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From the Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901- page 626-627
F. A. ELWELL, a prominent retired farmer and wealthy citizen of Cassville, has been a resident of Grant county for almost sixty years, and has not only watched with interest its growth and development, but has borne an active part in the work of improvement. It was in 1842 that he came from Lee county, Iowa, to Hazel Green, Wis., and he has since been identified with the interests of this section of the State.
Mr. ELWELL was born in Preble county, Ohio, in 1831, a son of James ELWELL, a soldier of the war of 1812, who enlisted at Philadelphia and was in active service. The father was born in New Jersey Jan. 4, 1789, and at an early day left his native State, moving to Preble county, Ohio, where he was united in marriage with Miss Frances KELLOW, a native of Virginia, and a daughter of John and Frances Aminza (ATKINS) KELLOW. Her father was one of the heroes of the Revolutionary war, and an early settler of Ohio, where both he and his wife died. About 1834 or 1835 James ELWELL moved to Lee county, Iowa, and made his home there until coming to Hazel Green, Grant Co., Wis., in 1842. There he was first engaged in mining, but having received a land warrant for his services in the war of 1812 he in 1852 secured a tract of land in Waterloo township, and in the midst of the wilderness developed and improved a farm, making his home thereon until his death, which occurred March 23, 1877. His wife died on the home farm in Waterloo township about 1861. In their family were nine children, namely: Joel, who died in Lee county, Iowa, at the age of twenty-seven years; Mary Ann, Mrs. ROBINSON, who died near Topeka, Kans., in 1893; John, who was drowned in the Mississippi river in 1855; Sarah, Mrs. HALL, who died in Hazel Green, Grant county, in 1846; James, a retired farmer of Waterloo township, who died in Cassville in January, 1897; Theodore, who died on the old homestead in Waterloo township in August, 1898, in his seventy-second year; William, who died in the same township in 1872, aged forty-three; F. A., the only one now living; and Eliza, Mrs. DROULARD, who died in Lincoln, Neb., in 1885.
At the age of eleven years F. A. ELWELL accompanied his parents on their removal to Grant county, and after completing his education in the public schools here followed mining at Hazel Green for a time. In 1852 he purchased an eighty-acre tract of land in Waterloo township, and immediately turned his attention to its improvement and cultivation. Meeting with success in his farming operations, he added to his landed possessions from time to time, until he owned 500 acres of valuable land, in one body. This place he improved in an excellent manner, and continued to successfully engage in general farming and stock raising for many years, but is now living a retired life, in Cassville.
In Waterloo township, Mr. ELWELL was married, in 1859, to Miss Harriet ZIMMERMAN, a native of Wayne county, Ohio, and a daughter of Daniel and Sarah (KALEY) ZIMMERMAN, natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio, respectively. At an early day her father moved to Potosi, Grant Co., Wis., and his last days were spent in Beetown. By occupation he was a farmer. His first wife, the mother of Mrs. ELWELL, died in Wayne county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. ELWELL have five children: Minnie, Mrs. DOLL, of Waterloo township, who has four children, Mary, Otho, Frank and Hobart Elwell.; Alma, who married May SMITH, and lives on the home farm; Frank S., who married Ella SMITH, and is also on the farm; William, who is now residing in Colorado; and Ida, Mrs. ALCORN, a resident of Boulder, Colorado.
In 1891 Mr. ELWELL and his wife left the farm and moved to Cassville, where they have a pleasant home, and are surrounded by all the comforts of life. They are earnest and consistent members of the Seventh-day Advent Church, and are highly respected and esteemed by all who know them. Socially Mr. ELWELL is a member of Cassville Lodge, No. 235, F. & A.M., of which he is senior deacon, and politically he is a stanch supporter of the Republican party. He formerly took quite an active and prominent part in public affairs, assisted in organizing the school districts of his township, was a member of the town board, and efficiently served as justice of the peace for several years.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck