The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, Part 166

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1082


USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > The history of Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin > Part 166


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JACOB SCHMIDT, farmer, See. 20 ; P. O. Woodhull; was born in Prussia July 10, 1833, and is the fourth son of Mathias and Mary Schmidt, with whom he came to Wisconsin in 1847, and settled on a farm in the town of Lamartine, Fond du Lae Co., where he now has a farm of 140 acres in Secs. 2 and 11. March 31, 1856, he married Miss Christina, daughter of Mathias and Genoefa Reid- meeler, a native of Wurtemburg, Germany ; they have had nine children, five of whom died of diphtheria, within two weeks' time, in the year 1878; their names and births, and deaths of the deceased, are as fol- lows-Ilelena, born April 29, 1859, died Nov. 9, 1860; Mary. born July 4, 1861, died Aug. 4, 1878; Helena, Jr., born Nov. 29, 1863, died July 19, 1878; John N., born Jan. 17, 1866, died July 20, 1878; Michael F., born July 23, 1868, died July 25, 1878; Joseph G .. born July 26, 1874, died July 28, 1878 ; Catharine, born Dec. 19, 1870 ; Maggie, born Aug. 8, 1872; Dena K., born July 15, 1877. They are members of St. John's Catholic Church.


PETER SERESSE, cooper and farmer, Sec. 13; P. O. Fond du Lac ; is a son of Peter and Jennie Sersse; born in Prussia in 1842 ; when 15 years of age, he began the cooper's trade with his father, and with him and family came to America in 1865, and settled on a farm in the town of Eldo. rado, Fond du Lac Co., Wis., where his father followed farming, though he worked in a brewery for J. & C. Frey, in the city of Fond du Lie; in 1874, he purchased a farm of seventy acres in Sec. 13, town of Lamartine, where he followed farming in the summer, and the cooper's trade during the winter.


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LAMARTINE TOWNSHIP.


In 1874, he married Miss Augusta, daughter of Fredrick and Mena Henry, who came with parents from Germany to Fond du Lac Co., Wis., when 2 years and 6 months old ; they have three children- Anna M., Mena and Peter F. They are members of the Evangelical Church of Fond du Lac.


STEPHEN W. SMITH, farmer, See. 20; P. O. Lamartine; is a native of Dutchess Co., N. Y., and is the son of Phillip and Cynthia Smith, nee Smith ; born Dee. 1. 1816; when quite young he, with parents, removed to Ulster Co., N. Y .. and settled in the village of Woodstock, where his father followed teaching for a number of years; in 1849, he, with wife and family, immigrated to Wisconsin and settled on a farm of eighty acres in Sec. 20-the east half of the southwest quarter-town of Lam- artine, which has since been their home. April 23, 1842, he married Miss Huldah A., daughter of John and Sophia Tompkins, nee Maise. of Greene Co., N. Y. ; their children are as follows-Aletta, Emily M. (now Mrs. Thomas Mason, of Fond du Lac), Cynthia S., Melissa (now Mrs. Jerald Maccumber, of Lamar- tine), Barnum E., of Harlan Co., Neb. ; John W., of Harlan Co., Neb., and Charles Fremont. They are members of the M. E. Church ; Mr. Smith is a Republican, politically.


ORVILLE J. SOPER, farmer, Sec. 23; P. O. Fond du Lac; was born in Bristol, Addi- son Co., Vt., Feb. 26, 1807, and is the son of Enos Soper and Desire Drake, natives of Massa- chusetts ; when 14 years of age, he began the trade of a millwright with his father, and afterward con- tinued it in his native State till 1836 ; he then iuimigrated to Wisconsin, and settled at Green Bay ; he built the first saw and grist. mill at De Pere, Wis., and continued his trade in Green Bay and vicinity for nine years ; in 1845, he came to Fond du Lac and built the well-known " Soper's Mill," two miles south of the city, of which he was proprietor for twenty-five years; in 1870, he bought a farm of 120 acres in Secs. 23 and 26, town of Lamartine, where he has since followed farming, and now has a farm of eighty acres. At Monktou, Addison Co., Vt., June 8, 1836, he married Miss Helena S., daughter of Captain and Sally Kendrick, nee Eastman ; they have four children-Charles K. (deceased ), William E. (deceased ), Rodney W. II., who married Miss Iola E. Mitchell, of Lamartine ; Delia A., Mrs. Christian Block, of McLennan Co., Tex. Mr. Soper has been a member of the Masonie Fraternity for more than fifty years.


MARTIN STRATZ, farmer, Sec. 9; P. O. Woodhull; was born in Baden, Germany, Nov. 17. 1829, and is the son of Sabastin and Magdaline Stratz ; at the age of 16, he entered upon an appren- ticeship at the clockmaker's trade in his native city, which continued for four years, and then returned to his father's farm for two years; in October, 1852, with his wife Maria, a daughter of Joseph and Maria Lehman, sailed for America, and landed in New York in the following December; they came thenee to the town of Lamartine, Fond du Lac Co., Wis., and bought a farm of 160 aeres in Sec. 9, where he has since lived, and is now a member of the Town Board. Politically, he is a Democrat. The children are Joseph, John, Martin, Louis, Wilhelmena (now Mrs. Stephen Lisowi, of this town, Lamartine), Mary and Emma. They are members of the Catholic Church.


JOHN UERLING (deceased) was a native of Prussia, and son of John and Catharine Uerling ; born April 6, 1794, and, in 1820. married Miss Anna M., daughter of Michael and Anna Catha- rine Poetz, of the Rhine Province, Germany. He followed farming in his native country till 1850, when, in May, of that year, he, with wife and family of six children, immigrated to America, and settled on a farm on Sec. 11, town of Lamartine, Fond du Lac Co., Wis .; here he died January 10, 1868, leaving a wife and five children to survive him; their children were as follows: Michael ( who married Clementina Koch, of this town-Lamartine-in May, 1854, and is the father of eight children), Mary (now Mrs. U'rland Landre), Catharine ( deceased ), Josephine ( deceased ), John, of Lake Superior; Christina Margaret deceased , Francis and William ( deceased); he has twenty acres in Sec. 11, town of Lamartine, and is proprietor of a saloon ; the second daughter is Catharine (now Mrs. John Pass, of the town of Fond du Lae). William, who died in 1832; Margaret (now Mrs. Daniel Schaefer, of Fond du Lac); John, of California ; Frank, who married Miss Margaret, daughter of Mathias and Catharine Schaefer, of this town. May 4, 1878, by whom he has had eight children, as follows: Mathias J., John (deceased ), Catha- rine, Agnes, Christina, Clementina, Josephine and John. He has forty acres of land on See. 11, town of Lamartine. They are all members of the Catholic Church.


WILLIAM S. WARNER, farmer, Sec. 22; P. (). Lamartine; is a native of Jefferson Co., N. Y., and is the son of Seth Warner and Ether Drake; born Aug. 5, 1820; in April, 1821, his parents removed to the town of Le Roy, Genesee Co., N. Y., where his father died June 30, 1840; in December, 1843, he left his home in York State for Charlestown, Portage Co., Ohio, where he followed farm laboring for nearly a year; in September, 1844, he returned to Genesee Co., taking passage on board the steamer " Julia Palmer " at Cleveland for Buffalo; and, April 13, 1845, he started westward to try his fortune in the wilds of Wisconsin ; coming via Milwaukee, he reached the town of Byron, Fond du


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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES :


Lac Co., April 26, just thirteen days after leaving his home in New York ; he at once pre-empted eighty acres of land in Sec. 30, of that town, which was his home till April 1, 1858, and where his mother and the rest of the family joined him in six months after his arrival : his older brother having immigrated to Wisconsin about six months before him ; here his mother died April 29, 1852. Dec. 9, 1846, he married Miss Martha E., daughter of Abner and Damarius Beebe nee Wicks, of the town of Byron, Fond du Lac Co., Wis., but immigrated from the town of Byron, Genesee Co., N. Y., at the same time Mr. Warner came ; she died Dee. 14, 1850, leaving one son, Charles F., now of Lamartine. Oct. 22, 1851, he mar- ried Miss Hannah, daughter of James and Hannah Craig, of the town of Byron. Fond du Lac Co., Wis., but immigrants from the Mohawk Valley, N. Y .; she died April 27, 1857, leaving three children-William 11., of Lamartine; Esther A. ( deceased) and Alice E. Nov. 23, 1857, he was married to Mrs. Adaline C., widow of the late William Jones, deceased, of Lamartine, and daughter of Elias and Sally Fancher, immigrant from Wyoming Co., N. Y .; they have one son-Clark E. In April, 1858, he removed to a farm on Sec. 22, town of Lamartine, where he has since lived, and now has ninety-seven acres of land- the north half of the southwest quarter, and seventeen acres of the east half of the south quarter of the sonthwest quarter. Mr. Warner was Chairman of the Town Board for a number of years, was also elected a member of the Wisconsin Assembly from the Third Assembly District in 1877. Mr. and Mrs. Warner are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and have always taken an active part in all its interests.


