William C. Bacon Biography
As published in
"The City of Kenosha and Kenosha County Wisconsin: A Record of Settlement,
Organization, Progress and Achievement"
by Frank H. Lyman Vol. 2, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1916.
An attractive farm on section 6, Bristol township, is the home property of
William C. Bacon and in its cultivation and develpment he secured a substantial
income, which is the merited reward of his earnest labor. He was born in
Bristol, August 1, 1855, his parents being Hiram and Harriet (Coburn) Bacon. The
father was born in New Hampshire, November 7, 1823, and the mother in Vermont,
October 27, 1831. They were married in the latter state, September 19, 1854. In
1855 they arrived in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, reaching their destination in
the month of March. The father purchased one hundred acres of land in Bristol
township but sold that property the following year and for two years rented the
Otis farm. He next purchased eighty acres in Bristol township, upon which he
carried on general agricultural pursuits for three or four years. His next
investment made him the owner of two hundred and twenty acres, which he
developed and improved up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1872. His
widow survived him for about a quarter of a century, her death occurring in
1896. In their family were but two children: William C., and Mary, who is now
the widow of Dr. L. D. Sheerer and has two children, Myra E. and Luther Baron.
In his political views Hiram Bacon was a stalwart republican and did everything
in his power to promote the growth and insure the success of his party. He
served as supervisor and was chairman of the board for one year, while for
twelve years he occupied the position of clerk of the school district., the
cause of education finding in him a stalwart champion. He attended the Methodist
Episcopal church, to which his wife belonged.
William C. Bacon was a pupil in the district schools to the age of seventeen
years, when he entered the high school at Kenosha, spending three years in study
there. At the end of that time he assumed the management of the old home farm,
which he continued to cultivate and improve until 1910, when he rented the
property to his son-in-law and has since lived largely retired although still
giving supervision to the further development of the place. He is president and
director of the Bristol Mutual Fire Insurance Company and a director of the
Woodworth Creamery Association.
On the 20th of March, 1879, Mr. Bacon was united in marriage to Miss Margaret
Sheen, a daughter of James Sheen of Paris township. The death of Mrs. Bacon
occurred on the 23d of February, 1916, and her grave was made in the cemetery on
the Bristol plank road. She left a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, who is now the wife
of Bryant S. Benson, and has two children, Bryand Bacon and William George. Mrs.
Bacon had many warm friends in the community, so that her death was the occasion
of deep regret, not only to her immediate family, but to many with whom she came
in contact.
Mr. Bacon is an exemplary respresentative of the Masonic fraternity, belonging
to lodge No. 145, in which he has held every office save that of master. He is
also identified with the Eastern Star, the Mystic Workers, the Woodmen and the
Royal Neighbors, but the dominant force in shaping his life has been his
religious faith. He is a Methodist. His political allegiance is given to the
republican party on many occasions, yet he does not hold himself bound by party
ties, and at local elections votes, as he believes, for the best man. His fellow
townsmen, appreciative of this worth and ability, have frequently called him to
public office. For eleven years altogether he has served as supervisor, and for
two terms was chairman of the board. He served for twenty-one years as a
director of the school board, doing everything in his power to further the case
of public edutation, believing the public schools to be the bulwark of the
nation. His influence is always on the side of right, truth, reform and
progress, and his work along those lines has been directly beneficial and
resultant.
Typed by: Michelle Laycock