USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > Rock County, Wisconsin; a new history of its cities, villages, towns, citizens and varied interests, from the earliest times, up to date, Vol. II > Part 39
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
Mr. Kimball is a man of careful, businesslike methods, and in all his transactions and dealings, by his fairness and readiness to carry out the principle of the golden rule, readily gains and holds public confidence and esteem. He has always devoted himself closely to his business, neither seeking nor caring for public office.
In politics he is a Republican. He is identified with the Ma- sonic order and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. and is also a member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
On July 2, 1866, Mr. Kimball married Miss Euretta Bur-
930
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
dick, who died April 30, 1876, leaving one son, George F .; a daughter, Belle, having died in 1870. In 1877 Mr. Kimball mar- ried Sarah L. Hatch, his present wife, and they have two chil- dren, viz., Frank W. and Euretta Mary.
Dr. James W. St. John, who ranks among the leading medi- cal practitioners of Janesville, Wis., where he was born October 30, 1839, is a son of Levi and Sarah T. St. John, who in 1836 settled on a farm which is now a part of the site of the city. The father died in 1861 and the mother in 1872. James passed his boyhood on his father's farm and attended the common schools till his eighteenth year. He then studied one year in the seminary at Castleton, Vt., after which he was graduated from the Janesville high school. He began his medical studies in 1859, but after the opening of the Civil War spent six months in the United States service as medical cadet at Memphis, Tenn. On his return home he resumed his studies at the Chicago Medi- cal College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1865.
Dr. St. John has taken a somewhat active interest in the civic affairs of his city, and during 1875-76 filled the office of mayor. He has also served as the president of the board of education and held other minor offices.
In 1873 Dr. St. John married Miss Mary E., daughter of Ivers and Jane Gibbs, of Worcester, Mass .. though Mrs. St. John herself was born in Vermont. Dr. and Mrs. St. John move in the best social circles, and their home, over which Mrs. St. John presides with dignity and womanly grace, is a center of culture and refinement.
Wilbur F. Carle comes of Scotch-Irish lineage and traces his paternal ancestry through five generations to one of three broth- ers who came from Ireland and settled in that part of the Mas- sachusetts colony which is now the state of Maine. His maternal ancestors were of Scotch lineage, his mother, Parnell, nee Blos- som, coming of an old New England family of Scotch descent. She was born at Woodstock, Vt., and died at the family home in Rock county, Wisconsin, December 27, 1856. His father, John B. Carle, was born in the town of Waterborough, near Portland, Me., February 24, 1808. He was of the fifth generation in direct line from one of the three brothers hereinabove referred to. A more complete account of the genealogy of the family and the
931
BIOGRAPHICAL
life of John B. Carle appears in the sketch of Mr. Levi B. Carle in another part of this work, to which reference is made.
Wilbur F. was born at Lowell, Mass., May 22, 1841, and when a lad of about twelve years came to Wisconsin with his parents and settled on a farm which his father purchased in Rock county. He passed his boyhood on the farm and attended public schools and acquired a good English education. He began his business career as a grocer and continued in that line of trade several years with good success, after which he was associated with a boot and shoe manufacturing company.
In 1879 Mr. Carle purchased the retail grocery business there- tofore owned and conducted by his brother, Levi B. Carle, and since that date has carried on a general merchandising business in Janesville. Throughout his life Mr. Carle has been charac- terized by prudence, industry and wise forethought, traits in- herited from his long line of New England ancestry, and in all his varied business enterprises has been known for his upright and fair dealing. He has always taken an interest in those things that tend to the betterment of his city and the welfare of his fellows, and is esteemed and respected as an enterprising and progressive citizen and man of affairs.
On October 6, 1864, Mr. Carle married Miss Maria, daughter of William and Catherine Strawser, who were among the early settlers of Green county, Wisconsin. They have one child, Kit- tie B., who is married to Mr. William H. Ashcraft, of Janesville.
Levi Inman was born on July 12, 1829, and was a native of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. He moved to Wisconsin in 1857 and engaged in farming for a number of years, then sold the farm he had purchased and with his father moved to Milledge- ville, Carroll county, Ill., whence he returned a few years later and settled on his 200-acre farm in Bradford township, which he improved and where he passed the remainder of his life and where his widow now resides. He was engaged in general farm- ing and stock raising and besides carried on quite an extensive dairying business, and withal was prosperous and thrifty. He was a quiet, home-loving man, caring little for outside affairs, but filled several local offices. He was supervisor one term and for six years served as district clerk. He was a Republican in politics, and in religious faith a Congregationalist. His death occurred on May 4, 1903, and the interment was at Clinton.
