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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901- page 976
JAMES PAUL, a prominent citizen and honored pioneer of Patch Grove township, Grant county, Wisconsin, dates his residence here from 1842. At that time the land was all wild and unimproved, and the few settlers that had located in this part of the county have nearly all passed away, while he, with a very few others, remains, a living witness of the crude condition of the country nearly sixty years ago. He has seen the unbroken wilderness transformed to its present advanced condition, and has always been prominently identified with the growth and development, having done his part in converting the wild land into fruitful fields and beautiful homes.
Mr. PAUL was born near Aberdeen, Scotland, in March 1823, a son of Alexander and Jessie (MAIR) PAUL, who never came to America but spent their entire lives in Scotland. In their family were eight children, three sons and five daughters. The first to come to America was Alexander PAUL, Jr., a brother of James, who crossed the Atlantic in 1838, and by way of Chicago went to Prairie du Chien, Wis., where he remained about two years. He then came to Patch Grove, Grant county, where he became possessed of considerable land, and for more than thirty years served as postmaster at that place. A number of years ago he removed to Brown's Valley in western Minnesota, where he engaged in merchandising.
James PAUL followed his brother to America in 1840, and came to Patch Grove by way of Chicago and Galena. As he remarked to the writer, Galena at that time was a larger and more important place than Chicago, but after a lapse of sixty years it has less population and importance that it had then, while Chicago has its two million inhabitants, and is the second largest city in the Union, all of which has been accomplished in the comparatively short period of three score years. Mr. PAUL entered the land on which he now resides from the government, and in the years that have passed has converted the wild tract into a beautiful farm.
On June 21, 1849, he married Miss Angeline ADAMS, who was born in New York State in 1824, and in 1848 came West with her parents, Samuel and Jemima (JUDD) ADAMS, who made their home in Grant county until their death. Of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. PAUL, two are living: Angeline, wife of Carson SCOTT; and James. Those deceased were Christina, who died at the age of twenty four years; and John, who died at the age of fifteen.
Mr. PAUL has long been one of the leading farmers and stock raisers of Patch Grove township, where he and his wife have a beautiful home and are surrounded by all the material comforts of life, the reward of industry and good management. Great have been the changes that time has wrought since he became a resident of Grant county. Mr. PAUL served as clerk of Patch Grove township, when it included the present townships of Patch Grove, Wyalusing, Glen Haven, Millville, Mount Hope and Bloomington, much of the land at that time being assessed as unknown. For his work as clerk, which necessarily involved traveling over a large area of country, he received $60 per annum. He held that office for several years. In his political views Mr. PAUL was a Democrat until 1861, when he became a Republican, but of later years has been independent in politics. He is a public-spirited citizen who gives his support to all worthy enterprises for the public good, and commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he comes in contact.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck