Biographical history of La Crosse, Trempealeau and Buffalo Counties, Wisconsin : containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, with accompanying biographies of each; engravings of prominent citizens of the counties, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families, Part 24

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 938

USA > Wisconsin > Buffalo County > Biographical history of La Crosse, Trempealeau and Buffalo Counties, Wisconsin : containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, with accompanying biographies of each; engravings of prominent citizens of the counties, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 24
USA > Wisconsin > La Crosse County > Biographical history of La Crosse, Trempealeau and Buffalo Counties, Wisconsin : containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, with accompanying biographies of each; engravings of prominent citizens of the counties, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 24
USA > Wisconsin > Trempealeau County > Biographical history of La Crosse, Trempealeau and Buffalo Counties, Wisconsin : containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States, with accompanying biographies of each; engravings of prominent citizens of the counties, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families > Part 24

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).

At the age of twelve years Mr. Carl L. Borreson, our subject, began in mercantile business, serving an apprenticeship. In the spring of 1570 he left his native country, spent eight months in Germany and traveled in Engtand, and in the fall of 1870 came to

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America, and direct to La Crosse. Here he began as clerk and book-keeper for Charles B. Soldberg, a wholesale grocer, and continued in that position ten years. He then became head manager of the retail department of this firm for two years, having an interest in the business, and then, in the spring of 1553. formed with William Joosten a partnership in the grocery business, wholesale and retail. + In the spring of 1586 he sold his interest there to his partners, and the next fall joined his brother Henry, in his present business, already mentioned.

lle was married in La Crosse to Miss Han- nah Matilda Wederwang, a native of Thoten, Eastern Norway,and a daughter of Matthias W. and Mary Wenderwang. The mother of Mrs. Borreson came to America with her daughter in 1865. settling in La Crosse, where she still resides. Mrs. Borreson died in 1875, leav- ing two daughters: Lillie Mary Elisabeth and Hannah Matilda Borgia. She was an earnest b liever in the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Borreson's seeond marriage, which occurred December 26, 1877, was to Miss Josephine Hermine Bolette Hangan, who was born at Drammen, Norway, May 6. 1539. She was a schoolteacher in her native country. and also taught in Chicago after coming to Ameriea in 1565. Her father was a manu- facturer of wagons at Drammen for some years, and then moved to Christiania, the capital of Norway, where he was engaged in the same business; and while there he served the city as Alderman for a number of years. Ile came to America in 1860. and in 1570 located at La Crosse, where he died three years later.

By his second marriage Mr. Borreson has one son and one daughter; Borge Haugan, born July 7, 1879, and Bertha Christine Ambrosia, born October 9, 1850. Mr. and

Mrs. Borreson are worthy members of the Lutheran Church.

In this religions body Mr. Borreson has been very zealons and efficient, holding va- rious official positions. He was a member of the board of the church which located the Lutheran College of the Norwegian Synod of America at Decorah, Iowa, in the summer of 1889. In the summer of 1590 he was chairman of the building committee which superintended the erection of the Norwegian Lutheran Church of this synod at North La ('rosse. Ile has served his church here as trustee for about fifteen years, as secretary about nine years and as treasurer three years. He has been a member of the Seandinavian Society for six years, and was its president at the time of its dissolution and merging into the Norden Society. He is at present Super- visor of the Ninth Ward.

Of his family, his two eldest daughters are young ladies of bright promise, exhibiting the best traits of the Borreson line, in the profession of teaching. The eldest daughter is a student making rapid progress at the Milwaukee Normal School, and the other is now in her graduating year in the high school, and will also complete a thorough course of training for the teachers' profession.

OSEPH AND FRANK SCHWALBE, builders and contractors, La Crosse, Wis- consin .- Joseph Schwalbe was born in Austria, near Prague, at the village of Aucha, June 19, 1529, and is the son of a contractor and builder, whose ancestors for many gener- ations had followed the same calling. He received a good education in Prague and completed a thorough course of training in the architectural schools of that city. Upon attaining his twenty-first year, he embarked

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in the business of contracting and building, which he conducted until 1569, when he came to America and located in St. Louis, Mis- souri. There he remained thirteen months, on Tenth and Cass streets, ete.

but at the end of that time, came to La Crosse, where he has since made his home. lle has been prominently identified with the building interests of the place, and has very materially aided the growth and development of this industry.

He was married in his native village to Miss Lizzie Of this union ten children were born, three sonsand four daugh- ters, in Germany, and two sons and one daughter in this country; three sons and three daughters survive: Mary is the wife of Joseph Schubert, of LaCrosse; Joseph is a real-estate agent in West Superior, Wisconsin ; Frank; Lizzie is the wife of Lorens Schent, of La Crosse; Line, and William, a book- keeper by occupation.

Frank Schwalbe, the junior member of the firm, was born at Aucha. Austria, October S. 1863, and is a son of Joseph Schwalbe. 1Ie received his education in La Crosse, and early in life took up the business of his father. In 1858 the present partnership was formed. He was married in this city to Miss Charlotta Kohlhans, a daughter of Jacob Kohlhaus. Of this union two sons have been born; Frank and Arthur. He is a member of the La ety, the Lienlokken builling, and many of Crosse Board of Trade and of the Germania Society, being an honored official of the latter. the finest residences. During the past seven years he has given considerable attention to Mr. Schwalbe and his son Frank are both contracting and building in Minneapolis. Minnesota, meeting with very encouraging results.

members of the Builders' Exchange, and are among the leading members of their craft. Among the many buildings which they have Mr. De Lorea was married in La Crosse to Miss Emma E. Rawlinson. He and his wife are regular communicants of the Episcopal erected may be mentioned the Weileman Brewing Company's plant, Zeister's Brewery, the largest portion of the Gund Brewing Church, and are members of the congregation of Christ Church. He is a worthy Sir Knight of the Masonic order, and belongs to the Knights of Honor. Mrs. De Lorea is a

Company's plant, most of the C. J. Michel Brewing Company's plant, the Eagle Brew- ery, the Vogel Brewery. the West Wisconsn

Machine Shops, the Tivoli ( a summer garden). Peter Lehman's Garden, Doerre's Block, City Hall of La Crosse, Mr. Wheeler's residence

RANCIS XAVIER DE LOREA, whose business career in La Crosse has been a most satisfactory one. has been a resi- dent of the county since 1573, and has won an enviable position among his fellow. build- ers. Ile was born in the city of Montreal, July 4, 1837, and is a son of Battiste and Susan ( Roussant) De Lorea. His father was a farmer by occupation, but agriculture pre- sented few attractions to young Francis Xavier, and he took up the carpenter's trade. which he learned very thoroughly in his na- tive city. In 1861 he came to the United States, and until 1573 worked as a journey- man in the various cities of the Union. Since loeating in La Crosse he has come to be rec- ognized as one of the most intelligent con- tractors and has won his share of patronage. He ereeted the Sixth Ward schoolhouse. the Me Millan building, the Methodist Episcopal Church, the La Crosse Abattoir, the business block of the Norwegian Workingmen's Soci-

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

Worthy Matron of the Eastern Star, and is an his printing material and established the new active official of that society.

Our subject is a member of the directory of the Builders' Exchange and was one of the prominent factors in the perfection of that organization.

German Democratic paper, Der La Crosse Volksfreund, and a Sunday supplement called Im Familienkreise. The Sauk County Herold, after having been published here for nearly ten months during 1991, was merged into the Volksfreund, and is published in connection with that paper every Saturday under the name of the Herold and Volks-

ENRY WILLIAM RAETZMANN, freund. Der La Crosse Volksfreund is one of the leading German publications of the Northwest: is a bright, newsy sheet, ably edited and well conducted.

editor and proprietor of Der La Crosse Volksfreund, was born at Barnm, Han- over. Germany, September 9. 1547. In October. 1866, he emigrated to America, Mr. Raetzmann was united in marriage April 30, 1974, to Miss Emilie Licht, who was born September 30. 1855. the eldest going directly to Reedsburg, Wisconsin: there he found employment in a general store as clerk, and also gave some time to the , daughter of Henry Licht of Westfield. Mr. study of the English language, attending the and Mrs. Raetzmann are the parents of seven children, six of whom are living: Ewald Ludolf Friedrich, born March 20, 1575; Amandus flugo Lothar, born August 8, 1576, died March 12, 1857; Meta Louise Frieda, born December 25, 1875; Wilhelm Ilermann, June 9. 1851; Ella Catharine Panline. to mercantile pursuits, and six years later he , August 27. 1553: P'anl Otto Werner, Jan- public school for this purpose. Ile studied law in 1867 '65 with Mr. Joseph Mackey, one of the leading attorneys of Sank county, and in 1569 became a student in the North- western University at Watertown, Wiscon- sin. In 1570 he again turned his attention entered upon his career as a journalist, in mary 11. 1886; Alfred Louis Julius, April 14, 1558. which he has met with the most gratifying success. In December of that year he estab- lished at Reedsburg, Wisconsin. the Demo- cratic weekly newspaper called Der Sunk County Herold, of which he has been the editor and publisher for fifteen years. lle was Notary Public during this time, and held the agency for several steamship lines and five different fire- insurance companies. He served as Justice of the Peace for two terms, being twice re-elected, but declining to accept the honor the third time it was conferred, as his private business required his undivided atten- tion.

