- WILLIAM S. BLACKFORD. This esteemed and influential citizen
of Monroe township, Green
- county, is one of a family of seven children born to William
and Rachel (JOHNS) BLACKFORD.
- William BLACKFORD, his father, was a potter by trade, and
was of German lineage, while his
- mother's ancestors were Welsh. Both parents were born in
Pennsylvania, where they married, and lived until 1845. In that
year they determined to seek better fortune in the West, and
set forth, with their children and household goods, for Delphi,
Ind. Proceeding by covered wagon from Fayette to Brownsville,
Penn., they continued their westward journey by water, going
by steamboat to Monongahela, to Pittsburgh, and the Ohio to Cairo,
Ill., at the junction of that stream with the Mississippi. As
has been said, it had been their intention to ascend the Wabash
to Delphi, but low water forbade this, and forced them to continue
their journey in the manner described. They sailed up the Mississippi
to Dubuque, thence went to Galena, where they hired a wagon and
proceeded to Green county, Wis., making their first stop with
William GOODELL. The land chosen by Mr. BLACKFORD on which to
build a home for himself and his family was heavily timbered,
and was situated in the township of Jefferson. To clear it was
no easy task, but sturdy thews and sinews can accomplish much
when to their strength is added a firm resolve, inspired by love.
On this farm, thus reduced to cultivation by the axe of the woodman
and the plow of the pioneer, the parents passed the remainder
of their lives, the mother dying about 1859, and the father in
1871. Of their seven children, two have died - Thomas and Lavina.
Enoch, the eldest of the five yet living, resides in Juda, in
Green county; Rebecca is the wife of Stephen MANN, of Page county,
Iowa; William S.; Rachel is Mrs. Peter ROUB, and lives in the
South; and Samuel is a resident of Louisiana.
- William S. BLACKFORD was born Feb. 3, 1833, in Fayette county,
Penn., and was conse-
- quently a boy of twelve years when he accompanied his parents
to Green county, Wis., which has been his home ever since. In
1860 he was married to Nettie HEDGE, whose native State was Indiana.
Mrs. BLACKFORD died in 1877, and he has not married again. He
has three daughters: Jennie Florence, the eldest, the wife of
Charles HARTWICK, Nellie Josephine, whose home is in Carroll,
Iowa; and Rose, who lives with her father in Monroe township.
Mr. BLACKFORD is well known as a worthy representative of an
honored pioneer family, and is highly esteemed for his own good
qualities of head and heart.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; p. 927.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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