Biographical Sketch of

Alric A. Chamberlin

Transcribed by Sandra Boudrou for the Marquette Co WI Pages


Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 798 - 799 


Alric A. Chamberlin has been a resident of Waushara County from the days of its early infancy, and no one has 
more faithfully performed his duty of citizenship or aided more willingly in the upbuilding of the county than 
he.  It is the noble hand of men and women who bore the hardships and privations of frontier life, that laid 
the foundation for its present prosperity, and to them is certainly due a great debt of gratitude.  Devoting 
his time and attention to farming and stock-raising on section 11, in the town of Plainfield, Mr. Chamberlin 
expects to pass the remainder of his life, where he has already so long resided.  He was born in Franklin 
County, N. Y., Aug. 7, 1834, and is a son of Benjamin and Lodema (Mann) Chamberlin, the former born of English 
parentage, the latter of Scotch and English extraction.  Learning the trade of cabinet making in St. Albans,
Vt., Benjamin Chamberlin then followed that pursuit in the Empire State until 1849, when accompanied by his 
two sons, the only members of his family who yet survived, he emigrated to the new State of Wisconsin, making 
a location in the town of Marion, Waushara County, where he entered 200 acres of wild land.  Erecting a log 
cabin, father and sons then began the development of a farm.  Clearing the land, they then broke it, planted 
their crops and were rapidly developing a good farm, but after four years they sold out and removed to the 
village of Hancock, where Mr. Chamberlin kept the Sylvester Hotel for a period of nine years.  He then removed 
to a farm situated near Eau Claire, Wis., where he remained four years, when he went to California, spending 
eighteen months on the Pacific Slope.  On his return to Wisconsin he again resumed farming, but after a year 
sold out and took up his residence in the city of Eau Claire, whence he removed to Berlin, where the last 
years of his life were passed, his death occurring at Eau Claire while on a visit at that place in 1876.  
As before intimated, his wife died in New York, departing this life in March, in 1849.  In 1850 he married 
Mrs. Aurilla Phillips, of Vermont.  By her he had a son and daughter.  The latter died at Hancock while in 
her third year, and the son, George, died in 1883.  Mrs. Chamberlin died at Berlin the year previous to the 
death of her husband, and was taken to Eau Claire for burial.
 
Our subject belonged to a family of five children, but he has only one brother now living--Henry M., a resident 
of California.  The other three died in infancy.  Alric A. accompanied his father to Wisconsin, and with him 
shared the hardships and toils incident to the early settling of a new country.  He became of age while residing 
in Hancock and started out in life for himself.  Having learned the carpenter's trade with his father and brother, 
he followed that pursuit in and around Hancock until 1861, when he removed to Jefferson County, where he worked 
at his trade about two years, and then returned to the village in which he had previously made his home.  In the 
fall of 1863, he enlisted for the late war, and has faithfully served his country until discharged from the service 
at Madison, Sept. 20, 1865.
 
On the 2nd of July, 1857, Mr. Chamberlin was joined in wedlock with Eleanor Van Volkenburg, who, while he was at 
the South defending the Union cause, made her home with her mother in the town of Plainfield.  On his return, Mr. 
Chamberlin repaired to the farm which he soon afterward purchased of Mrs. Van Volkenburg and has since made it 
his home.  Two children were born of this marriage--Frank E., of Plainfield, and George H.  They were deprived 
of a tender and loving mother by death July 6, 1878, her remains being interred in Plainfield cemetery.  Our 
subject was again married July 19, 1882, Ladorna L. Strong, becoming his wife.  Unto them were also born two 
children--Willie Ray, born July 15, 1884; and Alric Earl, born Sept. 15, 1886.  Death again visited the home 
on the 11th of July, 1889, and claimed the wife and mother.  To the best of his ability, Mr. Chamberlin supplies 
her place, surrounding his sons with loving care and attention called forth by his sad bereavement.
 
Great indeed have been the changes that have taken place since our subject landed in Waushara County, forty years 
ago.  Only a few cabins were scattered over its prairies, and not a village or post-office could be found within 
its borders but Indian wigwams were seen here and there; deer had not yet been frightened away by the white settlers
 but still frequented their old haunts, and foxes and wolves were sometimes seen.  Successfully opposing all obstacles
 and disadvantages, Mr. Chamberlin has acquired a comfortable home comprising seventy-six acres of highly improved 
and cultivated land, and owns a tract of forty acres elsewhere.  He cast his first Presidential vote for John C. 
Fremont, and since that time has been a stalwart Republican.  He served as Justice of the Peace fourteen years, was 
Town Treasurer, has been a school officer since his residence in this town, and is now Clerk of School Board No. 1.  
Socially he is a member of the Masonic Lodge, of Plainfield, and the G. A. R. Post of Hancock.  He has lived an upright, 
earnest Christian life, in harmony with his profession as a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and is greatly 
esteemed by all who know him.  For six years he acted as agent for the "Continental Insurance Company," of New York, 
and did collecting for them for three years.  For some years past he has acted as agent for Thomas Kane & Co., of 
Chicago, in the sale of school-house furnishings.






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