USA > Wisconsin > Sauk County > A standard history of Sauk County, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 52
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
The people of Sauk County esteem him not only for his work and success as a banker but also for his public spirit. Mr. Van Orden is much interested in historical and archaeological matters. It was due to his enterprise and liberal contributions of necessary expenses that one of the most interesting of the early Indian remains in Wisconsin has been preserved for all time to the public. Many mounds exist in different sections of the state erected by the prehistoric inhabitants, and many of them in superficial shape represent the forms of different animals. Very rarely a mound is found delineating the human figure. Two of such mounds were in Sauk County, one of them having been obliterated by cultivation. Another, 41/2 miles north of Baraboo, had escaped the plow and other implements of civilized man, though a public road had cut through the portion of the mound containing the figure of the legs. In order to preserve the 11/2 acres of land including the mound the Sauk County Historical Society and the State Archaeological Society endeav- ored to enlist popular subscriptions for the purchase of the land from its owner, and as the result of a campaign this historic site has finally been preserved and fenced in as a memorial to the aboriginal inhabitants of Wisconsin. On a large granite stone near the mound is now affixed a bronze tablet containing in one panel the outline of the figure originally represented by the mound, while the central panel, which Mr. Van Orden paid for, contains this inscription : "Man Mound Park. Wis- consin Archaeological Society. Sauk County Historical Society. Land Mark Committee: W. F. W. C." In the right panel are the following words : "Mound located and platted by W. H. Canfield in 1859. Length 214 feet. width at shoulders 48 feet."
Mr. Van Orden is a thirty-second degree Mason, a member of the Baraboo Commercial Club, is independent in political and partisan affairs and for years served as junior warden of Trinity Episcopal Church, and as a member of the Board of Education of the City of Baraboo. Whatever concerns the welfare of his community concerns him personally
967
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
and he has used his means in many other ways than those mentioned to get results.
Mr. Van Orden was married at Waupun, Wisconsin, January 14, 1880, to Miss Martha Atwood. Mrs. Van Orden was also educated in Ripon College. Their two children are Lucas S., born in December, 1881, and Mary Louise, born in October, 1883.
JOHN H. CARPENTER is an honored veteran of the Union army, his second enlistment having been from Sauk County. For many years he was successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits in Franklin Township and after retiring from the farm he removed to Spring Green, where he is now found nearly every day looking after his duties as secretary of the Franklin Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company. He has held that office in this company since 1895.
Mr. Carpenter is of old and patriotic American stock. His great- grandfather served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. His grand- father, William B. Carpenter, was born May 17, 1769, and was too young to participate in the Revolution and was a little too old to serve in the second war with Great Britain. The father of John H. Carpenter was Justin Carpenter, who was born in Vermont February 27, 1798, and when only fourteen years of age enlisted for service in the War of 1812. He married Elizabeth Brown, who was born in Pennsylvania January 30, 1804. She died at Lexington, Ohio, April 28, 1891. Justin Carpen- ter died near Lexington, Ohio, August 19, 1875.
John H. Carpenter was born at Olney, Illinois, December 2, 1843, and spent his boyhood and early youth on a farm near Lexington, Ohio. He was completing his education in the Ontario Academy in that state when the war came on and most of the boys enlisted for service. Not enough were left to make a school, and consequently all the other students and teachers enlisted. That broke up the school, and it was never re-established after the war.
Mr. Carpenter was enrolled as a soldier in October, 1862, in Com- pany F of the Forty-third Ohio Infantry. During that enlistment he served nearly one year. At the siege of Vicksburg he did guard duty for a provision train. At the close of this service he came to Wisconsin, and during the winter of 1863-64 taught school in Sauk County. Then in October, 1864, the war still being in progress, he enlisted in the First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery as a sergeant in Company 'G. He was with that command until the close of hostilities, and thus has the distinction of being a veteran Union soldier.
Following the war he returned to Wisconsin and bought a farm in Franklin Township of Sauk County. This place he managed continu- ously until June 13, 1898, at which date he removed to Spring Green and has since taken life somewhat more leisurely, though he spends most of his time looking after the interests of the insurance company.
Mr. Carpenter has been quite a well known figure in county politics. He was once candidate for sheriff. He has served as chairman of Frank- lin Township Board, as township clerk and school clerk, and for several years he has been a member of the county board of the Village of Spring Green, which office he now holds. In every way possible he has sought Vol. II-26
.
968
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
to advance the welfare and best interests of his community. He is a member of T. J. Hungerford Post No. 39, G. A. R., and has held all the offices in the post and is now adjutant. His church is the Methodist Episcopal.
On June 24, 1864, between his first and second enlistment in the army, Mr. Carpenter married Julia E. Culley, of Lexington, Ohio. At her death she left one child, Charles, now a farmer near Spring Green. Her parents were Levi J. and Mary Culley, a family of farmers near Lexington, Ohio.
On February 14, 1880, Mr. Carpenter married for his second wife Carrie C. Utendorfer, who was born' at Warren, Pennsylvania, August 14, 1849. Her parents, George and Maria B. (Brown) Utendorfer, were natives of Germany, the former born in 1809 and the latter in 1820. George Utendorfer saw active service as a German soldier in the Father- land, came to America in 1840, and located first at Wilmington, Dela- ware, in 1856 brought his family to Richland County, Wisconsin, and in 1857 established a home in Spring Green, where he was one of the pioneer carpenters. He died July 7, 1877, and Mrs. Carpenter's mother passed away February 28, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter have three children : Mary Edna, wife of John J. Flannery, a merchant at Des Moines, Iowa ; James W., a farmer at Spring Green; and Frank A., who was born September 9, 1889, and died July 4, 1911, while a student in the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. The daughter Mary graduated from the White- water Normal School and taught some years in Madison before her mar- riage. James was a graduate of business college, and all four of Mr. Carpenter's children finished the course of the Spring Green High School. His oldest child, Charles, is married and has five children, named Julia, Florence, Benjamin, Theodore and William. His daughter Mary has one child, Ruth. The son James is the father of two children, John H. and Lawrence.
MORRIS E. SEELEY. During the past several years Morris E. Seeley has been a member of the retired colony of Reedsburg, where he owns a pleasant home and devotes himself to its oversight and improvement. He is still active and possessed of sound faculties, although more than seventy-seven years have unrolled their length since his birth, May 3, 1840, and he takes a keen and active interest in the world's work going on about him, although to younger shoulders has he transferred the labors that were his for so many years. His memories are culled from experiences as pioneer, hunter, carpenter, general mechanic and soldier, and particularly are rich in incidents relating to the very early history of Sauk County.
Morris E. Seeley was born in Medina County, Ohio, a son of Austin and Mary (Kent) Seeley and a grandson of Levi and Mary (Webster) Seeley. The grandfather, who fought as a soldier during the War of 1812, came to Reedsburg about the year 1850, and here passed away, as did also his wife. They were the parents of a large family of children, and of these three still survive: Sarah, who is a resident of North Freedom ; Milo, who fought in the Civil war as a captain in the Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry, and is now a resident of North Freedom; and Levi,
969
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
who was also a soldier during the war between the North and the South, and who is now a resident of Bingham, North Dakota. Austin Seeley was born in 1820, in Medina County, Ohio, and was there married to Mary Kent, also a native of that county, who was born in 1822. In 1845 they left Ohio, where Mr. Seeley had at one time been a manufac- turer of guns, and came to Wisconsin, first locating at Geneva and later removing to Delavan, Walworth County, where Mr. Seeley was engaged in business as a manufacturer of coffins. In 1848 the family came to Reedsburg, which continued to be its home during the lifetime of the parents, both of whom passed away here. Mr. Seeley was variously employed at this place, although the greater part of his attention was devoted to the cultivation of his farm, a tract of eighty acres of good land lying 11/2 miles from Reedsburg, which is now worth in the neigh- borhood of $20,000. He was one of the substantial and highly respected citizens of his community, and at various times was called upon to rep- resent his fellow-citizens in positions of public trust, at one time being chairman of the board of supervisors during the early days when such officials were called upon to work out their own problems, with few precepts to guide them. From the formation of the republican party until his death Mr. Seeley was a supporter of the principles of the grand old party. Mrs. Seeley was at first a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, but in later life transferred her membership to the Congrega- tional faith. There were three children in the family, as follows: Morris E., of this review; Caroline, who is now Mrs. Markle and resides at Reedsburg; and Ada, who is the wife of Robert Tate, of Lavalle, Wisconsin.
Morris E. Seeley was five years of age when he accompanied his parents from his Ohio birthplace to the new country of Wisconsin, and but three years older when he arrived at Reedsburg, then a little set- tlement boasting of five log shanties, which gave but small indications of developing into a thriving mercantile center, with modern schools, churches and civic improvements and a population of prosperous, indus- trious and energetic people. Beside himself there were but two white boys in the little community, and in search of playmates the youth often chose as his boyhood friends the Indian youths of the locality, there being many red men still having their camps in Sauk County in the vicinity of Reedsburg. It was but natural that he should learn a smat- tering of the tongue spoken by his playmates, and he still remembers many Indian words. From his father Mr. Seeley inherited a natural love and predilection for mechanics. When not attending the rude and primitive schools of the country or assisting his father on the home farm, he could usually be found tinkering with some piece of mechanism, often preferring this than to join the other lads of the neighborhood in play. Thus it was that he developed his inherent genius in this direc- tion, and throughout his life he has been identified with one or another of the skilled trades. Game was still plentiful in Sauk County when he came and for many years after, and Mr. Seeley gained something more than a merely local reputation as a huntsman and fisherman. He also had a touch of frontier life, making a trip to South Dakota, where he resided on a claim for a time, and his youthful experiences were such as
970
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
many men do not enjoy in an entire lifetime. Thus he grew to strong and sturdy manhood, just the kind of material necessary for the coun- try's needs when the great issue between the North and the South had to be decided by force of arms. In 1861, with the war only several months old, he enlisted in Company B, Twelfth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which he served until the close of the struggle, after Appomattox. The Twelfth Regiment took part in numerous notable engagements, including those of the Atlanta campaign, and had the record for marching of any regiment in the Union army. For three years Mr. Seeley played as a member of the regimental band, but also took an active part in the fighting, and because of bravery and fidelity was advanced in rank to corporal of his company. When he received his honorable discharge he returned to Reedsburg and again took up mechanical work, principally engaging in carpentry, although he also did a nice business in repairing guns, lawnmowers, etc., in his well known little shop, a historic landmark of Reedsburg, which was originally the first schoolhouse of this city. Upon his retirement he settled down to a life of comfort in his neat and attractive home at No. 222 North Walnut Street. Mr. Seeley may be said to be something more than a mechanic; in his way he is an artist, as will be evidenced by a number of fine pieces of furniture of his manufacture which are to be found in his home and which are composed of sumac. He is a fine worker in and carver of wood, in fact can still make anything that can be composed of wood, and several fine pieces of work in his home are a large hall clock and a violin. All the best turning work in the big stores of Reedsburg was done by Mr. Seeley, whose services during his active years were always in demand when an exceptionally difficult or intricate piece of work was needed to be done. Mr. Seeley is a republican, but has never cared for office. He belongs to the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason.
Mr. Seeley was married on Narrows Prairie, Sauk County, in 1867, to Miss Nellie Augusta Farrar, who was born at Columbus, Chenango County, New York, June 23, 1844, and came to Sauk County, Wisconsin, in 1855, with her parents, Nelson and Olivia Farrar, the family first settling in Washington Township on a farm. Later they removed to Reedsburg, where Mrs. Farrar died January 25, 1910, aged eighty-eight years, Mr. Farrar having passed away at Mendota, Wisconsin, September 29, 1872, when fifty-eight years of age. Mrs. Seeley died at Reedsburg September 26, 1910, having been the mother of one child, a daughter, Calla, born October 9, 1881, at Reedsburg. She was educated in the graded and high schools of this city, and was married March 26, 1911, to Leon B. Devereaux, of Lavalle, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Devereaux now reside at Reedsburg with Mr. Seeley, and are the parents of one child : Bliss Leon, born April 4, 1916. Mrs. Devereaux is a talented musician, one of the real artists of the Reedsburg Orchestra, of which she has been a member for several years, and a general favorite in social circles of the city of her birth.
WILLIAM R. PURDY has been a name in Sauk County journalism for nearly thirty years. He was editor and proprietor of the Spring Green
971
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
Weekly Home News until recently, when he took in his son, Harry C. Purdy, as partner, and the business is still continued under their man- agement and control.
