From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 76 JACOB OSCAR VAN GALDER, now retired from active business life, and living at No. 105 Sharon street, Janesville, Rock county, was born in Genesee county, N.Y., Feb. 6, 1834, a son of Jacob and Rhoda (WILSON) VAN GALDER, natives of Vermont and New York, respectively. They had eleven children, of whom our subject is the only one now living. Jacob VAN GALDER began his business career working by the month in New York, and later became a manufacturer of potash. In 1839 he moved to Montville, Medina Co., Ohio, where he continued the potash business, and did coopering and other things as opportunity came to him. Some twelve years later he moved into Michigan, and lived first at Coldwater and afterward at Hillsdale. About 1850 he came to Wisconsin, and located in La Prairie township, Rock county, where he bought 400 acres of land, converted it into a farm, and died there some eight years later, at the age of sixty. He served for a time in the war of 1812. He was always industrious and thrifty, and became quite wealthy. His father, Jacob VAN GALDER, was a descendant of one of four brothers who came to America in the days of the Puritans. He was in the French and Revolutionary wars, and was a great hunter. He was a pioneer in western New York, and lived to be nearly one hundred years of age, spending his last d! ays at Montville, Ohio. The maternal grandfather of the gentleman whose name begins this sketch, was a native of New York, and died in middle life. He was a farmer, a prominent man, and was known in his neighborhood as "Judge" WILSON. Jacob O. VAN GALDER spent his boyhood and youth in Ohio and Michigan. He helped his father clear several hundred acres of land, learned the cooper's trade from him, and followed that trade a number of years. He came to Rock county with his parents in about 1849 or 1850, and continued working with his father until the latter's death. Our subject's education, begun in Ohio, was continued in Michigan, and was finished in Rock county. He farmed in that county two years after the death of his father, and then went to Iowa, locating at Charles City, where he engaged in teaming and threshing for three years. He came back to Rock county to let his brother Foster go to the war. He farmed in La Prairie township for a time, and then moved to Magnolia, living there four years. Then he came into Janesville, bought his present home property, and has lived here ever since. He has been a hard-working and upright man, and is much respected by all who know him. Mr. VAN GALDER and Miss Arlina CRONK, a daughter of Blanner H. and Nancy (ROBINSON) CRONK, were married Sept. 15, 1868. They have had four children, Edith May, Fannie, Aurilla and Oscar Burr. Edith May is unmarried. Fannie married Thomas CHRISMAN, and lives on a farm in the town of La Prairie; they have one daughter, Helen Aurilla. Aurilla married William JAMES, and they have one son; they live in Elgin, Illinois. Oscar Burr is unmarried, and lives at home. Mr. VAN GALDER is a Republican. Mrs. VAN GALDER's people came from New York and settled in the town of Magnolia, Rock county, about 1852. Her father died in 1893, when eighty-three years old, and her mother in 1873, at the age of sixty-eight. Their family consisted of twelve children. They were farming people all their lives. Abraham CRONK, the paternal grandfather of....... (sorry - I don't have the next page) This is the last one for tonight folks. Hope to come back tomorrow evening. Carol