USA > Wisconsin > Outagamie County > The pioneers of Outagamie County, Wisconsin : containing the records of the Outagamie County Pioneer Association; also a biographical and historical sketch of some of the earliest settlers of the county, and their families, their children, and grand-children > Part 17
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JOHN HENRY BOTTENSEK
Was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1806; he came to Wis- consin in 1847 ; he came to the town of Dale in 1854 and settled on a farm on Sections 14 and 23, T. 21, R. 15, where he cleared his land and established a home where he resided until his death in 1865; he married Sophia Remmers in 1846 ; they have two sons and one daughter now living. The oldest, John, born in 1850, married to Ella Buck of Appleton ; they have one daughter. John Bottensek is a graduate of Lawrence University; is practicing law in Appleton and is now district attorney. The second son, August, born in 1852, married to Marietta H. Scott in 1875; they have three sons and two daughters ; they now live on a farm in Dale. Their daughter, Lena, born in 1858, mar- ried to Edward Wege; they have four daughters; they now live in Ellington. John Henry Bottensek's widow now lives in Appleton.
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THE YOUNG FAMILY.
Samuel Young was born in New Jersey about 1800; in 1849 he settled in the town of Dale. Mr. Young had four sons, viz .: John, William, Isaac and Vincent, all were among the first set- tlers of the town of Dale. Three of the brothers were soldiers in the War of the Rebellion. Wm. Young was born in 1821 ; was lieutenant in the Thirty-second Regiment Infantry, afterwards he raised a company and joined as captain in the Forty-seventh Regiment Infantry and served until the end of the war; he entered the first land in the town of Dale on Sec. 35, T. 21, R. 15; in 1855 CAPT. WM. YOUNG. he bought the n. e. 14 of Sec. 25, T. 21, R. 15, where he cleared a farm and established a home on which he built a large hotel; the place was known as Young's corners, where he resided until his death, which occurred Nov. 24, 1890. William Young was a prominent citizen ; he represented his district in the state senate from 1867 to 1869 ; his widow now resides on the homestead with her daughter who is married to Dr. McIntyre, a practicing physician.
PETER MCLEOD
Was born in Scotland in 1819; came to America in 1849 ; lived in Canada one year and lived in Neenah five years ; came to Greenville in 1855 and settled on section 28, then a wilderness, where he cleared a farm and established a home. In 1863 he removed to Clayton, where he now re-
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sides. He married Elizabeth Ferguson in Scotland ; they have three sons and two daughters. Catharine married Wm. Perry Sept. 20, 1856 ; they have one daughter, Eva, born in 1870; she married H. W. Russell Sept. 23, 1891 ; they now live in Appleton. Mr. Russell is proprietor of a shirt factory in Appleton.
THE VANDEBOGERT FAMILY.
Frank C. Vandebogert was born at Alexander, Genesee county, New York, in 1819 ; he came to Apple- ton in May, 1850, stopped a while in what is now the Third ward of Apple- ton and helped John Stephens and James Gil- more stake out Grand Chute plat for Conkey, Martin and Bowen; in August, 1850, he pur- chased the fractional n. w. 14 of Sec. 7, T. 21, R. 18, moved on it, cleared a farm and established a home, where he resided many years; his brother Henry bought the quarter B VAN- - MI section adjoining it on the F. C. VANDEBOGERT. south ; Henry enlisted in Company D, Twenty-first Regiment, United States Infantry, and died at Murfres- borough, Tenn., in 1862; his two sons live in North Dakota, and his daughter lives in Nebraska; his widow lives with her son in North Dakota. After Henry died his brother Isaac bought the north half of the quarter section ; he is now living in Appleton. F. C. Vandebogert was married to Zelpha Oney,.Aug. 21, 1845; they have two sons and three daughters. First child, Julia, born in 1846,
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married to John Worden ; they have had six children ; they now live in Minnesota; Mrs. Worden died Dec. 27, 1887. Second child, Benjamin F., born March 10, 1848, married to Ellen Nettle- ton in 1876; they have three daughters; they now live in Elmhurst. Third child, Sarah L., born in 1851, married to Wm. Sykes in 1873; they have one son and one daughter; Mrs. Sykes died Feb. 19, 1885. Fourth child, Mary E., born in 1856, married to J. B. Vandebogert in 1887; they have one son; they now live in Appleton. Fifth child, Charles F., born in 1858, married to Julia Anderson, May 9, 1884 ; ISAAC K. VANDEBOGERT. they have one son and two daughters ; they now live in Appleton. F. C. Vandebogert moved to Appleton in 1878, where he died, Feb. 10, 1893 ; his widow now lives with her daughter Mary.
