Men of Progress. Wisconsin. (pages 115-149) A selected list of
biographical sketches and portraits of the leaders in business,
professional and official life. Together with short notes on the
history and character of Wisconsin.
========================================================================
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free
information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial
entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material.
These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for
profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations.
Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes
other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file
contributor.
This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
Kelly Mullins, kellyj@snowcrest.net
========================================================================
Page 115 continued
KILLILEA. Matthew Robert, one of the young members of the Milwaukee
bar, is the son of Matthew and Mary Murray Killilea, natives of
Ireland, the former of whom came to Wisconsin in 1848, and has resided
in the state ever since. M. R. Killilea was born in the town of Poygan,
Winnebago county, Wis. The rudiments of his education were acquired in
the district school, and were supplemented by a course in Daggett's
Business College in Oshkosh. Afterward he entered the college of law in
the University of Wisconsin, and was chosen president of his class in
1891, and graduated in June of that year. During his course in the
university he was a member of the Phi Delta Phi society.
In 1892 he was appointed assistant district attorney by Leopold Hammel,
but could not serve on account of not having been in practice for the
time required under the law. He was the Democratic nominee in 1894 for
the lower house of the legislature in the district
[image: MATTHEW ROBERT KILLILEA]
composed of the Second and Fourth wards, but was defeated by his
Republican opponent, Edward Notbohm. He has, for some time, been
actively interested in athletics, and is president of the Milwaukee
Base Ball club.
He is a member of the Calumet and Bon Ami clubs, and a Knight of
Pythias, Garfield Lodge, No.83. In religion he is a Catholic, and is
yet single.
He is a young man of fine, natural abilities, good attainments, and has
promising future before him.
WILSON, Wilford Murry, in charge of the weather bureau station at
Milwaukee, is the son of Cyrus Wilson, a carriage builder in
comfortable circumstances. Cyrus Wilson enlisted, in 1862, in the 145th
Pennsylvania infantry, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac,
Hancock's corps, and participated in the battles of Antietam,
Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg, besides minor
engagements. He was wounded three times at Fredericksburg while leading
his company in a charge upon the Confederate works. After the battle of
Gettysburg, his
Page 116
[image: WILFRED MURRY WILSON.]
wounds broke out afresh, and, being incapacitated for active duty, he
was assigned in charge of a division of Confederate prisoners at
Elmira, New York, where he remained to the close of the war. The health
of his wife, who was Catharine Mason, being in a precarious condition,
he removed a few years ago to Bigelow, Kansas, where he now lives.
W. M. Wilson was born in Espyville, Pa., January 24th, 1860. He
attended the public school and worked in his father's shop, learning
the trade of carriage builder. Having graduated from the high school,
he was admitted to Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., in 1880. The
money for his college expenses was secured by teaching school; but,
after four years, he was compelled to leave college for lack of funds
for the further prosecution of his studies. After that he was, for one
year principal of the public schools at Kelloggville, Ohio. While at
college he was a member of the Athenean Literary Society and the Phi
Gamma Delta fraternity.
In 1885 he made application for a position in the United States weather
bureau, which was then under the control of the War department;
and, after passing the required examination, was assigned to duty at
the central office in Washington. In the spring of 1886 he was sent to
the school of instruction, at Fort Myer, Va., where observes were
trained for their work. The school was under rigid military discipline,
and instruction was given both in the military duties, imposed upon the
signal corps as a part of the regular army, and in the practical work
pertaining to the meteorological department, particular attention being
paid to physics and meteorology. Fort Myer is located on the old Lee
estate, not far from the famous Arlington cemetery. The rigid military
discipline, the long hours of work, and the hard army fare made life
there seem hardly worth the living, but in the light of a border
experience, Mr. Wilson regards the time spent there as the most
profitable of his life. He was graduated from this school, standing
first in a class of fourteen. After graduation he was assigned to duty
at Cleveland, and subsequently, at Memphis, St. Louis, Cincinnati,
Springfield, Ill., Fort Smith, Ark., Toledo, Kansas City and Mount
Killington, Vt. He was promoted and assigned to duty at Memphis in 1890
and to Milwaukee in 1896.
By studying during spare time, working at night and attending lectures
during the day, he completed a course in medicine, and was graduated
from the Memphis Medical Hospital college in 1894. He has written
several pamphlets on subjects connected with meteorology, notably
"Climatology of Memphis" and the "Climate and Soils of Western
Tennessee." His present office is director of the Wisconsin climate and
crop service, in charge of the weather bureau station at Milwaukee.
He is a member of the F. & A. M. fraternity, connected with the La
Fayette Lodge, No. 265. He has been a Republican since attaining his
majority. In religious matters he is a Methodist and is a member of the
Grand Avenue M. E. Church. He married Winifred Hatch, daughter of Rev.
A. P. Hatch, of the Rock River, Ill., conference. They have one child--
a son.
Page 117
HARRIMAN, Frank Wilson, resides at Appleton and is a native of that
city, where he was born and the 22nd day of September, 1861. He was
educated in the public schools of Appleton and graduated from the high
school at the age of sixteen; taught school for three years, serving as
principal of the Sixth ward school of Appleton in 1880 and 1881;
studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1883; served as register in
probate from 1882 to 1889, and as county judge from April, 1889, to
January 1st, 1890, and as postmaster of Appleton from 1891 to 1895. Mr.
Harriman has always been an active Republican, and has represented his
party as a delegate to city, county, congressional and state
conventions, and was an alternate delegate from his district to the
national Republican conventions at Chicago in 1888. Judge Harriman has
a large clientage and devotes his time now exclusively to the practice
of his profession, in which he is very successful.
On September 10th, 1884, Mr. Harriman was united in marriage with Miss
Matilda Waterhouse, and two bright little girls have blessed their
union, and they have a very happy home. Mrs. Harriman is a native of
Wisconsin and a graduate of the Appleton high school, and was engaged
in teaching in the public schools three years prior to her marriage.
She is a member of the Congregational church and very active in church,
social and literary work.
In addition to his work as a lawyer, Judge Harriman is at present
performing the duties of the following positions: Grand master of the
Wisconsin Odd Fellows, secretary and treasurer of Appleton Cemetery
association, court commissioner of Outagamie county, clerk of school
district No. 2 of the city of Appleton, trustee of First Congregational
church and society, and trustee of Konemic Lodge, No. 47, I.O.O.F., of
Appleton.
Frank W. Harriman is the oldest son of the late Judge Joseph E.
Harriman, one of the early settlers at Appleton, who was married to
Celia Pratt at Milton, Wis., in 1860. He died
[image: FRANK WILSON HARRIMAN.]
in 1889, leaving a widow and four adult children. Judge Joseph E.
Harriman was an active, public-spirited citizen, and much of the
prosperity of Appleton is due to his early work. He was a very popular
man, as testified by his election as county judge four terms in a
strongly Democratic county, although he was a pronounced Republican. It
was through his energy that the beautiful "Riverside cemetery" was
located and embellished, and his enterprise organized and constructed
the electric street railway at Appleton, the first one in Wisconsin.
GRANGER, Stephen W., was born in the town of Sodus, Wayne county, New
York, September 6th, 1834. His father, John Milton Granger, was born at
Westfield, Massachusetts, February 2nd, 1793, and his mother, whose
maiden name was Sarah Hayden, was born in Maine in 1796. In 1818 they
were married at Sodus, New York, and soon moved upon a farm of one
hundred and sixty acres, located near the present village of Sodus in
that state, where they resided till their deaths.
Page 118
[image: STEPHEN W. GRANGER.]
There were born to them nine children, Stephen being the seventh. The
first of his ancestors on his father's side to come to this country was
Launcelot Granger, who came from England in 1638, and landed at Salem,
Massachusetts. Launcelot Granger married one Johanna Adams, a Puritan
by birth, January 4th, 1654, at Newberry, Mass. In the same year he
moved into a house on Kent's Island, situated near the mouth of Parker
River, Mass., where he lived for twenty years, and where he reared a
large family. From this family of Grangers, located on this rough,
rocky island of about two hundred acres, has sprung a great number of
descendants, who made their homes in nearly every state in the Union. A
genealogy of these descendants has been written, and contains the
names, dates and places of birth of over four thousand seven hundred
persons, among whom may be mentioned the following: Erastus Granger,
who was, in 1803, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson, then president, as
Indian agent of the Six Nations, with headquarters at Buffalo, New
York, which position he held for fifteen years, and was the first judge
of the county court of Niagara county, New York; Gideon Granger, who was
appointed postmaster- general by Jefferson--a copy of a letter written
by Jefferson, dated October 31st, 1801, to Gideon Granger, urging him to
accept the position, is now in the possession of the subject of this
sketch--he held the office of postmaster--general for thirteen years.
Francis Granger, who formerly resided at Canandaigua, New York, and who
was elected to congress in the thirties, three terms, and ran for vice-
president on the same ticket with Daniel Webster for president, in 1838;
Gordon Granger, who was one of the most able and brave of the major-
generals in the war of the rebellion; and C. T. Granger, one of the
present judges of the supreme court of Iowa.
Up to the time when Stephen was fourteen years old, he attended a
district school. After that he attended first, an academy at Walworth,
New York, and later one at Sodus, but in the summer months he worked on
the farm. During the winters of 1854-5 and 1855-6 he taught school in
his native town, and in the year last named commenced the study of the
law. In 1857 he attended the National Law School, then located at
Poughkeepsie, New York, where Hon. Henry Booth, now judge, in Chicago,
was one of his teachers. In June, 1858, he graduated from this school,
passing an examination with honors and receiving his diploma. In the
fall of the same year he came west, and located at Milwaukee, where he
hung out his shingle and commenced the practice of the law, opening his
office on East Water street, just north of Wisconsin street. When he
came to Milwaukee there was not a person in the city whom he had ever
seen before; but, with a determination to succeed, he went to work and
has ever since devoted his time exclusively and assiduously to his
profession. In the trial of cases before juries, by his fairness,
earnestness and candor, he is most successful, and as an adviser he is
sought and relied upon as one of the best posted in the law, and one of
the safest in the profession.
Page 119
In politics of late years he has taken but little active part, but he
has always been a steadfast Republican. For many years next prior to
1876, he was chairman of the Republican committee of Milwaukee county,
and also of the First ward Republican committee. He never held any
public office, and never but once ran for any. In 1873 he ran in the
First ward of the city of Milwaukee as the Republican candidate for
member of the assembly against Alfred L. Cary, the Democratic
candidate, who is now a member of the law firm of Fish & Cary; and,
while the Democratic candidates received a majority of two hundred and
sixty-three in the ward, Mr. Granger was defeated by three votes only.
Mr. Granger was married June 4th, 1861, to Ella A. Bennett, a daughter
of the late Russell Bennett of the town of Lake, Milwaukee county,
Wisconsin. He has three children, the eldest, a daughter, is the wife
of H. D. Sykes, the Wisconsin street druggist; the second, S. A
Granger, is his partner in the well-known law firm of Granger &
Granger, and the youngest, John Milton, aged sixteen years, is now
attending the east side high school.
GETTELMAN, Adam, a resident of Wauwatosa, and president and treasurer
of the A. Gettelman Brewing company, was born in Germantown, Washington
county, Wis., April 27th, 1847. His father, Peter Gettelman, was a
native of Germany, a farmer by occupation, and, with the thrift so
often exemplified among people of his nationality, prospered in
material matters, and at the time of his death was in very comfortable
circumstances. A. Gettelman's mother, whose maiden name was Catherine
Holl, was also a native of Germany, and the worthy companion of her
prosperous husband.
A. Gettelman received his education in the public schools of his native
place, which seem to have been efficient, as he had no other school
training, and as he seems to have there
[image: ADAM GETTELMAN.]
laid the foundation of a successful business career. After leaving
school he began, in November, 1865, an apprenticeship at the brewing
business, and mastered all departments of beer-making; so that when the
company was established for the control of the Menomonee brewery he was
placed at its head. This company has attained a prominence among
Milwaukee breweries as the manufacturer of a superior quality of beer,
for its "natural process bottle beer" and for its "hospital tonic."
While the plant is by no means as large as some of Milwaukee's notable
breweries, it is steadily making its way toward the front rank among
establishments of the kind, and is doing a large and prosperous
business.
Mr. Gettelman was married November 24th, 1870, to Miss Magdalena
Schweickhart. Six children have been born to them, the eldest of whom,
Katie, is married to Albert J. Kraatz, and Mr. Gettelman is now a
grandfather. The other children are Misses Emma, Amanda, Elfrieda and
Masters Willie and Frederick, and a very happy household they form.
Page 120
[image: ALLEN FRANCISCO WARDEN.]
WARDEN, Allen Francisco, a resident of Waukesha, and editor and
proprietor of the Dispatch of that city, is the son of Allen Warden,
who was prominent in the early history of Wisconsin. Allen Warden was
born in Cayuga county, N. Y. April 8th, 1821, and came to Wisconsin in
1842, settling near Madison. Subsequently he lived at Wiota, Beloit and
Darlington, but removed to Lamar, Mo., in 1875. He was a member of the
second constitutional convention of Wisconsin, being elected from
Wiota, La Fayette county over W. S. Hamilton, a son of Alexander
Hamilton. He was one of the signers of the present state constitution,
was a "War Democrat" during the rebellion, was a presidential elector
for Wisconsin in 1864 and 1868, was a candidate for congress on the
Greeley ticket in 1872 against J. Allen Barber, in the old Third
district, but was defeated. He was the first mayor of Lamar, Mo., and
was re-elected; was county judge of Barton county, and held other
public positions. He died March 4th, 1897. An uncle of Allen Warden
served with Ethan Allen at the taking of Ticonderoga, and the nephew
was named Allen after the noted general. A. F. Warden's mother was
Lucinda Miller prior to her marriage, the oldest daughter of Jesse
Miller, one of the pioneers of Wiota, La Fayette county, who came to the
state in territorial days.
A. F. Warden was born in Beloit, Wis., March 20th, 1852. He attended
public schools and a select school at Fayette, Wis., conducted by J. B.
Parkinson, then a regent of the state university, and now a professor
and vice-president of that institution. Young Warden entered the state
university in 1868, and was graduated in June, 1873, with the degree of
bachelor of philosophy and was awarded the second honor of his class.
The fall after his graduation he went to Plymouth, Sheboygan county,
and took the principalship of the city high school, which he held for
two years. In July 1875, he purchased The Plymouth Reporter, which he
edited until August 1890. He was elected superintendent of schools of
Sheboygan county in 1881, and re-elected in 1884. A half-interest in
the Reporter was purchased by H. W. Hostman in 1884, and thenceforth
the paper was conducted under the firm name of Warden & Hostman until
August, 1890, when Mr. Warden sold his interest to O. Graffron, and
received the appointment of printing clerk under Secretary of State T.
J. Cunningham, which he held from 1891 to 1895. In the later year he
removed from Madison to Waukesha, having previously purchased The
Waukesha Dispatch, which he still owns, edits and publishes.
Mr. Warden was elected in 1890 to the state assembly from the Second
district of Sheboygan county, and served on the committees on state
affairs and education, the later recommending the passage of the bill
repealing the famous Bennett compulsory school law.
He is a Royal Arch Mason, and Odd Fellow and a member of the Royal
Arcanum, of which he was Grand Regent in 1883-4, and representative to
the Supreme Council sessions at Buffalo, Philadelphia and Boston. He
was master of the Masonic lodge at Plymouth for
Page 121
two years. In religious faith he is an Episcopalian, and is, at
present, senior warden of St. Matthias parish, Waukesha.
Mr. Warden was married at Plymouth, Wis., May 17th, 1877, to Miriam E.
Eastman, third daughter of Hon. Enos Eastman. Mrs. Warden died at
Plymouth, June 9th, 1884, leaving a son, Reginald Allen, and a
daughter, Lillie Eastman. Mr. Warden was married a second time, May
29th, 1886, to Eva Fuller Hanson, fourth daughter of the late Dr. M. P
Hanson of Milwaukee.
Mr. Warden cast his first presidential vote for Samuel J. Tilden, and
has always supported the principles of Democratic party, and voted for
Bryan in the presidential contest, of 1896.
SANDBERG, Paul August, register of deeds of Douglas county, and
resident of Superior, is a native of Ostersund, Sweden where he was
born January 7th, 1863. His father, Auders Gustaf Sandberg, is by
occupation a tanner and leather merchant, and the family have always
been tradesman or artisans of some kind. Mr. Sandberg's mother, whose
maiden name was Brita Elizabeth Jonson, belongs to a family of farmers
who, from generation to generation, for four hundred years, have
followed agriculture in the same locality and among the same people.
Paul A. Sandberg received his education in Sweden, passing first
through the common school, then the elementary school, from which he
graduated 1881. Then, entering Ultuna College, he was graduated from it
two years later. In 1886 he came to Wisconsin, where he worked on a
farm in Pierce county for a year. After that he found employment in his
profession, that of civil engineer, being engaged on the surveys of the
Duluth, Red Wing & Southern railway, and for two seasons thereafter in
engineering work for the United States government. In January, 1895, he
was appointed deputy county treasurer for Douglas county, and in the
fall of 1896 he was elected register of
[image: PAUL AUGUST SANDBERG.]
deeds of the same county, and this office he now holds.
Mr. Sandberg is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Masonic
order, and is unmarried.
He is a young man of education and intelligence, and like many of his
countrymen is thoroughly in sympathy with American institutions, and
fully appreciates the advantages which they offer to young men of
ability and ambition.
MILLER, Wilmot Frederic, M.D., modest and unassuming though he be, is
one of the most accomplished of the younger members of the medical
profession in Milwaukee, while his popularity as a citizen is limited
only by his acquaintance. He is a native of Pennsylvania,having been
born in Tamaqua, Schuylkill county, on the 6th of July, 1861. His
father, Charles F. Miller, is of English descent, and his mother, Sarah
A., nee Swoyer, is of German lineage. Like many another man who has
attained to prominence in professional or public life, young Miller
began his education in the public schools, and doubtless
Page 122
[image: WILMOT FREDERIC MILLER.]
had implemented there the germs of a worthy ambition. Having completed
his preparatory education, he began the study of medicine, and later he
entered the department of medicine and surgery in the University of
Michigan, from which, after completing the thorough and comprehensive
course there required, he graduated in June, 1887. In November of the
same year he came to Milwaukee, and began the practice of his
profession. Of fine presence and courteous in his manner, he rapidly
made his way into public favor, and built up a large and lucrative
practice. Dr. Miller is somewhat averse to speaking of his professional
acquirements and work as a practitioner, but it is known that his
standing in his profession is of the best, and that he is a thorough
student, keeping up with what is new and most effective in practice,
and testing, as far as possible, the most approved theories in regard
to the nature and treatment of diseases.
But this is not all. While in no sense neglecting his profession, he
has found time to devote to Masonry, of which he is a high official and
an ardent advocate. Dr. Miller's connection with Masonry began when a
student in the University of Michigan, and he is the first student upon
whom the orders of knighthood were conferred by the Ann Arbor
commandery. Upon coming to Milwaukee, he at once assumed a prominent
position in Masonic circles, and joined Independence Lodge, No. 80;
Wisconsin Chapter, No. 7, and Wisconsin Commandery, No. 1. He is a
working member of the Wisconsin consistory, Ancient, Accepted Scottish
Rite, and a member of Tripoli Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He is now
commander of Wisconsin Commandery, No. 1, and in this office succeeds to
the seat once occupied by such eminent Templars as H. L. Palmer, and the
late A. V. II. Carpenter, and such able members of the order as Geo. H.
Benzenberg, E. S. Elliot and A. H. Wagner. In his present position he
has been indefatigable in his labors for the erection and equipment of
the new building for the commandery; and to him more than to any one man
is due the credit of the completion of the beautiful structure an
ornament to the city, and one of the most convenient and admirable
Masonic buildings in the northwest. While the enterprise was in
contemplation there were not wanting those who predicted that it would
not prove a paying investment for the commandery, but it is now entirely
occupied by acceptable tenants; and this financial success is an
evidence of the enterprise and business sagacity of Commander Miller,
who was easily the leader of the Templars in this work.
Dr. Miller is Republican in his political views; and, while not
offensive in any manner, his votes and influence are given to its
tickets and to the promotion of its principles, and the adoption of its
policy. He is a member of the Calumet Club, of the Wisconsin Medical
society, and the college fraternity Nu Sigma Nu.
He was married on the 8th of October, 1888, to Anna B. Scherer of
Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, and the children of this marriage are W. Paul
and Anita Miller.
Page 123
FOSTER, Edward, a prominent citizen of Waukesha, is the son of John H.
Foster, who was born in Somersetshire, England, in 1821, and was
married to Elizabeth W. Harwood in 1844. That same year they came to
Wisconsin, and located in Lisbon, Waukesha county, and Mr. Foster
engaged in farming and merchandising. In September, 1859, he removed to
Brandon, where he engaged in business as a merchant and grain dealer,
continuing it until 1867, when, on account of ill-health, he retired
from business, and look up his residence in Waukesha, but died the
following year. In this family there were three sons and two daughters,
as follows: F. R. Foster, banker at Brandon, Wisconsin; T. N. Foster,
of the firm of Foster, Paul & Co., importers and manufacturers of kid
gloves, New York City; Mrs L. Ferguson, wife of Col. L. Ferguson,
merchant of Brandon; Mrs. Eliza J. Hadfield, deceased, and Edward
Foster, the subject of this sketch, who was born in the town of Lisbon,
Waukesha county, January 13th, 1851. Removing with his parents to
Brandon, he received a high school education, and in 1867 engaged in
farming in Waukesha, and followed it until 1875, when he entered the
drug business, carrying that on until 1883, since which time he has
been interested in the wool trade, having during 1896 handled about a
quarter of a million pounds. He is also largely interested in real
estate in Waukesha, residing on the Broadway farm, containing 350
acres, a portion of which is inside the city limits. He also has other
holdings of real estate within the bounds of the corporation.
Mr. Foster, politically, is a strong Republican, having cast his first
ballot for Gen. Grant for president, and his latest one for McKinley.
He has not aspired to political honors for himself, and has never held
an office of profit. He holds, however, the honorary position of
chairman of the Republican county committee, is a member of the board
of aldermen of the city and director of the town fire insurance
company. He was also president of the Waukesha County Agricultural
society in 1896, was
[image: EDWARD FOSTER.]
its treasurer for five years and has taken an active interest in all of
its proceedings.
Mr. Foster was married January 14th, 1878, to Mary E. Porter, daughter
of the late Edward Porter, an old and respected citizen of Waukesha.
They have had two children born to them--a son and a daughter--E.
Porter Foster, deceased, and Bessie M., born June 13th, 1890, is still
the light of their home.
SMITH, Henry Daniel, president of the First National bank of Appleton,
and one of Appleton's most enterprising and sagacious business men, was
born in Johnstown, Ohio, June 23rd, 1841. His father, Jonathan Smith,
was by occupation a stock-raiser, and his grandfather, Henry Smith, was
one of the first judges of the court of common pleas of that state,
having been elected in 1899. His mother, whose maiden name was Prudence
Gardner, was connected with the Whipples of Connecticut.
Henry D. Smith attended the local schools of his native town, was
prepared for college, and, in the fall of 1859, entered the State
Page 124
[image: HENRY DANIEL SMITH.]
University of Michigan, where he pursued the regular course of study
for three years and then entered the law department of the university.
