SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Lemuel Tibbitts, Page 349

LEMUEL TIBBITTS is one of the honored early pioneers and respected citizens of Sheboygan County, and is now living in Hingham.  He was born in Waldo County, Me., April 10, 1824, being the eldest of six sons and three daughters born unto Benjamin and Sallie (Clark) Tibbitts.  Amos L. lives in Hingham.  Arthur is a resident of Trempealeau County, Wis., and is a carpenter and joiner by trade.  He married Miss Margaret Hardy, and has one son, Ernest, a printer in Washington, D. C.  Horace is represented elsewhere in this volume.  Mary J., the widow of C. A. Davis, with her son and daughter, lives in Burlington, Iowa.  Elizabeth A., the widow of J. Morrill, makes her home in Frontier County, Neb.; and Ellen resides with her brothers.

    The father of our subject was born in Maine, and was reared to agricultural pursuits.  With his wife and nine children he emigrated to Sheboygan County, Wis., in 1846, most of the distance being made by the water route.  he purchased in this county eighty acres of partly improved land, which had a small log and frame house upon it.  The surrounding country was a perfect wilderness.  The first mill-dam in Hingham was erected by Mr. Tibbitts for old Mr. Giddings, now of Fond du Lac, Wis., whose biography is given elsewhere.  Sheboygan was a small village, and Pennsylvania Avenue was the principal thoroughfare.  Indians were very plentiful, and deer abounded in the neighborhood.  In his political views, he was an old-line Whig, and later became a Republican.  He was a friend to the public schools, and assisted in organizing the first one established in Hingham, which was then without a sign of habitation.  he was always a friend to the poor and needy, and was upright and honorable in all the walks of life.  His wife was also born in the Pine Tree State, and on the 12th of June, 1873, their golden wedding was celebrated, all of the children and most of their grandchildren being present.  They are sleeping their last sleep side by side in the Hingham Cemetery, which is located on our subject's farm.

    Lemuel Tibbitts was a young man of twenty-two years when he came to Sheboygan County, after which he studied surveying, and his work in that direction took him over the surrounding country, laying out village plats, farms and roads.  Among others, he laid out Hingham, and partially platted the villages of Greenbush, Plymouth and Adell.  With the exception of his work in that direction, his time has been devoted to agriculture.  he was given a good education in his native State, but when he embarked in the battle of life he had to rely entirely upon himself, and all he has acquired has been through his own industry and economy.

    Out subject has been twice married, his first union being celebrated in August, 1857, when Miss Sarah M. Twist, a native of New York, became his wife.  They had one son, Jerome, a farmer of Sauk County, Wis., who married Miss Emma Rockwell, by whom he has one daughter.  The mother died in December, 1861.  The present wife of Mr. Tibbitts was formerly Miss Sarah Dunn, a native of the Empire State, and a daughter of James and Sarah (Campbell) Dunn.  They were married August 17, 1862, and have one son and three daughters.  Ulysses J. is a resident of Hingham, and his sketch may be found elsewhere in this work; Iona S. received a good education, and has taught school for two years in this county; Leola E. graduated from the schools at Hingham, and the High School at Waldo, and is a good musician; Effie R. completes the family.  The mother of these children was born on Christmas Day of 1834, and grew to womanhood in New York, receiving her education in the common schools.  As the years have come and gone, she has been a valuable helpmate to her husband, and a kind and loving mother.  Her father was born March 16, 1800, and died March 20, 1878.  he was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and was a youth of sixteen years when he came to America.  he was a drummer-boy at one time in the English army.  Settling near Sacket's Harbor, N. Y., he there devoted himself to farming for several years.  His wife was born November 3, 1799, in New York, and died April 1, 1883.  They were both buried in the Hingham Cemetery, where a suitable monument marks their last resting place.

    On the 20th of October, 1864, Mr. Tibbitts enlisted as a member of Company B, twenty-seventh Wisconsin Infantry, under Capt. Schlaich and Col. Krez, to go to the defense of his beloved country.  he was sent to his regiment at Little Rock, Ark., where they were doing guard duty.  He remained in that city until the following February, when he was sent to New Orleans.  With his regiment he then proceeded to Ft. Morgan, at the mouth of Mobile Bay, by way of Lake Pontchartrain.  He was detailed as a guard to the commissary, and after the fort was taken he assisted in the attack on Mobile, near which city he remained until the order came for his regiment to proceed to Brownsville, Tex.  There he received an honorable discharge from the service, having made a good record, and having never been absent from duty.  He was a faithful soldier, and was fortunate in never being obliged to go to the hospital during the entire time.  On the 14th of August, 1865, the order came to muster out the soldiers, after which he came home by way of New Orleans, and received his final discharge at Madison, Wis., in October.

    In politics, Mr. Tibbitts has been of late years a stanch Republican, and was formerly an old-line Whig.  His first vote was cast for William H. Harrison.  As a local official he has proved of great influence and service.  He was the first Postmaster in Hingham; was Supervisor for two years, Town Assessor for two years, Clerk for one year, and has long been Justice of the Peace.  In the cause of education he has been prominent, and has held the various positions of School Clerk, Treasurer and Director term after term.  Mrs. Tibbitts is a member of the Baptist Church of Lyndon Township.  The family are prominent in the social circles of Lima Township, where they are held in the highest respect.