P.O. Box 159
Delavan, WI 53115

Contact WCGS: Walworth Genealogy 

An Affiliate member of the
Wisconsin State Genealogical Society

From the book History of Walworth County Wisconsin, by Albert Clayton Beckwith, publ. 1912.

Page 544-545

CYRIL LEACH OATMAN was grandson of George and son of Eli OATMAN and Mary, daughter of Joel and Patience SYMONDS, of Pawlet, Vermont. (His father died May 30, 1851, aged seventy-four; his mother died February 16, 1861, aged eighty.) Cyril, seventh of eleven children, was born at Middletown, Vermont, April 10, 1815. His sister, Calista (fourth child), was wife of Russell H. MALLORY. In 1835 Mr. OATMAN went to St. Louis; in 1838 he came with Mr. MALLORY to Geneva and (except a few years in business at East Troy) made his home there till his death, May 17, 1889. He served as under-sheriff for Mr. MALLORY, and the two made the census of 1842. Being a Democrat, as well as a man of property, character and ability, he was many times defeated on the county and legislative tickets of his party. After Mr.MALLORY's death, March, 1852, his family was adopted by Mr. OATMAN, who never married.

Page 545

RICHARD O'CONNOR was born at New York, March 17, 1816; married Elizabeth MORGAN about 1846, and left the city by the sea for the city by lake and creek in the same year. He founded a good business in drugs and books - the pioneer store at Whitewater in such goods. He was town assessor for more than twenty years, and was among the earliest effective movers in the matter of good walks and shaded streets. In business sense he was one of the builders of Whitewater. He died December 27, 1881, leaving a well-established business to two sons.

ALBERT OGDEN (Zenas7, Daniel6, John5, David4, Thoams3, David2, John1), son of Zenas OGDEN and Julia, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth MARSH, was born at Walton, New York, February 1, 1815; came to Milwaukee in 1836 and joined himself to the founders of Elkhorn. He married Charlotte, daughter of Peter BOYCE, September 7, 1843; she died July 25, 1844; his second wife was Emma Oricia, daughter of Miner WATKINS and Ann BARR, married April 29, 1847. Mr. OGDEN made no ripple in politics, nor was named on election tickets; but he was a Whig as long as Clay and Webster lived to lead. From 1854 he was a Democrat, and lived to vote for Palmer and Buckner. He prospered moderately and noiselessly, and at his death, August 5, 1903, left a fair property and no children. Mrs. OGDEN was born at Stockbridge, Vermont, May, 1824; died at Elkhorn, November 29, 1995.

Page 545-546

ZENAS OGDEN, son of Daniel OGDEN and Phoebe, daughter of Moses LINDSLEY and Irany RAYNOR, was born at Morristown, New Jersey, February 3, 1790; married Julia, daughter of Charles and Elizabeth MARSH (born 1794; died June 16, 1828); married again, in 1833, Melita BAIRD (born at Becket, Massachusetts, November 2, 1806; died at Elkhorn, December 10, 1880) in 1833; came in the forties to his farm in the southwestern quarter of Elkhorn; died December 12, 1861. He was a cousin of President William B. OGDEN, of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company. In his middle life he was a Whig, in later years a Republican. His eight children (three by second marriage) were Harriet Thankful (Mrs. Elijah SMITH), Albert, Mary (Mrs. Gabriel Smith SAWYER), Stansbury (married Ruth A. MALLORY), Lucy (Mrs. A. Sidney DOWNS), George Washington (married Mary M. JEWELL), Henry (died young), Elizabeth (Mrs. W. Frank JEWELL).

Page 546

JOHN STANLEY PARTRIDGE, son of Stanley PARTRIDGE and Priscilla ASHLEY, was born in Genesee county, New York, June 28, 1819; came, in 1846, to Whitewater and went with Sanger MARSH into general retail businesses, to which they later added grain-buying, having built a large warehouse and elevator. In April 1848, he married Henrietta M., daughter of Uriah JOHNSON, of Leroy, New York. In 1883 he became president of the Citizens National Bank. He died July 3, 1892. His wife was born March 1823; died December 13, 1890. His earlier ancestors were George1, John2, George3, James4, Stephen,5, Rufus6. His children were, in 1860, J. Ashley, Clarence J., Ernest G.

