Men of Progress. Wisconsin. (pages 49-81) 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.

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Page 49 continued

BUNDY, Egbert Bird, for twenty years judge of the Eight judicial
circuit, is a resident of Menomonie, Dunn county. He was born in
Windsor, N. Y., on the 8th of February, 1833, the son of Oliver T. and
Lydia Smith Bundy, whose ancestors for several generations were natives
of Connecticut. Oliver T. Bundy was a physician who practiced many
years in Windsor, N. Y.

Judge Bundy received his education in the common schools of Windsor and
at Windsor Academy. After leaving school he studied

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[image: EDBERT BIRD BUNDY.]

law in a law office at Deposit, N. Y., and was admitted to the bar in
Cortland, N. Y., at the general term of the supreme court. In 1857 he
came to Wisconsin, and settled in Dunn county, where he has ever since
resided. He engaged in the practice of his profession in what was then
a comparatively new and sparsely settled country, and continued it
steadily, serving one term as county judge, until 1877, when he was
elected judge of the Eighth judicial circuit to fill a vacancy, and
after that was re-elected for three full terms, always as a non-
partisan candidate. His last term as judge expired at the beginning of
the year 1897, since which time he and his son, R. E. Bundy, have been
associated in the practice of law in Menomonie. Judge Bundy, up to the
time of his election as judge, was engaged in most of the important
trials in his county and conducted some important tax litigations
between lumbermen of the northwest and the county authorities, and was
successful in some important trespass cases brought against trespassers
on state lands.

Judge Bundy has always been a Democrat and free-trader in politics, and
has generally voted the Democratic ticket, and in the presidential
election of 1896 voted for Bryan. He is a member of the Masonic order,
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Episcopal church.

In 1861 Judge Bundy was married to Miss Reubena Macaulay, and to them
have been born nine children, of whom C. T. Bundy is a lawyer of Eau
Clair; W. H. Bundy is with the Rice Lake Lumber company; R. E. Bundy is
the partner of his father in the law business, in Menonomie; Edward W.
Bundy is a lawyer in Ellsworth, Wis., and one of the daughters is the
wife of A. G. Gray of Menonomie.

AUSTIN, Robert N., judge of the superior court of Milwaukee county, was
born in Carlisle, Schoharie county, New York, on the 19th of August,
1822. His ancestry is traceable to immigrants who came to this country
from England not long subsequent to the landing of the "Pilgrim" at
Plymouth Rock. One of these ancestors, Samuel Austin, settled in
Connecticut; and from him Judge Austin is descended. The judge's
grandfather was a soldier in the revolutionary war, who, after peace
had been declared, removed from Connecticut to Westchester county, New
York. Judge Austin's father was the Rev. James Nelson Austin, a
Presbyterian clergyman of promise in that region, who died while still
a young man, leaving his wife with her less than one-year-old boy in
straitened circumstances. The boy was taken and reared by friends, and,
as he developed, he showed an unusual taste for learning, which it was
not easy in those times fully to gratify. He, however, made such good
use of his limited educational privileges that at the age of sixteen he
was teaching a country district school. This work was continued for a
time, affording the ambitious student not only the means of support,
but proving a source of mental improvement. He succeeded at length, in
spite of obstacles and many and sore discouragements, in securing a
preparation for a liberal course of study, and

Page 51

entered Union College, Schenectady, from which he was graduated in the
classical course in 1845. At the conclusion of his college course he
returned to teaching, to replenish his exhausted purse, securing the
principalship of an academy in Cherry Valley, Otsego county, New York.
He is said at that time to have contemplated the study of theology, but
a very serious illness absorbed his resources and left him without the
means to prosecute his theological studies; he, therefore, changed his
purpose, giving up theology and taking up the law as the shorter and
less expensive road to establishment in a profession. Accordingly he
entered the office of Jabez D. Hammond of Cherry Valley, as a law
student, and so rapid was his progress in the study that he passed the
examination and was admitted to the bar in 1847.

He did not attempt to establish himself in his native state, but, in
May, 1848, set out for Milwaukee, where he entered at once upon the
practice of his profession, which he followed without intermission
until 1891, when he was elected judge of the superior court. He has had
many important suits in the various courts of the city and state, and
for very many years he was one of the most familiar figures at the
Milwaukee bar. As an advocate he is forcible, often eloquent, handles
his cases with skill, and goes directly to the heart of things. Few
will question that he is one of the most learned of the Milwaukee
lawyers, or that his knowledge of the law was one of the considerations
which made for his elevation to the judgeship. He has for many years
borne the reputation of being an able criminal lawyer, and has had a
large share of that business. His life has been given without reserve
to his profession, and in that and the study of literature he has found
his chief delight.

He had a natural fondness for the study of languages, and reads German,
French, Latin and Greek with facility. Within the last three years he
has made and written a translation of the New Testament from the
original Greek, which he preserves with great care and devotion.

[image: ROBERT N. AUSTIN.]

He has been twice married and has two living children by the first
marriage, a son, who resides in Minneapolis, and is general passenger
agent of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company, and a daughter,
married, and living in St. Paul, Minnesota.

BARDEEN, Charles Valdo, judge of the Sixteenth circuit, resides at
Wausau, Marathon county, Wisconsin, and is the son of Rasselas Bardeen,
a farmer in moderate circumstances, and of Maria Palmer Bardeen. Judge
Bardeen was born in Madison county, New York, September 23rd, 1850, but
came with his parents to Wisconsin when five years of age. The family
settled on a farm in Albion, Dane county, and there the boy began his
education in the district school, continuing it in Albion Academy and
in the University of Wisconsin, which he left admission to the junior
class. He helped himself to his education by teaching school, an
employment which has, in many cases, paved the way to scholarship and
to a prosperous, useful and distinguished career. In 1874 he

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[image: CHARLES VALDO BARDEEN.]

entered the law department of the state university, and in June, 1875,
he was admitted to the bar.

The year of his admission he went to Wausau, Wisconsin, where he opened
an office for the practice of his profession, and there he has ever
since resided. He was appointed district attorney in 1876, the duties
of which office he discharged with an ability and fidelity which
brought him into public notice, and marked him as a lawyer of more than
the usual prominence. His interest in public education, and his
efficiency in its promotion, is shown by the fact that he held the
position of superintendent of the city schools for ten years.

He was elected judge of the Sixteenth circuit for the term commencing 
with January, 1892, and was re-elected in April, 1897, for the term 
beginning with the year 1898. His political affiliations are with the 
Republican party, but he is not a partisian, and was elected circuit 
judge without regard to politics, and because it was generally 
recognized that he was especially qualified for the position. His 
elevation to the bench was in pursuance of the policy which has 
generally prevailed in Wisconsin of divorcing the judiciary from 
everything like mere struggles of party.

Judge Bardeen was married June 17th, 1876, to Frankie H. Miller, and
they have three children--a son, Charles V., Jr., and two daughters,
Eleanor and Florence.

He is a Mason, being a member of Forest Lodge, F. and A. M., No. 130;
Wausan Chapter, R. A. M., No. 51; St. Omer Commandery, K. T., No. 19,
and was elected, in 1892, Grand High Priest, R. A. M. of Wisconsin.

RAUSCHENBERGER, W. G., mayor of the city of Milwaukee, resides at 887
Teutonia avenue, and was born in Soldin, Prussia, December 6th, 1855.
His father is John Rauschenberger, a cordage manufacturer and
woodenware dealer. He is also a native of Soldin, where he followed his
business for some twenty years, and where he was long a member of the
city council. Mrs. Rauschenberger, nee Amalie Schmieden, died in 1882.
The family came to this country in 1860, stopping first in Milwaukee,
but finding the conditions unfavorable for establishing his business,
and it being difficult to obtain other employment, Mr. Rauschenberger
removed with his family to New Berlin, Waukesha county, where he worked
on a farm for some two years, and there the boy attended his first
school. The family returning to Milwaukee in 1862, the boy continued
his studies in the public schools and in the Lutheran school of St.
Petrie until 1868, when he left off the study of books for the study of
things, taking up his father's trade of cordage making, which he had
established in a small way in 1864, and in which the boy had worked in
vacation and in other unoccupied times. In this employment he earned
his first money, and in the course of a few years he had saved some
five hundred dollars, which served as the beginning of his business
career. In 1880 he became a partner in his father's business, which was
continued in this manner

Page 53

until 1893, when a corporation was formed under the firm name of John
Rauschenberger company, of which the senior member of the firm became
president and W. G. Rauschenberger the secretary and treasurer. The
business steadily gained in volume until 1895, when it became necessary
to open an office and salesroom in the business part of the city, and
these rooms are now at 97 West Water street, where is carried a full
line of rope, twine and all forms of goods common to this business. The
factory is at 887 Teutonia avenue, where, in addition to all kinds of
cordage, mats, hair tassels, etc., are made. The business reaches all
over the entire western states, and some branches of it over the whole
country.

In politics Mr. Rauschenberger has always been a Republican. In 1880 he
was elected alderman from the Tenth ward for the term of three years,
and in 1883 was re-elected for a similar term. In 1886 he was appointed
school commissioner for the ward, was reappointed in 1888, and in 1889
was elected president of the board, and served for one term. In 1892 he
was elected alderman from the Tenth ward, and re-elected in 1894,
receiving the largest majority ever polled by a candidate for that
office--over 2,000. When the new council was organized in 1894, he was
made president, and held the office for the full term of two years. In
the spring of 1896 he was nominated for mayor and elected by a large
majority, and this office he now holds, the term being two years. He
was nominated by the Republicans for register of deeds in 1882, but his
opponent having the Democratic nomination and that of the Trades
assembly, he was defeated--the only time in his political career when
he had this experience.

He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and has held
every official position in the lodge. He is also a member of the
National Union and of the North Side Turnverein, of which he has been
speaker and trustee for several terms.

[image: W. G. RAUSCHENBERGER.]

He was married to Ida Anger of Milwaukee on the 15th of July, 1883, and
they have two children, Ida and Reinhold; a third daughter died several
years since.

Mr. Rauschenberger is a typical man of business, combining the
progressive spirit with that conservatism which, while it does not
hamper enterprise, is a guarantee of security against sudden and
unforeseen disaster.

LEWIS, James T.--Among the men who have been prominent in the state
there are few, if any, who have a record that exceeds that of ex-
Governor Lewis in the extent and value of the public service rendered,
or the unselfish character of his public life.

James T. Lewis was born in Clarendon, New York, on the 30th of October,
1819, and is the son of Shubael Lewis. His paternal ancestors were
early settlers of New England, and his father was a native of
Massachusetts, where he was born on the 27th of February, 1783. He was
a boy poor in purse, but rich in those qualities which command respect
and insure financial success. By industry and

Page 54

[image: JAMES T. LEWIS.]

enterprise he acquired a considerable estate in New York, and afterward
greatly increased it in Wisconsin. He was thrice married; first on the
29th of January, 1815, to Eleanor Robertson, a lady of Scotch descent,
who was the mother of five sons and two daughters. She died October
8th, 1834. Mr. Lewis' second marriage was to Miss Parna Nichols, who
Laying no children of her own, was a real mother to those of her
predecessor, and is most grateful remembered by Mr. Lewis for her pure
and devoted life, and for the teachings to which he attributes no small
part of his success. The third marriage of Gov. Lewis' father was to
Miss Mary Bugbee. He died at the advanced age of seventy-eight years.
One of Gov. Lewis' brothers, Shubael R., was a distinguished soldier in
the Mexican war--the first to scale the walls in the assault on
Chepultepee. His bravery on this occasion was rewarded by the
presentation of a sword.

James t. Lewis, the third son of this family and the subject of this
sketch, after passing through the common schools, took a course in
English and the classics in Clarkson Academy and Clinton Seminary, New
York; and, in 1842, he began the study of law with Governor Selden of 
Clarkson, N. Y. Declining flattering offers if the would settle in 
Clinton, and begin the practice of law there, he removed to Wisconsin, 
and took up his residence Columbus, which has ever since been his home. 
In 1845 he was admitted to the bar in the United States district court, 
and subsequently in the state supreme court. The same year he was 
married to Miss Orlena M. Sturgis, daughter of a prominent merchant of 
Clarendon, N. Y., who bore him four children, one of whom died in 
infancy. The three living are Seldon J., Charles R. and Annie L.

Possessed of a good education, well versed in the law, having executive
ability of a rare order, Mr. Lewis was not long in impressing his
individuality upon the community in which he had taken up his
residence, and in demonstrating his fitness for public station. He was
successively chosen district attorney, county judge and member of the
second constitutional convention, which met on the 15th of December,
1847. In 1852 he was elected member of the legislative assembly, and in
the following year, a member of the state senate, which became historic
as the body before which a circuit judge was tried on articles of
impeachment--the only trial of the kind in the history of the state. He
held the office of lieutenant-governor for two years from January,
1854; was secretary of state for the years 1862-3, and governor for the
two years beginning with January, 1864. In all these official positions
his administration was characterized by ability and faithfulness in the
discharge of duty that unfortunately is rare in official life. His
popularity at home, one of the best tests of a man's real worth, was
shown when he was candidate for secretary of state by his receiving
every vote cast in the city of Columbus. When elected governor, he
received a majority of 23,664, the largest ever given on that office up
to the election of 1896.

Gov. Lewis' administration of the gubernatorial office covered the
closing years of the

Page 55

war, one of the most trying times in the whole history of the state
government, and he set himself with all his vigor of mind and body to
the discharge of the duties of his responsible position, feeling that
his first obligation and that of every citizen was to do all in power
to maintain the integrity and honor of the national government. The
principle which governed his administration is embodied in a
declaration of his at the time: "He who is not a faithful friend to the
government of his country in this trying hour is no friend of mine." He
was indefatigable in forwarding troops to the front, and in looking
after the soldiers of Wisconsin when at the theater of war. He visited
their camps and hospitals, and finally secured from the surgeon-general
of the United States an order transferring sick and wounded Wisconsin
soldiers to hospitals within the state. By this measure many a soldier
languishing in the rude hospitals at the front was placed where he
could be more comfortable and where in recovery was more probable. Thus
the lives of many were saved, and health fully restored. He was active
in establishing a home for soldiers' orphans, by which many a child
whose father sacrificed his life for his country was brought up in
comfort and given a practical education. He secured the correction of
an error in the states quota of soldiers by which it was reduced some
four thousand, and successfully prosecuted claims against the general
government to the amount of half a million of dollars. He declined the
usual appropriation of a governor's contingent fund, and this was an
example of the great economy which characterized all his
administration. All his official acts were marked by strict justice,
yet he was eminently a man of generous impulses.

As his term drew to a close he let it be understood that he would not
accept a renomination, and finding that his decision in this respect
was unalterable, the convention adopted resolutions expressing regret
at this decision, and cordial appreciation of the vary great efficiency
and excellence of his administration.

In all his career he has maintained a character above reproach.
Unostentatious and faithful to the last degree in the discharge of
duty, he has been an official who might well be taken as an example for
those who follow him. He has taken great interest in education and has
given liberally of his means for that purpose; and it was in
recognition of this fact, as well as because he was worthy of the
honor, that Lawrence University bestowed upon him the degree of LL. D.

HOARD, William Dempster, ex-governor of Wisconsin, a leading dairyman
and able writer and speaker on subjects connected with that industry,
was born in Stockbridge, Madison country, N. Y., October 10th, 1836,
the son of Rev. William B. Hoard, a Methodist clergyman, for several
years in active connection with the Oncida conference in central New
York. He retired from the active ministry in 1842, settling upon a farm
in Stockbridge, N. Y., where he resided until his death in 1883. He
became known as one of the most skillful dairymen of his region. His
father was Enos Hoard, who came from Taunton, Mass., to Stockbridge,
New York, about the year 1800, and became a prosperous farm. Gov.
Hoard's mother, whose maiden name was Sarah C. White, daughter of
Benjamin and Betsey Sawyer White, was born in Eaton, N. Y., in 1809.
Her material grandfather, Captain Jesse Sawyer of Vermont, commanded a
company in Col. Ethan Allen's regiment in the Revolutionary war. Her
father was a soldier in the war of 1812-14. Her brother, Rev. W. W.
White, was a noted pulpit orator in the Oncida conference. J. S. Hoard,
a paternal uncle of the governor, was lieutenant-colonel of a
Pennsylvania regiment during the war of the rebellion.

Gov. Hoard's early education was obtained in the district school, but
he was obliged to leave it at sixteen to work on the farm. One of the
most potent influence in his education was the district school library
of a hundred

Page 56

[image: WILLIAM DEMPSTER HOARD.]

volumes, which was largely the selection of his grandfather, and
contained standard works in history, biography and general literature.
These books, together with such others as he could borrow, and the
influence of his mother, who was a woman of unusual mental power, gave
him a strong inclination for reading and study.

In October, 1857, he came to Wisconsin, stopping a few months with a
cousin in Dodge county. The following winter he taught a singing
school, and continued that occupation winters, working as a farm hand
summers. In May, 1861, he enlisted in company E, Fourth regiment, in
which he served as private during the summer of 1861, the regiment
being engage in the East Shore expedition in Virginia, guarding the
Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and also in the expedition against New
Orleans, which resulted in its capture under Gen. Butler. In July,
1862, he was discharged at New Orleans, because of disability, and
returned to his native town in New York; where, recovering his health,
he again enlisted, this time in Company A, First New York Light
artillery. This battery saw service in the Army of the Potomac and in 
the Department of the Shenadoah, under Gen. Sheridan, and was mustered 
out of service July 4th, 1865. In the following autumn he returned to 
Wisconsin, took up his residence in Columbus, engaging in the nursery 
business and hop culture. March 17th, 1870, he commenced the publication 
of The Jefferson County Union, at Lake Mills, and three years later 
removed the paper to Fort Atkinson, which has since been home, and where 
the paper is still published. In the same year he also received the 
appointment of deputy United States marshal and took the federal census 
of several neighboring towns. In 1872 he was elected justice of the 
peace, and the same year sergeant-at-arms of the state senate.

Mr. Hoard's somewhat remarkable career really had its beginning about
1871, when he commenced to devote especial attention in his paper to
dairying. He had studied the subject carefully, and believed that there
was a great future for it. He had a practical knowledge of dairying in
all its branches, and was thoroughly prepared to be a leader in the
business. He organized the Jefferson County Dairymen's association, and
also the Wisconsin State Dairymen's association, in 1872, of which he
was, three years, the secretary; and was chosen president of the
Northwestern Dairymen's association in 1878, and continued at the head
of that organization for several years. The influence of these
associations, of which Mr. Hoard has throughout been the practical
leader, has been remarkable. Before their formation, the total value of
the annual milk product of the state was only about $1,000,000, and
that of an inferior quality. Within a few years thereafter the quantity
and quality had vastly increased, until in 1895 the value had reached
the enormous sum of $30,000,000, or about double what it was a few
years before, while in the quality of the product Wisconsin was on a
par with the foremost states in the Union. AT first Mr. Hoard's
advocacy of the dairy interest was

Page 57

carried on in The Jefferson County Union as an incidental of newspaper
work, then a separate department was demanded by the growth and
importance of the industry; but at length, it demanded a separate
paper, and "Hoard's Dairyman" was launched, which was a success from
the start, and has now grown into a twenty-page, four-column quarto,
with the largest paid subscription list of any dairy paper in the
world, and its name and fame are not confined to America. For years Mr.
Hoard has been the leading lecturer on dairy matters before farmers' 
institutes, and has spoken forcibly and eloquently on his favorite
theme all over the United States and Canada.

His prominence in this great reform in matters pertaining to
agriculture, and the practical good sense displayed in his public
utterances led to the suggestion of his nomination by the Republicans,
in 1888, as candidate for governor. The suggestion was received with
favor, his nomination followed, and he was elected by a large
plurality. His administration was an excellent one, exhibiting a
comprehensive grasp of public affairs and of the responsibilities of
his position that inspired confidence and respect. His message showed
that he had been studying the important questions relating to
citizenship, and that he was not afraid to make suggestions. Among the
subjects which especially engrossed his attention was that of popular
education. It had been reported that hundreds of children in the state
were being educated solely in a foreign language, and he did not
hesitate to say that this was contrary to the spirit of American
institutions, and he recommended that a law be enacted requiring that
reading and writing in English be taught each child. In pursuance of
this suggestion, a law was passed which required that each child
between the ages of seven and fifteen years be instructed, somewhere
and somehow, in the English language at least sixty days in each year.
The law passed without objection; but soon the cry was raised that the
law aimed at the destruction of the parochial schools, and through 
appeals to religious prejudice, Gov. Hoard was defeated in his candidacy 
for re-election, and a worthy man and able and efficient official was 
relegated to private life. He retired gracefully to the promotion of his 
dairy interests, which had become extensive.

He was married February 9th, 1860, to Miss Agnes E. Bragg, daughter of
William Bragg of Lake Mills. They have three sons--Halbert L., Arthur
R. and Frank W., all associated their father in his business.

Gov. Hoard has served as president of the village of Fort Atkinson,
member of the board of supervisors of Jefferson county, and member of
the Republican state central committee. He is the president of the
National Dairy Union, which is composed of leading dairy societies of
the states and boards of trade of cities, having for its object to
secure legislation against the sale of counterfeit butter and cheese.
He is a Mason--member of the Billings Lodge, Janesville commandery, and
the Milwaukee consistory, member of the Modern Woodmen of America and
of the United Workmen.

A student of the leading industrial and political questions of the
times, Gov. Hoard has risen to prominence because he has had a message
for his fellow men. He was also a prominent candidate for the position
of secretary of agriculture in President McKinley's cabinet.

TAYLOR, William Robert.--Wisconsin has many strong characters who stand
out among their contemporaries endowed with a personality, rugged
strength and vigor peculiarly their own. These qualities were the
product partly of inheritance and partly of a condition of affairs
which has forever ceased to exist.

When Wisconsin was invaded by the pioneer, when society was scarcely
organized and there were no graded schools in which the minds of the
genius and dullard could be brought to fill the measure of mediocrity,
there was room for development of a type of men

Page 58

[image: WILLIAM ROBERT TAYLOR.]

that is, unhappily for us, fast passing away. They were strong, brainy,
intense men, with whom to think was to act. Stronger men intellectually
may be produced with our improved educational conditions, and, no
doubt, will be; but it is doubtful if Wisconsin ever produced a class
of men, of which Philetus Sawyer, William R. Taylor and Jeremiah Rusk
are types, who can do the work which the times demanded better than
they did the duty which was laid upon them.

Of all the various characters which have come to Wisconsin to assist in
developing her matchless destiny, there is none stronger in native
force, richer in solid self-acquired learning, or endowed with a
greater versatility than Hon. William R. Taylor, better known from one
end of Wisconsin to the other as the "Farmer Governor."

Though born in the United States, and in all his actions, sentiments
and feelings a typical American and a most patriotic citizen, he,
nevertheless, is of pure Scotch blood and possesses the sterling
qualities of that hardy race. He was born in Connecticut, July 10,
1820. His advent into this world was particularly sad, for he was but 
three weeks old when his mother died. Thus, bereft of all maternal care, 
he reached the edge of six years, when his father, a sea captain, was 
lost on the ocean. Left entirely to strangers, his guardianship was 
entrusted to a family of pioneer farmers who moved to Jefferson county, 
New York, at that time a wild and sparsely inhabited section. Mr. Taylor 
spent his boyhood years there, under the care of unsympathetic 
strangers, who treated him with a degree of harshness that denoted an 
absence of love or sympathy.

The entire educational advantages of our subject consisted of the
limited instruction obtainable in the district school, whither he daily
walked during the severe winter months two miles distant. Without
money, relatives or friends, his life was one of bitterness and
cheerlessness, but the spirit which forfeited his efforts encouraged
him to better his condition by leaving his unhappy surroundings and
starting to make his own way in the world. Before reaching his
sixteenth year he awakened to the necessity of an education, and for
several years he alternated at chopping wood and working in the harvest
field to obtain the requisite means to attend school. This unceasing
effort resulted in his securing a certificate of admission to the third
term of the sophomore class of Union College, at Schenectady, New York.
But, thought he had secured a good academic education, he was not
financially able to enter upon a collegiate course. On the day that the
class of which he was a member left for college to complete its
studies, Mr. Taylor went into the sugar bush, and, with his own hands
and a team to haul the wood and sap, produced during the season eleven
hundred pounds of sugar and two barrels of molasses, with which to pay
tuition and board bills already contracted. Soon after he began
teaching a select school, and later on an academy.

In 1840 he went to Elyria, Ohio, where he joined a class of forty-five
young men who were purchasing themselves to teach school.

Page 59

At that time the school authorities of La Porte, Ohio, offered an extra
price for any teacher who could manage their public school, it having
become notorious for disorder and violence. The previous winter three
teachers had undertaken the task and failed, so that the school was
entirely broken up. This was an opportunity young Taylor coveted.
During the third winter under his management it became the premium
school of the county.

We next find him running a grist mill, a saw mill and cupola furnace,
and he was regarded the best moulder of the foundry. Failing health
from overwork caused him to devote his spare time to reading medicine,
and in the winter of 1845-6 he attended a five months' course of
lectures and clinical instruction in the medical college at Cleveland,
Ohio. During his residence in Ohio he was elected captain of a company
of Ohio uniformed militia, receiving every vote of the company. Later
he was elected colonel. In the fall of 1848 Mr. Taylor came to
Wisconsin and settled on a farm in Cottage Grove, Dane county, where he
still resides. His life was for many years one of great activity and
incessant toil.

Not content with the ordinary labors of the farm, he resorted to the
pineries during the winter months, and as a workman became identified
with the hardships of that enterprising class of our population, which
has contributed so much to the wealth of the state. The result of the
severe experience we have narrated is manifest in the whole character
of the man.

During his boyhood and early manhood he was a pupil, teacher, miller,
foundryman, raftsman and lumberman by turns, and, for nearly a third of
a century a practical farmer; therefore his sympathies for the laboring
classes and his interest in the prosperity of the industrial
communities is intuitive and sincere.

Soon after Governor Taylor located at Cottage Grove his neighbors
recognized his ability and began to bestow official favors upon him,
and for forty years he has hardly been without some public duty to
perform. At times he has received nearly all the votes cast, and twice 
all the votes for chairman of his tow. He has been superintendent of 
public schools; several times chairman of the county board of 
supervisors; for seventeen years was county superintendent of the poor 
until he resigned; was appointed deputy internal revenue collector, and 
was trustee, vice-president and a member of the executive board of the 
State Hospital for the Insane from the time of its reorganization in 
1860 until he became governor in 1874. He has been a member of both 
branches of the legislature of Wisconsin. He was for seven years 
president of the Dane County Agricultural society; eight years chief 
marshal, and two years president of the Wisconsin State Agricultural 
society; and during the late war was the first man in Dane county to 
offer a bounty to volunteers for enlistment, which bounty secured four 
enlistments.

Although a Democrat, and but recently a member of the senate as a
representative of that party, Mr. Taylor came out openly for a vigorous
prosecution of the war for the Union upon the secession of the southern
states, and he was appointed by Governor Randall as a special agent of
the state of visit, St. Louis and confer with General Fremont, who was
in command of the Department of the Missouri, with respect to raising
and equipping troops to be sent from Wisconsin. His mission was
entirely successful, but before the plans agreed upon were put into
execution General Fremont was removed from command and a new order of
management instituted by the general government.

In 1873 Governor Taylor was by acclamation placed in nomination for
governor by a convention composed of "Democrats, Liberal Republicans
and other electors favorable to genuine reform through equal and
impartial legislation, honesty in office and rigid economy in the
administration of public affairs." The state was strongly Republican,
and his opponent was C. C. Washburn, then governor. He ws elected by a
majority of 15,411. The

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popularity of Mr. Taylor as a political candidate is best demonstrated
by the fact that he was the candidate of a minority party when elected
chairman of the county board of supervisors, and also when elected
member of the assembly, state senator and governor.

Mr. Taylor performed the duties of governor with remarkable skill and
ability. He has rare qualifications for the executive function,
coolness, courage and an underlying foundation of common sense and
devotion to what he believes to be right. His appointments in respect 
to the educational-reformatory and penal institutions under the care of
the state were more nearly non-partisan than it has been the good
fortune of Wisconsin ever before or since to secure. His high aim was
to secure men of peculiar fitness for the management of public affairs,
particularly the educational institutions, and thus some of the best
men in both parties, independent of pressure, importunity or attack,
were commissioned by him. The appointment of the Hon. E. G. Ryan to be
chief justice of the supreme court will forever redound to his credit.
The action of the governor in the matter of this appointment will
appear the more praise-worthy when the history of that eventful time is
recalled. Then nearly every eminent lawyer in the state was under
retainer for some one of the great railway corporations. This was
especially true of most of the prominent attorneys whose personal and
political relations to the governor caused their names to be generally
regarded among the probable recipients of the executive favor. The
great struggle for legislative control of the railways all foresaw must
soon be carried upon appeal to the highest courts, state and national.
Throughout the entire country all eyes were turned upon Wisconsin,
under its granger governor, the conceded battlefield of the momentous
conflict already begun. From the circumstances of the situation, the
governor had an important, yet very delicate, duty to perform. He at
once saw, however, that in his appointment of a chief justice he must
find some one whose legal attainments, whose personal qualifications and 
whose high character would at once defy criticism. After long and mature 
deliberation, meanwhile keeping his own counsels, even from his most  
intimate friends, the appointment of Mr. Ryan was announced. The 
selection was universally commended in all quarters. It was hailed with 
expressions of general satisfaction by all parties whose interests were 
involved in the great legal conflict then coming on. In the subsequent 
opinion of the great chief justice sustaining the principle of 
legislative control of railroads, an opinion afterward affirmed by the 
supreme court of the United States, the wisdom of Governor Taylor's 
appointment finds fullest vindication.

As just indicated, the most important work of Governor Taylor's term
was the enforcement of the so-called "Potter Law," which aimed to place
the railways under state control, limiting charges for transportation
of passengers and freight and the classification of freight.

At the outset the two chief railway corporations of the state served
formal notice upon the governor that they would not respect the
provisions of this law. Under his oath of office to support the
constitution and to "take care" that the laws be faithfully executed,
he promptly responded to the notification of the railroad companies by
a proclamation, dated May 1, 1874, in which he enjoined compliance with
the statute, declaring that all the functions of his office would be
exercised in faithfully executing the laws. "The law of the land," said
he, "must be respected and obeyed. While none are so humble as to be
beneath its protection, none are so great or so strong as to be above
its restraints." The result was an appeal to the courts, in which the
governor and his advisers were forced to confront an array of the most
formidable legal talent of the country. Upon the result in Wisconsin
depended the vitality of similar legislation in other states, and
Governor Taylor was thus compelled to bear the brunt of a controversy

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of national extent and consequence. The contention extended both to
state and United States courts, the main question involved being the
constitutional power of the state over corporations of its own
creation. In all respects the state was fully sustained in its
position, and ultimately judgments were rendered against the
corporations in all the state and federal courts, including the supreme
court of the United States, and establishing finally the complete and
absolute power of the people, through the legislature, to modify or
altogether repeal the charters of corporations.

It might be stated in this connection that Governor Taylor personally
induced Judge David Davis, a member of the United States supreme court,
to come to Wisconsin and preside at the trial of a test case. And thus
was settled by Governor Taylor and his administration a momentous issue
between the people and the corporations--an issue vitally affecting all
the commercial and agricultural interests of the state.

Among the creditable acts of his administration were those securing
$800,000 from the general government for the Fox and Wisconsin rivers
improvement in the interest of commerce and navigation; dividing the
state lands into districts, and making each timber agent responsible
for his locality, by which he recovered largely increased sums to the
trespass fund; compelling the Wisconsin Central Railway company to give
substantial assurance that the promised line from Stevens Point to
Portage should be constructed; and, by taking such prompt and decisive
action against what he believed to be a fraudulent printing claim, that
there was saved to the taxpayers of the state more than $100,000.
Furthermore, in view of the recent important litigation on behalf of
the state against the ex-treasurers for the recovery of interest money
received by them from the banks, the wisdom and foresight of Governor
Taylor are shown in a recommendation contained in both of his annual
messages to the legislature favoring either the collection of taxes
semi-annually without additional cost to the people, or providing for 
the loaning of the surplus in the general fund, obtained by taxation, at 
a fair rate of interest, thereby giving some compensation for advancing 
the money so long before needed in the public business. Had Governor 
Taylor's suggestion respecting the investment of the public funds been 
followed by the treasurers of the state, much individual mortification 
and public scandal would have been avoided during subsequent years. He 
was an active promoter of the agricultural department of the state 
university, and an ardent advocate of farmers' institutes--the 
educational benefits of which cannot be estimated.

In his last annual message Governor Taylor recommended the passage of
some law rendering railway companies liable for injury to their
employees resulting from the negligence of co-employees. His
recommendation in this regard was embodied in a bill subsequently
passed and known as the "Co-employee law," a wholesome measure designed
to afford greater security to the lives of the railway employees and of
the traveling public as well. He also recommended that in large cities
the polls of election should be held open longer in the evening, so
that working men could vote without much loss of time.

Governor Taylor instituted suit against a multi-millionaire lumber
company to recover damages for its trespasses upon the public lands,
and his agents secured proof which was deemed by able counsel ample and
positive to recover several hundred thousand dollars; but the six years
statute of limitation had already run against all but about $250,000.
This great company, with its 2,000 employees, more or less, put forth
strenuous efforts to prevent his re-election; that result having been
attained, the suit was so defaulted and frittered away that little or
nothing was ever realized by the state from the litigation. Within this
time the conflict between Wisconsin and Minnesota as to the inlet to
Superior harbor reached a crisis, and under his direction the suits
involving certain rights in dispute were successfully prosecuted

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in the federal and supreme courts, but the advantages gained for the
state were subsequently lost by compromise or neglect after the close
of his term. All these are conspicuous examples of vigor and efficiency
in the administration of public affairs during Governor Taylor's term,
rarely equaled and never excelled in the history of the state.

His administration was a reformatory one. Its members started in by
paying their own inauguration expenses--a privilege not exercised
before in many years, if ever, in the state. Governor Taylor set
another example by accepting no railroad passes or telegraph deadheads
during his term of office. During his incumbency, and at his earnest
recommendation, appropriations were cut down, the rate of taxation
diminished, the number of department employee lessened, the expenses of
government curtailed in many ways, and the total disbursements for
state purposes reduced by many thousands of dollars below what they had
been in many years (by careful computation, all other conditions being
equal, the legitimate amount, from the records, was about $270,000
during his term), and yet no public interest suffered for the want of
an expenditure of money.

It remains to be said that Governor Taylor devoted his undivided
attention and energies to the public service, attending personally to
minute details and the manifold labors of his office--he was governor
in fact, not merely in name; and among the long roll of governors, none
brought to the discharge of official duties a clearer integrity of
purpose or more sturdy devotion to the public welfare than W. R.
Taylor, the "Farmer Governor."

In 1842, he wedded Miss Catherine Hurd, by whom he has had three
daughters, one of whom died at the age of four years, and another of
whom became the wife of ex-State Senator Robert M. Bashford. The third
daughter, who is still living, is the wife of I. W. Kanouse. Mrs.
Taylor died some years ago. July 1, 1886, Governor Taylor married Viola
Titus, a native of Vermont, but then living in Madison. They are the
parents of one child, William Robert, Jr.

In concluding this biography, a brief history of his election and
administration is proper. The contest in which his party was victorious
and the criticism to which the election was subjected properly belong
to history. It was indeed one of the most remarkable victories ever won
in the state. On his election the Republican press of the state was,
with few exception, exceedingly fair. In conceded his ability and
disposition to make his administration an able one. But there were here
and there, in this regard, exceptions that arose entirely from
partisanship or personal interest. In the midst of this criticism there
was a powerful current of public opinion which found expression alike
in both Democratic and Republican newspapers in able support of the
governor. Colonel C. D. Robinson, former secretary of state, the able
editor of The Green Bay Advocate, made the following remark upon the
election of Governor Taylor: "No man in the state exceeds him in
personal independence, in ability to determine his own line of conduct
on any question and in the sturdy determination to act according to his
own judgement. It has been our good fortune to be connected with him in
official service for many years--that of the management of the State
Hospital for Insane. At Madison--and we have learned long ago to admire
him for these qualities. That board consisted of fifteen members, a
majority of whom were of opposite politics, and we do know that every
one will endorse what we say of him. In practical ability, thorough
honesty, steadiness of character and native independence, Governor
Taylor will prove the peer of any governor which Wisconsin has ever
had, and that is saying a good deal; for looking along the list of our
chief executives since this state has had a being, it shows a record
second at least to no western state, if indeed in the Union. He loses
nothing in comparison with Dodge, Dewey, Farwell, Barstow, Bashford,
Randall, Harvey, Salomon,

Page 63

Lewis, Fairchild or Washburn. Most, if not all, of these are
illustrious names, remarkable, perhaps, more for their practical
executive ability and sterling worth than exalted learning and
brilliant attainments, and they form a record of which any state might
be proud. When William R. Taylor's name shall have gone into the past
with them, it takes an honorable place and second to none in the
assembly." And now that the record has been made, what may we say of
the emphatic prediction of Mr. Robinson? Have not all his words been
more than fulfilled? and does not the name of William R. Taylor take an
honorable place in the impartial history of Wisconsin? These questions
may be best answered by the following editorial from The Milwaukee
Daily News: "Parties and men of all opinions at Madison agree that
Governor Taylor has made one of the best governors Wisconsin ever had.
Called to the office in a great crisis in politics, at a time when a
party, after being in power for more than fifteen years, had retired
and a new party had taken its place, he was surrounded by obstacles,
embarrassments, conflicting interests and novel situations from which
the highest political skill and adroitness could hardly extricate him
without his falling into some error or mistakes. But Governor Taylor,
with a readiness, adroitness, adaptability and force hardly to be
expected of one in his place, and surrounded by circumstances like his,
has developed an executive of rare capacity, with an understanding of
the most intricate public interests, and with grasp and comprehension
of all the matters vital to the people, which shows a mind of the
highest order and practical ability equal to that of the most
distinguished of his predecessors."

Such is the life of one of Wisconsin's most illustrious men. His
honorable enterprise and unselfish devotion to every public and private
duty have wonderfully impressed the people of Wisconsin. When his term
of office expired he was accorded a unanimous renomination by
acclamation from the convention of his party. Through the efforts of the 
combined railroad interests, the corporate powers of the state acting 
with the opposite party, he was defeated at the polls by a bare 
plurality of a few hundred votes; but no one familiar with the history 
of that time will deny that the strength and popularity of his name 
among the people were the efficient means of electing his associates 
upon the Democratic ticket. The governor, however, retired from office 
with manifold assurances of the confidence and love of the common 
people, for the establishment of whose rights he had bravely fought and 
nobly won. It is meager praise to say, that no Wisconsin governor ever 
accomplished more for the people than he, and this, too, amidst the most 
adverse circumstances. More enduring than monumental brass or marble, 
his complete vindication can be read in the opinions of every court, 
state or national, that during those eventful years passed upon the 
question of the people's right to control the corporations they had 
created.--Columbian Biographical Dictionary.

UPHAM, William H., ex-governor of Wisconsin, was born in Westminster,
Massachusetts, on the 3rd of May, 1841. He traces his ancestry back in
direct line to John Upham of Somersetshire, England, who came to this
country in 1635, and settled in Weymouth, Mass. W. H. Upham received
his primary education in his native village, and when eleven years of
age came west with his father's family to Niles, Michigan. There his
father died, and the family came on to Racine. In the last named place
young Upham continued his studies until the outbreak of the civil war,
when he became a soldier in the Second Wisconsin infantry. He took part
with his regiment in the first battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, was
shot through the lungs and left for dead on the field of battle. The
report of his death reached his home, the papers published eulogies of
him and an eloquent funeral sermon

Page 64

[image: WILLIAM H. UPHAM.]

was preached in one of the Racine churches. Seven months after the
battle he was discovered in Libby prison in Richmond. He had been found
on the battle field, not dead, as his comrades had supposed, but
seriously though not fatally wounded, and carried off to a hospital,
where he recovered and was then held as a prisoner of war. After months
of prison life, he was paroled, and went to Washington. President
Lincoln, hearing of his wonderful experiences, sent for him in the hope
of gaining important information from him concerning affairs in the
south, and such information young Upham gave. The president was so
pleased with the bearing of the young man that he procured for him an
appointment to the West Point military academy, from which he graduated
with honor, after completing the regular course of study, and was 
commissioned lieutenant in the regular army. At the end of ten years of
service in the army. Lieutenant Upham resigned his commission, and
returned home.

Almost immediately upon returning to civil life he became interested in
the lumbering business at Marshfield, Wisconsin, built a
saw-mill, and later established a furniture factory, opened a large
general store, and was one of the organizers of the First National
bank, of which he was chosen president. In addition to these he
operates a large planning mill, a machine shop, and a very extensive
flouring mill. June 27th, 1887, Marshfield was almost entirely
destroyed by fire, and the homeless inhabitants were in despair. Though
the heaviest loser, Major Upham was not discouraged, but announced that
the little city should be rebuilt; and by the first of January
following sixty-two substantial brick blocks were built and occupied,
and the city was again started on a career of industrial progress. His
work in this dark hour in the town's history shows most clearly the
courage and unconquerable spirit of the man under the most adverse
circumstances.

Major Upham married Miss Mary C. Kelley, an accomplished and benevolent
lady of Quaker ancestry, and they have two daughters.

He has retained a lively interest in military affairs, is a member of
the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic, has been commander of
the latter for the Department of Wisconsin, and was once a member of
the board of visitors to the naval academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

He has been long an active and earnest Republican, and has rendered his
party great service in its campaigns. He was the Republican candidate
for governor in 1894, and was elected by the then unprecedented
plurality of 53,869. His popularity among his neighbors was shown by
the fact that although his county. Wood, gave a Democratic plurality in
1892, of 441, in 1894 it gave Major Upham a plurality of 1,123.

Toward the close of Gov. Upham's term he made public announcement that
he should not be candidate for renomination, and this the nomination
went to Major Scofield.

Upon the expiration of his tern of office, Gov. Upham cheerfully
retired from his official duties to resume again the active control of
his extensive business at Marshfield.

Page 65

SAWYER, Philetus.--Of the men who have risen from comparatively humble
station to the most exalted positions, and whose influence in many of
the walks of life has been commensurate with official station, there
are few, if any, who have been so conspicuous as the man whose name
stands at the head of this sketch. Philetus Sawyer was born in Rutland
county, Vermont, September 22nd, 1816. When this boy was only about a
year old his father removed with his family from Vermont to Essex
county, New York, locating at Crown Point, the place made historic by
the exploit of Ethan Allen in 1775. The elder Sawyer was a farmer and
blacksmith of very scanty means, who had become impoverished by
endorsing the notes of men of small resources and less honesty. This
man, however, had no inconsiderable resources in the form of five
muscular boys, who became a source of revenue to their father rather
than a burden. One of these, Philetus, was a vigorous, ambitious young
fellow, who early made himself useful about the farm. He made the most
of his meager educational opportunities, consisting of a three months'
term of a primitive school in winter, but it laid the foundation for
solid work in after years--work which lifted its possessor to seats
beside the ablest and wisest in the councils of the nation.

When a mere youth young Sawyer worked in summer for six dollars per
month. In the Adirondack woods near his home he worked at lumbering, 
and in the rude saw-mills of the region he got his first ideas of the
business from which he afterward won his great fortune.

At the age of seventeen young Sawyer was a strong and vigorous youth,
ambitious and self-reliant, and anxious to begin the making of his own
way in life. So he bought his time of his father for the remaining four
years of his minority, borrowing the money therefor, $100, from an
older brother. Before the time had expired he had paid the borrowed
money and given himself two more terms of the district school from his
savings as a mill hand. His

[image: PHILETUS SAWYER.]

business tact was soon apparent in his operating the mill under
contract. Ten years of industry and careful management sufficed to give
him a capital of some $2,000, no inconsiderable sum for those times. In
1841, when twenty-five years old, he was married to Melvina M. Hadley,
a young lady of the vicinity, who, all through his stirring and
remarkable career, was a true helpmeet to him.

In 1847, with his family of wife and two sons, he came west, purchased
a farm in Fond du Lac county, and settled upon it with the purpose of
becoming a farmer. But he was not destined for a farmer; two years of
short crops changed his course. He saw the promise of the great pine
forests on the Wolf river, and his mind was made up for the other work.
The farm was sold, and Mr. Sawyer, in 1849, took up his residence in
Algoma, now in the city of Oshkosh. He plunged at once into the
lumbering business, first running a mill on a contract, then purchased
it, formed a partnership with Messrs, Brand & Olcott, lumbermen of Fond
du Lac, and so on until he was the chief man in the business. His
operations in lumber extended over all the northern part of the 

Page 66

state, and he probably owned more pine lands than any one man in the
country. His business sagacity never failed him, and his energy and
enterprise were unexcelled. The details of his business are too
extensive to be incorporated in this sketch; suffice it to say that he
never made a serious mistake in all his operations.

In 1856 his political career may be said to have begun; in that year he
was elected to the legislature on the Republican ticket, although prior
to that he had been nominally a Democrat. In the business of
legislation he at once showed the same comprehensive grasp that had
characterized his business career. As a legislator he was influential
and popular from the start, so much so that this constituents wished to
re-elect him; but he declined the service on account of the pressure of
his business. In 1860, however, he was again elected, and showed that
he was possessed of first-class legislative ability and was a man for
the troublous times then approaching. In 1863-4 he was mayor of
Oshkosh, and was instrumental in compromising the railroad indebtedness
of the city on very favorable terms, and in other ways rendered the
public great service. Meanwhile he had been repeatedly talked of for
representative in congress, but he refused the position until 1864,
when he accepted the Republican nomination, was elected and took his
seat December, 1865; and was four times re-elected. During this long
service in one of the most exciting times in the history of the country
he was one of the wisest and most influential representatives in
congress. James G. Blaine, in his "Twenty Years of Congress," speaks of
him in the highest terms, and so did every one who knew of his labors
and their value. At the end of his fifth term Mr. Sawyer voluntarily
retired from the position which he had so long honored by close and
self-sacrificing labors. In 1880 he had designed going to Europe with
his family, but it became evident that he was wanted in the United
States senate, and he gave up the trip, and was elected with
comparatively little opposition, and re-elected in 1887 with no 
opposition whatever. In the senate he soon assumed the same influential 
position that he held in the house. Not a speaker in any sense, he came 
to be known as one of the best- posted men in that body on legislation, 
and one whose influence was unquestioned. When he made a positive 
statement as to the character of a bill and its effect if passed, it was 
conclusive, both for the men of his own party and for his political 
opponents.

Many anecdotes are told if his kindness to those who were long in his
employ, of his generous and unselfish devotion to his friends, his
readiness to yield what were his rights to congressional associates and
friends, and of the great service rendered worthy applicants for
legislative recognition in those channels where wearisome work is done
and of which the public knows little, and for which there is no reward
save an approving conscience.

Mrs. Sawyer, a true partner of her distinguished husband for forty-
seven years, died, after a lingering illness, in 1888. Kind and
benevolent, she was her husband's wise and ready almoner of many of his
bounties, and his counselor through all his marvelous career. Of
friends she had many in all the walks of life, for she was not
ostentatious in any of her relations to them.

A son, Edgar P. Sawyer, long associated with his father in business,
and a daughter, Mrs. W. O. Goodman of Chicago, are Mr. Sawyer's only
surviving children. A son and daughter died in infancy, and a married
daughter, Mrs. Howard G. White of Syracuse, New York, died a few months
ago.

Mr. Sawyer has in all his relations to his fellow-men been a most
useful citizen, as may be gathered from this rapid sketch. His
benevolences have been almost numberless, embracing religious,
educational, social industrial objects, to say nothing of those of a
merely personal character. He is one of the rare men whose life work
has been most useful to his fellow-men and whose deeds will live to
bless long after he has passed away.

Page 67

CASWELL, Lucien Beal, for fourteen years member of the National House
of Representatives, and known throughout the state as a leader among
our public men in a critical time in our national history, is the son
of Beal and Betsy Chapman Caswell, and was born at Swanton, Vt.,
November 27th, 1827. The Caswells have been more or less conspicuous in
New England for generations. His father was a farmer, and died when the
son was but three years old. His maternal grandfather was a soldier in
the revolutionary army. His mother married for her second husband
Augustus Churchill; and, in 1837, the family moved to Wisconsin and
took up their residence in Rock county, when Indians were more numerous
than white people, and Mr. Caswell, though not yet an aged man, has
therefore seen the whole of the marvelous development of the state, in
whose public affairs he has been so conspicuous a figure. Coming to
this new country when he was but 9 years of age, the boy acquired a
thorough knowledge of work, but had scanty opportunities for securing
anything like a liberal education. By persistent efforts of self-
culture, however, he entered Milton academy, and afterward was a
student for a few terms in Beloit College, which institution has since
conferred upon him the honorary degree of A. M. At the age of twenty-
three he began the study of law with the late Senator Matt. H.
Carpenter, and in 1851 was admitted to the bar. In the following year
he began the practice of law in Fort Atkinson, which has ever since
been his home. His practice has extended to the various courts of the
state, and to the district, circuit and supreme courts of the United
States, embracing many and varied cases of importance.

In 1855 and 1856 he was district attorney, and in 1863 he became a
member of the lower house of the legislature, in which there was but
the meager Republican majority of three, and the progress of
legislation in aid of the national government in its struggle with the
rebellion was slow and beset with difficulties;

[image: LUCIEN BEAL CASWELL.]

yet Mr. Caswell's efforts in behalf of the general government and the
Union soldiers were patriotic, unremitting and efficient. From
September, 1863, to May, 1865, he was commissioner of the Second
District Board of Enrollment, and was active in the work of recruiting
the army. In 1868 he was a delegate to the Republican national
convention at Chicago, where Grant was first nominated for president.
In 1872 and 1874 he was again a member of the state assembly. So
efficient was the discharge of his legislative duties that he began to
be talked of as a suitable man for congress, and in the fall of 1874 he
was nominated and elected by the Republicans of the Second district to
the House of Representatives of the Forty-fourth Congress, and three
times re-elected in that district. In 1882, by reason of a
redistricting of the state, his county was assigned to the First
district, and that year he was not a candidate. He was, however,
returned to the Forty-ninth, Fiftieth and Fifty-first congresses,
making fourteen years of service, with but one hiatus, the longest time
that any one from Wisconsin has served in the house. With a natural
aptitude for legislation,

Page 68

he very soon took a prominent position among the working members of the
house, and came to be known as one who had a firm grasp of its business
and one whose judgment could be relied upon as based on an intelligent
comprehension of the scope of any proposed legislation. Although not
given to brilliant rhetoric, his speeches always commanded attention
and exerted an influence by reason of the clearness and force with
which they presented the question at issue. Among the important bills
which he supported, and which were passed largely through his influence
while a member of the committees on the judiciary and appropriations,
were the Centennial appropriation, the Texas Pacific railroad as a
competing line to the Pacific Coast, an amendment to the post-office
appropriation bill, which he had in charge, reducing letter postage
from three to two cents; also the bill creating the circuit court of
appeals for the relief of the supreme court, and the bill refunding to
the states $15,500,000 of war taxes, of which he was the author, and
from which Wisconsin received $444,000. In the Fifty-first congress he
was chairman of the committee on private land claims, reported and
secured the enactment of the law establishing the court for
adjudicating the Spanish grants in the western territory. Many other
important measures of wide and varied scope received his earnest
support; and, in brief, it may be said that his long service in
congress was due to the fact that his constituents realized that few,
if any, could serve them and the country at large so efficiently as he.

In local affairs he has been an active, enterprising and most useful
citizen. He was one of the founders of the First National Bank of Fort
Atkinson, in 1863, of which he was for twenty-five years cashier, and
is now vice-president. He organized the Northwestern Manufacturing
company, which now has a capital stock of $200,000, and the Citizens'
State Bank, which was opened in 1884. These institutions have been of
great benefit to the citizens of Fort Atkinson and vicinity, and his
active part in their creation shows his public spirit and business
sagacity.

Mr. Caswell was married on the 7th of August, 1855, to Miss Elizabeth
H. May of Fort Atkinson, who died January 31st, 1890. Six children
survive her: Chester A., cashier of the Citizens' State Bank; Isabelle,
wife of Guy L. Cole of Beloit; Lucien B., Jr., cashier of the First
National Bank of Fort Atkinson; George Walter, book-keeper for the
Northwestern Manufacturing company; Elizabeth May, married to Dr. F. J.
Perry of Fort Atkinson, and Harlow O., recently graduated from Rush
Medical College of Chicago.

Mr. Caswell has traveled extensively, having made several visits to the
Pacific coast, and, in 1891, in company with his sons Chester and
Harlow, he visited Europe and made an extended tour of Great Britain
and the Continent.

BUCKSTAFF, George Angus, speaker of the legislative assembly, is a
native of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he was born December 22nd, 1861,
and where he has lived all his life. His father, John Buckstaff, is a
retired lumberman, in good financial circumstances, who came to
Wisconsin from New Brunswick in 1849. His first winter after reaching
the state was spent in making cedar shingles by hand in a swamp in what
is now Washington county. His winter's work was one hundred thousand
shingles, for which he received four hundred dollars. He then returned
to his New Brunswick home, and, in 1851, removed to Oshkosh, where he
has since resided. The Buckstaff's, or, as the name was originally
spelled, Bickerstaff, are of English ancestry. John Buckstaff, Sr.,
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, fought on the English side
in the war of 1812-14, and was wounded at the battle of Lundy's Lane,
and carried a Yankee buckshot in his leg all the rest of his life. He
was a resident of Oshkosh from 1851 to 1884, when he died at the age of
eighty-seven. Mr. Buckstaff's mother's maiden name

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was Sarah Hopkins, of the same family as Stephen Hopkins, a signer of
the Declaration of Independence. The family is an old New England one,
connected with another one of note named Bartlett.

G. A. Buckstaff was educated in the public schools of Oshkosh, the
University of Wisconsin, and in the Columbia Law School of New York. He
speaks of the educational influence of Dr. John Bascom, president of
the university when he was there, and of Dean Theodore Dwight of the
law school, as more powerful than any other which he has experienced.
The former was aggressive, had no tact or policy--he hewed to the line
and expected every one else to do the same. Prof. Dwight, he says, was
the greatest teacher of law that this country has ever had. His fine
exposition of law questions and the principles underlying all law were
impressive, and had much to do with shaping the young man's views of
many of the vital questions of life. Mr. Buckstaff took a two years'
course in the state university. Graduating from this, he went into the
law department and completed that course in 1886, and thence to
Columbia Law School, where he finished the course the same year.

Upon leaving college he became connected with the Buckstaff-Edwards
company, which is engaged in the manufacture of furniture, etc., and in
this business he is still engaged.

He is also interested in dairy farming.

Mr. Buckstaff is a Republican, but never held an office until he was
elected to the Wisconsin legislature, in 1894, from the Third district
of Winnebago county. The last reapportionment put him into the First
district, from which he was returned to the assembly for the session of
1897. He received the Republican nomination for speaker over a number
of other able men, and was elected, the Republicans having the largest
majority ever sent to the legislature. His interest in legislation is
general, but educational, municipal and the game bills have received
his special attention.

[image: GEORGE ANGUS BUCKSTAFF.]

He is a Mason, a Knight of Pythias, a Hoo Hoo, Elk, and of the college
society Phi Delta Theta. He was married to Florence Tyng Griswold of
Columbus, Wisconsin, May 8th, 1888, and they have three children. Mrs.
Buckstaff graduated from the Wisconsin University in 1886, taking the
first honors. She afterward took post-graduate work at Harvard College,
and was awarded the degree of M. A. by the University of Wisconsin.

ANSON, Frank Amos, one of Milwaukee's wholesale merchants, who owns and
occupies a pretty residence at No. 1621 Grand avenue, was born in Peru,
Clinton county, N. Y., March 8th, 1844. His father, Edward Anson, a
steamboat pilot in moderate circumstances, married Helen M. Hayes, and
the ancestors of both families are traceable to the first settlers of
the New England states, and embrace those who were valiant soldiers in
the wars for securing and maintaining the liberties of the country.
Young Anson received his education in the little red brick school-
house, and, from the age of thirteen to sixteen was a

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[image: FRANK AMOS ANSON.]

sailor on the lakes. After that experience he became a clerk in a
general store in Montpelier, Vt. From this employment he went into the
army for the preservation of the Union, enlisting, in the fall of 1863,
as a private in the First artillery, Eleventh Vermont regiment, and
served in the old Vermont brigade, which suffered the heaviest loss in
killed and wounded of any brigade in the Union Army. It was the Second
brigade, Second division of the Sixth army corps, Army of the Potomac.
The brigade also served in the Shenandoah valley under Gen. Sheridan.
Young Anson participated in the battles of Spottsylvania and Cold
Harbor, the several battles about Petersburg, Fort Stevens and
Appomattox--which witnessed the end of the war and the collapse of the
Confederacy. He was promoted successively from the ranks to regimental
commissary sergeant; to regimental quartermaster-sergeant; to second
lieutenant, Battery C, First artillery, Eleventh Vermont regiment; to
first lieutenant, Battery A, same regiment, and to adjutant of the
regiment. These promotions were won and received in less than two
years' service--a record which shows the ability, courage and fidelity 
of the young man in a very conspicuous manner. He was mustered out of 
service September 1st, 1865, when twenty-one years of age. Charles H. 
Anson, an older brother of F. A., enlisted in the same regiment with 
him, also as a private, and was promoted through the various grades to 
major and A. D.C. on a major-general's staff. Two of his commissions 
were given by the president and approved by the United States senate 
"for gallant and meritorious services." He has also served as a member 
of the assembly.

During the years 1866-7, Frank A. was engaged in business in Whitehall,
N.Y., but in the spring of 1868 the brothers Anson came to Milwaukee,
and, July 1st following, engaged in the wholesale grocery business
under the firm name of Anson Brothers, and this business has been
continued to the present time.

In the fall of 1894, F.A. Anson was the Republican candidate for the
assembly from the Fourth district of Milwaukee county, and was elected
by a large majority. He was appointed by Gov. Peck on the legislative
visiting committee. Upon the organization of the assembly he was
appointed chairman of the important committee on cities; and although
many bills came before the committee, all were carefully considered, as
is everything passing through his hands, and every recommendation made
by the committee was approved whether it was for amendment or passage
as introduced, or for indefinite postponement. He also served on other
important committees--notably the appointment committee and the
committee on charitable and penal institutions. Among the bills which
he introduced and which he was instrumental in having passed, were
those appropriating money for a new building for the Industrial School
for Girls, and for current expenses, new buildings, etc., for the state
charitable and penal institutions. So satisfactory was his record
during his first session that he was renominated without any serious
opposition and re-elected by more than two to one for

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his opponent. His committee positions were the same as in the first
session, and the duties thereof were performed with like ability and
fidelity, his experience in the first adding materially to his prestige
and to his influence in the second. He rendered the same service to the
state institutions and to the semi-state institution, the Industrial
School for Girls. He was a prominent candidate for speaker of the
assembly at the session of 1897, receiving forty-three votes in the
nominating caucus, or only three less than the number required to
nominate.

Mr. Anson has always been a pronounced Republican, and always ready to
aid the party in its campaigns. He has been chairman of the ward
committee and a delegate to state conventions. He is a member of the
E.B. Wolcott Post, No. 1, G.A.R., and of the military order of the
Loyal Legion of the United States, in which order he has held the
position of chairman of the council, treasurer and senior vice-
commander.

Mr. Anson was married in June, 1874, to Mollie A. Griswold of
Whitehall, N. Y.

SOMERS, Peter J., lawyer, ex-mayor of Milwaukee, and ex-congressman
from the Fourth district of Wisconsin, was born in Menomonee, Waukesha
county, Wisconsin on the 12th of April, 1850. His parents were both
born in Ireland, but came to this country in 1837. Landing in New York
City, they tarried there for a brief time, and then came on to
Wisconsin and settled at Menomonee, Waukesha county, where they
continued to reside for the remainder of their lives. Young Somers, as
is the case with nearly all western farmer's boys, spend his boyhood
alternately working on the farm and attending the district school.
This, in most cases, is a fortunate thing for boys, since in that way
they again robust health, a strong physical frame, and, if at all
observing, learn many things not found in the text books of a college
course. A practical knowledge

[image: PETER J. SOMERS.]

of agriculture and its kindred employments does not fail to broaden any
boy who does not make it the sole ambition and aim in life; besides he
gains much information which is found useful in any every occupation.

With that quickness of mind for which the people of Irish descent are
remarkable, young Somers made the most of his educational
opportunities, and when he left the public school, he had a fair
practical education. But he was not satisfied with this; he attended
the Whitewater Normal School for three years, and also an academy in
Waukesha, and with this schooling he was better prepared to begin the
struggle of life than many men who have entered what are termed, with
something of irony it would seem, "the learned professions." Young
Somers, in 1872, began the study of law in the office of E.G. Ryan in
Milwaukee. He could hardly have chosen a better preceptor, for Ryan was
not only a great lawyer, but a great man besides. In addition to legal
lore, he had a fine command of language, was learned in literature
ancient and modern, and was one of the great orators of his time; and a
young and ardent student could hardly

Page 72

fail of being greatly and favorably influenced by such a personality.
It was so with Mr. Somers. At the end of the usual course of reading,
he was admitted to the bar, and engaged in the practice of his
profession. He very soon assumed a very prominent position at the bar
for a man of his age, and in 1882 was elected city attorney of
Milwaukee, and held the office for two years. In the spring of 1890 he
was elected to the common council from his ward, by a very large
majority, though the ward had been represented by a Republican.
Although he had not before held a position in a legislative body, he
was unanimously elected president of the council. In the fall of the
same year Geo. W. Peck, then mayor of the city, was elected governor,
and to the vacancy thus created in the office of mayor, Mr. Somers was
unanimously nominated by the Democratic convention, and elected by one
of the largest majorities ever given to a candidate for that office.
Mr. Somers, with great unanimity, received a re-nomination for the
mayoralty in 1892, and was re-elected by another large majority. Before
the expiration of his full term, however, he was nominated and elected
to congress from the Fourth district, to fill the term for which John
L. Mitchell had been elected the fall before, but upon which he never
entered, on account of his having been elected United States senator.
As the end of his term approached, Mr. Somers announced that he would
not be a candidate for re-election, and when his term expired, March,
4th, 1895, he retired to private life.

Mrs. Somers has many of the elements of a successful and popular public
man; and, had he chosen to remain in public life, and but for the
changing phases of political affairs, there is little doubt that he
would have had a long lease of political power. His success in
business, particularly that of real estate, in which he acquired a
handsome property, doubtless rendered political life, with its
uncertainties and excitement, less desirable than it otherwise would
have been. However, he is still a comparatively young man, and he may 
yet, if he chooses, enter again the political field with fair prospects 
of attaining prominence and power herein.

Mr. Somers was married, in 1873, to Miss Catharine F. Murphy, a native
of Milwaukee, and a most worthy woman in all the relations of life,
especially those which pertain to the higher domestic and social
duties. To Mr. and Mrs. Somers have been born eight children five boys
and three girls. The parents are Catholics, and the children are being
educated in that faith.

BURROWS, George B., long a resident of Madison, and ex-state senator
and ex-speaker of the assembly, was born in Springfield, Windsor
county, Vermont on the 20th of November, 1832. His ancestors were of
that sturdy stock that, first in New England, and afterward throughout
the northern states, left their lasting impress upon all the
institutions of the country, and thus built them a monument "more
enduring than brass." Mr. Burrows' father was the Rev. Baxter Burrows
of the Baptist denomination, a native of Massachusetts, and a pioneer
of Vermont in both civil and religious matters, and an ardent
abolitionist who suffered persecutions as such. The maiden name of Mr.
Burrows' mother was Lydia, daughter of Capt. Jewett Boynton, an honored
soldier in the revolution. She was a native of Vermont. Mr. Borrows'
received a thorough common school education, and, after that, by his
own industrious, persevering efforts, he secured the means to pay for
an academic course. After finishing his academic studies, he spent
several years as a clerk in country stores; and, in 1853, embarked in
business in New York City. There he remained until 1858, when he
removed to Wisconsin, and engaged in banking is Sauk City. In 1865 he
removed to Madison and engaged extensively in real estate business,
extending over the entire northwest. In this business he has achieved
marked success.

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Mr. Burrows has always taken a lively interest in political affairs,
and has acted consistently and steadily with the Republican party. In
1876 he was elected a member of the state senate from the Madison
district; and so satisfactory was his course in that body that he was
retained seven consecutive sessions. In the last year he was chosen
president pro tem. of the senate. His service was not merely
perfunctory, as is that of too any of our law-makers, but characterized
by an intelligent scrutiny of the measures which were presented for the
consideration of the senate, and by careful, conservative action
thereon. In 1894 Mr. Burrows was elected to the assembly, and was
nominated, by acclamation, in the Republican caucus, for speaker, and
the house promptly ratified the nomination. At the special session held
in the spring of 1896 he was re-elected speaker without opposition. His
service as presiding officer was very generally, approved, and had he
been elected for another term there is little doubt that he would have
again been placed in the speaker's chair. The journals of the state
have spoken in unmeasured terms of approval of his political career and
to the ability which he displayed therein, both as a legislator and a
speaker.

Mr. Burrows was married on the 13th of January, 1857, to Alma Thompson,
daughter of Judge D. P. Thompson of Montpelier, Vt., representative of
a distinguished Massachusetts family, whose grandfather fell at the
battle of Lexington. Mr. Thompson was not only a lawyer and jurist of
fine attainments and wide experience, but also held several high
political offices, and was a novelist of rare abilities. Among his
novels may be mentioned "The Green Mountain Boys," "Locke Amsden," "The
Rangers, or the Tory's Daughter," and a number of others, all of which
have had a wide reading.

There was born to Mr. and Mrs. Burrows, in December, 1865, one son
George Thompson Burrows, who is now first assistant in the law
department of the Illinois Steel company, Chicago.

[image: GEORGE B. BURROWS.]

Mr. Burrows has for many years been a curator of the State Historical
society, and is a member of the Board of State Library Building
Commissioners; and in many ways he has served the public interests both
of the capital city and the state.

ADAMS, Henry C., state dairy and food commissioner, and at present a
resident of Madison, was born in Verona, Oneida county, New York, on
the 28th of November, 1850. He came to Wisconsin before reaching his
majority, and his first work here was on a farm. He had, however, a
desire for an education, and all the leisure time that he could secure
was devoted to study. He attended the public school near his home, when
it was practicable, and afterward took a year's course in Albion
Academy. This was followed by a three years' course in the state
university. After completing his educational course, he engaged in the
dairy and fruit business near Madison, and continued in it until 1889,
when he became interested in real estate. He was a member of the state
assembly in 1883, and

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[image: HENRY C. ADAMS.]

1885, and was appointed superintendent of public property by Governor
Hoard in 1889, and served for two years. Upon the accession of Governor
Upham, Mr. Adams was appointed state dairy and food commissioner, and
reappointed by Gov. Scofield. In this office he has done excellent work
for all those interested in dairying and in pure food, among the latter
of which should be classed every individual. Mr. Adams is an educated
man and a practical farmer, and thus well equipped for the responsible
duties which he has to discharge. His knowledge of all the departments
of farm work, and his interest in them, rendered his appointment
peculiarly acceptable to all those interested in any way in
agricultural matters. He was engaged in farm institute work for three
years, and was one of the most popular and successful conductors
engaged in that work. He was secretary of the State Horticultural
society for two years, president of the State Dairymen's association
for three years, and member of the State Board of Agricultural for
eight years. He has been efficient in enforcing the provisions of the
law against food adulterations, so far especially as
relate to the products of the farm and the dairy; and it was due in no
small measure to his efforts that this law was enacted. He was one of
the committee of the National Dairy union which went to Washington, and
did effective work in behalf of the bill against filled cheese.

Mr. Adams has been a Republican since he was old enough to vote, but
his active work in behalf of the party began in the campaign of 1880,
and he has continued that work in every campaign of importance since.
He has been a member of many state and congressional conventions, and
was a delegate-at-large to the national convention in 1888. He is man
of great energy, a clear, forcible and even eloquent speaker on
political questions, and in the controversy over the currency question
in 1896 was an effective speaker against the theory of the free coinage
of silver.

Mr. Adams was married, in 1878, to Anna B. Norton of Madison, and they
have four children--two boys and two girls.

McGILLIVRAY, James John, state senator from the Thirty-first district,
and a resident of Black River Falls, is the son of Donald McGillivray,
who was a merchant and farmer, but was educated for the ministry. He
served seven years in the British army, and his last battle was the
famous one of Waterloo, where the Duke of Wellington gained one of the
greatest victories of modern times. The maiden name of the senator's
mother was Elizabeth Doody, the daughter of Christian parents, whose
ancestors were merchants and farmers. J. J. McGillivray was born June
16th, 1848, on a farm--Mal-Baie--county of Gaspe, Canada East, and
received his education in the common school. He then learned the trade
of carpenter and builder and was educated for an architect, in both of
which occupations he was thoroughly instructed, and has had extensive
experience, having had large numbers of men under him, both in building
and manufacturing. He came to

Page 75

Black River Falls in November, 1866, and since that time has made it
his home. His present business is the manufacture of sash, doors,
blinds and all kinds of wooden building material, and he has been
successful in all his business enterprises--has been a stockholder in
two banks and a director in one.

Politically he is a thorough Republican, and has been very active in
the councils and campaigns of his party. He has been chairman of the
county Republican committee, and its secretary for many years. His
first vote was cast for General Grant for president, and since then his
votes have been steadily given to the candidates of that party. He was
elected to the state assembly in 1890 and re-elected in 1892. In 1894
his constituents promoted him to the state senate, and this position he
still holds. As a legislator Senator McGillivray is known as alert in
his following of the course of legislation, and as an indefatigable
worker. While in the assembly he introduced and secured the passage of
the following bills: Against trusts, exempting wide-tired wagons from
taxation, reducing the interest on taxsale certificates from 25 per
cent to 15. Since he has been in the senate he has secured the passage
of bills as follows: Labeling prison-made goods, exempting beet sugar
factories from taxation, prohibiting the giving of bonuses for the
location of state institutions, against trusts, to promote the dairy
interests, to compel the manufacturers of vaccine matter to stamp their
product, and a memorial to congress for an amendment to the national
constitution to allow the general government to legislate regarding
trusts. Besides these the senator has had charge of many bills of minor
and local importance. Few, if any, members have as many bills of a
general character to their credit as he, considering the number of
years of his service. He led in the matter of electing a United States
senator, and made the speech in the Republican caucus nominating John
C. Spooner, which was considered by many as one of the most brilliant
delivered on a similar occasion in many years.

[image: JAMES JOHN M'GILLIVRAY.]

Senator McGillivray was secretary of the Agricultural society for one
term and treasurer for three. He belongs to the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, is a Mason, and was master
of a Masonic lodge for nine years. He and his family are members of the
Methodist Episcopal church.

He was married to Miss Flora Hall of Black River Falls in 1881, and two
children have been born to them--William J., April 27th, 1882, and Veda
H., May 14th, 1887.

MILLS, Thomas Brooks, of West Superior, who is not yet forty years of
age, is a successful business man and has filled a prominent place in
Wisconsin politics. His father, Hugh Brooks Mills, came to Wisconsin
some fifty years ago, and was a successful lumberman. His mother's
maiden name was Mary Rogers. Both parents were of Scotch descent, their
ancestors coming from the northern part of Scotland near Kortwright.

T. B. Mills was born on the 12th of October, 1857, in the town of
Manchester,

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[image: THOMAS BROOKS MILLS.]

Jackson county, Wisconsin. He lived on a farm until he was sixteen
years of age, receiving his primary education at the common school. He
then learned telegraphy and railroad work, which he followed until he
reached his majority, when he took the scientific course in the famous
academy of Col. John G McMynn, at Racine, graduating in 1881. Since
that time he has been engaged in lumbering and dealing in pine lands.
He early took an active part in public affairs, was chosen chairman of
the town board in 1882, and held the office for six years; was four
times chairman or the county board of supervisors, and, in 1884, was
elected member of the assembly from Jackson county, and re-elected in
1886, and again in 1888. For the session of 1887 he was elected
speaker, though but twenty-nine years of age. He was re-elected speaker
for the next session--that of 1889. Though young and with limited
experience in legislative matters, he made a capable and efficient
speaker, one who readily grasped the intricacies of parliamentary rules
and the various phases of public business. In 1894 he was elected to
the senate from the Eleventh district, composed of the counties of
Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer and Washburn.

Mr. Mills is a Republican in his political affiliations--says he "was
born that way." He has been a working member of the party for years,
and an effective, but not an "offensive" one. He is a member of the
Superior Commercial club, and the Superior Boat club. He is unmarried.

STEPHENSON, Isaac, a resident of Marinette. Wisconsin, known far and
wide in business and political circles as one of the most sagacious,
enterprising and successful men in the state, is a native of York
county, New Brunswick, where he was born on the 18th of June, 1829. His
father, Isaac Stephenson, was of Scotch-Irish extraction, and his
mother, nee Watson, was a native of London. The boy attended the public
school for a short time, but began work at an early age, helping his
father, who was a farmer and lumberman, in the heavy work of those
occupations. When sixteen years of age he accompanied Jefferson
Sinclair and his family to Milwaukee, arriving in the city in November,
1845. He attended school the following winter, but in the spring went
with Mr. Sinclair to an unimproved farm five miles south of Janesville.
Here the boy was engaged in breaking prairie and other farm work for
two summers, but the crops sowed failed; and, Mrs. Sinclair, about that
time becoming interested with Daniel Wells, Jr., in pine lands in
northern Michigan, sent young Stephenson to that region to look after
his interests in the lumbering operations which were begun there. The
young man was not afraid of work, no matter under what guise it came.
He engaged in getting out timber and hauling it to the lake for
shipment. The he was placed in charge of lumber camps, and much of his
work was of the hardest and attended with great exposure and danger,
but he was not one to quail, and so he advanced in the confidence

Page 77

of his employers, until he began operations for himself. During the
summer he sailed the lake between Escanaba and Milwaukee and Chicago,
carrying freight between those points, and before he was twenty-one
years old he owned the controlling interest in the schooler Cleopatra,
which unfortunately was wrecked in 1853. As showing that he was born a
"man of progress," he abandoned work during one summer, and attended
school in Milwaukee, that he might be the better fitted for the large
things before him.

