From Memorial and Genealogical Record of Dodge and Jefferson Counties, Wisconsin, publ. 
1894 - Page 107-108
 
WILLIAM FOLSOM.  An exceptionally well-kept farm is that which is owned and operated by 
William FOLSOM, in Burnett Township, Dodge County, Wis., containing 160 acres.  He has 
resided here since November 1863, but was born in Windsor County, Vt., March 21, 1830, to 
Enos and Mary (STONE) FOLSOM, also natives of the Green Mountain State, where they were 
born, reared and married.  Mr. FOLSOM was a printer by trade, and followed that occupation 
while he resided in his native State, and was also editor of a paper for some time.  After his 
marriage he settled in Montreal, Canada, where he worked at his trade for twenty years, at the 
end of which time he returned to the old homestead in Orange County, Vt., and some years later, 
along in the sixties, his home until his death, in 1874, at the age of seventy-five years.  His first 
wife died in Montreal in 1832, and he was again married, his last wife surviving him and passing 
away in 1891.  William FOLSOM, the subject of this sketch, was the younger of two sons born to 
the first marriage, the elder son being Charles, who grew to mature years, married and settled in 
Dodge County April 4, 1867.  There was one half-brother, Francis, who joined the Union Army at 
the opening of the Civil War, becoming a member of the Second Vermont Volunteer Infantry, 
dying while in the service at the hospital at Annapolis, Md., in 1862.  Amanda, a full sister of 
William FOLSOM, became the wife of Augustus VOORHEES, of Iola, Kan.; and Ellen, the 
youngest half-sister, has been a missionary to India for the past twelve years.  The youthful days 
of William FOLSOM were spent in Canada and  Vermont, and he was brought up to a knowledge 
of farm life, with fair educational advantages, finishing his knowledge of the "world of books" by 
three terms in an academy.  After arriving at mature years he went to the City of New York, where 
he made his home for about eight months engaged in business.  He then returned home and 
farmed for his father one year, then, in 1852, moved West, to Ohio, and located near Chillicothe, 
and worked with an engineering corps for one season.
 
In the fall of 1853 he came to Dodge County, Wis., and bought 120 acres of land in Burnett 
Township, Dodge County.  About ten acres of this land had been broken and a farm house had 
been erected on the place, and he and his brother Charles located in the same and began 
energetically to improve the farm.  During the first few years the brother Charles taught school 
during the winter months, and was one of the pioneer teachers of this section.  After farming 
together for a number of years William FOLSOM bought his brother's interest, but in 1869 sold 
the farm and purchased the property on which he is now residing, which at that time was partly 
improved.  He built a large bank bar, good granaries, sheds, etc., and his residence is substantial 
and slightly.  He had little means on coming here, but the property of which he is now the owner 
is the result of his own push and enterprise.  He returned from Wisconsin to his old home in 
Vermont, and was there married, March 16, 1860, to Miss Fannie LOUGEE, who was born and 
reared in Orange County, and was an old schoolmate of her husband's.  She was a successful 
teacher for a number of years previous to her marriage.  Their union resulted in the birth of four 
children: Clara C., wife of John WESTON, of Burnett Township; Charles R., a successful teacher 
in Spencer's Business College, Milwaukee; Bertha F., who is attending Wayland University, at 
Beaver Dam, and William H., who is taking a course of study at Hillsdale, Mich.  Mr. FOLSOM is 
a Republican politically, and has voted for every presidential nominee of that party since that 
time, having formerly been an Old Line Whig.  He has always manifested considerable interest in 
local politics, and has held a number of local positions of honor and trust, such as chairman of the 
township board, treasurer, assistant supervisor, etc.  He has also been a member of the district 
school board, a delegate to county conventions, and in whatever position he has been placed he 
has acquitted himself creditably.  He and his family are members of the Free-Will Baptist Church, 
and are  among the original members of the same in Burnett Township.  Mr. FOLSOM is one of 
the substantial citizens of the county, and is a man of strict integrity and upright character.
 
Submitted by Carol