- WILLIAM H. DICK, who is the very efficient and popular postmaster
at Dayton, Green county,
- was born here May 1, 1844, and is a son of John and Sarah
(LAWLER) DICK. The father was born in Scotland, and the mother
in Ireland. They were the parents of a family of eight children,
of whom the following still survive: William H.; Marion, who
is the wife of Byron BABBITT, of Evansville, Wis.; and Sarah,
who is the wife of Norman HOOK, of McFarland, Wis. John DICK
was a shoemaker, and came to America in 1842, locating on a farm
in the town of Exeter, Green county, where he took up a tract
of eighty acres from the government. This he afterward sold,
and established himself as a shoemaker in the village of Exeter.
In 1854 he removed to the village of Dayton, where he followed
the business of shoemaking until 1862. In the month of August,
that year, he enlisted in company F, 31st Wis. V.I., and was
honorably discharged in June, 1865, with a record of which his
family and friends are justly proud. When the war was over, Mr.
DICK returned to Dayton, where he resumed his work as a shoemaker.
In 1867 he removed to a farm which he had bought near Mt. Vernon,
Dane county, where he made his home for fifteen years. At the
end of that time he sold his farm and removed to Brooklyn, Green
county. There he died in the fall of 1897, being at the time
of his death in his eighty-fifth year. His first wife, the mother
of Postmaster DICK, died in 1881, at the age of sixty years,
and he married for his second wife, a Miss POST, who is still
living. Mr. DICK in his faith was a Presbyterian, though not
connected with any church. The first Mrs. DICK was a Catholic.
- The paternal grandfather of William H. DICK was James DICK.
He was a coppersmith, and also
- a tinsmith, and was the father of five sons. He died in middle
life from the effect of a paralytic stroke. Mrs. Sarah (LAWLER)
DICK was a daughter of Patrick LAWLER, who died in Ireland before
his daughter came to America, which she did when a young girl.
He was a farmer, and had seven children.
- William H. DICK spent the first ten years of his life in
the town of Exeter, and has since that age
- lived in the village of Dayton, except the time he spent
in the army. In 1864 he enlisted in company F, 42nd Wis. V.I.,
and served at the front until the close of the war, making about
one year of active duty. When the war ended, Mr. DICK returned
to Dayton, and spent another year in school, and then became
an apprentice at the tinner's trade, and that trade has been
his occupation to the present time.
- On March 16, 1870, Mr. DICK was married to Miss Mary FRANCISCO,
a daughter of Francis
- and Elizabeth FRANCISCO. Four children were born of this
marriage: John, Edith, Grace and Bessie. Edith married Perry
WISCH, of Janesville, and they have one daughter,. The other
three children are all living at home. Mrs. DICK is a member
of the Methodist Church. Mr. DICK belongs to Belleville Lodge,
No. 74, I.O.O.F., to Joseph Mower Post, No. 121, G.A.R., and
to the M. W. A. He is a Republican, and cast his first vote for
Abraham Lincoln. For one year he has been town clerk and also
clerk of the school district. Mr. DICK was appointed postmaster
of Dayton, June 17, 1898, and is still satisfactorily performing
the duties of that position. He owns a good home in the village,
and is president of the board of health for the town of Exeter.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; p. 496.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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