His familiarity with lumbering and with the pine regions made him a
good judge of pine lands, and, in 1848, he accompanied Daniel Wells,
Jr., to the Sault Ste. Marie land office and assisted in purchasing
large tracts of valuable timber land. The enterprises and activities of
this man from that time on are too numerous, varied and extensive to be
adequately enumerated here; suffice it to say that his business rapidly
advanced and extended until he became one of the leading lumbermen of
that region. He acquired a quarter interest in the property of N.
Ludington & Co., including the great mill, and when, in 1868, that firm
gave place to the N. Ludington Stock company. Mr. Stephenson owned a
controlling interest in the property, and since 1883 he has been
president of the company. He was one of the large stockholders in the
Peshtigo company, whose factory, together with the village of Peshtigo,
was destroyed by the great fire of 1871, involving a loss of nearly
$2,000,000; but the mills and village were immediately rebuilt. In 1892
he bought the Peshtigo company, and reorganized it under the name of
the Peshtigo Lumber company, with Daniel Wells, Jr., and Chas. Ray of
Milwaukee, equal owners with himself. He is the president and was the
organizer and promoter of the Menominee River Boom company, which 
handles more logs than any company in the world, and which is
capitalized for $1,250,000. He is president of the Stephenson National
bank at Marinette, and is interested in a half dozen companies relating
to the lumber industry,

[image: ISAAC STEPHENSON.]

which represent millions of capital. He is owner or part owner of
thousands of acres of timber in Michigan, Wisconsin and Louisiana. In
addition to these vast interests be owns a farm of nine hundred acres
in Kenosha county, which is fully stocked and equipped. In connection
with this farm is a creamery that makes three hundred pounds of butter
daily. He also owns another farm at Marinette, which is principally
devoted to the raising of trotting horses. Mr. Stephenson may be
properly termed the industrial pioneer of northeaster. Wisconsin and
northern Michigan, because of his promotion of so many enterprises that
have proved of vital importance to that region.

Mr. Stephenson has been a Republican since the organization of that
party; and notwithstanding his vast business interests he has always
found time to labor for the promotion of the party principles and
interests, because he fully believes in them. He was twice a member of
the state legislature; and, in 1882, he was elected to congress, and
twice re-elected. He declined further re-election for business reasons.
He was a popular and influential

Page 78

influential member, and did his country good service, as might have
been expected from one of so much energy and such wide and varied
experience in business affairs. He was on terms of intimacy with many
of the political leaders, and his retiring from public life was
generally regretted.

Mr. Stephenson has been thrice married--first to Margaret Stephenson,
in 1852. From this union there are four children living. In 1873 he
married Augusta Anderson, who bore him three children, who survive
their mother. His third marriage was to Elizabeth Burns, in 1884, and
one son is the issue of this marriage.

Though a man of regret wealth he is free from ostentation, and is
justly proud of what he has accomplished, because it came to him as the
result of unremitting industry, enterprise and the sagacity born of a
study of his opportunities and their possibilities.

KIPP, Franklin John, resides in Milwaukee and is the cashier of the
First National bank. He is a native of Milwaukee, and was born December
7th, 1857, the son of Jacob and Agatha Kipp, both of whom were from
Germany. Young Kipp passed through the schools of his native city and
entered a lottery office as errand boy at the age of thirteen, where he
earned his first money. Later he was messenger for some time in the
South Side Savings bank. At the age of twenty he became teller of the
German Exchange bank; and when that institution absorbed the Bank of
Commerce he was made teller in the combined banks. In 1888 he was made
assistant cashier, and, in 1891, cashier of the Merchants' Exchange
bank, in which position he remained for six years. When, in 1894, the
Merchants' Exchange and the First National banks were consolidated, Mr.
Kipp was made cashier of the institutions thus combined under the same
of the First National bank, which now has a capital of $1,000,000 and a
business among the largest in the northwest. It will be seen
that Mr. Kipp has grow up with this business, has become familiar with
its every detail from the position of messenger up to that of cashier,
which is the most responsible in a banking institution so far as its
daily business is concerned. The knowledge of the details of such an
extensive business can only be acquired by years of active connection
with it and daily familiarity with it details. It is in reality a
profession, differing only from the learned professions in that it does
not require quite so much study of principles and methods. Such long
familiarity with the business is one of the elements of security in the
banking institutions. The patrons of the First National have in the
experience and character of its cashier an additional guarantee, if any
were needed, of its financial soundness and its approved business
methods.

Mr. Kipp is a member of the Milwaukee, the Country, the Bankers, the
Deutscher and the Atheletic clubs, and socially one of the pleasantest
of men.

On the 28th of January, 1891, Mr. Kipp was married to Adele J.
Kersting, and they have one child, Clarence F. Kipp.

BROSS, Charles Edmonston, who has, for many years, been a prominent
resident of Madison, is the son of Moses Bross, who was a farmer in
Pennsylvania, a justice of the peace and a first lieutenant in the war
of 1812-14. He was a man of great physical vigor, and lived to be
ninety-one years old. He was descended from the Huguenots who were
driven out of France by the religious persecutions, many of whom
subsequently came to this country, settling in New York, New Holland
(New Jersey), Pennsylvania and other states. The name, in its original
form, was de Brosse, but was Anglicized into Bross by the tax gatherers
after New Holland was captured by the English. The maiden name of Mr.
Bross' mother was Jenny Winfield, who was the mother of twelve
children, eleven

Page 79

of whom reached adult age. She was of Welsh descent, and the name, from
the fighting propensities of the family, is said to have been literally
Win-the-field. Mr. Bross' maternal grandfather, Abraham Winfield, was a
lieutenant in the revolutionary army, who did gallant service for the
cause of liberty and independence. The maternal grandmother, Margaret
Quick, was a sister of the renowned Indian slayer, who is reported to
have killed one hundred Indians in pursuance of an oath taken by him to
avenge the inhuman murder of his father by the Delaware Indians.

Charles E. Bross was born at Shohola, Pike county, Pennsylvania,
December 18th, 1838. His schooling was confined to the university of
the masses, the common school, except that he was a student in the law
school of the University of Wisconsin for nearly two years. He began
work as a telegraph in 1856, at Deposit, New York, and Shohola, Penn.
He came to Racine in March, 1861, where he was superintendent of the
telegraph of the Racine & Mississippi railway, and where he remained a
year, going thence to Madison as manager of the Northwestern Telegraph
company's office. He was at the same time legislative and telegraph
correspondent of the leading daily journals in Milwaukee, Chicago, St.
Paul and New York, and of those in the larger interior cities of
Wisconsin. In 1865 he was manager of the Western Union Telegraph
company, and agent of the Merchants' Union and the United States
Express companies; but, in 1877, he resigned the agency of these
companies, retaining the managership of the Western Union Telegraph
company. In February, 1878, he was elected chief clerk of the Wisconsin
state senate, and re-elected at each session until 1891, when the
Democrats gained control of the legislature, and a change in its
offices was of course made. Since that time he has continued as manager
of the telegraph company.

Mr. Bross has always been a Republican, his first vote having been cast
for Abraham

[image: CHARLES EDMONSTON BROSS.]

Lincoln. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity--is a master Mason, a
Royal Arch and a Knight Templar. As relates to religion he is a
Christian Scientist.

He was married May 29th, 1865, to Mrs. N. P. Lathrop of Milwaukee, and
they have one child--Grace Winfield Bross.

William Bross, the eldest brother of the subject of this sketch,
graduated from Williams College and came to Chicago in the early
fifties. He was one of the founders of The Chicago Tribune, and was
president of the company from is organization until his death some five
years since.

John Armstrong Bross, another brother, and also a graduate of Williams
College, was a lawyer in Chicago at the outbreak of the war of the
rebellion. He raised a company for the war, was chosen its captain, and
it was assigned to the Eighty-eighth Illinois infantry. He was
commissioned lieutenant-colonel, raised the Twenty-ninth regiment of
colored volunteers, and with it participated in the battles before
Richmond, and was killed in action immediately succeeding the explosion
of the mine at Petersburg, Virginia.

Page 80

[image: DUNCAN J. M'KENZIE.]

McKENZIE, Duncan J., state railroad commissioner, is another
conspicuous example of the possibilities which in this country are
before every young man of ability and ambition, and who is not afraid
of honest toil. In fact there is scarcely a limit, beyond physical
endurance, to the heights to which such a young man may attain. Duncan
J. McKenzie, as may be guessed from the name, is of Scotch descent, and
was born in Glengarry county, Ontario, on the 4th of July, 1848. He
received the ordinary education afforded by the common school, and then
came to Wisconsin, in 1872, and first settled in Chippewa Falls. There
be remained until 1875, when he removed to Buffalo county, where he has
since resided. Here he began the ascent which landed him in a state
office, and at the same time made him known throughout Wisconsin. He
worked at lumbering, in all its departments from bottom to top, and
thus became familiar with every branch of it, which twenty years ago
was a very important part of a business education, and one which led to
wealth in many cases, although Mr. McKenzie's is probably not one
of these. But the business served to bring him into notice, and Gov.
William E. Smith, who had the faculty of appointing good men, made him
lumber inspector of the Ninth district in 1878; and, as an evidence
that he made an efficient and trustworthy officer, he held the position
eleven years, through the terms of Governors Smith and Rusk. At the
same time he held local offices of importance--was trustee of the
village of Alma, and one of its first board of aldermen after it was
chartered, was supervisor in 1884; mayor of Alma in 1891; chairman of
the Buffalo Republican county committee in 1888-9, and member of the
assembly in 1892, from the counties of Buffalo and Pepin. In 1894 he
was nominated by the Republican state convention for railroad
commissioner, and elected that fall by a plurality of 60,032 over the
Democratic candidate, and a majority over all opponents of 24.100. He
was a candidate before that convention for state treasurer, and was
thought at first to have the best chance for the nomination of any of
the aspirants; but political exigencies carried the nomination in
another direction. When, however, the convention realized that a
popular and capable man was, to use a slang phrase, turned down, he was
promptly taken up and nominated for railroad commissioner. In the
discharge of the duties of the office he has demonstrated that the
convention made no mistake in his nomination. He has shown the same
executive ability which he has always shown in meeting the official
duties that have fallen to him. He was nominated for re-election by the
state convention of 1896, and it is remarkable that neither in his
case, nor in that of any of the state officers nominated, was there any
criticism of the administration of his office. He was re-elected by a
large majority, and is now administering the office for the second
term.

He has always been an earnest and enthusiastic worker for his party,
and is one of those in the northern part of the state who could be
relied on to do the necessary party work to make success as near
certain as possible.

Page 81

This implies something more than is contained in the words--it means
that the man of which it is said is one of thorough convictions, that
he is willing to work for what he believes to be true, and that he has
the influence which belongs to earnest men.

His parents, James McKenzie and Anna Bella (McLaren) McKenzie, were
born near Glasgow, Scotland, and emigrated to Canada in 1828. They
settled on a farm and engaged in manufacturing lumber on a small scale.
They had eight children, four sons and four daughters.

The subject of this sketch was married at Eau Claire, Wisconsin, in
1875, to Catherine Elizabeth, daughter of David and Cornelia (Babcock)
Horton. Her parents, descendants of New England ancestry, came from
Binghamton, New York, to Wisconsin, and are now residents of chippewa
county. To Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie six children have been born, the
eldest of whom died in childhood.

Mr. Mckenzie is a member of Alma Blue Lodge, No. 184, A. F. & M.; Eau
Claire Chapter, No. 36, R. A. M.; Chippewa Commandery, No. 8, and
Wisconsin Consistory and Shrine. He is also a member of the La Crosse
Lodge of United Commercial Travelers and La Crosse Lodge of Elks.

END PART 3