From college he went to Marquette, Mich., where he began the practice
of his profession in partnership with J. M. Wilkinson. He remained
there until 1873, meeting with a fair measure of success in his
profession. In the fall of 1864 he was elected prosecuting attorney on
the Democratic ticket, and also county treasurer; and, later, president
of the village of Marquette. In 1873, Mr. Smith, owing to the feeble
health of his wife, removed to Appleton, Wis., where be purchased an
interest in the Appleton Iron company, of which he became secretary and
treasure. Mr. Smith brought the property of the National Furnace
company, at De Pere, reorganized it, and has since been its president
and the active manager of its affairs. To his judgment and enterprise
is due the success which has attended the business of the corporation.
For some ten years Mr. Smith was vice president of the First National
bank of Appleton, and in 1891 he was elected its president, and that
position he still holds. The institution has an excellent standing in
financial and business circles, having a capital stock of $300,000, a
surplus of $50,000 and an annual average of deposits to the amount of
$800,000, and the success of the bank is credited largely to the sound
business methods of its president. Mr. Smith is also interested in a
number of Appleton's leading manufacturing enterprises, and, as he keeps
thoroughly informed regarding the affairs of all these institutions, he
is a very busy man. Nevertheless, he finds time for travel, and keeps
thoroughly informed regarding public affairs.
Mr. Smith was formerly a Democrat in politics, but some twelve years
ago changed his views on some public questions, so that the Republican
party more nearly presents his principles; and since that time he has
acted with it, and been of service in its campaigns, though not a
politician. He was an alternate delegate-at-large to the Republican
national convention in 1892 and 1896.
He is a member of the Masonic order, but, owing to the many calls upon
his time, he has not been very active in the society's affairs.
In 1869 Mr. Smith was married to Miss Elizabeth Deeker of Paterson, N.
J., and they have on child, a daughter.
Patient, persevering, with a capacity for the details of business,
untiring in effort and undaunted by obstacles, his career illustrates
the truth that all things come to him who knows how "to labor and to
wait."
MYERS, Jacob Oliver, or as usually signed, J. O. Myers, is a resident
of Wauwatosa, Milwaukee county, and is the son of Daniel P. and Maria
Weiss Myers, whose ancestors were of the Moravian and Quaker stock that
has left character and stability to the population of large portions of
Pennsylvania, of which the parents of M. Myers were natives, and where
they lived until they came to Milwaukee on the 20th of October, 1848.
J. O. Myers was born in Lehigh county, Pennsylvania, and came to
Milwaukee with
Page 125
his parents in boyhood. He received his education in the public
schools, principally in that of the old Fourth ward. Like many another
boy who has made a creditable record in the business world, he did not
have the advantages of a liberal course of study, but left school early
to earn his own living and make his way in the world of business. He
began as general utility boy in S. B. Ellthorp's hat store, which was
on East Water street, opposite the present location of Drake's drug
store. He learned the trade of shoemaking when a boy, but never
followed it after his sixteenth year. His next continuous employment
was as clerk in the post-office, which he entered October 6th, 1856,
and where he remained for ten years, gaining a reputation for industry,
accuracy and general efficiency which has been more than maintained in
his subsequent business career. After leaving the post-office, he
engaged in the insurance business, in which he has continued since,
formerly in partnership with his brother and the late S. C. West, and
latterly alone. His business steadily increased, and he has an
established standing in insurance circles second to none in the
business. An evidence of this is found in the fact that he is secretary
of the Milwaukee Board of Fire Underwriters, an important and
responsible position. He is local agent of the Aetna, North British,
Phoenix, Queen and Westchester Insurance companies.
In all his business and social relations Mr. Myers has maintained a
character for ability, integrity, liberality and a wise discrimination
in all matters upon which he is called to act that has given him a
prestige in the world of affairs which not many succeed in gaining, and
which stamp him as a truly "progressive man."
He is a Republican from conviction, and has steadily supported the
principles, policy and candidates of the party, but has never sought
office or exhibited any ambition in that direction. He is not a member
for any club, but was long actively connected with the Grand Avenue
Congregational church, and for
[image: JACOB OLIVER MYERS.]
nine years past with the Wauwatosa Congregational church, taking part
in its charitable and educational work as well as in its efforts for
the spread of Christianity. He is vice-president of the Wisconsin Home
Missionary society, trustee of the Rochester academy and director of
the Children's Home society.
He was married, in 1867, to Adelaide L. Bigelow, who did in 1878,
leaving two children, Mary L. and Oliver B. Myers, Mr. Myers, in 1881,
married Miss Laura A. Chapman, and they have one child, Helen Louise
Myers.
KURTZ, Edward, for many years clerk of the federal courts in Milwaukee,
is the son of John N. Kurtz, who, late in life, was in the book and
stationery business at Springfield, Ohio. Edward Kurtz' grandfather was
Benjamin Kurtz of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and his great-grandfather
was Rev. John N. Kurtz, who came to this country, from Germany, in the
year 1745, as a missionary, and settled in Montgomery county,
Pennsylvania. Mr. Kurtz' mother's maiden name was Ann Murphy, and her
mother's maiden name was Livingston
Page 126
[image: EDWARD KURTZ.]
of the now historic town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. She was of Scotch
Covenanter descent.
Edward Kurtz was born in Quincy, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, August
21st, 1838, and moved with his parents to Springfield, Ohio, in 1844.
He was fitted for a liberal course of study in the preparatory
department of Wittenberg College, Springfield, and entered the freshman
class in that institution in 1853, but left it at the end of that
collegiate year, and went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he accepted a
position in the book store of T. Newton Kurtz. This position he held
for three years. In the spring of 1858, he came to Milwaukee, and took
a position in the clerk's office of the United States district court,
and retained the same until 1862. The following four years he kept
books for J. B. Martin, banker, and John Nazro, wholesale dealer in
hardware. April roth, 1867, he was appointed, by Judge A. G. Miller,
clerk of the United States circuit court, and on May 1st, 1875, he was
appointed clerk of the United States district court by Judge Dyer. Both
these positions Mr. Kurtz has held to the present time, and their
responsible duties he has discharged with an ability and fidelity that
has never been questioned, and has received the commendation of those
who have been most familiar with the proceedings of these courts.
Mr. Kurtz has never taken any part in politics or held any political
office. He is a member of Immanual Presbyterian church, and was clerk
and treasurer of the board of trustees from the organization of the
church up to January 1st, 1897, making twenty-seven years of continuous
service in those offices. He is still clerk of the board.
Mr. Kurtz was married December 15th, 1863, to Alice Louise Abrams,
niece and adopted daughter of the late Peter and Mary A. Martineau, and
they have had eight children, six of whom are still living. Edward M.
and Charles M. are graduates of the University of Wisconsin in the
mechanical and the civil engineering courses, respectively.
Mr. Kurtz is a quiet, modest citizen, but one who has performed well
every duty that has fallen to him. He was among the first members of
the Young Men's Christian association, and has always been interested
in its work.
SARLES, Wilbur Thompson, M.D., mayor of Sparta, Wisconsin, is the son
of Rev. Jesse D. Sarles, a member of the West Wisconsin conference of
the Methodist Episcopal church. He held appointments in the leading
charges of the conference, and was presiding elder about twenty years.
He had charge of the Black Hills mission as its second appointee, the
first having been killed by the Indians. He also established the Black
Hills College at Hot Springs, South Dakota, under control of the
Methodist church. Dr. Sarles' mother's maiden name was Margaret
Thompson, a daughter of Joseph Thompson of Union Grove, Racine county,
Wisconsin, formerly of Cayuga county, New York, and grandson of Joseph
Thompson, who was a soldier in Captain Hugh McClellan's company of
Massachusetts
Page 127
militia. The company was present at the surrender of Burgoyne in 1777,
and was discharged at Saratoga a short time thereafter. He married
Janet McClellan, Captain Hugh's sister, in 1749, and died in 1803. The
family was of Scotch-Irish origin. Dr. Sarles' grandfather, Jesse D.
Sarles, was born in Dutchess county, New York, of English parentage
settled in Racine county in the early forties, and kept a noted hotel
between Racine and Burlington. He subsequently sold this with his farm
of one thousand acres, and kept another hotel equally noted in early
days. He left a family of twelve children. Dr. Sarles' grandmother's
maiden name was Phoebe Halleck, daughter of Elijah Halleck, a direct
descendant of Peter Halleck, who was one of the thirteen "Pilgrim
Fathers" who came from England in 1640, landed at New Haven, and,
later, moved to the eastern part of Long Island. The landing at
Southold took the name of Halleck's Neek, which it still retains. Among
the noted members of this family was the poet. Fitz Green Halleck, and
Henry Wager Halleck, who was general-in-chief, of the United States
army in 1863.
Dr. Sarles was born in Necedah, Juneau county, Wisconsin, November
14th, 1856. He was educated in the common schools, the Prescott high
school, the River Falls Institute, and to the end of the junior year in
Galesville University. Leaving school, he entered the office of Drs.
Gage & Beebe in Sparta, in 1878; and after four years of study,
including the full course in Rush Medical College, from which he
graduated in February, 1882, he began the practice of his profession as
the junior member of the firm of Gage, Beebe & Sarles, which, after ten
years, became Drs. Beebe & Sarles, Dr. Gage retiring on account of ill-
health. At present the firm is Drs. Beebe, Sarles & Beebe, which has
the leading medical and surgical practice in that region.
Dr. Sarles is a member of the American Medical association, of the
Wisconsin State Medical society--of which he is one of the board of
censors, of the Central Wisconsin
[image: WILBUR THOMPSON SARLES.]
Medical society--of which he is president. He is the local surgeon of
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and Chicago & Northwestern Railway
companies. He is secretary of the United States pension examining board
at Sparta, which office he has held continuously for ten years. He is
also examiner for some half a dozen life insurance companies, among
which are the Equitable and Mutual of New York, and the Northwestern of
Milwaukee. He is physician and surgeon in charge of the state public
school in Sparta, and has been for ten years health officer of that
city. He is serving his third consecutive term as mayor of Sparta, and
during his incumbency of this office he has secured for the city a
system of waterworks and electric street lighting and street paving.
He is an active Republican, and as such was elected mayor. He was
brought up in the Methodist church, and is at preset a member of the
board of trustees of the First M. E. church of the city.
Dr. Sarles was married March 23rd, 1882, to Miss Nina Schaller of
Sparta, and they have one daughter.
Page 128
[image: CHARLES BEST.]
BEST, Charles, residing at 3015 Grand avenue, Milwaukee, is the son of
Frederick Charles Best, one of the founders of Best's (now Pabst)
brewery. He was a wine grower in Germany, at Mettenheim on the Rhine,
but came to Milwaukee in 1842, and was so favorably impressed with the
then little city that he returned to his native land in 1844, and
persuaded his aged father and three brothers to emigrate with him to
the new land of promise. They all arrived in Milwaukee in the latter
part of the same year, and all united in founding the brewery already
named. Some years afterward Fred. Chas. Best withdrew from the firm and
founded the Plank Road brewery, now Miller's brewery, but in the panic
of 1857 he lost his entire property, and removed to Illinois. Returning
to Milwaukee some years thereafter he served three terms as register of
deeds of Milwaukee county, and died in 1876. Charles Best's mother,
whose maiden name was Margaret Kleinschrodt, survived her husband
thirteen years, dying in 1889.
Charles Best was born in Milwaukee January 3rd, 1849. He attended the
common schools in Milwaukee and in Chicago and Peru, Illinois, where his
parents resided from 1857 to 1863. While in Peru, he had for instructor
a German-American scholar who created in the boy a liking for books,
which he has ever since retained. At the age of fourteen, on account of
his father's business reverses, he left school, and did not have another
opportunity for schooling, except that while a clerk in Chicago he
attended the Illinois Trade School in the evenings of one winter. But in
the taste which he had acquired for books he had the germs of a liberal
education which he has steadily developed all through his life. He began
while yet a boy to purchase books of instruction, which he read and
studied as opportunity offered, thus supplementing, in a very effective
way, his limited school privileges. Through his love for books he is
probably really better educated than many who have had a much longer
course in school.
