SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Joseph Bamford, Page 439

JOSEPH BAMFORD, a retired farmer and old pioneer settler of Sheboygan County, now a resident of the city of Plymouth, first made his home in this county in the spring of 1855.  He owned two hundred and twenty acres situated partly on sections 35 and 36 of that town, his residence being on section 35.

    Mr. Bamford was born near Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England, November23, 1820, and is a son of Joshua and Elizabeth (Taylor) Bamford.  His parents were born and reared in Yorkshire, and died there.  The father was a school teacher by profession.  The subject of this article received a liberal English education.  In 1842 he emigrated to America, settling first in Dutchess County, N. Y.  He was married there, October 23, 1848, to Miss Anna Maria Fleming.  Mrs. Bamford was born in Poughkeepsie, N. Y., May 30, 1827, and is a daughter of Henry and Rebecca (Rogers) Fleming.  Her father was a native of New Jersey, and her mother of Long Island.  The latter was descended from an old New England family of Connecticut.

    Mr. Bamford had learned the trade of a carpenter and joiner in his youth, in his native country, and on coming to the United States adopted that calling as an occupation.  In the fall of 1854 he came to Wisconsin, and purchased land in the town of Plymouth.  He returned at once to the State of New York, and the following spring he returned to Wisconsin with his family and settled on the land he had purchased.  He improved his farm and cultivated it successfully until the spring of 1885, when, the weight of years having made the duties of the farm too burdensome, he sold out and removed to the city of Plymouth, which has since been his home.

    Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bamford, three sons and a daughter.  Henry J., the eldest, married Lillie C. Hubbard, and is a cheese-dealer of Plymouth, of whom see sketch; Ernest T. married Minnie Burton, and is a farmer of Plymouth; Charles married Allie Hawley, and is the New York correspondent of the Chicago Herald; Mary E., the only daughter, resides at home.

    In politics, Mr. Bamford was an original Abolitionist, casting his first vote for John P. Hale for President.  On the formation of the Republican party, he joined that organization, with which he has since been identified.  While in Poughkeepsie, in the year, 1845, he united with the Congregational Church, and was one of the constituent members of the Plymouth Church of that denomination, of which he served as Clerk for upwards of a quarter of a century.  His wife and family are members of the same church.

    Mr. Bamford was the only one of his family to emigrate to America, and is therefore the founder of the family in the New World.  His course in life has been such as to command the respect of his fellow-citizens, and to leave a good name as an honorable example to his posterity.