It is with a degree of satisfaction to the biographer when he averts to the life of one who has made the rough path of life smooth by his untiring perseverance, has attained success in any vocation requiring definiteness of purpose and determined action. Such a life, whether it be one of calm, consecutive endeavor, or of sudden meteoric accomplishments, must abound in both lesson and incentive and prove a guide to the young men whose fortunes are still matters for the future to determine. During his mature years Willis J. Tubbs. well known abstractor of Elkhorn, has devoted his efforts toward the goal of accomplished desire in Walworth county, of which he is a worthy native son, and by patient continuance has won more than a mediocre success and at the same time the esteem of his fellow men.
Mr. Tubbs was born in Lafayette township, this county, two miles east of Elkhorn, July 25, 1856. He is a son of James Lawrence Tubbs and Annie Rebecca (Henderson) Tubbs. James L. Tubbs was born at Augusta, Oneida county, New York, September 10, 1824, and he moved with his parents to Victor, Ontario county, that state, in 1843. He was a son of Samuel and Polly (Frost) Tubbs, both from Connecticut, he from Lynn, and she from Waterbury, his birth having occurred on August 21, 1781. He was the son of Peter Tubbs. Samuel Tubbs was a soldier in the war of 1812 under Captain Lawrence.
Annie R. Henderson was the daughter of John Mathias Henderson and Samantha (Hine) Henderson, and born at Willoughby, Ohio, December 13, 1830. Her father. Dr. John M. Henderson, who w-as born at Norwich, was in the war of 181 2, both as a surgeon and an adjutant. He came to Cuyahoga county, Ohio, in June, 18 14. and settled in the town of Willoughby, where he lived until 1849, when he emigrated to Walworth county, Wisconsin, where he spent the rest of his life practicing medicine, being one of the best known of our pioneer physicians. Dr. John M. Henderson was a son of Edward and Mary (Mathias) Henderson, the father a fur trader, who made frequent trips from New York City to Detroit, trading with the Indians, making the trips on foot and in canoe, on small streams, rivers and lakes, making the trip north one summer and returning the next. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, a captain of militia at the battle of Bennington, and he also served in many other battles. His father had been in the French and Indian war and his death occurred after drinking from a spring which had been poisoned by the Indians. Edward’s wife was at one time boiling soap when a party of Tory soldiers attempted to take her prisoner, but she threw a dipper of hot soap in one’s face and sent him away howling with pain. At another time she and others were besieged in a block house by Indians, and while she sallied forth to get meal from a nearby house she was shot at by the Indians.
Edward Henderson was born at Colerain, Massachusetts, in 1745 and his death occurred at Norway, Herkimer county. New York, in 1811. He grew up in Vermont and was lieutenant, later a captain under General Stark ill the patriot army. His name also appears on the rolls of the New York soldiers at Albany.
Doctor Henderson left New York on horseback. May 20. 1814. He was postmaster at Chagrin, now Willoughby Ohio, in Cuyahoga county, being commissioned in 1816. He was lieutenant of militia in New York, and Mr. Tubbs still has the commission. The Doctor was interested in starting a medical college at Willoughby. His death occurred on November 29. 1857.
Samuel Tubbs, grandfather of Willis J. Tubbs, came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, from Victor, Ontario county, New York, in 1844 and settled in Lafayette township with his wife and six of their children : Jane T. and her husband, Lot Mayo ; Martha and her husband, Nicholas C. Bowers ; Fannie T. and her husband, Eli Kimball Frost ; Isaac P. and James L. The family all settled in and around Elkhorn. Samuel Tubbs moved into Elkhorn in the early fifties and there spent the balance of his life.
James -L. Tubbs came here as a surveyor and followed surveying all his life. He was county surveyor many years, up to about 1870. His last work in surveying was running the outlines of the Delavan assembly grounds. The Tubbs family moved into their present residence in Elkhorn. December 25. 1857, and that has been the family home ever since.
The five children of James L. Tubbs and wife were as follows : Henry Henderson, who is a civil engineer, with residence in Elkhorn, married Helen M. Andrews and they have a son and a daughter; Frank W.. who is with Smith Brothers’ commission firm in Chicago, still maintains his residence at Darien, this county, where he has a farm ; he married Blanche Smith ; Eva married Capt. George E. Wood, and they reside in Elkhorn ; a sketch of the Captain appears on another page. Willis J., of this review, was next in order of birth; Edward Hine is in the furniture and undertaking business at Clinton, Wisconsin ; he married Julia Seaver, of Darien, she being a representative of an old family there.
The father of these children died September 6, 1898, and their mother passed away in the old home on December 25, 1904, just forty-seven years to the day from the time she moved here with the family. She was a great lover of flowers and was unusually successful with them, and this trait is quite noticeable in her son, Willis J. Tubbs. The latter was six months old when his parents brought him to Elkhorn, and here he grew to manhood and received his education in the public schools, graduating from the Elkhorn high school in March, 1877. Mr. Tubbs began life as a farmer and surveyor, which he followed successfully, also taught school for some time. In 1898 he went into the abstract business, which he had learned by personal investigation, persistent study and close observation. He made an entirely new set of books and has continued in this business ever since, building up a large and ever-growing patronage, and is one of the best known and most reliable abstract men in this section of the state today.
Mr. Tubbs was married on December 31, 1906, to Nellie Harper, of Sharon, this county. She was born in Iowa and is the daughter of Robert and Emma C. (Carter) Harper. Fraternally, Mr. Tubbs is a member of the Masonic order.
From: Beckwith, A.C. (1912). History of Walworth County Wisconsin