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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901- page 853
FRED DIVALL, a retired and honored farmer and resident of Lancaster, Grant county, where, with his wife, he has made his home since April 27, 1855, was born on the South Downs, in the county of Sussex, England, Jan. 11, 1830, and is a son of John and Lucy (HALER) DIVALL, natives of the same county, where they passed their lives on a farm. They were the parents of five sons and five daughters, of whom three of the sons - Fred, Edwin and Alfred - came to the United States. Of these, Edwin settled in Lancaster township, Grant county, and died many years ago. Alfred came in 1862, lived in the same township, but for some time prior to his death, in August, 1899, had made his home with his nephew, George DIVALL; he left a son, Roy DIVALL. The family of Edwin, however, never reached America, although they had made every preparation to come when the news of his untimely death caused a change of purpose.
Fred DIVALL was married Feb. 11, 1855, in England, to Mary FARNCOMBE, born in 1833, a daughter of William and Mary FARNCOMBE, of Sussex county, who were the parents of thirteen children, nine of whom reached maturity and three of whom are still living. The father was born in 1791, and for twenty-eight years served in the British army, and took part in the battle of Waterloo; he died at his home in Sussex, Feb. 21, 1890, his wife, who was born in 1800, having previously passed away. Four of the older of the thirteen children died in the West Indies, where the father was stationed seven years while a soldier; the three surviving members of the family are Mrs. Elizabeth BROWN and Thomas, both in England, and Mrs. DIVALL.
About two weeks after marriage Mr. DIVALL and wife started for America, and were seven weeks on the voyage from London to New York, whence they came direct to Lancaster, Wis. The first land purchased here by Mr. DIVALL was a quarter-section in Lancaster township, to which he added, a little later, a quarter-section adjoining, but situated in that township of Liberty, and still later purchased 185 acres more in Lancaster township, thus becoming one of the largest land owners and most successful farmers and stock growers in that part of the county. Mr. and Mrs. DIVALL lived on this farm for thirty years, and then he sold it to his son-in-law, Reuben AUSTIN.
Mr. and Mrs. DIVALL had born to them ten children, of whom one daughter died in infancy, and the survivors are Mrs. Mary McCORMICK; Frederick William, who resides in Montfort township; Mrs. Lucy WEIR; George A., proprietor of the Lancaster Hotel; James E., of Ellenboro; Mrs. Amelia AUSTIN; John E., in Liberty township; Albert T., also of Liberty township; and Mrs. Orah KEMPER, in Nebraska. There are twenty-nine grandchildren, and at Christmas-tide, 1898, the entire family- sons and daughters and their wives and husbands and children - spent the holiday week with the parents and numbered fifty-one persons.
Mr. and Mrs. DIVALL retired to Lancaster in March, 1892, and have now been residents of Grant county for forty-five years. They have a most pleasant home, where they are passing the evening of life in peace and contentment. They are consistent members of the Episcopal church, and are among the most esteemed old settlers of Grant county, in which all but one of their surviving children reside.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck