Vernon, Wisconsin

WILIilAM R. HA.RRIS, farmer. Sec. 11; P. 0. Vernon; is a native of Anglesea, Wales; born in 1815 ; was from boyhood a farmer ; emigrated to America in 1852 ; spent three years in Michigan, then came to Wisconsin, locating near Janesville ; after a few months, bought his present farm of 100 acres ; since this, he has returned several times to Michigan, engaging in the pineries, but has done the best of work on his farm during these twenty-five years, building a roomy farmhouse in place of the shanty of early times ; his barn was built by A. Webster, thejformer owner of the farm. Mr. Harris married Miss J ane Lewis, of Anglesea; their children, Rowland and Jane, were born in Wales; are both in Menomonee, Mich., Jane being the wife of Samuel Stevenson, one of the leading lumber manufacturers there, he owning two saw-mills and turning out from forty to fifty million feet of lumber per annum. Mr. Harris is a man who has led a quiet and honorable life, and generally succeeded. He is an Independent Democrat.

Passage source: The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources; an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities, Towns and Villages--their Improvements, Industries, Manufactories, Churches, Schools and Societies; Its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin, Statistics of the State, and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution and of the Constitution of the United States, published 1880.

HENRY HUJVKINS, farmer. Sees. 4 and 5 ; P. 0. Vernon ; was born May 8, 1830, at Danville, Vt. ; his infancy was passed at Lancaster, N. H., to which point his parents removed when he was an infant in 1837, the family, intsndi ig to go to Illinois, were prevented by adverse winds on Lake Michigan, and obliged to land at Milwaukee ; nearly all they had was paid in passage money, and, after a few weeks spent in Milwaukee, they located in the town of Waukesha, and spent the summer, Mr. Hunkins making a claim in New Berlin, and building a one-story bark-roofed home, 14x18, using only an augur and ax in its construction ; windows were apertures cut in the logs and hung with blankets ; a huge stone fire-place with a stick and mud chimney completed a home, and, says Mr. Hunkins, the son of the builder, " we enjoyed ourselves here through the long winter evenings, reading by the firelight." Too poor to buy a team, Mr. H. cut away the small trees, and girdled the large ones, then sowed dn acre of wheat, and actually covered the grain with a hoe. The son remembers tramping over an Indian trail to M. D. Cutler's place to help his poor but plucky sire to dig potatoes prior to 1840 ; $20 of Mr. H.'s hard earnings proved counterfeit money when presented by him in Milwaukee. Such a beginning is sure of a reward, and in 1839, he sold out the claim for $200, and then bought the farm on the Mukwonago road, where he died, an honored veteran pioneer, Jan. 1, 1866 ; his wife followed him in October, 1878. The son received most of his education among the trees around his early home, hard work and poverty beinap his teachers ; attaining his majority, his father gave him 40 acres, which he cleared of heavy timber; selling it about 1864- and buying the old Webster farm in Vernon. He married, at 24, Miss Polly St. John, a native of New York State, who died on the Webster farm, leaving two children - James H. and Rebecca P. In 1866, he married Miss Margaret, daughter of William Beggs, a pioneer of Waukesha Township, where she was born ; they have seven children - Charles, Sarah P., Ernest, George, William, Nettie and Herbert. Mr. H. is an Independent in politics, and a progressive farmer ; he has owned his present farm of 230 acres since 1869, and made lasting improvements upon it.

Passage source: The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources; an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities, Towns and Villages--their Improvements, Industries, Manufactories, Churches, Schools and Societies; Its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin, Statistics of the State, and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution and of the Constitution of the United States, published 1880.

PETER iUcKEKIZIE. farmer. Sec. 15 ; P. 0. Vernon; born in Caledonia, Livingston Co., N. Y., Oct. 1, 1829 ; he spent his early life in " York. State, " and when a boy of 18, came to Waukesha Co., having spent a year as a clerk in Washington Co. In March, 1850, Mr. McKenzie joined a party of fifteen others and made the memorable six months' trip to California, crossing the plains with oxen ; after five years in the mines of the Golden Gate, he returned via Panama and New York City to Wisconsin ; in 1856, he bought 120 acres of his present farm, of which 15 or 20 were improved, and on which was a log house, the remainder being heavy timbers, among which he did the best of work, chopping and logging, breaking and fencing; he has added 70, acres and has to reward these twenty-five years of honest toil an improved farm, with the best of buildings ; the main barn is 34x52, 18-foot posts with basement; in 1874, he supplanted the log house with a handsome two-story brick, With all modern improvements. Hifl is not a bad record for a man who, thirty-three years ago, reached Barton, Washington Co., penniless and supperless. He married Mis8 Mary J., daughter of Robert Weir, by whom he has nine children - Frank A., James A., Ellen M., Robert, Clarence, William, Sarah J., Margaret C. and an infant. Mr. McKenzie is a Republican, and has usually refused all office, though he has been both Supervisor and Assessor, and a school district officer over twenty years in succession.

Passage source: The History of Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources; an Extensive and Minute Sketch of Its Cities, Towns and Villages--their Improvements, Industries, Manufactories, Churches, Schools and Societies; Its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin, Statistics of the State, and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution and of the Constitution of the United States, published 1880.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Vernon Village - it names this place 31 more 31 times.