Men of Progress. Wisconsin. (pages 316-350) 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 316 continued

VAN VECHTEN, Edwin Francis, or Edwin F. Van Vechten as he signs the
name, is a resident of the village of Wauwatosa, Milwaukee county,
Wisconsin. He comes of one of the oldest families in the United States,
and the name may be traced in Holland back to the year A. D. 1200,
though there is no complete record of the family extending to that
date. The first representative of the family to come to America was
Teunis Dircksen Van Vechten, who arrived on the ship "Armes of Norway,"
in the year 1638, and settled at Greenbush, opposite the site of the
present city of Albany, N. Y. The subject of this sketch is of the
seventh generation direct descent from this first representative of the
family to settle in America, and is the son of Jacob Teunis Van
Vechten, who was born in Catskill, New York, on the 8th of May, 1823,
and come to Wisconsin in 1846, settling on land in Kewaskum, Washington
county, which he entered, from the government, and which he still owns,
though his present place of residence is Wauwatosa, Jacob T. Van
Vechten was married on the 2nd of February, 1851, to Esther Elizabeth
Bancroft, daughter of Thadeus Foster and Evolinah Bancroft, who came
from New York state in 1843, and settled at Menomonee Falls, Waukesha
county, Wisconsin. They had eight children, five

Page 317

girls and three boys, all of whom, except the two older boys, are still
living. Mrs. Van Vechten was born at Syracuse, New York, on the 14th of
April, 1831, and died October 30th, 1895. She was an earnest temperance
worker, and at one time was prominent in the work of the Independent
Order of Good Templars.

Edwin F. Van Vechten was born at the family home in Kewaskum, September
7th, 1868, being the youngest of the eight children. His early
education was received at the common schools and at the highschools of
Neenah and West Bend. In the fall of 1889, he entered the law
department of the University of Michigan, and graduated therefrom with
the class of 1891. Among the greatest benefits received from this
institution he regards the individual independence and personal
responsibility which were there taught and fostered, and which enter
very largely into the equipment for an active and successful business
or professional life. Mr. Van Vechten does not definitely recall how or
when he earned his first money, but presumes that it was on the old
farm, with the work upon which he was early made acquainted and of
which he gained a more or less thorough knowledge, that has not been
without value in the pursuit of his professional labors. Excepting for
a few months, when he had for partner O. W. Bow, Jr., he has worked
alone. For the past two years, he has attended to the legal business of
Win. J. Morgan & Co., and the eighteen or twenty corporations which the
firm represents, making a specialty of real estate law. He also served
as corporation counsel for the village of Wauwatosa for the term of one
year. In politics he is a Republican by birth, training and belief, but
has taken no active part in politics further than to endeavor, as all
citizens should, to secure the best men possible for public office. He
is a member of but one society or club, that is, the Fraternal Alliance
of Milwaukee.

Mr. Van Vechten was married on the 18th of November, 1890, to Birdie M.
Rogers, daughter of James P. and Helen E. Rogers of

[image: EDWIN FRANCIS VAN VECHTEN.]

Wauwatosa. They have two sons, Jacob J. and Roger, aged five and three
years, respectively, who, it is hoped, will live to transmit this
ancient name unfarnished to still later times.

BURTON, John Edgar, a business man of Milwaukee, but who resides at
Lake Geneva, Walworth county, Wisconsin, is the son of John Ruth
Jennette Burton. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather, all
named John, were natives of Conningsby, Lincolnshire, England, where
the latter possessed large landed estates. His father and grandfather
emigrated to the United States and settled in central New York, where
the latter died in 1836. John Burton, the father of the subject of this
sketch, was born in Conningsby, England, July 8, 1825, and was married
March 10, 1846, to Ruth Jennette Allen, daughter of Asa Allen, a
soldier of the war of 1812-14. Mrs. Burton was a woman of strong
character, prominent in all good works, and a devoted Christian. She
died at Lake Geneva, March 7, 1895. She was one of eleven children, as
was her husband also. His

Page 318

[image: JOHN EDGAR BURTON.]

grandmother on his father's side, Susanna Parker, was of an English
family also, some of whom came to America in 1829, settling in Oneida
county, New York. His mother's ancestors were Connecticut farmers, of
Puritan stock, possessing the sterling characteristics of that historic
rate. Both the grandmothers were named Susanna.

John E. Burton was born on the 19th day of October, 1847, in New
Hartford, Oneida county, New York, and received his primary education
in the public schools of his native village. Thence he passed, in 1864,
to the seminary at Whitestown, and later to Cazenovia, New York.
Returning to Whitestown he graduated in June, 1868, from the scientific
course in the seminary, standing at the head of his class. He also won
the first prize as public orator at Cazenovia in 1867. He then came
west after teaching a year at Casenovia and secured the position of
principal of the schools in Richmond, Ill., remaining two years.
Thence, in August, 1870, he came to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where he
was principal of schools three years, which has ever since been his
home.

Young Burton early developed the taste for business which has marked
his mature years, earning his first money when a mere lad by doing such
odd jobs as came in his way. The learned the trade of shoemaker before
he completed his education, and did work on the bench for General
Richard U. Sherman, James G. Clark and Roscoe Conkling. In 1872 he
founded The Lake Geneva Herald, which prove a success from the start,
and after four years he sold it for $10,000. He next went into the real
estate business in Lake Geneva and Chicago, and made a handsome sum,
all of which was lost, some $28,000, as many another fortune has been
by the endorsement of the notes of "friends." His next essay in
business was a general manager of the Equitable Life Assurance society
of New York, for Wisconsin. Minnesota and northern Michigan, in which
he was very successful, writing the first $100,000 policy ever written
in Wisconsin, and others unusually large. For his efficiency in the
service of the company he received a gold emblem and an official vote
of thanks. Retiring from the insurance business he undertook, in 1885,
the promotion of the iron mining interests on the Gogebic and Penokee
range, and in the short space of three years he accumulated a fortune
of two and one-half millions. He went in on snowshoes before the
railroad was completed and organized and develop nine of the leading
mines: The Aurora, Iron King, Bonnie, First National Bessemer, Blue
Jacket, Tontine, Valley and Anvil, employing 836 men. The next
enterprise to engage his attention and aboard his great energies was
the Aguan canal in Honduras to connect the Caribbean sea at Truxillo
with the Aguan river, above the rapids; thus making a great, but
useless river navigable for 200 miles, which would control the mahogany
markets of the world. Over $200,000 have been expended, but the work,
though inviting, is still incomplete. New government concessions may
yet secure the completion of the most useful improvement now considered
in Honduras. In 1887 he organized

Page 319

the Hildalgo company for conducting the smelting of silver, gold and
lead ores in Sultepee, Mexico, in which a number of gentlemen of
prominence and means have united with him and in which they have found
the almost certain promise of great wealth.

In politics he has always been a Republican, having worn the wide-awake
cape and carried the torch in the Lincoln campaign of 1860, and since
then been active as a worker and speaker in every struggle in which the
party has been engaged up to the time of Harrison's second nomination,
when he thought that the leadership belonged of right to Blaine, and he
refused any active aid to the ticket, although voting for Harrison. In
the recent campaign his sympathies were strongly with the free silver
party and his pen was used in support of the doctrine of free coinage
at the ratio of 16 to 1, if international bimetallism was refused. He
thinks the Republican party will never win another victory unless it
shall demand an international bimetallic conference and insist upon the
restoration of silver at all hazards and secure the old-time use of
both metals.

Mr. Burton is a Royal Arch Mason; also a life member of the State
Historical society. At the society's request in 1888, his portrait was
painted by Frank B. Carpenter, the painter of Emancipation Proclamation
fame, and hung in the society's gallery. This was in recognition of his
contribution of many specimens to the society's collection gathered in
Yucatan and Mexico, but more especially to recognize his efforts as
chief promoter in developing Wisconsin's iron interests. He was at one
time a member of the Republican state central committee from the First
congressional district, and has at various times filled other positions
of honor and trust. His early religious training was in accordance with
the Methodist Episcopal church, and he was a member of that
organization from his eighteenth year until he was thirty-four; but
since then he has drifted away from the church and is now what may be
termed an agnostic. His private library of 10,500 volumes is no doubt 
the finest in the state, representing the careful and constant 
accumulations of over thirty years. It contains nearly 200 volumes on 
Abraham Lincoln, whom he regards the best man in the world's history.

He was married December 7, 1869, to Lucretia Delphine Johnson of
Killawog, Broome county, New York, his schoolmate at Cazenovia. They
have four children--Howard F. and Warren, graduates of the University
of Wisconsin and who are in business, and Kenneth E. and Bonnie E., who
are still students.

FRAWLEY, Thomas Francis, a brilliant lawyer of Eau Claire, was born
near Troy, N. Y., March 6th, 1851, the son of Thomas and Honora Hogan
Frawley. Early in the fifties the family removed to Wisconsin, settling
on a farm in the town of Vermont, Dane county. Here began young
Frawley's education in the district school, and after he reached the
age when he could render assistance on the farm his summers were
devoted to manual labor and his winters to study. When he had mastered
the curriculum of the district school he took a course in Albion
Academy, in Dane county, where he made such good use of his time and
opportunities that in the spring of 1872 he entered the University of
Wisconsin in the last term of the freshman year. During the junior
year, from October, 1873, until June, 1874, he taught school, and
besides did the work of his class. In this manner he paid his way
through the university and graduated with the class of 1875. While in
college he was a member of the Athenian society, and practiced in its
joint debate in 1874. From September, 1875, until June, 1880, he was
principal of one of the high schools of Eau Claire, Wis. In 1880 he
received the master's degree from the state university. Having studied
law during his spare hours while engaged in teaching, he was admitted
to the bar, and began practice in Eau Claire immediately upon giving up
teaching.

Page 320

[image: THOMAS FRANCIS FRAWLEY.]

From the first he enjoyed a fair practice, and for a number of years
has been engaged in the trial of many important cases.

Politically, Mr. Frawley is a Democrat, and for years has been
prominent and influential in the councils of the party. He was a
delegate to the national Democratic convention in St. Louis in 1888. In
1892, he made an omnibus speech, upon which the Democratic incumbents
of the state offices were nominated for re-election. For many years
down to 1896, he was a member of the Democratic state central
committee, and in the last named year he presided at the state
convention in Milwaukee, which met for the selection of delegates to
the national Democratic convention at Chicago. Upon taking the chair,
as presiding officer of the convention, he made an elaborate and able
speech in regard to what should be the policy of the party, and
especially against the adoption of the free coinage of silver in the
platform. This speech had much influence in the convention and largely
shaped its official declaration. When it was found that the Chicago
convention platform favored the "free silver" policy, he repudiated it,
resigned his membership in the state central committee and was chosen a 
member of the national or gold Democratic state central committee.

He was for ten years a member and for several years president of the
common council of Eau Claire, and for many years a member of the board
of education of that city. He is also president of the Eau Claire
County Bar association. In religion he is a Roman Catholic.

Mr. Frawley was married in August, 1877, to Miss Lydia A. Lawler, and
they have one child living, Thomas F. Frawley, Jr., now fourteen years
old.

McGREGOR, Duncan, who was for sixteen years prior to 1894 president of
the Platteville normal school, and who has recently been re-elected, is
the son of Malcolm McGregor, a farmer and drover in prosperous
circumstances while in business in Scotland, and of Catherine Kennedy
McGregor. He was born in Forest of Cluny, parish of Cluny, Perthshire,
Scotland, on the 12th of August, 1836. Until he was fourteen years of
age he received instruction in a home school that was indifferent in
character and equipment. His preparation for the university was made at
Perth Academy, one of the best schools in Scotland, where he won
several prizes in drawing, mathematics and English. After his academic
course he was a member of the university and King's College, Aberdeen,
for three years, completing his junior year there. Coming to Wisconsin
in June, 1857, he located in Wausau, and for the first year was engaged
in farming and "running the river." In the fall of 1858 he took charge 
of the school in Farmington, and taught it that and the two following
winters. He served one term as superintendent of schools in Farmington,
and five years as principal of the high school in Waupaca. He attended
a term in Lawrence University, passed an examination and received the
degree of A. B. He taught for a short time thereafter, and, in 1864,

Page 321

enlisted a company in Waupaca for service in the civil war, of which he
was chosen captain, and which was assigned to the Forty-second
Wisconsin infantry, and mustered in as Company A. He served during the
remainder of the war, being engaged in provost duty on the Mississippi
river and its tributaries. After his military service ended, he
returned to teaching in the Waupaca high school, continuing there until
1867, when, the year after its organization, he was appointed professor
of mathematics, teacher of methods and supervisor of practice in the
state normal school at Platteville. In 1878 he was elected president of
the institution and held that position for sixteen years. Owing to a
change in the political complexion of the board of regents, he was not
re-elected three years ago, but was chosen professor of pedagogy, and
another was made president. This gentleman having recently resigned,
Prof. McGregor was again elected president by a unanimous vote of the
board of regents--a graceful testimonial to the ability and fidelity
with which he served the cause of public education for so many years.
He is the author of an enlarged drawing book published by A. H. Andrews
of Chicago. As an evidence of Prof. McGregor's scholarly
accomplishments, Lawrence University has just conferred upon him the
degree of Lit. D.

Prof. McGregor has always been an earnest advocate of Republican
principles, but claims to be only a private in the ranks of the party.
In 1896 he was mentioned as a most suitable person for the nomination
for governor on the Republican ticket. In Masonry he has passed from
the Blue Lodge to the Consistory. He has been master of Melody Lodge
for several terms, repeatedly high priest of Washington Chapter, grand
high priest for two years, committee on correspondence of the Grand
Lodge of Wisconsin for eight years, member of Commandery No. 12,
Mineral Point, and of Milwaukee Consistory. In religion he is a
Congregationalist.

On the 26th of December, 1865, Prof. McGregor was married to Annie
Bowman of

[image: DUNCAN M'GREGOR.]

Waupaca, and they have five children: Alice, Grace, Elizabeth, Jessica
and Richard. The three first named are teachers: the fourth has just
graduated from the normal school, and the last is a lad of nine years,
whose principal employment just now is growing, and who is untroubled
about his future.

PARKS, Warham, a well-known resident of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, and
formerly judge of the Thirteenth Judicial circuit, is the son of Rufus
Parks, who was a native of Westfield, Massachusetts, and, in the latter
part of his life a farmer in Summit, Waukesha county, Wisconsin. Rufus
Parks was educated at Andover academy, Mass., and began business in
Boston at the age of twenty-one years. This business venture soon
proving a failure, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar in
Bangor, Maine. In 1836 he was appointed receiver of the land office at
Milwaukee, and at once removed to the city, and there remained until
1847, when he took up his residence in Summit, living there until his
death in 1878. He was a man of influence and position

Page 322

[image: WARHAM PARKS.]

in Milwaukee in the early days of the city, and was treasurer of
Milwaukee county in the years 1844-5. He was a member from Waukesha
county of the first constitutional convention which was convened in
Madison on the 5th of October, 1846, and a member of the lower house of
the legislature in 1867. He was a Democrat in politics in those early
days, but when the question of slavery came prominently to the front,
he identified himself with the Free-Soilers, and was one of the first
to join the Republican party when it was formed. He voted in 1856 for
Fremont, the first Republican candidate for president, and continued an
active Republican to the day of his death. Rufus Park's family was of
that sturdy, liberty-loving stock to which Americans of the present day
owe their civil and political institutions. His father was an officer
in the Revolutionary army, and died of wounds received at the battle of
Saratoga while acting as aide to General Lincoln.

Rufus Park's mother was the daughter of Nathaniel Gorham, who, with
Rufus King, was a deputy from Massachusetts to the constitutional
convention which formed the government of the United States, and he and 
King were the only ones from that commonwealth who signed the 
constitution. By a singular coincidence Governor Upham appointed a 
great-grandson of each of these men to office--Colonel Charles King, who 
was made adjutant general, is a great-grandson of Rufus King, and Warham 
Parks, who was appointed judge  of the Thirteenth Judicial circuit, is a 
great-grandson of Nathaniel Gorham, who was also president of the 
Continental congress for two of the darkest years of the revolutionary 
struggle. He was an earnest, self-sacrificing patriot, and a friend of 
Washington.

Warham Parks is a native of Milwaukee, where he was born on the 5th of
November, 1840. His mother's name was Harriet Eliza Fairservice. Her
family were among the earliest settlers of Summit, coming there in
1837. Judge Parks received a good academic education, but had hardly
finished this when the war of the rebellion turned all though from
ordinary topics to that of the defense of the government. He was not
slow to tender his services to the country, and enlisting in April,
1861, in his twentieth year, he was made second lieutenant of Co. K,
Third Regiment of Wisconsin volunteer infantry, and served throughout
the war, having reached the rank of major and brevet lieutenant-colonel
for gallant and meritorious services in Georgia and the Carolinas, when
he was discharged in August, 1865. The last year of his service was on
staff duty as provost marshal of the Twentieth army corps. He
participated in many of the most desperate battles of the war; among
them were Winchester, Cedar Mountain, Second Bull, Antietam, where he
was wounded, Gettysburg, Kenesaw Mountain, Atlanta and the capture of
Savannah. He also passed through the campaign in the Carolinas and on
to Washington. This is a record of which any man many be proud, and one
that his descendants will not fail to keep in mind.

Upon returning home at the close of the war he began the study of law,
in due time was admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice

Page 323

of his profession. He was thus engaged when he was made postmaster of
Oconomowoc. Judge Parks is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic
and of the Wisconsin Commandery of the Loyal Legion.

He was always been a Republican in politics, and has vigorously
sustained the policy and candidates of Oconomowoc by President Grant in
February, 1876, was reappointed by Presidents Hayes and Arthur, and
when Harrison came into office he was again appointed. Upon the death
of Hon. A. Scott Sloan, judge of the Thirteenth Judicial circuit, in
April, 1895, Gov. Upham appointed him to the vacant office, which he
held to the very general satisfaction of the public until June 1st,
1896, a successor having in the meantime been chosen at a special
election.

Although not a member of any church organization, his sympathies and
belief are with the Unitarians, his parents having been members of the
first Unitarian church organized in Milwaukee.

Judge Parks has been twice married. His first wife, with whom he was
united November 22nd, 1872, was Miss Helen M. Howell of La Porte,
Indiana, who died April 21st, 1891, leaving one son, Howell Parks. His
second wife was Miss Anne E. Taylor of Pawtucket, R. I., to whom he was
married June 27th, 1892.

FLEMING, William, a practicing lawyer of Oconomowoe, is the son of John
Fleming, who was born in Ireland, in 1808, and came to this country in
1836. He first settled in Pennsylvania, where he married Catherine
Sweeney, also a native of Ireland, in 1842. In 1844 they came to
Wisconsin, settling on a farm in the town of Emmet, Dodge county, where
they resided up to the time of their death, in 1885 and 1893,
respectively. They were thrifty people and accumulated and left a fair
amount of property. They had six sons and there daughters, of whom four
sons--John, William, Michael and Thomas J.--and

[image: WILLIAM FLEMING.]

and daughter, Mrs. Michael Casey of Watertown, still survive. The
eldest of the family, James Fleming, was a soldier in the Sixty-fourth
regiment of Illinois infantry during the war of the rebellion. He took
part in many important and perilous campaigns, among them Sherman's
march to the sea, and was honorably discharged at the close of his term
of service. His death occurred at his father's home in 1872. The
youngest son, Thomas J. Fleming, is a dealer in real estate in
Milwaukee, and at present secretary of the State Agricultural society.

William Fleming was born February 6th, 1851, in the town of Emmet,
Dodge county, Wisconsin, and was educated in the Northwestern
University at Watertown. For many years he was a successful teacher in
the public schools. In 1878 he was elected to the lower house of the
legislature, and re-elected in 1879. While residing in Dodge county, he
served as assessor, town clerk, and was chairman of the town board. He
was deputy clerk of the court from 1882 to 1884, and was elected county
clerk in 1884 and served two years. In 1887 he went to Alaska as deputy
collector

Page 324

of customs, under A. K. Delaney. He was stationed at Fort Wrangel,
having full charge of the port, Collector Delaney residing at Sitka,
the capital.

Mr. Fleming remained in Alaska during the latter part of President
Cleveland's first administration; and, upon his return home he entered
upon the practice of law, for which he had previously fitted himself,
by private study. In December, 1893, he moved to Oconomowoe, and formed
a law partnership with A. B. Rogan, now judge of the municipal court
for the western district of Wankesha county.

In religious faith Mr. and Mrs. Fleming are Catholics, and he is a
member of the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin. In politics he is a
Democrat; but on all questions he is liberal-minded, granting to others
the right that he claims for himself--to think and act as to him may
seem right and proper.

Mr. Fleming was married on the 11th of February, 1885, to Mary Rogan, a
sister of his former law partner, and two children have been born to
them--Adelaide Grace and Margaret Catharine Ann.

HARRIS, A. L., a leading business man of Sank county and senior member
of the firm of Harris & Hosler, was born in Richland county, near
Mansfield, Ohio, September 15th, 1839. He is of English extraction with
an admixture of Scotch blood that came from the marriage of his
grandfather, John Harris, to Mary Hamilton of the well-known family of
that name of Lanark, Scotland. They were Presbyterians of the strictest
sect. The strength of character, fine mental endowments land robust
physical development of his ancestors of the Harris family are
testified to by the various family legends and stories that have come
down through the generations. The English home of the family was
Somersetshire, whence, in the year 1725, came James, the founder of the
family in this country. New Jersey attracted this father with his
six sons, and there they settled, soon becoming extensive land-holders.
During the revolutionary period, this colony became so frequently a
foraging ground for the British forces that the fortunes of the family
were much impaired, but an unswerving loyalty to the patriot cause was
ever theirs, to which they testified by serving in the army during the
entire period of the war, participating in some of the most important
actions of that eventful eight years. At the end of the century
Pennsylvania became their home, and later members of the family drifted
into Ohio, where Jonathan W., father of Abner L., opened up one of the
largest and finest farms in Richland county. He had, however, the
pioneer spirit, for, in 1846, he came to Wisconsin, and entered a large
tract of government land in which is now the township of Troy, the
immediate locality being Harrisburg. On this farm Abner L. grew to
manhood, going to school, when there was one, and finally going to
Prairie du Sae and obtaining a good, practical education. He taught
school a few winters, and, at twenty-one, left the farm, stalwart and
vigorous, with an amount of energy and nerve that has never failed
during the years of an active and succesful business career.

After trying various employments in many parts of the county, in 1867
he located in Loganville, Sauk county, in a general dry goods business
with an experienced partner, under the firm name of J. O. Phelps & Co.
Four years later, in 1871, he severed his connection with Mr. Phelps,
and, going to Reedsburg, the same county, entered the same business,
the firm being Kellogg & Harris. Mr. Harris was now just in the flush
of his powers, and he threw himself with such zeal and determination
into his work that the firm soon became leaders in their line. The
improved transportation facilities resulting from the building of the
railroad, gave a new impetus to production, and the firm added a
general warehouse, dealing to the business, and, by diligent efforts,
secured markets for any and

Page 325

everything offered for sale, thereby earning for Redsburg the
reputation of being the best market town in the state.

Mr. Kellogg retired in 1880, Mr. Harris buying his interest. In a short
time J. H. Hosler entered the business, the firm becoming Harris &
Hosler. They have always occupied a leading position in their part of
the state; and, as years passed, their transactions constantly
increased until at the present time their shipments alone give them a
front rank in the shipping business of their city. The American Express
agency has been in their hands since its establishment in Reedsburg.

Mr. Harris has always been prominently identified with the great
enterprises of the city, evincing an ardent desire for the forwarding
of its interests. He was president of the Woolen Mill Co., in its
incipiency, and, during the erection of this important plant, his zeal
and unremitting efforts contributed largely to its succesful
completion. To him principally is the city indebted for its fine water
system and electric lighting plant. Always a believer in municipal
ownership of improvements of this sort, he was unremitting in his
efforts until the accomplishment of this end. He was three times mayor;
and it was during his term of office that the city plants were
completed. A fine business block, an ornament to the street and a token
of the needs of the firm, is also a tribute to his ability.

Always an ardent Republican, he has taken a lively interest in local
and state politics, and as delegate in convention has often been of
signal service to his party. He served in the capacity of postmaster
under Grant, Hayes and Garfield.

He is a member of the Wisconsin "Society of Sons of the American
Revolution;" a member for many years of the Masonic order, and a
liberal contributor to the support of the Presbyterian society. Always
a law-abiding, order-loving, enterprising man, his activities have ever
been for the benefit of the community

[image: A. L. HARRIS.]

with which he has been so long identified, and he worthily holds the
esteem and confidence of a wide social and business circle.

Mr. Harris was married December, 13th, 1868, to Frances Smith, a woman
prominent in Wisconsin woman's clubs and the Society of the Daughters,
of the American Revolution. They have two children--a daughter pursuing
the higher education of women, and a son studying for the medical
profession, both having received degrees from the state university in
1895.

TORRISON, Thomas Esaias, engaged in general merchandising in Manitowoc,
is the son of Osuld Torrison, who came from Heirefos, Norway, to
Wisconsin, in 1847, at the age of nineteen years. He began work in a
country store, at Manitowoc Rapids, three miles west of the city of
Manitowoc, which at that time was the county seat. After a few years he
went to Manitowoc and secured a position as clerk in a store there, and
subsequently, in company with H. Nordvi, he engaged in the business of
general merchandising. In 1853, when twenty-five years of age, he
bought out

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[image: THOMAS ESAIAS TORRISON.]

his partner; and, up to the time of his death, in 1892, he continued
the business with steadily increasing success. Martha Findal, a native
of Bamle, Norway, where she was born in 1834, came to Wisconsin in
1849, and was married to Osuld Torrison in 1854. Of this marriage was
born Thomas F. Torrison, in Manitowoc, on the 10th of October, 1855. He
received his primary education in the public schools of Manitowac; and
after that he took a six years' course in Luther college, Decorah,
Iowa, from which he graduated in June, 1876. After leaving college he
began work in his father's general store, and, in time, acquired such
knowledge of the business that for the last eight years he has had
entire management of it. Besides this mercantile business, he has been
president of the Manitowoc Seating company since its organization.

In politics he is a pronounced Republican, but not an "offensive" one,
as shown by the fact that his fellow-citizen have elected him to the
county board of supervisors, the board of aldermen and three times
mayor of the city; and last spring he was endorsed for re-election
by both the Republican and Democratic city conventions for a fourth
term of two years, which is a remarkably flattering testimonial to the
efficiency of his official service and to his character and popularity
as a citizen. He has also held the position of member of the city
school board for six years. He is a member of the Lutheran church of
Manitowoc.

Mr. Torrison was married on the 2nd of June, 1884, to Jorgine
Tostenson, at Manitowoc. They have had three children, but only one of
them is living--Anker Osuld, eleven years old.

MORSELL, Arthur Lee, a member of the Milwaukee bar, is a native of the
city of Washington, D. C., where he was born December 8th, 1862. His
father, John W. Morsell, now deceased, was for many years engaged in
the mercantile business in Washington. His mother was Marry Ellen, nee
Collison. The father was of French and Scotch descent, the mother of
English. Hon. Columbus Drew of Jacksonville, Florida, at one times
comptroller of the state of Florida, was a maternal uncle. Judge
Morsell, for many years one of the justices of the supreme, court of
the District of Columbia, was his relative on the paternal side.

Mr. Morsell's early education was received in the public schools of
Washington, and, while a student there, he mastered the art of short-
hand writing, which, for years, proved a source of profit to him, and
later a great convenience. While still a school boy he was appointed by
Senator Voorhees to a position in the United States senate, which he
held for about a year, when he returned to his studies and completed
his course. After permanently leaving school, short-hand writing, by
which he earned his first money, was taken up as a regular business,
and followed for several years. During this period he was employed by
professional men in Washington, and finally by a prominent firm of
patent attorneys of that city, as confidential clerk and stenographer.
He remained

Page 327

with this firm for upward of ten years, gaining a thorough knowledge of
the patent business. While thus employed he also, after regular office
hours, served as private secretary to many prominent politicians, among
whom were ex-Senator Butler of South Carolina and Hon. Thomas Wilson,
formerly representative in congress from the First district of
Minnesota. After the varied and valuable experience thus gained, Mr.
Morsell entered the law department of the National University of
Washington, from which he graduated in 1888. In the competitive
examination for class honors be came within one percent, of obtaining
the highest marking, graduating second in his class, and receiving, in
consideration of such standing, honorable mention at the commencement
exercises. In April of the year of his graduation, he was admitted to
the bar of Washington. He then formed a business connection in the
practice of patent law with N. A. Acker, a classmate at the university,
under the firm name of Acker & Morsell, which continued for one year,
or until Mr. Acker withdrew to engage in the practice of his profession
in San Francisco, California. Mr. Morsell continued the business in
Washington for several years, when, in 1891, he accepted an offer of
partnership from C. T. Benedict of Milwaukee, who had, for many years,
been engaged in the practice of patent law, and whose constantly
increasing business required that he should have associated with him
another versed in the intricacies of the profession. The firm of
Benedict & Morsell thus established has field a great many of the
patent applications for Wisconsin, and has been retained in some of the
most important patent litigations in this state.

Mr. Morsell has been a life-long Democrat, although at the last
president election, being unable, conscientiously, to accept the
doctrines of Bryan and the Chicago platform, he voted for McKinley and
Hobart. He is prominent in Masonic circles, being an officer of the
Lafayette Lodge, No. 265, of Milwaukee. He is

[image: ARTHUR LEE MORSELL.]

also a member of the state and local bar associations and a member of
the Patcut Bar association of Chicago. He is a pew-holder in Immanuel
Presbyterian church.

He was married September 13th, 1892, at Woodville, Md., to Sallie
Phillips Wilson, of a prominent Maryland family. They have one child.

ELDRIDGE, Edwin C., is a resident of Milwaukee, and has occupied the
position of curator of the Layton Art gallery since it was opened in
1888. He is by profession an artist and has his studio in the gallery
building. He began his art studies in the National Academy of Design in
New York City, under Prof. L. E. Wilmarth; continued them at the Royal
Academy in Antwerp, under Charles Verlat and Peter Van Havermact, and
at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, under Gërôme. Subsequently he
studied in the atelier of Carolus Duran, at Julian's Academy, in those
of J. P. Lawrens and Benjamin Constant. His studied was pursued with
especial reference to portrait painting, although he has always been
diligent student of the

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[image: EDWIN C. ELDRIDGE.]

general principles of art--those principles the through comprehension
of which makes the true artist. Since coming to Milwaukee, he has
steadily pursued his profession in connection with his duties as
curator of the gallery. His practical knowledge of art has been of
important service in connection with the selection, hanging and care of
pictures, and in frequent talks to visitors concerning art with special
reference to notable pictures in the gallery. In this way and in
lectures which he has given to students and to associations of teachers
in the public school of Milwaukee, he has done much to simulate the
population taste for art and to promote its study both as an
accomplishment and as a profession. He has written much and most
intelligently for the public press on art subjects, specially in
criticism of notable works of the brush and the chisel; and it is but
justice to him to say that he has been and is one of the prominent
educational forces of the city. As an art critic he is clear in
expression, readily understood even by those not familiar with art
terms, while his views as to the merits or demerits of any given work
of art the more readily accepted because they appeal to that sense of 
the fitness of things which all people of liberal culture possess in 
some measure, even though a technical education may be wanting. One of 
the best examples of his style and method as a critic is the article, 
published some time ago, on Carl Marr's recent work "Maria."

In his specially, portraiture, Mr. Eldridge has done good work, as
shown in the portraits of some of Milwaukee's prominent citizens; and,
as he is comparatively a young man, still better work may be expected
of him. He has also displayed marked ability in other lines of the
graphic art, and had he given as much study to these as he has to
portraiture, there is no doubt that he would have achieved at least
equal success therein, for while he may not be what is loosely termed
"a genius," he has that fine artistic taste--that clear perception of
the principles of art--that is better is some respects than genius,
because more prolific of the beautiful and the true in practical
adornment.

BURDICK, Norman Leslie, at the head of the firm of Burdick, Armitage &
Allen, book and job printers, is the son of Alonzo H. Burdick, a
printer and editor, and Lydia L. Davison. His parents were of Scotch
and English ancestry, and his grandfathers both did valiant service in
the war of the revolution.

Norman L. Burdick was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1836, and received
his education at De Ruyter, N. Y., and in the Jefferson County
Institute in Watertown, New York. He came to Milwaukee in 1852, and
entered the printing office of the Daily Free Democrat, of which
Sherman M. Booth was editor and proprietor, and from him young Burdick
received his first earnings. He continued to work at the printer's
trade for some ten years, and became a thorough master of it in its
various departments. Meanwhile, the war of the rebellion had broken
upon the country, with all its horrors, imperiling its institutions

Page 329

and challenging the attention of old and young. Mr. Burdick, true to
the records of his ancestors, came to the support of his government by
enlisting in the Twenty-fourth regiment of Wisconsin volunteer
infantry, in August, 1862. He was in the battles of Chaplin Hills and
Stone River, at the latter of which he was taken prisoner January 1st,
1863. He had an experience of six days in the notorious Libby prison,
which was quite enough to make a life-long impression. In April, 1863,
he received an honorable discharge; and, returning home, he took up
again his trade of printer, after some weeks devoted to recuperating
his health and strength. But his thoughts were still with his comrades
in the army and the cause for which they were fighting, and, in
September, 1864, he re-enlisted in the Forty-third Wisconsin volunteer
infantry, and served therein until the end of the war, when he was
honorably mustered out of the service.

He turned again to Milwaukee, and, in 1866, he began business for
himself, in connection with Nelson C. Hawks, by opening a job printing
office, his capital being three hundred dollars, the first money he had
saved. This business he has followed ever since, gradually enlarging
it, from year to year, as his patronage warranted, and taking a partner
when the business had grown beyond his own immediate supervision, and
later a second. The firm now occupies one of the largest and best
equipped offices of the kind in the city, and Mr. Burdick finds that
the steady industry and push with which he has followed his business
and push the attention which he has given all its details have yielded
their natural result in a large increase in its volume not only, but in
a great improvement in its financial returns.

Mr. Burdick still keeps alive the memory of the days spent in camp and
field, and of the comrades who went out with him to sanguinary
conflict, but came not back, for is an active member of Wolcott Post of
the Grand Army of the Republic. He is also a member of the Society of
the Sons of the American

[image: NORMAN LESLIE BURDICK.]

Revolution, and of the Deutscher and Old Settlers' clubs. He is a
Republican by birth, education and association, and without seeking
office has rendered his party what service he could.

Mr. Burdick is an Episcopalian and a member of St. James church of
which he has been a vestryman for twenty-one-years.

He was married, in 1864, to Anna E. Mitchell, daughter of John S.
Mitchell, a well-known resident of the city and a member of the Chamber
of Commerce. Two daughters and a son are the children of this marriage.

MURPHY, Daniel E., resides at 173 Twenty-fifth street, Milwaukee, and
is the son of Daniel Murphy of Ireland, and farmer and road contractor
in fair circumstances. His mother's name was Margaret Hayes. His
parents were good, honest people, but without anything in their family
history to distinguish them above those among whom they lived. The
subject of this sketch was born in Ireland, June 16th, 1843. His early
education, like that of so many who have successfully

Page 330

DANIEL E. MURPHY.
made their way in this country, was limited. The national schools which
he attended were good according to the standard of his time, and their
moral influence of the very best. But upon leaving them, at the age of
fourteen years, his school days ended. In 1859, at the age sixteen
years, without friends and with little money, he left his native land
for the United States, where many of his country-men have found homes
and moderate fortunes. Upon arriving in this country, he made his way
to Kensington, Connecticut, where he earned his first dollar, working
in a factory for fourteen dollars per month. About the time that he had
begun to make progress toward fair wages, the war of the rebellion
broke out, and the factory was closed, throwing all its hands out of
employment. He then worked on a farm for six months, at the rate of
twelve dollars per month. Having saved fifty dollars, he went to
Hartford, Conn., where he found great difficulty in making a living,
times being very hard. Finally, recognizing that he had no trade or
profession, and that if his ambition was ever to be realized, he must
have one or the other; and, having no friends and no money with which to 
secure the education necessary to a profession, he learned the trade of 
a carpenter with one A. B. West, a leading builder of that city. When he 
had finished his apprenticeship he began to save money, and his first 
hundred dollars was put into a life insurance policy, on the endowment 
plan. Having saved some hundreds of dollars, he left his trade, and, in 
1868, started a book and stationery store, in a small way, in 
Bridgeport, Connecticut. In addition to his store, he engaged in real 
estate business, then added life insurance, and occasionally took up the 
role of auctioneer. In this way, by paying close attention to these 
occupations, he had, in five years, made $10,000. Meanwhile, he moved 
into a much larger store, and added to his business immigration agencies 
and an exchange office, in all of which he was quite successful. Two 
months before the great panic of 1873, he brought a large tract of land, 
platted it, and prepared to sell it at auction in October following. On 
the 12th of September the panic struck the country, and his little 
fortune of $10,000 invested in Bridgeport land "vanished into thin air." 
He kept his book store, however, for several years thereafter, but times 
were hard, and trade dull; and, embracing an opportunity to sell out, he 
took Horace Greeley's advice and "went west," arriving in Chicago in 
1878. He wrote to Hon. Matthew Keenan, then vice-president of the 
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance company, regarding an agency; and Mr. 
Keenan, after consultation with other officers of the company, wired him 
to come to Milwaukee. He did so and received the appointment which he 
sought. This was a turning point in his life, and thus began his career 
as a representative of the Northwestern Mutual, of which he is now 
general agent for Wisconsin and Northern Michigan--a career which has 
been most advantageous to the company and most honorable to himself and 
beneficial to his material interests.

Mr. Murphy was married, in 1875, to Miss Rosalie G. Maher of New Haven,
Connecticut,

Page 331

and, in 1878, they removed to Madison, Wisconsin, which was their place
of residence until they came to Milwaukee. They have several children,
one of whom is a student in the University of Wisconsin.

His reputation as a "hustler," as well as a most successful life
underwriter and manager of agencies, is universally admitted. It is
substantiated by the fact that the business of his agency has for many
years averaged more than ten per cent of the entire business of the
great company which he represents.

KELLY, John A., a member of the bar of Waukesha county and a resident
of Oconomowoc since the fall of 1879, was born in Milton, Norfolk
county, Massachusetts, September 3rd, 1856. His father, Ferdinand
Kelly, was born in Clonmel, County Galway, Ireland, and his mother,
whose maiden name was Betsey McCurdy, is a native of Rathlin Island,
County Antrim, Ireland. The parents were married in Massachusetts and
resided there until 1862, when they moved to Wisconsin, settling on a
farm in the town of Delafield, Waukesha county, where they lived until
1890, when they removed to the city of Oconomowoc, where they still
have their home. The family consisted of five children--three daughters
and two sons. Thomas Kelly, the other son, died in St. Louis, Mo.,
April 8th, 1891.

John A. Kelly was brought up on the farm in Delafield and received his
primary education in the public schools. Subsequently he attended for a
time the College of the Sacred Heart, at Watertown. In 1880 he began
the study of law and was for some months in the office of Judge R. C.
Hathaway of Oconomowoc. June 5th, 1884, he was admitted to the bar, and
the same year was elected clerk of the city of Oconomowoc, and re-
elected in 1885. In 1886 he was elected justice of the peace, and this
office he has held by successive re-elections for six years. Since he
began the practice of his profession he has had a constantly increasing
clientage and has attained a
JOHN A. KELLY.
standing among his fellow-members of the bar as a man of ability and
well equipped for legal work.

Mr. Kelly is not a member of any club of society, and is not specially
active in political matters.

Mr. Kelly was married in Oconomowoc, January 8th, 1885, to Miss Annie
Dougherty, a native of that city, and a daughter of Dominick and Mary
Dougherty, both of whom are deceased. Both Mr. and Mrs. Kelly are
members of the Roman Catholic church.

FISH, Edmund Frost,M. D., of Milwaukee, is a native of New York, the
son of Frothingham Fish, who was a member of the New York legislature
in 1861 and 1862, and one of the judges of the supreme court of that
state for the last fourteen years of life. He was the son of Howland
Fish, a lawyer of considerable prominence in Central New York, who was
a son of Peter Fish, also a lawyer. The maiden name of Dr. Fish's
mother was Susan E. Bronk, a native of Coxsackie, N. Y., the daughter
of Robert Bronk, a minister in the

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[image: EDMUND FROST FISH.]

Dutch Reformed church, and he was the son of Leonard Bronk, a lawyer
and judge of that part of the state. The family came from Holland and
was among the early Dutch settlers, land owners and slave holders on
the Hudson.

The Fish family originated in England, and both families must have had
a good social standing, as they possess coats-of-arms. The records of
the kings-at-arms office in London give the Fish family arms as a tiger
head with a crest; color, ermine; motto, "Fortudina et Prudentia." The
Bronk family arms are the rising sun and eagle, and motto "Ne Cede
Malls."

Dr. Fish was born at Fultonville, August 5th, 1857. After leaving the
district school, he went to Schenectady and took the course in Union
school, and from that institution entered Union College, but remained
there only during the freshman year. He then took up the study of
medicine with Dr. Burton of Fultonville; but, six months thereafter, he
went into the office of Dr. Vander Veer of Albany, and became a student
of the Albany Medical College, from which he graduated in
1879 as valedictorian of the class. After his graduation he went to
Europe, spending two winters in Vienna, attending the clinics at the
general hospital, under some of the most eminent men of that great
center of learning. Following his studies in Vienna, he visited the
clinics of Prague, Berlin, Heidelburg, Strasburg, Paris and London.

Dr. Fish came to Milwaukee in 1881, but remained only a short time,
going thence to Montana, and locating at Miles City, where he rapidly
acquired a large practice. Returning to Milwaukee in 1894, he opened an 
office on Grand avenue, and has been in steady practice since. He has
taken special courses in medicine in Vienna, Austria, and at the
polyclinics of New York and Chicago. In April, 1894, he was tendered
and accepted the chair of gynecology and clinical gynecology in the
Milwaukee Medical College, and still retains the chair as a member of
the faculty. He has written considerable on subjects pertaining to
gynecology, and read original articles both at the meetings of the
medical societies in this and in distant states. He is member of
Montana Medical association, the Wisconsin State Medical society, the
Northwestern Medical society, the Milwaukee Practitioners' and the
Brainard Medical societies, the American Medical association, and is
Fellow of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
He is gynecologist to the Trinity hospital, the Milwaukee county
hospital, lecturer on obstetrics and gynecology in St. Joseph's
hospital, and one of the founders and directors of the Milwaukee County
Training School for Nurses.

In politics he is a Republican. His father and grandfather were Whigs
and later Republicans.

In school and college Dr. Fish belonged to several of the secret
societies, and is now an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, and a member
of several other societies of less note. He was married to Caroline
Mary Eagy, daughter of a Pennsylvania farmer. They have no children.

Page 333

ROHLFING, William G., head of the music firm of William Rohlfing &
Sons, corner of Mason and Broadway, Milwaukee, is a native of
Osnabrueek, Germany, the son of Christian Rohlfing, a piano
manufacturer of that town, and of Mary Schmidt Rohlfing, the daughter
of a celebrated church organ manufacturer and inventor. William
Rohlfing was born on December 17th, 1830. He received his education in
the public school and gymnasium of his native town and learned the
trade of piano-maker in his father's factory, and in the different
leading cities of Germany.

In January, 1852, he took passage from Bremen, Germany, in the sailing
vessel Adler, and after a voyage of sixty-five days, landed in
Baltimore, Maryland. Being a skilled piano-maker , he readily found
employment at his trade in the piano factory of Weiss Brothers. His
first week's wages amounted to five dollars, which was gradually
increased until it reached fifteen dollars per week, the highest
salary, paid at that time. In 1855 he accepted a position as foreman in
the piano manufactory of Louis Stirn in Baltimore. Subsequently he
removed to Norfolk, Virginia, where he, in connection with his
brothers-in-law, Daniel and August Stirn, started the southern piano
manufactory, which proved very successful. However, they were compelled
to discontinue the business in 1860, when the great civil war broke
out. Mr. Rohlfing, being a strong Union man, returned to Baltimore and
accepted an engagement with William Knabe & Co., the well-known piano
manufacturers. Here he remained until 1878, when he removed to
Milwaukee and began business on his own account, opening a large music
store, where he keeps an extensive line of pianos, including the
celebrated Steinway and Hazelton and other musical instruments, and a
large stock of sheet music. He has been very successful in his business
and his establishment is one of the largest in the northwest. The house
has become a musical center in the city, and a large hall

[image: WILLIAM G. ROHLFING.]

on the second floor, called Recital Hall, is devoted exclusively to
musicales and recitals, and a place of meeting and conference for
musical personages, and also for society rehearsals.

On September 27th, 1855. Mr. Rohlfing was married to Miss Emma Stirn, a
sister of a former employer, and they have seven children, five sons
and two daughters. Of the sons, four, Charles, William, Jr. Herman and
George, are associated with their father in business, and have
contributed much to its extent and prosperity.

Mr. Rohlfing is a life member of the Milwaukee Musical society, having
been its treasurer for over ten years; was on the finance committee of
the great and successful Sangerfest in 1886; is a director of the
Deutsche Gesellschaft, member of the Deutscher club, and a member of
other societies. In religion he is a Lutheran.

Genial in manner, generous in impulse, enterprising in business affairs, 
broad-minded and public-spirited, Mr. Rohlfing has made many friends, 
and attained a very creditable position in the business world.

Page 334

[image: CHARLES VON BAUMBACH.]

VON BAUMBACH, Charles, at the head of the Charles von Baumbach Drug
company of Milwaukee, was born in Kirchheim, Hessen, Germany, on the
18th of June, 1840. His father, Ludwig von Baumbach, was of
aristocratic origin, the family being landed proprietors, which in the
old country means more as to social position than it does in this. He
entered the army and rose to the rank of captain. Leaving the army he
took part in the political agitations of the times, was elected to
parliament and joined the liberal element in its effort to secure the
establishment of constitutional government. As every one knows who is
familiar with the history of those times, the effort failed
disastrously, the government was more strongly established than ever,
and those who were outspoken in their advocacy of the revolution were
compelled, as a measure of personal safety, to leave the country.
Ludwig von Baumbach was one of these. He came to this country and
settled on a farm at Black River, Ohio, but, subsequently, in 1857,
removed to Milwaukee, where he lived the remainder of his life, dying
in 1883. Not long
after coming to Milwaukee he was appointed imperial consul to Germany,
which position he held until 1878.

Charles von Baumbach was one of the six sons of Ludwig, and spent his
youth on the Ohio farm, attended the common school near there, and
afterward the high school in Elyria for a year. He spent a year as
clerk in a drug store in Cleveland, them came to Milwaukee, and was a
drug clerk until he enlisted in the army in June, 1861. He entered
Company C, Fifth Wisconsin infantry, as a private, was made corporal
and them sergeant. He was service with his regiment in the famous
peninsular campaign, was in the siege of Yorktown and the battle of
Williamsburg, where he was twice wounded. Receiving a furlough on
account of these wounds, he returned home, and in August, 1882, was
commission second lieutenant, and acted as mustering officer. On the
20th of the same month he was commissioned captain of Company C,
Twenty-fourth Wisconsin infantry, of which he took command September
5th. He took part with his regiment in the battles of Perryville and
Stone River, where it did gallant service. In December following he was
commissioned major, and in the following year took part in the battle
of Chickamauga, in which he had command of the regiment after the
capture of Colonel West. He also participated with his regiment in the
battles of Lookout Mountain and Mission Ridge. His hard campaigning
impaired his health, and in November, 1863, he resigned his commission
and returned to Milwaukee, where, after regaining his health, he re-
engaged in the drug business and continued in it until 1865, when he
sold out; and, going to St. Cloud, Minnesota, he engaged in the fur
trade. After a time he returned to Milwaukee, and again established
himself as a druggist, shortly taking for partner. Theodore Gerhardy
and beginning a wholesale business. In 1885 the firm was incorporated
as the Charles von Baumbach company, with a capital of $100,000, and
Major von Baumbach

Page 335

as president. Two years after the store was burned, but the business
was immediately reopened in another building, and the next year removed
to its present commodion quarters on Market street. The business has
grown to great proportions, amounting to nearly a million dollars
annually, and requiring seventy or more clerks to carry it on.

In November, 1867, Major von Baumbach was married to Clara, daughter of
Dr. F. Rosenthal of Milwaukee. Of the six children born to them only
three are living. Two of the others died in childhood, and one, Ludwig,
a youth of seventeen, was accidentally killed while hunting. Of the
living children two are girls and one a boy.

Major von Baumbach in an active and thorough Republican, a member of
the Grand Army of the Republic, and of the military order of the Loyal
Legion. A brave and faithful soldier, in business affairs he is
actuated by the same regard for the principles of honor and integrity.

MAERCKLEIN, Reinhold E., D. D. S., a resident of Milwaukee, is the son
of Charles Maercklein, Sr., a cabinet-maker, who came to this country
from Germany in 1853, and settled on a farm near Saukville, Ozaukee
county, Wisconsin. His wife was Dorothea Vogel. Reinhold was born
February 7th, 1853, in Gartz on der Order, Germany, and was only about
three months old when he came with his parents to his country. His
education was obtained in the public schools of Wisconsin, but after
deciding upon dentistry as his profession he entered the dental
department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he was
graduated with the degree of D. D. S. in 1886. That same year he began
the practice of his profession in Milwaukee, and has continued
uninterruptedly in it ever since, with the result that he has not only
built up a large practice, but has gained such prominence in the
profession for thoroughly understanding both the theory and the art of
it, that he now fills the chair of professor of clinical

[image: REINHOLD E. MAERCKLEIN.]

operative dentistry and orthodontia in the dental department of the
Milwaukee Medical College.

He is a member of the Wisconsin State Dental society and of the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Though a Republican in politics, like most professional men, he has
little or nothing to do with party machinery.

Dr. Maercklein was married on the 29th of April, 1877, to Minnie
Wermuth, and two children have been born to them, one of whom died in
September, 1895. Mrs. Maercklein died on the 19th of June in the same
year.

BACH, James Anthony, M. D., an accomplished physician of Milwaukee, is
the son of Matthias Bach, a farmer in moderate circumstances, who was
one of the early settlers of Washington county, Wis. Mr. Bach, by
industry, economy and a wise use of the means at this disposal, worked
himself up to a position of comfort, in spite of the many disadvantages
which he had to encounter. He is now robnat and hearty at the age of
eighty-three years.

Page 336

[image: JAMES ANTHONY BACH.]

His wife, Anna Mootz, Dr. Bach's mother, is a woman of exceptional
executive ability, considering the limited opportunities which she has
had for culture and for the exercise of her talents. She, too, is still
living at the age of seventy-seven, in the full possession of all her
faculties. The grandparents of the doctor were successful merchants in
a small way, near Luxemburg, Germany.

Dr. Bach was born in Washington county, Wis., on the 13th of October,
1860. He attended the public schools in his native town and Milwaukee,
and afterward was a student in the Oshkosh Normal school. From 1878 to 
1880 was devoted to teaching the public school of his district. He then
pursued a special course in the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor.
After that he entered the medical department of the university, and,
taking the regular course, was graduated in 1884 with the degree of M.
D. After receiving his medical degree, he began the general practice of
his profession in Milwaukee, and continued it for three years, meeting
with marked success. He then went to Europe, where he spent two years
in a course of study relating more especially to the eye, ear, nose and 
throat. On his return from Europe he took up practice in the line of his 
specialties, the eye, ear, nose and throat, and has built up a large 
practice in those departments of the profession. Dr. Bach is professor 
of ophthalmology and otology in the Wisconsin College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, besides being connected with several hospitals and 
institutions.

Dr. Bach is an Independent in politics, and a Catholic in religion. He
belongs to several Milwaukee clubs and medical societies, and to the
State and National Medical associations.

June 24th, 1896, the doctor was married to Catherine E. Pick, daughter
of John Pick, a prominent merchant of West Bend, Wisconsin. Mrs. Bach
is a graduate of the West Bend high school and later took a post-
graduate course at Long Wood, Chicago, giving particular attention to
the study of music and painting, in which she has become very
proficient. Dr. and Mrs. Bach have one child, a son.

The doctor has four brothers and four sisters, all of whom are in good
circumstances.

McVICKER, Emery Marion, or E. M. McVicker as he signs the name, is a
resident of Milwaukee, and is the son of Daniel and Addle Folks
McVicker. E. M. McVicker's father, grandfather and great-grandfather
were slave-holders in Virginia, and owned large plantations near
Leesburg. His father and grandfather sold their slaves and plantations
just before the was of the rebellion broke out, and removed to
Illinois, the grandfather entering upon the practice of law in Lawn
Ridge. The name of McVicker is said to be a corruption of the English
title vicar, designating a church dignitary, and the name of Mike or
Michael, the two forming the name Mike Vickar, which was borne by a
stage manager of William Shakespeare, and also Ben Johnson's company.
The descendants of this Mike

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Vickar, according to tradition, came to be known as McVickar, and the
family has ever since been prominent upon the stage and in the pulpit.

E. M. McVicker was born near Peoria, Illinois, in 1859, receiving his
education in the public schools near his home and in Ripon College,
Wisconsin, where he remained four years. He then entered the law school 
of the state university of Wisconsin, from which he was graduated in
1892. During his course at Ripon and at the university he was active in
the debating societies, and in all the exercises calculated to fit him
for his future calling. While pursuing his high school course at
Gibson, Illinois, he also read law in the office of C. H. Ycomans, and
there earned his first professional dollar by drawing up a lease for a
farmer in the absence of his chief. He continued reading law there
until he went to Ripon, where he also kept up his law studies in the
office of Judge L. E. Reed. While at the university he read and
practiced law in the office of Bushness, Rogers & Hall.

Immediately upon his graduation he formed a partnership with classmate,
E. A. Kehr, under the firm name of McVicker & Kehr, and they opened an
office in the Pahst building in Milwaukee, where the entered upon the
practice of his profession upon his return from the Pacific coast, and
the Yellowstone Park. His practice has been confined, from choice, to
the civil courts, and he has, for the most part, been employed by
corporations. One of the most important cases that he has had was one
involving the validity of the incorporation of the village of North
Milwaukee, which was carried to the supreme court to test the
constitutionality of the act of the legislature authorizing courts to
incorporate villages. This question involved many villages so
incorporated throughout the state.

Mr. McVicker is a staunch Republican, believing in the principles of
protection and a sound and stable currency. He takes an active part in
the party caucuses and conventions, and has done some platform
speaking,

[image: EMERY MARION M'VICKER.]

but has neither sought nor held any political office. He is a member of
several clubs, is an Odd Fellow and Mason, belonging to Ivanhoe
Commandery of Milwaukee. He is also a member of Washington Avenue M. E.
church of that city.

He was married in December, 1889, to Miss J. Floy Wood, daughter of
Wesley Wood, a Methodist minister and former presiding elder, from
Vermont; and they have two daughters, Ione and Iris.

VAN STEENWYK, Gysbert, until July, 1894, president of the Batavian bank
of La Crosse, and for forty years prominent in the official and
business life of the state, is a native of that land of historic
struggles for liberty, Holland, having been born in Utrecht, January
30th, 1814. His father was a farmer and landowner within two miles of
Utrecht, and in good financial circumstances. The young man received an
excellent education in the University of Utrecht, where he was a
student in various departments until he was twenty-seven years of age,
although his

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[image: GYSBERT VAN STEENWYK.]

degree in philosophy and philology was received five years earlier.
Upon completing his university course, he could speak German and French
fluently, and was familiar with English and English literature. His
life during his boyhood and young manhood was one in which he enjoyed
to the full the social and educational privileges of his native city,
but he was a man for action and was ambitious of larger things, for
which his education had admirably fitted him. When a boy of sixteen, at 
the time of the Helgian revolution, he was enrolled as a volunteer in 
the army of the Netherlands, in which he served one and one-half years. 
He, however, developed little taste for military glory. Taking up the 
study of law, he soon found that that was not what he wanted. America, 
with its free institutions and its promise of great things in every 
department of human activity had been the theme of his study and 
thought. He determined to visit the United States, and, in May, 1840, 
with three friends of education and culture, he took passage in an 
American sailing vessel for New York. This method of ocean passage was 
chosen, because it would give them a practical knowledge of the English 
language.

Arriving in this country they spent the summer in New York City and
vicinity; and, in the autumn, they set out for the west. Spending some
time in exploring Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin, they finally chose
the latter as the state of their adoption, after having visited the
southern portion in a carriage trip. They were much pleased with
Milwaukee, and they determined to make it their home. Mr. Van Steenwyk
early made the acquaintance of his countrymen in the city, received the
appointment of consul of the Netherlands for Wisconsin, Michigan and
Minnesota and soon was successfully established in business. The
legislature in 1852 created the office of commissioner of immigration,
the occupant of which was to reside in New York, and seek to turn
immigrants into Wisconsin. He received the appointment, and, after
serious resistance to the entreaties of his friends, accepted it, and
most of the years of 1852 and 1853 he spent in New York City. As
commissioner he sent many worthy immigrants into Wisconsin, and so his
services were of great advantage to the state. A change in the
political complexion of the state administration caused a change in
this office, and Mr. Van Steenwyk returned to Wisconsin. He became
interested in lands along the line of the Milwaukee & La Crosse
railroad, then in process of construction, lived for a time at Newport,
Sauk county, and at Kilbourn City, and was commissioned brigadier
general of the state troops by Governor Randall, from which he received
the title of general, by which he is still addressed by some of his
friends. In 1859 he was elected member of the state assembly from
Columbia county. The following year he was elected state bank
controller, and his discharge of the duties of this office was very
efficient and satisfactory. Having occasion to visit La Crosse in the
discharge of his official duties, he became impressed with its business
prospects; and, upon the expiration of his

Page 339

term as controller, took up his residence in that city, and opened the
Batavian bank, which for more than thirty-five years has been one of
the bulwarks of the La Crosse business community. In 1879, he was
elected to the state senate from the Thirty-first district by a
majority over both his Democratic and Greenback opponents. He has also
served one term as mayor of the city. He has been interested in various
industrial enterprises, such as mills, street railway and light and
power and lumber companies. He has been the foremost executor of the
will of the late C. C. Washburn, which covered property to the value of
nearly two millions of dollars. To sum up his career in La Crosse is to
say that he has been one of its honored citizens in all departments of
commercial and social activity during the last thirty-five years.

In 1874 Mr. Van Steenwyk went to Europe and spent a year and a half in
travel. While there he made the acquaintance of and married Miss
Marietta Nicholls, a native of Danbury, Connecticut, daughter of David
P. Nicholls, for many years treasurer of that state, who was also
traveling through Europe. Three children have been born to them; but
one, a bright and promising boy, died some years ago, casting a shadow
upon an otherwise happy home.

YOUNGS, Melvin Lincoln, or M. L. Youngs as he is accustomed to write
his name, resides at 275 Hanover street, Milwaukee. He is the son of
Curtis S. Youngs, who followed his trade of a carpenter, gaining
therefrom a moderate competence. His mother, Lucy Lincoln Youngs, came
from old families of Lincoln and Hobart, Massachusetts, from whom she
inherited the virtues and sterling character common to most of the
early New Englanders.

M. L. Youngs was born in Smyrna, Chenango county, N. Y., April 8th,
1826. His early education was received in the district

[image: MELVIN LINCOLN YOUNGS.]

schools of his native place, and afterwards in those of Union City,
Michigan, to which place his parents had removed when he was eleven
years old. Later, he attended an academy in Marshall, Michigan, for one
year, and, after that, took a course in the Lincoln -- Bailey
Commercial College in Milwaukee. In 1856 he took up his residence in
the Fifth ward of the city of Milwaukee, which has ever since been his
home. He had no business or professional training beyond that acquired
in the discharge of the duties of a clerk in a country store. His first
money was earned where many other boy has earned his, on the farm; and
there he acquired what is of more value than money, the virtue of
industry, perseverance and thrift; and there he laid the foundations of
that character which, besides bringing its own reward, has brought him
position and honors. In 1857 he began the work of a book-keeper, but in
August of the same year he was appointed grand lecturer of the Grand
Lodge of Free Masons of Wisconsin. In the Masonic fraternity Mr. Youngs
has been, for many years, very prominent, his membership dating back to
1854. He has taken all

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the degrees of the York Rite of Free Masonry, and also of the Ancient,
Accepted Scottish Rite, having received the thirty-third and last
degree in August, 1863, upon the introduction of Scottish Rite Masonry
into Wisconsin. He has been grand lecture of the grand lodge of this
state, with an interim of a few years, since 1857, and of the grand
chapter since 1861. By reason of his long experience his opinions upon
Masonic questions are looked upon as authority, not only in Wisconsin,
but among the Masons of other jurisdictions as well. He held the
position of grand high priest of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons
in 1864-5, and grand master of Masons of the state of Wisconsin in
1866.

In February, 1886, in connection with John W. Laflin, grand secretary,
he began the publication of The Masonic Tidings, a monthly fraternal
paper, which is still continued.

At the age of twenty-two, Mr. Youngs found his political sympathies
with the Free-Soilers, and he became an active member of that party.
Later, when political conditions has so changed as to eliminate that
organization from consideration as an active force in political
conflicts, he joined the Democratic party, adhering to its fortunes
until in the recent presidential campaign he found himself unable to
endorse the platform of the party as presented by the Chicago
convention, or to support its candidates. The only civil offices held
by him were postmaster at Union City, Michigan, appointed by President
Pierce in 1853, and an assessor of a ward in Milwaukee for fifteen
years.

He was married, in 1846, to Charity H. Strong, at Sherwood, Branch
county, Michigan, by which marriage he had four children, three of whom
are still living, namely: Geo. C. Youngs, editor of The Florence Mining
News, Florence, Wisconsin; Nettie, wife of W.P. Kenny of Milwaukee, and
Fred M. Youngs of the Omaha Bee, Omaha, Nebraska. Mr. Youngs was twice
married, the second time to Louisa M. Gordon of Milwaukee, August 30th,
1865.

ESCH, John Jacob, one of the prominent young lawyers of La Crosse, is
the son of Henry Esch, a native of Westphalia, Germany, who came to
United States in 1842 and located on a farm in Milwaukee county.
Subsequently he became a minister of the Evangelical Association of
North America, and was one of the pioneer preachers of that
denomination in the United States. Ill-health caused his retirement
from the ministry, and since that time he has been engaged in
manufacturing and mercantile pursuits. In 1871 he moved with his family
to Sparta, Wisconsin, where they have ever since resided. The maiden
name of the mother of John J. Esch was Matilda Menn, who was born of
German parents, near St. Louis, Mo., and removed with her parents, when
a girl, to Monroe county, Wisconsin, where her father entered land in
the wilderness, and built about the first log house in Morris Creek
Valley. She is still living. The parents, as well as the grandparents
on both sides have been plain people with deep religious convictions,
and although beginning with nothing have attained to moderate
circumstances.

John J. Esch was born near Norwalk, Monroe county, Wisconsin, March
20th, 1861. His education was obtained in the public schools of
Milwaukee up to the age of ten years, and for the next seven years in
the schools of Sparta, including the high school, from which he
graduated in 1878. The next four years he was a student in the state
university, graduating in the modern classical course in 1882. From
1883 to 1886 he was a teacher in the Sparta high school. After that he
took the law course in the state university, and graduated with the
class of 1887. While in the university he was one of the debaters
representing the Athenaean society in the team of 1882. He was one of
the founders, and, during the senior year, was managing editor of the
"Badger," which was one of the few weekly college papers of that day.
He was one of the prophets of the class of 1882 on class day, and
appeared on the programme at commencement with an

Page 341

oration entitled "The Jews." He secured his college education by his
own exertions, his expenses in the university having been paid by his
brother, whom, in turn, he sent through Rush Medical College, Chicago.

Since his graduation from the law school he has been in continuous
practice of his profession in La Crosse, the firm name being Winter,
Esch & Winter. He has been quite successful, and has been associated
with other counsel in a number of important cases.

Mr. Esch says he is a Republican by both training and inclination, but
has held only one elective office, that of treasurer of Sparta, to
which he was elected without solicitation, and which was by no means an
office of profit. In March, 1896, he was chosen chairman of the
Republican state convention to select delegates-at-large to the
national convention which met in St. Louis. In the Republican state
convention which met in Milwaukee, in September, 1894, to nominate
candidates for state offices, he was a delegate from La Crosse, and
made a notable speech nominating F. A. Copeland for lieutenant
governor. In the Republican congressional convention in the Seventh
district, which met to nominate a successor to the late Hon. Geo. B.
Shaw, he was a competitor of Gen. Griffin for the nomination, receiving
twenty-six votes in convention to Gen. Griffin's thirty-two. During the
campaigns of 1894 and 1896 he made an effective stumping tour of the
state under the direction of the state central committee.

In 1883 he organized the Sparta Riffles, Company I., Third regiment,
W.N.G., and was its first captain, remaining such until 1887. Upon
removing to La Crosse, he helped to organize the Gateway City Guards,
Company M, Third regiment, W.N.G., and was lieutenant and afterward
captain of the company, resigning some two or three years after.

In 1895 he was appointed by Governor Upham judge advocate general and
aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel on his staff, and was tendered
the same position by Governor Scotfield on his staff, but declined it.
He is a

[image: JOHN JACOB ESCII.]

member of the Nineteenth Century and Hamilton Literary clubs of La
Crosse. He is also a member of the First Congregational church of La
Crosse.

He was married to Miss Anna Herbst of Sparta, December 24th, 1889, and
they have four children--a boy and three girls.

Mr. Esch is a thorough lawyer, a forcible and eloquent speaker, and one
of the rising young men of the state.

KENNEDY, Edward Cook, ex-mayor of Superior, and a prominent lawyer of
that city, was born in Galway, Saratoga country, N.Y., on the 24th of
April, 1854, the son of Lauren O. Kennedy, who was a general merchant
of that town, doing a large local business, from which he gained a
competence. Mayor Kennedy's great-grandfather was a native of Scotland,
who moved to Ireland for political reasons, and who was afterwards a
soldier in our Revolution, during which he was taken prisoner by the
British, at the evacuation of Ballston Spa. His son, the mayor's
grandfather, was a soldier of the war of 1813-14.

Page 342

[image: EDWARD COOK KENNEDY.]

The mayor's mother's maiden name was Caroline Cook, whose ancestry is
traceable to the early history of the colonies, many of whom
participated in the early wars of the country. With such a war-like
ancestry it is not surprising that young Kennedy should have had an
ambition for a military education. He attended the common school of his
native town, and at the same time took private lessons in Latin,
geometry and the higher studies preparatory to entering West Point; and
took a course in the Troy Polytechnic School with the same and in view.
But a classmate secured the appointment; and, concluding that there was
no further chance for entering the Military Academy, he went into a
broker's office in New York City, where he spent a year. He then
entered a law office in Johnstown, N. Y., where he pent three years,
during which time he attended lecture in the Albany Law School. In 1873
he went to Chicago and spent two years in the law office of Avery &
Comstock. In 1878 he took up his residence at Swan Lake, turner county,
Dakota, and began the practice of law there, but railroads building to
Praker, in the same county, rendered that a more promising place, and 
thither he removed. He practiced law there until 1891, acquiring a large 
business. In the year just named he moved to Superior, which he had 
visited the year before, and where he had made some investments. He had 
faith in the future of the city, and, concluding that it offered more 
advantages of a social and educational nature than the towns of the vast 
prairie state, he transferred all his interests thither. After removing 
to Superior, he commenced the practice of law there, and has continued 
it ever since. April 1st, 1897, he formed a law partnership with S. N. 
Dickinson and William M. Graham, the firm name being Dickinson, Kennedy 
& Graham.

Mr. Kennedy was brought up a Democrat, and his early associations were
with the members of that party, having, as a law student in New York,
known some of the great leaders of the party in that state. He always
believed in a tariff that affords protection as well as revenue, yet he
was a Democrat until 1896; when, believing in the gold standard, he
advocated the Republican doctrine and principles, making some speeches
for McKinley and the local ticket. He was elected county judge of
Turner county, South Dakota, being the first incumbent of the office
after it was created under the new state government. Mr. Kennedy was
elected mayor of Superior in 1893, as the Democratic nominee, over
Martin Patison, Republican. He was also the Democratic nominee for
congress in the Tenth district in 1894, but was defeated by John J.
Jenkins.

Mr. Kennedy is a member of the Masonic fraternity--is a Knight Templar
and a Shriner, and at present is eminent commander of the Superior
Commandery. He is a member of the Sons of the Revolution of the
Minnesota society. He is an Episcopalian--a member of the St. Albans
church, West Superior.

On October 6th, 1880, at Swan Lake, Dakota, Mr. Kennedy was married to
Emma

Page 343

Allen from Grant county, Wisconsin, a daughter if Hon. Joseph Allen, a
member of the Wisconsin legislature in 1867. They have three children--
two sons, Lauren A. and Walter E., and a daughter, Caroline C. Kennedy.

Mr. Kennedy has become very much interested in the growth and
prosperity of Superior, has an interest in several industrial concerns,
and believes that there is a great future for Superior and for all
those who identify themselves with its development. He has a fine legal
business and his first thought and efforts are devoted to its
interests.

VAN NORMAN, George Bosworth, one of Milwaukee's most stirring and
progressive business men, has his residence at 966 National avenue. He
is descended in the fourth generation from a family that immigrated to
this country from Holland and settled in Pennsylvania. He is the son of
Jacob Van Norman, who was born in Harriburg, and who was by occupation
a farmer. In 1855 he sold his farm in Chemung county, New York, and
with his family removed to Wisconsin, settling on a farm in Moscow,
Iowa county. Here he resided until his death in 1872. He had prospered
in the things of this world and left his family in comfortable
circumstances. The maiden name of Mr. Van Norman's mother was Polly
Parks, who was born in Scranton, Pa., her grandparents coming from
Yorkshire, England. She was the mother of ten children, and one of
those women who are never weary of well-doing for family and friends,
living a most active life of eighty-six years, and dying in 1886, at
the home of a son near Moville, Iowa.

G. B. Van Norman was born on a farm near Chemung, Chemung county, New
York, on the 25th of November, 1842. He was thirteen years of age when
he came with the family to Iowa county, Wisconsin. He was sent to the
district school three months in the year, the rest of the time he was
expected

[image: GEORGE BOSWORTH VAN NORMAN.]

to do his share of the work on the farm. The practical knowledge of
farming and stock raising thus gained has been of no little advantage
to him in this subsequent career. Though not the son of a poor man he
was brought up to earn every dollar he spent in boyhood; and he often
did an extra day's work for a neighbor to add to the sum laid by for a
holiday. By the time he was eighteen years old, he had a few head of
stock and a small sum of money which he had earned, but which he gave
to his father when he enlisted in the army. During the four years of
his army life, no opportunity for making a dollar was lost sight of and
his income from pay and trade was sent home to his father for sake
keeping. Upon his return to Wisconsin at the close of the war, he
immediately cast about for an opportunity for inventing his savings,
and making a start in some business. Not desirous of following farming,
with little business experience and a limited education, the problem
before him was not one easy of solution. His first venture in the
business world was in partnership with Edward Maher of Mazomanie, who
knew something of the hardware

Page 344

trade, and with his knowledge and three thousand dollars which Mr. Van
Norman furnished, a store was opened in Spring Green, Wisconsin. In the
spring of 1866 Mr. Van Norman sold his interest in the store, retaining
the horse and wagon, with which he continued to go the rounds of the
farm houses, selling those articles so necessary in the household, but
so difficult to obtain in a scattered farming community, yet by the
sale of which the notion peddler picks up many dollars. This second
venture was of short duration. A better opening was found in the
purchase of an established meat trade at Spring Green, and later
combining with it the shipping of stock to Milwaukee and Chicago. In
this business Mr. Van Norman continued until 1874, when he moved to
Milwaukee, and entered the live stock commission business at the Union
Stock yards. After nineteen years at the yards, the increase in
business was such as to warrant the opening of an office at the Union
Stock yards at Chicago. This now being his main office, Mr. Van Norman
makes Chicago his headquarters four days each week, the Milwaukee
office being in charge of A. L. Nickey, an old and trusted employe, who
has been given an interest in the business. By his indomitable energy
and business tact and unceasing labor, Mr. Van Norman has built up a
mammoth business, of which he is justly proud. In 1891 he helped to
organize the South Milwaukee company, and was elected its president;
this office he still holds. He is also president of the Eagle Horseshoe
company of Milwaukee. In 1893 he entered the packing business with Wm.
Plankinton, F. R. Burrows, D. D. Booth, O. F. Mason and J. M. Quinn,
the company operating the old packing plant of the Plankinton estate.
Mr. Van Norman is also interested in other industrial enterprises to
which he gives more or less of his time and thought.

In August, 1861, Mr. Van Norman enlisted in Company H, Eighth Wisconsin
infantry, Captain Stephen Estee. He was soon promoted to first duty
sergeant, and held the office until 1863. Re-enlisting in that year, he 
was commissioned second lieutenant and given command of all veterans of 
his company at Madison, Wisconsin, and with them he reported at Memphis, 
Tennessee. As the captain and orderly had failed to recruit sufficient 
men to allow the full number of company officers, he was appointed by 
Col. Britton. drill master of all recruits assigned to his regiment, and 
in this capacity he served until the close of the war. His record as a 
soldier is a long and honorable one, as he participated in every battle 
and skirmish in which the regiment was engaged, seventy-two in all. 
Among the more noted battles in which he took part were Nashville, 
Corinth, Iuka, Jackson, Champion Hills, Vicksburg and many others in 
Missouri, Mississippi and Louisiana. He was twice wounded, but did not 
leave his regiment on that account. He served in the Fifteenth, 
Sixteenth and Seventeenth army corps, under Grant, Sherman and A. J. 
Smith. After four years of constant service, except for a short furlough 
on account of illness, he was mustered out at Uniontown, Alabama, and 
returned home with his regiment. He is a member of the E. B. Wolcott 
Post, No. 1, of the Grand Army.

In politics Mr. Van Norman is a Republican from principle, but has
never gone actively into campaign work. He has been many times
solicited to become a candidate for some of the more important city
offices, but has always refused on account of the demands of his
business.

His connection with clubs and societies has been, for the most part,
merely nominal, although he was an active member of the Commercial club
during its existence, and he was one of the charter and active members
of the Light Horse Squadron, and for some time second lieutenant of the
organization.

Brought up a Methodist, and for a number of years in his youth a member
of that church, Mr. Van Norman's relations with that denomination were
broken by his removal from the paternal roof. While not, of late years,

Page 345

directly connected with any church, he has been an occasional attendant
with his family upon religious services wherever it was most
convenient, irrespective of creed or denomination.

In the fall of 1865, Mr. Van Norman was married to Miss Elizabeth
Atkinson, a native of North Anson, Maine, who had come west as a
teacher, but who, at the time he met her, was in Madison, Wisconsin,
nursing a sick soldier brother. After ten years of married life, she
died, leaving three daughters, Jane Ella, now Mrs. Robert C. Brown;
Alma, now Mrs. James T. Stewart, and Lizzie, now Mrs. Burton C. Waite--
all of Milwaukee. Mr. Van Norman was married a second time, to Miss
Cornelia Parsons, a native of Connecticut, but at the time a resident
of Spring Green. She died seventeen months after, leaving an infant son
that survived her but a few days. Mr. Van Norman's present wife was
Miss Minnie A. Booth, a native of Albany, N. Y., but who, for a number
of years prior to her marriage had been a resident of Milwaukee.

FIEBRANTZ, William J., city controller and prominent in the councils of
the Republican party, is the son of Albert Fiebrantz, Sr., who came to
Milwaukee with his parents in 1842, and early became interested in
mercantile enterprises not only in this city, but in Minnesota. He also
engaged extensively in the grain business, establishing warehouses
therefor in both Wisconsin and Minnesota. In addition to this, he had
sale stables for horses at various points in Minnesota, the
headquarters being in Milwaukee. He was, at one time, the owner of a
number of farms in this state and elsewhere, and, in his prime, was
regarded as one of the shrewdest business men in the city, as well as
one of the richest. He and his estimable wife, whose maiden name was
Louisa Fritz, are still living, and if they live until the 22nd of
April, 1898, they can celebrate their golden wedding. Both of them are
among the earliest settlers of the

[image: WILLIAM J. FIEBRANTZ.]

city, the former having come in 1842, and the latter four years later.

William J. Fiebrantz was born in the town of Milwaukee, Milwaukee
county, October 31st, 1858. He was educated in private, parochial and
public schools of Milwaukee; and, in 1872, entered the grain commission
house established by his father; and, some time thereafter, became
associated with his three brothers in the conducting of the business,
under the firm name of Fiebrantz Brothers, at 517 Vliet street; and in
this firm he still retains his interest. The firm has enjoyed a
prosperous business for years, and is one of the best known of its kind
in the city. Mr. Fiebrantz is recognized among his friends, and they
are many, not only in his own party, but among his political opponents,
as one of the shrewdest of managers both in business and politics that
the city contains.

He is a life-long Republican, and for years has been active in party
work, especially in the city. He was a resident of the Second ward from
1869 to 1893, and for ten years of that time was chairman of the
Republican ward committee, resigning only when he removed

Page 346

from the Second to the Sixth ward. In 1890 he was elected member of the 
assembly from the district comprising the Second and Fifteenth wards; 
and made a creditable record as a legislator and party leader. In the 
spring of 1894 he received the Republican nomination for city 
controller, and was elected by a plurality of 6,500. He was renominated 
in the spring of 1896, and re-elected by a plurality of nearly 4,000. In 
the fall of 1892 he was elected chairman of the Republican city and 
county committee, and re-elected by the Republican county convention in 
the fall of 1894 for the years 1895-6.

Mr. Fiebrantz is connected with a number of leading fraternal insurance
societies, in most of which he has been honored with positions of
trust. He is also interested in the Silver Spring Land company, of
which he is vice-president; is president of the Chestnut Land company,
treasurer of the People's Building and Loan association, member of the
Adler, Fiebrantz & Mueller Land company and the insurance firm of
Wieben, Fiebrantz & Adler. Some of these are among the most solid
financial institutions in the state.

Mr. Fiebrantz was married June 29th, 1893, to Miss Clara H. Dewitz of
Milwaukee, and they have one child, a son, Clarence H. Fiebrantz.

Kelly, Frederick William, was born in the city of Milwaukee, on the 3rd
of April, 1864. His father, T. L. Kelly, for many years a prominent dry
goods merchant of Milwaukee, is native of Brockville, Canada, and was
for some years a resident of New York City. His mother, whose maiden
name was Etta M. Hickok, is a native of the New England states and a
graduate of the New Hampton Literary Institute of Fairfax, Vermont.

F. W. Kelly's primary education was begun at home and afterward
continued in a private school. At the age of thirteen he entered the
public schools of Milwaukee, where he remained until 1884, in which
year he finished his course of study at the high school, and entered the 
Wisconsin state university at Madison, where he pursued the classical 
course. While at college he took an active interest in affairs 
generally, and was prominent in the various college organizations. 
Shortly after entering the university he was elected president of his 
class, that of 1888, and during his senior year was class secretary. He 
early took a deep interest in literary work and the debating societies, 
and served successively as treasurer, secretary, and, for three terms, 
as president of one of the three leading literary and debating societies 
of the university; and was also elected a debater on its semi-public 
debating team. In his sophomore year at the university he was elected 
one of the local editors of the college paper, the "University Press and 
Badger." At the chose of the year, he resigned this position to assist 
in organizing a new paper to be known as the "Aegis," of which he became 
the local editor. He was afterward promoted to the position of general 
editor and finally to that of managing editor-in-chief.

He was prominent in athletics while at college, being one of the
charter members and the secretary and treasurer of the University of
Wisconsin Tennis association, and later being elected to the presidency
of the North-western Intercollegiate. Tennis league, of which he was
the founder. In the military department of the university he held
various offices, the last being that of first lieutenant.

He was graduated with honors from the university in June 1888, in the
classical course.

In October, 1888, he entered the Columbia Law School, in New York City,
where he pursued a course of study in the law for one year,
successfully completing all the studies required for the junior year in
the regular law course. Besides this he did sufficient additional work
in political science and history to enable him, at the close of the
year, to regularly graduate from Columbia College with the degree of
bachelor of philosophy. He then pursued his legal studies further in

Page 347

the University of Wisconsin law school, from which he was graduated in
June, 1891, with the degree of L.L., B., and was duly admitted to
practice in all the courts of this state and the United States district
courts.

On July 1st, 1891, he entered the law office of Messrs. Turner & Timlin
in Milwaukee, where he remained until August 1st, 1892, when he started
out in the practice of his profession for himself. He established a
rapidly growing clientage, making a specialty of corporation and
commercial litigation. In September, 1896, he became a partner of
Messrs. W. J. Turner & J. H. Turner, the firm being Turner, Kelly &
Turner.

In politics he has always been identified with the Republican party,
and is an enthusiastic worker in its interests.

He is also actively interested in municipal affairs, and is a member of
the committee of one hundred of the Municipal league of Milwaukee.

He has written several articles for the magazines and newspapers on
matters of interest in municipal government.

While at college he became a member of the leading Greek letter
fraternity of Chi Psi, and, as an undergraduate, was a delegate to its
forty-seventh annual convention at Washington, D. C., in 1888, of which
convention he officiated as secretary. Since graduating from college he
has been president of the Wisconsin Association of Chi Psi in 1890 to
1891, and president for two years of the Milwaukee Chi Psi association,
from which latter body he was the delegate to the fifty-second annual
convention of the fraternity at Chicago in 1893.

While at law school he was also a member of the honorary law society of
Phi Delta Phi.

Besides being a member of the Milwaukee County Bar association, he has
taken an interest in educational and literary matters, and is a member
of the executive committee of the Alumni association of the Milwaukee
high schools, a member of the Wisconsin University Alumni association
and of the Parkman

[image: FREDERICK WILLIAM KELLY.]

Historical club, the Wisconsin State Historical society and of the
American Folk-Lore society. He is a member of the Calvary Presbyterian
church.

FELKER, Charles W., a resident of Oshkosh, and one of the foremost
lawyers of the state, was born in Penn Van, Yates county, N. Y., on the
25th of November, 1834, the son of Andrew and Maria Pixley Felker. His
father, who was a farmer, and for some years resided near Canandaigua,
Ontario county, N. Y., lost his property during the financial stress of
1837, and, in 1844, removed to McHenry county, Ill., and, two years
later to Winnebago county, Wis. Mr. Felker, in addition to the common
school course, received an academic education in the Brockport
collegiate institution of New York, and in the Charlottesville
Institute of Schoharic county, in the same state. He has been a
resident of Wisconsin since 1846. In 1856 he became editor of The
Oshkosh Democrat, and held the position for a year and a half. About
this time he began the study of law, and prosecuted it with such vigor
that he was admitted

Page 348

[image: CHARLES W. FELKER.]

to the bar in 1858, and in 1875 was admitted to practice in the supreme
court of the United States. He has had a large practice for many years,
extending generally over the state, and involving cases in nearly all
branches of the profession. From 1866 to 1876 he had for partner
Charles A. Weisbrod, who died in the year last named, after which Mr.
Felker practiced alone, with the exception of one year, up to 1892,
when he took as partner Frank C. Stewart, and his son Frederick Felker.

In 1864 Mr. Felker enlisted for service against the rebellion, was made
captain of Company A, Forty-eighth regiment, Wisconsin infantry. He
served until June of the next year, when the regiment was mustered out
of service.

In politics Mr. Felker has generally affiliated with the Democratic
party. In 1884 he became editor of The Oshkosh Times, and continued in
that position for four years. As an editorial writer he was forcible
and caustic, and did not always keep within the party lines, for he is
known as a man of opinions and with the courage to express them in the
most forcible manner. An example of this was
given in the campaign of 1890. He did not approve of the action of his
party regarding the Bennett compulsory education law, and, during the
campaign, made a speech in the Davidson theater in Milwaukee, in
criticism of the attitude of the party and its leaders regarding this
law, which was one of the most scathing ever heard in the state, and
created a sensation in party circles.

Mr. Felker was married in June, 1862, to Miss Sarah C. Danby. Three
daughters and two sons are the living issue of this marriage.

He is not a member of any church, but attends the Episcopal, and holds
to its doctrines. He has a fine law library, and is devoted to his
profession.

FOX, Very Reverend Joseph J., vicar general of the diocese of Green
Bay, is a native of that city, where he was born August 2nd, 1855. He
pursued his preparatory studies at the Cathedral school in Green Bay
and continued his classical studies at St. Francis Seminary, in
Milwaukee county, from 1870 to 1875. In the fall of the year last named
he went to Louvain, Belgium, where he studied at the American College
and at the University of Louvain. Having taken the usual course in
theology he was ordained there in 1879, and returned home in the fall
of that year. His first charge was New Franken, Brown county,
Wisconsin, from which he was soon after transferred to St. John's in
Green Bay, of which parish he had charge from May, 1880, to August,
1883, during which time he built the present priest's house and placed
the parish on a good spiritual as well as financial basis. While pastor
of St. John's he acted as secretary to Bishop Krantbauer. For eleven
years he had charge of Our Lady of Lourdes, a parish in Marinette,
where among the things which he accomplished was the building of a
large school house which accommodates an average of five hundred
pupils. In connection with it is a well-conducted high school. During
his pastorate here the Sisters of Notre Dame built a large academy and
boarding

Page 349

school for young ladies, which school is in a flourishing condition. He
came to his present position under Bishop Messmer in August, 1894.

His father, Paul Fox, was one of the early settlers of Green Bay,
coming there in 1840, engaging in the fur trade and continuing it for
some time, even after immigration had changed the old order of things.
In the early days, some of the missionaries said mass in Mr. Fox's
house after the only Catholic church of the community, which was
located in Shantytown, now Allouez, burned down. He always took great
interest in church matters, being one of the leaders in reorganizing
the Catholics into a congregation, and purchasing from the Methodists
the old church on the site of the present St. John's church, after the
burning of the Shantytown church, in the early forties. When the German
portion, later, formed a separate congregation. Mr. Fox was again
chosen as a leader, and went everywhere--even into the logging camps,
to collect money with which to build a church. In his private business
undertakings he was successful, having built a large block on
Washington street which bears his name, and he owned other real estate.
He held several offices, among them that of city treasurer. He died in
1893, aged seventy-five years.

Father Fox is Bishop Messmer's right-hand man and valued assistant, and
it is to his sagacity and business ability that the diocese owes much
of its prosperity. His particular delight is the beautiful St. Joseph's
Orphan Asylum, of which he has business direction, and its affairs are
kept in order through his watchful care.

Father Fox, by reason of his genial manners, kindly ways and liberal
conduct toward those who differ with him in religious views and
methods, has won the respect and confidence of the community where he
labors.

When leaving Marinette, where he had labored for eleven years, he was
made the recipient of a popular expression of the esteem in which he
was held by the citizens regardless of

[image: VERY REVEREND JOSEPH J. FOX.]

social or religious affiliations. Besides many flattering and heart-
felt addresses he was presented with several costly and beautiful
gifts, which he will doubtless highly prize during the remainder of his
life.

HILL, Alexander W., clerk of the courts of Milwaukee county, is the son
of Robert L. Hill, a native of Scotland, and a stone cutter by
occupation, who came to the United States with his parents when but
four years of age. Mr. Hill's mother was born in New York, her maiden
name being Charlotte Wadhams.

A. W. Hill was born in New York, on the 16th of June, 1853, and
received his education in the public schools of that city. He earned
his first money in a kindling wood factory, and subsequently, he went
to work in the carpet factory of E. S. Higgens & Co. Later he served an
apprenticeship in electroplating. He came to Milwaukee in 1880, when
twenty-seven years of age, and established himself in his trade, which
he followed up to the year 1892, when he became an insurance agent,
continuing in that vocation until the fall of

Page 350

[image: ALEXANDER W. HILL.]

1894, when he was nominated by the Republican county convention as
candidate for clerk of the courts and was elected by a plurality of
nearly 9,000 votes. In the fall of 1896 he was nominated for re-
election, and was successful in the contest, receiving a plurality of
8,750, and entering upon his second term in the office at the beginning
of the year 1897. The only other public position which he has held is
that of school commissioner from the Twelfth ward, which he represented
for something over two years.

In the matter of politics he has always been a Republican; has taken
some part in local campaigns, but with more regard to the discharge of
his duty as a citizen and the promotion of political principles in
which he believes than to the securing of personal influence and
position.

He is a thirty-second degree Mason, member of the Knights of Pythias
and several other organizations. In religion he is a Baptist.

Mr. Hill was married, in 1870, to Miss Emma Jane Cypher, and they have
had ten children, four of whom are dead.

End of Part 11