BIOGRAPHIES:  Charles Edward WEST, Rice Lake, Barron Co., WI

************************************************************************
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE:  These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in
any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or
persons.  Persons or organizations desiring to use this material,
must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal
representative of the submitter, 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.

Submitted by:  Vic Gulickson <vic@indy.net>  14 January 2004
************************************************************************

Charles Edward West was born in Sheboygan County, Wis., July 13, 1859, son
of William K. and Maryetta (Doen) West. He was brought to Dunn County,
Wis., by his parents as a child, and after attending the district schools,
completed his early training at Menomonie. He then became a teacher,
instructing schools in Dunn County for eight years, four years in the rural
districts and a similar period at Cedar Falls Village. Some years later he
was superintendent of schools in Rice Lake. He first came to Rice Lake in
the employ of Knapp, Stout & Co., in charge of their hardware store here.
In 1905 he and P. M. Parker organized the firm of Parker & West, and opened
a hard ware store. Three years later he sold out his interest and became a
traveling salesman for Farwell, Osman, Kirk & Co., a wholesale hardware
firm of St. Paul. In 1910, however, with H. A. Anderson as a partner, he
again acquired the store, and opened business under the name of West &
Anderson. Mr. Anderson withdrew in 1911, and Mr. West became the sole
owner. He carried a large stock of shelf and heavy hardware, including a
complete line of stoves and furnaces. He was a good buyer, he thoroughly
understood his business, and his honesty and fair dealing won for him the
confidence of the community at large. His store was neat and well arranged,
and a model of what can be accomplished in the way of sightliness, neatness
and efficiency in a hardware store in a rural community. Interested as he
is in the business progress of the city and county, he has become a member
of the Rice Lake Commercial Club, and is president of its credit division.
His fraternal relations are with the Masons, the Modern Woodmen and the
Commercial Travelers. In the spring of 1921 he sold his hardware business
and retired. Mr. West was married Jan. 16, 1886, to Ida Belle Richardson,
of Eau Claire, Wis., who died Sept. 19, 1914, leaving three children: Lois,
now Mrs. John A. Winn, of Austin, Minn.; Lyman E., a traveling salesman for
the Hall Hardware Co. at Minneapolis; and Gladys I., now Mrs. W. W. Beggs,
of Rice Lake. Mr. West was married July 30, 1916, to Catherine Fulton, of
Stevens Point, Wis. Mrs. West, as Miss Fulton, perfected herself for
instruction of the deaf, and became one of the leading educators in this
line, teaching one year at Milwaukee, Wis., one year at Joplin, Mo., and
four years at Rice Lake. So widely have her qualifications been regarded
that in 1920 she was elected president of the Board of Education of Rice
Lake. The family faith is that of the Presbyterian Church.

--Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr. & Co.,
1922, pg. 264.

© All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm