porter's (4th Hampshire County, Massachusetts) Regiment and subsequently (1786) married Lucina Barton, a daughter of his former Captain. The next in descent was Jabez Burchard, Junior, father of the subject of this sketch who was a farmer and was born in Granby. Massachusetts, November 24, 1799, and married January 31, 1821. at Paris, New York, Lucy Munger. daughter of Reuben and Lorinda (Chapin) Munger, she was born September 10, 1801. Jabez Burchard, Jr., died July 21, 1860, aged 60 years, 7 months and 27 days, and his wife, Lucy, died December 27, 1861, aged 60 years, 3 months and 17 days; both died at Fox Lake, Wisconsin. They had three children. Maryette, born October 1831, now a widow living with her son, Judge
MRS. GEN. GEO. W. BURCHARD.
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Thomas B. White, at Escanaba, Michigan; Susan, born April 1826, also a widow, and living at Fort Atkinson with her brother.
LUCINDA ELIZABETH (CHARLES) BURCHARD,
as stated on a preceding page, was born in the State of Ohio. Her father's father, John Charles, was born in Ireland and was the son of Protestant parents and Scotch immigrants, William Charles and Jane Charles. John Charles and his wife, Jane (Ferguson) Charles, came to America in 1796 and settled in central New York.
Through her mother, Elizabeth Wilcox, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Pelton) Wilcox, Mrs. Burchard traces to the earliest settlers in New England. It is impossible to fix the date of the arrival of the first Wilcox in America, but it is known that Samuel Wilcox, father of the above named John Wilcox, was a Revolutionary soldier, and that the Peltons are descended from the John Pelton who came to America with Governor John Winthrop in 1630, and was the son of Charles Pelton, a Huguenot refugee from France, who settled in England.
Mrs. Burchard came to Wisconsin from Ohio, in 1855, with her father, mother and three younger sisters, settling in Dodge County. Here she had the not unusual experience of the farmer's daughter of that period, in attending and teaching school. In 1864, the family, with the exception of one daughter who had previously married, removed to Iowa.
For the fifteen years succeeding her marriage in 1866, Mrs. Burchard gave practically her whole time to her family, but subse- quently has devoted more attention to social and semi-public duties. From its inception in 1881, she has been one of the active members, and twice President of the Fort Atkinson Tuesday Club; she was also one of the charter members and first President of the Fort Atkinson Woman's Relief Corps, auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, organized in 1888, and was for four years Treasurer of this organization for the Department of Wisconsin. Declining a re-election to that office she was unanimously elected Department President and served as such for the customary one term period. Like her husband, she is held in the highest esteem by the people among whom she has lived for a third of a century.
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CHARLES H. WHITE.
S a tiller of the soil, the subject of this sketch, has met with a considerable degree of success, and in the conduct of his affairs, has shown much natural ability and intelligence; and as in every community some men are known for their upright lives, good sense and moral worth, so are these qualities to be found in Charles H. White, son of Charles and Susana (Sedgwick) White, who was born in Chart Sutton, Kent County, England, January 17, 1848 and came with his parents to the United States, landing in New York in 1850, settling in Palmyra of that State, where they remained for three years, when they came to Wisconsin, locating in the town of York, Dane County in 1853 and has lived in Dane County to the present time. Charles being a good boy, felt that it was his duty to remain at home and assist his father until he became of age, and acted on this principle. When but nine years of age, his mother died, and these were dark, sad days to the little fellow, but though left motherless, he never for one moment faltered in the line of duty. After about three years his father married again, taking as his wife Mrs. Susan (Gray) Lovelock, who came into the home as a ray of sunshine. Mr. White had three sisters, Louisa, Elizabeth and Marietta; and two brothers, John and George, all of whom are now living but Louisa, she having died in 1863. He well remembers when a boy of going to Watertown with his father to sell grain, when the old plank road was in use and there was a toll gate at each end of the road. and the most of the entire distance was through heavy timber; it was no unusual thing to see small bands of Indians who were too lazy and indolent to work, and spent their time in begging flour and meat, rather than work for it.
