- WILLIAM DUTHIE, of the town of Bradford, Rock County, belongs
to the older generation of
- farmers in this part of the State, and has won his present
enviable position by hard work and wise economy. His industry
has been unflagging through all his active life, and his character
beyond question. Mr. DUTHIE was born Jan. 8, 1831, in the parish
of Garvock Kincardineshire, Scotland, son of William and Mary
(CHRISTISON) DUTHIE, who had a family of four children; Mary,
William and Jessie (twins), and John. Our subject was nine years
of age when he lost his father and his mother died a year later.
The father was also born in Kincardineshire, and the family
was descended from Norman crusaders. The mother, Mary (CHRISTISON),
was a daughter of Alexander CHRISTISON, who was a farmer in the
same county.
- William DUTHIE after his parents' death was cast upon a cold
world and early learned to make
- his own way among strangers. He had but little opportunity
for schooling, though the love for learning did credit to his
parentage. At fifteen he had saved enough to give himself half
a year's attendance at a district school, and it may be imagined
with what zeal the orphan lad applied himself to his studies.
Then he resumed his work among the neighboring farmers, and
at nineteen went to the city of Edinburgh. There he spent six
years at various occupations, the principal one being a protracted
service on the police force of the city. In October, 1856, Mr.
DUTHIE came to this country, and settled in Wisconsin. He was
two months in Madison, and then engaged with a Rock County farmer
to help him in monthly wages. After spending several years at
farm labor he rented land for several years. In 1863 Mr. DUTHIE
had become sufficiently prosperous to warrant his purchase of
a farm. He bought that year a quarter section near his present
residence, and proved so successful in its cultivation that he
soon bought more, and bought again until he had acquired 665
acres in the town of Bradford.
- Mr. DUTHIE and Miss Mary ROBINSON were married in 1858.
She was the daughter of
- Peter and Elizabeth (LAMB) ROBINSON, of Stirlingshire, Scotland,
farming people, who came to this country as early as 1850. Mr.
and Mrs. DUTHIE are the parents of six children: William C.,
Elizabeth, James R., Annie M., Margaret J. and Edward. William
C. married Miss Nellie ELDRIDGE, daughter of George ELDRIDGE
of Clinton, and they had one son, William Edward. James R. married
Miss Belle LYTTLE, a daughter of John LYTTLE, of Janesville,
Wis. Annie M. married John CASPER of Waterford, Wis., and is
the mother of three children, Mary, Jud and Burr. Margaret J.
married Charles BOYNTON, and lives at Emerald Grove, Wis.; they
have one daughter, Katharine.
- Mr. DUTHIE is independent both in politics and in religion.
He has been a supervisor for seven
- years, and is highly respected by all who know him as an
honorable and capable man.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c) 1901, p. 301.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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