A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II, Part 14

Author: Cole, Harry Ellsworth
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 608

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The parents of Mr. Clark were born in the Empire State, where they were reared, educated and married, and there settled down to farming for a time. About the year 1849, believing that greater opportunities were awaiting them in the rapidly opening and fast-growing West, they came to Wisconsin and located in the new County of Sauk, where land was to be secured at reasonable rates and where the soil was promising and the outlook bright. Of those who came to the new locality, only the fit remained. There was no room for any except the courageous, the vig- orous, the persevering; others returned to the East or the South and left the field in possession of the sturdy few, upon whom rested the task of blazing the way for the civilization that was yet to come. Frank and Mary Clark had all the sound and practical characteristics that made possible the settlement of the state. They purchased a farm of about 120 acres located in Fairfield Township, and after partly clearing it sold out and moved to another farm, which they also developed. With this they parted at a price substantially in advance of what they had paid for it, and at that time went to Michigan, where they spent about six years. Again pushing to the West, with the true spirit of the pioneers, they took up their residence in Colorado, and there Frank Clark died about 1904, at the age of eighty years. He had been an industrious and persevering workman, winning success from his various undertakings by reason of his steady application no less than by his fidelity and sound- ness, his good business judgment and his foresight in taking advantage of opportunities. In each of the communities in which he resided he was respected and held in confidence by his associates, and took an active part in the civic life and development of his locality. His political belief made him a republican, while his religious faith was that of the Methodist Episcopal Church. After the death of her husband Mrs. Clark returned to Sauk County and took up her residence at the home of her son, George M., where she died in 1911, aged eighty-two years. Mr. and Mrs. Clark were the parents of the following children : Emma, the widow of William A. Darling, residing near Sparta, Wisconsin; George M., of this notice ; and Clarence, a railroad man living in Wyoming.

George M. Clark secured his education as a student in the public

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schools of Fairfield Township, and when his school days were over returned to the home farm. Like many country youths he was attracted by the vocation of railroading and for a short time worked as a trainman, but eventually returned to the homestead. There he remained until 1882, in which year he went to South Dakota and took up 320 acres of land, which he cultivated and improved, and upon which he continued to carry on operations during a period of nineteen years. He became the owner there of a valuable property, but in 1901, when he received a favorable offer, he disposed of his South Dakota interests and returned to the vicinity of his birth and is now the owner of 120 acres of good Fairfield Township land, which he bought in 1902. He has good build- ings and all modern improvements, follows progressive methods in culti- vating his tract, and is accounted one of the men who have given encour- agement to the science of agriculture through their maintaining of high standards. He follows stock-raising to some extent in connection with his general farming operations, and is also interested in dairying, disposing of his product to the Excelsior Co-operative Creamery Company of Bara- boo. In politics a republican, he has taken an active interest in the affairs of his community, and on several occasions has been elected to responsible public offices, having served as treasurer of the Fairfield Township Board for twelve years, and in the capacity of overseer of roads.

Mr. Clark was married in January, 1892, to Miss Marian Palmer, who was born in Penfield Township, Sauk County, in 1862, a daughter of James and Parmelia Palmer, who came to Sauk County in 1848 and located in Penfield Township. Mr. Palmer died here in 1910, at the age of eighty-one years, while Mrs. Palmer survived until April, 1917, and was seventy-nine years old at the time of her demise.

PATRICK HOLTON who by a life of sustained industry and good man- agement has built up one of the fine farm estates of Dellona Township, represents a family that has been identified with Sauk County for nearly seventy years, in fact covering the entire period of development of the county from the wilderness conditions in which the pioneers first found it.

Mr. Holton was born in the City of St. Catherine's, Province of Quebec, Canada, December 3, 1849. In the same year of his birth his parents, Cornelius and Mary (Connerton) Holton, emigrated to Wis- consin and settled at Portage, but soon afterward moved to Dellona Township of Sauk County, where they were instrumental in developing some of the new land and establishing one of the early homes in that section. The father died there July 31, 1884, and his widow passed away September 14, 1892. They reared a large family of nine children, named Thomas, Patrick, Mary, Catherine, Ellen, James, Henry, Annie and Bridget. These children were well educated in the public schools of Sauk County and all of them married except Bridget.

Patrick Holton, after leaving school, found plenty to do on his father's farm until twenty-seven years of age, and gradually developed his indi- vidual interests as a farmer until today finds him the possessor and proprietor of 520 acres. Nearly all of this is suitable for cultivation and he has made it a general farming proposition with livestock breeding and

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raising as a predominant feature. He has bred and raised many fine Durham cattle.

Mr. Holton has also identified himself in a public spirited manner with town and church affairs, is an active democrat and is a member of the Catholic Church, in which faith his children were reared.

In 1876 Mr. Holton married Bridget Bresnahan, of Adams County, Wisconsin. Their large family consists of the following children: Cor- nelius, Catherine, Ellen, John, Margaret, Charles, Esther, Patrick J., Elizabeth, Julia and William. All of these were given the advantages of the local public schools, while Julia and Elizabeth had further training in academies.

EDWIN MONROE HOAG. During the more than forty years in which he was engaged in business at Baraboo the late Edwin Monroe Hoag was connected with several commercial enterprises which were identified with the business prestige of the city and which he assisted in developing to important proportions. His career was one which gave him a creditable standing among the business builders of the city and his activities as a citizen were of a nature which made his death be considered a loss to Baraboo and its interests.

Mr. Hoag was a native of Peru, New York, and was born November 9, 1851, his parents being Emery and Almira H. (Weston) Hoag, natives of Peru, where the former was born November 22, 1807, and the latter January 1, 1819. The family resided in the Empire State until 1860, in which year the parents brought their family to Beaver Dam, Wiscon- sin, two years later removing to Baraboo. Here Emery Hoag was engaged in the grocery business until his death, which occurred July 3, 1872, Mrs. Hoag surviving until June 2, 1889. They were faithful members of the Presbyterian Church, and the parents of three children : Henrietta A. E., deceased; Almira C., who married William Haseltine, a farmer ; and Edwin M.

Edwin M. Hoag was nine years of age when he was brought to Wis- consin, and here he supplemented the public school education which he had secured at Peru, New York, by five years of attendance at the Bara- boo Institute. With this preparation he entered upon his career as a clerk in the store of Huntington & Bacon, where he assimilated business methods rapidly. In 1873 G. H. Bacon sold his interest in the store to William Stanley, and in 1875 Mr. Hoag was admitted as a member of the firm of Huntington & Stanley, an enterprise which carried on a large business until 1898. In that year W. Stanley died and the business was sold to the present Stanley Company, with which concern Mr. Hoag remained in the capacity of business counsel until 1911. He then retired and for two years lived quietly, but in 1913 his energetic nature caused him to resume activities, this time as a partner of Charles Lee in the hardware trade. He remained in this business until his death April 7, 1916, since which time his widow has been a member of the firm. Mr. Hoag had at all times the full confidence of his business associates and the esteem and confidence of the general public. He was a republican, but had no aspirations of a public character, his only interest in political matters being centered in his desire for his party's success. His religious

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affiliation was with the Presbyterian Church, to which Mrs. Hoag, who survives her husband and lives at the family home at No. 318 Fourth Avenue, belongs.

On August 19, 1875, Mr. Hoag was married at Waterloo, Iowa, to Miss Stella R. Partridge, who was born at Lebanon, New Hampshire, May 31, 1857, daughter of Maynard and Harriet (Parker) Partridge, the former born in 1825 and the latter in 1829. In 1858 Mr. and Mrs. Par- tridge brought their family to Merrimack, Wisconsin, where Mr. Par- tridge engaged in the manufacture of furniture. Feeling that Baraboo offered greater opportunities for success, Mr. Partridge came to this city not long thereafter and here built up a successful enterprise, only to see the results of years of labor swept away in 1865, when a disastrous fire destroyed his plant. In seeking to get a fresh start Mr. Partridge went to Winona for one year, but returned to Baraboo to become foreman of the chair factory of M. J. Drown, and remained in this capacity until 1870. In that year he went to Waterloo, Iowa, and engaged in the furni- ture and undertaking business, which he placed upon a sound basis and sold, at that time going to a farm, on which he carried on successful operations for about twelve years. He then went to Le Mars, Iowa, where he engaged in a house furnishings business as a manufacturer, building up this trade until it was necessary to employ in the neighborhood of fifty men. He was finally successful in the accumulation of a competency and returned to spend his last years with his daughter, Mrs. Hoag, at Baraboo, at whose home he died in 1898. Mrs. Partridge passed away in 1908. They were the parents of four children, namely : Henry, who died in infancy ; Stella R., who is now Mrs. Hoag; Arthur W., born in 1864, who is now a resident of Omaha, Nebraska; and Lottie, born in 1868, who died at the age of eighteen months.

