History of Dane County, Biographical and Genealogical, Part 31

Author: Keyes, Elisha W. (Elisha Williams), 1828-1910
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Madison, Wi. : Western Historical Association
Number of Pages: 998

USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Biographical and Genealogical > Part 31

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ever stood for all that is best in citizenship and now, venerable in years, he has the unqualified esteem and confidence of the people of the county in which he has made his home for more than half a century, while he is sustained by the loving companionship of his cherished and devoted wife, to whom he was married fully sixty-five years ago.

James Gallagher, an esteemed citizen of Madison, was born at Rock Island, county of Cork, Ireland, May 11, 1833. He is a son of John and Martha (Johnson) Gallagher, both natives of the county of Cork, both of which families went from England into Ireland at an early date. The subject's paternal grandfather was the first Gallagher to come to this country, settling in Rochester, N. Y. John Gallagher followed in 1855, coming directly to Dane county, and started farming near Cottage Grove. John Gallagher and his wife were devout members of the Church of England. Of their twelve children there are only three living, James, the subject of this sketch, Thomas, a farmer in Clark county, Wis., and Frank, a farmer in Deerfield. Thomas and another son, Michael, were mem- bers of the Eleventh Wisconsin infantry during the Civil War. James had little opportunity to go to school. He learned the shoe- maker's trade in Ireland and worked at it there until 1851, when he determined to seek his fortune in the New World. After a passage of five weeks and three days on a sailing vessel he landed in Que- bec, with only two dollars in his pocket. From Quebec he went to Kingston, Ontario, and for three months drove team at $3.50 per month. At Rochester, N. Y. he worked at his trade for a year and then came to Madison where he established a shoe store on Webster street. For twenty years Mr. Gallagher continued in the shoe business and later went into the grocery business. For the past few years he has been dealing in real estate in a small way. Mr. Gallagher is the owner of considerable improved real estate in the city. Together with his son-in-law Jno. W. Salter. he has just completed one of the most modern and up-to-date flat buildings in Madison. This is situated at 12 and 14 Webster street and contains six five and six-room flats, all square, finished with hard wood floors, furnished with steam heat, electric lights, etc. Another flat building facing on Hamilton and Webster streets con- tains six four, five and six-room flats, finished the same as the new flat except as to heating. He also owns a rooming-house at 334 W. Main street ; his home residence at 114 North Hamilton street ; two houses on Baldwin street, 205 ; three full lots ; one house on East Dayton street; also the California Fruit store, a three

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story building ; five lots on the bay where the new park is being made ; a lot on Wingra Heights, and twelve acres near the fair grounds. All the Gallaghers have been and are stanch Repub- licans, and although James Gallagher has never been an aspirant for office, he has always worked hard for the success of his party. He is a member of the Congregational church of Madison. On October 26. 1857 he married Jane, daughter of William H. and Ann (Jackson) Hartley. Mr. and Mrs. Hartley were natives of Yorkshire, England, and came to Westport, this county, in 1850. Although Mr. Hartley had been a brewer and later a sailor in the British navy, he took up farming with great success when he came to this country. Both he and his wife died on their Westport farm. They had three children.Jane, (Mrs. Gallagher). William H. and Mary, deceased. James and Jane Gallagher have had eight child- ren, only three of whom are now living: William H., living at home and engaged in the real estate business with his father : Jennie A., the wife of John W. Solter of Unity, Wis .; and Arthur J .. employed in the postoffice at Madison. All of the children were educated in the Madison schools. Mr. Gallagher was a member of the old Fire Company. No. 1, of Madison. Both the sons are Elks and Knights of Pythias. Not many years ago it was a com- mon belief that "Jim" Gallagher knew everybody in Dane county.

Ira Garfoot has been a resident of Cross Plains township from the time of his birth and is now numbered among the prosperous farmers and popular citizens of this section of the county, being a representative of the third generation of his family in Dane county. He was born on the old homestead farm, March 31, 1867, and is a son of John and Emily (Simpson) Garfoot, both of whom were born in Leicestershire, England, and both of whom came with their respective parents to America. John Garfoot was a son of Will- iam and Mary (Busler) Garfoot, and the family settled in Cross Plains township, this county, about 1855. William Garfoot pur- chased eighty acres of wild land. in section 20, and reclaimed a good farm before his death, both he and his wife passing the closing years of their lives in the village of Black Earth. They became the parents of eight children, of whom four are living. Elizabeth, Sarah and William reside in Black Earth township, and Henry in Mount Horeb, Blue Mounds township. John Garfoot, father of the subject of this sketch remained with his parents until he had reached the age of seventeen years, when he enlisted in the Thir- tieth Wisconsin, Company C. Upon returning he engaged in farming on his own responsibility, becoming one of the progressive

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farmers and highly esteemed citizens of his county and continuing to reside on his homestead farm, in sections 8 and 9, this township, until his death, which occurred March 31, 1900, his cherished and devoted wife having been summoned into eternal rest April 17, 1885. Their marriage was solemnized in this county and both were com- municants of the Protestant Episcopal church; his political alle- gience was given to the Republican party and he always took a lively interest in local affairs of a public nature. Concerning the nine children in the family the folowing brief entry is consistently made: Ira, whose name initiates this article. is the eldest; Eva is the wife of William H. Britt, of Mount Horeb, this county ; Wil- liam is a farmer in Roberts county, So. Dakota ; Alva is engaged in farming in Middleton township; Ralph follows the same vocation in Iowa county, Wisconsin; Addie is the wife of William Danz, of Mazomanie township; May E. (Garfoot) Higgins resides in Mazomanie ; Charles and George remain on the old homestead farm. Ira Garfoot was educated in the public schools of his native town- ship and continued to be associated in the work of the home farm until he had attained the age of twenty-five years, when, in 1892, he purchased his present farm, of one hundred and twenty acres, in section 8, Cross Plains township, adjoining the old home place of his honored father. He has made many improvements on the farm and is careful and progressive in his carrying on of all departments of the farm work, so that he has been eminently successful in his operations, having given no little attention to the dairy business in connection with general agricultural work. In politics he is inde- pendent of strict partisan lines, but the esteem in which he is held in the community is indicated in the various offices in which he has been called upon to serve. He is one of the supervisors of his town- ship, having been incumbent of this office for the past three years, was clerk of his school district six years, and has held other minor . offices. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Modern Woodmen of America, and is distinctively popular in both business and social circles in his home town- ship and county. March 26, 1892, Mr. Garfoot was united in mar- riage to Miss Anna Belle Howery, who was born and reared in this township, being a daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth (Carden) Howery, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Wiscon- sin. Mrs. Garfoot died February 5, 1905, and is survived by two children,-Gladys and Earl.

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Albert Francis Garvoille, of Belleville, is a native of France, born August 17, 1861. His parents were Xavier and Marie (Carteron) Garvoille, both French. Mr. Garvoillle was brought up on a farm and as a young man served in the French army ; he came to America before the rest of the family and worked in the vicinity of Belleville. He enlisted and took part in the Civil War, serving until its close ; he then returned to Montrose township, and engaged in farming on the place where Joel Ramer now resides, and afterward bought land in section 23. Mrs. Garvoille with the children came to Wis- consin in 1862, when the subject of this sketch was about one year old. In 1874, the family removed to Clay county, Nebraska, where they took up land and engaged again in farming, remaining three years. The total destruction of their crops by the grasshoppers for two successive years caused their removal to Kansas where they remained one year, but finding the climate unhealthful, they returned to their early home in Wisconsin, occupying the farm where the father now resides. Albert F. Garvoille is the second in a family of eight children ; the others are Victor, of Belleville; Mil- lie, at home ; Olampe, of Oregon ; Euphemie, married Alfred Peller, of Sauk; Julia, married Paul Begey, of Muscatine, Iowa; Louis, at home; Mary, married John King, of Brooklyn. Mr. A. F. Garvoille received his education in the public schools of Nebraska and Kansas. He began life for himself at the age of twenty-one, working by the month; he worked on the university farm at Madison from 1891 to 1893, under the superintendence of Professor Henry, and after leaving there rented a farm in the town of Montrose for seven years. In 1899 he was the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of the best land in the township, which he runs for general farming, stock raising and dairying. He was married in November, 1892, to Miss Margaret Tierney, of Madison, who was, before her marriage a teacher of Dane county. To this union have been born four child- ren, Leo, the oldest, died in infancy ; Eleanor, born January 10, 1896; Albert John, born September 23, 1898, Gordon, born May 5, 1902. Mr. Garvoille has always been a stanch Republican, casting his first vote for James G. Blaine, in 1884; he is at present the Re- publican chairman of the town of Montrose. He is a member of the Catholic church, of the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin, and of the M. W. A.

