William Leroy La Follette was born in Thorntown, Indiana, on November 30th, 1860. In 1854 William's father, Harvey LaFollette, was just 22 years old and newly married. He moved from Indiana to Primrose, Wisconsin to join his older brother Josiah (15 years his senior) in a farming venture. The LaFollettes had lived in the Knob Creek area of Kentucky for a generation before William's grandfather, Jesse LaFollette relocated his entire family to Putnam County, Indiana in order to leave land title and slavery issues behind him.