P.O. Box 159
Delavan, WI 53115

Contact WCGS: Walworth Genealogy 

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Wisconsin State Genealogical Society

From the book History of Walworth County Wisconsin, by Albert Clayton Beckwith, publ. 1912.

THOMAS MORRIS McHUGH was grandson of Lieut. Stephen McHUGH, of the British army, and son of Rev. Stephen McHUGH, of the early Episcopal church of Wisconsin. His mother was Elizabeth, daughter of Berry NORRIS, of county Leitrim, Connaught. Thomas was born in Mohill parish, of that county, November 22, 1822; had academic education; studied law at Utica, New York; came in 1844 with his father's family to Delavan; admitted to practice, at Elkhornin 1849. He was secretary to the Territorial council in 1847; a secretary of the second constitutional convention; was the first secretary of state for Wisconsin and gave form and order to the business of that office; chief clerk of the Assembly in 1853 and 1854. He died, unmarried, at Palatka, Florida, March 19,1856. He has been credited with "a tireless activity, versatile mind, a winning address, a clear head, and a warm heart."

Page 538-539

THOMAS McKAIG, son of William, whose wife was named Dawson, was of a Scotch-Irish family of Ulster. He was born at Stewartstown, county Tyrone, December 12, 1812. He crossed the sea in 1831, and five years were passed at Quebec and Detroit, part of that time as a teacher. In 1836 he was employed in the land office survey of northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. He chose a farm in section 29, north of Lake, and was employed in platting the village of Geneva; and kept so far in touch with its citizens as to play the trombone in its earliest brass band, and to become a member of its division of the Sons of Temperance. He was once of the earliest justices of the county and remained several years in service. From 1847 to 1853 he was county surveyor. He married July 25, 1840, Asenath, daughter of Robert DUNLAP, a soldier of the Revolution, and Mary LETTS. He died August 24, 1888. Mrs. McKAIG was born at Ovid, New York, December 11, 1811, and died at Elkhorn, March 25, 1906. They had six children, of whom a daughter and three sons are living. Mrs. McKAIG, in her old age, joined the Milwaukee Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and in recognition of her now unusual qualification for such membership she received from that body a gold spoon of an appropriate device.

Page 539

SAMUEL MALLORY (David5, 4, Benjamin3, Joseph2, Peter1), son of David MALLORY and Sarah ELDRIDGE, was born at Sharon, Connecticut, April 18, 1798; lived a moving life in Broome, Cortland, Tompkins and Yates counties, as farmer, wool-carder, chair-maker, innkeeper. He married, first, Nancy HOOPER, July 28, 1821, at Homer; she was born March 19, 1797; died January 17, 1827. He married, second, in Tompkins county, May 2, 1829, Jane Frances, daughter of Amos HART and Sarah ELDRIDGE - the latter his mother's cousin, perhaps. In 1844 he came to Elkhorn, bought a farm, and for four years kept the hotel at Walworth and Broad streets. In 1846-7 and in 1855-6 he was county treasurer, and was once treasurer of the Agricultural Society. He retired from his farm, within the village, and moved a few rods eastward about 1877. He died April 2, 1897 - sixteen days before the end of his ninety-ninth year. His daughters, all of the second marriage, were Nancy Jane (Mrs. Henry BRADLEY), Ruth Ann (Mrs. Stansbury OGDEN), Anstis Almira (Mrs. William Augustus BARLOW), and Betsey Frances (Mrs. Robert HARKNESS). Of these the first only is living.

Page 539

SANGER MARSH (christened Jedidiah Sanger), and quite probably a near relative of Judge SANGER, the namesake of Sangerfield, Oneida county, New York) was son of Wolcott MARSH. He was born at Alexander, New York, August 27, 1815; passed from farm to counter at Nunda and Attica; and married Harriet M. HORTON at Nunda in 1841. She died January 22, 1843, leaving a son. Mr. MARSH came to Whitewater in 1845 and went into retail business with John S. PARTRIDGE. He married Chelsea PRATT in January 1851, whence three daughters. In 1864 he became president of the First National Bank of Whitewater. He died October 29, 1872. His son, George Sanger MARSH, was born at Nunda,January 17, 1843; married May 20, 1874, Rebecca Jane, daughter of Jabez WIGHT and Rebecca Garrett WORRELL. Her older ancestors were Thomas1, Henry2, Joseph3, Jabez4, John5, 6. Mr. MARSH is now president of the Citizens State Bank of Whitewater.