Albert W. Gaston, one of the well known farmers and popular citizens of Cottage Grove township, has been a resident of Dane county during the major portion of his life and is a scion of one of

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its pioneer families. He was born in the village of Saline, Washte- naw county, Michigan, November 11, 1835, this being before that state had been admitted to the Union. He is a son of Albert and Eliza Ann Gaston, the former of whom was born in Massachu- setts and the latter in the state of New York, from which latter state they immigrated to Michigan and thence to Wisconsin, having been numbered among the early settlers of Cottage Grove township, Dane county. Here the father took up government land, and the old homestead is the farm upon which the subject of this sketch now resides and which he owns. Albert W. Gaston was nine years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Dane county, and he was reared to the invigorating discipline of the pioneer farm, while he attended the somewhat primitive district schools when opportu- nity presented. He remained at the parental home until he was about twenty-five years of age, when he purchased a farm in Ore- gon township, where he remained about eight years, at the expi- ration or which his father deeded him eighty acres adjoining the old homestead. On this farm he was engaged in agricultural pursuits about twelve years, in the meanwhile making many improvements on the place, and he then sold the property and engaged in the liv- ery business in the city of Madison, his headquarters being what is known as the old Hayden barn, on East Washington avenue. Two years later he disposed of his stock and business and returned to the old homestead farm, where he has ever since resided. Mr. Gaston is one of the stanch adherents of the Republican party in his township, but has never been an aspirant for public office. He is a member of the Presbyterian church. December 14, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Ann Smith, who was born January 24, 1845, being a daughter of Matthew and Ann Smith, at that time residents of Oregon township. Mrs. Gaston is de- ceased, being survived by one son, Albert A., who now resides in Madison.

Peter Gauer, chief engineer of the waterworks pumping station, first saw the light of day in Alsace-Lorraine, France (since 1871 a part of Germany), on April 14, 1855. His parents, Peter and Bar- bara (Grebille) Gauer, both natives of Lorraine, came to the United States in 1873, settling in Milwaukee. The father had been a shoemaker in his native land but after his arrival in this country led a retired life. He died in 1874 at the age of sixty-four. The mother died sixteen years later in her seventy-fourth year. Both parents were members of the Catholic church. Of their eleven

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children four are still living. John and J. N. are residents of Mil- waukee and Catherine, the widow of William Anyotte, makes her home in the same city. Peter Gauer received his education and learned the machinests' trade in his native country. In 1873 he came to this country with his parents and entered the employ of a furniture firm in Milwaukee as fireman. He remained with this concern some three years. becoming engineer after the first six months' service. He then became foreman of a pipe-laying gang for the Milwaukee steam supply company, a company which sup- plied steam for heating and power to residences and business houses. . The company had thirty-three boilers in operation, each supplying over one hundred horse-power. When the pipe-laying was done he entered the works as foreman of the firemen and six months later was promoted to the position of engineer. The con- cern became insolvent after a few months and Mr. Gauer for the next thirty months was in the employ of E. P. Allis engine works. In 1883 the Hoffman & Billings company entered into a contract with the city of Madison to fit out the water works. The contract stipulated that the company was to supply an engineer for the first year of operation and Mr. Gauer was selected by the company to fill the position. At the end of a year Mr. Gauer was offered per- manent employment as waterworks engineer by the board of water commissioners, and accepted. That he has filled the position effi- ciently and well is manifested by his continuous service of some twenty-three years. In April, 1882, he was married to Miss Helen Scheithauer, a native of Milwaukee and a daughter of Jacob and Helen (Biegel) Scheithauer. Jacob Scheithauer died at the age of forty-five in 1873. His widow is still a resident of the Cream City. The marriage of Mr. Gauer has been blessed with five children. Helen Carolina is the wife of Charles L. Van Arsdale of Chicago. Julius Peter is in the employ of the Allis-Chalmers company of Mil- waukee and is engineer of a machinery erecting gang. He seems to have inherited much of the skill and ingenuity of his father as he is making a great success of his work. Paul George is a student at the Wisconsin Academy in Madison. The other two children are Ferdinand Joseph, attending the public schools, and Edward August. The family are members of the St. Patrick Catholic church. Mr. Gauer is also a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and of the National Association of Stationary Engineers, of which organization he has served as president for five years.

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A model citizen and skillful engineer, he well merits the esteem and respect which the community holds for him.

