USA > Wisconsin > Fond du Lac County > Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, past and present, Volume II > Part 60
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Mr. Pickart has been married forty-two years. His wife was in her maiden- hood Miss Mary Schmitz and to their union were born seven children: Anna and Selma, both of whom are deceased; John, Louis, Mike, Josephine and Sarah.
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Mr. Pickart holds membership in the German Catholic church, to which faith his wife and children also give their allegiance. He is a democrat but not active politically, preferring to do his duty as a citizen by promoting his private inter- ests. He is a man of fine business judgment and his integrity stands as an un- questioned fact in his career and his success is in proportion to the perseverance of his labors and the quality of the business discrimination which guides them.
JOHN LINNEN.
John Linnen is one of the successful and respected business men of Waupun, where he is engaged in the conduct of the only exclusive shoe store in that city. He is the son of Thomas and Ann (Manning) Linnen, the former a native of Ennis, County Clare, Ireland, where he was born in 1828, and the latter of Troy, New York. He came to America in April, 1839, and located at Watertown, Wis- consin, where he married on September 21, 1857, and then moved to Waupun in 1859. The mother was born on October 19, 1838, and in 1846 came with her parents to Lowell, Wisconsin. To Mr. and Mrs. Linnen were born eight chil- dren, five boys and three girls, of whom the subject of this review is the sixth in order of birth.
John Linnen was reared in his father's home and received his education in the public schools of Waupun. As a young man he was engaged as a clerk in the merchandising house of A. C. Scott for several years and bought out J. T. Sheehan's shoe business in 1911, since which time he has devoted himself entirely to the interests of that business.
On November 23, 1910, Mr. Linnen was united in marriage to Miss Mary Brown, a daughter of Patrick and Julia (Purcell) Brown, both natives of Ire- land. The father, Patrick Brown, was born in Skibreen, County Cork, in 1845, and the mother in Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1849. The father came to Salem, Massa- chusetts, in 1854 and in 1857 removed to Waupun. He died April 19, 1885, while the mother still lives. Mrs. Brown came to Troy, New York in 1849, and to Waupun in 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Linnen are members of the Catholic church. Mr. Linnen has the distinction of owning and operating the only exclusive shoe store in the city of Waupun and in the conduct of his business he has met with gratifying success. He is one of the reliable and respected citizens of the city in which he resides and one of the well known and progressive men of the county.
JOHN A. KASTEIN.
John A. Kastein is one of the well known citizens of Waupun where he has been engaged in business since 1869. He was born in Holland, the 3d of Febru- ary, 1848, and is a son of William and Elida (Ramaker) Kastein, both of whom were natives of Holland, and in that country celebrated their marriage in 1835. They were the parents of seven children: Bernard, who passed away in Holland ; Henrietta, now Mrs. VanGallen, of Alto; Gerritt J., whose death occurred in 1901 ; Jane, who married John Kophower, and resides in Alto; Lena, who passed away in 1871; Henry J., a resident of Alto; and John A., the subject of this review.
John A. Kastein was reared in his parents' home and received his education in the schools of Holland. He emigrated to America and settled in Waupun in June, 1869, and since that time has continued to be identified with the business interests of that city.
On the 21st of February, 1872, Mr. Kastein was united in marriage to Miss
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Beerdiena Ter Beest, who was born December 19, 1850, and was a daughter of Bernard and Eliza (Boch) Ter Beest. To Mr. and Mrs. Kastein six children have been born: William H., who taught school for a time and is an employe of the Paramount Knitting Company of Waupun; Katherine, a school teacher, whose birth occurred August 8, 1874; John A., Jr., born September 5, 1876, a leading druggist of Waupun; Benjamin, whose birth occurred on the 5th of April, 1878, and who is cashier of the National Bank of Waupun; Alice, at home ; and Dinah, who is in the government employ at the Waupun postoffice.
Mr. Kastein is a loyal member of the republican party and has served as mayor for two terms. He was alderman for his ward in 1896. He and his family are members of the Dutch Reformed church. Mr. Kastein is one of the well known and highly respected citizens of Waupun and is a man whose integ- rity in all matters of business transaction has never been questioned. He is inter- ested in every public enterprise that gives promise of advancing and promoting the condition of the people of the community in which he lives.
WILLIAM S. WHITING.
William S. Whiting is one of the well known and successful business men of Waupun, Wisconsin, where he is engaged in the general livery and transfer business and also has the agency for several automobile companies, besides oper- ating a large garage and automobile repair shop. He was born in Ripon, Wis- consin, August 18, 1865, and is the son of John and Mary (Farrington) Whiting, both of whom were natives of New York and of whom a more extended mention is made in the review of Spencer Whiting, of Ripon, Wisconsin, published in another part of this work.
William S. Whiting was reared at home and received his early education in the public schools. He was variously engaged until 1890 when he embarked in the restaurant business in Waupun, in which he was very successful for four years, at the end of which time he disposed of that property and established him- self in the draying business, in which he continued for seven years, after which he was engaged in selling windmills for four successive years. He later built and operated an up-to-date cement plant, to which he gave his entire attention for five years. In 1910 he engaged in the livery and automobile business. He con- ducts a general livery and transfer business and also operates an up-to-date ga- rage and automobile repair shop, and has the agency for the Brush car in Green Lake and the southern part of Fond du Lac county and also the northern part of Dodge county. He also handles the Ford, Courier and Sampson cars.
On February 18, 1891, Mr. Whiting was united in marriage to Miss Flora Haywood, of Ripon, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Haywood, and to them two children have been born, Harold and Margaret. Mr. Whiting is a member of the Masonic blue lodge, and is one of the highly respected and successful citizens of Waupun.
THOMAS J. SCANNELL.
Thomas J. Scannell carries on general farming in Osceola township, where he owns one hundred and twenty acres of land, eighty of which he is success- fully cultivating. A native of Fond du Lac county, his birth occurred in the township where he now resides on the Ist of August, 1854, his parents being Michael and Ellen (Fitzgerald) Scannell. The father, who was born in County Cork, Ireland, came to the United States in his early manhood, first locating in Massachusetts where he was employed on a railroad. There he was later
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married to Miss Fitzgerald, a native of County Kerry, Ireland, whence she emigrated to the United States with her mother. Soon after their marriage the young people came to Wisconsin, and for about a year resided at Milwaukee. From there they came to Fond du Lac county and purchased forty acres of wild land. This section of the state was but sparsely settled at that time, and there were only two houses between the Scannell farm and the city of Fond du Lac. Michael Scannell built a log cabin on his place, which served for the family residence for some years, and cleared and placed his land under culti- vation. Disposing of this property he invested the proceeds in forty acres of land in Osceola township, now owned by our subject and cultivated by his son Thomas P. Scannell. Here Michael Scannell lived until his death, which oc- curred in September, 1901, at the age of eighty years. His wife is still living and resides at No. 167 Fourth street, Fond du Lac, with her daughters, Ellen and Mary. She has passed the eighty-sixth anniversary of her birth and is the mother of nine children.
Reared amid the pioneer conditions that yet prevailed in Wisconsin in his boyhood, Thomas J. Scannell began his education in a district school, which was temporarily convened in the Mitchell barn. The school had formerly been held in a log cabin, but it had been destroyed by fire, and the frame building which was to take its place had not yet been completed. He received but few ad- vantages in his boyhood, his early years having been passed in the uneventful routine, characteristic of life in rural sections. He remained at home and as- sisted his father in the cultivation of the farm until he was twenty-six years of age, with the exception of one winter, when he worked in the pine woods. Soon after his marriage he located on the farm which he now owns in Osceola township, and during the intervening years has wrought many and extensive improvements on the place, including the erection of a good house and barns. His land has been brought under high cultivation and annually yields abundant harvests, which well repay him for his long years of toil. After the death of his father, he bought the old homestead, endeared to him by the associations of his early life, and there his son Thomas B., is now residing.
Thomas J. Scannell was married in 1880 to Miss Mary Foy, a native of the north of Ireland. Her parents came to the United States in 1851, and for some years resided in Hudson, New York, where their son James was born. They subsequently returned to Ireland, and there Mrs. Scannell was born, but in 1863 she came to America with her father, who again located in the state of New York, coming from there to Wisconsin in 1868. Mr. and Mrs. Scannell have five children : Thomas P. and James, twins; George and Angelo, who are also twins ; and Edward. The first named married Miss Mamie O'Brien, a daughter of James O'Brien of Eden township, and they have two children, James and Isabelle.
The family are communicants of the Roman Catholic church. His alle- giance in matters politic, Mr. Scannell gives to the democratic party and has for three years served as treasurer of the township in which he lives.
ELA COLLINS WATERS.
Ela Collins Waters has for many years been one of the well known citizens of Fond du Lac, maintaining his residence in that city for many years past, during which time, however, he has been extensively associated with various large and successful western enterprises, chiefly in the mountainous districts of south- western Montana, in which state he now is a resident at Roberts. He was born in Martinsburg, Lewis county, New York, on the 5th of May, 1849, his parents being Homer C. and Adeline (Rockwell) Waters, the former a native of Lewis county, New York, and the latter of Connecticut. His paternal great-grandfather
El, water
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was Judge Jonathan Collins, a sergeant in the Revolutionary war and later a brevetted major in the War of 1812. His brother, Oliver Collins, served in the Revolutionary war as corporal and in the War of 1812 he became brigadier general. David Waters, the paternal grandfather of our subject, was a native of New York. He was a very extensive contractor and builder, securing in his business contracts for large bridge work of all kinds, school houses and mill properties of various manufacturing industries. He was a resi- dent of Lewis county and a veteran of the War of 1812. He passed away in his native state many years ago and his widow, who bore the maiden name of Lement Collins, later removed to the west and established her home with her daughter, Mrs. J. M. Adams, at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in which city she continued to live until the time of her death. The maternal grandfather of Mr. Waters of this review was Heman Rockwell, a native of Connecticut. His wife, Henrietta Griswold, a daughter of George and Eunice (Ingersoll) Griswold, and grand-daughter of Lieutenant George Griswold, a soldier of the Revolution, was a highly cultured lady and one of the eminent educators of her day. She also enjoyed the distinction of being a most successful political writer, her contributions to the press being eagerly sought by contending candidates in the various political campaigns of her day. She lived to attain the ripe old age of ninety-five, passing away and being buried in Lewis county, New York.
Homer C. Waters, the father of Ela Collins Waters, was reared in Lewis county, New York, where he was engaged in stock-raising, mixed farming and dairying. He removed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in the year 1849 and upon his arrival purchased a farm containing one hundred and sixty acres four and a half miles south of that city, upon which he continued to conduct farming for the succeeding six or seven years. He later removed to the city of Fond du Lac and became interested in the shingle and lumber business with E. H. Galloway, continuing in this business for several successive years. He reached the end of his earthly life in 1858, in the very midst of his active business career, his death having been caused by brain fever at the age of thirty-eight years. During his life he was honored by being elected to several of the township offices and in all mat- ters of business interest he was regarded as one of the prominent and success- ful men of his city. Unto him and his wife were born five children, as fol- lows: Kelsey Theodore, who is now a resident of Belvidere, Illinois; Ela Col- lins, of this review; Josephine Arvilla, who is the widow of H. M. Hayes, of Oshkosh, and now makes her home in Madison; Emma Augusta, who died un- married; and Homer Merton, also deceased. The mother of these children was twice married, her second husband being William M. Alsever, by whom she had two children: Monroe, who died at the age of three years; and Adeline, who became the wife of Charles De Groat. Mrs. Adeline Alsever suffered a fatal attack of pneumonia and died at the age of sixty-five.