Page 540

CHARLES MARTIN was a son of Josiah MARTIN and Rachel, daughter of Titus WILLIAMS. He was born at Harvard, Delaware county, New York, November 12, 1818. He had a fair education and was well bred to farming. He came to the vicinity of Vienna in 1844. He married May 6, 1846, his cousin, Elizabeth, daughter of John MARTIN and Huldah CORNELL. She was born at Mansfield, May 11, 1821; died November 11, 1850. Mr. MARTIN married November 24, 1853, Caroline Matilda, daughter of Samuel FOWLE and Harriet INGRAHAM. He came to Elkhorn and died March 4, 1906. Mrs. MARTIN was born April 21, 1834; died January 31, 1892. Of five children three died early. Delia is widow of Emory WILLIAMS. Helen is county superintendent of schools. Mr. MARTIN was an early member of the county Agricultural Society and was once its president. For many years he was superintendent of the Baptist Sunday school at Spring Prairie, once one of the best attended of any in the county. He was one who passed readily among men as an intelligent Christian gentleman.

EBENEZER MARTIN and his second wife, Joanna FAWCET, had sons Orra, John and Josiah. Two of these and a son of the third came to Spring Prairie. The family was of Mansfield, Tolland county, Connecticut, and may have been earlier of Bristol county, Massachusetts. It is not known that others of their name, in the county, were related to them.

JOHN MARTIN, son of Ebenezer and Joanna, was born at Mansfield, April 4, 1793. He had a fair education and much natural ability. He was once a member for his town of the lower house of the Legislature, and was also judge of the Mansfield probate district. (One or more towns of Connecticut may constitute such a district, and in Judge MARTIN's time there were eighty six such districts in the state.) He married Huldah CORNELL, and their children were: Ebenezer (married Lucia, daughter of Charles HIGH, of Bloomfield), Elizabeth (Mrs. Charles MARTIN), Joanna (wife of Samuel, son of Rev. Orra MARTIN), John married Mrs. Mary (CORNELL) MONROE, his cousin), Timothy (married Laura KELLY). Judge MARTIN came to Spring Prairie in 1842, bringing with him his title for the convenience of his new neighbors. He died June 19, 1871. Huldah was born 1795; died October 26, 1844.

ORRA MARTIN, son of Ebenezer and Joanna, was born at Mansfield, January 25, 1791. While yet a young man he became a Baptist clergyman. His wife was Polly S. daughter of August MITCHELL. Of their children, Dr. George P. lived in Racine county, and John H. lived near Vienna. The latter married, first Joanna WOODMAN; second, Adeline DECKER. Elder MARTIN was widely known to members of his denomination in this state. He and John H. MARTIN were Democrats, while their relatives were all Republicans. Elder MARTIN was found dead in his bed, January 14, 1885. Other children, at home with parents in 1860, were Juliette S., Carlos D., Thomas M.

Page 541

ALBERT L. MASON, son of Darius B. MASON and Harriet C. STARR (early settlers of Sharon), was born at Cooperstown, New York, August 23, 1824; came to Sharon in 1840; married in 1847 Sophronia, daughter of William JOINER; was postmaster 1850-3 at Sharon village; member of Assembly in 1879 - elected without opposition; died March 26, 1896. His father had been a member of the county board, and his son, Darius B., is named in later official lists of the town.

Page 682-684

WILLIAM EDGAR MASSEY. "Earn they reward; the gods give naught to sloth," said the old Greek sage, Epicharmus, and the truth of the admonition has been verified in human affairs in all the ages which have rolled their course since his day. William Edgar MASSEY, farmer of Linn township and scion of one of the worthy old families of Walworth county, has, by ceaseless toil and endeavor, attained a large degree of success in his chosen calling and has gained the respect and confidence of men.

Mr. MASSEY was born near his present home on February 2, 1869. He is the son of William and Mary (DELANEY) MASSEY, the father born near Cork, in the county Limerick, Ireland. When about eighteen years old he and his three brothers, George, Charles and John, and their mother emigrated to America, the father having died in Ireland. The mother and her four sons first spent a few years in New York and other points in the East, then William MASSEY came to Linn township, Walworth county, Wisconsin, and have worked nine years for General BOYD, being about twenty-two years old when he came here. After nine years he purchased a farm of eighty acres, later buying sixty acres additional, and made his permanent home near the center of Linn township. He was married in 1861 to Mary DELANEY, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (BROWN) DELANDEY, both born in Ireland, Thomas DELANEY being from county Kilkenney and his wife from Munster. Elizabeth BROWN came to America when twelve years old with her parents, George and Ann BROWN, this family settling in Lyons township, this county, being among the pioneers. The BROWNS and DELANEYS both came to America in the thirties and located first in Michigan, where they spent two or three years, and there Thomas DELANEY and Ann BROWN were married. Then Thomas DELANEY and his brother-in-law, John BROWN, and James CURRAN, another brother-in-law of DELANEY's, came to Wisconsin on a prospecting tour and located in Walworth county. Thomas DELANEY entering two hundred acres from the govenernment in section 33, Lyons township, in 1840, his land being located three miles east of Geneva. Mr. CURRAN entered land near there also, and the BROWNS entered land three miles farther east.

