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 73

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 73
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 73
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 73

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Mr. Roberts was married October 27, 1SS6. to Sarah A. Davis, a native of Oneida county, New York, who came with her widowed mother to this county in Novem- ber, 1885. They have one daughter, Edna Mary. Mr. Roberts is a member of the Welsh Methodist Church, and politically is a Republican.

ELIX MEYER. a retired farmer of Bangor, was born in Bulach, Switzer- land, September 26, 1527. a son of Henry Meyer, a native of the same country. The father brought his family to the United States in 1854, settling in Dutch Valley,

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where they were among the early settlers. They were the parents of four children, two of whom survive, namely: the subject of this sketch and Jacob, who lives in Bangor. A sister, Regula. died in Dutch valley. The parents both died in 1866, and were buried in the Bangor Cemetery.

Felix Meyer, our subject, was engaged in farming until 1867, when he came to Bangor and engaged in raising hops for twelve or fourteen years. When he first settled in Dutch valley the Indians and wild animals were numerous, and he has frequently seen wolves in packs playing on the prairie like dogs. He was married in 1860, to Margaret Lebmertz, a daughter of Nicholas Lehmertz. She was a native of Luxembourg, Germany, but came with her parents to Sank county, Wisconsin, in 1855. Both her parents are now deceased, the mother dying in Sauk county. and the father in Winona county, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Meyer have had five children, three of whom are now living, namely: Mary, born February 15, 1561, mar ried Christian Wolf, of Bangor, Wisconsin, and settled in Beadle county, South Dakota; Emilie, born August 29, 1865. married Her- mann Bosshard, of Lake Mills, Jefferson county, Wisconsin; and Edwin, born Decem- ber 7, 1574, is a graduate of the Bangor high school, and is now engaged in teaching school.

Mr. Meyer has been Justice of the Peace. Supervisor, Town Treasurer and Assessor, and in his political views is independent. Ile is a member of the A. O. U. W. and Bangor Concordia Society.

VAN G. JONES, of section 7, Bangor township, was born in North Wales, March 8, 1821, a son of John Jones, deceased, a native of the same country. Our

subject was reared to farm life, and received but a limited education, as there was no schools in his neighborhood. He came to the United States in 1849, settling in Oneida county. New York. with his brother Hugh G. Jones, who had preceded him ten or twelve years. There he farmed until 1865, when he came to this county and lived one year on Fish creek, and then settled on the farm adjoining his present place on the west, just across the line in Hamilton township. Hle settled on his present farm in 1873, where he makes the raising of sheep and hogs his principal business, and where he owns 355 acres.

Mr. Jones was married in Oneida county, New York, March 9, 1853, to Catharine, daughter of Evan Thomas, deceased. She was born in North Wales, also, and came to the United States in 1851. They have six children: John J., Elizabeth, William O., Richard M., Henry G. and Jennie C. Eliza- beth married Thomas Jones, of Leon, Monroe county, Wisconsin, and has two children: Archie M. and Walter O .; William married Cora Carlyle, lives in Aberdeen, Brown county, South Dakota, and has one child, Lloyd C. The three youngest are single and at home. John was married but lost his wife by death, and now lives in Aberdeen, South Dakota. The family are members of the Welsh Pres- byterian Church.

EV. HUGH M. PUGH, D. D., pastor of the Bangor Welsh Presbyterian Church, and also of the churches at Fish Creek and Mound Prairie, was born in Dolgelly, Merionethshire, North Wales, March 1, 1839. lle attended school in London, Oswestry and Bala, England, and his first pastorate was at Wolverhampton and Bilston, Staffordshire,

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England, where he was ordained into the work of the gospel ministry in June, 1860. HIe passed a eritical examination in biblical eriticisms and interpretations, systematic and historieal, and in ecclesiastical history. His examiners were the eminent Welsh divines Rev. Owen Thomas, D. D., and Hugh Jones, D. D., of Liverpool, and he now holds the cer- tificate they gave him. Mr. P'ngh emigrated to America in 1872. and first preached in Pennsylvania and New York, and also in Chieago three months. Ile was called to his present pastorate in 1873, where his influence and ability are recognized in the Welsh Pres- byterian Synod of this State. He has been Moderator of the State Synod, is viee-presi- dent of the Board of Education, and a member of the Board of Examiners. At the session of the Synod in June, 1891, held at Colum- bus, Wisconsin, he delivered an able address with great power at the ordination services of one of their young ministers. The title of D. D. was conferred upon him at Galesville University, at Galesville, Wisconsin, June 24, 1891, and is the third Welshman upon whom this university has conferred the honor.

