Waushara County Biographies

WAUSHARA COUNTY BIOGRAPHIES

FRANK RATHERMEL
A resident at Plainfield, Wis., member of G.A.R. Post No. 197, was born April 3, 1825, in the City of New York. He is the son of Frank and Catherine (Mosser) Rathermel, and his father was a musician by profession. He was a native of New York and belonged to the orchestra attached to the theatre, which was owned by John Jacob Astor and his son, and is still in possession of the contracts signed by successive managers of that place of amusement. He died of yellow fever when his sone was a year and a half old, after which the latter went with his mother to Orange county, New York, where she died when Frank was 13 years old. The latter lived on a farm until he was old enough to learn a trade and set out in life as a blacksmith. He was married in 1846 to Adeline Stage in Duchess County, New York, and they removed west with their two children in 1849, and located in Waushara County. They settled on a piece of new land which they cleared and on it raised one of the first crops planted in Waushara County. In 1851, in company with three companions, he crossed the plains to California, the party drove four yoke of oxen. After a stay of 18 months, Mr. Rathermel returned by way of the Isthmus of Panama. during his stay in Californai, he worked as a blacksmith, and on his return traded off his farm at Wautoma and located in Plainfield where he has resided since.

October 8, 1864, he enlisted in Company I, 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery for three years. After the command reached Washington, it was assigned to garrison duty at Fort Lyon near Alexandria, where Mr. Rathermel received infantry equipments and was drilled in that variety of military tactics as well as those of light and heavy artillery as he was likely to require a perfect knowledge of either varity of tactics at a moment's notice in the defense of Washington, or to be ordered to any locality where active warfare was in progress. But Early made it necessary for the defenses of the Capital to retain position in close proximity to the city, and Mr. Rathermel spent most of his time in military drill and garrison duty. After the war he returned to Waushara County and he has reached one of the best positions in this section of Wisconsin as an agriculturist. When he arrived in Waushara County he had just $15 as a cash capital wherewith to begin the world, and when he located at Wautoma to commence farming his resources were considerably reduced. But he and his wife gave themselves courageously to the business of bettering their condition and they own a well-improved farm of 420 acres in Waushara County and a half section in Adams County. The farm in Waushara County is well stocked with all varieties of farm animals, with agricultural machinery and valuable and appropriate buildings. Mr. Rathermel is a Jackson Democrat and believes the doctrine wholesome for the interests of the country. Mr. and Mrs. Rathermel have 12 children, 10 of whom are married and settled in life. They are named in the order of their birth as follows: Charles, Julia Ann, Elizabeth, Catherine, Hannett, Emmett, Deta, Permelia, Frank, Robert, James and Fred; one died in infancy.



Dr. Stephen H. Duly


Sumitted by William Boslet


I am looking for information on a Dr. Stephen H. Duly, who was married to Phoebe Fox. They moved to Wautoma, WI, from Jefferson Co., N.Y. Phoebe was born on Oct 6, 1826, Married on June 24, 1849, and died at Wautoma, WI, on Sept. 13, 1901. Stephen and Phoebe, had a daughter named Allie, who was born in 1862. I have quite a bit of information on Phoebe Fox's family that I would love to share, but this is all I know about this side of the family, after they moved to Wisconson. Please feel free to contact me.



Portrait and Biographical Album Green Lake, Marquette & Waushara County page 557


Cornelius Ham, a retired farmer and millwright of Plainfield was born in Rensselaer County, NY Sept 21 1822 and is a son of Conrad and Mary (Bruce) Hamm, both of whom were natives of the Empire State and of German decent. Their family numbered twelve children, nine of whom grew to mature years, though only two are now living--Peter, who resides in Burton County, MO., and Cornelius. Those who have passed away are Antonio, Margaret, George, Eliza, wife of Samuel Devoe of Wautoma; Eva, Phillip and Lansing. The parents were members of the Lutheran Church and were highly respected people.

Our subject passed the days of his boyhood and youth in his native State, where in the common schools he received his education. When seventeen years of age he began learning the trade of a millwright and carpenter, which he followed during his residence in New York and also continued after his emigration to the West. On the 22nd of September, 1842 he led to the marriage alter Miss. Harriet M. Cunningham, a native of Warren County, NY., and their union was blessed with two children: Emma, the elder is now the wife of Frank Hayward, a farmer of the town of Hancock, by whom she has four children, Clarence, Earl, Nellie and Ida. Elias Irwin a contractor and builder resides in Minneapolis, MN. He married Miss Mabb Mann, and unto them were born four children, but only one, Roy, is now living. The other three died in infancy.

