USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth county, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
386
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
James Sanford, George, Joseph, Oliver H., and Peter Smith, Henry Grover Smith ( 1810-). Nathaniel C. Smith ( 1796-1878). Isaac Spicer. Samuel Stew- art, Rial H. Thomas, Russell Thurber, Jr., Silas J. Weaver, Alden. Daniel Tenney. Joseph R .. and William Wilkins-four brothers, or, father and three sons.
Elijah Belding, also named among settlers of Darien. married. April IS, 1839. Mary, daughter of Thomas James and Dorcas Perry.
Perkins Silver Childs ( 1811-1848) left widow Lydia A. ( 1818-1874). David Christie (1812-1893) married Jane Stewart ( 1822-1896). Joseph Compton (1808-1895) married Lucina (1806-1868), a sister of Kinner Hollister.
Charles Claxton ( 1817-1902). son of John Claxton and Mary Turner, married in 1837 at London, Mary Ann ( 1813-1884). daughter of Benjamin and Martha Quinton. They came in 1845 to section 9. He left a widow named Laura A. He had two daughters : Mary Ann, wife of Robert Knilans, and Martha M., wife of Josephtis Borst.
Warren Congdon ( 1820-) came from Rhode Island to section 26. He married, August 20, 1845, Mary Ann Kenyon. In 1860 they were of Delavan village.
Christopher J. Dockstader ( 1810-1901) married Eliza Ann Nelson ( 1814-).
Lewis John Higby was in 1837 for a short time a partner with the Rock- wells in the settlement of Elkhorn. He bought land in section 5. Richmond, but he may never have left Milwaukee.
Kinner Hollister ( 1783-1850) was son of Isaac Hollister and Catharine Newcomb. In 1805 he married Mary, daughter of Lemuel Winchell. Two sons, Cyrenus Newcomb and Lemtiel, came to Darien.
James Gorham Humphrey ( 1806-1869) married Adeline Barber. He was grandson of Ebenezer Humphrey and Lucy Robbins, and son of Joseph ( 1782-1864) and wife Hannah Enos. Joseph died at Whitewater.
Alvah Beecher Johnson and Lyman Jones were settlers in Darien.
Benjamin, Jonathan and Stephen, with Samuel Loomer of Lagrange. were brothers. Joseph Henry Loomer was son of Benjamin and Eunice. Leonard Loomer married his uncle Jonathan's daughter Asenath. He was a son of Stephen. All these were born in Nova Scotia. and came early to Wisconsin.
John Rand ( 1819-1808) was son of Benjamin and Sarah. He married Sarah S. daughter of Benjamin and Eunice Loomer.
387
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Isaac Spicer ( 1815-1888) married, August 3. 1846. Mary Alice, daughter of Samuel Loomer.
Rial H. Thomas ( 1821-1904) married Mary ( 1823-1898), daughter of Josiah Jackson and Anna Case. He afterward bought a farm in section 8. Sugar Creek, near Millard.
Silas J. Weaver ( 1807-1864) and wife Sarah Jackson ( 1809-1865) came to section 24. He left sons, themselves now old citizens.
The Nova Scotian settlers in the northwestern quarter of the county formed a somewhat noteworthy group. They were all of New England or- igin, and all born in or near Cornwallis. They chose good farms and made them profitable : they were very much intermarried and their other alliances have related them widely : and their sons and grandsons were not wanting in time of war. Their best known family names are Bigelow, Ells, Loomer, Newcomb. Rand and Weaver. The late Simon Newcomb, one of the most eminent of modern astronomers, was of Nova Scotian birth, and must have had kindred of some not remote degree of cousinship in the county.
In 1755 about seven thousand French inhabitants about the basin of Minas, near the head of the bay of Fundy. were deported and their homes made public domain. In 1760 and for a few years thereafter men and fami- lies to the number of about three thousand six hundred left Connecticut and eastern Long Island to make the depeopled province an English-speaking and Protestant colony; and thus Grand Pré and its neighborhood became Corn- wallis, Horton, and Aylesford, in the county of Kings. The land-hungry grandchildren of these pioneers began within fifty years their westward move- ment, by way of New Brunswick and New England, and their trail now long ago reached the Pacific coast. where it turned northward and southward, toward Alaska and Mexican California. Evangeline Land never, as far as known, became the home of the Tory exiles of the closing years of the Amer- ican Revolution, many of whom went without their families to Halifax or its vicinity and some of whom returned twenty or more years later.
A Methodist society was formed at Utter's Corner in 1852, of which little is now known. Another society was formed at Richmond centre about 1854. Its church was built in 1872. About that time, or earlier, its pastor was Ira S. Eldredge, after whom, with some omissions, perhaps, were Charles E. Goldthorp in 1875: Thomas Potter, 1878; David O Sanborn, 1883 : William Thomas Millar. 1884: Robert Davidson, 1890; Thomas H. Garvin, 1891 ; Alfred Pomfret, 1892; John Carson Lang, 1895; William Dawson, 1898; Isaac Johnson, 1899: John Milton Judy, 1901. It is not unlikely that the pastors at Heart Prairie supplied some of the vacancies.
388
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Richmond contains 22,538 acres of land, valued at $1,339,600. Average value, $59.43 per acre. The crrop acreage for 1910 was : Barley, 2,999; corn 3.399; hay, 2.770: oats, 1,669; orchard, 57: potatoes, 76; rye, 25 : timber, 2.424; wheat. 59. Of live stock were 2,273 cattle, $59.100; 1,300 hogs, $13.000: 463 horses. $35.900 : 390 sheep, $1,200.
At the several federal censuses the population of the town was: 1850, 744: 1860, 1,016: 1870, 1.017: 1880, 882 : 1890, 799: 1900, 770; 1910, 685. There is a noticeable Richmond element in the population of the city of Dela- van. as well as in the western states.
There are six school districts wholly within the town, a joint district with Sugar Creek, and one with Whitewater.
The first election was held April 5, 1842, at the house of Perkins Silver Childs, which then did duty as a tavern, and town officers were chosen.
CHAIRMEN OF BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
John Teetshorn 1842-'47
Andrew J. Stewart 1882
Thomas James 1843-4 E
Amos Ives 1883-4
James Cotter 1845-6
Stephen II. Smith, Jr. 1885
John A. Bowen 1848
Frank Mitchell 1886-7
Anderson Whiting 1849-50, '56-9
William H. Stewart 1 889-90
Jacob M. Fish 1851-2
John Piper 1891-2
Joseph E. Irish 1853
Austin R. Langley 1893-5
Joseph Langworthy 1854
Henry H. Calkins 1 896-7
Edwin Mortimer Rice 1855
John W. Delaney
1898-1901
Elisha Hulce 1861. '63, 68-9
Cyrus H. Taylor
-1902-4
William Patterson 1862
Henry Byrne 1905. '08
George Brown 1864-5. '70
John M. Evans 1866-7
Benjamin B. Freeman 1871-2
William Allen Knilans 1873-4
76. 78-81
ASSOCIATE SUPERVISORS,
Varnum Arnold 1861.'64-5. '67
George Brown 1860, '68-9
John M. Balfour 1849
Joseph H. Brown 1 866
Thomas Bingham 1871
William Henry Calkins 1895
Richard Booker
1878
David A. Christie 1851
Frederick Brotz
I
I J
J
1909
Andrew Clark 1855
1
1
J
Robert J. Harris -- 906-7
Edgar M. Davis 1909-10
William L. Teetshorn 1911-12
389
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Benjamin Clark 1870-I
John D. Clark 1910 1
William Mack
1869
Ammett E. Mason
I862
Frank Mitchell 1886 1 1
Joseph C. Mitchell 1882, '99 1
Edgar M. Davis 1905-7
Christopher J. Dockstader 1852
Byron Dunbar 1889
Solomon Finch
1858-9. '63
Benjamin B. Freeman
1873
Frank A. Gage
1898
Irving H. Gage 1
1900
1
Luther Hadley
1 888-9
1
Joseph Hall 1847 1 I 1
Robert J. Harris 1
1902-4
Frederick Harrison
1893-4
Morris Fant Hawes
1844
I
James Hennessy
-1874
1
Emory C. Holbrook
1890-I
John Holbrook
1864
Manly Holbrook
1856-7
Elisha Hulce
1849, 53-4
Stillman A. Hulce
1892-3
1
1
Joseph Humphrey 1 I
1842-4
Joseph E. Irish
1850
1
Amos Ives
1878-80
George E. James 1857
Thomas Perry James __ 1847, '53, '81
Thomas O. Johnson
1895-6, 1900
Orrin Keech
IQUI-12
George G. Keith
1909
James G. Kestol
1877. '79
Horace B. Kinne
1845
1
1
Horatio N. Lawrence
1858-9
Cornelius Low
1856
Chester Lyman
1853
Duncan McFarland
1908
George McFarland
1872-3, '83
Robert Moore 1851 I 1 1
Sylvester Moore
1848
1
Albert H. Morse
I862, '65-6
Charles M. Morse 1894
Oliver H. Oleson 1 890,
1905-7, IO-TI
Oliver Oslock
1881
William Patterson
1842-3
John Pemberton
1862-3, '67
Emil Pinnow
190I
I
1
1
John Piper 1887-8 i
Lewis Saxe
1876
1
I
1
Cyrus H. Searles
1884-5
I
Joseph Smith
1875
1
Oliver H. Smith
1854-5
1
Sidney L. Smith
1870
Stephen H. Smith
1850. '60-I
Julius Steenson
1875
1
1
Arthur Stewart
845-6
I
1
James M. Stewart
1
1896-7
William H. Stewart
1885-6
Henry A. Stone
1868, '82
August Stork
1902-4. '08, '12
George Sturtevant
1872
Cyrus H. Taylor
1887
William R. Taylor
1876-7. '79
Horatio N. Teetshorn
1846
Louis Teetshorn
1880, '84
William L. Teetshorn
1899
Rial H. Thomas.
891-2
Eugene Webber
1897-8
Bernard Conry I90I 1 1
Julius H. Converse 1
1874
James Cotter
1848
I
F
1 I
1 1
390
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
TOWN CLERKS.
Asa Congdon 1842-4
Andrew Stewart
I865-6
John A. Bowen I845-6
Benjamin Clark 1867
Jacob M. Fish 1847-8
Frank Mitchell 1872-4, '84-5
John Langley 1849, '60-2
Stephen H. Smith, Jr
.1875, 77.
William Fish 1850, 52-3
'79. '82
Stephen H. Smith 1851.'57
Joseph Mitchell 1876
Erastus Porter 1854-5
Robert Knilans
1878, '80-1, '83
Benjamin H. Stark 1856
AAmbrose B. Hare
1 886-8
John M. Evans ___ '58-9, '63-4. 68-71
George Myron Holbrook __ 1889-1912
TOWN TREASURERS.
Perkins Silver Childs 1842-3
George Newberry
1876
James Cotter 1844, '51-2
Austin R. Langley
1878, '80
Robert Moore 1845-6
S. Markham Calkins
1879
Simeon W. Newberry 1847
Ole Peterson
1881-2
Curtis Bellows
1 848
Irving A. Gage
1
1883-4
Byron Dunbar
1885
William Henry Calkins
1 886
John M. Clark 1 1 1854
George Brown 1855 I
Abram G. Low 1856 1
AAlbert II. Morse 1
1857. 62
John Pemberton 1 1 I
1858-9
Henry O. Crumb
1 I 1860-1 I
John H. Campbell
1893-4
Raymond W. Pemberton
1895
William J. Delaney
1896
Edgar M. Davis 1897
Andrew Williamson
1898
Cornelius Shanahan
1899
Bert Keith
1901
Harry 11. Osborne 1902 J I
Minor Knilans 1 1 1903
Frederick Goodger 1
I
1
1904
Robert Knilans 1872-3
Stillman A. Hulce
_1890
Andrew P. Peterson
1891
Chauncey H. Lawrence
1892
Arthur Bowers 1863 1
Joseph Smith 1864
J. 11. Jones 1865
Henry A. Stone 1
1866
Elisha E. Sholes I
1867
Sidney L. Smith 1868
Benjamin Clark 1869
Julius D. Spickerman 1870, 77
Calvin Graham Sperry 1871. 74-5
I George Crumb 1905
Edwin Mortimer Rice 1849
William Fish 1850 I I
George E. James 1853
George Myron Holbrook
1887
Frank A. Gage.
