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Read
a Diary Written in 1856
 
Hello and
welcome to "Waltons Mountain". We are about Walton and Taft Genealogy
so enjoy
your visit to this webpage. The links here are all in Blue print. Read
the Diary above, written in 1856 by my
great grandfather while he was on a ship from England. My
interests are
family history and collector automobiles, specifically cars from the
late 1950's and
early 1960's. There are five
children and
four grandchildren living on and
off my imaginary mountain. I get reminded a lot about my name and
its similarity to the Waltons TV show.
My World as it has Evolved
I was born
in Grant County Wisconsin, growing
up on a farm in the hills of Crawford County. I attended Boscobel
High School and graduated in 1958. Check out these pictures of the
building
where I went to High
School. I received a BS degree from Platteville
State University 1965. Since that time I worked in the
clinical
laboratory
field as a Clinical Laboratory Scientist, primarily in the field of
hematology,
the study of the Blood Cells.
I recently retired after 40 years.
My great grandfather William
Blakesley
Walton,
was born in Birmingham
England and came here with his wife, Sarah Jane Butler, and two
children
on a ship the "Canada" in 1856. I encourage you to read about his
crossing on the steamship
Canada at the top of this page. There are many details about the
ship itself and even the names of the people on the ship.
He spent his initial years here surveying
the
city of Madison Wis. then settled in Crawford county, Town of Scott,
and
was instrumental in helping to shape early Crawford County.
William was a notary public at Wheatville, Wi. early on, and held
township offices,
as well as doing survey work for Crawford County. He wrote several
diaries
that
begin the day he boarded the "Canada" and span his life. The hard cover
editions
(several) are in safekeeping with a cousin of mine and are
an excellent source of early every day life. Williams (Jr) father
and mother were William and Emma Walton and lived on Suffolk street in
Birmingham England. William and his sons, Joseph
Ezra Walton, Francis, and Frederick farmed the land for many
years , and Joes' sons Paul
Walton
(my Dad) and Millard Walton (my uncle) farmed there too as the years
passed.
About
75 acres of Walton land is still owned by a family member and the
original
log house (built about 1870) on the home place has been reconstructed
and
is still there! The logs which are from trees growing as long as 200
years ago are in remarkable condition! I have 2 logs from the old
house!
I have gathered some family history studies and these studies can be
found
at Family Tree Maker. Click on Walton Genealogy below. The maternal
part
of my family tree is the name TAFT. Yes to the question of Taft the
president. Click on these links below to view some
very
old pictures of The Tafts.
Taft
Family
Album
Some other
Interests
I have a
small woodworking
shop and sometimes I make shelves or other small projects like scroll
sawing
names or initials. I plant flowers in the spring and garden, grow
some
plants
from seed especially impatients, my favorite flower. I like
motorcycles (own one) and sometimes buy and sell them. I am a Green
Bay Packer fan,
and in general enjoy sports. I enjoy New York Yankee baseball and
especially like the history
behind that
team . Yes, I like the Milwaukee Brewers too!! I consider myself
very patriotic and generally display the flag everywhere as can be seen
here. Every
July I attend the Iola Car
Show
in Iola Wi. with two of my friends and usually a family member or
two.
We camp there and in general just have fun bonding. We have been doing
this for about 20 plus years. We are "experts"on the Iola Car
Show. Here
are some links
to things that might interest you. There are photo pages, tributes to
people, poems written by family members, pictures of motorcycles,
another diary, etc.
Links to Some
Favorite Sites
Times since April 1998
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