The family of Thomas DELANEY consisted of the following children: George, Ann, Mary, Margaret, John, William, Thomas, Jane, Dennis, Elizabeth, Patrick Henry, James, and Valentine.

Thomas DELANEY and wife spent the rest of their lives on the land they first secured here and there reared their large family and died there, and there Mary lived until she married William MASSEY. After his marriage William MASSEY purchased his farm in Linn township, and there spent most of his life and reared his family of nine children, who were named as follows: Elizabeth, Ellen, George, Martha, Gertrude, Cecily, William, Frank, and Emma (not named in the order of birth).

In 1904 William MASSEY retired from farming and he and his wife moved to Chicago where his death occurred in 1906. Mrs. MASSEY now makes her home with her daughter, Ellen, wife of George BOYDEN, an electrician; Elizabeth is the wife of Thomas W. SLAVN, of Geneva township; George married Margaret DOYLE and has a good farm in Linn township; William Edgar is the subject of this sketch; Frank married Frances REILLEY, of Chicago, and lives on the farm left by his father; Emma married George KENNEY and lives at Janesville, Wisconsin; Martha is a Sister of Mercy in a convent in Milwaukee; Gertrude lives in Colorado; Cecily married Arthur MOYNIHAN.

William E. MASSEY grew to manhood on his father's farm in Linn township and was educated in the local schools. On February 22, 1898, he was united in marriage with Mary TULLEY, daughter of Andrew and Mary (QUINCANNON) TULLEY. She was born in Delavan and lived in Lake Geneva most of her life. Her parents were natives of Ireland. Mary QUINCANNON was the daughter of Michael and Bridget QUINCANNON, very early settlers near Lake Geneva. Mrs. MASSEY's mother died when she as five years old. Her father is still living near Delavan, where he is engaged in farming. William E. MASSEY and wife have three children, namely: Earl William Joseph, born March 12, 1889; Mary Genevieve, born February 6, 1901; Katherine Evelyne, born April 28, 1903.

For four years after their marriage William E. MASSEY and wife lived on the farm now owned by George MASSEY in section 21. After four years there he bought the farm where he now lives in the northeast quarter of section 21, Linn township, adjoining the brother's farm, where he had rented before buying a farm of his own. He has been very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser. The subject and family belong to the Catholic church at Lake Geneva, and fraternally he belongs to the Catholic Order of Foresters.

Page 541

ASA LEWIS MAXON, JR., was born in Rensselaer county, New York, May 5, 1802; lived in Madison and Jefferson counties between 1825 and 1853; came to section 27, Walworth, and bought a large farm. His wife was Julia Ann READ (1823-1897). He died May 5, 1882. Four sons were named; Edgar Read (1823-1907) married Emily Wilson, daughter of August ROGERS; Henry J. (1826-1892) married Phoebe HOWLAND; Francis W. (1805-1887) married Mary L. COLBURN; Dr. Joseph S. married Anna, daughter of Anson GOODRICH.

[Transcriber's note - obvious error in that mother and son are listed as born in the same year.]

DEACON ALFRED MAXON (1785-1858) had wife Mary (1787-1864). He may have been an elder brother of Asa L. MAXON. Clark P. MAXON, born in 1818, married Lucy Ann KINNEY. His relationship, if any there was, is not shown. The presence, in the same town, of MAXONS and MAXSONS makes some uncertainty as to the correct spelling for any individual.