932
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
On February 2, 1852, Mr. Inman married Miss Mary M., daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Winter) Robbins, a native of New Jersey. Her father, a farmer by occupation, moved with his family to the state of Iowa, where he passed his life in farm- ing, dying at the age of about eighty-four years. His widow, who attained about the same age, died four years later. Mrs. Inman was educated and lived until her marriage near Wilkes- barre, Pa. She is a member of the Emerald Grove Congrega- tional church. Of six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Inman, the eldest, Edward C., was born in Pennsylvania and died at the age of forty-one, leaving a widow, Alice, nee Scott, who was born in Bradford township and now lives in California; Levi Frank- lin, died in infancy ; Lizzie M., who has quite a talent for paint- ing and has done some fine work in that line, resides at home; Rush G., who has always lived on the homestead, was born May 11, 1866, and after leaving the district schools attended the Be- loit high school and later studied at Milton College. Besides an interest in the home place he owns a finely improved farm of 200 acres in Bradford township, which he leases. Besides gen- eral farming he carries on a dairying business, and also breeds and raises high-grade stock. He has served as treasurer of Brad- ford for two years, is a member of the Modern Woodmen of Amer- ica and the Mystic Workers, and is a member and trustee of the Emerald Grove Congregational church. He has also served for eight years as secretary of the Avalon Creamery Company, a large and prosperous organization at Avalon.
Jeanette E., who resides at home, was educated at Mt. Car- mel Seminary, Illinois, where she studied four years, and after- wards taught in various schools of Rock county. She is an ac- complished pianist and has taught music successfully.
Mr. Rush G. Inman, with his mother and sisters, Lizzie M. and Jeanette E., have moved to Janesville, where they have bought a beautiful home and where they will make their perma- nent home, having leased his farms.
Frederick Hiram Howe, one of the successful and prosperous business men of Janesville, Wis., has attained to the position he holds through years of persistent effort in the line of his native talents and in furtherance of an honorable and worthy purpose. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he was born on March 8, 1858, and is a son of Francis and Martha Howe. He acquired the ordi-
933
BIOGRAPHICAL
nary common school education in the district schools of the neighborhood, where he lived in Orange township, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, and there grew to manhood on a farm. Beginning in 1878, when he was twenty years old, and continuing until 1879, he traveled through Ohio selling goods for Messrs. Moyer Brothers, dealers in tin and hardware at Cleveland. From 1880 to 1884 he traveled in the interest of the Brooks Oil Company, of Cleveland, and during the next ten years was similarly em- ployed with the Globe Oil Company, of that city. Closing his affairs in Cleveland in 1895, he removed to Janesville, Wis., where he has since been connected with the Roek River Cotton Com- pany, engaged in the manufacture of cotton goods. In all his dealings Mr. Howe is known for his prompt, honorable and straightforward methods, and in every position of responsibility to which he has been called he has shown himself capable and trustworthy, and wherever known none stands higher in publie esteem than he. He is a man of pleasing personality, sociable and genial, and is identified with several fraternal organizations, being a Mason, a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Benev- olent and Protective Order of Elks.
On December 21, 1881, Mr. Howe married Miss Jennie M. Bragg.
Hercules W. Perrigo, who resides at 18 Ruger avenue, Janes- ville, Wis., was born in Franklin county, New York, January 12, 1839. He is a son of Meader and Lydia (Stevens) Perrigo, who were both natives of Vermont. They were married in 1828 and in 1830 removed to New York, where they resided until 1866, when they came West and located in Rock county, Wisconsin, purchasing a farm in Fulton township. Here Mr. Perrigo made his home and engaged in general farming and stock raising for many years. In later life he retired from actual business and moved to Edgerton, where he died on May 5, 1906, at the age of ninety-nine years. His wife, the mother of our subject, died in 1896, a devout Christian and member of the Methodist church. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Perrigo were born fourteen children, ten of whom are still living.
In politics Mr. Perrigo was a Democrat and took an active in- terest in the affairs of his party and held many local offices in New York before coming to Wisconsin.
Hercules W. was raised on his father's farm in New York
934
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
state and received his education in the district schools of his native place, and for six years prior to his coming to Wisconsin taught school there.