The Doetor was married October 28, 1874, to Jennie E. Davis, a daughter of Thomas Davis, now deceased. She was born in Wales, but was brought to the United States when an infant and reared in Oneida county, New York. She is an educated and cultured lady.

P. MeMILLAN, superintendent of the Brush Electric Light & Power Com- pany. of La Crosse, was born in Can ada, February 1, 1846, a son of Daniel and Isabella (Sutherland) Me Millan, natives of the Dominion, of Seotch descent. The father was a millwright by trade and also followed agricultural pursuits; he came to La Crosse

connty in 1867 and opened a farm in Camp- bell township. Scareely a year had passed when he met with death by drowning: alight- ing from a train of cars he was knocked senseless, and fell into a pool. sntlocating be- fore consciousness returned. This sad accident occurred April 8, 1868.

A. P. MeMillan is one of a family of eight sons and four daughters. Ile received a common-school education, in Canada, and came West with his parents in January, 1867; worked in the pinery twelve winters, the first two summers of that time on the farm, and four summers spent in Clark county. Ile also worked four or five summers for the La Crosse Gas Light Company; afterward engaged by Mae. Ritchie & Nichol, of Chi- cago, as calker on the first contract of water pipe laid in La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1876, also the following year; the spring of 1879, went to Mankato, Minnesota, to work on the first water pipe laid there; November 1, 1579, he went to Kenosha, Wisconsin, having charge of the pipe work there until it was finished; December 1, 1879, he went to New Orleans, to work on the main line, until March I, 1880; then took charge of the stand- pipe connection, also the setting of the hy- drants; got through with the work May 10, 1880, came to La Crosse for a week's vara- tion, then went to St. Joseph, Missouri, to pump for paddling purposes, in the construc- tion of the reservoirs; remained in St. Joseph until the latter part of September, when he was obliged to quit on account of fever and ague, coming back to La Crosse. The latter part of October, 1850, he went to work for Mr. James Manchester, to lay the suction pipe and make connections with the pumps. Then he went to his native home, during the winters of 1880.'81, and returned to La Crosse in April, 1851, and worked on the draw- bridge for several months; be then went to

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the round-house at Tracy, Minnesota, and after two months journeyed to New Mexico. Ile returned to La Crosse in 1884, and in partnership with John D. Galliford, con- tracted for and laid two miles of gas-pipe in La Crosse: 1885 was spent in work on the water- works. Ile began his present business in 1855, a position which he is well fitted to till. He has made seven return trips to La Crosse, since first leaving, and sinee 1885 has been a settled resident of the city.

Mr. McMillan was married in 1885, to Miss Katie Hoffman, a daughter of John J. and Margaret Hoffman, natives of Germany. Mrs. McMillan is one of a family of eight children, four of whom are living: Anna, wife of Alf. Hart; Henry, and Lizzie; the oldest son, Joseph, was drowned in the Mis- sissippi, at the age of sixteen years. Mr. and Mrs. Mc Millan are the parents of two prom- ising children: Isabella Margaret and Marion Elizabeth.

The family are members of the Presbyter- ian Church. Mr. McMillan is an honored member of the I. O. O. F., and in his poli- ties adheres to the principles of the Republi- ean party.

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ENRY II. SLYE, a well-known early settler of the Lewis valley and a highly respected citizen of Mindoro, Wiscon- sin, is eminently deserving of appropriate mention in the pages of this work. Indeed, a history of La Crosse county would be in- complete did it not contain a biography of him.

Ilenry H. Slye was born in Livingston county, New York, July 16, 1821. His father, Benjamin Slye, was born in Jefferson county, New York; was a soldier in the war of 1512, and for services rendered received a

pension during the latter years of his life. Benjamin Slye was a son of Joshua Slye, a native of Canada. The mother of our sub- ject was before her marriage Miss Mary Reed. She was a native of Maine and a daughter of John Reed, who was a son of English parents. Henry H. was sixteen years of age when his parents moved to Oak- land county, Michigan, and settled near Pontiac, where they lived for a number of years. In 1848 they moved to Scott county, Iowa, locating near Le Claire, and lived there six years. At the end of that time they moved to Lewis valley, La Crosse county, Wisconsin, and here the parents spent the residue of their lives and died, the mother passing away May 6, 1863, and the father April 23, 1885, the latter at the age of eighty- nine years. He had been a farmer all his life, and in politics was a Democrat. He and his wife were the parents of seven sons and five daughters.

