USA > Wisconsin > A political history of Wisconsin > Part 29
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
JAMES J. DICK.
James Jefferson Dick. Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, was born in Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, Septem- ber 8, 1836. His ancestry on his father's side was Scotch; on his mother's, Pennsylvania Dutch. He was educated in the common schools and the academy of his native town. In 1856 he came with his parents to Westfield, Marquette county, Wisconsin, and was successfully engaged in teaching for four years from 1856, spending his leisure time in reading law, gaining such a knowledge . thereof that he was able to complete the course in the Law School of Albany within one year, graduating in June, 1861. In August following he settled at Beaver Dam, where he has ever since resided, actively engaged in the practice of his profession. As a lawyer he was faithful to his clients, skillful in the management of cases, and his practice extended to almost every branch of the profession. For three years from January, 1861, he was the law partner of H. W. Lander, and after that practiced alone. In 1806 he was elected Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, the duties of which honorable and responsible office he has ably and faithfully discharged. Politically, Judge Dick is a Democrat, but he has not aspired to or held any political office. The office of judge is the only official position which he has ever held, except that he has been twenty-two years superintendent of schools of the city of Beaver Dam. Judge Dick is a member of . the Masonic order, and of the Odd Fellows, and an attendant at the Episcopal church. August 5th, 1862, he was married to Helen M. Drown of Beaver Dam. They have no children.
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W. D. HOARD.
William Dempster Hoard, sixteenth Governor of Wisconsin. was born in Stockbridge. Madison county. N. Y., October Iotil, 1836, the son of Rev. William B: Hoard, a Methodist clergyman. for several years in active connection with the Oneida conference in Central New York. In 1842 the father retired from the min- istry and settled upon a farm at Stockbridge, New York, where he resided till his death in 1883. Ile became known as one of the most skillful dairymen in that region. The mother of Governor Hoard, whose maiden name was White, was a granddaughter of Captain Jesse Sawyer. of Vermont, who commanded a company in Colonel Ethan Allen's regiment in the Revolutionary War. Her father, Benjamin White, was a soldier in the War of 1812. Her brother, Rev. W. W. White, was a noted pulpit orator in the Oneida Conference. Governor Hoard's early education was obtained in the district school, which he left at sixteen. to work on the farm. He was as a youth a great reader of standard books of history, biography and general literature. In October. 1857. he came to Wisconsin, stopping a few months with a cousin in Dodge county. The following winter he taught a singing school. and continued that occupation winters, working as a farm hand summers. In May, 1861. he enlisted in Company E. Fourth · regiment, in which he served as private during the summer of 1861, the regiment being engaged in the Fast Shore expedition in Virginia, guarding the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, and also in the expedition against New Orleans, which resulted in its capture under Gen. Butler. In July, 1862. he was discharged at New Orleans because of disability, and returned to his native town in New York; where. recovering his health, he again enlisted. this time in Company A. First New York light artillery. This bat- tery saw service in the Army of the Potomac and in the Depart- ment of the Shenandoah. under Gen. Sheridan, and was mustered out of service July 4th, 1865. In the following autumn he returned to Wisconsin, took up his residence in Columbus, engag- ing in the nursery business and hop culture. March 17th. 1870. he commenced the publication of The Jefferson County Union. at Lake Mills, and three years later removed the paper to Fort
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Atkinson, which has since been his home, and where the paper is still published. In the same year he also received the appoint- ment of Deputy United States Marshal and took the Federal census of several neighboring towns. In 1872 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and the same year Sergeant-at-Arms of the State Senate. Mr. Hoard's wider career dates from about 1871, when he began to devote especial attention in his paper to dairy- ing. He had studied the subject carefully, and believed that there was a great future for it. He had a practical knowledge of dairying in all its branches, and was thoroughly prepared to be a leader in the business. He organized the Jefferson County Dairymen's Association, and also the Wisconsin State Dairymen's Association, in 1872, of which he was three years the secretary; and was chosen president of the Northwestern Dairymen's Asso- ciation in 1878, and continued at the head of that organization for several years. . The influence of these associations, of which MIr. Hoard has throughout been the practical leader, has been remark- able. Before their formation, the total value of the annual milk product of the State was only about $1,000,000, and that of an inferior quality. Within a few years thereafter the quantity and quality had vastly increased, until in 1895 the value had reached the enormous sum of $30,000,000. or about double what it was a few years before. while in the quality of the product Wisconsin was on a par with the foremost States in the Union. At first Mr. Hoard's advocacy of the dairy interest was carried on in The Jef- ferson County Union as an incidental of newspaper work, then a separate department was demanded by the growth and importance of the industry; but at length it demanded a separate paper, and "Hoard's Dairyman" was launched, which was a success from the start, and has now grown into a twenty-page, four-column quarto. with the largest paid subscription list of any dairy paper in the world, and its name and fame are not confined to America. For years Mr. Hoard has been the leading lecturer on dairy matters before .Farmers' Institutes, and has spoken forcibly and elo- quently on his favorite theme all over the United States and Can- ada. His prominence in this great reform in matters pertaining to agriculture, and the practical good sense displayed in his pub-
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lic utterances led to the suggestion of his nomination by the Republicans, in 1888, as candidate for Governor. The suggestion was received with favor. his nomination followed. and he was elected by a large plurality. His administration was rendered famous by the Bennett Law excitement. described in the historical part of this work. Governor Hoard was defeated in his candidacy for reelection, and a worthy man and able and efficient official was relegated to private life. He retired to devote himself to the promotion of his dairy interests, which had become extensive. He was married February 9th. 1860. to Miss Agnes E. Bragg. daugh- ter of William Bragg of Lake Mills. They have three sons-Hal- bert L., Arthur R. and Frank W., all associated with their father in his business. Governor Hoard has served as president of the village of Fort Atkinson, member of the Board of Supervisors of Jefferson county, and member of the Republican State Central committee. He is president of the National Dairy Union, which is composed of leading dairy societies of the States and boards of trade of cities, having for its object to secure legislation against the sale of counterfeit butter and cheese. He is a Mason-member of the Billings Lodge. Janesville commandery, and the Milwau- kee consistory, member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the United Workmen. He was a prominent candidate for the position of Secretary of Agriculture in President Mckinley's Cabinet.
THEOBALD OTJEN .. :
Theobald Otjen, who represents the Fourth District, made his first campaign for Congress in the fall of 1892. his Democratic opponent Being John L. Mitchell. The effects of the anti-Bennett law uprising in Milwaukee had not died away, and Mr. Otjen was defeated, as he had expected to be when he accepted the nomina- tion. In April. 1803. a vacancy was created in the Milwaukee Congressional District by the resignation of Representative Mitchell. A special election was held and Mr. Otjen was again nominated for Representative by the Republicans. The Dento- cratic candidate was Peter J. Somers. Mr. Somers was elected
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by 1,350 plurality. The favorable opportunity for Mr. Otjen was yet to come. In 18)4 he was again the standard-bearer of his party, opposing David S. Rose, Democrat, and Henry Smith, Populist. Otjen's plurality was 3.622. In 1806 the Democrats and Populists fused in favor of Robert Schilling, but Otjen was reelected, with about 4.500 votes to spare. He was again elected. by a plurality of 1.871, in 1898. Mr. Otjen was born in St. Clair county, Michigan, October 27, 1851. His parents were Germans, and his father was a successful farmer. When Theobald was four years old his mother died and his father, being seriously ill, the son was sent to live with an uncle. The uncle did not give the boy opportunity for education, keeping him out of school and at work. This was very distasteful to the lad, and he ran away. He was adopted by "Aunt" Emily Ward, of Detroit. a woman noted for her philanthropic zeal, who saw that his schooling was not neglected. In 1872 he came to Wisconsin to fill the position of yard foreman of the rolling mills at Bay View. While serving in this capacity, Mr. Otjen was introduced to poli- tics, developing an active interest in the campaign of the time, becoming a recognized leader of the active political workers among the mill men. About this time he made his first campaign speech, devoting his attention to political affairs affecting the wei- fare of the workingmen. After two years spent in employment at Bay View he returned to Michigan, and after attending a pri- vate school for one year, he entered the Law School of Michigan University, from which he was graduated in 1876, when he devoted four years to the practice of law at Detroit. 'In 1879 he married. and not long afterward returned to Bay View, serving as Attor- ney of the village irom 1883 to 1886. On the annexation of Bay View to the City of Milwaukee, Mr. Otjen was elected' Alderman, and in this capacity he continued to act for seven years, making a record which endeared him to his constituents as a faithful. painstaking, levelheaded official. During his service in the Mil- waukee City Council, Mr. Otjen was Chairman of the Committee on Legislation, and rendered excellent service in securing the pas- sage of the Park Bill, under the operations of which the splendid public park system of Milwaukee has been established. In 1889.
