USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 11
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Mr. Welch was married June 25, 1871, to Miss Laura Spencer. Mrs. Welch was born in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, March 18, 1852, and is a daughter of Thomas Hardy and Nancy (Maynard) Spencer. Mrs. Welch is of very old American stock. In 1640, more than two and a half centuries ago, three brothers named Spencer came out of England, one of them locating at Saybrook, Connecticut, and he was the original American ancestor of Mrs. Welch. Coming down the line there were sev- Her eral of her ancestors who fought as soldiers in the Revolution. great-grandfather, Samuel Spencer, another great-grandfather, Lebbus Chapman, and a great-great-grandfather, Captain Kirkland, were all Revolutionary patriots. Mrs. Welch's parents were married at Browns- ville, Jefferson County, New York, August 15, 1841. Her father was born at Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1813, and her mother at Lenox in Madi- son County, New York, on February 15, 1819. In 1849 the Spencer family came to Waukesha County, Wisconsin, and soon afterwards moved to Baraboo Township, where they lived on a farm. Mrs. Welch's mother died in 1887 and her father died at Baraboo in 1900. He was a republi- can and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. There were eleven children in the Spencer family, all of whom grew up and eight are still living: Charles, a Civil war veteran; Julia, deceased; Marietta ; Louisa, deceased; Jane; Laura; Cynthia; Martha; John and Milton, twins, the former deceased ; and Mary.
Mr. and Mrs. Welch gave a good home and careful training to their six children, most of whom now have homes of their own and there are a number of grandchildren. Dwight Spencer, the oldest, married Belle Astle, daughter of John H. Astle, a well known Baraboo citizen, and they have three children, Winifred, John and Harley ; Fred Warren, the second son, lives at Spokane, Washington ; Samuel Rolla is married and lives in Spokane, Washington; Harvey Griswold married Laura Bauer and has two children, Florence and Lorene; Thomas Hardy Welch married Lula Washburn and has four children. Clifford, Samuel, Dorothy and Anna Laura; Laurie Clifford, the youngest son, married Edith Brownell.
HERMAN DOROW has for many years been numbered among the suc- cessful and enterprising farmers of Dellona Township.
He was born in that rural community of Sauk County in 1882, a son of August and Wilhelmina (Hoelke) Dorow. His parents immigrated from Germany in 1881 and in 1884 settled in Dellona Township, where they acquired a farm and where they were long honored citizens. The father passed away in July, 1914, and his widow is still living. Their family consisted of the following children : Charles, who married Mary Verthein ; Albert and Bertha, unmarried ; Amelia, wife of Emil Klenn ; August, who married Anna Leight; Hulda, wife of Frederick Gardner ; and Herman.
Herman Dorow early chose farming as his permanent career and is
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now proprietor of 104 acres, devoted to general farming and stock raising. Mr. Dorow is an active republican and with his family worships in the Lutheran Church. On January 6, 1908, he married Mildred Hewett, daughter of Wellington Hewett. They have four children, Walter, Mina, Herman and John.
MRS. HENRY WEIRICH, widow of the late Henry Weirich, has been a resident of Sauk County for over forty-five years and has played her part beautifully as wife and mother and as one of the kindly and helpful members of the old community of Sumpter Township, where she has had her home for many years.
She was born in Pomerania, Germany, a daughter of Carl and Hen- rietta (Konda) Swanka. Mrs. Weirich came alone to America in 1871, and somewhat later she was followed by her parents and brothers and sisters.
Henry Weirich was also a native of Germany and came to America about 1861. At first he worked in the pine woods of Wisconsin, then lived a few years in Honey Creek Township of Sauk County and finally settled on the home farm in Sumpter Township where his widow still resides. That farm has been in the possession of the Weirich family since about 1867, a period of fifty years. Henry Weirich lived there the indus- trious life of the sturdy farmer until his death in 1901. As a farmer he began with only a pair of oxen and a grubbing hoe. In the early days all the grain was cut with the cradle and was handled entirely by hand. He hauled some of his first farm produce to Milwaukee. At that time only one store occupied the present site of the Village of Prairie du Sac. There were no railroads anywhere in the community. The nearest rail- road came to Portage, and then grain and produce were hauled to that town. Transportation was almost entirely in wagons with ox teams. Before his death, as a result of his industry and thrift, Henry Weirich had acquired a well-improved farm of 140 acres.