1 888
Charles Knilans
1889-1900
I 1
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
391
Charles Staller 1906
William Stork 1910 1
George Goodger
1907-8
Alfred Thompson
I9II
Frank Kemmett - 1909
H. M. Anderson 1
1912
JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.
Andrew Amble 1 890-4
George Brown 1862-5
Menzo W. Chapman 1872-3
Amos Ives 1884-5
Thomas O. Johnson 1903-4
Joseph B. Kestol 1897-8
Charles H. Lawrence. 1893-5
Henry D. Locke_1877-9, '82-3. '88-91 Silas B. Lowe. 1875-6
James Conley 1872-3, '83-4
William Dasson 1899-1900
Julius Dewitt Spickerman_1880, '82-3
Albert B. Gage_1885-8. 91-2, 97-1912
Andrew J. Stewart
1893-4, '96-7
Chauncey D. Gage 1886-97
Ray W. Taylor 1898, 1904
Roswell H. Gage 1877
Orrin L. West.
1865-70
Arthur Gransee
1907-8
Joseph Hall 1859-62
James Harder
1874-5
Edgar A. Holbrook 1898-9
George Cheesebro 1875-6
John D. Clark 1905-8
Charles Claxton 1860-3,
71-4, '76-87, '89
.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
TOWN OF SHARON.
Town I north, range 15 east, was set off from older Delavan, March 21, 1843, and was named from the town of Sharon in Schoharie county, New York. Next westward is Clinton, Rock county, and southward are Chemung and Leroy, in Illinois. As a whole the town is one of the highest above sea- level in the county, but with noticeable difference between highest and lowest ground. Small branches of Turtle creek drain the northern and western sides of the town, and the Piskasaw comes into section 24 from Walworth, runs across sections 25 and 36 to find its way across McHenry and Boone counties to the Rock. Two small mill-powers were once afforded by the south branch of the Turtle. in sections 6 and 7. Generally, the town compares favorably with the finest towns of the county as to the fertility of its soil. Its timber supply, mostly burr oak, was never great, though locally useful.
The land area of Sharon is 22.498 acres. Crop acreages for 1910 were : Barley, 2,679 : beets, 20: corn. 4,561 ; hay, 3,384 ; oats, 2,281 ; orchard, 70; po- tatoes, 116; rye, 58; timber. 962 ; wheat, 71. Returns and value of live stock : 3,560 cattle, $89,000: 1.555 hogs, $16,800; 942 horses, $65,900; 2 mules, $200; 500 sheep. $1.500. Value of land with improvements $2.108,600 or $93.72 per acre : of village property $720,200.
Population of the town, at the several federal enumerations : 1850. 1, 169; 1860, 1,681 : 1870, 1,865 ; 1880, 1,956; 1890, 1.160: 1900. 1,127 ; 1910, 1,050.
John Reader came late in 1836 to section 27 and broke ground in the spring of 1837. In the fall he brought his wife and child from the east, but settled on section 18 of Walworth. Other early comers were Myron Aucham- paugh to section 10; James E. Bell. 31 ; David J. Best, 17; John Billings, 9: Dearborn Blake, 28: Henry A. and Isaac R. Case, 14; Augustus Conder, 26; John Kirby, 33 ; Gideon Langdon, 13 ; Darius B. Mason, 13 ; James McConkey. 1: E. C. L. Reynolds, 36; Alan Alonzo Southard. 33: John H. Topping. 2: Win. D. Van Nostrand. 33: Michael Van Winter, 17: William Van Wormer, 31.