COL. JAMES MAXWELL was born at Guilford, Vermont, about 1785. The story of his early and middle life is but scantily told. He must have had a fair education and some experience in business. He lived for some time in Pennsylvania and in Indiana, and at the time of Black Hawk's war was at Chicago, and at that time, probably, was one of Governor Reynold's militia colonels. The records of the adjutant-general's office, at Springfield, might make this clear. Coming with Dr. Philip S., his younger half-brother, to Lake Geneva, he left that theatre of war and made a peaceable settlement in Walworth, where he and his son, and with them the Doctor, bought liberally in sections 15, 24, 26, 27. He was a member of the upper house of the second and third Legislative Assemblies for the joint district of Rock and Walworth, 1838-42. It is not known when he left the county, but, at the organization of the State Historical Society, in 1849, he was present from Sauk county. It is said that he died about 1869. His son, James Alexander MAXWELL remained in Walworth long enough to find a place in the official list of that town.

Page 541-542

PHILIP S. MAXWELL was born at Guilford, Vermont, April 1, 1799; was educated at the Cherry Valley Academy; studied medicine and was graduated from the Medical College of New York; opened an office at Sacketts Harbor in 1832; about that time married Jerusha, daughter of Jabish and Eunice MOORE, and was commissioned assistant-surgeon, United States Army; ordered in 1833 to Fort Dearborn; served also at Green Bay; in 1836, being again at Chicago, he, with his half-brother, Col. James MAXWELL, invested in the conflicting claims at Lake Geneva and in other land; was ordered to Florida in 1838, and later to Fort Smith; resigned in 1842 and began successful practice at Chicago. In 1853 he became state treasurer of Illinois; but having built and occupied a summer home overlooking Geneva Lake in 1856, his office at Springfield was declared vacant by reason of his non-residence in the state. He renounced Illinois citizenship and Democracy, and made his home at Lake Geneva and his political bed with the Republican party; though it pleased him not to hear his old-line Whig associates rail at General Jackson, as they were rather wont to do. He died November, 1859. His wife was born December 28, 1804; died at Lake Geneva, March 27, 1875. Dr.MAXWELL's family may be regarded as pioneers of the now numerous lakeside dwelling Chicagoans.

Page 542

LOT MAYO, son of Elisha, was born at Augusta, New York, in 1803; moved with his father to Chautauqua county, near Mayville, whence both came in the early forties to Elkhorn. He had married successively two daughters of Samuel TUBBS and Polly FROST - the second wife named Jane, who was born in 1811 and died at Elkhorn, October 26, 1849. His father died the same day, aged seventy-five. Of one or both of these marriages were sons Andrew, Samuel and Elisha. In 1853 he became postmaster at Elkhorn; and, having secured reappointment, he married, third, Mrs. Amanda, daughter of Simeon DeWitt CORBIN and widow (since 1846) of Erastus HUBBARD. Of this marriage was one child, Zaida. He died January 3, 1870. Mrs. MAYO died November 26, 1893, leaving also a son, DeWitt Pratt HUBBARD. Mr. MAYO was a working Freemason, and for some years master of the lodge at Elkhorn. He insisted constantly that no man could be a good and true Mason without obedience to the moral law, and his own conduct squared with this profession. He was also a working Democrat, and his political reading had made him a fairly formidable opponent in the partisan debates or wrangles of his time.

Page 542-543

JESSE MEACHAM was born at Burlington, Otsego county, December 10, 1791; served as a soldier of the war of 1812, and as a prisoner was nearly lost by shipwreck at the mouth of the St. Lawrence; afterward became a major, by a governor's commission or by the courtesy of his neighbors; came to Lodi, Michigan, soon after his marriage, in 1828, to Patience WALLACE, widow of his brother James, whose children he made his own. Having visited Honey Creek valley in 1835 he came with his family and a few friends in 1836, settled a town and founded a village. He died July 29, 1868. Patience was born July 20, 1794; died March 12, 1875. Her children were: Urban Duncan (married Prudence GEDDES), Edwin Wallace (married Emeline M.McCRACKEN), Edgar (married Sarah MASON).

Urban D.MEACHAM's son, William Pitt, was born September 27, 1836, first native of Troy. He married Celesta J., daughter of Stephen SMITH, of Monroe, Wisconsin, and returned in 1865, after twenty-one years absence, to his grandfather's place. He died there November 3, 1911.

Page 543

ZERAH MEAD was born at Rutland, Vermont, June 4, 1800; from 1825 to 1832 worked a woolen factory at Waddington, St. Lawrence county; married Fama, daughter of James MOTT and Abigail BARNUM, October 6, 1832; came to Whitewater in 1837 and bought land in section 15. He was one of the several justices of the peace appointed by Governor DODGE for the county in 1838 and became aged and gray in that office. A son, James M. MEAD, died in military service at Helena in 1863. Squire MEAD was assemblyman in 1852, having defeated Willard STEBBINS. He died March 23, 1875. Mrs. MEAD was born November 17, 1813; died April 30, 1898.

