BIOGRAPHIES: James BRACKLIN, Rice Lake, Barron County, WI

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**Posted for informational purposes only - poster is not related to the 
subject of this biography and has no further information.

James Bracklin, mayor of Rice Lake, Barron county, and general manager for 
Knapp, Stout & Co. All praiseworthy men are justly entitled to a place in 
history, and the eventful career of this gentleman may well be accorded a 
conspicuous place. He was born April 28, 1839, in Patten, Aroostook county, 
Me. His parents, Daniel and Anna (Egan) Bracklin, left Ireland on their 
wedding day for America, landing at Eastport, Me., where they soon after 
began farming. Mr. Bracklin conceived the idea of starting a grist-mill and 
sent to France for a set of burrs, which were subsequently hauled inland 
eighty miles from Bangor, but were never put in place, and today they serve 
as a doorstep to a dwelling near where the proposed mill was to be built. 
Finding the country not to their liking the family, in 1847, removed to 
Stoddartsville, Luzerne county, Pa., where they remained three years, when 
they again set their faces toward the setting sun, this time stopping at St. 
Anthony Falls, Minn. Mr. Bracklin entered the third farm on the west side of 
the Mississippi river at this point, and today it forms a portion of West 
Minneapolis. Here the family remained until the death of the father, which 
occurred in 1871; the mother survived until September, 1890.

James Bracklin left home in 1858, when but nineteen years of age, and made 
his way to Menomonie, and engaged with Knapp, Stout & Co., with whom he 
remained ten years. The following eight years he was with the Northwestern 
Lumber company of Eau Claire. In 1876 he again entered the employ of Knapp, 
Stout & Co., with whom he still remains. Of his logging business it will be 
safe to say that no man has ever got out more than he has. During the logging 
season he has on an average 1,200 men employed under his supervison. He 
employs, in getting logs to the streams, 450 horses and 550 cattle. The output 
from the woods is 90,000,000 annually, and in all of his years in this 
business he has never been tied up on a drive. He is now serving his second 
term as mayor of Rice Lake. In 1886 he ran for congress on the democratic 
ticket, but was defeated by about 3,000 majority. In speaking of his political 
views he says: "I never knew any better than to vote the democratic ticket
from Buchanan down to the present time."

July 11, 1868, he married Miss Julia M. Vance. Her father, Levi Vance, was one 
of the early pioneers; he died in 1864, while her mother is still living at 
Hayward with one of her sons. Mrs. Bracklin died July 4, 1886, leaving five 
children: Guy, Roy, John, Andrew and Julia. January 1, 1887, Mr. Bracklin 
married Miss Minnie Russell, a native of Canada, whose parents live in Oak 
Grove township. To this union have been born two children. Mr. Bracklin is not 
only popular with the men in his employ, but stands high in the hearts of his 
fellow townsmen.

-Transcribed from the "Historical and Biographical Album of the Chippewa 
Valley Wisconsin, 1891-2", page 451-452.