In 1855, Mr. Ham decided to cast his lot with the early settlers of Waushara County, Wis. and since that time has been one of her best citizens. Entering 160 acres of land on section 29 in the town of Plainfield, he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. His claim was till in its primitive condition, not a furrow had been turned, a fence built, or other improvements made. There were few settlers in the neighborhood, the Indians had only just left for their reservations beyond the Mississippi and the work of progress and cultivation had been scarecely begun. He bore his share in the trials and hardships incident to life on the frontier, but his labors were crowned with success and he became owner of one of the finest farms in Waushara County. Although he met with some discouragement and reverses in business life he overcame all such obstacles and many happy days were passed on that old homestead, but in 1877 the family was visited by a deep sorrow occasioned by the death of the wife and mother. She died in full fellowship with the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which she was a devoted member and deep grief was felt at her loss.

The following year, Mr. Ham left the old homestead and removed to the village of Plainfield. He again married October 5, 1880.

Mr. and Mrs. Ham have a pleasant home in the village of Plainfield where surrounded by all the comforts of life they expect to spend their las days. He has ever been identified with the upbuilding and progress of the community since his arrival in Wisconsin, more than a third of a century ago and is gregarded as one of its leading citizens. He built the first school house in the town of Plainfield, has aided in the promotion of church and school interests, and has done all in his power to promote the general welfare. At various times he has been called upon to service in official positions, being elected by the Republican party of which he is a warm advocate. Socially, he is a member of the G. A. R. of Plainfield, and of the I.O.O.F. In early life he united with the Methodist Episcopal church of which he has since been a faithful member. He is charitable and benevolent, ever ready to extend a helping had to the poor and needy, and his acts of kindness have won the lasting gratitude of many. Mr. Ham enlisted in 1864, was assigned to Company I, first Wisconsin Heavy Artillery, and served till the war was over as a non-commissioned officer.

Contributed by Pam B.



Portrait and Biographical Album
Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, Containing Full Page Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens of the Counties

Chicago: ACME Publishing Co.
1890

Provided to Linda Cheal by Jerry Carlton, local Hancock historian

William N. Kelley, one of the prominent members of the bar of Waushara County, was the first settler of the town of Plainfield, in which he yet resides. He is a native of the Empire State, having been born in the town of Middlebury, Genesee County, July 13, 1826. His parents were Thomas and Sina R. (Baker) Kelley, the former a native of Schenectady, NY, the latter of Connecticut. The paternal ancestry of the subject of this notice has been traced back to Thomas O�Kelley, as the name was originally spelled, of Waterford, Ireland. Thomas Kelley, the fifth, was the first American ancestor, and his son, the grandfather of William N. was also named Thomas. The maternal grandfather of our subject was Elnathan Baker, a native of Massachusetts, who served as a Captain during the Revolutionary War in the Colonial army. The grandmother�s maiden name was Butler, and she was a relative of the famous Butler who espoused the cause of the British in the war for independence.

When a lad William N. Kelley removed with his parents to Genesee County, which was a part of the Holland Purchase, and in 1840 the family emigrated to Illinois, settling near Elgin. The first of the Kelley family to come to Wisconsin was Peter S., an uncle of William. He located in Wausau, where he erected or purchased a mill and engaged in lumbering. He died in Plover early in the spring of 1844, of small pox. On the death of their relative, the family removed to Wausau, Mr. Kelley, Sr., having been appointed administrator of his brother�s estate. His oldest son purchased the mill above mentioned, but soon afterwards sold it to our subject, who engaged in its operation until 1849. In the month of October, 1848, he came to what is now the town of Plainfield, where he made a claim and erected a house on section 24, it being the first dwelling erected in the town. He sawed the lumber for the house at his mill in Wausau, floated it down the Wisconsin River to Stevens� Point, and hauled it thence to its destination with ox-teams. On Feb. 18, 1849, he removed his father�s family from Steven�s Point into the house that he had erected. There, as before stated, a claim was made and 160 acres entered when the land came into market, forty of which were owned by William N. Plainfield has been the home of Mr. Kelley since October, 1848, though for several seasons thereafter he was engaged in rafting lumber down the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers to St. Louis. He finally deeded the forty acres of land which he had entered to his mother, and in 1845 settled on section 26, where he improved a fine farm and made a beautiful home at which he still resides.

On July 7, 1851, his father died suddenly of heart disease. The mother survived him until 1872, when she also was called home. Thomas Kelley was educated to the medical profession, which he followed before coming West, but devoted his attention to other pursuits after his arrival in Wisconsin. His health was much impaired during the last years of his life and he died at the age of fifty-seven. He was a quiet, unassuming man, highly esteemed by those who knew him, and he and his wife were faithful and devout members of the Free Will Baptist Church. Their family numbered thirteen children, four sons and nine daughters, but only four are now living: Thomas R., is a resident of Utah Territory; William N. is the next younger, and is followed by Benjamin F. and Luanna, wife of Morris Robinson, of Neenah, Wis.

