SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

William Halter, Page 587

WILLIAM HALTER, one of the leading farmers of Lyndon Township, residing on section 12, has for almost half a century made his home in this county, and is therefore numbered among its honored pioneers.  A native of the Empire State, he was born on the 3d of September, 1841, and is the second in a family of three sons.  Benjamin, the eldest, is a prosperous farmer of Lima Township, and a sketch of his life is given elsewhere in this volume.  William is the next younger, and John is also an agriculturist of Lima Township.  The parents are mentioned in connection with the history of Benjamin.

    William Halter spent the first seven years of his life in the Empire State, and then accompanied his parents on their westward journey to Sheboygan County, arriving here in the year in which Wisconsin was admitted to the Union.  The father purchased land in Lima Township, and there the family lived in true pioneer style.  Indians still visited the neighborhood, and deer and other wild game could be had in abundance.  Amid the wild scenes of frontier life our subject was reared, and was early inured to the arduous labor of developing farms from the unbroken prairie.  The common schools of the neighborhood afforded him his educational privileges, and his knowledge has been greatly  supplemented by reading, experience and observation in later years.  He has led a busy and useful life, and the success which has come to him is well deserved.

    As a companion and helpmate on life's journey, Mr. Halter chose Miss Mira Gilbert, daughter of David W. and Keziah (Ferris) Gilbert, pioneer settlers of Sheboygan County, now residing in Lima Township.  Their life record is given elsewhere in this volume.  Mrs. Halter, who was born November 15, 1847, acquired a liberal education and was married November 29, 1871.  By this union were born three children, but Ruby died at the age of six months, and one died in infancy.  Jennie is still under the parental roof.  She has been educated in music, and her literary education has been acquired in the public schools and under her mother's instruction.

    Mr. Halter is a man of firm convictions and is unflinching in support of what he believes to be right.  The Republican party has found in him an ardent supported since the time when he cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln.  His wife is a member of the Baptist Church, and both are people of sterling worth, whose many excellencies of character have won them a host of warm friends.  The Halter farm comprises eighty acres of good land, thirty acres being timber-land, while the remainder is under a high state of cultivation.  It is pleasantly situated six miles from Plymouth, and a like distance from Sheboygan Falls.  The home is a comfortable residence, the outbuildings are models of convenience, and the well-tilled fields and neat appearance of the place indicate the thrift and enterprise of the owner, who is classed among the progressive and substantial farmers of Lyndon Township.  He has witnessed almost the entire growth and development of the county, and has ever borne his part in the work of public improvement.