USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 28
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Politically he is a republican, but has always been too busy with his farm and business affairs to look favorably upon office holding. He and his family are members of the Lutheran Church at North Freedom.
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In 1877 Mr. Weinke married Miss Rosa Mielke. She was born in Germany in 1859, and died at their home in Freedom Township, Novem- ber 12. 1913. Her father, Ferdinand Mielke, came to Sauk County in 1870, locating in Freedom Township, where he and his wife spent their last years. Mr. and Mrs. Weinke were the parents of nine children, all of them still living and named in order of birth, George, Mary, Herman, Louisa, William, Sophia, Ernest, Frederick and Arthur. They have been given liberal advantages in schools and Ernest has made an exceptional record in school work. He finished the grade schools in North Freedom, is a graduate of the Baraboo High School, the LaCrosse State Normal, took the training course at Reedsburg and is now engaged to teach in Merrimack for the year 1917-18.
FRANK MORLEY. Without undue disparagement of the labors of others along the same line, a great deal of credit can be given to members of the Morley family for the improvement and development of the better and more substantial grades of livestock in Sauk County. The Morleys have been in the livestock business for many years and through at least two generations in this county. One of the most successful of them is Mr. Frank Morley of Baraboo Township, who for years has had a farm noted for its Percheron horses and Shorthorn cattle. Some of his Percherons have taken premiums at the State Fair and his Short- horn cattle have likewise been premium winners. Mr. Morley is an excellent judge of thoroughbred livestock and has contributed to the permanent advantage of the county as well as to his own profit by his work in this line.
The Morley family have long been leaders in the dairy industry of the county, and Mr. Frank Morley is president of the Excelsior Coopera- tive Creamery Association of Baraboo, having held that office since the association was organized.
He was born March 4, 1868, on the farm that he now owns in Baraboo Township. He is a son of Nelson W. Morley. He grew up on the farm, attended local public schools and the Baraboo High School, and for three years was a teacher, though that was not destined to be his real vocation.
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For a number of years he has been farming and raising stock and in 1915 he bought the fine old homestead of his father, consisting of 240 acres. He was one of the organizers of the Excelsior Cooperative Creamery, of which he is president, and is also a stockholder in the Bank of Baraboo. Politically Mr. Morley is a republican, and for about nine years has been supervisor of Baraboo Township. He and his family attend the Presbyterian Church.
In 1894 he married Miss Alma Knapp, who was born in Sauk County in 1873, a daughter of C. H. and Prussia Knapp. Her people were early settlers in Sauk County and both her parents are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Morley have two children: Alvin J., born November 9, 1900, and now a student in the Baraboo High School, and Kenneth, born August 13, 1912.
WILLIAM HASELTINE is a prosperous retired farmer residing on the family homestead three miles south of Baraboo which his father, Rev. W. B., a Methodist minister, purchased in 1855. At one time Mr. Haseltine was a well-known breeder of short horn cattle. Besides being a sub- stantial land holder, he has investments in the Excelsior Co-operative Creamery Company and other rural enterprises, and has served in numerous township offices.
HENRY STELTER. On the roster of the men of Sauk County who have won success by industry, good management and hard and well-directed effort is found the name of Henry Stelter, whose home is now located at Prairie du Sac. Mr. Stelter had no particular advantages in his youth, in fact he was compelled to make his own way in the world practically from the time when he entered his 'teens. The success that he has won -and it is not inconsiderable-is therefore all the more creditable. During the thirty-six years that he has been a resident of Sauk County he has always borne an excellent reputation for honorable and straight- forward dealing, and at Prairie du Sac, where he has lived a retired life for the past four years, he is considered a valuable and useful citizen.