He earned his first money as a clerk and delivery boy in a retail
grocery store, where his wages were five dollars per month. His next
step in the business world was as general utility boy, shipping and
assistant entry clerk in an importing house in Chicago, for which he
received three dollars per week. Gradually be rose to the position of
stock clerk and assistant book-keeper, and at the age of twenty-two he
had become head book-keeper.
At the request of his father, he returned to Milwaukee in 1871, and
became book-keeper for the lumber firm of T. H. Judd &Co. A year after
he was engaged as general book-keeper by Captain Pabst, then of the
firm of Philip Best & Co., and when, a year later, the firm organized
as the Philip Best Brewing company, he became its secretary, which
position he held for eighteen years, severing his connection with the
company in 1890, on account of impaired health. Taking his family, he
went abroad and, after an absence of many months, returned, in 1892,
with health fully restored. He then became one of the incorporators of
the Wisconsin National bank, was chosen one of its directors, and a
member of
Page 129
its finance committee. During the panic of 1893, he was called into the
bank as executive officer, was elected vice-president, and has been in
charge of that institution, which is today the second largest bank in
the state of Wisconsin, in that capacity ever since.
In politics Mr. Best has been a staunch Republican in national
politics, but non-partisan in all local elections.
He is a member of the Milwaukee, Deutscher, Country and Bankers' clubs,
the Musical society and the Arion Musical club. He is a Protestant, but
not a member of any church. He has served as a director of the Chamber
of Commerce and is one of the commissioners of public debt of the city
of Milwaukee.
He was married in 1871 to Miss Helene Taddiken of Yever, Germany. They
have three children--Frederick Charles, Martha and Anna. The former is
in the employ of the Wisconsin National bank. The obvious lesson of Mr.
Best's career is that lack of privilege is by no means a bar to success
or position if one only has the will to succeed.
BEUTLER, William Frederick, M. D., superintendent of the Milwaukee
County Asylum for the Chronic Insane, is of German descent, and is the
son of John and Margaret Zeller Beutler, and was born in Buffalo, New
York, on the 24th of December, 1865. His education was obtained at the
public schools of Buffalo, and also at the German Lutheran parochial
schools. He entered the medical department of Niagara University in
1887, and while a student in the medical college he served one year and
a half as intern in the Erie county penitentiary, Buffalo, and later as
clinical assistant in the United States marine service. He was
graduated from the medical college on the 14th of April, 1891, and came
to Milwaukee on the 5th of May following to accept the position of
second assistant physician in the Milwaukee Hospital for the Insane. On
the 1st of October, 1893, he was promoted to the position of first
assistant in the hospital,
[image: WILLIAM FREDERICK BEUTLER.]
and held that position for three years. On the 15th of November last he
was again promoted, but this time it was to the position of
superintendent of the Asylum for the Chronic Insane of Milwaukee
county. He resigned the position of first assistant in the hospital and
took charge of the asylum on the 9th of December, 1896, and his
position he now holds. Dr. Beutler's promotion has not been rapid, but
it has been steady, which is probably a better evidence that it is
based upon merit, and upon real service faithfully rendered. The
position which he now holds is one of grave responsibility, and that he
should succeed in securing it over all competitors is another evidence
of merit, and of the confidence which is reposed in him.
Dr. Beutler is a member of the Erie County, N. Y., Medical society and
of the Wisconsin State Medical society. He has always been a
Republican, but is not a partisan or an "offensive" politician.
In religion he is a Lutheran.
He was married on the 31st of January, 1894 to Grace O'Connor of
Buffalo, and they have one son, named Floyd William.
Page 130
[image: ELLICOTT ROGER STILLMAN.]
STILLMAN, Ellicott Roger, one of Milwaukee's manufacturers, extensively
engaged in cooperage, is the son of Edwin Amos Stillman of English
ancestry, a prominent civil engineer of New York, who, at different
times had charge of the public works of that state. He was an
abolitionist in his early days, before the civil war, an ambitious
worker in the cause of temperance, and lectured quite extensively on
both those subjects. He was several times made the object of mob
violence while thus engaged, as were many others who were similarly
outspoken. He became a prominent Greenbacker in 1874, and was nominated
on that ticket for surveyor-general of New York state. His party,
however, was in the minority and he was defeated. E. R. Stillman's
mother, whose maiden name was Jane Cochrane, was of Scotch-Irish
descent. Her grandfather Craig was a land owner and member of the
British parliament. Her father was Presbyterian minister, and president
of Detroit College at the time of his death.
E. R. Stillman was born in Rochester, N. Y., March 6th, 1844, and
received a common school education. Soon after leaving his studies he
enlisted as a private, in August, 1861, in the Eighty-fifth New York
volunteer infantry, and participated in most of the battles of the
Peninsular campaign, under Gen. McClellan. He was afterwards transferred
to Gen. Butler's command in North Carolina, where he took part in the
battles of Kingston, White Hall, Goldsboro and Plymouth. At the place
last named his regiment and brigade were captured on the 20th of April,
1864, after three days of fighting; and the prisoners were sent to the
southern military prisons at Andersonville, Charleston and Florence,
where they remained until March, 1865. During his service he was
promoted to corporal, to sergeant and to sergeant-major, and was
recommended for appointment to West Point Military Academy by the
colonel commanding the regiment and the general commanding the brigade,
under the order of President Lincoln apportioning to the army the
cadetships to which the rebellious states were previously entitled.
Young Stillman took lessons of a private tutor to prepare himself for
entering the military academy; but his capture precluded the possibility
of his availing himself of the appointment. January 1st, 1865, he re-
enlisted for three years more; but the war coming to an end, he was
discharged with his regiment. June 7th, 1865, being at that time only
three month past his twenty-first birthday, a remarkable record for so
young a man.
In 1866 he engaged in the lumber business in Michigan, and
subsequently, in the cooperage business, which was transferred, in
1877, to Milwaukee, where it has grown into an extensive and valuable
establishment, employing seventy to one hundred men, and producing
daily 300 to 500 barrels.
Mr. Stillman has been an active Republican ever since he became a
voter, and has done much for the success of his party. He was a
delegate to two state conventions while a resident of Michigan. After
taking up his residence in Milwaukee, he was nominated for alderman in
a strongly Democratic ward, and
Page 131
was defeated. In 1894 he was elected member of the state assembly from
the Eighth district of Milwaukee county for the two years beginning
with 1895. In 1896 he was chosen one of the Republican presidential
electors and cast his vote for William McKinley for president; and in
the spring of that year he was strongly supported for the Republican
nomination for mayor.
He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the Masonic
fraternity.
Mr. Stillman was married, in 1868, to Mary J. Dickey of Quincy,
Michigan, who died in 1872, leaving one child, Minnie J. He was married
a second time, in 1874, to Lillian E. Stevens, his present wife, and
three children have been born to them, namely: Gertrude L., Clara L.
and E. B. Wolcott Stillman, an only son.
WITHEE, Levi, state senator from the Thirty-second district, and a
resident of La Crosse, is of Irish and English descent, and was born in
Norridgewock, Maine, on the 26th of October, 1834, the son of Zachariah
and Polly Longly Withee. The elder Withee was a farmer in a small way
in Maine, and very poor. Levi Withee attended the common school in his
native town only about two months in each year until he was fifteen
years old, and this was all the schooling he had. He worked at farming
after leaving school for four years, when he came to Wisconsin and
settled in La Crosse. He began at common work in the lumber camps in
winter, and in the summer was engaged in rafting logs to the mills and
lumber to the markets. By hard work, industry and economy, he gradually
accumulated capital enough to enable him to go into the lumber business
for himself, and, in partnership with his brother and other, he has
continued the business to the present time.
In 1866 he formed a partnership with H. A. Bright of Black River Falls,
for the purchase of pine lands and the cutting and marketing of the
timber therefrom, and this partnership continued until January, 1893.
In 1882, he,
[image: LEVI WITHEE.]
with others, organized the Island Mill Lumber company of La Crosse,
which is still in existence, although no longer manufacturing lumber.
He was also an organizer and president of the La Crosse Farming
company, which is doing a logging and farming business. He is
interested in the Batavian bank, one of the solid institutions of La
Crosse, the Edison Light company, the Brush Electric Light company, and
other business corporations of the city.
Politically he is a Republican, but was never active in politics and
never held an office until 1892, when he was elected state senator. He
was re-elected in 1896. A man of affairs, it follows that he is a
conservative and safe legislator.
He is a member of the Elks and of the La Crosse club, and a number of
other organizations. He is not a member of any religious denomination,
but usually attends the Universalist church.
On the 3rd of May, 1868, he was married to Lovisa Smith, and they have
one child, Abner G. Withee, who is now at school in Lawrenceville, New
Jersey.
Page 132
[image: EDWARD M'GLACHLIN.]
McGLACHLIN, Edward, for many years editor and publisher of The Stevens
Point Journal, was born in Watson, Lewis county, N. Y., December 19th,
1840. His father, Ephraim McGlachlin, was a native of Montgomery
county, N. Y.. His grandfather came from Scotland, took part in the
revolutionary war, was captured by the Indians, and, in their retreat
across the St. Lawrence river, was drowned. His mother, Eunice Fenton,
was a native of Lewis county, N. Y., her ancestors coming from
Massachusetts. She was a distant relative of Reuben Fenton, one of the
war governors of New York.
Edward McGlachlin attended the district school of his native town,
during winters, until he was sixteen years of age. He came to Wisconsin
in June, 1857, and went to work, by the month, on the farm of Hiram
Smith, in the town of Sheboygan Falls. He afterward worked for his
board, taking care of a span of horses and some cows, and walking two
and a half miles, morning and evening, to attend school. In the spring
of 1859 he entered the office of The Fond du Lac Commonwealth to learn
the printer's trade, and worked there until September, 1861, when he
enlisted in Company K, First Wisconsin infantry, and served therein up
to and including the battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20th, 1863. He
was with the regiment in all its campaigns in Tennessee, Kentucky and
northern Alabama, and was with the first troops to throw a shell across
the Tennessee river at Chattanooga. He participated in the battles of
Stone River. Hoover's Gap, Dug Gap and Chickamauga. Between sundown and
dark of the second day of the last named battle he was taken prisoner,
and was confined on Belle Isle and in Smith's building, Richmond, at
Danville, Va., at Andersonville, Ga., and at Charleston and Florence, S.
C., covering a period of nearly fifteen months, an experience which for
duration and hardships endured has had few, if any, parallels in the
history of modern warfare. During his service he held the non-
commissioned offices of corporal and sergeant. His exchange was effected
in January, 1865; when, his term having expired some months before, he
was mustered out of service. He has been quarter-master of the local
post of the Grand Army of the Republic for a number of years, and, in
1896-7, held the position of assistant quarter-master-general of the
state.
After the war he resumed the printing business, and, in 1868, was
associated with J. A. Watrous and T. B. Reid in the publication of The
Fond du Lac Commonwealth. Selling his interest in that paper, he was,
for a time, foreman of the Clinton, Iowa, Daily Herald, and,
subsequently, of The Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. In 1873 he bought The
Stevens Point Journal, and, two years there-after, sold a half interest
in it to T. J. Simons. This partnership was terminated in January,
1893, by the death of Mr. Simons, and since then Mr. McGlachlin has
conducted the paper alone.
The first political meeting Mr. McGlachlin ever attended was one in
support of Fremont for president; and the first ballot he cast and
every succeeding one has borne the name of
Page 133
the Republican nominees. He was elected to the legislature in 1888, as
a Republican, and served one term. In March, 1889, he was appointed
postmaster of Stevens Point, by President Harrison, and held the office
a little over four years. He has been a member of the board of
education of Stevens Point and its treasurer, and is a Knight of
Pythias.
Mr. McGlachlin was married at Fond du Lac, August 21st, 1867, to Mary
E. Lawrence, and three children have been born to them, namely: Edward
Fenton, Lucy K. and Thomas Lawrence. The first named graduated from the
United States Military Academy in 1889, and now holds the position of
quartermaster of the Fifth United States artillery, with the rank of
captain. The other children are still at home.
VAN BRUNT, Daniel C.--The subject of this sketch is one of the few
survivors of the body of men who earlier in the century applied their
inventive faculties and their energies in the line that resulted in
revolutionizing the labor of the western farmer. The number that follow
in their footsteps is many, but it is to be doubted if among them all
is one whose experience is greater, or whose successful work has made
his name better known among them who are reached by such inventions.
He was born in Otsego county, New York, February 18, 1818, his father,
William C. Van Brunt, coming to that place from New Jersey, where his
family had lived since its progenitor in this country came from Holland
as one of the pioneer settlers of Monmouth. William C. Van Brunt was
married in Otsego county, N. Y., to Miss Phoebe Hall, whose ancestors
were among the early English settlers of Connecticut. Daniel C. Van
Brunt spent his childhood on a farm, but early in his boyhood he began
work in a cotton factory. His inventive, or perhaps at that early age,
his inquiring disposition, led him to devote more attention to the
machines he worked on that to
[image: DANIEL C. VAN BRUNT.]
the work he did, and while the results may not have been equally
profitable to his employers, his experience there was an education that
was of very great value to him for years thereafter.
His early education was acquired at the district schools. He developed
a decided mechanical inclination while upon his father's farm, and from
duplicating the farm tools then in use he naturally stepped from the
farm to a wagon shop, and early in manhood opened a wagon and carriage
shop at Mannsville, New York, which he conducted for several years. He
married there September 8, 1845, Miss Mary Annette Fassett, who died in
Mayville, Wis., in 1852. By this marriage there survives one son, W. A.
Van Brunt, formerly a manufacturer at Horicon, Wis., now retired.
In 1846, Mr. Van Brunt disposed of his business in New York and entered
160 acres of land in Dodge county, Wisconsin, near Mayville, in which
place he soon opened a wagon shop, making, it is supposed, the first
wagon ever built in Dodge county. In those days a wagon-maker built his
wagons "from
Page 134
the ground up," and the work required a skill at several trades, in all
of which Mr. Van Brunt became proficient. He soon turned his attention
to the needs of the farmer in another line, and for some years he and
his brother, George Van Brunt, applied themselves to the construction
of a machine which they completed in 1866, the first successful
broadcast seeder and cultivator combined that come into general use. A
patent was granted them on this machine and six of them were built the
first year in the Mayville wagon shop. The next year the brothers moved
to Horicon and began the manufacture of their machines on a large
scale, founding a business that rapidly increased and became as it is
today the mainstay of Horicon's business interests, employing hundreds
of men, the products of those labor are distributed annually over the
entire western farming country.
Geo. W. Van Brunt retired from business in 1870. D. C. Van Brunt has
had at times different partners, but has always remained in active
personal charge of the construction of his machines. He is now
president, treasurer and principal stockholder of the Van Brunt &
Wilkins Mfg. Co., the corporation which succeeded his individual
ownership of the business in 1882. Mr. Van Brunt possesses in addition
to mechanical and inventive genius, a remarkable degree of executive
ability, which has enabled him not only to control the policy of his
large business, but to assume the immediate personal management of his
factory, with the detail work in every department of which he is
perfectly familiar, at the age of seventy-nine years.
He is the possessor of perfect health, and an indomitable energy. His
determination has always been that his name placed on his machines as a
trade mark should represent the standard of value in that line, and in
this, as in the financial returns from his business, he has been
eminently successful.
Mr. Van Brunt was married a second time in 1853, to Mrs. Mary Sherman,
who died in 1881, having borne him three children-- Elliott, who was
engaged in business with his father, and is now dead; Ida, wife of S. N.
Campbell, and Hattie, wife of A. W. Wilcox, both of his sons-in-law
being active in Mr. Van Brunt's business.
In 1883 Mr. Van Brunt was married to Miss Martha L. Moore of New York,
with whom he is spending the evening of a busy and useful life in their
pleasant residence in Horicon.
In politics he has always been a staunch and active Republican. His
inclination and his large business interests have kept him from
accepting political preferment when it has not been forced upon him,
but he has filled local offices often to the benefit of his city. He
has taken a particular pride in the schools of Horicon, of which he has
for many years been the treasurer and leading director. He was
presidential elector in 1884, and in 1890 was the Republican candidate
for congress in the Second district, but there was then an overwhelming
Democratic majority in that district, and he was defeated.
MARTINEAU, Pierre, a prominent and accomplished lawyer of Marinette, is
the son of Anthony Martineau, who settled in Green Bay in 1845, and
married Leonore Marie Bourgoin of that city in 1854. Five children were
born of this marriage, Pierre, the subject of this sketch, being the
fourth. In 1859 the family moved to Oconto, Wis., where Anthony
Martineau was a prosperous merchant at the time of his death in 1872.
He belonged to the old French family of Martineaus of the Place de St.
Hiliare, France. His father immigrated to Canada, and later the son
came on to Green Bay, as already stated. The grandfather of Pierre
Martineau's mother, Leonore Marie Bourgoin, was Gen. Shevrier of
Napoleon's army. Gen. Shevrier was through all the campaigns of that
great commander from Egypt to Waterloo. Her father, Pierre Shevrier,
the son of the general, was in the campaign in Russia, and, at the age
of twenty,
Page 135
took part in the battle of Waterloo as a captain in Napoleon's army.
The old general was very wealthy, and, after the close of the
Napoleonic wars, father and son lived together in Paris, but a quarrel
arose between them over an attempt of the old general to force his son
to marry a girl that he dislike. As a result of this quarrel, the
general disinherited his son Pierre.
Pierre resented this by renouncing the name Shevrier, and assuming that
of his mother's family, Bourgoin, and at once taking ship for San
Domingo, to live with a maternal uncle there. He was shipwrecked on the
voyage, off the coast of Brazil, cast ashore in an uninhabited portion
of that country, and, after many hardships was taken to Cuba. There he
learned from Charles Girard, a refugee from San Domingo, and a friend
of his uncle, of the general slave uprising in San Domingo and the
massacre of his uncle, and how the few spared ones had sought in Cuba
and New Orleans. Pierre remained in Cuba, for some time, where he
married Angeline Girard, a daughter of Charles Girard. Pierre
Martineau's mother was born in Cuba, and when a year old was taken by
her parents to France, her father being called to France by the old
general to endeavor to effect a reconciliation between father and son.
Instead of reconciliation being affected, however, the quarrel became
more bitter, and the son, under the name of Pierre Bourgoin, left
France forever, and came to Green Bay with his family, that city then
being considered a French settlement. A short time after that the old
general died, and his large estates went to other members of the
family, because of the son's refusal to comply with the terms imposed
by the old general's will, as conditions by which the son could inherit
the estate.
Pierre Martineau was born in Oconto, Wisconsin, June 6th, 1865. He
attended the Oconto public schools and the Oconto high school until he
reached the age of fifteen years. His grandmother, the wife of Pierre
Shevrier, being then a member of his family, constantly
[PIERRE MARTINEAU.]
recounted to the boy Pierre the stories of Napoleon's campaigns, as
told to her by her husband, which filled him with such military ardor,
that at the age of sixteen, he, without leave, left the paternal roof
and went to Fort Lincoln, Dakota, and Fort Assiniboine, Montana, for
the purpose of enlisting in the United States army, and, if possible,
becoming a military hero; but there, some officer, taking pity on him,
showed him the life of a soldier in the far west as it really was, and
he did not enlist. Returning home, with all his dreams of military
glory dispelled, he resumed his studies. He attended the University at
Notre Dame, Indiana, during the scholastic years of 1886 and 1887. In
1888 he continued his studies in Latin and French literature, under
Pere Valliant, an eminent French scholar in Oconto, Wisconsin. In 1889
he attended the Wisconsin university, and in 1890 was admitted to the
bar upon an examination by the state board of examiners, but continued
his studies, and in 1891 was graduated from the Wisconsin university
law school. In the spring of 1891 he formed a partnership for the
practice of law, with W. H. Webster of
Page 136
Oconto, and was elected district attorney of Oconto county in 1892, on
the Republican ticket, notwithstanding the fact that the county went
Democratic by over four hundred majority. He was re-elected in 1894,
running four hundred ahead of his ticket. In the spring of 1895, he
resigned the office to go to St. Louis to practice law. He formed a
partnership there with Eugene McQuillin, a lawyer who had won
considerable distinction as the author of McQuillin's "Pleadings and
Practice," and other legal publications. He practiced law in St. Louis
a year and a half, and during that time was engaged in the defense of
the Creese counterfeiters, who were implicated with the Broderick gang,
the Poole murder case, and became associated with Mr. McQuillin in
several civil cases of importance. The heat during the summer season in
St. Louis made life unendurable to himself and family; his health began
to fail, and, unable to shake off the longing to return to Wisconsin,
he turned his face again to the Badger state, locating in Marinette in
the fall of 1896.
Immediately after his return, he was engaged by Oconto county to
prosecute the Swanson murder case. That case was very peculiar because
Swanson, the defendant, had, after killing his victim, Jacob Leshak,
burned the body. All that the state had, on which to secure a
conviction, was a human tooth and a few splinters of bones, one of the
pieces of bone being recognized by the doctors as the head of the
radius, and a shirt button found in the ashes with these bones, which
was identified as a button upon the clothes of Leshak when last seen.
The circumstantial evidence in the case, however, was strong, and the
jury was forced to the conclusion that the defendant was guilty of
murder in the first degree, and such was their verdict. Immediately
after that, he was retained as leading counsel in the celebrated
McDougal murder case in Marinette county. Kate McDougal, the defendant
in the case, a young girl of twenty years, was tried for the murder of
her husband. The case was vigorously prosecuted by the E. C. Eastman,
the district attorney for Marinette county. Public sentiment ran high
against the defendant, because of the reputation that she bore, but the
defense succeeded in convincing the jury that she should only be
considered as one of the victims in a terrible tragedy. Some of the most
dramatic scenes ever witnessed in a court room took place at this trial.
The jury and audience were alike affected, and the climax in the case
was reached when Kate McDougal fainted and was carried out of the court
room unconscious, from the terrible picture painted by her counsel,
Pierre Martineau, who closed the case for the defense, of what her life
would be in the penitentiary under a sentence for murder in the first
degree. The jury brought in a verdict for manslaughter in the fourth
degree, which was accidental killing. Public indignation over the
verdict was freely and forcibly expressed, because everybody believed
she was guilty of deliberate murder; but the people have since become
reconciled to giving her the benefit of the doubt. Immediately after
this trial, a partnership was formed between E. C. Eastman of Marinette
and Mr. Martineau, under the name of Eastman & Martineau, for the
practice of law in Marinette. Mr. Eastman had already established a
large and lucrative practice in northern Wisconsin and Michigan, and had
been long recognized as one of the leading lawyers in the state. The
firm of Eastman & Martineau has one of the largest law libraries in
northern Wisconsin, and is recognized as one of the leading law firms in
the state.
Mr. Martineau has always been a Republican, was elected district
attorney as a Republican, and in every campaign has spoken with vigor
and effect for the success of the party.
He is at present a member of the Marquette club, the Officemen's club,
and the Legion of Honor of the city of St. Louis, all being social
clubs.
In 1890, Mr. Martineau was married to Ella Bird, a daughter of James
Duane Bird, whose
Page 137
father was one of the first settlers in Dane county, and a direct
descendant of the English Major Burgoyne of revolutionary fame. James
Duane Bird was the first white child born in Dane county. Miss Bird had
spent most of her time in Florida with her mother, since 1876, when her
father died. Mr. Martineau has three children, Eugene Bird Martineau,
Paul Martineau and Marie Lenore Martineau.
