USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth county, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 17
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Among those who came to Walworth county when it was new and did their part in developing the same was the father of Oren E. Ladd, farmer of Sharon township. The subject was born here on August 30, 1878. He is the son of John and Miranda (Dodge) Ladd, natives of the state of New York, where they grew to maturity and were married, emigrating to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1844, the father buying a small farm in Sharon town- ship, which he later sold and bought another, thereby increasing his capital. He bought other land and prospered and at the time of his death, on January 30, 1892, he was the owner of two hundred and fifty acres, which he brought up to a high state of improvement and cultivation and which is now run by his son, Oren E., of this sketch, and owned by the latter's mother.
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The following children were born to John and Miranda Ladd: John. who lives at Williams Bay, this county; Esther E. lives at home ; Oren E., of this sketch; and Nathan Budlong, who lives in Austin, Texas.
Oren E. Ladd grew up on the home farm here and made himself useful about the place when he reached proper age. He received his education in the public schools of Sharon township and he has always lived on the home place, operating the same now in an able and successful manner. carrying out the work his father inaugurated. He has kept the land well tilled and the . buildings well cared for. Politically, he is a Republican. He has remained unmarried.
DWIGHT BENNETT BARNES.
The bar of Walworth county has an able representative in Dwight Barnes, whose name needs no formal introduction to the readers of this history, his long, useful and honorable career speaking for itself, being familiar with all classes in this locality, whose interests he has ever had at heart and sought to advance with succeeding years.
Mr. Barnes was born at Martinsburg, Lewis county, New York, May 15, 1846. He is one of the five children of Alanson H. and Clarissa (Hills) Barnes. His ancestry is of unusual interest on both sides of the house. His father was born in New York state, April 15, 1817, and he and Clarissa Hills were married on September 3, 1838. He was associate justice of the supreme court of Dakota Territory under President Grant, from 1871 to 1879. His death occurred on May 10, 1890, at Delavan, Wisconsin.
Alanson Hamilton Barnes, son of Abraham and Ruhamah (Kennedy) Barnes, was born at Turin, New York, April 15, 1817; he first married Clarissa Hills, who was born in 1817 and died December 10, 1856; then, on June 8. 1857, he married Sarah J. Allen, who was born October 30, 1839, and died May 10, 1880. He came to Delavan, Wisconsin, in 1855 to practice law ; in 1863 he was draft commissioner at Milwaukee. After filling the office of judge of the territorial court of Dakota, he returned to Delavan, where his death occurred May 10, 1890. A county in North Dakota was named for him. His children by his first marriage were Lucien H .; Herbert H., who died in 1864; Fannie, who married Alfred D. Thomas; Dwight Bennett, of this sketch; Stella, who married a Mr. Tyler. Judge Barnes was an ingenious lawyer and was long a leader in local politics and had appreciable weight in state affairs. When opposed he was resolute and was usually victorious.
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Abraham Barnes was the son of John Barnes, the son of Nathaniel Barnes, son of Thomas Barnes, son of Thomas Barnes. of New Haven. The last named came to New Haven when a boy, and came of age in 1644. sharing in the land distribution of the first settlement of New Haven, and shown by the early records of Connecticut.
The Barnes name is derived from the Norse Bjorne, meaning warrior, and was brought to England with William the Conqueror, being the name of his trusted aid. The family became numerous and spread throughout Great Britain and her colonies. This family furnished a lord mayor to London, Barnaby Barnes, a poet, whose father was Bishop of Durham. William Barnes received lands from Henry VIII in the royal forest of Tillingham. Dame Juliana Bernier, who also wrote her names Barnes and Bornes, was a celebrated writer in the fourteenth century. Her father was created a baron by King Henry IV.
