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
707
Regina, born Dec. 1, 1864, and Wille, born March 30, 1874
John McClurg was born in Mercer Co., Penn, in 1805, where he grew to manhood. He was married to Jemima Booth, born in Ohio. He came to Vernon county from Muskingum Co., Ohio, in 1855. He purchased his farm of Noah Garrett, who died in the Union service during the war. It is situated on section 27, Viroqua town, and was originally owned by Jona¬ than Hay. Mr. and Mrs. McClurg have had eight children, six sons and two daughters— Mary Jane, Mrs Jesse Garrett, (deceased,) John B., residing in Sterling town, James, died in the war at Long Island, Manassah, died in the hospital at H lena, Ark., while in the ser¬ vice, Nancy, wife of W. S. Moore, Seth, who reside- in this town, was also in the service, Lu¬ ther, also enlisted, but died before entering the ai*my, Sylvanus, who resides in Washington territory. In 1858 Mrs. McClurg died, and in July, 1859, Mr. McClurg married Mrs. Martha J. Payne, widow of Uri Payne. She was born in Lisle town, Broome Co., N. Y., in 1827, and was married in that State to Mr. Payne, com¬ ing to thi? county Sept 8, 1856. Mr. Payne died Jan. 3, 1857, of typhoid fever. He had not yet made a settlement. A son, George, died a short time previous to his father. Mr. and Mrs. McClurg have had three daughters, only one of whom is living;-—Eva, born in Viro¬ qua town. Mrs. McClurg has lost two children by her first marriage.
William T. McConnell was born in Muskin¬ gum Co.,'Ohio, in 1817. He removed with his parents, to LaGrange Co., Ind., in 1831. He removed to Vernon (then Bad Ax) county, June 29, 1855. In the fall of 1854, with his brother, Alexander, he had purchased nearly 1,000 acres of land, lying mostly in Jefferson town. They also purchased a saw mill there, with the inten¬ tion of manufacturing lumber. William T., however, sold his interest in the mill to his brother Alexander, who operated it for several years,     Subsequently   they  sold this tract of
land to different parties. Mr. McConnell's first settlement in Wisconsin was in Crawford county, where he bought a half interest in a grist mill. He afterwards exchanged this for a farm in Jefferson town, on which he resided untiri882, when he cameto Viroqua village and engaged in the grocery business. Mr. McCon¬ nell, during his agricultural life, paid much at¬ tention to the cultivation of fruit, being one of the earliest, as well as orie of the most success¬ ful fruit growe'rs in Vernon county. He ex¬ perimented with various kinds of fruit trees for the purpose of discovering those best adapted to this region. He made the cultivation of apples a specialty, and the many premiums which he received is evidence of his success in fruit growing. Mr. McConnell took great in¬ terest in the organization and success of the Vernon County Agricultural Society, of which he was the presiding officer for several years. He was also its secretary one year, and treasurer a number of years. He is highly respected and esteemed as an upright and honorable citizen. Politically, Mr. McConnell is a democrat. He has been chairman of the board of supervisors, and has several times been a candidate for office, but while he has generally run ahead of his ticket, his party has been too much in the mi¬ nority to elect him. He has been twice married. His first wife was Rhoda Moses. She died in Indiana. He subsequently married Sarah A. Caldwell, a native of Virginia. She died in August, 1882. He has two children by his first wife—Marshall A., who resides near Sioux Falls, Dak., and Rhoda. He has three children by his second wife—Homer, of Sioux Falls, Dak., Ag¬ nes and Ellen.
Hiram Moody was born in Waldo Co., Maine, in 1813. In the fall of 1817 he removed with his parents to Morgan Co., Ohio, where his father, Nathan Moody, resided till his death. He came to this county as early as 1853, enter¬ ing at that time, 800 acres of timber land in Webster and Clinton towns. In 1855 he located on  land in Jefferson  town,  part  of which he