Bio: Welsh, Alberlt, 1845
Contact: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org on Wed, 14 Feb 2001

Surname: WELSH, KILBURN, CLARK, WEAVER, ROSCOE, WYNHOFF, HILT

----Source: 1918 History of Clark County, Wisconsin


Albert Welsh

ALBERT WELSH, a pioneer settler of Loyal Township, where he resided for many years, was born in Steuben County, New York, Dec. 9, 1845, son of Uri and Rhoda (Kilburn) Welsh. Soon after his birth the family moved to Illinois, where, when he was about a year old, his mother died. Two years later the father, with his two children, J. Henry and Albert, removed to Dodge County, Wis., and a year later he died at Watertown, Jefferson County. The two orphan boys then went to live with their grandfather, John Welsh, at Iron Ridge, Dodge County, Wis., where Albert attended school and grew to manhood.

In May, 1864, he enlisted for the 100 days service in Company C, 41st Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. After serving for that time he re-enlisted in Company B, 52d Wisconsin Volunteers, as a corporal, and served until the close of the war, being mustered out at Ft. Leavenworth, Kans., and honorably discharged at Madison, Wis. In the same year, 1865, he came to Clark County, and took a homestead of 160 acres in Loyal Township, which, however, he relinquished at the end of three months.

Later he returned to Dodge County, where he remained until 1869, subsequently going to Washington County, Wis., where he engaged in farming. There, on July 3, 1870, he was united in marriage with Zeette A. Mowry, of that county, and in the same year they came to Clark County, locating half a mile west of Loyal, in section 16, where Mr. Welsh bought 80 acres of wild land. Building a log house and barn, he then set to work and cleared five acres of the land, after which he sold the place to his aunt, Mrs. E. Clark, and moved onto the Weaver farm in the same township. On the latter place he remained for a period of fourteen years, subsequently buying a farm of forty acres a mile and a quarter north of Loyal, where he built a house, broke and cleared the land and established a home, becoming one of the representative citizens of the community.

For three years he served as school treasurer of his district and for an equal length of time as a member of the town board. In 1906 Mr. Welsh went to Montana and took a homestead of 160 acres in Wibaux County, where he has continued to reside. He has greatly improved his farm there and has bought additional land until he now owns 800 acres in the county. He is a stockholder in the Grain Growers' Elevator at Wibaux, also in the Farmers' Co-operative Store at Beach, N. D., and the Farmers' Terminal Elevator at St. Paul, Minn. His fraternal society affiliations are with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Grand Army of the Republic.

After a happy domestic life of over 32 years, death called Mrs. Zeette A. Welsh from her husband's side and she passed to the Great Beyond. They had been the parents of ten children, of whom three--Floyd, Serle and Geneva are now deceased. Those living are: Burton Uri, Albian E., Jennie M., Fred J., Kitty B., Ruth H., and Raleigh M. Burton Uri and Albian E. are farmers at Wibaux, Mont.; Jennie M., now Mrs. James Roscoe, also resides there, as does Fred J. Kitty B. is the wife of Henry Wynhoff, of Elmira, Wash.; Ruth H. is the wife of Leo Hilt, of Wibaux, Mont., and Raleigh H. resides there with his father. Mr. Welsh's career is that of a "self-made man," and his success reflects credit on his industry and enterprise. From the condition of an orphan boy dependent upon others, he has risen to a position of comparative affluence, through no devious method, but by honest toil intelligently directed, and the crown of success is rightly his.