Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume II, Part 49

Author: McKenna, Maurice
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Clarke
Number of Pages: 738

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LEVI P. BLANCHARD.

Levi P. Blanchard was an early settler in Fond du Lac county and has spent practically his entire life in this county. He has never neglected any of his duties, having served with credit and distinction in the Civil war and having molded his business activities along upright and honorable lines. He carried on general agricultural pursuits in Springvale township for almost twenty years and is now living retired, having earned rest by activity, industry and persevering labor. He was born in Jefferson county, New York, December 21, 1839, and is a son of Philip and Catherine (Drummond) Blanchard. The father was born in Wiltshire, England, in 1796 and came of good British stock. For ten years he was a soldier in the regular army and later followed general agricultural pur- suits. He came to the United States in the early '30s, locating in Jefferson county, New York, where he engaged in farming. He was among the earliest pioneers in Wisconsin, coming to this state in 1854 and settling in Springvale township, where he purchased a tract of land upon which he resided until his death, which occurred on October 3, 1860. His wife was a native of Jefferson county, New York, and their marriage occurred in Sacket Harbor, that state. She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Penny, in Springvale township in 1884. She was the mother of six children: Elizabeth, the widow of Charles Penny, of Rosendale; George W., of Proctor, Minnesota ; Catherine, who became the wife of F. C. Prouty, of Tracy, Minnesota, and is deceased ; Levi P., the subject of this sketch; Charles D., of Pollock, South Dakota; and James A., of New York city. The last named is a graduate of Ripon College in the class of 1871 and of the law department of Columbia University and is a justice of the supreme court of the state of New York. He is a veteran of the Civil war, hav- ing served for one year in Company I, Second Wisconsin Cavalry.

Levi P. Blanchard attended public school in New York state and came to Springvale township with his parents when he was fifteen years of age. He worked upon the home farm until he was twenty years of age and then began life independently. He went into the northern Wisconsin woods, where he worked as a lumber jack during the winter season and in summer was employed on the river. On October 17, 1864, he enlisted at Fond du Lac in Company I. Second Wisconsin Cavalry, serving under Colonel Thomas. He went to Mem- phis, Tennessee, and performed scout duty in various southern states, being con- nected during this time with the Department of the Gulf. He was mustered out with an honorable discharge on October 17, 1865, at Hempstead, Texas, and returned immediately to Fond du Lac county. He again went to the northern woods and followed lumbering until 1893, when he located upon the farm where

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he lives today. He has retired from active work and rents his land, although he still keeps a garden plot and a few head of stock for himself.

On February 22, 1893, Mr. Blanchard was united in marriage to Miss Emma Thayer, a daughter of John Wesley and Milia (Prouty) Thayer. Her father was born in New York state and was of German and Irish ancestry. He was a general farmer and followed this line of occupation in Springvale township, whither he had come in pioneer times. He purchased land and upon this he resided until his death, which occurred on August 18, 1860. He and his wife were the parents of six children: Adelaide, the wife of George W. Blanchard, of Proctor, Minnesota; Octavius, who died in 1845, when he was but a year old; Emma, the wife of our subject; Phoebe, the wife of R. J. Churchhouse, of Shef- field, Iowa; Lucinda, who married David Biggs, also a resident of Sheffield, Iowa; and Amos, a farmer in Springvale township, Fond du Lac county.

Levi P. Blanchard gives his allegiance to the republican party and is a stanch partisan. He is intelligently interested in the affairs of his community but never seeks public office. He attends the Methodist Episcopal church, while his wife is an adherent of the Congregational denomination. He is a member of Lodge No. III, F. & A. M., of Rosendale, and Mrs. Blanchard belongs to the Order of the Eastern Star. He is well known in various social circles of the district in which he resides but perhaps the most intense interest of his life is in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic. He never misses a state en- campment and thoroughly enjoys the annual outings of the organization. He has been a resident of Fond du Lac county since he was fifteen years of age and has many friends in the section, most of whom have known him from child- hood and honor him today for his well proved qualities of mind and character.

MRS. MARY McCREADY.

Mrs. Mary McCready, who owns and operates a farm on section 27, Byron township, was born in Fond du Lac township on the 24th of December, 1852, and is a daughter of Gerland and Elizabeth Bernard. The father, who was a farmer, was born in Ireland in 1818, and passed away in Fond du Lac county in 1902, while the mother's death occurred in 1892.

Mrs. McCready was reared at home and educated in the district schools, which she attended until she was sixteen years of age. She remained with her people until her marriage, following which she went to Brownsville to live.

Theresa, Dodge county, Wisconsin, was the scene of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. William E. McCready, the event occurring on the 13th of June, 1876. He was born at North Adams, Massachusetts, on the Ist of December, 1848, and died on the farm where his widow now resides in Byron township on December 26, 1910. Mr. McCready came to Wisconsin in his early life, and on the 12th of October, 1864, he enlisted as a private in Company G, First Wisconsin Heavy Artillery. He remained at the front until mustered out on the 13th of July, 1865, serving under the command of Captain Henry F. Rouse. He received his discharge at Camp Washburn, this state, and subsequently returned to this county and soon thereafter purchased his farm in Byron township. His energies were engaged in the further improvement and cultivation of this place until his death.

Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. McCready, as follows: Charles W., who is employed in the store room of the Soo Line; Grace E., who married Edward Hayden, of Byron; Bernard H., who is managing the home farm for his mother ; and Jeanie M., who is also at home. Mrs. Hayden, the only mem- ber of the family who has married, is the mother of three children: Mary H., Joseph A. and Paul W.

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The family are all communicants of the Roman Catholic church, as was also the father, who accorded his political allegiance to the republican party. Mr. McCready was widely known and highly esteemed in this community, as he was a man of upright standards and sound principles, the worth of which had been thoroughly tested during the long period of his residence .. Mrs. McCready is equally popular with her neighbors, whose stanch friendship she has won through her kind impulses and generous nature, as she is always ready to assist those who are in trouble or distress.

HENRY DUNN.

Henry Dunn is one of the well known citizens of Eldorado township, Fond du Lac county, where he is successfully engaged in the cultivation of his farm of eighty acres. He was born in Fond du Lac county in 1885 and is a son of John and Mary (Kenning) Dunn, the former a native of Ireland and the latter of Germany. The father emigrated to America at an early day and located on a farm in Eldorado township, on which he established his home and there con- tinued to live for many years. He advanced the land from an undeveloped wil- derness to a highly improved farm, on which he built all the necessary farm buildings, including a well appointed and commodious residence.

Henry Dunn was reared in his father's home and received his early education in a public school of Eldorado township. As a young man he was engaged with his father on the latter's farm and later he purchased the old homestead, which comprises eighty acres. He has since given his attention to general farming, his principal crops being barley, wheat and corn.

Henry Dunn was united in marriage in 1911 to Miss Minnie Patt. He and his wife are members of the Evangelical church of Eldorado. Mr. Dunn is one of the substantial citizens of his township and a man whose consistent life as an industrious farmer has gained for him the esteem of the people with whom he has come in contact and has made him well known throughout the county of Fond du Lac.

WILLIAM F. GLASOW.

William F. Glasow is one of the well known and successful merchants of Fond du Lac, being engaged in the grocery business at 444-446 South Main street. He is a native of Prussia, Germany, being born February 25, 1846, a son of Christopher and Wilhelmina (Gorman) Glasow. Christopher Glasow followed the occupation of farmer during his entire life. He emigrated to America in the year 1862 and settled in Plymouth township, Sheboygan county, remaining at that location for two years only after which he established his residence in Fond du Lac. To the home of Mr. and Mrs. Glasow nine children were born, six of whom lived to the years of maturity: Wilhelmina, the wife of F. Arndt, of Sheboygan county, Wisconsin; Fredericka, the wife of John Lapp, of Clark county, Wisconsin; Augusta, the wife of Albert Schwartz, of Georgia, Minnesota; Ernestina, who married Christian Adermann, of Sheboy- gan county, Wisconsin; Hannah, the wife of Frederick Michler, of Mariton county, Wisconsin ; and William F., of Fond du Lac. The parents passed to their reward many years ago, the mother dying at the age of forty-eight and her husband in Fond du Lac in 1881, aged seventy-two years.

