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THE UNITED STATES' *
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
PORTRAIT GALLERY
Eminent and Self-made Men.
WISCONSIN VOLUME.
CHICAGO, CINCINNATI AND NEW YORK:
AMERICAN BIOGRAPHICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY. j
1S77.
15"148,0
PREFACE
IN undertaking the publication of the Biographical Dictionary the publishers are guided by two
business principles : First, the belief that they are supplying a public need ; and second, the con-
viction that they will be able to supply the best work on the subject.
The belief that the work is needed is founded on the fact that the world worships success, and
is glad to learn how it has been brought about. The truth of this is shown in the fact that if a man
be poor, though he have the learning of a Blackstone, the genius of a Watt, or the patient persever-
ance of a Goodyear, yet, until he has achieved success, mankind has no interest in his history. His
aspirations, his anxieties and his heart struggles, may have an interest for beings of higher intelligence,
but for the mass of mankind these have no charms. But if by some cunning device, by' some daring
enterprise, or after long struggles and perseverance, he acquire a fortune, then the reluctant world is
lavish in its admiration, his history is full of interest, and every one is anxious to know how he
achieved success. To gratify this universal longing, it is proposed to give the history of the lives of
six hundred successful men of Wisconsin.
The Publishers found the second business principle on the fact that they are determined to spare
neither labor nor expense in giving to the world the most authentic information how these men have
won fortune, how the world has been benefited by their labors, and what has been the turning-point
of their success. These examples are of great interest, may spread good seed, encourage the weary,
give new life to the desponding, and energy to the aspiring. In the hearts of the young there are
ever hopes and yearnings ; and although seldom expressed, and often not even acknowledged to them-
selves, they want only the inspiration of example to point the way, to accomplish the full fruition of
their hopes.
The Publishers believe they are engaged in a laudable enterprise, and trust to a discerning public
for a liberal response. It is but just to mention that not one cent has been asked or received from
the parties whose biographies have been given in this work ; nor is it intended to pander to the vanity
of the weak. Eulogy belongs to the dead, not to the living. A record of a man's life and works
constitutes his biography; the praise of his virtues is more appropriate in an obituary. It is our
object to seek out merit, and, by a simple narration of the origin, career, and achievements of indi-
viduals, show how the country has become great, and who are the men that have helped to do the
work. To know how to achieve success is a laudable craving of the human heart, and to teach by
example is the best mode of satisfying that craving.
The rapid growth of the United States is unparalleled in the world's history. If it has been done
by human hands, who has done it.' Have the heroes of peace no honor.' If they have, where is
the record.' Perhaps it may be found in the dusty files of some daily papers, where lie hidden the
records of the worthiest deeds, while acts of rapine fill the pages of history. These may be sensa-
tional, but they are not exemplary.
There may be yet living some few who took part in the War of Independence ; so that it may be
4 I' RE FACE.
said that in one life millions of acres of wild lands have been brought under cultivation, cities have
S]jrung uj) as if by magic, industries have been developed which challenge the world for the vastness,
utility and beauty of their productions. The arts have made great progress, and the sons and daugh-
ters of America vie with the most eminent of the Old World. To make a record, in an accessible
form, of the men who have achieved so much, is a desideratum which has a just claim upon every
admirer of his country's progress. ,
The publication of this work will contribute to the supply of materials for the future historian.
The day has arrived when something more than the memories of the ancestry of the titled few shall
usurp the admiration of mankind. A new era, a new civilization, has sprung up, which furnishes a
different material for history. There has been enough written of kings, feudal barons, and the turbu-
lence of unbridled power. It is the social condition of the people that makes the history of the
United States, which is by far more interesting, by far more useful, and by far more e.\emplary, than
all the feuds and cabals which crowd the pages of European history.
The interests of the United States demand that her history should be modeled after her institu-
tions, and viewed from that standpoint; honor should be given to those who have made the country
great. A man is a constituent of a community; so is the history of an individual a constituent of
the history of a country ; and that history which best represents the lives of prominent individuals
will best represent the social condition of a country.
The B10GR.A.PHICAL Dictionary will furnish this material. It is purely an American idea, and is
in the direction of assimilating American literature with American civilization. A sound public
opinion is essential to the permanency of a stable government. Opinions formed by a literature
written for a people living under a different civilization, which includes monarchy and prerogative,
aristocracy and privilege, and an e.xalted idea of birth and station, is wholly in conflict with republican
simplicity. Therefore, however proud we may be of the names which adorn our language, we cannot
be blind to the fact that a European literature is not an unalloyed blessing. A national literature
must represent tlie national sentiment; should be in accordance with the principles, and a support to
the institutions, of the country. A sound literature is one of the greatest aids to good order, and
one of the best supports of the permanency and stability of a government.
In making a selection of names for the Biographical Dictionary, the Publishers have aimed to
give a view of the representatives of the various interests of the State; the Statesmen, the Preachers,
the Lawyers, the Merchants, the Manufacturers, the Engineers, and indeed all who take part in the
intellectual, social and material progress of the people. If all are not represented, it is because our
efforts have failed to reach them, or because the parties themselves were not familiar with the impor-
tance of the work, and have failed to furnish the necessary information. There are some who, from
vain pride, have refused information; they feared that their names might be associated with names
which did not come up to their standard ; others again, who are worthy citizens, have, from a false
modesty, refused to give particulars, as they said their lives were not of sufficient importance, thereby
accepting the humiliating position of being supernumeraries in society, who have no share in the com-
mon interest — forgetting that in a few years their names, without a record, will be lost in oblivion,
and their posterity deprived of the gratification and advantage of reference to an honorable ancestry.
The Biographical Dictionary will present a galaxy of men whose careers will do honor to any
country, exhibiting a variety of enterprise and the best illustration of social life ever published. The
portraits have the accuracy of photographic art transferred to steel by the ablest engravers of England
and America.
THE UNITED STATES
BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
IVISCONS/N VOLUME.
HON. JAMES T. LEWIS,
COLUMfiUS
SEARCHING the streets of Athens with a
lantern, Diogenes illumined a truth of his own
discovering, namely, that men are a nation's rarest
as well as most precious jewels; and we have dis-
covered that of those who shine in the crown of the
Republic, none have a higher worth than the faith-
ful administrators of the law. Prominent, on the
roll of true and good men, we find the name of
James T. Lewis, a native of Clarendon, New York.
He was born on the 30th of October, 1819, and is
the son of Shubael Lewis and Eleanor Robert-
son. His grandfather, Samuel Lewis, lived in Brim-
field, Massachusetts. His father, a native of New
England, was born on the 27th of February, 1783,
and grew up from a poor boy, with a spirit of self-
reliance and strong hope, and by his sterling qualities
commanded universal respect. He was a man of
sturdy enterprise and acquired large estates both in
New York and Wisconsin. He was thrice married :
first on the 29th of January, 1815; and the second
time on the 15th of April, 1835, to Parna Nichols,
who was born on the loth of April, 1798. She was
a lady of the truest womanly qualities, a devoted
wife, and all that a mother could be to the children
placed under her care. Her pure life was devoted
to the welfare of her family, and to the influence of
her teachings and example the subject of this sketch,
to-day, feels himself largely indebted for the success
of his life.
His third marriage was to Mary Bugbee. He died
at the advanced age of seventy-eight years.
The mother of our subject, a lady of Scotch
descent, died on the 8th of October, 1834.
Of Mr. Lewis' brothers and sisters, William L. was
born October 19, 1815, and was married October 7,
1842, to Miss Eliza Ann Martin, of Clarendon, New
York. Shubael R. was born November 3, 1817 ; was
a distinguished soldier in the Mexican war — the
first to scale the walls of Chepultepec, and for his
gallant conduct on the field was presented with a
sword; married August 18, 1839, to Mrs. Sarah Ann
(Nichols) Brown, widow of Harvey Brown, M.D. ;
died in August, 1856. Hiram W. was born January
13, 1823; married September 2, 1847, to. Miss Me-
lissa P. Tousley. Mary Jane was born September 6,
1825 ; married Oscar A. Harris. Andrew J. was born
May 23, 1828; died January 20, 1840. Lydia A. was
born September 22, 1831 ; died October 12, 1834.
James T., the third son, after receiving a common-
school education, completed a course of English
and classical study in Clarkson Academy and Clin-
ton Seminary in New York, and in 1842 began the
study of law with Governor Selden, of Clarkson.
He afterward removed to Wisconsin, and in 1845
was admitted to the bar of the United States dis-
trict court, and subsequently to the supreme court
of the State.
Declining the gift of an eligible law office offered
him by influential friends if he would settle in Clin-
ton, New York, he decided more wisely, and estab-
lished himself in Columbus, his present home. At
the age of twenty-six years he was married to Miss
THE UNITED STATES HlOGnAPIllC AL DICTIOXART.
Orlina M. Sturges, daughter of a prominent and
successful merchant of Clarendon, New York, and
by her had four children : Henry S., deceased at
the age of sixteen months ; Selden J., named after
Governor Selden, of Clarkson, New York ; Charles
R., named after Hon. Charles D. Robinson, of Green
Bay, Wisconsin ; and Annie L.
Mr. Lewis, a man of superior executive ability,
rapidly rose to the successive positions of district
attorney, county judge, member of the constitutional
convention which formed the organic law of the
State, member of the general assembly, state sen-
ator, member of the court of impeachment, lieuten-
ant-governor, secretary of state, and governor. As
secretary of state it was truly said of him, "he has
been prompt, methodical and systematic in all the
departments of his office ; a true man in every sense
of the word, kind and gentlemanly in his deport-
ment, and possessing great executive ability." When
elected to this office he received every vote cast in
the city of his residence, and when elected gov-
ernor in 1863, received a majority of twenty-five
thousand, by far the largest ever accorded any can-
didate for that office.
The nation at this time being engaged in civil
war. Governor Lewis felt that for the time political
divisions should cease ; that all loyal men, forgetting
party strifes, should rally around our country's flag
and save it from dishonor ; that rebellion should be
crushed by hearty cooperation and earnest sacrifice,
and that peace should be restored. Sincerely im-
pressed with this belief, he severed party ties and
proclaimed, " he who is not a faithful friend to the
government of his country in this trying hour is no
friend of mine," and spared neither time, talent nor
money in sending troops to save the national capi-
tal. Especially was his attention engaged in caring
for the needs of the sick. He repeatedly visited
camps and hospitals, making long and careful tours,
and finally secured a special order from the surgeon
general of the United States, for the transfer. of all
the sick and wounded soldiers from Wisconsin to
hospitals within their own State, a privilege never
before granted.
Under his administration hospitals were estab-
lished, a soldiers' orphans' home was founded, and
families of soldiers provided for.
Through his influence multitudes of suffering
"boys in blue " were nursed back to life in hospitals
with comforts ; blessed by the prayers of mothers
and wives at home, the dying hours of brave men
were soothed, and men who had risked their lives
for a great principle, and bereaved families, were
provided with homes. The unmarked, but not for-
gotten, graves of our slain heroes dot the hillsides
of the South ; but had it not been for the noble
work of Governor Lewis, hundreds who are among
the living to-day would live only in the desolate,
sorrowing hearts of those who loved them. By
personal efforts he obtained credit from the govern-
ment for soldiers furnished, and reduced the quota
of Wisconsin at one time from nineteen thousand
and thirty-two to fifteen thousand three hundred
and eleven, and was especially successful in secur-
ing the claims of his State against the government,
amounting in all to more than half a million dollars.
In 1865, by his wise adjustment of affairs, the State
tax was reduced several hundred thousand dollars;
and during his entire administration he did not use
one dollar of the military contingent fund. At his
request the legislature declined to vote the usual
appropriation of five thousand dollars as a general
contingent fund for the use of the executive. He
worked for the good of his State, and was econom-
ical, systematic and prompt in all his departments
of duty. His large-heartedness and sympathy went
out to all; yet in the administration of justice he
was inexorable.
In 1865, against the wishes of his State, he de-
clined a renomination, preferring the retirement
of private life to public honors and emoluments.
Finding him firm in his determination, the Union
nominating convention expressed in resolutions
their regret at his decision, their cordial approba-
tion of his administration, and their gratitude for
his zeal, fidelity and generous work in behalf of
others.
As a man and public officer, Governor Lewis
possessed the unlimited confidence of the people,
and throughout his varied career has maintained a
name and character above suspicion or reproach.
Figuring little in proclamations, orders and tele-
graphic communications, he performed his duties
quietly and without ostentation. Unselfish and
self-denying in all his action, he labored for the
welfare of his State and nation. Standing upon
noble principle, he felt that he needed no other
platform; the ends which he aimed at were "his
country's, his God's and truth's." A marked fea-
ture in the character of Governor Lewis, and one
worthy of imitation, is his generous benevolence.
Possessed of a liberal competence, he devotes a
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
portion of his annual income to the building and
support of universities, colleges, academies and
educational interests; thus exerting a silent but
lasting influence for good, by developing the minds
and morals of his country's youth. He has been
a liberal contributor to churches and benevolent
enterprises of various kinds, and in all that pertains
to the welfare of his city, or the good of his fellow-
men, he is ready to lend a cheerful support.
In 1864 Lawrence University conferred upon
him the degree of LL.D., an honor which was
justly bestowed and has been worthily worn.
He recently received a dispatch from Washing-
ton tendering him the ofifice of commissioner of
internal revenue. He, however, declined the honor,
owing to other duties which require his constant
attention. Mr. Lewis has been several times offered
similar offices, but has uniformly declined.
JAIRUS H. CARPENTER,
MADISON.
JAIRUS H. CARPENTER, a native of Ashford,
Connecticut, was born on the 14th of February,
1S22, and is the son of Palmer and Martha Carpen-
ter. With the exception of three or four terms spent
in Holliston Academy, he received his education in
the common schools. After closing his studies he
engaged for a time in teaching, and later began the
study of law, and completed his preparatory profes-
sional studies with Hon. Loren P. Waldo, of Tolland,
Connecticut. In March, 1847, he was admitted to
the bar, and the same year engaged in the practice
of his profession at Willimantic, Connecticut. In
1857 he removed to Wisconsin, and settled at his
present home in Madison.
Politically, Mr. Carpenter is a republican, though
conservative in his views. He exalts the man above
the party, and supports for ofifice him whom he
deems most worthy of the position. He has here-
tofore, and still takes an active part in educational
matters. For fourteen years he has been a member
of the Madison Board of Education, and for ten
years president of the same.
In 1868 he was elected professor of law in the
University of Wisconsin, a capacity in which he still
continues to act. In 1876 he was made dean of the
law faculty. The honorary degree of A.M., was
confered on him by Yale College in 1874.
Mr. Carpenter was married on the 13th of Feb-
ruary, 1852, to Miss Martha C. Kendall, of Brook-
field, Massachusetts.
THEODORE LYMAN WRIGHT.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of East
Hampton, Massachusetts, was born on the 6th
of October, 1806, the son of Luther Wright and
Sarah nee Lyman. His ancestors were among the
early settlers of the American colonies, and some
of them participated in the revolutionary struggle.
His parents, farmers by occupation, were highly re-
spected in their community, and employed every
means in their power to train their children to
principles of morality and right.
Theodore received a good preparatory education,
and afterward entered Yale College, but owing to
impaired health, was compelled to abandon his
studies before completing his course. The degree
of A.M. was, however, afterward conferred upon
him as a compliment to his scholarly attainment.
His natural literary tastes led him to devote his
attention to teaching, and after closing his studies
in college, he began fitting young men for college,
and continued teaching, mainly in Hartford, Con-
necticut, during a period of seventeen years, finding
in this employment most agreeable and congenial
work.
Removing to the West, in 1846, he settled at
Beloit, Wisconsin, and during the next twenty years,
or longer, was engaged in the insurance business,
and in agricultural pursuits. In the meantime, hav-
ing accumulated sufficient capital, he erected a
paper-mill in Rockton, Illinois; and soon after,
another at Beloit, in company with S. T. Merrill.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
and began that business, with which he is still con-
nected, as president of the Northwestern Paper
Company. He has not, however, confined his at-
tention to any one branch of business. In com-
pany with Mr. Newcomb and Mr. Merrill, he estab-
lished the first book-store in Beloit, under the firm
name of Wright, Merrill and Newcomb. His course,
from the first, has been marked by a steady and
healthful growth, and has been attended with that
prosperity that inevitably follows honest, earnest
and continuous effort. As a business man, he is
known for his conscientious fair dealing, his prompt-
ness and decision, and firm adherence to the highest
principles of justice.
Politically, Mr. Wright is a republican, and aside
from his regular business, has been honored with
many public trusts. He has been for a number of
years superintendent of the public schools of Beloit,
and president of the Board of Public Schools ; and
is at the present time (1876) president of the Library
Association. He visited Europe in 1835, in the
interests of his business, and has also traveled ex-
tensively in the United States, and thus acquired a
wide range of practical knowledge and a most
valuable experience.
His religious training was under the influence of
the Congregational church, and he is now a con-
sistent member of that body, having united at the
age of sixteen years.
Mr. Wright has been thrice married : First, on
the 23d of September, 1833, to Miss Catherine B.
Rynolds, who died on the 25th of April, 1852. His
second marriage was on the 25th of November,
1853, to Jane Newcomb, who died on the 6th of
October, 1866. On the 21st of August, 1867, he
married his present wife, Mrs. Elenor F. Hutchins,
whose grandfather, Amasa Clark, was a soldier in
the war of independence.
Mr. Wright's personal and social qualities are of
a high order, and he lives now in the enjoyment of
an ample fortune, surrounded by the comforts of a
happy home and hosts of true friends.
LEANDER F. FRISBY,
WEST BEND.
LEANDER F. FRISBY was born June 19, 1825,
_j in Mesopotamia, Trumbull county, Ohio. His
father, Lucius Frisby, was a native of Vermont, but
removed with his family to Ohio in 18:7, where he
settled on a farm, and followed the occupation of a
farmer for over thirty years. Although of limited
early education, yet he possessed strong native talent,
and was well posted on all the topics of the day. j
His grandfather, on both his father's and mother's
side, were soldiers in the revolutionary war. His
mother, whose maiden name was Lavina Gary, was
also a native of Vermont. She is still living at the
ripe age of eighty-four years, and is at present, and
has been for twelve years past, a member of the
family of the subject of this sketch. She still retains
those indelible traces of pure and intelligent woman-
hood which were so characteristic of the American
mothers of the last generation, and which have done
so much to mould the best phases of American
character.
Leandor, in his early years, worked upon his fa-
ther's farm during the summer months, and attended
the neighboring district school for the short space
of three months during the winter. .\t the age of
eighteen, with the consent of his parents, he left
home and learned the trade of a wagonmaker. From
his boyhood he felt and showed a fixed determina-
tion to obtain an education, and occupied all of his
leisure hours, while learning his trade, in reading
and study. After becoming sufficiently skillful in
his trade to earn wages, he commenced a course of
study at Farmington Academy, in his native county,
in Ohio, a school of considerable local fame, where he
paid his board and tuition by working at his trade
for a neighboring wagonmaker, out of school hours.
He remained there for three terms, and, when he
left, ranked with the best among some hundred and
fifty students.
After leaving the academy he taught school one
winter, for the purpose of replenishing his wardrobe
and obtaining money to go west, where he intended
to teach for a time, and return again to his studies.
He landed at Sheboygan in September, 1846, and
went from thence to the city of Fond du Lac. The
fall of 1846 will be remembered by the old settlers
of Wisconsin as the " sickly season," and within two
weeks from his arrival he was taken sick with chill
fever, which kept him disabled till far into the win-
oi- Cct>-z^^&^Cc-r- y* . P^V>t--<^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
ter. When he had so far recovered as to be able to
work, the schools were all taken, and, being in des-
titute circumstances, he sought work at his trade.
He found, however, upon application to the only
wagonmakers in his vicinity, that they had not work
sufificient for their own employment; and rather than
remain idle or to encroach upon the generosity of
friends, he entered a cooper shop, as the only place
where he could obtain employment, and worked two
months, receiving only the munificent wages of his
own board (which was the agreement he had made
with the proprietors at the time he began work) ;
in the meantime seeking work at his trade by cor-
respondence with other parts of the surrounding
country. Receiving a favorable reply from Beaver
Dam in March, 1847, he borrowed fifty cents from
a friend and started on foot for that place, paying
his borrowed money for his supper and lodging, and
arriving there about noon of the second day, with-
out having tasted breakfast. Here he commenced
work at his trade for a Mr. Craig, and continued in
his employ until the latter part of June. This was
the first glimmer of sunlight which had dawned upon
his pathway since he left his native State. The long,
sad, weary days of sickness, hardships, trials and
despondency spent during that fall and winter at
Fond du Lac cannot be portrayed, and it would be
but a sad failure to attempt it. In the summer of
1847 he went from Beaver Dam to Janesville, where
he also worked at his trade in the shop of a Mr.
Curler. During all of this time he never lost sight
of his original object, and spent every moment
which could be spared from his labors in hard,
earnest study of such books as were at his com-
mand.
In the fall of 1847, having relieved himself from
his embarrassment by hard and incessant toil at the
bench, the darkness and gloom which had at first
overshadowed his pathway, in the then far west, had
been lifted, and the beauties of the prairie-west pre-
sented themselves to him in a new light, which in-
duced him to abandon his first intent of returning to
the East, and he resolved to engage in school teach-
ing as the best adapted to enable him to pursue his
studies. He first taught, nine months, at Spring
Prairie Corners, Walworth county, commencing in
the fall of that year. In September, 1848, he opened
an academical school at Burlington, Racine county,
in what was then known as the old " Burlington
Academy " building, where he continued to teach
until the summer of 1850 — in the meantime pursu-
ing the study of law, and spending the summer va-
cations of 1849 and 1850 in the law office of Messrs.
Blair and Lord, at Port Washington, in (now) Ozaukee
county, where he was admitted to the bar in the fall
of the latter year. As a teacher, he was eminently
successful, and built up a school at Burlington which
was largely patronized, and held in high esteem by
the people of that place.
About the first of October, 1850, he removed to
West Bend — where he has ever since resided — in
contemplation of its becoming the county seat of the
old county of Washington, for which it was ' then
striving. For over two years the county-seat contest
raged and the little village of West Bend remained
stationary, and but little business found its way into
his office. He, however, pursued his studies vigor-
ously, teaching the village school during the winters
of 1850-1 and 185 1-2, and attending to his little law
business evenings and Saturdays. Upon the divi-
sion of the county in the winter of 1853, and the
establishment of the county seat of the new county
of Washington at West Bend, a new era dawned
upon the young disciple of Blackstone, and from
that time his course was onward and upward. In
the fall of 1853 he was elected the first district attor-
ney of the new county of Washington ; in 1854 was
one of the secretaries of tlie first republican State
convention held in this State, at Madison; in 1856
was appointed county judge of Washington county,
by Governor Bashford ; in i860 was a delegate to the
national republican convention, held at Chicago,
which nominated Abraham Lincoln, and was one of
its acting secretaries; in the fall of i860 was elected
to the State legislature in an intensely democratic
district, and was a member of that body at the
breaking out of the late civil war, and was chairman
of the judiciary committee at its special session in
June, 1861 ; in i868 was the republican nominee for
congress in the fourth district, against Charles A.
Eldridge, and, though defeated, he polled an unusu-
ally large vote ; the same year was one of the repub-
lican presidential electors; in 1872 was a delegate
to the republican national convention, at Philadel-
phia, which renominated General Grant; the same
year was chosen president of the Wisconsin State
convention of Universalists, and was reelected to
the same position in 1873; in 1873 he received the
republican nomination upon the State ticket for the
office of attorney-general, and though he went down
in the general disaster which that year overwhelmed
the republican party, he made perhaps the most
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
remarkable run in the political annals of this State.
His home county, Washington, which gave Taylor,
the democratic candidate for governor, little less
than two thousand majority, and the balance of that
ticket, except the candidate for attorney-general,
about the same, gave Mr. Frisby something over six
hundred majority, which placed him largely ahead
of his ticket in the State.
In politics, Mr. Frisby has been an ardent, active
and steadfast republican ever since the organization
of that party. Previous to that time he was a free-
soiler, and cast his first vote for President, in 1848,
for Martin VanBuren, the candidate of that party.
From the day when he first began to take an interest
in national affairs, he was an earnest and uncom-
promising opponent of human slavery. It has been,
however, as a lawyer, that Mr. Frisby has made
himself prominent in the history of Wisconsin.
In 1854 he formed a law partnership with John
E. Mann, the present county judge of Milwaukee
county, which continued till Mr. Mann was elected
judge of the third judicial circuit in 1859. He soon
thereafter formed a copartnership with Hon. Paul
A. Weil, and S. S. Barney, Esq., was taken into the
firm May i, 1874, so that he is now the senior mem-
ber of the present law firm of Frisby, Weil and Barney.
He has now been in the active practice of his pro-
fession for a quarter of a century, and for the last
twenty years has enjoyed an extensive and lucrative
practice. Industry, energy and hard study, coupled
with unimpeachable integrity toward his clients, has
ranked him among the lawyers of Wisconsin.
He was married to Mrs. Francis E. Rooker, of
Burlington, Wisconsin, in 1854. They are comfort-
ably situated in a pleasant home in West Bend, sur-
rounded by a large and interesting family of children,
and the fruits of an industrious and well spent life. .'
Mr. Frisby is just in the prime of manhood, and .j
is remarkably well preserved for his years, owing \
undoubtedly to his constant temperate habits — tall
and commanding in figure, and pleasing and sociable \
in his manners and address. Many years of useful- i
ness are evidently before him, full of promise of \
honor and profit to himself, and the large circle of •
friends and acquaintances with whom he is sur- 1
sounded. j
The Madison "State Journal." August 29, 1873, j
says : I
L. F. Frisby, of Washington, nominated for attorney i
general, we have known for a great manv years as a lead-
ing lawyer and solid citizen of Washington county. He ,
has fought the good fight of republicanism in that strong- '
hold of democracy, year after year, with unshaken courage.
He helped to organize the republican party, and no man I
has more zealously upheld its banner and advocated its
principles. He has had the hearty good wishes of the party
for years, but none of its honors. It was not surprising,
therefore, that the convention regarded his claims to recog- ]
nition for past services as very strong; and when to this I
was added his high character as a man, his great ability as !
a lawyer, and his popularity with the people, the case was 1
irresistible. We most heartily indorse this nomination, as
one eminently fit to be made. The judge is a polished
gentleman, and a clear-headed, competent, honest man. He
will add great strength to the ticket in that section of the '■
State, where we want more votes, and he will bring to the
discharge of the duties of his office a cultivated and vigor-
ous mind. We are sure that the republicans of Wisconsin
will vote for L. F. Frisby for attorney -general with a feeling
of genuine satisfaction that this most deserving republican 1
is to be honored at last. \
JAMES CODY, M.D.,
'WATER-TOWN.
JAMES CODY, a gentleman who is practicing
the profession of medicine in Watertown, Wis-
consin, is the subject of our present brief biograph-
ical history. He was born on the 2 2d day of August,
1820, at St. John's, the capital of Newfoundland, and
was the son of Patrick and Susan Cody. The maiden
name of Mrs. Cody was McDonnell. Patrick Cody
was engaged as a merchant in the fisheries of New-
foundland.
When James had reached an age which rendered
it practicable and judicious, he was sent from his
home to Montreal, in Canada, for the purpose of
commencing and laying the foundation of his ed-
ucation. Here he stayed for some time at the Jesuit
College, giving his attention faithfully to his stud-
ies. He then removed to Harvard University, and,
by the exercise of diligence, and the fact of his pos-
sessing a strong liking to the profession he had cho-
sen, graduated in the medical department of the
same on the 4th of March, 1844. In 1846 he came
to Watertown and commenced the practice of medi-
cine, which he has continued with great success
until the present time.
Mr. Cody is a believer in the Roman Catholic
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
iaith, of which church he is an acknowledged and
faithful member. Politically, he has always been a
supporter of the democratic party. Although Mr.
Cody's time and attention has been almost entirely
occupied and absorbed by the practice and study of
the profession for which he has such a strong regard,
he allowed himself to be nominated for the office of
school superintendent in the city of Watertown, and
the voters displayed their appreciation of his many
good qualities and his adaptability for the position.
by electing him to it. He is also the health officer
of the city, and discharges his duties in a conscien-
tious and efficient manner.
On the 1 2th of November, 1848, he was united
in marriage with Miss Adeline Rogan, by whom he
has had f6ur children. James Marion, born July
22, 1850, and died at the age of fifteen; Edward
Dwayne, born June 2, 1853, and died June 13, 1869 ;
Adaline, born July 28, 1855, and William Gordon,
born July 20, 1861. Both the latter are living.
EDWARD AND MICHAEL FORRESTER McKEY,
yANESVILLE.
EDWARD AND MICHAEL F. McKEV, of
Janesville, Wisconsin, were twin brothers, and
were born in Crossmolina, county of Mayo, Ireland,
on the i8th of September, 1821; their parents being
Thomas McKey and Maria (Forrester) McKey.
The brothers received their education mainly at
home, and at a private school in the neighborhood,
where they obtained a good English education. At
school they showed great precocity, and, while ex-
celling in their studies generally, evinced a marked
aptitude and partiality for history and literature.
They left school at the early age of fifteen, and
were apprenticed to the dry-goods business, and
entered the establishment of the leading merchant
in that line of their native town. Although mere
boys, they displayed unmistakable business (]ualifica-
tions, and after four years of their apprenticeship
had expired, they prevailed upon their employer to
release them from their indentures, still, however,
remaining in his employment.
In 1840 Edward visited the United States, and
remained there about six months. At the age of
twenty-two they commenced business on their own
account, and soon developed a flourishing and ex-
tensive trade, which they carried on successfully
until 1846, when they were overtaken by the great
famine of that year, which involved nearly the
whole business community of the island in ruin,
and from which they, in common witli every one
else, suffered very heavy losses. The young brotli-
ers, however, were full of energy and well directed
ambition, and they determined at once to retrieve
their fortunes in another land. In the early part
of 1847 they carried out this intention, and immi-
grated to America, and located themselves at Little
Falls, in New York State ; and in the autumn of
the same year they bought out the business of Mr.
N. H. Wood, who removed to Chicago, and who
now resides at Portage, Wisconsin. While at Little
Falls, the rumors of the wonderful resources and
capacities of the great West reached their ears,
and, like many others, these marvelous reports at-
tracted their serious attention. They resolved to
make another change, and accordingly, in 1849,
they removed to Wisconsin, opening a mercantile
house, first at Racine, and shortly afterward another
at Janesville. They continued to conduct both these
establishments simultaneously for about three years,
when they finally closed the one at Racine, and
gave their whole attention to the Janesville house,
making it their headquarters. They subsequently
established branch houses at several other places,
such as Madison, Oshkosh, Beloit and Mineral
Point. They were invariably successful in all their
undertakings, as a natural consequence of their
innate shrewdness and business sagacity, their un-
wearied industry and strict integrity; and for a
quarter of a century there has been no firm in the
State of Wisconsin more widely known to its people
than that of the McKey Brothers.
In September, 1868, Mr. Michael F. McKey died,
and the estate, which had been accumulated by
their industry, remained wisely undivided under
the direction and control of the surviving brother,
Mr. Edward McKey, until his death, which oc-
curred somewhat suddenly from paralysis of the
vital organs on the 14th of August, 1875. He had
about a year previously retired from active partici-
pation in the mercantile business, giving his atten-
tion solely to his real-estate affairs.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Both the brothers were men of unusual capacity
and foresight. For many years the surplus profits
of the home business had been invested, with rare
sagacity, in real estate, when property was low, in
nearly every important town from Chicago to Lake
Superior; and thus were laid the foundations of a
fortune, which, with the development of the country,
grew to extremely large proportions.
In religious affairs tliey were attached to the com-
munion of the Episcopal church, and in youth took
great interest in Sunday-school affairs in connection
with that denomination.
Politically, they were supporters of the demo-
cratic party, but voted for the reelection of Abra-
ham Lincoln. Both were often solicited to accept
political positions, but neither would ever consent
to become a candidate for any office. Mr. Edward
McKey was commissioned, in February, 1856, by
Governor Barstow, as aid to the commander-in-chief,
with the rank of colonel.
In addition to his other multifarious interests
Edward McKey, in connection with his son-in-
law. Major F. F. Stevens, organized the Wisconsin
Savings Bank of the city of Janesville, which was
opened for business June 4, 1873, Major Stevens
being appointed cashier. This bank was wound up
at Mr. Edward McKey's death, by the administra-
tion, every depositor being paid in full on demand,
"without defalcation or discount."
Mr. Edward McKey was twice married : First,
in 1843, to Miss Mary Ann Tole, of Crossmolina.
She died on the ist of December, 185 1, and he was
subsequently united to Miss Harriett Folds, then of
Beloit and formerly of Dublin. He left a family of
eight children.
Mr. M. F. McKey was married on the 12th of
July, 1851, to Miss Elizabeth Folds, whose sister
was afterward married to his brother. This lady
died October 30, 1863, leaving a family of four
children.
HON. ANDREW G. MILLER,
MIL WA UK'EE.
ANDREW GALBRAITH MILLER, a native
. of Carlisle, Cumberland county, Pennsylvania)
was born on the i8th of September, 1801, and is
the son of John Matthew Miller and Jane Miller ne'e
Galbraith. His maternal grandfather, whose name
he bears, was a major in the Revolutionary war.
Andrew, in early life, enjoyed good educational
advantages, and later pursued a course of study in
Washington College, Pennsylvania, graduating on the
19th of September, 1819. On the 7th of the ensuing
October he began the study of law in the office of
Mr. Andrew Carruthers, of Carlisle, and three years
later (in November, 1822) was admitted to the bar.
At once entering upon his profession, he continued
to practice in the courts of his native and adjoining
counties, and in the supreme court of the State, until
the 8th of November, 1838, when he was appointed
by President Van Buren associate justice of the su-
preme court of Wisconsin, in place of Hon. William
C. Frazer, then lately deceased, an office wjiich he
continued to fill during the e.xistence of the terri-
torial government.
Upon the admission of Wisconsin into the LTiiion
he was appointed, on the 12th of June, 1S48, judge
of the district court of the United States for the
district of Wisconsin, and continued to perform the
duties of that office until the western district of
Wisconsin was created in 1870, whereupon he exer-
cised the duties of judge of the eastern district until
January i, 1874, when he resigned, having attained
the age of seventy-three years, and having been on
the bench for thirty-five years. Few men have been
longer on the bench, or had a more extensive and
varied experience in judicial affairs, than Judge
Miller. During a period of ten years he partici-
pated in all the cases heard and decided in the
supreme court, besides performing a vast amount
of labor in the trial of cases in the first district, of
which there were a great number in territorial times.
But the most important part of his judicial life
was during his services as judge of the federal court
of Wisconsin. Since the organization of this court
it has been burdened with litigations of a diverse
and complicated character, involving immense inter-
ests, and presenting for solution new and difficult
questions, requiring a high order of talent and legal
learning, and the most extensive research and care-
ful discrimination. In 1S54, when the country had
become thoroughly excited on the subject of slavery,
occurred the noted " Rescue case," in which Booth
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
was indicted in the federal court nnder the fugitive
slave law of 1850, for forcibly rescuing one Glover, a
fugitive slave, from the custody of the United States
marshal, to whom he had been delivered for return
to his master. It was contended that the act of
1852 was unconstitutional and void; so that the case
attracted remarkable popular attention, and involved
principles which entered largely into the politics of
the State. Upon Judge Miller's decision that the
act was valid, Booth was convicted and sentenced,
but subsequently discharged from custody when the
supreme court of the State held that the act was
unconstitutional. A direct conflict thus arising
between the state and federal courts, the course of
Judge Miller was bitterly and unjustly denounced;
but subsequently, the correctness of his decision in
the different phases of the case was emphatically
and fully sustained and vindicated by the decisions
of both the state and federal courts. The result,
however, e.xcited, and for a long time kept alive, a
violent and unjust state of ill feeling and prejudice
toward the judge, and that, too, simply because, in
all fidelity and obedience to his oath and duty as
judge, he declared the validity and enforced the
provisions of an odious and unhappy law. The act
was but characteristic of the man. He knew full
well the storm of popular indignation that his de-
cision would bring upon him; but a sense of duty
impelled him, and in doing as he did he only evi-
denced a loyalty to principle and right. In other
cases, involving railroad litigations, and those in-
volving the validity of town and county bonds issued
in aid of railroad and other enterprises, his decisions
became the subject of many complaints, but were
in nearly every instance fully affirmed when appealed
to the supreme court of the United States.
As a judge, he was studious and conscientious,
thoroughly conversant with legal principles, prompt
in the discharge of duty, quick to detect fraud, and
possessed of courage and firmness to expose and
rebuke it. Of him it is said: "He is methodical in
his habits of study, as in every duty in life. He
excelled in the admiralty and equity branches of
the law; in the former he acquired great distinction
in the region of the great lakes, for his thorough
knowledge of that branch of the law, and the equi-
table principles upon which he applied it to the
difficult cases arising from collisions, and growing
out of maritime contracts."
In great equity cases he was faithful in master-
ing the mass of detail, and quick to grasp the strong
points of the case. He would tolerate no fraud to
escape the payment of honest debt, and was not
slow to discover and expose the specious mask so
often assumed to cloak dishonest design.
Politically, Judge Miller was identified with the
democratic party. In his religious views he was an
Episcopalian, of low-church tendencies. He was
married, February, 7, 1827, to Miss Caroline Eliza-
beth Kurtz, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, by whom
he had four children.
He died at Milwaukee, September 30, 1874.
GEORGE R. COOKE,
GREEN BAT.
PROMINENT among the influential and self-
made men of Green Bay stands he whose
name heads this sketch. Though in the study of his
life history, we find many phases in common with
the lives of ordinary men, there is at the same time
an undercurrent of enterprise and an individualism
peculiarly its own. A native of Drummondsville,
Lower Canada, he was born on the loth of July,
1834, and is the son of John and Mary Cooke. His
parents, well-to-do farmers, were upright and enter-
prising, and enjoyed the high regard of many true
friends. George received a common English edu-
cation, and during his early life divided his time
between study and farm work. In 1854, at the age
3
of twenty years, he took a contract for cutting cord-
wood in Vermont, and during the summer of the
following year worked on a farm in Lancaster, New
Hampshire. With something of a fondness for ad-
venture, and a desire to better his condition, he re-
moved to the West during the latter part of this
same year, and settled at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
Remaining here till 1856, he removed to Green Bay,
and during the next nine years was employed, on a
salary, in a saw-mill. During this time, by indus-
trious and frugal habits, he succeeded in accumu-
lating a handsome capital, and in 1865 erecting a saw-
mill, began the manufacture of lumber. Since that
time he has been actively engaged in the lumber
H
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DlCTIONMiV.
trade, doing an extensive and influential business,
having been fortunate in possessing the happy fac-
ulty of seizing opportunities and turning them to
the interests of his enterprise. He has not, however,
confined himself exclusively to this line of business,
but has employed parts of his capital in a manner
that has displayed a most worthy public-spirited-
ness. In 1873 he erected one of the finest build-
ings in his city, known as " Cook's Hotel," which
has contributed not only to his own private interests,
but also has been a valuable acquisition to the city.
His political sentiments are republican, and al-
though his county has a democratic majority, he was,
in 1874, elected county treasurer, and is also one of
the school board of Green Bay. His aspirations,
however, have not been for political honors ; his
legitimate business furnishing for him more congen-
ial and satisfactory employment. He is in the truest
sense a business man ; coming to Green Bay as he
did, with but twenty-five dollars in his pocket, he
has gradually risen by his own efforts, to his present
business and social standing. Naturally of a gen-
erous disposition, he has contributed liberally to the
support of benevolent and charitable objects, and
by his manly deportment, suave manners and open,
fair-dealing, has drawn around himself a host of true
and substantial friends.
Mr. Cooke was married on the 29th of September,
1S57, to Miss Juliette Stearns, and by her has one
daughter and one son.
SAMUEL J. MARTIN, M.D.,
THE subject of this biographical sketch, a native
of Weston, Windham county, Vermont, was
born on the 6th of September, 1830, and is the
son of Jefferson and Rhoda Martin ; the former was
born at Dublin, Cheshire county, New Hampshire,
on the 28th of February, 1805, and the latter, a
native of Boston, Massachusetts, born in 1804. His
maternal grandfather was a prominent merchant
and shipowner; and previous to the embargo of
1807, conducted a large importing business. This
act of congress, however, so crippled him, that he
retired to private life. When three years of age,
Samuel's parents removed to Mount Holly, Rutland
county, Vermont, where he received his early edu-
cation, dividing his time between study and farm
work. Previous to his seventeenth year his help
was much needed at home, and he consequently
had limited advantages for study ; at this time,
however, he entered Black River Academy, at Lud-
low, Vermont, and spent two terms each year
during two years, and for the next four years
studied at the same place, during one term of
each. His studies during this time were confined
to the English branches; but he afterward spent
two terms at the Chester Academy, and there pur-
sued the study of Latin, with other higher branches,
earning money to defray his expenses by teaching
penmanship and day school. After leaving school
he engaged in teaching, and continued, with the
exception of one year, when he was in poor health.
until his twenty-eighth year. He early developed
a taste for the medical profession, but in his desire
to enter it was opposed by his father, who preferred
that he should become a farmer. Accordingly, at
the age of twenty-eight, he yielded to his father's
wishes and purchased a farm, with money, a part
of which he had earned by teaching. At the end
of one year, becoming dissatisfied with farming,
he began the study of medicine at home under
the direction of A. E. Horton, M.D., of Mount
Holly. One year later he sold his farm, and gave
his entire attention to his studies, and after taking
two full courses of lectures, graduated from the
Elective Medical College of Philadelphia, now the
University of Philadelphia. He began his practice
in 1863, at Marlboro, New Hampshire, and remained
there till 1866, doing a successful business, and at
this time removed to Walpole, New Hampshire,
and there, in addition to his practice, opened a
drug store with another gentleman, who managed
the latter business while he devoted himself chiefly
to his profession. At the end of eighteen months,
his partner having lost everything, he closed out
his interest in the drug st^re and gave himself
unremittingly to his studies and practice. The
force of circumstances induced him to examine
the subject of homoeopathy, and at the end of
one year's observation and careful thought, he
embraced the principles of that school. Not hav-
ing recovered from his failure in the drug business.
fp/^-^^pp-ue/T^
THE Uy/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ART.
15
and desiring a larger field of action, he resolved
to remove to the West; and accordingly, in 1869,
after spending four months looking for a place to
settle, established himself at Racine, Wisconsin,
where he has since resided, building up an exten-
sive practice, and making for himself a most worthy
reputation as a skillful and successful practitioner.
In his political views, he was formerly a whig,
but is now identified with the republican party.
While living at Marlboro, New Hampshire, in 1865,
he was elected sujierintendent of public schools.
He is now filling his second term of office as vice-
president of the Homoeopathic Society of the State
of Wisconsin, and is also a member of the Illinois
HouKBopathic Medical Association. Dr. Martin
has given much attention to self-culture, and by
extensive reading and observation has acquired
that knowledge of men and things which, with his
excellent conversational powers, renders him a most
agreeable social companion. Prompt and decided
in action, he is yet generous, liberal and courteous.
His parents were Methodists, but he holds to the
faith of the Presbyterian church. He was married
on the nth of May, 1859, to Miss Helen A. Albee,
by whom he has one daughter living. Such is a
brief outline of the life-history of one who, though
having many experiences in common with others,
has yet given an example of continued effort and
will-power that entitles him to most honorable
mention among our prominent self-made men.
HENRY PALMER, M.D.,
yANESVILLE.
HENRY PALMER was born in New Hartford,
Oneida county. New York, July 30, 1827.
He is the son of Ephraim Palmer, a substantial
farmer, who is still living at Edgerton, Wisconsin ;
a prominent and public-spirited citizen, ever held
in high repute, and honored by election to several
important offices, both in his native State of New
York and also in that of Wisconsin. His mother's
maiden name was Abigail Brown.
When the lad was quite young, his father's health
failed, and in consequence of this Henry was early
compelled to undertake the management of the
farm, which duty — -very arduous for a youth — he
faithfully and ably discharged.
His elementary education was obtained by at-
tending the district school during the winters; the
summer being occupied in working on the farm.
He continued thus until he was nineteen years
old, when he commenced a regular academical
course, which was carried out partly at Whites-
town and partly at Cazenovia Seminaries.
From early boyhood he had shown a strong
predilection for the medical profession, stimu-
lated by associating with several relatives who
were physicians. In consequence, however, of
limited resources, he was unable to ' gratify this
preference, and several years were spent by him
in teaching schools, in order to procure sufficient
means to prosecute the study. His close applica-
tion to teaching and his studious habits impaired
his health, and in 1849 he made a trip to the
Arctic regions, as a means of its restoration.
In 1 85 1 he entered the office of Drs. March and
Armsby, at Albany, New York, both of whom were
distinguished physicians, and jirofessors in the
medical college at that place. He applied him-
self with intense assiduity to study, and graduated
in 1854. Immediately after graduation he was
appointed resident surgeon at the Marshall Infirm-
ary at Troy, which position he resigned after two
years' occupancy.
Finding the ranks of the profession in the East
well filled, he determined at length to try his for-
tunes in the West, and removed to Janesville, Wis-
consin, and established himself in practice there.
He found the most able competitors in the city,
but succeeded, nevertheless, in securing a large
practice, which he has ever since retained and
extended.
On the outbreak of the war, in 1861, Dr. Pal-
mer offered his services, and was commissioned as
surgeon of the 7th Wisconsin regiment. Shortly
afterward he was assigned to the position of sur-
geon of the " Iron Brigade," and discharged the
duties of this place so faithfully and well that in
the spring of 1862 he was commissioned as surgeon
of United States Volunteers, and assigned to the
highly important duty of building hospitals at Bal-
timore. After getting several hospitals into suc-
cessful operation at that place, he was transferred
i6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
to York, Pennsylvania, where he superintended
the construction of what was at that time the
largest hospital in the United States, with a ca-
pacity of twenty-five hundred beds. Here he
remained in conmiand of the military forces and
in charge of the hospital for two years and a half,
during which time he treated, with marked success,
more than eighteen thousand sick and wounded,
many of whom were from the battle-fields of South
Mountain, Antietam and Gettysburg.
A few days before the battle of Gettysburg, the
rebels planned the capture of York, and attacked
the place with a large force. Surgeon Palmer, with
only seven hundred convalescent men in the hos-
pital, succeeded in holding the post until all the
sick and wounded and government stores were
removed beyond their reach. At this time he was
taken prisoner, but escaped during the battle of
Gettysburg, four days afterward, and immediately
reoccupied the hospital, and filled it with the
wounded from the battle-field.
Dr. Palmer is enthusiastic in the practice of his
profession, and especially in the department of
surgery, which he has made a specialty. While
in the army he held high rank as one of the best
operators in the service ; the leading principle of
his practice being what may be called conservative
surgery — the never having recourse to amputation
when it can by any possibility be avoided.
During Gilmore's raid into Maryland and Penn-
sylvania, Surgeon Palmer organized a force of con-
valescents and citizens, and effectually defeated
the rebels in their efforts to destroy the railroads
and government property, and was afterward (June
IS, 1865) commissioned brevet lieutenant-colonel
for faithful and meritorious service. In March,
1864, he was assigned to duty as medical inspector
of the eighth army corps, and was engaged in the
inspection of hospitals and in the exchange of pris-
oners until July, 1865, when he was ordered to
Chicago, Illinois, with instructions to close up the
medical department of Camp Douglas. This ser-
vice finished, he retired from the army, having
earned honorable reputation as a soldier, and by
his medical skill and ability, a place in the front
rank of the profession. On leaving the army, he
returned to his practice at Janesville, where he is
still (1875) actively engaged, doing a large and
lucrative business.
In politics, he is a republican, but is too much
absorbed in the duties of his profession to engage
much in public affairs. The citizens, however,
have twice elected him mayor of Janesville, as an
evidence of their appreciation of his ability and
worth. In religious matters, he is a member of the
Baptist denomination. The Doctor takes a deep
interest in every enterprise that tends to the pros-
perity of the city where he resides, and is a stock-
holder and director in several of the largest cor-
porations in Janesville.
Dr. Palmer has been eminently successful ; but
his professional career may be said to have but
fairly commenced. He is a man of strong frame,
e-xcellent and perfectly temperate habits, and of a
good constitution ; with indomitable energy, and
naturally a close student and careful observer. He
has not always escaped detraction, but he has ever
so borne himself that malice and jealousy have
fallen harmlessly at his feet.
He was married in 1851 to Edna A. Hoyt, a lady
of highly respectable parentage. They have had
issue six children, four of whom, one son and
three daughters, are still living.
But few men have risen so rapidly to a position
of prominence and usefulness as Dr. Palmer. His
life has been busy and eventful, and justifies the
confidence that his future career will develop still
greater value to the communitv.
GEORGE McWILLIAMS,
FOND DU LAC.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Mercer
county, Pennsylvania, was born on the nth
of December, 1800; and is the son of George Mc-
Williams, a farmer, and Naomi nee Mitchell. He
passed his early life in his native place, attending
school during winters, and spending the summers
in farm work, and at the age of sixteen years
entered upon an apprenticeship of four and a half
years, to learn the carpenter's trade. At the ex-
piration of this time he began work as journeyman,
and soon removed to Painesville, Ohio, and there
spent eight years working at his trade. In 1830,
^
yJn '^/n:-^ ^ma^
THE UNITED STATES BIOaiiAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
going to Wisconsin, he settled at Green Bay, then
in Michigan Territory. During the next thirteen
years he was actively engaged at his trade, and
during that time had the contract for many im-
portant buildings in his section of country. He
built the first Protestant mission buildings of Green
Bay, for the education of half-breed Indians. He
also was superintendent or architect for rebuild-
ing Fort Howard, and was there engaged for four
years. Having become largely interested in the
Fond du Lac Land Company, he removed thither
in 1843, and took charge of the business of the
company. He has been a large dealer in real
estate, and at one time owned a large part of the
land where the city of Fond du Lac now stands.
He has been very successful in all his operations,
and by judicious investments and careful manage-
ment has accumulated a large fortune. He has
not, however, confined himself to his private af-
fairs, but, in all matters pertaining to the growth
and welfare of his city and State, has taken an
active part. He was a member of the first terri-
torial legislature in 1836, and during a period of
several years served as justice of the peace, at
Green Bay, under an appointment by Governor
Dodge. After removing to his present home, he
was elected mayor of his city, two years after its
incorporation. Mr. McWilliams has traveled ex-
tensively over the United States, and being a man
of close observation, he has gained, in this manner,
a most valuable experience and practical knowl-
edge of men and things.
Politically, he has been identified with the re-
publican party since its organization.
Mr. McWilliams has never been identified with
any church organization, and has never married; he
is, however_, a worthy member of the Masonic order.
Such is a brief outline of the life-history of one
who, beginning life without means, has worked his
way up step by step, and stands now a worthy
example of that success which may be attained
by constant, persevering and honorable effort.
GEORGE W. CHITTENDEN, M.D.,
JANESVILLE.
GEORGE W. CHITTENDEN, physician, of
Janesville, Wisconsin, was born in the town
of Westmoreland, Oneida county. New York, on the
3d of February, 1820. His father, Jared Chittenden,
was an extensive farmer, and, for many years, justice
of the peace. He served in the Colonial army dur-
ing the greater part of the war of the Revolution, as
sergeant of artillery, having enlisted in 1775, and at
the close of the war settled in Westmoreland about
1790, where he died in 1828. The mother of Dr.
Chittenden was Asena Douglas, sister of Professor J.
S. Douglas, of Milwaukee. She removed to Oneida
county about 1790, when all that district was in its
primitive, uncultivated condition, and almost a wil-
derness. She was a woman of rare Christian virtues,
and her wise and noble life, aided by careful teach-
ing, exerted a powerful influence in moulding the
characters of her children, of whom there were ten.
She died in 1851.
The lad George worked on the farm until he was
nineteen years of age, his education being obtained
at the district school, and being as good as the
circumstances allowed. He had always shown de-
cidedly literary tastes, and at about this age began
an academic course, with a view of preparing for
college. He continued so studying until the sum-
mer of 1842, when he was fully prepared to enter
college ; but the limited means at his command
compelled him to relinquish that design. He there-
fore entered at once upon a course of professional
study at the Albany Medical College, where he
graduated in January, 1846. Later in the same year
he removed to Chicago, where he practiced for a
few months, and devoted considerable attention to
the principles of the homoeopathic school of medi-
cine. In November, 1846, he settled in Janesville,
Wisconsin, where he very rapidly acquired an ex-
tensive practice. The next year he was elected
vice-president of the Rock River Medical Associa-
tion, embracing Wisconsin and northern Illinois,
and in this capacity delivered the semi-annual ad-
dress. On this occasion he reviewed the various
medical systems, urging upon the profession the
duty of investigating all systems, and adopting all
truth.
About this time he commenced a series of prac-
tical tests on the subject of homoeopathy, which
extended over several months, and at length became
i8
THE UNITED STATES BIOdRAI'l I IC.\L DICTION Mi V.
fully convinced of the value of the homrKopathic
system, and felt constrained to adopt the practice
of it. This involved a conflict between duty and
interest. He enjoyed the confidence of the allo-
pathic profession, and through their cooperation
had acquired a goodly reputation as a surgeon.
Thus, to adopt the practice of homoeopathy was to
invite ostracism from the association and alienation
from the profession. It included also, as a necessary
consequence, a severe struggle in order to establish
it in the public mind, and to overcome the prevail-
ing ignorance of its merits, and the prejudice then
existing against it in the community. Notwith-
standing this, the doctor, feeling confident of the
ultimate success of the system, announced himself
as a homoeopatic physician, and entered upon
homoeopathic practice, laboring zealously for its
propagation. His practice of the new principles
was as successful as it had been while a member
of the " old school," and soon became firmly estab-
lished. As a means of still more completely pre-
paring himself for the responsibilities of the prac-
tice, he. attended a course of lectures during the
winter of 1849-50 at Philadelphia, and graduated
in March, 1850, at the Homoeopathic Medical Col-
lege of Pennsylvania.
The Doctor has been a member of the American
Institute of Homoeopathy since 1857, with the ex-
ception of two years, during which his membership
unavoidably lapsed. He has contributed quite a
number of valuable articles to the medical journals.
And he is as able in the department of surgery as
in that of medicine, and has performed several
capital operations, among them being amputation at
the hip-joint and at the shoulder-joint.
In political matters. Dr. Chittenden takes sides
with the republican party, though being in no sense
a politician, and ever avoiding anything like polit-
ical preferment. His religious views are liberal and
practical, and he has throughout his career main-
tained the highest reputation for strict honor and
integrity. In his professional capacity he is one of
the oldest and ablest exponents of the science of
homoeopathic medicine in southern Wisconsin, and
is justly entitled to a prominent place among the
best American physicians. Socially, also, he is
highly esteemed, and in every relation of life he has
well earned the sincere respect and perfect con-
fidence of all good men.
In 1846 Dr. Chittenden was married to Miss
Charlotte A. Wellman, of New York Mills. This
estimable lady died at Janesville in 1847. In 1852
he espoused Miss Melissa J. Gillett, of Cordand,
New York, a lady of a high order of attainments.
He has issue two daughters and a son, the latter
of whom is pursuing a course of medical studies.
RICHARD MERTZ,
W'HILE there are few phases in the lives of
self-made men, of an emotional or sensa-
tional character, there is yet a motive power, of en-
ergy, enterprise, continuity and determination, wor-
thy of careful study ; and often, if we shall look for
the secret of men's success, we find it only in their
continuity in following out a cherished purpose.
The life-history of Richard Mertz, though present-
ing many phases in common with the lives of other
men, is yet marked by a rigid firmness and deter-
mination to succeed so essential in the accomplish-
ment of any i)urpose. A native of the city of Fulda,
Prussia, he was born on the 7th of March, 1833, and
is the son of Maxmillian Mertz, and Margret me
Kircher. His father, a lawyer, was a prominent and
influential man, and the recipient of many public
honors. Richard received his education in the
schools of his native city, and after completing his
studies, immigrated to America in 1849, and settled
in the town of Shields, Dodge county, Wisconsin.
During the first year after his arrival, he employed
his time in farm work, and for the next three years
was engaged in a saw-mill. In 1854, he made the
Dodge county abstract, and for eight years thereaf-
ter was employed as clerk in different county offices.
In 1862 he was elected register of deeds for Dodge
county, and held that office during three successive
terms, performing its duties in a most satisfactory
manner. By strict economy and untiring industry he
accumulated a small capital, and in 1869 established
himself in the real-estate and insurance business. He
continued in this till January i, 1873, having in the
meantime been again elected register of deeds. In
1875, forming a copartnership with Mr. William T.
<^^ r^^^^^f^^^-^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Ranibiish, he opened an abstract and real-estate
office, conducting the business under the firm name
of Rambush and Mertz.
Beginning Hfe without money, Mr. Mertz has
gradually worked his way up to a position of high
public regard and social standing, and his honorable
invariably follow noble effort. His political views
are democratic.
In religion, he holds to liberal opinions, and is
not identified with any church.
Mr. Mertz was married September 20, 1855, to
Miss Josephine Hebyen, by whom he has three sons
and fair dealing has attained that success that must and two daughters.
MAX FUEGER,
MILWAUKEE.
LAWRENCE AND MARGRET FUEGER were
^ the parents of Max Fueger; he was born at
Kuehleheim on the Tauber, Baden, Germany. He
received a thorough common-school education. He
had a wish, from boyhood, to become a brewer,
and his father assisted him in his inclination. After
leaving school he remained at home for nearly two
years, working in his father's shop as cooper.
He then went to learn the brewing trade, with Mr.
Max Faeth, with whom he remained two years. He
then traveled and worked in different breweries
for four and a half years, in the various towns of
Wertheim, Heidelberg, Miltenburg, Wuerzburg and
Bischofsheim. This was in accordance with the Ger-
man law requiring three years' travel and journey-
work before beginning any business as proprietor.
In July, 1847, Mr. Fueger came to New York,
where he found work, and for a year and a half was
employed in what was then the largest brewery in
the country, on Washington street, in the old State's
Prison building. In August, 1849, he came to Wis-
consin and settled in Milwaukee, where he has since
resided. He has been engaged in brewing all the
time, and has worked in nearly all the large brew-
eries in the city. He worked for Best and Co. for
eleven years, eight years of which he was foreman.
He has a thorough practical knowledge of his trade.
careful and watchful of the process. He succeeded
in producing a very superior beer, that has given
to Best and Co. a more than national name and
reputation. They feel and generously acknowledge
this fact, and have often expressed their indebted-
ness to him.
Mr. Fueger left Best and Co. to purchase the in-
terest of Benedict Caspari, in Obermann's brewery,
and entered into partnership with Jacob Obermann,
with whom he is still associated. The business
has increased steadily, and their progress has been
great and constant. When Mr. Fueger entered the
business, they were occupying a small frame build-
ing; they now have a large brick building, eighty
feet long and forty feet wide, besides a large malt-
house. Their business has become great and their
capital has grown with the business.
Mr. Fueger was married in 185 1, and has had
three children — two sons and one daughter. The
latter is married to Mr. William Heitmann, of this
city; the eldest son died in 1873, at the age of
fifteen.
Mr. Fueger was brought up a Catholic, but has
since become more liberal in his religious views.
He attributes his success to his thorough knowl-
edge of his trade, to an ever watchful attention, and
the cooperation of an excellent wife.
JOSEPH A. CLARKE, M.D.,
WHITEWATER.
JOSEPH AMES CLARKE, a native of Stowe,
"Vermont, was born on the 23d of September,
1S14, and was the son of Jonas Clarke, a farmer,
and Sarah lu'e Fuller. His boyhood, differing little
from that of ordinary farmer boys, was passed in his
native town, where he received a good English
education and assisted his father in his farm work.
The narrow routine of farm life, however, was ill
adapted to his tastes, and he early decided to de-
vote his life to the medical profession. Removing
iO
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
to Townsend, Sandusky county, Ohio, at the age
of seventeen, he soon afterward began the study
of medicine with Dr. Lathrop, of Bellevue, Ohio,
where he remained three years. At the expiration
of that time, in 1839, drawn by the superior induce-
ments which it offered to young men, he removed
to the West and settled at Whitewater, Wisconsin,
and at once engaged in that practice which gained
for him an extended influence and a most honor-
able and worthy reputation, and which continued
up to within a short time of his death. In 1848,
after pursuing the regular course of study, he
graduated from Rush Medical College, of Chicago.
As a physician, he was eminently fitted for his
calling, both by his native endowments and liberal
acquirements. Devoted to his work, he thought of
it only as a means of helping his fellow-men, and
of developing his own noble self. He gave much
attention to self-culture; and, by his wide range of
reading and close observation of current events, he
gained a fund of knowledge which, combined with
his excellent personal qualities, rendered him a
most agreeable social companion.
Dr. Clarke was a man of clear mind, sound judg-
ment, and remarkably successful in his profession.
He was proverbial for his integrity, and during all
the years of his practice retained the confidence
and esteem of his patrons and of the profession.
Confining his attention strictly to his professional
work, he found no time, nor had he the desire, to
engage in political or other outside matters, except
to perform his duties as a true citizen. In his polit-
ical sentiments he was identified with the republican
party. Though not a member of any church organi-
zation, he was a firm believer in Christianity, and
had the highest appreciation of Christian integrity
and true practical godliness. In conversation with
a friend one week previous to his death he said :
" I have done many things in my life to regret, but
my trust is in Christ, who is 'the resurrection and
the life.' " After a long and useful life he quietly
and sweetly fell asleep on the morning of May 3,
1873, mourned by many warm personal friends and
a large circle of accjuaintances.
Dr. Clarke was married on the 2d of July, 1840,
to Miss Mary Jane Steadman, daughter of Willis
and Sarah C. Steadman, of Courtlandville, New
York. Mrs. Clarke is a woman of most excellent
(lualities, and cheerfully endured with her husband
the toils and self-denials that attended their pioneer
life. Their union was blessed with four affectionate
children — one son and three dauafhters.
SANGER MARSH,
WHITEWATER.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Alexan-
der, New York, was born on the 27th of Au-
gust, 1815, and was the son of Wolcott Marsh, a
farmer by occupation, and Lucy Hart. He passed
his boyhood and youth on his father's farm, receiv-
ing a thorough English education in the common
schools, and in Wyoming Seminary, at Alexander.
After attaining his majority, Mr. Marsh found the
occupation of farming ill suited to his tastes, and
resolved to turn his attention to mercantile pursuits.
He accordingly started for Boston, his father fur-
nishing him funds for defraying his expenses. On his
way an incident occurred which was always a source
of pleasure to him, and is well worthy of record. In
settling his bill at' the first hotel where he stopped,
he gave the landlord, as he supposed, a five-dollar
note, but did not discover his mistake until he ar-
rived at the next town. He then wrote to the hotel
keeper, who answered refusing to refund the money.
Twenty-one years afterward, while Mr. Marsh was
residing in Whitewater, Wisconsin, he received a
letter from an attorney notifying him that he had, by
will, come into possession of a piece of land in Chica-
go, Illinois ; the reason given was, that it was an act of
restitution, the party making the will being the land-
lord above mentioned. After spending a short time
in Boston, finding that his health was becoming im-
paired by close confinement, he removed to New
York and established himself at Nunda, in the dry-
goods and grocery trade. Here he conducted a
successful business till 1845, when he removed to
Attica, Wyoming county, and there spent one year
in the same line of business. At the expiration of
this time, closing up his affairs, he removed to the
West, and settled at Whitewater, Wisconsin. He at
once opened a mercantile business, and during the
next ten years conducted a prosperous and widely
influential trade ; and at the end of that time, having
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHIC AE DICTION ARV.
21
decided to invest his money in other enteqjrises,
spent seven years in settling up his outstanding
accounts and in making loans.
In 1863, with others, he organized the First Na-
tional Bank of Whitewater, of which he remained
president until his death, which occurred on the
29th of October, 1872. Mr. Marsh was thorough-
ly qualified as a business man and financial man-
ager. A life-long friend says of him : " He was a
man of the strictest integrity ; kind and liberal to
the poor; very plain and democratic in his mode of
living, and died beloved and respected by the entire
community, his loss being felt alike by the rich and
poor."
In his religious communion he was associated
with the Universalist church, and took an active
part m all matters pertaining to its interests, and
liberally contributed to all worthy benevolent enter-
prises.
Politically, he was formerly a democrat, but be-
came identified with the republican party upon its
organization in 1856. He had, however, little po-
litical ambition, finding in his regular business ample
scope for the exercise of all his powers.
Mr. Marsh was married in January, 1841, to Miss
Harriet N. Horton, of Nunda, New York. By her
had one son, George S. Marsh, cashier of the First
National Bank of Whitewater. Mrs. Marsh died on
the 22d day of January, 1843.
His second marriage was in January, 1851, to
Chelsea Pratt, by whom he had three daughters, all
of whom are now residing at Whitewater.
EDWARD Y. WHITON,
■yANESVILEE.
EDWARD VERNON WHITON was the son of
General Joseph Whiton, of Massachusetts, a
soldier of the revolution and of the war of 1812,
and was born at South Lee, Berkshire county, Mas-
sachusetts, on the 2d of June, 1805. During the
first thirty years of his life he continued to reside
in his native town, whence he at length removed to
the then Territory of Wisconsin, to take part in the
great and glorious battle of life in that new field of
development — the great West. He settled there
when the present site of Janesville and its neighbor-
hood was almost a wilderness, and lived for some
time the life of a pioneer in a cabin on the broad
prairie.
He was elected a member of the house of repre-
sentatives for the first session of the legislative
assembly at Madison. At the next subsequent ses-
sion he was elected speaker of the house. During
those sessions he was a frequent participant in de-
bate, and took an active part in enacting the first
territorial code. Up to that time the laws of Wis-
consin consisted of the territorial statutes of Michi-
gan, and the laws of the Wisconsin legislature,
passed at the sessions at Belmont and Burlington.
The revised statutes, which became of force on the
4th of July, 1839, w'trt published under his super-
vision. In 1847 he was a member of the consti-
tutional convention which framed the constitution
of the State. On the organization of the State
government in 1849 he was elected a circuit judge,
and, under the then system, became a judge of the
supreme court. He occupied this position until
1853, when the "separate supreme court" was es-
tablished, when he was elected chief justice, and
reelected in 1857; and continued to hold the office
until he was compelled to leave it by the disease of
which he died.
Chief Justice Whiton was thoroughly identified
with almost every prominent event in the history of
Wisconsin, both as a Territory and as a State.
Throughout the whole period of his residence in
Wisconsin his life was a public life, and he filled
political and judicial stations successively with such
ability and integrity, that the people exalted him
from place to place, until he had received the high-
est honors in their gift : and the positions with
which he was honored were ennobled by the lustre
of his conduct and character. Amid all the con-
flicts of party — both in the means by which he
attained and the manner in which he discharged
the duties of office — the purity of his character
was ever unsullied by the slightest breath of re-
proach or even suspicion.
In the early part of the year 1859 his health
began to fail, and it became manifest to his asso-
ciates upon the bench that his system was suffering
from some malady which it was hoped would be
but temporary in its effects, and would yield to the
THE VXITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
invigorating influences of relaxation and home ex-
ercises, where the cares and anxieties of official
responsibility would not intrude. Accordingly, his
associates upon the bench, after much persuasion,
induced him to retire, as all hoped, for a short
season only, in order to recruit his energies for the
approaching term, as well as tp complete the un-
finished former business still remaining. He left
the bench, as was supposed, in the confident expec-
tation of returning to it again after a short respite
at home. Insidious disease, however, had obtained
too strong and deep a hold in his system, and about
noon on the 12th of April, 1859, he died at his res-
idence in Janesville, in the house of his own con-
struction, loved and mourned as to few men it has
been vouchsafed to be loved and mourned.
Among those officially and professionally con-
nected with him, as well as among his private circle,
his death called forth the deepest expressions of
sincere regret and sorrow. At meetings of the bar
of the supreme court, and of the Milvvaukee bar,
as well as at those held at the county seats of the
several counties of the State, resolutions were
adopted indicative of the great general loss felt
by the people, as well as the exalted estimation in
which the deceased judge was most deservedly held
by bench and bar. The president of the Milwaukee
bar, in the course of a touching tribute to his virtues
and ability, said of him : " Were I to name any one
sphere of action in his life in which he was most
eminently distinguished, and for which he had a
peculiar adaptation, I should say that it was as a
legislator. His varied information, strict integrity,
eminent conservatism and finely balanced mind, all
combined to make him a ready debater and a high-
minded and patriotic legislator. But it is useless to
name any one sphere, when all the positions he ever
occupied were filled so ably and perfectly." And
another of his intimate associates said: "On this
melancholy occasion I can hardly trust myself to
speak. For years Judge Whiton has been to me
as it were an elder brother. Our relations have
been so harmonious, so uniformly genial, so entirely
fraternal, that we have scarcely thought of official
relation. During our long association, in delibera-
tion upon matters of the gravest concernment, while
discussion has been most free and unrestrained,
never an unkind word, nay, not even a petulant
expression, has been uttered. All through his of-
ficial career he preserved a strictness of propriety
which can scarcely be equaled, a conscientiousness
which never wavered, a depth of thought and com-
prehensiveness of the subject-matter ever present;
commanding without force, controlling without in-
trusion ; clear and unassuming in his high office ;
great when he least thought of greatness, but great
only wherein man can be truly great — because he
was wise and good."
RICHARD C. RUSSELL,
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Sunder-
land, Massachusetts, was born on the 21st o^
April, 1829, and is the son of Alvin Russell and
Sarah n^e Marsh. His father, a wagon-maker by
occupation, was a man of moderate means, much
respected by all who knew him. Richard's early
life i)resented few marked phases, he receiving a
good education at Amherst, and after closing his
studies, spent four years in mercantile pursuits at
that place. His health, however, becoming impaired,
he removed to the West in 1856, and established
himself at Oslikosh, Wisconsin, in the grain busi-
ness. Remaining thus engaged until 1865, he con-
ducted a good business, shipping both East and !
South, and made it financially successful. In 1865, j
having accumulated sufficient ca|)ital, under the 1
firm name of Russell, Leach and Co., he erected a
saw-mill at Manistee, Michigan, and for three years
engaged in manufacturing and shipping lumber.
Closing out his milling interest, he, in 1870, estab-
lished a private bank in Oshkosh, and the following
March, with a capital of one hundred thousand dol-
lars, organized the Union National Bank, with D. S.
Libbie as president, and himself as cashier and gen-
eral manager. In the destructive fire of 1873 their
building was burned, but all the assets having been
saved, the bank opened for business the next day
and was again conducting a prosperous and substan-
tial business. Aside from his banking interests, Mr.
Russell is still concerned in mercantile pursuits, and
also largely connected with real-estate operations.
Politically, he is identified with the republican
Ur^^^^-,t=^
THE UNITED STATES BIOdRAPIlICAL DICTIOXARV.
23
party, and has been honored by his fellow-citizens
with trustworthy positions. In 1863 he was elected
superintendent of public instruction, and reelected
in the following year, and in this capacity rendered
most efficient service in organizing the public schools
of bis city. In 1864-65 he represented his district
in the State legislature.
In his religious communion, he is associated with
the Congregational church.
He has traveled somewhat extensively over the
United States, and the practical -knowledge of men
and things thus gained, combined with his fine
executive and financial abilities, have enabled him
to turn circumstances to the interests of his business,
and to make it in every way successful.
He was married in July, 1858, to Miss Maggie F.
Reardon, and by her has two daughters and one
son.
His present business and social standing is wholly
due to his own effort, and he may most appropriately
be called a self-made man. While he has been
deeply engrossed in his business affairs, he has yet
given much time to reading and self-culture, and by
constant effort has developed a noble character that
does not fail to impress all with whom he has to do
with a sense of his merit and genuine worth.
[OSEPH B. WHITING, M.D.,
JAXESVILLE.
EMERSON says: "It is the privilege of any
human work which is well done, to invest the
doer with a certain haughtiness. He can well afford
not to conciliate whose faithful work will answer for
him." This utterance may be taken as the key to
the life of Joseph Bellamy Whiting, whose name
stands at the head of this sketch. There is more
of romance in every life than the casual observer is
apt to note. Much that would be thought striking
is simply unnoticed amid the hurrying throng. The
little things that form a pivotal ppint upon which
turns the destiny of a life are often lost sight of in
the grand results which follow.
Dr. Whiting comes of good New England stock,
both parents having been born in New Haven
county, Connecticut, whence, after marriage, they
removed to Barkhamstead, Litchfield county, Con-
necticut, at which place he was born, December 16,
1822. His literary and professional tastes are hon-
estly derived, his father, Mr. John Whiting, junior,
having been a school teacher, and his mother, Mrs.
Mary Warren Whiting, having been an intellectual
and high toned woman of the old style. The for-
mer died in 1825, aged thirty-nine, and the latter in
1867, aged seventy-one; hence the early training
and subsetiuent development of the son was wholly
in the hands of the mother, whose watchful care and
beautiful life guarded his every step, and laid good
and strong foundations for a true and noble life.
The following extract from a private letter shows
the estimation in which her memory is held by her
worthy son : " It is not too much to say that what-
ever of good I have attained to has been largely due
to her daily prayers and admonitions, which fol-
lowed me wherever I went, this labor of love and
duty ceasing only when her life itself was done."
The cornmon school and home instruction brought
the boy to the beginning of an academic course, at
the age of thirteen years. At seventeen he began
teaching, and continued in that work for five years,
without special thought regarding his life work.
Academic study was then resumed for a year, until
in 1845 he began the study of medicine and surgery
in the office of Dr. Vincent Holcombe, a distin-
guished physician of the regular school of medicine,
residing at Granville, Hampden county, Massachu-
setts. The motives to this step are not easily de-
fined, perhaps not very definite. The unconscious
influence of Dr. Holcombe's noble mien won the
heart and delighted the mind of the young student,
until such a life and the profession which it adorned
became the object of his ambition. Two years of
thorough study followed. In 1847 he matriculated
at the ^-kshire Medical College, Pittsfield, Massa-
chusetts, and attended his first course of medical
lectures. His second course was at the Vermont
Medical College, Woodstock, Vermont, at the close
of which he entered the office of Drs. H. H. and T.
Childs, both of whom were professors in Berkshire
Medical College, where he remained until his grad-
uation at the latter in 1848.
Soon after leaving college he located in Wolcott-
ville, a thriving manufacturing village in Litchfield
county, Connecticut, where, in the autumn of 1850
24
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV
he married Frances A. Hungerford, daughter of
John A. and Charlotte Hinigerford. In 1852 he
removed to Brooklyn, New York, where a career of
unusual promise seemed to open to him, but he was
compelled to relinquish it on account of the declin-
ing health of his wife, who died in 1854. After this
sad event he went to Lee, Berkshire count)', Massa-
chusetts, where his marked abilities quickly secured
him ample patronage, and made him prominent as
a leader. The Berkshire District Medical Society,
noted for the character and high standing of its
members, made him its secretary and retained him
in that honorable position during six years, until his
removal from the State.
A new era in his life occurred in i860, when he
married the widow of the late chief-justice Whiton,
and removed from the scenes of his early life, where
success, joy and sorrow had so freely mingled in his
cup, to become a citizen of Janesville, Wisconsin.
Scarcely had the new home become a fixed fact
before the tocsin of war sounded through our land,
and every brave heart felt impelled to respond to
our country's call. Dr. Whiting was a war demo-
crat, and when the summons came he was ready to
obey. After the battle of Fort Donelson his ser-
vices were offered gratuitously, and Governor Har-
vey sent him to the front to care for our wounded
soldiers. Returning soon afterward with the sick
and wounded, he remained on duty in the wards of
Mound City Hospital during six months. The 33d
Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers was now about
to be raised, and Dr. Whiting received a commission
as its surgeon, and immediately entered upon the
work of perfecting its organization. The writer of
this sketch was associated with him on the medical
staff, and therefore has reason to know the thor-
oughness which marked every step in the progress
of that work. The experience gained in previous
hospital service was put to practical use, and such
examinations of the men were made as proved such
of them as were accepted to be able to endure the
fatigues and hardships of active military life. Six
weeks were thus occupied while the new regiment
was being gathered in camp at Racine, Wisconsin.
Then it was ordered to Memphis, to form part of
the great expedition which was intended to take
Vicksburg, via Grenada and Jackson. The hard-
ships of that campaign are, in part, matters of his-
tory. No one pen will i)robably ever record them.
To add to these hardships, unfortunate differences
arose among the staff officers, in the midst of which
Surgeon Whiting was detailed for special service
near army headquarters. Meanwhile great changes
had occurred in the military programme. The army
had returned to Memphis, whence a portion was
sent by transports down the Mississippi, and active
operations were in progress about Vicksburg, nearly
opposite which, at Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, a
large hospital was established by order of General
(irant, Surgeon Franklin put in charge, and Surgeon
Whiting was made his chief executive officer. At
the end of three weeks Surgeon Franklin was or-
dered to rejoin his division, and Dr. Whiting suc-
ceeded him as surgeon-in-chief. The importance
of this position may be understood in view of the
fact that it was the largest general hospital in the
Mississippi valley below Cairo. It contained about
three thousand persons, and was a model for good
order, discipline, and thorough attention to, and
care for, the wants of its inmates. The executive
ability there displayed was noticeable in many ways
other tlian maintaining good order and thorough
discipline, which are the foundation of success. Its
supplies for daily use were obtained from every
available point, a work in itself of no mean magni-
tude. Not only the quantity but the quality was
scrupulously regarded, and an abundance was pro-
vided for all ; yet when the hospital was closed, in
September, 1863, after an existence of seven months,
there stood to its credit in the commissary depart-
ment, as an unexpended balance, the handsome sum
of ten thousand dollars, which had been saved to
the government by economy in the hospital admin-
istration, and which afforded proof, also, of the lib-
erality of the government in providing for its hos-
pital department. When the books were closed,
and returns made to Washington, the accounts were
found clear and correct.
The next post of duty was as surgeon-in-chief of
the military district of Natchez, Mississippi, having
that city as headquarters. This was in November,
1863. The hospitals were found to be in a demor-
alized condition, but in a short time order was
restored, when the district became infected with
small-jjox, which spread with alarming rapidity
among the citizens and colored troops. Special
hospital accommodations were at once provided,
and further [jrogress of the disease was averted.
The necessities of the case required his appoint-
ment by the military authorities as mayor of the
city, the duties of which office he ably filled for
some three months, when health gave way, and a
^L^^'^^
TUB UNITED STATES HIOdRATlIICAL D/CT/OXA/n:
25
return home became inevitable, and lie was honor-
ably discharged from the service in July 1S64.
Through special favor his discharge was forwarded
direct, instead of passing through the ordinary
channels, a compliment not often paid to any retir-
ing officer.
Dr. Whiting's military record is one of which any
man might well be proud. Peculiarities of charac-
ter which intensify the statement with which this
sketch begins made him enemies, but only among
those who would not understand, and could not
appreciate him. His perceptions were clear, his
professional knowledge accurate, his hand firm in
action ; and though easily and too often disturbed
by minor annoyances, he was ever calm, clear and
determined in every emergency. And the strict
honesty of his administration is worthy of all praise.
With a discipline verging close upon severity at
times, he was at heart, to those who knew him best,
really simple as a child, and kind and gentle as a
woman ; satisfied if his work was well done, and
without care of its being approved by those who
could not understand it.
A year of quiet rest at home prepared the way
for the resumption of active professional life, in
which Dr. Whiting has been engaged since 1865,
enjoying the confidence and respect of the people
to a remarkable degree, and honored, as at the
East, by his medical brethren, having been unani-
mously chosen president of the Wisconsin State
Medical Society in 1875-6.
Dr. Whiting is a member of Christ Episcopal
Church in Janesville, of which he has for many
years been a warden. His sympathies and efforts
have been largely given to the reformation of the
inebriate, a cause which he has boldly and ably
championed on every occasion when there was
need. The cause of education has found in him
a warm friend and earnest supporter. The public
schools of Janesville and State institutions of Wis-
consin have in various ways, either indirectly or
officially, shared his interest and efforts for their
improvement. During five years he has held the
office of secretary of the Wisconsin Institution for
the Education of the Blind. In various ways he
has proven that the duties of an able physician, a
true philanthropist and a good citizen, are not at
all incompatible.
In literary taste and culture Dr. Whiting would
excel, if an intensely practical life did not interfere.
His life-long regret is that he did not receive a col-
legiate education. This regret has doubtless stim-
ulated his activity in this direction in behalf of
others. Yet his paper read before the State Med-
ical Society, printed in the "Transactions" of 1874.
entitled, "A higher standard of literary attainment,
and a broader culture, necessary for young men
who purpose to enter the profession," shows a
breadth of thought and power of expression which
are worthy of the man. Few men excel in many
things. Happy should he be who excels in one,
and the subject of this sketch excels in more than
one.
Dr. Whiting has three children, all of whom are
living, and give promise of being worthy of their
In personal appearance he is tall, erect and com-
manding, with a fine presence, somewhat resembling
General Sherman. With an honest desire to be
exactly right ; a readiness to acknowledge error, as
well as to forgive ; a keen sense of justice ; an exec-
utive ability that is marked, and a personal char-
acter free of stain, Wisconsin can be proud of him
as one of her representati\-e citizens.
FRANZ FALK,
.)///, ]\A C'KEE.
IN studying the life-history of him whose name
heads this sketch we find underlying, and run-
ning throughout the whole, an unswerving purpose,
untiring enterprise and a firm adherence to principle.
A native of Miltenberg, Bavaria, he was born on the
loth of August, 1824, of Michael Falk and Margaret
nt'e Haeckler; and was early trained to those habits
of industry and economy that have so signally
marked his career. His father, a cooper by occu-
pation, was a man of considerable influence in his
community, and received for life the appointment of
wood-measurer for his city. With such an educa-
tion as could be derived from the common school,
Franz closed his studies when he was twelve and a
half years of age, and spent the next six years work-
ing at the cooper's trade. The business not being
26
THE rXITEI) STATES lilOdliM'lllCAL DICTIUXARV.
adapted to his tastes, and. having arrived at that
age when it was necessary for him to choose a life
occupation, he decided to become a brewer. Ac-
cordingly he relinquished his former occupation, and
after spending three years in the brewery business,
in Miltenberg, left his native land and immigrated
to America, landing in New York in June, 1848.
Going thence to Cincinnati, he was there employed
in a brewery three months, and in October of the
same year settled in Milwaukee, which he has
since made his home. During the first six months
after his arrival he was in the employ of Mr. Au-
gust Krug, doing general work in his brewery, and
then became foreman in the brewery of C. T. Melms,
a position which he held during a period of seven
years. Having now accumulated a sufficient capital,
he associated himself with Mr. Frederick Goes, and
began business on his own account; and was also,
for five years, interested in the malt-houses of a Mr.
Williams. Although actively employed in his busi-
ness, Mr. Falk has always shown a worthy public-
spiritedness, and has taken a deep interest in all
matters pertaining to the interests of his city. He
is at the present time (1876) a director of the Brew-
ers Insurance Company of .America. His success
is wholly the product of his own effort. Beginning
without capital, he has made his way slowly and
steadily to his present standing, and presented in
his career an example of sturdy toil and honest
enterprise well worthy of emulation. Though
democratic in his political views, he is far from
being a partisan, and always esteems the man above
the party. His religious culture has been under
the influence of the Catholic church.
While Mr. Falk has been constantly engaged in
his business affairs, he has found much time for
social culture, and has developed those traits of
personal character that always mark the true man,
and that never fail to secure substantial friends.
He was married in June, 1850, to Miss Louisa
Wahl, and by her has seven sons and one daughter.
The eldest son, Lewis W. Falk, manages the finan-
ces in the Bavarian Brewery. The second, Frank
R. Falk, is corresponding clerk in the Second Ward
Savings Bank, of Milwaukee ; and the daughter is at-
tending school in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
REV. DEXTER CLARY
DEXTER CI.ARW a native of Conway, Massa-
chusetts, was born on the ist of February,
1798. His father, a careful, conscientious man,
removed to Jefferson county. New York, when the
son was about five years old, and with his family
became a pioneer of tiie then western wilderness. He
was a good man, a deacon of tried excellence, and
active in all matters of reform, and whatever tended
to the welfare of his fellow-men. Dexter inherited
many of the characteristics of his father, and in his
boyhood learned by the force of circumstances to
endure hardship and to look upon life as a struggle
with difficulties, and yet as presenting ends worth
struggling for. He acquired a good common-school
education, and under home training developed a
sound moral character and a knowledge of religious
truth. When of suitable age he became a clerk in
a store in Watertown, and by fidelity and ability
soon rose to a position of responsibility and trust.
He was converted to a religious life when about
twenty-three years of age, his mind having first been
awakened under the preaching of Dr. Thomas Mc-
.•\uley, the eloipient Irish preacher. Soon afterward
he was placed in charge of a store in Sackett's Har-
bor, but having soon to leave the position by reason
of impaired health, his thoughts were much turned
upon the ministry. When satisfied that the path of
duty lay in this direction, he entered at once upon a
course of study ; but in consideration of his preca-
j rious health, his mature age, and especially of his
ability in dealing with men on the subject of reli-
gion already developed, he was advised to take a
short course. Accordingly after spending a year or
two in an academy he placed himself under the care
of the i)resbytery, studied and worked with pastors as
he had opportunity, and in February, 1828, at the age
of thirty years, was licensed to preach by the St. Law-
rence Presbytery. His first sermon after receiving
his license was on the text, " What shall it profit a
man if he gain the whole world and lose his own
soul.'"
From the beginning, iiis great object was to save
men, and to this end he studied to impress upon his
hearers what were to iiim eternal verities. During
Wft iw^i
^^;
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
27
the first year he laljored as an evangelist with great
success, under a commission from the Western Do-
mestic Missionary Society, and in February, 1829,
was ordained. In 1832 he received an invitation to
go to the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, and with his
brother Abel started thither. Arriving at Wilkes-
barre, Pennsylvania, his purposes were changed by
the death of his brother, and he returned to his
home. In 1834, in order to prepare himself more
thoroughly for his work, he spent several months
under the instructions of Dr. Taylor, in New Haven,
Connecticut, and on returning home resumed his
work as an evangelist.
On the 24th of March, 1835, he was married to
Mrs. Sarah M. Beardsley, nee Williams, in whom he
found a loving companion and faithful helper, and
one who cheerfully shared with him in all the joys
and trials of his long and varied life. Soon after his
marriage he was called to the city of Montreal,
where he labored till the political revolution two
years later. In 1838 he visited the West, and in
1840 removed his family to Beloit, Wisconsin, and
for a year divided his labors between the church at
that place and that at Rockton. At the expiration
of this time he gave his attention wholly to the
Beloit church, and in February, 1844, after the com-
pletion of the first church edifice, was duly installed
pastor. The success which attended his work during
the next seven years is best attested by results. The
church grew till it became almost the strongest in
the State, and the whole community became distin-
guished for its intelligence and moral and religious
character, a fact which, more than anything else,
determined the location of Beloit College. In Sep-
tember, 1850, resigning his pastorate, he entered the
service of the American Home Missionary Society,
as agent or secretary for Wisconsin, a position for
whose duties his former experience most eminently
fitted him. For twenty-two years he carefully looked
after the interests of the needy churches of his de-
nomination in the State, never shrinking from duty,
never reckless, but in faith,' running risks as neces-
sity required, trusting always in divine guidance
and help, and so blending the wisdom, authority,
dignity and kindness of a father, that spontaneously
the title "Father Clary" was everywhere bestowed
upon him. The spirit with which he began and
prosecuted and closed his labors in this depart-
ment is happily expressed in his own words, as
in the presence of the gathered churches in Octo-
ber, 1872, he laid down his commission. He says:
I cheerfully left a beloved parish lor the agency under a
clear conviction that I was doing the Master's will. ... It
was plain to my mind that there was a shady as well as
sunny side. ... I Iiave labored, going in and out among
the brethren, their churches and people lor these twenty-
two years. I have purchased no land, built no house, en-
gaged in no speculation, and devoted little time, perhaps
too little, to study. My official duties have been my one
idea, kept so steadily Ix-tnrc my mind that I have been able,
through grace, to sav haliituallv, ' This one thing I do.' I
have traveled about one hundred thousand miles, to a con-
siderable extent by private conveyance. The number of
sermons preached fully equals tlie number of Sabbaths
that have passed. Donations received and distributed have
been more than one thousand dollars a year, and work done
in other departments is in about the same proportion.
During the first year of Mr Clary's pastorate
the consultations were begun which resulted in the
founding of Beloit College. . Into this enterprise he
entered most heartily. At the outset he was elected
a trustee, and at the first meeting in 1845 was ap-
pointed secretary of the board, and member and sec-
retary of the executive committee, positions which
he faithfully filled till the day of his death. Prompt
in attendance, patient in deliberation, sound in judg-
ment, clear and positive, he was yet courteous and
kind in expressing his convictions, precise in the
transaction of business and accurate in keeping the
records. He was especially interested in the faculty
and students; and it was a peculiar joy of his latter
years to bring in, as pastors of the churches under
his care, not a few of those who had begun their
education for the ministry under his eyes, and to
help them in their work by his sympathy and coun-
sel. Thus for nearly thirty years his life was identi-
fied with the entire life of the institution, and out
along all the lines of influence which radiate from
this seat of learning his faithful labors and fervent
prayers will go on yielding precious fruits, more and
more to the end of time.
Mr. Clary's religion was his life. It was within
him an all-pervading presence and purpose, and
shone out in all his actions, beaming from his face
in smiles of contentment, flashing from his eyes in
looks of love, dropping from the lips in words of
sympathy, moving the hands to deeds of charity,
and, by its"*silent workings within, pushing him up-
ward and outward into the full stature of a true
manhood. A marked feature of Mr. Clary's char-
acter was his generous liberality. It was his delight
to give, and up to his last hour he was ready to con-
tribute cheerfully for the support of any worthy
cause.
His social qualities were of a very high order.
As a husband, he was tender and thoughtful ; as a
father, fond and faithful ; as a friend, true ; and all
28
THE r.V/TED STATES HI<U,RAI'H IC AL DICTIOXARV.
who knew him as a neighbor or fellow-citizen re-
member him as a man of singularly courteous and
gentlemanly bearing, of strictest integrity, ready
sympathy and large public-spiritedness.
While we mourn for our loss, we are cheered with
the thought that his work and influence live after
him. He died at two o'clock in the afternoon on
the iSth of June, 1874, in his seventy-seventh year.
[OHN DEICHMAN, M.D.,
WHITEWATER.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Moore !
township, Northampton county, Pennsylvania, i
was born on the 12th of December, 1806, the son i
of Abraham Deichman and Sarah me Deshler. The 1
family has been somewhat noted for longevity, many '
of its members having attained the ages of seventy I
and eighty years. The grandfather of our subject,
John Deichman, was a native of Grebenstein on j
the Rhine, in Germany, and immigrated to America
about the year 1765 ; and married Elizabeth Simon, j
a lady of English descent, born in Germantown, I
near Philadelphia. His maternal grandfather, Adam I
Deshler, was a prominent man, and his name is
associated with many important events connected
with the early history of our country, as we learn
from the " History of Lehigh Valley," by Mathew
Henry. He was of German descent, and settled in
Whitehall township, Lehigh county, Pennsylvania,
about the year 1730. During the revolutionary war
he acted as commissary of supplies for the army,
and in 1770, when the Ignited States treasury, as
well as that of the State of Pennsylvania, had no
funds, advanced and paid money out of his own
private resources, an act which in itself must endear
his memory to every true American. In the peti-
tion of the 17th of October, 1763, the time of the
threatened Indian massacre, his name appears as
one of the defenders of his town. He was the
wealthiest inhabitant of the place, and possessed
the only gun fit for service. We learn from the
report of Colonel Bird to Governor Hamilton, that
there were but three guns in the town, and two of
them were unfit for use. His house was a large,
two-storied stone structure, the only one of the kind
in the place; and at the time of the Indian depreda-
tions in 1763, became the refuge and headquarters
of all the inhabitants, and was called the Fort.
John received a good common-school education
in his native place, and later, in March, 1827,
graduated from the medical deiJartment of the
University of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, with
the degree of M.D. His early desire was to enter
the ministry, and he began his studies with this
purpose in view. He was, however, prevailed upon
by his parents, especially his mother, to abandon
his purpose, and finally turned his attention to the
study of medicine. Immediately after graduating
he began the practice of his profession at Lower
Mount Bethel, Northampton county, Pennsylvania,
and continued it in that State with good success
during a period of twenty-two years; performing,
in that time, some most difficult surgical operations.
Removing to the West in 1849, he established him-
self in the drug business at Whitewater, ^Visconsin,
and occasionally engaged in his profession. Among
the many difficult operations performed by him was
the removal of a polypus .from both nostrils of
William Babcock, of Delavan, Wisconsin, in 1851.
Dr. Deichman, now seventy years of age, is in
vigorous health, and having relinquished both his
mercantile and professional duties, now finds most
agreeable employment in his interesting museum.
His collection is the work of forty-five years, and
contains relics of Julius Caesar's time, robes from
Burmah, and a collection of Indian curiosities, rarely
equaled in this country. He has a library of over
two thousand volumes, comprising works of history,
theology, politics, medicine and science ; also classi-
cal works in various languages; the "Congressional
Globe," eight quarto volumes ; the census of 1850,
i860 and 1870, complete in six volumes quarto. His
life-career has been one of varied and interesting
experiences, and presents a record of which he may
justly be proud. While residing in Pennsylvania he
was, for six years, surgeon in ^he T4oth Regiment of
the State militia.
Politically, he was formerly a whig, but since the
organization of the republican party has been one of
its hearty supporters.
He was educated and baptized in the German
Reformed church, but is now unsectarian in his
religious views; though firmly believing in a Su-
The United states b/ognap///cal dictionakt.
29
preme Being and a future existence, that rests en-
tirely with God.
Dr. Deichman was married on the 4th of June,
1830, to Miss Catherine Stocker, of Lower Mount
Bethel, Pennsylvania, and by her has had four
children : of whom one son and two daughters.
Elizabeth, Emma D. and Abraham S., are now
living. Mary, the second daughter, died in 1849, at
the age of thirteen years. The son is a graduate of
Eastman's Business College of Poughkeepsie, New
Vork, aud is now in business at Easton, Pennsyl-
vania. Miss Virginia Deichman, a granddaughter,
now twenty-five years of age, has been a member of
the State Normal School, located at Whitewater,
since its organization in 1869, and is now teacher of
instrumental music.
LIEUT.-GOV. MILTON H. PETTIT,
KENOSHA.
MILTON HOWARD PETTLP,. a native of
Fabius, Onondago county, New York, was i
born on the 22d of October, 1825, and was the son
of George and Jane Upfold Pettit. His ancestors
in his father's line were from the French Huguenots,
who were obliged to flee from their native country
on the revocation of the " Edict of Nantes," in the
reign of Louis XIV, embarked for America in the
fall of 1685, and arrived in New York after a peril-
ous voyage of two months' duration. Settling on a |
beautiful tract of land a few miles above the city, on
the banks of ihe East river, they named the place ;
New Rochelle, in honor of their old home in France. 1
Here John Pettit, great-great-grandfather of our sub-
ject, died about the year 1765, leaving two children,
John and Jonathan. Of these, Jonathan removed
to Sharon, Connecticut, and there married Miss
Agnes Riddell, daughter of a Scotch-Irish gentleman.
He soon afterward removed to Stillwater, New York,
and during the revolutionary war left his young
wife in Albany and entered the continental service. 1
His son, George Pettit, the father of Milton H., was
born in Albany, and was a young man when his
fathers' family of six sons and one daughter — James,
George, Jonathan, David, Melancthon, John and
Agnes — removed to Sherburn, Chenango county,
and thence to Fabius, New York, where he died, a
few years since, a most highly esteemed citizen, hav-
ing been judge of the county court for a number of
years, and twice a member of the State legislature.
Milton passed his boyhood and youth in his native
place, on his father's farm, and received his educa-
tion in the public schools and Pompey Academy.
In 1846 he removed to Wisconsin, and settled on
a farm about three miles from Kenosha. Leaving
his farm in 1854, he removed to Kenosha and en-
gaged in grain buying, and soon afterward in malt-
ing. His business prospered from the first, and he
soon became an extensive grain dealer and owner
of one of the largest malt establishments in his
State. His entire career was marked by honorable
and fair dealing, and he became widely known as a
thoroughly qualified business man, and succeeded
in accumulating an ample fortune.
Mr. Pettit was a man of decided political views,
and was identified with the republican party, being
a true lover of freedom and equality. In the years
1854 and 1859 he was a member of the city council,
\ and was elected mayor in 1861, 1865, 1867 and
1 1870, and discharged the duties of his office with
ability and fidelity. In 1869 he was elected to the
State senate for a term of two years, and as a legis-
lator manifested his belief in just actions, rather than
much speaking. During his term of office he was
chosen as one to visit the charitable and benevolent
institutions of the State, and as chairman discharged
his duties with efficiency, to the advantage of the
I institutions and the satisfaction of the governor and
people. During the last session of his senatorial
term he served as chairman of the committee on
finance. State's prison, and the joint committee on
charitable and benevolent institutions, and was a
member of the committee on engrossed bills. As a
j senator he commanded the respect of all, and was
j often called upon to preside over the deliberations
of the senate, and by his aptness, ability and impar-
tiality as a presiding officer showed his fitness for
the office of lieutenant-governor, to which he was
elected in the State election of 1871. As president
of the senate he maintained tl?e esteem and confi-
dence of all, and as acting governor, in the absence
of Governor Washburn, discharged the duties of that
office with marked ability and credit.
During thelatter part of his service as lieutenant-
30
THE UNITED STATES BIOGKAPHICAL DICTION Ain.
governor, his health became much impaired, but not
knowing his danger, he continued his labors till the
close of the legislature, occupying the chair up to
within three days of his death. He was in his place
on Monday in both forenoon and evening sessions,
and at the afternoon session of the following day
the senate passed the following resolution:
licsnlvni. That the most sincere thanks of the senate are
due, and are hereby tendered, Hon. M. H. Pettit, lieutenant-
governor, lor the eminent ability, impartiality and courtesy
with wliich he has presided over the deliberations of this
Ixidy during the present session.
To whicli Mr. Pettit responded in the following
words :
Skn.\tok.s : I desire to say, in response to the resolution
so kindly oflTered and unanimously adopted by you, I sin-
cerely thank you!
My aim has been, as my promise was at the commence-
ment of the session, to deal faiiiv with you all, and if at anv
time I have seemed to do oihi r« i~c, ii lia> been the result
of inattciUion to my duties dwiiiL; Id llio -tate of mv healtli.
To nic the session has been very pleasant. Acquaintances
have been made which to me have been desirable, and have
grown into an affection and esteem which I shall fondly
cherish through subsequent life.
At the close of the legislature he returned to his
home, expecting to regain his health. His days,
however, were numbered. On Sunday evening,
March 2_^, 1873, he died, aged forty-seven years,
five months and one dav. The suddenness of his
death was a surprise to all. The State showed its
sorrow by placing the flag at half-mast and draping
the capitol, and the State offices were closed on the
day of the funeral ; obituaries, speaking of him in
the highest terms as a legislator and presiding officer,
were published throughout the State, while the com-
mon council of his own home paid their respect to
his ability, virtue and social worth in the most highly
complimentary resolutions. In his death the State
lost an honest and faithful officer, the business pub-
lic a loyal citizen, the social community a genial and
courteous member, and his own family an affection-
ate husband and fond father. His family alone
could duly appreciate his loss ; but in the midst of
their sorrow they were cheered by the thought, " he
still lives," and bowing 'neath the rod could say,
" He doeth all things well."
Mr. Pettit was reared under Baptist influences,
though he himself was exceedingly liberal in his
religious sentiments.
He was married in 1847 to Miss Caroline D.
Marsh, a farmer's daughter, of Kenosha county.
Their married life was one of constant happiness,
and their union was blest with seven children, of
whom one son and two daughters still survive.
ROWLEY MORRIS, M.D.,
Ii ROD HE AD.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Warsaw,
New York, was born on the 30th of December,
1811, and is the son' of Solomon Morris and Olive
m'e Knapp, the latter being the widow of Mr. Dwight
Noble. The early ancestors of the family were
among the Puritans of New England, and the family
itself is among the oldest in the United States. The
father of our subject, a farmer by occupation, had
also been engaged as a surveyor in western New
York when it was a wilderness.
Moth i)arents took great care in the training of
their son to habits of industry, integrity and moral-
ity, and the influence of their teaching has marked
his entire life. He received his early education in
the common schools, and early in life developed a
love for study, and became an extensive reader, but
was, however, undecided as to what business he
would devote his life. At the age of twenty, paying
his father one hundred dollars for his time, he be-
( ame a i)artncr in a store in Warsaw.
After following merchandising about two years,
he closed his business and went to Cincinnati, Ohio,
whence he returned during the sanje season, and
spent two years in study. He next engaged in west-
ern land speculation, but soon abandoned it on
account of the financial depression of 1836. In the
fall of 1837 he went to New York, and pursued a
course of commercial study, intending to go to New
Orleans ; but, failing to receive money from his
lands, as he had expected, he was obliged to relin-
quish his purpose, and opened a school in New York
and spent a few months in teaching. Thence re-
turning home, he staid a short time and then went
to Detroit, Michigan, where he passed the winter,
spending much of his time in study. In the winter
of 1838 he taught school near Akron, Ohio, and in
the following spring made an extended tour through
the West. During his exposures he contracted the
ague, and on his way home in an open conveyance
he had chills and fever seven days in succession.
'=^^^^^^^
LIEUTENANr-GOVERNOR OF WISCONSIN
THE UNITED STATES BIOdRAPIUCAL DlCTlONARr
Upon arriving at Chicago his funds became ex-
hausted, and, borrowing twenty-five dollars of a
friend, he took passage on a boat for Buffalo, and
reached that city with enough money to pay his
stage fare to Warsaw, and twenty-five cents- over.
With this he tried to get his dinner at the hotel, but
the price being thirty cents, and the landlord being
unrelenting, he left without his dinner.
Having decided to enter the medical profession,
he in 1840 began his studies with Dr. Peter Caner,
of Warsaw. At the end of one year he entered the
office of Messrs. Baldwin and Patter, and remained
with them until his graduation from Albany Medical
College in 1844. After practicing his profession for
one year in his native place, he removed to Wiscon-
sin; but not meeting with success, he became some-
what discouraged, and soon returned to his home,
and there resumed his practice, continuing it with
varied success, in company with Dr. Baldwin, his
tbrmer preceptor, till 1848, when he again came to
Wisconsin, and settled at his present home. By
close application to his work he soon established
a worthy reputation; and now, though retired from
actual practice, and engaged to some extent in
agricultural pursuits, enjoys a wide reputation as a
skillful and successful physician. His success may
be attributed to the fact that he turned his powers
into that channel of life for which they were best
adapted, and in which he could take delight, and
having once found his work, he has applied himself
to it with unremitting vigor and zeal.
In his political sentiments. Dr. Morris was for-
merly a democrat, but is now identified with the
republican party, and has been honored by his
fellow-citizens with many positions of public trust.
His religious views are rationalistic, though he is
not connected with any church organization.
Naturally of a generous and genial disposition, he
! makes friends wherever he goes; and with the large
fund of practical knowledge gained from his varied
experiences, observation and study, combined with
his excellent social and conversational powers, is a
most agreeable companion. He was married in
1844, to Miss Harriet J. Foster, who died in 1857.
In 1863 he was married a second time, to Mrs. Ann
Mitchell, and bv her has two children.
WILLIAM H. DeMOTTE, A.M.
DEL A I '.4^',
WILLIAM H. DeMOTTE, a native of Ken-
tucky, was born near Danville on the 17th
of July, 1830, the son of Rev. Daniel and Mary, lu'e
Brewer, DeMotte. His parents removed to Indiana
soon after his birth, and there he passed his boyhood
under such influences as are usually thrown around |
the family of an itinerant preacher in a new country.
Completing the regular course of study, he grad-
uated with honor from the literary and scientific
department of Asbury University, at Green Castle,
Indiana, in 1849. He soon afterward became a
teacher in the Indiana Institute for the Deaf and
Dumb at Indianapolis, and in that capacity continued
during a period of fourteen years. His natural fit-
ness, earnest devotion and zealous industry enabled
him to acquire exceptional expertness in that most
difficult branch of instruction, and a number of
prominent, successful teachers of mutes received
their first lessons from him.
During the war of the rebellion he served with
satisfaction, under a commission from Gov. Morton,
as State military and sanitary agent at Washington,
District of Columbia, affording relief to returning
prisoners and to sick, disabled and destitute soldiers
in hospitals.
At the close of the war he was elected president
of the Indiana Female College at Indianapolis, in
which capacity he served until 1868, when he ac-
cepted an invitation to the presidency of Illinois
Female College at Jacksonville. His labors in this
institution continued, with marked success, until the
loth of June, 1875, when he was elected superin-
tendent of the Wisconsin Deaf and Dumb Institute,
a position for which he was most eminently fitted,
botli by his early experience in teaching mutes, and
his later life, in charge of a large boarding school.
Mr. DeMotte's success as a teacher is due not only
to his superior scholarship and conscientious devo-
tion to his chosen profession, but quite as much to
his remarkable skill as a disciplinarian. He has
always been noted for his promptness and regularity,
and knowing thoroughly all the details of his work,
has been able to apply his means and resources to,
the best possible advantage. No railway time-table
32
THE UNITED STATES BJOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAKV
is more carefully arranged or promptly followed than
his usual programme of school duties. As a speaker,
lie possesses a fluency and an ease, coupled with apt-
ness in illustration and earnestness in appeal, which
render him very effective, especially with the young.
As a teacher, he excels in mental and moral sciences.
In his religious communion he is connected with
the Methodist Episcopal church, and is an active,
zealous and efficient worker.
His personal qualities are of a high order, and the
upright, frank and manly demeanor that has charac-
terized his life has gained for him the universal con-
fidence of business men, and won for him a high
standing in all social interests and local enterprises.
JUDGE LEVI B. VILAS,
MADISOX.
LEVI B. VILAS was born in Sterling, Lamoille
^ county, Vermont, on the 25th of February,
181 1, and is the fourth son of Moses Vilas, whose
character for sound practical sense, strict integrity,
firmness of purpose and energy in the accomplish-
ment of all laudable pursuits, gave him a command-
ing position in the community in which he lived.
His mother's maiden name was Mercy Flint, dis-
tinguished for all those womanly qualities which
adorn the daughter, wife and mother, the counter-
part of those manly cjualities which adorn her liege
lord. Levi received an academic education and
pursued a partial collegiate course, but was prevent-
ed by ill health from graduating. He is by profes-
sion a lawyer, having been admitted to the bar in
St. Albans, Vermont, in 1833, but has retired from
practice. During his residence in Vermont he was
the first postmaster at Morrisville, in 1834, which
position he resigned in the fall of that year, on
removing to Johnson. He was elected to the State
constitutional convention from Johnson in 1835, and
represented the town in the legislature in 1836 and
1837, and was elected by it, in the latter year, one
of the State commissioners of the- deaf and dumb
and blind. During the same period he held the
office of register of probate. He removed to Chel-
sea in 1838, and represented that town in the legis-
lature in 1840, 1841, 1842 and 1843. During these
four years he served on the judiciary committee, and
the last year he was its chairman. He was elected
State senator from Orange county in 1845 and re-
elected in 1846. He held the office of judge of
probate for three years in Orange county. He was
a delegate to the Baltimore convention ; was a mem-
ber of the State constitutional convention in 1850,
from Chelsea. He came to Wisconsin in 185 1, and
•settled at Madison; represented the Madison district
in the assembly in the years 1855, 1868, and 1873.
He was mayor of the city of Madison from April,
1861, to .'Vpril, 1862; was appointed by Governor
Solomon and served as draft commissioner during
the war for the LTnion in 1 862 ; was a regent of the
Wisconsin State LIniversity for twelve years previous
to its reorganization.
In stature, Judge N'ilas is about five feet eleven
inches high, has gray hair and beard, bluish gray
eyes, florid complexion, and weighs about one hun-
dred and ninety pounds. His decided mental abil-
ity, his sanguine, bilious temperament, in conjunc-
tion with his robust health, strong convictions, iron
will and unwavering perseverance in the accomplish-
ment of his objects, enabled him, in very early life,
to attain remarkable distinction in his profession,
and in the various legislative assemblies of which he
was a member. The leading principle of his polit-
ical life has been and is, that infidelity to public trust
was moral treason to the government, and hence his
political record is without stain. As the presiding
officer of a legislative body he was distinguished for
his intimate knowledge of parliamentary rule, for the
firmness with which he enforced its observance, and
the strict impartiality of his decisions. The same
qualities which gave him distinction in legislative
halls enabled hiin to attain, in the prime of manhood,
unparalleled success at the bar. Having thus early
in the prime of manhood ac(|uired fame and wealth,
his first wish was to find a partner who would share
his fame and, with him, enjoy his wealth. Such an
one he found in Miss Esther (i. Smilie, a lady of
rare intelligence and accomiilishments, scrupulously
exact in the performance of all her domestic duties,
and yet with such amiable sweetness of temper and
gentleness of manner as to diffuse a cheerful air
throughout the household. It is not wonderful that
' he should retire from the vexatious disputes at the
I bar, and the bitter contests in the political field.
^Ai^' (^^^'^7'^^c4_J
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
i:-,
He lias not been idle in his retirement from the
busy scenes of public life. He has superintended
the education of five sons, graduates of the Wiscon-
sin University, four of whom are now valuable mem-
bers of society, and are acquiring remarkable dis-
tinction in their professions. A shadow has passed
over this bright picture by the death of the second
son, who illustrated the axiom that death loves a
shuiing mark. According to the Roman law a citi-
zen who reared five sons to manliood was supposed
to have contributed so largely to the wealth of the
empire that he was never afterward' allowed to pay
any portion of its expenses.
This family is peculiarly fortunate in having a
daughter to perpetuate the feminine qualities which
at present adorn it.
CHARLES U. PARKER,
PLEASANT VALLEl
CHARLES D. PARKER, lieutenant-governor of
Wisconsin, was born on the 27th of December,
1827, near Connecticut lake, Coos county. New
Hampshire. His father was an early settler, a prom-
inent man, on the border between Canada and New
Hampshire, a farmer and merchant. In the spring
of 1836 moved to Wisconsin and settled in Mus-
kego, Waukesha county, making a claim where the
village of Muskego Centre now is. There were no
white settlers within three miles. An Indian trail
was the only passway to Milwaukee. His father
came by land with a two-horse team; his family came
by water; all poor financially. He was even then
a prominent politician ; was a member of tlie ter-
ritorial legislature in 1846; was active and efficient
in organizing Waukesha county. Charles worked
on the farm in summers and attended the district
school in the winter until he was twenty years of
age, and then attended the academy at Waukesha;
afterward the academy at New Ipswich, New Hamp-
shire. Taught school in New Hampshire and Wis-
consin. Married Angeline F. Southwortii and went
to farming. He was town clerk in Muskego in 1852.
In 1856 he was elected chairman of the town board
and member of the county board of supervisors of
Waukesha county. In 1859 he moved to Pleasant
Valley, St. Croix county; was elected town clerk
three years, member of the county board five years,
one year of which he was chairman of the county
board. He was elected a member of the legislative
assembly in 1869 and 1870; was elected lieutenant-
governor in 1873, which office he still holds. He
has five sons and two daughters. In politics was
a free-soiler until the organization of the republi-
can party ; he is now a reformer. He is liberal and
tolerant in his religious views, and believes the prin-
ciples of the Christian religion necessary to good
government. Oovernor Parker is a plain, practical,
common sense man, with sufficient capacity and
learning to discharge the duties of any state office
with advantage to the State and honor to himself.
His integrity is incorruptible, his conduct beyond
reproach. Moral dignity and gentleness are most
happily blended in him, which, together with his
kind heart and affable manner, render him respected
liv all, beloved by his friends.
ANDREW PROLIDEIT,
ANDREW PROIIDKIT was born in Argyle,
New York, on the 3d of August, 1820. His
father's name was James Proudfit, and his mother's,
Maria J. Proudfit. His father was a merchant in
Troy, and afterward in Washington county. New
York. He was a strict disciplinarian.
Andrew was educated at Argyle, in a common
school. At the age of fourteen he became a clerk
m a store at Argyle, and was de[)en(lenl on his own
exertions for a living. He came to Wisconsin in
June, 1842, and settled in Milwaukee county on a
farm at Brookfield with his mother and the children
younger than himself. He cleared up a large timber
farm, hired men to work the farm, and engaged in
keeping books for Shepard and Bonnell in Milwaukee
during two years. He then went to Delafield, Wau-
34
IIIE rXITEP STATES lilUiUiAI'll ICAf. DfCTIOXARr.
kesha county, and built ii mill and run it for five
years. He came to Madison in 1855, and has lived
there ever since. He was chairman of the town
board of Delafield, Wisconsin, for two years, and
was then elected commissioner of the Fox and Wis-
consin river improvement, and served two years.
He was in the State senate during 1856 and 1859;
was mayor of the city of Madison in 1869 and 1870.
He built the south wing of the State prison in 1854.
He built the north wing of the State capital in 1864. j
He built the two wings of the insane asylum in t866 |
and 1867. !
He has always attended the Episcopal church. j
He has always been a democrat. He is vice-pres- j
ident of the First National Bank, and has held the
position since 1871. He is one of the directors of
the Park Hotel.
He was married in September, 1840, to Elizabeth
Ford, and has had seven children. The eldest
daughter died at the age of twenty. He has five
children now living. The eldest son is living in
Milwaukee, and is discount clerk in the Milwaukee
National Bank.
His grandmother was the first white woman born
in the town of Salem, Washington county. New
York. She went with two horses during the revolu-
tionary war out si.x miles with si.x bushels of wheat
and fed the army. His grandmother's name was
Mary Lytle.
Mr. Proudfit's mental and moral characteristics
are those of practical common sense, a clear dis-
criminating judgment, a thorough knowledge of men,
and indomitable perseverance in the accomplish-
ment of the oljjects of his pursuit. He is patriotic
and public-spirited ; is willing at all times to contrib-
ute his services and his pecuniary means to pro-
mote the general welfare. He is charitable to the
poor, generous to his friends, and kindly in his sen-
timents to all. He has a high sense of the honor-
able feelings which characterize the intercourse of
gentlemen, and in his pecuniary transactions is a
man of the strictest integrity. If all men resembled
him the jails would contain no criminals,'and the
penitentiaries no convicts. He discharges the du-
ties of husband, father and neighbor with scrupulous
particularity and affectionate fidelity.
ALEXANDER McMILLAN,
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Finch,
Stormont county, Ontario, was born on the
23d of October, 1825, and is the son of Duncan B.
and Mary McMillan, both of whom were natives
of Inverness-shire, Scotland, whence they immigrated
to Canada in 1815. His father, who was a ruling
elder of the Presbyterian church at Finch, trained
his children strictly in the d()< trines of that faith.
.\lexander passed his boyhood and youth in his
native place, dividing his time Ijetween study in tlie
common schools and farm work, and at the age of
twenty-one removed to the State of New York, where
he spent some time, and in the spring of 1850 settled
in Madison, Wisconsin. Here he spent one year
clerking, and at the e.xpiration of that time went to
Portage, at which place, also, he passed one year.
In 1852, in partnershii) with his brother John, who
died in 1865, he established himself in the lumber
trade at La Crosse, which place he has since made
his home. The business is more properly what is
known as logging, the timber and logs being cut on
the Black river and sold to manufacturers on the
Mississippi. The business is a very extensive one
throughout Wisconsin, and especially in this section
of the State, and Mr. McMillan is one of its most
prominent representatives, being the oldest logger on
the Black river. He is still extensively engaged in
this business, although largely interested in other
enterprises.
He has always held decided views on the political
and municipal affairs of his State and city, and been
honored by his fellow-citizens with many positions
of public trust. He was for three years a member
of the city council, for several years county super-
visor, and for two years chairman of the county
board, a position to which he was reelected in 1875.
He was mayor of La Crosse in 187 1, and is now
(1876) chairman of the directors of the Board of
Trade. In 1873, he was elected to the State Legis-
lature on the republican ticket, receiving twenty-one
hundred and forty-five votes; and during the same
year, it being the year of the great financial crisis,
he was president of the First National Bank of La
Crosse.
15:21480
I
THE UNITED STATE.S HIOGHAPIUCAL DICTro.WMir.
Aside from his activity in political matters he has
always shown a public-spiritedness and been deeply
interested in the public enterprises of his city. In
1869 the McMillan brothers became chief owners of
the La Crosse Gas Works, which were incorporated
in 1863. Alexander McMillan is now president of [
the same, and Duncan D. McMillan vice-president.
Mr. McMillan is also engaged in the temperance |
movement ; has always been an earnest supporter of j
the cause, and in 1873 was president of the I.a Crosse [
Temperance League.
He was married in 1858 to Miss Sarah L. Parker,
daughter of Mr. Herrick Parker, of La Crosse, for-
merly a prominent citizen of Elyria, Ohio. Mrs.
McMillan is a lady of fine native endowments, high-
ly accomplished, and has attained local celebrity for
her skill in oil painting, many of her pieces having
taken premiums at various county and city exposi-
tions.
Mr. McMillan possesses excellent [lersonal quali-
ties, social and genial. He is a most agreeable com-
panion. By promptness and industry he has gained
the reputation of being a thorough business man, and
as a reward of his honorable and fair dealing has the
respect and esteem of all who know him, and lives
in the enjoyment of an ample fortune.
NAPOLEON B. VANSLYKE,
NAPOLEON B. VANSLYKE was born in
Saratoga county, New York, December 21,
1822. His father's name was Daniel Vanslyke, a
civil engineer, and his mother's name was Laura
Mears; both of them born, lived, died and were
buried in Onondaga county. New York.
He was an orphan in very early life, without
brother or sister, and dependent solely upon his
own exertions for the means of living. He received
an academic education at irregular periods and
places; was married to Laura Sheldon, of Cayuga
county. New York, daughter of E. W. Sheldon,
judge of that county. He was twenty-one years of
age at the time of his marriage, and commenced
farming, in which occupation h.e continued seven
years, in the meantime acting as superintendent of
common schools.
Abandoning the farm, he engaged in the manu-
facture of salt at Syracuse, whence he removed to
Madison, Wisconsin, in the spring of 1853, where he
formed a partnership with James Richardson in the
business of banking and of buying and selling real
estate. In 1854 he organized the Dane County
Bank under the State law; was the first cashier, and
afterward president during five years.
The city of Madison organized under its charter
in 1856, and he was a member of the first common
council; was largely instrumental in making the
first substantial improvements in the city, in erect-
ing the city hall, in selecting and improving Forest
Hill Cemetery, in procuring all of the then fire
engine apparatus, and during the same period built
several of the best residences now remaining in the
city.
In 1859, desiring a change of occupation, he
abandoned banking, and engaged in the more active
pursuit of manufacturing lumber in northern Wis-
consin, and continued it until the outbreak of the
rebellion in 1861. He then entered the State
service as assistant quartermaster-general. In 1862,
when the general government was prepared to fur-
nish the troops with the necessary materials for
active service, he was placed in charge of the quar-
termaster's department for the United States, and
commissioned by the President as assistant quarter-
master with the rank of captain, subsequently to
that of major, and afterward to that of lieutenant-
colonel. During the war till its close he acted
chiefly under orders direct from the quartermaster-
general of the ITnited States army. He had un-
usual discretionary powers, and from the beginning
of 1862 to 1865, the close of the war, he furnished
all the soldiers that went from Wisconsin with
everything pertaining to the quartermaster's depart-
ment. He resigned his position in 1865, and re-
turned to his former business of banking. In the
summer of that year he became president of the
First National Bank of Madison. His business has
always been moderately but steadily successful.
In religion and politics he is neither a sectarian
nor a partisan; he has no extreme vi^ws in any-
thing, but is conservative in all things. He is
naturally averse to public notoriety.
Without having held any very distinguished posi-
36
THE UNITED STATES PIOdliAnH ICAI. DrCTlONARV.
tion, he has during the last nine years been chair-
man of the executive committee of the board of
regents of the University of Wisconsin, and has
manifested a deep interest in all educational mat-
ters. He is earnest and active in all enterprises
calculated to promote the general welfare, works
from ten to twelve hours a day, seldom taking recre-
ation. He is methodical in his habits, and finishes
whatever lie undertakes. He arrives iiuickly at
conclusions, and is very determined in their accom-
jjlishment. He has traveled much in his own coun-
try, and especially from ocean to ocean, as business
or pleasure dictated. In all his relations to men
he is always willing and ready to say yes or no, an
evidence of the very highest order of moral courage,
the rarest (|uality in man. He is a lover of the fine
arts, although his opportunities have not allowed
him to gratify his taste.
SAMUEL 1). HASTINGS. Junior,
GREEN PA r.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Philadel-
phia, Pennsylvania, was born on the 19th of
June, 1841, and is the son of Samuel D. Hastings
and Margretta lu'e -Shubert. His father, a promi-
nent and influential man, was formerly engaged in
mercantile pursuits in Philadelphia, and in 1844
removed to Wisconsin and settled in Walworth
county. In 1857 he was elected State treasurer, and
held that office during a period of eight years. He
has been engaged in the interests of the temperance
cause for several years, and has been during the past
eighteen months traveling in foreign lands advocat-
ing the cause which he has espoused.
Samuel, the subject of this sketch, was educated
at Beloit College, and after his graduation began the
study of law in the Albany Law School, from which
he graduated in 1865. Returning to Wisconsin, he
was admitted to the bar at Madison, to practice in
all the courts of the State, and there began his prac-
tice, continuing it for two years. .\t the expiration
of this time he removed to Green Bay, his present
home, and entering into partnership with Judge
Ellis conducted a successful practice till 187 1, when
the firm was dissolved and he associated himself
with his present partner, Mr. Green. Their practice
has been general, and they have become well known
! as careful and successful in the management of their
cases.
Mr. Hastings has always been republican in his
political views, though he has never found time to
mingle in political matters. He has found in his
professional work ample scope for the e,\ercise of
his best talents, and being eminently fitted for it,
', both by his native inclination and thorough prep-
aration, is contented and happy in it. He is charac-
terized by a spirit of enterprise, energy and perse-
I verance; and though still a young man, has attained
to a high degree of success, and gives every promise
I of a bright and prosperous career.
Mr. Hastings has been twice married : first, on
the 9th of July, 1863, to Miss Mary C. Kendell, who
died November 24, 1868, leaving two daughters;
and secondly, on the 25th of December, 1872, to
Miss Hetta Sue Clapp, by whom he has one son.
DUNCAN D. McMillan,
/..I CROSSE.
DUNC.'VN I). McMlLL.VN, anative of Finch,
Ontario, was born on the 20th of June, 1837,
and is the son of Duncan 1!. McMillan and Mary
m'e McMillan, .■\fter receiving an ordinary English
education in the connnon schools of his native place,
he engaged for a time in lumbering, in Canada West.
His natural tastes inclined him toward mechanics,
but his circumstances were not such as to allow him
to gratify his desire. In 1859, being then twenty-
two years of age, he removed to the West and made
a permanent settlement in La Crosse, Wisconsin,
where his two elder brothers had previously estab-
lished themselves in the lumbering and logging
trade. .\l once entering their employ, he continued
with them until 1861. Finding the business ill suited
to his taste, he abandoned it at this time, and enter-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
37
ing the office of another brother, E. H. McMillan,
a lawyer of La Crosse, he began the study of law,
and applied himself with "diligence till his admission
to the bar, in the following year. He did not, how-
ever, enter upon the practice of his profession, but
a few months later accepted a clerkship in the quar-
termaster's department at Memphis, Tennessee, un-
der Colonel A. R. Eddy, a position which he held
during portions of 1863 and 1864. Returning to
his home, he purchased an interest in the lumber-
ing business of his brothers, and has continued in
the same up to the present time, 1S76. Upon the
death of his brother Joho, in 1865, the firm name
changed to A. and D. D. McMillan. His attention,
however, has not been wholly confined to the lum-
bering trade, but being a man of enterprise and
thorough business qualifications, he has employed
his capital in other enterprises, not only remunera-
tive to himself, but also tending to, and directly
connected with, the welfare of his city. He is vice-
president and, with his brother, one of the largest
stockholders in the La Crosse Gas Light Company.
His political sentiments have always been repub-
lican. When he first began to be interested in
I political affairs, slavery was the great issue between
[ the different political parties, and naturally a lover
of freedom and equal rights he, from the first, cast
his influence on the side of liberty. His first presi-
dential ballot was cast for Abraham Lincoln. He
is not, however, a partisan, but independent in his
habits of thinking, always e.xalts the man above the
party, and supports for office him whom he con-
siders most worthy and best qualified. In 1872 he
became identified with the reform party, and has
continued with it to the present time. His ambition
has not been for political honors, finding in his reg-
ular business ample scope for the exercise of his
best talents. The only official capacity in which he
has served was as member of the board of supervi-
sors, during 1873 and 1874. Mr. McMillan's parents
were devoted members of the Presbyterian church ;
and the principles and doctrines which they instilled
in his early life have been strengthened and con-
firmed as he has grown older, and he is now an
active and worthy member of that body.
He was married in 1866, to Miss Mary J. McCrea,
daughter of Stephen McCrea, Esq., of Huntingdon
county, in the province of Quebec.
JAMES B. HEMENWAY, M.D.,
DELAY AN.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Shrews-
bury, Rutland county, Vermont, was born on
the 7th of March, 1820, and is the son of Sewel
Hemenway and Polly nee Bullard. His father, a
farmer, was killed by the kick of an ox, and left his
family in poor circumstances. He was a good pro-
vider, but had always been very liberal with his
money. His ancestors were among the early settlers
of the United States, and his grandfatlier, John
Bullard, served in the war of 1812.
James lived with his grandfather until he was
thirteen years of age, at which time he went to an
uncle's, where he received thirty dollars per year
and two months' schooling. He continued thus
employed, dividing his time between study and
farm work, until he attained his twentieth year,
when he engaged in teaching. Closing his school
at the age of twenty-one, he spent the next two
years in work and study, and at the expiration of
that time, made an agreement to take care of his
grandfather and mother, working their farm, and to
receive the same as his own after their decease.
At the end of four years he sold his interest in the
farm to his youngest uncle, for one thousand five
hundred dollars, and purchased a farm at Mount
Holly, Vermont, where he spent four years. During
this time he turned his attention to the study of
medicine, and afterward, renting his farm, accepted
a clerkship in the store of his uncle, A. B. Bullard,
and employed his spare time in his studies. Later
he sold his farm, and moving to Plymouth, Ver-
mont, there continued his studies and began the
practice of his profession. After three years he
removed to Middleton, Vermont, and there opened
his practice, and at the same time pursued three
courses of lectures under Dr. Middleton Goldsmith,
and graduated from the medical college in 1855,
with the degree of M.D. Mr. Hemenway was led
into the study of medicine by the fact that his
family was predisposed to consumption, and he, him-
self, had been obliged on several occasions to
abandon work on account of ill health. The year
38
TUB UNITED STATES HfOG/iAP/IICAL DICTIONARY
following his graduation, lie removed to Delavan,
Wisconsin, and established himself in the practice
of his profession, in partnership with Dr. O. W.
Blanchard. At the end of one year the partnership
was dissolved, and since that time Dr. Hemenway
has built up a large and remunerative practice, and
gained a wide reputation as a skillful practitioner.
Although he has had a very extensive practice, he is
not wealthy, from the fact that he has been a poor
collector, making it a rule never to press any one for
money.
He was brought up under Baptist influences, and
is a worthy member of that church.
In politics, he was formerly a whig, but is now
identified with the republican party. He is one of
the township board, though he has never aspired to
office, i>referrmg the peace and ijuiet of his pro-
fessional and domestic life to political honors and
emoluments.
Dr. Hemenway was married on the 26th of Janu-
ary, 1843, to Miss .Mary Harrington, of Ira, Ver-
mont, daughter of Joshua Harrington. Of their
two children, the eldest died when two years of age.
The other is the wife of Samuel M. Parish, general
agent of the Chicago Life Insurance Company.
The doctor has given special study to lung diffi-
culties, and is known for his skillful management of
such cases.
Physically, he is five feet seven inches in height,
has a light complexion and blue eyes, and weighs
one hundred and thirty-eight pounds. He possesses
excellent personal and social qualities, and by his
generous, upright life has endeared himself to a large
circle of warm and true friends.
SILUS U. PINNEY,
SILUS U. PINNEY, present mayor of Madison,
was born in Rockdale, Crawford county, Penn-
sylvania, March 3, 1833. His father, Justin C. Pin-
ney, was a native of Becket, Berkshire county, Mas-
sachusetts, and came from there to Crawford county,
Pennsylvania, in 1815. His mother's maiden name
was Polly Ann Miller, and a native of Crawford
county, Pennsylvania, and of (ierman descent. His
father, with his family, removed to Wisconsin in
1846, and settled in what is now the town of Wind-
sor, Dane county, but which was then a part of the
town of Madison. The country was then new and
sparsely settled, and the subject of this sketch, hav-
ing received a good common-school education, found
it necessary to give his attention to other subjects
than books for a considerable time. He had, how-
ever, the advantages which some private instruction
could give, and such self-instruction as only leisure
moments could afford. He was, however, princi-
pally occupied in improving and cultivating his
father's farm. He was pretty well supplied with
books, and a great reader, and had a very excellent
memory, so that whatever he gained, even in the
most general or imperfect manner, he was able to
retain and utilize. He taught a district school three
winters. When about seventeen years of age, hav-
ing acquired a predilection for the legal profession,
he began the study of the first text-books, and kept
it up, as well as his occupation on the farm and in :
teaching school would permit, until April of 1853, i
when he entered the law office of Vilas and Rem- j
ington, in this city, as a student. From that time
to the present he has devoted his time and attention ;
almost exclusively to the law. In February, 1854, \
he was admitted to practice in both the circuit and '
supreme courts of the State, and afterward in the
federal courts; and in May, 1854, he entered upon •
the active duties of his profession in the city of ;
Madison, where he has been so engaged ever since. j
He has ever been and still is- a democrat, and '
has avoided rather than sought political preferment. ■
In religion he has 'no sectarian views, but has for ]
many years attended and contributed to the support j
of the Presbyterian church in this city.
He began his career in life single-handed and I
alone, with no capital but his own industry and such '
qualifications in point of learning as he had acquired
for engaging in the profession of his choice, and
hence he very early learned to depend upon himself '■.
Self-reliance has been the source of his success. 1
In 185S he was city attorney for the city of Mad- ;
ison, and an unsuccessful candidate for district attor- ]
ney of the county. In 1865 he was a member of \
the common council, and in 1869 an unsuccessful j
candidate for attorney-general of the State on the 1
democratic ticket. '
^^^y/uu-^^-A^ /^Z^V^^L^i^ l^yo-^
^
THE UNITED STATES BIOdRAPH [CM. DICTION ARV.
39
In April, 1874, he was elected mayor of the city
of Madison, and in November of that year was
elected a member of the legislative assembly from
the Madison district, and in April, 1875, was re-
elected mayor of Madison without opposition. In
1865 he prepared and attended to the publication of
the sixteenth volume of Wisconsin " Reports," and in
1870 was appointed special reporter by the supreme
court to report and publish the decisions of the ter-
ritorial supreme court and the first supreme court of
the State, extending over a period from 1836 to
June, 1853, and which are embraced in three vol-
umes, known as "Finney's Wisconsin Reports," the
last of which is now in press.
In March, 1856, he was married to Mary M. Mul-
likin.
Mr. Finney, although scarcely arrived at mature
manhood, is in some respects a remarkable man, and
has acijuired distinction in his profession. He has
quick perceptions, a subtle power of discrimination,
a sound, practical judgment, and a wonderful mem-
ory. He is destitute of that power of oratory which
appeals to the passions and electrifies the masses.
In the discussions of legal principles in the presence
of the court he is lucid in his statements, logical in
his arguments, and forcible in his conclusions. He
speaks without apparent effort, in plain, simple lan-
guage, without ornament to divert the mind from
the subject matter, and without obscurity to conceal
it. It has been his good fortune to be employed in
some important cases, involving large amounts of
money and property, among them the case of the
Amory will, involving about one million of dollars.
This case was tried in the United States circuit court
in Chicago, in 1874, before Judge Davis, of the su-
preme court of the United States, and Judge Drum-
mond, of the circuit court of the United States for
the seventh circuit, in which Mr. Finney displayed
such a thorough knowledge of the law, the evidence
and the facts as to elicit from the court and the bar
very high terms of commendation. He has a bright
future before him, and if he continues to be true to
himself he will reach a high eminence at the bar
and on the bench.
CHARLES A. WEISBROD,
CHARLES A. WEISBROD, a native of Frussia,
was born at Simmern, in the Department of
Coblentz, on the 5th of April, 1824, and is the son of
Fhillip W. Weisbrod and Catherine nee Mayer. His
father, a baker by trade, was an energetic and enter-
prising man, and became a well-to-do land-owner.
After completing his primary education, Charles
attended the Gymnasium at Treves, and afterward
the Folytechnic School and University at Berlin for
three years and six months.
He early developed a taste for professional life,
and during the first three years after leaving school
employed his time in civil engineering, and also
spent three years as lieutenant of engineers in the
reserve.
In 1849, being then twenty-five years of age, he
immigrated to the United States and settled at liis
present home in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Having de-
cided to enter the legal profession, he at once began
the study of law, giving himself with vigor to his
work till 1852, when he was admitted to the bar.
He at once began the practice of his profession, and
laid the foundations of his present extensive and
influential business. .Aside from his professional
duties, he has held many positions of responsibility
and public trust. In 1854 he was elected clerk of
the circuit court for a term of two years. He was
also alderman during a period of five years, begin-
ning with 1853. In 1867 he was elected school
commissioner; was a member of the Baltimore con-
vention in 1872, and participated in the nomination
of Horace Greeley for president; in 1874 was ap-
pointed, and in J876 reappointed, one of the board
of regents of the State Normal Schools.
The present firm of Felker and Weisbrod was
formed in 1866, and by prompt and energetic action
its business has become one of the largest in north-
ern Wisconsin, and each year adds largely to its
increase. While they do a general law business,
they have given special attention to bankrupt cases,
in which they have been very successful, and in
several instances have paid the creditors in full, with
interest.
In his religious views Mr. Weisbrod is liberal, and
not connected with any church organization. In
politics he is identified with the democratic party.
40
THE UNITED STATES BlOdRAl'llICAL DICTIONARV.
but is liberal in his views, and always exalts the man
above the party.
He was married on the i8th of April, 1849, 'o
Miss Elizabeth F. Goetz, by whom he has three sons
and four daughters. His son Albert W. Weisbrod
graduated from Michigan University in 1870, and
afterward spent two years in Europe in the study
of law, and upon his return home was admitted to
the bar at Oshkosh in 1874. On the ist of January,
1875 he took an interest in his father's business, and
is at present a member of that successful firm.
Mr. Weisbrod, beginning life with little means, has
gradually worked his way from comparative obscu-
rity to a position of high social standing and public
regard; and in the success that has attended him
presents an example of integrity, energy and enter-
prise well worthy of emulation. He possesses excel-
lent personal and social qualities; and while he is
highly respected by all who know him, he is most
esteemed by those who know him best. He is sur-
rounded with all the comforts of a happy home, and
lives in the enjoyment of an ample competence.
JOHN WESLEY PIXLEY,
MimAUKEE.
HOW a man uses money — makes it, saves it,
and spends it — is perhaps one of the best
tests of his practical wisdom and character. The
record of John Wesley Pixley's life, which has been
passed in attaining wealth by industry and prudence,
and expending the most part of it in secret acts of
benevolence and charity, is a truly noble one. Al-
though money ought by no means to be regarded as
the chief end of man's life, neither is it a trifling
matter, to be held in philosophic contempt, repre-
senting as it does to so large an extent the means of
physical comfort and social well-being. Indeed,
some of the finest qualities of human nature are
intimately associated with the right use of money,
such as happiness, generosity, honestv, justice and
self-sacrifice.
John W. Pixley was born on the 19th of Janu-
ary, 181 1, at Hillsdale, Columbia county. New
York. He was one of the early pioneers of Mil-
waukee, having arrived, with his brother Maurice,
in May, 1836. Maurice was born on the 15th of
October, 1800, and was, therefore, about eleven years
older than John. They were the sons of John
Pixley, who had held the office of high sheriff of
Columbia county, and was a gentleman much re-
spected and esteemed in that section of tlie .State
for the probity of his character.
On arriving at Milwaukee in 1836, the brothers,
who possessed sufficient capital for the purpose, at
once entered into copartnership and engaged in a
mercantile business, under the firm name of M. and
J. W. Pixley. Their building v.as near the corner
of East Water and Wisconsin streets, adjoining the
old trading-post of Solomon Juneau. Tliey con-
tinued thus for some few years, when their father
died and John was required at Hillsdale to settle
his estate. He did not, however, remain longer than
was necessary to transact the business, and then re-
turned to Milwaukee. Shortly afterward Maurice
removed to his former home in Hillsdale, withdraw-
ing from partnership with his brother. In about a
year after, John Wesley Pixley closed his mercan-
tile business and turned his attention to real-estate
speculations and advancing money. By his fore-
sight and business capabilities he managed to amass
a handsome fortune.
He was in many respects a very peculiar man.
Although holding very firm political views, he would
not allow himself to become a prominent politician,
and would accept no office. In his habits he was
particularly unassuming and quiet, strongly dislik-
ing ostentation or assumption in any form whatever.
Although his heart overflowed with charity and
compassion, in the broadest sense, the world knew
\ery little of it. Only a few very intimate friends
became aware of the large amounts he was yearly
expending in helping the truly needy and distressed.
His gifts did not take the form that would bring his
name before the public, but it has been since com-
puted that for the last twenty years of his life, he
has expended in his unobtrusive manner as much as
seventy-five thousand dollars ; but it never will be
known to any one the large numbers of heavy
hearts that have been lightened and the dismal
homes that have been made bright and happy by
the true benevolence of this one man. Although
he rarely gave through the agency of any charitable
institution or solicitor, liis time and money were ex-
THE UNITED STATES lUOdRM'UICAL lllCTlONAUr.
41
pcnded in finding out proper objects on which to
shower his bounty.
■■ He had a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as the day for meltnig charity."
In all business transactions Mr. Pixley was the
soul of honor, and his word was always " as good as
a bond."
His death, which occurred on the iSth of August,
1874, was keenly felt by his many friends whom his
good qualities had made for him, and also by those
who had been relieved by his kindness. He died
unmarried, and his remains were followed to the
Forest Home by a great number of the old settlers,
who loved him for the good deeds he had done,
and admired his quaint, old-fashioned, sterling
integrity.
JOHN A. BENTLEY,
SHEBOrGAN.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Kings-
bury, Washington county, New York, was
born on the 27th of January, 1836, and is the son of
Cornelius Bentley and Mary ne'e Brayton. His
parents, well-to-do farmers, were highly respected in
their community, and took special care in training
their children to habits of industry and morality.
He passed his boyhood and youth in his native
place, dividing his time between farm work and
attending the common school. At the close of his
preparatory studies he began the study of law with
Judges Rosencrans and Ferris, of Glens Falls, teach-
ing during a part of the time to defray his expenses.
After his admission to the bar, in 1857, he estab-
lished himself in his profession at Glens Falls, and
conducted a practice with varied success until
March, 1859, when he removed to Wisconsin.
Settling in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, he remained
one year, and at the end of that time removed to
his present home in Sheboygan. Here, forming a
copartnership with Judge William K. Gordon, he con-
ducted a successful practice during ten months, at
the expiration of which time the firm was dissolved
and Mr. Bentley began a practice on his own ac-
count, which he continued with good success until
1869. At this time associating himself with Mr.
William H. Seaman, under the firm name of Bentley
and Seaman, he began that practice which has grown
in influence and extent year by year up to the pres-
ent time (1876), since which time he has given most
of his attention to the interests of the Sheboygan
and Fond du Lac Railroad, of which he was president
for upward of two years.
Aside from his regular business, he has shown
a public-spiritedness, and been interested in many
enterprises tending to the welfare of his State and
city, and been honored by his fellow-citizens with
positions of public trust. In 1864 he was elected
to the State senate on the republican ticket. In
1876 he was appointed commissioner of pensions, in
place of Colonel Gill, of Madison, resigned.
He was married on the 5th of September, 1861,
to Isabella J. Peat, by whom he has one son.
Mr. Bentley is eminently a self-made man, begin-
ning life without money. His career has been
marked by a gradual growth, and at the present time
he is widely known as a thorough business man and
financial manager, and is a gentleman of high social
standing, respected by all, and most highly esteemed
bv those who know him best.
THOMAS
MIL W.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Milwau-
kee, Wisconsin, was born on the 3d of x'^pril,
1839, and is the son of Samuel and Clarissa Brown,
both of whom were consistent church members,
and descended from early settlers of New England.
The father, a builder by occupation, erected the
H. BROWN,
\UKEE.
first church in Milwaukee, and the mother was the
first wliite woman who came to that place. Thomas'
early life was surrounded by good influences, and
he then imbibed those habits of industry that have
characterized his subsequent career. He received
his education mostly at Beloit College, and, although
rriE UNITED STATES BIQCIiAPHICAL DICTIONART.
his native tastes inclined him toward mechanical
pursuits, at the close of his studies he spent eight
months in the study of law. At the expiration of
that time, in 1861, going to the oil regions in Penn-
sylvania, he at first engaged as a common laborer,
working for his board. His employers, however, soon
saw that he was qualified for a higher position, made
him superintendent of their operations, placing in
him the most implicit confidence, and authorizing
him to draw upon them for thirty thousand dollars
at a time. At the end of six years he had accumu-
lated a large fortune, but lost it in an unfortunate
investment. Returning to his home in Milwaukee,
he became a member of the firm of Salsman, Brown
and Fowler, wholesale hatters, a position which he
held for three years. Withdrawing from the busi-
ness at the end of that time, he associated himself
with his present partners, Messrs. J. P. and Julius
Wechselberg, under the firm name of Wechselberg,
Brown and Co., and organized the present Novelty
Carriage Works. The business was begun by the
Wechselberg brothers, on the corner of Milwaukee
and Michigan streets, in i860, their only capital
being their reputation as thoroughly qualified busi-
ness men. Doing most of their work themselves, in
a small frame building, their first year's products
amounted only to a good livelihood. In 1864 they
removed to Second street, where their trade gradu-
ally increased till September, 1871; at that time a
new impetus was added to the business by the ad-
mission to the firm of Thomas H. Brown, the sub-
ject of this sketch. On the ist of January, 1875,
they removed to their present quarters. No. 182 and
184 Third street, where they occupy a four-storied
building, fifty by a hundred feet, with a two-storied
store room, twenty by forty feet. The business
at the present time employs thirty hands, involves a
capital of thirty thousand dollars, and has an annual
product of fifty thousand dollars. The reputation
of the Novelty Carriage Works, although wide, is
rapidly growing — a fact which is attributable wholly
to the enterprise and careful manaigement of its pro-
prietors, combined with the excellent quality of work
produced. To their light work, of buggies and
sleighs, they have given special attention, and by
the superior quality of their goods in this line have
made for themselves an enviable reputation. Mr.
Brown's practical experience with business men,
united with his native mechanical tastes, has ren-
dered him a most valuable acquisition to the firm,
and much of its present high standing is due to his
enterprise and business ability.
Politically, he is identified with the republican
party, though he has never found time for, nor has
his ambition led him to desire, political distinctions.
His religious training was under Congregational
influences, and although he is still attached to that
denomination he is not a member of any church
organization.
Mr. Brown has been twice married ; first, on the
26th of December, 1866, to Miss Emma J. Fowler,
who died in August, 1868; on the 12th of Novem-
ber, 1872, he married Miss Alice L. Davis, and by
her has one daughter.
EDWARD G. RYAN,
EDWARD G, RYAN, present chief-justice of
the supreme court of Wisconsin, was born at
New Castle House, in the county of Meath, Ireland,
November 13, 1810, the son of Edward Ryan, Esq.,
of New Castle House, and Abby, his wife, daughter
of John Keogh, Esq., of Mount Jerome, near Dub-
lin. He was the second son of a second son, born
and educated in the full sight of wealth, but inherit-
ing no share of it beyond its refining influenc'es and
an instinctive pride of character more honorable
than rank and more valuable than gold. He was
educated at Ciongone's Wood College, where he
went in 1820, and where he remained until the com-
pletion of the full course, in 1827. Having made
some attempt to study law before leaving his native
country, he came to the United States in 1830 and
resumed his studies in New York, supporting him-
self, meantime, by giving lessons in private schools.
He was admitted to the bar in that city in 1836;
came to Chicago in the fall of the same year; prac-
ticed law there until 1842, when, suffering from mi-
asmatic disease, he felt compelled to change his
residence for the sake of his health; accordingly,
in the latter year, on the occasion of his marriage
with the daughter of Captain Hugh Graham, he
removed to the city of Racine, in this State. He
TItE UNITED STATES B[0(Ui.\PUrC AT. DTCTIOXAin'.
43
continued in tiie practice of his profession at Racine
until the fall of 1848, when he removed to Milwau-
kee, where he now resides.
Mr. Ryan was prosecuting attorney for the Chi-
cago circuit, in Illinois, in 1840 and 1S41 ; was a
member of the first constitutional convention in
Wisconsin, in 1846; was city attorney of Milwaukee
in 1870, 1871 and 1872, and was appointed to his
present position in June, 1874. Praise and censure
founded upon personal opinion have no place in
these pages. Biography is not only a written history
of individual life, it is also a record of human char-
acter. Therefore, while I would not flatter Neptune
for his trident, nor Jove for his power to thunder, I
should be unfaithful to my trust if any record I
might make of Mr. Ryan failed to concede to him
the rank he holds as one of the most remarkable
men of his time. His person is not remarkable; he
is five feet ten inches in height, weighs one hundred
and eighty pounds, neither of robust nor delicate
frame, but muscular, sinewy and capable of long
continued labor. His movements are quick and his
step elastic; his head projects forward beyond his
body, this gives him the appearance of stooping —
only the appearance, however, as his body is erect.
His complexion is florid, indicating health ; his hair
is light, slightly tinged with red; his eyes combine
the mingled hues of blue, gray and black, they are
large, brilliant and expressive, which, together with
his complexion, indicate a sanguine, bilious temper-
ament, verging upon the atrabilious. When seen
at the bar, prosecuting a lawless libertine for the
violation of female virtue, you would deem his eyes
those of a Basilisk; when seen, however, in the quiet
of a Sabbath afternoon, leading his little daughter
by the hand to the Episcopal Church, where he
worships, you would deem his eyes blue, beaming
with pity and with love.
He may not possess the highest order of intuitive
genius: he may never have been able to write " Pil-
grim's Progress," nor "Paradise Lost," nor "Ham-
let." Whatever of intellectual excellence he pos-
sesses arises from the deep earnestness of his moral
nature, which leads to concentrated thought and to
that discipline of his mental faculties to which he
has subjected them through long years of laborious
study — labor necesse at excellentiie. No truly great
man was ever flattered by flattery, and Mr. Ryan
has no trait of character more positive than his in-
stinctive aversion to the language of panegyric as
applied to himself. No person ever praised him
generously without risking his contempt. With a
profound reverence for ability in others, endowed
with a clear perception of the just claims of real
merit, but abhorring the arts which secure a mere-
tricious reputation, he owes his position at the bar
and on the bench to none of those adventitious cir-
cumstances which usually attend public promotion.
But Mr. Ryan, as a whole, is remarkable for no sin-
gle peculiarity, but rather for a combination of pe-
culiarities. His mind is an aggregation of superior
powers, harmonious, and yet diverse. He is a ready
and impressive orator, and yet a writer of remarka-
ble accuracy and beauty of diction. His prepared
lectures are finished models of literary composition,
but scarcely less so than his addresses extempor-
aneously spoken. At the bar, in the lecture-room
and on the bench his speech is always affluent, ex-
pressive and precise; while he never hesitates for a
phrase, no phrase escapes him which is not of strik-
ing import, by reason of the compactness and grace
of its structure. In logical strength and in that
mental power of quick and searching discrimination
which is the highest manifestation of a purely intel-
lectual ability, he is without a superior. In the
rhetoric of invective, in the recitation of prosaic
fact, or in the analysis of dry details, and in rapid,
terse and impressive argument, he possesses a power
of apparently exhaustless resources. In the ordinary
practice of his profession no flaw of the law, no per-
version of the truth, no weakness of the judge es-
capes his observation, or evades discovery and expo-
sure. With mental faculties thus comprehensive,
disciplined and critical is combined a physical tem-
perament naturally sensitive, which inspires every
mental act with electrical ene^gy. Thus constituted,
no question, whether of law or politics, is subject to
his investigation which is not illuminated by the light
of his genius or solved in the fire of his criticism.
Tetigit nihil noii ornavit. It has been said that qual-
ities like those which distinguish Mr. Ryan rarely
comport with the conservative character of the judge;
that he is better fitted for the contests at the bar than
for the deliberations of the council chamber. This
would be true of many men of equal or greater ce-
lebrity, but of less varied and comprehensive genius.
It might have been partially true of Mr. Ryan before
the softening influences of mature age had endued
him with that intellectual calmness which best befits
and adorns the exercise of strictly judicial duties.
But it cannot be truly said of any man that, simply
because of his great ability in all departments of
44
THE UXITED STATES BIOdRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY.
mental labor to which he has been called, he is un-
fitted for the particular department to which fortune
or his own convictions of duty may summon him.
Julius C?esar was the most distinguished warrior of
his age. He was an orator of so high an order that
many thought him the rival of Cicero. He was
one of the wisest of the senators. He conversed
with the magi of the east concerning the sources
of the Nile and the mountains of the moon. He
was the best historian of his day, and his "Commen-
taries" is the te.xt-book of our day. He was withal
a passionate lover. No man was ever great without
strong passions. They are the winds that drive the
vessel ahead. This delineation of Mr. Ryan's char-
acter would be imjjerfect, and a gross injustice to
truth would be done, were I to omit to mention
another prominent and most creditable characteris-
tic of the man, a quality which has been the guar-
dian of his youth, the crown of his manhood and
the consolation of his mature years. I refer to his
profound reverence for the Deity, and that spirit of
humility and devotion to religious duty which have
ever characterized the lives of the truly great.
In view of Mr. Ryan's forensic efforts at the bar,
the brilliant flashes of his genius and the pitiless
sarcasm of his wit; in view of his luminous opinions
as a judge, in which he reasons with the force of
logic and the certainty of demonstration ; in view of
his varied learning and classic taste, as exhibited in
his lectures, and in view of the purity of his personal
character, he may say with as much truth as any
man can, Excgi monumentum cere perennius.
JAMES B. MARTIN,
MILUWUKEE.
.AMES BAYNARD MARTIN, a native of Bal
J timore, Maryland, was born on the loth of
August, 1 8 14, and is the son of John and Maria
Martin. His ancestors settled in Maryland at an
early day and both his parents were natives of the
eastern part of that State. James' early ambition
was to become a merchant, and he never ceased to
foster the desire until he saw its realization He
was educated at St. Mary's College, Baltimore, and
after closing his studies accepted a position in the
commission house of Messrs. Matthews & Hojikins.
The following incident, which has had a wonderful
effect in molding his character as a business man,
occurred a few days after entering upon his work,
and is worthy of record. Calling him into the
counting-room, Mr. Matthews said, "James, how
does thee like the place } " He replied, " I am
pleased that I came." " Then, come here to me,"
and looking him steadily in the face, he said: "I
want thee to remember two or three things, without
which thee can never be successful. Always give
good weight — good measure — and never deceive
or take advantage of a customer. I noticed that
thee had gloves on yesterday when delivering
goods — did thee ever know a muzzled cat to catch
a rat.'" "No, sir; but I do not understand what
you mean." " I would advise thee," said the wise
Quaker merchant, '' when at business never to wear
gloves." To these lessons then learned, to the in-
structions and advice then received, Mr. Martin at-
tributes the success of his life. In 1845, removing to
Wisconsin, he settled at Milwaukee, and at once en-
gaged in merchandizing and in real estate opera-
tions. Later he engaged in the milling business,
and during a period of thirty-nine years conducted
his various business enterprises with success, and
has accumulated an ample fortune. In buying and
shipping wheat he has taken the lead. In 1873 he
shipped on his own account over four million bush-
els, and over five million five hundred thousand in
the following year. During all these years of active
business he showed a most worthy public-spirited-
ness, and his name has been associated witii many
of the most important interests of his city. By the
erection of many fine buildings he has contributed
a lasting benefit, both by increasing the beauty of
Milwaukee and enhancing the value of real estate.
Mr. Martin is preeminently a business man, and if
we were to seek for the secret of his remarkable
success, we should find it in the manner in which he
has always conducted his affairs. He has always
given his business his personal supervision, and by
his thorough knowledge of all its minor details has
been able to grasp opportunities and turn them to
his interest. When asked by one, inquisitive to
learn the secret of his success, how much he was
worth and how he had made his money, to the first
iniiuirv he rcijlied, " None of vour business; " to the
HIE VNITED STATES lUOGNAl'HICAL DICTIONART.
45
second, "I made one-lialf of what I am worth by
minding my own business, and the other half by
letting other people attend to theirs." Eccentric
as it may seem, the incident unfolds the true secret
of business success and is worthy of remembrance.
In political matters, Mr. Martin holds very de-
cided views, and though a democrat from early life,
has never been a partisan, but always supports for
office him whom he regards most worthy and best
fitted, regardless of party distinctions or prejudices.
He has never, however, taken any official positions,
his business having wholly engaged his attention.
In his religious communion, he is connected with
the Episcopal church. He was married on the
23d of December, 1835, to Miss Eliza Yates, of
Utica, New York.
MATT H. CARPENTER,
MILWAVKEE.
MATT H. CARPENTER was born at More-
town, Washington county, Vermont, on the
2 2d of December, 1824, the very day Daniel Web-
ster delivered his great oration on Plymouth Rock
in conmiemoration of the landing of the Pilgrims.
It is not certain that he received any inspiration at
his birth from the fact that Webster's intellect was,
at that moment, in full play, but it is certain that his
having been born on that day did not inspire him
with Puritanism, for no man enjoys a more painful
freedom from that gloomy bent.
His mother died when he was eleven years of age,
and he went to live in the family of Hon. Paul Dil-
lingham, at Waterbury, Vermont, and this was his
home while he remained in Vermont. In 1843 he
was appointed a cadet at West Point, on the recom-
mendation of Hon. John Mattocks, then member of
congress from that district. In 1845 he went on
furlough with his class, and, in consequence of ill
health, resigned and resumed his studies in the office
of Mr. Dillingham. He was admitted to the bar in
Montpelier, Vermont, in the spring of 1847, and went
immediately to Boston and entered the office of Hon.
Rufus Choate, as student, and was admitted to the
bar of the supreme judicial court of Massachusetts,
in the spring of 1848. No man ever enjoyed a
better opportunity to round out a legal education
than he enjoyed while with Mr. Choate, who became
very fond of him, always treated him as a son, and
took great pains to instruct him in the intricate mat-
ters of the law. During a part of the time Mr.
Choate 's eyes failed him, and Mr. Carpenter acted
as amanuensis, and thus enjoyed a rare opportunity
not only for legal but literary culture. When Car-
penter was admitted Mr. Choate aided him in pro-
curing a law library, and gave him money to start
West. He removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, and com-
menced the practice of his profession with three
dollars and fifty cents in his pocket. He claims to
have held his own well financially, though he says
he has more frequently had less than more. He had
been in Beloit about four weeks when he was at-
tacked by inflammation of the eyes, and was under
medical treatment for three years, the last year in
the Eye Infirmary in New York, a patient of Dr.
Kearney Rogers, and for about one year of this
time he was very nearly totally blind. During all
this time Mr. Choate loaned him the money to pay
his bills, and on recovery of his eyesight he returned
and resumed practice at Beloit. On one occa-
sion while in the asylum he had no money to pay
his board, and wrote to Mr. Choate to that effect, as
he had been invited to do. But, to his dismay, he
received no answer. Some ten days elapsed, and
still no answer. The boarding part of the asylum
was then kept by an excellent lady, Mrs. Green, who
was poor herself and unable to give credit, though
her kind heart would have led her to feed all man-
kind if she had been able. Receiving no reply from
Mr. Choate he frankly stated to his landlady his sit-
uation, and advised with Dr. Rogers as to what
could be done. The doctor said to him if he had
no false pride in the matter, the best thing was to
go over to the Bellevue Poor House; that he, the
doctor would go with him and commend him to the
superintendent, and would come there and continue
to treat him. Mr. Carpenter said he would go.
This was Saturday ; and Monda}' morning Doctor
Rogers was to call and take him in his carriage over
to the poor house. But Sunday morning Mr. Car-
penter received a letter from Mr. Choate sending
him a plenty of money, saying he had nearly worked
himself to death, and his physician had packed him
tiokiis volcns on a steamer and sent him to England;
46
THE UNITED STATES S/OGRAPTf/CAL DICTIONARi'.
that in the hurry of his departure he had entirely
forgotten to make provision for Mr. Carpenter, and
concluded as follows : " I sincerely hope my thought-
lessness has not subjected you to any inconvenience,
and I beg you will consider my purse absolutely at
your disposal until you are healed. We all live for
the future, and I have the utmost confidence both in
your future and in your integrity, so draw upon me
for whatever you want, and repay when you can."
Such generosity could not be forgotten, and Mr.
Carpenter has, since his more prosperous days be-
gan, continued to practice it toward the needy within
his reach and ability. In 1852 Mr. Carpenter was
elected district attorney for Rock county. This in-
troduced him into practice, and from that time his
practice has continued to increase. In 1858 he
removed to Milwaukee, where he has resided ever
since. He made his first public speech at Beloit
in the fall of 1848, in reply to a free-soil speech
made there at that time by Hon. Charles A. Eldridge,
since so distinguished as a democratic member of
congress.
Carpenter remained a democrat until the firing on
Fort Sumter, in April, 1861. The night before the
election of Lincoln he made a speech at Watertown
in favor of the election of Douglas, and predicted
that should Lincoln be elected, the recruiting drum
beat would be heard in the streets of that city within
one year. Lincoln was elected, and the predicted
drum beat was heard in half that time. In the fall
of 1861, after a draft had been ordered, there was a
great effort made to raise a company in Watertown,
but with not very great success. The utmost excite-
ment prevailed there, and some of the foreign born
citizens residing near the town had packed up their
traps and actually started for their native country.
Several families on their way were stopped at Water-
town by Secretary Stanton's famous " stay at home"
order. The people telegraphed Carpenter to go
there and make a speech. He went ; arriving there
in the evening they put him upon a dry-goods box
in the street, and he spoke for two hours to a crowd
of from three to five thousand. Before daylight the
enlistments had nearly filled the roll of the company,
and about half were foreign born, some of those who j
had started for Europe being among the number.
Mr. Carpenter made the first speech in the North-
west after the attack upon Fort Sumter. He con-
tinued speaking all over the Northwest until the
termination of the war; made more war speeches
than any other man. .At the conclusion of the war
when the constitutionality of the congressional plan
of reconstruction was brought before the supreme
court of the LTnited States, he was selected by the
government as counsel. He argued the case, but it
never was decided. Reconstruction went on, on the
plan Mr. Carpenter attempted to show to be consti-
tutional. Mr. Carpenter is a man of distinguished
ability, of logical mind, of extensive learning, of
fervid eloquence, withal of genius, a quality rarely
combined with logical power and statistical research,
and these qualties have received the sanction of
success. He has been successful in his eloquent
appeals to the masses of his countrymen in support
of his political views ; he has been successful at
the bar in the exhibition of his legal lore; he has
been successful in the halls of legislation in com-
manding respect for his statesmanship, as evidenced
by his elevation to the presidency of the Senate of
the United States, an honor under the circumstances
unparalleled in the annals of that august body.
That a legislature of ^V^isconsin, which he mate-
rially aided in creating, could have repudiated her
favorite son is an evidence of ignorance so gross as
to excite pity rather than contempt, or of ingratitude
so base as to affix a lasting stigma upon its deliber-
ations. The abiding sense of justice in the public
mind is as well the incentive to the noblest actions
as their ultimate reward. The days of trial and of
trouble may come to Wisconsin, as they have come
to other peoples, when she, like Athens of old, will
find that she also had a Timon, and that her prayers
may prove as fruitless in the latter case as in the
former.
Mr. Carpenter's mother died when he was but
eleven years of age. She was a devout Christian ;
he was her first-born, and until the day of her death
her favorite. She held him on her lap as he came
to years capable of receiving mental impressions,
and instilled into his mind and his heart a love of
the Bible, and a woman's conception of the divinity
and loveliness of our Saviour's character. She read
and explained to him the striking events in the gos-
pel narrative with eloquent feeling, and then, with
the boy, on bended knees, prayed to God that the
boy she loved so well might never forget the lessons
she had taught him, nor fail to walk in the paths
they pointed out. One half of her prayer was an-
swered. No one can read the letters, speeches and
arguments, or listen to the conversation, of Mr. Car-
penter, without observing that the Bible is his classic
and that he has studied it thoroughly. The other
rHE UNITED SJ-ATES lUOiiRM'H ICAL DICTIOXAlir
47
half of that mother's prayer has not been so thor-
oughly answered. Sensitive, impressible and of
poetic temperament, the beauties of scripture taught
by a pious and eloquent mother could not fail to
make a deep impression on his mind and to color
his thoughts and speech. The theory of religion is
merely intellectual, and may be correctly compre-
hended; the beauties of the gospels may move the
emotions, soften the heart and refine the sentiments,
and yet the continuous daily walk, the earnest and
solemn devotion of Christianity, may not be realized.
It is one thing to admire, worship and weep; it is
another and quite severer task to take up the cross
and follow faithfully. Peter believed and loved, and
yet in an unexpected emergency he denied and
cursed. Paul was less emotional but more stead-
] fast. Peter was an orator, Paul a philosopher. Peter
could arrest the attention of the multitude and enlist
their sympathies. Paul taught imperishable philos-
ophy to be studied in the closet and absorbed by
the intellect. The best leaders are not always the
best followers; the best teachers are not always the
best disciples. The hand that can strike the harp
with the most entrancing effect may hold the shep-
herd's crook, but is not fashioned to carry the heavy
burden.
J. B. PARKINSON, A.M.,
MADISON.
T B. P.-VRKINSON, A.M., late professor of civil
J ' polity and international law in the University
of Wisconsin, was born near Edwardsville, Madison
county, Illinois, April ii, 1834. His parents were
of southern birth, but came to Illinois at an early
age. His father is a farmer, wedded to his calling.
He received only such common school advantages
as the newly settled West afforded, but is a man of
excellent judgment and strong common sense. His
mother was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister.
She was a woman of vigorous intellect, of more
than ordinary culture, of excellent literary taste,
and withal a true Christian. She died when the
subject of this sketch was but twelve years old, but
not without leaving the impress of her teachings.
She was a devoted and self-sacrificing mother. In
1836, just after the close of the Black Hawk war.
Professor Parkinson's parents moved to Wisconsin,
and settled upon a farm near Mineral Point, upon
which his father still resides, at the ripe old age of
seventy. The school privileges there were limited,
but of such as could be secured, young Parkinson
had the full advantage. The school-house, with its
modern paraphernalia, was unknown, and apart-
ments in private houses were made to take its place.
But there is, after all, for natures suited to receive it,
a beneficial educating influence in this pioneer life,
in the rough, rude contact, with its stern privations.
After having become well grounded in the primary
branches of education, young Parkinson, in 1850,
at the age of sixteen, entered the preparatory de- j
partment of Beloit College, and continued his I
studies there nearly two years. In the spring of
1852, the California gold fever raged fiercely. His
father having fitted out an expedition for an over-
land trip to the Pacific coast, young Parkinson was
placed in charge of it. After five months spent
upon the plains, and three years of varied experi-
ence in the mines of California, he returned home,
not sadder, but wiser — full of hope — and with
savings sufficient to carry him through college. In
1856 he entered the University of AVisconsin, and
four years afterward graduated with the highest
honors of his class. He was at once tendered a
tutorship in the university, which he held for one
year, and then resigned to accept the office of
superintendent of schools of LaFayette county, to
which he had been almost unanimously elected. In
1 861 he was married to the daughter of Major
Robert (iray, of Mineral Point, a native of Wiscon-
sin, a woman of decided character, and one who
has jjroved herself a model wife and mother. The
leisure of a few of the first years of married life
were spent in improving and beautifying a delightful
country home. During those stirring times, Mr.
Parkinson took an active part in the discussions of
the day, and was regarded as a very forcible and
effective speaker. He has always been a democrat
in politics, though of a liberal type. After the war
began, he took strong grounds in favor of its vigor-
ous prosecution, and never saw the time when he
thought it wise to entirely abandon the political organ-
ization whose great leading principles he thoroughly
subscribed. He was twice the nominee of his party
48
THE L'N/TED STATES BlOdliAPHICAI. DICTIOXARV.
for the office of State superintendent of public in-
struction, making in each case an excellent run
against the Hon. John (;. McWynn, of Racine. In
1866, under the law reorganizing the State Uni-
versity, he was appointed by Governor Fairchild a
member of its board of regents. This position he
lield for one year, when he was elected to the chair
of mathematics in the university, which professor-
ship he held for six years, though during most of
that time he also had charge of the departments of
civil polity and political economy. In 1871 he joined
with the three young men, with whom he is still
associated, in the purchase of the "Madison Demo-
crat," and was for some time upon the editorial staff.
The ])aper at once took rank as one of the ablest
journals in the State. During the same year he was
chosen chairman of the democratic State central
committee, which position, as well as his editorial
connection with the " Democrat," he resigned at the
close of the year. In 1873 he was elected professor
of civil polity and international law in the State
University, although the subjects pertaining to this
chair had already been under his instruction since
1868. He has prepared a complete course of
lectures upon the outlines of international law,
which has been very highly commended ; also par-
tial courses in constitutional law and political
economy. Questions of civil polity and economic
science are those in which Professor Parkinson has
always taken the deepest interest, yet his earnest,
active nature chafed under the somewhat monot-
onous duties of a professorship. In 1874 he re-
signed his chair in the university, and resumed his
editorial connection with the " Democrat," which
position he now holds. He is also at the present
time president of the Wisconsin State Board of
Centennial Managers. The basis of his intellectual
character is that of a plain, practical common sense,
which, together with his logical arguments and an-
alytical acumen, render his conclusions convincing,
to which he firmly adheres with the confidence of
their truth. His style, as a writer, partakes of the
qualities of his mind, simple, lucid and concise. He
is a forcible speaker, with a well modulated voice
and distinct enunciation. He is an able debater,
and enjoys discussions. His power consists in the
plainness of his propositions, the closeness of his
reasoning and the earnestness of his manner. Op-
position brings out his full strength, which it is diffi-
cult to resist, and still more so to defeat. His
habits are domestic, social and scrupulously moral.
He is strongly attached to home and friends. Home
is his sanctuary from the troubles of life, and friend-
ship is a holy name. In manner he is dignified
without affectation, and affable, without familiarity.
In stature he is tall and spare, though strong and
active. ■•His temperament is sanguine, nervous, with
hope enough to aspire to high position, and nerve
enough to reach it. His qualities of mind, natural
and ac(|uired, qualify him for the position of teacher
of the science of law and of government, or for
their administration. He is essentially a legislator.
The position in which he would render the most
service to his country would be as president of a
university, the minds of whose inmates he would
enlighten by his learning, and whose morals he
would improve by his example. His greatest use-
fulness would appear in the halls of legislation.
JOHN W. HOYT, A.M., M.D.,
MADISON.
TOHX W. HOVT, A.M., M.D., of Madison, was
■J born of New England parents, October 13, 1833, in
the vicinity of Worthington, Franklin county, Ohio,
to which place his fatlier and mother, Joab and
Judith Hoyt, removed from Montreal at the break-
ing out of the war of 181 2, and where his father still
resides upon the farm he first purchased. He at-
tended the select schools and academies in the
neighboring village. He possessed a rare facility
for acquiring knowledge, regularly carrying from
nine to eleven studies, with daily recitations, and at
fourteen was not only prepared for college but had
made proficiency in important branches not em-
braced in an ordinary collegiate course of study.
This rapid advancement had not been made without
injury to his health, however, so that it was found
necessary for him to devote the succeeding two years
to outdoor labor on the farm, the winters being em-
ployed in teaching neighborhood schools, and in
study. He finally entered the Ohio Wesleyan Uni-
versity, of which the late Bishop Edward Thomson
was the president, and from which, notwithstanding
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION AR)'.
49
the continued delicacy of his health and the neces-
ity for alternating study with labor, he graduated
with honor at the end of the usual course. After
leaving college he began the study of law with Hon.
William Dennison, of Columbus, afterward gover-
nor of Ohio, and postmaster-general of the United
States, and a little later was found at Cincinnati at-
tending both law and medical lectures. Finding
medicine more to his taste than law he gradually
gave it more and more of his attention, and gradu-
ated as doctor of medicine in 185 1. From this time
forward until 1857, we find him at first engaged upon
a work on materia medica and therapeutics, which
he had been commissioned by an invalid professor
to prepare for the press ; next, a professor of chem-
istry and medical jurisprudence, succeeding that
distinguished jurist and scientist, Judge J. B. Stalls,
of Cincinnati, and lecturing to large classes in two
of the medical colleges of that city ; then organizing
and managing the department of chemistry and nat-
ural history in Antioch College, to which he was
called by the partiality of Horace Mann, president ;
continuing all the while his medical lectures, and at
the same time managing a considerable estate at Yel-
low Springs, including farm, mill, and quarries ; also
taking an active part in the presidential campaign of
1856. It was also during this period (in 1855) that
he made, in a paper read before the American
Scientific Association, what he believed to be, and
what probably was in fact, so far as this country is
concerned, the first promulgation of the doctrine
now known as the correlation and conservation of
forces, and everywhere recognized as one of the
most important advances made by science in this
century. Forced by damaged health to seek a differ-
ent climate he removed with his wife to Madison, Wis-
consin, in 1857, engaging as he then thought tempo-
rarily, in the editorial management of the " Wisconsin
Farmer." The new role of agricultural editor com-
manded a large share of his services for the ten years
which immediately followed. With his efficient and
fruitful labors in this field, and in the kindred work
of managing the affairs of the Wisconsin State Agri-
cultural Society, which were entrusted to him in
1859, the people of Wisconsin are familiar. Few of
his fellow citizens are aware, however, of the great
amount of extra labor he also performed during this
period as public lecturer, leader in educational and
social reforms, as industrial and educational repre-
sentative of the State and United States, at interna-
tional expositions, and in the writing and publication
of numerous books, pamphlets and official reports.
And probably a still less number are aware that he
was one of the originators and most efficient promo-
ters of the national movement, which finally secured
grants of land for the founding of colleges in the in-
terest of agriculture and the mechanic arts; that he
was the originator of the proposition finally approved
by congress which enabled each such college to ob-
tain from the army a professor of military science
and tactics without cost ; or that it was he who orig-
inated, drafted and carried through the legislative
measure which reorganized the University of Wis-
consin, put it upon a proper university basis, and
secured to it a gift of forty thousand dollars from
Dane county, and the two hundred and forty thous-
and acres of land granted to the State by the con-
gressional act above mentioned. He was one of the
prime movers in organizing the Wisconsin Editorial
Association, and at different times has been its sec-
retary and president. From the first organization of
the United States Agricultural Society until the
breaking out of the war of the rebellion, when its
work was discontinued, he was vice-president. In
the year last mentioned he was appointed by presi-
dent Lincoln one of the United States commissioners
to make arrangements for the representation of this
country at the London International Exhibition of
1862, and was also put forward by the governors
and boards of agriculture of the northwestern States,
and had the approval of the president, for the posi-
tion of chief commissioner. Congress failed to make
an appropriation, however, and he finally went to
London as commissioner from Wisconsin, in which
capacity as well as by his reports upon the exhibi-
tion and upon subsequent travels he rendered good
service to the country. In 1866 he was commis-
sioned by the governor of Wisconsin as one of the
State commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposi-
tion of 1867, and was chosen by his associates to
act as president of the commission. In the per-
formance of these duties he entitled himself to the
grateful acknowledgment of the State and received
as a recognition of his services a medal from the
French emperor. Later, he was also appointed a
commissioner of the United States to the Paris Ex-
position, and entrusted with the preparation of the
commission's report to the government on educa-
tion. In order the better to qualify himself for this
very important task, he traveled in all the countries
of Europe, acquainting himself personally with the
various national systems and with all classes of in-
50
THE UNITED STATES BIOGliAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
stitutions. The results of these travels and labors
was a large volume printed by order of the govern-
ment, abounding in important information and criti-
cal discussions which have been pronounced of great
value. The distinction gained by this work and by
the addresses and lectures delivered in the interest
of education, more especially his advocacy of the
claims of university education, and his proposition
for the establishment of a great American university,
led to his being unanimously called by the National
Educational Association, in 1869, to the position of
chairman of a national committee on an American
university, in which capacity he still continues to
labor most zealously and efficiently. In 1870 he
was instrumental in organizing the Wisconsin Acad-
emy of Sciences, Arts and Letters, an association of
investigators which has enlisted the sympathies and
active cooperation of the most prominent men of the
state, and has since gained an honorable footing in
the scientific and literary world. Of this institution
Dr. Hoyt has been the president from the beginning.
At about the same time he accepted for a time
the position of secretary in the Chicago Historical
Society, which large and prosperous institution he
was instrumental in reorganizing and putting upon a
broader and more satisfactory basis. The holding
of these three important and laborious positions at
one and the same time — head of the National uni-
versity movement, and of the Academy of Sciences,
and managing officer of the Wisconsin State Agri-
cultural Society and of the Chicago Historical So-
ciety— sufficiently illustrate the unusual abilities as
an organizer and executive officer which have char-
acterized his career. Suffering from overwork he
resigned his position in the Historical Society in the
spring of 187 1, and devoted such time as he could
spare from his remaining official duties in tnneling
in the western States and Territories. In 1872 lie
also resigned the secretaryship of the State Agricul-
tural Society, feeling that twelve years of uninter-
rupted service as its practical manager entitled him
to a release, and having also in view the acceptance
of the presidency of the Topeka, Fort Scott and
Memphis Railway Company, to which he had been
called by its directors, but which he finally declined.
In the spring of 1873 he was appointed to represent
the United States at Vienna, as honorary commis-
sioner, and spent the entire season at Vienna, ren-
dering very important service to the country — first,
in assisting to organize the American department,
then as American juror, then in the distinguished
position of president of the International Jury for |
Education, a jury embracing some of the most learned
representatives of all civilized nations; then as one
of the three executive commissioners, and finally !
for a time acting commissioner-in-chief of the Amer-
ican department. At the conclusion of these im-
portant labors he received the formal thanks of
American exhibitors, of the Imperial Commission, ,
and of the Austrian Ministry. The following win-
ter was spent, by authority of the United States gov-
ernment, in an inspection of the technical schools
of Europe, as a means of enriching the report on I
education, which he had been chosen by the Amer-
ican commission to prepare and submit to the gov- j
ernment. In the discharge of these duties, he made \
a third general tour of Europe. Upon his return '
to America, in the spring of 1874, he received from
the emperor of Austria the distinguished honor of
knighthood, including a decoration with the Com-
mander's Cross of the Imperial Order of Francis
Joseph. New and unsolicited honors also awaited
him on his return to Wisconsin, including the offer
of the presidency of a western college, the position •:
of chief of the geological survey of Wisconsin, and }
the position of railroad commissioner for Wisconsin. |
The last named he finally accepted, and it has added j
to his reputation by the marked ability and fidelity
with which he has met its responsibilities. Later in i
the season of 1874 he was appointed by the governor
commissioner of water routes between Wisconsin i
and the seaboard, and as such officer has been active j
in iHomoting the Fox and Wisconsin river improve-
ment, and the enterprise of constructing a ship |
canal between the waters of Georgian Bay and Lake i
Ontario. 1
Besides these several responsible positions of rail- \
road commissioner, commissioner of water routes to
the seaboard, president of the Wisconsin Academy '
of Sciences, chairman of the National University ;
Committee of the National Educational Association, 1
and vice-president of the American Social Science ,
Association, all of which he holds at present, and
each of which has its responsible duties, he main- ■
tains active connection with many more private '
affairs, each commanding thought and effort, and is ;
also known to be engaged upon some literary plans
that involve much difficulty and protracted labor.
Doctor Hoyt is in stature five feet ten inches high; j
weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds; is sym- ^
metrical in form, graceful in manners and of agree- j
able address. Notwithstanding some constitutional j
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
51
delicacy he is a person of great physical strength,
with a nervous energy and power of endurance found
only in rare combinations of organism and intellect.
His paternal grandfather was remarkable for these
traits as a soldier in the revolution, and his father,
notwithstanding the hardships incident to the war
of 181 2, and a pioneer life succeeding, is still living,
at the age of eighty-nine years, in the full enjoyment
of physical and intellectual vigor, upon the estate of
his first married-life home. Dr. Hoyt's lectures,
speeches, reports, books and plans, are notably sys-
tematic. The readiness and clearness of his per-
ceptions, with the logical and analytical methods of
his procedure, make him an habitual organizer.
Labors thus conducted may therefore be not only
multiplied, but must of necessity have the elements
of strength. Comprehensiveness is a marked trait.
He sees broadly, surveying a subject from every
available standpoint, and reserving judgment until
satisfied that no phase or important element has been
overlooked. The State llniversity, the State Acad-
emy of Sciences and his plans for a National Uni-
versity are evidences of these truths. He cherishes
kindly sentiments toward all, and gives a helping
hand to whatever has for its aim the good of man-
kind. A strong sense of justice, tempered by charity
for human frailties, is illustrated by his daily life.
His marriage, at the early age of twenty-three,
with Miss Elizabeth O. Sampson, of Cincinnati,
Ohio, has given to his home the blessing of two
beautiful children, sons of such promise as minister
to a father's pride and make the hope of the world;
and whose mother, in all the relations of life, has
proved herself worthy of companionship in his in-
tellectual attainments, and is the inspiration of all
his aims. Broad and penetrating in his views and
profound in his sympathies with all real reforms,
whether in material, social or political affairs, he is
of necessity an untiring worker for the good of his
country and the progress of the race.
AMOS J. W. PIERCE,
MILWAUKEE.
THE world's successful men are those who, with
persistent determination, have insisted upon
themselves: they are men who, instead of turning
their thoughts outward to external helps, have stud-
ied carefully their own powers, and by casting them-
selves upon their own resources have been enabled
to stand erect in the strength of independent man-
hood. As a representative of this class, he whose
name heads this sketch is worthy of honorable men-
tion. A native of New Jersey, he was born near
Philadelphia on the 7th of May, 1832, the son of
Louis F. Pierce and Maria nde Jones. His parents,
though in humble circumstances, were highly re-
spectable people, but both died during his child-
hood. His educational advantages were limited to
those offered by the common schools, but having an
excessive fondness for study and reading, he care-
fully improved all his leisure, and in this manner
acquired a liberal English education. From the
age of nine years until he attained the age of four-
teen he attended school; and at this latter age,
going to Philadelphia, engaged to work for a ship
chandler. He served in this capacity during a
period of two years, engaged in various kinds of
employment, and at the expiration of that time
accepted a clerkship in a retail grocery store, where
he remained until 1856. By fidelity, observation
and strict attention to his work he acquired a good
business education,, and having accumulated of his
hard-earned savings one hundred dollars, he deter-
mined to try his fortune in the West. Accordingly,
removing to Wisconsin in 1856, he settled at Mil-
waukee, his present home. During the twenty years
of his residence here he has been engaged in busi-
ness most of the time on his own account, and in his
varied career has been uniformly successful. By
fair dealing and careful management he has accu-
mulated an ample competence, and lives in the en-
joyment of universal esteem.
Politically, he has never been a strong partisan,
and although he has always supported the republi-
can party he is so little hampered by party ties that
he can support for office him whom he deems most
worthy, regardless of political prejudice.
From childhood his religious training has been
under the influence of the Methodist church, and
uniting with that body at the age of twenty, he has
since continued a worthy, active and zealous mem-
ber. He was married on the 28th of March, 1859,
to Miss Anna Curry, an estimable lady, full of wo-
52
THE rXITBD STATES FtfOGRAPHlCAL D/CTfn.VARy.
manly virtues, in whom he has found a fond, true
and devoted wife. They have two sons and two
daughters, all of whom are living at home. Mr.
Pierce is preeminently a self-made, business man.
Thrown upon the world at an early age, he devel-
oped that spirit of self-reliance and those habits of
industry, economy and integrity that have so sig-
nally marked his career; and with these he has
gradually worked his way to his present standing as a
thorough business man and an honorable citizen.
A. WARREN PHELPS,
MILWAUKEE.
A WARREN PHELPS is a son of Daniel and
• Levica Phelps. His ancestors on both sides
were lineal descendants of the Pilgrims who settled
in Massachusetts. His grandfather, at the time of
the outbreak of the revolutionary war, was a farmer
in New Hampshire. He went to Boston when hostil-
ities were about to commence, to bring away a can-
non. Concealing the cannon in his farmer's wagon
by covering it with straw, he brought it away in safety,
and it was afterward used with good effect against
the enemy. His mother was a descendant of Gen-
eral Warren, who fell at Bunker Hill, and was also a
cousin of Daniel Webster.
Warren was born August ii, 1829, at Fort Cov-
ington, New York. He came with his parents to
Wisconsin in 1838, and they settled in Johnstown,
where they remained one year, and then removed to
Milwaukee. Warren received his education chiefly
in Milwaukee from private tutqrs, and finished at
Dr. Buck's private academy. He had always had a
desire to be a banker, but this desire has not been
gratified.
After leaving school he worked for his father, who
was a tanner, and he learned that business, and when
he was twenty-one years old he hired out to the
Graeffenberg Medicine Company, and traveled for
them two years, selling their medicines. Not liking
that business, he accepted a situation as book-keeper
in the hardware store of S. Shepard, where he re-
mained one year and a half .A.fterward he kept
books for J- C. Gridley for six months, and subse-
quently he acted in the same capacity for Benjamin
Bagnall until 1857, when he was admitted a partner
in the lumber business, and continued in this busi-
ness until 1870. He then engaged in the coal trade
with S. L. Elmore, under the firm name of Elmore
and Phelps. This partnership continued until 1875,
when it was dissolved, and the business has since
been carried on by Mr. Phelps alone.
Mr. Phelps has been eminently successful; has
excellent business qualifications, and is guided by
prudence and integrity.
Although he does not mix much in politics, he
has been elected to the city council of Milwaukee
in 1871 and 1872; also member of the State legis-
lature during the year 1874. As a business man, he
bears a high reputation and is very popular.
In 1855 Mr. Phelps was married to Miss Delight
Bartlett, a lady of excellent womanly qualities, by
whom he had four children, two of whom are still
living, but bereft of their mother while yet young.
In 1869 Mr. Phelps was married to Miss Carrie
Sumner, of Southbridge, Massachusetts, by the Rev.
Charles Sumner, who is a brother of Mrs. Phelps.
FERDINAND KUEHN,
FERDINAND KUEHN, State treasurer, was
born at Augsburg, Bavaria, in the year 1S21,
and received in the public schools and colleges
of that place a liberal education. In his fifteenth
year he entered as an apprentice in a banking
house at Augsburg, and received later a situation in
a banking house in Switzerland, which he resigned
of his own accord after four years, to follow the
promptings of his love for liberty. In the year
1844 he emigrated to America, and came without
delay to Wisconsin, where he settled in Washington
county, a few miles north of Cedavburg, to enjoy the
blessings of a country life. He led a laborious
though a hapjiy life. In the summer of 1846 Mr.
THE UNITED STATES RIOGliAPIIICAL DICT/ONANV.
53
Kuehn directed his steps to Milwaukee. There he
occupied for a short time a position as clerk, but
soon learned cigar making, to be independent. For
four years he remained in this business, but often
during this time served as traveling book-keeper,
when he assisted friends in Kenosha and Racine
in keeping books, and from whence, after a delay of
some days, usually on Saturday evenings returned
on foot to his home and family. Then no railroads
carried passengers, and not always did a steamboat
land at the right time. Mr. Kuehn was taken away
from the cigar shop by his friend Geisberg, who was 1
then city treasurer, and gave him a permanent situa- \
tion in his office, and he thereby entered a sphere
more in accordance with his abilities. During the
years 1849, 1850 and 185 1, he was engaged in this
office under the named treasurer ; 1852 under Lucas 1
Seaver; 1853 under Alex. H. Johnston; in 1854 he 1
was elected treasurer with a great majority, and in
1855 without opposition. He was accustomed to
transact all the business of the office in person, 1
and without the help of deputies. In this situation '
he had a chance to gain a great number of friends
and acquaintances. In 1856 he declined another
nomination, but accepted the election as councilor
of the sixth ward, and entered at the same time into
business relations with the late Senator Charles
Quentin. The following two years he served as
councilor, and later as school commissioner of the
sixth ward, and was elected comptroller in i860
with a great majority. After having spent nearly
seventeen years in the service of the city, Mr.
Kuehn withdrew himself from public life in 1866,
and established a business of his own — later in com-
pany with Mr. Ott — consisting chiefly in taking
care of the property of non-residents and selling
real estate. During the first six years of Mr.
Kuehn's residence in America he struggled very
hard to obtain a comfortable living for his family
and himself. His labors were greatly alleviated by
the cheerful aid rendered him by his wife. His
success, however, is attributed to his unremitting
attention to his business, to his punctuality in com-
plying with his engagements, and to his conciliatory
and obliging manners, in corroboration of which we
quote the following from the valedictory and in-
augural address of his Honor John I. Talmadge,
mayor of the city of Milwaukee :
Of the city comptroller, Mr. Kuehn, who now, after six
years' service in the public interest, retires from the position
he has so ably filled, more than common mention should
be made. The adjustment of our former financial embar-
rassments and the present solid basis of our finances is due
to him more than to any other. To the discharge of the
important, intricate and perplexing duties of his office he
has brought an indefatigable industry, a ripe business ex-
perience and an incorruptible integrity. He carries with
tiim in his retirement the universal confidence of the com-
munity and the warm personal regard of every good citizen.
In 1873 Mr. Kuehn was elected State treasurer on
the Reform ticket, receiving a most flattering home
indorsement, and entered upon the discharge of the
duties of the office on the 5th of January, 1874.
His family life has been extremely happy. He has
been married thirty years, has five children, four
sons and one daughter. Three of his sons are in
independent positions — one in Milwaukee, one in
Madison and one in Stockton, California. He and
his wife enjoy fine health, and bid fair to live many
years of usefulness to their country and of happiness
to their friends.
SAMUEL KLAUBER,
MADISON.
SAMUEL KLAUBER, merchant and capital-
ist, was born December 10, 1823, at Mutters-
dorf, Bohemia. His father's name was Simon Klau-
ber; his mother's, Barbara Klauber. His father
brought him up to business. He was a produce
merchant in his native town. Samuel had a com-
mon-school education. His taste was always to be
a merchant. He has always been a very industrious
man. After leaving school he went to buying goods
for his father. This he followed until he left for Amer-
ica, on the 22d of August, 1847, and landed at New
S
York on the 28th of October. He remained in New
York one year. He peddled dry goods with a pack
to make a living. He came to Wisconsin in 1848,
and settled at Lake Mills. There he kept a grocery
store, with a man by the name of Brill. He re-
j mained there until the spring of 185 1. He left
j there with the intention of going to California, but
! fell in with his former partner, Mr. Michelbacher,
I who wished him to take a stock of goods to Madi-
I son, Wisconsin, which he did, and has lived there
I ever since. He commenced business with a capital
54
THE UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
of three hundred dollars, which he made at Lake
Mills, occupying a small frame store, sixteen by
forty feet, employing two clerks. He sold the first
year twenty-three thousand dollars' worth of goods.
His business increased all the time from year to
year. The number of hands employed in 1874
were fifty. The amount of capital now employed
in this house is seventy thousand dollars. One store
is thirty-three by one hundred and twenty feet,
and four stories high ; the other is twenty-two by
one hundred and thirty-two feet. The amount of
sales in 1874 was two hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars. In 1872 he formed a partnership
in Milwaukee, under the firm name of Levi Klauber,
Adler and Co., as dealers in groceries, dry goods,
clothing and carpets. He has always been successful
in business, and attributes his success to close atten-
tion to business and fair dealing. In religion he is
a Hebrew of the most liberal kind. He was a whig
until the formation of the republican party, and has
been a republican ever since. He is one of the
directors of the Park Hotel. He has traveled a
great deal in Europe. He married," loth of Sep-
tember, 1854, Miss Caroline Springer. They have
four children, all living at home. The eldest, a son,
Moses Klauber, is acting as cashier for his father.
Mr. Klauber is a patriotic citizen^ takes a lively
interest in all enterprises calculated to promote the
general welfare, is a man of strict integrity, of thor-
ough business habits, of liberal views and sentiments
upon all subjects, and in his social relations a most
genial gentleman.
LEWIS SILBER,
MIL \VA VKEE.
THK subject of this sketch, a native of Kalish,
Poland, was born on the 28th of March, 1843.
and is the son of Joachim and Rebecca Silber.
While a mere boy, Lewis left home to avoid being
"drafted into the Russian army, and emigrated to the
United States, landing in the city of New York on
the isth of September, 1859. Having no trade nor
profession by which to earn a livelihood he com-
menced his business career by purchasing a few
Yankee notions and selling them in New York.
Here he passed si.x months in working energetically
by day and attending an evening school by night, in
order to actjuire a knowledge of the English lan-
guage. In April, i860, he found employment in
Orange county, New York, which he pursued for
four years, during which time he succeeded by strict
economy in saving from his earnings the sum of
four hundred dollars. With this small capital he
returned to New York city and joined his oldest
brother, Morris Silber, with whom he formed a
copartnership, and entered into the dry-goods busi-
ness in Paterson, New Jersey, under the firm name
of M. Silber and Bro. After continuing in business
at this place for the i)eriod of one year, and thinking
the chances for a young man starting in life were
more favorable in the great West, he, in company
with his brother Morris, moved to Milwaukee, Wis-
consin, where, in June, 1865, he opened a dry-goods
store on West Water street, opposite the old La-
Crosse depot. He subsequently established a
branch store in New London, Wisconsin, but as
this enterprise was not as successful as he had
anticipated, he discontinued it and moved to Wau-
pun, Wisconsin, where, with a general stock, he
commenced a business which was from the start
successful. His affability, courtesy, and constant
readiness to meet the wants of customers gained
for him many friends and the patronage of a large
extent of surrounding country ; and by able man-
agement his trade increased continually, until he
became the leading merchant of the town. Finally,
after nine years of business success, he removed to
Milwaukee and entered into partnership with A. W.
Rich, the leading fancy-goods dealer in the West,
and succeeded in establishing a first-class wholesale
store in connection with their large retail establish-
ment.
Mr. Silber is a worthy member of the Indejiendent
Order of Odd-Fellows, having united with the order
at New London, Wisconsin. He subsequently be-
came a member by card of Telulah Lodge No. n,
of Waupun ; also of Waupun Encampment No. 9.
Upon joining the order he at once became an
active member, and took a deep interest in its wel-
fare, and his ability and zeal obtained their reward
in his election to the several leading positions of
grand junior warden, grand high priest, and grand
patriarch of the Grand Encampment of the State.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
55
While holding this latter position he instituted the
following nine new Encampments : Silber Encamp-
ment at Hudson, which was named after him; one
at Kilbourn City, Plattsville, Waukesha, Hazel
Green, Sheboygan Falls, LaCrosse, Watertown, and
Plymouth. In these positions he has performed his
duties with eminent success; and, in 1872, as a final
honor, he was elected to the office of grand repre-
sentative to the (Irand Lodge of the United States.
Mr. Silber was married on the 3d of January,
1872, to Miss Carrie Hyman, and their union has
been blessed by a son, who was born on the 31st of
January, 1873, and also with a daughter, who was
born on the 31st of April, 1875.
In all his business and social relations Mr. Silber
has borne a high reputation for an agreeable man-
ner, and for strict integrity and ability — true char-
acteristics of the gentleman and business man.
JOHN MITCHELL, M.D.,
JANES
THE life of an ordinary settler on the rough,
uncultivated prairie in the early days was con-
fessedly a hard one; and when to this the inevitable
deprivations and discomforts of a practicmg physi-
cian's career are added, the climax of unattractive-
ness would seem to have been realized. The part
taken by the pioneer physicians of the West in its
early settlement, has been a highly important one ;
and many of these scattered members of a noble
profession have added no small honor to its already
brilliant record. Of this class is Dr. John Mitchell,
of Janesville, Wisconsin, the subject of this memoir.
His ancestors were members of the Society of
Friends — the followers of Penn. He was born on
Christmas day, 1803, on the Neshaminy, near Attle-
borough, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Here his
grandfather, Richard Mitchell, at an early day, had
purchased a farm bordering on that stream, and
upon which he built flouring and other mills. After
many years he conveyed this property to the Doctor's
father, whose name also was Richard, and retired
from active life to Attleborough, where he eventually
died at an advanced age.
The Doctor's mother was Elizabeth Brown, cousin
of General Brown, the commander-in-chief of the
army in the war of 1812. Their fathers were broth-
ers, and the founders of Brownsville, Jefferson coun-
ty, New York.
Having taken possession of this property the
Doctor's father was for a time associated in the
milling business with a brother of the General —
Judge Brown, who ]:>reviously had married one of
his sisters.
Subsequently his father purchased milling and
farming property at Yardleyville, a few miles above
Trenton, New Jersey, on the Pennsylvania side of
the Delaware, and to that place he removed with
his family in 1812. Here the lad obtained his chief
education, with a finishing course at Newtown Acad-
emy. In 1819 he commenced the study of medicine
under his uncle, Dr. John S. Mitchell, of Humes-
ville, with whom he remained about two years.
In 182 1 his father removed with his family to
Rochester, New York, and the son, for an indefinite
time, was compelled to give up the study of medi-
cine. Here he became a clerk in the dry-goods
store of Everingham and Brothers. In the course of
some three years the proprietors of the house as-
sisted him to establish himself in business at Scotts-
ville in the same county. Here he carried on
successfully a general country trade.
In 1834 he removed to Buffalo, New York, where
he commenced a dry-goods and clothing business
on an extended scale, having a separate establish-
ment of each at the same time in the city. In this
business he continued till the general crash of 1837,
which terminated his mercantile career.
In 1838 he entered, as a student, the office of
Trowbridge and Winne, eminent physicians of that
city ; and with energy and perseverance that knew
no discouragement, resumed the study of medicine.
He continued his studies without interruption, at-
tending at the same time the usual courses of lec-
tures, till the winter of 1841-2, when he took his
degree of M.D. at Geneva College, New York.
After graduating he returned to Buffalo and im-
mediately entered upon practice. Although meeting
with gratifying success, he derided to emigrate to
the then far West.
In 1844 he removed with his famil\- to Janesville,
Wisconsin, then a village of only about three hundred
inhabitants. Here he established himself pernia-
56
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
nently in his profession; and besides attending to
its duties also engaged in farming and dealing in
lands. A considerable portion of the city is now
situated upon what was originally his farm.
In 1 85 1 he established in the interests of his party
a weekly newspaper, "The Democratic Standard,"
of which for some time he was editor and pro-
prietor. The paper was eminently successful, and
after the presidential election of 1852, a favorable op-
portunity offering, he disposed of the establishment.
In 185s he was elected president of the State
Medical Society. Other interests accumulating and
claiming his attention he, about this time, retired
from active practice ; but still for many years en-
gaged in medical consultation.
In 1864, and again in 1865, the last two years of
the rebellion, he was elected mayor of the city, the j
second term without a competitor. I
In 1874, at its annual meeting, he was elected
honorary member of the State Medical Society.
Dr. Mitchell has for many years been in the
habit of writing for thCj press, and not a few of his
magazine and other articles, together with several
poems, are of such merit as to deserve more perma-
nent record.
Dr. Mitchell has been thrice married; his wives i
were sisters, and were the daughters of the Hon.
Isaac Lacey, deceased, of Monroe county. New York, J
who for many years was a distinguished member both ii
of the assembly and senate of that State : Elizabeth |
and Juliet, the first two, lived but a few years after \
marriage. He has also lost one child, a son, who :
died in infancy. Cyrena C, his present wife, with
one child of each, two sons and one daughter, and ;
an orphan, a niece of Mrs. Mitchell, constitute his \
family.
HON. BYRON H. KILBOURN,
MILWAUKEE.
HON. BYRON H. KILBOURN was born in
Granby, Connecticut, September 8, 1801.
In the fall of 1803, at the age of two years, he was
transplanted from his native State to take his chance
in the then almost unbroken wilderness of Ohio.
His father. Colonel James Kilbourn, during the year
last named, removed, with his own and forty other
families, on to a large and fertile tract of land which
had been purchased by him, as the general agent of
the Sciota Company, during the preceding season.
His mother was a daughter of the celebrated John
Fitch, Esq., the inventor of the steamboat.
The site of their settlement is now known as the
village of Worthington, in Franklin county, eight
miles from the city of Columbus, and near the
center of the State. The scene rapidly changed.
The tall forest trees that sheltered the immigrants on
their first arrival soon gave place to golden harvests
and the pleasant homes of civilization and refine-
ment. The central village grew and flourished,
and the surrounding farms were rapidly improved,
so that in a comparatively short time this settlement
became one of the most delightful and attractive
places in the State, and was long celebrated, not
only for the high moral tone of its society, but was
also the seat of learning, and drew to it the youth of
the better class of people from all parts of the State.
It held this supremacy during the childhood, youth
and early manhood of Mr. Kilbourn. Surrounded
by such associations and influences, and his father
being in easy circumstances, he acquired at an early
age as good an education as could at that time be
obtained without the advantage of a regular college
course of studies. He showed an early aptitude
for mathematics, and pursued his studies in that
department with much avidity, especially in their
practical application to navigation, surveying and
engineering.
At the age of thirteen he left school for a clerk-
ship in his father's store, and commenced the life of
a trader in dry goods and groceries, which he con-
tinued for three years, devoting his leisure time (of
which he found an abundance), and particularly his
evenings, to the study of mathematics and the read-
ing of history and law, and also gave considerable
attention to music, for which he had a natural fond-
ness. The law, however, was peculiarly his favor-
ite study, for the practice of which he was well
adapted-; but a strong prejudice in the mind of his
father against the profession prevented his adopting
it as the business of life, and directed his mind and
energies into other channels. As he never had any
relish for merchandising, and could not bear the
confinement necessary to that occupation, at the age
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
57
of sixteen, with his father's approbation, he aban-
doned it for more congenial pursuits. Havihg a
strong passion for the wild woods, he engaged in
surveying, a business at that time deemed quite
abstruse ; and, as surveyors were scarce, a large de-
mand existed, yielding ample employment and good
compensation, affording Mr. Kilbourn much time
for the prosecution of his favorite studies.
During this period his father was a representative
in congress, and an ardent supporter of the admin-
istration of President Madison ; and during the war
of 1812 he became largely engaged in the manufac-
ture of woolens. His works, for some years, went
on quite prosperously; but by reason of a subse-
quent change in the policy of the government the
country became flooded with foreign goods, and the
establishment of Colonel Kilbourn, in common with
others throughout the country, went down, bankrupt-
ing him in their failure. Mr. Kilbourn was about
seventeen years old when he was thus thrown upon
his own resources. But the experience which he
had already acquired as a surveyor now furnished
him with a convenient resource to commence life
upon on his own account.
In the year 1823, when the surveys were com-
menced by the State of Ohio for the stupendous
system of internal improvements which was subse-
quently carried out, Mr. Kilbourn entered the ser-
vice of the State as an engineer, and continued to
occupy a prominent position and act an imjiortant
part in these measures, until the completion of the
Ohio canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio river, and of
the Miami canal from Dayton to Cincinnati, in 1832.
During the first three years of this period his time
was principally spent in exploring the State and
locating various lines; and the remaining portion of
the time he filled the station of resident engineer in
the construction and superintendence of the canal.
In the latter part of the year 1832 he retired
somewhat from active service, owing to a severe and
long continued attack of rheumatism, brought on by
frequent exposure, and on being partially restored
to health, in the spring of 1833 he undertook the
superintendence of the construction of the Milan
ship canal, extending from Lake Erie, at the mouth
of Huron river, to Milan, an important business
point on that river about ten miles in the interior.
Here, in an easy employment requiring only a por-
tion of his time, during the year 1833, he recovered
sufficiently from his rheumatic attack to indulge in
his natural desire for some more active enterprise,
and he determined on looking into that far-off coun-
try to the west of Lake Michigan, which then seemed
to be beyond the bounds tliat civilization would
reach during that age.
To that distant region he took his course, and
landed at Green Bay on the 8th of May, 1834, hav-
ing placed himself in the unpretending position of
surveyor of public lands, through a contract for
that purpose obtained from his warm personal friend,
Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, then surveyor-
general. His main object, however, was to explore
the country, and find, if possible, the natural com-
mercial point for all that vast extent of country
stretching from the lake westward to the Missis-
sippi.
That whole country, now so well known, was then
almost unknown to the world, except Green Bay at
the northern and Chicago at the southern extreme
of the lake. That part of the lake coast lying within
the present State of Wisconsin, and indeed the whole
State, then constituted part of the Territory of Mich-
igan, and was a vast wilderness, along whose borders
a steamboat was rarely seen, although at long inter-
vals such a phenomenon was even then sometimes
witnessed by the native sons of the forest.
A portion of the spring and summer months Mr.
Kilbourn spent in the region adjacent to Green Bay
and in the Manitowoc and Sheboygan country, in
making government surveys, and the remainder of
the season to November in exploring the coast, in
which he visited all the natural business localities
between Manitowoc and Chicago, as well as the in-
terior, and finally settled his opinion in favor of the
Milwaukee river as the locality on which the largest
amount of business could be concentrated, and con-
sequently as the most favorable site to become the
commercial metropolis of the State thereafter to be
formed. The short time which has since elapsed
has fully proved the sagacity of that conclusion.
Up to 1834 it was a rare occurrence for a white
man to be seen at the Milwaukee river. None but
those connected with the army, or fur trade, or an
adventurous traveler, ever ventured into this un-
known region. But since that time, in the short
space of thirty-nine years, a city has sprung into
existence, numbering one hundred thousand inhab-
itants— the commercial emporium of a State which
has been peopled and organized within the same
period, containing a population of over one million
souls.
On Mr. Kilbourn 's early visits to Wisconsin, in
58
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAltr
the years 1834, 1835, 1836, and including the greater
part of 1837, he traveled the country on horseback,
carrying his camp, blankets and provisions, and in
the winter season his horse-feed, along with him.
and wherever he was when night came, there was
his home. Sometimes he was entertained in the
wigwams of the Indians, but generally the solitary
occupant of his own camp, except, as was frequently
tlie case, he had a traveling companion. There were
then no roads or highway, but only the devious
Indian trail, and frequently this was neglected, and
the journey pursued without any guide but the sun
or pocket compass. In 1834 and the beginning of
1835 there was no white man's habitation between
Chicago and Green Bay, except that of Mr. Solomon
Juneau, on the Milwaukee river, who had been set-
tled there many years in the fur trade with the Indi-
ans, under John J. Astor's Company. Mr. Juneau
was one of nature's noblemen, and was the very soul
and embodiment of hospitality and good cheer.
His house was a home to every straggler in that
wild region, and among his pleasantest recollections
Mr. Kilbourn often adverts to the cheerful fireside
scenes in that wildwood home, after days of travel,
toil and privation.
Having decided to locate himself at Milwaukee,
he made his selections of land, embracing all that
part of the city lying on the west side of the Mil-
waukee river above the confluence of the Menomo-
nee, and became, by subsequent purchase in 1835,
the original proprietor of all that part of the city, as
Mr. Juneau was, by early settlement and preemp-
tion, of the other side of the river, e.xtending to the
lake shore.
The following extract from the first directory of
the city, published in 1848, is interesting in this
connection :
Milwaukee cannot lay claim to any great antiquity. It
is, on the contrary, of very recent origin. Tiie city as such
is but t-MO years old. The settlement only commenced here
in 1834. . " . In May, 1834, Byron Kilbourn, Esq., came to
Wisconsin as a government surveyor, and during that year
visited Milwaukee, enjoying the hospitality of Mr. Juneau,
then the only white man residing between Chicago and
Green Bay. "He made a location'on the west side of the
river, with a view to purchase when the land should come
into market. Mr. George H. Walker also visited Milwau-
kee in the early part of 1834, opening a trading establishment
here, and making a claim upon the tract since known as
"Walker's PointV' At the land sale at Green Bay in July
and August, 1S35, Mr. Juneau purchased the N!E. I4 of
sec. J9, in Town. 7, and Range J2, on which he resided, and
Mr. Kilbourn purchased the S.E. J4 of the same section.
These two tracts, extending along the Milwaukee river, a
mile in width, constitute the nucleus of the present city of
Milwaukee. The proprietorship was subsequently modified
by an arrangement between the two purchasers, in accord-
ance with which Mr. Kilbourn conveyed to Mr. Juneau that
part pf the S.E. ^ of sec. 29 lying east of the river, and
Mr. Juneau conveyed to Mr. "Kilbourn that part of the
N.E. >4' of the same section lying west of the river. Mr.
Juneau subsequently added to the original tract by purchase,
extending eastwai-dly and southerly toward the lake, and
Mr. Kilbourn, by purchase, extending westwardly and
northerly toward the interior ; the entire purchase embrac-
ing in the aggregate about six hundred acres, three hundred
of which were owned by Mr. Kilbourn, and constituted his
plat of Milwaukee on the west side of the river.
A town was organized on the west side of Mil-
waukee river in 1837. The first officers elected
were, Byron Kilbourn, president; James H. Rogers,
John. H. Tweedy, William R. Longstreet and Dan-
iel H. Richards, trustees.
In his first explorations Mr. Kilbourn had an eye
to the ways and means of intercourse which were,
by the topography of the country, presented for the
construction of public works to facilitate trade with
the interior, and formed the project of a canal com-
munication between the lake at Milwaukee and Rock
river, and its extension down that stream by slack
water, and up the Catfish to the four lakes, and by
canal to the Wisconsin river, thereby opening a wa-
ter communication \vith the Mississippi.
During the summer and fall of 1837 he brought
this project before -the public by a series of articles
published in the " Milwaukee Advertiser," the first
newspaper established at Milwaukee. These arti-
cles had a wide circulation, and doubtless did their
full share in spreading a knowledge of the superior
advantages offered by that region to men of business,
i and for the investment of capital; and no doubt
aided much in producing the vast tide of immigration
which for years flowed in an unbroken stream in
that direction. In pursuance of the plan thus laid
before the public, he drew up and circulated peti-
tions, brought the subject before the legislature, and
obtained the passage of an act incorporating a com-
pany for the purpose of constructing a canal to
Rock river, called the Milwaukee and Rock River
Canal Company. That act was passed early in Jan-
uary, 1838, and in February the company was duly
formed. Mr. Kilbourn was elected president, and
dispatched to Washington for the purpose of obtain-
ing a grant of land to aid in the construction of the
canal. He succeeded in obtaining a very liberal
grant, being one half of all the sections along the
route of the canal, ten miles wide from one extreme
to the other. This grant, had it been faithfully ap-
plied to the object, would have been sufficient to
have secured the completion of that important work
in a few years. If the administration of that land
The Vnited states HioaiiAPHicAL DicriuNAiir.
S9
grant, its sale and application to the object designed,
had devolved solely upon Mr. Kilbourn, with his
experience in works of that nature, there cannot be
a doubt that the canal would have been completed
by the close of the year 1843, and that the whole
country and the city of Milwaukee would have been
vastly benefited. For the purpose of being very
sure that the lands would be faithfully applied to
the objects of the grant, the act of Congress placed
them under the control and at the disposal of the
legislature of the Territory of Wisconsin, prescrib-
ing that they should be sold under certain regula-
tions, and the proceeds applied to the construction
of the canal, and for " «t) other purpose w/iatever."
This act was passed in June, 1838, and the legisla-
ture, in pursuance of the trust thus reposed in it,
undertook the performance of its duties by passing
an act in the early part of 1839, under which the
work was successfully begun. But in an evil hour
local hostilities arose, and local interests and feel-
ings began to exert their baleful influence on the
legislature, and finally the subject became mixed up
in the political cauldron, and for several sessions
formed the battle-ground of contending politicians.
In the end the further progress of the work was
arrested by the direct action of the legislature,
which, in disregard of the injunctions of the act of
congress, appropriated the proceeds of the sales of
those lands to the payment of the debts of the Ter-
ritory, and to the defraying the expense of holding
two conventions for the formation of a State govern-
ment. The canal grant, therefore, obtained solely
through the personal exertions of Mr. Kilbourn,
though it failed to produce the results aimed at by
him, yielded a fund which furnished the legislature
the means of paying over a hundred thousand dol-
lars of public indebtedness and expenditures.
The canal was prostrated by a repeal, at the ses-
sion of 1841-42, of the laws previously passed for
its aid, and by the subsequent appropriation of the
funds derived from the sale of the lands for other
purposes. When it seemed evident that the canal
was doomed, Mr. Kilbourn urged upon the legislature
to make use of the land granted for that purpose,
by authorizing its application to the construction of
a railroad. But it was decided that such a project
was premature, and, though supported by some of
the most enlightened minds, was overruled by the
majority.
In 1840 Mr. Kilbourn was a candidate for delegate
to congress, but his opponent. Governor Doty, was
elected by a small majority. The Milwaukee "Cou-
rier," of May 7, 1845, contained an able article re-
viewing the claims of the gentlemen who had been
proposed as candidates for congress, from which the
following extract is taken. After speaking of Messrs.
Upham and Darling, the writer continues:
Byron Kilbourn is unquestionably a man of superior
abilities, the characteristics of his mind Ixmul; liveliness of
perception, acuteness ot understandini,', seanhin^ penetra-
tion, indefatigable perseverance, and willial common sense.
Never satisfied with any subject that occupies liis attention
till it is reduced to a demonstration, he is calculated to sift
everj word, thought, motive and action to the bottom.
These powers were propagated and extensivrh- exercised by
the practice of his profession of engineering; and it may be
thought that his habits of severe thinking, and of refraining
from trivial conversation, have rendered him less popular
with the mass than others. He has even been accused of
being aristocratic in his feelings; but we venture to affirm
that if ever democracy, ibund a genial habitation, it has
found it in the breast of Byron Kilbourn. He would as
willingly shake the hand of the farmer or mechanic, and
grasp it as tightly too, as that of the first man in the nation.
His whole soul is absorbed in the welfare of Wisconsin, and
the breath of slander would fail to impeach his integrity;
falsehood alone could successfully asperse his character.
Suffice it to say, the distinction lies here — Upham or Dar-
ling would be the most eftective candidate before the peo-
ple; Kilbourn would be the most efficient representative on
the floor of congress.
In 1S45 Mr. Kilbourn was elected to represent
the county of Milwaukee in the territorial legis-
lature. In 1846 the city of Milwaukee was char-
tered, and he was chosen a member of the first
board of aldermen. On the 19th of August of the
same year the county convention met to nominate
candidates for various offices. On the first ballot
for a candidate to represent the county in the terri-
torial senate, Mr. Kilbourn received a majority of
the votes of the convention ; but as it was stated
and understood that his business arrangements for
the season would not permit him to accept the sta-
tion, the Hon. H. N. Wells was nominated on the
next ballot. In 1847 Mr. Kilbourn was reelected
to the office of alderman, and was also chosen a
delegate to the convention which met at Madison
on the 15th of December of that year, and formed
the present State constitution. In that body he
was chairman of the committee on the " general
provisions " of the constitution, and as such drew
up and reported the preamble and declaration of
rights, the article on boundaries, the article on
banks and banking, and the article on amendments.
In 1848 he was elected mayor of the city of Mil-
waukee, then containing about fifteen thousand in-
habitants. He was elected a delegate to, and vice-
president of, the free democratic national convention,
which met at Buffalo in 1848, and nominated Martin
6o
THE UNITED STATES BtOGliAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Van Buren for president, and Charles Francis
Adams for vice-president of the United States.
When the public mind began to comprehend the
importance of railroad communication with the in-
terior, Mr. Kilbourn was by common consent desig-
nated as the most suitable person to lead the first
enterprise of that description, and was accordingly
elected president of the Milwaukee & Mississippi
railroad company by a unanimous vote of the
board of directors. This company was organized in
the early part of 1849, and he continued to occupy
the ])osition of president of the company until the
early part of 1852. He also engaged with equal
zeal in prosecuting another work of equal merit, the
La Crosse & Milwaukee railroad ; and it is mainly
attributable to his address and indefatigable enter-
prise that the numerous difficulties with which these
companies had to contend were overcome, and the
roads so successfully carried forward.
Mr. Kilbourn was reelected mayor of the city of
Milwaukee in 1854, by more than a thousand ma-
jority. The " Wisconsin" remarked in reference to
his opponent, Colonel Walker: "He had been so
repeatedly elected mayor, that he was thought to be
invincible, but he coifld not stand before the popular
sentiment in favor of Mr. Kilbourn."
In February, 1855, Mr. Kilbourn was the regular
democratic candidate before the legislature of Wis-
consin for the office of United States senator. After
several unsuccessful ballotings, his competitor, the
Hon. Chas. Durkee, was chosen by one majority.
Mr. Kilbourn was also president of the board of
education. It has been said that no man in Wis-
consin has made so many railroad speeches, or has
so often presided over State and district conventions
and other public meetings as Byron Kilbourn.
In the fall of 1868 Mr. Kilbourn went to Jack-
sonville, Florida, for the benefit of his health, where
he died suddenly of apoplexy, on the i6th of De-
cember, 1870, in the seventieth year of his age.
p:dward h. ball,
MILWAUKEE.
EDWARD H. BATL, a native of Ogden, Monroe
county. New York, was born on the 29th of
May, 1825, and is the son of Joseph and Esther
Ball, who settled upon their present homestead in
1824, having removed thither from Lee, Berkshire
county, Massachusetts. The father is now eighty-
eight years of age, and the mother eighty-six, and
they have been married sixty-three years.
Edward received a good common school educa-
tion, and besides spent one year in a select school.
At the age of fifteen years, he accepted a clerkship
in the store of Messrs. Church and Ball, of Spencer-
port, one of the largest mercantile houses in western
New York, and so far enjoyed the confidence of his
employers that lie remained with them seven years.
In 1846 he removed to Wisconsin, and settled at
East Troy, Walworth county, and there conducted
a large and successful general mercantile trade,
doing the most of his business on the credit system
of those days. Removing to Milwaukee in 1862,
he became a member of the firm of Dutcher, Ball
and Goodrich, wholesale grocers. Mr. Dutcher
afterward retired, and the firm name changed to Ball
and Goodrich. The business has steadily increased,
and is now one of the largest in the State, extending
throughout the Northwest and western Michigan,
while the house is known for its good financial stand-
ing. During his business career of thirty years,
many of which have been years of depression and
financial crisis, Mr. Ball has maintained a high
standing, and never had a note protested or once
failed to discharge an obligation. Blessed with a
vigorous constitution, he has been enabled to devote
his entire attention to his business, and each year
has had an income larger than his disbursements,
and has always avoided running in debt.
In his habits, he is strictly temperate, has never
tasted of any alcoholic liquors, or used tobacco in
any form. In politics, he was formerly a whig, but
has been identified with the republican party since
its organization. He was a firm supporter of Presi-
dent Lincoln's administration, and during the war
contributed liberally toward furthering the interests
of the Union cause.
When eleven years of age he united with the Pres-
byterian church, and has continued a member of
this and the Congregational church ever since, con-
tributing liberally to the support of all religious
enterprises. For many years he has been identified
with Sabbath school work, and of late years has
&'^i^ayra^ ^^^'^i^-^^C^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
6l
conducted a young men's Bible-class, and has been
the means of great good to those who have been
brought under the influence of his teachings. He is
now a prominent member and ruling elder of the
Immanuel Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, and
in the midst of his active business pursuits, never
allows himself to become so absorbed as to forget
the claims of his fellow-men or the higher claims of
his God.
Mr. Ball was married, August 26, 1847, to .Sarah
E. Cobb, daughter of Dr. John Cobb, of Ogden,
New York; they have one son and four daughters.
MORITZ VON BAUMBACH,
MILWAUKEE.
PROMINENT among the leading men in the
city of Milwaukee is the gentleman whose name
appears at the head of this short biographical
history.
Moritz von Baumbach, a descendant of an an-
cient and noble German family, was born on the
13th of January, 1834, at the city of Cassell, in
Western Germany, which was the capital of the
Electorate of Hesse Cassel, now of the province of
Hesse Vassan, Prussia, and of the province of Lower
Hesse. His father, Baron Ludwig von Baumbach,
held a commission as military officer in the German
army, and participated in the battles of his native
country against Napoleon the First, from the year
1813 until the year 1816. After that date he, pos-
sessing talents that eminently fitted him for the
position, became a very prominent and influential
politician, and was a member of the first German
parliament, at Frankfort.
In his early boyhood, Moritz von Baumbach re-
ceived the foundation of his education from private
tuition, but as he advanced in age he entered col-
lege at Rinteln, and also at Cassel.
In 1849 he immigrated, with his parents, to the
United States of America, and resided with them
for several years in Elyria, Ohio, and afterward in
the city of New York.
He came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the year
1856, being then twenty-two years old; and his
talents and fitness for office being at once recog-
nized, he was appointed to the office of deputy city
treasurer the year following his arrival, and immedi-
ately afterward was elected to the honorable post of
city treasurer of Milwaukee.
In i860 he engaged in business by establishing a
banking-house, under his own name, which he car-
ried on successfully for ten years, and then consoli-
dated with the Home Savings Bank, and has carried
the same on up to the present time as the German
E.xchange Bank, of which he was president.
The official appointments held by this gentleman
have been numerous, as he has been consul for
Austria and Hungary, and also for Saxony, and
many other German governments. In 1874 he was
selected to fill the office of vice-consul for the
German Empire.
In religion Moritz von Baumbach is a believer in
the Protestant faith, having been brought up in the
Reformed Presbyterian Church.
Politically, he has always been a partisan of the
democratic party, and during the American war he
was a war-democrat.
He was united in marriage, in the year 1S63, to
Anna Lafaulnier.
JOHN PEAT DICKSON,
JANES I 'ILLE.
FOREMOST among the pioneer settlers of
Janesville, Wisconsin, stands the name of John
Peat Dickson. He is a native of Danville, Vermont,
where he was born on the i8th of April, 1808, and
is the son of John and Margaret (McCalum) Dick-
son. His father was a silk manufacturer in Paisley,
9
Scotland, and immigrated to America toward the
end of the last century. On arriving he located
himself in Hartford, Connecticut, and thence re-
moved to Danville, where he finally settled. He
was a strictly religious man, firmly attached to the
old Presbyterian communion, and careful of the
62
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
moral training of his children. On coming to
America he gradually abandoned the manufacturing
interest and devoted his time to farming, which
occupation he followed until his death.
During his youth John P. Dickson passed his
time in the summer months on the farm, and in the
winter attending the district school as opportunity
offered. From this it will be inferred that his edu-
cational advantages were not very great, but the lad
lost no opportunity to profit by them.
In 1836 he decided to settle in the West, and in
May of that year left Vermont for Milwaukee, where
he arrived a month later. After casting about for
some time in search of a suitable location, he
selected the site of Janesville for his permanent
residence, and in August, 1838, entered about two
hundred acres of land. Part of this he laid out
as a farm, and disposed of the remainder in various
ways, selling portions of it, and again adding other
land as occasion served. Mr. Dickson also acted
as land agent for eastern speculators, and gradually
developed, in this manner, a business in real estate.
Being one of the earliest settlers of the town, he
became concerned in the conduct of its municipal
affairs. In 1842 he was elected justice of the peace,
and from that time held the office for seven years
almost continuously. He has also filled the office
of town clerk, and several other positions of like
nature. In 1859 he was elected to the legislature,
and served two terms.
In political affairs he has always attached himself
to the republican party, and taken a most active
interest in its career and management.
Mr. Dickson is one of the representative men of
the Northwest, an early settler, and one who has
identified himself closely with its progress. He has
successfully borne all the hardships and privations
incident to such a life, and they have developed in
him, as a natural result, both physical vigor and the
sturdy moral and mental health which are secured
by the constant practice of industry and thrift.
On the 2ist of November, 1832, Mr. Dickson was
united in marriage to Lorinda, daughter of Mr.
James Stevens, of Danville, a prominent farmer of
that place. There have not been any children born
to them of this union.
M
HON. MORTIMER M. JACKSON,
HALIFAX {NOVA SCOTIA).
ORTIMER M. JACKSON, formerly one of ! mined to make it his future home. Having
the judges of the supreme court of Wiscon-
sin, was born in Rensselaerville, Albany county,
New York. His father, the late Jeremiah Jackson,
was a man of intelligence, probity and influence.
The son, who was quite young at the time of his
father's death, was afterward sent to a boarding
school on Long Island, and thence to the Collegiate
School, in the city of New York. After leaving
that institution, he entered the office of the late
David Graham, an eminent lawyer and advocate.
In 1834 he was a delegate from the city of New
York to the Whig Young Men's State Convention,
which nominated William H. Seward for governor;
and was the author of the address adopted by the
convention to the people of the State.
In 1838 he married Miss Catherine Garr, daughter
of the late Andrew Garr, formerly a distinguished
lawyer of New York. At that time the great North-
west was attracting an enterprising population from
the old States. Wisconsin was a new territory, ris-
ing rapidly in importance, and Mr. Jackson deter-
his residence at Mineral Point, he engaged in the
practice of his profession, and soon became promi-
nent at the bar.
He wrote a series of articles over the signature of
" Wisconsin," calling the attention of the intending
emigrants to the West to the natural advantages of
Wisconsin, predating its rapid growth and future
greatness. He identified himself with the whig
party, and became a leader and distinguished
speaker. He was attorney-general of the Territory
nearly five years; and upon the organization of the
State government, in 1849, was elected a judge of
the supreme court and judge of the fifth judicial
circuit. As a presiding judge he was dignified and
courteous, and faithful and impartial in the discharge
of his duties.
After retiring from the bench he continued to
practice law until appointed by President Lincoln,
in 1861, to the office which he now holds, of United
States Consul at Halifax, Nova Scotia. Circum-
stances connected with the late civil war gave to
t^^n/i^-^^ ^^^^^^-W^-^rJ^^^g^yu
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
63
that consulate an importance second to none under
the government, and requiring abilities of a high
order; not only tact and vigilance, but firmness, in-
tegrity and loyalty. These qualities were in an
eminent degree combined in Judge Jackson.
At the request of the State department in October,
1870, Judge Jackson submitted a report upon the
fisheries and fishery laws of Canada, in which the
principal questions involved in the controversy be-
tween Great Britain and the United States on the
subject were fully examined and discussed. This
report was transmitted to congress with the docu-
ments accompanying the President's annual message.
Of the many American consuls who have faith-
fully and ably served their country abroad, no name
in our consular annals exhibits a more honorable
record than that of Mortimer M. Jackson.
On the i6th of August, 1875, at Halifax, the
capital of Nova Scotia, the wife of Judge Jackson
passed from earth to heaven. Thirty-seven years
before, with the fidelity of a true woman and the
devotion of a loving wife, she turned from the
blandishments and the luxuries of a gay city to share
the trials, the privations and the hardships of her
husband in his western home. Her sympathies
nerved his arm in his struggles for fame and fortune ;
her smiles brightened his future prospects. Twenty-
three years later, when called upon to represent his
country abroad, she was still his wise counselor, his
faithful friend, his devoted wife. Her intelligence,
refinement and accomplishments, which had won so
many hearts in her native land, were justly appreci-
ated in her foreign home ; and when removed by
death the shock was felt alike at home and abroad.
HON. THOMAS R. HUDD.
GREEN BAT.
THOMAS R. HUDD, a native of Buffalo, New
York, was born on the ist of October, 1835,
and is the son of Richard Hudd and Mary nee Har-
rison. His father, an ornamental painter and de-
signer by occupation, was a man of decided char-
acter, and took special care in the training of his
only child, giving him all the advantages that his
means could afford. Thomas removed from his
native place and settled in Chicago, Illinois, with
his widowed mother when he was seven years old,
and there received his early education in the public
and select schools; and also worked three years at
the printer's trade, to earn money with which to
complete his education, being engaged on the
" Western Citizen," a weekly paper, and also on the
" Evening Journal." With the money thus earned,
he attended the Lawrence University, at Appleton,
Wisconsin, and after closing his studies there, be-
gan the study of law, and in 1856 was admitted to
the bar. At once entering upon the practice of his
profession in Appleton, he continued it with good
success during a period of twelve years, and at the
expiration of that time, in 1868, established himself
in Green Bay, and there opened that practice in
which he is still engaged, and in which he has be-
come widely known as an honorable, and a shrewd
and successful attorney. At the present time, 1876,
he is associated with Mr. Wigman, under the firm
name of Hudd and Wigman. Aside from his regular
duties he has served in many public capacities, and
always with credit to himself and satisfaction to all
interested. In 1856 he was elected district attorney
forOtogamie county, and reelected in 1858. During
the years 1862 and 1863 he represented the twenty-
second district in the State senate, and in 1868 was
elected a member of the general assembly from
Otogamie county, and reelected to the same position
in 1875 from Brown county. He was chosen city
attorney of Green Bay in 1873, and in 1876 was
again elected to the State senate from the second
district. In all these varied positions he has shown
himself worthy of the trusts that have been reposed
in him, and by his able and efiicient service has con-
tributed largely to the welfare of his State, and
gained the highest respect of all with whom he has
had to do. His practice is general, he having been
admitted to all the courts of Wisconsin and also to
the supreme court of the United States. At the
present time, he has the largest federal practice o
any lawyer in his city.
In his political sentiments, Mr. Hudd is identified
with the democratic party.
In his religious views, though not connected with
any church organization, he inclines toward the
Unitarian. Unsectarian in his opinions, he makes
the rule of his actions that expressed in the words ;
64
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
" Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them."
He possesses most excellent personal and social
qualities, and the best estimate of his character and
worth may be formed from the high regard with
which he is held by those who know him best.
Mr. Hudd was married on the 7th of June,
1857, to Miss Parthenia S. Peak, who died Septem-
ber 24, 1870, leaving two sons and three daughters.
He was married a second time on the 2d of Oc-
tober, 1872, to Mary Kill, and by her has two
daughters.
CHARLES SPENCER DUNCOMBE, M.D.,
CHARLES S. DUNCOMBE, a native of Mid-
dleburgh, Schoharie county, New York, was
born on the i8th of November, 1821, and is the
son of Elijah E. Duncombe and Catharine Bouch
Duncombe. His ancestors have been somewhat
noted for their longevity. His great-grandfather, a
revolutionary soldier, was killed at the battle of
Bunker Hill. His grandfather removed to Canada
in 18 1 9, whither his father went three years later.
He was a prominent man in his community, highly
respected by all, and for more than forty years a
practicing physician in Saint Thomas. Two of his
uncles, Charles and David Duncombe, also phy-
sicians, served in the provincial house of par-
liament during a period of twelve years. Charles,
therefore, being raised under such influences, natur-
ally inclined to the medical profession.
During his boyhood he attended the common
schools of his adopted home in Canada, whither his
parents had moved when he was one year old, and j
besides had the advantages offered by a seminary in !
London. At the age of seventeen he engaged in !
teaching, and two -years later began the study of [
medicine, under the supervision of his father, and i
soon afterward pursued a course of study in the
Medical College, at Geneva, New York, attending
two courses of lectures, and graduating on the 23d
of January, 1844. In the ensuing spring, drawn by
the superior inducements which it offered to young
men, he removed to the West, and settled in Wal-
worth county, Wisconsin, and there established him-
self in his profession. He remained there four
years, meeting with good success and building up a
fair practice, but at the end of that time returned to'
Saint Thomas, Ontario, and there resumed his prac-
tice, following it for a period of twelve years, attend-
ing during that time a course of lectures at the
Toronto University and one at Geneva College.
Returning to Wisconsin in the spring of i860, he
settled at Racine, his present home, and opened an
office in partnership with Dr. Rufus B. Clark, .a
homoeopathist. During this year he attended a
partial course of lectures at the Hahnemann
Medical College of Chicago, and graduated with
honor from the same. His practice has been con-
stantly growing, and he is now widely known for the
care and skill with which he treats his cases; he
has made his profession financially successful.
His political sentiments are republican, though in
the midst of his professional duties he has found no
time to devote to political affairs.
In his religious communion Dr. Duncombe is
identified with the Episcopal church.
He was married on the 24th of January, 1844, the
day after his first graduation, to Miss Susan A. C.
Baker, and by her has one son and two daughters.
GENERAL DAVID ATWOOD,
MADISON.
DAVID ATWOOD was born in Bedford, New I worked on the farm during the summer, and attended
Hampshire, December 15, 1815. He belongs j the district school in the winter. The summers
to a vigorous and long-lived family. His father, at being short in that latitude, the work was continuous,
the age of ninety, was living at the old homestead. ' There was but little time for rela.xation — none for
Like most New England boys, young Atwood idleness. The winters were severely cold, and the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARi:
65
pathway to school was frequently obstructed by
snow-drifts. This course of life, until he was six-
teen years of age, developed and strengthened him,
and firmly established those habits of industry and
frugality which assured him subsequent success. In
his sixteenth year, he accompanied an elder brother
to Hamilton, Madison county, New York, where he
commenced working at a printer's case. His em-
ployers were law-book publishers. He remained
there five years, and became master of his craft be-
fore visiting home. After this he traveled through
Pennsylvania, the South and the West for nearly
three years. Stopping but a short time in any one
place, he had ample opportunity to see much of the
country, and become familiar with its resources and
the character of the people. Part of this time he
was in the employ of the house where he learned
his trade. He visited every place of note in Ken-
tucky, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and every organized
county in Indiana. Chicago he remembers as a
village in a swamp, with a muddy and almost im-
passable street, and a little wooden hotel not far
from the present Tremont House. He was highly
pleased with the West, and had a tempting offer to
engage in business in Cincinnati, but declined and
returned to Hamilton in 1839, where, with his
brother, he undertook the publication of the " Ham-
ilton Palladium," a weekly newspaper. He worked
hard for five years, through the Harrison log-cabin
campaign, and until the defeat of Clay, in 1844.
He was a zealous supporter of the famous Ken-
tuckian, and very earnest in advocating the princi-
ples he espoused — a characteristic of New Hamp-
shire whigs, who, being in a minority at home, had
learned to make up in zeal what they lacked in
numbers. Overworked and broken in health, in the
political campaign that culminated in the defeat of
Clay — a campaign so "gallantly fought, and so fool-
ishly lost — Colonel Atwood again set his face to the
westward. The "Palladium" had paid expenses,
and nothing more. Five years of his life had been
given to the advocacy of the cause of his party, and
to the duties of a citizen, in urging the interests of
the country where he resided. It had been to him
not only a pecuniary sacrifice, but had seriously im-
paired .his health. It had taken some of the best
years of his life, and he doubtless felt that leaving
the East was like transplanting a half-grown tree,
leaving its best roots in the earth. In the time that
had elapsed since his first journey, the West had
grown immeTisely, and though opportunities for es-
tablishing himself in his business had increased, he
found it necessary to engage in some occupation to
recruit his health. The fertility and beauty of the
western prairies, so unlike his rugged New England
home, had attracted him on his first visit. Deter-
mined to abandon the editorial life, he purchased a
farm near Freeport, Illinois. At that time it took
six weeks of slow and toilsome travel to get from
Hamilton to his new home. He started in company
with a friend. With a span of horses hitched to a
sleigh, surmounted by a wagon, they left Hamilton
in February, 1845. In Ohio they found bare ground,
and abandoned the runners. They reached the
farm in season to put in a crop of wheat, and were
very hopeful, but the crop failed. They then bought
sheep, but half the flock died the first winter. Mis-
fortune followed misfortune, and they were sur-
rounded by distress and discouragements on every
side. Two years spent on this farm restored the
colonel's health, but exhausted his funds and fur-
nished him with all the agricultural experience he
deemed it advisable to indulge in. He sold out,
and determined to again engage in editorial labors.
No place seemed so attractive to him then as the
thriving territory of Wisconsin. Population was in-
creasing from the flood of immigration setting west-
ward, and Wisconsin was soon to be admitted into
the Union. In casting about for a good place to
settle, he found no spot so inviting as Madison, the
capital of the Territory, and on reaching it he im-
mediately became connected with the " Madison
Express." The capital was then a small village,
and there was but little business, except such as was
derived directly or indirectly from the public print-
ing. His duties were arduous and varied. He was,
to use his own words in a history of the " Dane
County Press," "editor, reporter, compositor, fore-
man, and all hands." He reported the proceedings
of the last two sessions of the territorial legislature,
convened at Madison, and the entire proceedings
of the constitutional convention. Probably no
one is more familiar with the action of that body
than he. He was present not only at every ses-
sion, but every moment that the convention was
in session, and was thus able, without assistance,
to write out as complete a report as could be made
by one not a stenographer. He here established a
reputation for accuracy and dispatch in furnishing
matter for a paper. His capacity in this respect is
remarkable. He seldom hesitates in writing, and
hardly ever interlines. His ideas flow in full, even
66
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
sentences, and they come with the same readiness
when engaged in debate. He is interesting, instruc-
tive, practical, but brief and pointed in his method,
yet he elaborates readily without ceasing to interest.
His ideas are held in solution, and are consequently
available without a long solving process. His pen
is always ready. His mind is clear, comprehensive,
analytical, his observations keen, and his memory
retentive. Confident that he had found in Madison
and the thriving country tributary to it, a field where
the labors of his life would be rewarded, he deter-
mined to settle permanently. He assumed control
of the "Madison Express," which was issued tri-
weekly during the session of the constitutional con-
vention. The State was admitted into the Union
in May, 1848.
At this time, three of the twelve or fifteen papers
of the State were published in Madison. Two of
the three were democratic, conducted by men of
ability, aided by capital and patronage. Hard work,
judicious judgment, frugality and the unfaltering
courage of young Atwood, sustained the " Express "
in the face of these difficulties. Of sixteen political
papers published in Madison, some have changed
hands twelve times, and fourteen have ceased to
exist.
In September, 1852, General Atwood commenced
the publication of the "Daily State Journal," and
still continues it. About a year after the " Journal "
was established, he associated with him the Hon.
Horace Rublee, now minister-resident of the United
States to Switzerland — a man of decided intellect-
ual power and fine culture. The "Journal" took
a leading position, became firmly established, and is
increasing in usefulness. It is republican in politics,
enterprising, and devoted to the best interests of the
State. Its power has always been wielded for the
public good. It is the life-work and monument of
General Atwood. He was one of the leading spirits
in the organization of the republican party in 1854,
and was appointed in 1855 clerk of the first repub-
lican assembly ever elected.
In 1858 he was commissioned major-general of
the fifth division of State militia. In i860 he was
chosen a member of the legislature. He was ap-
pointed United States assessor upon the creation of
that office. He was mayor of Madison in 1868.
In January, 1870, Hon. B. F. Hopkins, member
of congress from the capital district, died, and Mr.
Atwood was at once elected to fill the vacancy thus
created without any opposing candidate. He took
his seat on the 23d of February, 1870; and was
placed on the committee on Pacific railroads, one of
the most laborious committees in the house. Dur-
ing that long session, he devoted himself assiduously
to his duties on the floor, in the committee-room,
and in the various departments of government, in
behalf of those seeking assistance or information.
Several important bills for the interest of the North-
west were passed during that session, among which
may be named, an act to render the land grant avail-
able to the Northern Pacific Railway Company; an
act providing for the assumption by the general gov-
ernment of the improvement of the Fox and Wis-
consin rivers, so as to complete a navigable water
communication between Lake Michigan and the
Mississippi river, and an act dividing Wisconsin into
two judicial districts, providing for the appointment
of a judge, and for holding terms of court in four
places instead of two. He obtained appropriations
for completing and furnishing the United States
court house and post-office at Madison. Mr. Atwood
labored diligently for the passage of those bills. He
declined reelection.
During his term in congress, an act was passed
authorizing the appointment of a commission for
making preparations for commemorating the cen-
tennial anniversary of American independence, by
holding an international exhibition in Philadelphia,
in 1876, and he took an active part in urging the
passage of this bill, and in favor of locating the ex-
hibition at Philadelphia. He was appointed a com-
missioner to represent Wisconsin in that commission,
and in organizing on the 4th of March, 1873, he was
made the first president of that body, and spoke the
first official word in it. Since that time he has de-
voted much time in promoting the interests of the
centennial movement.
He has been thirteen years treasurer of the State
Agricultural Society, twenty-four years a director,
and for five years last past the president of the
Madison Mutual Insurance Company; ten years a
trustee of the State Hospital for the Insane.
In person, he is of medium size, has dark blue
eyes, and hair nearly white. His features are
regular, attractive and expressive. His private
character is above reproach. He is even-tem-
pered, hopeful and frank; hospitable, and temper-
ate in all things. He has decided abilities, both as a
speaker and writer, versatile, far-seeing and
cautious. He has been a safe guide to the repub-
lican party. He has been sometimes styled "the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
67
Ben. Franklin of the Western press," and to those
who know him best he .possesses the same character-
istics.
The maiden name of Mrs. Atwood was Mary
Sweeney. Her early years were passed in Canton,
Ohio. In 1848, with her father, she removed to
Wisconsin, and in 1849 was married to Mr. Atwood.
This union was so much in harmony with nature,
that her choicest blessings only could flow from it.
He is the hero, to protect her from danger; she, the
heroine, to encourage him in his struggles. He is
the sturdy oak, to breast the storms of life; she, the
loving vine, to twine around its branches. The
harmony of nature is preserved in the offspring of
their union. There are two sons to sustain the
father in the down-hill of life; two daughters to
love and cherish the mother. One son is representing
the honor of his country abroad, the other is labor-
ing in his father's vocation. One daughter has
ripened into womanhood, and is the ornament of
the household; the other has yet her sweetest
charms unfolded. These parents may, like the
mother of the Gracchi when called upon for her
jewels, point to their children.
A. J. WARD. M.D.,
MADISON.
DR. A. I. WARD was born March i, 1824, at
New Milford, Susquehanna coimty, Pennsyl-
vania, the son of William and Sally Ward. He re-
ceived in early life an academic education, after
which he commenced the study of medicine with
Dr. Case, of Howard Flatts, Steuben county, New
York, remaining with him one year; he then went
to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and entered the uni-
versity, in which he remained four years, where he
graduated in the spring of 1846, at the age of twenty-
one years. He commenced the practice of his pro-
fession at Painted Post, in the State of New York.
At the commencement of the war with Mexico he
joined the army as a private soldier, and went to
California, around Cape Horn. Shortly after his
arrival there, he was promoted to the office of as-
sistant surgeon, remaining such until the close of the
war. He remained there one year after the war,
when he returned to Pennsylvania. During the
winter of 1849-50 he was in Washington city and in
North Carolina. In the succeeding summer he came
to Madison, Wisconsin, and commenced the practice
of medicine. He remained at Madison until 1859,
when he left for Saint Louis, Missouri, where he
opened an office, continuing there one year, when
he went to Pike's Peak, prospecting for gold. He
spent the winter of 1860-61 at Santa Fe, New
Mexico.
Hearing of the attack on Fort Sumter in the
April following, he returned to Madison, Wisconsin,
whence he was summoned to Washington to take
charge of the 2d Wisconsin Regiment as surgeon.
This regiment composed a part of what was termed
the Iron Brigade, under the command of Colonel
Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin. This brigade com-
posed a part of the first army corps. Dr. Ward was
connected with this corps during the three following
years, occasionally acting as brigade surgeon, and as
surgeon-in-chief of the division; he also was in
charge of the wounded of the first army corps after
the battles of Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.
After the latter battle twenty-two hundred wounded
soldiers were placed under his charge. He after-
ward accompanied Wadsworth's division on its march
to Richmond. During the first day's fight in the
Wilderness, nine hundred wounded soldiers were
dressed and sent to the rear from this division alone.
From this time on there was continuous fighting
until Richmond was reached.
The term for which the 2d Wisconsin Regiment
enlisted having expired, it was mustered out of the
service and Dr. Ward was mustered into the 43d
Wisconsin Regiment.
The 43d Regiment of Wisconsin was ordered to
Nashville, Tennessee, when Dr. Ward, by a general
order from General Thomas, was made inspector of
hospitals in and about Nashville, in which capacity
he acted until the spring of 1865. After the fall of
Richmond and General Lee's surrender. Dr. Ward
resigned and returned to Madison, Wisconsin, re-
suming the practice of medicine. Shortly afterward
he was breveted lieutenant-colonel on account of
meritorious service during the war.
Dr. Ward was married in 1846, at Howard, Steu-
ben county. New York, to Miss Ellen McConnell.
Two children have been the result of this union, one
68
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
of whom alone is living, the wife of Charles Atwood,
the present vice-consul at Liverpool. She was two
years at the Georgetown Convent, in the District of
Columbia, and completed her education at Madison,
Wisconsin, under the joint instruction of the uni-
versity and her mother, who is so admirably quali-
fied by nature and by intellectual culture to impress
the mind of her daughter with the wise maxims of
life, the loveliness of virtue, and the charms of culti-
vated society.
Dr. Ward's advantages in acquiring a knowledge
of the principles of his profession, together with
his experience in the army, have acquired for him
high distinction as a physician and an enviable repu-
tation as a surgeon, the benefits of which he is now
enjoying in an increasing and profitable practice.
PROFESSOR JACKSON J. BUSHNELL,
BELOIT.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Old
Saybrook, Connecticut, was born on the 19th
of February, 1815, and received his name in honor
of General Jackson, whose victory at New Orleans,
a month previous, secured to the country the great
valley to which the manhood of this man was de-
voted. His early life was passed in his native place,
where he received his preparatory education and
developed that devotedness to principle and that
desire to benefit his fellow-men which so signally
marked his subsequent career. He early became
the subject of religious impressions, whose influence
never lost their hold upon him, but did not unite
with the church until he reached his nineteenth
year, at which time he was a clerk in the village of
Deep River. His mind having turned toward the
ministr)', he entered Yale College to prepare for his
life-work, and although he had had but one years'
preparation he maintained a high standard of schol-
arship during his entire course, and besides, paid
his expenses by his own earnings, a fact which must
be mentioned to his honor, but it is only just to him
to say that he would never advise a young man to
imitate his course. If it made him economical it
never made him close; and if he was independent
in his self-reliance, no man was ever more helpful to
others; and although business occupied both his
hands and half his mind it never possessed a corner
of his soul. After graduating from college, in 1841,
he spent a few months in the Theological Seminary
at Andover, Massachusetts, and later was for several
years connected with the Western Reserve College
as instructor and financial agent. In April, 1848, he
removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, and from that time to
the day of his death was identified with the interests
of Beloit College in his sympathies, and for nearly
all the time by official position as professor of math-
ematics or treasurer of the college. A most thorough
business manager, he never allowed secular interests
to interfere with his Christian life; overwhelmed
with business, he was thoroughly unselfish ; most
active among those who were eager for money, he
did not seem to care for money; with plans the
largest and most sanguine, he never seemed in haste
to be rich. Active, energetic and enterprising, he
was pure in all his motives, and in all that he did
sought to serve some noble purpose. He was pre-
eminently a Christian business man. In the build-
ing up of Beloit College no one was more active
than he. Entering heartily into the enterprise of
establishing a Christian institution as a center of
blessing for all men, for all time, he said at the
beginning of his work, " We can have a college here
if we will make one ; " a principle which seemed to
inspire him in all his efforts. In laboring for the
endowment of the college, he always sought to lead
the way to which he called others, thinking it easier
to earn an endowment than to beg one. In working
for the college, however, he did not separate it from
the interests of the community; whatever would
build up the city, whether a bank, a. railroad, a water-
power, a Sabbath-school, or a church, would strength-
en the college; and thus sympathizing with and
aiding in all ways to build up a Christian community.
The city is full of monuments of his energy. For
the endowment of the college no resources which
his greatest worldly success could have brought
would be more than may be brought in as the result
of such an example of high aims in business life.
His devotion itself was a continual endowment of \
vigor and soul, and even his presence a constant
I inspiration to his fellow teachers and pupils. As a
! teacher he was earnest, clear, faithful and kind ; as
a friend, true. What he was in one relation that was |
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAP///CAL DICTIONART.
69
he in all ; and manifold as his life was it was the
most simple in its character. Hopeful in adversity,
genial, helpful, earnest, full of activity of body, mind
and soul, he faithfully illustrated in his life the truth
that man is possessed of a divine nature which is
but a spark of divinity itself. It was always morning
with him, and the darkest clouds were tinged with a
golden hue. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy soul, mind, might and strength, and thy
neighbor as thyself," was the great rule of his life,
and most faithfully did he carry it out in his works.
He was an incessant worker, and although his vivid
spirit kept its glow, his manifold labors wore upon
his frame, and on Saturday night, the ist of March,
1873, he went weary to rest. During the night he
was attacked with the typhoid pneumonia, and for
nearly seven days lay under its power. At four
o'clock on Saturday, March 8, he ceased to breathe,
and his features, freed from the perpetual urgency
of his spirit, assumed in their repose a nobleness
which was a new revelation of the grandeur of char-
acter which had been forming under that restless
activity. His last audible words were, " How beau-
tiful," and when asked, "Is it Christ.'" Ive replied,
"Ves." His favorite idea of heaven was, "work
without weariness." He has gone! and though
dead, he still lives, and the influence of his noble
life and example shall continue to grow as the years
roll away.
At a meeting of the alumni and friends of Beloit
College at the Matteson House, Chicago, the follow-
ing resolutions were adopted :
Resolved, That in the death of Professor Jackson J.
Bushnell, we feel that Beloit College has lost an able, faith-
ful and successful instructor, to whose self-sacrificing efforts
it largely owes its birth amid doubts, and its growth amid
many di'scouragements; that it was his remarkable financial
ability which rescued the college from pecuniary embar-
rassments, and that not only as a man of business, but as a
wise counselor and a cheerful, warm-hearted Christian, he
commanded the respect and love of all who came in contact
with him.
Resolved, That while the intelligence Qf his death has
saddened our hearts, it has also brought to our minds a
bright example of perseverance under difficulties, faith
amid trials, and devotion and self-sacrifice in the cause of
education and religion, which should lead us to emulate him
and to take a greater personal interest in the college to
which he gave his best labors and his greatest sacrifices and
his life.
Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the afflicted
family in the severe bereavement which they have experi-
enced", and with the faculty of the college in the removal of
an honored colleague who had been associated with them
from the founding of the institution.
ROCxER H. MILLS,
ROGER H. MILLS, a native of New Hartford,
in Litchfield county, Connecticut, was born
the i8th of April, 1813, and is the son of Roger
Mills and Harriet nee Merrill. His father, a lawyer,
was a prominent man in his State. His original
paternal ancestor in this country was Simon Mills,
who immigrated from Windsor, England, with Cap-
tain Newbury, previous to the year 1635, as it is
understood.
His grandfathers were Joseph Mills and Phinias
Merrill, the latter a captain in the revolutionary
army. Until his removal to Beloit, his residence
was in the town of his birth, with' the exception of
one year immediately preceding his coming to this
State ; was adinitted to the bar from Yale College
Law School, in 1831, and immediately commenced
practice in his native town, entering into business
with his father, who, not long after, retired from his
professional life, leaving the son to continue the
office and business, which he did successfully until
the fall of 1853, when he removed to New Britain,
Connecticut, where he remained until the ist of
October, 1854, the time of his removal to Wisconsin.
In the spring of 1855 he commenced the practice of
his profession in Beloit, in which he has since con-
tinued.
While a resident of Connecticut he was honored
by being elected to represent his native town in the
general assembly, first in 1839, and one term subse-
quently, and in 1848 was elected a member of the
senate from his district, and the next year was
elected secretary of state. Mr. Mills was, in the
succeeding year, a candidate for lieutenant-gov-
ernor, put in nomination by the whig party, and
defeated by one vote. He held several other offices
in the State ; was judge of probate in his district some
twelve years; two years chairman of the board of
directors of the Connecticut State Prison, and held
other appointments, all which shows the estimation
in which he was held by his neighbors and the people
of the State.
It was not so much the way, in that day and lati-
70
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
tude, to seek appointments to office, as now; and
it is said that Mr. Mills had no knowledge or inti-
mation of his being placed in the candidacy for
senatorial honors, or as secretary of state, until
after he had been nominated in the conventions
that presented his name for the honors which were
tendered to him.
In his political views he has always been decided
and pronounced — first a whig, then a republican —
always according to his neighbors and friends the
right to adopt and enforce their political sentiments.
In religious sentiments, Mr. Mills is identified with
the Congregational denomination and church.
July 17, 1859, he married Harriet A. North, of
New Britain, Connecticut, and they now have, of
living children, Roger Henry Mills, junior, who
graduated at Beloit College in 1874; John Ham-
mond Mills, who graduated at the same college in
1875, and one daughter, Clara Burnham Mills.
The sons are law students, R. H. Mills, junior, in
his father's office, and John H. Mills in Columbian
Law School, at Washington, District of Columbia.
NICHOLAS M. HARRINGTON,
DEL A I 'AN.
THE personal history of the gentleman whose
name and portrait are herewith presented, is
worthy of record and a fixed place in the annals of
the earlier days of Wisconsin's emergence from her
once barbaric state, when the stalwart Winnebagos
occupied — or later, when the wily chieftain. Black-
hawk, invaded — her territory to wrest it from the in-
truding white man.
Mr. Harrington may be ranked with the class
called " self-made men," but his career through life
thus far illustrates more than the common meaning
of that appellation, in its ordinary application ; for,
from his boyhood he has stood aloof and far above
what usually are regarded irresistible influencing
surroundings. And it is this strongly marked feature
of his character, without apparent studied effort or
ostentation, as best known to his boyhood acquaint-
ances, that renders the history and progress of his
life of peculiar value to those of coming generations
who would be directed by example, and what has
been and what may be achieved, as a rule and guide
for life efforts and duties, rather than by the laggard
plea and defense of " destiny " and "fixed fate."
Mr. Harrington, therefore, stands before his gen-
eration and is an example to those who follow — as
from first effort establishing himself on a pedestal of i
elevated moral principle, and always cultivating
order and system in his habits, thus acquiring as a
result perfect mastery over inclinations, passion and
the directing attributes of organization, physical and
mental, until he has been able to subordinate all to
a rational control of judgment and really a pleasura-
ble direction in the line of duties, that has marked
his manhood and career. It is in this light that his
history is of special value to the coming man, as
strikingly illustrative of what one may do for and of
himself when once imbued with a love of being
right and an ambition to climb the hill of life among
those to be known and valued for their virtues and
successes, always assuming as a rule for himself
that the " individual is wholly responsible for the
use niade of the talents with which he is endowed,"
and that the seed of usefulness is in his own hands.
Mr. Harrington was born in Rhode Island, at
West Greenwich, July 15, 1815, and was the son of
David Harrington, and Amy Andrews, the widow of
William Corey, a sea-captain. His paternal ances-
tors on both sides were fugitives from religious per-
secutions under Cromwell, in the seventeenth century,
and settled in Smithfield, Rhode Island. They and
their descendants participated in the French and
Indian wars and the Revolution. Two brothers
and a near relative on his father's side were engaged
in the opening fight for independence at Lexington,
and two of them were killed, namely, Jonathan and
Caleb Harrington. (See " Lossing's Field Book
of the Revolution," vol. I, p. 554.) The whole race
of emigrants and descendants seem marked with
courage, good strong common sense, sound judg-
ment and vigorous intellect.
In 1817 Mr. Harrington became a resident of the
town of Potter, Yates county, New York, by the
emigration of his parents in connection with his
maternal grandparents and family, Mr. Samuel
Andrews. Here he spent his youth and early'
manhood, cultivating his mind by every means
within his limited reach, and achieving a marked
character for earnest yet consistent love of duty.
-^I^i^i^^i'/tu^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
71
and a faithful discharge of it, both to himself and
others; hence he became a man without vicious
or demoralizing habits and with principles fixed in
heart and habit. His early educational advantages
were very limited, his attendance at school not being
more than one year previous to his nineteenth birth-
day. At this time he began teaching at eleven dol-
lars per month, an occupation which he continued
during seven winters and two summers. During
this time he attended the Yates County Academy,
and the Franklin Academy of Prattsburgh, New
York, and by close application to his studies in and
out of school, acquired a good English education
and some knowledge of Greek and Latin. He has
through his life been devotedly attached to books of
the best authors, and with his first-earned fifty cents
invested in a three months subscription to a news-
paper.
In 1843 hs became an inhabitant of the Territory
of Wisconsin, making Delavan, then an infantile
hamlet, his first stopping place, and soon fixed upon
it as his permanent home, and entered into business
under the firm name of Harrington and Monell, as
merchant, his partner being J. D. Monell, of Hud-
son, New York. Subsequently he assumed the en-
tire control of the business, and pursued it to a
successful issue in the year 1850, when he retired
therefrom, and devoted his time and attention to
travel, and afterward to banking, insurance and
various agencies, and speculative purchase and sale
of real estate, in which he has been eminently suc-
cessful, and exceptionally free from delinquency
and defalcation, never having failed for a single day
to meet his business engagements during the whole
period of his career, and rendering universal satis-
faction to those who committed their trusts into
his hands. Yet thus careful and exact in his deal-
ings, no fair man will charge him with meanness or
oppression, while his neighbors award him universal
respect.
With regard to ambitious aspirations for public
positions, he disclaims any lack of appreciation of
the honors, but says that the people can find just as
good servants for less pay than he can afford to ab-
stract his services and skill from his own affairs, and
therefore has occupied comparatively but few public
positions, except when constrained to do so from a
conscious obligation, and in those only where the
emolument was nothing or nominal, and that, too,
without regard to the responsibility or labor in-
volved. Hence he gave his services to the Deaf
and Dumb Institute, located at Delavan, for fourteen
years, as trustee, treasurer and corresponding secre-
tary, and his best fostering care, without salary, and
until this asylum of mercy had gained a hold upon
the charities of the State that now carries it along
triumphantly.
He also accepted the office of post-master under
the administration of Franklin Pierce, unsolicited,
for the purpose of obtaining additional mail facili-
ties for Delavan, at this time, 1853, when there were
but three mails each week from the east and three
from the west, making a tri-weekly mail. So effect-
ual were his efforts and influence with the post-office
department, that in one and one-half years after his
acceptance of the post-office, Delavan could boast
of forty-five mails each week. When these addi-
tional weekly, semi-weekly and daily mails were se-
cured, he resigned the office of postmaster. In this
connection it seems quite proper to say that Mr.
Harrington is an admitted attorney-at-law in the
courts of the State, which with his other business
qualifications eminently fits him for the intelligent
discharge of all duties assumed.
In politics he is usually associated with the dem-
ocracy, but in the late war period he lent his influ-
ence earnestly to the preservation of the Union.
He holds decided religious opinion;!^ and is a zeal-
ous member of the Protestant Episcopal church,
and also a Freemason of a high order, to which in-
stitution he is strongly and conscientiously attached.
Socially, he has few superiors; ever ready to draw
from all rational sources knowledge and pleasure,
he greatly contributes in return from his exhaustless
fund of carefully collected facts and points of his-
tory, an interest to the pleasure and profit of those
about him. In his domestic relations his treasure
of a wife, with him, presides over the household in
genial unison, and their home is the seat of domestic
peace, plenty and happiness, without excess or stint.
For some years they have mutually devoted their
first care and attention to the rearing and education
of their four children — three sons and one daugh-
ter, and for the purpose of training his sons to
practical business duties, Mr. Harrington has to some
extent resumed merchandising; and now since he
has passed his sixth decad-? is engaged in establish-
ing himself and family permanently at a rural
home, one and a half miles distant from the village,
which shall embrace the practical facilities of farm
life with that of cultivated moral taste and freedom
from fancied town-life restraints, To this end he is
72
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
occupied in the erection of a country residence and
outbuildings that shall vie with any in the State for
taste, convenience and practical uses, and with other
improvements of lawn and soil to correspond and
render it a success, both agriculturally and artisti-
cally. This he says is to be the climax of his am-
bition, and to this end he is sparing neither skill nor
money, and when consummated it will favorably
compare with any place in the State for its combina-
tion of taste, convenience and utility.
Another feature of Mr. Harrington's character is
an ardent love of his kindred and friends, never for-
getting and never failing to extend an up-lifting aid
to their necessities and deficiencies, that seems al-
most by intuition to elevate and advance them above
the plane of their ordinary personal dependence,
and place them where hope and prosperity bear
them onward.
It is with a most commendable pride that he
points to scores of individuals whose lives and
fortunes verify this fact, and that, too, without an
instance where the ends do not more than justify
the means, and affirm the value and blessing of an
elevating hand and spirit. His sympathies have
always been deeply engaged in the welfare of the
weak and those in distress, and for the aid of all
such his labors have never been withheld.
It is no purpose of the writer to eulogize or flatter
the subject of this life sketch beyond the statement
of simple^ facts, and from them find evidences that
confirm and bear out the philosophy of his life rule,
" System in all things that we do, a hearty purpose
to attain a higher and better and more perfect plane
of human usefulness than from whence we start, and
by patient industry and perseverance secure suc-
cess." Such has been his course, his aim, and faith,
and the results are before the world. Yet, with all
this, I would not claim that he is not without eccen-
tricities, peculiarities, and even faults, for who that
is human is 1
But, in conclusion, I will say, that his is a life and
he a sample of what consistent effort, directed by
correct principles, may aim at and hope for.
Mr. Harrington has been thrice married ; his first
two wives died in early wedded life, without chil-
dren; therefore, it is with his present companion,
the mother of his children, that his paternal ties
have been formed, and by mutual bearing and for-
bearing, a most genial unity has been maintained
and cemented, and which, doubtless, largely con-
tributed to secure results so favorably distinguishing
their lives and condition.
Mrs. Harrington's maiden name was Catharine M.
Crosby, daughter of Eber Crosby, a descendant of
Enoch Crosby, alias " Harvey Burch," Cooper's spy
of the revolution. She was born at Patterson,
Putnam county, New York, on the 27th of October,
1825, and is a lady of superior culture and sterling
qualities, and a most fitting balance and aid to
her husband.
The writer must say, before concluding, that he
knows, and closely observed the subject of this
biographical sketch from boyhood to his depart-
ure for Wisconsin, and has been in regular corre-
spondence from that time, and has visited him at his
home at Delavan, where the main facts of his life
have been enacted, therefore confidently commits
it to the annals of history of his adopted State as a
proud and worthy record, and thus most respect-
fully submits it.
ERASTUS B. WOLCOTT, M.D.,
MILWAUKEE.
ERASTUS B. WOLCOTT, M.D., was born at
Benton, Yates county. New York, the i8th of
October, in the year 1804, son of Elisha Wolcott and
Anna Hull Wolcott, who came from Litchfield
county, Connecticut, and were among the first set-
tlers in that region of country.
In 1822 Dr. Wolcott commenced the study of
medicine and surgery with Dr. Joshua Lee, an emi-
nent physician and surgeon of central New York,
and received a diploma from Yates County JMedical
Society in 1825. He attended the College of Phy-
sicians and Surgeons of the Western District of New-
York from 1830 to 1833, and took his degree in
medicine and surgery at that institution. In the
spring of 1835, he was examined by a board of army
surgeons, and received the appointment of surgeon
in the United States army, January ist, 1836. He
resigned in 1S39, and came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In 1836 he married Elizabeth J. Dousman, who
died in 1S60, leaving a daughter and a son. Dr.
(a /3- ^'^7-^c.
THE UNITED STATES H/OCRAPIilCAL DICTIONARV.
73
Wolcott gave his children a Hberal education, the
former having graduated at the Milwaukee Female
College, and the latter at Yale College.
He was connected with some of the earliest enter-
prises of the State. He built the first mills at West
Bend, Washington county, Wisconsin, and, with
others, the first mill at Humboldt, near Milwaukee.
He was one of the prime movers in building the first
railroad in the State, from Milwaukee to the Missis-
sippi river, and among the first in the Northwestern
Life Insurance Company, and continues to be a
trustee to the present time. He was appointed
trustee of the Wisconsin Hospital for the Insane, the
first year, and reappointed through Governor Ran-
dall's and Governor Lewis's administrations. He
was appointed one of the board of regents of the
State University, by Goverlior Dewey, in 1850. He
was appointed surgeon of the State militia, as early
as 1842, by Governor Doty. He was commissioned
colonel of a regiment of militia in 1846, and in the
same year major-general of the first division of Wis-
consin militia. He held, through the war of the late
rebellion, the position of surgeon-general of Wiscon-
sin, with the rank of brigadier-general, and still
retains it. He was, in 1866, appointed by Governor
Fairchild commissioner to represent the State of
Wisconsin at the Universal Exposition at Paris, in
1867. He was appointed in the same year (1866),
by congress, manager of the National Home for
Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, at Milwaukee, which
position he retains to the present time, having been
reappointed in 1875.
He was married, October 12, 1869, to Laura J.
Ross, M.D. Her ancestry, during colonial times,
were distinguished for patriotism in revolutionary
history. Both on the father's and mother's side were
leading minds in the support of the national cause
of independence. She was carefully disciplined and
thoroughly educated in the best schools and by the
ablest teachers in New England. One of the pio-
neer women in the study of the natural sciences, and
one among the first women who graduated in medi-
cine and received hospital instruction in this country,
she spent some time in Europe, to pursue the study
of her profession, and has followed it in Milwaukee,
with marked success, for eighteen years.
She is the counterpart of her husband, differing
only to complete the mystic union by which man
and wife are one. She has ventured beyond the
threshold prescribed to her sex by the lords of crea-
tion. She has entered the temple of science, and
won honors those lords might envy. Skilled in her
profession, she has relieved many a pang of human
suffering. Intelligent, cultivated and sympathetic,
she is particularly so in the sick-room. Her sympa-
thies give hope to the afflicted, and her smile dispels
the gloom of despondence. In this sphere, as well
as in every other in which the activities of her mind
are engaged, or the sympathies of her heart enlisted,
she is, in the language of Dante, "a womanly
woman."
Dr. Wolcott is a lineal descendant of Henry Wol-
cott, Esq., a landed gentleman of England, who came
to America in 1630. He was the son and heir of
John Wolcott, of Golden Manor. The manor house
is still standing in England, is of great antiquity, is
richly ornamented with carved work, and upon the
walls may be seen the motto of the family coat of
arms : " Ntilliits addicttts juiare in verba tnagistri "
(inclined to swear in the words of no master). This
sentiment was in harmony with the spirit of the
English gentlemen of the middle ages, and that of
the Puritan of a later date, who spurned the dicta-
tion of ecclesiastical wisdom. This peculiarity of
the family has lost none of its force in the character
of Dr. E. B. Wolcott, who derives his knowledge of
the Author of all things from the study of His works.
Henry Wolcott, of the old English gentry, was the
first magistrate in the Connecticut Colony, and his
descendants in a direct line, for over one hundred
and eighty years, were counselors of war, officers of
the army during the revolution, one a signer of the
" Declaration of Independence," representatives and
senators in congress, chief judges of the supreme
court, and six governors of Connecticut, three bear-
ing the name of Wolcott — Roger, Oliver, and Oliver
junior.
Roger Wolcott, first governor of Connecticut, was
judge of the county court, deputy governor, chief
justice of the superior court, and governor of the
State. He lived to see his son Oliver governor
during fourteen years, and his grandson Oliver four
years ; and of his descendants bearing the name of
Wolcott, twelve were graduates of Yale College, two
of Harvard University, and two at other New Eng
land colleges, previous to the year 1834.
The maternal branch of the Hull family were
revolutionary patriots, and pioneers of Yates county ;
were zealously interested in educational matters, and
had marked and estimable characteristics, the women
of the family being noted for their intellectual pow-
ers and womanly graces.
74
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Science teaches us the laws of order, of fitness,
and of progress in the physical world. Mind teaches
us that we have intellectual powers susceptible of
indefinite improvement, and consciousness reveals
to us our immortality. Observation teaches us there
is harmony in all things. Upon this basis philosophy
has erected the superstructure of man's perfectibility.
Transcendentalists have dreamed of it ; philosophers
have formed theories in regard to it ; religionists
have taught it. Who shall say, then, that when the
laws of hereditary descent shall be better known,
and better obeyed, the greater share, at least, of
hurnan imperfections shall not be eliminated, and
humanity elevated to a degree of excellence attained
now only in individual instances, and that individual
instances may not transcend all our present concep-
tions ? ■
We have been led into these reflections by the
contemplation of those qualities which characterize
the ancestors of Dr. E. B. Wolcott, which, whether
by hereditary descent, by example, or by instruction,
seem to have culminated in him. His form is sym-
metrical, his movements graceful, his youthful ener-
gies unimpaired. His mind is vigorous and active,
embracing a wide field of observation. Always emi-
nent in his profession, he keeps a steady step in the
march of medical science. Skilled as a surgeon, the
knife does not tremble in his hand. Unerring in
his diagnosis, he waits with the patience of a nurse.
His sensibilities are alive to every object of human
suffering. As son, husband, father, and friend, he-
discharges his duties with scrupulous fidelity. We
have been told that Cervantes "smiled the chivalry of
Spain away." If so, she, like Liberty, took her flight
to the New World, and found worshipers in its for-
ests. If truth, justice, honor, and mercy are her
characteristics, they are happily personated in the
subject of our sketch.
EDWARD BEESON,
FOND DU LAC.
THE truth of the old maxim, " Heaven helps
those who help themselves," is peculiarly
shown in the career of Edward Beeson, of Fond
du Lac county, whose great energy, self-reliance
and industry, coupled with true innate principles of
right, entitle him now to the proud satisfaction of
looking back at a well-spent life and a character
uprightly sustained. .
His parents, John and Sarah S. Beeson, lived in
Columbiana county, Ohio, where his father carried
on business as a miller. Edward was born on the
7th of July, 1815, and educated at New Lisbon in
the same State. On leaving school he went to
Beaver county, Pennsylvania, to learn the trade of
printing, and at nineteen years of age he and his
brother commenced the publication of the " Demo-
cratic Watchman," which they carried on for about
eighteen months.
It will be observed by this sketch of his life that,
from the time he left school until he finally settled
at Fond du Lac in 1842, his mercurial temperament
was always leading him to strike out for "pastures
new."
In the fail of 1835 he was for a short time on the
Detroit " Free Press," but in the following year he
came to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he worked as
a carpenter, and in the latter part of the same year
he engaged on the Chicago " Democrat," which was
published at that time by John Calhoun, and shortly
afterward edited by John Wentworth. In the spring
of 1837 he returned to Green Bay, where he and his
two brothers built a saw-mill on the Little Swamico
river. In the fall he sold out and went to St. Louis,
Louisville (Kentucky), and Cincinnati, at which
latter places he worked on the Louisville "Journal "
and the Cincinnati " Gazette " during the winter.
In 1838 he engaged on the Finlay "Courier," in
Hancock county, Ohio, where he, in partnership
with a friend, successfully conducted the paper
until the spring of 184 1. He then came to Keno-
sha, Wisconsin, and remained there one year in the
printing business. In 1842 he came to Fond du
Lac county, where he turned his attention to farm-
ing for about four years. In the winter of 1846 he
worked as a compositor in the office of the Fond du
Lac "Whig," and in the spring bought the Fond du
Lac "Journal," which he carried on for several
years, until 1854. Since then he has been con-
nected with the Fond du Lac " Union," the " Demo-
cratic Press," etc., and in the spring of 1867,
revived the publication of the "Journal."
He was married on the 8th of September, 1849,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
75
to Miss Susan E. Bell, by whom he had seven
children, two sons and five daughters, of whom two
died in infancy. His many good qualities have
gained for him a large circle of friends, and it is
shown by the fact of his being elected repeatedly to
town and city offices, and twice as county treasurer,
that the citizens look upon him in the light of a
trustworthy, honorable gentleman. Although con-
siderably advanced in years he is still in vigorous
health. He is president of the Star Printing Com-
pany and of the Gravel Road Company of Fond
du Lac.
National progress is the sum of individual indus-
try, energy, and uprightness, as national decay is of
individual idleness, selfishness and vice. Edward
Beeson will leave to his children the best of heri-
tages, a good and honest name; happy the son who
can say, with Pope, "I think it enough that my par-
ents, such as they were, never cost me a blush, and
that their son, such as he is, never cost them a tear."
JAMES LUTHER CLARK,
OSHKOSII.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Alton,
Belknap county. New Hampshire, was born
April 17, 1824, and is the son of Aaron Clark and
»Marcy nee Ham. His father was a farmer, and suc-
ceeded by honest toil in making a comfortable living
for his family. James received his education at a
common school in his native town, after leaving
which he learned the carpenter and Joiner's trade.
This he followed until 1855, when he came West
and located at Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Here he pur-
sued his trade for two years, subsequent to which he
engaged in the lumber business for about three years,
and for the two years following held the position of
superintendent in the mills of different parties. In
1862 he engaged in making match splints, and after
pursuing this occupation for five years, commenced
the manufacture of matches, his brand being known
as the "Star Match." The value of the amount
produced in 1867 was twenty thousand dollars, but
the recognized superiority of the brand soon gained
for it a general sale throughout the northern and
western States, in consequence of which the business
has steadily increased until in 1875 it amounted to
three hundred and thirty thousand dollars.
He has been a republican since the organization
of the party, but has never allowed his better judg-
ment to be so hampered by party prejudices as to
support measures which he believed to be wrong.
Desirous of no political office, he has chosen rather
to devote to his private business that care and at-
tention which cannot but be crowned with success.
His religious views are broad and liberal. He
was married July 26, 185 1, to Miss Sarah Flint, by
whom he has had two sons.
Mr. Clark, starting in life without means, has suc-
ceeded by combining industry, integrity, and perse-
verance, in building up a business which has been,
at once, a means of great prosperity to himself, and
of furnishing employment and support to a large
number of hands. His quiet, unassuming manners,
and sterling business qualities have gained him the
firm friendship of a large circle of acquaintances,
and have made him an object of pride and esteem
to the city of his adoption.
JOHN P. SLIGHT,
WATERTOWN.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Laugh-
ton, Lincolnshire, England, was born on the
27th of August, 1820, and is the son of William
Slight and Ann m'e Preston. His father, a farmer in
comfortable circumstances, was a man of enterpris-
ing spirit, and influential in his community. John
passed his boyhood on his father's farm in his native
place, receiving a limited education, and in 1837,
being then seventeen years of age, immigrated to
America, and settled at LaFayette, Indiana. During
the first year after his arrival he was employed on the
Wabash and Erie canal.
After the completion of the work, at the end of
one year, with his brother Joseph he took charge
76
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
of a steamboat lock at Delphi, thirty miles up the
river. Sickness, however, compelled them to leave
at the end of two or three months, and they went
to Louisville, thence to Cincinnati, and from there
to Mansfield, Ohio. At the expiration of three
months, having regained their health, they returned
to Wabash, and engaged in pork-packing during
the winter. In the following spring they took it to
New Orleans, intending to ship it to England, but
were not able to procure a suitable boat. Returning
to Indiana in the ensuing fall, Mr. Slight remained
there till the autumn of 1842, when he returned to
Ohio, and in the following spring took a drove of
horses to New York. During this same year he
visited his home in England and remained there till
1844, when he returned to Mansfield, Ohio. In
1845 he removed to Watertown, Wisconsin, and en-
gaged in agricultural pursuits, in which occupation
he is still engaged, owning and conducting a beauti-
ful and extensive farm of five hundred and sixty
acres, three miles from the city.
Mr. Slight's life, while it presents few phases in
distinction from that of other men, is yet marked by
a spirit of enterprise and determination, and rewarded
with a degree of success well worthy of emulation.
He came to the United States a poor boy, without
friends or acquaintances, and by his own industry,
energy and perseverance, has made his way, step by
step, to his present standing, as a successful business
man and an honorable citizen. Throughout his
career he has been known for his fair dealing and
promptness in meeting his engagements, and by close
attention to business has accumulated an ample
fortune, and lives now surrounded by the comforts ■
of a happy home, and enjoys the high regard of alK
who know him.
In politics, Mr. Slight has always been identified ,
with the republican party. He has never sought
political honors, and has held no office except that
of justice of the peace.
In his religious views, he holds to the faith of the
Church of England.
He was married on the ist of March, 1852, to
Mary Ann Russell, by whom he has three sons and
one daughter. Possessed of noble personal qualities,
generous, genial and social, he is a devoted husband,
a fond father, and a true and agreeable friend and
companion.
EARL P. FINCH,
OSHKOSH.
AMONG the prominent men of Oshkosh, Wis-
consin, none deserves a more honorable men-
tion than he whose name heads this sketch. A
native of Jay, Essex county. New York, he was born
on the 27th of October, 1828, and is the son of
Joshua C. and Eliza A. Finch. His father, a farmer
and contractor, was an influential man in his com-
munity, and highly esteemed by all. Earl's boy-
hood disclosed few characteristics differing from
those of ordinary farmer boys ; he had a fondness
for study, and early developed a love for professional
life. He received his preparatory education in the
common schools of his native place, and at the age
of fourteen years was engaged in the nail factory,
and after one year spent there worked a short time
in the rolling-mills. The next three years he was
employed in the office of Messrs. J. and J. Rogers,
iron manufacturers, and at the expiration of that time
removed to the West, and settled at Neemah, Wis-
consin, entering a claim for a tract of land. Wish-
ing, however, for a more thorough education, he
soon sold his claim, and going to Appleton spent a
time in school, and afterward entered Beloit College.
After closing his studies here he returned to the
East and spent two years in college at Middlebury,
Vermont, and then went to Union College, New
York, and graduated. Returning to the West in
1856, he settled at Menasha, Wisconsin, where,
during the first year after his arrival, he was em-
ployed in the United States land office. During
this year he began the study of law, and removing
to Oshkosh, in 1858, spent two years in the office of
Judge Wheeler. After his admission to the bar, in
i860, he opened an office in Oshkosh, and began
that practice in which he has become well-known as
a skillful, successful and iionorable practitioner,
having been admitted to all the courts. At the
present time, 1876, he is associated with Mr. Barber,
under the firm name of Finch and Barber, and has
a satisfactory and lucrative practice.
Mr. Finch has taken no active part in matters
aside from his profession, and finds here ample
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
77
scope for his talents and highest ambitions. His
poHtical sentiments are democratic, and though
frequently solicited to accept public office, he has
uniformly declined, except where they were in the
line of his profession, preferring the peace and quiet
of his practice to political honors and emoluments.
He was elected city attorney in 1868, and is at
present local attorney for the Milwaukee and St.
Paul Railroad Company; also for the Wisconsin
Central Railroad Company. Though not a member
of any church organization, he is a regular attendant
upon the Episcopal service. Personally and socially
he has most excellent qualities, and by his genial
disposition and courteous manners he has endeared
himself to a large circle of warm and true friends,
while his native endowments and professional skill
have secured to him that reward which must invari-
ably follow continued and honorable effort. He was
married, January 22, 1862, to Miss Anna E. Bryan;
they have four sons and two daughters.
GENERAL T. S. ALLEN,
OSHKOSH.
TS. ALLEN, a native of Alleghany county,
. New York, was born on the 26th of July,
1825, and is the son of Rev. A. S. Allen and Lydia
nt'e Kingsbury. His life has been a most eventful
one, but we can give only an outline of its most
prominent phases. After receiving his primary edu-
cation, he learned the printer's trade, and later, in
1843, entered college, at the same time working at
his trade to defray his expenses. At the close of
his studies, he was employed in teaching for a short
time, and in 1846 removed to Chicago, Illinois.
During the first year after his arrival he was engaged
as foreman on a daily paper, and at the expiration
of that time, by reason of impaired health, relin-
quished his trade, and removing to Wisconsin, en-
gaged in mining and surveying, at Dodgeville, in
which occupations, and in teaching, he spent the
following two years. In 1850 he was elected clerk
of the board of supervisors for a term of two years,
and at the expiration of his term of office, engaged
in railroading and real-estate operations, continuing
in the same till 1857, when he was elected to the
.State legislature from the Mineral Point district. In
i860 he was employed as assistant chief-clerk in the
State land office, at Madison, and on the 13th of
April, 1 86 1, enlisted as a private in the Governor's
Guards, but was soon after chosen captain of the
Miners' Guards of Mineral Point, and was duly com-
missoned as such by Governor Randall. The com-
pany was assigned to the 2d Regiment, and became
known as Company I. This regiment participated
in the battle of Bull Run, July 2, 1861, his com-
pany losing eighteen men in the fight. After coming
out in good order, its several captains gathered their
men at Centerville, and secured coffee and provi-
sions for their exhausted command. Being without
superior officers, the regiment placed itself under
command of Captain McKee, as senior captain, and
Captain T. S. Allen, who brought up the rear, and
returned to their old camp at Arlington Heights.
