Nelson SALISBURY
Biography

Nelson Salisbury was born December 31, 1812, at Marathon; came to Wisconsin in 1839; married Esther, daughter of Propsper Cravath and Miriam Kinney. She died April 16, 1845, leaving a child Helen (mrs. Luther L. Clark). In January 1880, he married Mrs. Julia Hemenway and died September 14, 1880.

Nelson Salisbury.—A brother of Ansel Salisbury. Born in Marathon, N.Y., Dec. 31, 1812. In 1828, he and his brother Ansel worked on the Delaware and Hudson Canal, he as steersman and Ansel as driver. At the age of sixteen, he came to Cortland, N.Y., and resided in the family of Deacon Prosper Cravath, along with his brothers Oliver and Ansel. For five years, he worked as a farm laborer and saved up six hundred dollars. In 1834, he commenced peddling dry goods and notions with a horse and wagon. In 1839, or thereabouts he, with his brother Oliver, made a trip to Wisconsin Territory, selling goods from a pedlar's wagon. One incident of this venture was the acquisition of a considerable amount of the bills of the famous, or infamous, Mineral Point Bank, one of the first and worst of the "wild cats." In 1841, he purchased a farm in the "Cravath neighborhood," and was married to Esther Cravath, Feb. 24, 1842. She died April 16, 1845, leaving him an infant daughter, Helen, afterwards wife of Prof. L. L. Clarke. In 1856, he sold his farm and moved into Whitewater, engaging in the lumber business for a time. Later, he became interested in banking. He was married again in January, 1880, to Mrs. Julia Hemenway. At different times, they built several commodious brick residences on Main street. He died after a lingering illness, Sept. 14, 1880.

Mr. Salisbury was a man of superior intelligence and sterling integrity. He was an interesting conversationalist and of a cheerful, neighborly disposition, full of interest in all public matters, just and honorable in all his relations. He was successful in every undertaking, but especially excelled all his neighbors as a farmer and gardener. No other man could raise so big a crop of wheat from the same seed; no one else could equal him in making a tree grow as he wished it.

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