The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc, Part 160

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1050

USA > Wisconsin > Waukesha County > The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc > Part 160

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WILLIAM R. HARRIS, farmer, See. 11; P. O. Vernon ; is a native of Anglesea, Wales ; born in 1815 ; was from boyhood a farmer ; emigrated to America in 1852; spent three years in Michigan, then came to Wisconsin, locating near Janesville ; after a few months, bought his present farm of 100 acres; since this, he has returned several times to Michigan, engaging in the pineries, but has done the best of work on his farm during these twenty-five years, building a roomy farmhouse in place of the shanty of early times; his barn was built by A. Webster, the former owner of the farm. Mr. Harris married Miss Jane Lewis, of Anglesea; their children, Rowland and Jane, were born in Wales; are both in Menomonee, Mich., Jane being the wife of Samuel Stevenson, one of the leading lumber manufacturers there, he owning two saw-mills and turning out from forty to fifty million feet of lumber per annum. Mr. Harris is a man who has led a quiet and honorable life, and generally succeeded. He is an Independent Democrat.

JAMES HAY, deceased ; born in Perthshire, Scotland ; about 1840, he came to America, and in 1851 married Mrs. Barbara Smith ; they soon removed from New York to Wisconsin, Mr. Hay having owned the homestead in Vernon for several years ; Mr. Hay built here a small log house, and made a good beginning for his family. He died four years later, leaving four children, all of whom were attacked with that dread disease, diphtheri +, and gave up their young lives within a few days ; it was a crushing blow to follow the death of her husband, but she bravely resumed her Cross, and, ably seconded by her only son, James Smith, made her farm and home what it is. This lady was born in Inverness-shire, Scotland, and married her first husband, Robert Smith, in Glasgow ; he died in 1849, after a residence of three years in Livingston County, N. Y. ; his only son, James, was born in Kilsythe, Scotland ; married Miss Jane, daughter of William Evans, and is now in charge of the homestead; has two children-Barbara J., and an intant. A tasteful and pleasantly located farmhouse has replaced the old-time log house, and substantial barns built. His honored mother looks back with a feeling of mingled sorrow and pride over her varied experiences in Wisconsin. She is a member, with Mrs. Smith, of the U. P. Church.

HOLLIS HOLLISTER, farmer, Sec. 28, 29 and 20; P. O. Dodge's Corners ; is a son of Asa and Almira Hollister, and was born in the town of Barford, Canada, in 1832; the family came to Vernon in the fall of 1839; Asa H. being the first blacksmith in the town ; he bought 80 acres of Gov- ernment land in 1840, and also ten cows, which ran at large in the openings around them. Asa Hollister was a pioneer, and a successful one, as he left at his death, in 1858, a section of land on which he had built a substantial house and good barns ; there were seven children-Maria, Mariette, Jane, Emmeline, Roxina, Hollis and Adelaide ; the only son is a worthy follower of his father's honored footsteps ; he also having erected buildings and improved the farm. Married Miss Esther, daughter of Thomas and Mary Clark, of Vermont, by whom he has four children-Alfred, Orra, Mary and Rose. Mr. Hollister is a Green- backer, Justice of the Peace for the second time, and has held minor offices. Has 500 acres and owns 500 fino-wool sheep, 21 of which are registered ; he being a leading member of the Woo !- Growers and Sheep- Breeders' Association, has bought and bred from the flocks of breeders like Perry Craig, A. E. Perkins, J. H. Paul, etc., also of Farnham and Burchard, of Vermont.