Page 543

PEREZ MERRICK was born January 28, 1766; married Hannah WILLISTON in 1789; lived at Franklin, Delaware county, New York. His ancestors, Thomas1 and wife, Elizabeth TILLY; James2 and wife, Sarah HITCHCOCK; Joseph3 and wife, Mary LEONARD; Joseph4 and wife, Deborah LEONARD. Perez and Hannah had children: Gordon (died at Akron), Perez, Roderick, Austin L., Alonzo (married Samantha WYLIE), Flavia (Mrs. Samuel WHITE).

COL. PEREZ MERRICK was born June 12, 1792; married Jerusha, daughter of Dr. S. HUTCHINSON; came to this county in 1836; was one of the earliest justices of the peace; died August 25, 1854. His daughter Juliette was wife of Horace COLEMAN. His son, Perez H., born June 9, 1825, married Mary A., daughter of Nicholas and Mary BRIGGS, and had a son Orlando BRIGGS.

RODERICK MERRICK was born August 5, 1794; married Rebecca GATES, January 24, 1828; came to Spring Prairie in 1837; died May 18, 1870. His wife was born July 16, 1806; died February 24, 1895. Their children were: Flavia (Mrs. Alonzo DANIELS), Hannah Rose (Mrs. German MOORE), Gordon Williston (married Celeste Annette, daughter of Jeremiah SHEFFIELD and Hannah Gardner SMITH), Oscar D. (married Emily, daughter of Nathaniel BELL and Sarah COOK), Elnora, Albert H.

Page 543-544

AUSTIN LEONARD MERRICK was born January 2, 1807; came to Spring Prairie in 1836; married December 12, 1839, Esther Celestia COOK, who left seven children; married July 28, 1856, Gratia Putnam, daughter of Josiah CRANE and wife Ruth; died December 19, 1887. His wife, Gratia P. was born May 20, 1815; died December 16, 1900. Mr.MERRICK's children were: Leroy Williston (married Luella J. ELLSWORTH), Josephine Louisa (Mrs. John H. NORTON), Esther Priscilla, Augusta Deborah (Mrs. Vernon H. RALEIGH), Agnes Flavia (Mrs. Frank JONES), Dr. Jerome Cass, Irene Celestia.

Page 544

EZRA AMES MULFORD was born in Albany county, New York, in 1804; studied medicine at the neighboring medical college; practiced for some years in his native state; married Zilpha PACKARD (born June, 1804), a native of New Hampshire, and came in 1845 to the town of Walworth. In 1847 he was a member of the committee on general provisions at the constitutional convention, but took little part in the work of that body. He continued in medical practice in Walworth until his death, November 1, 1861. He had six children.

CHARLES AUGUSTUS NOYES (Abel7, Moses6, Joseph5,4, 3, Rev. James2, Rev. William1), was son of Abel NOYES and Sophia Shepard HATCH (Timothy6, 5, 4, Benjamin3, Jonathan2,Thomas1), daughter of Timothy HATCH and Abigail, daughter of Moses PORTER and Sarah KILHAM. He was born in Otsego county, New York, September 3, 1812; improved his common school education by judicious reading; went to Buffalo in 1830 as a shipping clerk; came to Chicago in 1836, and thence to Geneva, where he bought, with his cousin, Orrin Hatch COE, one-fourth interest in Brink's claim to the mill-site. This share of the bone of contention was soon sold to R. Wells WARREN, whose sister, Nancy Page, daughter of Thomas WARREN and Anne PAGE, was married to Mr. NOYES, January 23, 1837. Before the end of the year here crossed the state line, made and sold claims; was postmaster in 1839 at Tryon, Illinois; returned to Geneva in 1850 only to set out for California; in 1853 bought an interest in the water power at Genoa Junction; again to California in 1858, returning to Lake Geneva in 1872, where he died November 25, 1881. Record of Mrs. NOYES's birth and death is not found. Their children were: Helen Augusta (Mrs. Gilmore D. FELLOWS), Mary Elizabeth (Mrs. Franklin ROWE), Charles Augustus (1841-1897), a soldier of the Civil war (married Jenny Lind, daughter of Benjamin B. HUMPHREY and Juliet SMITH), Martha Irene (Mrs. James Ervin FULLER), Josephine Amanda (died early).