About the year 1955 William Kelley began the study of law, and devoted such time to it as he could spare from his other duties. In 1868 he was admitted to the bar, and for the past fifteen years has given nearly his entire attention to the practice of his profession, his office being at his residence on the farm.

Mr. Kelley was married Oct. 15, 1852, to Miss Ruth M. Bently, daughter of Jesse Bently, who in 1850 settled in the town of Plainfield, emigrating to Wisconsin from his old home in Tioga County, Pa. Two sons and a daughter were born of their union � William R., whose farm adjoins that of his father; Walter A., at home; and Viletta M., wife of William Decker, whose farm adjoins that of our subject.

For more than forty years Mr. Kelley has been a resident of the town of Plainfield, no other citizen having resided within it for so great a period. He gave the name to the town and when the village was organized it was also called Plainfield. He has been identified with its best interests from the beginning, and has labored zealously for its prosperity and welfare. He is a man of much more than average ability. Though his advantages for education in early life were limited, being such as the primitive schools of the frontier afforded, he has ever been a careful student, and being blessed with a remarkable memory is well informed on all subjects pertaining to the issues of the day. He excels as a lawyer and advocate, being an eloquent and persuasive speaker. In his political affiliations he is a Democrat, and socially is a prominent Mason, belonging to both the Blue Lodge and the Chapter. It is safe to say that no man in Waushara County enjoys a wider reputation than Mr. Kelley, and his ability and enterprise are everywhere recognized.



JOHN McRAE, merchant; North Lake; has been engaged in the mercantile business in Wisconsin for nearly 34 years. He was born in Inverness-shire, capitol of the Highlands, Scotland, in 1826. At the age of eighteen be left his native country and crossed the Atlantic to Canada; he lived in Melbourne, clerked in a mercantile house, and had general charge of store until 1846, in which year he came to Wisconsin, and located in Hustisford, Dodge Co., Wis., where he established a general store in 1848, being the second store erected in that town. In 1849 he was appointed Postmaster, and filled that position to the entire satisfaction of the citizens, for a number of years. In connection with the mercantile business in Hustisford, he established an ashery at Hustisford, and one at Mayville, and was extensively engaged in the manufacturing of pearlites and potash for several years; in 1858 he sold out his mercantile business, and in 1861 the ashery. In 1876 be moved to North Lake, Waukesha Co., where he has been engaged in keeping general store; he carries a full line of goods, and, by fair dealing and attention to business, has secured a large and increasing trade. He was married in Hustisford, Dodge Co., to Rachel M. Spear, a native of New Portland, Maine, and daughter of James and Rachel Spear, who settled near Hustisford in 1847; they afterward moved to Waushara County, Wis., where they resided during their life. Mrs. McRae's sister, Miss Mary R. Spear, makes her home with Mr. McRae, and wife.

Contributed by Ellen Rohr, who found this while doing the Waukesha County Biosketches



Biography of Orrin Perry


Submitted by:Ellyn Paul


From Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin

Published 1890, Acme Publishing Co., Chicago

ORRIN PERRY

Orrin Perry, who resides in section 14 in the town of Plainfield, is one of the most extensive land owners and an honored pioneer of Waushara county. His life has been a varied and eventful one, and as he is so well known throughout the community, we know that this sketch will be of special interest to our readers, who hold Mr. Perry in high regard. A native of New York, he was born in Chautauqua county, Feb. 16, 1821, and is the son of William and Martha (Dewey) Perry, both of whom were natives of Connecticut. His father was a powder maker, and in that business had a reputation that extended all over the country. During the war of 1812 he furnished powder to the government, it being considered one of the best grades manufactured in the country. He lived in Connecticut until about the year 1816, when, with his family, consisting of wife and four children, he removed to Chautauqua county, N.Y., where four more children were born. The eldest, Emily, became the wife of Frederick Foster, who died in 1849, after which she removed to Delaware county, Ohio, where her death occurred in 1887, at the age of seventy-nine years; William T. died in Oregon in 1884; Susan is the wife of L. Parker, of Akron, Ohio; Normal is a real estate agent and paper maker of Columbus, Ohio; Ann is the wife of Edwin Paxton, of New Jersey; Orrin is the sixth in order of birth; Elijah D. died in Oregon in 1862; and Eliza is the wife of William McIntyre, of Delaware county, Ohio.

The subject of this sketch received such opportunities for education as the district schools afforded. In 1833, when twelve years of age, a spirit of adventure and a desire to make his own way in the world, led him to seek his fortune in the then far West. Bidding good-bye to home and friends, he went to Lenawee county, Mich., and thence to Branch county, where for a time he worked at the carpenter's and joiner's trade. He secured employment on the Michigan Central Railroad, which was built by the state, and in the fall of 1838 crossed the Father of Waters to Iowa, going to Bloomington, now the city of Muscatine.

