DAVID BUSHNELL - Biography

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This biography appears on page 636-637 in History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin...
published by the Western Historical Co.: 1879.

DAVID BUSHNELL, farmer, Sec. 33; P. O. Burlington; he was born on the
shores of Oneida Lake, Madison Co., N. Y., June 17, 1814; lived there
and assisted his father on the farm till 1836, and then came to
Wisconsin; stopped a very short time at Pike Creek, then wandered across
the country prospecting till he arrived at the lower forks of Fox River;
he located within one mile of village of Burlington; engaged at farming
built a wigwam, in which he lived for a few years; Mr. Bushnell is the
earliest settler living in the neighborhood in the early times they had
to undergo many hardships and privations; in 1837, the Settlers' Claim
Society was organized; its object, to protect their claims from the
claim-jumpers; in those days, a man settled and lived on a lot thirty
days, had to cut so many rails, or plow so furrows, to entitle him to
his claim; the industrious men often had trouble with claim-jumpers and
loafers; on one occasion, in 1837, the society found it necessary to
engage in a skirmish with the interlopers; it took place near where the
village of Burlington is now situated; it is known as the battle of
Burlington, fought by upwards of one dozen men; no one was seriously
wounded; Norman Dyer was shot in a limb by William Curtis, who was
firing in the dark, and aimed at Silas Peck, whose claim Curtis had
tried to jump, but failing in his attempt, and aggravated by his
failure, tried to kill Silas Peck. After the shooting, Curtis fled to
parts unknown but was finally captured in Illinois, and tried in
Springfield. His trial was postponed, he gave straw bail, escaped, and
has never - been heard of since. Mr. Bushnell married in Burlington,
Jan. 7, 1846, Miss Elizabeth Thompson; she was born in Madison Co., N.
Y., March 26, 1828; had three children- only one now livin- William K.
Bushnell, born July 26, 1848; he is assisting his father on the farm.
William Bushnell married Oct 20, 1870, Miss Adelaide Toombs, a native of
Burlington Township; they have one daughter- Ida; they are living with
his flather, Mr. David Bushnell. He has never aspired to any political
offices; he owns eighty-one acres within one mile of Burlington village;
the farm is well improved, with spacious barns and a comfortable house.