• Source: Lewis Henry Coville

      • Lewis Henry Coville (May 22, 1835 – May 9, 1914) was a wealthy American pioneer in Waushara County, Wisconsin.


      Biography


      Lewis Henry Coville was born in Coventry, New York, and was of English and Welsh descent. His paternal grandfather emigrated from Wales to Canada, while his maternal grandfather, Joseph Foote, was a Massachusetts native who served as a drummer boy in the American Revolution under General George Washington, with whom he was acquainted.
      Coville's father, Simeon Coville, was born in Canada and later emigrated to the United States. He became a veteran of the War of 1812, fighting on the American side after deserting the British army. The family moved to Wisconsin when Coville was three years old, settling in the early frontier town of Ashton, Dodge County.
      In 1859, at the age of 21, Coville began his independent agricultural career by purchasing a 240-acre farm in Wisconsin. By the age of 25, he had already amassed a personal fortune of US$2,400 (equivalent to $81,387 in 2023). Seven years later, he traded this property for a 120-acre grazing farm in Warren, Waushara County. Starting with only 1.5 acres of cleared land and a modest log cabin, he transformed the property into a prosperous operation over the years, focusing on stock-raising and later expanding into dairy farming. In the process, he became a wealthy and well-known agricultural pioneer in the state.
      During the American Civil War, Coville enlisted in Company H of the 30th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment. Over three years of service, he performed various duties, including guard duty in Milwaukee, enforcing enrollment in Dodge County, and serving as an orderly sergeant at the provost marshal's office in Green Bay. He was honorably discharged on September 6, 1865.
      Coville married Melissa Anderson, with whom he had two children: Thorn (b. 1860) and Adelbert (b. 1865). Following Melissa’s death in 1869, Coville remarried in 1872 to Sarah Decker, with whom he had a son, Milo (b. 1873). Coville was involved in various civic and social organizations. Politically, he was a staunch Republican. He was also a member of Edwin Saxe Post, No. 135, Grand Army of the Republic, and Pine River Lodge, No. 207, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

      Coville died at his farm in Warren on April 9, 1914.


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