Dane County Wisconsin Biographies and Biographical Sketches
Try our genealogy search engine
Welcome to the Dane County, Wisconsin Biographies of Early Settlers and Prominent Men page. Here you will find life stories of the brave pioneers who built towns, and shaped local history.
Captain Allen Ralph Bushnell Biography
CAPTAIN ALLEN RALPH BUSHNELL. VERY step in the history of the subject of this sketch, so far as we have been able to trace it, shows that he gained his success, not by sudden and capricious flights of genius, but by hard work and persevering industry. He rose, not by a bound, but step by step, year by year, slowly, steadily, surely.
Allen Ralph Bushnell. son of Dr. George Willis and Sally (Bates) Bushnell; grandson of Daniel and Rebecca (Banning) Bushnell, and great grandson of Captain Alexander and Chloe (Waite) Bushnell, was born as Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio, July 18, 1833.
He was reared on a farm, but at odd times, being of a studious nature, he read medicine with his father, who was a practicing physician. Obtaining his elementary education in the common schools, he afterward attended Hartford High School, and later the Oberlin College, where he selected a special course in order to fit himself for the legal profession, finishing his studies at Hiram College when James A. Garfield was teaching there. Whilst taking his literary and legal course he taught several terms of school in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin. In September 1852 he came to Wisconsin and taught a term at Block House Branch, after which he went back to Ohio, returning'permanently to Wiscousin in 1854, where he entered the office of Judge Stephen O. Paine at Platteville, and while reading law under this prominent jurist, he supported himself by teaching school in Platteville and Dodgeville, and was admitted to the bar in 1857, beginning practice at Platteville in December of that year, where he soon became so popular that he was nominated for the office of District Attorney for Grant Countv in 1860, and such was his popularity, that he was elected, receiving over one hundred votes more than the electoral ticket for Abraham Lincoln.
On the first call for troops in April 1861, he resigned his office and enlisted as a private, and aided in raising the company called the Platteville Guards, which upon organization elected him First Lieutenant and Samuel Nasmith, an old soldier of the Mexican war, Captain. His company was mustered and assigned as Company C, of the Seventh Wisconsin. This regiment enlisted for three months, but re-enlisted for three years. Mr. Bushnell's commission as Lieutenant was dated in May 1861 and he was mustered at Madison in August, and proceeded at once to Washington and the front, where his regiment was brigaded with the Second and Sixth Wisconsin and the Nineteenth Indiana, and which organization became the famous "Iron Brigade." In 1862 he was promoted to Captain of his company and served in that position from August 1862.
Captain Bushnell participated in the battles of Orange Court House, Beverly Ford, White Sulphur Springs, Rappahannock, Gainsville and the second Bull Run, and was afterward taken sick with typhoid fever,, which gave him sick leave for two months, which time he passed at his old home in Ohio. Rejoining his regiment on the east slope of the Blue Ridge, he was first again in action at Fredericksburg, passing the winter on the Potomac at Belle Plains, where he distinguished himself, with the rest, in Burnside’s “Mud Campaign." His health having become seriously impaired, Captain Bushnell, under the surgeon's certificate of disability, resigned, and after remaining under medical treatment for a time in Ohio, returned to Wisconsin in 1864, settling in Lancaster, where in 1865 he was appointed District Attorney for Grant County, to fill the unexpired term of Hon. T. J. Mills, who had been elected Circuit Judge.
Captain Bushnell was the first mayor of Lancaster, and in 1872 was elected a member of the Legislature, serving on the Judiciary Committee. For four years he was United States District Attorney, and in 1890 was elected a member of the Fifty-second Congress as a Democrat from the Third District of Wisconsin, having received sixteen thousand four hundred and thirty-two votes, against fifteen thousand four hundred and thirty votes for his Republican opponent, Robert M. LaFollette, being the first Democrat elected from that district since the war of 1861, when both parties united.
Early in 1891 he removed to Madison, where he has since resided, practicing his profession, in which he is still active, and retaining his connection with the firm of Bushnell, Watkins & Moses, at Lancaster.
Captain Bushnell was married at Lancaster, September 28, 1867, to Martha Burr of that place, who was born September 24, 1848, at Sheldon, Franklin Countv. Vermont, and died at Lancaster, Wisconsin, August 1, 1878. They had three children; Mabel B., born July 9, 1868, who married James B. Kerr, Esq., son of Professor Alexander Kerr of the Wisconsin State University, and now living at St. Paul, Minnesota; Curtis and Fay C., having died in infancy.
