HISTORY OF WOOD COUNTY



at Danville, N. Y., in 1846. Of the children born to them, John was the eldest,
the others being Mary, Sophia, Frank, Amos, James, Sylvester, Elizabeth,
William
and Theresa. Those now living are John, Amos, James, Elizabeth and William.
Elizabeth is the widow of Henry Hanson and resides near Chicago, and William
lives in the state of Washington. About 1851, when John was three years old,
the family moved to Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, where the father worked
three- years at the cooper's trade, which he had learned in the East. In
1854,
having previously served five years in the regular army, he took a soldier's
claim
of 160 acres of wild land in Manitowoc County and began farming with practically
no resources. There were neither roads nor bridges and the family lived there
12
years before they could get anywhere with teams, supplies having to be "backed
in," as it was termed, meaning to be carried in on the back. After the
Civil War
broke out Frank Markee, the father, went into the army and served two and
a
half years as a regular. The first house on the farm was a small log shanty,
which
he had built, having to carry the logs, for as yet they had no team of any
kind.
They subsequently made some progress and resided on that farm until about
1868.
Frank Markee died in Manitowoc County about 1890, and his wife died some
years later. John Markee, who had but little schooling, remained on the home
farm until he was 26 years old. On Jan. 13, 1874, he married his first wife,
whose
maiden name was Agnes Rauch, and who was at the time a resident of Manitowoc
County. By her he had one daughter, named Agnes after her mother, and who
was born Jan. 14, 1875. She is now the wife of John Burnham of California.
But as she entered upon the world her mother left it, Mr. Markee remaining
a
widower until Jan. 21, 1876, when he married Anna Breu of Manitowoc County,
Wis., she having been born in that county May 19, 1858. John Markee and his.
second wife began home making in Perry Township, Dane County, where he bought
120 acres of improved land but with a very poor set of buildings thereon.
For
six years he and his wife lived in a small one-room shanty. In 1882 they
sold that
farm and moved to Wood County, Mr. Markee purchasing 172 acres of wild land
in Section 3, Auburndale Township, and erecting a set of log buildings thereon.
Later he built a large veneered-brick house, two good frame barns with a
full stone
basement under each, and other necessary structures, and with a good operating
equipment followed general and dairy farming successfully. In 1913 he sold
that
farm to his son Frank and moved to Auburndale village, where in 1914 he built
a
comfortable residence which he and his wife- now occupy. When he left the
farm
he had cleared and brought under cultivation 152 of its 170 acres. During
his
active career he served the township for years as supervisor, a part of the
time as;
chairman of the board, and he is now a member of the village board. He is
a,
stockholder of and one of the the directors in the Auburndale State Bank,
and
politically is a Republican. The children of his second marriage are as follows:
Mary, born Feb. 16, 1878, and now deceased, who married William Baltus of
Woodruff, Wis.; Annie, born Feb. 28, 1879, now the wife of Michael Baltus
of Wood
County; Theresa, born March 22, 1880, now Mrs. Joseph Kotas of Auburndale;
Frank A., born Oct. 27, 1881, who is the present owner of the old home farm;
Margaret, born Oct. 14, 1883, who is the wife of George Schmidt of Fond du
Lac,
Wis.; John, born Oct. 8, 1885, now residing at Timber, Wash.; Martha, born
Aug.
22, 1888, who is the wife of George Baltus of Auburndale Township; Catherine,
born Sept. 21, 1890, now Mrs. Edward Schmidt of Auburndale; Anthony, born
May 5, 1892, who lives in the state of Oregon; Helen, born Feb. 11, 1894,
who died
nine days after birth; Joseph, born Feb. 19, 1895, now in the state of Washington;
and Frances, born June 9, 1897, who is the wife of August Mancel of Milladore.
The family, or those of its members in this vicinity, are members of St.
Mary's.
Congregation at Auburndale, of which congregation Mr. Markee has served as,
trustee for several terms. The following item copied from an Oregon paper,
re-
lates an adventure of Mr. Markee's son Anthony: "A. W. Markee, a homesteader
living six miles south of Cascadia, last Sunday had an experience which the
average,
man would not care to have every day. He had left his home to return a cross-
cut saw to a neighbor and was on his return, carrying his gun at his side,
when he-



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