Mr. White was married in 1869 to Miss Mary A. Pearsall, daughter of Thomas and Melissa Pearsall, who was born in Wilton. Saratoga County, New York, September 4, 1851, coming to the town of Medina, Dane County, Wisconsin, in 1855. This union was blessed with ten children, five boys and five girls, all of whom are now living but one. Hattie A., born June 2, 1870, married to Clarence E. Cole and has two children; William N., born October 17, 1871, married Mable R. Humphrey who died October 30, 1897. leaving a little girl, married again to Miss Myrtel Montgomery, December 1, 1898; Lewis C., born April 4, 1873, married Susan Pettey and has two children: Cora M .. born March 6, 1875, married Ralph H. Hart and has two children: Lillian M., born August 20, 1876; Leona L., born July 20, 1879; Fred G., born February 3, 1881; Fletcher, born January 6, 1883 and died August 30, 1890: Edna E., born October 23, 1884; Earl V., born November 1, 1888.
Mr. White is a prosperous farmer, owning a large farm in the north-east corner of the town of Medina, Dane County, Wisconsin, and has made a success of farming and in the past few years has applied
CHARLES H. WHITE,
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CHARLES WHITE, SR.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
himself, in part, to raising small fruits and berries, and it is said of him that in disposing of his crops in that line, that the berries are just as large in the bottom of the box as they are at the top, and he never for- gets to give sixteen ounces to the pound; 'tis by this honest dealing and the high Christian character he sustains among his neighbors, and all who know him that makes his word as good as his bond.
Mr. White is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Waterloo, and an ardent worker in his Master's Vineyard. The writer of this sketch, knowing the confidence reposed in Mr. White, by the public, as a Christian gentleman, asked him to embody in this sketch a few words of his Christian experience; he says: "The Scriptures say, 'Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you'; the winter of 1878, feeling that I was a sinner, sought the Lord for the forgiveness of my sins, and I did not seek in vain for I found him ready, yea willing to save, and He soon spoke peace to my soul; in coming to the Lord I was simply following the conviction that it was right to be a Christian. For all these twenty years God has been with me, and I cannot begin to tell all he has done for me, and each day I live I recognize more and more of the goodness and mercy of God. I have been a Class Leader in the Church for a number of years, and part of the time a Superintendent of the Sunday School, and teacher of a Bible Class. I certainly have no cause for complaint, regarding the goodness of God to me, for surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life."
As he approaches the evening of his life Mr. White is happy and contented, and with his estimable wife takes great comfort in their children and grandchildren who are either at home or living in the immediate vicinity of the parental roof.
CHARLES WHITE.
MONG the old settlers of Wisconsin, none have maintained a better reputation for honesty and uprightness of character, than Charles White, of Portland, Dodge County, Wisconsin, who is the son of Isaac and Chatlotte White, and was born March 25, 1820, in Linton Kent, near Madestone, England. His parents being poor he was compelled to earn his own living when a small boy, and at the age of 18, he hired out to work in "Gentlemans Service, "and occupied the position of butler for seven or eight years when he married Miss Susannah, daughter of John and Sarah Sedgwick, who was born in the same town, August 14, 1820. They were married July 10, 1842, in the parish of Borton, Kent, England. Six children were born to them, Louisa was born August 20, 1844, married to John Walker, March 10, 1859, and died
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April 3, 1863; Elizabeth, born April 12, 1846, married Abel Follensbee March 28, 1863, and have four children; Charles H., born January 17, 1848, married May 23, 1869, to Miss Mary Alice Pearsall and they have ten children: John, born March 17, 1850, married April 18, 1875, to Emeline Larabee, and have six children; George, born December 1, 1852, married October 10, 1878, to Emma Rawson, and have four children; Mary Ette, born July 23, 1855, married October 20, 1880, to Frank Larabee, and they have seven children.
