Samuel Mills, 1846

Posted4U@Charter.net on Sun, 11 Feb 2001

Surname: MILLS, COGSWELL, ALDERMAN, FLEMMING

Source: 1918 History of Clark Co., WI, by Franklyn, Curtiss-Wedge

SAMUEL MILLS, who has resided in Thorp Township for twenty-one years, engaged in agriculture, is a native of Canada, having been born in the province of New Brunswick, Sunbury County, Oct. 18, 1846, son of Samuel and Mary Ann (Cogswell) Mills. The parents were also natives of Canada, of English descent, the father, a farmer, dying there in 1872, at the age of 70 years; his wife died in 1849, at the age of 40. Their children were: Hiram, Ezra, Wellington, Lucy Ann, Samuel and Harriett, all of whom are now deceased. Samuel Mills came to the United States in the fall of 1868, and in the following year located at Eau Claire, Wis. There, for a number of years, he was in the employ of the Northwestern Lumber Company. During that time, in the summer of 1870, the railway reached Eau Claire, which was an occasion for rejoicing; and several years later he witnessed the railway celebration at Chippewa Falls. Mr. Mills entered into the lumber business, being engaged in running camps and similar work, in which he continued until 1896, when he came to Clark County, and bought his present place of eighty acres, on which there were a few improvements. A few years prior to this he had bought a farm a few miles west of this one, which he cleared from wild land.

At the present time Mr. Mills is remodeling his house, making it into a nine-room dwelling. In 1908 he built a barn, which was destroyed by lightning the next year, after which he rebuilt it with stone basement and cement floors. This barn measures 36 by 72 feet. In 1914 Mr. Mills built a brick silo of 100 tons capacity. He is raising graded Holstein cattle, milking fifteen cows, his principal crops being hay and oats. Though several times solicited, he has never accepted public office.

Mr. Mills was first married in 1874 to Nettie Alderman, a native of Wisconsin. She died in 1878, having been the mother of two children, one of whom, George B., died in 1904, the other, Ehner, dying in infancy. In 1897 Mr. Mills married for his second wife, Mrs. Maggie Flemming, a native of Canada and widow of James Flemming. Of this marriage two children were born: Byron Eugene, May 8, 1898, who is now in Texas, and Clarence S., born Oct. 30, 1901, who resides at home. By her first marriage Mrs. Mills had four children.