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while still a member of the City Council, Mr. Otjen performed valuable service for the workingmen in the employ of one of the Street Railway companies. The relations which he had borne with the workingmen of the city gave them confidence in his judgment and in his devotion to their interests. This relation gave him opportunity to serve, at the request of the workingmen. as leading member of a Committee of Mediation between the Street Railway employees and the company during a threatened strike on account of a proposed reduction of wages. So success- fully was the work of mediation performed, that the proposed reduction was abandoned and the strike was averted. During his career as Alderman Mr. Otjen was a member of the Public Library and Museum Board. Since his election to Congress he has served on the Committees on War Claims and Revision of the Laws. The former committee has a large number of bills before Congress growing out of the war. and Mr. Otjen has rendered efficient service on the committee in examining these claims and making reports thereon. He has made a number of speeches on bills of this character, but his most effective work in Congress has been exerted through personal influence among his fellow members. Of a noble nature. genial and kindly. yet · aggressive in his labors to accomplish desired ends. Mr. Otjen has been successful in securing favorable action upon measures which he espoused. An interesting illustration of the effective manner in which he achieved desired results is furnished by what he did in the matter of the Milwaukee harbor of refuge. His predeces- sors had found it impossible to secure an appropriation large enough to finish the breakwater at once. and its construction dragged along, the storms of winter sometimes destroying nearly as inuch as had been built during the preceding season. By his work with the members of the Rivers and Harbors Committee. and his untiring industry in keeping the needs of the improve- ment before their minds, Mr. Otjen succeeded in getting the work placed on the continuing contract list, thereby insuring the : full appropriation required. according to the Report of the Engi- neers then on file, and it is now on the high road to completion.
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JAMES H. CABANIS.
James H1. Cabanis was born near Springfield, Ilinois, Decem- ber 25, 1838, and came to Wisconsin in 1845. His father was a native of Kentucky, and his mother a native of Illinois. His father was a frequent associate of Abraham Lincoln in their earlier days. While he did not split rails with "Uncle Abe," he assisted in the erection of the noted flat-boat spoken of in history. The Cabanis family were attracted to Wisconsin by the early discov- ery of lead ore. The family spent much of the early days of Wis- consin in log cabins, and experienced, their full share of the rough- ness naturally associated with pioneer times. Politically. J. H. Cabanis has always been a staunch Republican, and has performed useful public service in the township of Smelser and the county ci Grant. He has often been chairman, town superintendent and clerk of the township. He has also been a member of the County Board, and postmaster of his village. He was a member of the Legislature from his district in 1881 and was reelected in 1882. It was while he was a member that the law was passed making the Legislature meet every two years instead of every year, and he supported the movement which brought about the change. For more than fifty years Mr. Cabanis lived in the township of Smelser, where the family located when coming from Illinois. He is now a resident of the thriving city of Platteville, and is its pres- ent Mayor. Mr. Cabanis, after receiving an academic education. spent several years teaching school. All his teaching for six years was done in his own township.
E. D. COE.
Edwin Delos Coe was born at Ixonia, Jefferson county, Wis- consin, June 11, 1840. He is a member of a family of English descent which has been settled in this country since 1634. His father's farm was on Rock river, seven miles above Watertown, and the first eight years of his life were spent there, the family removing at the end of that time to Beaver Dam, whence, after ten years. it removed to Watertown. He attended the public school and Wayland Academy at Beaver Dam, and the State
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Charles Boite
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University at Madison. He was in the senior year, at the last- named institution, when President Lincoln issued the first call for troops, in April, 1861, and he at once responded to the call. Ilis company was assigned to the Second Regiment, Co. A, but did not leave the State. Soon after being mustered out he entered Co. A, First Wisconsin Cavalry, with which he served as a private and corporal, until January, 1863, sharing in all the campaigns and conflicts of the regiment up to that time. On account of injuries received in a fight with guerrillas in Arkansas, he was discharged at that time, but did not return North till the following August. On returning from the army he began the study of law, in the office of Messrs. Gill & Barber, at Watertown, and in the spring of 1864 went to Janesville, where he continued his legal studies with Messrs. Bennett, Cassoday & Gibbs. Here he pursued his studies with such vigor and success that he was adniit- ted to the bar at the end of the year. His health, however, had been so much impaired in the military service that he was advised to engage in outdoor business. For a time he was associated : with his father in the lumber trade at Watertown, and was one . year engaged in the oil business at Bothwell, Canada, with the usual unsatisfactory results. In August, 1868, he bought a half interest in The Watertown Republican, and two years later . engaged in the newspaper business at Beloit. In 187the pur- chased the Whitewater Register, and here he made his record as a journalist. For a quarter of a century he gave his attention to the production of a first-class local newspaper, and with emi- nent success. His editorial page always contained an impartial and able discussion of current topics. The editor was recognized as a tactful, judicious student of affairs, who had the courage of lis convictions, and he became a power in State politics. Per- sonally, Mr. Coe has a disposition and nature adapted to make and to retain friends. He is popular even with his political oppo- nents. He rarely forgets a name or a face. Always an earnest · supporter of the principles of the Republican party, he has sev- eral times been called upon to serve in a public capacity, and has discharged his duties with fidelity. industry and intelligence. He has served two terms as School Commissioner, was a member of (29)
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the State Assembly in 1878 and 1879, and Chief Clerk of that body in 1882, 1885. 1887 and 18Sy. In 18go he was asked to make the race for Congress in what was then the First district. Instead of this, he became the candidate on the State ticket for Secretary of State, sharing the common defeat of the Republi- can party in that historic campaign. In 1895 he was appointed by Gov. Upham a member of the State Board of Normal School Regents for the term ending ISyS. He was chairman of the Republican State Central Committee in 1896, when Wisconsin rolled up a majority of over 100,000 for the Republican ticket. President Mckinley appointed him United States pension agent at Milwaukee, which office he now holds. Mr. Coe is a member of the Congregationalist Church. He has been commander of C. E. Curtice Post, No. 34, Department of Wisconsin, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he is an active member. Septem- ber 26, 1865, at Janesville, he married Miss Emma Ellsworth Spaulding, daughter of Joseph Spaulding, a prominent citizen. Five children have blessed their union-Florence, Elsie, Ells- worth Spaulding. Dwight Bushnell, Joseph Spaulding and Robert Kirkland.
GEORGE W. PECK.
