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Dexheimer, Florence Chambers, 1866-1925 / Sketches of Wisconsin pioneer women
([1924?] )
West, Georgia A.
Mrs. Arabella Locke, pp. 88-89
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Page 88
MRS. ARABELLA LOCKE Author-Georgia A. West Oshkosh Mrs. Arabelle Locke is one hundred and five years old and came to this state in 1851. She was born in Westfield, Connecticut one of fourteen children. Her parents were Oliver E. and Marcia Manning, the latter being one of eighteen children. Mr. and Mrs. Manning both lived to be over ninety. When Mrs. Locke was two years of age, her par- ents started with horses to move to New York intending to take up government land. The weather being very stormy they stopped at Chester, Massachusetts for one year, then moved to Berlin, Van Ranselier County, New York, where her father secured a small piece of land. He soon gave it up, however, and worked at shoemaking, going from house to house making shoes for the families. Mrs. Locke's parents remained in New York till 1853 when they went to Milwaukee by water, then with horses to Oak Center and finally to Omro, Winnebago County. Mrs. Locke at the age of fourteen returned to Massa- chusetts and worked in a cotton factory. When she was seventeen she married Mr. Arnold Locke at New Lebanon, New York, just over the boundary of Massa- chusetts. She continued, however, to work for several years weaving cotton cloth. In 1844 she and her hus- band came to Illinois through the Great Lakes and in 1851 came by team to Wisconsin. They settled near Omro and in 1869 bought the farm on which Mrs. Locke still resides. Mr. Locke died in 1891. In 1885 they haJi celebrated their golden wedding with a family reunion. Mrs. Locke joined the Baptist Church eighty-five years ago when she was twenty years old. Although she has cataracts on both eyes, she reads her bible, the Christian Herald and the daily newspaper. She keeps well posted on current events and took an active interest 88
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