Mr. Stelter was born in 1851, in Hanover District, Germany, where his parents, natives of that locality, spent their lives on a farm. Henry Stelter was educated in the public schools, and at the age of seventeen years left the parental roof and made his way to London, England, in order to escape the enforced military service of Germany. In the English capital he worked at whatever honorable employment he could find, and at the end of fourteen months found himself possessed of sufficient funds with which to take passage for the United States, where he con- sidered opportunities better for the advancement of a young and ambi- tious man. Shortly after his arrival in this country, in 1870, he made his way to Platteville, Grant County, Wisconsin, and, having no capital, hired out to a farmer as a hand. During the following eleven years he worked faithfully and steadily for several agriculturists of that locality, all the time carefully hoarding his earnings with the end in view of one day becoming the proprietor of land of his own. In 1881, at the time of his marriage, he saw his ambition come true, for in that year he bought 160 acres of Sauk County land from Halom Baxter, for which
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he paid $45 per acre. This farm continued to be his home during a period of thirty-one years, and was developed from a partly improved and not very productive tract into one of the fertile, model farms of the district. Using modern methods, directing his energies along certain well defined channels, and making use of every opportunity, he gradually erected good buildings and installed improvements, so that his farm became not only a paying investment but one of the valuable properties of the county. In 1913, feeling that he had earned a rest from his years of hard labor, he came to Prairie du Sac and erected a comfortable home, in which he has since resided in retirement. At the time of his coming he disposed of his farm, passing its labors and responsibilities on to younger shoulders.
Mr. Stelter was married in 1881 to Miss Margaret Riechers, who was born in 1861, in Germany, a daughter of John and Margaret (Kuehlen- kamp) Riechers, natives of Hanover, Germany. The parents of Mrs. Stelter came to the United States in 1865, and in the same year took up their residence on a farm in Grant County, Wisconsin. After a short stay there they removed to Lafayette County, Wisconsin, where they purchased one-half section of land, in the cultivation of which Mr. Riechers was engaged until his death December 8, 1873, at the age of fifty-three years. The mother survived until April 11, 1899, being seventy-eight years of age when she died. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Riechers were as follows: John Herman, deceased, who was a resident of Nebraska ; · Justin, residing in Wisconsin ; Justice, deceased ; Dorothy, who lives in Wisconsin; Dick, also a resident of this state; William, who is deceased; John and George, who live in Wisconsin; Margaret, now Mrs. Stelter, and Henry, who lives in Colorado.
Mr. and Mrs. Stelter are the parents of three sons and three daugh- ters, as follows: Katherine, who is the wife of Chris Gruber, and lives on a farm in Sauk County; Sena, who is the wife of George Kingston and lives at Madison ; Margaret, who is the wife of Arthur Wagner and lives at Prairie du Sac; Albert, who married Leta Bernhart and is the proprietor of a livery business at Prairie du Sac; Clarence, who is single and working at the carpenter trade, and Howard, who is taking a com- mercial course in a business college at LaCrosse. Mr. and Mrs. Stelter and their children are members of the Lutheran Church.
JESSE WILFRED. FRENZ. To tireless energy and industry the inevi- table law of destiny accords a successful career, and in no avenue of endeavor are there greater opportunities for advancement than in the legal profession, a vocation whose devotees must, to be successful, be endowed with inherent talent, sterling rectitude of character, power of resource and well-directed purpose, while equally valuable assets are thorough training, close and careful application and broad general knowledge. Among the legal men of Sauk County who fully meet all these requirements is found Jesse Wilfred Frenz, who during his six · years of practice at the Baraboo bar has gained an enviable suc- cess for so young a man.
Jesse W. Frenz is a native son of Wisconsin. He was born in the City of Madison May 17, 1886, his parents being William F. and
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Mary Ann (Fauls) Frenz, natives of Dane County, Wisconsin, who were married there and shortly thereafter located at Madison. From the capital city they came to Baraboo in 1888 and here they have resided ever since, being among the well known residents of this city. Mr. Frenz, the elder, is prominently known among railroad men and has been a passenger conductor in the service of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad since 1882. There were three children in the family, namely : Jesse Wilfred, Millard A. and Lillian M., wife of Lieut. Lyle C. Clarke, United States Army.