JACOB WEDEMAN (deceased). The subject of this sketch was one of the first settlers in the town of Lamartine, having come in 1844; he was the son of Jacob and Sophia Wedeman, and was born near Albany, Albany Co., N. Y., Dec. 25, 1812 ; his father was a native of York State, his mother of Holland. When 16 years of age, with parents, he removed to the town of Cicero, N. Y., where, in March, 1836, he married Miss Ann, daughter of Mathias and Sally Morris ( nee Lathrop), and, in the following spring (1837), they immigrated to Wisconsin ; landing in New York, they came, via the lakes, to Milwaukee, where they stopped for three weeks, thence to Oconomowoc for a short time ; they removed thence to Watertown, Wis., and there kept the first boarding-house of that place. Abont four months later, they removed to a farm near Watertown, where he followed farming for two years ; then returned to Oconomowoc and there followed the cooper's trade, which he learned in the State of New York, when about 18 years of age ; in 1844, they removed to the town of Lamartine, Fond du Lac Co., where he followed farming for three years ; he next went to Fox River, Winnebago Co., Wis., for another three years; in 1852, he went to California, where a little more than three years he was engaged in mining, lumbering, ete. Dur- ing his absence, in 1854, his wife bought a farm of 160 acres in Sce. 29, town of Lamartine, Fond du Lac Co., which has since been the home of the family. Jan. 20, 1862, he enlisted in Co. A, 14th W. V. 1., under Col. Wood, of Fond du Lac; he was in the battle of Shiloh and siege of Vicksburg, where he was killed May 19, 1863, in the first movement ; they had five children, as follows-Orrilla, now Mrs. Peter Stark, of Ilortonville, Outagamie Co., Wis. ; Emily, was Mrs. Orrin Baden, of Kansas, now deceased ; Chauncy, who served three years in the late war with the 32d W. V. I. ; Sarah Jane, now Mrs. George Temple of Eldorado ; William W., who enlisted in the same company and regiment as Chauncy, but dis- charged by President Lincoln, after the death of his father. Mrs. Wedeman is a member of the M. E. Church.


METOMEN TOWNSHIP.


JOHN ABERCROMBIE, lumber merchant, Brandon ; born April 19, 1830, in Kingsey, Canada East ; his father was a farmer and drover, and John was early inured to the labors of the farm and accustomed to the care of stock, and this will account for his well-known admiration for fine stock, especially horses ; from the fall of 1951 to the spring of 1855, he was in Boston, Mass, engaged in the express business as delivery agent for Baker & Eaton. He was married, in November, 1854, to Miss Harriet Earl, of Maine ; they came to Wisconsin in January, 1856, and that same season he bought the lots and built a small house on the same land where, in 1877, he erected his present residence; they have five children-Louis R., John A., Guita, Caroline and Charles II. For ten years he engaged in farming and grain-buying ; since 1867, he has been in the humber trade ; he was for some time foreman for a firm, afterward partner, and for several years has been proprietor. He was a member of the first Village Board of Brandon; he is not at present connected with any secret society ; his wife is a Methodist. Mr. Abercrombie is familiar with all the changes and improvements which this village has undergone since the


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METOMEN TOWNSHIP.


jolly times when " Bunggo " was its name down to the dignified days of Brandon. He is an active Republican.