William M. Gay has resided on his present beautiful farm, in sec- tion 4, Blooming Grove township, since 1868, while he has made his home in the county the greater portion of the time since 1856, having been the first of the name in the county, where now are to be found several families bearing the cognomen. Mr. Gay was born in what was then known as Log City, in Knox county, Illin- ois, August 30, 1838, and is a son of Joseph and Maria (Rhodes) Gay, the former of whom was born in Addison county, Vermont, and the latter in Chittenden county, that state. The respective families were founded in New England in the colonial era of our national history. The parents were numbered among the pioneers of Illinois, where they continued to reside until death, honored by all who knew them. William M. was reared in his native county, and his early educational advantages were those afforded in the com mon schools of the locality and period. He early manifested a dis- tinctive proclivity for the work of a salesman, his ability in the line being. perhaps, an inherent endowment, characteristic of so many of those who have emanated from good old New England and have justified the title of Yankee, the most significant of all American pseudonyms of the sort. Suffice it to say that for many years he followed the vocation of a salesman, in various lines, and in this con- nection he made his first visit to Madison, Wisconsin, July 2, 1856, while thereafter he made frequent sojourns in the capital city, which was then but a small village. In 1868 he purchased his pres- ent beautiful farm, of one hundred and sixty acres, and took up his permanent residence in Dane county. He developed and improved the place and continued to give his personal attention to its opera- tion until very recent years. He is now living essentially retired. after long years of indefatigable and successful enterprise as a farmer and stock-grower, and still resides on his farm. He has been a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party from the time of its organization, but has never sought official prefer- ment. His family belong to the Congregational church. Septem- ber 29, 1875, Mr. Gay was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Hiestand, daughter of Jacob R. and Mary A. (Stutesman) Hies- tand, of Blooming Grove township. Her father is deceased and a memorial tribute to him is entered on another page of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Gay became the parents of five children, all of whom are living except the second, Francis Joseph, who was born Janu-

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ary. 22, 1878, and died in 1885. The names of the living children are here entered, with respective dates of birth: Harry Hiestand, July 17, 1876; Mary E., October 18, 1880; Dellgracia Barbara, December 17, 1884 ; and Arthur William, November 24, 1886.

Era Hall Gerard is a successful business man and popular citizen · of Stoughton, is one of the prominent members of the Masonic fraternity in this part of the state, and is well entitled to recogni- tion in this history. He is engaged in the lumber business in Stoughton, where he also manufactures tobacco boxes. Mr. Gerard was born in the village of Sparta, Elgin county, Ontario, Canada, March 9, 1850, and is a son of Norman and Jane (Brown) Gerard; the former was born in the state of New York, his ances- tors being Friends, and the latter, of Irish descent, in the province of Ontario, Canada. The parents came to Wisconsin as pioneers in 1850, settling in Omro, Winnebago county, where the father was engaged in lumbering for twenty-two years, assisting materially in the developing of the great lumber industry of the state. He then removed to Grand Rapids, this state, where he continued in the same line of enterprise for thirteen years, since which time he has lived retired and made his home with the subject of this sketch, in Stoughton. Era H. Gerard was reared to manhood in Wisconsin and early became familiar with the details of the lumbering busi- ness. He was afforded a good common-school education, and he continued to be associated with his father's business until 1879, when he located in Webster City, Iowa, where he established him- self in the retail lumber business. In 1880 he removed to Austin, Minnesota, where he was engaged in the same business for the en- suing three years, at the expiration of which he returned to Wis- consin, taking up his residence in Stoughton in May, 1885. Here he has built up a large and prosperous retail lumber trade, having a well-equipped plant. Mr. Gerard is a stanch Republican in his po- litical allegience, and his wife is a member of the First Baptist church of Stoughton. He is affiliated with Kegonsa Lodge, No. 73, Free and Accepted Masons, and January 3, 1906, he was installed as it's secretary an office to which he has been elected for twenty-one consecutive terms. He is also identified with Madison Chapter, No. 4, Royal Arch Masons; Robert McCoy Commandery, No. 3, Knights Templar ; and has attained to the thirty-second degree of Scot- tish Rite Masonry, being a member of the Wisconsin Consistory, of Milwaukee, and is also affiliated with the adjunct organizations of the time-honored fraternity,-the Order of the Eastern Star and the An-

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cient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. April 28, 1872. Mr. Gerard was united in marrage to Miss Harriet Grout, daughter of Ebenezer and Triphona (Stone) Grout, residents of Ontario, Canada. Mr. and Mrs. Gerard have three adopted children, Ora . B., Milo C. and Marjory. Ora B. is now the wife of William Dear- born.