Buyers at the land office were Pliny Allen, sections 6, 31 ; William P. Al- len, 30; John Auchampaugh, 9: James Barnes, 32; Valentine Bassert, 27; Ralph Bentley, 35; Harvey Birchard, 27; James Boorman. 12, 13: Philander
393
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Brainard, 30: Joseph Carey, 6, 22: William Case, 12, 14: Cyrus Chapman, 31 ; George and Philip Clapper. 7. 18; George Cline, 15; Stephen _\. Corey, 19; James Cox, 8; Henry Amirous Darrow, 5 : Ira Davis, 32; Edmund Daws, I, 12: Peter Daws. I : Henry Dennis, 31 ; Giilbert L. Douglass, 34: Charles G. Everts, 9: Cyrus Farnsworth, 4; Thomas Featherstone, 24; Walter Flans- burg. 13 : David D. W. France, 8, 9; John France. 29; Isaac Freer, 34; Aaron Gile. 30: Elijah Gile, 20; Andrew J. Hanna, 3: Fulton Harvey. 36; John Brooks Hastings. 4: Henry S. Hawver, 35 : James Herron, Jr., 29: Manning R. Hoard, 26: Erastus Park Jones, 3: Peter Kolb, 15: William Kitely, 9: David W. Larkin, 20: Zebulon Taylor Lee, 28: Hugh Long, 3. 14: Elisha McCollister. 32: Jolin Malley, 24; Albin Matteson. 24: John J. Mereness. 3: Philip Merrill, 19: Theron Miner. 5. 6. 7 : Robert Kennedy Morris, 26, 27. 28; Martin O'Connor, 6: Lemuel Ormsby, 8; Eli and William Pramer. 19; David Colwell. Reed. 36: Alvah Salisbury, 36; Dewitt C. Seaver, 9: Lyman H. Seaver. 28: Luther Schult. 36: Horace G. Smith, 36; Jedidiah Smith, 19: Nelson Story, 25: James W. Suidter, 27: Luke Taylor. 3: George Treat. 36; Gardner U'dell. 36: Martin Van Alstyne. 34, 35: Jolin V. Walker, 10: Nor- man Spencer Way. 5: Lewis Weeks, 23: John and Michael Weiss, 27; Wil- liam H. Wells, II : Cyrus L. Wilcox, 34; David Wilcox, 23, 30; John Wil- liams. 28: Marvin Wilson, 24: George Winter, 17: Robert Young, 13; Adamı Zimpaugh, II.
Pliny Allen ( 1788-1868). one of five brothers who founded Allen Grove, was not nearer than cousin, if related at all, to William P. Allen, who was son of John Allen, of Jefferson county. New York.
James Earle Bell married Chloe Electa Van Nostrand, June 6, 1841.
Dearborn Blake married Esther Van Ostrom, January 8, 1843.
James Cox married, December 11, 1858, Minerva, daughter of Alfred Viles and Thankful Norton.
Ira Davis (1805-1893) married Elizabeth A. Stevens ( 1820-1896).
Henry Dennis ( 1813-1897) married Margaret Smith ( 1820-1898).
Cyrus Farnsworth ( 1807-1895) was burned in his son's, Joseph M. Farnsworth's. house in Darien.
Thomas Featherstone ( 1816-1863) married Catherine Pramer, Novem- ber 3. 1844, and lived in Walworth, where he died.
Walter P. Flansburg ( 1816-1887) had wife Catharine ( 1819-1896).
William France ( 1808-1882) came in 1843 to South Grove with his wife, Elizabeth Kent.
James Herron ( 1792-1876) married Hannah Whitney ( 1791-1874). Both were of Washington county, New York.
394
WALWORTHI COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Manning R. Hoard (1818-1897), son of Manning and Prudentia, came from Allegany county, New York, in 1843 with David E., his brother. Man- ning R. married, November 30, 1845, Lydia Ann ( 1826-1898), daughter of Philip Burton and Nancy Quackenbush.
Peter Kolb ( 1809-1857) married Margaret ( 1822-1897), daughter of Friederich and Marie Bauer.
Albin Matteson (born 1813) married, first, Philena Stockwell; second, on Christmas day, 1845. Sarah, widow of Warren Matteson.
