BIOGRAPHIES: LeRoy COLBERT, Chetek, Barron County, WI ==================================================================== USGENWEB 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, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Vic Gulickson 8 June 2002 ==================================================================== Le Roy Colbert, capitalist, potato magnate, land developer, civic promoter and one of the active business leaders of Chetek, was born near Whitewater, Wis., Aug. 6, 1877, son of Orlando and Clarinda (Castle) Colbert. The other children in the family were Cora and Mary. Cora married Halmer Johnson, a prominent merchant of Warrensburg, Mo., and they have three daughters, all attending the Missouri State Normal School there. Mary married Arthur Rich, who is associated with his brother-in-law in the potato warehouse at Chetek. Orlando Colbert, the father, was born in Wisconsin of English parentage. He was married at Whitewater, Wis., and there farmed for a number of years. He brought the family to Barron County in 1886, and homesteaded a tract of land in Prairie Farm Township, about nine miles from Barron. In 1889 he moved to a farm on the east line of Maple Grove Township, just across the line from Chetek Township. This move was made in order that the children might attend the Ross School, taught by that sturdy pioneer instructor, W. H. Ross, who now makes his home near Chetek. Le Roy attended this school and then entered the Chetek High School, but in 1895 when his mother died, he returned to the farm to assist his father with the farm work. In 1898 he left the farm and went to Superior, Wis., where he was a conductor on the street car system there. In 1900 he came back to Chetek and purchased a potato warehouse from S. H. Hall, of Minneapolis, now deceased. Since that time he has been engaged in buying potatoes and shipping them in carload lots. For the past few years he has worked with Starks & Co. of Chicago, shipping the potatoes to various points where the markets were favorable. The business is constantly growing, and has necessitated the building of a new warehouse completed in the spring of 1921. For some years he was a heavy buyer of hay and grain and developed good stations at Poskin Lake and Colfax, doing most of the business at these points by mail and wire. The trade at both of those places, however, has now passed into the hands of others. For many years he has been interested in the development of real estate. He buys land, improves it, erects houses and other buildings, and then sells the property on easy terms or by monthly payments. In all he has constructed some 30 or 40 houses and cottages. In the winter of 1920-21 he erected the building now occupied by the Averill Mau Lumber Co., for the housing of its coal, and its cement, lumber and other building material. This structure, 56 by 120 feet, in modern style, is located near the Omaha freight station and cost about $5,000, being erected on a "cost plus" plan. Believing as he does in the present and future of the city, Mr. Colbert joined the Commercial Club when it was first organized some ten years ago, and remained with it through its reorganization to the present time. Among his business holdings may be mentioned stock in the Chetek State Bank, the Chetek Canning Co., the Chetek Automobile Co., the Chetek Cooperative Mercantile Co. and other local enterprises. As one of his friends has said of him, "He is one of the biggest hustlers in Chetek, a real 'live wire,' he works early and late and 'does things.'" He has done his city service as a member of the city council and of the school board. Religiously he is a member of the Reorganized Church of the Latter Day Saints, and is prominent in church and Sunday school work. Since early manhood he has been a strong advocate of the total abolition of the liquor traffic, and has been a prime mover and active worker here in everything that has appertained to the prohibition of the sale of alcoholics. Mrs. Colbert is president of the local society of the W. C. T. U. and the Colbert home has been open at all times to all visiting temperance workers. Mr. Colbert was married July 31, 1909, at Chetek, Wis., to Leda Muermann, daughter of Fred and Loretta (Hancock) Muermann, who own a large farm of over 200 acres near Chetek. The grandfather, Muermann, was a high official under the defunct German Imperial Government, having charge of large military stores in that country. Mr. and Mrs. Colbert had one daughter, Dorothy, born Oct. 13, 1910, who passed away Jan. 4, 1921. They also have an adopted son, Ralph, born in April, 1902. He is making a good record at Graceland College, Lamona, Iowa, where he is taking courses in business and music, and where he is a leader among his fellows and a member of the college football team. --Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co., 1922, pp. 538-539.