WILLIAM D. ASH, dealer in grain, produce and agricultural implements, Brandon ; was born in Saratoga Co., N. Y., April 23, 1818 ; his parents were farmers, and he worked on a farm till he was of age, after which he served an apprenticeship as carpenter and joiner, and he continued to work at his trade until his marriage. He married, Feb. 21, 1844. Miss Elmira Putnam, of Onondaga Co., N. Y. In 1846, he came West and settled in the township of Oakfield, Fond du Lac Co., Wis., on 160 acres, which he still owns; he now owns 1,050 acres of land in this county, besides many village lots and one business block ; also has 365 acres in Jowa. They have had six children, of whom five are married and living in Fond du Lac Co., and the other one is dead; their names are llelen M., Leila, William H., David (dead), Adelbert and Eddie. He moved to Brandon in 1868 and built his present residence, and also. in partnership with F. M. Hillman, bonght eighty acres adjoining the village, and platted as an addi- tion to Brandon ; the next year he purchased a farm near the village, which claimed his attention ; in the spring of 1870, he bought a store and stock of dry goods from F. M. Hillman, and sold the same, in the fall of 1872, to R C. Kelly; for two years he attended to his farms, and also sold considerable wood and timber ; since 1874, he has been engaged in buying grain, produce and live stock, and in the sale of agri- cultural implements ; he was School Superintendent in the township of Amsterdam, N. Y., in 1841; in the township of Oakfield he was Assessor and Supervisor; also Justice of the Peace for fifteen years ; he is a member of the Brandon Board of Trustees, and has been Chairman two years from Brandon ; he is not a member of any secret society. Himself and wife affiliate with the Congregational Church ; he is a consistent, reliable Democrat. Although a large producer, he is nevertheless most efficient and useful as a " middleman ; " anybody with anything to sell is assured of an offer by calling on W. D. Ash; he ships both to the Milwaukee and Chicago markets.


DEACON JOSIAH BATSON, farmer ; P. O. Fairwater ; born in Otsego Co., N. Y., in July, 1829 ; he is of English parentage ; he worked on his father's farm till he removed to the West in 1852; he bought land immediately on his arrival in the county, which he kept till 1862. He was married July 10, 1853, to Miss Arabell Wells, of Green Lake ; they have had six children-M. Josephine, War- ren A., Fayette J., Lora Belle ; the other two children died in infancy. Has lived since 1862 on his pres- ent farm, See. 29, Metomen Township; has 300 acres on this homestead ; has also an improved farm of 160 acres in Minnesota; he began life poor, has now a competency ; he is well known as the leading sheep- raiser of that region; he now has 550 grade Merino sheep ; fleece averaged about seven pounds each last season ; his barns are commodious, and nearly new, having been, not long ago, entirely destroyed by fire. with all their contents; loss fully 84,000. His wife has been in delicate health for several years; her mother, Mary Wells, aged 82, lives with them, and is still active, and elaiuns the privilege of caring for the milk of five cows. For several years, Mr. Batson has been a Deacon in the Baptist Church; he is a conservative Republican.


JOHN H. BERNING, farmer, Sec. 26; P. O. Brandon ; born April 12, 1815, in Westphalia, Prussia ; came to America in 1847. and pre-empted forty acres of his present farm ; afterward, he bought fifty aeres more, and his homestead now contains ninety acres, of which fully fifty are cultivated ; he has also a house and two lots in Brandon. He was married, in 1849, to Miss Eva Dina Liesveld, of Arnheim, Holland; have had nine children-Henry, born in 1850, married Lena Freze in 1876; Garret, born in 1851, died in 1864; James, born in 1853. married Adella Videto in 1875; John, born in 1855, died in 1859; Eva Dina, born in 1857, married D. A. Duitman in 1879; Anna, born in 1859, died in 1862; Mary, born in 1861 ; John, born in 1864, and Anna, born in 1869. He raises extra wheat ; his son, Johnnie, raises blooded poultry. Mr. Berning is a Republican ; he has good improvements, and is a thrifty farmer and a good citizen.


