USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 24
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Judson W. Waterbury received his education in the schools of Prairie du Sac, following which, in 1888 and 1889, he pursued a commercial course in a business college at Valparaiso, Indiana. Returning to his home, he resumed his labors in assisting his father to cultivate the home farm, and in 1894 was married and started housekeeping. In the follow- ing year his parents removed to Prairie du Sac and he took charge of the farm, which he operated on shares for about six years and then purchased. He has added to his holdings to some extent and now owns 360 acres of fertile land, which he has brought up to a high state of productiveness. Mr. Waterbury has up-to-date improvements on his property and a good set of substantial buildings, and his agricultural operations are carried on in the most approved scientific manner. He raises all the crops that can be grown in this section and is considered a good, common- sense farmer, who keeps thoroughly alive to the agricultural develop- ments being made, and who is cognizant of the possibilities of his vocation.
In 1894 Mr. Waterbury was united in marriage with Miss Alice L. Shell, a daughter of William and Kate (Mack) Shell, and they have two children : Eva K., who is attending a young ladies' school, Downer College, at Milwaukee; and William, who is attending the high school at Prairie du Sac. Mr. and Mrs. Waterbury and their children belong to the Methodist Church. He is a member of the Guardians of Liberty. In political matters he takes an independent stand, it being his idea to vote for the man rather than for the party.
ALVAH G. GLOVER, a veteran of the Civil war, has been a resident of Sauk County almost half a century. He did his big work in civil life as a farmer, and for many years owned and occupied a considerable tract of land within the city limits of Baraboo. He is now retired and after providing liberally for his family of children has sufficient for his own needs through the rest of his days.
Mr. Glover is a native of Maine, in which state he was born October 8, 1843. His parents, Freeman and Hannah (Chase) Glover, were also natives of Maine. The mother died in that state in 1856. The father some years later came out to Sauk County, Wisconsin, and bought a farm in Greenfield Township on which he lived until his death. He was the father of ten children, four sons and six daughters, and the
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only two now living are Alvah G. and Jane, Mrs. Levenseller, of Dover, Maine.
Alvah G. Glover grew up in his native state, had only a public school education, and was quite a youth when he enlisted on July 28, 1862, in Company K of the Eleventh Maine Infantry. He gave faithful and gallant service as a soldier of the Union, and was with his regiment until granted his honorable discharge on June 12, 1865. Having fulfilled his duty to his country he went back to his native state, but in a short time removed to Pennsylvania and after two years there came in the fall of 1867 to Sauk County, Wisconsin. He acquired a material interest in the county by the purchase of twenty acres of land in Greenfield Town- ship. Somewhat later he sold this small farm to his father, and then bought eighty-five acres in the city limits of Baraboo. He farmed that place steadily for a period of eighteen years, and eventually sold it to the Iron Company. Mr. Glover now lives retired at 424 Guppy Street.
He is a republican in politics. For about thirty-five years he has been a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is affiliated with the Guardians of Liberty and is a member of the Christian Advent Church at Baraboo.
In 1868 he married Miss Rhoda A. Prothero, of Baraboo. Four children have been born to their union: Alice Alberta, who died in Old Mexico; Cora Bell; Claude E .; and Ethel May, who died January 16, 1915, at the age of twenty-eight years.
ALFRED TRUEB. Many productive and useful years have come and gone since Alfred Trueb took active charge of the farm where he now resides in Honey Creek Township near the Village of Plain. Mr. Trueb is one of the progressive and successful men of Sauk County and has spent all his life in this one community.
He was born on the home farm where he now resides on August 24, 1859. His parents, John and Elizabeth (Walder) Trueb, were both born in Switzerland, were married there, and arrived in Sauk County in 1854. On coming to this county John Trueb bought the homestead of 160 acres. Thirty acres had already been cleared, but it was largely through his individual industrions efforts that the remaining acreage was subdued to the uses of agriculture. Subsequently he acquired by tax sale forty acres more in Troy Township. John Trueb had much to do and very little to do with in the early days. He used oxen to perform the heavy work of the farm and also the hauling of produce to market at Merrimack and Spring Green. The breaking of the virgin soil was also performed with ox teams. His chief crops as a farmer were wheat and hops. John Trueb continued the active management of the old home farm until 1884, when he turned it over to his son Alfred and then went to live with his older daughter in Honey Creek Township, where he died in 1899. His wife passed away in 1878. They had six children : Anna, wife of Fred Mellentine, who died in Honey Creek Township in 1916; Barbara, who taught school for a number of years, and afterwards mar- ried M. Phifer and died in 1884; Mary, Mrs. Rudolf Alexander, living on a farm in South Dakota; Herman, who is married and lives in South Dakota ; Salina, who died in childhood; and Alfred.
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All these children grew up on the old home farm and received their education in the local district school. Alfred Trueb has always lived at home and in 1884 he married, and from that time forward has managed the home place. The maiden name of his wife was Augusta Militine. They have one child, Lily, Mrs. Paul Zech. The mother of this daughter died, and in 1896 Mr. Trueb married Emelia Geise. They have a family of five children, all of them still at home, constituting a bright and at- tractive family circle. Their names are Edna, Lurena, Gilbert, William and Esther.
Since taking over the old homestead thirty-three years ago Mr. Trueb has done much to increase its productiveness and its value. He has rebuilt many of the farm structures and now has under his individual ownership 304 acres. This is devoted to mixed farming, and he has some- thing more than a local reputation as a stock raiser and dairyman. He has been successful in the breeding of Norman horses and the Shorthorn Durham cattle. Mr. Trueb is a stockholder in the Sauk City Creamery. He is a republican and his family are members of the Black Hawk Church.
LAWRENCE KELLER. Since its establishment in Sauk County in 1854 the occupation of farming has received decided impetus through the labor and good judgment of the members of the Keller family. Those bearing this name have steadfastly endeavored to increase or maintain the pro- duction of the land without exhausting the soil of its fertility, and thus have proven helpful factors in keeping agricultural standards high in their community. A well-known and worthy representative of this family is Lawrence Keller, who has lived all his life in Sauk County and who is now the owner of land in Sumpter and Freedom townships. It has been his fortune to have succeeded in the vocation in which his fore- fathers engaged and at the same time to have established a reputation as a sound and stable citizen.
Mr. Keller was born on the homestead place in the Township of Sumpter in 1876, his parents being John and Minnie (Tholke) Keller. His father came from Albany, New York, in 1854, and settled with the grandfather of Lawrence Keller in Sumpter Township. In 1861 his father enlisted in the Sixth Wisconsin Battery for service during the Civil war, and fought bravely as a soldier of the Union. Upon his return from his military duties he resumed farming on the home place, but in 1868, at the time of his marriage, moved to another place. He continued to carry on general farming there until 1888, when he rented his property and went to Prairie du Sac, where, in partnership with Mr. Waffel he started an implement business, and remained in that enterprise for three years. This business is now conducted by J. P. Doll & Co. Returning to the farm in 1891, he resumed the tilling of the soil. In 1897 he opened the Commercial House at Prairie du Sac and continued its proprietor for two years, at the same time carrying on his farm. In March, 1911, he retired from business and his death occurred at Prairie du Sac in 1914. Mrs. Keller still survives and resides at that place. John Keller was one of the highly respected men of his community and served for a time as a member of the township board. He and Mrs. Keller were members of the Evangelical Church and were the parents of twelve children, as
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follows : John E., who lives in the State of Washington ; Ollie, who died at the age of twelve years; U. C., who was clerk of the County Court for six years and now lives at Prairie du Sac; Eugene, who died at the age of eleven years; Lawrence; Benjamin, who died in infancy; Leo, who is engaged in farming in the State of Oregon ; Reuben, who is also engaged in farming in that state; Addie, the wife of Henry Kinzler, who operates the Sumpter Creamery in Sumpter Township; H. R., who resides on a farm near Stratford, Wisconsin ; Lulu, who is the wife of William Roaper, a foreman in construction work at Madison, Wisconsin; and Sena, who is the wife of Ralph Southerland, a painter of Baraboo, Wisconsin.
The public schools of Sumpter Township furnished Lawrence Keller with his educational training while he was growing to manhood on the home farm. The mere fact of a man being born on a farm does not by any means make of him a farmer, but Mr. Keller's training was such that he has been able to realize a profit from his operations through up-to-date business methods. Such results require clear-headed ability possessed only by the practical farmer, such as Mr. Keller, who com- menced with an understanding of his vocation, and thus has been able to follow it up with success. He has engaged in general farming and stock raising, in both of which departments of farm work he has been prosperous, and his property, which consists of eighty acres in Sumpter Township and twenty acres in Freedom Township, shows evidence of the presence of industry and able management.
Mr. Keller was married in 1903 to Miss Minna Baumgarth, a graduate of the Sauk City High School and a successful rural school teacher for a number of years. She was the daughter of Henry and Hedwig (Vogel) Baumgarth. Her father, who was a farmer in Troy Township, died when she was a small child, leaving a widow and four children as follows: Edward C., a farmer in Town of Sumpter; Dr. Henry, a dentist in Chicago; Minna; and Alma, the wife of Reuben R. Keller, of Millican, Oregon. The mother was subsequently married to George Walser, and now resides at Sauk City. Mr. and Mrs. Keller are the parents of two children : Marvel, born January, 1905, and Theon J., born March, 1906. Mr. Keller is a republican, and while not a politician, takes a keen interest in affairs of his community. He is fraternally affiliated with the local lodge of the Modern Woodmen of America, in which he has numerous friends.
THADDEUS BANKS HANGER has found his work and has profited from his business as a farmer in Freedom Township. He is one of the highly respected residents of that locality and in the estimation of his friends and acquaintances has fully deserved all the success that has followed his efforts.
Though a resident of Sauk County most of his life, Mr. Hanger was born in Pennsylvania March 28, 1853. He is a son of Jacob and Matilda Jane (Shirley) Hanger. His father was born in Germany, and came to America when still unmarried as did his wife. They were married in Pennsylvania and made their home in Lycoming County of that state until 1866, when they came to Wisconsin. From Kilbourn they journeyed
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with wagon and team into Freedom Township of Sauk County and located on the farm now owned by Thaddeus B. Later the father retired to Reedsburg, where he died at the age of seventy-seven, and his widow passed away in that town in 1901, aged eighty-five. Their children were : John Calvert, Ann, Thaddeus B., Alice Viola and William Henry. The father was a democrat in politics and the family had long been identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church.
Thaddeus Banks Hanger was thirteen years of age when he came to Sauk County. He attended the public schools of Pennsylvania and also had a few terms of instruction in Freedom Township of Sauk County. In early life he took up the trade of plasterer and stone mason, and after his marriage he lived in the Village of North Freedom until 1902, when he moved to his present farm in Freedom Township. As a farmer he handles 120 acres of fertile and well-managed land, and keeps some high-grade Holstein cattle. Most of the improvements on the farm have been made by his labor or under his direction. He has one of the best barns in this part of the county, a gambrel roof structure 32 by 66 feet. Mr. Hanger is a republican in politics and for some years has served on the school board.
April 16, 1879, he married Miss Mary Murphy. She was born in Westfield Township of Sauk County June 30, 1860, daughter of Richard and Mary (Larken) Murphy. Both her parents were born in Ireland and were brought to this country when young and were married in Ohio, settling in Westfield Township of Sauk County in the early '50s. Mary Larken was a daughter of Andrew and Margaret Larken, whose names should be recorded among the pioneer settlers of Sauk County. They spent their last years on their farm in Westfield Township. Richard Murphy died in March, 1882, while his widow survived to the advanced age of ninety-one, passing away May 15, 1917. They had seven children : Jennie, Margaret, Daniel, Mary, William, who died in 1912, at the age of fifty, Morris and Richard.
Mr. and Mrs. Hanger had a family of five children : Bruce Max, the oldest, is living in Denver, Colorado, and by his marriage to Miss Kate Reger has one son, Bruce. Glenn is still a factor at home and has a large share of the responsibilities connected with the farm. Pearl is the wife of Roy Miner, of North Freedom, and they have one child, Clifford Thaddeus. Clinton is now a bookkeeper in the Pennsylvania Railway offices at Chicago, and married Blanche Douglas. The fifth and young- est child was named Clifford Thaddeus and died in infancy.
WILLIAM STOECKMANN is one of the live and progressive citizens of Ableman, has lived in that community thirty-five years and almost con- tinuously has been identified with the quarry industry, which is so important in that section of Sauk County. He is now superintendent of the largest quarries around Ableman, and has other financial interests and in various ways has served the welfare of the community.
