History of Vernon County, Wisconsin. Together with sketches of its towns and villages, educational, civil, military and political history; portraits of prominent persons, and biographies of representative citizens.

              HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
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near Hull, Yorkshire, England, March 9, 1811. He emigrated to the United States with his father, Thomas Cade, in 1830. The family set¬ tled in Michigan, where the father resided till his death. On Aug. 3, 1853, Mr. Cade came to the town of Franklin, and located on a farm he had purchased of James McColloch the preced¬ ing June. Some five acres of this farm were improved when Mr. Cade became its owner, and he immediately began to clear the land and cul¬ tivate the soil. He was the first person to ex¬ periment in fruit growing in Vernon county. In 1854-55, he set out 300 trees, consisting mostly of apples and plums. He also set out three pear trees which bore large and excellent fiavored fruit for a few years, and then stopped bearing. In 1854 he went back to Michigan and bought a flock of sheep, which he took to his new home. These were among the first sheep ever brought into Vernon county. His farm now consists of 200 acres. Mr. Cade mar¬ ried Lydia Read, a native of Tompkins Co., N. Y., and a niece of Daniel Read, in whose honor the village of Readstown bears its name. Mr. and Mrs. Cade have had eight children, six living—George B., Henry R., Joseph D , John W., Isabell and David A. The deceased were Elizabeth and Jonathan G., the latter a twin of David A.
William Clawater, of Liberty Pole, is one of the early and well known settlers of Vernon county. He settled in this town Oct. 21, 1853. He was born at Rock Haven, Clinton Co., Penn., in 1^25, and came to the town of Franklin Oct. 1, 1853. He was married in Pennsylvania, and came here with his family. His father, Wil¬ liam Clawater, came here at the same time, and lived with his son until his decease. Mr. Clawater and father were the only members of the family that ever came to Franklin town. He had five brothers and four sisters; t,wo of the former and one of the latter are still living. His oldest brother, Cornelius H., lives at Stew- artville. Mo., John F. in Donophon Co., Kan., and his sister Jane, wife of D. M. McDonald,
resides at St. Joseph, Mo. Mr. Clawater mar¬ ried Elizabeth E. Hogue, a native of Indiana. They have ten children, three sons and seven daughters—Mary A., wife of Lloyd Coe; Jessie, wife of Thomas Kelly; Jennie, Louis, Kate, Belle, Edna, Forestine, Ray and Wade. Mr. Clawater's general occupation has been farm¬ ing. He has 256 acres of land in his home farm, also owns land elsewhere. He has been chairman and member of the town board of su¬ pervisors for about twenty years.
John Fortney resides on section 33, and is .a son of Thomas Fortney, who became a resident of the town of Franklin in 1856. Thomas Fortney was born in Lysters, Bergens stift, Norway, Feb. 4. 1816. He learned the blacksmith's trade in his native land, and came to the United States in 1853. He bought a tract of land of George P. Taylor, and the resi¬ due of his farm from the State. He still resides on section 4, where he first settled. Mr. Fort¬ ney married Susan Ottum, and eight children have been born to them—John, the eldest son, was born in Dane Co., Wis., in 1855. He bought his farm, now comprising 240 acres, of David Carrey. His wife is a native of Nor¬ way. The second son is Ole, born in Vernon county in 1858, also married and owning 265 acres of land on section 32. The other chil¬ dren are Hans, Arne, Katherine, Thomas, Christian and Christina.
Robert Hornby came to Franklin with "Cap¬ tain" Cade in 1853. He was born in Canada in 1832, and accompanied his father's family to Michigan in 1841. Mrs. Hornby died there and Mr. Hornby, in 1851, went to California, returned to Michigan in 1856, and came to Vernon Co., Wis., residing with his son Robert until Kis death, Oct. 15, 1874. Robert has been a resident here for thirty years, and owns a farm of 203 acres on sections 26 and 35. He married Margaret Getler, a native of New York, and daughter of Ferdinand Getler. They have been  given  five  children, four  sons  and  one