- HOMER M. PAUL, a retired farmer, now living at No. 12 Prairie
avenue, Janesville, Rock
- County, was born in the town of Chili, Monroe Co., N.Y.,
Oct. 2, 1852, and is a son of Lemuel and Susan (BURROWS) PAUL,
both natives of New York. They had three children, two of whom
are now living; Adelbert R., of Davenport, Iowa; and Homer M.
- The father was a farmer, and a man of unusual business capacity.
He came to Wisconsin in
- 1870, and located in Janesville, buying a farm which was
then in the extreme southern part of the city, and contained
500 acres. He cultivated same until his death, in 1896, when
he was over eighty years of age. His first wife, the mother
of Homer M., died in 1858, when thirty-four years old. They
were not identified with any church, but held to the Baptist
faith. He was a Republican. For his second wife Mr. PAUL married
Miss Lucretia R. PAUL, and had by her a family of two sons and
two daughters, all of whom grew to maturity: Louis; Edward H.;
Vinnie May, wife of Charles WRIGHT; and Clara B., wife of John
CRIPE. His father, Zebulon PAUL, who was a farmer, died in New
York when eighty years of age. He was the father of six children.
Grandfather BURROWS died early in life, and scarcely anything
is known concerning him.
- Homer M. PAUL lived in Monroe County, N.Y., until he was
eighteen years old, and had very
- good opportunities for obtaining an education. He was reared
on the farm, and attended Hicks College, a somewhat celebrated
local institution. In 1870 he came to Janesville in company
with his parents, and attended Fellows College one winter. Then
he took up farming, and lived at home until he was twenty-five
years old. His father gave him eighty acres, and to this he
has added another eighty, having a fine farm in Section 7, La
Prairie township, and also owning three other eighty-acre tracts
in the town of Janesville. He has always followed farming, and
is a skillful and successful tiller of the soil.
- Mr. PAUL and Miss Sarah Louise READ were married Nov. 14,
1877. She is a daughter of
- William H. and Margerie A. (ERCANBRACK) READ. They have
had four children, Alta Ann, Susan Ada, Gertie Blanche, and Marion
Ava. Mr. PAUL is a member of Wisconsin Lodge, No. 14, I.O.O.F.,
and is a stanch Republican. He has served as supervisor of La
Prairie township three terms, and is highly regarded by his friends
and neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. PAUL are genial and hearty people,
hospitable in their home, and friendly to all. They are full
of cheer and encouragement, and carry sunshine in their lives.
- Mrs. PAUL's parents were early settlers in Rock County.
They had eight children, all but one
- now living: Martha Elizabeth, wife of E. E. EDDINGTON; George
Warren, on the old homestead; John R., of La Prairie township;
Sarah L., wife of the gentleman whose name introduces this article;
William Arthur, of La Prairie township; Mary, deceased; Jennie,
wife of Charles CAMPBELL, of Beloit; and Thornton, of La Prairie,
who married Miss Mathie FINCH, and lives on the old homestead.
Mrs. PAUL's father, William H. READ, died in 1880, eleven days
before completing his sixty-second year. Her mother died in
June 1886, aged fifty-seven. They were among the early settlers
of La Prairie township, and were lifelong agriculturists. He
bought government land, and in the early days hauled his grain
to Milwaukee, and brought back supplies. His father, John READ,
was a native of Bangor, Maine, where he died when eighty years
old, from injuries received in falling down stairs. Mrs. PAUL's
maternal grandfather, Philip ERCANBRACK, was born near Gloversville,
N.Y., and ran a canal-boat; he lived to old age, and his parents
both lived to be over ninety.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, pp. 119-120.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|