Born in Lebanon, NH in 1810, Ahira Hinkley was the son of a cloth dresser and fuller. Ahira attended school, worked for his father over the years, and worked at farming for his uncles.
In the summer of 1833 with his brother Henry, he travelled to Michigan and worked in a sawmill, then came to Milwaukee in the summer of 1836 on a boat loaded with lumber and butter belonging to Mr. Andrew Schofield. In September 1836, while the cargo was being sold, he and Schofield headed west on foot, to locate land for farms to settle on. They travelled through Mukwonago on the first day and continued heading west. After finding an oak clearing, they went a little further north-east until they found a large spring. Ahira laid claim to that land and ran back to Milwaukee to file his claim. Mr. Andrew Schofield continued with his search.
Ahira Hinkley was bigger than life – one of the first pioneers to help tame the wild western frontier of what later became the State of Wisconsin. He was the first European to stake a land claim in Eagle, only four years after the Blackhawk War of 1832.
The land was wild and untamed. Wolves, bear, and other animals roamed freely, and the remaining Potawatomi Indians were not exactly friendly either. Yet, Ahira carved out a place for his family with sheer guts and determination, becoming a wealthy man in the process. He owned hundreds of acres of land in Eagle, Wisconsin. Ahira’s first home was a 12’ x 12’ log cabin he built on a hill overlooking the freshwater springs, to which he brought his new wife Mary Daniels in the Spring of 1838. Ahira Hinkley worked early morning until late evening living as frugally as possible. Like some of his neighbors, Ahira Hinkley often cradled wheat all day with nothing on but shirt and shoes. In the winter, he headed to the tamarack swamps with a yoke of oxen by four o’clock a.m., returning late at night with a load of poles for fencing, rafters for roofs, etc.
Ahira built his wife a new “Cobblestone House” in 1848 using cobblestones he found on his land, sand from nearby Pretty Lake, and lime for the mortar which he made by burning limestone he found on the land. He and his wife Mary raised seven children there.
Ahira built the first schoolhouse-on his own farm, where schoolhouse No. 1 still stands. He also gained notoriety as the local tooth-puller, using a “turn-key” to yank infected molars. Ouch!
Ahira was active in local public affairs, a strong Methodist, a radical Republican, and did not use alcohol or tobacco. He helped build the first railroad in the state and was on the first board of directors of the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad. He had charge of the construction work for the railroad from Milwaukee to Brookfield in 1849-50 and settled the right of way through his farm for a life pass for himself and family.
Ahira Hinkley enjoyed fairly good health until the last three months of life. He had no fear of death and seemed determined never to surrender. He died peacefully quietly and painlessly at sunrise Wednesday, January 2, 1907.
`(Information for this article comes from “The Eagle Quill Newspaper” obituary titled PIONEER AT REST, published in 1907)
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