Contributed to the Pierce County WIGenWeb Project by Nance Sampson nsampson@spacestar.net
@2000 by Nance Sampson

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Submitted by Debbie Barrett June 13, 2001
mrsgrinnin@home.com

REV. DANIEL WILLSON, retired minister, Rock Elm, Pierce county, was born at
Oxford, Chenango county, N. Y., June 14, 1814.  His great-grandfather, a
native of England, came to America about 1760, and settled in New York, 
near the Connecticut line.  Benjamin Willson, his grandfather, had three
sons, the youngest of whom was named Kniffen.  The latter married Ruth
Morey, whose family was also of English descent.  Their children were named:
Nemler, Daniel, Nelson P., Caroline (Mrs. W. Atherton), Narcissa (Mrs. H.
Gilmore), Miranda (Mrs. T. B. Tripp), and Mary (Mrs. C. Graves).

Daniel attended the Buffalo high school and the Western New York Medical
College, from which he graduated in 1834.  In 1836 he came west.  The steamer
"Moselle," on which he had intended to take passage, blew up near Cincinnati.
Having taken an earlier boat, he arrived safely at Davenport, Iowa, which
then contained but six buildings.  There he began the practice of medicine,
and later he practiced that profession at Comanche, Iowa, and at Looneyville,
Minn., and was a member, from Houston county, of the state legislature in
1858.  In June, 1859, he was ordained in the Free Baptist church at Money
Creek, and has preached much of the time since that date.  He has been 
pastor at Money Creek, Minn., and Centerville, Wis., also supplied the pulpit
at Diamond Bluff, Cady Creek, Eau Galle and Rock Elm, Wis.  His services are
often required still to attend funerals.  Mr. Willson came to Pierce county
in 1865, and to Rock Elm in 1871, and has since resided there.

August 28, 1835, he married Miss Mary Atherton, and they were the parents of 
the following children: Sarah C. (Mrs. J. Dobbs), William N., Charlotte (Mrs.
C. K. Gile), Geo. W., Theresa I. (Mrs. E. C. Gile), James N., Jane (Mrs. E.
Blaisdell), Ruth (Mrs. Wight), and Mary (Mrs. D. L. Hoyt).  His wife died 
October 13, 1882, and Mr. Willson married, November 28, 1885, Mrs. Julia
Peck.  In politics, Mr. Willson has always been an ardent republican.  He was 
an anti-slavery advocate long before the movement became popular.  In local
politics he supports the prohibition party.  He has held the office of 
justice of the peace almost continuously since living in Rock Elm.  He 
cordially supports all temperance work.  He is a member of the I. O. G. T., 
and an honorary member of the W. C. T. U.

--Taken from the "Historical and Biographical Album of the Chippewa Valley
Wisconsin Including A General Historical Sketch of the Chippewa Valley;
Ancestral Records fo Leading Families; Biographies of Representative Citizens,
Past and Present; and Portraits of Prominent Men.  Edited by George Forrester.
Published in Chicago, Illinois by A. Warner. Publisher. 1891-2. Page 594