Washington County Biographies



Part of the Wisconsin Biographies Project



Joel F. Wilson

Hon. Joel F. Wilson (deceased) was the son of Erastus and Theodora (Noble) Wilson, of Hebron, Washington Co., N. Y.; he was born at Rupert, Bennington Co., Vt., Feb. 18, 1801; he received a common-school education, and learned the trade of a carpenter and millwright, which he followed for many years. He married Miss Electa Munson, daughter of Capt. John Munson, a Revolutionary soldier, at Hebron, N. Y., April 8, 1824. He came to the then Territory of Wisconsin with his family of three sons and one daughter (one married daughter remaining behind), and settled in Prairieville (now Waukesha), in 1844; in the spring of 1845, he removed to Hartford, at that time an unbroken wilderness from Rock River to Lake Michigan, over a road that few teams had before passed, the last six miles being made by following the route designated by blazed trees; at that time, there were not a dozen families in the town, and but one in what is now the village of Hartford. He was engaged by James and Charles Rossman to build a saw-mill, which he completed in the fall of 1845; the same fall, he purchased the mill-site east of Hartford, then known as the Mallory lot, and forming a partnership with E. R. Nelson, a first-class millwright, built a saw-mill at that place. He was elected as a member of the first Constitution Convention, and served in that body on the committee on the act of Congress for the admission of the State; though not acting any distinguished part in the deliberations, he was regarded as a useful working member of that body; he also served as Chairman of the County Board, as Justice of the Peace, and held many other offices of honor and trust; he continued a resident of Hartford till the time of his death, which occurred Nov. 29, 1860. During the earlier years of his life in Hartford, he made himself extremely useful to the incoming settlers, who availed themselves of his skill and experience in selecting their lands, laying out their roads and building their dwellings; as a magistrate, he was above all low trickery, was just and conciliatory, seeking to allay all ill feeling among his neighbors, and to avoid all litigation between them; in his intercourse with his fellow-men he was courteous, kind and gentlemanly, and ever ready to give the right hand of fellowship even to an enemy; in private life he was a good companion, and ever ready to give or receive a joke with a frank, hearty laugh; as a citizen he was generous and free-hearted to a fault; as an accumulator of wealth he was not a success; he was too generous to lay up what he could so easily earn, freely expending for the comfort of his family and friends; it was a noble fault, and, as all will admit, one that lay in the right direction; he died respected by all, and beloved and regretted by a large circle of warm friends and surviving relatives. His surviving family still lives near Hartford; the youngest son died soon after his arrival in the State; S. J. and J. M. Wilson, the two surviving sons, were the first white boys in the village of Hartford, where they still reside with their families; J. M. Wilson is a popular conductor on the C., M. & St. P. R. R., and is well known throughout the State; he has been in the employ of the company and its predecessors for twenty-eight years without interruption; the company and the traveling public appreciate his services; the widowed mother is still living with Conductor Wilson, hale and hearty at the age of 82 years, reaping her desired reward after a long life of toil and self-sacrifice, in a pleasant home, surrounded by loving kindred and all the luxuries required to render her declining years pleasant and happy.

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