His first wife was Helena Miller. Their children were: Susan, Mrs. Julius Crom, living at Reedsburg, Wisconsin ; Louisa, deceased ; Mary, who is unmarried and lives in the State of Washington ; Charlotte, Mrs. Clark Burrows, of Milwaukee; and Anna, Mrs. J. E. Venn, of Chicago. Mr. Henry Weirich's first wife died in 1872.
In 1874 he married Miss Swanka, three years after she had come to this country. Mrs. Weirich is the mother of ten children, six of whom are still living, as follows: Ida, Mrs. William Leiser ; Lydia, Mrs. Ernest Haskins; Lena, wife of Ed Payne; Lillie, Mrs. Louis Grosse ; Henry, who is married and manages the old homestead ; and Charles, who is unmarried and lives with his mother.
GEORGE M. HILL has spent nearly all his life in Sauk County and is the oldest dealer in livestock in the City of Baraboo. Probably no one from personal experience could give a better account of livestock values in this section of Wisconsin than Mr. Hill. He has paid the lowest as well as the highest market prices for stock, and has been the medium of shipping out many hundreds of carloads and has also brought in much stock from outside places. He knows his business thoroughly, not only Vol. II-6
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as a result of practical experience but by careful study and constant attention to all the details.
Mr. Hill was born in Carroll County, New Hampshire, November 20, 1851, a son of Amos E. and Nancy S. (Moulton) Hill. Both parents were New Hampshire born and of New England ancestry. His father was born in 1807 and his mother in 1816. The father was a thrifty farmer in New Hampshire and died in that state on June 29, 1865, at the age of fifty- eight, when his children were still young. In March, 1866, the widowed mother brought her two children west to Merrimack, Sauk County, and in 1867 moved to Baraboo, where she bought some property on the South Side. She lived there with her children until her death on January 31, 1890, at the age of seventy-three. She was the mother of one daughter and one son. The daughter, Sarah E., was born August 24, 1850, and died in Sauk County at Baraboo.
George M. Hill was fifteen years old when brought to Sauk County. Most of his education had been acquired back in New Hampshire, but he also attended the Collegiate Institute taught by Professor Kimball in Baraboo, and later was a student in the public schools. The old school house which he attended as a boy was subsequently sold to the City of Baraboo and used as the city hall. In that building Mr. Hill attended council meetings as a member of the city council for three years.
He has been making his own way in the world since an early age. For two years he clerked for George Arnold in the grain business, and at one time he hauled freight on the streets of Baraboo with a wagon and ox team. He also worked on a farm and he did some practical farming for himself on forty acres which he bought from William Bassett. For another two years he was employed in William Bassett's stave factory. He finally sold his local interests and went West, but did not remain long and on returning to Baraboo he bought George Lodi's meat market. For a few months he also conducted a livery and horse shipping business. For about thirty-five years now he has been engaged in the general busi- ness of livestock shipping, and has survived all his early contemporaries and competitors in that line. Mr. Hill has prospered and at different times has owned considerable property in Baraboo and has done much to develop it. His fine residence is at 1009 Ash Street. He built that home and he also built the Peck store on the South Side, leasing the building for three years to the firm of Peck & Herfort, and finally selling the building. He is a stockholder in the Bank of Baraboo. Politically Mr. Hill is a republican and was elected on that ticket to the city council. He was formerly affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen and he and his family attend the Congregational Church.
On April 14, 1886, Mr. Hill married Miss Sebie A. Greenslet, of Fairfield Township, Sauk County. Her parents, Fred and Ruth Greenslet were early settlers in Sauk County and her father died in 1914, her mother still living. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have two children: Laura F., born in 1888, is a graduate of the Baraboo High School and the University of Wisconsin and is now the wife of A. J. Gafke. The second child, George A., was born in 1900 and is still carrying on his studies in the . Baraboo High School.
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DENNIS H. DEDERICH is one of the best known citizens of Bear Creek Township, where for a number of years he has carried unusually heavy responsibilities as a farmer and land owner and has done his share toward developing this section of a peculiarly rich and prosperous Wis- consin community.
Mr. Dederich was born in Bear Valley of Richmond County, Wis- consin, October 9, 1862, a son of A. D. and Mary (Schaefer) Dederich. His father came from Germany in 1848, the year that marked the revo- lution in that country and the exodus of so many of its best citizens to America. He and his wife were married at Roxbury, Wisconsin. A. D. Dederich was a wagon maker by trade, but he finally turned to farming and acquired 550 acres. Taking this land in a rough and wild state, he cleared most of it and was in very prosperous circumstances when he died October 20, 1898. His widow passed away October 20, 1892. Their children were Margaret, Gertrude, Peter, Adolph, Tony, Dennis, Gerhard, Ramie, Francis and Joseph.
Dennis H. Dederich grew up on his father's farm, was educated in the local schools, and at an early age began farming on his own responsibility. He established himself at his present home in Bear Creek Township December 1, 1903. Here he owns 200 acres and thirty acres were cleared up by his own hands. He has built a good house and barns and is con- ducting a model dairy of thirty-one cows, while he has about forty-two head of cattle. Mr. Dederich is independent in politics and a member of the Catholic Church.
He married Philomena Weiser, daughter of Frank and Genevieve (Langer) Weiser, of Bear Creek. Mr. and Mrs. Dederich have six chil- dren, named Genevieve, Philomena, Joseph, Gertrude, Margaret and Hilda, all of whom have been carefully educated in the public schools.
LOUIS WICHERN is one of the young and progressive farmers of Bara- boo Township, and has spent practically all his life on the farm that he now occupies.
He was born on that farm January 8, 1883, and is a son of the late Mathias Wichern, a citizen long and favorably known in business and farming circles of the county.
Mathias Wichern was born in Hanover, Germany, September 13, 1833. His parents spent all their lives in Germany. He was reared and educated in his native land and during the '50s, when about twenty years of age, he came to Baraboo, Wisconsin. In July, 1859, he married Miss Louisa Kroher, who was born at Pirmassens, Germany, March 3, 1838. She crossed the ocean to New York City in 1855 and arrived at Baraboo in 1857. Her parents also died in Germany.
On coming to Wisconsin Mathias Wichern was employed in Henry Ryan's chair factory and subsequently engaged in the furniture business at Baraboo. He later bought a farm but sold it and moved to Lodi, Wisconsin, where he was in the furniture business three years. In 1878 he bought the farm where his son Louis now resides, and he was engaged in its management and operation until his death in March, 1909. Had he lived four months longer he and his wife would have celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. In politics Mathias Wichern was a republi-
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can and he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His widow is still living at Baraboo and owns the old homestead. A brief record of their children is as follows: Fred, who lives in Barron County, Wis- consin, and by his marriage to Bertha Ryan has three children, named Ferne, Fred and Hazel; Anna, wife of Louis Armbruster, of Baraboo; George, Henry Franklin and Albert, all of whom died in infancy; Sam- uel, who died at the age of twenty-one; Emma, who is living at Baraboo, unmarried ; Frank, who married Carrolyn Fellows and has two children, Harold and Julia Louise; Carl, a farmer in Baraboo Township, who mar- ried Nettie Kimbel, and has a daughter, Ethel May; and Louis, who is the youngest in this family of ten children.
Mr. Louis Wichern grew up on the farm where he now resides, and besides managing it for his widowed mother he is personally the owner of forty-three acres of Baraboo Township land. Mr. Wichern is a prac- tical general farmer and stock raiser, and for several years has made a success of breeding thoroughbred Guernsey cattle and Poland-China hogs. He is a republican in politics and attends the Methodist Episcopal Church in Baraboo.
On June 14, 1916, he married Miss Lottie Owen. Mrs. Wichern was born in Fairfield Township of Sauk County May 30, 1884, a daughter of Evan D. and Elizabeth (Steumpfig) Owen. Her father was born in Wales in 1848, and was three months old when he crossed the ocean and came to America with his parents, David and Jane Owen. David and Jane Owen brought their family across the ocean on the ship Jamestown and settled in Racine, Wisconsin. Their seven children were named John W., Evan D., Rachel, Jane, Walter, Joel and Mary. In 1847 Evan D. Owen came to Sauk County and in 1878 married Elizabeth Steumpfig, who was born in Columbia County, Wisconsin, in 1853. Following his marriage Mr. Owen engaged in farming in Fairfield Township and his widow still owns the old place. He died February 11, 1917. He was a republican, served as a member of the school board, attended the Presby- terian Church and was a member of the Masonic order. Mr. and Mrs. Owen had three children: David, Lottie and George.