Ela Collins Waters was reared in his father's home and when a child one year old came with his parents to Fond du Lac, where he received his early education in the public schools. The breaking out of the Civil war occurred at the time when Mr. Waters was in the midst of his thirteenth year. Considering an en- thusiastic and unquenchable patriotism for the flag, for which his ancestors had fought in the Wars of the Revolution and of 1812, a sufficient qualification for becoming a soldier in the American Civil conflict, he promptly enlisted for that service and was chagrined to be apprised of the fact that he was too small in stature and too tender in years to endure the hardships of camp and field and he was consequently rejected for the time. By no means, however, discouraged or daunted in his purpose to share in the maintenance of an undivided Union, he bided his time for another year and then at the age of fourteen, a man larger grown, he enlisted in Company A, Thirty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. This time he passed the required examination and was mustered into the service of his country as one of the youngest among the soldier boys. In Vol. II-24 Vol. II-26
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the ranks of that bloody war he continued a faithful and efficient soldier till the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. During his career in the ranks he was engaged in the battles of Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Weldon Railroad, Pegram's Farm, Stony Creek, Mine Explosion, at Petersburg, Virginia, and in many other engagements of like severity, fighting in every battle in which his regi- ment was engaged. He entered the service as a drummer boy but often, when the stirring music of the drum was not required as an assistant in the conflict, he exchanged his drum for an effective musket in many of the battles in which he was engaged. His record as a brave and fearless soldier, notwithstanding his extreme youth, has been attested by the well known com- mendations of his lieutenant colonel. Immediately following the close of the Civil war he returned to Fond du Lac, where he became a pupil in one of the select schools and later a student at Ripon College in this state. Completing his studies at the college, he engaged for some time in the sewing machine busi- ness and afterward as a traveling salesman on the road for a New York whole- sale tea house until the year 1883. Shortly afterward he removed to Montana, where he engaged in the hotel and stock business at Glendive and very soon thereafter became also the proprietor of a hotel at Billings and Livingston. As Mr. Waters became known among the business men of Montana many oppor- tunities were presented to him to extend his field of operations as a popular and successful hotel proprietor and in addition to his interests in that business, as above cited, he became the general manager of all the hotels in Yellowstone Park, which position he retained for five consecutive years. At the same time he served as president of the Yellowstone Lake Boat Company and later held the office of captain of the vessels E. C. Waters and Zilla. Mr. Waters has for many years been identified with the stock industry of the west, holding heavy interests in various companies operating in that particular line, and at one time he was the owner of the controlling stock in a company owning twenty thousand head of high-grade range sheep. He was likewise the president of the Pacific Naphtha Launch Company of Tacoma and has always been more or less identified with the Montana mining industry, being still heavily interested in ranches, mines and lands in that state. At present he maintains his home at Roberts, Montana. He has, however, spent many of his winters in the city of Fond du Lac and Washington, D. C.
On the 4th of March, 1878, Mr. Waters was united in marriage to Miss Martha Burtus Amory, a native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and a daughter of John and Jane (Smith) Amory, of Middletown, New York. Her paternal grand- parents were James and Martha (Burtus) Amory. The grandfather was en- gaged in the real-estate and whip manufacturing business in New York city, where both he and his wife died many years ago. John Amory, the father of Mrs. Martha B. Waters, was one of the prominent and wealthy business men of the city of Fond du Lac during his active business career. His real-estate holdings were large in both Fond du Lac and New York. His demise occurred near Florence, Wisconsin, while his wife passed away in Washington, D. C. Their children were six in number, namely : Martha Burtus; John J .; Jane; Anna D .; Mary, the wife of Henry Miller of Fond du Lac; and Samuel Burtus Amory. Mrs. Martha B. Waters was a native daughter of Fond du Lac but spent some of her earliest childhood in Middletown, New York, and later returned to her native city at the age of fifteen. She was a regular graduate of the select school of Mrs. Sylvanus Reed in New York city. By her marriage she became the mother of three children. Edna Alberti, who gave her hand in marriage to Don Juan Molina, lives in Pasadena, California, and has one child, Amory Waters Molina. Anna Amory died at the age of nine- teen years. Amory Oaks Waters owns and operates a cattle and horse ranch at Emigrant, Montana, where he resides. He was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Lee of Virginia, by whom he has one child, Martha Burtus Waters. On the 6th of August, 1909, at the age of fifty-five years, the wife of Ela C. Waters
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passed to her reward in the land beyond, her death occurring in Fond du Lac, the city of her birth.