The ancestry of the subject's mother, Clarissa Hills, is even more interesting. She was born at Houseville, New York, March 9, 1817, and was the daughter of Allen and Fanny Alsmena (Yale) Hills. Her father was born at East Hartford, Connecticut, August 22, 1784. He was a son of Amos and Elizabeth (Judson) Hills. Her mother, Fanny A. Yale, was the daughter of Amasa Yale, of Southwick, Massachusetts, and Sally Baxter, of Boston. Amasa Yale was a soldier in the American Revolution. Sally Baxter was born in Boston, January 30, 1762. On December 16, 1773, her brother Paul and another brother were members of the famous Boston Tea Party, who, disguised as Indians, threw three hundred and forty-two chests of tea into the sea in defiance of the British tax levied on tea without consent of the colonists. Amasa Yale was the son of Nathaniel Yale, of Wallingford, Connecticut, afterwards of Southwick, Massachusetts, who was also a soldier in the patriot army. Nathaniel was the son of John Yale, of Wallingford, who was the son of Capt. Thomas Yale. The latter was born about 1647 in New Haven, Connecticut, and was one of the band who first settled Walling- ford in May, 1670. The records show that he was one of the most prominent and active among them. He was a justice of the peace, captain of the train band, surveyor of land, moderator of their meetings and he kept their records for more than twenty years. Capt. Thomas Yale was the son of Thomas Yale, the latter born either at Chester, England, or at Plas Grono, the family estate near Wrexam, Wales, in 1616. He was the son of Thomas and Anna (Lloyd) Yale. His father died and his mother married in 1625, Theophilus Eaton, a wealthy merchant of London, and in 1637 came with him and her children to America in company with Rev. John Davenport, and
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in 1638 Eaton and a few men founded New Haven and Mr. Eaton was gov- ernor of the colony for the first twenty years. He and Rev. Davenport drew up the famous "Blue Laws" of Connecticut. Thomas Yale, Mr. Eaton's step-son, became a merchant at New Haven in 1638. He was a signer of the Plantation Covenant at New Haven and he filled many offices of trust and honor there. In Great Britain this ancestry includes so many illustrious names that we cannot even mention all of them, although they have been traced with historical certainty back through various branches of the family for many centuries.
Thomas Yale, father of the Thomas Yale who emigrated to America in 1637, was the son of Dr. David Yale, D. C. L., Chancellor of Chester, son of John Yale. The last named was sometimes called John Wyn or Wynn. of Plas-yn-Ial (Plas-yn-Yale). It was about this time that surnames became established in Yale, and Dr. David Yale was also known as David Lloyd, D. C. L. He was the owner of very large estates and held various honored positions. He was the son of John Yale or John Wyn, as above stated, who was the son of David Lloyd, son of Ellis ap (son of) Griffith. Ellis ap Griffith was the son of Griffith ap Einon and wife Lowrie. Lowrie was living in 1416, and she was descended from Tudor ap Griffith Vychan and through him from three royal lines of ancestry, one of which goes back through thirty- three generations in a direct, unbroken line through many early British sovereigns to Cuneda Wledig, the first king of the Cymry ( Britons) about 415 A. D. Another line of her father's ancestry goes back to Rodri Mawr (Rod- erick the Great ), King of Wales 877 A. D. The third line goes back through Tudor ap Griffith Vychan's mother's mother, Eleanor Goch, and through various kings and princes to the same ancient ruler, Roderick the Great. From Eleanor Goch and her husband (Thomas ap Llewelyn ap Rhys) were de- scended Henry VII, Henry VIII, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth. To re- turn to the original line : Griffith ap Einion, who married Lowrie, was the son of Einion ap Griffith and was captain of the King's, archers. Einion ap Griffith was the son of Griffith ap Llewelyn, who died about 1398. He was the son of Llewelyn ap Cynrik, son of Cynrik ap Osborn, son of Osborn Wyddel, son of John Fitz Thomas, Lord of Dicies and Desmond and a county palatine in 1259. John Fitz Thomas was the son of Thomas Fitz Maurice, the son of Maurice Fitz Gerald, commander of the first Norman in- vasion of Ireland. Maurice Fitz Gerald was the son of Gerald. Fitz Walter, a son of Walter Fitz Otto, son of Dominus Otho. The last named is believed to have been a member of the family of Gheraldini of Florence, Italy. He was a nobleman, came from Florence, passed over into Normandy, thence to England, where he became a favorite of King Edward the Confessor.
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Maurice Fitz Gerald, mentioned above, great-grandson of Dominus Otho, and commander of the first Norman invasion of Ireland, married Alice, daugh- ter of Arnulf de Montgomery, granddaughter of Roger de Montgomery, the greatest of the Norman lords, who was the son of Roger the Great, a cousin of William the Conquerer.
The name Yale comes from the district where the family lived in Wales when surnames were adopted. The founder of Yale University was a mem- ber of this family, as are many other famous men on both sides the Atlantic.
