USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 47
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He was of notable American ancestry. He was New England born and bred, having been born at Northfield, Connecticut, December 15, 1821. His father, Frederick Kellogg, was descended from the youngest son of the martyr John Rogers, who was one of the victims in the Smithfield burnings inaugurated by "bloody Queen Mary" and continued for three years from 1555. Frederick Kellogg was for about fifteen years a whole- sale and retail merchant in New York City, but he subsequently came west to Baraboo and died at the home of his son Chauncey in May, 1860.
Chauncey W. Kellogg was liberally educated, having attended the Cheshire Academy in Connecticut. He was married October 4, 1846, to Mary Elizabeth Bassett, who was born at Northfield, Connecticut, March 3, 1826, a daughter of George and Eliza Bassett. One of her paternal ancestors held a colonel's commission in the army of George III and was sent to America to help subdue the colonics at the time of the Revolution.
Albert Frederick Kellogg, a brother of the late Chauncey W. Kellogg. had come to Greenfield Township of Sauk County in 1851 and bought two farms, one for himself.and one for his brother Chauncey. Chauncey Kellogg came west with his family, consisting of wife and son George, and settled in Greenfield Township when it was still part of Baraboo Town- ship. He became a successful farmer, developed a large tract of land. and at the same time gave his time liberally and freely to the promotion of enterprises of substantial benefit to the community. He assisted in organizing Greenfield Township, and was elected its first school super- intendent. That office he filled many years. He served his own school district as clerk and director, and it was largely due to his influence that this became the best school in the township. His old homestead comprised 138 acres situated in section 32, and it is one of the notable farms on Peck's Prairie. Chauncey W. Kellogg and wife were faithful and active members of the Episcopal Church.
"They were the parents of six children. George Trowbridge, who died at Baraboo, lived his career as a farmer and also served as township clerk and chairman of Greenfield Township; Mary Anna and Kate, both at Baraboo ; Frederick, who died on the home farm in infancy : Caroline. who also died in infancy ; and Archibald.
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After the death of the father and mother the family left the farm and came to Baraboo. For a short time their home was near the hospital, but subsequently they bought the Jacob's residence at 915 Second Street, where the two danghters, Mary Anna and Kate, and the brother, Archi- bald, now live. They also own the old homestead and have increased its acreage until it is now 181 acres. The land is operated through tenants. Archibald Kellogg is the only living son of his father, was reared on the homestead and attended public schools. Mary Anna and Kate completed the work of the Baraboo High School. Kate is a talented artist and deserves special mention among Sauk County's people of artistic pursuits. Archibald Kellogg is a republican and he and his sisters attend the Episcopal Church.
Some further reference should be made to another brother of the late Chauncey W. Kellogg, Ansel Nash Kellogg. He founded the Baraboo Republic, and during the Civil war he found it almost impossible to secure help in bringing out his paper and finally solved the problem by going to Madison and having one entire side of his paper printed in the capital city. This gave the idea which he subsequently developed and exploited as the "patent insides" or "ready print" feature which has become so widespread and is now the basis of several large industries. Out of that idea. Ansel N. Kellogg realized a fortune. There is hardly a small country newspaper anywhere in America which does not utilize the "patent inside" supplied from large central printing and news gathering plants. At his death Ansel N. Kellogg left his fortune to his wife, who afterwards married Mr. Dale. She died in the State of New York and her fortune was distributed among many relatives, five of ' whom resided in Baraboo, nephews and nieces of Ansel N. Kellogg, namely, George and Archibald Kellogg and Kate and Mary A., sons and daughters of Chauncey W. Kellogg, and Arthur Kellogg, son of Albert Frederick Kellogg.
THOMAS SCHWARTZ. Among the older residents of Sauk County few are better known or more highly respected than Thomas Schwartz, who located on the farm he yet owns in Troy Township forty-seven years ago. People have come and gone in that time and farms have changed ownership time and time again, but the Schwartz family is a steady, solid one, not given to wandering or to frequent change of habi- tation, and the idea of ever permitting the old homestead to pass out of the name could not be entertained for a moment. Although Mr. Schwartz has retired from its active management he is well satisfied, as he has capable and industrious sons to carry on all the farm industries that he managed so long by himself.
