In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1901) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wiscons (1901), History of Green County, Wisconsin (1884)
Jonathan Smith was born in Ohio, March 7, 1820, and came with his parents, Stephen and Philura (Love) Smith, to Wisconsin, in July, 1843. He resided with them in Walworth county until December, 1846, then came to Green county and entered land on section 11, of the town of Brooklyn, where he has since resided with the exception of eighteen months spent in Iowa. He owns eighty acres of land. He was married in January, 1878, to Mrs. Mary A. (Thompson) Anderson. They have one son — Forest A. Mrs. Smith has one daughter by her former marriage.
George Lozer came in 1846, and resided on section 18 for about twenty years, then left the State. One of his daughters is now the wife of James Root.
Rev. John Sawin and three sons — Alvin, Ethan and Lorenzo — settled on the southwest qtittrtfer of fkt'Ction 12, in the spring of 184R. He was born in Williiigton, Tolland Co, Conn., /ind at the age of eleven years removed with his parents to Washington Co., N. Y., and afterwards to Herkimer county in the same State. His early life was spent on a farm. He received a good common school education, and spent a part of his time in teaching. He was united in marriage to Orrel Tennant, June 25, 1813, in Herkimer Co., N. Y. She was born in Springfield, Otsego Co., N. Y., April 28, 1793. He was ordained a Baptist minister in the town of Exeter, Otsego Co., N. Y. In 1828 he moved to Springfield, N. Y., where he resided four years, devoting his time to the ministry. In 1832 he went to Ripley, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., where he also labored as a minister of the gospel. On Feb. 19, 1846,. he started with a team and three of his children, and emigrated to Wisconsin, then a Territory, and arrived in Walworth county. He returned to New York by steamer, starting from Racine, Wis., and reached home May 7. June 10, of the same year, he bid farewell to his relatives and friends, and with the remainder of his family, started from Erie, Penn., up the lakes, reaching Racine, Wis., June 14. From there he went to Walworth county, where he remained until the following September, when he located at Brooklyn, Green county. Hauling lumber from Racine, he built a shanty 18x30 feet in size, on section 12, township 4, range 9 east, and moved his family there. He was the first Baptist minister in the Territory. Here he labored until the weakness of old age suspended his work as a minister. His death occurred in 1866. His wife died in 1873. They were the parents of thirteen children, eleven of whom are now (1884) living— Aurilla, Ann Eliza, Alvin J., Clarissa, Eihan P., Lucinda, Lorenzo D., Mary Jane, Marinda, Eleanor M. and Julia.
Alvin J., son of John Sawin, was born in Chenango Co., N. Y., in 1819. He came to Wisconsin in 1844, and settled on Spring Prairie, Walworth county. In 1846 he came to Green county in company with his father. The old homestead is owned by Aurilla, Alvin J., and Marinda, who have retired from the farm, and are residing in Evansville, Rock Co., Wis.
Amos D. Kirkpatrick came from Ohio and took up his above in this town in 1846. He settled on section 18, and was the first to improve what is now known as the Dalryraple farm. Mr. Kirkpatrick at once became prominent among the pioneers, and at the first town meeting he served as one of the judges of election, and was elected chairman of the board of supervisors. In the fall of 1854 he was elected to the legislature and thus served his district in the assembly the following year. In 1864 he sold his farm and removed to Missouri.
William Kirkpatrick came with his brother Amos and settled on section 7, where he was engaged in farming until his death.
Ralph Ray came in 1846 and resided ou section 20, for about twenty years. He then removed to Dayton and afterwards to Iowa.
Abram Stopp, a wagon maker by trade, located on section 18, in 1846. He died in about 1856, and his widow subsequently went to California.
Edward Klace settled on section 18, in 1846, and resided there until after the war.
Charles Snow came in 1847, and settled on section 17, where he resided until his death in 1856. His wife, formerly Ellen Paylor, still resides on the place, and is now married to Stephen Lewis.
Robert Tomson, familiarly known as "Scotch Tomson," came to the United States in 1842, and in 1848 became a resident of Green county, settling on section 34, Brooklyn. He was a poor man and experienced many hardships of pioneer life. He resided in this town for about twenty-five years, then removed to Albany.
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John Henderson settled on section 20, In 1848. He was a carpenter by trade. In the fall of 1849 his house was destroyed by fire, after which he left the county and when last heard from was a soldier in the Civil War.
William Carter came from New York and resided on section 18, until his death in about 1860. He had a large family of children, all of whom have left the county.