Jesse W. Frenz was two years of age when brought to Baraboo by his parents and this city has been his place of residence ever since with the exception of several years while he was gaining his education. He first attended the public schools, being graduated from the Baraboo High School in 1905, when nineteen years of age, and following this entered the Beloit (Wisconsin) Business College, where he completed a full course of study in 1906. After some preparation he began his legal studies at the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was graduated from the law department of that institution in 1911, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws, and immediately returned to Bara- boo, where he has since continued in practice. He was admitted to the Wisconsin bar in July, 1911, and is allowed to practice in all Wis- consin and Michigan courts. Mr. Frenz's law practice has been gen- eral in character and his ability is evidenced in the large cases which he has handled, for important litigated interests are never placed in unskilled hands. His success may be said to be the outcome of close study, a thorough preparation of his cases, a keen analysis of the facts and a logical application of the law that bears upon and gov- erns them. He holds membership in the Wisconsin State Bar Asso- ciation, the American Bar Association and the Commercial Law League of America, and occupies a high place in the esteem of his brother practitioners.
Mr. Frenz has always.taken a keen and active interest in the wel- fare of his adopted city and has been identified with movements that have made for its advancement and welfare. For two years he was secretary of the Baraboo Commercial Association and in this capacity worked energetically with other public-spirited citizens in the further- ance of civic projects. He was reared in the faith of the Congrega- tional Church, to the movements and work of which he contributes liberally. Mr. Frenz is well known in fraternal circles, being a mem- ber of Baraboo Lodge No. 34, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is worshipful master; Baraboo Chapter No. 49, Royal Arch Masons; and Maraboo Commandery No. 28, Knights Templar, of the Masonic order ; and the Equitable Fraternal Union.
On September 30, 1914, Mr. Frenz was united in marriage with Miss May E. Yager, of Madison, Wisconsin, and they are the par- ents of two sons: William Yager and Bruce Wilfred Frenz.
FREDERICK AUGUST LANGENHAN is a veteran citizen and business man of Ableman, now retired. For many years he was the genial vil- lage blacksmith, and he prosecuted his labors with such effective energy
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and wisdom as to give him an ample competence for his declining years.
The Langenhan home in Ableman is in many respects the most interesting and conspicuous place of the village. He owns a block of land where his home stands and he has expressed his enthusiasm for many years in the cultivation of flowers and rare plants. In the grounds around his home are over 5,000 bulb plants, more than 125 rose bushes and he is famous for his dahlias, of which he has some sixty varieties. Around the house stand some evergreen trees which he planted himself, and in that quiet and beautiful retreat he and his wife have everything that make life enjoyable.
He was born in Germany November 23, 1849, and his parents spent all their lives in the old country. He grew up in his native country. attended the German schools, and also began learning the trade of gunsmith with his father. When he was eighteen years of age lack- ing a few months he arrived at the City of Baltimore, Maryland, May 1, 1867. Just a year later to the day he arrived in Sauk City, Wis- consin. At Sauk City he completed his apprenticeship at the black- smith's trade, and after working there a few years moved to Ableman in 1876. He has thus been a resident of this town for over forty years. He engaged in the general blacksmith business, had a wagon shop and for a time was interested in a harness shop. These various interests he prosecuted with success until he had sufficient for his future needs and retired from business in 1904. Besides his home he owns consid- erable other property in Ableman, including the site of his former busi- ness enterprise.
Mr. Langenhan was one of the first trustees of the village when it was incorporated, and for seven years was president of the school board. He has worked for the community because it is the home where he has meant to spend all his years, and his efforts have been from a disinterested patriotism and loyalty. In politics he is a republican.
Mr. Langenhan was married May 1, 1877, to Miss Ida Schlegelmilth. She was born in Sauk City, Wisconsin, February 19, 1857, and that date indicates the pioneer place of her family in this county. She is a daughter of Henry and Louise Schlegelmilth, who came from Ger- many and located at Sauk City as early as 1852. Her father in the old country followed the trade of cabinet maker, and in Wisconsin he was chiefly a millwright. His death occurred in Sauk City in 1893 and his wife passed away there in 1885. Mrs. Langenhan was the youngest of their three children. Her two brothers are Charles, of Clifton, Wisconsin, and Bernhard, of St. Louis, Missouri.