Mr. Stoeckmann was born in Germany, January 8, 1861. His parents, Michael and Caroline 'Stoeckmann, came to America and located in Ableman in 1882. The father acquired a tract of land in Excelsior Town- ship and out of it developed a first-class farm. He finally sold his agri-
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cultural interests and is still living, at the age of eighty-four, with his daughter, Mrs. James Sprul, at North Freedom. The wife and mother died in 1907, when about seventy years of age. Michael Stoeckmann was a republican in politics and an active member of the Baptist Church. He and his wife had five children: William; Albert, a farmer in Excelsior Township; Theodore, of Ableman; Bertha, wife of James Sprul; and Charles, who is a minister of the Baptist Church now stationed at St. Paul, Minnesota.
William Stoeckmann was about twenty-one years of age when he came with his parents to Wisconsin. He had grown up in his native land, had attended the common schools of that country, and had learned the value of honest toil before he arrived in Sauk County. He put his sturdy energy to good account as a workman in the stone quarries of the North- western Railroad. After two years there he entered the employ of W. G. LaRue, and has been with that great quarry industry continuously since that date. In September, 1916, he was made superintendent of the quar- ries and handles the practical operations of the business. In 1908 Mr. Stoeckmann built a fine home at Ableman and he and his family now live in very congenial and comfortable surroundings. Mr. Stoeckmann is a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank of Ableman and in the Able- man Co-operative Creamery Association.
He has been a member of the council, a village trustee and for several years was president of the council but finally resigned that office. In politics his support is given to the republican party. Mr. Stoeckmann and family are members of the Lutheran Church.
In 1887 he married Miss Ida Gall, of Ableman, daughter of Daniel Gall and member of a well-known Sauk County family elsewhere referred to in this publication. Mr. and Mrs. Stoeckmann have seven children : Martha, Mabel, Mary, Madeline, Reuben, Viola and Lillian, all of whom are living. Two daughters are married, and Mr. and Mrs. Stoeckmann have three grandchildren. Martha is the wife of Fred Jolitz, and their two children are Alvera and Jane. Mabel is the wife of Herman Doro and has one daughter, Ida.
W. A. JOHNSON, the venerable citizen of Baraboo, is one of the oldest natives of the county, having been born on Sauk Prairie in 1841. His parents came to the county in early middle life and purchased Govern- ment land on the west side of the prairie, where they both died in the early '90s. The father, who was a blacksmith, as well as a carpenter and stone mason, built and operated the first mill for grinding corn in Sauk County. He had a blacksmith shop on his farm. The head of the family had four sons in the Civil war, Benjamin, George W., Judge William A., and D. Joseph. After the war the latter went to North Dakota, where he took up a soldier's homestead of a quarter section and purchased an additional 120 acres. As a farmer and leading resident of Barnes County he served as county commissioner for five years and as county judge for twelve. He was also repeatedly selected as a delegate to various state conventions. In 1907 Judge Johnson returned to his native county and located at Baraboo, where he has since resided. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson celebrated their golden wedding on November 6, 1917.
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HERMAN E. STONE has lived in Sauk County all his life. In fact he has never been beyond the county limits for more than a month at a time. In view of the prosperity that he won as a substantial farmer in Sumpter Town and the high standing he enjoys as a citizen, now living retired at Baraboo, he is extremely loyal to his native section, and is one of the men who have not only seen Sauk County grow from small beginnings but has borne his own individual care and responsibility in that growth and advancement.
He was born in the Town of Sumpter, Sauk County, September 14, 1849, a son of Ransom E. and Lydia Lathrop (Tracy) Stone. His parents were both born in St. Lawrence County, New York, the father on Novem- ber 17, 1813, and the mother on December 14, 1819. They grew up and married there on September 3, 1844, and just two years later, in 1846, they arrived in Wisconsin and located on a tract of land in the Town of Sumpter, which as yet had few scttlers and only here and there had clearings been made in the forest. To the degree that all sturdy, per- sistent and honorable men prospered in that time and generation, Ransom Stone also prospered, and he lived a life of quiet influence and substantial effort. Before he came to Wisconsin he was a teacher in New York State, and at one time, under the old system, he served as county superintendent of schools in Sauk County. He was also for many years chairman of the town, and after the formation of that party became a loyal adherent of republican principles. He died March 6, 1884, and his wife passed away September 9, 1895. There were seven children: Oren, who lives at Riverside, California; Orlando E., of Prairie du Sac, but spends his winters in California; Herman E .; Martha, wife of Edwin Knapp, of California ; Florence, of California; Isabel, wife of Charles Crawford ; A. W. Stone, who for thirty years was a prominent banker and real estate owner in Kingsbury County, South Dakota, where he died in July, . 1915.
