BIOGRAPHIES:  Walter C. PEASE, Cumberland, Barron County, WI

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This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:  
Vic Gulickson <vic@indy.net>  18 March 2002	
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Walter C. Pease, pioneer physician, was one of the leading men of
Cumberland, for many years, and his story is interwoven in the warp and
woof of Barron County history. He was born in Loraine County, Ohio, June
27, 1837, son of Peter P. and Ruth H. (Crocker) Pease, and grandson of
Phineas and Betsy (Lawrence) Pease, and of Walter and Hulda (Totman)
Crocker. Peter P. Pease was a pioneer settler of Oberlin, Loraine County,
Ohio, and was for many years until his death a member of the board of
directors of Oberlin College. W. C. was the sixth of eleven children. He
spent his early life in Oberlin, and there received his fundamental
education. In 1850 he came to Dunnville, Wis., and started the study of
medicine with his uncle, Dr. Walter Crocker, of that village. In 1861 he
started practice as active resident physician there. In after life he often
told with relish that his worldly possessions then consisted of a rude
medical case with a few drugs, a present from his uncle, $1 in cash, an
extra shirt, and a collar borrowed from his uncle, in addition to the
clothing which he wore. In 1866 he went to Ann Arbor and took the full
course of lectures in the medical department of the University of Michigan.
Then he resumed his active practice in Menomonie. In 1872 he entered the
Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, Penn., and was graduated in
March, 1873. Then once more he took up his work at Menomonie. From there he
practiced in a wide territory, and thus early became familiar with Barron
County. As early as 1862 he came into the county, and as logging camps were
gradually established, he practiced in nearly all of them, making the trip
in the summertime on horseback over Indian trails through dense forests and
across dangerous fords, and in the winter time making the journey in a
buggy over the lumber company's "tote" roads. Many stories are told of his
adventures. In 1881 he located in Cumberland, then the northern terminus of
the Northern Wisconsin Railroad. Here he at once became a leading citizen.
When the city was incorporated in 1885 he sat on the council as
representative from the third ward, and was on the committee which drew up
the first set of city ordinances. In 1887 he served a year as mayor. For
many years he served as city physician and health officer. In Masonic
circles he was especially prominent and helped institute and install the
lodges at Cumberland, Barron, Shell Lake and Clear Lake. He was postmaster
at Cumberland from 1892 to 1896. After a long and useful life he died Dec.
6, 1900. Dr. Pease was married May 1, 1862, at Menomonie, to Margaret A.
Evans, of Kenosha, Wis., and this union was blessed with seven children:
May, Herbert A., Peter Lawrence and Grace Alice. Ruth, Clarence and Walter
are dead. 
      
--Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co.,
1922, pp. 307-308.