Page 677-681

GEORGE DELAVAN PEARCE. Throughout an active and interesting career duty has ever been the motive of action with George Delavan PEARCE, one of the old settlers and well-known agriculturists of the southern part of Walworth county, and usefulness to his fellow men has by no means been a secondary consideration with him. Thus strong and forceful in his relations with his fellows, he has gained the good will and commendation of his associates and the general public, retaining his reputation among men of integrity and high character, and never losing the dignity which is the birthright of the true gentleman.

Mr. PEARCE was born at New Hartford, Oneida county, New York, January 26, 1832. He is the son of William and Amy (DODGE) PEARCE. He is descended from Nathan and Abigail (SPINK) PEARCE, who were married on October 8, 1724, and they lived in Rhode Island, probably near Providence. Nathan PEARCE was a minister of the Baptist church. His family consisted of nine children, of whom the youngest, William, was born September 12, 1745, old style calendar (September 23, new style), at Providence. He was a member of the New York State Militia during the Revolutionary war, and he saw service along the Hudson river. His wife, Chloe CAREY, was born on June 6, 1746, married March 2, 1766, and died September 4, 1778. Her father was also a minister. Six children were born to William PEARCE by his first wife. His second wife was Lydia BIRDSALL, who was born August 20, 1757, married February 7, 17__, and to this union four children were born, William being the eldest, and he was the father of George D. PEARCE, of this sketch. William, father of the subject, was born June 15, 1784, in Dutchess county, New York. He married Amy DODGE, May 18, 1809. She was born in Dutchess county, New York, April 18, 1789, and in that county the parents of the subject lived about 1816 when they came to Oneida county, New York. They became the parents of thirteen children: Lorenzo Dow being the eldest, and George Delavan, of this review was the twelfth in order of birth. The eighth child was Jonathan Howland PEARCE. He lived in Walworth probably seven or eight years before and during the war, returning to New York in November, 1864. A sister, Eliza, married Justus MOAK, September 7, 1853, and came to Wisconsin in the fall of 1854 and they lived at Watertown, where he was postmaster for a number of years.

George D. PEARCE lived in Oneida county, New York, until in April 1854. On April 18th of that year he was united in marriage with Emily Jane BAKER, daughter of James and Ann (BRAKEFIELD) BAKER. She was born in Oneida county, New York, June 3, 1836. Her parents came from London, England, and they were natives of Maidstone, county Kent, England. They came first to Philadelphia later moving to Oneida county, New York, not long before Mrs. PEARCE was born, and they moved to Walworth county, Wisconsin, about 1858 and after a short residence with Mr. PEARCE moved to Waukesha county, where Mrs. BAKER died, after which Mr. BAKER returned to Walworth and lived with his son, Benjamin BAKER, who then farmed at what is now part of Walworth village. When Benjamin moved to Minnesota, Mr. BAKER moved there and spent the rest of his life in that state.

The day of their marriage George D. PEARCE and wife started for Wisconsin. After spending three months at Delavan, he bought a farm of eight acres in section 20, Walworth township, Walworth county, also bought forty acres near the lake. He paid sixteen dollars an acre for the land, getting half a crop. He got one dollar and fifty cents per bushel for his wheat during the Crimean war and in a few years he had a good start in the new country. He then bought sixty-six and two-thirds acres in the northwestern half of section 29, Walworth township. He remained on the first eighty ten years, then sold it and bought where he now lives in 1864 His present fine farm is in section 18. He became the owner of over one hundred and eighty acres and here he has lived ever since. He has lived in only three different houses in his life, one in New York, one in section 20, this township, and the one which he now occupies. He never owned a firearm and never saw a fist fight.

Within a month after he located in Walworth township he was called on to contribute to the erection of the First Baptist church, and he did so, and he has been an earnest member of the church for years. He has been a deacon for thirty or forty years, and he was clerk of the church for thirty years.

Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. PEARCE: Mary Hart, born April 4, 1855, married James M. WEEKS, November 10, 1875, and she lived at Delavan about five years and two years at Darien, then went to Pipestone, Minnesota, where they lived seven years, then returned to Delavan and spent ten years. Mr. WEEKS was a merchant, was born February 26, 1849, and died in December, 1906, his wife preceding him to the grave on January 29, 1904. They were the parents of five children: George, who died when seventeen years old; Grace, who married Will HARRISON; Mary, who married Frank E. WIRE, lives in Denver, and they have four children, Justin, Marian, Dorothy and a baby girl that died in infancy; Belle WEEKS married Frank ROLAND and lives at San Antonio, Texas; Pearl WEEKS is living at Walworth with Mr. PEARCE. Theodore Hurd PEARCE, born August 29, 1857, lived on the home farm until he was grown then worked a year at the Deaf and Dumb Institute, alter which he spent some time in Dakota and Minnesota, then returned to the home farm, after which he rented a farm in Sharon township and lived there about two years; on October 18, 1881, he married Carrie J. TEETER, daughter of Henry and Sarah (JOYNER) TEETER; she was born in Sharon township, this county, her people having come here from Schoharie county, New York, in the early days, her parents being descended from early Dutch of New York. After his marriage Theodore H. PEARCE rented another farm, on which he remained a season, then bought a farm in Boone county, Illinois, and lived there ten years; he owned this farm. After selling it be bought eighty acres in Sharon township, this county, but did not live on it, having moved to the farm owned by his wife's father, where he remained, taking care of the old people, until January 1898, when he moved to Franklin county, Tennessee, and bought one hundred and thirty-six acres on which he farmed. His wife died on August 17, 1890. In September 1900, he returned to Wisconsin, driving a team all the way; he farmed two years on his father's place, then purchased it and has since farmed for himself. Six children were born to Theodore H. PEARCE, namely: Alma, who married D. M. EDENS, of Tennessee, now lives at Tweedie, Washington, near Spokane; they have two children, Walter Robert and Carrie Talitha; Mr. EDENS has a farm of one hundred and sixty acres there. Fern May PEARCE married William D. SUTTON and they also live near Tweedie, Washington, where Mr. SUTTON has one hundred and twenty-five acres of land, and they have one daughter, Mary. Sarah Emily PEARCE married Howard FLORES and they live in Denver, where he is an architect and fruit grower, and they have one daughter, Ina. Grace Emma PEARCE is attending college at Beloit in her senior year. Lawrence Bernard PEARCE, born November 6, 1895, died in infancy. Edith Georgia PEARCE is attending school. Theodore H. PEARCE was again married on September 19, 1901, to Mildred P. MOORE, daughter of McChesney and Nancy (HAWKINS) MOORE. She as born in Franklin county, Tennessee, where the parents both died. Four children were born of this marriage, Mildred Alice, Theodore Arvin, Dorothy Irene, and Elna Louise.

Emily Baker PEARCE, third child of George D. PEARCE, of this sketch, was born July 2, 1860. She married Herman R. ADAM, December 15, 1881, a broker in Denver, and they have one son, Royal, born November 30, 1882. He married Mattie A. YOXALL, October 1, 1907, and they have two children, Royal H. and Marjorie Eleanore.

George Benjamin PEARCE, next child of the subject, was born September 23, 1863. He married Effie E. LLOYD, October 1, 1889. He lived at Janesville until his wife died in March, 1907, leaving two children, Rexford DeWitt and Malvern. After the death of the wife and mother, George PEARCE moved to Whitewater and there he has since engaged in gardening and fruit growing; he has recently moved to Lima Center.

Grace Anna PEARCE, the next of the subject's children, was born October 11, 1866. She married William J. PEETS, August 4, 1886, and lived in Waupun and Walworth. Mr. PEETS, who was a civil and mechanical engineer, died February 6, 1892, leaving two children, Wilbur J., Jr., and George Kenneth PEETS, both now attending the technical department of Cincinnati University. Mrs. PEETS married Rev. Joseph JENKINS, November 22, 1898. He is a minister in the Baptist church, having been pastor of the First Baptist church at Walworth seven years and at Toulon, Illinois, for seven years. He is now at Macomb, that state. They have one daughter, Emily May.

William Henry PEARCE, the next of the subject's children, was born August 31, 1871. He married Dora N. CHRISTIANSON, September 22, 1897, and they live at Lima Center, Rock county, Wisconsin, where he has a general store, but he formerly engaged in farming; they have five children, J. Howland, Herman, Anders, Emily, and Percy. Frankie James, seventh in order of birth of George D. PEARCE's children, was born March 5, 1874, and died in infancy. Charles Sumner, the youngest of the children, was born September 16, 1877. He married on June 21, 1909, Vivian COATS, of Corsicana, Texas, and they live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he is interested in the Johnson Soap Works, and he has an active part in its management. They have one daughter, Jane PEARCE.

The subject's children have all received excellent training and they are well situated in life, and are highly respected wherever they live.

Page 546

DAN PHELPS, son of Joseph PHELPS and Jemima, daughter of Israel POST, had other ancestors: William1,2, Timothy3,Joseph4, 5,6. He was born at Lebanon,Connecticut, September 18, 1779; married Elizabeth, aughter of Israel KING and Elizabeth THOMPSON; came from Darien, New York, to section 1, Geneva, in 1842; died April 26, 1868. His wife was born April 18, 1789; died July 3, 1864. Their children were Cyrus K., Pamela (Mrs. Samuel P. JENKS), Sarah (Mrs. Eli WEBBER), Lavina (Mrs. George WICKWIRE),Adelia (Mrs. David WILLIAMS).

Page 546

CYRUS KING PHELPS was born at Darien, New York, July 4, 1818; married September 26, 1843, Adeline C., daughter of Thorp WILLIAMS and Clarissa PETERS; died October 24, 1899. Mrs. PHELPS was born at Darien, June 28, 1822; died September 2, 1879. Their children were Asa W., Jane J., Jerome D., Arthur H. Mr. PHELPS was a careful breeder of fine sheep and cattle, a thorough farmer, and in some fair sense a model citizen and neighbor.

HENRY PHOENIX, son of John and wife Martha MARTIN, was born at Greenwich, New York, June 28, 1792; was apprenticed to a tanner at Painted Post; after various business ventures he settled for a time at Perry, where he was postmaster. In 1836 he came with his brother, Col. Samuel F., to Delavan, and the two joined in platting the village and naming it, in mill-building, in a general store, and in real estate business. He had married, November, 1849 at Painted Post, Ann, daughter of John JENNINGS. They had eleven children. He died February 27, 1842. His widow was killed by a railway train while she was crossing an icy trestle-bridge west of the village, November 19, 1857. She had eleven children. Martha was wife of Aaron H. TAGGART, and Mary C. was wife of John F.McKEY.

Page 547

SAMUEL FAULKNER PHOENIX, son of John and wife Martha MARTIN,was born December 23, 1798, probably in Washington county, New York. His father died about two years later and his mother was married to Joshua BARTLETT. It is conjectured that the family removed to Chenango county before reaching the town of Dansville, in the northwestern corner of Steuben county, where the boys learned the process and the business of tanning. Samuel married October 24, 1822, at Sherburne, Chenango county, Sarah Ann, daughter of Samuel KELSEY and Elizabeth CARVER. She was born in that county September 3, 1799, and died at Delavan, May 9, 1894. The brothers had gone, about 1816, to Perry (then in Genesee county), and in the next few years built a prosperous business as tanners and added general stores at Perry and Franklinville to their enterprise. In 1827 Samuel became colonel of the Twenty-seventh New York Infantry, and at or about the same time joined the Baptist church. In 1830 the brothers spilled their stock of alcoholic liquors and devoted themselves to the cause of total abstinence. In 1835 Samuel was a delegate to the Utica convention, which formed the State Anti-Slavery Society. This was the meeting which was mobbed at Utica and was entertained by Gerrit SMITH at Peterboro. In 1836 he came to Spring Prairie, and set out in quest of a site for his ideal village, which he named, and concurred with BAKER, DWINNELL and others in naming the county as worthily. Colonel PHOENIX died September 6, 1842, from bilious colic. He had brought to Delavan, with his military title, his business shrewdness, his endless activity, his zeal for religious and moral reform, and his interest in public education. He preached at Delavan, Spring Prairie and at other settlements. He was a moving spirit in early conventions of temperance men and of slavery-haters.

