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
994-995

SYLVESTER REYNOLDS, farmer, Sec. 20; P.O. Lodi; was
born in Columbia Co., N.Y. in 1816.  He was married to
Miss Hannah ELLIOTT, who was born in Sharon, Conn.;
her parents removed to the State of New York when she
was but 1 year old; they came to Columbia Co., Wis.,
in the fall of 1853.  Mr. REYNOLDS purchased his
present farm soon after, though he lived in the town
of West Point about one year.  Mr. REYNOLDS learned
the trade of a blacksmith, at which he worked for one
or two years after coming to Wisconsin.  His farm
contains 175 acres; has two daughters - Ida S. and
Cornelia; has lost two children - Gilbert, who was a
member of 23d W.V.I., during the war of the rebellion,
was afterward engaged on the police force of Chicago,
where he was accidentally killed by the discharge of
his revolver; lost another son, Albert.

Page 995

PETER RICHARD, editor and proprietor of Lodi Valley
News, Lodi; born in Ohio Feb. 2, 1828; came to
Wisconsin in March 1855; he located in Fond du Lac;
thence to Madison in 1856, where he worked at the
printing business for ten and a half years; he went to
Baraboo in April 1867; he was for sometime engaged as
local editor of the Independent of that city; was
afterward associated with J. C. CHANDLER, in the
publication of that paper; came to Lodi in April 1874;
his wife was Miss Mary DANIELS; they have two children
- Fred and Grace.

JOSEPH H. RIDDLE, farmer, Sec. 34; P.O. Lodi; was born
in New York City, June 1839; his parents removed to
Delaware Co., N.Y., when he was a child; they settled
in the town of Dane, Dane Co., about 1850, where they
still reside.  Joseph H. married Miss Cornelia A.
SIMONS, daughter of Frederick H. SIMONS, who settled
in Dane Co., about 1845, from Canandaigua, Ontario
Co., N.Y.; Mr. RIDDLE settled where he now lives in
the fall of 1869; has four children - Arthur H.,
Ernest H., Corie, and Bertie E.  His farm contains 174
acres; is engaged principally in dairying.

REV. B. GILBERT RILEY, Presbyterian minister, Lodi;
was born in Otsego Co., N.Y., in 1810; he began his
preparatory course at Hartwick Seminary, Otsego Co.;
continued under Dr. HAZELIUS, and at Jefferson,
Schoharie Co., under Rev. Wm. SALISBURY, in 1831; he
entered the sophomore class of Williams College,
graduating in 1834; entered Andover Theological
Seminary in the fall of 1834, where he remained one
year, when he assumed the principalship of Oxford
Select Seminary, New York; he entered the Union
Theological Seminary, New York City, in 1837,
graduating in 1839; he began the ministry as Pastor of
the Congregational Church at Hartwick, N.Y.; thence to
Livonia, Livingston Co., in 1843, where he remained
till 1855, when he became Principal of Genesee Model
School, Lima, N.Y., resigned on account of failing
health in the spring of 1856; thence to Horseheads,
N.Y.; came to Lodi in September 1857, where he was
Pastor of the Presbyterian Church for six years, when
he was appointed Synodical Missionary of Wisconsin; he
served in this capacity for thirteen years, resigning
in July 1877.  Mr. RILEY was married to Anna FARRELL,
born at Detroit, Mich.; has had five children, three
of whom are living, viz., Laura E., Edward F., and Dr.
Charles P. RILEY, of Prairie du Sac; Mary F. married
Capt. George M. HUMPHRY, died Feb. 29, 1880; Ellen S.
died in Livonia, N.Y. in 1849.  Mr. RILEY began
teaching at 14 years of age and has always been an
earnest worker in the cause of education.

FREEDON SIMONS, retired farmer, Lodi; born in Cayuga
Co., N.Y. in 1813.  His father was a soldier in the
war of 1812 and one of the first settlers of Cayuga
Co.  Mr. SIMONS was married to Elmina E. DUDLEY, born
in Cayuga in 1817; her father was also a soldier of
the war of 1812; in September 1842, Mr. SIMONS removed
to Sauk Co., Wis.; in September 1843, he settled in
what is now the town of Springfield, Dane Co., being
the first settler in that town; he removed to the town
of Dane, Dane Co., about 1845, this farm is on the
line of Columbia Co., in Sec. 4; he leased his farm
and removed to the village of Lodi in the fall of
1874; Mr. SIMONS built a part of what is now the
BRIGGS House in 1849, which he conducted as a hotel
about two years; he has eight children - Mary L., now
Mrs. M. D. MANN, lives in McLeod Co., Minn.; Lydia J.,
married E. F. LEE, also lives in McLeod Co.; Sardis
D., who was the first white male child born in Dane
Co., resides at Lake Crystal, Minn.; Levantia C., wife
of E. K. WHITING, of Dodge Co., Minn.; George F.,
McLeod Co., Minn.; Austis A., now Mrs. John COLLINS of
Lodi; De Witt C., also of McLeod Co., Minn., and Elma
A.; lost one daughter, Emily.

Submitted by Carol