Mr. Martineau has succeeded in winning a reputation as a "verdict
getter" before juries. He makes no effort at flowery oratory, but
endeavors, as much as possible, to have the jury forget him, and think
only of the facts that are to be considered by them. By this, method he
has won nearly every jury case that he has tried. He is an extensive
reader of miscellaneous literature, and has a large private library.
Many of his book are rare French works published in the eighteenth
century.
GIFFIN, Nathan Clark, one of the foremost citizens of Fond du Lac, is
the son of Nathan Ford Giffin, a merchant for over fifty years in the
village of Heuvelton, St. Lawrence county, New York. In addition to
general merchandising, he had a tannery, saw, shingle and flouring
mills, shoe and harness shops, and a factory for pot and pearl ash. N.
C. Giffin's mother was Mary, nee Galloway, a native of Canada, where
she was born June 13th, 1813. She died January 16th, 1863. Simon
Giffin, the ancestor of the family in this country, came over from
either Scotland or the north of Ireland prior to 1761, and settled in
Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is reputed to have been a man of wealth and
culture, and one of the public parks of Halifax is named in his honor.
His son, Simon, Jr., moved into Connecticut, and served as sergeant in
the revolutionary army. He left four children, of whom the youngest
son, David Giffin, was born in Bennington, Vermont, in 1766, and in
1800 moved to Oswegatchie, St. Lawrence county, New York, where her
purchased
[image: NATHAN CLARK GIFFIN.]
a farm on the St. Lawrence river, and brought up a large family. He was
a captain of the militia during the war of 1812-14, and rendered
valuable service on the Canadian frontier. He died in 1840, leaving a
family of eight children, of whom Nathan Ford Giffin was the father of
N. C. Giffin, the subject of this sketch. He was born in 1805 and died
in 1891, leaving six children. Four brothers of this family survive--
all of whom are professional men--Dan S., a lawyer of prominence, who
occupies the old homestead in Heuvelton; David G., engineer, residing
in Neenah; Wis.; William M., deputy principal of the noted Cook count
normal school, and Leverett W., a prominent physician in Neenah,
Wisconsin, and the discover and manufacturer of the "Muco Solvent," a
diptheria cure. The oldest child, Mrs. Elizabeth M. Thurston, resides
in Fremont, Nebraska.
N. C. Giffin was born in Heuvelton, St. Lawrence county, New York,
October 10th, 1833, and at the age of fifteen years entered the
Wesleyan Seminary at Gouverneur, New York, where he prepared for
college, spending a portion of his time winters teaching school.
Page 138
He entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, in 1855, and graduated
in 1859. He was valedictorian of the Theological society of that
institution, which was organized for the purpose of discussing
theological questions and maintaining a theological library. Soon after
graduating he entered the office of Isaiah T. Williams, a prominent
lawyer of New York City, from which office he was admitted to the bar
in 1860. He at once began the practice of his profession in that city,
which was his home for four years. He served as clerk of the committee
on revolutionary claims in the United States senate during the Thirty-
seventh congress, and at the same time was private secretary of Senator
Preston King of New York.
In 1863 he came to Fond du Lac, where he has ever since resided. In
1865 he was elected city attorney, re-elected the two following years,
and again elected in 1869 and re-elected in 1870. He has been alderman
and chairman of his ward, and was for some months president of the city
council. He was a member of the city school board for several years,
and in 1873 was elected county judge of Fond du Lac county for a term
of four years. During fifteen years he was one of the directors of the
free library of Fond du Lac, and for three years was president of the
board; was nine years trustee of the Rienzi cemetery, and for the past
sixteen years has been trustee of Lawrence University at Appleton,
Wisconsin.
Mr. Giffin has been a member of the Methodist church for more than
fifty years, steward of the church in Fond du Lac for thirty-three
years, member of its board of trustees for twenty-five years, and for
the last eight years trustee of the Wisconsin conference, and at
present president of that board. While in college he was a member of
the Theta Chi chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, one of the
largest Greek letter societies in the United States. He became a master
Mason in 1864, Royal Arch Mason in 1869, Knight Templar in 1870, and
was two years master of the lodge. He was twice
elected deputy grand master and once grand lecturer of the state. He
was eminent commander of the Fond du Lac Commandery Knights Templar for
three years, and for two years grand generalissimo of the grand
commandery of Wisconsin. He has been trustee of the Grand Lodge of
Masons since 1887, and in June, 1897, was elected grand master. In
politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Giffin was married, in the town of Philadelphia New York, August
27th, 1862, to Miss Jane C. Eddy, and they have four children living--
three daughters and a son. The eldest daughter married Waldo Sweet and
resides in Fond du Lac; the second married Dr. F. T. Stevens, assistant
superintendent of the Iowa Hospital for the Insane, at Mount Pleasant,
and the third married Rev. R. O. Irish, a missionary to China. She has
attracted wide attention by a series of letters written from the
"flowery kingdom." The son, Don Eddy Giffin, is still a student, with a
promising future. Mr. Giffin is at present senior member of the law
firm of Giffin & Sutherland.
NORDBERG, Bruno V., a resident of Milwaukee, and a mechanical engineer
of prominence, is the son of Carl Victor Nordberg, a noted ship-builder
of Finland, although he learned the business in the United States. He
died in 1880. Mr. Nordberg's mother's maiden name was Dores Hinze, who
was born in this country of German parents. Bruno Nordberg was born in
Helsingfors, Finland, April 14th, 1857. His ancestors on the paternal
side were Swedish and Finnish. He attended the elementary schools and
gymnasium, or school preparatory to the university, in his native town,
and thereafter studied at the Polytechnic School of Finland, a
Helsingfors, mathematics, physics, chemistry and the course in
mechanical engineering and graduated in 1878. Soon after graduation he
left his native land and came to this country, arriving in Milwaukee in
1880. Having always had a great liking for engineering, he
Page 139
began working, during his school vacations, in machine shops at the
early age of fourteen years, and finally went through a regular
apprenticeship at the business, extending with interruptions, through
five years. Steam, and particularly marine engineering, was the branch
of the business in which he sought to perfect himself. It was for this
purpose that he came to this country. Upon reaching Milwaukee, he
succeeded in getting a position as draughtsman at the works of E. P.
Allis & Co. This position was a subordinate one, but the great problems
he there came in contact with gave his work special interest for him.
Mr. Edwin Reynolds had begun to build his Corliss engines, and
introduced many devices and methods which opened a new era in steam
engineering. It was Mr. Nordberg's fortune to get work under his
supervision. His great liking for steam engineering, and a natural
ability in that direction, enabled him to advance rapidly; and, after a
few years he became Mr. Reynolds' chief assistant in executing his
ideas and in designing engines of various types. This position he held
until 1890. At that time Mr. Nordbeerg, Mr. A. W. Straw and Mr. F. A.
Wilde organized the Nordberg Manufacturing company, which set out to
build a new type of steam engine, governor and other devices patented
by Mr. Nordberg. He had invented and patented a new type of Corliss
engine which the Wilkin Manufacturing company started to build. He left
the Allis company and served as consulting engineer for the Wilkin
company one year. In 1892 he entered into the service of the Nordberg
Manufacturing company as chief engineer, the company having commenced
the construction of his engines. This position and that of vice-
president he still holds.
His efforts are principally directed to producing highly economical
steam engines for all purposes--for mills, factories, pumping,
hoisting, electric dynamos, etc. With some of these engines results
have been obtained that are fully equal to any on record: as, for
instance, a triple expansion pumping engine,
[image: BRUNO V. NORDBERG.]
built by the Nordberg company for the city of Washington, ran for ten
days continually on about one and a half pounds of coal per horse-
power. Mr. Nordberg holds some twenty-four patents on steam engines,
most of which are in practical use.
He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Politically he inclines to the Republican, but pays little attention to
merely political matters.
He was maried in 1882 to Miss Helena Hinze of Milwaukee, and they have
two children--Bruno and Herbert Nordberg.
JONES, D. Lloyd, recently a prominent lawyer of Stevens Point, but now
of Milwaukee, like many another worthy citizen of Wisconsin, is a
native of Wales, the son of Edward Jones, a land surveyor and farmer.
His mother's name was Anna Maria Lloyd, a daughter of David Lloyd. Both
father and mother, as their names indicate, were Welsh. D. Lloyd Jones
was born in Graig Cottage, parish of Llanfair, Denbighshire, North
Wales, October 9th, 1840. He was educated in
Page 140
[image: D. LLOYD JONES.]
British and Foreign School at Ruthin and at a grammar school in
Wrexham, North Wales. Mr. Jones came to Wisconsin in June, 1858, first
to Milwaukee, thence to Waukesha, thence, in July, to his uncle, George
Griffith, a farmer in the town of Eldorado, Found du Lac county, where
he remained for more than a year, engaged in work on the farm. Leaving
his uncle's employment he went to work on a farm near Fox Lake, Dodge
county. December 9th, 1861, he enlisted in the Union army, at Beaver
Dam. He was in the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Atlanta, Bentonville,
and numerous smaller engagements. July 21st, 1864, in the charge at
Bald Hill, before Atlanta, he received a sever wound in the neck, but
remained with his regiment until the close of the war. During his
service he rose from the position of private to that of first sergeant,
second lieutenant, first lieutenant and adjutant of the regiment. In
January, 1864, he re-enlisted with this regiment, and served with it
until it was mustered out of service, in July 1865. Since the war he
has been an active member of the Grand Army of the Republic, has been
commander of the Stevens Point post, judge advocate on the staff of
Department Commander Upham, member of the council of administration,
Department of Wisconsin, and department commander.
After the war Mr. Jones was appointed to a clerkship in the office of
the state treasurer, William E. Smith, and devoted all his spare time
to the study of law, attended lectures in the law department of the
University of Wisconsin, and was admitted to the bar in June, 1871.
Going to Stevens Point, he formed a law partnership with Hon. G. L.
Park, which continued until March, 1875, when Mr. Park was appointed
judge of the Seventh Judicial circuit. In 1876 Mr. Jones formed a
partnership with A. W. Sanborn, under the firm name of Jones & Sanborn;
and, in 1886, Hon. G. W. Cate came into the firm, his name heading it
thereafter. This firm continued for almost ten years, when it was
dissolved, and Mr. Jones's son, Chauncey Lloyd Jones, became his
partner, and continued so until the end of the year. Mr. Jones then
removed to Milwaukee and entered into partnership with W. C. Williams
and P. G. Lewis, the firm being Williams, Jones & Lewis. While in
Stevens Point Mr. Jones was engaged in nearly all the important
litigation in that part of the state. The principal criminal case which
he assisted in defending was that of H. and J. D. Curran.
Mr. Jones has always been a Republican, but has not held any office
except that of alderman of the First ward of Stevens Point. During his
occupancy of that position he was president of the council. He is a
Mason, has been master of Evergreen Lodge, No. 93; high priest of
Forest Chapter, No. 34, R. A. M.; eminent commander of Crusade
Commandery, No. 14, K. T., all of Steven's Point. He was also elected,
in 1891, grand commander of K. T. for the state. In religion he is an
Episcopalian.
He was married at Madison, Wisconsin, to Addie E. Purple, and they have
a son, Chauncey Lloyd, and a daughter, Grace Purple.
Page 141
GREGORY, Charles Noble, an accomplished member of the Madison bar,
professor of law in the University of Wisconsin, an able writer on
legal and social subjects and an author of exceptional abilities in the
field of general literature, is the son of the late Hon. J. C. Gregory,
a prominent lawyer of Madison, Wisconsin, who was for twenty-one years
the head of the firm of Gregory & Pinney, of which Mr. Justice Pinney
of the Wisconsin supreme court was the other member. He was also major
of Madison one term, twelve years a regent of the University of
Wisconsin, twice the candidate of his party for congress and a delegate
to and vice-president of the national convention of the Democratic
party, held at Cincinnati which nominated General Hancock for the
presidency. J. C. Gregory was born at his grandfather's house at
Gregory Hill, Otsego county, N. Y. The family are descended from John
Gregory of Norwalk, Ct., who was the first of the name in that
community, and was for many years its representative in the general
court of the colony. They trace their descent for 600 years through the
Gregorys of Nottingham from the Gregorys of Highhurst, Lancashire,
England.
Charles Noble Gregory's mother was Charlotte Caroline Camp of Owego, N.
Y., whose recollections go back to the founders of the nation. Among
the ladies she knew in her youth were Mrs. James Madison and Mrs.
Alexander Hamilton; and she remembers being brought into her mother's
drawing-room, at the age of five years, to be presented to Gov. DeWit
Clinton. Mrs. Gregory's grandfather, Capt. Asaph Whittlesey, was killed
at the head of his company, at the massacre of Wyoming, in the
revolutionary war; and Mrs. Gregory is descended from Hon. Thos. Wells,
fourth colonial governor of Connecticut and Hon. Richard Treat, one of
those to whom the famous charter of Connecticut was granted by the
king, and a brother of Gov. Robt. Treat, and from many other colonial
worthies.
Charles Noble Gregory was born at Unadilla,
[image: CHARLES NOBLE GREGORY.]
Otsego county, N. Y., August 27th, 1851, and his education began at the
Unadilla Academy when four years old. After coming to Madison he
studied in the public and private schools, and entered the preparatory
class of the University of Wisconsin, and later the university, and
completed the ancient classical course, graduating in 1871, taking the
honor of the Latin salutatory and the degree A. B. He was a member of
the Athenean Debating society and of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. Since
graduating he has been orator, secretary and treasurer and president of
the Alumni association of the university.
He studied law in the office of Gregory & Pinney, and in the College of
Law, University of Wisconsin, graduating from the latter with the
degree of LL. B. in 1872. He then became a member of the law firm of
Gregory & Pinney, and later of Gregory, Bird & Gregory and of Gregory &
Gregory. After his father's death in 1892 he practiced alone in Madison
for some time. He served as alderman of Madison for three years, 1881,
1882 and 1883, and was chairman of the water
Page 142
works committee when the water works were completed, and of the
committee in charge when the first scheme of public sewers was adopted.
He was a member of the board of education of Madison, 1883, has been
secretary of the Madison Civil Service Reform association for many
years, member of the general committee of the National Civil Service
Reform association, and is president of the Wisconsin Civil Service
Reform association. In 1894 he was elected by the regents of the
University of Wisconsin, professor of law and associate dean of the
College of Law, and has since given his entire time to the duties of
those offices.
Among the most interesting cases with which he was connected when in
the practice of his profession were the will case of Ford vs. Ford, in
which he represented Hamilton College, as well as in controversies over
the same will in courts of Michigan and Missouri, and the murder case
of French vs. the State, in which he procured a conviction and life
sentence to be set aside, on constitutional grounds.
Mr. Gregory's miscellaneous writings have appeared in The New York
Nation, the Independent, Little's Living Age, Overland Monthly, Outing,
Old Scribner's Magazine, Youth's Companion, Harper's Weekly, New York
Evening Post, Life, and many other publications; and his articles on
legal topics in The Harvard Law Review, The American Law Register and
Review, The American Law Review, The London Law Times and the
publications of the American Bar association. He edited the Tariff
Reform Advocate in 1888, and he has given many addresses and published
pamphlets especially on legal education and the corrupt use of money in
politics; and has, for some years, been identified with the attempt to
procure the passage of more stringent laws in Wisconsin on the later
subject. He heard the debates in the English house of commons on the
passage of the Sir Henry James act against corrupt politics, and has,
for years, advocated as strong a law for Wisconsin,
and procured bills therefor to be introduced into the legislature for
the past three sessions. He gave addresses, by invitation, before the
National Civil Service Reform association in New York, the World's
Auxiliary Congress on Government in Chicago, and in many other places
on that subject. His pamphlets on this topic have been considerable
called for throughout this country, in Europe and even Japan.
Mr. Gregory is a Democrat, and, since 1896, a gold Democrat.
He is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, curator of the
Wisconsin State Historical Society, one of the board of directors of
the Madison Free Library, and vestryman of Grace Episcopal church. His
college degrees are A. M. and LL. B. He is an Episcopalian, and is
unmarried.
BARDON, Thomas, a prominent and substantial business man of Ashland,
Wisconsin, is the son of Richard and Mary Roche Bardon, who came to
this country from Wexford, Ireland, in 1844. The family, for a short
time, resided in New York City, where the husband and father worked at
his trade of shoemaker, and then went on to Maysville, Mason county,
Kentucky, where Thomas, the second of seven children, was born October
22nd, 1848. In 1857 Richard Bardon moved with his family to Superior,
Wisconsin, where he subsequently became clerk of the circuit court of
Douglas county, which office he held for several years, and was county
judge at the time of his death in 1889. He was a man of strong
character, a temperance advocate, disliked everything mean and low, had
a fine literary taste, and possessed one of the finest private
libraries in Superior.
Thomas Bardon attended the common schools in Maysville and in Superior,
and graduated from the high school in the latter city in 1866. After
leaving school, he was, for a short time, connected with a local paper,
and, in 1867, went out as chainman in an
Page 143
engineering corps to make a preliminary survey for the Northern Pacific
railroad. This occupation he followed for four years, rising through
all the grades of the work and finally reaching the position of
division engineer. He has traveled on foot over the whole region from
Lake Superior to the Red and Missouri rivers, both ways, several times.
In 1871 he was tendered, but declined, an important position in the
land department of the Northern Pacific company. In 1871 he resigned
the position of division engineer of the railroad, and the next year
took up his residence in Ashland, where he taught school the following
winter. That he is a man of ability and character is shown by the fact
that he was chosen chairman of the town board before the city of
Ashland was incorporated, and was afterward president of the Chamber of
Commerce and the Ashland National bank. He is a director and large
stockholder of other banks, the street railroad, the Gas company, the
Northern Grain Flour Mill company, and the Pulp Mill company. He is
also a director in the Minneapolis, St. Paul & Ashland Railroad
company. He is vice-president of the Northern Chief Iron company, a
company owning the fee to valuable mines on the Gogebic range; and he
is also president of the Pioneer Iron company on the Vermillion range,
north of Duluth. This company is famous as having one of the largest
highgrade ore deposits in the world. He is president of the Ashland
Sulphite Fiber company; and is at the head of the firm of Bardon,
Kellogg & Co., wholesale and retail grocers of Ashland. He also
cultivates 240 acres of farming lands inside the city limits, and is
one of the largest holders of real estate, both improved and
unimproved, in Ashland. Mr. Bardon has traveled extensively in both the
old and new worlds.
Politically, Mr. Bardon is what may be called a sound-money protective-
tariff Democrat, advocating a moderate system of protection. Though
taking a lively interest in political questions, he is not a
politician. He was a
[image: THOMAS BARDON.]
member of the Democratic state central committee, but resigned before
the expiration of his term. He has been a member of the city school
board, was mayor of the city in 1896, and re-elected in April, 1897.
Mr. Bardon was married November 6th, 1884, to Miss Jennie Grant of
Winona, Minnesota, and two children have been born to them--Belle and
Thomas, Jr. Mr. Bardon's two brothers, James and John A., are prominent
and wealthy business men and bankers of Superior. Business success
seems to be a characteristic of the family.
HYDE, Welcome, a resident of Appleton, Wisconsin, was born in Milton,
Chittenden county, Vermont, May 23rd, 1824. His parents, Eli and Mary
Campbell Hyde, trace their ancestors through several generations of New
Englanders, among whom were men of character and influence in the
communities where they lived. Welcome Hyde passed his early boyhood in
his native state, but when eleven years of age, his father, who had
been a lumberman in the region about Lake Champlain,
Page 144
[image: WELCOME HYDE.]
removed to Ohio, settling in the vicinity of Cleveland. Here the boy
spent several years, attending school and assisting his father in the
work of the farm. He was a student in the Rock River institute, at
Mount Morris, Illinois, for a year, but his health failing, he left the
school, and in 1847 went into the pine woods of Wisconsin for the
double purpose of benefiting his health and improving his material
prospects. Here he met and renewed an acquaintance begun in the east
with Philetus Sawyer. Mr. Sawyer, knowing him for a young man of
integrity and good judgment, employed him to locate pine lands for him,
to use the lumberman's and woodsman's phrase; and in this capacity he
was long engaged, locating, it is thought, something like a million
acres. Mr. Hyde also selected pine lands for himself, and in this way
began what grew into a handsome fortune. He also invested largely in
city property, but city lots had no such financial potency as pine
lands.
In February, 1862, Mr. Hyde raised a military company, for the defense
of the Union, of which he was chosen captain, and which became a part
of the Seventeenth Wisconsin infantry. He served with this company until
September, 1862, when he was compelled to resign him commission on
account of ill-health and return home.
He is a Republican, but not "for revenue," for he has steadily refused
all offices.
He is a close observer, fond of travel, and has been in nearly every
state in the Union. In this way he has gained a vast fund of
information, and is an exceedingly agreeable companion. He once made
the circuit of Vancouver's Island in a canoe, looking at the pine of
that region. He is eminently a "self-made man," and one who was in no
sense spoiled in the making, as not a few are.
Mr. Hyde was married, in 1848, to Miss Sarah Markley of Paris,
Illinois. Their children are F. M. Hyde, who is associated with his
father in business; D. M. Hyde, who operates a saw-mill and is a
general merchant at Bear Creek, Wisconsin, and Frances, wife of James
Simpson, who died of consumption in November, 1893, leaving three
children. She was a noble, Christian woman, and her death was a source
of unspeakable grief to her parents and many friends. Mr. and Mrs.
Hyde, as was their daughter, are consisted and active members of the
Presbyterian church, and Mr. Hyde has given liberally of his substance
for the support of every good cause.
CURRAN, James Aloysius, county judge of Crawford county, and an
influential citizen of Prairie du Chien, is a native of New York City,
where he was born April 9th, 1836. His parents, Bernard and Margaret
Crawford Curran, were natives of County Down, Ireland, where the father
pursued his calling of weaver. Some after their marriage, they came to
this country, taking up their residence in New York City, where their
son, James, received his primary education. In March, 1849, the family
removed to Prairie du Long township, Monroe county, Ill., and the
father engaged in farming. The boy, at this time thirteen years old,
assisted his father in the
Page 145
farm work and attended school as opportunity offered. In this manner
the time passed until 1858, when, at the age of twenty-two, he went to
St. Louis and entered the school of the Christian Brothers, where he
studied a year. Returning to his home in Illinois, he remained there
until 1860, when he engaged in mercantile business in Freedom, Ill.
This he abandoned at the end of the year, when he obtained a position
with H. C. Jackson, a tobacconist of St. Louis, with whom he remained
until 1863, in which year he took charge of the government herd of
contraband cattle. After their sale during the following winter, he
returned to St. Louis, and thence to his father's farm, in the vicinity
of which he taught district schools for a member of years, finally
going to Viroqua, Wis., in 1869, where he obtained a clerkship in the
store of N. McKie. In this position he remained until 1873, when he
took the management of a store for his employer at Rising Sun, Wis.,
and in connection with it held the position of postmaster of the
village. In 1877 he resigned his position in the store and engaged in
the hotel business, retaining the postmastership. In 1889, having been
elected clerk of the Circuit court of Crawford county, he removed to
Prairie du Chien, which has since been his home. He was re-elected in
1891, and, upon the expiration of his second term, he was elected
county judge for the term of four years, beginning in January, 1894,
and was re-elected in April, 1897.
Judge Curran is a thorough Republican in his political views and
affiliation, and before his election to the office of county judge held
several local offices. He is a scholarly man and speaks the German and
Norwegian languages fluently.