In January. 1591, Mr. Raetzmann removed to La Crosse with his family, and has resided in this eity since that time. lle also bonght

A. SLOANE, stamp elerk in the La Crosse, Wisconsin, postoffice, was ori- ginally from Hayesville, Ashland county, Ohio, his birth occurring March 25, 1846. and his parents, William and Elizabeth Ann (Williams) Sloane were natives of that State also. The father was at one time a miller, but subsequently became baggage master on the Pittsburg. Fort Wayne & Chi- cago Railroad, holding that position from 1865 until 1873, when his death occurred. Hle was just forty- five years of age. During the civil war he served as a private in Com-

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pany HI, One Hundred and Second Ohio In- fantry, and was on guard and garrison duty. Ile was discharged on account of sickness after the first year. He was for many years a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in politics he was an Abolition Republican. His wife is still living, is sixty- three years of age, and resides at Crestline, Ohio. There were four children born to this union, E. A. Sloane being the eldest. The others are: John, on the railroad at Peoria, Illinois; William, a blacksmith at Gallion, Ohio, and Rudolph B. E. A. Sloane was reared in town, learned the printer's trade at twelve years of age, and followed that until he enlisted, July, 1862, in Company D, One Hundred and Second Ohio Volunteer In- fantry. His first battle was at AAthens, Ala- bama, where he and many others were over- powered and captured after hard fighting. Ile was taken to Cahaba prison, Alabama, and there his treatment was horrible. He was captured in September, 1864, and in March, 1865, the river overflowed, the prison was flooded, and the prisoners were obliged to stand in water up to their waists for one week. Hle weighed 130 pounds when he entered, and on coming out, in March, weighed but sixty pounds. General Washburn, who had charge of the Confederate prisoners at Vicksburg, sent word to prison at Cahaba, that if the prisoners at that point were not liberated im- mediately, he would hang everyone of their officers in his charge. They were soon after liberated. The prisoners were then sent to Vicksburg, and our subject was in the hospital for some time. He then became terribly homesick, had been ont three years, and had seen the very roughest side of war- fare, and as a consequence he slipped away from the hospital and ensconced himself on the Sultana, hoping to avoid the hospital sur- geons, so that he could make his way to his

Northern " Home, sweet home." lle was de- tected, however, and brought hack to the hospital by order of the surgeons, and thus. unwittingly on the part of those professional men, was presumably saved from the terrible calamity that overtook the Sultana, and sent 1,900 brave soldiers to a watery grave with- out a moment's warning. Mr. Sloane was discharged May 2, 1865, and it was a year before he recovered from his experience. After this he was on the railroad, and was conductor for twenty-one years. On the fourth of July, 1589, he met with a serious accident. He was firing anvils, when the ring which connected them burst, and a flin- der struck his leg, necessitating its amputa- tion September 17, of the same year. Since April 14, 1890, he has been stamp clerk in the postoffice at La Crosse, Wisconsin, and has filled that position in a very acceptable manner up to date.

Mr. Sloane was married on May 20, 1868, to Miss Clara Bowen, daughter of Captain Bowen of Port Huron, Michigan. They have two daughters living: Cora, wife of Fred Lampman, residing in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Grace, wife ot M. M. Conley, of Minneapolis. Mr. and Mrs. Conley have two children: Pearl and Wayne.

Mr. Sloane is a member of the G. A. R., of the order of Railroad Conductors, is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen. Ile is a Republican in politics, though somewhat independent.

ENJAMIN E. EDWARDS, a promi- nent and influential citizen of La ('rosse, Wisconsin, identified with many of the important business enterprises on foot in this city, is one whose biography will be found of interest to many.

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Benjamin E. Edwards was born in Wal. North La Crosse, and removed the plant from worth county, Wisconsin. November 12, 1545. Fond du Lac here In 1-90, he joined eur- dially in the support and organization of the Inter-State Fair Association, contributed lib- erally to it, and has served as its president since that time. Ile is also engaged to some extent in the real-estate business.

son of Theodore B. and Adeline F. (Me- Cracken) Edwards. Grandfather Julius Ed- wards came to Wisconsin at an early day, and Theodore B. Edwards came from North- ampton, Massachusetts, to this State in 1839, making settlement in La Crosse, in 1852. The latter was an active citizen and a public- spirited man. He was engaged in the real- estate business and did inneh toward building up and improving city property. In 1570 he went to California and established his home in Santa Clara county.

