Memoirs of Waukesha County. From the earliest historical times to the present with chapters on various subjects, including each of the different towns, and a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in the county, prepared from data obtained from original sources of information.

              328 MEMOIRS  OF WAUKESHA  COUNTY
1842 the first school was opened, the building being a log house, and the first teacher to officiate being Miss Mary Thayer.
The conditions which obtained during the* time of the early settle¬ ment have never been entirely removed, and in consequence the popula¬ tion and property valuation are less than in the other townships. The first railroad communication was received through the buHding of the Milwaukee & Madison division of the Chicago Northwestern road in 1881, and then the passage was through the extreme northern part, and the location of centers of population, which had been established for forty years, did not change materially upon the advent of the road, so that village life in the town is inconsiderable.
The principal village in the town of Ottawa, is Dousman, which had a population of about 300. There was formerly a postoffice by that name, located across the town line, in Summit, but after the build¬ ing of the Chicago & Northwestern railroad the name was transferred to the station. It has telephone and telegraph connections, and a branch of the American Express is estabHshed here. The nearest banking point is Oconomowoc, eight miles distant. It is the station for a number of lakes in Summit that are favorite locations for summer cottagers and camping parties. Its three hotels, which accommodate about 120 persons, do a thriving business during the summer months.
The total population of the town is 902, with 104 more males than females. The estimated value of the property of the town, based upon actual sales, is $948,666, which is nearly double the assessed value.
Talbot C. Dousman who made the first claim in the town of Otta¬ wa in 1837, was of Dutch and Scotch descent and iwas born in Macki- viaw, Mich., in 1816, and received a thorough education at the Mt. Pleasant Classical. Institute, Amherst, Mass. He lived in Michigan until 1835 when he came to Milwaukee and opened a warehouse on East Water street. Two years later he settled in Ottawa, and built the first frame house in the township the following year, having the previous year put up a log cabin. In 1839 he married Miss Jane Pad¬ dock, of Herkimer county, N. Y., and spending some time in Macki¬ naw, where he still had interests, settled definitely on his place in Ottawa in 1840. "Ingleside," as Mr. Dousman named his place, was subsequently developed into one of the finest estates in the county, and the little settlement which gre.w up in the neighborhood was named Dousman after the first settler. Mr. and Mrs. Dousman had two children, Hercules F. and Laura C.
A considerable number of the early Welsh settlers of whom a sketch is given elsewhere, settled in the town of Ottawa, among whom was W. J. D. Williams who came to the United States in the second year of the Welsh immigration, 1842, but did not reach Wisconsin until the following year. He settled in Ottawa in June, 1843, buying 200 acres of government land, and subsequently added to his estates until he was the owner of 370 acres in Ottawa, and 360 in Delafield and other land in Jefferson county. He married Miss Elizabeth Davis, a native of Wales, and four children, Mary, John, Lizzie and Moses were born to the union.    Mr. Williams was a splendid type of the Welsh colonist.