George Henderson and family were among the pioneers who came in 1848.
Monroe Carpenter, an early pioneer, resided on section 17. He died in November, 1848.
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The first child born within the territory, which now comprises the town of Brooklyn, was Delila Victoria Gilbert, the date of her birth being Jan. 1, 1846. The first marriage ceremony was performed by Jacob Linza, Esq., at the residence of W. R. Smith, Sr. This was in February, 1846, the contracting parties being D. R. Corsaw and Caroline Smith.
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The first death was that of Henry Montgomery, which occurred in 1846. His remains were first buried on section 13, but afterwards removed to their final resting place in the Bfobklyn rtfemetfery. Mr. Montsfomery had settled on section 13, in 1845. He was a native of Vermont, and served as a soldier in the War of 1812,
In 1849, a meeting was held at the house of Robert Godfrey, for the purpose of selecting delegates to send to Monroe, and have congressional township 4 north, range 9 east,of the fourth principal meridian, organized as a civil township. The delegates were: J. W. Patterson, W. B. Patterson and Addison Barton. They those the name " York." But when they arrived at Monroe, they found a delegation from the northwest part of the county had already presented the name of " York," and thus the gentlemen who were a little late, contented themselves with the name of "Brooklyn."
The first town meeting was held at the house of James Nelson Patterson, on the 7th of April,
1849. Amos D. Kirkpatrick, Wilson I. Day and Daniel A. Dustin, served as judges, and G.
G. Godfrey and J. W. Hazeltine as clerks of this meeting. The following named were elected as the first officers: Supervisors, Amos
D. Kirkpatrick, chairman, D. A. Barton and
Sylvester Gray; town clerk, O. P. Stowell;
treasurer, Martin Flood; assessor, W. W.
McLaughlin; superintendent of schools, G. G.
Godfrey; justices of the peace, Leroy IIudsoTi and William Kirkpatrick; constables, Leonard
Doolittle, Allen "Whipple and Joseph Atwood.
J. W. Hazeltine carried the election returns to Monroe, the county seat. The county board of supervisors in equalizing the assessment of the several townships, fixed the valuation of all the real and personal property in the town of
Brooklyn at S34,415. The amount of State tax to be raised was four mills on the dollar. The amount of school tax was two and one half (2)
mills on the dollar, and the amount of county was six mills on the dollar. The following amounts were charged the town treasurer: Town tax S250, State tax Il37.6fi, school tax 186.04 and county tax $206.89, the total amount of tax $680.19. The following is the roster of officers from 1849 to 1884, as copied from the record: Chairman, Amos D. Kirkpatrick; Chester Witter, H. M. Allen, Martin Flood, W. W. McLaughlin, Levi Crawford, J.
A. Sawin, D. N. Shaw, H. R. Allen, C. D. W. Leonard, James Root, F. R. Melvin, John Dalrymple, E. J. Andrew, Stephen Swan. Town clerks: O. P. Stowell, Edmund Hill, W.
B. Patterson, II. M. Allen, James McCoy, Tracy Montgomery, E. J. Andrew, Edward Netherwood, J. W. Hazeltine, M. F. Ross, B. S.Axtel and Henry Smith. Assessors: W. W. McLaughlin, Andrew Bennett, Thomas Kelley, William Kirkpatrick, Zelo Benningham, H. B. Capwell, Jacob Deremer, D. N. Shaw, C. D. W. Leonard, Harvey Church, James Root, W. W. Young, L. D. Dalrymple and O. F. Walliham. Treasurers: Martin Flood, D.N.Shaw, C.S. Gray, F. B. Patterson, A. Z. Bennett, A. Leonard, F. R. Melvin, C. A. Montgomery, Henry B. Lay, S. Andrews, D. O. Lockwood, C. M. Fuller, Hiram Patterson, Frank Pratt, A. G. Ellis and John Bell.
As printed in History of Green County, Wisconsin (1884). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
JONATPIAN SMITH, one of the older and more prominent representatives of the farming interests of the town of Brooklyn, Green county, is a man whose high character and conceded integrity add to the reverence his eighty years command. He owns a farm situated in Section 11, of the town of Brooklyn, where he has long identified himself with the best interests of the community. He was born at Dover, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, March 7, 1820, and is a son of Stephen and Filura (Love) Smith, the former born in Massachusetts, and the latter in New York. They were the parents of four sons and five daughters, four of whom are now living: Jonathan; Emorilla, the wife of C. S. Gray, of Brooklyn; Euphrasia, wife of Hans Christianson, of the town of Brooklyn; and Emory, of Brooklyn. Stephen Smith was a farmer, and came West to Wisconsin in 1843, and in July of that year bought a farm of eighty acres in Walworth county, five miles north of Lake Geneva, which he very soon sold, and the following year came to Green county, and in May located on the farm in the town of Brooklyn, on which his son Jonathan may now be found. There he lived with this son until his death, in 1852, at the age of fifty-eight. His widow died in 1877, when seventy-five years old. They were both members of the Congregational Church.