GEORGE LEIBY
Was born in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, in 1807; he came to Wisconsin in 1860 (several of his sons came earlier) and settled on a farm in Dale where he established a home and resided until his death in 1875; he had a family of six sons and six daughters ; all settled on farms in the town of Dale except one daughter. The sons' names are, Jacob, Stephen, Jonathan, William, Gideon, and George; the daughters are, Priscilla, married to David Zahner; Rebecca, married to Harrison Miller ; Matilda, married to Fernando Hauk ; Louisa, married to Theodore Spengler of Waupaca
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county ; Polly, married to Morris Vaughn ; Sarah, married to Reuben Rarrick. All have lived on farms in Dale ex- cept Mr. Spengler.
THE HOPKINS FAMILY.
Charles W. Hopkins was born in Lincoln county, State of Maine, July 4, 1824 ; he was a son of David Hopkins of the same place; his grandfather, Robert Hopkins, came from the north of Ireland ; he was a soldier in the Revolu- tionary War and served from the commencement of the war until the closc and was with Arnold when he went through the wilderness in the will - ter to attack Quebec. C. W. Hopkins' father mar- ried Martha Trask in 1823; they had two sons, Charles W. and David, now living in the State of Maine. C. W. Hopkins CHARLES W. HOPKINS. married Helen T. Ledden in June 1855; they have had six children, four now living, three sons and one daughter. Mr. Hopkins came to Wisconsin in 1850 and settled in 1859 on Sec. 32, T. 23, R. 17, now in the town of Black Creek, he being the first settler in that town; he was supervisor eleven years, and was postmaster at Bing- hamton seven years, being the first postmaster at that place. Mr. Hopkins was a soldier in the War of the Re- bellion and enlisted in First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, Oct. 8, 1864, and served until the close of the war. Mr. Hopkins sold his farm in Black Creek in 1895 and removed to Appleton where he now resides.
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HIRAM A. JONES. .
Hiram A. Jones was born in Grafton, Mass., Dec., 3, 1831; he was a son of David Jones of the same place. When he was eleven years old he re- moved to the city of Worcester where he enjoyed such facili- ties for education as the public schools afforded. At the age of eighteen he entered the Wes- leyan University at Middletown, Conn., where he graduated in '53. After teach- ing one year he came to Appleton in 1854, where he was engaged as tutor in Lawrence University and has served as tutor, ad- junct professor, and HIRAM A. JONES. professor of ancient languages from
that time to the present. Mr. Jones has represented the First ward of the city of Appleton as alderman two years, also as supervisor two years and city superintendent of schools one term. He was married to Emily M. Tallmadge, of Fond du Lac, Dec. 8, 1861; they have had two sons and one daughter ; the daughter died at the age of nineteen. His oldest son, Lyman Asa, born Nov. 19, 1865. He was married to Mary Davis of Worcester, Mass., Jan. 1, 1895. He graduated at Lawrence University in 1886, also at the Harvard Medical School in 1889. He was for several years physician at State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester, Mass. He resigned his position in December, 1894, to prosecute
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his medical studies in Europe. The second son, David Arthur, born in October, 1875, has his home with his par- ents, but has been away most of the time on account of his health.
HUMPHREY PIERCE.
Humphrey Pierce was born Feb. 5, 1837, at Gorham, State of Maine, a son of Charles and Hipsabeth Pierce. Charles was a native of South Hampton, N. H., born Aug. 7, 1801, a son of Moses Pierce. The wife of Charles, whose maiden name was Lord, was a lady of Eng- lish extraction born July 5, 1801, in New Hamp- shire, and died near Gor- ham, Me., in 1849; she and her husband were members of the Methodist church in which he filled the office of deacon for HUMPHREY PIERCE. many years. They were the parents of eight chil- dren, their names being Charles, Mary, William, Julia, Angeline, Humphrey, Jonathan and Moses ; the last named was killed May 19, 1863, at the battle of Vicksburg in a charge on the breast works of the enemy ; two other chil- dren, Jane and Sarah were born to Charles Pierce by a second wife ; all are living except Moses.
