Bio: Mortimer, William & Estella
Contact: Loyal Public Library

----Source: Excerpt from "The Centennial History of the York Center United Methodist Church, 1880 - 1980..

MORTIMER FAMILY-WILLIAM AND ESTELLA

William and Estella (Pettit) Mortimer were married on June 1, 1876. Mrs. Mortimer was born at Columbus, Wis- January 26, 1852. Her early childhood was spent in the home of her uncle, Alonzo Pettit at Chilton, Wis. During those years she learned the duties of a pioneer household such as spinning the flax into thread and weaving the cloth from which the family garments were then fashioned. The years before her marriage were spent at her trade as a dressmaker in Oshkosh, Neenah and Menasha. In the fall of the year they were married (1876) they journeyed by oxcart and waoon to Clark County taking eleven days to make the trip which now can be made by car in five hours.

She and her husband built a log house, a barn and then worked to clear the land for farming. Four children came to complete the home circle, Jess, Grace, Ray and George. In 1899 the family circle was broken by the death of Mr. Mortimer.

With the establishing of a home came the creating of a church home. Mrs. Mortimer was soon associated with like-minded neighbors in the founding of the York Center Methodist Episcopal church. For over 50 years she was a regular attendant and an active worker in its Sunday school and Ladies Aid Society. Several generations of children remember her as their Sunday school teacher.

Della Chase writes, "I heard Grandma Mortimer tell this at Rowe's at a Community Club get together in 1929." Mrs. Estella Mortimer drove her team of oxen to Neillsville at Christmas time and took Maggie Benedict, Selina Rowe and Mrs. Hales along in her sleigh. She told it that she "gee-hawed" her oxen down there through the woods alright, but coming home her oxen missed the trail and ran over a stump. The bump shook Maggie Benedict off in the snow. Mrs. Mortimer said it didn't injure Mrs. Benedict but she looked so surprised when she rolled off the sleigh into the snow.

Mrs. Mortimer was a typical pioneer wife and mother, active and industrious even to the closing weeks of her life; cheerful and of good courage; one who enjoyed life and its blessings and was herself a blessing to those who knew her; a woman of faith and consecration, devoted to her church, always loyal to her Christ with a boundless interest and enthusiasm for the things of God's Kingdom. She retained her vigor of body and alert mind until her illness and death on June 14, 1933.

----Source: Clark Co., Wis. published biography

Former William Mortimer Farm

William Mortimer, son of Emanuel and Jernirna Mortimer was born in Chilton Calumet county, Wis., in 1850. At an early age he came to Wilcox, Clark county, now known as York Center, where he resided until the time of his death in 1899. Cause of death was heart trouble.

He was married at Chilton on June 1, 1876, to Estella Sane Pettit, who was born at Columbus, Wis., Jan. 26, 1852. In the same year, the couple traved by ox cart and wagon to Clark county. A new home was established in the woods near York Centex, where a log house and barn were erected. The farm consisted of 120 acres, which later became the homes of the three sons. To this union were horn four children, Jesse, who married Belle Davis, daughter of Jeremiah and Mary Davis; Grace, who married Ernest Rowe, son of Mr. and Mrs. Will Rowe; Ray, who married Marials Davis, daughter of Solon and Sarah Davis; and George, who never married.