The subject of our sketch was reared in La Crosse, and obtained a fair edneation in the public schools of this city, subsequently en- tering the preparatory school at Beloit. In the summer of 1864 he enlisted in Company G, Fortieth Wisconsin. Volunteer Infantry, and went to the front. He, however, saw no great amount of hard fighting. From 1867 to 1873, he was engaged in the dry-goods business, and from 1878 to 1887 gave his attention to lumber interests. Upon the organization of the City Street Railway Com- pany, in 1582, he took an active part and continued with it till its consolidation with the La Crosse Street Railway Company, form- ing the present extensive plant known as the La Crosse City Railway Company. Since the consolidation of the companies, Mr. Ed- wards has served as president. Upon the organization of the La Crosse Knitting Works, in 1856, he gave the enterprise his ardent support, and took an active official membership in its directory, serving as vice- president. In 1889 he joined Mr. W. Il. Davis in the purchase of the Wheel & Seeder Company's plant, at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and in 1590 they organized the Wheel & Seeder Manufacturing Company, and built their extensive factory on Clinton street,

Mr. Edwards was married in La Crosse, in 1567. to Miss Ella C. Osborne. (See sketch of the Osborne family.) They have one son and three daughters. viz .: Eugene O., Grace, a student of Wellesley College, Massachu- setts; llelen L., who is now in the prepara- tory department at Amherst, Massachusetts; and Annie K .. attending the public school.

Mr. Edwards is a member of the Old Set- tlers' Society of La Crosse county, and is associated with the 1. O. O. F. Hle and his family worship at the Congregational Church.

ILLIAM LUENING, dealer in dry goods, furnishing, ete., was born in Bremen, Germany, March 12, 1851. His father, William Luening, was a merchant, and his ancestors had generally been merean- tile people in llanover, Esens, and other cities. He married Bertha Kroning, whose fore- fathers had generally been in public office. In 1858 he came to America and established himsell in business at Milwaukee, and two years later brought his family over. In 1864 he moved to Sank City, this State, where he passed the remainder of his useful and active life, dying in 1876, and being buried with the honors of the German Singing and Liter- ary Society. He left two sons and two daugh- ters, namely: Diedrich C., principal of a public school in Milwaukee; Lonisa, who I became the wife of Edward Carl of Wausau, Wisconsin: William of this sketch, and Ber-

Beer: D. Bryant

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tha, who married John Kohlsaat, of Chi- eago, Illinois.

Mr. William Luening, our subject, com- pleted his school days in the Milwaukee high school; then, at sixteen, was apprenticed elerk in a wholesale notion store; at nineteen he went out as a " knight of the grip-sack" (traveling salesman), in which eapacity he enjoyed great success. In 1880 he retired from the road and joined the John Gund Brewing Company, which partnership lasted until 1886. Next he joined Mrs. C. F. Klein, in the business of dry goods, clothing, ete. He has served one term of four years as a member of the City Conneil; has been Presi- dent of the Germania Society three years, Speaker of the Turn-Verein three terms, and has held other positions in these societies.

lle was married in La Crosse, to Miss Em- ma Gund, daughter of John Gund (see sketch). She died in 1886, leaving two sons and a daughter: Irma, Guido, and William. Mr. Luening subsequently married Miss Anna Kienohs, a native of Northern Ger- many, and by this marriage there is one son, by name Engene.

ENJAMIN F. BRYANT .- The man from Maine has always been a potential element in the civilization and develop- ment of Wisconsin. The pine tree pointed the way for the pioneers, but along the woodman's trail came men of all voeations -merchants, mechanics and scholastic pro- fessors of every degree. No better blood ever infused pioneer life; no sturdier arm ever set about the task of subduing the wil- 'derness, and no less vigorous mental activity could have raised a great commonwealth amid the unbroken elements of nature within the limits of half a century. Very much of

the strong, distinctive Americanism which Wisconsin has maintained almost eo-equally with the other Eastern States, against an un- paralleled tide of immigration from every nation upon the earth, is due to the virility of the pioneer stock in which the Pine Tree State is so strongly represented.

The war, which turned and overturned everything in the United States except the fundamental principles of indissoluble union and universal liberty, called a halt upon the westward-journeying star of empire until every star in the national firmament, how- ever prone to wander, shall know and admit that its place was fixed and everlasting. The lessons of the war were not only to those who denied the nation; all men understood better that this was our common country, and the migrations, which before had seemed like leaving home for distant and alien lands, took on a changed aspect as the iron bound- aries of the State were leveled. The associa- tions of the war had also their influenee. The men of Maine and Wisconsin stood side by side for a common cause on many fields, and the friendships cemented in sacrificial blood are not easily broken. When the last act in the great drama was accomplished, and half a million soldiers returned to peaceful civil life almost in a single day, thousands of home-seekers turned their faces toward the star of empire which again grandly took its way westward. Every Eastern State had its favorite Western State, and the men of Maine. still influenced by the magnetic pine tree as well as by the thought of friends who had preceded them, resumed their journey toward Wisconsin.

There are occasional instances of one who paused upon the way to try the light of what we now call the Central States, but which thirty years ago seemed the far West to the New Englander. When sneh an one com-

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pleted his journey to Wisconsin. fulfilling his destiny as a Maine man, he was received with all the more complacency as one who came upon judgment and knowledge, and not because others had beaten the path. Such an one was the subject of this sketch, Benja- min F. Bryant, who left Maine for Ohio in 1×61, and first put his foot upon Wisconsin soil to dwell there in 1565, three years of the interim having been spent upon Southern battle-fields. The Judge, or Colonel. as he is called indiscriminately, is one of the best representatives of his native State, Wiscon- sin, that it has ever welcomed; proud of his birth-place; loyal to his alma mater, the ven- erable Bowdoin College: faithful in regard for statesmen and scholars that Maine has given the nation. yet from the start. thor- oughly assimilating all of western life except its crudeness, he was well fitted to do his share in the educational and social develop- ment of a relatively new community.

Benjamin French Bryant, son of Benja- min and Lucy F. Bryant, was born at Rock- land, Maine, September 3, 1537. His father was a physician, born at New Vineyard, Franklin county. Maine, in 1803, himself the son of a farmer and blacksmith, who taught all his sons-many in number -- the black- smith trade before their majority. The Bry- ants in New England were from the olden time workers in iron. Colonel Bryant's grandfather, of the maternal branch, Deacon Joseph French, was a farmer, who went into Maine from Massachusetts near the close of the last century, when Franklin county was a wilderness, and settled on a farm at South Chesterville before a tree had been felled on it, and cleared it himself. His daughter Lucy was born there in 1505. The farm is still owned and cultivated by descendants of the same name.

Both branches of Colonel Bryant's family

are old in New England, and settled in Mas- sachusetts near the middle of the seventeenth century. Ilis father's family are of English and Scotch extraction: his mother's of Eng- lish. His grandfather Bryant and sons were men of versatile talents and ready in speech. The mother's family have been from the carliest time among the sturdiest of New England people, usually farmers, but some- times hotel keepers, mechanies, merchants and physicians. Dr. John French, of Bath, New Hampshire, was Colonel Bryant's moth- er's unele, and Ezra B. French, Second Au- ditor of the United States Treasury, was Dr. French's son and her cousin.

Colonel Bryant lived in Maine from his birth until after his majority, attending com- mou schools only until he was seventeen years old. Hle then began to attend the Maine Wesleyan Seminary at Kent's Hill, in the town of Readfield, where his father and mother had completed their education. Ile there pursued his studies about six months each year for four years, fitting himself for teaching and also to enter college. As his father was too poor to assist him in his education, he was compelled to provide the means himself, and accordingly while at the academy and in college he worked on the farm each summer and taught school win- ters, and in this way defrayed the expenses of school. He left home when sixteen years old to take care of himself, and was with his parents afterward only for brief periods with long intervals.

The young man had the full measure of American ambition, and upon the subject of education he said, "I will."

All things come to such if they are as steadfast as courageous; and in 1859 he entered Bowdoin College, in the class of 1863. Ile did not, however, complete the course. When his class graduated he was

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taking a higher course in patriotism with the Army of the Cumberland in the Chiek- amanga campaign. In 1856 his father had removed to IIuron county, Ohio, where the son joined him in 1861. Soon after he en- tered the law office of Kennan & Stewart at Norwalk in that county. Legal studies as well as all other peaceful vocations were prosecuted under difficulties, with the war spirit growing into an intense passion throughout the land, and in August, 1862, Blackstone et id omne genus went back upon the shelves to bide their time, while the young student went to the front as Sergeant in Company A, One Hundred and First Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Cumberland, and participated in the principal battles of that section. After Stone River, Sergeant Bryant was commissioned First Lieutenant, and in March, 1864, Captain of his company. He was mustered out with his regiment at the close of the war, June 20, 1865. Ilis military record tells its own story; promotion was won on the field, and was the reward for duty faithfully and courageously done.

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Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn Publication date: 1892 Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 938

Author: Lewis Publishing Company. cn
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 938