Captain Bushnell married his present wife, Mary F. , daughter of Cyrus and Fanny B. Sherman, of Lancaster, May 18, 1875, and she was born December 29, 1855. They had but one son, Edward, who died in infancy.
Captain Bushnell’s great grandfather, Captain Alexander Bushnell, was an officer in the Revolutionary war, was born in Connecticut, as was also his wife, Chloe Waite, in 1789, and served seven years in the war of the Revolution. He moved to Ohio in 1804, and died at Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio. March 18, 1818; his wife died later at the same place, aged 94 years, having had born after her three hundred and twenty-two descendants, some of the fifth generation. He, Captain Alexander, was a descendant of Francis Bushnell, who with his wife Marie and child Martha, came over from London, England, in the ship Planter, embarking April 6, 1685. She, Chloe Waite, was a descendant of Thomas Waite, a member of Parliament and one of the Judges who signed the death warrant of King Charles I, who came to America at the restoration in 1660.
Daniel Bushnell and his wife Rebecca Banning, grandparents of Captain Allen Ralph Bushnell, were born in Connecticut, Daniel. December 18, 1763, but the date of Rebecca's birth is unknown. They were married in 1786, and she died July 9, 1809. Daniel married for his second wife Eunice Brockway. He was the father of seventeen children. Cecrge Willis Bushnell, the seventh child of Daniel and Rebecca Bushnell and father of the subject of this sketch, was born at Hartland, Connecticut, August 11, 1800, and was married September 8, 1824, to Sally, daughter of Deacon Elihu and Concurrance (Wheaton) Bates, who was born in Hartland. Connecticut, January 8, 1802. Deacon Bates and wife moved to Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio, about the year 1813, and there both died between 75 and 80 years old. Sally Bates having died at Hartford in 1866, George Willis married a widow, Mrs. Jane Irwin, in 1867, and lived with her at Hartford until 1892, when he died aged 92 years, and his widow has since died.
Sally Bates Bushnell, Captain Bushnell's mother, had eight children, all born at Hartford, Trumbull County, Ohio, viz.: Curtis W., born October 14, 1825, and died December 8, 1854, having never married; Sarah, born September 8, 1827, married Stephen D. Watkins, March 29, 1859, and after his death married Charles Davies and lives at River Falls, Wisconsin; Edward, born February 22, 1831, died March 29, 1850, never married; Allen Ralph, born July 18, 1833: Amaret. born June 20, 1835, married Addison Rewey, October 2, 1861 and lives at Platteville, Wisconsin; John L., born December 13, 1837, married Ann Humaston, and lives at Hartford, Ohio; Anna, born December 7, 1841, married Dr. J. G. Irwin, December 25, 1870, and lives at Hartford, Ohio; Milo F., born July 18, 1844, died in the army April 17, 1863, never married.
As will be seen by the foregoing, Captain Bushnell comes from good, old revolutionary stock, and his history shows that he is a worthy descendant.[ Biographical sketches of old settlers and prominent people of Wisconsin, 1899]
Adelbert Dewey Biography
ADELBERT DEWEY. THE useful influence which a righthearted man of energy and industry may exercise among his neghbors and friends, cannot, perhaps, be better illustrated than by the career of Adelbert Dewey, of Marshall, Dane County, Wisconsin, who is the son of Asa and Elizabeth (Muzzy) Dewey and was born in the town of Medina, Dane County, Wisconsin, May 2, 1847, and united in marriage to Abby Jane Pierce, who was born Dec. 22, 1869, in Danville, Caledonia County, Vermont, April 20, 1852, and came to Wisconsin with her parents when but two years of age. She is the daughter of Willard A. Pierce, who was born in Vermont in 1812, and died in Wisconsin June 3, 1869 at the age of 57 years, and Mary Jane (Northrup) Pierce, who was born in West Danville, Vermont, September 13, 1822. They were married in Vermont September, 1843, and had seven children, namely: Elvira L., CharlesP., Daniel W., Abby J., wife of our subject; Ida E., Clara V., and Albert H.
Adelbert and Abby Jane Dewey had five children born to them, George W., born August 26, 1871, married to Cora Mitchell, February 24, 1897 and is now a practicing physician in Burnett, Wisconsin; Edith O., born April 17, 1873, and married to William Pyburn, April 21, 1896, and they have three children, Elvira A., born March 27, 1897, Olive E., born May 27, 1898, and Stanley T., born June 2, 1899; Frank A., born December 12, 1876, and died August 22, 1888; Lida J., born November 7, 1879, and Leon H., born June 2, 1899. The last three are living with their parents.
