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 90

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 90
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 90
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 90

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

soldier, intending to follow that service for life. Ile, however, remained only about two years and a half, during that period making trips to India and China. On account of his eyes failing he was obliged to leave the navy, and had the choice of going into the army or leaving the Government service. He chose the latter, and decided to emigrate to the United States. Ile landed at New York October 15, 1879, and after remaining there awhile went to Chicago, where he lived sev- eral years and was for a time employed on German newspapers. Leaving Chicago he went to Madison, Wisconsin, and secured a position in the State Insane Asylum. While living there he made a visit to Fountain City, and was so much pleased with this place that he decided to locate liere, which he subse- quently did. The editor of the Buffalo County Republikaner being sick, he assisted him on the paper, and after the editor's death Mr. Mueller and Mr. John Schmitz purchased the plant. They operated it together for a time, and then Mr. Mueller purchased his partner's interest and has since been its sole proprietor. He purchased this interest in October, 1890. When Messrs. Mueller & Schmitz became proprietors the paper was in a depressed financial condition, and it is through Mr. Muel- ler's energy and ability that it is in its present flourishing condition. The first improvement he made was to issue a second edition, called the Alma Blaetter. The Republikaner makes its appearance each Monday, and has a cireu- lation of about 2,200. It is devoted to the interests of its patronage and to the advance- ment of the country; in politics it is Demo- cratic, but is conservative. In connection with the publication of this paper, Mr. Mnel- ler has established a first-class job office, in which department he is securing a liberal patronage, extending his business to adjacent cities.

Mr. Mueller was married July 18, 1889, at Buffalo City, to Adelheid, daughter of William and Charlotte (Koch) Ivan, of Wi- nona, Minnesota. They have one chikl, Arthur, born June 4, 1890.

Mr. Mueller is peculiarly adapted for the work of a journalist. Ile is keen-sighted, energetic, and ever alive to the wants of the people. Ile believes in progress and works to that end. Thoroughly educated, he is cosmopolitan in thought, magnetic in person- ality and genial in companionship It is fortunate for the people in Buffalo county that they have a man so well versed and able to conduct their journal. The advantages of sneh a man to the community can hardly be estimated. Mr. Mueller is a member of the Lutheran Church.

HINEAS A. WILLIAMS, attorney and counselor at law, Whitehall, has been engaged in the practice of his profession since 1878, or since the county seat was established. The attorneys here at that time, besides himself, were Otis J. Allen, Samuel S. Miller and Carroll Atwood. Mr. Allen died here in 1885; Miller was Distriet At- torney eight years, a member of the Assem- bly, and now resides at Rhinelander, Oneida county, Wisconsin; and Atwood was a grad- uate of the law school at Madison, and now resides at Aberdeen, South Dakota. The present attorneys of Whitehall are the sub. ject of this sketch and H. A. Anderson. Mr. Williams, a representative of one of the early families of Trempealeau county, was born in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, November 22, 1847, a son of Charles Williams, a native of New York. He was of Welsh ancestry, but the original ancestor of his family eame to this country previous to the Revolutionary

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war. Charles Williams removed with his i formed a partnership in 1878, which con- parents to Crawford county, Pennsylvania. tinned until 1883, since which time he has when twelve years of age. He was three been alone. Ile was married to Miss Frances times married, his first wife being Prudence . Southworth, a danghter of Joseph D. South- Randall, a native of Pennsylvania. In 1548 worth, who came to Trempealeau county in 1858 and settled at Coral City. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have one son, Ray R., born at Coral City August 13, 1876. Politically Mr. Williams is a Republican, casting his first presidential vote for Grant in 1872. He is a man of fine ability as a lawyer, and well- known throughout Trempealean county, of which he has been so long a resident. he removed with his family to Wisconsin and settled in Fond du Lac county, where he condneted a boot and shoe store in Rosendale, and also owned and operated a farm. In the fall of 1856 he removed with his family to Trempealeau connty, settling on a farm in Caledonia township, which he improved. IIe next went to the village of Trempealean, in 1661, where he lived until 1868, and in that year returned to Caledonia township and pur- chased another farm, where he died in 18SS. Ilis first wife died in Fond du Lac county in 1952, after which he returned to Pennsyl- vania, where he married his second wife. who died in 1565. In 1867 he was again mar- ried, in Pennsylvania, and it is a remarkable coincidence that he was three times married in the village of Hayfield, and each time by the same Justice of the Peace. The third wife still survives her husband.