William F. Glasow was reared at home and received a liberal education in the schools of his native land. He emigrated at the age of sixteen, with his

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father's family, to America, in the year 1862, making his first settlement in the new country in Sheboygan county, Wisconsin. Here he remained for one year only and then removed to Fond du Lac and in that city for two years was employed in a sawmill. Leaving the employ of the mill he obtained a position in the C. J. L. Meyers sash, door and blind factory and continued with this con- cern for a period of twenty years, at the end of which time he established him- self in the grocery business, to which he has given his entire attention for the past twenty-six years.

Mr. Glasow was united in wedlock on the 23d day of January, 1870, to Miss Lena Halle. Mrs. Glasow is a native of Saxony, Germany, and at the age of three years emigrated with her parents to America, the family settling in Plym- outh township, Sheboygan county, of this state. Later they removed to the town of Plymouth. Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Halle: Bertha, Fred, Lena, Ida, Amelia and Herman. The father and mother of this family have long since passed to their reward. To Mr. and Mrs. William F. Glasow the following children have been born: William, who died at the age of twenty- eight years; Ida, the wife of Rev. L. Krug, residing at North Yakima, Wash- ington, and they have five children, Erna, Louis, Leda, Arno and Herbert; Henry, who is engaged in the wholesale grocery business in Fond du Lac, married Anna Krug and has three children, Clarence, Arnold and Lorene; Gustave, who is employed in his father's store, married Katie Krug and has one child, Carlton; Robert, who is engaged as a diamond-setter in Fond du Lac, married Miss Paulina Krug and has two children, Marian and Ruth; Lena, who is the wife of Alexander O. Benz, residing in Fond du Lac, and has four children, Leona, Alexander, Walter and Herbert; Emma, the wife of Henry Ottery, of Empire, who has two children, Edwin and Henry G .; Arthur, engaged as a machinist; Edward, employed in the wholesale house of his brother ; and Albert, who is also a machinist and is employed by the government on the Panama canal.

Mr. Glasow is an enthusiastic adherent of the republican party and he has served for two terms as alderman of the old eighth ward. Both he and Mrs. Glasow are members of St. Peter's Lutheran church of Fond du Lac. Mr. Glasow for many years has enjoyed the confidence and patronage of the people of his adopted city. He is a man of reliable and conservative business practice and is numbered among the pioneer residents of this county.

JOHN H. BROWN.

John H. Brown operates a general store in Fair Water and has a record of many years' identification with this line of activity in one location. He has been a resident of Wisconsin since 1857, gaining there a reputation for business integ- rity and for high qualities of citizenship. He was born in Caledonia county, Vermont, on November 6, 1834, and is a son of Harris and Roxanna (Sleeper) Brown, the former a native of Rhode Island and the latter of Vermont. His father was born in 1804 and was of New England ancestry. He had followed the wagon-maker's and carpenter's trades in Vermont for a number of years, arriving in that state with his parents in early pioneer times. The mother was born in Newark, Vermont, and traced her ancestry back to Israel Putnam. She died in her native state in 1843 and fourteen years afterward her husband went to Illinois, coming two years later to Fair Water, Wisconsin, where he opened a wagon shop, which he operated for a few years and until his death.

John H. Brown has been earning his own livelihood since he was a small boy. He started active life for himself by working for an uncle in Vermont for six years, after which he went to Canada and obtained employment upon a farm. He gained his first knowledge of that country under unfavorable con-

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ditions, it being so cold that winter that the stock froze to death in the barns. Consequently, Mr. Brown spent only a short time in Canada, returning to Ver- mont in a few years. He persuaded his father and sister to accompany him west. His father went to Illinois and two years later joined his children in Fair Water. John H. Brown worked in the employ of a farmer in Metomen township for three years and then went into partnership with his father in the conduct of a carpenter shop. On August 7, 1862, he enlisted in the Federal army, joining Company A, Thirty-second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. He was discharged on June 12, 1865, from the United States service by order of the war department at Washington. He then came to Milwaukee and received his final discharge, returning immediately to Fair Water, where he continued in business in association with his father. He later established himself in the general merchandise line of business in the village and has continued in the same location since that time, gaining dur- ing the years a reputation for honesty, business sagacity and strict integrity, which qualities have been the basis of a distinct and substantial success.

