227 West Church Street

Researched and written by Ruth Ann Montgomery

Directly west of the house at 227 West Church Street was the farm house of the Andrew Pettigrew estates.  The vacant lots on the old Pettigrew property on Church Street were sold off by the family in the late 1800s. 

Mrs. Ellen S. Biglow purchased a lot east of the Pettigrew family home in 1885.  The following year she ordered the construction of a house that was estimated to cost about $3,000. 

Ellen Biglow was an English immigrant.  Her family had settled in America in 1834, when she was just two years old.  They made their home in St. Louis, Missouri and it was there that she met Hamilton Biglow and they were married in 1858.  Four years later, they came to Wisconsin to join other members of the Biglow family in Rutland township, just north of Evansville in Dane county.

The Biglow's had four children and were married sixteen years when Hamilton died in 1874.  For a few years, the family tried to maintain the farm.  Then Ellen decided to move to Evansville where her children could be educated and find work.  The four children, Harvey, Walter, Emma and Bert came with her.   

Her son, Walter, had already gone into business with an Evansville hardware merchant by 1886 when Ellen decided to move.  Her daughter, Emma, had been taking elocution (public speaking) lessons in Evansville and the village offered other educational and cultural activities that Ellen wanted for her children. 

Ellen rented a home until a new house could be built.  Architect-builder, Benjamin Hoxie, was hired to oversee the construction of the new house for the Biglow family.  The foundation work was started in October 1886 and work continued through the winter months.  In May of the following year, George Backenstoe, a painter, was putting the finishing touches on the house that was described in local newspapers as "an ornament to that already fine street."

Her youngest son, Bert, graduated from the Evansville Seminary in the summer of 1893.  Ellen and Emma continued to lived in the house until Ellen's death on September 10, 1895. 

Emma inherited the house from her mother and the other Biglow children signed away their rights to the dwelling.  Emma Biglow continued to live in the house for two more years. She rented the first story to Anna Axtell and her two daughters, Hattie and Annie. 

Emma was married in the parlors of Mrs. Axtell's apartment in March 1897.  About forty guests were invited into the house that was decorated with Easter lillies and potted ferns.  Emma's wedding dress was a gown of black silk grenadine, decorated with blue flowers. 

The groom, Edwin Ahara, was an Evansville high school graduate and then became an engineering student at the University of Wisconsin.  At the time of their marriage, he was superintendent of the experimental department of the Deering Harvester Co.  After the wedding ceremony the young coupole moved to Ravenswood, Illinois. 

Emma sold the house to Charles and Harriet Pearsall in exchange for some property on First Street.  The Pearsall family moved into the large, beautiful residence in April 1898. 

 1900 Glimpses of Evansville, Wisconsin

C. J. and Harriet Pearsall had four children, Robert, Clifford, Barbara and Phillip.  The large yard provided a playground for the children and Hattie Pearsall's garden.  The garden was filled with flowers and vegetables, which she shared with neighbors and friends. 

C. J. Pearsall was the manager of the D. E. Wood Butter Company in Evansville.  The Pearsall's had been residents of the city for nearly seven years when they purchased the home.

Charles had grown up in Flycreek, Otsego county, New York where his father was a farmer.  The family moved to Illinois in 1876 and Charles' father started a creamery business.  At the age of sixteen, C. J. started working in his father's factory and for the rest of his life was in the butter making business.  C. J. Pearsall's uncle, D. E. Wood, was also in the butter making business and he hired his nephew to work with him.

Harriet, more often called Hattie, and Charles were married in Huntley, Illinois on November 9, 1887.  Their honeymoon trip was to Fairfield, Nebraska, where C. J. had a job managing four butter factories in the Clay County area.

In 1890, Charles came to Evansville to become a partner with his uncle, D. E. Wood, in a new creamery that Wood had opened.  Wood also purchased creameries in Albany, Magnolia, Cooksville, Story, Gratiot, Town Line and Shullsburg.   All the creameries were managed by C. J. Pearsall and operated under the name D. E. Wood Butter Company by the turn of the century.

Charles was well known to area dairy farmers.  He had a fast team of high-stepping horses that allowed him to travel from town to town to deliver payrolls to the creameries and visit with farmers who brought milk to the factories.  His buggies were always the latest style with high pneumatic tires and he also kept high narrow cutters to travel through the winter snow.

A popular Sunday pastime for Pearsall and his friends and fellow horse-lovers, George Pullen and Joe Shiveley, was to race their horses down Church Street.  The course began near the Seminary and ended at the Baker Manufacturing plant near the railroad tracks. From the tracks they raced back to the beginning at the west end of Church Street, past the houses and churches. 

When automobiles became the favored mode of transportation, Pearsall and his friend, George Pullen, chose Ramblers from the Kenosha, Wisconsin factory.  The Pearsall's first car, purchased in 1905,  had two cylinders, no windshield, acetylene lights, and green wicker baskets on the sides to carry equipment to fix the tires.   

As the vehicles became more reliable, Pearsall drove his family on cross-country trips.  The Pearsall children recalled one memorable vacation in a big red Buick that could barely maneuver the narrow mountain roads of the West.  Whenever the Pearsall's met other travelers on these roads, C. J. put the Buick in reverse and backed up the mountain to find a spot wide enough to let the other vehicle pass. 

Other vacation time was spent closer to home.  Some weeks during the summer were spent at the family cabin at Lake Kegonsa, with other Evansville residents in the Evansville Camp.  Although, it was less than 20 miles away, the area offered fishing, swimming, and relaxation.  C. J. would go to the cabin in the early spring with his friend, George Pullen, to make ready for the summer outings his family would spend there.

1907 was a big year for the Pearsall family.  C. J. and his brother, Benjamin, purchased the D. E. Wood Butter Company, after their uncle became too ill to run the company.  That same year, Harriet and C. J. also remodeled the interior of their home.

They made a large addition on the south side of the house and other improvements.  As the children grew, the Pearsall's eventually bought the house and lot directly east of the property and moved the small old house off the lot to make room for a baseball field.  The neighborhood children and friends were always welcome to play with the Pearsall's and Harriet often told the children, "You come home and bring the others with you". 

Within two years after arriving in Evansville, C. J. Pearsall sought local political offices.  He became a village trustee in the early 1890s and also served as a county supervisor, school board member and mayor of the city. 

He was first elected mayor in April 1906 and he survived three tumultuous terms during a time when the city was struggling to deal with the installation of sewers, a new train depot, expansion of the city park, and paved the streets. 

Not one to give up on a challenge, Pearsall stayed in office to see that the projects were carried out and the citizens of Evansville continued to elect him, even though one of his political enemies filed a law suit again him and other council members. 

The person who filed the suit was trying to prevent the City from covering the dirt streets with an oil coating so that automobiles and horse-drawn vehicles would not make whirlwinds of dust fly into the air.  The case was carried to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and cost the city thousands of dollars to defend the suit, though it was declared lawful for the city to oil and pave the street.

In 1915, Pearsall resigned the office of Mayor when his nemeses in the lawsuit ran for alderman of the third ward and won.  His challenges with the city did not keep Pearsall from running for other offices. C. J. also served on the Evansville Board of Education for more than 25 years.  The city was growing rapidly at the turn of the century and Pearsall intended that the public schools should have enough room to accommodate the growing student population. 

When the Pearsall's first moved to Evansville there was just one public school that served both the graded and high school students.  In 1896, a high school was built and several years later a new graded school was built.

The businessmen of the community knew that they had to work together in order to make the city a good place for their families to grow up.  Many, like Charles Pearsall, were civic minded enough to take on the added responsibility of public office, in addition to running their own businesses.

When World War I was in progress, Pearsall helped organize the local Council of Defense to raise funds and encourage patriotism.  Within four days, Pearsall and other committee members put together a Loyalty Day parade that included school children, city officials, the fire department, Civil War veterans, the Evansville band and seventy-two automobiles.

The group went on to help with the sale of war bonds and organizing other efforts to support the United States military effort.  To encourage people to buy bonds a group called the Four-minute Men was formed.  In four-minute speeches given before movies or at other public gatherings the men tried to persuade people to buy war bonds and support the U. S. effort. 

C. J. had a special reason for doing his best to support the war as all three of his sons were in the service.  Harriet worked with the Red Cross to help make bandages and other supplies needed by the soldiers.

When the war ended in November 1918 the citizens of Evansville gathered to celebrate and their enthusiasm was nearly disastrous.  The crowd that gathered at the corners of Main and Madison Streets decided to gather up people they felt had not purchased enough war bonds or had in other ways been disloyal to the U. S. war effort.  They went to homes of people and dragged them down to a bon fire built in the center of the street.  One unforunate woman, Mary Shaw, was placed in a cage and paraded through the streets. 

C. J. Pearsall, a Rev. Misdall and the Chief of Police went to the rescue of Mrs. Shaw.  She was taken out of the cage, placed in C. J. Pearsall's automobile and driven home.   Pearsall had not let his support of the war cloud his sense of fairness and responsibility.

Pearsall and his brother sold the D. E. Wood Butter Company to the Cudahy Packing Company in 1918.  C. J. retired from an active business life.  He and Hattie continued to live in the big house and their son, Phil, purchased the old Pettigrew house next door. 

In 1937, they celebrated their golden wedding in the house at 227 West Church.  With the exception of Phillip who lived next door, their children were scattered throughout the country.  Robert and his family lived in Chicago; Clifford was in Salt Lake City; and their daughter, Barbara had married Richard Vance and was living in Joliet, Illinois.  All the children and their families joined their parents in a family gathering.

C. J. and Hattie celebrated 60 wedding anniversaries together before Charles' death in February 1948.  Charles Judd Pearsall died at the age of 87 in his home.   Hattie and her children established a memorial fund to purchase hymnals and an organ for the Congregational Church in Evansville. 

Hattie was 95 years old when she died in 1961.  She had left the home she had shared for many years with her husband and children.  Her daughter, Barbara, had invited her to live in Joliet, Illinois in the winter of 1960 and she died a few months later.  Although she had lived a quiet home life, she was remembered for her activities as a worker in the Congregational Church and a civil leader in cultural activities of the community.

In July 1961, the Pearsall home was sold to Berry May and a few months later, he sold it to his son Lester (Bill) May and his wife Eloise.  Bill May had come to Evansville in 1947 to join his brothers, J. R. and Don in the May Bros. Hatchery.   He later became a State Farm Insurance Agent.

While the Mays were living in the house, a small fire damaged the third-floor attic of the house in August 1976.  A small electric paint remover machine was being used on the exterior of the house and the dry exterior wood started to burn.  The Evansville firemen arrived on the scene in time to prevent any major damage to the house.

The house was sold in August 1979 to Michelle and Ralph Mackie.  A 1900 photo of the property, taken by E. E. Combs shows the home and large horse barn remain substantially unchanged, as viewed from Church Street.