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.

              698
HISTORY OF VERNON COUNTY.
Wendell Hi Pulver was one of the early set¬ tlers of Jefferson town. He was born in Scho¬ harie Co., N. Y., in 1793. He was a soldier of the War of 1812. He married and settled in Dutchess Co., N. Y., and thence to Onta¬ rio county about 1836. He came with his family to Kenosha, Wis., in 1847, and to Rock county the following year, where the family lived till 1855, when they came to Ver¬ non county, and settled at Springville, in the town of Jefferson, where he lived until his de¬ cease. He was a wagon maker by trade, and is said to have built the first wagon made in Ver¬ non county. He died in 1871; his wife, Ra¬ chel (Teager) Pulver, died before the decease of her husband. They had six children, five of whom are living—Mrs. Mary A. Fish, Mrs. Catharine Waterman, David H., born in 1834, in Schoharie Co., N. Y.; Oliver H., born in Ontario Co., N. Y., and William H., born in Ontario Co., N. Y., in 1840. The eldest son, John N., was born in Schoharie county in 1821; was a soldier in the war of the Re¬ bellion, and died in the hospital at Madison, Ind. Daniel H. and William H. came to Viro¬ qua from Springville, and engaged in wagon making and blacksmithing in 1879. Previous to that time they were engaged in the same business at Springville. David H., married Susan A. Wade, and William H., Elizabeth Wade.
William S. Purdy was one of the early set¬ tlers of Sterling town, and during his thirty years' residence in Vernon county hel'd high of¬ fices of trust and honor, and possessed the con¬ fidence of a large circle of friends and acquaint¬ ances. He was a native of Carlisle, Sullivan Co., Ind., born Aug. 28, 1822. His father died when he was eleven years of age and at fifteen he was apprenticed to a saddler of his native place to learn the trade. He worked at his trade for fifteen years, and in 1845 came west to the territory of Wisconsin. He was for a time engaged in mining, and afterward worked at his trade at Mineral Point for a few months
In 1849 he sought a new location in what was then the town of Bad Ax, Crawford county, but now in the town of Sterling. He was largely identified with the early history and growth of that section of the county, and during his resi¬ dence there held nearly all the town offices, read law and was admitted to practice. He re¬ sided on the farm ten years, and finally gave up his early and well-tried associations and re¬ moved to Viroqua to accept the office of clerk of the circuit court, a position, to which he had been elected, and which he filled for eight years, during which time he served one jrear in the State Senate. He was elected county * judge in 1869, and subsequently re-elected, serv¬ ing two successive terms. Judge Purdy was married in 1846 to JaneE. Lemen, also a native of Indiana. They have been blessed with eight children—Brice F., Kossuth F., William R., Henry H., Ella M., Frank, Ed, and Ida M. Only two of this large family are yet residents of Vernon county—Brice F. and William R. In 1878, on account of failing health, and thinking that a change might prove beneficial. Judge Pur¬ dy removed to Pratt Co ,Kan, where he now re¬ sides. Brice F. Purdy, the eldest son, is a harness maker of Viroqua. He was born in Iowa Co., Wis., in 1849, just previous to his parents re¬ moval to this county. He learned his trade with his father and embarked in the business in 1871. Mr. Purdy married Hattie Coe, a sis¬ ter of Nathan Coe. They have four children— William, Myrtle, Ella and an infant son.  .
Peter Hay located in the fall of 1850 on sec- 3, town 12, range 4 west, where he still re¬ sides. He was born in Wayne Co., Ohio, in 1818. When twenty-one years of age he moved with his parents to Wayne Co., III. His father, Jonathan Hay, settled in Viroqua towm in 1851, and died in 1868. Mr. Hay was married in Illinois to Mary Clarke, born in that State. They have had eight children, six of whom are living—Jonathan, Eliza Jane, John, Mary M., Martha E. and James. The names of their de¬ ceased children   were—Peter and Julia.    All