WILLIAM STACKHOUSE, SR., is a retired farmer, who was prominent in the affairs of the Town of Westfield for many years and served as sheriff of the county in 1901-02. His oldest son, William, Jr., also held that office for a term. They both now reside in Baraboo, the younger man being a conductor on the North-Western line. The family came to Sauk County from Pittsburgh in 1858, locating on a farm in the Town of West- field. William Stackhouse, Jr., was then about fourteen years of age. Three years afterward, in the fall of 1861, he enlisted in Company F of the Eleventh Wisconsin Infantry, and served in its ranks until January, 1865. He then returned to the Westfield farm and lived thereon until May, 1909, when he moved to Baraboo. During that period of forty-four years he held numerous offices connected with the government of the town- ship, as well as the shrievalty, and when he went to reside at the county seat he had fairly earned his position of comfort and good standing.
HENRY J. ELLEFSON. One of the enterprising and progressive men who are extensively engaged in' agricultural pursuits in Sauk County,
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Henry J. Ellefson brought to his calling excellent judgment and good business methods, and his labors have been crowned with success.
He has spent most of his life in Sauk County but was born at Decorah, Iowa, February 5, 1874, only son and child of E. H. and Louise (Larsen) Ellefson. Both families were early settlers in this section of Wisconsin, where the father came in 1861 and the mother in 1868. Grandfather Halvor Ellefson was a prominent pioneer of Sauk County. E. H. Ellef- son and wife were married at Decorah, Iowa, January 18, 1873, and for several years they lived on a farm in Iowa but in 1879 located in Bear Creek Township of Sauk County. Both the father and grandfather had an active part in clearing up this land which came into the possession of the family in 1865. Grandfather Halvor Ellefson died in December, 1904.
Henry J. Ellefson was educated in the Spring Green High School and also had technical training in one of the Indiana colleges. He is now living on part of the land which was developed by the family in early times, having bought a part of his present holdings from Mrs. O. Kettle- son. Mr. Ellefson has 253 acres in his farm and is doing a prosperous business as a farmer and stockman. He keeps about fifty head of milch cattle.
Mr. Ellefson is an active republican, served as town treasurer fifteen years, and with his family worships in the Lutheran faith.
July 14, 1909, at Decorah, Iowa, he married Gena Ganson. They have two children, Melvin E. and Ellen Louise.
A. G. BAUMGARTEN has been identified with the business interests of Sauk County for a long period of years and is now one of the leading merchants of Loganville.
Mr. Baumgarten was born in Germany, son of Fred and Wilhelmina Baumgarten, and came from that country in 1862, the family locating on a farm five miles east of Loganville in Sauk County.
In 1879 Mr. Baumgarten went to Chicago, was in that city eighteen months, and in the summer of 1883 was at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he engaged in the gardening and sodding business. From there he went to North Dakota, but in the following October returned to Loganville in Sauk County and bought a half interest in the Loganville Grist Mill. That was his chief business connection for six years. During 1889-90 he conducted a hotel and saloon at Loganville, selling out in the latter year. For five years he was in the agricultural implement business at Ableman, having bought out E. P. Richardson in 1895. In 1900 Mr. Baumgarten returned to Loganville and bought the general store of E. F. Merrimen. For ten years he continued to sell goods as a general merchant and farm implement dealer, and then disposed of the general merchandise department and concentrated his entire attention upon agricultural implements. In 1914 he added automobiles, and this is now one of the most thriving enterprises of that section of Sauk County.
Mr. Baumgarten has been twice married, both wives being now deceased. He first married Katherine Licht, and by that union had three children, named Hulda, Martha and Irene. For his second wife he mar- ried Bertha Huebing, and by his second marriage there were four chil- dren, namely : Edwin, Lawrence, Levera and Harold.
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HENRY F. SCHEWE. When Henry F. Schewe first came to Reedsburg to enter upon a business career his available assets consisted of a small amount of capital which he had been able to save from his earnings while working on farms. He had, however, many far more dependable resources and among them were grit and determination and an unlimited capacity for industry. These have elevated him to a place among the substantial business men of the city, to prominence in commercial circles, and to public-spirited participation in all that tends to the permanent upbuild- ing of the community. Likewise, he is a well known figure in the hard- ware trade, and the Reedsburg Hardware. Company, of which he is the head, has been built up to important proportions upon a policy of business honesty.