Thomas Schwartz was born in Germany, in 1838. He was married there in 1867, in 1874 came with his family to the United States, and in 1877 settled in Troy Township, Sauk County, Wisconsin. Farming was the business he understood, and as he secured one traet of land after the other he cleared, developed and improved them until he owned 240 acres of some of the finest land in the county.
Mr. Schwartz has been twice married, first in Germany, to Theresa Fogel, who became the mother of eight children, as follows: Michael ;
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Margaret, who is Mrs. Geo. Lagerman and lives in Milwaukee; Thomas, who lives with his family in Iowa County ; Henry, who lives with his fam- ily at Redfield, South Dakota ; Mary, who is the wife of John Kramer and lives at Plain, Wisconsin : Katherine, who is the wife of Frank Lager- man and lives in Milwaukee; Joseph, who lives on the homestead; and Albert, who lives with his family in Spring Green, Wisconsin. After the death of his first wife Mr. Schwartz was married to Margaret Mick, and to them the following children were born: Eva, who is the wife of Leo Lins, of Sauk County; and Bert, Herman, Agnes, Gertrude, Clement, Alvin and Grace, all of whom live at home. All the children but two were born and attended school in Troy Township.
Mr. Schwartz continued to operate his farm until 1912, having made all the substantial improvements here. He then moved to a comfortable residence at Spring Green and his two sons, Michael and Joseph, under the name of Schwartz Brothers, conduct the farm industries, which are extensive, including general crop raising, stoekraising and dairying, and for fourteen years they have also made a business of raising ginseng and golden seal, medicinal roots, the former being largely shipped to China, where it is an ingredient of many medical preparations, and the latter being marketed at home. This business has assumed large proportions and its development is creditable to the enterprise of the Schwartz Brothers.
In polities Mr. Schwartz has always been a democrat. Formerly he was a stockholder in the Hickory Hill Cheese Company, but sold to his sons, who are present stockholders in a packing company at Madi- son. With the rest of the family Mr. Schwartz belongs to the Roman Catholic Church and is a parishioner at Spring Green.
MRS. JULIA DIEHL. One of the most highly esteemed residents of Troy Township, Sauk County, is Mrs. Julia Diehl, widow of Henry Diehl, who for many years was a man of financial importance in this seetion. Mrs. Diehl was born in Austria, in 1837. Her parents were Joseph and Elizabeth Hehenberger and with them she came to the United States in 1852. For one year the family lived at Buffalo, New York, and then came to Sauk County and in the same year took up land and located permanently in Troy Township. The father had 100 aeres and cleared his land and did all his early farming with oxen. Mrs. Diehl ean remember when the grain was cut with a eradle and bound by hand and the threshing was performed with a flail. She can relate many exceedingly interesting details of farm life of fifty years ago and they pieture life on a farm very different from the present day with modern conveniences on every hand.
Three years after coming to Sauk County Julia Hehenberger was married to Henry Diehl, who was born in Westphalia, Prussia, in 1818, and came to Sauk County, Wisconsin, with his mother in 1853. After marriage Henry Diehl took up a elaim of forty aeres of government land and afterward bought land until he owned 220 acres. He was a very industrious, careful man and was more enterprising than many of the other early settlers. He carried on his farming operations with success and profit and also engaged in hop growing and raised cane
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and manufactured syrup. Still later he became interested in a cheese factory. His early farm industries he carried on as did his neighbors, with little help and with primitive implements, but the time came when in place of the flail to beat out the grain he owned nine threshing machines. He lived to be seventy-four years old and was a faithful member of the German Reformed Church, as is his widow. In politics he was a republican but business affairs interested him more than office holding. He was a fine man in every way and his memory is held in respect in the community in which he was known so long.
Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Diehl, as follows: Christ, who lives with his mother on the old home farm; Elizabeth, who died in infancy; Henry, who died at Plain, Wisconsin, in 1906, and left a family ; Louise, who is the wife of Adolph Schoenmann and resides at Madison, Wisconsin; Joseph, who is deceased; John, who lives with . his family at Plain ; Emma, who is the wife of A. T. Braun ; and Pauline, who is deceased.