Mr. Perrigo was married to Miss Jane Lawton, who was born in New York, the daughter of Chester and Laura (Marvin) Law- ton. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Perrigo, viz .: Carrie, who is the wife of Mr. Thomas C. Taylor, a com- mercial traveler; William, who lives in Bradford, Pa., is the cashier of the First National Bank of that city and is married to Elizabeth Leroy; the third child, Harry, died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Perrigo affiliate with the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Perrigo responded to the call of President Lincoln for troops, and on September 29, 1861, enlisted in the First New York Engineers and served three years and nine months, and for gallant service was promoted to sergeant major of his com- pany, which office he held at the time of his discharge.
He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and in politics is a Republican.
After removing from New York state to Rock county Mr. Perrigo engaged in farming, and met with success from the start; and in 1885 he moved to his home in Janesville, where he has since lived in retirement.
Ezra Goodrich was the only son of Joseph Goodrich, the founder of Milton and Milton College, the first landlord, first merchant, first treasurer and the first postmaster of Milton. He was born February 24, 1826 at Alfred, Allegany county, N. Y. He had an only sister, Mrs. Jane (Goodrich) Davis, of Rockford, Ill., born February 6, 1828, at Alfred, N. Y. Mrs. Jane (Good- rich) Davis died at Rockford, Ill., August 22, 1903.
Joseph Goodrich was the son of Uriah and Mary (Carpen- ter) Goodrich, and was born May 12, 1800, at Hancock, Mass.
Uriah Goodrich was the son of Elijah and Margaret (Gillett) Goodrich, born August 24, 1767, at Hancock, Mass., and died September 2, 1845, at Alfred, N. Y.
Elijah Goodrich was the son of Jacob and Benedict (Good- win) Goodrich, born July 3, 1724, at Windsor, Conn., and died October 3, 1791, at Hancock, Mass.
Jacob Goodrich was the son of John and Rebecca (Allen)
935
BIOGRAPHICAL
Goodrich, born November 27, 1694, at Wethersfield, Conn., and died May 11, 1746, at Windsor, Conn.
John Goodrich was the son of William and Sarah (Marvin) Goodrich, born May 20, 1653, at Wethersfield, Conn., and died September 5, 1730, at Wethersfield, Conn.
William Goodrich was one of the "Pilgrims" on the "May- flower" from England, and was a descendant of the founder of "Goodrich Court" and "Goodrich Castle," built during the
GOODRICH CASTLE.
feudal ages, in Herefordshire, four miles southwest of Ross, about one thousand years ago.
Joseph Goodrich, at the age of nineteen years, started out in the world for himself with an ax and a pack of clothes on his back. He went from Hancock, Mass., to the wilderness in Al- fred, Allegany county, New York, on foot and alone. Arrived there with fifty cents in money and commenced to work his way. At the age of twenty-one he built him a log shanty on
936
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
Vandermark creek. Then returned east to Petersburg, N. Y., and married Nancy Maxon December 22, 1821. In the spring of 1822 they came to Alfred and began to keep house in the little log cabin-without a window or a door and with the ground for a floor.
In 1823 his father came out and united with him in erecting the first sawmill on the Vandermark creek, which they got to running the last day of that year. In this he sawed logs on shares and obtained lumber to put up a good sized two-story house, which he had enclosed in 1824. In it he had a large fire- place with andirons and a crane to swing over and off of the fire with hooks to hang pots and kettles on. Adjoining there was a large brick oven for baking bread, pork and beans. On the hearth in front of the oven was the blue-dye tub for coloring stocking yarn, on which the children sat to warm their toes and shins. Mr. Goodrich did not get the house plastered and painted until 1827. In it he kept travelers and religious meet- ings and town meetings were held. It is still standing and is a good dwelling yet. He built and kept a small country store and ashery there, buying ashes and making potash. The ashes were sometimes brought in sacks from the hillside by women on horse- back and sold by them for pin money.