HENRY HUNKINS, farmer, Secs. 4 and 5 ; P. O. Vernon ; was born May 8, 1830, at Dan- ville, Vt. ; his infaney was passed at Lancaster, N. H., to which point his parents removed when he was an infant ; in 1837, the family, intendi ig to go to Illinois, were prevented by adverse winds on Lake Mich- igan, and obliged to land at Milwaukee ; nearly all they had was paid in passage money, and, after a few weeks spent in Milwaukee, they located in the town of Waukesha, and spent the summer, Mr. Hunkins making a claim in New Berlin, and building a one-story bark-roofed home, 14x18, using only an augur and ax in its construction ; windows were apertures cut in the logs and hung with blankets ; a huge stone fire-place with a stick and mud chimney completed a home, and, says Mr. Hunkins, the son of the builder, "we enjoyed ourselves here through the long winter evenings, reading by the firelight." Too poor to buy a team, Mr. H. cnt away the small trees, and girdled the large ones, then sowed an aere of wheat, and actually covered the grain with a hoe. The son remembers tramping over an Indian trail to M. D. Cutler's place to help his poor but plucky sire to dig potatoes prior to 1840 ; $20 of Mr. H.'s hard

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

earnings proved counterfeit money when presented by him in Milwaukee. Such a beginning is sure of a reward, and in 1839, he sold out the claim for $200, and then bought the farm on the Mukwonago road, where he died, an honored veteran pioneer, Jan. 1, 1866 ; his wife followed him in October, 1878. The son received most of his education among the trees around his early home, hard work and poverty being; his teachers ; attaining his majority, his father gave him 40 acres, which he cleared of heavy timber ; selling it about 1864. and buying the old Webster farm in Vernon. He married, at 24, Miss Polly St. John, a native of New York State, who died on the Webster farm, leaving two children-James H. and Rebecca P. In 1866, he married Miss Margaret, daughter of William Beggs, a pioneer of Waukesha Township, where she was born ; they have seven children-Charles, Sarah F., Ernest, George, William, Nettie and Herbert. Mr. H. is an Independent in politics, and a progressive farmer ; he has owned his present farm of 230 acres since 1869, and made lasting improvements upon it.

THOMAS HOWIE, deceased ; was born in 1811, in Ayrshire, Scotland. In 1836, he mar- ried Miss Mary Morton, who was born in 1813, in the parish of Galston, Ayrshire; Mr. Howie engaged for three years in the mercantile business in Kilmarnock, and in 1839 emigrated to America ; three years of toil near Inverness, N. Y., enabled him to earn money enough to make a start in Vernon, where he bought a farm of 80 acres, adding 40 and doing good work ; Mr. Howie making a never-to-be-forgotten record here, as he was a founder and leading member of the U. P Church, the society being organized at his house ; he also donated the site of the church, and was so loved as to make his memory dear to all. As a Christian gentleman of generosity and honor, his death, in 1858, was much deplored. He left five children-Janet, John, Thomas, Matthew and David. Mary (Mrs. James Mais) died a few days before her father ; John, one of the 28th W. V. I., died in a St. Louis hospital ; Janet is Mrs. John Purvis, of Vernon ; Thomas is a farmer and stock dealer at Big Bend; Matthew is a butcher at Sioux Falls; David remaining on the homestead, he having married Miss Ellen Mckenzie, of Vernon. The farm of 252} acres was well managed by Mrs. Howie after her husband's death, having but little help during the first few lonesome years; as an evidence of her ability we notice the handsome residence and substantial barn built by her.