Ilenry H. learned the carpenter's trade in Scott county, Iowa, and worked at it for some time. Of later years, however, he has been engaged in milling. In this business he has had an extensive experience. Hle owns a good mill on Fleming creek in Lewis valley, and during the many years of his resi- dence here he has done a flourishing business and has won a large circle of friends. His modern and artistic cottage home was built by himself. It is 26 x 26 feet, with an L 13 x 22 feet; is one story with cupola, and is located half a mile from Mindoro. He owns twenty acres of rich bottom land near the mill.

Mr. Slye has been married twice. At the age of twenty-four he was united in marriage with Lucinda C. Butler, who was born in Wayne county, New York, daughter of Or- man and Lydia Butler. To them were given three children, namely: Earnest Il., who was

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born August 7, 1851, is now a resident of his mother was possessed of rich mental en- Buffalo county, Wisconsin, and is a carpen- ter by trade; Frank M., born January 31, 1859, married Nora Robinson and now lives at Bridgeport, Alabama; and Nettie E., born February 6. 1860, is the wife of C. N. Her- ried, of McPherson county, South Dakota, and has two children: Grace May and Roseve C. Mrs. Slye died in May, 1861. June 29, 1867, Mr. Slye was married to his present companion. Ifer maiden name was Sarah A. Albright and the date of her birth was July 15, 1844, Ohio being her native State. She was reared and edneated in Iowa and Minnesota, and is a lady of culture and re- finement. At the time of her marriage to Mr. Slye she was the widow of Weimoth Folsom, by whom she had one child, Almond. By her present husband she has three ehil- dren, viz .: Ida F., born October 7, 1570, is the wife of J. M. Jones, of Mindoro, and has two children: Cecil May and Rose Maria; Leroy II., born January 6, 1873; and Arthur D., born December 14, 1577. Mrs. Slye was a member of the Christian Advent Church for a number of years. In his religious be- lief Mr. Slye is broad and liberal. Politically lie affiliated with the Republican party for a number of years, but is now a third-party man. Time has dealt gently with him, and although past seventy he is still hale and hearty.

AVID FRANK POWELL, M. D .- The life of White Beaver, as Dr. Pow- ell is popularly known, bears all the lights and shades of a frontier romance, and his personal characteristies are as varied as the traits of his ancestors. In his veins he has the blood of three races, each of whom has imparted to him a distinet peenliarity ;

dowment, and was the daughter of a full- blooded Indian, Medicine Chief, of the Seneea tribe; her mother was a member of the Tomp- kins family, and was born in Tompkins county, New York, the county being named after her people; she was married to Dr. C. HI. Powell, of Kentucky, who was of Highland Scotch descent; they became ae- quainted while Miss Tompkins was with her father on a hunting excursion in New York near Seneca Lake. After their marriage they went to Kentucky and settled on the Ken- tueky river. Dr. Powell was a highly edu- eated gentleman, speaking several different languages, and a physician of high reputa- tion. Mrs. Powell is reputed to have been a woman of extraordinary beanty; she inherited a liking for botany, and aequired an excep- tional knowledge of the medical properties of all plant life; she became a great assistance to her husband, and was herself often called as a physician She was a woman of strong magnetism, courageous, firm and self-reliant, yet sympathetic, generous and gentle. These traits are impressed upon her children, as well as upon her grand-children who show the same distinguishing peculiarities. There were four branches of the tribe of Indians to which Mrs. Powell belonged: The Beaver. Wolf, Bear and Turtle; she was a member of ¡ the Beaver clan. Iler grandfather, a firm friend of the white man, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, receiving his death wound in 1779.