Mr. and Mrs. Langenhan have three children : Walter was edu- cated in the schools of Ableman and the Sauk City High School and is now employed as an operator at Reedsburg, Wisconsin. Selma, the only daughter, has had a brilliant scholastic career. She gradu- ated from the Reedsburg High School, and then entered the Univer- sity of Wisconsin, from which she has received the degrees Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy. She is still pursuing her research studies in the university. Her husband is E. J. B. Schubring, a prom- inent attorney of Madison, and member of the firm of Jones & Schu --
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bring. Henry August, the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Langenhan, was graduated from the Ableman schools, attended the Reedsburg High School, and was graduated from the University of Chicago, where he specialized in chemistry. In 1916 he received the Master's Degree from the University of Wisconsin in the chemistry department. He is now employed as an instructor in the university in the pharmacy depart- ment, and also as a chemist. Henry A. Langenhan married Bertha Arnold, of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
BERT GIEGERICH is one of the veteran newspaper men of Sauk County and for many years has been editor and proprietor of the Sauk County News at Prairie du Sac.
Mr. Giegerich is still in the prime of life, and almost his entire career has been spent in this county. He was born at Sauk City May 13, 1876, a son of Bertram and Eva Giegerich, his father a native of Germany and his mother of Switzerland. Mr. Giegerich grew up in Sauk City, attended the public schools there, and as a boy he entered the office of the Pionier am Wisconsin, a German weekly newspaper published in Sauk City. In that office he learned the printer's trade, and famil- iarized himself with the general duties of a country newspaper. This paper was subsequently consolidated with the Sauk City Presse, now the Sauk City Pionier Presse. For a number of years Mr. Giegerich worked as a compositor with this paper and subsequently had some experience in the book department of the Madison Democrat. In 1899 he and Mr. William P. Just bought the Sauk County News from E. J. Browne, and they conducted the paper in partnership for ten years. In 1906 Mr. Giegerich bought Mr. Just's interest, and has since been sole proprietor of this old and influential journal.
Mr. Giegerich is an active Mason and was master of Eureka Lodge No. 113, Free and Accepted Masons, at Prairie du Sac in 1905 and again in 1910-11. He is also affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Equitable Fraternal Union. He and his wife are members of the Prairie du Sac congregation of the Evangelical Asso- ciation.
Mr. Giegerich was married at Sauk City May 11, 1911, to Miss Ida Meng, of Sauk City, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Meng, who were pioneer Swiss settlers in the Town of Troy, Sauk County.
RALSA A. MORLEY. Morley is a family name in Sauk County around which have gathered many associations due to long residence, success in business affairs, and honorable participation in those movements and activities which are most vitally connected with the general welfare of the community.
A prominent member of this family was the late Ralsa A .- Morley. He was born in Lake County, Ohio, April 15, 1834. His father was Thomas Morley, mention of whom is made in other connections in this work. Ralsa A. Morley came to Sauk County with his people when abont sixteen years of age. He subsequently went back to Ohio and attended Oberlin College. He and his father drove from the State of Ohio a band of 1,000 sheep to Excelsior Township of Sauk County. These sheep were owned by I. W. and Russell Morley.
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Ralsa A. Morley finally joined his brother, Nelson W., and together they bought 320 acres of land in Baraboo Township from their father and engaged in business as farmers and stock raisers. He finally acquired the interest of his brother and the old farm constituted the scene of his useful activities until his death in 1896. For a number of years he had carried on the business of dealing in stock on a large scale, and drove many herds out of Sauk County to market at Milwaukee and Mazomanie and frequently drove hogs to Kilbourn City. A large part of the land owned by the Morleys in Sauk County was acquired direct from the Government.
Ralsa A. Morley was for several years a member of the town board and its chairman, and superintended the construction of the insane asylum. He was a republican, and for some years served as chair- man of Baraboo Township, being always deeply interested in politics. He was an attendant of the Methodist Episcopal Church.
On January 2, 1866, he married Miss Rose M. Clark, who was born in Walworth County, Wisconsin, November 19, 1842, and is still living on the old farm with her two sons, Rollo and Robert. She is the daughter of Charles A. and Ruth E. (Sanford) Clark. Her father was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, May 24, 1816, and her mother in Rensselaerville, New York, November 15, 1815. The latter came to Walworth County in 1840. Charles A. Clark when a child went to Indiana with his parents, Benjamin T. and Betsey M. Clark, who sub- sequently removed to Sauk County, Wisconsin, where both of them spent their last years. Charles A. Clark went to Walworth County about 1840, was married there, and in 1848 he and his wife came to Bara- boo, where they owned the first frame building in that little village. Mr. Clark was a mason by trade. Later he took up a farm in Bara- boo Township and died there May 3, 1865. Mrs. Morley's mother lived until 1901. Their children were: Rose Mary; Caroline Augusta and Charles Augustus, twins, both deceased; Ruth Beatrice, deceased; Bur- gess Buell, of Carthage, Missouri.