John H. Brown married Miss Theodosia Spaulding. Her father was a na- tive of Vermont and her mother a native of Canada. Mrs. Brown's father was of New England ancestry and came to Metomen township with his brothers in pioneer times. He married in this section and purchased land on the boun- dary line between Green Lake and Fond du Lac counties, where he remained until his death. His wife was of French-Canadian descent and came to Wis- consin with her parents, locating in Alto township, Fond du Lac county. She is still living on the home farm, making her home with her son Montgomery. Mrs. John H. Brown was born upon the family homestead and died in Fair Water in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had one child, who died in infancy.

John H. Brown served as postmaster of Fair Water for seven years and at one time was cashier for a grain buyer in the village. In politics he is liberal, voting for the man best qualified for the office, showing in this relation the in- dependence and courage of conviction which have marked every activity of his life.

NORRIS S. HERSEY.

Norris S. Hersey has spent all his life in Lamartine township and is one of the most popular and enterprising citizens of that section. He has been identified with agricultural pursuits since his early boyhood and his present farm is located on section 10, comprising one hundred and ten acres of the finest land in Fond du Lac county. He was born on the 18th of August, 1857, and is a native son of Lamartine township. His father, James A. Hersey, was born in Ira Corners, New York, February 6, 1822, and was the first of the family to come to Wisconsin. He settled in this state in 1844 and for sixty- eight years was largely engaged in farming in the district where his son now resides. He first took up his abode, however, in Fond du Lac and became closely associated with Dr. Darling in the real-estate business. He afterward removed to the town of Lamartine, where he bought a farm on which the remaining active years of his life were spent. He died June 17, 1912, at the remarkable old age of ninety years, and his death marked the passing of one of the pioneer agriculturists of Fond du Lac county, where he was prominently known as a progressive and public-spirited man. He continued in active connection with farm work till the age of seventy-six and spent the remaining fourteen years of his life in honorable retirement from business. His wife, Lorana (Jones) Hersey, was a native of New York state and came to Wisconsin in 1846. In this state her death occurred on the 9th of April, 1912, when she was eighty-

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three years of age. She was the mother of the following children: Jane Ann, who became the wife of Edward Broughton, a farmer of Lamartine township, and passed away in Washington in 1902, leaving two children ; Milford and Fay, both residents of Walla Walla, Washington; Myron H .; and our subject.

Norris S. Hersey was educated in the district schools of Lamartine township and actively pursued his studies until he was sixteen years old. He has been acquainted since childhood with the details of agricultural activities and has been identified with the development and operation of his present farm for twenty- one years. He owns one hundred and ten acres in Lamartine township, all under a high state of cultivation. He is entirely responsible for the scientific methods by which his farm is cultivated, and each year brings him more abun- dant harvests and an increasing degree of success. He does general farming and keeps a large herd of cattle to which he gives his personal supervision and attention. He has met with gratifying results in this branch of his activities and his name is becoming prominently known in this connection.

On December 30, 1885, Mr. Hersey was united in marriage to Miss Flora G. Spoor, of Lamartine, whose grandparents were among the pioneer settlers in that section. They came to Wisconsin in 1861 and here the grandfather carried on the operation of a large farm until his death in February, 1896, when he was seventy-six years old. Mr. and Mrs. Hersey are the parents of two children : Charles D., who married Sarah F. Miller, of Lamartine; and Harry J., who is living at home.

Politically, Mr. Hersey gives his allegiance to the republican party and has served his township in several capacities with ability and distinction, among others as township assessor. He is a stanch Baptist and his religion is of the everyday sort which influences a man's personal life and character. He. belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America but beyond this has no fraternal affiliations. He is best known in his community as a representative agriculturist who undertakes the development of the soil. along scientific and progressive lines. He is, moreover, identified with some of the most important enterprises in the neighboring villages and as a director and stockholder in the Woodhull Telephone Company has met with a gratifying measure of success. For sixteen years he has been a director in the Oakfield Insurance Company and his identi- fication with this concern is a proof of the prosperity he would have attained in a purely business walk of life. As a farmer and stock-raiser, Mr. Hersey represents a large and constantly increasing class of men, who, by promoting their individual success along agricultural lines, are adding to the reputation which Fond du Lac county has attained of being one of the most productive and fertile regions of America.