The Judge was married in 1876 to Miss Margaret McCoy, of Franklin,
Vernon county, and they have five children, namely: Wm. Constantine,
Edna E., Mary Rosa, Ellen and Arthur Bernard.
A devout member of the Catholic church, a man of unquestionable honor
and integrity, possessed of great energy and a perseverance
[image: JAMES ALOYSIUS CURRAN.]
that yields to nothing short of the impossible, he has made his own way
in the world, and is fairly entitled to the honors and the respect
which he has achieved.
TOURTELLOTTE, Mills, resides at La Crosse, where he is a practicing
lawyer. He is the son of M. L. and Louise C. Tourtellotte, both natives
of Windham county, Connecticut. His father was a farmer. The late Col.
John E. Tourtellotte, who was a member of Gen. Sherman's staff from
January 1st, 1871, to February 8th, 1884, was an uncle of Mills
Tourtellotte, and died in La Crosse, July 22nd, 1891, and is buried in
the National cemetery at Arlington, Va. Mr. Tourtellotte's father and
mother both died at La Crosse, the former in April, 1894, and the
latter in April, 1892. The first of the family in this country came
from France in 1660, settling in Rhode Island, his descendants
spreading into Connecticut and Massachusetts, and in Holyoke, in the
latter state, Mills Tourtellotte was born, August 31st, 1853. When he
was two years of age the family removed to La Crosse county,
Page 146
[image: MILLS TOURTELLOTTE.]
Wisconsin, where Mr. Tourtellotte's father bought a large tract of land
at West Salem, and was one of the founders of that village. Mills
Tourtellotte was educated at the University of Wisconsin, graduating in
the law class of 1875. In June of the same year he was admitted to the
bar in Madison; and, going to La Crosse immediately thereafter, he
opened an office and began the practice of law, soon becoming
associated with William E. Howe, also a graduate of the university,
under the firm name of Howe & Tourtellotte. This partnership continued
until 1881, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Tourtellotte practiced alone
until 1885. The firm of Bleckman, Tourtellotte & Bloomingdale was then
formed, and continued for five years.
Mr. Tourtellotte has been successful in his professional career, and
has acquired the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens,
especially those who control large industries centered in La Crosse,
for whom he is attorney and whose legal business he has long
transacted. To this kind of business he has devoted the greater part of
his time, rarely engaging in general practice, but confining himself
almost exclusively to the duties of consulting counsel. He is the owner
of a stock and dairy farm of five hundred acres, at Middle Ridge, La
Crosse county, in which he takes great interest, and where he raises
fine stock and makes choice butter.
In politics Mr. Tourtellotte is a Republican, taking deep interest in
party questions and campaigns, but has no ambition for office.
Domestic in his taste, he may generally be found at home when not
professionally engaged. He was married, in 1878, to Miss Lillie
Woodbury of Boston, the only child of the late Capt. W. W. Woodbury of
that city, who served in the Union army in the recent war, and who died
in 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Tourtellotte have four children--one daughter and
three sons.
The family are attendants at the Episcopal church.
Mr. Tourtellotte has one brother living, John F., a practicing attorney
in Denver, Colorado, and a sister, Miss M. L. C. Tourtellotte, who
resides in Paris.
OLIN, John M., one of Madison's most accomplished lawyers, is the son
of Nathaniel Green Olin, a well-to-do farmer, who lived near Bellville,
Ohio, where he died in 1881. He was a native of Vermont, and there he
married his wife, Phoebe Roberts, and there they lived for several
years, before removing to Ohio. Mr. Olin's maternal uncle, Daniel
Roberts, a resident of Burlington, Vermont, is one of the leading
lawyers of the state, and the author of Roberts' Digest of the Vermont
Reports. One of his paternal uncles, Abram G. Olin, was a member of
congress for three terms from New York, from the district including
Troy, and upon the close of his third term, was appointed by President
Lincoln one of the judges of the supreme court of the District of
Columbia, and held that position until his death.
John M. Olin was born at Lexington, Ohio, July 10th, 1851. A farmer's
boy, he had, up
Page 147
to the age of fourteen, only such educational facilities as the
district school afforded, occupying but three months each winter.
During the next two years he attended the village school at Bellville,
Ohio, and then went to a fitting academy, for a year, and after that to
the preparatory department of Oberlin College. Having completed his
preparatory studies, he entered the ancient classical course of the
academic department. After completing the freshman year, he left
Oberlin, and, in the fall of 1869, entered Williams College. While a
student there he won the first prize in history, and was an active
member of the Philologian Debating society. He graduated in 1873, and
was appointed to deliver one of the philosophical orations at
commencement. In the senior year, he was chosen a member of the Phi
Beta Kappa society, the members of which are selected solely on the
ground of scholarship, and, at Williams, are selected by the faculty.
After graduation, Mr. Olin taught school at Bellville for two terms,
when he resigned to become principal of the city schools of Mansfield,
and while there began the study of law. Meanwhile, Dr. Bascom, who had
been one of his professors at Williams College, had been made president
of the University of Wisconsin, and offered him the position of
instructor in the department of rhetoric and oratory, upon which he
entered in the fall of 1874, and in which he remained until June, 1878.
In the fall of that year he entered the law department of the
university, and graduated therefrom in June, 1879. Mr. Olin was thus
equipped, so far as young man without much ready money could be, for
entering upon the work of his chosen profession. Looking about for a
suitable opportunity and a partner, he found the former in Madison and
the latter in Lars J. Grinde, a young Norwegian lawyer, possessing
practical ability of a high order, an extended acquaintance and some
practical experience gained in the office of county judge at Madison. A
partnership was formed under the firm name of Olin & Grinde. Clients
came at once, and soon the
[image: JOHN M. OLIN.]
firm had all the work it could do. The partnership continued until the
death of Mr. Grinde, in 1881, after which Mr. Olin practiced alone
until 1892, since which time Harry L. Butler has been associated with
him as his partner--a young lawyer of decided ability and promise in
his profession. Through his thorough knowledge of the law, his industry
in the study and preparation of his cases, and his rapidity in his
work, Mr. Olin has made exceptional progress in his profession, and has
acquired a recognized standing as a lawyer throughout the state, his
career often receiving the favorable comment of bench and bar.
As a citizen, he is public-spirited, and has devoted much time and
thought to the promotion of local improvements, notably the beautiful
Mendota drive. Recently there has been appointed a park commission for
Madison, and Mr. Olin has been chosen its president. It is not too much
to expect, therefore, that the commission will render the city very
satisfactory service.
Mr. Olin was married June 14th, 1880, to Miss Helen M. Remington of
Baraboo, Wis.
Page 148
In December, 1885, he became a professor in the law department of the
university, but went out with President Bascom in June, 1887. In
January, 1892, however, he again became connected with the law school,
and is now professor of wills, tort and real property, and is making a
fine record as an instructor.
Although at present giving no attention to politics, Mr. Olin was, in
1884, a candidate for congress on the Prohibition ticket in the Third
district, and was the party nominee for governor in 1886, receiving the
largest vote ever given for any Prohibition candidate in the state. In
1888, at the National Prohibition convention at Indianapolis, he threw
all his energy into a successful attempt to prevent the Prohibition
party from making the mistake of subscribing to various reform
movements in no way connected with prohibition. Since that time he has
had nothing to do with politics. At the last presidential election he
voted the Republican ticket throughout.
VAN SLYKE, Napoleon Bonaparte, a leading banker and prominent citizen
of Madison, is the son of Daniel Van Style, who was born in 1800, and
died in 1831. He was an accomplished civil engineer, and was engaged in
many public improvements, such as the "Lower Aqueduct of the Erie,
Cana," the "Deep Cut" in the Delaware and Hudson canal, the Savannah
and Ogeechee ship canal connecting those rivers, and the Chesapeake and
Ohio canal from Georgetown to Harper's Ferry, of which, when
constructed, he was the first superintendent. His wife was Miss Laura
Mears, daughter of James and Lois Mears. She was born February 14th,
1804, and died December 20th, 1842.
N. B. Van Slyke, the subject of this sketch, was born in Saratoga
county, New York, December 21st, 1822. He was educated in the common
and academic schools, in which, he says, there was more work and less
play and better influences for the formation of character than in those
of the present day. After leaving school he was engaged for five or six
years in farm work, then in manufacturing and in the wholesale salt
trade in Syracuse, New York. Shipping goods through the great lakes
first called his attention to the commercial and industrial
possibilities of the northwest, and, in the spring of 1853, he removed
to Wisconsin, and settled in Madison, where he engaged in banking, first
under the firm name of Richardson & Van Slyke. In 1854, was organized
the Dane County bank, at Madison, with Levi B. Vilas, father of the ex-
United States senator,as president, ex-Governor Leonard J. Farwell, as
vice-president, and N. B. Van Slyke, as cashier. The ex-senator was then
the messenger boy. Subsequently, Timothy Brown, from Syracuse, became
cashier, and Mr. Van Slyke took the position of president. In 1864 this
bank was reorganized as the First National Bank of Madison, of which,
for the past thirty years, he has been president, and he still keeps in
the working harness.
He was a member of the common council which first organized the city
government of Madison, in 1856, and one of the only two remaining
charter members of the State Historical society of Wisconsin, the
library of which then consisted of less than one hundred volumes; but
the society has now attained a very high rank among institutions of its
kind. He has, for many years, been one of its curators, and is now
chairman of its financial committee.
When, in 1866, the Wisconsin state university was reorganized, with the
department of agriculture added, he was one of the regents, serving
four successive terms--twelve years, during most of which time he was
chairman of its executive committee.
At a convention of bankers, held at Saratoga Springs, in 1875, he
conceived the idea of organizing a permanent body, and introduced the
resolution founding the American Banker's association, and has been a
member of its executive council, and an efficient and valued worker in
that body of financiers. He
Page 149
was the first president of the Wisconsin State Banker's association.
Mr. Van Slyke's war record is of a business more than a soldierly
character. During the first year of the war, when the several states
were required to provide for their own volunteers, he was assistant
quartermaster-general of the state until January, 1862, when the
general government took all furnishings in charge, and a depot of
supplies was established at Madison. The former assistant
quartermaster-general of the state was then transferred to duty for the
quartermaster's department of the United States government, with
authority from Washington direct to provide all clothing, camp and
garrison equip-age, quartermasters' stores and transportation of
material and troops for Wisconsin soldiers, which he did independently
of any ranking officer elsewhere, reporting only to the quartermaster-
general of the United States army. His rank was that of assistant
quartermaster, which office he held until he close of the war, when he
was mustered out with the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel, and is now
a member of the Loyal Legion.
He has no strong party affiliations, and with the exception of the
position of postmaster, which he held under the administration of
President Polk, he has never held a political office. Though an ardent
advocate of "sound money," as represented by the gold standard, and a
firm believer in a tariff that will produce revenue sufficient for the
purposes of the government, he is opposed to that for the protection of
any one class more than another. He is a member of the Reform club of
New York, whose greatest work is for "sound money," and he has
occasionally contributed articles in support of this principle. In
religion he is an agnostic.
Mr. Van Slyke was married, in 1844, to Laura, daughter of Judge Elisha
W. Sheldon of New York, by whom he had a daughter, Laura, now Mrs.
Hawley and a son, E. W. Sheldon Van Slyke. This lady died many years
ago, and he married Annie, daughter of
[image: NAPOLEON BONAPARTE VAN SLYKE.]
Cooper Corbett of Corbettsville, New York, who has borne him two
children, Maie, who married Dr. John M. Dodson, and died in 1887, and
James M., who is married and has three children. Through his surviving
daughter, Laura, he was a great-grandson.
For more than forty years Mr. Van Slyke has been a resident of Madison,
Wisconsin, and those who have been familiar with the intelligent,
public-spirited and honorable manner in which he has fulfilled all the
duties of citizen, will wish him many more years of active life
END PART 5