Mr. and Mrs. Hoag became the parents of three children: Emery M., who died in infancy ; Dr. Arthur E., born May 29, 1880, a practicing dentist of Carrollton, Illinois, who married Bertha Nell Moorshead ; and Ethel Grace, born September 8, 1889, a graduate of the Baraboo High School and Beloit College, and for the past five years a teacher in the school at Evansville, Wisconsin.

JACOB J. FELIX. The business as well as the civic activities of the Village of Prairie du Sac owe much to the enterprise and good judgment of the late Jacob J. Felix. Mr. Felix continued in business in that town until his death, and his family still live there, including the widow of Mr. J. J. Felix, whose home has been in Sauk County since her early childhood.

The late Jacob J. Felix was a native of Sauk County, having been born in Troy Township November 15, 1859. His parents were Gaudenz and Catherine (Leutcher) Felix, both natives of Switzerland. After their marriage they immigrated to America, seeking the better opportunities of the New World, and arriving in Troy Township of Sauk County the father took up a tract of Government land. He was busy with its im- provement and clearing and in time came to enjoy a moderate prosperity. Both he and his wife died in that community. Their children were : Margaret, Elizabeth, Mary and Jacob.

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On the old home farm in Troy Township Jacob J. Felix spent the first twenty-five years of his life. His education was confined to the advantages of the local schools. Removing to Prairie du Sac, he began his business career as a clerk in the store of Schneller, Patterson & Com- pany. As a result of the fidelity which was one of his dominant charac- teristics, supplemented by great industry, he mastered the details of busi- ness and subsequently was made a partner in the firm. He then continued actively in business at Prairie du Sac until his death on July 19, 1913.

Not only was he attentive to his business but also to those movements which express the real progress and welfare of the community. He was affiliated with Eureka Lodge No. 113, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and with the local camp of the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his wife were active in the Presbyterian Church.

In 1886 Mr. Felix married Miss Emma Glasner. Mrs. Felix was born at Prairie du Sac June 16, 1865, a daughter of Henry and Annie Margaret (Yagy) Glasner. Her parents and her people for generations back were natives of Switzerland. Henry Glasner was born at Glarus, Switzerland, August 26, 1821. Mrs. Felix's mother was born in Grau- binden, Switzerland, March 21, 1831. She was a daughter of John Peter Yagy and his wife, Ann ( Wilhelm) Yagy, both natives of Switzerland. . The Yagy family came to Galena, Illinois, in the pioneer times and John Peter Yagy died soon after arriving in that country. His widow sub- sequently removed to Sauk County, Wisconsin, and died there in the early '60s. In the Yagy family were five daughters and one son: Bar- bara, Cecelia, Elizabeth, Margaret, John Peter and Anna, all of whom are now deceased. Henry Glasner, father of Mrs. Felix, served the regu- lar time as a soldier of Switzerland and spent four years with the army in Italy. He married his first wife in Switzerland and she died while on the way to the United States. Henry Glasner then proceeded to Galena, Illinois, and on March 28, 1850, in that town, he married the mother of Mrs. Felix. From Galena he removed to Dubuque, Iowa, and subsequently to Sauk County, Wisconsin, locating at Prairie du Sac in 1858. Mr. Glasner became a well-known business man in that community and was a jeweler. He continued his business until his death in July, 1895. His widow survived him until 1902. In the Glasner family were the following children : Barbara, Mrs. J. P. Witwen, of Baraboo; Anna, living at Prairie du Sae, widow of Florina Gassen; Henrietta, of Bara- boo; Mrs. Emma Felix ; Henry, who died in February, 1884, when about sixteen years of age; and Catherine, widow of H. L. Brethauer, of Baraboo.

The late Mr. Glasner was an active republican in politics and also a strong temperance man. He and his wife were active members of the Evangelical Church. He was one of the organizers of the first Evan- gelieal Church at Prairie du Sac.