Captain Allen was made major of his regiment on
the 22d of August following, and on the 8th of
September, 1862, was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant-colonel. He served in this capacity till
the 14th of January, 1863, at which time he was
commissioned colonel of the sth Wisconsin, as suc-
cessor to Colonel Amasa Cobb.
As major of the 2d Regiment, he was twice
wounded in the battle of Gainesville, but did not
leave the field, and was again wounded at Antietam,
while commanding the regiment in the absence of
Colonel Fairchild. In the famous charge of the 3d
of May, 1863, on Marys Heights, where General
Burnside had lost five thousand men in a former en-
gagement, giving it the name of " Slaughter Pen,"
Colonel Allen's regiment of the eighth division, sixth
corps, took the lead. The 6th Maine and the 31st
New York were also placed under his orders. When
the time arrived for moving on the works he ad-
dressed his men : " Boys, you see those heights .'
You must take them ! You think you cannot ; but
you can — you will do it ! When the order 'for-
ward ! ' is given, you will start on double-quick ;
you will not fire a gun ; you will not stop till you
get orders to halt, and you will never get that order ! "
And they did not get it until they stood captors
within the enemy's works, although the 5th Wiscon-
sin suffered a loss of one hundred and thirty-six
men, killed and wounded, and the other regiments
in the same proportion. Previous to the charge at
78
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Rappahannock Station, on November 7, 1863, Gen-
eral David Russell, commanding the brigade, re-
marked that he had two regiments that could take
those works. Having received permission, he
ordered out the 6th Maine and 5th Wisconsin.
As they were passing over the parapet of the redoubt,
Colonel Allen had his hand so badly shattered by a
ball that he was rendered unfit for duty, and was
complimented for his gallant service in the action in
a general order by Major-General H. G. Wright,
division commander of the sixth corps. While dis-
abled from wounds he was detailed on General
Casey's examining board, on which he served during
the summer of 1864.
In August he returned to Wisconsin, the time of
his regiment having expired, and raised seven new
companies to fill up the ranks, two hundred and
fifty men organized into three companies having
reenlisted for the war. He returned with these
men in October, and served until December, in the
Shenandoah Valley under General Phil. Sheridan.
In December the command was moved to the front
of Petersburg. In the attack on the lines on the 2d
of April, 1865, he was given the advance in the
charge, which proved successful at all points, and
again distinguished himself, leading his regiment two
miles through the enemy's advance line, to the
South Railroad, its loss being one-tenth of the whole
corps, comprising fifty regiments.
He was present at the surrender of General Lee,
which closed the war. Shortly after the close of the
war he was elected secretary of state.
He was a delegate at large to the republican
national convention in 1868. In 1870 he removed
to Oshkosh, his present home, and began the publi-
cation of the " Northwestern," a daily and weekly
paper, with which he is still connected, and is widely
known as an able editor. He suffered a severe loss
in the great fire of 1875, by the burning of his es-
tablishment.
In his religious sentiments, Colonel Allen is
liberal, and though a regular attendant of the Con-
gregational _church, is not connected with any re-
ligious body.
In politics, he is a republican, having helped to
organize that party in Wisconsin.
He was married on the nth of August, 185 1, to
Miss Sarah Bracken, daughter of General Charles
Bracken, and by her had one daughter. Mrs. Allen
died in 1854, and in April, 1866, he was married to
Miss Natilie Weber, by whom he has two sons and
three daughters.
Colonel Allen has traveled extensively throughout
the United States, and gained a most valuable prac-
tical knowledge of men and things. He began life
without means, and by his own untiring energy and
enterprise has risen step by step to his present high
social position and public standing.
PHILO ROMYNE HOY, M.D.,
PHILO R. HOY, a native of Mansfield, Ohio,
was born on the 3d of November, 1816, and is
the son of Captain William Hoy and Sarah Drown
Hoy. His father, one of the pioneers of Mansfield,
was a prominent man in his community, and the first
to erect a house in that place. Philo's boyhood
differed little from that of ordinary boys. Natu-
rally of a studious disposition he acquired a fond-
ness for books, and in early life decided to enter the
medical profession. After completing his education
in the common schools and private schools of his
native place, he pursued a course of study in the
Ohio Medical College, at Cincinnati, and graduated
in 1840, with the degree of M.D. During the first
six years of his practice, he resided at "New Haven,
Ohio, and at the expiration of that time (1846) re-
moved to Racine, Wisconsin, where he has since fol-
lowed his profession. As a medical practitioner, he
has made for himself a worthy reputation, and has a
flourishing and lucrative practice. Aside from his
professional work, Dr. Hoy has devoted much time
and study to the subject of natural history, and in
all scientific questions has taken a deep interest. In
1853, in company with Professors Kirkland and
Spencer F. Baird, he spent the season gathering in-
formation respecting fish, and is at the present time
(1876) one of the fish commissioners of his State.
He is the president of the Academy of Sciences and
Letters of Wisconsin ; a member of the Academy of
Science of Philadelphia, also that of Buffalo, New
York, Saint Louis, Cleveland, etc. Was an organic
member of the Academy of Science of Chicago, and a
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ARr.
79
fellow of the American Association for the Advance-
ment of Science. Besides these, he belongs to many
otlier medical and scientific associations. Has a
large correspondence with most of the scientific
savans within the United States, as well as with
several distinguished men of Europe.
He has 'now one of the largest collections of
animals in the Northwest, all of them natives of
Wisconsin, and gathered mostly in the immediate
vicinity of his own city. The following is a partial
list of his specimens: Three hundred and eighteen
different species of birds ; of bird's eggs, one hun-
dred and fifty species ; of mammals, thirty-five ;
reptiles, fifty ; beetles, thirteen hundred ; moths, two
thousand; spahingedes, thirty-eight; other insects,
one thousand ; and besides, a large collection of
shells and fossils from the Niagara limestone in the
vicinity of Racine.
In his political views. Dr. Hoy was formerly a
whig, and is now identified with the republican
party. During the civil war he took a deep interest
in the northern cause.
In religion he is not connected with any church
organization, but makes the rule of his actions that
expressed by our Saviour in the words: "Whatso-
ever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even
so unto them." Unsectarian, his sympathies are
broad enough to gather in their embrace all men.
He was married at Ripley, Ohio, on the 26th of
October, 1842, to Miss Mary Elizabeth Austin, by
whom he has two sons and one daughter. His
oldest son, Albert H. Hoy, M.D., a young man of
promise, is a practicing physician at Racine. He
was appointed a medical cadet in the regular army,
and promoted to assistant surgeon. Was in the
service for over three years, serving in the hospitals
in Keokuk, Iowa, Covington, Kentucky, and at
Louisville in several general hospitals. Went to
Europe after the close of the war, and studied in
Heidelberg, Vienna, Berlin and Paris.
GEORGE BREMER,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch was born on the 15th
of April, 1813, at Gandersheim, Dukedom
Brunswick, Germany, and is the son of Joseph
Bremer and Caroline tiee Rosenthal. His tastes for
mercantile life developed at an early age, and
having received a common school education he
entered a dry-goods establishment at the age of
fifteen years. Here he served an apprenticeship of
four years, and then during the term of fifteen years
clerked in different mercantile houses, being man-
ager of a large dry-goods emporium in Hanover for
the last six years. In 1847 he emigrated to- the
United States, arriving at Milwaukee on the 4th of
July. For a short time he engaged in farming, but
soon after opened a small country store, which he
kept until 1849. Upon his return to Milwaukee, in
1850, he went into partnership with Jakob Mora-
wetz under the firm name of G. Bremer and Co.,
and opened a store at No. 216 East Water street.
Their business so increased and their trade became
so extensive that they found it necessary to seek
more spacious quarters. In 1855 they erected a
large four-story brick store on east Water street,
near Huron, and relinquishing their retail depart-
ment admitted Mr. M. L. Morawetz as a partner.
Their business here assumed such dimensions that
they were again obliged to look for better accommo-
dations, and in 1869 they moved into one of the
stores of their brick block, corner of Broadway and
Huron' street, which is one of the finest and most
commodious in the city, and here they are still
conducting their very extensive business. The
house of G. Bremer and Co. is the oldest grocery
house in Milwaukee, and has always met its obliga-
tions promptly, even during the hardest business
calamities. Generous and public -spirited, Mr.
Bremer has always contributed liberally to char-
itable and benevolent purposes, as well as to all
enterprises connected with the welfare of the city.
He was one of the organizers of the Bank of
Commerce in 1870, and has been a director of said
bank to this day. His friends and acquaintances
are not in business circles alone, but among all
classes in the city, and greatly in the whole country.
In April, 1863, Mr. Bremer left to visit his native
country, where he made a very extensive tour, being
absent from home just one year.
He was educated in the Hebrew faith, but has
been entirely non-sectarian ever since he came to
this country. Liberal in all his views, his entire
8o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGFAPHICAL DICTIONART.
career has been marked by energy, enterprise and
honorable dealing.
He has never taken an active part in politics,
and although frequently solicited, has always de-
clined to accept any office.
He was one of the organizers of the first German
lodge of F. and A. Masons in Milwaukee, in 1850,
and has been thrice elected to its highest office.
Mr. Bremer was married on the 23d of November,
1849, to Miss Amalia Morawetz, and has six chil-
dren : Josephine (Mrs. Geilfuss), Freddie, Bertha
(Mrs. Gugler), Hugo, Agathe, Lillie.
WILLIAM H. NORRIS, Junior,
GREEN BAT.
THE life history of William H. Norris, junior,
while it has many experiences in common with
those of others, yet has an identity peculiarly its
own, and is marked by a will-power and an inde-
pendent force of character »hat entitle it to most
honorable mention in the list of prominent, self-
made men. A native of Hallowell, Maine, he was
born on the 24th of July, 1 832, and is the son of
Rev. William H. Norris and Sarah M. ne'e Mahan.
His father was a Methodist minister.
William received his education at Yale College,
and after completing his studies, spent one year in
teaching. His tastes early led him to choose the
legal profession, and in 1855 he began the study
of law at the Dana Law School of Cambridge,
Massachusetts. At the expiration of one year he
removed to the West and settled in Green Bay,
Wisconsin, and there continued his studies in the-
office of J. H. Howe, and was admitted to the bar
in 1857.
After his admission he spent one year with Mr.
Howe as clerk, and in 1859 entered into partnership
with him, continuing the business under the firm
name of J. H. Howe and Norris till 1862, when Mr.
Howe withdrew. He then conducted the business
in his own name till 1870, and in the following year
associated with himself Mr. Thomas B. Chynoweath,
his present partner. Their practice has been gen-
eral, but they have given special attention to mer-
cantile and railroad law.
Since 1864 he has been local attorney for the
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, and since 1870,
general attorney for the Green Bay and Minnesota
Railroad. As an attorney, he stands at the head of
the bar in his city, and has a larger practice than any
other lawyer, having been admitted to practice in all
the courts of the United States, except the United
States supreme court.
His religious views are Congregational.
In politics, he is identified with the republican
party. He was elected superintendent of public
schools in 1859.
Mr. Norris was married on the 31st of January,
1859, to Miss Hannah B. Harriman, by whom he
has two daughters and one son.
He began life without money, and by persevering
and continued effort has made for himself a wide
reputation as an able lawyer, and accumulated a
moderate competence. He has lived in South
America and considerably in the United States, and
by careful observation accumulated a large fund of
valuable information.
Personally and socially he has a high standing,
and by his generous manner, pleasing address, and
manly bearing, has endeared himself to a large circle
of warm friends.
JOHN D. INBUSCH,
MTL WA UKEE.
IN the far-away kingdom of Hanover, Germany,
on the 25th of December, 1820, was born the
subject of this sketch, son of Herman and Maria
Inbusch. Under the excellent system of public in-
struction in that country, which allows no child to
go without schooling, he received a thorough com-
mon-school education at Badbergen. At an early
age young Inbusch, following the example of his
elder brothers, left his quiet German home on the
sleepy river Haase, and sailing across the Atlantic
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
landed in New York city. Here he served two
years as clerk in a grocery store owned by his
brothers, afterward entering the firm as a junior
partner, where he remained for a period of twelve
years. His only capital at beginning was ability,
energy and the quiet persistence of his race, in be-
coming master of the minutest details of his business.
In the spring of 1849 he removed to Milwaukee,
and in connection with two brothers, John H. and
John Gerhard Inbusch, he instituted a wholesale
liquor establishment, under the name and title of
Inbusch Brothers. In i860, after a period of eleven
years of slow but sure success, they added a stock
of groceries to their trade. Nine years later, closing
out entirely their liquor interest, they confined them-
selves exclusively to the wholesale grocery business.
For many years this trade has been steadily on the
increase. In 1869 their sales did not exceed in
amount a half million per annum. In 1874 it had
reached the handsome sum of over a million. Their
store has also doubled in size and capacity to meet
the demands of their business, and the wholesale
grocery house of Inbusch Brothers is well and favor-
ably known throughout the State and the entire
Northwest. Mr. J. D. Inbusch is now one of the
directors of the Milwaukee National Bank. He was
married November 8, 1857, to Miss Emily Heuffner,
and the fruits of this marriage have been two sons
and two daughters. Notwithstanding his business
and social relations, Mr. Inbusch has found time for
extensive traveling, and in 1853 and 1872 he visited
his old Badbergian home on the Haase, Germany,
as well as Holland, Italy, France and England.
In politics he has always been a democrat ; and
from his early youth his religious convictions have
been those of the Lutheran creed.
FREDERIC C. WINKLER,
MILWAUKEE.
FREDERIC C. WINKLER was born in Bre-
men, Germany, the 15th of March, 1838. His
parents emigrated to the United States when he was
six years of age, and located in Milwaukee, where
his father, Carl Winkler, established a pharmacy and
starch factory.
Educated in the public and private schools of that
day in Milwaukee, and under private tuition of Prof.
Engelmann (q.v.), Mr. Winkler taught a common
school, before reaching his eighteenth year, and imme-
diately afterward commenced the study of law in the
office of Hon. H. L. Palmer, where (teaching school
in the winter months) he remained a student until
the fall of 1858, when he entered the office of Messrs.
Abbott, Gregory and Pinney, at Madison, as clerk.
While here he was, on the 19th of April, 1859, ad-
mitted to the bar in the circuit court of Dane county
after a thorough examination in open court, under
a rule then recently established by Judge Dixon.
Shortly after this he returned to Milwaukee, and
entered on the practice of his profession. He met
at once with considerable success. His first part-
nership was with Mr. G. Von Deutsch, who, on
account of ill health and a trip to Europe, left a
large share of the work of the office to him, so that
he was brought into court practice more rapidly
f than is generally the case.
From 1856 Mr. Winkler's sympathies had been
strongly enlisted for the anti-slavery principles of
the republican party, and in i860 he took an active
part in the canvass of Milwaukee county in favor of
Lincoln and Hamlin. Immediately after the break-
ing out of the war his partner entered the cavalry
service, leaving the business to him. In 1862, when
the appeal for more men became urgent, Mr. Wink
ler gave up his business and recruited a company of
infantry — Company B, of the 26th Regiment, Wis-
consin Volunteers, of which he was appomted cap-
tain. The regiment left the State early in October
and was assigned to the eleventh corps of the army
of the Potomac, then commanded by General Sigel.
During the succeeding winter Captain Winkler was
constantly employed as judge advocate in courts
martial at corps headquarters. At the opening of
the spring campaign he was assigned to the staff of
General Schurz, commanding a division of the corps.
He participated in the battles of Chancellorsville and
Gettysburg, in the former of which he had a horse
shot under him. The first day of Gettysburg the
regiment lost very heavily, only four officers escap-
ing unhurt, the lieutenant-colonel and major being
among the wounded. Captain Winkler resigned his
staff service and temporarily took charge of the reg-
iment during the battle. Afterward he remained
82
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
with the regiment as second in command, still, how-
ever, subject to frequent detail for court-martial
service. After the battle of Chickamauga the regi-
ment was transferred to the West, as part of General
Hooker's forces that were sent to Rosecranz's relief.
Shortly afterward the colonel resigned, and Captain
Winkler thenceforth commanded the regiment, being
successively promoted through the several grades to
the colonelcy.
Under his command the regiment participated in
the battle of Mission Ridge, in 1863; the Atlanta
campaign, with its battles and countless skirmishes,
in 1864; the march to the sea, and thence north
through the Carolinas. It won a high reputation.
Of its conduct in the battle of Peach Tree Creek,
July 20, 1864, the following mention is made in the
official report of Colonel Wood, the brigade com-
mander:
Where all behaved well, it may be regarded as invidious
to call attention to individuals, yet it seems to me that I
cannot discharge my whole duty in this rejiort without
pointing out for especial commendation the conduct of the
26th Wisconsin Infantry and its brave and able commander.
The position of this regiment was such that the brunt of the
attack fell upon it. The brave, skillful and determinate
manner in which it met this attack, rolled back the onset,
pressed forward in a counter charge, and drove back the
enemy, could not be excelled by the troops of this or any
other army, and is worthy of the highest commendation
and praise. It is to be hoped that such conduct will be held
up as an example to others, and will meet its appropriate
reward.
During the winter quarters of 1864 Colonel Wink-
ler returned home to recruit for his regiment, and
was married to Miss Frances M. Wightman, of West
Bend, Wisconsin.
Upon the close of the war he was breveted briga-
dier-general of volunteers "for meritorious services."
Returning to Milwaukee, he resumed the practice
of his profession, soon taking a prominent position
at the bar. In 1867 he became associated with the
Hon. A. R. R. Butler. In 1872 he was a member
of the assembly in the State legislature, and was
the same year nominated for congress by the repub-
licans in a largely democratic district.
In the spring of 1875 he was tendered the position
of United States attorney for the eastern district of
Wisconsin, but declined it on account of his large
private practice. He is now a member of the firm
of Jenkins, Elliott and Winkler, one of the leading
law firms of the State.
DARWIN CLARK,
DARWIN CLARK was born at Otsego, Otsego
county, New York, May 12, 1812. His father's
name was Isaac, his mother's, Eunice Clark. They
were intelligent, respectable and pious. Mrs. Clark
was a member of the Presbyterian church. The
character of their son, Darwin, was formed under
the influence of those qualities of his parents, and
hence his success in business, his exemplary moral
character, and his religious sentiments. He had a
common school education in his native town, and
after leaving school taught during three successive
winters. Before he attained the age of twenty-one he
learned the trade of cabinet making. He immigrated
to Wisconsin in May, 1837, and arrived at Madison
on the loth of June, at which place he made his
permanent residence. He worked occasionally on the
capitol as carpenter, and occasionally at his trade,
and sometimes as clerk in a store, during two years.
In the winter of 1840 he circulated a subscription
for the purpose of buying books for the first Sabbath
school established in Madison. In the spring of
1845 he commenced the furniture business, and has
continued it to the present time. He is a religious
man in his sentiments and uniformly attends the
Episcopal church.
In politics he is, and has always been, a Democrat,
unwavering in his devotion to the Union. He was
the first treasurer of the then village of Madison,
and filled the office three different years. He was
president of the council and acting mayor of the city
in i860. He was alderman four years, commencing
in 1858, and again in 1873, 1874 and 1875, in which
latter year he was again elected president of the
council. He married Sarah L. Goodnow, a noble
wife and Christian woman, in September, 1848, and
lived with her six years. In 1858 he married Fran-
ces A. Adams, by whom he has two children, living
with their parents. His grandparents on both sides
were revolutionary soldiers; his father was in the
war of 18 1 2. Mr. Clark is what is commonly termed
a self-made man. Nature makes all men ; circum-
stances develop them. Mr. Clark was fortunate in
t^-rzi^v-z^
'^/klcir^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
83
having parents to teach him the vahie of knowledge
and the vahie of morals; hence, when he had the
opportunity, he was teaching others, thereby indi-
rectly teaching himself. The principles of action
which have governed him through life were based
upon the morals his parents taught him. He is a
remarkable man, having many of the virtues which
distinguish good men, and none of their vices. He
has by honest toil accumulated a comfortable inde-
pendence ; he has discharged the duties of many
offices of honor, and some of them of pecuniary
responsibility, and yet neither in his public duties
nor in his private dealings has a shade of suspicion
ever rested upon the escutcheon of his honor. Such
men are the salt of the earth, and should be held up
as models for all those who come after them.
GEORGE O. WEST.
WHITEWATER
THE subject of this sketch was born at Charles-
ton, New Hampshire, on the 29th of January,
1836, and is the son of Enoch H. and Lydia West.
His father, a farmer by occupation, was highly
esteemed for his many excellent qualities. His
mother was a woman of estimable character, the
influence of whose teachings and example early
instilled into her son those principles of morality
and uprightness that have marked his whole life.
George passed his boyhood on his father's farm,
receiving his education at Ackweth Academy, New
Hampshire, where he pursued a full course of
academical studies. His natural tastes inclined him
toward a mercantile life, and accordingly, after
leaving school, he engaged in buying wheat and in
merchandizing. He continued in this business
during a period of twelve years, and at the expira-
tion of that time turned his attention to the produce
trade, which he has since continued to follow with
good success. In 1857 he removed to Monroe,
Wisconsin, where he was for two years engaged in
selling goods. He then resumed the produce busi-
ness, and three years later removed to Darlington,
Wisconsin, where he resided until 1867, when he
settled in Whitewater, his present home. He has
dealt extensively in live-stock and wool, and during
the last eight years has been the heaviest wool
dealer in his State.
Politically, Mr. West was, until 1872, a supporter
of the republican party ; at that time he became
identified with the liberal movement, and supported
Horace Greeley for the presidency. He has held
several town offices, but has never taken any promi-
nent part in politics, finding in his legitimate busi-
ness full scope for the exercise of all his powers.
His religious training was under Universalist influ-
ences, and he still adheres to the doctrines of that
church.
He was married, March 18, 1857, to Miss Sophia
C. Parks; they have one son and one daughter.
RICHARD RICHARDS,
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Marion-
ethshire, North Wales, was born on the 6th of
August, 1818, and is the son of Griffith and Ann
Richards. He received his early education in the
common schools of his native place, and later
attended an academy in Liverpool. After com-
pleting his studies he engaged in farm-work with
his father, and spent ten years in this occupation.
At the expiration of this time he emigrated to
America, arriving in New York city on the ist of
June, 1841, thence he went to Ohio, and in the
ensuing August settled at Racine, Wisconsin. Here
he purchased five hundred and eighty acres of land,
and since that time has devoted himself chiefly to
his farming interests. In 1852, he turned his atten-
tion to' raising fancy stock and has now some of the
finest horses in the West, the pedigree of three of
which we append : " Swigert," foaled in the spring
of 1866, is a brown stallion, and was bred by the
late Robert A. Alexander, of Woodford county,
84
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Kentucky. He was got by Mr. Alexander's Nor-
man dam "Plaudina," by " Mambrino Chief," grand
dam, the Burch mare, by " Brown Pilot," dam of
"Brown Pilot" by Cherokee, son of "Sir Archy."
" Swigert " is a brother of " Blackwood," who has a
record of 2:23; also a brother of "Lulu," who has
a record of 2:14!; also a brother of "Nashville
Girl," record 2:20. "Rosalind," a sister of the dam
of "Swigert," has a record of 2:2i|-.
" Alden Goldsmith," foaled in the spring of 1874,
a bay stallion, was bred by Alden Goldsmith, of
Blooming Grove, Orange county, New York. He
was got by " Volunteer," and he by Rysdyk's
Hambletonian dam, "Maid of Orange," by Rys-
dyk's Hainbletonian grandam ; dam by " Saltram,"
he by Webber's "Whip," he by Blackburn's "Whip,"
and he by imported "Whip." He is a brother of
" Huntress; " also of " Gloster," " Abdallah," " Bo-
dine," " Wm. H. Allen," and many others.
"Western Chief," foaled in June, 1871, a bay
stallion, was bred by Geo. W. Ogden, of Paris,
Bourbon county, Kentucky. He was got by Curtis'
" Hambletonian ; " he by Rysdyk's dam, " Lady
Ealenon," by " Mambrino Chief; " grandam, a
thoroughbred mare, bred in Virginia and noted as
a trotter.
Mr. Richards has also a fine herd of Durham
cattle, and the finest lot of Essex and Berkshire
hogs in the West. Besides he has a flock of two
hundred and fifty sheep, mostly Spanish merinos,
and at the exposition of 1867, in France, received a
diploma and bronze medal for superior samples of
wool.
He has been identified with the republican party
since its organization, and in 1873 was elected to
the State legislature.
He was married in February, 1841, to Miss Jane
Evans, and they have two sons and three daughters.
A. W. RICH
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Somos,
Hungary, was born July 27, 1843, and is the
son of Emanuel and Sarah Rich. He received his
early education in German, Hebrew and Hungarian
at a private school in his native country. When he
had reached his tenth year he immigrated to Amer-
ica in company with his parents, and arrived at New
York October 24, 1853, and after remaining there
until 1855, they removed to Cleveland, Ohio. Here
he continued his education, attending the public
schools for the period of three months. Subse-
quently, in 1857, they removed into the wilds of
Michigan, settling upon a farm in Saginaw county,
where they experienced all the hardships and toil
characteristic of pioneer life. Here they remained
three years, at the end of which time they again
removed and settled at Owasso, Michigan. From
this time young Rich, now in his eighteenth year,
was obliged to depend upon his own exertions for a
livelihood. His father furnished him with about
forty dollars' worth of goods and started him upon
a peddling trip; but he considered this business by
far too humiliating to his self-respect, and refusing
to continue in it, worked his way to Detroit, and
obtained a situation in a wrapping-paper house, with
a salary of fifteen dollars per month. Becoming
dissatisfied in this position, however, he proceeded
to Cleveland, his former place of residence, and was
advised by his relatives and friends to resume ped-
dling ; but being unwilling to pursue a business
which was so utterly distasteful to him, hp obtained
work upon a farm and nursery near the city at a
salary of twelve dollars per month and board. In
this position he continued for the period of six
months, gaining, in the meantime, a superficial
knowledge of the science of optics, to which he was
greatly assisted by a friend, then engaged in that
line of business, and by close study during his spare
hours. Having saved enough from his earnings to
supply himself with about forty dollars' worth of
spectacles, he set out as a traveling optician, and
after meeting with fair success in his travels over
different parts of the country, arrived at Milwaukee
in June, 1865. Here, in company with a friend,
whom he met by accident, he opened an optical es-
tablishment with a capital of eight hundred dollars,
belonging equally to himself and partner, the firm
being styled A. W. Rich and Co. This enterprise
not proving as successful as he had anticipated, he
abandoned it at the expiration of a year and a half,
and saved from his capital, after paying all liabilities,
the sum of four hundred and fifty dollars. Subse-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARV.
85
(liientl)', forming a copartnership with a fellow-coun-
tryman, who was at that time a manufacturer of
hoop skirts, he continued in that business for six
months, at the expiration of which time, finding that
his views and those of his partner greatly conflicted
as regarded the manner in which the business should
be conducted, the partnership was dissolved. A few
months later Mr. Rich opened a part of the store
now occupied by him for the sale of hoop skirts and
corsets, and the manufacture of the former, conduct-
ing the business with the assistance of one young
lady the first year and two the second. By exten-
sive advertising in the principal daily papers of the
city, he brought his business prominently before the
public, and found that it was steadily increasing.
Afterward, in order to supply the demand for other
articles of ladies' apparel, he increased his stock
until it embraced a complete line of ladies' goods.
The principles upon which he built up his trade
were, to make one class of goods a specialty; to
cater to the best class of trade by keeping choice
goods and an attractive place of business ; to make
a fair profit and adhere to one price; to allow no
accumulation of old stock : to advertise extensively,
and to conduct all business transactions with the
strictest integrity. Following these principles, his
business increased from thirty-three to fifty per cent
yearly, and his place of business increased from
fourteen by forty feet to a large, double store, thirty
by ninety, his employes in the store from two to
twenty, while he employed from eight to twelve per-
sons in the manufacturing department. From eight
thousand the first year, his sales had amounted to
over eighty thousand the sixth, when, feeling that
there was still room for improvement, he admitted
Mr. L. Silber as a partner in the business on the
15th of August, 1874, the firm being styled A. W.
Rich and Co. Since that time such success has
attended their efforts as to necessitate a change in
their business quarters in order to accommodate the
large stock of goods necessary for their jobbing
trade. Mr. Rich's parents being Jews, he was nat-
urally brought up to a belief in their religion, and is
a consistent member of that sect. Having always
possessed a natural taste for literary pursuits, he is
well read in the English language, and is at present
more proficient in that than in his own. He is a
correspondent of several newspapers published in
Milwaukee and other cities, and has been president
of two literary societies; further, he has held leading
positions in the Masonic and other organizations, in
which he is much esteemed for his intelligence, ex-
ecutive ability and liberality.
In politics he has always been a thorough repub-
lican.
Mr. Rich was married February 13, 1871, to Miss
Rosa Seidenberg, whose father is a large importer
and manufacturer of New York city. Mr. Rich's
business success may be attributed to a laudable
ambition, a persistent determination to succeed, a
careful attention to the wants of his customers, and
energy and integrity in all his transactions.
CHRISTIAN LINDE, M.D.,
OSHKOSH.
CHRISTIAN LINDE, a native of Copenhagen,
Denmark, was born on the 19th of February,
1817. He graduated at the Royal University of
Copenhagen in 1837, and attended the hospitals
there till 1S42, when he had to leave on account of
political difliculties.
He immigrated to the United States, and on the
17th of July arrived in Wisconsin, and purchased
two hundred and eighty acres of land, where the
Insane Asylum now stands, near Oshkosh. His
intention was to engage in farming, hunting and
trapping, and not to engage in the practice of his
profession. During the next four years he endeav-
ored to give his attention to his farming interests,
but was called to Green Bay so often, to attend to
professional duties, that, in 1846, he left his farm and
established himself at that place, and engaged in his
profession. In the following year, having sold his
farm, he removed to Oshkosh, his present home, and
purchased a tract of land where the city now stands.
During the next two years he was engaged in active
practice, and at the expiration of that time began
hunting, trapping, speculating, and dealing in furs.
He employed himself in this manner till 1858, in
the meantime attending to his professional work;
and, being the only surgeon then in northern Wis-
consin, was called upon to perform some most diffi-
cult surgical operations. In 1858 he discontinued
86
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
his other business, and resuming his practice atOsh-
kosh, has since given it his chief attention.
A prominent and enterprising man, he has always
taken a leading part, and now stands among the
foremost of his profession in Wisconsin. During
the late civil war he was examining surgeon for
Winnebago county. Dr. Linde was, at one time,
president of the Winnebago County Medical Society,
is now an active member of the State Medical So-
ciety, and also of the American Medical Association,
and has been chosen as a delegate to the medical
convention to be held at Philadelphia during the
present year (1876).
His career throughout has been marked by perse-
verance and public-spirltedness; and, settling in
Wisconsin at an early day, as he did, his name is
coupled with many incidents of interest connected
with the history of that State. In 1842 he was the
only surgeon in northern Wisconsin, E. B. Wolcott
being the only other one in the State. He was, in
truth, one of the pioneers, and found, in his new
home, ample opportunity to gratify his natural taste
for hunting, trapping, and other kindred occupations
connected with pioneer life. He helped to cut the
first road from Oshkosh to Fond du Lac ; and, be-
ginning thus when the State was new, he has grown
up with it, and in his practice has kept pace with the
growth of other improvements.
His political views are democratic ; and he is not
identified with any church organization.
Dr. Linde was married in 1843, to Miss Sarah
Dickinson, who died in 1849, leaving one son. This
son, a promising physician, is a graduate of Rush
Medical College, of Chicago, and is now in partner-
ship with his father, the firm being C. and F. H.
Linde. On the isth of May, 1858, Dr. Linde mar-
ried his second wife. Miss Huldah Henning, by whom
he has one son and three daughters.
Such is a brief outline of the life -history of one
who, by his own exertions, has risen from compara-
tive obscurity to a position of high social standing
and public trust, and made for himself a name
that shall live in the memories of all who have
known him.
HENRY M. MENDEL,
MIL U A UKEE.
HENRY M. MENDEL, clothier, of Milwaukee,
was born in Breslau, Germany, on the 15th
of October, 1839 — son of Moses and Henrietta
Mendel. His education was received in the high
school of his native city. While yet a boy he was
thrown upon his own resources, and at the age of
fourteen he sailed for America, landing in New York,
where his stay was brief; from thence he came to
Milwaukee, where he arrived on the 24th of August,
1854, and found employment as clerk and book-
keeper in a clothing store, which position he retained
five years. Leaving the store he entered the office
of register of deeds as copying clerk, where he
remained two years and a half, the latter part of the
time acting as deputy, after which he returned to his
former position as book-keeper. In 1865, with a
partner, he started in the wholesale hat and cap busi-
ness, the firm name being Stein and Mendel, and
was very successful in building up a large and profit-
able trade. He continued this business five years,
when he sold his interest to Mr. Stein, and entered
the wholesale clothing house of S. Adler and Brother,
as partner, under the firm name of Adler, Mendel
and Company. Here his early training in a clothing
store, together with his ripe experience in the job-
bing trade, and a fixed principle as to business hon-
esty, enabled him to contribute new energy and
influence to an already well-known establishment.
Success followed his efforts as before, so that it may
be said of Mr. Mendel, though starting at the bottom
round of the ladder, beginning with the drudgery of
clerkship and working his way up through the various
grades rising therefrom, he has enjoyed the smiles
of fortune and experienced few of her frowns, but
may, in a far greater measure than can be stated
here, consider his success as the results of an ener-
getic business disposition, coupled with honesty of
purpose and principle. He is an excellent musician,
and took a lively interest in the Milwaukee Musical
Society, holding various official positions therein.
While he was president of the society the present
Academy of Music was rebuilt, which is a spacious
and substantial structure, internally a monutnent of
art and beauty, reflecting great credit upon the man-
agement of the society, and especially upon its exec-
utive head. While this society was groaning under
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION AliV.
87
a crushing burden of stock as well as floating debts
in the years 1870 and 1871, a plan was formed by
prominent citizens, among whom were Messrs.
Jacobs, Fridersdorf and Mendel, as executive com-
mittee, whereby this indebtedness might be can-
celed, which, by their combined energy and pluck,
was entirely successful.
Mr. Mendel is still a young man, and has a prom-
ising future before him. He has a thorough, semi-
classical education, and cultured manners and tastes,
which makes him a valued member of the very best
society.
In religious faith he is a Jew, with broad and
liberal views.
In politics he is a republican.
On the 19th of February, i86g, he was married to
Isabella, daughter of David Adler. They have three
children, two sons and one daughter.
JAMES H. THOMPSON, M.D.,
MILW AUKEE.
THE biographical sketch of Dr. James H.
Thompson, one of our ablest medical officers
of the volunteer army during the war, will be best
illustrated by official testimony of his' valuable ser-
vices. His life may be said to have been devoted
to public usefulness and duty, and has called forth
expressions of appreciation from all the departments
in which he served. The incidents of his e.xperi-
ences would no doubt be very interesting, but our
limits will compel us to confine ourselves to the man.
James H. Thompson was born September 4, 1835,
at Foxcroft, in the State of Maine, and received his
preliminary education at the academy of his native
town. For a time he taught school, and then en-
tered Bowdoin College ; graduated from the medical
department of that institution in 1859, and com-
menced the practice of his profession, in copartner-
ship with Dr. W. H. Allen, at Orono, Penobscot
county, Maine. In i860 he went to New York city,
and pursued his studies at the College of Physicians
and Surgeons, and attended hospital clinics.
In 1 86 1 he returned to his native town, and was
married to Mary Elizabeth, only daughter of Hon.
John G. Mayo, of Dover, Maine.
In October, of the same year; he was examined by
the medical examining board of the United States
army, and so satisfactory was his examination that
Dr. John Bradbury, one of the examiners, gave Dr.
Thompson the following letter :
To Col. Geo. F. Shipley, Portland, Maine,
Dr. James H. Thompson, of Orono, has just passed a
most satisfactory examination before the examining board.
I have known him for many years, as student and practi-
tioner. He has always had an unblemished moral reputa-
tion, and we have met with no man more eminently quali-
fied for a medical officer of your regiment than he.
Respectfully,
John C. Br.vdbury, Member of Exam. Board.
In November, 1861, Dr. Thompson was commis-
sioned assistant surgeon of the 12th Regiment of
Maine Volunteers, and full surgeon on the 5th of
December of the same year. He served with his
regiment and in hospital at New Orleans, Baton
Rouge, the first Red River expedition of General
Banks, and at Port Hudson, with distinction, until
August, 1863, when his health failed and he was
compelled to go North on furlough, after having
voluntarily given up a furlough, previously granted,
in order to participate in the siege or capitulation of
Port Hudson.
Dr. Thompson was on the steamer at New Orleans,
en route for home, on sick leave, when news of the
repulse of our forces at Port Hudson reached him.
He immediately changed his destination to the front
instead of home. On reaching Baton Rouge, he
found that all the wounded had been brought there.
The hospital accommodations were very limited.
Dr. Thompson organized the Church Hospital, the
patients of which gave expression of their apprecia-
tion of his skill and urbanity, and regretted the
necessity of his departure.
In a letter from Dr. Reed, medical director of the
right wing, ITnited States forces, referring to Dr.
Thompson's services, he says: " Whether in charge
of his regiment upon the field, or in charge of gene-
ral hospital, he has always thoroughly performed his
work. Entirely capable and reliable, cool, prudent,
1 and highly energetic, I regard Dr. Thompson as one
I of the ablest men it has been my fortune to meet."
In a letter of Dr. John H. Runcle, medical di-
rector, referring to Dr. Thompson, he says: "After
the attack on Port Hudson, of the 27th of May, he
rendered valuable service in hospital at Baton Rouge,
i although at the time he had a leave of absence, dis-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
playing great devotion and much self-sacrifice, and
greatly aggravating the disease he was suffering
from."
We have also before us a letter from Brigadier-
General Shepley, military governor of Louisiana,
which, speaking of Dr. Thompson's services, says :
" I cannot speak too highly of his judgment and
skill in his profession, and his constant and unre-
mitting devotion to every duty. It is not too much
to say that he always had the best regimental hos-
pital to be found in the command to which his
regiment was attached."
In November, 1863, Dr. Thompson's health still
not permitting him to return to the South to his
regiment, and being desirous of remaining in the
army during the war, on the invitation of the sur-
geon-general he appeared before the medical exam-
ining board at Washington, and passed a very rigid
examination of six days' duration with honor, and
received, on the roth of November, 1863, his
appointment as assistant surgeon of the United
States Volunteers, and was appointed full surgeon
of volunteers on the 5th of December, 1863. His
appointment was confirmed by the senate, and he
was duly commissioned by President Lincoln. Dr.
Thompson reported immediately to Point Lookout,
Maryland, and was placed as medical officer in
charge of prisoners of war in camp and hospital.
In 1864 he was made surgeon-in-chief of district
St. Mary's, on the staff of General James Barnes, and
served at Point Lookout during the remainder of
the war. At the close of the war Dr. Thompson
received many flattering testimonials of his services
from heads of departments in which he had served,
— our limits only admit of extracts. General Barnes
in a letter to Dr. Thompson says :
As the advent of peace leads to the breaking up of all
the military associations of this command, it gives me a
gi-eat deal of gratification to be able to say to you in parting
that your kind, careful and soldier-like treatment of the
prisoners of war who have been here in such large numbers
has ever met my approbation, and is highly honorable to
your character as a man, while your skillful management of
the sick in your charge, and the low average of mortality,
as shown by the official records, bear an equally honorable
testimony to your professional ability and skill.
General Hoffman also pays a high compliment, as
follows :
At the time you were assigned to duty at the depot, the
sanitary condition of the camp and hospital was very un-
favorable, but your energy and good judgment, governed
by proper humane feelings, soon inaugurated measures
which brought about most commendable reforms, and
while the camp and hospital were placed in a perfect state
of police, and the sick were supplied with everything
necessary to their comfort and speedy recovery, the hospi-
tal fund was so judiciously managed as to leave a surplus
of over twenty-five thousand dollars to be returned to the
subsistence department.
In August, 1865, Dr. Thompson was breveted
lieutenant-colonel United States Volunteers, for
faithful and meritorious services, by President
Johnson, and was mustered out at his own request
on the 15th of September, 1865.
In 1867 Dr. Thompson was appointed surgeon to
the National Soldiers' Home near Milwaukee, where
he remained until 1870, when he removed to the
city of Milwaukee and entered at once upon a large
and lucrative private practice. On his leaving,
E. B. Wolcott, resident manager of the Soldiers'
Home, closes a very complimentary letter in these
words :
I, therefore, having a full appreciation of his services to
this institution, deeply regret his separation from it. I
trust, nevertheless, our loss may be his gain, and of this
I feel assured, knowing his business capacity to be first
rate, and integrity beyond question.
With such indorsements eulogy from us would be
superfluous, but such a record deserves a place
among the eminent and self-made men.
JOHN A. DUTCHER,
MILUAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Salisbury,
Litchfield county, Connecticut, was born No-
vember I, 1829, and is the son of John A. Butcher
and Mary n(fe Chapin. His father dying when he
was a few months old, he was left to the care of his
mother, who afterward married again and removed
to Kent, Connecticut. At the age of fourteen years,
he accepted a clerkship in a store, and in that capa-
city served during a period of five years, laying the
foundation of his subsequent mercantile career. At
I the end of this tune, in 1849, he removed to Osh-
kosh, Wisconsin, where he spent one year, and then
entered the wholesale grocery house of P. W. Badg-
ley, Milwaukee, as book-keeper. At the end of two
years he was admitted as a partner to the business,
the firm being known as P. W. Badgley and Co. Upon
the death of Mr. Badgley in 1853, Mr. Dutcher con-
tinued the business with Kellogg Sexton, and later
THE UNITED STATES BIOGKAPHICAL DICTIONAIir.
admitted to the firm Mr. J. R. Goodrich. In i8(
Mr. Sexton retired, and E. H. Ball was admitted to
the partnership, the firm name becoming Dutcher,
Ball and Goodrich. From the time when Mr.
Dutcher became connected with the house its
growth was marked, each year adding largely to the
extent and influence of its trade, and, upon his re-
tirement in 1870, it stood among the foremost houses
in its line in the Northwest, and was known for its
able management and sound financial standing, hav-
ing passed safely through the financial crises of the
last twenty-five years. In 1870, Mr. Dutcher, asso-
ciating himself with Messrs. Vose and Adams, en-
gaged in the manufacture of stoves, under the firm
name of Dutcher, Vose and Adams. In this, as in
his former business, he has been remarkably success-
ful, the house having competed successfully with
eastern manufacturers, in quality, style and price of
its wares. In 1871, owing to the demands of trade,
and increased transportation facilities, he established
a wholesale tea house, under the firm name of J. A.
Dutcher and Co. His wide experience in mercantile
affairs at once gave to the enterprise a leading place,
and it has built up an extensive and flourishing trade.
Though still at the head of the two last named busi-
ness houses, Mr. Dutcher finds time, in the midst of
his various duties, to devote to self-culture and the
interests of those about him.
During the last twenty years he has been a most
active and zealous Christian worker, taking a promi-
nent part in all religious enterprises of his city. He
united with the Plymouth Church in 1856. Later,
he assisted in organizing the Olivet Church, and be-
came one of its most active and devoted members.
At the present time (1876) he is a member of Im-
manuel Presbyterian Church. While aiding in all
enterprises tending to the furtherance of religious
interests, Mr. Dutcher has devoted special atten-
tion to Sunday school work, and done much to sus-
tain and build up the Sunday school cause through-
out his State. He has also, for many years, been
deeply interested in the welfare of sailors, and has
been a liberal supporter of the Wisconsin Seamen's
Friend Society, being president of the society from
its establishment in 1868, and aided largely in found-
ing the Bethel Home for Sailors, of Milwaukee. He
has besides shown a worthy public-spiritedness, and
been honored with positions of responsibility and
trust, and has always been in sympathy with all
movements tending to the welfare of his city.
Mr. Dutcher was married, October 11, 1852, to
Miss Annette Edwards, of Kent, Connecticut.
JOHN BLACK,
MILWAUKEE.
JOHN BLACK, son of Peter and Magdalena
•J Black, was born near the city of Bitche, France,
August 16, 1830. His father was by occupation a
farmer. John received a common-school education
and a partial collegiate course. Is by occupation a
liquor dealer. He came to Lockport, New York, in
1846, and remained there several years, and after-
ward visited the principal cities in the United States
and Canada. He settled in Milwaukee in 1857,
where he has since resided. While accumulating
his ample fortune he has always avoided outside
speculations, confining himself strictly to a legiti-
mate mercantile business, yet was ever ready to con-
tribute to such industrial enterprises as were calcu-
lated to promote the public good.
In 1870 a number of the leading business men
and capitalists of Milwaukee organized the Bank of
Commerce ; in this enterprise he was foremost, and
one of the principal stockholders. He was elected
vice-president of the bank, a position which he still
holds. In addition to the successful management of
his large and extensive mercantile business he has
occasionally taken a prominent part in public affairs.
I He was for several years railroad commissioner of
the city of Milwaukee. In 1869 he received the
democratic nomination for the office of state treas-
urer, but the entire ticket was defeated at the elec-
tion. In 1870 he was elected a member of the
common council. The people of Milwaukee had
long and seriously felt the want of a system of water
works, the delay in business being caused by a pro-
vision in the law relating to the bonded indebted-
ness of the city. During his term in the council he
succeeded in removing, with other assistance, this
difficulty, and getting the necessary legislation which
resulted in the building of our present complete sys-
tem of water works. In 1871 he was elected a
member of the assembly. Among the important
90
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
measures introduced and passed by him was one for
the punishment of persons found carrying concealed
weapons. In the presidential election of 1872 he
was one of the electors at large on the democratic
electoral ticket for the State of Wisconsin. In 1873
he was elected a member of the State senate. Dur-
ing his term as senator he introduced and succeeded
in passing two very important measures, one for the
punishment of bribery at elections, which was re-
ceived with unbounded satisfaction by the people of
the entire State, and the other to secure liberty of
conscience to inmates of State institutions. This
latter bill, though meeting a determined opposition
inside and outside the legislature, he carried through
the senate, but it failed to pass the assembly. Of his
public life it can be truly said that " the office has
always sought the man, and never the man the office."
Mr. Black's public and private character command
equally the admiration and the respect of the com-
munity in which he lives. As a public man he is
patriotic and enterprising, heartily cooperating in
every public work calculated to promote the public
good, giving his thoughts, time and means to the
promotion of their success. As a private man he is
social, generous and hospitable, of exemplary morals,
and believes in a religion the cardinal maxim of
which is " to do as he would be done by."
Believing that the people are the safest depository
of power and the proper authority to exercise it, he
is in political sentiment a democrat, and in times of
trial and difficulty one of the " unterrified."
His purest affections are manifested in the sacred-
ness of his home, in the stations of husband, father,
neighbor and friend.
TIMOTHY A. CHAPMAN,
MILWAUKEE.
TIMOTHY A. CHAPMAN, a merchant of the
city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the third son
and eighth child of Mary Greenwood and Geo. W.
Chapman, was born on the 23d of May, 1824, in
Gilead, Oxford county, in the State of Maine. His
father was a native of Massachusetts, and a farmer;
was at one time a member of the legislature, and for
thirteen years town clerk and selectman ; such was
the confidence of the people with whom he lived
that in giving his testimony in court he was not
required to take the usual oath. He has just passed
away at the age of ninety-five, with every faculty
unimpaired except that of sight. He has left to the
world the record of a well-spent life. Timothy A.
Chapman during his boyhood assisted his father
upon the labors of the farm, and was educated at
the district school of his native town, and at the
academies of Bethel and Yarmouth, Maine; subse-
quently engaged in teaching. At the age of twenty,
desiring a wider theater of action, he went to Boston
with less than ten dollars in his pocket, where he
met with a dry-goods merchant who ga\'e him em-
ployment as clerk in his store. He served in that
capacity six years, when through the solicitation and
encouragement of James M. Beebe, he became one
of the firm of T. A. and H. G. Chapman, Hanover
street, Boston, and remained there seven years with
but little success, except to establish a reputation
' for capacity and integrity. Observing the power
and influence of capital invested in the dry-goods
1 business in the East, he determined to make his
1 future experiments in the West. In the year 1857 he
removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and through the
assistance of C. F. Hovey and Co. resumed business
I on East Water street under the firm of Hassett and
; Chapman. Mr. Hassett retiring at the end of five
' years, Mr. Charles Endicott became a partner and
remained three years ; since that time, a period of
twelve years, Mr. Chapman has conducted the
business alone. Having goods of the best quality,
united with system and good order in his establish-
ment, together with the rule of "one price," his
patronage very soon exceeded his expectations.
The city grew, and rival houses arose, but he main-
tained his supremacy. In 1872 he built one of the
largest dry-goods houses in the Northwest, situated
on the corner of Wisconsin and Milwaukee streets,
which he now occupies. The dimensions of the
building are forty-six by two h''.ndred and forty feet,
and four stories high. The interior is airy, cheerful
and perfect in detail, affording every convenience to
employe and patron. Although there are over one
hundred clerks in this establishment, the character
of its head is felt in every member, and order and
system reign su])reme.
In 1850 Mr. Chapman married Miss Laura Bow-
^/?<(^lfl|fw.^W
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DlCTIONARr.
91
ker, of Boston, a woman of education and cidture,
of social qualities and of exemplary character as
wife and mother. In accumulating his present
fortune he has not been unmindful of the comfort
and happiness of employes and members of his own
family who have been less successful in business ;
nor has he been wanting in public spirit. He' con-
tributes liberally to whatever measures are calcu-
lated to promote the general welfare, physical,
moral, or intellectual, recognizing no distinction of
creed or opinion, being broad and liberal, a lover of
nature and scientific pursuits. His life illustrates
the success an ambitious man may achieve by self-
reliance, sound judgment, and persevering industry.
HON. LEVI HUBBELL,
MILWAUKEE.
LEVI HUBBELL was born in Ballston, New
^ York, April 15, 1808, and was the youngest
son of his parents, who were natives of Fairfield,
Connecticut. His father, Abijah Hubbell, entered
the service as a soldier in May, 1776, and served
during the war. He was wounded at the battle of
Brandywine and bore the scar during his life. His
mother was the daughter of Dr. Fitch, of Reading.
Levi commenced his classical studies at an academy
in Ballston, and completed his preparation for col-
lege at Canandaigua, New York. He graduated at
Union College, Schenectady in 1827, where two of
his brothers had preceded him. He read law at
Schenectady and at Canandaigua. Soon after his
admission to the bar, he formed a partnership with
his brother, Walter, of Canandaigua, in whose office
the subsequently distinguished orator and statesman
Stephen A. Douglas was then a student.
At- this time he was a member of a debating club
of which Stephen A. Douglas, George W. Clinton,
Henry Morris and others who rose to distinction
were members. He regards his connection with
that club as one of the most fortunate events of his
life. He engaged early in politics and was one of
the editors of the " Ontario Messenger," the organ
of the democratic party in that county. Through
his influence yoimg Douglas was led into the demo-
cratic fold, and became an ardent friend of General
Jackson. In January, 1833, he was called by Gov-
ernor Marcy to take the office of adjutant-general
of New York, succeeding General John A. Dix,
which he held until November, 1836, when he re-
signed and removed to Ithaca, New York.
In 1840 he was elected a member of the State as-
sembly from Tompkins county as a conservative dem-
ocrat. He took an active part in support of the
policy of enlarging the Erie canal, and of opening
channels of communication with the growing West.
In June, 1844, he removed to Milwaukee, where he
has since resided. He formed a partnership with
Asahel Finch and William Pitt Lynde, and practiced
law under the firm name of Hubbell, Finch and
Lynde. In May, 1848, he was a delegate to the
national democratic convention at Baltimore, giving
his support to General Cass. As a member of the
committee on resolutions he acted with Governor
McDowell of Virginia, Slidell of Louisiana, and
Francis I. Blair of Washington, in opposing the pro-
slavery resolutions of William L. Yancey of Georgia.
In July, 1848, he was elected one of the judges of
the supreme and circuit courts of the State.
His circuit embraced the counties of Milwaukee,
Waukesha, Jefferson and Dane, the duties of which,
together with those of the supreme bench, were very
laborious. The termsof the judges were determined
by lot, and he drew the three years term. In 1851
he was reelected for si.x years. A separate supreme
court being established in 1853, he continued to act
as circuit judge until June, 1856, when he resigned
in consequence of the inadequacy of the salary —
fifteen hundred dollars per annum — and resumed the
practice of law in the city of Milwaukee.
Of his ability, learning and general character as a
judge there is but one intelligent opinion, and that
places him among the most distinguished of the
profession. When the war of the rebellion com-
menced he exerted all of his influence on the side of
the government, and was denominated a war demo-
crat, or republican. In 1863 he was elected a mem-
ber of the State legislature from the county of
Milwaukee, a body in which his genius, learning
and classic taste admirably qualified him for efficien-
cy and usefulness. Accordingly his tongue and his
pen were devoted to the cause of his country, the
one in eloquent appeals to the patriotism of his
countrymen and the other in expounding the prin-
92
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
ciples of the government which were being assailed
with a view to their demolition.
In 1870 he was appointed by President Grant dis-
trict attorney for the United States for the eastern
district of Wisconsin, and retained this office until
June, 1875, discharging its duties with ability and
fidelity.
It is proper to state not only in reference to Judge
Hubbell, but as a part of the history of the times,
that an attempt was made in 1853 to impeach him
for misconduct as a judge of the circuit and supreme
courts of the state. The trial, which has long since
been regarded as a political drama instigated by a
few envious and malignant parties, ended after a full
and searching investigation in his prompt acquittal
by the court. The result was received by the State
at large with gratification, and by the citizens of
, Milwaukee (his home) with manifestations of joy,
j with bands of music, the firing of cannon, guns, etc.
! Judge Hubbell was twice married to beautiful
! accomplished women : first, in 1836, to Susan Linn,
! daughter of Hon. Simeon De Witt of Albany, New
York, and after her death, in 1852 to Mary Morris,
1 daughter of the late Samuel W. Beall of Wisconsin.
ANSON W. BUTTLES,
MIL U'A UKEE.
ANSON W. BUTTLES, civil engineer and sur-
veyor, was born at Milton, Northumberland
county, Pennsylvania, on the 2 2d of June, 182 1, be-
ing the eldest son of Cephas and Nancy Buttles ;
the former was born at East Granville, Massachu-
setts, on the nth of April, 1791 (and now in general
good health) and the latter was born at East Wind-
sor, Connecticut, on the 23d of February, 1794
(whose maiden name was Stoughton).
Mr. .Buttles' father removed to Pennsylvania from
Massachusetts about the year 1817, his intended
wife following at a later date. They were married
at Milton, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, on
the 25 th of May, 1820, and about the year 1831 they
removed from Pennsylvania to Clear Spring, Wash-
ington county, Maryland, with their family of five
sons and one daughter, where they remained until
the year 1843, and removed from thence to Colum-
bus, Ohio, and resided there for a few months, and
finally proceeded to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where
they permanently located, in the year 1843, o" '1^^
5th of October. Their five sons and one daughter
(who were all born in Pennsylvania) removed with
them to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Abijah Buttles and Augustus Stoughton, the grand-
fathers of A. W. Buttles, were soldiers in the revo-
lutionary war; the former crossed the Delaware
river on the night of December 25, 1776, with Gen-
eral Washington's wing of the army, and assisted in
the capture of the Hessians, one of whom he made
prisoner and led him up to his captain, when the Hes-
sian drew from his pocket a bottle of New England
rum and the three took a sociable drink together.
The subject of this memoir began his studies at
Northumberland College, Pennsylvania, at a very
early age, and received the balance of his education
in Washington county, Maryland, partly under select
tuition, and prepared himself for the profession of
civil engineering and surveying, the practice of
which he commenced (very young) on the Chesa-
peake and Ohio canal in Maryland, and later, when
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad was commenced, he
went into camp on the location of that road, under
B. H. Latrobe as chief engineer. He commenced
at the lowest step of the ladder, and elevated as fast
as an opportunity would permit, which were few and
far between, being at too young an age (although
capable) to repose much responsibility upon in such
very important and gigantic work as railroading was
considered in those days. However, he remained
on the location and construction of said road until
the same was completed as far as Cumberland,
Maryland, and from that time quit the profession
until the Milwaukee and Mississippi railroad in Wis-
consin began its career, and upon which road was
on the location as far as Madison and upon the con-
struction as far as Milton.
The chief engineer was the late Hon. Byron Kil-
bourn, a very ambitious, co'^^.petent and accurate
officer, and under whose authority Mr. Buttles had
charge of the construction of the first division from
Milwaukee to Waukesha, twenty and one-half miles,
and which distance he has walked both ways in a
day many times, with his instrument upon his shoul-
der, giving grades, directions, etc., whenever they
were needed.
THR UNITED STATES BIOGIiAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
93
And the first rails ever laid in the State of Wiscon-
sin were put down to grades staked by him.
After his services were no longer needed there he
was removed to the next division from Waukesha
west, and remained on said division until the com-
pletion of the road to Milton and the branch to
Janesville, at which time he left the road and fol-
lowed the fortunes of Mr. Kilbourn, who had
transferred his services from the Milwaukee and
Mississippi road to the Milwaukee and La Crosse
as chief engineer, and Mr. Buttles was on the loca-
tion and construction of that road as far as Hartford,
having charge of all the most difficult work, and re-
mained on it until graded thus far.
Then quit the profession of civil engineer, for the
reason that he had contracted a heavy cold while
camping out on the Mississippi road, which became
seated for such a length of time that finally it partly
deprived him of his hearing. Since which time he
has been county surveyor of Milwaukee county three
terms, and held the office of county superintendent
of schools second district of Milwaukee county for
six years, bfesides holding the offices of town clerk
and justice of the peace for a number of years, the
latter two are now in his possession.
In the year 1870 he had charge of the first division
of the Milwaukee and Manitowoc railroad as the
resident engineer, and continued as such until the
company became bankrupt, since which time he has
turned his attention to farming, where he now re-
sides, in the town of Milwaukee, occasionally doing
some surveying.
In regard to his politics, has always voted with
the democracy, yet never was a strict partisan, rather
considered the man to be elected. At present his
political views are, " Hard money for the people, a
tariff for revenue only, honest payment of the pub-
lic debt, free speech and free press, and opposition
to a third term."
He was married, January 15, 1850, to Miss Cornelia
H. Mullie, who emigrated to Wisconsin from the
kingdom of Holland in the year 1848. It was a
very common expression of Mr. Buttles when in his
teens, to say that he never would marry unless he
could bestow his heart with a fine, large Dutch girl
recently from the old country; yet strange to say
such was really the case, as she was a fine, hale,
hearty Dutch girl, and a lady above the average
weight, and " the bill was filled in all its particulars."
She not speaking the English language and he could
not speak her native tongue, notwithstanding the
contract was made without any obstacle, and after a
time resulted in the raising of a family of eleven
children — four sons and seven daughters, and at
the present writing all are living, their parents also,
and are all without a blemish upon either their per-
sons or character, the eldest being now engaged
in the public schools of Wisconsin and the next
eldest fitting for the dry-goods business.
Mr. Buttles' wife being the first woman who was
propelled by steam on a railroad in Wisconsin,
which took place on the Milwaukee and Mississippi
railroad when a very short distance of the track was
laid from Milwaukee west.
His religious views have never been definitely ■
settled, never being connected with any church, but
has always when possible attended the Episcopal
church, of which his parents were members.
WILLIAM E. SMITH,
MIL WA UKEE.
WILLIAM E. SMITH, of Milwaukee, mer-
chant, was born in 1824, in Scotland, the son
of Alexander and Sarah Smith, whose name, previous
to her marriage, was Grant. His father was a man
of education and culture, belonging to the middle
class, and manager of a large landed estate. Mr.
William E. Smith was quite young when he came to
America. Lived first in New York, then in Michi-
gan, and in Wisconsin in 1849 ; was educated in the
public schools.
He was married to Miss Mary Booth, daughter of
13
Rev. John Booth, of Michigan. He has two sons
and two daughters. His oldest son was educated at
the State University ; the younger is at the academy
in Milwaukee. Both daughters have received a lib-
eral education.
In 1850 he was elected to the legislature from
Dodge county, where he settled in 1849. He was
first a whig, then a republican. The questions of
the session were the abolition of capital punishment
and the submission of the bank question to the peo-
ple. In 1 85 1 he was nominated for reelection, and
04
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHrCAL DrCTrONART.
declined. He was elected to the senate in 1857.
He attended the convention at Madison in 1854,
which organized the republican party, taking an
active part therein. During the first session in the
senate he was a member of the committee on educa-
tion. In the second session, in 1858, he was chair-
man of the committee on education. In 1858 he was
appointed one of the regents of normal schools, there
being four now in the State. He was elected to the
senate in 1863, serving in 1864 and 1865 ; was mem-
ber of committee on finance and on banks, and was
chairman of committee on benevolent institutions.
In 1865 he was elected treasurer of the State, was
reelected in 1867, and retired in January, 1870, from
that office, enjoying the public confidence. He
went to Europe in 1870 for observation and recrea-
tion, and traveled through Great Britain and on the
Continent. Returning in 1870 to his old home in
Dodge county, he was reelected to the assembly, feel-
ing very grateful for this indorsement of his public
services after twenty years, and also by the State in
electing him speaker of the assembly.
He is a trustee of the Milwaukee Female College,
and has been regent of normal schools seventeen
years. He has been a trustee of the Wisconsin
Female College at Fox Lake twenty years ; he is
trustee of Wayland University at Beaver Dam ;
trustee of the University of Chicago, Illinois; trustee
and one of the executive committee of the North-
western Life Insurance Company ; is State prison
commissioner, to which position he was appointed
by Governor Taylor ; he is vice-president of the
Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce; representative
of the chamber of commerce in the National Board
of Trade, and one of the vice-presidents of the
National Board of Trade.
But few men in our country have ever been called
upon to discharge the duties of as great a variety of
offices as Mr. William E. Smith ; none has dis-
charged them with more ability or with greater sat-
isfaction to his countrymen.
The purity of his life has disarmed envy and jeal-
ousy of their malice, and the "smell of fire is not
upon his garments."
HENDERSON HUNT, M.D.,
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Nichols,
New York, was born on the 4th of January,
1813, of Ebenezer Hunt and Abigail m'e Dod. His
paternal ancestors immigrated with the Pilgrims, and
his grandfather Hunt, with five brothers, served dur-
ing the war of the revolution. His maternal ances-
tors, also, were among the first settlers of the colonies.
His mother when quite young removed with her
parents from Newark, New Jersey, to Fort Wyoming,
soon after it was burnt by the Indians. And from this
place the family removed up the Susquehanna river
in a large boat propelled by poles to where Nichols
now is, in the county of Tioga, New York. Here,
on the east bank of the river, the Dod family perma-
nently settled in an unbroken forest inhabited only
by wild beasts and Indians. At the age of fifteen
his mother married Andrew White, by whom she
bore three children. The last remaining member of
this branch of the family was the late Judge White
of Jasper, Texas. After the death of White she
married Ebenezer Hunt. The fruit of this alliance
was six children, three boys and three girls, Hender-
son being the second.
Henderson's early life presented few marked char-
acteristics, other than an ardent desire for knowl-
edge and fondness of study. He lived with his
parents, employing his time in farm work and study
at home and at the district schools, and while there
imbibed those habits of strict temperance and indus-
try that have marked his subsequent career, having
never chewed tobacco, or smoked a cigar or pipe, or
drank a particle of ardent spirits as a beverage, from
childhood to the present time. His retiring disposi-
tion and native modesty naturally inclined him toward
his books, in which he found most congenial com-
pany. The sciences especially were his delight ;
and having acquired the mastery of surveying, he left
home at the age of twenty-two and went to Michi-
gan, intending there to engage in his profession.
But not meeting with the success that he had an-
ticipated, he soon returned to New York and began
the study of medicine with Dr. Terrey of Newark.
At the expiration of six months, going to Ohio, he
engaged in teaching in the high school of what is
now South Cleveland. Five months later he entered
the medical college at Worthington, Ohio, where he
• »s.
LP, &yM.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
95
matriculated for a full term of college studies, two
winter and two summer courses of lectures, and
graduated from the same in 1837. Returning to
Cleveland he spent a short time in practice with Dr.
Kellogg, and later continued his profession for three
years at Chardon, Ohio. In 1841, removing to Wis-
consin in his own private conveyance, he settled at
Delavan, where, during a period of eight years, he
conducted a large and continually growing practice.
At the end of this time he matriculated as an M.D.
in the University Medical College in the eity of
New York, where he attended a full course of lec-
tures, and in the spring returned home and again
took up the practice of medicine in company with
Dr. J. R. Bradway, his former pupil, now of Oak-
land, California.
In 1849, having purchased a large farm, he re-
linquished his profession in part and turned his at-
tention to agricultural pursuits. Aside from his
regular business he has devoted much time to pub-
lic enterprises. In 1851 he aided in organizing the
Deaf and Dumb Institute, was chairman of the build-
ing committee and served as president of the insti-
tution during a period of seven years; and in all
matters pertaining to the welfare of his city his sym-
pathy and support have never been wanting.
Politically, he was in early life a democrat, but
in 1856 he became identified with the republican
party, and has since remained a firm supporter of
its principles.
His early religious training on the part of his par-
ents consisted more of Christian example enforced
by positive injunction to do right regardless of con-
sequences than by catechism. His parents were
both sincere practical Christians, but did not belong
to any denomination. Under such influences Hen-
derson was left quite_ free to choose and embrace
that form of doctrine he might think most reasona-
ble. At the age of twelve he began to learn and
receive the doctrines of the New Church, and in
this faith has lived and grown for over fifty years,
firmly believing it to be the true doctrine of revela-
tion and the only one that is capable of fully har-
monizing the bible with science ; and that one, too,
which is filling the Christian world and the churches
with a higher and purer life and light.
He was married in 1838 to Miss Loraine B. Filler,
of Newburg, Ohio, who died in 1849, leaving two
sons, one daughter having died in early infancy.
He was married a second time in 1850 to Miss
Sarah A. Barlow, of Delavan, Wisconsin, and by her
has had eight sons and one daughter.
As a man. Dr. Hunt is widely known as upright
and honorable in his dealing, while his social and
personal qualities have secured to him a large circle
of warm friends. His life has been one of varied
e.xperiences, and now, having reached the sundown
side, he enjoys the satisfaction of having done what
he could to aid his fellow men, and of having de-
veloped in himself a true and generous manhood.
HON. PETER VICTOR DEUSTER,
MIL WA UKEE.
PETER VICTOR DEUSTER, a native of
Prussia, was born near Cologne in that king-
dom on the 13th of February, 1831. He is the
only son of Mathias and Anna C. (Koenen) Deuster.
The groundwork of the lad's education was laid
at the common school, where he pursued his studies
until he attained the age of thirteen. He was then
removed to an academy, and continued there until
his parents immigrated to America, three years later.
In the month of May, 1847, they set sail for the
United States and landed in Milwaukee in July.
Mathias Deuster bought a farm in Milwaukee
county, and his son turned his hand to farming
until winter set in, when he entered the printing
office of the late Hon. Moritz Schoefiler, editor of
the ■' Wisconsin Banner," as an apprentice. For
three years he remained in this employment, until
his indenture expired. He then worked for over a
year longer as Mr. Schoeffler's accountant and col-
lector.
Peter V. Deuster then commenced the ]iubli-
cation of a literary weekly paper called the " Haus-
freund " which he edited, printed and carried for
about six months, at the end of which time he was
engaged as foreman in the "See Bote "office and
held that position until November, 1854. About
this time he was offered the charge of a newspaper
published by Judge A. Heidkamp, at Port Washing-
ton, Wisconsin, and accepted the same. He entered
at once upon his duties but did not confine himself
96
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARi:
to the task of superintending the paper. He ran
the post-office, was deputy clerk of the circuit court,
notary public, land agent, did banking business, and
at night taught school for young men.
In 1856, after having made all arrangements for
starting a paper at Green Bay, he was offered a third
interest in the " See Bote," and in September of that
year he returned to Milwaukee and entered into
partnership with Messrs. Greulich and Rickert as
publishers of the said newspaper. A year afterward
he purchased Mr. Rickert's interest, and in i860 he
bought out his remaining partner, the Hon. August
Greulich, and has ever since published and edited
the paper alone.
Mr. Deuster was born and educated in the Roman
Catholic faith, but although still an adherent to this
ancient church, he is also a believer in the doctrine
of Frederick the Great, "To let every man attain to
salvation according to his own notion."
Ever since he has been old enough to form any
opinion on political matters he has been an admirer
of the Jeffersonian democracy, and still holds the
fundamental principles of the same as the safest for
the preservation of liberty.
In the year 1862 Mr. Deuster was chosen by the
citizens of the south side of Milwaukee to represent
them in the legislative assembly, and in 1869 he was
elected to the State senate from the sixth senatorial
district, which was composed of part of the city of
Milwaukee.
In addition to the various nevi'spapers that we
have before alluded to, we must not omit to men-
tion that he was the publisher of the Chicago " Daily
Union " (a democratic German paper) from 1869 to
the outbreak of the great fire.
Although Mr. Deuster has led such a busy life he
found time to make a trip to Europe in 1865, and
visited all the principal parts of Germany. In 1874
he went to California, where he remained for about
six months, with the object of seeing all the noted
places of that State.
He was married, January 10, i860, to Agathe Ger-
trude, only daughter of John Stoltz, Esq., one of
the earliest settlers of the city of Milwaukee.
Mr. Deuster's record is that of a man who is not
satisfied unless actively engaged. His has been a
career of industry, and as steady application to
work is the healthiest training for every individual,
I so is it the best discipline of a State. The idle pass
' through life leaving as little trace of their existence
as foam upon the water or smoke upon the air;
whereas the industrious stamp their character upon
their age, and influence not only their own but all
succeeding generations.
ALBERT B. GEILFUSS,
MIL WA UKEE.
ALBERT B. GEILFUSS is a native of Germany,
. and was born in Saxony, March i, 1847, whence
at the age of four years he was brought to the
United States. His father, who is still living, was a
school-teacher, and spared no pains in the educa-
tion of his eight children. The family remained in
New York until 1854, when they removed to Mil-
waukee, where the subject of our notice was at once
placed at school in the German and English Acad-
emy, under the care of the learned and much
lamented Professor Peter Engelmann. Here he was
a close student, history, mathematics and the lan-
guages being his favorite studies. He remained in
the academy until 1861, when he graduated with
the highest honors. Immediately after leaving school
he was employed in tl^e boot and shoe store of B.
Stern, as clerk and assistant. Disliking the business,
he soon after entered the banking house of Price,
Bros, and Co., as errand-boy, when after a short
time he took charge of the books during an illness
of their accountant. He rapidly acquired a knowl-
edge of banking, and in 1865 was engaged as
book-keeper of the Fifth Ward Bank, now South
Side Savings Bank, where he also acted in the capac-
ity of teller. In the fall of that year. Price, Bros,
and Co. recommended him very strongly to Good-
rich, Rumsey and Co., their successors in business,
where he remained until March, 1867, when he was
called to the Merchants' National Bank of Milwau-
kee, by its president, Mr. E. H. Goodrich, as teller
and general assistant. Mr. Geilfuss filled this posi-
tion until 1870, when the Merchants' National Bank
went into voluntary liquidation, and was succeeded
by the Bank of Commerce (Edward O'Neill, presi-
dent, John Black, vice-president), in the organization
of which Mr, Geilfuss rendered very valuable assist-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
97
ance. The directors of this bank comprised many
of the wealthiest and most prominent merchants
and capitalists of Milwaukee, and they immediately
appointed Mr. Geilfuss cashier. A greater evidence
of confidence in character and ability could hardly
have been given to so young a man, as Mr. Geilfuss
was then but twenty-three years of age — by far the
youngest cashier that had ever been appointed in
Milwaukee. His close attention to business, to-
gether with the careful management of all matters
intrusted to him, rendered him exceedingly popular
with the customers of the bank, and the directors
rewarded him with a reelection every year to the
position of cashier.
In politics, Mr. Geilfuss may be called independ-
ent. He has generally voted the republican ticket.
He, however, took an active part in the liberal
movement, and in May, 1872, was elected a delegate
to the Cincinnati convention, and was chosen secre-
tary of the Wisconsin delegation.
His religious views are broad and liberal, his aim
being "to do right." He is not only tolerant of
others' views, but gives full credit to all for sincerity,
when their works accord with their profession. He
is of a very social disposition, and has been elected
three times to the presidency of the Germania Lit-
erary Society. He has frequently been chosen to
official positions in the Milwaukee Musical Society,
Milwaukee Mjennerchor, and Young Men's Associ-
ation, of which latter institution he has been thrice
treasurer; the last term he was elected without op-
position. He has been twice elected treasurer of
the Milwaukee Musical Society, and is at present
one of the five trustees selected for the management
of the Academy of Music.
In September, 1869, he was married to Josephine
A. Bremer, eldest daughter of George Bremer, the
senior partner of one of the oldest grocery houses
in Milwaukee. He has three children, a boy and
two girls, living. Mr. Geilfuss has attained not only
a great and well deserved popularity, but has been
the recipient of many positions of trust, due not
alone to a marked and singular business talent, but
to an unswerving integrity, and a faithful adherence
to the interests of those whom he has always so
truly served in the responsible offices he has filled.
The fearless, honest and upright manner in which
he has at all times discharged his duties has won for
him a deep respect and an unlimited confidence,
that cannot be but gratifying to so young a man.
WILLIAM H. RODWAY,
MIL WA UKEE.
WILLIAM H. RODWAY, a native of Wilt-
shire, England, was born on the 29th of
March, 1823, and is the son of Richard Rodway and
Ann ne'e Fisher. His mother was descended from a
very old and respectable family, and both her father
and grandfather were captains in the British navy.
William had a great fondness for study and literary
pursuits, and while a pupil in the common schools
was noted for his power of declamation and aptness
in his studies. At the age of fifteen years he left
school and during the ne.\t five years served an
apprenticeship in a dry-goods house, and there laid
the foundation of his subsequent business career.
.\t the close of his term of service he removed to
London and there spent several years in the same
business with Messrs. Stagg and Mantle, Geo. Hitch-
cock and Co., and Swan and Edgar. His stay in
London was especially beneficial to him in perfect-
ing his knowledge of business and bringing him into
more direct contact with the most prominent mer-
chants. After filling many positions of trust to the
entire satisfaction of his employers, he left London
[ and spent one year with his uncle, John Fisher, of
; Bristol, proprietor of a herse and carriage repository.
i In 1849 he immigrated to the United States, and
settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here for a time
I he was somewhat unfortunate ; soon after his
arrival all his clothes were stolen, and at the end of
the first year he had e.xhausted nearly all his means.
I He was next engaged for a short time in painting,
I and soon afterward, in company wfth Mr. Acheson,
I purchased the first lithograph press ever brought to
Chicago, and under the firm name of Acheson and
! Rodway began that business which has become so
extensively known as the Chicago Lithograph Com-
pany. At the same time he began dealing in real
estate, and other remunerative occupations, and
finally devoted his attention almost wholly to real
I estate operations. In 1857 he owned about twenty
thousand acres of land in different parts of Wiscon-
98
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
sin, and has continued his extensive dealings up to
the present time. Besides this he has an interest of
eighty thousand dollars in a sash, door and blind
factory, which is conducted under the firm name of
Rodway, Conway and Co., and ships largely of his
goods to thirteen different States. Their facilities
for carrying on their business are unsurpassed by
those of any establishment in the State, and they
are widely known for their sound financial standing.
In his real estate dealings especially, Mr. Rodway
has shown himself preeminently a business man;
and his strict honesty, undoubted integrity and
keen perception have placed him among the fore-
most men of his city. He has negotiated some of
the largest sales ever made in his State, and was
chiefly instrumental in the sale to the United States
Government of the property near Milwaukee on
which now stands the Soldiers' National Home.
In his political views he is a staunch republican,
and has been a warm supporter of General Grant
since the battle of Pittsburg Landing. His ambi-
tion, however, has not been for political honors or
emoluments, he finding in his regular business more
\ satisfactory and congenial work, and ample scope
for his best talents. He has traveled extensively,
and in visiting the principal cities both in this
country and Europe he has gained an invaluable
experience and an accurate knowledge of men and
things.
His religious training was under rigid Episco-
palian influences, and he is now a worthy and
zealous member of that church.
Mr. Rodway has been twice married ; first in
1848 to Miss Eliza Jane Fisher, who died on the
3d of January, 1864. His second marriage was on
the 27th of June, 1865, to Mrs. Hannah Mary
Hathaway, a native of Perth, Scotland, and daughter
of Joseph and Mary Smith. Her father, a revenue
officer in England, died in her majesty's service.
Mr. Rodway 's taste and delicacy in all matters of
literature and art, his keen wit and fine power of
expression, render him a most pleasing man socially
to his few near and intimate friends, and only those
who have known him thus can appreciate him as
the delightful companion, the generous host and
friend, as well as the successful business man.
COLONEL WILLIAM L. UTLEY,
WILLIAM L. UTLEY, a native of Monson,
Massachusetts, was born on the loth of July,
1814. His father, a graduate of one of the best col-
leges of his day, had been a successful business
man, but with many others failed in the cotton man-
ufacturing business, at tlie close of the war of 1812.
Abandoning the luxuries which had surrounded
him, he removed his family to the " Western Re-
serve " in Ohio, then a dense wilderness, whose still-
ness was broken only by the crack of the Indian's
rifle or the tread of wild beasts. At this time, Wil-
liam was four years old; and surrounded by such
scenes of pioneer life he passed his boyhood, receiv-
ing his education in a log school-house, and at the
hands of his father and mother. His first ambition
was to become a hunter; this, however, was suc-
ceeded by a taste for music and painting, and with
a view to cultivating his talents in this direction, he
left his home in Ohio at the age of twenty-one, and
went to New York State. Having little money he
struggled hard, sometimes having plenty, and at
others being reduced to penury, and thus lived a
nomadic life until .\ugust, 1844, when he found him-
self in Racine, Wisconsin, a portrait painter and
fiddler. Up to this time his political views had been
democratic, although he had taken no active part in
political matters, and could with difficulty define his
opinions. His political career began in 1848, when
he abandoned his former sentiments, and became
identified with the free-soil or republican movement
at the first meeting of that body ever held in the
United States. Upon that issue he was elected the
first marshal Racine ever had, and growing in zeal
and political favor, he was, in 1850, elected to the
legislature and reelected in 185 1. In the following
year he was appointed adjutant-general of the State
by Governor Leonard J. Farwell, and from that time
till i860 held various positions of public trust, but
was most of the time engaged in keeping public-
house, in which business he was financially suc-
cessful. He was elected to the State senate in i860,
and there rendered most efficient service, distin-
guishing himself in opposing the demands of the
South and in assisting to put the State in readiness
THE ItNITED .STATES B/OGRAPH/CAL DlCTlONAnY.
99
for war. At the opening of the rebellion in 1861
Governor Alexander Randall appointed him adju-
tant-general of the State, and although there was
hardly a soldier in the State when he entered upon
his duties, within six months he placed thirty thous-
and men in the field, and was highly complimented
in a private letter from President Lincoln for his
prompt and energetic action. Upon the accession
of Governor Harvey he left the adjutant-general's
office and again took his seat in the senate. Soon
after his return home at the close of the session in
1862, he received a colonel's commission from Gov-
ernor Solomon, with orders to raise a regiment in
ten days. At the expiration of that time he reported
at Madison with men enough to form t'*o regiments,
one of which, the 22d, was assigned to him; and
with them, undrilled, he went to the front and as-
sisted in driving Kirby Smith and General Bragg
out of Kentucky, and was the first to carry the
president's emancipation proclamation through that
State, which he did at the point of the bayonet.
Leaving Kentucky in February, 1863, he went to
Tennessee, and there, at Spring Hill, his regiment,
with the entire brigade of General Coburn, were
taken prisoners, and confined for several months in
Libby Prison. Upon being exchanged, the regi-
ment was reorganized at St. Louis, Missouri, and
from there went to Franklin, Tennessee. He was
soon afterward placed in command of the post regi-
ment at Murphysboro, where he remained till Feb-
ruary, 1864. Soon after, joining General Sherman's
army in the famous " march to the sea," he partici-
pated in all the battles till the taking of Atlanta, and
distinguished himself by his valor on all occasions.
On the 5th of July, 1864, hy reason of impaired
health, he was obliged to resign his commission and
return to his hoine. After regaining his health, in
company with his son, the then only survivor of his
family, he purchased the " Racine Journal," which
was then a poorly patronized democratic sheet, and
changing its politics, made of it a widely circulated
and influential paper. At the end of nine years of
successful labor as a journalist, he closed his con-
nection with the " Journal " and devoted his attention
to his duties as postmaster, an office to which he
had been appointed by General Grant in 1869, and
reappointed in 1873. He was chiefly instrumental
in securing the erection of the fine post-office building
of his city. Mr. Utley has given special attention
to the raising of blooded horses for nearly thirty
years, and has raised many which have become cel-
ebrated, among which is the horse " Billy Utley."
In his religious views he is a Universalist, and
believes that God will overrule all things for good.
Naturally kind, genial and social, he is a most agree-
able companion. Firm, prompt and decided, he
never proves untrue to his promise, stands ready to
make any sacrifice for a friend, and never turns his
back upon an enemy.
He has been twice married: first, on the nth of
July, 1839. to Miss Louisa Wing, who died April 10,
1864 ; they had three children, of whom one, a son, is
now living. Secondly, on the 22d of February, 1866,
to Miss Sarah J. VVooster, by whom he has one son.
Naturally domestic in his habits, Mr. Utley finds
his chief enjoyment in his own family, and is most
highly esteemed and respected by them as a devoted
husband and fond father, while by all whom he
knows he is admired as an upright and fair dealing
gentleman.
LEVI BLOSSOM,
MIL WA UKEE.
LEVI BLOSSOM was born at Canaseraga, Alle-
^ gany county. State of New York, September
23, 1813. His parents, Levi and Cynthia Blos-
som, were natives of New England. He was edu-
cated in the common schools of the State in which
he was born. Self-made man, as it were, he left
home at an early age, when quite a boy, remaining
in his native State until the year 1836. Thrown
upon his own resources when about fourteen, he
came west, arriving at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in
November, 1836, having been among the earliest
settlers, and identified with nearly every public work
for years. A few years ago he went south, and was
engaged in the raising and cultivation of cotton, but
returned again to Milwaukee, and remained there
until a few days previous to his death. Mr. Blossom
was one of the first to suggest the building of the
Lake Shore Railroad from Milwaukee to Chicago.
The project was regarded as utterly chimerical, as it
was thought impossible for the road to compete with
too
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
the water route. But he entered upon the work with
extraordinary energy, and, by a series of addresses
to the people along the proposed line, induced them
to subscribe liberally for its construction. Thus the
scheme was pushed forward to realization in the
road which now constitutes the Milwaukee division
of the Chicago and Northwestern system. It shows
how abundantly Mr. Blossom's prescience was vin-
dicated, that now another road has been built par-
allel to this, and that both enjoy remunerative
business. And this was by no means the only enter-
prise that he conceived with admirable judgment
and promoted with resistless energy and fertility of
resource. The plank roads leading out of Milwau-
kee at an early day, and also the lake avenue, a pop-
ular drive leading to what is familiarly known as
Whitefish Bay, were projected and completed under
his supervision. He was also a large stockholder
in the Northwestern Iron Company, and treasurer of
said company for several years. Mr. Blossom was
an able debater and fluent speaker, and ready to
support, by individual effort and on the platform,
any interest of trade or reform or enterprise for the
public weal.
In politics Mr. Blossom was a whig, and acted
with the party during its existence ; but when the
republican party came into power he acted with and
supported the principles of that party until his death.
Mr. Blossom was a constant attendant of the
Episcopal church, and gave generously of his means
for the support of the same. He also made many
and liberal donations to the poor of Milwaukee, and
many will feel the want of one who was ever ready
to assist them in their hour of distress, and they will
mourn the loss of a friend who so often contributed
to their relief.
Mr. Blossom was a man possessed of great energy
and foresight in business matters, and had great
executive ability in prosecuting any measure or pro-
ject which he undertook. He was also a public-
spirited man, ever ready to assist others in promot-
ing and consummating any great public work or
enterprise which would contribute to the prosperity
and welfare of his adopted city and State. He was
well and favorably known throughout the Northwest,
and was generally conceded to have been one of the
ablest busiiress men and financiers during his resi-
dence in Wisconsin, a period of thirty-seven years.
Levi Blossom died at the Grand Hotel, San Fran-
cisco, Friday evening, October 31, 1873, of erysip-
elas, aged sixty years. He arrived in California only
two days previous to his death, accompanied by his
family, who returned to their former home with the
last remains of the husband and father, who had
only a few days before, been in the enjoyment of
health and every promise of a long life. The funeral
ceremonies were from St. Paul's Church, Milwaukee,
on the 7th of December, 1873, where he attended
more than thirty years, and were conducted by Rev.
Dr. Keene, assisted by Rev. Dr. Cole, of Neshota.
Then passed from view Levi Blossom, one of the
pioneers of Wisconsin, a man of genial nature, of
noble, generous impulses, and one who possessed a
large and earnest public spirit.
EDWIN H. GALLOWAY.
FOND DV LAC.
IS a native of Harrisburg, Lewis county. New
York, where he was born April 12, 1825. He
is the son of Charles Galloway and Ann /ice Moore.
His father was a farmer by occupation, and ranked
high as a neighbor and citizen. Edwin in his younger
days was sent to the district school, and afterward
finished his studies at the Lowville Academy. At the
close of school he entered the employ of a merchant,
and passed two years as a clerk and salesman. Then
being twenty-three years of age, of a slight physical
build, with a money capital hardly equaling his nec-
essary traveling expenses, he started westward, and
located at Fond du Lac, arriving there in the summer
of 1848. The place was then a small village, hardly
known on the map, but speedily destined, with such
citizens as young Galloway to develop its resources,
to spring forth as a champion, in growth and pros-
perity, for the leadership of the State.
Starting in as an operator in real estate, he touched
merchandise incidentally for a short time only, and
then took up lumbering, in its various and extended
forms. His real-estate and lumbering operations he
followed closely and successfully until the year 1866,
when by reason of his imperfect health, which for-
bade the constant day and night strain necessary in
carrying on a business then widely extended, and em-
.^2^^^^e^ty ,
THE tmiTED STATES n/OGPAP/f/CA/. DICTIOXAnV
bracing various enterprises of magnitude, he began
gradually to withdraw from affairs requiring active
employment, and arranged and reduced his invest-
ments more in keeping with the capacity of his phys-
ical strength. For the jjaslr ten years he has been a
jirincipal stockholder and manager of the Savings
Bank of Fonddu Lac, and is now the vice-president
of that institution. j
Although for years ranking as one of the most I
active and successful business men of the State, he j
has ever been, and is to-day, devotedly attached to |
his home and his friends. His domestic nature and j
genial temperament are never to be destroyed by
the e.Kcitement and wear of business affairs. He may
always be found at his office or with his family. The
onl\ exception to this rule in the past has been, when
from a sense of duty he has accepted, now and then,
some of the many political positions tendered and
urged upon him by the community, wherein the per-
formance of public duties necessitated his absence
from both, a condition requiring the keenest sacri-
fice on his part.
Another prominent, and perhaps the most promi- j
nent, characteristic of this man, is his universal be- i
nevolence, and almost unlimited charity to the poor.
This spirit on his part lias not found expression by
glittering endowments, or other public exhibition of
its donations; for although during his every day
life, whenever any public enterprise, any religious
society, or any laudable project wliatever, from a
new railroad to a summer-day picnic, needs aid or
encouragement, they always find in him a ready and
generous friend, yet it is among the individual
poor, those in trouble, in distress, the sick or dis-
couraged, cases that do not rise to public notice,
conditions requiring kind counsel, as well as mate-
rial aid, that Mr. Galloway and his family have dis-
tributed tlieir unsurpassed kindness and generous
aid ; until their names and deeds are household
words among the poor.
Mr. Galloway was married November 5, 1850, to
Maria H. Adams, by whom he has had two sons and
three daughters, all of whom (except one son who
died quite young) are still living.
He has recently erected an elegant and conven-
ient residence on his farm near the city, where he
passes much of his time, surrounded by his family
and enjoying tliose comforts he so richly deserves.
WILLIAM H. LATHROP,
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Man-
chester, Bennington county, Vermont, was born
on the 13th of July, 18 16, and is the son of Hubbel
l.athrop and Laura nee Brownson. His father, a
»ell-to-do farmer, was much respected in his com-
munity. After receiving his primary education, he
spent half a year in the Burr Seminary immediately
after its opening in 1833, and at the expiration of
that time accepted a clerkship in the dry-goods
store of William G. Henry, of Bennington, Vermont.
He remained here two years, and in 1835 went to
North Bennington and clerked for Messrs. Robinson,
Blackmer and Co. till 1837. He next formed a
copartnership with William E. Hawk, and opened
a general store, which he conducted till 1839, when
he closed out his business, and in the following year
removed to Wisconsin, and settled at Racine. Dur-
ing the first year after his arrival he employed his
time in the store of Charles S. Wright, and in the
post-office under Dr. Elias Smith. In 1842, return-
ing to his native place, he spent about a year in set-
tling up his father's estate, he having died in the
meantime; and, upon his return to Racine in the
summer of 1844, he purchased a farm of two hun-
dred and forty acres, three miles from the city, and
engaged in farming and real estate operations. \\\
1S45, forming a partnership with Mr. R, S. King and
Mr. J. G. Conroe, he began a forwarding business,
under the firm name of King, Conroe and Co.,
and a lumber trade under the firm name of Lathrop
and Conroe. At tlie end of one year Mr. C. A.
Lathrop, a brother, and L. W. Munroe, purchased
the interest of Mr. King, and the above first
named firm changed to Lathrop, Munroe and Co.
In 1852 Mr. Munroe sold his interest to his son, H.
B. Monroe, and the firm became known as Lathrop
and Monroe. In the following year Mr. Lathrop
purchased Mr. Monroe's interest, and the firm name
again changed to W. H. Lathrop and Co., C. A.
Lathrop remaining in the business. In 1855 the
business was discontinued, Mr. Lathrop selling his
elevator, which he had erected in 1848, to the West-
I02
THE UNITED STATES R/OGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
em Union Railroad Company. The next three
years were occupied in closing up the business of the
firm, and in 1858 he again engaged in the grain and
general forwarding and commission business in the
elevator known as the Norton and Durand elevator.
Running the elevator on a joint interest with the
owners till 1865, he then purchased and enlarged it,
and continued its operation till 1870, when it was
burned, being insured for about two-thirds its value.
Since that time Mr. Lathrop, though not actively
engaged in business, has dealt to some extent in real
estate.
Formerly a whig in his political views, he is now a
republican, and has been honored by his fellow citi-
zens with positions of public trust. He has been a
director and vice-president of the First National
Bank, of Racine since its organization, and was also
director and vice-president of the Racine county
Bank, organized in 1854, and elected a director of
the same in 1855. He was also secretary and treas-
urer of the Rock River Plank Road Company dur-
ing its existence of thirteen years. In 1856 he was
appointed receiver of the Racine and Mississippi
Railroad, now known as the Western Union Railroad
Company.
In his religious sentiments Mr, Lathrop is identi-
fied with the Episcopalians, and is a worthy member
of St. Luke's Church of Racine.
He was married on the 22d of June, 1842, to Miss
Harriet Ann Munroe, by whom he has had one son
and one daughter, neither of whom are now living.
Mr. Lathrop, with his wife, has traveled and visited
many of the States in the Union and gained a most
valuable experience. In 1856 they visited Cuba,
and, on their return, visited all the principal cities of
the southern States, and were present at the inaugu-
ration of President Buchanan. In 1872 thrv visited
California, and spent the winter in the soutl.ern part
of that State.
As a business man he is widely known for his hon-
orable dealing, financial ability and untiring enter-
prise, while personally and socially he is possessed
of those noble and gentlemanly qualities which must
always command the respect and esteem of men.
MANOAH D. MILLER,
MADISON.
MANOAH D. MILLER, the subject of this
sketch, was born February 15, 181 1, in Eliz-
abethtown, Essex county. New York, son of Manoah
and Elizabeth Miller, whose exemplary lives made a
lasting impression upon the future career of their
son. His father was a public-spirited man, and held
several ofiices of honor and of trust, among them
those of member of the legislative assembly and of
judge of Essex county. In his capacity of legislator,
in 18 13, he was a warm advocate of that system of
internal improvements inaugurated by Governor
DeWitt Clinton which has made the State of New
York, in population, enterprise and wealth, the first
in the Union. His social relations with the governor
were of the most cordial character, as evidenced by
a letter from the governor to him which has been
preserved as a sort of heirloom in the family.
Manoah D. Miller received a common-school
education in his native county and completed it at
Madison University, in New York, in which institu-
tion he qualified himself as a minister of the gospel.
He entered the Baptist church as a clergyman,
which position he held with credit to himself and
advantage to his church during twenty- two years.
During the early part of his life he worked on a
farm. At the age of thirteen he commenced learn-
ing the trade of cabinet making. At the age of
nineteen he commenced business for himself, and
, retired from it at the age of twenty-one. He again
I resumed his studies for the ministry, and when com-
pleted became pastor of the churches at Monkton,
Springfield, Danville, Windham, Wilmington and
Addison, all in Vermont. He received the honor-
ary degree of A.M. from Middlebury College. He
was no less distinguished for his ministerial abilities
than for his business capacity, and his aid was fre-
quently solicited in various sections of the country
to build churches.
Learning that there were th^ee thousand inhabit-
ants in Madison, Wisconsin, and no Baptist church
edifice, he could not resist the temptation to exert
his talents on this new field of usefulness. He ac-
cordingly came to Madison in January, 1853, and
commenced the work of erecting a church edifice,
in which he succeeded after encountering difficulties
that at first seemed insurmountable, there being no
cT-^.v-T'^c^
cyCC.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
103
railroads, and materials very scarce. But few men
have contributed more to building up the city of
Madison or to induce immigration, and with that
view, besides the business houses he erected several
private residences, some of them among the most
desirable in the city. Notwithstanding his incessant
labors in the erection of his church edifice, he was
unremitting in his pastoral duties, and preached
every Sabbath in the court-house. These arduous
duties so impaired his health that he was unable to
speak any longer in public, and by the advice of his
physicians retired from the pulpit. Partially recov-
ering his health, his aid was again solicited and ren-
dered at Beaver Dam in erecting a university.
In June, 1857, he organized the Wisconsin Bank
of Madison under the State law, and closed it at the
commencement of the rebellion. At this period he
commenced the business of private banking, in con-
nection with life and fire insurance, which terminated
in 1870. In politics, he was a whig until the forma-
tion of the republican party, but was never a parti-
san. He has been chaplain of the Good Templars'
Lodge in Madison a considerable portion of the
time during fifteen years; has been president of the
Dane county Bible Society for many years ; during
all of which time he has led an irreproachable life,
commanding the respect of all those with whom
business brought him in contact, and winning the
esteem and the affection of the virtuous.
In November, 1831, he married Phoebe Ensign,
daughter of Deacon John Ensign, of Essex county,
New York. She has been to him what Providence
designed all wives to be, a help-meet as well in
jjrivate as in public business, during the last fprty
years.
Believing it a duty he owed to his Maker, to him-
self and to his children, to bring them up in some
useful employment, he has taken his eldest son,
Charles B. Miller, a married man, to the farm on
which he resides, in sight of the city of Madison.
The second son, Carlton E. Miller, has learned the
trade of a tinner.
Mr. Miller's forefathers were among the early set-
tlers of the United States, and participated in the
revolutionary war. He was a warm Union man
during the late rebellion, and sent his eldest son to
the army. He knows the value of a good soldier,
having been, and is yet, a soldier of the cross, en-
listing at the commencement of his service for life.
He is now enjoying in dignified retirement the
reward of his labors in the consciousness of a well
spent life, and in the hope that in the world to come
he will be greeted with the salutation, " Well done,
good and faithful servant; enter thou into tlie joy of
thy Lord."
It is gratifying to the patriot, the philanthropist
and the Christian to become acquainted with the
character of those individuals whose lives have illus-
trated the utility as well as the purity and dignity of
manhood.
EDWARD O'NEILL,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of the
county of Kilkenny, Ireland, was born March
II, 1820, and is the son of Laurence O'Neill and
Margaret ne'e Swift. Edward received his educa-
tion in a parochial school of his native town, after
leaving which his ambitious aspirations led him to
leave his home and set sail for America, in hope of
ameliorating his condition. Upon his arrival in
New York in the spring of 1837, he found himself
so short of money that he was obliged to seek im-
mediate employment, which he gladly found in an
opportunity to learn the tailoring business; and
after an apprenticeship of two years he followed his
trade upon his own account for nine years in the
Stale of Vermont. During this time, by industrious
and temperate habits, he succeeded in building
up a prosperous business, and saving about three
thousand dollars; and, having a natural taste for
study, it became his custom, after performing his
daily routine of business, to sit up far into the night
in order to read historical and other instructive
works, for the purpose of storing his mind with use-
ful knowledge. In the month of October, 1850, he
moved West and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
where he continued his former trade for one year,
after which he engaged in the clothing business for
several years, and then sold out his interest to hi.s
partner. He subsequently established himself in
the coal trade, but as the demand for coal was not
sufficient at that early day to insure success, he
[o6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
He is tolerant of all religious creeds founded
upon moral principles. His mental characteristics
are quickness of perception, decision of purpose and
energy of action. He reads the character of men
readily and decides promptly upon their qualifica-
tions. Such men seem born to command; Napoleon
and Jackson were remarkable illustrations of this
truth ; with them to perceive, to decide and to exe-
cute were synonymous terms.
Mr. Merrill's ceaseless vigilance, tireless exertion
and sound judgment have given a high character to
the road of which he is general manager, and have
made it financially a success. Although he exacts
a rigid compliance with his contracts and tolerates
no dereliction from duty, he is just in his dealings
with all men and kind to his employes.
In the sacredness of home, in the society of wife,
children and friends, he is the kind husband, the
indulgent father and the genial host.
The example of such men furnishes incentive to
enterprise, encouragement to the hopeful toiler, and
reflects honor upon our country.
LEVI H. KELLOGG,
MIL WA UKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Sheffield,
Berkshire county, Massachusetts, was born on
the 24th of August, 1817, the son of Amasa Kellogg
and Abiah nee Callender. When he was four years
of age his parents removed to Oneida county, New
York, and here he resided with them until he at-
tained his sixteenth year, dividing his time between
farm work and study in the common school, and
also for a time was engaged in his brother's store.
Independent in his nature, he early manifested a
disposition to do something, and gladly anticipated
the time when, by his own merit, he could take an
honorable position among men. Conscious of his
own ability to triumph over difficulties, he was not
content to toil for a mere subsistence, and left his
home with a firm determination to succeed, inspired
with high hopes and incited by a worthy ambition.
In 1833, joining the westward tide of immigration,
he removed to Monroe, Michigan. Of his journey
thither, long and tedious, he gives a most vivid de-
scription. The Maumee swamp, of Ohio, was a
formidable obstacle in the way of immigrants moving
west. Over this dreary waste of mud and water,
thirty-one miles in width, the gloomy silence of des-
olation reigned supreme, and the joy of our subject
may be imagined when, after struggling in the
sloughs for nearly three days, he set his foot again
on terra-firma. The whole journey occupied three
weeks, and was accomplished alone with his team.
He resided in Michigan fourteen years, engaged in
enterprises of different kinds, but not, however, to
the neglect of the cultivation of his mind. Carefully
economizing his time, he eagerly employed every
means for acquiring knowledge requisite to fit him
for any position, public or private, to which he
might be called. In 1847, having been financially
successful, he closed his affairs in Michigan and
removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, then a mere vil-
lage, and employed his capital and energies in con-
ducting a large business, comprising an elevator,
milling, steamboating and produce commission. His
tastes and experiences eminently fitted him for his
work, and as a consequence success and prosperity
continually attended him. He was always keenly
alive to the interests of his city, and with the same
zeal which he manifested in his own business, worked
for her growth and welfare. His business relations
gave to him a wide reputation, and throughout the
Northwest he was esteemed as a man of superior
business attainments, generous and honorable in the
highest sense. In his own city he is remembered
by young men whom he assisted and encouraged,
and his name and deeds are cherished by hundreds
who gladly acknowledge his bounty and advice.
Preeminently a business man, he eschewed politics
and devoted his life to the furtherance of worthy
objects, and this, too, although his fellow-citizens,
recognizing his worth, solicited his services for pub-
lic trusts. In the spring of 1873, yielding to the
wishes of his friends, he was elected mayor of Mil-
waukee, but owing to some unimportant technicality,
based upon the fact tliat when elected he was a
member of the city council, with characteristic hon-
esty and manliness he refused to qualify, believing
that any irregularity in his official acts as mayor, at
a time when matters vital to the interests of the city
were to be passed upon, was sufficient reason for
his declining to serve. The act was highly honora-
THE UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHTCAT. niCTIONARY.
!07
ble, and typifies a long life upon which there is
neither spot or blemish, and indicates the purpose of
a man whose name is the synonym of all that is
good, honorable, noble and true. As a financier
Mr. Kellogg was held in high repute. His extensive
business, requiring all the skill and tact of an active
brain, was managed with masterly ability, and his
career furnishes an example most worthy of emula-
tion. Beginning life with less than fifty dollars, he
cast himself upon his own powers, and by energy
working his way gradually up to his position of afflu-
ence and honor, he may justly be called a self-made r
man and the architect of his own fortune.
A distinguishing characteristic of this man was his
generous benevolence. It is said of him that no
deserving appeal for charity ever passed unheeded ; ;
that he gave bountifully of his riches, and always j
had a kind word, a " God speed " and substantial |
aid for the young man embarking in business. In '
the early days of Milwaukee he became connected j
with the Odd-Fellows, and soon took a high position
in that body. Deeply interested in promulgating the
principles of the order, he himself established many
lodges in the State, and scarcely a member of the
order in Wisconsin is unfamiliar with liis name. and
influence. Especially is he remembered and loved
by the older members, for the struggles and difficul-
ties attending the establishment of the order in a
new State bound these pioneers in a brotherhood
that death alone can sever.
Mr. Kellogg united with the First Presbyterian
Church of Milwaukee in 1858, and until his death,
which occurred on the 12th of December, 1873,
remained a zealous and faithful member.
He was married December 25, 1839, to Miss Helen
Barnard, of Monroe, Michigan. Of their children
two sons are now living.
Such is the life history of a truly noble man.
Standing out prominently from corruption, dishon-
esty, and all that tends to degrade and demoralize,
he may truly be placed upon the roll of self-made
men, a worthy example of generous manhood.
MORITZ L. MORAWETZ,
M7LU AUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Rand-
nitz, Bohemia, a province of Austria, was born
on the 15th of June, 1823, and is the son of Abram
I. Morawetz and Amelia ne'e Iserstein. His father,
though an unassuming man, was the recipient of
many public honors. Moritz received his early
education under private tuition at home, and later
studied one year in the public high school of Prague.
He early decided to follow a mercantile life, and
during the first four years after leaving school was
engaged in a wholesale grocery house. At the close
of this engagement he accepted a prominent position
in a wholesale silk, ribbon and notion house of
Pesth, Hungary, which he occupied for four years.
During this time his usefulness as a citizen gained
the public recognition of the municipal authorities,
and in 1847, on the occasion of his leaving Pesth for
Vienna, he was made the recipient of a flattering
testimonial, which bore the signature of the mayor
and other officials. His going to Vienna was with
the intention of entering into business on his own
account, but he was precluded from this by the
political revolution between Austria and Hungary
which began in 1848.
When in the following autumn Vienna was besieged,
with no prospects of an immediate settlement of
difficulties, Mr. Morawetz returned to his father,
who had won high and honorable distinction among
his people, and who, owing to the confused state of
affairs and the uncertainty of entering into business,
consented to his son's desire of immigrating to
America. Arriving in Baltimore, Maryland, in July,
1849, young Morawetz at once sought a situation
where he might learn the language, customs and
manners of his new home. His efforts, however,
were unsuccessful, and not willing to remain idle he
opened a small business on his own account. His
nativity and affable manners soon secured to him a
Jiigh social standing and drew around him a large circle
of respectable and pleasant acquaintances and friends.
His business prospered and in a few years became
remunerative, and he saw before him a bright future.
Learning of the superior inducements offered to
young men by western cities, he followed the advice
of an elderly merchant in whom he had found a true
friend, and accepted an offer of an old acquaintance
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to associate with him in
his already established business. Removing thither
io8
THE VWITED STATES BIOGRAPHTCAL DICTIONARY
in the fall of 1853, lie was j^reatly disappointed at
not finding the condition of things what he had
anticipated. Accordingly the arrangements with
his friend for entering into business were never con-
summated, and he passed the following winter in
looking for another engagement and deciding upon
what course to pursue.
In the spring of 1854 he established himself in the
dry-goods trade, and conducted a successful busi-
ness, till he received from Messrs. Bremer and Co.
overtures to become a partner in their wholesale
grocery house, which had been established in 1850,'
and was enjoying a high reputation. Closing up his
own business he entered into the copartnership, and
has since shared in the success that has attended
the well known firm of George Bremer and Co. The
house is the oldest of the kind in the city, and one
of the most successful in the West. It has an
unbounded credit, and during all the financial crises
through which it has passed never failed to meet an
engagement. Public-spirited and enterprising, they
have taken an active interest in all enterprises con-
I nected with the welfare of their city, and contrib-
j uted liberally to benevolent and charitable objects.
Mr. Morawetz was married in 1856 to Fanny
I Morawetz, of Rundnitz, Bohemia.
JOHN M. KEEP,
JANESVILLE.
JOHN M. KEEP, the subject of this brief sketch,
J who was the second son of General Martin Keep,
was born at Homer, Cortland county, in the State
of New York, on the 26th of January, 1813. His
parents were both from New England and among
the first settlers of Cortland county.
After obtaining the rudiments of education at the
district school, lie at an early age entered the Cort-
land Academy, at Homer, where he pursued the
usual routine of academic studies, and prepared
himself for college. He entered Hamilton College
in 1832 and graduated in 1836, and was one of the
first members of the Alpha Delta Phi Society in
that institution. The same year he commenced his
legal studies with Augustus Donnelly, a distinguished
counselor-at-law, at Homer, New York, and com-
pleted them with Horatio Seymour, Esq., at Buffalo.
He was duly admitted to the bar and commenced
practice at Westfield, New York, and in the year
1845 lie removed to Beloit, in the State of Wiscon-
sin, then a mere settlement, where he continued to
reside until his death. Here he engaged not only
in a large law practice but also took a very active
part in all the enterprises that promised to promote
the growth of the place and enhance the welfare of
society. In the purchase and sale of lands, in the
erection of buildings, in the iironiotion of institutions
of learning and the construction of railroads he took
an important part, and in many of these enterprises
was the animating spirit.
His mind seemed to gras[) every subject and his
enterprise embraced every occupation. Though a
lawyer by profession, and otherwise engaged in a
variety of pursuits, agriculture did not escape his
attention or want his fostering care, for he knew
that upon it depended the wealth, independence
and morality of his adopted State. Whatever was
good or useful, whatever tended to elevate human
nature or ameliorate the condition of mankind, was
sure to find in him cordial support and efficient aid.
The value of his labors are to be estimated chiefly
by the results flowing from his great and active
mind — a mind rich in the profession of every moral
and intellectual quality. In the young and growing
State and city of which he was a resident no man
impressed his name on more enterprises of private
munificence or public utility.
His chief qualities of natural greatness were moral
courage, great energy, ready decision and an indom-
itable will. Few men possess these qualities in so
remarkable a degree as John M. Keep, because few
men are so profusely endowed with the omnipotence
of genius. Systematic in the employment of his time,
he was capable of doing rapidly and well what most
persons could not perform without much time and
great labor. Bred to the bar, his mind was too
original and of too broad a cast to be bound by
those narrow and confined views which bind the
mere lawyer to former precedents and adjudged
cases; he combined the more noble properties of
justice with legal adjudications, commingling the
principles of equity with legal rule, thus mitigating
the too oft severity of legal despotism.
In the spring of 1856 he was elected, without
r/':^^,^ lyf^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
109
opposition, judge of the first judicial circuit of tlie
State of Wisconsin, but at the end of two and a half
years he was compelled to resign this laborious
office on account of the loss of health and the press-
ure of his private business. It soon became evident
that consumption had fastened itself upon him, and
from this time the wasting of his bodily powers went
on gradually, although he retained to the last mo-
ment of his life the full vigor of his mind.
Upon the death of Judge Keep, meetings of the
bar were held at Beloit, Janesville, and also of the
first judicial circuit, and appropriate resolutions
passed and eulogies pronounced upon the life and
services of the deceased.
At the meeting of the bar of the circuit, the Hon.
H. S. Conger, the present presiding judge, on taking
the chair, said, "Judge Keep, however regarded,
was no ordinary man. As a citizen he was generouS)
benevolent and public-spirited. Of great firmness
of character, untiring resolution and indomitable
energy, he was bold, fearless and independent in
thought and action, more resolute in the accomplish-
ment of whatever he regarded his duty than solicit-
ous to win praise or favor at any sacrifice of princi-
ple, however small."
As a lawyer appreciating the responsibilities and
duties of the profession, no man had a higher regard
for its honor or reprobated more earnestly its pros-
titution to base purposes.
Elected circuit judge in 1856, and holding the
office for two years until impelled to resign on ac-
count of the pressure of his own private business,
he carried to the discharge of the important duties
of that office great ability, unwearied industry, and
honesty and integrity never assailed. In the lan-
guage of another who knew him well, " he dignified
the bench rather than received dignity from it."
The death of Judge Keep will be a great loss, not
only to the profession but to the community at large.
Calm, courageous, hopeful and trustful, he died as
he had lived, confiding in a faith that had never for-
saken him, resigned to that Providence in whom
was his trust, in the full possession of all his mental
faculties, vigorous even in death, and meeting the
great change with the courage of a philosopher and
the hope of a Christian. As much as there was in
his life to emulate, there is in his death found in-
struction equally valuable.
In religion Mr. Keep was a Congregationalist,
having united with that denomination at the age of
sixteen years, and like it, he was liberal and tolerant
15
respecting the tenets of other denominations; he
would tolerate every class of sincere professors and
protect them in their ideas of divine worship. In (
all the relations of life and the connections which
he formed with various classes of people, he pre-
served unblemished his Christian character.
His charities more than kept pace with his ability,
and his pecuniary aid and legal advice were ever at
the service of the poor and unfortunate.
Perhaps no better perspective of his life and char- •
acter can be given than is contained in the following
e-\tract from a letter of recent date from the pen of
the Hon. S. J. Todd, of Beloit, a long and intimate ;
friend of Judge Keep.
As long as his liealtli would permit,
busy one, and unlike most men olacti\'
mental processes are rapid, he had the faculty of steady,
untirint; persexeranee. When he beL;an to do anything he
never relinquished it until he had completed it or until it
became impossible. This faculty I have usually found to
exist only in slow men, which John M. Keep was not.
When I first knew him he had been a resident of Beloit for
six years. During this time he was engaged in the practice
of the law and in the purchase and sale of real estate; con-
sequently a very large number of men in Rock county, and
the adjoining counties of Boone and Winnebago, Illinois,
were living upon lands which they held under contract of
purchase from him, and very many of these men — I think
a majority of them — were always in arrears in the payment
of principal and interest. He never declared a contract for-
feited and never brouglit a suit against one of these pur-
chasers so long as they stayed upon the land and exhibited
a willingness to pay ; but un the other hand, whenever they
had been unfortunate, from tlie loss of crops or sickness,
they were sure of substantial sympathy, which did not con-
sist wholly of kind words, and he had the rare faculty of
being charitable without assuming the air of patronage.
These charities were large and manifold, yet they were
given with so little ostentation that no one, however proud
or sensitive he might be, was ever embarrassed or humili-
ated by receiving aid at his hands, and more than this, he
never spoke of these things.
And this reminds me of another peculiarity in his char-
acter. He was the most reticent, self-reliant, self- con trolled
and the bravest man I ever met, without a single element
of fear or diffidence, and at the same time he was the most
truly modest man I have ever known, never exhibiting
vanity or egotism, and consequently no man ever heard
him exalt or speak boastingly of himself or what he had
done or inteiideil to do. In this regard he came fully up to
L'lni-nn's de-i i-iiilion of Graltaii, in his reply to Lord Ers-
kine- inieMi.-n, "What does Henry Grattan say of himself,
my 1(11 l1 .' " .S;n s Curran, " Henry Grattan never speaks of
himself. You could not draw an opinion out of him on
that subject with a six horse team." Further, as a rule he
never spoke of his enemies nor of his controversies with
them. No matter what the gravity or magnitude of their
charges or accusations might be, he was too indifferent to
them, or too proud, to condescend to make any reply or
explanation. The consequence was that he sometimes suf-
fered in the public estimation, and his best friends were
often embarrassed b^ the contemptuous silence with which
he treated the ground of these accusations.
It is hardly necessary to speak of him as judge, a position
he filled with such eminent ability. As I remember him
he nearly realized my ideal of a circuit judge. There as
elsewhere he was composed, patient and impartial, always
easy of approach by every one; quick in his perception of
no
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
every case presented lor his decision, and never too proud
to reconsider his own decisions when he found that lie was
in the wrong.
He died with the satne steady composure that character-
ized him through life, thoughtful and considerate of those
about him until his last moment of life, when he closed his
eyes in death.
" Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."
That Mr. Keep had enemies no one i.s asked to
doubt. All public men must have them, and the
greater the man the more bitter and powerful his
enemies, as a rule. The collision of claims and the
collision of interests, an ardent zeal on one side or
the other of a question, political antagonisms — all
conspire to create opposition, denunciation and ill
will. He was not one of those who feared to do
anything lest he might do something wrong. He
acted from principle, and when fully persuaded of
the correctness of his position never wavered or
faltered in his course. If difficulties increased, his
energy and resolution increased with them. If the
circle of his confidential friends was contracted it
was not because he discarded friendships when
they ceased to be profitable, but because he was
reticent and self-engaged. He was never very com-
promising or conciliatory in his deportment. There
was austerity as well as frankness in his manner that
sometimes made him bitter opponents, but he had
the happy faculty of retaining through life a host of
warm friends whose ardent love was proof of his
private worth more honorable to his character than
even the prominence of his great abilities.
As a writer he was clear, terse and didactic. His
great endowments of disciplined thought imparted
to his hastiest compositions elaborate force, and the
grace of perfection. Bold in his propositions, clear
in his statements, rapid in execution, complete in
demonstration, he was inexorable in his conclusions.
Grant him his premises and the result was as inevi-
table as fate. He did not fatigue himself with deli-
cate metaphysical abstractions nor bewilder his
mind with speculative theories, but like an arrow
impelled by a vigorous power he shot directly to
the mark. In all his qualifications as a judge it may
be said without questioning that he had few equals
and no superiors in this State. The dignity of the
circuit court while he presided over it is still spoken
of as a model of excellence, and his judicial opinions
have established for him the reputation of an able
lawyer.
As a public speaker he was direct and logical,
addressing himself to the reason and understanding
rather than to the passions and prejudices of men,
and his conversational powers when interested were
of the highest order. Before a deliberative body he
was a man of great influence, but he was too much
a matter-of-fact man to indulge in popular harangues.
His early political preferences and party associa-
tions were with the whig, and later, with the repub-
lican party, but he displayed at all times great
independence and high-mindedness, never yielding
his own deliberate judgment to popular applause or
sacrificed his own convictions to the prevailing sen-
timents of the day, nor was he ever a candidate for
any political office.
During his last days the excitement growing out
of the disloyal and belligerent position of the south-
ern States became more and more intense, yet not-
withstanding his enfeebled condition, he watched
with unusual interest all the proceedings in congress
until his feelings were roused with all the ardor of
an intense patriotism, and he frequently expressed a
great desire to be restored to health that he might
participate in the impending struggle on the part of
the Union.
In person Mr. Keep was tall, erect and rather
slender, his manner dignified and graceful, his eye
large, black and penetrating, and his whole counte-
nance expressive of great energy and determination.
His speech was pleasant and all his motions seemed
to partake of the unceasing activity of his mind, and
the most casual glance upon him in action, or repose,
never failed to impress the beholder with an instinct-
ive sense of his superiority.
He was married in 1839 to Cornelia A. Reynolds,
daughter of John A. Reynolds of Westfield, New
York, a lady of rare culture and Christian virtues,
who still survives him.
In the family circle, the place of all others to test
the value of genuine worth, Mr. Keep was tender
and affectionate, very anxious for the welfare of his
children and particularly solicitous about their edu-
cation. He left four children, two sons and two
daughters.
He died on the 2d of March, 1861, aged forty-
eight years, and although but in middle life few men
have left such a record of private worth and public
usefulness.
His death was a very remarkable one. In fact
death in its usual form never came near him. As
said by Judge Conger, his end was indeed that of a
philosopher, and his death the death of a Christian.
For two years his strength wasted gradually until
^'iJ/;^^^//'^'
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
he had not sufficient left to draw a breath, and so he
ceased to breathe. The morning on which he died
he was dressed and occupied his easy chair, on
which he had reposed during his sickness, looked
over papers from his safe, gave directions in regard
to their disposition, conversed with his friends and
neighbors, and the several members of his family
separately, taking affectionate leave of each, but still,
though his pulse had long ceased to beat, he was not
ready to go, for he was waiting the expected arrival
of his sister from Janesville, Mrs. Graham, who had
been summoned to his side, and looking at his
watch and noting the time of the arrival of the cars
he remarked, " I fear she has not come ;" but watch-
ing the window, in a moment he said, " Indeed she
has come." After a few minutes' conversation with
his sister he said, " I am now ready to depart," and
" Death broke at once the vital chaia
And freed his sonl the nearest way."
This brief sketch of John M. Keep will be barely
sufficient to give the reader a bird's-eye view of the
excellency of his life, but the more secret and minute
peculiarities which most endear him to his friends
can never be known save to those whose personal
relations to him were such as to enable them to form
adequate estimates of his private virtues.
HUGO MACK,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch was born in Alten-
kundstadt, Bavaria, on the 25th of August,
1840, the son of Solomon Mack and Henrietta nee
Lowenthal. He attended the common schools of
his native town, and later attended college at Bay-
reuth and Bamberg, Bavaria.
In July, 1854, induced by an elder brother, who
was then visiting his old home, he immigrated to
the United States, and settled in Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin. During the next three years he remained
clerking in the employ of his brother, and at the
same time attended the academy and Lincoln's
College. After closing his studies he associated
himself with Mr. P. Delahunt under the firm name
of Mack and Delahunt, and opened a dry-goods
store in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he built up a
substantial and prosperous trade, and became exten-
sively known as an energetic and thoroughly quali-
fied business man. Closing his affairs in i860 he
visited his old home, and remained in his native
country during the next two years, but at the expi-
ration of that time returned to the United States,
and going again to Milwaukee opened a wholesale
fancy dry-goods and Yankee notion store. Owing
to limited means he began on a small scale, but by
constant energy, industry, economy and honorable
dealing, gradually established a large and thriving
business.
Associating himself with his brother, Herman S.,
in 1867, he has since conducted a lucrative trade
under the firm name of H. S. Mack and Co.
\\\ 1870 he traveled through France, England,
Germany and Switzerland, and gained a most valu-
able experience and knowledge of men and things.
He is a worthy member of the Masonic order, and
in 187 I was elected high priest of Milwaukee Chap-
ter No. 32, of F. and A. M., a position to which he
has since been annually reelected.
Mr. Mack was married on the 28th of June, 187 1,
to Miss Bertha Herman, daughter of A. S. Herman,
one of the oldest and most respected business men
of New York city.
O. W. WIGHT, M.D.,
MILWAUKEE.
DR. O. W. WIGHT was born on the 19th of
February, 1824, in the town of Centerville,
Allegany county. New York. His parental ances-
tor, Thomas Wight, emigrated from the famous Isle
of Wight in 1637, and settled first at Dedham,
Massachusetts. His father was, therefore, a native
New Englander, but moved to New York at an early
day. He married a lady whose maiden name was
Van Buren, a member of that family so famous, not
only in the political annals of New York, but of the
T12
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
nation. 'I'lie subject of this sketch was the first
fruit of that marriage. At the time of his birth his
father was a farmer, and from infancy up to boyhood
his home was upon the farm, and with the toils and
tasks incident to that condition in life he was made
familiar. His education was begun in the district
school, to which he was sent at such odd times as his
manual services were not needed at home on the
farm. He was apt to learn, and even with these
limited opportunities, before he was ten years of age
he had acquired all the knowledge the district school
teacher was able to impart. He had a natural taste
for mathematics, and among the few books which
his father possessed he one day discovered a trea-
tise on algebra, and with no instructor but his own
genius, he had made himself thoroughly familiar with
its contents before he was eleven. At the age of
twelve he was sent away to a distant village to attend
what was called a select school. At this institution
his opportunities for study were greatly enlarged by
the assistance of a liberally educated teacher, and
he made such rapid progress that in a terra of six
months he had added the entire West Point series
to his stock of mathematical acquisitions. From
this time until he was fifteen he continued his stud-
ies at home, without the aid of a teacher, at which
period he removed with his father to Westfield, in
the county of Chautauqua, where he was employed
as a teacher for a short term. In the village of
Westfield, four miles distant from his father's house,
there was an academy of some considerable note,
and to this institution he walked daily during a
period of several months for the purpose of taking
his first lessons in Latin and Greek. Having thus
laid the foundation for his knowledge of the ancient
languages, he continued the interesting pursuit alone
until he had finished more than a university course
of reading. Being still employed upon the farm he
made the study of the classics his recreation, often
spending half the night in delightful converse with
them. Indeed he was seldom without either one or
the other of his favorite authors; they were required
to take turns in accompanying him to the field, and
instead of whistling for want of thought as he fol-
lowed the plow, his active mind was busily employed
in contemplations upon the warlike scenes before
the walls of Troy, or occupied with the more sooth-
ing reflections inspired by the peaceful songs of
Horace. In 1844, when he was twenty years of age,
the subject of our sketch graduated at the collegiate
institution in Rochester, New York, and soon after
this he became connected with Genoa Academy, in
Cayuga county, New York, as a teacher of Latin and
Greek. This position he held for one year, and then
resigned it for the purpose of accepting the profes-
sorship of mathematics and languages in Cayuga
Academy, located at Aurora, in the same county.
In 1847 he relinquished his professorship for the
purpose of accepting the presidency of Auburn
Female Seminary, to which he had been elected by
the board of trustees. That he should be selected to
fill a position of such delicate responsibility at the
age of twenty-three sufficiently shows the high es-
teem in which he was then held as a man of worth,
ability and learning. He did not, however, retain
the situation, in consequence of a difference in relig-
ious sentiments between him and the trustees of the
institution. Finding that he could not retain his
position consistently with his own ideas of liberty of
thought, and knowing full well that religious differ-
ences admitted of no compromises, he sent in his
resignation to the trustees of the seminary, and soon
after wentto New York city, with a view of entering
upon a literary career. He did not remain long in
the metropolis of the nation before he found work
to do. He was employed in the literary department
of the "Democratic Review," and subsequently held
a similar position on the editorial staff of the " Whig
Review." His contributions to both periodicals at-
tracted marked attention, and soon won for their
author a high reputation as a scholar and a vigorous
writer. At about this period in his life he began a
serious and thoughtful investigation of the religious
question, first reading Leibnitz, and never pausing in
his inquiries until he had completed a thorough and
systematic course in theology. Beginning his inves-
tigations with liberal sentiments, reading, reflection
and study into the great mystery served but to con-
firm his impressions and deepen his convictions, and
the final result was that he arose from his theolog-
ical, task with many doubts removed, but wholly
emancipated from the shackles of creeds, sects and
dogmas, and at the same time settled in the logical
conclusion that the best religion was that which
taught the philosophical doctrine that everything
was ordered for the best. After having completed
his theological studies he was ordained a minister
by the Rev. Dr. E. H. Chapin, but true to his opti-
mistic views, he declined to unite with any church
or subscribe to any creed. During the three subse-
quent years he followed his new vocation, having
accepted the position of religious instructor to a
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
"3
society in Newark, New Jersey, which was composed
of a mixed congregation of Universalists, Unitarians
and Swedenborgians. Dr. Wight's discourses, which
were more like philosophical essays than sermons,
attracted the attention of the intellectual classes. At
the end of three years he terminated his engagement
at Newark, and went to the city of Boston, where he
remained for two years, occupying his time in read-
ing, writing and lecturing on a variety of topics. As
he had from boyhood up been governed by system
in his literary pursuits, he now devoted his reading
hours to the subject of metaphysics. During these
two years he also wrote the lives of Abelard and
Heloise, translated and published M. Cousin's " His-
tory of Philosophy," collected and published in book
form Sir William Hamilton's philosophical papers,
with an introduction and explanatory notes. His
edition of the last-named work is still used as a text-
book in several of our colleges.
In the spring of 1853 Dr. Wight crossed the At-
lantic for the first time, on a literary visit to the old
world. He divided the summer months between the
three kingdoms of Scotland, England and Ireland,
reaching London in the early part of the autumn,
where he remained until the last of December.
While there he was employed by a British publish-
ing house to translate " The True, the Beautiful and
the Good," a work written by M. Cousin. The ex-
cellent manner in which he accomplished his literary
task showed his perfect familiarity with the French
language, and gave him a high reputation at once as
a translator. His employers expressed their satis-
faction in flattering terms, as the work commanded
a rapid and very extensive sale. He crossed the
channel early in January to winter in Paris. Having
letters of introduction from distinguished sources in
England, he had no difficulty in gaining admission
into the best society of the Fubourg Saint Germain,
where are to be found the most polished circles in
the politest city of the world. It is rare that stran-
gers meet with such opportunities for social enjoy-
ment, cultivation and observation. Having spent an
exceedingly profitable and pleasant winter in the
French capital, he returned to America in the spring
of 1854, where he remained but a short time before
he recrossed the ocean for the purpose of a more
extended tour on the continent of Europe. He was
absent this time four years; although occupied in
traveling in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland,
England, etc., they were years of labor, study, thought
and reflection. He strove not only to perfect him-
self in the languages of the countries he visited, but
to make himself familiar with their history, laws and
customs, and the characteristics of the people. Dur-
ing these four years he wrote a book in two volumes,
which was published anonymously in London. Hav-
ing completed his European tour, he once more re-
turned to his native shore, settled in the vicinity of
New York and resumed his literary labors, which he
continued steadily to pursue for several subsequent
years. He became a regular contributor to the
" New Englander," the " North American," and
other periodical publications. Original articles were
not the only fruits of his literary efforts ; several
translations from the French fell from his active
and easy pen. Among those was a splendid edition
of " Montaigne," " Pascal's Thoughts and Provincial
Letters," "Germany," by Madame de Stael, "Cha-
teaubriand's Martyrs," " Selections from Balzac," etc.
In 1 86 1 he had an opportunity to return to Europe
as a diplomate, the mission to Switzerland having
been tendered to him by Mr. Seward, a position
which he however declined. Soon after his first
return from Europe Dr. Wight was married.
Somewhat late in life Dr. Wight began the study
of medicine, and having once turned his attention
to the subject, his habit of investigation and tenacity
of purpose forced him onward until he had added a
full medical course to the sum of his mental acqui-
sitions, and taken his regular degree as an M.D.
The two years immediately preceding the close of
the war Dr. Wight resided in the State of Pennsyl-
vania upon an estate which he had purchased. Dur-
ing this time he took quite an active part in politics.
Soon after the war ended he came to Wisconsin;
settled first at Oconomowoc, and for four years prac-
ticed medicine in that locality. In 1871 he removed
to Milwaukee, where he still resides. Notwithstand-
ing his extensive literary labors, his study of lan-
guages, his thorough investigations into the subjects
of theology, metaphysics, philosophy and medicine,
he has still found leisure to read through a regular
course of legal studies and gain admission to the
bar, although he has never made any practical use
of it except in the management of his business. In
the fall of 1873 Dr. Wight took an earnest and lead-
ing part in organizing the elements of opposition to
the republican party in Wisconsin, a movement which
resulted in the nomination and election of Governor
Taylor and his associates on the ticket. In the
midst of the great variety of his other literary pur-
suits he has not neglected the subject of politics, and
114
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
his contributions to the political literature o.f the day,
both on the stump and through the press, have been
numerous and able. His life has been active and
laborious, and very few men of his age have accom-
plished more in results. His reading has been sys-
tematic and thorough, and has familiarized him with
almost every conceivable branch of knowledge and
system of philosophy. His writings have been
extensive, and some of his works have received
favorable notice from transatlantic critics, and have
been republished in England. At home his literary
fame has won him honorary degrees from Yale Col-
lege and other first-class institutions. He has also
been offered the chair of modern languages in one
New England College, the chair of history in another,
and the chair of metaphysics in a third. Dr. Wight
is a man of strong convictions, ardent temperament,
and he always fulfills to the letter the scriptural in-
junction, whatever he finds to do, to do it with all
his might. But his title to honorable distinction
does not rest solely upon the foundation of mere
learning. In no sense can he be regarded as a
book-worm, for nature has endowed him with the
faculty of common sense in a large degree. Inherit-
ing a strong and healthy constitution, which he has
never impaired by intemperance or excess, he is
capable of great endurance, both physical and men-
tal. His retentive memory enables him to repeat
long passages from ancient authors which he has not
read for many years.
Physically, Dr. Wight presents a fine specimen
of mature manhood. He is six feet high, perfectly
erect, and weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds ;
is quick in his movements, graceful, pleasing and
social in his manners. The generosity of his nature
not unfrequently leads him to acts of liberality
which his means would hardly justify. In private
life, and especially in the social circle when sur-
rounded by a few chosen friends, his colloquial tal-
ents make him a very interesting companion.
Dr. Wight is now surgeon-general and State
geologist of Wisconsin. His life has been one of
unremitting activity, and if a man's actions are the
unerring criteria of his character, and which, if in-
spired by pure principles, are also the best commen-
tary upon his life, then Dr. Wight's position in the
literary and scientific world is as definite and fixed
as any man's can be.
WILLIAM C. E. THOMAS,
GREEN BAT.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Muncy,
Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, was born on
the 2ist of November, 1818, and is the son of Arthur
Tliomas, a merchant, and Susan lu'e Gillespie. His
boyhood, very like that of others, presented no
marked characteristics. He received a good Eng-
lish education in the public schools, and in an acad-
emy at Milton, Pennsylvania, and after closing his
studies, served an apprenticeship of four years, learn-
ing the printer's trade. In 1839, being then twen-
ty-one years of age, he left his home, and removing
to the West, settled at Galena, Illinois, where, four
years later, he engaged in the publication of the
" Galena Gazette." At the expiration of six years
of successful work, he was forced by impaired health
to close out his interests here, and removing to Green
Bay, Wisconsin, erected a large tannery, and built up
an extensive business. In 185 1, having accumulated
sufficient capital, he established himself in the mer-
cantile trade, opening a store of general merchan- \
dise, and continued thus employed during a period I
of six years, in which time he became widely known
as a thorough, reliable business man. Selling his
mercantile interests in 1857, he spent the next two
years as a forwarding and commission merchant,
and at the same time engaged in the steamboat
business. He was next employed as express agent,
and in this, as in all other capacities in which he
had acted, showed himself most worthy of the
trust reposed in him. Aside from his regular busi-
ness, he has been honored by his fellow-citizens
with many responsible positions, and in no single
instance has he failed to acquit himself with credit.
Mr. Thomas, thus beginning life with no capital
other than his own native powers, has so turned
the circumstances into which he was thrown, that
he has accumulated a competence, and by strict
adherence to principle, has gained the reputation
wherever he is known, of being a conscientious,
prompt and true man. Coming to Wisconsin at an
early day he has grown up with the State, and in
all matters pertaining to its growth, and especially
"%o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
115
to the development of liis own city, he has heartily
lent his influence and support. He has traveled
extensively throughout the United States, and gained
an experience and a fund of knowledge which, com-
bined with his excellent social qualities, render him
a most agreeable companion.
In 1854 he was elected the first mayor that Green
Bay ever Jiad ; five years later he was chosen city
clerk and justice of the peace, and was reelected to
the office of clerk for each year till 1872. In 1871
he was appointed postmaster by President Grant,
and still holds that office. His political sentiments
are republican.
He was married on the 8th of March, 1846, to
Miss Jane Eames, and by her has one son and one
daughter.
HON. LLEWELLYN BREESE,
PORTAGE.
LLEWELLYN BREESE was born May 13, 1833,
^ at Abermynach, in the parish of Mallwyd,
Meirionwethshire, North Wales. The name of his
father, who is still living, is Edward Breese, and that
of his mother, who died in April, 1873, was Mary
Breese. He immigrated with his parents to this
country in the month of May, 1846, and the family,
consisting of father, mother, brother and himself,
settled during the following summer on a farm in
the town of Randolph, Columbia county, in this
State. This was when Wisconsin was a territory
and before the towii was organized. His education
was academic. Lip to the age of twenty-five he was
engaged most of the time with his parents in culti-
vating the farm. In the fall of 1858, owing to im-
paired health, which was brought on by severe ill-
ness, he accepted the position of under sheriff of
Columbia county, which was tendered him by Ben-
jamin Williams, Esq., hoping thereby to improve his
health and to extend his knowledge of business and
the circle of his acquaintance. Previous to this he
had held the offices of school district clerk, town
supervisor, justice of the peace and town treasurer.
When he removed to Portage to take the position
of under sheriff, it was his intention at the expiration
of his term, provided his health was restored, to
return to the farm and devote the remainder of his
life to the pursuit of agriculture ; but at the close of
the term, in the fall of i860, he received from the
republican county convention the nomination for
county treasurer, and was elected the following No-
vember. He held tlris position for three consecutive
terms, in all six years, having no competitor for the
office except in the first instance. In January, 1867,
at the close of his third term as treasurer, he entered
as a partner the dry-goods firm of N. H. Wood and
Co., which was the most extensive business estab-
lishment in the city. The firm was then composed
of N. H. Wood, R. O. Loomis, C. R. Gallett and
himself. This connection was continued until Jan-
uary, 1869, when Mr. Wood disposed of his interest
to the other partners and retired from the firm,
which thereafter stood and was styled Loomis, Gal-
lett and Breese. The firm as then constituted has
never changed, and is still doing a large and suc-
cessful business. In the summer of 1869, at the
urgent solicitation of friends, especially those of his
countrymen, he became a candidate for the office of
state treasurer at the State convention held that fall.
On the first informal ballot he received a plurality
of the votes, but owing to local combinations the
nomination fell to his competitor. In about a month
after this convention, Hon. E. A. Spencer, the nom-
inee for secretary of state, resigning the position
upon the ticket, made it necessary for the State
central committee to fill the vacancy by appoint-
ment. Without solicitation on his part, or even
knowledge of the vacancy, the committee tendered
him the nomination for that place, communicating
their action by telegraph. Had it not been for the
persistent entreaty of a few intimate friends, promi-
nent in the party, the appointment would have been
declined. He was elected the following November.
Under the organization of the State government
of Wisconsin, the office of secretary of state is by
far the most important of the State offices ; besides
involving the duties of secretary of state proper, this
officer is also cx-officio auditor of state, and school
land commissioner, and also ex-officio commissioner
of insurance. The last position was created by the
legislature in 1870, soon after the commencement of
his first term. In a majority of the other States
these positions are distinct and separate offices, filled
by persons elected or appointed for that purpose.
ii6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
In May, 1870, he represented Wisconsin as com-
missioner of insurance at the national insurance
convention, held in the city of New York. This
convention was composed of those officers in the
different States who had charge of the insurance
departments therein. He was elected vice-president
of the convention for the term of one year, and was
also appointed chairman of the important standing
committee on taxes, fees and deposits. This con-
vention held its second session at the same place in
the following October, when he was reelected to the
same position for the year 1872. At its third session,
held this year, he was elected president, and pre-
sided at its fourth session, held in the city of Boston
in September of the following year. After the ex-
piration of his second term as secretary of state, he
returned to his former residence at Portage and
resumed his former occupation as a merchant. In
addition to this he also held the positions of presi-
dent of the City Bank of Portage, president of the
Portage Iron Works and president of the board of
education. He has been engaged in farming more
or less extensively throughout his life.
Religiously, he is a member and an elder of the
Presbyterian church. His parents were members
of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist church, a denom-
ination holding the same doctrines and having very
nearly the same form of government. It was in this
church that he was baptized in infancy and brought
up ; he became a full member of it at the age of
fourteen, maintaining this relation until he came to
Portage in January, 1859, when, taking his letter of
membership with him, he connected himself at once
with the Presbyterian church of that city, with which
he is now united. He received during his minority
a very faithful and strict moral and religious training
and education, both from his devoted parents and
from the church, of which he was chosen superin-
tendent of the Sabbath school at the age of twenty-
one years, and labored in every department of relig-
ious work in which it was proper for a layman to
engage. Soon after removing to Portage he was
elected deacon, and was shortly afterward elected
an elder, holding the position until he removed to
Madison. Shortly after taking up his residence'in
Madison he was elected by the Presbyterian church
of that city as one of its elders, which position he
held while he remained with them, and after return-
ing to his former residence at Portage he was re-
elected to the same position in the Presbyterian
church of that city. From an early age he has
always been engaged either as a superintendent of
a Sabbath school or as teacher of a class therein.
The character of Mr. Breese very happily illus-
trates the truth of the maxim that character is
formed by circumstances. The most efficient agen-
cies in the formation of character are the teachings
by precept and example of parents to their children.
Natural affection inspires the child not only with
confidence in the ability of the parents, but with
reverence for their virtues and faith in their religion.
Mr. Breese's character for honor, integrity and piety
are but the outgrowth of those qualities which dis-
tinguish his parents, whereas men less favored in
their birth and education have, lured by the beauty
of virtue and the life of holiness, attained high
moral excellence, but it has been a life-long struggle.
The characters may be alike in moral beauty, yet
the man who has struggled is the superior in mental
strength. There is a majesty in the lives of the
virtuous which awes the licentious into reverence.
Pure morals are the basis of all true greatness.
GEORGE W. OGDEN,
MILWAUKEE.
C-^ EORGE WHITFIELD OGDEN, a native of
y Milwaukee, Wisconsin, was born on the 2Sth
of October, 1844, and i« the son of John Ogden and
Jane E. «/<? Gray. His parents were among the
pioneers of Wisconsin, having settled there in 1835,
and much esteemed by all who knew them.
George's boyhood, presenting few marked charac-
teristics, was very like that of other boys. Indus-
trious, enterprising and energetic, he early laid the
foundation of his subsequent success as a business
man. After the close of his studies in the public
schools of Milwaukee, at the age of sixteen, he was
five years a clerk in the clothing store of P. G.
Ogden, and afterward for one year in the same
capacity w'ith a Mr. J. F. Wage. Subsequently he
spent some time traveling in the West, with a view
of settling, but finally returned, and engaged in
clerking at Chicago, and there remained eight
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
117
montlis. At the expiration of this time, his father,
who had been engaged in a carriage manufacturing
establishment since 1849, was about to retire from
the concern, and the son, seeing in the enterprise a
fine opening, at once assumed the business, which at
that time was very much run down, and by bringing
to it his best energies, soon established a most
flourishing trade, — to give a full history of which
would require more space than we have at our
disposal, hence the following brief outline. The
business was established by his father, who had
purchased a small concern on West Water street, in
1849. Remaining there till 1852, he removed to
the present premises on Spring street, and in con-
nection with his own manufacture of carriages and
wagons, introduced eastern made carriages. After
several years a partner was admitted, and the man-
ufacturing confined to carriages, buggies and sleighs.
The firm was dissolved in 1857, and during the suc-
ceeding ten years his father conducted it in his
own name, and at the end of that time turned it over
to its present proprietor. Without any practical
knowledge of the business, but with fine executive
ability, and a capital of four thousand dollars, he
started out in his new enterprise. The number
of hands employed has, in the nine years during
which he has been in charge of the establishment,
increased from ten to over thirty, and the amount
of work in like proportion. The present annual
product from the sale of his own work is fifty
thousand dollars. The extent of the premises is
two hundred by fifty feet, and the quality of the
work unsurpassed by any in the East or West, having
in all of its several lines been awarded the first pre-
miums at various State fairs. Mr. Ogden owes his
success entirely to his own effort. When entering
upon his enterprise his first object was to establish
a reputation, which he did by producing a superior
quality of work, and thus meeting the highest de-
mands of the trade. He has given his personal at-
tention to the management of his business, and by
industry and untiring effort has become known, far
and near, for the beauty, utility and durability of his
work.
In political affairs Mr. Ogden has never taken
any active part, finding in his vocation ample scope
for the employment of all his time and talents. His
views, however, coincide in the main with the repub-
lican party.
His religious sentiments are orthodox.
He was married on the 28th of October, 1873, to
Miss M. Elizabeth Noxon, daughter of Judge James
Noxon, and granddaughter of Judge B. Davis Noxon,
of Syracuse, New York.
EUGENE F. WARREN.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Fort
Covington, New York, was born June 30,
1833, and is the son of Lemuel Warren, Montpelier,
Vermont, and Betsy R. ne'e Richardson, of Washing-
ton county, New York. When Eugene was but five
years of age his family started for the West to regain
the fortune which the father had unfortunately lost
through speculation and sickness. Landing at Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, on July 5, 1838, they proceeded
thence to Janesville, Wisconsin, a small town situ-
ated upon Rock river. Here, although "times were
hard," his father and mother, with the assistance of
his three eldest brothers and eldest sister, succeeded
in making a living. Three years subsequent to their
arrival at Janesville they settled upon a farm in the
town of Union, now known as Center, situated on the
Madison road at a distance of twelve miles from
Janesville. Here Eugene first commenced those
minor duties of farm life which his extreme youth
could compass, and in which he displayed great
energy and facility. When he had attained the age
of thirteen, his three elder brothers, William, Zeb-
iner and John, having left home to battle with the
world on their own account, great grief and affiiction
came upon the family in the death, first of the father
and subsequently of the three sisters, Maria, Louisa
and Elizabeth. Those of the family who remained
could scarce recover from such a blow, but putting
their trust in God they struggled on and finally suc-
ceeded in paying for their 'farm by hard work and
prudent economy. As the care of the farm naturally
devolved upon Eugene, he found little time or op-
portunity to devote to school, spending but three
months each winter in this manner ; but, thanks to
the fact that his mother had formerly been a teacher,
he received from her the most important elements
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
of early instruction. At the age of twenty-one, with
a capital of five hundred dollars, he went to Albany,
Wisconsin, and there entered into a copartnership
with his brothers, John and Lemuel, in the mercan-
tile business, which he pursued for sixteen years in
their company, when he bought out their interest
and continued in the business alone for five years.
Meanwhile, in 1861, it had been thought advisable
for either himself or one of his brothers to enlist in
the service of their country, which was at that time
so much in need of men; and as he had always had
military aspirations and had commanded an inde-
pendent company of artillery for three years, he
thought that he was naturally the one to go, and
accordingly, on the 28th of August, enlisted in Com-
pany B, 13th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, of
which he was soon appointed first lieutenant. In
the year 1862 he was in the army of Kansas, where
there was no fighting, but long and tedious marches
to be accomplished over the ice and snow-clad prai-
ries, and the following year, being sent to the army
of the Tennessee, was engaged in fighting " bush-
whackers," and scouting, most of the time, at Forts
Henry and Donelson. While here he was detailed
as judge advocate of a general court martial which
continued in session for three months, fifty-two cases
being tried and five men receiving the sentence of
death. In the fall of 1863 he was ordered to Hunts-
ville, Alabama, and thence to Stephenson, Alabama,
where, after a long and weary march on short
rations, he remained until November, when he pro-
ceeded to and encamped in the village of Edgefilla,
opposite Nashville, Tennessee; here he remained
until the summer of 1864, and then returned to his
family and business. He had been at home but one
week, however, when he received from the secretary
of war an appointment to a captaincy in Major-Gen-
eral Hancock's corps, but as one of his brothers had
accepted an appointment to the position of United
States revenue collector, and the other was in very
poor health, and his business was, in consequence,
left entirely in the hands of employes, he was obliged
to decline the appointment.
In the year 1869 he built a large flouring mill on
the site formerly occupied by one which his brother
Zebiner had built, but which had been carried away
by high water. This has proved to be a fine invest-
ment, as' it produces a thousand barrels of flour,
together with tons of feed, yearly. He has also been
engaged with his brothers in the mail and stage bus-
iness; running from eight to fifteen routes in 1871,
they increased their business until 1874, when he
sold out his mercantile business, and at present gives
his entire time to the management of his mail lines,
employing hundreds of men and horses.
Mr. Warren's religious views are broad and lib-
eral, and he still holds to that belief in universal
salvation which he early imbibed from the teachings
and precepts of his mother.
He was married at Oregon, Wisconsin, September
9, 1855, to Miss Sarah S. Gleason, whose father and
mother removed to Wisconsin from Oswego, New
York, when she was but a little girl. Her father
died shortly after, leaving his wife with very limited
means to support and rear seven children. In the
year 1863 Mrs. Warren shared equally with her
husband the hardships and privations of camp life,
thus showing that constancy and affection which
have rendered their union one of happiness. They
have been blessed with five children ; Mary, Nelly,
Willie, Grace and Charles, all of whom are still liv-
ing, save Willie, who died in 1867 at the age of three.
Mr. Warren's business success is thus attributable
to no advantages of education and wealth, but rather
to honesty, industry, perseverance and the good
advice early given him by his parents.
HON. HORATIO N. DAVIS,
THE parents of H. N. Davis were Boswell and
Clarissa Davis, descendants of families of early
settlers in New England, but had been long residents
of the town of Henderson, Jefferson county. New
York, where Horatio was born, June 17, 1812. He
was brought up on a farm, and inherited a good con-
stitution which was strengthened by healthful occu-
pations. His educational advantages were quite lim-
ited, such only as were then afforded in a common
school and a period of three months at the age of
fifteen at academic studies. At this age, finding
himself entirely unfitted to commence the battle of
life on an equal footing with many of his associates
who were more favorably circumstanced by reason
^.Oyf^^^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIUNAliV.
119
of their educational advantages, he sought to make
up, by appropriating such time as could be spared
from domestic duties, in acquiring a knowledge of
such branches as would (|ualify him for business
pursuits only.
Believing that the West afforded better opportuni-
ties than the East for a successful career, he came to
Wisconsin in 1838, bought a farm in Waukesha
county, and cultivated it for fifteen years with good
success. During this time he filled many public
offices. For several years he was chairman of the
board of supervisors of the town and village where
he resided, and was frequently elected chairman of
the county board. In 1847 he was elected county
treasurer of Waukesha county, which position he
held by subsequent elections for six years. In poli-
tics, he had been a whig until the formation of the
republican party, which organization he joined with
a conscientious zeal. In 1862 he was commissioned
captain in the commissary and subsistence depart-
ment by President Lincoln. Was subsequently bre-
veted major by President Johnson for faithful and
efficient service, and remained in the army until the
close of the war.
Returning home, he moved to the city of Keloit,
Wisconsin, the same year being elected president of
the Beloit National Bank, which position lie licld by
subsequent elections for eight years. For three
successive years he was elected mayor of the city of
Beloit, and for four years he has represented the
county of Rock in the State senate. In fact Mr.
Davis has built up an honorable name in his locality,
which commands respect. His public spirit, liberal
disposition, and genial manners, have won for him
the regard and esteem of a large circle of friends,
and the faithful discharge of the duties in his many
offices of trust, has given liim an enviable reputa-
tion.
Mr. Davis was married in 1837 to Miss Clarissa F.
Cushman, a lady of e.xcellent characteristics, refine-
ment and intelligence ; they have had eight chil-
dren, five still living, two sons and three daughters.
The eldest son, Cushman K. Davis, is now gov-
ernor of Minnesota. The second son, Francis N.
Davis, is at the head of the large paper house of
F. N. Davis and Co., Beloit. Two daughters are
married, and the youngest is still living with her
parents.
Mr. Davis is one of tiie many men in the State
who from humble beginnings, by force of character,
untiring energy, and good understanding, has raised
himself and family to distinction.
FRANCIS N. DAVIS,
FRANCIS NEWCOMB DAVIS, a native of
Waukesha, Wisconsin, was born on the 5th of
October, 1840, and is the son of Horatio N. Davis
and Clarissa ne'e Cushman. After completing his
preparatory education he entered Carroll College, at
Waukesha, pursuing a thorough business course.
His taste for a business life developed at an early
age, and after closing his studies in the above place, in
order the more perfectly to fit himself for a successful
business career he pursued a course of study in the
Lincoln Commercial College, of Milwaukee. After
his graduation he spent six months as clerk in the
post-office, and was also for some time engaged in
the railroad ahd express offices, and at the close of
his engagement accepted a position in the Kenosha
County Bank. kx. the end of four years' successful
work, owing to impaired health, he spent six months
in traveling, visiting Central America and Califor-
nia. Upon his return to the North he accepted a
position as cashier in the wholesale house of Web-
ster and Sage, of Chicago, where he remained, how-
ever, but a few months, before he was called to the
position of cashier in the bank at Kenosha, Wiscon-
sin. Accepting the situation he remained in it till
January, 1865, and during that year removed to
Beloit, and organized the Beloit National Bank.
He also became largely interested in the building-
paper business, and in 1873 this branch of enterprise
had become so extensive and claimed so much of
his attention that he was obliged to discontinue his
banking interests, and devote himself entirely to it.
The enterprise is one that is wholly due to his own
inventive genius and energy, he having invented
not only the aluminous and ornamental building
paper and the figured carpeting paper, but also the
machinery for manufacturing it. He is also engaged
in the manufacture of paper barrels and the
McPherson steam vacuum pump. Mr. Davis hns
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
the happy faculty of seizing opportunities and turn-
ing them to the interests of his business ; and though
he is known as a shrewd manager and careful finan-
cier, he has made for himself a most worthy reputa-
tion for honorable, open and fair dealing. His
career has been prosperous from the beginning, and
as a reward of his industry and enterprise he is now
in the enjoyment of an ample fortune and public
esteem. He has always been a practical, close-
observing man, and in his extensive travels through-
out the United States and Canada he has gained a
most valuable experience and thorough knowledge
of men and things.
In his religious communion Mr. 1 )a\is is identified
with the Episcopal church.
In political matters he has never taken any active
part, and is in no sense a partisan. Independent in
his opinions, he supports for office him whom he
considers best fitted for the place.
He was married on the ist of February, 1864 to
Miss Helen Dunlap, by whom he has two children,
namely, Walter Dunlap and Genevieve.
EDWARD FERGUSON,
MIL WA UKEE.
EDWARD FERGUSON was born January 9,
1843, in Hannibal, Oswego county, New York,
son of Mary and George Lester Ferguson. His
family removed within two or three years after his
birth to Oswego, New York, v/here the mother died
when he was but eight years old ; and until the age
of twelve he was kept at the ward schools of that
city, when he began work in a store. After two
years of such employment, his health failing by rea-
son of close confinement, he was entered as student
in the Fulton Academy, New York, which he at-
tended but one term. This ended his scholastic
advantages, as he was constantly employed there-
after in contributing to his own maintenance. His
eldest brother was at that time proprietor and pub-
lisher of the "Oswego Daily Times," and Edward
was employed by him as collector for a short time
after leaving school ; after which he served as clerk
for about two years, first in a book-store and after-
ward in a drug-store. This eldest brother having
by this time married and settled in Milwaukee, Ed-
ward was induced to remove there also, which he did
in May, i86o. Soon after his arrival he was employed
as book-keeper in the office of L. Cutler and Son,
commission merchants, where he remained until the
first news of the firing upon Sumter was received,
when he immediately enlisted in the Milwaukee
Light Guards, which were then being organized for
active service, and which were assigned as Company
A of the ist Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers. After
serving through this three months term, and passing
safely through that dreaded ordeal — the first time
under fire — in the engagement with Stonewall Jack-
son's brigade at Falling Waters, Virginia, he re-
turned to office work, but not to remain. The pre-
parations for reorganizing the " Old First " rekindled
his desire to assist in suppressing -the rebellion, and
he reenlisted in Company A, of the ist Regiment
Wisconsin Volunteers, for three years or during the
war. Feeling too young and inexperienced to as-
sume the responsibilities of a commissioned officer
— being not yet nineteen — -he accepted the appoint-
ment of first sergeant of his company, and served in
that capacity about a year, frequently taking the
place, however, of officers temporarily absent from
command, acting part of the time as sergeant-major
of his regiment in the army of the Cumberland, and
during the march of four companies with a division
in a feint movement on Chattanooga (across the
Cumberland mountains) was appointed as acting
adjutant and quartermaster of the battalion. The
ist Regiment, though constantly in pursuit of the
enemy, performing most honorably the duty assigned
to it by being almost continuously on the march,
took part in no general engagement until the latter
part of 1862. Their record was therefore unevent-
ful until, in pursuit of Bragg's army through Ken-
tucky the engagement known as the battle of Chap-
lin Hills was brought on by McCook's corps attack-
ing the enemy near the village of Perryville. The
details of this fight are well known, as well as the
part borne by the ist Wisconsin. Its record upon
that field was written in the blood of about one half
its effective force; and though the sacrifice seems
out of proportion to the results secured, yet all was
gained that could have been, under the circum-
stances. In that battle Mr. Ferguson received a
buckshot wound through the cheek and a musket
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION Ain:
ball through his left shoulder which paralyzed his
arm. While lying on the field between the fires of
his own regiment and the enemy's, he received an-
other gunshot wound through the right foot. He
was carried to the field hospital, and from thence to
the village of Perryville, where he was given a room
in a private' house, and nursed with the greatest
care for two months by his brother Thomas, who
secured permission to take him home as soon as he
could be removed on a cot. With this permission
came his commission as second lieutenant of Com-
pany C, in his own regiment. After reaching Mil-
waukee Lieutenant Ferguson spent nearly two years
in confinement to bed and room, suffering the am-
putation of his right leg mid way between knee and
ankle, eight months after the wound was inflicted.
For the first year it was scarcely thought possible
that he could survive from week to week ; but a
naturally strong constitution, which the hardships of
service had strengthened, added to a cheerful and
abiding trust in the future, carried him safely through
the trying period, and restored him to as full a
degree of health as can be hoped for in view of his
severe wounds. Being unable to return to duty he
was honorably discharged by reason of " wounds
received in action," June 17, 1864. As soon as
health would permit he was appointed clerk in the
general land office at Washington, which position
he resigned in 1866 to return to Milwaukee. Upon
the death of his old employer. General Lysander
Cutler, he was appointed by Governor Fairchild to !
the office of State Fish Inspector, this office being
rendered vacant by the death of General Cutler.
In November, 1868, he was appointed secretary of
the National Asylum for Disabled Volunteers, north-
western branch, located near Milwaukee, which posi-
tion he held till January i, 1869. On the 28th of
December, the same year, the appointment of ])en-
sion agent at Milwaukee was conferred upon him
by President Grant, which was confirmed by the
senate, and renewed January 17, 1874, which posi-
tion he still holds. He was also secretary of the
Forest Home Cemetery for one year, and aid-de-
camp, with the rank of colonel, on the military staff
of Governor Washburn during his term of office.
Was a member of the board of directors of the
Young Men's Library Association of Milwaukee for
two years, vice-president for one year, and is now
president. In May, 1873, he was elected at New
Haven, Connecticut, junior vice-commander-in-chief
of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was treas-
urer of the Young Men's Republican Club, which
was organized and did efficient work during the
campaign of 1872. In politics he is a republican,
and as such attended the soldiers' convention held
in Pittsburgh in 1S66, to give expression to the sol-
diers' views of reconstruction as proposed by Presi-
dent Johnson ; and in November of that year, as a
candidate for the position of clerk of the circuit
court received forty-four hundred and twenty-five
votes, his competitor being elected by about nine
hundred and seventy-five majority.
Mr. Ferguson is a member of the Episcopal
church, having been confirmed at an early age, and
now holds the office of vestryman in St. Paul's
Church, of Milwaukee. He was married at this
church, August 14, 1867, to Marcia B. Brocan, and is
the father of three children. The second child, a
daughter, died in October, 1871, at the age of eight-
een months. The eldest, a son, now living, was
born May 17, 1868, and the youngest, also a son,
still living, was born May 3, 1875.
WILLIAM M. TALLMAN,
JANESVILLE.
WILLIAM Mt)RRISON TALLMAN, of
Janesville, lawyer and real-estate owner, was
born in Lee, Oneida county, New York, June 13,
1808, and is the son of David and Eunice Tallman,
both of whom were natives of Woodbury, Litchfield
county, Connecticut. The family immigrated from
Litchfield county to Oneida county in 1806, and
resided there until 181 6, when they removed to
Brooklyn, Kings county. New York.
In 182 1 Mr. Tallman began the study of law in
the office of the late Hon. F. A. Talmadge, in Vesey
street. New York, then on the site of the Astor
House. After studying law one year, he determined
upon a more complete preliminary education, and in
1822 began to prepare for college at the academy in
Norwalk, Connecticut. He remained here four
years, and then, in September, 1826, entered the
freshman class of Yale college, where he continued
TUB UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY:
four years more, going through the entire collegiate
course, and graduating with his class in September,
1830. Immediately after graduation he entered the
law school connected with Yale, and was there two
years, completing the full course of legal studies.
He was admitted to the bar in New Haven in tlie
fall of 1832.
Never intending to remain or practice in Connec-
ticut, although his family had meanwhile become
residents of New Haven, he at once returned to the
city of New York and commenced anew there the
study of law, and the practice then peculiar to the
courts of that State, in the office of Hon. James
Talmadge and W. H. Bulkley, in Wall street. He
was admitted to the bar of New York State in Albany
in October, 1833. Immediately thereafter he entered
upon the practice of law in his native county, at
Rome, New York, and continued so engaged until
1850. when he removed with his family to Janesville,
Rock county, Wisconsin, where he has ever since
(1875) resided. He resumed practice at Janesville,
and continued it until 1854, when he relinquished
the profession entirely — having been in the practice
twenty-one years — and has not since transacted
business for others.
In October, 1848, he purchased at public auction,
at the Philadelphia Exchange, of the trustees of the
old United States Bank, numerous tracts of rich, pro-
ductive, agricultural and mineral land, situated in
the counties of Green, Lafayette, Grant and Iowa,
in the State of Wisconsin, and during the four or
five subsequent years he added other large purchases
of lands in those counties, and also in Rock county,
Wisconsin, exceeding altogether ten thousand acres.
These lands rapidly rose in value, and he disposed
of many of them within a few years at a very large
advance, seldom less than (juadruple their cost, and
generally much more than that. In 1849 he laid out
an addition to Monroe upon land purchased from
said trustees and others, and lands which cost him
six dollars and fifty cents per acre at the sale,
produced as much as fifteen hundred dollars per
acre when sold in town lots. Thus a purchase
which was regarded by many at the time of the auc-
tion as extremely improvident and reckless, became
one of extraordinary profit, as he foresaw it would
be. He had acquired, as early as 1854, a sufficient
competency, and did not therefore deem it desirable
to pursue the practice of law, but he has notwith-
standing been always actively employed. He is the
possessor of a valuable landed estate, and has devoted
most of his time during the past twenty-five years to
the developing, improving, and disposing of the
same. He has also expended much of his means
and time in building and making improvements in
the city of Janesville. Always strictly temperate in
his habits, exemplary, conscientious, economical and
industrious, he has prospered in most of his en-
deavors, and in view of the objects and purposes
with which he set out in business in early life, he has
been reasonably successful.
Very early in his professional life he concluded
that neither political distinction nor official position,
even if attainable by him, were desirable objects of
pursuit or congenial to his tastes, and he has uni-
formly declined such distinctions. Notwithstanding
which, during a considerable portion of ten or
fifteen years, without solicitation on his part, and
really against his wishes, at the urgent request of his
fellow citizens of both political parties, he has oc-
cupied the position of alderman of Janesville, and
has also been one of five county commissioners for
Rock county, in which he had in common with
other citizens large pecuniary interests to be cared
for and protected.
In politics, he was a whig from 1S33 to 1838 ; ever
afterward an active and zealous abolitionist. He
has acted and voted with the liberty party, the free-
soil party, and has acted with the republican party
since its organization in Wisconsin, in July, 1854.
He ever, for more than twenty years, performed his
share in preparing the popular mind for the conflict
which at length ensued. The dominant principle of
his political creed has always been "equality of
human rights for all men," and he has conscien-
tiously endeavored to discharge the duties which as
a patriot and a Christian he owed to his country and
fellow-men. Having witnessed the triumph of the
great principle of his political creed, he feels that
he has been a successful politician without the vex-
ations and disappointments of office.
In 1 83 1 he married, at New Haven, Emeline,
second daughter of Norman and Ruth Dexter, of
Hartford county, Connecticut, by whom he has had
two sons and one daughter, named respectively,
William Henry, Edgar Dexter, and Cornelia Au-
gusta. His sons are both married and successfully
engaged in business in Janesville. His eldest son,
William Henry, early established at Janesville,
and has carried on during ten or fifteen years
the first and most extensive manufactory of per-
fumery and fancy goods in the Northwest. The
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
123
goods nianufactured by him have become staple
goods in that line, and are extensively sold by all
the leading wholesale and jobbing drug-houses in
ten or twelve States of the North, as well as in New
York, Boston and San Francisco, and in some fabrics
he has no successful competitor either in the United
States or abroad.
This industry is the product of his individual
mind and personal labor and indefatigable persever-
ance, and entitles him to the distinction of having
created, in a new country, a new and unusual manu-
facture, which had hitherto been confined to the old
and more highly civilized communities of Europe.
His only daughter was married to John P. Beach,
in 1865, and settled in Chicago, where she died with-
out issue in 1866, aged twenty-eight years. She was
a Christian, a model woman, and an ornament to her
sex.
In 1837, Mr. Tallman, with his wife, joined the
Congregational church, at Rome, on profession of
their faith in Christ, and are members of the church
of that denomination in Janesville. In private life
they have endeavored to be exemplary in a quiet
way without ostentation; and they have neither
sought nor acquired any distinction outside of their
home circle.
OTTO ZWIETUSCH,
MILWAUKEE.
IN tracing the history of successful self-made men,
nothing can interest us more than to discover
the secret of their success ; and while many may
attribute this to the working of native genius or the
favors of fortune, study and observation teach us
that in the great majority of cases success is the
result of continued and persevering effort, applied in
the direction of one's natural tastes. This fact is
fully illustrated in the life of him whose name heads
this sketch. A native of Quedlinburg, Prussia, he
was born on the 30th of March, 1832, and is the son
of Frederick William Zwietusch and Johanna ne'e
Fielitz. His father spent eleven years in the mili-
tary service, including the war of 1813-15, under
the King of Prussia. Until his fourteenth year Otto
attended the public schools at Magdeburg, and at
that time turned his attention to mechanics, learning
all the various branches of blacksmithing, mould-
ing, pattern making, locksmithing, turning and finish-
ing. During the years of his apprenticeship, being
of a studious disposition and ambitious for the
acquisition of knowledge, he spent his evenings and
Sundays in the school of polytechnics, and in 1850
received from the King of Prussia the silver medal
award of merit. At the age of nineteen years he left
home and traveled through Germany, working in
several southern cities, and in 1854 sailed for the
United States. For sixteen weeks after his arrival
in New York he was without a dollar in his pocket
and unable to get employment. Removing to She-
boygan, Wisconsin, in 1855, he was employed in the
machine shops for one year, and. in 1856 settled in
Milwaukee. After following his trade for two years,
having accumulated a small capital, he established
the white beer brewery, a branch of business not
represented in the city at that time. Beginning in a
small, one-story frame building, employing one boy
to assist him, his product for the first year was be-
tween four and five hundred dollars, while at the
same time he continued his work in the machine
shop of Messrs. Menzel and Stone. Soon afterward
he began the manufacture of soda water and fount-
ains, and in 1869 commenced manufacturing Amer-
ican champagnes. By aid of his mechanical genius
he has made some valuable inventions connected
with his business, among which may be mentioned
the glass faucet, the first in the United States, the
patent generator, double stream draught tubes, the
self-regulating beer preservers, and at last the com-
bined soda water apparatus, beer preserver and chem-
ical fire extinguisher, the result of three years of
study and experimenting. He holds twelve patents
for his own inventions, all of which are applied to
his imn-iediate business.
His trade has been prosperous from the first, and
I has gradually grown to its present dimensions. In
j 1875, in place of one boy, it employed over twenty
men ; the small frame building had given place to
I extensive brick structures, while the original capital
of three hundred dollars had increased to thirty
' thousand dollars, producing annually nearly fifty
thousand dollars. The nature of his goods has been
such as to meet a popular demand, while their
I quality has secured to him an enviable reputation.
124
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARi:
Politically, Mr. Zwietusch was formerly a repub-
lican, casting his first presidential ballot for Fremont
in 1856. In 1872 he became identified with the
liberal movement, supporting Horace Greeley for
tfie presidency, and is at the present time independ-
ent in his views.
He was married in June, 1857, to Miss Louisa
Ehlert, of Hagen, Westphalia. Mr. Zwietusch is the
only member of his family and the only person of
this name in the United States.
He began life with no capital other than his own
native abilities, and by steady application has at-
tained to financial success and reached an honorable
standing among his fellow-men.
GENERAL FRANCIS H. WEST,
MIL WA UKEE.
FRANCIS H. WEST was born at Charlestown,
New Hampshire, October 25, 1825. His father
was in easy circumstances, and lived upon his estate.
His paternal grandfather was a soldier in the revo-
lutionary war, and was a cousin of Benjamin West,
the great artist. The family were among the first
settlers of Boston. The maiden name of his mother
was Lydia C. Fitch. She was born on Nantucket
Island, and was a lineal descendant of Peter Folgar,
the first male born on that island, and who was
grandfather of Benjamin Franklin. Mr. West's
father was a man of strong prejudices, had a great
antipathy to educational institutions, and conse-
quently his son, Francis, received only a common
school education, at Charlestown.
Young West, being of an adventurous spirit, left
home at the age of twenty years, and came to Wis-
consin. His first winter in this State was spent at
the lead mines near Platteville. In the spring fol-
lowing he went to Monroe, and there he entered
into mercantile pursuits, dealing in general merchan-
dise and lumber. His lumber trade led him to the
Upper Wisconsin river, where he spent most of the
three succeeding years. At that time the region of
the Upper Wisconsin was a dense wilderness, where
civilized man had but little penetrated. But this
was not exciting enough for our adventurer.
In the year 1859 he organized a large amigrant
party, which he conducted across the plains to Cali-
fornia, returning by way of Panama and New York.
During the spring of i860 he organized a second
party to make the same perilous journey, this being
the year of the Indian war. They were much
harassed by the savages, and on several occasions
had skirmishes with them. He succeeded, however,
in conducting his party in safety to their destination,
and he in the following autumn returned, as before,
by way of the isthmus, to New York.
In the year 1862 he began his military career as
lieutenant-colonel of the 31st Regiment of Wisconsin
Volunteers. His regiment was sent down the Mis-
sissippi river, and in 1863 he was promoted to col-
onel. After the battle of Chickamauga they were
sent to reinforce the army of the Tennessee. Before
going to the front they were stationed for a time at
Nashville, and afterward at Murfreesboro. While
the regiment was stationed at this point Colonel
West was appointed president of a commission for
the e.xamination of officers with regard to their qual-
ifications.
At the battle of Peach Tree Creek he, with his
command, joined Sherman's army at the front, and
remained with him during the siege of Atlanta, and
was with him on his march to the sea, and also on
his subsequent march through the Carolinas and
Virginia to Washington, participating in all the en-
gagements of that campaign.
When the left wing of the army of Georgia had
advanced within nine miles of Savannah they were
delayed nearly a day by two redoubts, erected on
the opposite side of a nearly impassable swamp or
lagoon, the redoubts being strongly manned with
artillery. After various ineffectual attempts by dif-
ferent brigades to dislodge the enemy. Colonel West
was directed to take the 31st Wisconsin and 8ist
Ohio regiments, ford the lagoon, and make a flank
movement and charge the redoubts. This was done
with great gallantry, the men plunging through the
swamp, often waist deep. The movement was
quickly executed, the assault was vigorous, and after
a brief resistance the garrison fled, leaving all their
camp equipage, which fell into the hands of the vic-
tors. For this daring assault Colonel West and his
little band were publicly thanked, in presence of
the officers of the division, by General Slocum,
commander of the left wing.
' r
THE UNITED STATES h'/OGRAPH/CAL DICTIONART.
125
At the battle of Bentonville, March 19, 1865, the
last engagement of General Sherman's command,
Colonel West's brigade was stationed across a road
which was the key to the whole position. This they
persistently held through the day, repulsing five
fierce assaults of the enemy, made en colonne. For
his gallantry in defending this position Colonel West
was promoted to brigadier-general by brevet.
General West remained in the army to the close
of the war, and was mustered out at Madison in
July, 1865, having never, since he entered the army,
been off duty a single day, except a short leave of
absence while his command was in garrison at At-
lanta.
At the close of the war he became a resident of
Milwaukee, entered into the grain trade, and was a
member of the Chamber of Commerce, was vice-pres-
ident for two terms and was then elected president,
and was a second time elected to that office.
General West has never been a zealous partisan
in politics; was originally a whig, but acted with
the republican party from the time of its organiza-
tion until the nomination of Horace Greeley for
the presidency, since which time his sympathies
have been with the liberal reform party.
In 1874 he was member of the State assembly,
and has also been a member of the State senate.
He is opposed to the excessive power of aggre-
gated capital, and has by both pen and speech
labored to aid the working people, with whom he
has always been in sympathy. His motto is, " The
greatest good to the greatest number."
General West was married in 1848, to Miss Emma
M. Rettenhouse, daughter of William Rettenhouse,
one of the earliest settlers of Green county, and at
one time State senator. Her mother was sister to
Eli Moore, formerly member of congress from New
York city, and subsequently collector of that port.
They have nine children living, three sons and six
daughters.
LEWIS B. ROCK,
MIL WA UKEE.
LEWIS B. ROCK was born in Drummondsville,
_/ Canada East, August 13, 1825, son of Lewis
and Mary Rock. His father was by trade a carpen-
ter, and soon after the birth of this son removed his
family to the town of Durham, Canada East, into a
very sparsely settled region. Living in the midst of
vast forests almost primeval in their solitude, this
pioneer family had no other means of obtaining
money than by the manufacture of black salts from
the ashes of the trees cut down and burnt; for
although their produce was abundant, there was no
market for it only to exchange it for labor.
Lewis was kept at school until nine years old.
This, with the exception of three months after he
was nineteen, comprised all the instruction he ever
received. He learned to write by copying, with
patient perseverance, the addresses of letters which
lie carried to and from the post-office for his em-
ployers, and at last became a good penman.
At the age of eleven he left home, and for the
four subsequent years worked for Captain John
Plogart as chore boy. On the 4th of March, 1844,
being then nineteen years old, he left the Dominion
with only two dollars and fifty cents in his pocket,
and carrying all his earthly possessions in a small
17
bundle, he walked to Bristol, New Hampshire, a
distance of two hundred miles. Here he was en-
gaged by S. S. Merrill, proprietor of a hotel and
also of a wholesale cloth store, to make himself
generally useful, for the sum of one hundred dollars
per year, with the privilege of attending school
three months out of the twelve, of which, however,
he never availed himself. He remained in the
employ of Mr. Merrill four years; part of the time
serving as clerk in the wholesale house, and after-
ward having charge of a branch store in the adjacent
village of Bridgewater. Thence he went to Lowell,
Massachusetts, where for one year he remained as
clerk and barkeeper at the Merrimack House.
On the loth of January, 1850, he sailed from
Boston to San Francisco, and was two hundred and
one days in making the voyage. After four years of
varied fortunes on the shores of the Pacific, during
which he engaged in mining, dam building, mer-
chandising and various other pursuits, he returned
to Lowell. After some months spent in visiting old
friends, he came to Milwaukee in July, 1854, where
he was employed as baggage master by his old
friend, Mr. S. S. Merrill, who was now conductor on
the Milwaukee and Mississippi railroad. He re-
126
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
tained this position two years, until promoted to that
of conductor on a mixed train, and afterward on a
passenger train, where he remained thirteen years. In
1866 James Spencer, manager of the road, appointed
conductor Rock assistant superintendent of the
same line, the name of which has since been changed
to the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien railroad.
After filling that position for one year to the entire
satisfaction of all concerned, he was promoted to
that of superintendent of the northern division of
the Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad (of which the
Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien became a division),
where he remains to this day.
About six months after his arrival in Milwaukee —
December 3, 1854 — he married Miss Hannah W.
Sanborn, by whom he has had three sons.
In politics, he is a liberal democrat ; and is also
liberal in his religious views.
EDMUND L. RUNALS,
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Arcade,
Wyoming county. New York, was born on the
28th of December, 1826, and is the son of Ezekiel
D. Runals and Rebecca nee Parker. His father, a
farmer by occupation, was an influential man in his
community, and highly respected by all who knew
him. Edmond received a common school educa-
tion in his native town, and later attended the acad-
emy in Bethany and Strykersville, and after closing
his studies spent two years on his father's farm. In
1846, being then twenty years of age, he left his home
in the East, and removing to the West, settled near
Ripon, Wisconsin, and for five years engaged in
agricultural pursuits, and in the meantime began the
study of law, practicing in the justice courts. Upon
leaving the farm in 1851 he removed into Ripon,
and in 1855 was admitted to the bar at Fond du
Lac. During this same year he began the publica-
tion of the " Ripon Home," and continued it with
good success till 1857, when he sold his interest and
devoted his entire attention to the practice of his
profession. He soon became known as a skillful
attorney, and by constant and close application to
study and careful and judicious management of his
business, made it both professionally and financially
successful. In 1864 he was elected judge of the
municipal court and served in that capacity for four
years. Aside from his professional duties, he has
been a large operator in real estate, and by careful
investments has amassed an ample fortune, and lives
in the enjoyment of a pleasant home and enjoys the
high regard of a host of friends, being most esteemed
by those who know him best. Beginning life with-
out means, his present standing is wholly the result
of his own effort, and he may most appropriately be
called a self-made man. In his political sentiments
he is identified with the republican party, and has
been honored with many positions of public trust.
In 1857 and 1858 he represented his county in the
State legislature, and has also been elected alderman
of his city for several terms. Among other local
positions he has held the offices of commissioner of
schools, town superintendent of schools, assessor,
and city attorney. He is not a member of any
church, but in his religious opinions holds to the
principles laid down in the golden rule.
He was married on the loth of July, 1847, to Miss
Dorlesca R. Avery, and by her has one son, W. T.
Runals, now engaged in manufacturing carriages at
Ripon, and of the firm of Goodall and Runals.
HEMAN B. JACKSON,
OSHKOSH.
HEMAN B. JACKSON is a native of Naper-
ville, Illinois, which place at the time of his
birth consisted of a "handful of huts," and was a
mere settlement among the savages who then roamed
through that country, watered by the Dupage river.
He was born on the 24th of July, 1837, and is the
son of William Jackson and Lucy nee Babbitt. His
father, a blacksmith by trade, was a man of moder-
ate means, and his mother was an earnest Christian ;
both were much respected in their community.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPIirCAL DICTlONARr.
127
While Heman's boyhood presents {t\\ phases in
distinction from that of other boys, it was yet
marked by an earnestness and determination that
were very notable, and which have characterized
his maturer life and deeds.
In his boyhood at school he became early noted
for his declamatory powers, and seemed to be a
natural and forcible speaker, and to possess that
([uality and manner of speech and action which stirs
the emotions of the listener. He generally came to
the front on what was then called "exhibition day"
at school. As a boy he had many warm friends
whom he always stood ready to befriend, ardently
and forcibly, if necessary, when he believed them to
be right — and it was not difficult to convince him
that they were right.
Of these qualities in the boy many of his school-
fellows,— including the author of this sketch, —
have a painful remembrance; in fact they always
])referred to be on his side when the matter was
to be fought out. He never knew when he was
whipped, and would never cry "enough." This
spirit which so signally marked him as a boy has
become characteristic in his legal practice. The
more difficult the case the more it claims his atten-
tion, until victory usually crowns his work. Oppo-
sition is only the signal for greater effort.
The subject of this sketch was educated in the
seminaries at VVarrenville and Elgin, Illinois, and
later he attended the \\estern Reserve College at
Hiram, Ohio. He states, with pride, that he suc-
ceeded in attending college by means of his own
personal efforts and the practice of the most rigid
economy. While at college he boarded himself at
an expense not exceeding seventy-five cents per
week. At the close of his studies there he engaged
in teaching two terms of district school, and then
began the study of law with Messrs. Joslin and
Clifford at Elgin, Illinois.
At the early age of twenty years he was admitted
to the Illinois bar in 1857. Going from Elgin to
Crystal Lake, Illinois, he first " hung out his shingle "
there. That field proving too limited for his ener-
gies and ability, he removed in the spring of 1859 to
his present home in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and entered
upon a practice of his profession which has since
become very extensive and remunerative, and in
which he has gained a wide reputation as a success-
ful and skillful attorney. The present firm of Jack-
son and Halsey was formed in 1865, and is widely
and worthily known. Mr. Jackson was admitted to
practice in all the courts of record in Illinois while
a resident of that State. In 1863 his practice first
called him to the bar of the supreme court of Wis-
consin, and in the same year he was admitted to the
United States circuit and district courts. His prac-
tice is general, and largely in the supreme court. A
reference to the court reports shows that in a large
majority of his cases he has been successful. He
is an ardent and earnest advocate, and zealously
makes his client's cause his own. He presses the
salient point of his case in an impassioned and
forcible manner that can only come from the heart
and an honest purpose. His manner as an advocate
is that of a man who means what he says. Before
attempting to induce others to think his client's
cause is just, he first convinces himself and then
speaks forcibly what he really believes. At the
opening of the war he was deeply interested in the
Union cause, and, prompted by his ardent nature,
and a disposition which always induced him to make
the cause he espoused his own, he was among the
very first to enlist for the war. On the 21st of April,
1861, he enlisted at Oshkosh, and entered the army
as second lieutenant of Company E, 2d Regiment
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Afterward he was
promoted to a position on the staff" of General W. T.
Sherman. He acted in the capacity of staff-officer
at the battle of Bull Run, and continued on General
Sherman's staff until on account of a serious and
permanent injury he was compelled to quit the
service during the same year. This was regretted
the more by himself and his friends for the reason
that he had already attained a position in the line
of promotion which afterward placed his chief on
the very pinnacle of military fame. Nothing re-
mained for him on leaving the army but to resume
his legal practice, which he did at the same place
from which he entered the service.
In politics he was reared a democrat, but since
attaining his majority he has been identified with
the republican party.
Mr. Jackson never held any public office, with the
exception of such as was connected with the practice
of the law. He was twice elected city attorney of
Oshkosh. In 1864 he became district attorney, and
was reelected to that office in 1868. In 1875 he
was nominated by the republican party of his dis-
trict as its candidate for member of the State legis-
lature, but through local causes was defeated. He
has always identified himself with movements tend-
ing to promote the welfare of this city.
128
THE ITNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Previous to the great fire of Oshkosh in 1875 he
had erected several large blocks, which, together
with millions of projierty of his neighbors, were
destroyed. He'suflered then a severe loss in prop-
erty, but none in energy or native pluck. Since
that time he has continued his building operations
to some extent, still having great faith in the future I
growth and prosperity of his city.
He has always joined heartily with his fellow-
citizens in public enterprises inaugurated for the
benefit of Oshkosh. He was one of the original
incorporators of the Wisconsin and Lake Superior
Railroad Company, organized for the purpose of
building a railroad north from Oshkosh. His public
spirit has ever kept him foremost among those who
sought to promote the public good by supplying ^
public libraries, establishing lecture courses, etc.
He is now in the prime and vigor of life, and
emphatically a man of action, and those who best
know him have reason to believe that his record
will become brighter, and his life one of more marked
success in the future than in the past.
Mr. Jackson was married on the i4tli of June,
1862, to Miss Annett L. Harwood, by whom Ire has
three daughters.
Such is a brief outline of the early life history of
one who, beginning without means, educating him-
self by his own work, relying upon his own re-
sources, has established himself among strangers
in the practice of the law, and worked his way up
step by step, until he has already achieved an en-
viable reputation as a lawyer, and reached a posi-
tion of high public regard and social standing, and
is living in the enjoyment of an ample fortune, sur-
rounded by all the comforts of a happy home, but
who, still believing that life is action and that work
is the normal condition of all, is pressing on to new
achievements.
THOMAS H. LITTLE, M.A.
JANES VILLE.
THOMAS HENRY LITTLE, a native of Au-
gusta, Maine, was born on the 15th of Decem-
ber, 1832, and was the son of Thomas Little and
Elizabeth P. nee Howard. He traced his ancestry
back to the Plymouth Colony, when one Thomas
Little married the daughter of Richard Warren, vvho
came over in the Mayflower. Always of a quiet,
studious disposition, he graduated from Bowdoin
College in 1855 with honors, and soon after accepted
a position as teacher in the high school at Gardiner,
Maine. One year later, turning his steps westward,
he was providentially drawn ipto a work which,
though he then regarded it as only temporary, so
engaged him that he afterward resolved to devote
his life to it. Arriving at Columbus, Ohio, he
engaged to teach in the Institution for the Blind.
Remaining till 1859, he accepted a similar situation
in Baton Rouge, I.,ouisiana, but owing to the trou-
bles in the South he remained but one year, and
returning to Columbus, he taught there till August,
1861, at which time he received a call to the super-
intendency of the Institution for the Education of
the Blind at Janesville, Wisconsin, a position which
he accepted and filled till his death, which occurred
on the 4th of February, 1875.
He was married in 1862 to Miss Sarah F. Cowles,
daughter of Rev. Henry Cowles, D.D., of Oberlin,
Ohio, and became the father of four daughters.
Mr. Little was thoroughly and conscientiously
devoted to his work. By close study and careful
observation of institutions for the education of the
blind, in our own and other countries, he became
master of the most advanced theories of his profes-
sion, and gained such a reputation that when the
institution for the blind in Batavia, New York, was
opened, in 1868, he was invited to its superintend-
ency. He declined the offer, however, feeling that
he could accomplish more where he was. By con-
stant work and close application to study he so over-
taxed himself that in 1873, by the advice of his
physicians, he took a sea voyage, and spent several
months in Europe, visiting different institutions, and
conferring with the most experienced educators of
the age. The relief from care and labor so im-
proved his health that he returned with renewed
vigor and enthusiasm, and an added experience of
great value to his work.
Upon the destruction of the main building of the
institution by fire, in April, 1874, in his forgetfulness
of self, and devotion to his pupils and the interests
of the State, he periled his own life, receiving in-
juries from which he never recovered, and which
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
129
probably hastened the termination of his life. An
intimate friend has written of him as follows :
As a private citizen he was quiet, unassuming and up-
right; as a public officer he was thorough, untiring, efficient,
and jealously watchful of the interests committed to his
care; as an instructor, he was a recognized leader in liis
profession, a disciplinarian who knew how to govern with-
out seeming to govern at all, and who was to his pupils far
more like a kind and wise father than like a superintendent;
and as a Christian, he was manly, generous, humble, full of
faith, given alike to prayer and good works, seeking to
know and to do the Master's will, and trusting for salvation
only in the merits of a crucified and personal Saviour. In
his death the community has lost an upright and useful
citizen, the State has lost a faithful, honest and valued serv-
The following tribute was paid to his memory by
the trustees of the institution :
The board of trustees, desiring to place upon the record
a simple and affectionate testimonial of their appreciation
of Thomas H. Little, M.A., do unanimously adopt the fol-
lowing resolution:
Resolved. That in the death of Superintendent Little our institution
has lost its best friend, the State an eminent Christian citizen, and the
man of varied and e.\tensive learning, of great executive ability, of inde-
fatigable industry; and his d.iily life was a continued testimonial of the
REV. MILO P. TEWETT, LL.D.
MILWAUKEE.
MILO P. JEWETT, a native of St. Johnsbury,
Vermont, was born on the 27th of April, 1808,
and is the son of Calvin Jewett and Sally ne'e Parker.
His father, an eminent physician, was a man of lite-
rary tastes, and possessed a valuable collection of
books, the reading of which had a great influence in
moulding the tastes of the son. His mother, a highly
endowed and accomplished lady, was educated at
the Female Academy in Canterbury, Connecticut,
tinder the direction of her relative, Mr. John Adams,
afterwards the distinguished principal of Phillips
Academy at Andover, Massachusetts. Milo received
his preparatory education at the Bradford, Vermont,
Academy, and in the year 1828 was graduated from
Dartmouth College. He spent the next year as
principal of Holmes Academy at Plymouth, New
Hampshire, and also employed a part of that and
the following year as a student at law, in the office
of the Hon. Josiah Quincy of Rumney, New Hamp-
shire. Abandoning the law in the summer of 1830,
he entered the theological seminary at Andover,
Massachusetts, remaining three years. Having spent
his winter vacations during his college course, in
teaching school, he had gained considerable reputa-
tion as a successful educator, and upon the invitation
of Josiah Holbrook of Boston, founder of the lyceum
system, he spent his vacations during his theological
course in lecturing on common schools in parts of
New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
His work produced the happiest results. His ad-
dresses on these subjects are believed to have been
the first of a popular character delivered in the
United States, and such was the interest taken in
them by the people wherever he went, that parents,
children and teachers alike flocked to hear them.
Through J. Orville Taylor, a fellow-student of Pro-
fessor Jewett's, who became interested in the matter,
a movement was inaugurated in New York city that
resulted in the establishment of the present common
school system of the Empire State. Such had been
Mr. Jewett's success in teaching that he resolved to
devote himself to it as a profession instead of enter-
ing the ministry, and accordingly before graduating
from the theological seminary, he accepted an ap-
pointment as one of the first professors in Marietta
College, Ohio. Before entering upon his duties,
however, he spent several months among the Con-
gregational churches of New England, soliciting
funds for the college, basing his plea for aid on "the
perils which threaten our civil and religious liberties
from the progress of Roman Catholicism in the val-
ley of the Mississippi ;" being the first to sound the
alarm on this subject in a series of popular addresses.
Professor Jewett entered upon his work in Marietta
College in 1834. In the autumn of 1835 or 1836, at
the first State educational convention of Ohio, held
at Cincinnati, he, with Professor Calvin E. Stowe
and William Lewis, was appointed a committee to
urge upon the State legislature the establishment of
a new common school system. They were not only
successful in their undertaking, but also procured an
appropriation to send Professor Stowe to Europe to
investigate the Prussian school system. His report
awakened universal interest, and led to Horace
Mann's famous mission, with its grand results. Wil-
liam Lewis became the first State superintendent of
public schools in Ohio. A change of views on bap-
tism led Professor Jewett to resign his position in
I30
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Marietta College, and in January, 1839, he estab-
lislied the Judson Female Institute, in Marion, Ala-
bama. This soon became the most flourishing insti-
tution for young ladies in the Southwest, comprising
among its pupils many daughters of wealthy planters
in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and
Texas. In connection with his school he established
the "Alabama Baptist," a paper which was adopted
as the organ of the denomination in that State, and
which is still published. In the summer of 1855,
leaving his school in a prosperous condition, and
taking such of his servants as were willing to accept
their freedom, he returned to the North, receiving
from his pupils and patrons the most flattering
tokens of confidence and affection. In the following
autumn he purchased the Cottage Hill Seminary at
Poughkeepsie, New York, and at that time entered
on the most intimate and confidential relations with
Matthew Vassar, senior, the well known brewer.
Finding him wealthy, childless and ambitious to per-
petuate his name. Professor Jewett suggested to him
the idea of a college that should be for young
women what Yale, Harvard and Brown are to young
men. As the result of this suggestion, Mr. Vassar
revoked his will, in which he had left the bulk of his
estate to create a hospital at Poughkeepsie, and re-
solved to build and endow the proposed institution
for young ladies during his life-time. Thus " Vassar
College " came into existence, being incorporated in
the year 1861, and was then the only endowed insti-
tution for young ladies in the world. Professor
Jewett, who had been the trusted counselor and the
constant inspirer of Mr. Vassar in this noble enter-
prise, planned and organized the college, and was
chosen its first president. In April, 1862, at the re-
quest of the trustees, he visited Europe, spending
eight months inspecting the universities, libraries,
art galleries, etc., in all the principal cities of Great
Britain and the continent. Two years later he re-
signed the presidency of the college, and in 1867
removed to his present home in Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin. Here he has found congenial occupation in
devoting himself to the interests of education, phi-
lanthropy and religion, as commissioner of public
schools ; trustee of the Milwaukee Female College ;
chairman of the board of visitors of the University
of Wisconsin ; president of the Milwaukee board of
health; president of the Wisconsin State Temperance
Society ; president of the Milwaukee County Bible
Society; member of the Western Advisory Commit-
tee of the American Baptist Educational Commission,
and chairman of the State Baptist Centennial Com-
mittee.
In the midst of his active duties. Professor Jewett
has not neglected self-culture, and aside from his
contributions to papers and magazines, has issued
several publications, and has a wide and worthy
reputation as a scholar and reformer. In 1840 he
issued "Jewett on Baptism;" in 1863, "Report of
the President's Visit to Europe," and " Report on
the Organization of Vassar College;" in 1874, "Re-
lations of Boards of Health to Intemperance," and
"A Plea for Academies;" in 1875, "The Baptist
Centennial," an address to the Baptist churches of
Wisconsin, and "The Model Academy."
Politically he was formerly a whig, and is now
identified with the republican party.
He was married in 1833 to Miss Jane Augusta
Russell, daughter of Hon. Moor Russell of Plymouth,
New Hampshire, the founder of what is now the
oldest mercantile house in the northern part of that
State, which still flourishes under the family name.
HON. EPHRAIM BOWEN,
BRODHEAD.
EPHRAIM BOWEN, a native of Evans, Erie
county. New York, was born on the 14th of
January, 1824, and is the son of Pardon and Maria
Bowen. His father, who was of Rhode Island stock,
cleared a farm on the "Holland Purchase," in
western New York, and there reared a large family,
giving them such educational advantages as could
be afforded by the common schools. When eight
years of age, Ephraim was bereft of his mother, and
of his father at the age of fifteen, and being thus
early thrown upon his own resources, he developed
that spirit of self-reliance, independence and deter-
mination that have marked his entire career. After
conducting the farm for one year after his father's
death, he engaged to work as a farm hand for three
years at ten dollars per month. At the expiration of
this time he spent one year traveling as a dealer in
patentrights, for eighteen dollars per month. He
(i^ /J^z^-c^-c-i^^s^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
i3t
had long clierished a desire for mercantile life, and
at the age of twenty-one years, with a capital of three
hundred dollars from his hard-earned savings, he
removed to Wisconsin and settled at Exeter, Green
county, and there accepted a clerkship in a store at
fifteen dollars per month. Later he became a part-
ner in the business, and after six years of successful
trade found himself in possession of three thousand
dollars. With this then large sum he removed to
Albany, Wisconsin, in 1853, erected a building and
established himself in the mercantile and produce
business, and also engaged in real-estate operations.
Here he conducted his business with uniform good
success till iS67,at which time he removed to Green
Bay and there purchased two thousand acres of pine
land in connection with a mill, and with that energy
that had characterized his mercantile career con-
ducted a successful lumber trade for a number of
years, and added largely to his already ample for-
tune. Returning to Green county, he established
the First National Bank of Brodhead, of which he is
both president and principal stockholder. He also
erected a fine residence, surrounded it with comforts
and luxuries, and lives now in the quiet enjoyment
of the fruit of his industry, economy and honorable
dealing. As a business man, Mr. Bowen possesses
remarkable financial ability, and is widely known for
his shrewdness, cautiousness, and his decided, vigor-
ous and confident action.
In political affairs he holds decided views, and
though an earnest worker, has no desire for official
honors; formerly a whig, but now a rejuiblican.
His early religious training was under Baptist
influences, but he is now liberal in his theological
sentiments. Sympathizing with all enterprises cal-
culated to better the condition of men, he liberally
contributes of his means, regardless of sect. He has
traveled extensively with his family throughout the
southern and Pacific States, and is thoroughly con-
versant with all matters of public interest.
Mr. Bowen wasmarried on the 8th of June, 1853,
to Miss Mary Ann Pearsons, of Sheldon, Wyoming
county, New York, a lady of excellent family, amia-
ble and refined, and possessing in an eminent degree
those delicate sensibilities and noble impulses that
combine with fidelity and devotion to make the true
wife and mother. She has contributed largely to
her husband's success in business, while for moral
and intellectual improvement he is no less indebted
to the air of purity and intelligence that has daily
surrounded his home, inspiring all the diviner attri-
butes of his nature. They have had three child-
ren, two daughters and one son. The eldest, Ella
Amanda, a most amiable and beautiful girl, died in
September, 1864, at the age of ten years. The other
daughter, seventeen years of age, is now a student
of high promise in the University at Madison. The
son, Myron Pardon, a bright and promising boy of
fifteen years, is now attending school, and bids fair
to become a worthy representative of his parents.
JAMES McGEE,
OCONTO.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of St. An-
drews, Charlotte county, New Brunswick, was
born on the i8th of June, 1845, and is the son of
Charles McGee and Ann Jane nee Rodgers, both of
whom were of estimable character, devoted piety,
and careful in the training of their children to habits
of honesty and uprightness.
James received his education in the common
schools of his native place, and after closing his
studies, in accordance with the desire of his father,
entered a printing office; finding, however, that the
work was impairing his health he closed his engage-
ment at the end of seven months, and resumed his
studies and spent the next six years in school. At
the expiration of that time he went to sea, making
an eight months' voyage; but it being against his
father's wishes that he should follow this life, he ac-
cepted a clerkship in a store of general merchandise
and held it for three years. Wishing for a wider
field of action, and drawn by its superior induce-
ments to young men, he removed to the West in
1866, and settled at Oconto, where he has since con-
tinued to reside. Not being able to find employ-
ment suited to his tastes, upon his arrival, he spent
the first winter in felling trees in the Oconto woods.
In the ensuing spring he obtained a clerkship with
the " Oconto Company," a lumber-dealing firm, and
remained in that position four years, and then be-
came a clerk in the hardware store of a Mr. Barlow.
Remaining here till the spring of 1874, he then
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opened the drug trade in which he is at present
occupied. Public-siiirited and enterprising, lie has
taken a deep interest in all matters pertaining to the
growth and welfare of his town and State, and has
been honored by his fellow-citizens by positions of
responsibility and public trust. In 1872 he was
elected city clerk of Oconto, and reelected in the
following year, and in 1874 was chosen treasurer of
his county, receiving a majority of four hundred and
forty-two votes. In his political sentiments he is
identified with the republican party. His religious
training was under Episcopalian influences, and he is
now a worthy member of that church. He has been
a careful, observing man, and in his travels, which
have extended over most of the States in the Union,
he has gained a most valuable experience, and is
well versed in many interesting and important topics.
Mr. McGee was married in May, 1872, to Miss
Anna J. Juneau, daughter of the late Paul Juneau,
a prominent citizen of Juneau, Dodge county, Wis-
consin, and grand-daughter of Solomon Juneau, the
founder of Milwaukee.
Their happy union has been blessed by one son
and one daughter.
Though still a young man, Mr. McGee has estab-
lished a worthy reputation as a business man of
worth, integrity and principle. From a comparative-
ly obscure beginning he has rapidly advanced to his
present high social and business standing, and is still
growing in wealth and popularity.
IRVING M. BEAN,
MIL \VA UKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Willsboro,
Essex county. New York, was born on the 27th
of April, 1838, and is the son of J. L. Bean and Jane
E. ne'e McCoUough. His maternal grandfather was
a commissioned otificer in the revolutionary war.
His mother was a cousin of the poet, J. G. Saxe.
His father, an influential business man, after remov-
ing to the West, was connected with many public
enterprises in Wisconsin. He took an active part
in railroad affairs and was the first president of the
Milwaukee and LaCrosse Railroad Company. His
remarkable executive ability secured to him the
highest respect of the public, while his excellent per-
sonal qualities made him the center of a large social
circle. He died at the early age of forty-six years,
leaving to his family the legacy of a true character
and spotless reputation. Irving received his early
education in Milwaukee, and in 1857 graduated from
Carroll College, having pursued a regular classical
course. Soon after leaving college he began the
study of law, and in the summer of i868 entered the
law school at Poughkeepsie, New York, and there,
in addition to his regular studies, he gave especial
attention to elocution and literary culture. Leaving
the law school, he entered the office of Messrs. Jack-
son and Wilkinson, of Poughkeepsie, and in 1869,
after a rigid and prolonged examination, was admit-
ted to the bar from a class of twenty, of whom twelve
were rejected. Returning to his home, he became a
partner of Mr. Calvert C. White, and began the' prac-
tice of his profession. In the fall of i860, associat-
ing himself with Mr. Totten, under the firm name of
Bean and Totten, he continued his practice a few
months and was doing a successful business, when,
by reason of both he and his partner entering the
army, the firm was dissolved. Enlisting as a private
in the sth Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, he was
soon transferred to the army of the Potomac. In
November, 1861, he was promoted to a captaincy,
and, serving in General Franklin's corps, participated
in all the battles in which it was engaged up to
April, 1863, when he resigned. He was soon after-
ward appointed provost marshal for the first district
of Wisconsin and held that office till October, 1865,
when he was mustered out. As a soldier and officer
he made for himself a most worthy record, and while
in the discharge of his duties in the last-named posi-
tion had the satisfaction of knowing that his services
were appreciated and approved by the government
and the people. In the summer of 1863 he was
elected president of the Forest City Bank, and acted
in that capacity for over two years. Visiting the
South in 1866, his intention was to resume his pro-
fession, but the unsettled condition of both political
and business affairs caused him to abandon his pur-
pose, and returning to Milwaukee, he turned his
attention to business pursuits. In the spring of 1867
he was elected president of the Northwestern Iron
Company, and still continues to act in that capacity.
On the ist of July, 1875, he was appointed collector
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
133
of internal revenue for the first district of Wisconsin,
a capacity in which he has rendered most efficient
service. He is at the present time president of the
Young Men's Library Association.
His career, though varied, has been marked by
upright and fair dealing, and he has become known
as a careful manager and a man of fine executive
and financial abilities.
In his political sentiments Mr. Bean is identified
with the republican party.
Though orthodox in his religious principles in all
essential points, he is liberal in his views and not
connected with any church organization.
Personally and socially he possesses excellent
qualities, and by his polite manners, gentlemanly
demeanor and generous actions, does not fail to im-
press all with whom he has to do with a sense of his
genuine worth.
He was married in November, 1868, to Miss Alice
H. Blossom, and lives in the enjoyment of a happy
home, surrounded by a host of true and substantial
friends.
SAMUEL JOHNSON GOODWIN,
BELOIT.
THE ancestors of Samuel Johnson Goodwin were
of old New England stock, and were early
settlers of Hartford, Connecticut. His grandfather
took part in the revolutionary war. His parents
were Samuel and Abigail Goodwin, both born in
Hartford, Connecticut, from where they removed in
the year 1810 to Madison, Madison county. New
York, where his father was engaged in business as
hotel keeper, mail contractor, stage proprietor and
merchant, for over twenty years, a thorough business
man, and to his example and teachings his son Sam-
uel attributes much of his success.
Samuel Johnson Goodwin was born at Madison,
Madison county. New York, August 19, 181 2. He
received a common school education in his native
town, and when he was fifteen years old he entered
the store of E. F. Gaylord, in Madison, as a clerk,
where he remained for two years, and then went to
Utica, Oneida county. New York, where he was en-
gaged in a dry-goods store for about four years
when he returned to his native town and bought out
his former employer, and remained in trade there
for five years. He then sold out, and in the fall of
1838 he landed in St. Louis with a stock of cloths,
prints, etc. He there purchased a pair of horses,
wagon, etc., loaded his goods upon the same, and
started for Galena, stopping at all intermediate set-
tlements to dispose of his goods. He continued in
that business until May, 1840, when at the urgent
solicitation of his father and brother he returned to
Waterville, Oneida county, New York, where his
father and brother had removed, where he became
connected with the firm of Bacon, Tower and Co.,
woolen manufacturers and merchants. He was soon
placed in charge of the woolen mill, which was then
manufacturing about two hundred and ten yards per
day, which was a losing business. He at once com-
menced an increase of speed to every part of the
machinery, and in less than six months the same
machinery was turning out four hundred and fifty
yards of the same cloth daily, and he so continued
for sixteen years. He then sold out, and in 1858, in
connection with Dean Richmond, Hamilton White,
John Wilkinson and Charles B. Sedgwick, formed a
company called the Moline Water Power and Manu-
facturing Company, of which he was elected secretary
and treasurer. The company purchased the entire
water power at Moline, Illinois, and erected the first
stone dam and other improvements, costing some
one hundred thousand dollars. He sold out his in-
terest in that enterprise in the fall of i860; then
came to Rochester, and soon after purchased the
farm of three hundred and twenty-five acres which
he now owns, and commenced the growing of hops
and the manufacture of butter, having the most com-
plete arranged creamery in the Northwest. In the
fall of 1868 he purchased at Beloit, of Professor J. J.
Bushnell, the hotel property then known as the Bush-
nell House, now known as the Goodwin House.
The property was then in a bad state of repair and
in poor reputation as a hotel. He at once com-
menced putting the place in a perfect state of
repair, adding all the modern improvements to make
it a first class hotel in all its appointments, and it so
remains to this time. In 1869 he erected, adjoining
the hotel on the north, a beautiful opera house, mod-
ern and complete in all its appointments, and in
1875 he added on the east of the hotel a block of
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
three very handsome brick front stores, and he iden-
tified himself fully with the best interests and growth
of the city, and in 1870 was elected its mayor.
He has been a stockholder in the American
Express Company since its organization, also of the
Western Union Telegraph Company. Mr. Goodwin
has always been found ready to take part in all that
tends to the improvement of the city, and although
not a member of any church, he has helped liberally
for their support ; in fact he is distinguished for his
liberality and excellent business capacity. In poli-
tics he has been a republican since the organization
of the party. In 1840 he was married at Waterville,
Oneida county, to Miss Margaret Bacon, daughter
of Reuben Bacon, Esq., in whom he has found a
good and faithful wife, whom he has ever consulted
in his different enterprises. She has been to him a
good counselor and always a cheerful companion.
They have had two sons, one of whom, the younger,
survives.
OTIS HARVEY WALDO,
MIL WA UKEE.
OTIS HARVEY WALDO was born in Pratts-
burgh. New York, April i, 1822. His father,
Otis Waldo, was one of eight children whose parents
very early emigrated from Connecticut, and settled
in Prattsburgh, where their children were brought
up, and where most of them remained during their
lives. Otis, the second son, grew to be an honest,
industrious, strong-minded, clear-headed man. His
occupation was that of farmer, his faith that of a
Christian of the old New England type. Two sons
were born to the earnest Christian parents, the
eldest of whom is the subject of this memoir.
Otis Harvey lived to the age of seventeen on his
father's farm, his time being divided between labor
on the farm and in an old fashioned saw-mill, and
attendance at the neighboring district school and
academy. He very early showed a decided incli-
nation for study, and for studies of the severer kind,
the classics and mathematics. This tendency was
perhaps intensified by the circumstances of his
youth. His mother was for nearly all her life, after
the birth of her children, an invalid, his father was
a quiet and very sedate man, and his brother
eight years his junior. Of course he had little com-
panionship or amusement in his home, which he
seldom left. To know, to understand, to do, to per-
severe, whatever the difficulties, thus became the
characteristics of his youth, proving the boy
father of the man.
Through their earnest desire to consecrate their
son to the most useful life, it is probable, he was
designed by his parents for the ministry, and hence
every facility their circumstances allowed was
afforded for his education, and he was prepared for
college at the early age of seventeen. Previous to
this, a circumstance of sufficient importance to have,
in some serious manner, affected his character,
occurred. Under powerful excitement from the
preaching of the revivalist Boyle, at the susceptible
age of eleven, he was persuaded that he had met
with a change of heart, and was induced to unite
with the Presbyterian church. Afterward, having
abandoned the hope or belief that he had been the
subject of a radical change, he requested to be
allowed silently to withdraw from the communion
of which he deemed himself an unworthy member.
This, from the rules of the church, was denied him,
and with no charge against him except that he con-
scientiously absented himself from the communion
services of the church, he was publicly excommuni-
cated on the first Sabbath of May, 1839. The same
week he left home and entered Union College in
the middle of the freshman year, for both the clas-
sical and the literary course. A class-mate writes of
his college life : " He was an untiring student, cor-
rect in his deportment and in his morals, and was
what we termed in college a max scholar in all
respects during the whole of his course. His marks
for scholarship, attendance and deportment were
the highest then given in college. Mr. Waldo often
talked with me in admiring terms of Dr. Nott, then
the president of the college, and of Dr. Alonzo Pot-
ter, professor of moral philosophy and rhetoric."
Later friends know that he continued to admire
these instructors of his youth, to whom he was
doubtless indebted for some valuable and graceful
modifications of his earlier character.
During his last year in college the eyes of the
zealous young student failed, and, unable to read
himself, he learned his lessons from the reading of
fii^nyJohiCU'RaillY
'^:^^^J^:^^(17^^y^C(A^^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
135
his room-mate. He graduated in both courses with
honor in 1842, and returned to his father's house
an invalid, suffering much for two years from weak
eyes and feeble health. During this time he did
some light work on the farm and interested himself
in organizing a literary society, which became quite
noted ; and he was also very active, for so young a
man, in the elections of 1844.
With the hope of benefit to his health, and of
making a start in the world, in the fall of that year
Mr. Waldo a second time left home. A gentleman,
whose acquaintance he made on the way, induced
him to go to Natchez, where he arrived well nigh
destitute of funds. He soon became a member of
the family of General John A. Quitman, on whose
premises he taught a small school with much suc-
cess, at the same time employing his leisure hours
in reading law with General Quitman, and in " dis-
cussing with him, in the most thorough manner, not
only the elementary principles of law, but also the
principles of government."
He was admitted to the bar in Natchez in the
spring of 1849, and had many inducements set
before him either to remain with General Quitman
or open an office in New Orleans. Had it not been
for slavery, to which he was conscientiously opposed,
and whose evil fruits were the more apparent to him
from his near observation of its workings, he would
doubtless have heeded the southern call, but as it
was, he took a map and studied the western States
which he believed offered the best promises to an
energetic and aspiring young man. He very soon
decided upon Wisconsin, and at once came to Mil-
waukee, but before regarding himself settled made
a tour of the State. From this he was satisfied, and
returned to make Milwaukee his permanent home in
the autumn of the same year which had witnessed
his admission to the bar. He came a stranger, but
his industry and ability soon brought him friends
and clients.
In the spring of 1850 he married the daughter of
the Hon. J. Van Valkenburgh, of Pontiac, Michigan,
and henceforth labored with the clearly defined
plan, first, of securing a competency which as a citi-
zen and a man with a family he regarded a solemn
obligation ; second, in the struggle for this compe-
tency, and as a distinct aim, to secure the highest
excellence in his profession. Beyond these imme-
diate objects, he had high ambitions for place and
power, that he might do more and better work for
his country and his race. For seven years he went
on prosperously, according to the programme marked
out by himself. Then the financial crisis of 1857
threw him into serious embarrassment. With the
aim already alluded to, he had bought ground on
the principal street of the city, and commenced
building a block of stores in the best manner. Real
estate was solid and permanent; he had faith in it
and in the future of Wisconsin and Milwaukee.
Mr. Waldo borrowed considerable money at a
high rate of interest to build the stores. The strug-
gle to finish the work and pay his debts, although
not the noblest of his life, yet shows very forcibly
some of his best characteristics — integrity, courage,
perseverance. Nothing of his plan and puri)ose
would he yield ; every dollar of his indebtedness
would he pay, and that by his own honest exertions.
Through the future ho still saw financial victory,
and though at the cost of retrenchment and un-
wearied labor for ten years, he bravely fought the
battle, and won. Meantime he was gaining excel-
lence, his other aim, and was ijroving himself one
of the most public-spirited and useful citizens in
his adopted city and State. Far and wide he was
known as the well read, the clear-headed, sound-
judging, industrious and persistent lawyer. The most
difficult cases were confided to him, and seldom did
he lose a case. A brother lawyer writes : " Shortly
after Mr. Waldo's coming here a great humbug
spread over the land like a cloud, known as the
' land limitation measure ' ; on that subject he made,
I think, his first speech, but it was a speech that
electrified us all, and he actually burst the bubble so
far as Milwaukee was concerned." Another writes
as follows : " He was always interested, and inter-
ested in an intelligent way, in public affairs." A
citizen writes thus : " There has been scarcely any
prominent enterprise for the public good during the
past twenty years which Mr. Waldo has not aided.
After the break-down of 1858, when the credit of
Milwaukee was all shattered and torn, he, in con-
nection with James T. Brown, then mayor, acted as
attorney for the city in adjusting our then pressing
indebtedness. By representing to the creditors the
true facts in the case, and what equity demanded on
both sides, Mr. Waldo succeeded in adjusting that
indebtedness on long bonds at four per cent per
annum, and that wise adjustment was the foundation
of the present good credit of Milwaukee."
His labors in behalf of the Northern Railroad
were marked by the same energy, good sense and
practical foresight, and though not a capitalist him-
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
self, he succeeded in interesting others largely in
that project, and it is no exaggeration to say that the
construction of that important road was as much
due to Otis H. Waldo as to any other man. But
his life was really that of a lawyer, and we consid-
ered him, beyond a doubt, one of the greatest law-
yers in the northwestern States.
In educational affairs he was always specially in-
terested, and labored unweariedly for some of the
schools of his own city.
As a politician, Mr. Waldo was first a whig. He
was always opposed to slavery, yet never identified
himself with the abolitionists, because he regarded
them as extremists and men of one idea. Since its
formation he has been identified with the republican
party, and when the great rebellion came he was
found decidedly and heroically on the side of the
Union and freedom. His fortune, time, strength and
talents were consecrated to his country. He penned
some of the ablest papers upon the questions in
dispute that exist in the literature of that stirring
period. Among these may be mentioned a " Letter
addressed to Governor Salomon on the Conduct of
the War," also several letters addressed to Senator
Doolittle upon " equal suffrage," and a speech, de-
livered at Burlington, entitled " The Legal Conse-
quences of the Rebellion."
Mr. Waldo was a student, a man of careful and
wise discrimination, and thus intellectually and con-
scientiously tended to the wise middle course on
most subjects. He possessed the excellences, and
to some extent the severities, of the Puritans, and
for these reasons was not qualified to be a popular
man with the crowd, although he was always their
staunchest friend.
He was, in the strictest sense, democratic in poli-
tics, a believer in universal education and universal
suffrage, but his carefully drawn arguments and
guarded statements, though lucid, were tedious to
the many who jump at conclusions ; his fairness and
charity, even, wearied them, and so, though a gen-
eral conviction of his intellectual and moral fitness
and the obligations the community were under to
him forced that community to regard his claim to
public honors, yet he was not a successful candidate
for office. Weaker and less honorable men were
more successful ; but a change was coming, for the
people have grown weary of selfish greed and reck-
less extravagance and unfaithfulness, and doubtless,
had Mr. Waldo's life been spared, the honor which
six years ago he sought — a seat in the United States
senate — would have been his, and he would have
been one of the most capable and faithful members
of that august body.
In private, Mr. Waldo's life was spotless. He
was devoted to his home and family, and interested
in the education of his children as though these
were his only obligation.
He was Congregational in his idea of church, as
he was democratic in his idea of state, but never,
after his youthful experience before recorded, united
with the church ; yet was he through life reverent
and earnest in his regard for the Christian religion.
Through manifold labor, manifold thought, mani-
fold affections, the subject of this memoir, overtax-
ing his life force, passed the years 1873 and 1874 in
great feebleness and weakness, yet, till overpowered,
would not yield the struggle. Worn out in the
prime of his life, he fell asleep October 30, 1874, in
the fifty-third year of his age.
JOHN H. WARREN, M.D.,
ALBANY.
JOHN HALDEN WARREN, a native of Hogans-
burg, Franklin county. New York, was born on
the 23d of August, 1825, and is the son of Lemuel
Warren and Betsey n^e Richardson. His grand-
father served in the revolutionary war, and his
father, a descendant of the New England Warren of
very early date, was a soldier in the war of 1812.
John attended the common schools of his native
place until thirteen years of age, and after removing
to Wisconsin attended the first school taught in
Janesville ; later he was a pupil in a school which
was kept in a log cabin in the town of Centre, and
there completed his early education. Having
decided to enter the medical profession, he began
his studies at the age of twenty in the office of Dr.
Nichols, of Janesville, and afterward studied with
Dr. Dyer, of Chicago, and at the same time attended
a course of lectures at Rush Medical College, from
which he graduated in 1849. Immediately after
graduation he established himself in his profession
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
m
at Lodi, Columbia county, but in 1851, at the urgent
request of a brother, relinquished his practice, and
removing to Albany engaged in milling and mercan-
tile business, cgntinuing in the same with uniform
success till 1870. Aside from his regular business
he has been honored with many public trusts, and
in all his active career has been a leading and
influential man. In 1857 he was elected to the
State senate, and was afterward chief clerk of the
same. He was appointed collector of internal
revenue in 1862 by President Lincoln, and held
the office during a period of seven years, and was
also appointed by Secretary Stanton receiver of
commutation during the rebellion. He was also at
one time a director of the Sugar Valley Railroad
and a stockholder in the same. At the present
time he is the largest mail contractor in the United
States, having over one hundred mail routes. His
business has caused him to travel extensively over
the different States and Territories, by reason of
which he has become well acquainted with the
character of the Indians, and heartily favors every
movement that tends to further the interests of the
peace policy. In the discharge of all his public
trusts his conduct has been marked by that energy
and spirit of enterprise that ever characterized him
in his private affairs, and by an honorable and up-
right course in all his dealings he has become
known as one of the leading and prominent men of
his State.
In his political sentiments he was formerly a whig
but is now identified with the republican party.
Dr. Warren was reared under Presbyterian influ-
ences, and although not connected with any church
organization is a firm believer in the principles of
Christianity, and still adheres to the doctrines
taught him by his mother.
He was married on the i8th of December, 1854,
to Miss Louisa M. Nichols, daughter of his old pre-
ceptor, the pioneer of Albany, Wisconsin, and by
her has two sons and five daughters, Herbert N.,
Julia, Lissie, Gertrude, Lulu, Benjamin, and Fannie.
The eldest son is now a student at Rusli Medical
College.
Domestic in his habits, Dr. Warren finds his chief
enjoyment in his own home, surrounded by his
happy family, by whom he is respected and esteemed
as a devoted luisband and indulgent father.
HERMAN S. MACK,
MILWAUKEE.
HERMAN S. MACK was born in Altenkund-
stadt, Bavaria, June 7, 1835. He was a son
of Solomon Mack. His father was a merchant and
manufacturer of broadcloth. Herman received his
early education in the schools of his native town,
until he attained his thirteentli year.
During the revolution of 1848 and 1849 in Ger-
many, his parents, seeing no prospects for liim, ad-
vised him to leave his native place, and go to the
United States. In March, 1849, he came to this
country, and went to Cincinnati, at which place he
commenced his business career as errand boy in a
wholesale dry-goods house; at the same time he
attended Gundy's Commercial College in the even-
ings.
In October, 1850, he came to Milwaukee, where
he was clerk until 1854, when he entered into part-
nership with his brothers, under the firm name of
Mack Brothers, who were widely known throughout
the Northwest, and were for many years at the head
of the retail dry-goods business of the State
In 1867 he associated himself with his brother
Hugo, under the firm name of H. S. Mack and Co.,
for the purpose of carrying on the wholesale fancy
dry-goods, yankee notions and furnishing goods busi-
ness, and the firm, through unceasing efforts, energy
and enterprise, have succeeded in building up an
immense business, now occupying the large and
commodious building, Nos. 369 and 37 1 East Water
street, and enjoy a high reputation, equal to any in
the State.
In 1872 he imported knitting looms from Europe,
and started the Northwestern Knitting Works, for
the purpose of manufacturing scarfs, sashes, jackets,
mittens and fancy knit woolens. The manufacture
of these goods has increased from year to year, and
sales and shipments have been made to nearly all
the States of the Union.
In the early days of Milwaukee lie was an active
member of the fire department, and belonged to
staunch old "No. i." In 1867 he was appointed by
Governor Fairchild to represent the State of Wis-
138
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
consin at the Universal Exposition at Paris, and in
1873 Governor VVashburne appointed him commis-
sioner to the World's Exposition at Vienna. He
has lately traveled quite extensively through the con-
tinent of Europe.
He is now, and has been since he was twenty-one
years of age, a zealous member of the order of Odd-
Fellows, and has been honored by the State grand
bodies with the highest offices, having been grand
patriarch of the grand encampment, and he repre-
sented the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin in the Grand
Lodge of the United States, at New York in 1867,
and at Baltimore in 1868.
Mr. Mack was married on the 3d of June, 1868,
to Jennie Wolf, daughter of Hon. Daniel Wolf, coun-
selor and member of the board of public improve-
ments in Cincinnati, Ohio, and one of the most
prominent and influential men of that city.
WILLIAM MEACHER, M.D.,
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Bungay,
Suffolk county, England, was born on the 27th
of May, 1833, and is the son of William Meacher,
senior, and Sarah Ann Brown, the former born on the
28th of August, 1808, at No. 9 Page's Walk, Grange
road, Bermondsey, London, and the latter on the
Grampian Hills in Scotland. At the age of ten
years William attended a part of a winter school of
three months and one summer term of the same
length in Monroe county. New York. Later he
spent a little less than two years in school in Wis-
consin, wliither he moved with his father in the
summer of 1844, and settled in the town of Lake.
At the age of twenty-two years he conceived a desire
for literary culture, and giving himself with avidity
to the work, at once began the arduous task of edu-
cating himself. Beginning with grammar, arith-
metic and spelling, he spent the forenoons in study
and devoted the afternoon to work on the farm or
carpentering during the summers, and in the winter
employed his evenings and Sundays with his books.
After one year's diligent study he spent two months
in a select school in Portage city, and in the follow-
ing winter taught the school of his district, receiving
a compensation of eighteen dollars per month, and
boarding himself. In early life his desire had been
to become a physician, but it seemed beyond his
reach. During this winter, however, he determined
to accomplish his purpose and gratify his desire.
Accordingly in the ensuing spring, with the encour-
agement of Dr. O. D. Colman, of whom he borrowed
books, he began his studies at home, dividing his
time between them and his work to support his
family. At the exjjiration of two years thus spent
he mortgaged his farm of forty acres for two hun-
dred and fifty dollars, and with this money pursued
a course of study at Rush Medical College of Chi-
cago, and in the following summer began practice
in Washara county, Wisconsin. Meeting with little
success he sold his land in the fall for five hundred
dollars, paid his former loan, and with the balance
attended another term at the medical college and
graduated in the spring of 1862, six years from the
time when he first began his private study of
grammar and spelling. It had been a long and
tedious work, but as he compared his condition now,
the master of a noble profession, with his former
state, when, as a boy, he was obliged to toil as a
day laborer, or when a sailor upon the lakes he was
thrown .into the company of those whose influence
tended only to degrade, he did not regret his course,
and felt that he had made a noble sacrifice, and that
what he had gained repaid him a thousand fold for
all that it had cost him. It is worthy of mention
that during all his former varied career, though at
times associated with reckless and abandoned
characters, he had never contracted any of the
habits of drinking, gambling or using tobacco.
After his graduation, without means. Dr. Meacher
began his practice in the village of Pardeeville, and
by the aid of his friend and benefactor. Dr. Colman,
managed to make a living. He engaged in this
work because it was his natural preference, and he
considered it the noblest of all professions. Begin-
ning at the bottom his career has marked a gradual
growth, and each year has added to his practice
and re]JUtation. Thoroughness in his professional
work has always been his motto, and to this may be
attributed his remarkable success. He has been a
constant and diligent student, and when not engaged
with his patients has found most agreeable employ-
ment with his books, finding little time for games or
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
139
ordinary amusements. Of late years he has devoted
himself especially to surgery, and in all his surgical
operations his constant practice is to make a careful
study of his case, both by reading and observation,
before beginning it. During the war Dr. Meacher
was commissioned assistant surgeon of the i6th
Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, and later served
for four months as contract surgeon. He was at the
siege of Atlanta, and participated in the famous
march to the sea.
Aside from his professional duties he has shown a
public-spiritedness and been honored by his fellow-
citizens with positions of trust. About his first
office was that of school superintendent of Marcel-
low in i860; in 1870 he was elected president of
the board of trustees for the village of Randolph,
Dodge county, Wisconsin; and in 1872 declined a
nomination as candidate for the State legislature.
He was elected supervisor for the second ward of
Portage city in 1874, and reelected in 1875. His
ambition, however, has never led him to desire
political honors, he finding in his profession ample
scope for his best talents.
His political views are democratic, though he is
not a partisan.
In his religious sentiments, Dr. Meacher has
always been a " free thinker." A disciple of Dar-
win, Huxley, Tyndal, and Draper, he looks with the
deepest interest upon the impending conflict between
science and religion. He believes in the nebulous
origin of the earth, and firmly holds to the teachings
of geology in reference to its formation and develop-
ment. In regard to God, he believes in an intelli-
gence pervading the universe "as the great unknown
and unknowable." As to the future existence he
holds no opinion, further than that it is unknown
now, but may in the order of progress be found out.
He is a prominent member of the Masonic fra-
ternity, having taken thirty-two degrees, and makes
the principles that underlie this brotherhood his
religion.
Dr. Meacher was married in the winter of 1854
to Miss Jane E. Clayton, an orphan, of Oak Creek,
Milwaukee county, and by her has had two sons
and three daughters, of whom the eldest, a son, died
in infancy.
DANIEL A. OLIN,
DANIEL A. OLIN, was born June 3, 1826, at
Canton, St. Lawrence county, New York. His
grandfather, Caleb Olin, settled in Addison, Ver-
mont, at an early day, and was a captain in the revo-
lutionary war. His father, Joseph Olin, was married
in Vermont, to Huldah Smith. Soon after they
removed to Canton, at that time almost an unbroken
wilderness. He was a captain in the war of 181 2,
and took part in the battle of Plattsburg. After
the war he divided his time between farming and
operating in real estate. Daniel A., the subject of
this sketch, was the youngest of ten children. His
mother died when he was three years of age. In
1831, his father married Hepsebeth B. Andrews,
who bore to him two children, making twelve in the
family. She was in the best sense of the .term a
true woman, intelligent, just and affectionate, and
making no distinction between her husband's chil-
dren, but treated them all with a mother's solicitude
and kindness.
To her influence Daniel ascribes whatever is
praisewortliy in his own character. Such was his
appreciation of her character, that she has been
heard to say that Daniel never spoke an unkind
word to her. Daniel received his education at the
public school of his own town, and at Canton Acad-
emy, which was at that time a flourishing institution
of its kind. He remained with his father on the
farm, teaching school during the winter, until 1849,
when he was married to Sarah S. Sweet, who died
in May, 1852, leaving one daughter. In June, 1854,
he was again married to Mariette Teall. One
daughter was born of this union. In 185 1, he re-
moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, entering immedi-
ately into the service of the Milwaukee and Missis-
sippi Railroad Company, which road was not then
completed to Waukesha, in the capacity of foreman
of the men employed in the construction of the
road. After the completion of the road to Eagle,
in 1852, he took the position of conductor of a pas-
senger train, and continued in that capacity until
the spring of i860. He was conductor of the
first passenger train that ran from Milwaukee to
the Mississippi river. In i860 he was appointed
140
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
assistant superintendent of the same road, which
was then called the Milwaukee and Prairie du
Chien railroad. He held this position until the
spring of 1865, when he was appointed to the posi-
tion of assistant superintendent of the Milwaukee
and La Crosse railroad. In 1866, at the consoli-
dation of this road with the Milwaukee and Prairie
du Chien road, he was appointed superintendent of
the La Crosse division of the Milwaukee and St.
Paul railway, which position he held until July,
1869, when he was appointed general superintendent
of the Western Union railroad, which position he
now holds.
Mr. Olin's religious views are liberal, although he
was educated in a strictly puritanical school.
During the war he was a war democrat, and used
his influence for the suppression of the rebellion.
He was a member of the common council of
Milwaukee five years, three years of which time he
was president of the board. Mr. Olin is a man of
unquestioned natural and acquired ability, of prac-
tical common sense — the basis of all genuine merit —
of sound judgment, of accurate knowledge of men,
and of their capabilities of usefulness. He is firm
in his convictions of duty, and thorough in execu-
tion. His firmness does not amount to obstinacy,
for he is always open to conviction. He is cautious
in all his relations to others, obsequious and syco-
phantic to none. He pays no homage to wealth
and power. He sympathizes with the poor and the
weak. He observes in his daily life the golden rule
of doing unto others as he would have others do
unto him. He has great reverence for deity, and
contributes liberally to religious and benevolent
institutions. An incident in the life of Mr. Olin
equally honorable to his head and his heart was
exhibited in his affectionate tenderness to his wife's
mother, who spent the last years of her life in his
family, and the tears he shed over her grave were -
an eloquent tribute to the characters of both.
Mrs. Olin, his wife, is a woman of genius, learning
and literary taste. Her contributions to the press
have been much admired for their originality of
thought, their freshness of sentiment, and especially
for their naturalness and simplicity. Her transla-
tions from the German authors are critical and just.
Her literary pursuits do not conflict with her
domestic duties. They are relaxations from the
labor of life; order and economy prevail in her
household. She is a loving wife, kind mother and
genial companion. Such qualities of head and
heart as characterize Mr. Olin and wife are rarely
found in any of the relations of life. They are
especially interesting when they characterize hus-
band and wife, between whom there should be har-
mony of opinions and congeniality of sentiment.
JAMES SPENSLEY,
MINERAL POINT.
THE life-history of him whose name heads this
sketch presents many varied and interesting
experiences, and well deserves a place among the
number of Wisconsin's self-made men. A native of
Yorkshire, England, he was born on the 17th of
April, 1833, and is the son of Richard and Alice
Spensley. When he was six years old his parents
immigrated to America and settled at Dubuque,
Iowa, where he passed his early life, receiving a
common English education and assisting in his
father's work. Being of an adventurous turn of
mind he left home at the age of seventeen, and with
an ox team started across the plains for California.
Owing to the large immigration of that year (1850)
the feed of every kind on the way was consumed,
and when within six hundred miles of Placerville,
his point of destination, he was obliged to abandon
his team and walk the remainder of the way.
Having only about four pounds of flour and one
and a half pounds of bacon to subsist upon, he
endured the severest perils, but with a stout heart,
and finally at ten o'clock on Thursday, the 24th of
August, reached the end of his long journey. He
worked for his board until Saturday night, and dur-
ing the next week engaged in mining, having met
with some friends who supplied him with an outfit
of tools. Continuing thus employed for nearly three
years with varied success, he, in April, 1863, left the
rnines and went to San Francisco, intending to em-
bark for Australia. He, however, changed his
purpose, and took passage for New York via
Panama, and arrived at his home in Dubuque in
July. About this time his father moved to Galena,
Illinois, and engaged in the smelting business at that
)JlM^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
141
place. His health having become greatly impaired
by exposure, he was unable to attend to any regular
business during the following three years, more than
to assist in keeping his father's accounts. At the
expiration of this time, having recovered his health,
he removed to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and form-
ing a copartnership with his father and brother,
established himself in the smelting business under
the firm name of James Spensley and Co. In 1861
the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent,
and from that time till the present (1876) he has con-
ducted the business in his own name; and by care-
ful and judicious management and close application
has made it a financial success. He is, besides,
largely engaged in farming interests.
His political sentiments are republican, and
although he has no ambition for political emolu-
ments he was elected to the State legislature in
1866, and there rendered good service. All worthy
matters of public interest readily enlist his sympa-
thies, and he heartily supports any enterprise tending
to the welfare of his State or town.
He is a leading member of the Methodist Episco-
pal Church, and has always lent a willing hand in
furthering the cause of religion in his community.
Mr. Spensley was first married on the 24th of
September, 1856, to Miss Elizabeth Ann Todd,
daughter of George and Isabella Todd, of Jo
Daviess county, Illinois. Mrs. Spensley died on
the nth of June, 1873, leaving a family of eight
children.
Visiting England in 1874 he married his second
wife, Elizabeth Ann Spensley, daughter of Thomas
and Elizabeth Spensley, of Reeth, Yorkshire, on the
1 2 th of May.
Mr. Spensley 's many excellent personal qualities
have secured to him many warm friends, and he
lives in the enjoyment of an ample competence,
commanding by his upright life the highest respect
of all with whom he has to do.
JAMES B. BOWEN, M.D.,
MADISON.
TAMES B. BOWEN, the son of Jabez Bowen,
J was born at Killingly, Connecticut, August 19,
1816. His father died in 1822, having lost all of
his property shortly before his death. The widow
and ten children were left to their own resources
for a living. James was kept at school until his
eleventh year, when he entered into a contract with
a cotton manufacturer to work for four years, during
the usual hours and until ten o'clock at night, re-
serving four hours a day for study in school. After
another engagement for one year, he was placed in
charge as superintendent, with the control of one
hundred hands. In his eighteenth year he entered
an academy at Pleasant Valley, New York, defray-
ing his expenses by performing manual labor at
night. He returned to Connecticut, walked thirty
miles to Stafford to rent a cotton mill, thence to
Hartford, thirty miles further, to procure a stock of
cotton on credit (for he was without money), and
succeeded also in hiring hands to perform the labor
without money for the first six weeks. Afterward
the hands were paid monthly. He ran the mill
night and day for eight months, and derived large
profits. At Warren, Massachusetts, he purchased a
mill for ten thousand dollars, and commenced an
19
independent business. He was now accumulating
a handsome fortune, when by the failure of his
agents in New York, he lost everything he had made.
Previous to his failure he had married Miss Susan
Tucker, whose womanly qualities and excellent
counsels have contributed materially to his pros-
perity and personal happiness.
He removed to Auburn, New York, and com-
menced the study of medicine. Without relinquish-
ing his studies he moved to Rochester, New York,
and with a partner purchased a cotton mill, running
it day and night for two years, clearing thirty thou-
sand dollars, when he sold out, devoting his entire
attention to the study of medicine. Becoming secu-
rity for others, he again lost all the money he had
accumulated, and was indebted for large amounts
over and above his resources. In 1848 he gradu-
ated at Central College as M.D., and commenced
practice in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1852 he
moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where his career has
been in all respects successful. He practices the
homceopathic system, and is considered the father
of that system in Madison. If success is evidence
of merit, Dr. Bowen has rare skill in his profession.
As a business man he has few equals — clear in his
142
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
perceptions, of sound judgment, prompt in reaching
his conclusions, and decisive in action. His views
in relation to public matters are broad and liberal.
In 1872 he was elected maycJr of the city by a hand-
some majority, during his absence at the East. In
1874 he was elected president of the Park Savings
Bank, and still holds that position.
Dr. Bowen has been scarcely less fortunate in his
daughters than in his wife. Susan, the eldest, edu-
cated at Troy, New York, is married to Wayne Ram-
say, cashier of the First National Bank ; Sarah, the
younger, educated at Elmira, New York, is married
to Dr. Ingman, the partner of Dr. Bowen. Both
ladies are exemplary wives and admirable women.
PATRICK CONNOLLY, Junior,
MILWAUKEE.
AS an example of patient industry under difficul-
. ties, and an exemplification of the axiom that
every life must find its own level in spite of untoward
surroundings, the record of Patrick Connolly, junior,
is unsurpassed. He was born of poor but honest
parents, in Ireland, county of Leitrim, February 14,
1836, and attended the common school of his native
village until ten years old. At the early age of
eleven he bade adieu to the " Emerald Isle," and
crossing the ocean, came to seek his fortune in the
new world. By chance he located first in Montreal,
Canada, where he served as cash boy in a commis-
sion house, attending school during the winter
months. Becoming impressed with the idea that
the republic of the United States was the El Dorado
for the advancement of ambitious youth, he aban-
doned the Dominion in the autumn of 1850 and
settled in Greenfield, Milwaukee county, Wisconsin.
His insatiable thirst for knowledge had always im-
pelled him to read much and improve every oppor-
tunity for study, and in his new home he applied his
mind with renewed energy, spending the winters of
1850 and 185 1 at school.
His education at this time, though gained by his
own efforts, w^as far in advance of many more favored
students. Being thrown entirely upon his own re-
sources, he determined to prepare himself for the
vocation of a teacher. Before the close of 1851,
when only fifteen years old, we find him engaged in
teaching one of the public schools of Milwaukee
county. As an instance of his filial devotion and
early habits of prudence w'e will mention that before
the age of nineteen, he had bought with the savings
of his limited salary a homestead, which he presented
to his parents. In 1859 Mr. Connolly received the
appointment of principal in the intermediate depart-
ment of a school in Milwaukee city, and in 1863 was
principal in full of all the departments of the same
school, which position he retained till called by the
voice of the people to serve in a more important
public office. He became early identified with the
interests of the democratic party, but was never in
favor of human slavery. In 1872 he was elected
clerk of the circuit court, and subsequently reelected
by the flattering majority of forty-five hundred votes.
Mr. Connolly was married in 1862 to Miss Julia A.
Vanghey, and is the father of six children, four of
whom are now living. He was brought up a Roman
Catholic, and has conscientiously adhered to the
faith of his ancestors. He is still under forty years
of age, and is eminently worthy of imitation by the
youth of his native and of his adojited country.
H. STONE RICHARDSON,
MADISON.
H STONE RICHARDSON was born in 1829,
. in the town of Nelson, Madison county. New
York. His father, Asa Richardson, was an active,
prominent citizen, known far and near as the " old
honest cattle buyer; " a democrat after the straight-
est sect, prominent as a politician, supervisor of his
town, a justice of the peace for nearly thirty succes-
sive years. He was a poor man, and being the father
of nine children, six girls and three boys, was only
able to give them a home and a common-school
education. At the age of eleven years, H. Stone
Richardson had the use of a neighbor's library, but
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
143
before he had read half the books he determined to
leave home and work his way through Union Col-
lege. That resolution was never abandoned. His
father doubted its practicability, but his mother laid
her thin white hand on his boyish head, and said,
"Go, my boy; and in answer to your mother's pray-
ers God will bless you." His mother tied up his
wardrobe in a handkercliief, and on foot and alone
he walked to the little village of De Ruyter, and
secured the position of bell-ringer in the De Ruyter
Academy, for which service he received tuition in
the school, the use of a room in the building, and
school books. He paid his board and earned money
enough to buy his clothing by sawing wood for the
students and citizens in the town. In this manner
he paid his vi^ay until the winter of his sixteenth
year, at which time he engaged a district school, and
met with great success as a teacher. From this date
his pursuit of knowledge was less difficult, and at the
age of eighteen he was prepared for Union College.
At this time he fell into the hands of unwise friends,
who advised him to give up his college course and
go to Albany and study practical surveying, civil
engineering, etc. After finishing his studies at Al-
bany he immediately proceeded to carry out the
determination of his boyhood to see the world.
Nearly four years were spent in travel, visiting in the
meantime nearly every State and every noted local-
ity in the United States, and spent thirteen months
in a trip to Italy and among the islands of the Atlan-
tic. He crossed the continent, going from San
Antonio, in Te.xas, through upper Mexico to Pueblo,
Los Angeles, to San Francisco, and finally, in 1850,
found himself in Mariposa county, on the tract of
land then owned by J. C. Fremont, and his near
neighbor. In the fall of this year he was nomi-
nated for the assembly, and was elected by a very
large majority. When the legislature convened at
San Jose, he took his seat and served the State with
great acceptability. Near the close of the session he
received a letter from his father, informing him that
his mother was not expected to live. He at once
asked the legislature for leave of absence. In grant-
ing his request, the members of the house and sen-
ate, together with the officers of the State, took the
occasion to express to him their very high respect
for his ability and integrity as a member of the
assembly, and their esteem for him as a gentleman
and friend. His constituents at this time invited
him to return to the State and represent them in
congress. He came home. His mother was gone ;
home was desolate; the rapidity of his long journey
and its consequent severity upon his physical system
threw him into a severe illness. During that illness
he experienced the change through which Paul
passed on his way to Damascus, and upon his re-
covery to health, instead of going back to California
and the life of a politician, he received from the lips
of the Divine Master this command: " Go, preach
my gospel." He immediately united with the Meth-
odist Episcopal church, and in four years from that
time was ordained elder by Bishop Simpson, with
authority to " preach the word." His fifth appoint-
ment was to the pastorate of the church at New York
Mills, a church which was considered of the first
importance in the interior of the State, thus show
ing his standing as a young man. At this time (1861)
the first notes of the rebellion were heard, and ob-
taining leave of absence from his church, he gave
his life for four years to the preservation of the
country, not as a partisan. He was instrumental in
raising the 76th New York Volunteers, and enlisted
by his own personal effort four hundred and fifteen
men for the 2d Harris Light Cavalry. He was
chaplain of the 76th New York Volunteers; was
breveted major and finally appointed by Governor
Fenton military -agent for New York. As chaplain
he did most unexceptionable service, and was alike
loved by the boys in blue and the sick boys in gray,
to whom he gave loving ministry as he found them
wounded on the field or dying in the hospital. As
military agent he handled hundreds of thousands of
dollars, and received from the governor a letter say-
ing that he had served the State with faithfulness
and perfect integrity.
On his return from the army he was solicited by
friends in Wisconsin to commence again his ministry
in that State in the Methodist Episcopal church.
He is now pastor of the church at Madison, the
leading church in the conference, a church demand-
ing talent of the best order.
Mr. Richardson is a lover of nature, and loves
with an intense and absorbing passion a pebble, a
mountain, a bee gathering honey and the flower
from which he gathers it, the bird building her nest
and the eagle cleaving the upper air. He is a
painter, and has always in his heart and the halls of
his memory ten thousand pictures. He is a poet
when the thunder is abroad in the sky and the blue
lightning is tangled and caught on the edges of the
clouds. He is a poet and a child when the summer
wind is south and all the future is full of flowers
t44
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
and hope and millennial light. He has been for
twenty years a hard student of history, biography
and general literature, and also of man in all his
sameness and in all his variety. He prepares his
sermons thoroughly, and preacht;s to make men
better, broader, more loving, more ^haritable, more
like Jesus the Christ, and means that his life shall
be his most convincing sermon. He loves the study
of oratory, and has struggled to become master of
the art. His sermons are highly spiritual, and he is
able at times to move an audience as only they can
who have the gift divine. He is no bigot, no sec-
tarian, no miser. His knowledge of the world and
of man, obtained by extensive travel, has taught him
to regard all men as his brethren.
Believing himself commissioned from above to
proclaim the glad tidings of salvation to a perishing
world, imbued with fervent piety, endowed with zeal,
learning and eloquence, he can scarcely fail to fulfill
the ends of his mission here and to receive a crown
of glory hereafter.
Mr. Richardson was united in marriage to Miss
Lottie L. Curtis, of Madison, New York. She was
an accomplished and beautiful girl and is now an
honored and beloved wife, the mother of two sons,
and a woman of wide influence in the church.
FRANK GAULT,
MIDDLETON.
FRANK GAULT was born January 31, 1826, in
the county of Down, near the city of Belfast,
Ireland. He is the eldest son of Francis Gault and
Debarah McCall. His father was the youngest son
of Francis Gault, senior, a stern and uncompromis-
ing Presbyterian, and one of the united Irishmen
who engaged in the rebellion of 1798, and to show
his zeal in the cause carried a pike against the
almost invincible armies of England in several bat-
tles. The family, including the above named Frank,
immigrated to the United States in the year 1839,
and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when he
was immediately sent as an apprentice to learn the
business of an engineer and machinist. In the year
1848 he removed to Wisconsin, the pioneer of the
family, and was followed by them in the following
spring. He landed in Milwaukee on November
21, and the following morning set out on foot and
walked to Madison, arriving there on the 23d. After a
short survey of Madison and vicinity, he concluded
to make Middleton his future home. In the latter
town he engaged in the manufacture of lumber for
about three years, and in the year 1851, in company
with W. A. Wheeler, he built the flouring mill in
the village of Pheasant Branch, and continued to
run the same until the year 1861, when they sold
their interest in the mill to Hon. T. T. Whittlesey.
He then engaged in farming, in which business he
has remained up to this time, with the exception of
an interval of three years' residence in Kentucky.
On the 30th of November, 1850, he was united
in marriage to Miss Mary Ann Eyre Gyles, a daugh-
ter of Robert Ross Gyles, Esq., of Carlingford,
county Lauth, Ireland, the result of this marriage
being a daughter, now married to Robert L. Win-
tersmith, junior, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and
a son, Frank Gault, now living with his parents.
In politics, as might be expected from the grand-
son of a man who had the courage to face the united
armies of England with a pike, he is an uncompro-
mising democrat. If he has a strong point in his
character it is opposition to oppression in all things,
particularly in politics and religion.
In religion he inclines to Presbyterianism, his
father being of the same persuasion, and his mother,
to whom he was tenderly attached, was a consistent
member of the Episcopal church. He is willing to
accord to all others the enjoyment of their opinions
as he is determined in maintaining his own.
He was elected to represent his district in the
legislature in the fall of 1857, and in the fall of 1858
he was elected treasurer of the county by a very
large majority. In 1863 he was the democratic
candidate for senator in his district, and was de-
feated by the all-powerful administration party. In
1867-8 he represented his district in the legislature;
and has at various other times held the office of
chairman of the town board, justice of the peace,
supervisor, and other offices. He is still to be
found doing service in the ranks of the democracy
or reform party, and intends to continue to do so
while there is despotism or corruption to root out.
Mr. Gault in person is about five feet ten inches
in height, of well developed form, muscular, active,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
H5
and is capable of enduring long continued labor.
His temperament is sanguine bilious. He is ardent
in his attachments, and but for a controlling judg-
ment would be equally so in his animosities. Nature
endowed him with rare mental faculties, and if they
had been disciplined by education and study, he
would have been distinguished in literature or the
mechanic arts, especially the latter, as his knowl-
edge of them seems to be intuitive. He is one of
the best historians of the day, and occasionally in
his fanciful moods coquets with the poetic muse.
He has been peculiarly fortunate in securing a
good deal more than his better half in the choice of
a wife, who in all the relations of daughter, wife,
mother and neighbor, has but few equals and no
superior. She is highly intelligent, hospitable, kind,
charitable .and pious; these qualities she has trans-
mitted to her daughter, who possesses also that
loveliest of all female qualities, gentleness. The
son, Frank Gault, junior, has natural capacity equal
to that of his father, has received a better educa-
tion, and bids fair to be a useful citizen.
J. C. DUNDAS, M.D.,
CAMBRIDGE.
HIGH up in the northern part of Norway, in
the district of Helgeland, Dr. J. C. Dundas,
of Cambridge, was born in 1815, the last of eleven
children then living. His father, Isaac George
Dundas, was a lineal descendant of the renowned
poet and bishop, Peter Dundas, and he was^a son of
the Scotlander, Robert Dundas, who in the sixteenth
century went over from Scotland with his sister,
Maria Dundas, to the district of Helgeland, in Nor-
way. The Doctor's father was a man of large means,
including islands, vessels and a great variety of per-
sonal property. He was a man of liberal educa-
tion and social and literary tastes. He was gener-
ous to the poor, but careless of his property, and
lost the greater portion of it. The Doctor's mother,
Connelia Strom Dundas, was a woman of exem-
plary character, and strong mental qualities. She
was careful, economical and affectionate, inspir-
ing her children with filial reverence. The dis-
trict of Helgeland is celebrated in the old Nor-
wegian sagas as the original home of the first
settlers of Norway. The common occupation of
the inhabitants was that of farming, but the Doctor
having but little taste for agriculture, went to the
city of Bergen to study medicine and surgery. He
remained there three years, thence to Christiania,
continuing the same studies during the years
1837-8-9, thence he went to Copenhagen, remain-
ing two years, thence to Vienna one year. He was
examined by the different medical faculties in the
University of Helsingfors, in 1844. Studied in
Berne, Switzerland, in 1845, also in Dorput, in 1844,
and thence to Holland to be examined as surgeon
for the Dutch East India service. After returning
from Java and other East India islands, he attended
the St. Bartholomew's, the London, and the Royal
London Ophthalmic Hospitals in the year 1849.
Afterward he traveled through Europe, visiting
many medical institutions and others of a scientific
and literary character. In 1850 or 1851 he sailed
from Rotterdam, Holland, in the English emi-
grant ship Northumberland, as surgeon, for New
York. But the ship foundered on the coast of
France and went to pieces. He lost all of his med-
icines and the greater part of his instruments. He
subsequently came to New York, visited the hospi-
tals, made the acquaintance of several eminent phy-
sicians, and finally concluded to travel west, and by
the advice of the Norwegian consul in New York, he
visited Wisconsin, thence to St. Louis, Missouri,
thence to New Orleans, and returning from the
South he visited Chicago, Buffalo and New York
city. He remained in America over two years, and
then returned to Rotterdam in Holland. He ob-
tained a desirable position on board a vessel bound
for Canton, China, and made the voyage, remaining
absent from Europe two years, after which he again
returned to America and to Wisconsin, where he
now resides, practicing medicine and surgery with
great success.
He married his present wife, Malinda Tracy Dun-
das, some years ago, and has two promising daugh-
ters.
The Doctor has had rare opportunities for acquir-
ing a knowledge of science and of the world, and
he has improved these opportunities in such a man-
ner as to give him an extended fame and a lucrative
practice.
146
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
The Doctor's political sentiments are in harmony
with the genius and character of the American gov-
ernment, and hence he prefers it to the European
governments. He believes in the equality of all
men before the law, and their unrestricted right to
the jnirsuit of liberty and hapjiiness. He believes
that America can proudly claim that she is the home
of the immigrant and the asylum of the exile. In
her ample philanthropy she embraces all nations
and kindred and tongues, and knows no distinctions
except those which do equal honor to the head and
to the heart.
HON. E. C. LEWIS,
JUNE A U.
ELI C. LEWIS, a native of Greenfield, Huron
county, Ohio, was born on the 24th of August,
1822, and is the son of Philip and Louisa Lewis.
His father, a well-to-do farmer, was a man of good
standing in his community and much respected by
all who knew him. Eli passed his boyhood and
youth on his father's farm, receiving a good English
education at Norwalk in his native county. He
early developed a taste for professional life, and after
leaving school began the study of law, and in 1844
was admitted to the bar at Tiffin, Ohio. Removing
to Rising Sun, Indiaiia, he spent a short time in the
practice of his profession, and in 1847, drawn by
the superior inducements which it offered to young
men, removed to Wisconsin and established himself
in his profession at Oak Grove, in Dodge county.
In 1850, after three years of varied success, he re-
moved to Juneau, and continued that practice in
which he has become so widely known as a suc-
cessful attorney. His habit has always been to ac-
quaint himself thoroughly with all the various phases
of his case in hand, and to his thoroughness may be
attributed much of his success. Shrewd and enter-
prising, and possessing the happy faculty of seizing
opportunities and turning them to the interests of
his business, he has made it a success, not only pro-
fessionally, but also financially, and is now one of
the wealthiest men in Dodge county.
Politically, he is a democrat, and on this ticket
was elected district attorney in 1848, and held the
office during a period of twelve years. He was
appointed circuit judge in 1873, and for twenty
years has held the office of court commissioner.
During eight years past he has been a member of
the board of supervisors. His career from the first
has been marked by a gradual growth, and from
comparative obscurity he has risen by his own
effort to his present high social and professional
standing.
Judge Lewis is not connected with any church
organization, but, unsectarian in his views, cherishes
a spirit of charity and goodwill toward all men, and
governs his life by principles of honorable, upright
and open dealing.
He was married on the 9th of June, 1856, to Miss
Jerusha L. Grover, by whom he has two sons.
His large and varied e.xperience, gained from
travel, and his thorough acquaintance with all ques-
tions of public interest, combined with his excellent
personal and social qualities, render Judge Lewis a
most agreeable companion, and gain for him the
highest regard of all who know him.
JARED C. GREGORY,
MADISON.
TARED COMSTOCK GREGORY was born Jan-
J uary 13, 1823, in the town of Butternut, Otsego
county. New York. His parents were natives of
New England, and descended from highly respecta-
ble families. He was educated at Gilbertsville
Academy, read law with Judge Noble of Unadilla,
was admitted to the bar in Cortland county, New
York, in 1848, was m.nrried the same year to Miss
Charlotte C. Camp, his present wife. A daughter
and two sons are the blessings of this union. In
ancient Rome they would be styled jewels. He was
elected a justice of the peace when quite young,
was a candidate for corrgress in 1856, and removed
to Wisconsin in January, 1858, settled in Madison
^ 7 ^ ^ I
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
147
and formed a partnership in the practice of the law
with S. U. Pinney, which still continues. Ability
and learning in his profession, industry in his habits,
punctuality in his engagements, have commanded
the respect and secured the confidence of the com-
munity; hence his continued success. In religion
he is an Episcopalian, and his family are members
of the church. In politics he is a democrat in the
sense in which Jefferson and Madison were demo-
crats— as much removed from radicalism as from
centralism. Mr. Gregory's intellectual and moral
character is very manifest to a close observer of men,
and is equally honorable to his head and to his
heart ; the basis is that of plain, practical " common
sense," honesty of purpose, and sympathy with his
fellow men. These qualities are illustrated in his
daily life, whether in his public or private capacity.
The obligations of government and society rest
lightly upon him, and he discharges the duties they
impose with cheerfulness. In his social and family
relations his qualities are most estimable as neigh-
bor, friend, husband and father. No one with cul-
tivated taste ever entered that family circle without
perceiving its moral beauty or being impressed with
its sacred influence. His perceptive powers are
very marked ; he not only perceives the subject under
consideration in its essential elements, but he per-
ceives it in all its kindred relations to other subjects.
He discriminates carefully previous to forming his
opinions, which, together with his accurate knowl-
edge of men, render his conclusions almost unan-
swerable. When his opinion is thus formed, and
presented to the jury at the bar of the court in his
usual respectful, frank and kind manner, the im-
pression is deep and lasting; but when the subject
matter involves human rights or human sufferings,
his zeal, always conspicuous in his client's cause, is
kindled into enthusiasm, which occasionally rises to
the highest order of eloquence, that of the heart.
No man was ever truly eloquent with a bad heart ;
he may e.xcite envy, jealousy and hate with such in-
tensity as to exclude every virtuous emotion, he
may stimulate ambition until the desire to rule or
ruin absorbs every other, his imagination may paint
the loveliness of virtue, but his soul cannot breathe
into it the breath of life.
GUSTAVUS STONE,
THE subject of this sketch is preeminentl) :i
self-made man, and affords a most worthy ex
ample of that class of men who make their lives a
success by sturdy industry and untiring persever-
ance. A native of Canton, Norfolk county, Massa-
chusetts, he was born on the 27th of August, 182 1,
of Jonathan and Elizabeth Stone.
His ancestors, among the early settlers of New
England, participated in the revolutionary struggle,
and his father was a soldier in the war of 1812. He
was a man of very decided character, a physician
by profession, and for thirty-four years conducted a
practice in Canton, Massachusetts. A rigid temper-
ance man, he was so conscientious in carrying out
his principles that he even cut down his apple trees,
that the fruit might not be made into cider. With
the advantage of such home influences and a thor-
ough English education, Gustavus left his native
State, and began life on his own account. With
three other young men, and with seven dollars in his
pocket, he went south, and engaged in teaching, em-
ploying his spare time in study and self-culture.
In 1850, wishing for a wider field of action, he
removed to the West, and settled at Beloit, Wiscon-
sin, and, associating himself with Mr. Parker, began
the manufacture of reapers and mowers, under the
firm name of Parker and Stone. The business prov-
ing very successful, has continued up to the present
time, 1876, and is still prosperous and growing. If
we seek for the secret of Mr. Stone's success, we
shall find it not alone in his native abilities, but
rather in the continuity of action that has charac-
terized his life. The principles of honorable deal-
ing instilled into his early life have had their influ-
ence on all his subsequent career, and in all his
varied intercourse with men he has maintained that
frankness that has never failed to gain for him the
esteem and confidence of the business public.
Politically, Mr. Stone was formerly identified with
the whig party, and is now republican in his senti-
ments. His love of party, however, never blinds
him to the higher interests of the State or nation,
and in every political contest, waiving party preju-
dices, he supports for office him whom he regards
148
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
most worthy of the position. He has never sought
notoriety in the political world, or even solicited of
the public any political favor; and although promi-
nent positions have frequently been tendered him,
he has uniformly declined them, preferring the en-
joyment and exclusiveness of his business life to
political fame or emoluments.
In religion, as in politics, he entertains the most
liberal views. Purely unsectarian, his sympathies are
broad enough to gather in their embrace all men.
His charities extend to all. It is only necessary
that the needs of the distressed be known to him,
and without questioning as to their personal beliefs,
if they are worthy, his heart and purse are ever open
to supply their wants. He has also been a generous
supporter of public charities and enterprises.
He was married in 1853, to Miss Sarah A. Bart-
lett, in whom he has found a true and devoted wife.
Their family, consisting of three sons and two
daughters, are all living at home, where, with their
parents, they enjoy the society of a large circle of
acquaintances and many warm personal friends.
DANIEL S. DURRIE,
MADISON.
DANIEL STEELE DURRIE was born at
Albany, New York, January 2, 1819. He is
a son of Horace Durrie, a native of Hartford, Con-
necticut, and a grandson of John Durrie, of Stony
Stratford, Buckingham county, England, who came
to America in 1781. His mother was Johannah
Steele, daughter of Daniel Steele, a bookseller and
stationer of Albany, to which place his father re-
moved about 181 7.
Mr. Durrie was educated at the Albany Academy
and at a select school at South Hadley, Massachu-
setts, after which he entered the store of his uncle
and learned the bookselling business, and succeeded
him in the same in 1844. In 1848 he lost his prop-
erty in the great fire which occurred that year at
Albany, and in 1850 removed to Madison, Wiscon-
sin, at which place he has remained to the present
time, being engaged in the same business from 1854
to 1857. This the commercial revulsions of the last
year broke and he accepted a position in the office
of Hon. L. C. Draper, the superintendent of public
instruction in 1858 and 1859.
He was elected a member of the State Historical
Society in 1854, was elected a member of the execu-
tive committee in 1855, and librarian in 1856, which
office he has retained to this date, entering on the
twentieth year of his reelection to that office Jan-
uary, 1875. The society at that time was in its
infancy, with a library of only a few volumes. He
was associated with Lyman C. Draper, LL.D., the
corresponding secretary, to whom the society is in-
debted largely for its present prosperity, and is enti-
tled to a part of the credit of building up the society,
which ranks among the first in the United States.
Mr. Durrie published his first work, "A Genea-
logical History of John and George Steele, Settlers
of Hartford, Connecticut, 1635-6, and their De-
scendants," in 1859, and an enlarged edition of one
hundred and sixty-one pages in 1862. It was pub-
lished at Albany by Joel Munsel, and was the first
of this class of works issued by that gentleman,
and since that time he has brought out a large
number of similar volumes. In 1864 Mr. Durrie
published "A Genealogical History of the Holt
Family in the United States, More Particularly the
Descendants of Nicholas Holt, of Newbury and
Andover, Massachusetts, 1634 to 1644, and of Wil-
liam Holt, of New Haven." This volume, of three
hundred and sixty-seven pages, was printed by Mr.
Munsel. In 1868 he published his " Bibliographia
Genealogica Americana : an Alphabetical Index
to Pedigrees and Genealogies Contained in State
County and Town Histories, Printed Genealogies
and Kindred Works," a volume of three hundred
pages, also printed by Munsel. In 1869 he prepared
and published in the "Historical Magazine" a "Bib-
liography of the State of Wisconsin," giving the title
and reference to all publications that have been
issued on the State, a volume of great service
to all persons interested in Wisconsin and her
history and resources. In 1872 he prepared two
papers on the " Early Outposts of Wisconsin ;
Green Bay for Two Hundred Years, 1639 to 1839,
and Annals of Prairie du Chien," which appeared
in pamphlet form, twenty-eight pages, double col-
umns; and also an article on Captain Jonathan
Carver, in volume six of the collections of the His-
torical Society. In 1874 he published a "History of
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
149
Madison and the Four Lake Country of Wisconsin ;
with Notes on Dane County and its Towns," printed
at Madison, making a volume of four hundred and
twenty pages. In 1861 and 1862 he collected material
for the publication of a gazetteer of the State of Wis-
consin. The work was completed, but owing to the
civil war the publication was suspended and it has
never been published. Mr. Durrie is a member of
the Connecticut, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Buffalo and Western Re-
serve Historical Societies, of the New England His-
torical and Genealogical Society, New York Bio-
graphical and Genealogical Society, and the Phila-
delphia Numismatic and Antiquarian Society.
Mr. Durrie's fitting place is in a public library.
Among books from his boyhood, his memory of
them and of their contents is very e.xtensive and
tenacious; and this knowledge, so valuable in the
custodian of a large public library, is daily and
hourly called into requisition. Thus he quietly ren-
ders unceasing aid to others, which, in the aggregate,
can never be adequately estimated.
A taste for antiquarian pursuits, long cultivated,
is probably the most striking trait in Mr. Durrie's
character, and is the one exemplified in his produc-
tions tiiat will serve to perpetuate his name among
lovers of that department of literature. His writings
evince a strong love of truth; he "nothing extenu-
ates nor aught sets down in malice." He is plod-
ding and pains-taking rather than brilliant, and he
thus ranks with that large class of utilitarians who
leave behind them evidences that they have not
lived in vain.
. Mr. Durrie is a member of the Presbyterian
church, and was one of the members that composed
the church at Madison at its organization in 185 1,
and has held many offices therein.
He married, at Albany, New York, October 15,
1844, Anna, daughter of David and Elizabeth
(Hempstead) Holt, and has a family of six children.
His eldest daughter is a graduate of the University
of Wisconsin and is assistant librarian of the State
Historical Society, a lady of cultivated mind and
manners, and marked for her gentleness of character.
Whoever looks upon Mr. Durrie's massive form
can readily discover in his benignant eye and genial
countenance the truest test of the kindness of his
heart — his genuine bonhomie for all.
CHANCY C. ROBINSON, M.D.,
MIL WA UKEE.
CHANCEY CLARK ROBINSON was born
January 14, 182 1, at Bath, Steuben county.
New York, son of Clark and Cylindia Robinson.
His father was a farmer and local Methodist minis-
ter, and one of the leading men in that section of
the State. The Doctor was educated partly at the
common schools, and partly at the high schools.
At the age of seventeen, while assisting his father
in the erection of a barn, he ruptured a blood-vessel,
which incapacitated him for continuous manual la-
bor, and having acquired a love of books he deter-
mined to study medicine. Having very limited
means he was compelled to alternate his studies with
teaching school in the winter and working on the
farm in summer during harvest. He continued this
course of life three years under the instruction of
Abijah B. Case, and graduated at Geneva Medical
College in the class with Elizabeth Blackwell. In
1842 he married Miss Mary E. Alexander, by whom
he has had two children, both dying quite young.
His grandfather on the father's side was a soldier of
the revolution, and his father a soldier in the war of
181 2. The family generally live to a great age.
His grandmother on the mother's side lived to nine-
ty-three, and his father is still living at the age of
eighty-three.
After his marriage in 1842 he went to Angola, in
the State of Indiana, and practiced the profession of
medicine five years, whence returning to New York
he attended two full courses of medical lectures.
In 1849 he came to Chicago and traveled through
Wisconsin in company with Professor Spencer, the
founder of Geneva Medical College, and being
pleased with Milwaukee they formed a copartner-
ship, and locating there engaged in the successful
practice of medicine, which Dr. Robinson continued
until 1870, when he retired as far as practicable.
Some old patrons, his tenants and the poor, still
assert their claims to his services, which he renders
free of charge.
During the last few years he has been engaged in
buying and selling real estate, in which he has ex-
I50
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARV.
hibited foresight, sagacity and judgment. In 1863
he purchased fourteen acres of land on the Kinni-
kinnick river at one hundred dollars per acre, and
in 1869 sold it at one thousand dollars per acre.
In 1873 he purchased other lands at a little less than
two thousand dollars per acre, and sold the same
within one year at eight thousand five hundred dol-
lars per acre. Again he purchased fourteen acres
on the Kinnikinnick, upon which he proposed to
build two thousand two hundred feet of dock,
thirteen hundred feet of which have been completed
in a substantial manner ; the remainder is in process
of completion.
The Doctor commenced his business career with-
out pecuniary means of his own or aid from others.
He is now rich, with the prosi^ect of large wealth.
I which his industry, economy and present facilities
can scarcely fail to accomplish. His religious senti-
ments are free from all sectarian bias. He is moral
in his habits and just in his dealings.
During the rebellion he went into the army as
assistant surgeon and received the commendation of
j his superior officers. In his political opinions he is
a republican, though liberal and conservative ; supe-
rior merit will always command his support. His
physique is the personification of health, vigor and
activity, and he bids fair to attain as great age as
any of his ancestors.
His great work on the Kinnikinnick river which
bears his name, will remain a lasting monument of
the genius of its owner who conceived it, and of his
l)ublic spirit which executed it.
HON. GEORGE E. BRYANT,
GEORGE E. BRYANT was born February 11,
1832, at Templeton, Worcester county, Massa-
chusetts. His father was George W. Bryant, his
mother Eunice Norcross. He was educated at Nor-
wich University in the same class with General
Dodge and General Ransom, and went through the
full course of studies. He preferred the profession
of the law, and after leaving the University he read
law with the Hon. Amasa Norcross at Fitchburg,
Massachusetts, and was admitted to the bar in 1856
at Worcester, Massachusetts, and shortly after moved
to Madison, Wisconsin, and formed a partnership in
the practice of his profession with Myron H. Orton,
which he continued until 1861. In religion he is a
Unitarian ; in politics first a whig, afterwards a re-
publican. He was captain of the Madison Guards
in i860 — the first company to offer their services to
the government at the commencement of the re-
bellion. This company served five months in the
First Wisconsin Regiment, at the termination of \
which the company was mustered out of service and |
Captain Bryant returned home, and was shortly {
afterward commissioned colonel of the 12th Wis-
consin Regiment, with which he went to the Indian
Territory, marching across the plains west of Fort I
Riley. Returning they descended the Mississippi I
river to Columbus; thence by railroad to Corinth,
where they joined General Grant's army. From this [
place they marched to Memphis; thence below Hoi- I
ly Springs, thence to Vicksbtfrg, where they engaged
in the siege of th-at place.
After the siege they marched to Jackson and
engaged in a fight with Joe Johnson ; thence they
marched to Natchez, thence to Harrisonburg, Louis-
iana; thence back to Vicksburg. During the ensu-
ing winter the regiment reenlisted as veterans and
returned home on furlough. The furlough having
expired they returned to Cairo, ascended the Ten-
nessee river to Ashton, Alabama, crossed the moun-
tains to Rome, Georgia, and joined Sherman's army
in the mountains.
This regiment was in all of the engagements pre-
ceding the battle of Atlanta on the 22d of July.
Colonel Bryant commanded the ist brigade of the
3d division of the 17th army corps at the battle of
Bald Hill, one of the severest engagements during
the war. General Sherman gave to this brigade the
credit of saving the army from destruction. This
regiment was on the celebrated Meridian march and
went with Sherman to the sea. Upon their return
to Louisville, Kentucky, they were discharged from
the service.
Upon Colonel Bryant's return to Wisconsin he re-
tired to his farm near Madison and is engaged in
raising fine blooded stock, especially horses and cat-
tle. He was elected county judge in 1866 — again
in 1870, and again in 1874. In the latter year he
was also elected State senator.
,^^-^^^/^^^-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
151
He was married on the 27 th day of September,
1858, to Miss Susie A. Gibson, whose ancestors were
the first settlers in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. They
were participants in the war of the revolution, and
had previously fought the Indians. His ancestors
were Irish, and came to this country shortly after
the landing of the Pilgrims. They also were en-
gaged in the revolutionary struggle. Some of them
lived on the road between Lexington and Concord,
and were exposed to great annoyance from the
British soldiery.
While Judge Bryant has not been distinguished as
a warrior, a statesman, or a« orator, he has been in-
telligent and efficient as a legislator, a judge and a
citizen. He is a kind neighbor, an affectionate father
and a loving husband; the result, doubtless, of a
devoted wife whose hallowing influence over the do-
mestic circle is perceived and felt by all who enter it.
WILLIAM S. WARNER,
APPLETON.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Hector, \
Tompkins county, New York, was born on the
ist of February, 1817, and is the son of Seth A. L.
Warner and Sally nee Wixom. His father, a native
of Saybrook, Connecticut, and educated in Oneida
county, New York, was a lawyer by profession, and
later in life combined farming with his profession.
He was an influential man, of decided character, and
enjoyed the high regard and confidence of all who
knew him. William removed to Michigan with his
parents when he was eight years of age, and settled
in Farmington, Oakland county, receiving there a
common school education — the only education at-
tainable in the State at that early day. After closing
his school days he spent a short time in teaching,
then entering mercantile pursuits, and later engaged
in milling at Northville, eight miles from his adopted
home, and in 1844, selling his interests, removed to
Watertown, Wisconsin. During the next year and
a half he was engaged in the mercantile trade, and
at the expiration of that time removed to Sheboy-
gan, where he resumed the same line of business,
continuing it till 1849. Removing to Appleton at
this time he opened a stock of general merchandise,
first at Kaukauna, eight miles from Appleton, where
he remained during 185 1 and 1852, afterwards at
Appleton, conducting a successful trade until 1857.
His early desire had been to enter the legal pro-
fession, and with this purpose in view he had spent
three years in the study of law (1841-4), but finally
abandoned it on his arrival in Wisconsin, fearing
that he could not make it an immediate success in a
so sparsely settled country as the State then was.
His love for the profession, however, never left him,
and after closing his mercantile affairs, in 1857 he
was admitted to the bar at Appleton, and has since
been admitted to all the courts of Wisconsin, as well
as the circuit and district courts of tlie United States.
He is at present (1876) senior member of the firm
of Warner and Ryan, and conducts a large, influen-
tial and successful practice, giving his personal at-
tention to the largest and most important cases.
Aside from his legal practice, Mr. Warner has been
a large operator in real estate, and has been actively
interested in various other public and private enter-
prises. In 1852 he was appointed postmaster of
Kaukauna by President Fillmore, at which place he
was chosen supervisor, justice of the peace, and
town superintendent of schools. Since that time he
has held the offices of town clerk, police justice,
justice of the peace, city attorney, circuit court and
United States commissioner for the eastern district
of Wisconsin. With all enterprises connected with
the welfare of his city he has been in hearty sym-
pathy, and to his public-spiritedness she owes much
of her present prosperity. He is a director of the
First National Bank of Appleton, and president of
the Northern Mineral Iron Company. He has erect-
ed several large blocks and business places in Apple-
ton, and is one of ten who have taken stock to the
amount of seven thousand five hundred dollars each
to build a large cotton factory.
In business he has had a varied experience, losing
all of his property in Michigan during the crisis of
1836-40, and again, in 1848, losing most of his
property through his (then) partner in Sheboygan.
He commenced in Appleton with three hundred
dollars, and from that small beginning, by indomi-
table courage, economy, business tact and "push,"
has built up an extensive and remunerative business,
and now lives in the enjoyment of an ample fortune.
He is truly a self-developed type of the true Western
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man with the inherited large New England brain,
and is still actively prosecuting with all diligence
his profession and a large measure of varied busi-
ness, and, while absent ftir recreation in the South
during the spring of 1876, was chosen an alderman
to represent the business ward of his city, without-
his knowledge until his return.
His success may be attributed not alone to energy,
enterprise and perseverance, but more to the fact
that he turned them into the channel of his native
inclinations and abilities, and to his strict integ-
rity. Mr. Warner has a high social standing, and
the practical knowledge he has gained -from his
studies, travels and observation renders him a most
agreeable companion. His political views are inde-
pendent democratic — holding that good measures
without good men to enforce them are antagonistic
elements. Though not a member of any church, he
is a regular attendant upon the Congregational ser-
vice, and a firm believer in the practical truths of
Christianity, though not an admirer of creeds.
He was married, April 11, 1837, to Miss Polly
Coomer (still living), and by her has one daughter,
the wife of Henry D. Ryan, his law partner.
He is a man of quick perceptions, sympathetic
feelings, prompt to resent an injury, ready to forgive
a wrong carelessly committed, earnest in advocacy
— making his client's cause paramount to all con-
siderations — has no patience with laziness, but
always has a considerate regard for involuntary
suffering, is keenly methodical in everything, with
wonderful executive ability, and insists on "making
things move rapidly " around him. " Business
first," is his motto.
RICHARD F. WILSON,
EAU CLAIRE.
RICHARD F. Wn_,SON was born at Port Re-
public, Maryland, on the 14th of May, 1825,
the son of George W. Wilson and Mary Ann Wilson.
His father was a merchant ; his mother's family were
planters. His parents moved to Rushville, Illinois,
in 1832; thence in 1844 to Dane county, Wisconsin.
In consequence of the difificulties incident to so
new a country, his parents were unable to give him
a liberal education ; hence, at a very early period, he
was thrown upon his own resources for such success
in life as his natural ability would enable him to
achieve. He received from nature the elements of
character which if developed by education, observa-
tion, or experience, would impress himself very
sensibly upon the public mind, and, in a marked
degree, give direction to public thought. The
consciousness of these powers has never failed to
animate and sustain him in all his various enter-
prises, and he has rarely known such a word as fail.
During his residence of twelve years at Madison he
was by turn sergeant-at-arms to the legislature,
assistant sergeant, transcribing clerk, agent of the
State to select lands for the university and for the
common schools, superintendent of locks on the
Fox and Wisconsin river improvement, agent to
select lands for the capital of the State, and to
appraise those lands as well as those of the sixteenth
section. He subsequently moved to Eau Claire, he
being one of the original proprietors of the land on
which the city is built. The population of Eau
Claire at the present time exceeds ten thousand
inhabitants. The manufacture of lumber amounts
to a hundred and sixty millions of feet annually,
besides laths and shingles. There are two flouring-
mills of large capacity, two foundries, machine shops,
four district graded schools, eleven churches of the
various Christian denominations, a court house
which cost seventy-five thousand dollars, city hall
twenty thousand dollars, post-office forty thousand
dollars. The growth of this city is almost un-
paralleled in the West, and if any one man can, while
pointing to it with exulting pride and joy, say, " this
is my work," that man is Richard F. Wilson.
Mr. Wilson was married at De Pere, Wisconsin, on
the 29th of August, 1853, to Miss Martha Newton,
the daughter of A. D. Newton, a missionary to the
Indians of Lake Superior, his first location being at
Mackinac. He was subsequently in the employment
of the American Fur Company at La Pointe on
Lake Superior. Mrs. Wilson was born at La Pointe
and educated at Green Bay. She is a member of
the Episcopal church, is a lady of rare personal
attractions, of cultivated intellect, of amiable dispo-
sition, and well qualified to wield a beneficent
influence over not only her husband but over all
others who come within the circle of her womanly
/l^(nn'\juL
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
»53
charms. She has materially aided her husband in
the accomplishment of his enterprises by her wise
counsels, derived not so much from the deductions
of reason as from that intuitive knowledge peculiar
to her sex. If there are any truly self-made men,
Mr. Wilson is entitled to that appellation. "Self-
made " is an indefinite term, and conveys an inade-
quate idea of the means, natural or acquired, by
whicli men achieve success. The term is 'well
calculated to flatter the vanity of men, already too
vain for efficiency in themselves or pleasure to
others. Nature gives men their cajjacities, circum-
stances develop them. As their capacities vary, so
must the means of their education. A college edu-
cation may dwarf the giant proportions of some
intellects, while it expands others. The world's
criterion of merit is success, and with this ad-
measurement Mr. Wilson has reached a high stand-
ard. If he had lived in the classic days of Creece
and Rome he would have been as much honored as
the founder of a city as Romulus was of Rome,
Cadmus of Thebes, or Queen Dido of Carthage.
J. S. DOUGLASS, A.M., M.D., Ph.D.,
MILWAUKEE.
DR. J. S. DOUGLASS was born in the town of
Westmoreland, Oneida county. New York, July
4, iSoi. His father was a pioneer farmer, and dea-
con of the Baptist church, and a man of considerable
moral influence. His mother was a woman of rare
mental and moral qualities ; her government, though
strictly moral, was absolute ; disobedience on the part
of her children was unknown, and yet a blow from
her was never inflicted.
The Doctor in early life was feeble and delicate,
and unable to work on the farm. He was fond of
books and acquired learning enough at fifteen to
teach a district school, in the meantime pursuing a
course of collegiate studies with such success as to
receive from the Madison University the honorary
degree of A.M., and in 1870 the degree of Ph.D.
After finishing his preliminary studies he commenced
the study of medicine and graduated at the Fairfield
Medical College, in 1824. He commenced practice
in Oswego and soon had a large business. He mar-
ried Miss Martha Pierson, who lived three years
and died without issue. He changed his location
to Vernon, and afterwards to Hamilton, New York
Here he married Miss Frances M. Boardman, daugh-
ter of Captain George Boardman, of Schenectady,
and sister to the wife of the Rev. George W. Eaton,
president of the university.
At this time his theory and practice of medicine
underwent a radical change in favor of the homoeo-
pathic system, and soon after locating in Milwaukee,
in 1848, he published for one year a monthly journal
advocating that system, and a few years later a sim-
ilar journal for one year. Since then he has published
two books, one of which is a standard work, having
reached its thirteenth edition. He has also con-
tributed annually many articles to the medical jour-
nals. In 1855 the Doctor accepted the chairs of
materia medica and of special pathology and diag-
nosis in the Homoeopathic Medical College at Cleve-
land, Ohio, which he held three years. He has been
a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy
since 1847, for 0^2 year its president, and once its
annual orator. In political sentiment he is a repub-
lican of the abolition school. In religion he is what
is termed orthodox, and a member of the Baptist
church.
He has had six children ; all living except the
eldest daughter. His wife, but a few years younger
than himself, is a lady of culture, accustomed to lit-
erary society, an amateur artist, and preserves her
youthful and artistic tastes in a remarkable degree.
Dr. Douglass is in the first rank in his profession
in the State. He is a perpetual student, both of
books and of nature. He is never so busy that he
has not time to investigate the last idea, and appre-
ciate the last discovery in medicine. He is no less
skillful in using remedies than industrious in learn-
ing them. He has good sense, rare discrimination,
with strong powers of comparison and reasoning
which distinguish the successful physician.
He is a botanist, and is known to the learned in
that department of science, while in his own pro-
fession the preparations brought to the notice of the
profession, of our indigenous plants, have become
important remedies to the profession.
He is as radical in the pursuit of improvements as
the youngest enthusiast, yet he is prudent and con-
servative, and insists on the proof furnished by ex-
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
periment. He rejects no suggestion on account of
its humble origin. Neither prejudice nor disgust
stand in the way of inquiry, nor can aught but gen-
uine merit command his assent. He is simple and
unpretending in his private life, and seeks no place
for himself He does notliing to be seen of men.
He is amiable, cheerful, and an agreeable compan-
ion. He has strong convictions, yet charitable to
others' opinions. No one for the want of money
was ever refused his aid, nor was any appeal made
to his sympathy in vain. With the wisdom of expe-
rience and the prudence of age he unites the zeal, the
benevolence, and the interest in daily things which
age is apt to lose. He is fresh in mind and warm in
heart ; of all men of his age in this section of the
country he is the youngest. So unassuming a man
will not be fully appreciated until his patients shall
be compelled to look for another to fill his place.
ORRIN W. BLANCHARD, M.D.,
DELA VAN.
ORRIN W. BLANCHARD, a native of Claren-
don, Vermont, was born on the 2 2d of Octo-
ber, 1808, and is the son of Willard Blanchard and
Sarah nee Piatt, The family is of French origin,
descended from a count of same name, and settled in
Rhode Island five generations ago. His paternal
grandfather was a soldier in the revolutionary war,
and a pensioner until his death. His father, a far-
mer by occupation, was a leading man in his town.
He served in the war of 1812 as captain of a com-
pany of " Green Mountain Boys." While at home
on a furlough, before the battle of Plattsburgh, he
received word to raise more volunteers and come as
soon as he could, for a battle was expected. In
obedience to the order he enlisted one hundred
men, and returned to his company just in time for
the battle.
He was a prominent member of the Baptist
church, and died in Wisconsin in i860, at the age
of seventy-eight years.
Orrin's early tastes were to become a mechanic,
but after closing his studies in the academy at Au-
burn, New York, not being able to gratify his desire,
he began the study of medicine under Dr. Daniel
D. Wait, of Cayuga county, and later continued it
with Dr. Cady, of the town of Senate, near Auburn,
and afterward attended a course of lectures at
Castjeton, Vermont. Beginning his practice near
Auburn, in 1828, under a diploma from the State of
New York, he continued with good success till 1841,
when he took his second course of lectures, and
graduated from the medical college at Pittsfield,
Massachusetts. His studious habits, his love for
the profession he had chosen, his clear and compre-
hensive mind, his early mastery of the fundamental
principles, his conscientious devotion to the interests
of those entrusted to his care, had at the time of his
graduation marked him as a man of more than ordi-
nary ability, and he was at that early stage regarded
as one of the few alumni who was destined to
achieve distinction in his profession.
In the latter part of 1842 he removed to Wiscon-
sin and established himself in practice at the city of
Racine with Dr. B. B. Cary. Two years later his
partner, having received an appointment from the
government, withdrew, and Dr. Blanchard continued
his practice at Racine for the next three years, dur-
ing which time his business was very prosperous,
and he became widely known as a careful, com-
petent and successful physician and surgeon. Owing,
however, to the delicate condition of his wife's
health he was obliged to leave the lake shore, and
abandoning his large practice removed to Delavan
and opened a new field. During the twenty-nine
years of practice in this place he has met with that
success as a physician, — but more especially as a
surgeon, — which follows as the result of thorough
qualification, and constant, honorable effort. His
devotion to his profession has absorbed his entire
attention, almost to the entire exclusion of every
other interest. Though he has annually earned
from six to eight thousand dollars he has seldom
made any effort to collect or secure his pay; many
who owe their lives to his tender, watchful care and
his professional skill have never paid him a dollar
for his services. While this characteristic has been
at times seriously embarrassing to him financially,
yet it has tended to exhibit in a stronger light his
concentrated attention to the one grand object of
his life. Dr. Blanchard has been especially noted,
during the last twenty-five years, as a surgeon. He
gave especial attention during his academic course
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
155
to physiology and anatomy, and early familiai-ized
himself, both by experiments and the study of the
leading authors, with every part of the human sys-
tem. Not content with a superficial knowledge of
the principles of his profession nor with moderate
success, he has from time to time purchased the
leading works and consulted the best authors, and
has consequently continually advanced in the sci-
ence of his profession. His reputation as a surgeon
has for many years extended beyond the bounds of
his adopted county. Had he settled in Chicago he
would probably have ranked in reputation among
the best surgeons of the West. His thorough
knowledge of medical jurisprudence has brought
him into prominence in important trials as a witness,
where he has ever commanded the respect and con-
fidence of the court, counsel and jury.
In the year 185 1 Dr. Blanchard was appointed
assistant surgeon in the regulair army, and spent
three years in New Mexico in that capacity. While
there, at the instance of the commander-in-chief,
he performed a very difficult operation on the
Spanish governor Armijo, for which he received a
present of one thousand two hundred dollars in
gold. During the late civil war he was appointed
surgeon of the 40th Regiment of Wisconsin Volun-
teers (one-hundred-days men), and at the expiration
of their term was presented by his regiment with a
beautiful gold-headed cane for meritorious conduct.
It was his regular custom to go with his lantern at-
two o'clock in the morning and visit the sick and
care for their wants ; and by his constant kindness
won the love and gratitude of all under his charge.
He was afterward commissioned surgeon of the
49th Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteers, and re-
mained with it till the close of the war. In this
regiment also he won the affections of the men, and
they presented him, at the expiration of their term,
with a valuable gold watch.
After the close of the war the Doctor resumed his
regular practice, devoting much of his time, how-
ever, to important surgical operations, and other
cases that demanded special medical skill ; and his
opinion is generally sought and almost uniformly
respected by other physicians in important cases.
Sliortly after the close of the war his son, C. C.
Blanchard, graduated from the medical college and
entered into partnership with his father under the
name of Blanchard and Son. They now do the
leading business of the county, and it is not im-
probable, judging from his success thus far, that the
son will fully maintain, with the same experience,
the reputation of his father.
Politically, Dr. O. W. Blanchard was a democrat
until the breaking out of the recent civil war, when
he identified himself with the war party; manifested
his patriotism by inducing his three sons to enlist in
the volunteer army, and by contributing his own
services and skill as above stated. Since the war he
has acted with the republican party.
His religious training was under Baptist influence,
and he is now a consistent member of that church.
He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, and
for seven years was master of the lodge in Delavan.
He was married on the 27th of March, 1831, to
Miss Nancy Foster, of Arcadia, Wayne county. New
York. There are three sons, the issue of said
marriage, all residing in the county of Walworth.
Only those who have known Dr. Blanchard inti-
mately for many years can fully appreciate his mer-
its; modest and retiring in manner, yet firm and
self-reliant in his opinions when formed after careful
investigation and mature reflection. Ever charitable
and courteous to his professional brothers, never
indulging in the petty scandals and insinuations too
common among the members of his profession —
when he shall have finished his labors here it will
be truly said of him that he has not lived in vain.
FRED BERTSCHY,
MFLWAUKEE.
FRED BERTSCHY was born in Ingolsherm,
France, on the 14th of November, 1836. He
was the son of Jacob and Margaret Bertschy, who
were people of sterling and upright principles, and
took great pains to instill into the mind of their son
correct ideas of morality and honesty in all things.
Jacob Bertschy came with his family to America in
May, 1845, and settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
where he became proprietor of the Mansion House,
a hotel situated in that part of the city known as
Kilburn Town. He was a very benevolent gentle-
nnan, and took great pains in assisting immigrants
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
from his own " sunny France " in purchasing lands
in the United States, for which labor he received no
remuneration. He still occupies an honored posi-
tion among the pioneers of Milwaukee.
Fred Bertschy was but nine years of age when he
crossed the Atlantic with his parents, and his edu-
cation was acquired at the common schools of Mil-
waukee. From his boyhood he had always desired
to become a miller, and on leaving school he was
put to work in a mill, where he thoroughly learned
the business. Subsequently leaving the mill he
entered the Second Ward Bank of Milwaukee as
teller, where he remained two years; then went to
Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and worked in a mill about
one year, when he returned to Milwaukee, and has
ever since been a resident of that city. Soon after
his return he erected a mill of his own, and began
business for himself At this time he had but very
little capital, but by honest industry and attention
to business he steadily progressed until 1868, when
he met with some financial difficulties; these his
native energy and perseverance soon overcame, and
he is now doing a large business. Beginning with
comparatively nothing, at the age of twenty-four he
had accumulated the sum of eighty thousand dollars.
During the year 1874 he shipped to Europe one
hundred and sixty-five thousand barrels of flour, and
has made arrangements to manufacture during the
year 1875 one hundred and eighty thousand barrels.
His brand of flour brings the highest market price
j in New York for the foreign market. He is the
I only mill-owner in Milwaukee who is also a practical
miller. To him belongs the credit of building the
first steam mill in Milwaukee.
His religious views are those of the Protestant
faith. He is a good citizen — as so earnest, indus-
trious and honest a man must necessarily be — and
enjoys the respect and confidence of the community.
On the 26th of July, 1863, he married Miss
Johannah Spangenberg, a most estimable lady, who
has proven herself a " helpmate " to her husband
in all respects. Her father, Mr. Spangenberg, is
still a young man, who has much influence and con-
siderable wealth, although he has lost large sums of
money at different times through various specula-
tions.
Since the above was written we have received the
sad intelligence of the death of Mr. Bertschy. His
actively useful life closed, after a severe illness, on
the loth of June, 1876.
TERAH J. PATCHEN, M.D.,
FOND DU LAC.
TERAH J. PATCHEN, a native of Butternuts,
Otsego county, New York, was born on the
nth of November, 1818, and is the son of George
Patchen, a farmer, and Phoebe ne'e Rockwell. He
passed his early life on his father's farm, but finding
the narrow routine of farm life ill suited to his tastes,
he early inclined to professional life. After receiv-
ing a common English education in the schools of
Painted Post, Steuben county, New York, he spent
five years in teaching vocal music, his object being
to procure means wherewith to prosecute his studies.
During this tinie he gave his spare hours to the
study of medicine, it being most suited to his taste.
In 1845 he began the practice of his profession as i
a licentiate, under the laws of his State, and in 1852
graduated from the Ohio Homoeopathic Medical
College, at Cleveland, with the degree of M.D.
During the next three years, he engaged in prac-
tice at Bath, Steuben county, New York, and at
the end of that time removed to Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin, and established a practice, which though
small, gradually increased in extent and influence,
until it has now (1876) become large and remunera-
tive, and Dr. Patchen is widely known as a careful,
skillful and successful physician. He was for a
number of years president of the State Homoeo-
pathic Medical Society; also holds an honorary
degree from Hahnemann Medical College, of Chi-
cago; is an honorary member of the Illinois State
Homoeopathic Medical Society, and also a member
of the .'American Institute of Homoeopathy. Aside
from his professional duties, he has always shown a
most worthy public-spiritedness, and his name has
been associated with many of the most important
enterprises of his city. In 1870, his fellow-citizens
honored him with the oflice of mayor, and in this
capacity he rendered efficient service for the welfare
of Fond du Lac. He has always taken a deep
interest in the temperance cause, and during one
year was grand worthy chief templar of his State
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
157
and represented the State organization at the national
convention held in Indianapolis and Nashville.
In his religious sentiments he is a Universalist,
and heartily sympathizes with and supports all public
and private charities, and works in every way in
his power for the good of his fellow-men.
In his political views he is untrameled by party
prejudices; and supports for office him whom he
considers most worthy and best fitted for the place.
Naturally of a social, generous and genial dispo-
sition, he makes friends wherever he goes, and by
his many gentlemanly qualities and expressions of
noble manhood, leaves upon all with whom he has
to do, the impress of a true character.
Dr. Patchen was first married on the i8th of
October, 1843, to Miss Cynthia A. Coates, who died
in January 1844. He was married again on the
19th of March, 1845, to Miss Sophronia Sutton, by
whom he has two daughters, both now married and
settled in Fond du Lac.
His course throughout has been marked by strict
integrity, and the high standing to which it has led
him is wholly due to his personal, zealous and con-
scientious effort.
JOSEPH HOBBINS, M.D.,
MADISON.
T OSEPH HOBBINS, member of the Royal Col-
j lege of Surgeons, London ; fellow of the Geo-
logical Society, England ; corresponding member
of the Royal Horticultural Society, England, etc.,
was born December 28, 1S16, at Wednesbury, Staf-
fordshire, England. He is descended from an
old Herefordshire family, the recumbent effigy of
Sir Richard Hobbins (who lived in Elizabeth's
reign) being still to be found in the church of Red
Marsley, in that county. Both his father and
mother were possessed of excellent minds and hearts,
and were greatly loved and honored by their child-
ren. The Doctor was educated chiefly at Colton
Hall, Rugeley, by Daniel Sheridan, Esq., a relative
of the celebrated Richard Brinsley Sheridan. His
school life was distinguished by a faculty for versifi-
cation, some of his youthful effusions finding their
way into the periodicals of the day, and by an ar-
dent and uncontrollable love of nature, which led
him to absent himself for days together from school,
to find "books in the running streams," and pleasure
and self-forgetfulness in the beauty of that perfectly
beautiful part of the country. Upon leaving school
he commenced his medical studies with a physician
of the same county, a gentleman of the highest
standing in that part of England, with whom he re-
mained five years, leaving only to enter Queen's
College, Birmingham, where at the end of the ses-
sion he was awarded the gold medal for a prize
essay, and received other flattering testimonials.
From Queen's College he entered at Guy's, London,
this institution then ranking for advantages in study
the highest in the country, having at its head the
great Sir Astley Cooper, and among its professors
such men as Sir R. Bright, Addison Golding Boid,
Hey, Ashwell, Hinton, A. S. Taylor, etc. Here he
remained for two years, passing his classical examin-
ation as a licentiate in medicine, and obtaining his
diploma from the college. Having, while a student,
visited the hospitals of Dublin and Edinburgh, he
then took advantage of a journey through Belgium
and F" ranee, to visit those of Brussels and Paris, and
made his first visit to the United States.
It was on this voyage that he became acquainted
with the lady who afterwards became his wife.
Miss Sarah Russell Jackson, of Newton, Massachu-
setts, by whom he had six children, three of them
still living. On her mother's side she was a relative
of Jonathan Russell, one of the United States com-
missioners of the the treaty of Ghent; on her
father's side the grand-daughter of General Michael
Jackson, of the army of independence. This mar-
riage, solemnized at St. George's Church, Liverpool,
England, on October 11, 1841, led to the Doctor's
return to this country, when he settled in Brookline,
Massachusetts, became a fellow of the Massachu-
setts Medical Society, and lived there for three years,
and then on account of ill health crossed the Atlan-
tic again. After another visit to the continent and
several pedestrian tours in Wales, Scotland, and
England (letters descriptive of these last being pub-
lished'inthe Boston "Star"), he resumed practice in
his native town, always, however, being determined
to return to the West. After an absence of eight
years, he once more (this time in concert with his
family, numbering with relatives and servants forty-
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
two persons) set out for the United States, and hav-
ing made choice of Madison, Wisconsin, for his
future home, arrived there in the spring of 1854.
Here he soon began to manifest an interest in the
things about him, and at the suggestion of Chancel-
lor Lathrop, of the State University, undertook to
organize its medical department. As the result of
his labors this department was organized in 1855,
and the Doctor was elected one of its professors in
1856. Being a member of the city council he was
able to procure an appropriation of six thousand
dollars for the purpose of a city hospital, and pur-
chased the lots, still called the hospital lots. But
the whole enterprise fell through, owing to the mis-
application of the university appropriation by the
treasurer of the medical department.
The Doctor was a member of the first city coun-
cil, and represented his ward for four years, and
until he resigned. His attention was now directed
to the horticultural wants of the State, and he com-
menced experimenting in his garden, in order to
discover the varieties of fruits, plants, etc., suitable
to the climate. His efforts were at once recognized
by his being elected an officer of the City Horticul-
tural Society, serving as secretary, and afterward as
president for some twelve years, and holding at the
same time for five years the office of president of
the State Horticultural Society, justly earning the
title given him, "the father of horticulture in the
northwest." Upon the breaking out. of the war he
at once took a decided stand .for the Union. Soon
after Camp Randall was established, the Doctor,
acting for the State, took charge of the sick left be-
hind by the different regiments going to the field.
and upon the rebel prisoners being sent to Madison,
was appointed surgeon-in-charge. He was also ap-
pointed pension examining surgeon.
In politics he has alwa) s been independent, but
during the war acted with the war democrats.
In 1870, December 13, he lost his wife. His
second marriage occurred at Baltimore, Maryland,
April 16, 1872, with Mary, the youngest daughter of
the late Louis McLane, of Delaware, by whom he
has one son. The character of Louis McLane, as a
statesman, a scholar, and a gentleman, is duly appre-
ciated by those who admire talents, and respect
honor. His public services at home and abroad
have reflected honor upon his country, and given
him a lasting fame. The suspicion of selfishness,
still less that of corruption, was never connected
with his name. His private life is the beautiful
counterpart of his public character ; the shafts of
calumny never penetrated either. His daughter,
the wife of Dr. Joseph Hobbins, differs from her
father only in her sex. She is his softened image.
Dr. Hobbin's life has been one of honorable use-
fulness. Learned in his profession, skillful in his
practice, honorable in his dealings, he commands
the admiration of the intelligent, and the homage of
the virtuous. The society of himself, wife and
daughter, renders his home an interesting retreat to
the student of science, the devotee to literature, and
the lover of art. Upon entering the domicil, hospi-
tality, urbanity, classic association, like so many in-
mates of the dwelling, cling around the heart, and
bid it welcome. No one visits that retreat but with
anticipations of pleasure. No one leaves it but with
the consciousness of mental improvement.
LEWIS SHERMAN, M.D.,
MILWAUKEE.
LEWIS SHERMAN was born November 25,
J 1843, at West Rupert, Vermont. He is the
son of William and Hannah Sherman. His parents
were religious people, and gave him careful moral
training. His father, having a great fondness for
mathematics, gave him a rigid course in that science
from his early boyhood. He attended a common
school until he was thirteen years of age, when he
entered an academy. After an academic course of
five years -he entered Union College, Schenectady,
New York, as a sophomore; he graduated in the
class of 1865, and in 1868 received the degree of
M.A. After leaving college he engaged for one year
in teaching a band of soldiers' children at Deposit,
New York. He then went to New York city and
entered the Union Thelogical Seminary, where he
remained two years. He left the seminary and took
a regular course in the medical department of the
University of New York, graduating in 1870. He
came to Wisconsin in May of the year 1870 and set-
tled in Milwaukee, where he commenced the prac-
tice of his profession. After practising a year in the
^£>c-,.-'-t.^^ y'^C-e-o^-yj^c
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
159
regular school he became convinced that homoe-
opathy was the better practice. In 1872 he x^'fent
into partnership with I. S. Douglas, M.D., his present
partner. They have built and are at present pro-
prietors of the only homoeopathic pharmacy in the
State. Dr. Sherman has grown into a large and suc-
cessful practice. He does not belong to any church,
and is liberal in his religious views.
Dr. Sherman is secretary of the State Medical
Society, elected at the session of 1874. He has
traveled over the greater part of the United States.
His ancestors settled in Connecticut at an early
day and some of them were soldiers in the war of
the revolution.
In 1 86 1 Dr. Sherman invented and constructed
with his own hands a gnomon, or sun-dial, capable of
giving at one observation sidereal or clock time, solar
time, the latitude of the place of observation and the
declination of the sun. In 1870 he invented a spi-
rometer, in which the errors of varying temperature of
the atmosphere are estimated; also an instrument
for measuring the force of expiration in pounds per
square inch.
He has spent a considerable portion of liis leisure
hours in the study of practical botany, and has one
of the finest herbariums in the State. His work is
thoroughly methodical.
In politics he has always been a republican.
WILLIAM W. TREDWAY,
MADISON.
WILLIAM WISE TREDWAY descended in
a direct line from Nathaniel Tredway, who
settled at Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1650, and
was one of the selectmen of that town in 1653 to
1666. He was born at Ashford, Connecticut, on
the ist of July, 1804. His father and family re-
moved thence to Montgomery county, New York, in
1807. His education was limited to the acquisition
of the mere rudiments, though he had stood steadily
at the head of the highest spelling class for several
months prior to leaving school, which happened in
his twelfth year, at which time (1816) he entered a
store in Schenectady, New York, as an apprentice.
In 1823, on the completion of the Erie canal, at
nineteen years of age, he became master of a canal
packet boat, and continued three years. At that
period these boats were popular and largely patron-
ized by the traveling public.
He was married in 1826 at Schenectady to Mary
Brown, who was born and reared in that city. Was
engaged in merchandising there from 1826 to 1839,
during which time he filled various civil offices, as
school commissioner, and now has in his possession
his commission as major of a separate battalion of
flying artillery, dated January, 1834, and signed by
Governor W. L. Marcey, of New York, and Levi
Hubbell, adjutant-general; the latter, now United
States district attorney for the eastern district of
Wisconsin, was in command for six years. Was
county clerk of Schenectady county in 1837 and
1838, and appointed deputy comptroller of the State
under the whig administration of W. H. Seward,
governor, on the 4th of March, 1839, and held the
office three years. Came to Wisconsin in 1842,
purchased and settled on a farm in Eagle (now
Waukesha) county; in 1848 sold his farm and com-
menced merchandising in the adjoining town of
Genessee, where he resided for two years, during
most of which time he held the office of justice of
the peace, though he made his court a court of con-
ciliation as far as practicable in civil cases, discour-
aging litigation to his utmost ability, and generally
with success. In very many cases parties living
miles distant and having unsettled claims against
each other, met at his office by mutual arrangement
and agreed to abide by his judgment in the matter,
and in all cases were perfectly satisfied; no docket
entry nor taxing of cost. In this connection candor
compelled him to acknowledge the commission of a
great error. While his attention was required to
drafting a contract which he was in the act of doing,
a man came near and said : "Squire, what am I to
do with Fry ? He has been to my house drunk in
my absence, and abused my family, and thrown
down my fences, and turned my cattle into the high-
way." Without considering the fact that his reply
would be regarded as a judicial decision in the case,
he said: "Why don't you lick him.'" an J straight-
way forgot the matter. That evening the drunken,
quarrelsome Fry was handled very severely, and
consequently kept his bed for a week under the
doctor's care, but recovered both his health and
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
good nature. The evilspirit was effectually cast
out, and he, "clothed, and in his right mind,"
became a model neighbor and peaceable citizen,
and so continued. He removed with his family to
Madison in June, 1858, where he has since resided.
Early in May, 1861, he was invited to accept the
office of quartermaster-general of the State, and was
commissioned by Governor Randall, and for the
succeeding sixteen months was actively employed,
with a number of assistants, in discharging his
official duties, having within that period purchased
on his own judgment army clothing, camp and
garrison equipage amounting to a million and a
quarter of dollars. In 1865 he was appointed by
the governor State agent for obtaining the allowance
at the United States treasury of Wisconsin's war
claims, which had been previously disallowed or
suspended, and obtained the allowance of about two
hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars after a
suspension of about four years. The few offices
which he has held have been conferred unsought by
him in all cases. Under wills, as executor, and by
appointment as administrator, and as assignee, he
has settled numerous estates, and at this time is the
legal guardian of several families of minor children.
Politically, was a Henry Clay whig and republi-
can, and voted for Grant under protest at his first
election. Was a delegate to the Cincinnati conven-
tion of disaffected republicans in 1872, and sought
to effect the nomination of Charles Francis Adams
for president, but Greeley was imfortunately nomi-
nated. He has always held it to be a duty to
protest against party wrongs, and when they become
unendurable to bolt. He holds that political parties
continuously in power always become corrupt and
require an occasional defeat.
He has been a member of the Presbyterian church
nearly forty-five years.
Having passed threescore and ten years, he is
now in a green old age, enjoying the reward of his
labors in the consciousness of having discharged all
the duties imposed on him with strict integrity.
CHARLES H. HAMILTON,
MILWAUKEE.
CHARLES HADLEY HAMILTON, born at
Rochester, New York, August 5, 1850, was
the son of Charles S. and Sophia J. Hamilton. His
father was a graduate of West Point, a classmate of
President Grant, and a soldier of the Mexican war,
and the war of the rebellion ; was severely wounded
at the battle of Molino del Rey, and breveted cap-
tain for gallant and meritorious conduct. Resigned
in 1852, and removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin,
where he entered into business, and remained until
1861. He was appointed colonel of the 3d Wiscon-
sin by Governor Randall, and in about six months,
brigadier-general, by President Lincoln. Afterward
he was made major-general by Lincoln for winning
the battle of luka with twenty-eight hundred men
against eighteen regiments of confederates under
Price and Van Dorn. He resigned in 1863, and in
1869 was appointed United States marshal for the
district of Wisconsin, by President Grant, which
position he has since held.
Charles H. was educated at the Fond du Lac
public high school, and the university of Michigan.
The natural sciences, especially chemistry, metal-
lurgy and mineralogy were favorite studies, and those
in which especial proficiency was attained. After
leaving the high school, he spent one year in sur-
veying, principally on the United States survey of
Lake Superior. Entered the junior class of Michi-
gan University in 1868, and graduated as a mining
engineer in 1869. After graduating, came to Mil-
waukee. Came to this State when a child, in 1852.
After graduating, was appointed deputy United
States marshal for Wisconsin, which office he held
until 1873. During this time he studied law, and
was admitted to the Milwaukee county bar in 1S72.
He intended to become a lawyer, but constant inter-
mingling with lawyers caused a distaste to both the
profession and its professors, and seeing a business
opening which promised favorably, entered the
house of Sylus Van Buren and Co., as junior part-
ner. One partner having died and the other sold
out, he became sole proprietor of the present firm
and business, and at the age of twenty-four, after
two years' business experience, now controlling the
largest paper business in the State, and one of the
largest and most prosperous in the West. Orthodox-
ically liberal.
A strict republican in the spirit of republicanism,
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
i6i
but not the letter. Took an active part in tlie pres-
idential campaign of 1872, but not since then.
He was married, April 16, 1873, to Carrie A.
Nichols, daughter of the late esteemed Henry A.
Nichols.
The first ancestor of the name who came to this
country, was William Hamilton, son of Gallatru
Hamilton, of Glasgow, Scotland, who was of the
family of the dukes of Hamilton, and marquises
of Abercorn. Came to this country in 1641. De-
scendants since then have lived in Connecticut and
New York principally, and have nearly always at-
tained great longevity. C. H. Hamilton was started
in business in 1847 by Josiah Noonan and Peter Mc-
Nab, in East Water street, in one-half of a twenty-
foot store. Business has changed hands six or seven
times, and has had many ups and downs, a great
deal of money having been made out of it, and
much lost, but under the present management its
success has been constant and increasing. Amount
of capital employed is upward of forty thousand
dollars. Extent of premises, forty feet front by
one hundred and forty feet deep. Location 354
and 356 Broadway, Milwaukee. Amount of annual
sales, three hundred thousand dollars. Special fea-
ture to which they attribute success, strictly adher-
ing to business rules; yet always treating all custom-
ers with courtesy, and trying to bind them to the
concern by ties of personal friendship and good-
will. Their trade extends from Pennsylvania to
Utah, but principally in Wisconsin, Iowa and Min-
nesota.
MAJOR GEORGE ANDERSON,
MADISON.
GEORGE ANDERSON was born in Somer-
set county. New Jersey, on the banks of the
Raritan river, two miles above the city of New
Brunswick, on the 8th of March, 1784. His father's
name was Simon, and his mother's maiden name was
Mary Van Angren. His father was a respectable
farmer, whose ancestors came from Scotland. George
was brought up on the farm under the general man-
agement of his mother, his father having died when
he was ten years of age. He attended the common
schools of the county, and commenced business for
himself by keeping a hotel in the town of Piscataway
and the village of New Market, at the same time
carrying on the business of farming in the neighbor-
hood. Moved from New Jersey to Staten Island,
New York, keeping a hotel and farming there.
Thence moved to Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania,
to the farm of John C. Craig, the brother-in-law of
Nicholas Biddle, and took charge of the blooded
stock of Mr. Craig and of W. R. Johnson of Virginia,
the Napoleon of the turf. Continued in that occu-
pation five years, and until the death of Mr. Craig,
who died in Italy. Upon Mrs. Craig's return after
the death of her husband, this property vvas sold,
and Mr. Anderson removed to Fulton county, Illi-
nois; thence to Wisconsin in the spring of 1839,
settling on a farm of Colonel W. B. Slaughter, at
what was then termed the City of the Four Lakes,
and remaining there several years, in the meantime
owning some fine blooded horses, descendants of
the celebrated stock of Craig and Johnson. Thence
he moved to Sun Prairie in the spring of 1842 and
opened a farm of four hundred acres and continued
to cultivate it until 1867, when he sold his farm and
removed to Baraboo, thence to Madison, where he
now resides. He was married three times. His
first wife was a daughter of Captain Tennick. of
the revolutionary war. His second wife was the
widow Duncomb. His third and present vvas a Miss
St. Clair. He had no children by the last two wives,
and seven by the first, five sons and two daughters;
four only are living. Major Anderson has held sev-
eral offices, the duties of which he has faithfully and
honestly discharged. He was for several years
supervisor of the town of Sun Prairie, chairman of
the county board, under-sheriff three years, collector
of taxes of Dane and Sauk counties, and settling his
accounts without making a mistake. He was also
deputy United States marshal. He is now living in
comfortable retirement upon the interest of the
money his industry and economy have enabled him
to accumulate. Major Anderson's natural capabili-
ties enabled him to enjoy the full benefit of the so-
ciety of such cultivated gentlemen as Nicholas Biddle,
John C. Craig and W. R. Johnson of Virginia, with
whom he was intimately connected in business for '
five years, and his retentive memory enables him to
narrate many interesting incidents characteristic of
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
those gentlemen. In illustration of the ready wit
and imperturbable self-possession of Colonel Johnson
he relates that on his return to Philadelphia from
New Jersey, when the great race between Mr. John-
son's horse Boston and Mr. Gibbon's mare Fashion
had just been run, and while still on the crowded
ferry-boat, Colonel Johnson felt some one's hand in
his pocket, and instantly clasping and holding it,
turned his head and said, " My friend Mr. Gibbon
j won the race to-day." Although Major Anderson
I is in his ninety-second year, his bodily health is
I good, his mind cheerful, his manners easy and dig-
I nified, and looks very like, as he is, a gentleman of
the olden time. His present vigor of mind and
I body is an eloquent commentary upon temperance,
I industry, and cheerfulness, that badge of a gentle-
i man. If the prayers of his friends avail he will
I complete a century.
HENRY S. DURAND,
HENRY S. DURAND was born in Cheshire,
Connecticut, February 13, 1817. Is a son
of Samuel and Eloise Durand. He received a com-
mon-school education at Berlin, Hartford county,
and at the age of thirteen entered as clerk in a store
at Hartford, and was there two years. He then
returned to Berlin, and was apprenticed to Mr. E.
Brandegee until he became of age. His compensa-
tion was simply his board and clothes, and although
at eighteen years of age he was offered eighteen
hundred dollars a year by another firm, he declined
and served out his time. When seventeen years old
he was sent to New York to purchase goods and
transact other business, which indicated great confi-
dence in him, and was regarded as an honor in those
days. From that time he purchased all the goods,
kept the books, had the chief management of the
store and two cotton mills. When he was of age he
became agent for the Hartford and New Haven
Railway, in whose interest he acted for several years.
In the spring of 1843 he removed to Wisconsin, and
settled at Racine, where he has ever since resided.
He commenced a mercantile business, and then
added that of produce and commission, then lumber
and coal; also the manufacture of lumber in Michi-
gan, in connection with which he had a fleet of five
first-class vessels on the lakes, and was uniformly
successful in his various enterprises. In connection
with three others he purchased the land and laid
out the city of La Crosse. He opened a store, built
a hotel, school house, church, court house, jail, steam
saw-mill, and a large number of dwellings. The
town grew rapidly, and is to-day one of the most
prosperous cities of the Northwest. Mr. Durand
was vice-president of the Racine County Bank, and
afterward president of the Commercial Bank of Ra-
cine ; was also president for thirteen years of the
Racine and Mississippi Railway Company. His
connection with that enterprise brought him in bus-
iness relations with many banking, manufacturing
and mercantile firms, which gave him a great repu-
tation for his business talents, energy and industry.
In 1844 he commenced the insurance business as
agent of the .^tna Insurance Company, and issued
the first policy ever written in Wisconsin. This
Racine office is still in existence, and is the oldest
insurance agency in the State. In i860 he estab-
lished an insurance agency in Milwaukee, which
was successful. In 1845 he commenced the adjust-
ment of losses, his first effort being for the ^-Etna, in
Milwaukee, after the memorable fire of that year,
and during the thirty-one years that have elapsed
since, he has probably adjusted upward of ten thou-
sand claims. In May, 1859, he became the special
agent and adjuster of the Home, of New York, for
the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota, but in 1867
he was appointed general adjuster for that company
for the northwestern States. It may be said that
Mr. Durand initiated the special agency system, and
has had under his supervision upward of one hun-
dred agencies, more than ninety of these agencies
showing profitable results. He is familiar with the
law of insurance, and, it is said, can cite any adjudi-
cation that has ever been made on the subject in
this country. His library contains all the books on
the subject of insurance that have been printed
since 1800, and is probably the most e.xtensive in
the world on that subject. Notwithstanding the
multiplicity of his occupations, he has found time
for much mental culture. Has great admiration for
works of art, and his hoijie abounds in gems in this
department. He has also a fondness for live stock,
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
163
and on his farm may be found some of the best
blooded cattle in the country. His sympathies are
humane and generous; the churches, the colleges,
the public institutions, as well as the poor of the
city, bear grateful testimony to his kindness and
generosity.
Mr. Durand has a well developed physical organi-
zation, indicating activity and endurance. He has
a large brain, without idiosyncrasies, which would
have distinguished him in any profession to which
he would have directed its energies. His mind is
far-reaching, all-embracing, and while it delights in
the investigation of elementary principles, the details
are never so minute as to escape its observations.
His self-knowledge, acquired by long and patient
study, has given him accurate knowledge of others.
His calm judgment, unclouded by passion and un-
warped by prejudice, enables him to perceive the
truth, which is the source of all true greatness, as
well as of happiness. To have given full occupation
to his large brain, his profession should have been
that of a statesman whose business it is to make
laws for the government of men, success in which is
the most difficult thing in the universe, for man him-
self is the universe in miniature. Circumstances
turned Mr. Durand's mind in a different direction,
and no one subject being found sufficient to occupy
all of his thoughts and energies, they have been
directed in a variety of channels, and hai^py results
have followed. His life thus far has been one of
endless toil and beneficent influences, social, moral
and religious. His e.xample is calculated to inspire
the idle boy with the love of industry, and the strug-
gling boy with the hope of distinction. Nature
never intended that such powers as she gave to
Mr. Durand should be wasted upon the desert air,
but that upon whatever theater these powers may
have been exerted, her purposes should not be dis-
appointed.
Mr. Durand was married in 1838, to Caroline B.
Cowles, of Meriden, Connecticut. Has three daugh-
ters, all of whom are members of Vassar College.
His wife died, and he married the daughter of the
late Dr. V. White, of Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
She was educated at the Troy Seminary of the late
Madame Emma Willard, and for some time a suc-
cessful teacher in Brooklyn, New York. Nature
endowed her with capabilities of a high order, and
her mental faculties have been cultivated with great
care. She is not only familiar with the philosophies
as taught in the ancient classics, but has kept pace
with the modern writers upon science, art, literature
and taste. She has been a close student, is an accu-
rate thinker, a skillful painter, an accomplished
reader. With her mind thus stored with ancient and
modern lore, with her cultivated taste and retentive
memory, she is, as a conversationalist, brilliant, fas-
cinating and instructive. Her domestic qualities are
equally remarkable. She presides over her house-
hold with womanly tact and grace ; is a loving wife,
an affectionate stepmother, that '^rara avis in terris"
a hospitable hostess and a genial companion. Her
deep sense of Christian piety and her devotion to re-
ligious duty are her crowning characteristics.
THOMPSON M. WARREN,
THOMPSON M. WARREN was born May 10,
181 2, at Buckfield, Oxford county, Maine.
His father's name was Andrew Warren, and his
mother's Polly Alden. They were of the old New
England stock. His mother was a descendant of
the Miller family, who were active patriots during
the revolutionary war. He was educated at the
Clinton Institute in New York, his studies being con-
fined to the English branches. His father being in
humble circumstances, he started for New York city
at the age of seventeen, where he arrived with one
dollar and fifty cents in his pocket, with which he
commenced the book trade. He remained there
about five years, then removed to the city of Albany,
where he engaged in mercantile business and where
he remained about the same length of time. He
sold out there and removed to Herkimer, Herkimer
county. He staid there about two years. In 1840
he went to Chicago, and from there to Dixon, Illi-
i nois, where he remained six months, then removed
I to Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Here he did a large
I and paying business in general merchandise, in com-
pany with his brothers, Marcus and A. Warren,
junior. He sold out there in 1845, and went to
! Sauk City. In the spring of 1846 he settled upon
I a farm in the town of Roxbury, Dane county, and
164
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
went into the business of buying and selling land
and loaning money, which he still follows. Finding
that his surroundings in Roxbury were not what he
could wish, and as there were no educational advan-
tages, he removed to Baraboo, where he now lives,
in a large stone house, situated on a slight rise of
ground just north of the town, and surrounded by
large forest trees. He visited Chicago in 1872, and
with his brother bought four hundred acres of land,
seven miles south of the court-house, near Oak Park,
and adjacent to the Pacific railroad, which he still
possesses. He paid about four hundred thousand
dollars for it.
He was raised a Baptist, but finding the doctrines
too rigid, he became a Universalist, but has held
Unitarian views since he came to Wisconsin.
He was a whig until the organization of the repub-
lican party ; since then has been a republican.
He was married in October, 1855, to Katherine
McKennan, of Herkimer county, New York. He
has five children, three boys and two girls.
Mr. Warren has a large library of well selected
books. Is a great admirer of Dr. Franklin, and has
a work written by him in 1793, called the" Prompter,"
which he talks of having republished at his own
expense.
HON. ARTHUR B. BRALEY,
MADISON.
ARTHUR B. BR.A.LEY was born at Perry,
. Wyoming county, New York, on the nth of
February, 1822. He was the only son of Rufus and
Hepzee Braley. His father was born in the town of
Adams, Massachusetts, and was among the early
settlers of Weston, New York. His mother's
maiden name was Foster, and her father, Daniel
Foster, was a soldier in the revolutionary army, and
was at the battle of Monmouth Church.
Arthur B. Braley had the misfortune to lose an
excellent father when he was fifteen years of age.
This great bereavement practically threw him upon
his own resources. His education at that time was
limited, with the exception of some two or three
terms in what might be called a select or private
school. His habits in early life were formed under
the influence of a most excellent mother, and were
consequently good. His mother was a member of
the Society of Friends, commonly called Quakers.
In the pure faith of that sect she lived and died ;
her life exemplified its purity, and her death its
power. After the death of his father he went to
live with a wealthy relative The generosity of a
friend supplied him with the means, and he occu-
pied many a leisure hour in perusing the works of
the immortal bard of Avon, whilst hidden from the
eye of his watchful guardian. His stay, however, in
the house of his relative was short, and once more
he returned to his home, where, at least, his mind
was free to read the plays of Shakspeare, tlie poems
of Burns and Byron, the novels of Scott, or history,
as he might choose.
In the spring of 1843 he ventured out into the
world in search of fortune, and his first landing
place was Erie, Pennsylvania, where he spent some
weeks among friends ; thence to Cleveland, Colum-
bus, Cincinnati, and to the blue-grass region of
Kentucky. In the fall of 1844 he returned once
more to New York. In the ensuing spring he began
the study of law, making use of borrowed books for
that purpose. The next winter was spent in the
beautiful Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania, famous in
history and in song. After teaching three months
in this charming valley he returned to his native
place, and in the spring of 1846 immigrated to Wis-
consin ; settled first at Delavan, where he completed
his legal studies, and in 1848 visited Madison, where
he was admitted to the bar by the presiding judge.
He came to Madison to reside in the fall of 1852.
Upon the organization of the capital city in 1856,
Mr. Braley was elected to the office of police justice,
which place he held for three successive terms of
two years each. In 1864 he was chosen alderman
of the first ward, an office which he held for three
years. At the opening of the presidential campaign
of 1864 he took editorial charge of the Wisconsin
" Daily Patriot," a position which he retained until
after the election. As a political editor he took
a high position in the ranks of the fraternity; his
articles were admired for their vigor and power.
At the close of the presidential campaign he vacated
the editorial chair and returned to the duties of his
profession. In the spring of 1868 he was elected
city attorney of Madison, and in the summer and
THE UNITED STATES BIOGTlAPHrCAL DICTIONARY.
165
fall of the same year he became principal political
editor of the Madison " Daily Democrat," which
position he resigned at the close of the presidential
election. In the spring of 1869 he removed to the
village of Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he remained
until the fall of 1870. While here he had the mis-
fortune to lose his only remaining child, a bright
and promising boy of six years. Saddened beyond
expression by this terrible blow, he returned to
Madison, where he still resides. In the spring of
1872 he was elected police justice without oppo-
sition, and this court having been reorganized and
converted into a municipal court for the city and
county in the spring of 1874, he was chosen judge
of this court without opposition by the electors of
Dane county for the term of six years.
He was married on the nth of February, 1855, at
Madison, to Miss Philida Stevens. The fruits of
this union have been three children, none of whom
survive. The first, -a daughter, lived to be a year
old; the second, a son, died at six; and the third
only lived three months. These sad bereavements
have cast a gloom over the lives of both father and
mother which no earthly light can dispel.
In the midst of his professional and official duties
he has found leisure to write a good deal for the press.
His efforts in the editorial line have already been
alluded to, but in addition to these labors his in-
dustrious pen has been almost continuously em-
ployed for twenty-five years in furnishing articles of
either a political or literary character for various
newspapers through the West. His criticisms upon
Shakspeare have attracted especial attention. As a
judge he is distinguished for the clearness of his
views of the law, as well as for the strict impartiality
of his decisions; as a citizen he is patriotic; as a
politician, uncompromising in his principles; and as
a man, sincere and devoted in his friendships.
HIRAM H. GILES,
MADISON.
HIRAM H. GILES was born in New Salem,
Franklin county, Massachusetts, March 22,
1820. His parents were Hon. Samuel Giles and
Hannah Foster Giles. He was reared on a farm.
His father was in fair circumstances for a New
England yeoman, and was at one time a member of
the Massachusetts State senate.
Hiram was educated at New Salem Academy,
and was preparing for college in 1837, when his
health failed, and he was compelled to relinquish
the purpose which he had in view. He then went
to Chautauqua county. New York, where he joined
a brother who was lecturing on electricity, traveling
in Ohio and spending the winter in Kentucky and
Tennessee.
He returned to Fredonia, New York, in the
spring of 1839, and soon afterward began a more
extended lecturing tour, traveling two years over
parts of the States of New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and the pro-
vince of Upper Canada. He was successful in his
undertaking, and although but twenty years of age
won for himself many laurels in the field of the
lecturer. He became tired of travel, and entered
Fredonia Academy with health restored. Confine-
ment to study so affected him that he abandoned its
pursuit, and came to Wisconsin Territory in 1844,
traveling on foot over much of the southern portion.
He returned to New York State, and was married
in the autumn of 1844 to Rebecca S. Watson. He
again returned to Fredonia, and taught the village
school during the winter.
In the spring of 1845 he removed to Harbor
Creek, Pennsylvania, where he resided for two
years; thence to Wisconsin Territory in 1847. He
settled in Dunkirk, Dane county, and engaged in
the occupation of a farmer. Shaken by the ague
too much to have farming prove successful, he
removed to Stoughton in 1B53, where he was known
for many years as an eminent and upright business
man, advancing the improvements of that village in
various ways, and taking an active part in the Uni-
versalist Society and Sabbath school.
Two daughters and a loving wife have made his
home a happy and peaceful one.
He was educated an Orthodox Unitarian of the
style of that denomination from 1830 to 1840; but
he relinquished all of the orthodox, and became a
firm believer in the final restoration of all men to
holiness and happiness. He has been prominently
connected with the Universalists of Wisconsin for a
number of years.
1 66
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
He was a democrat in boyhood, but cast his first
vote for the whig candidate for President in 1840.
He joined the republican party at its first organiza-
tion, and has remained with it.
He was elected to the assembly from the south-
east district of Dane county in 1852, carrying a
strong democratic district upon the bank issue. He
took a prominent and independent part in the per-
fecting and passage of the first banking law, as
shown by the reported debates in the papers of that
session. He was the whig candidate for Dane
county for the senate in 1853, and was defeated.
He was again a candidate in 1855, and was elected;
then reelected in 1857. He was president of the
senate in 1859. He took a prominent and influ-
ential part in the legislature during his senatorial
terms. He opposed the bestowing the land grant
upon the old La Crosse company in 1856, and was
one of the few who took no bonds.
He signed the total abstinence pledge when fifteen
years of age, and has ever since been an earnest
advocate of temperance at all times and in all places.
He was for six years the head of the Independent
Order of Good Templars in Wisconsin, and built up
the order in its membership from six thousand to
twenty-four thousand. He has full faith in the power
of persuasion to reform men, and of conviction to
redeem them. He does not believe in law as a
reformatory measure. His public addresses and his
writings have been philosophical and practical, seek-
ing at all times to convince the judgment rather than
to excite passion.
He was assistant assessor of internal revenue
under General Atwood for four years from Septem-
ber, 1862. He was appointed by Governor Randall
one of the trustees of the insane hospital at its first
organization in i860, and acted until ajjpointed by
Governor Fairchild on the State Board of Charities
and Reform in 1870.
He removed to Madison in the autumn of 1869.
He was reappointed on the State Board of Chari-
ties and Reform by Governor Taylor, and in that
sphere has greatly aided in the accomplishment of a
noble work. He carries a record of diligence, per-
severance and philanthropy that is worthy the com-
mendation of the aged and the imitation of the
youth of Wisconsin.
Mr. Giles has much more ability than is generally
ascribed to him. He is self-reliant, self-taught and
self-supporting. He has a large fund' of knowledge,
acquired by observation and experience. It is not
theoretical, it is not metaphysical, but practical and
philosophical. The writer of this sketch had the
pleasure of listening to one of his lectures profess-
edly on the subject of temperance; it was, however,
an essay on the philosophy of physical, moral and
intellectual life, the most interesting of all subjects
to a rational mind. No intelligent person could
have listened to it without instruction, no lover of
morals without improvement.
REV. STEPHEN PEET,
AS an illustration of the truth that men's deeds
live after them, no worthier can be found than
that presented in the case of him whose name heads
this sketch. Stephen Feet, a native of Sandgate,
Vermont, was born on the 20th of February, 1797.
During the following year his parents removed to
Lee, Massachusetts, where he passed his boyhood
and at the age of sixteen united with the church.
Soon afterward he went with his family to Ohio, and
there, by the death of his father, was at the age of
seventeen thrown upon his own resources, and thus
early in life developed that independence of charac-
ter which so signally marked his subsequent career.
Although dependent upon his own exertions for
means he resolved to enter the ministry, and after
his primary education completed his preparatory
course of study at Norfolk, Connecticut, under the
tuition of Rev. Ralph Emerson. He entered Yale
College in 1819, and graduated with honor in 1823.
His theological studies were pursued partly under
the direction of Mr. Emerson and partly at Prince-
ton, New Haven and Auburn theological seminaries,
and on the 22d of February, 1826, he was ordained
pastor at Euclid, Ohio. During the seven years of
his ministry in this place his work was greatly
blessed, and one sermon especially is said to have
been the means of numerous conversions, including
five prominent lawyers. While here he became
deeply interested in the sailors on the western
waters, and- the work so grew upon him that he
<2^.— ^^^,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
167
resigned his pastorate and devoted himself exclu-
sively to it. While engaged in the Bethel cause,
between 1835 and 1837, he resided at Buffalo, New
York, and in addition to his other duties edited the
" Bethel Magazine and the Buffalo Spectator," a
religious paper, afterward merged in the New York
" Evangelist."
In October, 1837, he removed to Green Bay, Wis-
consin, and became pastor of the only Presbyterian
church then existing within the present limits of the
State. Two years later he secured the erection of a
house of worship at a cost of three thousand dollars,
and heard the tones of the first church bell in the
State, it being the gift of John Jacob Astor, and val-
ued at five hundred dollars. In 1839 he made a
tour through the Territory in the interests of the
American Home Mission Society, seeking out its
moral destitutions and wants preparatory to estab-
lishing churches. In this tour he traveled five hun-
dred and seventy-five miles; visited sixty-four fami-
lies and thirty-one different places; preached four-
teen sermons; delivered one temperance address;
attended one funeral ; organized one church ; ad-
ministered the communion three times and baptism
twice; attended the meeting of the Presbytery and
distributed many testaments, tracts and children's
books. In 1839 he accepted a call to the pastorate
of the First Presbyterian Church, in Milwaukee, and
there labored faithfully till 1841, when he was ap-
pointed general agent for the American Home Mis-
sion Society for Wisconsin. The good resulting from
his work in this capacity can never be estimated.
Possessed of energy and decision, connected with
business tact, zeal, indoinitable perseverance and
devoted piety, he was preeminently suited to the
work, and prosecuted it with an ardor most credita-
ble to himselfand with a success which entitled him
to be regarded as one of the greatest benefactors of
the State. He aided in organizing a large proportion
of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches,
and was influential in forming the convention in
which the churches of these two denominations were
harmoniously united. In his repeated journeys
across the prairies and through the forests he was
often subjected to perils and self-denials, yet he was
cheerful and happy in the work of preaching the
gospel to the scattered sheep of Christ's flock, of
comforting the lonely, rejoicing with the strong and
helping the weak. Though the full results of his
work can never be known here, enough have ap-
peared to attest his eminent usefulness as a faithful
servant of God, destined to be crowned with honor
in the great day of the Lord's appearing. Not only
was his heart engaged in the work of spreading the
gospel and establishing churches, but he was always
deeply interested in institutions for Christian educa-
tion. He was an early supporter of Western Reserve
College, and furnished from his church one of the
three members of its first graduating class, who is
now (1876) a minister of the gospel. More fitly than
any one else he may be called the father of Beloit
College. Resigning his agency for the American
Home Mission Society after some eight years' ser-
vice, he labored nearly three years as financial agent
for the college, and was successful in securing a large
portion of its early endowments. The first subscrip-
tion of one thousand dollars, from Rev. Henry Bar-
ber, came through his agency, and was followed by
seven thousand dollars from the citizens of Beloit,
ten thousand dollars from Hon. T. W. Williams, a
relative of his family, and ten thousand dollars from
the self-denying missionaries of the Northwest. On
the foundation thus laid in faith and prayer and
self-denial has been built up and made a blessing to
both church and state.
In 1850, from overwork, he was prostrated by an
illness that seemed his last. His physicians de-
spaired of his recovery and he had even given direc-
tions for his funeral. At his request he was left
alone, and prayed till he became impressed with the
conviction that he should recover. Calling his phy-
sicians, he said, " Gentlemen, I have all confidence
in your judgment, but I am assured that the Lord
has yet four or five years' work for me to do," and
to the surprise of all he at once began to mend.
His next field of labor was at Batavia, Illinois, where
he preached for nearly three years to the Congrega-
tional church, and during that time initiated and
carried to success a plan for an academical institu-
tion as a tributary to Beloit College. The crowning
effort of his life was yet to be undertaken. He had
long cherished a desire to establish a theological
seminary, through whose graduates he should con-
tinue to preach the gospel after his death. \\'ith his
characteristic energy he entered upon the work.
Within one year the plan of the Chicago Theological
Seminary had been matured, the board of trustees
appointed, the charter secured, and subscriptions
raised to the amount of fifty thousand dollars. But
he was not permitted to see the accomplishment of
his purpose. Returning March 14, 1855, from the
East, where he had been laboring in the interests of
i68
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
the institution, he called a meeting of the directors
for the 27th, to organize, elect professors, and trans-
act any necessary business. On the following day
he was attacked with chills and fever, which resulted
in inflammation of the lungs, of which he died at
three o'clock on Wednesday morning, the 21st. His
work was done, and peacefully and gently he entered
into his rest. His funeral, which occurred on Friday,
the 23d, was conducted by the Rev. J. C. Holbrook,
who preached from John xvii, 4 : "I have finished
the work which thou gavest me to do." His body
found its last resting place in the cemetery at
Beloit, within sight of the college he had loved and
labored for.
Thus ended the life of a true man. He is gone,
but his work still lives. The train of. those who
perpetuate his work is still moving on ; the churches
which he planted in the wilderness, the sermons
which he preached, the schools established, the acts
of charity and deeds of love, all live to commemorate
his name, and their influence will be ever expanding
with the lapse of time.
MOSES M. STRONG,
MINERAL POINT.
MOSES M. STRONG is of Puritan stock.
His paternal ancestor. Elder John Strong,
immigrated to America in 1629, and settled at
Dorchester, Massachusetts.- He died at the age of
ninety-four years, at Northampton. The father of
Mr. Strong was educated as a lawyer, and became
distinguished at the bar. In 1825 he was called to
the bench, whence he retired to private life.
Moses McCure Strong was born at Rutland, Ver-
mont, May 20, 1810. He derived his earliest edu-
cational instruction from his mother. He was five
years at the village school, thence went to the
grammar school at Castleton, Vermont. In 1825 he
entered the freshman class of Middlebury College,
Vermont. Three years after, he joined the senior
class of Dartmouth College, where he graduated in
1829. Having graduated, he entered the law office
of Rodney C. Royce, and at the expiration of one
year he entered the law school at Litchfield, Con-
necticut, where he remained one year, when, after a
thorough examination in open court by the judges
and members of the bar, he was admitted to practice
in all the courts of Connecticut. In 1836 he re-
moved to Wisconsin.
In July, 1832, Mr. Strong was married to Miss
Caroline Frances Green, daughter of Dr. Isaac
Green, of Windsor, Vermont.
In 1833 he received the appointment of deputy
surveyor-general of the State of Vermont. In 1835,
when the democratic and whig parties were being
organized for the approaching presidential election,
although Mr. Strong's father and numerous relatives
were all whigs, yet the leading measures of Jackson's
administration met his approval, and he cut loose
from his political associations and supported Mr.
Van Buren for the presidency. In 1836, while at
Washington City, he was engaged by Governor
Hubbard and others to invest large suras of money
in government lands, and under their directions he
went directly to Mineral Point, in Wisconsin, and
invested the funds intrusted to him. Upon his
arrival he opened a law and land agency office, and
has made that place his home ever since. In 1837
Mr. Strong received an appointment from General
Lytle for surveying government lands on the west
side of the Mississippi river, in what is now Jackson
and Dubuque counties. In 1838 he was appointed
United States attorney for the Territory of Wiscon-
sin, which office he held three years, discharging its
duties with punctuality and ability, and acquiring
high professional distinction.
In 1841 Mr. Strong was elected a member of the
legislative council to fill a vacancy, and in 1842 was
reelected for the full term of four years, in which he
took a prominent and active part in all questions
brought before it, and was twice elected as its presi-
dent. He was elected as one of the delegates to the
convention which assembled in Madison in 1846,
and took a leading part in framing the first constitu-
tion. This constitution was submitted to the people
for adoption, and, after very exciting discussions
throughout the State, was rejected. Another con-
stitution was adopted in February, 1848, and ratified
by the people in March of that year. In November,
1849, Mr. Strong was elected to the assembly, and
at the meeting of the legislature in 1850 was chosen
speaker. The session lasted thirty-four days, being
the shortest ever held in the State.
(XyOruplfyyiJ
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
169
In 1852 he devoted much of his time in aiding
the construction of the La Crosse and Milwaukee
railroad, and afterward in constructing the Mineral
Point railroad. He drew up the charter of the
La Crosse railroad, and its adoption was due chiefly
to his efforts. He was elected its first president, and
continued in its management until the financial dis-
aster of 1857. He was also president of the Mineral
Point railroad, which he materially benefited by
successful arrangements with the Illinois Central
and Galena and Chicago railroads. Mr. Strong
spent six years in promoting the success of these
enterprises, which withdrew him from his profession
of the law, and it required years of laborious effort
to regain what he had lost.
Mr. Strong, from early education and habit of
thought, is a firm believer in the Christian religion,
and being attracted by the beautiful and classic
liturgy of the Episcopal church, he took an active
part in organizing a church in Vermont, and was a
member of the vestry. On removing to Mineral
Point he, with a few other churchmen, organized
Trinity Church in that parish, of which he has ever
since been a vestryman, and in which he received
the rite of confirmation at the hands of Bishop
Kemper. Since then he has been a regular commu-
nicant, and frequently a delegate to the diocesan
convention. His religious character has nothing of
asceticism in it. He has always indulged in the
innocent amusements of life.
Since 1858 he has avoided public life, and con-
fined himself chiefly to his professional duties in the
practice of the law. His chief care for the last few
years has been to provide for the education of his
son and daughter. In 1863 the two children went
with their mother to New Haven, Connecticut, she
remaining with them four years, when his son com-
pleted his collegiate course at Yale College, gradu-
ating in 1867, at the age of twenty-one. His daugh-
ter during the same time was educated at the ladies'
school in charge of the Misses Edwards.
Mr. Strong's son remained one year longer in the
Sheffield Scientific School connected with Yale,
with the view of qualifying himself for the pro-
fession of a mining engineer. He was then sent to
Germany, where he spent two years in the best
mining schools of the country. Since his return to
America in 1870 he has been engaged in railroad
engineering until, in 1873, he was appointed assist-
ant State geologist. Mr. Strong is gratified with
the success of his efforts in the education of his
children.
Nature has endowed Mr. Strong with some rare
gifts, among them a vigorous physical constitution,
an intellectual ability of a high order, logical, dis-
criminating and comprehensive. He is an able
debater, a close reasoner, an impressive and occa-
sionally eloquent speaker. He has acquired an
enviable reputation at the bar and in the legislative
councils, in which bodies as a parliamentarian and
presiding officer he has no superior in the State.
But his knowledge of the principles of law, his calm
deliberation, his logical power and his analytical
acumen better fit him for the bench than the bar.
If elevated to that position, his ability, learning and
experience will enable him to reflect as much honor
on that exalted station as its sanctity and dignity
would reflect upon him.
GENERAL HENRY HARNDEN,
MADISON.
HENRY HARNDEN, the son of Jonathan and
Rhoda Harnden, was born March 4, 1823, at
Wilmington, Massachusetts. His ancestors were of
the Puritan stock, and came to America in 1640, and
settled in Andover, Massachusetts. He had a com-
mon-school education. Many of his ancestors on
the mother's side were seafaring men, and he, from
often hearing his uncles relate their wild adventures
and hair-breadth escapes by sea, early inherited a
passion for the briny deep. After leaving school,
at the age of eighteen years, he sailed on a voyage.
and visited the coast of Africa, also doubled Cape
Horn, and visited many of the islands of the Pacific
ocean, as also the entire west coast of South Amer-
ica from Cape Horn to Mexico, returning after an
absence of five years to his father's house in Wil-
mington. Afterward he made several voyages to
the West Indies and the southern ports ; was in Mex-
ico the first summer of the Mexican war, and wit-
nessed the debarkation of a part of General Taylor's
army at Brazos, Santiago ; also assisted in bringing
back the wounded of the battle of Palo Alto to New
70
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Orleans. Losing his health that summer, he returned
home, and engaged in clerking in a store at Lowell.
In the spring of 1850 he went overland to California,
and engaged in gold mining. While crossing the
plains the party had several encounters with Indians.
who were at that time quite hostile. Not being
particularly successful in California, he returned to
Boston by the way of Cape Horn, his former experi-
ence as a sailor being of great use in getting him a
situation on a vessel at high wages. In 1852 he re-
moved to Wisconsin, and settled in the town of Sul-
livan, Jefferson county. Engaged first in farming,
then in lumbering. He owned and operated a steam
saw-mill, up to the breaking out of the war of the
rebellion, employing a large number of hands in the
woods and about the mill.
In religion he is a Methodist.
In politics, first an abolitionist, then free-soiler,
then republican. At the commencement of the war
he called his work hands together and told them the
mill must stop, and that he should enlist, advising
them all to do the same, which they did, to a man.
At the first assembling of the ist Wisconsin Cavalry,
at Ripon, he went into camp, enlisting and muster-
ing in as a first-rate soldier, soon being promoted
sergeant, then captain of Company L, which rank he
held when the regiment left the State. Colonel
Edward Daniels was colonel, and W. Torry the
major of his battalion. The regiment was first
sent to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, then
in May, 1862, to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. They
shortly afterward pushed into the interior to Bloom-
field and to the St. Frances river, then into Arkan-
sas, bringing up at Helena so decimated by sickness
and death that at one time there were but three
officers and sixty men who were able to ride on a
scout, Captain Harnden being one and in command.
While in the dejiartment of Missouri and Arkansas
Captain Harnden participated in quite a number of
sharp engagements with the enemy. At one time,
while on a scout with one hundred men, he came
suddenly upon a party of about one hundred and
thirty of the enemy. A charge was made and the
enemy routed with great loss, the Wisconsin men
not losing a man. The rebels were huddled about
a well getting water at the time, and were not able
to form before our men were upon them with the
revolver and saber. A moment's hesitancy in mak-
ing the charge, the result might have been different.
In April, 1863, the regiment was transferred to the
army of the Cumberland, General Rosecranz com-
manding, and from that time to the close of the war
they were identified with that army, and participated
in all the battles and marches. Captain Harnden
was promoted major in May 24, 1864, then in grades
from third to first major, then lieutenant-colonel, all
further promotion being prevented in the regular
way by the colonel being in a rebel prison, but he
was in command of the regiment up to the close of
the war. His services were acknowledged by the
bestowal, on the 15th of March, 1865, of commission
of brevet-colonel and brigadier-general. General
Harnden participated in upward of thirty actions,
and was twice wounded in battle, and once severely
injured by his horse falling upon him. His first
wound was received while leading a cavalry charge
near Dallas, Georgia, when serving under General
W. T. Sherman, and was very severe, the right arm
and shoulder being shattered by a pistol ball, not
three feet distant when fired. This wound, received
May 26, 1864, necessitated his removal to the hos-
pital at Chattanooga, where several weary weeks
were passed before he was able to be removed to
the north. Recovering partially from his wound,
he rejoined his regiment, and was present under
Major-General Wilson in the pursuit of General
Hood with his rebel horde, after their great defeat
before Nashville. He was with General Wilson in
his great raid into Alabama and Georgia, when Selma
was captured, and Montgomery, Alabama, and Mont-
gomery, Georgia. At the storming of Fort Tyler,
at West Point, on the Chattahoochee river, Georgia,
he led the party, which consisted of the 7th Ken-
tucky, 2d Indiana and part of his own regiment, the
I St Wisconsin, which captured the fort after a des-
perate struggle on the parapet. In this fight he
was wounded in the thigh by a rifle ball, which for
the time disabled him. In this action the rebel
General Tyler was killed. While at Macon, in May,
1865, he was selected by General Wilson to take a
detachment from the ist Wisconsin Cavalry, and
cross the country toward Savannah and head off Jeff
Davis, who was reported to be making his way south
through South Carolina into Georgia. This duty
was so well performed that it resulted in the capture
of the rebel chief at a place, Irvingville, in the
southern part of Georgia. At the capture of Davis
an unfortunate affair happened, which was afterward
the cause of some controversy between General
Harnden and the lieutenant-colonel of a Michigan
cavalry regiment, but was finally settled by Congress,
after a full investigation, dividing the reward given
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
171
for Davis equally between the two parties, and ex- 1
onerating General Harnden from all blame in the '
collision of the two regiments, in which two men of
the Michigan regiment were killed and several
wounded, also the wounding of several of the Wis-
consin men. The close of the war found him in
command of a brigade of cavalry at Edgefield,
Tennessee, where the regiment was mustered out of
service. After his return to his home in Wisconsin 1
he was immediately elected to the assembly from
the third district of Jefferson county. In the legis-
lature of 1866 he was chairman of military affairs.
He was in the spring of 1867 appointed by Governor
Fairchild one of the trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans'
Home. The board consisted of Hon. C. C. Wash-
burn, Hon. B. F. Hopkins, Senator N. M. Littlejohn,
Senator W. I. Abrams, Colonel R. M. Strong and
General Henry Harnden. This board appointed
General Harnden financial agent to manage the
financial affairs of the institution, which he did for
one year, to their entire satisfaction, and then re-
signed to take the United States assessorship of the
second collection district of Wisconsin, Mrs. C. A.
P. Harvey, widow of the lamented late Governor
Harvey, being superintendent of the home at the
time. The General was appointed United States
collector of internal revenue May 20, 1873, which
office he holds at the present time.
He married in December, 1848, Mary A. Lightner,
daughter of John Lightner, Esq., of Boston, by whom
he has four daughters. His second daughter is mar-
ried to Dr. I. H. Noble, of Madison.
His forefathers were revolutionary soldiers; his
grandfather was a lieutenant and his brother a cap-
tain in the continental army. One of his uncles
was wounded in the celebrated sea-fight between the
man of war Hornet and the British ship Peacock.
Two of his brothers and thirteen of his nephews
were in the service of the United States, military
and naval, in the war of the rebellion, being every
one of the family except two brothers, whose ad-
vanced age precluded them from the army.
DAVID W. PERKINS.
MIL WA UKEE.
THE subject of this sketch is a self-made man.
By native force and energy of character he
has won his way to the position of eminence he
now occupies among the professional men of the
country. He stands among the growing minds that
have been instrumental in developing the great in-
dustries of the country that place America at the
close of the century proudly eminent among the
nations of the earth. He was the third of the seven
sons of Zebulon W. Perkins. He was born in the
city of Rome, Oneida county. New York, in 1816.
His father, in intelligence and ability, ranked above
the majority of men of his day, which were devoted
to the interests of his family and his country. His
home was the center of knowledge pertaining to the
times for all the surrounding families. Unfortu-
nately for the family, he was blind the last twelve
years of his life, and bequeathed no legacy to his
children. His mother's maiden name was Harriet
Austin, a woman possessed of great native force
of character, equal to the emergency of the trying
times in which she lived, mastering the affairs of
life, shedding peace, purity and happiness over her
household from her lovely and amiable nature.
The influence of his noble mother made its legiti-
mate impression upon her son, impressing his soul
with her great personal worth, which as a moulding
force contributed largely^to the formation of his own
useful and efficient character in after life, confirming
the truth of the axiom, that the paternal qualities
are transmitted to their children, through the phys-
ical or moral economy of our nature. David's op-
portunity for acquiring an education was very lim-
ited, being simply what the district common school
afforded in the town of his birth. With this humble
fortune added to his hands and his brain, he was
thrown ujion the world to force his way by intuition
up the rugged steep of self-culture, mid the shifting
scenes of life. Like a true pliilosopher he found that
to conquer others he must first conquer self, and
bring all the elements of the physical in subjection
to the powers of his higher nature. This victory
greatly accelerated the road to self-culture, to which
he bent all the strong native energies of his soul in
acquiring knowledge. He inherited from his gifted
parents great vitality, and a commanding force of
purpose. Realizing the fact that there is no royal
road to knowledge, his maxim was, " Labor will
172
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
conquer all things," and applied himself with an
assiduity worthy of emulation. He was employed, at
the age of ten years, by a land surveyor to bear the
flag, which he accomplished under circumstances so
difficult as to command the admiration of his em-
ployer. The approbation thus conferred so fasci-
nated him with the profession that he chose it as his
for life. He soon mastered its elements and en-
gaged, naked-handed, in the struggle with problems,
theorems, and equations, stealing time due to sleep,
refreshment and pleasure, triumphing in many a
mental conflict despite the discouragements under
which he labored. In this way he acquired, by
using the mere intervals of time economized from
the drudging school of daily toil, such practical
knowledge of his profession as to secure from the
State of New York an appointment in a corps of
civil engineers at the age of twenty years. This
position he held for four consecutive years, when
the suspension of public works by the State buried
the hopes of his early life beneath the smothering
pall of disappointment. In June of the same year
of the last mentioned event his office was consumed
by fire, and the accumulations of his life reduced to
ashes. Again thrown upon his indomitable will,
his strong manhood had to brave the storm in a
new struggle for success. No silver lining gilded
the sable cloud, but his noble qualities of character
shone the brighter in and bore him above the dis-
aster. His past discipline had prepared him for the
new ordeal. Our rise is often in our fall. Adversity
is frequently the school which prepares us for a
higher field of usefulness, and stations of a more
elevated character. By the native elasticity of his
unsubdued purpose he rebounded from the pressure
of adverse circumstances, which turned the whole
tide of his destiny.
In May, 1840, Mr. Perkins commenced the study
of medicine in his native county, alternating it with
teaching school for his support. In these he con-
tinued two years, when he found a friend in Dr. H.
A. Post, a dentist, who volunteered to teach him the
profession. The offer was gratefully accepted by
young Perkins, who soon acquired such skill as to
earn sufficient pecuniary means to attend lectures at
the medical college at Albany, New York.
In 1844 Dr. Post further befriended him by in-
ducing him to take the office from which he was
about retiring in Rome for his native place. New
hopes by new prospects were infused into his manly
bosom. The grand possibilities of life redoubled
his native energy, which he thenceforth assiduously
devoted to elevate himself and his profession. His
large endowment of mechanical ability was taxed by
his new calling ; and success at an early day placed
him side by side with the leading men of his pro-
fession in the State. His object was to excel, and
his ambition was satisfied only when successfully
performing operations of such complicated difficul-
ties as to baffle the skill of older operators. In 1857
his wife's health having become delicate, her brother,
Dr. S. S. Fitch, of New York, advised a change of
climate. For that purpose he came to Milwaukee,
and after taking the advice of Drs. E. B. Woolcott
and Blanchard of that city upon the probable bene-
fits to be derived to his wife's health by the change,
he determined to locate in that place. When he
arrived with his family on the ist of October, 1857
he at once took the front rank of his profession,
and has maintained it not only, but now stands
scarcely second to any operator in the entire coun-
try. His reputation is the legitimate reward of un-
tiring application, patient toil, together with those
high moral qualities of character that win upon the
confidence and affection of the community after
years of acquaintance. Nothing but quality in his
operations could have gained him the practice he
has so long enjoyed amid the fierce competition of
a great and growing city.
In 1842 he became the subject of profound con-
viction upon the subject of salvation, found peace in
believing, and united with the Presbyterian church.
His active nature found there new opportunities for
usefulness, especially among the youth, with whom
his genial nature will ever make him popular. His
heart is a perpetual summer, and its sunshine sheds
the life radiance and heat of Christian love upon
youthful society to bring them under the influence
of his refined manhood and Christian example.
His talents, his money and his time have ever been
devoted to the benefit of his race. In every depart-
ment of human benevolence his activity is felt.
Knowing the beautiful humanity of the redeemed
of the world, and feeling the universal kindred of
mankind, his sympathies extend to all grades of
human society. Self-forgetful in the remembrance
of others, his charity is prolific to whatever institu-
tion has for its object the amelioration of the sorrows
and the elevation of the condition of mankind.
In politics Mr. Perkins is a republican ; casts his
vote conscientiously for men and measures for the
benefit of the State and nation.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHIC M. DICTinXAin:
^IZ
In 1846 Dr. Perkins was happily allied in marriage
to Miss Jane H. Fitch, of Sheldon, Vermont, a lady
of broad culture, fine natural endowments, refined
and amiable qualities of heart, with great sweetness
of character. She discharges the duties of life in
tlie relation of wife and mother with true nobility of
purpose and high Christian example before her
family and the world. Si.x children have been the
fruit of their union, three sons and three daughters.
'I'he youngest, a daughter, is not living. The others
are beginning to make their mark in stations of use-
fulness and lionor. It is particularly to be observed
of this character that its central idea has been one
of noble aims and purposes, faithful in every station
of trust and duty, inspiring the confidence, respect
and love of his fellow-men on equality with himself.
The legacy of a good name, which the wise man says
" is rather to be chosen than great riches," de-
scends to those who will survive him, and " liis chil-
dren and children's children will rise uj; and ( all
him blessed." In texture and make up of character
Dr. Perkins is a true type of a native American.
With transparent frankness, shrewdness and inde-
pendence combined, he despises any form of fawn-
ing hypocrisy. The true and beautiful in nature
and art have in him a warm and true friend. His
home surroundings show him to be a man of varied
culture and fine taste. His life is in the yellow
leaf, ripe with practical knowledge on all subjects
pertaining to the interests of society, with hopes of
eternal life warming and tranquilizing his bosom as
he lowers the declivity toward the final rest. We
trust his useful life may yet be spared many years to
bless and illumine society, and when his sun of life
goes down it will set in a clear sky, the world having
been made the better by the paths his feet have trod.
SAMUEL C. WEST,
MILWAUKEE.
SAMUEL C. WEST, postmaster at Milwaukee,
was born June 26, 1818, in Colebrook, Con-
necticut, son of Hubbell and Sarah West, who re-
moved to Elbridge, New York, when Samuel was
nine years old. Here he received an ordinary dis-
trict school and academic education, after which
he entered a store as clerk. Remaining four
years in this store, he so won the confidence of
his employers by habits of industry, integrity and
careful application to business, that they furnished
him capital sufficient to start in trade for himself in
the adjoining town of Port Byron. This venture,
however, did not prove a financial success for Mr.
West, but he has often been heard to declare that it
was " the most fortunate move" of his life, as there
he found his wife. After two years in Port Byron,
where he was engaged in the lumber trade, he re-
moved to Wisconsin in 1846, and settled in Mil-
waukee, where he spent two years as bookkeeper in
a hardware store. He then commenced the family
grocery business, and was the first merchant in Mil-
waukee to convey goods to the homes of purchasers
with a delivery wagon — -trading a watch which cost
him fifteen dollars for the first horse kept for that
purpose, .\fter four years of successful grocery
trade, he sold out in order to take the position of
city clerk. When the United States Insurance Com-
pany was organized, Mr. West was elected its secre-
tary, and held the position two years ; then he bought
the stock of books and stationery of Ford and P'air-
banks, and continued six years in this business, hav-
ing in the meantime taken in his brother, H. H.
West, as partner, and subsequently selling out his
own interest to S. S. Sherman.
In religious views Mr. West is Presbyterian. His
mother was in early life a Congregationalist, but
while in Elbridge, New York, she united with the
Presbyterian church. He was an elder in the first
Presbyterian church of Milwaukee, and at the organ-
ization of the Calvary church became one of its
elders.
Politically, he was a Jackson and Van Buren demo-
crat when a young man; but after 1841, became an
abolitionist, and so continued until the organization
of the republican party, when he joined its ranks and
has ever since been faithful to its interests.
Mr. West's military career was brief. He was
lieutenant in New York militia before removing to
Wisconsin, and was a loyal supporter of the admin-
istration during the rebellion Soon after coming to
Milwaukee he was elected to the common council ;
in 1868 he represented the fourth ward in the as-
sembly of Wisconsin, and was at one time acting
mayor of Milwaukee. In 1870 he was appointed
74
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
postmaster by President Grant, and reappointed in
1874. In discharging the duties of that office he
has become popular with all parties. Under his able
management, though with an inadequate force to
assist him, the rapidly increasing business has been
transacted with remarkable promptness and dispatch.
In 1874 it became apparent that the facilities of the
post-office must be enlarged, and an appropriation
of thirty-eight thousand dollars was made for the
purpose. Accordingly in the summer of that year,
Mr. West secured the basement of the old First
Presbyterian Church for a temporary post-office,
where he remained until January 31, 1S75, when it
was again removed to its present enlarged and ele-
gant quarters in the Custom-house. During this
period Mr. West's signal ability was displayed in
serving the public and forwarding mails with the
same unfailing promptness and regularity which had
distinguished his administration in more convenient
quarters.
Mr. West was married October 27, TS41, to Miss
Almira L. Kent, of Cayuga county, New York, by
whom he has three children now living, two sons
and one daughter.
MASSENA B. ERSKINE,
RACINE.
MASSENA B. ERSKINE was born in Royal-
ston, Worcester county, Massachusetts, De-
cember 19, i8ig. His parents were Walter and
Margaret Erskine. Walter Erskine, his father, died
when quite young, leaving his family in straitened
circumstances. Massena, then a mere lad, was left
to assume responsibilities and care heavy to be
borne, even by those older than he. He had but
little time for school, his energies and labor were
required for the sterner necessities of work to help
to support a widowed mother. Educational advan-
tages were thus early denied him, except that of
the common school of New England.
Being apprenticed, by his mother, to learn the
shoe-making trade, and before he had finished it,
the business became so dull that he was thrown out
of employment, and obliged to seek another calling.
Fortunately it was so, for it enabled him to choose
a trade more suited to his taste and ambition, — that
of mechanics, of which he was very fond. He
apprenticed himself at Westford, Massachusetts, to
a carpenter and builder, and worked at it till 1847,
when he commenced business at Westford, in com-
pany with another gentleman, as manufacturer of
wood working machinery ; remaining there till the
spring of 1849, when the excitement attending the
discovery of gold on the Pacific coast induced him
to seek his fortune in that direction.
Arriving at San P'rancisco, then a small village,
he obtained work in a ship-yard, of which he
fvas soon made superintendent, having charge of
building, alterations, and repairing steamboats to be
placed, and running on the Sacramento and San
Joaquin rivers. His mechanical skill was here put
to its first severe test. Parties who had been en-
gaged to construct and place in running order those
famed boats of California's early history, the Gold
Hunter, New World and West Point, had failed to
complete the work, when the managers called Mr.
Erskine to their assistance, who carried the work to
successful completion. Leaving California, Decem-
ber, 1850, he returned to his home in Natick, Massa-
chusetts, where he remained till June, 1852.
The great West was at this time claiming the
attention of the eastern States and attracting many,
among them Mr. Erskine, who sought a home in
Racine, Wisconsin, where he found Jerome I. Case
engaged in manufacturing threshing machines. Ask-
ing for employment he obtained it in the shops,
where his ability and skill soon became apparent to
the proprietor, and in a few months Mr. Erskine
was given the entire charge of the mechanical and
machinery department of the works; a position, as
employe and now as proprietor, he has never ceased
to occupy. In 1863 the firm of J. I. Case and Co.
was formed, Mr. Erskine purchasing a one-fourth
interest. The success of this establishment has
gained for it a world-wide fame, and has become
celebrated as the largest threshing machine manu-
factory in the world.
Mr. Erskine is a gentleman who has won the
universal esteem of all who know him. In no sense
is he a politician, yet he has been called to fill many
important local offices; school commissioner and
supervisor of the city, elected mayor of Racine in
1869, and reelected in 1870 and 1871; he is also
A^^^^
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THE UNITED STATES B/OGRAPHfCAL DICTIONAliV.
'75
one of the directors of the Taylor Orphan Asylum,
of Racine, one of the noblest charities of the West.
A man of broad and liberal views, public-spirited
and charitable, liis support is felt in many of the
leading enterprises of the city, while his benevolence
is making many a heart glad.
Mr. P>skine was married at VVestford, Massachu-
setts, April 7, 1 84 1, to Miss
whose amiable disposition, be
tic virtue has won for her the
whose pleasure it is to know h
Susan Perry, a lad\
levolence and doineS'
sincere esteem of al
;r. 'I'hev have threi
children — two daughters, Emma and Flora A., and
Charles E. Erskine, who for several years filled the
position of cashier at J. I. Case and Co.'s oftice.
WILLIAM BECK,
MILWAUKEE.
WILLIAM BECK, son of John S. and Louise
Beck, was born on the i6th of April, 1823,
at Stuttgard, Wiirtemberg, Germany. His father im-
migrated to the city of New York in 1828, and located
near the city and engaged in the business of garden-
ing, including that of florist, and continued it for
sixteen years. In 1844 he moved to Wisconsin and
purchased a farm within five miles of the city of
Milwaukee. William worked on the farm until the
spring of 1847, when he returned to the city of New-
York, where he had previously received his educa-
tion. At the close of the Mexican war he went to
Vera Cruz ; thence to the city of Mexico, thence to
the Pacific coast at Mazatlan, where he and a party
of thirty-two others bought a small vessel for the
purpose of going to California. They were wrecked
at Cape St. Lucas. Finding themselves destitute of
any mode of conveyance and of the means of sub-
sistence, Mr. Beck and three others started on foot,
following the beach, and relying for food on the fish
that were chased ashore from the sea by the sharks.
After traveling two hundred miles in this manner
they found a vessel at anchor, and all hands digging
in the sands for water. After telling the tale of their
disaster the captain took them on board and in due
time landed them on the plat of ground on which
the city of San Francisco now stands. \Miile in
California Mr. Beck purchased a surf boat to carry
freight and passengers between Sacramento and
Marysville. Having earned about four thousand
dollars in this occupation he loaded his boat on his
own account, and in consequence of striking a snag
lost boat and all that he had accumulated, leaving
him in debt. He and eight others determined to
explore the country about the headwaters of the
Sacramento and Trinity rivers. After traveling about
forty miles during a very warm day they pitched
their camp for the night. While lying on the grass 1
Mr. Beck received an arrow in the right knee, which
was the first intimation of the presence of a party of
hostile Indians. Rising quickly he received another
on the left side of his head, which being delivered
at short range, stunned him, and when he revived he
found himself and one of his companions tied hand
and foot, five others lying dead, the other two of the
nine escaping. After traveling four days with these
Indians they were overtaken by twenty-eight miners
who had been collected by the two of the party
escaping, and who after a short fight with the Indians
nearly exterminated the band. After his escape he
returned to San Francisco; from thence he went to
Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, thence to Otaheite,
Society Islands, thence back to San Francisco ;
thence to Acapuico in Mexico, and San Juan Del
Sur in Nicaragua; then to Lima in Peru, and Val-
paraiso in Chili ; then back to Panama, across the
Isthmus to Havana; then to the city of New York.
In December, 1850, he returned to Milwaukee. In
1851 he married the daughter of Joseph R. Thomas,
and the same fall was elected a member of the legis-
lative assembly. In 1852 he was appointed deputy
sheriff to do criminal business, and in 1855 he organ-
ized the present police force of the city of Milwaukee,
which with the exception of a few months during tem-
porary resignation, has continued ever since under
his control as its chief, and partaking of his spirit
and emulating his example, has attained a degree of
effectiveness without a parallel in the United States.
In December, 1856, while hunting deer, one of his
companions shot an ounce ball accidentally through
his neck, entering the back part and coming out
through the cheek. In August, 1864, he was shot
again through the ankle, and again in 1S72 while
disarming a drunken man he was shot in the abdo-
men.
Mr
Beck is one of the most remarkable men of
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THE UNITED STATES BIOdRAPHICAL DICTIONAin:
the time. Nature gave him a well developed phy-
sique, sinewy, active, and capable of extraordinary
endurance. She gave him also a subtle intellect,
enabling him to comprehend as well the motives of
others as his own relations to surrounding objects.
She gave him a calmness which no unexpected
emergencies could agitate and a courage that would
not quail under any impending dangers. He has
encountered difficulties so great, braved dangers so
hazardous and made escapes so wonderful, that the
mere narrative would seem more like fiction than
reality, and verify the remark that " truth is stranger
than fiction."
In connection with these heroic qualities Mr. Beck
has a heart alive to every generous emotion, and a
feeling of sympathy for all human suffering. These
qualities of head and heart, however honorable to
human nature, are subordinate to that unwavering
sense of duty and that incorruptible integrity which
are his distinguishing characteristics.
We cannot conclude this sketch without adding
that while Mr. Beck has uniformly discharged the
arduous and sometimes delicate and difficult duties
of his office fearlessly and with great impartiality, he
has at all times enjoyed the confidence and respect
of the entire communit)', and counted among his
warm personal friends many of the most distinguished
citizens of Milwaukee.
NELSON VANKIRK,
MIL WA UKEE.
NEI.SON VANKIRK, beef and pork packer,
was born December ii, 1826, in Murray,
Orleans county. New. York, son of Oliver and Jane
Vankirk. His father was a well-to-do farmer, of
steady and industrious habits. He encountered
many difficulties and privations in early life, which
taught him self-reliance and self-government, and in
after life he was rigid in the government of others.
At the age of eighteen, having been but a few
months at school, he learned the trade of carpenter
and joiner, a branch of which was that of building
stills, which during the war of 1812 was very profit-
able. He was a man of strictly temperate habits,
and to protect his children against the evil influence
of the social habits of his day, he kept them at home
and employed.
To this careful and watcliful training in early
youth the subject of this sketch attributes those
habits of sobriety, industry and economy which
have followed him through life, and to which he
owes his great success and prosperity in business. ;
Unlike his father, Mr. Vankirk conceived an early '
abhorrence of a farmer's life, but possessing much 1
mechanical ingenuity he would, by the use of his I
father's tools, during the vacation and leisure hours !
allotted him after the daily tasks were completed, '■
pick up considerable practical knowledge in car- 1
pentry and joining. He acquired his education in '
the common schools of his native town, together
with three months' attendance at an academy. 'I'his
alternate study and work, together with his self-
apprenticeship at his father's bench, occupied his
time until he was twenty years of age, when he
determined to shake hands with fortune, and thence-
forth shape his own course. In the spring of 1847
he came to Milwaukee, where he found no difficulty
in engaging with a millwright as journeyman, which
occupation he followed about seven years. He at
first received but a dollar and a quarter per day.
The first job on which he was employed was in
tlenesee, Waukesha county. Here his self-training,
judgment and practical skill were quickly recognized
by his employer, and secured for him on his second
job the position of foreman. Finding that by close
and unremitting application to his trade he was
likely to lose somewhat the faculty for transacting
general business, being averse to routine work and
desirous of a broader field than this promised, he
concluded to change his occupation, and invested
what he had saved from his wages in a flouring mill
at Lowell, Wisconsin, which was run successfully for
two years, when it was burned to the ground. By
this calamity he lost nearly all the hard-earned sav-
ings of years .of toil and sacrifice. He, however, had
been schooled to meet adversity, and hence would
not allow a single misfortune, great as it was, to
crush him. Without means, what could he do? He
could not make up his mind to return to his original
trade as millwright, so going to Milwaukee again he
soon contracted with H. C. Bull and J. McVicker to
sell lumber for them at Janesville. He remained in
their employ about nine months, when, seeing an
', /^aWp^U/6
THE UX/TED STA'J'ES lUOCRAFII ICAI. niCTIONART.
177
opening by wliich he believed lie could greatly im-
prove his fortunes, and being quick to seize oppor-
tunities, he resigned his position, refusing flattering
inducements to continue, and proceeded to Madison
to engage in the produce business. With a capital
not exceeding two thousand dollars he commenced
buying and shipping wheat, and as he had foreseen,
met with immediate success. In two years he sold
out, left Madison, went to Beaver Dam, to which
point the old Milwaukee and St. Paul railway was
then running, where he rented first the warehouse
built in that town; he then built warehouses at dif-
ferent points as the road was extended, eight in all,
and occupied them as shipper of wheat for the space
of two years. His receipts becoming extensive, he
then concluded to remove to Milwaukee and sell his
own wheat, where in i860 he went into the general
commission business, with P. McGeoch as partner,
which he continued with increasing prosperity until
1872, gradually selling his warehouses. In 1867, the
Roddis pork-packing house being offered at a bar-
gain, and considering the firm competent, they added
beef-packing to their business. In 1872 they dis-
posed of their commission business, since which time
packing has been made a specialty. Mr. Vankirk
was generally successful in all his business transac-
tions in warehousing, shipping, buying and selling
wheat, and latterly in his extensive pork-packing
business. Few could hope to meet with greater
prosperity in so short a time and without a special
training for the business, which, in reality, he drifted
into. Always a careful buyer, with a far-sightedness
that enabled him to act promptly and at just the
right moment, prosperity seemed to follow as a mat-
ter of course. Prompt in meeting all obligations,
and maintaining a reputation for strict integrity in
all business transactions, he has risen to an enviable
position in the confidence of business houses gener-
1 ally, both at home and abroad. In 1872, to accom-
I modate a rapidly accumulating trade, a large packing
j house was built on what is termed the "marsh,"
i southwest of the city, which, together with the site,
I cost over one hundred thousand dollars. The first
year's business, which continues but a brief season,
was the cutting and packing of twenty thousand
hogs. The present year (1874-5) will have reached
seventy thousand hogs. The direct capital now
employed is upward of five hundred thousand dol-
lars, but the average amount required for their daily
business is upward of twenty thousand dollars. The
capacity of their packing house is the slaughtering
and cutting up of more than twenty-five hundred
hogs per day. They run at the present time an
I average of about two thousand. They employ about
one hundred and forty hands, at an expense of over
two hundred and fifty dollars per day. They have
for several years made large shipments to the Liver-
pool market, where their provisions are popular and
in good demand. They are among the largest ship-
pers of pork, etc., to Europe, in the West.
Mr. Vankirk's religious views are based upon the
golden rule : " Do unto others as you would that
others should do unto you."
In politics, he was originally a whig, and later a
republican. He has always possessed large public
spirit and interested in the public weal. In Mil-
waukee, in 187 1, he was elected alderman, and was
honored with the position of chairman of the board.
He is at the present time president of the Chamber
of Commerce, and has often filled important posi-
tions in minor offices and committees of the Cham-
ber of Commerce. He is a director of the North-
western National Fire Insurance Company.
He was married, June 9, 1853, to Miss Harriet E.
Richardson, of Lowell, Dodge county, Wisconsin,
by whom he has one son and two daughters.
H. SCOTT SLOAN,
HEAVER DAM.
H SCOTT SLOAN was born at Morrisville,
. Madison county, New York, on the 12th of
June, 1820. His father, Andrew S. Sloan, was a
law)er; his mother was Mehetabel Conkey. He
had common school and academic education, and
on leaving school he commenced studying law with
A. L. Foster, who represented the Madison and
Onondaga district in Congress in 1838. He studied
a year with J. Whipple Jenkins, of Verdon, New
York; was admitted to practice in 1842, and prac-
ticed at De Reuyter, New York, from 1844 to 1847,
and from 1850 to 1854.
He moved to Wisconsin in 1854, and settled at
Beaver Dam, and has resided there ever since. He
178
THE UNITED STATES BIOORAPIIICAL DICTIONARY.
has always practiced law, except when prevented by
official duties.
He is not a professor of religion, but a firm
believer in the essential doctrines of Christianity.
His mother was a Presbyterian and he attends that
church regularly.
Was married January, 1841, at Cazenovia, New
York, to Angeline M. Dodge, daughter of Rev.
John R. Dodge, a Presbyterian clergyman. They
have six living children. His only brother living is
J. C. Sloan, distinguished at the bar for his legal
learning and logical power, and in the councils of
the nation for his ability as a statesman. There is
a remarkable coincidence in the lives and characters
of the two brothers ; "/a/- nobile fratrum."
He was a Henry Clay whig, and republican from
the organization of the party to 1872, when he sup-
ported Greeley. He is now a liberal. He was
county clerk of Madison county, New York, from
1847 to 1849 inclusive; was a member of the as-
sembly of Wisconsin in 1857 ; was mayor of Beaver
Dam in 1858; was circuit judge from September,
1858, to June, 1859; was a member of congress
from 1861 to 1863; was clerk of the United States
district court from 1864 to 1866; was county judge
of Dodge county from 1868 to January i, 1874; and
was attorney-general from 1874 to the present time.
The duties of the office of attorney-general dur-
ing a portion of the term which Mr. Sloan has
already served have been unusually arduous and
laborious. After the passage of the act relating to
railroads, known as the " Potter law," the railroad
companies employed Messrs. B. R. Curtis, Evarts,
and Hoar, among the most eminent lawyers of the
country, who in their opinions, elaborately written,
pronounced the law unconstitutional and void.
The attorney-general on the other hand, in a very
learned and able opinion, held that the law was
constitutional and a legitimate exercise of legislative
power. Subsequently cases involving the constitu-
tionality of this law were discussed in the United
States circuit court and in the supreme court of the
State, and the positions taken by the attorney-general
were fully sustained, and his course of reasoning
vindicated. Mr. Sloan has held a variety of public
offices, the duties of which he has discharged with
ability, integrity and honor. While preserving his
own self-respect he commands the respect of others.
In all of his social and domestic relations he is
genial, conciliatory and scrupulously honest. If
all men resembled him, judges would issue no de-
crees and law vers obtain no fees.
LUKE STOUGHTON,
STOl'GHTON.
LUKE STOUGHTON, son of Thomas Stough-
-y ton, was born in a sturdy New England family,
in the town of Weathersfield, Vermont, on the loth
of December, 1799. While he was still a child
his father removed to Westfield, in the northern part
of the State, then an almost unbroken wilderness.
Here, of course, his opportunities for acqiiiring an
education were extremely limited ; but he was trained
to habits of strictest industry, economy and integ-
rity. He learned a mechanical trade and followed
it for a number of years, spending a part of his time
in Boston, Massachusetts, and Mobile, Alabama.
Returning to his native State he married Miss
Eliza Page. In 1837 he visited Wisconsin. In
1838 he removed his family to Janesville, Wiscon-
sin. He entered the mercantile business, built the
American House, and otherwise aided in promoting
the growth of the young town. Here he resided
for twelve years, and accumulated a handsome
property. In 1847 he purchased of Daniel Webster
a large tract of land in the county of Dane, upon
which the village of Stoughton is now located.
Although in feeble health he soon bent all his ener-
gies to improving the water-power, and building up
a large village. He induced a number of his old
friends to settle around him, started several kinds of
business and influenced the railroad company to
run the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien road
through the place. Stoughton is beautifully sit-
uated upon the banks of the Catfish river, and in
appearance resembles a New England town. It
has grown into a thriving village, and is now the
busy center of trade for a large extent of country,
and contains several large manufacturing establish-
ments.
Mr. Stoughton was a man of strong practical
sense, sound judgment, a trusted friend and wise
counselor. Modest, retiring and deferential to
-S ^uJkjL Q^UnAfl^yLr-i^i-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPIIICAL DICTIONARV.
179
Others, he has never sought any public position, but
has held the high esteem of all who knew him. He
loved truth for truth's sake, and was uncompromis-
ing in his regard for justice.
His religious views were liberal. He read exten-
sively and possessed a large fund of general infor-
mation. His manner was characterized by a quiet
but manly dignity. At his home he was hospitable
in the highest degree, genial in spirit, discussed
freely and intelligently the public topics of the day,
in regard to which he was stable and conscientious
in his opinions. In his domestic relations he was
distinguished for kindness and tenderness. His
many years of feeble, failing healtli, a great trial to
one of his active temperament, was borne uncom-
plainingly.
He died on the isth of August, 1874. The
Masonic order, of which he was a member, took
charge of the body on the occasion of his funeral,
and at the grave read their beautiful and impressive
ceremony.
Few men have lived more resjjccted or died more
regretted by those who knew him, than Mr. Stough-
ton. And these considerations should afford consol-
atory reflections to his family, who have been left to
mourn his loss.
LUCIUS J. BLAKE,
IfACINE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Burling-
ton, Vermont, was born on the 14th of March,
1 8 16, and is the son of Captain Levi Blake and
Mary nee Sandford. His paternal ancestry is o£.
Irish origin, and was first represented in 7\merica by
Theophilus Blake, who left the " ould sod " and
settled in New Hampshire about the year 17 10.
Whether driven by fate Theophilus left the Emerald
shores, actuated by the same spirit which prompted
those other members of the family w-hom Moore
thus addresses,
" Vo Blakes and O'Donnells whose fathers resigned
The green hills of their youth among strangers to find
Tliat repose which at home they had sighed for in vain,"
or whether for the good of his country, does not
now appear. He evidently possessed a desire for
adventure, a characteristic prominent in some of his
descendants, and which he doubtless inherited from
the originator of the name, one Launcelot Ass Lake,
i.e. Son of the Lake (since corrupted into Blake).
Sir Thomas Malory in his collection of stories pub-
lished in 1845, says of this Launcelot, that he was
one of those wandering knights whom tradition
makes to grace " King Arthur's Round Table," and
that following his liege lord in a victorious campaign
into Ireland; and that for his valor and as an em-
blem of royal favor, he was vested with an estate
from the concjuered lands, and lived upon it to be-
come the founder of the distinguished family of
Blakes, of County Galway, Ireland, containing
two titles of nobility, lord and baronet ; the lords
known by the name of Walscourt. This restless
spirit of Launcelot took some of his descendants
back to England, and from them sprang the younger
branches of the family, made famous by Admiral
Robert Blake, who secured to England much of her
naval supremacy. Again, we find it cropping out in
Levi, the father of our subject, who early in 1817
left his home in Vermont and settled in Erie county,
New York. During the eleven years that he remained
here, I,ucius attended the district schools, and was
at one time under the tuition of Millard Fillmore,
afterward President of the United States. His father
next removed to Crawford county, Pennsylvania,
where the family remained seven years, engaged in
farming. But the country becoming too old for the
father, he, in 1834, took two of his sons, Lucius
and Sandford, and went to Chicago, Illinois, then
consisting of Fort Dearborn and a small village.
Here with his sons he engaged as contractor and
builder, and assisted in erecting many buildings,
some of which long remained as vestiges of old
Chicago. Returning in the fall, he brought his
family as far as Cass county, Michigan ; and leaving
them took three sons, and again started westward,
arriving in Chicago on the loth of February, 1835.
There providing themselves with supplies and blan-
kets, started northward. After a perilous and tedious
journey of several days, exposed to snows and bitter
cold, they, on the 15th of February, made a claim
six miles northwest of the present site of Racine,
and built a shanty without a window in it. Return-
ing to Michigan they soon brought the family to
Chicago, and during the next two years Lucius and
[8o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
a younger brother lived alone on their claim, break-
ing and fencing. Captain Blake's capacious log
house, built in 1837, was a land-mark in the coun-
try, and the hospitality of its proprietor gave to it
the appropriate name of "Our House."
Lucius contracted to remain on his father's farm
after attaining his majority, for a compensation of
twenty-five dollars per month, and at the expiration
of that time engaged himself as a carpenter and
joiner to General Bullen and Samuel Hale, of Keno-
sha (then Southport), receiving a compensation of
one dollar and fifty cents per day in "store pay."
He was afterward engaged at Racine in the employ
of Mr. Charles S. Wright. At the age of twenty-three
years he began contracting and building on his own
account, and soon had a small force of men in his
employ, one of whom, Charles S. Bunce, has re-
mained with him during a period of thiry-five years,
and is now at the head of his manufacturing estab-
lishment. In 1843, having accumulated a small
capital, Mr. Blake began the manufacture of farming
implements, making fanning mills a specialty. Be-
ginning on a scale proportionate to his capital and
the demands of the farming community, he has
added to his business year by year, until from his
establishment, now the largest in the world in this
specialty, shipments are made to Vermont on the
east and California and Oregon on the west : and
1875 witnessed the establishment of an agency in
Pesth, Hungary, the center of wheat-growing coun-
tries of central Europe. One great secret of Mr.
Blake's success has been his continuity: while every
member of his father's has family gone further west,
he has remained steadily employed in the place of
his early adoption, and has seen it grow from the
wild woods into a thriving city. As his means have
increased he has sought opportunities for invest-
ment, associating with himself partners of ability and
integrity. Aside from his manufacture of agricul-
tural implements, he is at the head of the largest
woolen mill in the West, which has gained a wide
reputation for its manufacture of shawls. He has
dealt extensively in real estate, and is now one of
the largest property-holders in Racine, owning sev-
eral public buildings, manufactories and numerous
dwellings.
His political sentiments are republican, and he
was a delegate to the convention that nominated
General Grant for the second term. In all his active
business career he has shown public-spiritedness,
and has done as much as any other man to make
his city what it is to-day. He was one of the first
trustees under the village government, and succeeded
his father as treasurer of Racine county. During
1863 and 1864 he served as poormaster of his county,
and has been city councilman for several terms, and
is now president of the council and chairman of the
finance committee. In 1870 he represented his city
in the State legislature, and secured the passage of
several important bills. He is not, however, ambi-
tious for political honors, but is willing to occupy a
position when by so doing he can work for the
public good. He is satisfied to enjoy the prosperity
with which kind Providence and his own toil and
honorable dealing have blessed him, and grateful
for the assurance that his labors have resulted in
good to others as well as profit to himself.
Mr. Blake was married on the 26th of December,
1843, to Miss Caroline Elliott, a young lady of Eng-
lish descent, and daughter of William Elliott, of
England. Their union has been blessed with five
children, of whom three are now living.
HON. WILLIAM HENRY WOLF,
MILWAUKEE.
THERE is a famous speech recorded of an old
Norseman, thoroughly characteristic of the
Teuton : " I believe neither in idols nor demons,"
said he, " but I put my sole trust in my own strength
of body and soul." The ancient crest with the
motto of " I will find a way or make one," was an
expression of the same sturdy independence and
practical materialism which to this day distinguishes
the descendants of the Northmen. 'I'hese two (|uo-
tations are peculiarly adapted to the career of the
subject of our biography.
He was born on the 7th of .\ugust, 1828, at AVen-
delsheim, in Germany, about twenty-one miles from
Mainz on the Rhine. His parents, John and Char-
lotte Blumenfeldt Wolf, immigrated to the city of
New York in 1836, where they remained about three
years and then settled on a farm in Sullivan county
in the State of New York.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXARV.
I8l
After about a year of farm life Henry (as he was
called in those days), who was tired of the monotony,
determined thus early to strike out and seek his own
fortune in the world. He had received very little
schooling up to this time, simply a few months at
the common school, yet he bravely set forth alone
on foot with but a dollar in his pocket. He walked
sixty miles to Newbury and there took passage to
New York city, and arrived with a few pence in his
pocket. He got employment with a butcher named
Thompson, with whom he remained a year, but at
the end of that time, as he did not like the business,
he engaged to work at a coffee-house opposite the
old Washington market, where he stayed si.\ months.
From thence he went to Roper's hotel, on the New-
burg turnpike, Sullivan county, as man of all work,
for si-x dollars per month. He worked almost night
and day on the farm, hauling wood and stone, and
tending bar. He slept in the bar-room to be able
to attend on the passengers by the night coach. Hard
work and small pay, but the boy did not complain ;
he waited his opportunity and went to work driving
team for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company,
for which he received thirteen dollars per month.
Wolf was by this time nearly seventeen years of age,
and the company having need of a captain on a
scow used for carrying stone, appointed him to that
position and as "boss" over fifteen men. For this
work he received eighty-five cents per day. He
then went to work in the carpenters' shop of the
company getting out material for canal locks and
building coal barges, where he partially learned the
trade which he clung to in after-life. He also spent
about a year at Port Jervis, and about the same
length of time at Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
In 1849 he drifted into the tide of immigration
then setting strongly westward ; reached Milwaukee
in June, and got employment at once with Mr. Bar-
ker, a builder at Waukesha. In the fall he went to
Portage and bought some land near that place, and
then got work chopping cord-wood at fifty cents per
cord. In the spring of 1850 he, with five others,
started for Stevens Point, en route for the pineries.
They went by team to Grand Rapids, and traveled
the rest of the distance on foot. On settling the
fare at Grand Rapids they made Wolf, who was the
recognized leader of the party, treasurer of the small
amount they had left. When Stevens Point was
reached it was found with dismay that one dollar
and seventy-five cents was the total amount they
had to board and lodge six men for two days. Then
•!4
the ready wit of A\'olf stood his companions in good
stead. He desired them to leave the settlement to
him ; so they very willingly went to the tavern and
were comfortably housed and fed until Monday
morning, when Wolf called for the bill, which was
duly handed to him.
" Landlord," he said, "these five men arc out of
money, so you will have to wait until they return
for their settlement," and at the same time he placed
the amount of his share on the table.
The proprietor of the tavern stared in astonish-
ment at the coolness of this jjroposition, seeing
which Wolf added, with all the assurance of an old
friend :
" You need not be afraid of not being paid ; if
they don't pay you I will."
"But who the devil are you V queried the host;
to which Sir Impudence replied : " If you doubt
my honesty I will bring five men who will vouch for
me."
The landlord saw how the case stood, and after
laughing long and heartily at the talent for financing
displayed by Wolf, agreed to accept his offer of
taking the responsibility of the debt. We need
hardly add that the amount was honorably repaid in
a few weeks.
Such is one of the many instances of tact and
shrewdness which was brought out by necessity
from the depths of Mr. Wolf's brain. In the logging
camp and on the raft, as well as in other places, he
still determined to be "first man," and by his cour-
age and skillfulness he was always looked up to as
such. At the peril of his life he saved a pilot
named Mead from drowning in the rapids just below
the city of Grand Rapids. The oar caught a whirl-
pool and flung the pilot several feet clear of the
raft.
After about two months' experience in the pineries
he proceeded to Buffalo, New York, and obtained
employment in a ship-yard. He then made oppor-
tunity to attend evening school, and improved his
education in every manner that he could. In June,
1853, he came to Milwaukee and engaged as fore-
man in Mr. J. M. Jones' ship-yard, and remained
with him in that capacity until 1857, when Mr. Jones
failed in business. With a gentleman named Theo-
dore Lawrence as a partner, Mr. Wolf started busi-
ness on the site where he is now chief partner in
the firm. In 1863 his firm sold out to Ellsworth
and Davidson, and he went to Fort Howard where
he carried on the business of ship-builder and luiiv
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
berman for four years, during which time he built
some very fine steamers and sailing vessels, among
which may be mentioned the side-wheel steamer
George L. Dunlap, twin-screw propeller Favorite,
bark Lottie Wolf (named after his eldest daughter),
and schooners Minnie Slauson and Winnie Wing.
In the spring of 1868 he returned to Milwaukee
and bought the interest of Mr. Ellsworth and be-
came a partner with Davidson, under the style of
Wolf and Davidson, where by close attention to
detail they have succeeded in making the firm the
best and most favorably known ship-building yard
in the Northwest. Their business has increased
rapidly, and as they possess all modern improve-
ments in machinery, such as steam-derrick, chain
factory, saw and planing-mills, floating and station-
ary docks, they have the most complete yard in their
part of the country.
There is one thing which should be here men-
tioned, namely, the laying down or draughting
vessels without having a model to work from, which
is ' seldom, if ever, done. This Mr. Wolf has done
on several occasions. Among the vessels built in
this manner is the schooner Saveland, a very fine
looking vessel carrying forty-four thousand bushels
of wheat. She is a fleet sailer, and has a tonnage of
a little over six hundred tons, C.H.N.M.; also the
tugs Welcome and McGordon, two very fleet and
handsome tugs used for wrecking purposes, whose
career will speak for themselves.
Politically Mr. Wolf was a democrat until the
nomination of Fremont for the presidency, since
which time he has been a staunch republican, except
in local matters.
On the 26th of September, 1852, he was married
to Miss Mary A. Ganthie, by whom he has three
daughters and one son. His wife has been indeed
a helpmate to Mr. Wolf in his manifold undertakings,
and in his own words he thanks her for his success
therein.
While at Fort Howard he was a member of the
common council for two years, and he has also
held honorable positions in Milwaukee as council-
man and alderman.
HON. PETER DOYLE,
WISCONSIN.
PETER DOYLE, secretary of state of the State
of Wisconsin, was born at Myshall, county of
Carlow, Ireland, December 8, 1844. When he
was six years old his parents came to the State
of Wisconsin and settled at Franklin, Milwaukee
county, his father engaging at first in farming and
afterward in mercantile pursuits. He also held
several local offices. Mr. Doyle's first lessons were
received at home ; there, and at the common school
in Franklin, he acquired a knowledge of the ordi-
nary English branches. Subsequently he pursued
a collegiate course. He spent a short time in the
office of the clerk of the United States district court
in Milwaukee, and in 1863 entered the law office
of Butler and Cottrill in that city, intending to make
law his profession. Having spent about two years
in the study of law, he taught school for a short
time in Milwaukee, and then, having been offered
an acceptable position in a railway office at Prairie
du Chien, removed to that place in July, 1865, with
the intention of remaining there for awhile and
then resuming legal studies. Business arrangements
at Prairie du Chien, however, proving satisfactory.
he continued there until his election as secretary
of state, in 1873. In the spring of 1872 he was
nominated by the democratic city convention as
first mayor of the city of Prairie du Chien, but de-
clined to accept, not desiring to enter political life.
In the fall of the same year he was elected to the
assembly from Crawford county, and in the legisla-
ture of 1873 took an active part in the discussion of
many of the important measures of the session. In
September of the same year he was nominated for
the position of secretary of state by the reform
convention held in Milwaukee, and was elected at
the ensuing election. In November, 1875, he was
reelected.
The " Milwaukee News," one of the leading
papers of the State, in referring to his reelection,
and the manner in which, he had performed the
duties of his office, used the following language :
No man has ever occupied the department of the secre-
tary of state, who has displayed a better knowledge of its
duties, or greater ability and honesty in their discharge,
than hii\c\h;u;ictLi-ized the Hon. Peter Doyle. Though
conipaiaii\ rl\ :[ M.ung man, being but a h'Ule over thirty
years ot\im. lu -imws a maturity and wisdom in his action
upon public allairs which give the impression of his being
C/s^ :M^^^-^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
183
a miicli older man than he really is; and his official conduct
has the discretion, the dignity and sobriety which belong
to advanced years. He is a thorough man of business, a
well-read lawyer, and a scholar of ripe acquirements. He
is really one of the ablest men in public life in the State.
His reports and the part which he has taken in the admin-
istration of the State finances, are evidences of the thorough
litness and great capacity which he brought into the office.
Tlie vigor witli which he discharges all the duties which the
law places upon him, and the laborious care which he
bestows on not only the lart;er but the minor details of
business, are such as have not been surpassed even by the
most industrious and experienced of his predecessors.
Politically, Mr. Doyle has been a democrat, but
is liberal in his views, making party interest subor-
dinate to those of the State and country. He first
engaged actively in political affairs after the nomina-
tion of Horace Greeley for the presidency in 1872,
and worked untiringly in his behalf. He favors the
largest degree of personal liberty consistent with the
welfare of society, and is strenuously opposed to
interference by the State in matters pertaining to
individual right or private conscience.
In religion he is a Catholic, this having been the
faith of his parents.
Mr. Doyle is upward of six feet in height, of well
developed form, and is capable of enduring much
physical and mental labor. He is dignified in ap-
pearance and deportment, but is modest and unas-
suming, and has a high appreciation of real merit.
He deliberates carefully, and acts with promptness,
energy and decision. Sincere and honest in his
convictions, and earnest in the advocacy of his prin-
ciples, he looks only to that which he believes to be
right, disregarding mere expediency. He is a forci-
ble writer and speaker, is clear in his views, logical
in argument and classical in style. He is fond of
poetry, and is familiar with many of the works of the
English and German poets, as well as the ancient
classical authors. He appreciates highly the society
of literary friends, and devotes his leisure hours
mainly to literary pursuits. Mr. Doyle is unmarried.
HENRY N. HEMPSTED,
MILWAUKEE.
HENRY N. HEMPSTED was born December
29, 1S30, in the city of Albany, New \'ork.
His parents were Americans, his father a doctor of
medicine. He was educated principally at the
Albany Academy, the prominent teachers of which
were Dr. T. Romeyn Beck and Dr. Bullions. At
the age of thirteen he commenced the study of
music and the piano. His parents intended him
for a lawyer, and one year of his life was spent in
contemplation of Blackstone, Chitty and other legal
luminaries. The study of music, however, which
was intended as a mere accomplishment, became
the business of his life, and has been the foundation
of such reputation and wealth as he now possesses.
From the law office he went as clerk in the piano
warerooms of Boardman and Gray, at Albany, where
lie served about two years, and this was the com-
mencement of his business education. In that place
he obtained an excellent knowledge, not only of the
music business in all its branches, but also a thor-
ough knowledge of the manufacture of pianos. At
the age of nineteen he determined to leave Albany
and his home and strike out for a new field. In
October, 1849, he arrived in the city of Milwaukee,
then a place of about twenty thousand inhabitants,
and has resided there ever since. On his arrival
in Milwaukee his total cash capital amoimted to
about fifty cents, which sum was judiciously ex-
pended in the purchase of a "square meal." He
had a few good friends, however, and commenced
at once as a professor of music, and managed
to earn a living at it, and that was about all.
In 1850 the only music store in Milwaukee failed
and was sold out. He bought the bulk of the
stock, amounting to about six hundred dollars, and
as he had no money had to buy it on time, which
was about nine months. He commenced the music
business in a very small way indeed, and still pur-
sued the business of music teaching in connection
with it. After a few years, as his business increased,
he gradually relinquished teaching and finally gave
it up altogether. He occupied the jiosition of organ-
ist at Plymouth Church, Milwaukee, for twelve years,
resigning in 1864. Has given considerable attention
to musical composition ; commenced composing
music when about sixteen. Has published a good
many musical works, and has many yet unpublished.
The "Light Guard Quickstep," composed in 1859
expressly for the Light Guards on their excursion to
New York, is probably the most widely known of
these publications, and has had and still has an im-
mense sale. It is one of the standard pieces of the
1 84
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
day, and has been played by every band in the
country. The names of a few others may be men-
tioned : " Claribaldi's March," " Iron Brigade March,"
" Castles in the Air Caprice," and " Rendezvous
March," all of which have been favorably received.
He carries on the musical business in all its branch-
es, including publishing. Is publisher and editor of
the " Musical Echo," a periodical now in the third
year of existence, and which has become very widely
known. His house is now the oldest establishment
in this line of any in the Northwest. The sales will
sometimes reach as high as a quarter of a million
dollars, and the capital employed about one hundred
thousand dollars. The premises occupied are on
Broadway, Nos. 408, 410 and 412, and are sixty feet
front by one hundred and twenty deep.
DON A. J. UPHAM,
MIL 71 'A Uh'EE.
DON A. J. UPHAM was born in VVeathersfield,
Windsor county, Vermont, on the 31st of May,
1809. His father, Joshua Upham, occupied the
homestead and farm in the valley of the Connecticut
river that was first located by his grandfather, Wil-
liam Upham, at the close of the revolutionary war,
and which now has been in possession of the family
for nearly one hundred years. The family is one of
the oldest in New England. About twenty years
ago the late Ur. Upham, of Salem, Massachusetts,
compiled and published the genealogy of the Upham
family, in which he distinctly traced the ancestors
of William Upham back to John Upham, who emi-
grated from the west of England and settled in
Maiden, near Boston, about sixty years after the
first landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.
The father of D. A. J. Upham, when he became
sixteen years of age, asked him if he could determine
on what business or profession he would select, with
a determination to follow it for life. After some
deliberation he chose the profession of the law. He
was then immediately sent to the preparatory school
at Chester, Vermont, and afterward to Meriden, New
Hampshire, and at the age of nineteen he entered
the sophomore class at Union College, New York.
The late Dr. Eliphalet Nott was then president of ,
that institution.
He graduated in 183 1 with the highest standing
in a class of about one hundred. In the September
following he entered the office of General James
Tallmadge, in the city of New York, as a law student.
After remaining in this office about six months he
found that it would be necessary in some way to
raise means to complete his education as a lawyer.
On the recommendation of President Nott, he was
appointed assistant professor of mathematics in Del-
aware College at Newark, in the State of Delaware.
He held this position for three years, at the same
time having his name entered as a law student in the
office of the Hon. James A. Bayard of Wilmington,
Delaware, late United States senator from that State.
In 1835, after attending a course of law lectures
in the city of Baltimore, he was admitted to the bar
and commenced the practice of law in the city of
Wilmington. In the meantime his attention had
been called to the growing settlements in the far
West.
After the close of the Black Hawk war, it was said
a place called Chicago would soon be a commercial
point of importance. In 1836 the Territory of Wis-
consin was organized, containing within its limits
the territory now comprising the States of Iowa and
Minnesota. He determined to explore the western
country, and seek a location in which to pursue his
profession.
In the spring of 1837 he started for the West, and
in June arrived in Chicago by the route of the upper
lakes. Chicago was then a very small village and
seemed to be located in an extensive marsh, the only
high ground being a few acres on the lake shore,
where the old fort was located.
He was not pleased with Chicago. In comjjany
with two friends he traveled through Illinois in a
farmer's wagon by tlie way of Dixon's ferry, camping
out as occasion required, and arrived at the Missis-
sippi, near the mouth of Rock river. He visited
Burlington and Dubuque, now in the State of Iowa,
and also the mineral region in western Wisconsin,
and endeavored to find some conveyance east through
Wisconsin to Milwaukee, but was unable to do so,
and was obliged to return by way of Galena to Chi-
cago, and from there by a steamer to Milwaukee.
The first settlement in Milwaukee of any importance
was made the year before. The situation and pros-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
185
pects pleased him and he finally determined to locate
there.
The difficulties attending the practice of the law-
yers who first settled in the Territory can hardly be
appreciated at this day. His first case of any im-
portance was in the supreme court of the Territory.
At the fall term of the district court a judgment for
a large amount had been obtained against one of
the most extensive dealers in real estate in Milwau-
kee, and his new dwelling-house and a large amount
of property were advertised for sale on execution.
He applied to the young lawyer to take the case to
the supreme court and enjoin the pending sale. It
was necessary that one of the judges should allow
the writ of injunction. Judges Frazier and Irwin
were out of the Territory, and there was no person
who could allow the writ except Judge Dunn, who
resided at Elk Grove, in the western district, about
one hundred and sixty miles from Milwaukee.
There were no stage coaches or means of convey-
ance through the Territory. The only practical way
was to go on horseback through what is now Rock
and Green counties, and the only track for a con-
siderable portion of the way was an Indian trail
across the prairies. He accordingly started to make I
the trip in this way late in November, with barely
time to accomplish it.
Mr. Janes had already settled at Janesville, and
the miners from the west had a settlement at Sugar
River Diggings in Green county. These points
he reached after having been delayed one day in
crossing Rock river, from the ice and high water.
He reached Mineral Point and Elk Grove without
difficulty, had his writ allowed by the judge, and on
his return to Sugar river found he had but two nights
and one day in which to reach Milwaukee before the
sale, a distance of about one hundred miles. He
started east for the Janes settlement early in the
evening, and as he reached the prairie he found that
in places it was on fire, and with difficulty he pur-
sued his route. As the night advanced it became
dark and cloudy, and toward midnight the wind
arose and a scene presented itself that baffled de-
scription. On reaching high ground the view was
extensive, and the fire with the increasing wind
spread in every direction. The low grounds where
the vegetation had been rank appeared to be all on
fire. As far as the eye could reach, and in every
direction, the flames seemed to shoot up to the
clouds with increasing violence. The night was
dark and not a star to be seen. The scene was
grand, sublime; it was terrific. It seemed as if the
last day had arrived, and that the final conflagration
of the world was now taking place. The young
lawyer found himself surrounded with difficulties of
which his knowledge of Blackstoneand Coke afforded
no solution, and he had at last to bring into use his
knowledge of other sciences in order to effect an
escape. He was lost on the prairie. After diligent
search he could find no trace of the trail or track
he wished to pursue. He was near half a day's
ride from any habitation, and he could not ascertain
in what direction he was going. By keeping on the
high portions of the prairie where the \'egetation had
been light, and which was mostly Inirnl over, he
could remain in comparative safety, but to cross the
ravines or low ground, was impossible, or attended
with the greatest danger. For several hours he
wandered in various directions, without knowing
where he was going. At last the clouds seemed to
break away at one point, and stars appeared visible.
The question was to determine to what constella-
tions they belonged. He was not long in doubt, for
two clusters of stars appeared, which he recognized
as well known southern constellations. He knew
these stars must now be near the meridian, and at
the extreme south. By keeping them at the right he
was now able to pursue a course as far as practicable
in an easterly direction, and at last reached Rock
river, about two miles south of Janesville.
He now had one day and night in which to reach
Milwaukee, a distance of about sixty miles. With a
worn out and jaded horse, this was accomplished
with great difficulty. He arrived about one hour
before the sale, to the astonishment of the opposing
counsel and great joy of his client, who had long
been anxiously waiting his arrival.
Such are some of the incidents that attended the
practice of the profession in the early settlement of
Wisconsin.
The following year the government lands were
brought into market, and the most important busi-
ness of the lawyers was in proving up preemptions
to important locations, the sites of future towns and
cities. He was employed in the important case of
Gilman vs. Rogan, before the land office, in proving
up a preemption to the site of the present city of
Watertown, and also, among others, in obtaining
a preemption to the land where the city of Beloit
is located. After the settlers had obtained a title to
their land the practice was not essentially different
from that in the older States.
86
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Mr. Upliam was not a politician in the true sense
of the word. He had no taste for the bitterness,
animosity and personal abuse that prevailed in the
party contests at this time.
He has filled, however, some important political
positions. He was several times a member of the
territorial council, at the earliest sessions of the
legislature at Madison. He was a member of the
first convention that was called to form a constitu-
tion for the State of Wisconsin, and was elected
president of that convention. He was nominated by
the democratic party for governor of the State as
the successor of Governor Dewey. He took no
active part in the canvass. The contest was very
close and bitter, from dissensions in the party, and
the result doubtful, but the State canvassers then at
Madison declared his opponent elected by a small
majority. He was twice elected mayor of the city
of Milwaukee, being the successor of Juneau and
Kilbourn. He was afterward appointed United
States attorney for the district of Wisconsin, which
he held for one term of four years.
After thirty years' successful practice in Milwaukee
he was compelled by ill health to retire from the
profession.
He was married in 1856 to Elizabeth S., daughter
of Dr. Gideon Jacpies, of Wilmington, Delaware.
The Jaques family was one of the oldest in New
Jersey, and descended from the first French Hugue-
nots that came to this country. They have five
children, the oldest of whom, John J. Upham, is now
a major in the 5th Cavalry of the United States
army. His oldest daughter, Carrie J., is married to
Colonel George H. Raymond of Smyrna, Delaware,
the second daughter, Addie J., is the wife of Henry
B. Taylor, Esq., merchant in Chester, Pennsylvania,
and the youngest, Sallie J. Upham, is unmarried.
The youngest son, Horace A. J. Upham, a recent
graduate of the University of Michigan, is now a law
student in Milwaukee.
At the close of the late war Major Upham, on his
return from a trip to Europe, brought home and pre-
sented to his father an astronomical telescope of
large power, that had then just been introduced into
England. It is portable and intended for private
libraries. With the aid of this instrument liis father
for several years past, as his health and time would
permit, has been reviewing his early astronomical
investigations, informing himself of the progress
made in that science during the last forty years, and
verifying to some e.xtent the computations made
annually at the Astronomical Observatory at Wash-
ington. Mr. Upham 's life, although not character-
ized by any remarkable events or achievements, has
been a useful and honorable one. He has dis-
charged all the duties devolved upon him as a lawyer
and legislator with marked ability and integrity. As
a citizen he has been public-spirited and patriotic.
In his social relations as husband, father and neigh-
bor his conduct has not only been exemplary, com-
manding respect, but it has been characterized by
affection and kindness and by genial intercourse with
friends and neighbors. He is in all respects a well-
bred, accomplished gentleman, and his impress is
visible in his family. The biographer feels a per-
sonal pleasure as well as a patriotic ]5ride in present-
ing this character to his countrymen as a model for
imitation.
HON. SERENO T. MERRILL,
SERENO TAYLOR MERRILL was born Sep-
tember '24, 1816, in Gill, Franklin county, Mas-
sachusetts, and is the eldest of eight children of
Pardon H. Merrill, and Emily n^e Taylor. His father
was a blacksmith, machinist and inventor, whose
shop, with its trip-hammer, its lathes for turning
wood and iron, its emery wheels, etc., was famous
for its facilities for doing heavy mill work, and as a
manufactory of " Merrill's goose-necked hoe," pat-
ented in 1 814, and now universally used instead of
the clumsy old eye hoe. This shop was a fit nur-
sery for developing the ingenuity which the four
sons inherited from their father ; and in embryo, a
representative of the more pretentious iron-works of
O. E. Merrill and Co., of Beloit, Wisconsin, a firm
composed of three of the four brothers, whose paper
machinery, water-wheels, etc., are extensively used,
not only in this country, but in foreign lands. Mr.
Merrill's maternal ancestors were prominent actors in
the settlement of the Connecticut River valley. Mr.
John Taylor came from England as early as 1639, and
his descendants, each in his time, to the third and
^? 2 Y^ ^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
187
fourth generations, sealed with his blood his fidelity to
his country. Captain John Taylor, junior, was killed
May 13, 1704, while pursuing a party of Indians,
and his son, Lieutenant Thomas Taylor, was wounded
at Deerfield, Massachusetts, in the second attack of
the French and Indians on that town, and the son
of the latter, who was Mr. Merrill's great-grandfather.
Captain Thomas Taylor, " as sergeant, was in com-
mand of the party of seventeen men which was at-
tacked by one hundred French and Indians, July
14, 1748, while on a march from Northfield to
Dummer. After a desperate resistance, Taylor was
captured and carried to Canada, where he was kept
in close confinement until the following September.
November of the same year the general court of
Massachusetts, in consideration of his bravery in
that action, voted Sergeant Taylor fifty pounds.
He lost a choice gun worth eighteen pounds
sterling, old tenor, and a pair of leather breeches
worth ten pounds sterling, old tenor, for both of
which he was allowed pay." — (Hist. Northfield,
Mass., p. 555.)
The parents of the subject of this sketch removed
during his infancy to Hinsdale, New Hampshire,
where he passed his early life, receiving in the
common school the rudiments of an education. At
the age of seventeen he obtained leave of absence
from the paternal roof, and permission to engineer
his way for one quarter in the Fellenberg Academy,
Greenfield, Massachusetts. The parental allowance
of ten dollars sufficed to pay his tuition in advance
and to purchase the i^w books necessary, while his
brawny arm and untiring industry brought him
means to meet his other expenses; thus verifying
the adage, "where there is a will there is a way."
Soon after his return from Greenfield an unlooked-
for event changed the whole tenor of his life, and
transferred him from the work-shop to the school-
room. The teacher engaged for the winter session
for the Hinsdale village school presented himself
for e.xamination on Monday morning, while the
children waited for the opening of the school; he,
failed to obtain the requisite certificate, and the
committee invited young Merrill to fill the place
thus made vacant. The following Thursday he was
installed as teacher of those with whom he had been
associated as pupil from his earliest recollection.
After his first winter's experience in teaching he
was permitted to attend the academy at Amherst,
Massachusetts, for one term, where he commenced
the study of Latin. For four successive winters he
taught in the same school, his father bargaining and
receiving compensation for his services.
Attaining his majority, with an outfit of a new suit
of clothes and one hundred dollars in money he
started for Georgia, where he spent two years teach-
ing in the Sparta Female Model School, one year in
the Female College at Fort Gaines, and five years as
l)rincipal of the academy at Cuthbert. Diligent and
methodical in his habits, much of his leisure while in
(ieorgia was devoted to the study of the languages.
Greek he mastered without the aid of teachers,
Latin and French with not more than a few weeks'
instruction.
In 1843 he united with the Methodist church, not
that his inclinations led him into that denomination,
but because there were no Presbyterian or Congre-
gational churches in that neighborhood.
In 1844 Mr. Merrill married at Leyden, New
York, Miss Mary H. Kimball, with the understand-
ing that at the expiration of two years he should
leave the south, and find a home in the northern or
western States. Accordingly in 1846 he is found in
Beloit, Wisconsin, seeking occupation more conge-
nial to his inclinations than teaching; but disap-
pointed in not finding a door open for his mechan-
ical turn of mind, he became the successor of the
Rev. L. H. Loss as principal of the Beloit Academy,
in which position he continued till his school was
jnerged into Beloit College. The first freshman
class of this institution, consisting of five young
gentlemen, was organized in the autumn of 1847,
and put under Mr. Merrill's charge, and so remained
until the arrival of the professors elect, Messrs. Bush-
nell and Emerson, in the following May. In 1849
the academy became the preparatory department of
the college.
During the years 1850 and 1851 Mr. Merrill, in
connection with Mr. T. L. Wright, built at Rockton,
Illinois, the first paper-mill erected on Rock river ;
since which time he has been engaged in, and largely
instrumental in developing, the paper industries for
which Beloit is famous. He is now president of the
Rock River Paper Company, a corporation having
two mills in Beloit, one in Marshall, Michigan, and
a store for the sale of its products in Chicago.
It was under his instruction, and at his suggestion,
that the first straw board for .sheathing, both satu-
rated and plain, was made into rolls; of which a
sample was sent to architects in Chicago, and pro-
nounced "just the thing." From this beginning
the immense trade in building paper, that has con-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
ferred such incalculable benefits upon the country,
has been built up.
In 1873 Mr. Merrill, having been appointed by
Governor Washburn as commissioner to represent
the State of Wisconsin at the World's Exposition at
Vienna, in company with his wife spent the summer
in Europe, visiting Scotland, England, Belgium, Ger-
many, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France.
In March, 1852, Mr. Merrill was called to mourn
the loss of his wife, a lady whose embalmed memory,
and whose impress on her associates and on the char-
acter of her pupils will not soon be obliterated.
In September, 1853, he married Miss Jane G.
Blodgett, daughter of Rev. I,. P. Blodgett, of Coop-
erstown. New York. In all his domestic relations
he has been blessed far beyond the common lot of
mortals. Of his six children, all the issue of his
last marriage, five are still living (1876).
For thirty years Mr. Merrill has been identified
with the interests of Beloit, taking a prominent part
in promoting not only its manufactures, but its re-
ligious and educational institutions ; serving the pub-
lic in various capacities, the last that of member of
the legislature in 1876.
THOMAS DAVIDSON,
MIL WA UKEE.
THERE are very few men at the present time in
the State of Wisconsin who have greater rea-
son to be proud of their success in life than has
Thomas Davidson. By sheer force and power of
will he has succeeded in overcoming the difficulties
of a deficient scholastic education, which to an ordi-
nary mind would have been an insuperable barrier
to advancement, and would have kept them in the
ordinary groove of the workman, but it seems only
to have stimulated him to further exertions. It too
often happens that help proves enfeebling in its
effects, and takes away the stimulus and necessity for
accomplishing tasks which could be achieved by
feeling the invigorating spur of poverty.
His parents were Joseph and Agnes Davidson, and
he was born at Daly, in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the
20th of March, 1828. His education, or rather his
schooling (for education means something more than
the mere acquisition of learning from books), was
limited to about three years' attendance at a private
school in early boyhood. When only about seven
years of age he was thrown upon his own resources
to shift for a livelihood. At seventeen he was bound
apprentice to learn the trade of ship carpenter at
Greenock-on-the-Clyde, and for three years he used
every effort and diligence to make himself proficient.
He next worked at Dumbarton for about five years ;
and while residing at Dumbarton he made a voyage
to the United States as carpenter of a ship, and his
experience there determined him that there was the
right field for his labors.
In July, 1S55, he again came to America and
obtained employment in the shipyard of James M.
Jones, of Milwaukee, with whom he remained for
two years. It was here that he first became ac-
quainted with his present partner, the Hon. Wil-
liam Henry Wolf, who is a shrewd, sharp, energetic,
but at the same time thoroughly honorable and
reliable man.
After the failure of J. M. Jones he was engaged
by B. B. Jones, of the same place, as foreman, and
continued in that capacity until the spring of 1861,
when his employer retired from business. He then
entered into partnership with Mr. Lemuel Ellsworth,
and continued the business under the name and
firm of Ellsworth and Davidson. Two years after
this they were enabled to buy the business and ship-
yard of Messrs. Wolf and Lawrence, thus greatly
increasing their facilities for building and repairing.
In the year 1868 Mr. Ellsworth sold his interest in
the firm to the Hon. William Henry Wolf, who is at
the present time carrying on the business with Mr.
Davidson under the name of Wolf and Davidson.
The firm is now doing the largest business in the
Northwest, and Mr. Davidson may justly feel grati-
fied at the result of his labors and the many monu-
ments of his skill and workmanship that are spread
all over the western waters.
Although devoting much time to business he has
not forgotten or neglected his religious duties. He
is a member of the Hanover-street Congregational
Church, in Milwaukee. The early training and pre-
cepts that were inculcated in his childhood have
been remembered and acted up to by him all
through life; therefore, knowing Mr. Davidson's
sturdy Scotch character, as well as his peculiar
(^Zn^-fMya^^^^^^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
energy and perseverance, it is not sur
has won his way in the world.
" This above all — to thine own self be triu
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man
Although he supports the republican party, still
he has not taken much active interest in politics, and
cannot be called a partisan, or what is commonly
known as a politician.
rising that he In the month of May, 1849, he was married to
Miss Helen McFarlane, of Duntocher, Dumbarton-
[ shire, and has been blessed with seven children. The
j eldest daughter, Agnes, married John Saveland, and
died in February, 1876. His eldest son, Joseph, is
foreman in the shipyard, and the names of the others
are Helen VV^alker, Thomas Duncan and Barbara
j Wilson (which last two are twins), Mary Ann and
I Annie Lillie.
RUFUS B. KELLOGG,
GREEN BAT.
RUFUS B. KELLOGG was born in Amherst,
Massachusetts, April 15, 1837. His father, a
])rosperous merchant and farmer, was a descendant
in the fifth generation of Lieutenant Joseph Kel-
logg, who was of Scotch descent, emigrated from
England about the year 1640, and settled in Hadley,
Massachusetts, in 1661. His mother, Nancy Stet-
son, was a descendant in the seventh generation of
" Cornet " Robert Stetson, who settled in Scituate,
Massachusetts, in the year 1634. Mr. Kellogg was
graduated at Amherst College in the class of 1858,
and went directly into active business in Oshkosh,-
Wisconsin, first as messenger, soon after as cashier,
of the First National Bank. His brother, Ansel W.
Kellogg, was the earliest banker in the place, and
president of the same. After the death of his
brother, in 1870, impaired health compelled him
to resign his cashiership, and three years were
devoted to rest and travel in Europe, California
and Me.xico. During this enforced leisure some
attention was given to the subject of the genealogy
of the Kellogg family.
On the istof January, 1874, the Kellogg National
Bank of Green Bay was organized, of which he was
chosen president. He is now a director and one of
the principal stockholders in the First National Bank
of Oshkosh ; also has small interests in the Com-
mercial National Bank of Chicago, Merchants Sav-
ings, Loan and Trust Company of Chicago, and the
Bank of New York National Banking Association,
of New York. The banks under his immediate
management have prospered, not from rapid gains,
but through absence of losses.
Under a new statute of Massachusetts the alumni
of Amherst College elects a portion of its trustees.
In 1875 Mr. Kellogg was the first one chosen.
On the 2ist of April, 1874, he was married to Miss
Ellen E. Bigelow, of Milwaukee, daughter of Dr.
Thomas Bigelow, formerly of Burlington, Vermont,
and Hartford, New York.
PROF. ALBERT MARKHAM,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Long-
meadow, Massachusetts, was born October
8, 1831, and is the youngest son of Captain Luther
Markham, and Celenda ne'e Converse. His father,
an enterprising farmer, was the son of Darius Mark-
ham and Lucy nee Alden,the latter being a direct
descendant of the well known John Alden, of the
Mayflower. Albert early evinced a strong taste
for literary pursuits, and while his brothers were
either at work on the farm or turning their attention
to other business pursuits, he was engaged in the
perusal of books. His tastes and aspirations were
so different from those of most of his boyhood
associates, that he was considered by them some-
what odd and eccentric ; and since the life of a
farmer was so distasteful to him, he resolved to
prepare himself for that sphere toward which his
inclinations led him. He began his school life at
the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Massachusetts,
where he received from the principal. Rev. Dr.
[go
THE UNITED STATES FlOanATHlCAL DICTIONART.
Raymond, those precepts and aspirations which he
afterward looked back upon as the source of that
energy and moral principle which has ever rendered
him successful in his chosen profession. After a
thorough preparation at the academy he entered
Brown University, subsequent to which he devoted
a part of each year to teaching, — an occupation in
which he was so successful that he was repeatedly
called to take charge of the same school at Marlboro,
Massachusetts. Flattered by this success, and en-
couraged by eminent professors, who claimed for
him special talent as an educator, he naturally con-
cluded that the teacher's profession was the one for 1
which he was peculiarly fitted ; and in consequence, !
after completing his college studies, he entered upon '
his chosen work. In the fall of 1858 he came to '
East Troy, Wisconsin, to -take charge of the Union !
School of that village. The following summer he I
was called to Milwaukee, to take charge of the First I
Ward School, of that city ; and after being con- ^
nected with this institution for two years, became
principal of the Seventh Ward School. He had not
held this position long, however, when he was
tendered the superintendency of the schools of
Niles, Michigan. This he accepted and held for I
the period of four years, during which time he per-
formed its duties with such marked ability that he
gained the reputation of being one of the most suc-
cessful educators of the State. In the fall of 1864,
after resigning his position in Niles, Mr. Markham re-
turned to Milwaukee and inaugurated a movement
which, through his untiring efforts, resulted in the
establishment of the Milwaukee Academy, an*insti-
tution which has since become celebrated through-
out the Northwest. It is the aim of this school
to furnish the best facilities for a thorough and
extended academic education for boys and young
men. In its special work of fitting young men
for college, the academy has no superior. The
thoroughness of preparation evinced by those who
enter college from this institution from year to year,
have given the academy an enviable reputation
among college faculties both east and west. Pro-
fessor Markham has had control of the institution
from its first establishment in 1864, and that success
which it has achieved is attributable to him, since,
by his indomitable will, untiring energy, and un-
doubted ability, he has raised it from nothing to a
position which renders it an object of pride, not
only to Milwaukee, but to the State of Wisconsin.
EROME I. CASE,
THE small city of Racine, sixty miles north of
Chicago, on the lake shore, is to-day, perhaps,
the largest manufacturing town of the West. The
location has no advantages over other western towns;
it has no water power, no natural resources of coal
or iron or lumber, yet the city of Racine has devel-
oped a manufacturing enterprise which resembles
the activity of older States of the East. This won-
derful growth of industry may, in great part, be
attributed to Mr. Jerome I. Case, a sketch of whose
life we here present.
Jerome I. Case was born in Williamstown, Oswego
county, New York, December 11, 1819, and is the
youngest of four brothers. His father was in humble
circumstances, but having a family to support, he
bought the right to use and sell a one-horse tread-
power threshing machine, and the boy Jerome was
selected to manage the machine. This trifling event
determined the career of young Case. He managed
the machine with skill, and felt ]iroud when the work
was well done. He followed this pursuit until he
was of age. Thus brought up to work, his education
had been much neglected, yet he had acquired as
much as the country schools of New York, at that
time, usually taught. But Jerome had a desire for
knowledge, and he now toiled with heartiness and
perseverance to obtain money to go to an academy.
He was now of age and working for himself, and
with the profits of the first year he entered the
Academy of Mexicoville, New York.
The study of mechanics seemed to come to him
naturally; the levers, screws and inclined planes
were all familiar to him, they were parts of the
threshing machine with which he had become so
intimately acquainted. He made good progress in
his studies, but they had raised a spirit within him
that would not let him rest. Daily over his books,
and nightly in his dreams, his inventive genius was
busy, and the old threshing machine was ever pres-
ent in his thoughts; it seemed to include, or might
Oc^-<i-c_
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPH/CAL DICTION ART.
191
include, all that pertained to mechanics. 'rhere
were ratchets, clamps, screws, springs, levers simple
and compound, wheels beveled and wheels cogged,
rollers, belts, carriers, and an infinite variety of con-
trivances, which would seem to satisfy even a devo-
tee to mechanism. And so thought young Case;
he devoted himself to the improvement of these
machines with a success that distanced all compet-
itors. He soon found that he had a calling as fixed
as even destiny itself could make it — at the end of
the term he left the academy to enter upon his life
work. He was now twenty-two years of age, with-
out capital, but he was known to be smart, and
thought to be honest. In the spring of 1842 he
obtained si.x threshing machines on credit, to take
to the West, He went to Wisconsin, then a Terri-
tory, and located at Racine ; it was only a village.
He sold all his machines but one, and with that he
set out through the country to thresh grain, manag-
ing the machine himself, and constantly studying
and devising some improvement. In the spring of
1843, finding that his tread machine was much worn,
and conscious of his ability to improve it, he set to
work, and with the aid of such tools and such me-
chanics as he could get he rebuilt the machine, and
uyjon trial found that he. had made great improve-
ments. His machine did better work than any
machine that could be bought East. His success
becoming known, he soon found himself able to quit
threshing, and turn his attention to the manufacture
of machines.
Up to this time invention had only succeeded in
making what was called an open thresher, the grain,
chaff and straw being delivered together, requiring
an after process of winnowing to separate them.
In the winter of 1843-4 Mr. Case succeeded in mak-
ing a thresher and separator combined, embracing
ideas of his own, which upon trial proved a great
success, and was probably best appreciated by the
man who had devoted so much time and thought to
its invention.
He rented a small shop, and determined to build
six machines on the new model. One of the most
experienced agriculturists of the State, when Mr.
Case told him that he was building six machines,
said : " If they do the work satisfactorily, there will
be more than are needed in the State." Mr. Case
had them built, nevertheless.
.Mr. Case persevered ; the country was fast devel-
oping, the wild prairies were being converted into
cultivated farms, the demand for machines increased,
and every year witnessed some new triumph of the
skill and thought which was ever active in the in-
vention of improvements.
Mr. Case has ever been impressed with the fact
that to be permanently successful it is necessary to
maintain surpassing excellence, and at the same time
to economize the cost; he has therefore been con-
stantly devising new machinery to save labor and
effect the highest perfection at the least cost. In
1847 he built the shop near the site of the present
extensive manufactory. It was a brick building,
thirty feet wide, eighty feet long, and three stories
high; he thought then it would be larger than he
would ever need, but he determined to put up a
good building, that would be a credit to the town.
In 1855, only thirteen years after his arrival in
Wisconsin, he felt that his success was assured ; he
had triumphed over many obstacles, and realized a
perfection of mechanism beyond the dreams of his
youth. His manufactory had been extended, from
time to time, until it occupied several acres, with a
river front and dock for vessels, paint shops, belt
factory, furnace and moulding rooms, and vast work-
rooms filled with costly and complicated machinery,
all systematized and in perfect order, until it stands a
monument of the genius and industry of its founder,
In 1843 it was a great struggle to build one machine ;
in 1863 two hundred and fifty, and in 1875 eighteen
hundred highly finished machines were manufac-
tured, keeping in active employment a vast amount
of machinery and three hundred and seventy-five
hands.
In 1863, the business having assumed such mag-
nitude, additional talent and business experience
was needed, and Mr. Case received into partnership
Mr. Stephen Bull, Massena B. Erskine and Robert
H. Baker, under the firm name of Jerome I. Case and
Co., which remains unchanged to this day.
Mr. Case was married in 1849 to Lydia K., daugh-
ter of DeGrove Bull, Esq., of Vorkville, Wisconsin,
a lady of whom it is sufficient to say, that in the
practice of the domestic virtues which grace the
wife and mother, and in that open-handed charity
which adorns the female character, she is an orna-
ment to the social position which her husband's
eminent success has called her to occupy.
It is not to be supposed that so eminent a citizen
should not have been pressed into the service of the
public. He has been three times elected mayor of
Racine, has served two years in the State senate.
There are many industries in the city of Racine in
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
which Mr. Case has a personal and pecuniary inter-
est. He is a member of the State Agricultural Soci-
ety of Wisconsin, president of the Racine Agricul-
tural Society, was one of the founders and life mem-
ber of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and
Letters.
Mr. Case attributes his success to a strict observ-
ance of two principles : first, he must himself be
sure that the article he made was needed; second,
that the article he made should be as perfect as pos-
sible. These are noble principles, and well deserve
success. They cannot be too widely adopted.
STEPHEN BULL,
THE elements of a nation's greatness are the
growth of her industries and the development
of her natural resources. These produce individual
wealth, and the aggregate of the wealth of individ-
uals constitute the wealth of the nation. Those who
have taken an active and successful part in these
important branches of human progress rank among
the eminent men of the land, as they have contrib-
uted to both the wealth of the country and also to
its renown. Stephen Bull, of Racine, has been an
active worker and is now a partner in an important
manufacturing concern, perhaps the greatest of its
kind in the world, and hence is entitled to a place
among the great men of the West.
Stephen Bull was born in Cayuga county. New
York, March, 1822; son of Degrove-and Amanda
M. Bull, respectable farmers. Stephen received his
education, as is usual in country places, by attending
school in winter and doing at all times what he
could to help his parents on the farm. He left home
when he was thirteen years old and worked on a
farm until he was seventeen ; he then went to New
York city, and engaged as clerk in a grocery store,
where he remained to years. He then started a store
on his own account and remained five years, when
he concluded to go west. In October, 1845, he ar-
rived at Racine, Wisconsin, where he remained two
years, and then moved to Spring Prairie, Walworth
county, and engaged in a mercantile business, where
he remained ten years. In 1858 he sold out and
entered the threshing machine manufactory of J. I.
Case, of Racine, and in 1863 became a partner in that
extensive and well known concern. This business is
so extensive that it requires all the time and attention
of those interested. They have not only an Ameri-
can demand but have furnished machines in Europe
and Asia. Mr. Bull is a thorough business man and
is indefatigable in his labors.
In 1849 he was married to Miss Ellen Kellogg, and
has a family of six children, four daughters and two
sons. Mr. Bull is a member of the Universalist
church, and in politics has belonged to the republi-
can party since its organization.
Mr. Bull owns a farm within the city limits, on
which he has raised some very fine blooded horses.
He is the owner of the celebrated horse Phil Sheri-
dan, which has a record of two-thirty. Mr. Bull is
a man of great public spirit ; is a director of the
First National Bank of Burlington, and has fine social
qualities. He is always ready to give a helping hand
where help is needed. He is highly respected, and
one whom the citv could ill afford to lose.
ROBERT H. BAKER,
AS an example of energy, enterprise and manly
effort, he whose name heads this sketch is
worthy of most honorable mention. His life-career
tlius far, full of varied experiences, has been marked
with that success that invariably follows persevering
and honorable endeavor, and he now stands among
the front ranks of the prominent business men of
his State. A native of Geneva, Walworth county,
^Visconsin, he was born the 27th of June, 1839, and
is the son of Charles M. and Martha L. Baker.
After completing his primary education in the pub-
lic schools he pursued a collegiate course of study
in Beloit, and in March, 1856, first engaged in busi-
ness on his ovvn account. Going to Racine he ac-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
193
cepted a clerkship in a hardware store where he
remained two and a half years, and at the expiration
of this time spent one year in the employ of Thos.
Falvey, reaper manufacturer.
In i860 he became general agent and collector
for J. I. Case, in which capacity he continued to act
until the ist of January, 1863, when he purchased a
one-fourth interest in the business, an interest which
he still holds, taking a most active part in the entire
management of the concern.
Aside from his business relations he is an influen-
tial man and has held many positions of honor and
public trust. He was elected school commissioner
in 1867, alderman of Racine in 1868, and reelected
in 187 1. In the following year he was elected to
the State senate of Wisconsin, and in 1873 was
candidate on the republican ticket for lieutenant-
governor, but defeated in election. In 1874 he was
elected mayor of the city of Racine, and in Novem-
ber of the same year to the State senate. Besides,
he is a director of the Racine Hardware Manufac-
turing Company, a director of the Manufacturers'
National Bank of Racine, also of the National Iron
Company of De Pere, ^Visconsin, and a director in
several other manufacturing institutions, and presi-
dent of the Hampton Coal Mining Company. He
also takes an active part in the Centennial work, as
is shown in the following appointment :
June 14, 187s.
Wisconsin State Board of Centennial Managers.
R. II. Baker was appointed sub-committee to supervise
and arrange for the Centennial Exposition of 1876, the
products or interests specified in class 16 of the classifica-
tions herewith inclosed, to wit ; Agricultural machinery
and implements.
(Signed) J. B. Parkinson, President.
VV. W. Field, Secretary.
Personally and socially Mr. Baker possesses most
excellent qualities, and having traveled extensively
throughout the United States he has gained a fund
of information that renders him a most agreeable
companion.
Though not a member of any church, he believes
in the truth of Christianity, and is a regular attend-
ant upon the Episcopal service.
He was married on the 20th of December, 1859,
to Miss Emily M. Carswell, by whom he has one
daughter and four sons.
WILLIAM GOODELL,
yANESVILLE.
ONE of the pioneers of the anti-slavery, temper-
ance and kindred reforms, and for half a cen-
tury a zealous and laborious promoter of them as a
public speaker, writer and executive office-bearer of
voluntary associations, was a son of Frederick and
Rhoda Goodell, and was born in Coventry, Che-
nango county. New York, October 25, 1792 — prob-
ably the first white child born in that vicinity. He
was descended on his father's side from Robert
Goodell, who came from England in 1634 and set-
tled in Salem, Massachusetts. Of the same ancestry
are A. C. Goodell, Esq., clerk of the court of Salem,
Massachusetts, a man of rare antiquarian learning;
the late William Goodell, D.D., missionary of the
-American Board, and one of the translators of the
scriptures, at Constantinople; and Captain Silas
Goodell, of the revolutionary war. His mother was
Rhoda Guernsey, a daughter of John Guernsey, of
Amenia, Dutchess county. New York. She was one
of fifteen children, who all lived to have families, so
that the grandchildren of John and Azubah Guern-
sey numbered ninety-one. Of the brothers of Rhoda
was Peter B. Guernsey, one of the pioneer settlers
of Norwich, Chenango county, New York.
When the subject of this sketch was five years old
his parents removed to Windsor, Broome county
(then Chenango, Tiogo county), New York. In his
early childhood William suffered a severe sickness,
which left him for some time lame, so that he was
confined first to his bed and afterward to his chair,
and it was some years before he recovered the use
of his limbs. This long confinement fostered habits
of thought and study whicli doubtless contributed
largely to mould his character and shape his future.
Debarred from childish sports, his mind was occu-
pied with the study of such themes as the limited
library to which he had access suggested to him.
His mother, a woman of rare qualities of mind and
heart, was his almost constant companion, and made
an impress on his character that future years could
never efface. Religious thought and feeling were
stimulated, and aspirations and hopes inspired which
found expression only in the life of earnest activity
which followed. His principal reading at this time
194
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAR2'.
consisted of the Bible, Watts' Psalms and Hymns, ]
Hart's Hymns, Methodist Pocket Hymn Book, Pil- i
grim's Progress, writings of Mrs. Elizabeth Rowe,
Wesley's sermons, Fletcher's Appeal, and some odd
volumes of the "Spectator" and "Guardian." Re-
ligious services in those primitive days were a rare
lu.vury, and families frequently trudged through the
woods on foot or rode with ox teams for miles to hear
a Methodist circuit preacher in a log school-house.
Rhoda Goodell died in 1803, at the early age of
thirty-seven, leaving five sons, of whom William was
the second. With the breaking up of the little fam-
ily of motherless boys, William was transferred to
the old Guernsey homestead in Amenia, where he
attended the common school and assisted in light
labors on the farm. A year later he was -sent to the
Goodell homestead in Pomfret, Connecticut, where
his widowed grandmother and her sons and daughters
were living. His father died in 1806. At Pomfret
he remained five years, attending the common school
and working on the farm in vacation. Two good
public libraries afforded him reading during the long
winter evenings, but perhaps his highest educational
advantage was the society of his grandmother, Han-
nah Goodell, a woman of unusual mental ability and
rare culture. She had been educated in Boston,
was a convert of VVhitefield, and a hearer of Revs.
Nehemiah Walter, of Roxbury, and Thomas Prince,
of the "Old South "; of Byles, Davenport and Ed-
wards. In matters of history and general literature
she was a living and speaking library, with an ex-
haustless fund of original anecdotes, particularly of
the revolutionary times in which she lived, and with
some of the prominent actors of which she had been
personally acquainted. She had decided opinions
on all theological, ethical and political topics, and
indeed was one of the strong-minded women of her
times.
Being unable to obtain a collegiate education,
William, in 1S12, went to Providence, Rhode Isl-
and, where he entered mercantile life as a clerk,
and, rising rapidly in his new employment, he re-
ceived and accepted, a few years later, an offer from
a prominent firm to sail as assistant supercargo in
one of their ships, bound for India, China and Eu-
ropean markets. He set sail January 1, 1817, and
in the two years and a half of voyages and of busi-
ness transactions in foreign countries learned much
of mercantile life in foreign lands. On returning,
in 1 819, he engaged in mercantile enterprises at
Wilmington, North Carolina; at Providence, Rhode
Island ; and at Alexandria, Virginia ; sometimes by
himself and sometimes, on a larger scale, in partner-
ship with a capitalist of abundant means. At the
South he had ample opportunity to study the work-
ings of the slavery system.
He was married, in 1823, to Miss Clarissa C.
Cady, daughter of Deacon Josiah Cady, of Provi-
dence, Rhode Island.
He first commenced writing for the press in 1820,
in the " Providence Gazette," in a series of articles
against the then pending Missouri compromise,
which attracted general attention. From that time
onward he wrote for various periodicals, as he
felt constrained to do, on the living issues of the
day, religious, moral and political. A residence in
New York city two years, from 1825 to 1827, com-
pelled him to witness the controlling prevalence of
vice, lawlessness, crime, and commercial and bank-
ing frauds, sustained by bribery and corrupt political
"rings" — as in later times — until, under judicial
authority, it was decided that " a conspiracy to de-
fraud is no indictable offense." Lottery gambling
(under legislative charters, to build bridges, erect
meeting-houses, endow colleges, establish schools,
etc.) was everywhere popular and unquestioned.
Then it was that he discovered his heaven-
appointed life work to be an uncompromising war-
fare with such gigantic public evils.
He commenced to edit the weekly "Investigator,"
at Providence, in 1827. Two years later he removed
to Boston, connecting his " Investigator " with the
"National Philanthropist." In June, 1830, he re-
moved to New York, where he continued his paper,
under the name of the "Genius of Temperance."
Here, also, he afterward edited the " Emancipator."
At Utica and Whitesboro, New York, he edited the
"Friend of Man " from 1836 to 1842. Here, also,
he issued his monthly "Anti-Slavery Lectures " for
one year, and commenced his "Christian Investiga-
tor." Continuing the latter publication, he removed
in 1843 to Honeoye, Ontario county. New York,
where be acted as pastor of an independent reform
church for several years. In connection with these
different periodicals he spent much time traveling,
lecturing and holding conventions, sometimes on
his own responsibility, at other times in the employ
of some organization.
Returning to New York in 1853, he successively
edited the "American Jubilee," " Radical Abolition-
ist," and " Principia," the latter of which was contin-
ued in connection with Rev. George B. Cheever,
THE UNITED STATES R/OGRAPHICAT. DfCTmNARr
195
D.D., during the war of the rebelHon, and until after
the death of Lincohi. After the abolition of slavery
he resumed his temperance labors, writing for dif-
ferent journals, to the present time, March 10, 1875.
After residing in Lebanon, Connecticut, five years,
he removed to Janesville, Wisconsin, his present res-
idence, June, 1870.
Besides writing pamphlets, essays, and tracts too
numerous to mention, he has written several vol-
umes, as the " Democracy of Christianity," in two
volumes ; " Slavery and Anti-Slavery," a history of
the struggle; "American Slave Code," and "Our \
National Charters," showing the illegality and un-
constitutionality of slavery, and the power of the
national government over it ; besides several volumes
on religious and ethical subjects still in manuscript.
He assisted in organizing the American Anti-Slaver)-
Society, at Philadelphia, in December, 1833 ; the Lib-
erty party, at Albany, New York, in 1840 ; the Amer-
ican Missionary Association, at Albany, in 1846; the
National Prohibition party, in Chicago, in 1869, and
participated in the reunion of abolitionists at Chi-
cago, June, 1874; also assisted in preparations for
organizing a Wisconsin State Prohibition party at
Ripon, in October, 1S74.
The wife of his youth is still living. They cele-
brated their golden wedding, July 4. 1873, their two
children and three of their grandchildren being
present. Their children are Maria G., wife of Rev.
L. P. Frost, now of Raymond, Racine county, Wis-
consin, and Lavinia Goodell, attorney-at-law, of
Janesville. One daughter died in infancy. They
have four grandsons, of whom the eldest is being
educated in Oberlin, Ohio.
Mr. Goodell's views on reformatory subjects are
perhaps sufficiently indicated in this sketch. It may
be well, however, to add that he is, like most of the
surviving abolitionists, in hearty sympathy with the
"Woman Suffrage" movement. His religious views
are those commonly known as Evangelical, and he
is now a member of the Congregational church in
Janesville. The good old-fashioned doctrine of the
millennium is one of the articles of his creed, has
been largely the inspiration of his labors, and is the
source of much of his present cheerfulness and hope-
fulness for the future.
ANSON P. WATERMAN,
ANSON P. WATERMAN, a native of Ballston,
. Saratoga county. New York, was born on the
15th of January, 1819, and is the son of David
Waterman and Phebe W. nee Hollister, both of whom
were devoted Christians, and much beloved by a
large circle of friends. The father, a farmer by oc-
cupation, had command of an artillery company
during the war of 1812. His paternal grandfather,
a soldier of the revolution, was commissioned lieu-
tenant-colonel by Governor George Clinton, of New
York, June 16, 1778.
Anson spent his early boyhood on his father's
farm, receiving his education in the common schools,
and at the age of twelve years accepted a clerkship
in a store and laid the foundation of his subsequent
business career. Having spent about five years in a
country store, and a few months in school, he became
a clerk in a hardware store at Schenectady, .\fter
four years, having then attained his majority, he
engaged in business on his own account at Phelps,
Ontario county. New York, and remained there until
his removal to Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1854; soon after
which he took the entire charge of the hardware
business in which he had been associated with his
brother for several years, and has continued it with
uniform success up to the present time, 1876. Aside
from his regular business, he has held many promi-
nent and trustworthy positions. He has been one
of the trustees of the Northwestern Life Insurance
Company during nearly its entire history, having
been elected to that position in the year i860, and
for a number of years one of the board of trustees of
the State asylum for the insane. In his political
sentiments he was formerly a democrat, but upon
the organization of the republican party, in 1856, be-
came identified with that body. During the year
1857 and 1858 he was mayor of his city, and for the
last twenty years has been connected with the board
of education of the city, and a member of the board
of trustees of Beloit College. In all his official ca-
pacities he has worked faithfully and effectively for
the interests of his city and those whom he has rep-
resented. His religious training was under Presby-
terian influences, and he is now, and has been for
1^6
THE UNITED STATES STOGRAPH/CAL DICTIONART.
many years, a leading member and prominent officer
of the First Presbyterian Church of Beloit, in con-
nection with the Presbytery of Milwaukee.
Mr. Waterman was married on the 31st of Decem-
ber, 1840, to Miss Jennie .A. Hubbell. Of their three
daughters two are married and living in St. Louis,
and the other is still at home.
Such is a brief outline of the life-history which has
been marked by many and varied experiences, and
in all a gradual growth. Beginning life with no
means other than his own native powers, he has, by
his own effort, built up a successful business, attained
a worthy place in public esteem and drawn around
himself a large circle of true and devoted friends.
JACOB OBERMANN,
MILWAUKEE.
THE life of Jacob Obermann is remarkable for
persevering industry, and an energy which
has overcome many obstacles, and, after struggling
against adverse circumstances, has achieved success.
Such experience is exemplary, as it serves to give
encouragement to those who have yet to fight the
battle of life.
Jacob was the son of John Peter and Magdelena
Obermann, and was born at Selzen, Province Reihn,
Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, March 23, 1819. He
received an education at the schools of his native
place, but it was limited, and as soon as he was able
to work he went to Mayence to learn the shoemak-
ing trade, where he remained nine years, making
but little money, although he exercised both indus-
try and economy. He returned home and started
business for himself in his father's house, and i« a ■
short time had four men at work ; but at the end
of the year, not finding it sufficiently remunerative,
he determined to try America, of which he had heard
so much.
He embarked April 29, 1843, and after a long j
and tedious passage arrived in New York, July 14, |
and thirteen days later reached Milwaukee, where I
he has since made his home. He sought employ- I
ment in the boot and shoe trade without success. I
He offered to work for a month without wages, that j
he might learn some of the customs of a new i
country, but everyone was full-handed. The pros- \
pects were, indeed, discouraging; he had left his ;
fatherland, his friends and home, spent more than
two months on stormy seas, escaped the perils of
the ocean, was in a strange land among strangers,
of whom a few seemed to be doing well, but there
was nothing for Jacob. He did not despair, and
although he possessed but a few dollars he had \
courage and self-reliance, and started a shop for I
himself. Business grew upon him, and he continued
with good success ; before long he employed five
hands, and had enough for all to do, and so he
continued for six years steadily increasing his busi-
ness, and making warm friends besides.
But all his energies and his time were not given
to his business, he had time to think of those in
misfortune. The winters were cold ; besought the
poor of his countrymen and organized relief. His
deeds to this day are gratefully remembered.
His hard work, his patient industry was too con-
fining, and although he was saving money, his
health failed and a change of occupation became
necessary. He sold out his stock of boots and
shoes, and opened a general store. Here he re-
mained five years, when he was burned out. All
his savings gone, except an insurance of six hundred
dollars. His loss was heavy ; but he had won a
good name. After a while he bought three building
lots on the corner of Fifth and Cherry streets, upon
which he built a brewery. It was only a small
concern, a frame building twenty by forty feet, his
business increased, and he employed five men. ■
In 1864 he associated himself in business with
Max Fueger, and two years later they built a brick
brewery, forty by eighty feet, with malt house
attached. These buildings have also since received
additions and have been supplied with newer and
larger utensils and machinery, and from the humble
beginning has sprung a large well-regulated and
complete establishment, embracing brewery, malt
houses, ice houses, and large vaults for stprihg beer.
His business continued to increase and he has
grown and is steadily growing in wealth and repu-
tation.
In i860 he was elected member of the city council
and in 1862 was reelected; was a member of the
legislature in 1865 : one of the founders and presi-
dent of the Milwaukee Mechanics Mutual Fire In-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
197
surance Company, subsequently, and to the present
time, its treasurer; was made president of the Brew-
ers Fire Insurance Company of America : was school
commissioner, and has held other offices.
Mr. Obermann was married September 2, 1843, to
Mary Schmitt, who died September 12, 1852, leav-
ing five children, one having died previous to her
death. In January, 1853, he married Barbara
Schmitt. His eldest son, George, has finished a
law course, and is now in a mercantile business in
New York city. Two of his sons are at the present
time employed in the brewery. It is Mr. Ober-
mann's view that every child — boys as well as
girls — should be taught how to support themselves
in case of need.
Mr, Obermann takes a deep interest in the public
schools, and has been unremitting in his efforts to
establish free German schools.
In the year 1846 he, with others, established a
society to aid the poor of Milwaukee, and during
the severity of the next two winters he spent a great
deal of his time in searching out and relieving want.
No man is more alive to the interests of Milwaukee,
and none receives or merits greater praise from his
countrymen, as a true friend and counselor, than Mr.
Jacob Obermann.
WILLIAM P. MERRILL,
MIL WA ITKEE.
WILLIAM p. MERRILL, son of David and
Eunice Lord Merrill, was one of the first
settlers in the eastern portion of Wisconsin. He was
born on the 12th of March, 1817, in South Berwick,
Maine, where he spent the first three years of his
childhood.
In the autumn of 1820 David Merrill removed
with his family to Adams, Jefferson county, New
York, where for about twelve years he was occupied
with the multifarious duties of a country merchant.
In 1832 he disposed of his business, and again
removed his family to Massena Springs, St. Law-
rence county. New York. Being self-reliant, and
possessing an adventurous spirit, William was anx-
ious to quit the humdrum life in which he moved,
and to carve his own fortune abroad.
Accordingly, having gained the consent of his
parents, he left home soon after arriving at Massena
Springs, and went to Prescott, Canada East, hoping
to find some congenial employment, but sickness
prevented the consummation of his plans.
Returning home, he speedily regained his health,
and again set forth in search of fortune. This time
he went to Cleveland, Ohio, which was then " the
Far West." The only practicable route thither was
by the way of Ogdensburg up the St. Lawrence
river, to the mouth of the Glencoe, thence to Roch-
ester, and by the " raging canal " to Buffalo, where
a rickety steamboat was found which conveyed him
to his destination, consuming as much time as it
now requires to cross the continent.
Finding but little at Cleveland to engage his atten-
tion, and still seeking the excitement of travel, an
opportunity was soon afforded him to make a trip
to the Ohio river. From this excursion he derived
but little pleasure or satisfaction, as he speedily fell
a victim to the disease of the climate, from which
he suffered for nearly a year. Recovering, he vis-
ited the more important towns in the State, giving
his attention particularly to acquiring the carpenter
trade, but could not make up his mind to settle per-
manently in Ohio. The fall of 1835 found him at
Ohio city, where he remained until the following
spring, when, hearing much of the opening up of
the vast territories of the great West, he was not
long in determining to follow the track of the setting
sun. Securing a passage on the schooner A. C.
Baldwin, Captain Ben Sweet, master, he left for the
port of Milwaukee early in March, in company with
several other passengers, among whom were William
Longstreet, part owner of cargo, S. R. Freeman and
Onslow Brown. The passage was long and very
tedious, owing to the ice which impeded their prog-
ress. At the foot of an island below Mackinac
they were compelled to lay by for several days.
Longstreet, desirous of visiting the nearest settle-
ment, persuaded Merrill to accompany him. They
supposed from information gained from the captain
that they would have to travel only about ten miles ;
but the captain had purposely deceived them, to
punish Longstreet, with whom he had had some
difficulty, as it proved that the settlement was about
twenty-five miles distant. Starting out without sup-
plies for a long tramp over the ice and slush, they
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
certainly would have perished had they not met
some friendly Indians, who, for a nominal reward,
assisted them in reaching their destination. A sud-
den change of weather occurred before night, and
they reached Mackinac in a half-frozen condition.
They were conveyed to a tavern, where they were
confined to their beds for three days. Meanwhile
the schooner came up, and they reembarked, and
arrived at Milwaukee without further trouble, the
passage having consumed nearly a month's time.
Going ashore Mr. Merrill proceeded to the house
of Sol Juneau, where the principal attraction seemed
to be dogs and Indian squaws and papooses. His
first impression was that this would be a good place
to "get away from," and was about to return by the
boat and proceed to Chicago, when he fell in with
J. B. Miller and Samuel Brown, who set forth the
desirableness of this location for the founding of a
large commercial town in such glowing terms that
he was induced to remain. Shortly after this the
tide of emigration set strongly westward, and this
Territory received its share of the new-comers,
many of whom settled permanently in the embryo
city, which ere long gave tokens of its future great-
ness. Land was secured by many all around the
city, at the government price of one dollar and
twenty-five cents an acre, by those who had been
farmers and who wished to continue their vocation
Many of these farmers are still living on the original
claims, and are among the most prominent and
wealthy of our citizens. Their farms are now of
great Value, especially those which subsequently
were brought within the city limits. Among these
may be mentioned the estate of Samuel Brown, and
those of Hon. Horace and Dr. E. Chase.
Mr. Merrill's fortune on landing at Milwaukee
amounted to one hundred dollars, a chest of carpen-
ter's tools, and a good gun. Although he was a
skillful workman in those days, he did not follow
the calling he had chosen to any e.xtent, but chose
in subsequent years to speculate in land — or rather
city lots — by which he amassed, in time, an inde-
pendent fortune.
In the spring of 1838, having a strong desire to
see more of the great West, Mr. Merrill set out upon
a journey which proved longer than he had at first
contemplated. He visited Chicago, and then pro-
ceeded to Rockford, Illinois. At this place, in
March, 1838, he, with two others, bought a canoe,
provisioned it with pork and meal, and with a
blanket for a sail they set forth down the river, with
no well defined idea whither they were going or
where they would stop. At night they camped on
the river banks, and spent their evenings around the
cheerful camp fires telling stories and relating their
experiences.
About the 20th of March they reached the Mis-
sissippi, and concluded to take the first boat that
came along, whether up or down. After a halt of
nearly two days they embarked on a boat going
north to Galena. Here Mr. Merrill remained until
July 4, on which day he left on the steamboat Bra-
zil, Owen Smith, for Fort Snelling. Boats ran day
and night as far as Prairie du Chien, but as the
pilot's acquaintance with the river extended no far-
ther, they ran only by day above that place, tying
up at night. This made the trip necessarily slow.
The principal points of interest were Indian villages.
At the point where Lake City now stands Mr.
Merrill went ashore, in company with the captain
and some others, and visited the bluffs, where he
planted some white beans which he had provided
for that purpose before leaving the boat. This was
doubtless the first planting ever done by a white
man on the shores of Lake Pepin.
Mr. Merrill's experience of Indian life and man-
ners was by no means of an agreeable nature. He
found them lazy and filthy, the squaws doing the
drudgery and hard work. Arriving at Fort Snelling
they found the post garrisoned by about twenty-five
men. The fort itself was delightfully situated on
an eminence which commanded an extensive view of
the river and surrounding country. Mr. Merrill and
other travelers from the boat helped themselves to
I Indian ponies, which they found grazing near the fort,
and explored the country, visiting the Falls of St.
j Anthony and Falls of Little St. Peter, now known as
j Minnehaha, and other points of interest, all then in
j the wild, natural state. Twenty years after he again
visited the same places with his friend J. M. Stowell,
whose biographical sketch appears in this book.
The changes were wonderful. Where before all
was in repose, as it were, there was now life and
activity; towns and cities now were speedily cover-
ing the land where before was a wilderness, peopled
only with Indians. He returned, by the same boat
that carried him to the fort, to Galena, where, how-
ever, he remained but a short time. He then went
to Comanche, a small town in Iowa, then numbering
but five or six houses. Here he entered a claim
adjoining the village plat. In the spring a man by
the name of Clayborn, who had come from Tennes-
THE UN/TED STATES BlOdRAPHICAI. DICTIONART.
199
see, proposed joining him in building a boat, and
establish a ferry to be propelled by horse-power.
He closed with the proposition, and established the
first permanent crossing of the Mississippi north of
Davenport, and the only ferry-boat at that time run
by horse-power and wheels north of St. Louis.
Emigration was at that time very active, and as the
boat was in constant demand they were making
money. But in July Mr. Merrill was taken sick,
and as he was unable to attend to business for sev-
eral months affairs were left to his partner, who
proved incompetent, and by whose carelessness the
boat was wrecked.
In the fall of 1839 he returned to Milwaukee, where
he purchased a stock of dry goods and groceries,
and took them to Summit, where he opened a store,
the first one established between Prairieville (now
Waukesha) and Watertown. He built the first frame
house in four townships, including Oconomowoc
(then known as Ba.xter's Prairie). The following
summer he sold his stock of goods, being convinced
by the experience of eight or nine months that a
mercantile life was not his forte. Subsequently, ex-
changing his property at Summit for eighty acres in
town of Lake, he settled permanently in Milwaukee
county. To this he added another eighty, bought of
the government in 1849 at one dollar and twenty-
five cents per acre, making in all a quarter of section
six. Of this property he still owns forty acres,
which is very valuable, being within city limits.
Recently he has divided this property and laid it
out in lots and streets, about twenty acres of which
he has offered for sale.
From this record it will be seen that Mr. Merrill
has done much to improve the city of Milwaukee
by building stores, residences, etc. He is endowed
with a very social nature, and is liberal almost to a
fault. He has been twice elected alderman for the
fifth ward, and always takes great interest in char-
itable objects. He was among the most active in
starting and endowing the Home for the Aged, now
one of the permanent charitable institutions of Mil-
waukee.
He was married in Milwaukee county, on the 26tli
of August, 1 841, to S. Elizabeth Harris, of Halifax,
Vermont, by whom he has two sons : David L., who
is married, and resides in Michigan, engaged in the
lumber business; and Zachary T., of the firm of
Kendrick, Merrill and Brand, law and real-estate
business, in Milwaukee.
THEODORE L. BAKER,
MIL WA UKEE.
THEODORE L. BAKER, cashier of the Mil-
waukee National Bank of Wisconsin, was
born in New York city June 6, 1824; son of
William F, and Maria E. Baker. Mr. Baker comes
of good old Knickerbocker stock, his mother first
seeing light on his grandfather's farm, or Bowerie
as it was called in those days, situated where the
Astor Library buildings now stand.
Mr. Baker received a liberal education at the
Columbia College Schools, New York. Upon leav-
ing he was placed in the counting house of a dry-
goods establishment, doing a large southern busi-
ness, where he remained five years. At the age
of twenty-two he decided to try his fortune in
the West, and in the year 1847 came to Milwaukee,
where, in connection with Henry P. Peck, he
opened a dry-goods store, under the firm name
of Peck and Baker. This partnership existed for
six years, when the firm dissolved, Mr. Peck con-
tinuing the business. Mr. Baker entered the State
Bank as teller. In 1863 he was appointed cashier
and has remained in that position since that time,
and has always been esteemed as an honorable,
faithful bank officer and director. The State Bank
was organized in 1853, and reorganized in 1865
as the Milwaukee National Bank, with a capital
of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. It has
paid yearly dividends of from ten to twelve per
cent, and now holds a surplus of something like
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
In religion Mr. Baker has always been an Episco-
palian. In politics, a conservative republican.
He is one of the vice-presidents of the North-
western National Bank Association, and secretary
of the Wisconsin National Bank Association. He
has held the responsible position of manager of
the Milwaukee Clearing House almost from its
organization in 1868; after the breaking out of the
rebellion he was mainly instrumental in giving to
the State of his adoption a sound circulating
THE UNITED STATES BKH^RAPHTCAL DICTinNARV.
medium, by compelling the banks to receive only
on deposit legal tender notes, and such bank notes
as were redeemed at par in Milwaukee. During
the panic that swept over the land in the fall of
1873, the banks of Milwaukee braved the storm with-
out suspending currency payments ; the Milwaukee
National not even losing its legal reserve, or calling
upon its New York correspondents for currency.
SOLON MARKS, M.D.,
MILWAUKEE.
SOLON MARKS was born in Stockbridge, Ver-
mont, July 14, 1827. Availing himself of the
opportunities for obtaining instruction in the ele-
mentary branches of education, which the district
and private schools of his native town afforded until
he was sixteen years of age, he then entered the
Royalton .Academy for a full course of instruction.
In 1848 he turned his face westward, finding a
home in Wisconsin. Having decided upon the med-
ical profession as that best suited to his tastes, he at
once set himself to the task of providing the means
for the accomplishment of his wishes in this direc-
tion ; and, by his own unaided effort and persistent
will, earned a sufficiency to carry him through a full
course in the Rush Medical College of Chicago,
Illinois, where he graduated in the year 1853. Im-
mediately thereafter he commenced the practice of
medicine in Jefferson, Wisconsin, removing thence
to Stevens Point, in 1856, where he had established
himself in a large and successful practice when the
war of the rebellion broke out. Full -of patriotism
he at once tendered his services to the government,
and was commissioned surgeon of the loth Regiment
Wisconsin Volunteers, September 27, 1861. This
regiment left the State November 9, 1861, and he
had been with it but one month when he was de-
tailed upon the staff of General Sill as brigade sur-
geon, which position he held until the capture of
Huntsville, Alabama, April 11, 1862, when he was
placed in charge of the military hospitals established
at that point. Remaining here till about the time
that Buell's division commenced falling back toward
the Ohio river, he was then ordered into the field,
and on 8th of October, 1862, assigned to duty as
medical director of General Rosseau's division,
which position he retained until the organization of
the army of the Cumberland, when he was appointed
surgeon-in-chief of the ist division of the 14th army
corps, with which command he remained until the
expiration of his term of enlistment. Being with the
army in nearly every engagement, he gained thereby
extensive practice and large experience in that de-
partment of his profession, to which by natural incli-
nation he was especially adapted — that of surgery
— and to which, in the subsequent years, he has de-
voted himself with unceasing assiduity, making it a
specialty.
On the closing up of the war Dr. Marks returned
to Wisconsin and settled in Milwaukee, resuming
his practice.
In 1873 he made a trip to Europe with the three-
fold object of rest, relaxation, and the pursuit of his
favorite study in the hospitals of London, Paris, and
elsewhere. Returning, lie again resumed his prac-
tice in Milwaukee. As a practitioner the Doctor
has unbounded success and unlimited popularity.
Never sparing himself, he is always " on duty," and
this ceaseless strain must sooner or later compel
him to take another season of rest. As a man he is
upright and honorable, full of tender and helpful
sympathy toward the suffering and unfortunate, and
generous to a fault.
GENERAL GEORGE B. SMITH,
MADISON.
GEORGE B. SMITH was born at Parma Cor-
ners, Monroe county, New York, May 22, 1823.
His father, Reuben Smith, was a native of Rhode
Island, but immigrated from that State to Western
New York. In 1S25 he removed to Cleveland, Ohio'
where for some two years he carried on an extensive
business in pork packing. In 1827 he took up his
residence in the village of Medina, Ohio, as mer-
^^-^cuiA
c
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHTCAL DICTIONARV
chant, where he was aiipointed one of the judges of
the court of common pleas of Medina county, the
only office he e\-er held. In 1843 he immigrated
with his family to Southport, now Kenosha, Wiscon-
sin. He died at Madison, Wisconsin, in February,
1874, at the age of eighty years. Judge Smith was
a man of much ability, and of great enterprise of
character. General Smith is the only child of Judge
Smith's first wife, who died when he was but ten
weeks old. Her maiden name was Betsy Page; she
was a woman of great strength of character and of
uncommon intelligence; a graduate of a female
academy at Hamilton, New York, and previous to
her marriage was for several years a teacher, in
which vocation she was very successful. When his
father removed to Medina, in Ohio, he was but four
years of age, and the sixteen years spent in this
locality afforded him all the opportunities he ever
enjoyed for attending school. In 1841 he began the
study of law with H. W. Floyd, Esq., in the village
of Medina, with whom he remained about a year,
spending the next succeeding year in Cleveland in
the law office of Messrs. Andrews, Foot and Hoyt, I
when he accompanied his father to Kenosha, Wis-
consin, where he continued his legal studies in the !
office of the late O. S. Head, with whom he remained |
until admitted to the bar, on the 4th of July, 1843, at
Racine, Wisconsin, in the United States district court,
presided over by Judge Andrew G. Miller. On the
29th of August, 1844, a little over one year after his
admission to the bar, Mr. Smith was married to Miss
Eugenia Weed, at Medina, Ohio. The fruits of this
union were five children, only two of whom are now
living, a son and a daughter; the latter, Anna, is I
married to Robert J. McConnell. James S. Smith,
the son, and Mr. McConnell, compose the firm of ^
McConnell and Smith, booksellers and stationers, at
Madison. \
Returning to Wisconsin after his marriage, he be-
gan the practice of his profession at Madison in the
fall of 1845. In January, 1846, he was appointed
district attorney of Dane county, an office which he
held by appointment and election over six years, the
duties of which he discharged with marked ability
and unquestioned fidelity. In October, 1846, he
was chosen a member of the first constitutional con-
vention, and was the youngest member of that body.
He held no other office except that of court com-
missioner of Dane county until 1853, when he was
elected attorney-general of the State, which position
he held during the years 1854 and 1855, and declined
a renomination. In the spring of 1858 he was elected
mayor of the city of Madison, and in the fall of the
same year was chosen a member of the popular
branch of the legislature. He held the position of
mayor for three successive terms. In 1863, and
again in 1869, he was elected to represent the peo-
ple of his district in the legislature of the State.
During the several times in which he occupied a seat
in the assembly, his party was in the minority. By
common consent they assigned to him the position
of leader on all party questions, a position for which
he was well qualified, not only by reason of his
talents as a debater, but for his skill as a parliamen-
tarian and legislator. He was never a great talker,
but some of his elaborate speeches in the legislature
commanded admiration at home and abroad. In
1864, and again in 1872, General Smith was the
democratic candidate for congress in his district; in
both instances he stumped the State in advocacy of
the principles of the party to which he belonged, but
his party being in a hopeless minority the result was
a defeat, although in each instance he ran consider-
ably ahead of his ticket. In 1869 he received the
unanimous vote of his party as a candidate before
the legislature for the United States senate in oppo-
sition to the Hon. Matt H. Carpenter, the successful
republican candidate. He was nominated as presi-
dential elector in 1868, and again in 1872. Since
the memorable campaign of 1872, when General
Smith took such a prominent and active part for the
election of Horace Greeley to the presidency, he
has taken less interest in politics. In every public
position which he has been called upon to fill, he
has discharged the trust confided to him with ability
and unshaken fidelity to principle. In his profession
he occupies a high position among the ablest lawyers
of the northwest. His practice has been extensive,
not only in the State but in the United States courts,
in which tribunals he has had to deal with a great
variety of important cases, both civil and criminal.
He has reached the summit of mature manhood with
an enviable reputation and a private character on
which rests no blemish. As an orator, as an advo-
cate, and as a political speaker, he has but few
equals in the country. In many of the character-
istics of successful ora'tory he is peculiarly gifted.
To the attractions of a fine presence, an easy, grace-
ful and dignified mien, is added that of a rich, full,
clear voice, that can be distinctly heard at a long
distance. His masterly self-reliance is of inestima-
ble value to him when he rises to address an audi-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
ence, or pleads the cause of his client before a jury.
His oratory is characterized by subtle discrimina-
tion, by logical argument, and by forcible illustration.
Notwithstanding the fact that he is always calm and
collected when he rises to speak, he frequently be-
comes impassioned in his utterances, speaking with
great energy and rapidity, but without losing control
of himself. In this as well as in many other respects
his style of oratory bears a striking resemblance to
that of the late Stephen A. Douglas. The power of
an orator to command himself enables him to con-
trol others. By its exercise he is enabled to lash
the rowdy element of his audience into silence by a
few pointed remarks, accompanied by an expressive
look and gesture. General Smith's mind is also
enriched with a vein of humor of which he some-
times makes a very happy use in his public speeches.
His perception of the ludicrous is quick and keen,
and by a well-timed joke or repartee he excites the
applause of an unwilling audience. In power of in-
vective he has few equals; it is a talent which, how-
ever, he uses sparingly, and never unless strong
provocation calls it forth. He has made many polit-
ical speeches ; they embrace a large variety of topics.
and discuss all the issues which have agitated the
public mind during the last twenty-five years. He
may be deemed in the strict sense of the term a self-
made man. He commenced his business life with
a limited knowledge of elementary literature and
science, and was dependent upon his individual ex-
ertions for the means of subsistence. He had but
little leisure for study or reflection, and yet he has
been a close student and deep thinker. Self-reliance
is the ground work upon which has been erected an
intellectual temple of Gothic proportions, although
not decorated with Corinthian capitals. He has a
large library of well-selected books, and it has en-
riched his mind with its treasures. It is the fruit of
many years of discriminating purchases, and of large
expense. As a conversationalist he is instructive
and entertaining, and his social qualities endear him
to a select circle of friends. Like other men gifted
with extraordinary mental power, he has also strong
passions, subject, however, to his stronger will. If
the greatest conqueror is he who conquers himself,
then he may aspire to that title.
A. P. DICKEY,
NOTHING has added more to the renown of
American industrial productions than the
ingenuity displayed in the manufacture of articles
of utility and labor-saving machines; and among
these stand preeminently the fanning mills and
separators now so universally used, and which
effect with such precision the separating grain
and seeds, and preparing them for market. One
of the foremost manufacturers of these ingenious
devices is A. P. Dickey, of Racine, Wisconsin.
These machines were much needed. Mr. Dickey
has devised an excellent machine, and hence his
success; he has manufactured thousands, received
prizes in all the principal exhibitions, and the sales
are still increasing.
A. P. Dickey was born in Londonderry, New
Hampshire, March 24, 1818; is a son of John and \
Rhoda Dickey. His father was a merchant.
Young Dickey was educated at Geneseo, New
York. He worked on a farm, and received a
common school education, until he was sixteen
years of age, and then went to work in a fanning
mill manufactory at Vienna, Ontario county. New
York. He was one of seven brothers, who were
all employed in the manufacture of fanning mills.
He remained at Vienna two years, then moved to
Sandusky, and after a year went to Pine Hill,
Geneseo county, where he remained twelve years.
He made many experiments, and the result of his
labor and genius is the fanning mill, which is now
known as the Dickey Fanning Mill, and has gained
a world-wide reputation.
He was colonel of the 164th regiment, 6th
brigade and 27th division of the National Guards
of the State of New York^ at Batavia. He held his
commission under Governor W. H. Seward.
In 1846 he located at Racine, Wisconsin, where
he has continued the same business up to the pres-
ent time.
In 1840 he was married to Miss Sarah Babcock,
by whom he had three children, all of whom are
now married and residing at Racine. In 1854 his
CM&if^e^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
203
wife died. In 1855 he married Miss Lucy Ann
Patterson : they have had two children — a daughter
and a son.
The history of the fanning mills would be the
history of Mr. Dickey, for these have been his life
work, and he has accomplished much, and adapted
his work to all the multifarious uses that can require
the winnowing and separation of grain and seeds,
whether on a small or large scale. The capacities
of these mills are from forty to four hundred bushels
an hour. The fans excel in the simplicity with which
they separate the pure grain from every mixture,
and the ease with which they deliver the several
grades of wheat by themselves, as well as the rapidity
of the work. His extensive business has called
into practice facilities for transportation. His fan-
ning mills are sold by all the dealers in the West;
he has filled orders from New York, Massachusetts,
and even from Germany and Japan. To accommo-
date this distant trade, they are made in such a
manner as to be readily taken to pieces, and can be
set up again in a few minutes by anyone competent
to use them, so that the freight is reduced at least
one half No wonder that with such completeness
and such facilities Mr. Dickey's trade has assumed
large proportions. But Mr. Dickey's enterprise does
not stop here, he has added a foundry business,
also a machine shop. He manufactures steam
engines and everything connected with farming
; implements ; his trade has become great and is still
growing, and does honor to American genius and
I industry.
Mr. Dickey, in politics, has been a whig, but has
voted with the republicans since that party has been
organized. In religion, he belongs to the Congrega-
tional denomination.
HON. ALEXANDER H. MAIN,
MADISON.
ALEXANDER HAMILTON MAIN, a native
of Plainfield, Otsego county. New York, was
born on the 22d of June, 1824, the son of Alfred
Main and Semantha Main n^e Stillman. His father,
a native of Connecticut, removed to New York in
his youth ; thence, in 1846, to Dane county, Wiscon-
sin, where he still resides, and has been elected
sheriff of his county. Mr. Main received his edu-
cation in the common schools and academies of his
native State, 'and at the age of nineteen years ac-
cepted a clerkship in a store in Cuba, New York,
and subsequently in Little Genesee, New York,
where he continued as clerk until 1850, when he
became a partner in the mercantile business, under
the firm name of Main, Ennis and Co., in the same
place, conducting the business with reasonable suc-
cess until 1856, when he removed to his present
home, Madison, Wisconsin, where, in partnership
with his brother, W. S. Main, he resumed his
merchandising, and continued it with varied success
until i860. In September of that year he became
cashier of the Sun Prairie bank, in which capacity
he served until he closed its business in the spring
of 1863. In the autumn of 1862 he was appointed
deputy assessor of internal revenue in the second
district of Wisconsin, and about the same time
established himself in the insurance business. From
that time until the present (1876), except during a
period of six months of President Johnson's admin-
istration, he has served as deputy assessor and
deputy collector. In conducting his insurance he
was alone until the spring of 1867, at which time he
associated himself with Mr. John P. Williams, under
the firm name and style of Williams and Main. In
the fall of 1868 the firm name became Main and
Spooner, Mr. P. L. Spooner, junior, becoming suc-
cessor to Mr. Williams, who withdrew from the
business. In February, 1874, Captain W. K. Barney
purchased the interest of Mr. Spooner, and Messrs.
Main and Barney continued the business until the
death of Captain Barney in February, 1875, at which
time Mr. Spooner resuming his interest, the old firm
of Main and Spooner was reestablished. They now
represent over twenty of the leading and most reli-
able fire and life insurance companies in the United
States and Great Britain, and do, probably, three-
fourths of the fire insurance business for the city of
Madison and surrounding country.
Politically Mr. Main is, and always has been since
its organization, identified with the republican
party, and in 1855, prior to his removal to the West,
represented Allegany county in the New York legis-
lature.
He is a thorough business man, possessing many
204
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
superior personal and social qualities, and in his
varied career has maintained an upright character
and spotless reputation.
Mr. Main has been twice married; first, in 1852,
to Miss Mary Cottrell, of Allegany county, New
York, who died in February, 1862. He subse-
quently wedded his present wife. Miss Emma Cot-
trell, a sister of his former wife.
FREDERICK WILD,
RACINE.
FREDERICK WILD was born in Kinderhook,
Columbia county, New York State, on the 22d
of December, 1831. His parents were Nathan and
Sarah Wild, who, as he grew up, placed him at Col-
lege Hill, Poughkeepsie, where he went through a
general course of ordinary English studies in a per-
fectly satisfactory manner, as may be surmised from
the fact of his graduating at the early age of eight-
een. At this time his father, who was a cotton man-
ufacturer at Kinderhook, placed Frederick Wild
there for the purpose of learning the business in a
thoroughly practical style. He accordingly spent
about three years in the mill working under instruc-
tions, when he was seized with an attack of the
Western fever, an epidemic very prevalent at the
time, and shifted his quarters in 1852 to Kenosha,
Wisconsin, where he worked in a general hardware
store as clerk for about eighteen months, giving
every satisfaction by the faithful performance of his
duties in that capacity. He then came to Freeport,
Illinois, where he got an engagement in the same
business and remained there for the period of two
years.
In 1856 he began his career as a railway man by
being appointed to the position of general western
freight solicitor by the agent of the New York and
Erie Railway Company, which post he filled for two
years, and since that he has been engaged on several
other railways in different positions, namely : On
the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway, the Milwaukee
and Lacrosse (now a branch of the Chicago, Mil-
waukee and St. Paul), the Ohio and Mississippi, and
also on the Western Union, where he first engaged
in the year 1869 as general freight and ticket agent,
which position he now occupies.
He attends the Episcopal church.
In politics he is a republican, and has been so
ever since the organization of that party.
He was married on the ist of January, 1854, to
Miss Eliza M. Ames, and has five children — three
male and two female — who are all living at the
present time.
Mr. Wild's geniality of temper, great social virtues
and liberality have gathered for him a host of
friends, not only in domestic and private life, but
indeed wherever it has been his lot to meet persons
in business. He has had great experience in rail-
way matters, and it is well known that wherever he-
has occupied a position his general good business
qualifications as well as his civility and kindness to
those working under him have made him par excel-
lence the right man in the right place.
JAMES G. KNIGHT.
MADISON.
I AMES G. KNIGHT was born at Rexford Flats,
J Saratoga county, New York, August 12, 1832,
third son of James Knight and Margaret Godfrey.
His father was a prominent local politician. His
father died in 1855 ; his mother died in 1846. He
was educated at Albany, New York. His reading
was various and extensive; his habits were exem-
plary, and his occupation that of merchant. He
moved west in 1856, and located in Darlington,
Lafayette county, then a town of three hundred
inhabitants. He pursued a general mercantile busi-
ness until the war.
He married in 1854, in Clifton Park, New York.
His progress in business was satisfactory. He is
liberal in all religious matters, and a generous sup-
porter in money of churches. He has always been
a democrat of the Horatio Seymour school in New-
York, and through the war the same, supporting
THE UNITED STATES BIOdR APn IC AT. DrCTfONARr.
205
McClellan for president. While in the army he was
elected to all the local town ofifices repeatedly;
chairman of the town of Darlington for 1871, 1872
and 1873, and chairman of the county board of
supervisors the same years; elected superintendent
of schools of Lafayette county in the fall of 1873,
and always running far ahead of his party tickets.
He was a member of the State central committee
for ten years, and an active reform chairman of
congressional and county committees for years.
In 1865 he assumed control of the "Lafayette
County Democrat," published at Darlington, and
has since managed the same, the most prominent
paper in the third congressional district, and recog-
nized as the leading reform paper in the southwest-
ern part of the State. Present political views in
accord with the reform or new democratic party of
Wisconsin. He was appointed by Governor Taylor
superintendent of the public property of Wisconsin,
January i, 1875. When the rebellion was inaugu-
rated he took the position of Douglas, and assisted
in organizing the first company from southwest Wis-
consin, which rendezvoused at Fond du Lac. Join-
ing the 3d Wisconsin Infantry, he served as lieuten-
ant until 1862, and was then commissioned by
President Lincoln, for meritorious services, captain
and C. S., and assigned to duty with the army of
the Potomac. He served under McClellan, Meade,
Hooker, Slocum, Williams, Geary and Ruger, until
the winter of 1865. He then resigned his commis-
sion, leaving the army at Atlanta, Georgia. He
was in the battles of Winchester, Antietam, Chan-
cellorsville, Gettysburg (as volunteer aid to (ieneral
Slocum), Dallas, Atlanta, and all minor engage-
ments.
He was married December 14, 1854, to Minerva
Knowlton.
His grandfather, James Knight, was a soldier of
the revolution under Gates, at Saratoga, where he
was wounded. His grandfather, James Godfrey, was
also a revolutionary soldier, both being originally
from England. He was first president of the village
of Darlington, delegate to the democratic national
convention of 1868, at New York city.
Mr. Knight's moral and social qualities have com-
manded for him the respect and esteem of the peo-
ple with whom he has lived, and is most esteemed
where he is best known.
ORIN G. SELDEN, M.D.,
ORIN (;. SRI,1)P:N is a native of Scotland, and
was born in the city of Perth, April 3, 1817.
His parents were Robert B. and Louisa (Balfour)
Selden, the latter being a lineal descendant of John
Balfour, of Burley, whom Sir Walter Scott immor-
talizes in " Old Mortality." The Selden is an old
English family of Kent and Sussex counties, whence
they fled to Scotland soon after the Restoration.
When Orin was ten years of age the family immi-
grated to this country, settling on a farm in the
town of Bristol, Middlesex county, Massachusetts,
where the father still lives; he is ninety-seven years
of age, and justice of the peace, an office which he
has held for more than forty years.
Orin had an early and insatiable thirst for knowl-
edge, and from twelve to nineteen years of age
attended the seminary at Haverhill, F^ssex county.
When about seventeen he accompanied his father
to his native land, visited the home of Robert
Burns, and had the honor of taking the hand of Sir I
\Valter Scott, incidents in his boyhood which he '
27
has never forgotten and never recalls except with
pleasure.
In 1836 he entered the office of Dr. P'rancis
Batchelder, of Boston, where he remained, studying
medicine and attending lectures, until March 9, 1840,
when he graduated from what is now the medical
department of Harvard University. The following
June he opened an office in Dover, Tuscarawas
county, Ohio, and there d\iring the next thirty-three
years was steadily engaged in the practice of his
profession.
In November, 1873, Dr. Selden removed to Reeds-
burg, Sauk county, Wisconsin, continuing his med-
ical practice for three years, and in November, 1876,
settled in Tomah. His fame had preceded him,
and he was never more busily employed than at
present. Indeed it seems impossible for him to
retire from business, and although just rounding up
his three-score years he has all the elasticity and
activity, seeiningly, of middle life. Though a reg-
ular medical practitioner, he pays especial attention
2o6
THE UNITED STATES BlOaRAPHlCAL DICTIONART.
to surgical cases, of which he has a great many, and
in which his army experience has essentially aided
him.
In 1846 Dr. Selden went into the Mexican war as
assistant surgeon of the 3d Ohio Infantry, serving
till the conflict ended. In 1861 he was appointed
surgeon of the i6th Ohio Regiment three-months
men, and immediately after the expiration of that
period was appointed surgeon of the 51st Ohio
Regiment, with which he served until August, 1862,
when, by reason of failing health, he resigned.
Early in 1876, when the State board of health
was created, he was appointed by the governor as
one of its members. In September of the same
year he was appointed a delegate from the Wiscon-
sin State Medical Society to the International Med-
ical Congress, which met in Philadelphia on the
4th of that month, and took quite an active jiart in
its discussions.
Though before the world as a medical man, Dr.
Seldon pays considerable attention to various
branches of science; geology and natural history
being among his favorite studies. He is also well
read in literature, and especially the English classics.
Though a Scotchman, and having a natural jiartial-
ity for home authors, he can quote Chaucer, Spen-
cer and Shakspeare quite as freely and fully as he
can Burns and Scott. His great familiarity with
standard authors is almost wonderful, considering
the close attention which he has paid to medical
science and the collateral branches, and the amount
of medical literature of which he is the author.
He has had the ad eundem degrees of Doctor of
Medicine conferred on him by Starling Medical
College, Columbus, Ohio; Miami Medical College,
Cincinnati ; the Ohio Medical College, of the same
city, and the medical department of Wooster Uni-
versity, Cleveland, Ohio.
Dr. Selden is a Knight Templar in the masonic
order and a member of the Odd-fellows fraternity.
In religious sentiment he is a Presbyterian ; in pol-
itics, a democrat.
He was married to Miss Catherine Hall, of Tus-
carawas county, Ohio, on the 15th of August, 1845.
Mrs. Selden died October, 1876, leaving two chil-
dren : Robert, a practicing physician at Dover,
Ohio, the town in which he was born, and Mary,
who keei>s house for her father.
HON. WILLIAM R. TAYLOR,
WILLIAM R. TAYLOR was born in the State
of Connecticut, July 10, 1820. His mother,
who was a native of Scotland, died when the subject
of this sketch was three weeks old. His father, a
sea captain, was lost at sea with his vessel when the
son was about six years of age. Thus totally bereft
of parental care and affection at this tender age, he
was consigned to the guardianship of strangers, who
resided in Jefferson county, in the State of New
York, where he remained during his. boyhood, sub-
ject to all hardships which characterized pioneer
life, and the still greater hardships incident to the
absence of natural care and sympathy. During these
years he traveled on foot three miles to a country
school, receiving but little instruction. Falling into
severe hands, before he was sixteen years of age,
without money, patrons or friends, he sought a bet-
ter fortune. The chosen pathway was rugged and
cheerless, but the spirit which gave force to his
efforts was undaunted. His immediate object at
this time was an education, and for many years he
continued the struggle, alternately chopping cord-
wood, working in the harvest field, or any other
manual labor, in the meantime attending school, and
finally teaching. The result was a good academic
education, and a certificate of admission to the third
term of the sophomore year at Union College, in
Schenectady, New York. But it was not destined
for him to reap the full benefit of this enterprise.
On the very day that the class of which he was a
member left for Schenectady to complete their col-
legiate course he went into the sugar bush, and with
his own hands, and a team to haul the wood and sap,
made eleven hundred pounds of sugar and two bar-
rels of molasses with which to pay tuition and board
bills already contracted. Soon after, however, we
find him engaged in conducting a select school, and
then an academy.
In 1840 he moved to Elyria, Lorain county,
Ohio, where he joined a class of forty-five young
men preparing for teaching. About this time the
school authorities at Laporte, in that State, were
THE UNITED STATES B10GRAPI//CAI. DICTinNAHr.
207
offering an extra price for any teacher who would
assume the charge of their public school, which had
become a terror to all candidates for the place be-
cause of the reputation of the jjupils for disorder
and violence. The previous winter no less than
three excellent teachers had undertaken the task of
teaching there and failed, so that the school was
entirely broken up. It was an opjjortunity young
'I'aylor coveted. During the third winter under his
management it became the premium scliool of the
country. We next find him running a grist mill,
saw mill and cupola furnace, and regarded as the
best moulder in the factory; but failing in health
from overwork he devoted his spare time to reading
medicine, and in the winter of 1845-6 attended a five
months course of lectures and clinical instruction in
the medical college at Cleveland, Ohio. During his
residence in Ohio he was elected a captain, receiving
every vote in the company, and then a colonel, in
tile Ohio militia.
During the fall of 184S he came to \Visconsin
and settled on the farm at Cottage Crovc, in Dane
county, where he now resides. His life for many
years was one of great activity and unceasing toil.
Not content with the ordinary labors of the farm, he
resorted to the pineries in the winter months and
became identified with the hardships of the enter-
prising class of our population who have contributed
so much to the wealth of the State. The result of
the severe experience we have narrated is manifest
in the whole character of the man. In every respect
the architect of his own fortunes, he is necessarily
self-reliant, independent, energetic, practical, honest
in purpose, kind in heart, methodical and thoroughly
systematic in business. During his boyhood and
early manhood a pujiil, teacher, miller, foundryman,
raftsman and lumberman by turns, and for twenty
years a practical farmer, his sympathy for self-
dependent laboring men and his interest in the
prosperity of the industrial classes are intuitive and
sincere. Full six feet in height, with every muscle
of his frame educated to its natural power, he is in
person the embodiment of physical energy and
strength, and a noble representative of the royal
class of pioneer workingmen to which he belongs.
In manner, as in mental disposition, though consti-
tutionally diffident and reserved, he is plain, digni-
fied and sincere. Hypocrisy, affectation and deceit,
in all their phases, whether social, financial or politi-
cal, are to him extremely obnoxious. Honest and
unaffected himself, he cannot tolerate others devoid
of those qualities. His hard experience in life has
taught him to be mistrustful of others, yet he is
naturally confiding in those he deems worthy of his
confidence and respect. Though practical and
economical in the expenditure of money, he is liberal
to the poor and unfortunate. No one in distress
ever appealed to him in vain. Conciliatory and
forgiving to enemies, he never forgets acts of kind-
ness to himself Like Franklin, he has aided many
young men in the commencement of their business
career, and has been gratified with their success.
He is an acute observer of things and of passing
events; with broad and comprehensive views he has
accurate knowledge of men, has sound judgment,
comes slowly to conclusions, but is firm in his con-
victions, and energetic and thorough in execution.
He is reticent, thoughtful and conscientious, hence
rarely disappointed in residts. Honest, he naturally
exacts honesty in others ; kind to the weak and the
good, but bold and daring in opposition to the
vicious and to whatever he believes to be wrong.
Retiring and diffident in deportment, he yet seems
to have a reserved force equal to all emergencies.
It is no mystery that this man has become the leader
of the masses of the peoiile in their struggle for
political and financial reform in the administration
of the affairs of government. He entered upon his
present position with a large experience in public
affairs. In fact, he has never been permitted to
remain long in private life. He has been called to
fill various town, county and State offices; has re-
peatedly received every vote cast for chairman of
the board of his town ; has been superintendent of
schools; has been twice chairman of the Dane
county board of supervisors, consisting of forty-one
members; has been county superintendent of the
poor seventeen years ; was trustee and many years
vice-president and member of the executive com-
mittee of the State hospital for the insane at Madi-
son, from its reorganization in i860 until 1874. In
these various positions, in connection with his asso-
ciates, he has handled hundreds of thousands of
dollars of public funds, without suspicion of ever
having abused the confidence reposed in him. He
has been a member of both branches of the State
legislature ; served seven years as president of the
Dane County Agricultural Society; was chief mar-
shal of the State Agricultural Society seven or eight
years, and twice its president. During the war of
the rebellion he was the first man in Dane county
to offer a public bounty for volunteers, which action
208
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV
led to the offer of other bounties and induced many
enlistments.
Gov. Taylor was married in 1842 to Catharine
Hurd, a most excellent and intelligent lady, by
whom he has had three children, all daughters.
One of these died at the age of four years, the others
are both married, and live with or near their parents
in Dane county. One of these graduated at our
State University with high honors.
In 1873 William R. Taylor was by acclamation
placed at the head of the reform ticket and elected
governor of the State, receiving 81,635 votes against
66,224 for his opponent in Gov. C. C. Washburn.
His career in the executive chair has been marked
by the same practical ability and integrity that have
characterized all the acts of his earnest and business
life. He has enforced economy, honesty and effi-
ciency in the administration of State affairs. That
there have been rumors and complaints by disap-
pointed aspirants to office excites no surprise or dis-
affection on the part of the liberal and the just. On
the contrary, his official conduct thus far has com-
manded the respect of the good men of all parties,
and contributed to the contentment of the people
and the prosperity of the State. If popular govern-
ments in the American Union are to be preserved
to the people in their original purity, that end will
be best attained by elevating to high official positions
self-made men, whose lives, like that of Governor
Taylor, furnish a noble example of honorable enter-
prise and unselfish devotion to every public and pri-
vate duty.
EDMUND BARTLETT,
FEW men have had a more varied and adven-
turous experience than the subject of this
sketch, and the necessarily condensed and incom-
plete record of the leading events of his life read
more like fiction than a chapter from real life.
Aside from the thrilling character of its personal
narrative, the sketch possesses peculiar interest and
value, as furnishing, incidentally, an authentic history
of the rapid rise, the reckless and depraved charac-
ter of the class of men and women wlio throng to
the frontier settlements of the West. The moralist
and future historian may herein find much material
on which to employ their respective vocations.
Edmund Bartlett was borti in Northampton,
Massachusetts, October 4, 1822, and is the son of
Edmund Morris and Laura (Randall) Bartlett, the
former a native of the same town, the latter of
Worthington, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. His
father was born July 25, 1795 ; was a soldier of the
war of 1812, entering as private and passing through
the intermediate grades to the rank of first sergeant.
He subsequently took much interest in military
matters, became an enthusiastic student of military
tactics, and was afterward colonel of a regiment of
Massachusetts Light Infantry, at the head of which
he escorted General Lafayette into Northampton
in the last visit of the distinguished nobleman to the
United States (1824). He was a very active, con-
sistent and useful member of the Congregational
I church from boyhood till his death, and was
] recognized by all classes as a leader in every good
j work. He was a diligent reader of history, and,
I with a tenacious memory, acquired an extensive
knowledge of its general details. He was also a
I man of remarkable industry and enterprise, and
I generous and noble in all his impulses. In 1832 he
j removed with his family to Ohio, and settled in the
j townshi]) of Brecksville, Cuyahoga county, some
1 twelve miles south of Cleveland — at that time a
j wilderness — and known as the " Western Reserve ; "
i but Colonel Bartlett was a strong and resolute man,
and with his ax he soon subdued the forest, and
made his farm of one hundred and eighty acres one
of the best and most highly cultivated in that section
j of the country, with an orchard of over one thousand
of the choicest varieties of apple trees, besides
smaller fruits in abundance. He was for several
years president of the County Agricultural Society,
and was well known throughout the region for his
valuable efforts to advance the agricultural and
horticultural interests of his neighborhood. His
I intimate friends and associates included such men
, as Hon. Louis P. Harvey, late governor of Wiscon-
sin; Professor E. H. Nevin ; Hon. E. S. Hamlin;
Hon. John C. Vaughan, editor of the "Cleveland
Leader;" Professor Jared P. Kirtland, Cleveland
Medical College, celebrated as a lecturer on agri-
cultural chemistry and as a scientist ; and others.
THE UNITED STATES BWCRAPIIICAL DrCTIONARV.
209
In politics he was raised a whig, but on the
dissokition of that organization affiliated with the
free-soilers ; and later became identified with the
republican party.
On the 6th day of December, 182 1, he married
Miss Laura Randall, a lady of superior education
and many accomplishments, who was born July 2,
1795. Before her marriage she moved in the society
of which WiUiam Cullen Bryant was a member, and
was well acquainted with that distinguished poet;
many of whose youthful sayings and doings she well
remembers, and can at this period (December,
1876) relate in the most intelligent and interesting
manner. The fruit of this marriage was two
children — Edmund, the subject of this sketch, and
Lucy B., wife of W. W. Wright, Esq., of Monroe,
Wisconsin. Colonel E. M. Bartlett and wife follov/ed
their children to Wisconsin, where the former died
at Monroe, April 24, 1868; the latter, at the age of
over eighty-one years, is in good health and in full
possession of all her mental faculties.
Mr. Bartlett claims lineal descent from Adam
Bartlett, a Norman gentleman and an officer in the
army of William the Conqueror, who accompanied
that monarch to England, fought under him at
Hastings, and was subsequently granted a large tract
of land (entailed estate) in Stopham, Sussex county,
England, which remains in the possession of his
descendants to this day, having passed to them in
the regular order of primogeniture ; the present head
of the family being Col. Walter Bartlett, a member of
the British parliament. Robert Bartlett, a younger
scion of that family, sailed from England in the ship
Ann, in the year 1623, and landed at Plymouth, Mas-
sachusetts, in July of that year.
He subsequently married Mary Warren, daughter
of Richard Warren, and from that union our subject
is descended. John Bartlett, a member of the Sus-
se.\ family, received distinguishing honors from the
"Black Prince," for liis capture of the castle of
Fontenoy in France at the head of the Sussex troops.
Josiah Bartlett, one of the signers of the Declaratioii
of Independence, was from the same ancestry, as
was also Richard Bartlett of Newburyport, Massa-
chusetts, a representative in the Colonial legislature
1679-80-1-4. The grandfather of our subject was
Preserved Bartlett, also a native of Northampton,
Massachusetts, who married Mary Parsons, from
whose family sprung Theophilus Parsons, LL.D., the
author of " Parsons on Contracts," and other valu-
able standard law books.
Until ten years of age Edmund Bartlett enjoyed
all the educational advantages of his native New
England village, was a good reader and declaimer,
and had made considerable proficiency in Murray's
grammar and other studies; but for several years
after his removal to the wilds of the then " Far
West," he had very few educational advantages. The
schools of that day in the "backwoods" were generally
presided over by incompetent teachers, while their
terms were limited to three months in the winter.
During one of those terms the "master" each day
detailed a squad of the boys to practice the manly
art of " self defense," wrestling and other physical
exercises, which, rude and barbarous though they
may seem to the present generation, were not with-
out beneficial results to the muscular system. The
other exercises consisted of reading, spelling and
declamation. The schools, however, improved with
the country, and subsequent teachers were generally
more competent ; but the only academic advantages
our subject enjoyed were about six months' attend-
ance at an institution presided over by the Rev.
Samuel Bissell at Twinsburg, in Summit county,
Ohio. But he was a^diligent student and delighted
in literary pursuits, and studied at home, aided by
his parents, especially his mother. At the age of
sixteen he procured elementary works in the Greek
and Latin languages, which he studied with great
avidity under the direction of the Rev. Newton Bar-
rett, a learned Congregational minister of his town.
He studied in the field and in the forest ; wherever
he went, or in whatever labor engaged, a book was
liis constant companion. At the age of eighteen he
commenced teaching school, and for twelve consec-
utive years taught not less than three months each
year, and became one of the most thorough and ac-
complished scholars of his day, whose talents would
have shed luster upon any profession or avocation
upon which they might have been concentrated.
On May 23, 1844, he married Miss Catherine A.
Righter, and turned his attention to farming, an oc-
cupation at which he continued for ten years.
In the spring of 1854 he removed with his family
to Monroe, Wisconsin, where he still resides, ex-
pecting to continue farming, but being governed by
circumstances, he clerked for a time in the office of
the registrar of deeds, and in the year following be-
came deputy clerk of the circuit court, and in the
fall of 1856 was elected to the position of clerk of
the circuit court, which office he filled till the end
of 1858. He next served two years as cashier of
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
the Monroe Banking Company, and in 1861 was ap-
pointed postmaster of Monroe by Abraham Lincoln,
his commission, which was signed by Montgomery
Blair, bearing date April 15 of that year.
Having devoted his spare time to professional
reading while clerk of the circuit court he was, on
March 6, i860, admitted to the bar of the State and
subsequently licensed to practice in the United
States courts.
In January, i86i, Governor A. W. Randall, in
anticipation of the threatened rebellion, commenced
organizing the militia of the State, and presented to
Mr. Bartlett a colonel's commission ; and in the latter
part of that year, and during nearly all of 1862, he
canvassed the counties of southern Wisconsin, mak-
ing patriotic speeches, and under a recruiting com-
mission enlisting men in the service, until the work
of obtaining recruits became difficult, and men ex-
pressed a strong repugnance to the being asked to
enter the service by those who were themselves
staying at home. Colonel Bartlett then pledged
himself to enlist as a private soldier, and at once
wrote the following patriotic and self-sacrificing let-
ter to the postmaster-general :
Su{: I have long chafed under the restraints of liomo
and official responsibilities, and desired to be among the
number ot" tliose who are plucking honors from the points
ot" rebel bayonets. 1 can endure it no longer. I therefore
respectfiiHy tender to vou my resignation of the office of
postmaster at Monroe, and recommend the appointment of
D. W. Ball as my successor.
His resignation was accepted and the appointment
made as recommended, and on February 17, 1863,
he enlisted as a private soldier in Company B, 31st
Wisconsin Volunteers, and on March i, 1S63,
marched with his regiment into Di.xie's land. He
served faithfully and well to the close of the war and
was honorably mustered out of the service in May,
1865, never having been home during the entire
period. He was appointed and served for several
months as captain of Company L, 3d United States
Heavy Artillery.
After his return from the war he was employed as
bookkeeper for a large commission house in Chicago,
which position he had held but a short time when
he was induced "to take the stump" in behalf of
General Ed. W. Salomon, republican candidate for
the office of clerk of Cook county, and addressed
the people on the political issues of the day in every
ward and precinct of the city of Chicago. General
Salomon was elected and our subject became his
chief clerk. About the same time, however, he re-
ceived overtures from the quartermaster and com
manding officer of the troops stationed at Julesburg
in Colorado, to accept the position of chief clerk of
the quartermaster's department at that post, and
being fond of adventure, and desirous of seeing the
country, he accepted the flattering offer, and in
November, 1865, removed to Fort Sedgwick, a mili-
tary post just established on the south bank of the
I'latte and adjacent to the " ranch " of Jules Bernard,
in Colorado, and named Julesburg. The original
town consisted of only three or four sod houses,
used as telegraph offices and stables of the Overland
Stage Company. He entered at once uijon his du-
ties in the quartermaster's dejjartment, where he
continued for about a year and a half; and during
that time he traveled more than two thousand miles
on horseback, — his only companion being a scout in
the employ of the government — through a country
swarming with hostile Indians, visiting nearly every
military post between Idaho and the Missouri river,
and collecting material for reports required by the
government. These journeys were full of wild ad-
venture and hairbreadth escapes from the Indians.
He traveled nearly all the summer of 1866 with his
single companion, stopping occasionally at ranches
or military posts over night, but generally camping
out. It had been customary to accompany such
e.xpeditions by a military escort of twenty-five men,
but his experienced scout considering that they
would be safer alone, dispensed with the escort.
In July, 1867, when the Union Pacific railroad
had arrived within four miles of Fort Sedgwick, Mr.
Bartlett left the quartermaster's department for the
purpose of embarking in trade in the new and noto-
rious city of Julesburg — where in the preceding
April he had killed the timid antelope, and where
no signs of human habitation appeared — now a
city of over twelve hundred houses, with a popula-
tion of six thousand inhabitants. It was the ter-
minus of the Union Pacific railroad, and there all
goods in transit for the Pacific States and territo-
ries, military posts and mining points west of that
place, must be unloaded from the train and trans-
ported to destination by mule and ox teams. The
business transacted was innnense. Hundreds of
portable buildings were brought from Omaha ; many
were of adobe, many of sod, and scores of people
carried on an extensive and profitable business
under canvas tents. There were no family resi-
dences, as few men would dare to take a family to
such a place. There were many high-minded, hon-
THE UNITEP STATES niOtiRM'II [CM. DrCTIONART.
orable men engaged in legitimate business, but the
city was crowded with saloons, gambling-houses and
bagnios and pickpockets, thieves, murderers and des-
peradoes of the worst kind flocked there from every
part of America. The original ranch of Jules Ber-
nard was known to be in Colorado, but near the line
separating that territory from the State of Nebraska,
but it was not at this time known to any one in
which territory the present Julesburg was located.
h was at first a city without a government, laws or
officers to jjrotect those engaged in business, and it
was found absolutely necessary to adopt some meas-
ures of safety and protection. The business men
of the town therefore held a meeting and adopted
ordinances for the government of the city and reso-
lutions ijledging themselves to submit to such taxa-
tion as should be necessary to sustain an efficient
city government. They elected a mayor and a
council of five members, a clerk and treasurer. A
vigilance committee of one hundred and fifty mem-
bers was also organized. The mayor was empow-
ered to appoint such number of policemen as he
might deem necessary and draw ai/ li/ntum upon the
treasurer for their payment, amenable only to the
people /or an abuse of his jiower and punishable by
removal. He was also declared ex-officio judge of
the police court. The first mayor was a gentleman
named Cook, but he soon retired from the office,
and Mr. Bartlett, who had become conspicuous
among the " Vigiiants," was appointed his successor.
An arrangement was effected with the command-
ing officer at Fort Sedgwick by which, in the event
of resistance to the constituted authorities, the aid
of troops could be procured. But the military
authorities, while sustaining the city government in
the protection of business and in maintaining order,
would permit the exercise of no civil function by
that organization : hence there were no means of
enforcing contracts or collecting debts if the parties
concerned refused to pay.
Mr. Bartlett at once entered upon the duties of
his office, increased the police force to twenty-five —
agreeing to pay each man one hundred and twenty-
five dollars per month, and otherwise improved the
apparatus of government. He caused a log jail to
be erected, and kept a well-armed guard around it
day and night. Rioting and murder were of daily
occurrence, and he was compelled to hold court
seven days of the week. The punishment of all
but capital offenses was by fine and imprisonment,
but in cases of murder the culprit was ordered to
be imprisoned till the United .Stales marshal at
Denver or Omaha could be notified; the "Vigi-
iants," however, generally disposed of him the first
night, so that the marshal was in a great measure
relieved. By fines the mayor collected money
enough to defray nearly all the expenses of the
city government, so that resort to taxation was sel-
dom necessary. A single case will suffice as an
illustration of the character of those brought before
him for trial and his manner of administering jus-
tice. His court-room was a rough board building
fifty by twenty feet. Behind a rough table sat the
judge upon a rough bench. Around his waist was
a belt, hanging from which were two heavy Colt's
revolvers. Two desperadoes, named Jack Hayes
and " Shorty," arrived in the city from Cheyenne, and
soon made their presence known by rioting among
the saloons and gambling-houses, destroying prop-
erty, discharging their revolvers, threatening life,
and assaulting and maltreating several persons, and
swearing that they would kill any man who at-
tempted to arrest them. The two roughs were
soon brought before the mayor, however, in charge
of half a dozen stout policemen ; they had a large
number of friends and sympathizers in the city, over
fifty of whom were in the court-room, each heavily
armed with knives and revolvers; threats were
freely made that the prisoners should never pay a
fine nor go to jail. The " Vigiiants " were also
present in considerable force and well armed. The
judge summoned a jury of business men, permitted
the defendants to be heard by counsel, examined a
large number of witnesses, and gave them a fair
trial. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, where-
upon the judge arose, with a cocked revolver in
each hand, and proceeded to render the judgment
of the court, which was that each pay a fine of two
hundred and fifty dollars, and be imprisoned until
the fine and costs were paid. Revolvers were
drawn all over the room, but the judge coolly
added : " I have heard your threats and understand
your intentions, and if you are disposed to resist
the execution of the sentence the best time for you
to commence is now, and the best place is here,
and I give you notice that there is room enough in
tlie sand-hills to bury every man of you. Police,
remove these prisoners to the jail." Over two hun-
dred revolvers were in the hands of those present,
but not a shot was fired, and the prisoners were
removed to jail. In less than two hours they had
paid their fines and were at large again. In a
THE UNITED STATES PTOGRAPHrCAL DICTIONART.
short time they returned to Cheyenne, and were
soon after hung by the " Vigilants " for murdfr.
The mayor did not often find it necessary to
telegraph to the fort for troops. On one occasion
a detachment of cavalry dashed into the city and
reported to him for orders within half an hour from
the time he dispatched for them. At another time
a company of infantry in army wagons drawn by
mules reported within an hour.
In November, 1867, Mr. Bartlett, having received
intelligence of the dangerous illness of his father,
hastily returned to Monroe, and in the following spring
opened a law office, and continued in the successful
practice of his profession until the autumn of 1869,
when he received a flattering offer to edit a republican
newspaper at Thibodeaux, the capital of Lafourche
Parish, in the State of Louisiana, which he accepted,
repaired to the place and entered upon his labors.
A Republican Press Association was organized at
New Orleans, while he was editing the " Lafourche
Republican " — the first organization of the kind in
Louisiana — of which he was made secretary. In
April, 1870, he resigned the editorial chair to accept
a situation in the New Orleans Custom House, but
during the summer, his health failing, he resigned
his position, returned to Monroe, and after a season
of sickness, resumed the practice of his profession.
In 1874 he ■was' again elected clerk of the circuit
court of Green county, and reelected in 1876, and
now holds that office.
In January, 1857, he received the first degrees in
Masonry, by dispensation, and soon after took all the
chapter degrees. He has several times been elected
master of Smith Lodge, No. 31, F. and A. M., located
at Monroe. He is also an Odd-Fellow. Received the
degrees of the subordinate lodge in 1855, and has
passed all the chairs in Monroe Lodge, No. 72. He
also received the encampment degrees in Odd-
fellowship. He is not a member of any church
organization, but holds to the orthodox faith, and is
generous in his contributions to religious and benev-
olent objects.
In personal appearance Mr. Bartlett is what may
be called a fine looking man. Fair complexion,
sanguine countenance, with brown hair and hazel
eyes, five feet nine inches in height, good breadth
of shoulders, measuring forty-two inches around the
chest, and weighing one hundred and eighty-five
pounds. Reared, as he was, in the backwoods, he
excelled in all atliletic sports; he was swift of foot,
and found but few equals at wrestling, and all the
I various muscular efforts to which youth is addicted'
He is a superb horseman, and most fearless and
daring rider; an unerring marksman with rifle and
pistol. His skill with the former weapon was well
known to many of the hostile Indians of the plains,
not a few of whom he sent to the happy hunting
grounds of their fathers. He killed more than fifty
buffaloes from the saddle during the season he
remained on the plains.
i As a writer and public speaker he has few supe-
riors. His pen is trenchant and graphic. His letters
i from the seat of war during the rebellion were of the
most thrilling and vivid character — his descriptive
j powers being of the highest order, while his style is
scholarly and ornate. He is also favorably known
in the regions of fictitious literature, and as a poet
has produced a volume of verse, which, for brilli-
I ancy of conception, beauty of language, depth of
thought, and fineness of fancy, is excelled by few of
j the laureates of these days, and which is destined to
perpetuate his name for all time. As a fluent and
ready speaker, graceful, complacent, and command-
ing an exhaustless flow of language, he is the peer
of any "stump" orator in the country.
His marriage with Miss Righter — still, in the
I prime and grace of womanhood — was blessed with
a family of four children, two of whom, Edmund
Morgan, born April 8, 1849, and Ellen L., born
October 16, 1846, survive. The sun studied law in
the office of Judge Dunwiddie, of Monroe, was
admitted to the bar of the State at the age of
twenty-one, and three years later to that of the
United States courts. He subsequently attended
the law school at Albany, New York, one year, and
graduated from that institution. On September 14,
1875, he married Miss Lida L. Filkins, a beautiful
and accomplished lady of that city, and entered into
partnership with the Hon. A. J. Colvin, one of the
oldest and best lawyers of Albany. Miss Bartlett,
the only daughter, is a young lady of rare beauty of
person, amiable and engaging manners, of the high-
est mental endowments, and superior culture and
refinement.
A volume of one hundred and fourteen pages just
issued by Dr. Levi Bartlett, of Warner, New Hamp-
shire, contains the pedigree of the Bartlett family
for the last eight hundred years, down to 1875.
The Bartlett " arms," which are now in some of
the families in America, is a device consisting of
three open gloved hands on a shield, gold tassels
pendant from the wrists, a swan couched, with wings
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAliV.
213
extended. In the English branch of the family \ in the iimle lim
these " arms " have been " quartered " with some [ whom have inter
eight other noble families who have become extinct 1 Bartiett family.
• the female representatives of
rried with male members of the
HENRY SOUTHARD HOWELL,
WATERTO.WiY.
HENRY S. HOWELL was born in Sussex
county, New Jersey, November 6, 1819, his
parents being Walter and Sarah C. (Lewis) Howell.
During his boyhood and youth he enjoyed good ed-
ucational facilities, and passed the greater part of
his time in school, and during his fifteenth and six-
teenth years gave special attention to the study of
surveying and civil engineering. KX. the age of sev-
enteen he joined a surveying party, and, going to
Mississippi, spent a winter in the cane brakes on a
branch of the Yazoo river. In May, 1837, going up
the Mississippi river, he stopped at Davenport, Iowa,
and was there for a time engaged in government
surveys. Tw^o years later, returning to New Jersey,
he studied law with an elder brother, George Howell,
and was afterward admitted to the bar, although he
never engaged in actual practice, but instead went
immediately to Carthage, Tennessee, and there taught
in an academy for about three years. He next went
again to Davenport, Iowa, and after spending two
years there, in 1848 removed to Wisconsin and set-
tled at Milford, Jefferson county. Here he engaged
once more in his early and favorite pursuit, and sur-
veyed the famous Dalles of the Wisconsin river, a
most delightful task, which employed his attention
for about six months.
Subsequently we find Mr. Howell a third time in
Davenport, where he was engaged two or three years
in the banking house of Cook and Sargent. In 1855
he returned to Milford, and engaged in mercantile
business, and soon afterward spent a winter at St.
Anthony, Minnesota. Settling in Watertown in 1858,
he resumed the mercantile business, to which he has
given his constant attention for nearly twenty years.
He has built up an extensive and prosperous trade,
which is now (1877) conducted under the firm name
of H. S- Howell and Co., and recognized as one of
the leading and most successful mercantile enter-
prises of the city.
In 1868 Mr. Howell was a member of the legisla-
ture, representing the first assembly district in Jeffer-
son county. He has always been a democrat, but
never has allowed political matters to interfere with
his legitimate business.
He is a royal-arch mason, and belongs to \Vater-
town Chapter, No. 11, and in his religious commun-
ion is identified with the Episcopal church.
In March, 1861, Mr. Howell was married to Miss
Ann Jennette Nute, of Milford, Wisconsin, and by
her has one child, Helen Nute, now thirteen years
of age.
Like most of the early settlers of Watertown, Mr.
Howell has shown a public-spiritedness and an en-
terprise to which the prosperity of the city is largely
due. He is, however, unostentatious and unassuming
in his manner, and while engaging heartily in what-
ever [jertains to tlie welfare of his city and com-
munity, takes no honor to himself, feeling that in
thus doing he has done simply his duty as a true
citizen.
AMASA WILSON,
NEW LISBON.
AHLESSINC on the bold frontiersman, who,
with ax on his shoulders, plunges into the for-
est, among savage beasts and red men, and prepares
the way for the hand of husbandry and the arts of
civilized life, .\masa Wilson made the first im])rove-
ment on the i)resent site of New Lisbon, Juneau
2S
county, Wisconsin. Reared on a farm among the
mountains of Vermont, in a section of country where
the hardest labor was retjuired to make the land
fruitful, and being early taught the strictest habits
of industry and economy, the influence of his train-
ing has had its effect iq)on all liis subsecjuent life.
214
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
He was born in Windsor, April i6, 1817. His
father, Hiram Wilson, moved to the West with his
family, in 1837, and settled near Galena, Illinois.
There Amasa worked on a farm for a time, and in
1839 removed northward into Wisconsin, to the spot
where the city of Portage now stands. A year later
he pushed a little farther into the wilderness and
spent the winter at the Dalles, engaged in the pine
ries. In 1842 we find him in Juneau county, ten
miles northwest of the site of New Lisbon, on the
Lemonweir river, where he was engaged in the lum-
ber business for one year; at the expiration of which
time he built a saw-mill where New Lisbon now
stands, platted the town, and broke the first ground
in the county. This section of country at that time
presented no marks of civilization — not even a log
hut. Deer, wolves and bears were abundant. The
Winnebagoes had sold their lands but had not va-
cated them. They were, however, very peaceable,
rarely even pilfering from Mr. Wilson. Once an ax
disappeared; he informed the chief, who said it
should be returned, and the next morning he found
it standing near his log cabin.
After operating his saw-mill for three years he
rented it, and in 1846 returned to Portage, where he
remained until 185 1. During this year he fixed
upon New Lisbon as his permanent home, and upon
returning hither erected a new saw-miH on the site
of the old one, and operated it for about twelve
years. About 1850 he built a mill on Yellow river.
During the last few years he has divided his at-
tention between the lumber trade and real-estate
operations, and met with a fair degree of success,
and lives now in the enjoyment of a liberal com-
petence.
About the year 187 1 Mr. Wilson became very
much afflicted in his eyes, and lost the entire sight
of one of them, and it is with great difficulty that he
can see to read with the other.
In his political opinions Mr. Wilson was formerly
a whig, but since the organization of the republican
party, in 1856, has been identified with that body.
Although tendered official honors, he has steadily
declined them, and taken no active interest in polit-
ical affairs more than to perform his duties as a
faithful citizen.
On the 6th of October, 1871, he was married to
Miss Harriet Colvin, then of New Lisbon, but
formerly of Brookfield, Madison county. New York.
Mr. Wilson is a stout-built man, weighing two
hundred pounds. He has a robust, healthy appear-
ance, and, considering the inevitable hardships of a
frontier life, we must say that time has, on the
whole, dealt gently with him. As the oldest land-
mark of civilization in New I,isbon, he is held in the
highest esteem by its citizens.
ADOLPH MEINECKE,
MILWAUKEE.
ADOLPH MEINECKE, the eldest son of Dr.
Itl. Ferdinand Meinecke and his wife Sophia, was
born August 15, 1830, in Burhave, a small country
town on the border of the German Sea, in the
Grand Duchy of Oldenburg. He lost his mother
at the time of his birth, and his little twin brother j
followed the mother in the first year of his life. His [
father was married again to Miss Meta Bollenhagen
when Adolph was in his fourth year. 1
Up to his thirteenth year he had as good an
education as a small country place could afford,
besides the lessons of his learned father. In his
hoys' days he already had his eyes toward the New
World, and his heartiest wish was to be once a
citizen in the great Republic. His father was also
fond of America, and he spoke of emig-ating every
year, hut could only accomplish his heart's wish in
later years. In his thirteenth year his father sent
him to the high school in Oldenburg, and in the
following year he was confirmed in the Protestant
church. After he had studied the higher classes,
he went to the commercial college at Osnabruck.
In the spring of 1848, when the whole of France
and Germany were in revolutionary war, Adolph
sailed in the good Irish ship Belinda, Captain
Kelly, to America, and landed in New York on
the loth of June. What a sight for a young boy!
what enchanted scenes! — the beautiful Narrows at
Staten Island at the finest season of the year, and
in front of the gigantic metropolis, surrounded by
a forest of shipmasts! — then the landing and
entrance into the gotham of New York ! This all
made the boy's heart beat, who, with twenty-six old-
fashioned Mexican dollars in his pocket, stood alone ;
<:z.^ <?- L-^^ (3-
-A^
THE UNITED ST, VIES HIO< iRAPIIH AI. DICTION ART.
215
but what cares the young, strong and liopeful? Tlie |
twenty-six dollars were a burden, and ^twenty-five
of them were lent to a friend in the first week, and
gone forever. Next thing was to get a situation
and earn money. After many disappointments he
succeeded in getting a place as an errand boy at
the worsted and fancy store of J. M. Peyser and
Co., on Broadway. It was a hot summer, and
not used to the climate his health gave out, and
Adolph had to stay at home ; being restored to
health he had the lucky chance to get a situation
at the store of Mr. Edward Hen, 18 Liberty street,
at that early day one of the largest importers of
German and French fancy goods, although his
whole store consisted of two ordinary rooms in the
third story. Adolph was clerk, boy and porter, all
in one person. He had a chance to learn, because
being next to the chief he was intrusted with a
good deal of business which in a large house would
have been transacted by older clerks. Adolph had
ambition enough not to stand back of any work,
and he did all he could for the interest of his
employer, .\fter a couple of years the rooms and
locality were too small, and Mr. Hen rented a
regular store, the whole building, at No. 23 Liberty
street, and of course wanted more help. Adolph
kept his place next to the chief. In 1850 Mr. Hen
went to Europe for seven months, and business and
power of attorney were intrusted to Adolph, although
he was a mi-nor for the first three months of his
absence. Mr. Hen returned ; business doubled
since that time. Adolph received higher wages. He
slept in the store, and by great economy saved as
much from his salary as he could, depositing his
money at the Merchants' Clerks' Saving Institution.
When he deposited the first five dollars he thought
himself equal to Jacob Astor.
In 1850 he got acquainted with a newly emi-
grated family from Heilbronn, in Wurtemberg. The
head of the family, George Krafft, Esq., was one of
the leading revolutionists of southern Germany in
1848, and when the whole movement proved to be
a failure, nothing was left further than to go into
exile, like so many others, first to Paris, then to New
York. He was lucky to escape the sentence of his
trial, which was twenty years' imprisonment. The
youngest daughter of this gentleman, Maria Louisa,
enchanted Adolph 's innocent heart so much that
they had their first love and the only one, for they
kept the engagement for about four years, and on
February 25, 1854, they were married. Their resi-
dence was a nice little house on DeGraw street, ]
Brooklyn. Adolph, of course, having now his own j
home, wanted his own business, and in the Far West '
he thought to find it. In traveling for Mr. Hen's \
business he took a great fancy for the growing, '
thriving place Milwaukee, which at that time j
numbered twenty-five thousand inhabitants. Mr.
Hen, who had real paternal love for Adolph,
promised his help.
In the spring of 1S55 the household was broken
up, and the young married couple separated, Maria
following an invitation of Adolph's father to Ger-
many, and the steamer Herman took the dear love
east across the big ocean ; while Adolph traveled
west to find his Eureka, and he found it. With
about one thousand dollars, which he had saved,
and the personal credit and good will of Mr. Hen,
he started his business on the 12th day of July, 1855.
He opened with a small stock of toys and fancy
goods, a store twenty by sixty feet, on East Water
street. Market square. Late in the fall his wife
returned home from Germany, and found the little
nest built. The first year the whole business did
not amount to twelve thousand dollars, but great
economy and constant attention to business, and
his frank and upright dealing with everybody, made
him friends. September 11, 1856, his eldest son
Ferdinand was born; and on the 9th of June, 1858,
the second son, named after his father.
In 1856 his parents emigrated and made their
home in Milwaukee. The old gentleman followed
his profession for twelve years; he died October 28,
i858, mourned by many friends. His brother
Edward was clerk in his store for a number of years,
until he started in the produce and commission
business for himself. Things went on well until
1857, when the panic came. His business was too
small at that time to be much affected by direct
losses, but it threw him back, and only in 1859 he
began to feel better times. His store became too
small ; he rented the old post-office in Prentiss
block; his business grew larger, and in i860 he
imported the first German goods direct. As busi-
ness kept on growing he was obliged to rent all the
upper rooms in Prentiss block, and the frame build-
ing opposite. In the yard of this store he com-
menced his factory, in 1864, of willow and wooden
ware in a small shanty, fourteen by forty, which
he built himself.
In 1866 he went with his wife to Europe, the
first time leaving their two boys, Ferdinand and
2l6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTlONAIiV.
Adolpli, on their farm five miles from the city, in
care of Professor Walther, an old gentleman, as
their teacher. On his trip to Europe he made
profitable engagements, and his localities became
too small for the business; so he rented in 1867
the large warehouse, No. 93 Huron street, and
from that time his business was strictly wholesale.
In 1867 he took in his house and family Charles
Penshorn, an orphan from his native village.
Charley went to school with his boys and proved
to be of very good character; was kept as a son
in the family. He is at present his first hand in
business.
The factory was removed into the old Horning
mill on Front street, which was bought with forty
feet front in 1866. In 1869 the adjoining sixty feet
were purchased and the present large factory was
erected in 1870, being eighty by one hundred and
forty feet in size. In 1871 business being in two
different places, became too large for one head to
control. Mr. Meinecke took a partner in his whole-
sale fancy goods business, his cousin, Mr. Theodore
Luebben, who had served for him as clerk a number
of years.
In 1871 he sent his two boys to a high school in
Germany. They returned in 1874. Ferdinand,
the eldest, having studied the higher classes in the
Polytechnical College in Hanover, took his place in
the factory ; being acquainted with all parts of
machinery, and to make drawings for new patterns,
etc. Adolph is serving his apprenticeship in a
wholesale fancy goods house, Ramin, Bro. and Co.
Mr. Meinecke never meddled with politics ; before
the war he was a strong democrat, but became a
republican. He was not a soldier, but did all he
could for the army; sent ten men from his shops.
He was appointed by Gov. Taylor one of the Centen-
nial commissioners for the State of Wisconsin.
E L I P. MAY,
FORT A TKINSON.
ELI P. MAY was born May 26, 1825, at Oneida,
Oneida county. New York, his parents b'eing
Chester May and Hannah Damuth May. His ma-
ternal grandmother was captured by the Indians
during the war for independence, and taken to Can-
ada, and subsequently rescued. His father was a
soldier in the war of 181 2. He cleared a farm in
Oneida, and subsequently had contracts on the Erie
canal and the Croton water-works. In 1839 he
removed to Wisconsin, reaching Milwaukee on the
3d of July, and the next day broke the ground for
the Rock River canal, of which he had the contract,
but which was never completed. " Prior to coming
west Eli had received a common-school education,
and soon after reaching Wisconsin attended an acad-
emy at Beloit for a short time. In his sixteenth year
he began teaching school, which vocation he followed
during the winter months for about four years, work-
ing the rest of the time on a farm one and a half
miles south of Fort Atkinson, which his father had
purchased and settled upon in 1839. In 1847 Ches-
ter May built a mill in Dodge county, seven miles
from any house, on the west branch of Rock river.
Here, one mile from Mayville — which place was
named in honor of him — he discovered iron ore;
some of which Eli, at his request, took to a blast
furnace in Indiana, tested and had a stove cast from
it. It was the first stove ever made of Wisconsin
iron, and is still in the possession of the subject of
this sketch.
At the age of twenty-three he began the study of
law with Emmons and Van Dyke, of Milwaukee;
but upon the death of his father, which occurred
February 18, 1849, his elder brother being away
from home, he was compelled to abandon his studies
and take charge of the farm. About three years
later he moved into Fort Atkinson, and with his
brothers, George W. and Chester, built a saw-mill
on Rock river. He soon afterward opened a store,
and continued in trade about ten years, his brother
Chester being in partnership with him part of the time.
After discontinuing the mercantile business Mr.
May spent some time dealing in stock and wool and
in real-estate operations, usually with good success,
and during the last three or four years has been
j engaged in the manufacture of flour, as a member
of the firm of May, Waterbury and Co. Besides,
he is interested in various other enterprises in Fort
Atkinson. He is a stockholder in the Northwestern
Furniture Company, also in the Foundry and Ma-
chine Company, and likewise a director and stock-
liolder of the First National Bank.
THE UNITED STATES HIOCRAE 11 KM . n[(TI()lSlAin\
Just prior to the close of the civil war Mr. May
received a commissary's commission from President
Lincoln, with the title of captain. Going to St.
Louis he arrived just before the President's death,
and immediately resigned and returned home. Dur-
ing the whole period of the war he was active in
the cause of the Union, and very generous to the
families of those who had enlisted and gone to the
field.
In politics he lias been a republican since the
party was organized. In 1S70 he was a candidate
for State representative, and although his district
was democratic lacked but five votes of being
elected.
Mr. May is a Universalist in religious sentiment,
and one of the pillars of the Fort Atkinson society.
Generous and charitable, he gives liberally to the
support of all worthy objects.
He has been twice married : on September i, 1853,
10 Miss Harriet K. Vosburg, of Fort Atkinson, who
j died May 24, 1855 ; on December 23, 1856, he mar-
[ ried Miss Ann Curtis, daughter of Cyrus Curtis, an
j early settler in Jefl"erson county, and an enterprising
man. Mr. May had one child by his first wife, and
has four children by the second. He lives in one
of the finest brick houses in the village, its location
being on the site of the old fort.
Mr. May is one of the foremost men in all local
enterprises, and imjjortant responsibilities in this
respect have been put upon him. When the Chicago
and Northwestern railroad — (Ireen Bay and Lake
Superior line — was built through Fort Atkinson he
was chairman of the board of supervisors, and signed
the bonds given by the town to that company, and
did his full share in encouraging this great enterprise ;
and to a iftw such men as he the town is largely
indebted for its manufacturing interests, its growth
and its prosperity.
MILO JONES,
EORT ATKINSON.
AMONG the early settlers in Jefferson county,
. Wisconsin, was Milo Jones, a man of great
courage, coolness, and decision of character. He
came of good fighting stock, more than one of
his kinsmen having aided in gaining the independ-
ence of the colonies. His parents, Edward Jones
and Lucy ne'e Farnsworth, were industrious farmers,
living at the time of his birth, February 16, 1809, at
Richmond, Chittenden county, Vermont. Milo re-
mained at home until 1828, receiving such education
as a farmer's son could gain at the common school.
At that time, entering the surveyor-general's office
at IJurlington, he spent about four years in study,
])aying particular attention to surveying and civil
engineering. At the expiration of this time he
started for the growing West, where much govern-
ment surveying had to be done, and many towns
platted, and reached Michigan in June, 1832, when
the Black Hawk war was at its height; there he
spent the winter shaking with ague, and in the fol-
lowing year returned to Vermont, and again worked
his way to Michigan, passing through Ohio early in
1834. Spending that summer and autumn in sur-
veying, he, just before winter set in, fitted out a
party and started for the then territory of Wisconsin,
where, in company with another gentleman, he had
a contract for government siirvexs extending over
several counties. He was employed in this work
about two years, and in 1837 took a government
contract in what is now the State of Iowa.
In 1838 Mr. Jones, having selected the beautiful
spot where Fort Atkinson, a village of twenty-five
hundred inhabitants, now stands as his future home,
there built him a log cabin, and on that identical
spot we find him to-day. There were then only two
families on the present site of the village, though
Charles Rockwell, a pioneer, was only a short dis-
tance away. Without any legal rights here, Indians
had entire possession of the country, and called the
place Koshkonong, because of the lake of that name
in this township, a name which some of the early
settlers were disposed to adopt. The post-office,
however, had always been named Fort Atkinson, in
honor of General Atkinson. Here Mr. Jones opened
a farm, and from time to time, as occasion recjuired,
engaged in surveying.
In 1839 he started a dairy on what would now be
regarded a small scale, and considers himself as the
pioneer cheese manufacturer of the State. Among
the experiences of those early times might be men-
tioned the following :
Early in the spring of 1840 or 1841, some of the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGHAPHJCAL DICTIONART.
families near Mr. Jones had a terrible fright caused
by the Indians. A fur trader had given them some
diluted whisky, and in a half into.xicated state they
entered two or three cabins of the whites in the
night, hooted and danced, and pillaged and fled.
Some of the old women in great fear found shelter
at Mr. Jones', where they said they should be safe.
Mr. Jones, who subsequently received a colonel's
commission from General Dodge, wrote to the Gen-
eral the particulars in regard to the Indians, and
received orders to remove them from the locality
alive or dead. He summoned thirty or forty men
from the surrounding country, who all came with
guns and ammunition. Having interviewed the
chief, on the shore of the lake, Mr. Jones gave him
fifteen minutes in which to fold up his tents and
depart, and before that time had expired every red
man was making rapid strides in a westward direc-
tion. On the same day, and at the same hour, an
Indian trader came along in a canoe to negotiate for
pelts, having whisky in his trunks. This Mr. Jones
destroyed, talked seriously of an extemporaneous
gallows, upon which the fur dealer paddled his
canoe away as though racing with death himself
On another occasion Mr. Jones met a large body
of Indians returning from Milwaukee, where they
had been to receive their government supplies.
Seeing that they were partially intoxicated, he gath-
I ered from their looks, their movements, and their
language, that they meant mischief, and when he
1 started to leave them made quick steps for twenty
or thirty feet, then turning suddenly, he saw half a
! dozen guns about to be pointed at him, and in a
moment more was among the Indians cuffing their
ears, and showing them that he understood them.
He started off a second time, keeping an eye on
them until he had passed over a knoll, and then
disappeared at a rapid pace.
] On July 4, 1849, Mr. Jones opened the Green
I Mountain House, and continued its proprietor for
several years, and during the administration of
President Pierce, was postmaster, having his office
' in the hotel.
In 1848 he was a member of the constitutional
( convention, and had the satisfaction of seeing carried
j through that body nearly every measure which he
. advocated. In politics he was a democrat until
! 1861, since which time he has voted with the repub-
lican party.
In April, 1832, Mr. Jones was married to Miss
Sarah Crane, of Richmond, Vermont, who died in
1872. Of the eight children born to them, five are
now living, of whom four are married. Milo C.
Jones, one of the sons, manages the home farm,
consisting of five or six hundred acres, and has one
of the largest private dairies in this part of the State.
GOV. JOHN E. HOLMES,
JEFFERSON.
JOHN EDWIN HOLMES, the first lieutenant-
J governor of the State of Wisconsin, was born
December 28, 1809, near Hartford, Connecticut, his
parents being Solomon and Ann (McKee) Holmes.
The family moved to the State of New York when
he was in his fourth year, and both parents dying
before he was nine he went to live with his grand-
father in the same State. He early exhibited a
strong love for books, in which, however, his grand-
father did not encourage him. At twelve years of
age he left home, and going to Hamilton, Madison
county, there partially learned a trade. During his
leisure hours he applied himself to study, and thus
gained an education sufficient to enable him to
teach a common school. Later he attended an
academy in the place where he resided, and event-
ually prepared himself for the Universalist ministry.
After preaching for a time in Chautauqua county.
New York, and adjacent parts of Pennsylvania, he,
in 1836, settled at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Here he
was engaged in preaching for nearly a year, and
upon his removal, which was before the close of that
year, settled at Roscoe, Illinois, and began tJ»e study
of law. At the end of two years he went to Lock-
port, in the same State, exchanged his theological for
a law library, and was there admitted to the bar.
Removing to Savanna, in Carroll county, he was
there engaged in the practice of law for about two
years, and in 1843 pushed northward into Wiscon-
sin, and settled at his present home in Jefferson,
where he practiced law in the State and United
States courts until his death.
When Wisconsin became a State, in 1848, Mr.
Holmes was chosen lieutenant governor, and served
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
in that capacity for two years. In 1832 we find him
in the State legislature, in which body he rendered
valuable, efficient and lasting service.
In August, 1862, Mr. Holmes went into the army
as quartermaster of the 2 2d Regiment of Wiscon-
sin Infantry. He remained with the regiment un-
til March 25, 1863, when he was taken prisoner, at
Brentwood, Tenn., and sent to Libby prison. He
was there confined until the 5th of the following
May, when he was exchanged. Two days later he
was sent to Annapolis, where he died the next
day. His remains were brought to Jefferson, and
there buried according to the rites of the Masonic
order.
In early life Mr. Holmes was a democrat, but
acted with the republican jjarty after its organiza-
tion in 1856.
In 1836 he married Miss Ruth A. Hawley, of
Milan, Ohio, by whom he had four sons, who are
still living. Mrs. Holmes and three of her sons are
living in Nebraska, while the other son, Edwin F.
Holmes, is a merchant in Jefferson, Wisconsin.
CHARLES ROCKWELL,
FORT ATKINSON.
EMIGRATION, it is said, tends to barbarism.
If this be true, the rule has it exceptions.
There are men who have taken their christian vir-
tues and their consciences with them into the wil-
derness, and there strengthened both. Charles
Rockwell was the second man to pitch his tent on
the present site of Fort Atkinson ; and whether liv-
mg among savages or civilized men, whether deal-
ing with red men or white men, his dealings and
actions have always been those of an honorable,
upright business man. He is a native of Oneida
county, New York, and was born May 11, 1810.
His parents, Thomas B. Rockwell and Mary nee
Dunham, were from New England. His father
moved from ( )neida county to Stockbridge, Mad-
ison county, when the son was seven years old.
Here Charles lived during the next twenty years,
dividing his time between farm-work and study in
the district school until he was seventeen, when he
learned and worked at the joiner's trade.
In 1837 Mr. Rockwell removed to the West,
reaching Fort Atkinson in June of that year, and
for a short time occupied a stable owned by Mr.
Dwight Foster, the original settler of the place.
There were few other families in the vicinity, but
Indians, by the leniency of the government, were
still very numerous. The land had not yet come
into market, but Mr. Rockwell made a claim of one
section and three fourths, upon which he performed
a certain amount of work to prevent its being
"jumped," and at the same time built him a log
cabin one and a half miles east of the Fort, on Bark
river. Soon afterward he built a free ferry at what
was known as Rockwell's Crossing, keeping a scow
for teams and two or three canoes for footmen,
every man doing his own paddling. In 1838, hav-
ing made an addition to his cabin, Mr. Rockwell
opened a store, a brother living in New York State
furnishing the goods, which he shipped by water to
Milwaukee, whence they were taken by ox teams —
the journey of fifty miles occupying a week for the
round trip. About 1841, not having the means to
enter the land when it came into market, Mr. Rock-
well resigned his claims to his brother, and, moving
to Fort Atkinson, erected a house, and during the
next thirty years was engaged at his trade. At
first he used to lumber in the winter and fill con-
tracts for building during the rest of the year. He
built the first store in the place, which is still stand-
ing on the northeast corner of Main and Milwaukee
streets. He also built the first school house, a sub-
stantial and well-finished frame building, twenty-
three by thirty feet, at a cost of one hundred dollars
— a building which could not now be built for three
hundred dollars. The house, for a time, was used
for both school and church purposes. Mr. Rock-
well was anxious to have some respectable place in
the little village for Sunday worship, and, for the
sake of securing the job and hurrying the work,
took the contract at a low figure.
He has been a member of the Congregational
church since seventeen years of age, and is now the
only surviving constituent male member of the Fort
Atkinson body. He has always maintained a con-
sistent christian character.
He is also a member of the Royal Blue in the
Odd-fellows order.
In politics Mr. Rockwell was a democrat until
THE UNITED STATES BIOdRAPniCAL DICTIONARY.
1856, since which time lie has voted with the repub-
lican party.
He has been married three times: first, in 1S33,
to Miss Ann Maria Farrington, of Augusta, New
York, who died one year later; July 4, 1835, he was
married to Miss Caroline L. More, of Augusta, by
whom he had three children, and who died in 1873;
April 2, 1874, he was married to Miss Maggie Tel-
fer, of Fort Atkinson. W. Adelbert Rockwell, the
only surviving child by his second wife, is a joiner ;
he is married, and resides near his father. When
Mr. Rockwell settled at Fort Atkinson he purchased
land, which he still works.
As showing the patriotism of Mr. Rockwell, the
following incident may be related. Most of the cit-
izens of Fort .Atkinson made arrangements to ob-
serve the " Centennial Fourth " at larger towns in the
vicinity, but Mr. Rockwell thought some notice
should be taken of so important a day at home.
Since the local band had an engagement to leave
town durina; the forenoon of the fourth, he sent
out an invitation to all its members and to several
families in the village to take breakfast with him.
He built a large bower the night before, after the
neighbors had retired, and prepared a sumptuous
feast. The band came early and marched through
the streets summoning the guests, and at a season-
able hour all sat down to breakfast, while over their
heads waved a flag made years before by Mr. Rock-
well's second wife, the faithful Caroline, who accom-
panied him to his wilderness home nearly fifty years
ago, and who was foremost in every patriotic and
benevolent movement.
No man in the village has struggled harder or
done more for the educational, moral, religious and
general interests of the place, or is held in higher
esteem by his neighbors. He was one of the first
justices of the peace in the place, and tried the first
case; was a supervisor for several years, and during
one term chairman of the board, and has, in short,
been honored by his townsmen with every office
within their gift.
JOSEPH DORR CLAPP,
FORT ATKINSON.
AMONG the prudent business men and success-
. ful financiers of Jefferson county, Wisconsin,
is Joseph D. Clapp, a native of Westminster, Wind-
ham county, Vermont. He is a son of Caleb and
Nancy (Dorr) Clapp, and was born on the 31st of
December, 181 1. His father, a carpenter and
builder, and later in life a woolen manufacturer,
owned a small farm, on which the son worked until
his seventeenth year, at which time he became a
salesman in a West India goods store in Boston,
Massachusetts, where he remained until he attained
his majority. About two years later, in connection
with an elder brother, Mark R. Clapp, he bought a
part of the old homestead, and remained upon it a
year or two. Selling his interest, he removed to the
West, and settled at the place which he afterward
named Milford, in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, in
the autumn of 1839. Here he entered lands and
bought claims in connection with his elder brother;
built a log dwelling-house and a frame barn, and
opened a farm, which he cultivated until 1857, when
he sold out, removed to Fort Atkinson, and engaged
in the banking business with his brother-in-law,
Hon. 1,. H. Caswell, member of congress from this
district. The institution was called the Koshkonong
Bank, and was organized under the State law. In
1864 Messrs. Clapp and Caswell sold their interest
in this institution, and organized the First National
Bank of Fort Atkinson, Mr. Clapp taking the posi-
tion of president, which he still holds.
By upright dealing and careful management he
has attained a good degree of success, and lives in
the enjoyment of a liberal competence. Public
spirited and generous, he takes an active interest in
all that pertains to the welfare of his \illage, and
with wise planning, in an unostentatious manner,
aids from time to time in carrying forward important
local improvements.
In ] 863 he was elected to the State senate for a
term of two years, and during that time rendered
valuable and efficient service on several important
committees, and was known as one of the working
members. (His brother Mark, who still lives at
Milford, has also been a member of the legislature.)
Mr. Clapp has always been identified with the
democratic party, and during the civil war was
known as a "war democrat," and contributing liber-
ally of his means in putting down the rebellion.
THE UNITED STATES lUOCRAPIIICAL DICTIONARY.
221
Mr. Clapp has been twice married : first to Zida
Ann May, of Fort Atkinson, August 21, 1841, and
the second time to Mrs. S. C. Weld, of Freeport,
Illinois, September 23, 1869. The first wife died
February 14, 1867. He has no children by either
marriage.
In his religious views he is a llniversalist.
Mr. Clapp is of a ruddy complexion ; is five feet
seven and a half inches high, and weighs one hun-
dred and sixty pounds. He has always been a man
of temperate and in all respects excellent liabits,
and although sixty-five years old would pass for a
much younger man, and gives every evidence of
further years of usefulness.
PATRICK H. O'ROURK. LL.D.,
MILWAUKEE.
PATRICK HENRY O'ROURK, son of Michael
and Elizabeth O'Rourk, was born in Granville,
Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, August 28, 1847.
When but two years of age his parents removed to
Lyndon, Sheboygan county, where he grew up on a
farm, working hard for his father until he reached
the age of sixteen, meanwhile improving every op-
portunity for education that offered itself in the inter-
vals of his labor. This routine of farm life, though
hard and homely in its details, was productive of
most beneficial results, and — as is usually the case
— he acquired "a sound mind in a sound body,"
invaluable to his future advancement. He after-
ward read law with Stephens and Flowers, at Madi-
son, Wisconsin, and subsequently pursued a course
of study in the law department of the ITniversity of
Wisconsin, from which he graduated with the mer-
ited degree of LL.D.
He was admitted to the bar in 1869, b\- Hon.
Alva Stewart, presiding judge of the circuit, and
afterward of the supreme court of Wisconsin and
the United States circuit court. In 187 1 he was
elected to the assembly from Sheboygan county,
having an unprecedented majority, nearly equal to
the full vote cast for his opponent, and found him-
self, at the age of twenty-four, the youngest member
of the house. In 1872 he was elected to the State
senate from the first district by a handsome majority.
In 1S74 he settled in Milwaukee, and opened there
an office for the practice of his profession.
In the same year he was married to Miss Frances
A. Titus, of Wisconsin, an educated and highly
accomplished lady, who as a wife is eminently fitted
to exercise an influence for good over the fortunes
of the rising young lawyer.
Mr. O'Rourk is yet in the morning of his career,
but has already distanced many older competitors
on the upward road to renown, and seems destined
to rival the fame of the illustrious statesman after
whom he was named.
HON. DANIEL HALL,
W ATEHTOnN.
DANIEL HALL, a native of Greenwich, Wash-
ington county, New York, was born November
'20, 1819, and is the son of Titus Hall and Sarah nc'c
Sybrandt. His parents were farmers by occupation,
a class from whom spring three-fourths of our dis-
tinguished men. The subject of this sketch aided
his father on the farm until he was eighteen years of
age, at which time he entered the seminary at Lima,
Livingston county. New York, and prepared for col-
lege. In 1842 he entered the sophomore class of
Union College, from which he graduated in [845.
Later he studied law at Lockport, Niagara county,
29
in the ofi^<es of Woods and Bowen, and of Judge
(Gardner. He afterward removed to Wisconsin and
was admitted to the bar in Milwaukee in August,
1851. During the next month he settled in Water-
town, Jefferson county, where he has since been
steadily engaged in the practice of his profession,
and is known as a wise counselor and skillful attor-
ney, and where his legal services and ability are
thoroughly appreciated by his fellow-citizens.
Although in politics he was formerly a whig and
is now (1877) a republicnn, and although living
in a district four-fifths deuwcratic, he has been
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ART.
repeatedly elected to office — not, however, of his own
seeking.
Mr. Hall was elected district attorney of Jefferson
county for 1857 and 1858, and was a member of the
legislature in 1870, 1871 and 1872, and speaker of
the house during the last-named year. His record
as a legislator is one of marked success and useful-
ness. He was usually chosen to further some im-
portant measure, and always accomplished the pur-
pose of his constituents.
Mr. Hall attends the Congregational church. He
is a liberal supporter of the gospel, and of all worthy
benevolent enterprises.
He has been twice married: first, in June, 1846,
to Miss Elizabeth T. Flagler, of Lockport, New
York, wlio died. May 24, 1S47. On September i,
1852, he was married to Miss Lucy B. Newhall, also
of Lockport, and by her has had two children, one
of whom, Arthur D. Hall, is now living. He is in
the junior class of the Wisconsin State University,
and is a promising young man.
Mr. Hall started life to become a lawyer and noth-
ing else, and to this end has employed all his time and
energies. At the urgent solicitation of his fellow-
citizens, as is seen in this sketch, he has stepped
aside on two or three occasions, for a short time, to
attend to some important legislative matters, but
when such labors have terminated he has gladly re-
turned to his chosen profession, in which he is an
eminent success.
GEORGE B. MINER, M.D.. D.D.S.
MIL WA UKEE.
GEORGE BARBER MINER was born in Og-
den, near Rochester, New York, March 10,
1818. He was the son of Dr. Amos and Alcy Case
Miner. His father was a physician, as were many
of his ancestors, and owned and resided ujjon a fine
farm near Toledo, Ohio, to which he removed when
George was fourteen years old, which his sons were
trained to till while they lived at home. George
Barber was selected as the son who should study his
father's profession and succeed him in his practice.
Accordingly, ere he had concluded his common
school education, he was taught to compound medi-
cines, and commenced the study of the theory and
practice of medicine at the age of seventeen. While
thus engaged in study, he for a year and a half had
charge of the farm work, when he was sent to Ober-
lin, Ohio, to pursue the regular collegiate classical
course of study, but more especially to take advan-
tage of the facilities afforded in the well appointed
laboratory of Professor Doscone, the eminent sur-
geon, for the study of practical surgery. He remained
at Oberlin three years and a half, completing his
studies at the age of twenty-three. Suffering from
impaired health, instead of entering upon the
practice of medicine he turned his attention to the
subject of dentistry and joined Dr. Meacham, a
skillful dentist, in a tour through the South ; while
with him he perfected his knowledge in practical den-
tistry, graduated regularly and received a diploma
at the Cincinnati Dental College. He traveled in
the South in all about two years. In 1844 Dr.
Miner removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he
entered upon the practice of his profession, opening
an office on the northeast corner of Main, now Broad-
way and Wisconsin streets, where now stands the
North-Western Insurance Company's building, with
Dr. Fanies as partner, which partnership continued
until 1850. He soon became known e.xtensively as
a skillful dentist, and his business steadily increased,
receiving no inconsiderable patronage from distant
towns. His increasing business demanding more
commodious offices, he erected the building formerly
occupied by the First National Bank, on the site
now occupied by that bank. In i860, having sold
his building on Wisconsin street, he removed to East
Water street, and continued there until 1870, when
he gave up his offices and partially retired from
practice, other interests demanding his attention.
Yet his many friends and patrons, unwilling to re-
linquish their claims upon his professionaL services,
he consented to continue his practice on a limited
scale at his private residence on Wisconsin street.
From 185 1 to 1859 he was a director of the North
Western Life Insurance Company, was one of its
charter members, and a prime mover in [)resenting
the advantages and claims of this now great corpo-
ration before the public. His religious views are
those of-the Congregational church, in which he was
raised. In politics he was an old-line whig, and
subsequently a republican. He assisted in raising
^£J,-
'-^^-i-cx^L*-
THE UNITED STATES lilOCRAPrirCAL TJICTrONART
225
men for the army of the rebellion and in ec|uii)])ing
them for the field.
He married in Milwaukee, July 3, 1S48, Marinda
Seymour, a native of Batavia, New York. He has
one daughter, wife of F. T. Day, Esq.
From ancient records we find that the first one
who bore the name of Miner was Henry, who lived
in the age of one of the Edwards of England, at
Mendip Hills, in Somersetshire. The name of the
armorial bearings was given by king Edward in
acknowledgment of his services in providing an
escort for the king on his way to embark for France.
The king in giving him a coat-of-arms honored his
vocation by bestowing upon him the name of his
trade as a sirname. His ancestors in this country
were among the first settlers in Connecticut, one of
whom became governor of tlie colony, and many of
whom were active in the early Indian war, and sub-
sequently in the great war of the revolution.
Dr. Miner's grandmother was the sister of the
celebrated John Brown. Dr. Miner is a gentleman
of highly respectable abilities in his profession, of
e.xemplary morals and habits, and scrupulously exact
in the discharge of his public and private duties.
His virtues are most conspicuous in his social and
domestic relations
REV. SAMUEL E. MINER,
SAMUEL ELBERT MINER, whose name will
be connected in history with the " electrical
hyijothesis of creation" — of which he claims to
be the discoverer — was born ia Halifax, Windham
county, Vermont, December 13, 1815, and is the son
of Samuel Holnian and Anna (Avery) Miner, of pure
New England Puritanic stock. He is descended
from an' ancestry of singular probity of character
and remarkable vitality — living to great age, and
transmitting family traits of character through a
long line of descendants, commencing with Henry
Miner, who came from England and settled in New
London, Connecticut, upon a farm that has remained
in the family name for some eight generations.
They were all men of singular purity of character;
not one of them ever having been accused of crime.
Their honorable English ancestry is attested by a
coat of arms preserved in the family.
The father of our subject was remarkable for his
breadth of character, great judgment and extensive
information, and held a most honorable rank among
the fathers of New England society, and was the
trusted counselor and adviser of his neighbors and
townsmen in all important matters. He was one of
the pillars of the church, and was born in 1776 and
died in 1862, in Smithfield, Pennsylvania.
His motherwas the daughter of Captain Samuel
Avery, a revolutionary hero, justly proud of his fam-
ily name and of his honorable wounds in the cause
of his country. She lived to the age of ninety years,
and was wont, in her age, to tell the story of her
father's wounds in battle, and of her thirteen other
relatives who were killed at the storming of Fort
Griswold by the British under Arnold in 1781. She
was a mother worthy of her noble parentage, and
protested against the usage requiring women to
"keep silence in the church," by leaving the Con-
gregational and uniting with the .Methodist church,
where she could express her views in class and
prayer meetings. The ancestors of the Miner family
for many generations have belonged to the Congre-
gational church, and the titles of Deacon and Rev-
erend seem to be hereditary in the family.
The early life of S. E. Miner was spent upon a
farm, where he learned by experience to eat bread
" by the sweat of his face," and employed his leisure
hours in picking up stones, hoeing in the garden, or
killing Canada thistles.
At the age of seventeen he went to Troy, New
York, to learn the carpenter trade with a brother-in-
law. Prior to the expiration of his apjirenticeship
he united with the Presbyterian church, and under
a sense of duty, began a course of preparatory study
for the ministry; entered the Oneida Institute,
VVhitestown, Oneida county, New York. Here lie
entered upon the great moral battle-ground of his
life. The institution was established as a protest
against American slavery, and the curriculum of
studies was arranged with a view to qualifying its
students for fighting Christian battles with bible
weapons. Hebrew and Greek were made the prom-
inent classic studies, and the Old and New Testaments
were its text books. An institution so much at
variance with the animus of the times, could hardly
226
THE UNITED STATES BrOGRAPIirCAJ, DICTIONARY.
expect exemption from opposition and obloquy.
The American Education Society withdrew its aid
from the students, while the State refused a college
charter. Hundreds of young men were thus made
to feel more intensely the curse of slavery, and be-
came the life-long persistent enemies of that institu-
tion. After quitting Oneida College he supplemented
its course by a year at the Burr Seminary at Man-
chester, Vermont, which was devoted to the study of
Latin. He entered the Auburn Theological Semi-
nary in 1840, from which he graduated in 1843.
During his entire course of study he found his trade
a resource of great value, being often under the
necessity of paying his way in school by the labor of
his hands.
He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery^ of
Cayuga in the spring of 1843, and in the employment
of the Home Missionary Society, commenced his
labors at Madison, Wisconsin, in October of the
same year, and was ordained to the Congregational
ministry by the Presbyterian and Congregational con-
vention of Wisconsin in 1844. The capital of the
Territory of Wisconsin was then a village of three
hundred inhabitants — but with surroundings of I
wild and varied beauty. Here he labored earnestly
for three years, and under his ministry the first
ecclesiastical edifice of the place was erected at a
cost of two thousand dollars — a sum equal to the
entire wealth of the membership of the congrega-
tion. In 1844 he was elected chaplain of the terri-
torial legislature, and in 1846 was elected, with Rev.
Thomas M'Hugh, of the Episcopal church, chaplain
of the first constitutional convention of Wisconsin.
At the adjournment of the convention he accepted
a call from the Congregational Church of Elkhorn,
Walworth county, where he labored with marked
success for six years. During this period the slave- \
holding power in both church and state reached the j
apogee of its arrogance, and threatened to subordi-
nate the whole nation to its influence. Our subject's
training had fitted him for this emergency. He en-
tered with all his strength and soul into the struggle,
and wielded an influence second to none in the
State, and to few in the country in crystallizing the
then rapidly forming anti-slavery sentiment, which
in r86o swept the nation. He exchanged frequently
with brother ministers, and in every pulpit and on
every platform he earnestly preached an anti-slavery
gospel. He had also some memorable encounters
with temporizing and timid brethren of the ministry.
These were by far the most important, though not
the most popular, years of his ministry. He next
labored for six years as a missionary in Wyocena,
Columbia county, where he gathered a congregation,
erected a church of fine appearance at a cost of two
thousand dollars, and also built a select school-house
at his own expense — for which he secured an excel-
lent eastern teacher — and was a member of the
school board of the district and town superintendent
of schools, and by his energy infused life and vigor
into the people, which told powerfully on their insti-
tutions ; so that on retiring he left the schools and
churches of the village comfortably housed and
firmly established. In 1858 he became pastor of
the Congregational church of Monroe, where he
labored ane year with great success, erected a house
of worship and strengthened the congregation. This
closed his labors in the active ministry.
During the preceding four years of his life his re-
ligious views had been gradually lapsing from the
severe orthodoxy of the Presbyterian and Congrega-
tional churches to broader conceptions of the divine
love and of human duty. The fatherhood of God
and the sonship of Christ seemed to him to include
the whole human family, and he felt that he could
not set bounds to the grace of God. If Moodys
and Sankeys can bring the love of Christ to the out-
casts of our cities and save them by hundre"ds, there
is strength enough in that same love to envelop the
world in its snowy robe of redemption, — the hem
of the garment that can by a touch heal one diseased,
has a virtue equal to the healing of all diseased
ones. To refer this infinite power and love to the
arbitrament of human wills and human opportunities
seemed to him at variance with reason and revela-
tion. The hmi' of the great consummation of hu-
man redemption he could not fathom, and feeling
that he was no longer in sympathy with the leading
tenets of his church, he retired from the ministry,
and has since been devoting himself to business. He
is a finished scholar, a profound thinker, and an in-
exorable reasoner. For some years past his studies
have been devoted to the subject of " Primary Forces,"
and have resulted in the promulgation of the '" Elec-
trical Hypothesis of Creation," of which he claims to
be the discoverer, which is based upon the principle
of evolution, commencing with the primary electrical
currents of space. His views were brought out with
great clearness and demonstration in a course of
lectures delivered in Monroe in the winter of 1876.
His theories are adequately set fortli in the follow-
ing extract from his introductory lecture which his
THE UNITED STATES H/OGRAPt/rCAL DICTIONARY
227
subsequent discourses, supported by such an array
of facts and illustrations, as renio\e tliem-altogether
from the range of the improbable :
The first step in the Evolutionary process is the produc-
tion of light, which is simply the magnetization of Elec-
trical currents, and furnishes the basis of all aggregations
and all control of matter. Polarized light is simply the
Electrical Currents of Space prepared to enter into combi-
nations of material structure. - The primary molecules of
matter are here revealed in their pei t'cction, possessed of
the two governing forces of all material change and all me-
chanical motion — vV/..,attyactwii and npiilfioii. Of these
molecules science teaches that they are perfect magnets,
liaving ends, sides and an equatoria"l center, and that they
pass into the combinations of matter, mider the control of
their polar attiactions. In such molecules there must be a
metallic basis, with a treasured-up Electrical force. This is
the Creative energy that Jehovah called to his aid in the
beginning, when He "created the Heavens and the Earth;"
and it is adequate to produce all the evolutionary forms of
matter and of life, and all orders of growth are carried for-
ward by the guiding presence of the attractions and repul-
sions of magnetization. Thus we find currents of electricity
compassing all space, and currents of magnetism filling all
body, and light — the great agency that carries molecule
and power over from the metallic force currents of space
and building them into matter. Across this line — between
body and space — which the light traverses, magnetic and
electrical forces work as the balancing line of their diverse
and yet correlate forces. When we carefully note the dif-
ference between electricity and magnetism we shall find
that electricity represents the currents of force that move
through space, and that magnetism represents the currents
of force that move through body. Electricity may be gath-
ered upon the surface of body, while Magnetism takes pos-
session of every molecule of matter in body.
Another property of magnetism is that it always imparts
polarity to matter, by means of which it becomes a great
working power, revealing its attractions and repulsion at the
most distant and opposite leverage points of the body, and
that its attractions and repulsions are an exact balance that
fix an equator of rest, from which currents move with equal
resistance toward the opposite poles; and hence a body of
matter constantly encircled with passing electrical currents,
and thereby saturated with a constant supply of magnetic
strength, that is delivered in polar a// niclions and refiilsions,
fulfills the true idea of a planetary body. Sun and planets
are conceded by astronomers to be vast revolving magnets.
By referring to the law of magnetic control we learn
that every magnet establishes around it a magnetic field
commensurate Avith its size and strength. Such a body as
the sun, revolving at the rate of four thousand miles per
hour, with its polar forces discharging their oppositely mov-
ing force currents into space eight hundred and eighty
thousand miles apart, furnish a conception of mechanical
power and motion that is adequate to the control of the
mechanical order of the entire solar system. Add to this
the conception of all the planets of the system with their
poles in reverse order to that of the sun, also surrounded
with their electrical circles commensurate with their mag-
netic strength, with pivotal centers of motion, resting within
the equatorial plane of the sun's oppositely revolving posi-
tive and negative fields ot circles, all moving in systematic
order, and there is revealed to the mind a system of worlds
and world-tbrces, mutually sustaining and controlling each
other, that furnish a perfect ideal of perpetual mechanical
power and order ol motion. With such an arrangement of
living globes and living forces the work of creation must
go forward from its beginning so long as attractions and
repulsions are supplied with their life throbs from the elec-
trical strength of universal power. The mutual relations
of sun and planet, together with their wonderful upholding
power and sublime velocities, all find an explanation in the
electrical currents of space and the magnetic force currents
of body.
This hypothesis represents light as a purely electrical
illumination of magnetic bodies and as the active agency of
magiitlizalioii. It regards all growing organizations of
body lis I \i>K<.d iiiidii the play of electrical and magnetic
forces, I Diistiiulini; carli growing body a magnet. It also
funiislus the p.i-sinj; step between the inicroscopic cells
and tlie /'ii/'l,isiii { ':) of the scientists and the true beginning
of lite. Positive and negative magnetic forces seek an
attracti\e unity in matter that generates life. And in all
this there is no rejection of the liigher conceptions of Crea-
tive energy that rest in such power. Magnetism is the
working agency and the obedient servant of will-power.
Neither Scientist nor Religionist can measure a soul or
weigh a thought; and yet the human organism is a soul-
ometer that gives to us constant exhibitions of iini'^intude of
soul iind zveijiht of thoiiiiht. Both l)i\iTic:nul human will
are exalted to a throne of dominion w here tlie swiftly mov-
ing magnetic currents of body become their |)lodding ser-
vants and their swift-winged angels.
The political views of our subject are governed
by his religion ; hence he has always acted with the
republican party, except in 1874-5, when he sup-
ported the reform ticket.
In July, 1843, he married Miss Maria C. Kelley,
of Oneida county, New York, by whom he had four
sons and four daughters. One son died in infancy.
His eldest son, Charles E., born June 4, 1844, was a
' student of Oberlin College, Ohio, in 1862, a youth
1 of great promise, and enthusiastically devoted to the
cause of freedom. Entered the army after the
proclamation of emancipation, as a private in the
1 7th Michigan Cavalry, in which he was soon after
protnoted to the rank of sergeant and charged with
important military trusts by his colonel. At the
battle of Gettysburg, on the last day of that fearful
I struggle, in leading a cavalry charge to dislodge
I some sharpshooters, he was shot from his horse,
his last act being a wave of his sword, emphasizing
the command, " Forward, boys ! " Thus gloriously
fell one of the bravest soldiers and noblest patriots
of the army. His body was identified and buried
in the soldiers' cemetery at Gettysburg. His second
son, Edgar S., at the age of sixteen, enlisted, in the
spring of 1873, in the 7th Wisconsin Battery of
Artillery ; was captured by the enemy at Humboldt,
on the Mississippi, paroled, and soon after discharged
from the service, being under age. He subsequently
enlisted in the ist Wisconsin Cavalry, in which he
served honorably till the close of the war. He is
now inarried and settled in Monroe. His eldest
daughter, Ellen M., a young lady of excellent edu-
action and great promise, died at the age of seven-
teen years. The three remaining daughters, Fanny
M., Anna Mary and Ellie Alice, and the youngest
son, William Avery, are still living at home.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
In July, 1861, Mrs. Miner died. She was highly
esteemed and loved by all who knew her ; possessed
great fortitude, mingled with a remarkable gentle-
ness of character; always hopeful, never repining,
she made home happy and attractive, and her chil-
dren were controlled without any ostentatious dis-
play of parental authority. Since her death Mr.
Miner has been twice married, his second wife
being Miss Lucy Evans, of Halifax, Vermont, who
died September 17, 1869. She was an amiable and
gentle step-mother, and left behind her a memory
fragrant of good deeds and loving words. His third
wife is Miss Olive Electe Haven, also a native of
Halifax, Vermont, of whom it is sufificient to say
that she makes home pleasant, and is held in the
highest esteem by all who know her.
DANIEL B. DEVENDORF, M.D.,
DEL A VAN.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Colum-
bia, Herkimer county, New York, was born on
the 17th of March, 1820, and is the son of Henry S.
Devendorf and Elizabeth nee Bellinger. His ma-
ternal grandfather was a general in the war of 181 2,
and his paternal grandfather, too young to enter the
revolutionary army, remained in and about Fort
Plain, New York. His father, an influential man,
was one of the first merchants of Mohawk, New
York, known at that time as Bennett's Corners.
Daniel was educated at Clinton Liberal Institute,
Oneida county, New York, where he pursued a full
course of study. His tastes, vyhen young, were to
become a mechanic and engineer, and to accomplish
this he sold for seventy dollars a colt which his
grandfather had given him, and worked until he had
earned money enough to buy a trunk, and with this
capital went to Ohio, intending to engage with a
Mr. Shoemaker, to learn the civil engineering busi-
ness. He was, however, disappointed in his purpose,
the company with whom he expected to engage hav-
ing suspended work. His whole plan was opposed
to his father's wishes, who desired him to take the
management of his farm, and accordingly he refused
him any assistance. Failing to find emjiloyment,
young Devendorf exhausted all his money, and
while in this condition became acquainted with a
man named Frank Wright, who liad some capital, to
whom he described an instrument which he had
seen for producing daguerreotypes. Mr. Wright
became interested in him, and offered to furnish him
money if he would go to New York and purchase
one of the instruments. The offer was accepted, and
Mr. Devendorf soon found himself in possession of
the second instrument that was taken west of New
York. Going to Churchville, Monroe county, New
York, where lived an uncle, a physician, he experi-
mented about three months, and finally succeeded
in producing a passable picture, which he sold for
one cord of wood to warm his office. Finding that
he could not succeed as an artist, he abandoned his
project, without a cent of money or a decent suit of
clothes. For several months he remained unem-
ployed, and had no money except what he earned
by doing chores. Meanwhile his uncle had per-
suaded him to study medicine and take care of his
office. After reading here and with Dr. Wm. H.
Fox for eight months, he entered Geneva Medical
College, took three courses of lectures, and gradu-
ated on the 25th of January, 1844, his father having
supplied him with some means, finding that he was
willing to assist himself. After graduation, he was
ordered to Washington, to be examined as assistant
surgeon for the navy, but was prevented from doing so
by an injury received from a vicious horse, and upon
his recovery, following the advice of friends, he
established himself in his profession at Frankfort,
six miles from his old home. During the next nine
years he conducted a successful practice. At the
expiration of this time he sold his interest to Dr.
Perrin A. Skiff for one thousand dollars, agreeing
not to open an office again in that place, and re-
moved to Mohawk. Here he formed a partnership
with Dr. C. A. Griffith, with whom he remained two
years. He next practiced two years in Tonawanda,
New York, and during this time organized a steam
towing company for towing boats from Buffalo to
the mouth of the Tonawanda creek. Owing to im-
paired health he left the East in December, 1855,
and settled at Delavan, Wisconsin, in the mercantile
business. Finding this ill suited to his tastes, he
closed it at the end of two years and resumed his
profession, continuing in it till 1861, when he was
commissioned assistant surgeon of the ist Regiment
^/jyi A^-^-^t^^
THE UNITED STATES RIOGRM'HICAL DICTIONART.
231
Wisconsin Volunteers. After the battle of Stone
River, he was commissioned surgeon of the 19th
Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, then stationed at
Norfolk, Virginia. With this regiment he lay before
Petersburgh four months, and there was made med-
ical inspector of the i8th Army Corps, and ordered
to the office headquarters at Fortress Monroe, where
he remained till 1864. He was also medical pur-
veyor of the 1 8th and 19th Army Corps, stationed
at Deep Bottom, Virginia. On the morning of the
taking of Richmond, his regiment was on picket
duty, and was one of the first to enter the city, and
witnessed the great conflagration. At the close of
the war he returned to his home in Delavan, and
resumed his practice, and has continued it up to the
present time (1876) with marked success.
