- LORRAIN D. HULBURT. From the earliest records it can be proved
that the life of the farmer
- is the most certain of pursuits as regards financial success,
as well as the groundwork for most of the prosperous endeavors
in other lines. Scarcely a public man of note can be found who,
at one time or another, has not had the mark of the soil on his
hands.
- Among those who have successfully made agricultural pursuits
the business of life, and now reap
- the reward of honest toil, is Lorrain D. HULBERT, the subject
of this sketch, who resides in a beautiful residence in Albany,
Green county, living the comfortable life of a retired farmer.
His birth took place in this State, in Decatur township, Green
county, Dec. 18, 1844, a son of Erastus and Laura (WEBSTER) HULBURT,
both natives of Connecticut, who had a family of six children,
four surviving: John A., of Mt. Pleasant township, Green county;
Lydia, wife of T. KELLOGG, of Seattle, Wash.; Hiram, of Peterson,
Iowa; and our subject. The paternal grandfather of our subject
was Philip HULBURT, who died in Connecticut, on Feb. 22, 1824,
aged sixty-three years. The maternal grandfather, who had been
a Revolutionary soldier, was a native of New York. Erastus, the
father, was born in Connecticut, and brought up a farmer, removing
to Green county, Wis., in 1839, where he located and bought land
in Sylvester township. The tract consisted of 227 acres of government
land in Decatur township,, upon which his last days were spent,
his death occurring on Dec. 11, 1865, when he was sixty-two years
old; Mrs. HULBURT had died in 1863, aged fifty-seven, and both
had been worthy members of the Baptist Church.
- Lorrain D. HULBURT was reared from childhood upon the large
farm in Decatur township, and
- attended the district schools. His education was as complete
as the opportunities afforded, and in his home he has taught
those principles of right living he has followed through life.
With his brother John he bought the old homestead of his father,
and later he bought his brother John's interest. He made his
home there until 1881, when he rented the place, in the meantime
removing to Clay county, Iowa, where he engaged for four years
in farming and stockraising, but in 1888 he returned to Green
county and has since resided in Albany, in 1892 erecting an elegant
residence in this village. Mr. HULBURT owns 285 acres in the
home farm, also owning Minnesota land, and but lately sold 160
acres in Iowa.
- On Dec. 15, 1870, Mr. HULBURT was married to Miss Florence
E. SMILEY, a daughter of
- Daniel and Ellen (BEMIS) SMILEY, natives of Chautauqua county,
N.Y., who had a family of six children: Lorinda, wife of John
HULBURT, of Mt. Pleasant township, Green county; Sarah, widow
of William GOULD, of Minneapolis; Charles, of Albany township;
Julia, wife of Dr. BROUGHTON, of Dwight, Ill., now of Rockford,
Ill.; Florence E., wife of Lorrain D. HULBURT; and William, on
the old home. The parents were married in 1836, and in 1837 came
to Rock county, Wis., and settled on the CULVER farm, near Janesville,
removing in 1841 to Exeter township, where they lived until 1844,
when they moved to what is now Albany township, where Mr. SMILEY
took up 160 acres of government land, adding to it until he owned
280 acres. His death occurred in 1886 when he was seventy-four
years old. In 1866 he had been a member of the Wisconsin Legislature,
was supervisor many terms, and commissioner of poor for years.
His father, Joseph SMILEY, a native of Mt. Holly, Vt., was an
early settler of Chautauqua county, N.Y.; was a soldier in the
battle of Black Rock, in 1814; had a family of eleven children,
and died at Ellery, N.Y., Nov. 7, 1862. Mrs. Ellen (BEMIS) SMILEY,
mother of Mrs. HULBURT, died in 1896, aged eighty-three, both
she and her husband having been consistent members of the Baptist
Church. Her father was Charles BEMIS, a native of Pittstown,
N.Y., born in August, 1791; moved to Chautauqua county, where
he spent the most of his life engaged in farming, and died at
Jamestown, N.Y. He reared a family of ten children, and was a
man of note; a soldier in the war of 1812, in which he held an
official position. His son, Col. George, was the last survivor
of Jotham BEMIS, of Bemis Heights, Saratoga Co., New York.
- In politics Mr. HULBURT is a Republican, and takes an active
interest in the deliberations of his
- party. Both he and his estimable wife are members of the
Baptist Church.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; pp. 783-784.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
|