The story of his early life is imperfectly and not quite consistently told. It is not quite certain that his father was not William, as Mr. DWINNELL's papers tell it; though it is probably that as to this Mr. CUTLER was correctly informed at Delavan in 1881. Colonel PHOENIX was at his coming westward a relatively wealthy man, and must have made himself so between his eighteenth and thirty-sixth years. He did not live to see the early failure of his purpose to build a city as well on moral ideas as on commoner principles of business; but the good seed he sowed was not all wasted, though tares took root there, too. His only child, Franklin Kelsey, was born at Perry, March 3, 1825 married Mary E., daughter of Thomas TOPPING, of Darien, December 2, 1850; died February 3, 1911. His children were Samuel T., A. Melville, Fred S., May (Mrs. CAMERON), Frank, Carrie (Mrs.Edward F. WILLIAMS),John Jay (married Eva, daughter of W. Wallace BRADLEY).

Page 548

WILLIAM PHOENIX, a cousin of Henry and Samuel F. PHOENIX, was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, March 17, 1793; was a farmer and teacher, and in time a retailer of general goods. He wandered about western New York and northern Pennsylvania for a few years before settling at Perry, whence he came in 1836 with his cousins to Delavan, and in 1837 became postmaster at that village. He was once assessor and twice a member of the county board. He died November 25, 1855. It seemed fore-written by the Fates that others should reap what these PHEONIXes had sown so well. He had married at Milo, New York, July 18, 1818, Susan, sister of John BRUCE, of Darien. Their children were Henry H., Mary A. (Mrs. Edwin BRAINARD) Samuel A., William A., John W.

Page 548

JARVIS KING PIKE was son of Jesse PIKE (1756-1799) and Rebecca KING (1763-1833). He was born in Dutchess county, New York, December 19, 1781; married December 24, 1801, Rebecca MEAD, who was born June 4, 1782, and died December 6, 1867. In 1813 he served as aid to his maternal uncle, Gen. Nathaniel KING, of the New York militia, at Sacketts Harbor; in 1821 as a member of the New York constitutional convention; in 1837 as a judge of the Cortland county court of common please. In 1841 he came to Whitewater, where he built a house, but later moved to Cold Spring, and in 1849 was a member of Assembly for Jefferson county. He died January 16, 1863. His children, whose lives were more or less of Whitewater, were: Calvin (married Mary Ann WHEELER), Clarissa (Mrs. William FIELD), Elnora (Mrs. Hezekiah M. SANDERS), Mary Ann, Alanson (married Fedelia CRAVATH), Sarah.

Page 548-549

JOHN FOX POTTER (John6, Rev. Isiah5, Daniel4, 3, Nathaniel2, William1), son of John POTTER and Caroline FOX, was born at Augusta, Maine, May 11, 1817. He was educated at Phillips-Exeter Academy, and had as schoolmates and friends the five WASHBURNE brothers, who were afterwards of as many states; namely, Maine, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and California, and all more or less politically fortunate. He became, like his father, a lawyer, and coming to East Troy in 1838 he became also a farmer, having settled on three hundred and fifty acres of land in sections 10, 11, 15. His land nearly enclosed a lakelet, and on its high bank he built his house. He married October 15, 1839, Frances E. L., daughter of Capt. George FOX and Rebecca LEWIS, and they had six children. Their son, Alfred Charles POTTER, was a sergeant of Company I, Twenty-eighth Infantry. The places Judge POTTER filled and those he declined have been mentioned. As a member of Assembly he exposed a railway company's method of influencing a governor, a judge of the supreme court, a legislature, and part of the daily press to secure to itself a large grant of public land in aid of railway building. He voted for its bill, but refused its present bonds, though that was the share of a senator. In two of his congressional terms the unending debate on the admission of Kansas, with all its wanderings, overshadowed other proceedings, and in his third term the consideration of war measures was always in hand. In the first four years he found occasions to use his fists with much practical and some scenic effect in Homeric battles on the floor of the House, in which he left the marks of his peculiar grace on the godlike countenances of William BARKSDALE, Reuben DAVIS and Lucius Q. C. LAMAR - all of Mississippi. "Potter, the wiry, from woody Wisconsin," lives sub-immortally in Punch's hexametric story of these congressional diversions. Mr. POTTER never quite liked that so much importance should be given to his affair with Mr. PRYOR, which grew from a correction and counter-correction of a passage in the record of a previous day's debate. The matter was wholly personal, but the excited state of partisan discussion prepared men's minds to take fire over-easily. Northern opinion justified Mr. POTTER's acceptance of the foolish challenge. He always spoke appreciately of General PRYOR's personal and professional qualities, and similarly of General BARKSDALE and Colonel DAVIS - but not so of Judge LAMAR. Near the end of his last session, in 1863, Mrs. POTTER died of typhoid fever contracted while trying to better the conditions of a badly managed military hospital. She was a high-minded, intelligent and brave-spirited woman. December 7, 1865, he married her sister, Sarah Lewis FOX, who died in 1882. In 1873 the Greeleyan bolters of the year before, with the Democrats of the county, needlessly mistaking his position, named him as their candidate for state senator. He was not fully aware of this action until election day, when he disclaimed such political fellowship. Taking an open Republican ballot, he folded it before all men present and thus voted for Mr. WEEKS, his quasi-opponent. He died May 18, 1899. He was a ready, easy speaker, without tricks of elocution, and cared more to convince his hearers than to electrify them or to stir them to transient emotion.

Page 549-550

ROBERT KNIGHT POTTER (Joseph6, Thomas5, John4, 3, 2, Robert 1), son of Joseph POTTER and Anna KNIGHT, was born at Cranston, Rhode Island, April 11, 1791. Two of his brothers, Alonzo and Horatio, were bishops of the Episcopal church (the first of Pennsylvania, the other of New York), and Paraclete was eighty years ago editor of the Poughkeepsie Journal. Mr. POTTER married Sarah, daughter of Daniel and Phoebe PINE, December 25, 1813, and lived many years at Beekman, Dutchess county, where four children were born. In or about 1825 he moved to Monroe county, and thence in 1843 to sections 18, 19, Lafayette, with his twelve children. In 1857 he left the farm to his son Joseph and built a house at Elkhorn, where he died March 15, 1883. Mrs. POTTER was born in 1793 and died July 6, 1887. Their children were long known in half of the county: Emeline (Mrs. Cyrus COLE); Russell (married Lavinia AVERY); Amelia (Mrs. Gain R. ALLEN); Joseph (married Rosina ELLSROTH; 2d, Mrs. Caroline (RANDALL) PENNY); Rebecca (Mrs. Marcus C. RUSSELL); Alonzo (married first, Laura PITKIN; second, Adelaide MERRICK); Robert (married Mary E. PATTERSON); Horatio; Monroe (married Eliza Emily BEMIS); Lorenzo DOW; Paraclete (married Arabella M. SEYMOUR.

Page 550

DAVID J. POWERS was born in southeastern Vermont, June 3, 1814; had a common school education; was apprenticed to a machinist; married and came in 1838 to Milwaukee. Here he met Willard B. JOHNSON, who told him of golden possibilities at Whitewater, and he came at once to see, and to buy half of section 12 (in his wife Caroline's name). Dr. TRIPP gave him a hotel site in the new village, and he built and occupied the first hotel at Whitewater. He was also postmaster, but he had a wider and larger aim. In 1842 he bought a mill-site at Palmyra and platted that village. He was member of Assembly in 1853, and for the next fifteen years tarried at Madison to publish and edit the Wisconsin Farmer, and to served as secretary of the State Agricultural Society. He next went to Chicago, and thenceforth became of that city and its manufacturing interests a part. His career was, on the whole, prosperous, and Whitewater is yet pleased to remember him as one of its founders.