Mr. Dewey has always been a tiller of the soil, following the plow and doing other work which falls to the lot of an industrious farmer boy, and now owns a fine farm in the town of Medina, besides a house and lot in the Village of Marshall, where he resides. Mr. Dewey is a man of energy, and has learned that the way to overcome obstacles is to grapple with them; and believes that there is honor in every right walk of industry, whether it be tilling the soil, in the work shop, or behind the counter.
The citizens of his town have shown their confidence in him by selecting him for several offices which he has filled to the entire satisfaction of his constituency—Town Treasurer for two years, Supervisor for three years and treasurer of the High School.
In politics Mr. Dewey allies himself with the Democratic party, but makes no pretensions to being a politician in the modern acceptation of the term, and in religion he is a liberal.
Adelbert Dewey, as we said before, has always been industrious, and has accomplished only what hundreds of others have done, but never thinks of claiming any special credit or reward for it, but he always had the instinct which seemed to direct him, or lead him to know what was the best thing to do. [ Biographical sketches of old settlers and prominent people of Wisconsin, 1899]
Asa E. Dewey Biography
ASA E. DEWEY. Knowledge of the true worth of a man, and the realization of the depth of his nature, can best be ascertained from his associates, and the community in which he has resided for many years. It was through these channels of information that we are enabled to present a sketch of Asa E. Dewey. He was the son of David and Patty (Eggleston) Dewey and wTas born in the State of Vermont, February 27, 1823. His father's line of ancestry, extending back through a number of generations, were all Vermonters, but his mother came from good old Connecticut stock. When but a bov about five vears of age Asa's parents removed to Jefferson County, New York, where they remained until he was twenty-one years old. when in the spring of 1844 they emigrated to the territory of Wisconsin, settling on thetractof land still owned by him, and where he lives at this time—Section 2 of the Town of Medina, Dane county, and with Marshall as his Postoffice.
Many were the hardships endured bvthe Dewev familv iu these early days of Wisconsin history, but being of the hardy Green Mountain stock, they accepted of the privations and hardships, and entered into the work of providing themselves with a home, with a hearty good will. Asa, finding frontier life rather irksome without a companion, wooed and won for a wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sardine and Elorsey C. (Lum) Muzzy, whom he married August 2,1846. Three children were the result of this union, one son and two daughters—Orin Adelbert, married and living at Marshall; Sarah Jane, now the widow of John Wilt and residing at Red Wing, Minnesota, and Amy Caroline, now the widow of Charles Porter, and living with her father, making a pleasant home for him in his decling years, his wife having died May 21, 1898, after 52 years of constant companionship.
Mr. Dewey has always been a lover and admirer of horses, and no man knew a good horse better than he. His pride was in taking a young horse and developing him, and in this special line he was always very successful, and in his younger days much of the fine stock in his vicinity was brought to a degree of perfection by his judicious and careful training, and in the early days when oxen were used as much as horses, his pride wras making them work true and obediently.
Though seventy-six years old, Mr. Dewey does not look it and is yet as active as many men of younger years, and bids fair to live many years, a comfort to his family.
Mr. Dewey has never been known as a politician, but has always taken a deep interest in political affairs, as a Democrat of the old Jeffersonian school, but never was an offensive partisan.
The writer, in conversation with one of Mr. Dewey's daughters, earned that one of the foundation principles of his life, was honesty, not only in act, but of purpose, and he often said in speaking of others, that he considered it as great a compliment as could be paid individuals, to say of them that they were honest and truthful, and thus he accepted the aphorism, that “an honest man is the noblest work of God,” and endeavored to carry out this sentiment all through his life; as his own word was always accepted with confidence by his friends and neighbors. Another characteristic of Mr. Dewey is his strong- advo- cacy of the temperance cause and its principles. He has thus not lived in vain, for no doubt, by principle and example, the world is better for his living. [ Biographical sketches of old settlers and prominent people of Wisconsin, 1899]
Luther Gibbs Shepard Biography
LUTHER GIBBS SHEPARD. IT is the close observation of little things which is one of the Secrets of Success in business, and in fact in every pursuit of life. A man’s character is seen in small things, and even from the slightest tests his energy may in some way be inferred. The cultivation of these qualities is of the utmost importance; resolute determination in the pursuit of worthy objects being the foundation of true greatness of character; and energy often enables a man to force his way through dry details and carries him forward in every station of life. And it is not talent, as much as purpose, that is required to insure a success in any pursuit, be it that of merchant, mechanic or farmer.
The above thoughts suggest themselves to the writer in looking back over the life of one of the most successful men in Dane County—a. man who but a few years ago was a comparatively poor young man, but who today is perhaps the largest land owner in the second Congressional district, namely, Luther Gibbs Shepard of the town of York, a man who knows what it was to battle with the world, but who with a fixedness of purpose started out, single-handed and alone to fight the battle. Coming from the East to what was at that time the territory of Wisconsin, an almost unbroken wilderness, he was endowed with push, pluck and perseverance and allowed no small obstacles to hinder him in his onward march to success. With true Yankee grit, he applied himself to the one object he had in view when he emigrated to what was called the “ wild and woolly west”—the accumulation of land.
Landing in Milwaukee in 1845 thoroughly equipped for the responsibilities he was assuming and with only five hundred dollars, he suffered the usual uphill experience of a poor boy trying to make his way. He started out on foot from Milwaukee the day he was 22 years old, walking to Fort Atkinson a distance of about 50 miles. Not finding at this point just what suited him, he went to Walworth County and there hired out to work on a farm by the month. He afterwards went to Dodge County where he purchased a 200 acre farm in the town of Portland, to which he soon after added eighty acres of timber land. His next purchase was 240 acres in the town of York, Dane County, where he now resides on Sections 19 and 20, and which was the nucleus of his present large tract in these sections.
One of the elements of his success came from the habit of weighing, favorably or unfavorably, every situation he happened to be in, and of sifting out the inevitable results through his own good judgment. He comes of good old Puritanic stock. His great grandparents were Jonathan Shepard, who died in 1800, and Marian (Strong) Shepard, who died in 1810, both being of English descent.
His grandparents were Jonathan Shepard, who was born in West- field, Massachusetts, February 6, 1757, and died in Blandford, Massachusetts, in 1838, and Abigail (Boise) Shepard, who was born in Blandford, June 22, 1764, and died in 1816. They were married in Blandford, Massachusetts, and had twelve children, five boys and seven girls, namely: Leonard; Jonathan; Chandler; Eli; Bradford; Electra; Abigail; Letitia; Mary; Arlina; Paulina and Sarah.
The parents of Luther Gibbs Shepard were Chandler, the third son of Jonathan and Abigail (Boise) Shepard. Chandler was born at Blandford, Massachusetts, December 19, 1790 and died at Perrysburg, Cataraugus County, New York, December 28, 1835, aged 45 years and 9 months, and Lois (Gibbs) Shepard, who was born at Blandford in 1794 and died in Perrysburg, New York, October 15, 1836, aged 42 years. She was the daughter of Martin and Hulda (Scott) Gibbs. Chandler and Lois (Gibbs) Shepard were married in 1814 and lived in Otis, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with the exception of one year in Hartford, Connecticut. When Luther G. was seven years of age thev removed to Erie County, New York, remaining one year, when they removed to Perrysburg, Cataraugus County, New York, where they spent their days, and where Chandler was buried on New Years day 1836. They had six children, all born in Massachusetts, namely: Harmony, born in 1815 and died in 1818; Dennison Chandler, born February 28, 1817 and died at Burr Oak, Kansas, June 29, 1899, aged 82 years. He was twice married, first to Harriet Allen and the second time to Helen Perry; Hulda Ann, who was born April 10, 1819. She married Nathaniel W. Hurd, of Perrysburg, New York, who died about 1892. They had eight children, three sons and five daughters; Luther Gibbs, the subject of this sketch; Leverett Spencer, who was born August 25, 1827 and died in the town of York, Dane County, in November 1882, aged 55 years. He married Catharine Van Gosbeck in 1853 and had five children, two sons and three daughters, all of whom are dead except Lewis, who is now living with his mother in Topeka, Kansas; Sarah Jane, who was born June 14, 1829 and married Lyman Waters, of Toland, Massachusetts, in 1853 and they are now living in Copenhagen, New York, having one daughter, Frances, now Mrs. James Lansing, of Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Luther Gibbs Shepard was born in the town of Otis, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, September 9, 1823, and was married January 1, 1850, to Mary Jane, daughter of Elder Andrew and Betsy (Miller) Sherburn, of Augusta, New York. Elder Sherburn was a minister of the gospel and a soldier in the revolutionary war, and died in 1830. Two children were born to Luther G. and Mary J. Shepard, namely, Eliza Ann, who died Sept3inber 28, 1854, aged 18 months, and Curtis, who was born September 30, 1850 and married Emma Hasey, March 1878 and has two children, Edna, born January 30, 1883, and Rodney, born October 16, 1885, and now lives on a farm in the town of York, Dane County.
