William H. Aldrich

William H. Aldrich, the father of Charles Wilbur Aldrich, was born in Cazenovia, Madison County, New York in 1840.  He was a cooper by trade, as was his father, Lyman A. Aldrich.

LEFT:  This picture was probably taken prior to William’s first marriage to Eliza Cornella (Nellie) Larsen, the youngest daughter of Ole Larsen of the Larsen Canning Company in Green Bay, Wisconsin.  He appears to be quite young on the picture.  He was about 24 years old when he married Nellie.  Left to right, William H. Aldrich, William Enderby (a friend) and Porter Aldrich, the youngest son of Chauncy N. Aldrich of Preble, Brown County, Wisconsin.  This picture shows that the two Aldrich boys knew each other and leads one to suspect that they might very well have been related.  They came from adjoining counties in New York State.

RIGHT:   William H. Aldrich was older on this photograph.  Nellie died in 1871 and he married Esther Ann Spear Hill on March 26, 1873.  This photo was used to create a charcoal drawing of William (see the next page) and there was a companion drawing of Esther that was hung with it.  The two drawings were probably made at the same time so this photo might have been taken after their marriage.

Esther (Spear) Hill Marries William Aldrich

Esther (Spear) Hill was a widow with four children after her first husband, Hiram Hill died of wounds he received in the Civil War.  On March 26, 1873, she and William Aldrich were joined in matrimony at Fort Howard, Brown County, Wisconsin.  They were married for about eleven years before William died on February 19, 1884.  Both Esther and William had family Bible records of their parents’ families which were handed down to posterity.

RIGHT:  This was taken from a charcoal drawing of Esther Ann (Spear) Hill Aldrich.  The likeness is not as true as it should be.  This was just a snapshot of Esther’s picture as it was hanging on the wall and because it was hanging at an angle, she appears to have a fuller face than in the drawing.  The original picture is lost so this is all we have.  The companion picture of William survived so his is a truer likeness.

LEFT:  The charcoal drawing of William H. Aldrich, obviously done from the photograph on the previous page.