Charles Pierce was a mason by trade and carried on quite an extensive business in the East in that line as contractor and builder until 1845, accumulating considerable property. In 1845 Charles emigrated to the West, first settling near Peoria, Ill., where he continued in his business as con- tractor and builder, and also carried on a farm for several years. In 1849 Charles moved to Alton, Il1., and giving up
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the contractor and building business engaged quite exten- sively in stock raising, farming and milling business, and later in real estate; he died at Alton, Ill., Feb. 4, 1861, aged nearly sixty years.
His son Humphrey came to Milwaukee, Wis., in August, 1850, where he lived with his uncle, Jonathan L. Pierce, who kept a dry goods store at No. 13 Spring street, now Grand avenue, until September, 1851, when he went to his father at Alton, Il1. After leaving the common school he attended the high school at Woodstock, McHenry county, Ill., for one year, 1856-7, and then came to Appleton, Wis., arriving Sept. 3, 1857 ; he immediately entered upon a course of study at Lawrence University and graduated from that institution in June, 1862. After graduating at Lawrence, he entered the Harvard Law School, taking a regular law course and graduated in 1866; returning to Appleton, Wis., he was admitted to the bar in 1868 and began the practice of law, in which business he has ever since been and is now engaged; in connection with the practice of law he became quite largely interested in real estate in and near Appleton and has devoted considerable attention to that branch of business.
His professional calling naturally leading him into poli- tics, both local and state, he took considerable interest in such affairs and has held several offices of important trust. He was elected city attorney of Appleton for several terms, holding the office during the years 1869, 1870, 1874 and 1875 ; was alderman during the years 1878, 1879, 1883 and 1884 ; he held the office of district attorney in 1871 and 1872 ; in 1880 was elected mayor ; re-elected in 1881, and in 1893 was again elected mayor. In 1881-2 was a member of the legislature and in 1884 was a delegate to the State Democratic Convention held at Madison, Wis.
October 15, 1869, Mr. Pierce was married at Milwaukee, Wis., to Emily J. Hauser of that city, a daughter of Capt. Henry Hauser, a lake captain, whose vessel was wrecked on Lake Erie near Sandusky in 1875, and the brave com- mander drowned. Mrs. Pierce is a member of the Congre- gational church.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Pierce have been born eight children named as follows: Dudley H., Frederick H., Florence J., Jessie E. and Ella C., twins, Genevieve A., Lawrence R. and Byron W., all are living except Frederick H. and Florence J.
Dudley H. was married at Appleton, Wis., to Laura A. Briggs of that city on Sept. 19, 1893; to this union has been born a daughter, named Josephine E. Ella C. was married at Appleton, Wis., to John W. Van Alstyne of that city on Sept. 5, 1895.
The ancesters of Mr. Pierce came to this country from England early in the seventeenth century and settled at Joppa, near Newburyport, Mass. The old stone house built at Joppa by the early settlers of the family in this country still stands and has been preserved so far as possi- ble as originally built ; the openings left for port holes for defense against attacks by the Indians remain where originally constructed ; pilgrimages to the old ancestral home are frequent by members of the Pierce family; it stands near the sea shore and is a delightful spot on which to while away a season of rest and indulge in imaginary dreams of the dangers and hardships encountered there by the pioneers of the family.
PIONEER LIFE OF W. H. ROGERS.
I came to Appleton in the fall of 1849 from Elizabeth- town, N. Y., where I was born in 1835; my father was born in Saybrook, Conn., 1794. He went on foot to Ohio with his brothers, William and Joseph, and settled on the Western Reserve in the town of Randolph, Portage county. He bought a farm in the wilderness and cleared it up; his brothers also bought farms adjoining where they spent the rest of their lives; he was a veteran of the war of 1812. In 1828 he married Cordillera Davis who was born in 1807, in Elizabethtown, Essex county, N. Y .; she was a daughter of Darius Davis, a farmer.
Soon after their marriage my father exchanged his farm for that of his father-in-law, in Essex county, New York,
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and moved on the latter. While on this farm I attended a district school and when I was thirteen years old I took charge of running a threshing machine, with the help of a hired man, and also took charge of delivering the product of a forge, which produced about six tons of wrought iron a day. I had to draw it by team, twelve miles, to West- port on Lake Champlain. My father being laid up with rheumatism for two or three years; my father and mother visited their brothers in Randolph, O., in the spring and summer of 1849 and moved to Appleton in the fall follow- ing and bought the present site of the new fair ground and east of it on Spencer street, at five dollars an acre; he bought one hundred and seven acres of heavy timber land of Burus Craft.
My father had been an invalid for about three or four years and used crutches for the most of that time. Upon the land which he purchased was a fine sulphur spring, the waters of which he used for medicinal purposes, and at the end of two years he threw away his crutches and once more walked without their aid.
