Washburn County WIGenWeb Project

People Histories

David A. Stouffer
(21 Jun 1854 - 1944 ¹)

-As transcribed from the "COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF THE UPPER LAKES REGION"

by J. H. Beers & Co., Chicago, IL, 1905

page 226

David A. Stouffer, a farmer and stock raiser of Washburn county, now serving as county treasurer, located on his present place in 1887. When he ran the line of road north from Shell Lake to his present location, with the aid of a pocket compass, the only other settler in the valley was Edward Hart, a pioneer who kept a tavern for teamsters, on the Yellow river. Mr. Stouffer's first purchase was eighty acres of land, on which he put up a small frame house and moved his family there in the fall of 1887. He began developing his farm, working for several winter seasons in the logging camps in order to earn a little money with which to meet current expenses. He was very successful, his work bringing in good results, and enabling him to make further purchases, so that he now owns 200 acres, of which 120 are under cultivation, and his improvements are equal to those of any farms in the county.

Mr. Stouffer was born in Franklin county, Pa., June 21, 1854, his parents being John Elias and Barbara Lesher Stouffer, the former born in Pennsylvania, and both of German descent. His maternal grandparents, were John and Elisha Lesher. His paternal grandfather was John Stouffer. Mr. Stouffer has three brothers: Abraham Lincoln, a blacksmith in the railroad shops at Hudson, Wis.; Charles, also a blacksmith living in St. Croix county, Wisconsin; and Isaiah J., in the general merchandise business at Mowersville, Pa. Two sisters live near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

Mr. Stouffer was brought up on a farm and educated in the public schools, remaining in Pennsylvania until he came of age. He then went to Pierce county, Wis., at that date just emerging from the wilderness, where for a year he worked as a farm laborer. He saved money, was married to Eliza Brannen, and rented a farm in Pierce county until 1887, when he moved to Shell Lake. He is the father of the following children: Mary, Mrs. Charles Todd, for three years a successful teacher in the public schools of the county; Edward Albert, a graduate of the Shell Lake high school, class of 1902; and David Russell. Dora Irene died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Stouffer are members of the Episcopal Church, with which they have been connected for many years.

Mr. Stouffer has always been a Republican, and is a representative man in local politics, having held the office of chairman of supervisors five terms, and being at present in his third term of office as town clerk. He was nominated for county treasurer by the Republican county convention held in Shell Lake in 1902, was elected at the ensuing election, and was re-elected in 1904, having proved himself most competent. He has been much interested in education matters, has worked wisely and efficiently for the establishment of schools, and has been a close student of current topics of interest and of various lines of modern thought. Fraternally he is a member of the I. O. O. F., uniting with Spooner Lodge.

1 - Editorial Note - David A. Stouffer is buried in the Shell Lake Memorial Cemetery. His stone states that he was born in 1854 and died in 1944. No death record is on file in Washburn Co. for him.