Horace A. Goold

John Goold came with his family to Wisconsin in 1842, driving the entire distance from the state of New York, and first selected a location in Rock County, near the present site of Johnstown, where he preempted one hundred and twenty acres of government land. There the family resided about three years, when the father died. The mother then disposed of the farm in Rock county and rented a place near the city of Madison, where she and the children resided one year, and then removed to Lake View and later to the town of Oregon. About two years later they moved to the town of Union, in Rock County, then to Rutland and finally to Grant County, where Mrs. Goold died, August 12, 1895.

Horace A. Goold was thrown upon his own resources quite early in life owing to the poverty of his parents, and at fifteen years of age he began working by the month as a farm hand. This he continued until about the time of his marriage, when he purchased eighty acres of government land in Grant County. Later he sold this and purchased forty acres in the town of Woodman, in the same county, to which he afterward added forty acres more and continued to reside thereon for a period of forty-one years.

In 1902 he sold his farm and bought a very convenient home in the village of Oregon, where he and his good wife are now enjoying a well-earned respite.

In regard to Mr. Goold’s military career it can be said without reservation that it was one of which he may well be proud. He enlisted on August 13, 1862, as a private in Company I, Twentieth Regiment of Wisconsin infantry, and served with that command until more than three months after the surrender of Lee, being mustered out of the service on July 14, 1865. With his regiment he participated in the battle of Prairie Grove, Ark, in which his company lost three killed and thirteen wounded, was engaged throughout the entire siege of Vicksburg, and in the battles of Atchafalaya, La, Fort Morgan, Ala., Brownsville, Tex., Spanish Fort Ala, Van Buren, Ark., Yazoo City and Franklin Creek, Miss.

Mr. Goold was married January 27, 1856 to Miss Sarah Jane Lawrence, daughter of Luke and Mary (Hunt) Lawrence, of Cambridgeshire, England, where Mrs. Goold was born on January 24, 1839. The Lawrence family came to America in 1849, the mother dying on the sea during the voyage. The father settled with his children, thirteen in number, in the town of Rutland, Dane County, and later moved to Grant County, Wis., where he died December 15, 1869. Of his children only two survive, Mrs. Goold and her sister, Mary A. To Mr. and Mrs. Goold there have been born five children. Fannie Margaret, the wife of A. F. Koschkee, of Mt. Hope, Grant county; Melinda, the wife of A. Fleckensteine of Chicago; Horace Luke married Miss Nellie Pratt and resides in the town of Oregon. Fred C. married Nellie Ashmore and resides in Grant County, and Lottie L. is the wife of H. W. Linton, of Baraboo, Wis.

In politics, Mr. Goold is a Republican.

1906 History of Dane County, Wisconsin, p. 325-326.