Biographies from The History of Columbia County,
Wisconsin, 1880 


Contributed by Carol carolann612@charter.net
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm


From The History of Columbia County, Wisconsin, 1880,
publ. by Western Historical Company, Chicago, Page
923-924

LEONARD S. ROLLESTON is a native of Nottinghamshire,
England; was born Sept. 19, 1834.  Married in
Leicester, England, Jan. 22, 1857, to Maria NEWTON;
she was born in Leicester Dec. 21, 1835; they have
twelve children - Elizabeth A., Florence E. and Flora
L. (twins), Maria L., John P., Ida Fannie, Arthur
Septimus, Ada F., Leonard William, Alice Maud, William
Launcelot, and Beulah Octavia.  Came to Wisconsin
March 1857, and located in the town of Lowville, on
Sec. 5; was there six years then moved to the
adjoining town of Wyocena, on Sec. 32, still retaining
his property in the town of Lowville; resided in
Wyocena until Jan. 1, 1875, when he came to Portage,
having been elected County Clerk in November 1874; he
was re-elected in 1876 and 1878.  While residing in
Wyocena he held the offices of Town Clerk two years,
Justice of the Peace two years, and several times
member of the school Board.  Mr. ROLLESTON is a member
of the A.F. & A.M. Lodge.  In 1854, he graduated from
Rossal Collage, at Lancashire, England, he being the
first class, fourth form.  During the Crimean war, he
served as Lieutenant of Co. No. 6, 57th Regiment Royal
Sherwood Foresters.

Page 924

JAMES RUTHVEN was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Sept. 8,
1814; when 1 years of age his parents moved to
Kendall, Westmorelandshire, England, where he lived
thirty-two years; came to America and first located at
Albany, N.Y.; resided there until 1856, then came to
Chicago, where he remained until he came to Marcellon
in September 1865; resided in the latter place until
the spring of 1878; worked at shoemaking when 15 years
of age; while in Kendall was employed in the wholesale
grocery store for fifteen years.  Mr. R. was married,
at Kendall, Westmorelandshire, England, Nov. 28, 1838,
to Agnes SANDFORD, a native of Westmorelandshire,
England; they have three children living - Isabella
S., now Mrs. Walter RIDDELL; John and Allan, have lost
five - Mary Ann, 4 years; Edwin, 9 months, and three
infant children.  Mr. R. is a member of the Temple of
Honor, Good Templar, and Sons of Temperance societies.

PIERCE RYAN, son of Chief Justice RYAN and Caroline
Willard (PIERCE) RYAN; was born in Milwaukee, Wis.,
Oct. 9, 1851, and resided there until early 1865, when
he went to Boston; lived there and in that vicinity
almost four years; two years of this time at Dummer
Academy, and two years with a Calcutta importing house
in the city of Boston; he then returned to his native
city; and was with the Milwaukee Iron Company eight or
nine years.  Since the summer of 1876, has been in the
employ of the C. M. & St. P. R.R. Co.; in January
1877, came to Portage, and remained three months, and
settled here permanently in October 1877.  Was married
at Ann Arbor, Mich., Oct. 1, 1879 to Miss Isadore M.
RISDON; she was born in Ann Arbor.

JAMES S. SANBORN, ice dealer and brick manufacturer;
born in Grafton Co., N.H., Nov. 14, 1837; is the son
of Martin L. and Emeline SANBORN, his early life was
passed on his father's farm; at the age of 24, he took
a full course in Eastman's Commercial College, at
Poughkeepsie, N.Y., after which he clerked in a
grocery store three years in Boston; then he spent
nearly two years at Bristol, N.H., with Jason C.
DRAPER, learning the Plymouth Glove business; in
September 1868 he came to Boscobel, Wis., where he
clerked till January 1871, at which time he took a
contract to saw the wood on the Northern and La Crosse
Divisions of the C. M. & ST. P. R.R., and the contract
has been in continuous force to the present day.  He
was married June 12, 1872 to Miss Anna E. ESTABROOK,
of Brunswick, Me.; they have since resided in Portage;
he has manufactured brick since 1873; will, in 1880,
make 2,000,000 brick in Portage; last winter he put up
10,000 tons of ice at Fox Lake and Wausau, for the
Milwaukee market; the ice used here is harvested at
Silver Lake, near Portage; they have three children -
Ellen D., born May 7, 1873; Dwight A., born Sept. 12,
1875, and Anna L., born July 6, 1877.  He aims to vote
for the best men, is not active in politics, but is of
Democratic proclivities; he is a Methodist, and his
wife is a Congregationalist; she is a member of the
local Shakespearean Club; they have a pleasant home on
Prospect Hill.

JOHN M. SANDERSON was born in Newburg, N.Y., Sept. 17,
1838, and lived in Albany from his youth until he came
West; enlisted in Albany, N.Y., August 1862, in
Haverlock Battery, and served until the close of the
war; was in all of the engagements his command was in
after he enlisted; the principal battles he was in
were Cold Harbor, second battle of Bull Run,
Petersburg, Cnancellorsville, and Gettysburg; came to
Portage in 1866 and engaged in the business of cigar-
making of himself, which business he still continues. 
Married in Portage to Helen Augusta LINSCOTT; she was
born in Utica, N.Y.; they have two children - Warren
F. and Harry.

Submitted by Carol