- JOHN B. VANCE. Among the many excellent citizens and honest
and prosperous residents of
- Sylvester township, Green county, none is more esteemed by
his neighbors, or holds a higher degree of respect in every relation
of life, than does our subject, who occupies a fine farm about
four miles east of Monroe, Wisconsin.
- The grandfather of our subject, Hugh VANCE, was born in Pennsylvania,
June 13, 1784, and
- died in 1827. In 1809 he married Margaret DEITRICK, who was
born Oct. 20, 1790, and they reared a family of nine children:
Mary, Malinda, Eliza, Samuel, Ezekiel, Keziah, Robert, George
and Hugh, all of whom are deceased.
- Samuel VANCE, the father of our subject, was a native of
Fayette county, Penn. In 1841 he
- married Lavina JOHNS, who was born Nov. 12, 1814, and died
April 4, 1883. They came to Green county, Wis., about 1845, settling
in Sylvester township. Mr. and Mrs. VANCE reared seven children:
James P., deceased; George D., who resides in Kansas; John B.,
our subject; Hugh H., who resides in California; Ezekiel T.,
a retired farmer, of Monroe; Daniel W., a retired farmer, of
Monroe; and Rebecca R., the wife of William RODERICK, a farmer
of Jefferson. Samuel VANCE died Oct. 11, 1898. He was a well
known citizen, and one of the first settlers in the township,
where throughout life he followed agriculture. He was a consistent
member of the Democratic party, and religiously one of the supporters
of the First Baptist Church of Juda, Wisconsin.
- John B. VANCE, the subject proper of this sketch, was born
Nov. 26, 1846, and grew to
- manhood on the farm, receiving his education in the district
schools. As an agriculturist he has worked industriously all
his life, and although he began as a poor boy his success has
been as gratifying as that of many others who also began on a
farm and later entered other professions. Mr. VANCE is now the
owner of one of the fine farms of Green county, comprising 120
acres of well-improved land, with excellent buildings and fences,
and a comfortable and substantial dwelling. All the buildings
are new, both house and barn having been destroyed by fire and
rebuilt since 1894.
- The marriage of our subject was celebrated on Nov. 26, 1871,
to Mary E. West, who was born
- April 24, 1852, the daughter of George W. WEST, a retired
farmer of Brodhead, Wis., and eleven children have been born
of this union; Allie R., born in 1873, is now Mrs. W. J. HARPER;
Jessie M., born in 1874, is the wife of Patrick H. WARD; Nettie
L., born in 1875, is the wife of James L. STEVENSON; George N.
was born in 1876; Clara Zoe, in 1880; Samuel J., in 1882; Susan
Zell, in 1884; Kate W., in 1886; John G., in 1891; James B.,
in 1893 (died in 1894); and Mary G., in 1897. Both father and
mother are still spared to this happy family.
- In politics Mr. VANCE has inherited his Democratic belief,
all his family having been adherents of
- that party in the past. Although he does not belong to any
particular religious denomination, our subject has always given
his influence in the interests of morality, and lives up to the
doctrine that honesty and fair dealing are necessary requisites
in a man, whether he is bound by church discipline or not. He
has reared a large family and has been blessed with prosperity,
and he possesses the esteem not only of his relatives, but of
the whole neighborhood in which he has founded his home.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; p. 559.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
|