ADELBERT M. BLY. farmer, Sec. 14; P. O. Brandon ; born in Madison Co., N. Y., Dec. 19, 1837 ; came West with his parents in 1854, and from that time to the present his home has been in this township. He enlisted Aug. 5, 1862, in the United States Service, and was honorably dis- charged on the 12th of June, 1865 ; he was in the Western army, and went with Sherman to the sea; he came home as First Lieutenant of Co. B, 32d W. V. L ; in the spring of 1865, he endured peculiar hardships and exposure while wading the swamps of South Carolina; these experiences have told upon his health. He was married, June 6, 1867, to Miss Anna Burdick, of Green Lake ; they have three children-Mabel, Myrtie A. and George S. He has eighty acres, nearly all tillable. He is Superinten- dent of Schools under the township system. Himself and wife are Methodists ; he is a consistent Repub- lican and an honorable citizen.


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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:


DEACON GEORGE BLY, farmer, Sec. 16; P. O. Brandon ; was born May 25, 1813, in Eaton, Madison Co., N. Y. He has been a farmer all his life. He was married on the 8th of March, 1837, to Miss Catharine MI. Pearse. In the fall of 1839, he moved to Chautauqua Co., N. Y .. where he lived nearly fifteen years ; they came West in the spring of 1854, and located on the present homestead of 160 acres ; they had seven children-Adelbert M., born Dec. 19, 1837, married in 1866; Asa F., born in 1841, married in 1871 ; Lydia J., born in 1843, married in 1861; Eliza A., born in 1845, died in 1874 ; Sarah P., born in 1847, married in 1871 ; Izora E., born in 1850, married in 1875 ; C. Myrtilla, born in 1834. Deacon Bly has held but one local office, and the results of that are seen in the straight- ened and improved highways. His son, Adelbert M., served as a soldier in the rebellion from 1862 to 1865 ; his health was impaired while in the army ; he came home First Lieutenant of Co. B, 32d W. V. I. Mrs. Bly died Dec. 26, 1879, aged near 67 years; the last years of her life were passed in great suffering, but with Christian fortitude. Her youngest daughter is now housekeeper for her father. He has been Deacon of the Congregational Church at Brandon for nearly twenty-five years ; be is not a member of any secret society ; is a Republican ; never had a lawsuit ; is benevolent and beloved.


AMOS BOND, farmer, See. 13; P. O. Brandon ; born July 4, 1803, in Eden, Orleans Co., Vt .; has always been a farmer. Married, Dec. 5, 1827, Anna Duntley, of New Hampshire. They came to Wisconsin in 1837, and settled in Geneva, Walworth Co .; when he reached the place, he had a wife, four children and 50 cents, and was in debt $5 for drawing his household goods from Racine; that season he bought a house, costing. with land, $500, and paid for it in full by making oak shingles by hand, and also supported his family, paying $30 per barrel for flour and $40 for pork ; his labor netted him $5 per day ; he bought a farm and carried it on about six years in that county ; in the spring of 1847, he came to Fond du Lac Co. and settled on See. 24, in Metomen Township; after exchanging farms twiee, he loeated on his present homestead in 1864; there is now 220 aeres in the farm. They have had nine ehildren- Sarah J., Pamelia M., Cephas H., Robert R. (dead), Amanda E., George W., Charles M., Albert A. and Frank A .; they have twenty-six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. In 1871, they sold the farm to their son George, with whom they make their home. Has been Assessor. Ilimself and wife are Methodists ; he is a stalwart Democrat.


J. H. BROWN. merchant and Postmaster, Fairwater; was born in Sutton, Vt., in 1834; is a painter by trade ; he came West in 1837. He enlisted in the 32d W. V. I., and served three years, and was honorably discharged. He is unmarried. Keeps a grocery and notion store, and is Postmaster. Is a Good Templar and a Republican. Is genial and popular.


HARRIS BROWN, irm of H. & J. H. Brown, groceries, stationery and confectioneries, Fairwater; was born in Rhode Island in 1804; came West in 1857 ; settled in Fairwater in 1860 ; is by trade a wagon-maker. In 1831, he married Miss Roxana Sleeper, in Vermont ; had two children-Mary A. and John H .; his wife died in 1833. He is a Republican and a Methodist.


JACOB CARTER, farmer, Sec. 20; P. O. Fairwater; born June 2, 1813, in Lunenburgh, Worcester Co., Mass .; his earliest recollections are of the old farm and Massachusetts homestead, but years of his later youth were passed in New Hampshire; at the age of IS, he moved to Erie Co., Penn., where he resided fifteen years. He was married July 17, 1833, to Miss Elizabeth Wasson, of Wayne, Erie Co., Penn .; for a dozen seasons, they carried on farming in Pennsylvania; in 1844, they followed the "star of empire," and founded a new home in the Territory of Wisconsin ; they stopped the first winter in Man- chester, Green Lake Co., and on the 30th of June, 1845, they entered their roofless cabin, and slept sweetly for the first time on the farm and near their present hospitable home ; Mr. Carter had " rolled up " the logs for this eabin in the month preceding, with aid brought from fifteen miles ( Manchester ) ; the first birth in the township was in that cabin that season-Franklin French-whose parents' thatched cabin was burned soon after its erection ; the first family in the township preceded one week only the advent of Mr. Carter's family ; sickness, accidents and delays were the lot of this family the season before coming West, while on the journey and during the first season as pioneers ; the first money earned by Mr. Carter in the West, was through helping to run his brother's old open-eylinder thrashing machine ; in August, 1845, they began a tour of thrashing, which continued until February of the following year, and to find grain, they made a circuit of three counties-Green Lake, Dodge and Fond du Lac; some of the now well-known farmers for whom he thrashed, are John Bannister, Colwert Pier and his two brothers; Col- wert Pier's grain was stacked and thrashed a few blocks north of the present site of the American Ilouse in Fond du Lac City ; he also thrashed for Gov. Tallmadge, and Messrs. Conklin, Clark, Simmons and Wileox, of Waupun. In 1849, on his own farm, he thrashed wheat one morning, but the machine broke down before 9 o'clock ; he took a grist to Fairwater to mill, when he went for blacksmithing repairs; the flour was returned, and the hot baked buseuits made therefrom by Mrs. Carter were eaten at the 11:30


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METOMEN TOWNSHIP.


A. M. dinner. In 1848, Mr. Carter built what was called for years the best dwelling in the township. By 1850, Fairwater was quite a little village, schoolhouses and churches were being erected, and the new country had many of the essentials of New England civilization ; Mr. Carter now has five improved farms, aggregating 460 acres, of which fully 400 are now under the plow. Mr. and Mrs. Carter have added to the census eight sons and four daughters, of whom five sons and one daughter are living-Mary A. deceased ), Sarah E. (deceased ) ; George W. (the present Warden of the Wisconsin State Prison at Waupun), James W., Harrison D. (deceased ), Charles S., Alvin H. (deceased), Eliza B., Edward B., Henrietta L. (deceased ), Louis E., and Herbert E. (deceased ); three of the sons served through the rebellion, as soldiers in Wisconsin regiments, and a fourth one was four years in the army as clerk in the Commissary and Pay- master's departments ; Mr. Carter's family were the second settlers in Metomen Township. Mrs. Carter is a motherly matron, whom many in that region regard as indispensable in sickness. Mr. Carter was the first Postmaster in Metomen Township; has been Assessor and Town Chairman, and held other local offices ; he is a " true-blue " Republican, and is actively interested in local and general politics. Himself and wife are not connected with any church, but they are in sympathy with all institutions designed to benefit mankind, and their faith looks to the ultimate happiness of all humanity ; they are a genial, hospitable and highly respected family.


F. COLLINS, farmer, Sec. 32; P. O. Fairwater; born in Warsaw, Wyoming Co., N. Y., on the 9th of May, 1822; has always been a farmer. Was married, Oct. 16, 1842, to Miss Louisa A. Norman, of Wyoming Co., N. Y .; removed to Michigan in 1844, and remained four years; his father, in 1845, pre- empted eighty acres, which constitutes a part of the farm now owned by himself; he came to this township in 1848, and has not moved from the old homestead ; has 105 acres, of which sixty have been plowed ; twenty-five is timber, and twenty is pasture and meadow. Have had seven children-Amy L., born in 1843, married in 1865 ; Calvin D., born in 1846; Anna L., born in 1849, married in 1877 ; Alva N., born in 1853, married in 1878; Joseph T., born in 1857; William H., born in 1860; A. De Esten, born in 1866. Himself and wife are Methodists ; has been a Republican since the formation of the party. Mr. Collins has declined all office, but his neighbors speak of him as a very reliable and useful citizen.




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