Mr. and Mrs. Morley have three children : Rollo Clark, Ralph Fred and Robert W.
Rollo Clark Morley was born on the old homestead in this county September 2, 1867, attended the local schools and the Baraboo High School, and for a number of years has lived at home with his mother, and with his brother, Robert, has had active charge of the farm. These brothers are well known breeders of Shorthorn cattle, an industry that was established here by their father on October 1, 1878. They have also bred Percheron horses. Rollo C. Morley was for ten years town- ship assessor, and for the past twelve years has been a director of the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. Politically he is a republican.
Ralph Fred Morley, who was born December 12, 1872, is a graduate of the Baraboo High School, later attended the University of Wiscon- sin, graduated from Lake Forest University at Lake Forest, Illinois, and also from the McCormick Theological Seminary of Chicago. He is now a successful attorney at Tulsa, Oklahoma. He married Augusta Moore, and they have one child, Lucile.
Robert W. Morley was born December 10, 1875, graduated from
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the Baraboo High School, and attended the University of Wisconsin one year before joining his brother as a stock farmer.
CHARLES H. STODDARD. At the age of eighty-six Charles H. Stod- dard still goes about his work, active and vigorous, in a manner that bespeaks a wonderful store of youth and vitality. Mr. Stoddard is one of the oldest business men of Prairie du Sac, where he located over sixty years ago. The record of his career and of his family has a most appropriate place in the history of Sauk County.
He was born at Coldbrook, New Hampshire, July 10, 1831, and has in his veins the stock of the sturdy New Englander. His parents were Asa and Sarah (Little) Stoddard. His mother died in New Hamp- shire in 1842. She was survived by the following children: W., de- ceased; Charles H .; Abigail and Calvin, both deceased; Emma, who died after her marriage to Hugh Shull. Asa Stoddard subsequently married Philanda Frizzle. By that marriage there were three daugh- ters: Sarah, Lucinda and Fannie, Sarah being now deceased. Asa Stoddard and his second wife came out to Sauk County in 1862 and located at Prairie du Sac, where he lived out his remaining years. At his death in 1884 he was eighty-two years old. His second wife died in 1885.
Charles H. Stoddard grew up in the environment of the typical New Hampshire home, attended the public schools there, and had his early experiences and training for life on a farm. It was on the 14th of July, 1855, that he obtained his first view of Prairie du Sac, the village which has known him and honored him during all the subse- quent years. When a youth of nineteen, in 1850, he had become an employe of the Grand Trunk Railroad. He took up the carpenter trade and worked on bridges from Montreal to Island Pond and thence to Portland, Maine. After removing to Prairie du Sac he continued his trade as a carpenter and also that of a mover of buildings, an occu- pation he had already followed to some extent back in Vermont. Some of the oldest buildings in and around Prairie du Sac testify to the skill of Mr. Stoddard as a contractor. He is still in business, and his work now is fortified by the many years of experience. He has kept for years all the facilities needed for moving buildings of every kind, and is probably the best known man in that business in Sauk County. For about forty-six years Mr. Stoddard has lived in one of the sub- stantial homes of Prairie du Sac.
In politics he became a republican at the organization of that party and was steadily affiliated with its policies and principles until recently, when he has chosen to vote largely independently. Some years ago he was a member of the council. For forty years he was active in the Good Templars organization, and the principles of that order express his own theory and practice as to the use of liquors and tobacco. His parents were active members of the Free Will Baptist Church and Mr. Stoddard himself has served as a supply minister of that denomina- tion.
In 1855 he married Miss Eliza A. Clough, of New Hampshire. Mrs. Stoddard died September 15, 1868, being survived by one son. This
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son died at Rockford, Illinois, at the age of thirty-four. He had become a successful teacher and for a number of years conducted a commer- cial college at Rockford, building up the school until it had an enroll- ment of 500 students.
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