USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
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 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
John Lec was eight years old when he accompanied his parents to Wisconsin and he obtained a common school education in the Baraboo
654
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
schools. He did not learn his father's excellent trade, preferring an agricultural life, and from early youth until 1892 worked by the month as a farm hand. In that year, however, he decided to invest his savings and bought a tract of eighty acres situated in Fairfield Township, which land he sold advantageously in 1893 and then went to Barron County and purchased a farm of forty acres. He resided there for two years and then sold again, and in December, 1911, bought the old Theodore Steele farm of ninety acres, which lies in Baraboo Township. Here he carries on general farming and stockraising, two of the country's most important industries, and is meeting with the success that close attention to and thorough understanding of his line of work deserves.
Mr. Lee followed in his father's footsteps in political affiliation and votes with the republican party. He has accepted no political office.but nevertheless is an influential citizen because of his excellent judgment and practical ideas on public as well as local affairs. He is a member of the Lutheran Church.
CHAUNCEY M. BLAKE was one of the first pupils in the first public school ever taught in Baraboo. He is not only one of the oldest residents of the city but lias for many years been one of its most industrious citizens, has proved capable in the management of his business affairs, and has made his prosperity of value not only to his family but to the community.
He was born in Franklin County, New York, October 10, 1841, a son of Marvin and Lura (Brown) Blake. His maternal grandparents were Chauncey and Clarissa (Hazen) Brown. Chauncey Brown was in the War of 1812 and witnessed the battle of Plattsburg. He came from Franklin County, New York, to Sauk County, Wisconsin, in 1846. His son, George W. Brown, was a notable historical character in Sank County, and one of the most prominent early business men of Baraboo. He owned the water power and did much to develop it. George W. Brown was killed in 1847. He owned forty acres of land in what is now the City of Baraboo, while Chauncey Brown, his father, also owned forty acres. Chauncey Brown for many years conducted a lumber yard and lumber mill at Baraboo, and was well-to-do when he died in 1863. His wife died in 1854. His oldest son, also named Chauncey, became a wealthy man.
Marvin Blake was born in Oswego County, New York, May 5, 1814. His wife was born in the same state April 23, 1817. In 1844 they came west and located at Whitewater, Wisconsin, but in 1845 removed to Baraboo. Marvin Blake built a log house where the gas tank now stands in Baraboo. He was a carpenter by trade and for a time worked for his brother-in-law, George W. Brown, owner of the water power and mills at Baraboo. He also did a large business as a contractor and builder and subsequently invested much of his means in farm lands in this county. He died in Baraboo June 21, 1899, and his wife passed away December 10. 1901. Of their children Chauncey M. is the only survivor. The first of their children died in infancy in New York. George Frank- lin, the third child, when a young man, was drowned in Sauk County.
Chauncey M. Blake was four years of age when brought to Baraboo.
655
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
He grew up in that city, attended the pioneer schools and came to man- hood with a fair education.
He was not twenty-one years of age when on August 14, 1862, he enlisted in Company F of the Twenty-third Wisconsin Infantry. With the exception of three months spent in the barracks at St. Louis, Mr. Blake was with his regiment in all its campaigns and marches and battles. He was in ten distinct engagements, and made a record as a gallant and faithful soldier, one who performed his duty in the face of danger and every hardship.
After the war Mr. Blake became a factor in a once flourishing industry in this section of Wisconsin, hop raising. He was also connected with a manufacturing company at Baraboo, and as a carpenter he was employed by the Northwestern Railway, and in that capacity helped build the round house at Madison and many depots and bridges. Subsequently, for six years, he was an engine repairer in the Baraboo roundhouse.
Mr. Blake now lives in a comfortable home at the corner of Oak and Blake streets, the latter thoroughfare having been named in honor of his father. Mr. Blake in politics has always affiliated with the republican party, and served as alderman for some years and for five years was poor commissioner for the old soldiers. He is a member and ex-commander of the Grand Army of the Republic Post at Baraboo, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On August 6, 1867, he married Miss Amanda Turney. She was born in Connecticut October 25, 1845, a daughter of Hiram D. and Jeannette (Johnson) Turney. Her parents came to Sauk County in 1856. Hiram Turney was a clock maker and also a carpenter, and followed the latter trade in Baraboo and subsequently was connected with a furniture com- pany. He spent his last years in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Blake and died in 1905, at the age of eighty-five, his widow surviving him until 1912, when she was ninety-one years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. Blake had five children, Mamie, Edith, Marvin, Agnes and Charles. Mamie is the wife of T. A. Gannon, a leading farmer of Sauk County. Their three children are named Esther, Alice and Chaun- cey. Edith, who died February 8, 1906, married Edward Mille, and was survived by four children : Gladys, who graduated valedictorian of her class from the Baraboo High School and is now a successful teacher of music at Evansville, Wisconsin; Philip, who is a member of the Illinois State Guard; Bernice, a trained nurse; and Marvin. Marvin, the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Blake, is a machinist in Madison, and by his marriage to Eliza Williamson, who died in 1906, has one son, Marvin, who now lives with Mr. and Mrs. Blake at the age of fifteen. The daughter Agnes was well educated in the Baraboo High School and the son Charles is a machinist.
E. AUGUST RUNGE, who has resided in Baraboo for many years, is well known as a lawyer and a newspaper man. He was born in Cedar- burg, Wisconsin, over sixty years ago, and soon after his father died in 1865 the widow and her family moved to Sauk City. He worked in a printing office, was educated in the Jefferson Liberal Institute and the Wisconsin State University, taught school for a time, and studied law.
656
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
Admitted to the bar in 1881, he practised for a few years, edited a news- paper and in 1886 came to Baraboo and, with Herman Grotophorst, bought the Sauk County Democrat, of which he became the editor. After 1890, for a number of years, he was also its sole proprietor. Since retiring from the newspaper field, Mr. Runge has devoted himself strictly to his profession. He married Miss Clara Thiele, of Sauk City, an educated and talented Wisconsin girl, who has since become widely known in her home city for her intellectual acumen, her philanthropies and her womanly activities. Mrs. Runge was appointed by Governor Philipp as a member of the Board of Regents of the State Normal Schools and holds that posi- tion at the present time.
AUGUST MEYER, whose name and position as one of the progressive farmers of Westfield Township appropriately belongs in the record of Sauk County, has spent all his life in this county and is a member of a pioneer family.
He was born in Westfield Township February 5, 1873, a son of Henry, and Dora Meyer. His parents came to Wisconsin from the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, in 1860, locating on a tract of forty acres of wild and unimproved land in Westfield Township. Later the father moved to Dan O'Hearn's place in Washington Township. Still later he bought 240 acres and in 1900 rounded out his possessions with another forty acres. During these many years Henry Meyer came to be recognized as one of Sauk County's most progressive and successful farmers. He and his wife had seven children : Henry, William, Fred, August, Dora, Anna and Sophia.
Mr. August Meyer was educated in the German Lutheran schools and grew to manhood with a competent training in the vocation which he has successfully followed. In November, 1907, he located on his present farm of eighty acres and is handling that most capably as a general farming and stock-raising proposition. Mr. Meyer is a republican and a member of the Lutheran Church, in which he was reared from early childhood. Decem- ber 23, 1908, he married Miss Mary Wiese, daughter of M. and Elizabeth (Schmidt) Wiese. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer had three children, Henry, Annie and Edward, the two latter now deceased. The son Henry was born November 7, 1909.
HERMAN RETZLOFF, a prosperous and progressive citizen of Excelsior Township, is the owner of a finely improved farm of 180 acres. In addi- tion to his agricultural pursuits he conducts an extensive business in the sale of farm implements. He is a native of Germany, where his birth occurred December 11, 1866. His parents, Charles and Eva (Preskorn) Retzloff, were born, reared and married in Germany and they immigrated to the United States in 1873, settling in Pennsylvania, whence they removed to Sank County, Wisconsin, in 1879. The father was a farmer and initiated his work in this line in Sauk County on an estate of sixty- five acres, which he cleared and improved with modern buildings. He continued to reside here until his death in 1911, aged eighty-six years. His wife passed to eternal rest in 1906, at the age of seventy-two years. ' To them were born ten children, three of whom died in infancy and the remainder of whom are all living in 1917. Following are their names in
657
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
respective order of birth: Mary, Augusta, Godfried, John, Herman, Ernest and Bertha. Mr. Retzloff was a republican, and he was a devout Lutheran in religious faith. He was a man of sterling integrity of character, was an efficient farmer and he gave his staunch support to all matters forwarded for public improvements.
At the age of seven years Herman Retzloff accompanied his parents to America and his early educational training was obtained in the public schools of Pennsylvania, where he lived until his thirteenth year. He then came to Sauk County, here completed his schooling and eventually turned his attention to the great basic industry of agriculture, with which line of enterprise he has since been identified. He owns the old parental homestead and has added to its acreage until he now has an estate of 180 acres. In addition to general farming and stock raising he has a large patronage and does an extensive business in the sale of agri- cultural implements of all kinds. He is an enterprising business man and a loyal and public-spirited citizen.
In 1893 Mr. Retzloff married Miss Anna Liebberger, who was born and reared in Germany, where her father died in 1900 and where her mother still maintains her home. Mr. and Mrs. Retzloff have four chil- dren : Rienhold, Hilda, Bruno and Esther, all of whom are at the parental home.
METLER MATHER, now living retired in Baraboo City, has spent his active career in the farming activities of Sauk County. His labor was a factor in bringing a section of the wilderness into fruitfulness, and the hard work he performed in earlier years not only well justifies his retire- ment and comfort, but should give him lasting credit as one of the men who have made Sauk County what it is today.
He was born in Sumpter Township of Sauk County March 28, 1856, a son of James and Sarah (Cox) Mather. Both parents were natives of Greenwood, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, where the paternal grandparents, Jesse and Margaret (Shively) Mather, and the maternal grandparents, William and Mary (Batten) Cox, spent their last years. James Mather was born May 27, 1825, and his wife in 1830. They were married December 16, 1847, and in 1853 arrived in Wisconsin, first locating, in April of that year, in Jefferson, Green County, but in the fall of the same year removing to Sumpter Township in Sauk County. James Mather bought a farm of 160 acres, and in the course of time had it substantially improved with buildings and much of the land under cultivation. He lived there until the last seven years of his life, which he spent in Prairie du Sac, where he died in 1904. His widow died in 1910 in Oakland, California. James Mather was a republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Their family comprised twelve children : William H., who was a Union soldier, enlisting August 26, 1864, in Company G of the Forty-second Wisconsin Infantry and receiving his discharge in June, 1865; Margaret E .; Jesse A .; Horace ; Metler; James E., who died August 8, 1877; Mary A .; John C .; Carrie L., who died in 1914; Samuel G .; Frank M. ; and one that died in infancy.
Metler Mather grew up on the old homestead, attended the public schools, and early determined to make farming his regular vocation.
658
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
Some time after reaching manhood he bought a place of 120 acres in Sumpter Township. Selling that he bought 210 acres half a mile distant, and devoted his time and energy successfully to its management until 1910. In that year he sold his farm and removed to Baraboo. He bought a home on First Street, but in 1914 bought his present place at the corner of Elizabeth and Second streets, where he now lives with every comfort and convenience.
Mr. Mather is an independent republican, has never sought office, but rendered valuable service as a member of the school board for a number of years. He is affiliated with Baraboo Lodge No. 34, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Guard- ians of Liberty. His church is the Methodist Episcopal.
On February 19, 1880, Mr. Mather married Miss Jessie Josephine Pobjoy. She, too, is a native of Sumpter Township in Sauk County, where she was born August 26, 1859. Her parents were Daniel and Rachel (Rivenberg) Pobjoy. Her father was born in England November 25, 1825, and her mother was born in Columbia County, New York, December 3, 1832, being a daughter of Henry and Catherine ( Whitbeck) Rivenberg, who spent their last years in New York City. Daniel Pobjoy and wife came to Sumpter Township in 1855, and at that time acquired the eighty acres of land on which they spent their fruitful years. The father died there January 28, 1878, and the mother passed away August 28, 1907. Mrs. Mather was one of four children, named Henrietta, Jessie J., Richard F. and Isaac G., all of whom are living.
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Mather: Eva; George, who died October 15, 1884; Clinton ; Nellie and Nettie, twins, the latter dying September 1, 1891, at the age of nine months; Rachel; and Schuyler. The daughter Eva is now the wife of John P. Wagner, of Sumpter Town- ship, and their five children are named Lila, Violet, Jessie, Donald and Lowell. The son Clinton married Nellie Tooley and has a son named Virgil. Nellie is the wife of Elmer Kitel and became the mother of two children, Thelma now deceased, and Victor.
WILLIAM SOLTWEDEL. A farm that has been made to respond to the intelligent cultivation of one man through a long period of years is that owned by William Soltwedel in Westfield Township, near the Village of Loganville. Mr. Soltwedel has lived here for over thirty-five years, and has made one of the best country homes of the county. Thrift and good management are evident in whatever direction one may turn, and this one farm has contributed no small share to the volume of crops for which Sauk County is famous.
Mr. Soltwedel was born in Germany, April 3, 1854, a son of Frederick and Johanna (Wagner) Soltwedel. His parents spent all their lives in the old country, his father passing away in 1881 and the mother in 1914.
William Soltwedel grew up in his native country, was well educated in the German schools and was about twenty-six years of age when he came to this country and settled in Sauk County in May, 1880. He first lived near Reedsburg, but in 1882 removed to Westfield Township and to the land that he now owns. The clearing and developing of this land was the object of his labors for a number of years, but latterly he has
659
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
given all his time to its successful management and cultivation. He has 160 acres and runs it as a general crop and stock farm. He uses the silo system for feeding his cattle and keeps about thirty head, with a dairy of about twenty cows. Mr. Soltwedel is independent in political matters and an active member of the Lutheran Church. He is a citizen who has been frequently called upon to act in capacities of trust and responsibility. He has been a judge in the Loganville Court, and for about ten years has been a member of the Loganville School Board.
Mr. Soltwedel married for his first wife Matilda Gade, of Reedsburg, daughter of Frederick and Dorothy Gade. All his children are by that marriage, named Ernst, August, Herman, Ella, Mary and Paul. Ernst married Esther Gatsch. August married Anna Schrank. Herman mar- ried Elsie Gluth. Ella is the wife of Fred Haas. Paul married Florence Brunell. In April, 1897, Mr. Soltwedel married for his present wife Minnie Burmeister, daughter of John Burmeister, whose home was near Loganville.
GEORGE J. SEAMANS, editor and proprietor of the Reedsburg Free Press, has been a resident of Sauk County nearly fifty years, since early boyhood, and during this time he has formed many substantial and useful connections with his community. His is one of the best and most ably edited newspapers of the county and it is one of the few papers of Sauk County whose files are preserved in the State Historical Society at Madison.
Mr. Seamans is of a very old American family. He was born in Genesee County, New York, near the City of Batavia, on March 30, 1864. His parents were Amos George and Anna Maria (Lown) Seamans. His father was born in Connecticut and his mother in New York State. In 1868, when he was four years of age, his parents came to Wisconsin and located in Ironton Township of Sauk County. His father bought a farm there and while improving the land he also burned charcoal and delivering from his standing timber, the burned coal to the furnace at Ironton at a price equal to $1.75 a cord for the wood. He finally retired to Reeds- burg, where he died in 1914. His widow is still living at Reedsburg. Amos G. Seamans was an active republican and he and his wife were Baptists, a religion to which the Seamans family had adhered since the time of Roger Williams. The father was also an excellent musician, took an active part in church and social musical affairs and for a number of years gave musical instruction free of charge in the community. There were nine children in the family: George J .; Grant, deceased ; a daughter that died in infancy; Archie, deceased; Bertie Ulysses, who owns the old homestead in Sauk County; Amos Leigh, a farmer across the road from ' the old home place; Ina, who lives with her mother in Reedsburg; Frank Merrill, a merchant and farmer at Ironton Village; Jennie, wife of O. J. Crane, a farmer at Ironton and a taxidermist by profession.
George J. Seamans grew up on the old home farm and attended the public schools in the country and at Ironton Village. On completing his early studies he took an examination for a teacher's certificate. He was one of the four who held a first-grade certificate in the county at that time. For a number of years Mr. Seamans taught school at North
660
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
Freedom and at Valton in this county. For four years Mr. Seamans was engaged in making and selling the Sauk County wall map. Then, in 1899, he removed to Reedsburg and bought the Reedsburg Free Press, of which he has been proprietor and editor to the present time. He is also presi- dent of the Reedsburg Land and Improvement Company, of which he was one of the organizers. One of the most successful enterprises with business headquarters in this county is the Reedsburg Silver Black Fox Company, of which Mr. Seamans is secretary. He is also president of the Reedsburg Industrial Association, and has held that office for a number of years.
