Bio: Holmes, Hal B. 

Contact: Stan

Surnames: Holmes, Yakish, Chubb 
 

----Source: Marshfield News Herald (Marshfield, Wood County, Wis.) 6 Aug. 1930 
 

Hal B. Holmes, who has lived in the vicinity of Granton since 1878, was born September 26, 1859, in Albany, New York, the son of Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Holmes. He lived in Albany until 1865, and remembers distinctly the shooting of President Lincoln, whose body he viewed as it lay in state in the Capitol. Following the death of his father, in the same year, he lived with relatives in New York and Illinois for six years, and on his twelfth birthday came to Wisconsin, passing through Chicago two weeks before the fire of 1871. 
 

He lived with his mother at Fond du Lac until he was 19, when he accompanied C. W. Chubb to Clark County to buy land. They tramped 103 miles in the wilderness, and finally purchased a tract of woodland in the town of Lynn. Two days and one night were spent in traveling from Grand Rapids, now Wisconsin Rapids, to Nasonville, where their team of horses played out, and they had to hire an ox team to complete the journey. They followed the Yellow River, and one man served as a guide going ahead of the team to pick out a trail. Arriving at their destination, they erected temporary log buildings and later added to them from time to time. Eventually 82 acres of land were cleared, with the aid of neighbors, who exchanged work, and the log buildings were replaced with modern frame structures. In 1907 he retired from farming and purchased a home on Highway 10, just outside of Granton, where he has since resided. He has held various town and school offices, and served for many years as a director of the Granton State Bank, resigning ten years ago.  
 

He was married in 1881 to Miss Ida Helena Yakish. They have three children: Fredrick Robert, who died at the age of six years; Inez, at home; and Gertrude, who is engaged in home missionary work in the Blue Ridge Mountains, near Morgantown, North Carolina.  
 

Politically, he is Independent, voting for the man rather than the party. His hobbies are fishing and hiking.