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- Caroline Van Vlack, b. Sept. 30, 1825 in Dutchess Co; d. Jan. 9, 1854; m. Dec. 27, 1849 (? 1848) Thomas Spencer Redford (article below states m. Dec. 25, 1848 but Perrysburg Vital Records lists date of marriage as Dec. 27, 1848), he b. July 11, 1818 in Genesee County, NY, d. Nov. 27, 1903 in Waukesha Co., WI, son of Arthur A. and Mary (Scott) Redford. They moved to WI. Thomas m. (2) on Oct. 24, 1854 Jane Reely (Realy); m. (3) on July 11, 1864 Abigail Newell. Information below supplied by Sheri Meerscheidt, a descendant of the Redford family.
"History of Waukesha County", pg 483, by T.S. Redford, May, 1880
"I was born in the year 1818, in Genesee County, N.Y. My father and mother moved from that county and located in Cattaraugus County (NY) when I was twelve years old, and then in 1836, I started west to find a home. I traveled from Cattaraugus County through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois, and reached Milwaukee the 23rd of April,1836. During my journey, which was on foot, I carried a valise that weighed twenty-five pounds on my back. Some days I traveled in Michigan all day, and did not find more than one or two houses, and poor ones at that. I often got tired and homesick, but kept on till I found Wisconsin. When I came to Milwaukee, there were but very few inhabitants in the place; no schools, no churches, in fact nothing but a swamp of tamarack, with but few settlers in the town. After taking a rest, I fell in with a group of surveyors that were going out and I went with them. On the 15th of May, 1836, I located in the town of Lisbon, on the southeast quarter of Section 25. To-day makes me forty-four years the owner of the same, it being the first claim made in the town. When I look back on the past, and see such a city as Milwaukee, with its schools, churches, hotels and warehouses, together with the residences, banks, and the Chamber of Commerce, and railroads and telegraph lines leading in every direction, it often seems to me that it is not possible I have lived to see all the vast improvements that have taken place in this State within the space of forty-four years. When I took up my claim, the land from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi was nearly all in a state of nature, and to-day it is all under a state of cultivation, dotted over with farmhouses and fine villages, with schools and churches ranking second to those of no State in the Union. I am very sorry to say that most all of my old neighbors have passed away. There are but very few left to tell the hardships of settling a new country, without railroads or anything but a ox team and wagon to carry freight through swamps and over corduroy roads.. Some people complain of the roads at the present day; but if some of the old pioneers could come back on earth and see the roads at the present time, they would not find any fault. When the town of Lisbon was first settled, it usually took two days to make the trip to Milwaukee, a distance of sixteen miles, over logs and through the mud, fording streams and camping out one night on the road. There were no horses, no buggies, nothing but the faithful oxen We may all thank God for the ox. If it had not been for him I do not know what we should have done. Provisions were high, and no grain had been raised to feed the the horse; but the ox was worked all day, then turned loose to pick his own food at night. There was plenty of wild feed through the summer, and during the winter we fed marsh hay to our stock. We generally thought it good living for our cattle, taking into consideration the way we used to live ourselves. When we raised the first crops, there were no mills, and our corn was either hulled or ground in a coffee-mill for making johnnycakes. We took turns at the mill nights to grind for the use of the family the following day. When Wisconsin was first settled, we had every obstacle to contend with. First we had no market for our produce. There was no outlet for it, except home consumption. The first log houses that were built are very nearly all gone. There is now and then one left to mark the settlement of the county. I could fill out a volume with events, but it might not interest anyone to read it. One thought more, and I close; I attended the first wedding that took place in the town of Lisbon. There were no guilt cards, no presents; but we had a good big johnnycake passed around, and wished them all the good things of this life the same as they do nowadays. After the ceremony, the young couple took their wedding tour home behind a yoke of oxen, just as happy as could be."
"Portrait and Biographical Record of Waukesha County", pg. 719
T.S. Redford is the oldest living settler of Lisbon Township. He came here in April,1836, and was the third to make a claim in the township, which is yet his home. He was born in Genesee County, N.Y., July 11, 1818, and is the second in a family of five sons and two daughters born to A.A. and Mary (Scott) Redford. His grandfather Redford was a native of England and a soldier in the Revolutionary War. His father was born in Livingston Co., N.Y., and served his country in the War of 1812...
T.S. Redford was reared in the usual manner of farmer lads but at the age of eighteen learned the carpenter's trade. He had attended the common schools of New York, but after coming west felt the need of a better education and entered the College of Milwaukee.
He emigrated westward February 28, 1836. He left Genesee County, N.Y., and on foot traveled across the country to Milwaukee, where he arrived on the 15th of April. Wisconsin was then but sparsely settled and this locality was then a unbroken wilderness. Milwaukee contained few inhabitants and what is now the business center of the city was then an uncultivated swamp. The most far-sighted could not have dreamed of the rapid development which would transform this section into one of the most popular and richest sections of the state, for at that time the Indians were more numerous than the white settlers. Mr. Redford took part in one of their councils of was and knew many of the redmen. This council arose on account of the Indians being cheated by the white traders, who got them drunk and then bought their ponies for a pint of "fire water". Solomon Juneau, the famous Indian trader, declared that if the Indians were not fairly compensated there would be an uprising and the people would be massacred.
May 15,1836, Mr. Redford made the first claim in Lisbon Township and it is still his home. He built a cabin of basswood logs and did his cooking over a fire built outside of his house. During the summer he worked at the carpenter's trade in Milwaukee, and did not locate permanently on his claim until the following year. He lived alone until Christmas Day of 1848, when he married Caroline Van Vlack, a native of Duchess County, N.Y. They had two sons; Adelbert, who is married and has four children, is a successful farmer of Cambridge, Neb. Sylvester T. is married and has four children and follows farming in Pewaukee Township. Both are Republicans. Mr. Redford married his wife in New York, and while there built a saw and grist mill in Cattaraugus County.
Mr. Redford then returned with his bride to Wisconsin, but in 1853 was called upon to mourn her loss. He aferwards married Jane Realy, a native of England, who died February 14,1864. They had two daughters... On the 11th of July,1864, Mr. Redford married Abigail NEWELL, who was born in Duchess County, N.Y., April 3,1835. They have one daughter, Mapheb B., who was educated in Carroll College and received instruction in music...
All his life Mr. Redford has engaged in hunting and in the early days has killed as many as five deers in one afternoon. He used ox teams for farming and for hauling his grains to Milwaukee. In 1840 he hauled eleven hundred bushels of wheat to that market and sold it for fifty cents per bushel. He cut his grain with a cradle and threshed it with a flail. He went through all the experiences of pioneer life and aided in the organization of the first school district in the township. He well remembered the Tippecanoe campaign and the last election he voted for the grandson of the Tippecanoe hero. He took an important part in the Lincoln campaign, and during the parades would engage in splitting rails on wagons in the procession. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Church and have done their part in promoting the best interests of the community. Numbered among the most honored pioneers of Waukesha County, they well deserve representation in its history."
Children (Redford):
Adelbert Redford
Sylvester Thomas Redford, b. April 16, 1853
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1825 - 1854 (29 years)
, d. 16 May 1883, Cattaraugus Co.,NY