Biographical Sketch of
Ezra Whiting
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 830 - 831 Ezra T. Whiting, who is engaged in the livery business at Dartford and also has a bus line, is a native of Green Lake County. He was the first white male child born in the town of St. Marie, his birth occurring on the 13th of October, 1849. He is a son of Joel and Lucy (Amadon) Whiting. The ancestry is traced in direct line to Nathaniel Whiting, who was one of the first settlers of Dedham, Mass., whose history dates almost from the beginning of American colonization. He was of English birth but decided to cast his lot with those who had come to find homes in the New World. In 1643 he married Hannah Dwight, and unto them were born fourteen children. The line of direct descent is through Samuel, son of Nathaniel Whiting, Josiah, Caleb, Timothy, Joel to Ezra T. Samuel Whiting, in 1676, married Sarah Metcalf, and had five children; Josiah, son of Samuel, married Elizabeth Grant, and they became the parents of four children, one of whom, Caleb M., wedded Hannah Sibley, who bore him four children. After her death he married a Miss Southworth, and three children were born unto them; Timothy, a son of the second marriage, chose for a companion Dorcas Fairbanks, and unto them were born nine children, one of whom, became the wife of Elder Warren and Ellis Whiting, early settlers of Fond du Lac County, Wis. Another member of that family was Joel Whiting, father of our subject, who was born in Worcester County, Mass., on the 20th of September, 1800. When about nineteen years of age, he left his childhood home and removed to Erie, N. Y., where he resided until 1836, when he emigrated to Northern Indiana, locating on Terecopia Prairie. Eleven years were there passed, when in 1847, he came to Green Lake County settling in the town of St. Marie, where he turned the first furrow. He was in very limited circumstances at the time of his arrival, but by hard labor, energy and perseverance, combined with the rise in the value of land, at the time of his death he had a comfortable competency and was the owner of 320 acres of fine land. He was thrice married, and by his first union were born three children. After the death of his first wife he married Mrs. Lucy Barrett nee Amadon, who had also been previously married, and was the mother of two children. But one child was born of the second marriage, Ezra D., whose name heads this sketch. After the death of Mrs. Lucy Whiting, which occurred about 1866, he became the husband of a Mrs. Nichols, who was a member of one of the pioneer families of the county. She survived her husband several years. In political sentiment, Mr. Whiting was a Republican, and in religious faith a Friend or Quaker. His wife held membership in the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Ezra T. Whiting, our subject, has passed his entire life in the county where he was born. He was reared to agricultural pursuits, and passed his early life in the usual manner of farmer lads. He acquired his education in the district schools of the neighborhood and remained under the parental roof until both father and mother had been called home. The earlier years of his manhood were spent as a farmer, he engaging in that business until 1883, when he abandoned the occupation to embark in his present line of work. In that year he came to Dartford, purchasing the livery barn of which he has since been proprietor. He keeps on hand three omnibuses and a good line of carriages, and does a flourishing business as a liveryman. In addition to that business he is also owner of a restaurant. Courteous in manner and always accomodating, he receives a liberal patronage and is ranked among the leading business men of the town. In political sentiment, he is a Republican and takes a deep interest in the success of the party.
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