John Reader ( 1803-1878) came in 1824 to the States from Headcorn, Kent, England, with his wife Elizabeth Featherstone (1803-1868) ; late in 1836 to section 27. Sharon: a year later to section 18, Walworth; in 1864 to Delavan. He was a member of the Baptist society of Walworth and was known by his title of deacon.
James W. Suidter ( 1824-1872) was born at Middlebrook, New Jersey. His parents, Franz Xavier ( 1783-1867) and Antoinette (1785-1866), were born in Bavaria. His wife was Teresa Conder ( 1827-1911).
George Treat ( 1818-1882) was son of Oren Treat and Nancy Thomp- SON. His older ancestors were Thomas", Timothy5, Richard+, Thomas3, Richard2 1. He married Sarah C., daughter of Thomas and Lucinda Fos- ter. His brothers, Julius Allen and Thomas Nelson, and their cousin, Dr. Charles Ralph Treat, were also long of Sharon and, excepting T. Nelson, were buried there.
Martin Van Alstyne ( 1809-1884) and Rebecca Kline ( 1811-1879) were apparently among the last who were buried at the old cemetery, within the village.
Michael Weiss died August 12, 1880; George Winters, September 7, 1881: Adam Zimpaugh, May 27, 1867.
Michael Van Winters began business at Sharon Corners, in sections 13. 14. J. Jones built a tavern, and in 1843 Isaac Case became postmaster. The office was afterward named Elton, and was at last merged in the rural deliv- ery system-its mail supplied from Sharon.
South Grove, too, at sections 17, 20, for a time aimed at commercial su- premacy, without definite limit to its ambition. David J. Best built a store and began service as postmaster in 1845. A church was built and a cemetery was laid ont. When the line of railway from Chicago was determined through sections 34, 33. 32, 29. 30 the growth of these rival cities was checked by the foundation of a new village at the station in section 33.
395
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
ALLEN GROVE.
Pliny and Sidney Allen came from Rochester, New York, in 1844, and having reached the western border of the county in their search for a favor- able site on which to build a village of their own, they bought more than one thousand acres of land, mostly in sections I of Clinton, 6 of Sharon, and 31 of Darien, on the high ground west of the south branch of Turtle creek. In May, 1845. they came again with their brothers, Harvey and Philip, Jr., bringing also their families and three or four more, unrelated mechanics, sixty-five in all. They lodged at Darien the aged father and their sister and others not hardened to the work of chopping and building, quickly made ready their cabins, and Allen's Grove at once became a village. In July Philip Allen, Sr., died. In August a religious society was formed. The next year brought the eldest brother, Asa Keyes Allen, his son, Dr. Joseph C. Allen, and son-in-law, Ezra P. Teale, all from Ypsilanti. These two younger men built a store and stocked it with general goods to the amount of six thousand dollars. In that year Preston H. Allen was born, but it is not told who were his parents, whether he was a son or a grandson of one of the brothers; and in that year Preston W. Smith married Frances Schofield. Mary Wallingford taught the rudiments in a room over the store. In 1847 a public school house was built.
The village was formally platted in 1852, with Clinton street, its northern limit, lying along the Darien line. With the coming of the railway from Racine, in 1856, Sidney Allen platted his addition on the Darien side. The railway buildings were for some time at the foot of the hill (which rises quickly westward and southward), near the creek. The grade westward was found inconvenient for heavy freight trains, and after some years the station was removed nearly a mile westward, several rods beyond the county line. This did not of itself destroy the village prosperity, but it transferred the railway men's inconvenience to local passengers and shippers. As first sur- veyed. the Chicago & Northwestern company's line from Harvard to Janesville lay through or near Allen Grove; but, as it is told, the right of way through the large Allen domain was thought too costly. It is somewhat doubt- ful if that alone changed the route, for Clinton is on the natural nearly straight line from Harvard, through Sharon village, to Janesville, and on the whole the loss to Allen Grove has been a slight gain to travelers.
