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The Edgerton Database |
Benjamin Hyde Edgerton, son of Elisha and Diana (Hyde) Edgerton.
Sophia Hosmer, daughter of Sidney Algernon and Sarah (Smith) Hosmer.
Children:
The household of Benjamin H. Edgerton was recorded
in the 1850 Federal Census of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin (pg.
212; dwelling #1984; family #2139; enum. August 27, 1850), as follows:
The household was recorded again in the 1860 Federal Census of Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin (pg. 455; dwelling #1483; family #1483; enum. July 27, 1860), as follows:
The household of “Ben H.” Edgerton was recorded in
the 1880 Federal Census of Chicago (District 117), Cook County, Illinois (pg.
188; dwelling #31; family #33; enum. June 1, 1880), as follows:
The following biography of Benjamin Hyde Edgerton
is provided by The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. IV (Milo M. Quaife, ed.; 1921; pp. 354-357): “Benjamin Hyde Edgerton was born in Saybrook near Norwich, Connecticut, April 17, 1811, the eldest son of Elisha and Diana Hyde Edgerton. Later the family removed to Taberg near Rome, New York, then considered very far west, where Elisha Edgerton purchased a farm and where the subject of this sketch remained until his twelfth year. He then removed to Buffalo and engaged in various pursuits, none entirely congenial until he took up the study of land surveying. It may be mentioned here in chronological order that he was closely related to the Fillmores of Buffalo – President Fillmore and he being first cousins; but there is no record that this connection was any aid to him in his early struggle for an education and a career. In the early thirties he moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, then a thriving village in the very far West, and was there employed on United State Government surveys, all the time studiously preparing himself for the profession of civil engineer. For this he became amply equipped and made it his life work until about the year 1870, when for a short period he engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Milwaukee. Having finished his work in Green Bay in 1835, Mr. Edgerton rolled his earthly possessions into a bundle, strapped it on the back of an Indian pony, and traveled southward through the wilderness, following Indian trails through woods, prairies, streams, and swamps, until he reached what was afterwards known as Kilbourntown, from the heights of which he had his first view of what is now the metropolis of Wisconsin. He beheld cornfields, wigwams, and the cabins of a few white settlers; among them, that of Solomon Juneau, which stood on the bank of the Milwaukee River, at the intersection of what is now East Water and Wisconsin Streets. For a time the cabin of Juneau was his home; and often in after years he told of his high living there, when Mrs. Juneau’s acorn pies were the one great luxury. He resumed his profession of surveyor and engineer; as the population increased he platted what is now the older part of Milwaukee, named many of the streets, and for along period took an active part in its civic and social life. In the early fifties the extension of railways into and through the West enlarged Mr. Edgerton’s field of activities, and he became a pioneer in Wisconsin’s railway development. The first railroad to be constructed was the Milwaukee and Mississippi River Railway, of which Mr. Edward H. Brodhead was the first chief engineer; Mr. Edgerton was assistant engineer until the completion of the road to Waukesha, which place remained for a short period the terminus of the road. Upon its extension to Madison and the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien Mr. Edgerton became chief engineer and removed from Milwaukee to Madison in 1853, where he purchased a home on the shore of Lake Mendota. After a residence of several years in the capital city, the railroad being completed to the Mississippi, he removed to Milwaukee, where the general offices of the railway were located. It may be mentioned here that the town of Edgerton in Rock County was named after him. He also surveyed the Janesville and Monroe branch of the railway, which leaves the main line at Milton Junction. Mr. Edgerton was afterwards engaged on other railway projects and surveys. He was engineer-in-chief of the Milwaukee and Northern Railroad surveying the line to Green Bay with a branch to Menasha, Neenah, and Appleton. It is a striking coincidence that Mr. Edgerton in after years was to make a pathway for the iron trail and locomotive to Green Bay across the same wilderness through which in the early thirties he had journeyed southward over the old Indian trails. He was also chief engineer of the McGregor Western Railway in Iowa, on which line he established the present thriving city of Cresco, and in partnership with Augustus Beadle was owner of the town site. He was also engineer-in-chief of the Kansas Southern Railroad; and the town of Edgerton on that line, in Johnson County, Kansas, was named after him. In connection with Daniel L. Wells (of Wells, French & Co.) and Alexander Graham of Whitewater, Wisconsin, Mr. Edgerton built part of what is now known as the Vandalia line, now a part of the great Pennsylvania system. He was also at one time paymaster and superintendent of what is now the Prairie du Chien division of the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul system. Mr. Edgerton was essentially a man of domestic tendencies. Because his engineering occupation kept him so much from home, he finally withdrew from all such interests and established himself in one that permitted him to enjoy more of the privileges of home life. Among the pioneer residents of Milwaukee was Dr. Algernon Sidney Hosmer, for a time the popular host of the old “Milwaukee House.” On June 7, 1838 one of his daughters, Sophia Hosmer, became the bride of Mr. Edgerton. For many years Mr. Edgerton was an active vestryman and Senior Warden of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. He was the architect of its edifice that for so many years occupied the northeast corner of Jefferson and Mason streets, where the Layton Art Gallery now stands. His eldest daughter having married and settled in Chicago, her family soon followed her. There Mr. Edgerton entered the great silence December 9, 1886, followed by his devoted wife on August 16, 1910. Both have their last sleep in beautiful Forest Home Cemetery, Milwaukee. The bell which tolls the arrival of its guests was his gift to St. Paul’s Church; and daily on the sanctified air of that loveliest of resting places it sends forth its mellow requiem notes for Benjamin Hyde Edgerton, his wife, and a daughter (Mrs. Gertrude Edgerton Faulkner), and for many pioneers of Wisconsin. Two sons and a daughter of Mr. Edgerton still live in Chicago, besides other descendants. The information contained in this biographical sketch has been compiled by them.” |
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