On the 10th day of January 1863, death entered the happy home and took the wife and mother. March 24, 1864, Mr. Shepard married Lydia A., daughter of Zina L. Wright, who was born in Durham, Green County, New York, November 27, 1807, and Lydia E. (Cook) Wright, who was born in Stockbridge, Oneida County, New York, May 30, 1813; they were married at Sheridan, Chautauqua County, New York, February 8, 1832, where they remained for four years, when they removed to Perrys- burg, Cataraugus County, New York, and resided the remainder of their days. Zina L. died at the age of 84, and his wife at the age of 77 years.
Mrs. Lydia Anne (Wright) Shepard was born in Perrysburg, Cataraugus County, New York, October 22, 1843 and was the granddaughter of Christopher Wright, who was born in Connecticut and died in Durham, Green Count}'', New York, and Mattie (Davis) Wright who was born in Wales and died in Durham, New York. Mrs. Lydia A. Shepard had four brothers and three sisters, namely: Frank C. Wright, now living at Deansville, Wisconsin; Leander S. and Albert C. Wright living at Perrysburg, New York, and Edgar M. Wright who died in New York City, May 15, 1862, at the age of 23 from fever contracted in Virginia while doing duty as a soldier under General McClellan and now lies in the cemetery at Perrysburg, New York, by the side of his father and mother; Letitia E. (Wright) Haskell, now living in Detroit, Michigan; Helen and Cynthia Wright who died in infancy.
Four children were born to Luther G. and Lydia A. Shepard, namely: Ida Emojean, born February 4, 1864 and married to Robert J. Lackey, March 18, 1885 in the town of York, now living in Charles City, Iowa, and they have two children, Allen J., born March 13, 1886, and Jessie Dollie, born June 21, 1888; Luther Gibbs, Jr., born February 14, 1869, who married Algenia Johnson December 23, 1892, they live in the town of York and have one child. Jay Morrell, born May 4, 1894; Mary Lydia, born March 17, 1873 who married Guy L. Rogers March 3, 1896, now residing in Cloquet, Minnesota, and Jessie Dollie, born May 16, 1877.
Luther G. Shepard is a man who has made use of the stumbling blocks in his path as stepping-stones, and being a man who had the resistless force of perseverance, he was not contented to remain in the ranks of small land owners, so he followed the advice of the old Colored preacher who when asked to define Christian perseverance, said: “It means firstlv to take hold, secondly to hold on, thirdly and lastly to never let go.” He has “held on" so well that today he owns over fourteen hundred acres of fine land in one body in the town of York, Dane County, and is the largest taxpayer in the town. Aside from his large holdings in Dane County, Wisconsin, he is the owner of several large farms in other Western states, and is the owner of mortgages on many fine farms in Wisconsin as well as other states.
In the early 60’s, Mr. Shepard was a large raiser of cattle and sheep, and in one year during the war he sold one clip of wool for one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven dollars and eighty seven cents. In one year he fattened and sold over eighteen hundred dollars worth of steers. Thus by hard work, indomnitable energy and dogged perseverance, he won triumphs through all opposition, and after a constant struggle and an almost ceaseless battle with discouragements he rescued successfrom the inhospitable surroundings of his earlier life. Being fired by a determination to succeed, he was “up with the birds” in the morning, even before any of his neighbors, and putting his whole heart and soul into his work, he became a stalwart example of American push and energy.
When asked how he made such a success of life, Mr. Shepard modestly replied that he always lived within his mean s and endeavored to be wide awake to all opportunities that would foster his business. He never was a man to chase the Will-'o-the-wisp, but like a stream he found his natural course and followed it; pushing resolutely forward, setting his face as a flint against all alluring influences. He is a man who says but little, but that little counts, and his opinions carry weight and are effective.
In politics Mr. Shepard is a Republican, but lays no claim to being a politician, although he has been urged at different times by his friends to allow his name to be put on the ticket, he felt that with his increasing business cares he had no time to devote to political affairs; although he did on one occasion accept the Chairmanship of the Board of Supervisors, and at another time the office of Justice of the Peace. But with all his busy cares he found time by careful reading to keep well posted in the affairs of his country.