JOHN A. MCKENZIE, farmer, Sec. 1; P. O. Vernon ; born in Caledonia. Livingston Co., N. Y., Feb. 18, 1823; his younger life was spent in his native State; on the 20th of May, 1843, he landed at Milwaukee, and the next day left for Vernon, passing the site of Waukesha on the way, and well remembers seeing cattle grazing on the same turf now trod by the pleasure-seekers of the noted water- ing place ; after a month spent in traveling over the county, he became homesick and would gladly have returned East, but did not have the means; so rolling up his sleeves he went to work in Mukwonago at $10 per month, and worked in the neighboring country part of the time as a thrasher for the next ten years ; he then decided to go to California via the Nicaraugua route, but on reaching that land of fever and death, learned of the wreck of the Golden Gate, and resolved to give up his dreams of wealth in the mines, and to return to Wisconsin and dig it out of its fertile soil. He not long after bought the farm and married the daughter of his former employer, Robert Weir ; Mr. Mckenzie had worked for seven or eight years for Mr. Weir, who was a well-known but unfortunate pioneer, whose daughter Margaret E., born in Caledonia, is now Mrs. Mckenzie and the mother of seven children-Elizabeth, Mary J., Ellen S., John E., Janet, Flora A. and Margaret A ; the youngest daughter, Mabel, died Feb. 10, 1880, aged 4. Mr. Mckenzie has 156 acres, well improved, which was in a semi-cultivated state when he bought it, a log house comprising the buildings; he afterward built a frame house which is now overshadowed by an elegant residence, built in 1871, of the famous Cream City brick. Mr. Mckenzie is a Republican; and has been one of the Town Board a number of years. His wife and daughters are members of the U. P. Church.

PETER MCKENZIE. farmer, Sec. 15; P. O. Vernon; born in Caledonia, Livingston Co., N. Y., Oct. 1, 1829 ; he spent his early life in " York State, " and when a boy of 18, came to Waukesha Co., having spent a year as a clerk in Washington Co. In March, 1850, Mr. Mckenzie joined a party of fifteen others and made the memorable six months' trip to California, crossing the plains with oxen; after five years in the mines of the Golden Gate, he returned via Panama and New York City to Wisconsin ; in 1856, he bought 120 acres of his present farm, of which 15 or 20 were improved, and on which was a log house, the remainder being heavy timbers, among which he did the best of work, chopping and log- ging, breaking and fencing ; he has added 70, acres and has to reward these twenty-five years of honest toil an improved farm, with the best of buildings ; the main barn is 34x52, 18-foot posts with basement; in 1874, he supplanted the log house with a handsome two-story brick, with all modern improvements. . His is not a bad record for a man who, thirty-three years ago, reached Barton, Washington Co., penniless and

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supperless. He married Miss Mary J., daughter of Robert Weir, by whom he has nine children-Frank A., James A., Ellen M., Robert, Clarence, William, Sarah J., Margaret C. and an infant. Mr. Mckenzie is a Republican, and has usually refused all office, though he has been both Supervisor and Assessor, and a school district officer over twenty years in succession.

FINDLEY McNAUGHTON, farmer, Sec. 12; P. O. Vernon ; born in Johnstown, Mont- gomery Co., N. Y., Dec. 30, 1810 ; his early life was spent in Genesee County ; at 15, he settled in Canan- daigua, residing there until 1847, when he came to Wisconsin, reaching Vernon that fall with wife and family ; had previously bought what is now the county farm, of John Post, its original owner ; in 1856, Mr. McNaughton, having been Chairman of his town for three years, was appointed Overseer of the Poor Farm, then located in the town of Waukesha ; a few years later, the county rented Mr. McNaughton's farm, he having charge of it, and erecting most of the buildings upou it, until 1872, when he resigned and sold the farm to the county ; he did more than any man in the county to secure the care of the poor by the county while on the County Board for three years ; prior to this, he was engaged for three years in Weir's saw-mill at Big Bend, as head-sawyer, book-keeper and engineer ; in 1851, was elected to the Legis- ture over no less popular an opponent than Jesse Smith, who was often his opponent for office. Mr. McNaughton has had thirteen children by two marriages-Margaret, Malcolm (deceased ), John (deceased ), Christie A., Samuel M., Findley J., William A., Mary (deceased), James and Archibald A. By the present wife, who was Miss Mary Espie, he has three-Sarah, Clarissa A. and Adeline C. Mr. McNaugh- ton was one of the first Board of Trustees and a leading spirit in the building of the Vernon United Pres- byterian Church ; has always been a member and Trustee; now owns 240 acres of land and a good and pleasant home, in striking contrast to the log shanty in which his family spent the first winter in Wisconsin.

