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- JAMES PIERCE, one of the very earliest
- pioneers of Rock County, Wis., now an insurance agent at
Milton and proprietor of a farm in the northwest corner of the
town, was born in Alfred, Allegany Co., N.Y., Dec. 26, 1817,
the son of Samuel and Susan (WHITE) PIERCE. His parents were
natives of Rhode Island, and had settled in Allegany County,
N.Y., when that region was a wilderness. James was reared on
the timbered farm of his father, and was early inured to hard
work. His only advantages of education were found on a
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- slab seat in a log schoolhouse, but having an aptness for
the study of mathematics, he mastered the arithmetic, and was
well up in other common branches of study, when he met Prof.
E. S. CARR, a nephew of Joseph GOODRICH, who was studying higher
mathematics, and who kindly gave him six weeks instruction in
algebra, and also left him his text books on higher mathematics
and surveying, when he went away. Our subject also studied practical
surveying, as assistant to Mr. GOODRICH, whose instruments he
bought. When twenty-one years of age, he hired out to that gentleman,
and on the 26th day of June, 1838, they started for Ohio with
three loaded teams. It was Mr. GOODRICH's intention to found
a home somewhere in the newer parts of that State, and he had
loaded his teams with a general assortment of merchandise, such
as would stock a country store in a small way. The start was
made from Vandermark Creek, Allegany Co., N.Y., and their first
objective point was Buffalo. The party, which was composed of
Joseph GOODRICH, Henry B. CRANDALL and James PIERCE, proceeded
on their way without meeting any incident worthy of mention,
till near the city of Buffalo, when to their great surprise they
were met on the highway by Mr. GOODRICH's younger brother, William
A., who had been traveling in the West. Learning that the party
was bound for Ohio, he advised them to abandon that idea and
go to southern Michigan instead. His glowing description of that
country decided them to follow his advice. Arrived at Buffalo,
they found that they would have to wait six days for a steamboat
to take them to Detroit, and during that time Mr. GOODRICH, who
was the leader of the party, interviewed returning western travelers,
and finally found some parties who had been in Southern Wisconsin.
They were so enthusiastic in their praise of that region that
he again changed his mind, and after consulting a map of the
country, which Mr. PIERCE obtained after great difficulty, he
decided to strike for the Rock River Valley, southwest from Milwaukee.
So they continued their journey to that city, where they arrived
on the 11th day of July. With packs on their backs, they set
off to spy out the land, like Caleb and Joshua of old. The weather
was unusually hot, and the journey tedious, but hope and the
excitement of the occasion kept all in good spirits. Stopping
places and supplies of food were matters of uncertainty. On the
16th day of July the travelers came in sight of what was called
Little Prairie, and what was later known as Prairie du Lac, or
Prairie of the Lakes, the lakes to the north and west suggesting
the name. The beauty of the landscape and the richness of the
soil charmed them, and they recognized in this country the land
they had sought. They found a pioneer named N. G. STORRS, located
on what is now section 26, of the town of Milton, with his family,
with whom they boarded while they erected a frame house for Mr.
GOODRICH on the north half of the southeast quarter of section
27, on a portion of a claim which Mr. GOODRICH purchased of Mr.
STORRS. The timbers for the house were hewn in the woods, and
a part of the oak lumber used was hauled by Mr. GOODRICH from
a sawmill near Mukwanago, Waukesha County. When the house was
completed, the second story was arranged with shelves for a store,
and the goods which had been brought from New York were arranged
for sale.
- Mr. GOODRICH placed Mr. PIERCE in charge of the establishment
with instructions to sell
- goods and hold the claim until his return. On the 17th day
of September he started for the East. Mr. PIERCE thus became
the first salesman of merchandise in Milton, and by the time
Mr. GOODRICH returned with his family, March 4, 1839, he had
cash proceeds of the business to the amount of $350 to hand his
employer. Mr. CRANDALL, having returned East soon after the selection
of his land was made, arrived with his family early in the fall
of the same year, and made his home in Mr. GOODRICH's house until
the erection of his own dwelling on section 28, Milton Township,
now the site of Milton Junction.
- In June, 1839, Mr. PIERCE took $100 of his earnings from
Mr. GOODRICH, and purchased
- an 80 acre tract of land, which was the west half of the
southeast quarter of section 4, now in the town of Harmony, but
continued to work for Mr. GOODRICH until October, 1839, when
he began the improvement of his land. On the 24th day of September,
1840, he was married in the town of Johnstown, Rock County, to
Miss Olive HALL, daughter of Gardner and Nancy HALL. She was
born in Alfred, N.Y., and came with her parents to this county
in the fall of 1839, and in the following winter taught a private
school at the residence of Henry B. CRANDALL, which was the first
school in the town of Milton. Mr. and Mrs. PIERCE have one child,
a son, Clark R., who was born Sept. 9, 1841, and married Miss
Rachel BUTTS. He now resides in Edgerton, Wis. They had two younger
children - Alonzo D., who was born Feb. 12, 1846, and died March
13, 1847, at the age of fourteen months; and Susan M., who was
born Dec. 6, 1849, and died Dec. 4, 1863, aged fourteen years.
- Mr. PIERCE made his home on the land first selected until
the spring of 1845, when he sold out
- and bought 141 acres on section 7, town of Milton, at the
foot of Lake Koshkonong. He has bought and sold several times
since, and now owns a well improved farm of 150 acres on that
section. In 1884, he retired from farming, and removed to Milton,
where he has since resided, engaged in the insurance business.
Mr. and Mrs. PIERCE are consistent members of the Seventh Day
Baptist Church of Milton, and in politics he is an earnest Republican.
He has held various offices of public honor and trust in the
county. He was Deputy County Surveyor from 1841 till 1844; was
Assessor in 1847 and 1848; the two following years he served
as Commissioner of Highways; was Justice of the Peace in 1851-55,
1857-63, 1866, 1867, 1869 and 1870; was Chairman of the Board
of Supervisors in 1856, 1864, 1869 and 1870; was County Supervisor
of the 2d district in 1866-68, and has since served again as
Supervisor, and Justice of the Peace, having been an incumbent
of the latter office twenty-two years, all told.
- Mr. PIERCE is still hale and hearty, and is highly esteemed
by a wide circle of acquaintances and
- friends as a man of strict integrity and high moral character,
and one of the most worthy of the few remaining early pioneers
of Milton.
- Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. PIERCE will be found on another
page of this ALBUM.
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-
- Taken from "The Portrait and Biographical Album of
Rock County, Wis." (c)1889, pp. 645-646; lithograph page
unknown.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
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