Untitled From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 339-340

JOHN F. WARE, a representative of the sterling worth and industry of those whom the mother country has sent to our shores, was born in Yorkshire, England, in December, 1833, and now resides in Smelser, Grant county.

Frederick and Esther (HEBEN) WARE, the parents of our subject, were both born in Yorkshire, England, coming to this country in 1844, and locating near Pittsburgh, Penn. In 1849 they moved to Wisconsin, where he settled on a tract of wild land in Smelser, two miles west of Big Patch. At that time deer were plenty, and the surroundings were all wild, but Mr. WARE cleared up and placed this place under a high state of cultivation before his death, in 1885. His first wife, mother of our subject, died in Pittsburgh.

John F. WARE received an excellent education in the schools of Pittsburgh, and after locating in Wisconsin learned the trade of miller, under John A. WOODWARD, of Platteville, where he was engaged when the Civil war broke out. With a number of other young men of his age, from the same town, Mr. WARE enlisted in Company F, 20th Wis. V.I., under Capt. WHITMAN, of Dodgeville, this command being included in the Western Army, employed in Missouri, following the Confederate Gen. Price, their first engagement taking place at Springfield, Mo.; and later, in 1863, the regiment succeeded in breaking up Price's army. The same year the regiment was placed under Gen. Grant, our subject taking part in the siege of Vicksburg, and participating in the expeditions on the Yazoo and Rio Grande rivers, in Texas, and then moving onto Spanish Fort, taking part in seven different battles, and continuing in the service until the close of the war, in 1865. Mr. WARE has a record of never having been off duty, or being sick enough for confinement in hospital, until within a few months of the end of the war.

Coming back to Wisconsin, Mr. WARE resumed milling at Platteville, and in 1866 was married to Miss Emma TRENARY, a daughter of Philip and Isabel TRENARY, both of whom were born in England; the family is an old and prominent one in Platteville. Mrs. WARE was born in Grant county in December, 1846, and was educated in the old academy at Platteville. Mrs. WARE was born in Grant county in December, 1846, and was educated in the old academy at Platteville. After marriage Mr. and Mrs. WARE first settled at Kendalltown, Lafayette county, where Mr. WARE engaged in milling for thirteen years, from that place moving back to Platteville; thence to Annaton; again to Platteville; thence to Rockville, Grant county, where they passed the following few years. In 1880 Mr. WARE purchased the Thomas MILL property, where he followed milling until within a few years ago, engaging in that occupation altogether twenty-nine years in Grant county. He then changed his occupation to farming and stock raising, the latter especially proving a very successful venture.

To Mr. and Mrs. WARE has been born one child, Clara B., at Kendalltown, in 1875. She was a student of the Platteville Normal for several years, but on account of poor health did not remain to graduate. In 1893 she married Joseph ANDREW, of Grant county, and they reside on his farm in Smelser; one daughter, Viola, has been born to them, who was removed by death when yet a child.

Politically Mr. WARE has always been identified with the Republican party; he is a member of Sherman Post, No. 66, G.A.R., of Platteville; both Mr. and Mrs. WARE have long been connected with the M. E. Church, and they are highly respected. Mr. WARE was a faithful soldier, and his comrades in arms speak in the highest praise of his courage. As a citizen he possesses the confidence of the community, his many acts of kindness, and Christianity endearing him to his neighbors.



This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck