Dodge County Wisconsin Past And Present Vol 2 Classic Reprint PDF Download

Excerpt from Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin, Past and Present, Vol. 2 Leonard T. Baker, a son of Mr. And Mrs. Abner Baker, was born in the town of Fort Ann, Washington county, New York, June, 2, 1834, and was a lad of fourteen years at the time of the removal of the family to Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin. Landing at Sheboygan from which port the elder Baker had been told he could more easily reach the land in Fond du Lac county which he had selected as his pioneer home, the party found it necessary to actually hew their way across the country to their destination, there being no road and scarcely so'much as a trail. For this, however, they were fairly well prepared as Abner Baker had brought with him men to help clear and place under culti vation his lands. Journeying slowly by day and camping out in the dense woods by night, the women sleeping in the wagons and the men on bunks of boughs, except the sentinel who kept a bright fire burning to protect the travelers from the wolves, these pioneers proceeded steadily to their new home. Arriving at their destination in what is now the town of Empire and some seven miles east of the city of Fond du Lac, they set about the task of home building and farm developing amid virgin timber and on soil that is still famous for its fertility. That young Baker did his full part in that work which was indeed a man's work, and bore his full share of the hardships incident to pioneer life is well known. Industrious, alert, aggressive he was an invaluable aid from the beginning and it was there amid those trying scenes that he developed that sturdiness of character and determination which have been such factors in his success throughout life. In those days Indians were numerous, deer and other kinds of wild game were to be had in abundance and wolves were always lurk ing near, ready to raid the farm yard and carry off poultry and young stock. One winter the wolves had been especially annoying and had all but annihilated the Baker flock of chickens. A visit to the Gov. Doty home one day was re warded by the gift of a whole brood and the chicks were cherished with such care that when an unusually cold spell came on, Mary, young Baker's sister, and later Mrs. T. F. Mayham, knit stockings for the birds and brought them all safely through. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.