Biographies from The History of Columbia County,
Wisconsin, 1880 


Contributed by Carol carolann612@charter.net
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm


From The History of Columbia County, Wisconsin, 1880,
publ. by Western Historical Company, Chicago, Page
903-904

REV. GEORGE P. GUILD, A.M., Pastor of Baptist Church,
Portage; was born in Amherst, Mass., Jan. 19, 1832; he
was born totally blind.  His father, George GUILD, was
the first architect and builder who settled in
Milwaukee; in 1835, he built the first church in
Milwaukee, and was killed by accident in 1842, while
building the First Unitarian Church, on Spring street;
in June 1843, his mother died, leaving six children,
all of whom were provided for except the "blind boy;"
"nobody wanted him;" by earnest personal effort and
the aid of a few friends, he secured a place in the
Institution for the Blind, in New York City, where he
remained six years, leaving in 1850; that year, at the
Eye Infirmary, he had performed an operation for an
artificial pupil, which resulted in giving partial
sight to one eye; he graduated from Shurtleff College,
at Alton, Ill., in 1856, and immediately settled as
Pastor of the Union Baptist Church, at Jerseyville,
Ill.; he remained five years in that place, and was
then five years Pastor at Waverly, and afterward two
years in Jacksonville, followed by three years at
Pittsfield, Ill.; he was four years agent for the
American Printing house for the Blind, after which he
was Pastor five years at Ahnapee, Wis.; in May 1878,
he became Pastor of the First Baptist Church of
Portage.  He was married June 30, 1859, to Miss Mary
MOORE, of Jerseyville, Ill.; the widowed mother, Mrs.
Hannah MOORE, aged 75, is a member of the family, and
an example of Christian serenity.  Mr. GUILD has two
children living - Leah and Betsey - and one, Jesse,
died in childhood.  He was a member of the first
Republican State Convention ever convened in America,
which was at Madison, Wis., in 1854; his only
political speech was at Upper Alton, in 1856, when
Repubiclicansim was dangerously unpopular; he was
acquainted with Abraham Lincoln; was one afternoon
driving slowly past Lincoln's home, who hailed him and
inquired who he was searching after; the reply was, "a
Baptist Deacon;" to Lincoln's inquiry of what they
were good for, GUILD said it was their duty to keep
the preacher over night and take care of his horse;
Lincoln says,"I'll be Deacon," and suiting the action
to the word, began unhitching the horse, and both
preacher and horse were welcome for the night; years
afterward, at the White House, in Washington, Mr.
GUILD called to pay his respects to the Chief
Magistrate and Lincoln, instantly remembering the
incident, asked, "Well, Elder, have you found a Deacon
yet?"  Mr. GUILD is an earnest temperance advocate;
while in Jerseyville, he was County Commissioner of
Schools; during his pastorate he has built six
churches, and baptized fully one thousand persons;
like all the blind, one eye is still in darkness, and
the other very dimly reveals the outer world, but
happy sunshine dwells ever in the inner world, lit by
the smile of God.

Page 904

GEN. JOSHUA J. GUPPEY, of Portage, was born at Dover,
N.H., Aug. 27, 1820; graduated at Dartmouth College,
Class of 1843; was Captain of the college military
company; was admitted to the bar at Dover, N.H., in
April 1846; settled in Wisconsin at Columbus, Columbia
Co., in the fall of 1846, and commenced practicing
law; was appointed Colonel of the militia of Columbia
Co., Feb. 6, 1847; was appointed Judge of Probate
Sept. 29, 1849; was elected County Judge in Sept.
1849, for four years from Jan. 1, 1850; removed from
Columbus to Portage in 1851; was re-elected County
Judge in 1853, for four years from Jan. 1, 1854; was
Superintendent of the public schools of the city of
Portage, from 1858 to 1861; was commissioned
Lieutenant Colonel of the 10th W.V.I. Sept. 13, 1861,
and was in active service as such thereafter until
July 25, 1862, when he was promoted to Colonel of the
23d W.V.I., and held that position till the end of the
war.  He participated in the first assault on
Vicksburg in December 1862, and took part in the
capture of Fort Hindman, Ark., and all the important
battles around Vicksburg which resulted in the capture
of that stronghold; his regiment was then transferred
to the Department of the Gulf, and while in that
department, on the 3d of November 1863, at Carrion
Crow Bayou, La., he was wounded and taken prisoner,
but was exchanged in a short time; he was brevetted
Brigadier General from March 13, 1865, "for gallant
and meritorious services during the war."  In April
1865, while absent in the military service, he was re-
elected County Judge for four years, from Jan. 1,
1866, and has held that office ever since, by
successive elections, his present term closing Dec.
31, 1881.  In 1866 he was again elected Superintendent
of the public schools of the city of Portage, and held
that office by successive elections till 1873.

CHARLES HAERTEL, son of Charles and Barbara HAERTEL,
was born in Portage, May 6, 1860; brought up in the
brewing business with his father, whose family
consisted of four girls and one son - Margaret, now
Mrs. Fred W. SCHULZE; Lizzie, now Mrs. Jacob BEST;
Mary, now Mrs. Fred C. STARKE, of Milwaukee; Emma and
Charles.  The subject of this sketch, Mr. H., is a
member of the Turners' Society, also of the Hook and
Ladder Company.

MRS. MARIA P. HASKELL, widow of Hon. H. S. HASKELL,
whose extensive biography appears in this volume, in
the list of the "Illustrious Dead" of this county.
She is the daughter of Sayles and Hannah (HUBBARD)
HAWLEY, of Vermont, and a native of Waterbury, same
State; she was educated in the public schools of her
native town, and in the Academy of Montpelier, Vt.
Her first husband was William PRIDE, who died of
consumption in 1846, leaving one daughter - Martha M.,
who married Emmons TAYLOR, of Portage; both the
daughter and her husband are now dead.  Mrs. H. was
married in 1850 to Mr. H. S. HASKELL, and soon after
they removed to Columbus, where he practiced law
nearly four years; previous to marriage, he had
studied one year in the law office of Judge NOGGLE,
and had previously read, one year, in the office of
Ex. Gov. DILLINGHAM; he was a law partner of Judge
GUPPEY.  By her last marriage she had two children,
both of whom died in infancy.  Mr. HASKELL died Feb.
13, 1879.  She has no blood relatives in Wisconsin;
she lives in her fine brick residence on Howard
street, which was erected by her husband not many
years before his death; she is a member of St. John's
Episcopal Church in Portage; she is a lady of culture
and refined tastes, also of a quiet, retiring
disposition, and, while attractive socially to
friends, she is, nevertheless, more thoroughly
attached to home than to society.

GEO. E. HELMANN was born in Prussia, Germany, Feb. 26,
1837; came to Portage, Wis., in April 1853; engaged in
carpentering for a few years; then clerking until he
commenced the grocery business, in which he has
continued for the last fifteen years.  Mr. HELMANN was
married in Portage to Johanna SCHWARTZ, a native of
Prussia.  They have seven children - George, Lizzie,
Willie, Anna, Emma, Otto, and an infant son.  Mr. H.
has been a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge.

Submitted by Carol