That a man can be active in party politics and successful in a high degree, and despite the bitterness of feeling developed in hot campaigns can retain the hearty good-will of everybody- his most energetic opponents whom he. defeats. as well as his asso- ciates with whom he may differ as to matters of expedieney within the party-is illustrated by the unlimited and illimitable personal popularity of George W. Peck. There was never a campaign in Wisconsin which developed more rancorous strife than the "Ben- nett law" campaign of 18go, in which the Democrats overturned the Republican ascendancy in Milwaukee and then in the State at large, which had been under Republican rule uninterruptediv since 1875. Yet Mr. Peck, the successful candidate of the Demo- cratic party, first for Mayor, and then for Governor, which latter office he held for two terms, was through all this strife, and is
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now, a man without a personal enemy in the world -a man for whom all who know him would, irrespective of political or other considerations which usually engender prejudice, go out of their way at any time of the day or night, to do him a personal favor. George Wilbur Peck 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 com- pleted, 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 White- water Register. After he had learned this trade he worked as a "journeyman on a number of Wisconsin papers, and at length became foreman of The Watertown Republican, for the duties of which position he received the absurdly 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 Janes- ville, where 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 com- positor on The Madison Journal. Hle next enlisted in the Fourth Wisconsin cavalry, in which he served until 1866-one year after 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 1868, mean- time 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. l'omeroy 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,
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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 rea- son of Mr. Peck's peculiar Humor. it became at once very popular, reaching, at one time, a weekly circulation of So.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 ISSo. 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 popu- larity in this election won him the Democratic nomination for Gov- ernor in the fall of ISgo, 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. During the summer of 1899 he re-established The Sun, which had disappeared under an eclipse while he was busied with political affairs, and which bids fair to regain under his genial influence its old meridian height as an illuminator of the minds of men, dispersing the blue devils of melancholy wherever . it shines. Mr. Peck is the auther of several humorous books. which have had a wide sale in this country and Europe.
WILLIAM H. UPHAM. .
In 1861 the newspapers of Racine published the obituary of a young soldier of that city who had been shot through the lungs at the first battle of Bull Run and left for dead upon the fieldl. A minister in one of the churches preached an eloquent sermon on the same theme. The young soldier was William H. Upham. He was not dead, but recovered, and thirty-three years later was
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elected Governor of Wisconsin by a larger majority than had ever up to that time been cast for a candidate for that office. Wil- lian H. Upham is a descendant of John Upham, of Somerset, Eng- land, who came to this country in 1639. He was born at West- minster, Massachusetts, May 3. 1841. He came West with his father when eleven years of age, settling first at Niles, Michigan. where the father died, after which the family moved to Racine. Here young Upham received his education, and here, at the break- ing out of the war, he enlisted as a private in the Second Wiscon- sin Infantry. The Confederates found him wounded on the battle- field, and he was taken first to a hospital and afterward to Libby Prison. After montiis of prison life he was paroled and went to Washington. President Lincoln, hearing of his wonderfu! experiences, sent for him in the hope of gaining important infor- mation from him concerning affairs in the South, and such infor- mation young Upham gave. The President was so pleased with the bearing of the young man that he procured for him an appoint- ment to the West Point military academy, from which he gradu- ated with honor, after completing the regular course of study, and · was commissioned lieutenant in the regular army. At the end of ten years' service in the army, Lieut. Upham resigned his con- mission and returned home. Almost immediately upon return- ing to civil life he became interested in the lumbering business at Marshfield, Wisconsin, built a saw-mill, and later established a furniture factory, opened a large general store, and was one of the organizers of the First National bank, of which he was chosen president. In addition to these he operates a large planing-mill, a machine shop, and a very extensive flouring mill. June 27th, 1887, Marshfield was almost entirely destroyed by fire, and the homeless inhabitants were in despair. Though the heaviest loser, Major Upham was not discouraged, but announced that the little city should be rebuilt; and by the ist of January following sixty- two substantial brick blocks were built and occupied, and the city · was again started on a carcer of industrial progress. Maj. Upham married Miss Mary C. Kelley, an accomplished and benevolent lady of Quaker ancestry. and they have two daughters. He has retained a lively interest in military affairs, is a member of the
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