Charles Martin Gest was born in the town of Windsor and for some years was employed as a railroad fireman but in recent years has been occupied with farming in his native township, where he owns a good farm of sixty-four acres. His parents, Charles and Frederika Gest, were natives of Germany and early settlers of Dane county, where they arrived in 1851. They purchased a farm in the township of Windsor and made it their permanent home. Mrs. Gest died in 1822 and her husband in 1901. Their family con- sisted of six children, of whom all but one are living. After his wife's death Mr. Gest married again, his wife being Mrs. Dora Dorchlag, whose present home is in Madison. The family was identified with the Lutheran church. Charles Martin Gest was born on the farm in Windsor, October 24, 1859, attended school in De Forest and after two years of railroad work purchased a farm and has given special attention to stock-raising. His Norman Percheron horses, short-horned cattie and Shropshire sheep all show the skill with which they are bred and cared for. The fine modern buildings on the premises have been all erected by Mr. Gest since he bought the farm. Mr. Gest is in- dependent in his political beliefs but active in the interests of the community. November 29, 1883, he married Miss Anna Rade- macher, who was born in Windsor, April 1, 1863, daughter of Otto and Elizabeth (Thien) Rodemacher, who came from Germany to Dane county in 1851. Mr. Rodemacher died in 1893 and his widow lives in East Bristol, Wis. Three of their five children are living. Mr. and Mrs. Rodemacher were members of the Roman Catholic church, as is also their daughter Anna and her family. Mr. and Mrs. Gest have one daughter, Elizabeth, born June 27, 1899, and two adopted sons, Raymond, and Charlie, aged respectively eleven and nine years. Mr. Gest is a member of the Brotherhood of America.

Robert B. Gibbons, the genial postmaster at Cottage Grove and one of the leading citizens of that community, is a native of Canada, having been born at Marimache, New Brunswick, on November 19, 1845. He is a son of John and Eunice (Sommers) Gibbons. John Gibbons was born in Ireland in 1810, and after his father's

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death in 1819, came to the province of New Brunswick with his mother, where he continued to reside until 1854. Eunice Sommers was born in Connecticut on November 20, 1813, her ancestry dating far back in New England history. Her paternal grandfather was a soldier in the Continental army during the Revolutionary War. The Sommers family removed from Connecticut to New Brunswick early in the century and it was here that the daughter Eunice met and be- came the wife of John Gibbons. By this union there were seven sons and three daughters born. James, the eldest, enlisted Decem- ber 1, 1862, in Company H, Third Wisconsin Cavalry as a private and received an honorable discharge when the regiment was mus- tered out September 8, 1865. His death occurred in 1897. John H. enlisted November 22, 1861, in the Eighth Battery, Wisconsin Light Artillery, and was mustered out January 17, 1865. He died August 23, 1905. Charles became an immigrant to California in 1859; he died in Butte, Montana, several years later. Phoebe Ann became the mother of Oliver R. Mather. She passed away several years ago. Isabella R., now Mrs. Malcolm Davidson, resides in Sun Prairie. Henry enlisted August 14, 1862, in Com- pany G. Twenty-ninth Wisconsin Infantry and with his regiment was mustered out June 22, 1865. His death occurred in Minnesota, Edmund A. enlisted at the same time and in the same company as did his brother Henry, and on September 27, 1864, was promoted to be second lieutenant of Company I, First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery. As such he was mustered out June 26, 1865. His present residence is Mankato, Minn. The eighth member of the family in the order of age was Robert B., the subject of this sketch. Eunice J., the third daughter. is the wife of I. U. Flannagan of Sun Prairie. George A., the youngest, is now in the western states. John Gib- bons removed his family from Canada to Dane county in October, 1854, and located in the village of Sun Prairie. There he remained the first winter and then purchased a farm of some two hundred acres in the town of Bristol where he remained until 1864, remov- ing thence to Sun Prairie again. Following the example of his sons, on May 16, 1864, he enlisted in Company D, of the Fortieth Wisconsin Infantry and was mustered out just four months later. At the time of his enrollment in the Union army he was a clerk in the office of the secretary of state in Madison. and after his discharge from the army he returned to the same work. He was twice elected on the Republican ticket as register of deeds of Dane county and at the time of

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History of Dane County, Biographical and Genealogical, Part 31

Author: Keyes, Elisha W. (Elisha Williams), 1828-1910 Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Madison, Wi. : Western Historical Association Number of Pages: 998

Author: Keyes, Elisha W. (Elisha Williams), 1828-1910
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Madison, Wi. : Western Historical Association
Number of Pages: 998