Mr. Goodrich was a leader in the military trainings, was made a major and was known as Major Goodrich throughout his life. Allegany was a hilly, hardpan country, and hearing of the rich level prairies of the West, Mr. Goodrich got the fever to go there, and he induced his neighbor, H. B. Crandall, and hired a young man, James Pierce, to go with him. He boxed up a load of goods from his little store, and on June 26, 1838, they left Alfred, with them journeying to Buffalo with the team and then by steamboat up around the great lakes. They landed in Milwaukee and from there came on foot. Mr. Goodrich again brought a pack on his back, but instead of an ax to fell trees, brought a spade to test the soil. Coming out on to a wild little prairie covered with flowers and surrounded with small silver lakes and green trees, they tested the soil and were pleased, and Goodrich got a claim where Milton now stands and Crandall a claim where Milton Junction now is. No highways were laid out, but Goodrich drew an air line from Chicago to Madison on the territorial map, and one also from Janesville to Fort Atkin-
close seth Goodrich
931
BIOGRAPHIICAL
son, and finding they crossed on his claim, he there located a site for his house. These roads were laid out the next year, and they crossed each other, as he expected, by his house. He built this dwelling 16x20 feet in dimensions and one and a half stories high. It had one small 7x9 glass window above and one below. The frame he made of hewed oak and it was covered and shin- gled with oak-had a 3-ply batten Indian proof oak door and an oak floor. It still stands and is now all antique oak. In one gable and upstairs he had oak shelves for his goods, which was Milton's first store. Janesville and Fort Atkinson had none. He bought the claim to the land where Milton now stands with $60.00 worth of goods, and the claim to Hon. F. C. Carr's pioneer farm with $125.00 worth of goods. Mr. Goodrich left his house and little store in charge of Mr. Pierce and returned East for his family, and while he was gone Mr. Pierce sold four hundred dollars' worth of goods.
Mr. Goodrich moved his family and goods from Alfred, N. Y., with four teams and covered wagons by the overland route. The first half of the way the wagons were mounted on sleighs, as they started in snow four feet deep January 30, 1839. There were twelve in the party, including passengers and hired help. One sleigh tipped over in the first day's drive and Mrs. Good- rich's collarbone was broken. The surgeons could not set it and kept it in place, and she rode all the long way with it loose in a sling. In Ohio they crossed the great "Maumee swamp," where there were thirty-one emigrant taverns in the thirty miles. In crossing the Calumet, near Chicago, one team and wagon broke through the ice into the water twelve feet deep, one horse being drowned and the best load of goods wet. The streets of Chicago, then a small city, were entirely submerged in a sea of black mud. They had to ford the Desplaines river and Turtle creek, each being deep, flood-swollen streams. Not a house was to be seen on Rock prairie and only Mr. Newhall's log cabin was in sight as they struek into the wild oak opening, nor was there another shanty until they came out onto Prairie Du Lac, where, standing out alone on the cold, bleak prairie, the little red oak pioneer cabin stood where it still stands to- day. Here they arrived March 4, 1839, after an overland win- ter's journey of thirty-four days. In this little 16x20 building they lived with Pierce, a family of thirteen, and kept the store
938
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
and travelers besides, and in it religious meetings were held. Here Joseph Goodrich decided to found a village, for which he platted and gave to the public a large and beautiful public square. He gave lots to mechanics who would settle there and gave grounds for a church, district school, the college and a cemetery. He built an academy and maintained it for ten years. He secured the line for the first railroad via Milton, gave them the right of way and depot grounds, and took ten thousand dol- lars' worth of its stock. He was a man of unbounded hospi- tality and a friend of the poor, the oppressed and enslaved. He was elected to the legislature with the unanimous vote of the district. In religion he was a Seventh Day Baptist, and in poli- tics a Whig and Republican. His devoted wife died in 1857 and he was married to Mrs. Susan H. Rogers February 4, 1859. They lived happily together. He died in 1867 and was buried by his beloved wife at Milton, where his son has erected a monument to their memory.
Ezra Goodrich came with his parents to Wisconsin in 1839 when he was thirteen years old. He was a pupil in the first school of Milton and in the first academy, but the constant need of his help in his father's business in making a new Wisconsin home deprived him largely of schooling. His education was mainly the rough and ready lessons of practical pioneer life. When he came to Milton the Blackhawk and General Atkinson army trails were fresh and plainly to be seen. He was here when Rock county was organized, when the first highway in Milton was laid, when the first mail route and stage line in the county was established, when the first church and schoolhouse were built, and the first grave in the cemetery was made. He was in Janesville when it had but one log house, H. F. Janes'; in Fort Atkinson, when it had but one log house, Dwight Foster's; in Watertown when it had but one log house and one frame one, and Goodhue had a sawmill there; at Waupun when it had but one log house, Mr. Wilcox's, and at Fon du Lac when Dr. Darling had the only house there. He was here when the first railroad in Wisconsin was built, and the first wire for telegraph or tele- phone was strung. It is marvelous to see the changes that have been made in one lifetime. In 1849 Ezra Goodrich engaged in the mercantile business in Milton, dealing in groceries, dry goods,
Eque Goodrich
939
BIOGRAPHICAL
crockery, clothing, iron and hardware, in which he continued until the dark days of the rebellion, in 1861.