Returning to Dwight Bennett Barnes, of Delavan, the immediate subject of this sketch: He came to Wisconsin with his parents when nine years of age, the family locating in Delavan, where he grew to manhood, and has since resided most of the time. Here he attended the public schools, after which he spent about a year as grocery clerk, then about a year in a Chicago whole- sale house, then returned to Delavan and took a position in the National Bank of Delavan, in which he remained until 1879, when he wound up the business of the bank, paid every depositor in full, taking the institution safely through panics when other banks were failing.
The State Deaf and Dumb Institute burned in the summer of 1879 and Mr. Barnes was elected to the State Assembly with the purpose of getting appropriation to rebuild at Delavan. He had a bitter fight on his hands, for many other places wanted it, but by perseverance and tact he won and the institution was rebuilt at this place. He made such a commendable record that he was re-elected in 1880, going back to the Legislature for the express purpose of legislating out of office every local board of state institutions in Wisconsin. He and Senator Sutherland, of Fond du Lac county, got up the bill, and it was introduced in the senate by Mr. Sutherland, and was passed during a night session and engrossed and it was brought up in the house the following day. Mr. Barnes had the house so well organized that he fought down over thirty proposed amendments and got it through that same day, as originally passed in the senate. He and Senator Quarles also started the fight against the railroad lobby and pushed a bill to alter the mode of taxing rail- roads, which showed by the fall of stocks in New York that it was hitting the railroads. The fight went on through various sessions, kept up by others in later times, until it succeeded. After his career in the Legislature, Mr. Barnes engaged in a number of business enterprises.
On December 7, 1880, Mr. Barnes was admitted to the bar at Fargo. North Dakota, and in 1885 he was admitted to practice law in Walworth county, Wisconsin. On September 4. 1894. he was admitted to the bar of the Wisconsin supreme court. He began practicing at Delavan in the midst of
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financial adversity, but won some very notable cases early in his practice and soon had all he could attend to. For about eighteen years he has been local attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. In 1900 he was elected president of the Walworth County Bar Association, and he has been at the head of the organization ever since. About 1905 he and E. L. Von Suessmilch organized a company to deal in lands and since then they have made a number of big deals in the Dakotas, Alberta and Saskat- chewan.
Mr. Barnes was married on November 17, 1897, to Alice Downs, a resi- dent of Delavan township, and the daughter of Lemuel and Susan (Huston) Downs. Like Mr. Barnes, she had an illustrious ancestry, some of whom were in the American Revolution. Her mother was a near relative of Gen. Sam Huston, renowned in the early history of Texas and in the Mexican war.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Barnes, namely : Dwight Bennett, Jr., born May 15, 1905, and Cornelia Benita, born at San Diego, California, March 3, 1901.
Politically, Mr. Barnes is a Republican and has long been active in his party. Fraternally, he belongs to the Masonic order, the Delavan Command- ery No. 33, Knights Templar. He assisted in organizing the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Delavan, and was district deputy for many years. Personally, he is a genial, companionable, obliging gentleman, able and suc- cessful both in law and business, and is very resourceful.
MISS ANNA PETERSON.
To few of us it is given to come within sight of the gracious castle of our dreams, but there can be no measure of doubt that to many earnest, high- minded seekers after the truth, such as Miss Anna Peterson, the able and popular postmistress at Williams Bay, Walworth county, has been granted a tangible realization of many of the ideals of early youth,-the time of air- castle building,-which have been crystallized into worthy accomplishment in connection with the affairs of this work-a-day world. A woman of gracious presence and intellectual attainments, she is eminently qualified for the re- sponsible position of which she is incumbent. Her commendable qualities are no doubt inherited from a long line of sterling ancestors, men and women who have been leaders in progressive movements in their day. They were Nor- wegians of the best type-persons characterized by strength of mind, breadth of view, high-minded patriotism.
MISS ANNA PETERSON
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Miss Peterson was born at Leland, Illinois, and is one of a family of seven children born to Peter O. and Bertha ( Thompson) Peterson, the others having been named Tillie, Otto, Peter, Nathaniel, Rebecca and Michael T. The subject was the third in order of birth.
