Bio: Gatchell, Albert & Lydia (Arrived in Spencer 1874)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Gatchell, Staples, Clapp, Messer

Source: Spencer Centennial Book (1874 – 1974)

Albert Gatchell, a native of Litchfield, Maine, married Lydia Staples at Lee, Maine, and in 1871 moved his family to Black River Falls, where he and another native of Maine manufactured boots under the name Gatchell & Clapp. In 1874 he became interest in a new town springing up in Central Wisconsin, where there were said to be miles of virgin timber. He came to Spencer and purchased a lot in a section on the west side of the Wisconsin Central tracks, then called Irene. In later years he lived with his daughter, Mrs. Messer, and had a shoe shop on Clark Street.