Politically he is a republican, but is content to express his views as a voter and has never sought an office. He is affiliated with the lodge of Knights of Pythias at Reedsburg and with Forest Lodge No. 106, Inde- pendent Order of Foresters. On September 19, 1900, Mr. Seamans mar- ried Miss Emma Whiteley, of Reedsburg.
MATHEW H. MOULD, cashier of the First National Bank, is the son of a sturdy Englishman, and was himself born in Herkimer County, New York. His father, also Mathew, came to Baraboo with his wife and chil- dren in 1857. He was a cabinet and a carriage maker, with a penchant for photography, and most of his active life in this locality was spent in that field of mechanical art. The father was also at one time president of the Village Board and a man of practical ability. Mathew H. has been educated in Baraboo, worked with his father as a photographer, later engaged in various lines of business and about 20 years ago became iden- tified with local banking. He has been cashier of the First National since its reorganization. A list of Mr. Mould's public offices includes the city treasurership, the mayoralty, postmastership (41/2 years), and mem- ber of the water, police and fire commissions. For the past fifteen years he has also served as secretary of the Baraboo Cemetery Association.
CHARLES F. NINMAN. The career of the late Charles F. Ninman was one long service to the community which he esteemed above all others in which he had spent portions of his life. Sauk City has reason to remember this good man, who considered its welfare above his own, and in many ways was instrumental in shaping and influencing its life and affairs.
A native of Wisconsin, he was born on the farm near Watertown December 16, 1846. There he grew up and worked with his father in the fields and the woods until eighteen. In the meantime he had made the best of his advantages at school and he then qualified as a teacher and taught altogether in different public schools for almost eleven years.
In 1878 he was elected superintendent of the city schools of Water- town. He gave up that position and in 1884 came to Sauk City, where the last twenty years of his life, constituting perhaps its most valuable period, was lived. At Sauk City he was principal of the schools for six years.
In 1890 he established the Sauk City Presse, a German weekly paper, and in 1900 consolidated it with the Pionier Am Wisconsin, giving the
max H. Kinman
661
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
publication the name Sauk City Pionier Presse, which is now published under the management of his son Max.
- The publication of this newspaper was a successful business enter- prise, but it was more than that, since it was the medium through which he exerted his untiring efforts in behalf of the community. Many times he was accorded the honor of public office and served as police justice, justice of the peace, village clerk, village president, health officer. He took a great interest in all public improvements. The building of a new high school in 1891 was in a great measure due to his efforts, and he served on its building committee. The creamery and the canning factory are among the enterprises which he helped to promote, and he served as president of the Canning and Packing Company. He supervised the erection of the electric light plant and was the principal citizen to urge its establishment.
On May 10, 1870, Charles F. Ninman married Miss Sophie Stoevehase. Seven children were born to them, of whom three sons and one daughter are living: Edward, in Tacoma, Washington; Theodore, in Reedsburg, Wisconsin ; Max, in Sauk City ; and Mrs. E. G. Von Wald, in LaCrosse.
Charles F. Ninman died March 9, 1904. The attendance at his funeral was the largest ever seen in Sauk City. Business places were closed and the following lodges of which he was a member attended the funeral in a body : Masons, Ancient Order of United Workmen, Modern Woodmen of America and Degree of Honor.
MAX H. NINMAN, publisher of the Sauk City Pionier Presse, is a son of the founder and for many years the proprietor of that well-known German weekly paper in this county. He was born while his parents lived at Watertown, Wisconsin, December . 11, 1878. Of his father a sketch appears on preceding pages.
He attended the public schools and the high school at Sauk City, and at the age of thirteen began learning the printing business under his father. He worked steadily at the case and in reporting and performing other duties of the all-around newspaper man, and when his father died he took over the business and has conducted it with gratifying results to himself and to the community. He now has a thoroughly equipped print- ing plant and has a newspaper with a wide circulation and a great influ- ence in that section of the county.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.