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- WARREN ELISHA GARDNER, of Brodhead, is one of the early settlers
of
- Green county, and his life is a part of its history for more
than half a century. Here he spent his boyhood and youth, and
here he has lived and labored through all the intervening years.
He is a man of character and standing, and may be justly pronounced
one of the leading citizens of this part of the county.
- Mr. GARDNER was born in Bennington, Vt., Feb. 1, 1839, and
is a son of
- Dewey and Samantha W. (WADSWORTH) GARDNER, both natives of
Vermont. They had a family of three children, of whom Warren
Elisha is now the only one living. The father was a farmer, and
came to Wisconsin in 1845, locating in Waukesha for a year. After
that he came to Green county, and secured a tract of two hundred
forty
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- acres from the Government. From time to time he added to
this, until he had a magnificent rural estate of five hundred
twelve acres. He lived in the town of Decatur until his death
in 1873, at the age of sixty-six. His widow survived until 1898,
when she died at the age of ninety-one years. They were Universalists
in their religious convictions, and lived after the best ideals
of their faith. He was a man of local standing and was called
to fill various town offices from time to time. His father, Sylvester
GARDNER, was a native of Vermont, of German lineage, and he was
born and bred a farmer, following that calling all his life.
He reared a large family, and died in the East. The maternal
grandfather of Warren Elisha GARDNER was Samuel WADSWORTH. He
was a native of Vermont, of English descent, and a farmer all
his life. He lived to be seventy-five years old, and reared a
large family. He had a brother, Joseph, who served in the Revolutionary
war.
- Warren E. GARDNER was only six years old when he came with
his parents to Wisconsin, and he
- has lived in Green county since he was seven years old, so
that he can say that practically his entire life has been passed
in this State. He was reared on the farm, and attended the district
school, finishing his schooling at the seminary at Evansville.
When he became a man he taught school, and made a very creditable
record as a teacher. But he was needed at home and he came back
to the farm, where he remained assisting his father in its cultivation
as long as he lived. When the father died, the farm was divided
between the two brothers, Gurdon and Warren E. Warren E. continued
on the old homestead until 1880, and it still remains in his
possession. He has added to his inheritance until he now owns
five hundred eighty-eight acres of as choice land as may be found
in the southern part of the State, which is as much as to say
anywhere in the United States, for Green county is a garden and
a delight to the eye. In 1886 Mr. GARDNER came to Brodhead with
his mother to occupy a good home which he had just completed,
and here his mother lived until her death.
- Mr. GARDNER is a stanch Republican. He was chairman of the
town board several terms before
- moving to the city, and here he has served two terms as a
member of the board of trustees of the corporation. For fourteen
years he has been a resident of Brodhead, and is one of the most
highly esteemed citizens of the place.
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-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; p. 440.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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