Mrs. Felix, since her husband's death, has continued to live in Prairie du Sac and is comforted by the presence of several of her children who still remain in the same community. She is the mother of five children : Gertrude is the wife of H. C. Moore, of Prairie du Sac; Miriam is now engaged in school work at Menominee, Wisconsin; Henry has succeeded his father in the mercantile business, so that the name Felix is still well

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known in mercantile circles; Catherine is a student in the Prairie du Sac High School; and Richard is still a member of the home circle.

PATRICK COYNE is member of a very well-known family in Bear Creek Township, and his family for years have distinguished themselves as very capable farmers.

Mr. Patrick Coyne was born in Onondago County, New York, Febru- ary 8, 1857, a son of Anthony and Annie Coyne. His parents were both natives of Ireland, were married there, and in the early '50s left County Galway and established their home in America. Five children were born to them in the old country, named Mary, Michael, Nora, John and Anna, all of them now deceased. The three children born after they came to America are: Thomas, born August 6, 1855; Patrick, born February 8, 1857; and Margaret, born October 28, 1861.

Anthony Coyne died January 14, 1895, and his wife died Septem- ber 26, 1908. Their three surviving children, Patrick and his brother and sister, all live together on the home farm in Bear Creek Township, and all of them are unmarried. They have a fine farm, owned jointly by them, and handle it as a general farming and stock-raising proposi- tion. Mr. Patrick Coyne has served on the Board of Supervisors for a number of years.

Their sister Anna, now deceased, married Benjamin Brumaghin, of Albany, New York. When she died she left one daughter, Mabel, then three years of age. Mabel married John Hartel and is the mother of three children, Anna, Agnes and Grace, aged respectively sixteen, thir- teen and ten years. The two older Hartel children are part of the Coyne household in Sauk County. The daughter Anna has completed the third year of the high school at Spring Green, while Agnes enters high school in September, 1917.

ERNEST H. CADY, of Excelsior Township, represents the second gen- eration of a family that has played a worthy part in the affairs of Sauk County during the past half century. He is now managing with thrift and a high degree of prosperity a good farm in the locality where he was born and is also a citizen in whom the community has reposed a great deal of confidence and entrusted with the handling of local affairs.

Mr. Cady was born on the old farm in Excelsior Township May 23, 1873. He is a son of William and Imogene (Huntington) Cady, his father a native of Berkshire, Massachusetts, and his mother of Illinois. His father was born July 18, 1822, and came to Sauk County as early as 1849, only a year after Wisconsin was admitted to the Union. He married in Sauk County and in the early days he hauled grain with wagon and team from this section to Milwaukee. His own home was in Excelsior Township, at the place known as Cady's Corners, on the north Baraboo and Reedsburg road. He later moved to Baraboo and finally to Milwaukee, where he died in 1912. The widowed mother is still living in Milwaukee. William Cady acquired a place of 240 acres in Excelsior Township and much of the land was cleared by his individual exertions. Politically he was a democrat and for twenty-nine years he filled the

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office of township assessor, twenty-six years in succession. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church.

Ernest H. Cady grew up on the home farm, and besides the instruc- tion afforded by the local district schools he was a student in the Baraboo High School four years. His choice of farming as a vocation has been a most satisfactory one and his prosperity has been gained in that calling. In 1903 he bought his present farm in Excelsior Township, containing eighty acres, and has devoted it to general farming and stock raising. Mr. Cady is now in his fourth consecutive year as township treasurer and in politics is allied with the republican party.

On September 16, 1897, he married Miss Ida Schlegelmilch. Mrs. Cady was born at Clifton, Wisconsin, February 25, 1877, a daughter of Charles and Amanda (Stottleman) Schlegelmilch. Her father was a native of Germany and when eight years of age was brought to the United States by his parents Henry and Lizzie Schlegelmilch. The date of the immigration was 1850, and the family were pioneers in Sauk County. His mother died in Sauk City and his father at Clifton, Wis- consin. Charles Schlegelmilch was a blacksmith by trade, and died at Clifton, Wisconsin, at the age of seventy-five. His wife was born in Sauk City and died in 1877. Their four children were: A son that died in infancy; Josephine; Selma; and Ida, Mrs. Cady. Her father married for his second wife, Cuna Merklein, and the children of that marriage were : Amanda, deceased; Charles; Marie; Henry, deceased ; Margaret ; Lizzie; Norbert, deceased; and Lenora.

