Biography: Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Charles BARBER ************************************************************************ Submitted by Kathy Grace, December 2007 © All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm ************************************************************************ Transcribed from Lawson, Publius V. History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: its cities, towns, resources people. Chicago: C.F. Cooper and Company, 1908. v.2 p.865-869 Charles Barber has made an indelible impression on the public life of Oshkosh and throughout the state of Wisconsin. As a lawyer he stands preeminently high, and through his thirty-four years of practice is recognized as one of the most able practitioners at the bar. Charles Barber was born n Burlington, Vermont, September 12, 1851, and is the eldest son of Dr. Ammi P. Barber, a distinguished physician. Mr. Barber's mother, who before her marriage was Miss Kimetia Emily Noyes, was a daughter of Judge Breed Noyes, of Hyde Park, LaMoille county, Vermont, and both of his parents belong to old New England families, the original Noyes ancestor in this country being a clergyman who moved from Salisbury, England to Connecticut in 1634. Mr. Barber's father was a native of Vermont, and his grandfather was one of the early settlers of the Green Mountain state. Antecedent ancestors were among the colonists of Connecticut and the descent of this branch of the Barber family in America is from an ancestor who came to this country from the North of Ireland in 1635. Dr. Ammi P. Barber moved to Oshkosh from Vermont in 1857, and his son Charles was brought up in this city. He obtained his early education in the public schools and was a member of the first class graduated from the high school in 1868 and was the first president of the Alumni Association. Mr. Arthur Everetyt, a scholarly and accomplished gentleman, was then principal of the high school, and after being graduated from that institution Mr. Barber entered upon and completed the equivalent of a collegiate course of study under Mr. Everett's private tutorship. While pursuing this course of study he also began the study of law in the office of Earl P. Find, one of the leading members of the old bar of Oshkosh. He was assistant and vice-principal of the Oshkosh high school three years, and in 1873 went to New York City, where he took the full course in the Columbia Law School. Returning to Wisconsin, he was admitted to practice in the Circuit Court of Winnebago county in the summer of 1874, and immediately thereafter formed a co-partnership with his former preceptor, Mr. Finch. This partnership continued up to the time of the death of Mr. Finch, which occurred in 1888, and the firm thus constituted was long recognized as one of the leading law firms in northern Wisconsin. From September, 1874, to September, 1875, Mr. Barber filled the office of inspector of the city schools of Oshkosh, which office corresponded to the present one of superintendent of schools. He also served as school commissioner and in 1883 held the office of city attorney. During the years 1903 to 1907 he was a member of the library board. With these exceptions he held no official position and is wholly without political ambition, but has freely given his time when required for the interests of Democratic party and has been conspicuous in its councils and conventions. As a lawyer Mr. Barber's practice has grown to very large proportions, extending into the higher courts of Wisconsin and other states and into the United States courts. In 1877 he argued his first case in the United States Supreme Court. It involved the title to school lands in Indian reservations and settled issues of much importance in the state of Wisconsin. Mr. Barber is at present senior member of the law firm of Barbers & Beglinger, which is composed of himself, his brother, Henry Barber, and Frederick Beglinger. Since entering upon manhood Mr. Barber's career has been an active and busy one. He has been and is now identified with numerous business interests in Oshkosh. He was for ten years president of the Street Railway Company. He is director of the National Union Bank and was for years director of its predecessor, the Union National. He was one of the organizers of the German National Bank and is a stockholder in that and other banking institutions. Mr. Barber for a number of years was editor-in-chief of the "Oshkosh Times" for many years the leading Democratic paper of northern Wisconsin. His editorials were always noted for their independence of thought, and for the fearlessness and clearness which they exhibited. Mr. Barber's style was terse and incisive. Mr. Barber is president of the Smith Grove Land Company, of Oshkosh, and is vice-president of the Buckstaff-Sprague Lumber Company, the Morris Manufacturing Company and the Morris & Whitcomb Railway Company, which last trio form a large lumber industry at Morris, Shawano county, Wisconsin. Mr. Barber's tastes are decidedly literary and, not withstanding the great draft upon time and energy that his large practice and business interests entail, he is a constant student and great reader. He is a man of letters in every sense of the term. His information, obtained by years of systematic and well-directed study, is practically boundless, and his judgment and tone in literary matters is that of a polished, finished, scholarly gentleman. Mr. Barber is also a man of large, wholesome public spirit and of intense patriotism, general and local. Every movement that has for its motive and impulse the advancement of city or country is assured in advance of Mr. Barber's hearty assistance and support. His energy and sagacity-which is always willing to supplement in a financial way-have been the dominating influence of many a profitable and advantageous public project. His is a strong character and one that by reason of its power and magnetism could not fail to be of effect in the molding of the thought and trend of the community of which it formed an integral factor. Mr. Barber's record as a lawyer in northern Wisconsin is so well known that detailed mention would be superfluous. His life ever since he was admitted to the bar has been spent in the courts of our state, and the records of these courts tell a large part of his life story. That this story is decidedly commendable and worthy, Mr. Barber's high standing at the bar and in the community proves incontrovertibily. For more than thirty-five years he has been local counsel of the C.M. & St. P. Railroad Company, and was for many years local counsel of the C. & N.W. Railroad Company. He has been connected with some of the most important criminal cases in this part of the state. He was appointed by the state of prosecute the Berlin banker, C.A. Mather, and defended the banker, Leonard Perrin, in a case which lasted forty days. He was counsel in the Campfield murder case, the most sensational case in northern Wisconsin, and after two trials in which the jury disagreed Mr. Barber's client was discharged nby order of the court. In 1900 and 1901 he was employed to look after the interest of the city in the litigation against the Water Company and in the action over the validity of the Harris will, giving the city of Oshkosh a public library. In this litigation Mr. Barber was eminently successful. Mr. Barber is a member of the American Bar Association and has been vice- president of that organization for the state of Wisconsin. He is a member of the State Bar Association and is vice-president for the Third Judicial Circuit. He is also president of the Winnebago County Bar Association and has been such for over six years. During the past five years Mr. Barber has been employed in some of the most important litigation in this part of the state, the questions involved having attracted attention even outside of Wisconsin. Mr. Barber was counsel for certain of the heirs of the late Gabriel Bouck, who left a large estate and the settlement of which caused a great deal of litigation. A part of the litigation went to the Supreme Court and the judgment of the lower court was reversed. In all phases of this litigation Mr. Barber was in the end successful. The year 1908 marks the end of a long legal controversy in which Mr. Barber was interested and was also very successful. We refer to the litigation between the Winnebago Traction Company and the city of Oshkosh and the Eastern Wisconsin Railway & Light Company. This litigation was very bitterly and stubbornly contested, and the earlier stages Mr. Barber was beaten, but he appealed to the higher courts and in the end won a great legal victory. For many years Mr. Barber has been vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church, of this city, and took an active part in the movement that resulted in the erection of the present handsome structure. Mr. Barber is the possessor of a very large and fine library. His abode is one of culture and refinement. In 1879 Mr. Barber was united in marriage to Miss Daisy C. Jenkins, daughter of Captain Jenkins, of Oshkosh. She died in 1891, leaving four daughters. In 1893 he was again married to Miss Mary B. Billings, of Oshkosh.