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Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott
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Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott
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History of Buffalo & Pepin Counties, Wisconsin - Vol. 1
pub. H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co., Winona, MN - 1919

         [page 192-193]

         ULRICH WALD, In the spring of 1855 a wagon drawn by a yoke of
       oxen might have been seen to enter Buffalo county from the south,
       and to continue  its slow and difficult progress through the road-
       less and almost pathless wilderness, until it entered Mill Creek
       valley, in what is now Alma township, when it came to a halt, and
       its occupants disembarked and set foot for the first time on the
       soil that was henceforth to be their earthly abiding-place. The
       party consisted of ULRICH WALD and wife, with one child, CONRAD,
       MR. WALD'S brothers, JACOB and PETER, and MRS. WALD'S mother and
       sister. They were immigrants from Grant county, and were the first
       settlers in the valley. Mr. and Mrs. WALD were both natives of
       Switzerland, who had come to the United States about 1851, making
       the journey in a sailing vessel and landing in this country after
       a 49 days' voyage. They were then, however, as yet unmarried, MR.
       WALD being accompanied by his brother JACOB; and his future wife,
       then AGNES RUEDI, by her mother, two brothers and a sister. After
       landing the members of both families came west to Wisconsin and
       settled in Grant county, where ULRICH WALD and AGNES RUEDI were
       married and went to farming. There two children were born to them,
       the son CONRAD, already mentioned, and a daughter who died after
       a brief existence. It was but a few years after their settlement
       there when MR. WALD heard talk of the new country farther to the
       northwest, where good homesteads might be obtained practically
       without price, and after thinking the matter over and discussing
       it with his wife he resolved to push his fortune in that direction,
       risking the dangers of settlement in a wild country and ready to
       endure whatever hardships might be entailed. To MRS. WALD it meant
       a sorrowful parting with three brothers - the two who had come
       with her from Switzerland, and one other who had settled in Grant
       county two years previously, as they resolved to stay where they
       were. The arrival in the new country of the other members of the
       two families has been already chronicled. MR. WALD and his brothers
       lost no time in beginning the work of home building. A log house
       was soon built, and for some time supplies were obtained from Foun-
       tain City, the work of clearing the land being begun and pushed as
       rapidly as possible. Some hardships of course had to be endured and
       prosperity had to be waited for, but steady progress was made in
       that direction, and in time MR. WALD with his brothers, JACOB and
       PETER, accumulated seven or eight hundred acres of land, which was
       later divided among the WALD children. Good buildings were also in
       time erected, and fertile fields with waving grain took the place
       of the one-time forest and brush land. ULRICH WALD helped to organ-
       ize Alma township, and his brother JACOB was also a leader among
       the citizens, serving in some of the principal township offices.
       They were also prominent members of the Reformed church, the ser-
       vices of which were for some time held in the old schoolhouse.
       ULRICH died many years before his wife, being only 55 years old
       when called from this earthly life Dec. 26, 1884. MRS. WALD'S
       death occurred but a few years ago, on March 25, 1914, when she
       was in her eighty-third year. Besides the two children already
       mentioned, the following were born to them in Buffalo county:
       ULRICH, JR., JOHN and URSUAL (twins), ANNIE, JACOB, PETER, ANTON,
       MARY and AUGUST, now deceased, and NINI.

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