William was married 22 Jun 1870 in Caledonia, Waupaca, WI to:


Children of William and Mary Babcock:

William is our elusive great-grandfather. No one talked about him but the fact that Eldon Babcock and Robert Babcock were first cousins led us to the right census records. This was long before Ancestry.com gave hints.

William was born in Otselic, New York. In 1850 he was still in Otselic with his parents, two brothers and two sisters. By 1855 he was in the southern part of Embarrass now known as Liberty, just east of New London, with his parents, one sister, one brother, and his other sister, married, in the next the household. If his brother, Gilbert, migrated with the family, he did not survive the trip.

In 1860, William was with his family in section 5 of Caledonia, southwest of New London. Many of their New York Davis neighbors were their neighbors again. His sister, Alsina, was dead and he had a new sister. Actually, we think Mary was Alsina’s child, unofficially adopted by Jehu and Elsa.

William and Mary’s marriage record from 1870 says he was a farmer. The 1874 Caledonia plat map shows the 40 acres where William and Mary started their family and where they stayed through 1880.

By 1885, the Babcock properties in Caledonia, section 5, had been sold off. William, Mary, a daughter and 5 sons lived about 2½ miles northeast in Mukwa. By 1895, however, William had deserted the family and was living in New London. This may be why no one in the family talked about him.

William died in Northport, apparently of heart failure. He is buried at Foral Hill Cemetery in the D-108 family plot.