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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 111-112
JOHN DINSDALE, of the town of Fennimore, Grant county, is one of the earliest settlers of that section. He has lived there since 1849, and he has been a permanent settler in the town of Fennimore since June, 1850.
Mr. DINSDALE was born in the town of Askrigg, Yorkshire, England, Nov. 12, 1825, son of James and Elizabeth (THOMPSON) DINSDALE. The DINSDALE family has been resident in Askrigg for many generations. James DINSDALE, the grandfather of John, died at the age of eighty-four. Edward THOMPSON, the father of Elizabeth, married Dorothy NEWTON. Our subject's father had ten children, only two now living: John; and Mrs. Dorothy ALDERSON, of Denver, Colo. The father died in England in 1843, at the age of fifty-five years. His eldest son, Matthew, was the first to come to America, arriving here in 1846, and he followed mining for a time at Mineral Point, Wis. He became a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1849 he went to California and spent two years in the land of gold. Returning them to England, he married Miss Mary Ann MANN, and when he came back to the United States he brought with him his mother, his brother Edward, and sister Lizzie. He put up a store at Linden, Iowa Co, Wis., and was engaged in its management for several years, later in life renting it and removing to Madison, that his children might have the benefit of the State University. He lived at Madison ten years, and preached at various places in the vicinity. After his daughter's graduation and marriage to Magnus SWANSON, of Chicago, he returned to Linden, where he died in 1897. A sister of John DINSDALE married a Mr. MUNDEN, of Geneva Lake, and another sister, Jane, married a Mr. CHAPMAN, in England, and came to this country in 1848. The mother lived with her children after coming to this country, and died at the age of sixty-nine years.
John DINSDALE was reared as a farmer and dairyman. He was married, May 24, 1847, to Miss Tirzah CHAPMAN, who was born at Worton, Yorkshire, but a few miles from the birthplace of her husband, in 1826. The young couple came to this country in 1849, as noted above, bringing with them their two children: Elizabeth and James. They left home Feb. 13, sailing from Liverpool on the ship "Saxony," and landed at New Orleans on the last day of the following April, making their way up the river to Galena, Ill., and from there to the town of Linden, Iowa county; in May of the following year our subject entered eighty acres of land in the town of Fennimore, Grant county. He erected a log house, which was his home for eighteen years, and at the expiration of that time built his present residence. By judicious investments he has increased his original eighty acres to a magnificent rural estate of 400 acres, and has long been numbered among the prominent and successful farmers and stock raisers of his town.
Mr. DINSDALE was bereft of the wife of his youth in 1869. She was the mother of twelve children. Miss Grace EDDY became his second wife. She died in 1891, the mother of three children, two of whom are living. Ten children of the first marriage are still living, namely: Elizabeth, James, Zipporah, B. C., Dorothy, Alice, Hattie, Abbie, Mary A. and Tirzah C. The deceased children were Isabella M. and Matthew E. Of the children born to the second marriage Ella P. and Grace A. are living; Eddy is deceased.
Mr. DINSDALE has been closely identified with the growth and development of Grant county for many years, and has been very active in everything relating to the best interests of the community. He has been associated with the Methodist Church since 1850, and has been class-leader for forty-eight years, and steward for fifty years. He has been a trustee of the Ebenezar Church, in the town of Wingville, since its erection, in 1861. Politically he is a Republican of the Lincoln type, and has lately been identified with the Prohibition party. No man is better known or more highly esteemed in the town of Fennimore than Mr. DINSDALE, and he is well worthy of a place in any record.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck