- WILBUR FISK GOODRICH, now living retired in the village of
Emerald Grove, Bradford
- Township, is one of the oldest settlers of Rock County, and
has proved himself a thoroughly honest and reliable man, both
as a farmer and a tradesman. He is now passing his last days
in the enjoyment of leisure and comfort that have been richly
earned.
- Ephraim GOODRICH, the grandfather of Wilbur F., and the founder
of the family on American
- soil, settled first at Hartford, Conn., and went from there
into Vermont with two hundred silver dollars and an axe as his
entire capital. He settled in the town of Middlebury, and engaged
in farming and lumbering, two occupations easily combined in
that timbered country. He was also a house carpenter, and was
a man of many resources. After he was located, and had secured
a start in the world, he went back to Connecticut for his wife,
Prudence, and brought her to his Vermont home, she riding their
only horse, and he walking by her side. In 1857 they came to
Wisconsin, and made their home with their son, Lemuel Miller
GOODRICH. Ephraim GOODRICH died in 1859, at the age of seventy-eight
years, and she in 1862, when seventy-two years old. They were
both buried in the cemetery at Emerald Grove. They were the parents
of five children, of whom Lemuel M., the father of Wilbur Fisk,
was the eldest.
- Lemuel M. GOODRICH was born in 1808, near Middlebury, Vt.,
and in due time learned the
- carpenter's trade. In 1827 he married Miss Fanny HUTCHINSON,
of Middlebury. They left Vermont about 1855, and came directly
to Wisconsin, locating on an eighty-acre farm in the town of
Bradford, Rock County. Eleven years later he sold this farm and
moved to Fort Atkinson, where he made his home for several years,
finally returning to the village of Emerald Grove, where he died
in 1872. He was a member of the Methodist \Church, as was his
wife, who survived him eight years. Both were buried in the cemetery
at Emerald Grove. They had five children, of whom Wilbur Fisk
was the eldest.
- Wilbur Fisk GOODRICH was born in Middlebury, Vt., Sept. 28,
1830, and lived with his
- parents until he attained his majority. He received his education
in the public schools, and his school training was unusually
broad and deep. On reaching manhood he learned the trade of carpenter,
which he followed in early life. In 1861 he bought a farm of
135 acres in the settlement known as La Prairie township, Rock
County, and devoted himself to its cultivation a number of years.
In 1873 he left his farm to a tenant, and moved into the village
of Emerald Grove, where for twenty years he followed the business
of a carriage builder. Since that time Mr. GOODRICH has lived
retired from business activities.
- On Oct. 8, 1861, Mr. GOODRICH married Miss Sarah VAN ALLEN,
a daughter of Lucas and
- Lydia (LUDDINGTON) VAN ALLEN, farming people; her mother
died when she was seven years old; her father died in the town
of Bradford, and his ashes rest in the cemetery at Emerald Grove.
Mrs. GOODRICH is related through her mother to Gov. LUDDINGTON,
of Wisconsin. No children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. GOODRICH.
They are members of the local Congregational Church, and are
highly esteemed in the community. He has served as road commissioner,
and as constable for many years, and is counted one of the representative
men of Rock County.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 60-61.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|