My brothers Davis, Calvin, James and Madison, who had been separated somewhat from home, again joined their parents in Appleton ; my oldest sister Nancy, died previ- ously at my brother James' residence at Pottsdam, St. Law- rence county, N. Y .; my youngest sister, Lucy Ann, died at the age of five in Elizabethtown ; my other sisters, Mary, Helen and Annette, came west with their parents ; my brother James and I stayed until the fall of 1849; James going to St. Lawrence county, where he was married at Pottsdam while I came through to Appleton.
At Fond du Lac I saw ox teams out in the lake a long distance with household goods and passengers to meet the boats that were unable to land ; my father in the mean- time sold his York state farm of two hundred and forty acres. His household goods were shipped very late in the fall by way of the lakes and were " frozen in " at Milwau- kee. Father sent me with a yoke of oxen to get the goods. When I reached Fond du Lac I found bare ground and was compelled to return to Appleton for a wagon, I was two
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weeks on my next trip, returning with the goods. I met my father west of Neenah, who having become anxious had started out to look for me. On coming down a big hill one of the oxen fell and the load pushed him to the foot of the hill. I supposed that he was dead but found to my great relief that he was only stunned. I came on that night to Rock River. The water was about eighteen inches deep and not frozen over. I drove through the river after dark and stopped at a hotel over night. In the morning I pre- sented my last five dollar bill to the landlord in settlement for my fare and lodging. To my great surprise the land- lord pronounced it counterfeit, but finally a "bank detector" was found and the bill declared genuine and accepted. Getting back my change I departed towards home rejoicing. The next night after traveling through the wilderness over crooked roads, swamps and corduroy I got stuck on a bad hill. « I heard a man chopping off in the woods and got him and his team to help me up the hill. I gave him a dollar but he could not make change with me, so I gave him my jack knife. That night I came to a log house called a hotel. A sign on the barn read, "tame hay." I stopped here and found that only one per- son could speak English. This was a young boy. I found good fare for my oxen but rye bread and beer for myself. At supper time all were seated around a bare table on which was a black loaf of rye bread. This bill of fare was entirely new to me, so I ate nothing. The next morning about two miles farther on I found an American family and got an American breakfast.
When I was seventeen years old I hired out to the Rich- mond Bros. to sell the paper that they made in Appleton. This was the pioneer paper mill. The first paper that they made was dried in the loft of their mill on long rolls about one and one-half inches in diameter and eight feet long. The paper was counted and folded into quires and reams and cut into different sizes by a large lever power. Straw paper sold at six cents a pound and manilla paper for ten cents per pound. Two years later they put in im- proved machinery, calenders and cutters and made print
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paper which I sold for twelve and one-half cents per pound. I sold their entire product that went beyond Neenah, Osh- kosh and Fond du Lac with a four-horse team, for three and one-half years. I received fifty dollars a month and expenses and furnished one team. In the year 1857 I was married to Lucinda Coats of the town of Vinland, Winne- bago county, Wis., the daughter of Orpha (Congor) and Dennison Coats.
I sold a piece of land to my brother Madison and bought eighty acres in Vinland ; two years later I bought another eighty joining the first. I cleared up and improved the whole 160 acres and built a large brick house and three barns. I took an active part in the town official business. My father sold me his Appleton property on the Fox river, just outside of the city limits. I moved my family to Ap- pleton and kept a dairy, partially supplying the city with milk for twelve years; I got my supplies, such as hay, grain and cows, from my farm in Vinland. In the mean- time I gradually worked into market gardening, which I have carried on up to the present time.
I started the first greenhouse in Appleton ; Mr. Stone soon after built one opposite the college, which I bought later. I bought property at Appleton Junction and consol- idated the two greenhouses there; I have carried on the florist business ever since. I improved my property at Ap- pleton Junction and finally began to sell lots and build houses on the installment plan. I have built a good many houses and sold a good many lots since I have been here ; I have also added to my greenhouse, so that now we have 15,000 square feet of double strength glass. We have a very satisfactory trade at home and in neighboring towns. About two years ago I took an active part, with others, in establishing a pickle factory industry, which we have worked up into a satisfactory business.
My family consists of four boys and four girls. Herbert, at present justice of the peace ; Haskel, mechanic and stock- holder in pickle factory ; Leonard, of the firm of W. H. Rogers & Son ; Fred, student Lawrence University ; Minnie, wife of Miles Meidam, florist; Alice, teacher in Appleton ; 15
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Gertrude, book-keeper in Appleton Pickle and Preserving Co .; Daisy, a student in Third Ward High School.
CAPT. WELCOME HYDE.
Welcome Hyde, lumberman and land owner of Appleton, Wis., was born in the State of Vermont in 1824, and is the youngest son of Eli Hyde and grandson of Eliacum Hyde, both of whom were natives of Connecticut, and prominent in the community with which they were identified.
The emigrant ances- tor of the Hyde family in America settled in New England in about the year 1645, and was one of the colonists of that era who came of aristocratic lineage. A native of England, he be- longed to the famous old family from which sprang Sir Edward Hyde, the English historian CAPT. WELCOME HYDE. and statesman, who was knighted and created Earl of Clarendon by King Charles II. in 1661. His daughter, Ann Hyde, became the wife of the Duke of York, after- wards King James II., and was the mother of Mary and Anna, both of whom became queens of Great Britain. The mother of Welcome Hyde, who before her marriage was Mary Campbell, was a native in Rutland, Vt., and of Scotch descent. Eli Hyde removed with his family from Vermont to Northern Ohio, when his son Welcome was ten years old, and settled about forty miles southeast of Cleve- land. The son was educated in the district schools of
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Ohio, and later in the Rock River Seminary at Mount Mor- ris, Il1. As a boy he was kept at work so much of the time that he had comparatively little time for study, and it was not until after he left home and came west that he was able to round out a fair English education ; he was at this time nineteen years of age, and dependent only upon his own resources ; but by frugal living supported himself while attending school at Mount Morris. Soon after leav- ing that institution he associated himself with a gentleman of means who supplied him with money for the purchase of cattle in the southern part of Illinois, which he drove through to Wisconsin to stock the new farms of that state then being fast brought under cultivation. This business he followed for several years which gave him ample oppor- tunity to become familiar with the resources and prospects of the greater part of Wisconsin.
Having determined to settle in this state and engage in the lumber and farm business, he went in the fall of 1850 and explored the wild and unsurveyed woods tributary to the Embarrass river and located a logging camp for cutting pine timber on what was then called the Indian lands, that since proved to be on Sec. 8, T. 24, R. 15 east, in Outa- gamie county. He was five days with a crew of eight men cutting out his supply road from the mouth of the Embarrass (now New London) to his logging camp, a distance of about twenty miles ; and his team was the first driven north of New London. He was guided in laying out his road by the old Shawano Indian trail, as far north as Bear Creek, at which place he left the trail and made east to go down to the river. At this point the land bordering on the creek begins to widen into a great alluvial bottom or level tract of rich land, till it becomes nearly two miles wide for a distance of three miles down the creek, heavily covered with a dense forest of oak, maple and basswood timber, with a ridge surrounding it thickly sprinkled with first-class white pine, making an attractive location for a self-reliant and strong determined man. It was here that Mr. Hyde resolved to make his future home. But the land was not surveyed and brought into market till the fall of
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1853, at which time he made a purchase, and the next year moved there with his little family. His nearest neighbor for over a year was eight miles distant. During the period of three years while waiting to have the land surveyed and brought into market, Ira Millard bought out the claim of William Johnson, an Indian trader at the mouth of the Embarrass river, and started the village of New London. In the mean time a large number of settlers had worked north of this village, along the first cut out road, among whom were George Lawe, James Payton and Sam Price, and still up north as far as Maple Creek.
Jerry Mirickle, Robert and James Hutchinson with many others had made permanent settlement, but during this period while keeping a vigilant outlook for his favorite location, Mr. Hyde was lumbering, he worked two years, 1851 and 1852, on the lands that comprise the village of Embarrass, having his camp on the exact spot where John Palmer's residence now stands. This camp was situated in a grove of unsurpassed quality of pine, being one thick mass for miles in extent, surrounded by an unbroken wilder- ness, there being no settlements on the south, nearer than Johnson's trading post, now New London; on the west, the Wisconsin river without even an Indian trail as a thoroughfare; on the east, the military road leading from Appleton to Green Bay, and on the north to the village of Shawano, which place had been located ten years before by an enterprising man named Farnsworth, who built a watermill on the outlet of Lake Shawano, and rafted his lumber down Wolf river to Fond du Lac. Previous to this date Curt Lewis, a well known lumberman throughout northern Wisconsin, had bought out Mr. Farnsworth and was running quite a large business there under the super- vision of Charles Wescott who had from twenty to twenty- five men at work.
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