im Bancroft came to America in 1842.
apparently convinced his parents
es and Ann to emigrate, for they
ed two years later with their other three
Iren, All were enthusiastic about the
country. James took out papers to
ome a citizen, and purchased forty
!s in the English Settlement on the
ngton to Racine Road (Highway A),
the intention of farming. He had sever-
ikes against him. He had never farmed
)re (and his land had never been
ied), he was forty-seven years old, and
ad insufficient help, as three of his chil-
had married and moved away within
ear of their arrival in Wisconsin.
ouraged, and with his wife homesick
ier family In England, they returned to


their home in Leeds, Yorkshire. He was able
to get back his old job as an apothecary.
He offered his farm in Wisconsin to his son,
William, who with his wife, Caroline, (pic-
tured with their son George at left), built a
house in the 1840's and lived there for at
least forty  years before retiring  to
Rochester. Besides farming, William was
occupied as a local minister for the English
Settlement Church from the early 1850's to
1884. His wife played the melodeon there.


In the 1840's, a company was formed to
build a plank road from Rochester to
Racine. A main intersection was where the
Rochester to Racine Road met the
Burlington to Racine Road at the Bancroft
Farm. Here tolls were collected from the
farmers as they drove their oxcarts full of


wheat to market in Racine. The plank road
days were numbered, but the toll booth
remained on the farm until the mid 1960's. It
was used as a storage building and animal
shed, until replaced by a new barn.


The farm, called "Lone Chestnut Farm", for
the old horse chestnut tree next to the
house, was purchased from William's family
by his sister Sarah's son, Alvin Noble. The old
house was moved across the road to be
used as a garage, and a new house was
built on the old foundation in 1924. Alvin's
son, Edward and his wife, Cathrine, moved
into it in 1926. Today, the farm is still owned
by the Noble family and still called "Lone
Chestnut Farm".


Liz Noble


LONE CHESTNUT FARM