Dr. David F. Powell was born at the Ken- tucky home, May 25, 1847. He had no early educational advantages except those given him by his parents in their own log cabin; they were both excellent teachers, however, and imparted to him a thorough knowledge of fundamental principles. In 1855 the father died, and soon after this

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event Mrs. Powell disposed of her property, and went with her three children to New York, where her parents were living, at an advaneed age. She settled about thirty miles from Ithaca, and engaged in farming, but met with indifferent success. After a few years she started with her family, for the great West; they stopped in Chicago, where Frank Powell secured a position in a drug store, remaining there two years. The mother then decided to make another change. and this time pushed on to Omaha, where Frank again secured a situation as elerk in a large drug store belonging to Dr. James K. Ish; in this position his efficiency and skill were soon recognized by Dr. Ish, who gave him a full partnership interest in the establishment. The firm of Ish & Powell developed a large business in the preparation of family medicines, which they supplied to nearly all the Territories. Al- though our subject was fortunately situated, the other members of the family were unset- tled; the mother and two sons, George and William, purchased a large tract of land on the Platte river in Nebraska, near Lone Tree. Here Mrs. Powell remained the latter part of her life, giving counsel to her children and every possible assistance until she was called to the great beyond, her death occurring in 1579. The sons with their own hands made her a grave under the cottonwood trees, and gently and lovingly consigned her mortal re- mains to the elements.

While conducting a prosperous business in Omaha, Dr. Powell usually spent two months of the year on the ranch with his family. Of a wild and adventurous nature, he attracted to himself such kindred spirits as Buffalo Bill, California Joe, Wild Bill, Peon Paller- day, old man Platte, the Reshan family, Texas Jack, and a hundred other heroes. These braves soon discovered in the young

doctor a daring heart, a generosity and kind- ness, and a skill in medicine that was unsur- passed upon the frontier. These admirable traits won innumerable friends, and their constancy has always held them.

To describe in detail all the adventures in which Dr. Powell was a prominent figure, would take us entirely beyond the limits of this sketch. in faet would fill a volume. One thrilling experience, briefly related, is as fol- lows: In 1863, while Dr. Powell was out hunt- ing with the elder Reshan and a party, their attention was attracted to a band of Arap- ahoes in command of Chief Friday, on Sweet- water river; the Indians came upon them suddenly, but not until hasty action permit- ted Powell's party to corral their horses and make a sudden stand in a buffalo wallow; the Indians numbered fully 100 warriors and were well armed with rifles and pistols, which fortunately they were not expert in using. The fight was very spirited in the beginning, and for a time the result appeared doubtful for the hunters. Their horses were shot down, and of their dead bodies they made a barricade, keeping up the defense one day. at the end of which time the Indians drew out of range, intending to starve the beleaguered party; provisions, how- erer, were abundant, but their supply of wa- ter had been exhausted in dressing wounds on the first day of the battle. Thirst now be- came an enemy more to be dreaded than the Indians. No one was determined what to do until Dr. Powell spoke, who said: "I will decide the battle; better die at once than linger in parching thirst and the terrible steneh of these dead horses." "Well. what shall you do?" was asked him. "Do? Why. charge the red devils and trust to luck; fol- low me, who will." These words had scarcely left his lips when he leaped the breast- works and dashed off to the river. With terrible

Hiel Roberts

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yells the Indians pursued him, and the scene ' day. Although the Doctor recognizes the that followed may be better imagined than advantages of a medical training, he attrib- described. A fierce conflict occurred between utes the most of his success to the teachings of his mother. the two bands, in which so many Indians were killed that the remainder withdrew, and let the brave hunters pass on to the river. The wounded were attended to by Dr. Pow el!, with such skill that only one died from injuries received; four of the party were counts of the affair were published at the killed outright. The first Indian killed by the Doctor was Walking Crane, a most re- nowned savage among the Arapahoes. It was not long after this encounter that the Doetor was attacked by twenty or more Sionx. and came out of the fight victorions, seven of the Indians being killed and as many more wounded.

Being a thirty-second degree Mason, even at this early age, Dr. Powell was appointed District Deputy Grand Master, tor Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming, and in 1869 con- ferred the Master's degree upon Buffalo Bill, at Platte Valley Lodge, Cottonwood Springs.

In the latter part of 1869, although he had never attended a school for one day, he submitted to a competitive examination with thirteen other candidates for a beneficiary scholarship in the University of Lonisville. With all the chances against him, he carried off the honors, and was admitted to the col- lege upon the scholarship. He spent two years in the medical department, doing jan- itor service to pay his expenses. Before gradnating he was made assistant demonstra- tor of anatomy, and upon finishing his course he was pressed to take a professorship. This he declined to do, and accepted the proffer of a position as Post Surgeon in the department When H. S. Roberts was eleven years old his father died, and he was thus thrown at an early age upon his own resources. Ile ob- tained his education in the common schools and was trained in agricultural pursuits. At of the Platte river. In recognition of his superior ability, he was chosen valedictorian of his class in college, and acquitted himself ' with such merit that his address was printed in many of the leading newspapers of that | the age of nineteen years he came West with 39

