- HAROLD KNILL, of the town of Beloit, Rock County, was born
in Cloucestershire, England,
- Jan. 24, 1849, and was only six months old when his parents
came to the United States. They lived in Genesee County, N.Y.,
for three years, and then removed to Wisconsin, settling in the
town of Beloit. Harold was only eight years old when his father
died, and he went to live with a half sister, at Racine, Wis.,
being an inmate of her home for seven years. At the age of fifteen
the young man came back to the town of Beloit, and here has made
his home to the present time. He has been chiefly engaged in
farming, owning a highly cultivated farm of sixty-seven acres,
and has given much attention to dairying, which has proved very
profitable to him. He has put up fine buildings, designing them
himself, and is a modern and up-to-date farmer in every respect,
disposing of his product at the highest prices of the season.
Mr. KNILL began business for himself when eight years old, selling
papers in Racine, Wis., and has accumulated his property through
his own exertions, and with the help of his estimable wife.
They have had little to help them but their own courage and self-reliance,
and are already well-to-do people, while in the prime of life.
- Mr. KNILL and Miss Mary E. McNEAL were married in Beloit
Oct. 13, 1875. Mrs. KNILL
- was born in the town of Beloit, and is a daughter of John
and Clara McNEAL. Mr. and Mrs. KNILL have one daughter, Maude
L.
- Henry KNILL, father of Harold KNILL, was born in London,
England, and married Mary Ann
- STERRY, who was born in Norfolk. He died in the town of
Beloit when fifty-two years old, and she at the age of eighty-five.
They were the parents of nine children, of whom Harold was fifth
in order of birth. Henry KNILL was an English gentleman, and
came to this country with a fortune. He built the Grand Trunk
railroad in Canada, and the Racine & Mississippi, now a part
of the Milwaukee system, the road running from Racine to Galena;
in building it he lost money, though his wife and family would
have been very comfortable but for a dishonest administrator,
and they were left with only a small home.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 103-104.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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