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
930-931

A. J. TURNER was born in the town of Schuyler Falls
(then Plattsburg), N.Y., Sept. 24, 1832, where he
lived until 1853, removing to Grand Rapids, Mich.,
where he took his first lessons in the art of
typesetting in the Eagle office; returning to his
native town, in 1855, he "set up" the first number of
the Plattsburg Sentinel, a paper still in existence,
teaching school for a short time, and returning to
Grand Rapids early the same year; in September 1855,
he came to Portage and was employed as a compositor in
the Independent office the second day after his
arrival, and worked there until the spring of 1856,
when he went to Madison, and was engaged at his trade
in the office of the State Journal for six months; at
the end of that time, he was promoted to the position
of city editor of that paper, and this event marked
the beginning of his journalistic career; in the
spring of 1857, he returned to Portage, and became one
of the editors of the Record; in the fall of that
year, he returned to Madison as a clerk of one of the
legislative committees, and, in the following spring,
he made the trip, on foot, with that remarkable
genius, "Shanghai" CHANDLER, to Friendship, Adams Co.,
where he assisted in establishing the Adams County
Independent, remaining there four or five months;
returning to Portage, he resumed his former connection
with the Record.  In the fall of 1860, he was elected
Clerk of the Circuit Court and served one term, at the
expiration of which he was chosen to represent his
district in the State Assembly; returning from the
state capital, he again took his place upon the
Record, which he soon afterward purchased and
consolidated with the Wisconsin State Register,
founded a few months previous by S. S. BRANNAN, upon
the ruins of the Badger State; he continued with Mr.
BRANNAN, as publisher of the Register, for seventeen
years, selling, in 1878 to Judge J. T. CLARK.  Mr.
TURNER has been prominently before the people of
Columbia Co., for nearly a quarter of a century,
having filled various country offices; he was a
delegate to the National Convention which nominated
Lincoln, was Chief Clerk of the State Senate three
years, and now holds the office of State Railway
Commissioner.  To Mr. TURNER is due the credit of
establishing the "Blue Book" upon its present plan,
and he was for several years its compiler; he was the
first Secretary of the Wisconsin Central Railway
Company, afterward one of the Directors of the Portage
& Stevens Point Railway, and, still later President of
the Portage, Friendship & Grand Rapids Railroad, which
was consolidated with the present Madison & Portage
road.  Mr. TURNER was married at Friendship, Adams
Co., Wis., May 29, 1860, to Mary O. HANFORD, a native
of Walton, Delaware Co., N.Y.; they have three
children - Fred J., Rockwell F. and Ellen B.

STEPHEN TURNER was born in Nelson Co., Va., Dec. 14,
1813; came to Portage May 3, 1858; engaged in peddling
one year; in 1860, commenced mercantile business,
dealing in groceries and fruits; continued in that for
four years; then engaged in auctioneering and
speculating, in which he has successfully continued
ever since; owns two-thirds interest in the jewelry
establishment of TURNER & PARSON.  Mr. TURNER was
married at Union Hill, Nelson Co., Va., December 1849,
to Eliza Jane HILL, born at Union Hill; they have had
nine children, three of whom are deceased - Samuel
died in 1861, aged 3 years and 3 months; Annie died in
1872, aged 5 years; Charles died in 1872, aged 3
years, and 3 months; the children living are Bluford
B., Stephen, Jr., Elizabeth Lucretia, Willie, and
Jessie.  Mr. T. is in every sense a self-made man.

EUGENE A. VAUGHAN, son of Samuel K. and Lavina
VAUGHAN, who came to Wisconsin, locating at Waupun, at
an early date; his father died in Portage, in
September 1872; his mother is now living and a
resident of this city; Eugene was born in Wyocena,
Feb. 28, 1853, and has been employed in John GRAHAM's
drug and grocery house for the last ten years.  He was
married in Portage March 24, 1875 to Sarah A. PADLEY;
she was born at Lodi; they have one son  - Samuel K. -
born March 12, 1876.  Mrs. V. is a member of the
Presbyterian Church, and Mr. V. is a member of the
I.O.O.F.

MRS. RICHARD F. VEEDER, widow of the earliest settler
on this side of the canal; her maiden name was
Winopher VEEDER, and she was born near Albany, N.Y.,
April 2, 1812; Mr. VEEDER was born Jan. 11, 1812, in
Montreal, Canada, where his parents were temporarily
stopping; from the age of 10 he lived with an uncle in
Boston, Mass.; he came to Wisconsin June 26, 1835; but
stopped a while near Green Bay, as he had relatives
connected with the pineries; he came to Portage
several years before his marriage, which was on March
10, 1844; when a "bach" he kept travelers at his
cabin, and after marriage he kept open house for many
years; they built the first dwelling in Portage (since
destroyed by fire), and there was nothing here when
they built in the summer of 1845; they first spent
nearly a year at the Indian trading-post; the
Wisconsin River now flows over the site of the
trading-post, and also over the site of their first
pioneer dwelling near "the Post;" the house built by
them and now occupied by Mrs. VEEDER is the oldest
building in the city; it was built for a storehouse,
but has been used for nearly everything.  They have
had four children - Elizabeth, born in 1845, in the
first dwelling in Portage (she is dead); John S., born
Feb. 4, 1847 (he is now a railroad conductor); Hannah,
born in 1849, is dead; Richard T., Jr., born Jan. 1,
1851 (he is also a railroad conductor).  Mr. VEEDER is
remembered as a kind-hearted man and good citizen, and
was universally known as "Uncle Dick," and his widow
is still called "Aunt Dick," he died Jan. 19, 1870; he
was not a church member, but affiliated with the
Episcopalians.  Her son, R. F., still lives with his
mother on Sec. 5, where Portage is mainly built, and
which Mr. V. bought at government price ($1.25 per
acre); Mrs. V. owns two blocks in Portage beside her
old home.

Submitted by Carol