- EWALT COURT, who is well known to the citizens of Cicero township, as one of the prominent farmers and stock raisers of this section, was one of the early settlers of this part of Outagamie county, having come here as early as 1868, since which time he has been an active participant in the progression and development of the community. The name Court is a derivation from Cuhrt, as it was spelled in Germany, in which country Mr. Court was born August 21, 1846. He was twenty-two years of age when he came to the United States, working first for the farmers around Appleton for three years and in the pulp mills of that city. He was married in 1874 to Mary Zick, also a native of Germany, and soon after marriage they located on his present farm in Cicero township. At this time not a particle of clearing had been done on this property. Maple trees two feet thick stood on the present site of his residence, and it looked like an almost hopeless task to try to put this land into condition to produce satisfactory crops. In additiorn to this, Mr. Court had nothing but the crudest of machinery, and his other possessions consisted of a cow and a team of oxen, the latter of which were used for seven years before he could afford to get horses. These handicaps did not daunt Mr. Court in the least, however, as he had a firm determination to succeed as a farmer, and he at once set about the task of chopping down the trees, removing the stumps and then breaking the land for crops, and as the work progressed year by year he soon found himself the owner of valuable property. Twenty acres were added to his original purchase and these too were soon cleared, and he then decided that the little log cabin, 18x24 and the log stable, 18x20 feet, were too small for his needs and subsequently erected a large, handsome residence, surrounded by velvety lawns and shade trees, and a substantial barn, 36x56, to which he later added a basement and enlarged to 36x92 feet. Mr. Court's life has been filled with hard, unremitting work, but it has always been honest labor, and he can now look back over a useful life filled with good deeds. He has been very successful in his operations and has given his sons each a farm and his daughters enough of a competence to start them on any career they may desire to follow. The children are: William, Huldah, Matilda, Henry, Martha and Alma. Mr. Court stands high in the esteem of his fellow-townsmen who have elected him to offices of an educational nature for twenty years, but he now feels that he has done his duty in this line, and desires that the remainder of his life may be spent quietly in the bosom of his family.
|
1846 - 1915 (68 years)
Biography