This is one of the pioneer families of Central Wisconsin. William R. Purdy was born at Victory in Vernon County, Wisconsin, July 4, 1854. His father, William S. Purdy, was born in the historic little town of Carlisle in Sullivan County, Indiana, in 1825.
William R. Purdy spent most of his boyhood at Viroqua, Wisconsin. While there he learned the printing business, beginning his apprentice- ship at the trade at the age of fourtecn, after a limited schooling. He also worked in printing offices at La Crosse. In 1876, at the age of twenty-two, Mr. Purdy went west and took up a homestead near Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He remained on his claim until 1879, and then went to Pratt County, Kansas, where he remained a year. Returning to Wisconsin, he followed his trade as printer at Viroqua, and until 1888 was active manager of the Vernon County Censor in that city.
Mr. Purdy came to Sauk County in 1888 and bought the Spring Green Weekly Home News, which for nearly thirty years has been under his management and editorial direction. It is one of the leading news- papers of Sauk County and in point of continuous service Mr. Purdy is one of the oldest if not the oldest newspaper editor in the county. In January, 1916, he took in as partner his son, Harry C.
Mr. Purdy is past master of his Masonic Lodge. He was married January 8, 1879, to Miss Julia E. Coe, of Viroqua, Wisconsin. . Mrs. Purdy was born in Franklin Township of Vernon County August 25, 1856, a daughter of Nathan and Mary (Lawrence) Coe. Her father, who died in 1900, at the age of seventy-three, was one of the pioneers of Vernon County.
Harry C. Purdy was born in Pratt County, Kansas, November 14, 1879, but has spent practically all his life in Wisconsin. He was nine years of age when the family moved to Spring Green and he received the rest of his education in that village and learned the printer's trade with his father. He was employed in various capacities with the News. until he was admitted to partnership in January, 1916. Mr. Harry Purdy has served as village clerk and since 1910 has held other minor offices. He is a Knight Templar Mason and is past master of his home lodge.
On July 12, 1913, he married Miss Ruth Woodbury, of Spring Green. Mrs. Purdy was born at Lone Rock, Wisconsin, May 7, 1892.
HENRY ALEXANDER WEIDMAN, who has spent his life in Sauk County, was for many years an industrious and skillful worker at the carpenter trade, but for the past fifteen ycars has cultivated a good farm in Reeds- burg Township.
His birth occurred in Westfield Township of Sauk County May 8, 1862. He is a son of Alexander and Eleanor (McIlvaine) Weidman, and more concerning their history and concerning the other achievements of the family in Sauk County will be found on other pages of this pub- lication.
Henry A. Weidman while growing up as a boy on the farm attended
972
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
the public schools and also learned the trade of carpenter. For about sixteen years he was employed by the railroad company and lived at Ableman. When his father's farm was divided he took as his share eighty acres and he also owns thirty acres in Excelsior Township. This land he devotes to general farming and stock raising, and has sur- rounded himself with all the equipment necessary for progressive agri- cultural industry. He has a barn 34 by 52 feet.
Mr. Weidman is a republican in politics. During his residence in the village of Ableman he served as village trustee, and has always interested himself in the public spirited movements of his community.
In 1887 Mr. Weidman married Miss Lena Pierce. She is a daughter of Shepard Pierce, an early settler of Sauk County. Mr. and Mrs. Weid- man have six children, Eleanor, Irene, Ralph, Lola, Kenneth and Grier. The two younger children are still at home. Eleanor is the wife of Glen Rork, formerly of Reedsburg but now of Greenwood, Wisconsin, and they have two children, Whitman and Allen Willard. The daughter Irene married Arthur Ristau and their one son is named Kenneth. Ralph, a farmer near Greenwood in Clark County, Wisconsin, married Eva Hoag. Lola Bell is the wife of Robert Harvey, and they have one daughter, Lola Bell.
WALTER F. WINCHESTER is vice president of the Reedsburg Bank, and has been connected with banking affairs in Reedsburg for the past thirty-five years, since early youth.
His parents, Oliver W. and Jennette S. (Jones) Winchester, were living in Turkey, at Sivas, where his father was a missionary among the Armenians for nine years. In this Oriental country Walter F. Winchester was born October 28, 1864, but has no distinct recollections of his native country, since his parents during his infancy returned to the United States. His father was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, in April, 1826, and his mother in Shoreham, Vermont, in the same month and year. His father, after his missionary experience, became a Presbyterian minister, and in January, 1881, became pastor of the · Presbyterian Church at Reedsburg, Wisconsin. He remained there six years, then was minister at Cambria, Wisconsin, about two years, and his last pastorate was at Oregon, Wisconsin, where he died November 7, 1890. His widow afterwards returned to Reedsburg and lived with her son Walter until her death on March 24, 1910. Their three children were: Henry N., a well known attorney of Reedsburg in the office of James A. Stone ; Mary C., wife of Charles W. Eberlein, of San Francisco, California; and Walter F.
Walter F. Winchester was reared in New York, Michigan, and Min- nesota, and received a high school education at Fergus Falls, Minnesota. He was seventeen when his parents located at Reedsburg in 1881 and for one year he attended high school there. In 1882 he became a clerk in the Reedsburg Bank. For five years he performed his duties faith- fully and laid the foundation of his banking experience. Then with Charles Keith and George T. Morse he assisted in organizing the Citizens Bank and became its cashier and filled that office until 1896. In that year he returned to the Reedsburg Bank and has been one of its officials
973
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
and stockholders ever since. He was cashier until 1913, when he was elected vice president.
Mr. Winchester is a republican in politics and a member of the Pres- byterian Church. His home is on North Pine Street in Reedsburg. In 1905 he married Miss Edith M. Rork, of Kilbourn, Wisconsin. They have a daughter, Janette, born June 26, 1907.
HON. FRANK AVERY, of Baraboo, is a remarkable man. He is now eighty-six years of age. He has lived at Baraboo sixty years, has been a factor in its business life perhaps longer than any other citizen now living, and his experience has extended to the larger life of the state.
Mr. Avery was born in County Kent, England, on November 17, 1830. His parents were Thomas and Mary Avery. His father was a shoemaker, the grandfather also followed that trade, and Frank Avery learned it and followed it for some years. When Frank Avery was eight years of age his mother died, and most of her family came to the United States. Thomas Avery also came to America, while the Civil war was in progress, and spent his last years at the home of his son, Frank, in Baraboo.
Mr. Avery was the only son of the family, and his sisters are all deceased. Frank Avery grew up in England, attended local schools, and then served an apprenticeship at the shoemaker's trade. In the spring of 1853, when twenty-three years of age, he embarked on a vessel bound for America. While at the harbor he witnessed the embarkation of English soldiers who were going to Southern Russia to fight in the Crimean war.
After coming to America Mr. Avery followed his trade for a time near Syracuse, New York, and in the winter of 1855 arrived in Wis- consin, first locating at Janesville. In the spring of 1856 he arrived in Baraboo, and he has known that city as a place of residence ever since. For thirty years Mr. Avery conducted one of the leading boot and shoe stores of Baraboo and since retiring from his life as a merchant · in 1892 he has been in the insurance business. He still maintains an office and in spite of his advanced years has no inclination to retire from business.
He has always been a republican since he became a naturalized American. The first vote he cast was at Baraboo. That was in 1856, when General Fremont was the first candidate of the republican party. Mr. Avery has the unusual distinction of having voted for every repub- lican presidential candidate from the time the party was organized down to the present date. He attended a county convention of the party in 1856, and has been a delegate to such conventions in nearly every election year since that time. When Baraboo was a village he served both as trustee and president. In 1887 he was elected to the state assembly and in 1888 was elected to the state senate. Altogether he served six years in the Legislature. He has been an alderman of Baraboo, and for two terms was mayor.
In 1853 Mr. Avery took his first degree in the Masonic order at Syra- cuse, New York, and is now one of the oldest Masons living in Wisconsin. His religious faith is that of the Unitarian Church.
-
974
HISTORY OF SAUK COUNTY
In 1859 Mr. Avery married Miss Emily Andrews. She died in 1895. Four years later Mr. Avery married his present wife, Harriet Hall. Mr. Avery had one adopted daughter, Julia A., who died in 1877. She was a graduate of the local schools, and had become private secretary to the superintendent of schools at Milwaukee.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.