LEONARD MARTIN, farmer, merchant and proprietor hotel; P. O. Big Bend; born in Fer- risburg, Vt., April 16, 1814; his younger life was spent at school in old Vermont, where he learned surveying ; in the spring of 1836, he reached Milwaukee, and remained there until fall, when he made first claim at the noted Oak Orchard of pioneer times ; during the winter. he surveyed the plat of Kewaunee, Wis., not seeing other men than those with him for two months; returning in the spring of 1837, be built on his claim, just across the line in Muskego, the inevitable log house, and began life a lone bachelor, " poor as Job's turkey," his musty flour, etc., earned by hard day's work. March 11, 1840, he married Miss Betsey F. Munson, of Bristol, Vt .; to pay for his land when it came into market, he bired money at 50 per cent. ; in 1852, Mr. Martin built a hotel and store on a large scale, main building 41x51, with kitchen 32x48, which, with its additions, is known over South Wisconsin as " Martin's Tavern ; " the generous old hostelry, with its three floors, being often crowded in the palmy days of Janesville and Milwaukee plank road. His stock of goods is very large; "too much stock," says Mr. Martin ; " everything from a needle to a plow." He is a genuine " old settler," and dug the first well in Muskego; his farm of 450 acres, with a small village of tenement houses, gives his place a business-like look. Mr. Martin was the first County Surveyor, Chairman of Muskego four years prior to this, member of the last Territorial Legislature in 1847, was County Commissioner in old times, and is now serving his fourth term as Chair- man of the largely Republican town of Vernon, though he is a radical old Jacksonian Democrat; he says his fearless advocacy of these principles has beaten him for more offices than any other man in the county. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have three children-Ann E., widow of Everett Chamberlain ; Sarah E., Mrs. C. A. Pride, and a son, S. Munson, who married Miss Emma Keyser, of New York, and is with his father.

J. T. MORRIS, County Overseer of the Poor ; P. O. Waukesha; born in Orange County, N. Y., in 1818; losing his father when but an infant, he was compelled to begin life's battle at an early age, and has seen much of the hard, cheerless side of this world, working for three or four years iu an ax factory in Napanock, Ulster Co., N. Y. He married Miss Maria Evans, of Sullivan County, N. Y .; they came to Wisconsin with but little means in 1852; he began by renting a farm in Muskego, dealing for seventeen successive years with its owner without a line of writing having been drawn or a harsh word spoken; probably no parallel case can be furnished in the county ; his management having made this farm a valuable one, be resolved to own one of his own, and bought near Big Bend ; lived there six years, or until 1875, when he was appointed to his present position, which he has so satisfactorily filled. " I keep this place in a condition fit to be visited by any one at any time," says Mr. Morris, and a walk among and through the buildings proved it. He is, politically, Independent, voting for men and ideas instead of party, has served as Supervisor, Justice of the Peace, etc., in Muskego. Mr. and Mrs. Morris have an adopted son Albert (formerly Avery) Morris,

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JOHN W. PARK, (deceased), was born June 15, 1830, in Weston, Windsor Co., Vt .; the years of his boyhood and youth were spent at school, and in assisting his father on the farm ; about the time he attained his majority, he joined a company from his native place and went to Winona, Minn .; dis- satisfied with the outlook there, he returned as far as Vernon, joining relatives here ; remained two or three years in Wisconsin, teaching a year in Dane County ;he and S. B. Smith, with a party from Vernon, again left for the West ; finally locating where the city of Owatonna now stands, Park and Smith surveying and naming that town, and opened the first store in Steele County ; Mr. Park being the first Postmaster of Owatonna ; the people successively honored him with the offices of County Surveyor, Commissioner, and Register of Dceds. In 1856, he revisited Wisconsin and married Miss Sarah L., daughter of John Thomas, one of Vernon's earliest and most honored pioneers. Upon the death of Mr. Thomas a year and a half later, Mr. P. and wife returned and located on the old homestead, where he made a permanent home and devoted himself to the interests of his large farm, which devotion was duly rewarded by his becoming one of the leading stock-growers and farmers in his vicinity. Mr. Park was thoroughly in love with his profession, and took a deep interest in everything that had for its object the advancement of farming inter- ests ; for many years his face was a familiar.one at county and State fairs, where he was often an exhib- itor, and often filled positions of trust and honor ; he had a large circle of acquaintances, and "every acquaint- ance was a friend." There was something in his genial face and hearty greeting that won all hearts to him and made them at once his friends ; to his friends his daily walk in life was an example such as challenged their admiration, and won their highest respect and love. For a few years prior to his death, he was in failing health, but was able to superintend his 430-acre farm, until July, 1879, when he was taken sud- denly worse, and sank rapidly until the 8th of August. when he quietly breathed his last. Mr. Park was in accord with the Universalist faith, though not a church member ; he left a devoted wife and six children. Living, he was an affectionate husband and father, and a kind and honorable neighbor and friend. Look- ing back over his life-work, we may justly say that he left an example that his children and all who knew him may well emulate:

A. H. PIERCE, farmer, Secs. 27 and 22; P. O. Dodge's Corners; born in Andover, Windsor Co., Vt., May 23, 1822 ; is a son of Abial and Nancy Pierce. Abial P. was a native of New Hampshire, and his first wife dying Jan. 13, 1828, he married again Miss H. R. Manning ; the family were residents of Vermont until 1838, when they removed to Wisconsin, reaching Vernon early in August ; there were four children-Dorcas L., Dorathy D., Abial H. and Lucinda W ; the eldest married O. B. Haseltine, and died at Black Earth, Dane Co., Wis., in March, 1874 ; the second is the widow of John Dodge, who, like Mr. Haseltine, was one of the four first settlers of Vernon ; Mr. Dodge died Aug. 29, 1859 ; Lucinda W., is the widow of Curtis Carleton, who died in August, 1855 ; both Mrs. Dodge and Mrs. Carleton are now living on the original homestead of John Dodge ; Abial Pierce bought the Pierce homestead of the Government, improved it and died upon it Nov. 30, 1871, his widow surviving until Jan. 1, 1878. The only son, our subject, attended the first school kept in the town, by Ira S. Haseltine, and has spent his life upon the old acres. Married, Dec. 23, 1848, in Waterford, Racine Co., Wis., Miss Cordelia B., daughter of John and Eliza Finton, she being a native of Monroe, Ashtabula Co., Ohio; born Oct. 24 1827 ; they have four children-Frank A., J. Byron, William A. and Clement H .; the eldest is farming in Rochester, Wis., and the others are on the homestead, now well improved and containing 236 acres, devoted to fine-wool sheep and other stock. Mr. Pierce, like all true sons of Vermont, is a Republican, and has filled many minor town offices.

ALLEN PORTER, farmer, Secs. 32 and 29 ; P. O. Dodge's Corners; born in Athens, Windham Co., Vt., July 15, 1814. His younger life was spent in his native State, where he married Miss Syrena Lewis, of Chester, Vt .; a month later the young couple left for Wisconsin, spending six days on the canal from Troy to Buffalo ; reaching Milwaukee early in June, they soon joined the family of Ira Blood, in Vernon, Mr. Porter buying 120 acres of Uncle Sam at $2.50 per acre; his first work was to dig a well 25 feet deep, still in existence, but in disuse, then to build a house 16 feet square, which was completed in four days, so the family moved in, though blankets hung across the windows, and it was two years before it was plastered ; Mr. Porter bought a yoke of cattle and by "changing works" with his neighbor, was enabled to sow an acre and a half of wheat that fall ; as a rail-splitter, Mr. P. was second only to Lincoln, though he followed the good old custom then prevailing and purloined most of his fencing from the Gov- ernment land around him. He relates that one summer, not being then able to own a wagon, and being desirous of attending meeting with his family, he attached his oxen to his sled and went, though the novel "rig" was left in the grove, out of sight of the schoolhouse; many a time has he carried a borrowed plow on his back from Caldwell's Prairie and returned it in the same way-a hard way to begin, but it met

