Men of Progress. Wisconsin. (pages 350-383) 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 350 continued

PATTISON, Martin, one of the most enterprising and substantial citizens
of Superior, is the son of Simeon Thayer Pattison, a native of New
York, and is descended from the same family as Major Simeon Thayer, a
distinguished officer in the Revolutionary war. He is also a distant
relative of ex-Gov. Pattison of Pennsylvania. Martin Pattison's mother,
Emmarilla Pattison, is a descendant of a sister of the illustrious
statesman Benjamin Franklin. Martin Pattison was born January 17th,
1841, in Niagara county. Ontario, to which his parents had removed from
New York. The family in 1854 moved to Salinac county. Michigan, and
here the boy acquired the rudiments of an education in the common
school, but, at an early age, engaged in lumbering as a common laborer,
gradually advancing to the positions of foreman and superintendent, and
eventually engaging in the business on his own account, which he was
very successful. He was early recognized as a man of ability, of great
force of character, and one fitted for public station. When but a
little past his majority he was elected member of the school board of
his town, and successively re-elected until he had held the office for
six years. He also was twice elected to the lower house of the Michigan
legislature, and in these positions he faithfully and honorably served
his constituents.

In 1879 he came to Wisconsin, settled in Superior, and engaged in
lumbering. In the winter of 1879-80 he got out square timber for the
English market. The following winter he took out saw logs, and during
the following summer explored for pine lands. Selling out his pine in
1882, he turned his attention to exploring for iron ore. In June, 1882,
he, in company with several others, went to the Vermilion iron range in
Northern Minnesota, on foot, carrying provisions and camp outfit to
Vermilion lake, one hundred miles north of Duluth, proceeding thence in
canoes to their destination. In the following spring, in partnership
with his brother, William H. Pattison, he further explored the range
and located the

Page 351

land embracing the famous Chandler and Pioneer iron mines. They
continued their explorations during the two following years and located
several thousand acres of government land on the same range, and still
retain their interest therein.

In politics Mr. Pattison has always been an ardent Republican, his
first vote being cast for the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. In 1884
he was elected sheriff of Douglas county Wisconsin, and served two
years. In 1890 he was elected mayor of Superior, and re-elected in
1891. He was a member of the Republican State Central committee during
the years 1892 and 1893, and was a member of the executive committee of 
that body. On account of his well-known sympathy with the laboring
classes, he was nominated for lieutenant-governor by the Labor party
convention which met in Milwaukee in 1892; but he declined the
nomination for the reason that his party affiliations were entirely
Republican.

In April, 1896, he was, for the third time, elected mayor of Superior.
On taking his seat, he found the city finances in bad condition; the
large property owners had, for several years, refused to pay their
taxes, and had begun suits to set them aside. The mayor at once began
negotiations for the settlement of these suits, and arrangements were
made whereby the city gets all her general taxes, and extends the
payment of the special taxes for a term of ten years, which is regarded
as a favorable termination of the financial troubles.

Mr. Pattison is a Knight Templar, a Knight of Pythias, a Patriarch
Militant of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with the rank of
captain on the general's staff. He is a member of the Protestant
Episcopal church, and, for the past three years, senior warden.

In 1879 he was married to Grace E. Frink, at Marquette, Michigan. They
have had eight children, including two pairs of twins, but one of each
pair is dead.

Mr. Pattison is a public-spirited, generous man, kind to all in need,
and in every way a most worthy citizen. He as a fine home

[image: MARTIN PATTISON.]

overlooking Sturgeon bay, where are many treasures of art, and the
furnishings of which are suggestive of comfort and taste.

BARRY, Michael. a lawyer of Philips, Price county, Wisconsin, is a son
of Richard and Mary O'Keei Barry, plain, honest people, natives of
Ireland, as were many who, in every sphere of intellectual effort, have
filled the world with fame. Michael Barry was born in Queenstown,
Ireland, on the 4th of July, 1846. His early and only education was
that received at the national school until the age of fifteen years. He
came to Wisconsin in April, 1868, stopping at Montello with relatives
until the winter of 1868-9, when he accepted a position as book-keeper
in Bloomfield, Waushara county. There he remained about a year when he
moved to Fremont. Waupaca county, and resided there until the winter of
1876. During his stay at the latter place he did odd jobs of book-
keeping, clerking, surveying and anything reputable that he could do
and secure. He also filled the position of town chairman and justice of
the peace.

Page 352

[image: MICHAEL BARRY.]

This last position suggested to him the idea of becoming a lawyer. When
justice of the peace he began reading law alone and continued so doing
until he was admitted to the bar. The only hours for reading and study
were those in the evening, after the day's work was done. He passed a
fair examination, however, and was admitted to practice in the courts
on the 29th of January, 1879, by the late Gilbert L. Park, then judge
of the circuit court of Waupaca county. He was also admitted to
practice in the supreme court of the state November 4th, 1885, and in
the supreme court of the United States in March, 1888. Mr. Barry took
up his residence in Phillips in February, 1879, with the purpose to
make his permanent home in the new county of the new Wisconsin, and
there do his life's work. His first official position was that of
deputy under F. W. Sackett, the first clerk of the county. This was
followed by the position of deputy county treasurer; county treasurer
of one term; and tow terms of district attorney. Since then he has
given his chief attention to the practice of law. In addition to these
official positions he was town clerk of Worcester
for two years and a member of the school board for the past fifteen
years. He is also secretary of the board of education of the city of
Phillips.

In politics Mr. Barry has always been an independent Democrat, placing
patriotism far above partisanship.

He is a member and P. G. of Elk River, Lodge, I. O. O. F.; a past
master of Phillips Lodge,F. & A. M.; high priest of Keystone Chapter,R.
A. M., and past chief templar of Bethel Lodge, I. O. G. T., all of
Phillips. He is also a member of ashland Commandery, K. T.

In religious faith he is a Presbyterian, being a member of the First
Presbyterian church of Phillips, of which he has been an elder for ten
years. He was married, in 1876, to Jeannette L. Summer, fifth daughter
of Ira Summer--who is of New England ancestry and a pioneer of Waupaca
county--and Margaret Mumbrue, who is of Huguenot and Holland ancestry.
Of this union there have been seven children, of whom five are living,
two dying in infancy. The eldest, Arthur Richard, is a student in the
University of Wisconsin; Mary Jeannette is a graduate of the Phillips
high school; Jessie Margaret, John Sumner and Gertrude are still in
school.

A good lawyer, an intelligent, public spirited citizen and of
substantial and worthy character, he is one of the best examples of the
self-made man.

KRIZEK, Joseph Frank, or as usually signed, Jos. F. Krizek, is a native
of Milwaukee, having been born on the 20th day of February, 1873, and
resides with his widowed mother in No. 607 Walker street, Milwaukee.
His father's name was John Krizek, who came to Milwaukee with his
parents from Bohemia in 1852, when but eight years old, and, on account
of the extreme poverty of his parents, was at once thrown upon his own
resources for a living. He never had any educational advantages--in
fact, never attended any

Page 353

school, yet he learned to read and write the English language fairly
well. He enlisted in the Fifty-first regiment of Wisconsin volunteers,
and served during the war of the rebellion. He was for eighteen years
prior to his death, which occurred September 2nd, 1888, at the age of
forty-five, in the employ of Angus Smith & Co., as fireman and
stationary engineer. He was a man of quiet and unostentatious habits,
and well liked by all who knew him. He amassed to fortune and left his
family without property, save a small homestead. Mr. Krizek's mother,
Mary Krizek, nee Fliegel, was born in Bohemia, of plain, but honest and
respectable parents, and received an ordinary education. She came to
Milwaukee when a young woman, and married John Krizek soon after her
arrival. There was nothing noteworthy in their lives, save that they
were honest and industrious people--virtues which, unfortunately for
the good of society and the stability of the state, are far too
infrequent in every day life, and are more worthy of honor than titles
without them.

Mr. Krizek's education was acquired at the public and parochial schools
of Milwaukee, but it did not extended beyond his thirteenth year, and
at that age he went to work as office boy for the late Judge F. L.
Gilson, who at that time was associated with the late ex-attorney-
General L. F. Frisby. He never had any college education, and only
studied book-keeping in the Spencerian Business College for three
months. He acquired the knowledge of shorthand and typewriting without
the help of a teacher, and by his own unaided effort, employed his
leisure moments in their careful and systematic study. Soon after his
employment in Judge Gilson's office, the law firm of Frisby, Elliott &
Gilson was formed, and with it he remained until Mr. Gilson was
appointed judge, when he went to work as stenographer, typewriter and
general law clerk for M. C. & A. A. Krause, admiralty lawyers of
Milwaukee. With this firm he remained one year, and then went into the
Law

[image: JOSEPH FRANK KRIZEK.]

office of ex-District Attorney J. W. Wegner, where the remained four
years, going thence into the employ of J. J. McDonnell, as clerk,
remaining with him six months. While in these positions he spent his
spare time for three years in the study of law and in reading general
literature of a solid and useful character.

He passed the examination for admission to the bar December 17th, 1895,
and since January 1st, 1896, he has been engaged in the practice of his
profession, with fair success and with flattering prospects for the
future. He has not as yet taken any active part in politics, and has
not devoted much time or thought to club life, being a member of only a
few semi-private societies. He is a Catholic in religion.

Mr. Krizek's course illustrates what may be accomplished in this
county, under adverse circumstances, by a young man who has ambition
and a determination that yields to no obstacle, however formidable.

June 30th, 1897, Mr. Krizek was married to Miss Mary J. Trock, the only
daughter of Mrs. Josephine Trock of Milwaukee.

Page 354

[image: WILLIAM JAY M'ELROY.]

McELROY, William Jay, a rising lawyer of Milwaukee, is the son of
Samuel and Mary McElroy, who were of Scotch-Irish extraction, passed
the early part of their lives in St. Stephens, Canada, from which they
removed to Berlin (Then Strong's Landing), Green Lake county,
Wisconsin, in the forties, and were pioneers in that part of the
country. Soon after their arrival Mr. McElroy purchased a farm near
Berlin, upon which they spent the greater part of the remainder of
their lives, the father dying in December, 1891, at the age of eighty-
two, and the mother in 1895, at the age of seventy-nine. They helped
organize the first Methodist church formed in that part of the country,
were members of it all balance of their lives. Mr. McElroy was an
abolitionist and Republican, and during the last few years of his life
a Prohibitionist. They were both industrious and thrifty, and were
noted for their hospitality, charity and earnest Christian lives.

W. J. McElroy was born in Berlin, Green Lake county, Wisconsin, on the
8th of January, 1856. The first eighteen years of his life were spent
on his father's farm. As a boy he
attended the public school, and then the Berlin high school, from which
he was graduated in the year 1876. He then entered the University of
Wisconsin, where he spent two years; and, though he did not graduate in
course, the regents conferred upon him the honorary degree of master of
arts.

After the university, he came to Milwaukee, and entered the office of
Carpenter & Smith, and commenced the study of law, and afterwards
continued the study in the office of Markham & Smith. In due time he
was admitted to the bar, and began practice in Milwaukee, in which he
has been engaged now about fifteen years. When he left home for
Milwaukee he had less than ten dollars in his pocket; and, with the
exception of twenty dollars afterward received from his father, he had
no help. When he left the office of Markham & Smith. G. C. Markham
loaned him one hundred dollars, with which he opened a law office and
began the building of his fortune in his chosen profession. In this he
has been quite as successful as he anticipated--even more so than most
young men entering upon this line of work, as he now has one of the
best-paying businesses in the city.

In his political views and affiliations he has been a Republican "from
his youth up," and has been active in local political affairs, and
rendered his party much and very efficient service in its campaigns.
When but thirty years of age he was elected to the lower house of the
legislature from the Fourth district of Milwaikee county, and was re-
elected two years thereafter. As an evidence of the public estimation
of his abilities and service in his first term, he was made chairman of
the Judiciary committee of the assembly, at the begining of his second
term. This committees, as all know who are familiar with legislation,
is the most important in al legislative bodies, having to pass upon the
legal aspects of all bills introduced and report thereon, and its
verdict generally secures their passage or defeat, according as it is
favorable or adverse. In his service as a legislator Mr. McElroy
acquitted

Page 355

himself with much credit, establishing a reputation for an intelligent
comprehension of the duties of legislator, and their conscientious
discharge.

He served four years as secretary of the Wisconsin League of Republican
Clubs, and was for one year a member from Wisconsin of the National
committee of the National League of Republican Clubs. He is a member
and past master of Kilbourn Lodge, F. & A. M., and also a member of the
Ivanhoe Commandery, K. T.

As to religion, he was brought up a Methodist, his parents being active
and earnest members of that church. Since his marriage he has attended
the Presbyterian church with his wife. He was married on the 4th of
December, 1890, to Miss Lillian Elliott of Milwaukee, and they had one
child, a daughter, who died in the spring of 1897.

McLEOD, Arthur William, a resident of Washburn, and district attorney
of Bayfield county, is one of the youngest men in official position in
Wisconsin. He was born in Alpena, Michigan, September 26th, 1872. Both
his father and mother are of Scottish extraction, as indicated by the
name. Coming to Eagle River, Wis., in 1888, he entered the law office
of N. A. Colman of that place, as a law student, the following year,
being then but seventeen years of age. He read law there for three
years, and then entered the law school of the University of Wisconsin,
in the fall of 1892, and graduated in June, 1894, with the degree of
LL. B. He was admitted to the bar in Madison soon after graduation,
being then twenty-one years of age. While a student in the law school
he was vice-president of the Republican College League of the
university. In July, 1894, he located at Washburn, and in September
following was nominated by the Republican county convention for the
office of district attorney, but declined the nomination. He was next
nominated for city attorney of

[image: ARTHUR WILLIAM M LEOD.]

Washburn, in 1895, and was elected, and re-elected the following year.
In August, 1896, he was a delegate to the Republican congressional
convention in the Tenth district, and was also a delegate to the
Republican state convention which met in Milwaukee the same month, and
was secretary of the Tenth congressional district in that convention,
member of the Tenth district congressional committee from Bayfield
county, and also secretary of the executive committee of that district.

He is now district attorney of Bayfield county, and, in the winter of
1896-7, he was a member of the commission appointed to review and
equalize the taxes of Ashland county. He is secretary and director of
the Washburn Electric Light and Power company.

Mr. McLeod is a member of Washburn Lodge, No. 240, A. F. & A. M., and
is junior warden of the lodge. He is also a members of Ashland Chapter,
Royal Arch Masons. He is unmarried.

This is a busy record for so young a man, and one which indicates that
he is fully entitled to be classed among "Men of Progress."

Page 356

[image: PETER VICTOR DEUSTER.]

DEUSTER, Peter Victor, was born near Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, on
February 13th, 1831, being the only son of Mathias and Anna C. Deuster.
While he was going through an academic course of studies, his parents
carried out their long contemplated plan of settling in the United
States, and came to Milwaukee in July, 1847. M. Deuster bought a farm
near that city, and young P. V. exchanged his books for implements of
agriculture, spending the summer at work on his father's farm. In the
following fall he was engaged by Hon. Moritz Schoeffler, publisher of a
German newspaper of Milwaukee--"The Wisconsin Banner"--and remained in
his employ four years, when he himself ventured upon the enterprise of
publishing a German weekly family paper, entitled the "Hausfreund"; but
six months later he accepted the position of business manager of the
"Daily Seebote." In 1854 he became editor of a newspaper published at
Port Washington, Wis., combining with his editorial labors the duties
of postmaster, clerk of the circuit court, land office, notary public,
besides establishing a night school for young men, and making himself
generally useful to the community. In 1856 he had made all preliminary 
arrangements to establish a newspaper at Green Bay, Wis., but being 
offered an interest in The Milwaukee "Seebote," he engaged his plans and 
returned there, publishing this newspaper in partnership with August 
Greulich until 1860, when he became sole proprietor of it.

During the same year, on January 10th, he was united in wedlock to Miss
Agathe Gertrude Stoltz, the only daughter of John Stoltz, one of the
early settlers of Milwaukee. Of the six children which were the fruits
of this union, five are now living; the eldest son, Dr. Oscar
V.Deuster, being at present editor, and the youngest, Hugo Deuster,
business manager of the "Seebote," the paper with which Mr. Deuster
commenced his career almost a half century ago. Two of his daughters,
Emilie and Emma, are married, the one to Oscar J. Hansen, and the other
to Baron P. von Paumgartten. His youngest daughter, Alma, is still
unmarried and well known in Milwaukee society circles.

In 1862 Mr. Deuster was elected to the state assembly of Wisconsin, and
was a member of the state senate in 1870 and 1871. Besides his
Milwaukee newspaper he published The Chicago Daily Union, a German
Democratic journal, from 1869 until the destruction of the city by fire
in 1871. Subsequently, he spent considerable time in traveling,
visiting the different parts of our own country, Canada, Mexico and
Europe. In 1878 he was elected to the Forty-sixth congress, from the
Fourth district of Wisconsin, and was re-elected to the Forty-seventh
and Forty-eighth, so that he served six years in congress. Possessed of
a great degree of energy, he soon added national fame to his excellent
reputation at home by the legislative ability he displayed during his
service in congress. As a German-American publicist he had become
familiar with most of the urgent needs of that large, important element
of our population to which he belongs, and, at once, introduced
measures in congress, looking to their relief. Among

Page 357

these, his bill creating a harbor of refuge at Milwaukee by building a
breakwater in the bay; his bill regulating the system of naturalizing
foreign-born residents as citizens, and his bill regulating the
carriage of steerage passengers at sea, are of great public interest
and national importance. He also urged and succeeded in securing the
participation of our government in the international fishery exhibition
at Berlin, Germany, in April, 1880. In 1887 President Cleveland
appointed him chairman of the commission to diminish the Umatilla
Indian reservation in Oregon, and in 1896, he was appointed consul at
Crefeld, Germany.

HURLBUT, Edwin, for forty-seven years a prominent lawyer and citizen of
Oconomowoc, was born in Newtown, Conn., October 10th, 1817, the son of
Philander and Julia Thomas Hurlbut, both natives of that state. On his
father's side he is lineally descended from immigrants who came in the
Mayflower, three brothers of the name having been among her passengers,
and these were the founders of the family in America. His paternal and
maternal grandfathers were Revolutionary soldiers, and his father
served in the war of 1812-14. One of his brothers was among the
soldiers sent President Jackson to quell the Calhoun nullification
rebellion, and three other brothers were in the Union army during the
war against the rebellion, one of them losing his life in the struggle.

When Edwin was seven years of age his parents removed to Bradford
county, Pa., where he attended school for the next seven years.
Determining thenceforth to make his own way in life, he went to Newark,
N. J., where he spent a year, thence to Michigan, but soon returned to
the east and began the study of law. On his twenty-third birthday he
was married and went to live in Lodi, N. Y., where he had purchased a
home with his savings, paying therefor twelve hundred dollars, at the
same time showing his appreciation of books by expending two hundred
dollars

[image: EDWIN HURLBUT.]

more for the beginning of a library. His commencement of life for
himself was soon embittered by learning that his home was encumbered
with a mortgage; and, in consequence, he lost it and all he had put
into it. He then moved to Towanda, Penn., where he continued the study
of law, and where, in 1847, he was admitted to the bar and began
practice. Soon after this he went to Michigan, and was admitted to
practice in the courts of that state. Not long after taking up his
residence in Michigan he was appointed postmaster of his town, district
attorney of his county, and judge advocate of that state militia. In
1850 he removed to Oconomowoc, and was admitted to practice in the
circuit, supreme and federal courts, and in 1886 to the United States
supreme court. During the first year of his residence there he became
attorney for the Plank road and the Milwaukee & Watertown railroad, now
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway, and these positions he held
for several years. In 1861 he was appointed colonel on Gov. Randall's
staff, and took an active part in obtaining recruits for the army. He
contributed largely in bounties to the

Page 358

families of those who enlisted, and gave his services gratuitously in
procuring pensions and bounties for them. He was sent to Washington
with the Fourth Wisconsin regiment, and received appointments in the
state commissary department and as inspector of troops, to study the
qualifications of officers for promotion. The same year he was
appointed aid to the commander-in-chief, with the rank of colonel. In
1862 he was appointed deputy United States marshal, with provost
marshal's powers, and was tendered the colonelcy of one of the
regiments, but declined it because he thought the army was being
officered with politicians rather than soldiers.

From 1869 to 1874 he received appointments as delegate to national and
international congresses on prison management, with reference to
reformatory measures, subjects in which he was always taken a deep and
intelligent interest, as shown by the fact that in all of these
congresses he was appointed to some responsible position. In 1875 he
became editor and proprietor of The Wisconsin Free Press, which he has
successfully conducted ever since, never, however, relinquishing the
lucrative law practice which he was enjoyed for so many years. The Free
Press, under his management, has been a strong, influential, fearless
and prosperous paper. Politically it has stood for whatever its editor
deemed to be just and right, regardless of all else. He holds the
office of court commissioner, and has for many years been vice-
president of the State Bar association; and for three years was vice-
president of the National Editorial association. He has also been for
many years vice-president of the Wisconsin State Press association. He
was for seven years an efficient and valued member of the board of
managers of the Industrial School for Boys at Waukesha. He is an
advocate of temperance reform and prominent in the councils of the
Masonic fraternity, being a Thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason, a
Knight Templar and a noble of the Mystic Shrine.

In his religious faith Mr. Hurlbut was formerly
a Baptist, and built, mainly at his own expense, a church for the local
Baptist society, at a cost of five thousand dollars. It was destroyed
by a wind storm and never rebuilt. He afterward became a member of the
Episcopal church.

As to politics, Mr. Hurlbut was trained in "Jeffersonian Democracy,"
and, with his father, "peddled tickets" at the polls for Andrew Jackson
when he was a candidate for re-election to the presidency. After that
he read law with Hon. David Wilmot, author of the famous "Willmot
Proviso," and imbibed from him abolition sentiments. He, however,
advocated on the stump the election of Polk in 1844 and Cass in 1848;
but by the time that he arrived in Wisconsin, he had become a Free-soil
Democrat, and so continued until the "Glover rescue" occurred. In 1854
he joined with S. M. Booth in calling the mass convention, to be held
in Madison, of all those opposed to the further extension of slavery.
Mr. Hurlbut was the only one who attended the convention from Waukesha
county, and was conspicuous in its proceedings and in shaping its
declarations. It was on his motion that the new party there formed was
called Republican--a lasting and most honorable prominence for him, Mr.
Hurlbut was a delegate to the first national Republican convention,
which nominated Gen. Fremont for the presidency. He continued to
support the party which he had helped to form, by voice and pen, until
Grant's renomination, when he "bolted" the Republican ticket and
supported Greeley. From that time he acted with the Democratic party
until 1890, when he could not endorse its stand on the school question,
and returned to the Republican fold. He was largely instrumental in the
formation of the Bennett Law league, which came to have a membership of
about twelve thousand, all Democrats. The advocates of the law were
defeated in the state, but he had the satisfaction of seeing Oconomowoc
stand by the law. Since then his his voice and pen have been given to
the vigorous support of Republicanism. He was a member

Page 359

of the assembly in 1869, and was chairman of the committee on federal
relations. He was twice district attorney; was president and trustee of
the village of Oconomowoc, and clerk of the school board fourteen
years. Since it has had a city organization he has been alderman
several times. He is now president of the board of education and
director of joint school district No. 3. During the past season a new
high school building, one of the best in the state, has been erected
and completed under his supervision.

On the 10th of October, 1840, Mr. Hurlbut was married to Miss Catherine
Chandler, and from this marriage there are three daughters now living:
Mrs. J. A. Hassell, Henrietta C. Hurlbut and Mrs. O. K. Barden of
Leslie, Mich. Mrs. Hurlbut died April 6th, 1864. On the 14th of
October, 1886, Mr. Hurlbut was married to Margie E. Spearing, daughter
of John F. Spearing of New Orleans. Two children have been born to
them: Edwina and Margie Spearing Hurlbut.

Mr. Hurlbut is a man of large and varied reading and of wide and
accurate information. He is a man of strong convictions, steadfast in
purpose, and unswerving in his adhesion to what he believes to be
right. Although he will be eighty years old in October he is more
active mentally and physically than many who are his juniors.

McCUNN, John Niven, at the head of the Green Bay Business College, is a
native of that land where strong men and true are born and reared in
larger proportion than perhaps in any other. He was born in Glasgow,
Scotland, on the 10th of December, 1858. His grandfather McCunn was a
pilot who lost his life off the rugged cost of Scotland in the pursuit
of his hazardous occupation. The son of this seaman and the father of
the subject of this sketch, James McCunn, was a man of more than
ordinary intelligence and enterprise, and a conscientious and
consistent member of the Presbyterian church. He was a carpenter by
trade and followed it

[image: JOHN NIVEN M'CUNN.]

successfully for many years. He then abandoned it for the grocery
business, but died at the early age of thirty-six years. His wife,
Janet Niven, was a native of Paisley, Scotland, and, after the death of
her husband, decided to come to this country with her four children,
deeming the advantages offered here for the material advancement of her
boys superior to those of their native land. They reached Wisconsin in
May, 1870, settling first in Portage country, whither James McCunn, the
eldest son, preceded them.

John McCunn received some portion of his primary education in Scotland,
but, after coming to Wisconsin, attended the district school, and after
that the Waupaca high school. He then began teaching, keeping up his
studies in the meantime. In 1882 he entered Milton College with the
purpose of taking a full collegiate course, but his health failing he
gave up the idea of completing the course, and visited Scotland in
pursuit of health and pleasure. On his return to Wisconsin he resumed
his studies and again taught school. He then became an agent for John
on's Encyclopaedia, his territory covering all northern Wisconsin,

Page 360

with headquarters at Green Bay. In 1887 he bought a half interest in
the Green Bay Business College, and by the end of thee year had
complete control of it. He made many changes, innovations and
improvement--added a shorthand department and furnished the rooms with
new fixtures. In 1893 he erected the largest and most expensive college
building in the state, devoted exclusively to a business college. It is
a three-story structure of red pressed brick with brownstone trimmings,
with a basement of limestone. The entire building is heated by steam
and lighted with electricity, and is on of the most thoroughly equipped
for the work to which it is devoted of any the west.

In 1884 Proof. McCunn was married to Miss Florence Ida Pipe, a native
of Waupaca county, daughter of Thomas Pipe, ex-mayor of Waupaca. Of
this union were born three children, namely: Ethel May, Florence Verna
and Walter Thomas. The mother passed from earth January 10th, 1889,
and, in October, 1890, Prof. McCunn married Miss Ada Montgomery, a
native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, a graduate of Washington
Seminary. She taught school in her native county and in the Green Bay
Business College prior to her marriage. Of this second marriage there
are two children now living: Harold Montgomery and John Niven.

Prof. McCunn is closely identified with the social and business
interests of Green Bay and has served as a member of the city council.
He is a member of the Business Men's association, and has done much to
promote its objects. He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum, is an
Elk, a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight of Pythias, in which latter order
he was installed chancellor commander in January, 1894.

Politically, he is a Republican, and his first vote was cast for
Gafield for president. He received a complimentary vote for the
nomination of clerk of the court of Waupaca county in 1884. He was
elected alderman from the Fifth ward of the city of Green Bay in 1893,
for a term of two years, and was appointed chairman of the finance
committee the second year. He declined a second term. He was chairman
of the delegation that represented Brown county in the Eighth district
congressional convention in 1894, and one of the loyal friends of the
Hon. E. S. Minor, whose work secured for that gentleman the nomination
for congress. Prof. McCunn has been the Brown county in the Eighth
district congres-congressional committee for the past two years. On
August 3, 1896, he was elected chairman of th Eighth district
congressional committee and was also chairman of the Brown county
delegation to the recent state convention that nominated Major Scofield
for governor. July 31st he received from President McKinley the
appointment of consul to Dunfermline, Scotland.

Prof. McCunn has done much by his enterprise in the conducting of this
business college for the advancement of the social, educational and
business interests of the city, and is held in high esteem by its
citizens.

REIGH, tephen J., is on of those young men, of whom Milwaukee has many, 
who left country homes with a purpose to make a place for themselves in
the business world, and were ready to do any honest work. He is the son
of William Reigh, who was born in Germany in 1845, and came to this
country with his parents in 1847. He received his education in
Milwaukee, and, upon reaching his majority, in 1866, purchased a small
farm in the town of Marshfield, Fond du Lac county, Wisconsin, an the
same year was married to Catharine Schneider of St. Johnsburg,
Wisconsin. In 1874 he sold his farm and purchased a larger one in the
town of Greenbush, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, on which he lived until
1892, when he sold this farm and bought a beautiful farm south of
Oshkosh, overlooking Lake Winnebago, where he now lives. This sketch of
the rise of William Reigh, the father of the subject of this biography,

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is interesting as showing what may be accomplished by one who early
begins and steadfastly pursues the vacation of a farmer. Catharine
Schneider, the mother of Stephen J. Reigh, was born of German parents
in 1847, in St. Johnsburg, Wisconsin, where she lived until her
marriage, and where she received her education. They have nine
children, Stephen J., Gertrude, Anna, Peter, Jacob W., Mary, Catharine,
John and Mathews, yet they have not failed to make a comfortable living
and accumulate property beside--additional evidence that agriculture is
profitable if followed with industry and intelligence.

Stephen J. Reigh was born in the town of Marshfield, Fond du Lac
county, Wisconsin, on May 5th, 1868. He received his education in the
district school in his native town, and in the German Catholic school
in St. Cloud, Wisconsin. From the age of twelve until he was eighteen
years old he worked on the farm, attending school in winter. In 1886 he
came to Milwaukee to seek his fortune. He was without relatives or
friends in the city, upon whom he could in any way depend. He began
work where employment was to be had, and worked at different trades
until in the fall of 1887, when he procured a position with Messrs.
Hass & Lammers, grocers, on Clinton and South Pierce streets, as clerk,
where he remained three years. In the fall of 1890 he began as an
apprentice to the pattern-maker's trade, with Messrs. Pawling &
Harnischfeger. On May 1st, 191, he abandoned the trade and opened a
real estate, loan and insurance office at No. 139 Reed street. On June
1st, 1892, he formed a partnership with Peter J. Salentine, under the
firm name of Reigh & Salentine, and the office was removed to No. 348
National avenue, and on November 1st, 1894, the Reigh & Salentine
company was formed and incorporated with a capital stock of $100,000.
Mr. Salentine was elected president, and Mr. Reigh secretary and
treasurer. In the fall of 1895, Mr. Reigh purchased Mr. Salentine's
stock in the company, an as its secretary and treasurer, is now
successfully

[image: STEPHEN J. REIGH.]

carrying on the business of the company at the company's office, 348
National avenue. This shows a rapid advance in business for a man not
yet thirty years of age, one who had no business training and little
business experience except such as may be secured from brief, but
actual contact with the practical affairs of life.

Mr Reigh is a Catholic and a member of St. Patrick's church. He is a
member of a number of prominent clubs and societies, among them the
Iroquois club and the National Gun club. He was married on the 20th of
June, 1894, to Elizabeth H. Salentine of Kenosha, Wisconsin.

WALTHERS, Frederick Julius, or, as he usually signs his name, F. J.
Walthers, resides at 515 Fifth avenue, Milwaukee, and is the son of
William Walthers, who was born in Hanover, Germany, on the 18th of
March, 1831. The name of the family is von Alten, and its pedigree is
traceable back to 1174, being one of the oldest families of the
Hanoverian nobility. One of Mr. Walther's ancestors, Count Alten,
commanded the Hanoverain

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[image: FREDERICK JULIUS WALTHERS.]

troops in the battle of Waterloo, and a monument to his memory has been
erected in the city of Hanover. The von Altens are a race of soldiers,
the young men having nearly all served in the Prussian army or been
permanently connected therewith, in the cavalry or engineer corps. The
military record of the family runs back to the time of the Crusades.

The grandfather of F. J. Walthers, Johan Friedrich Walther von Alten,
came to this country in 1848. He dropped the aristocratic portion of
his name, and was known as plain Friedrich Walther; and, as such, he
became a citizen of the republic, and for some years taught the French
and German languages in the Milwaukee College. In Germany he had been a
jurist of renown, and when a young student he took part in the battle
of Waterloo. He died in 1867, in his seventy-fifth year.

Mr. Walthers' father, William Walthers, served in the United States
navy when a young man, but went to California in the early days of the
gold discoveries there. Coming to Milwaukee in 1855, he was the first
white man to locate on Jones' Island. Two years later he became a
school teacher in his adopted city, and followed that vocation 
continuously, except for three years while in the war of the rebellion, 
until he retired in 1887, after having completed thirty years of service 
in the schools of Milwaukee county, the last fifteen of which he held 
the position of principal of the Eleventh district school. His military 
service was rendered in the Thirty-fourth regiment, Wisconsin 
volunteers, as captain of Company K, and also a recruiting officer with 
the rank of colonel. He is still "hale and hearty," and in his 
retirement is enjoying the consciousness of service well rendered both 
to his country  and to the cause of education.

Katherine Mechtel, the mother of F. J. Walthers, was born at Bern
Caster, on the Moselle river, Germany, in 1837, and came to this
country when eight years of age.

F. J. Walthers was born on the 29th of January, 1863, at Humboldt,
Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, and was educated in the Milwaukee public
schools, graduating from his father's school in 1877, and from the
Milwaukee high school in 1881, standing third in a class of thirty. He
also graduated from the Milwaukee normal school in 1882, with the honor
of salutatorian of his class. He then became a teacher in the public
schools of the city, and followed this calling for three years, saving
money enough from his salary to carry him through the law course in the
University of Wisconsin, from which he graduated with the degree of LL.
B. in June, 1887.

During his college course he was once president of the Law Class
society and a prominent member of the leading literary and debating
society of the law school. He also took an active part in athletics,
and won first place in the heel and toe contest on field day. He earned
his first dollar when sixteen years old by taking the school census in
the Eleventh ward. A year later, while a student in the high school, he
gave private lessons in the English language to German immigrants.
After graduation from the university he went abroad, traveling
extensively in Europe.

Page 363

Upon his return to Milwaukee, he struck out at once in the active
practice of his chosen profession, and has been very successful
therein, having a general practice covering all branches of the law,
and having achieved distinction before the governmental departments at
Washington.

In politics he has always been a Republican, but not a mere partisan.
He has never held a political office, though frequently urged to become
a candidate for various ones.

He was one of the organizers of the Sons of Veterans, U. S. A., in
Wisconsin, and was division or state commander, with the rank of
colonel, from 1886 to 1888, and has ever since been a prominent member.
He is a member of the school and college societies where he attended;
is a member of the South Side Kindergarten Verein, the Iroquois club
and the Milwaukee Bar association.

He was married July 14, 1892, to Emma Maier, daughter of Gottlieb Maier
and Christina Sigel Maier, old time residents of the south side. They
have one son, William Kearney Walthers von Alten. The old family name
is retained for its historic associations, but is not used.

Mr. Walthers has traveled extensively for so young a man, having
visited thirty-five states and territories and been in most of the
cities of any size in the country.

CLAUDER, Joseph, manager and leader of the orchestra bearing his name,
is the son of Charles Clauder, a well-known musician of Milwaukee, and
of Margaretha Merganthaler Clauder. He was born in New York City, April
27th, 1853. The year following his parents moved to Milwaukee, and here
Mr. Clauder grew to manhood, and here he has made his reputation as an
accomplished musician and leader. He very early developed a talent for
music, and at the age of eight years he played the flute in his
father's band. Encouraged in the cultivation of his musical talents, he
made rapid progress in his

[image: JOSEPH CLAUDER.]

chosen profession, and while still a youth he was connected with Ch.
Bach's orchestra, for years recognized as one of the best in the
country. Not long after the great Chicago fire. Mr. Clauder, as many
young men in search of fame and fortune have done, went to that
metropolitan city of the west, and joined the orchestras there, playing
in turn in the Academy of Music, McVicker's and Hooley's theaters, and,
later, becoming the leader of the Great Western Light Guard band, a not
insignificant honor for a young man and aspiring musician, for the band
at that time had much more than a local reputation. In the latter part
of the year, 1872, he was engaged as leader of the orchestra of the
Vokes family, then recently come from England, and made a tour of the
northwest with them, giving him an experience which was novel to him,
and of service in a professional way. Following this engagement, Mr.
Clauder, who was then scarcely more than twenty-three years of age, was
appointed leader of the Chicago orchestra, to succeed the well-known
and accomplished musician--Hans Balatka. So rapid and substantial had
been

Page 364

his progress in music, such ability had he developed as a leader and
such taste had he displayed in the selection and adaptation of
compositions that he filled his new, difficult and responsible position
with great credit to himself and with very general satisfaction to the
critical and somewhat fastidious public which he served.

Though successful to an unusual degree in Chicago, and though that city
held out inducements to a young and aspiring musician which smaller
cities could not offer, his thoughts turned to Milwaukee, the home of
his boyhood, of his family, friends, and the scene of his youthful
triumphs and ambitions; and hither he returned with the purpose of
establishing himself as a musical leader in the higher sense, and
making for himself a permanent home, not only, but a solid and enduring
reputation. He at once set about forming a band, and so successful was
he that the organization under his direction soon attracted public
attention and became exceedingly popular with the music-loving citizens
of this rather critical community. The organization of this band was a
working requiring not only musical skill of a rare character, but good
judgment of men and indomitable perseverance. The band and its leader
first came into very general notice as a result of its playing in the
exposition, and it soon became one of the leading and most popular
features of that attractive place of resort, a position it has ever
since retained. Many of the pieces played by the band at once caught 
the popular ear, and their repetition has often been requested of the
leader whenever it has appeared in public, as instanced by the concerts
given at the public parks in Milwaukee. The band soon gained a
reputation in other cities alongside of some of the most famous in the
country. This was demonstrated during the encampment of the Grand Army
of the Republic in Milwaukee, when visiting bands in the procession, as
it passed the exposition building, where Clauder's band was stationed,
insisted on halting and listening to the Milwaukee musicians, whom they 
greeted with many hearty cheers. Mr. Clauder not only exercises rare 
discrimination in the selection of his players, but he has that equally 
rare faculty of binding his men to him when once they are chosen. Not a 
few of his men have been with him for years.

Mr. Clauder, like many men possessing rare abilities, is as modest in
demeanor as he is indefatigable and painstaking in his work. Still a
young man, he bids fair to rival in reputation the most prominent of
America's orchestral leaders.

Besides being leader of the band which especially bears his name, he is
master of the Fourth Regiment band, Wisconsin National Guard, and
furnishes orchestras for the leading heaters of Milwaukee.

Mr. Clauder was married on the 14th of May, 1878, to Miss Amalia Dic,
and they have two sons, Walter and Edwin, and one daughter, Laura. In
their society and that of his wife, Mr. Clauder finds his chief
pleasure and recreation, aside from his duties as a thirty-second
degree Mason.

KELBE, Gustan Heinrich Theodore, or Theodore Kelbe as he usually signs
his name, is the son of William Kelbe, a merchant of Braunschweig,
Germany, and Matilda Kelbe, a native of Duderstadt. He was born in
Braunschweig on the 60th of October, 1862. When but a boy of eight
years, he took a remarkable interest in music, and wished for
instruction upon the violin. His father decided to develop the taste
thus early shown, and found in the court musician, Gustav Mueller, a
capable and appreciative teacher, who predicted success for the
youthful genius. He speedily evinced an extraordinary zeal in the
prosecution of the studies and the violin became his favorite
instrument. From his eleventh year on, Theodore received instruction on
the violin from Herr Wenzl, concert master of the royal court orchestra
in Braunschweign. Under his instruction the boy made

Page 365

good progress, and, as early as his thirteenth year, he was brought
forward as a soloist, and took part in a concert of the "Braunschweiger
Ladies' Society," the first male to appear under the auspices of the
organization. He played the eighth violin concerto from Spohr, gaining
great applause, the Braunschweiger daily paper praising his
performance, and pronouncing him the future master of his instrument.
He appeared also in other cities, playing violin concertos from De
Beriot, David, Mendelssohn, Bruch and others. Here, too, the public
recognition of his abilities was marked. From his fourteenth year he
received instruction on the piano and in harmony from Gustav Ewald,
choirmaster of the royal court theater at Braunschweig, later musical
director at Leipzig City theater. From his seventeenth year he played
in the royal court orchestra of Braunschweig. Three years later Kelbe
appeared at the Kölner Stadt theater, as violinist, and there he made
the acquaintance of the Kammer virtuoso, Robert Heckmann, instructor of
music in the conservatory, with whom he studied. In Köln he was also
introduced as a soloist. At the same time he was active in the work of
composing, and his compositions for the voice, violin, piano and
orchestra have had many admirers both in Germany and America. At about
this time he took part in the festival of musicians and artists in
Köln, Dusseldorf, Aachen, etc.

After three years' engagement in Kö, Kelbe gave up his position there,
and, in 1885, sailed for America, intending to locate permanently in
Milwaukee, where he anticipated he should find a broader and more
remunerative field for the exercise of his genius. He secured a
position in Bach's symphonic orchestra, where his great abilities as a
performer and his interest in music secured him many friends. His
greatest triumph here was as a soloist, the papers giving him unstinted
praise for his work in this role. In 1887 Kelbe was called to the
Lüning Conservatory of Music an instructor on the violin and piano

[image: GUSTAV HEINRICH THEODORE KELBE.]

and in harmony, and, in 1894, he accepted a position in the Filmore
School of Music. As teacher, musical director and performer. Mr. Kelbe
has won for himself, in a high degree, the favor of all lovers of music
in music-loving Milwaukee, who have had the opportunity of knowing him
professionally.

Mr. Kelbe was married on the 22nd of September, 1887, to Miss Julia
Mieritz of Milwaukee, and they have four children--Arthur, Norma, Edna
and Hilmar.

WOLLER, Frank E., the popular clerk of the municipal court of
Milwaukee, is the son of John and Annie Vollbrecht Woller. His parents
were natives of Germany, but were married in this country. Frank E.
Woller was born in Milwaukee, on the 15th of February, 1859. He
attended the Lutheran parochial schools of the city, and these were his
only college. Having finished his school studies he went to work in
Jewett & Sherman's coffee and spice mills, beginning his services at
two dollars a week. Here he remained for ten years, the last two and a
half of which he

Page 366

[image: FRANK E. WOLLER.]

traveled as soliciting agent for the house, starting out before he was
twenty-one years of age. With the first money he earned he attended,
for three months, the evening school taught by Prof. Beyer, on Market
street.

After quitting the road he opened a general store on Chestnut street,
which he continued for three years, when he sold it out, and went into
the cigar business. Urged by his friends he accepted the nomination for
alderman in the spring of 1887, when there was a fusion of Republicans
and Democrats, and was elected the first alderman from the Fifteenth
ward. He served out his term, and the following fall was nominated and
elected by the Republicans to the assembly from his district. The
following spring, while the legislature was still in session, he was
nominated and elected as the Republican candidate for clerk of the
municipal court, without any solicitation by himself, defeating Julius
Meiswinkel, who had held the office during the twelve preceding years.
In the spring of 1892 he was renominated for a term of three years, and
was the only Republican elected that year in the city, owing to the
prejudice engendered in many minds against the Republican party on 
account of the controversy over the Bennett compulsory school law. In 
1895 the term of office of the clerk was extended to six years, the same 
as that of the judge, and he was renominated and elected for the new 
term without any opposition from any party to either nomination or 
election, something almost without precedent in so large a city.

Having a taste for political affairs and a popular manner, he readily
makes friends, and is at once recognized as having in him the stuff of
which successful candidates are made. But it is not alone as a popular
candidate that he excels; he is very efficient as an officer, and his
official work is done with that precision and promptness which he
carries into his private affairs.

In politics, as already intimated, he is a staunch Republican,
consistent and straight-forward in his advocacy of the party's
principles. He is a member of the Calumet club and of the Athletic
society; and in religious matters is a Lutheran.

He was married September 25th, 1881, to Caroline Ebert, and they have
one child, a daughter.

ZINN, Adolph C., known as one of the leading business men of Milwaukee,
is the son of Karl Zinn, who came from Saxony, Germany, to Milwaukee in
1845, locating in that part of the city then known as Kilbourntown, and
engaged in the wagon and carriage business. He died, in 1877, at the
age of sixty-seven years. A. C. Zinn's parents were natives of Saxony,
and were married in that country.

Mr. Zinn was born in Milwaukee, February 12th, 1849. He attended the
Trinity church school until he was eleven years of age, when he entered
the Second ward public school, the highest grade of which was then the
only public high school in the city. He completed the course when not
quite fifteen years old, and carried off the highest prize for
scholarship and deportment. This was when

Page 367

the civil war was raging and its most gloomy time. Able-bodied men were
needed in the army, and not a few of the male teachers enlisted. Young
Zinn enlisted as a drummer boy, but his mother, being in poor health,
would not consent to his going, and he had to abandon his dream of
military glory. Soon after this he entered the establishment of D. W.
Goetz & Co., woolen manufacturers, as errand boy, and was advanced to
the position of book-keeper after having taken a course in a business
college. At the age of eighteen he was installed as manager of the
business, and continued as such until he was of age. He then went into
business for himself, his only capital being money saved from his
salary.

In 1873 he started in the malting business under his own name.
Afterward it was conducted under the name of the Zinn Malting company,
but it is now the Milwaukee Malt and Grain company. When he commenced
the business, only one other firm was engaged in it, and that in a
small way, and the annual capacity of his establishment was only 50,000
bushels, which has now increased to 2,000,000, the largest plant in the
country. Mr. Zinn has retired from active management of the business,
and it is now in the hands of Albert Zinn, his brother, Bruno Fink, his
brother-in-law, and A. Asmuth. Mr. Zinn is still a director of the
company, and is also a director in the West Side bank.

The malting business has grown to be one of the largest in Milwaukee,
has greatly stimulated the growing of barley in Wisconsin, and has, in
a measure, offset the city's loss of its prestige as a wheat market,
making it instead the largest barley market in the country.

In politics Mr. Zinn is independent, with leanings toward the
Republican side. He has often being offered official honors, but has
steadily declined them. He has always been a great lover of music, was
a charter member of the Milwaukee Liederkranz and its president for
several years. He was a member of the executive committee of the
National Sangerfest,

[image: ADOLPH C. ZINN.]

held in the city in 1888. He is a member of the Musical society, the
Arion Musical club, the Calumet and Deutscher clubs, the Deutscher
Gesselschaft and the Germania. He has been a member of the Chamber of
Commerce since 1875, and was one of its directors from 1891 to 1896. He
is also president of Milwaukee Maltsters' association.

He was married, in 1873, to Addie Fink, daughter of William Fink, a
well-known business man of Milwaukee. Mr. and Mrs. Zinn have five
children--four sons and a daughter.

EATON, Louis Horton, music teacher and organist of Milwaukee, is of
English descent, his father being Josiah Eaton, Jr., a music teacher,
and the maiden name of his mother being Frances Elizabeth Burt, also of
English descent. His father's ancestors came to this country from
England in 1630, and representatives of the family have lived in and
about Boston ever since.

L. H. Eaton was born in Taunton, Mass., May 9th, 1861, and was educated
in the public schools of the old Bay state, probably the

Page 368

[image: LOUIS HORTON EATON.]

best in this country--at any rate such is their reputation. He early
showed a taste for music and readily acquired a knowledge of its
principles. After receiving a thorough musical education he came west,
and, locating in Milwaukee became organist, in November, 1885, of
Immanuel Presbyterian church, and held the position for one year. He
then accepted the same position in St. Paul's Episcopal church and held
it for nine years. During that time he founded the surpliced choir for
that church; and, in 1890, he also founded a similar choir for St.
James' Episcopal church, and for five years had charge of both choirs.
In 1895 he resigned the charge of the choir of St. Paul's and gave his
attention only to that of St. James'. During nine years he was director
of music in the Wisconsin consistory, and conducted many concerts,
orchestral and choral. He was also director of the Schubert club of
Elgin, Illinois, and has given many organ recitals. He is organist of
the Pabst theater, and for years has been prominent in musical circles,
and contributed much to the musical culture for which Milwaukee is
justly famous. He has a large class of private pupils,
many of whom are now teaching, some in Milwaukee and others in
different parts of the country. Several of the city organists are
pupils of Mr. Eaton.

Mr. Eaton is a Republican in his political preferences, but has not
been conspicuous in political affairs. He is identified with the
Masonic fraternity, is a member of La Fayette Lodge, Kilbourn Chapter,
Ivanhoe Commandery. In his church connection he is an Episcopalian.

On the 29th of October, 1884, Mr. Eaton was married to Miss Emma L.
Stearns, a decendant of Miles Standish. Their children are Reginald and
Dorothy Eaton.

ROGERS, Charles Cassius, a lineal descendant of John Rogers, who was
burned at the stake in Smithfield, England, February 4th, 1555, for
"heresy" in preaching the reformed religion, was born in Cambridge,
Maine, in 1847. His parents, Charles Rogers and Adaline H. Spear, were
married in 1846, and ten years thereafter removed to Sheboygan,
Wisconsin, where Mr. Rogers, Senior, engaged in the mercantile
business, but, not long after, abandoned it to become a farmer.

Charles C. Rogers received his primary education in the public schools
of Sheboygan county, and was prepared for college under the instruction
of Prof. A. Whitcom. In 1866 he entered Bisbee's Military College in
Poughkeepsie, New York, and completed the course therein three years
later. Following his graduation, he took the position of professor of
mathematics is Eastman's College, which he held for two years; he then
resigned and engaged in the real estate business in Chicago. In 1873 he
returned to Wisconsin, and three years thereafter took up his permanent
residence in Milwaukee. His first business in the city was with the
firm of Allen, Johnson & Company, wholesale grocers. This was continued
for two years, when Mr. Johnson lost his life in the burning of the
Newhall house; and Messrs. Harwood and

Page 369

Rogers, the other members of the firm, carried on the business for one
year, and the firm was then dissolved. Since that time Mr. Rogers has
carried on the business of grain commission, under the firm name of C.
C. Rogers & Co.

In 1890 an association of business men of Milwaukee was formed to
advance its interests, and Mr. Rogers was chosen its manager and
secretary. In this position he displayed much energy and varied
resource, and for some time the Advancement association contributed not
a little to the enterprise and development of the city. His management
of the association was so generally approved by those interested in it,
that in 1891 he was elected its president, and re-elected in the
following year without any opposition. Just what would have resulted
from this association but for the business collapse which occurred in
1893, it is difficult to say, but if energy and push and readiness in
device could have crowded forward the material interests of Milwaukee
it is quite certain that it would have experienced such a forward
movement in all its enterprise as would have added largely to its
present prosperity and its possible expansion. The placing of Mr.
Rogers at the head of his association was certainly a very substantial
endorsement of his business sagacity and fertility in resource, and it
cannot be qualified by any subsequent circumstances. The association
had some live and able men in it, and to be endorsed by such men is a
testimonial to ability which may not be lightly put aside.

Mr. Rogers is a cultivated man, one who takes an interest in all the
leading questions of the times, is well informed thereon, has the
ability to express himself with clearness and force in public, and will
be a leader among those with whom he associates in whatever he
undertakes. He is a Republican from principle, and one who is active in
measures for party advancement, both in caucus and on the platform.
Still in the prime of life, there is a prolific before him in whatever

[image: CHARLES CASSIUS ROGERS.]

he may engage. He is an attendant at the Baptist tabernacle, and takes
an intelligent and earnest interest in religious, charitable and
educational work.

He was elected vice-president of the Arion club in 1893, re-elected in
1894, and made president of the club in 1895. He has always been
prominent in Masonic circles, and has been elected continuously for the
past nine years grand lodge trustee, and now occupies the position of
chairman of the board.

ANDERSON, A. W., district attorney of Dane county, and a young lawyer
of fine promise, is the son of L. M. Anderson, who was a farmer in the
town of Perry, Dane county, Wis., in comfortable financial
circumstances. He came to Wisconsin from Norway in 1851, and was a
volunteer in the Union army during the civil war. At the conclusion of
his military service he returned home, resumed his farming operations,
and was recognized as a thrifty and honorable citizen. He held the
office of chairman of the town board for fourteen years in succession.
His death occurred

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[image: A. W. ANDERSON.]

December 6th, 1888. His wife, the mother of A. W. Anderson, was Ragnild
H. Gonsted, who came with her parents to Wisconsin in territorial days.
She is still living at the old homestead in Perry with one of her sons,
James R. Anderson.

A. W. Anderson was born in Perry, Wis., September 16th, 1866. His
education was received in the common school at home, in the Platteville
Normal School, from which he graduated in 1888, and in the state
university, the diploma of which he received in 1890. His professional
education was received in the Harvard law school, which he attended for
three years, and from which he graduated in 1893 with the degree of LL.
B., cum laude.

After his graduation from the law school, he began practice in Madison,
in the fall of 1893, and a year thereafter he was nominated on the
Republican ticket for district attorney and was elected with a large
majority--the second on the ticket in that respect, although his
Democratic opponent was an old, experienced lawyer. In 1896 he was re-
elected with an increased majority. During his occupancy of the office
he has tried successfully
many important criminal cases, and the affairs of the office have been
conducted with due regard to economy, yet with faithfulness and
efficiency.

In politics Mr. Anderson is a pronounced Republican, and has done
efficient political work. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to
the Lutheran church.

With his thorough education, his capacity for work and the prestige in
his profession which he has gained by the faithful and able discharge
of his official duties, he has entered upon what may reasonably be
predicted will prove an honorable, prosperous and useful career.

DALE, Harvey B., M. D., a prominent physician of Oshkosh, was born in
Seneca county, New York, October 23, 1835, the son of William F. and
Philinda Sutton Dale. His ancestors on his father's side were natives
of the north of Ireland, a people of marked strength and individuality
of character. His father was a shoe-maker of limited means, and moved
to Bath, N. Y., when he, the boy, was about ten years of age. There he
grew up with an ambition for a liberal education. He attended the
common school and the high school of Bath, and read medicine thereafter
as he had opportunity. Working on a farm during the summer, he managed
to secure the money necessary for continuing his studies, and so, by
the exercise of industry and economy both of time and money, he made
progress toward the accomplishment of the object of his ambition.
Coming to Fond du Lac, Wis., in 1856, with his uncle, Dr. T. J.
Patchen, he continued his medical studies in preparation for a course
in a medical college, and entered the Cleveland homeopathic
institution, graduating therefrom in 1860. The next year he took up his
residence in Oshkosh and entered upon the practice of his profession.
His practice, small at first, gradually increased until it became one
of the largest in the city. From the beginning of his practice

Page 371

he continued his studies, neglecting no opportunity of adding to his
scientific knowledge and his equipment for the successful prosecution
of his arduous and responsible professional work. In 1865, he was one
of seven physicians of his faith who organized the Homeopathic State
Medical society, was at a later period president of the same and is now
the only survivor of the original founders.

Dr. Dale is a Democrat in politics, advocating the principles of the
party as expounded by such fathers of it as Jefferson, Jackson and
Cleveland, and has thus commended himself to his fellow citizens of
that faith.

In the memorable campaign of 1896 he was an active opponent of the free
coinage of silver dogma, and ardently espoused the cause of sound
money. He has been four times elected mayor of Oshkosh, and, during his
administration of city affairs various improvements were effected. He
has taken great interest in education matters, was eleven times elected
superintendent of public schools of the city, and, in recognition of
his efforts in the cause of education, one of the largest of the ward
schools was named for him and is now known as the Dale school. He is
now a member of the school board as commissioner-at-large from the city
of Oshkosh, and has been a member of the board of regents of the state
university, having been appointed by Gov. Peck because of his
educational experience.

Dr. Dale was married, in 1861, to Augusta S. Olcott of Fond du Lac, and
they have one son, Harvey B. Dale, Jr., who is also a practicing
physician in Oshkosh, and was one of the two homeopathic members of the
Wisconsin board of medical examiners appointed by Gov. Scofield.

Dr. Dale has been a Mason for the past thirty years, and is highly
respected and honored by the members of the order. Diligent and
industrious in whatever he undertakes, possessing great capacity for
work, both mental and physical, quick of apprehension

[image: HARVEY B. DALE.]

and of excellent judgment, his services in behalf of the city and the
cause of education have proved of great value, and won him the
confidence and respect of his fellow citizens in an unusual degree.

Since the above was written Dr. Dale's busy life has ended. While in
active practice and apparently in vigorous health he was stricken down
with spinal congestion, the result of heat and overwork. Medical skill
was unavailing, and he died July 7th, 1897.

CARLSON, Oscar Wilhelm, is a native of Sweden, having been born in
Stockholm, August 1st, 1843. His father, Charles J. Carlson, was for
many years connected with the Swedish army, and was in many respects a
model soldier. His mother, Caroline Sophia Leuthstrom Carlson, belonged
to a distinguished family that traced its ancestry to the French who
followed the fortunes of Bernadotte into Sweden and were his most loyal
supporters when he became king. It would be interesting, if it were
possible, to trace the history of this family and many of those
associated

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[image: OSCAR WILHELM CARLSON.]

with them in those stirring times; but oblivion often closes personal
histories that if written out would prove as entertaining as any that
have found their way into print.

When but ten years of age young Carlson left home and friends, on a
sailing vessel, bound for the United States; but the third day out from
Gutenberg the vessel encountered a furious storm, which soon left it a
helpless wreck, drifting at the pleasure of wind and wave, and with
little prospect of its ever reaching harbor. Finally, after three
months of this aimless drifting, the wreck was sighted off the coast of
Ireland, and towed into the harbor of Londonderry. Thence our young
adventurer took passage for New York City, where he finally arrived on
the 13th of January, 1854, taking passage immediately for Columbus,
Ohio, where his uncle, Dr. Leuthstrom, then resided. The year
following, he removed with his uncle to Waukesha, Wisconsin, where he
attended the public schools, pursuing his studies therein for some
three years; at the end of which time he went to St. Croix county,
Wisconsin, as a laborer in a lumber camp. Here he remained until
August, 1862, when he returned to Waukesha, and enlisted in the Twenty-
eighth regiment, Wisconsin volunteer infantry, and served the full term 
of three years, making a record in camp to his country. He was engaged 
in the battle of Helena, the siege of Mobile and other important 
military operations, besides being detailed to special and responsible 
duty under Gen. Steele. Upon receiving his discharge from the army 
September 22, 1865, he returned to Wisconsin, and took up the study of 
medicine with his uncle, Dr. Leuthstrom, who had removed to Milwaukee, 
and acquired an extensive and lucrative practice. After several years of 
this study, he went to Chicago, and took a course in the Hahnemann 
Medical College, graduating therefrom in 1872. Returning to Milwaukee, 
he entered into a partnership with Dr. Leuthstrom, which lasted for five 
years, when they sold the business to Dr. Danforth of Chicago. Dr. 
Leuthstrom retired to his farm on Pine lake, Wisconsin; and the health 
of Dr. Carlson having become impaired, he purchased a ranch in Clark 
county, Kansas, upon which he spent two years, regaining health and 
strength from the active life in the fresh air. Selling this interest to 
his partner, Dr. Leuthstrom, in 1881, he took a trip to his native land, 
Sweden, which he had not seen since his perilous voyage therefrom 
twenty-nine years previous. Before returning, he made a tour of 
observation of the leading hospitals of England and the continent, 
gaining much practical professional knowledge, which he turned to good 
account upon his resuming practice, which occurred at his return to 
Milwaukee, in the fall of 1881, where he entered into partnership with 
Dr. Danforth. This partnership continued for three years, at the end of 
which it was dissolved, and he opened an office on his own account.

Dr. Carlson is a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy, has
been president of the Wisconsin Homeopathic Medical society, president
of the Milwaukee Academy of

Page 373

Medicine, supreme medical director for the United States of the Royal
Adelphia, grand regent for Wisconsin of the Royal Arcanum, member of
the National Union, active member of the Grand Army of the Republic,
and commander of the E. B. Wolcott post, No. I, of Wisconsin. He held a
staff position under Generals Fairchild, Veasy and Warner, when they
were commanders-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a
member of the auxiliary board of the World's Columbian Exposition.

On the 8th of February, 1871, Dr. Carlson was married to Miss Bertha L.
Strong, daughter of Robert II. Strong, one of Milwaukee's pioneers, and
a niece of Rear Admiral Strong of the United States navy. They have one
child, Miss Edith, whose accomplishments, especially in music and
French, render her a welcome guest in any circle which she chooses to
enter. Two nephews, members of his family, are pursuing their studies
under his direction, thus receiving the advantage of the experience and
observation of one who has seen much of life in its various forms, and
who is thus competent to advise and instruct. Affable in all his social
relations, skillful in his profession and benevolent toward the
unfortunate, he has hosts of friends, who have given him many evidences
of their confidence and esteem.

Dr. Carlson has two sisters and a brother in Sweden and a brother in
this country. Two uncles on his mother's side, Charles and William
Leuthstrom, came to the United States in 1840. The former is the Dr.
Leuthstrom mentioned in this article as his guardian and later his
professional associate; the other settled in Cincinnati, and has held
official positions there of honor and great responsibility.

Dr. Carlson was the attending physician and surgeon to the Milwaukee
Protestant Orphan asylum for eighteen years, which services were always
rendered gratuitously.

Dr. Carlson is the surviving medical examiner for the Royal Arcanum for
the state of Wisconsin.

[image: FLORIAN J. RIES.]

RIES, Florian J., a citizen of Milwaukee, who has an honorable record
for military and civil service, is the son of Anton Ries, who was mayor
of his native town, Gamburg, Baden, Germany, and who took part in the
revolution for constitutional liberty in Germany, in 1848-9, and after
its failure was imprisoned for more than two years, and finally
banished from the country, with the loss of most of his property. He
came to the United States in 1851, and the next year to Milwaukee. Here
he established a cooperage business, which he carried on successfully
until 1860, when he lost his life, in the sinking of the steamer Lady
Elgin, on the 8th of September. Col. Ries' mother was Marie Eva Lang,
who having brought her family of nine children from Germany to join her
husband, after their long separation, died of cholera in August, 1852,
just one week after her arrival.

Florian J. Ries was born in Gamburg, Baden, Germany, April 30th, 1843.
Coming to Milwaukee when nine years of age, and the family having
little means, he had no opportunity for gaining an education, beyond

Page 374

that of the common school from which he graduated when fourteen years
of age, standing second in his class. After leaving school he began the
business of contributing to the family support by acting as chore boy
at the home of Judge A. D. Smith, and later found employment in a
tobacco factory until he began the learning of the cooperage trade in
his father's shop. He had nearly finished his apprenticeship when his
father lost his life, as above stated. Stepping into the breach thus
suddenly created, he carried on the business quite successfully until
the breaking out of the civil war, when he left it at once, being one
of the first to respond to his country's call. He enlisted April 16th,
1861, as a private in Company D, First regiment Wisconsin volunteers.
With this regiment he went to the front, participating in the campaign
in the Shenandoah Valley and the battle of Falling Waters. The term of
its enlistment, three months, having expired, the regiment returned to
Milwaukee, and August 22nd, 1861, it was mustered out of service. He
could not, however, long remain simply a spectator of the conflict, and
on the 12th of February, 1862, he again enlisted, this time as a
private in Company D. Seventeenth regiment Wisconsin infantry. The
regiment was soon ordered to the front, and arrived at Pittsburg
Landing only a few days after the terrible battle of Shiloh. He was
with his regiment in the siege and capture of Corinth. In the
subsequent attack of the Confederate forces upon the town the regiment
was complimented on the field for its bravery by its commander, Gen.
McArthur. He took part in Gen. Grant's campaign in Mississippi, was in
two assaults on Vickslburg, and participated in the siege which
resulted in the surrender of that stronghold with the Confederate army
under Pemberton, July 4th, 1863. The remainder of the year was spent in
scouting duty, and in February, 1864, he, with the regiment, re-
enlisted as a veteran; and, after a furlough of thirty days, the
regiment joined Gen. Sherman's army, and was present in all the battles 
of the Atlanta campaign, in the pursuit of the Confederate army under 
Hood; and in November started on General Sherman's memorable march to 
the sea, which resulted in the capture of Savannah, Ga., on the 21st of 
December, 1864 In January, 1865, Gen. Sherman started on his campaign 
northward through the Carolinas, in which Col. Ries participated from 
beginning to end. He was present at the surrender of the Confederate 
army under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston; and, at the dispersion of the 
Confederate forces, Gen. Sherman was ordered to Washington with his 
victorious veterans, where they arrived on the 24th of May, 1865. Among 
these was Col. Ries, who had been promoted through the different grades 
up to first lieutenant. With his regiment he took part in the grand 
review of the victorious army in Washington, perhaps the most remarkable 
and splendid pageant that the world has ever seen.

From Washington the regiment was ordered to Louisville, Kentucky, Col.
Ries acting as its adjutant. Remaining in that city until July 14th, he
was mustered out with his command, and at once returned to Milwaukee,
where he resumed the vocations of civil life. But he did not entirely
discard the trappings of war, but took a lively interest in the
Wisconsin National Guard, serving as captain of the Cream City Guards
and major and lieutenant-colonel of the First regiment. Subsequently he
served four years as aid-de-camp with the rank of colonel on the
military staff of Gov. Wm. E. Smith.

After the close of the war he engaged in the manufacture of woolen
goods, and, subsequently, took up the vocation of traveling salesman,
which he followed for ten years. In 1877, Col. Ries represented his
district in the legislature, and the two following years he was a
member of the city council. In 1879 he was elected superintendent of
the House of Correction of Milwaukee county, and made a wise and
efficient officer, serving until February 18th, when he was appointed
chief

Page 375

of the city police. In this position he remained until September, 1888.
January 10th, 1890, he received the appointment of deputy collector of
customs and acting appraiser of merchandise, and served until September
30th, 1893, when he engaged in the wholesale oyster trade. In May,
1895, he was elected justice of the peace for an unexpired term, and
re-elected in 1896, and that position he now holds.

Col. Ries is a Republican, and has been a member of that party since he
was old enough to vote. He is a Free Mason, being a member of Aurora
Lodge, No. 30, of Wisconsin Chapter, No. 7, of the Wisconsin
Commandery, No. 1, Knights Templar, Wisconsin consistory, thirty-second
degree, and of the Tripoli temple, Mystic Shrine. He is also a member
of the I. O. O. F., of the Knights of Pythias, and of the Turnverein
Milwaukee. He was married October 5th, 1865, to Miss Anna W. Wurtz, and
has a family of three daughters and two sons.

BASHFORD, Robert McKee, the son of Samuel Morris and Mary McKee
Bashford, was born in Fayette, La Fayette county, Wisconsin, December
31st, 1845. Samuel Morris Bashford was born in New York City in 1812,
and was there educated in the public schools. Becoming a member of the
family of Dr. Kingsley, in his youth, he studied medicine with him and
practiced for a time; but disliking the practice, he came west and
settled in Grant county, Wisconsin. There he buried his first wife, and
in June, 1843, he married Mary Ann McKee Parkinson, whose first
husband, W. C. Parkinson, had died a few years before. After coming
west he gave up the practice of medicine as a profession, but
cheerfully responded to calls for his services when no other physician
could be had, but never made any charge for such service. Becoming
identified with the Methodist church as a regularly ordained deacon and
local preacher, he was a most useful and highly valued citizen. While
holding religious service in June, 1850,

[image: ROBERT M'KEE BASHFORD.]

he was stricken with apoplexy and died. Mary Ann McKee, Mr. Bashford's
mother, was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in Mason county.
Kentucky, December 11th, 1817. Her ancestors were prominent in public
life in Virginia; and, later, relatives in Kentucky, Indiana and
Illinois held official positions of importance. She and her young first
husband, W. C. Parkinson, came to Wisconsin by team in 1839, and made
their home in what was called the "Parkinson settlement," and the land
then occupied she continued to call her home until her death in 1896.
After Mr. Bashford's death she married Wm. P. Trousdale, with whom she
lived till his death in 1890. She bore nine children, seven of whom
reached majority, six still live, and four have graduated at the state
university.

Robert M. Bashford spent his boyhood on the farm, attending public and
private schools portions of each year, until the fall of 1863, when he
entered the preparatory department of the state university, and
graduated in the ancient classical course n 1870. The means for his
education were obtained largely from teaching school, and before he
graduated he

Page 376

had taught as principal of the schools at Linden, Poynette and
Darlington, Wisconsin, and had received flattering offers to continue
in the work. He had, however, decided upon the law as a profession,
and, in the fall of 1870, he entered the law school of the state
university, and at the same time the law office of Smith -- Lamb of
Madison. He graduated the following year; but, instead of entering at
once upon the practice of his profession, as he was inclined to do, he
entered into partnership with John B. and A. C. Parkinson and George
Raymer for the purchase of The Madison Democrat, and he acted as one of
its editors until April, 1876. Meantime, the paper and its equipment
had been greatly improved, and the daily edition had been changed from
an evening to a morning paper. It was conducted with much ability, and
in a liberal, enlightened spirit, and became one of the leading organs
of the party in the state. While connected with the paper Mr. Bashford
reported legislative proceedings, and, by appointment of the secretary
of state, compiled the legislative manual for the four years from 1875,
and greatly improved the publication as a book of reference. He was
also connected with the publication of the revised statutes for 1878.
In 1876 he disposed of his interest in the Democrat, and at once
devoted himself to the practice of his profession, becoming a member of
the law firm of Gill, Bashford & Spilde. In 1882 he became one of the
firm of Tenney, Bashford & Tenney, which for three years did an
extensive business in commercial law throughout this and adjoining
states. In 1885 an office was opened in Chicago, where the firm also
had a large business, until 1889, when Mr. Bashford, feeling that the
business pressure was undermining his health, retired from the firm and
returned to practice in Madison. He has become widely known, and has
acquired a high standing for professional learning and ability. He has
been connected with some notable cases, among which was that against
several ex-state treasurers to recover the interest received by
them on deposits of state funds. He is a member of the law faculty of
the state university, his subjects being commercial paper, private
corporations, banking, insurance and voluntary assignments.

Mr. Bashford is a Democrat and has had an extended experience in
political and municipal affairs. He has repeatedly been chosen a member
of the state central committee, and was a delegate to the national
convention in 1884. He served the city of Madison very efficiently as
city attorney for several terms, and as mayor, and was a member of the
state senate for four years from 1892, where he was recognized as one
of the ablest and most useful members.

Mr. Bashford was first married on November 27th, 1873, to Miss Florence
E. Taylor, daughter of ex-Governor Taylor, and a graduate of the state
university. She died August 16th, 1886. A daughter, Florence, survives
her, who is the wife of C. F. Spensley of Madison. On the 7th of
February, 1889, Senator Bashford was married to Miss Sarah Amelia
Fuller, youngest daughter of Morris E. Fuller, a prominent business man
of Madison.

Weissert, Augustus Gordon, a well-known member of the Milwaukee bar,
and one of Wisconsin's bravest and most efficient soldiers during the
war of the rebellion, was born in Canton, Ohio, August 7th, 1844, the
son of Michael and Magdalene Bernard Weissert. The family moved from
Ohio to Racine, Wisconsin, when Augustus was but six years of age. In
that city the boy received a good education in the public schools,
graduating from the high school when but seventeen years of age. On the
5th of September, 1861, when but a month past his seventeenth year, he
enlisted in Company K, Eighth Wisconsin infantry, having been several
times before that rejected on account of being under age and height.
His regiment, known as the "Eagle regiment," on account of its having a
live eagle, which it carried all through

Page 377

the war, left the state on the 12th of October for St. Louis, and went
thence to Pilot Knob, and a few days thereafter (October 21st) the
regiment had its first experience in real war in the battle of
Fredericktown, Mo. Young Weissert was with his regiment in the
expedition up the St. Francis river, to Sulphur Springs, to Cairo,
where it spent the greater part of the winter. After that it joined the
forces under Gen. Pope, took part in the siege of New Madrid, the
pursuit of the Confederates after the siege of Island No. 10, and
thence to Pittsburg, landing just after the battle of Shiloh, thence to
the rear of Corinth. After that it bore the brunt at the action at
Farmington (May 28th, 1882), where it received the commendation of the
commanding officer for its bravery and discipline. It was at the siege
of Corinth, and afterward at the battle at that place, October 3rd and 
4th, 1862, where it lost heavily. It participated in the siege and
assaults at Vicksburg, was under Sherman, took part in the battle of
Jackson, was in the Canton campaign and all other campaigns previous to
and during the investment of Vicksburg, and in Bank's Red river
expedition, in the charge at Fort Scurry, at Fort De Russy, and the
principal engagements of that ill-fated campaign, forming a portion of
Sherman's contingent under A. J. Smith. After that it was in pursuit of
Price in Arkansas and Missouri, making a march of 816 miles, and
participated in the battle of Nashville in December, 1864. Mr. Weissert
was made sergeant-major of the regiment and captain by brevet to date
from June 6th, 1864, for conspicuous bravery during the Red river
expedition, and for gallantry at Lake Chicot, June 6th, and Nashville,
December 15th, 1864. In this latter engagement he received a rifle ball
in the leg while the regiment was preparing for a second charge upon
the Confederate lines. He was carried to the rear and sent to the
hospital, from which he was, when able to be removed, sent home on
requisition of the governor of the state. Captain Weissert still
carries the bullet in his leg and

[image: AUGUSTUS GORDON WEISSERT.]

the wound has never healed. No surgeon has ever succeeded in extracting
it, and he has suffered more or less from it all these years. This
rapid sketch gives only an outline of the captain's military service,
which was alike serviceable to his country and conspicuously
illustrates his undaunted courage, his soldierly qualities and his
patriotic devotion.

At the close of the war Captain Weissert was appointed to a cadetship
at West Point, but on account of his wound he was compelled to decline
it. He then went to the University of Michigan, took a course of study,
then entered the law department of that institution, from which he
graduated with the degree of LL. B. He had previously read law under
the direction of Wm. P. Lyon, long a judge of the supreme court. He was
admitted to practice in the circuit courts of the state in 1869, and in
the following year to the state supreme court and to the district,
circuit and supreme courts of the United States. Since then he has been
in continued and successful practice in Milwaukee. He has held
positions of trust and honor. Was for a number of years a member of the
city board of school

Page 378

commissioners, was chairman of the high school committee in that body,
and active in his efforts for the promotion of the cause of public
education.

In 1886 Capt. Weissert joined the Grand Army of the Republic, and he
has been a most active member ever since. He has several times
represented his post in the department encampments; was a
representative of the Department of Wisconsin at St. Louis in 1887, at
the national encampment; and was active at Columbus in securing the
encampment for Milwaukee in 1889. He was chosen chairman of the
citizens' committee having in charge the arrangements for the last
named encampment, and to his indefatigable efforts was largely due the
success of that meeting. He has been trustee of Wolcott Post,
Milwaukee, for years, and has been twice commander of the Wisconsin
department. At the Milwaukee encampment he was unanimously elected
senior vice-commander of the G. A. R., and in 1892 he was made
commander. In all these positions Col. Weissert did efficient and
thorough work and was unsparing of himself in the discharge of his
duties. A good lawyer, a public-spirited and most active citizen, a
genial a pleasant companion, he has many friends who rejoice in his
successes and the honors that have been bestowed upon him.

VAN WYCK, Howard, city attorney of Milwaukee, is the son of Judge
Anthony Van Wyck of Kenosha, who, for many years, was one of the most
prominent and distinguished Republicans of the state. He was county
judge of Kenosha county from 1866 to 1870, and from 1882 until the
present time. He was state senator from Kenosha county from 1862 to
1866, and a prominent Republican leader during the civil war. In 1868
he was a candidate before the Republican state convention for the
nomination for governor, and was defeated by only two votes. Since then
he has not taken a very active part in politics, much to the loss of
his party and the regret of those who know his ability and his high 
character. The Van Wycks are of Dutch ancestry, the family having come 
from the town of Wyck, not far from the city of Amsterdam, Holland, in 
1657, and settled on Long Island, N. Y. The representatives of the 
family are numerous in that state, and have always been foremost in the 
trying times in the country's history. They were ardent patriots and 
active participants in the civil and military struggles of colonial 
days, and in the later wars. Richard T. Van Wyck, great-grandfather of 
Howard, was a major in Brinkerhoff's regiment, which was raised in 
Dutchess county, N. Y., during the revolutionary war. In the war of the 
rebellion several Van Wycks served with distinction in the Union army. 
Gen. Charles H. Van Wyck, a near relative of Judge Anthony Van Wyck, 
commanded a brigade of New York troops, and, after the war, was 
provisional governor of South Carolina during the reconstruction period. 
Subsequently he was a member of congress from New York, and finally 
United States senator from Nebraska. At the present time two Van Wycks 
are judges of the supreme court in New York City. Howard Van Wyck's 
mother, whose maiden name was Margaret Skeel, was of German descent. The 
family settled in Connecticut before the Revolutionary war, but 
afterwards removed to New York. Howard's grandfather, Theron Skeel, was 
a prominent merchant at Kingston and owner of a line of packet sloops on 
the Hudson river. Two of Howard's direct lineal ancestors were in the 
continental army during the Revolutionary war.

Howard Van Wyck was born in Fishkill village, Dutchess county, N. Y.,
September 10th, 1854. He came to Wisconsin with his parents in 1860,
the family settling on a farm in Paris, Kenosha county, which was owned
and worked by Judge Van Wyck for several years. The family then moved
into the city of Kenosha, where Howard completed his primary education
in the district schools and pursued a course in the Kenosha high
school. On

Page 379

account of poor health he was unable to take a college course, and in
the anticipation that his health would be improved thereby, he
commenced, at the age of fifteen, to learn the trade of wagon-maker in
the shops of the Bain Wagon company, in Kenosha, but after several
months' trial he found the work too severe for him and he was obliged
to abandon it. Then taking the position of clerk in a bank, he held it
for three years, when, in the fall of 1873, he went to Newburgh, N. Y.,
and began the study of law in the office of Fullerton & Anthony, a
leading law firm of that city. He remained there until the fall of
1875, when he entered the Albany law school, graduating and being
admitted to the bar in June, 1876. Going thence immediately to New York
City, he obtained a clerkship in the office of Edwin M. Daniel, a well-
known lawyer having a large practice. He remained there until 1879,
when he returned to Wisconsin and came to Milwaukee. He has had
considerable practice in his profession in Milwaukee, but no cases of
special importance until he became assistant city attorney, April 17th,
1894, when he was, by the common council, place in charge of the
litigation relating to a proposed four cent fare on the street
railroads. The case has not yet been tried. It is a very important one
by reason of the principles involved and the distinguished counsel
employed by the railroad company. Upon the resignation of City Attorney
Hamilton, May 3rd, 1897, Mr. Van Wyck was appointed to the vacancy, and
this important position he now holds.

He has been a Republican since he came of age, has taken an active part
in the politics of the city and county, and is president of the
Eighteenth Ward Republican club.

He is a member of the Millioki and the Suburban clubs, the Knights of
Pythias, Royal Arcanum and the National Union. In the Knights of
Pythias he was chancellor commander of Excelsior Lodge, No. 28, of
Milwaukee, and representative to the Grand Lodge on several occasions.
In the Royal

[image: HOWARD VAN WYCK.]

Arcanum he was regent of Allen Council, No. 49, the largest council in
the northwest outside of Chicago. He has been representative to the
grand council three times and alternate supreme representative once. He
is a member of the Plymouth Congregational church of Milwaukee.

Mr. Van Wyck was married January 24th, 1882, to Miss Katherine L. Wood,
formerly of Kenosha, and then of Milwaukee. They have no children.

PARK, Mortimer T., editor and one of the proprietors of The Elkhorn
Independent, and ex-assistant secretary of state, was born in New
London, Huron county, Ohio, in 1841. His father was Benjamin Park, a
well-to-do farmer, who was the son of Captain John Park of New York,
and officer in the war of 1812-14. The maiden name of M. T. Park's
mother was Sarah Treat. The family came to Wisconsin in 1847, settling
on a farm in the town of Turtle, Rock county, where Mortimer attended
the district school, and, when old enough, hardened his muscles by

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[image: MORTIMER T. PARK.]

work on the farm. Having completed the necessary preparation therefor,
he entered Milton College, Wis., receiving the degree of master of
science. His attendance at that institution also embraced the teacher's
course. After his graduation he became principal of a school in Racine,
and held the position for eight years-- 1867 to 1875. He was then
appointed a teacher in the state normal school at Oshkosh, where he
remained nearly four years. From July, 1876, to the same month in the
following year, he was president of the Wisconsin State Teachers'
association. While engaged in teaching he was successful and
enthusiastic in the calling and did the cause of popular education
excellent service.

Mr. Park has been a Republican since coming of age, having cast his
first presidential vote for the re-election of President Lincoln in
1864; and has voted for every Republican presidential candidate since.
On the first of January, 1882, he was appointed assistant secretary of
state, under Secretary Timme, and held the office until January 5th,
1891, the longest period for which that office was ever held by one
man. In this position he was careful, methodical and most faithful in 
the discharge of his duty, and always courteous in manner toward those 
with whom he had official relations.

He was a member of the Republican state central committee for four
years--from 1892 to 1896--and has always been more or less honorably
active in the affairs of his party. He is a member of the Masonic
fraternity and of the Baptist church.

Mr. Park was married, in 1861, to Mary E. Hammond of Clinton, Wis., and
three children were born to them, namely: Maud E., now the wife of Mr.
Combs of Evansville, Wis.; Charles M., agent of the United States
Express company at Watertown, Wis., and Maurice H., now at work in the
office of The Elkhorn Independent. Mr. Park's first wife died in 1883,
and, in 1886, he married for his second wife, Isabel C. Smith of
Pewaukee, Wis. There are no children by this marriage.

Mr. Park is yet a comparatively young man, and with hid wide experience
in public affairs, his general intelligence and his integrity, he is
one who merits public consideration when men are to be chosen for
positions of honor and responsibility.

WHEELER, Lucius Adolphus, for forty years one of the prominent and most
respected business men of Milwaukee, was born in Milton, Vermont, on
the 9th of March, 1828. His father, Oren Wheeler, was a farmer in
comfortable circumstances, and his mother, nee Sarah Hickok, was one of
those women who never fail to impress themselves for good upon their
children's character. When young Wheeler was but five years of age, his
parents moved to Monroe county, New York, where the boy attended the
public school, and, subsequently, the academy. He had a genuine taste
for books and study, and was noted for always standing at the head of
his classes. Like many another boy bred amid the quiet but suggestive
scenes of rural life, he had an ambition for a college education and
the clerical

Page 381

profession, and his studies were regulated with that end in view. But
his physical constitution proved unequal to the task which his youthful
ambition and enthusiasm had set, and ere his preparation for college
had been fully completed, he was compelled to abandon the course which
he had marked out and to shape his life for other pursuits.

Leaving school, he entered a county store, at Brockport, New York, as
clerk; and, accommodating his aims and ambition to his changed
circumstances, he bent himself to learning thoroughly the business in
which he was employed, and, after a few years, he established a dry
goods store in Dunkirk, New York, in 1853, and soon took the lead in
that branch of the business of the place.

After three years of successful business in Dunkirk, he sold out his
stock, and removed to Milwaukee, arriving in September, 1856. A year or
two later he opened a dry goods store in the new city, which soon grew
into a large establishment, embracing both retail and wholesale
departments, and doing a prosperous business. In 1879, however, he sold
his entire interest in it, and became secretary of the Steam Supply
company. This position he abandoned in a year or two, and in 1881
engaged in insurance, building up a large agency, and acquiring such
influence and confidence in insurance circles that he was made an
officer of the Milwaukee Board of Fire Underwriters.

In politics Mr. Wheeler has always been a Republican from conviction,
and has taken an active part in many campaigns, because he regarded
such a course one of the prime duties of the citizen. Especially during
the war of the rebellion was he most active and efficient in the
support of the government, giving it all the moral and material aid in
his power. But he has not sought office or political influence, or held
any office of that character.

He is Presbyterian in his religion, has long been a member of Immanuel
church, of which he is a ruling elder and clerk of the session. He has
been active in Sunday school

[image: LUCIUS ADOLPHUS WHEELER.]

work, has been a superintendent of several schools; and, at one time,
was secretary of the Wisconsin Sunday School association. For many
years he was superintendent of the mission school which developed into
Westminster Presbyterian church, and which now occupies the beautiful
new building near Lake Park.

Mr. Wheeler was married, in 1855, to Miss Helen C. Van Buren, daughter
of H. B. Van Buren of Dunkirk, New York, a relative of President Martin
Van Buren.

WETENKAMP, Fred, superintendent of the county farm and almshouse, was
born in Hanover, Germany, March 20th, 1852, the son of Henry and Hannah
Wetenkamp. He attended school in his native county until he attained
the age of fourteen years, when he left home and the land of his birth, 
and, alone, came to Milwaukee. Soon after his arrival he struck out to
earn his living; and, going out to the town of Greenfield, Milwaukee
county, he secured a position with a farmer as boy of all work,
remaining there five years. He attended

Page 382

[image: FRED WETENKAMP.]

school part of the time during winters, and thus added materially to
his education. It is greatly to his credit that he should have remained
so long in one place, and that he should have availed himself of the
opportunities for improving his preparation for the business of life,
even though they may not have been of the best. The steadfastness of
purpose, the perseverance and independence of the boy are worthy of
commendation, and evidence that he had in him the elements of success;
and his subsequent career has borne out this promise of the lone boy.
At the end of his five years' farm service he returned to Milwaukee,
and worked in the shipyard of Wolf & Division for two years, then in
the slaughter-house of Van Kirk & McGeoch for two years. These years of
hard work showed his purpose to make his way in the world if industry
and perseverance would accomplish it.

After leaving the slaughter-house he opened a grocery on the south
side, and carried it on for five years, when he sold out, and secured a
position as mailing clerk in the Milwaukee post-office. This position
he held for five years, when, Cleveland becoming president, there was a 
change in the head of the post-office, and Mr. Wetenkamp as removed, 
along with others, for "offensive partisanship." Losing his office, 
however, did not discourage him; but, with that energy and perseverance 
for which he seems to be remarkable, he secured the appointment of 
superintendent of the south side sewerage district, and served the city 
therein for two years, when he was elected by the county board of 
supervisors superintendent of the county poor farm, alms-house and 
water-works, and this position he now holds. That he has worked his way 
up from the position of a friendless boy to posts of honor and 
responsibility, and has held them to years, is strong evidence that his 
administration of these positions has been efficient and satisfactory to 
his superiors in office, and that he is possessed of administrative 
abilities of a high order.

Mr. Wetenkamp was married in 1873 to Miss Agnes Meyrose, and they have
one child, a daughter, Mary.

MEISENHEIMER, Adam, who conducts a real estate, loan and insurance
office at 330 Clinton street, Milwaukee, and is a notary public, is the
son of Jacob Meisenheimer, a native of Germany, where he was born
February 3rd, 1803. He came to Wisconsin in 1843, and settled on a farm
in the town of Jackson, Washington county, where he spent the remainder
of his life, dying January 31st, 1884. The wife of Jacob Meisenheimer
and mother of the subject of this sketch, was Catharina Jacobus, also a
native of Germany, who died October 6th, 1873.

Adam Meisenheimer was born in the town of Jackson, Washington county,
Wisconsin, February 17th, 1851, and there spent his boyhood in
attendance upon the public school until he was fifteen years of age,
when he came to Milwaukee and learned the trade of harness-maker. In
December, 1872, he became a member of the fire department and

Page 383

was assigned to engine company No. 3, where he served until July, 1878,
when he was promoted to the position of captain of supply hose company
No. 2. In December, 1882, he resigned the position and accepted that of
chief of the police and fire department of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railway company at its shops in West Milwaukee. This position he
gave up in May, 1888, on account of ill health, and, after a rest of a
few months, he opened, in August of that year, an office for the
transaction of real estate and insurance business, and in this he is
still engaged, having met with unusual success, especially from a
financial point of view.

Mr. Meisenheimer is a charter member of the Schiller Lodge, No. 21, A.
O. U., and past master workman of the same. He has served twenty-one
terms as treasurer and financier of this lodge, and still holds the
office of financier. He is a delegate or representative to the next
session of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin, and has representative his
lodge in the sessions of the grand lodge that have been held in
Milwaukee. Racine, Baraboo and Oshkosh. He organized the first Degree
of Honor Lodge in Milwaukee, auxiliary to the A. O. U. W. He is a
member of Armin Lodge, No. 9. Order of the Sons of Herman, was twice
its president, and twice representative it in the Grand Lodge of
Wisconsin. He is an honorary member of the Ottilie Verein, No. 2, G. U.
V., and a member of the George Washington Bowling club, of which he is
vice-president.

In politics he has always been a Republican, and in 1895-6 represented
the Eighth ward on the Republican county committee.

September 15th, 1874, he was married to Miss Josie M. Geskermann, a
native of Milwaukee. She is a member of the Social Circle Germania, a
benevolent association. She is also a member and recording secretary of
Ottilie Verein, No. 2, G. U. V.

Mr. and Mrs. Meisenheimer have six children. The two oldest boys, after
having passed through the public school, have taken

[image: ADAM MEISENHEIMER.]

up trades, the one that of iron moulder and the other that of printer.
The three younger are still in the Eighth district school.


End Part 12