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 43

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 43
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 43
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 43

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Mr. and Mrs. Sisson are the parents of three children: George and Nellie May, who are living, and Jennie Rachel, who died at the age of two years and three months. She wa- a bright and beautiful child. and her death was a sad trial to their parents. Mr. Sisson owns the old homestead, which is one of the finest farms in Lewis valley; it consists of 130 aeres, in a state of high cultivation. upon which a part of the village of Mindoro is located.

OHN A. ELLIOTT, a member of the well known wholesale liquor firm of 'in Dabugne county, Iowa, and of a family of Elliott & Callihan, of La Crosse. Wis- consin, was born in Iowa. February 7. 1862. to Andrew and Mary ( MeGuigan) Elliott, they being also natives of the Hawkeye State. The father, who was a farmer and lead miner, died in 1999, at the age of seventy-four years, but his widow still survives him and is an honored and respecte I resident of the State of her birth. She is now in her sixty-sixth year, and is, as was her husband, a member of the Catholic Church. Her children are as follow>: . Katie, John A. and Henry M .: the latter a resident of Duke, Montana. Katie is deceased. John A. Elliott first started ont

teacher, but at the end of one term began clerking in a elothing establishment, and one year later entered a liquor establishment in the same capacity. In 1952 he opened a wine house of his own in Farley, Iowa, and two and one half years later became associated with Mr. Callihan in the same business in the city of La Crosse. From the start they have been snecessful, being enabled through their connections to obtain pure goods. They have conducted their business on the elevated plane of mercantile honor, and being practi- cally conversant with it they have made their house a representative one.

M ICHIAEL CALLILIAN is a member of the firm of Elliott & Callihan. wholesale liquor dealers, of La ('rosse, Wisconsin. and they have a reputa- cion unsurpassed in the United States for the quality of their goods. the purity of which is unquestioned. Mr. Callihan was born in Dubugne county, lowa. August 23. 1555. to John and Mary (Foley) Callihan, who were born in the Emerald Isle. They now reside

eleven children born to them the subject of this sketch is the fourth. In 197> Michael Callihan began working on a railroad in Col- orado, and for some time was employed in the shops at Denver and Leadville, and later held the position of fireman on a train for about one year and a half. After some time spent in Farley, lowa, in the employ of Me- Gee & Co., he formed his present partnership with Mr. Elliott, and from December, 15$4, until June, 1956. they sold groceries and liquors at Farley. In the last mentioned year they moved to La Crosse and began business with a small capital and a small stock, and

C.C. Mashburn

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they now carry a full line of imported and domestic wines and liquors, which are han- dled both in bulk and in cases. Their stock is now valued at about $10,000, and they do twice the business of any like establishment in the city.

Mr. Callihan was married September 3, 1889, to Miss Mary A., daughter of Francis Rubely, of Dyersville, Iowa. They have one child, a bright and promising little girl named Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Callihan are members of the Catholic Church. Mr. Cal- lihan has been traveling for the firm over Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota, and in business circles he is highly regarded for his integrity and ability.

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ADWALADER COLDOON WASII- BURN, Governor of Wisconsin .- John Washburn, Seeretary of Plymouth Col- ony, in England, settled at Duxbury, Massa- chusetts, in 1631, and became wealthy and prominent. Israel Washburn, the next in line, became a Captain in the Revolution, a member of the General Court, and sat in the convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States. Israel Washburn, Jr., father of Governor Washburn, born at Rayn- ham, Massachusetts, in 1784, was equally prominent, and lived until 1876, and to see his large family of sons more successful in private and public life than any other of equal number in the Union.

The mother of Governor Washburn was a descendant of John Benjamin, who settled in Massachusetts in 1632, and was one of the proprietors of Cambridge. IIer ancestors served the Colonies and the infant Union with no less zeal and distinction than those of her husband. So there was good stuff in Governor Washburn, who was born at Liver.

more, Maine, on April 22, 1818, where his father owned a farm and general store. lle lived at home until 1835, working on the farm and attending the town school In 1835 he entered a store at Hallowell, then a cul- tured and thrifty town, where he enjoyed unnsnal social and business opportunities. During the winter of 1838-'39, he taught the chief school at Wiseasset, and with the money thus earned set out early in the spring of 1839 for the Territory of Iowa. His first stopping place was in the village of Daven- port, where he taught & private school for three months. On the day following the close of school he took a position with David Dale Owen, on the Jowa Geological Survey, which Congress had just ordered to be made,

In the winter of 1839-'40, young Wash- burn went to Rock Island, Illinois, and began the study of law with a former friend in Maine, Joseph B. Wells. At the election of 1840 he supported General Harrison, and was himself elected to the office of Surveyor of Rock Island county. In March, 1842, at the age of twenty-four years, Mr. Washburn established his residence in Min- eral Point, Wisconsin, was admitted to the bar of the United States District Court, and began the practice of his profession. In 1844 he entered into partnership with Cyrus Woodman, for some years agent of the New England Land Company, and gradually the firm of Washburn & Woodman, having now an abundance of capital, abandoned the prac. tice of law, and gave attention exclusively to entering, purchasing and selling land, perfect- ing titles, locating Mexican land warrants, and transacting a general financial and land business.

In 1852, on the invitation of Governor Farwell and Justice Harlow S. Orton, Mr. Washburn went to Madison to assist in fram- ing a general banking law, under which, when

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY

enacted, his firm opened the Mineral Point mander. One of his notable feats was redue- Bank. This institution stood the test of all financial reverses, never suspended specie pay . ment, and when finally its affairs were wound np. paid every dollar of liability in gold and silver.

ing, with an inferior force, the bomb-proof works at Esperanza, Texas, and historical works on the war declare him to have been one of the very best district commanders in the army. Like Grant, he never turned back. and never for a moment lost faith in the ulti-

In March, 1555, Mr. Woodman retired from the firm, leaving its immense affairs to mate triumph of the Union army.

be managed entirely by Mr. Washburn, who had, at the previous November election, en. tirely withont solicitation and against his will, been elected to Congress by the Repub. lieans, then just organized. On taking his stat he met his brothers. Israel from Maine. and Elihu B. from Illinois, both of whom had been first elected to Congress, like himself, at ensning six years these three strong brothers, from three different States, ocenpied seats together, and impressed their united strength npon the legislation of the country. In 1866, Mr. Washburn was again elected to Congress, and re-elected in 1868. At the close of his last term in Congress, in 1871, the Republicans brought him forward as a candidate for Governor, and he was elected over James R. Doolittle by 10,000 majority. Ilis administration was gniet, able and econ- omical, and very useful to the people of the the age of thirty-six years; and during the . State. In 1873, he was renominated, but the high-tide of Grangerismn, general dis- satisfaction with railway charges, and hard times conspired to his defeat by William R. Taylor. This ended Governor Washburn's In 1861 the committee of thirty-three on the state of the Union. of which Governor . Washburn was a member, reported an amend- ment to the Constitution, making slavery perpetual. Ile joined with Mr. Tappan, of Vermont, in a minority report against the proposed amendment, and against any con- cessions whatever of liberty to slavery, or in favor of secession. official career. though, in 1975, as he had been in 1861 and 1869, he was an unsnecess- ful candidate for the United States Senate. After the destruction, in 1575, of his great mill at Minneapolis, where he was one of the early and principal ownersof the St. Anthony's Falls Water Power, he went to Europe for the purpose of studying the various processes of making flour. As a result he was the first to introduce into America the Hun- garian roller system. and what is known as the patent process of producing flour, and made his new mill the largest and best in the world.

In March, 1961, Governor Washburn re- moved to La Crosse, but had hardly settled down to attend to his enormous private interests before he saw that the cause of the Union demanded aff the men and means at the command of the North. He therefore Governor Washburn's charities were nobly and modestly bestowed-Washburn Observa- tory to the Wisconsin State University, at Madison: People's Library, in La Crosse; Minneapolis Orphans' Asylum, in memory of his mother; his beautiful home and ground raised the Second Regiment of Cavalry, was commissioned Colonel, and reported for duty on October 10, 1861. It is impossible to follow here his military operations in detail. Ile became a Major-General on November 29, 1862, and until he resigned, in May, 1965, at Edywood, near Madison, to the Catholic was an active, daring and successful com- Sisters, the State having refused to accept

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it for public parposes, and numerous lesser gifts. Ife died of paralysis, superinduced by a complication of diseases, at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, on May 14, 1582, aged sixty-four years.

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LBERT FILKINS is one of the pioneers of La Crosse county. having settled here as early as 1856. He is a native of Rensselaer county, New York, born Feb- rnary 16, 1830, and is a son of Peter and Ann Eliza (Van Der Cook) Filkins. His father was a farmer, and served as a soldier in the war of 1812; his grandfather, Jacob Filkins, also followed agricultural pur- suits and was probably a descendant of the English family bearing his name, who settled in this country in Colonial days. Ann Eliza Van Der Cook was a daughter of Gilbert Van Der Cook, who served in the war of 1812; his progenitors belonged to the Knickerbocker stock of New York.

Albert Filkins was reared in the Empire State, and obtained a fair education in the common schools. At the age of twenty-two years he began to learn the carpenter's trade, and worked throughout the State of New York as a journeyman. He spent one year in Belvidere, Illinois, and in the spring of. 1855 came to La Crosse, and the following year located here permanently. He erected, among many other structures, the Exposition Building, the Wheel & Seeder Works and the State street engine house.

Mr. Filkins was married in this city, to Miss Mary .E. Pierre, a native of Saratoga county, New York, and a daughter of Philip and Parmelia (Huling) Pierre, who emigrated to this county from the State of New York about the year 1854. To Mr. and Mrs. Fil- kins has been born one son, Rockwell E.

Filkins, who is associated with his father in business. Our worthy subject is a member of the Builders' Exchange, and used every effort to assist in its organization and to make it a permanent affair. He belongs to the First Baptist Church, to which he con- tributes a liberal support.

1-015-7 HIRISTIAN PEDERSON, of the firm of Hillstad & Pederson, clothiers, La Crosse, Wisconsin, is a native of Nor- way. He was born in Gausdal parish, near Lillehammer, in the southern part of Central Norway. November 27, 1850, a son of Peder J. Brettingen and Caren (Knutsen) Bret- tingen. The father is a farmer, as also were most of his ancestors, some of them. however, being artisans. In 1868, Peder J. Brettingen came to America with his family of three sons and four daughters, and settled near Cashton, Monroe county, Wisconsin, where he now resides.

Christian Pederson was reared on the farm and obtained a good education. At the age of eighteen he engaged as a clerk in the gen- eral merchandise business at Sparta, Wiscon- sin, and there remained about six years. In the fall of 1875 he came to La Crosse, and clerked for Gutman Brothers, by whom he was employed until the spring of 1882, when he formed a partnership with Mr. N. G. IFillestad, which relation still continues.

Mr. Pederson was married, in Sparta, to Miss Malla Johnson, a native of Eidsvold, near Christiania, Norway. They have three sons and one daughter: Bella, Philip, Clem- ent and Christian. The family worship at the Lutheran Church, and are liberal in re- ligions matters. Mr. Pederson is an active member of the Norden Society, of which he has served officially on different occasions as

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its honored president, and also as treasurer. manager of his North Side business, which Hle is associated with the I. O. O. F., Nor- manna Lodge, having passed all the chairs of that order, and being a member of the Grand Lodge of Wisconsin; is also a member of the Rebekah degree lodge. While he is prominent in business and fraternal circles. he has always declined to accept publie office.

O. STOREY, Assistant Postmaster at La Crosse. Wisconsin, was originally from Norway, his birth occurring March 21. 1563, and came with his parents. Charles and Pauline Storey, to the United States in November, 1570. Ilis father was an ordinary laborer, working in sawmills and on the river. He died of consumption the day that President Garfield was shot, when but fifty. two years of age. He was a great admirer of Garfield, and our subject told him of the assassination not five minutes before his death ! He was a hard-working and an honorable man. Ile was a member of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, and his wife, Tacoma. Washington, is also a member of that church. She is now about fifty years of age. Of the eight children born to their union, J. O. Storey is second in order of birth.

The latter received a good, practical edu- cation in the common schools, and supple- mented the same by attending the Wallace Business College of La Crosse. from which he graduated in 1987. He first began work- ing for himself as a herder ot cattle for Mr. 11. Goddard, lumberman of La Crosse; was promoted teamster, and finally became salesman in the lumber yard. He was in the employ of Mr. Goddard for thirteen years, six years as bookkeeper and general

was quite a responsible position. Ile began on 50 cents a day, and in this way kept his mother and the other members of the family. Mr. Storey has been twice nominated for office, first for Registrar of Deeds of the county; but the whole ticket was defeated, though he ran ahead of his ticket, only one man getting more votes than he. His second nomination was for the office of City Clerk. and although he ran ahead of his tieket, he was defeated again. He was the only man who carried his own ward. After being recommended by Mr. R. A. Seott, the Post- master at La Crosse, he was appointed by the Postmaster-General to his present position in January. 1890, and has filled that position with honor, credit and acceptability ever since. He is director and one of the organ- izers of the Home Mintnal Loan Building Association of La Crosse.

He was married December S, 1858, to Miss Ella M. Folmer, daughter of Captain J. C. Folmer, of La Crosse, a steamboat captain and an old resident. Mr. Storey was partner and owned one-half interest in the Duncan & who is an honored and esteemed resident of Storey livery barn at La Crosse, but sold! out on receiving his present appointment. Mr. and Mrs. Storey are the happy parents of two interesting children: Sosie Panline and Bessie Otella. H and wife are mem- bers of the Presbyterian Church of the North Side, and are well respected by all who meet them. Mr. Storey is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and is Past Chancellor of the same. In politics he is an ardent Re- publican, and For many years has been called the " Boy Politician." He and family never recognize, as many Norwegians do, the 17th of May, but they honor the day and the land of their birth, though like all good Americans they claim the 4th of July as the national holiday, and the stars and stripes as

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their flag. Mr. Storey is a man of intelleet, and is possessed of natural business aeumen. He is one of the promising young men of the eonnty, and his influenee has ever been given in support of educational, social and moral interests.

ILLIAM E. LOCKERBY. The social, political and business history of this section is filled with the deeds and doings of self-made men, and no man in La Crosse county is more deserving the ap- pellation than Mr. Loekerby, for he marked out his own career, has steadily followed it up to the present, and his success in life is due to his own earnest and persistent en- deavors.

He was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Au- gust 22, 1856, his parents, M. L. and Desiah (McCurdy) Lockerby, being residents of Man- kato, Minnesota. M. L. Lockerby has been a snecessful farmer and business man, but is now retired from the active duties of life and is enjoying the fruits of his early labors. He was a soldier in the Union ariny during the Rebellion, was Corporal of his company, which was a part of the Thirty-seventh Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry. During the three years that he was in the service he was with General Grant in the Army of the Potomac, and at the elose of the second day's fight at Fredericksburg he was quite severely wounded and was honorably discharged from the service some time after. He returned home with a shattered constitution, but with the conseionsness of having performed every duty faithfully and well. He affiliates with the Republican party, but has never been an office-seeker, much preferring the quiet of home life to the questionable honors of poli- ties. He and his wife have long been men-

bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and reared a family of seven children to honor- | able manhood and womanhood, of whom the subject of this sketch was the first in order of birth.

After remaining on the home farm until eighteen years of age, William E. Lockerby entered the Normal School at Mankato, Min- nesota, and was graduated in the class of 1871. Sneeeeding this he worked as a tele- graph operator at Medford. Wisconsin, for two years; then he and several others joined together and formed a new county under Governor Taylor's administration, and he was appointed to the position of Clerk of the Cireuit Court. At the expiration of his term he again sought railroad work, and came to La Crosse as Assistant Train-Dis- pateher under John M. Eagan, of the South Minnesota division of the Chicago, Milwau- kee & St. Paul, but later resigned this posi- tion to accept that of station agent at Lanes- boro. In October. 1882, he resigned this situation and took the position of private secretary for J. C. Easton, and the following December he and Mr. Easton removed to La Crosse, of which city they have since been residents. Mr. Lockerby has identified him- self with the affairs of the city and eourty, and is prominently connected with many leading enterprises. lle has proven himself an able finaneier, and is the owner of con- siderable valuable property in Dakota and Minnesota, as well as in La Crosse. In the winter and spring of 1890 he organized a stock company, obtained subseriptions to the amount of $15,000, and organized the present La Crosse Inter-State Fair Associa- tion, and by his enterprise and good manage- ment pushed this undertaking to a sneeessful issue. This association is for industrial, agri- cultural and mechanical exhibits, and all gam- bling and pool-selling are prohibited, and in-

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toxicants are not sold in or near the grounds. Mrs. Lockerby is an earnest member of the The result is that the best of order prevails. Methodist Episcopal Church, and in the quartette choir of this church Mr. Lockerby is the tenor singer. In their beautiful home. surrounded by numerous friends, and with their little daughter Avis, they enjoy a well deserved prosperity, and their home has be- come noted for the unbounded and gracious no drunkenness or disorder is observed, and during the two fairs of the organization not an arrest was made. The citizens of La Crosse are intelligent and far-seeing, and look upon this enterprise as a factor of their pros- perity, and baek it with both purse and in- fluence. The tine stock exhibits in the ex- hospitality that is extended to all. Mr. Lock- position buildings have been equal to the erby made his own start in life, and knows how every dollar that he now enjoys was ob- tained. Ile is a man of much energy and force of character. is personally very popular, and his amiable disposition and courteous manner have made him a favorite with all. same at many of the State fairs, and Mr. Lockerby may well feel proud of the enter- prise he has established on so sound a basis. B. E. Edwards is the efficient president, and the other officers are equally conscientious and faithful in the discharge of their duties. J. W. Losey is vice- president; W. E. Lock- erby, secretary, and H. P. Magill, treasurer. lle is a lover of good horses. In 1991 he purchased a fine standard-bred and registered mare for driving purposes. She has a fine action and is one of the best bred horses in the Northwest; her pacing record of 2:30 was made in 1590. She is now eight years of age, and in 1591 raised a fine colt which is standard-bred and registered. Ilis name is Prince Ryswood, No. 15.709; his dam is Brown Nell, and his sire Ryswood, No. 4,526. Mr. Lockerby has always been an ardent Re- publican, and socially belongs to the I. (). O. F.

He was married September 7, 1981, to Miss Elma Le Gros, daughter of Charles and Thedora Le Gros, of Waupaca, Wisconsin. Mr>. Lockerby is a cultured and refined lady, and for several years was a student in the Northwestern University at Evanston, and later was a successful teacher in Wisconsin. Her father was of French extraction, of noble lineage, and the family coat of arms is still preserved. Mr. Le Gros was a soldier in the Rebellion, and after his return home died from disease contracted while in the service. this relation existed until 1552, when Judge

UY C. PRENTISS, attorney and coun- selor at law, La Crosse, Wisconsin, was born at Georgia, Franklin county, Ver- mont, January 11, 1524, a son of Joseph and Maria (Hill) Prentiss; the father was a native of Haverhill, New Hampshire, and the mother of Middlebury. Vermont. The early life of Judge Prentiss was spent in the schools of Vermont and in his father's mills, Joseph Prentiss owning at that time a him- ber, flour and oil mill at Georgia, Vermont. When seventeen years of age young Prentiss entered a store at Burlington, Vermont, as a elerk. and continued there four years. In 1544 he began the study of law under the direction of F. G. Hill, at Jericho, Vermont, and at the end of two years went to Burling- ton, where he entered the othice of Jacob Maeck; there he remained, pursuing his studies until September, 1817, when he was admitted to the bar. Ile then opened an oflice in Burlington, practicing there until 1549, when he was employed as assistant attorney with the lon. David A. Smalley :

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Prentiss came to Portage, Wisconsin, and entered into a partnership with Judge Luther S. Dixon, late Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin; the partnership with Judge Dixon continued until 1857, and was then dissolved by mutual consent. Judge Prentiss then practiced alone until 1869, when he and Israel Holmes entered into business relations, which continued until 1871, at which time Mr. Holmes removed to Chicago.

In 1858 Judge Prentiss was elected Judge of Columbia county, Wisconsin, the court then having civil jurisdiction. In 1872 he came to La Crosse, where he lias since resided ; almost all of this period he has been Court Commissioner. He has been a very active attorney for many years, has been employed by several corporations, and has practiced in nearly every county in the State. He has gained a wide reputation as a wise counselor and highly successful attorney. Advancing years have seemed to dictate less active life, and the Judge has accepted the office of Justice of the Peace in this city, a position he still holds. He is one of the pioneers in legal practice in the State, and owns one of the finest libraries, an excellent selection of works pertaining to the profession.

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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