While a student in Louisville, Dr. Powell passed through the unpleasant experience of fighting a duel with Dr. Lewis Oppenheimer, a member of the college faculty; many ac- time which were not correet. A bitter feeling arose between the two gentlemen, on account of a supposed insult which had been offered a lady of their acquaintance, and therefore, according to the ethics of Ken- tucky aristocracy, Dr. Powell sent a challenge to Dr. Oppenheimer, which was accepted. The latter is still living, and is practicing his profession in Indiana.

ENRY S. ROBERTS is one of that sturdy band of pioneers who converted the wild lands of La Crosse county into the fertile farms which extend from border to border. Aiding in this work, he is justly entitled to the space which has been chcer- fully accorded him in this record of the prominent citizens of La Crosse county. Ile was born in the county of York, Maine, May 23, 1836, and is a son of Moses and Catherine (Guilford) Roberts, natives of the same county; the father, of Welsh ancestry, was a soldier in the war of 1812; and the maternal grandfather, William Guilford, served in the Revolution; he lived to be ninety-eight years of age, and his wife ninety-six. Moses Rob- erts was a farmer, and in politics a Whig.

BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

his mother and a brother and sister; the mother died at the home of her son H. S., March 20, 1892, at the age of ninety-four years. The brother, Josiah, died in Califor- nia; and the sister, Louisa, is the wife of J. C. Endicott, of Farmington.

Our subject settled in Farmington town- ship. La Crosse connty, in 1954, and for many years lived on a farm in section 3, township 18, range 6.

When the civil war broke out he was one of the first men to volunteer his services, enlisting in October, 1861, in Company G, United States Sharpshooters. He partiei- pated in many of the most important engage- ments of the war, among which may be mentioned the battles of the Peninsula, of Gettysburg and the Wilderness. At Charles City Cross Roads, in the seven days' fight, he was wounded in the small of the back, and also had a severe attack of Inng fever; he was promoted Commissary Sergeant, and held that office while he remained in the service. He was honorably discharged in October, 1864, after which he returned to this county. In 1866 he obtained the con- tract of carrying the mail from La Crosse to Black River Falls, for a period of four years. and during this time he resided in La Crosse, on the corner of Badger and North Sixth streets, owning the property, which he after- wards sold.

At the end of this period he returned to his old farm, which he afterwards sold. Ilis present farm contains 262 acres of well im- proved land: he has erected neat and sub- stantial buildings, and the whole place has an air of thrift and prosperity. The house, on a fine building site, is 16 x 26 feet, one and one-half stories high, with a wing 16 x 24 feet and one story high, and an addition 14 x 20 feet and one story high.

Mr. Roberts was united in marriage Sep-

tember 20, 1868, to Miss Eliza Babcock, who was born May 11, 1545, in Onondaga county, New York, a daughter of Godfrey S. and Amelia (Diffin) Babcock: her father, a native of New York State, died in La Crosse county, Wisconsin, at the age of seventy-six years; and her mother, a native of county Donegal, Ireland, died in Dodge county, this State, aged forty-one years. When a child, Mrs. Roberts was brought to Wisconsin, and she was educated at Galesville, this State, and was a very popular teacher before her marriage. HIer brother, Azariah Babeoek, was a soldier in the late war, in the Eleventh Wisconsin Infantry, and was killed by a shot at Vicks- burg. By his death he left a widow and three children. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have six children: Herbert H., Homer, Hattie, attending commercial college at La Crosse; Ray L., Olive and Floyd Wayne.

Our worthy subject affiliates with the Re- publiean party and takes an active part in the deliberations of that body in this county. He is chairman of the Board of Supervisors; he has served as Treasurer of the township, as District Clerk for many years and as Jus- tice of the Peace. He is a charter member of Nelson Quygle Post, No. 233, G. A. R., and is an enthusiastic supporter of that or. ganization. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are not members of any religious denomination, but attend and contribute liberally to the support of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and for some time Mr. Roberts was Superintendent of the Methodist Episcopal Sabbath-school at Burr Oak.

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NTON J. BRUHA, general merehant. La Crosse, was born in this city, Mareh 28, 1>56, a son of Frank and Cathrina (Peshek) Bruha, natives of Bohemia, near

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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