Men of Progress. Wisconsin. (pages 586-621) 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.

========================================================================
USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free
     information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial
     entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material.
     These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for
     profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations.

     Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes
     other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file
     contributor.

     This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by:
     Kelly Mullins, kellyj@snowcrest.net
========================================================================

Page 586 continued

PROCTOR, Lewis Amsden, for thirty-four years a resident of Milwaukee,
is the son of Isaac and Fanny Amsden Proctor, the former a native of
Boscawen, N. H., and the latter of Hardwick, Mass. The ancestors of the
Proctors came from England, while the Amsdens are of English and Scotch
descent. An uncle of L. A. Proctor was a wholesale hardware merchant in
Boston during the greater portion of his active life, and after
retiring from that, was a silent partner in the firm of John P. Jewett
& Co., the first publishers of the historic story of "Uncle Tom's
Cabin." He was also known throughout New England for his religious and
benevolent work. A cousin of Isaac Proctor was Parker Cleveland, who
was for fifty years professor of chemistry in Bowdoin College, Maine,
and who was

Page 587

called "the father of chemistry in America." Another cousin was the
noted abolitionist, Parker Pillsbury.

Soon after the marriage of Isaac Proctor and Fanny Amsden, they went
out under the auspices of the American Home Missionary society as
teacher to the Cherokee Indians, then occupying the reservation which
now forms southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia. Their
station was Missionary Ridge, where afterward, during the War of the
Rebellion, there was fought a severe battle. At this place, in the
northwestern corner of Georgia, Mr. and Mrs. Proctor spent some ten
years in arduous and most beneficent work and there Lewis A. was born.
Before his remembrance, however, his parents removed to Indiana, where
his father was engaged for some twelve years in farming and mercantile
pursuits. He then removed to Wisconsin and settled on a farm in Racine
county. Meantime young Proctor, by studying under the direction of his
father and by attending the common schools, had acquired sufficient
education to enable him to secure a certificate of qualification to
teach a district school, and he began that work before he was twenty
years old. Several summers he spent in working on the farm, his winters
being devoted to teaching. After six months' preparation he entered the
classical course in Carroll College, Waukesha, in the fall of 1855, and
graduated therefrom in 1859, with the degree of A. B. During three
winters of this course he taught a district school, keeping up with his
class in college by night study. After graduation he taught the greater
part of the time until the spring of 1863, when he took a position as
commercial reporter and news editor of the Evening Wisconsin of
Milwaukee, and from this position passed up through all the departments
of the paper to that of associate editor. His connection with the paper
covered something over eighteen years. As a writer his style was clear
and accurate, never varying from an elevated tone, which exercised a
wholesome influence upon the public

[image: LEWIS AMSDEN PROCTOR.]

sentiment of the community. In 1874 he received the appointment of
school commissioner from the old Fourth ward of Milwaukee, and was
there times reappointed, holding the position seven years. The first
year of his service he was chairman of the finance committee. Six years
he was chairman of the executive committee and the committee on
examination of teachers. To his efforts is largely due the
establishment in Milwaukee of a state normal school, and although it
was violently opposed at first, it has since justified the wisdom of
the movement by becoming the largest strictly normal school in the
state. In the spring of 1881 he resigned his position on the Evening
Wisconsin of Milwaukee and the board of school commissioners to accept
an appointment from Gov. Smith on the state board of supervision of
Wisconsin charitable, reformatory and penal institutions. This board,
now called the state board of control, was then newly organized, and
the members determined their terms by lot, Mr. Proctor drawing the full
term of five years; and, at the expiration of that time, he was re-
appointed for another term of five years by Gov. Rusks. This

Page 588

board was a new departure in the management of charitable, reformatory
and penal institutions, not only in Wisconsin, but in the whole
country, and the members had to formulate the system from the
foundation without precedent or guide, involving no little labor, and
something of experiment. There was a complete overhauling of the
institutions submitted to the charge of the board. New methods in the
making of contracts for supplies and in the expenditure of public money
were adopted, resulting in a large saving to the state treasury. Mr.
Proctor took special interest in the institutions for the deaf and
blind and the industrial school for boys, and made an exhaustive study
of their treatment, conditions and needs. As one result all forms of
harsh restraint in the industrial school for boys were abolished. At
the expiration of his second term of service in the summer of 1891, the
board was reorganized under a new law passed at the previous session of
the legislature, and new men, with one exception, constituted the new
board of control.

The following spring Mr. Proctor started a new weekly paper called the
Record, which was designed to be a high class news and literary
journal, devoted also to the discussion of all leading political,
social and civil questions. But the venture seemed likely to involve
larger expenditure than he deemed it wise to incur at that time, and he
abandoned it. Soon after this he was appointed chief editorial writer
on the Chicago Journal, and this position he held for some six months,
when a partial change in the proprietorship of the paper necessitated
his retirement, since which time he has done more or less incidental
literary work.

In politics Mr. Proctor has been a Republican since the formation of
that party, and has aided it in various ways, but always on principle.

In religion he is a Presbyterian, was one of the founders of Calvary
Presbyterian church of Milwaukee, has been one of its ruling elders and
clerk of the session for the past twenty-five years. He has for many
years been a
member of the board of trustees of Carroll College, Waukesha, and for
the last six or eight president of the board.

In June, 1868, Mr. Proctor was married to Miss Ellen S. Bingham, of
Brooklyn, N. Y., a graduate of Packer Collegiate Institute of that
city, a woman of many virtues and accomplishments, whose death, after a
brief illness, on August 4, 1893, cast a shadow over her husband's life
which has never lifted.

BOTTUM, Elias H., one of the law firm of Winkler, Flanders, Smith,
Bottum & Vilas, of Milwaukee, was born in New Haven, Addison county,
Vermont, on the 28th of February, 1850. The Bottums are descended from
two brothers who came to this country from England in 1647 and settled
in Saybrook, Connecticut. Their descendants spread into Massachusetts
and Vermont, and among the latter was the great-grandfather of the
subject of this sketch, who settled in Shaftsbury, Bennington county. A
grandson of this Vermont pioneer, Elias S. Bottum, married Mary M.
Hoyt, the highly-educated daughter of Rev. Otto S. Hoyt, a
Congregational clergyman of distinction in New England. This Elias S.
Bottum was an intelligent, enterprising and successful farmer, who
owned a large tract of land in Addison county. Vermont, which had been
in possession of the family since 1750. On this form, in the beautiful
Chaplain valley E. H. Bottom was born and brought up. In early boyhood
he was not strong physically and was unable to attend school steadily.
He was, however, fond of reading, for which the rather solitary farm
life furnished many opportunities, and this, in some measure,
compensated for his lack of rigid study. By the time that he had
reached the age of fifteen years his health had improved; and, entering
upon his studies with renewed energy, he soon made up for what he had
lost, so that he was fitted for a collegiate course and entered
Middlebury College, Vermont, from which he graduated in the class

Page 589

of 1871, when only a few months past his twenty-first year. After
graduating he went to New York city and began the study of law in the
office of Evarts, Southmayd & Choate, one of the most eminent law firms
of that city. The duties of his position there proved too exacting to
allow the time for study which he desired, and, going to Washington, he
obtained a clerkship in the government bureau of education. This
position allowed him time to pursue his studies in the Columbia law
school, from which he graduated in 1873. His studies in connection with
his clerical duties in the government bureau impaired his health to a
degree, and after his admission to the bar he took a trip to the
northwest for the double purpose of regaining his health and finding a
promising place in which to enter upon the practice of his profession.
In the course of his trip he visited Milwaukee, and was so pleased with
the city and the opportunities which it offered for professional work
that he decided to made it his home, and, at once, opened an office in
the city. He applied himself to the task of building up a law practice
and was not long in obtaining recognition from the members of the bar
as a young man of more than ordinary ability and promise. He soon
gained clients and demonstrated his ability in the cases committed to
him as a painstaking, conscientious lawyer. He formed a partnership
with James G. Flanders in 1878, which proved so successful that both
came to be known as among the strongest men at the bar. The firm
continued in business for ten years, when its members united in forming
the present prominent firm of Winkler, Flanders, Smith, Bottum & Vilas.
White for some years he was engaged in general practice and has never
abandoned it he has of late given more attention to patent cases, in
which he is much interested, and in the conducting of which he has an
established reputation for skill success. In so large a firm as his
there is an opportunity to give each member of the firm those cases for
which he has a taste or special preparation, and this, perhaps,

[image: ELIAS H. BOTTUM.]

may be one source of the strength of this firm. Mr. Bottum does not
love litigation for its own sake, but is always ready to make
concessions when the ends of justice can be subserved and the real
interests of his clients secured. A man of strong convictions, a close
reasoner, possessing indomitable energy and perseverance, and knowing
every point of his cases, he is hard fighter and one not easily
conquered.

Mr. Bottum was married on the 17th of October, 1876, at Schuyler Falls,
N. Y., to Caroline M. Bailey, the daughter of Rev. Augustus F. Bailey,
and they have one child--a daughter.

ROBERTS, Edwin John, a well-known builder and contractor of Milwaukee,
is the son of John Roberts, a native of Wales, who was also a prominent
builder and contractor in his day. Among the buildings which he erected
is the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance company bank and the Chamber
of Commerce, two notable structures--substantial like their builder. E.
J. Roberts' mother was Elizabeth Bailey, a lady of Welsh and

Page 590

[image: EDWIN JOHN ROBERTS.]

English descent. He was born in Milwaukee, and received his education
in the public schools. After leaving school, at the age of seventeen,
he learned the trade of bricklayer, and when he had reached his
majority, he entered into partnership with his father and brother in
the business of contractors and builders, which partnership was
continued until the father's death, several years ago. After that the
brothers continued in business together until 1893. Among the buildings
which they erected are the Hotel Pfister, Plankinton bank, Plankinton
residence, Pabst residence and the Loan and Trust building. Since 1893
he has been in business alone, and among the buildings which he has
erected since that time are the Emergency hospital and the public
library and museum building, which was begun October 6th, 1895, and
which at this date, August, 1897, is not yet completed. In many
respects this is one of the most beautiful and artistic buildings in
the state, and one which contains a great amount of elaborate carving.
It is substantial as well as ornamental, and when completed will
reflect great credit upon both architect and builder. In
some respects it revives the best examples of classic Greek structures.

In political matters Mr. Roberts has always affiliated with the
Republican party, although he has not been especially active in that
direction.

He belongs to the Calumet and the Bon Ami clubs and the Masonic
fraternity.

Mr. Roberts was married in December, 1885, to Sarah Hale Dodge,
daughter of John Dodge. They have had two children--Sarah Elizabeth,
age eleven years; and John Dodge, who died at the age of seven years.

BIGELOW, Frank Gordon, or F. G. Bigelow, as the name appears in
business transactions, president of the First National bank of
Milwaukee, is the son of Dr. Thomas and Jeanette C. Gordon Bigelow, and
was born in Hartford, Washington county, New York, on the 28th of
September, 1847. His parents traced their ancestors back to the early
days of New England, where the names of Bigelow and Gordon have been
common for generations, and where they may be met with in historical
annals. The family came to Wisconsin in 1861, and here the parents
lived for the remainder of their lives.

Young Bigelow received at the public schools an education fitting him
for business pursuits, and in 1864 he secured the position of messenger
in the First National bank of Milwaukee, the successor of the Farmers'
and Millers' bank, which had been established in 1853. His grasp of the
details of the banking business was so quick and comprehensive, his
trustworthiness so apparent and undoubted, that he was advanced from
post to post until in 1882 he reached the office of cashier. The duties
of this position he discharged with such efficiency and fidelity that
not only was the business of the bank greatly increased and its
influence among the financial institutions of the country enlarged, but
the young cashier came to be regarded as one of the most capable and
safe of western

Page 591

bankers. This reputation, thus early gained, he has more than
maintained, as shown by the fact that upon the consolidation of the 
Merchant's Exchange bank with the First National, with the 
accomplishment of which Mr. Bigelow had much to do, he was made 
president of the combined institutions; and that position he now holds, 
commanding the confidence and esteem of its patrons, the number of whom 
is steadily increasing. Not only is he master of every detail of the 
banking business, but he has made the subject of finance the study of 
years, and his opinion upon all great monetary questions is regarded in 
western financial circles as of more than usual importance and weight. 
When an employe of the bank, and later, when a subordinate officer, he 
had for his instructors and mentors its first two presidents--Brodhead 
and Camp, men whose genius for financial business was long ago 
recognized by all; and that he did not neglect or despise his 
opportunities is shown by his rapid rise to the first place in his 
chosen pursuit. There is an important lesson for young men to be derived 
from Mr. Bigelow's career, and that is that with a natural aptitude for 
any particular business and a disposition to improve every opportunities 
for perfecting one's self in the knowledge of its principles and 
details, there is scarcely a limit to what may be attained therein.

Mr. Bigelow has not confined himself entirely to the business of
banking, though that has always had his first consideration and the
service of his best faculties and his most careful though. He is vice-
president of the Wisconsin Telephone company, and trustee of the
Northwestern Life Insurance company; and his financial experience and
large wisdom regarding business affairs have no doubt contributed
greatly to the very pronounced success of these noted institutions of
Milwaukee.

A prominent Republican in politics and giving his party the benefit of
his sympathy and support in all great national contests, he is yet in no 
sense a politician or a seeker after office, nor has he any sympathy 
with the tricks by which smaller men seek to accomplish their personal 
or political ends, and which have thrown discredit upon political 
organizations, and given an unsavory odor to what should be regarded as 
one of the first and most responsible duties of the citizen, the proper 
care for the exercise of the elective franchise.

Mr. Bigelow was married, in 1871, to Miss Annie E. Watkins, daughter of
Charles and Caroline Watkins, both of whom trace their ancestry back to
the early settlers of New England.

CHAPIN, Charles A., was born May 24, 1841, in Oneida county, New York.
He was brought up on a farm and attended the public schools. In 1858 he 
entered Alfred University, New York, teaching school winters to pay his 
way through college. In May, 1861, before the completion of his college 
course, Mr. Chapin enlisted in Co. K., Twenty-third regiment. New York 
State volunteers, and served for two years in the Army of the Potomac. 
His regiment belonged to General M. R. Patrick's brigade, and this 
brigade was assigned to the command of General Rufus King. After serving 
his term of enlistment he returned to college, where he was graduated 
with honors in 1864. He then entered the law office of General A. S. 
Diven at Elmira, N. Y., where, in June, 1866, after studying for two 
years, he was admitted to practice.

During Mr. Chapin's residence at Elmira he was socially connected with
such men as Judge Seymour Dexter, now president of the Second National
Bank at Elmira; David B. Hill, ex-United States senator; Charles J.
Langdon, brother-in-law to Mark Twain, and Dr. T. A. Wales, now a
prominent Elmira physician.

It was in September, 1866, that Mr. Chapin came to Milwaukee and
engaged in the shipping trade and milling business. Two years later he
married Miss Belle Wheeler or Wirt

Page 592

[image: CHARLES A. CHAPIN.]

Center, N. Y., and since that time has lived in Milwaukee. For five
years he was superintendent for the late James B. Martin in his large
milling business; later he established a general shipping business
under the firm name of Chapin & Co., and has since continued in that
line successfully. He has been a prominent figure in the affairs of the
Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce, having served seven years on the board
of arbitration, five years of which he was chairman; he was elected
president of the chamber in 1888, and re-elected in 1889. He is now
completing his eighteenth year as an officer of the chamber.

Mr. Chapin has always taken a keen interest in public and political
affairs, having served two years as school commissioner, during which
time he was chairman of the finance committee; he was also a member of
the country board for two terms, during which his prosecution of many
reforms in county affairs was vigorous. For two years he was chairman
of the Republican county committee, and for one year was chairman of
the central committee of one hundred. He was a delegate to the
Republican national convention

held in 1888 in Chicago, and voted for Benjamin Harrison. He was for
ten years an active member of the Milwaukee Curling club, and he has
been a member of the Milwaukee Whist club for eighteen years, serving
as its president for one term. When the organization of the Milwaukee
Whist league was consummated, Mr. Chapin was elected treasurer, and
served for three successive terms. He was also for two years a member
of the committee on laws, and participated in the reconstruction of the
whist laws which now govern the league.

Mr. Chapin has located branch houses, in connection with his business
affairs, at Boston, Buffalo, Minneapolis and St. Louis. His two oldest
sons, Jay Chapin and Robert Chapin, are partners with him, and are
located at Boston and Buffalo. Two other sons are employed in the
business, and there are besides these another son and four daughters.
Their home is a pleasant and commodious one at 137 Nineteenth street.

Mr. Chapin is a thoroughly progressive and representative man, having
earned his own education, served in the army and equipped himself for a
business in which he established himself, and which his energy has made
exceptionally successful. Mr. Chapin has a social disposition, is
cautious and conservative in business, fertile in resources, and
resolute and pertinacious in execution.

LAWRENCE, Frank Moore, a lawyer in general practice in Mayville, was
born in Milwaukee in 1854. His parents, H. A. and Laura A. Dutcher
Lawrence, came from New York in 1845, lived in Milwaukee for a time,
and after that went to Mayville. He was a contractor by occupation, and
has succeeded in accumulating considerable property, and is now retried
from active life. F. M. Lawrence acquired his education in the public
schools and in the Mayville high school. After he had finished his
school course he pursued the course usual

Page 593

to those who have worked their way into the learned professions, and
taught district school for four years. He then entered the law school
of the University of Wisconsin, and graduated therefrom in the class of
1876. That same year he began the practice of his profession in
Mayville, and has steadily and successfully followed it up to the
present time.

He is a Republican in his political sympathies, and has adhered to that
party in all campaigns of importance, although he has not been
especially active in campaign struggles. He has, however, been an
active, public-spirited citizen, always ready to do his part in the
promotion of the welfare of the community. As an evidence of this, he
held the office of city attorney of Mayville for four years, and that
of city clerk for two years.

He is a member of the A. F. & A. M., a Royal Arch Mason, belongs to the
I. O. O. F., is a knight of Pythias, and a member of the Congregational
church.

Mr. Lawrence was married in 1876 to Hattie A. Frost, who died in
Mayville in 1889. He was again married, in 1893, to Lydia C.
Reudebusch. The children are Jessie M., Laura A, and Victor Henry
Lawrence.

CUDAHY, Patrick, a member of the firm of Cudahy Brothers, parkers.
Milwaukee and Chicago, was born in Callan, in the County of Kilkenny,
Ireland, on the 17th day of March, 1849. His mother's maiden name was
Shaw. The father, while in Ireland, was engaged in agricultural
pursuit. Young Cudahy, with his parents and other members of the
family, came to this county in 1849, when he was but a few months old,
and from that time forward Milwaukee has been his home. Mr. Cudahy is
one of six children, five of whom still survive: Michael and John
Cudahy are residents of Chicago. Edward resides in Omaha and is
associated with his brother, Michael, in business in that city.
Catherine, the only sister, dedicated her life to religion, becoming,
some eleven years ago, a member of the Order of

[image: PATRICK CUDAHY.]

the Good Shepherd, and was known in religion as Sister Mary of St.
Stanislaus. She died in January, 1892. William, the youngest brother,
died at the age of thirty-seven, having, before his death, become
prominent in business affairs in Milwaukee. Patrick Cudahy received a
limited education in the common schools of the day. At twelve years of
age he began to work in the summer, but he went to school in the winter
when there was no work on land. His first employment of any consequence
was with a retail grocer on the corner of Grand avenue and Fifth street
in Milwaukee. He waited on customers in the forenoon and delivered
goods in the afternoon with a two-wheeled cart, working from seven in
the morning until nine at night, for which he received the mere
pittance of $1.50 per week. His first employment in the meat business
was with Edward Roddis, a prominent beef and pork packer, along in the
'60's. From this he went to work for Messrs. Layton & Company in the
capacity of weigher, or, as more generally termed, scaler, at a salary
of $75 per month--this was in 1870. Having little to do in the summer,
as there was

Page 594

at this time little or no summer packing, Mr. Cudahy, being ambitious
and desirous of success, undertook to learn the trade of stone-cutting-
-but before making much progress he received a position as
superintendent of the pork-packing house of Lyman & Company, where he
remained one year. About this time Philip D. Armour, who was then in
partnership with the late Mr. Plankinton, moved to Chicago to take
charge of his brother's business, and induced Mr. Cudahy's brother,
Michael, who was in the employ of Plankinton & Armour, to go with him,
and Patrick was called upon to fill the vacancy thus left. He took
charge of the slaughtering and packing establishment in 1874, at a
salary of $2,000 per year, and so continued until 1878, at which time
he was admitted as partner and given one-sixteenth interest in the
business, the capital stock being then $700,000. In 1883 his interest
was increased to three-sixteenths, and in 1886 he became a full partner
with Mr. Plankinton, the name of the firm being Plankinton & Co. In
1888 John Cudahy purchased Mr. Plankinton's interest in the firm, and
the name was changed to Cudahy Brothers, continuing as such until
October, 1893, when it was incorporated as Cudahy Brothers company,
with an authorized capital of $2,000,000, of which $1,200,000 is paid
up. Of this corporation our subject is president and the owner of sixty
per cent, of the stock.

As early as 1890 the Messrs. Cudahy got options on acreage property two
miles south of Milwaukee, and a year later purchased 700 acres of land
there, with a frontage of two miles on Lake Michigan. Buildings were
started, and in October, 1893, rapidly finished and active operations
begun. The plant, with one exception, is the largest in the country,
having a daily capacity of 7,000 hogs and 500 cattle and embracing
fifteen acres of land. They have their own pumping station, by which
lake water is distributed to every part of the plant, both for
manufacturing purposes and for provision against fire. The land outside 
of the packing establishment is owned by the Cudahy Land and Investment 
company, which is capitalized at $1,000,000, and of which Mr. Cudahy is 
president. The town of Cudahy, which has grown up about the packing 
plant, contains some six or eight hundred inhabitants, most of whom are 
the employes of the packing establishment. The Cudahy Building and Loan 
association, of which Mr. Cudahy is president, is an enterprise in which 
the employes are the principal stock-holders. The product of the company 
goes into all markets outside of Milwaukee, nearly sixty per cent, of it 
being exported.

The building up of this extensive business in a comparatively few years
and its successful management is a more emphatic testimonial to his
industry, enterprise and far-seeing sagacity in business than any
words, however forcible and comprehensive. His prominence in the great
world of business has been achieved solely by his own efforts, and is
all the more creditable because of that fact.

Still a young man, he has the time and strength to add much to the
history of his achievements. Modest in manner, kind in disposition and
benevolent in his relations to the social world, he has the respect and
confidence of all with whom he is in any way associated.

Mr. Cudahy was married in 1877 to Miss Annie Madden, and to them have
been born nine children, eight of whom are now living. Their home is an
exceedingly pleasant and happy one. In religion Mr. and Mrs. Cudahy are
consistent members of the Catholic church.

DAILY, Charles C., a citizen and lawyer of Marinette, was born in Rome,
New York, on the 16th of June, 1853. He came to Wisconsin with his
parents in 1866, and the family took up their residence in Osceola,
Fond du Lac county, where young Daily completed his education so far as
the common school could furnish the means therefor. After a course in
the commercial college at Fond du Lac, he began the study of law in an
office in

Page 595

that city, and upon examination, was admitted to the bar in 1878. The
following year he removed to Marinette, where he at once began the
practice of his profession, in which he has continued since. He was
elected justice of the peace in 1881, and, through re-elections, has
held the office ever since. He was city clerk from 1882 to 1887,
inclusive. In 1892 he was elected to the lower house of the legislature
as a Democrat, receiving 1896 votes to 1785 for John A. Van Cleve,
Republican; 277 for James Larsin, Populist, and 294 for John J.
Sherman, Prohibitionist. He served on the committees on judiciary and
town and county organizations.

Mr. Daily has a thorough knowledge of law, which, together with his
long occupancy of the office of justice of the peace, fits him for a
judicial service as well as the practice of his profession. Methodical
and painstaking, with a care for the details of hiss work, and with a
fidelity to duty from which he is not easily turned aside, he is a
valued citizen, whether in public or private station.

WINANS, John, for many years a resident of Janesville and a leading and
noted lawyer of that city and of the state, was born in Vernon, Sussex
county, New Jersey, on the 27th day of September, 1831. His father,
William R. Winans, and his uncle, Ross Winans, a prominent citizen of
Baltimore, were Hollanders by descent, their ancestors having been
among the early settlers of New Jersey. His father and his uncle had to
do with the construction and operation of the railroad between St.
Petersburg and Moscow in Russia for many years.

The subject of this sketch, having been educated in New Jersey, began
the study of law at Newton nd subsequently continued it at Trenton in
the office of Martin Ryerson, who was afterwards distinguished as a
circuit and supreme judge of that state. In the fall of 1855 he was
admitted to practice in all he courts in New Jersey and in the spring
of 1857

[image: JOHN WINANS.]

came to Wisconsin, settling in Janesville, where he has ever since
resided and where he has been continuously and successfully engaged in
the practice of his profession, occasionally interrupted by the duties
of official station. His practice soon steadily grew in amount and
importance, for his native and professional abilities early came to be
generally recognized as of a superior character, and but few cases have
been tried in southern Wisconsin, either civil or criminal, in which
Mr. Winans has not taken a conspicuous part. Possessing an evenly
balanced mind, keen sense of justice, ability to weigh impartially the
value of evidence, a temper that nothing can ruffle, clearness of
discernment, which enables him to present a case in its strongest
light, argumentative powers of a most convincing character and an
eloquence that appeals at once to the reason and sympathies of courts,
jurors and auditors, makes him one of the very strongest advocates in
the state.

The late Senator Carpenter, whose fame as a lawyer is national, said of
him that if he had an important case of his own, he would as soon
commit it to Mr. Winans or to the Hon.

Page 596

John R. Bennett as to any other member of the bar in Wisconsin.

Politically, Mr. Winans is a Democrat, but can not be considered a
strong partisan. He has been prominent in his party, rather on account
of his abilities than because of any desire on his part for
participation in the struggles of parties or any ambition for official
honors. In 1868 he was the Democratic candidate for congress in the
Second district, then composed of the counties of Columbia, Dane,
Jefferson and Rock, but the district had a large Republican majority,
and, as he expected, he was defeated. In 1874 he represented Janesville
in the assembly of this state, and was made chairman of the judiciary
committee. He was again a member of the assembly in 1882 and received
the vote of the Democrats for speaker. In the fall of 1882 Mr. Winans
was the Democratic candidate for congress in the First congressional
district, composed of Kenosha, Racine, Rock and Walworth counties. The
district had a Republican majority of about 5,000, but owing to
dissatisfactions in the Republican ranks and to Mr. Winans' popularity
and his recognized ability, he was elected by a handsome majority, and
at the expiration of his term declined a renomination. It is doubtful
if any other Democrat in the district could have overcome so large a
Republican majority. He represented the city of Janesville a third time
in the assembly in 1887 and was again the Democratic candidate for
speaker. He also received the vote of the Democratic members of the
legislature that year for United States senator in opposition to
Philetus Sawyer. In 1891 he was for the fourth time a member of the
assembly and again chairman of the judiciary committee, and was
tendered the speakership, which he declined. As a legislator he was
always the leader of his party and not unfrequently of the assembly,
was attentive to the proceedings, an excellent judge of what was
demanded by the public interests in the way of legislation, a ready,
forcible and eloquent debater and in all respects a most useful
and honest representative. An evidence of his abilities and the value
of his services was the spontaneous recognition which they always
received alike from political associates and opponents.

Mr. Winans was made chairman of the national convention of Democratic
clubs, which was held in Baltimore the 4th of July, 1888. He has
several times been an elector on national Democratic tickets and a
delegate to national conventions, and one several occasions has been
favorably mentioned as a suitable candidate for governor by the press
of his party, but never with his consent.

He has frequently served his fellow citizens in local positions, such
as alderman, mayor and city attorney, having twice been elected to the
office of mayor by large majorities. Under his administration as mayor
most of the city improvements were established, such as waterworks,
fire-alarm system, gates at street crossings, the Evansville cut-off,
so-called, street cars and the lighting of the streets by electricity.

KOCH, John C., mayor of Milwaukee from 1893 to 1896, was born near
Hamburg, Germany, October 18th, 1841. In 1854, when thirteen years of
age, he came with his parents to Milwaukee, and, after supplementing
the education which he had received in Germany by a term in the public
schools of the city, he learned the tinner's trade in his father's
shop, working there until 1860. The following year he began working for
the firm of John Pritzlaff & Co., as tinner, continuing in that
capacity until 1866, when he became chief clerk in the establishment.
His energy, industry and devotion to the business secured him
promotion, and by the end of the year he became a member of the firm.
Under the joint management of Mr. Pritzlaff and Mr. Koch, the business
grew so rapidly that in 1884 the firm was incorporated as the John
Pritzlaff Hardware company, and Mr. Koch was elected vice-president and
superintendent, with John Pritzlaff as president, which position Mr.
Pritzlaff

Page 597

still retains, though the active management of the firm devolves upon
Mr. Koch. The firm is conceded to be one of the largest in the
northwest trade of hardware and iron supplies, largely due to the
active interest taken by Mr. Koch in the management of its affairs. Mr.
Koch is also president of the Koch-Loeber company, of Milwaukee, a
corporation doing a large business in wooden-ware and supplies.

In politics Mr. Koch is a Republican, and in 1892 was selected as the
candidate of his party for the lieutenant-governorship. In the same
year he was candidate for the mayoralty of Milwaukee, to which position
he was elected by a majority of thirty-five hundred votes. In 1894 he
was renominated, and elected by an increased majority.

In the summer of the year last named he was widely supported as the
most available candidate for the Republican nomination for governor,
but he discountenanced the proposition and finally declined positively
to be considered a candidate, although a nomination was, under the
conditions then existing, equivalent to an election. This circumstance
is conclusive evidence that Mr. Koch is not an office-seeker, and is
not enamored of official position. It is very rare that such an honor
is so positively declined, and the declination so firmly, adhered to.
His administration of the office of mayor was characterized by
efficiency, independence and a strict regard for the public welfare. It
was during his administration that the great financial panic occurred,
and one of the suspended banks held city funds on deposit to the amount
of $1.628,000; but largely through his business sagacity the payment of
the money in full, partly in cash and the remainder in long-time
installments, was secured, and the bank permitted to resume without
embarrassment, so far as the city was concerned.

In religious belief Mr. Koch is a Lutheran, and is a member of the
board of vestrymen of the Trinity Lutheran church of Milwaukee: he is
also trustee of Concordia College, which

[image: JOHN C. KOCH.]

is devoted to the education of ministers of the Lutheran faith. He is
president of the Milwaukee Exposition, a director of the Concordia Fire
Insurance company, and was a member of the Advancement association,
composed of business men, whose aim was the advancement of the
commercial and financial condition of Milwaukee. In 1864 Mr. Koch was
married to Miss Elizabeth Pritzlaff, eldest daughter of John Pritzlaff.
Nine children of this marriage are now living, one son filing a
responsible position under his father.

HEYN, Herman, merchant, was born in the year 1837 in that portion of
Germany which formed the kingdom of Hanover. After graduating from the
high school, he served an apprenticeship in a mercantile house near
Bremen. He came to America in 1857, going to Detroit, where he remained
three years. From Detroit he went to Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he was
in business on his own account. He then removed to Houghton and
Hancock, on Lake Superior, where he became a member of two firms,
respectively under the style

Page 598

[image: HERMAN HEYN.]

of Little & Heyn and Little, Heyn & Eytenbenz. In the spring of 1867
Mr. Heyn located in Milwaukee, and purchased the notions and fancy
goods business of Ramien Bros. & Co., when that firm was located on
East Water street. He moved the business to its present location on
Wisconsin street two years later, and has developed it to such an
extent that his store now occupies Nos. 101, 103, 105, 107 and 109
Wisconsin street, and 388 and 390 Broadway. Mr. Heyn has always taken a
deep interest in public affairs. During the closing years of slavery in
the United States he was an uncompromising abolitionist, and since the
war he has been a steadfast Republican. He was sent as a delegate from
Houghton county to the Republican state convention at Detroit in 183,
but since that time he has not taken an active part in politics. He is
a cultured man of a retiring disposition, and has never given any time
to clubs or to club life. However, he is a member in good standing of
the Order of Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Heyn has been twice married.
His first wife was Minna Goldsmith, to whom he was united in 1866, and 
by whom he had five sons, four of whom are still living. The names of 
these sons are Edward T., Joseph G., Herbert A. and Bernard G. Heyn. He 
was again married in 1892 to Miss Amy Bunsen of Belleville, Ill., by 
whom he has one son-- Hermann Bunsen Heyn. Mr. Heyn's business career 
has been one of uninterrupted success. This is due to his wise 
conservatism and to the ripeness of his judgment of business needs and 
conditions, based upon his observations during more than forty years of 
mercantile activity and enterprise.

PECK, George W., ex-governor of Wisconsin and a resident of Milwaukee,
was born in Hudson, Jefferson county, New York, on the 28th of
September, 1840, and came with his parents to Whitewater, Wisconsin,
when a child of less than three years. His education was received at
the common schools, and was completed, so far as the schools were
concerned, when he was fifteen years of age.

His first essay in the more serious duties of life was as an apprentice
to the trade of printer in the office of The Whitewater Register. After
he had learned this trade, he worked as a journeyman on a number of
Wisconsin papers, and finally became foreman of The Watertown
Republican, for the duties of which position he received the
ridiculously small sum of $3.50 per week. This business did not present
many inducements for an ambitious young man, and he became clerk in a
hotel in Janesville, were he remained until the proprietor failed.
While in the hotel, ere he had attained his majority, he married Miss
Francena Rowley of Delavan, Wis., who bore him three sons, the eldest
of whom is Geo. W., Jr. Soon after his marriage, he purchased an
interest in The Jefferson County Republican, and took charge of the
mechanical department of the paper. In 1863 he sold out his interest in
the establishment and for a short time was a compositor on The Madison
Journal. He next enlisted in the Fourth Wisconsin cavalry, in which he
served until 1866--one year after

Page 599

the close of the war. Returning home, he established The Ripon
Representative, on which he did the local and mechanical work. He
retained his active connection with this paper until 1888, meantime
having attracted some attention as a humorous writer, and "Brick"
Pomeroy offered him a salary of forty dollars a week to go to New York
and write for the Democrat. This offer he accepted, and remained in New
York city two and a half years. Pomeroy then sent him to La Crosse to
write for The La Crosse Democrat. After two years the paper passed into
the hands of John Symes and Mr. Peck, and was published by them until
1874, when Mr. Peck withdrew from it and established The La Crosse Sun,
a weekly paper. The venture did not prove very successful, and, after
four years, he removed it to Milwaukee, where, by reason of Mr. Peck's
peculiar humor, it became at once very popular, reaching, at one time,
a weekly circulation of 80,000 copies, and proving very profitable.
This paper he published until elected governor.

Mr. Peck has generally affiliated with the Democracy, although he voted
for Lincoln for president in 1864. He was city treasurer of Ripon in
1867, chief of police of La Crosse in 1874 and chief clerk of the
legislative assembly in 1875. He served as assistant state treasury
agent under Gov. Taylor for one year, and was chairman of the La Crosse
Democratic city and county committee in 1880. He was the Democratic
nominee for mayor of Milwaukee in the spring of 1890, and was elected
by the almost unprecedented majority of 6,500. His surprising
popularity in this election won him the Democratic nomination for
governor in the fall of 1890, when he was elected by 28,330 plurality.
In 1892 he was renominated and re-elected by a plurality of 7,707. He
was again renominated in 1894, but was overwhelmingly defeated, as was
his party throughout the north. Since retiring from the gubernatorial
office he has devoted himself to his private business.

In the literature of humor he has had few

[image: GEORGE W. PECK.]

superiors. His quaint conceits and forms of expression combined to
render him one of the most original and assuming writers of the
generation. His genial manner and drollery have won him many friends
and given him a personal popularity such as few attain.

LANGSON, William J., secretary and treasurer of the Milwaukee Chamber
of Commerce, was born in Dublin, Ireland, and came to Milwaukee in
1850. After a residence in the city of several years, he obtained the
position of commercial reported on the Milwaukee Daily Sentinel. This
position he held for ten years, displaying such ability in dealing with
commercial statistics that, in 1864, he was elected secretary and
treasurer of the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce and has held that
position continuously to the present time. He very soon gained a
reputation for accuracy in all his statistical compilations, for the
most comprehensive knowledge of the business of the chamber and for the
utmost fidelity in the performance of all the duties of his responsible
position. So valuable have his

Page 600

[image: WILLIAM J. LANGSON.]

services been regarded by the members of the chamber that there has
never been any serious question of his annual re-election as secretary
and treasurer; and he furnishes one of the best possible
exemplifications of the wisdom of the retention in office of those who
have proven faithful and efficient in the discharge of their official
duties. There was a time, many years ago, when a considerable number of
the leading members of the Chicago Board of Trade were former members
of the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce and were, therefore, very familiar
with Mr. Langson's character and his value in all statistical work. So
highly did they regard him that they wished to transfer him to Chicago
as the secretary of the Board of Trade, but he declined the offer,
preferring to remain in the city where his earliest work was done and
where his reputation as a trade statistician had been made. It is but
simple justice to state that there is no one who is more familiar with
the commence of Milwaukee during the last thirty years than Mr.
Langson, and very few, if any, who have so comprehensive a knowledge of
it as he. He has made the trade and commerce of Milwaukee the subject
of
exhaustive study, and his annual reports and reviews thereof are mines
of facts and general information that are valuable to al those
interested in the business of the city and the best advertisement of
its steady growth and prosperity that can be produced. Mr. Langson's
care and ability in the preparation of these comprehensive and
exhaustive reports of Milwaukee's commercial transactions entitle him
to be regarded as one of the most potent forces in the spread of the
knowledge of the commercial importance and power of the city.

KEMPSTER, Walter, physician and scientist, and health officer of the
city of Milwaukee, was born in London, England, May 25th, 1942, the son
of Christopher and Charlotte Treble Kempster. His lineage on his
father's side is of Norman origin, his ancestors settling in Kent,
where they were engaged in wool-growing, hence the original form of the
name, Combster. His father was a botanist and horticulturist of note,
who established himself in business at Syracuse, N. Y., about 1849,
before the civil war, and at once identified himself with the anti-
slavery movement, the prison reform work, and was one of the earliest
promoters of the Young Men's Christian association.

Young Kempster received his education in the common and high schools of
Syracuse, and was early interested and instructed in the public
questions of the times, by attending, with his father, the public
meetings for the promotion of political and social reform, and
listening to the addresses which were everywhere stirring people to
profound thought and vigorous action. At the outbreak of the civil war,
he enlisted in the Twelfth New York infantry, three month's men, in
April, 1861, and took part in the action at Blackburn's Ford and the
first battle of Bull Run. Having begun the study of medicine before
enlistment, he was detailed from the ranks for service in the field
hospital,

Page 601

the first of its kind in the Army of the Potomac, and notwithstanding
the retreat succeeded in removing all the wounded from the hospital to 
Washington. When mustered out of service in the Twelfth infantry he at 
once re-enlisted in the Tenth New York cavalry, and in November, 1860, 
received the appointment of hospital steward. He participated in all the 
movements of his regiment until April, 1862, when he was detailed to 
duty at Patterson park general hospital in Baltimore, which he assisted 
in organizing, being one of the largest in that city. He was relieved, 
at his own request, in January, 1863, that he might rejoin his regiment 
in the field, and took part thereafter in all the engagements of his 
command, including the Stoneman Raid, Fredericksburg, Brady Station 
(where he was promoted to first lieutenant for services on the field), 
Gettysburg, and all the other less important actions. During a part of 
this time his regiment was without its complement of surgical officers, 
and young Kempster did duty as medical officer as well as first 
lieutenant. His medical studies and general reading were kept up during 
his field service throughout the war, successive chapters of books too 
bulky for carrying on the march being cut out and sent to him by mail. 
In December, 1863, owing to injuries received in the service, he 
resigned. During the period of convalescence, he completed his medical 
studies, and was graduated from Long Island College hospital in June, 
1864, and re- entered the service as acting assistant surgeon of the U. 
S. army, where he remained until after the end of the war. Upon the 
close of his military career, Dr. Kempster made a special study of 
nervous and mental diseases, and was appointed assistant superintendent 
of the New York State Asylum for Idiots at Syracuse, where he remained 
until the fall of 1867, when he was appointed assistant physician in the 
state lunatic asylum at Utica, which position he held until 1873, when 
he was appointed superintendent of the Northern Hospital for the Insane 
at Oshkosh, Wis. While in the Utica hospital he established the first 
complete laboratory in any such institution in the United States for the 
study of histology and pathology of the brain, and for taking 
photomicrographs of brain tissue. He was the first physician in America 
to make use of carbolic acid in the treatment of certain forms of 
disease, the first in this country to use chloral as a sleep-producing 
medicine, and the first to use hyoscyamine in the treatment of insanity. 
He made many experiments regarding the effect of medicines upon the 
brain of the lower animals; and, while superintendent of the Northern 
hospital, he conducted a long and careful series of microscopic 
investigations into the pathological condition of the brain of the 
insane which demonstrated the existence of diseased tissue. Being the 
pioneer in this work, much of the apparatus necessary to successful 
results was devised by him. The object of his investigations and study 
in this field has been to demonstrate that insanity is a result of 
disease of the brain, and not a mere disturbance of the mental 
faculties. In 1876 he delivered, by appointment, an address before the 
international medical congress held in Philadelphia upon the 
miscroscopic pathology of the brain of the insane, which was fully 
illustrated by photomicrographs, and the magic lantern. It was published 
in the proceedings of the congress and received general notice in the 
professional journals both in this country and Europe. The statistical 
information based upon the results of his observations was published by 
him from time to time from 1869 to 1884, being among the earliest 
contributions upon this subject made in the United States based upon 
personal investigations. Aside from Dr. Kempster's articles in the 
Journal of Insanity, of which he was associate editor for six years, his 
contributions to the literature of insanity have been extensive and 
varied. He has delivered numerous lectures before scientific and popular 
assemblies, which have attracted attention both for their matter and 
their literary excellence. The subjects of those fact that are best 
known are:

Page 602

"On the Jurisprudence of Insanity," "The Treatment of the Chronic
Insane," "Mental Hygiene," "Why Brains Wear Out," and "The Pathology of
Insanity."

"As an expert on the jurisprudence of insanity, Dr. Kempster has long
held a prominent position. Among the many cases in which he has been
called were those of Gen. Geo. W. Cole, charged with the killing of L.
H. Hiscock, in Albany, N. Y., and that of Guiteau, the assassin of
President Garfield, in which he was summoned as medical counsel for the
government. He was also called as an expert to a case in Wales, which
resulted in varying the form of the language of the charge to the jury
usual among English judges to a form more closely approximating the
methods used in courts in the United States, a fact since noted in
works on jurisprudence.

In 1891 he was appointed by the United States government to investigate
the causes of immigration from Europe, with special reference to the
exodus of the Jews from Russia. He went to Europe, traveled extensively
in Russia, made thorough investigation into the matter, the report
being published by congress and extensively circulated. After this, is
1892, he went abroad, at the suggestion of the U. S. Treasury
department, to inquire into the means employed by foreign governments
to check the introduction of contagious and infectious diseases, and
for the purpose of preventing the introduction of cholera into the
United States during the World's fair in 1893, that disease being
prevalent in Europe during that time. The steps then taken prevented
the introduction of a single case, although cholera appeared in several
trans-Atlantic ports during that year. He visited all the countries of
southern Europe and southwestern Asia, and made an exhaustive
investigation of the subject, and, in a report to the government,
suggested a system of international quarantine to prevent cholera from
spreading from those countries where it is epidemic.

In addition to his professional work Dr. Kempster has made a study of
anthropology, geology, mineralogy, chemical analysis of rocks, art in
several branches--such as engraving, printing, die-cutting, etc., and
has accumulated a great store of books and articles illustrative of
these various subjects.

He is a member of the State and National Medical associations, the
military order of the Loyal Legion, G. A. R., the Episcopal church and
several benevolent and literary societies.

In 1812 the doctor was married to Frances S. Fraser of Milwaukee. For
the past two years he has been commissioner of health in the city of
Milwaukee.

STANHOPE, Charles Davis, M. D., is the son of Charles Stanhope, a
former by occupation, who was born August 1813, came west in 1841,
entered a farm in that portion of Milwaukee country which now forms the
county of Waukesha, and there passed the remainder of his uneventful
life. He died on the 2d of August, 1875, leaving a moderate estate. His
wife, Dr. Stanhope's mother, was Nancy McLaughten, who was of Scotch
descent, and was born in Caledonia, Livingston county, New York, on the
6th day of May, 18923. She died in Waukesha on the 5th of January,
1895. The Stanhope's, as may be inferred from those familiar with
history, are of English ancestry, and their lineage extends back to the
thirteenth century. They were royalists and loyal to the British crown.
Charles Stanhope, first Earl of Chesterfield, for harboring and aiding
the escape from the country of the legitimate heir to the throne, was
arrested, by order of Cromwell, tried for high treason, condemned and 
executed. His estates were confiscated by the protector, but restored,
after his death, to his second son, who was soon afterward raised to
the peerage. The family tradition is that the eldest son of Charles
Stanhope, being of a quiet disposition and weary of the turbulence and
unsettled state of affairs in England, made his way to

Page 603

Australia, whence his descendants emigrated to North America. From
these descendants of the eldest son of the executed earl it is said
that the Stanhopes of this country have sprung. Certainly a very
probable tradition and an exceedingly interesting one.

C. D. Stanhope, the subject of this sketch, was born at his father's
home in Waukesha county, February 12th, 1844, and there were spent the
first sixteen years of his life, alternating between attending at the
district school and work on the farm after he had reached an age equal
thereto. His early education was principally derived from the public
schools and from general reading. The habit of reading thus early
acquired has remained with him to the present time, and has proved not
only a source of unbounded pleasure, but of great practical advantage
and the means of a broad culture. His reading outside of medicine has
embraced history, geology, archeology and kindred subjects, and among
his favorite authors are: Dick, Proctor, Darwin, Spencer, Dana,
Winchel, Guizot and Bancroit.

On the 13th of August, 1862, young Stanhope enlisted in Company A,
twenty-eighth Wisconsin volunteer infantry, and served throughout the
remainder of the war. The first service of the regiment was in
suppressing the draft riots in Ozaukee county in November, 1862. In
December following, the regiment went to the front, was assigned to the
Thirteenth army corps and saw arduous service in and around Helena and
Little Rock, Arkansas, and at other points in that region and at
Mobile, experiencing some heavy fighting, in all of which young
Stanhope bore a valiant and honorable part. During the summer of 1865
the regiment did garrison and picket duty in Texas, and was mustered
out of service in August, reaching Madison in September, where it was
paid off and disbanded, and whence the soldiers returned to their
homes.

In 1867 young Stanhope began the study of medicine under Dr. E. A.
Ballard, of River Falls, Wis. In 1872 he entered Hahnemann

[image: CHARLES DAVIS STANHOPE., M. D.]

Medical College and graduated therefrom in 1874, with the degree of M.
D. He was a member of the Hahnemann Institute, a class society
connected with the college, of which he was twice elected president. In
the spring of 1874 he was elected house physician of the Hahnemann
hospital of Chicago by the faculty of the college, which position he
was compelled to resign, for the reason that he had previously bought
the practice of Dr. Liliencrantz of Milwaukee, which he took charge of
late in the same year and has held to the present time. He has also
been interested, to a limited extent, in other business enterprises,
with varying but generally satisfactory results.

Dr. Stanhope has affiliated with the Republican party in political
matters, but has taken little active part in party measures.

He has been a Mason for the past thirty years, and for a time was a
very active one. He has been a member of city and state homeopathic
medical societies, but is not now affiliated with either. He has always
been found of athletic and field sports; was a member of the only
cricket club ever organized in Milwaukee, and was for a number of

Page 604

years its president. He is also a member of the Milwaukee Rifle club,
an has taken part in nearly all of the contests that have occurred in
the past twenty years.

The doctor is not a member of any church, although he has a profound
respect and admiration for all things pertaining to religion and the
hereafter.

November 1st, 1867, Dr. Stanhope was married to Mary Jane White, of
River Falls, Wis., and they have had two children: Edith Hall, born
August 15th, 1868, and died July 15th, 1871, and Charles Eugene, born
November 14th, 1880--a very promising boy. Dr. Stanhope has two
brothers--Erwin, residing in Texas, and Archibald, in Nebraska, and two
sisters, Mrs. N. J. Griswold and Mrs.Miranda Parkinson, both residents
of Waukesha.

Dr. Stanhope is a quiet, reserved man, yet having a strong will and the
power of prompt and vigorous action when occasion requires it. Studious
and thoughtful, he possess the strength both as a man physician, which
always result from such characteristics.

GEORGE, John S., the chief representative of the interests of the
Chicago & North-Western Railway company in Milwaukee, is a man whose
responsible position and extensive business interests outside of
railway affairs have made him one the well-known citizens of this city.
Having been eminently successful and belonging to that class of men
whose success has been the result of their own earnest and intelligent
effort and not of fortuitous circumstances, a sketch of his career in
this historic connection will be of peculiar interest to the community
with which he has now been identified for nearly twenty-four years.
Born in Theresa, N. Y., May 4, 1845, Mr. George is a son of Silas L.
George, who was the leading merchant of that village. His mother was
Miss Caroline Flower before her marriage, and was a sister of ex-Gov.
Roswell P. Flower, the distinguished commoner of New York
politics, whose broad common sense, generous impulses and charitable
deeds have commended him to people of all shades of political belief in
the Empire State. It may be interesting to note in this connection that
Governor Flower, himself one of the eminent self-made men of the
country, was a clerk in the store of the elder George at a salary of
five dollars per month, in his early boyhood.

John S. George was brought up in Theresa, and received his early
education in the public schools of that village. For a time he also
attended the Wesleyan Seminary at Governeur, New York, but the death of
his father when he was fourteen years of age threw him in a measure
upon his own resources, and made it necessary for him to turn his
attention to other matters. In 1860 he went to Ironton, Ohio, where a
brother of his father, Captain John S.George, was living at the time
and had been prominently identified with that prosperous and growing
Ohio river city. Young George was in Ironton in 1861 when President
Lincoln issued his first call for troops to surpress the rebellion. Mr.
George promptly enlisted in the three months' service, but being then
only 16 years of age and unable to gain the consent of his uncle to
become a soldier, he did not enter the service at that time. Returning
to New York state he began reading medicine with Dr. Jas. B. Carpenter,
another uncle in Theresa. He continued this course of study for six
months; then enlisted in the Second New York Cavalry regiment, of which
Gen. Judson Kilpatrick, afterwards one of the most famous of the Union
cavalry commanders, was lieutenant-colonel.

Immediately thereafter he went into camp with the regiment at Arlington
Heights, near Washington City, and the following spring entered upon a
period of active service. Beginning with the engagement at Falmouth
Heights, April 7, 1862, he participated during the summer, fall and
early winter months in the battles at Cedar Mountain, Brandy Station,
Bull Run (second battle), South Mountain,

Page 605

Antietam and Fredericksburg. In the early part of 1863, when but
eighteen years of age, he received from Gov. Horatio Seymour a
commission as second lieutenant of his company, but was prevented from
serving in that capacity by a serious illness, which necessitated his
discharge from the service in June of 1863. Returning home he was
restored to health, after a time, by careful nursing, and then went to
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, as a clerk in the commissary department at
about the time the battle of Gettysburg was fought. Rations for the
whole army of the Potomac being issued at that time from Harrisburg,
made the duties of the commissary department at that place exceedingly
onerous and exacting. Mr. George rendered faithful and efficient
services in this connection and remained with the department in
different clerical capacities until nearly the close of the war.

After the close of the war he went to Ironton, Ohio, where he first
embarked in the transportation business by becoming a clerk for a time
on a Ohio river steamboat, of which his uncle, Capt. George, was owner.
He then returned to New York state and was appointed deputy collector
of customs at Cape Vincent. After serving in that capacity for several
months he went to Avon Springs, where he started a newspaper, and
published in until 1870. He was married that year to Miss Margaret A.
Morton, of that place, and soon afterward came West, locating in
Chicago. It was at that time that his connection with the Northwestern
railway began. His first employment was as a clerk in the freight depot
of the railway company at the East Chicago freight station. He was soon
promoted to assistant ticket agent at the city ticket office, and
remained there until the great fire of 1871 destroyed the office and
brought about its temporary discontinuance. He then went to the Wells
street station ticket office and remained there until the following
spring, when he was made agent of the Northwestern company at
WAtertown, Wisconsin. He remained there one year, when he was placed in
Charge

[image: JOHN S. GEORGE.]

of the more important station agency at Cedar Rapid, Iowa. From Cedar
Rapids he came to Milwaukee at the end of another year as city ticket
and passenger agent of the same company. In 1874 he was made general
agent in charge of all business of the company at Milwaukee, and for
about twenty-four years he has held his important and responsible
position.

While giving to the railway business of the Northwestern company the
careful and intelligent supervision which has contributed so largely to
its growth and development, he has been prominently identified also
with other enterprises which have been advantageous to the community
and profitable to himself. In 1878 he became associated with the late
Thos. Shea in the purchase of two hundred and forty feet ground
fronting on the Milwaukee river near its mouth and east of the
Northwestern railway bridge, and together they organized the Shea &
George Dock company and built up an improvement of great importance to
the lake traffic. Their enterprise was expanded from time to time until
they had eleven hundred feet of river frontage under roof as a

Page 606

warehouse building. They disposed of the improvements a few years since
at a handsome figure. Mr. George was also connected with navigation
interests as one of the owners of the steamers Roswell P. Flower and
Frank L. Vance, both of the Milwaukee Steamship company, of which he is
an officer and director.

In 1892 he was interested with others in founding that prosperous and
growing suburb of Milwaukee which was christened South Milwaukee, and
which has now become a city of five thousand population, with eleven
manufactories already in operation and harbor improvements so far that
the government has made an appropriation for its extension. This new
city promises to become an important manufacturing center, whose future
will reflect credit upon the foresight and sagacity of its founders.
Mr. George has been one of the directors and treasurer of the South
Milwaukee company since its organization, one of the founders and
directors of the South Milwaukee National bank and one of the most
active promoters of various other enterprises in that vicinity. He is
also one of the promoters of the Prospect Hill Land company, near Lake
Park, and is president of the company. When the Gogebic mining region
first began to attract attention Mr. George became one of the share-
holders and active managers of the Superior Iron company, and aided in
the development of its property. Disposing of his interest in this
corporation, he became interested in the Great Minnesota Iron company.
He is also interested in several lead, silver and gold mines, mostly
successful.

Active as he has been as a business man, he has found time also to
devote to politics and public affairs, having served three years as
member of the board of aldermen from the Seventh ward and enjoying the
distinction of being the only Democrat elected to the board from that 
ward since the war. He was also nominated at one time for the state 
senatorship in his district, but was defeated on account of the 
unusually large labor vote cast in the district that year for their own 
candidate. For many years he has been prominent in the councils of the 
Democratic party, and has wielded an important influence in shaping its 
policies and controlling its affairs in his county and in the state of 
Wisconsin.

Upon the nomination of Wm. J. Bryan he was the first prominent Democrat
in the state to repudiate the platform and nominee, and cam out boldly
for McKinley and sound money. A genial, kindly and courteous gentleman,
Mr. George has not been less popular with the general public than with
the railway circle in which he has so long been a prominent figure.

But one children of Mr. and Mrs. George is now living, a son, Chas. H.
George, who graduated at Yale University in the class of '94 and also
of the Wisconsin state law college class of 1896. He is now member of
the firm of Spooner, Roseerans & George, of which the Hon. John C.
Spooner is consulting counsel, and is one of the prominent law firms of
Milwaukee.

Mr. George has two brothers prominent in professional and business
life. One is Nathan M. George of Danbury, Conn. of which city he has
served as mayor. The other is Silas L. George, a prominent business man
of Watertown, N. Y.

PECKHAM, George W., educator and natural scientist, was born in Albany,
New York. When has was nine years of age his parents removed to
Milwaukee, where he received a common school education and was prepare
to enter college when the War of the Rebellion broke out. He promptly
enlisted as a private in an artillery regiment, and devoted himself to
his military duties with so much patriotism and assiduity that at the
age of nineteen he was commissioned first lieutenant and placed in
charge of a battery. On his return from war in 1865, Prof. Peckham
entered Antioch College, but deferring to the wishes of his father he
left Antioch in the following

Page 607

year, and attended the lectures in the law school in Albany. He was
admitted to the bar on examination, but the life of an attorney had no
attractions for him, and he devoted his attention to science and
philosophy. In 1870 Mr. Peckham took up the medical course at Ann
Arbor, where he graduated two years later. In 1873 he accepted a
position in the east side high school, the only high school in the
Milwaukee school system at that time, and was shortly afterwards made
principal of the school, which position he held until he was elected to
the superintendency of the Milwaukee public schools in 1892. Prof.
Peckham remained at the head of the Milwaukee public school system
until 1896, when he resigned, because the position had become
distasteful. The school board immediately appointed him to the position
of vice-principal of the east side high school in recognition of his
long and faithful service in the interest of public education, but
before he could assume his new duties, the board of trustees of the
Milwaukee public library elected him librarian of the public library to
fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Miss Theresa West. Prof.
Peckham was a successful teacher and school superintendent, owing to
his love for educational work, and his ability to arouse the interest
of the students and to fill them with enthusiasm for their school work.
He belongs to the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences and the Wisconsin
Natural History society, and has served the first-named society one
term as its president. He has also been president of the boards of
trustees of the public library and public museum. His special research
has been in the line of the life and habits of spiders and wasps, in
which favorite work he has had the assistance of his wife, who is also
an enthusiastic student of the same subject. Their joint research has
resulted in the discovery of many new species and genera of spiders and
many curious psychological facts concerning them. The manner of Prof.
Peckham's investigations in regard to the color sense of wasps was
unique and highly

[image: GEORGE W. PECKHAM.]

interesting. He proved clearly that wasps are capable of distinguishing
colors. Prof. Peckham was married in 1880 to Elizabeth M. Gifford, by
whom he has three children.

ROSENKRANS, Omar L., merchant, was born in Steuben county, New York,
April 16, 1843. His father was William Rosenkrans, a descendant of the
Rosenkrans family which furnished famous officers for the New Jersey
troops during the War of the Revolution. Gen. W. S. Rosenkrans, the
famous fighter of the War of the Rebellion, was of this same family,
and a cousin of William Rosenkrans. The mother of O. L. Rosenkrans was
Priscilla Whittaker, a native of Scotland. His grandfather was one of
the heaviest lumbermen of New York, along the Susquehanna river and its
tributaries. Mr. Rosenkrans' inherent military spirit manifested itself
at the breaking out of the war, at which time Omar L. Rosenkrans was a
resident of Wisconsin, to which state he had removed in 1857. He
enlisted in the army in August, 1862, was mustered out in August, 1865,
and returned to Wisconsin

Page 608

[image: OMAR L. ROSENKRANS.]

to resume his business life. In August, 1869, he established himself in
the watch, clock and jewelry business on Wisconsin street, and has
since that time been continuously in business on the same street. He
has probably conducted a mercantile business on Wisconsin street longer
than any merchant now located on that thoroughfare. Mr. Rosenkrans
enjoys rural life, and for the past twenty-five years has lived on a
beautiful farm in the vicinity of Oconomowoc, Waukesha county. Here,
during the brief intervals of rest snatched from business activity as a
manufacturer and merchant, he finds pleasure in raising fine horses and
cattle, and in the ordinary farm pursuits. One of the features of his
farm is a half-mile track, over which he delights to speed his horses
in competition with those of interested neighbors and friends. He is a
prominent Mason and Knight Templar, and is well known among the Mason
of Wisconsin and the entire northwest. His interest in public affairs
has been active and aggressive since his return from the war, and he
has been steadfastly and uncompromisingly Republican throughout his 
entire life. He was elected to the legislature of Wisconsin three times, 
and has served two terms as a member of the assembly, of which body he 
was one of the most prominent members on both occasions. The discrepancy 
between the number of times he was elected and the number of terms he 
has served is accounted for by the fact that in one instance he was 
counted out for purely partisan reasons, when the Democrats were in the 
ascendant in the legislature. O. L. Rosenkrans was married in 1868 to 
Mary Ruth Winn, by whom he has had four children, all of whom are 
living. His children are Mary L., Omar L., Madge and Elizabeth.

BUCKLEY, William Silas, one of the young and enterprising business men
of Milwaukee, was born near Black Hawk, Sauk county, Wis., April 18th,
1864. He is the son of James Buckley, a native of Clonmel, Ireland, who
was born in 1825, and came with his parents to Quebec, Canada, when he
was but a few months old. His early years were spent in Quebec and on
the Canadian frontier. W. S. Buckley's mother was Elizabeth Crotty, a
native of St. Catherines, province of Quebec, but of Irish descent, a
woman of remarkable energy and corresponding ability, one of those
strong characters who impress their individuality upon their families
and upon all with whom they come in contact. The families of both
father and mother were eminently respectable, and on the father's side
were remarkable for their physical stature and strength, and for their
strong moral characters, in which respect James is a worthy successor.
James Buckley with his wife settled on land near Black Hawk, in Sauk
county, Wis., in 1850, or thereabouts. They prospered financially and
ere long they had a fine, productive farm, where they have continued to
reside to the present time, in the enjoyment of that comfort and
independence which is the result, in nearly all cases, of industry and
thrifty management.

W. S. Buckley had his early education in

Page 609

the district school in his native town, which he attended until he was
sixteen years of age, and where was laid the foundation for the more
extended culture which he afterward attained. This school was one of a
very considerable number in the state, which have long been noted for
the excellence of the work which they have done and the influence which 
they have exerted upon the community where they exist in favor of
popular education. After leaving the home school, young Buckley entered
the University of Wisconsin, where he took a four years' special course
in the sciences, literature and history. During this course he was also
a very active member of the Hesperian society, and, in 1887, appeared
as a representative of that society in one of the joint public debates.

After leaving the university he engaged in business in Milwaukee, in
which he has continued now eight years. At first he was in partnership
with J. O. Buckley and Charles Buehner, under the firm name of Buckley,
Buehner & Buckley, who, from 1890 to 1896, did a general real estate
business. This firm was dissolved in 1896, and since that time Mr.
Buckley, in company with his brother, J. O. Buckley, has been engaged
in the business of gold mining in the San Juan, Colorado, the firm name
being J. O. & W. S. Buckley. Gold mining is the sole occupation of the
firm at present, they being the promoters of one of the leading gold
mining companies of Colorado, the headquarters of which are at
Milwaukee. He has spent the last year in Colorado as the representative
of the San Juan Gold Mining company.

He has always been identified with the Democratic party, and has taken
deep and intelligent interest in political questions, though he has not
been known as an active partisan. His sympathies on the currency
question have been with the silver wing of the party. He is a member of
the Roman Catholic church.

In July, 1892, Mr. Buckley was married to Georgiana Arpin, a lady of
French parentage, daughter of John Arpin of Grand Rapids,

[image: WILLIAM SILAS BUCKLEY.]

Wis., a leading lumberman of that region. They have three children:
John, Bessie and Clarice.

A young man of energy and culture, with fine business capacity and a
worthy ambition to succeed in whatever he undertakes, he has a
promising future before him.

HAYES, George W.--One of the best-known underwriters of the northwest
is Mr. George Warren Hayes, manager Northwestern department of the
Western Assurance company and British America Assurance company of
Toronto, Canada. His business headquarters and home were established in
Milwaukee in 1874. His father and mother, Benjamin and Eliza Warren
Hayes, came west from New England in 1835 as missionary teachers, and
made their home in Terre Haute. Indiana, where they both contributed
largely to the educational and religious work in the then new west.

Mr. Hayes was graduated at Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Ind., in
1860; had a post-graduate course of one year at Lane Seminary,

Page 610

[image: GEORGE W. HAYES.]

Cincinnati; was principal of an academy at Terre Haute, and afterward
principal of the school at Waverly, Illinois. It was here that C. C.
Hine, then connected with the branch office of the Aetna Insurance
company, met Mr. Hayes and appointed him local agent of the Aetna, in
October, 1864. His success as agent was such that a special agency for
the Aetna for Northern Illinois was offered and accepted in the
following year, which was continued until 1874, when he accepted the
special agency for the Franklin Fire Insurance company of Philadelphia,
for Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, with headquarters at Milwaukee.
This position was retained until 1879, when the managership of the
Western Assurance company of Toronto for the Northwestern department
was accepted and the department offices removed from Chicago to
Milwaukee. In January, 1893, the British American Assurance company of
Toronto also placed their Northwestern department in charge of Mr.
Hayes at Milwaukee. The agents of these companies in the principal 
cities and towns in the northwest report their business to the general 
office in Milwaukee. The business of the department has increased 
rapidly, current premiums now being nearly half a million dollars 
annually, and all losses are paid from this department.

Many men who received their first appointment as local agents from Mr.
Hayes have risen to distinction as underwriters.

Mr. Hayes was the efficient secretary of the Fire Underwriters'
association of the northwest from 1877 to 1883, inclusive. This gave
him a very general acquaintance with underwriters in the United States,
among whom he now has many old and fast friends. He has always enjoyed
to a large extent the esteem and confidence of his agents and
associates and of the communities in which he has lived.

SCHWEPPE, Ernst, H., a lawyer of Medford, Taylor county, Wisconsin, is
of German descent, his parents being natives of Biefield, Westphalen,
Prussia, who came to this country in 1849, arriving in Milwaukee in
December of that year. The next spring the senior Schweppe pre-empted
forty acres of land in Mazomanie, Dane county, where the family took up
their residence. There E. H. Schweppe was born on the 27th of
September, 1859. Ten years thereafter the family removed to Sauk
county, where his father continued the occupation of farmer, in which
he was fairly successful. Here the boy attended the district school
until he was thirteen years of age, after which he attended the academy
at Spring Green for one term. The following two years were spent in
teaching in the district school during winter and working on the farm
the remainder of the time. At the age of eighteen he entered the state
university in the modern classical course, which he pursued for two
years, when he left it for the law department, in which he spent two
years, graduating therefrom June 23rd, 1883. In January following he
located at Medford, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the practice of law,
which he has followed since, realizing a fair degree of success. He was
chosen district

Page 611

attorney of Taylor county in 1891, and held the office for four years.
In April, 1895, he was elected mayor of Medford, and filled the office
for two years. His interest in public education and his efficiency in
promoting the cause are shown in the fact that he has held the position
of member of the city school board for the past seven years.

Mr. Schweppe is a Democrat in politics, but is not known as a
politician. In 1896 he was a member of the Democratic state central
committee.

He has been a member of the Masonic lodge at Medford since 1895, also
of the Royal Arch chapter, and of the St. Omer commandery at Wausau.

On the 22nd of November, 1885, he was married to Miss Clara Ball of
Fond du Lac, and they have five children--four girls and a boy.

LEWIS, William Turnor, an honored resident of Racine and president of
the Mitchell & Lewis company of that city, one of the largest vehicle
manufacturing companies in the United States, was born of Welsh parents
in Utica, N. Y., March 10th, 1840. Among his ancestors on his father's
side have been many, who, in successive generations, have attained high
and commanding positions for character, education and intellectual
ability and for professional accomplishments. His father, William J.
Lewis, was a native of Wales, a graduate of Oxford and a clergyman of
the Church of England. He was a man of fine culture, of broad and
liberal views, and finally withdrew from that church and united with
the Baptist denomination. He immigrated to this country and settled in
Utica, N. Y., in 1838, where he died in 1868. W. T. Lewis' mother was
Jane Turnor, also a native of Wales, an educated, refined and
cultivated lady, of a deeply religious nature. She belonged to a family
whose ancestors are traceable into the seventeenth century and who were
highly esteemed by the government for their ability and loyalty.
Between 1790 and

[image: WILLIAM TURNOR LEWIS.]

1835 three of Mrs. Lewis' brothers received appointments under the
crown, including a chancellorship, a position of post commandant at
Liverpool or London and a captaincy in the royal navy. The family for
the meritorious deeds of its members received a crest, emblematic of
the army, the navy and the judiciary. Mrs. Lewis died at Lyndonville,
N. Y., in 1879, at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Garlock, wife of Dr.
Garlock, now of Racine.

In 1855 the family, consisting of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Lewis and two
children, James F. and Wm. T. Lewis, moved to Racine. James was for
some time manager of the telegraph office there, but being of a
studious nature, also studied law, and was admitted to the bar. After
practicing law in Racine for a short time he went to California and
thence to Nevada, where, at the age of twenty-eight years, he was
elected judge of the supreme court of the state, and subsequently
became chief justice. After holding the position of judge for ten years
he returned to the practice of law, gaining a great reputation as an
accomplished lawyer, an able advocate and a conscientious, honorable
man. He died suddenly

Page 612

of congestion of the brain in 1886 at the zenith of his fame and
success, and deeply lamented by all who knew of his brilliant abilities
and his noble character.

Wm. T. Lewis, after coming to Racine, learned the trade of carriage
trimming, and followed it for about three years, when he entered the
telegraph office in Racine, while his brother was manager, and learned
of him the art of telegraphy. After he had acquired a mastery of the
art his brother, who had been admitted to the bar, resigned his
position as manager in his brother's favor. Of a thoroughly patriotic
character, William could not remain indifferent to the struggles of the
government to maintain its integrity, and he resigned his position as
manager in the early part of 1864, securing a position in the Union
service as military operator. He was first located at Etowah, Ga.,
where he opened a telegraph office during the reconstruction, by the
army, of the bridge across the Etowah river, which the Confederates had
destroyed in their retreat. After the completion of the bridge he was
transferred to Cartersville, Ga., where he was appointed to the
position of operator and railroad agent, which he held until the fall
of that year, when sickness compelled his return to the north. The
progress of military operations--the fall of Atlanta and Sherman's
march to the sea did away with the necessity for telegraph operators
except such as accompanied the marching columns of the army. Upon the
recovery of his health, therefore, young Lewis found that his services
were no longer needed in his former capacity. At the close of the war
he turned to the affairs of private life, and soon became connected
with important enterprises, among them the Mitchell & Lewis company, of
which he was chosen vice-president, and at the death of Mr. Mitchell
was elected president, which position he still holds. He is thorough
man of business, paying the closest attention to the details of what he
has in hand. He was president of the Badger Electric company, of
Racine, and is identified with other enterprises.

Mr. Lewis is a Republican in politics, and from boyhood has been deeply
interested in all public questions. In 1882 he was nominated for the
state senate, but was defeated with other Republicans in the Democratic
avalanche of that year. In 1896 he was urged to accept the nomination
for the assembly, and, after much importunity on the part of his
friends, consented, and was elected by the largest majority ever given
to a member of the assembly from that district. As might have been
expected from a man of his character, intelligence and public spirit,
he made a most useful and efficient legislator. Among the bills which
he introduced was one doing away with all caucuses and nominating
conventions, which he thinks would give the people larger opportunities
for the expression of their real views with regard to the selection of
candidates for office. Another bill introduced by Mr. Lewis related to
the employment of convict labor. It prohibited the letting of the labor
of the convicts to manufacturers, the object being to remove from the
markets the competition of prison-made goods with those of free labor.
Although neither bill passed, they were discussed in committee and on
the floor of the house and their introduction had the effect of drawing
public attention to these important subjects.

He is a member of the Baptist church, and was three times elected
chairman of the Baptist state convention. He is a thirty-second degree
Mason and a Knight of Pythias.

Mr. Lewis was married in the fall of 1864 to Mary I. Mitchell, and four
children have been born to them, namely: Mrs. A. H. Fixen, now a
resident of Los Angeles, Cal.; W. M. Lewis, assistant treasurer of the
Mitchell & Lewis company and president of the Badger Electric company,
and Helen Turnor Lewis, a student in Smith College. The youngest boy
died when eight months old.

Mr. Lewis is one of Racine's useful and influential citizens, deeply
interested in whatever contributes to the material, moral and
educational prosperity of the city.

Page 613

GIMBEL, Louis S., was born in Philadelphia, the home of the well-known
Gimbel family of dry goods merchants, in 1868. He is a son of the late
Adam Gimbel, who established a dry goods store in Philadelphia sixty
years ago, which was the foundation of the present Gimbel houses in
Milwaukee and Philadelphia. Later Adam Gimbel was in the wholesale dry
goods business in Philadelphia. Upon finishing his education Louis
Gimbel went into the store to learn his father's line of business. It
has been the custom in this family to make the sons partners in the
business when they become of age, and like the rest, Louis Gimbel
became a member of the firm upon reaching his majority. At one time the
Gimbels had stores in Danville, Ill., Vincennes, Ind., and Washington,
Ind., but upon the growth of their Milwaukee and Philadelphia interests
they sold out these branches. The Milwaukee house was established in
1887 upon its present site on Grand avenue, between the river and West
Water street, in the very heart of the city. The business has grown so
that it has been necessary five times to enlarge the store by taking in
adjoining buildings, and it is now one of the largest establishments of
the kind in the west, and it handles everything pertaining to the dry
goods line and kindred branches. The Milwaukee store is now managed by
Louis S. Gimbel, Jacob Gimbel and Nathan Hamburger. It was five years
ago that the Philadelphia house was opened. It has grown in that short
length of time to be one of the largest dry goods establishments in the
United States, and which is as well known in the European dry goods
centers as it is in America. The Milwaukee house formerly claimed the
attention of Jacob, Isaac, Ellis, Benjamin, Daniel and Charles Gimbel,
but these brothers of Louis Gimbel are now devoting their time to the
Philadelphia store, Charles and Isaac Gimbel being located in Europe
buying cloaks, fancy goods, novelties, laces, silks, bric-a-brac, etc.,
for five months of the year. The Milwaukee store, over which Louis S.
Gimbel

[image: LOUIS S. GIMBEL.]

is one of the guiding spirits, has forty separate and distinct
departments. The energetic policy of this firm has made the name of
Gimbel as well known in the west as it is in the east.

BELDEN, Elsworth Burnett, county judge of Racine county, the youngest
man ever elected to that responsible office, is a native of Rochester,
Racine county, Wisconsin, where he was born May 18th, 1866, the son of
Henry W. and Emily Brown Belden. His ancestors on the paternal side
were from Connecticut, and on the maternal side from Vermont. His
grandfather, Philo Belden, was one of the earliest settlers of Racine
county, and for many years one of its most prominent and useful
citizens. He was once elected to the state senate and three times to
the assembly, and held many local offices. E. B. Belden's father served
throughout the war and was a captain in the Thirty-ninth Wisconsin
infantry. He is now a resident of Milwaukee.

Young Belden was educated in the village school of his native town and
the Rochester

Page 614

[image: ELSWORTH BURNETT BELDEN.]

Seminary. His professional education was received in the law department
of the state university, from which he graduated in the class of 1886,
and was admitted to the bar the following month, on his twentieth
anniversary. During his college course he was a member of the Chi Psi
Greek letter fraternity. During his legal course he spent one year in
the office of the attorney general at Madison, but after his graduation
he returned to Racine and entered upon the practice of his profession.
In April, 1888, when not quite twenty-two years of age, he was elected
county judge by a large majority over a prominent opponent, and was
twice re-elected without opposition. He has discharged the duties of
his office with great credit to himself and to the general satisfaction
of those having business before him. It is said that not a decision
rendered by him has been overruled by the higher court, although he has
had the settlement of large estates, and passed upon many important
questions.

In politics he is a Republican, and, though his convictions are strong
on public questions, he is not a partisan, as shown by the fact that
he has been twice re-elected to his present position without
opposition. He is a trustee of the Racine public library, and of Racine
College, and a member of the executive and visiting committees of the
latter institution. He has been director of the Racine Building and
Loan association since its organization; is a member of the Racine
Business Men's association; member of the Modern Woodmen of America,
and a delegate from Wisconsin to the head camp; member of the Royal
Arcanum, three terms regent of the local council, during which he
popularized the order and largely increased the membership. At present
he is grant regent of the Royal Arcanum. He is also a member of Masonic
lodges, Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, of which he is at present the exalted ruler. He is also a member
of the Episcopal church.

Judge Belden was married June 26th, 1890, to Hattie M. Raymond, of
Racine, and they have two boys--Stanley Raymond and John Ellsworth.

SCHNEIDER, Joseph, M. D., one of the most distinguished oculists of the
country, was born in Weigelsdorf, in the province of Silesia, Germany,
December 10th, 1845. Having completed a thorough preparatory course of
study, he entered the University of Wuerzburg, Bavaria, one of the most
ancient and best equipped in Europe. It has a library of more than two
hundred thousand volumes, and its faculty is composed of men renowned
for scholarship in their several departments. Having completed the
literary and scientific courses of this university, young Schneider
entered the medical department, where he studied under Scanzoni,
Heinrich von Bamberger, Carl von Gerhardt, Wenzel von Linhart, some of
the most accomplished medical men of the time, and afterward practiced
under their supervision. Soon after completing his university studies,
the Franco-Prussian war broke out, and he entered the service in the
Second Bavarian army corps as surgeon

Page 615

on the staff of his former preceptor, Dr. Wenzel von Linhart. He served
in this position until the close of the war, when he turned to his
studies again, taking up that of ophthalmology and otology, intending
to make a specialty of these subjects in his practice. It was no small
compliment to his thoroughness as a student and to his aptness for the
work to which he had especially devoted himself, when, in 1872, he was
appointed assistant to Dr. von Welz, who was at the head of the eye
hospital of the University of Wuerzburg. This position he held for two
years, and then received the appointment as lecturer in the same
institution--another testimonial to the breadth of his acquirements of
his profession. He continued his connection with the university until
1878, when he went to Vienna, and continued his studies in
ophthalmology and otology under Drs. Ferdinand von Arlt, Ed. von
Jaeger, Adam Politzer, Josef Gruber and Carl S. Schroeder, the most
famous specialists in that city, renowned for its learned men. Going to
Halle, he continued his studies under Professors Alfred Graefe and
Hermann Schwartze, who were noted for their achievements in these
specialties.

Dr. Schneider's next step in the preparation for his chosen work was to
visit Paris and London, making investigations as to the progress made,
in those great centers of knowledge, in the treatment of disease,
especially of the eye and ear. He then, in 1882, took passage for the
United States, came directly to Milwaukee, and, at once, opened an
office for the practice of that profession for which he had made such
long and comprehensive preparation. His skill in the treatment of
diseases of the eye and ear, and especially in operations upon these
delicate organs, brought him speedily into general notice, and to-day
he stands among the foremost men of his profession in the country.
During his practice in Milwaukee he has examined something like fifty
thousand individual cases, and more than ten thousand operations have
been performed by him during that period. Since early manhood

[image: JOSEPH SCHNEIDER.]

he has been a profound student of the diseases incident to the human
family, and he has made many contributions to the literature of the
medical profession. Since his residence in Milwaukee he has been
prominent in medical societies, both state and national, and is a
member of the International Medical Congress at Berlin, and of a number
of the medical societies of Germany.

Dr. Schneider was married, in 1886, to Miss Louise Preusser, daughter
of Christian Preusser of Milwaukee.

STEWART, Frank Wilson, M. D., superintendent of the Milwaukee county
hospital, is the son of Wilson F. Stewart, attorney-at-law, who caught
the western fever in 1845, left Pittsburg, Pa., his birthplace, and
settled in Port Washington, Wisconsin, where he invested heavily in
timber land, expecting the place to become the future metropolis of the
west. He died in Milwaukee, March 27th, 1897. Dr. Stewart's mother was
a native of Albany, N. Y., of Mohawk-Dutch parentage, and was married
in Milwaukee, in 1849. On

Page 616

[image: FRANK WILSON STEWART.]

his father's side, Dr. Stewart is of Scotch-Irish descent. His
grandfather, when young, took an active part in the effort for the
freedom of Ireland in the last century; and to save his head, he was
obliged to flee the country. Coming to the United States, he settled in
Pittsburg, Pa., where he married a Scotch lady of some wealth, O'Neal
by name, and started in business, establishing a linen factory--the
first in America. The factory, however, was, for him, a financial
failure, owing to the dishonesty of his partner. He then built a nail
factory, also the first one in this country, and this was a better
venture.

Dr. Stewart was born in the village of Port Washington, Wis., on the
16th of July, 1852. When eight years old his parents moved onto a farm
near Port Washington. When not working on the farm the boy attended the
village school. After this he attended the high school in Port
Washington, and upon completing his course there, he taught school for
three years, reading medicine in the meantime as opportunity offered.
Receiving no encouragement in his ambition for a medical education from
his father, who wished him to follow his own profession, the law, and 
the local physicians being indifferent, if not absolutely hostile to his 
entering their profession, he came to Milwaukee in the spring of 1879, 
where Dr. J. H. Stearns, then surgeon of the National Soldiers' Home, 
referred him to Dr. Day, superintendent of the county hospital, at 
Wauwatosa, who wanted a medical man as resident assistant at the 
institution. He being satisfied as to the young man's qualifications, 
placed him in charge of the hospital, which then contained seventy 
patients, Dr. Day being the visiting physician, or superintendent. This 
was an unusual responsibility for a young man and a student to shoulder. 
The following year, 1880 Dr. Day was succeeded by Dr. F. A. Marden as 
resident superintendent and physician, and Dr. Stewart was retained as 
assistant. The following three years he found time from his hospital 
duties to take the full course in Rush Medical College, in Chicago, and 
was graduated therefrom in 1883. He was then appointed assistant 
physician, and remained in that position one year, Dr. M. E. Connell, in 
the meantime, having succeeded Dr. Marden as superintendent. In July, 
1884, Dr. Stewart resigned his position after five years of hospital 
life, and entered private practice in Milwaukee.

Dr. Stewart is a Republican in politics, but never took an active part
in party matters until the spring of 1895, when he was asked to be a
candidate for the superintendency of the county hospital against Dr.
Connell, then the incumbent of the office. He yielded to the request,
and, after a somewhat exciting contest, was elected by the county board
of supervisors, receiving twenty-four out of the twenty-nine voters
cast.

He is a member of various medical societies --the County, State and
National--and was appointed a delegate to the American Medical
association in 1884. He is also a member of various Masonic bodies--as
the Kilbourn Lodge, the Ivanhoc Commandery, Mystic Shrine, etc. He
belongs to the Knights of Pythias, Knights of Korassen, Order of
Heptosophs,

Page 617

American Legion of Honor, International Conference of Charities and
Corrections, and American Academy of Social Science, and other orders
and societies. He is connected with the faculty of the Milwaukee
Medical College, and is medical examiner for several insurance
companies.

In religious faith he was raised a Presbyterian, as were his Scottish
ancestors.

Dr. Stewart was married in October, 1882, to Miss Anna L. Miller, and
they have one child, a daughter, now nearly thirteen years old.

VANCE, David, ship-owner and vessel-broker, is a native of Belfast,
Ireland, who was brought to this country in infancy by his parents, who
located in Jefferson county, New York, where his early years were spent
upon the paternal farm. He moved to Milwaukee in 1854, and having a
predilection for life on the water, he took to sailing for a livelihood
when he was a boy sixteen. He soon became a master, and commanded
vessels from the time he reached his majority until he had passed his
thirty-first year. He then abandoned sea life and established the
vessel brokerage and marine insurance business, which still engages his
attention. However, he continued to take a direct financial interest in
the vessel business, and has been instrumental in the development of
the marine industry of the great lakes. One of the finest schooners of
the fleet of large sailing vessels which represented the marine
industry of the lakes prior to the general introduction of steam as the
motive power for lake freighting, was named for Mr. Vance. The firm of
David Vance & Co. is now one of the oldest and most firmly established
vessel brokerage and insurance houses on the great lakes. It has had
the management of the marine business of the Commercial Union Assurance
company in the United States and Canada since 1883. Mr. Vance's figure
is familiar to the habitues of Board of Trade circles all along the
chain of lakes. He is a man of decision, whose

[image: DAVID VANCE.]

opinions in regard to marine matters are received as competent
authority. He is now president of the Milwaukee Chamber of Commerce,
but his disposition is against the acceptance of public duties which
necessarily put men into prominence. He takes an interest in politics,
but of late years has not been active in that direction. His political
record includes two terms in the Wisconsin assembly, from 1875 to 1878,
as the representative of the assembly district comprising the Fifth and
Twelfth wards of the city of Milwaukee.

PFISTER, Charles F., manufacturer and financier, is one of the most
prominent of the younger members of Milwaukee's financial and
commercial circles. He is not yet forty years of age, but since he
assumed the business cares of manhood he has had an extremely active
life. He is a son of Guido Pfister, a pioneer of the leather industry
of the west, whose name is indelibly written in the history of the
business development of Milwaukee. After receiving a common school
education he followed his business instincts,

Page 618

[image: CHARLES F. PFISTER.]

and connected himself with the great tanning establishment of Pfister &
Vogel, now the Pfister & Leather company. In the capacity of manager of
the salesmen of the house he won for himself an enviable business
reputation by the inauguration of methods which brought the house large
accessions of trade, and through business ventures and investments on
his own account soon accumulated an ample fortune. As a citizen he is
moved by a public spirit that has made him conspicuous in many
instances. The magnificent Hotel Pfister is a mark of his enterprise,
and the extensive street railway system, which has done so much to
develop the city of Milwaukee, was earnestly promoted by him at a time
when only men of great business insight could see for it a profitable
future. He is also one of the founders of the railroad to Whitefish
Bay, which is soon to be a part of the regular electric system of the
city, and when the railroad on North avenue was constructed to serve as
a feeder to the Whitefish Bay line, Mr. Pfister's public spirit
manifested itself in the payment of half of the cost of the new iron
bridge which spans the river at North avenue. Mr. Pfister was one of the 
managing officials of the Merchants' Exchange bank, which was merged 
with the First National bank, and he is now one of the controlling minds 
of the latter financial institution. He is also the manager of the 
Pfister estate. Mr. Pfister takes little interest in clubs or in club 
life, but engages in politics as a diversion. His name is familiar among 
the workers of every political party in the estate, as one of the most 
earnest and untiring workers of the Republican party. He has never 
accepted office, although his services to his party have been such as to 
warrant prominent recognition if he chose to seek political preferment.

STARK, Charles G., merchant, is a native of Brattleboro, Vt., where he
was born May 22, 1835. He is the seventh of nine children of Jedediah
L. and Hannah (Gager) Stark, who removed to New York when he was four
years of age. He received a rudimentary education in the village of
Mohawk and at Little Falls, and served a business apprenticeship a
Little Falls, Fort Plain and Frankfort. By his own efforts he
accumulated money enough to pay for his education at the academies at
Little Falls and Cazenovia, which he attended in the intervals between
business engagements. After leaving the academy at Cazenovia he served
for a years as clerk in the store of his brother-in-law in Mohawk, and
then decided to seek his fortune in the west. He first located at
Toledo, but failing to secure suitable employment, in the spring of
1854 he proceeded to Milwaukee, where his brother Joshua had previously
located to engage in the law business. He became an employee in the dry
goods store of Bradford Brothers, and there developed the innate
qualities that have made him successful man of business. In 1862, John
Bradford, who had been the senior member of the firm, proposed the
purchase of the carpet, curtain and linen stock of the firm, and the
formation of an equal partnership under the firm name of Bradford &
Stark. This

Page 619

was accomplished, and the venture proved a complete success. In 1869
Mr. Bradford expressed a desire to retire from active business life,
and Mr. Stark was in position to purchase half of his interest. The
name of the firm was changed to Stark Brothers, although Mr. Bradford
continued to be a special partner in the business until 1875, when he
retired, and Edward J. Stark became a partner. This partnership
continued until 1884, when the firm was changed to a corporation known
as the Stark Brothers company, of which Charles G. Stark became
president and Edward J. Stark secretary and treasurer. The store of the
company was involved in the fire in the fall of which consumed the dry
goods establishment of T. A. Chapman & Co., and its entire stock was
destroyed. This was a severe blow, but with a resourcefulness that
elicited popular admiration the Stark brothers re-established
themselves within five days in a store on Broadway. On the 21st of
March, 1885, the Stark Brothers company was able to again occupy its
old stand on Wisconsin street, and the event was celebrated by a public
reception, at which the merchants of Milwaukee and citizens generally
extended sincere and hearty congratulations. Charles G. Stark is a
merchant whose sagacity, honesty and uprightness are proverbial in
Milwaukee and throughout the northwest. He is public-spirited and has
been identified with every movement calculated to advance the interests
of Milwaukee. He is identified with the Johnson Electric Service
company, the Wisconsin Telephone company and the Northwestern Mutual
Life Insurance company. He was one of the founders of the Merchants'
association, and is credited with having first suggested the
establishment of the Milwaukee Industrial Exposition. He was elected
treasurer of the Exposition company, and served in that capacity during
the disbursement of the money expended in the construction of the
Exposition building. Mr. Stark has been a member of the Plymouth church
since 1854, and has been conspicuously active in Sunday school work. He
is one of

[image: CHARLES G. STARK.]

the organizers of the Young Men's Christian association. He was married
in 1864 to Miss Sarah T. Hayt, a daughter of Samuel and Lydia (Chapin)
Hayt of Milwaukee, who made a faithful and devoted wife and contributed
to her husband's success by her helpfulness and encouragement. Mrs.
Stark died in 1889, after a lingering illness, and in the following
year Mr. Stark married her sister, Miss Lucy A. Hayt. He has had no
children by either of these unions.

TITSWORTH, Rev. Judson, was born October 23, 1845, in Shiloh,
Cumberland county, N. J. He is of English ancestry, his family having
come to New Jersey prior to the revolution, from North Staffordshire,
England, sailing with the Dutch to the New Netherlands, instead of with
the English to Plymouth. Mr. Titsworth's mother was Hannah Ann
Sheppard, of the Sheppards of South Jersey, a more then locally notable
family, to whom belonged Caleb Sheppard, of Revolutionary fame, and the
maternal grandfather of Mr. Titsworth. The later went for

Page 620

[image: REV. JUDSON TITSWORTH.]

his preparatory education to Alfred Academy, Allegheny county, N. Y.,
then ranking high as a school of preparation. At the breaking out of
the war, in 1861, he tried to enlist, but was rejected on account of
his youth, since his father would not sign the papers. Swearing that he
was eighteen years of age, he enlisted two years later, and served in
the navy until September, 1865. Then returning home, he entered Amherst
College, from which he was graduated in 1870, being orator of his class
at graduation. He entered Union Theological Seminary in New York, from
which institution he was graduated in 1873. He went at once to the
First Congregational church of Westfield, Mass., as pastor, and, in
1878, to Chelsea, Mass.; five years later he came to Plymouth
Congregational in Milwaukee, and has been its pastor to the present
time. Since his ordination there has been no Sunday in which he has not
been pastor of a church, the changes always having taken place between
Sundays.

Mr. Titsworth was married, in September, 1873, to Miss Julia Van Duzer, 
a member of an old Knickerbocker family in New York, and there are five 
children, two of whom are college graduates, having received their 
degrees at Amherst and Smith.

Mr. Titsworth has twice been offered a doctorate, the degree having,
indeed, been bestowed upon him by Beloit College, in 1885. He refused
it, however, upon the double ground that a college having no
theological faculty has no right to grant a theological degree; and
that he regards the simplicity of Him who said, "Be not ye called
rabbi," as violated by what he considers indiscriminate distribution of
titles. In Milwaukee he has been prominently identified with the work
of Rescue Mission, the Municipal league, and other organizations having
in view the good of the city. He has persistently declined all
invitations to lecture, because he is unwilling to be taken away from
his church work. He has traveled much, however, having been in nearly
every state in the Union, and three times abroad.

As a theologian, Mr. Titsworth declines to be classified. He calls no
man master, and is indifferent to possible charges of heresy; he may be
quoted as claiming as the center and circumference of his religion,
"Jesus Christ the Divine Man." He holds that the redemption of man is
to come by the divinizing of man, and that as doctrine the desire for
the Christ-likeness is adequate. His sympathy is strongly with the
present idea of applied Christianity: the evolution of Christianity in
the lives of men, rather than the sole pointing of its efficacy at
death. He is optimistic as to the results of this faith in the
rehabilitation of the common faith and life of men.

It is this breadth of view of its pastor which has been a great factor
in giving to Plymouth Congregational church the place it now holds in
the front ranks of the churches of the northwest. His church was a
pioneer, being among the first churches built specially for
institutional work. There was a good deal of a struggle to overcome the
prejudice and skepticism and even the ridicule of those to whom, at
first, the new thought

Page 621

seemed alien to that of the true church. Happily, this has died away,
and the new thought is coming to be recognized as the fuller
interpretation of the old, and to be welcomed as the regnant idea of
Christianity in religious circles and without. The condition here, it
is recognized both by the members of his church and those of other
bodies, Mr. Titsworth has been largely instrumental in bringing about,
and it is this which goes to make his church one of the most generally
popular in the city. He is a man of broad culture and magnetic
personality--"a scholar and gentleman."

End Part 19