Mrs. Diehl has resided on the same farm in Troy Township on which she and her husband first settled for over half a century. Mr. and Mrs. Braun reside with her and Mr. Braun not only 'operates the farm but also conducts two cheese factories. He is well known through- out the township and for several years has served as clerk of the town- ship school board. Mr. and Mrs. Braun have two children, Warren and Hjalmar, both attending school and taking much interest in their studies. They are members of the Lutheran Church.
F. J. MEYER, of Sauk City, is the pioneer dental practitioner of that community. He located there in 1894 and has built up a practice that gives him front rank among the dentists of Sauk County. Mr. Meyer has spent practically all his life in Sauk County and is a member of one of the old and honored pioneer families.
He was born in Troy Township of Sauk County February 2, 1868, a son of Henry W. and Elisabeth (Buehler) Meyer. His mother was born in Switzerland in 1836, and at the age of eleven years, in 1847, came to America with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Buehler. Jacob Buehler located on a farm in Troy Township, and acquired his land direct from the government. His father, Henry W. Meyer, was born in Germany in 1820 and came to Wisconsin in very early days, when Wisconsin was still a territory, and very little land was under culti- vation. The Indian trails still ran in different directions over the virgin soil and through the woods, and most of the early breaking of the sod was done with ox teams. His parents had died in the old country and on coming to Sauk County he had his first home in Prairie du Sac Township and found employment at monthly wages on different places. Later he acquired a farm in Troy Township. Frequently he took his crops to Milwaukee with oxen, the round trip requiring about two weeks. He was a very hard working man, following his farming with increasing comfort and success until his death in 1897. He was active almost until the end, it being his seventy-seventh year. His wife passed away in 1913, also having attained the age of seventy-seven. Henry W. Meyer and wife had thirteen children. Those who grew up are mentioned
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as follows: Andrew, deceased; Leonard, of Baraboo; Henry, deceased ; Margaret, deceased; William, of Honey Creek Township; Dr. F. J. Meyer; Elisabetlı, wife of C. H. Kindschi, of Prairie du Sac Town- ship; Jacob, who is married and lives on the old home farm. There were still five more children, but they died during childhood.
Doctor Meyer grew up on the home farm, learned his duties there as chore boy, and when not otherwise employed attended the country schools. He afterward entered the Northwestern Dental College, where he graduated D. D. S. in 1894, and at once opened his office in Sauk City. He was the only dentist in the community at the time, and his skill and ability have kept him in the front rank of dental practitioners in that locality.
Doctor Meyer was married in October, 1898, to Miss Rose Witwen, daughter of Gaudence and Mary (Miller) Witwen. Her father came from Switzerland in 1848. Her mother, of English parentage, was born in the State of Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Witwen were born seven chil- dren : John, of Prairie du Sac; Elias, of Witwen; Sarah, Mrs. Erff- meyer, of Milwaukee; Elisabeth, deceased; Mary, Mrs. J. G. Nold, of Witwen; Rose, Mrs. F. J. Meyer, of Sauk City; and Henry, of Chi- cago. Mrs. Meyer's father was a carpenter, having learned that trade in Switzerland. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have two children: Lilah, who was born in 1899 and is a member of the class of 1917 of the Sauk City High School. H. Lowell F. Meyer, who was born in June, 1904, is still attending school. The family are members of the Evangelical Church at Prairie du Sac. Doctor Meyer is a Mason and a member of the Equitable Fraternal . Union. Poltically he gives his allegiance as a rule to the republican party. For several years he served as a member of the village board and has always been interested in everything that affects the community welfare.
JOHN RIESER. One of the early families to settle in Sauk County was of Swiss origin and bore the name of Rieser, and for sixty-two years this name has represented good citizenship and financial stability. Coming to Wisconsin in its seventh year of statehood, the Rieser family has always respected its laws and has lent its influence to promote temperance, education and religion. A well known and highly respected representative of this family is found in John Rieser, who bears his father's name, the latter being a pioneer in Sauk County. The present John Rieser was born at Sauk City, in 1857, and is a son of John and Madeline (Neiderhausen) Rieser.
The parents of John Rieser were natives or Switzerland, in which country they grew to maturity and married and in 1855 immigrated to the United States and found a home in Wisconsin. The father was a man of discrimination and good judgment and when he came to this state with the intention of following an agricultural life located in its southern part, in Sauk County. For the first two years the family lived in Prairie du Sac Township and then moved into Troy Township and settled on a farm lying three miles west of the homestead of the present John Rieser, which property he bought and improved. Seven years later Mr. Rieser sold that farm and purchased a farm of 200 acres situ-
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ated three miles south, and started industriously to improve it. He was a hard worker and perhaps overdid his strength, as two years after taking possession of the last farm he sickened and died. At that time a man had to have a strong constitution to successfully contend with the hardships of pioneer farming. He made use of oxen in breaking up the ground and later in cultivating it, and when his fields of grain were ready for harvest he went over them with the old-time cradle. There was, as yet, little farm machinery in the country and some of the mar- velous inventions of today had never been dreamed of. John Rieser was a faithful member of the Reformed Church. He was the father of four children : Lena, who died at the age of two years; John; Lena (2), who married and lives at Sauk City; and Lewis, died in Madison, Wis- consin, in 1914.
The second marriage of Mrs. Rieser was to Ulrich Wirth, and three children were born to that union, namely: Bertha, who is the wife of William Radke; Amelia; and Alfred, all of whom live at Black Earth, in Dane County. Mrs. Wirth died in 1910. She was a devoted member of the Reformed Church. She was widely known in Troy Township and greatly beloved because of her neighborly kindness.
John Rieser obtained his education in the schools of Troy Town- ship and has always taken a great deal of interest in the schools and has served continuously on the school board for fifteen years. He started out for himself as a farmer in the year of his marriage, buying 280 acres of land, and in attending to his many farm industries ever since has found his time and attention fully occupied. With easier methods in farming and assisted by machinery in almost every step of the way, he finds less drudgery and more certain the returns from his labor than did his father in his time. A careful agriculturist, looking after his crops and stock the year round, has no easy vocation. Mr. Rieser gives considerable attention to raising hogs.
In 1885 John Rieser was married to Miss Carrie Kurtz, a daughter of Gotleib and Wilhelmina Kurtz, who were residents of Troy Township. Three children make up their family, as follows: Alfred, who is married and resides on the home farm to give his father needed assistance; Clara, who resides at home ; and Ella, who is attending school in Sauk City. Mr. Rieser and his family are all members. of the Reformed Church. In his political views he is a republican; but he is an intelligent and broad- minded man and in many matters relating to local affairs acts accord- ing to the dictates of his own judgment.
THOMAS BAKER. In the many years that he lived in Sauk County the community had no better, no more influential, and no more highly esteemed citizen than the late Thomas Baker, who came more nearly representing the varied business and civic interests of Prairie du Sac than any other man.
He was a native of England, born November 10, 1832. He was reared and educated in the old country. After coming to Sauk County he spent one winter in a school at Baraboo. Mr. Baker left England in April, 1852, and came to Baraboo with the F. K. Jenkins family. That was one of the prominent pioneer families of Sauk County. The only
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daughter of F. K. Jenkins is Mrs. Judge Marshall, now living at Madi- son. John Jenkins at one time was a congressman and was chairman of the Judiciary Committee and subsequently was appointed United States Judge to Porto Rico and died in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Rufus Jenkins was a member of the firm of Stanley, Hoag & Jenkins, and his two sons, George and Samuel, were long in business at Chippewa Falls. The youngest son, Walter, was a prominent lawyer and died in Chippewa Falls, and at one time had served as a page in the Legislature. F. K. Jenkins was killed while a loyal Union soldier at Gettysburg.
Thomas Baker after coming to this country clerked in a store at Madison for a time, and subsequently removed to Prairie du Sac, where he bought the shoe store of David Morrill. For a number of years he was one of the leading merchants of the village.
In 1861, at the beginning of the Civil war and in the first year of Lincoln's administration, Thomas Baker was appointed postmaster of Prairie du Sac. In 1869 he removed the postoffice to the old building which was the first frame store building built in the town and stood where the drug store is now located. Later Mr. Baker erected the red brick building which now houses the drug store. He was postmaster of Prairie du Sac through almost a generation. He held the office until 1893, with the exception of the period of Cleveland's first administration.
Mr. Baker became one of the leading republicans of Sauk County. In the winter of 1875 he represented his county in the State Legislature. He was reared in the Episcopal or Established Church of England, but he and his wife were afterwards Presbyterians.
Thomas Baker was married in 1858 to Jane McGinnis. She was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, December 10, 1834, a daughter of Wil- liam and Jane (Kyle) McGinnis. This is one of the well known families of Sauk County. The McGinnis family in 1847 immigrated to America and settled in St. Lawrence County, New York, and in 1857 they came West to Sauk Prairie, buying a small place where William McGinnis lived quietly and usefully until his death, in September, 1876. His wife had died in April, 1876. In the family of William McGinnis and wife were the following children: Mary, wife of Roswell Johnson; Alexander, who at one time served as sheriff of Sauk County ; Joseph ; Eliza, wife of Philo W. Carpenter; Jane, Mrs. Thomas Baker; Cather- ine; Margaret, who was a teacher for a number of years and then be- came the wife of Edward C. Hall; and Lucinda, who began teaching at the age of fourteen, taught continuously for twenty-five years, and twelve years of that time was in Madison, where she was principal of the Second Ward School at the time of her death.
Mr. Thomas Baker continued to live at Prairie du Sac until his death on March 16, 1909. He had bought a fine home in that village, and it is now occupied by his wife and their only daughter and child, Sarah Jennie.
Miss Jennie Baker was reared and educated at Prairie du Sac, at- tending the village schools and later for two years was a student in the University of Wisconsin. She became a highly proficient and popular teacher, and taught at Prairie du Sac for sixteen years. At that time she was in the primary department, and for four terms she taught on Sauk
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Prairie. Miss Baker has traveled extensively, and several years ago she and Miss Henrietta Glarner made a trip abroad, during which they visited the leading cities and places of interest in Europe. The late Thomas Baker, it should be noted, in addition to what has already been said, was deputy collector of internal revenue from December, 1869, until the second and third districts were consolidated in July, 1871.
JULIUS BALZER. One of the prosperous farmers and stockraisers of Troy Township, Sauk County, is Julius Balzer, who has practically spent his life in this county and who owns the old Balzer homestead of 156 acres. He was born on a farm in Westfield Township, Sauk County, in 1863, and is a son of John H. and Henrietta (Hill) Balzer, both of whom were born in Germany.
John H. Balzer came to the United States in 1848. For a number of years afterward he worked in the pine woods of Michigan and Wiscon- son, also worked at Manawa and Milwaukee, and during the Civil war served for nine months as a soldier in Company E, Forty-ninth Wis- consin Infantry. For twelve years after coming to Sauk County he lived on a farm of eighty acres in Westfield Township and on that farm all his children were born, two of whom are deceased but three survive, namely : Mary, William and Julius. The mother of this family died when forty-six years old, but the father was a vigorous man into ad- vanced age and lived until 1910.
Julius Balzer was reared to the age of four years in Westfield Township and then his father sold that place and in 1868 bought a farm of 156 acres in Troy Township, and that still is Mr. Balzer's home and here the father died. This is excellent land and by father and sons has been well cultivated and from time to time improved. General farming is carried on and some stock is grown. Mr. Balzer's sister Mary and brother William are also residents of Troy Township and all went to school here and have a wide circle of friends in their neighborhood. The parents were faithful members of the Reformed Church and they were carefully reared in the same religious body.
Mr. Balzer has never been very active in politics but, like his father was before him, is a sound republican and a conscientious citizen. The father served several years as a member of the school board and Mr. Balzer takes an interest in educational matters also. He is one of Troy Township's solid and dependable citizens.
WILLIAM T. MARRIOTT was the founder and is the head of the Marriott Hardware Company of Baraboo. He is a member of one of Sauk County's oldest and most substantial families, inherits the splendid busi- ness qualities and integrity of his father, and though still a very young man has had a most successful business career. The present firm was established in 1909, and his business associates are William J. Stortz and Edward J. Coughlin.
Mr. Marriott was born in Baraboo December 30, 1885, a son of Wil- liam and Laura (Sorenson) Marriott. His father was born in England December 30, 1860. The mother was born in Madison, Wisconsin, August 3, 1864, and died at Baraboo in 1916. Her parents were D. T.
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