In this sketch there has been no attempt at befogging or misleading, but we have endeavored to give a straight, clean, plain, unvarnished sketch of a successful life, in the hope that future generations may profit by it.[ Biographical sketches of old settlers and prominent people of Wisconsin, 1899]
Charles H. White Biography
CHARLES H, WHITE. AS a tiller of the soil, the subject of this sketch, has met with a considerable degree of success, and in the conduct of his affairs, has shown much natural ability and intelligence; and as in every community some men are known for their upright lives, good sense and moral worth, so are these qualities to be found in Charles H. White, son of Charles and Susana (Sedgwick) White, who was born in Chart Sutton, Kent County, England, January 17, 1848 and came with his parents to the United States, landing in New York in 1850, settling in Palmyra of that State, where they remained for three years, when they came to Wisconsin, locating in the town of York, Dane County in 1853 and has lived in Dane County to the present time. Charles being a good boy, felt that it was his duty to remain at home and assist his father until he became of age, and acted on this principle. When but nine years of age, his mother died, and these were dark, sad days to the little fellow, but though left motherless, he never for one moment faltered in the line of duty. After about three years his father married again, taking as his wife Mrs. Susan (Gray) Lovelock, who came into the home as a ray of sunshine. Mr. White had three sisters, Louisa, Elizabeth and Marietta; and two brothers, John and George, all of whom are now living but Louisa, she having died in 1863. He well remembers when a boy of going to Watertown with his father to sell grain, when the old plank road was in use and there was a toll gate at each end of the road, and the most of the entire distance was through heavy timber; it was no unusual thing to see small bands of Indians who were too lazy and indolent to work, and spent their time in begging flour and meat, rather than work for it.
Mr. White was married in 1869 to Miss Mary A. Pearsall, daughter of Thomas and Melissa Pearsall, who was born in Wilton, Saratoga County, New York, September 4, 1851, coming to the town of Medina, Dane County, Wisconsin, in 1855. This union was blessed with ten children, five boys and five girls, all of whom are now living but one. Hattie A., born June 2, 1870, married to Clarence E. Cole and has two children; William N., born October 17, 1871, married Mable R. Humphrey who died October 30, 1897, leaving a little girl, married again to Miss Myrtel Montgomery, December 1, 1898; Lewis C., born April 4, 1873, married Susan Pettey and has two children: Cora M., born March 6, 1875, married Ralph H. Hart and has two children; Lillian M., born August 20, 1876; Leona L., born July 20, 1879; Fred G., born February 3, 1881; Fletcher, born January 6, 1883 and died August 30, 1890; Edna E., born October 23, 1884; Earl V., born November 1, 1888.
Mr. White is a prosperous farmer, owning a large farm in the north-east corner of the town of Medina, Dane County, Wisconsin, and has made a success of farming and in the past few years has applied himself, in part, to raising small fruits and berries, and it is said of him that in disposing of his crops in that line, that the berries are just as large in the bottom of the box as they are at the top, and he never forgets to give sixteen ounces to the pound; 'tis by this honest dealing and the high Christian character he sustains among his neighbors, and all who know him that makes his word as good as his bond.
Mr. White is an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Waterloo, and an ardent worker in his Master's Vineyard. The writer of this sketch, knowing the confidence reposed in Mr. White, by the public, as a Christian gentleman, asked him to embody in this sketch a few words of his Christian experience; he says: "The Scriptures say, ‘Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteousness, and all things shall be added unto you’; the winter of 1878, feeling that I was a sinner, sought the Lord for the forgiveness of my sins, and I did not seek in vain for I found him ready, yea willing to save, and He soon spoke peace to my soul; in coming to the Lord I was simply following the conviction that it was right to be a Christian. For all these twenty years God has been with me, and I cannot begin to tell all he has done for me, and each day I live I recognize more and more of the goodness and mercy of God. I have been a Class Leader in the Church for a number of years, and part of the time a Superintendent of the Sunday School, and teacher of a Bible Class. I certainly have no cause for complaint, regarding the goodness of God to me, for surely goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life."
As he approaches the evening of his life Mr. White is happy and contented, and with his estimable wife takes great comfort in their children and grandchildren who are either at home or living in the immediate vicinity of the parental roof.[ Biographical sketches of old settlers and prominent people of Wisconsin, 1899]