The Peterson family emigrated to the United States in May, 1886, and they located at Earlville, Illinois, after spending two weeks in Philadelphia. They lived at Earlville a year and at Leland near that place, then went to Chicago, where they remained ten or eleven years. Eventually they came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, and located at Williams Bay and there estab- lished a comfortable home, in which they remained until March, 1911. a period of twenty-five years, then moved to Madison, Wisconsin.
Of the children mentioned above, Tillie married Fred Rahn and they live at Lake Geneva : Otto is attending high school at Madison: Peter lives at Lake Geneva; Nathaniel lives in Fresno, California: and Rebecca lives with her parents at Madison, Wisconsin, and is attending the State University ; Michael T. is in business at Williams Bay. A sketch of his life appears on another page of this work.
Miss Anna Peterson received a good education and she has long mani- fested an abiding interest in public affairs. She was appointed postmistress at Williams Bay in October, 1907, and has discharged the duties of the same to the present time in a manner that reflects much credit upon herself and to the eminent satisfaction of the people and the department.
Prior to her appointment to this position she had. for a period of six years, been a clerk in the local postoffice. When she was appointed she was one of the youngest postmasters in the state of Wisconsin.
ARTHUR GEORGE BULLOCK.
The gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph is one of the worthy native sons of Walworth county, and we are glad to give our readers a brief outline of his life record, for he is deemed eminently worthy of representa- tion along with the best and most industrious citizens of the locality embraced by this work, owing to the fact that he belongs to the energetic and enterpris- ing class that has contributed to the later-day success of this favored section of the great Badger commonwealth. He enjoys distinctive prestige in finan- cial circles, his practical intelligence, mature judgment and sound business sense winning for him the confidence and good will of all with whom he has come into contact.
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Arthur George Bullock, the present efficient assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Lake Geneva, was born in this city on February 14, 1877, and he has been content to spend his life right here at home. He is the son of John and Lavinia (Barker) Bullock, both born in Staffordshire, England, and there they grew up and were married. The father was a natural artist. About 1859 he emigrated to America, locating in Philadelphia. He had been apprenticed as a potter in his native country, having lived where nearly every- one was interested in pottery work. However, his heart was in oil painting. and he became an artist of wide range of subject and style, portrait, landscape and interior views. He came of an excellent old family.
In Philadelphia John Bullock began working at photography, engaged in making daguerreotypes, photography being then in its infancy. He owned one of the first cameras in the United States made for enlarging pictures. During the Civil war he built up an enormous photographic business, employed seven operators taking sittings, and took in money in sums beyond his wildest expectations. He later moved to Chicago, where he remained until the great fire in the autumn of 1871, his studio being totally destroyed, including all his paintings, a collection covering many years : his home, too, was burned. In the spring of 1872 he came to Lake Geneva to make paintings of the beautiful scenery and was so delighted with the lake district and the village that he brought his family and here made his permanent home, and here he main- tained a photograph gallery for many years and also painted portraits. But he was of too artistic a temperament to make money by it, having frequently made fine paintings and then refused to sell them, loving them even as his own children. He was truly a genius and his work was highly praised by critics.
To John Bullock and wife nine children were born, of whom Arthur G., of this sketch, was the youngest. Three died in childhood, the others are: Mrs. Ida Mozingo, Mrs. Lucy Miller; William, who succeeded his father in the photographic business, followed the same until his death in January, 1906; Mrs. Anna McGraw, who was born in England, and now lives in Chicago; Mrs. Rosa Rowley also lives in Chicago. The mother of these children passed to her rest in 1898.
Arthur G. Bullock began life for himself at a very early age. When fourteen years old he began working in Arnold's drug store, while attending school. In the fall of 1895 he went to Chicago to take a course in the Northwestern University. in the pharmacy department; by the following January he took typhoid fever which resulted in poor health for some time. In February, 1897. he accepted a position in the First National Bank at
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Lake Geneva, this county, as bookkeeper. He did his work well at all times, and was promoted through years of service, and in the fall of 1903 he was made assistant cashier, which position he has held ever since, discharging his duties in an able and acceptable manner, satisfactory to the stockholders and patrons of the bank.
Politically, Mr. Bullock is a Republican and has long taken an active interest in public affairs. He was appointed city clerk in 1905 to fill an unexpired term, and he has been elected four times since, proving the con- fidence which the people repose in him. The books have been exceptionally well kept, according to those in position to know.