LOUIS MUENTER.

Louis Muenter for thirty-six years was one of the most active and repre- sentative business men of the city of Fond du Lac, residing at No. 225 East Division street, that city. He was born in Rostock, Mecklenburg, Germany, February 7, 1840 and was the son of Carl and Dorothea (Prange) Muenter.

Louis Muenter was reared in the home of his parents and received a liberal education in Germany, his native country. For some time he was engaged as a clerk in a grocery establishment and later employed as a traveling salesman in the grocery business. He emigrated to America in 1865, settling first in Beaver Dam, this state, where he continued to live until 1868. In that year, changing his residence, he removed to Fond du Lac and entered into co-part- nership with Henry Wallace of that city, with whom he was engaged in the general retail grocery business and contined to give his entire attention to this

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for ten consecutive years. Retiring from the grocery business he became cash- ier of the German-American Bank, a position in which he continued to serve for several years and later was the assistant cashier in the Fond du Lac Na- tional Bank.

Mr. Muenter was united in marriage to Miss Alwine Rueping on the 21st of April, 1867. The father of Mrs. Muenter was William Rueping, who emi- grated to America at an early day and established his permanent home in Fond du Lac. Here he engaged in the tannery business, being the owner and pro- prietor of his establishment, which at that time was of modest proportions, but has since developed into one of the largest and most important industries of its kind in Wisconsin, requiring several hundred efficient employes in its opera- tion. Mr. Rueping was for many years one of the most prominent and suc- cessful business men in this section of Wisconsin.

To Mr. and Mrs. Louis Muenter eight children were born: Bertha, the wife of Edward Madden, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, who has three children, Alvine, Louis and Ruth; Louis, who died at the age of twenty-seven; Meta, the wife of Albert Crews, of Fond du Lac, who has two children, Henrietta and Paul; Otto, engaged in business in Fond du Lac, his wife being formerly Miss Louise Brucker; Johanna, the wife of R. C. Wells, who has three chil- dren, Edith, Dorothy and Robert; Alma, the wife of G. B. Ives, to whom have been born two children, Vera and Carl; Robert, who died at the age of two years, and Wilhelmina, also deceased, who died when twenty-three years of age.

Louis Muenter was a member of the Masonic order and also of the Knights of Pythias. He was affiliated with the democratic party and for ten continuous years was elected by the people of this county to the office of county treasurer, having previously served as the deputy county treasurer. Both Mr. and Mrs. Muenter attended the German Evangelical church of this city.

Louis Muenter was highly esteemed by the citizens of Fond du Lac county for his conservative business methods and was regarded as one of the most suc- cessful business men in this part of Wisconsin. He was a man of unblemished in- tegrity and enjoyed the confidence of all of his associates and his death, which occurred in his home in the year 1894, was regarded as a great loss, not only to his family, but to all the people with whom he had associated.

FRED FALBE.

Fred Falbe, who dates his residence in Fond du Lac county from 1866, was for many years actively and successfully identified with general agricultural pur- suits here but during the past two years has lived retired at Fair Water, enjoying the fruits of his years of toil in well earned ease. His birth occurred in Germany on the 7th of December, 1842, his parents being John and Minnie ( Bakohouse) Falbe, who were likewise natives of Germany. The mother there passed away in 1867 and in that year the father emigrated to the United States, joining our sub- ject in Brandon, Fond du Lac county. After two years, however, he returned to Germany, where his demise occurred in 1879.

In 1866, when twenty-four years of age, Fred Falbe crossed the Atlantic to America in company with his brother, coming direct to Wisconsin and locating first in Ripon. Subsequently he took up his abode in Brandon, this county, pur- chased two lots in the village and erected a home thereon. He worked as a farm hand for four years and with his earnings then bought forty acres of land in Metomen township. Two years later he disposed of the property and purchased a farm of eighty-eight acres on section 29, Metomen township, residing thereon until 1910, when he put aside the active work of the fields, rented the place to his son and removed to the village of Fair Water. The prosperity which has crowned

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Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume II, Part 49

Author: McKenna, Maurice Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago : Clarke Number of Pages: 738

Author: McKenna, Maurice
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago : Clarke
Number of Pages: 738