Page 550

FREEMAN LIBERTY PRATT, son of Asaph and Hannah, was born at Eaton, New York, July 31, 1814; married at Smithfield, March 24, 1836, Melinda M., daughter of Terry MACK and Catherine DEMOTT; came with his brother Norman in 1839 to section 5, Whitewater. Their father came and built a mill. He died in 1844. The PRATT brothers built the first log house - the only other building at the time being a shanty, filled with unmarried roysterers. Freeman died February 18, 1880. Mrs. PRATT was born April 17, 1820, and died July 18, 1898. She was Whitewater's kind and useful "Aunt Melinda."

Page 551

OTTIS PRESTON, son of Samuel and Mary PRESTON, was born at Lanesboro, Massachusetts, May 13, 1813; apprenticed to a tailor at Sheffield; was foreman of one of the best shops at Great Barrington; and came in 1834 to White Pigeon. His education was mainly from good reading and from contention in debating schools. He received from Stevens T. MASON, the "boy governor" of Michigan, a captaincy for possible service in the "Toledo War"; and, as a member of Assembly in 1841, he was a stalwart adherent of Gov. John. S. BARRY. His business at White Pigeon as tailor and dealer in general goods flourished for a time, but in 1846 he came to Spring Prairie village, and in 1848, having been chosen sheriff over George W. DORRANCE (Whig) and Perry G. HARRINGTON (Democrat), he came to Elkhorn, this his last removal. In 1855 he failed of nomination (on the Barstow ticket) as state treasurer, but was placed the next year on the Buchanan electoral ticket. He served three terms as member of the county board, and so closed his official life. Though never a farmer he was an enthusiastic member of the Agricultural Society and five times its president. He had opened a store for the sale of dry goods and groceries, at the close of his sheriffalty, first with Horatio N. HAY, and later with Benjamin F. POPE as partner. His voice as a town officer and as a business man was always for village improvement. He would have moved the village a half-mile eastward and new-named it "Centralia." His firm built a grainhouse, and across the track southward platted an addition which he named "Byzantium." The business panic of 1857 demolished his and many other's air-castles, and he ended his long life of honest and hopeful poverty January 10, 1890. His wife, Julia Ann, daughter of Simeon DeWitt CORBIN and Amanda PRATT, was born in Ohio, July 2, 1818; married at White Pigeon, May 18, 1836; died November 9, 1892. They had three children: Orville Marshall, who died while yet a minor - full of promises for business activity; Lydia Louise (Mrs. enry COUSINS); Robert Clark, long his father's associate in the business of the once locally famous "Shanty," died at Eau Claire June 4, 1907. Mrs. PRESTON was a woman "Nobly planned." Mr. PRESTON was a clean-living, kind-hearted, broad-minded, public-spirited man. An earlier ambition had been to make himself an orator, for which his figure, manner and voice fitted him fairly. His later aspiration was toward editorship, for which he lacked nearly everything.

Page 551-552

JOSIAH OSGOOD PUFFER was son of Samuel PUFFER and Eunice (OSGOOD) OSGOOD. His mother's ancestors were John1, Stephen2, Hooker3, David4, Capt. Josiah5, and wife Jane BYINGTON. Her first husband, Samuel OSGOOD, son of Jonathan, Jr., was her second cousin. Their son Samuel Stillman OSGOOD, was a good man of Elkhorn. Josiah O. PUFFER was born at Sunderland, Massachusetts, October 22, 1814; came to Spring Prairie and prospered in shoe-shop, on farm, and in business at the village; married successively Hannah M. WHITMORE and Mrs. Mary Whitmore HATCH. Hannah was born April, 1820; died February 11, 1862, leaving six sons. Mary died January 31, 1897. Mr. PUFFER was a deacon in the Baptist church. In the church and out of it he was a man of action, for he was sound and energetic in body and in mind, and had his share in the direction of local affairs. He died March 16, 1895.

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