On October 14, 1852, Mr. Goodrich was married to Elizabeth L. Ensign, near Binghamton, N. Y., and they had four children- Joseph C. Goodrich, born June 24, 1854, now of Milton; Will- iam H. Goodrich, born February 15, 1856, now of Brunswick, Mo .; Mary E. Goodrich, born March 23, 1859, now Mrs. Dr. Post, of Chicago, and Anna S. Goodrich, born June 18, 1861, now Mrs. Will Davis, of Milton, Wis. In religious belief Mr. Goodrich is a Seventh Day Baptist. In politics he was a Republican; he is now independently independent and votes for the best man. He is a man of strong convictions and that which he believes to be right he dares to defend, and that which he deems to be wrong he dares to denounce. This gives him bitter enemies as well as warm friends. He has been an active factor in Milton events for the past sixty years and more than an ordinary lifetime. He raised the controlling stock in "Milton Academy" when it was incorporated-over which there was a red hot denomina- tional strife. He raised the money to fill Milton's quota in the army of the great rebellion, when the hearts and hopes of all others had failed, and they were ready to throw up the sponge. He raised the money to set Milton College again on its feet when it was hopelessly bankrupt, and the efforts of all others had utterly failed-they having succeeded in raising only twenty dollars. For this he raised a subscription of over thirteen thou- sand dollars, of which he gave two thousand three hundred himself. He secured the location of Milton High School build- ing on the public square, in which he was opposed by Milton College and many others, who wanted it located in an uncouth lot still vacant south of the railroad and south of Lane's mill. He drew the plan and superintended the erection of the building. He platted the ground and set out the trees and today Milton's High School grounds are conceded to surpass any public school grounds in the Northwest. Mr. Goodrich secured the subscrip- tion and set out the trees in the beautiful park north of the railroad at Milton; he reorganized Milton cemetery after it had lost its organization and its grounds were grown up to brush and weeds, and he organized the uniform system of grading and sodding the lots and adorning them with trees. In these innova-
940
HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
tions he was also opposed, but Milton now has one of the most beautiful cemeteries in Rock county.
Some twenty years ago Mr. Goodrich inaugurated a system of raising a special tax in the town for graveling the roads in which at first he was bitterly opposed; by persistence he suc- ceeded, and today Milton has more miles of road that is good at all seasons of the year than any rural town in the state, and if she continues but a few years longer she will have a good hard highway to every farm in the town. Many years ago when they began to gather milk for the factories, Mr. Goodrich began to advocate gathering children of the town into centralized schools. In this he was opposed to the point of almost hissing him down, but of late a marked change is seen and many are now advo- cating the coming change. He now claims that the school chil- dren of Milton ere long will be riding in covered spring wagons over good roads to and from school, and that, when the good time comes, every child alike will have the opportunity of a good education free.
Since the death of his father, Mr. Goodrich has devoted his time largely to improving the home farm which was left to him. He has cleared off thick woods, grubbed out the roots, drained and tiled the shallow ponds and wet marshes, and increased the tillable land of the farm from seventy-five to over three hundred acres. The best land now on the farm is where muskrat houses uses to stand and cat-tail flag used to grow. He has erected a commodious house for a tenant there, with extensive cribs and granary, and houses and yards for hundreds of hogs, and barns and sheds for farming tools and 100 head of cattle and horses. He calls it "Sunnyside," and there, in his old age, he enjoys spending a large portion of his time seeing things grow and looking after matters. He has eleven grandchildren, but among them are none to perpetuate the name of "Goodrich."
On April 23, 1892, Mr. Goodrich lost his most estimable wife. He was again married October 16, 1893, to Mrs. Charlotte M. Little, daughter of I. P. Morgan, one of the founders of Milton Junction, and widow of W. V. Little, who died February 18, 1886. The marriage of Mr. Goodrich, a son of the founder of Milton, to Mrs. Little, a daughter of the founder of Milton Junction, is to some extent a union of these two rival villages,
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.