EDGAR S. CASLER, a retired wagonmaker and farmer, is now living in Evansville, Rock county, and enjoys the freedom from care and labor that comes alone from a wise and useful life. He is widely known throughout the northern part of this county, and has made many friends by his honest dealing and genial spirit.
Mr. Casler was born at Watertown, N.Y., Jan. 15, 1824, and is a son of Henry and Mary (Dingman) Casler, natives of New York. They were the parents of seven children, and four of this family are now living: Edgar S. is the oldest member of the family; Daniel D. is living at Seymour, Mo.; Angeline is the widow of Jacob Proper, and is living at Pierpoint, Mich.; and Sarah J. is the wife of J. Ramsey, of Lowville, N.Y. The father was a blacksmith by trade, and died in the town of Turin, Lewis Co., N.Y., about 1842, at the age of sixty-four. His widow survived his loss fifteen years, and reached the age of eighty-two. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. His father, Jared Casler, was a soldier in the Revolution. He was a native of New York, and of German descent. He was the father of five children, and lived to be ninety years old. Jared Dingman, the father of Mary mentioned above, was also a soldier in the Revolution. He was badly wounded and became totally blind, living for forty years without the light. He reached the great age of ninety years, and was the father of fours sons and four daughters.
Edgar S. Casler spent his childhood and youth in Jefferson county, N.Y., where he attended the district school. He worked on the farm until he was nineteen years old, and was then apprenticed to the trade of wagonmaking, which was his occupation for thirty years. He came West in the fall of 1854, and made a location seven miles west of the young city of Janesville, Rock Co., Wis. He had a farm, and cultivated it two years, selling at the expiration of that time, and moving farther west, into the town of Porter, where he made his home some ten years. The war had raged for a year or two when Mr. Casler was carried to the front, by the flood of patriotic devotion that swept the North, as a soldier of the Union army. He enlisted in Company B, 37th Wis. V.I., and served two years, making a creditable record as a soldier. When he was mustered out he went to wagonmaking in the village of Rutland, Dane county. There he lived and worked some fifteen years, and in 1879 transferred himself, family and business to Evansville. This pleasant and beautiful island Wisconsin city has been his home to the present time. For about a year after his settlement in Evansville Mr. Casler carried the mail between that city and Edgerton, and then resumed his trade of wagonmaker. For a number of years advancing age has kept him from active business.
In 1847 Mr. Casler married Miss Zenana Damon, daughter of Noah and Betsy Damon, and they had two children, Ellen and Matilda. The mother dying in 1850, the following year Mr. Casler married Miss Theodosia Bennett, a daughter of Larry and Mary Bennett. She died March 3, 1897 at the age of sixty-five. Eight children were born to this union: Clara, Lucy, Alma, Jennie, Nellie, Ida, Henry and Ernest. The family circle is yet unbroken. Ellen married George Koehb, and lives in Chicago; they have a family of six daughters. Matilda married Richard Brigham, who died about 1880, leaving her with two sons. Clara married F. D. Child, and lives in Bertrand, Neb.; they have a family of two girls and one boy. Lucy is Mrs. Charles E. Shannon, and lives in Edgerton. Alma and Jennie live at home, and keep house for their father. Nellie married Harley Saunders, and lives in Albion, Dane Co., Wis.; they have a family of four children. Ida married Carl Atwood, and lives in Albion. Henry is single, and lives at Bertrand, Neb. Ernest is single, and lives at home.
Mr. Casler belongs to T. L. Sutphen Post, No. 41, G.A.R., and is a man highly esteemed in his community.
