Most of these articles were published in the late 19th and early 20 century in local histories. If you run across any that are not included below, please consider typing it up and contributing it to the web site. *Note: Although a valuable source, these histories are less accurate as subjects recount more than one or two previous generations.
Robert Van Tassel
Robert Van Tassel, an enterprising and successful farmer of Sumner Township, having a fertile farm of 185 acres in section 3, was born in Adams County, Wisconsin, near Kilbourn, June 18, 1861. He is a son of Jacob and Harriet (Bradford) Van Tassel. Jacob Van Tassel was born in New York state in September, 1821. Mrs. Harriet (Bradford) Van Tassel died in 1863, and three years later Jacob Van Tassel married Catherine Costello, who now resides at Madelia, Minn. They came to Trempealeau County in 1868, homesteading a farm in Hale Township, where Jacob Van Tassel spent the rest of his life.
Robert Van Tassel was the youngest of the six children by his father's first wife. He acquired a knowledge of agriculture in his youth and early manhood and after his father's death rented the home farm in Hale Township for two years. He then went to Verdi, Minn., where he resided until 1888. Subsequently returning to Hale Township he rented farms until 1898, in which year he bought the old home farm in Hale Township. There he remained until 1913, after which he sold it and bought his present farm, which is a well improved piece of property. The residence is a good two-story frame structure, with basement, and containing nine rooms. The barn measures 34 by 64 by 20 feet, with cement floors and steel stanchions, and in addition there is a stave silo, 12 by 32 feet, and a machine shed, 22 by 40. The property was purchased from E. J. Matchett and is well fenced with woven wire.
Mr. Van Tassel was married March 31, 1889, to Dora Bailey of Verdi, Minn.,
who was born near Melrose, Jackson County, Minn., Jan. 4, 1871, daughter of
Zaccheus W. and Catherine (House) Bailey. Her father, born in New York State
in 1842, died Sept. 9, 1902; his wife Catherine died Dec. 19, 1897. Mr. and
Mrs. Van Tassel are the parents of seven children: Ethel, born March 17, 1891,
who married Elmer Wood, railroad agent at Alma Center, and has one child, Muriel;
Vern, born Aug. 30, 1893; Ruth, born March 26, 1897, and now a teacher; Bessie,
born Sept. 2, 1899; Cecil, born May 30, 1902; Alfred, born Dec. 19, 1909; and
Dolores, born Sept. 4, 1914.
Source: "History of Trempealeau County Wisconsin, 1917," page 801.