In England, Mr. White found, that even with the strictest economy, it was almost next to an impossibility to get ahead very much, and he began to think of the country across the sea, and December 19, 1849, they with their three children, set sail for New York City, landing February 1, 1850, and went to Palmyra, New York, where he began his struggle for life anew. Although Mr. White at that time was not in the best of health, yet with willing hands, a stout heart and a good wife who was ever ready in the line of her duty, they soon made a home for themselves. After living in Palmyra for three years, and during this time hearing much about the possibilities for success in the west, he bade adieu to the east, and started for Wisconsin, coming by lake, they landed in Milwaukee April 14, 1854. There being no railroads in this part of the state at that time, he hired a team to take him to his new western home, situated in the town of York, Dane County, Wiscon- sin. After three years of toils and exposures, death entered his home and on July 10, 1857, took away the wife and mother of his children. These were dark, gloomy days for Mr. White, but being a strong minded man he never flinched from the path of duty. He remained a widower for three years when he married Mrs. Susan Gray Lovelock in 1860, she died March 18, 1875.
Mr. White owned a fine farm of 160 acres in Section 36, of town of York, Dane County, but being well advanced in years, he retired from the farm in 1875 and has lived with his daughter. Elizabeth, in Portland ever since. In politics Mr. White is a staunch Republican, although he never made any claims to being a politician. He is a member of the Episcopal Church.
CLARK-ENG-CO- - MIL -
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MILES T. ALVERSON.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
MILES T. ALVERSON.
FAMOUS writer says, "Give an American youth health and the alphabet, and who shall place limits to his career-a man cannot aspire if he looks downward. Look upward, live upward, don't wait for opportunity, make it." A careful retrospect of the life of the subject of this sketch indicates that the foregoing sentiment is well adapted to him, for he is known by his townsmen as a strong, vigorous, clean-cut, alert, up-to-date business man, and though not demonstrative, he gives earnest thought to public affairs. His whole career offers a shining example of those equal opportunities, which form the chief glory of American citizenship.
His parents began life at the bottom round of the ladder and though desirious of giving their children an education, were unable to accord the elder equal advantages with the younger members of their large family.
Miles Tolcott Alverson is the great-grandson of David Alverson, who emigrated from Scotland in 1775, and married Hannah Lester in Springfield, Massachusetts. He is the grandson of John Alverson, who was born February 11, 1780, and Sarah Frink, born August 15, 1783, and they were married September 7, 1806; and the son of Almanson Alverson, who was born in Bennington County, Vermont, December 25, 1807, and Sylenda, daughter of Jesse and Rebecca (Morris) Merwin, who was born in Lewis County, New York, October 12, 1809. They were married in her native county, March 8, 1832, and had seven children; Miles Tolcott, Milo Dempster, Harrison Samuel, Charles Wesley, Harriet Eleonora, Anna Sophronia and George Almanson.
Miles Tolcott Alverson, the eldest son, was born at Rodman, Jeffer- son County, New York, and married at Lowville, Wisconsin, March 23, 1859, to Melissa Ann, daughter of Jacob and Catherine (Morgan) Low. She was born in New York City, March 28, 1841. Two sons was the result of this union, and both are graduates of the University of Wisconsin, Charles Lewis, who is cashier of the State Bank of Medford, Wisconsin, was born at Lowville, December 23, 1860, and married Mary Corning, July 17, 1889, and have two children-Miles Corning, born at Medford, Wisconsin, January 3, 1896, and Belle, born January 17, 1899; Harry Bartlett, who is Superintendent of the Cataract Power and Conduit Company, of Buffalo, New York, and was born March 27, 1872, unmarried.
Mr. Alverson's mother, Sylenda Merwin, was a descendent of the seventh generation of Miles Merwin, of Wales (1632); also the seventh from Lieutenant Edward Morris (1652), among whose descendants are found men of distinction and of National reputation.