Mr. Williams was a well-known early set- tler of the county, was a quiet man and much respected. Ile had two children by his first wife. Phineas A., our subject, and James, who resides with his brother in Whitehall. The eldest child by the second marriage was Eli, who was drowned from the steamer Tiber, in a trip up the Mississippi river, in 1984, at the age of twenty three years. A daughter, Clara, also by the second marriage, is now the wife of Richard Clark, of Flan- derean. Minnesota.

The subject of this sketch was educated in the common and graded schools of Trempea- lean, and was for some time a student at Ripon College. He began the study of law in 1575, and was for some time a student in the office of O. J. Allen, with whom he

CAPTAIN JOHN D. LEWIS, of the town of Arcadia, deserves prominent mention in this work as one of the well-known citizens of Trempealeau county. His residence and farm are on sections 7 and 8, town 21, range 9 west, where he settled in 1866. Captain Lewis was born in Madison county, New York, February 19, 1828, a son of Morgan Lewis. The family in America is of Welsh ancestry, the ancestors of the family having been among the early settlers of the Connectieut colony. Two brothers of the Lewis family emigrated from Connecticut at an early day and settled in the State of New York. The paternal grandfather (for whom our subject was named), was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was mortally wounded at the battle of Sackett's Harbor. Morgan Lewis was born June 29, 1805, married Lydia Comstock, and died at the place of his birth July 1, 1555, having just passed his fiftieth year. The mother, who was born July 17, 1505, now lives with her son in the town of Arcadia. Captain Lewis was the eldest ofa family of five children, which con- sisted of three sons and two daughters, all of whom are living. The second of the family,

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Alonzo, is a resident of Minnesota; Josephine is the wife of Edward Elkin, of Watertown, South Dakota; Theodore is also a resident of Minnesota; Frances is the widow of Daniel Searight and resides in Arcadia. The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in his native place and passed the years 1847 and 1848 near Milwaukee, Wiseonsin, but returning to the Empire State was married to Charlotte Mayberry, sister of C. G. Mayberry. a prom- inent architect of Winona. On the Sth of July, 1854, Captain Lewis started West for the purpose of founding a permaennt loca-

tion, his destination being Minnesota On

reaching Downer's Grove, Illinois, he re-

mained for a few days with a friend named Linus Randall, a blacksmith by occupation, who accompanied him to Winona. There Captain Lewis remained during that fall,

engaged at his trade, that of carpentry. Late in the season he went to Fountain City, Buffalo county, for the purpose of securing

work. At that place he met Edward Lees,

and together they went up to Waumandee valley for the purpose of locating land, Cap- tain Lewis making a selection about four miles from Fountain City. Soon after he

and ereet a sawmill at Fountain City and was engaged by Bishop & Carpenter to plan

took up his residence at that place in Janu- ary, 1855, and his wife having arrived in Winona soon after his arrival at that place

they now took up their residence near Foun- tain City, for a time occupying a shanty which he erected. Mr. Lewis superintended the construction of the mill above referred to, which he completed the following July, and also operated the mill until it got into good working order, and be built a dwelling from the first lumber sawed by the mill. Captain Lewis was appointed Sheriff of Buf. falo county, September 2, 1556, by Governor Coles Bashford, to fill the unexpired terin of

Jesse Trueman, deceased. In 1855 he was elected Clerk of the county, and filling that position very acceptably was re-elected, hokl- ing the office five years. He was largely instrumental in raising the Buffalo Rifle Company (which was one of the earliest organizations for service in the civil war raised in this State) and on its organization was elected First Lieutenant, his commission from Governor Randall bearing the date of AApril 30, 1561. He served on the Potomac in that command until the last of December of that year, when he received a recruiting commission from Governor Randall and was for some time engaged in the recruiting ser- vice. Later he received a commission from Governor Lewis which authorized him to recruit for the Forty-eighth Regiment Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry, and he accord- ingly raised a company which became Com- pany H of that regiment, of which he was placed in command, his commisssion bearing the date of March 29, 1865, and his dis- charge March 24, 1866. Ilis duty was a laborious and responsible one, and his health was much broken by his service in the army. During the summer of 1865 he marched with his command over 1,400 miles, his field of operations being in Kansas, and in the fall of that year the command took up quar- ters at Fort Lyon, Colorado. Returning to Fountain City at the close of his term of military service, he soon after went to Trem- pealean county, and took up from the Gov- erminent the land where he now resides, which was then wild and new, and erected the first house in this valley and made the first road.

