- HENRY TARRANT was born in Berkshire, England, May 23, 1833,
son of George and Mary
- Ann (CHANDLER) TARRANT. The father was overseer for a large
land owner in England, and a gardener by occupation. He had married
the daughter of an English maltster, William CHANDLER, who lived
to a good old age; he had four children. George TARRANT, Sr.,
grandfather of our subject, died in England in middle life, leaving
a family of six or seven children.
- In 1850 George TARRANT, the father of our subject, emigrated
to America and located at
- Janesville, Wis. There he purchased land, and had expected
to engage in floral culture, but three months after his arrival
he died, aged forty-six years. His widow survived many years,
passing away in 1897, aged eighty-one years. They were Episcopalians
in early life, and later Methodists. Six of their children lived
to maturity, four sons and two daughters as follows: Henry, our
subject; George, of Durand, Wis.; Sarah, wife of W. H. HOWARD,
of La Prairie; Charles, of Janesville; Fannie, wife of James
BESWICK, of Rock township; and William, of Custer, South Dakota.
- Henry TARRANT, our subject, had lived fourteen years in Berkshire
and three years in London,
- England, prior to coming to America. He had attended the
common schools and in London served as a messenger boy. Coming
to America in 1850 with his parents, he went after his father's
death, to Vernon County, Wis., and there, near Viroqua, entered
120 acres of land. He remained there only two years, and in 1854
returned to Janesville, where for a year he operated a sawmill.
Mr. TARRANT then bought eighty acres of land in Section 31, La
Prairie township, and settled down to the active, and, to him,
the successful life of a farmer. His present home of 320 acres,
comprising the north half of Section 28, La Prairie township,
he purchased in 1878, and here he has resided ever since, operating
and improving his broad acres, and ranking high among the agriculturalists
of Rock County.
- Mr. TARRANT married, Dec. 26, 1857, Miss Margaret Jane ARNOLD,
daughter of John and
- Laura (KEMMERER) ARNOLD, natives of Pennsylvania, and the
parents of thirteen children, of whom eleven grew to maturity.
Seven of these are now living: Freeman, of Brodhead, Wis.; William,
of Bristow, Iowa; Emanuel, of Plymouth township, Rock County;
Margaret J., wife of Henry TARRANT; Sarah E., wife of Joseph
VAN BUSKIRK, of Blairsburg, Iowa; Christiana, widow of Richard
VAN BUSKIRK, of Allison, Butler Co., Iowa; and John, twin brother
of Christiana. John ARNOLD was a farmer, and migrated to Wisconsin
in 1843, setting in Rock township, Rock County. Two years later
he removed to Plymouth township, took up a farm from the government,
and lived there until his death, June 13, 1871, at the age of
sixty-six years. He was most highly respected for his integrity
and high character. His wife died Jan. 15, 1878, in her seventieth
year.
- To Mr. and Mrs. TARRANT have been born ten children, seven
sons and three daughters as
- follows: (1) Ella R. married Edward KELLY, and lives at Elma,
Iowa. They have two children living, Harland and Clare C. (2)
Clara Jane died aged thirty-eight years. (3) Elmer C. married
May EDDY, and is a liveryman of Janesville. They have one son,
Leland. (4) Irving H., a Milwaukee druggist, for his first wife
married May SHERMAN, now deceased, by whom he had one child,
Stanley S. For his second wife he married Selena STEPHENS, by
whom he has one child, Loraine. (5) Willis M. died in infancy.
(6) Arthur died in infancy. (7) Lester M. died in infancy. (8)
Willard M., who lives on the home farm, married Cora EDDY, and
has three children, Lyle H., Beulah May and Floyd. (9) Ray G.
married Bertha HOWARD, now deceased, and they had one child,
Russell. (10) Ethel G. lives at home.
- Mr. and Mrs. TARRANT are prominent members of the M. E. Church,
of which he is steward.
- Politically he is a Republican. Mr. TARRANT was twice elected
to the State Assembly, serving continuously from 1889 to 1893;
filled a vacancy as county treasurer for seven months; and has
been called upon repeatedly to fill local offices. For eleven
years he has been supervisor, town clerk sixteen years, and chairman
of the county board of supervisors two years. For many years
he has served as school clerk and director. He is one of the
most progressive and influential citizens of La Prairie township.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 218-219.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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