Biography extracted from History of Sauk County, Wisconsin Chicago: Western Historical Company, published 1880.

Freedom:

G. W. Bloom, retired; his time is occupied by attending to his different interests, as he has several farms and other property that consumes all of his time; he was born in Bradford Co., Penn., Dec. 11, 1822; he came to Greenfield, Sauk Co., Wis., in 1850, then to Baraboo in 1855, and to Freedom in 1860; he had bought land in this town in 1856, and commenced farming; in 1868, he, in company with E. Kimbel, built a saw-mill, and the same year he bought his partner out; he has been very active in business, and has done a great deal for the improvement of the village; it was because of his earnest work and business skill that induced the C. & N. W. R. R. Co. to locate the depot at his village, as there were no buildings to any amount at that time, and has they had already located a depot at Ableman’s only three miles from the village of Bloom; when he first came to Wisconsin he was very poor, and he deserves a great deal of credit for what he has done for himself and family; when he had been here only a few months, he met with a severe accident; he was engaged in scoring timber for his father-in-law's house, with another man, when the ax in the hands of this man struck Mr. Bloom on his right arm and nearly cut it off, and in this condition he worked on his farm, with that arm in a sling, and when his crop was harvested he took wheat to Milwaukee and sold it for 50 cents a bushel, and that was the way he got his first money; what a contrast between those times and to-day! He was married Jan. 20, 1847, to Miss Harriet Wilkinson; she was born in Lycoming Co., Penn., April 12, 1824; they have had five children-Deborah J., born June 29, 1848, and died March 20, 1857; Selinda D., March 3, 1853, who married Charles W. Clark; William H., Dec. 11, 1854; James E., May 10, 1861, died in November, 1861; Hattie F., March 29, 1868. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bloom are members of the M. E. Church, and have been for more than thirty years; in politics, Mr. Bloom is a Republican.

Return to Sauk County Biographies