Mr. and Mrs. Cady are the parents of seven children, all living and named as follows: Wayne Curtis, Charles Clifton, Merle Seldon, Ray- mond Wallace, Ernest Luther, Kenneth Donald and Inez Louise.

JAMES H. HILL, who has served as district attorney since 1913, comes of an old Spring Green family. His father, Thomas Hill, is an English- man, who came to the United States with his parents when a young boy and lived for a time in Racine County before the family moved to Spring Green. Until he was about thirty, the elder Hill was engaged in mer- chandise in the village; was also postmaster for nearly twenty years, but since 1879 has resided on a large farm near Spring Green, which, with the assistance of his eldest son he has cultivated and improved. He has also been a member either of the County Board or of the School Board for thirty-five years. The future district attorney left the home farm in 1907, when he was twenty-five years of age, located at Baraboo, where he was mainly educated, read law, was admitted to the bar in 1909, served as clerk of the Circuit Court in 1906-08, and since then has been engaged in practice, either as district attorney or a private lawyer or in both capacities.

W. J. THIEDING. One of the most practical farmers and largest land owners in Westfield Township is W. J. Thieding, who has lived in that one locality continuously for over forty years.

Mr. Thieding was born in Hanover, Germany, September 25, 1863, a son of John H. and Catherine (Meine) Thieding. When he was ten years of age his parents came to America, and in April, 1873, settled in

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Westfield Township of Sauk County. In the following year they located on the land now owned and occupied by W. J. Thieding. At the time only fifteen acres had been cleared and the father went to work with his characteristie vigor and enterprise and had the land largely in a state of cultivation before he retired from work. John H. Thieding was a stone mason and contractor in Germany but his most successful efforts in Sauk County were as a farmer. He passed away in January, 1913, and his widow is still living at the age of seventy-nine and makes her home with her son, W. J. They have three children: W. J., Carl and Dorothy. Carl married Anne Schroeder, of Westfield Township, daugh- ter of Henry Schroeder; and Dorothy is the wife of William Weise, of Westfield Township.

W. J. Thieding grew up on his father's farm, and as soon as his strength permitted he took a part in the work and business of agriculture. He is now the owner of a fine estate of 349 acres, and the improvements classify it as one of the most valuable farms in Westfield Township. Mr. Thieding is a breeder of Durham cattle, thoroughbreds chiefly, keeps on an average about fifty head of livestock and has a dairy herd of twenty- five. Among other evidences of his enterprise is the use of the silo for feeding, and he and his family reside in a very comfortable home. Mr. Thieding is a democrat in politics and a member of the Lutheran Church.

He married Fredericka Meyer, daughter of Carl and Wilhelmina Meyer, of Westfield Township. Mr. and Mrs. Thieding are the parents of eight children, all of whom are unmarried and still living with the exception of two. Named in order of birth they are Amanda, Frederieka, Herman, William and Albert, twins, and both deceased, Agnes, Earnest and Lawrence. The children were given good advantages both at home- and in the public schools, and the daughter Agnes recently graduated from District No. 4 of Westfield Township.

ALFRED W. LADD. Notwithstanding all the other agencies through which a country is developed, the most important must remain those per- taining to agriculture, for every human being elaims his share of the product of the farmer's industry. At no time in the world's history like the present has cultivation of the soil to its utmost limit and growing of stock to the farthest end possible been of so much grave importance, not only as personal undertakings to insure against private future need, but as public duties that must be carried on in the name of humanity. To such a call farmers of Sauk County have nobly responded and one of these of assured standing is found in Alfred W. Ladd.

Alfred W. Ladd was born in Franklin County, New York, June 19, 1856. His parents were John and Selina (Trask) Ladd, the former hav- ing been born in Pennsylvania, and the latter in New York, in 1826. The paternal grandparents lived and died in Duane Township, Franklin County. John Ladd enlisted for service in the Civil war when the first call came for soldiers to preserve the Union, and he continued in the army for four years and died in 1869, at Washington, District of Colum- bia. His widow was left with two children: Eliza, who is the widow of O. B. Hubbard and lives at Los Angeles, California; and Alfred W. Mrs. Ladd subsequently married Chapman O. Lenstead, and died in

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A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II, Part 14

Author: Cole, Harry Ellsworth Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 608

Author: Cole, Harry Ellsworth
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 608