Mr. Schewe was born in Germany, July 3, 1855, and was still a child when brought to the United States by his parents, Henry J. and Dorothea Schewe. In their native land Mr. Schewe's parents had been small farmers, honored in their community and industrious workers, but lack- ing in opportunities for the achievement of success, whereupon they decided to try their fortunes in the United States, the land of opportuni- ties. Upon their arrival in Sauk County they purchased a farm in Westfield Township, and this they improved and developed, subsequently adding to it by further purchases until they had about 500 acres. In their declining years they retired from active work and removed to their comfortable home at Reedsburg, where the father died in 1900, at the age of seventy-five years, and the mother in 1908, when seventy-eight years of age. They were faithful members of the Lutheran Church, attending St. Peter's Church at Reedsburg, and were honored by the people among whom they had lived for so many years for their innumer- able sterling qualities of mind and heart.
The only child of his parents, Henry F. Schewe was still a child when brought to America, and his rearing was on the farm in Westfield Town- ship, where he was given his education in the country schools. When he reached his majority he engaged in farming on his own account and that vocation continued to occupy his attention for some years. However, he had in his makeup a predilection for business matters, and the call of the city finally became so strong that in 1890 he left the homestead and came to Reedsburg, where he had his first business experience in a hard- ware store, as a clerk in the business in which he was later to become prominent. After being engaged thus for about six years he embarked in the liquor and malting business, conducting an establishment of this nature at Reedsburg for eleven years, when he again became identified with the hardware business, in partnership with E. L. Schulze. The venture was started in a modest manner, but with the passing of the years a good and constantly increasing trade has been attracted to the Reedsburg Hardware Company, under which style the firm is conducted, and various additions to the rooms and stock have made this one of the important commercial enterprises of Reedsburg. Mr. Schewe has become a keen and far-sighted business man, and through close study and observa- tion of conditions and the trade has become thoroughly familiar with the needs of the community in his line, and now carries an excellent stock of modern goods, including shelf and heavy hardware, implements, stoves,
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etc., these being the products of some of the leading manufacturers of the country. The store is situated on Main Street, and has come to be looked upon at Reedsburg in the light of a necessary commercial adjunct. Mr. Schewe is primarily a business man, with large personal interests, but has realized that citizenship carries with it certain responsibilities and has therefore entered actively into the life of the community. He has preferred not to ally himself with any certain political party, voting independently and relying upon his own judgment in his choice of candi- dates for public office. His own public service has included six years spent in the office of alderman, a capacity in which he acted ably and with fidelity to the interests of the city. He and his family are members of the St. Peter's Lutheran Church.
Mr. Schewe was married in 1871 to Miss Dorothea Schulze, of Sauk County, Wisconsin, and they became the parents of three children : Dorothea, a graduate of Reedsburg High School, and wife of George Long, of Chicago; Agnes, a graduate of the Reedsburg High School, wife of Henry Theman, a druggist of Reedsburg, and mother of four children, Eloise, Gertrude, and Agnes and Lucile, twins; and Henry, also a graduate of Reedsburg High School, unmarried and a resident of a farm in the vicinity of Rochester, Wisconsin. Mrs. Schewe, the mother of these children, died in 1878. In 1891 Mr. Schewe was again married, being united with Miss Dorothea Koemeke, of Sauk County, and to this union there have been born three children: Paul, a graduate of Reedsburg High School and of the University of Michigan in commercial law, is unmarried and manager of an ice cream factory at Texarkana, Texas; Albert, a graduate of the Reedsburg High School and of the LaCrosse Business College, class of 1917; and Miss Florence, a graduate of the Reedsburg High School, class of 1917.
JOHN LEE. Perhaps no European country has contributed to America a greater number of good citizens than has Norway, a sturdy, industrious, reliable people who because of their sterling character are welcomed in every section of this country in which they choose to locate. Sauk County, Wisconsin, can number many Norwegians when it numbers its men of worth, and one of these may be found in John Lee, a prosperous farmer in Baraboo Township.
John Lee was born in Norway, February 2, 1873. His parents were Ole and Bertha (Halverson) Lee. The father was born in Norway in September, 1833, and the mother on August 25, 1844. They were reared in their native land and were married there in 1866. In 1881 they came to Baraboo, Wisconsin, where the father worked at the carpenter trade during his active years. He died in the home of his son John in Febru- ary, 1913. He believed in the principles of the republican party and cast his vote for years with that political organization. His widow survives and lives with her son John, who is unmarried. She is a faithful member of the Lutheran Church, as was her husband. They had six children : Olavus, who died in April, 1898, in Sauk County, at the age of twenty- nine years; and Hans, John, Anton, Ole and Otto.
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