



bitiiary. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



In reviewing the events of the year we should most grate- 

 fully recognize that Divine goodness which has preserved to 

 us so many of the old veterans of horticulture, the pioneer 

 fruitgrowers, nurserymen and gardeners of the Northwest to 

 a ripe old age. Within the year three men, whose names have 

 become household words in all this region, have been called 

 to the other side to receive their rewards for well spent lives. 

 They have all contributed largely in develo ping the horticul- 

 ture of this state and Wisconsin. They were all life members 

 of this society. 



EPHRAIM WILCOX. 



Ephraim Wilcox was born in Saratoga Co.. New York, 

 June 11, 1812, and died in the town of Shelbj^ La Crosse 

 Co., Wisconsin, Nov. 17, 1891, aged 82 years, 5 months and 

 6 days. 



In 1833, he was married in Oneida Co., New York, to 

 Miss Mercj' Adams, an amiable and fitting helpmate, 

 and enjoyed the happy union fifty-nine years, she hav- 

 ing departed this life in the spring of 1892. The fruit 

 of the union was eleven children, seven of whom — five 

 sons and two daughters — survive to mourn his depart- 

 ure. In 1842, he caine with his family to the territory of 

 Wisconsin and settled in what is now Kenosha county. 

 In 1862, he removed to Trempeleau Co., Wis., where he 

 engaged in the orcharding, nursery and small fruit 

 business. In 1878, he removed to La Crosse Co., Wis., 

 where he founded the Mount Hope Nurseries, planted an 

 extensive orchard and vineyard, and made his home un- 

 til his death. 



He was a man of sterling integrity and untiring per- 

 serverence, and only those who knew him well are aware 

 of the time, money and persistent effort he has expended 

 to make fruit growing, under great difficulties, a success. 

 In early life, he became an uncompromising abolitionist, 

 and during the war of the rebellion was active in the 

 sanitary commission, and three of his sons were in the 

 union army. He was a man that never lost faith in the 

 final triuinph of right. After the slaves were freed he 

 was an earnest worker in the temperance reform and was 

 perhaps the oldest prohibitionist in the state of Wiscon- 

 sin. He was a member of our state horticultural society 

 and for distinguished service in horticulture was several 

 3'ears since made a honorary life member. 