At that time there existed considerable trouble between the officials of Iowa and Missouri. Mr. Perry engaged in carpentering with his brother, William T., until 1839, when he went to Burlington, Iowa, and joined a band of 300 men engaged in the protection of the state. They were quartered in the State House, where they had a gay time while the officials were seeking to settle matters amicably. In 1841 he went to St. Louis, where he followed various occupations, and after three years returned to New York, in 1844. In the fall of that year, however, he again left home and went to Warren, Pa., and from there on a raft of lumber to Wellsville, Ohio, and starting down the river in a skiff overtook a coal boat aground on a bar, and after helping to get the boat off the bar, took passage on it to Memphis, Tenn., returning to St. Louis in the spring of 1845. Later, in 1846, he made his way to St. Paul, then but a small Indian trading post, but in the month of June, of the same year, we again find him in St. Louis, whence he went to Bolivar county, Miss., and after making a trip to Florida, returned to Vicksburg in the spring of 1847. Returning to the north, he spent time in Akron and Cleveland, Ohio, and in the autumn of 1848, accompanied his father to Jefferson county, Wis. The state had just been admitted to the Union, and many portions of it were still unsettled. Mr. Perry followed his trade to some extent in Jefferson County, and engaged in rafting on the Wisconsin river. His travels through all these fifteen years had been made by water, stage or on foot, as the railroad had not yet extended into Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, and other western states which he visited.

Thinking that his wandering life had continued about long enough, Mr. Perry determined to settle down and engage in some steady pursuit. To this end he chose for himself a companion, and Oct. 11, 1850, was united in marriage with Miss Jane French, who was born in Devonshire, England, Feb. 22, 1826. Her parents were James and Jennie (Uglow) French. Her father was born in America, but when a lad went to England, where he became acquainted with and wed Miss Uglow, who died in Jefferson county, Wis., in 1871. He survived until 1876. He was one of the honored pioneers of Jefferson county, arriving in Wisconsin when Milwaukee was a small village. One of his sons and one son-in-law settled there in a very early day and became prominent contractors of that city. His family numbered eight children, six of whom are now living: Elizabeth, wife of Henry Syvier; Mrs. Perry; John died in Bay View in 1880; Tamzin, became the wife of Charles Warner; James of Jefferson county, Wis.; Harriet, wife of Sam Ellis, of Eau Claire, Wis.; Mary A., wife of Horace Clemens, station agent, of Eagle, Wis.; and Betsy, wife of John Moys, of Elk Horn, Wis.

In 1852, Mr. Perry removed from Jefferson county to Pine Grove, in Portage county, where he erected and operated a mill until 1857, at which time he became a resident of Waushara county. He entered eighty acres of land on section 22, in the town of Plainfield, which was still unbroken prairie, and erected a frame house, 20x40 feet, part of which is still standing. He there made his home until 1865, when he felt that he should respond to his country's call for troops, but on offering his services was rejected on account of disability. Shortly afterward he purchased 160 acres of land on section 14 in the town of Plainfield, where he still makes his home. His farm now comprises 240 acres, in addition to which he owns land in Portage and Adams counties, the whole aggregating 500 acres. He has also given a considerable amount to his children, six in number, as follows: William O., who wedded Miss Alice Walker, by whom he has two children, Orrin A., and Carrie M., is now engaged in farming on section 15 in the town of Plainfield; Norman J. wedded Adelaide DeVoe, who died in 1883, leaving one child, Lois A., who resides with her grandparents, and afterward married Mrs. Mary (Stilwell) Clark; Lillian I. Is the wife of Eugene Sparks, of Fox Lake, Ramsey Co., N. Dak., by whom she has eight children - Estelle I., Armina, Minnie E., Libbie S., Wendell P., Vernon E., Maggie and Harrison M.; Luella A., the fourth of the family, married John Hanawalt of North Dakota, and they have three children - Guy H., Maude E., and John R.; Inez L. is at home; Frank wedded Mary Wood and has three children - Earl, Darrel and Harrell, twins. As his children have left the parental roof, Mr. Perry has aided them in starting out in life, fitted them for its practical duties by good educations, and has lived to see them become useful men and women. He is one of the self-made men of Waushara county, having gained all he has by his own efforts. Never going into debt, he has defrauded no man of a dollar, but has been honest and upright in all his dealings, thereby winning the confidence and good will of those with whom he has come in contact. He has the interests of his country at heart, and has labored for her welfare, taking a prominent part in the promotion of all her worthy enterprises. The cause of education has found in him a special friend, and for 25 years he served as a member of the School Board. He cast his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont, and since that time has been a warm supporter of Republican principles.

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