Rolla M. Strong Biography - Grant County Wisconsin

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Submitted by David W. Taft, dtaft@cowtown.net

Commemorative Biographical Record of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa, and 
Lafayette Counties, Wisconsin
J. H. Beers, 1901
Pg. 701-2

ROLLA M. STRONG is a product of Grant county, and was born in the town of 
Platteville, Jan. 14, 1848.  Thomas and Martha M. (Bond) Strong, his parents, were 
both born in North Carolina, and in that State were reared and married.  Thomas 
Strong was the son of Thomas Strong, Sr., who died in Platteville, in the home of 
his son.  Thomas Strong, Sr., was a soldier in the War of 1812, and the ancestry of 
the family antedates the American Revolution in New England.

After their marriage our subject's parents spent some three years in Tennessee, and 
in 1838 came to Platteville, Wis., where Mr. Strong followed mining very 
successfully throughout life.  He purchased a farm of 160 acres near Platteville, 
and lived thereon until 1850, when he disposed of it and moved into Platteville, 
making his home there during the brief remainder of his life.  Mr. and Mrs. Strong 
both died previous to the breaking out of the Civil war.

The Strongs were Whigs in political sentiment. Our subject's father was a supporter 
of the Methodist Church, of which the mother was a member.  They reared a family of 
eight children: (1) Henry was born in Tennessee, and came with his parents to 
Wisconsin.  During the gold excitement he and his brother John, each with a wagon 
and four yoke of oxen, crossed the Plains to that distant land of gold, and were 
quite successful in their mining ventures, Henry spending some years in the mines in 
Colorado and Nevada before returning to Platteville, where he died in June, 1898.  
(2) John made his homeward journey from the far West successfully, and is now living 
in Platteville, where he is married and has a family. (3) Martha, born in 
Platteville, is the widow of Christopher Williams, and lives in Vernon county, Wis., 
where she has reared a large family. (4) Mary, born in Grant county, is the widow of 
George Fry, of Highland, Wis., where she is living with her family.  (5) Jane, born 
in Platteville, is the widow of Wesley Williams, and lives in Indiana.  (6) Thomas, 
born in Platteville, married Miss Lucy Shafer, of Grant county, and they are now 
residents of Iowa.  They have one daughter, Nellie.  (7) Samuel, born in 
Platteville, is now a resident of the State of Washington, and is engaged in mining 
in British Columbia.  (8) Rolla M., the youngest member of the family, is the 
subject of this article.

Rolla M. Strong was born in Grant county, and educated in the common schools of the 
State, attending for the most part what was known as the old Rock school of 
Platteville, where he was very well fitted for an active life.  When a young man he 
followed mining in the lead regions of Grant county, and when the Civil war broke 
out was ready to go to the front.  He enlisted in Company B, 43d Wis. V. I., and 
faithfully did his duty as a soldier until the close of the war.  The regiment was a 
part of the Army of the Tennessee, and Mr. Strong witnessed some of the most 
tremendous struggles of the great war.  At Nashville, Tenn., he was honorably 
discharged from the service, and, making his way back to his old home in Wisconsin, 
he resumed work as a lead miner, which has been his occupation more or less to the 
present time.

Mr. Strong and Miss Martha Himan were married in 1875.  Mrs. Strong is a daughter of 
Perry and Jane Himan, old pioneers in Grant county, and was born in the town of 
Harrison, May 11, 1851.  Mr. Strong and his wife lived some years on a rented farm 
in the town of Harrison, when he purchased his present farm in the town of Paris.  
That was some fifteen years ago, and under his energetic management the farm has 
been greatly improved, and is to-day one of the most attractive places in this 
portion of the county.  They have four children: (1) Alta, born in 1876, was 
educated at the State Normal School at Platteville, and for several years was a 
teacher in Grant and Vernon counties.  She married James Conley, a printer of 
Oconomowoc, Wis. (2) Harry, born in 1878, is unmarried and at home; he is a worker 
in the lead mines. (3) Lennice, born in 1881, now a student at the Normal in 
Platteville.  (4) Roy, born in 1884, is at home, and under his fathers supervision 
is managing the home farm.

Rolla M. Strong is a steadfast Republican, and cast his first vote for Abraham 
Lincoln.  Before he was eighteen years of age he donned the Union blue, and all 
through his life has given evidence of patriotism adequate to any demand that might 
be made upon it.  Mr. and Mrs. Strong both belong to the Congregational Church of 
Mt. Zion, where he has always taken an active part in church work, and is a liberal 
supporter of his denomination.  Mr. Strong is a member of Sherman Post, No. 66, G. 
A. R., at Platteville.

Mr. Strong comes from one of the good old Southern families whose ancestry dates 
back to a period long antedating the Revolution, and he is worthy of the name he 
bears.