An academy was built in 1856. but little is now recalled of its story. Mr. Parks was the first principal and the last was Melzer Montague, who in 1870 became county superintendent of schools and the academy became a public
396
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
school of two grades. In 1909 a new building of white brick. at cost of three thousand dollars, replaced the old one.
The village as platted shows eighteen streets. Milwaukee street is a part of one of the territorial roads from Lake Michigan to Beloit. Union Park is a pretty square of three acres. The village site was well chosen and the Allens were not very illiberal proprietors, but their advantage in 1845 was lost in 1856 by the growth of Darien, 4.2 miles eastward, and of Clinton, 4.5 miles westward. As it was, a hotel, a few stores and shops, a mill. an academy, two churches, and a few hundred inhabitants made Allen Grove fair to look upon. It is not now a deserted village, and it has yet a postoffice at one of its two stores. This office was established in 1846, with Philip Allen as post- master. He has been followed by Aaron Budlong. Dr. John Dickson, Ezra P. Teale. Mrs. Eliza Wilkins, Edward D. Hall, and the latter's widow, Mrs. Har- riet A. ( Burns) Hall.
Sammuel B. Morse, with the help of Charles W. Morse, his father, of Kennebec county, Maine, built a steam sawmill at an early date and sold it in 1856 to Pier J. Anderson, who built a dam and equipped the mill for grind- ing. After some years of local usefulness it passed to successive owners, the records of whose several transfers fill considerable space. The mill's busi- ness, the mill itself, and the damn disappeared in turn.
In 1875 a freshet washed away the railway bridge and some rods of embankment, carrying along a few freight cars across the lower fields. Parts of this wreck are yet to be seen, nearly two miles down the stream.
Robert Pearson (or, by another account. Joseph Pierce ) built a saw- mill on the same creek, about two miles above, in section 7. Jesse Pramer made it a grist mill, which has long ago ended its work.
A few of the colonists met at Pliny Allen's house in 1845 and formed a Congregational society. Rev. Samuel Hopkins Thompson preached occa- sionally-out of doors in warm, dry weather. He came again as pastor in 1864-5. A church was built in 1852. As nearly as learned of the pastors. the first was Calvin Waterbury in 1849. The few later ones named were Benjamin Folts, 1853-4: Cornelius White, 1859: Ebenezer Putney Salmon, 1860-4: Albert M. Case, 1876: Luther Clapp, 1878-81. No later record is shown by the Year Book of the denomination. The church was probably supplied at times from Sharon and other places. The building was sold some years ago to the Modern Woodmen and was finally pulled down.
Rev. Hiram H. Hersey ( 1812-1884) ministered for a few years to the then small group of Methodists, and in 1858 organized them as a society. Their church was built in 1859. in which year Alexander Hall was their pastor,
397
WALWORTHI COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
after whom were Thomas White in 1860; William Averill, 1862: Cyrus Scammon, 1863; Rodman W. Bosworth, 1864; David Oliver Jones, 1868; Joseph Hayden Jenne, 1869; Asahel Moore, 1871; William H. Window (1814-1886) 1873; Thomas C. Wilson, 1875; William Darwin Amnes, 1878; Thomas Potter, 1881; Edward HI. Lugg, 1882; William R. Mellott, 1885; John W. Olmstead, 1886: Benjamin T. White, 1891 ; Frederick B. Sherwin, 1895: George W. Pratt. 1897: Isaac Johnson, 1898; Richard H. Jones, 1899: Thomas Sharpe, 1902; Samuel Lugg, 1904: Henry H. Kafer, 1905; Wilmer Evans Coffman, 1906: Charles J. R. Bulley, 190 -: Robert H. Simp- son, 1911. Jerome F. Tubbs was assigned in 1882, but did not come. Mr. Lugg stayed but a half year. Mr. Window was buried at Allen Grove. Local recollections as to dates vary slightly from each other and from conference reports. Memory, no doubt, has sometimes confused a temporary supply with a regular assignment.
The only resident lawyer mentioned was the senior Archibald Wood- ard, who was also active in other business ways. The local court was not always idle, and the hall of justice not seldom re-bellowed from its ceilings and walls the thunders of eminent counsel from Delavan and less known towns.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.