Captain Lewis and wife have nine children, six sons and three daughters: Louis Kossuth, the eldest son, is engaged in the insurance business at Huron, South Dakota; Clive, the second son, is at home; De Los is in Mon- tana; Adelbert resides in the town of Arcadia.

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and Archie is still at home. The eldest daughter, Inez, is the wife of John Burt, of Iron River, Michigan: Blanche is the wife of Frank Ducker, of Iron River, Michigan; and Gertrude is the wife of Jolin Busby, of Areadia. Captain Lewis is one of the best known citizens of West Wisconsin, where he has lived so long and honorably, and has ever been identified with the growth and development of the county. Besides the offices of County Clerk and Sheriff which he held in the early days, he has held many local offices, having been chairman of the town board of Arcadia for three terms and its Assessor for six years. In his earliest voting days Captain Lewis was a Democrat, bnt voted for Fremunt, the first Republican candidate for President, and continued a Republican until the Garfield campaign of 1880, since which time he has been inde- pendent in his political sentiments. He is a man of large and varied reading and possesses much general information. IIe has for many years given much attention to the study of geology and is an acknowledged authority on the geological formation of Wisconsin. Ile was employed for two years in the United States Geological Survey in the Lake Supe- rior regions, and has a large and valuable collection of geological specimens.

LEXANDER M. GILVRAY, deceased, one of the early and well-known set- tlers of the town of Gale, was born in Inverness, Scotland, July 15, 1804 He emi- grated to Nova Scotia and thence to Canada, and thence to Portage, Wisconsin, in 1851. In 1852 he came to Trempealean county, and was followed in June, 1853. by his family. He entered the land now owned and occupied by his son, Gilbert I. MeGilvray, and estab-

lished a ferry aeross Black river, which he operated until his death, June 17, 1887.

He married, in Canada, Catherine Rankin, and had five sons and a daughter. The sons are all living. Gilbert I. MeGilvray has operated the ferry since his father's death.

ENJAMIN FRANKLIN GIPPLE is a descendant of the Palantine Mennonites, exiles from Canton Aargan, Switzerland. The family, with many others, to escape a re- lentless persecution, fled from Aargau to Offenburg, Middle Baden, and on the revo- eation in 1685 of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV of France they removed to Alsace for the same cause. Again, on the eession of Alsace to France upon the treaty of Ryswick in 1697, they went to Holland for protection and a refuge under the mild rule of William of Orange, where they enjoyed religious freedom. From Rotterdam they emigrated to the Province of Pennsylvania, North America, by way of Plymouth, England, on the brigantine Richmond and Elizabeth, Christopher Clymen, master, and arrived at Philadelphia in 1733. The name was for- merly spelled Geibbel: the reason for the change is not apparent, unless it is one of those Americanisms that so often have their origin in the transit from one language to another. The family settled in the locality of what is now the village of Manheim, Lan- caster county, l'ennsylvania.

The father of the subject of this sketch, |Conrad L. Gipple, of the sixth generation from the advent of the family in Pennsyl- vania, married Elizabeth Summy, eldest daughter of Jacob Summy. In 1825 they moved to Scipio, Cayuga county, New York, where Benjamin F. was born, April 26, 1828. A year or two later the father moved his

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family to Lancaster, Erie county, where five years afterward he met his death while assist- ing to raise the Presbyterian church in the village of Lancaster. His young wife. with five small children, was thus suddenly lett to fight the battle of life alone. The members of the church made little if indeed any effort to assist, even in the matter of harvesting her meager crops. Winter came on to find her with but a few bushels of buckwheat to serve as bread for herself and children, and suffering from the want of the com- inon necessaries of life followed This in- difference on the part of professed Chris- tians claiming to be governed by a Divine law, which defines religion pure and undefiled before God the Father, to visit the widow and the fatherless in their affliction, made a pro- found impression on the son in after and maturer years. The Pennsylvanians in those early times adhered with great tenaeity to the mother tongue, and for many years they would not permit a child to address its par- ents in the English language. When, there- fore, our subject at an early age was sent to the common district school, he was as igno- rant of this language as a new-born babe, and the want of this important accomplishment seemed to him to impress his teacher with the brilliant idea that

Wer sprecht nur deutsch, Braucht gewiss die peitsche.

At all events the teacher proceeded to enrich his tender German mind in rudimental Eng- lish by a vigorous use of the inductive method, from behind, posteriori. Common ! schools in those primitive times were indeed common enough, and the teachers employed were usually large, muscular fellows. noted more from their pugilistie attainments than intellectual culture. They were equipped with a brawny pair of fists, a birehen gad, ferrule, and a two-bladed knife, -- the former

to sharpen the wits of the pupil, and the latter to sharpen their goose-quill pens. The state of affairs between teacher and the "big boys," when not in actual conflict, was that of an armed neutrality, each constantly on the alert, and when the conflict came, as it often did, the floor would be overlaid with books, ferrules, broken gads, tufts of hair, overturned benches and table, "like antumnal leaves that strew the brooks of Vallambrosa." The in- junction of that wisest of men. King Solo- mon, "spare the rod and spoil the child," was burned as it were into their very souls. They believed that by a vigorous use of brute force, the young mind could be compelled to accomplish anything. The Bible had a place on the desk of the teacher, from which a chapter was daily read, but it coming to his knowledge that some of the precocious boys were calling the attention of the girls to portions of the inspired volume, which re- cited the adventures of calculating Tamar. the acts of sportive David, or the odoriferons menn vonehsafed to turbulent Ezekiel, they (the boys) were soundly flogged, and the Bible placed under lock and key, to be brought out again next term. Notwithstanding what is here said touching the erudeness of the dis- triet schools in those early days, they were, nevertheless, a potent factor in our civiliza- tion, and under the spur of a progressive age and scientitie attainments in the art of teach- ing they have gradually attained a higher standard.

At the age of ten years Benjamin F. was hired out to work on a farm, which was re- peated yearly thereafter until he attained the age of seventeen years, when he was given in charge of a Mr. Stephen Buck, to learn the carpenter's trade. After serving an appren- ticeship of three years, he followed the voca- tion of a carpenter fifteen or twenty years. At the tender age of ten years, while in the

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BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY.

employ of a zealons deacon. who with others of his kind. taking advantage of a revival then in progress, bringing to bear those questionable high-pressure methods so often employed, he was persuaded to unite with the Christian church, from which, in riper years, after a thorough investigation of the origin and history of the various religions of the world, he withdrew. In his twenty-second year he was married to Mary Ann Soure, a daughter of John Snure, Esq .. of Pelham, Canada West: he then settled on his farm in Lancaster, New York. In the fall of 1853 he was employed by the Erie Company, who had purchased real estate on Seventh street, near the Soldiers' Home, Washington, Dis- triet of Columbia, to take charge in the building of a number of residences which the company were about to erect. In the fall of 1856 he sold his farm in Lancaster, and moved his family to Houston county, Minnesota, where he pursned his trade, act- ing meantime in the capacity of Justice of the Peace, to which office he was elected the year following.

In the summer of 1859 a well, which was being dug by his friend and neighbor, J. B. Ames, after going through clay to the depth of fifty feet and then striking sand, began to cave, the clay part above remaining in place. The laborers becoming frightened abandoned the well. Mr. Gipple, desiring to assist his friend, went down for the purpose of curbing it: while at work several tons of clay broke loose and came down with a crash. A large crowd of people soon gathered about the well. but no one had the courage to descend, as it was supposed to be an extremely hazardous undertaking. At this juncture appeared Norman Webster, a brother Mason, and in after years an officer of the celebrated Foster Battery, who, without hesitating a moment and at the risk of his life, let himself down

into the well, and vigorously commenced the work of removing the clay from the impris- oned victim. This done, the rope was fas- tened around the body under the arms, word was given by Webster to hoist away. Mr. Gipple was laid npon an improvised door. Investigation developed a compound fracture of the right leg at the knee, a fracture of the right arm, and dislocation of the wrist of the same, besides other injuries of a minor nature. This accident rendered all manual labor impossible for a year, and forever dis- abled him from the pursuit of his trade.

