Surnames: COUNSELL POPE SHORT LOWE

----Source: CLARK COUNTY REPUBLICAN & PRESS (Neillsville, Wis.) 11/24/1910

Counsell, Henry (15 Mar 1835 - 20 Nov 1910)

Henry Counsell, one of the oldest residents of Clark County, died at his home in this city, Sunday evening, Nov. 20, 1910, after a year and a half of patient suffering.

Mr. Counsell was born in Somerset Shire, England, March 15, 1835. He came to America with his parents in 1848. They lived about a year in New York state and then moved to Wisconsin, settling in Waukesha Co. In the fall of 1856 Henry Counsell and his brother Joseph, now of Hartland, Wis., and two companions, came to Clark County, traveling with ox team, part of the way following a blazed trail through the wilderness, to what is now known as Pleasant Ridge.

In the fall of 1858 he was married to Susan Mary Pope and they began housekeeping on the farm they occupied until the fall of 1906, on the Ridge Road about three miles east of Neillsville. Making a farm in a hardwood forest was in those days a more difficult task than it is today. Much of the largest timber was then unsalable and had to be rolled up and burned. Success came only through hard toil and careful saving of all one’s resources. Mr. Counsell was the type of man who met the requirements of his day at every stage of the country’s development. He wrought faithfully upon the community’s foundations, and as this region grew into a farming and stock raising district, he was foremost in adapting himself to its conditions and in leading the way to better things. Through all those pioneer days his wife was his able and faithful helper in the home, sharing in its plans, its hopes, its toils, its trials and its successes. Their life and influence meant much, not alone in their own family, but to the entire community, and fortunate indeed is any neighborhood whose foundations have been laid by such people.

To them were born three sons and three daughters: W.H. Counsell of Milwaukee, Ore.; Oscar E., who lives on the old farm; Joseph E., who lives near by; Mrs. Nettie Short, who resides with her parents, and two daughters deceased, Mrs. Ida V. Lowe and little Jennie who died in infancy.

In the fall of 1906 Mr. and Mrs. Counsell moved to their comfortable house on Oak St. in Neillsville and retired from the active duties of life.

To the aged wife, to the bereaved children and grandchildren are offered the community’s sincere sympathy.

The funeral will be held Wednesday afternoon at two o’clock at the home, Rev. W.P. Burrows officiating.