Jonathan Smith, the father of Stephen Smith, and the grandfather of Jonathan Smith, whose name appears above, was a native of Massachusetts and one of the early settlers of Ohio. For six years he was' in the Revolutionary war. He was a farmer, and was seventy years old at the time of his death, in Cuyahoga county, Ohio. He was the father of three sons and four daughters. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Smith was a native of one of the eastern States and he was married in New York. There was only one child born to his marriage, she who afterward became the mother of Jonathan Smith.
Jonathan Smith lived in Ohio until he reached the age of twenty-three years, where he was bred a farmer, which has been his occupation through life. He learned the plastering trade, and followed it for thirty years, although at the same time he was engaged in farming. When his father came to Wisconsin he accompanied him, making the journey from Ohio by team, and he remained with his parents as long as they lived. Since their death he has continued on the home they made.
Jonathan Smith was married Jan. 28, 1877, to Mary A. Thompson, who was a daughter of Otis and Polly (Hunt) Thompson. They have one son. Forest A., who is now twenty-one years of age, to whom the active management of the farm is committed. It contains eighty acres, and is cultivated according to the latest and most progressive agricultural methods. Mr. Smith was formerly a Whig, but he became a Republican at the organization of that party. He has never held an office, and has never had the least desire for one, as his own business was all he felt he could adequately manage.
Otis Thompson was a native of Vermont, and his wife Polly (Hunt) of New Hampshire. They were the parents of six sons and two daughters, and three of their children are now living: Rufus, of Belgrade, Mont.;
Mary A. is the wife of Mr. Smith; David S. r\ thompson, of the town of Brooklyn. Mr. I thompson was a farmer, and brought his family AVest to Wisconsin in 1848, locating them on an eighty-acre farm in the town of Brooklyn, Green county. Mr. Thompson was a soldier in the Civil war, and belonged to the 8th Wis. V. I., in which he enlisted in 1861. He participated in the battles of Frederickstown, New Madrid, Island No. 10, Farmington, Iuka and Corinth, Jackson and Vicksburg, and it is recorded of him that lie was always a brave soldier, and would be found in the very forefront of danger. Fie was a member of T. L. Sutphen Post, G. A. R., at Evansville. Mr. Thompson was born July 28, 1807, at Richmond, AY., and was married June 17. 1829. In 1836 he removed with his family to Portage, N. Y., where he lived twelve years'. He died in September, 1899, at the age of ninety-two years and two months. His wife died in 1888, at the age of seventy-five years. Timothy Thompson, his father, was a native of A vermont, and was a soldier in the war of 1812. He was a carpenter in his younger days, and reared a family of eight children. In the early forties he came from Pennsylvania into Wisconsin, where he lived a number of years, and died at his home in Oreg'on, Dane county, aged about seventy-eight years. Mrs. Smith’s maternal grandfather was James Hunt, who was born in New Hampshire. He was a farmer and had a large family. He reached the age of eight-eight years, and died in his native State.
Mrs. Jonathan Smith, born in Erie county, Penn., Dec. 14, 1834, married for her first husband Amos C. Anderson, an early settler in the town of Brooklyn. They had one daughter, Sarah E., who married Judson E. James, and is the mother of four children: Floyd C., Layle A., Paul, and Jessie M. Mr. Anderson died in 1866, while engaged in prospecting in California. He and his wife crossed the Plains in 1860, requiring about four and a half months to make the journey.
As printed in Commemorative biographical record of the counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wiscons (1901). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Named in this biography: Alonzo Purintun (b. 1825) Andrew Bennett (b. 1831) Ezra Doolittle (b. 1817) Franklin Patterson (b. 1823) Henry Smith James Root (b. 1841) John Dalrymple (b. 1819) Stephen Smith Stephen Swan (b. 1825) Sylvester Gray (b. 1827)
Their biographies name Jonathan Smith: Charles S. Gray
The printed record stops around 1901. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.