Mr. Bullock was married in 1906 to Helen Moore, daughter of Frank S. Moore, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. The subject and wife have one little son, Frank Arthur.
Mr. Bullock is first assistant fire marshal of the Lake Geneva fire de- partment and he was also treasurer at one time. He has been connected with the department for a period of fourteen years, and he was in the tournaments when the department was winning its state championships. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias, having been thirteen years in this lodge, and he is now master of the exchequer and has been representative to the grand lodge for six years.
The subject and wife have a beautiful home, containing many of the beautiful paintings of John Bullock, and this hospitable home is frequently the gathering place for the many friends of the family. There is a lake in northern Wisconsin that John Bullock found while on a sketching tour, which was not shown on the United States survey and unnamed. It was named Lake Lavinia after his wife and it is still known by that name.
OLIVER LINES SMITH.
The life of Oliver Lines Smith, of Walworth, has indeed been a busy, varied and successful one and the record is eminently worthy of perusal by the student who would learn the intrinsic lesson of individuality and its in- fluence in winning material success and also in giving character and stability to a community.
Mr. Smith was born in Walworth township, this county, January 12. 1857, and is a son of James E. and Sarah M. ( Lake) Smith. The father was born in Rishfield, Oswego county, New York, October 1, 1817. He was
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a son of John Isaac and Patty Smith, the former born January 14, 1770, and the latter on March 23, 1778. John I. Smith died on November 12, 1851, at Edmeston, New York, and his wife died there on September 5th of the same year, at the age of seventy-three years. James E. Smith lived in New York for some time, moving to Michigan in 1835, and from there he went to Leavenworth, Crawford county, Indiana, thence back to New York in the spring of 1838, returning to Leavenworth, Indiana, in the fall of 1842, and in the spring of 1843 moved on to Walworth county, Wisconsin, but did not settle permanently here until 1845. On March 3, 1847, he married Sarah Maria Lake, daughter of Elder Phipps W. Lake, a pioneer minister of Wal- worth, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. Smith followed farming on his eighty-acre place in the east edge of Walworth township.
Five children were born to James E. Smith and wife, namely: Bradely Truman, who died when two years old; Albert Bradely died when eighteen months old; Rebecca L. married Charles H. Coon, of Walworth, and she died here on October 17, 1892, at the age of thirty-eight years : Oliver Lines, of this sketch : James E., Jr., of Walworth township, born May 4, 1862, married in 1888. Rozella DuVal, daughter of John and Rozella (LaBrec) DuVal; she was born in 1864 and was reared in Alden, Illinois. Her father was born in Quebec and her mother in Vermont, and they grew up and were married in the East, moving to Walworth county about 1878, locating on a farm in the southern part of Walworth township, and there the mother died in 1897 and the father in 190I.
James E. Smith bought land from the government, going to Milwaukee on foot to make the entry in the land office there, coming within nine miles of that city the first day. He was clerk of the Free-Will Baptist church at Big Foot, and was a very devout member of the same. His death occurred on February 22, 1890. His wife is still living, making her home with her son, James Edward, in Walworth township on land that was part of her father's estate.
Oliver L. Smith, of this sketch, grew to manhood on the home farm, and he received his education in the Bigfoot Academy. He continued on the farm until he was twenty-one years old, and in 1882 went to Chicago, where he was in the employ of the American Express Company for two years, then went to California and there engaged in milling, returning to Chicago in 1886 and working again for the American Express Company. In 1884 he married Henrietta Humason, who was born and reared at Rochester, Minne- sota. Her family had moved to California, and the subject and wife followed them to that state. Oliver L. Smith remained in Chicago until 1892, then
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went to Minneapolis, continuing with the American Express Company. In 1894 he went to Dodge Center, Minnesota, and again engaged in the milling business, remaining there until 1908, when he came to Walworth, Wisconsin.
The death of Mrs. Smith occurred in 1899, leaving three children : Clarence, born in Chicago, March 23, 1887, is now yardmaster for the Chicago Great Western Railroad Company at Hayfield, Minnesota ; Elois, also born in Chicago, was graduated from the Whitewater Normal School in 1910 and is teaching school at Alma, Wisconsin; Raymond, born at Dodge Center, December 2, 1896, is in Walworth with his father.
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