WI BIO - Richland Co - RIZER, John H.

First biography of John H. RIZER

History of Crawford & Richland Counties, Wisconsin. Springfield: Union, 1884, 
Part 2, p 277

John H. RIZER, a pioneer settler of Dayton [the Township of Dayton, Richland 
County, Wisconsin], was born 10 February 1830 in Pittsburg [Pittsburgh, 
Allegheny County], Pennsylvania. His father was an edge tool maker in 
Pittsburgh. In 1835 the family moved to Maryland and lived four years; 
thence to Tippecanoe County, Indiana, where the father purchased land and 
engaged in farming. Four years later his [John H. RIZER's] father died, 
leaving a wife and six children, the youngest an infant of six months. Six 
months after the father's death the mother died, and the children became 
scattered. At the age of sixteen years the subject of this sketch engaged 
with a tinner in Lafayette [Tippecanoe County], Indiana, to learn the trade. 
He served three years, then worked on a farm in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.

On 23 March 1852 he [John H. RIZER] was married to [Miss?] Mary E. BERRY, who 
was born 02 November 1837 Warren County, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. RIZER [John H. 
and Mary E. RIZER] have three children living: Marquis D., Lorena, and 
Clara, also an adopted son, Willie.

[Following his marriage, John H. RIZER] then rented a farm in Warren County, 
Ohio, until 1854, when they started for Wisconsin with an ox team, taking 
their household goods and provisions with them, and camping at night by the 
roadside. After traveling seventeen days they arrived in Richland County 
[Wisconsin]. He entered land on Section 20, Town 10 [North], Range 1 West, 
now known as [the Township of] Dayton, camping in the woods until they built 
a log cabin. In 1860 he, like many others, became excited with the so-called 
gold fever and started for Pike's Peak [Colorado], where he was engaged in 
mining and prospecting a few months.

He [John H. RIZER] then returned to Richland County and purchased timber land 
[40 acres] on Section 12, Town of Akan, where he claimed a farm and built a 
good frame house. In 1882 he bought a farm [120 acres adjoining] on Section 
11 [Akan Township, Richland County], moved there, and engaged in the dairy 
business, which was a new departure in that town. [J. H. RIZER also owned 80 
acres on Section 14, adjoining the 120 acre tract on Section 11.] His 
example has since been followed by some of his neighbors. In 1882 he milked 
nineteen cows, in 1883 twenty-five. His farm now contains 302 acres, 180 of 
which are tillage and pasture land. It is well supplied with good water from 
a never-failing spring, and being good grazing land is well-adapted for a 
dairy farm. 


Second biography of John H. RIZER

History of Richland County, Wisconsin. Miner, J., ed. Chicago: Western 
Historical, 1906

John H. RIZER, one of these pioneer settlers of Dayton, was born 10 February 
1830 in Pittsburg [Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania]. At the age 
of sixteen, his parents having died, he engaged with a tinner in Lafayette 
[Tippecanoe County], Indiana, to learn the trade. He served three years, and 
then worked on a farm in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, after which he rented a 
farm in Tippecanoe County until 1854.

He and his wife [Mr. and Mrs. John H. RIZER] started for Wisconsin in 1854 
with an ox team, taking their household goods and provisions with them and 
camping at night by the roadside. After traveling seventeen days they 
arrived in Richland County [Wisconsin]. John H. RIZER entered land on 
Section 20, Town of Dayton, and camped in the woods until he built a log 
cabin.

In 1860 John H. RIXER, like many others, became excited with the gold fever 
and started for Pike's Peak [Colorado], where he was engaged in mining and 
prospecting a few months. Mr. RIZER then returned to Richland County 
[Wisconsin], and purchased timber land on Section 12, Town of Akan, where he 
claimed a farm and built a good frame house. In 1882 he bought a farm on 
Section 11, moved there and engaged in the dairy business, which was a new 
departure in that town, but his example was soon followed by many of his 
neighbors. Mr. RIZER was a genial, pleasant disposition, and was generally 
popular in the neighborhood in which he resided.

Submitted by Cathy Kubly