Herman E. Stone grew up on the old farm established by his father in the town of Sumpter, attended the schools maintained in that com- munity, and then applied his best energies to making a home for himself, and he continued to be identified with farming there until six years ago, when he retired to a comfortable home in the City of Baraboo. He started out on a farm adjoining the old home place and later bought the homestead and still owns that place. At one time he was owner of between 500 and 600 acres, and two of his sons now have the active farm management. Mr. Stone is a republican, served fourteen years as chair- man of the town and was town clerk eight years. He resigned the office of chairman when he came to Baraboo. At the present time Mr. Stone is one of the three trustees of the Sauk County Poor Farm and Asylum, and is also attending to the duties of county humane officer.
On November 10, 1875, he married Miss Mary Matilda Lenich, who was born in Reedsburg, Sauk County, in 1855, daughter of Joseph Lenich. With all the satisfaction that might be derived from his material accom- plishments Mr. Stone feels that the best results of his life are represented in his noble sons and daughters, nine in number. Lyman E., the oldest, is now one of the active managers of the old homestead in the town of
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Sumpter; Ethel is the wife of Irwin Winter, of Cameron, Wisconsin. Mabel is the wife of H. A. Swanson, of Clay Center, Nebraska. Allen lives in the town of Sumpter. Birdie married Jacob Weirich, of the Town of Greenfield. Truman R. is associated with his brother Allen in the management of the old farm. Gladys lives at home. Iva is attending school at Clay Center, Nebraska. Lila, the youngest, is also a member of the home circle.
FRANK HERFORT, proprietor of the Frank Herfort Canning Com- pany, has given Baraboo one of its best and most highly specialized industries. It is a business that means a great deal to the welfare and permanent prosperity of the city and the surrounding country. It has made possible the intensive cultivation of land, it furnishes employment to a great many people and through its products serves to make the name Baraboo better known to the world at large.
While now a business leader in this Wisconsin City, Frank Herfort began life under peculiarly inauspicious circumstances. He was a poor boy and in addition lost his father when he was still a child and has been dependent upon his own exertions since an age when most boys are con- sidered children and still under the watchful care of home and school teachers.
Mr. Herfort, though his life has largely been spent in Sauk County, was born in Germany August 1, 1860, a son of Florian and Maria (Mann) Herfort. He spent about six or seven years of his early life in Germany and attended one term of school there. The family then immigrated to America, locating in Baraboo, Wisconsin, on August 1, 1867. His father was a shoemaker by trade and worked in the shop now known as the Dibble Shoe Shop at Baraboo. He did not long survive after coming to this country and passed away in May, 1868, leaving five sons: August F., Joseph and Carl, all now deceased; Paul and Frank. The mother of these children died in 1885.
After coming to Baraboo Mr. Frank Herfort attended the public schools, but at the age of ten years he began earning wages. He worked in a local nursery for fifty cents a day, and for one year was employed by a local business house at wages of board and clothing. The following year his experience enabled him to demand five dollars a month. He was assigned to the work of delivering the goods for the store, and deliv- ered them all in a wheelbarrow. He continued clerking for eight years, and while part of his wages went to the upkeep of the family he managed by dint of the greatest economy and thrift to save $230. He had a young friend, F. C. Peck, who had accumulated a capital of $300. Put together this capital enabled the young men to start a grocery business of their own. Later they changed to dry goods. Their first store was on the South Side, where the Schey Store is now located, and later they were where the Peck Mercantile House now stands. The firm was Peck & Herfort, and it was a prosperous and thriving business. Mr. Herfort finally sold out to his partner in 1902 and then engaged in the general merchandise business on Third Street. That location he retained for five years, but in 1907 sold out to engage in the canning business.
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