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with a reward in the shape of the 280-acre farm of which 100 have been cleared and broken by him, and the tasteful and substantial farm buildings, and the house built during the nation's centennial. There are two children, Susan M. and Rolland L .; the daughter resides in Waukesha, and the son is one of the firm of Davis Bros. & Porter, oil dealers in Milwaukee. Mr. Porter is a Republican, and was for years a noted breeder and dealer in fine horses -- he selling one team for $800, often wintering 15 horses and colts ; of late he has devoted himself to sheep, owning now 400, with two registered rams; he also has a few Jersey cattle, two thoroughbreds.

GEORGE W. PORTER, farmer, Secs. 32 and 29; P. O. Dodge's Corners; is a native of Athens, Windham Co., Vt., born Dec. 26, 1816; has been a life-long farmer ; in 1842, he left Vermont for Wisconsin, reaching Milwaukee on the 19th of June, and then joined his brother Allen, who had settled in Vernon two years before; Mr. Porter soon bought 40 acres of Government land, and 80 of one Roberts, the whole being as nature left it; Mr. P. turning every furrow and building every rod of fence himself. He boarded with his brother until May 13, 1845, when he married Miss Lois Yearly, a native of Dublin, N. H., who had spent most of her life at Londonderry, Vt., and who had settled at Mukwonago a year or so prior to the wedding. Mr. Porter now owns 240 acres of well-improved land, a spacious and tasteful farm-house, well-planted grounds and substantial barns, the main one 62x34 with lean-to additions, sheep barn 24x60, hog house 24x30, etc., etc .; all placed there by the labor and good sense of the man who cut the farm from the oak openings of this town. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have four children-George Y., Abbie S., John T., and Ida L. George married Miss Rose Clark, and is one of the successful farmers of Cald- well's Priarie ; the other three are on the homestead, the youngest an invalid. Mr. P., like most Ver- monters, is a Republican, and is not an office seeker but a successful farmer and stock-breeder. It is wor- thy of note that these facts were furnished and recorded on the 35th anniversary of the wedding day.

AMOS PUTNAM, sawyer, Big Bend ; born April 15, 1808, in Andover, Vt., where he lived until the day Van Buren was inaugurated President, when he left for the new, wild West ; reaching Ver- non during the same spring (1837), he made a claim, which he sold in 1840, and, during 1840, he and his brother, Aaron, dug the ditches which, by draining springs, formed the pond or reservoir, perhaps forty rods north of the banks of Fox River ; the water was conducted in a race to the bank of the said river, and, on reaching the huge wheel of the old saw-mill built there by them at this time, was found to have a direct fall of eighteen feet ; the mill was set in motion in April, 1841, and here Mr. P. was inbusiness until 1868, when he sold out. He married, in 1843, Miss Frances Otis, a native of Washington Co., N. Y., who died in 1858; married again Mrs. Margaret Hutchings, a daughter of Samuel Jones, of Peekskill, N. Y .; her former husband, P. G. Hutchings, died in 1853, leaving her three children-William, Samuel and Mary (Mrs. Thomas Howie). Mr. Putnam has a pleasant home in the village, and owns 87 acres on Sec. 25, in Vernon ; is a radical Greenbacker, of Republican antecedents ; the old mill was torn down in 1855, and replaced by one which burned in 1875, the present mill being built that year. Mr. P. says that 1837 was so cold that sap ran from the giant maples around him until the 10th of May, and that boats did not leave Buffalo until the 4th of June.

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The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources; an extensive and minute sketch of its cities, towns and villages etc, Part 160

Author: Western Historical Co., pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1050

Author: Western Historical Co., pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1050