In his political views Dr. Devendorf was formerly
democratic ; but while stationed before Petersburgh,
upon hearing the rebels cheering for McClellan, the
democratic candidate for I'resident, he became a
republican and still supi)orts that party.
Before coming west he was secretary of the Utica
and Mohawk Valley Plank Road and a large stocks
holder in the same. He was also an owner in the
addition to the village of Rlkhorn, Wisconsin, known
as the " Devendorf, Spencer and Malory Addition,"
and a partner in the first banking house established
in that place.
Dr. Devendorf was married on the 20th of Octo-
ber, 1852, to Miss Helena Dygent, of Frankfort, New
York. Her father was superintendent of the canals,
and also held a prominent position in the Custom
House in New York city. Of their three children,
one is a student at the Michigan University and the
other two are living at home. In his early life the
Doctor was under Universalist influences, but he is
not at the present time connected with any church
organization.
HON. HENRY F. C. NICHOLS,
NEW LISBON.
HENRY F. C. NICHOLS, a native of New
Hampshire, was born at Kingston, Rocking-
ham county, February 9, 1833. His father, Nicho-
las Nichols, a leather manufacturer, died in Febru-
ary, 1876, aged seventy-four years. His mother,
Mary J. (Bristow) Nichols, who is still living, is
related to the Bristows, so prominent in New Hamp-
shire, Rhode Island and other New England States.
When Henry was about eight years old, his family
moved to Manchester, Hillsboro county, where he
spent his boyhood in attending school, working in a
cotton mill, and acting as clerk in a store. He pre-
pared for college at Pembroke Academy and other
schools, and in 1855 entered Williams College, from
which he graduated in 1859. He was next engaged
in teaching for two years at Canton, New York, and
at the expiration of that time, with a view to enter-
ing the ministry, entered Andover Theological Sem-
inary, from which he graduated in 1864. During a
part of this time he was engaged in the service of
the Sanitary Commission in the South, and in the
winter of 1864-5 •" that of the Christian Commis-
sion. Mr. Nichols was by nature peculiarly fitted
for this work, and entered upon it with a zeal and
devotion that resulted in great good to the noble
cause. He left Andover with greatly impaired
health, by reason of which he soon afterward
abandoned his purpose of being ordained to the
ministry.
With a view to engaging in the lumber business
he removed to Wisconsin, and settled at New Lis-
bon, in Juneau county, on January i, 1868. Since
that time until the present (1877) he has devoted
himself steadily to this business, and attained that
success which invariably follows honest, persistent
and faithful effort.
Aside from his regular business his fellow-citizens
have honored him with positions of honor and trust.
In 1872 he was elected to the general assembly of
his State, and during the sessions of that and the
following year did valuable and lasting service,
being at the head of several committees, and recog-
nized as one of the active, working members of the
legislature.
In politics he has always been a republican.
On the i2th of May, 1868, Mr. Nichols was mar-
ried to Miss Nettie Williams, of Concord, New
Hampshire, by whom he has four children. Mrs.
Nichols is a descendant of the celebrated Ayer
family, and niece of ex-Covernor Isaac Hill.
Public spirited, generous and charitable, Mr.
Nichols heartily sympathizes with every movement
232
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
tending to the welfare of his community and of his
fellow-men, and cheerfully does all in his power to
further the interests of his town. He has been
president of the village board, chairman of the
county board of supervisors, and is now a very
active member of the local school board. A mg,n
of noble impulse and high aims, his influence has
ever been on the side of right, and he enjoys the
esteem and confidence of a large circle of true
friends.
JONATHAN G. CALLAHAN,
EAU CLAIRE.
THE subject of this biography belongs to a long-
lived race. His paternal grandmother died at
about ninety-five years; his father, Robert Callahan,
lived beyond the age of ninety, and his mother,
whose maiden name was Pettengill, lived to be 1
nearly as old. Some of both his paternal and ma-
ternal ancestors were engaged in the revolutionary
war, and their descendants are an intensely patriotic
class. J. G. Callahan, the youngest of eleven chil-
dren, was born in Andover, Massachusetts, Septem-
ber 2, 1823. He spent his younger years in obtaining
an education at the common school in his native town i
and in Phillips' Academy. From sixteen to twenty
years of age he was educating himself for a mer- '■
cantile life in a local business house. About the
year 1843 he went to Niagara Falls and took charge
of the store of Mr. S. DeVeaux, and soon afterward
became a partner of that gentleman, and finally pur-
chased his business interest. At the expiration of
about ten years he removed to Oxford, Chenango
county, and became a clerk in the mercantile house
of N. C. Chapman and J. G. Thorp, who removed
to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in 1857, and whom Mr.
Callahan accompanied to this new country, after
spending a short time in their employ at Clinton,
Iowa. He is still doing business for the same par-
ties, who are now (1877) operating under the name
of the Eau Claire Lumber Company. Mr. Callahan's
business is that of purchasing clerk in the mercan-
tile department, the purchases of which amount to
about three hundred thousand dollars per annum.
His position is a very responsible one, and he gives
unqualified satisfaction.
In politics, Mr. Callahan is an unwavering repub-
lican, but is greatly averse to holding office. He
was the first president of the village of Eau Claire,
being nominated and elected during his absence
and without his knowledge, and received every vote
cast. Three years ago he was nominated for the
general assembly in his absence and was elected by
a large majority, and consented to serve one term.
The next year he was renominated, but declined the
honor. While in the legislature he aided in securing
the passage of the Dallas Improvement bill, and gave
entire satisfaction to his constituents.
Mr. Callahan is a member of the Presbyterian
church, and a liberal supporter of religious and
other worthy benevolent enterprises, and a true
friend of suffering himianity in all its phases.
He was married on the 19th of April, 1S49, to
Miss Maria S. Jones, of Erie, Pennsylvania, by whom
he has two children.
WILLIAM NEWTON,
EAV CLAIRE.
W'' 1 1, 1, 1AM NEWTON, a man who has fol-
lowed various callings, has, attained success
in all. He has been a carpenter and builder, a
cabinet maker and furniture dealer, a merchant, and
a boarding-house and a hotel keeper. He was one
of the early settlers of Wisconsin, is widely known
and as widely esteemed.
He is a son of Charles and Jane (Burnett) Newton,
both of whose families were of English descent, and
was born at Croydon, in Surrey, October i, 1822. His
father, formerly a grain and seed merchant, was after-
ward postmaster at Croydon for several years, and
his eldest .son, Charles, has been postmaster at the
same place for tlie last thirty years. At fifteen years
of age William closed his studies in school, and
a[)prenticed himself to learn the joiner and builder's
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
233
trade. At the age of twenty-one he started in busi-
ness for himself as a master builder and undertaker,
continuing this business in his native town until the
summer of 1847. He then started for the New
World and the West, reaching Milwaukee on the
first day of September of that year. When the chol-
era made its appearance in Milwaukee in 1849 Mr.
Newton jjushed northward, and settled in Fond du
Lac, then a village of less than two thousand inhab-
itants. There he remained nine years, engaged in
the manufacture and sale of cabinet ware, and meet-
ing with good success. Becoming disabled through
injuries received in the machinery, he was obliged
to relinquish this vocation, and being attracted by
the prospects at Eau Claire, then in its infancy, he
settled there on the first day of June, 1858. At the
first he engaged in the clothing business, later kept
a boarding-house, and since December 20, 1865, has
been proprietor of a hotel, making a model landlord.
He is a man of fine conversational powers, polished
and refined in manners, polished in conversation,
polite and courteous to strangers, and obliging to
everybody, and acts the part of a Christian gentle-
man at all times. His influence in a public house
and in the avenues of public life is wholesome —
restraining to the rude and encouraging to the best
disposed and more refined.
Mr. Newton was reared under Episcopal infiu-
ences, and for many years has been senior warden
in the Episcopal Church at Eau Claire. His older
brother is warden in his native town, and his father
and both grandfathers were wardens in the Estab-
lished Church.
Two years before he left the old country, Mr.
Newton was joined in wedlock with Miss Mary F.
Barnett, of Merton, in Surrey, a daughter of Joseph
Barnett, a railroad contractor, who followed two of
his children to this country in 1848, and settled at
Fond du Lac. He was justice of the peace at that
place for many years, and just after his demise a
notice of his reelection to that office was found
under his door. He was a man of exalted Christian
character and a true friend of the people.
Mrs. Newton, who has, as she deserves, a wide
circle of warm friends, is the mother of six children,
four of whom — one son and three daughters — are
living. The son, Charles B., is married, and engaged
with his father in the Eau Claire House, and the
daughters, Elizabeth, Sarah and Hattie, all well
educated, are also with their parents.
HON. MARSENA TEMPLE,
MAUSTON.
MARSENA TEMPLE, son of Barnard and
Sarah Close Temple, was born in Middle
field, Otsego county. New York, December 11, 181 2.
His ancestors were among the ardent whigs in the
" times which tried men's souls," and some of them
were participants in the struggle for independence.
His father was a farmer by occupation, and he him-
self worked steadily on the homestead until he was
eighteen years of age, except during the winter
months, when he went to the district school. Subse-
quently he attended the Hartwick Academy and the
Clinton Institute, in all about three years, teaching
during the winter months.
In 1836 Mr. Temple began the study of law with
Judge Morehouse, of Cooperstown, and was admitted
to the bar at Albany in 1840. The next year he
opened an office at Munnsville, Madison county,
and continued in the law practice there, when not
holding office, until 1855. In January of the follow-
ing year, after visiting and traveling through the
30
State of Wisconsin, he settled at Newport, Sauk
county, then a town of greater expectations than
have been realized. While practicing his profession
there he purchased an interest in a drug store, which
he sold in i860, and during the next five years was
engaged in the management of a farm.
In 1865 Mr. Temple removed to Mauston, where,
in company with other parties, he built an elevator,
and engaged in the produce business during the
next three years ; at the expiration of that time he
sold his interest in the elevator for a farm, which
he has since supervised, at the same time furnishing
wood and ties for a railroad company.
While residing in the State of N'ew York, Mr.
Temple was, in 1842 and 1843, superintendent of
public schools for Madison county, and was also
justice of the peace at Munnsville for eight years.
In 1850 he was a member of the New York legisla-
ture, where he served one regular and one extra
session. Since removing to Wisconsin, and while a
234
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
resident of Newport, he was justice of the peace,
about four years, and chairman of the board of
supervisors for six years. Since he settled in Maus-
ton he was one of the commissioners, when three
men did the whole business of the county. In i860
he was elected a member of the assembly, and the
next winter was on the committee which reported
the bill for organizing the Wisconsin regiments
which were furnished at the commencement of the
war. He also attended the extra session of the
legislature which met in the summer of 1861, and
took an active and prominent part in furthering all
war measures, and is a man whose patriotism was
never questioned. Public-spirited and generous,
Mr. Temple takes an active interest in all local
matters, and has been honored by his fellow-citizens
with the higliest office of the village corporation.
He is a Royal Arch Mason, and has held the
principal offices in that order. In religious senti-
ment, Mr. Temple is a Universalist.
He was a democrat of free-soil proclivities until
1856, when he became identified with the republican
party, with which he heartily cooperates.
In April, 1840, Mr. Temple was married to Miss
Caroline P. Stillman, of Otsego county. New York,
and by her has had seven children, six of whom are
still living.
In all his business relations Mr. Temple's course
has been that of a conscientious, honorable and
upright man ; and in the discharge of all the trusts
and duties that have been imposed upon him he
has gained the confidence of all, and lives in the
enjoyment of the highest respect of a very large
circle of friends.
HORACE CHASE,
MILWAUKEE.
HORACE CHASE was born m the town of
' Derby, in the county of Orleans, in the State
of Vermont, December 25, 1810. He comes of pio-
neer and revolutionary stock, and is one of ten
children of his father. His ancestors on the father's
side came from England to America in 1629, and
settled in New Hampshire. His grandfather on the
mother's side was in the battle of Lexington. His
father moved to the town of Derby in 1807. At
that time it was a comparative wilderness, and no
grist mill within thirty miles; even at that distance
grain was carried on horseback to be ground. He
lived with his father, working on the farm in the
summer and going to school in the winter. In his
seventeenth year, while unloading hay in his father's
barn, he became overheated, injuring his health in
such a manner as to incapacitate him for manual
labor for two years. Afterward he obtained employ-
ment as clerk in several different mercantile firms in
succession in Vermont, Canada, Boston, and the city
of New York, at which latter place he formed the
acquaintance of Mr. P. F. W. Peck, of Chicago, Illi-
nois, by whom he was prevailed upon to go with
him to Chicago, which he reached in May, 1834.
He was employed here by several different firms as
clerk or bookkeeper, until he formed a partnership
with Mr. Archibald Clybourn in the mercantile busi-
ness, which was to continue three years. In the I
meantime he made a claim at the mouth of the
Milwaukee river, and another where the Wisconsin
Leather Company is now located. In 1836 he and
Mr. Clybourn opened a large store, and transacted
all the forwarding and commission business of the
then village of Milwaukee. In October, 1837, Mr.
Chase married Miss Sarah Ann Gray, sister of Charles
and George M. Gray, of Chicago. Mr. Chase was
elected a member of the first constitutional conven-
tion, which assembled at Madison in the winter of
1846-7 ; afterward elected to the first legislative
assembly, which convened in June, 1848. In 1852
Mr. Chase met with a severe affliction in the death
of his wife. In 1858 he was again married to Miss
Mary H. Davis, of Mount Holly, Vermont, who is
still the partner of his joys and his sorrows. In 1861
he was elected alderman and supervisor of the fifth
ward of the city of Milwaukee, and in 1862 elected
mayor, the duties of which office he discharged sat-
isfactorily to the people. In 1869 Mr. Chase was
elected first president of the Old Settlers Club. In
1873 the fifth ward was divided, and the twelfth ward
established, in which he was elected counselor for
one year. He was afterward, in 1874, elected alder-
man for two years, his term expiring in 1876. He
is a self-made man, characterized by his accurate
knowledge of men, clear perceptions of business
relations, sound judgment and persevering energy.
-^^ e^J"^T^/C^04jZ^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
2?>7
The accumulation of his huge fortune is the legit-
imate result of the exercise of those faculties, and
he enjoys it rationally and usefully. It is an agree-
able source of pleasure to Mr. Chase that he can
remember the time when Milwaukee had but three
inhabitants, including himself, and that he has
materially aided in building it up to its present
highly prosperous condition with its hundred thou-
sand inhabitants. He has a distinct recollection,
too, of the Indian trail from Chicago to Milwaukee,
as furnishing the only mode of access to and from
those two places.
FERNANDO WINSOR,
MA us TON.
AMONG the early and most respected citizens of
. Juneau county is Fernando VVinsor, a native of
the Empire State. He was born at Franklinville,
Cattaraugus county, on the 15th of April, 1831, his
parents being Mathewson and Nancy Potter Winsor.
His father was a tanner, shoemaker and farmer, and
died when the sqn was about ten years old.
Fernando had previously spent two years in Ohio,
and at this time was sent to a sister's, with whom he
lived until he was sixteen, working on the farm,
attending school, and making a brief attempt to
learn the shoemaker's trade. At the age of sixteen
he removed to Elkhorn, Wisconsin, and with the aid
of an elder brother, Horatio S. Winsor, was enabled
to attend school two years at Janesville and Beloit.
He was next engaged in teaching during the winter
months, and employed the summers in farm work,
and improved his leisure hours in reading law.
Having finished his studies at Elkhorn, he was
admitted to the bar in the spring of 1853. A year
later he settled at Portage, where he was engaged
one year in the law practice, and at the expiration
of that time removed to Mauston, at that time part
of Adams county, and now the seat of justice of
Juneau. Here he has practiced for twenty-one
years, and has always had a good reputation as an
able lawyer and conscientious man, and is now a
member of the firm of Winsor and Veeder. He has
also a dry-goods store, and is operating largely in
this line of business.
In 1855 Mr. Winsor was appointed county judge,
an office to wliii h he afterward was elected by the
peoijle, and which he lield in all about four years.
Between these two terms, in 1857, when Juneau
county was organized, he was elected district attor-
ney, and held that position four years.
In politics, Mr. Winsor has been a republican
since the organization of the party, though formerly
he was a democrat.
He is a member of the Episcopal church, and has
served as warden of the same.
In November, 1854, lie married Miss Mary Helen
Munsel, of Delavan, Wisconsin. They have had
four children, of whom three are now living.
Mr. Winsor was one of the three commissioners
who built the public road from Mauston to Dexter-
ville, Wood county, and is one of the leaders in all
local enterprises. He has much public spirit, and
no man takes greater delight in the progress of the
village and county. In fairness of dealing he has
few peers, knows no such word as compromise, but
pays all dues to the last cent, and answers to Pope's
portrait and panegyric :
"An honest man 's the noblest work of God."
RUSSELL BROUGHTON, M.D.
BROnilEAD.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Albany,
Green county, Wisconsin, was born May 16,
1842, and is the son of John Broughton and Amanda
Griffin, who were married in Rensselaer county, New
York.
He is from a sturdy, rugged and industrious race
of English descent, three brothers having immigrated
from that country to America about the year 1700,
and settled in Connecticut ; two of them afterward
returned to their native country, and from the third
have descended all of the Broughtons in the United
States. Russell received his early education in his
238
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
native place and afterward entered Milton College
in Rock county, Wisconsin, intending to take a full
course of study, but was diverted from his purpose
by joining the army in 1863. He afterward pur-
sued a course of study at Bryant and Stratton's
Commercial College of Milwaukee, and, having de-
cided to enter the medical profession, pursued a
course of study in Rush Medical College of Chicago,
and graduated from the same in February, 1869.
His taste for this profession developed at an early
age, and he was greatly encouraged in his purpose of
fitting himself for it by Dr. H. F. Persons, of Albany,
Wisconsin, in whom he found a true friend. He
first began his practice five miles from his birth-
place among his acquaintances in 1869, and from the
very beginning has conducted a steadily increasing
business, each year having added largely to its in-
crease, and is now widely known as a skillful surgeon
and careful physician. During one year he has rid-
den with horses twelve thousand miles in attending
to his professional duties, and is at the present time
(1876) employed by sixteen hundred families. Dr.
Broughton has made it a rule of his life never to put
off his work, and to be prompt in all his duties and
engagements. His entire career has been marked
by industry and frugality. He began without means,
and even while receiving his education paid the
most of his expenses by hard work. When eighteen
years of age he taught school for seventeen dollars
per month, boarding at home and walking four miles
and building his own fires; yet he was never tardy.
At the age of twenty-one he had never taken a meal
at a hotel, never been inside of a saloon, never used
tobacco and never spent a half day in town ; and
during his last summer at home was not off the farm
a week-day from the first of April to the first of Octo-
ber. In these habits of industry, formed in early
life, we find the secret of Dr. Broughton's success.
Promptness and strict attention to business is his
rule, and by adhering to this in all his dealing he
has made his work a success, both professionally and
financially. He has accumulated an ample fortune,
and lives in the enjoyment of all the comforts of a
happy home.
He has never held public office, except that of
superintendent of public schools from 1872 to 1875,
preferring the quiet of his profession to political
emoluments and honors, but in his political senti-
ments is a rigid democrat.
Dr. Broughton was married, February i, 1869, to
Miss Julia A. Smiley, third daughter of Hon. David
Smiley, of Albany, Wisconsin. Mrs. Broughton is a
lady of fine native endowments, is highly accom-
plished, and besides is a most devoted wife and
fond mother. Their union has been blessed by
one son.
HON. WILLIAM T. PRICE,
BLACK RIVER FALLS.
WILLIAM THOMPSON PRICE, a native of
Barre township, Huntington county, Penn-
sylvania, was born June 17, 1824, tiie son of William
and Mary (Leonard) Price. He left home before
he had reached his teens, and attained most of his
education while a salesman and bookkeeper in a
store in Hollidaysburg. In April, 1845, he removed
to Mt. Pleasant, Henry county, Iowa, and in No-
vember of the same year settled at his present home
in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. At that time the
Black River valley was an unbroken wilderness,
with no postoffice within a hundred miles. The few
inhabitants of the place were lumbermen, and at
once joining himself to this class he has continued
in the lumber business until the present time (1877),
and is now the owner of large tracts of land in the
valleys of the Black and Chippewa rivers.
In his early life he had an ardent desire for study,
and among the works which he digested were Black-
stone's and Kent's Commentaries. Subsequently he
continued his law studies, and in 1852 was admitted
to the bar, and was engaged in legal practice more
or less until 1857, when he abandoned the law, and
has since confined himself to his lumber business,
except when discharging some official duty.
In 1850 Mr. Price was elected to the general
assembly of Wisconsin, and in 1856 to the senate,
serving two or three years during the interim as
judge of Jackson county. He was appointed col-
lector of internal revenue for the sixth district in
1862, a position which he resigned two years later.
He was a presidential elector in 1868, and in 1870
was elected a second time to the State senate,
where he rendered efficient and valuable service.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
239
In his political principles Mr. Price was a demo-
crat until 1 85 4. Upon the organization of the re-
publican party he united with that body. Latterly,
being more independent in his views, has not de-
fined his politics.
On July 10, 1851, he was married to Miss Julia
Campbell, of Grant county, Wisconsin, by whom he
has had four children, two of whom are now living.
Mr. Price was the originator and first president of
the West Wisconsin Railroad, originally known as
tlie Tomah and Lake St. Croix road, and was chiefly
instrumental in bringing this road to Black River
Falls. He is at the head of more enterprises, insti-
tutions and corporations than all other men in Jack-
son county; being president of the Black River
Improvement Company, the Jackson County Agri-
cultural Society, the village corporation, the Jackson
County Bank, which was opened at Black River
Falls January 2, 1877, and chairman of the county
board of supervisors.
During his early days in Wisconsin Mr. Price saw
the sad effects of intemperance, particularly among
lumbermen, and was himself more or less addicted
to the habit until twenty years ago, when he wholly
abandoned it. He is now its open, avowed and un-
compromising enemy, and the temperance cause has
few stronger or more influential advocates. He
heartily sympathizes with every cause which tends
to better the condition of his fellow-men; and al-
though not a member of any church, has contributed
thousands of dollars to aid in building houses of
worship and sustaining preaching in Black River
Falls and throughout the Chippewa and Black river
valleys.
Mr. Price has a farm of eighteen hundred acres,
about fourteen miles from town, mostly improved,
and employs twenty-five hands continually, and at
times (including choppers and teamsters) has four
hundred at work.
Possessed of vast executive ability and a wonder-
ful power of will, and a warm, generous heart, he
engages with untiring zeal in every enterprise which
he undertakes; and has left the impress of his char-
acter on monuments that shall live when the mind
and hand that wrought them has passed away ;
and in a literal sense has contributed his full share
in transforming a wilderness, that it " blossoms as
the rose."
GEORGE RUNKEL,
THE Runkel family, of which the subject of this
sketch is a member, is of French descent.
Upon the promulgation of the Edict of Nantes the
father of our subject fled to Prussia.
George Runkel was born October 7, 1839, at
Neuwied, France. His parents were William and
Julia (Moore) Runkel. An uncle on his father's
side fought in the battle of Waterloo, June 18, 1815.
. George attended school from five to fourteen years
of age, at which time, in 1S53, the whole family
immigrated to this country and settled at Mansfield,
Ohio, where the son was initiated into business by
becoming a clerk in a grocery store. About two
years afterward the family removed to Portage, Wis-
consin, where George resumed clerking, at first for
other parties, and afterward for his father, who went
into business for himself after being in Portage about
three years. In 1856, when the Milwaukee and St.
Paul railroad was completed to Greenfield, Monroe
county, he went thither and opened a store, contin-
uing in trade for three years, when he removed to
Tomah, in the same county. Here he was joined
by his father, and they went into business together.
About this time he spent one year in Pike's Peak,
with fair success as a miner and trader, and soon
afjer returning went to New Lisbon and opened a
store, still retaining his connection with the house
at Tomah, his brother, Frederick, having an interest
in the latter house.
He spent about six years at New Lisbon, and
while there built a saw-mill, which he operated in
connection with his mercantile business ; and also
built, in 1866, the Tomah flouring mills, now oper-
ated by Runkel and Freemen.
In 1868 Mr. Runkel returned to Tomah, and after
conducting the flouring mill for a time erected a
building and opened the Bank of Tomah, in part-
nership with Mr. J. T. Freeman, who is president,
while Mr. Runkel is cashier. They are also engaged
largely in real estate. Mr. Runkle makes land
operations his specialty, and has been very success-
ful. Monroe county is dotted all over with lands
240
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
which he has sold, while he has large quantities still
in the market. He advertises very extensively,
holding out great inducements to purchasers; he
sells small farms on easy terms to poor people, and
has been the means of bringing hundreds of settlers
to Monroe county. Proljably no other man of his age
has done as much to settle and iminove the county.
Nor are his operations limited to any one county.
In 1875 he built a saw-mill at Runkel's Mills, Port-
age county, on the Wisconsin Valley railroad, which
is operated by the Eau Pliene Lumber Company, of
which he is the principal member. In 1876 he
aided in building another saw-mill on the same rail-
road line, in Juneau county, known as Smith's Mill,
that being the name of the postoffice.
Mr. Runkel is a Knight Templar in the Masonic
order, belonging to the La Crosse commandery.
He is democratic in his political opinions, but
never allows politics to interfere with his legitimate
business.
On the 20th of January, i860, he was married to
Miss Eliza J. Lockwood,'. of Greenfield, Wisconsin. '
Of six children that they have had five are now \
living.
At fourteen years of age Mr. Runkel started out
to fit himself for business. From the first he gave
careful attention to all the details, and has never
attempted work of any kind without doing it thor-
oughly and well. He has always been kind to the
poor, and liberal in every humane cause. Especially
is he accommodating to peojjle of restricted means
who want a home on a strip of land ; and in aiming
to help others has helped himself. Although but in
middle life, he has acquired a competency, and has
earned by honorable dealings every dollar which he
possesses.
His father, who brought him to this country
twenty-four years ago, and from whom he imbibed
his correct business habits, died in Tomah, January
12, 1876. His mother is still living.
REUBEN DOUD.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of McGraw-
ville, Cortland county. New York, was born on
the 20th of January, 1830, and is the son of Reuben
G. Doud and Betsey ne'e McGraw.
He passed his boyhood in his native place, at-
tending the common school; and in 1849, being
then nineteen years of age, removed to Racine, Wis-
consin. Remaining there but a short time he went
to Delavan, and thence to Green Bay. Later he en-
gaged in the transportation business at Kankanna, in
connection with the boats on Fox river, and con-
tinued thus employed during a period of five years.
At the expiration of this time he went to Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, purchased a steamer and went thence
down the Ohio river, up the Mississippi, to the
Wisconsin, and was the first to pass with a steam-
boat through the locks on the Fox river, after the
improvements on the Wigconsin in 1856.
Returning to Pittsburgh in 1857, he built the
steamer Appleton Belle, and taking her by the
same route to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, there sold her.
In the winter of this same year he built a steamer
at Berlin, Wisconsin, which plied between that place,
Oshkosh, Fond du Lac and Green Bay, until i860.
During this year he built the steamers Fountain City
and Bay City, and ran them on the same route.
In 1861 he closed out his steamboat interest on
this route, and engaged in the warehouse business
at Gill's Landing; and during the same season ran
the steamer Berlin City from Green Bay to New
London, in connection with the Wolf river boats.
In 1863 and 1864 he built the steamers North-
western and Tigress, and several others ; and
continued thus employed doing a prosperous busi-
ness until 1866, when he clo.sed his affairs at Gill's
Landing and removed to Racine, his present home.
Associating himself with Mr. Martin E. Trem-
ble, under the firm name of Tremble and Doud, he
engaged in the lumber business, which has proved
eminently successful. The business of the firm is
very extensive, their annual sales amounting to
twelve million feet of lumber and twelve million
shingles, besides a large amount of lath, pickets,
posts, etc., most of which is cut from their own
lands, which are located with their mills on the
Big Suamico river near Green Bay. Mr. Doud
is also largely interested in vessel property, hav-
ing built the Reuben Doud at a cost of thirty-
three thousand dollars, the schooner M. E. Trem-
ble at a cost of sixty-five thousand dollars, and
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
243
also acquired by purchase the schooner Rainbow.
His career from the beginning has been one of
constant energy, activity and of entire success in all
his undertakings; consequently he has amassed an
ample fortune. He has also been honored with
positions of public responsibility and trust, all of
which he has filled with great credit to himself.
In 1864 he was elected to the State legislature on
the republican ticket; in 1872 became mayor of
Racine, was reelected in 1S73, and again elected to
the same position in 1875.
He was married on the 15th of September, 1864,
to Miss Katharine Reynolds, of Cortland, New York,
by whom he has one daughter. He is now mak-
ing preparations to start on an extended tour in
Europe with his family, and after a few years he
will return to make his permanent residence in the
city of Racine, where, among the many elegant
and costly residences which adorn the "Eelle City
of the Lakes," the home which he has designed
and built stands preeminent for its elegance and
tastefulness.
HON. ROMANZO BUNN,
ROMANZO BUNN is a native of Otsego
county. New York, and was born September
24, 1829. His father, Peter Bunn, was a farmer,
and moved to Cattaraugus county in 1832.
At the age of sixteen Romanzo entered Spring-
ville Academy, in Erie county, and prepared for
college, teaching in the winters, and entered Oberlin
in 1849. At the expiration of one term he went
to Elyria, and studied law for a time with Messrs.
McAche»en and Myers. Later he returned to Cat-
taraugus county, and finished his legal studies with
Hon. W. H. Wood, of Ellicottville, and in 1853 was
admitted to the bar. After practicing one year in
that place, in partnership with Mr. Wood, Mr. Bunn
removed to the West. He at first stopped for a few
months at Sparta, and in the spring of 1855 settled
at Galesville, the county seat of Trempealeau county.
At the end of six years, during which time he built
up a good practice, he removed to Sparta, in 186 1,
where he continued the practice of his profession
until the spring of 1868, at which time he was
elected judge of the sixth district for a term of six
years. In 1874 he was reelected, and is now serving
on his second term.
As a jurist, Judge Bunn possesses eminent qualifi-
cations, and with each year grows more and more in
public favor.
The year before leaving Trempealeau county he
was elected to the State legislature, to represent that
and two other counties.
Judge Bunn cherished free-soil sentiments before
he was old enough to vote, and has voted the repub-
lican ticket since the party was organized.
He was married, sth of August, 1S54, to Miss
Sarah Purdy, of Mansfield, Cattaraugus county. New
York. They have five children living, and have
lost one child.
Judge Bunn is preeminently a self-made man.
He earned by his own exertions the money which
was expended in obtaining his education, and thus
early in life he learned to depend upon his own
resources, a characteristic that has marked his en-
tire career. He is still a close student and a grow-
ing man.
IRA B. BRADFORD,
Area- ST A.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Fulton,
Rock county, Wisconsin, was born June 24,
1 85 1, and is the son of Elbridge Bradford and Lovina
A. ih'e Burnham, both of whom are natives of New
Hampshire. Four weeks after his birth, his parents,
by reason of homesickness, returned to their native
State, and arc at present (1877) residing at Washing-
ton, in Sullivan county. Both his paternal and ma-
ternal ancestors were hearty and patriotic supporters
of the revolution, and some among them carried their
flint-lock muskets during the seven years' war. His
father, a carpenter and joiner by occupation, is a
244
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
man of small means and industrious habits, and early
taught his son to work at the bench, and kept him
there when not in school until he reached his fif-
teenth year. Ira showed an early and peculiar pre-
dilection for books, and in his love of study was
greatly encouraged by his parents. He began at-
tending school at three years of age, and was never
happier than when reveling in his a-b-c, abe, abs,
and words of one, two and three syllables.
At fifteen years of age Ira began teaching, and
taught and attended school during the next three
years, the latter part of which time was spent at the
seminary at Sanbornton Bridge. When about
seventeen years of age, he purposed to take a full
collegiate course. To save time in preparing for
college he doubled his studies, and as a result, at
the age of eighteen, completely broke down in health
and became almost blind, and for nearly two years
scarcely looked at a book. During this period of
nervous debility and mental relaxation he went to
Edinboro, Erie county, Pennsylvania, where he en-
gaged, more or less, in out-of-door manual labor.
About a year before leaving New England young
Bradford had conceived the idea of being a lawyer,
and making the necessary registry at Erie, began
his legal studies, but made slow progress on account
of his eyesight, which was not fully restored.
In the autumn of 187 i he returned to New Hamp-
shire and taught school at Newport the following
winter, and in the succeeding spring resumed his law
studies there. Three months afterward he returned
to Edinboro and finished his law course. In Feb-
ruary, 1873, he removed to Janesville, Wisconsin,
and on the third of the next month was admitted to
the bar at Monroe, Green county. Settling at once
at Augusta he began the practice of his profession;
and although two experienced attorneys had pre-
ceded him, before he was twenty-five years old
he was at the head of his profession in the place.
In addition to his legal duties he has the supervision
of a bank, and also operates in real estate.
Mr. Bradford is connected with the Masonic and
Odd-Fellows fraternities, but does not give attention
enough to them to interfere with his business. In
politics he is identified with the republican party.
He is a chr!.stian man and a Sunday-school superin-
tendent.
On August 20, 1872, he was married to Miss AUie
M. Burnham, of Edinboro, Pennsylvania, and by her
has one child. As a business man and lawyer Mr.
Bradford is industrious, conscientious, prompt and
reliable, and has the unlimited confidence of the
people, and his ability, integrity, dispatch and tho-
roughness cause business to pour in upon him with
great rapidity. Should his life be prolonged he has
before him a bright and prosperous career.
JAMES W. COOK, M.D.,
NECEDAII.
TAMES WELLS COOK, a native of England,
J was born at Reach, Cambridgeshire, July 15,
1841, his parents being George and Ann (Wells)
Cook. His father was a merchant
James early cultivated a love for books, and was
especially fond of medical works ; and when a mere
lad found pleasure in going among the sick, and
trying to relieve and comfort them, and thus in
early life resolved that he would some day become
a physician. He attended school from seven to
fourteen years of age, then went on board a sail
vessel, and in the spring of 1856 took passage for
America. He did not know a person on the ship,
and his first voyage on the salt water was a hard
one. The craft caught fire twice, much of the
provisions were destroyed, and during the last ten
days his rations were one sea biscuit and half a pint
of water per day. Landing at New York city, he
found his way to Rochester, in the western part of
the State, and there went to live with a physician.
Dr. H. Hammond, doing chores for his board and
attending school. Thus he continued to do for four
years, then taught school for two winters, in the
meantime commencing the study of medicine, which,
however, he did not complete until after the close
of the civil war.
In 1 86 1 young Cook enlisted in Company G of
the 108th Regiment of New York Infantry, and went
into the field; but on account of ill health was
obliged to leave the army in a few months.
He went to Chicago in the autumn of 1863, and
connected himself with St. Luke's Hospital, where
he remained three years, and at the same time con-
tinued his medical studies. He attended lectures
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPH/CAL DICTIONART.
245
at Rush College, and graduated in February, 1873,
practically at the head of the class. Dr. Cook was
immediately appointed house surgeon in St. Luke's
Hospital, in which position he continued one year,
and at the expiration of that time removed to Nece-
dah, where in two years he has built up a medical
practice extending from twelve to sixteen miles in
all directions. His surgical practice extends much
farther. A few times he has attended cases from
seventy-five to one hundred and twenty miles dis-
tant. Probably no man of his age in the State has
a better reputation as a surgeon. He has given to
the study his closest attention, and having had
excellent opportunities for progress has made the
best use of them.
Dr. Cook is a member of the Masonic fraternity,
and belongs to Home Lodge, No. 508, Chicago.
He is also a member of Grace Episcopal Church
of the same city, there being no organization of
that denomination in Necedah.
On January i, 1865, he was married to Miss
Elizabeth Smith, of Chicago, who lived only a few
months.
Dr. Cook has since had other deep afflictions.
During the latter half of the year 1876 he lost three
sisters, all dying of different diseases, and in less
than three months. The first two deaths occurred
in Rochester, New York; the last one in Necedah.
Phoebe, the youngest of the family, the only un-
married sister, was physically very frail for many
years. She was living in the Doctor's family at
the time of her demise, and was an affectionate
sister, most tenderly loved, and her loss was deeply
mourned by all.
DUDLEY J. SPAULDING,
BLACK RIVER FALLS.
DUDLEY J. SPAULDING, son of Jacob Spaul-
ding and Nancy Jane n^e Sticking, is of
strictly New England pedigree, both branches of his
ancestry having been early Massachusetts families.
They were whigs in the days of the revolution, and
members of both families were engaged in the rev-
olutionary struggle. Jacob Spaulding, a wheelwright
and machinist by occupation, was living near Balls-
ton, Saratoga county. New York, when Dudley was
born, July 13, 1834, and two years afterward immi-
grated to Illinois, settling near the city of Quincy.
He was a skillful mechanic, and before leaving the
East built a number of bridges in New York State
and Canada. In 1839 he removed to Jackson
county, Wisconsin, and there erected the first saw-
mill ever built in the valley of the Black river — the
same being the first improvement made on the pres-
ent site of Black River Falls, except an apology for
a mill built by the French twenty years before.
At that time Indians were abundant, but there
were no whites nearer than Prairie du Chien and
Fort Snelling.
At eleven years of age Dudley attended school
for a few months at Prairie du Chien, and again
when he was fourteen. A year later he attended a
home school during one season, which completed
his school privileges. Possessed of an inquiring
mind, he embraced every opportunity for acquiring
31
knowledge, and qualified himself for every branc h
of the lumber trade and for the many important
trusts that have been imposed upon him aside from
his life pursuits.
Jacob Spaulding not only took the initiative in
starting Black River Falls, but was the prime mover
in its earlier improvements, adding a grist-mill and
other industries from time to time. Dudley was
with him from his fifteenth to his twenty-first year,
acting in various capacities — working in the woods,
clerking in the store or boating on the river. He
was a well-built, robust youth, and at fourteen could
do an average man's work with the ax ; and the ex-
periences of his early days have had their influence
upon all his subsequent life.
At the age of twenty-one, having accumulated a
small capital, he opened several farms in the Trem-
pealeau valley, in Jackson county, which, a few
year's later, he traded for lands nearer town. When
about twenty-three years of age he was elected to
the office of county clerk, and served in that capac-
ity and also as clerk of the court for a period of two
years. At the expiration of his term of office he,
in company with William T. Price, leased a mill
property, which at the end of one year he purchased,
of Andrew Wood and others. Since that time he
has been engaged in a general lumber business, ex-
tending his operations and adding to his premises
246
THE UNITED STATES ^BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
from year to year. He now has, at Black River
Falls, a store 40 X 100 feet, with three floors; a saw-
mill and flouring-mill ; a sash, door and blind fac-
tory ; also a wagon and a blacksmith shop. Besides,
he owns a saw-mill and fixtures at Unity, Wiscon-
sin, and a three-fourths interest in saw-mills and
lumber yards in Dubuque and Montrose, Iowa. He
owns forty thousand acres of pine and farm lands,
and has about three thousand acres under cultiva-
tion in different farms.
Mr. Spaulding is a member of the Blue Lodge in
the Masonic fraternity.
In his political opinions he is a firm republican,
but not an active politician.
He has been connected with the Methodist Epis-
copal church more than twenty years.
On the nth of July, 1857, he was married to Miss
Margaret J. Campbell, of Platteville, Grant county,
Wisconsin, and by her has had seven children, five
of whom are now living.
Mr. Spaulding's father died January 23, 1876, in
his si.\ty-se venth year. He was a man of great energy
and much kindness of heart; had a liberal share of
public spirit, and took pride in witnessing the growth
and prosperity of the town which he helped to lo-
cate and with whose history and growth both he and
his son have been so intimately connected.
The boy who at the age of seven accompanied
his parents into this then wilderness and saw the
foundations of this romantic village soon after they
were laid, now looking around sees a thriving town
of three thousand inhabitants, with half a dozen
churches, a school house, which is an architectural
adornment to the hill on which it stands, and all the
indices of social culture and refinement.
In closing this brief outline of his life, it is but
just to state that no man now living, or who ever
has lived, in Black River Falls has done more to
advance the interests of the place than Dudley J.
Spaulding.
ALEXANDER McDONALD,
FOND DU LAC.
THE subject of this sketch is a gentleman of
fine business qualities, active, energetic, and
remarkably successful in whatever he undertakes.
Mr. McDonald was born in Lancaster, Glengarry
county, Canada. He is a son of Donald and Marion
McDonald. His father was engaged in farming
and also in the lumber business.
Alexander received his early education at the
common school of his native town, and after leaving
school he went to Montreal; engaged as a clerk
in a grocery store, and remained there three years.
He then returned home and engaged as clerk to
Mr. Archibald McBean, a merchant and lumberman;
young McDonald took charge of the store. After
being there a year and a half Mr. McBean estab-
lished a branch store, and Mr. McDonald took
charge of this and was admitted as partner. After
two years and a half he sold out his interest and
went to Montreal, and spent the winter there,
revolving in his mind what he should next do.
In 1848 he engaged as clerk to a railway con-
tractor, continuing one year, and then took charge
of a gang of men ; and, after a year, was made super-
intendent of a division. He held this position until
185s, when he returned home and spent the winter.
In 1856 he removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin,
and engaged in the lumber business in association
with his brother, and some others. After five years
he purchased the interest of all his associates, except
that of his brother, and carried on the business
under the firm name of A. and J. S. McDonald
until i86g, when he sold his interest to his brother.
Mr. A. McDonald now examined the pine lands
which he owned, with a view of turning them to
account. He bought a saw-mill in 187 1, and en-
gaged in the manufacture of lumber, and dealt in
pine lands. In 1874 he became interested in the
manufacture of threshing machines, and also in the
seeder works. The business qualifications of Mr.
McDonald became so appreciated, that he is now
connected with many successful enterprises.
In 1872 he was elected alderman of the city of
Fond du Lac, and in 1873 he was elected mayor.
Mr. McDonald is president of the Fountain City
Paper Mill ; president of the Fond du Lac Thresh-
ing Machine Co.; president of the Wheel and
Seeder Co. ; he is one of the owners of McDonald
and Stewart Sash, Door and Blind Manufactory;
director of the Log Harbor Co. ; a director of the
German-American Savings Bank ; director of the
e4;9.
e.^/cou2j^C^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
249
Fond du Lac Gravel Road Co.; president of the
St. Andrew's Society. His activity is untiring, and
he is held in high esteem.
Mr. McDonald is a member of the Presbyterian
church; and has been thrice married. In 1S59 he
was married to Miss Annie Cameron, by whom he
had one daughter; and on the 12th of December,
1863, his wife died. In February, 1868, he married
Christina McLennan, who only survived one year
after marriage; and in 1872 he married Sarah E.
Vaughan, by whom he has one son.
In politics, Mr. McDonald has been a republican
since the organization of the party.
The career of Mr. McDonald has been remarkably
successful, and he is never found wanting when any-
thing is to be done to benefit the city. He is of
temperate habits, a supporter of the temjierate cause,
and is sociable, agreeable and much respected.
NATHANIEL TREAT AND SONS,
THE history of Nathaniel Treat presents one of
the best instances of rugged and enduring
humanity, untiring energy, indomitable perseverance
and invincible courage to be met with in modern
history. He has never, since his boyhood, been a
day out of employment, and during the greater part
of his life has worked not less than sixteen hours
daily ; and although he is now bordering on four-
score years, he scorns inactivity and refuses to retire,
and still supplies the place of book-keeper for the
large establishment of his sons. Treat and Co.,
besides attending to other varied and important
interests. He reads and writes without artificial aid
to his sight, is quick and accurate at figures, and, in
short, still possesses all the vivacity and much of the
vigor of youth.
He was born, December 29, 1798, at Frankfort,
Waldo county, Maine, and is the son of Joseph
Treat, and the grandson of the celebrated Lieuten-
ant Joshua Treat, who, in 1759, came down the
Penobscot waters with Gov. Pownal, and was em-
ployed as a gunsmith at Fort Point, and also as
interpreter of the Indian language, which he had
acquired in his youth. He ascended the Penobscot
river the same month and year in a canoe with Gov.
Pownal, and landed on the bank of the Sourdeback
stream, in what is now the town of Hampden, and
there introduced Gov. Pownal to Madocawanda,
chief of the Tarratine Indians. He subsequently
settled in Connecticut, and was governor of that
State, and his name has become historical in con-
nection with a celebrated transaction of which the
"Charter Oak" was witness. The sister of Gov.,
Treat married Mr. Robert Paine, and was the
mother of Robert Treat Paine, one of the signers of
the Declaration of Independence. Gov, Treat was
the first actual white settler on the Penobscot
waters, and was the son of Joseph Treat, who was
the son of the Rev. Samuel Treat, who came from
England and settled at Eastham, Cape Cod, in the
latter part of the seventeenth century — whose half-
brother, Major Robert Treat, settled at Treat's
Falls at the same time.
An English family Bible, printed during the rule
of Cromwell, for many years the property of Gov.
Joshua Treat, and for the last seventy years in the
possession of Mrs. Lydia Park, of Searlsport, who
married the youngest son of the governor, has just
been (December, 1876) presented to the Antiquarian
Society of the city of Bangor, Maine, as a relic of
very great value.
Nathaniel Treat received a common-school edu-
cation in his native town of Frankfort, and com-
menced life at the age of seventeen as a school
teacher in a log school house, 20 x 24 feet, conspic-
uous for its large brick chimneys and huge fire-place.
In those early days there were no churches, and the
school-houses were used as places of worship. He
taught school in the winters, farmed and clerked in
the summers until the year 1828, when he built a
saw-mill at Orono, on the Penobscot river, which
was the first mill ever erected on that stream, and
began the manufacture of lumber. This business
he carried on successfully for nearly forty years,
enlarging his operations as his means increased
until he was the owner of some eighteen mills on
the Penobscot river, and besides proprietor of large
tracts of timber-land and other property. He was,
in 1836, one of the wealthiest men of the State. In
the last named year he built the famous dam across
the Penobscot river, still standing and known as
Treat's dam.
250
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
In 1834 he was elected to represent in the State
legislature a constituency composed largely of his
own tenants and employes, and was among the
wisest members and most indefatigable workers in
that body. The first interruption to his hitherto
successful career occurred during the memorable
monetary revulsion of 1837. He was president of
the Stillwater Exchange Bank, which in that year
failed in the general crash, involving him in heavy
losses. In 1846 the high water carried off the
largest of his mills at Orono and seriously damaged
the others, inflicting enormous losses, from the eff"ects
of which he was never afterward able fully to
recover. In 1849 he was one of the foremost among
the pioneers in the great California movement, which
brought that State so prominently into notice, and
tended in so remarkable a degree to develop its
resources. He organized a company on the Kenebee
river, purchased a sailing vessel, which was laden
with an assorted cargo of such wares and merchan-
dise as was then in demand on the Pacific Coast,
and sent his son, Ezra Parker — hereinafter referred
to — then in his eighteenth year, as supercargo to
take care of his interests in the venture, which, how-
ever, owing to mismanagement on the part of some
of the other members of the company failed to
realize the expectations of the originators of the
enterprise. The affair led to the organization of the
mining company, which subsequently owned and
operated the celebrated Marysville ranch. Mr.
Treat was also drawn into other business entangle-
ments, and lost heavily by indorsing for friends,
though he never failed or repudiated a claim for
which he was in any way responsible.
He was a man of strong nervous organism, of
extraordinary brain power and magnetism ; medium
in size, weighing about one hundred and sixty
pounds, compactly built, sinewy and muscular ; with
an iron constitution he was a stranger to fatigue, and
never suffered from pains or aches. He usually
worked sixteen hours a day, always led his employes
to work in the morning and was the last to close his
labor at night. He was not, however, one of those
indefatigable drudges who rise early, late take rest,
and eat the bread of carefulness ; not to make pro-
vision for any reasonable necessity, but only to
amass wealth. On the contrary, he was noted for
his noble and whole-souled generosity. He desired
to accumulate wealtli for the good he could do with
it. The widow and the fatherless were his care; he
dealt his bread to the hungry and never turned
away from any poor man. If any of his employes
lost life or limb in his service, their families were
pensioned till fully able to take care of themselves,
while every benevolent object within reach of him
felt the touch of his generous hand.
He was an earnest student of the Bible, and its
holy precepts were a law unto him. Whatsoever he
would that men should do to him, even so did he to
them. He was brought up in the Universalist faith
and adheres to it, believing that as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ will all he. made alive — spiritually
and corporeally, and has through life enjoyed an
equanimity of temper and calmness of mind born
only of his steadfast trust in the all-wise Parent of
Good.
During the later years of his sojourn in Maine
his attention was mainly directed to the care and
improvement of his landed property, though he still
conducted the lumber manufacturing business ona
more limited scale. In 1866 he sold his property
and business interest in the East and moved to
Monroe, Wisconsin, whither his sons had preceded
him.
On the 25th of February, 1827, he married Miss
Mary Parker, daughter of Oliver Parker, of Frank-
fort, Maine, whose father was a soldier during the
last years of the revolutionary war. She is still in
the enjoyment of good health, and they expect soon
to celebrate their golden wedding, which will be
graced by such a family gathering as rarely assem-
bles to do honor to a virtuous pair, who for half a
century have trod together the thorny path of life
sharing each other's burdens and lightening each
other's cares. The fruit of their union has been
eleven children, five of whom died in infancy and
six of whom survive, viz. : Hariott, wife of H. W.
Whitney, Esq. ; Ezra Parker, Joseph Bradford,
Nathaniel Byron, Susan Alice, wife of S. C. Chand-
ler, Esq., and Mary B., wife of Wm. S. Bloom,
Esq. ; all wealthy merchants in the city of Monroe.
Ezra P., already referred to, after spending four
years in the Marysville ranch, California, with very
fair success, returned to Maine and remained with
his father till 1864, when he removed to Monroe,
Wisconsin, built a magnificent brick block on the
west side of the square, and commenced business
under the style of Treat and Co. (the youngest
brother, Nathaniel B., being his partner). This is
now (1877) one of the wealthiest firms in the State.
On the ist of January, 1858, E. P. Treat was
married to Miss Ann Oilman, of Orono, Maine, a
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAIiT.
251
scion of one of the early colonial settlers of the
State.
Joseph B. had preceded his brother to Monroe
in i860, and in company with his brother-in-law,
H. W. Whitney, erected a magnificent brick store
on the east side of the square, which for a number
of years was conducted under the style of Whitney
and Treat, but since the retirement of the former to
take control of the Monroe Manufacturing Company
the business has been conducted by J. B. Treat
alone. He is a gentleman of fine culture, and, like
his father, of great energy and industry. Since his
settlement in Monroe he has taken a lively interest
in everything pertaining to the improvement of the
city and the well-being of the citizens. He has
been a member of the school board and city gov-
ernment, and is a promoter of whatever is designed
to contribute to the intellectual or social advance-
ment of the community.
He has also been a zealous worker, from principle,
in the republican party, and in 1874 was elected to
the State senate to represent Lafayette and Green
counties.
Although still in the prime of life he has accumu-
lated a competence. He is enterprising, generous
and public-spirited, and one of the most courteous
and popular gentlemen of the State. Next to Mr.
Whitney he is the largest stockholder in the Monroe
Manufacturing Company. He is a member of the
Masonic fraternity, and has been intrusted with the
settlement of several large estates of deceased citi-
zens of Monroe.
On the iSth of January. 1859, he married Miss
P. J. Gould, daughter of Nia Gould, of Orono,
Maine, descended of colonial stock.
Nathaniel B., the youngest son, came to Wisconsin
in 1858, in company with his brother-in-law, H. W.
Whitney, with whom he was associated in business
for some years after. In 1862 he went into the
army as second lieutenant of Co. B, 31st Regi-
ment Wisconsin Volunteers, served gallantly through
the war, and was promoted to the rank of captain.
He was one of the most popular and chivalric offi-
cers in the service, sharing his quarters and rations
with his men. He knew their several names, and
sympathized with them in their trials, and was
selected by his colonel to e.xecute the death sentence
upon seven rebel bushwhackers who had been con-
victed by court-martial of numerous murders and out-
rages upon peaceable Union citizens. Since the war
he has been a member of the firm of Treat and Co.
On the 17th day of July, 1866, he married Miss
Eva Read, of Orono; she died July 23, 1874, leav-
ing two children, one son and one daughter. Octo-
ber 12, 1876, he married Miss Helen Oilman, of
Orono, Maine, sister to the wife of his elder brother.
ELIAS W. STEVENS, M.D.,
REV. ELL\S WYCKOFF STEVENS, son of
Daniel and Sarah (Hanmer) Stevens, was
born in Tompkins county. New York, September
2, 1832. His father, a farmer, and later in life a
merchant, moved to Bradford county, Pennsylvania,
when Elias was one year old. When he was fifteen
the family removed to the West, and settled in
Mayville, Dodge county, Wisconsin. Upon the
death of the father, two years later, Elias left the
farm and apprenticed himself to learn the cabinet
maker's trade, at which he worked in all, though
not consecutively, five years. About the time he
began learning this trade he was converted, and
joined the Methodist church.
At the age of eighteen he was licensed by the
quarterly conference, and preached more or less
before he was out of his apprenticeship. In 1852
the presiding elder appointed him to the Marcellon
circuit, in Columbia county, and two years later he
joined the annual conference, and was appointed to
Lowell, Dodge county. After preaching about three
years, he withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal
church, and joined the Wesleyan Methodists, on
account of the slavery question ; he being a strong,
outsjjoken abolitionist. He was a preacher in this
denomination about twelve years, most of the time
in central Wisconsin ; and during three-fourths of
this time was either secretary or president of the
annual conference.
As early as 1852 Mr. Stevens began to study
medicine, giving to it whatever leisure time was at
his command, and continued the same while preach-
ing for the Wesleyan people. Later he attended a
course of lectures at Bennett Medical College,
THE UNITED STATES BIOdRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Chicago, and graduated as valedictorian of the first
class that graduated from that institution. Previous
to receiving his diploma he had practiced medicine
about five years, and abandoned it after practicing
about as much longer. His location at this time
was at Shawano.
In April, 1872, Mr. Stevens founded, at Shawano,
the "Western Advance," a paper of high moral tone,
devoted to general news and temperance; and
during the following year removed to Portage, where
he still acts as its editor and proprietor. Although
he has met with strong opposition and even losses
because of his temperance sentiments, he is fearless
in their promulgation, and is willing to suffer
persecution if necessary, rather than lay down his
pen or close his mouth. He has lectured on
temperance, more or less every year, since he was
seventeen years old; and at the present time, 1877,
is in the lecture field.
In the autumn of 1864 Mr. Stevens enlisted as a
private in the 44th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry,
and at the end of four months was commissioned its
chaplain. During the last four months that he was
in the service he was detailed at Paducah, Kentucky,
as superintendent of refugees and freedmen, and was
mustered out of the service at the close of the war.
Mr. Stevens joined the republican party as soon
as it was formed, and voted with it until 1875, when
he joined the prohibitionists.
In 1853 he united with the West Wisconsin con-
ference of the Methodist Episcopal church, and
was located, and at present is local elder in that
body. He preaches frequently, and sometimes acts
as substitute for the presiding elder.
On the 20th of January, 1853, Mr. Stevens was
married to Miss Mary R. Clark, of Randolph, Wis-
consin. They have had seven children, of whom
six are now living. The eldest child, Sarah A., is
the wife of Allen H. Fosdick, of Shawano, Wis-
consin ; Arthur C, George A. and Elbert E. work
with their father in the printing office. Arthur is
foreman and local editor. The names of the two
youngest are Lura May and Elma Amanda.
Although Mr. Stevens had limited opportunities
for accumulating knowledge in his younger years, he
made a good use of spare time ; mastered all the
elementary branches before he had arrived at age,
after which he gave considerable attention to higher
branches, and long before middle life had obtained
a large fund of general as well as theological and
medical knowledge. He has always been a student
and an independent thinker, and few men in the
community in which he resides are as well posted
on current events and the questions which agitate
the public mind. He makes a good use of his
attainments and talents, and the great purpose of
his life is to promote the highest interests of his
fellow-men.
DON A. RAYMOND, M.D.,
FOXD DU LAC.
IT is remarkable that most of our eminent physi-
cians are not men raised in the lap of luxury,
and favored by the advantage of opportunities of
early training, but are men of extraordinary energy
of character, who, from the bent of inclination, have
made choice of the profession, and have acquired
learning despite many obstacles, earning the means
to defray the expenses of their education by their
own industry and perseverance. The career of
the subject of this sketch is a good example of this
fact.
The parents of Don A. Raymond were Ebenezer
and Rebecca Raymond. His father was a farmer
and manufacturer of woodenware. Don was born
at Warren, Washington county, Vermont, September
8, 1818. He received his preliminary education in
his native town, and subsequently at the academy at
Montpelier, Vermont. After leaving school he studied
medicine, and taught school to defray the expenses
of his medical tuition. The necessities of his cir-
cumstances caused some delay in the prosecution of
his studies, but in 1845 he graduated at Castleton
Medical College. He returned to his native town
and practiced medicine there for two years. In
1847 he removed to Canton, St. Lawrence county.
New York, and followed his profession in that place.
At the expiration of three years he was appointed
surgeon of the State Prison at Clinton, New York,
where he remained three years. In 1853 he re-
moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he made
his home and established a large practice.
In 1861, at the outbreak of the war, he entered
^
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
255
the service of the United States, and was surgeon
of the 3d regiment of Wisconsin vokinteers. After
one and a half years' service his health failed, and
he was compelled to resign. He returned home,
and, after recruiting his health, resumed practice,
which so grew upon him that he was obliged to de-
cline much of his business on account of overwork.
He has gained considerable reputation, has been
very successful in his practice, as many of his
patients gratefully acknowledge, and his pecuniary
success has been satisfactory.
Dr. Raymond is a member of the Fond du Lac
Medical Society, as also of the State Medical Soci-
ety. On the isth day of May, 1850, he was married
to Miss Maria Foote, by whom he has two daughters.
His wife died September 28, 1874, much regretted
by a large circle of friends.
Dr. Raymond is not a member of any church, but
is highly respected for his moral worth. In politics
he has voted with the republican party ever since its
organization, and has always been active in benevo-
lent and charitable w6rk.
HENRI B. COLE, M.D.,
BLACK RIVER FALLS.
THE subject of this sketch, the son of Alfred
Cole, a farmer of Putnam county. New York,
was born at Carmel, July 6, 1S38. His mother's
maiden name was Calista J. Wilson. His paternal
grandfather was a soldier in the second war with
England. Henri attended the district school and
worked on the farm until eighteen years of age, his
school life including about fourteen or fifteen weeks
each year. Though thus restricted in his facilities
for gaining an education, he embraced every oppor-
tunity for reading, both in the field and at home
during the evenings (history being one of his fa-
vorite branches of study), and by economizing his
time read the works of Josephus, " Rollin's Ancient
History," and other standard authors, during spare
hours and moments which many lads would have
allowed to pass unimproved.
In 1856 he began the study of medicine with Dr.
John Quincy Adams, of Carmel, New York, and af-
terward attended lectures at the medical depart-
ment of the University of New York, from which he
graduated in the spring of i860. He began to
practice two years before graduating, during which
time he was on the staff of Professor Gunning S.
Bedford and in the New York City and Bellevue
Hospitals, and thus enjoyed superior facilities for
preparing himself for medical and surgical practice.
In the autumn of i860 Dr. Cole removed to
Minnesota, and settled at Faribault, where he con-
tinued the practice of his profession until the spring
of 1862, when he was commissioned assistant sur-
geon of the 5th Minnesota Infantry, which position
he resigned before going into the field, in order to
accept the same position in the 128th Regiment
New York Infantry, of which one of his old medical
professors was surgeon. With this regiment he was
ordered to New Orleans, and was detailed to do duty
at quarantine near that city, remaining there until
the spring of 1863. He was then detailed to St.
James Hospital, New Orleans, and during the sum-
mer was sent to Cairo, Illinois, with a large number
of wounded soldiers ; thence he returned to Louisi-
ana in the following autumn, and was ordered to
the Barracks, " U. S. A. General Hospital," New Or-
leans, where he remained as executive officer until
mustered out of the service in July, 1865.
In the fall of 1865 Dr. Cole settled at his present
home, and, resuming his profession, has become the
leading medical practitioner in Jackson county. As
a surgeon he is eminently successful, and has at-
tained an enviable reputation throughout his part of
the State.
Aside from his professional duties. Dr. Cole has
represented the village of Black River Falls as
county supervisor for five or six years, and is one of
the most active and influential members of the
board. He was also clerk of the school district for
several years, and was one of the originators of an
educational enterprise which resulted in the erection
of a thirty thousand dollar school house, and one of
the best systems of instruction in the interior of the
State; the course of study in the graded school be-
ing sufficient to prepare a student for college.
Dr. Cole is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order.
In his political sentiments he is a republican, and
for two years was a member of the Republican
State Central Committee.
On July 15, 1866, he was married to Miss Clara
256
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY'.
A. Baxter, daughter of Dr. J. B. G. Baxter, surgeon
of U. S. volunteers, of La Crosse, Wis. They have
one child.
Although not yet forty years of age. Dr. Cole has
made a most honorable record. An ardent stu-
dent, and largely self-taught, except in his profes-
sion, he has laid a firm foundation of knowledge,
and also of character, and is steadily building up
the superstructure. He is a man of noble instincts,
of rare personal and social qualities, and is highly
respected as a citizen, as well as a physician and
surgeon.
CHARLES R. GLEASON,
EAU CLATRE.
CHARLES R. GLEASON was born in the town
of Caroline, Tompkins county. New York, on
the 8th of September, 1831. His father, a farmer,
tanner, and manufacturer of gloves and mittens,
moved to Richford, Tioga county, when the son was
one year old. There Charles attended school as
soon as he was old enough, until he attained his
fourteenth year, at which time he became a clerk
in a store in Hartford, Cortland county. He re-
mained there three years, and employed his leisure
time in reviewing his studies and mastering new
branches, and at seventeen engaged in teaching at
Speedsville, Tompkins county.
At the age of eighteen he accompanied his father's
family to Wisconsin, and settled at Kingston, Green
Lake county, where he spent nearly three years in
the office of the register of deeds. In 1856 he re-
moved to Madison, and devoted nearly two years to
a clerkship in the State land department, and after-
ward was chief clerk of the same between two and
three years. In i860 Mr. Gleason removed to Eau
Claire, and was a forwarding and commission mer-
chant and grain operator during the next nine years.
At the expiration of that time he engaged in a
general merchandise and lumber trade, which he
continued about three years ; and in the spring of
1872 was elected the first clerk of the city, an office
which he still holds.
In 1870 Mr. Gleason was elected to the general
assembly as representative from Eau Claire and
Pepin counties, being sent to the legislature for the
express purpose of securing the passage of an act
for the improvement of the Dallas. Although he suc-
ceeded in getting such a bill through the house, it
was defeated in the senate. It has since passed
both branches of the legislature, and the improve-
ment is progressing. Mr. Gleason is a strong man
in debate, and did good service for his constituents
in the legislature. He was a member of the board
of county supervisors for several years, and chair-
man of the original town of Eau Claire more than
half the time ; and besides held other positions of
responsibility and trust.
In politics he has always acted with the demo-
cratic party, and is one of its leaders in Eau Claire
county. He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic
fraternity.
He was married on the 2d day of April, 1852, to
Frances I. Miller, of St. Marie, Wisconsin, and by
her has two children.
Throughout his career Mr. Gleason's conduct has
been marked by uprightness, promptness and energy ;
he is a man of public spirit, and, since becoming a
resident of Eau Claire, has taken a most active in-
terest in all local improvements, and matters pertain-
ing to the prosperity and development of the city,
and by his genuine manly course has gained the
high esteem of his fellow-citizens.
ALBERT E. POUND,
CniPPEU-A FALLS.
ONE of the prominent builders of the thriving
city of Chippewa Falls is Albert E. Pound, a
native of Warren county, Pennsylvania. He was
born June 2, 1S31. His parents, Elijah and Judith
Pound, were Quakers, and had moved from Roch-
ester, New York, a short time prior to Albert's birth.
In 183S the family returned to western New York,
and after experimenting a short time in Fourierism
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
257
at Clarkson, in Orleans county, removed to the city
of Rochester, where the father and sons were em-
ployed in a woolen factory. Not meeting with that
degree of success which he had hoped, he resolved
to try the West, and accordingly, in 1847, moved with
his family to Rock county, Wisconsin, and rented a
farm ten miles from Janesville. Here Albert's time
was so fully occupied in assisting in the farm work
that he had little opportunity for mental improve-
ment, although he made good use of such as he had
in the district schools. Being possessed of an in-
quisitive turn of mind, he improved his spare hours,
out of school, in examining into the various sciences
and other branches of study. About 1850 he made
a lecturing tour with his younger brother, Thaddeus,
speaking on psychology, animal magnetism and other
kindred topics, and exposing the tricks of apostles
of the pseudo sciences.
About 1851, in company with his brother, he re-
turned to New York, and attended school several
terms in the Rushford, Alleghany county. Academy,
teaching occasionally; and on the 31st of October,
1855, the two married two sisters, Albert choosing
Sarah E. and Thaddeus Susan A. Loomis, daughters
of Nathan S. Loomis, of Oneida county. During
that same year our subject returned to Wisconsin
and settled at Chippewa Falls, and, having decided
to make it his permanent home, removed his family
hither in 1857. He was at the first employed there
as time-keeper in the saw-mill of H. S. Allen. At
the end of one year he took charge of Mr. Allen's
manufacturing and merchandising interests at Yellow
River Mills, five miles east of the Falls, and in 1862
became a member of the firm of Pound, Halbert and
Co., at the Falls, and continued a member of the
same until 1869, when he became secretary of the
Union Lumbering Company, a capacity in which he
acted until March, 1875. Since that date he has
been a member of the firm of A. V,. Pound and Co.,
his partners being Messrs. H. S. .Allen and Thomas
L. Halbert, two of the oldest and most substantial
business men in the place. They have the largest
mercantile house in the city, ai-e lessees of the Union
Lumbering Company's mills and river works, and in
all departments combined are doing an annual bus-
iness of nine hundred thousand dollars. In 1876
they cut thirty-two million feet of lumber, eight
million of shingles, seven million of lath and six
hundred and fifty thousand of pickets.
Mr. Pound belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and
has taken the thirty-second degree.
In politics he has always been a republican, and in
1871 was elected to the State legislature, the only
important political office for which he would ever
consent to run. He was known as a working mem-
ber of the general assembly of the State. He was
mayor of Chippewa Falls about 1871, and has been
a member of the school board several years, and is
still its leading spirit in all public enterprises; there
is no warmer friend of education in the Chippewa
valley than he. He has six children, and uses
every means for their mental culture and improve-
ment.
Mr. Pound is not a time server; he is bold and
outspoken, freely, fearlessly and fully expressing his
views on any question under consideration. He is
clear, concise and ready in debate, a perfect master
of the details of business, and forward in all schemes
looking to local improvements in any respect.
He is a man of generous and liberal nature, and
in an unostentatious manner contributes freely of his
means to all worthy charities.
HON. JAMES M. BINGHAM,
CHIPPEWA FALLS.
TAMES MONROE BINGHAM, son of Horace
J and Rachel (Howard) Bingham, was born in the
town of Perry, Wyoming county, New York, Febru-
ary 3, 1828. His father, a well-to-do farmer, was a
soldier in the war of 1812. James remained at
home until his twentieth year, aiding his father, and
received his education at the common schools and
the Perry Center Academy. After leaving home he
was engaged in teaching some twelve terms, and
3^
during that time continued his mathematical, class-
ical and other studies. During the latter years of
his teaching in New York State he was principal of
the Perry Center Academy and the Leroy High
School.
In the autumn of 1853 he removed to the West,
and passed the following winter in Michigan, teach-
ing, near Detroit. In the ensuing spring he pro-
ceeded to Chicago, and thence during the summer
258
THE UN/TED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
to Palmyra, Jefferson county, Wisconsin. While in
[,eroy he began the study of law with F. P.. Rissell ;
afterward resumed the same in Chicago, and finally
completed them at Palmyra. After being admitted
to the bar in 1856 he began the practice of his pro-
fession at Palmyra, and continued there until 1871,
wlien he removed to Chippewa Falls, and there still
continues his practice in partnership with Mr. W. L.
Pierce, under the firm name of Bingham and Pierce.
Mr. Bingham stands at the head of the Chippewa
county bar, and in the front ranks of the legal fra-
ternity of the eleventli circuit.
He was a member of the general assembly of Wis-
consin during the years 1863, 1864, 1870, 187 i and
1874, and was speaker in 1870. During all these
sessions of the legislature he was a member of the
judiciary committee, and chairman of the same in
1863 and 1869. These positions as speaker and
as chairman of the most important committee in-
dicate his standing in the lower house of the legis-
lature.
In the summer of 1864 Mr. Bingham entered the
military service as major of the 40th Infantry, a
hundred-days regiment, and was stationed at or
near Memphis.
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and
has been high priest of the chapter at Chippewa
Falls since its organization.
In politics he has always been a republican, and,
as his history indicates, has been a favorite of the
party.
In religious sentiment he is a Congregationalist,
and is a trustee of the Presbyterian society, there
being no Congregational organization in the place.
Mrs. Bingham is a daughter of the late Dr. W. C.
I )wight, of Moscow, New York. She has three
children. She is a woman of culture and refine-
ment, and is active and benevolent in all charitable
measures.
Mr. Bingham stands high both as a court and
jury, lawyer. He is thoroughly posted on legal
questions, and polished both in manners and lan-
guage. He speaks slowly, sometimes wittily, more
often eloquently, and all his sentences exhibit the
training of a scholar and a complete mastery of the
English language.
HON. JOHN E. MANN,
MIL WA UKEE.
TUDCE JOHN E. MANN, of Milwaukee, Wis-
J consin, was born in Schoharie county, New York,
March 4, 182 1. His parents were George W. and
Elizabeth Mann. His father was a farmer. His
parents were upright people and gave him excellent
moral precepts and example.
He entered the sophomore class in Williams Col-
lege in 1840, but after remaining two terms he left
Wilhams and entered Union College, Schenectady,
where he graduated in the classical course in 1843.
."Kfter graduating he entered the law office of Jacob
Houck, junior. He was admitted to the bar in
1847 at Utica, New York, at the general term. He
commenced practice in Schoharie county, where he
followed his profession for seven and a half years.
In May of the year 1854 he came to Wisconsin and
located at West Bend, Washington county. Here
he formed a copartnership with Hon. L. F. Frisbee,
which existed until April, 1859, when he was elected
judge of the third circuit to fill a vacancy occasioned
l)y Judge Earabee's resignation. In i860 he was
reelected for a term of six years, and discharged the
duties of that office until January, 1867, when he
removed to Milwaukee. On his arrival at Mil-
waukee he formed a copartnership with F. W.
Cutzhansen, which continued until the 5th of Feb-
ruary, 1874, when he was appointed by Governor
Taylor judge of the county court, of Milwaukee
county, Hon. H. L. Palmer resigned. This office
he still holds. The judge of Milwaukee county has
concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court of said
county to the amount of five millions of dollars, and
also jurisdiction in the probate court of said county.
Judge Mann was raised a Protestant, and still
holds that faith. His present political views are
democratic, though he has never been an extreme
partisan. He is a warm patriot, and believes in
this country first and last. Before coming to Wis-
consin he was judge-advocate of the Militia of
New York.
On October 22, 1845, he married Catharine Dietz,
granddaughter of Hon. William Dietz, member of
congress in the days of Martin Van Buren. Judge
Mann and his wife were raised on adjoining farms
In^fi^JahndfcRat^"'^
THE UNITED STATES BIOCRAPHICAL DICTtONARV.
261
from infancy. His father gave him his education;
when that was finished he was thrown upon his own
resources.
Judge Mann's characteristics are those of strong
common sense, stern integrity, unremitting industry.
His views of general subjects are broad and com-
prehensive, and being a student from inclination
and from habit, he arrives at his conclusions care-
fully. His knowledge of tlic principles of the law
is almost perfect, and he ajiplies them with discre-
tion and rigid impartiality. He is brief in speech,
reserved and unobtrusive in manner, benevolent in
all his impulses, strong in his friendships, and firm
in all his convictions of duty. He personates to
those who know him the honest man, who is " the
noblest work of God."
JOSEPH M. MORROW,
.S7'.l/i>7.l.
JOSEPH McKEEN MORROW is the son of
J Henry Morrow, cabinet maker, and was born
January i, 1832, in Aurora, Erie county, New York.
His mother's maiden name was Mary McKeen,
whose father was a soldier in the war of 181 2.
.Some of her elder relatives were engaged in the
struggle for independence.
Joseph was educated at the academy in his native
village, a popular institution thirty years ago, and
still in a prosperous condition. In 1848 he went to
Buffalo, where for a time he was employed as sales-
man in a grocery store. Later he learned the trade
of reed-making in the melodeon factory of George
A. Prince and Co., and in 1854 went to Boston,
Massachusetts, and worked two years in the organ
factory of Mason and Hamlin.
While in Buffalo Mr. Morrow spent a few months
in a law office, and while in Boston continued the
same line of study as he had opportunity. Near the
close of the year 1856 he removed to the West,
arriving in Sparta, Monroe county, Wisconsin, on
the 17th of December. Here he at once resumed
his law studies in the office of L. W. Graves, Esq.,
with whom, after being admitted to the bar in the
autumn of 1858, he formed a partnership, which
continued until the spring of 1864. At that time,
by reason of impaired health, Mr. Morrow went to
Montana Territory,
:;re ht
It about three
years. Returning, much benefited by the tri|), he
resumed his profession, practicing alone for several
years. During the last three years he has been in
j partnership with Chas. M. Masters, under the firm
name of Morrow and Masters.
In 1862 Mr. Morrow was a member of the lower
branch of the Wisconsin legislature, being elected
to fill a vacancy.
In 1870 he was elected district attorney, an office
to which he was twice reelected, serving, in all, six
years in succession. He is now president of the
village of Sparta; and in whatever position he has
been placed by the suffrages of the people he lias
shown himself competent, prompt and faithful.
Mr. Morrow early imbibed the principles of the
democratic party, and having never changed his
political opinions, is now a strong man in his party.
On the 9th of May, i860, he was married to Miss
Olive Graves, of Sparta, daughter of Rev. Nathaniel
Graves, an early settler in Monroe county. They
have had one child, a daughter.
Mr. Morrow is a very public-spirited man, and
was one of the foremost in bringing the Chicago and
Northwestern railroad to Sparta, and has promptly
lent a hand in every enterprise tending to further
the interests of his adopted home.
HON. MARK BUMP,
BLACK RIVER FALLS.
THE subject of this sketch is a native of New
York, and was born at Scipio, February 26,
181 1. His father, Bethuel Bump, was a soldier in
the war of 1812. from which he never returned —
though during what year, where, or how he died, the
son never knew. At six years of age Mark went to
live with a maternal uncle, Peter Tibbies, three miles
from ."Vttica, Wyoming county. New York, in the so
262
THE UNITED STATES BTnGRAPHICAL nrCTTONARr.
called " Holland Purchase." Three years afterward,
upon the death of his uncle, he returned to his
mother and spent most of the next four or five years
in school.
At the age of fourteen he cast himself upon his
own resources, and during the next three years spent
the summers in farm work, and attended school
winters.
In i82<S, at the age of seventeen, he went to Au-
burn, and there contracted for a forty-mile mail route
for the term of two years, at the end of which time he
engaged as clerk in a hotel at Skaneateles. Leaving
this place at the end of one year, he engaged in the
same vocation in an Auburn hotel, where he remained
until June, 1833, and then removed to Buffalo, and
spent a few months in the Mansion House. We
ne.xt find him conducting a hotel for other parties,
at Huron, Ohio ; then, in 1836, speculating in wild
lands and village property, in Shiawasse, Michigan,
and in 1839 and 1840 steamboating on the lakes.
In December of the last-named year he settled at
Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, Ohio, and during
the next three years was engaged as an inn-keeper.
In March, 1843, Mr. Bump settled at Racine, Wis-
consin, and opened a farm six miles from town. In
1845 he leased the Racine House, but abandoned it
at the end of two years and returned to his farm.
In 185 I, in connection with another gentleman, he
built a saw-mill at Omro, Winnebago county, Wis-
consin, which he operated for two years ; he then
sold his mill and removing to Portage, there dealt
I in real estate and lumber, and later, in merchandise.
In August, 1855, he removed to Black River Falls,
with a stock of merchandise. In 1859 he discon-
tinued the mercantile trade, and for three years
confined himself exclusively to the lumber business,
which had from the start occupied more or less of
his time and energies. In 1862 Mr. Bump again
opened a store and continued in trade until 1871,
when he again turned his attention entirely to the
lumber trade.
In November, 1875, he was appointed county judge
by Governor Taylor, a position which he still holds,
making an efficient and popular officer.
Judge Bump has been twice married : first, to
Eliza Chesebrough, of Auburn, New York, on the
31st of December, 1832. Mrs. Bump died in Buf-
falo, of cholera, in 1834. His second marriage was
on the ist of December, 1836, to Laura Pierson
Colt, of Huron, Ohio, who died August 8, 1876.
He has no children living — had one child by his
first wife, which died in infancy. He never had a
brother and has no sisters living.
About two years ago he joined the Episcopal
church, of which his second wife was an influential
and active member, and is cheerfully awaiting the
time when he shall join the loved ones who have
gone before to the realms of bliss.
Personally Judge Bump is sociable, affable and
companionable. He always greets one with a smile
and seems on the best of terms with all men, and at
peace with God.
LEVI M. VILAS,
EAU CI. A I RE.
AMONG the prominent men of Wisconsin none is
i\. more deserving of an honorable mention than
Levi Madison Vilas. His father, Judge Vilas, held
high positions before leaving Vermont, his native
commonwealth, and has been a member of the Wis-
consin legislature three or four times. He was
mayor of the city of Madison, and during the war
was draft commissioner, and for twelve years was a
regent of the State LIniversity. Well educated him-
self, and a thorough appreciator of the value of
learning, he gave his five sons the advantage of a
college education, and thus aided them in laying
good foundations on which to build. Two or three
of them are lawyers, and, at middle life, are leading
men in their profession. William F. Vilas, of Mad-
ison, has few equals in the legal profession in Wis-
consin, and the subject of this sketch is among the
foremost attorneys in the Chippewa valley.
Levi Madison Vilas, son of Levi B. and Esther
Green (Smilie) Vilas, was born in Chelsea, Vermont,
February 17, 1844. His parents moved to Madison,
Wisconsin, when he was seven years old. He was
kept at school during all his younger years, pre-
pared for college at Madison, and graduated from
the State University in June, 1863, and from the
Albany, New York, Law School in May, 1864. After
spending a year with his brother William, at Madi-
son, he, in 1865, went into the quartermaster's de-
THE UNITED STATES RinGRAniTCAT. DTCTlONARr.
263
partiiient of the United States army as chief clerk,
and spent two years in that position at Alexandria,
Washington, St. Louis, Fort Laramie, Wyoming Ter-
ritory, and Fort Sedgwick, Colorado. At the expi-
ration of that time he returned to Madison, and in
June, 1868, settled in Eau Claire, where he has since
attended closely to his legal profession.
In 1872, when Eau Claire became a city, he was
appointed the city attorney, in which capacity he
served one year. In 1876 he was elected mayor of
the city, both political parties giving him a hearty
support, and the manner in which he has discharged
his duties shows the wisdom of their choice. The
office sought him, not he the office. A lawyer by
profession and from choice, it is with reluctance
that he steps aside to occupy any official position.
In politics he is a democrat, though both in this
eligi,
a man of broad and
He was married on. the 25th of .\ugust, 1869, to
Miss Ella C. Slinglufif, of F^au Claire, and by her has
two children.
Few men reared in the State laid a better foimda-
tion than Levi M. Vilas. His literary education
was thorough; his opportunities for legal instruction
the very best, and he is making good use of the
advantages early secured. He is still a close and
enthusiastic student. As a lawyer he is thoroughly
posted ; he is especially powerful before a jury, and
has no superior in Eau Claire county before the
court.
Mr. Vilas is a man of fine physicjue, being five feet
and ten and a half inches in height, and weighing
two hundred and five pounds.
OTIS HOYT, M.D.,
ONE of the oldest and best known citizens of
St. Croix county, Wisconsin, is Dr. Otis Hoyt,
a native of New Hampshire. He was born at Sand-
wich, December 3, 1810, and is the son of George
and Mary Hoyt. Both of his grandfathers (Hoyt
by name) served in the revolutionary war. His
father was a farmer by occupation. During his
early life George attended the common school and
aided his father on the farm, and at the age of four-
teen entered the academy at Fryburg, Maine, where
he prepared for college. In 1829 he entered Dart-
mouth, from which he graduated in 1833. He then
studied medicine there for a time with Professor
Massey, and afterward completed his course of
study at Philadelphia, graduating from Jefferson
Medical College in 1836.
After two years' practice at Mason, New Hamp-
shire, he removed to Framingham, Massachusetts,
and practiced there until 1846, at which time he
entered the Mexican war as a surgeon in the regu-
lar army, and remained until the war closed. In
April, 1849, visited Hudson, Wisconsin, but there
being no house there in which to live, he went to
St. Croix Falls and spent one year, and at the end
of that time settled at Hudson. At that time there
were more half-breed families than pure whites in
the place, and more log cabins than frame houses.
The white men with families were, P. Aldrich, Am-
asa Andrew, Moses Perrin, W. R. Anderson, John
O. Henning and Joseph Tyler.
In 185 1 Dr. Hoyt was elected to the legislature,
and Hudson was so crowded at that time that he
removed his family to Stillwater for shelter during
his absence.
When the Doctor opened an office in Hudson, in
1850, there was no physician in the State within a
hundred and fifty miles, the nearest one being at
F'ort Snelling, Minnesota. He often went from fifty
to seventy miles to visit patients, and once went
more than a hundred. Sometimes he rode a mule,
and sometimes went on foot. He has \valked sixty
miles to see a patient, often thirty and forty ; and on
one occasion, being compelled to remain out over
night, near Snake river, with the thermometer thirty
degrees below zero, he dug a hole in the snow,
wrapped his blankets around him, and rested as
well as he could. Having on two pairs of mocca-
sins he took off one pair because they hurt his feet,
and lost them by the wolves carrying them off while
he slept.
In those early days the Chippewa Indians were
very numerous in this part of the country, and the
Doctor was often called to administer to them in his
professional character. He was never a respecter
of persons, and obeyed every professional summons,
whether it was to an Indian wigwam near at hand
264
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
or ;i white man's cabin a hundred miles away. He
has always had a good reputation both as a medical
practitioner and surgeon.
In September, 1862, IJr. Hoyt went into the
United States army as surgeon of the 30th Wis-
consin A'olunteer Infantry, but was on detached
service most of the time, at different points. For a
time he had charge of the hospital at Camp Ran-
dall, Madison, and was examining surgeon sometime
in the winter of 1863, and examined over eleven
thousand recruits. He was medical director at
Bowling Green and Louisville, Kentucky, and from
July to November, 1864, was at Fort Rice, on the
Missouri river. His experience in surgery during
the civil war was of the greatest value to him, and
fitted him for still greater usefulness in this line in
liis jjractice at home. He is known as one of the
most successful surgeons in the State.
In politics he has been a life-long democrat, and
was once a candidate for Congress, running against
C. C. Washburne, in one of the strongest republican
districts in the State. He did not expect to be
elected, and was not.
Dr. Hoyt has been twice married, his wives being
sisters, namely, Mary R. King and Eliza B. King, of
Ipswich, New Hampshire. By the first he had two
children, a son and a daughter, who are still living.
By the second wife he has had seven children, five
of whom, daughters, are now living.
Dr. Hoyt is a Knight Templar in the Masonic
fraternity.
He is a little above the average height, slightly
corpulent, and weighs two hundred and ten pounds ;
has a ruddy face and pleasant expression. He has
a jovial disposition, and possesses a happy faculty
of relating anecdotes and stories, a good supply of
which he always has at hand. He is a true speci-
men of the weather-beaten, robust and rosy pioneer.
WILLIAM W. FIELD,
WILLIAM W. FIELD was born at Lancaster,
New Hampshire, October 31, 1824; his
parents' names were Abel W. and Sally Field. His
father was a common farmer, never owning a farm
but living upon rented land upward of twenty-five
years; and raising a family consisting of five sons
and one daughter, giving each of them a good com-
mon-school education.
William W. attended the common school in his
native town, finishing his school education with two
terms in the Lancaster Academy. At the age of
seventeen he taught school in winter for three suc-
cessive years, giving the proceeds to his father, and
worked on the farm the balance of the year. At
the age of twenty his father gave him his time, as
he did each of his brothers, saying he would give
him a year's time, but money or property he could
not give.
In the spring of 1845 he left home with a portion
of the thirty dollars in gold in his pocket, earned in
leaching a three-months school the winter previous,
and went to Medford, Massachusetts; worked on a
small farm there for two years, then moved to Bel-
fast, Maine, and engaged in the marble business with
William H. Lane, a former schoolmate; remained
there until September, 1852, when he moved to Fen-
nimore. Grant county, Wisconsin ; purchased land,
moved into a log cabin, containing one room, painted
it up with his own hands, plastered it with mud upon
the outside, and lime mortar on the inside, and there
went to keeping house and to farming. In 1865
he rented his farm and moved to Boscobel, Grant
county, to enjoy better facilities for educating his
children. He owned and worked a small farm near
that village. In January, 1873, he moved to Madi-
son, Wisconsin, where he has since lived.
He is very liberal in his religious views, belonging
to no church or sect.
He was a whig until the organization of the re-
publican party, and has ever acted with that party.
He was a strong Union man during the war, and
while he did not enlist and " step to the front," he
did what he could at home to uphold the soldier in
the field and suppress the rebellion.
He was elected to the oflice of chairman of the
board of supervisors, and town clerk of Fennimore
several times; chairman of the county board of su-
pervisors of Grant county in 1861 ; and was elected
member of the legislature from Grant county in
1855, 1862, 1863, 1864 and 1865; and the last two
years was speaker of the assembly. He was elected
one of the presidential electors at large on the repub-
A M. ^.:^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
267
iican ticket in 1S64. He was appointed member of
the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin
in 1871, and served on the board until the expira-
tion of his term in 1873. He was elected a member
of the executive committee of the Wisconsin State
Agricultural Society in 1867; has been a member
ever since, and at the meeting of the executive
board in February, 1873, "pon the resignation of
Prof. John W. Hoyt, was elected secretary of the
society, to which position he has been annually
elected since, and which office he now holds. In
April, 1875, was elected secretary of the Wisconsin
State Board of Centennial Managers.
Mr. Field was married October 31, 1850, to
Mahala J. Howe, by whom he has three daughters,
namely, Jennie, Ella J. and Cora L. ; the eldest,
Jennie, graduated in 1874 at the University of Wis-
consin, and the other two are attending the same
college.
While Mr. Field's life has not attracted us by its
brilliancy, nor astonished us by extraordinary dis-
plays of power, it has interested us in its adaptability
to circumstances by which he has been surrounded,
in the earnestness of its purpose to be useful to the
present generation, and to leave a praiseworthy
example to those which follow.
H IRAM S. ALLEN,
CHIPPEWA FALLS.
THE first permanent settler in Chippewa county,
Wisconsin, and now one of the most venerable
and venerated citizens of Chippewa Falls, is Hiram
Storrs Allen, a native of the Green Mountain State.
He was born in Chelsea, Orange county, New Hamp-
shire, September 18, 1806, and has recently rounded
up his threescore years and ten. He is the son of
Sluman and Hannah (Storrs) Allen. His father, who
was old enough to enter the military service before
the close of the revolutionary war, was a distant rel-
ative of Gen. Ethan Allen. In early life he was a
tanner and currier, and later, a farmer and miller. !
Hiram worked on the farm and operated a small
saw-mill until he was twenty-six years of age, enjoy-
ing but very limited advantages in the common
school during his boyhood.
In 1832 he turned his steps westward. He spent
one year near Springfield, Illinois, another in the
mines near Galena, and in 1834 plunged into the
wilderness among the Chippewas, on the Red Cedar
or Menomonee river, an affluent of the Chippewa
river. There he purchased, of Street and Lock-
wood, the first saw-mill erected on that stream, and
engaged in the lumber trade and operated the Me-
nomonee Mills until 1846, when he removed to
Chippewa Falls. For thirty years he has been one
of the leading lumbermen in the Chippewa valley,
and has operated more or less in real estate. He also
owns a flouring mill, and has been manufacturing
flour as well as lumber during most of the time since
he became a resident of Chippewa Falls. In the
lumber department of his business he has usually
been connected with other parties, and is now a
member of the firm of A. E. Pound and Co., lessees
of the Union Lumbering Company's saw-mill and
river works. This firm has the largest mercantile
store in Chippewa Falls.
In politics, Mr. Allen was formerly a whig, and
since 1856 has voted the republican ticket, but has
uniformly declined to hold office even in the mu-
nicipality of the city.
By strict adherence to principle and attention to
business he has gained a liberal competency, and
has few cares.
Mr. Allen attends the services of the Presbyterian
church, but is not a member. He gives liberally for
the support of the gospel and of all benevolent
causes.
Mr. Allen was married in September, 1838, and
has had eleven children, seven of whom are now
living. His wife, a Demarie, is of French descent.
Prior to the time when Mr. Allen located in the
Chippewa valley, parties had been there cutting
square timber and shingles, but, having left, he
was at that time the only white man in the valley.
Indians owned the land, but were peaceable and
friendly.
In all the early enterprises and improvements in
this part of Wisconsin he was a leader. He aided
in building small steamboats to navigate the Chip-
pewa river, in surveying and opening public roads
to the Mississippi and prominent points in other
directions, and in establishing stage and mail routes.
Later he has taken part in other grand enterprises.
268
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
The railway from Chippewa Falls to connect with
the West Wisconsin road at Eau Claire, which was
completed in 1874, is largely owing to his influence
and capital.
The pioneers in particular were bold and persever-
ing, and although they had their drawbacks by flood
and fire they overcame all obstacles which disheart-
en men of less stamina, and finally have been re-
The lumbermen of Wisconsin are the princely I warded with that success which invariably follows
men of the commonwealth, and its noblest builders, i honest, persistent effort.
WILLIAM T. GALLOWAY, M.D.,
EAV CLAIRE.
THE parents of the subject of this sketch, Duty
and Martha Galloway, though having the same
surname, were not related to each other. Duty
Galloway was a Scotchman, and came to America
when a young man, setthng at Maitland, Canada,
where he married, and afterward removed to Sack-
ett's Harbor, New York (where William Tibbetts was
born April 24, 1824). He was a tanner by trade,
and moved to Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence county,
when the son was two years old.
William was a self-reliant youth, and took care of
himself after he was nine years of age, alternating
between work and attending school, using all his
surplus funds in gaining an education. He pursued
a preparatory course of study at Pottsdam and
Gouveneur, but did not enter college. At the age
of nineteen he began the study of medicine with
Dr. F. Cole, of Pottsdam, and attended a course of
lectures at Castleton, Vermont, and graduated in
1845. After practicing about three years at Potts-
dam he traveled through the South and West, and
finally settled at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he
practiced from 1850 to 1857. At that time he re-
moved to Eau Claire, having been appointed regis-
ter of the United States land office at that place by
President Buchanan. During the four years that he
served in that capacity he practiced medicine more
or less, and has continued the practice, with a grow-
ing reputation, to the present time (1877). Though
a general practitioner, he makes a specialty of dis-
eases of women, and has eminent success. He also
has a good reputation as a surgeon, and has traveled
a hundred, and even a hundred and fifty miles to
attend to difficult cases.
Dr. Galloway is a member of the Masonic frater-
nity, and has taken the thirty-third degree.
In religious sentiment he accords with the Epis-
copalians.
In politics, he has been a life-long democrat, and
an active and influential man in the party. He was
a delegate to the national convention held at
Charleston in i860, also to that in Chicago in 1864,
and to that at Baltimore in 1872, and has attended
nearly all the democratic State conventions held
during the last twenty years. He was postmaster at
West Pottsdam under President Polk.
Mrs. Galloway was a daughter of Hon. N. P.
Talmadge, United States senator from New York,
and first territorial governor of Wisconsin. She was
married to Dr. Galloway in 1854, and has one child,
a son, now seventeen years old.
The Doctor has a light complexion, blue eyes,
and a sanguine bilious temperament. He is a man
of large physique, being six feet and half an inch in
height, and weighing two hundred and thirty
pounds.
CHARLES W. FOSBINDER,
MAVSTON.
CHARLES WESLEY FOSBINDER, of German
descent, is the son of Enoch and Mary (Craw-
ford) Fosbinder. His parents were industrious peo-
ple of limited means, and at the time of Charles'
birth, August 18, 1840, were living at Lakeville,
Oakland county, Michigan. The father was a farm-
er by occupation, and in 1846 he removed to Ogle
county, Illinois, and four years later to Adams, now
Juneau county, Wisconsin, Charles remaining with
his parents until he had attained his majority, and
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
269
during each winter after his seventeenth year taught
a district school. He was endowed with a nat-
ural and strong love for books, and fitted himself
for an instructor, largely by private study at home,
and in teaching he experienced the highest enjoy-
ment, since he thus not only aided in expanding
the minds of others, but also cultivated and im-
proved his own.
Soon after the opening of the war of the rebellion,
on September 24, 1861, he enlisted in the 12th Wis-
consin Infantry, and went out as corporal, serving
three years, though not all the time on the " tented
field." In the skirmish at Coldwater, Mississippi,
April 19, 1863, he received a serious wound (being the
first man wounded in his regiment), a bullet passing
through his left arm, breaking it and entering his
left lung, lodging, it is supposed, near the heart,
where it still remains, causing him great pain at
times, and a trouble that increases from year to
year. Having partially recovered he entered the
hospital at .Madison, Wisconsin, as overseer of a
ward, and acted in that capacity during five or six
months. Mr. Fosbinder is a true patriot, and was
a brave soldier; and has always regretted being
wounded in the heroic i2th's first engagement with
the rebels.
After retiring from the military service he engaged
in farming for five years, employing the winter
months in teaching.
In November, 1870, he was elected clerk of the
circuit court, and has been reelected three times,
being now in his fourth term, of two years each.
He is especially qualified for this office, and not-
withstanding his wound, is able to discharge its
duties fully and satisfactorily. In politics he has
always acted with the republican party.
In early life Mr. Fosbinder united with the Wes-
leyan Methodist church, and now belongs to the
Episcopal Methodist body.
On September 14, 1865, he was married to Miss
Phoebe A. Fluno, of Juneau county, by whom he has
had four children, three of whom are now living.
In his personal character Mr. Fosbinder presents
most excellent qualities; quiet and unassuming in
manner, he carefully, conscientiously and cheerfully
performs the duties of his daily life, and enjoys the
respect and confidence of all who know him, as
being a true and upright christian gentleman.
CHARLES ALEXANDER. M.D.
EAU CLAIRE.
CHARLES ALEXANDER, who was born at
Pittston, Maine, April 28, 1824, was deprived
of both his father and mother before he was five
years old, and placed in the family of Rufus Allen,
of Farmington, where he remained, well cared for,
until seventeen years of age, farming and attending
a common school. The next few years he devoted
exclusively to his education, attending the North
Yarmouth and Farmington academies, and, depend-
ing entirely upon his own resources, taught a part of
each year to defray his expenses. He prepared for
the sophomore class of Bowdoin College, but instead
of continuing his literary course, began the study of
medicine with Dr. W. H. Allen, of Orono, Penob-
scott county, in 1845. He attended medical lectures
at the medical department of Harvard College, Jef-
ferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and the med-
ical department of the University of New York, and
received his diploma at the last-named institution
on the 8th of March, 1850.
Dr. Alexander passed the first eight years of his
33
professional life at Orono, and from 1858 until the
opening of the civil war, in 1861, was engaged in his
profession at Farmington.
He entered the army as surgeon of the i6th Reg-
iment of Maine Volunteers, and remained steadily
at his post until he received a serious, though not a
severe, wound at Gettysburg, where he was taken
prisoner, and from an attack of lock-jaw narro%v'ly
escaped death. Being exchanged, he returned to
Maine, and in about seventy days was again with
his regiment, and continued in the service until
March, 1865, when ill health compelled him to re-
sign. While in the army he was twice promoted,
the second time to the position of surgeon-in-chief.
After leaving the army Dr. Alexander returned
again to Farmington, but soon removed to Old
Town, in his native State ; he next went to Maiden,
Massachusetts, and in September, 1866, removed to
Wisconsin and settled at Eau Claire. Since his set-
tlement there his practice has been marked by a
gradual growth, until it has become quite extensive
2/0
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DTCTIONARr.
while he has established a good reputation, both as
medical practitioner and surgeon. Before going
into the army his surgical practice was extensive;
in the army he had a good opportunity to extend his
practical knowledge of this branch of science, and
now surgery may be regarded as his specialty.
The Doctor has given considerable attention to
geology and chemistry, on which subjects, as well
as on anatomy and physiology, he has often lectured.
He has a good collection of geological charts, and
makes his lectures on the " stony science " popular
as well as instructive. He also speaks, occasionally,
on the subject of temperance, always treating it sci-
entifically. In his studies, however, his profession
takes the precedence over every branch, and he is
constantly enriching his medical library and his
mind with the fresh fruits of the best minds.
Dr. Alexander has been twice married. First to
Miss Achsah E. Allen, daughter of Hon. N. T. Al-
len, of Industry, Franklin county, Maine, who died
November 13, 1856, in the eighth year of her mar-
ried life. They had one child that died at the age
of fourteen months. His second wife was Miss
Charlotte Augusta Bullen, to whom he was married
in January, 1861, and who died March 27, 1875,
leaving one child, a son. now in his seventh year.
Both wives were well educated and especially active
christian women. The latter was the daughter of
Mrs. Joseph Bullen, a sister of Rev. George D
Boardman, the pioneer Baptist missionary to the
Karens of Burmah, who is now living with Dr. Al-
exander. She is in her seventieth year, and is pa-
tiently awaiting the call of the Master, when she
shall join her glorified brother.
Though Dr. Alexander had a hard struggle in
early life, with a firm trust in God and a manly self-
reliance, he overcame every obstacle and has at-
tained that success which invariably follows honest
effort. He is a prominent member of the Baptist
church, and superintendent of the Sunday school.
He is also greatly interested in secular education,
and very active on the school board in the west-side
district of Eau Claire.
The Doctor has a fine pliysique, being five feet
nine inches in height, and weighing one hundred
and ninety-five pounds. He has a full, round and
cheerful face, looking as though he had just made
himself happy by relieving physical suffering, or by
administering comfort to weak and diseased human-
ity in some other way.
NICHOLAS D. FRATT,
AMONG the successful men of Wisconsin may
be placed the name of Nicholas D. Fratt, of
Racine. Mr. Fratt, after a successful business ca-
reer, retired from business, and sought retirement
in a rural home, but his talents were too well known
to be allowed to rust, and he has been called upon
to fill offices of trust and honor.
Mr. Fratt was born January 25, 1825, in the town
of Watervliet, Albany county, New York ; is a son
of Jacob and Catharine Fratt. He received a com-
mon-school education at Troy, New York, and then
assisted his father in the provision and packing
trade. West Troy, where he remained until he was
eighteen years old. He then went to Albany and
worked for his uncle in the grocery business, re-
mained with him one year, then turned his steps
westward to begin his career. Arriving at Racine
in 1843, he engaged in the provision and packing
business, which he continued with good success
until 1868. The latter years, from 1852, he did not
devote all his time to business, but bought a two-
hundred-acre farm, two miles from Racine, and has
superintended its improvement, which was more
congenial to his tastes. Here, Cincinnatus-like, he
enjoys that quietude which he values higher than
renown.
Mr. Fratt has been member of the State senate
from Racine county, was elected president of the
Racine County Agricultural Society in 1858; was
again elected to the same position in 1870, and has
been reelected each year to the present time. He
served as school district clerk for sixteen years ; is
a member of the executive committee of the State
Agricultural Society ; was a director of the Racine
County Bank from 1852, at which time the bank was
organized, until 1858, when he was elected president
of the same, and continued its presiding officer
until the bank was changed to the First National
Bank of Racine, when he was again elected presi-
dent of the bank, and still holds that position. Mr.
A-^Th^^Ztr
THE UNITED STATES BlOGRAPHTCAf. DfCTTONARV.
273
Fratt is very much respected among a large circle of
acquaintances. He was nominated for Congress by
the democratic reform party in 1874, but was de-
feated by Chas. G. Williams, republican.
.Mr. Fratt was married in 1845 to Miss Elsie
Duffes; has three sons and three daughters, and en-
joys the happiness of harmonious domestic relations.
He is a gentleman of pleasant address, plain and
unassuming in his manners, and has a host of
friends.
|OHN M. CHADWICK,
JOHN MONROE CHADWICK was born in
J Fayette county, Pennsylvania, October 7, 1822, ;
and is the second living son of John and Polly \
(Scudder) Chadwick, of the same State. This
branch of the Chadwick family is descended from
French Huguenot ancestors, who took refuge in
England from the persecution of the sixteenth
century, whence the great-grandfather of our sub-
ject immigrated to New Jersey prior to the revolu-
tion. His son John moved to Fayette county,
Pennsylvania, where he died in 1793. John Chad-
wick, the father of our subject, was born November
4, 1789, and was a manufacturer of edged tools. In
1837 he immigrated to the West, settled in Green
county, Wisconsin, where he bought large tracts of
land, and became an extensive real-estate speculator
and farmer, accumulating a handsome fortune. In
1857 he retired from active life, and settled in the
city of Monroe, where he died, August 19, 1866, in
the seventy-seventh year of his age, leaving a family
of three sons and four daughters, namely, Jotham
C, John M., William W., Sarah, Elizabeth, Lydia
T. and Amanda L. The mother of our subject was
of German descent, her grandfather being a native
of that country. He immigrated to New Jersey
prior to the revolution. His descendants are now
numerous in the middle States, and are among the
most distinguished literary and professional men of
the country.
The juvenile years of John M. Chadwick were
spent in his native State, working on a farm or in
his father's factory, varied by a few weeks' attend-
ance at the district school during the winter season,
until his fifteenth year, when he moved with the
family to Wisconsin, and settled upon the present
site of the village of Juda, Green county. Here
John assisted in opening a. farm, upon which he
worked till he attained his majority. During the
first six years of his residence in his western home
there were no public schools; but in the year 1840
a log school-house was built, where he attended
school for three months. This, with what he had
received previous to the age of fifteen, constituted
the sum total of his schooling. He was, however, a
man of fine natural gifts, and by close observation
and study has made the most of his advantages.
At the age of twenty-one years he rented one of his
father's farms, which he conducted for three years
with fair success, leaving a margin of savings, after
rent and expenses, sufficient to buy a farm of two
hundred acres, and build a comfortable house.
At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Eliza-
beth Bridge, daughter of Jeremiah Bridge, one of
the first settlers of Wisconsin, and began to lay the
foundation of that ample fortune which has since
crowned his well directed industry. His savings
were invested in adjoining farming lands, from year
to year, till his possessions were wide and his flocks
numerous. Milwaukee, on the lake, afforded a
market and shipping point for his cattle, which were
sold in droves of five hundred to one thousand.
His operations were increased until his sales
amounted to nearly a million dollars annually, and
he now takes the lead in this branch of commerce
in Wisconsin.
In early life his desire was to be a comfortable
farmer, and to that end his calculations were made
and his plans laid. He thought that if he were
only master of ten thousand dollars he would be
contented and rest on his oars; but this accom-
plished he was as far from rest as at the first, and
although his fortune has many times exceeded this
figure he is still accumulating.
His success is the result of a combination of
favorable circumstances. His habits have always
been temperate ; he has never drunk a glass of beer
or any intoxicating beverage, nor used tobacco in
any shape during his whole life, while all his trans-
actions and intercourse with his fellow-men have
been governed by probity and scrupulous upright-
2 74
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
ness, until his word has everywhere become an
equivalent for his bond. He scorned to take advan-
tage of his neighbor's ignorance, or to overreach
him in any transaction. His fortune has been made
honorably, and his children inherit no taint of re-
proach from their father. He is a wise and saga-
cious business man, of sound judgment, and an
intuitive perception of men's motives and character.
He is prompt, decisive and energetic. He possesses
a genial and affable temperament, and is a devoted
and true friend. He has always evaded public
office, is a man of one pursuit, and has never varied
his occupation ; he trades with the same men to-
day that he did twenty-five years ago.
He was raised in the Baptist church, and adheres
to the faith of his fathers, and contributes liberally
toward the support of the institutions of religion.
He is generous and kind hearted, always ready to
lend a helping hand to the children of misfortune,
or those struggling to gain a position in the world.
He holds his wealth in trust for the good of others,
and is only concerned to know how it can be used
to the best advantage.
He was reared in the whig school of politics, and |
naturally drifted into the republican party, and
during the late war was one of the most patriotic
citizens of the republic, giving largely of his
means, not only to influence enlistments, but also
toward agencies for the care of sick and wounded
soldiers, and the maintenance of their widows and
orphans.
The fruit of his marriage with Miss Bridge was
eight children, four of whom survive, namely, Mar-
tha, Jehu, Kate and Frank. Jehu is a graduate of
Madison University, and a young man of much
promise. Kate is a graduate of the Northwestern
University at Evanston, Illinois; a lady of much
personal beauty, high intellectual development and
superior social qualities. She is a leading member
of the Young Ladies' Literary Association of Mon-
roe, and is among the first in every enterprise for
the mental, moral and physical improvement of the
people. Frank is attending the Monroe High
School. Martha is the wife of Charles Fisher, Esq.,
an extensive farmer of Green county. Mrs. Chad-
wick died on the 29th of December, 1873, and on
the 25th of February, 1875, Mr. Chadwick married
Miss Elizabeth L. Start, daughter of Robert Start,
formerly of New York State, now a resident of
Green county.
[OHN A. BINGHAM,
JOHN AUGUSTINE BINGH.4M was born at
J Morristown, Vermont, February 27, 1819, the
son of John and Lydia (Thompson) Bingham. His
parents were descended from early Puritan stock,
and farmers by occupation, industrious, energetic,
practical, and sternly religious, as only New England
Puritans have been or can be. His father was a
man of unusual size, strength and endurance, and
enjoyed the reputation of being able to do more
work than any other man in his part of the country.
His grandfather — also named John — was likewise
a large, powerful man, even larger than his son, and
was not less noted for the virtues. The mother of
our subject, a most e.xemplary woman, is remem-
bered for her remarkably happy and hopeful dispo-
sition. To her the worst disaster appeared "better
than it might have been.'' LTnder the most adverse
circumstances "health, peace and prosperity " — the
three blessings she was wont formally to invoke on
her friends — were always near at hand. Though
descended from a shorter-lived, less vigorous and
less practical family than her husband, she held with
him the New England idea of luork.
The subject of this sketch taught school the win-
ter he was fifteen years of age, having among his
pupils young men five years his senior, but, so far as
he could judge, not one of them ever suspected their
teacher of being their junior. Before he taught his
first school he urged his father to send him to the
Montpelier Academy; but the father, confidently
believing that the boy had learning enough — that
more would only make him lazy — refused. But
finally, weary of his importunities, he replied to the
oft-repeated request : " If you get the potatoes dug
and housed before school begins you may go." To
the father's surprise, the potatoes were safely stored
in the cellar before the day appointed, having been
dug and carried to the house at the rate of fifty
bushels per day. The father, who had supposed the
fulfillment of the conditions impossible, reluctant!)-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGFAPHICAL DICTIONARV
275
granted his son's request. But the first appeal of
the boy for money to defray his expenses overcame
the conscientious scruples in deference to which he
had permitted him to go, and his reply was, " Come
home." In this instance John disobeyed, not return-
ing to the parental roof till the end of the first quar-
ter, but paying his own expenses by sawing fire-wood
for the institution. Subsequently, when he earned
money by teaching, he attended for a short time an
academy at Johnson, Vermont. He assisted his
father during the farming season, until he attained
his majority; during the intervals of farm labor he
studied surveying and read law in the office of an
attorney at Stovve, Vermont. From the age of fif-
teen he earned, by teaching, surveying, selling books
on subscription, or by some manual labor, the means
to purchase his own clothing and books. To pro-
cure the books he needed he was often obliged to
sell those he already possessed. This necessity he
regarded as a great misfortune, and so impressed
him that in after years he insisted that his own chil-
dren should retain every book studied by them, from
the primer to the science of government ; nor would
he consent, under any circumstances, to a deviation
from this rule.
In the summer of 1841 Mr. Bingham removed to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He afterward traveled on
foot over southeastern Wisconsin and northeastern
Illinois; taught school one term at Rochester, Ra-
cine county, Wisconsin, and in February, 1842, set-
tled in Monroe, Green county, where he opened a
law office and resided during the remainder of his
days.
On the 25th of November, 1843, he married Miss
Caroline E. Churchill, a woman of fine intellect and
strong character, in whom he found a faithful and
loving wife. She was born at Ridge Prairie, Illinois,
June 26, 1824, and still lives at Monroe.
During the years 1846 and 1847 Mr. Bingham was
district attorney of Green county, and afterward
held for eight years the office of probate judge of
the county, the duties of which he discharged with
rigid and characteristic exactness, and won for him-
self the respect and unlimited confidence of all who
knew him. In 1854 he opened a broker's office,
which subsequently grew into the Bank of Monroe
— the first bank organized in the county. A few
years later he was conspicuously active in connec-
tion with the building of the Monroe branch of the
Milwaukee and St. Paul railroad.
Judge Bingham was one of the most gifted men
I of the State. His intellect was of that broad and
j comprehensive character which grasped the true
1 relation of circumstances in every aspect in which
they m.ight be presented to him. As a lawyer he
was full of resources, and his opponents at the bar
never felt sure that he was beaten until a judgment
in their favor had been actually executed. As a
business man and an administrator of affairs his
accuracy of judgment was remarkable, and this,
united with a profound knowledge of human nature,
was a great secret of his success. His mind was
clear and vigorous, as well as broad and capacious.
On questions of State and national policy he never
failed to perceive and defend with signal ability the
foundation principles which should govern the pub-
lic mind. He looked upon shams of every kind with
contempt, and was rarely, if ever, deceived by them.
In politics he was formerly a whig, and always
anti-slavery in principles. He was an earnest sup-
porter of Fremont in 1856, and of Lincoln in i860,
and was a member of the national convention that
renominated the latter in 1864. To his influence
is largely due the revolution in the politics of his
county, which, formerly largely democratic, is now
overwhelmingly republican. He was an ardent sup-
porter of the government during the civil war, and
it was a source of great sorrow to him that failing
health prevented his entering more actively into the
service of his county.
Judge Bingham took an active interest in all mat-
ters of public improvement, contributing freely both
time and money to the success of enterprises which
met his approval. Above everything else he was
the friend of education, and no other man ever did
so much for the schools of Monroe. For months at
a time he visited them daily, watching the progress
of favorite classes, counseling teachers, and study-
ing methods of instruction. He possessed a natural
love of teaching, and was peculiarly happy in his
mode of imparting information. This disposition,
sharpened and intensified by the difficulties he had
encountered in procuring an education, led him to
take great pleasure in assisting all young men, and
especially poor and ambitious youths who were
struggling to gain an education.
Having helped himself he understood the value
of self-help, and never squandered money in any
enterprise because it vvas labeled "benevolence."
Every effort calculated to better qualify men to help
themselves, or to render them temporary relief from
pressing difficulties, commanded his cordial support ;
276
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHIC AL DFCTION ART.
and during the last years of his life a large constitu-
ency, whom he counseled gratuitously, regularly
sought his advice in regard to the conduct of all
their more important affairs. The community also
leaned upon and trusted his judgment as it had never
trusted that of any other man, and when he was pre-
maturely stricken down his acquaintances felt that
their strongest and ablest man was gone.
He had si.x children, three sons and three daugh-
ters, five of whom survive. The eldest son, Horace,
died in infancy ; Homer, the second son, was edu-
cated at Cornell University, New York, and is at
present (1876) attending the law department of the
Wisconsin University, with a view to the profession
of his father, and is a youth of fine presence and
large promise ; Herbert, still in his teens, is attend-
ing the Monroe High School ; the daughters, Helen
M., Alice and Ada, all graduates of the Lombard
University, Galesburg, Illinois. Alice is the widow
of the late Professor Herbert E. Copeland, for some
years professor of natural science in the Whitewater,
Wisconsin, Normal School, and latterly in a similar
institution in Indianapolis, Indiana. He died on
the 1 2th of December, 1876. Helen is a well known
contributor to the current literature of the day, and'
has been for some time past engaged in writing a
history of Green county, a task for the successful
accomplishment of which her tastes and talents emi-
nently fit her. Ada is a medical student at the Bos-
ton University, and gives promise of a bright and
successful career.
Judge Bingham died at Johnson, Vermont, July
24, 1865, having been stricken down by paralysis
while on a visit to his native State.
JOHN G. MEACHEM, M.D.,
JOHN G. MEACHEM, a native of Axbridge,
■J county of Somerset, England, was born on
the 27th of May, 1823, and is the son of Thomas
Meachem, whose wife was Elizabeth Goldesbrough.
His parents were from aristocratic families, and at
one time very wealthy ; his father, however, not
being a business man, lost both his own and his
wife's property, and afterward became principal of
a large school. In 1829 he received an appointment
from the Duke of Wellington which would have
proved very lucrative, but which he declined after
going up to London to qualify. His attention was
then directed to the sacred ministry, and he resolved
that America should be the field of his labors. He
immigrated to this country in 1830, and was ordained I
in the Protestant Episcopal church in the city of
New York, by the late Bishop Benjamin T. Onder- |
donk. He ministered with great earnestness and i
success in different parishes in the State of New
York until his death, which occurred in 1S49. !
Four of his sons became practicing physicians ; j
the eldest studied law, and afterward medicine, j
which he practiced ten years, and then entered the '
ministry of the Episcopal church, and was chaplain
during a |)art of the late rebellion to General Mead's I
staff.
John, the third son, after receiving his academic
education at (Janandaigua and Richmond .A(-ademy,
from which latter institution he graduated, turned
his attention, together with a brother ne.xt older than
himself, to the study of medicine, and entered the
medical department of Hobart College. .'Vfter re-
maining there during the years 1841-2 he left, and
entered Castleton Medical College, Vermont, from
which he was graduated in 1843, ^t the age of 20,
and though the youngest in a class of 150, took the
highest honors.
In 1844 lie settled at Weathersfield Springs, New
York, where he remained about one year, and then
removed to Bethany. During the five years that he
remained here, he had charge of the insane asylum of
that place, and conducted a successful and satisfac-
tory practice, and performed the very delicate and
difficult surgical operation of ovariotomy. In 1850
he sold his residence and good name to another prac-
titioner, who has since figured largely as an army
surgeon from the State of Iowa, and removed to
Warsaw, about fourteen miles distant from Bethany,
and during the next twelve years built up an exten-
sive medical and surgical practice. Almost every
surgical case of importance occurring for many miles
around fell into his hands. While here he received
from the trustees of the Buffalo University the ap-
pointment as one of the board of examiners of that
institution. He was three times president of the
Wyoming Medical Society, and for ten years its
THE UNITED STATES B/OGRAPH/CAL DfCTIONAR)-
279
secretary. In 1861 he reviewed his medical studies
at the Hellevue rfospital Medical College in the city
of New York, and in 1862 received its ad eundeni
degree of M.D. In 1862 he secured the appoint-
ment from the adjutant-general's office at Albany,
of enrollment surgeon for the Wyoming district, and
from the governor the appointment of assistant sur-
geon to the 6ist Regiment, 29th Brigade, New York
troops.
In the fall of 1862 Dr. Meachem removed to Ra-
cine, Wisconsin, where some years before he had
become interested in real estate. Here, as at the
P>ast, he has given his undivided attention to his
profession, and visited the poor as readily as the
rich, and earned a reputation second to no one in
southern Wisconsin. He was for six years a director
of the Taylor Orphan Asylum, and one of the build-
ing committee to erect that magnificent structure at
Racine, which will keep fresh the memory of Mr.
and Mrs. Taylor. He is a trustee of Racine College,
and one of the founders of St. Luke's Hospital, and
together with his son has had charge of the medical
and surgical department since its organization. He
is the present mayor of Racine, having l)eeii elected
in April by a very large majority. In the midst of
his large professional and other duties he has found
time for self-culture, and has contributed many
valuable written articles to the medical journals of
the country, and read some able papers at the meet-
ings of his State Medical Society. He is a member
of Racine Medical Association, the Wisconsin Med-
ical Society and the American Medical Association.
Dr. Meachem is an enthusiastic member of the
Episcopal church, and has for many years been
senior warden of St. Luke's parish, Racine.
During the rebellion he was an active war demo-
crat, and exerted his utmost influence in favor of the
Union cause.
In 1844 he was married to Myraette Doolittle,
daughter of the late Reuben Doolittle, Esq., of
Western New York, and sister of ex-Senator J. R.
Doolittle. They have but one surviving child, a
son, who studied medicine, and graduated from Rush
Medical College, Chicago, in 1865, and who is a
partner in business with his father and doing an ex-
tensive practice.
HON. DAVID NOGGLE,
JANES ^'ILLE.
DAVID NOGGLE was born in Franklin,
Franklin county, Pennsylvania, October 9,
1809; was the son of Joseph and Mary (Duncan)
Noggle, natives of the same place. His father be-
longed to that class known as Pennsylvania Dutch,
while his mother was of Scotch-Irish descent. The
ancestors of the family had resided in Pennsylvania
for several generations, and were among the thrifty
and industrious farming population of that common-
wealth.
At tlie age of sixteen David removed with his
parents to Greenfield, Ohio, where they continued
the business of husbandry, and the hardships and
privations of frontier life which he experienced at
this period disciplined him for the struggles and
successes of after life. His educational advantages
had been limited to a few weeks of each winter
spent at the district schools of his native State be-
fore the age of sixteen, where, however, he devel-
oped a taste for literary pursuits, and a controlling
desire to become a lawyer; but owing to the limited
means of his parents received from them no encour-
agement. At the age of nineteen he left home in
quest of more remunerative employment, and was
for four years employed in a manufacturing estab-
lishment at Madison, New York. Meantime, his
father having become embarrassed in his financial
matters, he returned to Ohio, and with a younger
brother, Jacob, took the farm, assumed the father's
liabilities, and relieved him from further anxiety.
In 1834 the brothers improved a water-power on
the farm by building a sawmill, which proved a
financial success, and furnished them with means
for carrying out other plans.
On the 15th of October, 1834, he married Miss
Anna M. Lewis, daughter of Benjamin Lewis, Esq.,
of Milan, Ohio. Two years later he removed with
his young wife to Winnebago county, Illinois, mak-
ing the journey with an ox team. Here they made
a home in the wilderness, which under his strong
and industrious hands soon assumed the habili-
ments of civilization.
At this period Mr. Noggle began in real earnest
to prepare for the profession which had been the
28o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
dream of his life. During three years he carried
Blackstone with him to his daily toil, reading it
while driving his ox team and during the intervals
of relaxation, and became so well versed in the
principles of jurisprudence that in the year 1838,
after a rigid examination by the Supreme Court of
Illinois, he was admitted to the bar of that State,
without having spent an hour in a law ofifice, or
having received direction in his studies from any
member of the profession.
In 1839 he sold his farm in Illinois and removed
to Beloit, Wisconsin, where he opened a law office,
and at once entered upon the practice of his pro-
fession, and enjoyed from the outset the patronage
of a large clientage in Winnebago and Boone coun-
ties, Illinois, and in Rock, Walworth, Green and
Iowa counties, in the then Territory of Wisconsin.
From this time he devoted himself exclusively to
the work of his profession, giving to it his best ener-
gies, and as a result demonstrated that he had not
mistaken his calling. His efforts in court proved
him to be a man of power, endowed with no ordi-
nary intellectual gifts.
From an early period in his professional career
he took a considerable interest in politics, and in
1840 was appointed postmaster of Beloit, a position
which he retained some five years. In 1846 he was
elected a member of the convention that framed the
constitution of Wisconsin, and though inexperienced
and comparatively unlettered, was soon recognized
as among the leaders of that body. He stood with
the progressive element of the convention in favor
of homestead exemption, an elective judiciary and
the rights of married women, and opposed, on the
other hand, to the centralization of power and mon-
opolies, whether of banks or corporations. In 1854
he was elected to the State legislature from the
Janesville district — having some years previously
removed to that city, — and at once took a leading
position in that body. He was again elected in
1856, and was tendered the speakership of the
assembly; but being at that time suffering from a
temporary physical infirmity, which he feared would
in a measure interfere with the discharge of the
duties of that position, he declined the offer. He
was, however, emphatically the leader of the house
during that session, and in the contest over the
election of United States senator, in which the Hon.
J. R. Doolittle was chosen, exercised a controlling
influence.
In 1858 he was elected judge of the first judicial
I district of Wisconsin, composed of the counties of
! Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, Rock and Green, and
! held the ofifice for eight years, discharging its duties
with the utmost acceptability, and establishing for
j himself an enviable reputation as a sound jurist and
an impartial administrator of the law.
He retired from the bench in 1866, and for a time
I resided in Iowa, where he was engaged as attorney
for the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Company.
He afterward returned to Beloit, where he purchased
an elegant home, and built up a lucrative practice.
In 1869 he was appointed by President Grant to
' the ofifice of chief justice of the Territory of Idaho,
a position which he retained till 1874, when failing
health obliged him to resign. After this he resided
for some months in San Francisco, California, for
j the benefit of his health, and returned to Wisconsin
I in the autumn of 1875, since which time he has
I lived in retirement at Janesville, Rock county.
j In politics, Judge Noggle had been identified with
I the democratic party (believing in the principles of
Jefferson by which it was governed at that time)
until the organization of the republican party. In
1848 he was a delegate to the national convention
which nominated President Polk, and in 1852 to the
convention which nominated President Pierce. He
was likewise a delegate to the convention that nom-
inated Abraham Lincoln in i860, and since then has
been an uncompromising republican.
In religious belief he has always been governed
by the faith of the Universalist creed, though his
wife and all the members of his family long since
united with the Protestant Episcopal church.
The name of Judge Noggle is indissolubly con-
nected with the history and progress of Wisconsin.
He is a gentleman of fine presence and command-
ing appearance, earnest and impressive as a public
speaker, possessed of great natural force and mental
power, and had he enjoyed the advantages of an
early training would undoubtedly have attained to a
national reputation. He is kind-hearted and gener-
ous, a man of the people, brave in their defense,
regardless of consequences to himself. He is ten-
derly loved by his family, and in the hearts of his
old neighbors in southern Wisconsin there linger for
him feelings of fondness and regard which years
will not efface.
His loving and faithful wife, who shared with him
his trials and subsequent successes with equal grace
and cheerfulness, still lives to minister to him the
kindly offices of affection which he loves so well to
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPH ICAI, DICTIONARY.
281
receive at her hands, and which she loves so well to
bestow. She is a lady of rare personal beauty, of
high mental endowments, of amiable temper and
engaging manners, and to her influence and efforts
are largely due, not only the high social and intel-
lectual distinction to which her children have at-
tained, but also the success of her husband. It is
worthy of note here that Mrs. Noggle is the young-
est of a family of fifteen children, all of whom lived
to old age, and eight of whom are still living.
They have seven children, two sons and five
daughters, all living. The sons, Charles Levitt and
Dorman Lewis, were educated at Appleton College,
Wisconsin, and Lombard University, Illinois, and
both served in the army throughout the late rebel-
lion, the former in the 8th Wisconsin Infantry, which
he entered as sergeant, but was afterward promoted
to the rank of lieutenant in the regular army. He
served through the campaigns of the army of the
Potomac, was captured by the rebels at Appomatox,
and held a prisoner of war for nine months, during
which time he suffered all the rigors which have
made the slave-holders' rebellion infamous and dia-
bolical. After being frequently removed from one
bastile to another, he was finally placed with the si.x
hundred federal prisoners in front of the Union
guns at Charlestown, South Carolina. After being
exchanged he returned to his regiment, and re-
mained in the service till 1867, when he resigned
his commission, and has since been engaged in rail-
roading in Canada. The latter enlisted in the 12th
battery of Wisconsin Artillery, of which he was
afterward commissioned second lieutenant, and
served in the western army under General Grant,
after which he was detailed to parol the rebel pris-
oners. He was subseejuently transferred to the 4th
Wisconsin Battery. He participated in the siege
and capture of Vicksburg, and was present at the
overthrow of Richmond, Virginia, his battery having
the honor of throwing the first shell into the rebel
capital. He retired from the army with the rank of
captain, and was subsequently breveted major for
gallantry in the last named siege. He is now chief
clerk in the United States Mint at San Francisco,
California. Mary Anna, the eldest daughter, is the
wife of Hon. C. G. Williams, present member of
congress for the first district of Wisconsin. Helen
Rebecca is the wife of P. W. Puffer, Esq., agent of
the St. Paul and Milwaukee Railroad at Monroe.
Martha M. is the wife of Norman S. Brumley, Esq.,
cashier of the Canajoharie Bank, New York State.
Mary Eunice is the widow of the late Major James
H. Alvord, of San Francisco, California, and Kate
Florence is the wife of Charles H. Rich, Esq., who
is engaged in railroading in Evanston, Wyoming
Territory.
HORACE A. TAYLOR,
HORACE ADOLPHUS TAYLOR, the son of
Rev. Adolphus Taylor and Orra Copeland
Taylor, was born at Norfolk, St. Lawrence county,
New York, May 24, 1838. His father, a Congrega-
tional clergyman, died when Horace was five years
old, leaving him -to the care of a brother-in-law at
Madrid in the same State, with whom he remained
five years. At ten years of age Horace came as far
west as Illinois, and spent three years in Hancock
county, working on a farm and attending school.
In 185 1, being then thirteen years of age, he
removed to Wisconsin and settled in Pierce county,
on the present site of River Falls, and there assisted
in making a claim for preemption to the quarter
section of land on which the business portion of
that village is located. He afterward returned to
the East, where he spent four years in farming, and
34
also during that time attended, first a common
school and later an academy. Returning to River
Falls at the expiration of that time, he, three
months afterward, established the first stage line
between Hudson and Prescott.
Closing his studies in school in June, 1857, he
then, in company with an elder brother. Lute A.
Taylor, established the "River Falls Journal." In
£860 he sold his interest to his brother, and pur-
chased the " Hudson Chronicle," changing the
name to "Hudson Times," .and four years later
consolidated it and a paper known as " The North
Star," giving to the new paper the name of "The
Star and Times," which name it still retains. In
.August, 1869, in company with his brother, he
organized the "La Crosse Morning Leader," but
retired from its active management two years later,
^82
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAliT.
and in August, 1875, purchased, with a partner, S.
A. Clewell, the "Stillwater Lumberman," which he
still owns and controls. He also remains joint pro-
prietor with Mr. Clewell of " The Star and Times,"
which paper he has conducted from its incipiency.
In January, 1876, Mr. Taylor was appointed by
(iov. Ludington State agent of the railroad lands,
and now (1877) holds that office. He has been
largely interested in real estate for many years, and
now owns several thousand acres in northwestern
Wisconsin.
He is an earnest republican in politics, and has
been honored by his fellow-citizens with positions
of public trust, which were conferred wholly with-
out his seeking them.
Mr. Taylor was married November 8, i860, to
Miss Lizzie Maddew, of Chicago, and by her has
three children.
He is a man of extraordinary industry, and does
thoroughly all that he attempts. In all his various
business enterprises he has met with good success.
As a writer, his style is easy, graceful and vigorous,
and his paper is read with interest by all. He has
excellent personal qualities, being possessed of a
genial, kind and courteous manner, that both wins
and retains friends.
HENRY P. STRONG, M.D.,
THE family of Strong is one of the oldest in
Massachusetts ; has authentic records for two
hundred years. Henry Partridge Strong is a lineal
descendant of Elder John Strong, of Northampton.
It is a very numerous family. His grandfather was
one of the pioneers of that section, and bought of
the State a township of land. His father also was
a leading citizen both in church and state, particu-
larly in matters pertaining to education.
Henry, whose name is at the head of this sketch,
was born February 8, 1832, in Brownington, Orleans
county, Vermont, and was a son of Elijah G. and
Sarah P. Strong. He received a thorough academ-
ical education in his native town, and then went to
Montpelier, Vermont, and studied medicine under
Dr. C. M. Rublee for three years, and then graduated
with honors at the medical college at Castleton,
Vermont. The medical profession has ever been
congenial to his tastes and genius, therefore he has
been very successful in its practice.
In July, 1853, he came to Wisconsin, and located
at Beloit, since which time he has made it his home.
Immediately after his arrival he commenced the
practice of medicine, and has attained considerable
business.
In i86i Dr. Strong accepted an appointment of
surgeon of the nth Wisconsin A'olunteers, and was
for the first year engaged in Missouri and Arkansas
in guerrilla warfare, a service hated by all true sol-
diers. Then followed the " starvation stampede "
toward Helena, never to be forgotten by those who
took part. For several weeks they were not heard
from in the North, and none knew of their situation
or welfare. Early in the spring of 1863 the regi-
ment joined General Grant's army, ran the blockade
of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf, and entered in ear-
nest on the Mississippi campaign. Such professional
ability had Dr. Strong shown that, by special or-
der, he was advanced over several that outranked
him, and made surgeon-in-chief of the fourteenth
division thirteenth army corps. This place he held
during the remainder of his service.
Upon landing below Grand Gulf at Brainsburg,
Mississippi, Dr. Strong's division was given the ad-
vance, and they entered their first battle at Port Gib-
son. - Then rapidly followed the battles of Raymond,
Jackson, Champion Hills and Black River Bridge,
which preceded their arrival in the rear of Vicks-
burg. In these battles the fourteenth division ex-
perienced much hard service. During the siege it
held the center, and at the assaults of the 22d of
May was badly cut up. So constantly during the
whole campaign was this division kept in the thick-
est of danger that its losses were fearful. The
number of wounded coming under Dr. Strong's
care was necessarily very large, and his professional
labors incessant.
Possessing a kind and sympathetic nature, he
could not rest while any of his ''boys" were need-
ing medical care. But for this self-sacrifice some
I who still gladden northern homes would now be
I sleeping beneath southern soil. He yet receives
I gratifying evidences of the grateful remembrance in
, which he is held by many who came under his
//^^;
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
2«5
medical care. So severe had been his two years'
service that his constitution, naturally very strong,
seemed completely broken down, and it was doubt-
ful whether he could reach the North alive. At the
expiration of his brief furlough it was evident that
he could not return, and reluctantly, in August, 1863,
he resigned his commission. His resignation papers
received most complimentary indorsements from
regimental, brigade, division and corps commanders.
No surgeon could leave the service more regretted.
His campaign experiences have, however, left their
mark; he can never regain his former robust vigor
and power of endurance.
Since leaving the army his professional life has
been one of uniform prosperity ; his practice is
extensive, and his reputation such as may well grat-
ify his pride. In June, 1870, he was elected presi-
dent of the State Medical Association, a compliment
as handsome as it was well deserved. In 1869 he
was elected an alderman of Beloit.
Dr. Strong is a man of a decided character, keen in
his perceptions, quick in his conclusions, and firm
in his convictions. Nothing can induce him to be
untrue to a friend, and in his antagonisms he is
equally consistent.
As a writer Dr. Strong wields a ready pen, which
ought to be more frequently used. He was special
correspondent for the Chicago " Tribune " during
the V'icksburg. campaign. He has contributed to
the medical journals, and his address as president of
the State Association was a model of its kind.
In politics he has been republican since the organ-
ization of the party. "He is chairman of the repub-
lican committee of Hs congressional district. He
has been five times elected mayor of Heloit, is pop-
ular and much esteemed, and is now serving his
second term as postmaster of his adopted city.
Dr. Strong was married in September, 1857, to
Miss Sarah Clary, only daughter of the Rev. Dexter
Clary, a lady who inherits the excellent character
of her father, who is well known throughout the
West. He was superintendent of home missions for
southern Wisconsin. l!y this union they have three
children.
WILLIAM F. NICHOLS, M.D.,
MENOMONEE.
THE subject of this sketch is the son of Peter
Nichols and Elizabeth nee Dawson, farmers,
of Henderson county, Illinois, and was born on the
iSth of June, 1837. His father was a non-commis-
sioned officer in the vvar of 181 2, and among the
early settlers of western Illinois. William remained
on the farm until about fifteen years old, enjoying
very few educational advantages, the schools of that
time being poor, and the nearest one being three
miles distant. He usually attended during one
term of from ten to thirteen weeks during the year,
but severe weather and the great distance often pre-
vented regularity. Subsequently he attended the
North Illinois Institute, at Henry, about two years,
and at the age of nineteen began the study of med-
icine with an uncle, Dr. Shaw, at Dallas City, in his
native State, and continued the same, with some in-
terruptions, until the second year of the civil war.
In 1862 he became a soldier in the ii8th Regiment
Illinois Infantry, and served until 1863, when he was
appointed, by the secretary of war, hospital steward
in the United States army. He served between two
and three years, most of the time as assistant sur-
I geon in the general hospitals at Port Hudson and
Baton Rouge, and while acting in that capacity had
excellent opportunities for medical practice and sur-
■ gery. He made the best use of these opportunities,
and on returning from the SoutH resumed his med-
I ical studies. He attended a course of lectures at the
I Michigan University and afterward at Rush Medical
j College, Chicago, and graduated from the latter in-
stitution in 1868.
Dr. Nichols practiced his profession for a short
time at Ottawa, Illinois, but believing that a wider
i field was open to young practitioners in a newer
town, removed to Menomonee, Wisconsin, in April,
1870, and soon built up a prosperous and lucrative
I practice. Few men of his age in the State have had
! better advantages for practice and growth in surgi-
; cal knowledge, and none have made better use of
■■ them. He is a growing man. Aside from his pro-
' fession he owns a drug store, and in all his business
I relations meets with good success.
I Dr. Nichols is a member of the Odd-Fellow fra-
ternity, and has passed all the degrees in the sulior-
I dinate lodges, and all the chairs.
286
THE UNTTED STATES RrOGRAPHICAL DTCTrONART.
In politics he is a firm republican.
Soon after settling in Menomonee Dr. Nichols
was appointed examining surgeon for the [lension
bureau, and still holds that office.
He was married on the 19th of November, 1859,
to Miss Harriet M. Oben, of Burlington, Iowa.
They have had five children, three of whom are
now living.
JOSEPH T. DODGE, A.M., Ph.D.,
MONm)E.
JOSEPH THOMPSON DODGE was born at
J Barre, Vermont, May 16, 1823, and is the son
of Joseph and Azubah (Thompson) Dodge, both
natives of the same place. The " Dodge " family in
the United States is now very numerous, but be-
lieved to have a common ancestor. A large branch
of it has descended in a direct line from Richard
Dodge, a native of England, who became a citizen
of Salem, Massachusetts, August 29, 1638. A well
authenticated family register, in possession of our sub-
subject, shows him to be a lineal descendant of the
said Richard in the seventh generation, the interme-
diate links in the genealogical chain being : Joseph, a
younger son (of Richard), born 165 1 ; Joseph, junior,
born 1676; Elijah, born April 18, 1709. Thus far
the family had 'continued to reside in Beverly, Mas-
sachusetts, originally a part of Salem. Elijah mar-
ried Dorcas Brown and removed to Winchester, New
Hampshire, where he died at a ripe old age, and
where his wife also died, October, 1809, aged one
hundred years and six months. He had three sons
— Elijah, Joseph and Nathaniel Brown. The last
named married Lydia Barber, in 1761, and removed j
to Barre, Vermont, where he raised a large family,
and died in 1823. One of his sons, Asa, born in |
1770, married Abigail Blodgett, and became the
father of Joseph, who was born in 1795, ^^^ ^^'''o
married Azubah Thompson, in 1818, and became
the father of our subject, who perpetuates his name
(which seems to have been a favorite patronymic with
the family), affixing to it, however, the maiden name
of his mother. Thus far the successive generations
had been tillers of the soil and had by the sweat of
their brows wrung a frugal subsistence from the
rocky hill-sides of their native New England. Their
habits were simple; their lives blameless and con-
tented ; . they were a hardy and long-lived race,
blessed with physical vigor and vital force, and were
not disobedient to the divine injunction regarding
the perpetuation and multiplication of their kind.
On the maternal side our subject is descended
from James Thompson, a native of the north of Ire-
land, of Scotch Covenanter stock, born 1671, who
emigrated to America in 17 12, in company with his
son Samuel, born 1698, and settled in Holden, Mas-
sachusetts. The latter was the father of Captain
Samuel Thompson, born 1735, who served in the
revolutionary war, four of whose sons and two of
whose daughters afterward settled in Barre, Ver-
mont. The Thompsons also belong to the agricul-
tural classes, and were mainly long-lived. The
mother of our subject, however, was an exception to
the rule; she died at the age of thirty-three, and
bequeathed to her son a slender frame but an active
nervous organization.
Joseph Thompson Dodge attended the common
district school till the age of sixteen. In 1839 he
entered Newberry Seminary, where he was prepared
for Dartmouth College, which he entered in 1 841, but
not enjoying the atmosphere of the institution, he
was honorably dismissed by letter at the end of one
year and admitted to Vermont University, from
which he graduated with honors in 1845, ranking the
first in his class in mathematics. During the latter part
of his college experience he determined to devote
his life to the profession of civil engineering, the va-
rious lines of railroad then in course of construction
and in contemplation seeming to offer an inviting
field in this department. The Vermont Central
Railroad Company, then being organized, afforded
the desired opening, and he served an apprentice-
ship of three years as assistant engineer of this road,
and until the completion of the work. The build-
ing of a railroad through this part of Vermont was
perhaps the best school of discipline that an incipi-
ent in the art of enginery could have enjoyed, and
proved to be an excellent recommendation to him in
after life. In 1849 he was employed to make the pre-
liminary survey for a projected railroad from Mont-
pellier to Bradford, Vermont, via his native town of
Barre. Having completed this, he, in the following
autumn, removed to the West, and after visiting the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHTCAL DfCTmNARV.
287
principal cities of Illinois and Missouri, accepted a
subordinate position on the macadamized roads of
St. Louis county, in the last-named State, his prin-
cipal being J. B. Moulton, Esq., who has since
played a conspicuous part in developing that city
and the State of Missouri, and for nine months
had charge of the work on the St. Charles road. In
1850 he engineered the Illinois Coal Company's
railroad, from East St. Louis to Caseyville, Illinois.
Soon after the completion of the track, however, all
the bridges and embankments were swept away by
the high flood of the Mississippi, which occurred in
185 1. The disaster proved to be a serious loss to
the company, and for a time laid an embargo on the
work. In 1852 he obtained a contract on the Mis-
souri Pacific railroad, and spent that year in direct-
ing the work, but the climate proving injurious to
his health, he resolved to move farther northward, and
in the spring of 1853 settled in Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin, and during the five years following was engaged
in engineering on the Milwaukee and St. Paul rail-
road, having control of the work, first from Stoughton
to Madison, and afterward from Janesville to Monroe.
During this period he invested largely in real estate
in the county of Green and in the city of Monroe,
and thereby laid the foundation of the large estate
that has so amply rewarded his industry and wisdom.
The money panic which prevailed in 1857 and
following years laid a temporary embargo on railroad
construction, and Mr. Dodge retired to the then vil-
lage of Monroe, and was employed by the corpora-
tion to take the oversight of the improvements pro-
vided for in the new charter, which he carried to
successful completion. In 1860-1 he published a
very complete map of Green county and the State
of Wisconsin, which has since been the standard
authority on matters of geography within its scope.
During the last-named year he also served several
months as clerk of the mustering and disbursing
officer of the United States army at Madison. From
January, 1862, to July, 1863, he was principal of the
high schools of Monroe, a position for which his
thorough education and large experience eminently
fitted him. In the autumn of 1863 he was employed
on the Minnesota Central railroad and placed in
charge of the work between Minneapolis and St.
Paul. He also engineered the Winona and St. Peter
railroad, from Rochester to Kasson, and made its
location through Dodge and Steel counties. In
1866 he made the location of the La Crosse, Trem-
pealeau and Prescott railroad, but owing to .a dif-
ference of opinion which arose between himself
and the officers of the company, he resigned his po-
sition and for a time retired with his family to his
early home in Vermont. Returning to Monroe in
April, 1867, he bought a three-fourths interest in
the Monroe Planing Mill Company, of which he
intended to take the management, but receiving an
overture from the general government, he spent the
following year in making a survey of the battlefields
of the Atlanta campaign. For the next three years',
ending March, 1871, he was resident engineer of the
Winona division of the St. Paul and Chicago rail-
road, and during the two succeeding years held the
position of chief engineer of the line, completing the
work to La Crescent. It is worthy of note here, as
illustrating the accuracy of Mr. Dodge as an account-
ant, that although during the last named period
over a million dollars had been disbursed by him,
yet a rigid audit of the accounts failed to reveal an
error of even one cent. Subsequently he was chief
engineer of the Hastings and Dakota railroad, and
directed its construction from Carver to Glencoe.
He also engineered the McGregor and Missouri
River railroad, from Algona to Spencer, Iowa.
At this point we will make a slight digression, in
order to place on record a matter of history, which
cannot be otherwise than gratifying to our subject.
In the fall of 187 1 he had made the location of the
St. Paul and Chicago railroad from Winona to La
Crescent, and after a careful survey of the river — its
banks, channels, islands and bottom lands — for two
miles, he made a location of the bridge that was to .
span its channel at La Crosse and connect that line
with the La Crosse division of the Milwaukee and
Sft Paul railroad, which was immediately staked out
and has since become celebrated as the location of
the La Crosse bridge. The citizens of La Crosse,
however, interposed objections to the proposed site,
because it did not terminate in the heart of their
city, and much local feeling was engendered by the
circumstance. The late secretary of war, General
Belknap, lent himself to the citizens of La Crosse,
and appointed a commission of three government
engineers, who twice reported against the location
in question. An injunction was obtained from the
United States circuit court to restrain the company
from proceeding with the construction of the bridge,
but the court in rendering the opinion commented
so severely upon the injustice of the proceeding,
that the opinion itself became one of the strongest
grounds for contesting the decision. In the trial of
288
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL niCTlONART.
the case six of the most eminent civil engineers of
the Northwest had given their testimony in the most
emphatic manner in favor of Mr. Dodge's location,
and their report ultimately proved the turning point
in the case. After a flight of years all obstacles
were finally removed, and now a magnificent triumph
of engineering skill spans the " Father of Waters "
at La Crosse, having been completed and put in op-
eration during the centennial year of the republic,
and the wisdom and skill of our subject have re-
ceived the most flattering indorsements and com-
mendation from the most eminent engineers of the
county. The name of Mr. Dodge is indissolubly
connected with that magnificent enterprise.
The panic of 1873 being followed by a persist-
ent "granger crusade " against railroads, nearly all
public works were in that year suspended, and the
year following our subject made an extensive tour in
Europe, visiting many of the cities and monuments
of art and science in that distinguished quarter of
the globe. In November, 1875, he removed his fam-
ily to Monroe, from Madison, where he had resided
for some years, and took charge of his interest in
the planing mill, which he had owned since 1867,
and which has since furnished him with sufficient
employment.
He has been for many years a distinguished mem-
ber of the American Society of Civil Engineers,
and of the Academy of Science, in Wisconsin. In
1862 his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree
of M..\., and in 1875 the still more complimentary
distinction of Ph.D., an honor worthily bestowed.
He was raised in the communion of the Meth-
odist church, to which his ancestors for several
generations belonged, but his theological opinions
having undergone a change, he now attends a I'ni-
versalist church.
He was reared a democrat, but early in life be-
came indoctrinated with anti-slavery principles, and
soon after its organization joined the republican
party, with which he is still identified.
On the 24th of October, 1850, he married Miss
Melissa J. Marble, of North Hartland, Vermont, a
member of a family of excellent physical develop-
ment and of remarkable longevity. This union has
been blessed with a family of one son and three
daughters. Their eldest daughter, Marion, is a grad-
uate, and their second. Miss Florence, is a member,
of the Madison University. They have both spent
a year in Germany, returning to America in July,
1876, and also visited and sojourned for short pe-
riods in several of the principal cities of Europe.
They are young ladies of high literary attainments,
as well as of the most amiable and engaging man-
ners. The youngest daughter, Miss Mattie, and the
only son, Joseph, are at present attending the high
school of Monroe
Mr. Dodge's course of life has been marked by
an unswerving fidelity to the soundest principles
of morality and economy. His transactions and
business relations have ever been marked by scru-
pulous integrity and the highest sense of honor.
His property, which is principally in real estate,
is ample, and he occupies a leading position, not
only in the city of his adoption but throughout the
Northwest.
HON. HIRAM BARBER,
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Hebron,
Washington county. New York, was born
January 25, 1800, and is the son of David Barber
and Hannah nee Baker. His father, a farmer of
Hebron, took part in the war of the revolution, and
received a pension from the government in compen-
sation for his services. As his place of residence
was convenient to no school, Hiram was obliged to
pursue his studies at home, with the exception of
one year's attendance at Fort Ann. When he had
reached his nineteenth year, having become fully
competent to teach school, he devoted the winters
of the four following years to this employment, the
summers being occupied with farming. Subseijuent
to this he became one of a firm engaged in a general
mercantile business in Queensburg, New York, and
continued in this business for the period of twelve
years. Meanwhile he had become interested in the
lumber trade, and, upon his withdrawal from the
mercantile business, gave it his exclusive attention
for the period of eight years. On the loth of Octo-
ber, 1843, he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and
subsequently traveled over several of the Western
States for the purpose of examining lands, since
^■^-^^ 6l^
&^v^-
^^
6
THE VNITEn STATES B/OGRAPH/CAL DfCTlONAR):
iqi
he had resolved to follow the real-estate business.
While thus engaged he located a farm in the vicinity
of Juneau, and afterward settled upon it, making it
his home for eighteen years. Upon the marriage
of his eldest son, however, he gave it to him to take
charge of, and, in 1863, removed to Horicon, Wis-
consin, to engage in speculations, for which he had
quite a taste. Here he became a member of the
firm of Van Brunt and Co., manufacturers of agri-
cultural implements, and after continuing in the firm
for seven years, conducted the business alone for
three years, after which he sold it to his son. In his
religious views Mr. Barber sympathizes with the
Pantheists, believing as he does that the universe,
taken as a whole, is God. He was formerly a mem-
ber of the democratic party, with which he acted j
until 1856, having voted for General Jackson, but
since that time he has been a republican, casting
his first vote in this party for General Fremont.
Among the many important positions of public trust
which he has held is that of justice of the peace, to
which he was elected in 1826; county judge of the
courts of Warren county. New York, to which he
was appointed by Governor Van Buren in 1829,
and which he held until 1844, when, wishing to re-
move to Wisconsin, he resigned it. In 1846 he was
a member of the constitutional convention, and as-
sisted in framing the constitution of Wisconsin. Two
years later he was appointed by Governor Dewey
one of the board of regents to organize the State
university, a position which he held for six years.
In 1849 he was a member of the State assembly, and
in 1874 was republican candidate for Congress in
the fifth congressional district. Judge Barber was
also a member of the first board of directors of the
Milwaukee and La Crosse railroad, a position which
he held for three years and then resigned.
He was married on April 8, 1824, to Miss Salome
Seelye, by whom he has had three sons and three
daughters, — the eldest son being a farmer, the second
a successor to his father in his manufactory, and the
third a lawyer in the city of Chicago. The various
positions of trust to which Mr. Barber has been
called, only serve to give us additional proofs of the
many social, business and moral qualities of which
his character is made up.
JAMES M. BRACKETT,
EAU CLAIRE.
THE history of James Miller Brackett furnishes
another illustration of the service of journal-
ism as an educator. He is a native of Ohio, and
the son of Joseph Warren Brackett and Lydia Mil-
ler Brackett, and was born at Huntsburg, Geauga
county, July 16, 1831. Some of both his paternal
and maternal ancestors were engaged in the revolu-
tionary struggle. His father, formerly a farmer, was
later in life a lawyer. He moved with his family
to Wisconsin in 1842, and settled near Milwaukee,
where he opened a farm. He was a member of the
first Wisconsin State legislature, and was one of the
three democrats who, in 1848, protested against the
political doctrines advanced in Lewis Cass' Nichol-
son letter, and left the party at that time. He was
an original, independent thinker, and a prominent
man in Wisconsin during its early history as a State.
He died while on a visit in Eau Claire, in 1873.
James worked on the farm and attended school
three or four months in a year until he was nine-
teen, when he attended an academy a short time at
Waukesha. He then taught during one winter, and
afterward spent one term in a college at Davenport,
Iowa. His father had a small, well selected library
— large, for those days, in a new country — of which,
when not engaged in teaching or attending school,
James made free and liberal use, having from an
early age a passion for books. Happily, his taste
was for solid works, historical, scientific and legal,
and he read with considerable care Blackstone,
Kent, Chitty, and other law books.
During the seven years ne.xt following his return
from Davenport he was engaged in farming during
the summer months, and in teaching during the win-
ters, and at the expiration of that time for about
three years he gave his entire attention to farming.
In March, 1861, he removed to Alma, and there
organized the "Buffalo County Journal," and after
conducted it for nearly two years, and sold out and
went into the army as second lieutenant of Com-
pany A, 20th Regiment Volunteer Infantry. At the
end of one year, by reason of impaired health, he
resigned, and returning to Alma again took charge
of the "Journal," and conducted it until April, 1S65,
292
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
when he went to Chippewa Falls, purchased the
"Chippewa Valley Union" and "Times;" consoli-
dating the two papers under the name of " Union
and Times," he continued its publication until De-
cember, 1869. At that time he bought the " Eau
Claire Free Press," in company with Rodman
Palmer, since deceased, and on the first day of Jan-
uary, 1873, began issuing it as a daily, and still edits
it. The paper is published by a stock company, of
which Mr. Brackett is president. It was the first
daily started in that part of the State, is republican
in politics, and edited with care and ability.
After returning from the South and while at Alma
Mr. Brackett was appointed deputy provost marshal,
and served in that capacity for two years. While
at ('hippewa Falls he held the office of assistant
assessor for about four years. In June, 1873, he
was appointed receiver of the United States land
office, and still holds that position.
He was married on the 19th of March, 1854, to
Miss Lucina A. Hamilton, daughter of Elisha C.
Hamilton, of Joe Daviess county, Illinois, an early
settler in that county, and for years one of its lead-
ing men. The fruits of this union have been ten
children, eight of whom are living.
Mr. Brackett is justly regarded as the leading
journalist in his part of the State. He is an inde-
fatigable worker and thinker, and through his paper
exerts a powerful influence throughout the Chip-
pewa valley.
HON. WILLIAM P. BARTLETT,
EAC CLAIRE.
A BOUT the year 1635 there came from England
f\. two brothers, John and Richard Bartlett, who
settled at Newbury, Massachusetts. They came
from a family of high standing, some of their
relatives about that time being members of par-
liament, and some of their ancestors long before
having shared the same distinction. The Bartletts
in England held other responsible positions also,
and were men of learning and wealth. They
were a leading family, at an early day, in this
country, and did much to mold and elevate society
and shape the government of New England, where
the descendants of John and Richard Bartlett, for
three or four generations, settled. At the opening
of the revolutionary war the family had scattered all
over the New England States, and without excep-
tion were found arrayed on the side of the colonies.
John Bartlett, called " John the tanner," being of
the fourth generation from Richard Bartlett, settled
at Eliot, Maine. Of his descendants was John H.
Bartlett, the father of William Pitt Bartlett. He was
born at Eliot, January 9, 1789, and at about the age
of twenty-five married Phebe Burbank, of Freeport,
Maine, and in 1833 moved to North New Portland,
Somerset county. The northern part of Maine, at
that time, was sparsely settled, and presented few
educational advantages. Mr. Bartlett was a clothier
by occupation, and proceeded to erect, at his new
home, a clothing and carding mill, a saw-mill, a grist
mill and a clover mill. Some of these mills, built
more than forty years ago, are still standing, and are
owned and operated by his sons.
William Pitt Bartlett was born at Minot, Septem-
ber 13, 1829, and was next to the youngest of twelve
children (seven boys and five girls), eight of whom
are still living. His educational privileges in early
life were limited to the winter months in the district
school, but being of a studious turn of mind he
improved his spare hours while out of school in
study, and at fifteen years of age obtained a certifi-
cate and began teaching. At nineteen he entered
Waterville College and graduated four years later.
He at once thereafter began reading law, supporting
himself, meantime, by teaching, first as principal of
an academy at Anson, and then of the Hallowell
Academy, the oldest in the State.
In 1855 Mr. Bartlett removed to Wisconsin, and
spent nearly two years at Watertown, and in May,
1857, settled permanently at Eau Claire. He imme-
diately began the practice of his profession, to which
he has closely devoted himself until the present time
(1877), practicing not only in the courts of the State
but more or less in the United States circuit and
supreme courts. He is now a member of the firm of
Bartlett and Hayden, and has a wide reputation for
his legal attainments, sound learning and eminent
success, and lives in the enjoyment of a liberal com-
petency.
When Mr. Bartlett came to Eau Claire there was
no lawyer in the county, and he is properly regarded
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
293
there as the pioneer in the profession. His wise
counsel and assistance are often sought outside his
profession. In educational matters he has always
been a leader, and is the Nestor of the school board.
He had been in Eau Claire scarcely two weeks when
he was placed on that board, in district number two,
and has not been off the board or off duty a day
since. The school then numbered about twenty
scholars ; now it has six hundred, and is among the
best in the State, and owes its high standing largely
to the untiring vigilance of Mr. Bartlett. His labors
in this department alone will entitle him to the
grateful remembrance of the citizens of Eau Claire
in coming generations as well as the present.
Aside from his professional duties Mr. Bartlett
has held many positions of honor and trust. He was
six years district attorney of Eau Claire county, two
years county judge, a member of the legislature in
i860 and 1873, and in April, 1871;, was appointed
by President Grant Registrar of the United States
Land Office, a position which he still holds. In
connection with every office which lie has held he
has an unblemished record.
Mrs. Bartlett is a daughter of Edward W. Hart,
of Baraboo, Wisconsin, formerly of Akron, Ohio.
She is a woman of fine accomplishments, both of
mind and manners, and in full sympathy with her
husband in his educational and other laudable work.
They were married August 15, 1861, and have four
children — a daughter fourteen years old and three
younger sons.
Mr. Bartlett is of whig antecedents. He aided
in organizing the republican party in Wisconsin,
and has been one of its steady and influential sup.
porters.
He has always been a man of industrious and
excellent moral habits. He has taken the best of
care of himself — of his person as well as character
— and as a result is in the full vigor and strength of
manhood, and his days of usefulness, it is to be
hoped, are far from ended. Such men cannot well
be spared from any community.
DANIEL SHAW,
EAU CLAIRE.
DANIEL SHAW is the son of Daniel and
Mehitable (Oilman) Shaw, and was born at
Industry, Franklin county, Maine, March 30, 18 13.
His parents were natives of Tamworth, New Hamp-
shire. They were as firm in character as the granite
of their native State, and it is no exaggeration to
say that the son inherited their best qualities. A
neighbor of his in Eau Claire, one who' knew the
whole family forty years ago in their eastern home,
states that "the Shaw family were and are an indus-
trious, plucky race, with no word like failure in their
vocabulary."
Daniel Shaw, senior, was a farmer. The subject
of this sketch grew up under the parental roof, with
very few school privileges, his school days ending
when he was about seventeen. In the autumn of
1833, in his twenty-first year, he began lumbering
during the winters in his native State, and in 185 1
went to Alleghany county, New York, and there
continued the business for five years, with fair suc-
cess. The field of operations, however, was too
narrow, and with a view to finding a wider scope for
the exercise of his powers he removed to Wisconsin
in 1855, and having thoroughly explored the Chip-
35
pewa valley, selected it as- the field for his future
operations. One year later we find him at Eau
Claire, the half owner of a large tract of pine land
on the Chippewa river and its tributaries, and here
we still find him in the lumber, merchandise and
milling business, other parties being in company
with him. For many years the firm was Daniel
Shaw and Co. January i, 1875, the firm name was
changed to the Daniel Shaw Lumber Company,
Mr. Shaw being president, and his son, George B.,
secretary. The company is one of the largest of its
kind, and most enterprising in the Chippewa valley,
and cuts about twenty-five million feet of lumber
annually. The gross amount of its sales of all kinds
exceeds five hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Shaw has voted the republican ticket since
there was such a party; prior to that time was a
whig; has often been urged to accept office, but
uniformly declines nomination.
In a private way, no man living in Eau Claire
has done more for the place than he. When he first
looked upon the site of this city, in 1855, the sound
of the axe had hardly disturbed the solitude of the
forest, and in twenty years he has seen the place
294
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
expand on both sides of the Kau Claire and Chip-
pewa livers until it numbers ten thousand inhab-
itants, with four school houses and nine or ten
churches. Not a house of worship has been erected
without his aid, and his generous nature has shown
itself in many other ways. He has had his own
reverses, both by flood and fire, and some of them
would have overpowered less indomitable spirits;
but, gaining strength of resolution by his losses, he
has pressed bravely on until he has attained to in-
dependence. He is, in his seventh decade, as erect
as ever, and in good health, and few men enjoy with
more zest the accumluations of a busy life.
He was married in 1841, to .\nn F. Hutchinson,
of Industry, Maine. She is a woman of great ability ;
and magnetic power ; of rare mental, moral and so-
cial qualities, and a model mother; happy in making ,
her husband and others happy and in scattering the .
sunshine in the little circle of her own family and in
the larger circles of society in which she moves. •
She has had Three sons, one of whom, Charles, a
young man of great promise, died in 1863. The ;
remaining two, Eugene and Get>rge B., are first- <
class business men, with all their father's industry
and public spirit, and much of the mother's refining
and polishing influence. ' ''
DAVID ADLER,
MILWAUKEE.
DAVID ADLER, clothing merchant, of Milwau-
kee, was born in Neustadt, Austria, October 9,
1821, son of Isaac and Bertie Adler. After receiv-
ing the education common to Austrian youth of his
position in life, he was apprenticed to a baker in
Neustadt, with whom he remained three years. He
subsequently traveled, according to custom, through
different parts of Europe, visiting many towns and
cities in order to acquire a more complete knowl-
edge of his business. This object accomplished he
returned to Neustadt, where he remained two years.
August 15, 1846, he left his native land and sailed
for America, landing in New York city, where he
soon became established in the bakery business and
continued therein for a period of about five years.
The many attractions of the rapidly growing West
induced Mr. Adler to close out his New York busi-
ness, and the year 1853 found him settled in Mil-
waukee, where he has remained until the present
time. He soon decided not to resume his old trade
in the West, but to invest his money in the business
which promised the speediest return, and there-
fore opened a retail clothing store on East Water
street, with a capital of only twelve hundred dol-
lars. This store was of extremely small dimen-
sions, and although he had no previous experience
in this branch of merchandising he was very success-
ful, owing undoubtedly to his untiring industry,
business tact and strict integrity, which are the con-
trolling principles underlying success in any direc-
tion where the interests of men are involved. Soon
the narrow limits of his store could not accommodate
his increasing business, and in 1857 he commenced
the wholesale clothing trade, receiving his nephew 1
as partner, the firm name being changed to D. and '
G. Adler. Their first twelvemonth sales amounted
to seventy-five thousand dollars. The nephew re- '
mained two years, when he was succeeded by a \
brother of David Adler, Solomon Adler, who retired I
from the firm in 1870. H. M. Mendel and Mr.
David Adler's eldest son were then received into
partnership, and the name of the firm was again
changed to Adler, Mendel and Co. Each change
brought a new impetus ; increasing trade demanded ,
j increased facilities; the old store, outgrown by the
former firm, was remodeled and enlarged to suit the |
new. Their establishment is now one of th,e largest \
in the State, four stories high and covering an area
of forty by one hundred and twenty feet fronting on
East Water street and forty by sixty feet fronting on ^
Huron street. Besides the clothing which they man- j
ufacture they handle heavy lines of piece goods ;
the extent of the business is immense, their sales in
1874 reaching the amount of nearly a million dol-
lars. The success of this house and its high stand-
ing, both financially and morally, throughout the
country are attributable to the careful management
and fair dealing of its partners, not only in its early
history, but throughout its changes and rising for-
tunes.
Mr. Adler has held various positions of trust in
several benevolent societies, having been sought as
treasurer of the same, which as a mark of confidence
in his purity is a compliment of high order.
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THE UNITED STATES HIOGRAPIIICAL DICTIONARY.
297
In religion Mr. Adler is of the Jewish faith, and
holds a prominent position in the society of El
Emanuel.
He was married, May 10, 1848, to Miss Fannie
Newboeur, by whom he has si.\ sons and two
daughters. The eldest son is [jartner in his father's
business and two others are clerks in the same store.
The second son is in Eurojie studying law at Berlin.
The eldest daughter is wife of Henry M. Mendel,
second partner in the house of Adler, Mendel and Co.
MASON A. THAYER,
THE subject of this biography, a native of Ohio,
is the son of Andrew and Millura (Mason)
Thayer, and was born at Conneaut, November 17,
1839. The family removed to Kingsville in 1849,
and to Austinburg in 1851. At the latter place
Mason attended the Grand River Institution five
years, when, in March, 1856, his family removed to
Sparta, Wisconsin. Here the son spent three years
as deputy register of deeds, and then two years in
teaching writing in different parts of Wisconsin and
Iowa. Returning to Sparta he was elected register
of deeds for Monroe county, and was afterward
twice reelected, serving in all three full terms ; and
during that time opened an abstract-of-title and
real-estate office, and continued both branches of
business together until the term of his county office
had expired.
In December, 1868, Mr. Thayer established a
savings bank, of which he is cashier and R. S. King
is president. Under their management the institu-
tion has become very popular and one of the safest
in the town. From the day he began the real-estate
business Mr. Thayer has continued it with a gradual
expansion, until it now extends widely through dif-
ferent parts of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and also
to some extent into Iowa ; and wherever known he
is recognized as one of the foremost and most sue
cessful men in this line of business in western Wis-
consin.
He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, of the
royal-arch degree. In religious sentiment he is
liberal, and in politics is identified with the repub-
lican party.
He was married December3i, i86i,to Miss Mary
A. Munn, of Sparta, and by her has two children.
Mr. Thayer's father, who removed to Sparta in
1856 and settled on a farm, died Marcli 31, 1872.
His mother is still living, in independent and very
comfortable circumstances.
Mr. Thayer has always been a prudent manager
of his affairs ; has never made a miscalculation or a
misstep in his business, and has uniformly succeeded
in whatever he has attempted. He is a man of kind
feelings, and has both the means and the disposition
to help the destitute, and is held in highest esteem
by his neighbors and a wide circle of acquaintances.
HORATIO N. BRADSHAVV,. M.D.,
HORATIO NELSON BRADSHAVV was born
at Farmersville, Canada West, January 29,
1833, the son of Horatio and Rachel (La Rue)
Bradshaw, both of whom were natives of the State
of New York. The Bradshaw family, which is now
quite numerous in America, claim descent from the
celebrated Judge Bradshaw who presided at the
trial of King Charles I and pronounced the sentence
of execution against that unfortunate monarch. He
died during the administration of the Protector, on
the first anniversary of the king's death succeeding
the " Restoration." The body of Bradshaw, together
with those of Cromwell and Ireton, were disinterred,
hanged on the gallows, then decapitated and their
heads fixed on Westminster Hall. The Judge had
three sons, one of whom removed to Ireland, an-
other to America, while the third remained in Eng-
land. In England and Ireland the families have
both since been ennobled.
The grandfather of our subject, James Bradshaw,
who was a resident of New York, was a man of
considerable wealth, and owned a large number of
298
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
slaves. His son, Horatio Bradshaw, father of our
subject, was born at Sandy Hill village, Washington
county. New York, and lost his mother in infancy,
after which he was taken in charge by Lemuel Cas-
tle, an uncle by marriage, who removed to Canada
at the close of the revolutionary war, where he
lived and died, Horatio Bradshaw inheriting a share
of his property. The latter was drafted into the
.British army in the war of 1812, and, greatly against
his will, was compelled to bear arms against his
native country. Fortunately he was taken prisoner,
by Colonel Forsythe, of the United States army, at
Prescott, and paroled — a circumstance which he
afterward often referred to as one of the pleasantest
reminiscences of his life. After the close of the
war he left New York and returned to Canada,
where his property was located, and there remained
some twenty years. In 1835 he sold his possessions
and removed with his family to Jefferson county.
New York, and in the disastrous monetary revulsion
of the following year lost nearly all his property,
and lived the remainder of his life in comparative
poverty. He died in 1853, at the age of seventy-
seven, leaving nine children. He was a man of
remarkably even temper and quiet habits, though of
great firmness and tenacity of purpose. He was
moreover conscientious and upright, and was wont
to judge others by his own standard of morals, a
characteristic which induced him to place 'confi-
dence in unworthy objects, and which led to his
financial embarrassment. The mother of our sub-
ject was of French and German ancestry. Her
father was a soldier in the revolutionary war, and
fought under General Marion, and afterward settled
in southwestern New York. She was a woman of
much vigor of mind and body, but staid and sedate
in her habits and manners — characteristics inher-
ited by her son.
From the foregoing narrative it will be readily
inferred that Horatio was thrown upon his own
resources at an early age. He had been an apt and
diligent student from his childhood, and attended
the district schools during the winters till he attained
the age of fourteen, when he was considered com-
petent to teach. He accordingly went to Canada,
where, by the aid of friends, he procured a school;
but before he could enter upon his work he must
obtain a certificate of fitness from the township
superintendent, who in this instance proved to be
an illiterate Irishman. In the examination he asked
him to state the number of continents into which
the globe was divided. He replied : "Two, if Aus-
tralia, which is an island, be not included in the
list." The Hibernian promptly informed him that
his answer was incorrect; that he was not fit to
teach school, and therefore could not have a certifi-
cate, at the same time informing him that there were
no less than five continents. Our subject, who was
incorrigible in his ignorance, determined to appeal
the question to a higher autliority, and accordingly
made a journey of forty miles on foot, and entered an
appeal to the Provincial superintendent of instruc-
tion, who, on a hearing of the case, reversed the pre-
vious decision' as to the number of continents, and
issued the required certificate. He returned the
following day in high glee, and at once entered upon
his duties as village schoolmaster. He taught that
winter in Canada, and the succeeding five winters in
Jefferson county. New York, while in the summers
he worked on the farm, and in the autumns attend-
ed select schools, studying the higher mathematics
and Latin. At the age of eighteen he commenced
the study of medicine, having been advised to that
course by a medical friend, who offered him facili-
ties— though, had he been in circumstances to
choose for himself, he would have adopted the law
as a profession. He manifested a taste and aptness,
however, for the study of medicine and surgery, but
was never an enthusiast in his profession for its own
sake.
In 1852 he entered the Western Reserve Medical
College, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1854,
and entered upon the practice of his profession in
Philadelphia, New York, where he remained a year,
with moderate success ; then crossed again to Can-
ada, and taught a village school at Rupertville for
one year. He next removed to Meaford, and, hav-
ing received a license, after due examination, from
the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Upper
Canada, successfully practiced his profession for two
years at that point. Thence, in 1858, he removed
to Dayton, Green county, Wisconsin, where he prac-
ticed for one year in partnership with Dr. Ormsby,
of that place. He next removed to Monticello, same
county, where he remained ten years and built up a
large practice, becoming the leading physician of
the place. Meantime he attended a course of lec-
tures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, from which
he graduated in 1867. Inj868 he removed to Mon-
roe, the county seat of Green county, which has
since been his home. At this period, his health
being somewhat impaired, and the practice of med-
THE UNITED STATES JilOGEAPl/ICAL DICTIONARr.
299
icine not being altogether in harmony with his
tastes, he resolved to abandon it, and accordingly
opened a large wholesale and retail drug eatablish-
ment, to which he has since devoted his chief atten-
tion, having accumulated a competency and attained
.an enviable position among his fellow-citizens and
in the county and State of his adoption. He pos-
sesses a large amount of brain power, and is a man
of great vigor, force of will and determination, and
holds in lofty contempt all shams and pretenses.
He possesses a high order of literary talents, and is
especially gifted as a poet. His fugitive pieces —
dashed off with great rapidity during the intervals
of work — which are voluminous, and on all classes
of subjects, have found their way into the current
literature of the day and will soon' be collected in a
volume, and are of a very high order of merit and
destined to perpetuate his name. He is a man of
quick perceptions, a clear, logical thinker and rea-
soner, a fluent and pleasant public speaker; of
strong prejudices — originating mainly on the bet-
ter side of his nature — with an intuitive sense of
right ; of correct habits and of unquestioned integ-
rity and uprightness, whatever he does, he does
with all his might. He is close and economical
in his business transactions, yet generous and whole
souled to his friends. His heart is always sympa-
thetic and warm, and his affections toward his family
are e.xuberant.
In politics, he was a staunch republican during
the war and until 1872, when he joined the reform
movement, to which he has since adhered.
During the greater part of his residence in Wis-
consin he has taken a deep interest in the progress
of public schools, and has seldom been without an
official relationship to the same.
He is a Master Mason, and has taken all the
degrees in Odd-Fellowship. He was raised under
Methodist influence, but is not now connected with
any church; though he respects Christianity, and
honors the sincere professor of evangelical religion.
He has been twice married : P'irst, December 14,
1854, to Miss Achsah L. Terpening, of Jefferson
county, New York, a member of an old family of
that State. She died July 12, 1859, leaving one
son surviving, namely, John Franklin, born May 26,
1856, now a student of Rush Medical College, and
a young man of much promise. His second mar-
riage was on the 14th of August, 1862, to Miss Eliza
J. Noble, who is a lineal descendant of Thomas
Noble, who came over in the Mayflower; a lady in
every respect, and well worthy of her paternity and
her husband. They have three children, namely,
Lillian G., Christy M. and Willie Nelson.
HON. EGBERT B. BUNDY,
MEXOMONEE.
EGBERT BIRD BUNDY, a native of New
York, was born at Windsor. Broome county,
February 8, 1833. His parents, Oliver T. Bundy,
and Lydia ne'e Smith, were natives of Connecticut.
Egbert attended a common school and the Windsor
Academy until about eighteen years of age, and then
began the study of law in the office of Wheeler and
More, at Deposit. He was admitted to the bar in
Cortlandville, Cortland county, in 1856, and in the
following spring removed to Menomonee, Wisconsin,
where for twenty years he has been engaged in legal
practice. At first he was in partnership with an
elder brother, Charles S. Bundy, now of Washington,
District of Columbia. Later he conducted his busi-
ness with Mr. E. B. Manwearing, under the firm
name of Bundy and Manwearing.
Mr. Bundy started out in his professional life
firmly determined to make the law his exclusive
business, and has never deviated from that purpose.
His few real-estate operations have been incidental
to his profession, and have required very little of his
time. His undeviating attention to legal business,
his studious habits and his large experience, have
given him thoroughness in his attainments and a
prominence among the foremost lawyers in the
eighth circuit.
Mr. Bundy was county judge at an early day, but
after serving about four years, resigned, since he did
not wish to have anything to interfere with his legal
pursuits. He has always been a democrat, but
never allows politics to interfere with his profes-
sional duties. At a meeting of the bar of the eighth
judicial circuit, held in F'ebruary, 1877, he was the
unanimous choice of that body for judge, there
being a vacancy created by the resignation of Judge
I Humphrey.
300
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Judge Bundy attends the Episcopal church, but is
not a communicant.
On the 23d of May, 1 861, he was married to Miss
Reubena Macauley, of Dunn county, and by her has
seven children.
Judge Bundy has a mind of great activity, and is
noted for his keenness in unraveling complicated
questions of law. He has one of the largest and
best law libraries in his part of the State. His
business has been of a general character, and about
equally divided before court and jury. In either
position he is strong, and a pronounced success.
CHARLES A. BOOTH,
CHARLES ASA BOOTH was born in Covington,
Tioga county, Pennsylvania, February 15, 1839,
and is the son of George W. and Artemisia (Cran-
dall) Booth, both of whom were of English descent,
the former a native of Rhode Island and the latter
of Pennsylvania. His father was a master builder
by occupation, and erected many of the depots on
the New York Central railroad and large blocks in
various towns in the central and western States.
They had a family of eight boys and two girls, of
whom five boys and one girl are living, Charles A.
being the second child. At the age of six he was
taken by his parents to western New York, where
the family remained about eight years. Meantime
he learned a variety of "trades," beginning with
" watching crows," on a cornfield stump, from sun-
rise till sunset, for a compensation of two shillings
per day ; he also worked one season in a wool-card-
ing and cloth-dressing establishment; for a time was
assistant for a brick-mason, but soon found the work
more than he could endure. He was a precocious
youth, and when not otherwise engaged, attended
the district school, and, like other boys of his sta-
tion in life, learned the three R's — readin', 'ritin',
'rithmetic — but, as the sequel proves, his forte lay in
the middle R, and he has since become great in
the use of the pen. He always sought the company
of those who were able to give information and help
him in his intellectual growth. Fond of antiquities,
he read Rollins' Ancient History, Josephus, Plu-
tarch and Macaulay, Emerson's prose works, Lowell,
Holmes, and other distinguished authors, before he
reached the age of sixteen years.
The family removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, in 1853,
and he has a very distinct recollection of the Free-
mont-Buchanan campaign of 1856, in which he vig-
orously espoused the cause of the former, and though
he was not in a position to give his favorite a vote,
yet he derived strength and political nourishment
from the campaign that told in future times, and
since then his candidates have always been success-
ful. He attended school one or two seasons in
Wisconsin and became a fair English scholar, and
in the spring of 1858 he came to Monroe, and in
August of the same year entered into an apprentice-
ship in the "Monroe Sentinel " printing office, which
was then owned by the late G. W. Tenny, and of
which he has since become sole proprietor and
editor. He served three years as an apprentice, and
at the end of his first year as a "jour," printer he
was made foreman of the office ; but the war was
raging in the South, his country needed his services,
patriotism triumphed over the tears of a mother and
her younger children, of whom he was the support,
and in July, 1862, he enlisted in the 22d Regiment
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col-
onel Utley. At the organization of Company G, to
which he belonged, and which was commanded by
James Bintliff, then one of the proprietors of the
" Sentinel," he was appointed, by a unanimous vote,
to the position of second sergeant ; from this he was
promoted to the rank of orderly, and thence to that
of second lieutenant — all within a year. The 22d
Regiment was the first fully equipped and one of
the best equipped and disciplined regiments that
ever left Wisconsin. It was known during the earlier
part of the war as the "nigger" regiment, being the
first that absolutely refused to give up "contrabands "
who came into the Union lines. At the battle of
Thompson Station, near Franklin, Tennessee, which
occurred March 5, 1863, our subject received a
severe wound by a rifle ball, and had his clothes
riddled by bullets, but did not desert his post for
several hours, and while going to the rear narrowly
escaped capture by the rebels. The enemy in this
engagement outnumbered the LInion forces ten to
one. The lines of the latter were broken and scat-
tered, many prisoners were made, and many others.
THE UNITED STATES HIOGRAPIIICAL DrCTIONARV.
301
alas ! were left on the field. Nearly four months
intervened before he was again fit for duty. In the
autumn of 1S63 he was commissioned first lieutenant
of his company, and was subsequently appointed on
the brigade staff (2d Brigade, 3d Div., 20th A. C.) as
assistant aid-de-camp and provost marshal, and was
with his brigade and regiment in all its subsequent
battles. He participated in the famous Sherman
campaign on Atlanta, and commanded in person the
right flank of the line of skirmishers which first en-
tered that city after the battle of Jonesborough. He
was also at the battles of Resaca, Peach Tree Creek,
(iolgotha, Kenesaw, Gulp's Farm and the siege of
Atlanta, besides numerous skirmishes, experiencing
many narrow escapes but never receiving a scratch
after the first fight. He participated in Sherman's
famous march to the sea and in the " fire and smoke "
campaign through the Carolinas, took part in the
battle of Averysborough, fought by a part of Sher-
man's men with the army of Joe Johnston, which
had confronted the Union troops, having disputed
the march of the Western army for more than two
years. Thence the victors marched by way of Rich- |
mond, Virginia, to Washington, participating in the i
"grand review" by the President, and was mustered
out in June, 1865.
In July of the same year he bought of his former
employer a half interest in the " Monroe Sentinel,"
the other half being bought by A. J. High, and for
five years the business was conducted under the
firm name of High and Booth. In December, 1870,
Mr. High sold to S. E. Gardner, who, in 1872, leased
his interest to Mr. Booth, and since then the " Sen-
tinel " has been under his sole charge. It is one of
the most ablv conducted weeklies in the West. Its
articles are spicy and readable, wliile it discusses
questions of national and state policy with an ability
and pungency that makes it either a powerful ally or
a formidable opponent. It is the organ of the people,
to whom its columns are always open. It is further-
more conducted on the highest moral principles,
strenuously opposed to all shams or humbugs, and
e.xcluding from its columns all advertisements of an
immoral or dishonorable character.
Mr. Booth has participated in every political cam-
paign since 1865, stumped the county every fall for
the republican party, and is one of the most inde-
fatigable and successful workers in the State.
During the rebellion he was a frequent corre-
spondent of the " Wisconsin State Journal " and the
"Monroe Sentinel."
He is not a member of any church, but is on good
terms with all Protestant Christians, and contributes
his full share to religious and benevolent organiza-
tions. He is a "total abstainer," and has been " W.
C." of the Good Templar organization of Monroe.
He was also " N. G." of the order of Odd-Fellows,
and has been representative in the Grand Lodge of
the order.
On the loth of September, 1862, he married Miss
Elizabeth Gardner, daughter of Elijah T. Gardner,
who was born in the first frame building erected in
the village of Monroe, which now has a population
of about four thousand. Mrs. Booth is a lady of
genuine good sense and superior cultivation, to
whose advice and influence her husband is indebted
for much of his success in life. They have four
children, namely, Nettie, Rayburn, Charline and
Maxwell, all having the middle name of Gardner,
out of compliment to their mother.
EZEKIEL S. HOTCHKISS,
ARCADIA.
THE subject of this sketch was born in Cairo,
Green county. New York, March 27, 1837.
His father, Henry E. Hotchkiss, was a farmer and
undertaker. His mother's maiden name was Alice
Smith. Ezekiel attended school and aided his
father until nineteen years old, when he removed to
Richland county, Wisconsin. He was there engaged
in farming about four years, and at the expiration of
that time removed to Osseo, in the town of Sumner,
Trempealeau county, where he purchased land and
opened a farm. This he has continued to cuU
tivate, engaging, at times, also, in other business.
In 1870, in company with another gentleman, he
built a flouring mill in Sumner, which, after operat-
ing a few years, he sold. For several years he had
a store in the village of Osseo, which he disposed of
about 1874, but during this time, while engaged with
other interests, he has never ceased to give his farm
due attention. He possesses a fine taste for horti-
culture, and has an orchard of several hundred trees.
302
THE UNITED STATES BKXiRAPHlCAL DICTION ART.
"Aside from his regular business, he has been hon-
ored by his fellow-citizens with positions of respon-
sibility and trust. He was clerk of the town of
Sumner for twelve years, notary public seven or
eight years, deputy United States marshal in 1870,
and aided in taking the census of the north half of
Trempealeau county, and in November, 1876, was
elected sheriff, an office whose duties he is at present
(1877) faithfully discharging.
Although Mr. Hotchkiss was reared by a demo-
cratic father and among democratic brothers, he has
never voted any other than the republican ticket.
He holds his political sentiments from thorough con-
viction of their correctness, and cherishes them
with the utmost sacredness.
In religious matters he is "liberal."
On the i6th of December, 1862, he was married
to Miss Hattie A. Field, daughter of the late Sena-
tor Field, one of the most prominent men in Trem-
pealeau county. They have two children.
HON. ROBERT C. FIELD,
OSSEO.
ROBERT CURTIS FIELD, who died on the
i6th of June, 1876, of heart disease, settled in
Wisconsin the year after it became a State, and for
several years was a leading man in Trempealeau
county. He was born at Cairo, Greene county. New
York, on the 6th of May, 1804, and was the only
son of Robert Bates Field, a native of Connecticut.
His mother's maiden name was Sally Austin.
Robert received a common-school education, and
afterward studied law ; but finding that profession
unsuited to his tastes, he abandoned the study and !
turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, which
he followed for several years in his native town. In i
1849 he removed to Wisconsin, and settled in Rich-
land county; ten years later he removed to the
town of Sumner, in Trempealeau county, and there
labored hard to develop the agricultural and other
interests of that part of the county, till laid to rest 1
in the cemetery at Osseo, a village in that town. I
Both before leaving his native State, and after |
becoming a resident of Wisconsin, Mr. Field held
important offices. In 1844 he represented Greene
county in the New York legislature, and in 1857
represented Richmond county in the general assem-
bly of Wisconsin. He was a member of the State
senate in 1874 and 1875, and proved himself a wise
legislator. He often did good service in the Trem-
pealeau county board of supervisors.
In politics Mr. Field was originally a Jackson
democrat, but acted with the republican party from
the date of its origin.
He was twice married : first, to Miss Harriet Gra-
ham, who died several years before he left New
York ; and second, to Mary Stoddard, April i, 1838 ;
she has six children now living. The "Arcadia
Leader" of June 22, 1876, paid the following trib-
ute to the memory and worth of Mr. Field :
As a man he was noted for his honesty, intelligence, and
the care with which he examined every subject. . . . Of
strictly temperate habits, industrious and enterprising, he
accuniulated a fine property. Ever ready to assist the
unfortunate, always cheerful, frank and hospitable, he
made hundreds of warm friends in this part of the State.
During his active life his aim was the welfare and improve-
ment of mankind, a practical endeavor to make the world
better for his having lived in it.
HON. JOHN S. MOFFAT,
HUDSON.
JOHN SHAW MOFFAT was borii on the 25th
J of November, 1814, in the town of Lansing,
Tompkins county. New York. His grandfather.
Rev. John Moffat, immigrated from Ireland with a
colony with which also came the Clintons, who set-
tled in New York State and made his home at Little
Britain, in Orange county. He was a Presbyterian
clergyman of fine classical as well as theological
attainments, and instructed De Witt Clinton in his
first lessons in the dead languages.
His parents, Samuel and Ann (Shaw) Moffat, were
industrious people, and early instilled into the minds
of their eight cliildren the strictest principles of rec-
titude and virtue. His father, a merchant and lum-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
303
berman, operated a saw-mill, in which John was
employed during his boyhood at times when not in
school. At eighteen years of age he became a mer-
chant's clerk at Dryden village, in Tompkins county, ;
where he remained three years. At the age of twenty- I
one he entered the academy at Homer, and studied
three years, except during the winters, when he 1
taught. He next devoted about two years steadily !
to study in the Groton Academy, and, although pre-
pared for college, never entered.
In 1840 Mr. Moffat began the study of law with
Coryden Tyler, of Dryden, and prepared himself
for admission to the bar; but the profession seem-
ing to be already full, he abandoned the idea of
opening an office at that time. Resuming teaching,
he continued it for a few years, and afterward ac-
cepted a clerkship in a store at Painted Post. He
next engaged in the mercantile business on his own
account, at Bath, in Steuben county.
In 1854 Mr. Moffat removed to Hudson, Wiscon-
sin, and engaged as clerk in the land office, and at
the same time filled the office of police justice,
which latter position he held by repeated elections
for about twelve years, the business increasing as the
town grew, until it finally absorbed nearly all his
time. Since January i, 1S70, he has held the office
of county judge (which in Wisconsin includes pro-
bate jurisdiction), and has discharged its duties with
unqualified satisfaction. He also practices more or
less in the courts, and is a constant worker and
punctilious in all his appointments and obligations.
In politics Judge Moffat is a republican, of New
York " barn-burner" or free-soil democratic pedigree.
He is a Master Mason. He is a thorough chris-
tian gentleman, and holds the office of deacon in
the Baptist church.
Mrs. Moffat's maiden name was Nancy Ann Ben-
net. She is a daughter of Phineas Bennet, an
inventor of Dryden, New York, and is also, with
their one child, Mrs. Thomas Hughes, a member of
the Baptist church. They were married January
24, 1844.
Judge Moffat is a man of great influence, which
is all given to the furtherance of the best phases of
society — temperance, virtue, morality and religion.
He is a man of strong will, and when once his rea-
son is convinced he is firm and immovable in his
position. With him right is right, and he knows no
compromise in such matters. He bears a very
cheerful expression and cordial address, and in his
everyday life exemplifies the power and beauty of a
pure religion.
ROBERT MACAULEY,
MENOMONEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a Scotchman by
birth, was reared in this country, having
crossed the ocean in his infancy. His parents,
Robert and Margaret (Cavanaugh) Macauley, were
living in Glasgow at the time of his birth, February
i8, 1838, and came to the United States in 1841,
settling near La Harpe, Hancock county, Illinois.
His father was a weaver, but abandoned his trade
on coming to this country, and purchasing a par-
tially improved farm, cultivated it until his death
in 1847.
Young Robert spent his time on the farm and
in school until his fifteenth year, when, in the
autumn of 1852, his mother and six of her children
(two having immigrated to Oregon) removed to
Dunnvilie, Wisconsin, fifteen miles south of Me-
nomonee. There Robert was engaged in farming
until 1864, when he began the study of law with
Judge E. B. Bundy, of Menomonee ; he was ad-
36
mitted to the bar in January, 1866, and since that
time, except when absent on business, has been
engaged in his profession.
In October, 1864, Mr. Macauley entered the
United States service, enlisting in Company G, i6th
Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers ; he was with Gen-
eral Sherman in his two famous marches to the sea,
and to Richmond, and served till the close of the
war.
Mr. Macauley was district attorney from 1869 to
1873, and in the spring of the last named year was
elected county judge, a position which he holds at
the present time (1877), making a model officer
His strict honesty — a good Scotch inheritance —
gives him great favor with the people.
In politics he has always acted with the republi-
can party, most cordially indorsing all its principles.
He is a member of the Episcopal church and
senior warden of the Menomonee body.
304
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
On May 9, i86g he was married to Miss Cora
Olson, by whom he has had two children.
Judge Macauley is known for his activity, not
only in probate and other matters pertaining to his
office, and in the church to which he belongs, but to suffering in its various phases,
also in benevolent objects generally, and in what-
ever tends to benefit the people socially, intellect-
ually or morally. He is a man of generous nature
and broad humanity, kind to the poor, and attentive
LEMUEL ELLSWORTH,
MII.WArKEE.
LEMUEL ELLSWORTH was bom in the town
^ of Esopus, Ulster county. New York, Decem-
ber 27, 1836 ; received a common-school education ;
was brought up on his father's farm until eighteen
years old; came to the State of Wisconsin in 1857 ;
settled in Milwaukee, then about thirty thousand
inhabitants; soon after married Miss Nellie L.
Jones, daughter of B. B. Jones, a noted shipbuilder;
engaged soon after marriage in shipbuilding busi-
ness, under the firm name of Ellsworth and David-
son; built several large lake vessels, among them
the bark Nelson, bark Tanner (the latter wrecked
at Milwaukee September 10, 1875), schooner C. G.
Breed, schooner Waucoma, brig Hanover and several
other smaller class vessels, all of which were mod-
eled and drafted by said Ellsworth. In connection
with the shipyard the firm had several large sec-
tional floating dry-docks, used for lifting vessels of
any tonnage so as to repair the bottoms if needed.
He invented machinery so as to pump the said sec-
tional docks out by steam power — a great saving in
time and money over the old system of pumping by
man power. He sold out his interest in shipyard
and dry-docks in 1857 to W. H. Wolf, now under
name and firm of Wolf and Davidson. After retir-
ing from shipbuilding business he engaged in
wrecking and contractor's business, making a spe-
cial business that of rescuing disabled vessels when
beached or sunk ; has rescued many valuable ves-
sels from destruction which would have been lost.
Was elected to represent the seventh district in
Wisconsin legislature in 1874 as republican; re-
ceived large majority of all the votes cast ; was
again elected in 1875 by an increased majority.
j His father, Theophilus Ellsivorth, was born at
j Esopus, Ulster county, New York, March 17, 1788;
j died at same place, aged seventy-five years ; lived
! in one house fifty-five years ; his occupation was
that of house builder and farmer. A christian man,
very industrious, always doing good. His mother,
Rachel Hotaling, was born May 14, 1795; died
December i, 1866, at Esopus.
Mr. and Mrs. Lemuel Ellsworth were married
January 2, i860, at Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Lem. Ellsworth, as he is called, is a pleasant man
in conversation, yet he seems a better listener than
talker. His manners are kindly and courteous to
all, the rich and poor alike ; that, added to a cer-
tain magnetism, has made for him a large circle of
warm friends and admirers. Mr. Ellsworth is ap-
parently in the prime of his manhood; he has
achieved great success in life ; he has been thus far
the architect of his fortunes, public and private, and
is eminently a self-made man.
REV. JAMES EVANS,
MONROE.
JAMES EVANS was born at St. .Vgnes. Cornwall,
England, June 26, 1828, and is the son of John
and Sophia (Martin) Evans, both natives of the
same place. His father had been for forty years a
miner in the tin mines of Cornwall. He came to
the United States in 1848 and settled at Mineral
Point, Wisconsin, and for fifteen years operated in
the lead mines at that place. In personal appear-
ance he was somewhat below middle height, robust,
and strongly built, having an iron constitution and
extraordinary powers of endurance. He was also
endowed with high social qualities and was loved
and reverenced by all who knew him. Above all, he
was an eminent Christian. He had given his heart
f5
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY-.
307
to the Lord in his youth, and for sixty years had
been a local preacher in the Methodist church. He
preached from house to house, in school-houses, and
wherever he could get an ear to hear there he de-
livered the message of dying love and mercy. He
was indefatigable — instant in season and out of I
season. He was, moreover, a man of much intelli-
gence, an incessant reader of all good books, but
especially the Bible, which was his vade-mecum — his
encyclopedia of knowledge. He died at the resi-
dence of his sons, in Baraboo, Wisconsin, April 20,
1873, in the eighty-first year of his age.
His mother had also been a Christian from her
girlhood, and was in the truest sense " a mother in
Israel " — kind, affectionate, devoted, prayerful. She
left the impress of her lovely character and deep
religious e.xperience upon all who knew her. She
died April 17, 1875, in the seventy-fifth year of her
age. She was the sister of Rev. Thomas Martin, a
distinguished Methodist minister of Cornwall, whose
name is still a keepsake in the church. He was the
friend of Dr. Adam Clarke, Richard Watson, Robert
Newton, and the leading men of that day.
They had a family of seven children, three sons
and four daughters, of whom our subject is the old-
est. The other sons are still living — John, the sec-
ond, at La Salle, Illinois, and Charles in Darlington,
Wisconsin. Two of the sisters are deceased, and
the remaining two are married and comfortably
settled.
The grandfather of our subject, Charles Evans,
was also a Cornwall miner, as had been his ancestors
for many generations, being originally of Welsh
stock. His great-grandfather, Charles Evans, was
converted under the preaching of John Wesley,
during his first visit to the south of England in com-
pany with John Nelson, the famous stone-mason of
Yorkshire, at the very time when that eminent and
now world-revered divine was by ruffian hands
dragged through the horse ponds and pelted with
rotten eggs. He was refused entertainment in the
public hostelry, and so great was the popular indig-
nation that no private family dare receive him into
their house, so that he was obliged to lodge in the
open air, rest on his saddle-bags for a pillow, and
subsist on blackberries from the hedges. Since then
what hath God wrought? The Wesleyan division
of the Lord's army is among the largest and most
prosperous in the world, and growing at a ratio of
increase more than ten times as large as that of any
other denomination in Christendom. Since the
memorable day when AVesley was thus mobbed in
Cornwall, every member of the Evans family, root
and branch, have been Methodists.
James received a fair English education, in his
youth, in one of the Lancasterian schools of his
native Cornwall, and later in life, under private
tutors, studied the Latin language. He was a dili-
gent student and close observer, and is now a man
of large attainments and general information. He
immigrated to the United States in 1846, two years
before his father and the rest of the family came, he
being the means of inducing them to come. Engag-
ing in the clothing business, to which he had de-
voted some attention in England, he continued it
till 1855. In 1849, at the age of nineteen years, he
was licensed to preach the gospel, in connection with
the Primitive Wesleyan branch of the Methodist
church, and continued to e.xercise his gifts in that
capacity and connection for seven years, when he
was regularly ordained to the ministry, and during
the next five years preached at Mineral Point,
Platteville and Shullsburgh, Wisconsin. In i860 he
changed his ecclesiastical relations to the Methodist
Episcopal church, and was received into the West
Wisconsin Conference, with which he has since
remained, having meantime filled the following ap-
pointments, namely, Fayette, two years; Providence,
three years; Linden, two years; Darlington, one
year; Portage City, two years; Baraboo, two years,
and Monroe, his present appointment, three years.
He is an earnest preacher and a fluent and ready
speaker. His presentation of gospel truth is clear,
simple and forcible, and his ministry has been
greatly blessed. Revivals of religion have invariably
resulted from his labors, and the membership of the
various churches to which he has ministered have
been largely increased through his instrumentality.
He was married October 28, 1850, to Miss Louisa
Cheynaweth, daughter of James Cheynaweth, a na-
tive of Cornwall, England, who also descended from
original Methodist stock. He came to the United
States in the same year with the late Mr. Evans. In
her physique and general appearance Mrs. Evans is a
fine sample of the average Englishwoman — robust,
stout and rosy-cheeked, affectionate, loving and de-
voted to her family. Like her connections, she, too,
is a devout Methodist, and well qualified to fill a wife's
place in the sphere in which her husband moves.
They have eight children, all handsome, healthy
and promising, named in the order of their birth :
Thomas Martin, Richard De Lacy, Horace James,
.^o8
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Kdith, Ida Louisa, Mary Bell, Walter Howard and
Olara Agness. The eldest son, a graduate of Lawrence
University, Appleton, Wisconsin, has adopted the
profession of his father, and is now a minister of the
gospel, preaching to the Methodist congregation at
North Freedom, Wisconsin, having been ordained
to the ministry in September, 1876. He is a youth
of fine talents, noble aspirations, and destined to a
career of usefulness and honor. Richard De Lacy
is a student of the Lawrence University, from which
he will graduate in 1878, and Horace is a sophomore
in the same institution. Edith, who is a handsome
likeness of her mother, is attending the Monroe
High School, and is a young lady of much promise.
CALVIN R. JOHNSON,
BLACK RIVER FALLS.
THE subject of this sketch was born at Fox-
borough, Norfolk county, Massachusetts, May
22, 1825, being the second son of Calvin and Nancy
Johnson, whose permanent residence was at Hollis-
ton, Middlesex county, in the same State, but who
resided temporarily at other points in the two coun-
ties named, while carrying out the business engage-
ments of the father (he was and architect and mill-
wright).
The paternal ancestors of our subject were among
the first settlers of Holliston, and were, and are to
this date, known as a representative family in that
town. I
On the maternal side his grandfather, John Rogers, j
was a non-commissioned officer in Washington's life ,
guards during the entire period of the revolutionary
war.
His father volunteered as a soldier in the war i
with England of 1812-15, and died in 1829, when
young Calvin was but four years of age, leaving his
family in reduced circumstances. 1
Our subject had but very ordinary educational |
advantages during his youth, having annually but a
two-months' term at a common school between the
ages of eight and sixteen, while the remainder of
his time was spent in constant and unremitting
labor; but early acquiring a taste for reading, he I
indulged it to the limited extent of time and means :
at his command, so that at the age Of sixteen his '
scholarship would compare very favorably with oth-
ers of his age enjoying greater advantages for
acquiring an education.
At the age last mentioned he was turned loose in
the world, with the injunction to " paddle his own
canoe " down the flood of time, and to rely upon j
himself alone for a successful voyage.
The following two years were spent in Holliston,
a small portion of the time at school ; and by read-
ing everything within his reach he acquired a store
of information that served an excellent purpose in
later years.
Naturally of an adventurous nature, he at the age
of eighteen embarked for a whaling voyage from
New Bedford, and was absent some twenty-two
months. In that time he doubled Cape of Good
Hope going out and Cape Horn in returning, spend-
ing the first season in the neighborhood of the
Crozet Islands, in 50° to 55° south latitude, and the
second season in Bay Whaling on the southwest
coast of New Holland, and at intervals visiting sev-
eral ports in Australia, New Zealand and South
America.
The voyage was successful pecuniarily, and our
subject, from a somewhat puny boy before, devel-
oped into a rugged, healthy young man under his
somewhat rough experience while on board a whale
ship.
In 1844 Mr. Johnson removed to the West, and
for a short time was employed as clerk in his
uncle's store at Waterloo, Illinois. He spent the
summer of 1845 in surveying lands m Iowa, between
the Wapsipinicon, the Cedar and the Iowa rivers,
and in the autumn of that year visited the Black
River country, and in the following spring settled at
Black River Falls. For a short time he was engaged
in the saw-mill of Jacob Spaulding, and during the
winter taught the first school ever opened at that
place or in the Black River valley. His school
comprised fifteen pupils, never more than seventeen,
and he received a compensation of twelve dollars
per month, and "boarded around." In the following
spring Mr. Johnson enlisted in the 12th Regiment
United States Volunteers, and served in the Mexican
war utitil peace was declared.
Returning to Illinois in 1848, he was engaged for
nearly two ^ears in his uncle's store at Waterloo,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
309
and in the spring of 1850 settled again at Black
River Falls, where he resumed teaching, and em-
ployed his leisure hours in the study of law. He
was admitted to the bar in 1853, and since that time
has devoted himself to his professional work, except
when acting in some official capacity. He was
elected justice of the peace at an early day, and
served three years. Later, was register of deeds for
two terms, and clerk of the court for one term.
He was postmaster during a part of President Fil-
more's administration, and during the same time
served as town clerk. In 1856 he was county judge,
and at the opening of the civil war a member of the
general assembly. Being deeply in sympathy with
the Union cause he went into the army, as captain of
Company I, 14th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer
Infantry, and served between two and three years,
when, by reason of being again elected to the State
legislature, he resigned his commission and returned
home to participate in the session of 1864. In 1865
he was elected district attornev, and bv reflections
i held that office for ten consecutive years. In all
these various positions of honor and trust to which
he has been called he has performed his duties
faithfully and to the satisfaction of all concerned.
Politically Mr. Johnson was formerly a whig; he
afterward became a free-soiler; later, identified him-
self with the republican party, and at the present
time (1877) is liberal in his views.
He was married in February, 1852, to Miss Lucy
A. Marsh, of Black River Falls. Of the six children
that have been born to them four are now living.
Among the many interesting experiences of Mr.
Johnson's early life in Black River Falls may be
mentioned the following : Ministers were at that
time few, and while justice of the peace he some-
times went fifty and sixty, and once eighty, miles to
perform the marriage ceremony, and at one time he
: joined in wedlock a couple who had been living
j together seven years under a solemn pledge that
: they would be married as soon as an opportunity
I should present itself
WILLIAM MONROE, M.D.,
WILLIAM MONROE, the oldest practitioner
of Green county, Wisconsin, was born in
Circleville, Ohio, July 30, 181S, and is the son of
William Monroe and Harriot Thurston, both natives
of New York. His father was a thoroughly educated
physician, and after obtaining his diploma, moved
to Ohio, married a wife, settled down to his profes-
sion and gave promise of a long and brilliant career,
but he was suddenly stricken down by disease con-
tracted from exposure in his professional duties and
died at the age of thirty-two years, when our sub-
ject was but two months old. Left comparatively
unprovided for, his early years were embittered with
toil and privations, and yet the discipline thus
acquired trained him to a vigorous exertion of his
faculties, while perhaps a more easy situation would
have released the generous springs of his soul and
left them dissolved in indolence.
He received a very limited common-school educa-
tion in his native town and worked at whatever
came to hand for the support of himself and his
widowed mother, till he attained his twelfth year,
when she married Dr. John Loofbourow, of Dela-
ware county, Ohio ; after which the family moved
to Mineral Point, Wisconsin, where our subject en-
gaged as a miner, which occupation he followed for
a period of six years with reasonable success, and
saved a small sum of money. His mind had been
for years turned toward the profession of his father,
and to attain this was now the highest object of his
ambition. He had been a diligent student of such
books as he could procure, was a close observer of
men and things, and at the age of twenty-four was
a fair English scholar and had read some medical
works. At this time he abandoned mining and
entered the office of Dr. O. E. Strong, of Mineral
Point, as a student, where he continued some five
years. Meantime he attended the usual courses of
lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, from
which he graduated with credit in 1844, and soon
after began the practice of his profession in La-
fayette county, Wisconsin, where he continued six
years, establishing for himself an enviable reputa-
tion as a skillful and successful practitioner.
In the year 1850 he was drawn into the overland
tide which was then flowing toward the Golden
I State, his intention being to resume for a time his
I former business of mining; but on arriving there he
3IO
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAK T.
found much sickness prevailing, the cholera com- I
raitting fearful ravages. His profession, therefore, |
seemed to offer the most urgent, if not the most j
profitable, field for his labors, and he accordingly
devoted two years of unremitting toil to the practice
of medicine among the miners. Meantime his own
health became impaired, making a return to his
former home imperative. In 1853 he resumed his
practice in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, which he
continued with increased success and popularity
until the year 1868, when his country practice
becoming too laborious for his physical powers, he
removed into the city of Monroe, Green county,
where he has since been the leading physician,
enjoying the confidence and esteem of all who
know him.
In politics. Dr. Monroe was early identified with
the whig party, and on its dissolution naturally
became a republican, and has been a firm supporter
of the principles of that body during the last twenty
years, having been an abolitionist of the most
radical type.
In 1862 he was appointed examining surgeon,
preparatory to the draft in southern Wisconsin, and
in 1863 he made a visit to the 31st Regiment Wis-
consin Infantry, quartered at Columbus, Kentucky,
giving his professional services gratuitously for a
month to his old friends and neighbors of that regi-
ment. In 1866 he was elected to represent his
county (Lafayette) in the State legislature, where he
figured conspicuously as the opponent of a meas-
ure intended to confer on county judges a similar
jurisdiction to that e.\ercised by circuit judges, the
effect of which would have been to keep court and
jury in session the year round, which would have
entailed an enormous burden upon the tax-payers.
The defeat of this bill was largely due to the efforts
and influence of Dr. Monroe. Since the close of
the war he has held the office of pension surgeon for
his district. He is a member of the State Medical
Society and of several county medical societies; he
is also a distinguished member of the Masonic fra-
ternity, having attained to the royal-arch degree.
When young he was admitted to membership in
the Methodist Episcopal church, but later in life he
united with the Christian church, of which he is
now a member. He is a gentleman of noble and
generous impulses, original and perhaps eccentric
in some of his habits and manners, but a most genial
and entertaining companion. His character is irre-
proachable and his influence wide and powerful.
On the loth of November, 1841, he was married
to Miss Mary Jane Beebe, a native of Vermont, of
early colonial stock, whose ancestors are noted for
great longevity. Her uncle, Colvin Beebe, died at
Troy, New York, November, 1876, at the advanced
age of ninety-nine years and nine months. They
have two sons and two daughters. The elder
daughter, Hattie L., is the wife of the Rev. M. B.
Balch, of Saratoga, New York, and the younger,
Metta J., is the wife of James Harvey Eaton, an
attorney-at-law in Monroe. The sons, William B.
and Zera W., are still young.
The paternal grandfather of Dr. Monroe was a
native Scotchman, who emigrated to New York soon
after the revolution and served in the war of 1812,
while his mother is descended of New England co-
lonial stock. General Green, of revolutionary fame,
having been closely related to her father, Daniel
Green Thurston.
ALSON ATWOOD, M.D.,
TREMPEALEA U
THE subject of this sketch, for thirty years a
practicing physician in Wisconsin, is a native
of Brandon, Vermont, where he was born July 5,
1821, of Isaac and Betsy (Farr) Atwood, farmers by
occupation. His paternal grandfather, Isaac At-
wood, served five years in the continental army.
Alson lived at home until eighteen years of age,
receiving an ordinary common-school education,
and afterward spent three years in study at the
Castleton Seminary and prepared for college. After
spending one term at Middlebury, he abandoned
his college course on account of ill health, and in
1843 began the study of medicine with Dr. Perkins,
president of the Castleton Medical College, he at-
tended six courses of lectures there, held semi-
annually, and received his diploma in June, 1846.
Thus thoroughly prepared for beginning his med-
ical practice. Dr. Atwood entered on his profession
at Bristol in his native State, where he spent one
year. Shortly afterward he removed to Juneau,
THE UNITED STATES RTOGRAPHTCAL DICTIONARY
31
Dodge county, Wisconsin, and practiced nine years.
He was the first physician to settle there, and built
the third house in the place. He witnessed the
growth of a pleasant little village, saw the county
well settled, and his practice e.\tending over half
of its territory. He had excellent success. He
became very prominent among the physicians in
that vicinity, and had a fine reputation as a skillful
practitioner. His health, however, again becoming
impaired, he deemed a change necessary, and ac-
cordingly removed to .Trempealeau in September,
1857, but with no intention of resuming practice.
Here his health began to amend, and requests for
professional visits began to multiply, and for nearly
twenty years he has been steadily employed in his
profession. His rides sometimes extend fifteen miles
or more away, but most of his business is nearer
home. He has an excellent practice on the Minne-
sota side of the Mississippi river, as well as in Wis-
consin, and is popular in both States. He has a kindly
disposition, visits the rich and the poor with the same
ready heart and cheerful face, and has probably
ridden as many miles as any physician in his part
of the State, without any hope of reward except
the satisfaction of relieving pain or prolonging life.
Dr. Atwood is of whig antecedents. He has
acted with the republican party since its existence,
but would never accept any but town offices.
He was at the head of the school interests while
at Juneau, and has been on the school board at
Trempealeau half of the time since settling there.
In educational matters, and in other important local
enterprises, he is one of the leaders, and there are
few more valuable citizens in Trempealeau county.
He attends the services of the Congregational
church, but is not a member.
On the 15th of September, 1847, he was married
to Miss Arvilla Doud, of Bristol, Vermont, and of
seven children, the fruit of their union, six are
living, five daughters and one son. Aristine, the
eldest child, is the wife of Albert F. Booth, edit-
or and proprietor of the Houston County, Minn.,
"Journal"; Ella is the wife of Henry F. Pond, a
merchant of Trempealeau ; Cora is the wife of
Adelbert Batchelder, who is with Sprague, Warner
and Co., of Chicago; Ada is the wife of Edward
C. Nettleton, a merchant of Trempealeau ; Stella,
the youngest daughter, is unmarried, and Carroll, a
graduate of Ripon College, is studying law with
Judge Newman, of Trempealeau.
REV. GEORGE W. ELLIOTT.
MILWAUKEE.
GEORGE W. ELLIOTT is a native of Grafton
county. New Hampshire, and was born Sep-
tember 18, 1796, and is the youngest son and
only surviving member of a family of thirteen chil-
dren. His parents, Lt. Ezekiel and Sarah Elliott,
were among the first settlers of Grafton county ; and
prior to the revolution his father was employed in
surveying the northern part of the State of New
Hampshire. It was while thus engaged that his
attention was directed to a beautiful valley on one
of the branches of the Merrimac river, five miles
in width and thirty-five miles in length. With a rich
and fertile soil, and almost entirely surrounded by
high mountains, it is not strange that he selected
it as his future home. At the opening of the war of
independence he entered the service, and continued
as militia officer until its close. George W. passed
his boyhood on his father's farm, engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits.
In 1815, when nineteen years of age, he united
with the Congregational Church of Campton, New
Hampshire, and soon after began a course of clas-
sical study, preparatory to his entering the gospel
ministry. Graduating at Auburn Theological Sem-
inary, he was commissioned to the sacred office by
the Presbytery of Geneva, New York, and soon after
temporarily filled the pulpit of one who a short time
before had zealously aided in clothing him with the
sacred badge of the gospel ministry. Here Mr.
Elliott labored a few months, when he accepted a
call from a church in Onondaga county. New York.
His labors in this church were crowned with gratify-
ing success. Within the first two years of his pas-
torate more than eighty members were added to the
church upon profession.
Mr. Elliott labored in New York seventeen years,
the first five of which was marked by that wonderful
and wide-spread work of grace, still remembered by
many. Soon after entering the ministry he was
married to Miss Nancy Fitch, of Auburn, New York,
312
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
a most estimable and devoted lady. The union was
a happy one, but was severed at the end of eight
years by the death of Mrs. Elliott, which occurred
September 20, 1834. She died at Brockport, and is
entombed in the cemetery of that city. Of their
three children, but one, Georgia, is now living.
Rowena M. died July 19, 1849, and Edward Payson,
March 18, 1838. Mr. Elliott afterward married
Mrs. S. Caroline Cowen, widow of Dr. Cowen, and
daughter of Hon. David S. Bates, of Rochester, New
York. This happy union continued twenty-three
years, when, on November 21, 1858, she, too, w^as
called to her last home. They had three children.
S. Caroline died in 1839, in infancy; the others,
Theodore Bates and Eugene S., are now engaged in
business in Milwaukee, the former a member of the
well-known law firm of Jenkins, Elliott and Winkler,
and the latter a practicing attorney at the city of
Milwaukee.
After closing his labors in central New York, Mr.
Elliott was, during the next thirteen years, pastor of
a church in La Salle county, Illinois. In 185 1 he
was appointed to take charge of a mission agency in
Wisconsin, a work in which he was engaged in plant-
ing churches, and supplying and obtaining supplies
for churches destitute of pastors. He acted in this
capacity until he was invited to the general agency
of the American Bible Society, in the State. After
devoting five years to this work, at a time when the
distant portions of the State could be reached only
by private conveyance or public stage, he was com-
pelled, by reason of failing health, to retire from pro-
fessional labors, though his whole subsequent life has
been devoted to the service of the church. He has
always been identified with the Presbyterian denom-
ination (New School). When Mr. Elliott took up
his residence in Milwaukee, he found but one pres-
bytery of this connection. This was recently organ-
ized, and comprised four ministers and two churches.
namely, the First Presbyterian and a new mission
recently gathered on Walker's Point, and called '
the Second Church. The ministers were Rev. E. S.
Hunter, D.D., and Rev. Wm. H. Spencer, pastor of
the First Presbyterian Church, Rev. — . Steel, act-
ing pastor of the Second and pastor of a church in
Racine. At an early date a presbytery had been j
gathered from different parts of the State, and ab-
sorbed in a body called the Presbyterian and Con- |
gregational Convention, and an Old School Presby-
tery about this time organized. At once identifying
himself with this new presbytery, Mr. Elliott began
working for its extension. During the first year
eight churches were collected, seven of which vi^ere
newly organized. Other presbyteries were speedily
gathered, and at the end of three years a large and I
strong synod spread its influence over the entire
State. This was soon followed by the uniting of the
Old and New School bodies which at the present
time (1876) harmoniously occupy the entire field.
The subject of this sketch has now attained the
ripe age of eighty years, of which more than sixty
years have been passed in active and highly success- |
ful work in the service of the Master.
The life of a faithful minister of the gospel pre- I
sents few salient points of interest to those outside his ' |
immediate circle of friends and acquaintances. It is j
quiet, unobtrusive, modest. The peaceful victories
won against the foes of religion and of human pro-
gress are heralded neither by the ringing of bells nor
booming of cannon. They pass unnoticed save by
a few, and rarely furnish a subject for the historian's
pen. But they have ample reward in the inefface- ]
able impress which a life of devoted and self-sacri-
ficing labor leaves upon society, in the remem-
brance of good work well done, and in the well j
founded hope of receiving, when all is over, the '
divine welcome, " Well done, good and faithful ser- '
vant."
FRANK L. LEWIS, M.D.,
ARCADIA.
FRANK LORIN LEWIS, a native of Vermont,
was born in Hardwick, Caledonia county, Sep-
tember 22, 1840, and is the son of John B. and
Betsy (Mason) Lewis. His grandfather Lewis died
a prisoner at Quebec during the war of 1812, and
his paternal great-grandfather died a prisoner during
the war of the revolution. Until sixteen years of
age Frank divided his time between study and farm
work, and both before and after this age attended
the Hardwick Academy, and completed his literary
education with two terms at a high school in Mont-
pelier. He spent eight months in the study of
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
313
medicine with Dr. W. H. H. Richardson, of Mont-
pelier, and at the end of which time, tlie war of the
rebellion having begun, enlisted as a private in
the 6th Regiment Vermont Volunteers, but before
going to the front was appointed hospital steward.
He was in the field two and a half years, part of the
time with General U. S. Grant's army, and part
with General Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley,
serving in the same position through the whole time.
His e.xperience in hospitals was an e.xcellent school
preparatory to the further prosecution of his med-
ical studies. Upon his return from the South, by
reason of impaired health, he did but little studying
for two years, but later attended lectures at Ann Arbor,
Michigan, and Rush Medical College, Chicago, and
graduated from the latter institution in March, 1869.
He first established himself in practice at Eureka,
Winnebago county, Wisconsin, where, however, he
remained but a short time. On the i8th of August,
1870, he settled at Arcadia, Trempealeau county,
where he has built up a very large and lucrative
practice, both in medicine and surgery — -the largest
of any practitioner in his vicinity. For a physician
of his age his diagnoses are remarkable. He studies
a disease very carefully, and reads its nature almost
by intuition. Few men in the State, with the same
amount of e.xperience, have been so successful. His
rides are extensive, reaching, in difificult cases of
fracture, etc., into other adjoining counties. The
Doctor is very careful in all his practice, and withal
is a close student and a rapidly growing man. He
is preeminently a self-made man. All his attain-
ments, scientific and medical, have been obtained by
his own exertions, without a dollar of aid from any
source. He is now in partnership with Dr. J. R.
Brandt, the firm being Lewis and Brandt.
Dr. Lewis is a Master Mason, and in politics he
is a firm republican, but lets neither secret society
nor politics interfere with his chosen life-profes-
sion.
He was married in May, 1867, to Miss Jennie J.
Brandt, of Eureka, Wisconsin, and by her has two
children.
Dr. Lewis has attained his present standing by
constant study and work ; he has no vacation — no
respite from labor ; and as a reward of his efforts,
enjoys the confidence, respect and high esteem of
his fellow-citizens.
A. CLARKE DODGE,
A CLARKE DODGE was born in Barre, Ver-
• mont, November 6, 1834, and is the son of
Joseph and Lorenda (Thompson) Dodge. He is
half-brother to J. T. Dodge, whose biography ap-
pears in another part of this volume, and whose lin-
eal descent from Richard Dodge, an Englishman,
who became an inhabitant of Salem, Massachusetts,
August 29, 1636, is established by authentic records
in the possession of the family. Lorenda Thomp-
son was the sister of Azubah Thompson, the de-
ceased wife of Joseph Thompson. She was a
woman of quiet disposition and unostentatious man-
ners, deeply religious, yet unsectarian and charita- j
ble, caring little for the " pomp and circumstance ''
of fashion. She died May 15, 1844, leaving the
impress of her kindly character and unselfish traits
upon her son.
Our subject was reared on a New England farm,
by strictly religious and exemplary parents, whose
influence gave tone and color to his principles, hab-
its and manners in after life. He received an aca-
37
demic education at the seminary of his native town,
whose principal, J. S. Spaulding, LL.D., was one of
the foremost educators of his day, and under whose
guidance he became an excellent English and Latin
scholar, as well as an accurate mathematician. He
was a prominent member of the public lyceum
of the institution, and counted among its ablest
debators, giving unmistakable indications of the
possession of rare talents and fair promise of an
honorable and successful career. He was early im-
bued with the New England idea of industry, and
excepting the time spent at the academy, his em-
ployment upon the farm was constant and unremit-
ting, until his nineteenth year, when his father
disposed of his farm and left his son free to follow
the oft-repeated advice of the distinguished journal-
ist, H. G., and "go west." In 1854 he arrived at
Chicago, and remained there during the winter, and
in the spring of 1855 removed to Wisconsin. The
first five years of his western life were mainly de-
voted to teaching, varied in the summers by clerk-
314
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
ing and such other employment as he could obtain.
During the last eleven years he has been engaged
in the lumber business, with eminent success. He
was one of the organizers of the Monroe Manufac-
turing Company, one of the largest and most suc-
cessful agricultural implement manufactories of the
West, and during the first two years of its existence
was its president. His career has been marked
by energy, intelligence and public-spirited enter-
prise. He is especially noted as the friend and
promoter of education, and for the last eight years
has been a member, and, for three years past, presi-
dent of the Monroe Board of Education, whose
school system, as evinced by the character of its
teachers and the attainments of the pupils, is infe-
rior to none, and superior to most, in the State, a
result which is largely due to the influence of Mr.
Dodge. He has also been honored with other local
offices of trust, by his fellow-citizens of the county,
and every interest and public enterprise with which
he has been connected has in turn shown the im-
press of his energy and judgment.
He has been an active Odd-Fellow for more than
ten years past, having successively occupied the
chairs of both the lodge and encampment. He was
also a member of the grand lodge and grand en-
campment of the State.
He was brought up under strict Methodist influ-
ence, but in later years a review of the questions
separating between the orthodox and more liberal
believers led him to assimilate with the views of
Wm. E. Channing and Robert Collyer, rather than
with those of Jonathan Edwards and Dr. Patton.
He was raised in the hot-bed of Abolitionism,
and early imbued with anti-slavery sentiments, his
father being one of the founders of the Abolition
Society of 1844. Hatred of slavery grew with his
growth and strengthened with his strength, until
that stain upon our nation's honor was wiped out
— that deep disgrace to our humanity abolished.
Since the formation of the republican party he has
been one of its staunchest supporters. He has been
frequently a member of and chairman of republi- j
can county conventions ; often a delegate to con- 1
gressional and State conventions, and is at present
chairman of the republican central committee of I
the county. !
In 1873 he was nominated by his party for the 1
State senate, but was defeated by seven votes. i
In private life he is genial, benevolent, kind-
hearted and generous. It has come to be a proverb '
in Monroe, that if A. C. Dodge can grant a favor
or do a service to any human being, it is sure to be '
done. His ear is always open to the cries of the
poor, and his hand ever ready to relieve the wants i
of the needy. Nor is his beneficence of that cheap \
and heartless character which costs no sacrifice or '
inconvenience to the giver. He is, moreover, a '
gentleman of high mental endowments, having a \
clear, analytical and discriminating mind, and as I
a consequence is quick in his deductions and de- ]
cided in his opinions, but void of all uncharita- '
bleness. I
On the 4th of November, i860, he married Miss
Sarah E. Kidder, daughter of Joseph B. Kidder, !
Esq., of Fulton, Wisconsin, and in the year follow- j
ing moved to Monroe, Green county, where he has j
since resided. |
The fruit of his marriage with Miss Kidder is \
two children, one son and one daughter, — Charles (
Sumner, born July 31, 1861, and Flora Elizabeth, i
born February 25, 1874. \
CAPTAIN FRED PABST,
MILWAUKEE.
FRED PABST, president of the Phillip Best
Brewing Company, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
was born at Nickolausrieth, Prussia, March 28,
1836, and is the son of Gotlieb and Frederica
Pabst. He was brought up on a farm and edu-
cated in a common school at the place of his nativ-
ity until he arrived at the age of thirteen years.
Upon his arrival in America he attended the com-
mercial college for a few months for the purpose of
acquiring a knowledge of book-keeping. He came '-^
to AVisconsin in 1848, and resided at Milwaukee a |
short time, thence removing to Chicago, where he 1
found employment in the National Hotel, working JJ
one year for his board. The next year he was era- a
ployed at the Mansion House at five dollars per ■
month. His next occupation was that of cabin-boy «
on the steamer Sam Ward on the lakes, and then Js
captain and part owner of the steamer Comet. In \
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
317
1864 he sold his interest in the boat and invested
his funds in the business of the Best Brewing Com-
pany, and four years afterward he purchased a half
interest, and Captain Pabst became its president
and general manager. Success has attended all of
his enterprises until he has become one of the
wealthy men of Milwaukee.
In his religious sentiments Captain Pabst is a
Lutheran, although not a very strict attendant upon
the services of the church. He is essentially a self-
made man, of well-developed physique, capable of
undergoing much manual labor, practical in his
views, ardent in his temperament, self-reliant and
energetic ; he could scarcely fail of success in any
enterprise he would undertake. He is a man of
warm friendships and of social habits, is happy
himself and endeavors to diffuse hajipiness around
him.
As a politician he is neutral, always voting for the
man best qualified to discharge the duties of the
office. During the rebellion he used his influence
and also his money in its suppression. He was one
of the directors of the Brewers' Insurance Company
for some time and is now a stockholder. He made
a trip in 1873 with his wife to Europe for her health,
and traveled over a considerable portion of the con-
tinent.
He was married March 25, 1862, to Miss Maria
Best, the eldest daughter of Major General Philip
Best. They have six children, and all are at home.
SAMUEL T. SMITH,
SAMUEL TINKER SMITH, the first man to
run a temperance and anti-gambling steamboat
on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, was born in
Delaware county. New York, May 9, 1801. His
maternal grandfather was a revolutionary soldier.
His father, Noah Smith, was a native of Long
Island, and his mother of Lyme,' Connecticut. His
father lived in Delaware county until 1812, when,
with six other families, he moved to Ohio. Reach-
ing Wheeling, West Virginia, they built a flatboat
and floated down to Cincinnati, reaching there in
October. The next year he moved to a tract of
land three miles from the city, and opened a farm,
Samuel at the same time becoming a clerk in a
store, remaining in and near the city, merchandising
and farming, until 1828. In April of that year he
visited the Galena lead mines, and during the next
month went into Wisconsin — at that time part of
the Northwestern Territory. Stopping about half
way between the present sites of Potosi and Platte-
ville, he built a cabin and engaged in mining for
one year. He afterward went to Galena and taught
school two years, and there, in 1831, organized the
first Sunday school in that part of the country.
Returning to Cincinnati in 1832, he farmed a short
time, and subsequently engaged in the mercantile
trade in that city, and continued it until 1840. He
then built his " Sunday keeping " steamboat, and
ran it and others for nine years on the Ohio and
Mississippi rivers and the tributaries of the latter.
In 1849, while his steamboat was at the St. Louis
landing, it was burnt, with twenty-two other steam-
ers and seven blocks of city buildings. Immediately
after this calamity he opened a dry-goods store in
that city. In July, 185 1, he removed to La Crosse,
then a village of about fifty genuine settlers. Here
he continued the mercantile trade between two and
three years, and in 1853 opened the land agency,
which he has continued ever since, at the same time
engaging more or less in farming.
Mr. Smith was early taught that riches take to
themselves wings, and he was impressed with the
truthfulness of the scriptural statement when, in the
crash of 1837, he lost a round hundred thousand
dollars, and half that sum in a similar visitation in
1857, to say nothing of the sudden reduction of his
steamboat to ashes just as he had repainted it and
was about to sell it, and minor losses in La Crosse
by fires. Pecuniarily, Mr. Smith is in comfortable
circumstances. His wealth, however, is not all of
this world — he is "rich toward God." Few Chris-
tian lives have been more consistent or more note-
v/orthy. When he landed in what is now the State
of Wisconsin, in 1828, he knelt down alone, in the
solitude of the forest, under a large oak tree, and
took possession of the land in the name of his Mas
ter. Shortly after reaching La Crosse, on the 2 2d
of January, 1852, he gathered the few Baptist peo-
ple (fourteen in all) and a church was organized at
his house. He brought with him to La Crosse three
3i8
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
or four families, seven members of which were Bap-
tists. He was chosen the first deacon, and has held
that office for twenty-five years. The Congrega-
tionalists met at his house on the same day and at
the same hour, and the ministers present assisted
each other in organizing the two churches. On the
22d of January, 1877, the two Christian bodies again
met, and observed their quarter centennial, upon
which occasion Deacon Smith read an intensely
interesting history of the Baptist church.
He has had two wives, the first being Miss Martha
Ellen Longley, of Cheviot, Ohio, to whom he was
married in 1827. She died in 1834, leaving two
children, one of whom is now living. To his second
wife. Miss Sarah Hildreth, of Cincinnati, he was
married in 1835. They have had eleven children,
of whom five are living. Orren L., the only child
by his first wife now living, is married, and residing
in La Crosse. The eldest daughter, widow of the
late Jacob P. Whelpley, with her three children, is
living with her father; another daughter is the wife
of W. L. Card, of Moberly, Missouri ; and a third is
the wife of Spencer Way, of Rockford, Illinois. The
other children are unmarried.
Of the many interesting anecdotes connected with
Deacon Smith's nine years of steamboat life we
mention the following : As he was starting on his
first trip from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh, two fast
young Southerners came on board, and before the
boat was fairly under way began to inquire for the
card table and the bar. Captain Smith politely
informed them that there was nothing of the kind
on board ; that neither drinking nor gambling was
allowed on his boat; that he had a good library and
he hoped they would make free use of it, and that
when they reached Pittsburgh, if they were not sat-
isfied with the accommodations, he would refund
the money. They used his books very liberally, one
of them reading through Knowles's life of Ann H.
Judson, and both becoming thoroughly absorbed in
literary recreations. When near Pittsburgh they
went on the hurricane deck and reminded the cap-
tain that they were near the end of the voyage, and
he asked them if they wanted their fare refunded.
They told him frankly that when they came on
board and found no bar, they made up their minds
to jump off at the first wood-pile landing; that on
the whole, however, they had been greatly pleased,
actually delighted, with the trip, and that if they
ever had occasion to make the same trip again, if
necessary they would wait three days for the sake
of getting his boat.
ANDREW TAINTER,
MENOMONEE.
THE subject of this sketch was born at Salina,
New York, July 6, 1823. Both of his grand-
fathers participated in the revolutionary struggle of
the colonies. His father, Ezekiel Tainter, was, in
early life, a salt manufacturer ; later he had charge
of copper mines in New Jersey, and in 1828 re-
moved to the West, and after spending about two
years at Galena, Illinois, settled at Prairie du Chien,
Wisconsin, whither he moved his family in 1832.
At first he furnished the garrison with wood, then
beef, and subsequently engaged in merchandising
and hotel keeping.
In his early days at Prairie du Chien, Andrew
attended school when opportunity afforded, and
when not thus engaged assisted his father in bus-
iness, and for about three years prior to 1845, "orked
for a merchant. During this last named year he j
left Prairie du Chien; went to the Chippewa Val- [
ley, where he worked in a saw-mill and in the hay- I
field, and in 1846 settled upon the present site of
Menomonee, on the Red Cedar river. There he at
first operated a lath-mill on shares, in company with
Blois Hurd, with whom he afterward purchased a
saw-mill. This mill he operated until the winter
of 1849-50, when he engaged in making shingles
and logging. In the ensuing August he became a
member of the firm of J. H. Knapp and Co., since
changed to Knapp, Stout and Co., and now the lead-
ing lumber firm in the United States. His acces-
sion to the enterprise gave it a new impetus, which
contributed largely to its present prosperous con-
dition. He was ready for any work, and knew how
to dispatch it. During the first four or five years
he gave most of his time to -looking after the logs,
running the lumber to the mouth of the Chippewa
river, and boating supplies thence back to the mill.
Afterward his business became still more diversified.
For about three seasons he was captain of a steam-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
319
boat, running in connection with the lumber bus-
iness. Of late he has been looking after the log-
ging interests of the company, also the farms and
mills, more especially those in Barren county. The
company owns half a dozen large and well culti-
vated farms and several smaller ones. The amount
of its lumbering business is recorded in the sketch
of Mr. Knapp, found in another part of this work.
Thirty-two years ago Andrew Tainter began with
no capital other than his willing hands, a courageous
heart, a robust body and a will-power that yielded
to no difficulty. Above his pecuniary obligations,
he had not a dollar in the world ; to-day he owns
the finest residence with the most spacious and beau-
tiful surroundings of any man in northwestern Wis-
consin, and still possesses a perfectly sound constitu-
tion, a rich flow of animal spirits, a cheerful heart,
and, in short, the full capacity to enjoy his vast
accumulations. He can dispense hospitalities with
a royal whole-heartedness which a king might copy,
if not envy.
Mr. Tainter's taste and talent is shown in the
methods which he has invented for the comfort of
his family, his guests, and his domestic animals,
including more than thirty deer, which he has in a
park a few rods from his house. All that he pos-
sesses he has earned by his own hands and by
strictly honorable business transactions, and no man
knows better than he how to dispense of his wealth.
Mr. Tainter is a republican in politics, but has
uniformly declined to hold office.
On May g, 1861, he was married to Miss Bertha
Lucas, a native of Smyrna, New York. They have
had four children, three of whom are now living.
Mr. Tainter has a fine physique, being five feet
and eleven inches in height; he stands firm and per-
fectly erect and weighs two hundred and ten pounds ;
and although for many years he was one of the hard-
est working men in the whole range of the Wisconsin
pineries, his shoulders look as though the burdens
of life had rested lightly upon them. Few men are
more active, or capable of performing more labor.
The several farms which he has aided in opening
show that while accumulating wealth for himself he
has, in connection with the company of which he is
a member, added greatly to the wealth of the State.
ANDREW S. DOUGLASS,
MONROE.
ANDREW STARRING DOUOLASS was born
ir\. in Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence county. New
York, June 17, 1840, and is the son of Adam B.
Douglass and Mary Ann Starring. His father, a
native Scotchman, was bom in Kelso, Roxboro'
county, Scotland, a lineal descendant of the " ban-
ished earl," and a member of the famous clan known
as the " Douglasses of Hume." He came to America
in 1836, landed at Quebec, and participated in the
insurrection in Lower Canada in the following year,
known as "the Patriot War." After tranquillity
was restored, Mr. Douglass moved to New York
State, where he remained till 1852, pursuing the
avocation of husbandry, and also, during this
period, developed a taste for fine stock, especially
blooded horses, in the raising of which he took a
deep interest. In the last named year he removed
to Portage City, Columbia county, Wisconsin, where
for five years he kept a hotel and continued to
" patronize " fine horses. He was for several years
owner of the' famous racer, "Pinery Boy," and had
under his charge " Medoc," " Highland Mary,"
"Amanda," and several other not less celebrated of
the turf stock, besides a number of others designated
"quarter horses." His taste and enthusiasm in this
direction did much to improve the breed of horses
in southern Wisconsin. In 1858 he moved to Mil-
waukee and leased the " Cold Spring " race track, in
the suburbs of that city, and engaged extensively in
training horses. Thence, in the spring of 1859, he
moved to Janesville, where he leased a farm and
race track, and continued the business of horse
training till 1867 with very considerable success,
when he retired to a large farm in Rock county,
near Brodhead, where he at present resides, doing
an extensive granger business generally, making fine
horses, however, a specialty.
His mother was a native of central New York,
descended from the " Jilohavvk " Dutch settlers of
that State, and a woman of considerable force of
character. She died when our subject, her only son,
was but nine years old. The father subsequently
married Miss Julia A. Jay, of Chatauqua county.
New York.
320
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
During boyhood Andrew attended the district
schools of his native State, and after his removal to
Wisconsin, the Classical Institute of Portage City,
where he studied the ordinary branches — including
algebra, Latin and natural philosophy. He was a
bright boy and a diligent student, being especially
proficient in mathematics. He subsequently at-
tended the high school of Milwaukee, under Profes-
sor Larkin, formerly of Alfred University, New York,
a very able teacher, and still later the high school of
Janesville, from which he graduated in 1863. He
afterward taught school one term at Indian Ford, in
Rock county, and in the spring of 1864 enlisted in
the 40th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry,
and participated in the famous skirmish resultant on
the "Forest raid" on Memphis. He was discharged
from the service during the same fall.
In May, 1865, he began the study of law in the
office of H. A. Patterson, of Janesville, and was
admitted to the bar in February, 1866, and at once
formed a partnership with his old preceptor, which
continued till October, 1867, when he removed to
Brodhead and resumed his profession on his own
account. In 1868 he was elected to the position of
district attorney for Green county, an office which
he has held for four consecutive terms, being elected
in 1870 without opposition. Mr. Douglass is one of
the coming men of his profession. He is endowed
with fine social cpialities, which, added to his other
accomplishments, give him great influence and con-
stitute important elements of his success. As a law-
yer he is especially able in the drafting of pleadings
and legal papers, and is noted for his dexterity in the
examination and cross-examination of witnesses; but
his stronghold is his great earnestness before a jury —
few men excel him in this respect. His careful dis-
crimination and close reasoning rarely fail to dis-
cover the strong points in his own case and the
weak ones in that of his opponent, and ignoring all
minor details he devotes his entire strength to these,
often forcing a verdict in his favor when the weight
of testimony seemed against him. These qualities,
together with great force and purity of diction, and
manifest rectitude of principle, have placed him in
the front ranks of the profession, and render his
success certain.
In politics he has always been republican. Dur-
ing the late campaign he was secretary of the Hayes
and Wheeler club of Monroe, and he has stumped
his county and congressional district in every cam-
paign since 1868. He has been clerk of the city of
Monroe for the past three years, and is also secre-
tary of the Green County Agricultural Society, and
was among the organizers of the Janesville Young
Men's Association, a literary society still in existence
and doing an excellent work. He is also a popular
member of the Masonic fraternity.
He was raised in the Universalist faith, but has
now no pronounced religious views.
He was married on the loth of November, 1868,
to Miss Laura E. Welsh, daughter of John B. Welsh,
Esq., of Vineland, New Jersey, a lady of preposses-
sing appearance, tall and graceful, and endowed
with a high order of mental talents, well developed
by culture, and especially gifted as a linguist. They
have three children, namely, Arthur Gordon, Mal-
colm Campbell and Helen — all perpetuating good
" auld " Scottish names.
ROMANZO SHARON KINCxMAN,
THE subject of this biography is the son of
Sharon Kingman and Abigail Thayer King-
man, and was born at Madison, Lake county, Ohio,
May 19, 1829. Some of both his paternal and ma-
ternal ancestors participated in the bloody struggle
which resulted in the independence of the colonies.
His father was a joiner and builder, and removed to
Chester, Geduga county, when Romanzo was two
years old. Upon his death, which occurred when
Romanzo was fourteen years old, the mother re-
moved to Kingsville, Ashtabula county, where young
Kingman attended the academy till he was twenty-
two years of age, teaching school during the win-
ter, commencing at seventeen. During the last two
years that he taught he gave considerable attention
to medical studies, intending to enter that profes-
sion ; but after removing to Sparta, Wisconsin, in
1851, he abandoned the idea of completing his
medical studies.
When Mr. Kingman settled in Sparta, twenty-five
years ago, Monroe county contained six families,
and the country was almost an unbroken wilderness.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAHT.
321
He at once entered a piece of land, portions of
which he cleared and cultivated, and for three years
employed the winter months in teaching.
In 1854 he was elected register of deeds, and
held the office two terms of two years each, and was
also during most of that period deputy clerk of tlie
court and of the board of supervisors, doing, in
fact, most of the writing for the county.
At the close of his term of office he embarked in
the real-estate and lumber business, and with the
exception of one season, which he spent in the
mines in Colorado, followed it steadily until 1862.
In 1863 Mr. Kingman went to Maine, and, in
connection with other gentlemen, built, on the Pen-
obscott river, sixty miles above Bangor, two of the
largest tanneries in the United States. They con-
sumed fifteen thousand cords of bark per annum.
At the end of ten years he returned to Sparta, hav-
ing been very successful in his Eastern enterprise.
Here, in 1873, he engaged in the banking and real-
estate business with Mr. M. A. Thayer, and is now
president of the bank for savings, a private and very
prosperous institution.
Mr. Kingman is a republican in political senti-
ment, but never allows politics to interfere with his
business affairs.
He manages all his matters witli prudence, and
few men in Monroe county have been more suc-
cessful.
In religious sentiment he is liberal.
On November 2, 1862, he was married to Mrs.
Sillinda Packard, of Sparta.
Mr. Kingman's ancestors are noted for their great
longevity. His paternal grandfather died in his
ninety-seventh and his grandmother in her ninety-
eighth year, and his maternal great-grandfather was
one hundred years and twelve days old when he
died. His mother is still living, being in her sev-
enty-seventh year. Her mother died at eighty-five,
and her father at ninety years of age.
HIRAM MEDBERY,
MONROE.
THE subject of this biography was born at Sar-
atoga, New York, January 30, 1832, and is the
son of Hiram and Nancy S. (Chambers) Medbery,
natives of the same State.
In early life his father was engaged in mercantile
pursuits, but later became a farmer, since this occu-
pation was more in harmony with his tastes and dis-
position. He was a man of unblemished moral
character, of large intelligence, sound judgment,
and considerable influence in his neighborhood.
He was a distinguished Royal Arch Mason, and
held many local offices, and was especially noted
as an arbitrator. He was a genial and warm-
hearted man, generous and liberal, ready to divide
his last dollar with the needy. He died in 1864,
regretted by all who knew him. The family is
descended from English ancestors, who settled
in Rhode Island about the beginning of the
seventeenth century. His mother was of Scotch
descent, her father being a native Scott, claiming
lineage, on his mother's side, from Robert Bruce,
the hero of Bannockburn. She exemplified in her
person most of the characteristics of that remarka-
ble people, and has transmitted to her son some of
the same.
Hiram attended the district school in Broad-
Alvin, a Scotch village in New York, till the age of
sixteen years, when he moved, with his father and
family, consisting of mother and nine children, to
Walworth county, Wisconsin, where for four years
he worked on the farm in summer and attended
school in winter, and became an excellent mathe-
matician and an expert in the Latin language. At
the age of twenty he taught a district school four
months, for which he received the round sum of
sixty dollars, with which he started for Saratoga
Springs, New York. On his way he stopped at Mil-
waukee, and there invested twelve dollars of his
savings in a new suit of clothes. Having completed
his journey, he entered the law office of Augustus
Backes, of that city, now chief justice of the su-
preme court of New York. Here he was a diligent
student for twelve months, clerking occasionally in
an insurance office to aid in paying expenses, and,
after a rigid examination by Judges Cady, Allen,
Hand and James, of the supreme court, in open
session, he was admitted to the bar, at Fonda, in
that State, in 1852, and began his career as a lawyer
in the village of Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin. In
three months he realized sixteen dollars over and
3^2
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ART
above his expenses. He subsequently taught^ school
three months in Troy, Wisconsin, and in the spring
of 1854 went to California, where he operated for
eighteen months as a civil engineer on the Middle
Uba canal, Nevada county, civil engineering hav-
ing been included in his school curriculum. For
this service he received one hundred and fifty dol-
lars per month, most of which he saved. In 1856
he returned to Wisconsin and opened a law office in
East Troy, where he practiced for a year, with fair
success. During this period he was offered the
attorneyship of the Sugar River Valley railroad,
which he accepted, and removed to Albany, Wis-
consin, where the headquarters of the company were
located. The enter[)rise, however, proved a failure,
but he remained in that city till 1864. In 1859 he
was elected district attorney of Green county, a po-
sition which he retained three years. In 1862 he
was appointed assistant assessor of the United
States revenue department for the northern district
of Green county, which was afterward enlarged to
include the whole of Green and La Fayette counties.
This position he retained till 187 1, and until the
district was consolidated with the second. In 1864
he moved to Monroe, the county seat of Green
county, and in connection with his official duties
continued his professional work. In 1867 he in-
vested his surplus savings in real estate in the city
of Chicago, and spent the year 1873 in that city,
looking after his property, which, notwithstanding
the fire and other casualties, has become quite re-
munerative. In 1S74 he returned to Monroe, where
he has since resided, giving exclusive attention to
his profession, with the most satisfactory results.
He is now the leading attorney at the bar of Green
county, and the peer of any in the State. His prac-
tice does not drift in any especial direction. He is
able in all departments of the profession. In the
cross-examination of refractory or equivocal wit-
nesses he is inexorable ; one trial of his skill in this
direction is generally sufficient. He is an acute
thinker of the subjective school, possessing a deep
and varied knowledge of men and things, quick
perceptions, keen analytical mind, with irresistible
powers of logic ; to which may be added a lively
appreciation of the ludicrous. He is a clear-minded
thinker, and rarely at a loss for words in which to
express his ideas. As an advocate he is among the
foremost speakers at the bar. Above all, he is a
man of sterling integrity and thorough independ-
ence of character, and his fame has spread far be-
yond tlie limits of his acquaintance. Although
somewhat reserved to strangers, among his friends
and acquaintances he is genial, open-hearted and
generous. A warm sympathizer with those in dis-
tress, and ever ready, with heart, hand and voice, to
aid the unfortunate.
In politics he has always been a republican of the
most radical type, and has hitherto thrown his whole
weight and influence into the scale in favor of his
principles, though he has never been a candidate
for any office before the people. He has been a
Mason for the past twenty-five years.
He was married on the 4th of January, i860,
to Miss J^ucy A. Royce, daughter of Newton B.
Royce, Esq., of Janesville, a lady of much per-
sonal beauty, tall, graceful and elegant, intelligent,
cultivated, practical and pious. They have two
children, namely, Jesse, thirteen, and Paul, seven
years of age. The daughter, although still a child,
has already developed rare powers as a writer of
fiction.
JEFFERY A. FARNHAM,
WAUSAU.
THE subject of this biography is the son of
Jeffery A. Farnham, a farmer, and Mary ne'e
Tracy, and was born at Scipio, New York, October
27, 1817. His grandfather was an English officer,
who came to America during the French and Eng-
lish war and aided in wresting Canada from France,
and remaining in this country, settled at New Lon-
don, Connecticut.
The subject of this sketch attended classical
schools from twelve to seventeen years of age at
Farmington, Connecticut, and South Hadley, Mas-
sachusetts, and then joined a civil engineer corps
operating on the western division of the Erie canal
enlargement, where he was engaged from 1838 to
1842. Two years later he came west, and during
two years was engaged in prospecting and teaching,
his school being at Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. In the
autumn of 1846 he settled at Watertown, and sur-
THE IfNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ART.
veyed lands in that vicinity and at points farther
north. He laid out and constructed tlie ])lank road
from Watertown to Milwaukee, and in 185 1 went to
Illinois and spent three years as a civil engineer on
the Chicago branch of the Illinois Central railroad,
erecting the first dwelling house at Champaign.
Returning to Watertown, he assisted in constructing
the Watertown and Madison railroad, and for a time
acted in the capacity of city engineer, and in June,
1858, removed to Wausau.
Here Mr. Farnham engaged in real-estate opera-
tions, and became a pioneer in banking in Mara-
thon county, opening, at first, a State institution,
called the Bank of the Interior.^ He put up, for
banking purposes, the first solid brick building in
Wausau. Latterly he has conducted a private bank,
known all over the State and the Northwest as J. A,
Farnham's banking house — a carefully managed
and popular institution. Years ago Mr. Farnham,
with ten thousand other good business men, had his
financial reverses, but, nothing daunted, he has
pushed forward, and latterly, with prudent manage-
ment, has been ijuite prosperous. He attends very
carefully to his private business and has rarely been
turned aside from it.
In 1859 he accepted the office of county treasurer,
to fill a vacancy, and held that position one year.
The county is strongly democratic, and he has
always been a republican, so that, were he an aspir-
ant for office, his chances of success would be doubt-
Less m pn\
ful. He is quite contented w
business life.
Mr. Farnham is a Royal Arch Mason, an Odd-
Fellow and a Clood Templar. He is a strong tem-
perance man, and his heart is in sympathy with every
cause tending to improve the morals of society.
He is a member of the Episcopal church at Wau-
sau, and was for several years senior warden.
In 1864 he was married to Mrs. Kmily S. John-
son, of Jefferson, Wisconsin, daughter of the late
William Sanborn, founder of that town.
Since seventeen years of age Mr. Farnham has
been wholly dependent upon his own resources,
having no capital other than a good education, a
sound body and a resolute heart. He escaped the
snares into which many young men fall, sought good
company when it could be found, and in every way
sought to build up a sound, true and healthful moral
character. He has always been industrious and
frugal, and his accumulations are the result of close
application and wise management. His life is a fair
illustration of what may be attained by upright,
honorable and persevering effort.
Mr. Farnham's mother died about 1872, having
attained the advanced age of ninety-eight years, and
retaining her faculties till the last hour. She had
fourteen grandchildren in the Union army, and two
of whom were starved to death at Andersonville.
The father of Mr. Farnham died in 1844, at Scipio,
New Vork.
HON. CHARLES M. WEBB,
;i;axd rapids
CH.\RI,ES MORTON WFBH.a native of Tou-
anda, Pennsylvania, was born on the 30th of
December, 1833. His father, John I,. Webb, was,
in his later years, a merchant and prominent poli-
tician, and, at the time of his death, which occurred
in 1846, was a member of the Pennsylvania legis-
lature. His mother's maiden name was Annis Ham-
mond. She died about 1875. Charles closed his
studies in school at the age of twelve years, and
entered a printing office at Troy, Pennsylvania.
Subse(|uently he worked at the ]irinter's trade at
W'ellsboro, in the same State. In 1S50 he entered
the military academy, West Point, and there spent a
year and a half. He worked in a printing office at ;
Washington, District of Columbia, about three years, I
and in 1855 began the stud\- of law with Ulysses
Mcrcur, of Towanda. Pennsyhania, and was admit-
ted to the bar, at the same ])lace, in September,
1857. After spending a short time looking for an
oi)ening, he, in April 1858, settled at Crand Rapids,
Wisconsin, at that time a village of eight hundred
inhabitants. During the first year of his residence
there he was elected district attorney, and held that
position at the opening of the rebellion, in i86t.
Resigning his office in September of that year he
entered the army as first lieutenant of Company C,
1 2th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, and after eight
months' service resigned. Returning to Grand Rap-
ids, he resumed his legal practice, and in 1864 was
elected clerk of the board of supervisors, in which
324
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
capacity he served during two terms. He was
elected to the State senate in 1868, and was an
influential member of that body during the two
sessions. He has been United States district attor-
ney for the western district of Wisconsin since the
creation of that district in 1870.
He has always acted with the republican party.
On the 2d of January, 1857, lie was married to
Miss Jane Pierce, of Smithfield, Pennsylvania, and
by her has three children.
Mr. Webb is a close student, his studies being
mainly in the line of his profession. He is a good
court lawyer, but his strength is best shown before
a jury, where he is logical, clear and very persuasive.
I He is one of the ablest lawyers in his part of the
! State, and is alive to all important local interests.
HON. HARRISON LUDINGTON,
MILWAUKEE.
HARRISON LUDINGTON, governor of Wis-
consin for the term commencing in January,
1876, was born in Putnam county, State of New
York, on the 31st of July, 1812. Like many of our
best and most eminent men, his early advantages
were limited, and he received only the common-
school education of the time. In November, 1838,
he came to Milwaukee and commenced life for him-
self, by engaging in the business of general merchan-
dise, in which he successfully continued for a period
of about thirteen years. In 185 1 he commenced the
manufacture of lumber, and is now one of the firm
of Ludington, Wells and Van Schaick, well known
as among the largest manufacturers of lumber in
the West; the amount of lumber handled by this
firm is over forty millions of feet annually.
In early life Mr. Ludington was a whig, but at the
dissolution of that party he became a republican.
Since his residence in Milwaukee he has been twice
elected on the re]niblican ticket to the office of
alderman ; and although that city is almost uniform-
ly democratic by very large majorities, he was elect-
ed mayor of the city in 187 1, and again in 1873, and
still again in 1874; on each occasion in opposition
to popular candidates of the opposing party, and on
the last occasion for a full term of two years, to ex-
pire in April, 1876. Mr. Ludington was not per-
mitted, however, to serve the people of the city of
his residence to the full extent of the last term for
which he had been chosen. The repeated indorse-
ments he had received from the strongly democratic
city of milwaukee, and the broad reputation his
local administration had ac(iuired for efficiency, had
unerringly indicated him as the most eligible man to
head the republican State ticket, to unite the then
divided strength of the republican party and restore
to it its previous prestige and power in the State.
In this the leaders of that organization had not mis-
calculated. At the republican State convention
held at Madison for that year, Mr. Ludington was
nominated for the high position of governor by ac-
clamation, and in the succeeding month of Novem-
ber he was elected to that office by the people, he
being the only successful candidate on the ticket of
his party. His exceptional success at this election
was but a repetition of the remarkable fortune which
had attended him as a candidate for public favor
on all previous occasions, and was mainly due to
similar causes, — the strong support of his fellow-
citizens of the city in which he lives, the highest
personal compliment which could have been ac-
corded him. In obedience to the decrees of the
people, Mr. Ludington accordingly resigned the
office of mayor of that city on the ist of January,
1876, and proceeded to the State capital to assume
the duties of governor of the State, which he has
thus far discharged to the eminent satisfaction of
all his political supporters, and personal friends.
The secret of Gov. Ludington's wonderful personal
and public success cannot be found in those qual-
ities which ordinarily distinguish men of prominence
in business or politics. He neither possesses nor
professes to possess the adventitious arts on which
men, and especially politicians, necessarily depend
for personal advancement and popular favor. It is
the palpable and emphatic absence of these obnox-
ious qualities which most particularly distinguish
his personal and public character, and which have
most especially won for him popular confidence and
support.
He is ])ositive in his convictions, and earnest in
expressing and executing them, and men are in-
stinctively prone to discover in these facts the evi-
dence of a personal honesty in which they can
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ART.
327
confide, and of a sincerity of purpose more praise-
worthy and more trustworthy than the conventional
professions of patriotism which distinguish ordinary
candidates for public support, however gracefully
])romulgated ; and, indeed, ought not the sad ex-
lierience of the past to teach the American people
that the virtues of public wisdom and fidelity are
quite as likely to be found in men of plain ex-
terior and of unaffected manners, as beneath the
cultivated disguise of the trained and polished pol-
itician ? Whatever little of prejudice of feeling or
error of judgment may be ascribed to Gov. Luding-
ton, no one can justly charge him with any disjjosi-
tion to dissemble in the expression of his opinions,
or to hesitate in the execution of them. If blunt
and bluff in manner, like a man uneducated to
indirection, he is also blunt and bluff in action,
like a man who continues indirection by instinct,
and whose only purpose is to achieve the greatest
results by the shortest and most practicable methods.
It is this frank and practical quality of mind in
Gov. Ludington which has always insured him so
large a measure of personal success in his busi-
ness relations, and it is the same quality of mind
which has won for him so large a measure of the
faith and confidence of the mass of the people, and
especially of the poorer classes, of his own city and
State. They trust him not so much for his capacity
to rule political -parties, and to solve difficult polit-
ical problems, as for his incapacity to deal other-
wise than plainly, frankly and in a practical way
with all men and with all questions, without dis-
semblance or equivocation. In his place as the
chief executive officer of the State, he thus pos-
sesses a peculiar capacity for representing the [leople
and for comprehending and executing their will,
with a mind impulsively independent and contin-
uously active, with a will of iron, with a physical
constitution so instinct with energy and strength
that it permits him no contentment in rest. His
administration is likely to prove unusually efficient,
economical and popular, and to furnish him the
basis of a future influence and strength with the
people to which he has not yet aspired, and of
which the supjiort of no political party alone could
afford him a certain and reliable assurance.
The executive capacity which we have attributed
to Gov. Ludington cannot be better illustrated than
by a reference, in this place, to his prompt and
benevolent action, while mayor of Milwaukee, in
rendering aid to Chicago during the calamity of its
great fire, and to the wonderful energy as well as
the benevolent spirit with which, through his in-
strumentality, relief was so promptly forwarded to
the suffering people of that city. By means of his
energetic action, the people of Milwaukee were not
only enabled to furnish valuable aid in subjugating
the destroying flames which enveloped that unfor-
tunate city, but were also enabled to send succes-
sive car-loads of clothing and provisions to the fly-
ing population, even before the full extent of their
calamity had been realized. Such was the prompti-
tude of this action by Mayor Ludington, that it
won for him a special acknowledgment of personal
gratitude from the authorities of Chicago, and also
the unanimous adoption of the complimentary res-
olutions by the common council of the city of Mil-
waukee.
N. H. WOOD,
THE subject of this sketch was born in Ashfield,
Massachusetts, February 21, 1820. His fath-
er's farm included Goshen mountain, third in height
in Massachusetts, Monadanock and Greylock loom-
ing up in the distance. A superior district school,
from which, a few years before, Alvin Clark, the
world-renowned astronomer and manufacturer of
telescopes, had graduated, furnished his education.
The generation of 1800 were upon the stage in his
boyhood, of whom Mr. Wood, on a Fourth-of-July
occasion in his native town, testified that for all the
sterling worth which makes men practicable and
self-governing he had never found their superiors,
either in the mass of population of other States or
in the immigration from European countries, and
a life of large observation, travel and intercourse
with many people had enabled him to correctly
judge.
His father, Nathan Wood, was born in Phillipston,
Massachusetts. He was an orphan at twelve years
of age, with only one brother, William, who was
engaged in the South American trade, and died in
328
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAHr.
London in 1820, witli quite a ftirtune. 'J'lie father
immigrated to Aslifield in 1800, and married l.uev,
daughter of Francis Rouney, fifth descendant of
Thomas Rouney, who settled in Middletown, Con-
necticut, 1869. He was a Scotchman, witii all the
independence of character peculiar to the race, and
transmitted it to the entire Rouney |josterity, as ail
of the name are traced by an untiring family biog-
rapher to his loins. From the hopeful spirit of his
mother the subject of this sketch inherited much.
To his surroundings in boyhood, where industry and
rigid economy were practiced, he attributes much.
'Ptiat iron age enabled him to practice all the self-
denial and providential characteristics which were
strongest in early manhood, and which he trusts
still adhere to him. If any changes have taken
place in New England since, they have not added
to the desire of the population to own and trans-
mit to posterity the soil, which desire alone enables
a race of men to maintain their hold upon a coun-
try where property is not entailed, and where " he
that tills the soil must own the soil."
From 1838 till 1844, when he married Harriet J.
Luke, of Hamilton, New York, and opened a store
in Little Falls, New York, Mr. Wood was a whole-
sale peddler, supplying the stores with small wares.
His route was from Troy, New York, via Syracuse,
to Watertown, generally journeying through the
Mohawk valley westward, and returning through
Courtland, Madison, and the counties along the
Cherry valley turnpike. He here made the ac-
([uaintance of every business man, and a large por-
tion of the population, a school for the study of
human nature, which has really aggravated his thirst
for studying physiognomy, vainly or meritoriously
believing that his perceptions of character at sight
would not only enable him to give wise counsels in
selecting government officials, but that his estimate
of the inhabitants of the various countries of the
world, their ability to progress or their lack of prac-
ticability and capacity for advancement and self-
government, would be valuable in settling human
problems of national destiny and providential fore-
ordination. Those six years of schooling by free
intercourse with the world he has ever reflected
upon with pleasure, for while they never contami-
nated his morals nor influenced his appetites, they
have enabled him to give counsel and encourage-
ment to the young and to discover merit by intui-
tion in others, as well as to read their weaknesses
and follies as from an open book.
In 1848 Mr. Wood visited Wisconsin, and with a
bundle of land warrants located lands about Portage
City, then Fort Winnebago. His estimate of the
value of lands was the estimate of a dairyman and
stockraiser, conse(|uently land subject to overflow
along the Fox and Wisconsin rivers were chosen.
It seems that Providence designed that he should
be schooled in adversity, and learn by paying taxes
upon unproductive lands for thirty years that good
government is always an economical government.
Perhaps he has reflected more upon the subject
of taxation, and the willingness of various races
to pay taxes and the unwillingness of other nation-
I alities to be heavily taxed, than any other man
I of his time. In the spring of 1849 he shipped a
I considerable stock of goods to Chicago as a ven-
I ture. He arrived there about June i, with the
i cholera raging and the population very quiet. Most
I of his merchandise arrived in a single vessel, a per-
fect avalanche of goods, which obstructed the side-
walk, resulting in a fine imposed by a petty magis-
trate, complaint having been made by a jealous
competitor in trade. The fine was placarded on the
door, and brought him both sympathy and notoriety.
Having only two younger brothers with him, and
I disliking to employ those who would offer services
most readily, he adopted from necessity the novel
plan of handing out goods to the customer who
first leached up his money. The plan took like
wild fire, and in this manner he disposed of his
whole stock of general dry goods, fancy goods, and
many articles in the grocery line, which included
one hundred chests of tea and three hundred boxes
of raisins. The next arrival brought an immense
stock of books, stationery and engravings, bought
at the New York trade sales, obliging him to close
his store for three days to examine. The opening
hour of ten o'clock, which had been placarded,
brought a throng of people which filled both side-
walk and street for a block. The openings of the
counters were barricaded, and the merchandise
placed beyond reach. "On opening the doors the
rush of the crowd was like a stampede of 'Texan
steers'; jumping upon the counters we commenced
handing out books to the first man who got the
money up. Lawyers and business men came in by
scores ; book after book accumulated in their arms,
till loaded they would journey home, to return again.
.\ clearance of the room for dinner was facilitated
by the sale of thirty medium-sized mirrors, which
reflected the suggestion of the propriety of improv-
TflE UNITED STATES B[0< iRAHHICAF. niCTIONARV.
ing the appearance by journeying home for abhi-
tions and dinner. The afternoon so far exceeded
the morning that we lost all knowledge of time, for-
got our tea, sold thicker and faster, till we observed
the room was thinning. They were easily dismissed.
It was past eleven o'clock. We had sold that day
stationery in small parcels and books in single vol-
umes mostly, fourteen hundred and si.\ty-one dol-
lars, a feat which retailers of books and stationery,
the slowest of all merchandise, will appreciate." The
stock was soon exhausted, and Mr. Wood must
replenish at the seaboard. No one could keep up
the system he had introduced, nor did he ever
attempt it himself again. He sent to Little Falls
for George S. and Chauncy T. Bowen, aged sixteen
and eighteen years. They succeeded him in 1853,
and as the firm of Bowen and Brothers were for
many years one of the leading wholesale firms of
Chicago, and known throughout the United States.
They are both to-day eminerit men, Chauncy T.
Bowen being one of the city fathers of Chicago,
and intrusted with its financial arrangements,
(leorge S. Bowen is the celebrated dairyman and
railroad president, of Elgin, Illinois. Their wisdom
and ability have increased with years, but they were
"beautiful in their youth" — so thought Mr. Wood
when C T. Bowen, at sixteen, took his books in
( harge. In a week he knew the cost and price of
every article in the store; in three weeks he knew
the amount of credit each customer was entitled to,
and in a month he was authority on the amount of
credit every Jew in the clothing trade in Chicago
might have, and the management of collections, and
so wisely and well did he do all these things that he
maintained his position. Mr. Wood never had the
least idea of failing in business. His bark was
alwavs near shore. He would never owe or suffer
others to owe him more than he was worth. With
his caution, he would never enter the lists for a large
and hazardous wholesale trade. The miasma of
Chicago in those day's was disagreeable to him. He
determined upon the economical life of a tax-payer
upon unproductive property in Wisconsin. " Perhajjs
thirty years of this experience has tried his ever
hopeful nature, but the future of Portage City is
assured, and hi-s last days may brighten.
Mr. Wood is no agrarian, but has positive views
of all questions agitated — is really in advance of
most reforms, as his forecast is powerful, and his
desire to prevent evils and <;alaniities somewhat
providential. Interviewers might have been posted
up six years ago upon the financial and currency
questions of to-day; also upon the alarming feature
of Asiatic immigration, which is to be a vital ijues-
tion, and that soon. His opinions of the necessity
of limiting taxation by providing in the constitutions
of States, and the charters of cities, and organiza-
tions of corporations, etc., for all the necessities of
the body politic to be supplied by taxation, and
after such ample provisions by general laws to take
from the mobs of cities the power to further tax and
appropriate moneys. He holds that all men, and
women, too, should vote for public offices upon the
principle that they would desire good men in power ;
but as we do not permit our private purses to be
controlled by the thriftless, the idle and the vicious,
so the popular purse should not be reached, directly
or indirectly, by such people or their representa-
tives. But Mr. Wood is so mixed up with all the
interests of the city of Portage, and the community
about it, that they are likely at least to hear from him
early and often upon these and many other subjects,
which the limits of these pages do not permit the
mention of.
RUFUS P. MANSON,
FEW men in Marathon county, Wisconsin, have
been more honored with public trusts by their
fellow-citizens than Rufus P. Manson, and no one
has more conscientiously and faithfully discharged
his duties. A native of New Hampshire, he is the
son of Mark Manson, a farmer, and Zoa ( Pinkham)
Manson, and was born at Eaton. Carroll county,
February 15, 1830. His parents moved to the town
of Jackson, New Hampshire, when Rufus was about
a year old. During his early life, until he attained
his majority, he was engaged in farm work and en-
joyed ordinary common-school privileges, and at-
tended two terms at the South Conway Academy.
In 1851, having decided to try his fortune in the
growing West, he sought the wilds of Wisconsin ; he
worked in a saw-mill one season at Jenny, eighteen
330
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTTONART.
miles above \\'aiis;ui, on the Wisconsin river, and
the next year settled at Wausau, the county seat, his
]:)resent home. Here he engaged in the hmiber
trade, and has steadily pursued the same business,
when not holding office. He is now (1877) of the
firm of Sanson and Co., extensive dealers, both in
lumber and merchandise.
In the autumn of 1858 Mr. Manson was elected
clerk of the court and of the board of supervisors,
and served three terms of two years each. He was
a member of the board of supervisors several years,
of the board of education four years, a member of
the lower house of the legislature in 187 1, and
sheriff of his county in 1875 and 1876.
Mr. Manson aided in organizing the Masonic
lodge in Wausau, and is a Knight Templar.
His religious sentiments are liberal. In politics
he is a democrat.
Mr. Manson was married to Miss Catherine NicoU,
of Drummond, Canada, November 13, 1854. They
have had eleven children, nine of whom are now
living.
Since settling in Wausau, Mr. Manson has made
its interests and those of the county his own ; he
has been prominent in all movements tending to
develop the wealth of the country, or to enhance
the material or educational interests of the city. He
spent much time and money in getting the Wiscon-
sin Valley railroad completed to Wausau, and is
now, with scores of other enterprising men, reaping
the rich reward of energies well expended and capi-
tal well invested. When he settled in Wausau the
place did not contain twenty families; now it is a
city of four thousand inhabitants, with stately brick
blocks for commercial purposes, half a dozen
churches, and excellent school accommodations for
seven hundred jHipils. Wausau is one of the best
business points, and one of the largest towns on the
Upper Wisconsin, and owes its growth and prosper-
ity mainly to a few such men as Rufus P. Manson.
THEODORE RODOLE,
LA CROSSE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Switzer-
land, was born in the canton of Argovia,
October 17, 1815. He devoted his earlier years
entirely to educational pursuits, and later graduated
from a college of Aarau, the capital of his native
canton, and from the University of Zurich. When
he was about seventeen years of age his father im-
migrated with his family to the United States, and
afterward died in New Orleans, of the yellow fever.
In 1834 the mother and her children removed to
southern Wisconsin, and settled on a farm near
Wiota, Lafayette county. In 1840 we find Theo-
dore Rodolf at Mineral Point, keeping store, em-
ploying miners, and trafficking in lead. Thirteen
years later he settled in La Crosse, and there assumed
the duties of receiver in the land office, under ap-
pointment of President Pierce, a position which he
held by reappointment of President Buchanan until
1 86 1. Since that time he has been engaged largely
in insurance and in real-estate operations. Aside
from this, Mr. Rodolf has held many other offices —
has in fact been in some official position most of the
time for thirty years. He was captain of the Min-
eral Point (kiards from 1848 to 1851, and of the La
Crosse Rifles from 1856 to i860. He was president
of the village of Mineral Point two years, a member
of the board of supervisors of La Crosse county
about four years, and chairman of the same one
year. He was mayor of his city in 1868 and 1870,
and a member of the assembly during the same
years, and while in the legislature did good service
on the committees on railroads, lumber and manu-
factures, etc. He received the democratic vote for
speaker the second time he was in the legislature,
but the republicans being in the majority, he was
defeated. He was the democratic candidate for
presidential elector-at-large in 1864, and the same
party's candidate for elector in the sixth district in
1868, the republicans in both instances being in the
ascendant. He was the democratic candidate for
State senator in 1876. He has always been a dem-
ocrat, and for a long time one of the leaders in west-
ern Wisconsin, and is well known throughout the
State. During the administration of Governor
Fairchild he was appointed by him a member of the
visiting committee to the State institutions. He has
been for several years secretary of the La Crosse
Board of Trade. In many ways he has made and
is still making himself a very useful man, and is an
esteemed and most worthy citizen.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
331
Mr. Rodolf is a prominent member of the Odd-
Fellows fraternit)% and in 1875 was grand master of
the State. He is now grand representative, and at-
tended the meeting of the Grand Lodge of the United
States held in Philadelphia in September, 1876.
He was reared in the Reformed church of Swit-
zerland, but having found no organized society of
that people since coming to Wisconsin, although
holding christian people in high respect, has identi-
fied himself with no religious body.
His mother, who died at Mineral Point in 1856,
was a member of the Episcopal church, and his
sisters belong to the same body in La Crosse.
The wife of Mr. Rodolf was Miss NLirie Thomas,
of New (Drleans. They have had twelve children,
six of whom are now living. Four died within as
many weeks, of diphtheria. The eldest son, Theo-
dore F., who is a partner of his father in the insur-
ance business, married a granddaughter of Henry
Dodge, first territorial governor of Wisconsin, and
daughter of Governor Clark, of Iowa, when it was a
territory. She died in September, 1875, leaving
two small children, who live with their grandfather.
Mr. Rodolf has two daughters married and living
in La Crosse, the wives of William Servis and F. A.
Copeland.
DANIEL B. WYLIE, M.D.,
BIOGRAPHICAL history abounds in illustra-
tions of the eminent success of self-made men,
men whose early struggles have developed the best
elements of their natures and laid the foundation of
health and true grit, which became mighty helps in
subsequent years. The subject of this sketch, in
early life, experienced the efficacy of hard work, and
learned that his only chance for acquiring knowl-
edge was by casting himself upon his own resources.
He is the son of Daniel Buck and Elizabeth Jarvis
Wylie, and was born in Susquehanna county, Penn-
sylvania, July 14, 1827. His grandfather, Simeon
Wylie, participated in the whole of the American
revolution, and his father was engaged in the second
war with the mother country. At fifteen years of
age he was working in the timber of Tioga county,
Pennsylvania, receiving six dollars per month. He
continued to lumber at the east most of the time
until 1845, "'hen he removed to the then Territory
of Wisconsin. After spending a short time in Wal-
worth county he went to Boone county, Illinois,
where he was engaged in farming until the spring of
1846, when he returned to Wisconsin. Going into
the pineries of Portage, now Marathon county, he
spent the autumn and winter in making shingles;
and in April, 1847, started on a raft down the Wis-
consin river and reached St. Louis about the middle
of July, having slept on the raft or out-of-doors
nearly every night during the trip. With some funds
in his p'ocket, a laudable ambition in his soul and a
consciousness of his great want of education, Mr.
Wylie now returned to his native State, and, after
reviewing rudimentary branches of science, studied
medicine three years with Dr. H. A. Humphrey, of
Tioga village. His funds now being exhausted, in
order to replenish them he spent another year in
the pineries of Wisconsin, near the scene of his
earlier toils, and afterward went to Ann Arbor,
Michigan, and attended a course of medical lec-
tures. He spent the first three years of his profes-
sional life at Mansfield and Kennyville, in his native
State, and at the expiration of that time returned to
Wisconsin and practiced three years in Eau Pleine,
Portage county, and Grand Rapids, Wood county,
and in January, 1856, made a permanent settlement
at Wausau, where he has practiced most of the time
since that date. Once or twice, however, he has
turned aside from his profession and spent a time
in the business which furnished the means for his
medical attainments. Not satisfied with these attain-
ments, he, in 1870, took a full course of lectures in
the Long Island College Hospital, and received the
highest honors of the class. Dr. Wylie is not only
the oldest physician, reckoning the years in practice
here, but the head man in the profession in Mara-
thon county. For the last six years he has allowed
nothing to turn him aside from his professional
work, and is known as a reading, thinking, growing
man. Of late he has paid special attention to
surgery, and has become quite eminent in that
department of the healing art. He has been exam-
ining surgeon for pensions since the county has had
demands for such an officer. He is a fifth degree
member of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows.
332
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ART.
In politics he is a republican. He, however,
never allows any outside matters to interfere with
his legitimate business. His ambition is to be
known as a physician, a surgeon and a private citi-
zen, and nothing more.
Dr. Wylie has been twice married: the first time
in July, 1854, to Miss Harriet S. Amsbry, of tlaines,
I'ioga county, Pennsylvania; the second time Decem-
ber 2, 1872, to Mrs. Josephine Martin, of Wausau.
Hy his first wife he had four children, three of whom
are still living; by his second wife he has one child.
The eldest son, Winfred, graduated from Rush Med-
ical College, Chicago, in February, 1877, and is
practicing with his father. The rest of the children,
Daniel B., Myrtle and Genevieve, are at home.
Winfred was educated at Lawrence University, Ap-
pleton, Wisconsin ; hardened his constitution by
working for a while, from choice, in the pineries
and rafting on the rivers ; and now, with a good
foundation of theoretical knowledge on wliich to
build, he has commenced in earnest its practical
application ; and being a young man of fine taste
and studious habits, will be likely to grow and attain
erninence in the healing art.
HON. BARTHOLOMEW RINGLE,
BARTHOLOMEW RINGLE, a native of Ger-
many, was born in Ingweiler, Landcomisariat,
Zweibrilcken, Rhein-Bairen, October 16, 1814. His
father lost his life in the French Revolution, when
the son was still quite young. Bartholomew received
a common-school education; and in 1846 immi-
grated to America, and settled at first at German-
town, in Washington county, Wisconsin ; two years
later he removed to Herman, in Dodge county, and
in 1859 settled permanently at Wausau, the county
seat of Marathon county. Mr. Ringle is by profes-
sion a lawyer, but by reason of official duties con-
ferred upon him by his fellow-citizens, he has little
time for legal practice.
While residing at Herman he was postmaster,
town clerk, chairman of the board and justice of the
])eace, holding all these offices for six years. Since
settling in Marathon county, he has been county
clerk six years; county judge, fourteen years; clerk
of the board of supervisors, six years ; also president
of the village, police justice, justice of the peace,
etc. He was a member of the general assembly of
Wisconsin in 1864, 1872 and 1875, and at the present
time (1877) is serving his fifth term in the popular
branch of the legislature. He is a member of the
judiciary committee, as well as of committees of
minor consideration, and his long experience and
practical business tact render his services of great
value in that branch of the State government.
Before leaving his native country, Mr. Ringle was
married to Miss Magdalena Pick, of his native town.
They have had ten children, of whom eight are now
living.
His son \'alentine publishes the Wisconsin River
" Pilot " and Wausau " Wochenblatt," both demo-
cratic weeklies, the last named being published in
the German language.
In politics Mr. Ringle has always been identified
with the democratic party, and is the leader of the
(ierman element of that body in his district.
NOAH D. COM STOCK.
THF, subject of this sketch, a native of Lewis
rounty, New Vork, was born at Lowville, No-
vember 22, 1S32, the son of Adam Comstock and
Electa Durrin. He is of truly patriotic stock, three
of his great-grandfathers having fought valiantly for
the separation of the colonies from tlie mother
country. His great-grandfather Comstock was
lieutenant-colonel of a Rhode Island regiment.
His father, a .soldier in the war of 1812, was a
farmer by occupation. Noah attended school at
Lowville and worked on the farm until he was
seventeen years old, at which time he removed to
.Athens, Calhoun county, Michigan. There he
taught school and worked on a farm, and at the
THE UNITED STATES BlOUli.\PHICAI. DICTIOXARV.
33:
expiration of one year went to W'est Point, Indiana,
and tauglit, most of the time, until Marcii, 1853,
when he started for Washington Territory, by the
overland route. Changing his plans he stopped in
California, and there engaged in mining until the
summer of 1855, when he returned to Indiana, and
the next September removed to Trempealeau coun-
ty, and entered land where the village of Arcadia
now stands. He was the second person to make
such entry, and there was not a person living on
the present site of the county seat. For several
months he made his home near Fountain City, split-
ting rails in the winter of 1855-56. Before spring
opened he found a shelter at Arcadia, then called
the Bishop settlement (the town receiving its present
name a year or two later). Here Mr. Comstock
engaged in miproving his land. In December,
1859, he froze his right foot, by reason of which he
was compelled to have his limb amputated. In
i860 he aided in building a saw-mill in Jackson
county, which he sold four years later; has con-
tinued to cultivate his farm in connection with vari-
ous offices which he has held, and in the spring of
1876 assumed the proprietorship and editorial charge
of the Arcadia " Leader," a position which he still
(1877) holds, furnishing a good county newspaper.
Mr. Comstock was the first town superintendent
of schools in Arcadia; fie was county treasurer six
consecutive years, commencing in January, r86i ;
was elected town clerk and a member of the board
of supervisors in 1868 ; and a member of the general
assembly in 187 1, 1873, 1874 and 1875. In the
legislature he was an industrious, hard-working and
influential member.
The political views of Mr. Comstock are thorough-
ly republican ; his religious views, atheistic.
Mrs. Comstock, whose maiden name also was
Comstock, was from West Wrentham, Massachusetts.
They were married July 4, 1868, and have had four
children, three of whom are now living.
JOHN W. WOODHULL,
MILWAUKEE.
JOHN W. WOODHULL, a native of Batavia,
•J Crenesee county. New York, was born on the
5th of September, 1836, the son of Joseph Wood-
hull, a descendant of the Woodhull family, of Long
Island. His father was a successful business man,
and while still young had accumulated a large
amount of property. This, however, during the
financial revulsion of 1836 and 1837, was swept
away, and he was left a poor man, largely in debt.
Undaunted by his misfortunes, he boldly met his
difficulties, and prior to 1840 succeeded in paying
his indebtedness to the last cent. His great desire
was to gain a competence sufficient to insure his
family against want, but failing health prevented the
realization of many of his hopes, and upon his
death, at the age of seventy years, he had barely
enough of property to insure a living for his wife.
Mrs. Woodhull, the mother of our subject, was the
daughter of Sylvester Whitney, Esq., of Batavia,
New York. Inheriting a strong physical constitu-
tion, she still survives, at the age of sixty-four years,
strong and vigorous both in mind and body. The
subject of this sketch also inherited a rugged con-
stitution, and until his seventeenth year knew noth-
ing of sickness. He first attended the common
39
school at " Daw's Corners," three miles north from
Batavia, and later studied at Lewiston. At the
latter school, however, he remained but a short time,
owing to unpleasantness with the young Canadians,
who persisted in calling him a "Yankee." The
greater part of his boyhood was spent with his
grandfather, to whom he was most strongly attached.
In the summer of 1852, being then sixteen years of
age, he removed to Michigan with his parents, with
the hope of bettering their financial condition. Set-
tling in Hillsdale county they were soon afterward
': prostrated with the fever, then prevalent, and when
again the father was able to be about he was a mere
wreck of his former self. John partially recovered
in the fall, and during the ensuing winter engaged
\ in teaching, receiving a compensation of sixteen dol-
, iars per month and board. With returning health
came again his longing desire for an education, and
j to gratify this ambition he carefully improved every
spare moment in study, and by faithful application
succeeded in mastering all the branches essential to
' a successful business career. Continuing teaching
during the winter months, and employing his sum-
mers in other kinds of work, until 1856, he at that
I time entered the employ of Messrs. Waring and
334
THE UNITED STATES RIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
Drake, merchants, of Fremont, Indiana. One year
later, forming a partnershij) with his cousin, J. A.
Woodhull, he engaged in the mercantile business in
the same place. This partnership continued until
1858, at which time his brother-in-law, G. D. War-
ing, purchased the interest of J- A. Woodhull, and
he established a store at Waukau, Wisconsin. After
one year's residence in this place he removed his
stock to Berlin and engaged in business with G. 1).
Waring, under the firm name of J. W. Woodhull and
Co. The enterprise, however, proved unsuccessful,
and they were obliged to close out their stock, hav-
ing barely enough to pay their debts. With char-
acteristic decision. Mr. Woodhull bravely faced his
misfortune, and at once turned his attention to
teaching, an occupation which he followed until he
received the appointment of mail route agent on the
northern division of the St. Paul railroad.
From early life Mr. Woodhull has been character-
ized by firmness and decision of character, inflexible
integrity and an indomitable perseverance and power
of will. To these may justly be attributed his suc-
cess. Whatever he has undertaken, with a remark-
able concentration he has given himself with undi-
vided attention to its accomplishment.
He was married in the fall of 1857 to Miss Sarah
H. Waring, of Greenwich, Connecticut. They have
had two children, a son and daughter, the former of
whom died at the age of seven years.
Politically he is independent in his views, sup-
porting only such men and measures as in his opinion
will further the interests of his State and nation.
While his religious convictions and sympathies
wholly accord with orthodox beliefs, he is not, nor
ever has been, connected with any religious organ-
ization. He early became predisposed in favor of
the Masonic fraternity, and when old enough con-
nected himself with that order, and since has taken
the deepest interest in promulgating the glorious
principles of truth, love and charity inculcated by
its ritual. Gradually advancing through the differ-
ent grades, he now holds the honorable positions of
grand secretary of the Grand Lodge, grand secre-
tary of the Grand Chapter, and grand recorder of
the Grand Council and Commandery.
Such are some of the leading points in the life
history of one who has risen by his own ability and
exertion, and who now stands, a worthy example to
those who may come after him who would develop
a generous, noble manhood.
JERE D. WITTER,
iRAXD RAPIDS.
THE subject of this biography was l.iorn in
Brookfield, Madison county. New York, on
the i8th of February, 1835, and is the son of Josiah
and Calista (I.angworthy) Witter. His family moved
to the West when he was about fifteen years old, and
settled at Dakota, ^V'aushara county, Wisconsin. One
year later he engaged in farming at Berlin, and con-
tinued that vocation during two seasons, attending
school in the winters. He spent a short time at the
Milton Academy, but by reason of ill health was
compelled to abandon his studies, and, returning to
the farm, there spent another year. At the age of
twenty he began the study of law in the office of W.
C Webb, of Wautoma, Waushara county, and soon
afterward became deputy clerk of the board of
supervisors, and held that office for two years, at the
same time continuing, as much as other duties would
allow, his legal studies, and was admitted to the bar
in 1S59. He first formed a partnership with Wx.
Webb, which continued for nearly two years, at the
end of which time, in iS6t, he removed to Grand
Rapids, and was in partnership with Hon. C. M.
Webb until 1867.
During the year of his settlement in Grand Rap-
ids he was appointed district attorney, and held the
office, by reelection, nearly six years. He was
elected county judge in 1869, and held the office
one term of four years.
Abandoning the law practice in 1867 he has since
devoted his time to banking, real-estate operations
and insurance. He organized the First National
Bank of Grand Rapids in 1872, and has managed
it ever since, he being its vice-president, and always
having had a controlling interest. It is a well con-
ducted, prosperous institution. Mr. Witter was
elected president of the First National Bank of
Golden, Colorado, in 1874, and closed the same at
the end of one year.
In politics Mr, Witter is identified with the re-
publican party. In his religious views he is liberal.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONATiV.
335
On the 1 6th of February, icS6o, he was married to
Miss Kmily I,. Phelps, of Friendship, New \'ork.
They have had four children, two of wliom are
living.
Since Mr. Witter selected (Irand Rapids as his
home, his career has been one of marked success.
No man in Wood county has attended more faith-
fully to his dmies; no one has done business on
higlier principles of rectitude and honor, and few
have been more fortunate in financial operations.
His accumidations are the result of untiring indus-
try, coupled with shrewdness, watchfulness and
economy. He is one of the foremost men in local
enterprises.
HON. ALFRED W. NEWMAN,
rREArrEAI.EAU
THE subject of this biography is a native of
Green county, New York, and was born at
Durham, April 5, 1834, his parents being William
and Patty (Rogers) Newman, farmers by occupa-
tion. Alfred remained on the farm until seventeen
years of age, attending the district school during
the winters, and afterward prepared for college at
the Delaware Literary Institute, at Franklin. He
entered the sophomore class of Hamilton College
in 1854, and graduated from the same three years
later. While in college he pursued extra law stud-
ies with Professor T. W. Dwight, and afterward
continued his legal studies a short time in (Ireen
county, and was admitted to the bar at Albany in
December, 1857. During the next month he re-
moved to the West, and settled at Trempealeau, on
the Mississippi river, in March, 1858. He has since
been actively engaged in the practice of the law,
liaving been for years one of the leading attorneys
of Trempealeau county. Though not an office-
seeker he has had many positions of honor and
trust thrust upon him. He was by the governor
appointed county judge in 1S60. to fill a vacancy;
was twice reelected by the iieople, and resigned in
1866. He was a member of the general assembly
in 1863; was elected district attorney in 1866, and
reelected three times, serving in all eight years.
He was a member of the State senate in 1868 and
1869, and elected judge of the thirteenth circuit in
April, 1876. an office which he now (1877) fills,
with honor to himself and satisfaction to his fellow-
citizens. Judge Newman is ready in points of law,
considerate and cool, fair and impartial in his rul-
ings, and gives promise of rising to eminence on
the bench.
On national questions and in national issues Judge
Newman has always voted the republican ticket, and
though active and influential in a canvass, is not a
bitter ])artisan.
He is a member of the Congregational church,
and a man of irreproachable character.
He was married, August 15, i860, to Miss Celia
E. Humphrey, of Binghamton, New York. They
have had four children, one of whom is now living.
In stature Judge Newman is about medium height,
heavy set, and weighs two hundred and twenty-five
pounds. He has a light complexion, a round, full
ipen antl pleasant expression.
I face and
GEORGE Y. FREEMAN,
THE subject of this sketch, a natiye of Sche-
nectady county. New York, was born on the
13th of August, 1827, of Lewis 15. Freeman and
Mary ne'e Young. His maternal grandfather was
captain of a cavalry company during the war of
1812.
George passed the greater part of his early life in
prepared for college at the academy at Princeton,
closing his studies there in 1844. Later he con-
tinued his studies and graduated from Galesville
University in i860, while Judge Gale was president
of that institution, receiving the degree of LL.D.
Prior to this, when he first became a resident of
Wisconsin, he was for a time engaged in the study
school. He attended the Carlisle Academy, and of law with Judge Gale, of F^lkhorn ; and afterward,
336
THE UNITED STATES BJOGRATH/CAL V/CJJUNAR T.
returning to the East, tinisiied his law studies with
Judge Dwight Watennan, of New York city, and
was there admitted to the bar in September, 1858.
In the following year he returned to Trem]iealeau
county, Wisconsin, and settling at Galesville estab-
lished himself in his profession, and by persistent,
honest efifort has built up an extensive and a lucra-
tive practice, and is recognized as one of the leading
lawyers in his judicial circuit. His practice extends
not only through his own, but also through several
adjoining counties. He has for the most part con-
ducted his business alone, but is now a member of
the firm of Freeman and Mulligan, his partner being
Mr. M. Mulligan, a promising young attorney. As
a speaker Mr. Freeman is fluent and impressive, and
is both a fair court lawyer and especially powerful
before a jury. In 1864 he was elected district attor-
ney, and afterward reelected for a second term.
He is a man of close observation, and has gathered
a large fund of valuable information on various sub-
jects, which, together with other gentlemanly qual-
ities, give to him a high standing in the social circle.
.Mthough now roundmg up his fifty years, time
seems to have dealt gently with him, and his gen-
eral appearance would indicate him to be a much
younger man, Mr. Freeman is a member of the
Masonic fraternity.
In religious sentiment he is a Presbyterian.
In politics he was formerly a whig, later a repub-
lican, but at present (1877) is identified with the
democratic party. He sometimes takes an active
part in political canvasses, and is known as a strong
reasoner and eloc|uent speaker.
Mr. Freeman was married on the ist of January,
1850, to Miss Ann S. HoUingshead, of Walworth
county, Wisconsin, and by her has three children.
Such is a brief outline of his life-history. He is
preeminently a self-made man. After the age of
sixteen he was almost wholly dependent upon him-
self for his means of gaining an education. Through
all he has maintained a fair degree of health, good
spirits and a worthy ambition, and by patient effort
has attained his present high standing at the bar and
as a citizen.
SAMUEL W. HUNT,
MENOMONEE.
IN the seven years' struggle for American inde-
pendence were three brothers by the name of
Hunt. All served through the entire war, and all
had families, and from them as far as known and
their immediate ancestors have sprung all the Hunts
in this country. Among their descendants are
Washington Hunt, ex-governor of New York ; Ward
Hunt, of the supreme bench of the United States ;
Dr. Sanford B. Hunt, a cousin of Washington Hunt,
and an eminent medical and political writer, besides
several other distinguished men. One of the three
patriots above referred to was the grandfather of !
Samuel W. Hunt, the subject of this biographical
sketch.
His parents were Harvey and Mary (Brown)
Hunt, and he was born at Nichols, Tioga county, j
New York, November 6, 1835. His father, who I
was formerly a farmer and stock dealer, is still liv- !
ing, being in his seventy-si.vth year. Samuel spent j
most of his time until twenty-two years of age in
acquiring an education, his later school years being 1
spent in an academy at Owego, New York, and the ]
Lawrence University, at Appleton, Wisconsin, he
having removed to the West in 1858. In 1861 he
returned to the State of New York ; entering a law
office at Owego, studied until September, 1864.
He then entered upon a course of study at the Al-
bany Law School, and graduated from the same.
He returned to Wisconsin in the autumn of 1865,
and during the next March settled at Menomonee,
his present home. During the twelve years that he
has practiced there, a part of the time in partner-
ship with F. J. McLean, Esq., and later with C. E.
Freeman, Es(i., he has built up a prosperous and
remunerative practice, and made for himself a good
name and a spotless reputation for candor and hon-
esty. The business of the firm of Hunt and Free-
man extends not only throughout Dunn county,
but also into adjoining counties ; and wherever the
firm name is known it is the synonym for business
dispatch and integrity.
.Aside from his professional duties, Mr. Hunt has
been honored by his fellow-citizens with positions
of honor and trust. In 1869 he was a member of
the popular branch of the State legislature, and
served on the committees on railroads. State lands
IHE UNITED STAJES blOGHAHHICAL DICTION AH) .
337
and education. He was district attorney in 1867
and 1868, and in 1874 was a candidate on the
republican ticket for State senator, but was de-
feated by reason of the "reform movement," wliicli
that year carried the State.
He has always been identified with the republican
party. In religion he is liberal.
He was married on the 25th of June, i8C)0, to
Miss (ielina Campbell, of Uwego, New York.
In person, Mr. Hunt is of medium height, of good
proportions, with fair complexion and light blue eyes.
He has a kindly look, polished manners, and the
marks of a gentleman in his conversation and all
his bearing.
CHARLES B. SOLBERG,
LA CROSSE.
IN and near I. a Crosse, Wisconsin, is a very large
number of Norwegians, and they are among the
most industrious and thrifty class of people. This j
is true, whether they be farmers, mechanics, profes-
sional iiien or merchants. Among the last named
class of business men in the city of La Crosse the j
two most successful are Norwegians, and one of
them is the subject of this sketch. A native of
Lillehammer, he was born August 20, 1835. His
parents were Ole N. and Mary (Andersen) Solberg.
His father was a merchant in his younger years, but
on immigrating to this country with his family, in
1853, purchased land near La Crosse and opened a
farm, which he still cultivates. Both he and his
wife are living, and are hale, industrious, well-to-do
people.
On reaching La Crosse the son accepted a clerk-
ship in a store, which he held until 1861, when he
rented a store, and with about two thousand dollars
capital opened a grocery trade, a business which he
has steadily followed for sixteen years with marked
success. He early secured a large amount of the
Scandinavian trade, and always doing business in a
prompt and strictly honorable manner, he retained
his old customers. Their indorsement of his
character brought him new ones, and his business
has gradually increased until it has assumed very
large proportions. In 1876 it amounted to three
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and having just
doubled the capacity of his mercantile building he
expects to do at least four hundred thousand dollars
the present year. He who sixteen years ago began
business for himself in a two-story store, twenty by
sixty feet, now has a store three stories above the
basement, averaging fifty by one hundred and fifty
feet, and usually containing from forty thousand
to sixty thousand dollars' worth of merchandise.
This growth in business is purely the result of close
attention and care, and prudence and honesty in
all its details. There is not a more thoroughgoing
business man in La Crosse.
Mr. Solberg is an ardent republican. He dis-
charges his duties faithfully as a citizen, but does
not covet office. He has held some useful positions
in the municipality of La Crosse, has been on the
republican State central committee, and was a presi-
dential elector in 1876. He, however, allows neither
politics nor anything else to interfere with his legiti-
mate business.
On the 2ist of September, 1861, he was married
to Miss Alice Johnson, of La Crosse. They have
had six children, five of whom are still living.
GEN. JOHN A. KELLOGG
JOHN AZOR K.ELLOGG, son of Nathan and
J Sarah (Quidor) Kellogg, was born at Bethany,
Wayne county, Pennsylvania, March 16, 1828. His
paternal grandfather was a revolutionary soldier.
His father, a hotel keeper, stage proprietor and con-
tractor, removed to Wisconsin territory when John
was about twelve years old, and settled at Prairie du
Sac, in Sauk county. There the son aided in clear-
ing and working Jand for about six seasons, spending
the first three winters at a private school, taught by
Quinton Smith, a Scotchman. At the age of eigh-
teen he commenced reading law, under instruction,
338
THE UNITED STATES BIOCRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
by correspondence, wiili Hon. George \V. Wood-
ward, late Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, and fin-
ished his legal studies with S. S. Wilkinson, of Prai-
rie du Sac. In 1857 he began the practice of his
profession at Mauston, in Juneau county. He was
elected prosecuting attorney three years later, and
resigned that office in April, i86i, and entered the
military service. He was first lieutenant of the
Lemonweir "minute men," afterward company K,
6th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry. He was mus-
tered into the service on the 6th of July, and became
captain of Company I, in December, 1861. He par-
ticipated in the battles of Gainesville, Virginia, sec-
ond Bull Run, South Mountain, .\ntietam, Fred-
ericksburg, and Chancellorsville. He was taken
prisoner during the great fight in the Wilderness, on
May 5, 1864, and spent five months in Lynchburgh,
1 )anville, Macon and Charleston, and escaped on the
5th of October, by jumping off the cars near Branch-
ville, while being transported to Columbia. While a
prisoner he had been promoted to major and lieu-
tenant-colonel of the " Iron Brigade." He came
into the federal lines at Calhoun, Georgia, and was
soon after promoted to the position of colonel.
The famous " Iron Brigade " was composed of the
2d, 6th and 7th Wisconsin, 19th Indiana, and 24th
Michigan. This brigade Colonel Kellogg led in the
battles of Boydston Plank Road, Gravel Run, Five
Forks, High Bridge, and Appomatox. He was bre-
veted brigadier-general for highly meritorious ser-
vices during the campaign ending with tlie sur-
render of Lee. He richly merited every honor, and
commendatory word which he received. He was
engaged in twenty-two battles and skirmishes, and
was known as among the bravest and most daring
officers who went from the Badger State. He was
mustered out of the service, .August 17, 1865, and
being appointed pension agent at La Crosse, he set-
tled there in the spring of 1866, and remained there
until 1875. Resigning his office in April of that
year, he, in the following July, removing to Wausau.
Here he resumed the legal profession, and is build-
ing up a good business.
General Kellogg aided in organizing the repub-
lican party at Madison, Wisconsin, June 5, 1855, and
has since been one of its earnest supporters. In
earlier life his sentiments were strongly oi)posed to
the institution of human slavery.
General Kellogg is a member of the Presbyterian
church, and an elder of the same. On October 5,
1852, he was married to Miss Adelaide Worthington,
Prairie du Sac, a native of Luzerne county, Pennsyl-
vania. Of the five children which have been born
to them, three are now living.
General Kellogg has a fine literary taste, and can
wield the pen as well as the sword. Two serials of
his, " The Capture and Escape" — his personal e.x-
periences — and '' Pioneer Reminiscences," are racy
j reading; and the same may be said of several of his
I shorter articles.
CEPHAS A. BUTTLES,
MILWAUKEE.
CKPHAS AUGUSTUS BUTTLES, Milwau-
kee, was born at Northumberland, Northum-
berland county, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1829 ; was
the fifth child of Cephas and Nancy Buttles. The
former born at East Granville, Massachusetts, April
II, 1791, and the latter at East Windsor, Connec-
ticut, February 23, 1794, whose maiden name was
Stoughion. His father removed to Pennsylvania
from Massachusetts about the year 1817, and Miss
Stoughton, to whom he was engaged, following with
her family at a later date; were married at Milton,
Pennsylvania, May 25, 1820. About the year 1831
they removed from Milton, Pennsylvania, to Clear
Spring, Washington county, Maryland, with their
family of five sons and one daughter.
The grandeur of the mountain scenery surround-
ing Clear Spring made impressions upon the mind
j of young Cephas which time has failed to erase.
Living on the great highway from the P^ast to the
' West, he had frequent opportunities of seeing and
listening to the conversation of such men as Gen-
eral Jackson, General Harrison, Henry Clay, Daniel
Webster and others, which inspired him with the
desire for distinction. General Gaines, placing his
hand on his head, said to his father: "This boy has
a Webster head, give him a good education and
he will make a statesman." He was then nine
years of age. He progressed rapidly in his studies
in the village school, and shortly after this time
his father sent him to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to
'V^'^'^-'Uaa.s.u
THE UNITED STATES fUOGRArillCAI. DICTION ART
341
the university, intending to iiave him pass through
,1 regular academic course of study. He was very
ambitious to learn, and worked so steadily and per-
sistently to be the first in his classes that he over-
taxed his nervous system, and at the end of one
year he was obliged to return home. After a few
months' rest he commenced attending the high
school in Clear Spring again, but his nervous system
was so imstrung that he could not bear close appli-
cation. Thus at the age of twelve years his dreams
of scholastic education were abandoned.
In 1843 his father moved to Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin, and became landlord of the " Mansion House."
then in the heart of the city. Cephas A. Buttles
and his two younger brothers commenced clearing
up a farm of eighty acres, eight miles above the
city, and when prepared for the reception of the
family they occupied it as their home. The family
was subjected to many privations and hardships;
which, however, were blessings in disguise, as they
qualified the boys for their successful struggles with
the world in after life. On one occasion their
mother said : " I am sorry, my boys, I have noth-
ing for a Thanksgiving dinner." Cephas A. But-
tles said : " Mother, I will bring you a Thanksgiving
dinner in less than two hours." Accordingly he took
down his gun, anti with three loads of ammunition
he shot five partridges, and the family enjoyed the
Thanksgiving dinner; but for the game the woods
afforded, the family would have suffered for the
necessaries of life. Having spent four years on
the farm, laboring for the support of the family,
and finding them now supplied with the com/orts
of life, Cephas A. Buttles determined to enter upon
a new theater, and upon his own resjjonsibility. Ac-
cordingly he proceeded to Milwaukee, barefooted,
with twenty-five cents in his pocket. He soon suc-
ceeded in binding himself as an apprentice to L.
Comstock and Co. ; engaged in the manufacture of
tin, copper and sheet-iron. At the c.xjiiration of his
term of service he was em])loyed as journeyman.
As soon as he had accumulated enough money to
build a frame cottage on the farm for the accom-
modation of his parents, he expended it in that truly
honorable manner.
In the s])ring of 1852 he made up his mind, if
possible, to start in a small way for himself. Since
building the house for his father, he had only been
able to save one hundred and fifty dollars. He
heard incidentally that Mr. John Na/.ro had spoken
favorably of the young man in Mr. Hewett's employ
as being steady and indusnillu^. He went lo Mr.
Nazro, introduced himself to him and laid his plans
before him, and told him he had only one hundred
and fifty dollars in money. He replied ; " ^'oung
man, that will not half buy your tools." After talk-
ing a while longer he requested him to come the next
morning at nine o'clock, when he would have more
leisure. He presented himself promptly the ne.xt
morning, and had a long business conversation. He
told him his father had given him permission to
mortgage forty acres of his land to assist him if
necessary, and that he had a chance to rent a small
store in a good location, where he thought he could
build up a nice little trade. After talking some
time, Mr. Nazro said: "Mr, Buttles, I like your
spirit of independence, and I know your habits of
temperance and industry. I do not want your land,
give me your one hundred and fifty dollars and go
and pick out your tools and a small stock, and pay
me as fast as you gain it over your necessary ex-
penses." His tools amounted to two hundred and
thirty-seven dollars, and they and the stock came
to over nine hundred dollars. So to Mr. Nazro
he owes his first start in life. In July, 1852. he
opened his little store on West Water street, near
Spring street, and commenced his career as a mer-
chant. By economy and close application to busi-
ness, he managed to clear enough money in 1853 to
purchase the city lots where he now resides.
On the 3d of August, 1854, he married Miss
Camilla Mggatt, daughter of Dr. R. (i. Mggatt, of
Richmond, Illinois. His wife is a direct descend-
ant from Joseph Mggatt and his wife Ann Mggatt,
who sailed from England in the ship Griffin, July
15, 1633, and arrived at Boston harbor September
4, r633. On her mother's side she is related to the
Spragues and Seymours, of New York ; and was
born at Hannibal. New York, April 17, 1S39.
In the year 1855, by close economy, he managed
to build a house on his property, into which he
moved early in 1856. and where he now lives. The
panic of 1857 compelled him to give up his goods
to his creditors, and for a time closed his mercantile
business. Through the aid of kind friends he suc-
ceeded in 1S62 in paying his debts, and commenced
business anew. On the 26th day of July, 1862.
he had the misfortune to lose by death his only
child, Frank Augustus, a promising boy then in his
seventh year. The death of his son had such a
de[)ressing effect upon his wife, that she desired
some occupation to relieve her mind, and proposed
342
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
to him to let her keep his books at the store. He
at first opposed her wish, but she persisted in the
request, and although she had been thoroughly ed-
ucated at the Female College in this city, she pro-
posed to take a course at the Commercial College
to refresh her mathematics and get a more thorough
knowledge of book-keeping; which she did, and
May I, 1863, she commenced taking charge of his
books and finances ; a position which she has occu-
pied for twelve years, from choice and a love of
making herself useful; and to her he attributes in
a great measure his present success as a merchant.
In the spring of 1868 he removed to 194 West
Water street, and again entered into a regular retail
hardware business. May i, 1870, he removed to
his present location, and extended his business into
everything in the hardware house furnishing line.
He was brought up and has always been an Epis-
copalian. He was prepared for confirmation by the
Rev. I. P. T. Ingreham, and confirmed by the late
venerable Bishop Kemper. He has been a vestry-
man in St. James Church eight years, and was one
of four delegates chosen from that parish to the
convention in June, 1874, when Rev. Jas. DeKoven
was defeated, and Rev. Dr. Welles elected bishop
of the diocese of Wisconsin.
In politics he has always been a republican, and
ready to vote for Grant for the third term and for
specie payments also. He was one of six gentle-
men who originated the idea of a military company
in Milwaukee, called the Light Guards; electing as
the first captain Dr. E. B. Wolcott, who declined,
when they elected Gen. Rufus King, who accepted.
This company furnished many noble officers and
men to the late war of the rebellion.
He has been quite an inventor, having patented j
several useful articles; prominent among which are
a stove pipe thimble, tinner's stove, lawn sprinkler \
and fountain, cornice break and steam heater. 1
He is a direct descendant on his father's side from 1
Thomas Buttolph and his wife Anna, who came to |
this country from England in 1635. The surname
was changed, for some unexplained reason, from !
Buttolph to Buttles, about the year 17 15. His '
grandfather, Abijah Buttles, was born in Granby,
Connecticut, and served in the revolutionary war. |
He was at the battle of Trenton and crossed the j
Delaware on the memorable night of December 25,
1776, in Washington's command. He secured one of
the Hessians personally and brought him to deliver \
him to his captain, when the Hessian drew a bottle
of rum from his pocket and they took a social drink '
together. He lived to be ninety years old and
received a pension from the government until his 1
death. On his mother's side he is descended from
Thomas Stoughton, who settled in Dorchester, Mas- \
sachusetts, in 1630. He was called Ensign Stough- |
ton, having made himself conspicuous in fighting ,
the Pequod Indians. Mr. Buttles is remarkable for ,
his large fund of practical common sense, for his ,
accurate knowledge of men, for strict integrity in 1
all of his business transactions, for his exemplary ]
moral conduct, and for his kindness of heart in all I
of his social relations. His wife is a lady of cul-
ture, of refinement and of gentleness, that loveliest |
of all female qualities. |
JOHN M. LEVY,
LA CROSSE.
TOHN MEYER LEW, one of the first settlers
J in La Crosse, was born in London, England,
about 1819, his parents, Meyer and Eve (Worms)
Levy, being natives of Germany. His father was a
reader in the synagogue, though not a regular rabbi.
John spent his younger days largely at school, part
of the time in .\msterdam, Holland. After living
about six years with an elder sister in Paris, he
in 1837 immigrated to America. After spending a
short time in traveling he settled in St. Louis, and
there was engaged as a clerk in a mercantile house
about four years. Early in 1844 he went up the
Mississippi river as far as Prairie du Chien, and
in the autumn of that year settled permanently
at what was then called Prairie la Crosse, having
with him his wife, whom he had taken at St. Louis.
Winnebago Indians were abundant, but white people
were scarce. Nathan Myrick, H. J. B. Miller, Asa
White, and two or three others, were all the white
men with families living there at that time.
.\t first Mr. Levy's business was trading with the
Indians, buying furs, and paying for them in various
articles of merchandise. He opened a hotel after a
: year or two, and thus became the pioneer innkeeper
THE UXITED STATES JUOGRAP/f/CAI. DICTIOXARV
343
of I. a Crosse, though one other settler about the
same time began to entertain strangers.
In t849 Mr. Levy built a store, which he con-
(iiK ted for some years, buying all his merchandise
in those days at Galena, Illinois, of Henjaniin Camp-
bell and Captain Orrin Smith, who were then the
leading wholesale merchants in that place.
About 1853 he built a warehouse, and becoming
agent for the steamboat companies, conducted a
large forwarding business. This he continued until
tSs7, when he opened a liank, and in a few months,
with thousands of other business men that year.
failed, paying, however, every dollar which he owed
depositors.
In 185S he engaged in the grocery trade, but
afterward sold his interest to Charles K. .Solberg.
Engaging in real-estate operations he continued the
same until the autmnn of 1876, when he again be-
came a forwarding and commission merchant. At
sundry times during these years Mr. Levy had many
buildings erected, some for his own use and some to
rent. He built the Augusta House in 1857, and
was receiving the rent of it when, in March, 1862,
It was destroyed by fire, together with a do/en other
buildings owned by himself and three times as
many owned by other parties.
Although he has met with freipient reverses he
has never become disheartened. No man in La
Crosse is more plucky or full of business. He saw
the last wigwam disappear long since, and where
thirty-three years ago he foimd half a dozen families
he now sees a city of twelve thousand inhabitants,
who seem to reverence him as one of the fathers of
La Crosse. He has been elected mayor three times ;
has been an alderman about eight years, and has
always looked well to the interests of the city.
In politics he has always acted with the demo-
cratic party.
Mr. Levy is a prominent member of the Masoni(
fraternity; was grand treasurer of the Crand Chap-
ter of the Royal Arch Masons eleven years ; is
now treasurer of both the lodge and chapter of La
Crosse, and the oldest member in point of time of
joining them. He is also one of the trustees of the
Independent Order of Benai Hrith, a Jewish secret
society.
PROF. NATHAN C. TWINING,
N.VTHAN CROOK TWINING, A.M.. was born
in Boston, Erie county. New York, September
27, 1834, and is the son of John and Sarah (Hamp-
ton) Twining, natives of New Jersey, the former
born December 2, 1784. and the latter August 2,
rSo;. They were (Quakers of the Klias Hicks
school, and like the majority of that sect were (juiet,
industrious and simple-hearted, and free from guile,
their code of morals being embraced in the Crolden j
Rule. The ancestors on both sides came to America I
with William Penn, the father being of Welsh and
the mother of Scotch-Irish origin. His father, not-
withstanding his Quaker scruples on the subject of
bearing "carnal weapons," was a gallant soldier of
the war of 181 2, and his great-uncle, Nathan Crook
— whose name he bears — was a midshipman on
board the Lawrence, ("ommodore Perry's flag-ship,
and was killed at the battle of Lake Erie, about ten
minutes before the Commodore abandoned his ves-
sel. His mother was a niece of (ieneral Wade
Hamilton, not less famous in the struggle of 1812.
Our subject was reared on a farm, and was earlv
taught all the mysteries of husbandry, and in child-
hood became an ardent lover of books and music.
He never, however, developed a taste for fictitious
literature — historic, scientific and linguistic works
being his chosen companions even in childhood,
while the e.xact sciences were his favorite studies.
He moved with his parents to the West in the
year 1844, and settled in W^aterloo, Jefferson county,
Wisconsin. He was educated at Milton College,
Milton, Wisconsin, taking the full course of study,
comprising mathematics, ancient classics, metaphys-
ics and the natural sciences, and became one of the
best Cireek and Latin scholars, as well as the most
accomplished mathematician, of the day, and was
honored by his Alma Mater with the honorary
degree of A.M.
After graduating he was appointed to the chair o(
mathematics in the same institution, a position
which he retained for eight years, discharging the
duties with eminent credit to himself and the ut-
most satisfaction to all con( erned.
He resigned his professorship in 186S, and from
344
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
riKjtives of the highest consideration resolved to
devote the remainder of his life to pidjlic-school
teaching, a profession which he has followed to the
present date with the utmost success. He has taught
in the higher branches of the public schools of Chi-
cago and Batavia, Illinois, Boscobel and Waterloo,
Wisconsin, and for four years past has been princi-
pal of the high school of Monroe. The success
which has attended his labors in this field, and the
esteem in which he is held by all who know him,
attest his ability as a teacher and his eminent fitness
for the responsible position which he occupies. It
is not too much to say, that as an educator he has
few, if any, superiors in the State or in the West.
The schools of Monroe rank with the foremost in
Wisconsin. He is a leading member of the State
Teachers' Association, and at the last annual meet-
ing of that organization was appointed by his asso-
ciates to prepare a curriculum of studies for the
public schools, to be submitted to the legislature
with a view to being embodied in the school laws of
the State. He is, moreover, a gentleman of the
highest moral character, an incessant student and
an untiring worker. His literary and scientific at-
tainments are of the highest order, while he excels
in mathematics and astronomy.
In politics he has always been republican, and j
like the sect from which he sjirang, an unc nrnjiro- ;
raising opponent of slavery. ]
During the late rebellion be served one year in ;
the army, as captain of Company C, 40th Regiment ;i
Wisconsin Infantry. Fought at the second battle |
of Memphis in 1864, and in various other engage- j
ments and skirmishes. He was also a leading mem- (
ber of the Union League during the existence of
that organization.
He held the office of town clerk of Milton, Wis-
consin, during the years 1861 and 1862, and has -
been a promoter of circulating libraries and other \
means of disseminating knowledge among the jjeo-
pie.
After arriving at years of discretion he embraced
the orthodox faith and united with the Congrega-
tional church, to which he still adheres. j
On the 18th of November, 1861, he married Miss \
Phebe Ann Barber, daughter of Lillibridge Barber, i
of Hopkinson, Rhode Island. She died January
16, 1866, leaving three sons surviving, namely, Harry |
Le Verne, Clarence Walter and Nathan C, junior. \
On the i8th of June, 1873, he married Miss Mar-
garet Rockwell, daughter of James Rockwell, Esq., '
one of the first settlers of Chicago.
lOHN BENTLEY,
MILW AUKEE.
THK subject of this biograpliy, an eminently
self-made man, was born March 2,5, 1S22, at
Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales, the son of
Thomas Bentley and Jane nee Jones. He obtained
the greater part of his education from reading,
observation and intercourse with men, his school-
days having been confined to a very limited time
in his early boyhood. At the age of ten years he
entered a seed-store connected with a nursery, and
while there employed his spare time in studying
those branches requisite in the business. Five years
later, leaving this position, he was employed during
one year in a flannel manufactory, and at the expi-
ration of that time, in 1838, immigrated to the United
Stales. ,\rri\ing in New Vork, he apprenticed him-
self to a plumber and brass worker, with whom he
remained about two years. Leaving his employer
by reason of ill treatment, he went to the northern
part of New Vork State, and engaged in farm work
and in lumbering; and after two seasons returned
on a raft down the Hudson river to New Vork. His
next engagement was Middleton, Orange county,
New Vork, where he became apprenticed to a mason
builder, remaining with him three years. Subse-
quently he was employed as a journeyman in New
York city and at Haverstraw, and at the latter place
engaged in business on his own account.
Removing to the West in 1848, he settled at Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, a,nd for the first few years worked
as a journeyman, his first engagement being upon Mr.
Alexander Mitchell's old residence on Spring street.
His desire, however, was to become a builder ; and
with that will and determination which had charac-
terized his former life, he entered his bids among the
older builders, and secured contracts for himself.
By faithful, constant work he pressed his way in the
face of every opposition, and boldly meeting all the
vicissitudes and reversions of business life has grad-
THF. UNlTF.n STAIRS HKH^RAPIIIC M. DICTIONARr.
545
ually risen, uiuil he now holds a first rank among
the builders and contractors (jf the Northwest of
« ide and established reputations. His first impor-
tant contract was for the mason-work of the Mil-
waukee Female College ; next followed the North
f resbyterian and St. John's Episcopalian churches,
Newhall House, and Music Hall. He also erected
the Grand Opera House, Olivet t'hurch, several pub-
li( school buildings in Milwaukee, Hurnham's Block,
liie State Reform School buildings at Waukesha, the
south wings for the Northern Asylum for the Insane,
l)esides many residences, stores and business blocks
in his city and throughout the State. He is at the
present time(iS76) engaged on the Court House at
Karine.
He has been for many years a prominent and an
active member of the Independent Order of Odd-
Fellows, and has passed the chairs in both branches
of the order.
Politically Mr. Hentley is a democrat, and in 1S63
represented his district in tlie Stale legislature. In
i86,S he was elected ahlerman for two terms of one
year each, and again cle<te(l in 1.S73. In 1^70 he
was chairman of the board of super\ isors, and in
1876 was appointed on the lioard of s<h(i()l (dmniis-
sioners.
Mr. Hentley was married May 17, 1845, to Miss
Sarah .\nn Roberts, of Orange county. New \ ork,
and by her has had eight children, namely, .Anna
Maria, born September 14, 184O, now wife of Stephen
R. Smith; Thomas Roberts, born November 14, 1848;
Sarah Catherine, now the wife of George Lund, born
December 14, 1850; Mary Elizabeth, born Decem-
ber 28, 1852; John Franklin, born June 14, 1855;
Clara Minnie, born January 5, 1858; Nellie Amelia,
born April 12, i860; and Jennie Jones, born Decem-
ber 7, 1866. The oldest son, Thomas R., became
associated in business with his father. He has
proved a successful business manager, and now has
charge of many heavy contracts. He was married
November 14, 1871, to Miss Emily H. King, daugh-
ter of Walter King, Esq., of Milwaukee.
GKORCiE F. WITTER, MTX,
iRAXn RAI'IDS.
C~^ E0R(;E FRANKLIN WITIKR, son of
J Squire P. Witter and Mary Ann nee Bowler,
is a native of Alleghany county, New York, and was
born on the 6th of June, 1831. The members of
the Witter family in this country are descendants of
W illiam Witter, who came from England about 1640,
and settled in Massachusetts. In 1651 he was per-
se( uted for harboring and for inviting to preach in I
his house the Baptist ministers, Clark, Crandall and
Holmes.
The subject of this sketch cherished in youth a
strong desire for knowledge, but had no means for
procuring it aside from his own resources. At thir-
teen years of age he attended an academy at Alfred [
Center, in his native county, and continued there
for nearly four years, paying his way by doing vari-
ous kinds of manual labor, one season rising at |
four o'clock in order to get through with his chores I
before school time. At sixteen he commenced teach- |
ing, a vocation which he pursued for about eight
years, attending the academy meanwhile a portion '
(if each year, except the last three, when he devoted
his spare time to the study of medicine. He com-
pleted his medical studies with Drs. Babcock and :
Jones, of VVellsville, and attended lectures in the
medical department of the University of Michigan,
graduating from that institution in March, 1856.
He commenced pra<:tice at Wautoma, Waushara
county, Wisconsin, where he remained until Feb-
ruary, 1859, and then removed to Grand Rapids,
where he is still actively engaged in a reiuunerati\e
and extensive practice.
In 1862 Dr. Witter was appointed assistant sur-
geon of the nth Regiment Wisconsin Infantry, but
did not go to the front, because the regiment was
then in a malarious district, and he was in poor
health. Soon after settling in Wood county he was
elected its first superintendent of schools, and held
that office eight years. He was also examining sur-
geon for pensions nearly the same length of time.
He was appointed postmaster in June, 1869, and
still holds that office, his deputy performing its du-
ties, since his professional labors occupy most of his
time. A portion of the leisure at his command he
gives to the preparation of papers for medical peri-
odicals, and in this manner has rendered valuable
service to the profession. He is a member of the
Wisconsin State Medical Society, and some of the
346
■JHE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTfONARV.
excellent essays read at its meetings are from his
pen. He is also a member of the National Medical
Association.
Ur. Witter is a regular attendant upon church ser-
vice, but is not a communicant in any religious body,
although he inclines toward the liaptists in his s) rn-
pathies.
His wife, who was Miss Frances L. Phelps, is oi
Friendship, New York. They were married in May-
i860, and have three children.
In all his busy career Dr. Witter has never lf)st
his love of literary and scientific studies, nor his
interest in educational matters. He is a member of
the local school board, and the thirty thousand dol-
lar school-house which overlooks and adorns Grand
Rapids owes its origin to a few such enterprising
men as he. He, however, takes no honor to himself
in this work, but history would be falsified did he
not have the credit of being one of the leaders in
the noble system of instruction in his adopted home.
Public-spirited and generous, Dr. Witter is highly
esteemed in the community as a citizen, and also
enjoys an enviable reputation as a physician and
surgeon. In the latter line of his profession he is
especially noted, often being called to go fifty and
even a hundred niiles to attend to ditificult cases.
CHARLES A. SINGLE,
ONF; of the early lumbermen in northern Wis-
consin, a pioneer hotel keeper and one of the
best known men in that part of the State, is Charles
Alexander Single, a native of London, F^ngland. His
parents were Benjamin and Mary (Tyler) Single,
and he was born June 6, 1819. His father, a Scotch-
man, was mail agent, and subse<|uently a hotel keep-
er, in the Old World. His mother was an English-
woman. The family immigrated to America near
the close of 1835, landing in New York city while
the great fire of December j6 was still raging. In
April the family started for the West via the Hudson
river and Erie canal ; took the schooner Sandusky
at Buffalo and landed at Milwaukee, then in Michi-
gan Territory, on the 15th of May, 1836 (the name
was changed to Wisconsin Territory a few months
later).
The next year young Single started out for him-
self with a full determination to succeed. He went
to the lead mines at (Jalena, which had been brought
into wide notice as the Golconda of the Far West,
and in that vicinity, part of the time in what is now
(irant county, Wisconsin, he spent about five years
in the mines, with fair success.
With a few solid "mint drops" in his pocket, in
1841, Mr. Smgle steered for the pineries of \\'iscon-
sin, stopping at Grand Rapids, now the county seat
of Wood county. He lumbered there for five years,
with moderate success, and at the end of that time
moved to Big Hull Falls, now Wausau, and assisted
his brother Benjamin in building a saw-mill on the
Rib river, a tributary of the Wisconsin. He oper-
ated with him there about two years, and then set-
tled permanently in Wausau (the place took that
name in 1850, which means, in the Indian language,
•' far away "). Here Mr. Single built and operated
a hotel, which he has enlarged from time to time
until he can accommodate two hundred guests. At
the same time he continued to operate in lumber,
having been an extensive dealer. He has conducted
this hotel for nearly thirty years, and, money or no
money, has rarely turned empty away one who
sought shelter or entertainment. In the early daj s
of his inn-keeping all the freighting of provisions,
when the river was open, was done by canoes from
Stevens Point, a distance by the Wisconsin river of
sixty miles. In the winter the ice was used as a
highway, no roads being open through the forests.
When Mr. Single settled in Wausau the country
was full of Indians, mainly the friendly Chippewas,
who made less trouble than some of the whites.
Here and there one of the latter, when intoxicated,
was troublesome, but, upon the whole, the settle-
ment was moderately quiet and peaceful. Most of
the frontiersmen went there to earn an honest liveli-
hood, and some of them remained to accumulate,
and, like Mr. Single, are among the most substantial
and sterling men of the place.
Mr. Single was a member of the county board of
supervisors for several years; is now (1877) in the
council and on that board. During the rebellion he
was deputy provost marshal.
In politics, he was formerly a whig, and has been
a republican since the organization of that party.
I HE UNITED STATES BIOUHAHH ICAI. DICTIONAR}-
347
He is a luembcr of the Blue Lodge, in the Ma-
sonic order, and is an altendanl on Kpiscopal wor-
ship,
Un April ii, I1S44, he was married to Miss Kli/.a-
beth Taylor, a native of England. They were mar-
ried in Milwaukee, and have seven children — three
sons and tour daughters. The eldest, Benjamin, is
married, and Hves on a farm three miles west of
Wausau. The other two sons, Henry and Charles,
are single. The eldest daughter, Mary, is the wife
of Robert E, Parcher, a merchant of U'ausau. .Mice
is the wife ol' .\lvin hit/.er, a Uimbeniian of Wausau.
Letetia is the wife of Charles V . I )unbar, a jeweler of
Wausau, and Josephine is unmarried.
Mr. Single has always been one of the most pub-
lic-spirited citizens of Wausau. No local enterprise
j has been originated and completed without his hav-
ing a hand in it. He was one of the foremost men
: in bringing the Wisconsin V^alley railroad to this
: point, and no man rejoices more than he in the
' growth and prosperity of his early adopted and
, fondlv cherished home.
DOUGLAS ARNOLD,
DOUGLAS ARNOLD is a native of New
York, and was born at Clifton fark, Saratoga
county, February 23, 1833. He is the son of Bena-
jah D. and Maria (Wilbur) Arnold. He remained
at home until about nineteen years of age, assisting
his father on the farm and attending school three
or four months of each year. He early developed
a taste for study, and though having but limited op-
portunities, prepared himself for teaching, begin-
ning at the age of nineteen. He continued this
occupation for about six years, during the winters,
and during the rest of the time attended an acad-
emy at Charlotteville, and worl<?ed on the farm. In
the spring of 1857 lie remov»d to Winnebago
( ounty, Wisconsin, near Winneconne, and there
resumed both teaching and farming; and after about
two years cultivated land of his own.
In the spring of 1864 Mr. Arnold removed to
Trempealeau county, and settled on a farm near
.\rcadia, the present county seat, and continued
farming until 1871. The year 1875 he devoted to
mercantile business in the town and village of
IJodge, Trempealeau county, but returned at the
end of the year to his old home near Arcadia.
He was a member of the general assembly of the
State in 1869, and during his term of ofifice rendered
valuable and efficient service. He was known as a
working member, and one who was always at his
post, ready to answer to the roll call. During the
autumn of 1S70 he was elected county treasurer,
and assumed the duties of that office on the ist of
the following January. He was afterward reelected
and held the office, in all, four years, performing
his labors in a manner most satisfactory to his con-
stituents. He is now (1877) deputy sheriff of the
county, making a vigilant and efficient officer.
Mr. .'\rnold is a Master Mason. In politics he is
a thorough and leading republican. In religion he
is liberal in his sentiments.
He was married on the ist of .May, 1859, to Miss
Elizabeth Densmore, of Winneconne. They ha\ e
two children.
HON. JOSEPH WOOD,
(tKand rapids
J(JSEPH WOOD, in honor of whom Wood county,
Wisconsin, was named, was born at Camden, New
\ ork, October 16, 181 1. His father, Daniel Wood,
a mechanic, lived to the age of ninety-three years.
His mother was a Sheldon, some of whose ancestors
fought for the independence of the colonies. He
was raised in a farming community, in Ontario
county, with very poor educational [irivileges. hJv a
careful use of what time he could command he
mastered the rudimental branches, and by the time
he had reached his majority he had acquired a fair
amount of knowledge. About this period he went
on the Erie canal, and ran a boat on the New York
and Seneca Lake line si.x seasons. Starting for the
348
THR UNfTED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
VVesl ill ihc ( lost- of iiavigHlion in 18^56 lie reached
(.'liicago ill laiuian following, and going thence into
what is now Lake county, Illinois, near the Wiscon-
sin line, he located a claim and there engaged in
farming for eleven years. Removing to Grand
Rapids in March, i84(S, he farmed, dealt in mer-
chandise or kept a hotel until 1856, and for the last
twenty years has been operating mainly in real
estate, with varied success.
Wood county, of which Orand Rapids is the
county seat, was organized in 1856, at which time
Mr. Wood was in the lower branch of the legislature,
representing I'ortage and Marathon counties, and
drew the bill. He called it Greenwood county, but
the senate amended the bill by striking off the first
half of the name. Prior to this act of the legislature
Portage and Marathon counties extended north-
ward to the Michigan line.
.Mr. Wood has probably held more official posi-
tions than any other man in Wood county, though
not all of them in Wisconsin. He was postmaster
at Kort Hill, McHenry (now Lake) county, Illinois,
being appointed by Ames Rendall, April 9, 1838;
was appointed to the same office at Little Fort, now
W'aiikegan, by C. A. Wicklife, in 1841 ; again at
Grand Rapids, under appointment of N. K. Hall,
in 1851, and still again, under appointment of A. W.
Randall, in 1868. He was clerk of the court in
McHenry county two years. In 1840, just after
Lake county was set off from C^ook, Mr. Wood was
appointed coroner. At one time, in 1838, while
living at Little Fort and conducting the postoffice
at Fort Hill, by a deputy, he had a preemption right
to the present site of Waukegan, and waived it in
favor of the county.
Mr. Wood was the first judge of Wood county,
receiving his appointment from Governor Kashford,
January 19, 1856. He was two years a commissioner
of State lands, receiving his appointment during the
administration of (iovernor Dewey, and ])robal)lv
knows more about section corners, town ranges and
the quality of (juarter-sections than any other man
in his section of country. Mr. Wood has served as
justice of the peace, chairman of the board of
supervisors and mavfir of the <ity, and, in short,
has been a much honored man.
In politics he is a republican, and is lineally
descended from old whig stock. He is a strong
partisan, and outside of county offices always votes
the straight ticket. When Stephen A. Douglas was
first nominated for Congress he came into Lake
county on horseback, Mr, Wood gave him his
dinner, fed his horse and traveled with him three
days, having a jolly time, but all the while election-
eering against "the coming man."
Judge Wood has had two wives. 'I'he first. Miss
Hester J. Kirtland, of Seneca Falls, New York, to
whom he was united in 1833, died in November,
1842, leaving one child. He was married a second
time in December, 1843, 1° W\%<^ Matilda Compton,
of Lake county, Illinois, by whom he has had five
children, three of whom are now living. The child
by his first wife, Janett, is married to William Bal-
derston, of Cirand Rapids. Franklin J., the eldest
son, holds the office of county clerk, and is a man
of much promise. He is married. <ieorge N. and
Walter are single and live at home.
Since Judge Wood passed through Detroit and
Chicago, in the winter of 1836-37, he has seen a
wonderful development in the West. Forty years
ago those two cities were villages, hardly as large as
(irand Rapids is now; to-day Detroit has its hun-
dred thousand inhabitants, and e'.hicago its four
hundred thousand. Wisconsin was then the Terri-
tory of Wisconsin, hardly a year old, and now it has
a million and a quarter of people. To such enter-
prising men as Judge Wood the West owes its imex-
anipled growth, and the country much of its wealth.
NICHOLAS SENN, M.D.,
MILWAUKEE.
'"T^HK subject of t
X canton of St. (
of October, 1844, tlit
biography was born in the
il, Switzerland, on the 24th
n of John and Magdalena
Senn, and traces his ancestry from one of the oldest
families in Switzerland, When Nicholas was seven
years old his family immigrated to the United States.
Here he passed through the usual common-school
routine, and entered the grammar school at Fond
du Lac, Wisconsin. He early developed a fondness
for study, and one of his highest ambitions was to
enter a profession. To gratify this desire he studi-
ously employed every opportunity for learning.
THE CNITED STATES BIOGRAPHIC Af. DICTIOXARV.
349
Later he engafi;ed in teaching, witli eminent sue- I
cess, and ha\ing finally decided to enter the medical
profession, accepted a clerkship in the drug store of
Mr. J. C. Huber, of Fond du Lac. Remaining there
one year, during which time he pursued the study
of medicine with Dr. E. Munk, he at the expiration
of that time, in 1865, entered the Chicago Medical
College, from which he graduated in 1868. During
his course of study he maintained a high standing,
and upon graduating was awarded the first prize,
the subject of his thesis being, " The Modus Ope-
randi and Therapeutical Vse^oi Digitalis Fiirpurea."
In the winter of his graduation he was appointed
house physician of Cook County Hospital, after a
mt>st rigid examination, and served in that capacity
for eighteen months.
He next removed to Ashford, Fond du Lac county,
Wisconsin, and there established himself in the prac-
tice of his profession. He soon built up a large \
country practice, and became well known as a relia- [
ble physician. In 1874 Dr. Senn removed to Mil- |
waukee, and in the following year was elected county '
physician. Soon after settling in Milwaukee he was '
apiiointed iihysician of the Milwaukee Hospital, and I
continues to act in that cai^acity at the present time
(1876). His practice has been remarkably success-
ful, and he is widely known as a careful and skillful
practitioner. He has always taken a leading part
in the various interests of the medical fraternity,
who early recognized his merits. He was ele<ted
president of Rock River Medical Society, and vice-
president of the State Medical Society, and was one
of the delegates to the Medical Congress of the
United States, held in the summer of 1876. Dr.
Senn has been successful, not only in his profession,
but also financially, and in the year 1876 erected a
fine business block on the corner of Chestnut and
Third streets. The building is four stories high,
forty-six by fifty-five feet, and is occupied by stores
and ofifices.
Dr. Senn has a high social standing, and as a man
is most highly esteemed for his manv estimable per-
sonal (|ualities.
In his religious views he is identified with the old
German Reformed church.
He was married on the 22d of February, 1869, to
Miss Amelia Muehlhauser, a native of Pittslmrgh,
Pennsylvania.
GEORGE M. EVERHART, D.D.,
K ENDS If A.
C'^ FORCE M. EVERHART, a native of Lou-
y doun coimty, Virginia, was born February 9,
1826, the son of William and Susan Everhart. His
father was a farmer by occupation. Ceorge received
his primary education in the private school of a 1 )r.
Hagerty, near his home, and later entered Dickin-
son C'ollege, Carlyle, Pennsylvania, with a view of
fitting himself for a professional life. Ky the death
of his father, while he was yet a boy, he was com-
pelled to abandon his studies, and was left to the
care and home-teaching of his mother, whom he
reverently remembers as " an unusually devoted
woman," whose pure life influenced him to grow up
to be a God-fearing man, and ultimately to enter
the gospel ministry. His first great trouble was his
MKjther's death, which occurred when he was fifteen
years old. All hope of gaining a collegiate educa-
tion at this time was gone ; but having a fixed deter-
mination and a power of will, and 'relying upon the
edui ation which he had already acipiired, he en-
gaged in teaching, and during the next four years,
besides supporting himself, saved money sufficient to
complete his college course. He graduated from
Emory and Henry College, Virginia, with honor, and
was appointed, by the faculty of the college, tutor of
Greek — a position which he filled with credit and
satisfaction for about three years. In 1854 Professor
Everhart was called to the presidency of Huntsville
Female College, Alabama; and six years later, enlarg-
ing his field of action, was, by the Right Rev. N. H.
Cobbs, S.T.D., the Bishop of .\labama. ordained a
deacon in the Protestant Episcopal church, and in
the following year, i86i, was admitted to priest's
orders by the Right Rev. J. H. Otey, D.D., Bishop
of Tennessee. About this time he was called to the
pastorate of Calvary Church, Louisville, Kentucky.
During the civil war, claims of a peculiar character
necessitated his resignation and removal to North
Carolina, and for the next five years he labored as
rector of St. Peter's Church, of Charlotte, in thai
State. On April 23. r865, Mr. Everhart preached
before Jefferson Davis, his <abinel, and many of the
350
THE UXTTED STATES B/OGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
chief officers of the confederatt- army, who at that
time sought refuge in Charlotte. The occasion was
an impressive one. Taking for his text the words
" .\nd thus it must be." he earnestly endeavored to
impress the lessons taught by the " Lost Cause." It
was the last sermon heard by the confederate presi-
dent previous to his capture and incarceration.
Aside from his pastoral labors, which were unusu-
ally great at that time, owing to the afflictions of his
people, and the attendance at hospitals and on refu-
gees, Mr. Rverhart conducted a publishing house,
editing and publishing a weekly called " The Church
Intelligencer," and also millions of pages of religious
tracts, which were distributed through the army. In
1867 he was recalled to Louisville to become the
pastor of St. John's Church, and while here, in 1870,
was, in recognition of his worth and attainments,
honored by Columbia College, of New York, with
the degree of D.D.
In T871 Dr. Everhart removed to his present
home in Kenosha, whither he had been called to
establish a young ladies' college, known as Kemper
Hall. Inaugurating the school under the auspices
of the Protestant Episcopal church, his energetic
administration of its affairs has insured its success,
and rendered it second to no young ladies' college
in the country. Its location and surroundings are
most beautiful and picturesque. Fronting on Lake
Michigan, its elegant grounds, its lawns, and shrub-
bery, render it a most attractive school-home for
young ladies. The building of the beautiful chapel,
music house and cloister, and the rebuilding of the
residence for pupils and teachers, and also a break-
water protecting the lake front, and costing three
thousand five hundred dollars, have been under the
personal direction and supervision of Dr. Everhart.
He was married in 1853, to Miss Bunner, of an
old southern family in North Carolina. Of their
six living children, the eldest son, who is a graduate
of Racine College, and also the eldest daughter of
Kemper Hall, are in Europe completing their edu-
cation.
Of a cesimanding but withal courtly presence,
with a decided but suave manner, Dr. Everhart is
eminently fitted for the position which he fills. Al-
though past the prime of life, he still possesses a
vigorous and healthy physique that betokens a pro-
longed career of usefulness.
HART B. PHILLIO,
,/f.\\/> IiAI'lD>
HART BENTON PHILLIO. son of Buona-
parte and Eliza (Benchley) Phillio, was born
at Cedarville, Herkimer county, New York, May 16,
1 834. His father, a physician by profession, became
identified with the anti-slavery party at an early
day, when to belong to that organization was to be
"despised and rejected of men." He was a co-
worker with (ierrit Smith, Samuel I. May, Arthur
Tappan and other prominent men of that period,
and was once a candidate for congress on the aboli-
tion ticket. The mother of Hart was a woman of
marked character, described by one who knew her
as "wholly excellent and supremely good." His
grandfather, Enoch Phillio, a descendant of the
Huguenots, was in the continental army at Valley
Forge and participated in several engagements. He
was ,1 true patriot and a man of strong intellect.
Calvin Phillio, an uncle of Hart's, and a Baptist
clergyman, married for his second wife Miss Pru-
dence Oandall, the originator of free-negro schools
in Rhode Island, and who was prosecuted before
Chief Justice r)oggett for teaching colored persons
to read.
The subject of this sketch received a common-
school education, mainly at Newport, Herkimer
county, where his father practiced his profession for
some time. After leaving school he removed with
the family to Utica, where his father .added the drug
business to his professional practice, and where the
son remained until October, 1856, when he settled
in Grand Rapids. There he was engaged in the
mercantile and lumber trade until the financial
crash of 1857. when, with thousands of other busi-
ness men, he was compelled to close his business.
In boyhood Mr. Phillio had a great fondness for
study, but poor health prevented his taking a regular
college course. His fondness for study, however,
never left him. He often felt a desire to engage in
editorial life, and in the spring of 1858 became local
! editor of the " Wood County Reporter." continuing
I the drug trade al the same time in partnership with
■ J. E. Ingraham, who, in 1873, became a partner
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
351
with him in conducting his paper. One year later
their store and stock of goods were burned, involv-
ing them in heavy losses. For the last four years
Mr. Phillio has been the political editor of the
" Reporter," and for a year or more has been acting
as deputy collector of internal revenue in the sixth
district.
He was appointed postmaster by Mr. Lincoln in
1 86 1, and held that office for nearly eight years.
During the latter part of that time he was clerk of
the court for Wood county. His best work, how-
ever, has been done in connection with journalism.
He has rendered hearty and powerful support to
every enterprise tending to promote the welfare of
both the city and county. He has been president
of the school board for several years and was one of
the visitors to the State University in 1875.
Mr. Phillio became a member of the Congrega-
tional church in 1871, and takes a deep interest in
the general welfare of religion, as well as to that of
the body with which he is connected.
In politics, he was formally, an abolitionist, but
upon the organization of the republican party be-
came identified with that body, to which he still
adheres, believing that it embodies the only political
ethics which can result in the highest good of the
nation.
On the ist of September, 1858, he was married to
Miss Isabella Ingraham, a niece of the author of
the " House of David," " Pillar of Fire," etc. They
have seven children living and lost one in infancy.
Mrs. Phillio is an amiable christian lady, possessing
most excellent judgment and all the womanly virtues.
Mr. Phillio is five feet nine inches in height, and
weighs one hundred and sixty-five pounds. He is a
man of social disposition, frank and open-hearted.
In dealing with his fellow-men he places confidence
in all, regarding all as honest and well-meaning as
himself He is kind to everybody and loves his
home and family with an intensity not often wit-
nessed. It will be a long time before the world will
have a surplus of such men as Hart B. Phillio.
LEVI E. OBER, M.D.,
LA CROSSE.
DR. OP)ER, a native of Vermont, was born at
Rockingham, Windham county, July 31, 1819,
and is the son of William and Fanny (Fairbanks)
Ober. In 1830 the family removed to Ohio and
settled on a farm at Claridon, Geauga county, Levi
remaining constantly at home until eighteen years
of age, assisting in tilling the soil and attending
school, a part of the time at an academy near by.
Having an ingenious turn of mind, he was naturally
led into mechanical pursuits ; for some years he
worked more or less at different trades in order to
procure means for prosecuting his studies, and con-
tinued his literary studies, interspersed with manual
labor, until about 1843. Mr. Ober began to study
medicine with Dr. Storm Rosa, of Painesville, about
1845. He continued the same with Dr. Richmond,
of Chardon, and attended lectures in the medical
department of Western Reserve College, Cleveland,
and at the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati;
and in March, 1850, he took the first diploma issued
by the last-named institution. Subsequently he re-
ceived a homoeopathic diploma from the same col-
lege. Afterward he attended a course of lectures
at the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia.
41
During the year 1850 Dr. Ober began the practice
of homoeopathy at Moline, Illinois, and continued
there for seven years. He removed to La Crosse,
Wisconsin, in 1857, and has there been constantly
engaged in practice until the present time (1877),
except when attending medical lectures or traveling
to recruit his health, impaired by overwork. Twice
he has been obliged to retire for a season to recu-
perate. In 1872 he went to Europe, traveling
through England, Belgium, parts of Germany, Swit-
zerland and spending the winter of 1872-73 in Italy.
While abroad he visited hospitals, and in various
ways largely extended his researches in medical
science. Dr. Ober has spared no pains in cultivat-
ing himself and in increasing his skill in the healing
art, and spent some time in attending clinical lectures
and in the Eye and Ear Infirmary of New York.
He was one of the original organizers of the Illi-
nois Homoeopathic Medical Association, and aided
in forming the present Homoeopathic Medical So-
ciety of Wisconsin, and has been president of both
organizations, and also presided over the National
Medical Society. He has an honorary degree from
the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago.
352
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Dr. Ober is a very active member of the Baptist
church, a deacon of the same, and one of its most
liberal supporters. In all religious and benevolent
matters he takes a deep interest, and is in every
respect a kind, sympathizing and true man.
In politics he is a republican of whig antecedents,
but takes little interest in political matters more than
to perform his duties as a citizen.
Dr. Ober has had two wives: the first was Abi-
gail Carr, of Jefferson, Ohio, to whom he was married
in November, 1843, and who died in August, 1875,
leaving two children ; the second was Mrs. Helen
M. Burbank Whitney, of St. Paul, Minnesota ; they
were married in September, 1876.
Dr. Ober is a good surgeon, a skillful aurist, and
an eminent and successful general practitioner.
HON. SIMEON MILLS,
SIMEON MILLS was born in Norfolk, I-itch-
field county, Connecticut, February 14, 1810.
His father, Martin Mills, was the son of Constantine
Mills, a revolutionary soldier. His mother was the
daughter of Clement Tuttle, also a soldier of the
revolution. In 181 1 his father was one of the pio-
neer settlers in the dense forests of northern Ohio,
where the subject of this sketch was brought up to
the active labor of farming in a new country, receiv-
ing at the same time a good common-school educa-
tion. At the age of twenty he engaged for a short
time in teaching a district school, but soon procur-
ing a situation in a store, abandoned teaching, and
was engaged in mercantile pursuits for several years
thereafter.
In May, 1834, he was married to Maria Louisa
Smith, daughter of Church Smith, a native of Berk-
shire county, Massachusetts. In the spring of 1835
he made his first journey west, going around the
upper lakes on the steamer Thomas Jefferson, on
her first trip to Chicago. In 1836 he visited Wis-
consin, and upon the location of the seat of govern-
ment at the Four Lakes, determined to make that
his future home. In pursuance of such determina-
tion, on the loth of June, 1837, he located at Mad-
ison, erected a small building of hewed logs, sixteen
by eighteen feet ; purchased a small stock of goods
at Galena, and opened the first store at the capital
city of Wisconsin.
At this time there was no mail route or mail
between Madison and Milwaukee, but in the fall of
that year he made a contract with the United States
for carrying the mail between those points until the
ist of July, 1842. The difficulties of getting the
mail through twice a week, with no houses between
Madison and Aztalan, and at rare intervals the re-
mainder of the route, with streams and marshes un-
bridged and roads unbuilt, cannot be easily under-
stood or appreciated by the present generation, as
they fly over the country with the speed of the wind,
and talk with the antipodes as to next-door neigh-
bors. The task was accomplished, however, with-
out the loss of a single trip during the life of the
contract — a feat rarely performed at the present
time, though the distance is spanned with iron and
traversed by powerful locomotives.
On the 12th of August, 1837, he was appointed
the first justice of the peace in Dane county, and
probably the only one at that time between Dodge-
ville and Milwaukee. In 1839 Dane county was
organized, and he was elected one of the county
commissioners, and appointed clerk of the court,
which latter office he held about nine years. He
held the office of territorial treasurer when the State
government was organized, and was elected the first
senator from Dane county, afterward re-nominated
and declined. In 1848 he was appointed one of the
regents of the University of Wisconsin, and took an
active part in the organization and commencement
of the institution, purchasing its site and superin-
tending the erection of its first buildings. In i860
he was appointed one of the trustees of the State
Hospital for the Insane, and has been an active
member of that board for fifteen years, taking a
deep interest in the erection of buildings and the
general management of affairs in and about the in-
stitution. He has been identified with public im-
provements, and contributed largely to the early
prosperity of the city. He invested all his gains in
lands and the erection of buildings, making their
care the business of his life.
Mr. Mills is remarkable for quick perception,
sound judgment, thorough self-reliance, great ener-
gy, and unwavering perseverance. His knowledge
^A/n^M.'
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
355
is practical, and his habits industrious and econom-
ical. He has aided in building schools, colleges
and churches, and in developing the resources of a
new country has encouraged his fellow-man, by pre-
cept and example, to attain a higher civilization.
In religion he always claimed to be orthodox,
having been early taught to believe " that (iod fore-
ordained whatsoever comes to pass." He believes
that the Creator and ruler of all things would pro-
vide and care for the future as for the past, and
having an abiding faith in the wisdom and benevo-
lence of God, was satisfied to trust the hereafter
entirely in his hands. He did not believe that
Providence ever helped those that failed to help
themselves, or that the intercessions of the creature
with the Creator ever lifted the weight of a feather
from the burdens we bear, or added a single grain
to the product of the land. He often expressed the
desire that he might leave the world no worse than
he found it.
ISAAC LACY MOSHER,
GRAND RAPIDS.
FEW men in "Wood county, Wisconsin, are better
known or more highly respected than the sub-
ject of this sketch. He has repeatedly held positions
of honor and trust, and has never betrayed the con-
fidence placed in him. A native of New York, he
was born in the town of White Creek, Washington
county, January 24, 1819, his parents being Jabez
and Elizabeth (Doane) Mosher. His early home
was among agriculturists, and to that class he be-
longed until about twenty-six years of age, receiving
only three months' schooling after he was fourteen.
In the autumn of 1844 he removed to the West,
settling at first at Prairie du Sac, Sauk county, Wis-
consin. There he entered land, designing to improve
it, but by reason of a protracted illness he removed,
in December, 1848, to Grand Rapids, then only the
nucleus of a village. The whites consisted of about
a dozen men, real settlers, and four or five women.
Menomonee and Chippewa Indians were abundant.
On reaching Grand Rapids he became a clerk in a
store, and held that position six years. At the expi-
ration of that time he engaged in the mercantile
trade on his own account, and continuing it until
the spring of 1876, when by reason of business re-
verses, he was compelled to retire. In looking around
for a faithful man with whom to intrust its funds,
the county selected Mr. Mosher and elected him in
November, 1876. He had been tried before and
found to be true and trustworthy, and was, in fact,
the first treasurer the county ever had, serving in
the years 1857 and 1858. At an earlier day he was
justice of the peace one or two terms, and subse-
quently was county commissioner for two years, and
county judge three, resigning the latter office in
1876 to take that of treasurer.
In politics he was formerly a whig, but since the
organization of the republican party became identi-
fied with that party.
In November, 1852, he was married to Miss Olive
Moore, of Grand Rapids, and by her has five chil-
dren.
As a business man Mr. Mosher is careful and con-
scientious, perfectly reliable, and always at his post.
It is doubtful if he has an enemy in Wood county.
SHERBURN BRYANT,
MIL 11 'A ( L<EE.
THE subject of this sketch was born in Thetford,
Vermont, June 20, 1826, the eldest child of
Lester and Anna Bryant. His earlier life was passed
on a farm, where he assisted his father during the
summer months, and in the winters attended the
district schools. Possessing an enterprising and en-
ergetic spirit, the narrow routine of farm life was ill
suited to satisfy his ambition ; and at the age of
eighteen, leaving his home, he went to Boston, and
entered the employ of a Mr. Snow, a builder and
contractor, with whom he remained one year. At
the expiration of this time he went to Portland, and
later was engaged in his chosen occupation in many
of the eastern cities, giving close attention to his
356
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
business and making it a success. After leaving
home he returned two winters and attended the
Thetford Academy, and during the four succeeding
seasons engaged in teaching in adjoining towns,
meeting with eminent success. In the spring of
185 1 Mr. Bryant removed to Milwaukee, and with-
out capital, save his business abilities and firm deter-
mination to succeed, laid the foundation of his future
success. By careful industry and economy he grad-
ually accumulated property ; and although subjected
to many hardships, endured cheerfully all the vicis-
situdes of his lot. Each year added to the amount
of his hard-earned savings, and by judicious invest-
ments, he became possessor of many valuable lots,
and now owns some of the finest residences and
building places in the city. In 1869, turning aside
from his regular business, Mr. Bryant invested in a
milling enterprise. The movement, however, was
far from being successful ; and after a year of mis-
fortunes he withdrew from the firm, and with a new
vigor resumed his legitimate occupation. He has
recently turned his attention toward the lumber
trade, and has built up a flourishing business in con-
nection with his building. Mr. Bryant's habits from
early life have been exceedingly simple. Modest
and retiring in his disposition, he abhors all pretense
and display, and by the genuineness of his frank,
open manhood, has endeared himself to all who
know him. Politically, he is a firm supporter of the
republican party, although he takes no active part
in political matters, more than to perform his duties
as a true and upright citizen. A member of no re-
ligious organization, he adheres to no creed, the
constant rule of his life having been, " to do by
others as he would have them do by him," and in
all his business and social relations, he has never
willfully forgotten his duties to others, in seeking
his own selfish pleasure. An ardent lover of every
principle of right, he has a moral record free from
stain, and a name unsullied. Mr. Bryant was married
January 9, 185 1, to Miss Clara Henry, of Troy, Ver-
mont, a lady of rare prudence and womanly judg-
ment. Although for many years a great sufferer
from ill health, she neverneglected her home duties.
With a true devotion she cheerfully and patiently
endured all the ills and hardships of their early life
in the West ; and to her is due much of the pros-
perity of her husband.
They have had eight children, three of whom
died in infancy. Hattie E., the eldest, now living,
was born September 2, 1853, and is a young lady of
rare culture and accomplishments, She is a gradu-
ate of the Milwaukee Female College, and a fine
musician, and by her various accomplishments is
rendered a favorite of her many friends. Flora
Belle, the second daughter, possessed of equal abili-
ties, has been unable to enjoy her advantages, by
reason of physical ailments. Her cheerfulness has
made her the light of the household, and the patience
with which she has borne her sufferings has doubly
endeared her to the hearts of all. These, with two
younger daughters and one son, comprise the family,
who with their parents live in the enjoyment of a
most happy and delightful home.
While his business talents place Mr. Bryant among
the foremost men of his city, he is no less worthy in
his domestic relations. His delight in home com-
forts, his sympathy with the pleasures of the young,
with his other qualities, complete a character at
once earnest, genial, generous and true.
GENERAL ALBERT G. ELLIS,
STEVENS POINT.
ALBERT GALLATIN ELLIS was born at Ve-
f\. rona, Oneida county. New York, August 24,
1800. William H. Ellis, his grandfather, came from
Scotland, and his father, Eleazer Ellis, was born at
Dedham, Massachusetts, April 25, 1766. When the
subject of this sketch was born, his father (a teacher
in earlier life) was opening a farm, on which Albert
spent the first fifteen years of his life, with very lim-
ited opportunities for mental culture. At the age
mentioned his father died, and his mother, with her
two children, disposed of her small property and
moved to Litchfield, Herkimer county. Thus,
thrown upon his own resources, v^fith neither money
nor acquaintance with the ways of the world, but
with a resolute will, Albert, in the spring of 181 6,
went to the village of Herkimer, and entered the
office of the " Herkimer American," as an appren-
tice (the office where William L. Stone and Thur-
low Weed had recently learned the printing business).
There he remained for several years, and learned
UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
357
the art of printing; and by having his time to him-
self on Saturday afternoons, he managed, by taking
in job work, to accumulate small sums, most of
which he sent in weekly remittances to his mother
and younger sister. He thus learned to be frugal
and generous, as well as self-reliant and industrious.
He also sought good associates, and followed their
counsels. He attended church and laid the founda-
tion of a solid Christian character. There, also, by
associating with young men better educated than
himself — notably Francis E. Spinner, his junior in
years, but his superior in knowledge, — he had his
ambition for higher mental attainments kindled, and
he was led to make the best use of any spare
moments which he could possibly command.
At the close of his apprenticeship he returned to
his native village, and spent si.x months in a gram-
mar school, taught by Thomas T. Loomis. At the
solicitation of Rev. Eleazer Williams — the imagi-
nary "Dauphin" once supposed to be among us —
he became a teacher of the Oneida Indians at Oneida
Castle, commencing in November, 1819, and contin-
uing nearly three years, and becoming so familiar
with the Mohawk language as to be able to read the
church prayers and homilies to the Indians on Sun-
days when Mr. Williams was absent.
In May, 1822, Mr. Ellis was appointed by the
Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal
church, catechist and lay-reader to the Indians at
Green Bay, and that position he held nearly five
years, Mr. Williams being at the head of the Mis-
sion the first year or two.
In 1827, by appointment of Lewis Cass, then gov-
ernor of Michigan Territory, he was made inspector
of provisions for the district of Green Bay; the ne.\t
year he was appointed deputy surveyor of govern-
ment lands by Surveyor-general Edward Tiffin, and
executed several surveys under his direction. In
the autumn of 1830 he was designated to construct
a map for a delegation of Menomonee Indians, visit-
ing Washington under charge of the Indian agent,
Colonel S. C. Stambaugh, and spent the following
winter at the national capital as secretary of the
delegation. In August, 1832, he was commissioned
to survey and establish a boundary line between the
Menomonee and New York Indians, and tlie next
year was directed to survey a large district of pub-
lic lands near Green Bay, which, by renewed ap-
pointments the next two years, was extended to
adjoining districts. In 1836 he was elected to the
legislature to represent Brown county, then compris-
ing nearly one-half of Wisconsin, and in 1837 was
appointed surveyor-general of Wisconsin and Iowa,
a position which he held during Mr. Van Buren's
administration, and resigned in 1841. He has since
been known as General Ellis, he disowning any mil-
itary record. "General" George W. Jones, since
United States senator from Iowa, succeeded him as
surveyor-general.
In 1842 and 1843 we again find Mr. Ellis in the
territorial legislature, and soon afterward he became
sub-Indian agent of the district of Green Bay, serv-
ing in that capacity till he resigned in 1848.
In 1853 he was appointed receiver of the land
office at Stevens Point, having left his old home at
Green Bay in 1852, after thirty long years' residence
there, and where he had started the " Green Bay
Intelligencer" just twenty years before becoming
receiver. There he held the office of receiver until
1862, when, the republicans being in power, another
was appointed in his place, he having always been,
and still being, a democrat.
In December, 1852, he established "The Pinery,"
a political paper now conducted by Caleb Swayze.
General Ellis has been a liberal contributor to the
volumes of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and his
writings are among its rich treasures. His " Fifty-
four Years' Recollections of Men and Events in Wis-
consin " are full of interest and of great value.
He joined the Protestant Episcopal church in his
native town in 1820, and has always been a consist-
ent member of the same. In 1853, at Stevens Point,
one of his first steps was to see that a church of his
order was erected, and he is now senior warden of
this religious body.
General Ellis has had two wives. The first was
Miss Pamela Holmes, of Winfield, Herkimer coun-
ty, New York, to whom he was married in 1824.
She lived at Green Bay from 1824 to 1847, when
she died, leaving four sons and one daughter; one
son and the daughter have since died. Hon. E. H.
Ellis, the eldest son, is judge of the tenth judicial
circuit, and resides at Green Bay ; Fred. S. Ellis,
late mayor of Green Bay, is now treasurer of Brown
county, and R. F. C. Ellis is a citizen of Rochester,
New York; Orange R. Ellis died at Milwaukee three
years ago. The second wife of General Ellis was
Eliza C. J. C. Breuninger, a native of Stuttgard,
Germany. Their marriage occurred in 1848. She
died in November, 1872, leaving eight children, all
girls, and all living with their venerated father. Her
only son, Theodore, died two years before her demise.
358
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
It will be seen that General Ellis has held many
positions of trust and honor in what is now the State
of Wisconsin, and he left every one of them with
an untarnished record. No person could be more
faithful than he was in the discharge of his obliga-
tions to the public. He has lived a pure, remark-
ably industrious and eminently praiseworthy life,
and has left the impress of a character that shall
always shine brightly in the history of his adopted
State.
SANFORD A. HUDSON,
JANES^'II.LE.
THE subject of this sketch was born at Oxford,
Worcester county, Massachusetts, May i6,
1817, and is the son of Amos Hudson and Mary n^e
Fisk. . The genealogy of his father's family has not
been carefully preserved, but it is claimed that he
is descended from the same ancestry as the great
navigator and explorer, Hendrick Hudson ; while
on the mother's side he is descended from Richard
Haven, who immigrated from England and settled
in Lynn, Massachusetts, about the year 1644. His
maternal grandfather. Dr. Daniel Fisk, was one of
the leading physicians of his county and a man of
considerable prominence. From a published gene-
alogy of the descendants of the above-named Rich-
ard Haven, and embracing some eight or nine
degrees of consanguinity and upward of thirty
thousand persons, the descent of our subject from
this common ancestor is thus traced : " Sanford A.
Hudson, son of Mary Fisk, daughter of Daniel F'isk,
son of Isaac Fisk, son of Hannah Haven, daughter
of Richard Haven, son of Moses Haven, son of (the
original) Richard Haven." In the first edition of
the work referred to, which was published in 1843,
there occur the names of some twenty-five gradu-
ates by the name of Haven, from this ancestor, from
Cambridge, Dartmouth, Providence and Amherst
colleges, and twenty-nine in the same line of other
names from Cambridge, Dartmouth, Providence,
Amherst, Yale, Union and Middlebury colleges,
while the descendants of this distinguished patri-
arch under various names embrace many prominent
citizens in every department of industry, science
and art in every State in the Union and of Canada.
The consideration of the above facts leads us to
indulge in a line of thought but little, in proportion
to its interesting and important nature, pursued or
carried out. The Arabians are much more practi-
cal about the genealogical tables of their horses than
man, the heir of immortality, is about the names of
the sires from whom he has sprung. Be it remem-
bered that every man must have two grandfathers,
four great-grandfathers, eight great-great-grandfath-
ers, and that not less than sixteen in the male line
had a share in his paternity in the fourth generation.
Thus paternity involves increase according to the
laws of geometrical progression, and the ancestors
of the humblest in the land twenty generations up
would outnumber the population of a large-sized
kingdom. But how few are there who know or care
anything about these things ? We believe, however,
that the century upon which we are now entering
will witness a marked change in this respect, and
that in the coming time every birth will be made
matter of record, and men will see as clearly as in
the genealogy of the Saviour how many heroes, like
Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and the good King
Hezekiah, had a share in leading to the birth of the
great and good — the leaders of the world. There
never was in this world a great, good man that
could not have traced his name and his fame to
worth in the ancestral line. " The seed of evil-
doers shall never be renowned," is a Scriptural
oracle, and never was there a truly good man that
did not found a dynasty, though he may not have
lived to see it glorified. In the people of this great
nation the virtues and powers of the whole earth
seem to be represented; hence there may be en-
tailed upon this magnificent continent of ours bless-
ings derived from confluent streams of worth that
shall change this earth into a paradise.
To return to the subject before us. The father
of _ our subject inherited a small fortune, which he
invested in a cotton manufactory at Oxford, which
proved unprofitable. He afterward immigrated with
his family (our subject being then but three years
old) to Jefferson county. New York, which was at
that day considered " the far West," and though al-
most entirely without capital he engaged in the manu-
facture of scythes, and built up in the woods what
was named the " Sandy Creek Factory." This he
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIOXAR]-.
359
conducted with moderate success for nine years,
when he died, leaving a widow and seven children
— two older and three younger than our subject,
who was then twelve years of age. The business
had become embarrassed, and the losses incident
to the settling up of the estate left nothing for the
family. His eldest brother, then twenty years of
age, continued the business, and Sanford worked
with him, and learned the trade of edged-tool mak-
ing, and ultimately that of general blacksmithing.
The former married early and soon had a family of
his own to maintain. Hence the support of the
mother and younger children mainly devolved upon
our subject, so that but few educational advantages
were enjoyed by him. Prior to the death of his
father he attended the common schools during the
winter months, and after that event, when about si.x-
teen years of age, spent two terms at Union Acad-
emy, Belleville. This constituted the sum total of
his schooling. By the study of such books as he
could procure, however, he was able, at the age of
twenty, to pass a competitive examination for the
position of school teacher, and for several years
taught a district school numbering about one hun-
dred pupils with considerable credit. The disci-
pline which this occupation afforded was of the
greatest benefit to his own mind, while it afforded a
much coveted opportunity of aiding in the educa-
tion of his twin-brothers, two years younger than
himself After aiding them to the best of his ability,
he defrayed their expenses to New York city, where
they were apprenticed to the steel engraving busi-
ness, in which they made considerable progress ; but
their career in this line was interrupted by the mon-
etary revulsions which made the year 1837 memor-
able. Thrown out of employment they again looked
to their brother, who now resolved to aid them in
the study of medicine. He continued to work at
his trade and to teach school occasionally, and by
this means was enabled also to support his mother,
who resided with him till her death in 1856. His
brothers graduated with honor at Albany Medical
College in 1847, and have since become distin-
guished in their profession. One of them, Abishu
S., was at one time a professor in the Keokuk (Iowa)
Medical College, and afterward, about the year 1852,
filled the chair of obstetrics and diseases of women
in Rush Medical College, Chicago, Illinois. They
were both surgeons in the army during the late war,
and are now residing on the Pacific slope.
Thus absorbed in the interests of others he had
no time to plan or make calculations for his own
future, and probably never would have bethought
him of a profession for himself but for an accident
which happened to him in 1846, while working at
his trade in Sacket's Harbor, New York, by which
one of his hands became permanently injured. Un-
able further to pursue his trade or to perform any
manual labor, he followed the advice of friends, who
rightly judged of the instincts of his mind, and be-
gan the study of law, entering the law office of Dyer
N. Burnham, Esq., at Sacket's Harbor. He was
admitted to the bar in 1848, after being examined
with a class of sixteen, half of whom were rejected.
It was with much hesitancy and embarrassment that
he entered upon the practice of his profession, for
although his attainments in the science of jurispru-
dence were not inferior to the average of incipient
attorneys, yet he felt keenly his lack of education,
and regarded it as little less than presumption and
folly on his part to attempt to compete with learned
and cunning members of the profession. He formed
a partnership with John R. Bennett, Esq., now a res-
ident of Janesville, who had been a fellow-student
with him in the office of Mr. Burnham, and who had •
been admitted to the bar a few months previously,
and to whom he cheerfully acknowledges a debt of
gratitude for valuable assistance willingly rendered
in his studies.
In the autumn of the same year (1848) they re-
solved to remove to the West. They had never
heard of Janesville before leaving New York, but
during the journey they heard it highly spoken of
as a promising village in the interior of Wisconsin.
The place fully met their expectations, and has
since been their home. They arrived in time to
participate in the presidential canvass which was
then at its height, and in a number of able speeches
Mr. Hudson supported the whig candidate — Gen-
eral Taylor — for the Presidency, and his old friend,
Orsumus Cole, formerly of New York, then the whig
candidate for congress in southern Wisconsin. After
the campaign was ended the partners commenced to
practice, and continued together, enjoying a large
and increasing clientage, until 1852, when they dis-
solved, Mr. Hudson purchasing the interest of his
partner in their library. He has since continued
the practice alone; and, notwithstanding the diffi-
culties referred to above, he has achieved a success
and popularity in his profession which has fallen to
the lot of but few men. As a lawyer he is sound
and conscientious, laborious and painstaking, e.\-
36o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
hausting every resource in the interest of his clients ;
while in every relation of life his integrity and hon-
esty are conspicuous. Amiable in disposition, social
in manners, kind and courteous to everybody, he is,
in every respect, such a citizen as any community
may well delight to honor.
From an early period of his life Mr. Hudson
took a lively interest in political matters. As early
as 1844, when Henry Clay was the whig candidate
for President, he engaged actively in his support in
New York State, and on several occasions, in com-
pany with Hon. Orsumus Cole — now of the su-
preme court of Wisconsin — addressed large public
meetings. In 1845, when the legislature of New
York submitted to a vote of the people the question
of licensing the sale of into.xicating liquors, he took
an earnest and active part on the negative side of
the question, and with very considerable effect.
Since then he has been a staunch and uncompro-
mising advocate of total abstinence.
In 1853 the town of Janesville obtained a city
charter, and our subject was elected the first attor-
ney of the new corporation. In the preceding year
he had been nominated by the whig party for the
position of prosecuting attorney for the county of
Rock, but was not elected.
In 1856 the city obtained an amendment to its
charter establishing a city court having jurisdiction
over all criminal and city prosecutions; over this
Mr. Hudson was elected to preside. In 1858 he
was elected mayor of Janesville, and held that office
two years. In 1863 he was again elected presiding
magistrate of the city court, and held the office
seven years consecutively and two years at a subse-
quent period, in all nine years. Since then he has
devoted himself exclusively to his profession, prac-
ticing before the State and United States courts,
being also a United States court commissioner.
In politics he was originally a whig, and subse-
quently a republican. His first vote was cast for
General Harrison in 1840, and his last was for Gen-
eral Hayes in 1876. He was one of the organizers
of the republican party in Wisconsin, and has acted
with it ever since.
He was raised in the communion of the Presbyte-
rian church, of which his parents wfere members, but
in 1853 he became a member of the Trinity Prot-
estant Episcopal Church of Janesville, and has
been one of its wardens for the last twenty-two
years.
On the 13th of October, 1847, he was married to
Miss Sarah D., daughter of John M. Canfield, Esq.,
of Sacket's Harbor, New York. They have five
children. The eldest son, Theodore C, graduated
at Racine College in the class of 1873, and is now
receiving a theological education with a view to the
ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church, in
which he expects to take orders during the current
year (1877). The others are Frances S., Harriet J.,
Sanford H. and Sarah C.
In reviewing his life, Mr. Hudson's main cause of
regret is that he had not early given himself to study
and secured a thorough education ; for although he
has, in a great measure, overcome this disadvantage
and attained to a most enviable eminence in his
profession, yet his lack of a classical education has
often been to him a cause of much mortification and
embarrassment.
JOHN CHRISTOPHER CLARKE,
WA USA U.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of North
Wales, was born on the Isle of Anglesea, Febru-
ary 17, 1831. His parents were William Clarke and
Mary Ann nee Burwell. The Burwells are an ancient
and highly respectable family, and trace their history
back to the invasion of England by the Normans in
the eleventh century. The name originated thus : A
Sir John, having encamped with his followers near
a well where was an abundance of burrs, was called
"John the burr well." The mother of our subject,
a true and noble woman, lost her husband in North
Wales in 1S38, and lience had the early and almost
exclusive training of her children, nine in number.
His grandfather came to this country in 1820, and
sleeps in Trinity Churchyard, New York city.
j John C. came to the United States with a brother-
j in-law and sister, Mrs. Davey, when he was fourteen
j years old, having prior to that time enjoyed good
educational advantages, closing with six months'
attendance at a mechanics' institute in Liverpool,
England. He accompanied his relatives to Blue
Mound, Dane county, Wisconsin, in June, 1845 ;
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
361
but not being pleased with his situation, in Septem-
ber following, went to what is now Cross Plains,
and worked three months as a chore-boy for Colonel
George R. C. Floyd, at that time secretary of Wis-
consin Territory, receiving a compensation of three
dollars per month. At the end of this time, without
a dollar in his pocket, he went northward into Por-
tage, now Marathon county, to Big Ball Falls, now
Wausau. There he was for a short time engaged
as cook in a logging shanty, at advanced wages; he
subsequently worked in saw-mills, and running on
the river ; and finally as a hired man became a pilot,
sometimes receiving as high as fifty dollars a day —
a handsome advance on his wages at the start, with
the government official at Cross Plains.
In 1855 Mr. Clarke began to operate on his own
responsibility, buying lumber and shipping it to St.
Louis. In the spring of i860, he rented Mr. Wal-
rod's mill property, and four years later purchased
the same, and still owns it, with numerous and large
accessions. In 1874 he sold his whole property for
a large sum, but the bargain was finally revoked and
he still operates his mills. He has large tracts of
pine and other timbered and farm lands, besides a
fine farm one mile from Wausau, and other property,
all of which he has accumulated by careful, enter-
prising, honorable and energetic effort.
Soon after Marathon county was organized Mr.
Clarke was elected county clerk, but declined to act ;
he held the office of sherift' in i860 and 1861 ; was
chairman of the board of supervisors five years, and
has been a member of the council most of the time
since Wausau had a city charter. He is a prompt and
very efficient man, whether acting officially or in his
private capacity. In politics he has always been a
democrat, and is among the leaders of that party in
his county. He was a delegate to the national con-
vention which met at St. Louis in June, 1876.
Mr. Clarke is an attendant of the Episcopal church,
and a liberal supporter of the gospel. He is very
kind to the poor, and takes special delight in help-
ing those who would help themselves. He has had
two wives. The first was Miss Ann M. Gibson, of
England, to whom he was married in September,
1853, and who died that same year. The second
was Miss Rhoda J. Putnam, of Sycamore, Illinois.
She has had eleven children, four of whom are now
living. Having been for more than thirty years a
resident of Wausau, Mr. Clarke has seen it grow up
from the rough beginnings of a village to a city of
four thousand inhabitants, with fine churches and
school-houses, elegant and almost imposing man-
sions, and all the indications of \yealth, civilization
and refinement; and few men have done more than
he to make Wausau what it is. The deep impress
of his hand is on all public improvements. He him-
self has one of the finest residences and most at-
tractive homes in Wausau.
GEORGE H. MYERS,
APPLETON.
THE subject of this biography is a native of
Middletown, Delaware county. New York. His
father, Samuel Myers, was a farmer. The maiden
name of his mother was Rachel Austin. His pater-
nal grandfather, a Hessian, came to this country in
the British army. He was captured with General
Burgoyne, but made his escape while the prisoners
were on their way to Boston. Going into New York
State he worked awhile, intending to return to the
old world when the captured army should be released
and sent home, but finally settled on a farm in Del-
aware county, where he remained until his demise.
Samuel Myers moved to Erie county, Pennsylva-
nia, in 1828, and settled on a farm four miles from
Waterford.
George Henry, our subject, worked on the farm
42
until about his twentieth year, and then spent about
three years at academies in Waterford and EriCi
He afterward studied law with Hon. John H. Gal-
braith (afterward district judge in northwestern
Pennsylvania), and was admitted to the bar at Erie
in May, 1849. On the nth of the next October he
opened a law office in Appleton, Wisconsin, then a
village of about three hundred inhabitants. He was
the first lawyer who settled in Outagamie county,
and when it was organized, in the spring of 1852, he
was elected district attorney for the short term of
nine months. Subsequently, he held the office two
years more. In April, 1861, he was elected county
judge, and resigned the office in February, 1865 ; and
going into the army as adjutant of the 50th Regiment
Wisconsin Infantry, served six months, and then re-
362
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
signed. Prior to enlisting he was draft commissioner
a short time, under appointment of Governor Solo-
mon. He was postmaster for eight years, commenc-
ing in August, 1 868. In politics he was formerly a
whig, and later a republican. He is a member of
the Methodist Episcopal church, and one of the
trustees of that society, in Appleton. His Christian
integrity is above suspicion.
August 25, 1852, Judge Myers was married to Miss
Betsey Ann Hawley, of Liberty, Susquehanna county,
Pennsylvania. They have had two children, one of
whom, a daughter, eight years old, is now living.
The offices which Judge Myers has held, only
part of which have been named, were mostly in the
line of his profession, and were urged upon him. He
is a lawyer, and wishes to be known as such, and
such only. He has a large and very valuable law
library, and is a diligent student, and a growing man
in the legal fraternity, and stands in the front rank
in his county and circuit. Those who have long
and intimately known him, say that he never encour-
ages a person to go to law unless that person, in his
judgment, has a clear case. The Judge is modest,
unassuming, courteous — in every respect a Christian
gentleman, and is highly esteemed for his many good
qualities.
SAMUEL BROWN.
MILWAUKEE.
SAMUEL BROWN was born at Belchertown,
Hampshire county, Massachusetts, on the 8th
of January, 1804. His father died when he, the
eldest son, was but eight years old. An older sister
and two children younger than himself were thus
thrown largely upon him for support and care. The
same uncomplaining readiness to assume burdens
which marked all his later life was characteristic of
his boyhood. He was "a boy who took responsi-
bility," says of him one who was acquainted with
his years of boyhood. From the time of his father's
death, until at the age of eighteen he left the early
homestead to learn a trade, he worked much with
an uncle who, in return for the boy's labor, helped
largely to carry on the widowed mother's farm.
At the age of fifteen, Samuel Brown became a
Christian, and by so early a conversion there was
secured to him nearly sixty years of activity in
Christ's service. He and his sister older than him-
self, after being propounded for two months, as was
then the custom, united with the church at the com-
munion in May, 18 19. Since the father's death it
had been the custom of the godly mother to gather
her children every day and read the Bible and pray
with them in family devotion. One morning, soon
after his conversion, when the mother, having read
as usual, closed the book and kneeled down to pray,
the son said : " Mother, shall I not take the lead
now.'" After that time the boy Samuel took the
lead in the family devotions. The same unassum-
ing readiness to speak in any proper place and time
for Christ remained with hini till his death.
I At the age of twenty-two he was married to Miss -i
Dougherty, who some two years subsequently died,
leaving her husband with a daughter for his care
and love. At the time of his wife's funeral he was
himself too ill to attend, the same fever which car-
ried her away having brought him, after running a
course of more than forty days, into the very mouth
of the grave.
In 1 83 1 he united with a colony and a colony j
church at Northampton, intending with them to set- |
tie himself at Bureau Grove, now Princeton, Illinois, !
But God had marked with his eye a more important i
place for him, where afterward a northern city was
to grow up, and therefore turned aside the steps of
his migratory child. Mr. Brown arrived in northern \
Ohio too late to take the canal, now frozen up for ]
the winter, and so from Toledo he moved further |
north and west to St. Joseph, Michigan. Here he
buried his wife, whom as Miss Lyman he had mar-
ried in South Hadley, and with her her only child. \
After nearly two years of stay in Michigan he re-
moved in August, 1833, to Chicago and began work |
as builder. The first Tremont House in that city j
was erected by him. The same spirit of fidelity I
which characterized his Christian living made excel- I
lent his work with plane, hammer and saw. His j
good workmanship secured for him the title of Cap-
tain Brown. \
It was about January i, 1835, that a letter from
Mr. Brown reached Troy, New York. In this letter
he wrote that he had been up to see a place called
Milwaukee, liked it, and should go there to settle. '
(i^^!^ in^U-^Mi 'O ^^ZJ'Z-.^'-Z-^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
365
It was a new place, he added, and he intended
to stay and grow up with the place. That place,
then new, grew to a city of a hundred thousand,
while the man, then in the vigor of thirty, was grow-
ing to the gray hairs and ripened manhood of a
Christian at seventy. Of no other man in the city
can it be so truly said, " he has grown up with the
city." A short time previous to the sending of this
letter Mr. Brown, in company with Mr. Chase, had
come to Milwaukee, they two thus being the oldest
settlers, and neither knowing who was the first to
step off the gang-plank of the steamer. In order to
locate his claim, he built upon the land he intended
to preempt, on the hill above Vliet street, between
Second and Third streets, a house eleven feet by
thirteen in dimensions, with one room, made of logs
and covered with "shake" shingles — oak shingles,
four feet long, bound down with poles, which were
withed to the logs of the house. In this house lived
for a time the first American family among the set-
tlers of this city. Into this house he brought the
wife whom he had married in Chicago, who with
him has seen all these vast changes, and who now
survives to mourn her husband. In those early
years of his residence here Mr. Brown engaged
actively in work as a master builder, sometimes
employing as many as twenty men.
When, in the summer of 1837, at a meeting held
in the court-house, a church was formed by the Rev.
Mr. Ordway, and it was decided by vote that the
church should be Presbyterian, Deacon Brown,
though by conviction and training a Congregation-
alist, was chosen one of its first elders.
His long experience as a master builder made
him a man of affairs, and led him to take a lively
interest in all that tended to advance the prosperity
of the place. He has been the friend of education
in- this city, having served long and well as school
commissioner. He has been the friend of the poor,
especially of that little circle of tenants which in
later years has been gathered upon his land about
his own door. He was the friend of the slave. He
was a man of marked Christian simplicity. In all
the best meaning of those words, he had the heart
of a child. When he spoke he meant just as he
spoke it, and for Christ's sake. He was a man of
marked fidelity as a Christian, and his was a fidelity
which went through the entire life. This city, though
comparatively few of its thousands knew him per-
sonally, has good reason to deplore his loss, for his
hand planted many of the first seeds that have
ripened into the fruits of these score of Christian
churches.
He gave some ten years of his life to the con-
struction of the La Crosse railroad, and was one of
the directors. He was a member of the city coun-
cil of Milwaukee some four years, and was a mem-
ber of the legislative assembly of Wisconsin one
year. In whatever capacity he acted he brought
industry and zeal to accomplish the end in view,
and was generally successful. In all the relations
of life, as citizen, husband, father and friend, he
commanded the respect and won the esteem of all
who knew him. He died full of years and of hon-
ors, after a well-spent life here and in full faith of •
the life to come.
REV. THEOPHILUS P. SAWIN, Junior,
^AJVESVILLE.
THE subject of this sketch was born at Lynn,
Massachusetts, January 14, 1841. His father,
the Rev. T. P. Sawin, a minister in the same com-
munion, is now preaching in the " Church on the
Green " in Middleboro', Massachusetts, and is one
of the most distinguished and useful divines of the
period. His mother, Martha Mclntyre Mason, a
woman of culture, yet especially domestic in her
nature, is the daughter of a revolutionary soldier, —
Frederick Mason, — who was a participant in the
battle of Saratoga and a witness of the surrender of
Burgoyne at Yorktown. Mr. Sawin is a scion of
one of the oldest families in Massachusetts, his ances-
tors having come over from Lancashire, England,
in 1632, and settled in Boston.
He received a good elementary education from
his father, and prepared for college at Meriden, New-
Hampshire. Like many of the sons of New England
ministers, he was early thrown upon his own re-
sources, and was obliged to work his own way to an
education. Prior to entering college he served as a
clerk for two years in the counting room of the
Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, in Manchester,
New Hampshire. In i860 he entered Yale College,
366
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
where he remained two years, being amongst the
most advanced of his class, and developing rare
traits as a student. At the end of this period, how-
ever, his college career was prematurely brought to
a close by want of means to proceed ; and when this
difficulty was met, a serious attack of illness, followed
by nervous prostration, prevented the completion of
his course. On his recovery he accepted a position
in the Mount Washington Collegiate Institute, New
York city, where for two years he taught Belles-Let-
tres and history. In the winter of 1864-5 he was
engaged in literary labor which brought him to the
West. He located at Milwaukee, AVisconsin, and
after some time spent in literary and reportorial
work, he accepted a situation in the Milwaukee
Classical Academy, where for six years he taught
Latin and the higher mathematics. During the last
named period he employed his spare time in the
study of tReology, paying attention also to philoso-
phy, literature and criticism. He was active in the
Young Men's Library Association, and served at
various times on the board of directors of that or-
ganization.
In 1871 he determined to follow the bent of his
incHnations, and, without ever having attended a
theological seminary or receiving any private direc-
tion in his studies, applied to the Milwaukee district
convention of Congregational ministers for examina-
tion and license to preach the gospel. He passed a
successful examination and was granted an unlim-
ited approbation to preach. In October of that year
he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Con-
gregational Church in Racine, Wisconsin, and was
ordained to the ministry December i, 187 i. Here
he served four years with great acceptance and suc-
cess, when he accepted a call to the pastorate of the
First Congregational Church of Janesville, one of
the largest congregations of that denomination in
the Slate, and was installed in June, 1876. His
religious views are such as are usually held by the
Congregationalists, although he confines himself to
no set system, but walks freely on a "broad gauge."
As an oratoj his style is marked by elocutionary
exactness, not strainedly so, but pleasing. His ideas
are of the same model, — well considered and grace-
ful; his expression and his argument are appre-
hended at once, for the vigor of his mind and the
culture of his mode are both akin and sympathetic.
He takes hold of ministerial labor with the hearty
relish and abandon of a boy at a game of foot-ball,
but systematizes his work like an experienced man
of business — his previous occupation having done
more to fit him for the duties of a pastor than a reg-
ular course of theological study could have done.
It has given him a practical knowledge of human
nature and of the world with which he has to deal,
which could not have been otherwise obtained, and
which are invaluable to the Christian worker. He is
well read in modern science and general literature,
and while his mind is impartially open for the recep-
tion of every new truth, even though it may conflict
with preconceived opinions.
In style he is clear, terse and vigorous, thinking
more of the matter than of the manner of his re-
marks. Rhetoric is his servant, rather than his mas-
ter. How best to express the thought ~^o as to
carry conviction, is his great aim. He wastes no
time on exordiums or perorations, but goes at once
to the lesson to be enforced, and stops when he has
done. He is intensely individual; has never been
run in a mould, and never will be. He has sufiicient
masculine combativeness to contend valiantly for
truth, freedom and righteousness ; and yet too much
geniality to be disagreeably pugnacious. He is a
perfect illustration of a sound mind in a sound body
His physical development is now so strong and vig-
orous that it is difficult to believe that he could ever
have been a sufferer from nervous prostration, so full
of fresh, hearty, cheerful vitality is he. A man of
warm sympathies, genial nature, broad charity, and
independent vigorous thought, he is well calculated
to meet the wants of the congregation of to-day,
which cares more for duty than dogma, for common
sense than for abstruse metaphysical polemics. He
is eminently practical, believing that " faith without
works is dead," and preferring works to faith where
he cannot have both. He has no place in his con-
gregation for lazy Christians. He possesses large
magnetic powers, a quality which is due to his super-
abundant vitality, ready sympathy and breadth of
thought, by which he is able to enter into the feel-
ings of people of widely different character and
habits. He is social alike with old and young, and
possesses in a high degree the rare capacity of adapt-
ing himself to different natures, and winning the
affections and confidence of all. He is still in the
full vigor and freshness of youthful enthusiasm; phys-
ically and mentally developing a strong, healthy
manhood, his spiritual nature as yet less fully devel-
oped than his intellectual, the discipline of sorrow
having not yet been experienced by him ; but his
heart is so sunny that when it comes it will ripen.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
367
mellow and sweeten, rather than embitter and blight
its rich fruitage. With abundant ready resources
and a solid educational basis, together with that
moral fibre that is begotten of a Pilgrim strain, — all
stimulated by that energy which onty a western life
can give, right energetically is he proving and estab-
lishing the validity of his calling.
He takes radical grounds in politics, being a firm
republican, having inherited an abhorrence of the
institution of human slavery. He is also very much
interested in the work of education. Has been
appointed lecturer before the normal institutions of
the State, and is at present (1S77) one of the board
of visitors of the Normal School at Whitewater.
On September 28, 1864, he was married to Miss
Emeline Theresa Ferroll, a native of England, and
a descendant of Christopher K. Ferroll, who traces
her lineage to Spanish origin. They have one child,
a daughter, named Cara Angenette, born February
19, 1876.
SAMUEL S. JUDD, M.D.,
^ANESVILLE.
SAMUEL S. JUDD was born in Bethel, Fair-
field county, Connecticut, March 14, 182S, and
is the son of Samuel Judd and Anna ne'e Barnum, a
cousin of P. T. Barnum, the celebrated showman of
Bridgeport, Connecticut. This branch of the Judd
family is descended from the original Thomas Judd,
who came from England in 1634, and settled in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he became a very
influential gentleman, and for twenty-two years held
a seat in the colonial chamber of deputies. The
father of our subject, Samuel Judd, was a carpenter
and joiner by trade, but in middle life turned his
attention to farming, at which he was quite success-
ful. He was a man of sterling worth and great
amiability of character, and gave all his children
the best education which the district schools and
neighboring academies aff"orded. He was a mem-
ber and an active worker in the Protestant Episcopal
church, and brought up his family in that faith. He
filled many local offices of honor and trust, and
was highly respected as a citizen.
Samuel S. Judd attended the district school until
he was twelve years of age, after which he was sent
to an academy at Coldspring, near West Point, New
York, where he remained two years, boarding with
his maternal uncle Starr Barnum. After this he re-
moved to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he spent
several years at an academy and collegiate institute,
clerking in his cousin's store mornings and evenings
to pay for his board and lodging.
On the ist of September, 1846, he removed to
West Greenville, Pennsylvania, and entered the
office of an elder brother. Dr. F. H. Judd, as a
student of medicine. He remained there until the
winter of 1848, when he entered the medical college I
of Cincinnati, Ohio, and attended a course of lec-
tures. In the spring following he removed to Wells-
ville, Virginia, where he taught writing, and arith-
metic for some time, to earn money with which to
continue his medical studies. In October of the
same year (1849) he placed himself under the in-
struction of Dr. Wm. Payne, of Warren, Ohio, enter-
ing into partnership with him in the practice of
medicine. He remained with Dr. Payne until
August, 1852, being by this time well versed in
the science of medicine. Thence he returned to
West Greenville, Mercer county, Pennsylvania, and
formed a partnership with his brother, Dr. F. H.
Judd, both in the drug business and in the practice
of medicine, the latter having at that time an exten-
sive practice. Plere he remained for two years,
attaining to great popularity and usefulness in his
profession ; but as yet he was neither a graduate of
a medical college nor authorized to practice medi-
cine by any constituted authority. Feeling the
anomaly of his position he sold out his interests in
Greenville, removed to Gustavus, Ohio, where he
opened an office, and during the winter of 1856-7
attended lectures at the Cincinnati Medical College,
from which he graduated with the degree of M.D.
on the 7th of February, 1857, being the first of a
class of one hundred and thirty students. He con-
tinued his practice in Gustavus and soon gained a
leading rank in the profession throughout the coun-
ty, being often called to consultations as far as fifty
miles distant. He enjoyed the reputation of being
the most skillful and active practitioner of the coun-
try. His practice, however, became so extensive
and laborious that his health became impaired, and
after some efforts at recuperation he finally resolved
368
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
to settle in Janesville, Wisconsin, where he had
stopped on one occasion and became charmed with
the salubrity and beauty of the climate and country.
Accordingly on the ist of September, 1864, he re-
moved his family to the Badger State and located in
the town which has since been his home. He had
been quite successful in his previous ten years' prac-
tice, and therefore did not come empty-handed to
Janesville. He purchased for himself one of the
most pleasant and commodious homes in the city,
and in the spring of 1865 opened an office and at
once entered upon a large and lucrative practice
amongst the best families of the city and surround-
ing country.
Dr. Judd is a man of medium size, open and
frank countenance, of very refined manners and pre-
possessing appearance. His social qualities are of
the highest order, he has an easy and graceful
bearing, and ready and entertaining conversational
powers, and is always an agreeable and welcome
guest. He possesses not only the faculty of making
friends, but the still rarer one of retaining them.
Although somewhat positive and fixed in his opin-
ions, he is generous and tolerant of the views of
others, and what is remarkable in a leading physi-
cian, he is held in the highest esteem by the rest of
the profession. Notwithstanding his flattering suc-
cess and great popularity, he is yet modest and
unassuming, acknowledging and appreciating the
talents of others. He is a keen observer, a close
analyzer, a logical and incisive reasoner; in short, a
success in his profession.
Since his settlement in Janesville he has taken a
deep interest in everything pertaining to the material
prosperity of the place, and has sometimes been
honored by his fellow-citizens with positions of trust
and responsibility. He is at present a member of
the board of aldermen, having been nominated on
the republican ticket and returned by the largest
majority ever given by the party to any candidate in
his ward. He was an original stockholder and a
charter member of the Janesville Cotton-Mill Com-
pany. He is a Master Mason, and has passed
through the chairs of Odd-Fellowship.
In ecclesiastical relationship he conforms to the
Protestant Episcopal church, of which he is a mem-
ber.
He was elected and commissioned surgeon of the
2d Ohio Cavalry soon after the outbreak of the late
war, but owing to ill-health was unable to follow his
regiment to the field.
He has been twice married : On the 6th of
August, 1850, to Miss Juliett C. Young, daughter of
Warren Young, Esq., of Warren, Ohio, a gentleman
who has held for many years a prominent position
in the pension bureau at Washington, District of
Columbia. By this lady he has had three children,
two of whom survive, namely : William Henry, born
November 29, 1853, and Clara Ann, born October
I, 1858. The son is a jeweler and doing business in
Clinton, Wisconsin, and is a young man of much
promise, while the daughter is being carefully edu-
cated for future usefulness and honor. He was
again married on the ist of February, 1870, to
Miss Helen M. Doland, of Rushford, New York,
a lady of very superior accomplishments, and es-
pecially noted as an artist, her paintings having
often been awarded first prizes at State fairs. She
was for several years a professor of drawing and
painting in an eastern academy.
LUCIEN S. HANKS,
MADISON.
IUCIEN S. HANKS, cashier of the State Bank at
^ Madison, was born at Hartford, Connecticut,
May 8, 1838. His father is Lucien B. and his
mother Mary D. Hanks. His great-grandfather,
Colonel Benjamin Hanks, born at Mansfield, Con-
necticut, September, 1755, established himself in the
clock and watch business at Litchfield, Connecticut,
in 1778, and while carrying on his business there
contracted for and put up the first town-clock in the
city of New York, on the old Dutch Church, Nassau
and Liberty street, now the New York city post-
office. The clock was unique, having a wind-mill
attachment for winding itself up. In 1785 he re-
turned to Mansfield and established the bell and
bronze cannon founding business, where he cast the
first church bells and bronze cannon in this country.
This business, so happily inaugurated by Colonel
Benjamin -Hanks, has been continued by his sons,
grandsons and nephews, with continued success to
the present time.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
369
Lucien S. Hanks receiving a common-school edu-
cation entered the Mount Washington Institute in
1850, and graduated in 1854. His education was
chiefly of a practical and business character. How-
well it was adapted to its ultimate end, is best illus-
trated by the uniform success he has achieved. He
came to Wisconsin in 1854 and accepted a clerkship
in the Bank at Janesville, which he held until i860,
when he removed to Madison and became teller in
the State Bank of Madison. In 1864 he was elected
cashier, which position he now holds. His business
transactions, methodical habits, general intelligence,
strict integrity and urbane manners prove him to be
no degenerate son of his highly respectable and hon-
orable forefathers.
He married on the 19th of June, 1867, Sybil Per-
kins, niece of the late Mrs. Samuel Marshall. She
was educated at the convent of the Sacred Heart,
Montreal, Canada, and is a Roman Catholic in re-
ligion.
He is an Episcopalian in religion, republican in
politics, respectable in all things.
WADSWORTH G. WHEELOCK,
JANESVILLE.
THE subject of this biography, a native of
Hinesburgh, Chittenden county, Vermont, was
born February 12, 1835, and is the son of John and
Lucrecia (Washburn) Wheelock, and traces his de-
scent in a direct line from Ralph Wheelock, who
immigrated from England to America in the year
1637, and settled in Watertown, Massachusetts.
Peter Wheelock, one of the intermediate links of
the chain of lineage, was one of the first settlers of
Vermont, and drew his baggage thither on a hand-
sled. Since then the family has become numerous
and influential, and some of its members distin-
guished. They have been noted as devout and
exemplary members of the church of the Pilgrim
Fathers, to which many of them still adhere, having
carried branches of it from the granite hills of New
England which have taken root and flourished in the
more genial soil of the western prairies.
Our subject received a fair academic education at
the literary institutions of Hinesburgh, Jericho and
Morrisville, Vermont, but, like many another New
England youth, was dependent upon his own efforts
for support while pursuing his studies. This he .did
by working on a farm a few months in the summer
and teaching a district school (boarding around)
during the winter months. At the age of fifteen he
taught his first school at Elmore, Vermont, and the
year following taught in Walden in the same State,
where he had a school of sixty pupils, some of them
quite large, and many pursuing the study of the
higher mathematics.
At the age of seventeen years he left his native
State and settled in Boston, Massachusetts, where he
obtained a situation in the establishment of Elisha
Preston and Co., No. 6 Longwharf, wholesale dealers
in West Indian goods, where he remained some three
years, becoming not only an apt and accomplished
business man, but earning for himself an enviable
reputation as an honest, upright and efficient em-
ploye. During his residence in the New England
metropolis he was witness to some stirring events
which made a lasting impression on his mind.
Among these were the ovation given to the dis-
tinguished Hungarian exile Kossuth, on Boston
Common ; the lectures of the world-renowned Ital-
ian reformer and patriot. Father Gavatzi, on his first
visit to America ; several speeches of Daniel Webster
in Faneuil Hall; the ovation given to the latter by the
city of Boston after his failure to receive the whig
nomination for the Presidency by the Baltimore con-
vention in 1852, to which Boston had sent a thou-
sand men to urge his claims upon the convention ;
also the funeral of Webster at Marshfield in 1852;
the capture and return of the fugitive slave, Anthony
Burns, which was accomplished by the aid of several
regiments of Massachusetts militia and a company
of marines. The injustice and cruelty of this act
not only intensified the abolition sentiment in the
mind of our subject, but hastened the crisis in the
history of this institution, which came upon the na-
tion in less than ten years subsequently. While the
gorgeous but humiliating pageant was passing down
State street to the vessel, with the unfortunate victim
of the then arrogant slave power in the center of a
hollow square formed by marines with drawn cut-
lasses, preceded and followed by artillery, frequent
attempts were made by the enraged populace to res-
cue the fugitive, which, though unavailing, showed
370
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
clearly enough the light in which the transaction
was viewed by the people of Boston. So demon-
strative did they become that an order was given to
charge with fixed bayonets and clear the streets,
which was executed in front of the store of Mr.
Wheelock's employers, then No. 6 Longwharf, now
a continuation of State street. In the melee that
followed many of the windows of the houses were
broken and much property destroyed.
In 1854 our subject followed the tide of immigra-
tion to the West, and settled in Janesville, Wiscon-
sin, where for a short time he clerked in the store of
an elder brother, who had preceded him to the
Badger State, and in 1855 he became the sole pro-
prietor of the establishment, and has carried on the
business with a faithfulness and skill which has
found its reward in ample success. He has accumu-
lated a liberal competence and possesses a comfort-
able and happy home, and cherishes for himself and
his family all the feelings and moral associations that
belong to that blessed word.
On the loth of July, 1853, he was married to Miss
Martha A. Trott, a charming and accomplished
young lady of Boston. The union proved happy
and they have grown up leaning upon each other,
like the olive and the vine, bearing each other's bur-
dens, and thus fulfilling the law of love. They
have a family of four boys, named in the order of
their birth: Charles Edward, George Henry, Arthur
Washburn and Frank Wadsworth. The eldest is a
graduate of the Janesville high school, and intends
pursuing the business of merchandising; the others
are now attending school.
In religious faith and connection Mr. Wheelock
adheres to the church of his fathers, and is an active
member of the Congregational Church of Janesville,
contributing liberally of his means toward the sup-
port of the gospel ministry and all the charitable
and benevolent institutions of Christianity. He is a
deacon of the church, and has been trustee and
superintendent of the Sunday-school, a zealous
member of the Young Men's Christian Association,
and an office-bearer in that most worthy order, the
Sons of Temperance. In every relation of life his
bearing and conversation are blameless and exem-
plary. While he is unswerving in his loyalty to the
church of his choice, he is, nevertheless, charitable
to all denominations of Christians.
While his character is marked by a manly frank-
ness and honesty on the one hand, it is not less dis-
tinguished on the other by modesty and delicacy.
In his gifts for religion or charity he lets not his
left hand know his right hand's doings; but his
deeds are seen in the fruit which they bring to per-
fection. His manners are quiet, dignified and
courteous; his heart is always warm, though he is
rarely demonstrative. He is noted as a peace-
maker, his word being generally an end of all con-
troversy, and he is esteemed as one of the best and
most useful citizens of Janesville.
HON. AUGUSTUS L. SMITH,
APPLETON.
AUGUSTUS LEDYARD SMITH, son of Au-
. gustus W. Smith, LL.D., and Catharine R.
nee Childs, is a native of Middletown, Connecticut,
and was born April 5, 1833. His father was at one
time president of the VVesleyan University of Mid-
dletown, from which Augustus graduated in July,
1854. In the autumn of that year he removed to
Madison, Wisconsin, and became a tutor of mathe-
matics and the ancient languages in the State Uni-
versity. He entered heartily into the work of
teaching, for which he was admirably qualified, but
at the end of two years, upon urgent solicitations,
accepted the office -of secretary and land commis-
sioner of the Fox and Wisconsin River Improve-
ment Company, and moved to Fond du Lac, and
while in this position published the Fond du Lac
" Union."
In 1 86 1 Mr. Smith went east, and being an ex-
pert in mathematics his services were secured for
about tvvo years during the civil war in that depart-
ment of the United States Naval Academy located
at Newport, Rhode Island. In 1863 he returned to
Wisconsin and settled permanently at Appleton,
resuming his former position in the improvement
company, which was reorganized in 1866, and took
the name of the Green Bay and Mississippi Land
Company. Mr. Smith retained his position as secre-
tary, and also became treasurer of the corporation;
and when, in 1866, its lands were sold to private
parties he became their commissioner and agent.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
371
He is still (1877) acting in that capacity, and ex-
hibits a degree of business tact, energy and enter-
prise which liave done much toward the success of
the institution, and gained for him an enviable re]ni-
tation.
In 1870 Mr. Smith established the First National
Bank of Appleton, and, becoming its president, still
holds that position. It is a well-managed, strong
and popular institution.
In 1876 he erected the two-story brick post-office
building as his " Centennial " contribution to the
growth of Appleton.
In 1866 he was elected State senator, and in the
legislature, as in private matters, showed his great
business capacities. Among the important measures
in which he took a leading part was the reorganiza-
tion of the State University, which was effected dur-
ing the session of 1S67. The committees on which
he did the most and best work were education and
incorporations. While still a member of the senate,
in 1867, Gov. Fairchild appointed him regent of the
State University, a position which he held for six
years. He was mayor of Appleton in 1870, and has
held other positions in the municipality of the city.
He has fine executive capacities, and his services
are highly appreciated in this adopted home ; hence,
when in 1875 a Chamber of Commerce was organ-
ized, he was placed at its head. He is one of the
foremost men to suggest local public improvements,
and a leader in starting and consummating them.
The Appleton Iron Company was reorganized in
1876, and he was made its president. He takes
equal pleasure in aiding to enrich and beautify the
city, and in making his own home comfortable and
inviting. He has a stately and elegant residence on
the high bank of the Fox river, seventy feet above
low water mark, with a verandali facing the stream
which may be readily converted into a conserva-
tory in the winter, with grounds tastily platted and
adorned, and one of the finest views which the Fox
River valley presents. He has fine literary tastes,
and possesses a large, well-selected library and also
many fine pictures, indices of culture, refinement and
wealth.
On October 30, 1S60, Mr. Smith was married to
Miss Edna J. Taylor, then of Chicago, but previ-
ously of Madison, Wisconsin. They have two sons,
aged respectively fourteen and twelve years old,
whom they are educating with great care. Mrs.
Smith is a lady of much refinement, and in full
sympathy with her husband in all his tastes and
interests.
Mr. Smith is a democrat in politics, but has many
more personal friends than are included in party
affiliations. He has great magnetic power, and
when he runs for office runs to win, and never fails.
In stature he is about five feet seven inches high,
solidly built, and weighs one hundred and sixty-five
pounds; he has dark brown eyes, a countenance
expressive of firmness, very cordial manners, a
gentlemanly deportment, a nervous, sanguine tem-
perament, and all the bearing of an earnest, self-
reliant business man.
He is a regular attendant at the Congregational
church, a trustee of the Lawrence University, a
liberal contributor to religious societies and literary
institutions, and warmly interested in every organ-
ization or enterprise calculated to enhance the social,
moral and intellectual, as well as material interests
of the city of x\ppleton and the State of Wisconsin.
LINUS B. BRAINARD, M.D.,
^yAUPACA.
THE subject of this biography is the son of Sol-
omon and Charity (Jaqua) Brainard, and was
born in Boardman, Mahoning county, Ohio, October
30, 1805. Although past seventy years of agej he
still conducts an extensive medical practice. His
father enlisted in the war of 1812, and acted as a
scout in Ohio, along the southern shore of Lake
Erie, and served until disabled. Linus was raised
on a farm, with very poor school privileges, until
twenty years old. He then entered an academy at
43
Worthington, Ohio, but was compelled after a short
time, by reason of illness, to leave. His father died
soon afterward, and he being the eldest of ten chil-
dren, the whole oversight of the farm fell on him,
with very restricted means with which to operate.
He had a difficult task, but performed it faithfully,
until other members of the family were old enough
to take upon themselves the responsibility.
At the age of twenty-seven he began the study of
medicine under private instruction, at Windham,
372
THE UNITED STATES BIOGjRAPff/CAL D/CTIONART.
Portage county, and continued the same three years.
After practicing awhile at Bedford, he attended two
courses of lectures at the medical college in Cleve-
land, and took his degree about 1838. Continuing j
in practice in Cleveland until 1845, '''^ 'hs'^ removed
to Wisconsin Territory. He tried the Fourierite sys-
tem at Ceresco a short time, at the urgent request of
President Parsons. After a few months he removed
to Fo.x Lake, where he practiced six months and
then went to Sheboygan and practiced three years.
Having received the appointment of deputy collector
of customs he removed to Green Bay, and acted in
that capacity during President Fillmore's adminis-
tration, but being rotated out of office by President
Pierce in 1853, he removed to Waupaca, where he
still resides.
In June, 1862, Dr. Brainard was appointed assist-
ant surgeon to fill a vacancy in the 7th Regiment
Wisconsin Volunteers ; operated in the field until
April, 1864, when, being unable to follow the regi-
ment in its marches, he was put on duty in the City
Point Hospital, Virginia, where he remained until
the close of the rebellion ; and after sojourning
awhile in the eastern part of Maryland, returned to
Waupaca. Dr. Brainard makes no specialty of any
branch of the healing art, but has an excellent repu-
tation, both as a medical practitioner and surgeon.
In politics, he was a whig in early and middle life,
with strong free-soil proclivities, and naturally grav-
itated into the republican ranks, where he has been
for twenty years. He is master of the Waupaca
Union Grange, No. 332, and an earnest worker in
the interests of that order. He lives on a farm one
mile from the center of the city, but within the cor-
poration limits.
Mrs. Brainard was Miss Huldah R. Bradley, of
Ravenna, Ohio. They were married November 13,
1839, and have had five children, of whom three,
two sons and one daughter, are living. The eldest
child, Charles Rollin, is married and is a lawyer,
living in Boston, Massachusetts ; the other son, Linus
Henry, lives at home ; the daughter, Alice Elvina, is
the wife of David Odam, of Springfield, Illinois.
Both physically and intellectually Dr. Brainard
is a man of excellent parts. He is five feet ten and
a half inches in height, and weighs two hundred
and thirty pounds; his eyes are light blue; his hair
is as white as the newly fallen snow ; his complexion
is very ruddy, and the expression of his face indi-
cates a well-wisher to his fellow-men.
HENRY FRIEND,
HENRY FRIEND, deceased, late of Milwaukee,
was a native of Autenhousen, Bavaria. He
was born December 13, 182 1, the son of Louis and
Helen Friend. His father was a man of rare busi-
ness capacity, and his example exercised an impor-
tant and beneficial influence upon the character and
lives of his sons. His sons and daughters were
Henry, Mayer, Elias, Isaac, Michael, Samuel, Eman-
uel, Lewis, Eva, Regina — seven sons and two daugh-
ters. Henry received a common-school education
in his native country, and in 1840, accompanied by
his brother Elias, sailed to America to seek his for-
tune in the new world. They landed in New York,
remaining there but six weeks, proceeded to Penn-
sylvania, where, with varied and doubtful success,
they remained three years and then proceeded to
Alabama, remaining there also three years, when the
climate affected the health of Henry so seriously
as to compel their removal to a healthier region.
The two brothers came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
I UKEE.
engaged in the dry-goods and clothing business on
East Water street. In 1848 their brother Mayer was
received into the firm, which received the name of H.
Friend and Brothers. Industry, integrity and gentle-
manly deportment characterized the members of the
firm and success crowned their efforts. Finding in
1868 that their increasing business required more ex-
tensive accommodations, they removed to the present
building on Broadway, now occupied by the firm.
The business of the firm until 1854 was exclusively
retail, but now a wholesale trade was commenced,
still, however, continuing the merchant tailoring
business. The number of hands then employed was
one hundred. The amount of sales the first year
was fifty thousand dollars. Their business increased
steadily till i86g, when the number of employes
reached four hundred, with a capital of four hundred
thousand dollars. In 1874 the capital exceeded
half a million of dollars.
Thus has industry, integrity and gentlemanly de-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
375
portment been rewarded with wealth, honor and the
esteem of the community in which the members of
this firm reside. In political sentiment Henry Friend
was a democrat until the war of 1861, since then an
independent, never a zealous partisan. In 1850 he
was married to Miss Frances Samuels of New York,
and is the father of eleven children. In May, 1875,
he, with his wife, went on a pleasure trip to Europe,
and were lost on the ill-fated ship Schiller, near the
Scilly Islands. Their bodies were found, embalmed,
and sent to America. They were buried on the
2d of June, 1875, in Greenwood Cemetery. Mr.
Friend was a member of the Reformed Jewish
church, believing in the common fatherhood of God
and brotherhood of man. In him " death has loved
a shining mark." Ten of their surviving children
reside in Milwaukee ; the eleventh, a daughter, is
married to Mr. Solomon Friend, of New York.
SYLVESTER MORGAN,
JANESVILLE.
SYLVESTER MORGAN, one of the self-made
men whose energy, talents and sterling princi-
ples have done so much to develop the resources of
the West and stamp a character uixm her institu-
tions, was born in the town of Scott, Courtland coun-
ty. New York, January 10, 1828, and is the son of
Horatio N. and Minerva (Hardy) Morgan, both of
whom were natives of New York State, and of Eng-
lish descent. He was early thrown upon his own
resources by the death of his father, which occurred
when Sylvester was three years old. His mother
inherited but little means, and with three small chil-
dren to provide for (the eldest a boy two years old,
and the youngest a boy two years younger than our
subject), was barely able to find bread for them. At
the age of four years he commenced attending the
district school, which he continued during the win-
ter seasons until the age of seventeen, working in the
summers to aid in support of the family. At this
period he entered the Courtland Academy, a private
educational establishment of a high grade, in which
he remained for one year. In the autumn of 1846
he obtained a certificate authorizing him to teach a
common school, and during the winter of 1846-7
taught the Homer School in Courtland county. New
York. With the money he thus earned he continued
his studies at Courtland Academy, and again taught
in the winter of 1848-9. By earnest effort he be-
came a fair English scholar and an e.\pert mathema-
tician, being a deep student of the exact sciences,
algebra, geometry and trigonometry; to which was
added a practical knowledge of chemistry. In 1849
he was elected superintendent of schools for the
town of Scott, a position which he held for two
years, also teaching during the winter months. His
original intention was to prepare for the bar, a pro-
fession for which he entertained a strong admiration,
but his mother disapproving of his purpose, he aban-
doned it, and devoted himself to agricultural pur-
suits.
In the month of April, 1852, he was married to
Miss Sarah M., daughter of Rev. Henry Anthony, a
Baptist clergyman of his neighborhood, and soon
afterward settled upon a farm, to which he devoted
his undivided attention for three years, with encour-
aging results. Induced by the greater possibilities
of the West, however, he made a prospecting visit to
Wisconsin in the spring of 1854, and purchased a
quarter-section of land in the town of Lema, Rock
county, to which he removed his family in the au-
tumn of the same year, and which has since been
his home, "the wilderness and solitary place," under
the transforming power of his strong hand, guided
by an artistic taste, having been made " to rejoice
and blossom as the rose." In 1857 he was elected
by his fellow-citizens to the position of justice of the
peace, and since then he has never been a day with-
out office ; not that he was ambitious for public
employment, but being a gentleman of more than
ordinary capacity and education he was selected by
his fellow-citizens to fill positions of trust and
honor, the duties of which he always discharged in
a manner that not only justified the wisdom of those
who made the selection, but brought credit and
honor to himself. In 1859 he was elected superin-
tendent of schools for the town of Lema, a position
which he held for two years. In 1865 he was elected
chairman of the supervisors of his town. He was
again elected to the same position in 1870, and re-
elected five times in succession, holding that office
si.x consecutive years, and in all seven years. He
was elected president of the Lema Mutual Fire In-
376
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
surance Company, at its organization in 1872, and
held the office till January i, 1877. In the autumn
of 1876 he was elected clerk of the county of Rock
for a period of two years, and is now the incumbent
of that office, bringing to the discharge of the respon-
sible duties a ripe experience, soimd judgment and
fine executive abilities. He is a gentleman of re-
fined tastes, which are displayed in the adornment
and embellishment of his home; social in his habits,
courteous and affable in his manners, making for
himself many and devoted friends ; upright and hon-
orable as a citizen, thorough and enterprising in
business ; open-handed and generous, he has by his
industry and practical wisdom attained to an envia-
ble position of influence and competence.
Although not a member of any church, he is a
believer in the doctrines of Christianity, of the Prot-
estant faith, and a liberal contributor toward the
institutions of religion and benevolence.
In politics, he was originally a whig; has been a
republican since the organization of that party, and
has frequently served as delegate to the different
conventions of his party, in which he wielded con-
siderable influence.
His union with Miss Anthony was blessed with
two children, sons, the eldest of whom, Willis
Benton, born April, 1853, graduated at Milton Col-
lege (classical course), and is now (1877) attending
lectures in St. Louis, Missouri, with a view to enter-
ing the medical profession ; while the youngest,
Harold, .born in April, 1856, is conducting the
farm in the absence of his father; both are young
gentlemen of fine abilities, high moral character and
mucii promise.
ELI AS FRIEND,
MILWAUKEE.
ELIAS FRIEND, one of the partners in the
house of Henry Friend Brothers, came to the
United States in 1840 with his brother Henry, and,
engaging with him in business, shared with him as
well his difficulties, his privations and his hardships,
as his successes and his enjoyments. Receiving
from their common father wise counsels and a noble
example of a useful and honorable life, he could
scarcely fail to follow in his parental footsteps, and
be a worthy associate and companion of his brother
Henry. His connection with the firm rendered it
necessary that he should travel extensively in the
United States, which furnished him a wide field for
observation and study of the manners and customs
of tlie people with whom it was his destiny to live.
He has traveled also extensively in Europe, being
enabled thereby to compare the national character-
istics, and to form a more just estimate of each.
He was married, in 1855, to Miss Rosa Stern, of
Albany, New York, and has one son, now eighteen
years old.
The sad fate of his brother Henry, in consequence
of their long, intimate and affectionate relationship,
fell upon him with crushing severity, and will doubt-
less cast a shade of melancholy sadness over his
future life.
PHILIP BEST,
MILWAUKEE.
PHILIP BEST, late of Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
was born September 26, 1814, at Mettenheim,
Germany, son of Jacob and Eva Best. He received
a common-school education in his native town. After
leaving school he learned the business of brewing,
and traveled through Germany and France, working
at the business. He came to America in 1844 and
located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where, together
with his father and three brothers, he engaged in
brewing, deriving considerable profit from this occu-
pation, and laying the foundation of the large wealth
the company have since accumulated. It is known
as the Best Brewing Company.
He was taught the doctrines of Luther in his
youth and retained them during his life. His polit-
ical opinions were democratic, and he sympathized
with the masses of the people. He was appointed
major-general of the Wisconsin State militia, and
v.//
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
377
retained the office many years after his appointment
in 1857. He was one of the stockholders of tlie
Second Ward Bank. He was president of the South
Side Savings Bank in 1865. He made a trip of pleas-
ure to Europe in 1859, and again in 1869 he visited
Europe for his health, where he died July 16, 1869.
He was married in 1842 to Miss Anna Maria
Muth, by whom he had seven children, three of
them are now living. The eldest is the wife of
Captain Frederick Pabst ; the second is the wife
of Emil Schandein. The youngest son, named
Henry, is connected with the brewing company, and
has charge of several of its departments. Charles,
the nephew of Philip Best, is the secretary of the
company, is an able and efficient business man and
an agreeable gentleman.
ANSON ROGERS,
yANESl'ILLE.
AMONG the emphatically self-made men of Wis-
consin few deserve a more honorable mention
than the subject of this sketch. Raised literally in
the " backwoods " or pine regions of northern New
York, before the advent of public schools, so that
his opportunities for study were exceedingly brief
and extremely rare ; but possessing a vigorous un-
derstanding, he supplied his deficiencies of instruc-
tion by an assiduous and persevering devotion to
the acquisition of knowledge, and has so educated
and disciplined himself as to be one of the best
informed men of his day. Nor has his success in a
business point of view been less remarkable ; start-
ing in the world with absolutely nothing, he has
attained to a degree of wealth and affluence which
falls to the lot of but few men under the most favor-
able circumstances.
Anson Rogers was born in Jefferson county. New
York, August 14, 1821, and is the son of IJaniel
and Fanny (Taylor) Rogers. His father was born
in the same place January 22, 1793, and still lives
on the old homestead. He was a soldier in the war
of i8i2, in which he was conspicuous for gallantry
and the finest soldierly qualities. After his mar-
riage he settled on a pine tract bordering on the.
Black river, on which he erected a saw-mill which
did a large business and kept a number of hands in
steady employment. He also gave some attention
to farming, and at one time kept a country hotel,
and was, at various times, honored by his fellow-cit-
izens with local positions of trust and profit. He
served for some years as sheriff and collector of his
county; he was a man of liberal natural endow-
ments, a great reader, and was particularly well
versed in the common law of the land, and although
not a professional advocate, has often defended his
neighbors in the local courts, where he demon-
strated such talents as made him anything but easy
to deal with. He was a man of great benevolence;
hospitable, generous and kind to the needy ^shar-
ing, to the last cent, with the unfortunate. He was,
moreover, a man of fine business qualifications and
of the highest type of moral character ; he was never
known to utter a profane word or to drink a drop of
intoxicating liquor. He was reasonably successful
in a worldly point of view, but with a family of eight
children to provide for, and all the poor and unfor-
tunate of his neighborhood as "wards," he had but
little to distribute among his sons at their majority.
The grandfather of our subject, William Rogers,
was a native of the north of Ireland, of Covenanter
stock, who immigrated to America prior to the rev-
olution, and took part in the struggle for independ-
ence.
His mother was the daughter of Jonathan Taylor,
Esq., of Connecticut, of English ancestry. She was
a woman of fine natural gifts and great force of
character — a lady of the " olden time." She was a
devout member of the Baptist church, and set a
good example and gave good advice to her chil-
dren and household. She died, in the hope of a
blessed immortality, in the year 1872.
Our subject was reared on the homestead and
worked for his father at his various industries till
the age of twenty-two. There were no public
schools or facilities for teaching in his day, and the
only education which he received was imparted by
his excellent mother. He' has, through life, how-
ever, been a great reader of newspapers and books,
and also a close student of men and things, and in
this way has come to be one of the most intelligent
and successful men of Wisconsin.
In 1835 he commenced boating on the North
river and Erie canal, carrying wheat and produce
378
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
to New York city. This he continued for ten sea-
sons, occupying his winters in lumbering in his
father's woods, and giving the proceeds of his labor
into the common fund for the support of the house-
hold. Leaving home in 1845, he started for the
West via the lakes, and landed in Milwaukee, Wis-
consin, in the autumn of that year, with two dollars
and fifty cents in his pocket, with which to begin
life. After spending the night at a hotel and pay-
ing his bill in the morning he was the owner of one
dollar and fifty cents. Proceeding to Janesville on
foot, he was there employed in a hotel at ten dollars
per month, and remained one year. He worked in
various capacities — for he could turn his hand to
anything — until 1848, when the Illinois and Michi-
gan canal was opened. He was then employed by
Gurnsey, Hayden and Co. to command a boat run-
ning between Chicago and Peru, at one hundred dol-
lars per month, with a commission to purchase grain
along the Illinois river. His transaction in this line
during the summer netted his employers the hand-
some sum of seventeen thousand dollars over and
above his own compensation. Finding the climate
injurious to his health he returned to Janesville
after the first summer, and clerked in the " Stevens
House " during the winter of 1849-50, then the best
hotel in the State. In tlie following year he formed
a partnership with Charles Stevens, his employer, in
a saw-mill, and continued in that business until 1853,
with very considerable success. He was also the
lessee of the American House for one year. Mean-
time he had entered and broken a farm of one hun-
dred and sixty acres of land in Rock county, on
which he had built a house and barn. He lived on
this farm till 1856, when he moved into Janesville
and commenced operations in real estate, a business
which he carried on exclusively till the spring of
1 86 1 with very great success. In that year he be-
came half owner of an extensive brewery, which he
conducted in partnership with a man named Buob
until 1868, when he became sole proprietor. He is
now (1877) the owner of a large amount of real
property in Janesville, and is still an active and
prosperous business man, one of the largest tax-
payers in the county and a recognized capitalist of
the State.
Although he has not traveled beyond the limits
of the continent of his birth, he has visited and so-
journed in every State of the Union and throughout
the British American possessions, and is thoroughly
posted on all questions of local government as well
I as the peculiar manners and characteristics of the
people of the several States.
He held the office of mayor of Janesville during
the year 187 1, and was a member of the city coun-
cil for ten years ending in 1876. In politics, he
was raised in the democratic faith, and has never
varied his political creed.
Although not in communion he is an attendant on
the services of the Congregational church, and is
very generous in his contributions to religious and
benevolent objects. He is a Master Mason, of West-
ern Star Lodge, Janesville, No. 14.
During the reconstruction of the Wisconsin Insti-
tute for the Education of the Blind, he was a mem-
ber of the board of trustees, and in that capacity
labored with characteristic zeal to promote the in-
terests of the State and the welfare of the inmates.
On the loth of October, 1854, he was married to
Miss Mary J., daughter of Job Barker, Esq., a farmer
of Rock county. She was a very amiable and gifted
lady, of delicate constitution, however, who became
the mother of four children, one of whom died in
infancy and two at the ages of four and six years
respectively. The eldest daughter. Miss Lilla, a
very lovely and promising girl, died at Jacksonville,
Florida, in 1872, at the age of seventeen years, of
consumption, induced by a cold. Mrs. Rogers died
in Denver, Colorado, January 8, 1875.
On the 24th of October, 1876, he was married in
Boston, Massachusetts, to Mrs. Caroline A., widow
of the late Samuel Whitney, of Boston, and daugh-
ter of Samuel Puffer, late of Westminster, Massachu-
setts. Mrs. Rogers is a lady of refinement and high
social position, of Puritan ancestry and strong re-
ligious convictions. She adheres to the church of
her fathers.
In personal appearance Mr. Rogers is striking,
having a lithe, wiry frame and an intense individu-
ality, which cannot fail to attract attention ; and
while he has little of the learning that is taught in
the schools, he has educated himself, till few men
are better posted in the political and commercial
history of the times. He has been a man of cease-
less activity of body and mind, pushing for his ob-
jective point with a vigor and perseverance which
rarely fails to achieve success. His demeanor is
largely dependent upon circumstances. In repose
he is calm, dignified and graceful, entering into con-
versation with the easy affability of a man who has
seen much of the world. When aroused he speaks
with great fervency, and, if confronted with opposi-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
379
tion which he deems unwarranted, his ever-charged
battery of "sinewy Saxon" is plied with a vigor
and precision not to be trifled with. Few men not
in constant public life are more widely known
throughout the State than he, and yet comparatively
few know of the gentleness of the man in his domes-
tic relations. His home is the abode of an elegant
and generous hospitality, and no gentleman passes
his threshold without being made to feel himself
welcome. In this respect he fully sustains the char-
acter of his Irish ancestors, whose distinguishing
characteristic is hospitality.
His untiring vigilance and business sagacity have
brought him wealth, and he is thus enabled to " sit
under his own vine and fig-tree," and enjoy, in quiet
and affluence, the afternoon of life.
PROF. ALBERT WHITFORD, A.M.,
ALBERT WHITFORD is the third son of Sani-
. uel and Sophia (Clarke) Whitford and brother
of W. C. Whitford, president of Milton College, else-
where sketched in this volume. He was born in
Plainfield, New York, May 28, 1832. His father
gave him such opportunities for education as he
could afford, by sending him to the public schools
and to Brookfield Academy in a neighboring town ;
but his death, which occurred in the fall of 1848,
left the son at the age of sixteen years almost en-
tirely dependent upon his own resources for educa-
tion and support. Choosing the occupation of a
teacher, he taught his first school in the winter fol-
lowing his father's death. He received his college
preparatory education in De Ruyter Institute, De
Ruyter, New York, and at Alfred Academy, Alfred
Centre, New York, which he attended at intervals
during a period of six years, teaching generally in
some district school the remainder of the time for a
support. He graduated in the classical course at
Upion College, Schenectady, New York, in the class
of 1857, into which he was admitted the previous
year. Since then his life has been devoted to
teaching. While preparing for his profession he
always stood among the very best, if not at the
head of his classes.
Immediately after graduating from college he be-
came an assistant teacher in Milton Academy, Mil-
ton, Wisconsin, which position he retained until the
winter of 1863, when he entered upon his duties as
superintendent of schools of Rock county, Wiscon-
sin, to which office he had been elected the preced-
ing autumn. He resigned this position, however, in
the autumn of 1865 to resume his labors as a teacher
by accepting the principalship of De Ruyter Insti-
tute, which position he retained two years. He
afterward filled the chair of mathematics of Alfred
University, New York, for four years; and for the
last five years has filled the chair of mathematics in
Milton College, Wisconsin.
He was educated in the religious faith of the
Seventh-day Baptists, was received in childhood
into one of their churches, and is still a member of
that body of Christians.
He is by inheritance and conviction an opponent
of slavery, and therefore a staunch and uncompro-
mising republican. In all the great controversies of
the last twenty years he has been found on the side
of freedom and equality to all men.
He possesses a mind of very great quickness and
strength. At the age of five years he began to learn
to read, and in a few months had read several diffi-
cult books, one of them being the New Testament.
For twelve years thereafter he diligently occupied
his time, when not working on a farm, in reading
standard works in our language. Endowed with a
most active memory, he could recall the substance,
and in many cases the minutire, of the many works
which he perused. He thus acquired a large fund
of information, which he still holds for ready use.
This habit of reading he has never abandoned, and
is one of the best posted men on all the principal
topics of discussion. Though filling the chair of
mathematics in the college to the highest satisfac-
tion of the institution, he is as fully qualified to
teach the Latin or the Greek languages. He is
perfectly at home before the students in the recita-
tion-room, and never fails to win the good will and
esteem of those under his instruction. They often
speak of him as the model teacher. He excites a
healthful and earnest interest in the studies which
he teaches, and excels in the investigation of intri-
cate questions, having the faculty of looking at a
subject in all its parts and right through it to the
38o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY'.
very bottom. He confines his work principally to
the class-room, but occasionally delivers lectures.
These productions are characterized by a perfect
mastery of his theme, by clearness and force of
statement, and by an elevated and logical order of
thought. His views on any question introduced in
the recitation-room or among his more intimate
acquaintances are always received as entitled to
great weight, if not absolutely conclusive.
In personal appearance Professor Whitford is tall,
of light complexion, spare in form, and apparently
frail. He has great nervous energy, which he hus-
bands and uses with the utmost care. He dresses
in the plainest style, and gives little attention to the
superficial graces of manner or speech. Naturally
of a quiet, reflective turn of mind, his life-work has
tended to confirm those traits, until now at the age
of forty-four he is a very synonym in the community
for a quiet, unassuming gentleman ; unambitious for
public preferment or the acquisition of wealth and
fame. He finds happiness at his home, in his gar-
den, with his books and his family, and in ample
fulfillment of duty in a sincere devotion to his pro-
fession, in an earnest effort to awaken in the minds
of his pupils a desire to be men of culture and
integrity. In general demeanor he is somewhat
reserved, yet he has a genial sympathetic disposition
and is as kind at heart as a child. He enjoys a
good joke and good humor. Flashes of wit always
find a hearty response from him.
He is well grounded in the faith of his church, and
whoever enters into a contest with him, thinking to
gain a logical victory over him, finds that this quiet,
unassuming man, when aroused, is capable of doing
valiant service in defense of his creed. He has
facts and history at hand and uses them with a zeal
and pungency that is refreshing and convincing.
Nor is he less valiant in defense of his politics, or
any other principles which he espouses. He is not
only fully persuaded in his own mind, but ready and
able to give a reason for the faith that is in him.
His example~is a benefit to his fellow-men, and his
influence upon the young with whom he has been
associated will be felt for many years to come.
He was married on the 31st of May, 1857, to Miss
Chloe E. Curtiss, of East Troy, Wisconsin, who was
also a teacher, and has since followed that occupa-
tion as closely as the care of her children and other
household duties would permit. She is a woman of
superior mental endowments, to which she has added
the most thorough culture. She has received the
deserved honor of the second degree from Milton
College. She excels as a teacher of mathematics.
In personal appearance she is attractive, tall and
graceful, and fills a high position in the community
where she resides. They have four children, three
sons and one daughter, named in the order of their
birth : Anna Sophia, Albert Curtiss, William Henry
and Alfred Edward, all of whom are being carefully
educated for stations of honor and usefulness.
JEROME L. MARSH,
SHEBOTGAN.
THE subject of this biography, a son of Luther
and Laura (Frisbee) Marsh, was born in Eliz-
abethtown, Essex county. New York, January 20,
about 1820. His father died when the son was
about one year old. Soon afterward the family
moved to Chautauqua county, in the western part
of the State, and at seven years of age Jerome went
into the office of the " Fredonia Censor," then con-
ducted by his uncle, Henry Frisbee ; after remaining
there about seven years he entered a job office in
Rochester for a short time, and afterward worked
in the office of Weed and Sprague, publishers of the
"Anti-masonic Enquirer," in that city. Removing
to Michigan City, Indiana, he spent one season
there, setting up, as a journeyman printer, the first
number of the first newspaper printed in that place.
Later he spent about three years in Peoria, Illinois,
printing the "Champion." Removing to Ottawa,
Illinois, he established a democratic paper; because
he was pledged to support the regular nominees the
leaders of the party withdrew their support, and he
was soon stripped of all he had. He removed to
Platteville, Wisconsin, in 1841, and spent several
years there and at Lancaster engaged in the news-
paper business, except during two or three years
which he spent on a farm in Grant county. He
afterward went to Madison and worked about two
years as a printer in the office of the " State Jour-
nal."
In January, 187 1, Mr. Marsh settled in Sheboy-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
?8l
gan county, purchased the " Sheboygan Falls Her-
ald," moved it to the city of Sheboygan, and there,
with his only son, continues to publish the paper
under the firm name and style of J- L- and Geo.
Marsh, the son having most of the editorial manage-
ment. December 26, 1873, the subject of this
sketch received the appointment of postmaster, and
still holds the office (1877).
In politics, he was formerly a democrat, but with-
drew from that party about 1S56, and for twenty
years past has acted heartily with the republicans.
In 1847 Mr. Marsh was married to Miss Melissa
Moore, of Platteville, Grant county, Wisconsin.
They have three daughters, and one son already
mentioned. One of the daughters, Dora, is the
wife of George T. Sumner, a rising attorney of She-
boygan ; another, Laura B., assists her brother in
writing for the " Herald," and also corresponds
for some of the Chicago dailies; and the youngest,
Nellie M., is a clerk in the postoffice.
While residing in Grant county Mr. Marsh held
the office of county treasurer two years — the only
political office of any consequence, except his
present one, that he has ever held. As is seen,
from early boyhood he has passed nearly all his
years in a printing-office, entering fifty years ago,
and his experience has been very like that of most
publishers of country newspapers.
Mr. Marsh is now in comfortable circumstances,
surrounded by all the members of his family. He
is assiduous in the discharge of his official duties,
courteous and obliging, and is highly esteemed by all.
His son George, who was educated--at the State
University at Madison, though not a graduate, is,
like his father, a hard worker and an excellent jour-
nalist.
GEORGE VV. EAY, M.D.,
MEN AS HA.
THE subject of this sketch, a son of Jonas and
Mary (Barnes) Fay, is the youngest of a family
of twelve children, and was born at Royalton, Ver-
mont, February 22, 1823. His father, a farmer by
occupation, died when George was six years old.
He remained at home, steadily working on the farm,
until his eighteenth year, gaining what knowledge
he could in the district school during the winters,
and at brief intervals of leisure during the other
seasons. His mother, who died when he was sev-
enteen, was an excellent manager of affairs, an affec-
tionate and considerate woman, and did all in her
power to encourage and assist him in his endeavors
to gain an education. At the age of eighteen he began
teaching in the school in which he had been edu-
cated, and continued there and in other districts six
seasons. During this period he prepared for college,
but finally aliandoned the idea of entering, and com-
menced reading medicine when about twenty years
old. He attended lectures in the medical depart-
ment of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hamp-
shire, and graduated in 1847.
Beginning his professional practice at Hardwick,
Caledonia county, Vermont, he remained there about
three years, and in 1851 removed to Wisconsin.
After prospecting for some time he settled for one
year at Fond du Lac, and on the 4th of July, 1852,
first cast his eye on Menasha, then a village of about
four hundred inhabitants. Determining uj^on this as
his future home, he at once opened an office, and
during the last twenty-five years has continued
actively in practice, except during the war of the
rebellion, when he was engaged in his country's
service.
In the autumn of 1S62 Dr. Fay went into the
army as assistant surgeon of the j^d Regiment Wis-
consin Volunteers. He had full charge of the regi-
ment in his sphere a little more than two years, and
was then detailed to take charge of the post hospital
at Dalton, Georgia, and in that position, and a simi-
lar one in other hospitals, he served until he left the
service in April, 1865.
Returning to Menasha he again resumed his prac-
tice, and has made for himself an excellent reputa-
tion, alike as a surgeon and general practitioner.
February i, 1875, Dr. Fay was appointed register
of the land office, and is discharging its duties with
the utmost fidelity, at the same time keeping up, to
a large extent, his professional visits, being aided in
the register's office by his eldest son, George A. Fay.
In politics he is of whig antecedents. He aided
in organizing the republican party in Winnebago
county, and has cordially acted with it to the present
time (1877). He cherishes his politics with the same
38:
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
sincerity that he does his religion. He is a commu-
nicant in the Methodist Episcopal church, and a
man of very pure character. He is also a member
of the Masonic fraternity.
The wife of Dr. Fay is a daughter of Amos Rob-
inson, who was, in his day, a leading man in Royal-
ton, Vermont. They were married on the 14th of
April, 1847, and have four children. The only
daughter, Ida M., is the wife of Lorenzo H. Jones,
station agent at Amherst, Wisconsin.
Dr. Fay attributes much of his success to the in-
fluence, example and teachings of his mother, whose
memory he cherishes very tenderly. She encouraged
him in his studies, instilled into his young heart cor-
rect moral and religious principles, and aided him in
laying a good foundation for a noble character.
JOSEPH SCHLITZ,
MILWAUKEE.
JOSEPH SCHLITZ was born at Mayence, on the
J Rhine, May 15, 1831. He was the son of John
and Louisa Schlitz. His father was a speculator in
wine. Joseph was educated in his native city. After
attending school for four years he studied book-
keeping, and subsequently kept the books of one
house for four years. He did this from choice, as he
had a desire to understand book-keeping thoroughly.
In the year 1855 he came to Milwaukee and en-
gaged in the business of brewing, and in the year
1858 he purchased a brewery of August Krug, of
which he has since been the proprietor, and has
conducted the business with marked success. Mr.
Schlitz was a man of great business capacity, and
has, by his energy and foresight, amassed a large
fortune. He was a gentleman much beloved and
very popular.
On the 27th of April, 1875, Mr. Schlitz sailed on
the steamship Schiller, for the purpose of visiting his
brothers in Mayence, his native city. On the 7th of
May the ill-fated steamer was wrecked off the Scilly
Islands, and Mr. Schlitz was lost. Proper steps have
been taken to recover the body, but unsuccessfully.
At the time of his death Mr. Schlitz was president
of the Schlitz Brewing Company, vice-president of
the Second Ward Savings Bank, secretary of the
Brewers' Fire Insurance Company of America, of
which he was one of the founders. He was an
active member of the United States Brewers' Asso-
ciation, secretary of the Milwaukee Brewers' Associ-
ation, member of the Merchants' Exchange; was also
a Mason and member of various other lodges and
societies. From each of these bodies letters of con-
dolence, speaking in the highest terms of the de-
ceased, and lamenting his untimely death, were
addressed to his widow. His loss was felt as a gen-
eral calamity.
Such was the business exactness of Mr. Schlitz
that before his departure for Europe he made a last
will, in which he provides that the extensive brewery
shall be carried on under the same firm name —
Joseph Schlitz Brewing Company — and under the
management of August, Henry, Edward and .\lfred
Uihlein, who have been associated with the deceased
and possessed his entire confidence.
In 1858 he was married to Miss Anna Maria Weis-
mann. He was brought up a Catholic, and was a
member of that church. In politics he was a demo-
crat, but was never a strong partisan.
He was a man of general information, had traveled
much in the United States and in Europe. The
universal sympathy so widely felt is a tribute honor-
able to the memory of the deceased and gratifying
to surviving friends.
SAMUEL GALENTINE, M.D.,
NEE NAIL
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Monroe eral Washington during the revolutionary war, and
county. New York, was born February 13, 1817, had a brother who was captain of a New Jersey
and is the son of Jacob and Kezia (Bergen) Galen- company. Bergen Heights, New Jersey, was named
tine. His maternal grandfather served under Gen- in honor of this family. His father, a tailor by trade,
z?^
•^^x.
^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHIC M. DICTIONART.
385
served in the war of 18 12, and was held a prisoner of
war ten months, in the hands of the British, at Halifax.
Samuel attended school during the greater part of
his boyhood and youth, and commenced teaching
at the age of nineteen, an occupation which he fol-
lowed for several winters, continuing his literary
studies during the rest of the year. He began the
study of medicine about 1839, and attended medical
lectures at Castleton, Vermont, where he graduated
in June, 1842. After practicing about seven years
in Livingston county. New York — first at Mount
Morris and later at Nunda — he in October, 1849,
removed to Neenah, Wisconsin. There he practiced
four years, after which he returned to Nunda and
remained until i860, when he again settled in his
former western home, where he has since continued
to reside, performing the labors of a large practice.
He enjoys the highest confidence and respect of his
neighbors for his skill in the healing art, and for the
elevated tone of his character.
He is a member of the Presbyterian church, and
an elder of the same. In politics, he was formerly a
whig; latterly he has been identified with the repub-
lican party, but does not let politics interfere with
professional business.
About 1870, at the urgent reiiuest of his fellow-
citizens, he consented to accept the presidency of
the village, and served in that capacity two years.
He belongs to the Odd-Fellows fraternity, but rarely
attends its meetings.
Mrs Galentine was Miss Ann M. Alden, a native
of Caldwell, on Lake George, but residing at the
time of their marriage, May 22, 1844, at Tuscarora,
Livingston county, New York. They have had four
children, one of whom, Alice S., is now living.
Dr. Clalentine is the oldest medical resident of
Neenah, and, although he has passed his sixtieth
birthday, is still engaged in active practice. He
enjoys good health, is erect and sprightly, and gives
promise of years of usefulness in his profession.
MOSES MEEKP:R, M.D.,
MINERAL POINT.
MOSES MEEKER, who figured more conspic-
uously than any other person in the early
history of the lead mining region of southern Wis-
consin, was born in New Jersey, June 17, 1790. He
received an academic education in his native State,
and in 181 7 settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he
engaged in the manufacture of white lead. In the
spring of 1822 it became necessary for him to visit
St. Louis, Missouri, for the purpose of purchasing a
stock of pig lead, as the supply at Cincinnati had been
exhausted. While there he became acquainted with
Colonel James Johnson, of Kentucky, who took an
active part in the war of 181 2 and afterward served
a term in Congress. This gentleman informed Dr.
Meeker that he was about fitting out an expedition
to the lead mines on Fever river, where Galena,
Illinois, now stands. Becoming interested in the
enterprise Dr. Meeker determined to close out his
business in Cincinnati and join the expedition.
About that time there appeared an advertisement
in the papers that President Monroe proposed to
lease to individuals each a half-section of land on
the Upper Mississippi river for mining purposes, the
lessees to give a bond and security in ten thousand
dollars to the government that they would pay into
the United States treasury ten per cent of all the
lead which they mined and smelted. He disposed
of his lead works in Cincinnati, and in company
with Colonel Cole started from that city for the
mines, making the journey on horseback via St.
Louis. The trip was a long, trying and dangerous
one, as Indians infested the country all along the
route and the rivers were without bridges. After
enduring many hardships the site of the Indian vil-
lage, now the city of Galena, was reached on the
1 2th of November, 1822. There were then about
thirty white persons in the settlement and several
hundred Indians. Dr. Meeker at once explored
the region, examined the lead which had been found
and determined to engage in the enterprise of min-
ing. After arriving at this decision and making some
necessary preliminary arrangements, he mounted his
horse and returned to Cincinnati, arriving there on
the 8th of January, 1823. He then entered into
correspondence with John C. Calhoun (at that time
secretary of war), gave him his opinion of the lead
mines and suggested what he considered the proper
course to be pursued in working them. The corre-
spondence was submitted to President Monroe, and
resulted in the issuance of an order to Colonel Bom-
386
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
ford, head of tlie ordnance department, to allow Dr.
Meeker to build furnaces, make other improvements
and operate the mines; and that he should not be
interfered with until some action of Congress had
been had on the subject. The required bond of
ten thousand dollars was executed and ajjproved.
Dr. Meeker next purchased a substantial keel-boat,
with an outfit costing seven thousand dollars, en-
listed several families in Cincinnati (forty-three per-
sons in all), and on the 5th of April, 1823, started
for the scene of his future operations via the Ohio
and Mississippi rivers, a distance of about six hun-
dred miles. Among the passengers on the keel-
boat were two young men named respectively Cap-
tain Orin Smith and Captain Smith Harris, who
afterward became distinguished and wealthy steam-
boat owners and commanders on the Mississippi
river. The company arrived at Galena on the ist
day of June, 1823, having made the trip in ^ighty-
nine days. His first year in Galena was devoted to
building houses and furnaces. In the month of
August of the same year he had the census of the
village taken, and the population amounted to sev-
enty-four whites and five hundred Indians. In the
spring of 1824 the furnaces were completed and
smelting commenced. The product of smelted ore
during the first year was four hundred and twenty-
five thousand pounds. In the autumn of 1824 Dr.
Meeker returned to Cincinnati for his family and a
year's supply of provisions for the settlement, return-
ing in the latter part of the year. His efforts were
attended with remarkable success, and through his
advice the government adopted new plans in leas-
ing the mines and in collecting rents, and many sub-
stantial improvements were made in the manner of
operating the works.
At the breaking out of the Blackhawk war, in
1832, the works were temporarily suspended, and
a general prostration of business followed. Dr.
Meeker took an active part in the war against the
Indians, and held the position of captain during that
struggle.
After the close of the war he removed to Iowa
county, Wisconsin, and in 1837 began the erection
of his large four-blast furnace on the Blue river.
This was one of the first smelting furnaces in the
territory, and was the largest then in existence, hav-
ing cost its proprietor twenty-five thousand dollars.
In 1842 he was elected to the territorial legislature,
and reelected in 1843. In 1846 he was chosen a
delegate from Iowa county to the convention to
frame a State constitution, which assembled in Mad-
ison on the sth day of October of that year, and was
one of the leaders of that organization, whose work,
although in many respects vi'ise and statesmanlike,
was nevertheless rejected by the people.
During the early part of his sojourn in Cincinnati
he had given attention to the study of medicine, and
attended medical lectures, though he had never
practiced the profession. The scarcity of phy-
sicians in the new settlement in a manner forced
him into the practice in Galena, and for a number of
years his services in this line were in very large de-
mand, and he attained a reputation as a most skill-
ful and successful physician.
He continued his residence in Iowa county until
1854 (having for eight years previous to this time
resided at Mineral Point), when he removed to his
farm at Meeker's Grove in Lafayette county, and
retired from active life.
In the spring of 1865 he removed, with his son-
in-law, Nicholas Smith, Esq. (then the law partner
of Hon. John K. Williams, and now (1877) associate
editor of the " Janesville Gazette "), to Shullsburg,
where he suddenly died of paralysis on the 7th day
of July, 1865. His remains were taken for inter-
ment to Galena, where a handsome monument
marks their resting-place.
Dr. Meeker was in many respects a most remark-
able man, of high moral and religious character ;
his benevolence and liberality were only bounded
by his means, while his disposition and domestic
habits were of the most amiable and blameless char-
acter. His crowning virtue was his patriotism. All
those acquainted with his career during the dark
days of the Indian troubles in his neighborhood
can bear testimony to the fact that no man worked
with a more noble spirit for the welfare of the
country than did Dr. Meeker. His hospitalities,
also, were bestowed liberally, and his house was
ever a welcome resort for the stranger and the
homeless. He took a deep interest in the State
Historical Society, of which he was chosen a corre-
sponding member in 1855. At the instance of this
society he commenced a history of the early settle-
ment of the lead regions, regretting that his journal,
in which he had kept his records, had, unfortu-
nately, been burned, thus rendering it necessary for
him to draw on his memory, adding, with peculiar
emphasis: "The great object with me is to give it
correct." Though his paper covers but a brief pe-
riod, yet it is of great value and interest.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV
387
He was a prominent member of the Masonic fra-
ternity, and for several years was an officer of the
(irand Lodge of the State of Wisconsin.
He was twice married: first, in 1818, to Miss
Mary R. Henry, who died in Galena in 1829, and
again in 1837, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Miss Eliza P.
Shackelton, who is still living. Mrs. Meeker has
borne her part nobly as one of the pioneers of the
State. She was a faithful and devoted wife, and was
never heard to express a murmur, even in times that
tried the souls of strong men. She is a lady of high
Christian development, and was the ready and ear-
nest coadjutor of her husband in all his acts of benev-
olence and self-sacrifice, and lives in the enjoyment
of the profound respect of a wide circle of friends.
Dr. Meeker had a large family of children, some
of whom died in infancy and some in early life —
four sons and two daughters survive. His eldest
son, Warner Meeker, resides in California ; the sec-
ond, J. D. Meeker, lives in Nebraska ; John A. is
in business in Richland county, Wisconsin, while
the fourth living son, Captain E. J. Meeker, is en-
gaged in mercantile pursuits in Kansas. Moses P.,
his youngest son, died in the army in March, 1865.
His eldest daughter, Emma, married Dr. Rumbold,
of St. Louis, Missouri, and died November 5, 1863;
Lida R. is married to George W. Snow, of Milton
Junction, and J. Clara is the wife of Captain Nicho-
las Smith, associate editor of the " Janesville Daily
Gazette." Captain Smith was born in England in
1837 ; came to this country in 1842 and settled in
Lafayette county, Wisconsin ; from the age of eleven
to twenty-three worked in the lead mines and on
the farm, and never attended school; at eighteen
began to learn to read and write, and afterward
taught school in i860 ; began the study of law in
1861 ; was admitted to the bar of the Lafayette
county circuit in the spring of 1862; entered the
army in August of the same year as a private in the
33d Wisconsin Volunteers, and a month later was
commissioned second lieutenant; and after the siege
of Vicksburg was promoted to the rank of captain
of Company H, same regiment. He was mustered
out of service in January, 1865, having been actively
engaged during the entire interval, participating in
some twenty-two encounters with the enemy, among
which were the siege of Vicksburg and the battles
incident to the Red River expedition under General
A. J. Smith. He also participated in the memor-
able march from Little Rock, through Arkansas
and Missouri, in pursuit of the rebel General Mar-
maduke, marching in all four hundred and fifty miles
in twenty-five days. After quitting the army he
practiced his profession (law), one year in partner-
ship with Hon. John K. Williams, of ShuUsburg,
with whom he studied for two years, and with Hon.
O. B. Thomas at Prairie du Chien, during which
period he also held the office of deputy United
States revenue collector for Crawford and Richland
counties. During i868-g he edited the "Waukesha
Freeman," and afterward purchased the " Prairie du
Chien Union." During the spring of 1874 he was
the Washington correspondent of the "Milwaukee
Sentinel," and in the following autumn became asso-
ciate editor of the "Janesville Gazette," which posi-
tion he still fills with credit and acceptance.
ASAHEL P. LYMAN,
ASAHEL PHELl'S LYMAN, a native of the
Empire State, was born at Brookfield, Madi-
son county, January 23, 1814, and is the son of
Asahel Lyman, a merchant, and Dolly nee Blair.
When h^ was two years old the family moved to
Cortlandville, Cortland county. New York. He was
educated in the district school and Homer Acad-
emy, and from about sixteen to twenty-two years of
age was a clerk in his father's store. Subse(iuently
he was in the mercantile trade with his younger
brother, George N. Lyman, in the village of Cort-
landville.
In September, 1846, Mr. Lyman moved to She-
boygan, where, in company with his brother, he
continued the mercantile trade for several years,
the firm being A. P. and G. N. Lyman. For some
time they had branch stores at Sheboygan Falls,
Fond du Lac, Berlin and Calumet, and conducted
a very heavy business. During the time they were
in partnership they built a flouring-mill and saw-mill
at Sheboygan Falls; the former, known as Rock
Mills, is still running.
About 1855 they dissolved partnership, (leorge
N. going to Ripon. Asahel, remaining in Sheboy-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
gan, continued in trade until about 1865, when he
engaged in ship-building, launching several of the
finest vessels that ever sailed on our inland seas. In
this enterprise, however, he was unfortunate. One
or two vessels were lost in storms ; the Cortland was
sunk on Lake Erie by colliding with the steamer
Morning Star, and still remains at the bottom of
that lake, and the Sailor Boy was lost at sea between
New York and New Orleans.
Meeting with so many losses Mr. Lyman con-
cluded that his fortune did not lie in that direction,
and accordingly discontinued ship-building about
1867, and turned his attention to farming. At one
time he owned several farms, but has disposed of
all but one, which is only a mile from the city.
On the 25th of October, 1837, he was married to
Miss Cynthia Higbee, of Otsego county, New York.
They have one child, Sylvester Blair Lyman, who
has a family and lives in Milwaukee.
hi local improvements Mr. Lyman has been one
of the leading men in Sheboygan. Years ago he
erected several fine dwelling-houses; also two or
three large stores and other buildings. He contrib-
uted liberally toward building the Sheboygan and
Fond du Lac plank road and the railroad connect-
ing the two points, and for a short time was a di-
rector of the latter road. He was one of the first
harbor commissioners, and one of the foremost men
in getting the Sheboygan harbor built. His fellow-
citizens hold him in high esteem.
JOHN PHILLIPS, M.D.,
STEVENS POINT.
THE oldest physician in professional practice,
if not in years, in Portage county, Wisconsin,
and one of the most respected citizens of Stevens
Point, is John Phillips, son of Stephen and Mary
(Austin) Phillips, members of the farming class of
Vermont. He was born at Richmond, Chittenden
county, November 4, 1823, and until about eighteen
years of age aided his father and attended school,
one or two terms, at the Johnson Academy. He
then devoted about four years to teaching in his
native State, and prosecuting his own scientific
studies in private and at the academy mentioned.
In 1845 he made a trip westward, passing round the
lakes, through Milwaukee, to Boone county, Illinois.
He taught school one winter near Belvidere ; after-
ward went to Wyota, Fayette county, Wisconsin,
and there resumed teaching, taking up, meanwhile,
the study of medicine. He attended a course of
lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago; came
to Stevens Point, and in the autumn of 1848 settled
at Stevens Point, and immediately opened an office.
Four years later he attended another course of lec-
tures at the Rush College, and after receiving his
diploma returned to his home, where he has con-
tinued in steady and successful practice to this date,
except when temporarily absent on some oflicial
duties.
Dr. Phillips was a member of the general assem-
bly in i860 and 1864, the first time representing
Portage, Marathon and Wood counties ; the second,
Portage county alone. Prior to this date, for about
four years, he was town superintendent of schools,
Stevens Point then being about one fourth as large
as Portage county now is. In 1864 he was on the
board appointed to attend the annual examination
at West Point Academy, and in 1876 was a member
of the State board of regents of the normal schools.
In politics, he was formerly a whig, but since the
organization of the republican party he has been
identified with that body.
He was married at Brownington, Orleans county,
Vermont, on the 5th of October, 1854, to Miss Ellen
E.Hall, a daughter of Rev. Samuel Read Hall, A.M.,
LL.D., who founded the first teacher's seminary in
this country, at Concord, Vermont, in March, 1823.
Subsequently he went to, Andover, Massachusetts,
and took charge of the teacher's department in
Phillips Academy. He was the author of some of
our earliest and best writings on the art and science
of teaching. Mrs. Phillips has inherited, in no
small measure, his literary taste and talents, and has
devoted considerable time to writing, both of prose
and poetry, her nom de plume for metrical composi-
tions being Ada J. Moore. In 1875 she compiled
and published a selection from her numerous poems,
the book being entitled " Under the Pines." The
neat little volume is dedicated to her venerated
father, " in the hope that it may brighten, with a
new pleasure, the eightieth year of a life of rare
beauty and usefulness." The rhythm of these
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION AH V.
389
poems is almost perfect, and there is a striking
sweetness and tenderness running through nearly
e\ery one of them. Some of the finest specimens
of pathos and genuine poetic feeling are found in
such domestic and elegiac poems as " My Graves,"
" Baby Florence," " My Lost Jewels," " La Petite,"
etc. The heart must be dead which feels no touch
of sympathy and tender emotion while reading these
pure gushings of a mother's heart. The poems
written during the late rebellion have the genuine
glow of patriotic fire. Mrs. Phillips has more
strength of mind than body, her health having for
several years been very poor. She is thoroughly
domestic, and gives what physical strength and
mental activity she possesses to the brightening of
her home and to making happy whatever part of the
outside world she can reach in person or by pen.
She is a Christian mother of the noblest type. Of
the ten children that have been born to them only
three are now living; the eldest a daughter of sev-
enteen years.
Ur. Phillips is a reading, growing man, growing
both in medical knowledge and in professional rep-
utation. He is an earnest friend of education and
of culture in the broadest sense, and outside of his
practice, as well as in it, is a very useful man.
CAPTAIN IRA MILTIMORE,
'^ANES VILLE.
IRA MILTIMORE was born in the town of
Windham, Windham county, Vermont, Septem-
ber 28, 1813, and is the son of James Miltimore and
Nabby Fitz. His father was a native of London-
derry, New Hampshire, and his mother was born in
Ipswich, Massachusetts. His grandfather was a na-
tive of Londonderry (Ireland), and emigrated from
that country with the colony that founded London-
derry, New Hampshire. Our subject is the youngest
and only surviving son of a family of eight children,
comprising six sons and two daughters. His sisters,
Mrs. Fanny Ingalls and Mrs. Mary Ford, are resid-
ing, the former in Waukegan, Illinois, and the latter
in Elsie, Clinton county, Michigan. Ira attended
the district schools until the age of eleven years, at
which period his father died and the family were
separated. At this early age he resolved to support
himself, and accordingly turned his steps westward,
stopping the first season at Coxsackie, near the Cats-
kill Mountains, New York; there he was employed
for several months in the manufacture of brick.
Thence he went to Floyd's Corner, Oneida county,
New York, where he entered a cabinet shop, in
which he remained about two years, attending the
village school one winter. Thence he removed to
Oswego, where he apprenticed himself for a term of
five years to the millwright and machinist's trade,
and at the expiration of his apprenticeship attended
a district school one winter in Martville, Cayuga
county, New York. Although his school days ended
here, his education was only commenced. From that
time onward he was a close observer and an indus-
trious reader of men and books ; and inheriting from
his sturdy ancestry those " no surrender " principles
that have raised so many of the race to high position
and to great and deserved eminence, he resolved to
hew out success with his own strong hands and in-
domitable perseverance.
In 1836 he settled in Chicago, Illinois, where he
soon established himself as a millwright and machin-
ist of the highest order, and identified himself with
all the business interests of the city. In 183S he
was elected to a seat in the city council from the
third ward, and returned yearly to the same position
till 1845, ^t t'le same time carrying on an extensive
and increasing business. He erected all the princi-
pal machinery and public buildings in the city,
among which were the first flouring mill ; the first
sash, door and blind factory; the first set of grain
elevators ; the first bridge across the river at Clark
street; and in 1840 commenced the first city water-
i works, which were located at the foot of Lake street.
In the following year the greater part of the city was
supplied with water from the lake, conducted through
wooden pipes. But his career in Chicago and the
estimation in which he was held by the citizens of
that city is so clearly and cogently set forth in an
article in the Chicago " Inter-Ocean," October 9,
1872, that we transfer it to our pages entire. It is
headed " Some Early Chicago Reminiscences," and
reads as follows :
We see again in our streets, after an absence of a quarter
of a century, a very old and respected citizen of Chicago,
the Hon. Ira Miltimore. Mr. Miltimore, during his absence
has passed through some trying scenes, and for that matter.
390
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
ordeals. lie fought in the war as captain in a Wisconsin
regiment; was atthe siege of Vicksburg, where he superin-
tended the mounting of the siege guns for General Grant,
which the latter captured from the rebels at Grand Gulf,
and performed other important services. While he has been
through the fiery ordeal of battle, the city with which his
earlier life and fortunes were connected has been through
the terrible ordeal of a fire, such as the world never previ-
ously witnessed. He comes back to do what is in his power
to help rebuild her waste places.
Mr. Miltimore is still in the prime of life — a hale, hearty
and energetic man, apparently but little the worse for the
wear -and tear of twenty-five years of an industrious, active
and exciting life. It is not, however, so much with Mr.
Miltimore we propose to deal in this notice of his return
among us, as with the fact that his name is associated with
some of the most important improvements in our city as
respects its moral, intellectual and material advancement.
In 1S44, being then an abolitionist, this gentleman was
elected alderman of the old third ward by a majority of one,
being the first man elected to any office on the Liberty
ticket in the State of Illinois. His democratic opponent,
however, contested his right to a seat in the board of alder-
men on the ground that one of the judges or clerks of the
election was not a citizen of the State. The council decided
the election invalid, and another was ordered. At this
second election Mr. Miltimore was returned by a majority
of twenty -two. It subsequently turned out that upon this
comparatively unimportant election, to a considerable ex-
tent, hinged the great future which was subsequently
opened up to our present system of common schools. Upon
taking his seat in the council Mr. Miltimore moved to ad-
vertise and receive proposals for the erection of what since
then has been known as the old Dearborn brick school-
house, previously to the fire located on Madison street,
between State and Dearborn. This was the first school
building erected in the city. The magnitude of the under-
taking alarmed, the old fogies of the period, and they opposed
the proposition by every possible means. But the council
being evenly divided between the whigs and democrats,
Mr. Miltimore had virtually the casting vote on all selec-
tions of city officers to be elected by the council. He used
the power he thus possessed by making it tell in every case
in favor of his new schoolhouse. No alderman could get
the vote of the abolition alderman for his particular candi-
date for any office unless said alderman promised to vote for
the Dearborn school building. Mr. Miltimore also stipu-
lated that the vote on the schoolhouse question should be
taken belbre going into the election of olficers. Augustus
Cjarrett, wlio was subsequently elected mayor, proposed to
use the new school building as an insane asylum, and others
ort'ered amendments proposing that Mr. Miltimore be the
first patient confined therein. But this latter gentleman
had firm supporters who stood by him trom first to last.
Among these were lions. William H. Brown (since de-
ceased), J.Young .Scammon, John P. Chapin (since deceased)
and other leading citizens. The schoolhouse was finally
erected, and served for years the purposes of educating
thousands who are now among our first and most enter-
prising and prosperous citizens. Mr. Miltimore brought
the first teacher in the school — a Mr. Ingalls — at his own
expense, from Cleveland to this city, and that gentleman
taught in the building until his demise, literally dying in
the harness. He was a good man, and dearly "loved and
respected by his pupils, many of whom speak of him with
moistened eyes.
Another monument to Mr. Miltimore's genius, as well as
perseverance, is the steam pumping works of tlie Illinois
and Michigan canal. The canal was originally designed
to be constructed on the deep cut plan, which has since
been carried out. But in 1S43, the appropriation having
previously failed to complete the canal, the work came to a
dead stop. It was then that Mr. Miltimore came to the
front with a plan and specifications for the construction of
the pumping works. After a great deal of opposition from
Governor Ford and others, this plan was adopted, and but I
for it the canal could not have been completed lor many
years subsequently. To Captain Swift — one of the coni- I
missioners — is due the credit of having finally forced Mr. I
Miltimore's plan upon the board. A committe'e of the Me- ]
chanics' Institute, consisting of John Gage, Ira Miltimore j
and H. L. Fulton, all of whom are now living, presented !
Mr. Miltimore's plan to the canal commissioners. Gov- ]
ernor Davis, of Massachusetts (Honest John), and Captain ^
Swift, voted to accept it. Governor Ford stood out reso-
lutely against it. \
Mr. Miltimore erected the first steam engine ever put up j
in this city. It was used to run a saw-mill, and located on '
the north branch of the river, near the late Mr. Clay bourn's j
residence; the owner was a Mr. Muntoon. i
On Christmas day, 1845, he entered into a con- i
tract to build what was subsequently known as the \
"Big Mill," in Janesville, Wisconsin, which was |
owned by a stock company, in which A. Hyatt J
Smith, James McClurg and Martin O. Walker were !
principal owners, and which was the first flouring j
mill erected in Janesville. In the autumn of 1846, '
being induced by the superior opportunities for
trade and business which Janesville seemed to offer,
he moved his family to that city, purchased consid-
erable property on the east side of the river, built a
very tasty and commodious residence, platted " Milti- 1
more's addition to Janesville," and subseijuently
" Monterey addition," and in conjunction with A.
Hyatt Smith, Esq., constructed the " Monterey
Dam," and improved what is known as the " Lower <
Water Power."
In the autumn of 1862, his patriotism and love of
freedom nothing abated, he raised a company of 1
volunteers for the Union army, which were mus- j
tered into the 33d Regiment Wisconsin Infantry, |
and which he led into the field. He participated \
in the siege of Vicksburg, where he superintended
the mounting of the siege guns for General Grant, ;
which the latter captured at Grand Gulf. He also
participated in the capture of Jackson, Mississippi,
and in the march back from Jackson to Vicksburg
received a sun-stroke, from the effects of which he
was soon after prostrated for a time and obliged to
leave the service.
He served as alderman of the city of Janesville :
for nine years, and was fully identified with every
enterprise for the material, moral and intellectual '■
advancement of the city of his adoption. He was \
one of the directors of the old " Rock River \' alley '■
Railroad Company," which is now a part of the Chi-
cago and Northwestern.
Always deeply interested in educational matters,
he was the first to move in an effort to secure the ;
location of the State Institution for the Education of
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ART.
391
the Blind, in Janesville, and donated to the State
the picturescjue site of ten acres on which the build-
ing now stands. He was appointed by Governor
Dewey one of the commissioners to locate the in-
stitution, of which he was subsequently one of the
board of trustees for fifteen years.
On October 22, 1839, he was married, at Port By-
ron, New York, to Miss Margaret B., daughter of
Jeremiah B. King and Hannah ne'e McNaughton,
the former of English Puritan and the latter of
Scotch Covenanter descent. The McNaughton coat
of arms of her ancestors bears the inscription "/
/lope in God." While in her character are blended
the sober gravity, the genuine piety and the world-
renouncing self-sacrifice of the Puritans, and the
stern persistence of the Scottish Covenanters of the
hillsides, she is a lady of the highest intellectual
and educational attainment, and occupies a place in
the family, the church and the community which
few women could fill. While she is a most exem-
plary wife and devoted mother, a sincere and earnest
friend, a wise and prudent counselor, yet it is in her
exalted piety, in her untiring efforts for the spiritual
welfare of all about her, that her true greatness is
discovered. She is in the truest sense a " mother in
Israel." Early in life the love of God was shed
abroad in her heart by the holy spirit which was
given unto her, and since then her daily life has
been a " living epistle, known and read of all " with
whom she has been brought in contact. She was
baptized into the communion of the Baptist church,
and has since been a Sunday-school teacher, and a
zealous worker for Christ. Since her settlement in
Janesville, more than thirty years ago, she has taught
a large Bible-class on Sunday afternoons, and for
her own use compiled (juestions upon the entire
ijook of St. Matthew, writing out both questions and
answers, the study of which, in class, covered a period
of four years; then adopted the " National " lessons
with the same programme, and the Lord has been
pleased to bless her labors abundantly, giving her
many "souls for her hire," so that her spiritual chil-
dren, who acknowledge her as the instrument em-
ployed by God in the conversion of their souls, are
scattered all over the West and Northwest, some in
the ministry and others as Sunday-school teachers,
and workers in the temperance cause, winning souls
and serving God wherever they go. " The day " only
will declare the amount of good which this excellent
Christian lady has been the means of accomplishing
for her Master. Then she will realize the full sig-
nificance of the oracle, " They that be wise shall
shine as the sun in the firmament, and they that
turn many to righteousness, as the stars forever and
ever."
She has been the mother of five children, three of
whom are living, and have risen up "to call her
blessed." The eldest son, Claron I. Miltimore, en-
tered the Union army as a private in the 2 2d Wis-
consin Volunteers in 1862, and with a part of his
regiment was captured by the rebels at Brentwood,
Tennessee, confined in Libby Prison, exchanged
and returned to his regiment. In the autumn of
1863 he was appointed adjutant of the 37th Wiscon-
sin Regiment, and being transferred to the Army of
the Potomac, participated in the siege of Petersburg
and in all the campaigns and engageinents of his
regiment till the close of the war, making a proud
and honorable record as a soldier and patriot. The
second son. Chancy K. Miltimore, is a resident of
Chicago, and the only daughter, Mary F., is the wife
of Captain F. P. Dobson, a resident of Sioux Falls,
Dakota Territory.
In religious sentiment Captain Miltimore is a Bap-
tist, and has been, since early manhood, also a mem-
ber of the Masonic fraternity.
DE WITT C. VAN OSTRAND,
IN the young cities of Wisconsin are found many
eminently successful men, who, beginning in
obscurity, have worked their way slowly but stead-
ily up to a competency, if not to independence, and
to a high and commanding position in society, lo-
cating in a town, in many cases, when it was in an
embryotic state, and having no capital other than a
45
good character, a sound constitution, a resolute
heart, and a willingness to do any kind of respect-
able work which should offer itself. Of this class are
three fourths of the leading men, the merchants and
manufacturers of Neenah. De Witt . Clinton Van
Ostrand, of the firm of Smith, Van Ostrand and
Leavens, the great stove manufacturers, is a son of
392
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Aaron Van Ostrand, a trader, and Elizabeth ne'e
Collins. He was born at Liverpool, near Syracuse,
New York, October 4, 1827, and is therefore just
approaching his fiftieth birthday. He lost his father
when four or five years old. He lived on a farm
until he was about seventeen years old and then at-
tended an academy at Evans' Mills a few terms, and
afterward went to Hinsdale, New Hampshire, and
worked about three years in a woolen factory.
In May, 1S50, he removed to Neenah and started
a small chair factory, which he conducted one year.
He afterward worked in a storehouse a few months;
ran a Durham boat a short time between Grand
Chute (now Appleton) and Neenah, with Indians
and half-breeds to propel it; the next season, in
company with A. H. Cronkite, had the contract for
portaging goods from Kaukauna, through Neenah,
to Oshkosh and Fond du Lac, all merchandise for
those points in those days being thus transported.
He acted two years as chief clerk in a hardware
store owned by Mr. Cronkite. In September, 1855,
in company with Hiram Smith, he commenced mer-
chandizing, and continued it nearly three years ; he
was engaged in the manufacture of flour three years,
in company with Mr. Cronkite; and later, spent
about seven years at El Dorado, Fond du Lac
county, milling and merchandizing, in partnership
with James K. Scribner ; returning to Neenah, he,
with Hiram Smith, purchased the Neenah paper
j mills, the first manufactory of the kind built there,
and operated them for seven years. During that
time they bought an interest in the Neenah stove
works, in connection with Mr. H. P. Leavens, and
these three gentlemen now own the foundry and are
manufacturing between five and six thousand stoves
annually. Messrs. Smith and Van Ostrand have
also an office on Cedar street, and are engaged to
some extent in the loan business.
In 1865, while residing in Fond du Lac county,
Mr. Van Ostrand represented that county in the
lower house of the legislature. He was afterward
renominated, but declined to run. At an early day
in Neenah, before it became a city, he was presi-
dent of the village two years. He was on the school
board about three years, and acted as its clerk. He
heartily sympathizes with every enterprise calcu-
lated to advance the educational, moral or material
interests of the city.
He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
On the 4th of March, 1856, he was married to
Miss Eliza Wheeler, of Neenah. They have four
children.
Mr. Van Ostrand has a dark hazel eye ; an open,
frank expression of the face ; his hair quite a gray,
the only indication of fifty winters. He is five feet
eight inches in height, weighs one hundred and sixty
five pounds, and has a symmetrical, well-jjropor-
tioned physique.
MORGAN L. MARTIN,
GREEN BAT.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Martins-
burg, Lewis county. New York, was born on
the 31st of March, 1805, and is the son of Walter
Martin and Sarah ne'e Turner. His native place
was named in honor of his father, who had bought
the tract of land on which the town stands. Mor-
gan's boyhood presented few phases in distinction
from that of other boys ; he early developed a fond-
ness for study, and after completing his preparatory
education, pursued a regular course and graduated
at Hamilton College in 1824, and later, spent two
and a half years in the study of law at Lowville,
Lewis county, New York. At the expiration of this
time he removed to Detroit, Michigan, and there
comi)leted his studies, and was admitted to the bar
in 1827. Thus ecpiipped with a thorough educa-
tion, untiring energy, enterprise and a determination
to succeed, he removed to Green Bay, Wisconsin,
and began the practice of his profession, the courts
which he attended being held at Prairie du Chien,
Green Bay and Mackinaw. He soon built up a re-
munerative practice and became known as a success-
ful and skillful advocate, and during a period of
twenty-five years gave himself unremittingly to his
work. In 1851, he became interested in the Fox
River improvement, being the originator of the
project, and gave to it his attention till 1858.
Previous to this movement he had accumulated a
small capital which he had invested in lands, and
which had grown to a handsome fortune ; most of it,
however, was lost in this enterprise. At the open-
ing of the war in 1861 he entered the United States
JvL, kj . Ak (xaJ-i^^t"
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
39$
service as paymaster, and lield that position till
1S65, when he resigned, and, returning to his home
in (Ireen Bay, resumed his practice, in whicli he has
for the most part been engaged until the present
time (1876).
Aside from the regular duties of his profession
Mr. Martin has been called to fill many positions of
responsibility and public trust. In 1831 he was
elected to the legislature of Michigan, and served
in that capacity as long as Michigan remained a
territory. After the organization of Wisconsin he
represented his district in the legislature from 1838
till 1844, when he resigned the position. In the
following year he was elected a delegate to congress
from Wisconsin and served one term. He was pres-
ident of the constitutional convention of Wisconsin
in 1848, and a member of the State legislature
during the sessions of 1855, 1858-9 and 1874.
He is now county judge of Brown county, having
been elected in 1875. Beginning thus with the
early history of Wisconsin, Judge Martin has grown
up with the State, and his name is coupled with
many of its important and interesting events. As
I an attorney he is a man of recognized abilit\-, while
as a judge he is popular and respected by all for
the clearness and justness of his decisions. He has
been a close observer and profound student, and
has gained a knowledge of men and things which,
with his fine conversational powers and genial dispo-
sition, renders him an agreeable social companion.
His political views are democratic, though not
affiliating with any party, as now constituted ; and
in religion he is identified with the Episcopal church.
Judge Martin was married on the 25th of July,
1837, to Miss Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Colonel
Melancthon Smith, of Plattsburgh, New York, and
sister of Rear Admiral Smith, United States Navy,
by whom he has two sons and two daughters.
HON. ALMARINE M. CARTER,
JOHNSTOWN.
THE su!)ject of the following sketch, descended
from a long line of distinguished ancestors, all
tillers of the soil, realizes in his own life, perhaps as
much as any other man now living, the fulfillment
of the prophecy so beautifully paraphrased by Mrs.
Hale, regarding those who cultivate the soil :
" ' Go till the soil,' said God to man,
' Subdue the earth, it shall be thine';
1 low grand, how glorious wa,^ the plan !
How wise the law divine!
And none of Adam's race can draw
A title, save beneath this law,
To hold the world in trust;
Karth is the Lord's, and he hatli sworn
That ere Old Time has reached his liournL-
It shall reward the just."
Mr. Carter has spent nearly the whole of his active
life as a farmer, and now enjoys that respect, con-
fidence and affection of his fellow-citizens which a
useful and upright life alone can permanently secure.
He was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut,
October 4, 1814, and is the son of Guy and Serepta
(Marshall) Carter, of the same State. The Carters
claim descent from English ancestors who settled at
Litchfield, Connecticut, about the year 1690. Their
descendants, who are now ijuite numerous, are found
in most of the States of the LTnion, have generally
been husbandmen, imbued with Puritanic princi-
I pies, and mostly connected witli the old Presby-
terian and Baptist churches. His grandfather,
Adonijah Carter, a man of high moral character
I and sterling religious principles, died at Litchfield,
I Connecticut, in 1820, in the seventy-ninth year of
■ his age. His father moved to the State of New
York in 1815 and settled at Paris, Oneida county,
I where he purchased a large farm and followed the
I occupation of husbandry all his life. In 1855 he
removed to Johnstown, Wisconsin, where he died in
1857. He was a man of more than ordinary intelli-
gence and considerable local influence, and was for
a number of years a trustee of the Madison Uni-
versity of New York, a Baptist educational institute
of some eminence. The mother of our subject was
a woman of most exemplary character, intelligent,
hospitable and self-sacrificing, always studying the
interests and welfare of those around her. She was
also noted as a musician and sweet singer, a quality
which she transmitted to her posterity, and espe-
cially to our subject. She died in 1855, leaving be-
hind a memory fragrant with good deeds and holy
precepts.
Our subject was the eldest of a family of five
children, three boys and two girls, and was named
after his maternal grandfather, who was a wealthy
396
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
merchant in Pennsylvania, and who lost his life at
the burning of the theatre in the cit)' of Richmond,
Virginia, in iSii, the governor of Virginia and some
forty or fifty others perishing in the same catastro-
phe. He was educated at the Hamilton Academy,
New York, from which he graduated in 1832. De-
termining to pursue the business of husbandry, he
purchased a large farm in Oneida county. New
York, on which he remained till 1843, when, fol-
lowing the tide of empire, he removed to the Terri-
tory of Wisconsin and settled in Johnstown, Rock
county, which has since been his home. He entered
a farm of government land, the deed to which was
signed by President John Tyler, and in real earnest
set about the business of taming the wilderness,
which under his strong hand, guided by his con-
summate skill and taste, has long since been made to
" rejoice and blossom as the rose." He was one of
the most successful and dexterous farmers of the
West. He was never ambitious for office ; but being
a gentleman of more than ordinary capacity, of high
education and refined manners, he has been fre-
quently selected by his fellow-citizens to fill posi-
tions of trust and honor, upon which he has always
reflected the highest credit. He was one of the
first commissioners of Rock county, and has held
various town offices and other positions from his
fellow-citizens. He was elected a member of the
constitutional convention of 1847-8, which framed
the constitution now in force in the State, serving
on the committee of fifteen, of which the late Byron
Kilburn was chairman, which mapped out the busi-
ness for the various other committees, and was
facetiously designated "the breaking team," being
one of its most practical members. He has recent-
ly written a history of that convention, which is quite
an elaborate and racy document, containing some
finely drawn pen-pictures of prominent members of
that body. Mr. Carter is the only one of six col-
leagues from Rock county now a resident of Wis-
consin ; four are deceased and one is a citizen of
another State. From the document referred to we
make the following extracts, which are mainly in the
line of our work :
We were then a sparsely settled territory, numbering
only two hundred and ten thousand souls. Now we are a
large and prosperous State. Then Wisconsin was the " tar
west." Minnesota was not known. Now the western
boundary of population, enterprise and wealth of the nation
is the Pacific ocean. Then our people were poor; now
there is great wealth among us. Then no railroad had
reached Lake Michigan ; now the whole country is marked
into squares by the iron band, and the steam-liorse snorts
in every locality. . . . The convention was composed of
sixty-nine members, mostly young men and men of energy,
who had left luxuriant honies in the East to seek tame aiid
fortune in the West. They were proud of their adopted
.State, and had met to frame a fundamental law under which
their children should live happily. There was earnestness
and determination depicted upon each countenance as they
took then- respective seats. To trace the after career of
some of these men may not be uninteresting. The presi-
dent was Morgan L. Martin, who served in the legislature
of 1S76. Two of the members have been governors of the
State, Harvey and Lewis, while the judiciary of the Slate
has been largely and honorably- i-ejn-esented by others.
Whiton graced the bench from the organization of the
State until his death. Orsanius Cole first represented his
district, ably and well, in congress, and has for the last
nineteen yeai-s done the State distinguished service upon
the supreme bench ; Larabee has been on the judicial bench,
a member of congress, and is at present a distinguished
citizen of Oregon. Gale has been upon the bench, and
scarcely has there been a legislature since in which one or
more of them have not occupied seats. Twelve have left
the State; of these Reed has been governor of Florida;
Reymert, a man of wealth in New York city ; Easterbrook
is a prominent citizen of Nebraska, and all are occupying
distinguished positions. Eighteen have died.
Such is a brief extract from a document brimfuU
of most important historic matter, and destined to
an honored place among the records of the State
Historical Society.
In 1868, just twenty years after the constitution
was framed, Mr. Carter was elected to the State
legislature, and served much of the session as chair-
man of the house committee on corporations. Since
then he has declined all overtures to office, and has
resided in ease and quietness at his home in Johns-
town.
He is a member of the Johnstown Fire Insurance .
Company. Has gone through the chairs of the
Odd-Fellows fraternity, and is a member of the
Granger organization, having been the presiding
officer in his district since the society originated.
He has been for twenty years a member and secre-
tary of the society for the suppression of horse
stealing, an organization which has done more
toward the abatement of this species of plunder
than all the laws and law-officers of the State. In
a word Mr. Carter is an honest, truthful and capable
man, both in public and private life. Ardently at-
tached to those things which are true, good and
just; hating oppression in all its forms; ever ready
to rebuke meanness wherever it shewed its head.
In politics he is a consistent, intelligent and active
republican. He ever held that all men should be
unfettered in running the race of life, hence the
system of human slavery ever found in him an
honorable but unrelenting foe; and when that ac-
cursed system organized a rebellion against our
government, too old himself to undergo the priva-
tions and hardships of camp life, he sent an only
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHTCAL DICTrONART.
397
son to u))liold and sustain the just cause of his
country.
But the crowning excellence of his character is
his ((uiet, unostentatious religious life. The sweet-
ness and fragrance of his dailj' walk is a constant
blessing to the community in which he resides, and
when he shall be finally called to his long home it
shall be justly said of him, " Mark the perfect man,
and behold the upright, for the end of that man is
]ieace." He was one of the organizers of the Johns-
town Congregational Society in 1844, and has ever
since led the psalmody in the congregation, being
rarely absent from his post on the Sabbath. He is,
moreover, one of the most generous contributors to
the support of the organization.
He has been twice married : first, September 26,
1836, in (loshen, Connecticut, to Miss Dolly A.,
daughter of Timothy Wadham, of that place; she
died in 1847, leaving two children surviving her,
namely, Ellen, wife of E. S. Carter, a merchant in
Mendota, Illinois, and Charles, who served his coun-
try throughout the late war, and is now a successful
merchant in Johnstown. Mr. Carter's second mar-
riage was to Miss Sarah Wedge, daughter of Asah
Wedge, Esq., of Warren, Connecticut. She is the
mother of one daughter, Frances W., a young lady
of superior education and accomplishments, espe-
cially noted as a musician.
The deceased Mrs. Carter was a lady of rare
beauty of person, of the most amiable temper and
engaging manners, of high intellectual and social
attainments, and an exemplary member of the Bap-
tist church, beloved and revered by all who knew
JOSEPH BODWELL DOE,
JANES ]-/LLE.
AMONG the many substantial and enterprising
business-men who have contributed to the
material prosperity of Janesville, no one stands
higher or has a stronger claim upon the respect and
gratitude of his fellow-citizens than the subject of
this sketch. He was born in Sommersworth, now
Rolinsford, New Hampshire, April 20, i8i8, his
parents being Joseph and Mary B. (Ricker) Doe, of
English descent. His father was a well-known and
highly respected farmer, and was for many years a
member of the New Hampshire legislature, and in
all respects a man of acknowledged probity, influ-
ence and usefulness. His maternal grandfather was
Captain Ricker, of the American merchant marine
service.
Our subject was brought up on the old farm at
Rolinsford, with such educational advantages as
the common schools of the place and period afford-
ed, until the age of fourteen, when, actuated by a
spirit of enterprise and independence, he went to
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and became a clerk
in a dry-goods store, in which he remained one year.
In the following year (1833) he removed to Boston,
where he obtained a similar situation, and at the
end of one year removed to New York city, where
for three years he served in the same capacity.
Being then nineteen years of age, and having ac-
quired a pretty thorough knowledge of the princi-
ples of trade, he, in company with two partners,
embarked in the wholesale silk-goods business on
his own account in the city of New York, under the
firm name of Doe, Mason and Co. The business
was conducted with success till the year 1842, when
our subject dissolved the partnership and resolved
to seek his fortune in the West. He went to Wis-
consin during that year and settled in Janesville,
which has since been his home. In 1845 he pur-
chased two acres of heavily wooded land, on which
he built the house in which he has since resided
and which is now in the midst of the busiest part of
the city. On settling in Janesville he opened a
store with a general assortment of goods, which he
carried on with fair success till 1852, when he opened
a private banking house, there being until then no
institution of the kind in the village, and the need
of one being urgently felt ; and before he had any
adequate facilities for doing business, or any organ-
ization, so unbounded was the confidence in his
integrity that he received deposits to a large amount
from the citizens, with no security but his personal
honor. From this nucleus sprung the Central Bank
of Wisconsin, which was incorporated in 1855, and
which became in 1863 the First National Bank of
Janesville; and although his nominal position has
been that of cashier, yet he has ever been the soul
and spirit of the institution. Under his skillful
396
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
merchant in Pennsylvania, and who lost his life at
the burning of the theatre in the city of Richmond,
Virginia, in i8ri, the governor of Virginia and some
forty or fifty others perishing in the same catastro-
phe. He was educated at the Hamilton Academy,
New York, from which he graduated in 1832. De-
termining to pursue the business of husbandry, he
purchased a large farm in Oneida coimty, New
York, on which he remained till 1843, when, fol-
lowing the tide of empire, he removed to the Terri-
tory of Wisconsin and settled in Johnstown, Rock
county, which has since been his home. He entered
a farm of government land, the deed to which was
signed by President John Tyler, and in real earnest
set about the business of taming the wilderness,
which under his strong hand, guided by his con-
summate skill and taste, has long since been made to
'' rejoice and blossom as the rose." He was one of
the most successful and dexterous farmers of the
West. He was never ambitious for office ; but being
a gentleman of more than ordinary capacity, of high
education and refined manners, he has been fre-
quently selected by his fellow-citizens to fill posi-
tions of trust and honor, upon which he has always
reflected the highest credit. He was one of the
first commissioners of Rock county, and has held
various town offices and other positions from his
fellow-citizens. He was elected a member of the
constitutional convention of 1847-8, which framed
the constitution now in force in the State, serving
on the committee of fifteen, of which the late Byron
Kilburn was chairman, which mapped out the busi-
ness for the various other committees, and was
facetiously designated "the breaking team," being
one of its most practical members. He has recent-
ly written a history of that convention, which is quite
an elaborate and racy document, containing some
finely drawn pen-pictures of prominent members of
that body. Mr. Carter is the only one of six col-
leagues from Rock county now a resident of Wis-
consin; four are deceased and one is a citizen of
another State. From the document referred to we
make the following extracts, which are mainly in the
line of our work :
We were then a sparsely settled territory, numbering
only two hundred and ten thousand souls. Now we are a
large and prosperous State. Then Wisconsin was the " tar
west." Minnesota was not known. Now the western
boundary ot population, enterprise and wealth of the nation
ic Wtf. Pn^ifi^ ^.^n...» TU.^- 1
re poor; now
the Pacific ocean. Then our
sixtv-nuie members, n
who had left luxurian
fortune in the West.
.State, and liad met to
their children should
and determination del
there is great wealth among us. Then no railioad had
reached Lake Michigan; now the whole country is marked
into squares by the iron band, and the steam-horse snorts
he convention was composed of
every locahtv
cted
took then- respective seats. To t
some of these men may not be u
young men and men of encrgv,
■s in the East to seek fame arid
,' were proud of their adopted
a fundamental law under which
ippily. There was earnestness
upon each counleu;uicc as they
lie after career of
sting. The presi-
dent was Morgan L. Martin, wdio served in "the legislature
of 1S76. Two of the members have been governors of the
State, Harvey and Lewis, while the judiciary of the Slate
has been largely and honorably represented by others.
Whiton graced the bench from the organization of the
State until his death. Orsanius Cole first represented his
district, ably and well, in congress, and has lor the last
nineteen years done the State distinguished service upon
the supreme bench ; Larabee has been on the judicial bench,
a member of congress, and is at present a distinguished
citizen of Oregon. Gale has been upon the bench, and
scarcely has there been a legislature since in which one or
more of them have not occupied seats. Twelve have left
the State; of these Reed has been governor of Florida;
Rey inert, a man of wealth in New York city; Easterbrook
is a prominent citizen of Nebraska, and all are occupying
distinguished positions. Eighteen have died.
Such is a brief extract from a document brimfull
of most important historic matter, and destined to
an honored place among the records of the State
Historical Society.
In 1868, just twenty years after the constitution
was framed, Mr. Carter was elected to the State
legislature, and served much of the session as chair-
man of the house cominittee on corporations. Since
then he has declined all overtures to office, and has
resided in ease and quietness at his home in Johns-
town.
He is a member of the Johnstown Fire Insurance .
Company. Has gone through the chairs of the
Odd-Fellows fraternity, and is a inember of the
Granger organization, having been the presiding
officer in his district since the society originated.
He has been for twenty years a member and secre-
tary of the society for the suppression of horse
stealing, an organization which has done more
toward the abatement of this species of plunder
than all the laws and law-officers of the State. In
a word Mr. Carter is an honest, truthful and capable
man, both in public and private life. Ardently at-
tached to those things which are true, good and
just; hating oppression in all its forms; ever ready
to rebuke meanness wherever it showed its head.
In politics he is a consistent, intelligent and active
republican. He ever held that all men should be
unfettered in running the race of life, hence the
system of human slavery ever found in him an
honorable but unrelenting foe; and when that ac-
cursed system organized a rebellion against our
government, too old himself to undergo the priva-
tions and hardships of camp life, he sent an only
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
397
son to upliold and sustain the just cause of his
country.
]5ut tlie crowning excellence of his character is
his ([uiet, unostentatious religious lite. The sweet-
ness and fragrance of his daily walk is a constant
blessing to the community in which he resides, and
when he shall be finally called to his long home it
shall be justly said of him, " Mark the perfect man,
and behold the upright, for the end of that man is
]ieace." He was one of the organizers of the Johns-
town Congregational Society in 1844, and has ever
since led the psalmody in the congregation, being
rarely absent from his post on the Sabbath. He is,
moreover, one of the most generous contributors to
the support of the organization.
He has been twice married : first, September 26,
1S36, in Croshen, Connecticut, to Miss Dolly A.,
daughter of Timothy Wadham, of that place; she
died in 1847, leaving two children surviving her,
namely, Ellen, wife of E. S. Carter, a merchant in
Mendota, Illinois, and Charles, who served his coun-
try throughout the late war, and is now a successful
merchant in Johnstown. Mr. Carter's second mar-
riage was to Miss Sarah Wedge, daughter of Asah
Wedge, Esq., of Warren, Connecticut. She is the
mother of one daughter, Frances W., a young lady
of superior education and accomplishments. es])e-
cially noted as a musician.
The deceased Mrs. Carter was a lady of rare
beauty of person, of the most amiable temper and
engaging manners, of high intellectual and social
attainments, and an exemplary member of the Bap-
tist church, beloved and revered by all who knew
her.
JOSEPH BODWELL DOE,
JANESVILLE.
AMONG the many substantial and enterprising
business-men who have contril)uted to the
material prosperity of Janesville, no one stands
higher or has a stronger claim upon the respect and
gratitude of his fellow-citizens than the subject of
this sketcii. He was born in Sommersworth, now
Rolinsford, New Hampshire, April 20, 1818, his
parents being Joseph and Mary B. (Ricker) Doe, of
English descent. His father was a well-known and
highly respected farmer, and was for many years a
member of the New Hampshire legislature, and in
all respects a man of acknowledged probity, influ-
ence and usefulness. His maternal grandfather was
Captain Ricker, of the Ainerican merchant marine
service.
Our subject was brought up on the old farm at
Rolinsford, with such educational advantages as
the common schools of the place and period afford-
ed, until the age of fourteen, when, actuated by a
spirit of enterprise and independence, he went to
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and became a clerk
in a dry-goods store, in which he remained one year.
In the following year {1833) he removed to Boston,
where he obtained a similar situation, and at the
end of one year removed to New York city, where
for three years he served in the same capacity.
Being then nineteen years of age, and having ac-
quired a pretty thorough knowledge of the princi-
ples of trade, he, in company with two partners,
embarked in the wholesale silk-goods business on
his own account in the city of New York, under the
firm name of Doe, Mason and Co. The business
was conducted with success till the year 1842, when
our subject dissolved the partnership and resolved
to seek his fortune in the West. He went to Wis-
consin during that year and settled in Janesville,
which has since been his home. In 1845 he pur-
chased two acres of heavily wooded land, on which
he built the house in which he has since resided
and which is now in the midst of the busiest part of
the city. On settling in Janesville he opened a
store with a general assortment of goods, which he
carried on with fair success till 1852, when he opened
a private banking house, there being until then no
institution of the kind in the village, and the need
of one being urgently felt ; and before he had any
adequate facilities for doing business, or any organ-
ization, so unbounded was the confidence in his
integrity that he received deposits to a large amount
from the citizens, with no security but his personal
honor. From this nucleus sprung the Central Bank
of Wisconsin, which was incorporated in 1855, and
which became in 1863 the First National Bank of
Janesville; and although his nominal position has
been that of cashier, yet he has ever been the soul
and spirit of the institution. Under his skillful
398
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
management it lias come to be, in the words of the
bank inspector, " the best managed bank in tlie
State." As a business man Mr. Doe is one of the
most able and accompli.shed of the profession ; far-
seeing and prudent, just and upright, but firm and
decided in all his dealings, and of unquestioned and
unquestionable integrity. Although essentially a
financier, he is far from being a sordid or avaricious
man ; on the contrary, he is e.xceptionally generous
and benevolent ; imbued with a sincere love for his
fellow-men, sympathizing with and aiding those in
misfortune, and this not as a mere sentiment but as
a practical every-day experience, his unselfishness
and tenderness of heart have prevented him from
being what many others would have been in his
circumstances, a rich man. Although he has been
somewhat unfortunately associated in business on
some occasions, yet no man ever lost a dollar by
him. In society he is genial and companionable,
always fond of a joke, and a firm believer in the
doctrine that mirth is better than medicine.
Although a strong party man, he was never a poli-
tician and never sought an office, although the office
has several times sought him. He was elected
mayor of Janesville four different times, to wit, in
1854, 1861, 1862 and 1870, and in each case not
only discharged his duties with credit to himself,
but reflected honor upon the office.
He has always been an earnest promoter of pub-
lic enterprises and institutions for the moral and
intellectual improvement of his kind. He was one
of the incorporators of Racine College in the city
of Racine, and also of Kemper Hall in the city of
Kenosha, and was for some years a trustee of the
State Institution for the Education of the Blind, and
is foremost in every good work in his city or com-
munity.
In religion he has been not less faithful and reli-
able than in business. He has been from an early
age a member of the Protestant Episcopal church,
and was one of the prime movers in the organiza-
tion of Trinity parish in Janesville, and has been to
that body what he has to the First National Bank ;
it owes its very existence to his efforts. He is not
only one of the most energetic and faithful support-
ers of the organization in his own neighborhood,
but his influence is felt in the diocesan conventions
and educational institutions of the body. He is
firm in his religious convictions, but charitable and
tolerant of the views of others wliose taith differs
from his.
Politically he has always been a democrat. It is
a favorite remark of his that he " has never belonged
to any society, secret or political, except the Episco-
pal church and the democratic party."
He was married September 3, 1838, to Miss Anna
J. Marcher, daughter of Wm. Marcher, a captain in
the English merchant marine service. Both her
parents were linglish. She was a most industrious
and energetic woman, with strongly developed re-
ligious instincts, and a member of the Baptist
church. Mr. and Mrs. Doe have had twelve chil-
dren, of whom three sons and one daughter are
now living. The eldest son, Chas. Ricker, born
August 17, 1849, was educated at Racine College,
and is now holding a responsible position in the
employment of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy
Railroad in the State of Iowa.. The second son,
Joseph B., junior, born March 8, 1855, graduated
from Racine College in 1874; read law in the office
of John Winans, Esq., of Janesville ; was admitted to
the bar in 1876, and is now (1877) practicing his
profession in Janesville. He inherits his father's
qualities of head and heart, and is a youth of great
nobility of character and much promise. The third
son, Wilson H., born February 2, 1858, occupies a
position in the bank with his father. Martha W. is
the widow of the late W. E. Ferslew, of Janesville.
HON. LUTHER HANCHETT,
THE late Luther Hanchett, an early settler at
Plover, Portage county, a native of Ohio, was
a son of Luther and Martha Ann (Rent) Hanchett,
and was born at Middlebury, November 25, 1825.
He received an academic education at Fremont, and
immediately after leaving school began the study of
law in that place, with his half-brother, General
Ralph P. Buckland. He was admitted to the bar at
Plover in 1850, and devoting the remainder of his
life to his chosen work reflected the highest honor
upon his profession.
Mr. Hanchett was elected district attorney of
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
399
Portage county in 1852, and held tliat office two
N-ears. He was elected to the State senate in 1856,
and reelected in 1858. In i860 he was elected to
congress from the second district, then comprising
more than one half of the territory of the State.
Two years later, the State being redistricted, he was
elected to congress from the sixth district, but did
not long survive, dying at his home in Plover on the
24th of November, 1862.
I On November 11, 1853, Mr. Hanchett was married
to Miss Lucinda Alban, eldest daughter of Colonel
James Alban, who was afterward commander of the
\ 18th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, and was killed
at the head of his regiment in the battle of Shiloh.
They had two children, a son and a daughter, both
of whom are still living. Mrs. Hanchett is now the
! wife of James O. Raymond, Esq., a prominent at-
! torney residing at Stevens Poijit.
PERRY P. SMITH,
MANITO»'OC
FEW men in Manitowoc county, Wisconsin,
ha\e seen more of frontier life than Perry P.
Smith. He settled there with a brother-in-law,
Kenjamin Jones, and a company of speculators, in
the summer of 1837, when everybody was expecting
to be rich in a very short time. Manitowoc was
then a town which looked well on paper, but its
great lack was people. About forty workmen, day
laborers and mechanics, came with the speculators,
to clear up the town plat and put up buildings.
During the monetary depression of 1837 the float-
ing population disappeared, and only five families
were left. The heads of these families were : Ben-
jamin Jones (who is still there), D. S. Munger,
Joseph Edwards, Oliver Hubbard and E. L. Abbott.
Members of the Edwards and Hubbard families are
still there, and a son of Mr. Jones is mayor of the
city.
In order to keep themselves alive, the parties re-
maining converted the site of the town — a small
part of which had been cleared of timber — into
potato patches and corn fields. The verities of his-
tory require us to state that the first wheat field in
Manitowoc county was part of the present city of
Manitowoc, supplying the crop of 184 1.
Perry P. Smith, who has seen the old fishing-
grounds of the Chippewas, at the mouth of Manito-
woc river, spread out on either side of the stream
into a city of eight thousand inhabitants, is a
native of New York, and a son of Ira and Mahala
(Redway) Smith, and was born in the town of Vic-
tor, Ontario county, February 15, 1823. His father,
a soldier in the war of 1812, and a prisoner nine
months at Halifax, was a farmer and jobber, an
honest, hard-working man, in moderate circum-
stances. Nicholas Smith, the grandfather of Perry,
carried a musket during the seven years' struggle,
for American independence.
At the age of fourteen Perry bade farewell to his
nativeState, and, wending his way westward, reached
Chicago, at that time a village of between four and
five thousand inhabitants, in February, 1836. After
remaining in Chicago eighteen months he removed
to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and gave his youthful
vigor and muscle to solid work, and has seen, first
the village, and then the city, in all the stages of its
growth.
About 1842 the place began to recover from the
effects of the financial revulsion of 1837. Families,
one after another, came in, and it soon began to
have the appearance of a village, particularly on the
north side of the river. The first frame house built
there, located on the corner of Seventh and York
streets, is still standing (1877), looking quite decent
in a fresh coat of paint.
From about 1843 to 1847 or 1S4S Mr. Smith, with
other settlers, devoted his time largely to making
shingles, which were sent to Milwaukee and Chicago,
and exchanged for provisions. About this time
settlers began to clear up farms by cutting off the
timber. In 1853 Mr. Smith, after having kept a
store some time alone, went into the lumbering and
mercantile business with his brother-in-law, Mr.
Jones, the firm being B. Jones and Co. He con-
tinued in business until 1872, when, by reason of
failing sight, he retired. He is now almost blind
with cataract, though otherwise in perfect bodily
health.
Several years ago Mr. Smith was county collector
for about three years, and subsequently served as
clerk of the circuit court four years.
In politics, he has been a reimblican since there
400
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
was such a party, and has always Hved in a strongly
democratic county; yet, in 1861, he was nominated
for the assembly, and came within twenty-three
votes of securing an election, the assembly district
having a democratic majority of four hundred. 1
Though having a very ordinary school education 1
in his boyhood, Mr. Smith has always had an inquir- j
ing mind, and fitted himself in early manhood to j
attend to the routine gf business in all its details.
On the 8th of January, 1849, he was married to ;
Miss Esther A. Champlin, of Manitowoc, and by her
Vias three sons, all now living and doing well. The
eldest, Hiram C, is married, and lives in California, j
The other two, Alonzo R. and Ira P., are in St.
Louis.
. Though he has been for forty years a resident of
Manitowoc, Mr. Smith is but little past the prime of
life, and, but for the trouble witli his eyes, would be
an efficient business man. He attends the services
of the Methodist church, and has always borne an
excellent moral character.
Note. — Benjamin Joxes, spoken of several times in
this sketch, is still living in Manitowoc, now in his eighty-
third year, he being born July 26, 1795. He is a native of
Berkshire county, Massachusetts. His father, William
Jones, moved to Saratoga county, New York, when Benja-
min was four years old, and, several years later, to Chau-
tauqua county. Benjamin farmed until twenty-five years
of age. Subsequently he aided in building a canal between
Kingston and Ottawa, Canada. At the land sale in 1835
he and his brother William purchased property in Manito-
woc, and hither Benjamin moved in 1837 from Chicago,
where he had been living a few years. His brother William
remained in Chicago, became quite wealthy, and was one
of the founders of the University of Chicago. The south
wing of the University building was named tor him. Ben-
jamin Jones was a lumberman and merchant in Manitowoc
about thirty years, retiring from business about ten years
ago. He Avas succeeded by A. D. Jones and Brother — his
two sons. Mr. A. D. Jones is one of the leading men in
Manitowoc, and is mayor of the city. The eldest daughter
married Mr. E.J. Colby, of Manitowoc, and is dead. Adelia,
the other daughter, is the wife of Dr. Black, of Chicago. The
Jones family has always been one of the most respected in
Manitowoc.
REV. WILLIAM C. WHITFORD, A.M.,
WILLIAM CLARKE WHITFORD was born
in the town of West Edmeston, Otsego
county. New York, May 5, 1828. His father, Cap-
tain Samuel Whitford, of English lineage, belonged
to the branch of the family which has resided in Mas-
sachusetts more than one hundred and fifty years,
some members at Salem and others near Narragan-
sett Bay. His mother, Sophia Clarke, was connected
on both her father's and her mother's side with the
numerous families of that name which originated in
Rhode Island, and which are now among the lead-
ing men o^ that State in all the learned professions.
Both his parents were reared in the newly-settled
region of central New York, and enjoyed but meager
educational advantages ; but, endowed with strong
minds and rare good sense, they were among the
most intelligent and highly respected people in the
community in which they lived. The grandfather
of our subject, David Whitford, died when his son
Samuel was but sixteen years of age, leaving in care
of the latter a family of eleven children, all of whom,
except one sister, were younger than himself, and
two of whom were cripples from birth, and all of
whom he brought to maturity. He worked at the
potash business, managed the patrimonial farm, and
for fourteen years devoted all his earnings to the
maintenance and education of his brothers and sis-
ters. In later years he became a man of consider-
able influence, and held various positions of trust
and honor in both civil and military life. He died
at the age of fifty-one, when his son, our subject,
was twenty years old, leaving his widow, who still
survives, and four sons, one of whom, Professor Al-
bert Whitford, is a member of the faculty of Milton
College. The most watchful care was given to the
instruction and religious training of these children
by their widowed mother during their minority.
William C. Whitford usually worked on the farm
in summer and attended either a district or select
school in winter until he was seventeen years of age.
At the age of twelve he had developed a great fond-
ness for reading, and for several years thereafter ap-
plied himself assiduously to reading all works of
biography, history, travel and of a didactic nature
which came within his reach. Finding farm-work
ill suited to his tastes he resolved to make prepara-
tion for some literary or professional calling, and
accordingly entered Brookfield Academy, Madison
county, New York, where he remained the greater
part of three years. After this, in the twenty-first
year of his age, he became a student in De Ruyter
Institute, New York, and there completed his prep-
THE UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DICT/ONART.
401
aration to enter the senior class at Union College in
1850, from which he was graduated in 1853. In
the meantime he assisted in teaching in Milton
Academy, Wisconsin, one term, and was the princi-
pal of Union Academy, at Shiloh, New Jersey, for
two terms. He also spent a summer in Madison
county. New York, in making an elaborate map of
portions of the county, and in this and various other
ways met a part of his expenses in obtaining an
education. Although he had evinced a decided
aptness for instructing pupils and managing schools,
yet he decided, during his last year in college, to
engage in the work of the gospel ministry. He had
made a profession of faith in Christ some nine years
prior to this, and united with the Seventh-day Bap-
tist denomination of Christians. Soon after his
graduation therefore, he began a three years' course
of study in Union Theological Seminary, New York
city, immediately after the completion of which he
was called to the pastorate of the Milton, Wiscon-
sin, Seventh-day Baptist Church, to which he was
ordained in 1856, and which he held for three years.
Under his labors the church, though previously
quite large, more than doubled its membership and
working power. During the last year of his pastor-
ate he was induced to take charge of the academy
in the place. The institution had then been in op-
eration as a select school and an academy for four-
teen years and had gained a good standing in the
country round about ; but under the administration
of Mr. Whitford it acquired great vigor and a wide
popularity, the attendance of students some years
reaching to four hundred and fifty. During the
late civil war the academy took an active part in
raising troops for the service, and not less than three
hundred and eleven of its students joined the Union
army; and many of them were aided by our subject
in procuring responsible positions in various regi-
ments of the State. For nine years the school, as
an academy, was under his charge, and in 1867 was
converted, mainly by his efforts, into a college, of
which he has since been the president, serving not
only at the head of the faculty but also of the board
of trustees. The institution has, under its new
powers, steadily advanced in influence. The num-
ber of students in the regular college classes has not
been less than seventy in any year; while those in
the academic classes have been thrice that number.
The graduates of the college, though not numerous,
are among the most successful teachers in the high
and normal schools of the State.
46
In 1868 President Whitford served one term in
the lower house of the State legislature, and did
eminent service as chairman of the committee on
education. He was president of the State Teach-
ers' Association of Wisconsin for the year 1865, and
has often presented highly important papers on ed-
ucational topics before that body. In 1867 he was
appointed by the governor of the State a member of
the board of normal regents, and held this position
for nearly nine years. He has frequently acted on
the committees for the examination of the graduat-
ing classes of these schools, and has otherwise been
largely identified with the educational affairs of the
State. He has been twice selected as one of the
visitors at the State University, and has been re-
peatedly called to lecture before teachers' institutes
and lyceums. For the centennial year of our coun-
try he prepared, at the request of the State superin-
tendent of public instruction, a work containing a
succinct history of education in Wisconsin — a most
thorough and exhaustive treatise, containing two
hundred and fifty pages, the result of much labor
and research on his part, which, with other contri-
butions from the State, was placed on exhibition at
Philadelphia.
In addition to his labors in the institution and in
behalf of education elsewhere. President Whitford
has often preached in the churches both near his
home and in localities in the East when serving on
agencies for the college and for the denomination
of Christians with which he is connected. He has
also delivered a number of addresses at political
gatherings and at Fourth-of-July celebrations of a
very high order of scholarly patriotism.
Of the thousands of young men and women who
have gone out from Milton Academy and College,
there is probably not one who does not cherish sen-
timents of respect and affection for President Whit-
ford. To them he has been not only an instructor
of facts as set forth in the class-books, but their
lives have been influenced and shaped by his char-
acter, so full of cordial sympathy with all progress.
He has such a firm belief in the higher life, such
faith in the power of men to improve themselves,
and is such an earnest, untiring worker in all that
he undertakes, such deep interest in the success of
those about him, especially his students, such anx-
iety for their future welfare, such enthusiasm and
faith in his college, that he inspires those about
him with a desire to realize all the possibilities of
their nature.
4o:
THE U NTT ED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DlCT/ONARr.
Although belonging to a peculiar sect, he is void
of all cant or bigotry. Out of the abundance of his
heart, his mouth is continually uttering words of
encouragement, not only to his students, whether in
the class-room or the play-ground, but to all with
whom he comes in contact. His religious convic-
tions are very firm and ardent, and his influence in
leading young people to Christ has been marked
and salutary. He is a most agreeable companion,
abounding in good nature, friendly, sympathetic
and generous. Possessed of strong convictions and
firm will, he is not easily turned aside after once
taking hold of an enterprise, and his power over
the minds and actions of others is very great. His
works will live in the memories of the thousands
whom he has educated, and will be transmitted
through them to other generations.
He has been twice married. His first wife, Miss
Elmina E. Coon, a graduate of De Ruyter Institute,
was a most amiable and accomplished lady. She
died six months after marriage. His second wife.
Miss Ruth Hemphill, is a graduate of Alfred Uni-
versity, New York, and has taught in the schools
with him a portion of the time for twenty-five years.
Mr. Whitford is a strong-built man, with dark
hair, full beard, ruddy cheeks and sparkling blue
eyes. He has a full voice in speaking, and mani-
fests great earnestness of manner.
HON. THADDEUS C. POUND,
CHIPPEWA FALLS.
THADDEUS COLEMAN POUND was born
in the town of Elk, Warren county, Pennsyl-
vania, December 6, 1832. His ancestors on both
sides were Quakers, deeply imbued with the sterling
principles taught by the wise and sagacious Penn ;
and they sought to ingraft upon their children these
cherished sentiments of love, honesty and goodwill
toward man, preeminent among the sect. His par-
ents, Elijah and Judith Pound, could only give to
their family a home of the most primitive style,
scarcely containing the necessaries of life. In 1838
the family removed to Monroe county. New York,
where, in the following year, the mother died, leav-
ing to her sons all that she had to give, the sacred
memory of a mother's prayers and a loving heart,
with the teaching of one conscious that
"Who gives to posterity an illustrious son
Confers an honor upon the State."
Four or five years later we find the family in
Rochester, the father and sons working in a woolen
factory, Thaddeus at first receiving one shilling a
day, his business being the assorting of wool, the
initiatory step to " sorting " on a larger scale in other
branches of business.
In the spring of 1847 the family immigrated to
Wisconsin, and shortly afterward located in Rock
county, renting a farm on Catfish Prairie ; and
here, even amidst the drudgery of farm and house-
hold duties, the boy felt the glowing inspiration of
Western life, and improved the fragments of time
snatched from labor, having an eager love of learn-
ing, until at the age of fifteen he was installed
as teacher in the home district. This experience,
so often a stepping-stone to American fame and for-
tune, brought the subject of our sketch to Milton
Academy, in Rock county, where, between working
in harvest-fields and teaching during vacation, he
continued several terms. For the purpose of secur-
ing better opportunities in his pursuit of a liberal
education, he taught, for a time, a high school at
Caledonia, Livingston county. New York, and availed
himself of the superior facilities for instruction to be
had at the Rushford Academy in Alleghany county,
of the same State. In the spring of 1856 he removed
to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Here, starting on the
first round of the ladder, as a book-keeper, he has
risen by virtue of his inherent powers and persever-
ance to be the acknowledged leader in the public
enterprises and improvements of the Chippewa Val-
ley. For twenty years in this his chosen home,
while engaged constantly in lumbering and the at-
tendant mercantile and agricultural pursuits, he
has found time and means to forward many public
measures which will ever stand in north Wisconsin
as monuments to his sagacity, zeal, perseverance and
liberal hand.
From 1862 to 1869 Thaddeus C. Pound was the
senior partner and manager of the firm of Pound,
Halbert and Co. He is new president of the LTnion
Lumbering Company, organized seven years ago.
Thus far the life of Governor Pound has been an
unbroken series of triumphs. Every move he makes
^g-^^^,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
405
he makes to win, and he does it. Few men of his
age in the State of Wisconsin have had so many
" blushing honors " conferred upon them. He was
a member of the popular branch of the legislature in
1864, 1866, 1867 and 1869; was elected lieutenant-
governor in 1869, and a member of congress from
the eighth district in 1876, being at this time a mem-
ber of the Forty-fifth Congress. In the legislature
Governor Pound was distinguished for his good judg-
ment and commanding influence in the committee
room; for his coolness, clearness and resource in
debate on the floor, and his success in carrying
through measures of the greatest importance to the
State, and especially his part of it.
In 1864, while a member, he placed on record an
opinion, in which he asserted "that congress was
tlie rightful guardian of all streams open to inter-
state commerce and navigation." This became the
key-note of the most exciting contests ever intro-
duced into Wisconsin legislation, and, under the
name of the "Dells bill," it has for years continued
to be the all-absorbing question.
As the presiding officer of the Wisconsin senate,
Mr. Pound's fine personal appearance, self-preserved
and courteous manner, made him a favorite presid-
ing officer, and his impartial rulings and marked
executive ability drew from all persons and parties
honorable recognition. It is safe to predict that
the same traits of character by which he is dis-
tinguished at home will make him a useful and
influential member of congress.
As a public benefactor, he is endeared to every
citizen of his city and county. Lavish of his own
means for the public good, he has devoted his whole
energies to increase the prosperity of his locality.
He conceived, organized, pushed to completion and
put in operation the Chippewa Falls and Western
Railway, of which he is president, without a dollar
of foreign aid. He is also president of the Chip-
pewa Falls Northern and Eastern Railway Com-
pany, recently organized.
In summing up the character of Governor Pound,
we may say that he has a cool, cautious and saga-
cious mind, is genial in disposition, possessing the
magnetic presence; warranting the prediction that
his public career will continue to be commanding
and successful.
This light sketch conveys but an imperfect idea
of the " Thad. Pound" — as he is familiarly ad-
dressed— known to those who come in daily con-
tact with him, and experience his warm friendship,
noble impulses, great kindness of lieart, exceeding
charity, and witness that honesty of purpose that
never wavers, no matter what the consideration.
DR. GEORGE H. McCAUSEY,
-JANESVILLE.
GEORGE H. McCAUSEY was born in Mar-
cellus, Onondaga county, New York, August
28, 1843, his parents being Charles and Mary (Watts)
McCausey. His father was descended from Scotch
ancestors, who were among the first settlers of New
York city, and was a man possessed of forethought,
sagacity and a stern persistence — characteristics so
peculiar to the Scotch people. His mother was pos-
sessed of exquisite tastes, being an enthusiastic lover
of the fine arts and an incessant reader, and showed
more than ordinary interest in the education of her
son. She kept him in some of the best institutions
of learning in New York State until her death, which
occurred in i860, when his studies were temporarily
interrupted. He had been an ardent student of the
different branches of natural science, having a spe-
cial partiality for the study of chemistry and the
modern languages, his early intention being intended
to prepare himself for teaching. The next four years
of his life, however, were devoted to farm labor, an
industry for which his previous course of life had
totally unfitted him, and which was wholly contrary
to his natural tastes. Accordingly, at the age of
twenty-one years, being free to follow the bent of
his inclinations, he bid farewell to the home of his
youth, divorced himself forever from a business
with which he could have no affinity, and entered
Upon the study of the profession of which he is now
one of the foremost members. His education in the
art of dentistry, which was acquired under the direc-
tion of private instructors, extending over a period
of nearly nine years, was thorough and complete.
He removed to Janesville, Wisconsin, in the fall
of 1872, and at once resolved to make himself a
home in that city. With small means, but full of
youthful vigor, he procured an office and commenced
4o6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
work. Dependent entirely on his profession, with
his kind and gentlemanl)' deportment and superior
skill, he soon made numerous friends and established
a profitable business. His aim was to gain an honor-
able position in his profession, which he felt must be
done by diligent study, superior workmanship, and
constant intercourse with his professional confreres.
Now, after four years' effort, he finds himself enjoy-
ing a lucrative practice, with the growing respect
and esteem of a constantly widening circle of friends
and patrons.
He is a member of the Janesville Chapter, No. 5,
R. A. M.; Western Star Lodge, No. 14, A. F. and A.
M. ; Memorial Lodge Knights of Honor, No. 318;
Wisconsin Lodge L O. O. F., No. 14, and a member
of the Crystal Temple of Honor, No. 32, an advanced
temperance organization. He is also incumbent of
the chair of junior warden of Western Star Lodge,
A. F. and A. M.
On the 25th of June, 1872, he married Miss Estelle
A. Reynolds, at Auburn, New York, she being a native
of Lowell, Massachusetts. He resided at Auburn,
being connected with the office of Dr. G. W. Tripp
(one of the most prominent dentists of central New
York) prior to removing to Janesville in the autumn
of that year.
JOHN D. MARKHAM,
MANITOWOC.
THE subject of this biography, a native of Es-
sex county. New York, was born in the town
of Wilmington, .\pril 23, 1828. His parents were
Nathan B. Markham, a lumberman and iron manu-
facturer, and Susan ne'e McLeod, the former being
of English and the latter of Scotch descent, though
both of his parents were natives of New England.
His paternal great-grandfather was a captain in the
navy during the war for independence ; his grand-
father was a private soldier in the same war, and
his maternal great-grandfather was a prisoner in the
Bastile, France, during the French war. Our sub-
ject is the eldest of a family of six sons and four
daughters. Four of the sons are lawyers in Wiscon-
sin, two of them living at Milwaukee and one at
Neenah.
During his youth John worked at the iron manu-
facturing trade in Wilmington, attending school
during the winter months, until he attained his ma-
jority. At the age of twenty-two he began to study
law with Kellogg and Hale in Elizabethtown, Essex
county. New York, both of them since members of
congress, and was admitted to the bar at Elizabeth-
town, July 2, 1855. Settling in Manitowoc in May
of the following year, he has had for twenty-one
years a steadily growing legal practice, extending
into all the courts of the State and to the supreme
court of the United States, he having been admitted
to practice in the last named court at Washington,
District of Columbia, in 1867.
As a lawyer he has inuch professional courtesy,
and is popular at the bar. He works up his cases
with the greatest care, and is faithful to his client.
He is strong before a jury, and a well-posted, clear-
headed court lawyer, and an honor to the legal pro-
fession.
Though an ardent republican, Mr. Markham has
not been very active in politics, and has held but
few offices. He was district attorney two terms,
from 1859 to 1863; a member of the board of su-
pervisors about three years, and has held one or
two minor offices. He has been urged to accept a
nomination for congress, and on one occasion, when
Mr. Sawyer was the successful man, Mr. Markham
came within three votes of being nominated. He
is, however, more of a lawyer than politician, and
may well be satisfied with his position in the tenth
judicial circuit.
Mr. Markham was very influential in getting the
Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western railroad to
Manitowoc. He was a director of the road at the
start and for several years thereafter, and is a leader
in all local projects for the improvement of the city.
He has spent two or three winters at Washington,
District of Columbia, and has been instrumental in
securing large appropriations for the improvement
of the Manitowoc harbor.
He was married in October, 1856, to Miss Mary
Burt, of Jay, Essex county. New York. They have
two sons and one daughter. Mrs. Markham is a
well-educated lady, and a member of the Presbyte-
rian church, and her husband is a trustee of the
same society.
Mr. Markham has a very large law library, of
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
407
which he has made and is making the best of use.
Five attorneys now living in Manitowoc read with
him, and most of them are doing well. Being the
oldest legal practitioner in his city, Mr. Markham
has a warm solicitude for the local profession. For
all his neighbors he has a kindly regard, and he
is a man of pleasant address and of excellent social
qualities.
DAVID W. CARTWRIGHT,
DAVID WARREN CARTWRIGHT, a native
of Berlin, Rensselaer county, New York, was
born March 11, 1814, and is the son of David Cart-
wright and Abigail nee Warren, and a cousin of the
late Rev. Peter Cartwright, the celebrated pioneer
missionary of Illinois. His father was the youngest
in a family of nine children (seven boys and two
girls), all of whom lived to maturity. The Cartwright
family is of English descent, the ancestors having
settled in America some four generations ago. The
grandfather of our subject, who had for several years
prior to the revolution been the captain of a whaling
vessel, was pressed on board an English man-of-war,
from which, after three years, while in the West
Indies, he succeeded in making his escape, and
took passage in an American vessel bound for
Rhode Island. There he married and made for
himself a home, and uniting with the colonists of
that State served faithfully throughout the long
struggle for independence.
David's early education was quite limited, his at-
tendance at the district schools of the period being
confined to a few months. He was, however, en-
dowed with rare mental gifts, which he has culti-
vated by study and observation, becoming one of
the most acute and remarkable men of his day.
From his earliest recollection he has been a close
observer of animal nature, especially of the wild ani-
mals inhabiting the forests and prairies of the West;
and to discover their habits and modes of living,
and to arrange for their capture, has always been his
delight.
In the year 1833 he moved from Rensselaer to
Alleghany county, in his native State, and while
residing in the latter place first followed hunting
with the idea of pecuniary gain, his success exceed-
ing his most sanguine expectations. He seemed to
possess an intuitive adaptation to the chase, and
determined thereafter to make hunting the specialty
of his life.
In 1834 he was united in marriage to Elcy Mapes,
of New York State, and in 1842 removed to Jeffer-
son county, Wisconsin, and settled in the midst of a
heavy timbered section known as Bark Woods. At
that time there was no settlement and no roads, but
Indians and game were plenty, so that he was at no
loss for occupation ; swarms of bees were numerous
and their honey was abundant. During the summer
months, therefore, he frequently engaged in honey
gathering with good success. As soon as the weather
became too cold for this business he commenced to
hunt deer, and was again successful. During the
first winter spent in Wisconsin, he and an associate
together killed upward of seventy-five deer, besides
a number of wolves and wild-cats. His honey,
deerskins, etc., he sent to New York, where they
found a ready market, and with the proceeds he
paid for his western home. Since that time it has
been his custom to hunt some five or six months
during each autumn and winter.
In the early spring of 1852 he started, in company
with two others, from his home in southern Wiscon-
sin to conduct a party of adventurers across the
plains to California. In these days of palace cars,
fast-mail trains and luxurious living, when after bid-
ding an Atlantic home good night one can soon
say good morning at the Golden Gate, we can
scarcely realize what a formidable undertaking this
journey was a little over twenty years ago. After a
wearisome march of nearly five months, much of the
time through^a country infested by hostile Indians,
and separated from the refining influence of civili-
zation, they reached their destination in safety. Mr.
Cartwright bought a gold-claim some three miles
from Yreka, from which some two hundred dollars'
worth of ore was taken the first day of working; but
the gold soon became exhausted, and not being in
sympathy with the business he returned to his favor-
ite pursuit, which he found not only more agreeable
but more profitable, as venison then and there sold
readily for twenty-two cents per pound. One day
while in search of deer he came very unexpectedly
4o8
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
upon three huge grizzly bears, who showed fight.
He succeeded in killing one of them after a some-
what exciting and protracted combat, but the others
made good their escape, ^e remained in California
about four months, when failing health rendered his
return to Wisconsin necessary. Passing through the
Golden Gate he came by way of Aspinwall, and has
remained east of the Rocky Mountains every since,
pursuing his chosen avocation.
In 1868 he removed to Milton, Wisconsin. Since
that time it has been his custom to spend the sum-
mer months on the peninsula of northern Michigan
in the region of Lake Superior ; and he has become
so familiar with the country as to offer himself as
a guide for visiting or exploring parties to those
regions. Besides the places already mentioned he
has also hunted in Iowa, Minnesota and northern
Wisconsin.
Mr. Cartwright had often been requested to put
in book form the result of his observations of the
habits and customs of the many wild animals which
inhabit this western country, and with which he was
so familiar, his knowledge of woodcraft, and also to
give some account of his experience as a hunter.
Accordingly in 1875 he published a "Natural His-
tory of Western Wild Animals," a work which con-
tains about three hundred pages, nineteen full-page
illustrations, and which embraces two parts, namely,
" The Hunter's Art and His Game," and " Narratives
of Personal Adventure." In the first part he de-
scribes the modes which he has employed for find-
ing and capturing the various wild animals of the
northern and western States. Some of these modes
he learned from other hunters and trappers, but
most of them he discovered himself. They show
the most intimate acquaintance with these animals,
and superior skill in what he calls "outwitting
them." The description of the game is especially
valuable to the student of natural history. It is
taken very largely from his knowledge of their
homes and their habits, and from his personal scru-
tiny of their physical structure, and partakes, there-
fore, of the nature of an original contribution to the
subject. Under " Narratives of Personal Adven-
ture " he gives accounts of some of the most inter-
esting events in his combats with the wild animals
in the course of his varied experience. To the
general reader this is the most acceptable portion of
the work, and exhibits very fully the courage, the
endurance and the remarkable shrewdness of the
author.
Mr. Cartwright is a member of the religious de-
nomination known as Seventh-day Baptists, and a
blameless and exemplary member of society.
In politics he is strongly republican, and a wise,
useful and patriotic citizen.
He is thoroughly temperate in all his habits, and
has, during most of his life, used neither whisky nor
tobacco. His transactions with his fellow-men have
been uniformly governed by the strictest principles
of rectitude, and there is not a single blemish upon
his reputation. He enjoys the fullest confidence of
his old neighbors and the many hunters with whom
he has been associated for forty-five years. He is a
very companionable man and enjoys an evening
with his friends relating accounts of his adventures
with the animals through his long career.
His union with Miss Mapes was blessed with a
family of eight children, five sons and three daugh-
ters, five of whom survive, namely: Jonathan,
Charles, Paul, Darius and Eva De Ette. The other
three died in infancy.
HON. THEODORE PRENTISS,
WATERTOWN.
THEODORE PRENTISS was born September
10, 1818, at Montpelier, Vermont. He is the
eighth son of Samuel Prentiss, who was at one time
chief justice of the supreme court of Vermont;
United States senator for about ten years, and sub-
sequently judge of the United States district court.
The maiden name of Theodore's mother was Lucre-
tia Houghton. Both of his grandparents and his
paternal great-grandfather participated in the revo-
lutionary war, and the latter, Colonel Samuel Pren-
tiss, was commander of a regiment in that sanguinary
struggle. The subject -of this sketch pursued a
course of study in the academy in his native town
preparatory for college, and in 1838 entered the
University of Vermont, but left during the same
year by reason of ill health, and went south. Re-
turning in 1842, he studied law in his father's office
at Montpelier, and was admitted to the bar in 1844.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
409
Attracted by the superior inducements to young
attorneys at the West, he removed to Wisconsin in
October of the same year, and in February, 1845,
settled at Waterto'wn. Here, for more than thirty
years, he has continued in the practice of his pro-
fession, and has long stood among the leaders of the
Jefferson county bar. He has recently devoted
considerable attention to real-estate operations, and
has been very successful, and lives now in the en-
joyment of a liberal competence.
Mr. Prentiss was a member of both conventions
which met to form a State constitution. He was a
member of the legislature in i86r, and during the
same year was elected a member of the board of
regents of the university, and has been three times
elected mayor of Watertown. In all his official ca-
pacities he acted with uprightness and fairness, and
left them with an untarnished name and a spotless
record.
On the 4th of Deceinber, 1855, Mr. Prentiss was
married to Miss Martha J. Perry, of Montpelier,
Vermont. They have had three sons. They are
members of the Episcopal church, and are promi-
nent in Watertown in all benevolent operations.
GEORGE M. STEELE, D.D.,
APPLETON.
THE subject of this biography is of Puritan
stock. His paternal ancestors immigrated
from the Old World about 1635, and settled in Dor-
chester, Massachusetts, and aftervv'ard joined the
Hartford Colony. His mother was Jerusha Rich
Higgins, whose ancestors were among the early
settlers on Cape Cod. He was born in the town
of Strafford, Orange county, Vermont, April 13,
1823. His father, Rev. Joel Steele, a Methodist
minister, and an itinerant for nearly forty years,
died in Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1846. George
left home when about ten years old, and lived on a
farm in Vermont until of age, with not more than
twelve weeks of schooling each year. He resolved
at that late period in life to have, if possible, a
liberal education; and entering Newbury (Vermont)
Academy, prepared for college, teaching and doing
various kinds of work to aid in defraying his ex-
penses. He entered the freshman class of the
Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, in
September, 1846, and graduated in course. He
afterward taught three years in Wilbraham Acad-
emy, Massachusetts, employing his leisure, mean-
while, in the study of theology. Entering the
ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1853,
he preached in Fitchbury, Lowell, Lynn, Boston,
and other places in Massachusetts, until 1865, when
he accepted the presidency of Lawrence University,
and moved to Appleton, Wisconsin. This institution
was founded in 1847, and took its name from Hon.
Ames A. Lawrence, of Boston, Massachusetts, he
having, a year or two earlier, pledged ten thousand
dollars toward endowing a school in the Lower Fox
Valley, provided the Methodists of Wisconsin would
raise an additional ten thousand dollars for the same
purpose. They did so; the preliminary steps were
taken ; a building was erected, one of the first on
the site of the present city of Appleton, and the
school opened November 12, 1847, with Rev. W. H.
Sampson as principal, and three assistants. Rev.
Edward Cooke, D.D., of Boston, became president
in 1852. The next year the corner-stone of the
present three-story stone structure, sixty by one
hundred and twenty feet, was laid; the first college
class was graduated in 1857, and the whole number
of graduates is now about two hundred. R. Z.
Mason became president in 1861, and was succeed-
ed, four years later, by Dr. Steele. Connected with
the university are a good collection of apparatus, a
valuable cabinet and museum, and a library of about
eight thousand volumes.
Before removing to the West, Dr. Steele had writ-
ten more or less for the " Methodist Quarterly Re-
view," the "North American Review," the "Christiati
Examiner," and other eastern periodicals of a high
order; also for the " Northwestern Christian Advo-
cate," of Chicago ; and the scholarly tone, vigor of
thought and critical ability displayed in his writings
undoubtedly aided in securing to him the presidency
of this institution. His department is ethics and
political economy. On the latter branch he has a
work ready for the press. His class recitations in-
spire, among the students of Lawrence University,
a deep interest in the science of wealth, and his
writings published upon it attract considerable at-
tention from abroad.
4IO
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Dr. Steele, whose honorary title came from the
Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, in
1866, has had charge of the financial department of
the college most of the time since he settled in
Appleton, and has done a vast amount of work out-
side his duties indicated by the curriculum. In him
are combined, in an eminent degree, what we do not
always find in college-bred theologians — profound
scholarship and excellent business talents. As a
college president he is popular and successful, and
has already passed beyond the average term.
In 1873 Dr. Steele spent about four months in
Europe, visiting England, Belgium, Germany, Aus-
tria, Switzerland, Italy and France, enriching his
mind with the fruits of careful observation, keeping
a diary by which he is enabled to refresh his own
memory in reference to sights and scenes in the old
world, and which he may some day publish in book
form.
President Steele has represented the Wisconsin
conference three times in the quadrennial general
conference of the Methodist Episcopal church.
On the ist of July, 1852, he was married to Miss
Susan J. Swift, of Prophetstown, Massachusetts.
They have had three children, one of whom is now
living. Mrs. Steele is a well-educated woman, of
great executive abilities. She is president of the
Woman's State Temperance Union of Wisconsin ;
corresponding secretary of the Woman's Foreign
Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal
Church for Wisconsin ; and usually does a great
deal of public work. At the present time (April,
1877) she is en route to Europe, expecting to remain
abroad about five months.
An intimate friend, an associate teacher, of Presi-
dent Steele's states that he is a scholar of the sound
and strong, rather than ornamental class. " His
learning is of a wide range, embracing not only the
usual classics of a college course, but some knowl-
edge of oriental and modern European languages."
The direction of his post-graduate researches has
been largely theological, ethical and philosophical;
though for the last few years he has made a spe-
cialty of political economy. His mind is logical and
strong, and he has taken high rank as a writer upon
some of the most difficult themes of modern thought.
In personal character he possesses the most sterling
and genial qualities. He estimates his own merit
very modestly, and even disguises his learning by
the simplicity of the speech of his social life, though
his pulpit oratory is often stately and eloquent, as
well as original and convincing.
PROF. CHRISTOPHER BACH,
MIL WA UKl
THE subject of this biography, a native of Nie- I
derhone, province of Hesse-Cassel, Prussia, was I
born on the 24th of March, 1835, the son of George I
Bach and Catarina Wollenhaupt. His father, a
fresco-painter by profession, attained a considerable
degree of celebrity in his locality ; and it was his
desire that his son should adopt the same occupa-
tion. For a time Christopher worked with his
father, but finding the business ill suited to his
tastes, abandoned it. While still a youth he devel-
oi)ed fine musical talents, and after the death of his
father, which occurred when he was about sixteen
years old, he was enabled to devote himself to the
cultivation of his musical powers. His favorite in-
strument was the violin. Going to Eschwege, he
placed himself under the charge of the celebrated
Philip Muscat, musical director at that place, with
whom he studied during the next four years. At
the age of twenty years he left his native land, and
in company with his mother, two brothers and three
sisters, sailed for America, arriving in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, his present home, on the 3d day of July,
1855. Though but a young man he at once under-
took the task of organizing a military and string
band. Selecting from those whom he could find six
whom he deemed suitable to his purpose, he put
them under a course of training, and gradually
added to this number as he found talent suited to
his need, and now has an orchestra of thirty and a
military band of twenty-five pieces. This band has
I attained an enviable celebrity, and has no superior
] in the United States, aside from those of Thomas'
and Gilmore's. His attention, however, has not
1 been wholly devoted to the training of his band.
Becoming a pupil of the celebrated Eduard Sobo-
I lewsky (a pupil of C. M. von Weber), he applied him-
I self with vigor, and completed his studies in thor-
! ough-base and musical composition. During his
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
411
earlier life, while studying in Hesse-Cassel, he be-
gan the composition of music for military bands,
and after his arrival in Milwaukee continued com-
posing and arranging operatic overtures. Later he
engaged in a more general work of composition, and
besides his band music and lighter pieces has com-
posed and published works of a higher order, and
become widely known for his superior musical tal--
ent. During the first ten years of his residence in
Milwaukee he gave lessons on the violin and piano,
but owing to his other manifold duties was com-
pelled to abandon it. His success as a musical
director was duly recognized, and he was sought to
take charge of the orchestras in the theaters of the
city, and is now leader of the orchestras of the two
German theaters, and of that of the Grand Opera
House in Milwaukee, and also leader of one of the
most successful singing societies in his State.
In 1874 Professor Bach visited Germany, and was
there welcomed and most highly entertained by
masters of music and celebrated composers. Dur-
ing a recent trip to the Centennial Exposition at
Philadelphia, he experienced a most happy surprise
when he was complimented by his hosts of friends
and admirers with serenade and supper.
He was married on the 21st of October, 1856, to
Miss Maria Riemann, of Bishausen, Germany, by
whom he has four sons and two daughters. The two
eldest sons have develoijed marked musical abilities,
and will follow the profession of their father.
EDWARD H. G. TREACHEM, M.D.,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Wells,
Somersetshire, England, was born October 18,
182 1. His father, Thomas Treachem, was formerly
an extensive silk and woolen manufacturer. By
reason of business reverses he was for some years
occupied in the management of an academy, and
during that time acquired great notoriety as a news-
paper correspondent. About 1830, without his
knowledge, his friends secured for him a lucrative
appointment under the English government, which,
however, his self-denying determination to enter the
church forced him to decline. Being censured by
his friends for the course which he had chosen, he
was too proud to submit to what he considered an
insult to his conscience and manhood, and accord-
ingly embarked with his family and property for the
United States, settling, in 1831, in Onondaga county,
New York. After one year of theological study
under Rev, Joseph Clark, he was ordained by Bishop
Onderdonk, of New York. He was a man of
thorough education, and labored with zeal and
energy in his Master's work until 1849, when he
died, mourned by all who knew him. His last words
to those who stood by his bedside were : "And now,
brethren, I commit you to God, and to the word of
his grace, which is able to build you up and to give
you an inheritance among them that are sanctified."
His devoted wife, Elizabeth, survived him a number
of years, but never recovered from the loss of her
husband, and passed away in the same peace of a
47
living faith that had ever marked her life. Their
example has been a potent influence in moulding
the characters of their children. Edward H. was
early instructed in the English branches by his
father, and after his arrival in this country studied
in the academy at Skaneateles until the removal of
the family to Nunda, Livingston county, New York.
Later, he studied at the academies of Canandaigua,
East Bloomfield and Richmond, and received a
liberal education. Upon closing his studies, in
1839, his purpose was to enter the legal profession,
an ambition, however, which he abandoned, and fol-
lowing the advice of a prominent physician and his
father's desire, entered the office of Dr. Harvey
Jewett, of Canandaigua, New York, and after three
years of hard study graduated, in 1S43, from Hobart
Medical College, of Geneva, New York, and there
began the practice of his profession. In 1844 he
formed a partnership with Josiah Clark at Livonia,
which, however, was soon dissolved, and he con-
tinued his practice alone in the same place until
1855, when he removed to Warsaw, Wyoming coun-
ty. New York. Not satisfied with having abandoned
his purpose of studying law, he entered the ofiice of
Judge Tinus W. Thayer, formerly a partner of ex-
Senator Doolittle, and during his first year made
most satisfactory progress. He was, however, again
doomed to disappointment, being compelled by the
illness of his wife to relinquish his purpose. Leav-
ing Warsaw he, in 1858, established himself in
412
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
medical practice at Olean, New York, where lie re-
mained until 1865, when he returned to Warsaw and
opened a drug store in connection with his profes-
sion. In 1867 he suffered the entire loss of his
store and office by fire. One year later he settled
in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his present home, and be-
came identified with the interests of the south side.
He has since entered heartily into many charitable
and religious projects, being an earnest, consistent
and leading member of the Protestant Episcopal
church.
Politically, he was formerly a Henry Clay whig,
but upon the dismemberment of that body became
identified with the democratic party. In i860 he
strongly advocated the nomination of Stephen A.
Douglas, and rendered good service during the can-
vass in his behalf. At the opening of the rebellion
he espoused the Union cause, and canvassed his
district for recruits, never allowing party spirit to
blind him to the interests of his country. He be-
lieved that the South had brought the calamity upon
herself. His course in advocating the prosecution
of the war was duly appreciated, and he was nomi-
nated on the democratic ticket for the State legis-
lature. His opponent, Hon. W. P. Angel, at one
time a prominent lawyer and politician, was a good
man to poll his party's vote, and yet the popularity
of Dr. Treachem, although he was defeated by two
hundred votes, was so great that Mr. Angel ran
eight hundred votes behind his ticket. He has held
several political positions, although in no sense a
politician. During the war he was commissioned
surgeon several times, but was prevented from
entering the army by the severe and protracted ill-
ness of his wife.
He has been twice married: first, in 1845, to Miss
Elizabeth Wright, eldest daughter of Samuel Wright,
late of East Bloomfield, New York. They had two
children, Samuel Edward and Charlotte Elizabeth.
Mrs. Treachem died of typhoid fever in 1854. In
January, 1856, he was married to his present wife,
Mary Isabella McElwain, eldest daughter of Hon.
John A. McElwain, of Warsaw, New York. They
have one child, John McElwain Treachem.
Although Dr. Treachem has suffered several
financial reverses in the practice of his profession,
he has been eminently successful. His great aim is
to use his professional skill for the good of his fel-
lows, and to this end he has labored among the poor
without compensation, as faithfully as among the
more highly favored of his patients. The same
qualities that have gained for him the love of the
poor and afflicted have marked him in his private
character of husband, father and friend, and have
won for him the esteem of all who know him. He
has two brothers living, Drs. J. G. and William
Treachem, of Racine, Wisconsin. His eldest broth-
er. Dr. Thomas M. Treachem, of Auburn, New
York, recently died in that city in the triumph of an
ever-living Christian faith.
EDWARD D. HOLTON,
MILWAUKEE.
EDWARD DWIGHT HOLTON, son of Joseph
and Mary (Fisk) Holton, was born at Lancaster,
New Hampshire, April 28, 1815. In his earlier
years he worked upon the farm where he was born.
Left to the care of his mother when very young, she,
when he was fourteen years old, indentured him as
merchant's clerk to D. Smith, of Bath, New Hamp-
shire, for a term of four years, for which he was to
receive the salary of thirty-five dollars per year.
His education was what the common school af-
forded: but, fond of books and anxious to acquire
knowledge, he diligently applied himself to study
during his spare hours, and gathered sufficient
knowledge to ijualify himself for teaching. At the
close of his indenture he returned to his native vil-
lage, where he taught school a year; after which he
resumed his position as clerk, and entered a store in
the town of Lisbon, New Hampshire. But his former
employer, who had important mercantile interests in
Buffalo, New York, desirous of securing the services
of a trusty agent to look after them, remembered the
faithful and intelligent boy whom he had trained to
business, and offered the place to young Holton,
who gladly accepted it. Accordingly, in the spring
of 1837, Mr. Holton proceeded to Buffalo and as-
sumed the responsible position of book-keeper and
cashier in the shipping and forwarding house of M.
Kingman and Co., and continued to act in that capa-
city, to the complete satisfaction of his employers,
nearly four years. At the end of that period, in the
W^/yTY'c
■o^.^cA^'^^^^'t^i^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
415
fall of 1840, having determined to become a mer-
chant, and believing himself qualified for a more
independent place, he resigned his position, pur-
chased goods on his own account, and proceeded to
Milwaukee, then a frontier town with scarcely more
than one thousand inhabitants, where he opened a
store and carried on a prosperous and constantly
increasing business until 1850.
In 1849 Mr. Helton, believing that something
should be done to open up the rich prairies of the
interior and develop the latent resources of the
State, interested himself in the organization of a
railroad company, that should traverse the State
westward from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi,
and labored unceasingly and successfully in raising
stock for the proposed road. He became its active
manager and financial agent, and remained con-
nected with the great enterprise until it was com-
pleted to Prairie du Chien. Before the completion
of the road the management fell into difficulty,
and defaulted upon the payment of the interest of
the bonds, and the bondholders were clamorous for
a foreclosure, and demanded possession of the road.
This was resisted by the management on the ground
of injustice to the stockholders and other creditors,
because, as they believed, there was abundant value
in the property for a fair return to each and all of
the creditors and owners. In this view Mr. Holton
earnestly participated, and, as a member of the legis-
lature of the State in i860 and 1861, carried through
a law called a readjustment law, by which the bond-
holders were permitted to take possession of the
road, with a new bond or preferred stock as they
might elect, having a first lien, and the subsequent
liens and ownerships to be preserved intact, and
deriving dividends in their order as first, second,
third and fourth classes, and the revenues of the
property being employed for the payment of divi-
dends on these classes; and in the event of no
revenue to either of the classes in any one year,
there should be no loss of ownership or position,
but it simply waited until revenue enough should
accrue, when it should draw its dividend or interest.
The ownership of the road, then reaching to nearly
eight million dollars, embraced citizens widely scat-
tered over this country and Europe, and involved
the assent, especially of first-mortgage holders, to
carry this scheme into successful operation. It
was a novel scheme, and to most persons seemed
impracticable. Mr. Holton, who thoroughly be-
witnessing its accomplishment, and of bearing an
important part in its consummation, and, further-
more, at an early day after the adoption of the plan,
of seeing the increase of the property to be fully
adequate to the payment of the interest, and full
dividends paid upon each and all of the several
classes, so that the common stock at length reached
as high a figure as two hundred per cent, in the New
York market, thus more than fulfilling all of his
promises touching the pioneer railroad of the State.
In 1852 Mr. Holton became the president of the
Farmers and Millers' Bank of Milwaukee, a small
institution of fifty thousand dollars capital, then re-
cently organized, and in operation under the new
banking law of the State. In this, as in all the enter-
prises that engaged his attention, he bent his ener-
gies, and speedily carried the stock of this bank
from fifty thousand dollars to half a million, and
continued in its successful management for ten
years. During this period very considerable dis-
turbances arose in Wisconsin banking, owing to
grave defects in the law regulating banking, in this,
that there was no central redemption ; and banks
were started in great numbers throughout the State
and in inaccessible portions of it. Currency at this
period came from Georgia and other States careless
of their legislation, and threatened to flood the coun-
try with irredeemable paper. Mr. Holton was among
the first to point out this threatened danger, and wa^
fearless in attacking through the press, in public
addresses, and in pamphlets, this great evil, and at
the same time in demanding that the banks of the
State should fix upon some place or places to re-
deem their issue. The greatest excitement pre-
vailed, and this war raged high and called down
upon his head the loudest imprecations of all those
engaged in this species of wild-cat banking, and
finally ended in a bank riot and mob in the city of
Milwaukee. Fortunately, justice triumphed, and
Mr. Holton is believed to have been instrumental
in heading off large amounts of this irresponsible
currency from entering the State, and this saved the
people from loss to the extent of millions.
Early in 1862 President Lincoln conferred upon
Mr. Holton the appointment of allotment commis-
sioner, Congress having authorized the appointment
of three for each State; the object of which was to
secure to the soldiers an allotment of their pay, or a
part thereof, to their families or friends, and thus
save from waste in the camp vast sums that would
lieved in its feasibility, and had the satisfaction of i be valuable if sent home. Quitting his large and
4i6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAHT.
varied business, he gave himself personally to this
work, following the Wisconsin regiments from State
to State, traversing many of the western and south-
ern States, and, with his associates, was instrumental
in securing large allotments from the regiments vis-
ited. In devoting himself to his duties as commis-
sioner, together with the change of climate and
exposure, he contracted disease, and was compelled
to return north. After many months' illness, finding
himself weak and prostrate, his health greatly im-
paired, he returned his commission to the President,
unable further to execute it. He also resigned the
presidency of his bank, first, however, having taken
steps to bring it under the new national law as a
national bank, and in the summer of 1863, with his
family, sailed for Europe, bearing influential letters
from Secretary Seward and others. While in Europe,
he imparted much information to the inhabitants
concerning American affairs, and removed many
prejudices. During this absence he wrote letters,
which were published in the Milwaukee "Sentinel,"
and were read with interest by the public.
At the expiration of a year Mr. Holton and family
safely returned from their European journey, and
retired to his farm in the suburbs of Milwaukee, and,
seeking the best Devon cattle, the best Southdown
sheep, and the best Morgan horses, made a practi-
cal demonstration of what he knew about farming.
After the great Chicago fire he was called from
his retirement to take the management of the North-
western National Insurance Company, with a paid-
up capital of only one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars, and he has brought it, within the three years,
to one of the strongest and soundest companies in
the country, its assets in this brief period increasing
to a million of dollars. In connection with his ser-
vices as manager of the Northwestern National In-
surance Company, he has taken an important part in
organizing and maintaining the International Board
of Lake Underwriters, of which he has been presi-
dent from its organization to the present time, whose
field of operations embraces all the great lakes and
connecting rivers, and the ports of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence.
Mr. Holton is a prominent member of the National
Board of Trade, having been its president, and often
apjjointed upon important committees. In the an-
nual conventions of that body he has ever been
fearless in the exjjression of his views, and taken
bold and advanced ground as the public weal seemed
to require. Being a fluent and eloquent speaker, a
ready and able debater, he never fails to hold the
attention of any assembly he addresses. Having a
large experience, and endowed with rare penetra-
tion, he seldom hesitates to discuss any important
matter of public interest. In 1869, for instance, he
made an able and telling speech before the National
j Board of Trade at Richmond, Virginia, on the sub-
ject of our national finances, in favor of returning to
a specie basis, which subject was referred to a spe-
cial committee, of which Mr. Holton was a member,
who reported resolutions recommending the restora-
tion of the specie standard of value at the earliest
practicable period. During the same session he also
spoke on the question of government subsidies to
internal improvement, taking strong ground in oppo-
sition thereto. On questions of improvements and
extension of our great rail and water highways he
has manifested the same interest, and has been very
active in forwarding all such improvements, but
conservative in respect to methods, especially when
interfering with the powers of the State.
In politics, Mr. Holton, in his early advent to the
then Territory of Wisconsin, was elected, without any
solicitation on his part, high sheriff of the county of
Milwaukee, embracing at that time what are now
the counties of Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha
and Milwaukee. This was in 1843. In the year
1844 the anti-slavery question had a wide and thor-
ough examination in the city of Milwaukee, and out
of it grew the organization of the liberty party of
the State of Wisconsin. In this Mr. Holton became
deeply interested, and from that time acted with
unabated zeal and fidelity with the political abo-
litionists of the country, carrying the discussion into
church as well as state. He was frequently a can-
didate of this party, and was run for congress in the
infant days of this organization. In 1853 he became
the nominee of the free-soil party of Wisconsin for
governor against William A. Barstow, democrat, and
J. C. Baird, whig, concentrating, for the first time in
the history of the State, a large free-soil vote. In
1856, without any seeking of his own, on the ground
not only of his anti-slavery sentiments but of his
advanced opinions respecting State rights, he was
nominated as one of the prominent candidates for
United States senator, the other two being J. R.
Doolittle and T. O. Howe. He however withdrew
from the field, leaving Mr. Doolittle, who held simi-
lar opinions, to be made United States senator. He
is a staunch republican, but no partisan, and is not
a politician in the modern acceptation of that term.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
417
In religion Mr. Holton is aCongregationalist. He
embraced religion at the early age of seventeen. In
this, as in business matters, he has given much time
and attention, entering earnestly in furthering any
measure for the e.xtension of Christ's kingdom, the
erection of churches, and the strengthening of the
various missionary and benevolent organizations
connected therewith. He has been president of the
Home Missionary Society, and vice-president of the
American Missionary Association. He became a
total abstainer from all intoxicating drinks early in
life, and has ever maintained these principles. In
his active business life he has not forgotten the
claims of the public, and heartily indorsed and
assisted in forwarding all public enterprises.
Mr. Holton married Lucinda C. Willard, cousin
of the late Millard Fillmore, on the 14th of October,
1845. They have three daughters — Mrs. O. W.
Robertson, Mrs. Robertson James, and Mrs. Cap-
tain James Wayne Cuyler, U. S. A.
His ancestors came to this country in 1638, and
settled in Massachusetts. Judge Holton, of Dan-
vers, Massachusetts, was a leading character in the
colonial and revolutionary period. Mr. Holton's
paternal grandmother was niece of General Israel
Putnam.
HON. JAMES D. DOTY,
MEN AS HA.
TAMES DOANE DOTY, who died at Salt Lake
J in June, 1865, while governor of Utah Territory,
was a very early settler in Wisconsin, when it formed
a part of Michigan Territory, and deserves an honor-
able mention among the prominent men of the
State. He was a native of New York, and was born
at Salem, Washington county, in 1799. In 1818 he
settled in Detroit, Michigan, where he opened a law
office, and was soon after appointed secretary of the
legislative council and clerk of the court. In 1820
Gov. Cass made a tour of the upper lakes in five
bark canoes, and selected Mr. Doty to act as secre-
tary of the expedition, and to command one of the
frail crafts; and it was on this trip that Gov. Cass,
in the presence of Uie then unfriendly Chippewas,
pulled down the British flag which the savages had
run up on the American side of the straits of Mack-
inac, and hoisted the "stars and stripes," much to
the indignation of the red men.
In the winter of 1822-23, Congress passed an act
" to provide for the appointment of an additional
judge for the Michigan Territory," and to estab-
lish courts in the three counties of Michillimacinac,
Brown and Crawford, which then included what is
now Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and President
Monroe selected the young Detroit attorney. At
that time the only settlements west of Lake Michi-
gan were at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien.
Judge Doty hastened to the latter place, organized
the judiciary of Crawford county, and held court as
best he could with half-breeds among the jurors and
crude material from which to select clerks, a sheriff.
etc. He removed to Green Bay in 1824 and organ-
ized courts in Michillimacinac and Brown counties,
and continued to discharge his duties as judge until
superseded by Judge Irwin.
Soon afterward he made those famous tours
through the southern half of Wisconsin, crossing
and recrossing the territory until he was enabled to
complete a map, which was afterward used in the
war department at Washington. About the time he
had completed these long, tedious and perilous
journeys through the unbroken wilderness he was
sent to the territorial legislature from the upper dis-
trict of Michigan, and served two years. In 1831
he acted as one of the commissioners to survey a
wagon road from Green Bay to Chicago. In 1836,
when Wisconsin became a territory separate from
Michigan, and the legislature met at Belmont, Judge
Doty appeared there as a lobby member, and it is
said to have been through his influence that Madi-
son was selected for the capital.
Subsequently, when the Indians in Minnesota (the
Dakotas, Sioux, etc.) became troublesome, Judge
Doty was sent out as a commissioner, and made
treaties with them, which, however, the senate for
some reason did not accept.
He succeeded Hon. Geo. W. Jones in congress in
1839, serving one session, and in 1841 was appoint-
ed governor of Wisconsin by President Tyler, and
served in that capacity nearly three years. He was
elected to congress in 1848, and served one term,
when he again retired to private life, and there re-
mained until President Lincoln appointed him, first
411
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
as superintendent of Indian affairs, and then as |
governor of Utah Territory. From 1846 to the '
time of this appointment, he lived at Menasha and j
was engaged in improvements on the then so-called j
Doty's Island.
The wife of Gov. Doty was a daughter of General j
Collins, of New York, commander of the State
militia at Sackett's Harbor in the war of 1812, and
a sister of Judge Collins, now of Appleton, Wiscon-
sin. They were married at Detroit in 1823, and had
three children. The eldest son, Charles, was re-
cently a paymaster in the United States army;
James died in Oregon several years ago, and Mary
is the widow of the late Hon. John Fitzgerald, of
Oshkosh. She is a woman of fine accomplishments.
iVIrs. Doty was inured to the hardships of frontier
life. On her wedding tour, early in 1823, she was
twenty-one days in going on a schooner from Buffalo,
New York, to Green Bay. During that year she
went with her husband and some Indians from
Green Bay to Prairie du Chien, in a bark canoe, up |
the Fox river and down the Wisconsin, subsequently
returning by the same conveyance. In those days
at Green Bay there was little more than Fort How-
ard ; at Prairie du Chien, simply Fort Crawford and
a few huts; and the country between them was in
all its primitive wildness. On the death of Gov.
Doty at Salt Lake, his widow returned to Wisconsin,
and died at the residence of her daughter at Osh-
kosh in February, 1871.
General Ellis, the oldest journalist in Wisconsin,
who knew Gov. Doty both at Detroit and Green
Bay, and who furnished some of the material for
this sketch, says he was a self-made man, vigorous
in mind, eminently practical, possessed of a com-
manding figure, an open and pleasing countenance,
and a winning address. " He was true to his friends
and peaceable and courteous to his enemies. As a
public man he was equally approachable and digni-
fied, neither sycophantic to the influential in power,
nor repulsive to the humble. He had in a most
eminent degree the good will of the masses."
PETER VAN VECHTEN, Junior,
MIL U'A UKEE.
PETER VAN VECHTEN, a native of Cats-
kill, Green county, New York, was born on the
15th of April, 1827, the third son of John Van Vech-
ten. His father, a farmer and surveyor, was at one
time associate judge of Green county. New York, cir-
cuit court, and is still living, at the advanced age of
ninety-two years, in the enjoyment of good health
and all his faculties. Peter attended the common
school of Leeds, New York, until fourteen years of
age, when he became a clerk in his brother's store at
Catskill. He early formed a desire to go west, and
in October, 1845, removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
which has since been his home. At the solicitation
of his brother he engaged in the mercantile business,
a move which he has always had occasion to regret.
On the 2 1 St of September, 1849, he entered the
wholesale and retail hat, cap and fur house of Throop
and Bailey, and remained with tlie same through all
its changes, as book-keeper and manager, until May,
1861. During this time he was an active member
of the Milwaukee volunteer fire department, com-
posed of some of the best business men of the city,
and originated and drew up many laws for the man-
agement of this branch of the city government. In
1852 he joined the Independent Order of Odd-Fel-
lows, and having passed all the chairs of honor on
merit, was, in January, 1861, elected deputy grand
master by the Grand Lodge of the State of Wiscon-
sin. At the session of the Grand Lodge in 1862
he declined to accept any office, by reason of the
pressure of other business (being then special mail
agent of the post-office department). In 1867, how-
ever, he again entered the Grand Lodge, and in
1871-2 was chosen grand warden. In 1873 he was
chosen deputy grand master, and in the following
year, by an almost unanimous vote, grand master.
In 1875 he was elected grand representative to the
Grand Lodge of the United States for two years.
In April, 1861, he was appointed special mail
agent of the post-office department for Michigan
and Wisconsin, and in the following May, by reason
of impaired health, withdrew from the firm of B.
Throop and Co., and entered upon the duties of
that position. The change of occupation proved
very beneficial to his health, and he had a very suc-
cessful term, and displayed great skill in the man-
agement of his duties; however, not being in
sympathy with President Johnson's administration.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
19
he resigned his position in October, 1866, much
to the regret of the postmaster-general and many
others in that branch of the government. So high,
indeed, was his record that in May, 1866, he was
promoted to the position of chief of the postal
detective service for the Northwest. Notwith-
standing his resignation the postmaster-general, in
1868, called his services into requisition to inves-
tigate some difficult cases in Denver City and
Cheyenne.
In politics, Mr. Van Vecliten was formerly a whig
of the Webster and Clay school, and cast his first
ballot for President Taylor. Since the organization
of the republican party he has been identified with
that body; and while he sees in it many things that
might be improved, he believes that it embodies the
principles calculated to purify and perpetuate our
government. He was reared imder the influence of
the Dutch Reformed church ; and although not a
member of any religious body, he believes in God
and the punishment of sin and the reward of the
just, and accepts as his rule of action the principle
involved in the golden rule.
He was married in Cleveland, Ohio, June 22, 1854,
to Miss Arvilla M. Bancroft.
In all matters pertaining to the welfare of his city
Mr. Van Vechten has taken an active interest. Since
the organization of the Northwestern Life Insurance
Company he has been identified with it, and is now
one of the trustees of that institution. As a man,
he is firm in his convictions, just in his purposes,
faithful to his friends, and forgiving to his enemies.
Although his financial plans have not in every re-
spect been successful, he has yet accumulated a
considerable property. Never having fixed upon
wealth as the great source of happiness, he has
found enjoyment in doing for others, and to his
generosity and open-heartedness may be in a meas-
ure attributed the fact that he is not possessed of
a larger share of this world's goods.
GENERAL JAMES BINTLIFF,
JANES VILLE.
TAMES BINTLIFF, the son of Gersham and
J Maria (Hanson) Bintliff, was born at Salter-
habble, near Halifax, Yorkshire, England, on the
ist of November, 1824. Both his paternal and ma-
ternal ancestors always evinced a strong military
instinct, and at various times distinguished them-
selves as soldiers; one of them, his maternal grand-
father, fought under Wellington at Seringapatam.
Our subject is eminently self-made, having re-
ceived but little school education other than such
as could be obtained at the parochial schools of his
native place, and even this ceased when he was
twelve years of age. His mind, however, was lib-
erally endowed by nature, and gifted with a robust
frame and rugged constitution, he has made the
most of his talents and opportunities.
At the age of fifteen years he became a clerk in a
lawyer's office at Halifa.x, and subsequently served
as book-keeper for the Halifax and Wakefield Canal
Company. He remained in this employment until
the year 1842, when, with a younger brother and
sister, he immigrated to America; his father, mother
and four other children having preceded him by one
year. The family were again united in New York
State, where our subject worked for some time as a
day laborer. He was next employed in a woolen
factory, first as wool-sorter and afterward in various
departments of the establishment, where he gained
a general knowledge of the manufacturing business,
and became so proficient in the art that he was
afterward intrusted with the superintendence of a
like establishment at Skaneateles, where he con-
tinued until the year 1847, when he then married
Miss Harriet, daughter of John Snook, Esq., a
native of Somersetshire, England, and from that
time until 185 1 was a partner in his father-in-law's
business, which was that of raising teazles for cloth
manufacturers, and farming.
In the latter part of the last named year he re-
moved to Green county, Wisconsin, and purchased
a farm in the neighborhood of Monroe, and pur-
sued the business of husbandry for about two years.
Not liking the occupation, he relinquished it and en-
gaged as book-keeper in a dry-goods store, in the
city of Monroe, and afterward as cashier of the
Bank of Monroe, which was then organized. In
1856 he was elected registrar of deeds of Green
county for a term of two years; after this he occu-
pied himself with the preparation of an abstract of
title to all the lands in the county, a work of consid-
420
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
erable magnitude, which has since been adopted as
a standard authority on tlie subject of land titles.
In 1859 he was admitted to the bar of Green county,
having been engaged in the study of law during the
two preceding years, though he never engaged in
the active duties of the profession.
In i860 he purchased an interest in the Monroe
" Sentinel," the leading newspaper of the county,
and two years later became the sole proprietor of
the same ; soon afterward, however, he sold an in-
terest in the business to Mr. E. E. Carr, and in July
of the same year (1862) he recruited a company,
which was assigned to the 22d Regiment of Wiscon-
sin Volunteers, then organizing at Racine, under
command of Colonel Utley, and was commissioned
as captain. In September following, the regiment
was ordered to Cincinnati, Ohio, that city being
under martial law, and threatened by the rebel Gen-
eral Kirby Smith. On the expulsion of the rebels
from tlje neighborhood, the regiment followed into
Kentucky, where, during the ensuing winter (1862-3),
it constituted a part of the army of Kentucky under
command of General Q. A. Gilmore, United States
Army. In March, 1863, he participated in the bat-
tle of Thompson's Station, where a large portion of
the regiment was captured by the rebel General
Vandorn. A few days later, while guarding the
railroad at Brentford, our subject and a liandful of
his men were surprised and "bagged " by the rebel
General N. B. Forrest. He was consigned to Libby
prison, where he was held until the month of May
following, when he was exchanged. He then joined
his command at St. Louis, Missouri, where the regi-
ment was reorganized, and whence it was sent to
Franklini Tennessee, and from thence to the forti-
fications of Murfreesboro'. In December, 1863,
Captain Bintliff was appointed by President Lincoln
a commissioner on the board of enrollment for the
third congressional district of Wisconsin, in which
capacity he served for three months.
In March, 1864, he was commissioned by Gov-
ernor Lewis as colonel of the 38th Regiment Wis-
consin Volunteers, then recruiting at Madison. In
July he sent five companies of his regiment to the
army of the Potomac, and followed, himself, in Sep-
tember, with the other five. Upon his arrival he
found the army engaged in pushing back the rebel
forces from the Weldon railroad to Poplar Grove
Church, in which his command participated. After
the completion of this movement the Union lines
were considerably extended. In November follow-
ing Colonel Bintliff succeeded General Hartranft in 1
command of the first brigade, first division, ninth |
army corps, and continued in front of Petersburg, 1
being under continual fire, both from artillery and
musketry, through the entire winter.
During the last days of March, 1865, General
Grant commenced his operations in front of Peters-
burg, Virginia, which resulted in the evacuation of
the whole line by the rebel army, from Richmond to
Hatcher's Run. Sheridan's cavalry was directed to
turn the right flank of Lee's army. For several days |
he was manoeuvering for a position. Grant had in !
reserve near Fort Fisher the sixth army corps pre- ;
pared for attack, and in the immediate front of ]
Petersburg a portion of the ninth army corps. On i
the I St of April General Sheridan had secured his
position and was ready ; orders were accordingly
issued for the attack to commence at four o'clock on
the morning of the 2d of April at the three points : ^
Sheridan on the flank, the sixth corps on the rebel
lines near the center, and the ninth corps on the j
right, near the town of Petersburg. The attack was j
successfully made; Sheridan routed the enemy at ]
Five Forks ; the sixth corps carried the width of its j
front of the enemy's lines, opposite Fort Fisher, and j
the third division and first brigade, first division, of I
the ninth army corps carried the enemy's lines op- \
posite its front under the immediate command of
General Hartranft. In this attack General Bintliff '
was given the command of three regiments and
ordered to take a fort of five guns, known as |
" Reeves' Salient." He accomplished the capture \
gallantly, but his own regiment which led the col- J
umn suffered heavily. On the evening of the same '
day General Bintliff was placed in command of the
third brigade. During the succeeding night Lee's
army evacuated the lines, and next morning General
Grant commenced the pursuit which ended in the
surrender at Appomattox. For his gallant services
on this occasion he was commissioned brigadier-
general by brevet, the terms of the document being, ;
"for corjspicuous gallantry in the assault on Peters- ,
burg, Virginia."
He continued to take part in all the movements
of the troops till the close of the war, and was finally
mustered out of the service in June, 1865, having i
achieved a record for valor, skill and assiduity not 1
less brilliant and honorable than the most distin- ,
guished of his cohorts. ,
At the close of the war he returned to Monroe,
and having sold his interest in the " Sentinel " there, 1
THE UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
421
established himself in mercantile business, which he
carried on successfully until July, 1870, when he
purchased an interest in the Janesville " Gazette,"
and removed thither with his family. He still con-
tinues his editorial work in that city, and holds a
prominent and influential position, being highly re-
spected for his genial social qualities, his eminent
abilities as a writer, and his strict integrity and
uprightness as a citizen. As intimated at the open-
ing of this sketch, the General is eminently self-
made, and has worked his own way entirely unaided
to his present enviable position among the worthies
of his adopted State. He is an untiring student and
has contributed largely to the elevation of the stand-
ard of literature in his adopted city, being one of the
leading members of two flourishing literary societies
in Janesville, "The Round Table " and "The Mu-
tual Improvement Club."
He has always taken an active interest in political
affairs, and was a delegate from the State of Wiscon-
sin to the national republican convention in Chicago
in 1868, which nominated General Grant for the
Presidency, and also to the national convention of
1872, which renominated him at Philadelphia, and to
the national convention which nominated Governor
Hayes, at Cincinnati.
During the past si.x years he has been a member
of the board of trustees of the Wisconsin Soldiers'
Orphans' Home, and for the past three years presi-
dent of the same. In the spring of 1877 the State
of Wisconsin organized a State board of health, of
which he was commissioned a member, being the
only lay member on the board.
In religion he adheres to the Unitarian faith. He
has been for many years an Odd-Fellow, and was
for some time deputy grand master of one of the
districts in southern Wisconsin.
The fruit of his marriage with Miss Snook is
four children, two sons and two daughters. The
eldest son, Edward Hawkins, is foreman in his
father's printing office ; the second, James Wilkins,
is book-keeper in the Merchants and Mechanics'
Bank of Janesville. The daughters, Ida and Helen,
are very promising young ladies, the eldest being an
accomplished musician — a trait of the entire family.
The family, of which General Bintliff is the oldest
member, consisted of three brothers besides himself
and three sisters. Each of the brothers entered the
Union army immediately after the opening of the re-
bellion. Alfred joined the 5th Wisconsin Battery;
served in the Western army through the entire war,
closing with " the march to the sea," and thence to
Washington and Louisville. Gersham was a mem-
ber of the 38th Wisconsin Infantry, and served till
the close of the war. Thomas was first lieutenant
in the 20th Wisconsin Infantry, and -was killed at
the first battle in which he was engaged, that of
Prairie Grove, Arkansas, in the autumn of 1863.
fOHN B. COLE,
SIIEBOYGAN.
ONE of the oldest railroad conductors in the
United States, now living, is John Beekman
Cole, who for thirty-two years past has been a resi-
dent of Sheboygan county, Wisconsin. He is a son
of Nathan and Chloe (Rowley) Cole, and was born
in Schenectady, New York, November 27, 1S17.
Both of his grandfathers participated in the war for
American independence.
John spent his boyhood, till fourteen years of age,
in Schenectady, receiving an ordinary common-
school education. Later, he lived three years in
New York city, with an uncle, who was a steamboat
agent. At the age of seventeen he returned to his
home, and acted as steward on a packet plying
between Schenectady and Utica, until August, 1836,
when, the railroad having been completed as far as
48
Utica, he commenced running as a conductor be-
tween Schenectady and that point, and on the 3d
of July, 1839, ran the first passenger train into Syra-
cuse. In 1842 he was conductor from Auburn to
Rochester. In 1844, 1845 and 1846 he ran a packet
from Syracuse to Rochester, moving his family,
meantime, to Sheboygan, in 1845. At the close of
navigation in 1846, he himself made a permanent
settlement near Sheboygan. On reaching his new
home he immediately built a saw-mill at Pigeon
River, two and a half miles northwest of Sheboygan,
and, about three years later, erected a grist-mill at
the same place. He remained at that place, engaged
in the milling and lumber business, until 1 861, when
he moved into Sheboygan. During the next three
or four years he was engaged in buying and selling
422
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
wheat, and at the expiration of that time started a
boot and shoe store, and operated in that line until
June, 1868, when he opened the Beekman House,
which he conducted for seven years.
At an early day Mr. Cole was chairman of the
Sheboygan town board for a year or two, but has
evaded office holding as much as possible. In polit-
ical sentiment he is a republican, and formerly was
a Seward whig. He is a member of the blue lodge
in the Masonic fraternity.
On the sth of November, 1838, he was married to
Miss Elizabeth Trow, of New Hampshire. They
have had five children, three of whom, a son and
two daughters, are now living. The son is unmarried,
and lives in Sheboygan. The elder daughter, Alice
E., is the wife of James L. Mallory, a native of
'Niagara county. New York, but a resident of She-
boygan for thirty-two years. He is express agent,
telegrapher, and deputy collector of customs, and in
business circles is known as a young man of marked
ability. The second daughter, Mary L., is the wife
of Edgar A. Hill, merchant, of Chicago.
As a man, Mr. Cole is energetic and public spir-
ited, and has taken part in most of the enterprises
which have made Sheboygan what it is — a thriving
city of eight thousand inhabitants.
JAMES COLEMAN,
FOND DU LAC.
JAMES COLEMAN was born in the county of
Schoharie, in the State of New York, on the 29th
of June, 1836. His father is the Rev. Seymour
Coleman, a Methodist preacher, formerly of Troy
conference in that State.
The subject of this sketch received an academic
education, read law for three years in Troy and
Albany, and ^graduated at the Albany Law School
in the spring of 1856. He was admitted to the bar
in the same year, and in 1857 commenced the prac-
tice of the law at Fond du Lac, where he has since
resided.
Mr. Coleman was elected district attorney for
Fond du Lac county, in i860, and reelected in 1862.
He has twice represented the city in the legislature,
was register in bankruptcy in 1868, which position
he resigned, and was appointed postmaster in 1869.
He has acquired distinction as a lawyer, and has
discharged the duties of the several positions of
honor and trust held by him faithfully and well.
HON. SAMUEL RYAN,
APJ'LETON.
THE subject of this biography, Samuel Ryan,
son of Samuel and Martha (Johnston) Ryan,
is a native of Sackett's Harbor, New York, where he
was born, March 13, 1824. His parents were natives
of Ireland and members of the Methodist church.
His father, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, re-
moved with his family to Green Bay in 1827. He
was United States receiver at the land office in
Menasha for several years, and died there, in his
eighty-seventh year, in April, 1876. Young Samuel
received the rudiments of his education in an ordi-
nary common school, and afterward turned his at-
tention to printing. At seventeen he commenced at
the case in C.reen Bay, where he remained till 1847.
Later, he worked three years in Fond du Lac ; next
engaged in Milwaukee, and there set up the first
number of the "Sentinel." In January, 1853, he
settled in Appleton, and on the 24th of the following
February started the Appleton "Crescent," and has
been its editor ever since that date, except during
short intervals when absent on military or official
duties.
On the 4th of January, 1862, Mr. Ryan was
mustered into the service as a private in the 3d
Regiment Wisconsin Cavalry ; soon became quarter-
master-sergeant, and remained in the field until
January, 1864. Returning to Appleton he resumed
his editorial duties on the " Crescent," wielding his
pen with unabated vigor. As a writer he is quick,
pungent and forcible, and is widely known and
highly respected among the journalists of Wisconsin.
Mr. Ryan has diversified talents, and has held
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY'.
425
several important offices since he settled in Outa-
gamie county. He has been clerk of the court two
terms, county judge two terms, member of the gen-
eral assembly one term (1865). During the last
four years he has been justice of the peace, and be-
sides is engaged to some extent in other enterprises.
As a business man he is prompt, energetic and up-
right, and has attained an enviable success.
In politics, Mr. Ryan was formerly a whig. On
the dissolution of that party he became a democrat,
and was a presidential elector on the democratic
ticket in 1868 and 1876, and is a very influential
man in the party.
In Odd-Fellowship he is also prominent. Has
been grand master of the State, and for four years
represented the order in the Orand I,odge of the
United States. He attends the services of the Con-
gregational church.
He has had three wives and two children, one by
his first wife, who was Laura E. Knappen, of l^latts-
burg, New York, and one by his second wife, who
was Calista M. Crane, of Appleton. His third wife,
who is still living, was Martha S. Driggs, of Fond
du Lac.
In stature Mr. Ryan is a little below the average
height, and compactly built, with a large head, de-
cidedly silvered on the top. He has a round, full
face, a pleasant expression of the countenance, and
a good deal of bonho?iimie, making him very genial
and companionable.
His younger brother, James Ryan, who has been
with him in the publishing business for twenty-three
years, and who is local editor of the "Crescent,"
and general superintendent of the printing office, is
a little taller, of scarcely less solid build, of pleasant
address, and, like his brother, an indefatigable work-
er. He is not only a practical printer, but a practi-
cal business man, and is held in high esteem. He
has been city treasurer of Appleton, and has just
vacated the office of State senator.
COLONEL GEORGE B. GOODWIN,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Living-
ston county, New York, was born on the i8th
of December, 1834, the son of Simeon S. Goodwin
and Elizabeth ?icc Albright. His father, a black-
smith by occupation, was a hard-working man who,
by constant toil, accumulated capital sufficient to
enable him in the latter part of his life to engage in
carriage-making on a large scale. His mother, a
woman of great physical endurance, was possessed
of fine mental endowments; she reared nine chil-
dren, George B. being the second. After closing
his studies in the common school at Mount Morris,
Livingston county. New York, our subject prepared
for college under Mr. H. G. Winston, now of Racine,
Wisconsin, to whose careful training he is largely
indebted for his success in college and in his subse-
quent life. He entered Genessee College in the
winter of 1851, and remained until 1854, main-
taining a high standing in all his studies and tak-
ing a special interest in the work of the literary
societies. In 1854, owing to a dissension among
members of the faculty, through which a partisan
feeling arose among the students, he, with several
fellow-students, withdrew and entered the senior
class at Williams College, Massachusetts, then under
the charge of Mark Hopkins. At tlie end of one
term, the trouble at Genessee College having been
adjusted, he, with some others, returned and gradu-
ated in the fall of 1854. Having decided to enter
the legal profession, in order to secure the necessary
funds to pursue his studies, he engaged to teach a
district school at Cuylerville, New York, on the con-
dition that if he kept the school during the entire
term he should receive fifty dollars per month,
otherwise forty dollars per month, for the time. He
taught the full term. In 1855 Mr. Goodwin entered
the Albany Law School, and in the winter of that
year was admitted to practice in all the courts of the
State. In the spring of 1856 he married Miss Har-
riet C. Decker, of Lyma, New York, and with money
barely sufficient to defray his traveling expenses,
removed to the West, settling in May, 1856, in
Menasha, Wisconsin. On the following 4th of July
he delivered an oration on Doty's Island to a large
concourse of people, and thus became widely known.
He engaged in his profession with great zeal. He
tried his first case at Oshkosh, whither he walked, a
distance of sixteen miles, carrying his lunch in his
pocket. After winning his case he returned home
in the same manner. During the first few years his
426
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
practice was largely in the United States Land Of-
fice and in justices' courts throughout the western
counties. He took an active part in the campaign
of 1856, stumping for Fremont. He also wrote for
the press, and with Hon. S. A. Harrison, of Mil-
waukee, organized the first republican club of Men-
asha.
In 1859 he was elected to represent the North
Assembly district of Winnebago county in the State
legislature, and during the session introduced a
bill providing for the resumption of the land grants
which had suffered through speculations of the Chi-
cago and Northwestern Railway Company, as shown
in the report of the legislative committee of 1858.
The measure, however, was defeated, although it
passed in the committee of the whole. He also took
an active part in behalf of the people in all matters
of retrenchment. He was chairman of the commit-
tee on printing, and as a compliment to his judg-
ment displayed while fulfilling his duties, he was
elected an honorary member of the Wisconsin Edi-
torial Association. Mr. Goodwin took a prominent
part in the political discussions of i860, and, at the
opening of the war, actively engaged in raising re-
cruits. In- 1862, together with Colonel C. K. Pier,
of Fond du Lac, and Major J. D. Wheelock, of
Hartford, he organized the 2d Regiment Wisconsin
Volunteers, and offered it to the State, without pay,
except expenses of rations, etc. The project, how-
ever, failed, and in 1863 he was sent to Washington
with authority to offer the services of the regiment
to the general government through Secretary Stan-
ton, who took the matter under advisement, and
finally decided that an independent organization
could not be accepted until the thinned ranks of
the old regiments were filled. Mr. Goodwin re-
turned with the promise that the regiment would
be among the first that would be thereafter ac-
cepted. Accordingly, in the spring of 1864, the
adjutant-general of the State ordered the regiment
into camp within ten days to await further orders.
Colonel Goodwin promptly responding, at once pro-
ceeded to fill up the ranks, and by the ist of June
was in camp at Milwaukee. It became the 41st
Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and ren-
dered faithful service until mustered out. In the
spring of 1865 Colonel Goodwin removed to Mil-
waukee, his present home. There he became attor-
ney for the United States Express Company, and
continued to act in that capacity until it was merged
into the American. In 1870 he was appointed
United States assessor of internal revenue, and
held that office until it was abolished by act of
congress. Under his management the office was
honestly and ably administered, and the revenues
largely increased. In 1867 he, after much labor,
succeeded in reorganizing the old Milwaukee Light
Guards. During two terms of Governor Fairchild's
administration Colonel Goodwin was on his staff.
He aided materially in organizing the Wisconsin
Central Railroad, of which he is now attorney.
During the fall and winter of 1875-6, Colonel Good-
win was associated with Hon. Mat. H. Carpenter
on the defense of the celebrated crooked whisky
trials, which occurred during that time in Milwau-
kee. After retiring from the office of United States
assessor he associated with himself Mr. R. K.
Adams, their practice being conducted under the
firm name of Goodwin and Adams. In the spring
of 1876 Mr. Goodwin withdrew from this firm and
became associated with Hon. N. T. Murphey, under
the firm name of Murphey and Goodwin.
HON. JOHN T. KINGSTON,
NECEDAH.
PROMINENT among the worthy self-made and
influential men of Juneau county, Wisconsin, is
John Tabor Kingston. A native of Illinois, he is a
son of Paul and Isabella (Garrison) Kingston, and
was born in St. Clair county, January 31, 181 9. His
father and his uncle, John Kingston, were the per-
sons who supplied General Jackson with lead from
Missouri, to be used on the 8th of January, 1815.
His maternal grandfather, James Garrison, was a
member of the first colony which settled in Illinois,
known as Emancipation Baptists, and was a man of
great influence. He represented Illinois in the Ter-
ritorial council, when the whole of the Northwest
was included in it. Paul Kingston moved with his
family to Lewiston, Fulton county, in 1829, and three
years later settled at Plainfield, in Will county.
In 1834 John went to Racine, Wisconsin, and
located a claim and lived there for a time. He
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARi:
427
then sjient a year at St. Charles College, Missouri,
and returned to Wisconsin in 1842, located at Grand
Rapids, and engaged in the lumber business. Sub-
sequently he spent two years at Plover, and in 1848
settled permanently at Necedah, on the Yellow river
(Necedah being the Indian name for yellow). Here
Mr. Kingston has steadily pursued his business,
extending it from time to time, until the firm of
T. Weston and Co., of which he is a member, has
become the leading firm of the kind in his sec-
tion of the State. It conducts a large store in
connection with the lumber business, and does a
mercantile business of about seventy-five thousand
dollars annually.
While living at Plover Mr. Kingston was clerk of
the board of supervisors, register of deeds and sur-
veyor of Portage county, clerk of the court, and
postmaster. In 1856 and i860 he was elected to
the State senate, serving four years in that body. In
1S70 he was appointed trustee of the Hospital for
the Insane ; two years later, for the Northern Hospi-
tal, of the same kind, and in 1874 was elected to the
general assembly. There, as in the upper branch
of the legislature, he was a very active and service-
able member, being a member of the committee of
ways and means ; of a joint committee on charitable
and penal institutions, and other important commit-
tees. His services to the State, rendered in various
capacities, have been eminent, and are highly appre-
ciated. At home he has been president of the vil-
lage board for many years, and has held all the more
important local offices.
In politics he voted the whig ticket until that
party dissolved, since which time he has acted
with the republican party.
In June, 1850, he was married to Miss Hannah
Dawes, then of Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, and
formerly of the State of Maine. They have had
eleven children, six of whom are now living (1877).
Mr. Kingston is a leader in the noblest sense,
not only in business and among local politicians,
but in many benevolent and moral enterprises.
LUTHER A. COLE,
MATERTOUN.
THE second man to settle in Watertown, AVis-
consin, was Luther Anderson Cole, a native of
Orleans county, Vermont. He is the son of Ebe-
nezer and Martha (West) Cole, and was born in
Charleston on the ist of November, 1812. His
father was a farmer and carpenter, and Luther
worked at both kinds of business with him until
his twentieth year, when he spent a few months
in a brickyard. He never had any education ex-
cept what he gained at the common school, and
that was quite limited. Soon after attaining his
majority he became enamored of the West, and in
December, 1834, removed to Detroit, Michigan,
where he worked at his trade one season. Going
in a sailing vessel and via the lakes to Grand
Haven in the same State, he remained there until
May ro, 1836, when he settled in Milwaukee, and
immediately commenced work at his trade.
On the 27th of the following December Mr. Cole
removed to Johnson's' Rapids, now Watertown.
There was then one log house in the place, occu-
pied by Timothy Johnson and family. The Win-
nebago Indians were on the west side of Rock
river, and the Pottawatomies and Menomonees on
the east side, but they did no mischief, except to
pilfer when they had an opportunity. Soon after
settling here Mr. Cole whipped one of the Indians
for stealing, and that put a stop to the business
for some time. John West Cole settled at Water-
town a month after his brother, and Ebenezer W.,
the eldest son in the family, came a few years
later. Another brother, Zenas Cobb Cole, has lived
there at times, and they are all enterprising men.
On reaching this place, his future home, our sub-
ject built a log house and entered a claim of a
quarter-section of land, which is now in the sixth
ward of Watertown, in Dodge county, yet in the
city limits. He continued to clear land until it
came into market. He proved his preemption in
1838, and in March of the following year, when
the sales occurred, he bought lands not only here,
but in Dodge county twenty miles northward.
As early as 1837 a dam and saw-mill were built
here on the east side of the river ; Mr. Cole aided
on both, working at one dollar per day and board ;
and in 1842 he and E. S. Bailey purchased this
mill property on the east side, consisting of seven
hundred and fifty acres. They soon erected a
428
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
grist-mill, and added other mills from time to time.
Luther Cole and his brother John were the pioneer
merchants in Watertown, building a small frame
store in 1841, and stocking it with about one thou-
sand dollars' worth of merchandise. Milling, how-
ever, has been Mr. Cole's main business, he having
followed it for twenty-eight years. Some years ago
he built a saw-mill and grist-mill in Nebraska, and
a flouring-mill a little later, in Colorado. He has
since sold all his mill property, both here and else-
where, and is now (1877) living at his ease and in
independence.
Mr. Cole has held several town offices. He was
sheriff of Jefferson county in 1844 and 1846, and
member of the lower branch of the legislature in 1859.
In politics, he was a whig until the dissolution
of the party, but since that time has been a re-
publican.
In 1842 he returned to his native town in Ver-
mont, and married Miss Mary Jane Brackett, by
whom he has had four children, two of whom are
now living. The elder, Uranah, is the wife of F. L.
Clark, of Port Huron, Michigan ; the other, Guy
L., is a student in the State University.
HON. GEORGE GALE,
GALES VILLE.
THE late Judge Gale, in honor of whom the
town of Galesville was named, was born at Bur-
lington, Vermont, on the 30th November, 18 16. His
grandfather, Peter Gale, also a native of Vermont,
served in the continental army during one or two
campaigns, and his father, whose name also was
Peter Gale, was one of the "minute-men " of Barre,
Vermont, in the second war with Great Britain. His
mother, Hannah Tottingham, was of genuine Puri-
tan stock. George's father moved to Waterbury, in
his native State, in 1824, and there opened a farm;
and the son, after arriving at a suitable age, divided
his time between farm work and attending school.
At the age of sixteen he had developed a remark-
able thirst for knowledge, and thenceforth found
his recreation in study rather than in field and
forest sports ; and, with little assistance from a
teacher, in the course of three or four years fa-
miliarized himself with several branches of the
physical sciences, and made great progress in the
higher mathematics and natural history.
In March, 1839, Mr. Gale commenced reading
law at Waterbury Center. He was admitted to the
bar in 1841, and during the same year removed
to Wisconsin, and settled at Elkhorn, in Walworth
county, and there at once entered upon the practice
of his profession. Ten years later he removed to
La Crosse, continuing his legal practice and serving
in different honorable positions connected with his
profession.
In 1853 he purchased two thousand acres of land
on the present site of Galesville, and secured, during
the ne.xt January, the organization of the county of
Trempealeau, with the county seat at Galesville. He
founded the Galesville University, endowing it to
the amount of ten thousand dollars, platted the
town, and in 1857 settled on a farm of four hun-
dred acres one mile west, building on it a large and
beautiful house. Owing to failing health he, in
1862, went to the South, and there spent three win-
ters, but, receiving no permanent relief, died of con-
sumption in April, 1868.
During his eventful career he filled many offices,
and all to his credit. In 1848 he was a member of
the convention which formed the present State con-
stitution ; he was district attorney and State senator
while in Walworth county, and in 185 1 was ap-
pointed brigadier-general of the militia. He was
judge of La Crosse county for four years, and circuit
judge for six years, commencing January i, 1857.
During his busy life Judge Gale performed no
inconsiderable amount of literary labor. He con-
ducted the "Western Star" one year at Elkhorn;
edited the "Wisconsin Farm Book " in 1S46, a work
which was revised and republished in 1848, 1850,
and 1856; wrote and published a valuable work on
"The Upper Mississippi," and also spent consider-
able time on the Gale family records, and wrote a
great deal for the county papers.
The wife of Judge Gale was Gertrude Young, of
Elkhorn, Wisconsin. They were married December
S, 1844, and had three children, all surviving him.
George and William are lawyers in Winona, Min-
nesota; Helen, the youngest, is the wife of Hamilton
J. Arnold, of Poughkeepsie, New York.
As a citizen. Judge Gale was a projector of noble
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
429
enterprises, and a leader in prosecuting them. In
developing the educational interests of Galesville
and Trempealeau county, he did far more than any
other man. As a juristj he was fearless and fair,
clear in his perceptions, and impartial in his judg-
ment and decisions, always doing what he thought
was right without regard to its effect on himself or
any public interest. Such men are an honor to the
State, and their pure-minded, upright and candid
efforts will be cherished with fond remembrance.
AHIRA B. SAMPSON,
GRAND RAPIDS.
OF the present citizens of Grand Rapids, Wis-
consin, the first to see the place was Ahira
Beach Sampson. He was at one time the only
white man within ten miles of the site of the town,
and, within the domains of the Menomonees, he
lived in peace with the red men. He 'was born at
Wilmington, Clinton county. New York, November
18, 1813, his parents being Philemon and Nabba
(Dilno) Sampson. The Sampsons came from Ver-
mont, and some of Ahira's ancestors participated
in the revolutionary war. His father, a Methodist
preacher, remained on the circuit in New York State
till well advanced in years, and died about the year
1862. His mother died when he was about twelve
years old.
Ahira attended school more or less until the age
of seventeen, when he apprenticed himself to a car-
penter in Keesville, Esse.K county. Following the
carpenter and joiner's trade at the East until 1834, he
during that year removed to Helena, Iowa county,
Wisconsin, and there continued his trade two years.
At the expiration of that time he settled upon the
present site of Grand Rapids. Ten miles below, at
Whitney's Rapids, on the Wisconsin river, were two
or three families, who had built a log shanty in
Grand Rapids, on what is now Water street, nearly
opposite to where the Congregational Church now
stands. Here for a short time Mr. Sampson found
shelter, and employed himself in hewing timber.
Shortly afterward he leased the Whitney mills,
owned by Daniel Whitney, of Green Bay, and oper-
ated them for seven years. He then returned to
Grand Rapids, and during the next two years kept
a hotel. Having built a mill two miles below the
town, on the west bank of the Wisconsin river, he
operated it for six years. Selling his interest, he
engaged in the lumber trade, and bought and sold
lumber, running it to the Mississippi river, and
thence to St. Louis, and retired from business about
1870. He has a wide and established reputation of
always being a fair dealer, with exalted notions of
probity. In all business matters he is very candid
and conscientious, and would under no considera-
tion intentionally wrong a man.
Mr. Sampson is a member of the Methodist
church, and a district steward. His Christian rec-
titude and sincerity are marked features of his char-
acter. He usually votes the republican ticket, but
not unless the nominees are good men. He has
held some town and county offices, but has always
jjreferred his legitimate business to political honors.
On the 4th of February, 1838, he was married to
Miss Jane Teal, of Ohio. They have one son,
Henry A., living at home.
Personally Mr. Sampson is a quiet, domestic man.
He is happy in the home circle, and more ambitious
to have the good will of his neighbors than the ap-
plause of the world.
CHARLES ESSLINGER,
MAN/TOJl'OC.
CHARLES ESSLINGER, a native of Bavaria,
Germany, was born in Amorbach, Unterfranken,
November i, 1809. His father, Adam Esslinger, a
carpenter by trade, and his mother, Catharine ntr
Bopp, were both of Amorbach. Cliarles received
his education at a German gymnasium, and, after
closing his studies, became a jeweler and watch-
maker, and, with that trade well learned, left his
country on the 26th of June, 1837, and arrived at
New York on the 7th of September following. After
43°
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
carrying on his business about two years in that city
he, in April, 1839, removed to Buffalo, and remained
there eleven years.
Mr. Esslinger came to this country an enthusiastic
lover of pure democracy and universal freedom.
He joined the democratic party in good faith, and,
while aiding to raise a hickory pole in Buffalo during
the Polk campaign of 1844, came very near losing
his life by the pole falling and fearfully bruising his
head and left leg. But when, in 1848, the demo-
cratic party bowed down to the slave power of the
South, he withdrew from that party, adopted the
Buffalo platform, "free soil, free speech and free
men;" and the day after the nomination of Van
Buren and Adams on that platform, he issued the
first number of the "Free Democrat," a German
paper, which he conducted with marked ability dur-
ing that campaign. The writer of this sketch was
then a resident of Buffalo, and well recollects hearing
Mr. Esslinger speak more than once in public meet-
ings, and with what a storm of applause he was often
greeted. He made a gallant fight for freedom, and
has never abandoned its cause.
In the spring of 1850 Mr. Esslinger moved to
Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where he still resides (1877).
His business capacities and executive abilities were
soon discovered, and he had not long been a resi-
dent of the place before he was called to positions
of trust. Three times he was elected president of
the village, three years he was alderman ; and after
serving sixteen years as postmaster, under appoint-
ments of President Lincoln and General Grant, he
I has just been reappointed under the new civil ser-
vice reform rules by President Hayes — a well
merited compliment to Mr. Esslinger's honesty and
efficiency.
While a resident of New York city, on the 26th of
July, 1838, Mr. Esslinger was married to Miss Sophie
Johanna Schlick, of Sachsen, Altenburgh. They
have had eleven children, five of whom are now
living; two of them, a son and a daughter, are in
the post-office with their father, where they are
highly esteemed for their fidelity and business tact.
Mr. Esslinger is a man of versatile talents. He
can not only make a good political speech, which he
continues to do in exciting campaigns, but a good
literary speech at a festival, or a stirring oration on
the fourth of July. At the "Centennial Fourth " he
not only did the talking in German, but arranged
the programme, which was truly a novelty — a full-
rigged ship, with Indians throwing the tea overboard ;
Washington and his generals, with band of music;
Kosciusko and his guard of Polish infantry in their
uniform of the last century; Pulaski and his guard
of Polish uhlaners, eighty in number; Washington,
Baron Steuben, Lafayette, De Kalb, and the five
committeemen appointed to draft the Declaration of
Independence, all in proper costume; and other
original and striking features. So pleased were the
citizens with his programme that they serenaded
him twice in a single evening. No man in Manito-
woc has a stronger hold on the affections of the
people, or is more thoroughly awake to the interests
of the place.
REUBEN D. SMART,
MANITOWOC.
REUBEN DUVAL SMART, the present dep-
uty collector of customs for Calumet, Manito-
woc, Kewaunee and Door counties, is a native of St.
Patrick, Nevv Brunswick. He was born December
24, 1832, of William Smart and Ann ne'e Brockway.
His father, a farmer by occupation, was a native of
Glasgow, Scotland. His maternal grandfather served
in the war of 181 2, on the American side, the Brock-
ways being residents of Bath, Maine.
Reuben remained in his native province, farming
most of the time, until 1854, when he removed to
Wisconsin. Stopping one year in Oshkosh, he en-
gaged in lumbering, then settled in Manitowoc, and.
with the exception of one year spent in the grocery
trade, was for fifteen years a lumberman.
In 1873 and 1874 Mr. Smart served as sheriff of
Manitowoc county, and in 1875 was a member of
the general assembly, doing most of his work in that
body on the railroad committee, being faithful in
every trust confided to him. He assumed the office
of deputy collector on the ist of February, 1876,
and is performing his duties with entire satisfaction.
Though having only a common-school education,
he possesses fine natural talents, and continued his
studies after he was of age. He has always been a
diligent reader, and keeps himself well posted on
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
431
the news of the day, paying special attention to cer-
tain branches, and, intellectually, is a growing man.
In politics, he has been a republican since he had
a vote. Although he has always lived in a demo-
cratic county and district, he has been twice elected
to political offices, a fact which well indicates his
popularity among the people.
Mr. Smart is an Odd-Fellow, and has taken the
scarlet degree. He attends the Presbyterian church.
He has had two wives. The first was Myra Whit-
ney, of Oshkosh, their union taking place in 1S55.
They had three children, one of whom is now living.
She died in March, 1859. His present wife was
Nancy Bacon, of Manitowoc. They were married
November 3, 1862, and have had two children, one
of whom is now living. The daughter, Estella, by
his first wife, is a graduate of the high school of
Manitowoc, and a member of the freshman class in
the State University.
Mr. Smart is a warm friend of education, and an
encourager of every enterprise that will advance the
interests of the people.
JAMES T. REEVE, M.D.,
APPLETON.
TAMES THEODORE REEVE, son of Daniel
J and Mary (Valentine) Reeve, was born in the
town of Walkill, Orange county, New York, April
26, 1834. His father was a farmer and died when
James was about six years old. His mother soon
afterward moved to the village of Goshen, in the
same county, and there he was educated at Farmers'
Hall Academy, and there also commenced the study
of medicine with Dr. G. P. Reeve. He took his
first course of lectures at the University of Michigan,
Ann .\rbor, and a second course at Castleton, Ver-
mont, where he graduated. Subsequently he took
a third course at Jefferson Medical College, Phila-
delphia, where he again, in 1855, received the degree
of M.D. Thus fitted for his profession. Dr. Reeve
removed to Wisconsin. He spent four years at De
Pere, Brown county, and afterward removed to
Green Bay, in the same county, and there practiced
until the opening of the rebellion. He joined the
army in 1861 as second assistant surgeon of the loth
Regiment Wisconsin Infantry; became surgeon of
the 2ist Regiment in 1862; subsequently was bri-
gade surgeon, and at the close of the war was act-
ing medical director of the first division fourteenth
army corps, from which ppsition he was discharged,
June 8, 1865, to be mustered out with his regiment
in the following complimentary special order :
.Surgeon Reeve, 21st Wisconsin Volunteers, acting chief
surgeon of" first division fourteenth army corps, is hereby
relieved from duty at these headquarters, with the full assur-
ance that he has "discharged his every duty honestly, faith-
fully and industriously.
At the battle of Chickamauga, Dr. Reeve was in
charge of the hospital of his division, which fell into
the hands of the enemy, but not until after the
49
wounded had all been removed to a place of safety
through his exertions; but he, finding many wound-
ed men without surgical attendance, voluntarily and
humanely remained with them, and was captured
and held a prisoner for nine weeks, seven of which
he spent in Libby prison.
On being mustered out of the service Dr. Reeve
returned to Wisconsin, choosing the picturesque and
thriving city of Appleton for his future home. His
thorough education at the start, and his four years'
experience as a surgeon in the army, enabled him to
take a high position among the profession, not only
locally but in the State. He is a member of the
Wisconsin State Medical Society ; has been one of
its officers during the last seven years, and was offi-
cially at its head in 1875. He is also a member of
the State board of health, and its secretary, an oflice
which requires a great amount of work and no in-
considerable degree of responsibility.
Dr. Reeve has been examining surgeon for the
United States pension agency for about eight years
past ; was a member of the International Medical
Congress, which met in Philadelphia in September,
1876; and has several times been elected a delegate
to the American Medical Association, of which he
became a member in 1872. One of the most promi-
nent physicians in Wisconsin, an associate of Dr.
Reeve during the last fifteen years, both in the army
and in the State Medical Society, in a private letter
thus speaks of him :
The medical and social standing of" Dr. Reeve in this
State is excellent. He possesses, in a great degree, those
qualities of mind and heart which help to make the good
physician. Conscientious, modest and unassuming in every
walk of life; courteous and kind in his manner toward all,
432
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
he endears himself to his patients, and by honorable and
upright conduct toward his professional associates, has their
confidence and high esteem. During the several 3'ears that
he was secretary and the one year that he was president of
the State Medical Society, he discharged the duties of those
offices to the entire satisfaction of the society. As secretary-
of the Wisconsin State board of health, which office he now
holds, his usual energy and good judgment are displayed,
making his services almost invaluable to that board and to
the State.
Dr. Reeve is a republican in political sentiment.
In religious belief he is a Congregationalist.
On November 26, 1857, he was married to Miss
Laura Spofford, of Essex, Essex county, Massachu-
setts. They have had six children, three of whom
are now living.
Dr. Reeve has an exalted idea of the mission of
the medical fraternity. He believes, with Dr. Willis,
that " the servant of religion hath not more of true
sanctity about him than the good physician." His
estimate of the worth of medical science and the
importance of popularizing it, may be gathered from
the following extract, taken from the concluding
part of an address which he delivered before the
Wisconsin State Medical Society on leaving the
presidential chair, June i, 1875 ;
To popularize medical knowledge is one of the pressing
duties of the day. The field for legitimate medicine in
this direction is broad, and too largely uncultivated, yet we
rejoice that here and there the good work has been begun.
The interests of humanity, the interests of scientific medi-
cine, the thirst of the people for knowledge, all speak to us
a lesson — that we give to the people in suitable language
pure and healthful medical literature: thus may we save
them from many a snare, and from many a destructive pit-
tall. If we believe our science to be true, let us so present
it to the public mind that its truthfulness will be appreci-
ated, and its practice honored and trusted. If there is
aught in it incapable of bearing the closest scrutiny, let that
part of it fall, liowever venerable its usage or however
largely supported by authority. Legitimate medicine claims
for itself no exclusive privileges ; it seeks to conceal nothing,
as it needs to conceal nothing; it shrinks from no scrutinj-,
but ever courts an investigation of its principles and its
practice, of its science and its art. In all ages it has been
" the hope of the diseased throughout the world." Chiefly
through its instrumentality have its great hospitals, insane
asylums and other charitable institutions of every kind been
founded, and to-day it is the custodian of the chief of them
throughout the world. So active has it ever been in these
works of practical benevolence, breathing the spirit of the
Divine Master, himself the great Physician, that one lias
termed it Clinical Christianity, and another has spoken
of it as Christ's Physical Gospel. Who can estimate its
services to the world.' Who can compute the value of
the discovery of Jenner which has robbed the world of
the terror of one of its greatest pestilences.' Who can
put a price upon the relief from pain secured by chlo-
roform.' How will you estimate the value of life pro-
longed and sickness prevented.' The health of the
people is both the wealth and the safety of the nation,
and in the preservation and prolongation of this are
being achieved, and in the future are yet more to be
achieved, some of the "surest and most glorious triumphs"
of medicine.
EMIL SCHANDEIN,
MIL JFA UKEE.
EMH. SCHANDEIN, of Milwaukee, was born
April 16, 1840, at Obermoschel, Rhenish Palat-
inate, in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany. He is
the son of Joseph William and Louisa Schandien.
Joseph William was in the royal service as collector
of the revenue of the department of the Palatinate.
Emil was in early life educated in the place of his
nativity, in private and select schools ; afterward
graduated at the academy and commercial college
at Kaiserslantern. He desired to qualify himself as
civil engineer, but was prevented by the reaction in
the times following the revolution of 184S. After
closing his studies he remained in his father's office
about one year, when he emigrated to America,
landing at New York in 1856. From thence he
went to Philadelphia, and was employed as a book-
keeper in a large importing house, where he remained
two years. After that time he traveled to sell goods
for the same house and continued one year, at the
expiration of which he was employed by several
houses to sell goods throughout the United States,
which he continued for several years, principally
with the view of learning the customs of the country.
At the termination of this engagement he settled at
Belleville, Illinois, still engaged in commercial busi-
ness. In 1863 he went to Wisconsin to accept a
situation offered to him by a firm at Watertown ;
after which, in 1866, he went to Milwaukee and
became a member of the firm of Philip Best and
Co. Uniform success has attended all of his busi-
ness enterprises. He has been not less successful
in his social relations.
In May, 1866, he married Lizette, the daughter of
the late Major General Philip Best, a woman of edu-
cation, of refinement, of graceful manners and of
personal beauty. From this union have resulted
three daughters and one son, the pride of their
parents and the ornaments of the household.
He is free from bigotry in his religious sentiments
and liberal and tolerant in his political views.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
435
He was a director of the Northwestern Life Insur-
ance Company for four years. Is a stockholder in
the Brewers Insurance Company, and is interested
in the Second Ward Savings Bank. He is the presi-
dent of a brewing company styled the Milwau-
kee Brewing Association, and the secretary of tlie
Brewers' Association of Milwaukee.
In 1869 he went to Europe for the purpose of
taking care of Philip Best, who was an invalid seek-
ing health from the mineral waters and baths of the
old country. He was disappointed in his hopes of
Mr. Best's recovery and of accompanying him to his
home in America. A few days after his arrival in
Europe Mr. Best died, and was buried near his
father's grave.
Nature gave Mr. Schandien a very perfect phy-
sique, a vigorous mind, which he has cultivated by
study, by reading and by thought, a love of plants ■
and flowers, and under proper influences might have
become distinguished as a botanist. He has been
almost wholly occupied in practical matters of busi-
ness, and has reaped large rewards from his labors.
He commands the respect and the esteem of all with
whom business or pleasure brings him in contact.
CARL ZILLIER,
^HEBOrCAN.
THE subject of this biography, a native of Prus-
sia, was born in Halberstadt, April 18, 1838,
his parents being Andrew and Julia (Franke) Zil-
lier. His father, formerly a miller by occupation,
immigrated to America in 1849, when Carl was
eleven years old, and bought and settled on a farm
two miles from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he
died in 1859. The son attended school most of the
time until fifteen years of age, and then spent one
year as clerk in a store in Sheboygan Falls ; at six-
teen went into a printing-office at Carlinville, Illi-
nois, and afterward aided in starting the first news-
papers published at Petersburg in the same State.
Returning to Wisconsin in 1857 he purchased the
" Wisconsin Republikaner," changed its name to the
" National Demokrat," and has continued to con-
duct it to the present time (1877), making it an in-
fluential journal among his countrymen.
During the years 1863-4 Mr. Zillier was a mem-
ber of the general assembly, and there served on the
committees on printing, the State prison, and one or
two others, making himself especially serviceable on
the first named committee. He served as county
clerk for six years, his term of office expiring De-
cember 31, 1876, since which time he has served as
school commissioner. He is a faithful worker for
the interests of his adopted home, the beautiful city
of Sheboygan.
Mr. Zillier is a member of the Odd-Fellows frater-
nity, and has been district deputy grand master. In
politics he has always been identified with the dem-
ocratic party.
On the 23d of November, 1859, he was married to
Miss Julia Freeman, of Sheboygan. They have had
seven children, six of whom are now living.
In stature Mr. Zillier is a man of solid propor-
tions, being five feet eleven inches tall, and weighing
two hundred and twenty-five pounds. He has a full,
round face, with a kindly expression and the appear-
ance of a man who is on good terms with the world.
HENRY C. MEAD,
HENRY CLARK MEAD is the son of Shadrach
Mead, a farmer, of Chester, Warren county.
New York, and was born in that town on the 2d of
May, 1827. His mother's maiden name was Phebe
Lake, and her father was a soldier in the revolution-
ary war. She is still living. Shadrach Mead died
at the old homestead in Chester two years ago.
Henry was raised on the farm, attending an ordi-
nary district school each winter until about eigh-
teen ; he then spent two or three terms at a private
school, and taught four winters in Warren county.
In 1846 he removed to Michigan, and taught a
school at Branch, in Branch county, during the
winter of that year, boarding around, to his great en-
436
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
joyment of frontier literary life. He visited Chicago
and Milwaukee the next spring, and stopping at
Sheboygan worked awhile at the joiner's trade,
which he had picked up on rainy days and during
leisure intervals while living in his native State.
After prospecting somewhat for lands he concluded
not to invest, and returned to New York State and
aided his father on the farm and taught another
winter. He returned to Michigan in 1849 and
taught the school which he had taught three years
before, and afterward went again to Wisconsin, set-
tling in Sheboygan in the spring of 1850. He solic-
ited for insurance, and appointed agents for the same
business, and engaged in merchandising during 1851
and 1852, and then returned to Chester, New York,
to visit a dying sister. In the spring of 1853 he
went to Buffalo, and acted as clerk in the insurance
and agency office of his uncle, Samuel Lake, doing
also something for himself as a pension and bounty
agent. In the autumn of 1854 he returned to Wis- 1
consin and settled some old pension claims, and '
during the ne.xt two years conducted a successful !
notion and jobbing trade, driving a wagon through
the country from Sheboygan as his radiating point.
In the autumn of 1856 he e.xplored the States of
Iowa and Minnesota, looking after lands and land
claims, and in the next spring went to New York
and worked one year in a jobbing house. He set-
tled in Waujiaca in the autumn of 1857, and has
since made it his home. At first he acted as agent
for Mr. Lake, who had large investments, principally
in Waupaca county lands, and gradually worked into
a business of his own.
At the opening of the rebellion Mr. Mead had
most of his means in the Waupaca County Bank, a
State institution with southern securities, and it
failed, leaving him to resort to a lawsuit to recover
his funds. In 1863 he organized the exchange and
savings bank of H. C. Mead and Co., a thriving and
popular institution, of which he has the sole man-
agement.
Mr. Mead attends the Methodist church, and is a
liberal contributor to the support of the gospel. In
politics he is a strong republican, but has uniformly
declined to accept nomination for any office, prefer-
ring the quiet of his legitimate business to the turmoil
of political strife. He has thus far remained single.
Mr. Mead has always been prudent, carefully hus-
banding his means, and owes his success and com-
petency to industrious and economical habits early
formed and steadily practiced. During the rebel-
lion he was an active home-worker, aiding to fill up
the quota of soldiers. He lent a willing hand in
bringing the railroad to Waupaca, and in other en-
terprises tending to benefit the city has been heart-
ily enlisted. He is a man of fine business qualifica-
tions, and with his intimate friends is very sociable
and companionable.
THOMAS M. BLACKSTOCK,
SHEBOTGAN.
THE subject of this biography, a native of Ar-
magh county, Ireland, is the son of Thomas
and Sarah (Martin) Blackstock, and was born in
1834. His father died when the son was three
years old, and he received no education in his na-
tive country other than that obtained in a Presby-
terian Sunday-school. In 1848 he came to the
United States in company with an aunt and three
sisters, his mother having preceded. He spent one
year as an errand boy in a Sheboygan hotel, and at
fifteen years of age went into the drug store of Dr.
J. J. Brown, who not only taught him how to sell
drugs and mix medicines, but encouraged him to
study during his leisure time, and sent him, during
one term, to the seminary at Lima, Livingston
county. New York, where he improved his time.
After being with Dr. Brown about six years, on
account of failing health he was compelled to seek
out-of-door employment. He superintended the
plank road between Sheboygan and Rosendale for
a few years ; was in the employ of A. L. McCrea
about four years, managing his wood and brick
business, three miles north of Sheboygan. In 1863
he purchased Dr. Brown's interest in drugs and
medicines, and has continued the business since
that date. Aside from his regular business, he is
president of the Merchants' Wheat Association and
of the Phoenix Chair Company, and to the latter or-
ganization gives a large share of his time.
Mr. Blackstock is one of the leading men in en-
couraging home manufactures and everything which,
in any way, will advance local interests. As a busi-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
437
ness man he is thorough-going, eminently practical,
and untiring in whatever industrial pursuit engages
his attention.
He was a member of the general assembly in 1869,
and later was mayor of the city for three consecutive
years. In political sentiments he is a republican.
His practical good sense, his unquestioned integ-
rity, and liis watchfulness in looking after tlie inter-
ests of the place, make him very popular with his
fellow-citizens.
Mr. Blackstock was religiously educated a Pres-
byterian, and attends the church of that name in
Sheboygan. He is, however, quite liberal in his
views, and is inclined toward Unitarianism.
His wife was Bridget Denn, of Sheboygan. They
were married in i860, and have no children.
EMORY STANSBURY, M.D.,
APPLETON.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Mary-
land, was born in the city of Baltimore, Au-
gust 29, 1839, and is the son of Daniel and Gertrude
R. (Milliman) Stansbury. His father was a minister
of the Methodist Episcopal church, and removed to
Wisconsin in 1850, holding his first pastorate at
Sheboygan. He was subsequently stationed at Por-
tage, Janesville and other points, and at the time of
his death, in October, i860, was presiding elder of
the Janesville district. During this last named year
Emory graduated from the high school at Janes-
ville, and in the following winter taught a district
school.
In August, 1 86 1, he entered the army in the ca-
pacity of a hospital steward, and after thirteen
months of service, spent mostly in hospitals at St.
Louis and Bloomfield, he was discharged on account
of disability. That autumn he resumed the study
of medicine, which he had begun shortly before the
opening of the rebellion, with Dr. A. M. Dodson, of
Berlin, Wisconsin. He attended lectures at the
Long Island Medical College, Brooklyn, and after-
ward returned to Berlin and practiced two years
with his preceptor. He then attended a course of
lectures at the Bellevue Hospital Medical College,
New York city, and received his diploma March i,
1867.
Dr. Stansbury practiced a short time in Berlin
and Winneconne, and in February, 1868, settled in
Appleton, his present home. There he has built
up a wide and remunerative practice, and stands
among the leading physicians of Outagamie county.
He is a constant reader, a rapidly growing man, and
a member of the State Medical Society, with few
peers in the State under forty years of age.
Dr. Stansbury is a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal church, and president of the board of trustees
of that body in Appleton. He is a Freemason, but
finds but little time, aside from his professional du-
ties, to attend to the claims of the Order. He votes
the republican ticket, but is not strongly partisan.
On the 13th of June, 1872, he was united in mar-
riage with Mrs. Mary A. P. Humphrey n^e Phinney.
She has a son by her former and a daughter by her
present husband. Mrs. Stansbury is a graduate of
Lawrence University, and has received, in course,
the degree of A.M.
In stature Dr. Stansbury is nearly six feet tall,
weighs two hundred and ten pounds, and is solid,
without being corpulent. He has bluish-gray eyes,
a ruddy complexion, an open, frank expression of
countenance, and an appearance of good living,
good cheer, and perfect freedom from the ills to
which flesh is heir.
JOHN PROCTOR,
THE subject of this sketch sprang from good
New England patriotic stock. His grand-
father, Elisha Proctor, commanded a company in
the Concord fight, April 19, 1775. Mr. Proctor has
in his possession the sword used on that day; it
was made in England in 1745. In form it is per-
fectly straight, and runs almost to a point, and is an
odd -looking implement of death, compared with
438
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DIQTIONART.
swords of modern manufacture. The maternal
great-grandfather of our subject, Colonel Gage, was
a prominent officer in the French and Indian war.
John, the son of Benjamin and Anna (Lambert)
Proctor, was born in Rowley, Massachusetts, March
30, 1818. His father, a student of the celebrated
Dr. Waterhouse, of Cambridge, was an eminent phy-
sician of Rowley, and was succeeded in the medical
practice by his son Charles, the two practicing in
that town for eighty-five consecutive years.
John was educated at Duinmer Academy, New-
bury, the oldest institution of the kind in the State,
being incorporated in 1756. He commenced teach-
ing in his eighteenth year, following that profession
for twenty years. During the last five, he was at the
head of the old West Honesdale Academy, Pennsyl-
vania, an institution which he found in an attenuated
state, and which he raised to a high degree of popu-
larity. By reason of impaired health he was obliged
to leave it, and in December, 1856, removed to Wis-
consin, purposing to go upon a farm; but in Febru-
ary following he settled at Neenah, forming a part-
nership with Edward Smith in the manufacture of
flour. For twenty years they have been operating
the Winnebago Mills — there being six other mills
of the same kind in the same city — and have done
a steady, reliable and remunerative business, no firm
in Neenah having a more honorable reputation.
In his younger days Mr. Proctor was a very active
politician. In sentiment he was a conscientious and
ardent whig, and for three consecutive years, 1847,
1848 and 1849, represented the town of Rowley in
the State legislature. In 1866 and 1867 he was in
the assembly of Wisconsin, being sent there by his
republican friends. He made a wise and prudent
legislator, and, during the latter session, was one of
the most influential members in the lower house.
Mr. Proctor is a member of the Presbyterian
church, the superintendent of its Sunday-school, and
a very active man in different branches of Christian
and benevolent work. The poor have no better
friend in Neenah than he. In his Christian and
charitable labors he has a thorough sympathizer and
cooperator in his, wife, who was a daughter of Myron
Phelps, of Lewiston, Illinois, and to whom he was
married June 10, 1858. They have had seven chil-
dren and lost two. Mrs. Proctor is a well educated
woman, and is ardently devoted to the interests of
her home, and is a thoroughly devoted Christian
wife and mother.
Mr. Proctor has often been urged to accept other
offices besides those which he has held, but of late
years has uniformly declined everything of the kind.
He prefers the quiet and peace of domestic life to
the excitement of public positions, and is quite will-
ing to leave such places to men more ambitious of
such honors. In his private sphere, probably no
man in Neenah is more useful, and none is more
highly esteemed by his fellow-citizens than John
Proctor.
HON. ELIPHALET S. MINER,
NEC ED AH.
THE family of which the subject of this sketch
is a member is one of the oldest in this coun-
try. Their coat-of-arms is in the Hartford, Connec-
ticut, Museum. The line of ancestry is traced back
in England to 1339, through nine generations.
Thomas Miner, who was born in England in 1608,
immigrated to America in 1630, and is believed to
be the ancestor of all the Miners in this country. It
is a family embracing a large number of ministers
and eminent scholars. The father of Eliphalet S.
Miner, Rev. Jesse Miner, was a Presbyterian
preacher, who lived at Madison, New York, where
the son was born, March 20, 1818, and in 1828
removed to Green Bay as a missionary, under ap-
pointment of the American board, to labor among
the Stockbridge Indians. He died one year after-
ward, when the widow and children returned to New
York, and settled at Paris Hill. Eliphalet was soon
sent to live with an uncle in western New York,
remaining there until 1834; he then removed to
Illinois, and lived on a farm twenty miles south of
Chicago about six years. In 1840 he went to Joliet,
where for two years he was the proprietor of a pub-
lic house. He next pushed northward into the Wis-
consin pineries, settling at Grand Rapids in 1843,
and there followed the mercantile business until
185 1, when he settled in Necedah, his present home.
During the past twenty-five years he has been a
prominent lumberman and merchant, and is now a
member of the well-known firm of T. Weston and
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
439
Co. He is a superior business man, and has been
eminently successful. Since he came to Wisconsin
his services have often been called into requisition
by the people, and he has always discharged his
duties with the utmost fidelity.
He was the first postmaster at Grand Rapids, and
while residing there was for some time a county
commissioner; was also the first postmaster at Ne-
cedah, which position he has held, with the exception
of about two years, since he settled in the place.
In 1864 he was elected to the general assembly,
and reelected the following year. In 1870 he was
sent to the State senate, and there served as chair-
man of the committee on claims, a position which
calls for the hardest work in that body. During the
same year he was appointed by (lovernor Wash-
burne to visit all the State institutions. He was
county judge when Adams and Juneau formed one
county, and in that office, as in every other, was
prompt and efficient.
He is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order,
and also grand senior warden and trustee. In re-
ligious matters he is liberal in his views. In politics,
he has been a prominent member of the republican
party since the whigs disbanded.
In November, 1845, he was united in marriage with
Miss Serena Elliott, of Hazel Green, (Jrant county,
Wisconsin, and by her has had seven children, six of
whom are still living.
As already intimated, Mr. Miner belongs to a
venerable and distinguished family, and his life-
record, here briefly outlined, shows that he has
really and highly honored the name. He was early
left an orphan, with only a common-school edu-
cation, and was therefore, in a great measure,
thrown upon his own resources. He is emphatic-
ally a self-made man. ^\'ith him, pedigree counts
for nothing; the measure of his worth to the world
must be estimated solely by his own endeavors and
deeds.
HON. JOSEPH B. HAMILTON,
NEEXAII.
PROMINENT among the leading and influential
men of Neenah is the subject of this biography,
a native of Lansing, Thompkins county, New York.
He was born on the loth of June, 1817, his parents
being William and Elizabeth (Bower) Hamilton.
His father was a farmer by occupation. This
branch of the Hamilton family is of Scotch-Irish
descent, the great-grandfather of Joseph immigrating
from the north of Ireland sometime prior to the
revolutionary war, and settling in one of the middle
States. His grandfather served in that war, and his
father in the second war with England, being sta-
tioned at Fort Erie, near Buffalo.
Joseph was reared on his father's farm, and at-
tended the common schools, and at the age of
eighteen spent one term at the Aurora, Cayuga
county. Academy. He engaged in teaching during
the following winter, and then for about seven years
alternated between teaching and attending the Caze-
novia Seminary ; at twenty-five commenced reading
law with Smith and Walker, of Genoa, still teaching
during the winters; and completing his law studies
with Rathbun and Walker, of Auburn, was admitted
to the bar in New York city in April, 1845. He
practiced in Mecklenburgh, Schuyler county, until
1849, and in October of that year opened an office
in Neenah, Wisconsin, at that time a village of less
than three hundred inhabitants. He was elected
district attorney for Winnebago county two years
afterward, and served in that capacity through 1852
and 1853. He was chairman of the board of super-
visors in 1856, president of the village in 1857 and
1858, and State senator in 1863 and 1864. While in
the senate he was a member of the judiciary com-
mittee, and chairman of the committee on federal
relations and internal improvements ; he was also on
the committees on militia and education. His ser-
vice in the senate being during the war of the
rebellion, he gave enthusiastic support to all war
measures. His patriotism was never doubted, and
in every way he honored his position in that body.
At the close of his last session, March, 1864, he re-
ceived from the hands of Gov. Lewis an appoint-
ment as county judge, to fill a vacancy, and served
out the unexpired term of Judge Washburne. At
its close the people elected him for four years more,
his residence during most of this time being at Osh-
kosh, the county seat.
Since his return to Neenah Judge Hamilton has
served two years as city attorney, the only officer of
440
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
the kind the city ever had, the office being abolished
at the end of his term. He is now giving his entire
time to legal practice, and has a remunerative and
prosperous business.
He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, and has
been senior warden of the blue lodge in Neenah,
and king of the royal arch.
In politics. Judge Hamilton was formerly a free-
soil democrat; he has acted with the republican
party since 1856, and is one of its influential mem-
bers in his city and county.
In religious sentiment he is a Methodist, and has
sometimes superintended the Sunday-school. In
various ways he has made and is making himself a
very useful citizen.
Judge Hamilton is now living with his second
wife. The first, Mary C. nee Jaycox, of Mechlen-
burg. New York, to whom he was married in 1847,
died in 1854. They had two children, one preced-
ing, the other following her to the land of spirits.
His second wife was Mary A. ne'e Kimberly, of
Neenah. Their union occurred in November, 1867.
They have had three children, only one of whom is
now iivinc
COLONEL THEODORE CONKEY,
AP PL ETON.
THEODORE CONKEY has been a resident of
Wisconsin for more than thirty-five years, and
was one of the original surveyors of the land on
which Appleton now stands. He is a native of New
York and was born in Canton, St. Lawrence county,
December 11, 1819. His father, Asa Conkey, a
farmer, was a soldier in the second war with Eng-
land; his mother was Mary Nash. He received an
academic education, and remained on the farm until
1841. Removing to the West at that time he stopped
a few months at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. In the
spring of 1842 he went to Madison, where he taught
a school for nearly two years. He then engaged in
civil engineering, and followed it steadily for about
seven years, making United States government sur-
veys, mainly in Wisconsin, and largely from Apple-
ton northward and eastward to the Michigan line ;
his home during this time being at Fond du Lac.
At first he worked under General Ellis, an older
man and more experienced surveyor, carrying the
chain. Being slender in form at that time General
Ellis expressed doubts about his being able to en-
dure the hardships and mosquitoes of the Wisconsin
swamps, but in a short time the General was quite
willing to surrender the compass into the hands of
Mr. Conkey at least half the time.
His settlement in Appleton dates from July, 1849,
when the place contained only seven or eight fam-
ilies. It needed not much of a prophetic vision to
see, at that time, that enterprising men would gather
around the Grand Chute, utilize the water-power,
and build a city. Here Mr. Conkey built a saw-mill
for himself, and then, from 1852 to 1857, was inter-
ested in the construction of the Fox and Wisconsin
river improvements, operating in connection with
Morgan L. Martin, now of Green Bay. In 1859 and
i860 he was engaged alone in filling a contract to
build a lock and improvement at Rapid de Croche.
Prior to taking this contract he had built a flouring-
mill at Appleton with three sets of burrs. This
property he disposed of in 1861, at the opening of
the rebellion, and raising a company joined the 3d
Wisconsin Cavalry (commanded by Colonel Barstow)
as captain of company I. He served with his regi-
ment in the southwest and on the plains nearly four
years, and was mustered out of the service at the
close of the war as lieutenant-colonel of the regi-
ment. He was a bold, dashing officer, and richly
merited his promotions.
Returning to Appleton in November, 1865, Colonel
Conkey repurchased his old mill property, added
four more sets of burrs, and has now (1877) one of
the best mills in his part of the State, and is produc-
ing from fifty thousand to sixty thousand barrels per
annum.
Colonel Conkey was in the State senate in 1851
and 1852, and in the general assembly in 1857. In
politics he has always been identified with the demo-
cratic party.
He attends the Episcopal church.
Mrs. Conkey was Cynthia F. Foote, of St. Law-
rence county. New York. They were married in
June, 1848, and have had four children, three of
whom are now living. The eldest child, Alice F., is
the wife of A. J. Reid, of the Appleton " Post."
Colonel Conkey has from the start been thorough-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
ly identified with all local projects which he consid-
ered would be for the benefit of the place. He takes
great pride in the prosperity and beauty of his early
adopted home.
In stature he is five feet ten inches high and
weighs fully two hundred pounds; he has a ruddy
com])lexion, a very healthy look, and although much
exposed in middle life in surveying through swamps
dams, often in the water from morning till night, he
hardly knows what illness is. As a business man he
is cautious, shrewd and plucky, and has been very
successful. He owns a large frame dwelling which
stands on the high bank of the Fox river, and has a
commanding view of one of the most picturesque
valleys in northeastern Wisconsin. He has a little
deer park adjoining his premises, and surroundings
during almost all kinds of weather, and in building I comfortable enough for a prir
ABIIAH W. BALDWIN,
•yANESVII.LE.
THE subject of this sketch was born on the 3d of
December, 1828, in Otselic, Chenango county.
New York, and is the only child of Lewis Gassett and
Nancy (Colt) Baldwin, and is descended from Eng-
lish ancestors who settled in New England before
the revolution. His grandfather, Levi Baldwin, par-
ticipated in the struggle for independence in his na-
tive State, Vermont. His father was a very indus-
trious and intelligent man, scrupulously honest and
exact in all his dealings. This line of the Baldwin
family has produced a number of distinguished Bap-
tist ministers and other professional men who are
scattered over the eastern and middle States. The
family is also noted for great longevity, many of its
members attaining to great age. The Rev. Levi
Baldwin, an uncle of our subject, died a few years
since in Pennsylvania, past the age of ninety years.
The name of Baldwin ranks with the proudest in the
Green Mountain State.
His mother was the daughter of Amos Colt, of
New York, a relative of the manufacturer of the cele-
brated Colt's revolvers. His maternal grandmother
was a Webster, a branch of the family to which the
celebrated Daniel Webster belonged. From this
ancestor he inherits his middle name.
He was raised in his native State, where he at-
tended the district schools during a portion of each
year, spending his summers in farm labor, thus
acquiring a taste and fondness for agricultural pur-
suits which has clung to him through life.
In 1844, at the age of fifteen, he removed to Wis-
consin with his parents and settled at Milton, where
his father carried on the business of a mechanic,
which he has since pursued at times. He entered
the Milton Academy at its opening in 1844, under
the tutelage of Rev. B. C. Church, afterward under
50
that of Rev. S. S. Bicknell, and remained under the
care of this institution some four years, teaching
junior classes a part of the time during the last two
years in mathematics and the Latin language. After
passing through the full course of study of the insti-
tution and receiving a diploma, he taught district
schools in the same, neighborhood for three years,
and at the same time read law privately under the
direction of the late Chief Justice Whiton, spending
one summer in the office of Judge Noggle, of Janes-
ville, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1856.
He afterward opened an office in Milton, where he
practiced his profession for five years with very flat-
tering success. His preferences, however, were for
agricultural pursuits, for which in early life he had
acquired an unconquerable fondness, and accord-
ingly in 1861 he purchased a very desirable farm in
the neighborhood of Milton Junction and has since
devoted himself mainly to husbandry.
In 1868 he was elected to the office of circuit
clerk of Rock county, and is still (1877) the incum-
bent of that office, having since been three times
unanimously nominated and elected by his party,
there appearing no other candidate against him, a
circumstance which demonstrates his popularity and
efficiency as a public officer more conclusively than
any other species of indorsement could do. Twice
was he urged by the nominating committees of his
party to accept a nomination for the lower branch
of the legislature and once for the senate, but pos-
itively declined to allow the use of his name on
either occasion.
He served one term as superintendent of the
schools of Milton, was town clerk for eight consec-
utive years, assessor for one term, chairman of the
board of supervisors of the county for three years,
442
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARl'.
a trustee and secretary of the board of trustees of
Milton College for the past twelve 3'ears, and is one
of the most influential and useful men of the county.
He has always been republican in politics, his first
vote having been cast for John C. Fremont for Pres-
ident and his last for R. B. Hayes for the same
office.
In religious belief he affiliates with the Unitarian
denomination of Christians, and is an officer of All
Souls Church, Janesville.
He is a distinguished member of the Masonic fra-
ternity; was initiated in Janesville Lodge, No. 55,
in 1 86 1. He demitted from Janesville Lodge and
was instrumental in the organization of a lodge at
Milton, being one of the charter members of that
organization. He subsequently served as master of
Milton Lodge, No. 161, for three years. Is a mem-
ber of the Janesville Chapter, Royal Arch Masons,
of which he has occupied the position of high priest
for the last seven years, having been annually elected
thereto. He has been for the past two years emi-
nent commander of Janesville Commandery, No. 2,
Knights Templar, and is now grand treasurer of the
Grand Commandery of Wisconsin. He is also pre-
siding officer or dictator of Memorial Lodge, Knights
of Honor, Janesville; also a member of the Temple
.of Honor, and fills one of the offices in the higher
degrees of that order.
In stature Mr. Baldwin is of medium size, with
blue eyes, light hair and a full face. He has the
carriage of a polished, dignified and courteous gen-
tleman. His appearance and his conversation are
winning and inspire confidence at once. He has a
mind of unusual clearness and steadiness: always
calm, self-possessed and self-reliant. His knowl-
edge on the subjects which he has studied is practi-
cal and always ready. He succeeded excellently as
a teacher, but his influence in the public positions
which he has held, and for which he has special
qualifications, is most marked and satisfactory. He
has peculiar insight into the necessities and intrica-
cies of his work, and shapes his statements in the
clearest and most accurate forms. As a public offi-
cer he is bland, courteous and accommodating, and
deservedly popular, and nowhere more so than in
the town where he has resided the longest and filled
so many positions. He has the faculty of attaching
most firmly to himself friends who remain constant
and trusting in their esteem and affection. While
ambitious for public preferment, he never sacrifices
his honor or integrity to gain office; he would
sooner lose his position than injure a friend in seek-
ing after place or power. He has a keen compre-
hension of the needs and motives of men, and while
planning most successfully, his movements in secur-
ing their support has sustained a character of the
most undoubted uprightness. He is genial and
companionable at home, and is now in the full
strength of his powers.
He was married October 15, 1856, to Miss Morcie,
daughter of Holmes Hammond, formerly a farmer
of considerable standing in Vermont, now a resident
of Clinton, Rock county, Wisconsin, a very esti-
I mable and highly accomplished lady, who received
her education at Milton College. They have had
three children, one of whom died in infancy, and
two survive, Carrie May and Emma E. The eld-
est is developing considerable talent in oil painting.
A. HYATT SMITH,
JANES VILLE.
THE history of A. Hyatt Smith is, in a large
measure, the history of the State of Wisconsin,
and more especially of its incipient railroad system,
with which he has been largely connected. He was
a man uf remarkable energy and tenacity of pur-
pose, though of varied talents and endless resources.
One of the first settlers of Janesville, where he owns
much valuable property, he is still among the most
enterprising and useful citizens of the place. The
following is but a sketchy outline of his most versa-
tile and eventful life.
I He was born in New York city February 5, 1814,
and is the son of Maurice and May (Reynolds)
Smith, natives of Westchester county. New York.
His father was born among the bloody scenes of the
revolution, near what was known as the " neutral
ground," inside the American lines. His grand-
father was one of the unfortunate " Sugar House "
prisoners, as was also his maternal grandfather.
The greatest pleasure of his early life was to listen
I to these old patriarchs fighting their battles over
I again, and relating the history of their sufferings as
CsA^c.^?V^Svtc^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
445
prisoners of war. The impression left in his youth-
ful mind was so vivid that for many years after he
never could pass the old " Sugar House " without
a shudder of horror and a chilling of the blood.
On the breaking out of the terrible yellow-fever
scourge in New York in 1822, his father fled from
the city, settled in Ulster county, New York, and
purchased a saw and flouring mill on the VVallkill,
some fifteen miles northwest of Newburg, where he
resided a few years. As compared with mills of
the present day, these were very simple and prim-
itive structures, but they made a lasting impression
upon the mind of young Smith, and gave him a taste
for milling that he has never lost. During the same
period his father also served as justice of the peace,
and his mind was much exercised with the mysteries
of the law; so that the old mill and the justice's
office perhaps e.xercised as great an influence as any
other agency in forming the plans of his career, as
machinery and the law have been his hobbies
through life. He has often been heard to say that
he would rather own a fiouring-mill than a gold
mine and would rather practice law than preacli the
gospel.
The ancestors of our subject were among the first
settlers of Long Island. Two brothers named Smith,
from England, arrived in Boston about the year 1650,
and five years later removed to the island, where
they became possessed of large grants of land, and
were known respectively as the " Tangiers Smith "
and the " Bull Smith," one having been governor of
Tangiers, and the other the owner of the only bull
on the island, or at least on the section of it in
which the latter resided. There were also two
other families of Smiths residing on Long Island,
known as the " Rock Smiths " and the " Blue
Smiths." Many anecdotes and reminiscences are
related of the " Bull " and his owner. It is recorded
of him that on one occasion, desiring to extend his
borders, and destroy the Indian title to a consider-
able tract of land, he laid many devices, and, among
others, addressed himself to the stomach of the old
Nesaquake chief His good wife was celebrated,
among other things, for her apple dumplings, and
the old chief not being well skilled in the use of the
fork attempted to help himself to one of them with
his hand, but the delicate pastry crumbled through
his fingers and fell on the table. A bright idea
flashed through the mind of the Indian. He was
familiar with Smith's bull, who was the terror of all
the papooses in the surrounding forest, and he re-
plied to his next application for a land grant by
off"ering him all the land he could ride around on
that wild bull, with a string of Mrs. Smith's famous
dumplings around his neck without breaking. Smith
and his good wife were equal to the emergency. He
trained the bull, she made the dumplings, and he
quietly rode around the desired tract, which the old
chief, as good as his word, relinquished in his favor.
That land to this day is known as Smithtown.
This was about the year 1663. Smith was a mem-
ber of the colonial legislature known as the King's
Council, and rode his bull frequently, after this
memorable event, to New York to attend the meet-
ings of the council.
Benjamin Thompson, in his " History of Long
Island," speaking of Richard (" Bull ") Smith says :
It is probable tbat horses were very scarce during the
first settlement of this town, or that they had not as vet
been introduced, which accounts for Mr. Smith having
made use of a large bull for many purposes for which
horses were afterward used, which caused him to be desig-
nated as the " Bull-rider," and his posteritv to tliis day to
be designated as the " Bull Smiths," while "the descendants
of William Smith, of Brookhaven, are as familiarly known
as the "Tangiers Smiths," he having once filled the ofilce
of governor of Tangiers.
This family seems to have been early in the
struggle for independence. Thompson copies from
the records of the town the following resolution :
At a town meeting held in Smithtown, August the 9th,
1774, it was resolved that we declare ourselves ready to
enter into any public measures that shall be agreed upon by
a general congress, and that Solomon Smith, David Smith
and Thos. Treadwell be a committee for said town to act
in conjunction with committees of other towns in this
county, to correspond with the committee of New York,
and the said committee is fully empowered to choose a del-
egate to represent this county at the general congress, and
that said committee do all that shall be necessary in defense
of our just rights and liberties against the unconstitutional
acts of the British ministry and parliament.
After the death of " Bull " Smith, which occurred
at the close of the seventeenth century, and the
division of the family estate, one of his sons- located
in New Jersey, near the falls of Passaic. This part
of the family was again divided, when part of it re-
moved to Westchester county, New York, and only
as far back as forty years ago a very large part of the
population of that county were connected by blood
and marriage with this branch of the Smith family.
It was a prolific race, every marriage resulting in the
birth of from six to twelve young Smiths. From
this branch of the " Bull " Smith family our subject
claims descent.
In 1826 his father found his way back to New
York, and. resumed his old business of merchandis-
446
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
ing, but died suddenly on the anniversary of Wash-
ington's birthday in 1828, in the fifty-eighth year of
his age, leaving a family of six children (a seventh
was born about a month after his decease). He
died young, though the family were proverbially
long-lived, his father having died in his eighty-ninth
year.
On the death of her husband Mrs. Smith removed
to the neighborhood of Auburn, where her father's
family resided, while our subject remained in the
city with his guardian, James Smith, a relative and a
lawyer of eminence, who, having settled the ques-
tion of his ward's profession, held to the theory that
the place to make a lawyer was in a lawyer's office;
and at the age of fourteen, under the old rules of
the supreme court, the name of A. Hyatt Smith was
registered with the clerk of the supreme court as a
student-at-law. For seven years thereafter he pur-
sued the study of this profession in the office of his
guardian. Simultaneously with this he carried on
his literary studies in the private academy of Bore-
land and Forest, then the first classical school in
New York city, and completed his education at the
Mount Pleasant Seminary, then under the manage-
ment of the Rev. Samuel J. Prime, father of the
present editor of the " New York Observer." His
-recollections of this excellent institution and its re-
vered principal 'are of the most agreeable character.
Mr. Prime was one of the few educators who knew
how to combine firm and unyielding discipline with
such kindness and gentleness as brought the most
stubborn temper into amicable subjection. Under
him study was no task, but a pleasure. He im-
parted knowledge without any of the pomposity pe-
culiar to the pedagogue of more modern times.
Our subject was admitted to jiractice in the city
courts in the summer of 1835, and to the supreme
court of the State in 1836. The rules of the supreme
court, under which he was admitted, required that
the ajiplicant should produce the certificate of an
attorney and counselor-at-law attesting his charac-
acter, and that he had regularly pursued the study
of law for the term of seven years in his office pre-
vious to the age of twenty-one, with other very
stringent requirements long since relaxed or alto-
gether abolished. Under these rigid rules he was
examined and admitted, and immediately entered
upon a large and lucrative practice in partnership
with his former preceptors, one of whom, James
Smith, at that time retired from the firm on account
of failing health, and for six years he worked unre-
mittingly, without sufficient time for sleep or rest,
which so impaired his health that he was advised by
the best physicians that the only way to save his life
was to move away from the seacoast. Accordingly
in 1842 he resolved to abandon his business and
move to Wisconsin, which he had previously visited
on business, and on the 2 2d of November arrived in
Janesville during a tremendous snow-storm, and
being informed that the land on the west side of the
river was for sale, purchased it, with a view to the
improvement of the water-power, taking several
other parties into the transaction to gain monetary
aid in making the improvement. On the ist of
April, 1843, the territorial legislature granted a char-
ter to A. Hyatt Smith, William H. H. Bailey and
Charles Stevens, conferring the right to dam the
Rock river and utilize the power thus derived.
Both of the last named gentlemen, however, with-
drew, and he was left the sole owner of the fran-
chise. He subsequently 'associated with himself
James McClurg, of western New York, Martin O.
Walker, of Chicago, and J. B. Doe, of Janesville,
and on the 6th of January, 1846, commenced the
construction of a mill, the largest then west of
the lakes, and on the 4th of March the founda-
tion was above high-water mark, about fifty men
having worked in water during that period. The
mill commenced operating in the following summer,
and gave Janesville, which had then a population of
but four hundred, its first substantial impetus. The
young city soon shot ahead of all its rivals, and has
maintained its advantage to this day, a fact greatly
owing to its water-power.
In the summer of 1847 Mr. Smith, although a
democrat, was elected to the first convention to
frame a State constitution, to represent a constitu-
ency which up to that time had been largely whig.
One of the chief difficulties of the convention was
the dividing of the State into assembly districts so
as to do justice to the voters without favoring par-
ties. After several failures to accomplish this deli-
cate task, a special committee for the purpose was
appointed, of which Mr. Smith was made chairman,
and succeeded in preparing a report which was
unanimously recominended by the committee and
adopted by the convention. The constitution pre-
pared by this convention (which was, in many re-
gards, a most excellent one, but in some of its pro-
visions rather in advance of the times) encountered
the most strenuous opposition from the moneyed
classes of the people and from corporations gener-
THE UNITED STATES FlfOGRAPHlCAL DICTrONART.
447
ally, and was defeated by the voters; the clauses [
most obnoxious to this class being those exempting
the property of married women from distraint for
the debts of their husbands, securing to the debtor
a homestead exemption, and prohibiting the char-
tering of banks of issue — a clause which would
have withdrawn from circulation a large amount of
jjaper put afloat by an insurance company in the
similitude of bank bills. This one institution at
that time held the money power in the States of Il-
linois, Wisconsin and Iowa. This immense power,
combined with the aggregate influence of embryo
corporations all over the State, defeated the consti-
tution, but such of the people as lived to witness
the crash of these institutions in the panic of 1857,
and the consequent ruin that followed, saw tlieir
folly and the wisdom of the rejected instrument.
Mr. Smith made the opening speech in defense of
the submitted fundamental law at Waukesha, and for
more than sixty consecutive days spoke from four
to eight hours daily in defense of it. But although
the measure was not carried at that time, the re-
jected provisions, except the last named, became
part of the laws of Wisconsin in less than four years
subsei|uently.
The following are among the public offices which
he has held at intervals during his long and eventfid
career :
In 1836 he was appointed to the office of com-
missioner of deeds in the city of New York, by nom-
ination of Governor Marcy and confirmation of the
senate. The recommendation of Mr. Smith, who
was known to be in favor of the scheme, was made
a test to ascertain the governor's true position on
the sub-treasury deposit system as recommended by
President Van Buren ; from this ofiice he was re-
moved by Governor Seward, who succeeded Gov-
ernor Marcy. As above related, he was a member
of the first constitutional convention of Wisconsin.
In 1847 he was appointed by Governor Dodge, and
confirmed by the legislative council, attorney-general
of the Territory, and held the ofiice till after the
State was admitted into the Union. During his
term of office he tried several suits against a former
territorial governor. Doty, and other officers, brought
for the misapplication of funds appropriated and
granted to the Territory by congress to build a cap-
itol, and obtained a judgment against the governor
for thirty-five thousand dollars and upward. In
1848 he was appointed United States attorney by
President Polk, and held the office until the acces-
sion of the Taylor administration. On the organi-
zation of the city of Janesville in 1853 he was
elected its first mayor, and again in 1857 he was
elected to the same position against his will. In
1851, while absent from the country, in England, he
came within two votes of receiving the democratic
nomination for governor, without his knowledge or
consent; and again in 1853 he stood for a long time
within two votes of a nomination for the same office,
but withdrew in favor of Barstow, who was elected.
He was for many years regent of the State Univer-
sity at Madison, having been elected from year to
year by the legislature without regard to party. (See
Miss Fredreka Bremer's " Homes in America," page
636.)
The following are among the public enterprises
with which he has been connected : In 1847 he
organized a company to build a plank road from
Milwaukee to Janesville, but by reason of disagree-
ment between the Milwaukee stockholders of the
enterprise it was discontinued after the building of
twenty miles. Failing in the effort to secure some-
thing better than a mud road to the lake shore, he
endeavored to induce the people of Milwaukee to
unite with him in organizing under a railroad char-
ter which he then controlled, with the hope of build-
ing a road from that city to Rock river, and thence
to the Mississippi river, intending it as a base line
to carry all the products of the north to Milwaukee;
but the scheme then met with only derision from all
save two or three gentlemen, who were powerless of
themselves; hence he turned his attention elsewhere.
The Galena and Chicago railroad was at that time
graded some twenty miles out of the latter city,
making slow progress, and being ironed with old
strap rails taken from New York roads. According-
ly he procured a charter from the Wisconsin legisla-
ture (approved April 19, 1848) and organized a
company to construct a road from Madison via
Beloit to connect with the Galena and Chicago
railroad, and obtained a promise from the officers
of the latter company to build a branch line to
Beloit as soon as their line reached Rock river, pro-
vided his company had a road ready to run as far as
the mouth of the Catfish. He accordingly applied to
the people of Beloit for aid in the enterprise, but
they rejected the proposition with scorn. The legis-
lature being then in session at Madison he obtained
an amendment to his charter, authorizing his com-
pany to vary the location of its line to any point on
the State line it deemed best, east of Beloit; but the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Chicago company absolutely refused any connection
except at Beloit; this stubbornness on their part
being explained by the fact that they were largely
interested in town lots in the last named city. The
situation was peculiar. He was then building a rail-
road in Wisconsin pointing to Chicago, which on
reaching the State line would find a blank of seventy
miles of prairie. There was no time to be lost. He
accordingly applied to the Illinois legislature then
in session, and obtained authority to construct a
road from Chicago to the State line, with liberty to
consolidate with any Wisconsin company ; but when
even this threatening attitude failed to move the
obdurate board of the Chicago and Galena company,
he determined to build an air line from Janesville
to Chicago. He found in Chicago and along the
line men of high standing ready to act as directors
for the Illinois company, provided they were not
asked to supply any money. Our subject furnished
the money and they held the stock. This put on
his shoulders the management of two companies,
and the raising of the money to carry on the work.
The recital of the expedients to which he was driven
in this emergency would fill a large sized volume,
and be the source of much amusement besides; but
his hands were not yet full. The line he was then
controlling commenced at Chicago and branched at
Janesville, one branch running to Lake Superior via
Fond du Lac, the other to the falls of St. Croix via
Madison ; but his plans contemplated a scheme
much more vast than seemed to be involved in these
limits, and he accordingly procured from the Minne-
sota legislature, then in session at St. Paul, a charter
authorizing the construction of a road from the falls
of St. Croix, then called Taylor Falls, to St. Paul,
thence to the Red River of the North, thence to
Fond du Lac of Lake Superior, and from the junc-
tion of these two roads at the Red river to the west-
ern boundary of Minnesota. This charter contained
a conveyance of all the lands that might be there-
after granted by congress to the State for the con-
struction of a road on or near the line indicated
therein. In the present day a scheme of this mag-
nitude would not excite any comment ; but, as above
remarked, Mr. Smith was ahead of the times. Then
the enteriirise was regarded as Utopian ; besides
there were other objections nearer home. The fact
that he was building a great interior highway to
carry the products of the Northwest to the Atlantic
sea-board, without paying tribute to the lake towns,
created such an excitement and such violent oppo-
sition to the project as has been seldom encountered,
and for several years both he and his scheme were
the objects of such ridicule and abuse as has rarely
fallen to the share of one man. He entered into
politics and was obliged to " run " the State govern-
ment to prevent unfriendly legislation, and for five
years no railway legislation of any kind was had
without his approval. In 1851 he went to England
and made a considerable purchase of iron, for bonds,
at such favorable rates as have never since been
equaled. His iron delivered at New York cost
thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents per ton, freight
and duties included. It was bought on speculation,
and as a means of raising money for the road, and
sold in New York for a large profit, and the proceeds
used in construction. This purchase of iron made
the completion of the road a fixed fact. Mr. Smith
had not, however, been in England fifteen days
before he was handed a file of American newspapers,
overflowing with attacks and libels on himself and
the whole scheme of which he was the promoter,
denouncing it as a swindle. The hostility became
so bitter, personal and local, as to be absolutely in-
tolerable; and after about six years of hard work,
the best years of his life, given to the public without
any profit, but at a sacrifice of sever.al hundred thou-
sand dollars of his own private fortune, he did, what he
has not since ceased to regret, resigned, and let his
franchises fall into the hands of Wall-street specu-
lators. Charles Butler, of New York, became his suc-
cessor, and he and his associates and successors made
large fortunes for themselves and their friends, where-
as he spent more money than any of them had ever
previously owned. They made money ; he lost. The
part of the road built under his administration cost
twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars per mile ;
that built by his successors cost ninety thousand per
mile. The stock of the road is of no value, because
it pays no dividends, while at the cost he turned it
over to his successors, or even with fifty per cent
added, it would have been a good paying investment.
Among his early associates, to whom he cheer-
fully acknowledges his deep obligations for unwav-
ering friendship and invaluable aid and comfort in
his great and well planned schemes, were Robert J.
Walker, John B. Macy, Wm. A. Lawrence, Wm.
Ward, junior, Joseph B. Doe and Isaac Wooden, the
last named being a gentleman of brilliant talents,
great breadth of intellect and executive ability.
As intimated above, the history of his six years'
struggle with the insurmountable difficulties with
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
449
which he contended, the opposition which he en-
countered from open and covert enemies and false
friends in disguise, would fill a large sized volume,
and may yet be given to the public, but its recital
here would swell this sketch far beyond the limits ]
which our space would allow; hence we must con- j
tent ourselves with a bare reference to them. The
flourishing roads which have been built upon his
franchises, and to a considerable extent with his
money, are the Chicago and Northwestern, or that
part of it running northwesterly to and through the
State of Wisconsin, originally known as the Rock
River Valley Union Railroad, also the road running
west from Janesville, now known as the Milwaukee
and St. Paul road, and also the North Pacific
through Minnesota.
Being, however, wearied with the perpetual strife
in which he found himself compelled to mingle,
and feeling also that the contest had become per-
sonal, on the promise that he should be protected from
his indorsements of the railroad paper, he resigned, as
before stated. After a time the company was re-
organized, but the pledges made to him were vio-
lated, and he was compelled, out of his own private
fortune, to pay large amounts of corporation notes
to which his name was indorsed. Pie was the owner
of landed property in Janesville and Chicago, valued
at over a million dollars, most of which was sacri-
ficed in the payment of these and other complica-
tions growing out of his railroad transactions. It is
not, therefore, to be wondered at that he should
become strongly impressed with the idea that the
man who undertakes a public improvement from
pure public spirit and enterprise is a fit subject for
a lunatic asylum.
Mr. Smith, however, is still in tlie enjoyment of
his mental faculties, and has great cause for thank-
fulness, in one direction at least : he has never been
tempted to relieve himself of any of his obligations
by the aid of a bankrupt law; he has paid every
claim to the uttermost for which he became officially
responsible, — in this particular contrasting strikingly
with men who are now rolling in wealth, and es-
teemed by the community as respectable.
After the end of his railroad building, he took
upon himself, with his wife's estate,, which was also
quite large, the erection of a hotel in Janesville. A
company had been organized for this purpose, with
a capital of fifty thousand dollars, and had laid the
foundation of a hotel that would cost three times
that sum. The company dissolved, and disposed of
the property to him. He completed and furnished
the building at a cost of one hundred and seventy-
four thousand dollars, which was one of the finest
structures of the kind outside of Chicago; but the
entire establishment was destroyed by fire a few
years after its completion, the fire, as was supposed,
being the work of an incendiary. He had received
through the post-office an intimation that it would
be fired, and hence was debarred from effecting any
insurance on it. The fire occurred in January, 1866.
In 1 87 1 the largest of his mills was also destroyed
by fire by the hand of an incendiary, as was mani-
fest from after developments. But the greatest dis-
aster of his life occurred in the great Chicago fire of
the same year. He had opened an office in that
city, intending to practice his profession there, being
induced to this course by parties who had purchased
lands in that city and neighborhood worth several
millions of dollars, that had been sold on trust deeds
in most cases for less than ten per cent, of their
actual value. The land had been conveyed regard-
less of the requirements of law, and the object of
Mr. Smith was to file bills to redeem them, and pay
back the money with interest. He had also bought
an undivided half of a law-library, one of the best
in Chicago (original cost, sixteen thousand dollars),
and, on making this purchase, sold one worth one
thousand five hundred dollars for half its value.
He had prepared bills for redemption of land
worth millions of dollars ; but his office, with all its
contents, perished in the general conflagration in
October, 187 1, his safe, in which were all his deeds
and valuable papers, being reduced to a shapeless
mass of old iron. His loss in this catastrophe was
greater than all his previous losses combined.
Added to this came sickness and distress in his
family, until it seemed as if the afflictions of the
patriarch Job were trifling as compared with his.
Under such an accumulation of woes most men
would have given up in despair, or been so far para-
lyzed as to have yielded to what fatalists would have
called the inevitable. But, notwithstanding the
avalanche of misfortunes which lighted upon his
head, and the waves of trouble that rolled over him,
he was never even tempted to consider the advice
of Job's wife, "curse God and die," and is to-day as
hopeful and happy a man as lives in Janesville, and,
with an energy peculiar to men of real ability, he
has set himself the task of retrieving his fortune, in
which, it is superfluous to say, we wish him the
utmost success.
45°
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
He was made a Mason in Janesville in 1847. and I
in 1848 served as master of his lodge. In 1849 he
was chosen and installed senior grand warder. He
helped to organize the chapter of Royal Arch Ma-
sons at Janesville, acting as king. Several years ago
he was elected to the order of Knights Templar, but
has not yet found time for installation. While in
London and Liverpool he visited several Masonic
lodges, and from his own experience of the utility of
the institution — though he hardly considers it ac-
cording to the rules to say so — would advise every
young man who conveniently can to become a Ma-
son. He considers Masonry beyond all question
the most ancient of orders, reaching back at least a
thousand years beyond the Christian era, and as
having done much during the dark ages to preserve
and pass down whatever was transmitted to us of
ancient civilization. I
In 1876 he aided in the organization of a strictly ;
temperance society in Janesville, known as the .
Temple of Honor, an institution which has been j
successful beyond the most sanguine hopes of its j
founders. The organization is destined at no dis-
tant day to sweep the traffic from the city altogether.
In religious belief, he was early indoctrinated into
the principles of the Protestant Episcopal church,
receiving his first religious bias from the Rev. Man-
ton Eastburn, afterward Bishop of Massachusetts,
while rector of the Church of the Ascension, which,
in its incipiency, worshiped in a little ivy-covered
structure known as the Church of Dii Santa Esprit,
on Pine street, near Nassau, New York, which has
long since yielded to the demands of business, and
of which the guardian of our subject, James Smith,
was one of the wardens. He has been for many
years a leading member of the congregation of
Trinity church, Janesville.
In politics he has always been democratic. His
first vote was cast for Martin Van Buren, and he was
an earnest politician long before he was a voter. In
1835 he was a member of the fifth ward (New York)
committee, with Fernando Wood. In 1848 he was
nominated for congress on the same ticket with Cass
and Butler, his district including the west half of
Wisconsin, from the State line to Lake Superior.
During that campaign he made a speech in every
village in his district, advocating free trade, in which
he has ever been a firm believer; and, although
defeated by the Hon. Orsemus Cole, the present
chief justice of the State, for whom he has fre-
quently voted since, yet he ran over five hundred i
votes ahead of his ticket. Only once in his life did
he swerve in fidelity to his party, and that was in
1864, when he voted for Mr. Lincoln's reelection.
On the 4th of April, 1838, he was married in St.
Paul's Church, New York, by the Rev. Manton
Eastburn, to Miss Ann Margaret Cooper Kelly, a
native of Philadelphia, and daughter of Philip
Kelly, Esq., who, in company with his brother
Thomas, opened, if not the first, one of the first
wholesale shoe houses in that city. It dates back
to the close of the revolutionary war. In 1815 the
firm was dissolved, when Philip Kelly invested a
part of his capital in building a hotel, in its day the
largest in the city, and so much beyond what it was
supposed the business of Philadelphia would sup-
port that it was for many years known as " Kelly's
Folly."' He also built a large woolen mill at Ger-
mantown, and carried on the manufacture of woolen
goods until his decease in the year 1826.
Philip and Thomas Kelly bore a singular relation
to each other. Thomas, the younger, was the father-
in-law of Philip, the elder. Thomas Kelly married
the widow Cooper, who had several daughters, and
Philip, the elder brother, married the eldest of her
daughters; so that Thomas Kelly bore the double
relationship of uncle and grandfather to Mrs. Smith.
Thomas died a few years since at the age of nearly
a hundred years, leaving an estate valued at over a
million dollars. He was a contemporary of Mr.
Girard, and he and the latter were designated as
the two rich men of the city in their day.
About four years after marriage they removed to
Wisconsin; and though Mrs. Smith had been raised
amidst the luxuries of wealth and refinement, she
submitted without a murmur to all the privations of
frontier life, rebelling against one feature only of
western civilization. On learning from the woman
who kept the house where they first stopped that
there were no churches in Janesville, she gave
utterance to a slight expression of disappointment.
The good hostess, in order to heal the wound she
had made, added : " Oh, you will soon forget all
about churches here. Why, the only way we have
to distinguish Sunday from any other day of the
week is by the crack of the rifle" — which was
literally true, this being the day on which the
marksmen of the neighborhood assembled to shoot
for money.
An incident, related by our subject as occurring
in Janesville in 1843, will serve to illustrate the
moral state of society at that day. At this date a
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
451
poor barber, who had been aiUng for some time,
died in Janesville, and left his neighbors (he had no
relatives) to dispose of his clay as they saw fit. This
was the first death in the town. There was neither
a cemetery nor an undertaker in the village. A
rough coffin was constructed by a wagonmaker and
the body was prepared for burial, and a messenger
dispatched to a village about twelve miles distant
for a clergyman to give solemnity to the occasion;
but the messenger reported that he had failed to
procure any such functionary. The people were
thus in a dilemma, and the town was canvassed to
find a person who could fill the office of parson, but
without avail. At this juncture a team entered the
town, driven by a man seated on top of a pile of
bags, whose clothes were white with flour; he had
been away in Illinois to mill, and was returning
home with his grist. As he reached the door from
which the funeral was about to start he was accosted
by the owner of the house with the inquiry, " I say,
stranger, can you pray?" The man sat for a mo-
ment in blank astonishment, when A. Hyatt Smith
stepped up and explained the difficulty, when he
made answer: "Well, stranger, you put a difficult
question to me. When I lived in Rochester, New
York State, I could pray, and was a member of a
church, and often led in prayer meetings, but since
I have been out here in Wisconsin I have lost the
habit, and I don't know what kind of a fist I would
make of it just now, but if you can do no better I
will try," He tied his horses, put himself in ad-
vance of the procession, which wound its way up the
hill to a half-acre lot devoted by the county to the
burial of the dead, where the poor barber was con-
signed to the grave.
The fruit of his union with Miss Kelly was eight
children — four sons and four daughters — five of
whom died in infancy, and three survive : James
Maurice, May C. and Ann Kate. The last named
is the wife of Charles A. Patterson, of Janesville.
ANDREW J. WEBSTER,
MEN AS HA.
THE subject of this sketch was born at Cabot,
Washington county, Vermont, January 24, 1829,
a i^"^ weeks before the first inauguration of Presi-
dent Jackson. His father. Alpha Webster, being a
great admirer of "Old Hickory," named his son
after the incoming President. The grandfather of
Andrew was a revolutionary patriot and soldier, and
his widow lived and drew a pension until her hun-
dredth year. When she settled in Washington
county she not only went thither on foot, but on
snow-shoes, drawing a child on a hand-sled. The
log cabin which her husband put up was one of the
earliest built in the town of Cabot. Andrew passed
his boyhood and youth on his father's farm, and at
the age of twenty-one began life for himself. Going
to St. Johnsbury he worked one year for E. and T.
Fairbanks, but abandoning his purpose of becoming
a scale manufacturer, he made up his mind to be-
come a machinist. He worked at that trade about
five years in Manchester and Nashua, New Hamp-
shire, and Burlington, Vermont. In 1855 he removed
to Wisconsin, and worked another year at his trade
in Racine, and the ne.xt March began a small though
safe business in the little village of Menasha. He
started a spoke factory in a shop about twenty-four
5'
by thirty-six feet, he being at first not only sole pro-
prietor, but the only workman. In a short time,
however, he began to extend his business by. manu-
facturing wagon and carriage material in general,
and thus required greater facilities and more help.
Beginning with a capital of less than five hundred
dollars, and more than half of that borrowed money,
he could not expect to rush business the first few
years. Business, however, gradually multiplied on
his hands ; his industry and energies began to be
more and more liberally rewarded; and in 1861, in
order to increase the capital and again enlarge his
premises, and be able to meet the increasing demand
for his wares, he took a partner, Mr. P. V. Lawson,
an excellent mechanic, who, like Mr. Webster, had
accumulated some means by the closest application
to his trade.
Their business has gradually extended and exhib-
ited a growth which reflects the highest credit upon
the energy, enterprise and business ability of its
proprietors. Their shops and yards in Menasha
cover about ten acres of ground, and their business
employs usually from one hundred and sixty to one
hundred and eighty men, and yields an annual prod-
uct of about two hundred thousand dollars, includ-
452
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
ing a half interest in a spoke factory at Depere,
which employs about twenty-five additional work-
men. In their Menasha shops is the most improved
machinery to be found in the world. Two com-
peting railroads run a side-track under the eaves of
their shops; they have a United States canal within
sixty feet of their buildings, and a thousand feet of
dock, with every facility for shipping at all seasons.
In politics Mr. Webster is a republican, but has
no ambition for official honors, preferring the quiet
of his legitimate business. In his religious senti-
ment he is a Universalist; is a man of warm and
benevolent feelings, and a kind neighbor.
On the 6th of November, 1855, he was married to
Miss Helen F. Vance, of Cabot, an acquaintance of
his youth. They have an adopted son, Edward M.
Webster, a bright lad of twelve years.
Mr. Webster is closely approaching his fiftieth
year, yet would be taken for a man under forty-five.
Though a very hard worker he is a man who has
done a great deal of hard work, both mental and
physical, but has always taken good care of himself
and maintained excellent habits. His aim has been
to make the most of his powers and build up a noble
manhood, an ambition which has been crowned with
abundant success.
A. R. R. BUTLER,
MIL WA UKEE.
MR. A. R. R. BUTLER, of Milwaukee, was
born in Vermont, September 4, 182 1, and
was the first son of Dr. A. R. R. Butler, a practicing
physician and surgeon of high standing, and a gen-
tleman of education and literary tastes and accom-
plishments.
In 1822 Dr. Butler removed with his family to
Alexander, Genesee county. New York, where his
son, the subject of this sketch, received an academ-
ical education preparatory to the study of law.
After completing his law studies Mr. Butler re-
moved to Milwaukee, and commenced the practice
of his profession in the autumn of 1846. At the
commencement of his practice he was obliged to
compete with men of great ability, learning and ex-
perience.
He rose rapidly to a high position, and soon won
his way to the front rank of his profession, and for a
quarter of a century has devoted himself exclusively
to the practice of law, in which his success has been
uniform and great. He has been repeatedly urged
to accept judicial and other offices, but has always
declined.
During his absence in Europe in the summer of
1874 his name was presented, without his knowl-
edge, by the bar of Milwaukee and other counties,
with flattering unanimity, for appointment to the
office of chief justice of the supreme court, on the
resignation of Judge Dixon, but as the court could
not transact business without a chief justice, and it
was not known that Mr. Butler would accept the
place, his appointment was not pressed, and the
Hon. E. G. Ryan, the present able and learned chief
justice, was appointed.
Mr. Butler is a man of ability, of learning and of
eloquence; his mind is discriminating, logical and
comprehensive; he perceives clearly, he reasons log-
ically, he illustrates with the pencil of the painter.
His ability is conspicuous at the bar in his discus-
sion of legal principles and of their adaptation to
the diversified business of life, and in the forum in
his elucidation of the principles of civil liberty and
of the philosophy of government. His learning is
manifested in his familiarity with the opinions and
adjudications of those jurists whose names and fame
adorn the pages of history, in his philosophical spec-
ulations and in his literary tastes. His eloquence
does not come from the lurid light of the midnight
lamp, nor from his brilliant imagination, nor from
artificial arrangement for dramatic effect, but from
the heart. It is heartfelt and heart-respondent;
it is the omnipotence of truth in defiance of false-
hood ; it is the voice of God incarnate in man ; and
whether heard in withering denunciations of cor-
ruption and vice, or in thrilling appeals to patriot-
ism and honor, or in the melting tones of tenderness
and pity, it is nature that stirs to action — it is the
spirit of God within.
Talent and genius, the constructive and creative
powers of the intellect, are happily blended in Mr. But-
ler's mental character. Without the eccentricities of
genius or the idiosyncrasies of temperament, his mind
is stored with the axioms of science, the maxims of law,
the learning of philosophy and the gems of literature.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
455
This portrait would be incomplete if it failed to
recognize another trait in the character of Mr. But-
ler, which gives to it its highest charm. It is that
of modesty, manifesting itself in his unconsciousness
of the possession of superior powers, and in his rec-
ognition of them in others.
His dignified deportment commands the respect
of his fellow-men, his courteous civilities enlist their
sympathies. He is, in the fullest sense of the term,
a well-bred gentleman — the highest type of charac-
ter known to modern civilization. Thus endowed
he avoids the common paths of notoriety and seeks
no plaudits from the multitude, yet his merits are so
manifest that he commands equally the respect and
the esteem of all classes.
He has an only son, who recently completed his
education in a German university, now studying
law in the city of Milwaukee, upon whose shoulders
will fall the mantle of his father's fame. May he
wear it worthily.
T. FLOYD WOODWORTH,
JANESVILLE.
THOMAS FLOYD WOODWORTH, born at
Napanock, Ulster county. New York, Octo-
ber 20, 1832, is the son of Theodore and Sarah
(Wadsworth) Woodworth, both natives of New York.
His grandfather, Luther Woodworth, was the son
of a revolutionary soldier of some local distinction.
His father was born in Jefferson county, New York,
June 21, 1801, and at the age of twenty was ap-
prenticed to a cabinet-maker at Cleveland, Ohio.
After acquiring his trade he returned to New York
and settled at Watertown ; and on the i6th of April,
1828, married Miss Sarah Wadsworth, a scion of the
family to which belongs Major-General Wadsworth,
United States Army. Three years later he moved to
Napanock (where our subject was born). He sub-
sequently resided several years at EUensville in the
same State, and in the year 1839 removed to Cleve-
land, Ohio, and in 1850 settled in Bristol. Kenosha
county, Wisconsin, where he resided the remainder
of his life.
The Woodworth family is descended of Plymouth
Rock stock, who came from England more than two
hundred years ago. Luther Woodworth, who was a
twin brother of Darius Woodworth, was born in New
York State in 1774, and early in life married a Miss
Murray, a New England lady, by whom he had a
family of thirteen children, eight boys and five girls,
all of whom lived to maturity, and most of them
raised families of their own. The father of Luther
was a revolutionary soldier, and the latter, though
only a lad, had a distinct recollection of assisting
his elder brother to mold bullets for his father, who
was one of the minute-men of the revolution. Luther,
after his marriage, settled in Watertown, New York.'
He served in the State militia during our second war
with England, and was greatly mortified at the pol-
troonery of our men in connection with the capture
and burning of Buffalo, and always said that if the
Americans had stood fast they could easily have re-
pulsed the English. After the sacking of Buffalo
and the rout of the Americans, he was taken on
board the gunboat Caledonia, with his family, and
afterward had the satisfaction of witnessing Perry's
victory on Lake Erie, which, in a measure, wiped
out the. disgrace of Buffalo. After a stormy and
dangerous passage he and his young family were
landed in a wild wilderness, thirty miles northeast of
Cleveland, with nothing to eat except what game he
could shoot in the woods. After constructing a hut
for his family, he rejoined his regiment and served
till the close of the war, after which he settled in
Cleveland, and being a stone-mason by trade, built
the old light-house on the hill north of the city,
which is, or until within a year or two was, standing,
and serving as a beacon to guide mariners into the
harbor. He subsequently settled on a farm some
five and a half miles east of the city, which until
four years ago remained in possession of the family ;
at that date it was sold for city lots at five hundred
dollars per acre. On this farm the celebrated
Colonel George Davenport, who had been a fellow-
soldier and intimate acciuaintance of Luther Law-
rence during the siege of Fort Erie, Black Rock, etc.,
was frequently a guest, and was for many years on
the most intimate terms with the family.
Until fifteen years of age our subject attended the
common schools during a portion of each winter,
and employed his summers in farm work. He sub-
sequently pursued a course of study at Shaw's Acad-
emy at Euclid, Ohio, and in the month of June, 1849
456
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
being then in his seventeenth year, he moved to Wis-
consin, where he attended school at Bristol, then in
Racine, now Kenosha county ; and subsequently, in
i860, attended commercial college in Racine City.
He afterward made a trip to California, and there
first conceived the idea of studying medicine, and
perused the elementary works on this science for
some time in the office of a physician, but failing
health impelled him to return to Wisconsin, where
he continued his professional studies at intervals,
clerking and doing such business as came to h^nd
for his support. The winter of 1864-5 was spent in
St. Louis, and his health being now fully restored
he removed to Cleveland, Ohio, where he entered
the office of Dr. Wm. B. Rezner, and after two years'
study was appointed house physician and surgeon
in the United States Marine Hospital, of that city.
While holding this position he attended two courses
of lectures at the Charity Hospital Medical College,
and graduated with honor on the 25 th of February,
1869. This institution was afterward amalgamated
with the University of Wooster, Ohio, and is now
known as the medical department of the University
of Wooster, located at Cleveland, which institution,
in 187 1, conferred upon him the ad eundem degree.
In the summer of 1869 he returned to Wisconsin
and joined the State Medical Association, located at
Oshkosh, where he practiced his profession until the
occurrence of the disastrous fire in that city in 1875,
when he moved to Janesville, ^^'isconsin, where he
has since resided.
Dr. Woodworth is a skillful and experienced phy-
sician, diseases of the lungs and heart being his
specialty. As a surgeon he is expert and success-
ful. In all his operations he is cool, cautious and
deliberate, always making sure of his ground before
advancing, and while he has the most tender heart
and sympathetic feelings, he is possessed of great
nerve and force of will. His social traits are court-
esy, candor and great benevolence.
He is an exemplary member of the Protestant
Episcopal church, having been received into that
communion by the late Rev. Dr. Washburn, of Cleve-
land, who lost his life in the Ashtabula, Ohio, disas-
ter, on the last night of the year 1876. He is a
member of the vestry of Trinity Church, Janesville.
In politics he is a republican. He is a member
of the Masonic fraternity (a Knight Templar) and
an Odd-Fellow (a past grand) ; also a member of
Memorial Lodge, Knights of Honor, No. 318.
On the 27th September, 1870, he was married to
Miss Delia J. Schermerhorn, daughter of Walter
Schermerhorn, of Albany, New York, of Holland
origin, her grandfather being Philip Schermerhorn,
who for many years resided on the patrimonial estate
at Muitzeskill (the cap in the creek), at which point
there stood, until a couple of years since, a very
ancient church of the Dutch Reformed denomina-
tion, in which Schuyler Colfax was baptized. He
was an extensive land-owner and slave-owner. The
original ancestor of the family, which has since be-
come numerous and distinguished, settled on the
Hudson about two hundred years ago. Her father
still resides on the old homestead, while a broth-
er, John Schermerhorn, is a large manufacturer at
Bloomington, Illinois. Mrs. Woodworth, who was
born December 19, 1837, is a lady of prepossessing
appearance, intellectual and highly accomplished, of
most amiable and benevolent disposition, and an
exemplary member of the Episcopal church
WILLIAM A. PRENTISS,
MILWAUKEE.
AS shown by early records, Valentine Prentiss, ]
. the first person of that name in this country,
immigrated from England with a wife and two sons,
in 1 63 1, and settled at Newtown, near Boston, Massa-
chusetts. From this original stock sprang the three
branches that in after years settled at Stonington
and at Norwich, Connecticut, and in the State of 1
Maine. Sargeant L. Prentiss, the celebrated orator j
of Mississippi, was from the Maine branch, and j
George D. Prentiss, editor of the Louisville " Jour- I
nal," was descended from the Norwich branch, while
from the Stonington branch came Judge Samuel
Prentiss, a member of the United States senate from
Vermont for twelve years.
Captain Thomas Prentiss, of Cambridge, Massa-
chusetts, in 1650, commanded a troop of horse, and
served with great distinction with King Philip,
throughout the Indian wars.
The subject of this sketch, a native of Northfield,
Franklin county, Massachusetts, was born on the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
457
24th of March, 1800, the son of Dr. Samuel Prentiss
and Lucretia nee Hohnes. They formerly lived in
Thorington, Connecticut; later, resided three years
at Worcester, Massachusetts, and in the early part
of 1786, settled in Northfield. His grandfather was
colonel of a regiment of Connecticut volunteers,
and his father served as surgeon in that regiment
throughout the revolutionary war.
At the age of fourteen, having received a common-
school education, his father proposed that he pre-
pare for Hanover College. Upon inquiry, however,
he found that the expense of pursuing a college
course would be greater than his father could meet
in justice to other members of the family, and he
accordingly abandoned the project. His brother,
John H. Prentiss, of Cooperstown, New York, hear-
ing of his decision, proposed that he enter a large
mercantile house of that village. The proposition
was accepted, and in December, 1815, he made the
journey by stage from Brattleboro', over the Green
Mountains, to Bennington, thence to Albany and
Cooperstown, and entered upon his duties as clerk.
In the following year the proprietors of that estab-
lishment removed to Albany, and after one year, an
only sister having died, his father called him home.
He soon afterward entered the mercantile establish-
ment of Pomeroy, Prior and Brown, of Northfield,
and there remained five years. At the age of twen-
ty-two, four years after the death of his father, he ■
determined to remove to Greensboro' on the high-
lands of North Carolina. Preparatory to this he, in
September, 1822, visited his brother Samuel Prentiss,
of Montpelier, Vermont, who dissuaded him from
settling in a southern climate. He now decided to
settle in Vermont, and forming a partnership, estab-
lished himself in mercantile business at Montpelier.
In the spring of 1824 the firm removed to Chitten-
den county, and there continued in trade for seven
years. Mr. Prentiss, however, desired a wider field
of action, and accordingly in June, 1836, removed
to the West and settled at Milwaukee. There were
then less than fifty families of permanent settlers in
the town and in the country within a radius of fifty
miles, while the numerous Indians between Lake
Michigan and the Mississippi river made frequent
visits to Milwaukee, it having been for eighteen
years previous their trading-post, under the super-
vision of Solomon Juneau, agent of the American
Fur Company.
In July, 1836, in partnership with Dr. L. W. Weeks,
he o]iened a mercantile business in a rough board
building twenty by forty feet, situated on Block 2,
East Water street, dealing in general merchandise,
and continuing about two years. His career has
been one of constant activity, and he has been called
to many positions of honor and responsibility. While
a resident of Vermont he was elected chairman of
the board of selectmen and overseer of the poor for
eight successive years; was justice of the peace for
several years and a member of the Vermont legisla-
ture in 1829. In February, 1837, about eight
months after the Territory of Wisconsin was or-
ganized. Governor Dodge sent Mr. Prentiss, without
solicitation on his part, a commission as justice of
the peace, with civil and criminal jurisdiction over a
district of country, then Milwaukee county, which
now comprises Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee,
Washington, Jefferson, and a part of Dodge, coun-
ties, and acted in that capacity until the organization
of the State in 1848. In March, 1837, he was
elected chairman of a board of county commission-
ers, whose terms of ofifice were one, two and three
years, the chairman's being for three years. One of
his colleagues resided at Summit, now in Waukesha
county, and the other at Johnson's Rapids, now Wa-
tertown, in Jefferson county. He was also elected
a member of the first board of trustees, organized
under a village charter for the district east of the"
Milwaukee river, and was chairman of the board for
several years. In August, 1838, he was elected to
the upper branch of the Territorial legislature for a
term of four years, the first session being held at
Madison in the winter of 1838-9. Soon after settling
in Milwaukee he was elected a member of the com-
mon council, and has been a representative in that
body, in all, about fifteen years. In 1858 he was
elected mayor of the city by a majority of nearly
twelve hundred. In 1866 he was elected a member
of the general assembly, and reelected the following
year. Although Mr. Prentiss has held many public
positions he has never sought ofifice, and has taken
them only upon the solicitations of friends ; but once,
having accepted a nomination, he used all honorable
and reasonable means of securing an election.
In politics, he was formerly a whig, but upon the
organization of the republican party in 1856 he be-
came identified with that body and still continues a
member of the same, believing that its principles are
best calculated to preserve and perpetuate our gov-
ernment.
In religion, he has always entertained a liberal
faith, believing that a pure, unspotted life, as de-
458
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
scribed in the Epistle of St. James, embodies the
essence of true religion. Such a faith he deems as
in keeping with reason, the guiding star of man, and
a proper interpretation of the Bible.
In September, 1833, Mr. Prentiss was married to
Miss Eliza Sands, of Saco, Maine, who died Febru-
ary 6, 1837. They had three sons and three daugh-
ters, all of whom reached adult age. The eldest son,
who lived in New York city, and the third daughter,
who lived at Milwaukee, died within a few days of
each other in 1872, and their remains now rest by
the side of those of their mother in Forest Home
cemetery.
Mr. Prentiss has had in his possession since the
death of his father, in 1818, an order from General
George Washington to his grandfather, Colonel Sam-
uel Prentiss, of Thorington, Connecticut. It is writ-
ten in a bold, dashing and legible hand, and reads
as follows :
To the officer commanding the party at Burdett's Ferry.
Sir, — You will receive and obey all orders given vou by
Brigadier-General Mifflin. " G.Washington.
qTH August, 1776.
Another relic of revolutionary days is a pocket-
case of instruments (morocco cover), consisting of
sixteen pieces, with tortoise-shell handle, tipped with
solid silver, which his father carried through the war
for surgical purposes, and which the son now has in
his possession.
Mr. Prentiss has retired from public life, and is
now resting in his old age with an ample compe-
tence, quietly awaiting the time when he shall pass
over the boundaries into the world of the unseen.
HENRY HEWITT, Senior,
MENASHA.
THE subject of this notice, a native of England,
was born in Yorkshire, July 12, 1814, his par-
ents being Henry and Millicent (Lancaster) Hewitt.
By occupation his father was a farmer; in religious
sentiment he was a Quaker. Henry was brought
up on a farm, to the strictest principles of industry
and virtue, with not more than three months' school
instruction during his life. By dint of close applica-
tion during spare moments he picked up some edu-
cation, and, having read more or less about the New
World, the rising West, early in the year 1842 em-
barked for the United States, arriving at New York
in March. Pushing westward, he, three months
later, reached Racine, Wisconsin. There he took a
contract for excavating the bluffs, and spent three
years in filling that and other contracts. In 1845 he
prospected a short time, and then aided in building
theWatertown and Milwaukee plank road.
In 1848 we find Mr. Hewitt engaged on a con-
tract on the Fox and Wisconsin river improvements,
with headquarters part of the time at Appleton,
part at Kaukauna, and at other times at Menasha
and Neenah, the last two places being only one
mile apart. He operated on these improvements
most of the time for nearly twenty years, gradually
investing in various manufacturing and other en-
terprises. He is at present (1877) part owner of a
flouring mill, a woolen mill, a pail factory and some
other manufactories, and has been president of the
National Bank of Neenah from the time of its estab-
lishment in 1866.
In politics Mr. Hewitt is an ardent republican,
but has always given preference to his business rather
than politics, and has held no offices except in the
municipality of Menasha, which has been his home
. since 1855. His residence is on the island between
the two towns, while his manufacturing interests are
in Menasha.
Mr. Hewitt has been twice married: first, to Mary
Proctor (of Yorkshire, England), upon attaining his
majority, and by whom he had eight children, four
of whom are now living; Mrs. Hewitt died in 1854.
His second wife was Mrs. Mary C. Mathewson,
widow of Bernard Mathewson, of Connecticut, of
which State she also is a native. He has had no
children by his second wife. His eldest child, Mary,
is the wife of Alexander Syme, a manufacturer in
Menasha; Henry, the eldest son, has a family, and
is cashier of the First National Bank of Menasha;
William is married, and is a manufacturer, and lives
in Neenah ; Frances Jenette, the youngest, is single,
and lives at home. One of the deceased daughters,
Nancy, was the wife of E. L. Mathewson, of Men-
asha, and died January 28, 1876. Henry Hewitt,
junior, though only thirty-six years old, is one of the
best business men in Winnebago county. He has
been a lumber dealer since seventeen years of age,
and owns eighty-four thousand acres of pine and
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
459
Other lands, all timber but about twelve thousand
acres. A small part of it is in Michigan. He has an
interest in a paper mill, a pail factory and barrel
factory in Menasha, and five other barrel factories
in other towns.
Henry Hewitt, senior, has been one of the most
hard-working men in the Fox River valley, and his
success is largely due to his untiring application to
business, and the strictest habits of economy. The
lessons received from his parents in youth have been
of incalculable benefit to him. He has been a town
builder as well as government contractor, and the
impress of his hand is on works which, after he has
gone, will long survive as monuments to his memory.
JOSEPH E. HARRIMAN,
APPLETON.
THE present mayor of Appleton, Wisconsin, and
judge of Outagamie county, is probably as well
known in the county as any resident. That he is
very popular may be inferred from the fact that,
while a republican, and living in a county which
usually gives from fifteen hundred to two thousand
democratic majority, the people elected him judge
by a handsome majority. In stature he is small,
weighing not to exceed one hundred and ten
pounds. He possesses an active mind, and is a
man of great energy, strict integrity and thorough
business tact, and in every way a man such as the
people delight to honor.
Joseph E. Harriman, son of Joseph and Lydia
(Stearns) Harriman, was born in Louisville, St. Law-
rence county. New York, August i6, 1834, and lived
on a farm until he was seventeen years of age.
When about twelve he had a disease of the hip,
which shortened his right limb six inches, disabling
him for some time. He came to Wisconsin in 185 1,
and attended the Milton Academy about two years,
and then spent a year in the preparatory depart-
ment of Lawrence University, at Appleton. He
studied law in 1858 and 1859 with Messrs. Jewett
and Hudd, of Appleton, and later was a joint pro-
prietor of a hotel at Green Bay for two years, and in
1864 resumed his law studies with Judge Cotton, of
that place. He engaged in mercantile business at
Appleton, and continued it for seven years, and in
1 87 3 was elected county judge, the duties of which
office he is at present (1877) discharging with great
acceptance to his constituents.
Judge Harriman was elected mayor of Appleton
in April, 1876, and still holds that office, and acts as
president ex-officio of the school board. He was city
treasurer in i860, justice of the peace for several
years, and has held other official positions of minor
importance.
He has passed all the chairs in the subordinate
lodge of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows,
and is a member of the grand lodge in Wisconsin.
In October, i860. Judge Harriman was married
to Miss Celia A. Pratt, of Milton, Wisconsin. Of their
seven children, four only are now living.
HON. GEORGE W. GATE,
STE\-ENS POINT.
JUDCtE gate sprang from good patriotic stock ;
his grandfather serving seven years in the strug-
gle for American independence, and his father, Isaac
Gate, being a non-commissioned officer in the second
war with the mother country. The Gate family be-
longed to the yeomanry of Vermont, and the subject
of this sketch was born at Montpelier, September
17, 1825. The maiden name of his mother was
Glarissa McKnight. He aided his father on the
farm, and attended a common school until his seven-
teenth year, when he commenced studying law with
Luther B. Peck, of Montpelier, teaching school,
meanwhile, during the winters. He was admitted to
the bar at twenty-one years of age, and in the
autumn of 1848 removed to Wisconsin and began
the practice of \z.\v at Plover, Portage county, re-
maining there about two years; he then removed to
Stevens Point, his present home. He was elected
district attorney about 1850, and served two years;
was a member of the general assembly in 1851 and
460
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
1852, and one of the managers of the impeachment
trial of Judge Hubbell. On the 4th of January,
1854, he went upon the bench of the seventh judicial
circuit, and occupied it constantly until the 4th of
March, 1875, when he resigned to take a seat in
congress, representing the eighth district, and serv-
ing one term. While in the house of representatives
he occupied a prominent position among the new
members, and was strongly opposed to the appoint-
ment of an electoral commission, for the reason that
he considered that the power to count the votes was
delegated to the two houses, and that the appoint-
ment of such a commission was unwise and impolitic.
Judge Cate was a democrat until the opening of
the rebellion, and believed in a united North until
the Union was restored. He voted for Mr. Lincoln
in 1864, and for General Grant in 1868, but has
since acted with the opposition to the administration.
He is a believer in the Christian religion, and a
member of the Episcopal church.
On the 24th of October, 1850, he was married to
Miss Levara S. Brown, of Stevens Point. They have
had seven children, si.x of whom are still living.
Judge Cate has been one of the foremost men in
Portage county, in encouraging enterprises tending
to develop its resources. He canvassed the county
in favor of the Wisconsin Central railroad, before it
came to Stevens Point, and has spent much time and
some money in pushing forward other local projects.
As a lawyer. Judge Cate has stood for many years
in the front rank in his judicial district, and during
his twenty-one years on the bench has showed emi-
nent fitness for that position, being thoroughly posted
on legal questions, courteous to the bar, candid and
fair in his rulings, and rarely having his decisions
overruled by a higher court.
HON. WALTER D. McINDOE,
WA USA U.
WALTER DUNCAN McINDOE, a native of
Scotland, is the son of Hugh and Catharine
(McCrae) Mclndoe. He was born in Dunbarton-
shire, March 28, 181 9, and after arriving at a suit-
able age, attended school steadily until seventeen
years old, when he immigrated to the United States.
Landing in New York city, thoroughly fitted for a
book-keeper, he there spent about four years in that
business. He pursued the same calling in Virginia
and South Carolina a short time, and in St. Louis,
Missouri, about three years. Near that city, at
Florisant, in St. Louis county, he courted and mar-
ried Miss Catharine H. Taylor, the marriage cere-
mony being performed by the Rev. Father Butler,
S. J., on the 20th of February, 1845.
In the autumn of the same year Mr. Mclndoe
removed northward into the pineries of Wisconsin,
leaving his young wife to follow him a year or two
later. He settled at Wausau, Marathon county,
then little more than a howling wilderness, and there
engaged in lumbering, and followed it steadily until
his demise, which occurred August 22, 1872. He
was one of the most competent and successful busi-
ness men that ever settled in his part of the State.
His tact and talents were fully appreciated by his
fellow-citizens, who frequently honored him with
positions of trust and responsibility. He was a
member of the legislature during the sessions of
1850, 1854 and 1855, and was among the practical,
wise and diligent workers in that body, though being
a whig, a party in those days in the minority in the
assembly, he could not occupy a high position on
committees. In 1857 Mr. Mclndoe was a promi-
nent candidate before the republican State conven-
tion for governor, but the nomination finally fell to
the lot of Alexander W. Randall, who was elected.
In 1862 Hon. Luther Hanchett, member of congress
from the second district, died, and in December of
that year Mr. Mclndoe was elected to fill the va-
cancy in the Thirty-seventh Congress. It was soon
seen that the selection was a good one. He grew
rapidly in popularity with his republican constitu-
ents, and by reflections was kept in congress five
years. He rendered especially valuable service on
the committee on Indian affairs. He was chairman
of the committee on revolutionary pensions, and
besides acted on other committees. He rarely oc-
cupied the floor, his great strength being in the
committee-rooms. He was an indefatigable worker
and very influential, often carrying his point by sheer
perseverance. Mr. Mclndoe was a presidential
elector in 1856, i860 and 1872, casting his vote on
those several occasions for John C. Fremont, Abra-
ham Lincoln and U. S. Grant respectively.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
.|6l
On leaving congress, in 1867, he applied himself
very closely to his business, which had suftered some-
what during his absence in public service. He had
the finest saw-mills on the Wisconsin river; owned
large tracts of land in Marathon, now part of it in
Lincoln county ; and was, for many years, the lead-
ing lumberman in Wausau. In i860 he lost his
right hand in a saw-mill. He soon, however,
learned to write with his left hand, and seemed not
the least crippled by his misfortune. When he was
not able to do a thing in one way he would do it in
another. He was a man of great intellectual as
well as physical resources, and rarely failed in ac-
complishing his ends.
Mr. Mclndoe was six feet and one inch in height,
weighed about two hundred pounds, was graceful
and symmetrical in his proportions, had a more
commanding figure than one often sees, and was a
marked, attractive man in any gathering. He was
genial, liberal and companionable ; a good converser,
and richly endowed with the elements which go to
make up the popular as well as useful man. His
death was a loss to the city, the county and the
State. He left his widow in comfortable circum-
stances; she resides at the old homestead in the cen-
tral part of Wausau. Though deprived of the society
of her early-chosen companion, she has sources of
comfort not known to the careless world.
REV. JOEL W. FISH,
FOX LAKE.
JOEL W. FISH is a native of Berkshire county,
J Massachusetts, and was born at Cheshire, Febru-
ary I, 1817. His parents were Jonathan and Har-
riet (Hull) Fish. His grandfather was a revolution-
ary soldier and pensioner. His father was a farmer,
and also a licensed Baptist preacher. His pulpit
efforts were attended with great success, and he was
often urged to be ordained, but declined to do so,
continuing to work a farm nearly up to the time of
his death, which occurred March 24, 1853. He
moved to Jefferson county, New York, while our
subject was yet a child, and settled in the town of
Ellisburg. There Joel joined the Baptist church at
the age of fourteen years. He worked very hard on
the farm until the age of eighteen, when he went to
an academy at Belleville, Jefferson county, and af-
terward finished his preparatory studies at Hamil-
ton, teaching meanwhile during the winters. In
1839 he entered Madison University, and graduated
in course. In 1843 he entered the theological sem-
inary at the same place, and received his diploma in
August, 1845. He was ordained in the church
which he had joined in boyhood, and came directly
to Wisconsin, where, in the autumn of 1845, he be-
came pastor of the Baptist Church at Geneva. He
preached there nearly seven years, acting also, most
of the time, as town superintendent of schools. He
was pastor at Racine two years, at Fox Lake eleven
years, and general superintendent of missions for
the Home Mission Society, in all, more than twelve
years. Resigning this office in October, 1S76, he is
52
now (1877) serving the Baptist church at Waupaca,
and also doing voluntary mission work in other
parts of Waupaca county. He resided at Fox Lake
for twenty-one years, and still owns his home there,
expecting some day to retire from his labors and re-
turn thither.
Mr. Fish has been a trustee of the Wayland Insti-
tute at Beaver Dam from its origin, and is one of
the foremost men in the State in all denominational
enterprises. He is also a member of the board of
the Baptist Theological Seminary in Chicago, a'nd
is an ardent friend of education in its widest range.
He is himself a good classical scholar, including the
Hebrew language, and withal a fine critic. Al-
though sixty years of age, he is very active both in
mind and body, and few young clergyman in Wis-
consin exhibit more energy or agility. He is thor-
oughly devoted to his Master's service, and it is
worthy of note that, since he entered the ministry,
he has spent every birthday in the midst of revival
work. He is a clear and cogent reasoner, a strong
and very earnest preacher, and, it is safe to say, has
been the means of leading thousands of people into
the new life.
The sympathies of Mr. Fish have always been
with the oppressed. In middle life he was an anti-
slavery whig, then an out-and-out free-soiler, and
still later has acted with the republican party.
During the rebellion he gave strong moral support
to the government, made speeches and aided di-
rectly in recruiting soldiers. He also spent a short
462
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
time in the service of the Christian Commission in
Virginia and Washington, District of Columbia.
Mrs. Fish was Miss Rachel W. Stone, of Pulaski,
New York. They were married September i, 1846,
and have had five children, but one of whom, a son,
is now living; he is at present reading law with Hon.
E. L. Browne, of Waupaca. Mrs. Fish is a woman
of fine culture, of noble Christian character, and in
hearty sympathy with her husband in his religious
sentiments and in his arduous labors.
Mr. Fish has done a great deal of work outside
the duties of the pastorate and his agency. Nearly
half the time that he has been in Wisconsin he has
acted as corresponding secretary of the Baptist State
Convention, doing a great amount of letter writing,
besides furnishing the annual report, which he has
sometimes done in the main, even when not in office.
In short he has been in "labors abundant," always
cheerfully and well performed. The character of
such men is the glory of a commonwealth.
EDWARD P. ALLIS,
MIL WA UKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Cazeno-
via, Madison county, New York, was born in
1824, a son of Jere and Mary Allis. His father
was a hatter by occupation. His mother, a woman
of fine education, belonged to one of the best fam-
ilies of Massachusetts. Edward graduated from
Union College, Schenectady, in 1845, and during
the following year removed to Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin, where, with a Mr. Allen, under the firm name of
Allis and Allen, he established himself in the leather
trade. This firm continued a few years, during
which time it established a large tannery at Two
Rivers, Wisconsin. In 1856 he sold his interest to
his partners, and during the next three years was
out of business. In i860 he established the firm of
E. P. Allis and Co., and engaged in the iron busi-
ness, which has grown to be the most e.xtensive in
the Northwest, and a brief description of which we
include herewith.
About 1 86 1 Mr. Allis purchased on credit a small
foundry and machine shop situated on West Water,
near Wells street. The business then employed
about thirty hands, and the first year yielded a
product of about thirty thousand dollars. On the
expiration of the ground lease in 1867 the business
was removed to its present location on the corner
of Clinton and Florida streets, and necessary build-
ings were erected. These have been extended to
meet the demands of the annually increasing busi-
ness until they now cover an area of nearly six acres
of ground. Some of them are of a very costly char-
acter, the shop for casting iron pipe alone costing
over one hundred thousand dollars. The entire
business employs a capital of five hundred thousand
dollars. The enterprise has marked a steady and
healthful growth, and is a brilliant example of far-
sightedness, energy, industry and persevering deter-
mination. Originally the " Reliance Works " made
a specialty of building and furnishing flouring mills.
The business of this department is still very exten-
sive, reaching over many States and Territories. It
also furnished the model flouring mill for the Jap-
anese government. At present, however, saw-mill
machinery is now manufactured in large quantities,
and steam engines and cast-iron pipe are furnished
to the satisfaction of a wide range of customers.
The large pumping engines of the Milwaukee water-
works are from these shops. Such are the general-
ities of the business : It employs about four hundred
men and boys (apprentices), paying them every Sat-
urday night, when running full, from four thousand
to four thousand five hundred dollars. Of the ma-
terials consumed annually may be mentioned five
thousand tons of coke, three thousand tons of coal,
ten thousand to twelve thousand tons of pig iron,
six thousand to eight thousand bushels of charcoal,
two hundred and fifty tons of millstones, one hun-
dred and fifty tons of hay, besides thirty to forty
car-loads of fire-brick, clay and fine sand, and two
thousand loads of lake sand, and some thousands of
loads of foundry loam and clay. What the " Reli-
ance Works " may become remains to be seen, but
its progress under its present ownership renders it
well worthy of a place among the leading manufact-
uring interests of the Northwest.
Mr. Allis was married in 1848 to Miss Margaret
M. Watson, of Geneva, New York. Mrs. Allis, a
woman of superior natural endowments, is possessed
of fine attainments, remarkable energy, practical
views and strictly just sentiments. She is manager
0<4y
^,
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
465
of the Industrial School of Milwaukee, whose object
is the education of vagrant children, and there ex-
erts a most healthful influence. Her characteristic
influence, however, is more especially shown in her
own family of children, consisting of eight sons and
three daughters living. She has taught them obe-
dience to their parents, respect for others, and love
for each other. The eldest son is twenty-six years
of age, and was educated at Antioch College in
Ohio ; the second at the Institute of Technology in
Boston, Massachusetts. The eldest daughter is
being educated at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie,
New York. The others are being educated in Mil-
waukee.
Mr. Allis is in politics a republican; in religion a
Unitarian. He is a member of the board of trus-
tees of the Northwestern Life Insurance Company,
and director of the National Bank Exchange. With-
out having devoted his mind to the study of the
learned professions, he has been a general reader,
and is intelligently informed upon all subjects em-
braced in a liberal education. In his business rela-
tions his integrity is unimpeached, while in his social
relations he is generous, hospitable and charitable.
HON. GILBERT L. PARK.
STEVENS POINT.
THE subject of this biography was born in
Scipio, Cayuga county. New York, August 31,
1825, and is the son of Elisha and Sarah (McDowell)
Park. His grandfather, Joel Parke, was a soldier
in the revolutionary war, and aided in the capture
of General Burgoyne and his army. His father, a
farmer by occupation, was highly esteemed in his
community. Gilbert passed his boyhood on his
father's farm, and attended school about half of the
time during each year. At the age of fifteen he con-
ceived the idea of seeing some of the hyperborean
world, and running away from school enlisted in the
Hudson Bay Company's service, and went up the
Ottawa river, Canada, to Hudson Bay, and as far
northward as Fort Churchill, on the Severn river.
Returning to Georgian Bay he there left the com-
pany, at the end of one year, and took passage on a
steamer to Detroit, and went thence to Port Dover,
now in the province of Ontario, where his father's
family had recently settled.
Young Park next spent three years at an acad-
emy in Millville, Orleans county, New York. At the
end of that time he returned to Canada (then Can-
ada West) and engaged in business for himself as a
lumberman, and continued the same for two years
with excellent success ; but losing a large raft in a
storm on Lake Erie in 1848, it passing in a dis-
rupted state over the cataract of Niagara, he closed
out the business, and going to Kalamazoo, Michigan,
studied law with Hon. N. A. Balch, and was admit-
ted to the bar of Kalamazoo county in September,
1851. He removed to Wisconsin in the following
November, and after exhausting his funds in pro-
specting, went to work cutting saw-logs on the Wis-
consin river. He continued in that business until
September, 1852, when he formed a law-partnership
with James S. Alban, at Plover. This firm con-
tinued in business nearly four years, when, in June,
1855, Mr. Park removed to Stevens Point, then a
rising town five miles north, where he still continues
his practice, and is making for himself an honorable
name in his profession. Aside from his professional
work he has been honored with positions of respon-
sibility and trust. He was district attorney of Portage
county for about four consecutive years, commenc-
ing in 1854; was mayor of Stevens Point at the
opening of the civil war, and resigned and went into
the army as adjutant of the i8th Regiment Wiscon-
sin Infantry, Colonel Alban commanding. He after-
ward became captain of company G of the same
regiment, and accompanied it through all its fortunes
and misfortunes nearly three and a half years, and
returned to Stevens Point in the spring of 1865, and
resumed his legal practice, at the same time apply-
ing himself very assiduously to a review of his
studies. In a short time he became a strong man,
both as a jury and a court lawyer, excelling in the
last named. His readings are very thorough, and
he still pursues them with unabated avidity.
Judge Park received his appointment to the
bench from Governor Taylor, on the ist of March,
1875, to fill a vacancy, and in April following was
elected by the people. As a jurist he is discrimi-
nating, cool, clear-headed, candid and logical. He
presides with easy dignity, is fair and impartial, and
sound in judgment, and is growing in popularity.
466
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
In politics, he has been a democrat since the dis-
solution of the whig party; during the rebellion he
was a strong war democrat, and without his knowl-
edge was nominated while in the field, and run by
his party for the State senate two or three times.
He has also been a candidate for lieutenant-gover-
nor and member of congress, but in a strongly re-
publican district, or at a time when the State was
decidedly republican. He owes his present position
to the great confidence which all parties have in his
integrity, and in his especial fitness for the bench.
Judge Park found his wife in Kalamazoo, Michi-
gan, her maiden name being Mary D. Beach. They
were joined in wedlock February 27, 1857, and have
three children, Byron, the eldest, being a student in
the State University.
AMBROSE B. GILCHRIST,
STEVENS POINT.
AMBROSE BROWN GHXHRIST, son of
James and Polly (Sherwood) Gilchrist, is a
native of Otsego county, New York, and was born
at East Springfield, February 19, 18 15. His father
was a farmer and lumberman, and owned a sawmill.
Ambrose remained at home until of age, attending
the district school, and assisting on the farm and in
the mill. In 1837, with a view to bettering his con-
dition, he removed to La Porte, Indiana. There he
spent two years; one cultivating a farm in company
with another young man. In the spring of 1839 he
pushed westward to Galena, Illinois, ready for hon-
orable work of any kind. There he met parties
from Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, in search of lumber-
men, and engaged to work for them, and in the fol-
lowing June went to the Wisconsin valley. He
worked at first as a logger and teamster, and after-
ward in a sawmill ; and at the end of one year com-
menced operations for himself, buying lumber and
rafting it down the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers,
and jobbing in various ways.
About 1848 he moved up the Wisconsin river to
Stevens Point, at that time a village of about three
hundred inhabitants. There he has continued the
lumber business for nearly thirty years. He has
also, at times, dealt to a considerable e.xtent in
land, and in all his business operations has met with
good success.
When Mr. Gilchrist first saw the Upper Wisconsin
valley, thirty-eight years ago, it was a barren wil-
derness ; to-day it is dotted with thriving villages
and cities, and bears all the marks of enterprise,
wealth and intelligence. Grand Rapids in 1839 had
but few white families, and a score or two of single
men, comprising Americans, Englishmen, Irishmen,
Frenchmen, half-breeds, etc., two sawmills and a
few shanties in which to shelter the pioneer families
and floating raftsmen, loggers, etc. ; now it is a
place of two thousand inhabitants, with fine dwell-
ings, several large sawmills, shingle factories, flour-
ing mills, foundries and other kinds of manufacto-
ries.
In the growth and development of Stevens Point
Mr. Gilchrist has done his full share, and holds him-
self ever ready to advance all enterprises tending to
its prosperity.
Personally he is a quiet, unobtrusive man, always
attending carefully to his business. He votes the
democratic ticket when the best men are put on it,
but sedulously refuses to accept of any office. He
has a kind disposition, good habits, an irreproach-
able character, and is universally respected.
DAVID R. CLEMENTS,
STEVENS POINT.
DAVID ROBBINS CLEMENTS, son of Peter
and Lydia (McBridge) Clements, was born in
Pinkney, Lewis county. New York, December 14,
1 819. Both his parents were natives of Saratoga
county, New York. His paternal grandfather was
a native of Germany, while his maternal grandfather
was born in the north of Ireland. His mother was
an active member of the Baptist church, and took
especial care to instill wholesome moral sentiments
into the minds of her children, she having six sons
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
467
(of whom David was the fourth) and two daughters.
The father of our subject was a farmer, but David
early found farm work ill suited to his tastes, and at
fourteen years of age, after receiving a fair common-
school education, entered a store at South Rutland,
Jefferson county. He remained in that situation a
little less than two years, and at the expiration of
that time accepted a similar position at Belleville, in
the same county, having the charge of a store, after
a few months, and remaining there between three
and four years. He afterward spent about a year in
Portage county, Ohio, teaching a part of the time ;
also one season at Fawn River, Michigan, buying
grain for another party; and after a brief trip to
Middletown, Connecticut, in the interests of the
same party, he went to Chicago, in 1845, and dealt
in goods for two years in the firm of Miller and
Clements.
On the 6th of December, 1847, Mr. Clements
pitched his tent in Wausau, at that time in Portage,
now in Marathon county, Wisconsin. There he was
engaged in lumbering for three years with only mod-
erate success, money in those days being very scarce
in the upper Wisconsin Valley. In 185 1 he moved
down the river to Stevens Point, his ])resent home.
where, together with his lumber trade, he has com-
bined merchandising, and recently has engaged to
some extent in farming. He has twenty-three forties
in one farm, seven miles east of Stevens Point, and
sixteen miles of as good fence as the State can ex-
hibit, and thirty acres of hops, being the leading
hop grower in those parts. He is still extensively
engaged in lumbering, however, and in that business
has had his greatest success. As a citizen he is
very active, public-spirited and enterprising, and
withal a splendid financier.
Mr. Clements was chairman of the Portage county
board of supervisors at an early day ; he was sheriff
in 1858 and 1859, and a member of the general
assembly in 1872 and 1873. As a legislator his busi-
ness tact and practical common sense were of great
service.
On the 29th of December, 1862, he was united in
marriage with Miss Eva Harvey, of Compton, Can-
ada, then Canada East. They have lost one child,
and have two bright and promising daughters, aged
respectively thirteen and eleven. Mrs. Clements is
a woinan of much refinement of taste and manners,
and a true Christian, and is thoroughly devoted to
the interests of her little family.
GALEN ROOD, M.D.,
■V TE I -ENS POINT.
GALEN ROOD, son of Orlin Rood and Au-
gusta L. nee Drakeley, was born at Jericho,
Chittenden county, Vermont, January 14, 1830. His
great-grandfather was a revolutionary soldier, and
his grandfather, Thomas Rood, was a soldier in the
second war with the mother country. His father
was a farmer while living in Vermont, but came to
Chicago, Illinois, about 1838, and took a contract on
the Illinois and Michigan canal. About two years
later he sent for his family, and in 1842 moved to
Madison, in what was then Wisconsin Territory. At
that date, we are told, there was only one house be-
tween Madison and Janesville, and none between
Madison and Portage. Here he engaged in the
lumber business, but later removed to Missouri, and
is still (1877.) a resident of that State.
Clalen attended school at Madison until his nine-
teenth or twentieth year, reading medicine the latter
part of the time with Dr. C. B. Chapman. He after-
ward went to Cincinnati and spent nearly four years
in medical studies and in attending lectures at the
Ohio Medical College, from which he graduated in
April, 1856.
Returning at once to Wisconsin, he opened an
office at Stevens Point in June, and has never closed
it since. For twenty-one years he has had a steady,
and, much of the time, large and lucrative practice.
He is extensively known as a skillful and successful
physician and surgeon, and as a man of unimpeach-
able character. He has a good medical library, a
variety of fresh medical periodicals, and evidently
believes that every man should make his profession
his life study as well as his life business. " Reading
maketh the full man ; " so Bacon declared ; so the
doctor believes ; and with good opportunities to ap-
ply his knowledge he continues to grow. He pays
considerable attention to physiology and chemistry,
and takes some interest in the collateral sciences;
and although a man of varied culture, is wholly un-
ostentatious in his manners.
468
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
Dr. Rood voted the whig ticket in 1852, and has
since acted with the republican party, never, how-
ever, allowing himself to be a candidate for office.
He attends the Presbyterian Church, of which his
wife, to whom he was married in November, 1857, is
a member. Mrs. Rood's maiden name was Jane
Sylvester, formerly of Portage, Wisconsin, though
they were married in Stevens Point. They have
four children, the eldest, Myron, being a sophomore
in the State University, and a student of good stand-
ing. Mrs. Rood is heartily devoted to the interests
of the domestic circle, and the Doctor furthers
every cause that tends to the sanitary, social or
intellectual benefit of his adopted home.
EDWARD L. DIMOCK,
yANESVILLE.
EDWARD LOTHROP DIMOCK, one of the
oldest citizens of Janesville, Wisconsin, was
born in Genesee county. New York, October 13,
i8ig, and is the son of Horatio Dimock and Teresa
Maria ne'e Hinkley, both natives of Tolland county,
Connecticut. Horatio Dimock, who was an honest
man and devoted Christian, died in March, 1844, in
the fiftieth year of his age, in the town of Elba, New
York, to which State he had immigrated in 1816.
The mother of our subject, who is still living, re-
sides with her daughter, Mrs. Dr. J. B. Whiting, of
Janesville, and is a most lovely and exemplary
Christian woman. The grandfather of our subject.
Captain Edward Dimock, of Connecticut, was a
soldier in the revolutionary war, and subsequently
held several positions of trust and honor from his
fellow-citizens, among them that of high sheriff of
his native county. The family is of Scotch descent,
some five or six generations since.
Edward lived on a farm till the age of thirteen,
attending the district school regularly during the
winter months, and became an expert mathemati-
cian and fair English scholar. In his fourteenth
year he moved to Rochester, New York, and clerked
for ten years in a dry-goods store in that city.
Thence he removed to Buffalo, New York, where he
was engaged one year in a like capacity, and, having
saved a little money, he resolved to try his fortune
in the West. Accordingly, in June, 1845, he re-
moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he engaged
in mercantile business, which he carried on success-
fully for six years, when he turned his attention to
banking, and was elected cashier and afterward
president of the Badger State Bank, a position which
he held until September, 1857, when the institution
shared the fate of so many others in the memorable
monetary revulsion of that year. In this disaster
Mr. Dimock lost all his previous accumulations.
In 1858 he turned his attention to the business of
insurance, and became local, special and State agent
for various companies, and is still (1877) conduct-
ing the business with success. In the spring of 1854
he was elected alderman of the second ward of the
city of Janesville, and in the spring of 1855 was
elected mayor, serving one term, and subsequently
held other city offices. He was for five years a
director in the Milwaukee and Missouri (now the
Milwaukee and St. Paul) Railroad Company. He
was also a stockholder, and for four years, ending
with 1 86 1, lessee of the Janesville Gas Works, in con-
nection with the late Timothy Jackman. He was
a charter member and first secretary, of the North-
western Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Mil-
waukee, now one of the largest and most successful
companies of the West. He was for many years an
Odd-Fellow in connection with Wisconsin Lodge,
No. 14, Janesville, and for thirty years past has been
a member of Western Star Lodge, F. and A. M.;
also a Worthy Chief Templar of the Temple of
Honor, and chief officer of that organization.
In religious opinion he is Protestant, and pre-
fers the Episcopal church, and is a vestryman of
Trinity Parish, Janesville, but is not in communion.
In politics he has always been a republican, but is
not a strong partisan.
In stature Mr. Dimock is slightly below the av-
erage height, with compact and well developed
frame, capable of great endurance. His mental
characteristics are well marked, having a clear per-
ception and an analytic mind ; his mental processes
are so rapid that his conclusions often seem intui-
tive, rather than the natural result of ratiocination.
He is a public-spirited man, and being one of the
early settlers of Janesville, has taken a deep interest
and contributed in no small degree to its growth
and development. At the twenty-fifth anniversary
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
469
of his marriage, which was celebrated some five
months ago, a friend who made the formal presenta-
tion of the gifts bestowed said: "In the upbuilding
of this beautiful little city of the prairie, it is not too
much to say that you have done your full share;
and when its history is written your name will oc-
cupy an honorable and conspicuous place upon its
pages." He is a man of clear convictions and posi-
tive opinions, and when his views are called for they
are given in a manner so definite and emphatic as
to leave room for no doubtful construction. He was
one of the organizers of the Temple of Honor in
Janesville, having for its object the reclaiming of
inebriates, and is at the present time its principal
officer. He is an earnest worker in this most wor-
thy cause, and many an. unfortunate who was being
hurried to ruin has been restored to self-respect and
good citizenship by his efforts and kindly sympathies.
Mr. Dimock was married on the 30th of October,
1851, to Miss Emma C. Hanks, daughter of Colonel
L. B. Hanks, for many years a prominent business
man (still living, but retired,) of Hartford, Connecti-
cut, and sister of L. S. Hanks, cashier of the State
Bank at Madison. She is a lady of much beauty of
mind and person, cultivated and refined, and the
center of a large circle of the best society in Janes-
ville, but, withal, modest and unassuming. She is
an exemplary member of the Protestant Episcopal
church, and is in sympathy with all that is chari-
table, lovely and of good report. They have had
five children, four of whom died in infancy, leaving
an only daughter surviving, Mary Emma, a young
lady of much promise, who was educated at St.
Mary's Episcopal College, Faribault, Minnesota,
under the charge of Bishop Whipple. Handsome,
graceful and accomplished, she is destined to a
career of usefulness and honor. She also is a mem-
ber of Trinity Episcopal church.
AUGUSTUS G. RUGGLES,
FOND DU LAC.
THE city of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, owes its
rise, growth and present high standing among
the great business points in the State largely to a
few men, who early saw the importance of the site
for a town, and, locating there more than thirty
years ago, bent all their energies toward building up
a thriving inland city. Among these early settlers
was the subject of this biography, a man who, at
the first, heartily enlisted efforts in the interests of
Fond du Lac, and has never ceased to work for its
growth. He has lived to see a village of two hun-
dred inhabitants e.xpand into a city of sixteen thou-
sand, and has been among the leaders in making
Fond du Lac what it is. He furnished the funds
and aided in building the first saw-mill ever erected
there.
Augustus Graham Ruggles is a native of New
York, and was born at Montgomery, Orange county,
August 25, 1822, his parents being David and Sarah
(Golden) Ruggles. His father was a lawyer, and at
the early inception of the New York and Erie rail-
road was its attorney, and one of its staunch sup-
porters. His mother was a descendant of Cadwal-
lader Golden, colonial governor of New York at the
time of the revolution. His father moved from
Montgomery to Newburg, in the same county, be-
fore Augustus was a year old, and there the latter
spent his childhood in attending a common school.
His father dying when he was fourteen years of age,
he was taken under the care of his uncle, Charles
H. Ruggles, subsequently chief justice of the court
of appeals of the State of New York. He was sent
to school two years by that uncle, and spent one
year on the old homestead, and at eighteen became
clerk in the Bank of Poughkeepsie, where he re-
mained about four years. Later, he clerked a few
months in a store in New York city, but not liking
the business went into Alleghany county, and was
there engaged in looking after and managing a large
tract of land which his uncle owned, and which he
finally sold, when the nephew started for Wisconsin,
reaching Fond du Lac on the 26th of July, 1846.
He was attracted hither by the fine agricultural
surroundings, the lumber -on Wolf river, and the
apparently bright prospects of Fond du Lac — a
forecast of judgment in which he was not deceived.
After dealing in lumber a few years Mr. Ruggles
began operating in land, and dealt in it with good
success until 1854, when, in company with B. F.
Moore, John Bannister, Edward Pier and John H.
Martin, he organized the Bank of the Northwest,
which was finally (about 1863) merged into the
470
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Third National Bank of Fond du Lac. With this
popular institution Mr. Ruggles has been constantly
connected, serving as cashier a long time, and finally
becoming its president, which office he now holds.
In addition to his interest in the bank, he owns
a considerable amount of real estate within the city
limits and elsewhere, and has acquired what may
be designated a fair competency. Throughout his
career he has been known and esteemed for his
strictly honorable dealings and the prompt attention
to business. Industry with him, like virtue, has
been its own reward.
As already intimated, Mr. Ruggles has looked
after the interests of the city as well as his own,
rightly regarding them as mutual. While acting as
cashier of the First National Bank some years ago,
he took a deep interest in the Sheboygan and Fond
du Lac railroad, and it was mainly through his
exertions that the road was extended from Glen-
beulah to Fond du Lac, furnishing a direct outlet to
Lake Michigan. He was also a leading man in
securing the extension of this road westward to
Princeton.
Mr. Ruggles is a member of the Episcopal church,
and is worthy of the indorsement of his fellow-citi-
zens for probity and uprightness.
His wife was Julia nee Tallmadge, a daughter of
Governor Tallmadge, of Fond du Lac. They were
married October 31, 1855, and have had seven chil-
dren, of whom two are now living.
GEORGE R. TAYLOR, M.D.,
HE who is familiar with Samuel Smiles' " Self-
Help " will remember that many of the per-
sonages mentioned in that interesting work educated
themselves and made with their own hands every
round of the ladder on which they climbed. The
list of such illustrations of self-educated men is not
exhausted ; unwritten history abounds in them. The
subject of this brief sketch, an eminent surgeon in
Waupaca county, Wisconsin, never went to school
after he was nine years old, and yet is master of all
the common branches of the English language, a
thorough adept in medical science, and familiar
with some of the collateral sciences.
He is the son of Robert and Hannah (Hopkins)
Taylor, and was born in Bristol, England, October
28, 1822. His father, a builder and contractor in
later life, at the opening of the war of 1812-15 be-
longed to the British marine. He was at the battle
of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. A short time
prior to that battle, while engaged in an assault, he
had his hat shot off his head by a six-pound ball,
through the effects of which the left side of his head
became partially paralyzed, and so affecting his left
eye that he finally lost its sight. Strange to say, the
Doctor seems to have inherited this defect of vision,
and expects to finally lose altogether the sight of his
left eye.
His father, a man of more than ordinary abilities,
came to this country in May, 1843, and the son, who
had worked for six years as an apprentice at the
tinsmith business, accompanied him. The family j
settled in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, and engaged j
in farming near Palmyra about two years. They j
then removed to the town of Concord, in the same
county, and at the end of another year George went
to Madison, and began the study of medicine with '
Dr. C. B. Chapman. He took two courses of lec-
tures in the Cincinnati Marine Hospital and Inva- '
lids' Retreat, and graduated from that institution in
March, 1854. After practicing eighteen months in
Jefferson county, Wisconsin, commencing in April,
1855, he removed to Waupaca, vyhere he is still con-
ducting a flourishing practice, and where he has
gained an enviable reputation in his profession.
In 1863 Dr. Taylor was appointed assistant sur-
geon for the provost-marshal at Green Bay, and sub- j
sequently acted as assistant surgeon in the United
States General Hospital at Little Rock, Arkansas,
and remained there until dismissed by general or- ,
ders at the close of the rebellion. His experience
during the war was a good school for him, and made
him still more eminent in his profession, especially ;
in surgery. Since the war closed he has been United !
States examining surgeon for pensions.
Dr. Taylor is a member of the Congregational
church. In politics, he was formerly a whig, but has
been identified with the republican party since its )
organization in 1856.
Mrs. Taylor, who was Eliza Herron, of Concord, \
Wisconsin, and to whom he was married March 22, j
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
471
1856, died July 8, 1873, leaving six children, five
daughters and one son. All of the daughters but
the eldest and youngest are attending the local
graded school, while the son is working at the print-
er's trade at Berlin, Wisconsin.
Dr. Taylor is a warm friend of education, and
has been a member of the school board several
years, and is behind no man in Waupaca in work-
ing for the sanitary, literary and other interests of
the place.
G. W. HAZLETON,
MIL WA UKEE.
THE subject of this biography was born at
Chester, New Hampshire, in 1829, the son
of William and Mercy J. Hazleton. His ancestors
among the early settlers of New Hampshire were,
on his father's side, of English, and on his mother's,
of Scotch, origin. After closing his studies in the
common school, he entered Pinkerton Academy in
Derry, New Hampshire, and also attended a school
in Nashua, conducted by a Mr. Crosby, supporting
himself in part by teaching. While preparing him-
self for college in 1848, at the urgent request of
his kinsman, the late Clark B. Cochrane, he went to
Amsterdam, New York, and entered upon the study
of law in his ofifice, at the same time continuing his
other studies under a private tutor. In 1852 he
was admitted to the bar, and soon afterward formed
a partnership with Hon. S. P. Heath, which contin-
ued until 1856. At this time, with a view to select-
ing a home, he visited the West, and while traveling
through southern Wisconsin was so charmed with
the country around Columbus that he chose it as
his place of residence and removed thither in the
latter part of September of that year, during the
e.vcitement of the memorable Fremont campaign,
and was introduced to the people of Columbus in
the following manner: A mass-meeting had been
called which was to be addressed by the late Hon.
Charles L. Billinghurst, then a candidate for con-
gress. He failing to appear, the audience grew im-
patient, and in the emergency Mr. Hazleton was
waited upon at his office and invited to address the
meeting. From that time to the present he has
been an active participant in every important polit-
ical canvass, visiting all parts of his State. In i860
he was elected to the State senate from the twenty-
fifth district, and during his term served as chairman
of the committee on State affairs; also a member of
the judiciary committee, and afterward chairman of
the committee on federal relations. Upon the death
of Governor Harvey and the promotion of Lieuten-
53
ant-Governor Solomon, he was elected president of
the senate, and reelected to the same position at
the following session. He also served on a special
committee to whom was referred the proposition to
repeal the so-called State-rights resolutions of 1859,
and on a special committee to whom was referred a
bill to repeal certain sections of the revised statutes
deemed incompatible with the- functions of the na-
tional government. At the close of his term of
office, having attended two extra sessions, he re-
sumed his profession, declining a reelection. In
1864 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Colum-
bia county, and before the expiration of his term of
office, in February, i856, was tendered and accepted
the position of collector of internal revenue for the
second district. But not being in sympathy with
President Johnson's administration, he was removed
in the ensuing October. In April, 1869, he was ap-
pointed United States attorney for the district of
Wisconsin, a capacity in which he acted until Janu-
ary I, 1870; though in November previous he was
elected a member of the Forty-second Congress from
the second district. While in congress he served as
a member of the committee on elections and on
expenditures in the navy department. In the appor-
tionment of 1872 the second district was changed,
but Mr. Hazleton was nominated for a second term
by acclamation and without opposition. Referring
to this, the "State Journal" on the following day
said : " No convention of its size ever presented a
larger number of experienced and able men. A
unanimous nomination from such a body of men is
a compliment that but few men receive in a life-
time." In the Forty-third Congress Mr. Hazleton
was promoted to the third place on the elections
committee, and appointed to the second place on
the committee of war claims, and also appointed one
of the regents of the Smithsonian University, a com-
pliment highly appreciated. Fully appreciating the
importance of the Fox and Wisconsin improvement.
472
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
which had long been an object of interest to a por-
tion of his district, he in March, 1872, presented the
measure to the house in a carefully prepared speech,
which was widely published in the newspapers inter-
ested in that enterprise. He also interested himself
in an attempted repeal of the bankrupt law, believ-
ing the same, as administered, prejudicial to both
the creditor and debtor classes. Although he se-
cured the passage through the house of a bill repeal-
ing the law, it was defeated in the senate, but resulted
in a modification of the law, and a large reduction of
the fees and costs. He also took an active interest
in the subject of importation between the East and
West, supporting his views in a speech on the floor
of the house, which was produced and commended
by the press of his State, and by prominent papers
outside of the State. It was during the first session
of this congress that he came prominently into notice
in connection with two contested election cases from
West Virginia. The question involved being which ;
of two elections held in that State was legal, Mr.
Hazleton prepared a minority report, supported by
only one member of the committee, maintaining the 1
legality of what was known as the August election.
The discussion of the question occupied two days,
and his report was finally sustained by a large major-
ity. During the second session of this congress he !
made a strenuous effort to get the so-called " iron-
clad claims," amounting to a million and a half of
dollars, out of the lobby of congress, and have them
sent to the court of claims, where the government
could make a proper investigation and present coun-
ter proofs, which could not be done by a committee
of the house. He, however, failed in his purpose.
At the close of his second term, when about to
resume his profession in Milwaukee, he was tendered
the office of United States attorney for the eastern
district of Wisconsin, which, though unexpected, he
accepted, and holds at the present time (1876).
Mr. Hazleton was married on the 24th of May,
1855, to Miss Martha L. Squire, a native of Berk-
shire county, Massachusetts, then residing at Amster-
dam, New York. They have one daughter, now a
member of the senior class in the Milwaukee Female
College.
During his entire residence in Wisconsin, Mr.
Hazleton has been identified with public interests,
and has responded to various calls from all parts of
his State for addresses and lectures. As a speaker,
he is easy, eloquent and effective, and has the happy
faculty of impressing his auditors with the thoughts
that inspire his own mind, and is justly esteemed by
all who know him as an upright, honorable and in-
fluential man.
HON. ALEXANDER GRAHAM,
JANESVILLE.
OF the great mass of the human family, few
names are known outside the particular fam-
ily or neighborhood to which they belong. It is
therefore fit and proper that the record of those
who emerge from this general obscurity and by
their talents and virtues render peculiar service to
mankind, should be preserved, because the record
of their lives and their example may prove useful to
those who come after them.
Alexander Graham was born in the city of Utica,
in the State of New York, on the 6th of April,
1 81 6. He was descended on his father's side from
an ancient family of Scotch extraction, and on his
mother's from German ancestry. His father's name
was Alexander McClintock Graham, and his moth-
er's maiden name was Dollie Richter, and who is
still living at the venerable age of eighty-nine.
During his childhood his parents "removed to
Homer, Cortland county. New York, and engaged
in farming. Here he received a common-school
and academic education, his studies being chiefly
confined to the English branches, but the greater
part of his education was obtained by his own pri-
vate exertions. His father being a farmer of very
limited means, with a large family (thirteen chil-
dren) to support and educate, he could do little
more for his son than to impress indelibly upon his
mind the great value of a good education as an
essential element to honorable success in life.
Rarely without a book in his pocket, oftentimes
while following the plow upon his father's farm, and
when stopping his team to rest, he would take the
book and read a few sentences, and then pass on
again reflecting upon the subject-matter therein
contained.
It will be an encouragement to every young man
^
(^^ C^^^'-i^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
475
to know that Mr. .Graham began life witliout aid or
means, except liis own energies, and that he has
pursued many of his studies while employed in his
daily avocations, and that his early struggles with
poverty were so great as at times to cause him
great anxiety.
On leaving the paternal Ivime he labored for a
few months upon a farm, and then engaged in teach-
ing school, which employment was chosen because
it was more favorable to his cherished object, a good
education. He pursued the occupation of teaching
for about four years, meanwhile employing his spare
time in reading law, a habit that he has always since
continued, not with a view to its practice as a pro-
fession, but to qualify himself for the duties of a
citizen. All his life engaged in business, he has at
the same time been a constant student, pursuing
many of the sciences unaided, so that in a great
measure he is emphatically a self-made man.
He was married in September, 1S41, to Abigail
M. Keep, daughter of General Martin Keep, of
Homer, New York, a lady of high intellectual en-
dowments, but of retiring habits, finding her chief
enjoyments in her own family and home, over which
she presides with equanimity, grace and dignity.
About this time the death of an elder brother
occurred, who was engaged largely in milling, lum-
bering and farming, and Mr. Graham purchased the
interest of the heirs in the brother's estate, in which
business he continued with good success for several
years, adding in the meantime to it a valuable farm
near the east shore of Seneca lake; and in the
pursuit of agriculture, as in all else that he under-
took, he brought this farm to such a state of culture
that in the fall of 1856 he took the first premium for
the best cultured and best managed farm in the
county of Schuyler; and among all the trophies of
his life there is no one to which he points with more
pride or pleasure than to this carefully treasured
premium.
In the spring of 1857 he disposed of all his inter-
ests in the State of New York, and gave the follow-
ing year to travel, and in the spring of 1858 he
removed witli his family to Janesville, Wisconsin,
where he still resides. Here his principal business
has been real estate, though he has been interested
in other enterprises, and is a stockholder in the First
National Bank, the Harris Reaper Manufacturing
Company, and the Janesville Cotton Manufacturing
Company.
When the civil war commenced Mr. Graham was
past age and not liable to military duty, but feeling
a great interest in the impending struggle, he fur-
nished at his own expense a " representative recruit,"
for which he holds the following testimonial :
To nil xvho shall see these f resents, greeting :
Whereas, Alexander Graham, of the citv of Janesville
in the State of Wisconsin, a citizen of the'United States,
not being required by law to do military service, has volun-
tarily, and at his own e.^pense, furnished David J. Dann, in
the Slate of Wisconsin, as a representative recruit to serve
in his stead in the military forces of the Union, he is, in
accordance with the foreaoing order, entitled to this officia.
acknowledgment ol" his disinterested patriotism and public
spirit. . James B. Fray,
Brigadier General and Provost Marshal General.
S. J. M. Putnam,
Provost Marshal 2d District, State of Wisconsin.
A sketch of his life would be imperfect without
reference to his political principles. He is a repub-
lican in the widest sense of the term.
His early political associations were with the whig
party, his first vote being cast for General Harrison,
then Clay, Taylor and Scott; but as early as 1848
he sympathized with the anti-slavery element, and
in 1852 was one of those who voted for General
Scott, but "spat on the platform" of the party that
placed him in nomination.
He participated in the convention at Saratoga on
the 4th of July, 1854, that organized the republican
party in the State of New York, and from that time
down to the present has most firmly adhered to its
principles; but during its later history, when some of
its chosen leaders engaged in dishonorable public
practices, he was not slow to declare his want of
confidence, not in the tenets but in some of the
standard-bearers of the party, and estimating in-
tegrity in public life as of greater value than party
success, he, in 1872 (as a protest) voted for Horace
Greeley for President. For this he was severely
criticised by his old political associates. It is always
the case that the man who dares to openly challenge
and expose the wrongs of his partisans brings upon
himself, for the time being, an unnatural warfare
which assumes a personal ferociousness of character
unparalleled in the conflicts between general ene-
mies.
Like all men who dare to step in advance, or
question party " infallibility," Mr. Graham may not
seek the justification of his course among the fossils
of the present time, but may implicitly rely on the
good sense of the people to ultimately vindicate his
course.
The first public office held by Mr. Graham was
superintendent of schools for the years 1843 and
476
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
1844. In the year 1845 he was elected supervisor
of his town, and in the fall of 1850 he was elected
member of the assembly from the county of Tomp-
kins, in the State of New York, for the session of
185 I. This session is memorable on account of the
great struggle to defeat the bill providing for the
enlargement of the Erie canal, commonly called the
" Nine Million Bill."
The canals of the State of New York at that time
had cost about eighty million dollars, but were en-
tirely inadequate to meet the growing wants of com-
merce. Mr. Graham was placed on the committee
on canals, and it so happened that the year previ-
ously he had traveled extensively in the West and
Northwest, which at that time was being developed
with a rapidity unparalleled in the history of this
country, and he became impressed with the growing
power and increasing productiveness of this vast
region, and that the means of transportation to the
seaboard would soon become entirely inadequate to
meet the wants of the country. He therefore took
deep interest in the question of increased facilities
for transportation to meet this growing want. To
this end a carefully prepared statistical report was
drawn, showing the annual revenue derived from the
canals, accompanied by a bill providing for the en-
largement of the Erie canal, and by the committee
presented to the assembly. This bill passed the
assembly and was sent to the senate for its concur-
rence; and now for the first time in the history of
this country was manifested the power of the rail-
road interest to control legislation. Great excite-
ment prevailed throughout the State, and failing in
all other means to defeat this all-important measure
eleven senators resigned, leaving the senate without
a quorum, thus by revolutionary means defeating
the bill.
An appeal was taken to the country. The gover-
nor called an extra session to meet the following June,
and ordered a special election to fill the vacancies
occasioned by the resigning senators, and the result
was the defeat of the factious members and the final
passage of a measure the wisdom of which time and
necessity have fully demonstrated.
Removing to Wisconsin in the year 1858, Mr.
Graham was, in the fall of i860, chosen to represent
the city of Janesville in the assembly in the session
of 1 86 1. At that time great excitement prevailed
throughout the country; the Southern States refusing
to recognize the election of Abraham Lincoln to the
Presidency, and general fear and financial distress
pervaded all ranks of society and all sections of the
country. At this session Mr. Graham was made
chairman of the committee on banks and banking.
Never before had the people of this State suffered
so severely financially. Scattered about over the
State were over one hundred banks, many of them
without local habitation, and all of which, in com-
mon with the banks of the whole country, had sus-
pended specie payments, their bills greatly depreci-
ated, exchange at fabulous rates, and all kinds of
business suffering immensely in consequence.
This was indeed a perilous time. If the banks
were destroyed the State would be without any cir-
culating medium whatever. If they were retained
in their unsound condition it was only a question of
time as to the destruction of all kinds of business.
The general impression prevailed that it was only a
choice whether financial death should be sudden or
lingering. But at the head of this committee Mr.
Graham exhibited his ccfol calculating ability in the
management of the finances, and in due time made
his celebrated report, accompanied by a bill provid-
ing for "central redemption," which passed into a
law, the operation of which saved the State from
financial disaster. This report was published and
republished until five thousand extra copies had
been issued.
As a general rule, when disaster comes, when the
ship goes down, the good and the bad perish alike
together; but in this instance, by skillful manage-
ment the good institutions were saved and the bad
ones perished.
During this entire session the whole country was
fearfully agitated by the threatening and belligerent
attitude of the Southern States, and a feeling of
gloom and despondency everywhere pervaded the
public mind, and many and various were the pro-
jects devised and the plans suggested to avert the
coming storm, and prominent among these was the
celebrated Virginia convention, to which all the
States were invited to send delegates; and notwith-
standing the prime movers of this convention were
rabid secessionists, and the basis upon which they
proposed a settlement of pending difficulties such as
no Northern man could accept without dishonor,
still there were many very good men who strongly
favored sending delegates to represent Wisconsin in
that convention, and to this end a joint resolution
was introduced into the assembly for this purpose.
To this resolution Mr. Graham made most deter-
mined opposition, and in conjunction with Judge
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
477
Spoonerand others, succeeded in defeating it on the
ground that the terms of settlement were fixed in
advance and were such as no Northern State could
accept.
During the closing hours of this session came the
startling news of the attack on Fort Sumter by the
rebels.
The President and Congress now called upon the
loyal States for aid to put down the rebellion, and
Wisconsin was not slow in responding to this call.
Her patriotic governor, Hon. Alexander Randall,
convened an extra session of the legislature, the ob-
ject of which was to provide men and money to meet
this great emergency. This was the sole and only
object of the session, and Mr. Graham was appoint-
ed chairman on the part of the assembly of the joint
select committee of thirteen, and the late Attorney-
General Gill, who was then a member of the senate,
on the part of that body, to draft the necessary bills
for this purpose. This committee was subdivided.
General Gill taking the principal charge of the pre-
paration of the military bill and Mr. Graham of the
financial bill, both of which became laws of the
State.
Mr. Graham also prepared the bill, introduced by
a democratic member, providing for aid by the State
to families of volunteers.
In the fall of 1869 he was again chosen to repre-
sent the city of Janesville in the assembly in the
session of 1870. At this session he was chairman
of the committee on railroads, and in all the impor-
tant legislation of the session took an active part.
He was again chosen a member of the session of
1872. At this session he added new luster to his
reputation by the introduction and advocacy of a
measure that caused great public interest. He was
chairman of the committee on claims, member of
the committee of ways and means, and chairman of
the special committee on the " Dells " investigation,
as also of the special committee on assembly bill
No. 7, "A bill to provide against the evils resulting
from the sale of intoxicating drinks," commonly
called the " Graham Liquor Law," and of which he
was the author.
Perhaps no question was ever brought before the
legislature .of the State that created a profounder
interest, none ever more fully and ably discussed,
none that aroused the people more thoroughly, there
being more than thirty thousand names of petition-
ers and remonstrants presented for or against the
passage of the bill. The bill finally passed into a
law. This was not a prohibitory law. The object
sought to be attained by it was to do away with the
abuse and not the entire use of intoxicating liquors.
In principle it was based upon that rule of law that
every man shall be holden for the consequences of
his own acts; that he who has been the means of
producing evil and has enjoyed all the pecuniary
benefits of selling intoxicating drinks shall be re-
sponsible for the damage done by such sale.
It was upon this bill and in this contest, perhaps
more than any other, that the latent powers of his
mind were brought into active exercise, and his cool
determination and parliamentary tact and legislative
ability fully manifested. At times during the pend-
ency of this measure the excitement was at fever
heat, but throughout the entire discussion he met
successfully the arguments and the tactics of his
opponents at every point, and when the debate
finally closed and the bill passed, his course had
been such that the strongest opponents of the bill
were personally his warmest friends.
Mr. Graham has always taken a great interest in
public schools, and an active part in all that per-
tained to the growth and prosperity of his city. He
was elected school commissioner of the city of
Janesville in 1859, alderman in 1864, and was three
times reelected, serving eight years. He is exem-
plary in private life, of industrious habits, a kind
neighbor and firm friend, always entering with great
zeal into every project that promises to promote the
welfare of society, and especially those plans that
are most likely to provide remunerative employment
for the laboring classes.
Rising from among the toiling millions, he has
never ceased to sympathize with and interest him-
self in the education and elevation of the masses.
As a debater before a deliberative body his lan-
guage is direct and concise, his manner sincere and
earnest, being more logical than rhetorical, address-
ing himself to the sense and judgment of his hear-
ers rather than to their passions or prejudices,
though he sometimes indulges in repartee, if the
time and occasion permit. Judged by the best of
all tests, the effect upon his hearers, few public
speakers wield a greater influence.
As a writer he is clear and forcible, always pre-
senting his subject in the best light possible.
There is a tinge of self-conceit and self-reliance
in his character, born of a life-long dependence
upon his own exertions to obtain for himself a com-
petence and an honorable position among men.
478
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Starting in life with nothing but his own exertions,
his success in business has been such that he has
come to believe in and trust himself entirely. But
the very faults in his character in this respect tend
in some degree to render him more successful, be-
cause relying on his own exertions his powers are
not weakened or impaired by any expectation of
aid or assistance from others.
As a public man his consistent decorous deport-
ment, his untiring industry and attention to busi-
ness, his manly independence, his steady and per-
fectly temperate habits, his candor and sincerity.
and above all the feeling generally entertained of
his unquestionable personal integrity, inspire a con-
fidence that has never been impaired or disappointed .
Taking part in public life at a time remarkable for
the good principles and bad conduct of public men,
when virtue is preached and not generally practiced,
when free-thinking consists in allowing party to
think for you, when the profession of principle by
party leaders consists in having no principle, it is
refreshing to find a public man who can rise above
these influences and act for the right, regardless of
personal interests.
LUCIUS A. WHEELER,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Chitten-
den county, Vermont, was born on the 9th of
March, 1828, and is the son of Orrin Wheeler and
Sarah nee Hickok. His father, a farmer in moder-
ate circumstances, removed to western New York
in 1833. Here Lucius attended the public schools
and early manifested a great aptness in study, and
was uniformly at the head of his class. While still
a boy he became a great student of historical and
scientific works, and read all books that he could
obtain. After closing his studies in the public
schools, at the age of thirteen he entered a colle-
giate institute to prepare himself for college. Ow-
ing, however, to impaired health and a delicate con-
stitution, he was obliged to abandon his purpose at
the end of one year, and took a position in a country
store. At the expiration of six years of faithful ser-
vice he became a partner in the business, and dur-
ing the next two years was unremitting in his efforts
to build up his trade, frequently rising at three or
four o'clock in the morning and working till twelve
o'clock at night. At the age of twenty-two, desir-
ing a change and recreation, he spent some time at
Avon Springs and in visiting various places, and
finally, with his former firm, established a flourish-
ing branch business at Dunkirk, it being then the
terminus of the Erie railroad, with fine prospects of
becoming a place of considerable importance. After
four years the parent house failed, involving him in
liabilities to the amount of sixty-five thousand dol-
lars. The misfortune was a severe one to him, but
he bravely faced it, and turning all his property over
to his creditors, in the summer of 1856 started west-
ward, visiting all the important places as far as the
interior of Iowa, and finally settled at Milwaukee,
his present home, having upon his arrival one hun-
dred dollars. After a search of one week he se-
cured a situation in a clothing house, which he filled
one year, and then spent one year in the dry-goods
establishment of Bradford Brothers. At the expira-
tion of this time, returning to New York, he secured
a release from the claims against the old house, and
with the aid of an uncle purchased a small stock of
dry goods, and opened a store on East Water street,
Milwaukee, where he was soon joined by his brother-
in law. The business was prosperous from the be-
ginning, and gradually grew in extent and influence.
His brother-in-law soon returned to Dunkirk, and
the business was left entirely in his hands. He
opened a wholesale department, and in 1866 re-
moved to more commodious quarters. In 1872, to
meet the constantly increasing demands of his trade,
he removed to his present stand, at 133 and 135
Wisconsin street, and devoted his special attention
to the retail business. Mr. Wheeler's success is
wholly the result of his determined effort, and fur-
nishes a most worthy example of what may be at-
tained by will and constant work.
Politically he is identified with the republican
party, but in the midst of his active business career
he has found no time, nor has he had any ambition,
to take part in political matters more than to per-
form his duties as a citizen.
His early religious training, at the hands of a
pious mother, led him to reverence God and re-
ligion, though from a want of understanding the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
479
siniplicit)' of the gospel he was kept from making
a public profession until he attained the age of
twenty-eight years, when he united with the Presby-
terian church at Dunkirk, and was soon elected an
elder in the same. He has held all the important
offices of the Plymouth Congregational Church at
Milwaukee, and is at the present time identified
with the Immanuel Presbyterian Church of that
city. Tn all religious enterprises he has taken an
active interest, and was at one time secretary of the
State Sunday-school Union. In all his career his
dealing has been open, frank and fair, and by a
strict adherence to principle he secured the respect
and esteem of many personal friends and a wide
reputation as an honorable and true man.
Mr. Wheeler was married on the lyth of May, 1855,
to Miss Helen C. Van Buren, daughter of Henry B.
Van Buren, of Dunkirk, New York, who belonged to
a branch of the Kinderhook family. Their union
has been blessed with one son and two daughters.
GEORGE H. CALKINS, M.D.,
WAl'PACA.
THE subject of this biography is the son of I
Varanes and Elizabeth (Utter) Calkins, and I
was born at Castile, New York, April 21, 1830. His
father was a farmer by occupation ; his grand-
father was a soldier in the war of the revolution.
George attended a common school and assisted on
his father's farm until eighteen years of age, when
he went to Ellicottsville, Cattaraugus county, and
began the study of medicine with Dr. J. B. Staun-
ton. He attended lectures at the Buffalo Medical
College, and practiced two years in the State of
Maryland before he graduated. He afterward re-
turned to Buffalo, and attended another course of
lectures, and received his diploma in February,
1856. Settling the next year at Waupaca, Wiscon-
sin, he at once established himself in his profession,
and has been in the steady practice of the same for
twenty years, growing all the while in knowledge as |
well as experience. He is a general practitioner, [
and stands high among the medical fraternity as
well as in the community. For about ten years |
past he has been president of the Waupaca County j
Medical Society.
In the latter part of 1863 Dr. Calkins was com- I
missioned assistant surgeon of the 37th Regiment of
Wisconsin Volunteers, and was immediately detailed
to take charge of the branch Harvey Hospital at
Camp Randall, Madison, and served in that capac-
ity until the close of the rebellion, being discharged
in June, 1865. On his leaving the hospital the pa-
tients presented him with an elegant gold watch as
a token of their appreciation of his services.
Dr. Calkins has always been a decided republi-
can, but has not allowed his politics to interfere in
the least degree with his medical studies and prac-
tice, except in a single instance. In 1874 he yielded
to the wishes of his fellow-citizens and became a
candidate for the general assembly, and was elected
by a handsome majority, and served in the session
of 1875, being on the committee on medical socie-
ties and one or two other committees.
Dr. Calkins is a Royal Arch Mason, and also an
Odd-Fellow, and has taken all the degrees in the
Temple of Honor. He has been a member of the
Presbyterian church for more than twenty years.
On the 1 8th of March, 1852, he was married to
Miss Caroline L. Jenkins, of Ellicottsville, New York.
Of their ten children, seven are now living.
MORRIS C. SMITH,
JANESVILLE.
AMONG the pioneer merchants of Janesville \ ness men have done, he adopted the principle of
- none is more distinguished and none has been ' " square dealing," and this, with his business tact and
more successful in business than the subject of this energy, and sound judgment in the selection of his
sketch. Settling in the West at an early day, and stock, has raised him to the position of one of the
commencing business on a small scale, as most busi- solid business-men of southern Wisconsin.
48o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Morris Clarke Smith was born at Riga, Monroe
county, New York, December 4, 1820, and is the son
of Lyman and Eunice (Clarke) Smith, both natives
of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, and of early
New England stock, descended of Puritan ances-
tors. They belonged to the well-to-do farming
class, and were industrious, frugal and upright,
wielding an influence for good in the neighborhood
where they resided. In early life they settled in
New York State, where our subject was born, and
reared upon the farm till the age of sixteen, attend-
ing first the district schools and completing a thor-
ough English and mathematical education at Church-
ville Academy, New York. Beginning life for himself
at the age of sixteen, he entered the counting-house
of a maternal uncle named E. M. Clarke, in Royal-
ton, Niagara county, New York, where he remained
for two years, giving promise of becoming the
thorough and accomplished business man into
which he has since so fully developed. Thence
he removed to Batavia, New York, where in a like
capacity he remained seven years. But becoming
enamored of the larger facilities offered by the great
West for enterprise and success, he turned his face
toward the setting sun, and in the autumn of 1847
settled in Janesville, Wisconsin, carrying with him a
small capital, which was augmented by indorsements
from his uncle, E. M. Clarke, who became a partner
in his business. In the spring of 1848 he opened a
small store on South Main street, his stock being of
the old pioneer " country store " description, not very
extensive in size, and consisting of a " little of every-
thing." It was the day of " small things " with
Janesville. There were but few business houses in
the place, and all of them small. What became of
his early contemporaries in trade we know not, but
Mr. Smith is the only one of the merchants of 1848
who still remain in Janesville. In 1849, business
having increased by the utilization of the water-
power of Rock river, he built a new store and en-
larged his stock of goods, using the old store exclu-
sively for ready-made clothing, and the new one for
a miscellaneous stock of dry goods, hardware, etc.
The year following he added to his establishment a
merchant tailoring department, being the first to
engage in that enterprise. He continued in this
line with uninterrupted success till 1861, when he
remodeled his business, moved into new and still
more commodious quarters, taking into partnership
with himself J. M. Bostwick, who has since been an
active member of the firm, and discontinued the
grocery and hardware business, confining his trade
to clothing and dry goods. Prosperity was con-
tinued under the new name, and Smith and Bost-
wick are now household words throughout south-
ern Wisconsin. Meantime, Janesville having been
spreading in all directions, manufacturing establish-
ments and many pretentious public buildings being
erected, in 187 1-2 he built the beautiful and sub-
stantial brick block on the northeast corner of North
Main and East Milwaukee streets, which is an orna-
ment to the city and a fitting monument to his in-
dustry and public spirit. The corner store of this
block is used as a salesroom for ready-made clothing
and gentlemen's wear generally. The stock of goods
in this establishment is immense, and not excelled
by any house in the West, outside of Chicago. In
addition to his Janesville concerns he is also a part-
ner in the firm of Cheney, Bostwick and Co., of
Monroe, Wisconsin.
The success of Mr. Smith in his several branches
of business, which he has so ably managed for the
past thirty years, is in the main attributable to his
strict adherence to the highest morals of trade. He
began when the city was in its infancy, and has
grown with its growth and strengthened with its
strength, until his annual sales amount to nearly half
a million dollars.
In stature Mr. Smith is five feet ten inches high,
and weighs about one hundred and fifty pounds.
He has a fine presence, and moves with a vigorous
and elastic step. He gives little attention to the
mere formalities of salutation on the street, his
"good morning" bearing about it the inevitable
commercial air which has become a part of the
man. He is a gentleman of ardent temperament,
and any cause which he espouses is sure to feel the
full force of his character. He possesses too much
independence of thought and action to wish to con-
ceal his opinions, and hence when asked for they
are expressed without much regard to consequences,
or whether they will harmonize with the popular
ideas or not. As a business man he is everywhere
recognized as of unswerving integrity, never stoop-
ing to questionable acts for the purposes of tempo-
rary gain, and his reputation for uprightness and
nobility of character will be the richest legacy he
can leave to his family.
In politics he is identified with the democratic
party, but is not a politician. He has held some city
offices. In religion he leans toward the Protestant
Episcopal church, though not in communion. He
THE UNITED STATES BIOdliAPHrC AI. DICTIONARY.
481
is a member of the vestry of Christ Church, Janes-
ville, and one of the most liberal contributors to the
support of the parish and the charitable and benev-
olent institutions of the city. He is also a member
of the Masonic and Odd-Fellows fraternities.
He was married in September, 1843, to Miss
Rianca J. Allen, daughter of Orange Allen, Esq.,
of Batavia, New York, and niece of Judge Dibble, j
of that city, a very distinguished member of the
judiciary, and an "old-time gentleman" of wealth
and influence. Mrs. Smith was raised in the fam-
ily of the judge, receiving the highest education
and culture which wealth and social position could
bestow. She is a lady of purely domestic habits,
who keeps herself " unspotted from the world," of
sweet and tender disposition ; always ready to
apologize for rather than condemn the faults of
others. They have had five children, four of whom
survive. The eldest son, Edgar M., a finely culti-
vated and promising youth and a general favorite,
died in 187 1, at the age of twenty-two. The re-
maining children are Frank L., who has been for
some time a member of his father's firm ; Frederick
A., (leorge W. and Anna B. The sons have all
been educated to business, and give promise of fol-
lowing in the footsteps of their father, while the
daughter is very like her mother. The domestic
life of this family is proverbially happy. Their in-
clinations are nicely-tuned unison, and all their
conversation, harmony. A loud or angry word has
never been heard in their dwelling. Love and high
moral suasion are the governing forces in this house-
hold. The same is also true to a large extent in
regard to Mr. Smith's employes and domestic ser-
vants. They are so kindly and honorably dealt
with that misunderstandings are impossible.
DAN NEWCOMB, M.D.,
THE subject of this biography, a native of Fays-
ton, Vermont, was born August 25, 1829, the
son of Rosea Newcomb and Harriet nee Bixby, both
of whom are still living. He is a direct descendant
of Captain Francis Newcomb, who immigrated from
England to America in 1635. His parents, steady,
industrious and decided in all their habits, are prac-
tical exponents of blameless Christian lives, whose
influence and example have left an impress that
marks the life of the son. His mind was early
turned toward the medical profession, and after com-
pleting his elementary studies at Montpelier Acad-
emy and Newberry Seminary, Vermont, he took his
first course of medical studies at the Vermont Med-
■ical College, of Woodstock. He afterward attended
the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons,
and also attended the clinique of the celebrated
Bellvue Hospital, and finally completed his course
and received his diploma from the old Berkshire
Medical College of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. In
1870 he was honored with the ad eundem degree
of M.D. by the Northwestern University. Remov-
ing to Bangor, New York, in 1852, Dr. Newcomb
there began his practice. Three years later he estab-
lished himself in Cabor, Vermont, and after two
years removed to the West and settled at .Atchison,
Kansas. Here his popularity secured his election
as register of deeds, an honorable and responsible
office; and afterward, against his own wishes, he
was nominated for county judge, and lacked but
fifteen votes of securing an election. While the
Pike's Peak country was yet a part of the Territory
of Kansas, he, with A. D. Richardson, of the New
York "Tribune," and a Mr. King, were by the legis-
lature appointed commissioners to locate the coun-
ties and county seats. In the face of a strong
opposition on the part of the citizens of Denver
they proceeded to enter upon their duties, but were
relieved from their task by the congress of the
United States declaring the formation of the Terri-
tory of Colorado. In i860 he established himself
in his profession at Palatine, Cook county, Illinois,
whence he afterward removed to Park Ridge, a sub-
urban village of Chicago. Here he became largely
interested in the University Publishing Company, and
was one of the founders of that short-lived period-
ical known as the "Lakeside Monthly Magazine."
That a magazine of such a character should prove a
failure surprised many, and can be accounted for
only with the probable reason that the West was then
too new for such a literary undertaking. Although
not prominent in the enterprise, Dr. Newcomb suf-
fered a considerable loss. He has but recently re-
moved to Kenosha, Wisconsin, which he has decided
482
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
upon as his future home, but during his brief resi-
dence has made many warm friends, and begun a
practice ah'eady prosperous and lucrative. He makes
a specialty of the diseases of children, and has met
with remarkable success in this branch of his pro-
fession. A thorough scholar, clear thinker and ready
writer, he has made valuable contributions to medi-
cal literature. In a popular book on " Hygiene for
Children," he takes a high position as a Christian
scientist and philosopher. In " When and How," he
teaches that nature has laws, and that if we would
work in harmony with those laws, we must interpret
the teachings that come to us instinctively, and then
follow all the lessons of the Infinite Creator, as
far above the teachings of the finite creature. The
work was a practical attempt to "look thro' nature
up to nature's God," and as such was accepted by
Christian circles in this country, and won for its
author a wide and worthy reputation.
Politically Dr. Newcomb is identified with the
republican party. Not a partisan, however, he care-
fully weighs the honest motives of men and politics,
and gives his support to the right as he understands
it. Personally he is tall, well proportioned and
robust in appearance, and has an expression of
thoughtfulness and intelligence. Wherever he has
lived there are many who attest his worth as a phy-
sician and surgeon, and all who know him recognize
him as a gentleman, kind and courteous in manners,
prompt in business, thoroughly reliable, and strictly
temperate in his habits.
In 185 1 he was married to Miss C. Helen Smith,
a lady of attractive appearance and fine intellectual
endowments. Similar in their tastes, both members
of the Methodist Episcopal church, their home has
been one of happiness, and if not affluent, at least
prosperous. They have had but one child, a son,
who died in 1865.
TIMOTHY F. STRONG,
FOND DU LAC.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Brown-
ington, Vermont, was born on the 6tli of April,
1805, and is the son of Asahel Strong and Susan
FoUett. His father, a prominent merchant, although
unfortunate, was much respected by all who knew
him. Timothy resided in Bennington, whither his
parents removed in 1806, till twelve years old, at-
tending the common school ; and at that time ac-
cepted a clerkship in a general store at Glens Falls,
New York, and at odd times while there gained a
knowledge of the tinner's trade. At the expiration
of five years he went to Burlington, Vermont, and
there spent two years as a journeyman in a tin shop.
He next formed a partnership with a friend, and
going to Keeseville, New York, established himself
in the tin and stove business, and conducted a suc-
cessful trade for nearly two years. After closing out
his interests here he went to Danville, Vermont, and
there resumed the same line of business, continuing
it during a period of six years ; and at the expiration
of that time associated himself with his brother,
William L, Strong, at Burlington, in a general hard-
ware, iron and grocery trade, where he remained till
1848. During the year previous to this he had con-
tracted, with others, to build the Burlington and ,
Rutland railroad, and a portion of the road on to I
Bellows Falls. He was at the same time largely in-
terested in building the railroad from Ogdensburg
to Rouse's Point, New York. In July, 1851, he re-
moved to the West, and settled at Fond du Lac,
Wisconsin, and at once began building what is now
known as the Chicago and Northwestern railroad,
whose owners form one of the largest railroad cor-
porations in the world. In this enterprise Mr.
Strong worked under most adverse circumstances,
many of his associates giving up all hopes of suc-
cess. With that determination, however, which has
ever characterized him, he held on persistently to
the end, and in one instance built some miles of the
road at his own expense and risk. Previous to his'
coming west he had gained the reputation of being
a successful railroad man, having carried to a suc-
cessful completion large railroad enterprises in the
East ; and it was largely due to his untiring energy
and influence that the Wisconsin division, being
the northern portions of the Northwestern railroads,
were constructed.
Mr. Strong retired from active business in 1868,
and since that time, except as stated below, has been
living in the enjoyment of the rewards of his active
life. He was assistant superintendent of the North-
western railroad for several years. In 1870 he was
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
485
elected president and superintendent of the Fond
du Lac and Sheboygan railroad, resigning in 1872.
In his political sentiments he is independent, su|)-
porting for office the man whom he considers best
fitted for the place, regardless of party prejudices or
distinctions. In his religious belief he is identified
with the Episcopal church.
He was married on the 3d of May, 1827, to Miss
Olivia Clark, daughter of Dr. Nathan S. Clark, of
Chesterfield, New York, and by her has now living
one son and two daughters. He married his present
wife, Susanna Jones, on the 27th of March, 1873.
Mr. Strong has traveled extensively over the
United States and Europe, and is well informed on
all questions of the day. Beginning life for himself
at the age of twelve years, with his worldly posses-
sions tied up in a handkercliief, he has risen step by
step until he has accumulated an ample fortune, and
in all his business career never contracted a debt
that he did not pay.
ALFRED A. JACKSON, A.M.
JANES VILLE.
A[,FRED AUGUSTUS JACKSON was born
in Verona, Oneida county. New York, August
8, 1 83 1, and is the second son of Truman and Polly
(Lawton) Jackson. His father was a substantial
farmer, a gentleman of intelligence, and an honest,
industrious, upright citizen, independent and self-
reliant, who was descended from early New Eng-
land ancestry. His grandfather, Samuel Jackson,
was a soldier in the revolutionary war; his maternal
grandfather, Joseph Lawton, a native of Rhode Isl-
and, was of English ancestry, and participated in the
war of 181 2. His mother, a pious and conscientious
woman, of remarkably even temper and amiable dis-
position, still lives, in the seventieth yearof her age,
enjoying the well-merited esteem and love of a large
circle of friends and kindred.
Alfred spent his boyhood on his father's farm, and
received his elementary education in the common
schools of his neighborhood. He entered the Acad-
emy at Rome, New York, in 1848, and after remain-
ing two years was obliged to discontinue his studies
by reason of ill health. After teaching one season
he removed to Oneida, New York, where he resided
until the spring of 1855, when he removed to Janes-
ville, Wisconsin, and entered the office of Hon. I.
C. Sloan and L. F. Patton, Esq., as a law-student.
Remaining there until the autumn of 1855, he then
entered the office of Messrs. Sleeper and Norton,
where he completed his professional studies. He
was admitted to the bar of Rock county on the 7th
of November, 1856; to the supreme court of the
State of Wisconsin on the 29th of January, 1857,
and to the supreme court of the United States on
the 17th of January, 1868. From the commence-
ment of his career he took a leading rank in his
profession, while his sterling moral qualities soon
gave him an influential position as a citizen. On
the ist of June, 1858, he formed a law partnership
with Hon. James H. Knowlton and Hon. Moses S.
Pritchard, which continued until June i, 1862, when
Mr. Pritchard retired. The business was then con-
ducted under the firm name of Knowlton and Jack-
son until the autumn of 1862, when Mr. Knowlton
removed to Chicago. Mr. Jackson has since been
without a partner, except during a short time when
Hon. Pliny Norcross was associated with him. His
practice is confined mostly to civil business. He is
the local attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee and
St. Paul Railroad Company, and from 1864 to 1872
was one of the local attorneys for the Chicago and
Northwestern Railroad Company. He served as
alderman of his city from April, 1864, to April,
1866; was mayor in 1868 and 1869, and a mem-
ber of the board of supervisors of the county for
one term. He has been a member and president
of the board of trustees of the Wisconsin Insti-
tution for the Education of the Blind since 1871,
and is vice-president of the Merchants and Me-
chanics' Saving Bank of Janesville. He is a mem-
ber of the Temple of Honor, an advanced temper-
ance society in Janesville.
In his religious communion he is identified with
the Congregational church, and is a deacon in the
same ; and was for several years president of the
board of trustees of the society. He was the first
president of the Young Men's Christian Association
of Janesville.
In politics he has always been a radical republi-
can, and for a number of years was secretary of the
republican club of his city. In 1872 the faculty of
486
THE UNITED STATES BfOGRAPH/CAL DTCTIONART.
Beloit College conferred upon him the honorary de-
gree of A.M.
Mr, Jackson is a gentleman of excellent social
qualities, and enjoys the intimacy and confidence of
a large circle of friends. He is devotedly attached
to his family, emphatically seeking his comforts and
enjoyments around his own fireside. He is a man
of sound judgment, and is governed in his actions
by his own convictions of right. He is much given
to miscellaneous reading, and has collected a large
and valuable library. As a lawyer he ranks with
the best of his competitors, while as a citizen he
enjoys the esteem of his fellow-citizens. He is a
public benefactor to the extent of his means, while as
a public officer he devotes to the business of others
the same labor and care that he does to his own.
JOHN S. BLISS,
JANESVILLE.
JOHN SPOOR BLISS was born at Rochester,
New York, January 3, 1832, and is the son of
Nathaniel and Elizabeth (Spoor) Bliss. He is de-
scended in a direct line from the second son of
Thomas Bliss, wlio died in Hartford, Connecticut,
the intermediate links in the genealogical chain
being as follows: Nathaniel Bliss, the father of our
subject, born January 13, 1781 ; who was the son of
Thomas Bliss, born November 25, 1747; who was
the son of Nathaniel Bliss, born October 26, 1704;
who was the son of Nathaniel Bliss, born Septem-
ber 8, 1679; who was the son of Samuel Bliss, born
November 7, 1647 ; who was the son of Nathaniel
Bliss, born about 1620; who was the son of the
original Thomas Bliss, who died in 1640.
Nathaniel, the father of John S., was born at Wil-
braham, Massachusetts, January 13, 1781, and led
quite an active life. After his majority he went to
sea, and braved the dangers of the deep with Cap-
tain Phillip Cook, a nephew of the famous Captain
James Cook, who was murdered by the Sandwich
Islanders in 1779. Subsequently, he and a brother
became contractors, and erected many of the most
costly private residences in Boston. Still later he
turned his attention to machinery, and built and put
in operation the first spinning-machine west of the
Hudson river. He married Miss Elizabeth Spoor,
by whom he had three sons and five daughters; all
of the sons and two daughters are still living (1877).
Soon after the birth of our subject the family
moved to Orleans county, New York, where, when
old enough, he attended the district school. He was
said by his teachers to be an attentive and apt stu-
dent, never behind the class in the studies adapted
to his years. He was a favorite with his playmates,
and was considered an adventurous youth. In 1844
he was asked by one of the leading politicians of his
[ village to climb to the top of the hickory pole and
I release the " Polk and Dallas " flag, about ninety
feet above the ground, that had become entangled
and torn by a recent gale of wind. He made the
ascent in sight of an immense crowd, but when
within a few feet of the top he heard his mother's
voice calling him to come down, and having been
taught obedience from earjy childhood, he instantly
descended and alighted on the sidewalk. In this
act of self-denial he showed greater moral courage
than he would had he accomplished his purpose
and received the thanks and plaudits of the multi-
tude. On another occasion he climbed the lightning-
rod of the Presbyterian Church, intending to enter
the belfry from the outside (with others, "just for
fun "), but the rod ran under the projecting eaves
so far, that it was impossible to climb around the.
ends of the shingles, and this expedition had to
be abandoned also, but he came down all right.
In sports of agility and gymnastics he was with-
out a rival among the boys of his own age. Much
of his lime, however, was occupied in reading sub-
stantial works of history, steam, machinery and in-
ventions, while books of travel were favorites with
him. As an indication of his studiousness it may
be stated that the winter he was nine years old he
misspelled only one word in his class during a term
of four months' school.
In 1847 he moved with his parents to Dane
county, Wisconsin, where he continued his studies,
and for a few seasons taught district schools. His
delight was in reading Dick, Rollin, Humboldt, and
works on the science of astronomy. He was for
some time a student in actual service, in the tele-
graph office at Madison, and after completing his
apprenticeship, and receiving a certificate from the
telegraph company, complimenting his capabilities
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
487
and a general knowledge of magneto-electricity, he
was, for a season, placed in charge of the office.
While serving in this capacity he made the acquaint-
ance of Chancellor Lathrop, of the State Univer-
sity, who especially urged him, as soon as duties
then engrossing his attention should release him, to
enter the University, with the view to a full course,
but circumstances did not prove favorable and was
not carried out, much to the regret of our subject.
After this he turned his attention to the business
of fire insurance, in which for some time he did a
large and profitable work as agent for several East-
ern companies; also bought and sold bonds on com-
mission, made loans, and located wild lands for
those living in other States. He finally turned his
attention to literary pursuits, which will probably
prove to be his life-long work.
While acting as newspaper correspondent he in-
terviewed Abraham Lincoln at his home in Spring-
field, soon after his nomination to the Presidency,
and from his report of the conference, which was
extensively copied by the press, we make the follow-
ing extracts :
. . . This being a prairie State, rail fences are not very
plenty; yet there may be seen flying from the lofty height
of a tcu-fnot rail our good old flag, with the talismanic
words, Abrah.wi Lincoln, appended to it, from which
one can discover that our candidate was once a "rail split-
ter." . . . One bright morning, amidst the clatter of hoof's
and the rumbling of wheels, I was at the door and soon
ushered into the parlor of our nominee, and, in response to
my card, Mr. Lincoln glided down the stairs with the
sprightliness of a boy of sixteen, and we were soon im-
mersed in lively conversation as to the prospects, he re-
marking, in answer to my inquiry, that the chances were
somewhat against us, but at present very evenly balanced.
. . . We stepped to look at some pictures hanging on the
walls, among which was a fine large photograph of himself,
and as he stood in front of it, said, smilingly: "That picture
gives a very fair representation of my homely face." This
incident I give to show that Mr. Lincoln does not flatter
himself that he is a handsome man; but for all this, his
nobleness and goodness of heart glowed in his countenance
like the glory from the fountain of the Just. In reference
to a picture of the candidate for vice-president he remarked :
"I have not yet seen Mr. Hamlin; that one was sent me
from Maine." Your correspondent suggested that they
would get together in Wasliington ere long. He talked
freely of the Black Hawk war, in which he participated.
... At the close of the interview he accompanied me to
the sidewalk, and shook hands across the low gate in front
of his door, saying, as he did so, "As you cannot get out of
this town until about noon, suppose you come over to the
State House." The offer was too tempting to be resisted;
so, thanking him, I promised to call. While there, his little
boy came in and asked for twenty-five cents with which to
buy toys. Mr. Lincoln said: " My son, I shall not give you
twenty-five cents, but will give" you five;" and, with his
thumb and finger, drew from his vest-pocket the stated
sum and dropped it on the desk before the boy, who, scorn-
ing so small a bank account, turned away and disappeared.
Mr. Lincoln said; "He will return for it as soon as he is
satisfied that I will not give him any more." He did so in
fifteen minutes, but said not a word. The equality of the
races had been a subject of conversation. Presently he
said : " If the man comes with the key, I want to give you
a book." He soon after excused himself, and returned In a
moment with a copy of the debates between himself and
Stephen A. Douglas^ He leaned back in his chair until it
rested on two legs, placed the book on his knee, drew from
his vest-pocket a stub of lead-pencil two inches long, and
wrote on the fly-leaf: "J. S. Bliss, Esq., from A. Lincoln;"
■then turning the leaves to page 136, said: "I will just mark
a paragraph referring to my views on the subject," and
lightly touched his pencil to the place, marking also a para-
graph on page 240. . . .
It is needless to add that the book referred to in
the above extract is still a treasured keepsake in the
family of Mr. Bliss.
In 1861-2 Mr. Bliss superintended personally the
details of the great lecture tour of Bayard Taylor,
over several States, with marked success.
In 1867 he arranged to go to Europe for health,
culture, business and pleasure, and contracted with
four respectable newspapers (two dailies and two
weeklies), for a moneyed consideration, to furnish a
certain number of descriptive letters from foreign
lands; and about eighty such letters were published.
He sailed for London in the steamship William Penn,
and after a pleasant Atlantic voyage arrived in the
English capital. From an elaborate journal of his
travels we gather the following items : " Visited
parliament, the courts, Greenwich Observatory, the
British Museum; heard Spurgeon," etc.
He next visited the continent, and halted for a
season at Paris; was present at the grand review
of eighty thousand French troops by the Emperor
Napoleon III, Bismarck, William of Prussia, and the
Czar of Russia, which occurred in the Bois de Bou-
logne, a few miles outside of Paris, on the 6th of
June. This was the day when spiked helmets
blazed in the sun, and the day and place that Zow-
beski, the Polander, attempted to assassinate the
Czar by shooting at him, our subject being about
thirty rods distant at the time. The great Paris
Exposition also came in for its share of attention.
Leaving the French capital, he passed through
the Burgundy district to Uijon and to Geneva;
thence up the lake of Geneva to Villeneuve, near
which place is Byron's "Castle of Chillon." From
I Martigny he took passage on the back of that "un-
I certain " animal the mule, to the foot of Mont Blanc,
[ thirty miles distant. The narrative adds :
It was the 13th of June. The mule was slumping to
his knees and to the saddle-girth in the snow that was
melting under the direct rays of a blazing sun that shot
down between the terrific gorges. Ere long the Vale of
Chamoun}' was under my feet, and, yonder, the venerable
crown of Mont Blanc. Delight took possession of me, and
I was lost in admiration, but was restored to consciousness
by the treacherous beast, who left the ground on "all-fours"
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
at once, and caused his rider to perform a parabola that
would have made the reputation of anv circus rider, could
he have repeated it. However, I alighted square in the
saddle again.
He slept that night at Chamouny, under the bald
and frosty brow of Mont Blanc, and further on, in
relation to crossing the great glacier the following
day, he says :
Every rod of the treacherous pathway was sounded with
the alpenstock. We came to other cn-vasscs, and near to
one was a loose rock as large as a parlor stove, which I
slid along on the ice, and .sent it whirling into the yawning
gulch, down, dmi'ii, nowN, causing a shudder to creep over
me as the reverberations came up from that frozen, crys-
tallized cavern six hundred feet below.
It vifas his intention to have made the ascent of
Mont Blanc with two other travelers, but, it being
so early in the season, the three guides then in the
valley would not undertake it. On crossing the
rocky boundary via the great Simplon Pass of the
Alps into Italy, his first experience in that sunny
land was to ride in a scow-boat directly over the top
of a small town, which just eleven weeks previously
had sunk under the waters of the lake, with some of
the inhabitants and all their earthly treasures. This
was the small hamlet of Feriolo, situated on Lago
Maggiore, a portion of which disappeared, and the
cruel waters closed over it to the depth of eighty
feet in some places.
Thence to Milan and the plains of Lombardy,
AUessandria, and through the Ligurian Apennines
to Genoa, Leghorn, and to the Leaning Tower, Pisa,
and Florence. Returning to Leghorn, sailed down
the Italian coast to Naples; thence to the ill-fated
cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii, that were swal-
lowed up by the eruption of Vesuvius some eighteen
centuries ago; thence to the volcano to see whence
came so much misery, and descended with three
traveling friends and a guide into the crater, which
was well explored, as it was then in a dormant state.
But the evidences, both above their heads and be-
neath their feet, and the smoldering embers all
around, made it uncomfortably warm. He says :
I took a leaf from my note-book and placed it in a cre-
z'dssr, and it was soon destroyed by fire. Here we cooked a
dinner by volcanic fires, and dined in the crater. One of
the party lighted his pipe by dipping it into the hot embers.
Though inactive, Vesuvius is just preparing for one of her
grandest pyrotechnic displays. We heard the mutterings
of the coming storm, and an explosion, far down in the
depths of this awful Tartarean mystery, the sound of which
gradually died away, while a sensation of dread crept over
us, and we left in s'ilence. A few weeks later these predic-
tions were verified; and Bayard Taylor said "seven distinct
streams of lava flowed down the sides of the mountain,
deluging four hundred acres of land.
In the "Eternal City" he was so fortunate as to
witness the eighteenth centennial commemoration of
the martyrdom of St. Peter. This great festival had
been omitted one hundred years before, and sixteen
popes had passed away since it was observed in
Rome. Forty-six cardinals, four hundred and ninety
bishops, and about twenty-five thousand delegated
priests and ecclesiastics from every known country
and every island of the sea vi^ere present. In speak-
ing of the illumination of St. Peter's Cathedral he
says :
From the castle of St. Angelo two deep-mouthed can-
nons belched forth the signal to change the lights, and in
two minutes twenty thousand burners were transformed
from a golden to a silver illumination by eight hundred
Rom.ans in charge. Then it was that the great ball glit-
tered and scintillated like a diamond in the world's crown,
and the ponderous dome seemed like a swinging globe
pierced by a thousand miniature volcanoes,.and St. Peter's
looked, at the distance of half a mile, like a flickering tem-
ple of vast proportions leaning against the Roman sky.
He explored some of the wonderful catacombs
and the dark labyrinthian vaults of dead genera-
tions, where the King of Terrors seemed to have
taken up his abode. Also visited the islands at the
head of the Adriatic, and was in Venice on the oc- ,
casion of the visit of the Portuguese queen, and, with
his comrades, participated in the gondola promenade
on the Grand canal in the evening, that was given
in her honor, the city of Venice being brilliantly
illuminated at the time.
His European tour, which was quite thorough,
and planned with consummate judgment, embraced
also a visit to Vienna, which was then in mourning,
as was all central and southern Europe, for the exe-
cution of Maximilian in Mexico, the sad news of
which had just been received; and as Francis
Joseph, the Emperor, was absent mourning the
death of his brother, permission was granted to
visit the palace, which was all hung in emblems of
mourning. We quote from another letter, dated
Vienna, 1867: "His room (Maximilian's) seems
like silence mourning the absence of the Prince or
Archduke at noon-day."
Leaving Austria via Linz and Salzburg into Ba-
varia to Munich, Augsburg, crossing the Danube at
Ulm into Wirtemberg, to Heidelberg, Frankfort-on-
the-Maine, and Homburg, he tarried for a time and
partook of the mineral waters for which the place is
famous; thence to Castel, and down the "Winding
Rhine " to Cologne, in Rhenish Prussia ; thence to
the battle-field of Waterloo, in Belgium; — his tour
being brought to a close by way of Paris, London,
Edinburgh, and the Scottish Highlands, crossing the
"gathering-ground of the Clan Alpine " to Glasgow.
On his return voyage he came near slipping over-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
489
board into the sea, while watching a Portuguese brig
that was rolling at a dangerous rate during a wild
gale of wind that was blowing at the time.
For a while after his return from Europe he de-
livered some very interesting descriptive lectures
on what he had witnessed while abroad; was also
associate editor of the " Northwestern Advance," a
paper then published at Janesville, devoted to the
cause of temperance, being the official organ of the
Good Templars of Wisconsin. He also contributed
occasional sketches to "Silliman's American Journal
of Science," New Haven, and reminiscences of for-
eign travel to the "Inland Monthly Magazine," the
"Schoolday Magazine," Philadelphia, and others.
He is manager of the Northwestern Lyceum
Bureau, editor and compiler of the " Lyceum Maga-
zine," published in the interests of lecturers, readers,
concerts and literary societies; and has arranged
lecture appointments for the greatest platform talent
in the country, such as Wendell Phillips, Bayard
Taylor, Dr. Holland, Schuyler Colfax, and many
others. He superintended personally the great route
of Horace Greeley in 187 1, and was with the philos-
opher every day. It was Mr. Bliss who first offered
the Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, of London, nine hundred
dollars per lecture for one hundred lectures to be
delivered in America, and he received an autograph
letter from Mr. Spurgeon, of which the following is
a correct copy :
Clai-ham, London. May lo, 1873.
J. S. BliSS,-,1/j' Dear Sir:
I am unable to visit the United States; and, moreover, I
am no lecturer. To preach Jesus Christ simply, in a plain
manner, is all my ambition. Eloquence I leave to others.
May you and your great country prosper under the blessing
of God. Yours very truly,
C. H. Spurgeon.
Our subject is also a distinguished member of the
various temperance organizations of Wisconsin, and
represented the Grand Division Sons of Temperance
at the Seventh National Temperance Convention at
Chicago, in June, 1875. This Chicago convention
elected Mr. Bliss as the representative from Wiscon-
sin (there being one from each State in the Union)
to the International Temperance Conference, to
meet a year later (1876) in Philadelphia; was also a
delegate to the National Division Sons of Temper-
ance, which convened in Philadelphia, June, 1876,
and held its session in Independence Hall. He is
also a Good Templar, and an Odd-Fellow, holding
a respectable rank in that organization.
In 1874 he was unanimously elected Grand Worthy
Associate of the Grand Division of Wisconsin Sons
of Temperance ; and after the expiration of this term
of office he was commissioned, the following year
(187s), district deputy Grand Worthy Patriarch. He
is an honored member of the National Division of
North America and the World, same organization,
having been initiated into this, the highest branch
of the order, at Providence, Rhode Island, July,
1875. He is a prominent member of the Temple of
Honor and Temperance, and has been commissioned
twice deputy Grand Templar; and is an officer in
the Council of Select Templars, a higher branch of
that order; is a member of the Round Table and
honorary member of the Oropbilian Lyceum of Mil-
ton College. Again in March, 1877, he was commis-
sioned district deputy grand worthy patriarch Sons
of Temperance, and is one of the most active, use-
ful and exemplary citizens of the State.
In politics, he believes in true republicanism, if
its principles are carried out, but revolts at the un-
principled intrigues of any party, and is somewhat
inclined to a third party. He did eminent service
to his country during the dark period of the rebel-
lion by organizing Union leagues, promoting loyalty,
and filling the military ranks with recruits.
He favors the Methodist Episcopal church, though
not a member.
He was married in 1856, and has three daughters
of promise, namely, Lizzie Jane, Myra Asenath, and
Cora Elmina, born in the order named.
HON. IRA W. FISHER,
MEN AS HA.
IRA WILLMARTH FISHER, son of Austin
Fisher, a farmer, and Luanna /i/e Willmarth, is
a native of Vermont, and was born October 15, 1833.
He attended district school during the summers and
winters until fifteen years old, and being of a studi-
ous disposition he learned rapidly and commenced
teaching when sixteen. He followed that occupa-
tion during winters, and worked at the carpenter
and joiner's trade the rest of the year. After attain-
ing his majority he worked on the home farm about
490
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
three years, and in the summer of 1858 settled in '
Menasha, Wisconsin. There he has been engaged '
in various kinds of business. He spent two years
in the mercantile trade, then was engaged three
years in the milling and grain-dealing business,
and for seven years manufactured a general line of
wagon stock, in company with Daniel Jones. At
the expiration of that time he resumed merchandis-
ing, in connection with the forwarding and commis-
sion business, in company with H. H. Plummer.
They continued thus until the spring of 1873, when
Mr. Fisher became a manufacturer of and dealer in
masons' building material, and at the same time
conducted a boating business. He has the happy
faculty of turning his hand to almost any calling,
and having good business tact has been successful
in most of his enterprises.
Since he settled in Menasha Mr. Fisher has been
a very useful citizen. He was town superintendent
of schools for about three years. He was at one time
a member of the board of supervisors, the school
board, and the town and village board, and has al-
ways been willing to give the time necessary to attend
to local interests and advance local enterprises.
In the autumn of 1868 he was elected to the State
senate, and in the sessions of the legislature held in
1869 and 1870 was among the most diligent mem-
bers. During the last session his labors were espe-
cially hard, he being chairman of two committees,
the joint committee on charitable and benevolent
institutions and State's prison, and also a member of
the committee on banks and banking.
In politics Mr. Fisher has always acted with the
republican party. He is a communicant in the Bap-
tist church, and his character stands high both as a
business man and a Christian.
Mrs. Fisher was Clarissa Celia n^e Brown, of Ad-
dison, Vermont. They were united September 15,
1856, and have had four children, two of whom, a
son and daughter, are now living. In her early life
Mrs. Fisher had quite a taste for painting, portrait
and landscape, and has cultivated it more or less to
the present time (1877). Some of her portrait
painting is eminently praiseworthy ; her wax-work,
too, is fine. But her indulgence in these branches
of art serves only for recreation ; she is thoroughly
domestic, and gives her personal attention to house-
hold matters.
EDWARD N. FOSTER,
FOND DU LAC.
EDWARD NEWELL FOSTER, who for more
than forty years has been a resident of Wis-
consin, was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, July
9, 1810, the son of Edward and Rebecca (Strong)
Foster. His paternal grandfather was in the conti-
nental army, and bought his land in the town of
Union, Connecticut, with continental money. His
father moved to Augusta, Oneida county. New York,
when Edward was one year old, and about twelve
years later removed to Smithfield (now Stockbridge),
Madison county. There the son worked on a farm
and in a mill for twelve years, having meanwhile,
during his earlier residence there, the educational
privileges of a common school and a year's attend-
ance at a local academy. In the autumn of 1836 he
arrived at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in the follow-
ing spring settled at Fort Atkinson, in Jefferson
county, being accompanied by an elder brother,
Alvin. Dwight Foster, his eldest brother, had set-
tled there during the previous autumn, being the
first white man to build a house in that place.
There Edward remained cultivating land and keep-
ing a public house until 1848, when he went to May-
ville, in Dodge county, and in company with his
brother Alvin and others engaged in the milling
business until 1864, when he removed to Fond du
Lac. There, in company with General Hamilton,
he was engaged in the manufacture of linseed oil
until 1875, when he retired from business.
Although Mr. Foster has never been an office
seeker, he has held several positions of trust and
honor. His brother Alvin was the first sheriff of
Jefferson county, being appointed by the governor;
and afterward served as deputy. Our subject was
afterward elected by the people, and was the first
person who held the office by their gift. He took
the first census of Jefferson and Dodge counties
preparatory to the Territory becoming a State.
While living at Mayville hfe was a member of the
general assembly during two terms, and has since
been mayor of Fond du Lac for the same length
of time.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
491
In ijolitics, Mr. Foster was in early life a whig, and
has acted with tlie republican party since it was
originated. He is both a Freemason and an Odd-
Fellow, belonging to the subordinate lodges. Al-
though not a cluirch member he has great reverence
for sacred things, and takes the teaching of Christ
for his guide in life.
His wife was Marietta ne'e Rankin, of Mannsville,
Madison county, New York, their union dating July
17, 1834. They have had five children, four of whom
are living. Tlie eldest son, Edward J., is a station
agent at Sheboygan. The two daughters are at
home, and the other son is a railroad man at Reeds-
burg, Sauk county.
Although in his sixty-seventh year, Mr. Foster,
having always been of temperate habits, and taken
the best of care of himself, stands perfectly erect,
with all the dignity of matured manhood. He is
not an old citizen of Fond du Lac, but has lived
there long enough to acquire, by his correct busi-
ness habits and exemplary life, the high esteem of
his fellow-citizens.
HON. PHILETUS SAWYER,
OSHKOSII.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Vermont,
was born in Rutland, September 22, 1816. He
is the son of Epliraim and Polly (Parks) Sawyer, who
moved to Essex county. New York, when Philetus
was only one year old. There his early youth was
spent on his father's farm, in his father's blacksmith
shop and in a neighboring saw-mill, with about three
months' annual attendance at a district school, in
which the simplest rudiments of learning were
taught. At the age of seventeen he pledged his
father one hundred dollars for the remainder of his
minority, and from his wages in a saw-mill, in about
two years, canceled this obligation, spending at the
same time two more winters in the district school.
After a short time he operated the mill on contract
with good success, and in the autumn of 1847, with
about two thousand dollars in his pocket, the fruit
of his own industry, he removed to Wisconsin and
settled on a farm in Fond du Lac county. Two
years of half crops satisfied him that his fortune did
not lie in farming. The Wolf River pinery, twenty
miles north, was at that time attracting considerable
attention, and in December, 1849, Mr. Sawyer re-
moved to Algoma, then the nucleus of a village and
now a part of the city of Oshkosh. The next spring
he took a saw-mill, which he operated on a contract
for a time, and not long afterward rented it, and in
1853 purchased it, in company with Messrs. Brand
and Orcott, of Fond du Lac. Tliree years after-
ward Mr. Orcott retired from the firm, and in 1862
Mr. Sawyer became sole proprietor of the property
and business, paying Mr. Brand seventy thousand
dollars and the amount he put in for his interest.
The business had been carefully managed, and had
proved a marked success. About two years after-
ward Mr. Sawyer took his only son, Edgar P. Saw-
yer, into partnership with him, and during the thir-
teen years they have been together they have accu-
mulated a fortune of more than half a million dollars.
This has all been done by careful attention to busi-
ness conducted on the strictest rules of honor and
integrity. He has always made his contracts defi-
nite and clear ; hence has had few misunderstand-
ings and no lawsuits. He has always been lenient
toward debtors, careful to oppress no one, and
among business men has a reputation for correct
practices as well as principles. He has a large in-
terest in the First National Bank of Oshkosh.
Mr. Sawyer has been a favorite with the people
in the municipality of the city, and in both the as-
sembly and congressional districts. He was mem-
ber of the legislature in 1857 and 1861; mayor of
the city in 1863 and 1864; a member of congress
from 1865 to 1875, when he peremptorily declined
a sixth nomination. Nearly all those ten years in
congress he was on the committee on commerce,
and, though not the chairman, did the leading work.
By his untiring efforts large appropriations were se-
cured for the improvement of harbors in his district.
For six years he had charge of all the appropria-
tions for rivers and harbors in the United States.
He was always very attentive to the wants of his
constituents. During all the time he was in con-
gress Mr. Sawyer was noted as a worker rather than
speaker, and probably no member was more diligent
than he.
In politics, Mr. Sawyer was originally a " barn-
burner" or free-soil democrat, but since 1856 has
492
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION ART.
acted with the republican party. J_)uring the rebel-
lion no man in Oshkosh gave more time or money
to aid in carrying on the war than he. He labored
with untiring zeal and patriotism, and his earnest
pleas and generous contributions swelled the volun-
teer bounty funds. In promoting religious and be-
nevolent causes his donations are always generous.
In many ways he has contributed and is contribut-
ing to the prosperity of this city.
Mr. Sawyer and his son have a heavy interest in
the Sawyer Manufacturing Company, which is en-
gaged in the manufacture of tlireshing machines,
his son having full charge of their interests in the
enterprise. He uses his money freely for the de-
velopment of local interests, and no man here is
more public-spirited. He has an interest in the
Menomonee River Lumber Company, which has a
yard and office in Chicago.
In 1842 Mr. Sawyer was married to Miss Malvina
M. Hadley, of Essex county, New York. They
have had five children, three of whom, the son al-
ready mentioned and two daughters, are now living.
The elder daughter, twenty-one years of age, was
educated at Vassar College.
HON. JOSEPH GOODRICH,
MIL TON.
HON. JOSEPH GOODRICH, the founder of
the village of Milton, and of Milton College,
was born in Goodrich Hollow, near the town of
Hancock, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, May 12,
1800. His father, Uriah Goodrich, was a lineal
descendant of John Goodrich, who emigrated from
Gloucester, England, and settled in Weathersfield,
Connecticut. He was related to the Gillette family,
which resided in the same State, and from which
several distinguished men have sprung. The cele-
brated " Peter Parley," a writer for the youth, was
a member of this Goodrich family ; and Professor
C. A. Goodrich, another member, was long engaged
as a teacher in Yale College, and assisted his father-
in-law, Noah Webster, in the preparation of his
dictionaries of the English language.
The mother of Joseph Goodrich was Mary Car-
penter, descended from English ancestors, who were
members of the Seventh-day Baptist churches of
London city, nearly two hundred years ago. A mem-
ber of the family came to this country and settled at
an early day in South Kingstown, Rhode Island.
The Rev. Solomon Carpenter, D.D., who has labored
many years as a missionary in Shanghai, China, is a
nephew of Mr. Goodrich's mother. Through both
parents he was connected with a very wide circle of
relatives in the New England States and in New
York. One of his sisters, Mrs. Deborah Carr, was
the mother of the Hon. Solomon C. Carr, a promi-
nent citizen of Milton, and of Professor Ezra S.
Carr, formerly in the State University of Wisconsin,
and now superintendent of public instruction in
California.
At the age of twelve our subject went to live with
his maternal uncle, Deacon Sylvester Carpenter, at
Stephentown, Rensselaer county, New York. Here
he was trained in the avocation of husbandry, and
received a limited education in a district school.
During a residence of six years with this uncle he
developed a vigorous physical constitution, an act-
ive, self-reliant and enterprising character, and very
industrious, honest and religious habits. At sixteen
years of age he experienced a change of heart under
the operation of the Holy Spirit, and united with the
denomination of Christians called Seventh-day Bap-
tists, in the faith of which he remained until his
death, exemplifying his religious profession in a con-
sistent and useful life. He manifested those other
traits which made him a trusted leader in after life
— a practical sense, a sprightly and happy nature,
great courage, and an indomitable will.
At the age of seventeen, he launched out in sup-
port of himself, and early in the spring of the year,
with a small pack on his back which contained his
scanty wardrobe and a new axe, lie arrived at Alfred,
Alleghany county. New York. He at once made a'
selection for a future home, and began operations
(with only fifty cents in his pocket) toward clearing
away the forest and breaking up the new ground.
He afterward chose another farm in the same vi-
cinity, and brought it also under cultivation.
On the 22d of December, 182 1, he was married in
Petersburg, Rensselaer county, New York, to Miss
Nancy Maxson, daughter of Luke and Lydia Max-
son, a young woman of great industry, close economy,
and sterling Christian culture, who proved a help-
^y^c^-^-^^^^r-^^:.^^:^^::!^ i^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
495
meet in the fullest sense of the word. A few days
after their marriage they settled in their humble
home in Alfred, and commenced house-keeping in
a small log-cabin. Here they struggled under the
privations of poverty and a pioneer life, laying the
foundations for a most successful career and an
abundant competence.
In the autumn of 1823 with the assistance of his
father, he erected a saw-mill on the Vandermark
creek in his neighborhood, and in this he commenced
work the following winter. In the succeeding year
he began the erection of a two-storied frame house
on his farm, but was not able to finish it until 1827.
This house, when completed, was the largest in that
section, and was employed for town elections, school
district meetings, and religious worship on the .Sab-
bath. He aided largely iri the erection of the first
school-house in his neighborhood and in starting a
school in it. In addition to his other labors, he kept
a small store and a temperance hotel; manufactured
potash, and purchased lumber and rafted it down
the Susquehanna river to market. He had some
military instincts, and was honored by his fellow-
citizens with the position of major in the militia.
In the summer of 1838, he again removed still
farther westward, with the view of making a home
somewhere in the prairie country, having become
weary of living in the midst of the steep hills and
surrounding forests. He had met with some re-
verses in his business, and had listened to glowing
accounts of the beautiful and fertile lands in southern
Wisconsin ; and, in company with a few friends, he
made a tour of observation to the West, and landing
in Milwaukee, then a small village, proceeded at
once to the valley of the Rock river, with a pack on
his back, taking this time a spade, instead of an axe,
to test the soil. After traveling a few days, he de-
cided to settle permanently upon a small prairie
then known as Du Lac. The quiet beauty of the
scenery, the rich alluvial soil and the superior loca-
tion determined his choice; he was delighted in the
highest degree with the location.
Thus, contrary to the practice of the earliest set-
tlers, he located on the open prairie, not even near
a lake or any water-course, nor in the timber.- The
spot was selected with rare foresight. He drew on
a map straight lines from Chicago to Madison, the
capital of the Territory, and between two eastern
bends in the Rock river at the points where Fort
Atkinson and Janesville are now located ; and at the
place where these lines crossed each other on the
prairie he erected his house — a frame structure,
the first of the kind in the section. This was the
beginning of Milton. The public roads between the
cities above named, when subsequently laid out,
intersected at a point not more than ten rods dis-
tant from his home. On the prairie where he settled,
and within a short distance of his residence, have
been constructed three lines of railway.
He occupied the summer in preparing a home for
his family, and in laying plans to induce his friends
to settle in the vicinity with him. Those who accom-
panied him settled near him. Many of his relatives
found homes subsequently in his neighborhood. He
attracted from societies in the East many prominent
men and women who were characterized by indus-
try, intelligence, enterprise and piety. Some of them
have since acquired large fortunes and attained to
prominent positions in the country. A large church
of his own denomination grew out of the efforts of
himself and his noble wife; and a most thorough
temperance sentiment, controlling for a long time
the whole town, was created by him. Every genuine
reform in our government, in society, or in the
church, has had his most hearty cooperation and
aid. Excellent public schools have been fostered,
and a flourishing college has been established, in
the town which he started. But we anticipate.
Having made all the preparations possible for the
reception of his family, he returned to his New York
home, disposed of his property and came back with
his family to his Wisconsin home in the following
spring. The journey was made by land and with
four teams, one being a single-horse. He was
accompanied by several of his neighbors, some of
them with their families. The difficulties of the
journey tested in the fullest degree his courage and
sagacity. During the first day's travel, the vehicle
in which his family were riding tipped over, and the
collar-bone of his wife was broken ; and the con-
sequent pain and discomfort which this devoted
woman experienced in this long journey can hardly
be realized by those acquainted only with the mod-
ern mode of easy travel. This route lay through
snow and mud, the country sometimes being over-
flowed with water. The weather was stormy, and
the route was generally through a sparsely settled
country. The family arrived at their small home on
the bleak prairie during the cold winds of early
March. They settled down, twelve persons in all,
without a chair, table or bedstead. On the Sabbath
day following their arrival they, together with their
496
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
friends from the East, met for worship in their
humble abode, and after divine service organized
themselves into a religious society.
During the summer after their arrival Mr. Good-
rich erected another house, and also a frame barn,
the first one, it is believed, in the county. He
began at once, with great energy, to lay the foun-
dation of a village. He gave twenty acres for a
public square, on which are now located the rail-
road depot and the graded school building; he do-
nated building-lots to mechanics, and assisted them
in the erection of their houses and shops ; he kept
an open house of welcome to very many of the early
settlers, and gave the use of lands to the district
school, t-o the church of which he was a member,
to the cemetery of the village, to the Academy when
it was first erected, and to the railroad which passed
through his village. His home was used for religious
worship on the Sabbath, and a public school was
taught in it a portion of the time. He started a
hotel, a store, and the post-office of the place; he
aided many of his neighbors to secure good loca-
tions of land and to begin life, and assisted largely
all the public enterprises of his section, and among
them the railroad from Milwaukee to Prairie du
Chien. He invented the mode of building houses
with gravel cemented together with lime, — a method
which became quite common in the county after-
ward. He built, at his own expense, an edifice in
which he started the Academy, from which has
grown the magnificent college of the place. This
institution was the especial object of his life. His
donations to it were constant and munificent, and
he had the satisfaction of seeing it grow to the
proud distinction of a leading institution in the
State. He erected other buildings, which have been
used as a hotel, stores, and private residences, now
known as the "Goodrich block."
He received many marks of the esteem and con-
fidence of the people. He held for some time most
of the local offices of trust and responsibility in the
town ; was president, a long time, of tlie trustees of
the Academy; director in the company which con-
structed the railroad through the place, and a mem-
ber of the State legislature in 1855; and to the last
named position he was chosen by the unanimous
vote of the district. He was consulted in almost
every enterprise of any value in liis section of the
country.
On the 30th of October, 1857, he lost his faitliful
and devoted wife, her death, which was quite unex-
pected, resulting from heart disease. The loss was |
an irreparable one to the family, to the church of ]
which she was a " mother in Israel," and to the
entire community. Two children were the fruit of '
their marriage, a son and a daughter; the former,
Ezra Goodrich, resides on the patrimonial estate, \
and the latter, Jane G., is the wife of the Hon.
Jeremiah Davis, of Davis Junction, Illinois, a lady
of great moral worth and superior social qualities. ;
Mr. Goodrich was married again on the 24th of '<■
February, 1859, to Mrs. Susan H. Rogers, widow of \
the Rev. L. T. Rogers, and a native of Rhode Island. ■
She proved a valuable aid to him on account of her '
large experience, her intelligence and her Christian :
worth. j
He died October 9, 1867, after a three days' ill-
ness, of congestion of the brain. His funeral was j
attended by a large concourse of people drawn from \
great distances. The old pioneers came from the
surrounding country, and carried his body to its :
final resting-place amid expressions of the most pro- i
found sorrow, the universal refrain being : " How -J
greatly he will be missed ! " i
In personal appearance he was large sized, with '
a heavy head, small grayish eyes, broad shoulders, j
and rugged constitution. His step was very elastic, i
and all the actions of his body were quick and
vigorous. He was endowed with a remarkable trait ,
of humor, and his narratives of personal adventure, \
his ready and witty repartee, and his own rousing ]
laughter, made his company the most genial and .
entertaining; to this he added a warm and generous ■
heart, which attached to him hosts of friends. He
executed all his plans with great promptness and
uncommon energy, and hence he seldom failed in .
his enterprises. He was positive and fixed in his
views, political and religious. He was for many
years a decided anti-slavery man, a member of the •
old whig party, and, after it, a consistent member (
of the republican party: His home was a refuge '
for the fugitive slave. He labored constantly to '
promote the temperance reform, and to aid the
inebriate to abandon his cup. He held, as has \
already been stated, the peculiar views of the '\
Seventh-day Baptists, and he embraced all proper ■
occasions to propagate those views. He was a man ;
of great hospitality; thousands have "cut their S
notch at his table." His large soul welcomed every 1
new truth, every discovery in science, every practi- \
cal invention, as something added to the general J
stock of wisdom and usefulness. His apt sayings |
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
497
would pass from mouth to mouth, and be quoted in
sermons and public addresses. He lived emphat-
ically in the present, using all his powers and the
outward means at his command to promote what he
considered the best interests. He was a man of the
sternest integrity, and of the most hearty devotion
to the Christian religion. The fruits of his labors
survive him in the morality of the place, in the
reformatory tendencies of the people, in the busi-
ness enterprises which he carried to completion, in
the church which he organized and fostered, and in
the college which was the hope and pride of his life.
REV. JENKIN L. JONES,
JANESVILLE.
THE subject of this sketch was born at Blaen-
cathal, Llandysul, Cardiganshire, South Wales,
November 14, 1843, and is the seventh child of
Richard Lloyd Jones and Mary nie Thomas, both
descended from sturdy Welsh families, whose tend-
encies were to independence of thought in matters
of politics and religion. The first Unitarian church,
known in the parlance of the times as Socinian, was
built in South Wales in 1780, under the direction of
Rev. Jenkin Jones, from whom our subject receives
his name. His father, Richard Lloyd Jones, was a
hatter by trade, conducting a prosperous business
in that line; but the larger possibilities of the land
across the sea induced him, more for the sake of his
family than his own, to leave his native shore, and
in 1844, with the entire family (our subject a boy in
his mother's arms), made the journey to America,
and in the following spring settled in Jefferson
county, Wisconsin, in the midst of a dense wood,
where they had to cut down a tree to make an
opening skyward. Here the family settled on one
hundred and twenty acres of government land, and
after purchasing a yoke of oxen and a cow, had
remaining a solitary gold sovereign as their stock-
in-trade. Here they remained for twelve years,
then moved into Sauk county, where they sojourned
five years; thence they removed into Iowa county,
where the father still resides with most of his chil-
dren, being now in his seventy-sixth year. The
mother, a most excellent and exemplary ^woman, to
whom our subject owes many of his best traits of
character, lived to see her youngest and eleventh
child attain to his seventeenth year, when she died,
in August, 1870, in the sixty-fourth year of her age,
and is buried in Spring Green, Sauk county, one of
her children only having preceded her to the " farther
shore."
Our subject grew up on tlie farm. He commenced
attending the log school at the age of five years, and
continied to alternate between school in winter and
farm work in summer till the age of eighteen. In
the last named year he spent nearly two terms in
the Spring Green Academy, and at the end of that
time was well grounded in all the English branches,
was somewhat advanced in algebra and geometry,
had some acquaintance with the Latin language,
and was contemplating a course in the State Uni-
versity when the war of the rebellion broke out.
After a severe mental struggle, in which the various
self-interests and aspirations of youth were opposed
to patriotism and love of country, finally the scale
turned in favor of the latter, and on the 14th of
August, 1862, in his nineteenth year, he enlisted as
a private in the 6th Wisconsin Battery of Light
Artillery, and served in the western army till the
close of the war. He participated in the battles of
Corinth, the Holly Springs campaign, the Yazoo Pass
expedition ; took part in the campaign against Vicks-
burg, the battles of Port Gibson, Raymond, Jackson,
Champion Hill, Black River; forty-seven days in the
advance line of artillery in the siege, and in the
autumn of 1863 marched to the relief of Chattanooga,
took part in Sherman's assault on Mission Ridge and
in the advance on Atlanta, and in the defense of
Nashville in the winter of 1864-5, serving through-
out in the ranks. Having neither sought promotion
nor furlough, he never fell back from the front.
During the winter of 1865-6 he taught the public
school at the village of Arena, Iowa county, and
spent part of the following summer on the farm.
But the hungry religious isolation of his home, and
the voice of conscience crying in his blood, impelled
him toward the liberal ministry. The influence of
his home had ahvays been of a deeply religious
character; and accordingly, in September, 1866, he
entered the theological school at Meadville, Penn-
sylvania, where he heard the first Unitarian sermon
of his life. In this institution he remained four
498
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
years, devoting the first year to the preparatory
study of Greek, Latin and Philosophy.
In the summer vacation of 1868 he preached his
first sermon in the school house near his country
home, where his parents and family had the privi-
lege of listening to the first Unitarian sermon ever
heard by them in America, preached by him whom
they had brought hither a babe in arms twenty-four
years previously; and it was to them a season of
peculiar joy and gladness.
He graduated in 1870, and was married on the
following day to Miss Susan C. Barber, who for
several years had been the amanuensis of Professor
F. Huidekofer, of the Divinity School, and for three
years she had been associated with him in the
superintendency of the Unitarian Sunday-school.
She is a lady not only of very high literary attain-
ments and social accomplishments, but has proved
herself a helpmeet in the truest sense. She shares
with him the burdens of the study, conducting much
of his correspondence, transferring most of his
thoughts to paper by dictation, and is almost as
widely known in the denomination as her husband,
whose good work she so ably seconds. She has
been secretary of the Wisconsin Unitarian Confer-
ence for three years; and as a parochial worker she
is an indispensable adjunct and coadjutor of her
husband.
Previous to graduating he had received invitations
for settlement from two western congregations and
one eastern, but accepted a call to the pastorate
of the Unitarian Church at Winnetka, a small sub-
urban village near Chicago, Illinois, the smallest
place and the lowest salary that had been offered
him. Here he remained one year, when, feeling the
need of more room and more work, he removed to
Wisconsin, and for one year operated as State mis-
sionary under the auspices of the State Unitarian
Conference, with headquarters at Janesville, when
he accepted a call to the pastorate of All Souls
Church, of that city, which position he now occupies.
In May, 1875, he was elected corresponding sec-
retary of the Western Unitarian Conference (then in
session in Chicago), with an arrangement with the
parish in Janesville that he was to spend a fourth of
his time in the field. In the discharge of the duties
of this position he has traveled during the last two
years about twenty thousand miles, having visited a
very large number of the families of that faith in the
valley of the Mississippi, and spoken in Nebraska,
Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massa-
chusetts and Wisconsin. For three years he pub-
lished a series of Sunday-school lessons, the first ever
published, in the Unitarian denomination, and were
widely used. He has also been secretary of the
Western Unitarian Sunday-school Society from its
inception to the present time, in the organization of
which he was mainly instrumental in 1873.
Mr. Jones belongs to the radical type of Unitarian
thinkers, of the school of which Rev. O. B. Froth-
ingham, perhaps, is a leading light, but with more
warmth and glow of emotive religion than many of
that class possess. He is full of the roseate glow
of tender, enthusiastic feeling, and a greater sense
of the nearness and reality of Divine love. He is
sympathetic and tender as a woman, and every idea
distills through his heart before it reaches the out-
side world. He is emotional rather than logical,
and, while he possesses unusual breadth of thought,
he could never elaborate a system of theology or
philosophy. His system is so broad that he would,
if he could, accept the creed of every human being
as his own; but in default of this, contents himself
with accepting all he can of each, and remaining
open to conviction as regards the remainder. He
is enthusiastic, energetic and hard-working, a man
who will be more likely to wear out than rust out,
and yet a thoroughly healthy man. He has great
faith in and hope for humanity, believing that man
contains within himself the germ of a far greater
development than he has yet attained. He is intent
upon giving him plenty of air, sunshine and growing
room, with no fears of the result. He cares more
for generosity than formal justice, insisting that
justice is only found in the former. In a conflict
between his heart and his judgment he would give
the looser reign to heart, and let it drive ahead,
while the judgment meekly followed behind with
excuses. He has a hearty love of freedom, born of
the bold hills and rugged fastnesses of his native
Wales; and his love for humanity prompts him to
demand the same rights for all others which he
claims for himself; hence he is an ardent advocate
of the equal rights of women. He is also an active,
pronounced and radical advocate of temperance
principles, enlisting boldly in favor of total absti-
nence and prohibition. He goes to the roots of
subjects, and spends but little time on the branches.
In style he is fervid, eloquent and enthusiastic,
but rarely systematic. He throws out ideas as they
come to him, and leaves his auditors to arrange and
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
499
reconcile them as best they can. Although well read,
he is more practical than distinctively scholarly.
He has much of what phrenologists call ideality,
and yet a sufficient amount of every-day common
sense to relieve him of the charge of being visionary.
It is difficult to conceive of his having fought in the
army, or of his ever feeling inclined to fight any-
body, or being able to imagine the existence of an
enemy. If he feels a grudge toward anything in
this mortal world it is toward what he characterizes
as " that gloomy Calvinistic theology," at which he
never loses an opportunity to deal a sturdy blow.
His union with Miss Barber has been blessed
with two very promising children : the elder, a
daughter, Mary Lloyd; the younger, a son, Richard
Lloyd.
STEPHEN FREEMAN,
STEPHEN FREEMAN was born in the parish
of Llanarchmedd, Island of Anglaise, North
Wales, December 26, 1834, and is the son of John
and Elizabeth (Owens) Freeman, natives of the
same island. They both died within a few days
of each other, in July, 1835, leaving Stephen and
two elder brothers orphans, without any provision
for their support. One of the brothers died soon
after the parents; the other, Charles Freeman, is
carrying on a mercantile and shipping business at
Bangor, North Wales.
The only school which Stephen ever attended
was a Sunday-school, nor did he receive any book
education except what he picked up almost by in-
tuition and observation, and yet he is one of the
most intelligent and generally informed men of the
day. His early experiences were fraught with ex-
treme hardship. At the age of ten years he left
the family with whom he had lived since the death
of his parents and moved to Hollyhead, where he
apprenticed himself to learn the boiler-making trade
at the yards of the Chester and Hollyhead Railroad
Works. After remaining there three years he re-
moved to Crew, and entered the locomotive, shops
at that place, so as to gain better advantages in
finishing his trade. Having completed his appren-
ticeship he went to Liverpool, and was employed
for some time in the ship-yards of Laird and Sons,
at Birkenhead. At an early stage in the Crimean
war he shipped on board the steam transport Emelia
as a mechanic, to serve in case of emergency, and
remained in this service nine months, when he
again resumed his position in the works of Laird
and Sons, where he continued till 1856. Having
heard much of the advantages which the great
country across the Atlantic afforded to aspiring
young men, especially mechanics, he resolved that
as soon as he had accumulated sufficient means
he would emigrate to America. Accordingly on
the loth of May, 1856, he left in a sailing vessel
for New York city, and arrived there on the 5th
of July following; remained several months on the
Atlantic coast, principally at Rome, New York, and
on the 5th of January, 1857, arrived at Chicago,
Illinois. Times were dull generally during that
year, and Chicago was no exception. Thence he
removed to St. Louis, Missouri, which was not more
promising; and after making a tour through several
of the southern States, finding no encouragement to
settle at any of the points visited, he retraced his
steps as far as Centralia, Illinois, where he found
employment at his trade in the machine shops of the
Illinois Central Railroad Works, where he remained
a short time. Having been induced to try his hand
at farming in that neighborhood, he took the man-
agement of a farm, which he conducted "on shares"
for three years with reasonable success. But soon
after the opening of the rebellion he entered the
service of the United States navy as a boiler-maker
in the Mississippi squadron, and remained in the
service till the spring of 1864, when failing health
compelled him to retire. He next started a "repair
shop " at Cairo, Illinois, which, after running four
months, he was obliged to abandon on account of
his health, which again broke down; and by the
advice of physicians he removed to Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, in the autumn of 1864, where he ob-
tained employment in the shops of the Milwaukee
and St. Paul Railroad Company. He remained in
this situation until the month of February, 1867,
moving with the company's shops to Watertown,
Wisconsin, in January, 1866. Having accumulated
a handsome sum of money, he now resolved to go
into business on his own account, and formed a
500
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
copartnership with a gentleman named John Kirt-
land, to carry on the boiler-making and repairing
business, and settled at Racine. In May of the
same year (1867) he purchased the interest of his
partner, and conducted the business alone until
August, 1868, when he formed a partnership with
William E. Davis, which continued until 1869. In
the last named year he added to his former busi-
ness an iron foundry and machine shop, which con-
tinued under his own management for five years
with very decided success. In October, 1874, he
still further extended his operations by adding a
department for the manufacture of florists' orna-
mental work, — aquaria, ferneries, brackets, etc.
The products of this department have received the
highest awards wherever they have been exhibited.
They carried off the first premium at the Wiscon-
sin State Fair in 1875 ; a gold medal at New
Orleans, February, 1876; an award by the New
York Horticultural Society in the same year; and
two awards at the great Centennial Exposition in
Philadelphia, — one on aquaria, flower stands, etc.,
and one on brackets, window boxes, etc. In. 1876
he yet further enlarged his establishment by add-
ing a department for the manufacture of the cele-
brated " Centennial Fanning Mill," a winnowing ma-
chine coming into very general use among farmers.
This branch of the business is under the manage-
ment of Mr. Greville E. Clarke, who has become
a partner in this department.
Mr. Freeman is perhaps as distinguished an illus-
tration of a self-made man as the State affords.
Left an orphan in infancy, without means, influ-
ence, education or aid, he has, by his own innate
powers, indomitable perseverance, industry, wisdom
and high moral principles, raised himself to a
position of independence and influence. He com-
menced business in 1867 with a capital of fifteen
hundred dollars, and in less than ten years his
stock-in-trade has increased to over fifty-five thou-
sand dollars, with a well-established business and
annual sales amounting to one hundred thousand
dollars. This history has but few parallels.
Mr. Freeman was elected a member of the board
of supervisors of Racine county in 1873. He has
been a member of the Independent Order of Odd-
Fellows since 187 i. He is an adherent of the Epis-
copal church ; and although not a politician, is in
sympathy with the democratic party.
On the 4th of July, 1857, he married Miss
Elizabeth Willich, of Pennsylvania, daughter of
John and Catherine Willich, natives of Germany.
They have had nine children, two of whom died
in infancy. The survivors are : Charles, Michael,
Margaret, Mary, John, Stephen and Hattie. All
strong, healthy and promising.
ALLEN P. LOVEJOY,
JANESVILLB.
ALLEN P. LOVEJOY was born at Wayne, Maine,
t\. March 21, 1825, and is the son of Nathan Love-
joy, a pioneer of that State, and Temperance Wing,
daughter of Allen Wing, Es(i., who is chiefly remem-
bered in connection with the building of the first
church in the town of Wayne, in which enterprise
he was the chief instrument. Like the race from
which he sprung, his father was a man of sterling
integrity, strong religious convictions and largely
developed reasoning faculties — a distinguished and
influential man in his day and generation. He was
the son of Captain John Lovejoy, a conspicuous and
valiant soldier of the revolutionary war. The family
is of English Puritan origin, and has produced some
of the most noted men in American history. The
distinguished Elijah and Owen Lovejoy, of Illinois,
were of the same lineage, and educated in the same
academy with our subject. The whole race is noted \
for courage, perseverance and unswerving fidelity to v
those principles of liberty and truth, for the main- i
tenance of which the Pilgrim Fathers were forced '*
from their native land to seek a home in the wilds '^
of New England, because Old England had not as %
yet learned the lesson of tolerant indulgence to re- |
ligious opinions that now distinguishes the English I
mind, and which in a great measure has traveled 1
back from the descendants of these same fathers, |
now settled on this western continent.
Our subject received his education in the Wes-
leyan Seminary of Readfield, Maine, where he be-
came a fair English scholar, and a preeminent \
mathematician, having few equals in the exact sci-
ences. He was raised on a farm and early imbued
with habits of industry and self-reliance which have ,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
501
been among the leading characteristics of his life.
At the age of eighteen he taught a public school in
his native State, and in the year following was ap-
prenticed to learn the carpenter and builders' trade,
at which he subsequently worked in his native State
for some years with reasonable success ; but the
larger possibilities of the undeveloped country west
of the great lakes induced him, in 1850, to break
away from his eastern home and cast in his lot with
the young but promising State of Wisconsin. In
1850, being then twenty-five years of age, he landed
in Janesville with a very small stock of this world's
goods as his capital in trade, having made the jour-
ney from Milwaukee to Janesville on foot. For nine
years after his arrival he was engaged in building,
and being a superior mechanic, as well as a man of
stern integrity and high business qualifications, his
success was in proportion to his merits. In 1859 he
added to his business a lumber yard, which proved
so successful that he resolved to discontinue build-
ing, and devote himself exclusively to the sale of
lumber. In 1863 he enlarged his business and took
into partnership with him Mr. I). S. Treat. This
alliance lasted for two years, and in 1865 Mr. J. A.
Blount became his partner, and the business' has
since been conducted under the firm name of Love-
joy and Blount. In 1870 he again enlarged his
business by establishing a branch house at Oregon,
Wisconsin, under the name of Lovejoy and Richards.
In 1874 the business was still farther enlarged by
adding another branch house at Brooklyn, Wis-
consin, which is known by the firm name of Love-
joy and Richards, Mr. Lovejoy being the principal
owner of the three establishments. In 1868 he pur-
chased some twenty-five thousand acres of pine land
in northern Wisconsin, which has proved to be a
most valuable speculation and a source of untold
wealth.
He is also connected with various other industries
and enterprises in Janesville. He is a large stock-
holder in the Harris Manufacturing Company, of
which he was elected a director in 1870, and presi-
dent in 1875, which position he now holds. This is
one of the most extensive and successful establish-
ments in the West for the manufacture of agricultural
machinery, and makes a specialty of the celebrated
"Leader" and "Little Chieftain" reapers and mowers
and "Prairie City" broadcast seeder, which are favor-
ite implements with the farmers of the Northwest.
The institution was organized in 1859 by the former
president of the company, James Harris, Esq., and
56
several other gentlemen ; after which Mr. Harris con-
ducted it alone until 1869, when it had become too
large a concern to be conveniently managed by one
man. It was then chartered under the general in-
corporation lavi' of the State, and has since borne the
name of the Harris Manufacturing Company. The
capital stock of this extensive concern is over one
hundred and fifty-two thousand dollars, with a sur-
plus of one hundred and five thousand dollars. The
buildings of the company, most of which are sub-
stantial brick structures, occupy nearly two blocks,
and employ about two hundred hands, besides a
large number of agents engaged in the sale of their
products. The annual business transacted by the
company foots up nearly half a million dollars. In
addition to the articles specified above, the company
does a general foundry and machine-shop business,
manufacturing and repairing, mill work of all kinds,
and agricultural implements generally. The officers
and directors of the company are as follows: A. P.
Lovejoy, president ; A. H. Sheldon, secretary ; L. L.
Robinson, treasurer; S. C. Cobb, superintendent;
A. P. Lovejoy, J. B. Crosby, E. G. Fifield, A. H.
Sheldon, L. L. Robinson, S. C. Cobb and M. H.
Curtis, directors.
Mr. Lovejoy is also a stockholder in the Janes-
ville Cotton Mill Company, the owner of a large
amount of real property in Janesville and in other
parts of Wisconsin, and one of the largest taxpayers
in the State.
He would be recognized in any community as a
man of great strength and power. He is tall, well-
proportioned, muscular, and capable of much endur-
ance. The mould of his countenance and shape of
his head clearly indicate self-reliance, an unyielding
will and a fixedness of purpose not easily disturbed.
His movements are slow but with precision and fore-
thought. He is logical in all his methods, and has
no convictions which have not been reached by a
process of reasoning. His mind is comprehensive,
and he rarely troubles himself about details. With
proper discipline he would do well at the head of
an army, but would make a poor corporal or even a
captain. He is thoroughly methodical, and has
great confidence in the signs plus and minus, with
a margin to cover accidents. He has great respect
for the honest convictions of others, but has no faith
in things unseen or incapable of demonstration. He
values men according to their present worth, and
not their own estimate of what they expect to be.
He is decidedly practical, always insisting upon
502
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
facts and figures, but has a natural contempt for all
theories which have not been proved by an actual
test. He is thoroughly analytical, and when a con-
clusion is reached he has no doubt of its correct-
ness, and it at once becomes incorporated into his
character and controls his actions. He has a keen
sense of the ludicrous, and is naturally social and
full of fun, but his peculiar habits of thought have
induced him to become generally reticent and almost
wholly absorbed with the men and things which have
a place in his active brain. The workings of his
mind and heart are mainly discernible by the re-
sults of his conduct, as he seldom reveals himself
even to his most intimate friends. He is kind and
humane, but prefers to dispense with middle-men in
the distribution of his bounties. With a different
experience his heart would have been very much
softened, his sympathies deepened, and his natural
social qualities greatly developed. Like a good
mariner, he bears in his mind an objective point,
which he never forsakes or turns from ; but just
where or what it is those who know him best are yet
unable to tell.
Mr. Lovejoy is unmarried.
In early life his mind was much exercised on the
subject of religion, considering a religious life the
chief blessing and duty of man. But not satisfied
with any of the current theories or standards of au-
thority on this subject, he strove hard and long for
a rule or creed on which to lean and follow, and
finally adopted one peculiar to himself, more after
the Unitarian model than any other. He attends
the Congregational Church, however. In politics he
is a republican, but not a strong partisan.
MILO J. ALTHOUSE,
WAUPUN.
THE subject of this sketch, the inventor of the
celebrated Althouse wind-mill, is an eminently
self-made man. Like many other inventors, he had
a hard struggle, especially in early life. He was,
however, persevering, and pressed on steadily until
success crowned his efforts. He is a native of
Pennsylvania, and the son of Nicholas and Sarah
(Hill) Althouse, and was born August lo, 1828. In
the family were three sons, and a daughter who died
quite young. His father had no trade and was very
poor, and at nine years of age, when they were liv-
ing in New York State, Milo, ragged but resolute,
went away from home to work. The first three
years he worked for a farmer for his food and cloth-
ing, and three months' schooling annually. At the
age of twelve his school days ended and the labor
of his hands increased. Sometimes he was on a
farm, sometimes in a saw-mill, and never idle. At
times he worked all day in the field, and operated
the mill half the night, and, in a few instances, all
night. At one time he worked out-of-doors during
the daytime, and spent his evenings in making bas-
kets. In boyhood he knew but little of its sports;
in later youth, none of its recreations save what
came from the earning of a few extra shillings by
extra work.
In 1849 he had, by his untiring industry, accumu-
lated one hundred dollars, and although he was of
age he did not forsake his parents. At his sugges-
tion, with the hundred dollars, the whole family
removed to Wisconsin, and settled three miles from
Waupun. When he reached this place he had just
fifty cents left, and he resolved that that fifty cents
should never leave his pocket until the last payment
on land which he intended to purchase should be
made. It never did. During the first winter in
Wisconsin, he and the two younger brothers chopped
wood, at thirty-one cents a cord, three miles from
home ; and, short as the days were, it was not an
uncommon thing, when there was a moon, to work
thirteen or fourteen hours. Their mother would
prepare their breakfast, as far as she could, the
night before ; they would rise, finish preparing and
eat their breakfast, take their lunch, be in the woods
often before they could see to chop; eating their
cold lunch at noon, they would chop till evening,
and cord the wood by moonlight, and at eight
o'clock start for home. Thus they continued
through the winter, often reaching their log shanty
nearer nine than eight o'clock.
On first reaching Wisconsin, Milo worked on a
farm several months at fifty cents a day; then
worked land on shares, and spent the evenings in
making baskets, and thus getting a little ahead, so
that he made a payment on land. The second
autumn after coming to this State, he cut marsh hay
^M>t^2X^__
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY:
505
at one dollar per ton, and continued that employ- I
ment until the early part of November, sometimes I
working all day in the water, which was crusted over
with thin ice. In this way he finally made his last
payment on land ; the lone fifty-cent piece, with
which he had squatted down in the Badger State
two years before, disappeared, and the real estate,
unincumbered, was his.
In 1 85 1 Mr. Althouse commenced digging wells,
working not only all the day but frequently half the
night. A year later he began to build the " Wau-
pun pump," which has since become so popular, and
of which fifty thousand are now in use. It is known
all o\er the country as the "Waupun Premium
Pump." His first load of pumps Mr. Althouse
peddled himself with an o.\ team.
About 1873 he invented the famous Althouse
wind-mill, of which a thousand a year are manu-
factured. Like the pump which he makes, they are
a premium mill, bearing off the highest prize at
every State fair at which they have been exhibited
for the last three or four years. The mills are built
in two styles, the vane and the vaneless, both as
near perfection, probably, as any mill of the kind
built in the country. These mills are used for sup-
plying water for houses and cattle-yards, for railroad
stations, and geared ones for running machinery
requiring a rotary motion.
Until about 1874 Mr. Althouse was alone. Now,
however, other parties are with him, the firm being
Althouse, Wheeler and Co., the persons with him
being George F. Wheeler, D. Hinckley and P. M.
Pryor. These wind-mills go to the Pacific Slope,
and to nearly every State in the West and South.
Mr. Althouse has been president of the village.
and held one or two other small offices, but as much
as possible has avoided responsibilities in that direc-
tion. In politics he is a thorough republican, and
is well posted on public matters.
He has long been a member of the Methodist
church, and has been superintendent of its Sunday-
school many years, and has also held the office of
steward. When eleven years old, while in the habit
of swearing, one day, while working alone in the
field, he asked himself why he should use profane
language ; at the same time resolved to break off
the vicious habit, and did it there and then. Two
or three years ago, after an absence of thirty-five
years, he visited the field in the State of New York
where he made that resolution, picked up a little
cobble-stone, put it in his pocket and carries it still
as a reminder of the timely resolution. Mr. Alt-
house early left off all bad habits, and has lived not
only a remarkably industrious, but an unblemished
Christian life. It has its rich moral, which a dullard
can understand. Even now, although he has secured
an ample competency for himself and family, Mr.
Althouse leads his workmen in labor. He is very
pleasant and sociable with them, and they stick to
him like a brother. His language is "come" rather
than "go." Work with him is no punishment; he
loves it for the reward it brings. In fact he realizes
the truth of the poet's saying, "Labor is worship."
Mr. Althouse has a wife and four children, and
has lost two. Mrs. Althouse was Miss Mary Jane
Wood, of Waupun; they were married May 20, 1853,
he having a good frame house for her, finished the
day before their marriage. He is happy in his
family, happy in his success, and happy in his
" hope," th«t " anchor to the soul."
N. M. DODSON, M.D.,
DR. N. MONROE DODSON, who has long
been a medical practitioner in Wisconsin, is a
native of Pennsylvania, and was born in the town of
Huntington, Luzerne county, July 26, 1826. His
parents were John and Sephrona (Monroe) Dodson,
well-to-do-farmers. He worked at farming until
about eighteen years old, and then attended the
Berwick Academy a few terms, teaching during the
winter months. In 1846 he commenced studying
medicine in his native county, and after moving to
Madison, Wisconsin, in 1849, there continued the
same. He attended lectures in the medical depart-
ment of the Iowa University, from which he grad-
uated in June, 1850. He practiced one year in
Madison, Wisconsin, and in 1851 settled perma-
nently in Berlin. Here, for more than a quarter of a
century. Dr. Dodson has been in the general prac-
tice, and has gradually built up a most enviable
reputation for professional care, skill and success.
Desirous of keeping pace with the progress of med-
5o6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
ical and surgical science, he has absented himself
from home for a short period of time on two occa-
sions, attending lectures in the Cincinnati Medical
College and the Bellevue Hospital College. No
one is more conscious than he of the importance
and benefits of such episodes in medical and surgi-
cal practice. During the last fifteen years Dr. Dod-
son has sold drugs in connection with his profession,
and has one of the largest stores in Berlin.
He is both a Mason and Odd-Fellow, but not
active in either order. The same is true of him in
politics. He votes the republican ticket, but never
allows political matters to interrupt his professional
duties. He did, however, at one time accept of the
office of city superintendent of schools when it was
urged upon him, and discharged its duties faithfully
for a few years, the only civil office of any impor-
tance that he would ever consent to hold. Medical
practice he has long aimed to make his sole pursuit;
hence his success and high standing.
The wife of Dr. Dodson was Elizabeth Abbott,
of Cayuga county. New York. They were married
September i, 1857, and have two children.
Dr. Dodson has fine literary tastes and an inves-
tigating mind. He does all he can to encourage
mental culture and scientific research on the part of
his neighbors, and is the leading man in Berlin in
securing literary lecturers from season to season.
His heart is in all educational enterprises, and his
public-spiritedness and generous support of all mat-
ters pertaining to the public welfare have won for
him universal respect and esteem.
HON. GEORGE D. WARING,
GEORGE DWIGHT WARING is an eminently
self-made man. By the loss of his mother,
when he was five years old, he was early thrown
upon his own resources. At the age of ten he
arranged with a gentleman to keep him until he
attained his majority, so that his career from the
first has been one of self-dependence. Though
thrown upon his own resources while his hands
were quite small, he was enabled to "paddle his
own canoe," shunned all cataracts, and has had,
on the whole, a smooth as well as successful voyage.
He is the son of Ephraim Waring, a shoemaker,
and Sally nee Brown; they resided at-^asonville,
Delaware county, New York, where he was born
October 14, 18 19. His paternal grandfather parti-
cipated in the revolutionary war, but it is not known
in what capacity or how long. Ephraim Waring
moved to Bainbridge, Chenango county, when
George was an infant, and there his mother died.
The period from five to ten years of age he spent
in the families of friends. The man with whom
he made arrangements to reside until of age was
-Avery Farnham, a Masonville farmer and lumber
dealer, who moved to Steuben county, Indiana, in
1836. Up to about eighteen or nineteen, young
Waring had had only common-school privileges,
and those somewhat limited ; but being fond of
study he made some progress out of school. He
taught a winter school at the age of twenty, hav-
ing previously spent a short time at a select school.
At twenty-one he went to Kentucky, and taught
both summers and Avinters for two years, and then
returned to Indiana, and read law with R. L. Doug-
lass, of Angola, Steuben county. He was admitted
to the bar of that county, and removed thence to
Berlin in November, 1855. The next year he com-
menced legal practice, and still follows it, being
one of the leading attorneys in the third judicial
circuit. He is well-read, shrewd and skillful. He
discusses points with the judge with great per-
tinacity and with unusual success, and in every
respect is a first-class lawyer.
With his professional labors Mr. Waring has
united land operations with a good degree of suc-
cess. While reading law in Indiana, he was elected
sheriff of Steuben county, serving two years. He
was the first mayor of Berlin, elected in the spring
of 1857, and occupied that position four years;
has served three terms as district attorney, at one
time for four consecutive years, and, a little later,
for two; was deputy provost-marshal during the
rebellion; was in the State senate in 1869 and
1870, being on the judiciary committee during both
terms, and chairman of the committee on town
and county organizations one term, occupying a
high position in the Upper House, particularly
during the second session.
In politics Mr. Waring is a republican, of whig
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
507
antecedents, and a prominent man in the party in
his ])art of the State.
He is a member of tlie Congregational church,
and a man of exalted moral standing.
He was first married in 1843, his wife being
Harriet A. Hopkins, of Angola, Indiana. They
had two children, neither of whom are now living.
Mrs. Waring's death occurred February 15, 1873.
His present wife was Miss L. White, of Berlin; they
were married June 11, 1874. They have one child.
Mr. Waring is about the average height, solidly
built, and weighs two hundred pounds. His habits
are excellent; he has taken superb care of himself,
and would be taken for a younger man than he is.
REV. THOMAS J. RUGER, A.M.,
^ANESriLLE.
REV. THOMAS J. RUGER is one of the most
respected clergymen of the Protestant Episco-
pal church in Wisconsin. He was born in the town
of Northumberland, Saratoga county. New York,
February 25, 1802. In early life he worked on his
father's farm, receiving the benefits of good public
and private schools, and was, when quite a young
man, a school-teacher for a year or more. Entering
Union College, Schenectady, New York, at the age
of twenty-two, he graduated, after pursuing its full
course of study, with high honors. Soon after leav-
ing college he was married to Miss Maria Hutchins,
of Lenox, Madison county, New York.
In 1830 he became successor of Rev. Dr. Wilbur
Fiske, as principal of Wilbraham Academy, in Mas-
sachusetts, and two years later was appointed presi-
dent of the Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, New York,
which position he filled for a period of four years,
when he resigned.
In 1836 he was ordained a priest of the Protestant
Episcopal church, and accepted the rectorship of
Ciirist Church parish, of Sherburne, New York, the
duties of which office he discharged to the approval
of his parishioners. In 1839 he was called to the
rectorship of St. John's Church, Marcellus, in the
diocese of Western New York. In addition to his
pastoral labors he undertook the charge of the
academy there, and satisfactorily conducted the
institution for a period of five years. In 1844, while
in attendance at the general council of the Protest-
ant Episcopal church in the city of New York, he
was introduced to Bishop Kemper, whose diocese
then included the States of Indiana and Missouri
and the Territories (now States) of Wisconsin, Iowa
and Minnesota. The good bishop urged Mr. Ruger
to remove into his diocese and become a helper in
the Master's work of caring for the souls of the few
people scattered over the great field under his
charge. Accepting this invitation he removed that
same year to Janesville, Wisconsin, then a place of
about two hundred inhabitants.
Trinity Church parish of Janesville was organized
in September, 1844, Mr. Ruger being its first rector.
He officiated also at Beloit and Milton, holding mis-
sionary services at those points for a year or more;
at the same time the regular services at Trinity were
not intermitted. In this field he labored faithfully,
and with a great degree of success, for more than
ten years, and built up a large parish. Commencing
with not to exceed ten members of his church, it
grew to the number of about two hundred commu-
nicants within a period of about ten years. In 1855
he resigned the rectorship of Trinity parish, and
retired from the active ministry.
Soon after his arrival in Janesville he organized a
school of a high grade, called the Janesville Acad-
emy, which afforded opportunities for acquiring a
thorough education in English, the classics and
mathematics. This school was well patronized and
sustained by the citizens of Janesville and the Ter-
ritory of Wisconsin at large, and did in its day a
large amount of good.
After relinquishing the charge of Trinity parish
he engaged actively in the work of cultivating and
improving his farm. He enjoys the life of a farmer,
feels the inspiration of the sunrise and the freshness
of the morning, sleeping soundly after a day in the
field. He has continued in this occupation of his
youth to the present time (1877), with the exception
of four years, during which he was postmaster at
Janesville. As a farmer he has had fair success.
Mr. Ruger is a man of medium size, and has been
physically strong and active, and, when in his prime,
was slightly corpulent. He has been a great walker,
and has been and is fond of out-door exercise and
employment. His home and farm are a mile from
5o8
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
town, and it has been his daily habit to walk back
and forth, rarel_v if ever accepting the seat proffered
him by his neighbors, who are accustomed to ride
over the same road.
His sons, however, are not "farmer boys," and
have not helped him much in ploughing and plant-
ing. For one or another reason they strayed away
from the farm, became soldiers, and engaged in
the "learned professions." Nevertheless, in his four
sons, as well as in his three daughters, he has been
and is greatly blessed. All his domestic relations
have been and are exceedingly and uninterruptedly
happy. His social relations have also been pleasant.
His life and manners are without ostentation, but
the " daily beauty of his life " has been such that he
has drawn around him, from the ranks of the high
and the low, the rich and the poor, the simple and
the wise, men, women and children who love and
reverence him now, and who will honor and cherish
his memory.
Mr. Ruger was endowed by nature with a mind
of much vigor, and became proficient in the exact
sciences and in literature, and gave much study and
reflection to the immediate subject of his profession.
As an orator, many of his clerical compeers were
superior to him ; but as a writer and a reasoner, few,
if any of them, surpassed him. His sermons were
practical rather than doctrinal ; and while he be-
lieved in the creed of his church, and was ready to
maintain it on every proper occasion, and to give a
reason for his belief, yet he chose rather, as a means
of greater good, to lay before his hearers those truths
and principles which were delivered by the Master
during the period of His ministry, and which, by the
generations of men who have since lived, have been
regarded as divine.
Mr. Ruger spent little time in recreation, rarely
wearied, and never rested. During the active period
of his clerical life the "summer vacation" had not
come to be an incident of the clerical office, and he
wrought on, through summer and winter, heat and
cold, seeking to perform the trust of his_high office
acceptably to Him whom he served, and to the
spiritual welfare and advancement of the people.
That he has performed that trust acceptably to
Him whom he served many believe; that his minis-
trations have been acceptable to the people is mani-
fest. He continues to be a member of the diocese
of Wisconsin, and has often been called upon by the
wardens of Trinity parish and the wardens of Christ
Church parish (Janesville) to officiate when either
rectory was vacant, or the rector was absent or ill.
To these calls he has always responded.
But perhaps the respect and affection cherished
for him and his kindly ways have been most pleas-
antly and delicately shown by the frequent requests
made to him by "contracting parties" to join them
in marriage ; by the desire of many parents that he
should baptize their children ; by the many requests
of the sick and the afflicted that he should visit
them, and by the many invitations he has received
to come to the house of mourning, and help to bury
the dead.
These things have been of frequent occurrence;
and while they have been gratifying to Mr. Ruger,
in that they have manifested the love of the people
for their old friend and pastor, yet they have never
been in anywise unpleasant or even suggestive of
the thought that he was doing the proper work of
the rector of either parish. Father Ruger fills a
place in the hearts of his children in the church so
properly, so acceptably, and so deservedly, that all
regard his ministrations with favor and his benedic-
tions as blessings. Thus, for many years, he has
lived and worked in Janesville, beloved and re-
spected as a man among men, and as a minister in
the church, and has led a blameless life. If his life
has not been faultless also, few of his fellow-citizens
have noticed his faults, and none now remember
hem or speak of them.
That branch of the Ruger family in America from
which the subject of our sketch sprung, came, in the
seventeenth century, from Holland to New York,
then New Netherland. The ancestors of Mr. Ruger
for three generations back were born in Dutchess
county. New York. His father, Francis Ruger, was
a son of John Ruger, who was a son of Phillip
Ruger. His mother was Jane (Jewell) Ruger; she
was of a Puritan family of Connecticut, of English
ancestry. His grandmother, Katharine (Le Roy)
Ruger, was of a French Huguenot family. John
Ruger above named served in the army of the revo-
lution, fought in the battle of Saratoga, and con-
tinued in the army till the surrender of General
Burgoyne, with the British army, to General Gates.
Maria (Hutchins) Ruger, wife of Rev. Mr. Ruger,
is a daughter of Benjamin Hutchins and Jerusha
(Bradley) Hutchins, both natives of Connecticut.
Her paternal grandfather, Colonel Benjamin Hutch-
ins, was a captain in a Connecticut regiment in the
war of the revolution, was wounded in battle, and
never recovered from the effects of his wound. Her
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
509
grandfather, Bradley, also served in the continental
army, was taken by the British, and died while a
prisoner of war.
Thomas H. Ruger, the eldest son of our subject,
is a colonel in the United States army, and rose to
the rank of major-general in the volunteer army.
He was born at Lima, New York, April 2, 1833, and
entered the United States Military Academy at West
Point in 1850; was graduated, standing third in his
class, and assigned to the corps of engineers in the
United States army. He remained in the army a
year, then resigned, and read law in the office of
Eldredge and Pease, of Janesville. He was admitted
to the bar, and commenced practice as a member of
the firm of Eldredge, Pease and Ruger, and con-
tinued in practice until April, 1861. When the late
war began he forthwith tendered his services to the
government; was commissioned lieutenant-colonel
of the 3d Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, sent to
the field, and promoted to the command of his regi-
ment. He served through the war as commander
of his regiment, his brigade or division, and was
actively engaged in many of the most imi^ortant
battles of the war. At the close of the war he was
retained in the volunteer military service for over
a year, and intrusted with the command of the dis-
trict of North Carolina. In 1866 he received the
commission of colonel in the United States army,
and has been five years superintendent of the United
States Military Academy at West Point, and is now
(1877) in command of the military department of
the South, with headquarters at Atlanta, Georgia.
Edward, the second son, by profession a civil
engineer, volunteered and was commissioned cap-
tain in the 13th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, in
September, i86r, and served with distinction in the
army through the war, and until 1869; was, with the
rank of colonel, assigned to the charge of the Topo-
graphical Engineers of the Army of the Cumberland,
under General Thomas, and also served on the staff"
of General Rousseau.
William, the third son, a lawyer, volunteered in
1 86 1, and entered the army as lieutenant in his
brother Edward's company in the 13th Regiment
Wisconsin Volunteers; was appointed adjutant of
the regiment before taking the field, and served
with distinction through the war in the capacity of
adjutant of his regiment at first, and soon after as
assistant adjutant-general on the general staff; was
seriously wounded in battle at New Hope Church,
Georgia ; afterward served on general staff in the
Veteran Reserve Corps until October, 1865.
Henry H., the youngest son, also served in the
army from the fall of 1862 to the end of the war.
He is a physician and surgeon in practice, and
resides in Dakota Territory.
Cornelia M. is the wife of J. J. R. Pease, a leading
lawyer of Janesville, Wisconsin.
Addie, the second daughter, is the wife of Rev.
George W. Dunbar, a chaplain in the United States
army.
Augusta, the youngest daughter, is unmarried, and
resides with her parents, who are now (March, 1877)
both in good health.
EDWARD BAIN,
KENOSHA.
EDWARD BAIN, a native of Kinderhook, Co-
lumbia county. New York, was born on the
9th of March, 1823, and is the son of Bastian
and Moyca (Burgher) Bain. His father, who was
of Scotch ancestry, was a frugal and well-to-do
farmer, an influential man in his community, and
much respected by all who knew him. His mother
was of German lineage, and noted for the best
qualities that distinguish her race. Edward re-
ceived a good common-school education in his
native place, and at Lenox, Berkshire county, Mas-
sachusetts. After leaving school, at the age of
sixteen, he spent a season in farm work, and in
1839 went to Albany and apprenticed himself to
learn the hardware business, and remained in this
situation until he attained his majority. In 1844
he removed to the West and settled at what was
then known as Southport (now Kenosha), Wiscon-
sin, his present home, and at once established
himself in the hardware business, at which he
continued with uninterrupted success for a period
of twenty years, building up an extensive and
prosperous trade. In 1852 his brother, Lewis Bain,
became associated with him in business, the firm
being known as "Bain Brothers." Meantime he
commenced the manufacture of farm wagons, a
5IO
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTI0NAR7\
business which proved so successful that he de-
termined to make it his life work. Accordingly,
in 1864 he sold out his interest in the hardware
trade to his brother, by whom it is still conducted
(1877), and since then has devoted his entire at-
tention to the wagon manufacturing business. His
wagons have become largely known and celebrated
for their superior workmanship, durability, neatness
and finish. Throughout his entire career Mr. Bain
has shown remarkable talent and business capacity,
and is widely known and eminently distinguished
for his honest and upright dealing, his promptness
in meeting his engagements, and for many noble
and generous qualities of head and heart, some of
which may be inferred from the fact that he has
never been sued for a debt nor had a note protested.
His business has assumed very large proportions.
Its magnitude may be inferred from the fact that he
gives steady employment to over two hundred men,
while his annual transactions amount to over six
hundred thousand dollars. In 1876, notwithstand-
ing the stringent times, his establishment made and
sold over seven thousand wagons.
In religious sentiment he affiliates with the Con-
gregational church, of which both he and his fam-
ily are worthy members. To his generosity and
liberality are mainly due the construction of the
beautiful and costly edifice of the Congregational
church of Kenosha, — one of the finest ecclesias-
tical structures in the State, and which will long
remain a standing monument of his magnanimity
and moral worth.
In political sentiments he has been identified with
the republican party since its organization, but has
never held nor had any desire to hold office.
He was married on the 20th September, 1847,
to Miss Harriet M. Brockett, of Waterford, Sara-
toga county. New York, a most excellent and
unassuming lady, whose life lias been largely de-
voted to the welfare of others. They have three
children, — one son named Charles, and two daugh-
ters named respectively Frances and Carrie, — all of
whom give promise of future worth and usefulness.
By his excellent personal qualities Mr. Bain has
won to himself many true and valuable friends.
Generous to an unusual degree, genial and social, he
is a most agreeable companion, being most admired
by those who know him best. In his own home
he is loved as a devoted husband and a kind,
indulgent father.
DAVID GREENWAY,
DARTFORD.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of War-
wickshire, England, and a son of Thomas and
Hannah (Padbury) Greenway, was born March 14,
1825. His father, a brewer, baker and inn-keeper,
in the old country, came to the United States in
1835, and resided about fifteen years in Syracuse and
Palmyra, New York, engaged in farming most of the
time. David received a common-school education,
and lived with his father several years after coming
to this country. In 1850 he removed to Wisconsin,
and settled at Ripon. The place had then only four
dwelling houses, and they were poor shanties, and he
built one of the first good houses there. He was
engaged in the drug business about twelve years,
and acted a long time as agent for an express com-
pany. In 1866 he built the Oakwood House at
Dartford, six miles west of Ripon, and the next
season opened it as a summer resort. It was a bold
venture, as there was no railroad to that place then,
and his friends thought he was chimerical, and
prophesied a failure. Nothing daunted, however, he
pushed forward ; patronage increased from year to
year, and every season he enlarged his premises,
adding one-fourth to his accommodations in the
spring of 1877, and now has one building one hun-
dred and sixty feet long, connected by balconies
with other buildings used for dormitories, and four
double cottages, with accommodations in all for
three hundred guests. The Oakwood is one of the
most attractive resorts for tourists in Wisconsin. A
great many families from the South as well as from
the large Northern cities, come here annually to
spend months. The Oakwood House is only a few
rods from Green Lake, which is one of the loveliest
sheets of water found in the State. One of the
Eastern newspapers thus speaks of the hotel, the
scenery around it, and the lake ;
Green Lake is situated on a station of the Sheboygan
and Fonddn Lac railwaj', the most of the distance to it being
traversed, however, by the Chicago and Nortliwestern or
Milwaukee and St. Paul roads. It is so secluded that you
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
511
might imagine yourself lost in a romantic wilderness, until
you
have finished the lovely ride of over a mile,
brings vou to the Oakwood House, and the whole lovely
scene lies spread before you — a splendid hotel with verandas,
walks and ornamental pleasiire-yruunds, a body of clear,
green, translucent water, stretching aivay between beauti-
fully wooded shores, and landscape pictures of surpassini;
beauty, greeting you at every turn, whde over all broods
the ineffable peace of Nature. There is no other lake in
Wisconsin that possesses the cool, deep, green water that
Green Lake has; there is no other lake ixisscssing tincr
fish or more delightful scenes to charm the artistic soul —
every day brings a new view from some dilferent point of
interest. The lazy tourist who wants rest can lie on the
bank and watch the shadows through his half closed eyes,
and note the silvery gleam of a fish as it "flops" under his
gaze; or he can hold a rod, and only exert himself to land
the big fish that catch at his bait; or he can float softly on
the rocking wave, trolling leisurely as he goes. All along
the banks of Green Lake stands the forest primeval, and here
and there a smoke curls lazily from some camp and defines
a picturesque outline agains't the sky. The air is full of
delicious odors of earth and sky, and the cool, sea-like
fragrance of the water is balsam to the weary lungs. Fash-
ion worn and sickly women come here to rest and recu-
perate, and the bloom of health glows on their cheeks before
the season is over. Blase men, tired of business and pleasure,
find fresh interest in Nature, and take a new lease of life;
and little, puny, town-reared children gain color and muscle,
and do their parents credit. .\11 this is gained from the
resources of Nature. Art has given us "the comfortable
and luxurious Oakwood Hotel, with its cool, stately halls
and piazzas, its jjleasant parlors and family suites, and its
spacious dining hall, where every luxury is cooked to
please the appetite, and served up 1)3' competent hands.
The great number of tourists attracted thither from New
Orleans, Memphis, Vicksburg, .St. Louis, Indianapolis,
Cincinnati, Chicago, New York and other cities, presents
nothing Jike loneliness, and there are amusements in which
all are free to partake — croquet, lawn parties, picnics,
bowling alleys, billiards, walks, rides, boating, camping
out, excursions and card parties, and charades within doors,
when it rains, to say nothing of the brilliant liops. The
family of the proprietor make it especially pleasant by their
kind attention to guests. Green Lake is ten miles long
and from two to four miles wide, with a diversity of beau-
tiful scenery that makes it forever new. Numerous elegant
homes line its banks, and plensure-grouuds and picnic
resorts are convenienth near. L\ ing back from its shores
are fine farms in a high state of cultivation, and pedestrians
will find them-elvev well lejiaid for a tram|i often miles in
any direelicn. There is M.iiiething in the l)racin» air sug-
gesli\e of sueh exeici-e ; for alter a tew weeks oflazx' resting,
all the veins and sine«s tingle with health and new Hfe,
and the exercise of the fields is a pleasant change."
Invalids, and health and iileasure seekers gen-
erally, may well "thank their stars" that such an
enterprising, kind and obliging man as Mr. Green-
way ever cast his eye on this Eden-like spot, and
has made it \vhat it is.
The wife of Mr. Greenway was Miss Caroline
Chadburn, daughter of an English optician. They
were married in Syracuse, New York, February 19,
1S49, and have had five children, three of whom, one
daughter and two sons, are still living. Nellie, the
widow of the late Henry Mowry, of Woonsocket,
Rhode Island, lives with her parents ; the elder son,
William, is married, and is clerk of the Oakwood ;
and George is also at home. Mrs. tireenway is a
woman of fine social and lady-like (|ualities, and
admirably adapted to preside in the parlors of a
popular public resort.
The family are Episcopal in religious sentiment,
and during the summer services are usually held
once a day on Sunday, in the parlors. Perfect de-
corum prevails in and around the house on that
day. The family spend their winters in Ripon.
[ABEZ N. ROGERS,
TAliEZ NELSON ROGERS is the son of Jabez
J Rogers, junior, and Sarah ;u'e Chipman, and was
born in Middlebury, Addison county, Vermont,
February 16, 1807. -Roth of his grandfathers par-
ticipated in the revolutionary war. Jabez Rogers,
senior, was a commissary officer; and Colonel John
Chipman was a volunteer with General Ethan Allen,
in the spring of 1775, to take Ticonderoga and
Crown Point. He was at the capture of St. John's
and Montreal, and participated in the battles of
Hubbardton and Bennington. He was at Saratoga
at the capture of General Burgoyne, in October,
1777; and afterward had the command of Forts
Edward and George, successively. He was taken
prisoner at the latter fort in 1780; was exchanged
.S7
in the summer of 1781, and remained a super-
numerary until the close of the war. The Rogers
family were among the early settlers in Addison
county, and Jabez Rogers, junior, a merchant
during most of his life, opened the first store in
that county.
Jabez Nelson was educated in the common
school and in Middlebury Academy, and at one
time was intending to go through college, but
abandoned his purpose. He went into a store
while in his minority, and becoming attached to
the mercantile business, followed it as long as he
was a resident of Vermont. Leaving that State
in 1833 he settled at St. Joseph, then in the Terri-
tory of Michigan, and just coming into ]iromi-
512
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
nence as a lake port town. There he read law
and practiced until June, 1848, when he crossed
the lake to Milwaukee. There he practiced until
the autumn of 1849, when he removed to Strong's
Landing, now the city of Berlin, in Green Lake
county. Here for nearly thirty years he has been
in legal practice, but has been called to fill so
many positions of trust and responsibility, outside
his profession, as to be able, of late years, to pay
but little attention to it, except indirectly.
In 1852 Mr. Rogers was elected justice of the
peace, and held the ofifice twenty consecutive years.
He was appointed municipal judge in May, 1870,
and served five years. He was elected mayor in
the spring of 1875, for the term of two years;
reelected in 1877, and now, in his seventy-first
year, is at the head of the municipality. He is a
true and competent man, and the citizens of Berlin
delight to honor him. Few men have lived a more
active life, and few of his age are as sprightly and
in all respects so well preserved.
In early and middle life Mr. Rogers was an anti-
slavery whig, and naturally drifted into the repub-
lican ranks when that party was organized. He
had long been a great admirer of Horace Greeley,
and voted for him for President in 1872. Mr
Rogers is a conscientious and unselfish politician.
While a resident of Michigan, after it had become
a State, he was nominated against his wishes for
member of the legislature, and took the stump
against himself, aiding to elect his opponent, whom
he considered a more competent man.
On the 29th of October, 1832, he was married
to Miss Ether E. Hagar, daughter of Jonathan
Hagar, esquire, of Middlebury, Vermont. They
had six children, all born in Michigan, and five of
them are still living, three sons and two daughters.
The sons, Edward G., Josias N. and Frederic L.,
are lawyers, and living in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Both daughters are invalids. The elder, Sarah L.,
is at home; and Harriet H. is in the St. Mary's
Hospital, Milwaukee.
Mr. Rogers has seen a great deal of frontier life,
but "roughing it" has neither broken his spine nor
his spirits, nor injured his morals or manners. He
is a courteous and kind old gentleman, standing
as erect as in middle life, preserving the dignity
of true manhood, and shrinking from no responsi-
bility which his fellow-citizens deem proper to put
upon him.
CHARLES J. L. MEYER,
FOND DU LAC.
THE rapid development of the Northwest has
been' prolific in the development of men of
talent. The great industries of the country have
brought forth a brilliant display of genius, which
proves that the victories of peace are greater than
those of war. Pi-ominent among those who have
contributed to this progress is Charles J. L. Meyer,
of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
Mr. Meyer was born in Minden, west Prussia, in
May, 1831. His father was a joiner and manu-
facturer of sash and doors. Up to the age of four-
teen his life was spent in school. As a boy, he was
remarkably fond of- study, and had an aptness for
acquiring knowledge. He was of a retiring dispo-
sition, and often preferred seclusion to companion-
ship. In all his undertakings he displayed intensity
of application. This characteristic has distinguished
him through life.
During the last year of his attendance at school
. the Governor of the Province made a visit of in-
spection. Young Meyer, being the first scholar of
the institution, was called before the governor and
put under a rigid examination. The ready and in-
telligent replies from so youthful a student interested
the governor, and he immediately proposed to
qualify him for the service of the State, with the
assurance of his protection and favor. The youth,
however, had determined to follow the calling of his
father; and though fully aware that he was declining
an offer which would have been gladly embraced by
those whose worldly prospects were greater than his,
he had resolved to win or lose in the struggle of life
by his own efforts.-
On leaving school he entered his father's work-
shop, and spent three years in acquiring the trade.
The business, as conducted in a small Prussian
town, was not sufficient for the ambition of the
young mechanic, and he resolved to seek a new
field for his labor. Bidding adieu to his home and
country, he left for America with a few friends and
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
515
only sufficient means to reach the shores of the
western continent.
Arriving at New York, and finding the great city
was not suited to his tastes, he resolved to go west,
and took passage on an Erie canal boat bound for
Buffalo. After a successful ocean voyage, Mr. Meyer
encountered the first perils of navigation at Syracuse.
The canal had suffered a break, and farther west-
ward progress was blocked. Our traveler, being
without means to defray the expenses of detention,
sought employment in Syracuse, then only a small
place, but failed. Nothing discouraged, he took the
highway eastward in search of employment, deter-
mined to accept the first that offered. His first suc-
cess was an offer from David Collins, junior, a farmer
at the little village of Fayetteville, about twelve
miles from Syracuse, to work on a farm, at five
dollars a month. It was accepted; and here the
young German's talents were soon discovered, and
at the end of the term of his agreement the satisfied
farmer voluntarily gaVe him six dollars, instead of \
five, as was agreed. The succeeding winter wa.s !
occupied in cutting cordwood, splitting rails, making
saw-logs, and in doing any available work.
In the spring the father of farmer Collins erected
a saw-mill, and Mr. Meyer assisted the millwright,
who was so pleased with his dexterity in the use of
tools that he persuaded him to remain and learn
the trade of millwright. After one year at this
business he found the exposure too great in the
severe winters, and he abandoned it. He then re-
turned to Syracuse, and spent a year in learning the
wagon-making trade. In 1855 he concluded to go
farther west; came to the city of Chicago, where he
worked six months at the wheelwright business, and
then moved to Fond du Lac, at that time a small
city of four or five thousand inhabitants, since grown
to about sixteen thousand.
Here Mr. Meyer, in a very small shop, commenced
Inisiness on his own account. He made sleighs,
filed saws, carried on general joiner work, and made
sashes, doors and blinds. His work was all per-
formed by hand, and at first chiefly by himself.
But his business grew, and in 1859 he spent five
months at the East, making himself acquainted with
the best kinds of machinery applicable to his trade.
On his return the work of enlarging and expanding
his business began. He first rented steam-power, as
his means were yet insufficient to build a factory.
In i86i he erected his first shop, the work of
building being performed by himself and brother.
He put in a small steam-engine, and this was the
real starting point from which the colossal business
now carried on by Mr. Meyer has grown.
From the first start his shops have been crowded
with work ; every venture has been crowned with
success; and the resolve of the boy, that he would
one day distinguish himself, has been amply fulfilled.
He now ranks as one of the largest manufacturers of
sash, doors and blinds in the world, and the pro-
ducts of his workshops may be found in every direc-
tion. His business career has been one of marvelous
prosperity, and the short period of time in which his
immense trade has been created tells the story of the
exhaustless energy, tact and skill of the man who
has accomplished such great results.
In 1866 Mr. Meyer built two large factories, one
being one hundred by two hundred feet, three sto-
ries high; the other fifty by one hundred and eighty
feet, two stories high. The great consumption of
lumber induced him to cut the material for the sup-
ply of his factories; and in 1868 he erected a saw-
mill, with a capacity for cutting one hundred thou-
sand feet a day, and in connection with it a shingle
mill. He established a depot in Chicago for the
sale of his goods, through which an immense trade
has been acquired; and subsequently he erected in
the same city a branch factory, sixty by one hundred
and twenty feet, five stories high, with an addition,
thirty by sixty feet, two stories high, at the foot of
North Water street, on the North Pier. The Chicago
factory is devoted to the manufacture of stairs, stair
railing, balusters, etc. In connection with this is an
extensive lumber yard, the trade in dressed lumber
being a principal feature.
The ground covered by his buildings, lumber
yards, etc., in Fond du Lac, comprises over fifty
acres, and the floor room of his various factories,
mills and warehouses, contains over two thousand
two hundred and twenty square feet. To operate
his various machinery six large steam-engines are
used, and employment is given to nearly one thou-
sand hands.
This grand success is not the work of chance, but
of a superior intellect, keen perceptions, ready dis-
cernment, and great executive ability. Personally,
Mr. Meyer is most courteous and genial, and is dis-
tinguished by his large-heartedness and liberality.
Notwithstanding the multiplicity of his engage-
ments, he has filled the offices of alderman and mayor
of the city; was delegate for the State at large to
the National Republican Convention held at Phila-
5r6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DlCTIONAin:
delphia; was the organizer of the Northwestern
Union railroad, of which he was president for three
years, and is still a director.
Mr. Meyer was married in August, 1852, to Miss
Elizabeth Hax, a lady of excellent womanly quali-
ties, by whom he has had five children. The eldest
son is now a valuable assistant in the management
and conduct of this vast business, and although yet
young, has developed Ijusiness c[ualifirations of a
very high order.
HON. WILLIAM STARR,
W'lLTJAM STARR was one of the i)ioneer
educators of Wisconsin, and his name has
become identified with the school system of that
State. He is more especially known as one of the
originators and promoters of the normal schools of
Wisconsin. His efforts in this direction greatly
aided in instituting the present mode of instructing
teachers for their work, raising it from the desultory
and fragmentary efforts in public schools and acad-
emies to that of professional teaching in organized
normal schools.
This gentleman is descended from the good old
Puritan stock of Connecticut. He derives his chris-
tian name from his maternal grandfather. Captain
William Starr, who was a resident of New London
when Arnold made his dastardly raid upon that
place, his house being swept away with the rest.
His maternal grandfather was a farmer, residing at
Westfield at the time of the revolutionary war. His
ancestors were among the first settlers of the Con-
necticut valley.
His father was Samuel Starr, and his mother was
Lydia Adkins. They had eleven children, William
being the youngest. He was born at Middletown,
Connecticut, March 3, 182 1. He never had the
advantages of a father's care, as that parent died
three months before he was born, his death being
caused by over-exertion and exposure while saving
property during a freshet in the Connecticut river.
He left a wife, with a large family, in straightened
circumstances, but her native ability and energy en-
abled her to provide for the support of her family.
When quite young William was taken to northern
New York by his mother, who had a sister living
there. Here she subsequently married a thrifty
farmer. Early in life Mr. Starr developed a de-
sire for more knowledge than the customary three
months' school during the winter season afforded,
and at the early age of fourteen he started out for
himself with the determination to earn an educa-
tion commensurate with his youthful aspirations.
He engaged to work on a farm at three and a quar-
ter dollars per month. With this sum he had to
j purchase his clothing and books. He sought the
best schools and academies. While attending these
he worked for his board a portion of the time. As
soon as of sufficient age to be trusted with a school
he commenced teaching, and followed that occupa-
tion during winters, keeping along with his studies
at the same time, and attending academies in the
summers, until he was twenty-two years of age.
When pursuing his studies in winter he often had
to walk daily two miles, a portion of the time on
snow-shoes. His favorite study was mathematical
Ijranches, but heeding judicious advice he subse-
quently devoted time to the languages; not be-
coming a regular graduate, yet achieving more than
the usual college course. During the two latter
years of his student life he found that it was not
necessary to attend a school, and that by habits of
application he could accomplish fully as much at
home, adding the advantage in this of following the
bent of his inclination in choice of studies. Hav-
ing acquired a solid scientific and literary educa-
tion, he buckled on his armor for the battle of life.
As a consequence of the enterprise already devel-
oped in his early career, he forestalled the cele-
brated advice of Horace Greeley and went west,
landing at Southport in 1843. He soon after trav-
eled on foot through a portion of northern Illinois
and southern Wisconsin, ending his explorations by
returning to Southport. Here his education en-
abled him to commence a private school in the
spring of 1843. He began with eight scholars, in-
creasing his classes and closing at the end of two
years with gratifying results. He then went to
Ripon, Wisconsin, where he was married in 1857,
and where he has since continued to reside. His
wife's maiden name was Annie Strong. They have
an only son, named William James, born in 1861.
THE UNITED STATES BrOGRAPHICAI. DICTIONARY.
5^7
Mr. Starr has been closely identified with the
business interests and general enterprises ot" his
section of the State. His fortune has chiefly been
realized from operations in real estate, while at the
same time he has been engaged in dealing in gen-
eral merchandise, lumber, grain and farming. He
has also performed his portion of the duties of offi-
cial position, having held various town and city,
offices, acting as chairman of county supervisors
two successive years, and being a member of the
general assembly two terms during the exciting
years of the war. Having been a leading spirit in
bringing about the establishment of the normal
schools of the State, he was appointed a member of
the first board of regents, and has held that office
continually since that time, and at the death of C.
C. Sholes, the president, he was chosen to the posi-
tion to which he has been since that event annually
elected. He has also been a member of the board
of trustees of Ripon College since its organization.
President Starr-has distinguished himself as a ]3ro-
moter of the cause of education, making the per-
fecting of the normal-school system a work of love
in order to elevate the standard of common-school
teaching in the State. His efforts, together with
those of his associates on the board of regents and
other co-laborers, have resulted in bringing the
workings of these schools to a high state of perfec-
tion.
As concerns his religious views, he is a member
of the Episcopal church, and of low-church pro-
clivities.
Mr. Starr has never made politics a prominent
feature of his life. He was originally a democrat,
and continued such until compelled to leave that
organization in obedience to the demands of his
more progressive views on the slavery question.
He became identified with the republican party at
its formation, and although not a partisan, has since
consistently acted with that organization.
The career of Mr. Starr is a model for the com-
ing youth. From an early age he has, unaided by
helping hands or encouraging words, achieved a
success in both public and business life that many
have failed to attain with every advantage placed at
their disposal. At the same time he is approaching
the declivity of life with a public and private char-
acter free from spot and blemish, having run a ca-
reer of probity and honor, esteemed and resjjected
by the many who know him.
ALBERT KENDRICK. M.D.,
UAUh'ESIIA.
ALBERT KENDRICK, a native of Vermont, is
l\. a son of Adin Kendrick, for many years a
physician, at Poultney, where Albert was born
August I, 1813. His mother was Ruth >ie'f Mar-
shall, and her mother was one of the brave women
who lived in the times which "tried the souls of
men." During the early part of the struggle for
independence, hearing that the British were march-
ing in the direction of her house, she took her
two little children with her on horseback and fled
toward Bennington. Before reaching that place the
children became very hungry, and she stopped at
a house which proved to be that of a tory, and
asked for a loaf of bread, at the same time taking
out her money in order to pay for it. The woman
of the house said she had no bread. As Mrs. Mar-
shall passed out of the house in the dusk of eve-
ning, she espied a table set for the " red coats,"
and laden with bread and other provisions. She
seized a loaf of bread, put her children on the
horse, mounted the beast herself and made tracks
for Bennington, feeding her little ones while under
full gallop. The grandfather of our subject, Samuel
Kendrick, was for a time in the military service.
When seven years old, Albert suflered the mis-
fortune of having his right hand cut nearly off, and
was so maimed as to unfit him for most kinds of
manual labor. He was, therefore, kept at school
through all his younger years, and finished his
literary education at the Hamilton Seminary (now
Madison University), New York. At seventeen he
began to read medicine. He attended three courses
of lectures at Castleton and Woodstock, Vermont,
and graduated from the latter place when twenty
years of age. After practicing about three years
at Poultney, Vermont, and the same length of time
at Ticonderoga, New York, and about sixteen years
at Granville, in the same State, he, in June, 1855,
settled in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
Dr. Kendrick is a modest, unassuming, quiet
5ii
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAKr.
man, and, refusing all political preferment, Is con-
tented with a good standing among those of his pro-
fession, a good reputation for medical skill among
the people of Waukesha village and Waukesha
county, and a worthy name on the church records.
He has been a member of a Baptist church since
about sixteen years of age. He is a nephew of
Nathaniel Kendrick, D.D., once president of Ham-
ilton Theological Seminary ; a cousin of Asahel C.
Kendrick, D.D., the eminent Greek scholar, of the
University of Rochester, and father of A. A. Ken-
drick, D.D., president of Shurtleff College, Upper
Alton, Illinois. The Kendricks are a prominent
family among the Baptists in the United States.
Dr. Kendrick is a liberal contributor to religious,
benevolent and literary institutions.
He has a fourth wife. His first two wives were
sisters, Orpha and Martha Smith, of Ticonderoga,
New York; he living with the former five, and with
the latter twenty-five years. His third wife was
Millicent Olin, of Waukesha. His present, Mary
Tyler, of the same place. He had three children
by the first wife, two of them still living, — the son,
already mentioned, and a daughter; two sons by
the second wife, both living; and one cliild by the
third wife, not living.
JOHN TAPLEY,
RACINE.
JOHN TAPLEY was born in the parish of Pad-
J dlesworth, county of Kent, England, .\ugust 13,
1824, being the youngest of a family of ten children
born to Daniel and Elizabeth Tapley, natives of the
same place, where the ancestors of the family had
resided from the dawn of history. For generations
they had been engaged in ocean trading, principally
in the East Indian tropic. The name is well known
in heraldry, and the motto on the family crest or
coat-of-arms, which has been handed down from
time immemorial, speaks a truth borne w-itness to
by all who have lived long enough to observe the
transitory nature of created things — "All things
change."
His father began a seafaring life at the age of ten
years on one of his father'.s ships, and at the age of
twenty-one commanded a fourteen-gun sloop, well
manned, with a letter of marque, commissioned to
take all the French vessels she could capture on the
high seas. He took several prizes during the Pen-
insular war, and was slightly wounded in one en-
gagement, but never made prisoner. Retiring from
the sea at the close of the war with a handsome for-
tune, he purchased an estate upon which John was
born. His birth occurred in the days when the
church collected its tithes of the increase of the
land, flocks, herds, etc., and being the tenth child
the babe was offered to the parson as his share of
the increase of the family, who laughingly replied,
"Send him over, and I'll take him." The father,
however, decided that, large as the family was, he
could not spare him, and reconsidered the proposal.
In 1825 a lease expired to an estate belonging to
the Earl of Radnor, which had for many years been
in the family of Mr. Mark Sanford, Mrs. Tapley 's
father, and upon which he had amassed a fortune.
John's father decided to sell his freehold and rent
Walton Farm, as the estate referred to was called;
a step which, owing to the prostration of busi-
ness following the war with France and the burdens
of taxation incident thereto, swallowed up his entire
fortune, and induced him in April, 1835, to leave
England for America, taking with -him four of his
children, and Old Mollie,* a faithful family servant.
He settled at Lairdsville, Oneida county. New York,
where, purchasing a small farm, he was enabled to
live comfortably with the aid of a small annuity se-
cured to him by Mrs. Tapley 's father.
Our subject was now eleven years of age, and for
two years thereafter remained at home, working for
the neighboring farmers during the summer, and
during the winter months attending the country
district schools. These two winters comprised fill
the school advantages he ever enjoyed in America.
But he was endowed with good natural gifts, which
he assiduously cultivate^ by reading and observation.
When thirteen years old his father hired him to Mr.
* The history of Mollie is told in the following epitaph
upon her tomb, over which was erected .a handsome marble
slab in Mound Cemetery by Mr. Tapley in 1S61 :
"The Grave of Mollie. — To the memory of one Avho
humbly, affectionately, faithfully, did the duties of her sta-
tion in" the service of 'Mr, Daniel Tapley, England, and his
son John, of this city, for nearly half a century — Mary
Ambrose, born at Folkstone, England, July 4, 1785,. Died
at Racine, May 24, 1S61, aged seven
done, thou good and faithful servant.' '
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
519
Jacob Hunt, at Andover, Oneida county, New York,
for two years, where, in assisting in the duties per-
taining to a country store and post-ofifice, adjuncts
to which were a doctor's office and a farm, with
cows to milk night and morning,- books to post,
mails to make up, medicines to mix, and dry goods
and groceries to be sold in barter with country cus-
tomers, his opportunities for the attainment of hab-
its of industry, as well as economy, on a salary of
one dollar per week, out of which he was expected
to clothe himself and jiay incidental expenses, were
ample.
When fifteen years of age his father decided to
have him learn a trade, and accordingly apprenticed
him to a cabinet-maker in Clinton, New York, for a
term of three years. During his apprenticeship a
cousin was attending Hamilton College, close to the
village, through whom John obtained access to the
college library, a privilege which he improved by
extensive reading, and which proved to be the most
important educational advantage of his life.
Just at the close of his apprenticeship his mother
died. This was the first great sorrow that fell
athwart his pathway. She was a noble, Christian
woman, whose example and advice to her children
had a controlling effect upon them while she lived,
and is still remembered and cherished as a treas-
ured keepsake. Saddened and disheartened at the
loss of his wife Mr. Tapley returned to England,
taking with him two of his sons, our subject and an
elder brother named Edward. The latter soon re-
turned to America, but John remained for a time in
England, and was soon after appointed to a position
in the custom-house at London, a life office, bring-
ing him in contact with business men of every com-
mercial country in the world. He had already be-
come known as "the Yankee," on account of his
open advocacy and preference for America and its
institutions.
Marrying, in 1848, Miss Charlotte Scott, daughter
of Robert Scott, Esq., of Addington, Kent, Eng-
land, he announced his determination to leave the
service of the Queen so soon as he could make his
arrangements to do so, which being consummated
he sailed with his family for the United States in
.■\pril, 1850. The two preceding years, 1848 and
1849, were those in which the cholera scourge vis-
ited London, when so many were prostrated by the
epidemic that the duties of those not on the sick-
list were increased tenfold. Mr. Tapley was spared
the scourge, but the strain on his physical and nerv-
ous system had been so great that an entire change
of occupation and circumstance were deemed essen-
tial to his restoration. Accordingly on arriving in
America he moved to what was then the western
frontier and settled on a farm in Kane county, Illi-
nois, where he remained till 1856, entirely regaining
his health.
At the last named date he disposed of his farm,
moved to Racine, Wisconsin, and became one of
the proprietors and editor of the "Racine Advo-
cate," one of the oldest papers in the State. This
was the memorable year of the Fremont campaign,
during which Mr. Tapley began his editorial efforts,
furnishing weekly his full share of pungent and tell-
ing reading-matter for the paper. He continued to
wield a trenchant pen in the cause of freedom dur-
ing the ensuing four years, contributing in no small
degree to the success of the republican party in
i860. His services were recognized by Abraham
Lincoln, who appointed him postmaster of Racine,
a position which he retained during the following
eight years, serving the second term rather at the
earnest solicitation of his fellow-citizens without re-
gard to party than as the result of his own personal
inclinations.
He sold his interest in the newspaper in 1863, and
during the continuance of the war divided his at-
tention between his official duties and the Soldiers'
Relief Society, of which he was always an active
member and for a long time president. During the
early part of the war he was appointed, by Governor
Harvey, State agent to visit the Wisconsin sick and
wounded at Vicksburg, when an order from the
war department prohibited the entrance of civilians
within the military lines other than those authorized
by the secretary of war.
Retiring from the post-ofifice in 1869, he was ten-
dered by Messrs. J. L Case & Co., of Racine, the
largest manufacturers of threshing machines in the
world, an appointment to travel for them, making
collections a specialty. During a period of four
years following he visited, in the interest of his em-
ployers, nearly all of the Western States, extending
his trips from the Red River of the North to the
Gulf of Mexico. The arduous duties incident to
this department of the business so taxed his ener-
gies as to make a change desirable, and he was ac-
cordingly, in 1873, tendered by the same firm the
position of superintendent of agents, together with
the oversight of the printing, a line of duty for
which his previous connection with the press emi-
520
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
nently fitted him, to which was added, on the retire- I
ment of Colonel John G. McMynn from the position,
the supervision of the annual sales. In 1858 Mr.
Tapley was commissioned by Governor Randall as
captain of the 13th Regiment of State Militia. He
was an active instrument in the formation of the
Racine County Agricultural Society, of which he 1
was twice president.
In his religious views he is of the Baptist faith,
and was for many years a trustee of the First Bap-
tist Church of Racine.
In i)olitics, he was formerly an anti-slavery demo-
crat, but his connection with that party terminated
with the repeal of the Missouri compromise, from
which period until the close of the rebellion he was
an active an earnest republican. The reconstruc-
tion measures of the radical wing of the party,
including the immediate enfranchisement of the
blacks and the remanding of the conquered States
to a territorial condition, with other extreme meas-
ures, were at variance with his views, and he was
obliged, from conscientious convictions of duty, to
sever himself from such leadership. He now calls
himself a conservative democrat republican, and
votes for those whom he considers the best men, re-
gardless of party ties.
Possessing much business energy, unswerving in
his personal attachments to friends, unyielding in
his convictions of right, public-spirited and very
generous, he is classed among the most influential,
])opular and useful citizens of Racine. Eminently
self-made, his example cannot fail to have an inspir-
ing influence upon some poor but aspiring youth on
whose ears may fall the life-story herein portrayed.
GEORGE MURRAY,
C^ EORGE MURRAY was born at Old Deer,
T Aberdeenshire, Scotland, July 27, 1823, and
is the son of John and Ann (Pirie) Murray, natives
of the same place. The ancestors of the family
from time immemorial had belonged to the cele-
brated" " Clan-Athol," the present head of which is
the " Duke of Athol," a very amiable and courteous
gentleman, greatly beloved and respected by his
tenantry and retainers. The Murrays were among
the oldest and most distinguished members of this
clan. The father of our subject, like his ancestors,
was a tiller of the soil, a man of sterling principles,
unflinching integrity and unswerving loyalty to his
country. He was, moreover, a pious and zealous
member of the old " Kirk," and a man of much in-
fluence in his community. He died in 1859 in the
seventieth year of his age. His mother, who is still
living in Jier native Scotland, is a woman of superior
gifts and attainments, an earnest, humble Christian,
awaiting patiently the call of her Master. They
had a family of ten children, eight of wliom survive,
namely, two sons and six daughters, of whom our
subject is the eldest. His only brother, John, is
setded in Africa, some five hundred miles distant
from Port Natal, where for sixteen years past he has
carried on an extensive farming business, and where
he is likely to found a dynasty. The sisters reside
in the mother country and are comfortably settled.
George received a very thorougli English and
mathematical education, together with a fair knowl-
edge of the Latin language, at the parochial schools
of his native village, and from the age of fifteen to
twenty-five years devoted his attention to farming.
The glowing reports, however, that were constantly
reaching him from America, of the larger possibil-
ities of the land beyond the ocean, made him dis-
contented with his monotonous and unpromising
Scottish life, and wish for the wider and more fertile
fields of the western continent. Accordingly, in
1850, he immigrated hither and settled in Racine,
Wisconsin, then a very small village, where he has
since resided. His first employment on reaching
his new home was a clerkship in the establishment
of Hill and Durand, wholesale grocers and general
merchants. Here he remained eighteen months,
when he transferred his services to Pendleton and
Taylor, lumber merchants, with whose establishment
he has since been connected, the firm meantime
changing to Taylor and Slauson, and afterward to
Taylor and Co. In this last organization Mr. Mur-
ray became a partner. The business, which had
now become quite extensive, was conducted under
this name for a few years, when a new organization
was effected under the style of Murray and Kelly,
which has since been changed to that of Murray,
Slauson and Co., the present name of the firm.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
521
The firm have also a manufacturing branch at Ke-
waunee, Wisconsin.
The success of Mr. Murray amply attests his
business capacity. He is perhaps as fine an ex-
ample as may be found of the sagacious prescience,
the careful prudence and the stern persistence of
his race, which has raised numbers of them to high
positions and to great and deserved eminence in
America. In addition to his lumber business he
also carries on an extensive farm in the neighbor-
hood of Racine, where his finely cultured taste is
displayed in his magnificent residence, his beautiful
and ornate grounds, and in his unsurpassed herd of
short-horns, the pride of the neighborhood.
Mr. Murray is a gentleman of the highest moral
integrity and business uprightness. In general and
business conversation his words are few but pointed.
He keeps his own counsel, and yet is frank and free,
leaving no impression of a disposition to overreach
or defraud. He is ingenious, sincere and honor-
able, and is, besides, a man of great generosity,
gives liberally and cheerfully to the needy. As a
citizen he is public-spirited and foremost in enter-
prises that have reference to the general good. In
society he his genial and companionable. He loves
company and entertains admirably. He is- a man of
excellent judgment and large common sense, but
modest and simple in word and manner; his counsel
is often sought and his advice generally followed.
Above all he is a Christian man whose daily walk
attests the genuineness of his faith. He is a deacon
in the First Presbyterian Church, of which he has
been for many years a valuable and active member,
regular and prompt in his attendance at church.
Indeed, these two words may be said to characterize
his whole life — regularity and promptness.
In politics he is a republican.
He was married in March, 1855, to Miss May
Slauson, only daughter of Daniel Slauson, Esq.,
and sister to I. R. and Geo. W. Slauson, lumber
merchants of Racine, a lady of great energy and
force of character, possessing many excellent traits
and a leader in many good works. They have no
living issue.
JOHN S. ROWELL,
BE A VER DAM.
J OHN S. ROWELL, a native of Livingston county,
J New York, is the son of John and Sarah (Moore)
Rowell, and was born in the town of Springwater,
April I, 1827. Five of his paternal uncles, all mu-
sicians, were drummers and fifers in the second war
with England. The subject of this sketch spent
the first fifteen years of his life on his father's farm.
Later he worked two years in his native town in the
moulding-room and wood-shop of a plow factory,
and when about seventeen years old removed as far
west as Goshen, Indiana, where his older brothers
were living, and there spent several years in manu-
facturing plows. In 1855 he made a permanent
settlement at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He started
in business in a little old foundry, in which two or
three parties had made a failure, and manufactured
during the first year or two a few plows to supply the
local demand. As his business gradually increased
he enlarged and multiplied his shops as necessity
required, and finally began to build threshers; and
since 1862 has manufactured his famous broad-cast
seeders, all the while furnishing plows and thresh-
ers, and latterly a few fanning-mills, for the local
ss
trade. He now (1877) has two sons and a nephew
in business with him, the firm being J. S. Rowell,
Sons and Co. Their business usually employs from
sixty to seventy workmen, and yields an annual
product of from one hundred thousand to one hun-
dred and twenty-five thousand dollars.
Mr. Rowell has a liberal supply of mechanical
talent, and has invented several parts of the broad-
cast seeder, some of which are used by other par-
ties, who pay a royalty on them. He has taken out
no less than fifteen patents on different machines
which the company is now manufacturing. Mr.
Rowell has had nearly thirty years' experience in
manufacturing agricultural implements and ma-
chines, and is well known among the farmers of
Wisconsin and adjoining States. His " Tiger " sep-
arator especially is a favorite among them. It is
the result of many years of careful study, and works
with unqualified satisfaction, and is very durable.
Some of^his threshers have been in use eighteen
seasons and are not worn out. The Rowell seeder,
with its slip-tooth, has had an immense sale.
Mr. Rowell exercises careful oversight of the
522
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
work in his shops, and builds all his machines with |
a view to durability as well as utility, and has se-
cured for himself an enviable reputation for the ex-
cellence of his handiwork. He is thoroughly ab-
sorbed in his business during about eleven months
in the year, and gives little attention ordinarily to
outside matters, except what good citizenship re-
quires of him. He has served in the council and
been at the head of the municipality of Beaver Dam,
carrying into office the practical good sense shown
in his own private matters.
Since he settled in Wisconsin he has acted with
the republican party, but was a democrat prior to
that time. He is an Odd-Fellow, and has been
through the encampment. He attends the Congre-
gational Church.
The wife of Mr. Rowell was Mary M. Ball, of
Goshen, Indiana. They have had six children, five
of whom are living. The two sons, Theodore B.
and Samuel VV., are members of their father's firm.
Two of the daughters are married ; the other is at
school in Milwaukee.
Mr. Rowell has quite a taste for blooded stock,
particularly horses. He and his nephew, Ira Row-
ell, who constitute the Company in the firm, own
the celebrated mare "Badger Girl," for which they
have been offered thirteen thousand dollars.
For many years Mr. Rowell has been a noted
hunter. Long before Wisconsin became a State,
and while he was a resident of Indiana, he used to
have his annual deer-hunt, and this sport made him
familiar with the territory and finally brought him
to the State to settle. He has long been known as
one of the best shots in his part of the country, and
without his annual excursion into the populous do-
mains of the deer and the fox life would become
stale enough to him. To such amusement he de-
votes the least hurried season, when he can best be
spared, and thinks he is thus prolonging his life as
well as multiplying its charms.
He has a ruddy face, a healthy countenance, a
light-blue eye, a solid build, and is five feet nine
and a half inches in height and weighs two hundred
and ten pounds.
DR. WILLIAM M. ORMOND, V.S.,
MIL WA UKEE.
WILLIAM M. ORMOND, a native of South
Wales, was born on the i6th of March, 1829,
and is the son of John and Elizabeth (Codd) Or-
mond. His father was a small farmer in Pembroke-
shire, in humble circumstances, but a man of great
moral worth, influential and highly respected in his
community. He still lives in his native Wales, being
now in his eighty-third year. He is a distant rela-
tive of the distinguished family of that name, the
present head of which is the Duke of Ormond, one
of the most wealthy and influential nobles of Eng-
land.
Our subject received such education as was im-
parted by the parochial schools of his native shire,
until the age of twelve years, when he was thrown
upon his own resources, and since then has earned
his own support. He was taken into the office of j
Dr. Fields, at Milford Haven, where for three years |
he served in various capacities, his attention being
divided mainly between the office and the stable.
He was a bright and active lad, and the Doctor
found him useful in compounding and putting up
prescriptions, and he sometimes accompanied him
in his visits to patients, and often witnessed the per-
formance of surgical operations. In this way he
acquired a strong desire to become a physician,
which was encouraged by his master. He next
found a position as surgeon's boy with a Dr. Davis,
at Merthyr Tydvil, Glamorganshire, where he re-
mained some two years, increasing his stock of
knowledge and becoming inore deeply interested in
the study of surgery. He was next received as a
student in the office of his former master. Dr. Fields,
where he acted as assistant for nearly two years
more. Meantime he had devoted considerable at-
tention to the study of the diseases of horses, and
had gained much insight into the veterinary science.
At this period an unaccountable freak entered his
head and he enlisted in the 36th Infantry Regiment
under command of Colonel Trollop. He soon at-
tracted the attention of his commander, who found
his skill in the treatment of his horses of great im-
portance. So great was the interest which this
excellent gentleman took in young Ormond, that
after three years he procured his discharge from the
army, and sent him to the Royal College of Veter-
^-^^y1yV^^^<^^C<X^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
525
inary Surgeons, London, providing for the expense
of liis education. After passing through the regular
course of study at this celebrated institution, he
graduated with the highest honors in 1849. He
then retired to his native village in Wales, where he
established himself in business, and for two years
carried on a farriery, bought and sold horses, etc.
Meantime, however, he had been hearing and read-
ing much of the great country west of the Atlantic
ocean, and for some years had yearned for the wider
field and larger possibilities which the United States
offered to aspiring young men. Accordingly, in
1853, he sold out his business in Wales and emi-
grated to America. He first stopped at Manchester,
New Hampshire, where his reception was not as
flattering as a fond fancy had anticipated. .\fter
seeking employment in his profession for some time
without success, and being reduced to great ex-
tremities, he was at length offered a job to cut wood
at the rate of forty-eight cents per cord. This was
a new field of industry to him. He had never been
accustomed to the use of the ax, and after three of
the most laborious days of his life he found that he
had earned about twelve cents. At this juncture
his heart was made glad by an intimation that a
valuable horse belonging to one of the neighbors
was taken suddenly ill. He was called to treat the
animal ; brought all his skill to bear on the case,
and in three days restored him to perfect soundness.
He received a fee of ten dollars for this service,
which was the first money he earned in America (he
never called for the twelve cents he had earned at
wood-cutting). From this beginning he gained a
reputation, and practice soon followed. In 1854 he
became associated with the celebrated Dr. George
H. Dadd, that noted farrier, in the preparation of
his work, since widely and favorably known as
"The Modern Horse Doctor." In this connection
he not only established a professional reputation,
but accumulated some property. At this period,
however, he wisely decided that the West, which
was then in its infancy, offered a more promising
field for his professional skill, and accordingly, in
1855, removed to Wisconsin and settled in Milwau-
kee, where, with the exception of two years spent in
St. Louis, Missouri, and three years in the army, he
has since resided. Soon after the opening of the
late rebellion he went to Washington and offered his
professional services to the government, but was in-
formed that, notwithstanding the importance of the
matter, no provision had as yet been made for any
such functionary in the army, and was advised by
Secretary Cameron and General McClellan that the
only way to compass the result desired was to enlist
in some of the regiments from his own State, from
which he could be detailed as a veterinary surgeon.
Accordingly in the spring of 1862 he entered in the
24th Wisconsin Volunteers, and was detailed as wag-
on-master by Colonel Lorabee, and afterward placed
on duty at Nashville, Tennessee, as veterinary sur-
geon, where he remained about one year. During
this time he had over fifteen thousand horses under
his charge, the greater number of which he success-
fully treated, and in that way saved to the govern-
ment many thousands of dollars. In July, 1863, he
was transferred to the command of General Stanley,
who commanded the cavalry of the army of the
Cumberland. In this connection he participated
in the battles of Chicamauga and Resaca, being
severely wounded at the latter engagement. He
was sent to Madison, Wisconsin, to be treated for
his wounds, and, after sufficient recovery, was ap-
pointed dispensary physician of the Harvey Soldiers'
Hospital at the State capital, which position he' re-
tained until the close of the war. He was honor-
ably discharged on the loth of May, 1865.
Returning to Milwaukee he resumed his practice
as veterinary surgeon, which he has followed ever
since, with eminent success. During the ]jrevalence
of the "epizootic" he, at one time, treated as many
as seventeen hundred horses within three weeks,
with extraordinary results. He has long since taken
rank at the head of the profession, and his skill has
brought the most substantial reward — an ample
fortune. He is, what all professional men should
be, an enthusiast in his profession. A profound
thinker, a diligent student, an accomplished and
successful practitioner. He is, moreover, a regular
and able contributor to several periodicals devoted
to the interests of the horse, and especially to the
" Spirit of the Turf," where his articles always attract
attention. He is a smooth and easy writer, erudite
and practical, often throwing a vein of humor into
his articles which tends to render them amusing as
well as instructive. His reputation has gone far
beyond the bounds of his adopted State, and he is
frequently called upon to make professional visits in
adjoining and distant States. The Doctor is also
conceded to be the discoverer of chloroform as an
antidote for strychnine in animals generally, a fact
which should be more widely known.
Besides his regular professional business he has
526
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
for a number of years past conducted an extensive
stock farm in the neighborhood of Milwaukee, and
is the owner of some of the finest samples of blood-
ed stock in the West, among which may be named
the celebrated stallion "Jackson," of the "Bashaw"
breed, with a record of 2.27^ on the turf, besides
several very fine brood mares not less distinguished.
He has also a very fine herd of " Short-horns," of
the families known as the "Duchesses," "Airdries,"
"Gwynnes," "Frantics" and "Mazurkas," not a few
of which are valued at ten thousand dollars each,
and some of which have been sold for that figure.
He has also given attention to the raising of Berk-
shire pigs and Cotswold sheep with very great suc-
cess, his herds of these animals being among the
best in the Northwest.
Mr. Ormond was married on the 2d of August,
1856, to Miss Ann Kilroy, by whom he has had
three children, namely, William, Charles and Ellen.
He was legally separated from his wife in 1868, and
on the 2d of October, 1875, was married to Miss Mary
Dewey, a native of Milwaukee, by whom he has had
one child, a son, named Frederick FitzClarence, after
Lord Fitz-Clarence, late commander-in-chief of the
Bombay army, from whom our subject received im-
portant favors while in the British military service.
JOHN S. VAN CLEVE, A.M.,
JANESVILLE.
ALTHOUGH the subject of the following sketch
. has not yet arisen above tlie horizon into the
firmament of literary fame, yet in the scope and
bririiancy of his intellectual powers and attainments
he is indeed a marvel, and shows in many essential
points a very striking resemblance to the sublimest
of England's poets — Milton; and every' augury
from the achievements of his first twenty-five years
warrants the expectation of many great and endur-
ing works from his pen, if his life is prolonged and
health support the enormous overweight of his brain
work.
He was born on the 30th of October, 185 1, at
Maysville, Mason county, Kentucky, and is the son
of Rev. Lafayette Van Cleve (who has been for
thirty years a clergyman of the Methodist Episco-
pal church, and is at present in connection with
the Cincinnati, Ohio, conference, in which he holds
a high rank), and grandson of John Van Cleve, a
small farmer near Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother,
Elizabeth Smith, who was a woman of remarkable
force of character and high intellectual and religious
attainments, was the daughter of Reuben Smith, a
man of much natural intelligence and large read-
ing, though a stone-mason by trade. The paternal
ancestors of our subject were Hollanders, while
those on his mother's side were from England.
During all his childhood he was frail and sickly,
and an attack of whooping-cough determined an
inherited taint of scrofula to his eyes, which, after
eighteen months of excruciating torture, left him en-
tirely blind ; his health soon after began to amend,
and at the age of eight years he began to attend
school in company with seeing boys, studying his
lessons by having them read aloud to him, and
soon developed a great fondness for language, re-
ceiving at nine years a prize for excellence in spell-
ing. At the age of eleven he was sent to the
Institute for the Blind, at Columbus, Ohio, then
presided over by Dr. Lord, a man of most exalted
Christian character, and a most excellent instructor.
From this gentleman lie received his first impulse
toward the memorizing of poems and fine passages
of prose literature, an exercise which- has since
proved a source of never-failing delight to him.
He developed a quick grasp of abstract studies, and
took an elementary course of psychology and ethics
in his thirteenth year. He completed the curric-
ulum of the s'chool before sixteen, and then spent
five years at various schools, — one at Urbana; two
at Woodward High School, Cincinnati; one at the
Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio, and
one at the Divinity School of the Boston University.
He graduated at Woodward High School in 1870,
with the prize for general scholarship, and the vale-
dictory oration. He took the degree of A.B. at
Delavan, Ohio, in 187 1, and A.M. in 1874.
In 1872 his studies were interrupted by his ap-
pointment to the position of assistant music teacher
at the Institute for the Blind, Columbus, Ohio, where
he spent three years; after which he accepted a like
position as principal teacher of music at the Wis-
consin Institute, Janesville, which position he now
holds (1877).
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
527
He is a devoted member of the Methodist Epis-
copal church, in which he holds a local preacher's
license.
At the age of eleven he began to play the piano
under the direction of a very learned German gen-
tleman, Prof. Nothnagle, of Columbus, of a taste
Severely lofty and somewhat conservative, who im-
parted a very distinct mould to his taste and aspira-
tions. His first acquaintance with Beethoven was
at the age of thirteen ; and so deeply did the spirit
of this greatest of tone-masters sink into his mind,
that an ambition to do the noblest things in art,
both as a pianist and composer, was enkindled in
his soul. For seven years thereafter he continued
to give but a small fraction of his time to the pur-
suit ofmusic, while the larger part of his energy
was constantly strained to the utmost in gathering
the choicest treasures from all the realms of im-
aginative literature, especially English. At the age
of twenty, while pursuing the study of theology at
Boston, he became so fascinated by the multiform
beauties of the musical art works which he there
heard rendered, that for three years the diligent
practice of the piano, and intense study of the
theory and history of music, well-nigh absorbed his
whole power; but about this time, feeling the need
of some final decision as to which of the two arts
(music or poetry) should be enthroned in his life,
he was perplexed with the almost impossible de-
cision which must in either way cut off what seemed
as dear and indispensable as the right or left arm
to him. But the matter was finally brought to a
poise by his resolve to divide strictly and impar-
tially his time and energy between the two, hoping
by patient continuance, through years and slow ac-
cretions, to reach the size and strength of artistic
maturity, which in either art seemed indispensable
to life itself. As a practical artist upon the piano
he has attained to a full, rounded and completely
balanced development, so that no one-sidedness of
taste or art learning exists to draw him especially to
the performance of any master or school. Hence,
in his " Repertoire," Mendelssohn and Schuman,
Beethoven and Chopin, Bach and Liszt, are equally
represented, and many of the lesser works filling the
wide spaces between these mountain tops have also
a place in his study and veneration. The aggre-
gate amount of his present memorized " Repertoire "
is more than twelve thousand measures, which would
consume above eight hours in performance. He
has written a large number of pieces in various
modes and forms, from the simple "nocturn " to the
complex and elaborate "sonata;" but none of them
have as yet been given to the public, though many
of them have drawn out warm praise from musicians
of the finest taste.
He has also, during the past twelve years, since
his first perusal of " Paradise Lost " (which he always
calls an intellectual creation), ranged over the entire
field of English polite literature, from Chaucer to
Tennyson ; from Richardson and Fielding to Dick-
ens and George Eliot, and from Addison to Lowell.
In these studies he has always brought a sun-glass
intensity of concentrated attention, which has kindled
almost every dry stick into a flame, and his faggots
of mental fuel have been collected from every quar-
ter; not alone from Shakspeare or Wordsworth, but
from Donne, Quads, Clair and Clough. He early
began to fi.x in memory all phrases, words, lines, pas-
sages or whole poems, which seemed to him worthy
of being kept ; and the same searching process has
been applied to every form of prose reading, and
these passages have all been interwoven and inter-
laced with each other by numberless associations, so
that every minute fragment is ready at an instant's
call. The amount of memorized literature which
he at present carries is upward of thirty thousand
lines, and he is now adding to his stock at the rate
of twelve thousand lines per year.
His first attsmpt in verse was a descriptive poem
on " Evening," composed at the age of thirteen, and
shortly afterward another entitled the " Song of the
Brook," which so pleased his circle of friends that
it was put into print for their benefit. Another one,
produced at a somewhat later period, entitled " The
Pool by the Sea," is embodied in this sketch as a
specimen of his mode of thought and versification.
" I stood where ocean
Had laid a floor of hard, wet sand ;
Forever to and fro acro.ss the strand.
With ceaseless motion,
The chafing waves now climb the gentle plain,
Now back recoil again.
" Resplendent o'er me
The night had hung her aznre bell,
With sparkling gems encrusted like a shell.
And wide before me
I saw the stars all tremble in the brine,
In prisons crystalline.
" The act unheeding
I pressed my heel upon the strand
And made a little hollow in the sand;
The wave receding
Left in it crystal water, brimming o'er,
Yet prisoned on the shore.
52^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
" Beside the ocean,
Yet parted from the tierce turmoil
Ofangrj waves that ever hiss and boil,
Unvexed with motion,
It held within its breast, reflected far,
One bright eternal star.
" No Ioniser flowing
Before the bidding of the wind,
The water lay in sandy wall confined.
But calmly glowing,
Fix'd in its bosom, central and serene,
Its star-lit heart Avas seen.
" Oh, thus entrammeled
With feeble senses o'er and o'er
Our souls are pent upon this mortal shore.
Yet deep enameled
Within our hearts, by light from heaven's far cope,
Burns bright eternal hope."
At the age of fourteen he began to devote all his
hours of composition to the building up of a larger
work, the outlines of which at first were vague, but
grew, both in size and distinctiveness till they formed
a philosophic poem entitled "The Vale of Poesy,"
on which work he is at present engaged, and will
probably consume at least five years more in its
completion. It is cast in the form of a vision some-
thing after the manner of Dante's " Divine Comedy,"
and paints the aspirations of the soul of man, tracing
its progress from the root in this world to the flower
in the next. It is designed to be in six books,
aggregating six thousand lines of blank verse, heroic
measure. It follows a disembodied spirit through
the various scenes by which it is fitted to enter into
the highest life of the future, and this tutelage is
conducted by angelic instructors. He does not in-
tend to give this poem to the world for ten years
yet, in this emulating the patience of Wordsworth,
who kept some of his works by him for twenty
years.
He has sedulously cultivated the critical as well
as the creative faculty, and has delved so deep into
the very soul and spirit of all the great schools of
thought and writing, that he holds a microcosm of
the whole system of imaginative literature, and de-
lights much in unfolding the interdependencies and
mutual reactions of the great forces which have
moulded human development, especially as revealed
through letters. Whenever he attacks an author he
vivisects his whole mental anatomy, laying bare at
once his strength and his weakness, and always aims
at the severest and most exact truth of judgment,
not sparing the faults of his idols, nor treating with
indifference the graces of those for whom his admi-
ration is less glowing. Whether Byron or Cowper,
Shakspeare or Burns, Goethe or Dante, Homer or
Tennyson, he is equally at home, and at once adapts
the scale of his critical judgment to the size of the
genius to be measured. He strenuously seeks to
realize a catholicity of taste which excludes no
plant having the true sap of genius from his all-
embracing herbary. He has at his command an
analysis of all the standard poets, is familiar with
their classification, understands the relation of their
thought to that of their times, and its effects upon
life and manners, and the relation of each to the
progress of civilization. Parallel with these strictly
aesthetic studies, he has carried on a general ac-
quaintance with politics, art, metaphysics and sci-
ence, and though not an adept in experimental
research, is conversant with its most striking results,
and from this region frequently draws ob'ects of
comparison to serve as mirrors for centering the
light upon the special topic before him. But with
all this discursiveness of range, dealing with vague
abstractions and general laws, he fills his memory
with particulars, facts, names, dates, thoughts, images
and anecdotes, which come showering down on all
occasions at the slightest touch, like water-drops
from a spreading tree after a copious rain.
His system of working is eminently methodical
and accurately distributed over the various subjects
embraced in the circle of his thinking, and he makes
constant review, brushing off the dust of forgetful-
ness, that every mental treasure may lose none of its
brightness from the effects of time. His method is
to hire persons to read aloud such books as he se-
lects, in which he marks out every passage from a
word or phrase to hundreds of lines, which seem to
him worth a second reading. These again are re-
read and re-classified into four ranks, according to
their importance, and the best, whether prose or
verse, are then carefully and patiently worked into
his memory, which, he says, in every man should be
a polished and fadeless mosaic in which a thousand
fragments, varying in size and color, together make
one significant whole. He is always ready to give
the year and day of every event, for he considers
dates the pegs on which every fact should be hung.
The same earnest labor which he has bestowed
upon English, he has also bestowed upon other
languages, — especially German, Greek and Latin,
besides Italian, French and Hebrew. With the
leading authors in these languages he is only less
familiar than with the English. All his discussions,
whether formal or spontaneous, whether gushing out
as casual talks or as set speeches, are characterized
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
529
by a volcanic glow of enthusiasm and constant scin-
tillation of metaphor and simile, and many of his
images have a brilliancy and fitness that fixes the
thouglit indelibly in the mind of the hearer, and a,n
exquisite enjoyment of the ideas of color tinges
every remark, and he sometimes says that the only
thing which has saved him from a triple perplexity,
from the desire to study painting in addition to the
art of poetry and the art of music, is the lack of
sight.
Mr. Van Cleve has, from the first, participated
largely in the exercises of the two literary societies
of the city, " The Mutual Improvement Club " and
the " Round Table," and has always been ready to
do any amount of labor that might be needed to
round out and fill up the study, or is ready to retire
into the background and allow others full scope to
exercise their powers and develop their information,
and at each meeting has served as general gleaner
of the entire field over which the various reapers
have gathered their sheaves.
These qualities present at once, without collision,
the power of cultured talent and tiie inspiration of
genius.
REV. JOHN J. ELMENDORF. S.T.D.,
RACINE.
JOHN J.AV EI.MENDORF, S.T.I)., university
J professor of intellectual philosophy and English
literature in Racine College, Wisconsin, represents
one of the old Dutch families who immigrated to
the " New Netherlands," now the " Empire State,"
in the beginning of the seventeenth century, although
the family name indicates rather a " Piatt Teuton "
origin. He was born in the city of New York, in
1827, and the first forty years of his life were en-
tirely identified with that metropolis. His school-
days were spent there, and where Union square
now stands he collected geological specimens, and
skated on tlie flats which then lay eastward of the
Bowery, in that section of the city. He graduated
at Columbia College, New York, at the early age of
eighteen, standing second in a class of twenty-four.
He devoted two years to the study of the natural
sciences, attending two courses of lectures at the
College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Immediately after his graduation at Columbia
College, by reason of the illness of the professor of
mathematics, young Elmendorf was appointed to
take his place pro tempore, but this did not interfere
with his own work, which he pursued with the ut-
most vigor and persistence. Having resolved to
prepare himself for the work of the Christian min-
istry, he entered the General Theological Seminary
of the Protestant Episcopal church, from which he
graduated in 1849, to his work having been added
a second time the duties of the mathematical pro-
fessor at his Alma Mater. After an additional year
of private study he received holy orders in the Epis-
copal church in 1850, and having gained some brief
experience in missionary work in the city, he warmly
took up the cause of "free churches;" and, aided
by friends of the movement, he, in 1852, organized
a " free church " in what was then the suburbs of the
city — near the intersection of Broadway and Thirty-
fourth streets. Of this parish he continued rector
some sixteen years, building up a large congrega-
tion, and developing a principle which has be-
come popular, at least in theory, amongst Christian
churches generally.
Education in accordance with the faith of the
Episcopal church was an essential element of his
plan, and accordingly a large parish school soon
sprang up under the shadow of his church, which
was eventually modified and became " Hobart Hall,"
a suitable building having been erected for its use.
Out of this institution sprang up the now (1877)
flourishing school of the Protestant Sisters of St.
Mary, New York.
Dr. Elmendorf has always earnestly advocated the
principles then gradually finding acceptance in the
Episcopal church, concerning a higher standard of
practice and a warmer and more popular mode of
worship, and he was the first, we believe, to intro-
duce to New York a surpliced choir and regular
choral worship. Of course his little chapel became
an object of wide-spread attention, for such novelties
were signs of a movement about which there was
considerable difference of opinion, — a reform, some
considered it, which lay deeper than ritual, while
others had much to say in the public prints in
derision of the "poor Puseyites" in Thirty-seventh
street, New York.
530
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
In 1868 Dr. Elmendorf published a small twelve-
mo volume, entitled " Rites and Ritual," tracing the
history and meaning of the ceremonial of Christian
worship. A year or two previously Columbia Col-
lege had conferred upon him the degree of S.T.D.
Tn 1869 it became known that he was prepared
to withdraw from the excessive labors of mission
work in a parish chiefly composed of the poor ; and
it was also known that he had devoted considerable
attention to the principal languages and literature
of modern Europe — French, German, Italian and
Spanish ; he was invited to a position in the faculty
of Racine College, Wisconsin. After some delay
(his mission work having been taken in charge by
Trinity Church, New York), he accepted an ap-
pointment to a professorship by the trustees, and
removed, in the latter part of that year, with his
family, to Racine, where he has since labored.
In 1876, the college having been put under an
enlarged board of trustees with reference to the
founding of a " church university for the Northwest,"
Dr. Elmendorf was elected university professor of
intellectual philosophy and English literature. He
published, the next year, his " Outlines of the His-
tory of Philosophy," a syllabus of his lectures, with
copious reference to original sources, for the benefit
of students and the convenience of professors pur-
suing the historical course.
Dr. Elmendorf is a somewhat reserved student,
avoiding general society, and devoting himself al-
most exclusively to the unlimited fields of studies
involved in the range of his work as professor of
philosophy, although he occasionally reads a course
of lectures before a popular audience, some of which
have appeared in our quarterlies and other periodi-
cals. He is recognized as a " high churchman," and
affiliates with the so-called ritualistic party of the
denomination. He preaches in the college chapel
occasionally, and his sermons, when not philosophi-
cal, are strictly practical, rarely dogmatic. He is a
man of rare intellectual powers, clear, logical and
quick. He considers the study of intellectual phi-
losophy as the best means of training the mind, and
succeeds in impressing the students with his ideas,
so that they generally excel in that department, and
leave the college with a bias in the direction of such
studies. He is quite popular with his students, and
sometimes gives direction to their amusements and
recreations. He is fond of fishing, and of sports
peculiar to the " backwoods," and usually spends a
few weeks of the summer vacation in camping out
in some northern recess. With his intimates in the
social circle he is quite companionable; his chief
amusement being a "rubber" of chess, a game at
which he is quite an expert.
On October 21, 1850, he married Miss. Henri-
Anna Green, daughter of Henry Green, Esq., a scion
of a well-known New England family, connected
with the Jeffries, Amorys and Lawrences of Massa-
chusetts, and the English Marryats. Her only
brother, Edward Green, is a capitalist well known
in Chicago. Mrs. Elmendorf is a very highly cul-
tured, amiable and popular lady. They have a fam-
ily of nine children living, namely : Mary, Agnese,
Grace, Edward Green, Elizabeth, Lawrence, Caro-
line Dickerson, Emily Keene and Augustine. Mary
is the wife of Henry Babcock, Esq., of New Jersey:
the others are unmarried.
HON. WILLIAM BLAIR,
WAUKESHA.
WILLIAM BLAIR, a native of Ayrshire, Scot-
land, was born in the town of Dundonald,
July 31, 1820, his parents being Bryce and Ann
(Dunlop) Blair, industrious farming people. At
the age of sixteen, with only an ordinary com-
mon-school education, William immigrated to Amer-
ica, in company with an elder brother, and settled
in the village of Mumford, Wheatland township,
Monroe county, New York. There he learned the
machinist's trade, at which he worked for about
ten years. In the autumn of 1845 he closed his
affairs in the East and settled permanently in Wau-
kesha, Wisconsin. There he commenced the manu-
facture of threshing machines, in company with A.
Mcl-achlen, who sold out his interest to Amos
Smith at the end of about eleven years. Six years
later Mr. Blair bought out Mr. Smith, and since
then has conducted the business in his own name.
He still manufactures threshers, but on a very
limited scale, paying more particular attention to
the repairing of agricultural implements and ma-
chines, doing an extensive business in this line. He
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
53J
is also engaged in the manufacture of woolen fab-
rics, being president of the Waukesha County
Manufacturing Company, which consumes about
one hundred and fifty thousand pounds of wool
annually. He has been president of the Waukesha
National Bank since 1865, and a director since its
organization, more than twenty years ago.
Mr. Blair has a farm of about six hundred acres,
one mile from the village of Waukesha, on which he
lives, and of which he has had the care until the
].)resent year, his second son, George B., now having
charge of it. His eldest son, Frank C, takes the
])rincipal charge of the manufacturing and repairing
shops.
Mr. Blair was president of the village for six or
eight years, chairman of the town board nearly as
long, and a member of the senate in 1864, 1865,
1872, 1873, 1876 and 1877. He was chairman of
the committees on banks and banking and iniblic
lands during most of the sessions, and while in tliis
capacity did his most valuable work on the first-
named committee. Few men more practical, or of
better judgment have recently been found in that
body.
Mr. Blair has acted with the republican party
since it had a name, and has long been a leader in
political matters in his part of the State.
He has been twice married : First, to Miss Nancy-
M. Emmons, of Le Roy, New York, who died in
May, 1859; to his present wife. Miss Henriette A.
Emmons, a sister of the first wife, he was married in
June, i860. He had three children by the first
wife and has two by the second.
Pecuniarily Mr. Blair is perfectly independent,
and having sons old enough to manage certain
branches of his business, he is gradually shifting
responsibilities off his own shoulders and learning
to lessen his cares.
VERNON TICHENOR,
WAUKESHA.
THE father of the legal fraternity in Waukesha, !
Wisconsin, is Vernon, Tichenor, who has been
for thirty-eight years a practicing attorney there.
In the summer of 1839, when he entered the Terri-
tory of Wisconsin, Milwaukee had less than two
thousand inhabitants, and Waukesha less than two
hundred. Nine years later the Territory became a
State. Mr, Tichenor, still in prime health and only
a little past the prime of life, has seen Milwaukee
grow up to a city of nearly one hundred thousand
inhabitants, and Waukesha develop into one of the
most beautiful villages in the State, and, with its
health-giving fountains, become the " Saratoga of
the West."
He is the son of Moses and Abby (Paul) Tiche-
nor, and was born at Amsterdam, New York, August
28, 1815. His maternal grandfather served through
the seven years' struggle for American freedom, and
was taken prisoner and put on board a prison-ship
about six weeks before the close of the war. Moses
Tichenor fought in the second war with England.
Vernon prepared for college at the Amsterdam
Academy, and graduated from Union College in
the summer of 1835, just before entering on his
twenty-first year. He studied law with David P.
Corey, of Amsterdam, and was admitted to the bar
.S9
at Albany in October, 1838, and in August of the
following year opened a law office in Waukesha, his
being the first " shingle " to appear on these old
fishing and hunting "grounds of the Pottawatomies
and other tribes of savages, whose mounds are still
seen. These lands were then in possession of the
United States government, but traveling red men
were as numerous then as traveling white men are
now.
The shingle hung out thirty-eight years ago by
Mr. Tichenf)r has never been taken down, though
during the first year or two, on account of poor
health and a dearth of business, he paid little atten-
tion to the law. Gradually demands for his legal'
services increased with the increase of .settlers, and
for more than thirty years he has been a very busy
man. He is known as one of the best office lawyers
in his part of the State. The people have the ut-
most confidence in his accuracy and faithfulness in
doing business, and his integrity is unquestioned.
He is the local attorney for the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul Railway Company, and has been court
commissioner for more than twenty years.
Mr. Tichenor was the first town clerk of Wauke-
sha, serving several years. He was magistrate a
long time, doing all kinds of business. He was a
532
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAT DTCTIONART.
member of the village school board a long time,
president of the village three or four times, draft
commissioner in 1862, and a member of the assem-
bly in 1869. He is a wise counselor, but very mod-
est, never pushing himself forward.
In politics, Mr. Tichenor was in early life a lib-
erty-party man, and naturally drifted into the repub-
lican ranks, where he has been found since 1855.
He is a member of the Congregational church,
and finds nothing in the legal to conflict with his
Christian profession.
August 19, 1838, just after receiving his college
diploma, Mr. Tichenor was married to Miss Char-
lotte Sears, of New Scotland, Albany county. New
York. They have a son and daughter. Willis V.
is married and lives at Mason City, Iowa. He was
a captain in the 28th Wisconsin Infantry, and went
to the front in 1862, and was a brave officer, serving
tliree years and three months. The daughter, Mary
C, a well-educated lady, unmarried, lives at home.
Mr. Tichenor is a warm friend of education, and
has, for many years, done all he could to advance
the cause in Waukesha. He is president of the
board of trustees of Carroll College, located in his
village, and is faithful in this as in every other trust
confided to him.
JOHN VAUGHAN,
RACTNE.
IN that beautiful, mountainous region of North
Wales bordering on St. George's channel, in
Merionethshire, was born the subject of this sketch
on the 24th of March, 1820. His father, a respect-
able farmer, was a man of much force of character
and sturdy independence — characteristics strongly
developed in the son.
John received a fair common-school education,
and worked on his father's farm until he was twenty-
four years old. He then immigrated to America,
landing in New York city in the spring of 1849, and
in the month of July following settled in southern
Wisconsin. He worked by the month at such occu-
pation as he could find until 1850, when he entered
a grocery store in Racine as clerk, and after four
years of industry and thrift purchased the stock of
his employers and commenced business on his own
account. He formed a partnership with Mr. T. L.
Williams, which continued with increasing success
for twenty years, and at the close of 1873 Mr.
Vaughan purchased the interest of his partner, and
continued the business alone till his decease. By
his own industry and business tact he raised him-
self to wealth and influence, and at the time of his
death was the owner of several of the largest build-
ings in the city. He was a member of the common
council of Racine for eight years, and was elected a
member of the general assembly of the State in
1864, He was a director of the Racine Dredge
Company, a director of the Manufacturers' Nation-
al Bank, and also a stockholder in the silver-plat-
ing company. He was part owner of the largest
lime-kiln in his section of country, and was one of
the originators of the fire department of Racine, and
the first steam fire engine was named the " John
Vaughan " in honor of him. The city, at the time
of its purchase, being unable to pay for the engine,
he gave his note to the manufacturers. He was a
man of great public spirit, and was the prime mover
in every enterprise for the benefit of the citizens or
the prosperity of the city, and was looked up to by
the community as one of the most enterprising and
respected citizens of Racine, being popular with all
classes.
He was married on the 24th of May, 1858, to
Martha Thomas, a very amiable and wortliy lady,
who survives him. Their two children, John and
Martha, are still living.
Mr. Vaughan was not a member of any church,
but was a regular attendant on the Methodist ser-
vice. He was a distinguished Mason, and also an
Odd-Fellow, and was regarded as the patron and
patriarch of all the Welsh people in town, a large
colony of whom settled in Racine mainly through
his influence.
He was a republican in politics, and organized
some seventy of his countrymen into a military
company and sent them to the war, taking care of
many of their families during their absence. As a
politician he wielded considerable local influence.
He was a most generous and kind-hearted man,
willing to help every one in need to the extent of
his ability. He was uniformly on the bail-bond of
every city or county treasurer, and indorsed nearly
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
535
all that asked him, not having the heart to refuse.
In many cases he suffered heavily by his suretyship.
His career was one of very remarkable success.
Starting in life without capital, or any of the advan-
tages of education or influence, which often fall to
the lot of others, by his own force of character and
honest purpose he not only achieved a fortune, but
became an eminently useful citizen, possessing till
the day of his death the respect and esteem of a
wide circle of acquaintances.
He died on Sunday, January 28, 1877.
At a special meeting of the city council held on
the following day, the mayor, Hon. John J. Mecham,
M.D., submitted the following official communica-
tion ;
Gentlemen 01- the Common Council : John Vaughan
died yesterday afternoon at his late residence on the corner
of Chippewa and Seventh streets. He was long one of our
most prominent business men, and eight years a meml)er
of the city council, acting with energy and ability upon two
of its most important committees, fire and harbor. He was
most emphatically a Racine man, having been conspicu-
ously identified with all of our improvements for the last
twenty-five years. Not a church has been erected in the
city during that time that has not received aid from his
treasury. The college and St. Luke's Hospital owe him
thanks for his liberality toward them. Once he has repre-
sented our city in the State legislature. During the rebel-
lion he was active, liberal and patriotic. To the poor he
was always kind and generous, and many a bountiful gift
has his right hand made that his left knew not of I would
the council attend his
Resolutions of respect to his inemory and condo-
lence to his family were passed by the Masonic
Lodge, No. 18, of which he was a member.
From an obituary notice of him published in the
" Racine Journal " on the 31st of January, 1877, we
make the following extracts :
By the death of Mr. Vaughan, Racine loses one of her
oldest and most enterprising citizens. No man ever lived
in our city who was more identified with its interests or
more earnest and faithful in advancing them.
By attention to business and hard work he had succeeded
in amassing a reasonable amount of this world's goods ; of
a most useful nature and having the interests of the city at
heart, he invested his earnings in permanent improvements,
and many fine buildings now stand as monuments to his
memory.
The article enters at some length into the details
of his public career and private virtues, as set forth
above, and concludes by stating:
The funeral took place on Tuesday aftei-noon from the
Presbyterian Church, and was one of the largest ever seen
in the city. His honor the mayor and the members of the
council, the masonic lodge of vvhich he was a member, and
the fire department, were in attendance. The cluirtli was
densely packed, extra seats having been put m tlie aisles.
The services commenced by singing the hymn —
" How still and peaceful is the grave,
Where life's vain tumults past.
ISAAC LAI N
WAUKESHA.
THE Lain family emigrated from England at
an early period in the settlement of the colo-
nies, and settled on Long Island. The father of
Isaac Lain was living in Orange county, New York,
when the son was born (December 18, 1820), his
occupation being that of a farnier. The maiden
name of his mother was Deborah Alger. Isaac, the
youngest of a family of nine children, aided his
father until 1833, when the father died. He con-
tinued to work at farming until seventeen years old,
usually attending a district school during the winter
months. At that age he went to Chemung county,
and worked five years with two older brothers at the
carpenter's trade.
In June, 1842, he settled in Waukesha, Wisconsin,
and there continued to operate as a house-builder
and contractor for about ten years, doing, at times,
i|uite an extensive business, and employing a large
number of men.
In 1852 he engaged in the real-estate and insu^r-
ance business, adding manufacturing a few years
later. He is now {1877) a stockholder in the Wau-
kesha County Manufacturing Company, and is sec-
retary of the same. He still does something in the
insurance line. For about three years he has been
in poor health, and was entirely disabled for a while,
but is improving and able to oversee his business.
Mr. Lain was a member of the general assembly
in 1861, at the opening of the rebellion. Monday,
April 18, had been set for the day of adjournment.
The Sunday before the news of the firing on Sum-
ter came. It was proposed to continue the session,
and a few anti-war democrats tried to get out of
town, but Governor Randall had seen the railroad
officials, and no train left on Sunday night. The
session continued another week or more ; war meas-
ures were iiUroduced, and before adjournment Mr.
Lain was appointed one of the comiiiissioners to go
536
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
to New York and purchase arms. During the re-
bellion he was very active in encouraging enlist-
ments and in various ways helping on the cause.
He has held various local offices, and has been
very faithful in discharging his duties; has been
president of the village several times, and for a
short time was one of the commissioners of the
Industrial School, located at Waukesha. He was
chairman of the county board of supervisors from
1866 to 1870, and now holds that position.
Mr. Lain was a democrat until the republican
party was organized.
He is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been a Bap-
tist communicant more than forty years, and is now
clerk of the Waukesha Church. He is a warm
friend of temperance, and active in all enterprises
which have the best interests of man in view. He
favors manufactures and everything that will build
up the village of Waukesha.
Mr. Lain has a second wife. His first, Miss Sarah
C. Van Vechten, died in 1850, after being married
a year and a half. To her sister, Rebecca J. Van
Vechten, he was married in 1858; they have three
children, two daughters and a son.
JACOB BODDEN,
THERESA.
PROBABLY no farmer in Dodge county, Wis-
consin, has been honored with more positions
of trust and responsibility than Jacob Bodden. A
native of Prussia, he is the son of Adam Bodden
and Margaretta ne'e Grath, and was born September
21, 1831. His father, a soldier under Napoleon
Bonaparte, came to this country in 1847, when
Jacob was sixteen years old, and settled at first in
Washington county, Wisconsin, where he spent four
years in farming. In 185 1 he removed to Theresa,
in Dodge county, where he still resides, his farm
consisting of about one hundred and forty acres
under e.xcellent cultivation. Agriculture has been
his life-pursuit, and he loves it; but the people have
seen fit to call him away from the plow many times.
Mr. Bodden has held an office of some kind most
of the time since he has been in Dodge county, and
has been faithful in the discharge of his duties. He
was chairman of the town board of Theresa in 185S,
and several times afterward was chosen for that po-
sition. He was a member of the general assembly
in 1861, 1866 and 1874. He was county treasurer
from 1867 to 1871, chairman of the county board
of supervisors in 1874 and 1875, and was elected
sheriff in 1876, and now holds that office (1877).
Mr. Bodden has always been a democrat, and is a
strong partisan. In politics, as in everything else,
he acts from conviction, and is firm in his adhesion
to what he regards as right.
In religious belief he is a Catholic, holding to the
faith of both his paternal and maternal ancestry.
Mr. Bodden has had two wives. To his first wife,
Miss Agnes Schafer, of Theresa, he was married in
1856. Mrs. Bodden died in the following year, leav-
ing one child. His present wife was Miss Gertrude
Schiefer, of Theresa. They were married in i860,
and have eight sons and two daughters.
Mr. Bodden has done good service to his con-
stituents in Dodge county, and is held in warm
esteem, particularly among his political confreres.
Public-spirited and generous, he has looked well to
the interests of the county, and hence his excellent
standing. He never had much public-school educa-
tion, is largely self-taught, and is to be commended
for having fitted himself to hold such a variety of
public offices.
RICHARD STREET
WA UKESHA.
THE subject of this sketch is a native of Stirling-
shire, Scotland, and was born September 5,
1825, in Bannockburn, a town immortalized by the
deeds of Bruce and the song of Burns, He is the
son of William and Lucy (y\nderson) Street, his
father being, for about fifty years, a manufacturer,
and an overseer of woolen mills. At eleven years of
age, with an ordinary common-school education,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAI^ DICTIONART.
537
Richard went to the trade of his father, working
under his cliarge until of age, adding, meantime,
slightly to his stock of knowledge, now and then,
by attending a night school. At twenty-one he
moved to the town of Stirling, a few miles from
Bannockburn, and became overseer of a woolen
factory. After holding that situation several years
he removed to Alva. Stirlingshire, where he held a
similar position in a larger factory until 1855, wlien
he immigrated to the United States.
Settling at Lancaster, Grant county, Wisconsin, he
remained there until i860, when he went to Utica,
New York, and became overseer of the Globe Mills.
He returned to Wisconsin in 1868, and was superin-
tendent in Blake and Co.'s factory at Racine until
187 I, and there introduced the manufacture of the
celebrated Badger State shawl. In January of that
year he settled in Waukesha, and became superin-
tendent of the mills of the Waukesha County Manu-
facturing Company, which consume from one hun-
dred and fifty to two hundred thousand pounds of
wool annually, and turn out as fine woolen cloths
and shawls as are manufactured in the Northwest.
The company does on an average about one hun-
dred and fifty thousand dollars per annum, which is
intrusted entirely to the hands and oversight of Mr.
Street, who, as a business man of competency, effi-
ciency and trustworthiness, has few equals and no
superior in the village of Waukesha. He is always
at his post, vigilant, untiring, and everything about
the great factory moves like clock-work. The repu-
tation of many of the brands of cloth, and of the
famous Wisconsin shawls, manufactured under his
charge, is so good that they are made to order.
He is thoroughly wedded to his business. He be-
lieves in doing one thing at a time and doing it well.
. He is a firm republican in politics, but rarely ac-
cepts an office, and never any outside the village
corporation.
He is a member of the Temple of Honor, and an
ardent and influential advocate of the temperance
cause ; a member of the Baptist church, the super-
intendent of its Sunday-school, and a tireless worker
for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. He is
one of those active Christians who are always in
their place and completely fill it.
The wife of Mr. Street was Miss Elizabeth Robert-
son, of Stirling, Scotland, whose father is now resid-
ing at Platteville, Wisconsin. They have had ten
children, nine of whom are living.
CAPTAIN GILBERT KNAPP,
GH.BRRT KNAPP, the first white settler and
founder of the city of Racine, was born at
Chatham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, December 3,
1798, and is the son of John and Sarah (Smith)
Knapp, both descended from English ancestors,
who settled at Horseneck, Connecticut, early in
the eighteenth century. His father was a captain
in the revolutionary war, and at the close of that
struggle became a seafaring man, and for many
years commanded a merchant vessel trading with
European ports. In later life he was a successful
merchant in Poughkeepsie, New York. His mother
was the daughter of Elijah Smith, a substantial
merchant at Barnstable, Massachusetts, and a na-
tive Englishman.
Gilbert was educated at the schools then in ex-
istence at his native place ; he studied English,
mathematics and navigation, giving special atten-
tion to the last named science. At the age of fif-
teen he went to sea before the mast in a vessel
commanded by his uncle, by marriage. Captain
C'hilds. His first voyage was to Davis Straits,
thence to Cadiz in Spain, and occupied a period
of nine months. Soon after the declaration of war
with England {181 2) he shipped as masters' mate
on board the Leo, a private armed vessel, letter
of marque, with seventeen guns and one hundred
and fifty men. Captain Be Sonne, of French de-
scent, which was chartered by the American gov-
ernment to carry dispatches to France, and run
the blockade, which England had then established
over the French ports, into Natches. He made
three voyages in this service with success, though
with very great risk. During one of those voy-
ages, while cruising off the Western Islands, they
fell in with a British ship, letter of marque, of six
guns, with which they had a sharp engagement, and
afterward took her by boarding. Her crew consisted
chiefly of Portuguese and Spaniards, and she was
laden with a cargo of Chinese silks and cochineal,
538
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV
valued at half a million dollars, and had in her safe
some forty thousand dollars in gold, which was trans-
ferred to the Leo and distributed among the officers
and crew. They took the prize in custody, manned
her with thirty men and ordered her to France;
had her in possession .some nine days, when an
English frigate retook her, and thus they lost their
prize. On a subsequent voyage they had an en-
gagement with two British letter-of-marque vessels.
This encounter occurred in the night. The Leo oc-
cupied a central position midway between the frig-
ates, and was for a time in a very critical situation.
She received several broadsides, and made the best
response possible, but her escape was due to her su-
superior sailing facilities. Her loss was one man
killed and several wounded. During the third voy-
age to France with dispatches they fell in with a
British man-of-war fleet, — two frigates, a sloop of
war and tender, with six guns. They were chased
into Brest; had a sharp engagement and cut up
the tender pretty severely, but were obliged to flee
from the frigates.
During the war he had made the acquaintance
of several naval officers, persons who had been in
Perry's fleet on Lake Erie, who prevailed on him
to come to the lakes to learn the geography of their
coasts, with a view to a position in the marine
service. He accordingly went on board a lake
cutter in i8iS, and after spending nearly two
years in tutelage, visiting every harbor and tribu-
tary river on these inland oceans, he was, in 1819,
commissioned as captain in the LTnited States rev-
enue marine service, and placed in command of
the A. J. Dallas, then in commission at Detroit,
where he remained some ten months. At this
time the celebrated John Jacob Astor was at the
head of a great fur trading company on the west-
ern lakes, and had complained to the government
that a large illicit trade was being carried on be-
tween the English and the Indians to the injury
of the government and the detriment of licensed
traders.
Captain Knapp, with his vessel, was accordingly
ordered to Mackinaw to look after this business.
In the discharge of his duties he captured large
quantities of contraband goods, which were con-
fiscated by the revenue department, and the illicit
traffic was in this way completely suppressed, to
the no small benefit of Mr. Astor. He remained
at this station for eight years, and in 1828 left
the service and retired to private life. During
one of his cruises on Lake Michigan he had halted
at the mouth of the Racine river and gone ashore
to "spy out the land," — being, as he believes, the
first white man who had ever pressed the soil at
this point. He was greatly charmed with the
beauty of the situation and made a secret resolve
to visit the place again with a view to settlement.
After quitting the revenue service he located tem-
porarily at a point on Lake Erie, in Chatauqua
county. New York, where he was the owner of
some property, and where for two years he was
engaged as a forwarding and commission merchant,
being part owner of the vessels engaged in the
transportation. In 1834, however, he sold out his
Lake Erie property and resolved to see Racine
river once more. Stopping at Chicago, he pro-
cured the services of a trusty Indian guide and
proceeded overland by an Indian trail as far as
" Skunk Grove," five miles west of Racine, where
was an Indian encampment, and thence, under the
direction of a fresh guide, proceeded to the mouth
of the river, passing by the rapids on his way.
He spent two days in investigating the adaptabil-
ity of the mouth of the river for the purposes of
a harbor, the probabilities of the situation gen-
erally, and resolved to settle. He accordingly re-
turned to Chicago, reported the result of his ex-
plorations to his friend Gordon S. Hubbard, now
of Chicago, who became his partner in the new
enterprise ; hired mechanics and purchased some
building materials, which were shipped to the new
settlement, where a shanty was soon erected on the
edge of the lake south of the river, at the point
now occupied by the lumber yard of George Mur-
ray. He next erected a log warehouse and estab-
lished a trading post; sold flour and provisions to
emigrants and traffickers passing up and down
between Green Bay and Chicago. Other settlers
soon followed and in a short time the place be-
gan to be known. He and his partner, Mr. Hub-
bard, took the necessary steps toward preempting
a half section on the south side of the river (the ,
land had not yet come into market, hence it could
not be bought), surveyed some lots and laid the
foundation of a town, and would have secured a
title under the preemption laws, but during the
winter preceding the date when the claim would
have matured, congress enacted a law interdicting
the preemption of land on which towns had been
laid out, and restricting this privilege to actual
settlers for homestead purposes. This was a seri-
THE UNITED STATES B/OGRAPH/CAL DICTIONART.
539
ous obstacle to the pioneer town enterprise, and
much trouble was experienced by them in securing
a title, they being obliged to build a court-house
and jail as a precedent condition. They also pur-
chased a tract on the north side of the river ad-
joining the lake, on which a large portion of the
city now stands, for which a dollar and twenty-
five cents per acre was paid. A third gentleman,
Mr. Benjamin F. Barker, was now taken into the
partnership. A saw-mill was erected at the rapids
aforenamed and other improvements added. In
the year following (1835) the territory of Wiscon-
sin was separated from that of Michigan, which
was admitted to the Union, and Captain Knapp was
elected to represent the county of Racine in the
senatorial council of the first territorial legislature.
This county then included the present counties of
Racine, Kenosha, Walworth, Rock and Milwaukee.
The new territory then included all the present
State of Wisconsin, a part of Iowa, all of Minne-
sota and part of Dakota. The legislature met at
Green Bay, but owing to some difficulty touching
the boundary of Ohio the new State of Michigan
was not admitted until the following year; conse-
quently the legislature of Wisconsin was not recog-
nized and could therefore transact no business until
the succeeding year, when Governor Dodge was ap-
pointed by the President, and the legislature met
at Belmont, in the present county of Lafayette. Of
the twenty-one members from the counties east of
the Mississippi river, which constituted this body,
it is believed that only five survive at this date
(1877), namely, our subject, Alenson Sweet and J.
B. Terry, of the council, and General A. G. Ellis
and Thomas Shanley, of the house. Few persons
can now realize the condition of things as they
were in 1836. During this session the State cap-
ital was located at Madison, and appropriations
made for commencing the erection of the build-
ings. Captain Knapp was also a member of the
council of the succeeding two legislatures, which
met at Burlington, Iowa, in 1837 and 1838, and was
one of the most industrious, influential and intel-
ligent of the members. He was offered the nom-
ination to congress from the territory, but declined
in favor of George W. Jones, who was elected and
subsequently made United States senator.
In 1840 Captain Knapp returned to the revenue
marine service, resuming his former rank, and re-
mained in the service until 1845, when he again
retired to private life for a period of four years.
From 1849 till 1853 he was again in the revenue
service, retiring in the latter year and giving at-
tention to his private business until the opening
of the rebellion, when his services were again
brought into requisition by the government.
In i860 he was elected to the Wisconsin legis-
lature, and served a term in the lower house, but
resigned three days before the adjournment of the
session to take command of the " Dobbins," in
which he served on coast and blockade duty on
the capes for some time, and afterward in com-
mand of the Morris at Boston harbor. Since the
close of the war he has been stationed on the
lakes. He superintended the building of the rev-
enue steam cutters Sherman and Fessenden at
Cleveland, and was afterward in command of the
latter for twelve years. Since 1874 he has been off
duty — "awaiting orders," as the situation is tech-
nically phrased, and expecting " retirement."
He was raised under Presbyterian influence, and
still iirefers that form of religion, though he some-
times attends the Episcopal church, but is not in
union with either.
He was married in A|)ril, 182 1, to Miss Maria
Annan, daughter of Robert J. Annan, Esq., a na-
tive of Annandale, Scotland ; she died in 1828,
at Eric, Pennsylvania, leaving four children surviv-
ing her, one of whom, an infant, named Harriet
M., died soon after the mother. The eldest son,
Robert Annan, born March 3, 1822, was a mid-
shipman in the United States navy, and made a
three years' cruise in the Mediterranean and other
eastern waters, and resigned on account of failmg
health at the age of twenty-one. He afterward
commanded a vessel on the lakes for several years.
In 1852 he became connected with the Racine
and Mississippi railroad — afterward the Western
Union road — filling the various positions from sta-
tion agent to division superintendent. This posi-
tion he resigned in 1867. During the war, however,
he served a short period as lieutenant in the navy
under Commodore Foote, but owing to ill health
was obliged to re.sign, and his place on the rail-
road being still vacant he resumed it on regaining
his health. He was subsequently connected with
the Hannibal and St. Joseph line for a period of
four years, but having been weakly the greater
part of his life, died in August, 1876. The next
son, Gilbert, studied law in Racine, and was ad-
mitted to the bar, but disliking the profession he
turned his attention to farming, and is now a planter
546
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
at Little Rock, Arkansas. Mary Annan, the only
daughter, is the widow of the late Mr. A. McClurg,
for many years a banker in Racine. He died in
March, 1877. Some two and a half years after the
death of his wife Captain Knapp married the sister
of his deceased wife, Hannah, who survived her
marriage but one year, leaving no issue. On the
25th of October, 1837, he married Almira Meach,
at Clinton, New York, a very highly cultivated lady,
esteemed and respected by all who knew her. She
was in her day the leader of society, and enter-
tained with great hospitality. She died in Decem-
ber, 1876, lamented by all who knew her.
As a man, Captain Knapp has always been very
generous, noble-hearted, patriotic, public-spirited.
and first in every enterprise for the public good,
or the benefit of the city of which he was the parent.
He was generous to the needy and unfortunate, and
always willing to lend a helping hand to those
struggling to gain a position; in this way he has
sacrificed thousands of dollars. He was eminently
j social and hospitable, and, for many years after the
settlement of the town, entertained all who visited
Racine.
The only sister of Captain Knapp, Mrs. Sarah
Milligan, some four years his senior, is still living
at Shawano, Wisconsin. She was the first white
woman that settled at Racine in 1835, and resided
here until 1869. She is the mother of Mrs. Caroline
I A. Knapp, widow of the eldest son of the captain.
[OHN WILDER PERRY,
JUNEAU.
THE subject of this brief biogra]jhy is a native
of Vermont, and the son of William Perry, a
physician, and Lury nee Wilder, of Fayetteville, the
county seat of Windham county. There the son
was born April 13, 1822. This branch pf the Perry
family is distantly related to Commodore Perry.
Dr. Perry was a farmer as well as practicing phy-
sician, though he did very little himself in the line
of land-tilling. He believed, however, in teaching
children to be industrious, and John Wilder early
learned to work. He remained on the farm until
eighteen years of age, after becoming large enough
to drop corn and spread hay, and received about
three months of schooling annually. At the age
just mentioned he went to Boston and spent three
years in a book store, where he had a good oppor-
tunity to improve his mind by reading. Returning
to his native town he operated a sash factory from
1844 to 1849, shortly afterward changing his occu-
pation to that of a hotel-keeper in the same town,
and thus busying himself until 1855, when he settled
in Oak Grove township, Dodge county, Wisconsin.
This township includes the village of Juneau. His
place of settlement was but a few rods from where
the county poor-house now stands. He selected a
rich piece of land, the fertility of which strikingly
contrasted with the soil on which he had expended
the energies of his youth.
After spending the first ten or twelve years of his
residence in Wisconsin in farming, he opened a lum-
ber yard at Minnesota Junction in the same town-
ship, continuing in that business seven years. Since
January i, 1876, he has been superintendent of the
Dodge County Poor House.
As a man Mr. Perry enjoys the confidence and
esteem of his fellow-citizens, which is well attested
by the fact that he has been in office nearly three-
fourths of the time since he settled in Wisconsin.
He was chairman of the town board of supervisors
about five years, town treasurer about two years,
and justice of the peace about ten years. He has
always acted with the democratic party, but is not a
strong partisan, nor a very active politician. Dur-
ing the progress of the civil war the federal govern-
ment had no stronger supporter of its war measures
than Mr. Perry.
His religious sentiments he denominates " liberal."
He and his family are regular attendants at the
Presbyterian Church.
The wife of Mr. Perry was Miss Eva Campbell,
of New Ipswich, New Hampshire. They were mar-
ried August 24, 1844, and have had three children,
two of whom are now living — a son and a daughter.
John H. Perry, thirty years of age, is married, and
lives with his father. Lunette, eighteen years old,
is also at home.
It was fortunate for the poor of Dodge county
that Mr. Perry was placed at the head of the insti-
tution. In its last report the State Board of Chari-
ties stated that " Dodge county has one of the best
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAUr.
541
mannged and most liberally provided for poor-
houses in the State ; " and from a careful exami-
nation of the premises, external and internal, it
must be said that the board has done Mr. Perry
simple justice. In the indoor arrangements and
management, much credit is due Mrs. Perry, who is
a model housekeeper and a very kind-hearted, sym-
pathetic woman — an angel of mercy to the unfortu-
nate paupers and the still more unfortunate lunatics.
Her kind words addressed to them are the sweetest
music to their souls. The writer has visited a great
many poor-houses and asylums in different States,
and never saw an institution of the kind which pre-
sented a more neat and wholesome appearance.
POLYDORE S. McARTHUR, M.D.,
LA CROSSE.
POLYDORE S. McARTHlTR was born at
Wales, Erie county, New York, October 30,
1S22. His parents, Moses and Mary (Salisbury)
McArthur, farmers by occupation, were plain, indus-
trious people. The son aided his father until about
eighteen years of age, and during the next three
years attended the Aurora Academy, in an adjoin-
ing town, teaching school meanwhile during two
winters. He studied medicine with Dr. Paul, of
Honeoye Flats, Ontario county; and after attending
lectures two terms at Geneva Medical College he
graduated in February, 1847. He practiced medi-
cine at Holland, Erie county, three years, and at
Caledonia, Livingston county, six years, and on Oc-
tober 22, 1855, settled in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Here, as in western New York, Dr. McArthur has
attended very closely to his profession, except dur-
ing two seasons when he was absent from home. In
1 86 1 he went to New York city, and attended a full
four-months' course of lectures at the Long Island
Hospital and two months at the Eye and Ear In-
firmary, and repeated exactly the same course in
1 866. Few physicians in western Wisconsin have
had better opportunities for obtaining a knowledge
of medical science, or have been more entirely
and successfully devoted to the application of that
knowledge. Dr. McArthur is a thorough devotee
of the science of medicine. He obtains all the new
and most valuable works pertaining to his profes-
sion ; and being partially deaf, and in a measure
shut out from the socialities of life, he devotes all
the leisure time at his command to reading and hard
study. Pathology and the news of the day essen-
tially monopolize the odd moments and half hours.
Dr. McArthur calls himself a "hard-shell" dem-
ocrat. He always votes the democratic ticket, but
has no political aspirations, and makes everything
subordinate to his medical studies and medical pur-
suits; hence his eminent success.
He was married on the ist of January, 1852, to
Miss Mary Dean, of Caledonia, New York, and by
her has two children.
Dr. McArthur's life furnishes a brilliant example
of what may be accomplished by choosing a voca-
tion suited to one's tastes, and following it faithfully
to the exclusion of all others. He has clung to his
profession, and by persistence and perseverance has
I reached an exalted position in La Crosse county.
HON. EDWARD ELWELL,
BE A VER DAM.
THE subject of this sketch, a native New Eng-
lander, is the son of Dan Elwell, a house
builder of Massachusetts. His mother, Nancy Pren-
tice, was a native of Connecticut. His maternal
grandfather was a surgeon in the revolutionary army,
and was present at New London, Connecticut, when
the fort there was taken by the British, September
6, 1781. Edward Elwell is a native of Pennsylvania,
60
and was born at Athens, Bradford county, August 7,
1816. He attended a common school until fourteen
years of age, then gave four years to the cloth man-
ufacturing business, and spent about the same length
of time in attending school at the Athens Academy
and in teaching in different districts. At the age of
twenty-two he commenced reading law at Towanda,
with his brother William Elwell, now a district judge
542
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
in Pennsylvania, and was admitted to the bar at
Towanda in May, 1840. He practiced there until
1843; in Wyoming county, in the same State, until
1847; and then removed to Sheboygan, Wisconsin,
and practiced there until the summer of 1855, when
he made a permanent settlement in Beaver Dam,
Dodge county. Here he has followed his profession
with fair success for twenty-two years, doing consid-
erable collecting in connection with it, and at times
dealing a little in real estate. He is known as a
reliable, straightforward man, true to the interests
of every man with whom he has business relations.
He has held various official positions and filled them
with credit to himself and to the general satisfaction
of his constituents. Soon after settling in Sheboy-
gan county he was elected chairman of the board of
supervisors, and aided in laying out many roads
when that section of country was very sparsely
settled. He was district attorney of that county one
term, and left Sheboygan at its expiration ; was post-
master in Beaver Dam from the spring of 1857 to
August, 1861. He has been district attorney of
Dodge county two terms, and is now serving his
fourth year as county judge.
In politics Judge Elwell is known as a conserva-
tive democrat, and has been one of the leaders of
the party in his county for several years. He has
passed the chairs in Odd-fellowship; is a regular at-
tendant at the Presbyterian church, and a man of
high moral character.
Judge Elwell was married to Mary Ellen Fowler,
of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, January 31, 1844.
They have one son, Edward F. Elwell, who is in
the book and stationery business in Milwaukee.
ROBERT W. PIERCE,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a son of Richard
and Sarah (Rudd) Pierce, was born in Buck-
land, Franklin county, Massachusetts, February 14,
182 1. His father owned a small farm in the Bay
State, and was barely able to extract a subsistence
for his family from the rocky hillsides, and was al-
ways poor; consequently the educational advantages
of his children, eleven in number, were limited to
the common schools, then only in their infancy.
Robert worked upon the farm most of the time
during. the summer season and attended school in
the winter until he attained the age of fourteen.
This, with one term at an academy after he attained
the age of twenty-one constituted his schooling.
By subsequent study and observation, however, he
has become one of the wisest and best informed
men of his day. He is descended from English an-
cestors, who came to America about the year 1725
and settled in Taunton, Massachusetts, where many
of the descendants still reside. The grandfather of
our subject, Josiah Pierce, was a soldier in the revo-
lutionary war, and fought at the battle of Bunker
Hill and many other hard-fought fields of that
memorable struggle. In after life he settled in
Buckland, where he was known as a man of great
moral worth, and e.xercised considerable influence
in his neighborhood. The family were noted for
integrity, intelligence and the principles that dis-
tinguished many of the early settlers of New Eng-
land.
In 1844 our subject removed to tlie West and
settled in Milwaukee, which has since been his
home. He engaged in the manufacture of matches,
first on a small scale, selling his merchandise in
small packages to the storekeepers, but enlarged his
operations gradually as the demands of trade in-
creased until he built up quite an extensive busi-
ness, of which he retained the entire control and
management until the year 1855, when he took
his brother, Albert L. Pierce, into partnership with
him. He subsequently sold fractions of his interest
to others, retaining for several years only one fourth
of the business. This he disposed of entirely in
i860. He had previously embarked in the lumber
business, to which his time and attention have since
been mainly devoted. By prudence and industry
he has built up one of the largest establishments in
this line in the city of Milwaukee. In 1872, in com-
pany with three others, he built the " Minerva Iron
Furnace," of Milwaukee. This establishment was
afterward organized into a joint stock company un-
der a charter from the State, and called the Minerva
Iron Company, Mr. Pierce being treasurer of the
same. The institution is in a flourishing condition,
making money for its owners and giving employ-
ment to a large number of hands. From 1856 to
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
545
1862 Mr. Pierce was one of the directors of the old
Farmers and Millers' Bank of Milwaukee, an insti-
tution noted for its high standing and honorable
dealing under the presidency of the Hon. E. D.
Holton. It was subsequently organized into the
First National Bank of Milwaukee, of which E. H.
Broadhead is now president.
Mr. Pierce has never held any political office,
though often solicited by his fellow-citizens to allow
the use of his name in that connection, preferring
to attend strictly to his own private business, in
which he has given employment to a large number
of hands, thereby benefiting himself and others
more than he could have done in any other way.
Mr. Pierce is a plain, generous-hearted man ;
uniform in temper and manners, not given to moods
nor governed by spasmodic impulses, but always the
same — friendly, cordial and kind to every one with
whom he is brought in contact; a thorough, pru-
dent and safe business man, upright in all his deal-
ings, benevolent and charitable not only to the poor
and unfortunate, but willing to lend a helping hand
to those struggling to gain a position, and this with-
out ostentation or display. To his friends and inti-
mates he is genial and cordial. He is emphatically
a home man, and seldom mingles in general society.
Although not in communion with the church, he
takes a great interest in matters pertaining to relig-
ious institutions, contributing liberally to the support
of church organizations in general and to those of
the Congregational church in particular.
In political sentiment he is identified with the re-
publican party, and during the war was heart and
soul in the cause of the Union. He gave liberally
of his means toward the support of the families of
those who were fighting the battles of their country,
and toward organizations for the care of the sick and
wounded soldiers. He is, moreover, a self-reliant
man ; does his own thinking, acts upon his convic-
tions of duty, and rarely makes a mistake.
He was married on the 24th of June, 1846, to
Miss Elizabeth M., daughter of Paul Burdick, Esq.,
one of the first settlers of Milwaukee. Mrs. Pierce
is a noble and excellent woman, to whose aid and
counsel is largely due the success of her husband in
business. In social life she is amiable, frank and
unassuming, eminently charitable and kind-hearted,
much of her time being spent in visiting the poor
and sorrowing and in ministering to their necessi-
ties. They have four children, all boys : Edgar F.,
who is a member of the firm of R. W. Pierce and
Co. ; Lewis W., who is at present attending the State
University at Madison: R. W., junior, and Chester
Burdick.
JAMES O. RAYMOND,
STEVENS POINT.
TAMES OLIVER RAYMOND, for twenty-one
J years an attorney-at-law in Portage county, Wis-
consin, and one of the leading men at its bar, is a
native of the Empire State. He was born in the
town of McDonough, Chenango county, on the 31st
of May, 1 83 1, the son of Edward Raymond, a farmer
by occupation. His mother was an Osborn, whose
grandfather was killed in the battle of Bennington.
James attended school most of the time until he was
eighteen, and taught two seasons. He began study-
ing law in the office of John M. Parker, of Owego,
New York, in 1853 ; then taught one more term, and
in the summer of 1855 removed to Plover, Portage
county, Wisconsin, and opened a law office in the
following May, in partnership with Hon. Luther
Hanchett, once member of congress, and since de-
ceased. He practiced his profession at Plover with
good success until July, 1873, when he removed to
Stevens Point, and here continues the practice, with
a rising reputation.
Mr. Raymond was elected district attorney in
1856, 1858 and 1866, serving, in all, si.x years.
In February, 1865, he went into the army as order-
ly sergeant of Company C, sad Wisconsin Infantry,
and served until the following August, when the
regiment was mustered out of the service. In the
autumn of that year he was elected a member of the
general assembly, representing Portage county.
Mr. Raymond is a member of the blue lodge and
chapter in the Masonic order, and was master of the
lodge at Plover several years.
He began his political life as a whig, voting that
ticket in 1852, and has since acted with the republi-
can party, being one of its leaders in Portage county.
He has been twice married : the first time in Octo-
ber, 1857, to Miss Mary E. Harris, of Canton, Ohio.
546
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
She had three children, one of whom is now living.
She died in October, 1864. His second marriage,
in April, 1867, was to Mrs. Lucinda Hanchett, the
widow of his former law partner.
Mr. Raymond is a man of studious habits, and
attends very strictly to his profession and has an
unimpeachable character, both in a legal and in a
moral sense.
PATRICK G. CHEVES,
PATRICK GRAY CHEVES, son of James and
Elizabeth (Morrison) Cheves, was born in the
town of Frasersburg, county of Aberdeen, Scotland,
May 20, 1820. His father was a stone-mason, and
wages being low and employment unsteady, he re-
mained poor all his lifetime. He was a man of the
strictest principles of morality, upright and honors
able in all his dealings, frugal and temperate in his
habits, and, moreover, an exemplary member of the
Episcopal Church of Scotland. His mother was a
meek and gentle Christian, of delicate constitution,
and a great sufferer during a large portion of her
lifetime, but bore her afflictions with fortitude and
resignation. Owing to the indigence of his father
and the ill-health of his mother, Patrick was sent
at an early age to live with his grandmother, Mrs.
Christian Cheves, with whom he remained till the
age of eight years. From this excellent old lady,
then over eighty years old and almost blind, he re-
ceived the greater part of the education which fell
to his lot. He stood by her side while she turned
her spinning wheel and read to her from the Bible,
so that before quitting the care of this good woman
he had read the Old and New Testaments over many
times, and committed to memory large portions of
them, which he was required to repeat at Sunday-
school, of which he was a regular attendant.
From the home of this good grandmother he was
removed to that of an uncle, with whom he remained
till the age of fourteen, attending school occasion-
ally and working on the farm, or serving as a herd-
boy. Although his uncle was a kind and indulgent
man, yet the experience of young Cheves under his
government seemed rigorous, when contrasted with
the loose r(?in and comparative freedom which he
had enjoyed in the house of his grandmother. His
services were next transferred to another uncle, who
carried on the business of farming and merchandis-
ing on a small scale, and with whom he remained for
two years. Here he was governed by a still tighter
rein, and the restraints of the family chafed and
fretted his young heart, so that he considered his
burden intolerable, and resolved to quit the home
of his relative and seek employment in the city of
Aberdeen. Accordingly, gathering together his
scanty wardrobe, which comprised a small bundle,
he stealthily left in the night, and started on foot for
his destination — some thirty miles distant — with
only one half-sovereign (two dollars and a half) in
his pocket. After traveling all night he arrived at
Aberdeen in the morning, and as the sun arose and
gilded the tops of the lofty spires of the city he
thought he had reached the goal of his ambition,
and that henceforth his course would be smooth and
free from trial; but alas, he soon found that his
troubles had only commenced, and that in fleeing
from the ills he knew, he had but flown to others he
knew not of. He went from shop to shop in the
city trying to find employment as a merchant's
clerk ; but every one to whom he applied seemed to
cast a suspicious look at him, and coldly informed
him that they needed no help jiist then. Wearied
out and almost heartbroken, he at last found a house
that seemed to promise employment. The master
asked him some questions as to his proficiency as a
clerk, where he had been employed, and then in-
quired if he had a letter of recommendation from
his last master, to which he was obliged to answer
"No." The next question was, "What church do
you belong to?" "To the Episcopal." "I pre-
sume," added the interrogator, "you have your
minister's certificate.?" Being again answered in
the negative, he turned his back on the would-be
clerk, saying, "I do not need your services." At
this crisis his fortitude well nigh forsook him, and
bitterly did he rue his flight from the house of his
uncle, but he was not yet ready to return. He still
had five shillings left, and resolved that he would
seek employment lower down in the social scale,
where " recommendations " and " certificates " were
not considered essential. The following day was
what was known as the "Hallowe'en Fair," at which
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
547
the farmers of the neighborhood would "hire " their
hands for the next six months. He accordingly
placed himself in the position of a candidate for
employment in this capacity, but his youthful look
and very delicate frame were but poor recommen-
dations in this direction. No one accosted him
during the day. Toward evening he saw a farmer
trying to hire a man ; but noticing that they did not
agree, iie approached the former, offering his ser-
vices. Eyeing the stripling, he remarked : " You
are not just the kind of person I want, but if you
can thrash grain with the flail I will give you a job
at a shilling a quarter," about eight bushels. The
terms were accepted, for the poor lad was glad to
find anything to do, if only to feed swine. The
home of the farmer was some thirty miles from
Aberdeen on the river Dee. He worked very hard
all winter, often when the blood ran down the handle
of the flail, realizing not more than a shilling a day
(twenty-five cents). Thus his early experience in
the home of the stranger, that at first seemed so
promising, was fraught with bitterness, and deeply
did he repent the step which, in an evil hour, had
taken him from his uncle's home, which, contrasted
with later experiences, seemed a paradise. For some
time after completing this engagement he was un-
able to procure other employment. He had neither
money nor friends ; his clothes were worn out ; his
case was desperate. He had been away six months;
to return to his uncle in that plight was not to be
thought of; he had not entirely "come to himself"
yet. Returning to Aberdeen he again sought em-
ployment in vain. He practiced the utmost econ-
omy; bought his loaf daily, which he ate dry, and
hired a bed at night. At last he was employed to
drive a coal cart, for which he was to receive a
shilling a day; but his employer, who was a worth-
less villain, not only did not pay him for his services,
but borrowed from him the few shillings he had left
on entering his service, which he spent in a drink-
ing-house. Driven to desperation, utterly dispirited
and sick of life, he determined to cast himself into
the river, and thus be rid of an intolerable burden.
Going under the bridge to carry this design into
execution, he was suddenly startled by a rough
voice commanding him to get out of there. It was
that of a policeman, whose duty it was to prevent
persons from trespassing on those premises. Young
Cheves made an humble apology, and was allowed
to go free. Thus saved, in the providence of God,
from self-destruction, he resolved to make another
efi'ort to find work. He met an elderly gentleman,
to whom he made known his situation, who spoke
encouragingly and gave him introductions that led
to his being employed at larger wages than he had
previously received. His industry, good conduct,
and previous experience soon gained for him the
confidence and esteem of his new employers, who
increased his wages and promoted him to greater
responsibilities. But the close confinement of the
counting-room soon began to tell on his health, and
a vacation became necessary. Well clothed and
provided with money, he now sought the house of
his uncle, where he was received, as indeed, a re-
turned " prodigal." His ingratitude and folly were
forgiven, and he was prevailed upon to remain at
Longside, the home of his friends, where he soon
regained his health and found remunerative employ-
ment, and began to save money. But he had been
reading of America, and of the wonderful oppor-
tunities which that great country offered to industri-
ous young men to become rich, and became im-
patient of the slow process of accumulation peculiar
to his native Scotland. While in this transition
state he met with a Mr. Wm. Smith, a native Scotch-
man, who for a number of years past had been a
resident of Pike Grove, Kenosha county, Wiscon-
sin, who was then home on a visit to his friends.
This gentleman offered to aid young 'Cheves with
money to pay his passage to America, and to give
him employment when he reached there. The offer
was accepted, and in company with three others —
namely. Miss Margaret, a sister of Mr. Smith; Mr.
James Smith, a nephew, and James Duguid, a rela-
tive of our subject — he started for the western
world. They sailed from Liverpool in April, 1840,
and after a passage of thirty-five days landed in New
York. Thence they traveled by land and lake to
Southport, now Kenosha, Wisconsin, which point
they reached on the ist of June of the same year.
On landing here he was possessed of a single dollar
bill, which he had obtained in trade from the colored
barber on the lake-boat, but which proved to be
worthless, the bank by which it was issued hav-
ing failed several years previously. He now went
to work for his benefactor, and remained with him
until his claim was fully met. He subsequently
worked for a short period on the Illinois and Michi-
gan canal, where he earned fair wages.
In 1842 he went to the lead mines then opened at
Mineral Point, Wisconsin. Here he was employed
in a brewery during the winter, while the summer
548
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
was mainly spent in washing copper ore. During
the last-named season there occurred an incident
which made a lasting impression on his mind, and
gave shape and tone, in a large measure, to his after
career, and which is well worthy of record. Up to
this time he had taken no interest in politics, nor
had he formed any political opinions. Slavery was
then in the ascendant and was ruling the country
with a rod of iron, and to be even suspected of abo-
litionism was little less than infamy. A Baptist
clergyman, of English nativity, named Mathew, vis-
ited the place, and announced that he would deliver
a discourse on the subject of slavery in the log
court-house on Sunday afternoon. The announce-
ment excited the indignation of the villagers, and a
mob was organized to resist the lecturer. Cheves
and a few companions were drawn to the place from
curiosity. The mob were clamorous. The sheriff
was obliged to refuse the use of the court-house.
Whereupon the abolitionist resolved to speak out-of-
doors at his own risk, the sheriff having withdrawn
his protection. The speaker was accompanied by
an old gentleman named John Martin, also an Eng-
lishman, an ardent disciple of the great Wilberforce,
who had lived to see the end of slavery through-
out the British dominions and had come to devote
the remainder of his days to the cause of freedom
in America. • The speaker had scarcely opened his
discourse when he was encountered by a storm of
yells and a volley of rotten eggs. He stopped for a
moment and again proceeded, but was soon silenced
by another yell, while rotten eggs and missiles fell
thick and fast. In the crowd, however, there hap-
pened to be quite a number of English and Scotch
miners, to whom the condition of the slave had
hitherto been a matter of indifference ; but the
speaker was their countryman, he had violated no
law, had only exercised his constitutional right of
free speech, and yet he had been outraged by a
mob. This element of the meeting solidified in a
few minutes, and resolved that the speaker should
be heard. Five of them, of whom our subject was
one, took positions beside him on the platform,
while the others formed in solid phalanx in the
crowd. On discovering the situation of affairs the
speaker addressed those on the platform, saying:
" Friends, risk nothing for me, my life is devoted to
this cause." This speech, though short, was telling.
It appealed to their manhood, and they resolved to
die with him if need be. He proceeded with his
speech. One more missile was thrown, but the
coward who threw it was soon collared, dragged to i
the outside, and by a vigorous application of sole '
leather was admonished to better behavior in fu- j
ture. This silenced the opposition and the lecturer .
was permitted to finish without further interruption.
The good old man left the place, and from that time
to the present has not been seen or heard of by our .
subject. He has probably gone to his "reward
above " long since, but the words which he spoke
sunk deep into the heart and bore fruit in the life '.
of Patrick Gray Cheves, who from that day for-
ward was an uncompromising enemy of slavery.
During the following winter he worked in a saw- j
mill in the neighborhood of Racine. In the spring I
of 1845 he purchased some eighty acres of land in 1
what was then the town of Yorkville, now Norway,
where~he has since mainly resided. He began in a
very humble way and struggled along for years, as '
many others have done, being barely able to make
a living. There was no money in the country, and
storekeepers bartered clothing and groceries for '^
country produce. A circumstance that occurred in
the year 1847 will serve to illustrate the condition . ^
of matters in this respect at that date. Mr. Cheves j
was informed that a Scotch letter was in the post- !
office addressed to him, on which there was due
twenty-five cents. He was anxious to get the mis-
sive, but that was more money than he could raise. I
After two weeks' saving of eggs and butter he I
started to the village in the hope of being able to 1
realize as much as would release his dearly-prized 1
letter, only to learn that no cash could be given for I
eggs or butter. This was a terrible disappointment, \
and he was reluctantly obliged to return without his <
letter. After two weeks more he set out for Racine '
with an ox-team laden with produce, which he was
able to barter for some goods and one single dollar
in money. On his way home he released his letter,
which had lain just one month in the office, and felt 1
as proud and happy at the result as when afterward
he was elected to represent his county in the State
legislature. He sat down and wrote back to his |
friends in Scotland that America was a fine country ,
to live in, he had eighty acres of land, two cows \
and an ox-team, with which to farm. In 1847 the ,
township of Yorkville, in which he resided, was j
divided, and the town of Norway was cut off from J
it (so called from the circumstance that a number
of Norwegians resided in it). This made the elec- J
tion of new officers a necessity. The town con- 1
tained at the time just nine legal voters, none of '
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
549
whom had ever lield office of any kind; but officers
were indispensable, and a ticket was accordingly
made up, Jacob Jacobia being elected chairman of
the board, and our subject secretary or town clerk.
This office he held for three years, and was after-
ward elected to the chairmanship of the town board,
and as such represented his town in the county
board. At that time the Norwegian character was
not as well known as now, and his constituency,
which was principally of that nationality, was often
made the subject of sneer and innuendo, but they
are now known as men of sterling worth and strict
integrity.
Prior to the nomination of John C. Fremont for
the Presidency in 1856, Mr. Cheves acted with the
free-soil democratic party, and was elected on that
ticket to the legislature in the fall of 1855, and
served one term. Since then he has supported the
principles of the republican party. In the autumn
of 1856 he was elected by the new party as cjerk of
the board of supervisors of Racine county, which
position he retained two years. During his term of
office he did considerable business in the way of
discounting notes, and by this and other means in-
creased his capital ; but there were still misfortunes
in store for him. In the summer of 1859 he was
compelled to pay a note for fifteen hundred dollars
which he had been induced to sign some years pre-
viously; and in the autumn of the same year his
barn, which contained all his crops and farming im-
plements, was consumed by fire, with all its contents.
This was a serious loss and hard to repair. Still
later a flaw in the title to some of his land brought
upon him a lawsuit which involved him in thou-
sands of dollars of expense, besides several years of
vexatious litigation. This, however, was his first
and only lawsuit.
In 1863 he was again elected clerk of the board
of supervisors of Racine county, a position which
he held four years. He subsequently purchased
the soap and candle factory of Isaac Burback, of
Racine, which he conducted successfully for sev-
eral years. He also gave attention to some other
branches of business, and notwithstanding the diffi-
culties and obstacles of his early life, and the trials
and misfortunes of maturer years, he has accumu-
lated a competence, and is spending the autumn of
his days in ease and quiet at his beautiful home in
Norway, Racine county.
He is a man of the strictest integrity, simple and
affable in manners, buoyant and cheerful in conver-
sation, wise and prudent in counsel, generous and
benevolent to the needy, and respected and es-
teemed by all who know him.
In June, 1845, he married Miss Elizabeth Smith,
a resident of Pike Grove, Kenosha county, Wiscon-
sin, who has since shared with him the burdens and
successes of life. They have had six children, two
of whom, William and Robert, died in infancy. The
.survivors are Mary, Evaline, Anne and John.
JAMES E. HOSMER,
BEAVER DAM.
TAMES ELIJAH HOSMER, son of Perley Hos-
•J mer and Elmina ne'e Kingsbury, was born in
Cleveland, Ohio, May 29, 1822. His great-grand-
father, James Hosmer, was killed at Sudbury, Mas-
sachusetts, during the French and Indian war. His
grandfather, Elijah Hosmer, aided in hurrying the
British from Concord back to Boston, April 19, 1775,
and his father, a farmer, served two years in the war
of 1812-15. James worked at home until fifteen
years old. He spent two years at Whipple's Acad-
emy in Newburgh, now in the city of Cleveland.
At seventeen he began to teach during the winters,
following that vocation, however, only two seasons.
He spent a year or two as a clerk in stores at Cleve-
land and Pittsburgh, and was in a law office for a
short time with A. L. Collins, of Cleveland, and re-
moved with him to Madison, Wisconsin, in May,
1842. There he continued his legal studies, acting
meanwhile as assistant librarian of the old Territo-
rial Library, doing some work also in the supreme
court clerk's office. He went to Milwaukee in 1843
and spent 'three years there, part of the time in mer-
cantile business with a brother-in-law, D. F. Has-
kell, and part as bookkeeper in a hotel. He was in
a public house at Watertown from February to July,
1846, and during that summer settled in Beaver
Dam, then a village of about fifty inhabitants. Here
he owned a harness shop during the first ten years,
acting, also, as justice of the peace during most of
that period; subsequently he farmed five or six
55°
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
years on land of his own near town, and since 1862
has been in the collecting business and serving as
justice of the peace. In 1856, when Beaver Dam
became a city, Mr. Hosmer was elected alderman of
the third ward. He was mayor of the city in 1869
and 1875, and his practical turn of mind and liberal
experience in business matters inade him an excel-
lent executive officer. He has a liberal supply of
unassumed, easy dignity, and is very gentlemanly in
his manner.
In politics Mr. Hosmer is a democrat of liberal
views. He is a Master Mason and member of the
Fort Winnebago Commandery of Portage.
He attends the Baptist Church, with which his
wife is connected, but his own religious, like his
political sentiments, he designates as liberal. The
purity of his motives and of his life is unquestioned.
Mrs. Hosmer's maiden name was Uretta W. Stafford,'
and her home was in Cleveland, Ohio. They were
married May 12, 1844, and have had seven children,
five of whom, three sons and two daughters, are
now living (1877). The eldest son, Lewis F., is a
writer on the " New York Daily Times "; the second
son, Charles P., is in trade at Belle Plaine, Iowa; the
third, Willie J., is a newspaper reporter. The elder
daughter, Camilla L., is a teacher in the graded
schools of Beaver Dam, and the other daughter,
Sarah D., is a student in the Wayland Institute. Mr.
Hosmer is a warm friend of education, and has given
his children, in this respect, a good outfit for life.
A mother's influence has been strongly felt in the
rearing of the children and in their promising start.
Mrs. Hosmer is a true wife, a kind-hearted mother
and an active Christian woman.
JOHN C. SHERWOOD,
DARTFORD.
ONE of the earliest settlers in Green Lake
county, Wisconsin, was John Chassell Sher-
wood, who has been a resident for thirty-one years,
and who has done his full share in developing that
section of the State, he being a man of unusual en-
terprise and public spirit. He is the son of Amos
and Mary (Faville) Sherwood, and was born in Sal-
isbury, Herkimer county, New York, September 24,
1822. He spent his minority in procuring an edu-
cation, and prepared for college at Cazenovia and
Fairfield, in his native State. He entered Wesleyan
University, at Middletown, Connecticut, but left
college in the junior year and went to Bowling
Green, Kentucky, and taught two years. In 1845
he removed to AVisconsin with his brother William
C, and entered sixteen hundred acres of land on
the north side of Green Lake, at and near the pres-
ent site of Dartford, and the next year made a per-
manent settlement. There was not a building of
any kind in that region in 1845. The next spring
Anson Dart, who became his partner, built a shanty,
and, in honor of him, Mr. Sherwood named this
place Dartford. They put up a saw-mill in 1846, a
grist-mill the next year, and about three years later
Mr. Dart left the State. Mr. Sherwood continued
milling until 1873, when a fire destroyed his mill.
Soon afterward he commenced the " Sherwood For-
est" improvement, putting up a watering-place hotel
of that name, and making one of the most retired
and lovely resorts for tourists and jileasure-seekers
in the Badger State. The lodge is a large and in-
viting structure, capable of accommodating more
than a hundred guests, with every appointment usu-
ally found at a summer resort, — a billiard-house,
bowling-alleys, and grounds for lawn games. The
whole forest is a woodland lawn, gently sloping to
the pebbly shore; and while the proprietor has
opened some special avenues, nature has furnished
uninterrupted drives and promenades everywhere.
The scenery partakes of the beautiful and pictur-
esque, rather than the sublime. Nature here speaks
in dulcet whisperings, where one might almost ex-
pect to greet nymphs, satyrs and fauns. Here and
there rustic seats, and swings pendant from the
high, far-reaching branches, invite rest. The out-
look from the grounds, as well as the piazza, is truly
charming, a perfect kaleidoscope, taking in extensive
prairies, woodlands and cultivated fields, as well as
the lake, with its indentations and exquisite settings
of bluffs and evergreens, grassy slopes and perpen-
dicular ledges.
One journalist calls Green Lake the Lake George
of Wisconsin :
A modest world of land and water beauties — too little
cultivated by hunters after charming scenery and healthful
It is a fairy-land of wonderful fas
veary of body and mind, or the despondent and langi
d the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
551
valid, and no less the strong and healthful, will find both
mind and body invigorated and the soul elevated by a
sojourn among the picturesque beauties of that lovely lake.
Another says :
The most beautiful slieet of cold spring water in the
« orld, a perpetual cool breeze, tine fishing, good shooting,
shady groves and free from mosquitoes; in fact we pro-
nounce it one of the most healthy spots in all America.
Mr. Sherwood is increasing the attractions of the
" Forest " every year, adding paviHons, sail and fish-
ing boats, etc. Here one finds every facility for
innocent amusement. It is one mile west of Dart-
ford post-office, and directly on the northern shore
of the lake. The aim is to make this retreat pleas-
ant and home-like.
Mr. Sherwood is a practical business man; an in-
dependent politician, and an ardent " greenback "
advocate. He was once a trustee of the Insane
Asylum at Madison — all of office that he has ever
held. He courts and adheres to private life.
He was married, June 28, 1848, to Miss Jane C.
Rich, of Penfield, Monroe county. New York. They
have five children, and have lost two. One son is
in a bank in Lafayette, Indiana; the other children
are at home.
HON. SAMUEL D. BURCHARD.
BEAVER DAM.
SAMUEL DICKINSON BURCHARD, a na-
tive of New York, was born in Leyden, Lewis
county, July 17, 1836; his parents being Charles
A. Burchard aiid Martha B. tiee Pitcher. His ma-
ternal great-grandfather participated in the struggle
for independence. Charles A. Burchard removed
with his family to Wisconsin in 1845, and settled
at Waukesha, where he engaged in agricultural
pursuits. There, aj: a suitable age, Samuel pre-
pared himself for college in the Carroll Institute;
and entered the freshman class of Madison Univer-
sity, Hamilton, New York, in 1S53; before the
close of the second year, however, he was com-
pelled to leave college by reason of ill health.
He went to Moniteau county, Missouri, in 1856,
and commenced stock raising and general farming,
and was thus engaged at the opening of the rebellion
in the spring of 1861. At first Mr. Burchard acted
as a guide to General Lyon. When a regiment of
Missouri State militia was raised he was elected
first-lieutenant of one of the companies ; and was
detached and had charge of transportation of the
central department of Missouri from September
1861 to March 24, 1862. At that time he went
South with General McKean as master of transpor-
tation; and in September, 1862, was ordered to
Washington, and there had charge of the receipting
and distribution of forage, under General Rucker.
In the winter following he was ordered to New York
to take charge of the purchasing of regular supplies,
forage especially, for the armies operating on the
sea-board as far south as Mobile. He was at that
time assistant quartermaster of volunteers, and while
6x
holding that position was mustered out of the ser-
vice, October 13, 1865.
He then returned to Missouri and engaged in the
coal business, continuing it until the autumn of 1866,
when he settled in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, to which
place his father had removed as early as 1855. Here
Mr. Burchard engaged in the manufacture of woolen
goods, and is now (1877) a member of the firm of
McFatridge, Burchard and Co., who are consuming
about one hundred and twenty thousand pounds of
wool annually.
Mr. Burchard was a member of the State senate
in 1870, 1871, 1873 and 1874, and did his principal
work on the committees on charitable and benevo-
lent institutions, claims, and the special committee
appointed by the governor in 1870, to inspect the
benevolent institutions of the State. He was a mem-
ber of the Forty-fourth Congress, and served on the
committees on banking and currency, and manufact-
ures.
In politics he has always been a democrat, and,
as his history shows, was a strong and very active
" war " democrat.
He is a believer in the general doctrines of the
Christian religion ; attends the Baptist church, and
is a liberal contributor to benevolent and educa-
tional enterprises.
He is one of the trustees of Wayland Institute,
located at Beaver Dam, and is active in every meas-
ure that tends to build up this city. He is a stock-
holder in the National Bank of Beaver Dam, and
has been quite successful in business operations.
Mr. Burchard was married to Miss Mary J. Sim-
552
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
mons, of Moniteau county, Missouri, May 9, 1859.
They have had ten children, seven of whom are now
living.
The father of Mr. Burchard, who is still living in
Beaver Dam, now in his sixty-eighth year, is quite
an active old gentleman. He was in the first Terri-
torial convention which met in 1846 to form a State
constitution; has been a member of the assembly
one session since a resident of Dodge county ; and
during the civil war was an enrollment commissioner
for his district, with headquarters at Fond du Lac.
He is a strong republican in political sentiment. In
religion a Baptist, and is a worthy member of the
Beaver Dam church.
GENERAL EDWARD S. BRAGG,
FOND DU LAC.
AMONG the prominent men of Wisconsin, few
. deserve a more honorable mention than Ed-
ward Stuyvesant Bragg, of Fond du Lac. A native
of Otsego county. New York, he was born at Una-
dilla on the 20th of Februar)', 1827, the son of Joel
and Margaretta (Kohl) Bragg. He passed his earlier
years on his father's farm, and prepared for college
at the Delaware Academy in Delhi. Later he spent
three years in the college at Geneva, but was obliged
to discontinue his studies before graduating because
of a scarcity of funds. He began the study of law
in 1848, and being admitted to the bar at Norwich,
Chenango county, returned to his native town and
entered the office of his old preceptor, Charles C.
Noble, and remained there until 1850, when he
settled in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. This place was
then a rapidly growing village, and Mr. Bragg soon
established" a good legal practice, the increase of
which kept pace with the growth of the town.
Mr. Bragg gave "himself unremittingly to profes-
sional work until the opening of the civil war, when
he entered the army as captain of Company E, 6th
Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. On the
6th of September, 1861, he was made major, and was
promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1862.
In the following year he was made colonel, and in
1864 was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general.
Throughout his army service General Bragg dis-
played much coolness, courage, and other qualities
which entitle one to military leadership, and his
honorable military record will long perpetuate his
memory. He was mustered out of the service in
October, 1865, and returned to his home, bearing
with liim the good will and warm friendship of his
comrades in arms, and receiving a most hearty wel-
come by his friends, among whom he still continues
the practice of law, being recognized as among the
leading men in the profession.
In 1854 General Bragg was elected district attor-
ney; in 1867 he was sent to the State senate; and
during the same year was appointed postmaster by
Andrew Johnson. In November, 1876, he was
elected to congress, receiving a majority of over
five thousand votes. His politics have always been
democratic.
General Bragg has many excellent traits of char-
acter. He is modest, unassuming and destitute of
egotism. He is cordial in disposition, easy and
affable in manners, and the life of the social circle,
while his moral character is above reproach.
His religious views are Episcopalian.
His wife was Miss Cornelia Coleman, to whom he
was married January 2, 1855, and by whom he has
three daughters and one son.
ADIN RANDALL,
EAV CLAIRE.
THE subject of this biography, a son of Elisha
Randall and Betsy tie'e Brown, was born in the
town of Rrookfield, Madison county. New York,
October 12, 1829. In the family were nine sons and
two daughters, Adin beings the eighth child.
The father died when Adin was sixteen years old,
and thus thrown upon his own resources, with only a
common-school education, he left school and learned
the carpenter's trade, at which he worked until his
twenty-second year, when he went to Phillipsville,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
555
Allegany county, Nevsr York, in company with his
eldest brother, Elisha, and engaged in manufacturing
sash, doors and blinds, until 1854. He next re-
moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and operated as a
contractor and builder for two years, and in 1856
settled in Eau Claire. He was the original proprie-
tor of the West Side, known as West Eau Claire,
where he was engaged as a lumberman, merchant
and manufacturer until his death, which occurred
on the 26th of April, 1868. His widow, whose
maiden name was Clamenzia E. Babcock, and to
whom he was united in marriage on the loth of
March, 1852, is still living in Eau Claire. She was
left with si.x children. A true type of Christian
women, although in only moderate circumstances,
she is noted for her good deeds.
Mr. Randall was the first treasurer of Eau Claire
county, and was true to every trust ever confided to
him. His character and standing are well portrayed
in an obituary notice published in a local paper at
we append slightly
the time of his demise, whi
condensed :
Kind feelings toward his fellow-men, and liberality in
mind and purse, were prominent characters of his life. His
enemies — if, indeed, any persons coidd be so termed — were
very few, and they never seemed to entertain a bitter feel-
ing toward him, for the reason that his sentiments, though
often harshly expressed, were generally interpreted as tlie
candor and frankness of his mind honestly entertained.
Mr. Randall was one of the oldest and most prominent
settlers in this county. Industry, energy and enterprise un-
excelled were elements of his prosperity, which stimulated
many of our citizens to noble effort.
For many years the village of West Eau Claire was called
Randalltown, simply from the interest taken in its growth
and development by Mr. Randall. His contributions were
always at the head of the list of appropriations for public
expenditures. He would share his last dollar with an un-
fortunate fellow-being, and his whole aim in life seemed to
be to work for the benefit of others as well as himself. He
was a man of strong and inflexible mind. His career was
one of incessant toil, apparently made easy by the gratify-
ing knowledge that in helping himself he was aiding his
fellow-men.
Though his earthly career has come to an end, he will
long be remembered as a good and true man, — one whose
life, while among us, was one of inestimable benetit to the
thrift and enterprise of Eau Claire and the Chippewa valley.
GENERAL HENRY G. BERTRAM,
JUNE A U.
HENRY G. BERTRAM, a native of Prussia,
is the son of Frederic William Bertram and
Emily ne'e Nickse, and was born October 5, 1825.
He immigrated to America when about fifteen years
old, and served in the regular army, United States
artillery, five years, and participated in the Mexican
war. At its close he returned to New York city,
and there kept a hotel ; and later went to Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, and spent three years in the same
business. He removed to Wisconsin in 1858 and
settled at Watertown, and was engaged as a mer-
chant there at the opening of the civil war. He was
appointed lieutenant of the Watertown Rifles, Wis-
consin active militia, May 13, 1861; first lieutenant
company A, 3d Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, on
the 30th of September following; lieutenant-colonel
of the 20th Regiment, July r, 1862; colonel of the
same regiment December 6, 1862 ; and brigadier
general, by brevet, on the 13th of March, 1865.
These several promotions were made for meritori-
ous services. While with the 3d Regiment he assist-
ed in capturing the disloyal legislature of Maryland
at Frederic city, in July, 1861. On the 24th of the
following September he was promoted to the cap-
taincy of his company; and had command of three
companies, October 16, at Boliver Heights, and par-
ticipated in both engagements at Winchester, March
23 and May 25, 1862. After joining the 20th Regi-
ment he commanded a brigade at the battle of
Prairie Grove, Arkansas, December 7, 1862, and was
slightly wounded. He assisted, on the 28th of the
same month, in the capture of Van Buren, Arkansas,
and arrived with the brigade June 13, 1863, before
Vicksburg, and entered that city on the 4th of July.
On the nth of the same month he was at the cap-
ture of Yazoo City, Mississippi. He was post com-
mander at Brownsville, Texas, from November 4,
1863, until its evacuation. He aided in the siege
and capture of Fort Morgan, Alabaina, and had
several engagements with the enemy near Pasca-
goula, while in command of the district of South
Alabama. He cominanded a brigade at the capture
of Spanish Fort, Alabama, April 3, 1865, and entered
Mobile three days afterward. It was for such gal-
lant services as are here epitomized that he was
breveted brigadier-general. Few men during the
rebellion were more deserving of the honors be-
stowed upon thein than was he. General Bertram
received two commissions from Governor Randall,
two from Governor Solomon, and two from President
556
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Johnson. The last one from the President was for
postmaster of Watertown, he being appointed Sep-
tember 19, 1866. He has also a commission from
Governor Washburn, dated June 3, 1873, appoint-
ing him notary public for Dodge county. He was
mayor of Watertown in 1870, and was elected sheriff
of Dodge county in the autumn of the same year,
the ward in which he lived in Watertown being
in that county. On January i, 187 1, he moved to
Juneau, the county seat. The winter before leaving
Watertown he was a member of the assembly. Since
the expiration of his term of office as sheriff he has
been a merchant, and is now a hotel-keeper (1877).
October i, 1853, while keeping a hotel in Rio de
Janeiro, he was married to Miss Matilda Barthman,
a native of Germany. They had five children, of
whom three are now living. Mrs. Bertram died at
Watertown in 1865. In 1868 General Bertram went
to Germany, and on the 4th of July was married to
Miss Laura Westphal, a native of Prussia. They
have had three children, only one of whom is now
living.
General Bertram has seen more of the world than
most hotel-keepers. When thirteen or fourteen he
went to China as cabin-boy on a Prussian vessel,
and visited Hong Kong and other Chinese ports.
When on the coast of Sumatra, the vessel lying at
anchor, he was sent ashore with two natives of Hin-
doostan, to obtain chickens, ducks, bananas, etc.
On their return toward the vessel a sudden squall
upset their craft, and, leaving the other two persons
clinging to it, he swam ashore, a mile and a half,
through the outward-beating surf. The next morn-
ing he learned that the other two persons had been
picked up by a fishing-boat.
General Bertram is very talkative, and his remi-
niscences of early days in Asia and South America,
and during tlie civil war, are full of interest.
ROBERT BOYD, D.D.,
WA UKESHA.
THE subject of this brief biography, the pastor
of a church whose house of worship he has
not been able to enter for nearly ten years, and who
has written and had published nine distinct works
while lying on his bed paralyzed in his lower limbs,
is a native of Scotland, and was born at Ayrshire,
on the 24th of August, 1816. His parents were John
Boyd, a woolen manufacturer, and lilizabeth nee Mc-
Lean. The Boyd family is descended from Earl
Boyd, who was beheaded during the rebellion under
the Stuart dynasty. Robert spent his early years at
school, and lost his father when about half through
his educational course ; being thus thrown upon his
own resources, he resorted to temperance lecturing
in order to acquire means for continuing his studies.
He was the first person in the west of Scotland to
publicly advocate teetotalism. He was then about
twenty years of age, and being quite young in ap-
pearance, and speaking occasionally from the pulpit
on Sundays, was called the " Boy Preacher," curios-
ity drawing crowds to hear him. He finished his
literary education at the Glasgow College. Later,
he studied theology with different clergymen, there
being no seminaries for such a purpose in those
days, and was ordained as a Baptist minister in the
city of Stirling, Scotland, in the autumn of 1840.
There he preached until 1843, when he crossed the
ocean and became a pastor at Brockville, Canada, ^
continuing there about seven years, and then remov- :
ing to 'London in the western part of the Dominion. ,
There he was pastor of the Baptist Church about
seven years, when, being partially out of health, he ;
removed to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he had a •
home left to his wife, and where he rested a few i
months. While in Canada he labored very hard. ]
Aside from the cares and responsibilities of filling 1
the pulpit and supplying the pastorate, he had the '
oversight of the buildmg of a house of worship in (
each place where he was settled, and did considera- i
ble lecturing on temperance and other subjects. 1
In the summer of 1856 Dr. Boyd was invited to .|
become pastor of the Edina Place Baptist Church, j
of Chicago (the present name of the street is Third
avenue). The church was afterward known as the j
Wabash Avenue, and is now the Michigan Avenue !
Baptist Church. When he began his pastorate the
church numbered fourteen members, and when he
resigned in 1863, it then being on Wabash avenue, j
it numbered about three hundred. Before leaving j
Chicago his lower limbs became partially paralyzed,
so that he was obliged to sit while preaching. Re-
turning to his home in Waukesha, he preached in
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
557
the Baptist Church for four years in a sitting pos-
ture, being carried to and from his pulpit. Finally,
in 1867, he took his bed, and has had his clothes on
hut once in more than nine years. His disease is
very gradually working upward, having reached with-
in two or three inches of his heart and lungs. His
head is not in the least affected, and he retains all
his original vigor and clearness of thought, and men-
tally, few people are more active.
Before taking his bed Dr. Boyd had published
one volume called " Glad Tidings," an eminently re-
ligious work, which has passed through about thirty
editions. During the last nine years he has aver-
aged one volume a year ; his works in the order of
publication being, " None but Christ," " Young Con-
verts," " Food for Lambs," " Grace and Truth,"
"Wee Willie," "The Good Shepherd," and "My
Inquiry Meeting." A tenth work recently prepared,
" Comfort for the Afflicted," is now in press. Dur-
ing these years of bodily affliction Dr. Boyd has
been a frequent contributor to the religious press,
and was never more busy in that direction than at
this time (the spring of 1877). Most of his writings
are eminently instructive, and have a highly devo-
tional tendency. They are fragrant with the aroma
of a sanctified spirit patiently and cheerfully waiting
the call from on high to come home. A sweeter ex-
ample of Christian resignation is rarely seen.
The wife of Dr. Boyd was Miss Christina Forbes,
of Stirling. Their union occurred April 6, 1840.
They have had nine children, all daughters, and
have lost three of them. Mary, the eldest of the
living, is the wife of the Rev. Dr. C. L. Thompson,
of Chicago ; Lizzie is the widow of the late Somer-
ville Thompson, of Chicago ; Christina is the wife
of Professor Bastian, of the University of Chicago ;
Jessie is the wife of Floyd C. Babcock, an attorney
of Milwaukee ; Ida is the wife of Harvey C. Olin, a
bookkeeper at the Chicago Stock-yards, and Lilly is
unmarried and lives at home, being about to grad-
uate from Carroll College, Waukesha. Mrs. Boyd
is a model Christian mother, and a helpmeet in the
noblest sense to her afflicted husband.
Dr. Boyd received his title of Doctor of Divinity
from Shurtleff College, in June, 1859. He is still
associate pastor of the Baptist Church in Waukesha,
his people refusing to accept his resignation. Their
frequent and liberal benefactions are a token of the
high esteem in which he is held. All the people
of Waukesha are very kind to him, and he has tho-
roughly tested the rich benefits of living in a warm-
hearted Christian communit)'.
LAWRENCE T. FRIBERT,
"fUNEAU
L\WRENCE T. FRIBERT was born on the loth j
J of February, 1816, and is the son of Christian
and Ulricca Fribert. His father at that time held
an official appointment in the city of Copenhagen,
Denmark, where he then resided.
Lawrence received a thorough and most liberal
education from his parents, and profited by the
opportunity. He seems to have borne in mind that
" Opportunity has hair in front, behind she is bald ;
if you seize her by the forelock you may hold her;
but if suffered to escape, not Jupiter himself can
catch her again." At school, then, we find that he
applied himself assiduously to his tasks. On leaving
school he resolved to commence the study of the
law, which he accordingly did, making rapid prog-
ress and quickly becoming proficient, as is shown
by the fact that he began practicing his profession
at the early age of twenty, and continued to do so
for a period of eighteen years, with every success.
.In the year 1855 he immigrated to America and
settled at Juneau, Wisconsin, where, without loss of
time, he proceeded to study the laws of the LTnited
States. He was not overburdened with wealth, and
besides, labored under the great difficulty of know-
ing nothing of the English language ; but by dint of
steady application and indomitable perseverance he
mastered it, and two years later entered into copart-
nership with Messrs. Gill and Barber, of Watertown,
with whom he remained until the autumn of 1863,
when he resumed his practice at Juneau, at which
place he is at present professionally engaged (1877).
Mr. Fribert possesses that quality which is essen-
tial to any one who would succeed, namely, "the
gift of continuance." His has not been a mere sur-
face study, but one long, protracted application to
his profession ; and it is this which has enabled him
to build up his very lucrative practice.
In religion, he belongs to the Lutheran church.
558
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
In politics, he was a supporter of the repubhcan
party until 1872. He is now a reformer.
On the 4th of July, 1866, he espoused a lady of
many graces and accomplishments. Miss Mary Brand,
by whom he has had two children.
It has been said that " the worth of a State, in the
long run, is the worth of the individuals composing
it," and Mr. Fribert's many and sincere friends at-
test the sterling value of the man, and his professional
success is a warranty of his value as a lawyer.
WALLACE MYGATT,
KENOSHA.
ONE of the public parks in the city of Hart-
ford, Connecticut, contains a monument upon
which is engraved the names of the first settlers
of that place. Among the list is that of Sylvester
Mygatt. All that is recorded of him is that he
came from England, and that he was one of the
deacons of the Presbyterian Church of Hartford.
Wallace Mygatt is a lineal descendant of him
whose name adorns the Hartford monument, and
was born near Clinton, Oneida county. New York,
September 18, 1818. He is the son of Sylvester
Mygatt, who was born and raised in Connecticut,
but soon after his marriage to Miss Abi Booth,
the mother of our subject, moved to the State of
New York, where he purchased a farm which he
afterward cultivated. He was ambitious to give
his children the very best education possible, and
to this end withheld neither means nor endeavors
of any kind in the tuition of his older sons ; but
experience soon taught him that educational ac-
quirements caused them to desert the homestead
and engage in professional or mercantile pursuits
as soon as they came of age. Not wishing to
exile from home the last of his sons — our sub-
ject— he varied his practice somewhat in his case
and tried to restrain him from too intimate an ac-
quaintance with the schools. There was a large
farm to cultivate, and after arriving at a suitable
age for work, Wallace usually labored seven months
of the year in the fields, and devoted the remain-
der of the time to attendance at a country school-
When about fifteen years of age he attended what
was termed the " High School," situated at Paris
Hill, in his native county, during two terms, ag-
gregating six months; and thus, with the cultiva-
tion of his natural gifts, which were of a very high
order, he became one of the most accomplished
men of his day, possessing a talent well qualified
for the production of fictitious literature.
He was raised under peculiar influences. De-
scended from Puritanic ancestors, his parents in-
herited many of the peculiar views of that excel-
lent but austere people. His father conceived it
best to withhold from his children all books except
the Bible, commentaries upon the same, and works
upon agriculture and husbandry. His mother con-
sidered that the story of the farmer pelting the
fruit-stealing boy from his apple-tree, first with
grass and afterward with stones, should be elimi-
nated from the school-books as manifestly un-
truthful. Whether she thought the farmer would
not be so great a fool as to try the experiment
of driving a " rude boy " from his fruit-tree with
"tufts of grass," or that the boy was too virtuous
to steal his neighbor's apples, is not known ; but
she regarded the story as improbable, and therefore
calculated to mislead, and consequently of a vicious
character. There was, however, a tendency on the
part of the families of both parents toward " word-
painting," which caused an " irrepressible conflict "
on his mother's part between duty and inclination,
she believing that all intensifications or variations,
verbal or written, of the words " yea " and " nay,"
were sinful, and should be evaded; but in spite
of all educational bias to the contrary, the trait of
character alluded to took effect in and is largely in-
herited by our subject, who, from an early period,
indulged the natural bent of his mind in writing
stories for his own amusement and that of others ;
the discipline under which he was held, however,
was so exact that he was obliged to restrict this
indulgence to times '" when the moon lit her watch-
tower in the clouds," and some of his best stories
were written by the pale light of the aforesaid
luminary.
On reaching his majority Wallace followed the
example of his older brothers, and quit the pater-
nal roof, striking at once for the broad prairies
of the West, where his fancies would have ample
scope for indulgence, arriving at Kenosha, Wisfcon-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPIUCAL DICTIONART.
559
sin, on the 2C)th of October, 1839. He was fol-
lowed by his father and the rest of the family in
the month of June succeeding. They " squatted "
upon a section of government land some three
miles west of Racine, since known as " Mygatt's
Comer." Our subject again united with the fam-
ily, and assisted his father in making the neces-
sary improvements, and in the cultivation of the
"new land" upon which he had located, until the
year 1842, at which time he commenced the pub-
lication and editorial management of a newspaper
at Kenosha, Wisconsin. After devoting two years
to this enterprise he leased his paper to Lewis P.
Harvey, who was afterward governor of the State.
Si.\ years later he was again the editor and pub-
lisher of the paper, which he finally disposed of
in 1849. Since that date he has been engaged in
merchandising as a chief employment, devoting a
considerable portion of his time, however, to the
writing of articles for newspapers in Wisconsin,
Illinois, and Michigan, and also, at times, giving
to fancy freedom in the production of a romance
or a verse of poetry. Not a few of the products
of his pen, in both prose and verse, have attained
to great popularity and wide circulation.
He has held the office of deputy United States
marshal since the 20th May, 1850, and is still the
incumbent of that office, and likely to be during
the remainder of his lifetime. He also acted as
foreman of the United States engineer corps in
the improvement of the harbor of Kenosha during
the years 1870, 187 i and 1872, and is the author of
an authentic chart of the harbor, of which the
marine editor of the " Inter-Ocean " says : " It is
beautifully gotten up, and what is better, is as
accurate as any government chart could be, re-
flecting the greatest credit upon Mr. Mygatt. The
most important figures as to depth of water were
taken from it and printed in the ' Inter-Ocean '
a day or two since."
In politics he has always acted with the repub-
lican party, exercising considerable influence in
his locality. He has likewise for many years been
an uncompromising enemy of intoxicating drinks,
and a staunch supporter of the cause of total ab-
stinence. Most of his pen-productions are designed
to point a moral in this direction, and it cannot
be denied that in this cause he wields a trench-
ant pen.
In reviewing his life, however, he says that the
only praiseworthy things he has ever accomplished
were the saving of two men from drowning, and
doing all in his power to save a third, — also, the
saving of a child from a like untimely end, which
he did in the years 1835 and 1843.
In February, 1846, he was married to Miss
Mary J. Gibson, a native of New Hampshire.
The result of this union was four children, all
sons, named in the order of their birth, Theodore,
Frederick, William, and Beauregard.
Brought up in the Calvinistic faith, he still holds
to the belief of his fathers, with some slight modi-
fications. He believes the Bible accounts of the
creation to be literally true, and that those geol-
ogists who imagine the formations on the earth's
surface to be antagonistic thereto are mere super-
ficial investigators, or, in other words, they are pre-
tenders and empirics.
HENRY MITCHELL,
HENRY MITCHELL was born in Fifeshire,
Scotland, March 11, 18 10, and is the son of
William and Elizabeth (Jackson) Mitchell, whose
ancestors had been inhabitants of the "land of
brown heath and shaggy wood " back to a period
lost in antiquity ; a stern and sturdy race, self-reliant
and liberty-loving; all natural born republicans. His
father was a farmer, and, in addition to his agricul-
tural pursuits, carried on a limited traffic between
the capital and some of the smaller adjacent towns
of Scotland, somewhat similar to that now transacted
by the great express companies of America. He
was descended of Covenanter stock, a man of ster-
ling principles, unswervingly honest and upright,
pious and devoted to the principles of his ancestors.
In 1845 he followed his son to America and died in
Racine in 1857. His mother was a sturdy, energetic
woman, a devoted member of the Scotch Presby-
terian church, ambitious for the education and ad-
vancement of her children. She died in Kenosha
in the year 1847.
William and Elizabeth Mitchell had a family of
56o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
eleven children, seven of whom lived to maturity,
four sons and three daughters. Of the sons, James
and William are farmers in Lake county, Illinois.
Agnes, the eldest daughter, is the wife of James
Elder, a farmer in Minnesota. Catherine is the wife
of George Yule, of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Eliza is
the widow of the late Peter McCambridge, a wealthy
merchant of Princes street, Edinburgh, while the
youngest son, Thomas, is a seed merchant in San
Jose, California.
Our subject, Henry Mitchell, received his educa-
tion in his native shire, mainly at an evening private
school, where he gave special attention to the art of
drawing. He was an apt scholar; persistent and
painstaking, and generally excelled at whatever he
set his mind on. At the age of fifteen he was ap-
prenticed to learn the wheelwright business, at which
he served faithfully for a period of seven years, be-
coming one of the most accomplished mechanics in
his line, being specially expert in the manufacture of
wheels. After completing his apprenticeship he was
employed as foreman of a large shop in Edinboro,
where he remained for eighteen months. In the
year 1834 he immigrated to America and settled in
Chicago, where he remained for five years, working
in various shops at his trade. He also had a con-
tract for constructing a portion of the Illinois and
Michigan canal. In 1839 he removed to Kenosha,
Wisconsin, where he commenced business on his
own account, built up a large trade, and remained
until 185s, when he sold out his establishment to
Edward Bain, who has since carried on the busi-
ness with success. In the last named year Mr.
Mitchell settled in Racine, his present home, where
he purchased property, erected shops and com-
menced the manufacture of farm wagons and plows ;
at first on a limited scale, but steadily extending
his operations as the demands of trade increased
until at the present time his establishment is one
of the largest and most perfectly equipped in the
nation, being rivaled by but two others. The ma-
chinery, which is in many instances peculiar to the
establishment, is perhaps the most complete and
thoroughly adapted to the purposes for which it is
designed to be found in the world. A stranger
visiting this immense workshop for the first time
and witnessing the operation of the vast and compli-
cated machinery, the perfect adaptation of the vari-
ous appliances to the designed end, the ease with
which the several departments are carried on, — all
designed to ameliorate, if not to remove, the orig-
inal "curse," — can hardly resist the conclusion that
the long expected millennium is at hand. The cash
capital employed in the buildings and machinery is
over half a million dollars, number of hands stead-
ily employed over two hundred, while from eight to
ten thousand farm and spring wagons are annually
manufactured and sold ; and these are among the
most elegantly constructed, light and easy running
vehicles of their kind in the world. It is needless
to add that Mr. Mitchell has become wealthy and
influential, and has surrounded himself with the lux-
uries and elegancies which adorn and refine human
life.
He has no taste for the responsibilities or distinc-
tion of public office, but at the solicitation of his
fellow-citizens he has consented to fill the position
of alderman of his ward for the past seven years.
He is also a member of the Artesian Well Company
of Racine, by means of which the city is supplied
with water. He is likewise a stockholder in the
Manufacturers' National Bank of Racine, and is a
promoter of every enterprise for the material or
moral benefit of the community. He is a Master
Mason, and has traveled extensively both in Europe
and America, and is one of the best informed men
of his day.
He was raised in the Scotch Presbyterian church,
but on more fully considering the ground of his
faith in maturer years, he united with the Baptist
church in 1839, and has since been a member of
that body. He is an officer and one of the largest
beneficiaries of the church of Racine, and largely
owing to his liberality is due the erection of the
present magnificent and commodious edifice of the
denomination ; nor is he less liberal in his contribu-
tions to Christian and benevolent objects generally.
In politics he has been generally claimed as a
democrat, though he votes for men rather than party.
He supported Mr. Lincoln for the presidency, and
heartily espoused the cause of the North during the
late rebellion.
His career has been marked throughout by indus-
try, close and unremitting attention to business,
promptness, liberality in his dealings, courteous and
gentlemanly manners, and by a scrupulous adher-
ence to the strictest principles of integrity in all his
transactions. His reputation in all the relations of
life is unblemished. In social life he is character-
ized by a noble-heartedness and cordiality that ren-
der him at once both popular and influential.
He was married on the ist of January, 1832, to
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
56]
Miss Margaret Mitchell, daughter of James Mitchell,
his father's brother, a pious, amiable and benevo-
lent lady, a devoted member of the Baptist church,
whose life has been spent in doing good to all about
her. They have had eight children, two of whom
died in infancy and six survive : William, Eliza,
Mary, Martha, Henry, and Frank. William is an
extensive saw-mill owner and lumber merchant in
Olympia, Washington Territory; Mary is the wife of
William F. Lewis, a member of the firm known as
Mitchell, Lewis and Co.; Martha is the wife of
C. D. St. Clair, also a member of the firm ; Henry
is overseer of the works, and Frank, the youngest,
is bookkeeper of the establishment.
HON. DAVID W. SMALL,
OCUNOMOn-OC.
DAVID W. SMALL, a native of Philadelphia
county, Pennsylvania, was born at Frankfort,
December 18, 1827. His father was a farmer, and
both parents were members of the Society of Friends.
He was reared on his father's farm in a very exem-
plary manner, being early taught the virtues as well
as the industries of life. Prior to his sixteenth
year he had received only the literary instruction
afforded by a common school during the winters.
He then spent two years at the Moravian College at
Nazareth, and at the age of eighteen began to teach
and to read law, alternating between these two pur-
suits for about five years, and in April, 1850, was
admitted to the bar at Doylstown in his native State.
Thinking that the West furnished a better field for
young attorneys than the older States, he immedi-
ately started for Wisconsin, reaching Oconomowoc
in May. Twenty-seven years ago this place was a
very small village ; legal business was not pressing,
and as he was not disposed to be idle, he spent part
of his time in surveying, for a year or more. At the
end of that time he had enough to do in his profes-
sion, and since then has never suffered from a want
of briefs. Indeed, his has been a busy as well as a
successful professional life.
Mr. Small held some offices of minor importance
soon after coming to Oconomowoc. In 1862 he was
elected district attorney for Waukesha county, and
subsequently reelected. He was chosen judge of
the second judicial circuit in 1869, and reelected in
1875, and still holds the office, discharging its duties
with credit to himself and the satisfaction of all.
In politics, Judge Small was a whig, with "silver
gray " proclivities, until about 1855, when, the name
of his favorite party having disappeared from the
political calendar, he became a democrat, and to
this party owes his elevation to the bench.
His wife, who was Miss Susannah Ely, is an ac-
complished lady, the mother of three children, one
son and two daughters. The son is now studying
in Europe.
Judge Small has a small farm adjoining the city,
and bounded on one side by La PJelle lake, near the
shore of which sheet of water stands his large farm
house. The house is in a little grove, and Pan, the
heathen divinity, might covet its delightful situation.
JOHN R. BRANDT, A.M., M.D.,
ARCADIA.
DR. BR.\NDT, a native of Troy, New York,
was born June 7, 1838, and is the son of
William Andreas Brandt, of Holland Dutch extrac-
tion, and Mary ne'e Gillespie, of Scotch descent.
She is noted for great force of character. Both
parents were born in Rensselaer county. New York.
They moved to Winnebago county, Wisconsin, in
1850, and settled near Eureka, where the mother
became quite noted for her skill in handling various
diseases, she being a great advocate of hydropathy.
As early as 185 1 she was accustomed to use the
thermometer in fevers. The father was a compe-
tent linguist, and was generally well educated. John
remained on the Indian reservation in Winnebago
county under his instruction until 1853, when he
spent one season at school in Omro, but wanted
better opportunities for an education. He had heard
of Oberlin College and its manual labor feature.
562
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
and on the 3d of February, 1854, started on foot,
nearly penniless and alone, and on the 3d of May
entered that town, having walked the entire distance
of more than eight hundred miles ! He stopped at
several places and worked a short time in order to
replenish his wardrobe. He started with five cents
in his pocket and reached Oberlin with two of
them. There he found a home with Hiram Pease,
one of the founders of the institution. In a short
time he was fitted to teach, and accordingly in
June, 1856, he went to Mason county, Kentucky,
and opened a select school near Maysville. He
completed his course of studies at the Maysville
Literary Institute in 1862. He spent two years in
Bourbon county, teaching in private families and
a select school; and in 1864 became professor of
languages and music in the Cloverport Presbyter-
ian Institute, in Breckenridge county; and the next
year president of the Harrisburg Institute. He is
a fine Oriental scholar, and at the age of twenty-
four years delivered a course of lectures on the
Jewish and other Oriental religions.
In 1868 he attended lectures in the medical de-
partment of the Louisville University, having previ-
ously read with Dr. A. G. Stitt, of Millersburg. He
also studied aural and ophthalmic surgery with Dr.
Cheatham, of that city. In 187 1 he began the prac-
tice of medicine at Milford, Kentucky ; three years
later he went to Cincinnati, and made a special study
of diseases of the eye, and also attended lectures
at the Miami Medical College and the Medical Col-
lege of Ohio, graduating from the latter in 1874.
Thus thoroughly prepared for medical practice in
its widest range, he, in 1876, returned to Wisconsin
and settled at Arcadia, in Trempealeau county.
Though a general practitioner. Dr. Brandt makes
the treatment of the eye and ear a specialty, and
has become widely known for his skill and success.
He is a Council Mason. In politics he is a demo-
crat, and in religious sentiment, a Presbyterian with
Catholic tendencies.
He was county school commissioner in Kentucky
for several years, and in 1862 proposed, at a far-
mers' convention, an institution similar to the pres-
ent Grangers' Society, and was perhaps the first
person to propose such an organization. He is an
original thinker, and is polished in manners as well
as in education.
CHARLES W. FELKER,
OSHKOSH.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Penn
Yan, Yates county, New York, was born on
the 25th of November, 1834, and is the son of An-
drew and Maria (Pixley) Felker. His father, an
enterprising man, was a farmer in good circum-
stances. Charles' early life presents few phases in
distinction from that of ordinary farmer boys. He
first attended school at Brockport, New York, and
later pursued a course of study at Charlotteville,
Schoharie county. In 1855, being twenty-one years of
age, having determined to enter the legal profession,
he removed to the West, and settled at Oshkosh,
Wisconsin, his present home, and there began the
study of law with Judge Wheeler. At the expira-
tion of one year he took the editorship of the Osh-
kosh "Democrat," a republican paper then advocating
the election of John C. Fremont to the Presidency.
He held this position for one and a half years and
then resumed his studies with Judge Wheeler, con-
tinuing them till April, 1858, when he was admitted
to the bar at Oshkosh. He at once commenced
practice and soon became well known as a skillful
and successful attorney. In 1864, his sympathies
having been deeply aroused in the Union cause, he
enlisted in the army as captain of Company A, 48th
Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Serving
till the close of the war, he was mustered out in Jan-
uary, 1866, and returning to his home, resumed his
legal practice, associating himself with Charles A.
Weisbrod, whose sketch appears in another part of
this work, under the firm name of Felker and Weis-
brod. During that year he was appointed post-
master at Oshkosh, by President Johnson, and held
that office until 1867. From the beginning of his
practice he has been growing in influence, and each
year has added largely to his business. He makes
his profession his study, and spares no pains in the
preparation of his cases. In 1863 he was admitted
to the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, and in 1875, to
the Supreme Court of the United States.
He is now (1877) attorney for the Chicago and
Northwestern Railway Company. In 1873 he was
Lym^^^'^U/U^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
565
elected school commissioner, and, in 1S75, superin-
tendent of schools.
Mr. Felker's career has been marked by a gradual
growth. When he began the practice of law he had
in his pocket a single York shilling, and this he paid
for having his books removed to his office. Success
has attended him in all his work, and he stands to-
day among the first advocates of his State, with a
large and remunerative practice, and lives in the en-
joyment of a pleasant home and ample competence.
As a speaker he ranks among the best; cool, delib-
erate and with clear-cut thoughts, he has a remark-
able power of argument. He has excellent social
qualities, and exerts a strong influence over a large
circle of warm friends.
His political views are democratic.
Though not a member of any church or organiza-
tion, he believes in Christianity, and is an attendant
upon the Episcopal service.
Mr. Felker was married on the 5th of January,
1862, to Miss Sarah Douty, and by her has two
daughters and three sons.
MARTIN T. DRAPER,
OCONOMOWOC.
MARTIN THAYER DRAPER, son of Frost
Draper, a farmer, and Mary ne'e Thayer, was
born at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, on the 22d of Aug-
ust, 1814. His grandfather, David Draper, was one
of the first patriots to enlist in defense of the rights
of the Colonies, and fought at Bunker Hill and in
subsequent battles. His mother had ten brothers,
most of whom were educated at Amherst College.
But few of them, however, followed professional life.
Martin received only a common-school education.
He had a taste for mercantile pursuits, and became
a general trader, sometimes in West India goods and
dry goods, and at other times in lumber and coal, in
different parts of Massachusetts.
In 1843 he came to the West, reaching Milwaukee
on the 5th of November; there he acted as an agent,
entering and disposing of lands and collecting for
eastern houses. He remained in Milwaukee nine
years and then removed to Portage, where he lived
about the same length of time, selling goods and act-
ing as trustee and assignee for different parties ;
doing, at times, an extensive business in the latter
line.
In February, 1862, Mr. Draper removed to Ocon-
omowoc and purchased what is now known as the
Draper Hall property, though he did not open it as
a hotel until 1869. The site is one of the loveliest
for a public house in the State, being on a narrow
neck of land, with Fowler lake on one side within
a hundred feet of the house, and La Belle lake on
the other only two hundred feet away, the waters of
both being as clear as crystal. When Mr. Draper
first opened the house to the public it had accom-
modations for lodging about twenty-five persons;
he has enlarged it from time to time and erected
several neat cottages only a few steps from the main
building, and can now entertain comfortably more
than a hundred guests. Oconomowoc has become
a popular summer resort, and Draper Hall, open
during the whole year, is usually crowded during
four or five of the warmest months. The natural
attractions of Oconomowoc it is difficult to match
in Wisconsin, and Mr. Draper has done more than
any other man to make it a favorite resort during
the hot season. Families come here from the South-
ern States and spend four or five months.
If Mr. Draper is popular as a landlord he is no
less so as a citizen, having served a second term as
mayor of the city.
In politics, he has always been democratic. He
rarely runs for office, but when he does, draws more
than the party vote. He has very seldom, however,
allowed his name to be used in connection with any
office. He is contented to be a faithful private citi-
zen and a first-class inn-keeper.
Mr. Draper was first married in 1835, to Miss Car-
oline Watson, of Leicester, Massachusetts. They
had two children, a son and a daughter, both still
living. Mrs. Draper died in 1841. Edward F. is
married and is a merchant in New York city; Cor-
nelia M. is unmarried, and lives in Worcester, Mas-
sachusetts. Mr. Draper was united with his present
wife in July, 1844, and by her has a son and daugh-
ter, both of whom are at home. The present Mrs.
Draper was Caroline Calkins, of Milwaukee, a wo-
man of highly cultivated manners, good social qual-
ities and very pleasant address. Her mother, now
in her ninety-second year, is living with her, with
566
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
mental faculties but slightly impaired, and still
amusing herself with the knitting needles, which she
learned how to use more than eighty years ago. Her
maiden name was Bill ; she is a descendant of John
and Dorothy Bill, who came to Massachusetts about
1633. The Bill family in England has been traced
back more than five hundred years. Some of them
in the old country, as well as in this, were noted
scholars and doctors of divinity. From the history
of the Bill family, published in New York in 1867,
we learn that on the 20th of November, 1558, the
Sunday following Queen Elizabeth's ascension to
the throne, Dr. William Bill preached at St. Paul's \
Cross ; that he was soon afterward made Her Maj-
esty's chief almoner, and in 1559 was elected provost
of Eton College. He held at one time the posi-
tions of master of Trinity, provost of Eton, and dean ^
of Westminster, — a distinction, it is said, which no j
other person ever held. !
Mr. Draper has been a resident of Wisconsin for -i
thirty-four years, and has contributed his quota of |
energy and enterprise in the development of the
State, and has had his full share of satisfaction and
pleasure in its growth and prosperity. ;
GENERAL LEVI GRANT,
KENOSHA.
LEVI GRANT was born in New Berlin, Chenango
^ county, New York, April 25, 1810, and is the
only child of Joshua and Esther (Naramore) Grant,
both of whom were natives of Stonington, Connecti-
cut. The great-grandfather of our subject was a
native Scotchman, who immigrated to America pre-
vious to the revolution, and was a near relative of
the ancestor of the ex-President. Joshua Grant
followed the business of farming during his entire
life. He moved from Connecticut to New York
about the beginning of the present century, and
there ended his days. Physically he was a man of
massive framework and uncommon energy ; in boy-
hood a great wrestler, and noted for feats of strength
and agility. He was, moreover, a man of sterling
qualities of head and heart, — plain, honest, upright,
and although not a member of any church, was a
firm believer in Christianity and its institutions ;
habitually read the Bible in his family and set a
good example to his children.
The mother of our subject was descended of
English ancestors, a robust, active and energetic
woman, industrious, intelligent and conscientious, of
strong sympathies and deep feelings. Her name is
associated in the memory of her son with the most
happy and hallowed recollections. She was, through
life, an exemplary member of the Methodist Episco-
pal church. Both had been previously married and
the parents of families who survive them, but our
subject was the only fruit of this union. The father
died, when the son was young, in the sixty-ninth
year of his age, but the motlier survived her hus-
band many years, dying at the age of seventy-five.
Levi Grant received a fair English and mathe-
matical education at the district schools of his native
town, and at the age of fifteen was apprenticed to
learn the art of paper manufacturing, at which busi-
ness he served till the age of twenty-one. He sub-
sequently pursued the same craft as foreman of a
paper-mill in Green county, New York, for a period
of five years. But like many other young men of his
day, possessed of the spirit of adventure, and the
West offering a wider and more promising field for
its development, he removed to Wisconsin in 1836,
at the age of twenty-six, and settled on a three-hun-
dred-acre tract of land in Kenosha county, some
twelve miles west of the present city, which under
his strong and industrious hands soon put on the
habiliments of civilization, and became one of the
most beautiful and highly cultivated farms in the
West, the most exquisite taste being displayed in
the style and arrangement of the dwelling and in the
gardens, orchards, fences and general features of the
surroundings. As a farmer he was eminently suc-
cessful, and accumulated considerable capital. In
1856, however, becoming weary of agricultural pur-
suits, which required constant care and unremitting
attention, he sold out his beautiful homestead and
removed to Kenosha, his present home, and em-
barked extensively in the lumber trade, to which his
attention has since been mainly devoted, with very
satisfactory results. He has not only been success-
ful as a business man, but patriotic and public-
spirited as a citizen. "The Grant House," one of
the finest and most elegant hotels in tlie West, which
he built, not so much as a speculative investment as
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
567
a source of benefit to the city, is a monument to his
exquisite taste and public beneficence. His industry,
prudent business qualities and high moral character
have made him one of the most substantial as well as
one of the most highly esteemed citizens of the State.
In his youth and early manhood he developed a
taste for military tactics and gave some attention to
the science of arms. Accordingly, in 1855, he was
commissioned by Governor Barstow to the rank of
brigadier-general of the State militia, and from this
circumstance derived the title of "general," which
has since clung to him, and by which he was known
long before his more distinguished kinsman and
namesake was heard of beyond the confines of West
Point or the environs of Galena. Like his father,
he is a man of great physical development, of ma-
jestic mien and fine stature, being six feet four
inches in height, with a framework and muscle
development in proportion ; and had he devoted his
life to the profession of arms, would undoubtedly
have become a distinguished soldier.
In politics, Mr. Grant was always a republican ;
and though naturally of a modest and retiring na-
ture, he has been several times elected to offices of
trust and responsibility by his fellow-citizens. In
1843 he served one session in the lower branch of
the State legislature, and in 1853 was elected to
serve for a period of two years in the State senate ;
besides which he has held numerous local offices,
always discharging the duties with consummate abil-
ity and the most rigid integrity. He has carried
through life a spotless character and an unblemished
reputation, which will be the richest legacy he can
bequeath to his children.
He was married on the 25th of April, 1832, to
Miss Frances E., daughter of the late Nathaniel
Etheridge, Esq., of Green county, New York, an
extensive farmer and a soldier of the war of 181 2.
He died at Sacket's Harbor before the end of that
struggle. He was the son of a native Englishman.
Mrs. Grant is a lady of superior mental endowments
and liberal culture, of refined tastes and high moral
aspirations; of an amiable and kindly spirit, and
much beloved by her neighbors and all who know
her. Both she and her husband have been exem-
plary members of the Methodist Episcopal church
for forty-seven years, and have been for twenty
years past among the leading members of the con-
gregation of that denomination in Kenosha.
Their union has been blessed with two children,
one son and one daughter. The son, Emory Grant,
was educated at the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor, from which lie graduated with honor in the
class of 1856. After leaving college he engaged
with his father in the lumber trade, of which he has
since had the chief management. He is a gentle-
man of fine business talents and high moral princi-
ples. On the 29th of November, 1870, he married
Miss Mary A., daughter of Walden Thomas, Esq., a
distinguished citizen of Chicago. The only daugh-
ter, Julia, a lady of fine accomplishments and most
amiable character, is the widow of the late Julius A.
Durkee, Esq., of New York city. She resides at
present with her parents in Kenosha.
RUFUS C. HATHAWAY,
OCONOMOWOC.
AMONG the citizens of Oconomowoc who have
witnessed its growth from a town of one hun-
dred inhabitants to a little city of three thousand, is
Rufus Corey Hathaway, the present city clerk and
county surveyor. He is the son of Wilbur Hatha-
way, a millwright, and Mercy «/,? Goodrich, and was
born at Homer, New York, May 24, 1816. His pa-
ternal grandfather was a soldier of 1776. Hon. Milo
Goodrich, member of the Forty-second Congress
from New York State, is a brother of his mother's.
At seventeen years of age Rufus began to learn the
carriage makers' trade, and at twenty began to at-
tend the academy at Homer, alternating between
working at his trade, teaching and attending school,
for about five years. Being of a studious turn of
mind he developed a fondness for reading and study,
and in this manner employed all his leisure time.
While working at his trade in Homer, when about
twenty-five, he began to study law, but having to
defray his own expenses, was much retarded in his
studies.
In August, 1842, he removed to Beloit, Wisconsin,
and read law a short time with his uncle, Milo Good-
rich. He taught a school in Janesville the following
winter; in 1843 returned to New York with his uncle
and worked at his trade more or less, at the same
568
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
time continuing the study of law at intervals. He
paid special attention to music for several years, and
learned to compose it.
In 1848 Mr. Hathaway returned to Wisconsin and
bought two hundred acres of wild land in Dodge
county. He worked at his trade a short time in
Milwaukee, and in the spring of 1849 made a per-
manent settlement at Oconomowoc. Here he built
him a house, and shortly afterward engaged in sur-
veying, a branch of science to which he had devoted
considerable attention while in the academy. For
some years that branch of business largely occupied
his time, he being elected surveyor of Waukesha
county several times, and now, as already stated,
holding that office.
Mr. Hathaway continued his study of law at odd
intervals, and about 1862 was admitted to the bar
of Waukesha county. He practices in the circuit
court and in the supreme court of the State. Prior
to 1862 he had done business in the justice court.
Much against his disposition he has had several of-
fices thrust upon him — offices, most of which he
did not want. He has been supervisor several times
and was chairman of the board one or two years.
Was town clerk several times ; district attorney in
1869 and 1870, in order to take which he resigned
the office of justice of the peace ; and is now city
clerk. Other offices he has been urged to accept,
but peremptorily declined them. Those which he
has accepted he has filled in a very satisfactory
manner.
As a business man he is practical, prompt, accu-
rate, reliable ; and though a democrat, the votes
which he receives when a candidate are limited to
no one party.
Miss Flavilla Jane Hobert, of Hoiner, New York,
became his wife in August, 1845. They have had
seven children, four of whom are now living, two
sons and two daughters, the last two being married.
Emma, the elder, is the wife of Wallace Hastings,
and lives near Oconomowoc ; Lizzie is the wife of
Horace Hastings, and lives in Iowa.
Mr. Hathaway is a plain appearing man, frank
and cordial, genial-hearted, public-spirited, and an
excellent citizen. During the first ten or fifteen
years of his residence in Oconomowoc he continued
to pay much attention to music, and was at one time
the leader of a brass band, and while teaching the
members, arranged all the music for the several
parts. Latterly he has paid little attention to this
branch of science, though he has a fine ear for the
"concord of sweet sounds."
COLONEL CHARLES WOLCOTT,
OSIIKOSH.
AMONG the early settlers and enterprising citi-
zens of Oshkosh, none deserves a more honor-
able mention than the subject of this sketch, known
throughout Winnebago county, Wisconsin, as Colo-
nel Wolcott. He is descended from the celebrated
Wolcott family of Connecticut. From a reference
to the early history of the United States we find that
one member of this family was a signer of the Dec-
laration of Independence ; another was secretary
of the United States Treasury, and two others were
governors of the State of Connecticut.
His mother, whose maiden name was Loomis, also
belonged to a highly honorable family. Professor
Loomis, of Yale College, has published a large genea-
logical work on the Loomis family, from which we
learn that several of its members were officers in the
revolutionary army, and that some of our leading
scholars bear that name.
Talcott Wolcott, the father of our subject, was
one of the principal ship-merchants of Hartford,
Connecticut, being engaged in the West India and
South American trade.
Charles was born February 17, 1811, in Hartford,
and was educated in the excellent graded schools of
his native city. He moved to Ohio in 1834, and
read law with Governor Tod, of Warren, and was
admitted to the bar in that place in 1836, Settling
at Wooster, Wayne county, he practiced there until
1850, when he removed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
While in Ohio, Colonel Wolcott had the command
of a regiment of cavalry for twelve years, and from
1841 to 1846 was a member of the house of repre-
sentatives and senate of Ohio.
On settling in the little village of Oshkosh, twenty-
seven years ago, Colonel Wolcott resumed his legal
practice, and continued it until about 1S64, dealing
also, during this time, largely and successfully in
real estate. He owns the beautiful brick and stone
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THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
571
block on the southeast corner of Main and Algoma
streets, one of the best business localities in the city,
and besides has other property in Oshkosh. Public-
spirited and generous he has always been among the
foremost in all public interests and improvements.
Colonel Wolcott was one of the founders of the
Episcopal Church in Oshkosh, and drew up its arti-
cles of association, and is the only living member of
the church who signed those articles. He is one of
the vestrymen, and is highly esteemed by all. As a
citizen, he is upright and exemplary, and is well
known as a gentleman of refined tastes and polished
manners.
In politics Colonel Wolcott has always been a
democrat, but for many years has not been an active
politician.
His wife was Miss Ellen P^dwards Plummer,
daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Plummer, of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, a prominent man of the State. They
were married August 19, 1836, and have no children.
Mrs. Wolcott is an accomplished lady, on whose
face time has shrunk from making any but the slight-
est furrows. Like her husband, she has much of
the vivacity of youth. She carefully cultivates the
Christian virtues, and no lady in Oshkosh is more
highly esteemed.
ALANSON H. LEE,
ALANSON HENRY LEE, son of Brewster Lee,
L is descended from a family who settled in New
Hamp,shire near the close of the seventeenth cen-
tury. Members of this family are now distributed
through New England and many of the Northwest-
ern States. On his mother's side he comes of Puri-
tan stock, his maternal grandfather being a lineal
descendant of Elder Brewster, of the Mayflower.
He was born at Pomfret, Connecticut, October 10,
iSio, and spent the principal part of his early years
in one of the large factories, so numerous in that
part of the country, enjoying but limited educational
facilities. He acquired his rudimental knowledge
by night study, reading by the light of the fireplace
such books as came to hand. But being an apt
learner he made the most of his opportunities, and
by cultivating his large natural gifts, became one of
the best informed men of his day.
At an early age he removed to Chautauqua coun-
ty, New York, and was there engaged in mercan-
tile pursuits with his uncle, Oliver Lee, one of the
pioneers of that part of the State, who afterward
accumulated a large fortune. He was for many
years president of the large banking house of Oliver
Lee and Co., Buffalo, and was also largely interested
in lake shipping, and was a conspicuous and well-
known business man for half a century.
Alanson H. Lee resided at Silver Creek, a village
about thirty miles southwest from Buffalo, for some
years prior to 1841, when he fonned a partnership
with Mr. John Dickson, elsewhere sketched in this
volume, and came to Racine, where, in the autumn
of that year, they opened a country store. The
career of this firm, its early struggles, its ultimate
triumphs, and the important part which it played in
developing the resources of Racine, are more fully set
forth in the sketch of Mr. Dickson above alluded to.
The partnership under the style of Lee and Dick-
son continued until the death of the former in 1861.
The firm did an e.xtensive business, had an unusu-
ally wide-spread reputation, and was foremost in all
enterprises which were designed to contribute to the
growth and prosperity of the young city. They
were among the founders of Racine College, and in
a history of the institution, published by Professor
Homer Wheeler in 1876, they are mentioned as
among the largest contributors of money toward the
erection of the building, and, consequently, to whom
the college owes a great debt of gratitude. They
were largely instrumental in the building of a plank-
road from Racine to Delavan, an enterprise of great
magnitude and importance at that day. To their
efforts was largely due the improvement of the har-
bor of Racine, by which it became a safe retreat for
vessels, to which circumstance is due, in no small
degree, the prosperity of the city. They were also
the prime movers in the building of the Racine and
Mississippi railroad, now Western Union, and of the
Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien railroad. Most
of these enterprises proved unremunerative at the
time, and the accumulations of the firm were largely
absorbed in public works and improvements, of
which the present generation are the beneficiaries.
Their commercial standing, however, was never im-
572
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
paired, and their engagements were always met with
promptness and exactness.
Mr. Lee's health, never robust, was severely taxed
by his unremitting industry and devotion to busi-
ness, and in the fall of 1861 failed entirely. His
death occurred on the 27th of December of that
year, after an illness of two months. The relations
of Mr. Lee with his business partner, Mr. Dickson,
which lasted through a period of twenty years, were
always of the most cordial and amicable character,
and their memory is cherished with the most pro-
found respect by the surviving member of the firm,
whose estimate of him is summed up in the words,
"he was
'An honest man — the noblest work of God.' "
In personal appearance Mr. Lee was tall and of
spare but well-knit frame. In manner somewhat
retiring, but always carrying an air of truthfulness
and sterling integrity that never failed to impress
those with whom he associated. These were, in
short, the salient features of his character — his
name in the community where he lived, and wher-
ever he was known, being still a synonym for honesty
and fidelity. His charities were numerous but un-
ostentatious, and no religious or benevolent enter-
prise ever sought his aid in vain.
Although a frequent attendant upon the public
worship of God in the Protestant Episcopal church,
he was not a member of any religious denomination ;
nor was he ever connected with any secret society.
He never held nor sought an office, but always
refused to allow the use of his name in connection
with any candidacy. He was not a politician, but
in early life had affiliated with the democratic party,
and in after years supported its candidates. He sup-
ported the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and
was known as a war democrat at the time of his death.
Mr. Lee was twice married : First, to Miss Per-
melia A. Gaylord, at Chautauqua, New York, shortly
before he came to Racine. By her he had three
children, only one of whom survives, namely, Mr.
Chas. H. Lee, of the law firm of Fish and Lee, Ra-
cine, a young gentleman of fine education, brilliant
intellect and large promise. Mrs. Lee died in 1853,
and three years later he married her sister. Miss
Sarah M. Gaylord, who survives.
REESE T. REESE,
W'lTH a single exception, the subject of this
notice has been in the mercantile trade in
Berlin longer than any other parties. He began on
a moderate scale, doing business from the start on
strictly honorable principles, and increased his busi-
ness from time to time as the growing demands of
trade would warrant, and now has the largest prem-
ises and the largest stock of general merchandise in
Berlin. All this has been done by strict adherence
to business and careful attention to all its details.
Reese T. Reese is a native of Wales, but has
spent all but the first ten or eleven years of his life
in this country and in Wisconsin. His parents were
Thomas Reese and Anna n^e Shelby, both natives
of Wales. In the old country Thomas Reese was a
joiner by trade, but on coming to Wisconsin, about
1842, he decided to get his living out of the soil,
and to this end opened a farm in Waukesha county.
About four years later he removed to Winnebago
county, and a short time afterward to Waushara
county, where he still resides, having passed his
three-score years and ten, and still remaining quite
healthy. His wife died in that county about five
years ago.
Young Reese remained with his parents until of
age, when he began life for himself He spent
about five years in hotels in Waukesha county and
in Milwaukee, and on May i, 1857, settled in Ber-
lin. At first, in company with H. A. Williams, now
of St. Louis, he opened a small grocery store; two
years later he put in a general stock, and continued
in this partnership until 1862, when Mr. Williams
sold out to Pliney F. Whiting, and the firm of Reese
and Whiting has been in business steadily from that
date. They have a double brick store, eighty by
one hundred feet, and three stories high above the
basement, standing on ground which they own;
usually carry about forty thousand dollars' worth of
stock, and do on an average a business of one hun-
dred and twenty-five thousand dollars annually. It
is the leading house of the kind in the county, and
has stood firm as a rock through all the financial
crises of the last twenty years.
In politics Mr. Reese is a republican, but would
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
573
never accept an office of any kind, except that of
alderman for a term or two. He is a Royal Arch
Mason.
In 1862 he was married to Miss Matilda Troxell,
of Winnebago county, Wisconsin, a woman of great
excellence of character. The fruit of this union has
been seven children, four of whom are now living.
In appearance Mr. Reese is a man of light com-
jjlexion and blue eyes. He is five feet and eleven
inches tall, and weighs two hundred and fifteen
pounds. He usually wears a cheerful face. He is
very social in his disposition; pleasant to his em-
ployes as well as customers; has warm, generous
feelings toward all classes, and is especially kind to
the poor. As a man he is known and esteemed for
his real worth, and by his industrious and upright
life has endeared himself to all who have been
brought under his influence.
ELI HOOKER.
WAV PUN.
THE Hooker family, from which the subject
of this sketch is descended, were among the
earliest settlers in New England. The great-grand-
father of Eli, Hezekiah Hooker, was born at Med-
bury, Connecticut, about 1720; his grandfather,
Jesse Hooker, about 1743 ; his father, May 19, 1778.
The maiden name of his mother was Lovice Roe,
who belonged to a numerous New England family.
Hezekiah Hooker, the father of Eli, was a farmer
many years in Dryden, Tompkins county. New
York, where the son was born September 17, 1820.
His younger years were devoted largely to educa-
tional pursuits. He attended the Ithaca Academy
at sundry times, — in all about four years, teaching
school several winters. He prepared for college at
Ithaca, but having an offer to remove to the West
and start a newspaper, did not enter college, but
went from the academy directly to Fond du Lac,
in September, 1846, and with J- O. Henning started
the "Journal," which was the first paper in Fond du
I.ac county; six months later he sold out his in-
terest and bought a half-interest in the "Whig,"
then just started by J. M. Gillett. He wrote for
that paper until January, 1848, when he removed
to Waupun, and read law with J. J. Brown.
After practicing in the county court for a time,
he was, on the 17th of April, 1854, admitted to the
bar of the circuit court at Fond du Lac. He was
afterward admitted to practice in the supreme court
of the State, and in all the courts of Wisconsin for
twenty years or more he has had a large and re-
munerative business. He is a first-class court and
jury lawyer, excelling in both departments of the
profession. He has an unusually large law library,
and is replenishing it from year to year. He is
thoroughly wedded to his profession and has all the
63
avidity for study of his younger years, and never
applied himself more closely. Law, the chosen pur-
suit of his later years, has completely absorbed his
time ; with the exception of fourteen months, from
August, 1866, to October, 1867, when he published
the Waupun " Times," a republican newspaper, for
which he is still acting as corresponding editor, as a
means of literary recreation. He is a vigorous and
strong writer, as well as an able advocate. With
the exception of a membership in the local school
board, which he has held many years, he has kept
clear of political ofiices. He owes his success to
having stuck to one thing.
Mr. Hooker is a member of the Temple of Honor;
a strong advocate of temperance, and has lectured
more or less on the subject, being an effective
speaker. He has been a member of the Method-
ist Episcopal church for twenty-five years, and a
steward and trustee of the same. All his influence
is on the side of good morals and a pure type of
Christianity. In early days, and until slavery was
abolished, he was a strong anti-slavery man, his
sympathies being always on the side of the op-
pressed.
He is a man of kindly disposition ; is a valuable
neighbor and citizen ; is independent in his cir-
cumstances; delightfully situated; very hospitable,
and a sumptuous entertainer. All his wealth is the
honest proceeds of energies and talents well ex-
pended. Persons best acquainted with Mr. Hooker
during his professional life state that he never ad-
vises persons to go to law who have not, in his
judgment, a good case; invariably declines to be
an advocate of a bad cause ; never makes a pro-
position of law to a court or jury that he does not
believe to be correct, and is always very careful
574
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
not to be mistaken ; never misquotes testimony
knowingly, nor does he misapply it to the issues in
action. This course, which he has strictly followed,
gives the people great confidence in him, and to it
he attributes his success in legal practice and in
life.
The wife of Mr. Hooker was Miss Catherine R.
Sharp, daughter of Rev. John Sharp, nearly sixty
years a Baptist preacher, and now living in Waupun,
in his eighty-fourth year. His wife is also living,
and they celebrated their golden wedding at Mr.
Hooker's about seven years ago. Mrs. Sharp was
a descendant of the Townly family, whose property
was largely confiscated at the time of the restora-
tion, when Charles H came to the throne of Eng-
land.
Mr. and Mrs. Hooker were married February 19,
1 85 1. They have had four children, three of whom
are now living. Viola A., the eldest child, was
educated at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wis-
consin. Culver E., the only son, is in the senior
class of the State University; and Lillie Kate, the
youngest, is being educated in the Waupun graded
schools. Mrs. Hooker is one of the leaders in
humane and benevolent enterprises conducted by
the women of Waupun, and is the president of the
Ladies' Temperance League of this place, and treas-
urer of the State Alliance.
HON. EDWIN HURLBUT,
OCONOMOWOC.
EDWIN HURLBUT is a son of Philander
Hurlbut, an attorney and farmer, and Julia
nee Thomas, and was born in Newtown, Connecti-
cut, October 10, 181 7. Both of his grandfathers
fought for American liberty, and his father partic-
ipated in the war of 1812-15. The family moved
to Bradford county, Pennsylvania, when Edwin was
about seven years old. There he remained about
eight years, and enjoyed the literary advantages of a
common school. At the end of that time he started
for New Jersey, walking all the way to Newark,
where he had an uncle, with whom he lived a year,
and soon afterward started westward. He stopped
a short time in Eaton county, Michigan, and after-
ward returned to the East and studied law at Lodi,
Seneca county. New York. Removing to Towanda,
Pennsylvania, in 1842, he resumed the study of law,
and was admitted to the bar in 1847. _ He returned
to Michigan the same year, settled at Mason, Ing-
ham county, and commenced his practice. He was
appointed postmaster at that place in 1848; district
attorney the same year, and a little later received
from Governor Ransen the appointment of judge
advocate in the State militia, with the rank of
colonel.
In April, 1850, Colonel Hurlbut settled at Ocon-
omowoc, where he has been in the steady and suc-
cessful practice of the law for twenty-seven years,
most of the time in the United States court, as well
as the circuit and supreme courts of the State._
During the first year of his practice in Wisconsin
he was ap])ointed attorney of the Milwaukee, Water-
town and Madison plank-road; was elected district
attorney in 1856, holding the office two years, and
in 1858 was appointed attorney for what was then
known as the Milwaukee, Beaver Dam and Baraboo
railroad, now a branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee
and St. Paul road, and held that position several
years.
x\t the opening of the rebellion, in the spring of
186 1, Colonel Hurlbut was appointed colonel on
Governor Randall's staff. He was very active in
recruiting soldiers for the Union army, and con-
tributed liberally to the war fund, and afterward
gave his services gratuitously in procuring pensions
and bounties. He went to Washington with the 4th
Wisconsin Infantry, and had a position in the State
commissary department. He had the inspection of
troops, and before the close of the year was ap-
pointed by the governor aide as commander-in-
chief with the rank of colonel. In 1862 he was
appointed deputy United States marshal with pro-
vost-marshal's powers. He was tendered the colo-
nelcy of one of the Wisconsin regiments, but de-
clined, the historian says, " because the army was
being officered by politicians rather than by sol-
diers."
Colonel Hurlbut was a member of the general
assembly in the session of 1869, He was chairman
of the committee on federal relations, and on two
or three other committees, and was one of the hard-
working and influential members of the legislature.
I^'V
.X
r
,^ ^^^1^7^ ^^ ^^</-~^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
577
The next year Governor Fairchild appointed him to
represent himself at the International Congress on
penitentiary and reformatory discipline, of which
congress Rutherford B. Hayes was president.
Colonel Hurlbut is known as a humanitarian, and
in 1872 was appointed a delegate to the Interna-
tional Penitentiary Congress, which met in London.
Two years later he was a member of the National
Prison Congress, held in St. Louis, and was made
one of its trustees and put on the committee on
criminal law reform. In 1875 he became a trustee
of the National Prison Association of New York,
and was placed on the committee on discharged
convicts.
Colonel Hurlbut has held various offices in the
village and city of Oconomowoc, one of them being
that of clerk of the school board, which he had
about twelve years, and during that time was the
prime originator of the excellent school system of
the city. He was a member of the board of man-
agers of the State Industrial School, located at Wau-
kesha, and did good service while acting in that
capacity.
'In politics Colonel Hurlbut was a democrat until
1854, when he aided in forming the republican
party at Madison. He acted with this party until
1872, when he supported Horace Greeley for the
Presidency; since that time he has been known as
a reformer. It was by the reform party that he was
elected district attorney of Waukesha county in
1873. He is editor and proprietor of the " Wiscon-
sin Free Press," a weekly newspaper published in
Oconomowoc, and devoted to the interests of the
reform party. It is a large and ably-conducted
journal.
He is a member of Waukesha Chapter, No. 37, of
the Masonic fraternity; is a Baptist in religious
sentiment, and has long been an active and strong
advocate of temperance, and was grand worthy
patriarch of the State in the Order of Sons of Tem-
perance in 1853; and is usually a leader in move-
ments tending to improve the condition of the
unfortunate or raise the fallen. As a citizen he has
few peers in usefulness, while as a lawyer he is, in
every sense of the word, a success. He has prob-
ably the largest and best law library in Waukesha
county. Colonel Hurlbut was married in October,
1840, to Miss Chandler, of Seneca county. New
York, and by her has three daughters. She died
April 6, 1864.
THOMAS P. RUSSELL, M.D.,
OSHKOSII.
THE subject of this biography, a native of Wind-
sor county, Vermont, was born in the town of
Bethel, April 19, 1827. His pargnts, Thomas P.
and Martha (Cotton) Russell, were of patriotic
stock, both his paternal and maternal grandparents
having fought bravely in the struggle for independ-
ence. Young Russell worked on a farm and at-
tended a district school until he was about sixteen,
when he spent two or three terms at the Royalton
Academy. He was in the employ of the Vermont
Central Railroad Company about four years, survey-
ing at first, and afterward acting in the capacity of
conductor. He commenced reading medicine in
1848 at East Randolph, with Dr. Walter Carpenter;
later attended lectures at Woodstock, and graduated
in 1852. After practicing at Weston, in his native
county, two years, he removed to Wisconsin, and
settled in Oshkosh, where he has been in practice
ever since, except when serving his country on the
tented field. In May, 1861, he became assistant
surgeon of the 2d Regiment Wisconsin Infantry, but
resigned in about four months and returned to Osh-
kosh. In May, 1862, he went out as surgeon of the
I St Wisconsin Cavalry, but, by reason of severe ill-
ness in the winter of 1862-3, he left the army again
and returned home, with no expectation of living a
year. He, however, recovered, and has continued
the medical practice with unabated zeal. He makes
a specialty of surgery, and has a wide circuit and a
very extensive practice.
Dr. Russell is a close student, and pays consider-
able attention to sciences collateral to medicine and
surgery. The microscope is now one of his favorite
studies, and as a microscopist it is doubtful if he has
more than one or two equals in the State.
Dr. Russell is a member of the Wisconsin State
Medical Society, and of the United States Medical
Association. He was a delegate to the World's
Medical Congress, which met in l'hiladeli)hia in the
autumn of 1876.
578
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
In politics he was a democrat until the opening
of the rebellion in 1861; since then he has acted
with the republicans. He accepts no political
offices, but steadily and closely adheres to his pro-
fessional studies and practice. He attends the Epis-
copal church.
Dr. Russell has a second wife. His first was Miss
Myra Francis Egerton, of East Randolph, Vermont,
whom he married in 1853; she died without issue
two years later. His present wife was Miss Sophia
Edgarton, of Oshkosh ; their union occurred in 1865.
They have one child living, and have lost two.
HON. MARTIN L. KIMBALL,
MARTIN LUTHER KIMBALL, son of Reuel
Kimball, a Presbyterian clergyman, and Han-
nah nee Mather, is a native of Leyden, Lewis
county. New York, the date of his birth being Sep-
tember 4, 1826. His father was a paymaster in the
war of 181 2-15, stationed at Sacket's Harbor, New
York. Later in life he owned a farm, which he
cultivated, and at the time preached, Martin aiding
on the farm until seventeen years of age, and then
prepared for college at Williston Seminary, East
Hampton, Massachusetts, teaching meantime during
one winter! He entered Hamilton College, Clinton,
New York, in September, 1845, and graduated four
years later. Removing to Wisconsin during the
same year, he read law a short time with Judge
Keep, of Beloit, but finished his legal studies with
Finch and Synde, of Milwaukee, and was admitted
to the bar in that city in 185 1. He thereupon set-
tled in Berlin, and has there been in the legal prac-
tice since that date. He does business in all the
courts of the State, and is a member of the United
States district court. He is well read, and is a good
jury as well as court lawyer, excelling, however, as
a counselor. In legal standing and general, char-
acter he honors the profession. Aside from his
professional duties, he has been the recipient of
honors and trusts at the hands of his fellow- citizens.
He was a member of the State senate in 1857 and
1858; and although the youngest member of that
body, yet he was placed on the judiciary committee,
also on that of privileges and elections. He was
district attorney in 1854 and 1855, and, after a lapse
of years, was again elected in 1874, and reelected in
1876, and still holds that office. He has been chair-
man of the county board of supervisors for twelve
or fifteen years.
Mr. Kimball was known in New York State as a
free-soiler, that being the ticket which he voted in
1848. With a single exception, for the last twenty-
one years, he has voted with the republicans. He
was a delegate, in 1864, to the national convention
which renominated Mr. Lincoln.
He is a member of the Temple of Honor, and for
nearly two years was at the head of the local lodge,
and is an influential man among the advocates of
temperance, and an earnest promoter of the moral,
literary and general interests of society. He attends
the Congregational church.
Mr. Kimball has a second wife : his first. Miss
Buttrick, of Clinton, New York, to whom he was
married in 1852, died without issue in 1862. His
present wife was Miss Riehards, daughter of Rev.
W. M. Richards, of Berlin, their marriage occurring
in 1863, and they have six children.
EDWARD PIER,
FOND DU LAC.
THE subject of this biography is a son of Calvin
Pier, a tanner and currier, and later in life a
farmer, and was born in New Haven, Addison coun-
ty, Vermont, March 31, 1807. The maiden name of
his mother was Esther Evarts, and her father was a
soldier a short time in the revolutionary war. Ed-
ward attended school during the winter months
after his seventh year, until he attained the age of
twelve, when he terminated his school-days. He
was early and thoroughly trained to work, and prob-
ably no young Vermonter ever applied himself with
more diligence to any and every task assigned him,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
579
or was more faithful in the discharge of filial obliga-
tions. When he was twelve years old his family
moved to the town of Ripon, in his native county,
and there Edward passed his youth and early man-
hood, the whole household living in rustic simplicity.
The house was built in tlie woods, overspread by
forest trees, and its chimney was made of boards,
and up through it the children could look and see
the birds which came to sing their morning songs.
In addition to farming Mr. Pier learned to make
and mend shoes, being his own teacher ; for in those
days on the Green Mountains, one of the great stud-
ies was how to save the hard-earned money.
Hoping to find land easier to cultivate than the
soil of Vermont, but without intending to slacken
his industrious habits, Mr. Pier, on the 25th of
August, 1834, started for that part of Michigan Ter-
ritory which is now the State of Wisconsin. Five
years before, June 2, 1829, he had been married to
Miss Harriet N. Kendall, of Rochester, Vermont,
who, with courage and a cheerful spirit, went with
him to the land of the Menomonies and the Potta-
watomies. Two brothers, Colwert E. and Oscar,
also accompanied him. They arrived at dreen
Bay in just four weeks, a remarkably cjuick trip in
those days. In the autumn of that year, Colwert,
the eldest of the three Piers, made a prospecting
trip, extending into Illinois; and in the summer of
1835 Edward made a still longer trip, extending into
southern Illinois, where he purchased a herd of cows
and young cattle for Charles D. Nash and drove
them to Green Bay, a distance of four hundred
miles, much of the way through a country of bridge-
less streams.
In February, 1836, Edward Pier and his brother
Colwert visited the present site of Fond du Lac,
then without a white settler. Having heard favorable
reports from the Indians, of the richness of the soil
and the rank growth of corn, they returned to Green
Bay, and in June following Colwert pitched his tent
there, being the first permanent white settler in Fond
du Lac county. A few days later his wife joined
him. The ne.xt December^ Edward, learning that
Colwert was nearly out of provisions, started with a
load from Cireen Bay, and came very near losing his
life. The historian of Fond du Lac county states
that soon after starting, on the 20th, a fearful storm
of rain and sleet and driving and blinding snow set
in ; the next day was intensely cold, and Mr. Pier
had to keep up the greatest activity to avoid freez-
ing. While crossing Lake Winnebago, about two
miles from Taycheedah, the horse stumbled into an
open crack in the ice, both hind legs going down. Mr.
Pier detached the horse as soon as possible, but the
ice broke, opening a space wide enough to let the
animal into the lake. It was now so cold that water
froze the moment it touched his person ; yet the
horse would perish if left there, and in his efforts to
get the animal out, the ice broke again, and he fell
in ! Both were now struggling for life. By almost
superhuman efforts Mr. Pier got out of the water,
but the poor animal was freezing. Placing a shaft
under its head he started for dear life for the only
house in what is now Fond du Lac county, constant-
ly and violently whipping his hands to keep them
from freezing. Darkness came on ; the wind and
storm abated not; he became bewildered; at times
supposed he was lost, but at length discovered a
newly made cow-track in the snow, which he fol-
lowed, and came to his brother's house, — more
pleased than was Robinson Crusoe when he discov-
ered human tracks on his island home. The brother
that day had taken the same trail for Green Bay,
and the two had passed in the blinding storm with-
out seeing each other.
In March, 1837, Edward Pier settled near Fond
du Lac, and on the 21st of the next month he and
his brother turned the first furrows in the county,
one mile south of where the court-house now stands,
and six days later sowed wheat, oats and peas. The
next year Mr. Pier had occasion to get a plowshare
repaired ; the nearest blacksmith shop was twenty
miles away, and he had to make three round trips,
walking one hundred and twenty miles, before he
could get the job completed. Where Mr. Pier stuck
down his stakes forty years ago, he is found to-day.
The city has expanded over part of his original farm,
but he has a delightful homestead of one hundred
and sixty acres, and a fine farm house. He has al-
ways been a hard-working man and has been emi-
nently successful. Although a farmer, he has also,
at times, been engaged in manufacturing, merchan-
dizing and banking.
Mr. Pier has held many trustworthy positions.
He was one of the first county commissioners (super-
visors) of Fond du Lac county, and was president
of the board ten years. He was county treasurer
one term many years ago; State senator four years,
from 1856 to i860; a trustee of the Insane Asylum
at Madison for some time ; superintendent of the
poor of the county for ten years, and has been pres-
ident of two banks in Fond du Lac city, and has
58o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
discharged the duties of every office with conscien-
tiousness and fidelity.
In politics he was originally a democrat, but since
185s has usually voted the republican ticket.
On the 2ist of August, 1864, Mrs. Pier, his early-
chosen wife, true, confiding and faithful, breathed
her last. She was a noble pioneer wife, — cheerful
under deprivations, and hopeful when clouds seemed
to gather. She was left an orphan when a young
girl, and after living in different families, at length
fell into the hands of one of the best of women, who,
though lowly and poor in this world's goods, sur-
rounded the young girl with such influences as made
her, in after life, a model woman. Mr. Pier claims
that whatever he has been to the community or
otherwise is directly attributable to his excellent
companion, the wife of liis affections, the mother of
his children, of whom he has four, three daughters
and one son, the youngest daughter and son being
twins. All are married and living in or near Fond
du Lac. The eldest daughter, Ann P., the only one
born in Vermont, is the wife of J. W. Carpenter, a
merchant; the second, Ruth R., is the wife of L. J.
Harvey, a contractor, and Carrie S. is the wife of
Hamilton R. Skinner, a grain dealer. Mrs. Harvey
was the widow of Captain Edwin A. Brown, who was
killed in the battle of .'Vntietam. Colwert K , the
son, is cashier of the Savings Bank of Fond du Lac.
He was born half a mile from this city ; has grown
up, was educated and married here. He has four
little daughters. He inherits his father's industry,
and is one of the best business men among the
younger class in the city. At the opening of the
rebellion, in 1861, he enlisted in the ist Regiment
Wisconsin Infantry ; subsequently he was appointed
colonel of the 38th Regiment, and though one of the
youngest commanders of a regiment sent from the
Badger State, he was among the most dashing, dar-
ing and efficient. His regiment was mustered out
of the service in August, 1865. Colonel Pier was
one of the most active men in the State in estab-
lishing a Soldiers' Orphans' Home, and has been one
of the trustees since its origin.
Edward Pier has just rounded up his three-score
years and ten ; yet, having always been a man of
temperate habits, he enjoys good health and is quite
active. He has but few cares, and is surrounded
with the comforts of a competency ; he is happy in
being surrounded by his children, and is the embodi-
ment of cheerfulness and sociality, and warms up
with laudable enthusiasm as he entertains his visit-
ors with reminiscences of frontier life. Probably no
man in the county is more heartily esteemed by his
fellow-citizens.
HENRY SHANFIELD,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this biography is a native of
Syracuse, New York, and was born on the
4th of April, 1853; the son of Adolphus and Clara
Shanfield. His father died when the son was but
three years old.
Henry early developed a great fondness for literary
pursuits, and while yet a youth had a strong desire
to fit himself for the legal profession. He enjoyed
good educational advantages, and at the age of thir-
teen years closed his 'Studies in the common schools
of his native place.
In 1866 he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, his
present home, and entering upon a course of study
in Spencer's Business College, graduated and re-
ceived a diploma from the same, and subsequently
turned his attention to the study of law. Later,
however, having developed marked business capaci-
ties, he abandoned his purpose of entering the law.
He first engaged in the insurance business, and met
with good success, but relinquished it to accept a
position as book-keeper in the wholesale dry-goods
establishment of I. A. Levy and Co., where he re-
mained about one year. At the expiration of that
time, wishing to begin business on his own account,
he leased first Hillbery Distillery, and shortly after-
ward that known as the Pfril Distillery. During
his first year in business he distilled five thousand
two hundred barrels of liquor, and in the year 1874,
nine thousand three hundred and sixty barrels.
As a business man Mr. Shanfield has been emi-
nently successful, being endowed with tlie happy
faculty of seizing current events and turning them
to the interest of his business. He now (1877) owns
an interest in a rectifying establishment, and also
an interest in the Menomonee Distillery, the largest
distillery in Wisconsin, having facilities for distilling
x^^^^^^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
583
eigliteen thousand se\en hundred and twenty barrels
per annum. He began hfe with a capital of three
thousand dollars, and by careful investments and
judicious management, has gradually built up his
business, and his name is now well and honorably
known to the trade throughout the country. Though
still a young man, he has attained a success reached
by few, and gives fair promise of becoming one of
the most eminent business men of our country.
In politics Mr. Shanfield is identified with the
democratic party, but is in no way a partisan. In
his religious views he is liberal.
SAMUEL Y. BRANDE,
K EX OS HA.
SAMUEL YATES BRANDE was born in Cas-
tle Dorrington, Leicestershire, England, Octo-
ber I, 1818, and is the son of Rev. William Brande
and Sarah ne'e Yates. His father, a Baptist clergy-
man, was born near Cambridge, and was descended
of distinguished ancestors, whose history and pre-
served genealogy dates back to the Norman con-
quest, at which period they settled in England,
being originally of French or Norman lineage. His
mother was the second daughter of Samuel Yates, of
Leicester, England, a noted stage proprietor. When
he was two years old his father removed with his
family from the church at Castle Dorrington to take
the oversight of a new charge at the flourishing
naval station of Portsmouth, where the boyhood of
Samuel was sjjent amid naval and military specta-
cles,— the immense dock-yard, with its celebrated
machinery designed by Brunei, the engineer of the
Thames tunnel ; the ship-yards, forts and fortifica-
tions, furnishing food for his youthful imagination.
Here he attended a juvenile academy and was in-
structed in the elementary branches of learning.
An incident which occurred at this period, and
which came near cutting short his career, making
such an impression upon his childish mind that it is
still ^as fresh and vivid in his memory as the day
it occurred, is worthy of mention. He was one day
playing with his school-mates in the mast-ponds at-
tached to the yards, when he and another boy
mounted a huge round mast to sail across the pond ;
they reached the other side in safety, when his
companion, accidentally or purposely, in getting off
made the immense log roll, when plump went young
Brande into the water. On reaching the surface,
by a superhuman effort he managed to lay hold on
the round and slippery timber, but how to get on
board of it while it continued in motion, was the
problem; before he could do so his little remaining
strength was all but exhausted. It was a moment
of awful uncertainty. He felt that his life hung by
a thread. No one in sight; the cowardly boy, as
soon as he saw his predicament ran away, leaving
him to his fate. How he emerged from his peril is
still shrouded in' mystery. It was especially notice-
able to his companions that he evaded the pond and
eschewed mast-riding for years afterward. At the
age of ten years he attended a drawing-school,
taught by an artist of the town, an excellent
draughtsman, where he pursued that study as well
as the art of writing, — occupations of which he was
always fond, and in which he attained to a very
high degree of proficiency, — his manuscripts at this
day outrivaling the very finest specimens of typog-
raphy. At the age of twelve he was sent to an
academy of a high class, kept by an elder brother
at the ancient town of Northampton, where he re-
mained two years, giving some attention to the study
of the Latin language and the higher mathematics.
But his father's increasing family and limited for-
tune at this time led him to look across the sea to
America as the place where his children could have
room to develop, and where he could find more cer-
tain provision for them than in over-crowded Eng-
land. One of the elder brothers of our subject, an
adventurous boy of fifteen, had previously crossed
the ocean alone, to become an apprentice to an
uncle at Lansingburg, New York. Accordingly the
whole family took passage in the good ship Colum-
bia, Captain Delano, from Portsmouth, and arrived
safely in New York in May, 1832, Samuel being
then scarcely fourteen years of age. The family
made a temporary sojourn at Lansingburg, while
the father made a tour through northern Pennsyl-
vania and attended the triennial convention of the
Baptist Church in New York city. He finally re-
solved to settle in Susquehanna county, Pennsylva-
nia, whither he removed his family in the autumn of
the same year, settling near the village of Montrose.
584
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Our subject remained in the family for four years
and worked upon a farm, of which his father had
become the owner, and became noted for the skill
which he displayed in laying sloping stone-wall
fences, which was and still is, the best farm fence in
that part of the country. During the winters he
taught the district school, often having for his pupils
young men and women not only much larger but
much older than himself
Soon tiring of farming on the rocky hillsides he
induced his father to allow him to learn a trade, or
business. He had a strong predilection for orna-
mental painting, of which his father could not quite
approve,- but the matter was finally compromised by
his being bound an apprentice for the term of three
years to a cabinet-maker at Montrose, Pennsylvania,
and as the cabinet-maker was also the village house-
painter, his predilection was in a manner gratified.
At the close of his apprenticeship he was induced
to settle in Waterford, Saratoga county. New York.
Although quite juvenile in appearance, just of age,
he was a good workman, and was possessed of con-
siderable confidence. He purchased an establish-
ment there in 1839, which he carried on successfully
for two years, and until the memorable fire of 1841,
which destroyed the business portion of the village,
in which he lost all his stock in trade. He remained
another year in the vain attempt of restoring the
business, but the town was damaged past immediate
recovery ; hence he determined to go west, and ac-
cordingly, in the autumn of 1842, he took passage
on the line boat on the Erie canal, with his tools
and personal effects, as far as Buffalo ; thence on the
steamer De Witt Clinton, and after a week's passage
landed at Southport (now Kenosha), in the then Ter-
ritory of Wisconsin, which has since been his home.
He immediately erected a shop and commenced
business in a small way, which he continued with
success till 1850, when a combination of disasters
visited the town and determined him to abandon the
business of cabinet-making, as one at which he was
not destined to succeed. For the next two years he
was not engaged in any business, but in the autumn
of 1852 he was elected registrar of deeds of Kenosha
county on the liberty ticket, there being then three
candidates in the field. Mr. Brande was one of the
founders of the liberty party of Wisconsin, attended
the convention that gave it birth in the Territory,
and acted with it through its various stages until it
was fully merged in the republican party. During
his incumbency of this office his tastes had led him
to examine the land system of the United States, ]
and to study its requirements, and he concluded 1
that with his education and accomplishments as a \
penman, and the knowledge thus attained, he might I
be able to do a profitable business in the tracing of
titles and in facilitating the work of transferring ,
land. He immediately purchased an abstract of
titles of that part of Racine county which had been
made into the new county of Kenosha, spending six
months at Racine in revising and correcting it. He :
commenced the work in June, 1855, and was thirteen ;
years in completing the records to date, so as to be 1
absolutely sure of his ground. His records, ab-
stracts and indexes are, perhaps, the most complete '
and artistic of any to be found in the nation. The !
work is mainly in his own handwriting, and in uni- ^
formity of style and beauty of workmanship rivals ^
the finest products of the printing press, and will be <
an enduring monument to his skill and accomplish- J
nients as a penman, for they are preserved in a fire- j
proof building. With this enterprise he has also j
connected the business of administering estates, ;
land conveyancing and the practice of law, — the
latter he found to be an essential prerequisite to
success in his business. Its study was therefore
entered upon and he was admitted to the bar on the
23d November, 1866. In 1875 he associated with :
himself H. M. Thiers, and the business is now con- \
ducted by Brande and Thiers. j
In the year 1857, with Jason Lathrop, he pub- I
lished a map of the city of Kenosha, which has since
been the standard authority on questions within its j
scope. 1
Among his many other accomplishments is a de- \
cided taste for horticulture and matters related ■
thereto, such as landscape gardening, the designing
of exquisite patterns in flower beds, etc. In 1862
he designed the addition to the Kenosha cemetery, \
which has resulted in giving the city a place of sep- 'I
ulture beautiful and convenient. He has been pres- !
ident of the Kenosha Horticultural Society, and has ]
done much by precept and example to promote the \
culture of flowering plants in his neighborhood. He :
has always tended his own garden and conservatory, ]
which is a crowning testimonial to his skill and taste 1
in that direction.
In the year 1847 he served as city assessor of "
Kenosha, and in the year following, as alderman of 1
the first ward of the city. 1
His political views have always been republican,
except during the second candidacy of President ;
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
585
Grant, with whose views on reconstruction and civil
service reform he was at variance; hence he sup-
ported Horace Greeley. On the nomination of Mr.
Hayes, however, he renewed his devotion to the old
party, and is now a warm friend of the administra-
tion. He was among the active patriotic citizens of
Wisconsin during the late war, and was a leader in
his locality in measures for filling the ranks with re-
cruits, and in raising means for the relief of sick
soldiers and their families. In 1862 he was ap-
pointed assistant United States assessor for the first
district of Wisconsin, and held the office till 1871,
when he resigned it because he could not conscien-
tiously support the administration.
In religious opinions he was educated a Baptist,
but about the year 1840 began to examine more
critically the foundations of his belief, and the result
was a considerable modification of his old straight-
laced faith, and, although not entirely in harmony
with the views of the Unitarian creed, yet he can
worship more comfortably with that denomination
than any other.
On the 15th of November, 1844, he married Miss
Elizabeth M. Holmes, a native of Courtland county,
New York; born in 1822. Her father, Samuel
Holmes, was a soldier in the war of 1812, and her
grandfather, Raswell H. Holmes, was a soldier of
the revolution. On the mother's side she is con-
nected with the Sprague family, of Rhode Island.
They have had four children, three of whom are liv-
ing. Flora A. is the wife of George W. Hoyt, of
Cliicago, and Hattie lives at home with her parents.
HON. ALEXANDER L. COLLINS,
APPLETON.
ALEXANDER LYNN COLLINS, son of Oliver
- and Catharine (Kellogg) Collins, was born in
Whitestown, Oneida county. New York, March 17,
1812. His father, a farmer, joined the continental
army when only sixteen years old, and served dur-
ing the last five years of the war. He was also in
the second war with England, and was a brigadier-
general in command two years at Sacket's Harbor.
Immediately after the first war with the mother
country he settled on land in Whitestown, and
reared and educated respectably twelve children, of
whom Ale.xander was the tenth. General Collins
died at the old homestead in 1838.
At sixteen years of age, with a common-school
education, and a year's instruction at a grammar
school, the subject of this brief memoir commenced
teaching. At nineteen he entered the law office of
Storrs and White, of Whitesboro; Mr. Storrs, an
eminent statesman, being then a member of con-
gress. In 1S33 he went to Cleveland, Ohio, and
comjjleted his legal studies, and was admitted to
the bar by the supreme court of Ohio in 1835. He
practiced in Cleveland until 1842, when he removed
to Madison, Wisconsin, where he practiced for thir-
teen years, most of the time in the well-known firm
of Collins, Smith and Keyes, and ranked as one of
the foremost lawyers in Wisconsin. He was also
very highly respected for his high moral qualities
as well as legal attainments.
64
In 1846 Mr. Collins was elected a member of
the territorial council, and remained in that body
tintil 1848, when the Territory became a State. He
was a member of the first board of regents of the
State University. In 1848 he was the whig candi-
date for congress against Mason C. Darling, the whig
candidate for governor in 1849 against Governor
Dewey, and was twice supported by his party in
the legislature for United States senator against
Governor Dodge. He was chairman of the whig
State central committee from 1852 until the party
became disorganized. He was delegate to the
national convention which met at Baltimore in 1852,
and voted for Daniel Webster for three full days,
and when General Scott was nominated on the fifty-
fourth ballot, left in disgust, declaring that the dis-
solution of the old whig party, so endeared to his
heart, was drawing near. In 1855 Mr. Collins,
aided largely by democratic friends, was elected
judge of the ninth judicial circuit; after serving four
years, by reason of impaired health, he was obliged
to resign. As a jurist he was noted for his candor
and impartiality, and for the easy dignity with which
he wore the ermine. He was very much esteemed
by the bar of the circuit.
On leaving the bench in 1859, Judge Collins
joined Governor Doty in his land operations at
Manasha, on what was then known as " Doty's
Island." Two years later (1861), at the opening of
586
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARi:
the rebellion, business languished, and in 1864 the
Judge went to California, and traveled over the
Pacific slope for his health, information and recrea-
tion. He returned to Wisconsin in 1867, greatly
improved in physical strength, and began farming
in Winnebago county ; being soon seized with the
rheumatism he was crippled for five years. Not
meeting with success in farming, he, in August, 1874,
removed to Appleton and resumed the practice of
law, in order to improve his finances; and in com-
pany with Humphrey Pierce is now (1877) doing a
remunerative business.
Judge Collins is a firm believer in Christianity,
has a profound reverence for sacred things, believes
that "All nature is a glass reflecting God," and that
mind is infinitely superior to matter and indestruc- i
tible, hence immortal.
Mrs. Collins was Sarah Heaton Huggins, of New \
Haven, Connecticut. She is an intelligent woman, j
of polished manners, dignified deportment and ad- 1
mirable domestic qualities. They have had six
children, three sons and three daughters, all still
living. Alexander W. has a family and is a farmer, ;
living at Neenah, Wisconsin ; the other two sons are ;
single. Jessie Wingate is the wife of Samuel '
McCord, a banker of Milwaukee; Charlotte Aber- i
nathy is the widow of Edward D. Ilsley, late of St. \
Paul, Minnesota, who died March 31, 1877; and
Caroline B. is the wife of Thomas H. Brooks, a mer- 1
chant of San Francisco, California. !
ALEXANDER MITCHELL,
MILWAUKEE.
ALEXANDER MITCHELL, who has been long
. recognized as the most conspicuous represent-
ative of the connnercial interests, not only of Wis-
consin, but of the Nortliwest, was born in the parish
of Ellon, Scotland, some twenty-four miles north of
tlie city of Aberdeen, and about twelve miles west
of the town of Peterhead, the most easterly point in
Great Britain, and named after Peter the Great of
Russia, on the i8th day of October, 1817.
His father, John Mitchell, was a well-to-do farmer
in Aberdeenshire, a man of large natural endow-
ments, great force of ch.Tracter, and of very consid-
erable influence in his community. He was well
posted in the common law, and served as a kind of
legal adviser for the whole district. He generally
acted as arbitrator in all disputes in the neighbor-
hood, his word being usually an end of all contro-
versy. He died at the ripe age of eighty years in
the year 1848. His mother, whose maiden name
was Margaret Lendrum, died when Alexander was
but a few years old, and he was brought up by his
eldest sister, Margaret, afterward Mrs. Johnston — a
most excellent woman, who nobly filled the double
relation of sister and mother. The family are of
English origin, the grandfather having moved to
Aberdeen from Northumberland about the middle
of tlie eighteenth century.
The educational career of Ale.vander Mitchell was
bounded by the parish schools of his native place,
which, however, implies more than might at first, be
supposed, for he there learned not only the three i
"R's," but also the higher branches of mathematics. i
He subsequently spent about two years in a lawyer's '
office in Aberdeen, with a view to the legal profes-
sion, during which period he studied the Latin Ian- \
guage and other branches. Abandoning this idea, I
however, he became a clerk in a bank at Peterhead, |
where he received his first insight into the business ;
of which he has since become one of the most illus- j
trious representatives. At an early age he began to :
manifest that ambition to succeed which has borne j
its fruits in later years, and when his brothers were ;
selecting their professions for life, he always insisted I
that he would be a laird. \
He was one of the many Scotchmen who in 1839, |
and about that period, decided to try their fortunes j
in .-Vmerica. He came to Milwaukee in the employ- I
ment of a Scottish joint stock company, which had I
organized under the name of the Wisconsin Marine j
and Fire Insurance Company, of which he was secre- \
tary, George Smith being then president. At that |
time the population of the city numbered only twelve j
hundred, and the Indian war-whoop was still heard 1
in the ears of its few inhabitants. He at once took ,
the lead of the banking business of the West, and I
after a few years succeeded Mr. Smith in the presi- i
dency of the institution, and it will not be disputed i
that he has done more to raise the city of his adop- '
tion to its present influential position than any other
man. The Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance
^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
589
Company did not long confine itself to the business
of insurance. The crisis of 1S37 had left the North-
west without an)' medium of exchange. Some cur-
rency was absolutely necessary. Certificates of
deposit of the above named company, bearing the
signatures of George Smith, president, and Alexander
Mitchell, secretary, were issued, and served the pur-
poses of currency from St. Louis to Detroit. More
than two millions of dollars of these certificates were
in circulation at one time, secured only by the per-
sonal responsibility of the two gentlemen whose
names they bore ; and though often " run," their bank
never failed to pay its bills in gold on presentation
throughout all the panics under which the coun-
try has suffered for the last thirty-seven years.
This famous bank, mention of the organization
of which occurs in the history of 1839, was first
opened in the month of May of that year, in a small
frame building standing upon Broadway, between
Wisconsin and Mason streets, about the center of
the block; Mr. Mitchell giving his personal atten-
tion to the business, and acting not only as its
secretary, but as cashier and teller also. Here he
remained till the spring of 1840, when he was joined
by Mr. David Ferguson, his present able cashier,
and the office was removed to the north side of
Wisconsin street, near the alley, in a small one-story
frame, built by Mr. Solomon Jnneau. Here it re-
mained till the spring of 1842, when the increasing
business made a second removal necessary, which
was made to what is known as the old Loury Man-
sion, on the northwest corner of Broadway and Wis-
consin streets, where the Northwestern Tife Insur-
ance building now stands. Here a new and more
commodious office was fitted up,' where the institu-
tion remained till 1846, when the still increasing
business necessitated a third removal, the lot upon
the southeast corner of East Water and Michigan
streets — the old Juneau homestead — was now pur-
chased, upon which a suitable building was erected,
into which the office was removed. Soon after this
Mr. Smith withdrew his interest, and Mr. Mitchell
became president and sole proprietor. The busi-
ness remained on this stand until August, 1853, when
the whole square was burned — the flames making
such rapid headway that the clerks had barely time
to place tlie money and effects of the bank in its
securely built vaults before they reached the build-
ing. The fire was scarcely extinguished before the
ground was alive with men clearing away the debris,
such was the energy of Mr. Mitchell, and a new
structure quickly took the place of the burned one, ;
of vastly increased dimensions, in which the busi-
ness was conducted until the year 1876, when it '!
was pulled down to make way for perhaps one of the
most magnificent buildings of the kind in the North- '
west, if not in the country, now in process of erec- i
tion and drawing near to completion. It was de-
signed by Mr. E. Townsend Mix, and in dimensions
is eighty by one hundred and twenty feet, and is
seven stories in height, including the basement.
The style of architecture is that known as renais-
sance, highly ornamental. The basement is of
granite from the St. Cloud quarries, and the upper j
stories of Haldeman (Ohio) blue sandstone. The ]
columns supporting the pediment over the main j
entrance are of Scotch granite of the quality known <
as "blue-gray," highly polished. The interior con- 5
struction is fire-proof, the iron columns, girders and \
floor beams being overlaid with terra-cotta plating. .
The cost of the entire structure when completed ' !
and furnished will be about half a million dollars. ,
Such is, in brief, the history of this famous bank and ■
banker. '
But it is not alone as a banker that yVlexander
Mitchell lias become prominent. During recent
years his personal attention has been directed more
to railroads than to his original business of banking,
though he still owns the largest bank in Wisconsin.
Seventeen years ago there were three railroads en- '
tering Milwaukee, running west. These were the
Milwaukee and La Crosse, Milwaukee and Prairie '
du Chien, and Milwaukee and Watertown. The "
managers of these roads were at total variance. A ;
few months more and one after another would have i
been " gobbled up " by the Chicago and Northwest- j
ern, and all the trade of the vast country to the west ^
taken around Milwaukee to Chicago. Mr. Mitchell,
with the interest of Milwaukee at heart, and witliout
the fear of Chicago before his eyes, consolidated all 1
these roads into the Milwaukee and St. Paul rail- !
road. With the extensions since built through Iowa \
and Minnesota, this road has become one of the |
most important in the LTnited States, being about ;
fourteen hundred miles in length. To this masterly \
scheme of Mr. Mitchell is due the fact that Milwau-
kee has become the great wheat granary she now is.
As above stated, Mr. Mitchell became president
of the Wisconsin Fire and Marine Insurance Com-
pany Bank on the resignation of Mr. Smith. He is :
besides jsresident of the Chicago, Milwaukee and \
St. Paul railroad, and of the Western Union rail- |
590
THE UNIT ED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
road. He is also a director of the reorganized
Northern Pacific railroad, and president of the
Northwestern Fire Insurance Company, with a paid-
in capital of seven hundred and fifty thousand dol-
lars. He is also commissioner of the public debt of
the city of Milwaukee, director in the gas company
and one of the trustees of the Milwaukee Hospital,
besides many other offices of honor and trust too
numerous to mention.
In politics, Mr. Mitchell was for many years a
republican, though in early life he took but little
interest in political matters. During the late war
he was a warm supporter of the government, and
not only gave his influence on the side of the Union
but gave liberally of his means toward every object
connected with the war, or the welfare of the Union
soldiers and their families. Subsequently, however,
he favored more prompt and conciliatory measures
of reconstruction than those adopted by the govern-
ment, and in consequence separated from the then
dominant party and acted with the democratic party.
His views on the subject of reconstruction are lu-
cidly set forth in the following letter to Senator
Doolittle, of Wisconsin, published in the Milwau-
kee "Daily News" of July 29, 1866, which, on ac-
count of the uncommon prescience which it dis-
plays in forecasting the future, we insert entire. It
will be seen that the principles set forth in this re-
markable document, over eleven years since, are
substantially the same as those adopted by Presi-
dent Hayes as the basis of his southern policy.
Milwaukee. July 2:B, 1860.
lion. J. Tt. Doolittle, Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir, — I duly received the call of the executive
coiuinittee of the National Union Club for a convenlion to
be lield in the city of Philadelphia on the 14th of next
month, and absence from home alone prevented me from
sooner expressing my cordial approval of the principles
therein set forth, and my intention to support the adminis-
tration in maintaining unbroken the union of the States
under the constitution which our fathers established.
It is a strange and melancholy fact, that although over a
year has elapsed since every rebel laid down his anns and
yielded submission to the federal constitution and laws;
although the sword has long been sheathed, and those who
met in fratricidal strife are now rivals onlv in tlie arts of
peaceful industry; although Nature has covered with her
verdure and golden harvests the blood-stained ■battle-fields,
and the whole land rests once more in peace, yet tlie
wounds ot tlic nation remain unhealed, and the results for
whicli so niucli blood and treasure were spent have failed
to be fully ix-alized.
The reason is that our statesmen have not met the prob-
lems ol peace so ably as our soldiers did the stern duties
ol war. Tliey liave failed to exliibit those enlarged views
ol pulihc policy and that lofty patriotism which the diffi-
culties ol the hour demaiuled. Tliev seem to have forgotten
that the question was not how to execute vengeance or
inflict punishment and political disgrace, but how" the seeds
of loyalty could best be planted and fostered throughout |
the recently rebellious .South; how we could best over-
come the estrangement that existed between the two sec-
tions of our common country; and how best cultivate a
spirit of reconciliation and encourage mutual affection,
sympathy and respect.
It seems that the smallest possible knowledge of human
nature and the slightest acquaintance with the teachings of
history should have been sufficient to show that a policy
toward the South of implacable resentment for the past and
unconquerable distrust for the future, a policy dividing the
people into victors and vanquished, ever evincing a desire
to punish, disgrace and humiliate, however grateful it might
be to partisan inalignity, would not be likely to bring the
two sections into harmony, or restore the devotion of the
South to the old government. Neither can it be honestlv
supposed that the exclusion of the southern .States from a
voice in the councils of the Union is calculated to increase
their love for that Union; nor will spurning from the doors
of congress of even their loyal representatives be deemed
the best method of encouraging loyalty. If we of the
North really desire the people of the South to become once
more true to the government of their fathers, let us give
them some interest in its concerns ; if we wish them cheer-
fully to obey our laws, let us establish some claim upon
their obedience by giving them a voice in their enactment,
and welcoming the loyal men whom they send to represent
them in the councils of the nation.
The policy of exclusion and alienation so far pursued
has, to some extent, destroyed the feelings of kindness and
trust manifested by the rebel armies at the time of their
surrender, and must eventually debase the character of the
southern people and greatly deteriorate their capacity for
self government — a result fraught with untold calami'ty to
the whole Republic. How antagonistic this policy of ven-
geance and alienation is to the principlesof popular govern-
ment; how it must weaken our power in case of a foreign
war; how the doubt, uncertainty and distrust it engenders
injures our financial position and retard the material pros-
perity and development of the South, must be evident to
every candid, thinking mind, and its speedy and complete
abandonment must be the devout wish and earnest endeavor
of every enlightened patriot.
The approaching convenlion has my warmest approba-
tion, because I think its influence will be to hasten on this
desirable end, and to obliterate all traces of intersectional
hatred, to bring the North and South into relations more
friendly than thev have been for many years, and to lead to
the representation in congress by loyal men of every State
from the Potomac to the Rio Grande.
I cannot close without expressing my confidence in the
sincerity, honesty and patriotism of our President. The
self-forgetfulness which he displayed in burying in oblivion
all the wrongs and insults he has suffered at rebel hands,
wlien his responsibilities as chief magistrate of the nation
called him to sink his personal feelings in his duty to his
misguided countrvmen, must ever mark him as the worthy
successor of him who showed "malice toward none, charitv
to all."
I cannot, in "a brief letter," write all that I could desire on
these important questions, but I feel constrained to add that
I believe it to be every man's duty to take his place with
those whose views are right on the momentous issue of the
present hour, and not be carried into supporting a hurtful
policy merely because it may be advanced by those who
were right on an issue now dead and gone; neither are we
to despise the cooperation of any merely because they may
have held erroneous views on questions now settled forever.
Our present duty must dictate our present position, and we
owe it to ourselves and to our country to work with all who
are right iio-,i\ however mistaken they may have been
before, rather tlian with those who are -vrong'no-\.\ however
sound they may have been years ago.
By the hearty cooperation of all liberal-minded patriots,
the administration can be sustained and the foundations of
the Union reestablished in the affections of the whole
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
591
people. So shall the great Republic prolong its iinparal-
lellcd career of progress, and maintain its place in the van
of the advancing nations.
I remain yours truly, Alex. Mitchell.
Tliis letter went the rounds of the conservative
press at the time, and received the very highest
commendation from the New York "Tribune."
In 1870 he was elected to congress from the fourtli
district of Wisconsin, including the city of Milwau-
kee ; and again in 1872 by the same constituency,
serving in all four years. He declined a third elec-
tion, to the great regret of his district. He was not
noted for much speaking while in congress, but dur-
ing that period he made two memorable speeches —
one in favor of abolishing our present navigation
laws, and the other in favor of a return to specie pay-
ments— which received much attention at the time
of their delivery, and were widely quoted and favor-
ably commented on by the New York and Chicago
press.
Like his fathers, for several generations, he was
raised in the communion of the Presbyterian church,
and was for some years a trustee of the first Pres-
byterian church built in Milwaukee ; but on remov-
ing his residence to the west side of the city he
united with other gentlemen in organizing the St.
James' Episcopal Church, with which he has since
acted. He is not a communicant, but serves upon
the vestry, and is prominent in the councils of the
congregation and in the deliberative assemblies of
the church. He is, moreover, one of the most
liberal contributors of his means toward the insti-
tutions of the church generally, while he bears a
large share of the expenses of his own congregation.
He is a diligent reader and keeps abreast of the
times on all important questions, especially those
relating to the finances of the country, and is
credited with entertaining the clearest and most
practical views on this subject of any other man in
the Northwest.
He is withal a true Scotchman. His countrymen
take a laudable pride in speaking of him as a repre-
sentative of Scotland in many of the good and noble
characteristics of her sons. Although some thirty-
eight years absorbed in the active business of the
busy West, he has still all the marks of a genuine
Aberdonian, and finds time for fostering whatever-
tends to strengthen and perpetuate the memories of
his native land, which he visits once in every two
or three years. He was the first president of the
Milwaukee St. Andrew's Society, which was or-
ganized in 1859, the annual picnics and games of
which are held every year in a beautiful grove on
his farm in the eighth ward of Milwaukee. Here
it may be also stated that his residence on Grand
avenue is not only the finest in the State, but his
conservatories cover a larger area than those of any
other private establishment west of New York. Al-
though he is rather shy and reticent with strangers,
yet he is possessed of fine social qualities; and with
his intimates is quite genial and jovial, — good at
story telling over a dinner-table. He has a few
"chums" or "boon companions" in whose com-
pany he spends most of his evenings, alternating
from house to house. These assemblages are some-
times facetiously styled " vestry meetings." He is
also a member of the Old Settlers Club, and takes
a deep interest in its affairs; and has a just pride
in belonging to that early band who did the pioneer
work in this Queen City of the Lakes.
In all the public positions of honor and trust
which he has held, and in his varied dealings with
his fellow-men, in the endless details of his exten-
sive private business, not a word can be said truth-
fully but in his praise, even by his bitterest ene-
mies— if he have any.
His success has been truly wonderful. He is to-
day, without doubt, the wealthiest man west of New
York city. He is also one of the most active men
in the city, — never idle, but always keeping his vast
wealth in motion, and has done more to ornament
and beautify Milwaukee than any other man in it ;
and his name in commercial circles is a tower of
strength, neither is there with him any such word as
"fail."
In person he is of medium height, stoutly built, of
ruddy and fair complexion ; a keen, expressive eye ;
a voice clear and musical, strongly tinctured with
the Scotch accent ; sees at a glance all that is being
enacted around him; decides quickly ; reads a man
through like a book, and is never deceived. Such is
Alexander Mitchell.
He was married October 7, 1841, to Miss Martha
Reed, daughter of Seth Reed, of New England an-
cestry, but one of the earliest settlers of Milwaukee.
She is a lady of considerable energy and force of
character, who has for many years managed all the
affairs of the family and home property, and is,
moreover, an earnest patron of the fine arts. She
distinguished herself highly as vice-regent from
Wisconsin of the Mount Vernon Association for the
purpose of purchasing the home of Washington at
Mount Vernon from the heirs of " the father of his
592
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
country," and making it the property of tlie na-
tion. Last year, under her management, the public
schools of Milwaukee contributed in pennies a suf-
ficient amount to build two lodges at the land en-
trance to the mansion, while at her own expense she
furnished the room in which Martha Washington
died, in the style of the period of the revolution.
She was also one of the original founders of the
Milwaukee Protestant Orphan Asylum, also the In-
dustrial School for Girls, and her name is associated
with all the charitable institutions of the city, while
she is invariably the largest contributor to every
enterprise, whether religious or benevolent, for the
benefit of the city, or the welfare of any class of its
inhabitants. She is an exemplary member of the
Episcopal church — one of the most ornate and
costly edifices in the State, to the building of which
she was a liberal contributor.
For some years past she has been accustomed to
spend her winters in a beautiful villa on the St.
John's river, Florida, which was named the "Villa
Alexandria," by Governor Seymour, of New York.
They have had six children, all of whom died in
infancy, except one son, John Lendrum, who was
born October 19, 1842 ; was educated in England
and Germany, and is a gentleman of large talents
and high culture. He represented the south sena-
torial district of the city of Milwaukee two terms in
the State legislature. His time, however, is chiefly
spent in rural pursuits on his beautiful farm south-
west of the city, where he raises some of the finest
blooded horses in the State.
INCREASE A. LAPHAM.
MIL IVA UKEE.
INCREASE ALLEN LAPHAM was named after
his maternal grandfather, and was born March
7, 181 1. His father was Seneca Lapham, who mar-
ried Rachael Allen. According to the family record.
Increase was born in Palmyra, Ontario county, New
York, on the 7th of March, 181 1. His father, as a
contractor, was engaged in the construction of the
Grand Erie canal. In 1818 the family moved to
Pennsylvania, where his father had a contract with
the Schuylkill Navigation Company; but soon after
returned to Galen, Wayne county, New York, where
he was employed in the construction of the locks of
the Erie canal. In 1822 the family moved to Roch-
ester, while Increase remained at work on the farm.
One of the arches in the first aqueduct at Rochester
was built by his father, on a sub-contract. In 1824
he moved to Lockport, where his father had charge
of the construction of the combined and double
locks. Here young Lapham earned some money
by cutting stone to be used on the locks. Soon
after this he engaged in the engineer service as rod-
man for his brother Darius, who had already ob-
tained the position of assistant engineer. In June,
1826, he was employed for a short time on the Wel-
land canal, Canada. While at Lockport he made
and sold a number of plans of the locks to persons
traveling in search of information. He was present
when La Fayette passed through Lockport on his
tour of welcome, June, 1825, and when the canal
was completed, in 1S25. The celebration was tele-
graphed by means of cannon at convenient dis-
tances, from Buffalo to New York, October, 1825.
The beautiful specimens of organic remains he
found in the deep rocks gave him his first idea of
geology, and initiated a habit of observation which
has continued through life. He found amusement
in the study of nature; and as he knew none of a
similar taste his long walks were made alone.
In 1826 his father had procured a place for him
as rodman on the works of the Miami canal, Ohio.
He went per steamer to Cleveland and Sandusky.
His father a few years before had made a similar
voyage in the steamer Walk-in-the-Water, which had
so little power that oxen were employed to pull the
boat up the rapids between Black Rock and Buffalo.
Proceeding by stage to Middletown, he commenced
work under Byron Kilbourn, assistant engineer.
In December of the same year he went to Louis-
ville, Kentucky, secured a better position on the
canal around the falls, and attended the school of
Mr. Mann Butler, the historian, of Kentucky. At
Louisville he saw General Jackson, on his way to
Washington to be installed as President; and met
with Captain Basil Hall, who showed him his astro-
nomical instruments.
At Louisville he commenced a collection of native
plants. This collection has grown to the extent of
eight thousand specimens, many received from Eu-
c/ Jh^lL/C^^^^^^^^^^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
595
rope and other countries in exchange. He also
made a collection of shells, and sent them by T. H.
Taylor to Isaac Lea, of Philadelphia, who gave the
credit to Mr. Taylor for the new species.
His first scientific paper was published in " Silli-
man's American Journal of Science," in 1828 : notice
of the Louisville and Shipping-port Canal, and of
the Geology of the Vicinity. This was before the
silurian and Devonian rocks were named ; and the
occurrence of petroleum or rock oil in cavities in
the limestone was there first published.
In the catalogue of the Wisconsin historical libra-
ry, twenty or more papers, prepared by him, are
mentioned; but there are many others not there
enumerated. These papers were founded on orig-
inal observations made by Mr. Lapham, at intervals
snatched from business duties, as a recreation, with-
out the hope of reward.
."Vs Mr. Lapham had received only a common-
school education, his acquirements are the result of
self-culture. Under these circumstances he was
greatly surprised to receive a parchment from Am-
lierst College conferring upon him the honorary title
of LL.D. in August, i860.
Dr. Lapham 's studies have been not only pro-
fessional, as an engineer, but embrace geology, min-
eralogy, botany, meteorology, antiquities, etc.
In 1833 he was appointed secretary of the Board
of Canal Commissioners; and in the performance of
duties in the office of the State treasury was intrusted
with large sums of money. In 1835-36 he was ap-
pointed one of the commissioners to report on the
best mode of carrying out the law authorizing a geo-
logical survey of the State of Ohio.
In 1836 he came to Milwaukee, where he has re-
sided ever since. He has had charge of large
amounts of real estate, and has pursued a steady
business career; but has devoted a portion of his
time to other subjects of importance and interest.
He has studied and made known by various publi-
cations the physical features, topography, geology,
natural history, meteorology, antiquities, etc., of the
State. In 1852 Dr. Asa Gray, of Cambridge, in the
" Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, "entitled
" Planta; Wrightianffi," named a new genus of plants,
Laphamia, with the remark: "I dedicate this genus
to I. A. Lapham, Esq., of Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
author of a catalogue of the plants of that State, and
a zealous explorer of its botany."
Dr. Lapham 's examination of several masses of
meteoric iron, found near Milwaukee, detected pe-
culiar markings, which Dr. James Lawrence Smith
thought worthy of being named " Laphamite mark-
ings." (American Journal of Science, March, 1869.)
The animal-shaped mounds of Wisconsin early at-
tracted his attention. He made an extended survey
of the most noted of these mounds, an account of
which was published in the " Smithsonian Contribu-
tions " in 1855.
In the early history of Wisconsin he held several
important offices, as alderman, school commissioner,
etc. He took an active part in securing the organi-
zation of the public schools on the basis of free
tuition for all. He assisted in the organization of
the Young Men's Association and in the Female
College, of which he was many years president. In
1846 he made a donation of thirteen acres of land
in the second (now sixth) ward to the city for a high
school.
Dr. Lapham made very numerous observations on
the rise and fall of water in Lake Michigan, by
which the highest and lowest and the mean or aver-
age stage was determined. These are important in
various ways, and were used by the engineers of
Chicago and Milwaukee in establishing their system
of sewerage, foundation of works and in the water
supply. They were also used in the lake survey,
while in charge of Captain George G., late General
Meade, in fixing the zero for soundings, etc.
In 1849 he made a series of very careful observa-
tions, by which he discovered a slight lunar tide
exactly like that of the ocean. This important fact
was announced in the papers at the time, and the
observations were communicated to the Smithsonian
Institution. Many years later Colonel I. D. Graham,
of Chicago, made a like discovery at that city, the
tide there being much larger than at Milwaukee.
The irregular fluctuations of the water level is shown
by these observations. Since 1859 he has had charge
of the self-registering tide-gauge at Milwaukee for
the lake survey. This fully confirms his previous
discoveries. He has made no discovery of a tide
on Lake Huron, as is erroneously stated in, "Apple-
ton's Cyclopedia."
In 1869 he sent to Hon. Halbert E. Paine, mem-
ber of congress, a memorial representing the duty
and necessity of some effort to prevent the loss of
life and property on the great lakes; showing the
practicability of predicting the occurrence of great
storms. The memorial was accompanied by a long
list of disasters that had occurred on the lakes in
that year, and was the means of securing the adop-
596
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
tion of those measures for weather predictions
which liave grown to be of so much importance,
and will become more important when the people
shall have adopted the habit of consulting them.
Dr. Lapham assisted in the organization of the
signal service, having his office first in Chicago, and
in making up the results of observations, on which
the first storm predictions or probabilities were
based. All those who have availed themselves of
the advantages of the daily weather probabilities as
a guide to their action owe this advantage to Dr.
Lapham.
In 1873 he was appointed State geologist, and
organized and conducted the survey for two years,
during which time much valuable work was done
and reported to the governor. From his first arrival
in Wisconsin Dr. Lapham has given much of his
time and attention to its geology, examining its
quarries, rocks and cliffs. He published many
papers on the subject, and also geological maps of
the State. His observations have been quoted in
the scientific works of this country as well as in
Europe, and thus have been brought into notice
the physical features, geology, mineralogy, botany,
antiquities and natural history of the State.
Dr. Lapham was born among the Society of
Friends, and has never seen good reasons for
changing his views.
He was married in October, 1838, to Miss Ann
M. Alcott, who died in Milwaukee, February 25,
1863, since which he has remained unmarried. He
has five children still living.
Dr. Laphani's works are numerous; a list of the
titles and a list of the names of the societies, literary
and scientific, of which he is a member, fills six
folio pages, to enumerate which would far e.xceed
our limits. Sufficient has been said to show that
Dr. Lapham occupies a very distinguished position;
that his life has been spent in a career of usefulness,
and that knowledge and honor have been more
highly valued by him than gain ; and his life pre-
sents a wonderful example of how much may be
done by self-culture.
Dr. Lapham 's family record has been carefully
kept for two hundred and fifty years. His ancestors
were of English origin, but settled in this country in
the early part of the seventeenth century. The rec-
ord is too long for insertion here.
Since the above was written the tidings of the
death of Dr. Lapham has reached us. He died
suddenly on Oconomowoc Lake, Wisconsin, Septem-
ber 14, 1875, at the age of sixty-four years and six
months.
The death of Dr. Lapham is a loss to science.
He has been a laborious worker, and all his studies
and researches have been directed to some useful
end. The bent of his inquiries was eminently prac-
tical, as the storm signal system, of which he is no
doubt the father, bears record.
Dr. Lapham has left a name that will have rank
among the illustrious dead, and share their honors.
He was a man of rare integrity; his whole life ex-
emplifying the saying, "An honest man is the noblest
work of God."
JOHN J. BROWN, M.D.,
SHEBOTGAN.
JOHN J. BROWN was born in Toronto, Canada,
J January 24, 1819; and is the son of John Brown,
a native of New Hampshire, and Mary Skeldon, of
England. The family went to Buffalo, New York,
when John was an infant, and there he spent his
early boyhood. Later they settled on a farm in
the town of Darien, in Genesee county ; and the
son received an academic education at the Alex-
ander Seminary, in the same county.
He began the study of medicine with Dr. Long,
of Corfu, near Darien, in 1S41 ; later, attended
lectures at the Geneva Medical College, and gradu-
ated in 1845. After practicing one year at Clarence,
in Erie county. New York, he, in 1S46, removed
to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, where he practiced his
profession until the opening of the rebellion.
In 1862 he was appointed examining surgeon,
but preferring to go into the field, he enlisted as
a private soldier; he was afterward promoted to
the rank of lieutenant-colonel of the 27th Regiment
Wisconsin Volunteers. He remained in the service
until the spring of 1864, when, by reason of a severe
illness and general debility, he was honorably dis-
charged. The year before going into the war
Dr. Brown was appointed postmaster by President
Lincoln, and resigned while in the service.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
597
After leaving the army he assisted Professor
Blaney two years in the laboratory of Rush Medical
College, Chicago; was chosen professor of natural
sciences in the Slate Normal School at Whitewater,
Wisconsin, in 1868, and held that position one year.
He spent the following year in Florida, in the study
of botany and other branches of natural history.
In 1872 he visited St. Thomas, St. Croix and other
West India islands. He was sent out by the
Chicago Academy of Sciences, with Dr. Velie and
W. W. Calkins, on a scientific expedition to Florida,
in the winter of 1874-75 ; and spent the winter of
1876-77 on the Bahamas, engaged mainly in the
study of coiichology and botany. He has a fine
collection in natural history, and in conchology has
probably the best collection in the State.
Dr. Brown was married to Miss Hadley, of
Darien, New York, in 1S45 '- who died in 1868,
leaving five children. In 1871 he was married to
Miss Gallup, of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He is a thorough student, and' is passionately
fond of scientific studies in certain branches, and
his collections already made are very valuable.
Since the close of the War he has never resumed
his profession, but devoting his chief attention to
scientific study and investigation, has -contributed
in no small degree to the dissemination of scientific
knowledge.
HON. HUGH CAMERON.
LA CROSSE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Living-
ston county. New York, was born at Caledonia,
June 29, 1815. His parents, Duncan A. Cameron
and Sarah (McColl) Cameron, were from Scotland;
the father coming to this country in 1802, and the
mother a few years later. The Camerons are of the
Lochiel branch, Lochiel, the chief, being, according
to custom, of the Queen's household. Hugh spent
his youth on his father's farm. He prepared for
college in the institutions at Middlebury and Lima,
in his native State, and entered the University of
Yermont in 1834, and graduated with honor four
years later, excelling particularly in German meta-
physics, then taught by Professor James Marsh.
Returning to western New York, Mr. Cameron
taught in the Avon Academy in 1838 and 1839,
reading law at the same time with Amos Dann.
He finished his law studies with Hastings and Hus-
bands, of Rochester, and was admitted to the bar in
October, 1S41, at the first term of the supreme
court ever held in that city. After practicing a few
years in Livingston county, he removed to Buffalo
in the spring of 1847, and there built up an excel-
lent law business as a member of the firm of Wads-
worth and Cameron, but seeing openings of great
promise farther west, in the spring of 1858 he re-
moved to La Crosse, Wisconsin, his present home,
and has there become widely known as a skillful
and successful attorney.
During the first six years in Wisconsin, Mr. Cam-
eron was in partnership with his brother Alexander,
65
who went into the army as first lieutenant ist Wis-
consin battery, in 1861, and died in 1864. He was
district attorney at the opening of the war, having
been elected two years prior to that time, when only
about twenty-two years old. .\le.xander Cameron
was a young man of much promise.
In 1865 Hugh Cameron was elected county judge,
and held that office four years and declined a re-
election. The law has been his life study, his life
pursuit, and he has no higher ambition than that of
excelling in his profession. A prominent journalist,
and neighbor of his for the last twenty years, in a
Ijrivate note says of him :
Few men have such complete mastery of literature in
all its departments a.s Judge Cameron. His mental grasp,
acquisitions, acumen and discrimination, invest his utter-
ances, in genial conversation or Ir'^al arminu'iits, witli
strength and richness ot tlioui;hl ami l,inL;uaL;L-, which are
best appreciated by tliosc wlio ha\c llir '.^rcatesl opportunity
to test and verity his pouers and couii-il, in wliii h ia|iacity
he is employed by many prolf^-.ion.il n.nlrrn^ in \\..--tcrn
Winconsin and southern MiiiiR-oi.i, -lu h pi 1^01 1^ considL-r
ing their cases not only thoroiiulilx pn|.,iicil, l)iit tairly
tried, after having undeVgonc his scrutiny and investiga-
tion, as the court seldom "overrules his decisions."
Judge Cameron has not only a very fine literary
taste, but — what is not generally known — has
written many able critiques and other articles for
the periodical press. But such intellectual labor he
does simply for recreation after more severe studies
connected with his profession.
He is of whig antecedents, and for the last twenty
years he has usually voted the republican ticket.
So thoroughly has Judge Cameron been wedded
598
THE UlStlTED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
to the law, that for many years it seemed doubtful
if he would ever form a more tender alliance ; but,
on the 2d of December, 1875, he was joined in wed-
lock with Miss Caroline D. Starr, daughter of W.
H. Starr, an early settler and prominent citizen of
Burlington, Iowa, and a graduate of Yale College.
Mrs. Cameron is a well educated and highly accom-
plished lady.
GERRIT T. THORN,
APPLETON.
7'^HE subject of this biography, a native of On-
ondaga county. New York, was born at Lafay-
ette, July 20, 1832. His parents were Jehiel and
Sarah (Houghtaling) Thorn. His paternal grand-
parents were Quakers, and hence were neutral dur-
ing the struggle for American independence, but
his father and also an uncle were soldiers in the war
of 181 2. After attending public and private schools,
giving especial attention to mathematics and civil
engineering, Gerrit, at the age of eighteen, went to
Rome, in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and be-
came a clerk and book-keeper in the employ of
Hon. Henry W. Tracy and Judson Holcomb. In
November, 185 1, he commenced teaching a select
school in the village of Town Hill, Luzerne county.
In the spring of 1852 he went to Towanda, and soon
afterward, hearing of tlie illness of his father, re-
turned to New York, and was present at the death
of that parent, which occurred on the 8th of May.
He next spent one year at Yates Polytechnic Insti-
tute, at Chittenango, Madison county, under the
charge of Professor William ^'elaskow, and soon
afterward commenced the study of law. During
the winter of 1853-4 he taught the public school in
the same district in which lie had received the first
rudiments of his education. Being in poor health
he resolved to abandon the law for a lime, and early
in the spring of 1854 removed to Wisconsin, reach-
ing Watertown during the latter part of April. He
spent the summer following on a farm in Dodge
county, and taught during the ne.xt winter in the
village of Columbus, and a ward school in the city
of Watertown the next summer. Resuming the
study of law with Hon. Samuel Baird, of that place.
He continued the same a few months later with
Hon. Charles Billinghurst, of Juneau, Dodge county,
then a member of congress. In 1857 went to
Beaver Dam, and comi)leted his legal studies; fin-
ished reading with Smith and Ordway, and was ad-
mitted to the bur at Juneau, September 27, 1858,
In January following Mr. Thorn opened an office
at the last-named place, and four months later. May,
1859, went to Jefferson, Jefferson county, and prac-
ticed law there for ten years, making for himself a
good reputation. During the time of his residence
there he aided in founding the "Jefferson Banner,"
a democratic paper, and continued its political ed-
itor for about three years. This he did purely for
mental recreation, and did not allow it to interfere
with his legal pursuits.
August 30, 1862, after spending a short time in
recruiting soldiers, Mr. Thorn enlisted, and went
into the army as lieutenant-colonel of the 29th Reg-
iment Wisconsin Infantry, which was. stationed the
next winter at Helena, Arkansas. During that time
his wife was on her death-bed, his only child was
dangerously ill, and he himself being in poor health,
and unable to obtain a furlough, resigned on the 3d
of February, reaching Jefferson two weeks after his
wife's demise.
Colonel Thorn was one of the leaders in founding
the Jefferson Liberal Institute, he drawing up its
charter, delivering an address at the laying of the
corner-stone of the Institute building, and serving
during the first two years as jiresident of the board
of trustees.
In 1867 and 1868 he represented Jefferson county
in the upper branch of the State legislature, and was
an industrious member, doing most of his work on
the committees on federal relations, railroads and
claims.
In January, 1869, he removed to Fond du Lac,
and entered into the law practice with General E.
S. Bragg, and while a resident of that city was sent
to the general assembly, and was on the judiciary
committee and the joint committee on charitable
and penal institutions.
In August, 1874, he settled in Appleton, where
he is devoting his attention exclusively to the law,
having an extensive practice in the several courts.
He is a close student, is thoroughly posted on legal
questions, has splendid logical powers, is a strong
^-^y&Tv-i/i^ ry^^h^^-^-^xJ-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
60 1
man bcfoix' ;i jiii'y, and lias few peers as a court law-
yer in the tenth judicial circuit.
Colonel Thorn was a presidential elector on the
democratic ticket in 1864, and voted for General
McCiellan, and was a delegate to the national con-
vention in 1868, which nominated Horatio Seymour.
He has been twice married : his first wife, whose
death is mentioned above, was Miss Maria Bicknell,
of Chittenden county, Vermont. She was a teacher
in the Fox Lake High School and a lady of rare
acquirements. They were married in May, 1859,
and had one child, a son, who soon followed his
mother to the spirit-land. March 7, 1864, he was
married to Elizabeth Clark, of Prince George
county, Maryland, who was then visiting an aunt in
Madison, Wisconsin. The wedding was celebrated
at the house of Hon. Harlen S. Orton. They have
had seven children, six of whom are living at the
present time (1877).
Colonel Thorn has fine literary tastes and talents
in that line of no mean order. His address deliv-
ered in Jefferson, at the laying of the corner-stone
already alluded to, was published at the time, and is
full of wholesome thoughts on what a literary insti-
tution designed for all classes of people should be.
His address given on Decoration-day at Fond du
Lac in 187 1, and which was published, is marked
with striking pathos and rhetorical beauties, and an
oration which he delivered on the Centennial Fourth '
at Chilton, Calumet county, was an elaborate pro-
duction, eloquently portraying the beauty of free
institutions, showing that Christianity is the founda-
tion of true liberty; that it introduced into our
world the seed of genuine democracy, and that on
the promulgation by Christ of the doctrine of equal-
ity before God, it became only a question of time
when man's equality before the law should be uni-
versally acknowledged.
HON. WINFIELD SMITH,
MIL U \l UKEE.
WINFIELU SMLFH, attorney and counselor,
was born at Fort Howard, Wisconsin, August
16, 1827, and is the son of Henry Smith and Elvina
ne'e Foster. His father was a captain in the United
States infantry; born at Stillwater, New York, in
1798, and graduated at the United States Military
Academy, Westpoint, in the year 1816. He was for
five years aide to General Winfield Scott, for whom
our subject was named ; fought in the Blackhawk
war in 1831-2; was afterward placed in charge of
the United States government works at the harbor
of Monroe, Michigan, and subsequently placed in
charge of all the government works on Lake Erie,
in which he continued until the veto of the River
and Harbor Appropriation Bills by President Polk.
Meantime he resigned his position in the regular
army, though he was still retained as engineer of the
works and improvements alluded to. At the out-
break of the Mexican war he reentered the army as
captain in one of the new regiments organized by
President Polk, and was soon afterward promoted
to the rank of major on the general staff, and at
Vera Cruz was placed at the head of the quarter-
master's department, where, in the midst of his ardu-
ous and responsible labors, he was smitten down
by an attack of yellow fever, from which he died.
after a week's illness, on the 22d of July, 1847. He
was an able and accomplished officer, understood
thoroughly the details of his profession, was gov-
erned by a high sense of honor, frank, generous
and upright. A gentleman of fine talents and varied
information, agreeable in society, and had many
warm friends among the leading men of the nation.
He was ardent in his family attachments, constant
and devoted in his friendships, an exemplary mem-
ber of the Protestant Episcopal church, of spotless
reputation, esteemed and respected by all who knew
He was the elder brother of Colonel Joseph R.
Smith of the 2d Lifantry, who was twice wounded
in the battle of Churubusco, Mexico, by which he
was permanently deprived of the use of his left arm.
His son. Dr. Joseph R. Smith, was acting surgeon-
general for several years during the late war, and is
now United States post-surgeon at Fortress Monroe,
Virginia.
In politics he was a Jeffersonian democrat, and
during his interval of civil life served two terms
in the Michigan legislature, namely, in 1S38 and
1841.
In July, 1826, Captain Henry Smith married Miss
Elvina Foster, eldest daughter of Jabez Foster, then
602
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
a resident of Watertown, New York ; a lady of su-
perior education and excellent judgment, of ami-
able disposition and engaging manners, accustomed
to mingle much in the best society, and loved and
admired by all who knew her. She was born in
September, 1804, and still lives in the enjoyment of
moderate health, at Watertown, New York, in the
family of her eldest daughter, and frequently visited
by her other cliildren. They had a family of eight
. cliildren born to them, of whom our subject was the
eldest; one of whom died in infancy, and seven
lived to maturity.
The infancy and juvenile years of VVinfield Smith
were passed in the various military headquarters
and encampments at which his father happened to
be on duty, but chiefly at Jefferson Barracks, Mis-
souri, and at Monroe, Michigan. At the latter point
he pursued his academic studies and was fitted for
college, being well up in Greek, Latin and the higher
mathematics. He entered the University of Michi-
gan in the spring of 1844, from which he was gradu-
ated in the spring of 1846 with honor, being facile
princeps in mathematics, and in Greek, Latin and
other studies, equal to the best. He had, in 1839
and 1840, attained a thorough knowledge of the
French language in a private school in Watertown,
New York, and afterward in Milwaukee studied
German, both of which he still speaks with con-
siderable fluency.
After leaving college he taught for a year a private
school at Monroe, and then gave private lessons in
Greek and Latin, at the same time pursuing the
study of Blackstone, Kent and other works on the
principles of jurisprudence. In 1848 he entered
the office of the Hon L P. Christiancy, afterward
judge of the supreme court of Michigan, and pres-
ently United States senator from that State, where
he was a diligent student for some months. From
this he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in Oc-
tober, 1849; entered the law office of Emmons and
Vandyke, of that city, where he remained a year in
study and practice. He was admitted to the bar
of the supreme court of Wisconsin in 1850. In 1851
he commenced practice on his own responsibility,
and continued till 1855, when he became associated
with the Hon. Edward Salomon, afterward governor
of Wisconsin, and now practicing law in New York
city. This partnership continued some fifteen years,
and terminated in December, i86g. Early in the
year 1S70 he became associated with Joshua Starr,
Esq., of Milwaukee, which continued until No-
vember, 1875, when his present copartnership with
the Hon. Matt. H. Carpenter, ex United States
senator, and A. A. L. Smith, Esq., was formed;
the terms of agreement allowing Mr. Carpenter to
keep an office and to practice in Washington during
the winters.
In 1850 he was appointed LTnited States commis-
sioner and master in chancery, and retained the
offices till 1863, when he resigned. He did much
business in both capacities. In 1862 he was ap-
pointed by Governor Salomon to the position of
attorney-general for Wisconsin, to fill an unexpired
term, and in 1863 he was elected to the same office
by the people, which he held till January, 1866. In
187 1 he was elected to represent a district of the
city of Milwaukee in the general assembly of the
State, and served as chairman of the judiciary com-
mittee, with very great credit to himself, being one
of the ablest members of that body.
While acting as United States commissioner in
1854, he brought upon himself much censure and
considerable notice by holding to bail Sherman M.
Booth and others implicated in the rescue of the
fugitive slave Glover, of Missouri — a case which
attained to a national fame at the time. Mr. Smith
being then a democrat, his action in the matter
was supposed to be prompted by his political prin-
ciples, but he never was in sympathy with slavery.
While acting as attorney-general of the State he
secured the payment to the State school fund of
a claim against the United States government
amounting to three hundred thousand dollars,
which had been long held back on the ground
of a claim of the Rock River Canal Company up-
on the same fund, and against the State. Since
his retirement from office, he, with Mr. Carpenter,
defended Governor Salomon in a suit brought
against him on the part of certain rioters who op-
posed the "draft" in 1863, and who had been im-
prisoned by Governor Salomon in the camp at
Madison, the question at issue involving the consti-
tutionality of the conscription law of congress, and
other points of high importance. The case was
afterward appealed to the supreme court of the
State, and occasioned strong party feeling at the
time. The argument of Mr. Smith in defense of his
client was one of the ablest forensic efforts of the
period.
He was also attorney for the complainants, or
stockholders of the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien
Railroad Company, in a suit brought by them against
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
603
the directors of the company, and numerous other
defendants, for an injunction to restrain further pro-
ceedings claimed to have been illegally taken on
their part for the purpose of bringing about a con-
solidation of that company with the Milwaukee and
St. Paul Railroad Company, to the detriment of
plaintiffs. The bills were drawn and the principal
argument in the case was made by Mr. Smith for
the complainants, and secured the desired injunc-
tion, in spite of able and strenuous opposition, and
tliis decision of the court resulted in a compromise
satisfactory to his clients. The decision was among
the most imjjortant ever rendered in a railroad suit.
Mr. Smith was selected by the bar association of
Milwaukee to deliver the eulogy on the late Judge
Payne, in 187 1, which is published in full in the
twenty-seventh volume of the "Wisconsin Reports,"
and is a masterpiece of oratory and wisdom.
Without being a politician, he has always taken a
deej) interest in public affairs. He acted with the
democratic party until 1854, when, becoming dis-
satisfied with the so-called " Kansas-Nebraska "
measure, which was afterward indorsed by that
party, he united with the republican ])arty and sup-
ported the candidacy of Fremont. Since then he
has advocated tlie election of every republican can-
didate for the Presidency, and last autumn (1876)
delivered a number of most able and telling speeches
in favor of Hayes and Wheeler in different cities of
the State. During the late war he supported the
cause of the North with all zeal, and would have
entered the army if he had not been assured by
those in whose judgment he relied that he could do
and was doing more at home for the cause of the
Union than he could do in the field.
Although one of the ablest and most active lawyers
in the State, yet he finds time to devote to industrial
and other enterprises for the public benefit. He is
president of the Cream City Street Railroad Com-
pany, the Forest Home Railroad Company, and the
Milwaukee District Telegraph Company, — all enter-
prises of considerable local importance. He is also
a member of the college society of the University of
Michigan known as the " Peninsular Chapter," so
named by himself. He was for many years a mem-
ber of the Masonic fraternity, but has not acted
with the order for some time.
He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal
church, of temperate and liberal views, a member of
the standing committee of the diocese, and a gener-
ous contributor to benevolent and religious organ-
izations of the church in the State, and in private
and social life he enjoys the highest respect and
esteem of all who know him. Winfield Smith has
given his life to his profession with but little devia-
tion, and justly ranks among the foremost lawyers
of the State.
Thoroughly taught and accomplished as an aca-
demical scholar, he brought to his profession habits
of patience and toil which have borne their legiti-
mate fruits. He is a man of clear, incisive mind, of '
quick perception, logical in his deductions, always
ready with a perspicacious analysis, separating the
sound from the unsound, making correct and accu-
rate application of principles to facts. He has the
unlimited respect and confidence of those who know
him for the candor, truthfulness and frankness which
characterize his acts and deeds. A good judge of
men, quick in discernment, self-reliant and prompt
in decision, he has a vigorous energy and will, allied
with rare judgment and remarkable powers of mem-
ory, which make the man conspicuous in emer-
gencies, and successful where others hesitate or fail.
His conduct is always consistent. As he never dis-
simulates, his sentiments spoken at one time are a
sure indication of what his practice and conduct
will be when action shall be necessary; nor will it
be affected by the course others may take, unless
their conduct is grounded in better judgment.
Numerous exhibitions of this trait of character have
been publicly observed during his life, in many of
which it has been remarked that those whose con-
duct has been most opposed to his have afterward
commended his independent course and approved
his better judgment. In whatever he undertakes he
is patient, painstaking and thorough in his investi-
gation both of the facts and principles to be applied.
As an equity jurisprudence lawyer he has hardly a
superior, even among much older members of the
Milwaukee bar; but his success is not confined to
any single branch of the profession ; he is eminent
in all. We do not think it too much to say of him
that he never comes to the trial or argument of a
case without the fullest preparation and the most
exhaustive acquaintance with the facts, and the de-
cisions and precedents bearing upon them. He is a
fluent and effective speaker, rich in language and
irresistible in argument. He is of ardent tempera-
ment, and engages in almost every cause he under-
takes, and indeed every cause that interests him,
with extraordinary, almost vehement, zeal. The
same enthusiasm which marks him in the service of
6o4
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
his clients characterizes him also in the discharge
of his public duties. During his term of service as
attorney-general of the State he became widely and
favorably known, and it is the concurrent testimony
of those who had the best means of judging, that
his services in that office were of the highest impor-
tance to the people of the State; while in the gen-
eral assembly, as chairman of the judiciary commit-
tee, his marked ability, both as a lawyer and debater,
and his unwearied watchfulness of every public in-
terest, were especially conspicuous. Although not
remarkably self-asserting, he at all times reposes a
confidence in his own judgment naturally begotten
of his complete mastery of the subject ; hence his
counsel is never evasive or equivocal, so that his
clients are never in doubt as to his opinions.
In addition to his professional studies, he keeps
well-read in the current literature, maintains his
acquaintanceship with the classics, is a proficient in
several modern languages, and takes much pleasure
in literary pursuits generally, aside from his daily
duties. He is social in his tastes, believes in using
the innocent enjoyments of life as we go along, and
has tried to act on that theory. He was formerly
reputed one of the best chess-players in the State.
He is fond of music, and is a good amateur player
on the Boehm flute, and often plays in concert with
his wife or daughter on the piano, and his son
Henry on the violin, producing a most exquisite
harmony of sound. He also gives considerable time
and personal attention to the growth and culture of
flowers, of which he is very fond, and always con-
trives to have a supply on hand, both in winter and
summer, raised by his own hands.
On the ist of September, 1853, he married Miss
Sarah M. Fellows, daughter of the late Lothrop Fel-
lows, of Lockport, New York, a lady of high cul-
ture and accomplishments; domestic in her tastes
and habits, an excellent housekeeper, bringing to her
aid rare talents in the adornment and beautifying
of her home, and in making it attractive and pleas-
ant to her family. She is held in the highest esteem
by ajl who know her. They have six children, all
living, namely, Anna Elvina, Henry Lothrop, Eva
Louise, Winfield Robert, Mabel Foster and Grace
Elizabeth. Anna Elvina is the wife of Edward C.
Hopkins, Esq., of the firm of H. Bosworth and Sons,
wholesale druggists in Milwaukee. Henry Lothrop
has just concluded his university course at Madison,
and is intended for the profession of his father; he
is a young gentleman of considerable versatility of
character and much promise, — all the children are
noted for brightness and vivacity. . Li his domestic
life Mr. Smith is exemplary, and studies to make
his home delightful. He is happiest among his
children and his friends.
This branch of the Smith family is of Scotch-
Irish origin, and descended from John Smith, a
native of Londonderry, Ireland ; his father being
one of the gallant "apprentice-boys " who heroically
closed the gates of the "Maiden City" against the
approach of the traitorous James II. He immi-
grated to America early in the eighteenth century,
and settled in East Hampton, New Jersey, where he
married Martha A. VVaite. His son, Robert Smith,
was an officer in the revolutionary war, and after-
ward settled at Litchfield, Connecticut, where he
married Mary Hicks. He was the father of Dr.
Warren Smith, who married Barbara Rowe, and
died at Litchfield, Connecticut, in the thirty-fifth
year of his age. He was the father of Henry Smith,
who was the father of Winfield Smith.
DANIEL K. TENNEY,
CHICAGO.
DANIEL KENT TENNEYwas born at Platts-
burg. New York, December 31, 1834. He is
the tenth child of Daniel Tenney (a native of New
Hampshire), and of his wife, Sylvia Kent (a native
of Vermont, having ttie ancestry of Chancellor
Kent).
Mr. Tenney spent his boyhood in the woods of
northern Ohio, whither his parents removed with the
family wiien he was about one year old, and where
his father recently died at the age of eighty-one.
His mother, at a still more advanced age, now re-
sides in Kansas with a daughter. Two brothers
and two sisters of the ten now survive-.
Reared in poverty, at the age of eight he was ap-
prenticed to a printer and served four years out of
the following seven, attending common schools the
remaining three.
At the age of fifteen he removed to Madison,
/8^, Ac^ %A^^.ui^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
607
Wisconsin, and engaged as a journeyman printer in
the office of the " Wisconsin Argus," working, how-
ever, only during vacations and Saturdays, but often
eighteen hours a day, this being a necessity for rais-
ing funds to pay his way while attending the Uni-
versity of Wisconsin, then in its infancy. While in
this institution he was one of the founders of the
AthenKum Society, and its early records bear testi-
mony to his efficient work in its behalf. He at-
tended the university about four years, boarding
himself most of the time, being poorly fed and
poorly clad ; but his condition in this respect was
scarcely e.xceptional in that day, as most of the
students were in indigent circumstances and not
ashamed of their poverty. In scholarship he was
second to none. He learned with the readiness of
intuition. In the latter part of the sophomore year
he was expelled for contumacy, in refusing to dis-
close the name of a companion engaged with him in
some innocent but provoking mischief. This ac-
tion, and the rule it implied, caused a rebellion of
all the students, who signed a solemn covenant to
cpiit the institution unless the rule was abrogated
and young Tenney restored. The faculty unani-
mously yielded the point, and he was on the follow-
ing day restored to full and honorable standing.
He, however, regarded his expulsion as a personal
insult, and refused to return. This feeling toward
the university, however, has long since faded away,
and he now regards the institution with as much
pride as any of its graduates.
Being at this time (1854) penniless, he accepted a
position as foreman in the " State Journal " office at
Madison, having some twenty or more printers em-
ployed, which position he held until he had accu-
mulated a few hundred dollars, when he determined
to prepare for a higher field of labor, and com-
menced the study of law. His finances while thus
engaged were supplemented by work as a reporter
in the Wisconsin senate one session, and subse-
quently by employment as deputy clerk of the cir-
cuit court at Madison. By careful reading at all
spare hours, and by studying all the papers filed in
court in the various current cases, and listening to
the arguments of counsel, this trifling clerkship
proved a valuable school to him, and he soon be-
came really an adept in all matters of pleading and
practice, and continues to be quite eminent in those
important branches of law. During his continu-
ance in this office was developed to himself and his
friends a strong indication of what has proved in
after-life to be his genius or stronghold. It was his
duty to collect monthly the bills of costs from the
lawyers. Some of the profession are said to be the
most difficult people in the world to get money
from. In such cases young Tenney would patient-
ly and persistently insist upon payment, dexterously
evading all excuses and never allowing his temper
to get ruffled under abuse; and though often round-
ly cursed for his obstinacy, never gave up until he
got the money, and was eager for a fresh lot of bills
the next month. His principal regarded him as a
remarkable collector, and the lawyers dreaded his
monthly visitations.
On the nth of December, 1855, he was admitted
to the bar as an attorney and counselor, being at the
time a few days less than twenty-one years old. On
the following day, much to his surprise and grati-
fication, a partnership was offered him by Judge
Thomas Hood, then in active practice at Madison,
and the new firm was at once introduced by the
shingle of Hood and Tenney. The junior labored
assiduously, early and late, reading and attending
carefully to all the details of the business, and was
not long in securing a large number of permanent
clients and friends, and in earning and deserving his
reputation as one of the most watchful, bold, ener-
getic, thorough and successful commercial lawyers
in that region. He developed, withal, a thrift some-
what exceptional with the profession. While always
free-hearted and liberal in contributions or sub-
scriptions for public purposes, and not behind in
private charities, he was enabled by his extensive
business, aided by some tact at speculations, to ac-
cumulate a handsome competence, to which he has
added every year since the commencement of his
career as a lawyer. His methods of reaching and
surrounding unwilling debtors must have been
unique and peculiar to himself, if we may judge by
the many amusing incidents often related by his
brethren of the bar throughout Wisconsin.
Mr. Tenney was married on the 14th of Septem-
ber, 1857, at Madison, to Mary Jane Marston,
daughter of Hon. J. T. Marston, a substantial cit-
izen there, formerly of Montpelier, Vermont. The
children of this marriage are: John, born in i860;
and Mary, born in 1866.
In 1858 Mr. Tenney became president of the
Sauk City Bank, located some twenty-five miles
from Madison, and so continued imtil the retire-
ment of State banks under the regime of the na-
tional currency. In the same year he was elected
6o8
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
to the office of alderman at Madison, which he held
for several successive terms; and to his untiring
efforts were due many important reforms in the
management of the city finances, in restoring the
shattered credit of the city, and placing upon a
sound basis its dishonored bonded indebtedness.
In 1867 he was appointed by the governor upon
a commission to revise and simplify the laws relating
to the assessment and collection of taxes; to which
subject he had previously paid considerable atten-
tion. The bills reported by the commission, which
were pretty much the result of his labors, have since
been substantially enacted into laws, and probably
present the most simple, concise and effective sys-
tem of taxation to be found in any of the States.
He has never sought political preferment, though
an active partisan ; and, aside from the two minor
positions named, he has never held a public office,
and has no desire to do so.
In 1870 he sought a larger field of action, and re-
moved to Chicago. His removal was much regretted
by his friends, but proved fortunate for himself. He
soon achieved a prominent position, which he still
holds, in the department of commercial law, and the
firm of which he is a member, founded by him,
stands second to none in the great western metrop-
olis. Their immense business is conducted on strict
business principles. He has able partners and as-
sistants; but all are under his supervision and direc-
tion, each having his appropriate department or line
of duty, and all working together to accomplish the
desired results. They have among their clients a
large number of the leading commercial houses
throughout the country.
Nature has been bountiful to Mr. Tenney, and
endowed him with some of her choicest gifts;
among them a durable physical constitution, a vig-
orous and discriminating intellect, and a generous
heart. These have been nurtured to maturity by
habits of physical and mental industry and culture.
His generous impulses are instinctive and sponta-
neous; they characterize his personal and .social
relations with his fellow-men, and make him the
welcome companion, the faithful counselor and the
true friend. A more calculating judgment might
conduct him to that higher eminence in the public
estimation to which good men aspire, and for which
ambitious men dare to die ; but, content with the
honorable accumulation of wealth in the legitimate
pursuits of his profession, his nature is likely to re-
main free from the delusions of a false ambition and
the corroding influences of avarice. Few men so
readily discern the parallel between the absorbing
vice of avarice, which at present pervades the moral
world, and the famous Upas tree, whose shadow is
the symbol of death. The love of truth, frankness
in the expression of his opinions, and indomitable
perseverance in the accomplishment of his objects,
are striking traits in Mr. Tenney's character; prin-
ciple led to their adoption, and policy to their prac-
tice. His literary compositions are characteristic
of the man — full, free and humorous, with a keen
sense of the ludicrous. He is devoid of all bitter-
ness, and the subject of his humor is frequently as
well pleased with the picture as with the writer,
The life of Mr. Tenney, thus far, has been one of
ceaseless and beneficent activity. It does not re-
semble in any degree the dull monotony of that
fabled stream of which it may be truly said that no
frosts overshadow its fountains, no windings diver-
sify its progress, no flowers adorn its borders, no
rapids precipitate its waters. Neither by example
nor by sympathy is he allied to that class of men,
of respectable mediocrity, whose virtues excite no
praise, and whose vices provoke no censure.
In early life Mr. Tenney's mind was much exer-
cised on the subject of religion, but upon careful
study and reflection he came to the conclusion that
to pay a hundred cents on the dollar and deal hon-
orably with all men, — in short, to observe the golden
rule of " doing unto others as he would have others
do unto him,"^ — was religion enough for him.
JEREMIAH DOBBS,
RIPON.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Saugerties,
Ulster county. New York, was born in March,
1832, the son of Jeremiah and Mary Uobbs. His
father, a real-estate operator by occupation, was a
man of good standing and wide influence in his
community. Our subject received his education at
Williamson, New York, and after closing his studies
in school, accepted a clerkship in a general store at
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPinCAL DICTIONART.
609
Rochester, New York, where lie remained two years.
Later he began the study of law at Newark, and
in 1851 was admitted to the bar at Jefferson, Wis-
consin, having removed to the West and settled at
Lake Mills, Wisconsin, in 1849. Engaging in his
profession at Lake Mills, he remained there till
1854, during which year he settled at Ripon, his
present home, and established himself in that legal
practice which, though small at first, has kept pace
with the growth of business interests, until he has
become extensively known as a successful and skill-
ful attorney. Aside frouT his regular legal practice,
Mr. Dobbs has filled several offices of honor and
trust. In 1850 he was appointed district attorney
of Jefferson county, Wisconsin; was elected a mem-
ber of the State legislature in 1869, and for several
years has been chairman of the county board; is
now chairman of his ward. He was once a director
of the Oshkosh and Mississippi Railroad Company.
In political sentiment he is a democrat.
He was married on the 21st of February, 1S54, to
Miss Mary A. Lampson, and by her has one son and
two daughters.
Mr. Dobbs is preeminently a self-made man. Be-
ginning life without means, he has, by untiring effort,
made his way step by step up to a high place in his
profession and in society. He has accumulated a
handsome fortune, and being possessed of excellent
personal and social qualities, lives in the enjoyment
of a happy home, surrounded by many warm friends.
BENJAMIN M. REYNOLDS. A.M.
LA CROSSE.
BENJAMIN MILES REYNOLDS was born at
Barnard, Vermont, July 12, 1825, his parents
being Ezekiel and Lydia (Barnes) Reynolds. He
lived on a farm, more or less, until twenty-one years
of age. At the age of nineteen he began preparing
for college, attending, at first, the Royalton Acad-
emy, and finishing his preparatory studies at the
Thetford Academy, under Professor Hiram Orcutt,
then at its head. He entered Dartmouth College in
1848, and graduated in course, paying his entire ex-
])enses by teaching and different kinds of manual
labor. Since graduating in 1852, Professor Reynolds
has been engaged steadily in educational work. He
was principal of the Windsor, Vermont, high school,
and of the Bradford, Vermont, Academy two years;
of the high school at Barre, Massachusetts, a still
longer period; of the LTnion school at Moline, Illi-
nois, one year; superintendent of schools in Rock
Island, and principal of its high school nearly four
years, being the first superintendent in that city;
principal of the Union school in Lockport, New
York, more than five years; superintendent of
schools at Madison, Wisconsin, six years; principal
of the graded school at Monroe, Wisconsin, one
year; and in 1873 became principal of the high
school in La Crosse, having at the same time charge
of the second ward school. He has raised the
grade of these schools more than one hundred per
cent. One of the leading citizens of La Crosse
thus speaks of Mr. Reynolds' work here :
66
Professor Reynolds' efficiency as an educator is' notice-
able in the noble purpose and diligent efforts of his scholars
in attainments of knowledge, and in the completeness of
preparation with which his'ndvanccd students have entered
various colleges, whose ackuowlodgniont^ cif liis success in
this icspect are highly complimentary to LaCniNsc schools,
whose enviable excellence dates from and is laigel_\ attribut-
able to his connection with them.
Since he has been in Wisconsin Professor Reynolds
has held a prominent position among its educators.
He has been president of the State Teachers' Asso-
ciation ; has been on the committees appointed at
different times to visit the normal schools ; also on
the committee to visit the State University; and in
meetings of the State Teachers' Association and in
other convocations of teachers he has been one of
the leading men.
The Professor is preeminently a self-made man,
and may truly be called the "architect of his own
fortune." In his early years he had good teachers who
gave him wholesome advice, which he has not failed
to profit by. He has an exalted idea of the mission
of a teacher, and strives to be a model in the pro-
fession.
Professor Reynolds is a Master Mason. In his
religious sentiments he is a Congregationalist.
He was reared in the Webster school of whigs,
was strong in the faith, and voted with that party
till its dissolution, since which time he has been
identified with the republican party.
His wife was Mary Ann Morey, daughter of
Mitchell v.. Morey, a prominent citizen of Windsor,
6io
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHrCAL UlCTIONARr.
Vermont, and for twenty-one years deputy warden
of the State prison. They have lost one child, and
have two sons and two daughters living.
Since Professor Reynolds took charge of the La
Crosse high school, he has sent to the universities
at Madison and Chicago, and also to Beloit College,
some of the best students who have entered these
institutions.
Physically Professor Reynolds is about five feet
seven inches in height, rather heavy set, and weighs
one hundred and eighty-five pounds. He has gray
eyes and a full, round face. He possesses most ex-
cellent social qualities, being generous, genial, viva-
cious. He is a man of thorough culture, and his
influence over his pupils is in all respects healthful
and refining.
GEORGE A. HOUSTON,
GEORGE A. HOUSTON was born on the 24th
of October, 1829, at Bedford, New Hampshire,
and is the son of John P. and Eunice C. Houston.
His father, a millwright by occupation, was con-
stantly employed in mechanical pursuits, and enjoyed
a fine reputation for his mechanical genius. In 1837
he removed to Wisconsin with his family and settled
at Beloit. Here George received his education,
studying first in the common schools, and later at-
tending Beloit College. Impaired health, however,
prevented him from graduating. He was especially
fond of mathematics, and in school stood at the
head of his class.
His early desire had been to become a mechan-
ical engineer, and upon leaving college he engaged
in building railroad bridges, and continued thus em-
ployed with good success for six years. He next
engaged in the lumber and milling business, and
although he became greatly embarrassed in his finan-
cial matters, managed to pay all his debts with ten
per cent interest.
In 1868 Mr. Houston invented the celebrated
"Turbine Water Wheel," to wliich was awarded the
prize medal at the test of water-wheels held in Bos-
ton in 1869. These wheels have become so popular
tliat the demand for them
reater than he can
supply. He has shipped them to all parts of the
world, and realized a large fortune from the enter-
prise. As a business man Mr. Houston is prompt,
upright and energetic. He comes of a good family.
His ancestors were among the early settlers of the
United States. His great-grandfather was a Presby-
terian clergyman. His grandfather was a slave-
owner, and Mr. Houston has now in his possession
bills of sale of slaves in Massachusetts, which he
found among old papers belonging to his grandfather.
In politics he is a republican, and has served as
an alderman in the city of Beloit for twelve years.
His religious training was under orthodox influ-
ences, and he always attends the Congregational
church, though he is not a member of any religious
organization. He has always been a man of tem-
perate habits, and in all his dealings has maintained
the respect and high esteem of all with whom he
has had to do.
His personal and social qualities are of a high
order, and his generous, hospitable, open-hearted
manner has won for him many warm friends. Mr.
Houston was married in i860 to Miss Elizabeth R.
Keeler, and by her has one child.
GEORGE PERKINS, a native of Montrose,
Pennsylvania, is a son of Francis and Rebec-
ca C. Sherman Perkins, and was born May 8, 1820.
He is descended from good, patriotic ancestry, his
maternal grandfather having been a revolutionary
sohlier, and six members of the Perkins family
GEORGE PERKINS,
FOND DU LAC.
hn
died for their country on a single occasion,
in the battle of Groton Heights.
George passed his boyhood on his father's farm,
except when attending the Susquehanna Academy,
and during one season, when twelve years of age,
he did chores for a gentleman, to defray expenses
Blg!l;yJdli!CK'E>B3r!r
rthu^^^
^^Si^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
6l
for board while attending this school. At the age
of sixteen he entered a printing office, where much
of his literary education was obtained, and where he
remained most of tlie time until he attained his
majority. He then commenced reading law with
Benjamin T. Case, of Montrose, and having previ-
ously engaged in teaching, continued the same while
pursuing his legal studies. Being admitted to the
bar about 1843, he practiced a short time at Mont-
rose, and went thence to Dundaff, in the same
county ; subsequently he removed to Carbondale,
Luzerne county, and still later to Pittston.
In 1856 Mr. Perkins immigrated to Wisconsin,
and settled at Ripon in the autumn of that year, and
there resumed his legal jaractice. Early in 1864 he
enlisted in the 41st Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers,
one of the hundred-days regiments. While in the
army he was elected district attorney of Fond du
Lac county, and, upon returning from the war,
moved to Fond du Lac, tlie county seat. He had
been elected to a similar office while residing in
Carbondale, and there served two terms. Here he
held the office three terms, making a very acceptable
officer. .Since he became a resident of Fond du
Lac, he has also held the office of city comptroller
one or two years. In April, 1877, he was elected
county judge, for a term of four years, in which
position he has proved himself faithful and efficient.
In politics he acted with the republicans several
years. In 1872 he supported Horace Greeley for
the Presidency, and now affiliates with the demo-
cratic party.
Mr. Perkins has had two wives, the first being
Miss Abby Perkins, of Gales Ferry, Connecticut,
their union taking place about 1855. She died on
the 19th of March, 1868. They had three children,
of whom one is now living. His second wife was
Emeline Larrabee, of Windham, Connecticut, to
whom he was married in June, 1870, and by whom
he has two children.
REV. JOHN P. HAIRE, A.M.
'■{ANESVILLE.
THE subject of this sketch was born at Eliza-
bethtown, Hamilton county, Ohio, April 25,
1831, and is the son of Jacob and Susan (Hunt)
Haire, — the former a native of Jefferson county,
Virginia, and the latter of Essex county. New Jersey.
His paternal grandfather was a native Englishman.
His father removed in early life to Cincinnati, Ohio,
where he was for a number of years a successful
shipping and commission merchant, largely engaged
in the New Orleans trade. He was a man of great
firmness and integrity of character, possessed of su-
perior business talents, and occupied a first rank
as a man of probity and honor. He died quite sud-
denly, of cholera, while on business to New Orleans
in 1852. His mother was a woman of a meek and
virtuous spirit, a sincere Christian, whose every day
walk and conversation illustrated the genuineness
of her faith in Christ. Her influence upon her son
was controlling, and to her he acknowledges his
indebtedness not only for the early bias of his mind
'toward education and the work of the Clospel min-
istry, but for whatever of success in life he has
achieved. This excellent lady died at the old home-
stead in Ohio in 1873.
His maternal great-great-grandfather, Thos. Hunt,
was born in Wales, and came to America early in
the eighteenth century, settling on Long Island; he
subsequently removed to a village near what is now
New Brunswick, New Jersey, where his great-grand-
father, Edward Hunt, was born. He married Miss
Mary Shual. They had eight children, three sons
and five daughters. He removed to the western
part of New Jersey, bought a farm on the east bank
of the Delaware, at the mouth of the Musconet-
kong creek, where both he and his wife died, and
where his grandfather, Edward Hunt, junior, was
born. He married Miss Charlotte Shank in 1784,
whose parents were natives of one of the Rhine pro-
vinces of Germany, and emigrating to this country
had settled in Pennsylvania near the Delaware. In
the autumn of 1805 Edward Hunt made a tour to
the West on horseback in quest of a suitable loca-
tion. He traveled through Pennsylvania and Ohio,
as far as the great Miami river, and purchased a
house aiid section of land in Whitewater township,
to which in July following (1806) he brought his
family — in wagons as far as Wheeling, Virginia,
thence in flat boats down the Ohio to what is now
Lawrenceburg — being a full month in making the
journey. This was less than twenty years after t'c
6i4
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
first white settlement had been made northwest of
the Ohio, and the primeval forests still stood invio-
late by the woodman's axe.
The early life of our subject was passed in one
of the most beautiful valleys of southwest Ohio, a
few miles west of Cincinnati. His elementary edu-
cation was conducted at home, where not only the
English branches were mastered, but also algebra,
both elementary and advanced. He commenced
the study of Latin at ten years of age, and was
always an ardent and ambitious student. When he
was seven years of age an elder brother (Thomas
Haire) entered college, and his influence and assist-
ance during vacations incited the aspirations of liis
younger brother to the pursuit of a course of liberal
study, and his days and a large proportion of his
nights were devoted to the pursuit of knowledge —
partly self-directed. Even at this early period the
conscious purpose of " going to college " was formed,
though the attainment of his plan involved no little
struggle on the part of the boy. The death of his
eldest brother, above alluded to, (who had by ten
years of continuous labor completed his academical,
collegiate and professional studies, and had just
been admitted to the Cincinnati bar, contracted a
violent cold, resulting in consumption, from which,
after two years of suffering, he died in 1846,) de-
layed his hopes of entering college through the
hesitancy of his father to consent to his pursuing
a full course of study, fearing the effects upon his
health. His studies w-ere therefore graduated to
his physical capacity, and were for some years con-
fined to the autumn and winter months. This
plan, however, was not altogether unmixed with
evil, for during the seasons of study he was am-
bitious to make up for the time lost by absence,
by doing as much in the brief periods as was
usually accomplished in the whole year. Quite
an extensive course of reading was completed
during the summers, the studies being often pushed
far into the night. At last he reached the goal of
his hopes and was fully entered at Miami College,
and gave himself to the work of acquiring knowl-
edge with an untiring enthusiasm; working to the
utmost limit of his physical strength, neglecting to
take exercise and disregarding all admonitions on
the subject, so intense was his thirst for learning.
About the middle of the second year, however,
he was brought to a realization of his folly by the
failure of his physical powers, and was reluctantly
compelled to remit his studies for some months.
Wisely thinking that a change of climate would
prove as beneficial as a cessation of labor, he left
Miami College and removed to Williams College,
Massachusetts; being drawn there partly by the
fame of the president, Rev. Mark Hopkins, who.se
valuable course of instruction in mental and moral
science afforded a greater attraction than the greater
names of Harvard or Yale. Here he completed
his college course and took his B.A. degree in 1855.
In the autumn of the same year he commenced the
study of theology, with a view of entering the min-
istry of the Presbyterian church; but turned aside
for a year to teach Latin and Greek in the college
at College Hill, Ohio. The three following years,
however, were spent in the study of theology,— one
year at Lane Seminary, Cincinnati; a second at
Andover, Massachusetts ; and the third at Union
Theological Seminary, New York. On graduating
from the last named institution, he was called to
the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church of his
native town and was ordained to the ministry in
1861, and supplied the pulpits of Elizabethtown
and Cleves (North Bend) for two years. He subse-
quently supplied the Presbyterian Church of Aurora,
Indiana, for a period of two years, daring the ab-
sence of the pastor in Europe and Asia. At this
period his health again failed, and compelled a sus-
pension of labor for several years; during which
time, free from stated and expected tasks, much
reading and study was accomplished with abundant
exercise out-of-doors. Not yet confident of sufii-
cient strength to resume the active duties of the
ministry, he spent one year in teaching in Ohio;
but not finding much gain in health he sought the
benefit of a change of climate, and accordingly re-
moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he resided
one year (1869-70).
He next assumed the pastorate of the Congre-
gational Church at Fox Lake, remaining there for
three years, 1870 to 1873, — as pastor one year, to his
pastoral duties superadding the principalship of the
Wisconsin Female Seminary two years.
In August, 1873, '""^ accepted the Latin chair in
Ripon College, which he retained for two years;
and, in September, 1875, established at Janesville
the Janesville Classical Academy, over which he
has since presided with much success. It is one of
the most prosperous private institutions of learning
in the West, and is doing a grand work in fostering
the desire of literary culture, affording to the sons
and daughters of the wealthy citizens of Janesville
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
and southern Wisconsin tiie advantages of an aca-
demical training that will fit them to enter the best
eastern colleges.
He has been a member of the board of trustees
of the Wisconsin Female Seminary at Fox Lake for
several years. During the period of his comparative
inactivity at Cincinnati, owing to impaired health,
he busied himself somewhat in gathering facts of
pioneer history, by personal interviews with old
settlers of that vicinity, and has material for a large
volume already in manuscript, which may one day
be given to the public ; and was instrumental in or-
ganizing the Whitewater and Miami Valley Pioneer
Association (which still exists), and which, since its
organization, has met annually and gathered much
material for future use. Flis life so far has been
diligent and studious, and chiefly devoted to literary
pursuits. He is a man characterized by sincere
devotion to the highest forms of culture, looking
rather at the spirit and essence than at the forms
and plausible exterior of things. His pulpit efforts
show a marked predominance of clear, sharp, logical
tliinking, over the more showy and taking embroid-
eries of rhetoric. He seldom fails to manifest, in
his discourses, a very positive contempt for all
"namby-pamby" surfaceness in either religion or
morality.
He is a zealous maintainer, at all times, of the
intrinsic importance of linguistic studies and the
subtle theories of metaphysics, besides having a
ready sympathy for all the genuine works of high
imagination, and very rightly considers thought,
spirit and purpose to be the roots and hidden
sources of all artistic works. He shows an earnest
desire to have his children and his pupils, his friends
and all who come within the range of his influence,
seek the purest and highest culture, and never al-
lows an opportunity to slip for giving impulses to
their thoughts toward high theories. He reads the
Latin and Greek classics with ready fluency, is well
versed in Hebrew, possesses a fair knowledge of the
German, and a considerable insight into the science
of comparative philology. But his mind is charac-
terized by logical acuteness, a keen scent for falla-
cies, so that chains of argument have need to be
firmly welded to endure the strain which he brings
to bear upon them. Possessing a large library,
ranging over a great variety of subjects, he has hit
upon an ingenious method of indexing the whole,
and making a chart of all the subjects embraced in
their pages. His plan is to place an author's name
at the head of the page, and underneath it to indi-
cate the treatise, miscellaneous articles, and even
paragraphs, in which he is alluded to, arranged in
convenient form — the book, the page and the line
being denoted. By this means a glance reveals the
whole contents of his library upon any given topic.
Another peculiar and very interesting feature of this
index is an appendix, in which passages of poetry
descriptive of external nature, etc., are denoted un-
der various topics, as " morning," " evening," " night,"
" sky," " clouds," " mountains," " gardens," " flowers,"
"ocean," "animals," and the like.
He recendy established as an adjunct of his school,
which he aims to make a fountain of the purest cul-
ture, a literary club, under the name of the " Round
Table," which has drawn into its ranks a large num-
ber of the most intellectual people of the city, em-
bracing all the ministers, some of the lawyers and
doctors, the newspaper-men, teachers, and a large
number of students of both sexes, who have been in
constant attendance upon the fortnightly meetings
of this very valuable and decidedly unique source
of entertainment. During the first six months these
studies wandered at will over the field of recent
literature, but latterly a 'series of consecutive topics
have been strictly followed out without break or
change, — beginning with the Elizabethian era, and
following down the current of English history to the
present period. The programme embraces some
sixteen varieties of studies, and though each takes
in a large scope, the members have worked with
such zeal, and the papers presented have shown so
much research, that a very adequate notion of each
subject has been presented within the allotted two
hours.
In manners, our subject is (.piiet and unassuming,
but he never speaks without efiect. His mind,
though far from having any show of bigoted nar-
rowness, is clearly and thoroughly Christian, and his
actions, words and bearing are all in perfect har-
mony with his ideal principle.
On the 2ist of July, 1859, he was married to
Miss Ellen Cilley Bartlett, daughter of Israel Bart-
lett, Esq., a distinguished lawyer, of Nottingham,
New Hampshire, and granddaughter of the distin-
guished Thomas Bartlett, and also of General Joseph
Cilley — both distinguished for their services during
the revolutionary war. The latter was with Wash-
ington at the surrender of Cornwallis, and figures in
the celebrated group of "Washington and his Gen-
erals," painted by Trumbull, now the property of
6(6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTION AKT.
Yale College. Her father held a commission from
John Adams in the army organized when war was
threatened with France in 1799, and was intimately
acquainted with Alexander Hamilton, the highest
ofificer in the field. He also was the friend, and
often the opponent, of Daniel Webster, while the
latter was practicing law at Portsmouth, New Hamp-
shire. Mrs. Haire is a lady of more than average
strength of mind, high culture and refinement, a
good Latin and French scholar, an earnest stu-
dent, and the principal assistant of her husband
in his academy. She is characterized by great
practical energy, and always aims to infuse a high
tone of moral and religious earnestness into the
principles and lives of those over whom her in-
fluence extends. While possessing a catholic taste
for all the highest and purest in letters, she has
a very decided bias toward mathematical studies,
and no small skill in unraveling Algebraic per-
plexities. She has always been a zealous worker
for the moral elevation of the community in which
she has lived, especially in the direction of temper-
ance. Socially she is a very attractive, winning and
affable lady, and the strong positiveness of her con-
victions, sentiments and actions at once places her
among the leaders in whatever cause she may
espouse.
They have four children living, named, in the
order of their birth : Mary Stella, Anna Roberta,
Nellie Bartlett and Emma Florence, all of whom
show remarkable mental powers, — all being pro-
ficients in the academic studies far beyond their
years. They have severally developed very con-
siderable talent for the art of music. The second,
though barely thirteen years old, and rather fra-
gile of her age, has shown an almost dangerous
precocity in language and mathematics, having
read several of the standard Greek authors, and
daily employing herself on such works as Livy and
Horace in Latin, and sailing with bird-like velocity
in and out among the tangled thickets of algebra
and geometry. She is an indefatigable reader, and
already has acquired quite an extensive and accu-
rate knowledge of history and literature.
DAVID W. CARHART,
BERLIN.
Wl.
are known by their works, — the poet by
and the artist and the manufacturer by
theirs. The same is true of David W. Carhart.
The " Golden Sheaf," the name of his mill and of the
common brand of his flower, has made his name
a household world among the flour dealers of the
New England and Middle States. He is a native
of New York city, the son of John W. and Mar-
garet Ann (Reynold) Carhart, and was born June
22, 1828. He attended the graded school of New
York city until fifteen years of age, at which time
he went into a wholesale dry-goods house and sold
goods three years. Removing to Chicago with his
father in 1846, he continued merchandizing two
years, and removed to Waupun and sold goods un-
til 1851, when he settled in Berlin. There he built a
saw-mill with his brother-in-law, Nathan H. Strong,
and operated it with him until Mr. Strong died, in
1853. He afterward continued the manufacture
of lumber with other parties until 1859, and then
bought an interest with Mr. E. Reed in a general
variety store. After two years he suffered a loss of
his business by fire, and next built a flouring mill
on the site of the old saw-mill, and is still doing
business on the same spot, though in a larger and
finer mill, rebuilt with brick a few years ago. This
mill has all the latest improvements for renovating
and purifying, and makes a brand of flour second
in quality to none manufactured in the State. Mr.
Carhart is a perfect master of the art of making
flour, the result of years of study and careful ex-
perimenting. The firm name of the parties owning
the "Golden Sheaf" Mills, is Carhart, Wright and
Co., Mr. Carhart having a two-thirds interest. His
partner is Stillman Wright. They manufacture
about forty thousand barrels annually, a large part
of which is sold by telegraphic orders. Their cor-
respondence is simply enormous, and it is safe to
say that no flour manufacturers in the West are
better known or have a better reputation than this
firm. Mr. Carhart is strictly a business man ; he
has dealt somewhat in real estate, but is best and
everywhere known as a manufacturer.
Li politics he is a republican, though in 1872 he
supported Horace Greeley for the Presidency. He
is not, however, a politician, and gives little atten-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
617
tion to politics, more than to perform his duties
as a citizen. He has been a very efficient member
of the school board for several years, but avoids
taking office when he can, consistently with duty to
the public. As a business man he has no superior
in Berlin.
Mr. Carhart is a member of the Congregational
His wife was Miss Harriet Wright, of Berlin,
their marriage dating September 6, 1853. They
have lost one child, and have two daughters living
who are members of the Berlin High School.
Mr. Carhart has erected a number of buildings
in Berlin, and is thoroughly enterprising and public-
spirited ; and probably the services of no man in
church, and casts his influence all on the side of building up the city are more heartily appreciated
good morals. I than are his.
MARTIN N. BARBER, M.D.,
WATERTOU'N.
THE subject of this biography, a native of Mon-
roe county. New York, was born on the nth
of March, 182 1, the son of Ira and Hannah Bar-
ber. His father was a blacksmith by occupation,
and both he and his wife were highly respected in
their community for their upright, industrious lives.
Martin received his education at Rochester, New
York, and afterward engaged in teaching, thereby
accumulating means wherewith to defray his ex-
penses while studying for his profession. In 1840
he settled in La Porte, Indiana, and there began the
study of medicine, and four years later graduated
from the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati,
Ohio. Returning to La Porte he continued there
in the practice of his profession one year, and in
1846 removed to Racine, Wisconsin. Engaging in
his profession he continued it with varying success
for two years, and in 1848 removed to Watertown,
and there established himself in that medical prac-
tice which has since extended with the rapid in-
crease of population, and for many years Dr. Barber
has been extensively known as a skillful and suc-
cessful practitioner.
Socially he is a man of most excellent qualities,"
and has made many warm friends.
In political sentiment he has been identified with
the republican party since its organization in 1856.
He is a member of the Illinois Eclectic Medical
Institute, and also a member of the Wisconsin Ec-
lectic Medical Institute.
He is a consistent member of the Baptist church.
Dr. Barber is a man of much practical knowledge,
and in his travels over most of the eastern and west-
ern States has, by careful observation, acquired
much valuable information concerning men and
things.
He was married in November, 1847, to Miss Jane
L. Hartwell, and by her has one son and one daugh-
ter. Mrs. Barber died in 1859, and in 1867 he mar-
ried Eliza S. Young, and liy her also has one son
and one daughter.
Such is a brief outline of one who, by honest ef-
fort, has made his way from comparative obscurity
to a position of respectability and social worth, and
his life history is worthy a place among the self-
made men of Wisconsin.
HIRAM P. CAREY, M.D.,
THE subject of this biography, a native of
Kingston, New York, was born on the loth
of March, 1849, and is the son of James and Eliza-
beth Carey. His father was a farmer by occupa-
tion, and a man of frugal, industrious habits. Hiram
passed his early life upon his father's farm, receiv-
ing his primary education at Kingston, and later
taking a regular academic course of study. He
early developed a great fondness for books and an
ardent desire to become a physician. In this de-
sire, however, he met with little sympathy from his
father, whose wish was that he should remain upon
the farm, and in order that he might induce him to
remain at home he gave to him a deed of the f:irm.
6i8
THE UNITED STATES BIOdRAPH rCAL DICTIONARY.
Hiram remained about two years, hut witli the feel-
ing, however, that it was not such work as was suited
to his tastes, and finally the impulse to realize the
hope which from early life he had cherished became
so strong that he resolved to abandon the farm.
Leaving the plow in the field he made known to his
father his intention, and going to town with a load
of wood bought two books, " Gray's Anatomy " and
" Dalton's Practice," and at once began studying
them.
In the fall of 1862 he went to Buffalo. Later he
entered the office of D. W. Hazeltine in Jamestown,
New York. He attended medical lectures at Ann
Arbor, Michigan, and at Buffalo, and graduated
from the latter place in 1867. Returning to Kings-
ton, his native place, he there established himself
in the practice of his profession. Wishing for a
wider field, he, one year later, removed to the West
and resumed his profession at Freejiort, Illinois, in [
partnership with a Dr. Hines. ]
In February, 1873, Dr. Carey removed to his \
present home in Beloit, Wisconsin, and began that \
practice which has grown from a small beginning
until he has become extensively known as a skillful \
and successful practitioner. >
Dr. Carey's religious training was under Presby-
terian influences, and from his youth he has been
identified with that denomination. 1
In politics he is a republican.
He was married on the 30th of September, 1868, to
Miss Matilda Rosenstiel, by whom he has one child. ;
Though still a young man. Dr. Carey has met ■
with a degree of success that indicates the wisdom i
of his choice of a profession. He is a man of great 1
energy and industry, and professionally gives prom- ;
ise of a bright future. [
JOHN H. KNAPP,
MENOMONEE.
T OHN HOLLY KNAPP was born in Elmira, New
J York, March 29, 1825. His ancestors immi-
grated from England in 1646, twenty-six years later
than the Plymouth Colony, and settled in Connecti-
cut. Both of his grandfathers participated in the
revolutionary war. His mother, Harriet nee Seely,
is still living, being in her eighty-sixth year; she
makes her home with the subject of this sketch.
His father, John Holly Knapp, a merchant in early
life, was a very active, enterprising man, with large
mental resources. It was through his individual
exertions that the charter for the Blossburg and
Corning railroad was secured, during Governor
Throop's administration. That gentleman after-
ward sent Mr. Knapp a brigadier-general's com-
mission, assigning to him the command of a certain
portion of the State militia. He removed to Bloss-
burg, Pennsylvania, when our subject was five years
old, and engaged in developing the coal interests of
that place for a short time; and, in 1835, with his
family, removed to west of the Mississippi, settling
on the " Black Hawk Purchase," at that time a part
of Michigan Territory, now in the State of Iowa,
the location being at Fort Madison, in the present
county of Lee. Young Knapp often saw the famous
Sac warrior Black Hawk, and, by communicating
with members of his tribe, learned to speak the
Sac language. His father was present at the treaiy '
made at Rock Island with that chief in 1832. Three ]
years later, he looked o\er the Iowa lands, and pre- \
pared to move his family thither. His business in
Iowa was farming, merchandising and real estate, ^
the son assisting on the farm and attending school,
when there was any, until twenty years of age, and
then ])assed one season in a collegiate institute at ,
New Haven, Connecticut, and at twenty-one was |
again in Iowa, preparing for what has proved to j
be a life venture among the pineries of Wisconsin. \
William Wilson, then a lumberman of considerable j
experience, had visited the country in and near what j
is now Menomonee, in Dunn county, and learning j
that there was a mill for sale, returned to Fort Madi- i
son and reported; and thereupon, in June, 1846, he |
and Mr. Knapp (our subject) — the latter with one '
thousand dollars in his pocket, and two or three 1
thousand more as a " reserve fund," which he soon |
used — started for their future home. They pur- j
chased, of David Black, a half interest in a saw-mill \
and fixtures, and he dying a few weeks afterward, 1
they bought the other half; and in July of that year j
the firm of J. H. Knapp and Co. began operations. '
About six years later, Andrew Tainter and Henry i
L. Stout, and a few years later still, J. H. Douglas, j
had joined the company, and for twenty-five years
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
6ig
the firm of Knapp, Stout and Co. has been a liouse-
hold word among tlie lumbermen of the Northwest.
No parties in tliis line of business have a wider or
better reputation. The capital of one thousand
dollars, with which the enterprise started, has in-
creased to many hundred thousand dollars. In
1876 the company cut sixty-seven million feet of
lumber, thirty-one million and ninety-five thousand
of shingles, eight million and ninety thousand of
lath, and two hundred and ninety-three thousand
of pickets. It owns at least one hundred and fifty
thousand acres of pine lands, a dozen farms, large
and small, and a vast amount of other property.
The sons of some of the members of the firm are
enterprising young men, and bid fair to perpetuate
and maintain the good name of the firm when the
original members shall have passed away.
The company has always had a mercantile store
in connection with its lumbering business, and for
twenty years Mr. Knapp did the purchasing for this
branch of the business, the selling of the lumber and
attended to the finances of the firm. Of late, by
reason of impaired health, he has assumed compara-
tively light responsibilities.
Mr. Kn^pp is a Royal Arch Mason. In politics
he has been a republican since the whig party dis-
solved; and in religion is identified with the Con-
gregationalists. He is a liberal supporter of the
gospel and of most of, the benevolent enterprises of
the day.
He has been twice married : first, in 1S49, to Miss
Caroline M. Field, of Ware, Massachusetts. They
had one child, Henry E. Knapp, who is still living.
Mrs. Knapp died in January, 1854. On the 31st
of October, 1855, he was married to Miss Valeria
Adams, of Reading, Pennsylvania, a daughter of
Judge Williams Adams, who was a member of con-
gress about the time of President Jackson's admin-
istration. Of seven children, six are now living.
The lumbermen of Wisconsin are among its heavi-
est capitalists, and its leading men in great enter-
prises, the strength of their muscular arms being
put forth in developing its forest resources. They
are the grand creators of wealth, both for themselves
and the State, — the creators of towns and railroads,
and of immense stores for human comfort, and fur-
I nishing employment to a hundred thousand willing
I hands, they send gladness to as many hearts.
HON. EDWARD L. BROWNE,
WAUPACA.
THE subject of this sketch was born on the 27th
of June, 1830, at Cranville, Washington coun-
ty. New York, the son of Jonathan Browne, a farmer,
and Abby nee Everts. His father was a captain in
the second war with England, and commanded a
company at the battle of Plattsburg. Edward
worked on his father's farm and attended a district
school until fifteen years old, when his father moved
to Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, and there opened
a farm. After the first year of his residence there,
Edward spent much of his time for three years at a
select school in Milwaukee, conducted by Professor
Amasa Buck. At nineteen he commenced reading
law, and was admitted to the bar at Fond du Lac in
November, 185 1. He first began his practice in
Dubuque, Iowa; afterward spent about one year in
Milwaukee, and in November, 1852, settled at Wau-
paca, the county seat of Waupaca county, and has
risen step by step until he has attained a high posi-
tion at the bar.
Mr. Browne has been State senator two terms :
67
the first term in 1861 and 1862, the second in 1867
and 1868. Although a new member in 1861, he
took a very active part in all matters in which the
State was interested pertaining to the war, no man
in 'that body showing more patriotic enthusiasm in
this regard. During the four sessions he was on the
judiciary committee, and its chairman in 1868. He
was also on the committees on claims, iirinting, and
one or two others, and did valuable service for the
State. He was nominated in 1876, during his ab-
sence, for a third term in the senate, but could not
accept.
Mr. Browne was a democrat until 1855, but has
been a republican since the party was organized.
He was nominated for congress in 1862, but was
defeated, from the fact that some three thousand
republicans from his district were in the army, other-
wise he would have received a handsome majority.
In 1868 he was a delegate to the republican national
convention.
Mr. Browne is a Royal Arch Mason, and has been
620
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
master of Waupaca Lodge, No. 123. He is a member
of the Episcopal clnirch, and a warden of the same.
His wife is a daughter of Judge Parish, of Ran-
dolph, Vermont. They were married March 4, 1856,
and have four children. Mrs.. Browne was educated
at the Mount Holyoke Seminary, and is a woman of
refined manners and cultured mind.
A brother attorney in an adjoining county thus
sjieaks of Mr. Browne as a professional man :
He i.s a close, logical reasoncr; has a sound, discriminat-
ing judgment on legal points, nnd, as an advocate, is always
strong with a jury. His style of address is very earnest,
his appeals are often eloquent; while his clear, candid state-
ments of tacts, and his deductions from them, are always
convincing, as his almost invariable success in jury trials
will attest.
AARON SCHOENFELD,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch is preeminently a
self-made man. A native of Syracuse, New
York, he was born July 31, 1846, the eldest son of
Adolphus and Clara Schoenfeld. His father, a
butcher by occupation, was a man of excellent char-
acter, esteemed by all who knew him. Aaron en-
joyed very limited educational advantages, being
simply those offered by the common schools, which
he attended prior to his twelfth year. At that age
he closed his studies in school and accepted a situ-
ation as errand-boy in a millinery store, where he
remained two years. During the two years next
following he worked in a butcher-shop, and in the
month of April, 1863, removed to the West and
settled at Mayfield, Wisconsin. He remained there,
however, but a short time. In the following July
he returned to Syracuse, but soon afterward made a
second trip to the West and settled in Chicago.
There he remained three years, engaged in shipping
cattle to the East, and at the expiration of that time
again went to Syracuse, and remained there one
year, engaged in the business of selling meats. Re-
turning to Wisconsin, he was for six months engaged
as a clerk in a dry-goods store at Port Washington,
and after leaving his position there settled in Mil-
waukee, where he has since made his home. Dur-
ing the following three years he traded in horses
and cattle, and next began work for Messrs. L.
Worth and Co., rectifiers of spirits. After being
engaged as an employe for one year he purchased
a one-third interest in the business, and continued a
partner for two years. The investment proved a
very successful one, and at the end of the two years
he purchased the remainder of the business, and has
since that time conducted it in his own name. As
a bu.'iiness man he possesses a shrewdness and tact
which enable him to seize opportunities and turn
them to good account ; and it is to this and his un-
tiring energy and continuity that he owes his suc-
cess.
Throughout his career his dealings have been
marked by uprightness, and he holds the esteem of
all with whom he has to do. He was left an orphan
at the age of ten, and being thus early thrown upon
his own resources, he has developed a remarkable
independence and strength of character.
Mr. Schoenfeld is still single, and has one brother
and five sisters living. His father died in 1856.
HEZEKIAH W. WORTH,
DEL A VAN.
HEZEKIAH WILBUR WORTH was bom on
the 31st of July, 1836, at Redfield, Oswego
county. New York, and is the son of Reuben and
Mary Ann Worth, both of whom are prominent
members of the Baptist church. The ancestors of
the family were among the early settlers of Rhode
Island. Hezekiah passed his early life on his
father's farm, receiving a common-school education.
and at the age of twenty left his native State and
settled at Delavan, Wisconsin. One year later,
in 1857, he removed to Palatine, in Cook county,
Illinois, and there spent three years in farming.
In 1862 he enlisted in the 113th Regiment Illinois
Volunteers, for three years or during the war, but
by reason of impaired health he was unable to con-
tinue in the ariny, and after one year was discharged
oO,
T^-T/- — t^<Aj\,y\.^-^^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARJ'.
623
from the service, and returned to his home in Deia-
van. During the next three years he employed his
time in various ways, doing whatever opportunity
offered whereby he might earn an honest living for
his family, and at the expiration of that time began
traveling as a commercial agent, an occupation
which has since continued to occupy his attention.
In 1873 Mr. Worth purchased six acres of land ad-
joining the village of Delavan, and soon afterward
discovered that it contained several fine springs,
one of which possessed superior medical qualities.
Tiiis is known as the "Ghion Spring." The others
he used for trout-raising purposes, and has now
about fifty thousand brook trout growing, and al-
most large enough for market. The business is one
which has deeply engaged his attention, and there
is every indication that it must prove a success. In
June, 1875, ^^r. Worth opened a hotel on his estate,
which is known as the Ghion Spring House. This
has become a popular resort, his trout pond and
beautiful spring water drawing immense throngs of
people.
In religions sentiment Mr. Worth is not identified
with any church organization; he was reared in the
Christian denomination, and contributes liberally to
the support of religious and benevolent enterprises.
In politics he is wholly unpartisan, supporting for
office men whom he esteems most worthy and fitting,
regardless of party prejudices.
He was married on the 31st of March, 1856, to
Miss Parnal M. Mosher, in whom he has found a
true and faithful life companion. Tliey have had
two children, both of whom died in infancy.
Personally and socially he is a man of sterling
qualities. His travels have given him a wide range
of knowledge, and being of a generous and genial
nature, he is a most agreeable social companion.
In stature he is five feet ten inches, and weighs two
hundred and sixty pounds.
Although his life history has many phases in com-
mon with that of others, it is yet marked by an
under-current of enterprise and determination that
cannot but call forth admiration, while the success
which has attended him must prove an incentive to
ambitious youth to make the most of their powers
and oi)portunities.
PARKER McCOBB REED,
MILWAUKEE.
THE branch of the universal Reed family, to
wliich the subject of this sketch belongs, is of
Scotch and English descent, coming down from a
line of ancient border nobility. In this country his
lineage extends back to his paternal grandfather,
Captain Paul Reed, who, coming from England at
an early day, landed at Weymouth, Massachusetts,
and lived and died at Boothbay Harbor, Maine,
where he was a shipmaster and prominent citizen,
dying, as did his wife, of extreme old age.
His maternal descent was from the notable family
of Denny, who lived in Derry, Ireland, at the time
of the historic siege of that ancient city. His
great-grandfather. Major Samuel Denny, was the
ruling magistrate and commander of the military at
Georgetown, Maine, which, at that early day, com-
prised a large extent of territory on both sides of
the Kennebec river. His grandfather, General
Thomas McCobb, of English origin, lived at George-
town, and commanded a company that joined Gen-
eral Arnold's expedition as it passed up the Ken-
nebec river, during the war of the revolution, on its
route through the wilderness to Quebec. His grand-
mother, Rachel McCobb, was notable for her piety
and her literary attainments.
His father was Colonel Andrew Reed, and his
mother Beatrice McCobb. They married at George-
town and lived in Pliippsburgh, Maine, where both
died, the latter in 1835, when sixty-three years of
age, and the former in 1848, aged eighty-three.
They were alike eminent in Christian character.
The father was long in the military service, and
commanded a regiment stationed near the mouth of
the Kennebec river for a time during the war of
1812; subsequently held an office in the United
States customs service thirty-two years ; and was
senior deacon of a Congregational church twenty-
three years, till his death. He had eleven children,
of which our subject was the youngest of eight sons,
and was born April 6, 1813, at Phippsburgh, Maine.
His early education was largely from the public and
private teaching of his eldest brother John, after-
ward attending academy at Bath, Maine, to which
he added assiduous self-cullure, his tastes being
624
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
literary, and his ambition to perfect himself in the
use of the English language.
His brother Thomas kept a large store at the
" Center " village, and he went into this at a very
early age, remaining, when not at school, until he
was eighteen. The "nabob" of the town was his
uncle, Parker McCobb, for whom he was named, and
through whose advice he obtained and accepted the
offer of a situation in the wholesale and retail book-
store of Pendelton and Hill, 94 Broadway, New
York city. To retain him in his store his brother
Thomas proposed to increase his salary and take
him into partnership the next year, which was a
magnificent offer, the brother since becoming a
millionaire. But to go to New York to live before
the days of steamboats and railroads in that eastern
country, made a young man a hero, and the impulse
to go was irresistible. Accordingly on June i, 1831,
he left his father's house and embarked on the great
world and a clipper sloop for the great city, taking
a week's voyage to reach his destination, which, to
him, was like unto a world of its own.
The store he entered was the habitual resort of
the literati of that city. He remained in this employ
to the close of his year's engagement, when the firm
dissolved. He then spent a year in the grocery
store of Ayers and Halliday, the firm closing out
their business at the end of his year's deployment.
The junior partner is now the Rev. S. B. Halliday,
assistant pastor to Henry Ward Beecher, Plymouth
Church, Brooklyn. At the earnest solicitation of
his employers he remained at his post when half
tlie city had fled, during the terrific cholera sea-
son of 1832. Becoming acquainted with Captain
John Martin, of the ship Attica, he accepted an
invitation to a voyage with him to Havanna and
return. On arriving there he was tendered employ-
ment by the largest commercial house in that city.
But this fine offer he declined, not liking the people
nor their slavery of the blacks. On arriving back
to New York he returned to Maine, reaching his
father's house in the fall of 1833. He taught a pub-
lic school during the succeeding winter in his native
town, and private schools and classes in penmanship
subsequent years. In 1834 he adopted the vegeta-
rian and hygienic system of living, which he strictly
continued ten years, laying thereby the solid basis
of sound health lasting to this day. Designing in
the spring of 1839 to mount his horse and proceed
to the " Far West " in search of fortune, his fatiier
persuaded him to remain on the old homestead dur-
ing his old age, as the last child left with him ; and, 1
as in duty bound, he relinquished ardently cherished
pioneer inclinations, and settled down to conduct 1
his father's business, and has never regretted acqui-
escence in this filial duty. Engaging at times in
other business besides overseeing the farm, which \
was a hay and stock farm, he remained at the home- '
stead until 1846. In April of this year he married \
Miss Harriet Susan Elliott, of the same town. Soon j
after, with the acquiescence of his father, he sold to i
his brother Thomas his personal property and a tract
of land of considerable value, and removed to Mas- ,
sachusetts, pursuing temporary business and medical '
study in Boston and vicinity. Finally, in the fall of
1848, he came around to the fruition of his early
ambition of "going west," and with his wife, a hun- ;
dred dollars, and ardent hopes, he proceeded to fol- j
low in the direction of the "star of empire." Leav-
ing railroad conveyance at its then terminus at ,
Niles, Michigan, he went in a little steamer down !
the St. Joseph river, crossing Lake Michigan in the I
steamer E. B. Ward, and landing at Chicago in No-
vember. Proceeding by canal and then by steam-
boat on the Illinois river, prospecting the country, j
he passed the winter at Groveland and Pekin, teach- 1
ing penmanship to pass off the time, delivering in j
the meantime some lectures on temperance, with j
success. Early the next season he purchased a \
horse and carriage, and, with his wife, took a long '
trip to "see the country " ; passing through northern ^
Illinois, Chicago, aouthern Wisconsin, crossing the
Mississippi for the first time at Dubuque, thence
through northern Iowa, recrossing into Wisconsin at
McGregor, passing through Madison, and ending >
the journey at Sheboygan. He spent the winter in ^
Buffalo, New York. He traveled through the West
the next season, going as far south as St. Louis,
when, having been attacked with inflammation of
the eyes, and fever and ague, he returned to his na- \
tive climate in Maine for recovery, which was !
speedily effected. In the fall of 1850 he settled ;
down temporarily in Westbrook, a suburb of the city ^
of Portland, Maine, to practice medicine, intending i
to return again to the West. At this place his only \
daughter, Emma Beatrice, was born November 13, i
1850. The next year he removed to East Boston, ,
taking a house and office, and entering into the ]
practice of his profession, remaining there until i
1857, his family residing a portion of the time in ;
the country, at Georgetown, Essex county. In the ,
fall of that year he again came West, and after con- ,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
625
siderable travel, during which he was corresponding
with Eastern newspapers, practiced his profession in
northern lUinois. A fire in January, 1861, con-
sumed nearly his entire effects, saving little besides
liis medical books and his horses and carriage. The
next April, the day Fort Sumter was fired on, he
moved to Delavan, Wisconsin, and practiced his
profession, to wliich he had added that of den-
tistry. At this pleasant village his only son, Albert,
was born July 7, 1863. In December, 1863, he re-
moved to Madison; the next spring to Columbus;
in May, ]867, to Racine, and September, 1870, to
Milwaukee, residing to this day on Prospect avenue,
on the lake shore.
During his earlier life he had devoted his spare
time to the study of medicine, entered as a student
with Dr, Winslow Lewis, an eminent surgeon of
Boston, in 1847, and subsequently attended lectures
at the Buffalo Medical College. From youth he had
a strong predilection for newspaper reading, wrote
some juvenile articles, and in the winter of 1846
commenced his newspaper career as an amateur
writer and correspondent. In this capacity he wrote
constantly for weekly papers in Maine and Massa-
chusetts, and eight years for the Boston " Daily
Traveller."
On coming west for final stay he transferred his
contributions to western papers, and engaged at the
same time in the practice of his regular profession.
In 1865 he commenced writing for the "Evening
Wisconsin," of Milwaukee, which,resulted in a lucra-
tive offer of permanent employment by its proprie-
tors, Cramer, Aikens and Cramer, as traveling cor-
respondent and general agent, which, after some days'
hesitation, he accepted on his own terms, entering
upon his new field of duty September 6, 1866. He
immediately inaugurated the system of " writing up "
towns, which soon became immensely popular, and
has been in practice to this day, more or less, by
nearly all the papers of the Northwest. At the same
time he conceived and put in practice the idea of
writing, for publication, "pay notices" of various
kinds of business interests, and individuals as well,
which has been extensively followed by the best
papers all over the country to this time.
In the spring of 1868 the Chicago "Evening
Post," having become a leading republican paper
under a newly organized company, with W. H.
Schuyler as business manager, he received a more
lucrative offer for like service on that paper, which,
after long liesitation, he .accepted on May i, 1868.
On leaving their employ the proprietors of the
" Wisconsin " said to him, " You can come back to
us at any time you choose." In the winter of 1869
he was requested to proceed to Salt Lake and Col-
orado, to write up the business interests of those
then far off and little known regions, and made a
very acceptable trip to Colorado, which consuming
so much time. Salt Lake was, at his own option, left
unvisited.
In the fall of 1870 three friends of his having
purchased the Milwaukee "Sentinel," the then
leading republican paper of Wisconsin, they in-
duced him to accept employment on that paper
November i, 1870 ; A. M. Thompson, was editor. He
reported for that paper at the State legislatures of
1S71 and 1872. At the former session he aided in
the successful passage of the famous Dell's improve-
ment bill, and at the latter the celebrated temper-
ance Graham bill, also acting as clerk of the com-
mittee on the judiciary of the assembly.
In March, 1872, John Y. Scammon commenced
the publication of the " Daily Inter-Ocean," Chica-
go, as an organ for the Northwest of the republican
party, and our subject immediately received an in-
vitation to work for it in his usual capacity, and at
an advanced salary became connected with it April
8, 1872, and has continued its special correspondent
and general agent to the present writing. Repre-
senting this paper, he has been once to Utah and
twice to Colorado, writing up the mining interests of
those territories, and, on the route, the agricultural
progress of Nebraska. He also reported for that
paper at the session of the Wisconsin legislature
of 1877.
While engaged on all these newspapers, he has
been eminently successful in aiding in the extension
of their circulation, placing that of the " Inter-
Ocean " within the States of Wisconsin, Minnesota,
and northern portions of Illinois, Iowa and Michi-
gan, on a permanent basis, outnumbering by large
odds contemporary iniblications. All the papers
with which he has been connected have been strong-
ly republican, which coincided with his political
views. He came on the stage of action an "Adams-
ite " of that day, always a high-tariff advocate, an
ardent whig during the existence of that party, par-
ticipating actively in the celebrated campaign of
1840, becoming a republican in 1856, entering
warmly into the notable presidential contest of that
year. . •
In 1844 he became a member of Lincoln Lodge
626
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, Bath, Maine,
and is now a member of Excelsior Lodge, Milwau-
kee ; was admitted a Free and Accepted Mason in
Bell City Lodge, Racine, Wisconsin, in 1868, and
demitted to Independence Lodge, Milwaukee, in
1876, to which he now belongs.
Not always belonging to temperance organi-
zations, yet has been a member of many of them;
he has never ceased to favor that cause, and now
recounts with gratification having become, in his
early youth, a believer in the first temperance re-
form movement led by Lyman Beecher, and has
peculiar pleasure in remembering that while dealing
out liquor to customers at his brother's store — all
stores keeping it then — he slyly done up temper-
ance tracts in the parcels of other goods sold to
drinking men.
Although having a taste for the military, he re-
fused repeated elections to military office while liv-
ing in Maine, until the year 1869, when, the Aroos-
took war breaking out, he was drafted into service
as a private ; was promoted a sergeant on the spot ;
was soon after advanced to the office of sergeant-
major of the regiment, and was ambitious to go to
the front, until General Scott came down to Maine
and settled the border difficulties, to his great dis-
gust. Military matters having, by this " speck of
war," become revived in that State, he served sev-
eral years at annual musters at Bath with consid-
erable distinction, and in 1843 was elected captain
of one of the military companies of Phippsburgh,
which persistent persuasion induced him reluctantly
to accept, leading his company on the muster-field
of that season in a style that elicited general com-
mendation.
The subject of this sketch has always been
blessed with remarkably good health, and is not, at
advanced age, showing the weight of years; lithe in
action and active in mind, of medium height, fair
complexion, erect in mien ; hopeful and content
with the comforts of life, and wife and children
around him; temperate in all things; of literary
tastes and fond of books, friends and the society of
refined and cultivated people; and satisfied with
having attained prominence as a newspaper man
and honorable standing as a citizen.
CYRUS L. HALL,
CYRUS LYMAN HALL, son of Daniel and
Philena (Lyman) Hall, was born in Perry,
Wyoming county, New York, September 17, 1824.
His father, a farmer by occupation, moved to Ben-
nington, near Attica, in the spring of 1833. There
Cyrus spent his summers on the farm and his winters
in school, mostly in the village of Attica, until he
attained the age of seventeen, when he began to
teach. At eighteen he was prepared for college,
but did not enter until September, 1849, at which
time he became a member of the sophomore class
at Yale College, from which he graduated in 1852.
On leaving college he became principal of the acad-
emy at Woodbury, Connecticut, where he remained
for two years, studying law meanwhile privately.
He then spent part of a year in a law office in New
York city, and in October, 1854, was admitted to
th6 bar in Brooklyn. He commenced practice early
in 1855, in Batavia, Genesee county, but after the
ensuing autumn became principal of the puljlic
school in that village.
In the fall of 1856 Mr. Hall removed to Hudson,
Wisconsin, and opened a law and land office in com-
pany with his youngest brother, T. W. Hall, with
whom he was also associated in founding the " Hud-
son Chronicle." The next spring he was elected
city attorney, and was district attorney in 1859
and i860; in 1861 he was appointed by Governor
Harvey judge of the county court, to fill a vacancy
for a full term. He was afterward reelected, hold-
ing the office, in all, eight years, his term expiring
December 31, 1869. Since that time he has given
his attention to real estate, and especially the nego-
tiating of loans, and to probate matters, more than
to a regular law practice.
In politics Judge Hall is of whig antecedents; he
was a more active politician in his younger than he
has been in his later years, and is in no sense a
partisan. He now votes the republican ticket, but
never allows political matters to interfere with his
legitimate business.
Mrs. Hall, whose maiden name was Josephine
Bacon Walker, of Woodbury, Connecticut, is a
woman of more than ordinary education and cul-
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
627
ture, but, both from inclination and the force of
circumstances, has found her sphere at home. She
is the mother of three children, two of them now
living. The elder of the two, Mary Frances, is a
member of the junior class in the State University,
while the younger, Charles Marshall, is a student
with his father.
Judge Hall has a great taste for literary and sci-
entific pursuits, and reviews the mathematical and
other branches con amore, and is greatly interested
in the growtli of the physical sciences. He is a
man of strong, active mind, and by acting up to the
convictions of an honest heart, has gained the confi-
dence and resjject of a wide range of acquaintances.
WILLIAM WILEY, M.D.,
FOND DU LAC.
WILLIAM WILP:Y is a native of Armagh,
Ireland, and was born on the nth of Febru-
ary, 1823, the son of Adam and Martha Wiley. His
father was a farmer by occupation, and in 1828 im-
migrated to America with his family, and engaged
in farming at Randolph, Vermont. William received
his education at Randoljih Academy, and after clos-
ing his studies in school, employed his time during
the summers in farm work, and taught school during
the winters. Later he turned his attention to the
study of medicine, defraying his expenses with the
money earned by teaching, and in 1848 graduated
from Castleton Medical College, Vermont. After
graduating he opened an office in Northfield, Ver-
mont, where he remained until 1849, when he re-
moved to the West and settled in Fond du Lac, and
there established himself in the practice of his pro-
fession. After ten years of successful practice he
sold his interests at Fond du Lac, agreeing not to
practice medicine in that place for five years, and
spent a short time in the South. Returning to Wis-
consin, he, in 1861, established himself in his pro-
fession, and in 1864 returned to Fond du Lac, where
he has since been actively and successfully engaged.
Dr. Wiley is a member of the Wisconsin State
Medical Society, and also of the Fond du Lac
County Medical Society. In 1873 he was appoint-
ed examiner of pensions.
In political sentiment Dr. Wiley has been identi-
fied with the republican party since its organization
in 1856.
He is not a member of any church organization,
but makes it his rule of action to do unto others as
he would have them do unto him.
He was married on the ist of March, 1855, to
Miss Sarah A. Henning, and by her has two sons.
Personally and socially Dr. Wiley is a man of ex-
cellent qualities, and from his travels throughout the
different parts of the United States he has gained an
experience and a knowledge of men which are in-
valuable to him in his profession, and that renders
him a most esteemed companion among his hosts of
friends. His success is wholly due to his own un-
tiring energy. When he first arrived in Fond du
Lac he had but fifty cents in his pocket, and it has
been by constant effort and unremitting zeal that he
has worked his way gradually up to his present high
social and professional standing.
SAMUEL COAD,
MINERAL POINT.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Peran-
zabuloe, Cornwall, England, was born on the
2ist of September, 1823, the eldest son of William
and Ann Coad. The father died leaving a large
family in poor circumstances, and at the early age
of eight years Samuel was deprived of his school
privileges, and put to work in the copper mines of
Cornwall.
He lived with his mother until his fifteenth year,
contributing liberally to her support. In 1837 she
married a second husband, and by reason of un-
pleasant relations which grew up between Samuel
and his step-father, the former left home and went
to live with his uncle, James Coad, of St. Austel,
where he spent three years as a common miner in
the Polyooth mines. Returning to Peranzabuloe at
62i
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
the expiration of that time, he worked seven years
in the copper mines at that phice, and in 1848 im-
migrated to the United States and settled at Mineral
Point, Iowa county, Wisconsin, and there engaged
in mining for three years. In the spring of 185 1 he
went to California, and there spent two years in
gold mining with good success. Returning to Min-
eral Point, he remained tv/o years with his family,
but business being dull, and the prospects for
money-making in California being very flattering,
he went thither again, and arrived in San Francisco
in August, 1855. Going thence to Grass Valley, he
there engaged in mining for about one month, when,
becoming dissatisfied, he went to Weaver, in Trinity
county, and spent three years in successful mining
operations. In 1858 he again returned to his family
at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and in the fall of the
following year engaged in the produce business.
.'\t the expiration of five years he abandoned this
occupation, and during the next two years devoted
his attention to building. Having at the end of that
time completed his buildings, he again resumed the
produce trade, and has continued it with good suc-
cess until the present time (1877). His life career,
though varied, has been one of marked industry and
energy, and by his many-colored experiences he
has acquired a knowledge of men and things, and a
business tact, that enable him to lay hold of oppor-
tunities and turn them to good account.
In religious sentiment Mr. Coad is a Methodist.
He joined the Wesleyan Methodist church when he
was twenty-three years of age, and continued a com-
municant of that body until he left England. Upon
his arrival at Mineral Point he united with the
Methodist Episcopal church. Withdrawing from
that body in 1848, he joined the Primitive Method-
ists, and for nearly thirty years has been a zealous
and consistent member of that denomination.
Mr. Coad was married, July 24, 1847, to Miss
Fannie Truscott, eldest daughter of Andrew and
Grace Truscott, and by her had two sons and one
daughter. Mrs. Coad died on the 23d of July,
1863, and three years later he was married to Miss
Mary Wallace of Mineral Point.
HOiN. HENRY D. BARRON,
ST. CROIX FALLS.
HENRY DANFORTH BARRON is a native of
Wilton, Saratoga county, New York, and was
born April 10, 1833. After closing his studies in the
common schools he turned his attention to the study
of law, and graduated from the law school at Ballston
Spa, New York, and in August, 1855, was admitted to
the bar at Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he had set-
tled in August, 1 85 1.
Upon settling in Wisconsin he became editor of
the " Waukesha Democrat," subsequently known as
the " Waukesha Chronotype," a democratic weekly.
During the administration of President Pierce he
was appointed postmaster at Waukesha.
He entered upon the practice of his profession at
Pepin in 1857, and continued with good success
until July, i860, when he was appointed judge of
the eighth judicial circuit, to fill an unexpired term.
The circuit comprised the northwestern counties of
the State, including Pepin and Polk.
In September, 1861, he removed to St. Croix
Falls, his present home, and in the following year
was elected to the general assembly of the State,
as the representative of Ashland, La Point (now
Bayfield), Bennett, Dallas (now Barron), Douglass j
and Polk counties. He was reelected in 1863, 1865, j
1866, 1867, 1868, 187 I and 1872, and speaker of the |
assembly during the sessions of 1866 and 1873. |
He was one of the presidential electors-at-large in j
1868, and president of the Electoral College of that
year, and held the same position in the Electoral :
College of 1872. In February, 1863, Mr. Barron I
was elected by a joint ballot of the legislature a
regent of the Wisconsin State University, an office
which he has continued to hold until the present i
time (1877). He is also vice-president of the State ]
Historical Society. In March, 1869, Mr. Barron •(
was nominated by President Grant, for chief justice
of Dakota Territory, but declined the honor, and in !
April following was appointed by the President fifth .
auditor of the United States Treasury. Resigning
this position on the ist of January, 1872, he took his
seat in the State assembly, to which he had been <
elected in the fall of 187 1. In May, 1871, he was |
appointed a trustee, for his State, of the Antietam 1
Cemetery, by Governor Fairchild. After the expira- \
tion of his term in the assembly, in 1873, he was
THE UNITED STATES BIOCJ^APJI/CAJ. DlCTlONAUr.
629
elected to the State senate, and served as president
pro tern, during the session of 1875. In the fall of
1875 he was reelected to the senate for a term of
two years, and in the spring of 1876 was elected
circuit judge of the eleventh judicial circuit, com-
prising the counties of Ashland, Barron, Bayfield,
Bennett, Chippewa, Douglass and Pope, for a tei
senate he entered upon his judicial duties July i,
1876.
Such is an imperfect outline of the life-history of
one who may most fittingly be called a self-made
man. His career has been marked throughout by
earnest endeavor and an honest purpose, and he
now lives in the enjoyment of tliat reward which
of six years. Resigning his position in the State ' inevitably follows continued noble effort.
HENRY MULBERGER,
WATERTOWN.
HENRY iMULBERGER was born on the loth
of June, 1824, in the city of Spires, Germany,
and is tiie son of John D. and Elizabeth Mulberger.
His father was engaged in manufacturing.
Henry attended the common schools of his native
place, and later studied in the gymnasium, and still
later spent two years at the academy in Darmstadt.
After closing his studies he accepted a clerkship in
a woolen mill, and afterward engaged with his father
in the manufacture of wool.
In 1S47 he immigrated to America, landing in
New York city, where he intended to engage in the
importation of fine cloths, having brought thither a
stock. He found, however, that the business would
not warrant him in engaging in it, and accordingly
abandoned it and went to Ohio, where he remained
a short time.
In 1848 he removed to Wisconsin and settled at
Watertown, and engaged in the grocery business.
Later he kept a stock of general merchandise. He
sold his business interests in 1852, and two years
later began the study of law. He was admitted to
the bar in 1856, and during the following two years
served as clerk for tlie law firm of Enos and Hall.
In 1858 he became a partner in this firm, and con-
tinued in that relation for two years, when he with-
drew and engaged in practice in liis own name.
He afterward formed a partnership with Mr, Harlow
S. Orton, which continued until i860. In 1861 he
engaged e.xtensively in farming.
Aside from his legal practice Mr. Mulberger has
been honored by his fellow-citizens with many ])o-
sitions of honor and trust. In 1853 and 1854 he
was elected justice of the peace, and during the last-
named year was city clerk and clerk of the munici-
pal court. In 1856, 1857 and 1858 he was city
attorney. In 1865 he was elected an alderman ot
his city, and two years later was chosen to the office
of mayor. He is also a director of the Wisconsin
National Bank.
In political sentiment Mr. Mulberger is a demo-
crat.
He was married on the 12 th of October, 1S57, to
Miss Matilda Wolf, and by her has two sons and
three daughter^
As a lawyer Mr. Mulberger has been very suc-
cessful. He has built up an extensive practice, and
is regarded wherever he is known as an upright,
honorable and skillful practitioner.
He has admirable personal and social qualities,
and has won the respect and esteem of a large circle
of true friends.
M I L E S MIX, M.D.,
BERLIN.
ONE of the oldest medical practitioners in
Green Lake county, Wisconsin, is Miles Mix,
who for twenty-seven years past has been a resident
of Berlin. He began to study medicine somewhat
late in life, but fitted himself thoroughly before
starting in the profession ; and has since been a
studious, growing man, and bears a good name
wherever known. A native of New York, he was
born in Ripley, Chautauqua county, near the Penn-
sylvania line, October 17, 1819, and is the son of
6.W
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
Stephen Mix, a farmer, and Patience nee Risdon.
His parents moved to Mina, in the same county,
when Miles was only four years old, and in 1836
removed to La Porte, Indiana. Miles remained
at home until about nineteen, with three months'
school during each year. He commenced the car-
penter's trade, and worked at it si.x years in and
near La Porte, attending a select school in that
city, in the meantime, nearly a. year. In 1842 he
moved westward as far as Beloit, Wisconsin, where
he worked for a time at his trade, and spent six
months in a select school. He was in Whitewater
during the summer of 1843, and in the autumn of
that year went to Racine and spent two years there
in a threshing-machine shop, and in overseeing a i
set of hands in building the harbor improvement
works. Late in the year 1845 he commenced study-
ing medicine with Dr. O. W. Blanchard, of Racine,
and returning to La Porte in the spring of 1847, he
finished his medical studies with Professor Meeker.
He also attended lectures in that city, and there
graduated in February, 1850. On the 12th of Au-
gust of that year he settled in Berlin, and has since
been steadily engaged in practice, except during the
winter of 1S60-1, which he spent at Rush Medical
College, Chicago, brushing up his knowledge of
medical science and surgery. He has a general
practice, attending to such surgical cases as natu-
rally come in his way, and in this branch of his pro-
fession is especially skillful.
Dr. Mix is a Royal Arch Mason ; a republican in
politics, and a member of the Baptist church, and
the purity of his life has been unquestioned.
He was married on the 13th of January, 1849, to
Miss Louisa E. Wheeler, of La Porte, Indiana, and
by her has seven children. Edwin S., the eldest
child, is married, and has a farm near Berlin ; Jane
Ann, the eldest daughter, is the wife of Allen Ot-
terburn, of Berlin. Two of the boys are on their
brother's farm, and the rest of the children are at
home. Their mother, a woman of great devotion to
her family, a very active Christian and a pillar of
the Baptist church, always ready for any good work,
died March 4, 1877. She was the young people's
friend and counselor, and, a day or two before she
died, had them come to her house and sing some of
her favorite hymns. By old and young alike she
was most warmly esteemed. The Doctor is fully
sensible of his great loss, and realizes the truthful-
ness of the poet's lines:
' The memory of the just
Smells sweet, and blossoii
in the dust.'
COLONEL JOHN HANCOCK,
OSHKOSII.
THE subject of this sketch is a ifetive of Athens,
Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and was born
on the i2th of August, 1830, the son of Jesse and
Louisa Hancock. His father was a farmer and
manufacturer, carrying on a successful business, and
was highly respected in his community.
John received his education in his native town,
and after closing his studies in school began the
study of law at the same place. In 1856 he re-
moved to Wisconsin, and during that year was ad-
mitted to the bar at Juneau, and at once established
himself in the practice of his profession at Horicon.
In the following year (1857) he removed to Oshkosh,
his present home, and there resumed his profession.
In April, 1861, Mr. Hancock entered the army as
first lieutenant of Company E, 2d Regiment Wis-
consin Volunteers, and in October following was
promoted to the rank of major in the 14th Regiment
Wisconsin Volunteers. In 1S62 he became lieuten-
ant-colonel, and during the same year was promoted
to the rank of colonel. Remaining in the service
until 1863, he then, by reason of ill-health, resigned
and returned to his home in Oshkosh and again
resumed his profession, which he has since con-
tinued to conduct with good success.
Aside from his professional duties, Colonel Han-
cock has been honored by his fellow-citizens with
positions of honor and trust. In 1867 he was elect-
ed city attorney of Oshkosh. He was also elected
deputy provost marshal for Winnebago, Outagamie
and Calumet counties. He was chosen city justice
in 1873, and reelected in 1875. He is also presi-
dent of the Hancock Cranberry Company.
In political sentiment Colonel Hancock is a dem-
ocrat.
He is a consistent member of the Episcopal
church, and heartily supports all enterprises which
tend to l.ietter the condition of his fellow-men.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
633
He was married, February 12, 1862, to Miss Jennie
Reardon ; they have two sons and two daughters.
In all local enterprises Colonel Hancock takes an
interest, and is always ready to work for the good of
his city. He has been somewhat engaged in real-
eslate operations, and since the city was burned
has erected a fine brick block.
Colonel Hancock began life with no capital, and
by his own untiring efforts has worked his way
gradually up to his present high professional and
social standing. As a man he possesses most excel-
lent qualities, and throughout his career has main-
tained an enviable reputation and an unsullied char-
acter.
HON. SOLON H. CLOUGH,
HUDSON.
SOLON HUNTINGTON CLOUGH, a native
of Madison county, New York, was born Au-
gust 31, 1828. His father, Hamilton Clough, a
merchant and public contractor, was a business
man of much note in his locality. Solon attended
a common school most of the time in his younger
years. He prepared for college at the Fulton Acad-
emy, and after completing the freshman year at
Hamilton College, spent about three years in the
South, teaching a part of the time, but never reen-
tered college. In 1850 we find him again in the
State of New York. He studied law in Syracuse
and Fulton, and after being admitted to the bar
practiced in Oswego county until 1857, when he re-
moved to Hudson, Wisconsin. It was the year of
the great financial crash, and Hudson felt the de-
liression in legal as well as" other business. Mr.
Clough formed a partnership with Mr. H. C. Baker,
now of the firm of Baker and Spooner, and although
forced to " labor and wait," he patiently toiled and
overcame all obstacles, and after a few years was
rewarded witli a prosjterous ])ractice and a good
reputation.
In 1864, the eleventh judicial circuit having been
created, he was elected as circuit judge, having previ-
ously removed at the people's request to Polk county.
The district comprised all the counties north of St.
Croix to Lake Superior, and Judge Clough had the
most extensive circuit in the State. He remained
in Polk county five years, and being reelected in
1869 removed to Superior, at the head of Lake Su-
perior, where he remained seven years. He retired
from the bench at the end of twelve years, return-
ing to Hudson in the autumn of 1876, and is now
a member of the law firm of Clough and Hayes.
7\s a jurist he was noted for the fairness and just-
ness of his decisions, for his courtesy to the bar,
and his clear-headedness and quick discernment of
the legal relations and all bearings of every subject
presented for his consideration. As a lawyer he is
one of the most thoroughly read in St. Croix county.
In politics he is identified with the republican
party. In religious sentiment he is a Baptist.
Mrs. Clough's maiden name was Kate E. Taylor,
of Fulton, New York. They have had three chil-
dren, two of whom are now living.
JOHN H. HAUSER,
FOND DU LAC.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Monroe
county, Pennsylvania, was born in the town of
Stroudsburg, September 2, 1836, the son of Jacob
L. and Frances (Butts) Hauser. In 1850 the family
moved to Wisconsin, and settled at Delavan, where
John spent ten years aiding his father on a farm,
receiving, prior to i860, only a common-school edu-
cation. During that year he entered the preparatory
de]iartment of Lawrence University, and in 1861
became a member of the freshman class of that
institution. In his junior year he raised a company
of students, and as captain of the same joined the
40th Regiment of Wisconsin "hundred-day men."
Returning to Appleton he entered the senior class
in college in October, 1864; but in the February
following, reenlisted for three years, or till the close
of the war. He raised a company in eight days,
and as captain of the same joined the 49th Wiscon-
634
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
sin Regiment. The memliers of the faculty were
iinwilhng that lie should return to the war, and,
uilthough he promised to continue his studies and to
faithfully fill out the requirements of the curriculum,
they at first voted that they could not graduate him.
But after he had gone to the South they reconsidered
tlie matter and decided that he might graduate, pro-
vided he would pass an examination in all his
studies, and not be a candidate for honors, he being
entitled to the valedictory and highest honors of his
class. Having his books with him, he prepared for
examination in seven studies while among the "bush-
whackers " of Missouri. The faculty sent written
questions to the colonel of his regiment for liiui to
answer, and he passed a creditable examination, and
was graduated in course in June, 1865. In Novem-
ber of that year his regiment. was mustered out of
the service, and he returned north, and spent a
term at the law school in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Later he continued his legal studies with J. H. Car-
penter, of Madison, Wisconsin, and was admitted to
the bar in November, 1866. After practicing a short
time in Independence, Iowa, he, in August, 1867,
settled in Fond du Lac. Here for ten years he has
continued tlic law practice, with a prosperous busi-
ness and a growing reputation. Since March 26,
1877, he has held the office of .postmaster, and care-
fully attends to its duties. With his daily super-
vision the post-office is one of the best managed
offices of the kind in the State. At the same time
his legal i:)ractice in connection with Elihu Colman,
a rising attorney, is very extensive, and calls for a
great amount of time and hard labor. As a business
man Mr. Hauser is industrious, enterprising and
energetic, and is widely known for his honorable
and upright dealing.
In politics he is an ardent republican and one of
the leaders of that party in Fond du Lac, and an
indefatigable worker for its interests.
Mr. Hauser is a Knight Templar in the iVlasonic
fraternity, and has held many high offices in the
order.
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church, and usually holds some responsible position
in the same. He is one of the editors and proprie-
tors of the " Christian Statesman," an undenomi-
national iiaper published at Milwaukee.
In November, 1868, he was married to Miss
Louise Pease, of Milwaukee. They have had four
children, three of whom are now living.
HON. WILLIAM C. ALLEN,
W'lLLIAM CHENEY ALLEN, for many years
a leading citizen of southern Wisconsin, was
born in the town of Hoosick, Rensselaer county,
New York, February 2, 1814, and is the son of
Jacob and Lucy (Cheney) Allen. They were both
of jHire New England (originally English) stock.
His father was a farmer, and in early life was in easy
circumstances, but unfortunately he entered into
s|)eculations which proved disastrous. His mis-
fortune preyed upon his health, and the result was
that his children at an early age had to struggle for
bread and raiment. Both parents were tender, in-
dustrious and religious, and discharged their mission
in life well. His mother, who was a scion of the old
Cheney family of Pomfret, Connecticut, was quite
an intellectual woman, and to her training and in-
fluence he owes whatever success in life he has
achieved. She early imbued his mind with a love
of study and an unconcpierable desire to obtain an
education. To her, also, he owes his first religious
impressions. She was from her childhood a mem-
ber of the Methodist church, and continued in the
faith till the day of her death. Kinder people never
lived than the father and mother of William C. Allen.
Their heart and their home were ever open to all,
and their bread was divided with the hungry to the
last morsel. Their pure and unselfish lives are re-
membered by their son with the most lively and
tender affection; and although they had no worldly
goods with which to endow their children, yet the
legacy of a high and holy example, of deep religious
and moral culture which they bequeathed to them
was a thousand-fold more precious than all the
wealth of the Indies, and will endure when "gold
and silver " shall be "cankered," and the most cost-
ly garments " moth-eaten."
The ancestry from which our subject is descended
settled at an early period in the colony of Massa-
chusetts. Many of them became Quakers or Friends,
and followed Roger Williams to Rhode Island, in
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
635
order to enjoy religious freedom not accorded them
in Massachusetts. From this detachment a branch
moved into Dutchess county, New York (to what is
since known as "Quaker Hill "), many years before
the revolution. The grandfather of our subject,
Samuel Allen, was married on Quaker Hill to a lady
named Hammond, born in Dartmouth, New Hamp-
shire. He was a soldier in the revolutionary war;
fought at the battles of White Plains, Long Island,
and many other hotly contested fields of that mem-
orable struggle. In the year 1793 he removed to
the neighborhood of Hoosick Falls, where he took
up a six-hundred-acre tract of land, then covered
with heavy timber, on which he lived during the re-
mainder of his life. He died in the year 1819.
Our subject was early impressed with a deep sense
of morality, the observance of the Lord's day, a
reverence for the Holy Scriptures, ministers of the
gospel, and old people, which he has never forgotten.
He never went fishing or hunting, or engaged in any
of the common sports or amusements, on the Sab-
liath. He received the rudiments of his education
in the common schools, and remained under the
parental roof till the age of seventeen, when, owing
to the misfortune above alluded to, he was obliged
to launch out in support of himself He was.em-
l)loyed as a "hand " by a neighboring farmernamed
VV'heeler, at a salary of ten dollars per month. His
employer was a college-bred gentleman, of large
heart and great benevolence, who proved as kind as
a father to the hapless youth thus placed in his care.
He took great pains to encourage young Allen in a
course of study, and gave him free access to his
large and well-selected library. Among the first
volumes which he read was Paley's "Natural The-
ology," from which he first learned how to frame an
argument. Here he also read Milton's " Paradise
Lost," Good's " Book of Nature," Volney's "Ruins,"
" The Spectator," " Rambler," and some volumes of
history. He worked nine months for this gentle-
man, commencing on the 20th of March, 1831. He
afterward attended for four months a select school,
taught by a graduate of Union College, where he
commenced the study of the Latin language and the
higher mathematics. He also kept up a course of
miscellaneous reading, still having access to the
library of Mr. Wheeler. When the school closed in
the spring he resumed his engagement with his
former master at the old figures, ten dollars per
month. The latter continued the kindly interest
which he had previously manifested, taking special
pains to encourage him in his studies, and explain
to him things that seemed incongruous. Among
the volumes which he placed in his hands was " Jo-
sei)hus," explaining at the same time who the author
was, and many things relating to Jewish history.
He also gave him " Rollins' History " to read. He
thus became fascinated with the histories of the
Medes, Persians, Babylonians, Greeks, Egyptians
and Romans, and when at work he was always
thinking or talking of them with some one. The
knowledge thus obtained became indelibly fixed
upon his memory, and the names, dates, characters
and battles are all as fresh in his mind to-day as on
the day they were read. Through the influence of
his employer he was appointed to teach the district
school during four months of the succeeding winter.
After this he put himself under the tuition of a
learned mathematician, where he rapidly gained an
idea of numbers and magnitudes. He next entered
an academy at Jefferson, Schoharie county. New
York, in which he continued for two and a half
years, studying natural and moral philosophy, his-
tory, Latin, algebra and the higher mathematics
generally. The curriculum, however, did not in-
clude Greek, a circumstance which has since been
a source of deep regret and disadvantage to our
subject, as the want of a knowledge of this ancient
tongue, through which the Greeks still preside over
human action as its nomenclators, is a serious pri-
vation. In the opinion of our subject a thorough
knowledge of the old classics cannot be over-esti-
mated. During all these years of struggle and
adversity his excellent and pious mother was his
guardian angel and best counselor. She always
encouraged him to persevere, telling him the clouds
would sometime break away and a brighter light
would shine upon his pathway. She told him of
many poor boys who, in spite of more adverse cir-
cumstances than those with which he had to con-
tend, had attained to learning, wealth, eminence and
usefulness. Among the many illustrations which she
named was the case of Benjamin Franklin, whose
life he read and reread, so that the compositor who
brought down fire from heaven became his beau
ideal. Her advice and counsel were always wise, as
though spoken by an angel of God. The memory
of this sainted parent is still cherished with a deep
religious affection, and is among his best enjoyments
in his declining years.
His original purpose was to go through L'nion
College, but having had a great love for the exact
636
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
sciences, in the study of wliich he had spent con-
siderable time, and being now twenty-one years of
age, he was advised to give up the idea of a univer-
sity course and enter at once upon the study of the
law, which he had determined to make his life work.
He accordingly entered the law office of Cornelius
\\. I'utman, Esq., in Montgomery county, New York,
where he remained four years, and was admitted to
the bar in 1840.
On the 7th of October of the same year he mar-
ried Miss Mary A. McConkey, a daughter of John
McConkey, of Voorheesville, Montgomery county.
New York, who has since been his faithful com-
panion, friend and counselor, sharing his trials, no
less than his triumphs, throughout his long and
eminently happy life. In the following year he
moved to Wisconsin and settled at the town of
Delavan, Walworth count}', where he resided for
twenty-nine years. The town then consisted of
only a few rude houses partially completed, while
the surrounding country lay in its primitive state, as
it came from the hand of the Great Architect of the
universe, save here and there a rude beginning at
the border of some timber patch. The entire coun-
try was an open wilde, and yet marvelously beautiful,
unmarred by roads or fences. The prairies adorned
by a profusion of wild flowers, which perfumed the
summer air with their fragrance, while the groves
of giant oaks seemed to furnish a suitable dwelling
place for the gods. All around was a solemn still-
ness,
" sublime, but sad. The loneliness
Loaded the heart ; the desert tired the eye.
And strange and awful fears were wontto press
The bosom with a stern solemnity."
But man, civilized man, entered and overturned the
fair but hitherto unproductive face of nature, and
where the buffalo and the red man ranged uncon-
trolled, towns, cities, farm houses, school houses,
churches, factories, railroads, fences, etc., are now
to be seen, presenting a striking contrast to that
which met the gaze of the traveler forty years ago.
Our subject has seen the growth of it all, and borne
his full share in bringing about the wonderful change.
In 1842 he was elected probate judge of Walworth
county, and was reelected for three consecutive terms,
making si.\ years in succession. During the same
period he practiced his profession, and always had
his full share of the business of the courts. In the
winter of 1849 he was appointed by the legislature
as a member of a committee of lawyers to codify
the statutes of the State, and bore a conspicuous
part in that important work. In the autumn of the '
same year he was elected county judge of Walworth '
county for a term of four years, the title and dura- \
tion of the incumbency having been changed in
1848. In 1853 he was elected to a second term of
the same office, but after serving two years of the •
last named period he was induced to resign the i
office in order that he might devote his whole time
and energy to the building of the Western Union \
railroad, an enterprise of which he was one of the i
originators, and of which he continued a director ]
and vice-president until the road changed hands in i
1869. In 1866 he was elected a member of the
lower house of the Wisconsin legislature, and was
appointed chairman of the committee on railroads, ;
a very responsible position, in view of the fact that ■
a large land grant was to be disposed of by that j
legislature, and there was great rivalry among com-
peting companies ; but Judge Allen was found equal j
to the emergency, and so well did he act his part i
that he was reelected in the following year, and J
served as chairman of the still more important com- '
mittee on federal relations. In 1852 he was one of
the charter members of the State Institution for \
the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, and con-
tinued a member of its board of trustees for nine-
teen years — serving as chairman most of the time — '
when he resigned. In 1850 he organized the Wal- ;
worth County Bank, of which he continued the
president until its dissolution and reorganization
under the banking law of 1863. He removed to
Racine in 1870, and was soon after appointed a
member of the board of State charities and reform,
which position, after four years of faithful service, j
he was obliged to resign on account of failing health. 1
Soon after settling in Racine he became impressed |
with the necessity for a larger volume of capital to '
accommodate the business men of the city, and
after securing the concurrence of several of the
leading citizens, he obtained, through Senator Car-
penter, a charter from congress for the organization ;
of the Manufacturers' National Bank at Racine, of
which he was made a director, which position he
still retains. This is one of the most substantial and ;
useful monied institutions of the State. '
He was raised under Methodist training, and in ,
early life was a member of that church, but on \
settling in Delavan he united with others in the j
organization of a Congregational society ; aided i
liberally in building its first church in 1843, and \
was a member and trustee of the congregation for j
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
637
twenty-eight years. On removing to Racine lie
united with the Presbyterian church, of which he
has since been a member and an officer.
His poHtical views may be inferred from his rec-
ord. He was an abolitionist from the outset, and
the first newspaper he ever subscribed for was the
" Emancipator." The sentiments he then imbibed
clung to him through life, and he is thankful to God
that he has lived to see slavery overthrown ; for
wliile he does not believe that the African is in all
respects the equal of the white man, still his inferi-
ority is no reason why he should be enslaved. Con-
sequently he gave his whole influence and support
to the cause of the government during the late slave-
holders' rebellion, and was among the foremost of
the loyal citizens in his district in every work for the
aid of the government and the benefit of the fight-
ing soldiers and their dependent families.
He is a strong advocate of a metallic currency as
a basis, and paper money only when on par with
gold. He is an ardent believer in free trade, low
rates of interest for money, and the enactment of
such laws as will give every man a full share of the
profit of his toil. He is not a believer in caste, save
only such as God has made among men in brains,
virtue and the various factors which make up a good
character.
For many years past he has been a sufferer from
a painful malady that has somewhat circumscribed
his usefulness and activity. Vet, notwithstanding
this very serious disadvantage, he has always been a
gentleman of a genial and social spirit, bringing sun-
shine into every circle which he enters, and com-
municating the same spirit to others. It has been a
cause of surprise to his friends how he could gain
such mastery over pain, and in spite of it maintain
such cheerfulness and equanimity of temper. This
characteristic, together with his conversational pow-
ers, renders him always a most welcome acquisition
to any social circle. He is a man of wide and varied
information, which, by constant study, he keeps
within practical reach, and is therefore able to make
it of value to himself and those with whom he asso-
ciates.
As a Christian he is thoroughly sincere and ear-
nest. Indeed, earnestness and sincerity may be said
to be the leading traits of his character, but they show
their greatest development in his religious life. He
has been for years, in a marked degree, a growing
Christian, putting on the mellowness and flavor of
ripeness, a man not living for himself but for others,
and evidently striving to imitate his Redeemer in
daily life — his Christianity having the breadth which
springs from large intelligence, broad charity, and
an extensive intercourse with mankind.
The even balance and steady onflow of Judge
Allen's character renders it the more difficult to
portray, and makes his excellencies less striking. In
a word, he is not a man of [irotuberances of char-
acter, but a Well-rounded and full-orlied man.
BURR ROBBINS,
^JANESVILLE.
A COMPLETE history of the adventures, experi-
ments, trials and ultimate triumphs of him
whose name heads this article would occupy more
space in these columns than we could afford to it;
hence we nuist content ourselves with a brief out-
line.
Burr Robbins, the most successful showman in
the West, and second only to the redoubtable Bar-
num, was born on the picturesque banks of the
Susquehanna river, in the village of Union, Broome
county, New York, October 13, 1837. His parents
were Isaiah P. and Lavinia (Day) Robbins, both
natives of Wooster county, Massachusetts, and de-
scended of English ancestors, who settled in the
Bay State several generations ago. They were,
moreover, possessed of more than average intelli-
gence, and sustained the very highest character for
uprightness and moral worth ; so that the early
training of our subject was of the most exemplary
character. Soon after their marriage his parents
moved to New York, and founded the village in
which he was born, where his father was for many
years a successful merchant. In 1848 he gave up
merchandising and removed to the neighborhood of
Cleveland, Ohio, where he purchased a large farm
and carried on the business of husbandry success-
fully during the remainder of his life. Our subject
received his elementary education in the village of
Brooklyn, Ohio, and spent the years 1S52, 1853 and
1854 in the Baldwin University of the same State,
638
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
becoming a superior English and mathematical
scholar, and being also well versed in history and in
several of the ancient languages.
In the spring of 1855, possessed of a spirit of ad-
venture and a desire to hew out his own way in life,
he left his home, with no capital or stock in trade
aside from his brains and the clothing which he
carried on his back, and worked his passage on a
steamboat to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and thence
went into the country some distance to seek em-
ployment on a farm.; but he was so young and frail
looking that no one would employ him. He next
turned his face toward Racine, which place he
reached hungry and penniless, and sawed wood to
pay for a supper, which was the only meal he had
that day. His ne.xt objective point was Chicago,
which he reached by "stowing" himself on board
the old steamer Traveller, and giving his only coat
to pay his passage. In Chicago he was taken charge
of by a poor sailor, who generously fed him and
supplied his wants until he procured em])loyment at
a lumber yard, at a compensation barely sufficient
to pay his board. He continued at this business
several months, and in the autumn of the same year
went to Corunna, Michigan, where he had an older
brother in business. Here he found employment in
the hardware store of Eli Moore and Co., where he
remained one year, and accumulated a small capital
together with some valuable experience. In the
autumn of 1856 he obtained an appointment as civil
engineer on the Detroit, Saginaw and Pere Mar-
quette raiUoad, which he held until tlie enterprise
was- temporarily abandoned, owing to the financial
panic of 1857. He next moved to St. Louis, Mis
souri, where he procured employment in Wood's
museum, which he retained for some months. Here
he conceived the idea of entering upon the career
in which he has been so signally successful. In
1858 he associated himself with a certain " Profes-
sor " C. C. Pratt, a Boston singer of some reputation,
and invested his little savings in a concert company
and commenced a professional tour through the in-
terior towns of Illinois. But the times were very
stringent, and at one place they failed to pay ex-
penses, had no surplus on hand and were yet in
debt. The situation was critical, but the young
artist was equal to the emergency. Instead of leav-
ing in the night and repudiating the debt, as many
would have done, he went to work in the harvest-
field until he earned money enough to pay his bills;
and in the same fall entered upon the business of
"showman " under more favorable auspices, namely,
as manager of a panoraina of the revolutionary war,
lecturing upon each scene exhibited. He continued
this business with satisfactory financial results until
the outbreak of the late rebellion, when, on the 19th
of April, 1861, he enlisted in a Cleveland regiment,
and went with his command to Clarksburg, Virginia.
Here his excellent business qualifications and pecu-
liar training were soon brought under contribution,
and he was accordingly, placed in charge of the
transportation department at General McClellan's
headquarters. He continued in this capacity until
the end of the year 1861, when he was appointed
wagonmaster of General Terril's brigade of artillery,
then stationed at Mumfordsville, Kentucky, with
thirty days' leave of absence. Meantime he re-
turned to Ohio, and on the 20th of January, 1862,
married Miss Lizzie C, daughter of the Hon. John
A. Ackley, who for many years was superintendent
of public works of the State of Ohio. He left for
the front two days after his marriage, and was after-
ward promoted to the position of master of transpor-
tation, twenty-third army corps, commanded by Gen-
eral Schofield, in which he remained until the close
of the war, rendering invaluable service to his coun-
try, and earning for himself an enviable reputation
as a patriot and soldier. It is worthy of record that
he was first a sergeant in the regiment of which
President Hayes was colonel, and that he is now
among the most enthusiastic admirers of our chief
magistrate.
At the close of the war he organized a variety
theater company, and for a time gave entertainments
in the oil regions of Pennsylvania, continuing the
same with fair success until 1867, when he settled at
Paw Paw, Michigan, and engaged in merchandising-,
which he continued for about a year, and until tlie
death of his wife, which occurred on the 23d of
July, 1868. He then sold out and lived retired
until December, 1870, when he again ventured be-
fore the public as manager of the National Panorama
of Paintings, of the celebrated Bill D. T. Travis.
This business he pursued until June, 187 1, at which
time he ])urchased a small tent show, which he ex-
hibited at towns in Indiana and Michigan for several
months with considerable success; and in the spring
of 1872 he organized the circus and menagerie with
which his name and fame have since been connect-
ed, and which has proved a grand financial success,
and given him renown second only to that of Bar-
num. In 1874 he purchased the beautiful farm and
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
639
l)iiildings formerly owned by the County Agricultu-
ral Society, located one mile south of the city of
Janesville, Wisconsin, on the Rock river, where he
has made a home of rare attractions. Here he has
parks for his deer and suitable winter accommoda-
tions for his large stud of horses and great variety
of wild animals. He has over one hundred thousand
dollars invested in wild quadrupeds and birds alone,
while his entire stock in trade is not far short of a
million dollars. All this Burr Robbins has accumu-
lated in a few years by his talents as a caterer to
the public ap|)etite for recreation, and by his sterling
integrity and uprightness of character. He is known
everywhere as a man of his word — whatever he
promises he performs. He is a shrewd financier,
generous and noble-hearted, a kind and indulgent
master, a true and fast friend. When he travels
through the country, the thousands flock to greet
him, because, as the proverb is, his is the "most
respectable" as well as the largest "show "which
travels in the West. His reputation has been won
and his success achieved by honorable means — in-
dustry, energy and unflinching integrity.
In December, 187 1, he was married to Miss Nett
Webster, of Lawrence, Michigan, a lady of refined
tastes and high culture, who generally spends the
summer in traveling with her husband. As an indi-
cation of the esteem in which this lady is held by
the citizens of Janesville, it is proper to mention
here that in June, 1875, she was presented by them
with a splendid silver tea set, water pitcher and
coffee urn, while Mr. Robbins was himself the re-
cipient of a gold-headed cane from the same source.
Two children are the fruit of this marriage — a son,
born December 14, 1872, and a daughter, born
January 18, 1876.
JOSIAH W. SEELY,
JONAS SEELY, from whom a large branch of the
.Seely family in this country sprung, came from
England in 1690, and settled in Stanford, Connecti-
cut. Other branches of the family spell their names
differently. The parents of Josiah W. Seely, the
subject of this brief biography, were Henry and
Clarissa (Lyon) Seely, residents of Bainbridge, Che-
nango county. New York, at the time of his birth,
December 10, 1819. His grandfather, Eli Seely,
was a soldier in the revolutionary war.
Josiah was kept at school during the first eighteen
years of his life, finishing his literary education at
the high school in his native village. In 1837 he
commenced studying law in the office of Henry A.
Clark, of Bainbridge, and finished with Love and
Freer, of Ithaca; teaching school, meanwhile, three
winters. He was admitted to the bar in 1844, at
tlie January term of the supreme court, held at
Albany, and practiced three years at Ithaca. He
was at Bainbridge from 1847 to 1858, practicing
law and attending to a farm which his father, who
died in 1848, left him. He then spent a year in
Nebraska, and in 1859 settled at Marquette, Green
Lake county, Wisconsin. There he was in legal
practice and land speculation until 1863, when he
removed to Waupun, his present home. He prac-
tices in all the courts of the State, but for years has
69
given his attention largely to collecting and real
estate operations. At one time his collections were
second to those of scarcely any lawyer in the State.
They became so large and so burdensome, that a
few years ago he was obliged to throw a part of
them off. He now 'has a partner in the law and
collecting business, N. W. Frost, who attends to
the collections, which are rapidly growing on their
hands.
Mr. Seely has two excellent farms, one in, the
other near, Waupun, with an aggregate of four hun-
dred acres, lying in Dodge and Fond du Lac coun-
ties. The one in town is one of the best in the
State. He also owns a block in the village of Wau-
pun, and other property ; and has large tracts of
land in Nebraska, Minnesota and Missouri. As a
business man he has been eminently successful, and
is known for his skill and tact. On his farms, to
which he gives all his leisure time, he has full-
blooded stock of various kinds, cattle, sheep and
horses. He has three or four spans of carriage
horses, all for his own use, some of them difficult
to match in the State. They are of his own raising.
Mr. Seely has ample means for his comfort, ample
facilities for his pleasure, and is living at his ease,
as any sensible man, in similar circumstances, can
afford to do and will do.
640
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
In politics, he was formerly a whig, and is now a
republican, hut has never accepted an office of any
kind.
He attends the Episcopal church, of which his
wife, who was Miss Susan Maria Humphrey, of Hart-
ford county, Connecticut, is a member. They were
joined in wedlock March 10, 1856, and have had
four children, three of whom, Henry A., Clara M.
and Amelia H. are living, and receiving the advan-
tages of a first-class education.
JOHN B. A. KERN.
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of the king-
dom of Bavaria, was born on the 29th of Sep-
tember, 1829, the son of John B. and Mary Kern.
His father, being himself a thorough business man,
trained his son to correct business habits, and it was
thus early in life that he laid the foundation of that
success which has attended him. He received a
thorough common-school education in the public
schools of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and after
closing his studies, desiring to become a tobacco-,
nist, at once learned the trade and turned his atten-
tion to that line of business. He continued in this
business during the next eight years, in which time
he traveled over the greater part of the United
States, selling the goods which he manufactured.
The business proved very successful, and yielded
him a handsome fortune. He ne.xt purchased an
interest in the Philadelphia Print Works, an invest-
ment which proved unfortunate, and cost him the
fortune which he had gained in the tobacco trade.
In 1859 Mr. Kern settled at Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin, and began milling in an old frame flouring-mill
situated on Poplar street. His .business, begun thus
on a small scale, gradually increased from year to
year, until it has assumed immense proportions.
Beginning with a capital of less than two thousand
dollars, he employed, during the first year, twelve
hands, and produced one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars' worth of flour. To-day he owns a mill with
a frontage of one hundred feet, one hundred and
forty feet deep, and six stories high, and his busi-
ness employs about one hundred hands, and yields
an annual product of two hundred thousand barrels
of flour.
In all his dealings with his customers Mr. Kern
is characterized by fairness, frankness and unswerv-
ing integrity. In all his business matters he is
prompt and energetic, and it is to these qualities,
together with the superior quality of his flour, that
is due the great success which has attended him in
his milling enterprise. His motto through life has
been, that success must come through honest, per-
sistent, continuous effort; and following this he has,
even in times of misfortune and reverses, made the
highest use of his powers and opportunities.
In politics Mr. Kern is not bound by party ties,
but disregarding all prejudices, supports for office
him whom he deems most worthy the place.
In religious sentiment he is free from all sectarian-
ism, and holding to the principle laid down in the
golden rule, exercises toward all men that charity
and liberality which he claims for himself.
In February, 1856, he was married to Miss Lena
Bertsehy. Mrs. Kern is a lady of most admirable
qualities, and has been to her husband a true helper
and adviser, and to her influence is due much of his
success.
They have an interesting family of three sons and
three daughters, all of whom, except the eldest, are
now attending school.
HENRY
L. BARNES,
RIFOX.
M.D.,
HENRY LINZEY BARNES, son of Jehiel S.
and Sarah Ann (Cole) Barnes, was born at
Mexico, Oswego county. New York, April 16, 1835.
His father's family was of English descent, and
settled in this country long before the American
revolution. His grandfather participated in that
struggle. Rev. Albert Barnes, the biblical scholar
and annotator, belongs to one branch of this family.
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
643
Jehiel S. Barnes, a farmer, moved to Wisconsin
in 1846, and settled near Markesan, Green Lake
county. There Henry spent five years, employed
in farm work ; be was then sent away to school, and
finished his literary education at the high school
in Ripon. He commenced studying medicine with
Dr. A. W. Hewitt, of Ripon, in September, 1854.
He attended lectures one term at Rush Medical
College, Chicago, and spent a year with Professors
Thayer and Webber, of Cleveland, Ohio, giving
special attention to surgery. He graduated from
the Cleveland Medical College in March, 1858, and
thereupon settled in Darlford, Green Lake county,
in which place, and in Ripon, his present home,
he has since continued to practice with constantly
growing success.
In January, 1865, Dr. Barnes went into the mili-
tary service as assistant surgeon of the 21st \\'iscon-
sin Regiment, which had just joined in the march
from Atlanta to the sea with General Sherman's
grand army through the Carolinas. He remained
with the regiment until it was mustered out in the
summer of that year. His studies while with Pro-
fessors Thayer and Webber were especially adapted
to fitting him for an army surgeon, so that he filled
the position with marked credit. The amount of
practice in this line, in a small city like Ripon and
the surrounding country, is limited, though Dr.
Barnes has hi's full share of it, and is gaining in
popularity both as a surgeon and as a general prac-
titioner; and in medical skill his reputation is an
honor both to the profession and to himself. He is
a member of the county and State medical societies.
Dr. Barnes is a Knight Templar in the Masonic
order, and was master of the lodge several years,
and is now high priest of the chapter.
In politics he was a Douglass democrat in i860,
but since that time has usually voted with the re-
publicans. Finding, however, work and study suf-
ficient to employ all his powers in connection with
his profession, he devotes little attention to politics.
Dr. Barnes was married on the 3d of January,
1 86 1, to Miss Nelly Cody, of Dartford, Wisconsin,
and by her has had four children.
JOHN DICKSON,
RACINE.
JOHN DICKSON was born in Chautauqua county,
New York, in what is now the town of Ripley, on
the 8th of September, 1814, and is the son of John
and Elizabeth (Sutphen) IMckson. His parents
were natives of Somerset county. New Jersey. His
father was descended from original Scotch ances-
tors, who emigrated to the north of Ireland and set-
tled in Londonderry, whence they emigrated to
America. His mother was of Holland-Dutch ori-
gin, of the same stock that settled New York and
Albany. After their marriage in 1796 they moved
to Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York, which
was then a wilderness. In 1810 they removed still
farther westward and settled at the place where our
subject was born, and where his childhood and
early youth were passed. He still entertains the
most kindly feelings toward the place of his nativ-
ity, calling it, in fond remembrance, " Old Chautau-
que." His early education was obtained mainly
from private schools, for the district school was not
as yet either a regular or permanent institution.
While a pupil his great ambition was to "graduate,"
as he facetiously termed it, at the head of the first
class in spelling, a distinguished honor, in those
good old primitive days, at a country school. The
geographies in use in the schools at that time had
no maps, and it was not easy to locate and describe
the boundaries of the different geographical divi-
sions of the earth, so that the students of those days
labored under very great disadvantages as compared
with those of the present day. Our subject com-
menced his business life at the age of fourteen as
clerk in a " country store " in the village of West-
field, Chautauqua county, New York, where he re-
mained about six years, when he obtained an ap-
pointment as cadet in the Military Academy at
West Point, which institution he entered in June,
1834, remaining until December, 1835, when his
mind having undergone a change in regard to his
purposes in life, he resigned. In after years, how-
ever, he deeply regretted this step, and in his dreams
has many times been reinstated in the academy, and
spent long nights of laborious study to make up for
lost time, but awoke only to find that it was but a
dream. At that time there was a mania for busi-
ness speculations in the country, and as he already
644
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
had some business experience as a clerk he thought
it better to renounce his profession, enter at once
into business and get rich, than to " bone " those
knotty problems, as the expression was, and, after
spending years in study, to live on a lieutenant's
pay of seven hundred dollars a year, with prospects
of slow advancement. On resigning* and quitting
the academy he supposed that his connection with
the institution was severed, but a considerable time
after he had entered into business he received a
remittance of a sum of money for back pay, his res-
ignation not having been accepted when tendered,
and the place being held open in the expectation
tiiat he might wish to return, his pay had been
running on.
In the spring of 1836 he entered into partnership
with an old mercantile establishment, under the
firm name of Camp, Dickson and Co., in Mayville,
the county seat of Chautauqua county, New York,
and remained in business there for five years. He
was one of the first, if not the first, to purchase the
dairy products of that now famous dairy county for
shipment to the New York and Boston markets.
But during these years his mind yearned for the
great West and its larger possibilities. He had
been for a considerable time a reader of the " St.
Louis Republican," and had become familiar with
western business.
Accordingly, in the year 1841, Oliver Lee, Esq.,
a banker of Buffalo, New York, desiring to establish
liis nephew, the late Alanson H. Lee, in business,
requested our subject to unite with him and estab-
lish a business somewhere in the West, stipulating at
the same time to take a third interest in the con-
cern, and if necessary to advance capital; and as
lie (Mr. Oliver Lee) was largely interested in vessel
trading on the lakes, and as Wisconsin had just
commenced to ship her surplus wheat to the east-
ern market, and Racine had been the first port to
engage in this trade, they chose that city as their
location, and soon after established the firm of Lee,
Dickson and Co., which during its entire existence
was the leading one in Racine ; it is no exagger-
ation to say that this establishment exercised a most
important influence upon the future growth and
prosperity of the city. They gave tone and char-
acter to its business, while their capital and influ-
ence were generously given toward the promotion
of every enterprise for the public good. They were
the leaders of public sentiment, and their opinion
was sought and their example followed generally.
What they indorsed was sure to succeed, and what
they discountenanced was just as sure to fail, but
no worthy object ever sought Iheir aid in vain.
The business of Lee and Dickson was continued
until the death of the former in 1861, altogether for
a period of twenty years of the most happy relations
that could be desired; the testimony of Mr. Dick-
son in regard to his late partner being that Alanson
Henry Lee was "An honest man, the noblest work
of God."
\\\ the early days before the advent of railroads,
and previous to the establishment of manufactures,
towns upon the lake shore were in a great measure
dependent for success upon the lake commerce, and
this of course was largely contingent upon the char-
acter of the harbor accommodations. With a lively
appreciation of the importance of this feature in the
development of the city, an appropriation had been
asked from congress for the purpose of improving the
harbor of Racine, but after waiting patiently but con-
fidently for several years, the citizens were not only
disappointed in their expectations but chagrined to
find that their more sturdy rival on the north, Mil-
waukee, had been preferred before them and had re-
ceived the aid which Racine so much needed. This
was a heavy blow and sore discouragement to the cit-
izens, whose hopes and aspirations were all centered
and exhausted in their city; but though cast down
they were not in despair, neither did they waste time
in useless regrets. They saw that the time to either
"do or die" had come, and they accordingly as-
sembled in mass meeting and resolved to build a
harbor with their own means. To this end they
asked the legislature to authorize them to levy taxes
on the property of the village for that purpose.
This, with subscriptions from some of the more
wealthy citizens, was applied under the direction of
the board of trustees of the village, and the result is
that Racine has a harbor second to none on Lake
Michigan, and to this circumstance is due, in no
small degree, the success of this beautiful and flour-
ishing city. In all the struggles and efibrts con-
nected with this enterprise and its successful com-
pletion, Mr. Dickson bore a leading part. He was
a member of the board of village trustees, and an
indefatigable worker in the cause both in season
and out of season, and he now looks with pride and
satisfaction upon one of the most beautiful and
prosperous cities of the West.
In 1848 he was one of the promoters and a char-
ter member of the Racine and Delavan Plank-road
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
645
Company, a road about forty miles in length, and
costing the company about one hundred and twenty
thousand dollars; and although it was soon after, in
a great measure, superseded by a railroad, yet it was
for several years a very great accommodation to the
public trading between the cities which it con-
nected. In 1852 he was one of the organizers, a
charter member, and for many years after a director
and vice-president of the Racine and Mississippi
Railroad Company, now the Western Union Rail-
road Company. The labor of all these years, to-
gether with a large sum of money, was bestowed for
the benefit of Racine. He was also a commissioner
and charter member of the first railroad company
organized in the Territory of Wisconsin, tlie Lake
Michigan and Mississippi Railroad Company, sub-
sequently changed to the Milwaukee and Prairie du
Chien Railroad Company, but he has never held
and never expects to hold an office not accom-
panied by hard work and pecuniary loss.
He has never associated himself with any religious
denomination, but regards religious associations as
organizations of great value in connecting and bind-
ing society together, and in securing associate ac-
tion upon any desired object. He believes that
there is a governing intelligence in the universe
which he calls God, and with whom he holds direct
relation, but he has adopted no creed, nor does he
observe any formularies in his worship.
He was so deeply absorbed in schemes for the
public benefit and the general welfare that for many
years he had not time to bestow a thought upon
himself. He was, however, one day startled and
brought to a realizing sense of liis situation by read-
ing a carefully-prepared table setting forth the ages
at which it was most probable men would marry,
and beyond which the probabilities of matrimony
diminished at a large percentage. He concluded
that the time for action had come, and that he
would disarrange the figures in the table referred to
by taking to himself a wife. Accordingly, at the age
of forty-three, on the 4th of August, 1857, he mar-
ried Miss Helen, daughter of the late Seth W.
Holmes, formerly of Mayville, Chautauqua county,
New York, then a resident of Paw Paw Grove, Lee
county, Illinois, a very worthy and accomplished
lady, several years his junior. Their union was
blessed with a family of three children, all boys.
The eldest, a very promising lad, died at the age of
si.x years. The survivors are being carefully edu-
cated for lives of usefulness and honor.
From an early period Mr. Dickson has taken a
deep interest in political matters. \X. the age of ten
he was an enthusiastic admirer and supporter of
Andrew Jackson for the Presidency. On coming
of age he voted with the democratic party, which in
those dafTs had an honorable record. He gathered
his political inspiration largely from the New York
" Evening Post," edited by the venerable William
Cullen Bryant, and deeply did he sympathize with
that noted philanthropist when the arrogant de-
mands of the slave power became so exorbitant as
to make it necessary for him to break away from
former associates and declare for freedom. He
joined the free-soil party at its organization, and re-
mained with it till it merged into the republican
p^rty, with which he has since acted. He is in ac-
cord with the policy of President Hayes as devel-
oped in his southern measures, and considers it in
harmony with the eternal fitness of things that the
South should make terms with the republican party
rather than regain power under the old l^urbon
banner. He considers that the South, in its inner-
most heart, must feel thankful that it was not per-
mitted to consummate the terrible crime of breaking
in pieces this glorious country, and must feel like
the prodigal son when he was restored to his father's
house.
JOHN LOWTH,
JUNEAU.
ONL of the early and most respected citizens of
Dodge county, Wisconsin, is John Lowth, a
native of Ireland. He was born in the county of
Meath, June 6, 1822, his parents being James Lowth
and Marcella ///<■ McGuirk. His parental grand-
father was a noted classical teacher in a seminary in
that county. His father immigrated to America in
1827 and settled at Pittsford, Rutland county, Ver-
mont, and there engaged in farming. At the age of
sixteen John went to Castleton and devoted four
years to literary studies, paying special attention,
during the latter part of this time, to chemistry and
646
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
physiology. At the age of twenty he returned to
Pittsford and married Miss Sarah C. Loring. After
reading law a few months he, in June, 1843, moved
to East Troy, Walworth county, Wisconsin, and was
greatly encouraged by the opening in this, then new,
unsettled country. He taught school for a time and
then resumed the study of law. In March, 1845, he
settled at Clyman, in Dodge county, and engaged in
farming a short time. Soon afterward, however, he
disposed of his farm and completed his legal studies,
and in 1852 was admitted to the bar at Juneau, the
county seat, and to the supreme court of the State
in 1855. He practiced at Lowell, in the same coun-
ty, for several years, and in 1866 moved to Juneau.
During a period of nearly thirty years he has been
in office much of the time. He was elected clerk of
the board of supervisors in 1847, and held that office
four years. He was a member of the general as-
sembly in 1850, 1851 and 1859. He was deputy
warden of the State's Prison from January i, 1854, to
January :, 1858. In 1866 he was elected clerk of
the court, and by reelection still holds that posi-
tion. As a business man and public officer he is
very careful and correct, while as a lawyer he is one
of the most successful and popular in his county.
and bears an excellent character for probity, effi-
ciency and trustworthiness.
In politics he has always been a democrat; has
attended a great many county and State conven-
tions, and may be regarded as one of the local lead-
ers of the party.
Mr. Lowth is a member of the Temple of Honor;
a man of excellent habits himself, and an encourager
of good habits in others. He was reared in the
Catholic church, and firmly clings to the faith of
his forefathers.
The fruit of his union with Miss Loring, which
occurred August 14, 1842, has been eleven children,
eight of whom are now living. Three of them are
married : Marcella is the wife of H. H. Bonney, and
Martha, of B. F. Wood ; both living in Minnesota.
James, who has a family, is a lawyer, practicing at
Lowell, a few miles from the county seat. Of the
unmarried sons, Edward is a clerk with his father,
and Frank is the proprietor of the " Dodge County
Democrat," to which his father is a regular weekly
contributor. Mr. Lowth lost his right -arm in boy-
hood, but early learned to use his left hand with
facility. He is the political editor of his son's paper,
and does his work well.
COLONEL JOHN G. McMYNN,
RACINE.
JOHN GIBSON McMYNN, for thirty years past
J prominently identified with the educational inter-
ests of Wisconsin, was born at Palatine Ridge, Mont-
gomery county. New York, July 9, 1824, and is the
son of Robert McMynn and Margaret nee Cooke;
the former a native of Dumfriesshire, Scotland, and
the latter a native of Kingston, Canada, of Scotch-
Irish extraction.
His father dying in the year 1832, when our sub-
ject was but eight years old, he was at that early age
thrown upon his own resources, and during boy-
hood worked on a farm and earned his own living.
His youthful experiences were, therefore, rough and
uncongenial, but possessing good health, good hab-
its and an unquenchable thirst for knowledge, he
did not waste time in useless repinings, but resolved
to procure a thorough education, if within the
bounds of his power.
He pursued his preparatory studies at the acad-
emies of Union Village and North Granville, New
York, working as a farm hand and teaching school
at intervals to earn money to defray his expenses.
He entered Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1845,
and was graduated from that institution in 1848.
After leaving college he removed to Kenosha,
Wisconsin, where he taught school for five years,
and by this means paid off a debt which had accu-
mulated during his last years at Williams'.
In 1853 he removed to Racine, which has since
been his home, where he organized the public
schools, and was principal of the high school until
the close of the year 1857. During this period he
attained to the highest rank as an educator, while
the schools of the city vvere brought to a state of
efficiency unsurpassed, if not unequaled, by those
of any other municipality in the State or in the
West.
He spent the whole of the year 1858 in Europe,
and visited England, Scotland (the home of his
ancestors and the place of his fathers' sepulchres).
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY
647
France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, and de-
voted much time to the examining of the princi-
ples and workings of the educational and charitable
institutions, public and private, of those countries.
Returning to Racine he resumed his work in the
public school of that city, and at the outbreak of the
rebellion in 1861 he was among the first to offer his
services to the government, and in the summer of
that year was commissioned major of the loth Wis-
consin Infantry. In the following year he was pro-
moted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and in 1863
to that of colonel. The regiment was, during this
period, continually at the front in Tennessee and
northern Alabama. The service was arduous and
responsible. Colonel McMynn was selected by Gen-
eral Buel to take charge of the public property at
Huntsville, Alabama, and to transport it by railroad
to Stevenson, Tennessee, when that officer retreated
to Louisville in the summer of 1862. This very
important and perilous duty was successfully accom-
plished, with the loss of but two men. The com-
mand was constantly under fire, and at the battles
of Champlin Hills, in Kentucky, and Stone River,
Tennessee, lost heavily. The Colonel was invariably
with his regiment, and never absent from duty, either
on sick leave or otherwise, during his entire period
of service. In the autumn of 1863, his command
being reduced to two hundred and fifty men, and
private affairs pressing heavily upon him, he was
reluctantly compelled to tender his resignation,
which, after much delay and considerable hesitancy,
was accepted.
His high character and accomplishments as a
soldier are borne testimony to, not only by those
whom he had the honor to command, but by the
most distinguished officers in the service. When
the raising of a cavalry regiment to be placed un-
der his command was contemplated, Major-General
Rousseau wrote to him from Nashville, Tennessee,
January 6, 1864, in the following terms:
Mv Dear Colonel McMynn, — I am much gratified to
learn that you are inch'ned to enter the army again. True
men hke yourself, possessing the capacity and courage to
serve tlie country, are greatly needed; in tact such men are
always needed. When you resigned I lelt that the public
service had sustained a great loss, and you will recollect I
told you how deeply I regretted it. You and I have
passed through many trying scenes, in all of which you
have deported yourself as an efficient and brave officer, and
I shall hail your return lo the army with unalloyed pleas-
ure. In all the gallant army of the Cumberland I know
of no man with whom it would give me more pleasure to
" ^oldie^ it" and stem the tide of battle, when it comes, than
yourself, for I know of no braver or better man.
Should you return to the army I hope fortune may bring
us together, and that I may again have the pleasure of lead-
ing you and your command; but whether or not, vou have
in all things my best wishes.
Very truly, etc., Luvell H. Roi sse.\u.
A like testimony to his soldierly qualities is borne
by General L. A. Harris, commander of the brigade
in which he served. That officer wrote, under date
of January 9, 1864 :
From the knowledge thus obtained, I can indorse, to the
fullest extent, Colonel McMynn. He is a brave, active,
earnest and accomplished officer, and in the service was an
honor to his .State.
The governor of tlie State decided not lo raise
any more cavalry regiments, hence Colonel McMynn
did not reenter the service.
In 1854 he was appointed regent of the State Uni-
versity, a position which he held for fifteen years,
during which time the university was developed and
l)laced upon a secure foundation. He was active
in securing the organization that has so greatly con-
tributed to its present prosperity.
He has been identified with the republican party
since its organization, and was on the State ticket
as a nominee of that party in 1854, 1855, 1857, 1864
and 1S66. In April, 1864, he was appointed by
President Lincoln and confirined by the United
States senate as superintendent of Indian affairs for
Washington Territory, but declined the office on
account of pressing private business. In November
of the same year he was elected to the very respon-
sible office of State superintendent of public in-
struction, which he retained for four years. In 1866
he was a member of the board of visitors to the
United States Military Academy at West Point.
In 1868 he was induced to enter the employment
of J. I. Case and Co., of Racine, the largest manu-
facturers of steam-power threshing machines in the
world, and for six and a half years had charge of
their collections. He entered their service on a
salary of fifteen hundred dollars a year, which was
soon increased to five thousand dollars a year.
Much to the regret of his employers, however, he
resigned this responsible position, with its very flat-
tering emolument, to return to his chosen profession,
that which he always intended to make his life-work.
In 1875 he built the Racine Academy, under which
name he has since conducted a flourishing private
school for the purpose of fitting young gentlemen
for college, and to give others a general business
education, according to their aims and purposes in
life. The institution is largely patronized and doing
a most excellent work in this direction.
Endowed with great intellectual force, possessed
648
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
of those elements of mind and character which not
only secure success to the possessor, but to those
who are brought under his immediate influence,
Colonel McMynn has always been a man of marked
prominence. These qualities, together with his
identification with the interests of education, have
made him conspicuous not only in the State in which
he lives, but throughout the Northwest. Learned
in all branches of knowledge, he possesses rare pow-
ers for imparting that knowledge to others. His
methods of instruction are original, vigorous and
thorough. During the time he was at the head of
the public schools of Racine it was universally con-
ceded that they were unsurpassed for discipline and
efficiency in Wisconsin, and in consequence the rep-
utation of that city for its educational advantages
became widespread. While State superintendent of
instruction he impressed upon the public schools of
the State the vigor of his own character, and con-
tributed most valuable exertions in behalf of the
State University, and for the establishment of normal
schools, which have since become a part of the edu-
cational system of the State, and of which he was to
a great extent the organizer. He infused new life,
system and energy into every department of edu-
cational work, and has long enjoyed a reputation as
one of the most accomplished and successful edu-
cators in the Northwest. Scattered throughout the
West are many men and women, now established
in life, and pursuing a useful and honorable career,
who attribute their success to the training and disci-
pline which, as his pupils, they received from him.
His private academy, above alluded to, is already
receiving such patronage and accomplishing such
results as give assurance of a success worthy of the
reputation of its founder and principal.
Colonel McMynn is a forcible public speaker, and
possesses rare conversational powers. He addresses
himself directly to the point under consideration,
whether in the presence of a public audience or in
private conversation; his thoughts are always full of
freshness, and his words terse, crisp and emphatic.
Naturally he despises shams, and at once impresses
all who come in contact with him with the powers
of mind and traits of character above indicated.
Education and educational work are with him
themes of absorbing importance. His views upon
tlie subject are clear, cogent and comprehensive,
and limited only by their relationship to the progress
and welfare of the community, the State and the
nation.
He is a firm believer in the cardinal doctrines of
Christianity as taught in the creeds of the Protestant
churches, but is not in communion with any church.
In private life he is eminently charitable and be-
nevolent; a warm and generous friend, a kind and
courteous neighbor, a virtuous and honored citizen ;
an honest man.
On the 27th December, 1S52, he married Miss
Ella F. Wiley, who died in June, 1858, leaving no
children.
He was again married in i860, to Miss Marion F.
Clarke, daughter of Norman Clarke, Esq., one of the
earliest settlers of Racine. She is a lady of rare
culture, and noted in the community for her warm
and intelligent interest in all that promotes the hap-
piness of the community.
They have four children, two sons and two daugh-
ters, namely, John and Robert, Louise aftd Nelly;
all strong and vigorous, both mentally and phys-
ically, giving promise of honor and usefulness in
the future.
HARMON VAN DUSEN, M.D.,
MINERAL POINT.
AMONG the older class of medical practitioners
^ in Iowa county, Wisconsin, is Harmon Van
Dusen, who is well known among the profession, he
having been twice at the head of the Wisconsin
Medical Society. Though seventy years of age, his
mind is very active, and when not otherwise engaged
he always lias a book in his hand, — in the evening
his usual custom being to study till midnight. A
life-time of such mental industry must necessarily
result in the accumulation of a great fund of knowl-
edge outside .of medical science, — a fund easily dis-
cernible by conversing with the Doctor, but of which
he makes no ostentatious display. He is as modest
and unassuming as he is studious, and reads for his
own benefit and pleasure rather than for show.
Dr. Van Dusen is the son of Henry Van Dusen, a
farmer, and Sally Stoddard, and dates his birth at
Salisbury, Connecticut, July 23, 1807. He farmed
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
649
until.liis eighteenth year, supplementing a common-
school education with one year's attendance at the
Middlebiiry Academy, Wyoming county. New York.
He read medicine at Bethany and Delphi, New
York ; attended one course of lectures at Castleton,
Vermont; was admitted to practice under a county
license in 1828; practiced at Tully, Onondaga coun-
ty, until 1834, when he attended a courseof lectures
at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, receiv-
ing his diploma from the same. Returning to Tully
he continued practice there until 1847, when he
came as far west as Milwaukee. In December of
the following year he removed to Mineral Point, and
here made a permanent settlement. He has been
in general practice, and had from the start, and has
carefully maintained, a good standing in the pro-
fession. He has been president of the Iowa County
Medical Society from its origin ; is also a member of
the State Medical Society, and was its president in
1868 and 1872.
While residing in the State of New York, during
the administration of Mr. Van liuren, 1837-1841,
Dr. Van Dusen was commissioner of the United
States deposit fund, a trustworthy position. He was
mayor of the city of Mineral Point in 1876, and had
previously held one or two minor municipal offices.
He has always acted with the democratic party.
Dr. Van Dusen has lung been a member of the
Masonic fraternity, and is at the present time (the
summer of 1877) high priest of Iowa Chapter No. 6.
He attends the Episcopal church.
He has had three wives : the first was Miss
Aurora Hobart, of Delphi, New York, they being
united in 1829; she died at Tully, New York,
March i, 1842, leaving five children, only one of
them, Henry M., now living. The second wife was
Mrs. Margaret Ann Mann, of Syracuse, New York,
they being married in 1843 ; she died March 22,
1852, leaving one son, Wilson H., now practicing
medicine at Montford, Grant county, twenty miles
from Mineral Point. His present wife was Mrs.
Jane E. Ackley, a cousin of his second wife, the
maiden name of both being Wilson. Mrs. Van
Dusen has a daughter, Mrs. Caroline E. Smith, by
her first husband, but no children by her present
union. She is a Christian woman, and she and
her daughter are communicants in the Episcopal
church.
Dr. Van Dusen has partially retired from business,
his rides being limited to the city and to the day-
time. A few of his old neighbors, when unwell, will*
not call anybody else, but he is working out of the
practice as rapidly as he can, conveniently. He is
held in high esteem by the older citizens of the city
and county, and by some of those out of town his
retirement from |iractice is much regretted.
JOHN H. VIVIAN, M.D.,
MINERAL POINT.
THE Vivians are a very old English family with
two branches. One branch is represented by
Sir Richard Vivian, the other by Lord Hussey Viv-
ian, who was created a baron many years ago for
brilliant military service, he being a cavalry oflicer
under Lord Wellington, and losing an arm at Water-
loo.
John Harris Vivian, son of Henry A. Vivian, a
mine agent, and Mary Lean, is a native of Cornwall,
England, and was born at Camborne, July 27, 1825.
All his younger years were spent in literary institu-
tions, first in a grammar school in his native town,
and then in a commercial school at Trevarth. At
sixteen he commenced the study of medicine at the
Falmouth public dispensary; received his degree of
M.D. in 1846; practiced with his uncle. Dr. John
Vivian, as an assistant at Pnick's Head, in the [)arish
70
of Crown, a short time; left the old country in May,
1847 ; acted as hospital surgeon a few months at
Grosse Isle, the Quebec quarantine ground ; and in
September of that year located at Mineral Point.
Here for thirty years he has been in steady prac-
tice, e.xcept during short intervals, when he was
absent in the service of his adopted country.
In 1863 and 1864 Dr. Vivian was surgeon of the
board of enrollment, and early in 1865 became sur-
geon of the 50th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry, in
which he served until June, i866, his being the last
Wisconsin regiment mustered out of the service.
Its operations were on the western frontier, and it
was stationed, during the latter part of its service, at
Fort Rice, Dakota Territory.
Dr. Vivian was mayor of Mineral Point in 1859,
and member of the assembly in 1862 and 1863. In
650
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
the legislature he was very active and conspicuous,
and was chairman of the committee on State affairs
during the latter session. It was while the rebellion
was in progress, and no man born in this country
acted with more patriotic ardor than he. He has
been on the board of supervisors several times, and
was chairman one year. He is pension surgeon, and
has been since 1865. He is secretary of the Iowa
County Medical Society, and a member of the State
Medical Society.
Dr. Vivian was originally a '" free-soiler," and sup-
ported the ticket, standing on the Buffalo platform,
in 1848. He has been a republican since there was
such an organization ; is quite active as a politician,
and attends most of the State conventions of his
party.
Dr. Vivian belongs to the Independent Order of
Odd-Fellows ; is grand representative of the order,
and has been grand patriarch.
He has been twice married. His first wife was
Miss Elizabeth Stansmore, a native of Cornwall, I
England. They were married at Grand Rapids,
Michigan, in 1849, she dying in 1857, leaving one
child, a daughter, still living. His present wife was
Miss Amelia Stansmore, a sister of the former, their
union occurring in July, 1858. They have had six
children, of whom four are living.
Dr. Vivian, who had a good literary and medical
education at the start, has continued his studies, and
has striven to keep pace with the progress of medical
science. He has had a fair practice in surgery as
well as a heavy one in medicine, and has a good
reputation in both departments of the healing art.
His rides are quite extensive. He is prompt to obey
the calls of suffering humanity ; has a sympathetic
disposition, very opportune at the bedside, and is
cheerful and cordial alike with the sick and the
well. As a citizen, as well as a physician, his ser-
vices are highly valuable, and are appreciated by
the community in which he resides. He is con-
versant with English literature, agreeable in conver-
sation, and a very good entertainer.
H. M. BENJAMIN,
MILWAUKEE.
THE subject of this brief biography is a native
of Plerchen, Prussia, and was born July 30,
1 841, the son of Myer and Eva Benjamin. His
parents were highly respectable people, and gave to
him a good common-school and business educa-
,tion. His father was a nephew of Rev. Dr. Elias
Guttmacher, of Graetz, Prussia.
Leaving his home on the 25th of August, 1856,
our subject went to Hamburg, and" on the ist of
September following, sailed for New York, where he
arrived on the 15th of October. After spending ten
days in that city he proceeded to Georgetown, South
Carolina, and there found employment as a clerk
in the mercantile house of Messrs. Link and Brown.
Returning to New York in the year 1859, he went
thence to La Porte, Indiana, and there began busi-
ness on his own account. His first adventure was
in the grocery trade, in partnership with a Mr. Win-
chell, under the firm name of Winchell and Benja-
min. After a time, however, he sold his interest to
his partner, and forming a partnership with a Mr.
Rosenthal, embarked in the dry-goods trade under
the firm name of Rosenthal and Benjamin.
Removing to St. Joseph, Michigan, in July, 1865, |
he there continued the same line of business until ;
July, 1868, when he closed out his interests and |
settled at Milwaukee, where he has since made his 1
home. In March, 1869, the firm of Herbst Broth- 1
ers and Benjamin was formed, and purchasing the
wood and coal yard of C. D. Guernsey and Co.,
these gentlemen have continued in that business
until the present, meeting with good success.
As a man Mr. Benjamin is active, enterprising
and public-spirited, and aside from his regular busi- j
ness has been called to many positions of honor and .1
trust. In September, 1874, he was elected a direct- ,
or of the Banner and Volks Friend Printing Com- !
pany, and in the same year was elected a second j
time as councilman from the sixth ward, having been '
first elected in April, 1872. He was also, in 1874,
president of the common council and acting mayor '
of the city, a position to which he was reelected by ]
a unanimous vote, in January, 1875. It was also 1
during this year that he was elected one of the
directors and president of the Milwaukee and Du- ]
buque Railroad Company. Mr. Benjamin is also \
one of the trustees of Greenwood Cemetery. '
He is of Israelitish parentage, and belongs to the '
QM^u/^/,/^^
Y^/f^i^^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
653
reformed class of that people, and is a member and
one of the trustees of the Temple Emanuel at Mil-
waukee.
As a business man Mr. Benjamin is known for his
promptness and energetic effort, and enjoys the
highest confidence of all who know him for his
trustworthiness, reliability and fair dealing.
On the 1 2th of January, 1868, being at that time
twenty-seven years of age, he was married to Miss
Carrie Herbst, then in her eighteenth year. Mrs.
Benjamin died on the 23d of January, 1873. Of the
three children that were born to them (one son and
two daughters) the daughters are now living.
Though still a young man, Mr. Benjamin has at-
tained to a high degree of success as a business man,
and gives every promise of a bright future.
EDWARD T. MIX,
MILWAUKEE.
EDWARD TOVVNSENI) MIX, architect, is
the eldest of a family of si.\ children born to
Edward A. and Emily M. (Townsend) Mix, of New
Haven, Connecticut. The Mix family is of Welsh
descent, and the Townsend of English ancestry.
The families on both sides, for several generations,
were noted mariners, being connected with the East
India trade. The father and grandfather of our sub-
ject are distinguished as having made the most suc-
cessful voyages of the times to the Indian seas, as
may be learned from the " Transactions of the New
England Historical Society."
His father, at the age of eleven years, following
the impulses of an adventurous and daring disposi-
tion, left home for a " voyage round the world,"
in a ship commanded by his uncle, his avowed pur-
pose being to punish the Queen of the Sandwich
Islands for the murder of his father some three
years previously. On reaching the islands, how-
ever, he learned that her majesty had been dead for
some months. He was thus left functus officio, so
far as this self-imposed duty was concerned. He
completed his voyage, however, and returned to his
home in safety. At the age of eighteen he was in
command of his own ship, and for fifty years he
continued to plow the' waves, being one of the best
known and most successful commanders in the New
York, China and East India trade. An accident
resulting in the loss of his right hand, at the age of
sixty-five years, compelled him to abandon the pro-
fession of his heart, and content himself on shore
with his family during the remainder of his lifetime.
He was characterized by an indomitable will, united
to a warm impulsive heart, unswerving integrity and
liigh moral character, together with the true sailor's
open hand to all in distress or trouble. His creed
was short and practical — "Do your duty, and trust
Cod for the rest." He is still living at his home in
New Haven, Connecticut.
His father being absent most of the time, the care
of the family devolved mainly upon the mother of
our subject, and nobly did she meet the claims of
duty. " Home " was always to her children the
dearest spot on earth, and their mother the best and
loveliest of women. Her predominant characteristic
was her pure and undissembled piety. She was an
humble follower of Him who "went about doing
good." She was, moreover, a lady of rare intel-
lectual attainments, of fine presence and appearance,
and endowed with high social and conversational
powers, a sympathetic friend .and prudent adviser.
She was called to her " reward above " in the year
1867, but her memory is still fragrant and dewy in
the hearts of all who knew her.
Edward T. Mix was born May 13, 1831, and
spent his early years on a farm in Andover, Henry
county, Illinois, where his father had purchased a
large estate, and to which he removed with his
family in 1836, and remained till 1845, when he
returned to the East and left his family in New
York city, while he resumed his old profession of
the sea. A tall country boy in those days was as
much an object of curiosity to the gamins of' New
York as at any time since, and Edward's school
life was not altogether free from annoyances of
which his rustic appearance was made the occasion.
Naturally of an amiable disposition, he was slow
to take offense, but when these pleasantries were
carried to extremes, he was wont to resent them in
a way more striking than sarcastic. After a few
months' training with his more experienced city
cousins, his robust country muscles were less taxed
to keep up the credit of the family, and all went
smoothly.
654
THE UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
After the change to city life had lost its newness,
he began to think of a life business. His studies
had been mainly addressed to history, geography
and mathematics, but a relative named Henry
Howe, a publisher in Cincinnati, Ohio, seeing, as he
thought, a taste for art in the youth, gave him a set
of drawing cards, which soon fired his genius, and
he became quite an adept in sketching. Hitherto,
however, he had thought more of the sea and of
travel than of any professional life on land.
After quitting school he accepted a clerkship in a
Wall-street shipping house, where he had ojipor-
tunities to mingle with ships and sailors to his
heart's content. Not relishing the business, how-
ever, he soon transferred his services to a large
Broadway dry-goods store, where he remained but
a sliort time ; and during the two succeeding years
he was a grocer's clerk, canvasser for a city i>aper,
draftsman in a jiatent attorney's office, and clerk in
a real-estate office, without developing a taste or
fondness for any of the avocations.
While on a visit to an uncle in New Haven, Con-
necticut, during the summer of 1848, he liapjiened
to walk into the architectural rooms of Major Stone,
at that time one of the leading architects of New
England. Architects in those days were few in
number, professional services being required only in
erecting very important public works, — less impor-
tant structures were planned, if at all, by the builders
who erected them, and consequently less scope ex-
isted for the display of architectural taste. His
curiosity was stimulated by the drawings, and he
was at once favorably impressed with the good look-
ing and affable major. The interest being mutual,
and the latter needing an assistant, young Mi.x de-
cided that he liad found his vocation, and settled
down to the duties of the profession at once. Se\en
years of his life were spent in this office, as student I
and assistant. At the end of this period his em-
ployer offered him a partnership, which his friends
urged him to accept, but he felt an uncontrollable
desire to revisit his early home and see the growing
West again. Accordingly, in the autumn of 1855,
he removed to Chicago, which was then just begin-
ning to come into notice, where, after a careful con- i
sideration of the ground, he resolved to stop, for a
time at least. The winter of 1855-6 was spent as 1
foreman in the office of Wm. W. Boyington, with j
whom, in the ensuing spring, he formed a partner- |
ship, and in the summer of the same year removed i
to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to superintend some im-
portant works of their designing, then in course of
construction in that city. Accordingly the firm of
" Boyington and Mix " hung out their sign in Lud-
ington's block, then almost the only well-built block
in the city.
Milwaukee, like Chicago, was then but in its in-
fancy. Its immense grain trade and railroad and
steamboat communication were only foreseen by
such men as Alex. Mitchell, S. S. Merrill and a few
others, while its architectural development, for which
it is now so distinguished, was all in the womb of
the future. The sites now occupied by elegant and
costly warehouses, on Wisconsin street, Broadway,
Grand avenue and elsewhere, were then cumbered
with unsightly and wretchedly-constructed two-and-
a-half story frame buildings, standing endwise on
the street. In these a miscellaneous business was
transacted, though the only apparent activity in
trade seemed to be in the auction stores, where all
sorts of merchandise was being " knocked down " to
the highest liidder, for the benefit of creditors, — the
hard times of 1857 having cast their shadow before
ihem. Real estate, which had been greatly inflated,
began to tumble, and the prudent trimmed their
sails to meet the coming storm.
In the spring of 1857 the partnership with Mr.
lioyington ceased, by mutual consent, and Mr, Mix
commenced his business career alone, and has since
then so continued.
During the first ten years of his residence in Mil-
waukee his progress was slow but steady, increasing
year by year as his skill and taste in architecture
became known. One of the inflexible rules of his
l^rofession was to identify himself thoroughly with
the interest of his patrons, and to this feature of
his character is due not a little of the success with
which his career has been crowned.
In 1864 he was appointed by Governor Fairchild,
witiiout solicitation on his part, to the responsible
position of State architect, and had charge of the
capitol and other State works then in course of con-
struction, till 1867, when he resigned in favor of
Colonel Shipman, who had returned from the army
minus a leg, which he had left on the battle-field.
During the rebellion he was an active supporter
of the government in every way in his power, and
did much toward providing for the comfort of the
soldiers who returned suffering from wounds and
sickness. He furnished the designs and superin-
tended |jersonally, without charge, the " great fair
building" erected by the ladies of Milwaukee, from
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
655
which, after a three weeks fair, the sum of one
hundred thousand dollars was netted, which sum
secured to Milwaukee the location of the National
Asylum for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, — the build-
ings for which Mr. Mix was, without his knowledge,
appointed by the national board of managers to de-
sign and superintend the erection of.
Since that time he has been extensively employed
in connection with the erection of public and private
buildings, both at home and in adjoining States.
Among the most important local edifices erected
under his professional management are the North-
western Mutual Life Insurance block, the Immanuel
Presbyterian Church (the finest ecclesiastical struc-
ture west of New York city), the Plankinton Hotel,
the Grand Avenue Methodist Church, besides not
less than three-fourths of the most costly and ornate
private residences erected in Milwaukee during the
last ten years. He is now (1877) superintending,,
from designs (furnished by himself in competition),
the great lianking and insurance (fireproof) building
of Alex. Mitchell, probably the most perfectly con-
structed edifice in the Northwest, and without doubt
one of the most substantial in the wliole country.
In religious opinion he is a Congregationalist, and
has been identified with the Plymouth congregation
of that denomination since his residence in Mil-
waukee. He is a man of spotless integrity, governed
by a high sense of honor, and is held in esteem and
respect by all who know him.
He is a gentleman of general intelligence, a lover
of the fine arts, and an admirer of everything good
j and beautiful in nature. He is a member of the
State Historical Society, and fellow of the American
Institute of Architects, an association of tlie leading
men of the profession in all jjarts of the country.
Socially he is genial, kind-hearted, generous and
liberal; of quiet and unassuming manners, but free,
open and off-hand.
On the 7th of May, 1854, he married Miss Mary
B. Hayes, a scion of a substantial and well-known
New Haven family — now creditably represented
by the worthy occupant of the White House, Presi-
dent Hayes, to whom Mrs. Mix is second cousin.
She is, moreover, a very amiable and highly-intel-
lectual lady, easy in manners, pleasing in conversa-
tion, and a favorite in her circle. They have no
children.
ALFRED P. CORYELL, M.D.,
JANRSVILLE.
ALFRED PATTERSON CORYELL, a native
L\. of Nichols, Tioga county, New York, was
born April 15, 1815, the son of Charles and Sarah
Coryell. His father, a physician by profession, was
a prominent man in his community, and widely
known as a successful and skillful practitioner. His
mother was a daughter of Judge Patterson, of P.roome
county, New York.
His great-grandfather, a native of Scotland, was
captured by the Algerians and taken to Algiers, and
there held as a slave for three years. After being
liberated he immigrated to the United States and
settled in Massachusetts. The paternal grandfather
of our subject was a soldier in the revolutionary
war, and drew a pension for many years. After the
close of the war he was chosen one of the supreme
judges of the State of New Jersey, and wherever
known was a leading man. His own immediate
family attained to a very prominent position in tlie
Slate of New York. Alfred received a good educa-
tion, attending school at P.inghamton, New York ;
and after completing a thorough course of medical
studies, graduated from the Jeflerson Medical Col-
lege of Philadelphia. To enter the medical pro-
fession had been his desire from early life, and after
graduating he went to Meadville, Pennsylvania, and
established himself in the practice of his profession,
remaining there five years. At the end of that time,
July, 1846, he removed to Wisconsin and settled at
Janesville, where he has since made his home.
Opening an office upon his arrival, he has steadily
continued his practice, which has gradually in-
creased, and attained a high degree of success, both
professionally and financially.
Dr. Coryell acted as examining surgeon of the
Pennsylvania militia in 1843, and in 1847 was ap-
pointed surgeon of the Wisconsin State militia by
his excellency (lovernor Dodge. He is generous,
kind-hearted and benevolent, and held in high es-
teem by all who know liim. He is especially kind to
the poor, being always ready to go at their call, and
never ciiarges them for his services when in need.
6s6
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Dr. Coryell's religious training was under Meth-
odist influences. He is liberal in his religious opin-
ions, and is not identified with any religious body.
In politics, he was formerly a whig, but upon the
organization of the republican party he became
identified with that body, and has since continued a
firm supporter of its principles. He has never, how-
ever, taken any active interest in politics, more than
to perform his duties as a citizen, having found in
his profession work better suited to his tastes, and
enough of it to employ all his powers.
Dr. Coryell was married in 1842 to Miss Nancy
A. Bennett, whose father was for many years a mail
contractor. They have had three children. Their
daughter is the wife of Walter Bennett, a prominent
hardware dealer in Janesville.
HENRY O. MONTAGUE,
WHITEWATER.
HENRY OREB MONTAGUE was born in
Fabius, Onondaga county, New York, Au-
gust I, 1835, the son of Oreb and Cornelia Mon-
tague. He studied in Aurora, Dundee and Ovid,
receiving an academical education, and in 1855 re-
moved to the West and settled at Whitewater, Wis-
consin, where he engaged in the mercantile trade
and in teaching until 185S. At that time he began
the study of law with Mr. N. S. Murphy, and in
i860 was admitted to the bar.
At the opening of the civil war in 1861 Mr. Mon-
tague enlisted as a private in Company B, ist Regi-
ment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Serving with
distinction during the continuance of the war, he
made for himself a most honorable record, and was
promoted from time to time to the respective ranks
of first sergeant, first lieutenant and captain, and
also acted as assistant adjutant-general, ranking as
captain, on General Mower's staff of the first brigade,
first division of the fourteenth army corps, partici-
pating in all the battles of the army of the Cum-
berland, and was wounded at the battle of Chicka-
mauga. A most honorable mention of his services
is made in Love's " History of Wisconsin," pages 681,
682, 701, 707 and 721. At the battle of Chickamauga,
when the color-guard were all killed or wounded, he
himself raised the flag of tlie regiment and rallied
the men around iiim. The following tribute from
one of his comrades is worthy of note, coming, as it
does, from one who served with him through the war :
Captain Montague was honored and respected by all the
regiment, and his reputation as a soldier was one of the
briijlitcst. Even to this dav none ol liis comrades, when
passing- near to where lie is, would fail lo call upon him,
deemin;^- it an honor to sit and rehearse with liim the trials
of their campaigns.
In |)olitical sentiment Mr. Montague was formerly
a republican. Identifying himself with that organ-
ization upon attaining his majority, he continued an
active and firm supporter of its principles until 187 i,
when he joined the liberal party. In the following
year he supported Horace (Ireeley for the Presi-
dency.
His religious training was under Baptist influ-
ences, though he himself is not identified with any
religious organization.
From 1865 to 186S Mr. Montague was assistant
United States assessor. At the end of that time he
was appointed postmaster at Whitewater, and held
that office until February, 1872. He has also been
justice of the peace at Whitewater for five years.
He was married on the 14th of May, 1861, to Miss
Mary S. Rockwell, of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, a
daughter of Anson Rockwell, formerly of Otsego,
New York.
ERASTUS J. BUCK, M.D.,
PI.ATTEVILI.E.
DR. BUCK is a native of Heath, Franklin , education at Nunda, Livingston county. New York ;
county, Massachusetts, and was born Sep- I read medicine with Dr. John Turner, of the same
tember 5, 1828. He is a son of Erastus and Rox- 1 ]3lace, and attended lectures at Jefferson Medical
anna (Baldwin) 15urk, He received an academic | College, Philadelphia, where he graduated in March,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
657
1854. He commenced practice at Towlesville, Steu-
ben county, New York ; immigrated to Wisconsin in
the autumn of 1856, and located at Westfield, Mar-
cpiette county, where he practiced until the rebel-
lion commenced.
Dr. Buck enlisted as a private in the summer of
1 861; was immediately commissioned as first lieu-
tenant of the Marquette sharp-shooters, a company
which went into the 7th Regiment of Infantry, but
the Doctor did not leave the State as a soldier. In
January, 1862, he was appointed first assistant sur-
geon of the 1 8th Wisconsin; became surgeon the
next September, and was with the regiment througli
the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, and the capture
of Vicksburg, thence to the close of the war.
Though among the younger class of surgeons. Dr.
Buck occupied an honorable position among those
of his profession. He' was placed on the medical
board of operators, a body which determined what
operations should be performed, and (as the writer
hap|)ens to know) performed himself several capital
operations, such as the resection of the shoulder
and elbow, operations reiiuiring much skill, and in
which he was uniformly successful. He was con-
sidered one of the best surgeons in the division, and
it is not likely his skill was overestimated.
On returning from the South in 1865 Dr. Huck
located at Platteville, where he has found liis army
experience of great service to him. During tiie last
twelve years, while doing a general practice, and
making a specialty of nothing, he has had many
surgical cases, such as strangulated hernia, fistula
and chronic ulcers, and a few of them quite diffi-
cult, treating them with marked success. He is
United States e.xamining surgeon, and has been for
several years.
In politics Dr. Buck is a republican, but makes
everything secondary to his profession. In 1861,
just before going into the army, he yielded to' the
urgent request of his political friends so far as to
serve them a single term in the legislature, he repre-
senting Marquette and part of Green Lake counties,
and acting on the committee 01* medical science and
medical colleges.
Dr. Buck is a firm believer in the general doc-
trines of Christianity, with a leaning toward the
Presbyterian creed.
Miss Sarah E. Trask, of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin,
became his wife September 5, 1866, and they have
four children.
Dr. Buck had a hard struggle in early life. In
procuring his literary education he sawed wood,
took care of a school building and acted as sexton
of a church, to aid in defraying his expenses, and
while reading medicine took daguerrean pictures to
accumulate the means for finishing his studies. His
education is thorough, and he learned the value of
time andt he worth of money in procuring it. A
failure to early learn that lesson has been the cause
of many a shipwreck in life.
TERRELL" THOMAS,
TERRELL THOMAS, a native of ClairsviUe,
Ohio, was born January 10, 1826, and is the
son of Benjamin and Johannah Thomas, both of
whom were members of the Society of Friends.
They were both known for the purity of their lives,
and spared no pains in training their children to
habits of honesty and integrity. Terrell being the
eldest son, his services were brought into early re-
quisition. His educational advantages were limited,
and at the age of twenty-two he went to Baltimore
to learn the dry-goods business. He remained there
three years, giving entire satisfaction to his employer,
and gaining a fine knowledge of the mercantile
trade, and also of collection and banking.
In 1854 he removed with his family to the State
of Wisconsin, where his father settled on a farm..
Soon afterward he went to Madison, and there ac-
cepted of Mr. Samuel JVJaxwell, president of the
State Bank, the position of cashier in that institu-
tion. At once turning his attention to the study of
the science of banking in all of its departments, he
became highly competent and remained in the State
Bank three years.
At the end of that time, in company with Simeon
Mills, he organized the Sauk County Bank at Bara-
boo, holding the position of cashier. After five
years he was elected president, and held that office
until he sold the institution to the organizers of the
First National Bank. In all the financial panics
which occurred during the seventeen years of this
658
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
bank's existenca it maintained a high standing, and
was considered an institution of first-class responsi-
bility and credit. Upon settling in Baraboo Mr.
Tliomas resolved to make it his future home, and
took an active interest in all enterprises pertaining
to the development of the place, and early identified
himself with its water-power and manufacturing
interests. He was one of the projectors of the Bar-
aboo Air Line railroad, whose charter extended
from Madison to the Mississippi river, and devoted
his entire time to the subject of its construction.
After the stock was all sold, by a unanimous vote of
the stockholders, hCwas elected president, and- re-
mained in that capacity until the road was consoli-
dated with the Chicago and Northwestern railroad.
In the success of this enterprise Mr. Thomas may
justly pride himself as being the father of the great
work which unites the State capital with the "father
of waters." In enterprise, public-spiritedness and
all that helps to make up the true and useful citizen,
he is entitled to a first rank. As a man he is noted
for his generosity and fair dealing. Especially has
he dealt kindly with the poor. In loaning money
he never oi)pressed a debtor ; the legal rate of inter-
est was asked, and no more, and in collecting no
resort has ever been had to sharp practice.
In politics Mr. Thomas has made no record. In
principle he is a republican, but having no political
aspirations he has taken no active part more than to
perform his duties as a citizen, finding in his busi-
ness more agreeable work, and enough for the em-
ployment of all his powers. During the war he was
a firm supporter of the Union cause, and gave liber-
ally to the aid of soldiers and soldiers' families.
Mr. Thomas's travels have been confined for the
inost part to the western States, but being a close
observer he has, by his varied intercourse with men,
gained a most valuable fund of practical knowledge,
and is an admirable social companion.
He was married in 1857 to Miss Sarah A. Will-
iams, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Her father, Micajah T.
Williams, was one of the public-spirited men of his
day, and was connected with many of the great en-
terprises of his State.
Throughout his business career Mr. Thomas has
shown an indefatigable spirit, and lives now in the
enjoyment of that reward which comes of peisistent,
honest effort.
WALTER L. RANKIN, A.M.,
WAUKESHA.
THE subject of this brief sketch, the son of a
missionary, is a native of northern India, and
was born at Allahabad, May 7, 1841. His father,
John C. Rankin, D.D., was sent out to Hindoostan
in 1840, and his health failing, he returned to this
country when Walter was about six years old, and
now resides at Basking Ridge, New Jersey. The
maiden name of Mrs. Rankin was Sarah T. Com-
fort, she being a daughter of Rev. David Comfort,
for nearly fifty years a pastor at Kingston, New
Jersey. Walter was educated at Pearl Cottage
Seminary, Elizabeth, New Jersey, then under charge
of David N. Pearson. He entered the sophomore
class of Princeton College in 1857, and graduated
in course, standing third in a class of about ninety,
and having the English salutatory. Going to Bask-
ing Ridge, New Jersey, he there taught a select
school, and among other pleasant tasks fitted two
younger brothers to enter Princeton College.
At the end of three years Mr. Rankin went to
Elizabeth, New Jersey, and read law one year with
Chancellor Benjamin Williamson. He then resumed
teaching, and for two years was at the head of a
graded school in Elizabethport, New Jersey. At
this time he received a pressing invitation to go to
Waukesha and take charge of Carroll College, and
in February, 1866, he was at the head of that insti-
tution. Originally it was called Prairieville Acad-
emy, and was chartered by the Territorial legis-
lature in February, 1841. In 1846 it received a
new charter and took the name of Carroll College,
and in 1852 was removed from a building on Wis-
consin street, now known as the Seminary building,
to a new stone structure standing on a rise of ground
half a mile south of the village. It is thirty-six by
seventy-four feet, three stories high, with central
projections in front and rear, and an observatory in
the center of the roof. It stands on a lot of fourteen
acres, overlooking the village, a very healthy situa-
tion, and in every respect pleasant and inviting. In
1850 the Rev. John A. Savage, D.D., of Ogdensburgh,
New York, became president, and held that position
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
659
thirteen years, traveling thousands of miles and rais-
ing thousands of dollars for its benefit. The first
class in the college proper was graduated in 1857,
and there were graduates for four successive years,
when the rebellion and other causes thinned the
ranks, and there were no graduates after i860.
Dr. Savage resigned in 1863, the school having
been suspended a short time before. Soon after-
ward the Rev. William Alexander, pastor of the
Presbyterian church, undertook to perform double
labor, acting as preacher and conducting the school.
His liealth, however, soon failed, and the school was
again suspended. Such was the state of things when
Mr. Rankin took hold of the institution and infused
new life into it. His excellent abilities as an edu-
cator were soon discovered, and the friends of the
institution rallied around it, and it has been gradually
coming up, having become a first-class preparatory
academy and normal institute. Every year it is
sending out its students to Madison and Beloit col-
leges in Wisconsin; Monmouth, Illinois; Wabash
College, Indi'ana; Princeton, and other colleges. To
no higher than preparatory work does it aspire, and
that work it does well. Some of the best scholars
in the colleges just mentioned have been sent from
this institution. Since Professor Rankin came to
Waukesha, a debt of three thousand dollars has
been paid, and something has been done toward an
endowment. He is an active Christian, and exerts
a very healthful moral influence over his pupils.
He is an elder in the Presbyterian church, and in
many respects a very useful man. By his pleasant
manner as a teacher, and his great activity as a
citizen, he gains the esteem not only of his pupils,
but also of all the better c'lass of citizens.
Professor Rankin was married to Miss Mary
Nickell, of Waukesha, July 9, 1867, and by her has
had three children, two of whom are now living.
COLONEL CHARLES D. ROBINSON,
GREEN h'A 1 :
PROMINENT among the leading men of Wis- i
consin is he wliose name heads this sketch.
A native of Marcellus, New York, he was born on
the 22d of October, 1822. While yet a child he re-
moved with his parents to Brockport, New York, and 1
was soon afterward left an orphan by the death of |
his father. Prior to his twelfth year he received I
such school privileges as his circumstances would !
permit, and from that time until after he attained j
his majority earned his living by clerking in a store ;
and working at the printer's trade. He had been |
employed in a printing-office at Buffalo, New York, j
prior to 1846, but during that year settled at Green j
Bay, Wisconsin, and in connection with his brother ;
established the "Green Bay. Advocate," a paper ,
which has been published continuously under the
same firm-name and in the same politics (demo-
cratic) for more than twenty-eight years. In 1850
Mr. Robinson was elected to the Wisconsin legis-
lature, and in the following year he was elected sec-
retary of state for a term of two years, ending
December 31, 1853, receiving his election by a ma-
jority of twelve thousand. He was afterward can-
didate for governor,- but was defeated by a majority
of eight thousand. He has also been mayor of his
city two terms, and during his early residence there
7'
was for one or two term.s clerk of the court. With
tiiese exceptions he has held no official positions,
and although he is an active politician, prefers to
stand with the '' rank and file " of his party.
At the opening of the rebellion in 1861 he ten-
dered his services to Governor Randall in any ca-
pacity in which he might be useful, and was at once
assigned to the staff of Brigadier-General Rufus
King, who was then organizing the ist Wisconsin
Brigade. With General King he jiarticipated in
the movements of the army of the Potomac during
1 86 1 and 1862, and having a natural ajititude for
engineering operations was assigned to build several
military bridges, one of which was the bridge across
the Rappahannock, at Fredericksburg, over which
marched the first northern army that occupied that
city. In the latter part of 1862 his health became
so impaired that he wa,s obliged to return north,
and obtaining a leave of absence reached his home
in a very precarious condition. Finding that his
complete recovery was doubtful he resigned bis
commission. Near the close of the war he was ten-
dered by the governor the colonelcy of the 50th
Wisconsin Regiment, then organizing at Madison,
but hostilities having practically ceased by the sur-
render of General Lee, he declined the honor.
66o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
His restoration to healtii came very slowly, and it
was several years before he could again engage in
active business. In 1868, with his wife, he crossed
the ocean, visiting England, Ireland, Scotland,
France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium
and Holland, the journey occupying one year and
completely restoring his health. During his travels
he wrote a profuse series of letters to his papers at
home, which, for vivid descriptive qualities and
pleasant treatment of topics pertaining to those
countries, have been widely admired.
Although not brought up in the more abstruse
branches of education, Colonel Robinson has, in
the course of his editorial and practical career,
made his way through the most accessible fields of
modern culture, and is noted for his interest in edu-
cational and charitable institutions of tlie times.
He has had a place on the board of visitors to the
United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, and at
different times to the Wisconsin State University at
Madison. He has lectured before various college
societies in Wisconsin, and since tlie establishment
of the two Wisconsin State hospitals for the insane
has been on the board of management of one or the
other of them.
As an editorial writer he is eminently successful.
His paper has been marked with a broad and genial
treatment of the topics of the times. Although a
democrat in principle, he does not always adhere to
the closely-drawn party lines, but exercises a gener-
ous liberality. However hot a political campaign
may have been, no man's personal character has
ever been assailed by his paper. This doubtless
accounts for the long and prosperous career of that
sheet, together with the fact that its principle has
been to preserve in its columns that courteous and
unexceiitionable language, self-respect and gentle-
manly conduct which are required in the home and
parlor.
Mr. Robinson was first married in 1847, to Miss
Sarah A. Wilcox, who died in 1852; in 1854 he
married Abbie C. Ballou, of Rhode Island.
RICHARD L. GOVE,
WAUKESHA.
THE present popular president of the village of
Waukesha belongs to that class of citizens
who believe that in building up and beautifying
their town they benefit themselves. Hence such
men are public-spirited and full of enterprise, and
constantly planning to make attractive their village
or city, as the case may be, that visitors and per-
manent settlers may be drawn thither. Waukesha
has a score of such men — men who had foresight
to see that this village must become a summer re-
sort for pleasure-seekers as well as health-seekers;
that with its natural advantages and a little wise
exi)enditure of money it could be made one of the
most popular resorts in the State. They therefore
set themselves to work and made it such. Of the
younger of this class of men none is more deserving
of mention than Richard L. Gove.
He is a native of Vermont, a son of Elijah Gove,
a farmer, and Emeline E. Wright, and was born at
Ludlow, June 18, 1833. Both his paternal and ma-
ternal great-grandfathers were participants in the
long struggle for independence. In 1843 Elijah
Gove immigrated to Wisconsin Territory, and settled
on a farm at Waukesha. Richard, now ten years
old, and having an independent, self-reliant spirit,
with his father's consent resolved to take care of
himself With this in view he became a clerk in a
store, with a salary of twenty-five dollars and board
for the first year, with the privilege of attending
school a certain amount of time. His salary was
raised from year to year, and he acted as clerk for
several years, attending school four or five months
in a year — always a tuition school — and defraying
the expenses of the same out of his own funds.
Prairieville Academy, now Carroll College, was then
in its incipiency, and he attended that institution a
few terms.
Early in 1852 he spent a short time as clerk in
Peoria, Illinois, and going thence to Detroit, Michi-
gan, graduated from Gregory's Commercial College;
and at the close of that year went to Port Washing-
ton, Wisconsin, and started the "Ozaukee County
Advertiser," a paper which is still published. This
he edited and published about eight years, and at
the same time acted as postmaster, having received
his appointment from President Pierce before he
was twenty-one years old. He was holding that
office in July, 1861, when, with a lieutenant's com-
THE UNITED STATES BTOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
663
mission, he recruited men for the ist Wisconsin
Cavalry, joined the regiment at Ripen, and was
made adjutant of the same. He went to the front
as a " war democrat," and probably no man who
fought the rebels despised more heartily their at-
tempts to destroy the Union. He was mustered
out with the regiment at the expiration of his term
of service; but before this time, in 1862, he re-
turned to Wisconsin, and with a little aid from ser-
geants recruited nearly three hundred men in about
ten weeks to fill up its decimated numbers. It is
doubtful if any more efficient recruiting was done in
the State during that memorable year.
On leaving the service in 1864, Mr. Gove re-
turned to his first Wisconsin home, and there made
a permanent settlement. Opening a boot and shoe
and general furnishing store, he has since continued
to conduct it with good success. He has also dealt
considerably in real estate, in which he has had still
greater success. Everything he touches seems to
turn to money. He put up the beautiful Gove block,
built of stone, in 1871, and has built and owned
some twenty dwelling-houses during the last few
years, half a dozen of which he owns and rents.
He has an elegant residence on Wisconsin street,
with most of the attractive surroundings which taste
can suggest and skill execute.
Mr. Gove was elected president of the village in
1865, 1867 and 1877, and now holds that position,
making a very active and efficient executive. He
is thoroughly identified witli all local improvements,
and no one rejoices more than he in the growing
population, wealth and beauty of the home of his
adoption.
Mr. Gove belongs to the fraternity of Odd-Fel-
lows, and has passed all the chairs. He is a mem-
ber of the Baptist church, and a liberal supporter
of religious, benevolent and educational enterprises.
On May i, 1859, he was married to Miss Jennie
A. Stone, a niece of H. O. Stone, of Chicago. They
have five children: lone, born October 17, i860;
Richard L., December 22, 1865 ; Jennie May, April
26, 1868; Fra Belle, March 13, 1870, and Jay, March
23, 1877.
Both the parents of Mr. Gove are living in Wau-
kesha, his father being in his seventy-seventh year,
and his mother in her sixty-seventh. He has two
brothers and two sisters ; the brothers, Londus E.
and Jesse M., being engaged in business in Mil-
waukee; Frances, the elder sister, is the wife of
Hon. E. S. Turner, of Ozaukee county, Wisconsin,
and lone is the wife of Col. Daniels, now of Wash-
ington, District of Columbia, and formerly State
geologist of Wisconsin ; the younger sister is an
authoress, an elegant performer on musical instru-
ments, and one of the most noted singers at the na-
tional capital.
Mr. Gove has a light complexion, bordering on
the florid, and bluish-gray eyes; is five feet and
nine inches tall, and weighs one hundred and sev-
enty-five pounds. He has a young appearance, and,
though born in 1833, would be taken for a man un-
der forty years of age. His manners are cordial ;
his disposition social and lively, and he has the well-
merited reputation of being a first-class entertainer.
I On public occasions, such as a Fourth-of-July cele-
I bration, or any gathering requiring superior mar-
I shalship, the headwork and general engineering
1 usually devolves on him, and he is equal to any
1 emergency.
JAMIiS HUTCHINSON,
MIXEllAI. POINT.
THE subject of this sketch, a native of Newton
Stewart, Tyrone county, Ireland, was born on
the ist of March, 1819, the son of Christopher
Hutchinson and Sarah n^e Hill.
James received a common-school education, and
after closing his studies worked on his father's farm
until he attained his majority.
Leaving his native country about 1840, he emi-
grated to the United States and settled at Mineral
Point, in Iowa county, Wisconsin, and engaged in
mining for six years. Upon the discovery of the
Lake Superior copper mines in 1846, lie removed
thither, and was there engaged in mining for one
year, and while thus employed lost his right arm
and right eye by an accidental discharge of a blast
from a copper mine at Lac La Belle. As soon as he
had recovered sufficiently he returned to Mineral
Point and began to learn to write with his left hand.
Tiic town liaving just been incorporated, he, in
1847, was elected clerk of tlie corporation, and held
664
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
that office for one year. In the autumn of the fol-
lowing year he was elected clerk of the city court
on an independent ticket, and held that office dur-
ing eight successive years. Close confinement, how-
ever, seriously impaired his health, and in iiS57, with
a view to regaining his strength, he removed to a
farm of five hundred acres, which he owned, five
miles from the village. Renting his farm in 1862,
he engaged in the grain and stock trade; not liking
this business, he abandoned it at the end of two
years, and in 1864 turned his attention to the lumber
trade, which be has continued with good success up
to the present time (1877).
In 1869 Mr. Hutchinson was elected mayor of
the city, and again elected in the spring of 1875.
In political sentiment he was formerly a whig, but
since the organization of the republican party he
has been identified with that body, though he is not
a politician.
His religious training was under Episcopal influ-
ences, his parents being members of that church.
Upon settling at Mineral Point he found no Episco-
pal church in the place, and liis religious views hav-
! ing materially changed, he, in 1S43, united with the
Methodist Episcopal church, and has' continued a
zealous and consistent member. He has held vari-
ous offices in the church, and lends hearty sympathy
and cooperation to every benevolent and worthy
enterprise.
Mr. Hutchinson was married on the 17th of No-
vember, 1849, to Miss Phillippa J. Cox, of Mineral
Point, a daughter of James and Phillippa Cox, of
Cornwall, Ii^ngland. They have had eleven children,
of whom eight are now livint;.
SATTERLEE WARDEN,
DARLINCTOX.
THE Wardens were among the very early set-
tlers in New England, the original family com-
ing to this country in the second or third vessel after
the Mayflower. A generation or two later, members
of the family found their way into the State of New
York. The father of our subject, Allen Warden,
was living in Sempronius, Cayuga county, when
the son was born, November 12, 1812. The War-
dens, though not a very numerous family, are found
in most of the States of the Union. Some of them
spell the name Worden. Commodore Worden is a
descendant of the same ancestor as the subject of
this sketch. The mother of Satterlee was Sally
Satterlee, and her father was a major in the conti-
nental army. Allen Warden, a miller and general
contractor, moved to Auburn at an early day, and
there the son attended a common school, finishing
his education at a high school in Geneseo, Living-
ston county. In 1834, having previously had some
experience in the business, commenced milling for
himself in Auburn. In 1840 he went to Clarksville,
Tennessee, and built the first flouring-mill having a
smut machine in the State, and manufactured choice
merchant flour, and converted wheat into something
more than a bartering cereal. He remained there
until 1853, and then sold out and spent a year or
more in traveling, and in 1856 settled in Darlington,
Wisconsin. Here he commenced operations by
purchasing J. M. Keep's flouring-mill, which he
operated for six years; then built a larger one ten
miles below on the Pecatonica, which he still owns.
Meantime Mr. Warden has had other enterprises
on his hands, the most important one being in Kan-
sas. In 1874 he went to Irving, Marshall county,
on the Big Blue river, and succeeded in building a
dam at that point, an undertaking which skillful
engineers had regarded as impracticable. A com-
pany from western New York had preceded Mr.
Warden, taking a civil engineer with them, and after
making a careful examination, abandoned the idea
of securing water-power at that point. The dam
which Mr. Warden built marked an epoch in the
history of Irving which is now regarded as the hand-
somest town in the State.
Up to a recent date Mr. Warden has lived a very
busy life, and has succeeded in his several under-
takings. His home in Darlington is very pleasant,- —
a large brick house, standing near the center of an
entire square, with primeval forest trees, transplant-
ed evergreens and other sylvan adornments sur-
rounding it.
In politics Mr. Warden was originally a whig, and
of late years has acted with the republicans. While
residing in Tennessee, in 1853, he disposed of his
pro|)erty there and returned to the North, because
he saw that a civil war was approaching, predicting
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART
665
at that early date, eight years before it came, that it
was inevitable. While a resident of New York, in
1837, he was appointed by Governor Marcy brig-
adier-general of the seventh brigade of infantry, and
served about three years.
On July 19, 1832, he was married to Miss Harriet
Randall, of Cortland, New York, daughter of Gen-
eral Roswell Randall, and a sister of Hon. Henry S.
Randall, formerly secretary of state of New York.
They have had ten children, five of whom are now-
living. A promising son, Randall, a member of the
\\'isconsin State University, was drowned in the
Pecatonica river while bathing, August 21, 1876.
The only son living, James S., is an attorney and
banker at Irving, Kansas. One daughter, Elizabeth
W., graduated at New Haven, Connecticut; another,
Harriet, at Ann .\rbor, Michigan ; and the other two,
Caroline Merriweather and Sally, have not finished
their education.
Mr. Warden has a dark com])lexion, gray eyes,
and a good head of snow-white hair; is six feet and
two inches tall, weighs two hundred and sixty-four
pounds, and stands as erect as in early manhood.
He has a very robust appearance, a symmetrical
form, and strangers would single him out as a man
of mark.
EUGENE F. WARREN,
EUGENE F. WARREN, a native of Fort Cov-
ington, New York, was born June 30, 1833,
the son of Lemuel Warren, a native of Mount Pubis,
Vermont, and Betsey R. nee Richardson, a native of
Washington county. New York. The father had
been quite wealthy, but through speculations and ill
health lost his fortune, and when Eugene was five
years old, with his \vife and family, consisting of five
sons and three daughters, he removed to the west
with a view to bettering his condition. Landing at
Milwaukee on the 5th of July, 1838, he went thence
with ox teams to Janesville, which at that time com-
prised about five houses, and there, with the aid of
his wife and three eldest sons, and daughter, who
taught a small school, managed to eke out a living.
Soon afterward he moved on to a farm in the town
of Union, now the town of Center, twelve miles from
Janesville; and here our subject began farming, his
first work being to drive a yoke of oxen. When he
was thirteen years old his father died, and his three
eldest brothers, William, Zebina and John, having
begun work for themselves, and his three sisters,
Maria, Louisa and Elizabeth, having all died within
six months, he, his mother and brother Lemuel were
left alone upon the farm.
His opportunities for gaining an education were
limited ; he attended school during three months
each winter, and also received instruction from his
mother, who had formerly been a teacher, and to
her our subject feels himself indebted for his early
education. At the-age of twenty-one he removed to
Albany, and with a cai>ital of five hundred dollars.
with his brothers Lemuel PL and John H., engaged
in the mercantile trade, the partnershi|) continuing
for sixteen years. At the end of that time he pur-
chased the interest of his brothers and continued
the business in his own name for five years. In
August, 186 r, while in business with his brothers,
feeling that one of them should go into the army,
and that he was best fitted by reason of previous
military experience, he enlisted in Company E, 13th
Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He was
soon promoted to the rank of first lieutenant, and
continued in the service until 1864. In 1862 he
was in the army of Kansas. In the following year
he was sent to the army of the Tennessee, and was
at Fort Henry and Forr Donelson, and while here
was detailed judge advocate of a general court mar-
tial. During the three months that the court was
in session fifty-two cases were tried, and five men
received the death sentence. Through his military
career Mr. Warren maintained an untarnished char-
acter, and made a record of which he may justly be
proud. One- week after he had returned to his
home he received from the secretary of war an ap-
pointment as captain in Major-General Hancock's
corps, but his brother John having accepted an ap-
pointment as United States revenue collector, and
his brother Lemuel being in very poor health, he
was obliged to decline the appointment and give his
attention to his business interests.
In 1869 Mr. Warren erected a large flouring mill
on the site of a mill built by his brother Zebina.
(This brother had died years before and his mill
666
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
had been carried away by high water.) The invest-
ment proved a good one, since the mill produced
annually thousands of barrels of flour and thousands
of tons of feed. Since the close of the war Mr.
Warren has been engaged in a limited manner with
his brothers in the mail and stage business, con-
ducting from eight to fifteen routes in 187 i. Since
that time the business has been increased, and at
present (1877) they are operating two hundred and
twenty routes, employing hundreds of men and
horses. In 1874 he sold his interest in his store,
having been in business for more than twenty-one
years.
The success which has crowned the work of our
subject is due to those habits of perseverance, in-
dustry and frugality which were early taught him at
the hands of his parents, and which have marked
his whole life. His mother lived with him until
1871, when she died at the age of seventy-seven
years.
Mr. Warren was married at Oregon, Wisconsin, on
the 9th September, 1855, to Miss Sarah S. Gleason,
who has cheerfully shared with him all the vicissi-
tudes of his life. Mrs. Warren's. parents moved to
Wisconsin from Owego, New York, when she was a
child. Her father died soon after their arrival,
leaving her mother in delicate health with seven
children to support.
In 1863 Mrs. Warren accompanied her husband
through the hardships and privations of his camp-
life. They have had five children, namely, Mary,
Nellie, William, Grace and Charles. William died
in 1867 at the age of tliree years; the others are liv-
ing at home.
EHIEL SMITH, M.D.,
WAUKESHA.
JP:HIEL SMITH, who for thirty years has been a
practicing physician in Waukesha, Wisconsin, is
a son of Stephen Smith, a millwright, and Sally iice
Hadley, and was born in Bath, New Hampshire,
August 25, 1803. His mother was a native of the
town of Hadley, Massachusetts, and some of her
near relatives were participants in the war for inde-
pendence. Jehiel spent most of his time in school
until seventeen years of age ; then went to Boston,
Massachusetts, and commenced "carving out his
own fortune." He there ' studied medicine with
Elias Smith, a brother of Dr. J. V. C. Smith, and
editor of one of the first medical periodicals pub-
lished in this country. He attended medical lec-
tures at Cambridge, Massachusetts; Hanover, New
Hampshire, and Woodstock, Vermont, though not
during consecutive years. Being obliged to defray
his own expenses, he progressed slowly, and prac-
ticed in the intervals between attending lectures.
Dr. Smith followed his profession in various New
England towns until 1847, when he settled in Wau-
kesha, which has since been his home. He has had
an experience of forty-five years in the healing art.
A few years ago he went to Cincinnati, and attended
a course of lectures in the Ohio Medical College \ at
the same time, not feeling fully satisfied with the
exclusive practice of the allopathic system, he
attended a course in the Cincinnati Eclectic Med-
ical College, and received his last diploma from that
institution.
In 1872 Dr. Smith started what is known as the
" Lethean Mineral Spring," located at his own door,
in the center of the village. The water has been
carefully analyzed, and is shown to have excellent
medicinal qualities. One gallon of it contains 19.263
grains of soluble salts, as follows : Chloride of sodi-
um, 0.695 grains; sulphate of sodium, 0.881 grains;
bicarbonate of soda, 1.286 grains; bicarbonate of
lime, 9.498 grains; bicarbonate of magnesia, 5.922
grains; bicarbonate of iron, 0.097 grains; alumina,
o.ioi grains; silica, 0.783 grains. The Lethean
Spring water is sent to all parts of the United States
and the Dominion of Canada, and works as a won-
derful remedial agent in curing diseases of the liver,
kidneys, bladder, throat and lungs. It is the large
percentage of carbonated alkalies and alkaline
earths, with a weak chalybeate, that gives this water
its great therapeutic value.
Dr. Smith has been a member of the Presbyterian
church since he was fifteen years of age, and bears
an irreproachable character. ^
He is now living with his fourth wife. His first
was Martha H. Sargent, of Boston, Massachusetts;
his second, Mary M. Walbridge, of Brookfield, Ver-
mont ; and the third, Laura Potter, of Lisbon, Wis-
consin. His present wife was Julia L. Willard, of
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
Williamsport, Pennsylvania; she is a well educated
woman, a good writer, and a valuable assistant to
her husband in his profession. Dr. Smith had five
children by his first wife, and two by the second,
but one of whom, a daughter, is now living; she is
667
the wife of Edwin Hurlbut, an attorney at Ocono-
mowoc.
Though in his seventy-fifth year, the Doctor stands
perfectly erect, enjoys excellent health, and is busy
as ever in trying to ease pain and remove disease.
SYLVESTER W. OSBORN,
DARLINGTON.
SYLVESTER WEBSTER OSBORN, a native
of Delaware county, New York, and a son of
Samuel and Polly (Webster) Osborn, was born July
I, 1812. His maternal ancestors are noted for their
longevity, his grandfather living to be nearly one
hundred and two years old, and his mother is now
in her ninety-fifth year. She is in good health,
writes a steady hand, and her mind is perfectly
sound. She resides in Conneaut, Ohio. Sylvester
lost his father when six or seven years old, and for
several years lived with different families in the
beech woods of Ashtabula county, in northern Ohio.
When he was fourteen his mother married a second
husband and he lived with his step-father on a farm
at Jefferson, in the county just named, until of age,
receiving only a limited common-school education.
In 1835 Mr. Osborn married Miss Julia M. Gard-
ner, of Kingsville, Ashtabula county, where he was
engaged in the milling business. At the end of five
or six years went to Ashtabula village and resumed
the same business, and in April, 185 1, settled in
Darlington, Wisconsin. Here at first he superin-
tended the building of a flouring mill for Messrs.
Kee[) and Lynd, — the first mill of the kind erected
in the ])lace. He operated the mill for these parties
until the autumn of 1862, when he enlisted in the
16th Regiment Wisconsin Volunteers, and entered
the service as captain of company I. He partici-
pated in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, and after
about one year resigned on account of ill health.
Returning to Darlington he was engaged in farming
one season, and then resumed the milling business,
working four years for Allen Warden. Since that
time he had charge of the county poor-house about
six years. He spent eight months in Texas in 1876,
building iron bridges at Seguin and Helena, and in
February, 1877, received, unsolicited, the appoint-
ment of postmaster.
Mr. Osborn was a member of the general as-
sembly in 1865, and served as chairman of the mil-
itary committee.
He has always been a strong opponent of human
oppression, and early became a member of the lib-
erty party, voting for James G. Birney for presi-
dent in 1844. He attended the first republican State
convention held in Wisconsin, and has acted with
that party ever since that time.
He has long been a member of the Baptist church.
He has four children, all married, and all well set-
tled in life. Sarah M., the eldest child, is the wife
of Judge P. A. Orton, of Darlington; Julia M. is
the wife of Dwight W. Hodge, of Buffalo, New York ;
Homer S. is a physician, living at Mineral Point,
Wisconsin ; and Charles Francis is a lawyer, living
at Darlington.
Mr. Osborn has seen great changes since he settled
in Darlington in 185 i. Of those who then lived in
the place, only one besides himself remains; while
the site which was then covered with wheat and oat
fields, is now a city of twenty-five hundred inhabitants.
CHARLES H. LAMAR,
DARLINGTON.
T
HE subject of this sketch is of Huguenot de-
scent, his ancestors coming to this country at
jarly day. He is the son of Nathan and Marga-
(Harper) Lamar, and was born in Queen Ann
county, Maryland, October 3, 1819. He lost both
parents in infancy and lived with a farmer until six-
teen years old. In 1835 he went to Louisville, Ken-
tucky, and was a clerk there for four years. He
668
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONAHT.
started for Wisconsin late in tlie autumn of 1839,
with a stock of goods, but was frozen in at Warsaw,
Illinois, on the Mississippi river, and early the next
spring reached White Oak Springs, then in Iowa,
now in La Fayette county, and opened the first store
in the county. He traded several years there and
at Cassville, Grant county, conducting other business
at the same time. In 1842 he built the first furnace
ever put up at Cassville, used for that place and the
Beetown diggings. In 1844 he ran the steamer
New Haven from St. Louis northward, making a
few trips to the point where St. Paul now stands,
there being no town then on the river north of Prai-
rie du Chien. The next year he opened a store at
Shullsburg, continuing the one at White Oak Springs,
and operated in trade at these places until 1853,
removing his family the year before to Gratiot's
Grove. He had a contract on the Illinois Central
railroad with Mr. F. A. Strocky in 1853 and 1854,
and in 1856 purchased the steamer Hamburgh, and
ran her one season. In 1857 he started in the livery
business at St. Paul, and two years later, with two
other gentlemen, he had a contract on what was
then called the Minneapolis and Cedar Valley rail-
road.
In i860 Mr. Lamar returned to Gratiot's Grove
and commenced farming and stock-dealing. He
went south the following winter as far as Arkansas,
and filled a large contract to build levee on the
Mississippi river, and in 187 1 purchased and en-
larged the Russell House at Darlington ; removed
his family hither, and is still proprietor of the house,
making a popular landlord.
Mr. Lamar has been engaged in other enterprises
besides those enumerated. He solicited stock for
the Galena and Chicago Union railroad ; had stock
in the first telegraph company which ran a line
through this part of the State, and has aided in
other important enterprises. He has witnessed the
development of the upper Mississippi valley, and
taken pride in the wonderful progress of the great
Northwest. He voted for two State constitutions
in Wisconsin and one in Minnesota. During Gov-
ernor Dewey's administration he was on the gover-
nor's staff
Mr. Lamar was postmaster at Gratiot's Grove
about five years, and has held a few municipal of-
fices, but has never sought such responsibilities.
He was originally a whig, and upon the dissolution
of that party joined the democratic. He belongs to
the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Lamar has a third wife. His first was Mary
Berry, of Gratiot's Grove ; they were married in
1842, and she died of consumption in 1850; of
five children born to them only one is now living.
The second wife was Elizabeth Scales, sister of Col-
onel S. H. Scales, of White Oak Springs; they
were married in 1851 and had two children ; she and
both children, and two of the former children, died
of cholera in 1854. His present wife is a daughter
of Colonel Scales, their union taking ]3lace in 1855;
they have had six sons, five of whom are now living.
HAMILTON H. GRAY,
DARLINGTON.
HAMILTON HUNTER GRAY, son of John
Gray, a manufacturer and physician, and
Clarinda Montrose Thompson, was born at Madison,
Madison county, New York, June 29, 1827. His
maternal grandfather. Captain Ebenezer Thompson,
served in the regular army for eighteen years. His
maternal grandmother was a Putnam, a near relative
of General Israel Putnam. In 1829 John Gray
moved to the site of Factoryville, Oneida county,
and started that village by building the first cotton
factory in the Mohawk valley. Two years later he
removed to Monroe, Michigan, and in 1836 to Boone
county, Illinois, where he practiced medicine and
built mills. Later he went to California, and with
Governor Bigler laid out the town of Crescent City.
Hamilton left home at thirteen years of age and
went to New Diggings, Lafayette county, Wisconsin,
in 1843, when only sixteen years old. Engaging in
mining he took out eight hundred dollars' worth of
lead ore, all of which he converted into silver and
deposited in a cotton handkerchief, and, to use his
own words, "has never felt so rich since." With
this amount of money in his possession he started
for Belvidere, Illinois, where he spent three months
in a school conducted by Margaret Fuller. He then
gave the same length of time to study at Beloit,
Wisconsin.
In 1846 Mr, Gray received an appointment to
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
669
West Point, but immediately abandoned the idea of
having a military education, and commenced read-
ing law with John M. Keep, of Beloit, a land dealer
and an attorney. At the end of three months Mr.
Keep became an invalid, and Mr. Clray took charge
of his land operations and conducted them for three
years. He then hired out one year to a land com-
pany, organized at Beloit and operating in south-
western Wisconsin and Iowa. In January, 1850, he
purchased the site of Darlington, and in June of
that year, with one-fourth interest in it, platted and
laid out the village, having the complete manage-
ment of the business, with headquarters at Mineral
Point, then the seat of the United States land office.
At the same time he was conducting two stores at
Beloit, and doing a heavy milling business there,
sending flour by teams to Racine and Southport
(now Kenosha), and thence to England. He con-
tinued to deal in lands, 'horses, cattle and other
property, operating with the money of eastern cap-
italists, and doing well for all parties. From the
time Lafayette county was cut off the southern part
of Iowa county Mr. Gray was engaged in locating
the county seat for about ten years. At first it was
at Shullsburg, but was afterward moved to Darling-
ton, and here remains. During part of the time
that the county-seat contest was in progress Mr.
Gray was editing newspapers. For a short time
he conducted two of opposite politics, but both de-
voted to the interests of Darlington. He edited
a newspaper as late as 1S64. He has never aban-
doned the land business, and is now dealing in Iowa
and Nebraska lands, and is one of the most efficient
operators in his part of the country.
Mr. Gray was a county supervisor for several
years; district attorney one term; member of the
assembly in 1856 and 1858, and of the senate in
1869 and 1870; he was one of the regents of the
State University two terms; and was the democratic
candidate for lieutenant-governor in 1869.
He has been a life-long democrat, outspoken and
unwavering, and in 1872 attended the national con-
vention which nominated Horace Greeley for the
Presidency.
The wife of Mr. Gray was a daughter of Rev.
Stephen Peet, of Beloit; their marriage occurred
May I, 1849; they have had twelve children, eight
of whom are now living. The two eldest daughters,
Harriet M. and Martha Ann, are married. The
former is the wife of William H, Armstrong, of Irv-
ing, Kansas, and the latter, of C. S. Montgomery, of
Lincoln, Nebraska.
PHILO A. ORTON,
DARLINGTON.
THE subject of this biograjihy is a son of Philo
A Orton, senior, a tanner and currier by occu-
pation, and Nancy G. ne'e Collins. He is a native of
the Empire State, and was born at Hamilton, Madi-
son county, March 24, 1837. The Orton family, of
wliich he is a member, were among the early settlers
of New England, Thomas Orton, the pioneer, com-
ing from England in 1640, and settling in Connecti-
cut. He married Mary Pratt, of Windsor, Con-
necticut, and they both died at Farmington in that
State.
Tile father of our subject in 1S39 moved with his
family to Eaton, only a few miles from Hamilton.
In 1850 he removed to the West and settled at Be-
loit, Wisconsin, and five years later removed to Dar-
lington, where he died July 12, 1872. His widow is
still living with her son in that place. Our subject
spent a year in the preparatory department of Beloit
College, giving especial attention to the study of
mathematics and branches of the physical sciences,
supplementing these studies with a year's attendance
at Madison University, New York, there fitting him-
self for a civil engineer. This was during the years
1856 and 1857, a period ending in great financial
depression, when railroad building came to a halt,
and many of the older civil engineers were thrown
out of employment. On this account, and also by
reason of the fact that he had a partiality for the
law, he in the spring of 1858 commenced legal stud-
ies, and was admitted to the bar at Shullsburg, then
the county seat of Lafayette county, in 1859. He
has practiced in Darlington since that date, and has
been quite successful, both professionally and finan-
cially. His business became so extensive and bur-
densome, and he was so overworked, that in 1874, in
order to lessen his labors, he, established a private
bank in connection with George S. Anthony, under
the firm name of P. A. Orton and Co., and since
670
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
that date he has given comparatively little attention
to his profession. His high standing as an attorney
may be inferred from the fact that in 1861 he was
the candidate, on the democratic ticket, for attorney-
general of the State. He was prosecuting attorney
for Lafayette county in 1863 and 1864, and county
judge from 1870 to 1874. He was a candidate for
circuit judge in 1870, and for member of congress
in 1876, but the judicial and congressional districts
being strongly republican, he was defeated.
Mr. Orton has always been a democrat, and in
1864 attended the national convention whicli nomi-
nated General McClellan for the Presidency. He
is a Knight Templar in the Masonic order.
A believer in the general doctrines of Christianity,
he is a regular attendant of the Baptist churcli, of
which his wife is a member.
As a business man he is known for his uprightness
and fair dealing, and everywhere maintains an irre-
proachable character.
On January 27, 1862, he was married to Miss
Sarah M. Osborn, daughter of Syhester W. Osborn,
now ]30Stmaster at Darlington, and by lier lias two
children.
VALENTINE BLATZ,
MILWAUKEE.
VALENTINE BLATZ was born October i,
1826, at Mittenberg-on-the-Main, Bavaria, the
son of Casper and Barbara Blatz. His father, a
brewer by occupation, owned a brewery and was a
man of considerable influence in Mittenberg. Val-
entine attended the common schools of his native
place until fourteen years of age, and at that time
entered his father's brewery with a view to learning
the business. After working three years in order
that he might acquire a more perfect knowledge of
the business, he visited the large brewing establish-
ments of Wiirtzburg, Augsburg and Munich, and at
these different places spent nearly four years. He
also spent a short time in other cities. Upon at-
taining his majority, in obedience to the mandate of
the national law requiring every able-bodied young
man to serve a certain length of time in the army,
lie returned home to report for military duty. His
father, however, relieved him from this duty by pro-
curing a substitute.
Young Blatz being thus at liberty to seek his for-
tune, a few months later bade good-bye to his native
land, and sailing for America, landed in New. York
in August, 1848. Going thence to Buffalo, New
York, he was there employed at his trade one year.
Having heard of the growing young city of Milwau-
kee, and the inducements which it offered to enter-
prising young men, he removed thither in 1849 and
soon found employment at his trade.
During the next two years he was, at different
times, foreman of several breweries, but being unsat-
isfied, resolved that as soon as he had accumulated
sufficient capital he would engage in business on his
own account. Accordingly, in 1S51, having by pru-
dence and economy saved from his earnings five
hundred dollars, he made a start.
His brewery at that time was situated on lots one
and two of block fifty-nine. It was a small estab-
lishment employing only four hands, and during the
first year yielded a product of five hundred barrels
of beer. Mr. Blatz was the first to manufacture the
celebrated Milwaukee beer. From the first his bus-
iness prospered, and by his peculiar business tact
steadily increased until it has attained to enormous
proportions. In 1861 the sales amounted to eight
thousand barrels; in 187 1 to thirty-four thousand
barrels, and in 1S75 to sixty-five riiousand barrels.
He buys yearly about one hundred and seventy-five
thousand bushels of barley; one hundred and fifty
thousand pounds of hops, and pays a revenue of
from sixty thousand to seventy thousand dollars,
and taxes on his property of over seven thousand
dollars.
He has added to his establishment as his business
has increased, and now his vaults and ice-cellars
have a capacity of over twenty thousand barrels.
Agencies are established in New York city, Chicago,
Danville, Illinois, St. Paul, Muskegon, Michigan,
and Racine, Wisconsin ; while the amount of capital
employed is six hundred thousand dollars, furnish-
ing employment for one hundred and twenty-four
men and fifty-two horses. Although Mr. Blatz has
met with success in his enterprise, he has by no
means been free from misfortune. The brick build-
ing which he erected in 1858 he continued to en-
large from year to year until 1873, wlien all his
e^
^V^(^^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
673
buildings, except the brewery proper, were destroyed
by fire. The large stock which he had in his vaults,
however, prevented any interruption in the supply-
ing of his agencies, and with characteristic energy
he set about repairing his losses. Within sixty days
he began rebuilding, employing from one hundred
and fifty to two hundred men, and pushed the work
forward until January, 1874, when the structure was
completed. The building fronts on Broadway, oc-
cupying block number fifty-nine between Division
and Johnson streets. Besides he has two ice-houses
on lots seven and eight, block F, and cooper-shops
on lot one, block sixty, where he manufactures most
of his barrels.
About this time, also, he met with a heavy loss at
Kenosha, by the burning of his malt-houses, which
he had rented of Lill and Bullen. In April, 1874,
he met with another loss, caused by the breaking of
the iron pillars on which rested the floors where
malt and barley to the amount of about sixty thou-
sand bushels were stored, all of which was precipi-
tated to the ground in a mixed mass. Notwith-
standing all these various calamities, which would
have broken down many men, Mr. Blatz has borne
up with courage, making the best of his misfortunes,
and to-day is as full of energy and enterprise as
when he first began business.
As a man, Mr. Blatz is public-spirited and gen-
erous, and has attained to a wide popularity, and
been honored with positions of honor and trust. He
was elected president of the Second Ward Savings
Bank in 1868, and since that time has continued to
hold that position. In 1872 he was elected alder-
man, and performed his duties with satisfaction to
his constituents.
Mr. Blatz has had a wide experience, having trav-
eled both in Europe and in this country, and being
a man of observation, has gathered a fund of practi-
cal knowledge, which renders him a most agreeable
social companion.
He was married on the 4th of December, 185 1, to
Miss Louise Schmidt, a native of Giidengen, Prussia,
whose father was mayor of that city. They have
four sons and two daughters : the eldest daughter is
the Avife of John Kremer, of the Milwaukee Oleo-
graph Company. The eldest son is first engineer of
his father's brewery; the second son is engaged in
one of the largest breweries of Cincinnati ; the third
son is assistant bookkeeper in the Second Ward
Savings Bank, Milwaukee; while the fourth son and
younger daughter are attending school.
Throughout his entire career Mr. Blatz has main-
tained the strictest principles of integrity, and is
universally known as a man of fair dealing. If to
this fact we add another, namely, that he is a prac-
tical brewer and thoroughly acquainted with all the
various minutia: of his business, we have the great
secret of his success. ■
HON. WILLIAM P. LYNDE, M.C.,
MU.WAUKEE.
WILLIAM PITT LVNDE was born at Sher-
burne, New York, December 16, 181 7, and
is the son of Telly and Elizabeth (Warner) Lynde,
both natives of Massachusetts. In the year 1800 his
father removed to New York and settled at Sher-
burne, where for many years he was a prosperous
merchant and a leading member of the community.
He was for thirteen years a member of the State
legislature, serving seven years in the lower house
and six in the senate. A man noted for wisdom and
probity, he was held in honor and esteem by all who
knew him. In 1842 he retired from business and
settled in Brooklyn, New York, where, after a well-
spent life, he died in 1857, leaving his family amply
provided for, and bequeathed to them an unsullied
name and an irreproachable record.
The mother of our subject was a most amiable
and exemplary Christian woman, devoted to domes-
tic life and habits of industry and virtue, and her
influence for good over her children was dbntrol-
ling. She was for many years a zealous member of
Plymouth Congregational Church, Brooklyn, in the
communion of which she died in 1870 at ([uite an
advanced age. They had a family of four sons, of
whom William Pitt was the second. Two of them,
namely, Charles James, the eldest, and Watts Sher-
man, the third, perished on the ill-fated steamer
Erie, off the town of Silver Creek on lake Erie, on
the 9th of August, 1 84 1. They were returning to
Milwaukee, where a year previously they had estab-
lished themselves in the profession of the law, to
which they had been bred. Charles James had been
674
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
married for some two years, and his wife was on
board with hira, but miraculously escaped, being the
only female passenger saved out of three hundred.
She still lives, being now the widow of the late Mr.
Weeks, of Syracuse, New York. Martins, the- fourth
son, is a resident of Brooklyn, New York.
The Lynde family is of English origin, the founder
of the line in America having, about 1675, settled in
Massachusetts, where a large colony of the descend-
ants still reside, though many have settled in the
middle and western States, where they are found
occupying conspicuous stations both in society and
in the various learned professions. Judge Benjamin
Lynde, for many years judge of the court of ciueen's
bench of Massachusetts, in colonial times, was of the
same lineage as Cornelius Lynde, who was judge
of the supreme court of Vermont in later times, and
both were eminent for learning and probity.
William Pitt Lynde, who was named after the
great English statesman, of whom his father was an
enthusiastic admirer, received his academic educa-
tion partly at Hamilton Academy, Hamilton, New
York, and partly at Homer, Cortland county. New
York. He entered the freshman class of Hamilton
College in the year 1834, and remained some two
terms in the institution. He subsequently entered
the sophomore class of Yale College, from which,
after passing through the full course of study, he
graduated with the highest honors in 1838, having
been elected by his class to deliver the valedictory.
His knowledge of the ancient languages generally
was above the average, while he was especially pro-
ficient as a Greek scholar. After leaving college he
entered the law department of the New York Uni-
versity, then presided over by the distinguished
Benjamin F. Butler, attorney-general under President
Van Buren — Judges David Graham and Kent being
of the faculty. Here he remained about one year,
when he entered the Harvard Law School, then
under the direction of Judges Story and Greenleaf
He graduated in the spring of 1841, and was ad-
mitted to the bar of New York at the May term of
the same year in company with Judge Field, Chief-
justice Nelson presiding.
During the autumn of 1841 he removed to Mil-
waukee, Wisconsin, which has since been his home,
and early in the following year formed a law part-
nership with Mr. Asahel Finch, which continues to
this day. In 1857 Mr. B. K. Miller, son of Judge
A. G. Miller, of the United States district court,
and Mr, H. M. Finch, nephew of the senior partner,
became members of the firm, which has since been
known as Finchs, Lynde and Miller.
Since first settling in Milwaukee, the career of
Mr. Lynde has been steadily onward and upward.
For many years he has been president of the Bar
Association of Milwaukee, and at the present time
(1877) occupies a position at the bar and in the
confidence and regard of his fellow-citizens second
to that of no man in the community.
In 1844 he was appointed attorney-general of Wis-
consin, which position he resigned in 1845 to accept
the office of United States district attorney for the
district of Wisconsin. From the last-named position,
on the admission of Wisconsin to the Union, he was
elected to represent the first district of the new State
in the thirtieth congress, and served from December
6, 1847, to March 3, 1849. In i860 he was elected
chief magistrate of his adopted city, which office he
held for two years. In 1866 he was elected to
represent liis district in the legislative assembly of
Wisconsin, serving for one term, and in 1868-9 rep-
resented the fourth senatorial district in the State
senate. In 1874 he was elected to represent the
fourth district of Wisconsin in the Forty-fourth Con-
gress of the United States, and was a leading mem-
ber of the judiciary committee of the house. He
was also elected by the house of representatives as
one of the seven managers of the Belknap impeach-
ment trial before the senate. He was again elected
to congress in 1876, by a majority of five thousand
six hundred.
In politics he has always been a moderate demo-
crat, having inherited his political views from his
ancestors ; but he was instinctively opposed to slav-
ery, and fully acquiesced in the abolition of that
institution, and in the constitutional amendments
enfranchising the negro.
Since early manhood he has been an exemplary
member of the Presbyterian church, and for twenty
years past has been an elder in the Immanuel con-
gregation of that denomination of Christians in
Milwaukee.
In 1867 he made a six months' tour in Europe,
visiting most of the continental cities, as well as those
of Great Britain.
Mr. Lynde is a man of blameless life and spotless
reputation — emphatically " an honest man." Asa
private gentleman and member of society he is
genial, courteous and complaisant, possessing fine
conversational powers, always entertaining and often
spicy; and while his opinions upon all subjects are
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
675
fixed and firmly lield, yet he never intrudes them
upon others; and although one of the most finished
scholars and linguists of the day, he is proverbially
modest and unassuming, always adapting his con-
versation to the intellectual status of his auditors;
nor has he ever had a misunderstanding with any
one during his whole life. He is a man of great
generosity in his gifts to religious and benevolent
objects, whether public or private, and especially
generous in his contributions toward the support of
the institutions of the church with which he is in
communion. In private life he is a pattern of virtue
and morality. As a lawyer he is thoroughly read,
perha])s more so tlran any other practitioner in the
Northwest. He is, however, more of a court pleader
than an advocate before a jury, that is, more at home
in arguing a point of law before a judge than in
carrying a case to a jury on a question of facts. His
specialty in the profession is admiralty and patent
law, and he is, perhaps, more familiar with current
decisions on questions of commercial and admiralty
law than any other member of the bar west of the
Alleghany mountains. His success in this depart-
ment of the practice eminently attests his ability.
His education is thorough, embracing ancient and
modern languages and all the learning of the schools;
his judgment is piercing, and able to trace the most
intricate difficulties of science; his taste refined and
quick to relish all the beauties of sentiment and
composition. He is a diligent student and a regular
reader of French and German journals and periodi-
cals. As a public speaker he is fluent, eloquent,
logical and forcible, his manner being solemn and
dignified — especially in court — never in his public
addresses indulging in wit or drollery.
On the 24th of May, 1841, a few days after his
admission to the bar, he married Miss Mary E.,
daughter of Dr. Azarial Blanchard, of Tru.xton,
Cortland county. New York, a gifted and highly
accomplished lady and a graduate of the Albany
Female Academy, wliere she took the first prize in
composition, her essay being read before the faculty
by the late Hon. Wm. H. Seward. She is a woman
of active mind and eminently social qualities, fore-
most in every enterprise, whether public or private,
for the benefit of the community. She was appointed
by Governor Fairchild a member of the first board
of directors of the State charities of Wisconsin, and
held the office for four years. She was one of the
founders of the orphan asylum of Milwaukee, and
has been a member of its board of directors since its
organization. She was also the prime mover in
founding the industrial school for girls of the city,
and is president of its board of directors. She has
also been for many years a member of the Social
Science Association of the United States, to the pub-
lications of which she is a frequent and valued con-
tributor. She is likewise a conspicuous member of
Immanuel congregation of the Presbyterian church,
Milwaukee, where her wise counsels and pious
example exercise a controlling influence.
They have had seven children, one of whom died
in infancy, and six survive, namely, Mary Elizabeth,
Clara Blanchard, Eliza Warner, Telly, William Pitt
and Azarial Blanchard. Mary E. was married in
i860 to Mr. John Harper, son of Joseph Harper of
Harper Brothers, New York. He died in 1867, and
in 1870 she married Mr. Colgate Baker, a retired
merchant residing in San Francisco, California.
Clara B. is the wife of Henry C. Bradley, Esq.,
also a retired merchant in San Francisco. Eliza
W. is the wife of John Crocker, Esq., an officer of
the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad Com-
pany. Telly is a merchant in Milwaukee. The two
younger sons are graduates of the scientific depart-
ment of Yale College, and are preparing for the bar.
HON. NOAH H. VIRGIN,
PI.ATTEVILLE.
THE great-grandfather of Noah Hyatt Virgin
came from Wales, and settled in Maryland,
and one of his sons, the grandfather of Noah, moved
to Virginia, and was prominent in driving the In-
dians out of western Pennsylvania and West Vir-
ginia. The parents of Noah, Eli and Nacka Hyatt
Virgin were living in Fayette county, Pennsylvania,
when he was born, December 6, 181 2. He lost his
father when the son was only six years old. A few
years later his mother married Colonel Henry
Heaton, of Fayette county, and Noah worked in his
step-father's flouring mill and woolen mill, receiv-
ing meanwhile such education as a winter school
afforded. Subsequently he lived with his brother-
676
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
in-law, Isaac Hill, of Green county, learning the
millwright trade.
He worked at that business in the East until 1835,
when he found his way to Platteville, there con-
tinuing that occupation four or five years. He built
the Platteville flouring mill, completing it in 1840 (the
first mill of the kind in the place), having in partner-
ship with him John H. Rountree and Neely Gray.
These gentlemen he afterward bought out, and he
has run the mill alone to this time. In company
with another man, in 1856, he built the Genesee
mill, two miles from Platteville, on the Lancaster
road, disposing of it four or five years later.
In 1874 Mr. Virgin added grain dealing to his
business, with his eldest son, Colonel Horatio Hyatt
Virgin, as a partner.
He was commissioner of Grant county at an early
day; has repeatedly held the highest official posi-
tions in the village of Platteville ; was a member of
the last Territorial legislature, held in 1847; was a
member of the State assembly in the following year,
and again in 1855, and served two consecutive
terms in the senate, ending in 1861. During the
last term he was chairman of the committee on
claims, and held an influential position in the upper
house.
Mr. Virgin began political life as a whig; was a
republican from 1854 until the second election of
Mr. Lincoln in 1864, and has since acted with the
democrats. In 1866 he was nominated by the dem-
ocrats and reformers for congress, in a strong repub-
lican district, and ran ahead of his ticket.
On the 15th of January, 1839, Mrs. Pamelia E.
Adams, daughter of Rev. Bartholomew Weed, of
Platteville, became his wife, and she has borne
him eight children, only four of whom are living.
Besides the son already mentioned there are two
daughters, both married, and a son, Eugene W.,
unmarried. Emma is the wife of George H. Laugh-
ton, and Mary, of William R. Laughton, a brother
of George, both living in Platteville.
Colonel Horatio H. Virgin, his eldest child and
partner in business, was born in Platteville, August
18, 1840; was educated in the Platteville Academy
and a commercial college at Madison, Wisconsin,
where he graduated in December, 1859.
He was married January i, 1874, to Miss Annie
E. Kane, of Dodgeville, Wisconsin, she being a rel-
ative of e.\-Governor Henry Dodge. They have
two children. Colonel Virgin has a brilliant mili-
tary record. In October, 1861, Governor Randall
appointed him on his staff as aid-de-camp and col-
onel; in December, 1861, he became battalion adju-
tant of the 2d Wisconsin Cavalry, Colonel C. C.
Washburn, commander; August 31, 1862, he was
a|5pointed major of the 33d Infantry; was promoted
to lieutenant-colonel in January, 1865, and returned
to Wisconsin at the close of the war in command of
the regiment, being breveted colonel just before the
regiment was mustered out. He was in forty-two
engagements, including skirmishes; had three horses
I wounded twice each ; had his own hair singed, his
hat-rim hit, and two or three balls strike his saddle,
but received not even a flesh-wound. Wiiile major
he took command of the regiment in the Meridian
expedition, and held the command until mustered
out. On the Red River e.xpedition, at the battle of
Vellow Bayou, he had command of a brigade. At
that time his regiment was in a detachment from
the army of the Tennessee, under General A. J.
Smith, and they had become so rugged as to be
called "Smith's Guerillas." At the battle of Cold-
water, Mississippi, April 19, 1863, Colonel Virgin
was reported among the killed, and his obituary
appeared in more than one Wisconsin newspaper,
but he is as "live " a man as Platteville can exhibit,
the pet of his father, and, because of his dash and
bravery, the pride of the State.
GEORGE H. READ,
OSIIKOSH.
GE0R(;E HOYE READ, a son of William and
Mary (Hoye) Read, was born in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania, January 13, 181 9. Both his paternal
and maternal ancestors were from the north of Ire-
land. William Read, a bookbinder by trade, moved
with his family to New York city in 1824. There
George attended a graded school until about seven-
teen, when he commenced to learn his father's trade.
He worked at it in New York until about 1835.
During that year the family visited Ohio, and in
1837 settled at Buffalo, New York. There George
was engaged in bookbinding and in publishing
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
677
books and periodicals until June, 1853, when he
settled in Oshkosh, Wisconsin ' Purchasing the
Qshkosh " Courier," a weekly democratic paper, he
published it for ten years, acting in the capacity of
political editor. In February, 1854, when the city
had only al)out four thousand inhabitants, a daily
edition was started, and kept up for about six years,
showing in its columns very commendable industry
and editorial ability. It was the first daily started
in Oshkosh, and was a bold venture.
Though having only a common-school education,
Mr. Read has, from early life, been a great reader.
He has kept well posted on current events, a fact
which has prompted his success as a journalist.
Soon after settling in O.shkosh he began to deal
in real estate, and in 1863, when he sold out the
"Courier," he engaged in land operations more e.\-
tensivelv, and has been (luite successful in that line.
He has also, for several years, been engaged in in-
surance in connection with his other business.
Mr. Read is a member of the democratic State
central committee, and quite active and prominent
in his party. He is not himself an office seeker, and
will work untiringly to elect his friends to office.
He did consent to run for alderman some years ago,
and when once in the council he was kept there eight
years.
Mr. Read is a Royal Arch Mason. He is a mem-
ber of no church, but is partial to the Episcopal
form of worship.
His wife was Caroline M. Steward, of Buffalo,
New York. They were married April 20, 1842, and
have no children. Mrs. Read has a taste for land-
scape painting, and still gratifies that taste to some
extent. She has fine literary taste, and makes good
use of their fine library of rare and select books.
HON. FREDERICK ROBINSON,
KENOSHA.
FREDERICK ROBINSON was born in Church-
Stretton, Shropshire, England, March 11, 1824,
and is the ninth and youngest child of John and
Elizabeth (Taylor) Robinson, both natives of the
same place. His father was a merchant and a man
of much force of character, and a leader and reform-
er in his day. He advocated the closing of saloons
early in the evening, and the keeping of them closed
during church service on Sunday. He was also a
loyal member of the Church of England and quite
influential in his parish. He died at an early age,
when our subject was but eighteen months old.
His widow, who was a vigorous and gifted woman,
assumed the management of the business and house-
hold after the death of her husband, and devoted all
her energies to the education and moral training
of her children. She died in 1857, at the age of
seventy-five.
Frederick was educated at a private school in all
the English branches, mathematics and the Latin
language. But in early life he suffered from feeble
health, which retarded his progress in learning. He
was a steady and conscientious boy, rather retiring
in disposition, and selected his companions from
youth of similar character. He was always fond of
amusements that contributed to the development of
his mental and physical powers, and was willing to
pay his full share of the incidental expenses; but he
was always noted for prudence in his financial affairs,
and never purchased anything until he knew exactly
whence the money was to come with which to pay
for it, a principle by which he has been governed
through life, and which has kept him out of debt
and out of trouble.
At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn
the drug business, to which, for five years, he de-
voted his entire time and energies, studying inces-
santly to master his business. He early trained
himself to punctuality and regularity in l^is appoint-
ments, never broke his word, and was remarkably
tenacious of his plans and purposes, never giving
up a project while there was the slightest hope of
success.
After the expiration of his apprenticeship he im-
migrated to the United States, landing in New York
city in the spring of 1845, where he obtained a clerk-
ship in a drug store at eight dollars per month, and
afterward in the wholesale drug house of M. Ward,
Close and Co., at twenty-four dollars per month.
After remaining a short time in that city he resolved
to go west, and intimated his purpose to his employ-
ers, who were so favorably impressed with his cliar-
acter that they gave him a six-weeks leave of ab-
sence, continuing his wages, should he return to
67S
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
their employment, and in the event of his deciding
to remain in the West, offered to set him up in busi-
ness. Accordingly in the spring of 1846 he removed
to Chicago, and after remaining there a short time
went to Kenosha, where he passed the winter, and
in the spring of the following year started on foot to
find a location where he could commence business.
He walked through the lake-shore towns to She-
boygan, thence to Fond du Lac, returning via Water-
town, but saw no point he liked as well as Kenosha,
and accordingly resolved to make that place his
future home. Here he commenced business in the
autumn of 1847, and has since continued with good
success, his old friends and former employers. Ward,
Close and Co., proving quite as good as their prom-
ise. It is needless to add that his honest and manly
efforts, coupled with his high moral principles, have
been rewarded with success, and that Frederick
Robinson is now one of the most substantial and
influential men of his city.
In 1867 he purchased a third interest in the Whit-
aker Engine and Skein Company, of Kenosha. He
is also the owner of a farm of one hundred and sixty
acres of choice land adjoining the city, which is
under a high state of cultivation, and to which
he gives considerable personal attention. He has
always been a man of public spirit, taking a lively
interest in whatever seemed to be for the benefit of
the city or community.
He served as alderman of the city of Kenosha in
1852, 1858 and 1868; he was chief engineer of the
fire department in 1850, i860 and 1872; chairman
of the county board in 1868; mayor of the city in
1862-3 and 1869; member of the State legislature
in 1872 and 1876; and president of the County
Agricultural Society in 1877.
He became a member of the Independent Order
of Odd-Fellows in 1848, and has held the offices
of secretary, treasurer, vice-noble grand, and high
priest, in the order. He joined the Masonic order
in 1852, and has held several offices in that fraternity.
In political opinions he is democratic, though not
a partisan. Before immigrating to America he in-
formed himself of the resources, political freedom
and great prospects of this country, and always held
the opinion that men and not property should vote.
During the rebellion he was known as a "war dem-
ocrat."
Mr. Robinson is a man of active temperament, a
good and successful business man, and has filled
with ability, zeal and credit the various political
offices to which the suffrages of his fellow-citizens
elected him, and was one of the most popular chief
magistrates the city has had, while as a legislator he
gave his support to measures calculated to benefit
the city and State of his adoption. As a farmer and
gardener he displays exquisite taste and judgment,
and his country home is one of the most ornate and
elegantly appointed in the county.
On the 3d of October, 1852, he was married to
Miss Ann Bertholf, a native of Illinois, whose par-
ents removed there from New York in 1831. They
have had a family of fourteen children, seven of
whom are living, namely, Alma Elizabeth, Richard
Taylor, Ida Ann, Emma Eliza, Maria Louisa, Fred-
erick, junior, and Harry Bertholf.
AARON EVERHARD,
AARON EVERHARD is a native of Doylestown,
/\. Wayne county, Ohio. He was born on the
loth of March, 1824, and is the son of John Jacob
and Mary Everhard.
His father was a farmer by occupation, and taught
school during the winter months. He was a deacon
in tlie Lutheran church, and reared his family accord-
ing to the strictest principles of morality. A man
of very decided character, he was a firm advocate
of temperance, and so adhered to his principles that,
on one occasion, when he wanted a barn raised, he
was obliged to hire hands to do it, his neighbors
refusing to assist him because he would not furnish
liquor.
Aaron received his education at Wadsworth
Academy, Wadsworth, Medina county, Ohio, and
after closing his studies there, by the advice of his
father, he went to study medicine with Dr. Arm-
strong, of Dayton, Ohio. He remained there four
years, and during that time attended two courses of
lectures at the \Vesiern Reserve College, at Cleve-
land.
After practicing his profession for one year in
Medina county, he, in 1849, removed to the West
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
679
and settled at a place on the Fox river now known
as Hamilton, it being the only point at which the
Fox river was then bridged.
The land in this locality, however, proved so poor
that the settlers were obliged to leave, and Dr.
F^verhard with the rest. Removing to Ripon in the
summer of 1856, which then comprised about five
hundred inhabitants, he at once established himself
as a physician and surgeon, and soon built uji a
flourishing and lucrative practice.
Since settling in Ripon he has been constantly
employed in his profession, and for more than seven
years has been city jjhysician, being paid by the
city.
Dr. Everliard was formerly a member of the Cleve-
land Medical Society.; later he belonged to the
Medical Society of Northern Wisconsin, and at the
])resent time (1877) is a member of the Fond du Lac
Medical Society. In 1871 he was elected mayor of
the city, and since that time has been twice re-
elected, being the only man who was ever elected
mayor of Ripon on the democratic ticket. In pol-
itics he was formerly a democrat ; later he was a
"•free-soiler," and upon tiie organization of the
republican party joined that body and continued to
support its princii)les until the close of the civil war,
when he again became a democrat. He is now a
reformer.
Dr. Everhard united with the Lutheran church
when he was sixteen years old, and continued a
member of that body until he settled in Wisconsin.
Since then he has not been identified with any
religious denomination, but is still a Lutheran in
sentiment.
He was married in 1S51, to Miss .\nn Vennette
Marsh. Personally and socially he is a man of
sterling qualities, and from his extensive travels
through the different parts of the United States has
gained a knowledge of men and things that render
him a most admirable social companion.
D. EDGAR FRENCH,
MILW
DEDG.AR FRENCH, a native of Barre, Ver-
• mont, was born on the 2jd of December,
1833, and is the son of David French and Delia iiec
French. (His parents, though of the same name,
were not related.) They had a family of five sons
and six daughters. Of the daughters, two died in
early life, and one became the wife of E. Yj. French,
Es(i., a prominent lawyer of Barre, Vermont ; an-
other married Nathaniel Chamberlain, Esq., and a
third married A. M. Jackmon, Esq., at present
sheriff of Washington county, Vermont, all residents
of their native town ; while the fourth remains single.
Of the sons, one died in youth ; Orvis resides at
Evanston, Illinois; Clinton lives at Cleveland, Ohio;
and Gilbert L. is a resident of New York city. The
father of this large family, for many years a prosper-
ous merchant in Barre, Vermont, was a well-known
and influential man in his community. He died on
the 20th of August, 1862, at Saratoga Springs, New
York, where he had been accustomed to spend his
summers for twenty years previously.
Our subject received his primary education in the
common schools of his native place. He afterward
spent one year at an academy in Montpelier, and
still later studied one year at Keene, New York.
73
AUKEE.
At the age of fifteen he accepted a clerkship in
the store of his brother Clinton, at Plainfield, Ver-
mont, but soon afterward transferred his services to
the establishment of Messrs. Lyman and King, of
Montpelier, Vermont. Here he remained for two
years, being a fellow-clerk with Mr. Edson Keith,
now of Chicago. Meantime his brother Clinton had
established himself in business at Cleveland, Ohio,
and at the close of this period he removed thither,
and for a year and a half was employed in his
brother's business. Wishing, however, for a larger
field of operations, and a more varied experience,
he removed to New York city, and was employed in
the house of Claflin, Mellen and Co. (now H. B.
Claflin and Co.), where he remained until January
I, 1856, when he removed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Here, in company with his brother, Orvis, he estab-
lished a business, which was conducted under the
firm name of French Brothers and Co. until the
year 1861, when he purchased the interest of his
partners. Since that time he has continued the trade
successfully in his own name ; and although still in
the full vigor of life, he has accumulated an ample
fortune, and contemplates retiring from business at
an early day, and spending the remainder of his life
68o
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
in foreign travel and in the management of his
property.
In manners he is off-hand, apparently impulsive;
frank, genial and open-liearted. In business he is
self-reliant, cool, calculating and prudent. In his
relations to the public he is dignified, manly and
independent. He thinks and acts for himself, and
rarely makes a mistake. In private life he is kind,
generous and obliging; a fast and true friend; an
upright, honorable and worthy gentleman.
He was married in October, 1859, to Miss Eliza-
beth Pixley, daughter of Maurice and Elizabeth
Pi.xley, and niece of John W. Pixley, elsewhere
sketched inthis volume. She was born in Milwau-
kee, where the first four years of her life were spent,
after which, with her parents, she removed to Hills-
dale, Columbia county, New York, their former
home, where she remained till the age of eighteen
years. She was educated at the Troy Ladies' Semi-
nary, then under the charge of Mrs. Willard, and
recognized as the first educational establishment of
its kind in the State. She graduated from this insti-
tution with the highest honors, and is a lady of
superior culture, being especially accomplished as a
musician, but like her father — most of whose traits
of character she perpetuates — she is extremely
modest and unassuming, fond of home and domes-
tic pursuits, amiable, gentle, kind-hearted and be-
nevolent. She is one of the best and purest of her
sex; esteemed and respected by all who know her.
They have three children, namely, Maurice Pixley,
Alice Virginia and Edgar.
HON. JOHN C. HOLLOWAY,
LANCASTER.
JOHN CHANDLER HOLLOWAY, a son of John
and lAicy Burt HoUoway, is a native of Living-
ston county. New York, he being born in the town of
York, July 7, 1826. The Holloways were early set-
tlers in Deerfield, Massachusetts, and the grand-
father of John C. was a blacksmith, connected with
a cavalry company during the seven years' fight for
freedom from British rule and taxation. The fam-
ily immigrated to western New York at the close of
the second war with the mother country, there en-
gaging in farming, this being the constant employ-
ment of young Holloway until of age, with the
exception of a few terms of academical instruction
at Geneseo and Lima. At twenty-one he came as
far west as Flint, Michigan, where he was engaged
in building fanning-mills for two seasons, and re-
moved thence, after a short sojourn at his home in
western New York, to Marion, Ohio, where he farmed
and dealt in stock for four years.
In the autumn of 1855 Mr. Holloway settled in
Lancaster, Wisconsin, purchasing a farm adjoining
the village and working it until 1870, engaging
meantime in other pursuits. Before the rebellion
he was a heavy and prosperous stock-dealer; from
i860 to 1872 was in the mercantile trade, having
excellent success, and running a bank during part
of this period with George W. Ryland. He has,
also, operated a woolen mill from 1872 until the
present year (1877). He owns a farm of sixteen
hundred acres in Buchanan county, Iowa, of which
he has the oversight. He is full of enterprise, and
although he has had many different irons in the fire
at the same time, he has managed them with care
and success.
Mr. Holloway was a member of the lower house
of the State legislature in 187 1, and of the senate
four consecutive years, commencing in 1872. While
in the latter body he was chairman of the commit-
tee on printing the first year, of the committee on
finance the second, president pro tern, the third,
and chairman of the committee on claims the fourth,
holding a high position among his co-workers in that
honorable body.
Mr, Holloway was a whig until the demise of that
party, since which time he has acted heartily with
the republicans, and is one of their leading men in
Grant county.
March 3, 1853, Miss Mary E. Baldwin, daughter
of Rev. Johnson Baldwin, of York, New York, be-
came his wife, the fruit of their union being six
children, only two of whom are now living. Theo-
dore, a promising son, was drowned, June 7, 1876, at
Beloit, while a student in the college; John, the
elder of the two living children, has been about half
through Beloit College, and should his health, which
is delicate, permit, he intends to graduate. Addie
is at home; she has spent two or three years at the
State University, Madison.
THE UNITED STATES BIOCNAPIlfCAL DICTIONARY.
68 1
Mr. Holloway has a delightful home in the north-
ern part of the village of Platteville, his elegant
house standing in a three-acre lot, embellished by
nature and art, and he is living a partially retired and
very comfortable life, the health and education of
his two children seemingly being iiis chief concern.
His wife, an accomplished woman, is in full sympa-
thy with him in all his tastes and family interests.
HON. J. ALLEN BARBER,
LANCASTER.
T OEL AT.LEN BARBER, son of Joel and Aseneth
J Melvin Barber, is a native of Vermont, and was
born at Georgia, Franklin county, January 17, 1809.
His father was from England, and settled at Canton,
Connecticut. His mother was of Welsh descent,
and her father was a captain in the revolutionary
army, serving to the end of the war. Receiving his
pay in continental money, his first breakfast after
being discharged cost him seventy-five dollars in
that currency. Voung Barber farmed till his eigh-
teenth year, when he entered the Georgia Acad-
emy, and fitted for college; entered the University
of Vermont in the summer of 1829 ; left at the end
of two and a half years ; read law with Hon. Cleorge
P. Marsh, of Burlington ; was admitted to the bar in
Prince George's county, Maryland, in 1834. after
teaching school there two years. He returned to
Vermont and practiced at Fairfield until 1837, set-
tling, in September of that year, at Lancaster, Wis-
consin. Here he has been in the practice for forty
years, at times mingling land operations with legal
business, but not enough to interfere with his pro-
fession. His legal knowledge is sound and exten-
sive; he has a high standing as a criminal lawyer,
and in all respects has long been an honor to the
profession.
During the forty years that Mr. Barber has been
a resident of Grant county, he has held some official
position two-thirds of the time. He was on the
county board of supervisors several years, and its
chairman five; was county clerk four years; district
attorney three terms; three times a member of the
lower house of the legislature ; one term in the State
senate, and a member of the forty-second and forty-
third congresses. In the house of i^presentatives he
was on the committees on war claims and revision of
the statutes. He seldom spoke, but was an inde-
fatigable worker.
Originally Mr. Barber was a whig of " free-soil "
tendencies, and naturally identified himself with the
republican party, to which he has steadfastly ad-
hered.
In 1842 Miss Helen Van Meek, of Jamestown,
(Irant county, became his wife, she dying in child-
bed the next year, the child also dying. In 1847 he
married Miss Elizabeth Banfill, of Lancaster. They
have had seven children, only four of whom are now
living. Joel A. is in the United States navy ; Marsh
is a student in Beloit College; Mattie is the wife of
Rev. Edward D. Eaton, of Newton, Iowa; and
Carrie is unmarried and resides with her parents.
Mr. Barber has abilities fitting him for any ofiice
in the gift of the people of Wisconsin ; is a man of
solid character as well as intellectual qualities, and
is one of those statesmen whose record is an honor
to a State.
LESTER SEXTON,
MILWAUKEE.
IN publishing a history of the prominent influen-
tial and self-made men of Wisconsin, we should
be remiss in our duty should we omit an honorable
mention of him whose name heads this sketch. A
native of Somers, Tolland county, Connecticut, he
was born on the 28th of April, 1807, one of a large
family of children, and the son of Stephen Sexton,
a farmer by occupation. His early life, while it had
many things in common with the lives of other
youth, was marked by earnestness and decision of
character, and he early became accustomed to those
habits of industry whose fruits were shown in all his
subsequent life. He passed his youth upon his
father's farm, receiving a common-school education.
682
THE UNITED STATES B/OGRAPN/CAL DICTIONART.
and upon attaining his majority went to Hartford,
about twenty-three miles from his native place, and
entered into the mercantile trade. In 1837 he left
his native State, and going to New Orleans engaged
in a general dry-goods business.
Ten years later he removed to Wisconsin and
settled at Milwaukee, which place he made his home
during the remainder of his life; though he at one
time seriously entertained the idea of removing to
Chicago, but was dissuaded from his purpose by his
friends, and especially the business men of Milwau-
kee, who felt that his moving away would be a seri-
ous loss to the business interests of the city. He
was a man possessed of great energy and remarkable
business capacity, and by his own untiring efforts
and business tact built up an extensive and influen-
tial trade. At the time of his decease he was at the
head of a firm which stood second to but few in the
Northwest.
Through his business Mr. Se.xton was brought into
close relations with many farmers and merchants, and
in all his manifold transactions his dealings were char-
acterized by strict integrity, justice and generosity.
Aside from his regular business, he was called lo
fill various offices of honor and trust. For some
[ time prior to his death he had been president of the
( Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and
vice-president of the Milwaukee National Bank,
both of which corporations are largely indebted to
his wise management for the prosperity which has
attended them. He was also a prominent member
I of the gas company.
Mr. Sexton was a man who never aspired to polit-
ical honors, and took no active part in politics more
I than to perform his duties as a citizen. He rejoiced
I in the prosperity of his city, and in all enterprises
! pertaining to its growth and interests manifested a
I most worthy public-spiritedness.
j In his religious communion Mr. Sexton was iden-
t tified with the St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Mil-
waukee, and was a liberal contributor to religious
and benevolent enterprises.
He was married in 1836 to Miss Emma A. New-
ton, a daughter of y^bner Newton, of Hartford, Con-
necticut, who was of English parentage. Of five
children who were born to them, four lived to ma-
turity, namely, James L., William F., Emma A. and
Lucy W. The last named was married to Charles
E. Stone, wIto is now carrying on the business of the
old firm, of which Mr. Sexton was a member.
WINCH EL D. BACON,
WAVKESII,
WINCHEL DAILEY BACON was born at
Stillwater, Saratoga comity. New York, on
the banks of the beautiful Hudson river, in the fam-
ily residence which was built at so early a day that
the nails, including those used tor shingling, were
wrought iron, made Ijy hand. The house was lined
with imported brick. His grandfather, Samuel Ba-
con, senior, was one of three brothers who immi-
grated from England and settled in Connecticut,
and afterward removed to Stillwater, New York,
before the revolution, taking up a tract of land
which became noted as a part of the battle-ground
of General Gates with General Burgoyne in Octo-
ber, 1777, where the latter general suffered a signal
defeat, losing his favorite officer, General Frazier, a
calamity which so dispirited the British army that
in a few days it surrendered.
His father, .Samuel Bacon, junior, inherited a
portion of tlie homestead, inrluding the family
residence, and followed tlie occupation of farm-
ing. His mother's maiden name was Lydia Bar-
ber Dailey. He was born in the same house
where his father was, and worked on the farm
until nineteen years of age; then went to Troy,
New York, twenty-two miles from home, and, ob-
taining a situation, served as clerk in a store for
two years. In 1837, his father having sold the old
homestead and having purchased another farm in
Butternuts, Otsego county, Winchel accompanied
the family thither and resumed farm labor. On the
4th of July of the next year he was married to Miss
Delia Blackwell, of the town of Butternuts, and con-
tinued on the farm for four years, teaching a school
each winter; and on the 2d of September, 1841,
collected his small accumulations, and with his wife
started for the West, traveling from Utica to Buffalo
by canal, thence by steamer to Milwaukee, and
thence by team to Prairieville, now Waukesha.
Being captivated with the country he immediately
bought a farm, paying three hundred dollars down.
■,G>&-<^<^
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
685
all the money lie had, and receiving credit for the |
balance, and was settled and sowed a field of wheat
in September, within thirty days after leaving his j
eastern home. He taught school during the follow- |
ing winter, and before spring sold his farm, which
was six miles southwest of Prairieville, and bought
another only half as far from tottn. In the summer
of 1842 he worked that farm and taught school in
the village, walking to and from his farm daily, j
His crop of wheat harvested in 1843 yielded from !
forty to fifty bushels per acre, the crop of that year
being the largest, per acre, ever grown in the State,
except that of i860, which fully e(|ualed that of
1843, although the earlier crop was winter wheat
and the latter spring.
In the autumn of 1843 Mr. Bacon moved into
the village and united with his brother-in-law, Mr.
Charles Blackwell, in conducting the business of
wagon-making. They obtained their first spokes
and seasoned oak timber from rails of fences where
they could be found sufficiently seasoned for that
purpose. Mr. Bacon continued to teach school
until the spring of 1844, when, at the request of
Mr. Edmund Clinton, he formed a partnership with
that gentleman in the blacksmithing business, con-
tinuing wagon-making also until the autumn of that
year. At that date Mr. Clinton purchased an inter-
est in the local grist-mill, and Mr. Bacon, not being
willing to hazard the risk, dissolved the partnership
with Mr. Clinton, and bought a lot at the corner of
West Division and Main streets, where the Exchange
hotel now stands. On that lot he built a shop, and
with Mr. Blackwell still continued the business of
wagon-making and blacksmithing. On this lot was
a two-story building, the lower floor of which was
used for a store, while the second story, being fitted
up by Mr. liacon, was used for a printing-office, and
there Hon. C. C. Sholes printed the "American
Freeman," the first liberty-party paper published in
the Northwest.
In 1846 Mr. Bacon built a stone blacksmith and
wagon shop, three stories high, with a cornice, which
caused considerable talk, there being not more than
two or three buildings of any kind in the place having
a cornice. Continuing in this business about six
years, he then traded his shops for a steam saw-mill
at Brookfield, on the Milwaukee and Prairie du
Chien railroad, seven miles east of Waukesha, the
road then being in the process of construction.
In 1863 Mr. Bacon was appointed by President
Lincoln paymaster in the army, and directed by
(leneral Andrews, chief paymaster-general, to re-
l)ort to Major Brown, stationed at St. Louis. Major
Brown detailed Major Bacon to serve at St. Louis,
but in due time he resigned, his private business
compelling him to return to Wisconsin.
In 1865 Mr. Bacon, with other citizens, organized
the Farmers' National Bank of Waukesha, and con-
ducted it about four years, when, desiring to retire
as much as possible from active business, he closed
up the bank.
During all these years he had continued his farm-
ing operations, and still conducts them, styling him-
self a farmer. He was hardly out of one depart-
ment of business before another sought him. For
several years he was general agent of the North-
western National I'ire and Marine Insurance Com-
pany, of Milwaukee, and hekl that position until
June, 1875.
Politically Mr. Bacon was of whig antecedents.
He voted for Ceneral Harrison in 1840. He after-
ward became a liberty-party man, and was active in
his sphere for the success of emancijiation. He was
a member of the assembly in 1853, the session noted
for the attempt to impeach Judge Hubbell. He was
appointed one of the commissioners to locate a State
reform school, which, through his influence, was lo-
cated at Waukesha, he being made acting commis-
sioner and superintending the erection of the first
building. He was appointed several times one of
the trustees of the Hospital for the Insane, and on
finally resigning was appointed a trustee of the Asy-
lum for the Deaf and Dumb. He was several times
])resident of the Waukesha County Agricultural So-
ciety, and has filled several town and village offices,
always receiving without seeking office.
In religious sentiment Mr. Bacon is a Baptist.
He is a member of the board of trustees of the Uni-
versity of Chicago, and also a trustee of Carroll Col-
lege, located at Waukesha. He is a member of the
Temple of Honor, the most popular and prosperous
temperance organization of the day, and also of the
Masonic fraternity, having taken the degree of
Knight Templar.
In the days of slavery he was wide awake in aid-
ing the fugitive slave, and knew all the blind ways
of the underground railroad. No slave, having made
his way to Wisconsin, was ever taken back south
by the operation of the fugitive slave law or any
other. Glover was captured near Racine by United
States marshals and other slave hunters, and thrust
into the Milwaukee jail, when fifteen thousand sons
686
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
of freedom surrounded the jail, burst in its doors, and
carried Glover away by daylight beyond the reach
or knowledge of any of the cringing sycophants of
the slave power of that day. Glover stayed, the first
night after his rescue, at the house of Mr. Bacon,
twenty miles from the jail. So successful was the
escape that only four or five interested friends knew
where he was.
The wife of Mr. Bacon was Miss Delia Blackwell,
of Butternuts, New York, their union dating July 4,
183S. They have three children living, and have
lost two. Joshua, the only son, is a physician, of the
firm of Kendrick and tSacon, and is one of the most
promising young men of his profession in Wauke-
sha county; Lydia Delia is the wife of George Bar-
ber, of Waukesha; Ida Julia is unmarried and lives
at home.
Mr. Bacon has always been a stirring, industrious
man, courageous and determined, a bitter enemy of
oppression and of abuses of every kind. He is a
stranger to financial reverses and embarrassments,
all kinds of business having prospered in his hands.
HON. HENRY S. MAGOON,
DARLINGTON.
HENRY STERLING MAGOON, late mem-
ber of congress from the third Wisconsin
district, and the first man born in the State to ap-
pear as a representative at the national capitol, is a
native of Lafayette county, and was born in the
township of Monticello, one mile from the Illinois
line, January 31, 1832. His parents were Richard
H. and Elizabeth (Kinney) Magoon. His paternal
great-grandfather was a soldier in General Schuy-
ler's division, and assisted at the capture of General
Burgoyne's army in October, 1777. Richard H.
Magoon was born at Salem, Washington county,
New York, March 9, 1799. At seventeen years of
age he moved to western Illinois, near Belleville,
and there studied and practiced law until 1824,
when he removed to Missouri. In 1828 he settled
in Wisconsin, and erected a smelting furnace at
Blue Mound, near Madison. He settled at Monti-
cello in the autumn of 1829. In 1854 he moved to
Scales Mound, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, and died
in 1875, aged seventy-seven years. He was a man
of great energy, strong will and firm integrity, and
much esteemed by the old settlers in his part of the
State. The mother of our subject is living with her
son in Darlington. She is the daughter of Hon.
Louis Kinney, who for many years was a judge and
prominent citizen of central Ohio.
At the age of fifteen Henry entered Mount Morris
Seminary, Illinois, and prepared for college, and
afterward attended the Western Military College at
Drennon, Kentucky, graduating with the highest
honors of his class June 23, 1853. He subsequently
attended the Montrose Law School at Frankfort,
Kentucky. He was appointed professor of ancient
languages in the Nashville University, Tennessee,
in 1855, and two years later returned to Wisconsin
and began the practice of law at ShuUsburg, build-
ing up a good business in a short time. He removed
to Darlington in 1864.
He is a very close student, and has made all his
acquirements, not by intuition, but by earnest and
steady application. Being a native of the State,
and a man of fine talents, good attainments and an
unblemished character, his constituents have taken
pride in electing him to offices of responsibility and
prominence. He was district attorney in 1859 and
i860 ; was a member of the State senate in 187 1 and
1872, and chairman of the joint committee of inves-
tigation on the Dalles bill, and chairman of the
joint committee on general laws ; and was elected
to congress in 1874, being one of the youngest mem-
bers from the West of the forty-fourth congress. He
served on the committee on education and labor,
and on several special committees, being very indus-
trious and diligent to represent and attend to the
wants of his constituents.
Mr. Magoon has been a republican since 1S60.
He was originally a whig, but voted for Stephen A.
Douglas in i860.
He is a Royal Arch Mason ; has been a Good
Templar since there was such an organization in
the States, and his predilections are toward the
Methodist Episcopal church.
Mr. Magoon married Miss Belle L. Smith, at Buck-
ingham, Tama county, Iowa, on the 22d of October,
1 87 1. They have two sons and one daughter.
Mr. Magoon has a large, well-selected law library,
by far the most valuable one in Lafayette county,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
.687
and also a choice literary library of about four
thousand volumes in all. At no period of his life
has his mental activity been greater than it is now.
He is a growing man, and should his life be pro-
longed, will be likely to make yet more honorable
history. It is understood that he is engaged, dur-
ing his leisure from professional pursuits, in writing
a history of southwestern Wisconsin, which will no
doubt prove interesting and valuable to the people
of that section, if not to the general reader. He
has a fine literary taste, and writes with much care
and terseness.
HON. HENRY DODGE,
IOWA COUNT!'
HENRY D0D(;E, the first governor of Wis-
consin Territory, was a native of Indiana,
and was born at Vincennes on the 12th of October,
1782, Indiana at that time being part of the North-
western Territory. Quite early in life the family
moved to Missouri, where Henry spent his youth
and early manhood. He became sheriff of Cape
Girardeau county in 1808, and four years later was
chosen captain of a mounted rifle company, there
being occasion for such soldiers in those days on the
frontiers of Louisiana Territory. In the autumn of
the year just mentioned, he was appointed major
of the militia in that Territory; was promoted to
lieutenant-colonel in 1814, during which year he had
command of an expedition up the Missouri river
against the Indians.
In 1827, just fifty years ago, he came to south-
western Wisconsin, then a part of Michigan Terri-
tory, and settled near where Dodgeville now stands —
the seat of justice of Iowa county. There he lived
for several years (the first si.\ or seven in the most
primitive style) with his family, poorly clad and
poorly fed. In 1S32, while the Black Hawk war
was progressing, he acted as colonel of a regiment,
and the ne.xt spring was placed at the head of the
I St Dragoons. He was quick to act, and full of
energy and bravery, — a good man to fight the red-
men.
In 1836, when the Territory of Wisconsin was
formed, President Jackson appointed Colonel Dodge
governor, he holding that office until 1841. That
year he was elected delegate to congress; was re-
elected in 1843, and on the expiration of his second
term, in 1845, he was again appointed governor, this
time by President Polk. In June, 1848, the year
Wisconsin became a State, he was elected United
States senator; was reelected in 185 1, and served in
all twelve years. From 1857 until his demise he
lived in retirement, part of the time at Mineral
Point, six miles from Dodgeville, and part of the
time at Burlington, Iowa, the residence of his son,
ex United States Senator A. C. Dodge.
Governor Dodge was a bold pioneer, enduring
great hardships in aiding to found the great State of
Wisconsin, and his name is held in grateful remem-
brance by its twelve hundred thousand citizens.
ISAAC HODGES,
I'l.ATTEVILLE.
THE Hodges were early settlers in Vermont, the
grandfather of Isaac Hodges moving thence to
Missouri while it was owned by a foreign power.
Isaac is the son of Samuel and Keziah Patterson
Hodges, and was born in St. Louis county, Missouri,
May 14, 1810. He lost his mother when he was
tjuite young. He aided his father on a farm in early
youth, receiving such mental discipline as could be
had in a country school from teachers illy qualified
for their task. He acquired much more knowledge
by the fireside, acting as his own teacher, than in
the school-room. In the spring of 1826 his father
moved to Green county, Illinois, and died that year.
Left alone in the world, Isaac started northward on
the Mississippi river, paying his way by work on a
keel boat, and reaching Galena on the ist of April,
1827, a lad of seventeen, without friends or a dollar
in his pocket. He was, however, self-reliant', with a
strong will and a strong body, and ready for any
kind of decent work. The first month he lived with
688
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
others in an Indian hut on Small-Pox creek, hauling
logs used for h^use-building. The following sum-
mer he cut cord-wood for Dr. Meeker, of Galena, at
the mouth of Fever, now called Galena, river. The
next year he worked for the same person at smelting.
After he had been living in Galena about two years
young Hodges commenced driving cattle from south-
ern Illinois to Wisconsin, with headquarters at Elk
Grove, Lafayette county. Two years later he re-
moved to Platteville, and for a while was engaged
in the smelting business, without any risk of becom-
ing giddy from prosperity. In 1841 he embarked in
the mercantile trade, and followed it until 1861, with
fair success. During the rebellion he gave his time
almost entirely to securing from the State the pay
due war widows.
In 1S66 he started a bank with Mr. Lambert Mc-
Carn, the firm being Hodges and McCarn. In 1873
Mr. McCarn died, since which time the firm name
has been I. Hodges and Co. It is a prosperous
institution.
At times Mr. Hodges has dealt more or less in
real estate, and now has four or five hundred acres
in Grant and Iowa counties. He is public-spirited,
lends a hand in such enterprises as will develop the
country, and has been for several years a director of
the Dubuque, Platteville and Milwaukee railroad.
He is a strong, out-spoken and unwavering re-
publican, but has no predilections for office-holding.
He was chairman of the town board of Platteville
four or five years, which is all of civil office that
he has ever accepted.
He is a Freemason and an Odd-Fellow, and is an
attendant on Congregational worship, and a man of
excellent character.
Mr. Hodges was first married in 1835, to Miss
Mary Ann Cory, a native of Vermont. She had one
child that lived but a short time, she herself dying
in 1836. He was united to his present wife. Miss
Lucetta Crist, of Ohio, in 1839. She has had four
children, only one of them, the wife of O. F. Gris-
wold, of Platteville, now living.
Mr. Hodges knew in early life what it was to stem
the tide of poverty and live on the poorest of fare.
In Missouri, a motherless boy, he went bare-footed
and bare-headed half the year, and wore buckskin
clothes the whole year round. When he reached
Galena, a green lad just laying the foundation of a
physical and mora! constitution, he ate sour bread
and rusty pork, and slept in a wigwam with older
persons, most of them of a rough class, for his night-
ly as well as daily associates. The writer once heard
Mr. Hodges remark that it was a miracle that he did
not become early and thoroughly contaminated, and
reduce his life to a cypher. He sees the strong
hand of God in leading and preserving the orphan
boy amid the temptations of his early years in a
frontier settlement. Mr. Hodges has a competency,
a pleasant home in one of the loveliest villages in the
State, and is surrounded by thoughtful neighbors,
who can appreciate the wortli of such men in build-
ing up a town. He has a pleasant disposition, a
jovial turn of mind, and is a rich entertainer in the
social circle. A disciple of Democritus, he believes
in lessening the shadows in the pathway of life as
much as possible.
HON. CHARLES E. DYER,
CHARLES E. DYER, judge of the United States
district court for the eastern district of Wis-
consin, was born at Cicero, Onondaga county. New
York, October 5, 1834, and is the son of Dr. Edward
G. Dyer and Ann Eliza nee Morse. His father was
a physician, and at an early period in the settlement
of Wisconsin removed to Burlington, Racine county.
He was the first medical man who settled in that
locality, and came with his family in 1839. He had
first visited the place of his future home in 1836,
and had on the night of his first arrival slept in a
shanty on the bank of Fox river. He walked most
of the distance from Chicago, following Indian trails,
guided occasionally by a stray settler, whose hos-
pitality he sought and received, thus making his first
journey to the State by the traces of obscure foot-
paths in the woods and on the prairies. After many
years of arduous and successful professional labor
he has retired from active practice as a physician.
The mother of the subject of our sketch was the
daughter of William Morse, who was born in Massa-
chusetts in 1780, removed to Ohio in 1834, and died
in 1845. Coming to Wisconsin at the early period
before mentioned, and sharing with her family the
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARV.
689
vicissitudes and hardships of pioneer life, Mrs. Dyer
has lived to see the wilderness of the West trans-
formed into a region which now constitutes the cen-
ter of American civilization, and with advancing age
retains her health and natural buoyancy of spirits.
Our subject was educated in a country school,
and by himself, with the aid of such private instruc-
tion as he from time to time obtained. He studied
the common branches, received also some instruc-
tion in the higher mathematics and in Latin, and was
a diligent student and reader of history and general
literature. He left his home in 1850 at the age of
sixteen years, and went to Chicago to learn the trade
of a printer, engaging as an apprentice in the office
of the " Western Citizen," an anti-slavery paper then
published by Z. Eastman. He continued in this em-
ployment about a year, but not developing a fond-
ness for the business he abandoned it. Meantime
he had commenced the study of short-hand writing,
which he afterward purs\ied, and became able to
report speeches. In 1851 he removed to Sandusky,
Ohio, where he entered the office of Rice Harper,
Esq., who was clerk of the court of common pleas
of Erie county, and a family friend, whose kindness
and assistance will never be forgotten. Here he fol-
lowed up with assiduity a course of reading and
study, taking private lessons in the classics and the
higher mathematics during spare hours. He had a
strong taste for liistorical reading, and is perhaps as
well acipiainted as any other man of his years with
the events and facts respecting nations and states in
the order in which they happened, with their causes
and effects, and the lives and actions of distinguished
men. He also took a deep interest in the political
events then transpiring, and stored his mind with
facts pertaining to the issues of the times, which
have proved of the utmost importance in later years.
While in this office he became acquainted with the
Hon. Ebenezer Lane, then a resident of Sandusky,
and previously one of the judges of the supreme
court of Ohio, who took a deep interest in his wel-
fare and prospects, advised him to prepare for the
legal profession, and admitted him to the free use of
his large and well-selected library. He commenced
his legal studies in the office of this excellent gentle-
man by copying briefs and other legal instruments,
and was soon after received as a student in the office
of the firm of Lane, Stone and Lane, of which the
judge was the head. He pursued a course of law
reading under the special guidance and instruction
of Wm. G. Lane, son of the Hon. Ebenezer Lane,
74
then one of the members of the firm, and since
judge of the court of common pleas of Erie county,
Ohio; and after a thorough course of preparation,
covering a period of three years, he was admitted to
the bar in 1857. He at once entered into partner-
ship with Walter F. Stone, Esq., since one of the
judges of the supreme court of Ohio, and began the
practice of law at Sandusky, where he remained till
December, 1858. But having a desire to move far-
ther west and establish himself independently in his
profession, he came to Wisconsin in January, 1859,
and located at Racine (where he has since resided);
he opened an office and was at once admitted to
practice in the supreme court of the State. He
soon obtained business and continued to practice
alone for several years, and until he formed a co-
partnership with Henry F. Fuller, Esq., survivor of
the firm of Strong and Fuller, which continued until
January, 1875.
He has held the following public offices, to wit :
city attorney of Racine during the years i860 and
1861; member of the State legislature from Racine
county, 1867 and 1868, serving through two sessions;
and on the loth of February, 1875, was appointed
judge of the United States district court for the
eastern district of Wisconsin, which position he now
holds.
As assistant clerk of the court at Sandusky, Ohio,
he early attracted the notice of the judge and bar
by his fine taste and talents as a reader, for he not
only wrote but read the journals of the court, and
from the very outset developed an aptness for the
business and an acquaintance with every detail of
the records that was considered extraordinary.
Judge L. B. Otis (now of Chicago), who was then
presiding in the Sandusky court, predicted a bril-
liant and honorable future for him, and every step
of his after life has tended to jjrove the correctness
of those early portends. As a student he seemed to
take in the science of jurisprudence by intuition,
and instead of plodding his way to success by years
of perseverance, he seemed to ripen into a full-orbed
barrister in a day. Nor were his high moral char-
acter, good habits and integrity less conspicuous.
Everyone who knew him placed implicit confidence
in him. His word was beyond question, and no
business was considered too momentous or intricate
to intrust to his care, even at that early age.
As an advocate, during his career at the bar of
Wiscotjsin, he was recognized as both able and ac-
complished, familiar with the rules of equity and
690
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
common-law pleading, and in all places and under
all circumstances faithful alike to his profession and
his clients; and at the time of his promotion to the
bench his professional prospects were of the most
flattering character. Yielding to the urgent solici-
tation of his brethren at the bar, he went upon the
bench, with a degree of hesitation as to his fitness
for the place which disclosed that conscientiousness
in the discharge of duty which is one of his leading
characteristics. Bringing to the discharge of judicial
duties the learning, abilit)' and laborious habits to
which he was largely indebted for his success at
the bar, he has exhibited patience, impartiality and
an equable temper, eminently befitting the bench.
No man ever held a judicial office in Wisconsin in
whose integrity the bar and the people had greater
confidence, and we are safe in saying that no man of
Judge Dyer's age ever earned a better reputation in
so short a time for judicial fairness and ability. His
decisions command respect, for they are always the
result of careful study and profound knowledge.
Few men can perform more labor, for few have
trained their minds to better methods of both read-
ing and thinking. He is, moreover, a man of pure
mind and purity of taste. His language is always
appropriate, ornate and even classic in construction.
There is nothing 'turgid or labored about his style;
his logic is clear, pointed and indubitable. On the
bench his industry is proverbial ; every question,
important or otherwise, receives the most thorough
investigation, and is disposed of with an honesty and
conscientiousness which command the respect that
they deserve.
As a citizen he is self-sacrificing and public-
spirited, always lending a helping hand to whatever
tends to promote temperance, education and pros-
perity. He served his fellow-citizens in the legisla-
ture so efficiently and ably that they sought to
secure his services in other and more prominent
public positions, but he felt it necessary to decline.
With little taste for public life he feels that it is not
necessary to be conspicuous in order to be useful.
His clear perceptions, amiable temper and extensive
information would make him a useful member of
either branch of the national legislature ; and those
who know him best regret that he has refused to
accede to the wishes of his party in this regard.
As a neighbor he is esteemed for his kindness and
courtesy. His home is a center of refinement and
culture. His best characteristics are best known by
those who have crossed his threshold as guests or
friends. He is a man of superior conversational
ability, and is always tolerant and charitable toward
those who oppose him, but firm in his convictions
and free to express his opinions. Frank, generous
and transparent, he despises all trickery and fraud.
He is true and lasting in his friendships, always re-
cognizing and honoring worth, whether arrayed in
the habiliments of wealth or clad in the humble
garb of poverty.
He was married on the 6th of April, 1859, to Miss
Sarah E. Root, daughter of Hon. J. M. Root, of
Sandusky, Ohio, a distinguished lawyer and promi-
nent citizen of that State. Mr. Root was a member
of congress during the Mexican war and subsequent-
ly, and has long been known through the country as
a leading participant in the anti-slavery agitation
which shook the halls of congress in the days of
John Quincy Adams, Giddings and others. Mrs.
Dyer is respected and beloved by all who know her
for her estimable qualities, practical usefulness and
her abundant good works. Devoted to her home
and the training of her children, she still finds time
to help the poor and minister to the afflicted.
They have three children ^ — two sons and one
daughter — named, in the order of their birth, Will-
iam B., Joseph M. and Cornelia, who repay in affec-
tion and obedience the solicitude of their parents.
TIMOTHY D. HALL,
HUDSON.
FEW citizens of Hudson, Wisconsin, were more
respected while living, or more lamented in
death, than T. Dwight Hall, the youngest brother of
Judge Hall, of the same place. He was a native of
New York, and was born at Perry on the 3d of Sep-
tember, 1830. In boyhood he had a passion for
books, and early developed a decided tendency to
independent thinking. He prepared for college by
pursuing his studies at home at such intervals as
farm labor afforded, or while engaged in teaching,
and after spending six terms at the Alexander and
Caryville seminaries (both in Genesee county), in
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY.
691
1 85 1, entered the sophomore class of Yale College,
and graduated with the class of 1853, all the time
defraying his expenses by teaching and work in
other occupations. After graduating he spent near-
ly two years in teaching at Natchez, Mississippi, at
the same time pursuing the study of law, and in the
spring of 1855 removed to Wisconsin, settling at
Hudson, on the shore of the beautiful St. Croi,\ lake.
There he was soon admitted to the bar and engaged
in the practice of law and the real-estate business,
his brother Cyrus joining him the next year.
In the latter part of 1856 Mr. Hall, with his
brother, established the Hudson " Chronicle," now
consolidated with another paper, and called the
"Star and Times." As a writer he showed more
than ordinary intellectual acumen and strength.
Owing to impaired health, caused by sedentary
habits, he, for several years before his demise, en-
gaged in farming, hoping thereby to strengthen his
physical system. To the business of agriculture, as
to everything else which he undertook, he gave his
best thoughts, and his habit of carefully distinguish-
ing between fact and fancy speedily brought forth
its fruits in so marked a manner that he soon became
a constantly quoted authority on all matters of farm-
ing. He was the first man to successfully cultivate
clover on the prairies of St. Croix valley. He was
also the first to engage in the raising of flax in these
parts, an industry which, owing to his personal ef-
forts, has since become important and profitable in
this section of country.
During the last fifteen years of his life Mr. Hall
was an invalid, but attended to his business almost
constantly until he had a severe attack of congestion
of the liver in March, (874. With the hope of re-
ceiving benefit he spent the summers of 1874 and
1875 in Colorado, but his strength gradually de-
clined, and on the 9th of October, of the last named
year, "he died sitting in his chair in an attitude of
repose, passing away as quietly and peacefully as
had the sun a few minutes before, gone to its rest in
the glowing haze of an Indian summer horizon."
The same writer, whose words we quote, adds that,
" with his last full inspiration a smile spread over
his features, and there he sat — dead; but, beautiful
to behold, even as he had not been in life. It seemed
a cruel intrusion to disturb such sweet, quiet rest,
and we left him sitting there while numerous friends,
who came to sympathize with the living, lingered to
admire the dead."
His wife, to whom he was united in July, 1856,
and two daughters, survive him, and have their
home in Hudson, though temporarily residing in
Minneapolis, Minnesota, because of its school privi-
leges.
As already intimated, Mr. Hall was a close stu-
dent, and possessed a remarkable memory. He was
well versed on a great variety of subjects, and on
some occasionally lectured. He was an ardent
lover and an enthusiastic student of nature, and
delighted in the deepest investigations of the natural
sciences. He was a bold, original thinker, a clear
and instructive writer, and in many respects a true
type of noble, independent manhood.
GENERAL JOHN B. CALLIS,
LANCASTER.
JOHN BENTON CALLIS, son of Henry Callis,
■J a farmer, and Christina Benton, was born in
Fayetteville, North Carolina, January 3, 1828. The
Callises were Huguenots, originally from France ;
the Bentons were from Scotland. Henry Callis
moved to Tennessee in 1834, and to Lancaster,
Grant county, Wisconsin, in 1840. After receiving
a very slight common-school education, young Cal-
lis commenced reading medicine with Dr. J. H.
Higgins, of Lancaster, giving three years to the
study, but for want of means to attend lectures, and
not feeling satisfied with the profession, he aban-
doned it. He went to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1849,
and, with John R. Irvin, built Fort Gaines, now
called Fort Ripley, at tlie mouth of Crow Wing
river. In 1851'he went to California, across the
plains; became largely interested in diggings at
different places, selling goods at the same time. In
1853 he went to Central America, there spending a
short time; sailed from Graytown to New York,
and thence returned to Lancaster in the autumn of
that year. Here he followed merchandising until
the old flag was insulted in South Carolina. He
raised a company for the 7th Wisconsin Infantry,
I and became captain of Company F. This regiment,
with the 2d and 6th Wisconsin and the 19th Indi-
692
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARr.
ana, composed the famous " Iron Brigade." At the
battle of Gainesville, Virginia, August 28, 1862, all
the field officers of the 7th were killed or wounded,
and Captain Callis was placed in temporary com-
mand of the regiment. In the following March he
was promoted to major, and a few months later to
lieutenant-colonel, having command of the regiment
after that date. At the battle of Gettysburg, July
I, 1863, while at the head of his regiment, he was
slightly wounded twice about nine o'clock in the
morning; continued to fight on, and was in the
charge which resulted in the capture of the entire
brigade of General Archer. In the afternoon of the
same day he received a ball in his liver and lungs,
which still remains in his lungs. He lay on the
field forty-three hours, the rebel army in its advance
and retreat passing over him. He being unfit to be
taken away. General Early placed a guard over him,
and he was finally taken to the house of a Mr.
Buehler, at Gettysburg, where his wife joined him
three weeks later, and within three months, by care-
ful nursing, he was able to return to Wisconsin.
Colonel Callis bought a flouring-mill at Anaton^
ten miles from Lancaster, and ran it awhile by the
aid of an agent, but his heart was all the time with
the boys in blue at the South, and in 1864 he joined
the veteran army corps. President Lincoln ap-
pointed him military superintendent of the war de-
partment at Washington, with the rank of major in
the regular army. Before he was able to ride on
horseback he went out to Fort Sumner in an ambu-
lance and fought against Generals Early and Breck-
enridge in their raid on Washington, the day being
won by the fortunate aid sent out by the army of
the Potomac.
Subsequently he was promoted to colonel, and
a little later to brigadier-general, for meritorious
services during the war, and particularly for gal-
lantry at the battles of Antietam, Gainesville and
Gettysburg.
(General Callis assisted in carrying out the recon-
struction acts in his military district, his headquar-
ters, and at length his home, being at Huntsville,
Alabama. For his assistance in that line he re-
ceived great credit from the departments at Wash-
ington.
\Vhile a resident of Alabama, General Callis was
elected to the fortieth congress from the fifth dis-
trict. He was on the committee on enrolled bills
and on one or two others, and was the father of the
original Kuklux bill, which passed the house, but
was killed in the senate.
At the close of the fortieth congress General
Callis returned to Lancaster, where he has since re-
sided, and carried on the real-estate and insurance
business, still suffering from the ball in his lungs.
In politics, he was in early life an old-line whig;
then a republican until 1872, and a reformer since
that date.
He has a wife and five children, having married
Miss Mattie Barnett, of Lancaster, in 1855.
General Callis has the "Annals of Congress " com-
plete from 1799, and is quite familiar with the legis-
lative history of the country.
HON. JOHN H. ROUNTREE,
PLATTEVILLE.
ONE of the earliest settlers and most prominent
men of southwestern Wisconsin is John Haw- |
kins Rountree, a native of Kentucky. He was born
March 24, 1805, his parents being John and Rebecca
(Hawkins) Rountree. His great-grandfather, Ran-
dall Rountree, came from Ireland before the Ameri-
can revolution, and settled in Virginia. His grand- ;
father, Thomas Rountree, moved from Virginia to
Kentucky in 1795, and died there in 1815. His
father, born in 1770, died in Missouri in 1853.- He
was a large farmer, yet held the office of lower-court 1
judge at one time ; was a person of considerable dis-
tinction in the part of the State where he lived, and I
was an active man until his death in his eighty-
fourth year.
In February, 1824, the subject of this brief mem-
oir made a trip on horseback from his home in Ken-
tucky to Montgomery county, Illinois, a distance of
three hundred miles; and two years afterward, when
only twenty-one years old, he was elected sheriff of
that county. Early in 1827, hearing a great deal
about the lead mines at and near Galena, he started
northward with an ox team, in company with other
persons, and arriving at the mines on the 24th of
May commenced digging for lead near Galena, into
which place he was soon after driven by the Indians,
THE UNITED STATES BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONART.
693
but before the end of the year (1827) made a per-
manent settlement where Platteville now stands.
Here he built a cabin of logs and sods, two hun-
dred yards southeast of his present residence, and
had fair success at mining from the start. In 1828
he built a smelting furnace, the first in that |)art of
Michigan Territory now in Grant county, continuing
this business several years.
In October, 1829, he was appointed by Lewis
Cass, then governor of Michigan Territory, justice
of the peace for Iowa county, which then embraced
Grant, Lafayette, Green, and part of Rock and
Dane counties; but his official burdens were not
heavy. On the roth of March of the same year,
the postmaster-general, Hon. VV. T. Barry, appoint-
ed him postmaster of Platteville, the town being
named for Platte river, a stream three-fourths of a
mile northwest of town. At that time there was
only an occasional mail from Galena, brought over
in a teamster's pocket. Two years later (1831) a
weekly mail route was established from Galena to
Prairie du Chien, via Platteville. When the Black
Hawk war broke out, in 1832, mining operations
were entirely suspended for a few months ; a mount-
ed cavalry company was organized, with Mr. Roun-
tree as captain, and it composed part of Colonel
Dodge's squadron.
In 1834, when the first land sale took place at the
United States land office, then located at Mineral
Point, Mr. Rountree purchased the site of Platte-
ville, and during the same year he was appointed
chief justice of the court of Iowa county. Grant
county, so named for Grant river, was not organ-
ized until 1837, the year after Wisconsin Territory
was set off" from Michigan. From 1837 to 1S67 Mr.
Rountree served much of the time in the Territorial
council and the State legislature. He was eight
years in the council, four years in the State senate,
one year a member of the constitutional convention,
and one year in the assembly. No man in the State
has spent as many years at Madison among the law-
makers as Mr. Rountree, and no man connected
with the legislative history of Wisconsin has a purer
record. In all his labors at the State capital he
seems to have striven solely for the good of the
commonwealth.
He has a farm adjoining the village of Platteville,
and of late years has given his attention to it and to
his other property.
Mr. Rountree is a Freemason; has passed all the
chairs, and has been high priest of the chapter and
grand high priest of the grand chapter of the State.
In politics he was originally a whig, and is one of
the "constituent members " of the republican party.
He has been connected with the Methodist Epis-
copal church since 1836, and is active in religious,
benevolent and literary enterprises. He aided in
securing the location of one of the State normal
schools at Platteville, and during the fifty years that
he has been a resident of Wisconsin he has been
among the foremost men in pushing forward enter-
prises which would further the intefests of the State.
Mr. Rountree has been twice married. The first
time to Miss Mary G. Mitchell, daughter of Rev.
Samuel Mitchell, of St. Clair county, Illinois. They
were married in August, 1828, and had five children ;
only three now living. She died in October, 1837.
His present wife was Miss Lydia H. Southworth, of
Platteville, their union taking place September 3,
1839. The fruit of this union is ten children, seven
of them living. Hiram S., the eldest son, and Philip
S, are farmers; John M. is attorney for Cook coun-
ty, Illinois ; George H. is a clerk in the Northwest-
ern Mutual Life Insurance Company's office at Mil-
waukee; Harry is a lawyer at Platteville; and
Charles S., the youngest son, is not settled in busi-
ness. One of the daughters is the wife of John N.
Jewett, an attorney of Chicago; another is the wife
of George P. Smith, a merchant of Chicago; the
other two daughters, Lilly T. and Cora S., are single
and live at home.
Though in his seventy-third year, Mr. Rountree
stands perfectly erect, fully six feet tall, and is an
exceedingly well preserved man, having always had
good habits, and never forgetting the dignity of man-
hood. In striking contrast with his humble cabin
of fifty years ago, he now owns and occupies an
elegant two-story house, standing in a lot of four
acres, surrounded by primeval oaks, wild cherries,
and other trees of natural growth, transplanted ever-
greens and numerous other adornments, indices of
wealth and taste.
INDEX,
Adler, David Milwaukee 294
Alexander, Charles, M.D Eau Claire 269
Allen, Hiram S • Chippewa Falls. . . 267
Allen, Gen. T. S Oshkosh 77
Allen, Hon. William C Racine 634
Allis, Edward P Milwaukee 462
Althouse, Milo Jackson Waupun 502
Anderson, Maj. George Madison 161
Arnold, Douglas Arcadia 347
Atwood, Alson, M.D Trempeleau 310
Atwood, Gen. David Madison 64
Bach, Christopher Milwaukee 410
Bacon, Winchel D Waukesha 682
Bain, Edward Kenosha 509
Baker, Robert H Racine 192
Baker, Theodore L Milwaukee 199
Baldwin, Abijah W Janesville 441
Ball, Edward H Milwaukee 60
Barber, Hon. Hiram Horicon 2SS
Barber, Hon. J. Allen Lancaster 6S1
Barber, Martin N., M.D Watertown 617
Barnes, Henry L., M.D Ripon 640
Barron, Hon. Henry D St. Croix Falls... 62S
Bartlett, Edmund Monroe 20S
Bartlett, Hon. William P Eau Claire 292
Bean, Irving M Milwaukee 132
Beck, William Milwaukee 175
Beeson, Edward Fond du Lac 74
Benjamin, H. M Milwaukee 650
Bentley, John A Sheboygan 41
Bentley, John Milwaukee 344
Bertram, Gen. Henry G Juneau 555
Bertschy, Fred Milwaukee 155
Best, Philip Milwaukee 376
Bingham, Hon. James M Chippewa Falls . . 257
Bingham, John A Monroe 274
Bintlift", Gen. James Janesville ^19
Black, John Mil waukee 89
Blacksiock, Thomas M Shebovijan 436
Blair, Hon. William Waukesha 530
Blake, Lucius J Racine 179
Blanchard, Orrin W., M.D Delavan 154
Blatz, Valentine Milwaukee 670
Bliss, John S Janesville 4S6
Blossom, Levi Milwaukee 99
Bodden, Jacob Theresa 536
Booth, Charles A Monroe 300
Bowen, Hon. Ephraim Brodhead 130
Bowen, James B., M.D Madison 141
Boyd, Robert, D.D Waukesha 5.56
Braekett, James M Eau Claire 291
Bradford, Ira B Augusta 243
Bradshaw, Horatio N., M.D Monroe 297
Bragg, Gen. Edward S Fond du Lac 55-
Brainard, Linus B., M.D Waupaca 371
Braley, Hon. Arthur B Madison 164
Brande, Samuel Y Kenogha 583
Brandt, John R., A.M., M.D Arcadia 561
Breese, Llewellyn Portage 115
Bremer, George Milwaukee 79
Broughton, Russell, M.D Brodhead 237
Brown, John J., M.D Sheboygan S96
Brown, Samuel Milwaukee 362
Brown, Thomas H Milwaukee 41
Browne, Hon, Edward L Waupaca 619
Bryant, Hon. George E Madison 150
Brvant, Sherburn Milwaukee 3i;i;
Buck, Erastus J., M.D Platteville 656
Bull, Stephen Racine 192
Bump, Hon. Mark Black River Falls. 261
Bundy, Hon. Egbert 15 Menomonee 299
Bunn, Hon. Romanzo Sparta 243
Burchard, Hon. Samuel D Beaver Dam ...... 551
Bushnell, Prof. Jackson J Beloit 68
Butler, A. R. R Milwaukee 452
Buttles, Anson W Milwaukee 92
Buttles, Cephas A Milwaukee 338
Calkins, George H., M.D Waupaca 479
Callahan, Jonathan G Eau Claire 232
Callis, Gen. John B Lancaster 691
Cameron, Hon. Hugh La Crosse 1597
Carey, Hiram P., M.D Btloit 617
Carhart, David W Berlin 616
Carpenter, J. H Madison 7
Carpenter, Matt. H Milwaukee 4s
Carter, Hon. Almerine Marshall . . .Johnstown 395
Cartwright, David W Milton 407
Case, Jerome I Racine 190
Cate, Hon. George W Stevens Point 459
Chadvvick, John M Monroe 273
Chapman, Timothv A Milwaukee 90
Chase, Horace. . . .' Milwaukee 234
Cheves, Patrick G Xorwav S46
Chittenden, George W., M.D Janesville 17
Clapp, Joseph Dorr Fort Atkinson . . . 220
Clark, Darwin Madison 82
Clark, James Luther Oshkosh 75
Clarke, John Christopher Wausau 360
Clarke, Joseph A., M.D Whitewater 19
Clarv, Rev. Dexter Beloit 26
Clements, David R Stevens Point 466
Clough, Hon. .Solon H Hudson 633
Coad, Samuel Mineral Point. . . . 627
Cody, James, M.D Watertown 10
Cole, Henri B., M.D Black River Falls. 255
Cole, John B Sheboygan 421
Cole, Luther A Watertown 427
Coleman, James Fond du Lac. ... 422
Collins, Hon. Alexander L Appleton 5S5
Comstock, Noah D Arcadia 332
Conkey, Col. Theodore Appleton 440
Connolly, Patrick, jr Milwaukee 142
Cook, James W., M.D Necedali 244
Cooke, George R Green Bay 13
Coryell, Alfred P., M.D Janesville' 6^.;
Davidson, Thomas Milwaukee iSS
Davis, Francis N Beloit 119
Davis, Hon. Horatio N . . Beloit 118
Deichman, John, M.D Whitewater 28
De Motte, William H., A.M Delavan 31
Deuster, Hon. Peter Victor Milwaukee 95
Devendorf, Daniel B., M.D Delavan 228
Dickey, A. P Racine 202
Dickson, John Peat Janesville 61
Dimock, Edward L Janesville 468
Dixon, John Racine 643
Dobbs, Jeremiah Ripon 608
Dodge, A. Clarke Monroe 313
696
Dodge, Hon. Henry Iowa County
Dodge, Joseph T., A.M., Ph.D Monroe
Dodson.'N. M., M.D Berlin
Doe, Joseph Bodwell Janesville
Doty,"Hon. James D Menatsha
Doud, Reuben Racine
Douglass, Andrew S Monroe
Douglass, J. S., A.M., M.D., Ph.D. Milwaukee
Doyle, Hon. Peter Prairie du Chien
Draper, Martin T Oconomowoc . . .
Duncombe, Charles S., M.D Racine
Dundas, J. C, M.D Cambridge
Durand, Henry S Racine
Durrie, Daniel S Madison
Dutcher, John A Milwaukee
Dyer, Hon. Charles E Racine
Elliott, Rev. George W Milwaukee
Ellis, Gen. Albert G Stevens Point...
Ellsworth, Lemuel Milwaukee
Elmendorf, Rev. John J., S.T.D .... Racine
El well, Hon. Edward Beaver Dam
Erskine, Massena B Racine
Esslinger, Charles Manitowoc
Evans, Rev. James Monroe
Everhard, Aaron Ripon
Everhart, George M., D.D Kenosha
Falk, Franz Milwaukee
Farnham, Jeftery A Wausau
Fav, George W., M.D Menasha
Feiker, Charles W Oshkosh
Ferguson, Edward Milwaukee
Field, Hon. Robert C Osseo
Field, William W Madison
Finch, Earl P Oshkosh" ,
Fish, Rev. [oel W Fox Lake
Fisher, Hon. Ira W Menasha
Fosbinder, Charles W Mauston
Foster, Edward N Fond du Lac. . . .
Fratt, Nicholas D Racine
Freeman, George Y Galesville
Freeman, Stephen Racine
French, D. Edgar Milwaukee
Fribert, Lawrence T Juneau
Friend, Elias Milwaukee
Friend, Henry Milwaukee
Frisby, Leander F West Bend
Fueger, Max Milwaukee
Gale, Hon. George Galesville
Galentine, Samuel, M.D Neenah
Galloway, Edwin H Fond du Lac
Galloway, William T., M.D Eau Claire
Gault, Frank Middleton
Geilfuss, Albert B Milwaukee
Gilchrist, Ambrose B Stevens Point
(iiles, Hiram H Madison
Gleason, Charles R Eau Claire
Goodell, William Janesville
Goodrich, Hon. Joseph Milton
Goodwin, Col. George B Milwaukee
Goodwin, Samuel Johnson Beloit
Gove, Richard L Waukesha
Graham, Hon. Alexander Janesville
(Jrant, Gen. Levi Kenosha
Gray, Hamilton H Darlington
Green way, David Dartford
Gregory, Jared Comstock Madison
Haire, Rev. John P., A.M Janesville ,
Hall, Cyrus L Hudson
Hall, Hon. Daniel Watertown
Hall, T. Dwight Hudson
Hamilton, Charles H Milwaukee
Hamilton, Hon. Joseph B Neenah
Hanchett, Hon. Luther Plover
Hancock, Col. John Oshkosh
Hanks, Lucien S Madison
Harnden, Gen. Henry Madison 169
Harriman, Joseph E Appleton 459
Harrington, Nicholas M Delavan 70
Hastings, Samuel D., jr Green Bay 36
Hathaway, Rufus C Oconomowoc .... 567
Hauser, John H Fond du Lac 633
Hazleton, Hon. G. W Milwaukee 471
Hemenway, J. B., M.D Delavan 37
Hempsted^ Henry N Milwaukee 183
Hewitt, Henry, sr Menasha 45S
Hobbins, Joseph, M.D Madison 157
Hodges, Isaac Platteville 687
Holloway, Hon. John C Lancaster 680
Holmes, Hon. John E Jefferson 218
Holton, Edward D Milwaukee 412
Hooker, Eli . . . ^. Waupun 573
263
Hosmer, James E Beaver Da
Hotchkiss, Ezekiel S Arcadia 3c
Houston, George A Beloit 61
Howell, Henry Southard Watertown 21
Hoy, Philo Romyne, M.D Racine 7
HoVt, John W., A.M., M.D Madison 4
Hoyt, Otis, M.D. Hudson
Hubbell, Levi , Milwaukee 91
Hudd, Hon. Thomas R Green Bay 63
Hudson, Santord A Janesville 358
Hunt, Henderson, M.D Beloit 94
Hunt, Samuel W Menomonee 336
Hurlbut, Hon. Edwin Oconomowoc .... 574
Hutchinson, James Mineral Point 663
Inbusch, John D Milwaukee 80
Jackson, Alfred A., A.M Janesville 485
Jackson, Heman B Oshkosh 126
Jackson, Hon. Mortimer M Halifax, N. S 62
Jewett, Rev. Milo P., LL.D Milwaukee 129
Johnson, Calvin R Black River Falls. 308
Jones, Rev. Jenkin L Janesville 497
Jones, Milo Fort Atkinson. .. . 217
Judd, Samuel S., M.D Janesville 367
Keep, John M Janesville 108
Kellogg, Gen. John A Wausau 337
Kellogg, Levi H Milwaukee 106
Kellogg, Rufus B Green Bay 1S9
Kendrick, Albert, M.D Waukesha 517
Kern, John, B.A Milwaukee 640
Kilbourn, Hon. Byron H Milwaukee.
Kimball, Hon. Martm L Berlin
Kingman, Romanzo S Sparta
Kingston, Hon. John T Necedah.
Klauber, Samuel Madison . . . .
Knapp, Capt. Gilbert Racine
Knapp, John H Menomonee .
Knight, James G Madison
Kuehn, Ferdinand Madison . . . .
Lain, Isaac Waukesha . .
Lamar, Charles H Darlington..
Lapham, Increase A Milwaukee..
Lathrop, William H Racine
Lee, Alanson H Racine
Lew, John M La Crosse . .
Lew'is, Hon. E. C.
56
53
618
204
52
53.S
667
592
lOI
571
342
. . . .Juneau 146
Lewis, Frank L., M.D Arcadia 312
Lewis, Hon. James T Columbus 5
Linde, Christian, M.D Oshkosh 85
Little, Thomas H., M.A Janesville 128
Lovejoy, Allen P Janesville 500
Lowth, John Juneau 645
Ludington, Hon. Harrison Milwaukee 324
Lyman, Asahel P Sheboygan 3S7
Lynde, Hon. William Pitt Milwaukee 673
McArthur, P. S., M.D La Crosse 541
McCausey, George H Janesville 405
McDonald, Alexander Fond du Lac 246
McGee, James Oconto 131
Mclndoe, Hon. Walter D Wausau 460
697
McKey, Edward and Michael F Janesville 1 1
McMillan, Alexander La Crosse 34
McMillan, Duncan D La Crosse 36
McMynn, Col. John G Racine 646
McWilliams, George Fond dii Lac 16
Macauley, Robert Menomonee
Mack, Herman S Milwaukee.
Mack, Hugo Milwaukee.
Magoon, Hon. Henrv S Darlington
Main, Hon. Alexander H Madison...
.Mann, Hon. John E Milwaukee.
Manson, Rufus P Wausau . . .
Markham, Prof. Albert Milwaukee.
Markham, John D Manitowoc.
Marks, Solon Milwaukee.
.•?o3
3-'9
Marsh, Jerome L.
.Sheboygan.
Marsh, Sanger Whitewater 20
Martin, James B Milwaukee 44
Martin, Morgan L Green Bay 39J
Martin, Samuel J., M.D Racine 14
May, Eli P Fort Atkinson ... 216
Meachem, John G., M.D Racine 276
Meacher, William. M.D Portage 138
43,S
Mead, Henrv C
Waupaca .
.Medberv, Hiram
M..n,oe...
.Meeker, Moses, M.D
Mineral Po
Meinecke, Adolph
Milwaukee.
Mendel, Henry M
Milwaukee
Mernll, Hon. Sereno T
Beloit
.Merrill, Sherburn S
Milwaukee
Merrill, William P
Milwaukee.
Mertz, Richard [uneau . . .
Meyer, Charles J. L Fond du L;
Miller, Hon. Andrew G Milwaukee
Miller, Manoah D Madison . .
Mills, Roger II Beloit ....
Mills, Hon. Simeon Madison .
Miltimore, Capt. Ira Janesville .
Miner, Hon. Eliphalet S Necedah . .
Miner, George B., M.D., D.D.S Milwaukee
Miner, Rev. Samuel E Monroe. . .
Mitchell, Alexander Milwaukee
Mitthell, Henrv Racine . . .
Mitchell, John,'M.D Janesville 5'^
.Mix, Edward T Milwaukee 653
Mix, Miles, M.D Berlin 629
Moft'at, John S Hudson 302
Monroe, William, M.D Monroe 309
Montague, Henrv O Whitewater 656
Morawetz, Moritz L Milwaukee 107
Morgan, Sylvester Janesville 375
586
Morris, Rowley, M.D Brodhead
Morrow, Joseph M Sparta
Mosher, Isaac Lacy Grand Rapids.
Mulberger, Henry" Watertown . . .
Murray, George Racine
Myers, George H Appleton
Mygatt, Wallace Kenosha
Newcomb, Dan, M.D Kenosha
Newman, Hon. Alfred W Trenipeleau , . .
Newton, William Eau Claire....
30
Nichols, Hon. Henry F. C New Lisbon 231
Nichols, William F., M D Menomonee 285
N'oggle, Hon. David Janesville 279
Norris, William H., ir Green
O'Neill, Edward. . . .' Milwaukee
O'Rourk, Patrick H., LL.D Milwaukee.
Ober, Levi E., M.D La Crosse..
( Jbermann, Jacob Milwaukee .
Ogden, George W Milwaukee.
Olin, Daniel A Racine ....
Ormond, William M., V.S Milwaukee 52
Orton, Philo A Darlington 669
Osborn, Sylvester W Darlington 667
Pahst, Captain Fred Milwaukee 314
139
Palmer, Henrv, M.D Janesville
Park, Hon. Gilbert L Stevens Point. . .
Parker, Charles D Pleasant Vallev .
Parkinson, J. B., A.M Madison '...
Patchen, Terah J., M.D Fond du Lac
Feet, Rev. Stephen Beloit
Perkins, David W Milwaukee
Perkins, George Fond du Lac. ...
Perry, John Wilder Juneau
Pettit, Hon. Milton II Kenosha
Phelps, A. Warren Milwaukee
Phillio, Hart B Grand Rapids . .
Phillips, John, M.D Stevens Point ..
Pier, Edward Fond du Lac...
Pierce, Amos J. W Milwaukee
Pierce, Robert W Milwaukee
Pinnev, Hon. Silus U Madison .
Pixlev, John Weslev Milwaukee
Pound, Albert E. .." Chippewa Falls .
Pound, Hon. Thaddeus C Chippewa Falls .
Prentiss, Hon. Theodore Watertown
Prentiss, William A Milwaukee. . .
Priie, Hon. William T Black River Falls
ProudfU, Andrew'. '. '. '. . '. '. '. ". ' ' '. '. '. '. '. ". Madison .'.'....'.
Randall, Adin Eau Claire
Rankin, Walter L., A.M Waukesha
Raymond, Don A Fond du Lac. , . .
Raymond, James O Stevens Point.
Read, George H Oshkosh
Reed, Parker McCobb Milw aukee .
Reese, Reese T Berlin . . .
Reeve, James T., M.D Appleton ....
Reynolds, Benjamin M., A.M La Crosse. . . .
Rich, .\. W Milwaukee
Richards, Richard Racine
Richardson, H. Stone Madison
Ringle, Hon. Bartholomew Wausau ". .
Robbins, Burr Janesville
Robinson, Chancey C, M.D Milwaukee
Robinson, Col. Charles D Green Bay
Robinson, Hon. Frederick Kenosha.'.
Rock, Lewis B Milwaukee
Rockwell, Charles Fort Atkinson
Rodolph, Theodore La Crosse .
Rodway, William H Milwaukee
Rogan," Patrick Watertown
Rogers, Anson Janesville
Rogers, Jabez N Berlin
Rood, Galen, M.D Stevens Point
Rountree, John H Platteville
Rowell, John S Beaver Dam
Ruger, Rev. Thomas J., A.M Janesville
Ruggles, Augustus G Fond du Lac
Runals, Edmund L Ripon
Runkel, George Tomah
Russell, Richard C Oshkosh
Russell, Thomas P., M.D Oshkosh
Ryan, Edward G Madison
Ryan, Hon. Samuel Appleton
Sampson, Ahira B Grand Rapids
Sawin, Rev. Theophilus P., jr Janesville
Sawyer, Hon. Philetus Oshkosh
Schandein, Emil Milwaukee
Schlitz, Joseph Milwaukee
Schoenfeld, Aaron Milwaukee
Seelv, Josiah W Waupun
Selden, Orin G., M.D Tomah
.Senn, Nicholas, M.D Milwaukee
Sexton, Lester Milwaukee
Shanfield, Henry Milwaukee
Shaw, Daniel Eau Claire
Sherman, Lewis, M.D Milwaukee
Sherwood, John C. . Dartford
Silber, Lewis Milwaukee
698
Single, Charles A Wausaii
Slight, John P Walertown
Sloan, H. Scott Beaver Dam
Small, Hon. David W Oc'onomouoc
Smart, Reuben D Manitowoc
Smith, A. Hvatt Janesville
Smith, Hon. "Augustus L Appleton
Smith, Gen. George B Madison
Smith, Jehiel, M.D Waukesha
Smith, Morris Clarke Janesville
Smith, Perry P Manitowoc
Smith, Samuel T La Crosse
Smith, William E Milwaukee
Smith, Hon. Winfield Milwaukee
Solberg, Charles B La Crosse
Spaulding, Dudley J Black River Falls.
Spensley, James Mineral Point
Stansbury, Emory, M.D Appleton
Starr, I Ion. William Ripon
Steele, George McKendree, D.D. . .Appleton
Stevens, Elias W., M.D Portage
Stone, Gustavus Beloit
Stoughton, Luke Stoughton
Street, Richard Waukesha
Strong, Henry P., M.D Beloit
Strong, Moses M Mineral Point . . .
Strong, Timothy F P'ond du Lac
Tainter, Andrew Menoirionee
Tallman, William Morrison Janesville
Tapley, John Racine
Taylor, George R., M.D Waupaca
Tavlor, Horace A Hudson
Taylor, Hon. William R Madison
Temple, Hon. Marsfena Mauston
Tenney, Daniel K Chicago
Thayer, Mason A Sparta ,
Thomas, Terrell Baraboo
Thomas, William C. E Green Bay
Thompson, James IL, M.D Milwaukee
Thorn, Gerrit T Appleton
TichLMior, \'ernon Waukesha
Treachem, Edward H. G., M.D Milwaukee
Treat, Nathaniel and .Sons Monroe
Tred way, William W Madison
Twining, Prof. Nathan C Monroe
Upham, Don A. } Milwaukee
Utlev, Col. William L Racine
\'an"Cleve, John S., A.M Janesville
\'an Dusen, Harmon, M.D Mineral Point. . . .
Vankirk, Nelson Milwaukee
Van Ostrand, DeWitt D Neenah
31S
Vanslyke, Napoleon B Madison 35
Van \^echten, Peter, jr Milwaukee 41S
Vaughan, John Racine 532
Vilas, Hon. Levi B Madison 32
Vilas, Levi M Eau Claire 262
Virgin, Hon. Noah H Platteville 675
Vivian, John H., M.D Mineral Point. . . . 649
Von Baumbach, Moritz Milwaukee 61
Waldo, Otis Harvev Milwaukee 134
Ward, A. J., M.D. " Madison 67
Warden, Satterlee Darlington 664
Waring, Hon. George D Berlin 506
Warner, William S Appleton 151
Warren, Eugene F Albanv 117
Warren, John Halden, M.D Albany 136
Warren, Thompson M Baraboo 163
Waterman, Anson P Beloit 19^
Webb, Hon. Charles M Grand Rapids 323
Webster, Andrew J Menasha 451
Weisbrod, Charles A Oshkosh ... 39
West, Gen. Francis H Milwaukee 124
West, George O Whitewater 83
West, Samuel C Milwaukee 173
Wheeler, Lucius A Milwaukee 478
Wlieelock, Wadsworth Grant Janesville -69
Wliittord, Prof. Albert, A.M Milton 379
I Whilford, Rev. William C, A.M . . . Milton ,00
Whiting, Joseph B., M.D Janesville 23
Whilon, Edward V "janesville 21
Wight, O. W., M.D "Milwaukee in
Wild, Frederick Racine 204
Wiley, William, M.D Fond du Lac 627
Wilson, Amasa New Lisbon 213
WiUon, Richard F Eau Claire I5"2
Winkler, Frederic C Milwaukee Si
Winsor, Fernando Mauston 237
Witter, George F., M.D Grand Rapids. ... 34s
Witter, Jere. D Grand Rapids 334
Wolcott, Col. Charles Oshkosh 56S
Wolcott, Erastus B., M.D Milwaukee '72
Wolf, Hon. William Henry Milwaukee iSo
Wood, Hon. Joseph " Grand Rapids 347
Wood, Nathan H Portage 327
Woodhull, John W Milwaukee 333
.Delavan 620
Wright, Theodore Lvman Beloit 7
Wylie, Daniel B., M"D Wausau 331
Ziflier, Carl Sheboygan 43s
Zwietusch, Otto Milwaukee 123
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