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Mrs. Alverson's ancestral history begins in this country with Cor- nelius Low, who came from Germany in 1659 and who was an early settler on the banks of the Hudson River. In 1660 he married Elizabeth Blanchan, the daughter of a Huguenot refugee, and among their descendants have always been found defenders of the Stars and Stripes. Mrs. Alverson's grandfather, Captain Gideon Low, began his military career in the War of 1812 in a Pennsylvania regiment and afterward in the Regular Army, and was a prominent man in the early history of Wisconsin. Mrs. Alverson had two brothers in the war of the Rebel- lion-Captain Lewis Low, of the 32nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and Lieutenant Bartlett Marshall Low, of the 42nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Both are now dead but they sustained the military honors and valor of the name. She is a charter member of Wau-Bun Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and of several social and literary clubs.
Miles T. Alverson came to Wisconsin in 1854, and having had special training in select schools, and two years of experience, he engaged in teaching; and in 1864-65 and 66 he was a prominent teacher in the Commercial College of R. C. Spencer in Milwaukee, and is now cashier and manager of the City Bank of Portage, Wisconsin.
Mr. Alverson is an Independent in religious matters, although he is trustee of the First Presbyterian Church of Portage. In politics he is a staunch Republican, and has held the offices of School Superintendent, Town Clerk, County Treasurer and Supervisor, and has been a farmer, builder, teacher, abstractor, real estate dealer, broker and lumberman. He is now a member of the Executive Council of the Wisconsin Bankers Association. Also President of the Portage American Gas Company, and a member of several fraternal organizations.
It can be truly said of Miles T. Alverson that he always maintained his dignity without flinching, and discharged all duties with ability and unswerving rectitude and would not be swerved from any course that he believed to be right, either by fear or expediency.
ARK-ENG-La- - MIL -
ROBERT BOYD WENTWORTH.
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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
ROBERT BOYD WENTWORTH.
ERSONAL characteristics modify and give color to a man's public and private character. To achieve success is not merely a gratification of a personal ambition, but is also a personal obligation, which involves forethought and consideration, and which shapes course and calculates its end. With a single aim, firmly and steadfastly held, our subject began his business career.
Robert Boyd Wentworth, son of Robert and Sally (Harding) Went- worth, was born in Buxton, York County, Maine, January 18, 1827. He lived on the homestead and attended the district school until he was fifteen years of age; he then left home and entered a printing office in Portland, Maine, where he worked until he had thoroughly mastered the printing business. He continued at his trade, working in various offices. in the state until the year 1848, when he caught the western fever and migrated to the new and promising State of Wisconsin-admitted to the Union that year-and has continued residence in this state to the present time. He was state printer of Wisconsin from 1850 to 1852, and a. member of the Legislature in 1857.
Mr. Wentworth continued the printing business, and in June, 1852, issued the first number of the "Dodge County Gazette," at Juneau, it. being the first newspaper printed in Dodge County. In 1857 he: removed to Portage, Columbia County, Wisconsin, where he established. the "Portage City Record " and continued its publication four years.
In 1861, owing to ill health, brought on by too close confinement in the printing office, he was compelled to abandon his chosen occupation of printer and publisher, for more active exercise in the open air.
In 1862 he established himself in business at Portage as a grain and lumber merchant, which business he continued successfully for twenty- eight years. At the present time he is the President of the "Portage Hosiery Company," in which he is a large stockholder, and is also the Vice President of the "City Bank of Portage."
Mr. Wentworth is a man of excellent business ability, conservative, careful in his management, and as a citizen has manifested much public spirit, being deeply interested in the development, and all things pertaining to the welfare of his adopted state. He stands high in the esteem of his fellow citizens, and his integrity is above suspicion, and they have shown the confidence they repose in him by calling upon him to serve them in important positions. In politics, he is a firm Repub- lican, though making no pretentions to being a politician, in the modern acceptation of the term. He has always kept himself well posted on the political movements of the day, and is outspoken respecting the great National issues of the hour.
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