MAILER, John

History of Northern Wisconsin. Chicago: Western Historical, 1881, pp 163-164

John MAILER, blacksmith, Alma [Buffalo County, Wisconsin], was born 03 
October 1842 in Perth, Scotland. In 1870 he came to America and settled in 
the village of Misha Mokwa, Buffalo County, and engaged at his trade of 
blacksmithing, which he continued ten years. He then removed to Alma. Mr. 
MAILER has been Justice of the Peace six years, and was elected Clerk two 
terms. [Misha Mokwa is shown (1878 Atlas of Wisconsin) in the northwestern 
corner of Nelson Township, just east of the Beef Slough, a tributary of the 
Chippewa River. The logging works called the "Beef Slough," where loggers 
sorted and boomed the pine in preparation for sending it in huge rafts down 
the Mississippi, is shown on the same map in the southern part of Nelson 
Township, just east of the Mississippi. The logging works and use of teams 
in both logging and farming in this area during the time Mr. MAILER resided 
there no doubt provided him with steady work as a blacksmith.] 

He [John MAILER] married [Miss?] Joanna PEDDIE, also a native of Scotland. 
They have nine children: Agnes I., John, William P., Thomas, Mary, Jane, 
Jessie, James I., and Margaret. [The family is enumerated in the 1880 Census 
of Misha Mokwa, Buffalo County, Wisconsin (p 338): John MAILER, age 
thirty-six (?), blacksmith, born in Scotland to parents also born in 
Scotland; his wife, Joanna MAILER, age thirty-five, born in Scotland about 
1845 to parents both born in Scotland; and John's nine children (the first 
three born in Scotland; the last six born in Wisconsin; all born to parents 
born in Scotland; the first five attending school; approximate years of birth 
calculated from census ages): (1) Agnes (Agnes I. of the bio), age 
fourteen, born about 1866; (2) John, age thirteen, born about 1867; (3) 
William (William P. of the bio), age eleven, born about 1869; (4) Thomas, 
age nine, thus born about 1871; (5) Mary, age seven, born about 1873; (6) 
Jane, age five, born about 1875; (7) Jesse, age four, born about 1876; (8) 
James (James I. of the bio), age two, born about 1878; and (9) Margaret, age 
four months, born in 1880. Completing the household is a boarder unrelated 
to Mr. MAILER: Miss Vina ELENBERGER, school teacher, born in Pennsylvania to 
parents who were also born there. Unknown to submitter if she taught the 
local school; her presence in the family does not suggest a familial 
relationship with Mrs. MAILER, as it was not unusual for teachers to "board 
around" in those days. Bracketed material added by submitter (who is not 
researching these surnames) to support and clarify information given in the 
biography and to raise questions.]

Submitted by Cathy Kubly