When he had sufficiently recovered, his friend Ames started a store in the village of Riceford, Houston county, Minnesota, and placed him in charge of the same. A year later Mr. Ames moved his business to Browns- ville, the river town of Houston county, where, August 6, 1862, after a short illness, Mrs. Gipple died, leaving him alone with five children, viz .: John L., George W., Etta E., Ella E. and Charles. After this sad event, he secured a situation as salesman with Mons Anderson, at La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he remained eleven years, receiving a salary ranging from 86 to $18. The position of salesman in a large concern like that of Mons Anderson, where each is numbered, and his value depends on general ability and the amount of his sales, is by no means a sine- cure. Thousands of boys desert the farm to seek what in their ignorance they believe to be an easy life behind the counter. Vain delusion! the road to success as a salesman is arduous and dotted with failures. An accu- rate account is kept of the work of each, which leads to a constant struggle for sales, and this eanses strife, contention, and sometimes blows. Years before, foreseeing that the Scandinavians were coming to be an import- ant factor in the population of our new Western States, Mr. Gipple had taken pains

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to learn their language, and this, with his mother tongue, and a limited knowledge of French, gave him great advantage over such of his fellows as could speak but English. This, coupled with a vigorous determination to get to the front, assured success. It is, he trusts, with pardonable pride that he looks baek upon a record of eleven years which show that after the first month the amount of his sales were never excelled by his fellows. As an illustration of the enormous sales at about the close of the civil war, in the year 1865, his sales were $27.750.

After coming to La Crosse he was twiee drafted and twice attempted to enlist in the late war, but was rejected on account of the injuries received in the well.

June 2, 1865, he was married to Emily R. Bradshaw, of Delphi, Indiana. From this union there are four children: Benjamin F., Jr., Albert A., William B. and Mary A. In 1872, Mr. Gipple commeneed business in the dry-goods line, on his own account, in La Crosse, and soon afterward formed a partner- ship with Mr. C. Curtis, and a year later Gipple & Curtis formed a co-partnership with the Montello Woolen Mills Company. Mon- tello, Wiseonsin, under the name of B. F. Gipple & Co., with a capital of $30,000. This venture proved unfortunate; in less than six months Mr. Gipple was left penniless, having to borrow money to get his family back to La Crosse. In 1878, through the generosity of business men of this city, he was again placed on his feet, and opened a general store at North Bend, Jackson county. Wisconsin, where he was soon afterward ap- pointed Postmaster by President Grant, which office he filled for ten years, at the same time aeting also as Justice of the Peace. lIe was TEPIIEN RICHIMOND. a prominent representative of the bar of Trempea- leau county. has been engaged in the instrumental in starting an Odd Fellows lodge at that place, known as North Bend Lodge, No. 291, I. O. O. F., and was Noble , practice of law at Areadia since September,

Grand of this lodge several terms. often rep- resenting the same at the Grand Lodge. In 1866- '67 he served as one of the committee on legislation in the Grand Lodge, of the State of Wisconsin, and afterward served two terms as District Deputy Grand Master. In February, 1SSS, he resigned the office of Postmaster, and for the purpose of better sehool facilities moved his family to Gales- ville, Wisconsin, where, in the spring follow- ing, he was elected Police Justice, and still holds this office.

This sketch would be incomplete without mention of one between whom and himself there existed for some years the most inti- mate social relations. While at North Bend he became acquainted with a most remarkable man, in the person of James M. Pryse, a Presbyterian clergyman, a profound scholar, possessed with a wonderful fund of general knowledge, liberal in his theologieal views and a genial companion. This acquaintance ripened into a warm friendship, which con- tinued to the hour of his death, March 13, 1891. In the death of this excellent man, who had stamped himself on his mind and affections, Mr. Gipple sustained an irrepar- able loss. How wonderful events erowd apace in sixty four short years! At the date of the birth of the subject of this sketch. John Quincy Adams was in the middle of his presidential term, and since that time twenty-four of his successors have exercised their executive functions, meantime eighteen States have been added to the Union, and the population of the United States has grown from 12,000,000 to 65.000,000.

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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