- EDGAR S. CASLER, a retired wagonmaker and farmer, is now
living in Evansville, Rock county,
- and enjoys the freedom from care and labor that comes alone
from a wise and useful life. He is widely known throughout the
northern part of this county, and has made many friends by his
honest dealing and genial spirit.
- Mr. CASLER was born at Watertown, N.Y., Jan. 15, 1824, and
is a son of Henry and Mary
- (DINGMAN) CASLER, natives of New York. They were the parents
of seven children, and four of this family are now living: Edgar
S. is the oldest member of the family; Daniel D. is living at
Seymour, Mo.; Angeline is the widow of Jacob PROPER, and is living
at Pierpoint, Mich.; and Sarah J. is the wife of J. RAMSEY, of
Lowville, N.Y. The father was a blacksmith by trade, and died
in the town of Turin, Lewis Co., N.Y., about 1842, at the age
of sixty-four. His widow survived his loss fifteen years, and
reached the age of eighty-two. He was a soldier in the war of
1812. His father, Jared CASLER, was a soldier in the Revolution.
He was a native of New York, and of German descent. He was
the father of five children, and lived to be ninety years old.
Jared DINGMAN, the father of Mary mentioned above, was also
a soldier in the Revolution. He was badly wounded and became
totally blind, living for forty years without the light. He
reached the great age of ninety years, and was the father of
fours sons and four daughters.
- Edgar S. CASLER spent his childhood and youth in Jefferson
county, N.Y., where he attended
- the district school. He worked on the farm until he was
nineteen years old, and was then apprenticed to the trade of
wagonmaking, which was his occupation for thirty years. He came
West in the fall of 1854, and made a location seven miles west
of the young city of Janesville, Rock Co., Wis. He had a farm,
and cultivated it two years, selling at the expiration of that
time, and moving farther west, into the town of Porter, where
he made his home some ten years. The war had raged for a year
or two when Mr. CASLER was carried to the front, by the flood
of patriotic devotion that swept the North, as a soldier of the
Union army. He enlisted in Company B, 37th Wis. V.I., and served
two years, making a creditable record as a soldier. When he
was mustered out he went to wagonmaking in the village of Rutland,
Dane county. There he lived and worked some fifteen years, and
in 1879 transferred himself, family and business to Evansville.
This pleasant and beautiful island Wisconsin city has been his
home to the present time. For about a year after his settlement
in Evansville Mr. CASLER carried the mail between that city and
Edgerton, and then resumed his trade of wagonmaker. For a number
of years advancing age has kept him from active business.
- In 1847 Mr. CASLER married Miss Zenana DAMON, daughter of
Noah and Betsy DAMON,
- and they had two children, Ellen and Matilda. The mother
dying in 1850, the following year Mr. CASLER married Miss Theodosia
BENNETT, a daughter of Larry and Mary BENNETT. She died March
3, 1897 at the age of sixty-five. Eight children were born to
this union: Clara, Lucy, Alma, Jennie, Nellie, Ida, Henry and
Ernest. The family circle is yet unbroken. Ellen married George
KOEHN, and lives in Chicago; they have a family of six daughters.
Matilda married Richard BRIGHAM, who died about 1880, leaving
her with two sons. Clara married F. D. CHILD, and lives in Bertrand,
Neb.; they have a family of two girls and one boy. Lucy is Mrs.
Charles E. SHANNON, and lives in Edgerton. Alma and Jennie live
at home, and keep house for their father. Nellie married Harley
SAUNDERS, and lives in Albion, Dane Co., Wis.; they have a family
of four children. Ida married Carl ATWOOD, and lives in Albion.
Henry is single, and lives at Bertrand, Neb. Ernest is single,
and lives at home.
- Mr. CASLER belongs to T. L. Sutphen Post, No. 41, G.A.R.,
and is a man highly esteemed in
- his community.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin"
(c)1901, pp. 824-825.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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