A well improved farm of one hundred and forty acres, situated near Corliss, is the home property of William Haigh, who has always resided upon this place. He was actively engaged in its cultivation for many years, but in 1904 he retired from active farm work and now rents his land. He was born in this County, August 25, 1845, a son of George and Anna (Butterworth) Haigh. The father was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1810 and died January 28. 1890, while the mother, a native of Lancashire. England, passed away in 1867. They were married in Racine County, where Mr. Haigh had arrived in 1842, at which time he took up school land from the government. Later he secured forty acres more, becoming the owner of a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, and as the years passed he carefully and systematically developed his place, converting it into richly productive fields.
William Haigh was one of two children, but is now the only survivor of the family. The father gave his political allegiance to the Republican Party but took no active part in politics as an office seeker, as his entire attention was given to his farm work. He had but limited school advantages in his youth, but was very quick at figures and he possessed sound judgment and shrewd common sense. He died on the old homestead and in his passing the community lost a substantial and respected citizen.
Mr. Haigh of this review pursued his education in the district schools and was reared to the occupation of farming, early assisting in the work of the fields on the old home place. In 1874 he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Myrick, who was born in New York in 1848, a daughter of John Myrick, who in an early day arrived in Racine County, where he engaged in farming. His death occurred at Union Grove in 1890. Mr. and Mrs. Haigh have become the parents of three children: Luminda, the widow of Boyd Fell, and now a resident of the state of Washington; Esther J., the wife of Jonathan Parsons, a farmer in Racine County; and George, who follows farming near Yorkville.
Throughout his entire life William Haigh has resided upon the farm, which is still his place of residence, and he now has one hundred and forty acres of good land, of which eighty acres has been brought to a high state of cultivation, while the other is wood and pasture land. He carried on general farming with success for a long period and also did some dairying, but at length retired from active farm life and for the past twelve years has lived retired, enjoying a good rental from his land. He and his family attend the Methodist Episcopal Church and his political endorsement is given to the Republican Party. He has lived a quiet and unassuming life, but his worth. as a man and citizen is recognized and acknowledged by all who know him and throughout the neighborhood in which he lives he has many warm friends.