Mr. Waters has been a lifelong and enthusiastic member of the republican party and by that party was elected as a member of the legislature of Montana. He has also at various times held several town offices. Ela C. Waters is ex-department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic of Montana and a member of the National Encampment. He is descended from the best of old New England Revolutionary ancestry. He is a man of commanding physique and broad mind, highly cultured by contact with men eminent in the councils of the state and nation, and has associated during his entire business life with the most in- fluential men connected with large business enterprises. He is by nature a leader among men and as a safe and successful promoter and operator of various extensive business enterprises, he has a well deserved reputation for being a man of great skill and unquestioned integrity in dealing with affairs necessarily so complicated as the formation and establishment of new and untried enterprises in which many individual investors are interested. As a patriot and soldier his record is chronicled among the loyal and brave fighting men whose toil and sacri- fice preserved to us the nation which his ancestors, by their devotion to the cause of liberty, did well their part to establish.
WILLIAM BERRY.
William Berry, vice president of the Berry Rail Clamp Company, is one of the representative business men of Fond du Lac. He is a native of this county, his birth having occurred in the town of Fond du Lac on the 2d of May, 1857. His parents were William and Sophia (Alexander) Berry, natives of the state of New York. The father, who was a farmer, removed to Fond du Lac county about 1855 and erected one of the first houses in this city, continuing to reside here until his death in 1888. Of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Berry were born four children: William, Henry, Edward and Emma.
Practically the entire life of William Berry has been passed in Fond du Lac. At the usual age he entered the public schools, terminating his student days upon the completion of his junior year in high school. Although he was only seven- teen at this time he immediately turned his attention to business activities and for five years thereafter was engaged in the milk business. At the expiration of that time he engaged in farming, for which vocation he was well qualified having as- sisted his father with the work of the fields and care of the stock from his early boyhood. Four years later he again identified himself with commercial pursuits by engaging in the hay business. Mr. Berry possesses unusual mechanical skill and his spare time during these years was devoted to study and experiments along this line. After long years of discouraging effort, much thinking and end- less experimenting he was finally able to perfect a most useful and practical arti- cle patented in 1909 under the name of the Berry Rail Clamp. The same year a company was incorporated with a capitalization of fifty thousand dollars that is operating under the name of the Berry Rail Clamp Company. George W. Post is president ; H. T. Sackett, secretary ; and F. D. Pendell, treasurer. As the clamp has many advantages over those formerly in use and has supplied a long-felt need in railroading the company has met with excellent success.
Mr. Berry married Miss Adelaide Jarvis a native of Montreal, Canada, and a daughter of Nelson and Adell (Barboe) Jarvis, who were farming people. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Berry, all of whom are living. Edward married Kathryn Humphry of Fond du Lac, and to them have been born two children: Marshall, whose birth occurred in 1908; and Charlotte, who was born in 1910. Elmer married Hazel Irish of this city and they also have two children : Frederick, whose natal year was 1909; and Phyllis Madaline. Stella is the wife of Frederic D. Wheeler, and they have one child, Frank W. Ethel is
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at home. Addie, who is the wife of Herman Mulenhoff, of Fond du Lac, and Ruby, Ella and Gladys are all living at home.
In matters of faith the family are Roman Catholics and the political sup- port of Mr. Berry is accorded to the republican party. He is held in high esteem in local business circles where he is known to be honorable and upright in all of his transactions, while in matters of citizenship he is public-spirited and progres- sive, always contributing his quota toward forwarding the welfare of the com- munity.
CHARLES BEYER.
Charles Beyer, the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Calumet, his native township, was born in the year 1862, his parents being Louis and Dorothy (Cann) Beyer. The father, who came to the United States in 1849, made his way first to Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and thence came direct to Fond du Lac county, settling on a tract of land about five miles from the present home of our subject. He was one of the first settlers in that part of the county and made his home in a log cabin which he erected. He used oxen in clearing and developing his land and it was not until three years later that he purchased his first Indian ponies. The red men still frequented this part of the country, bear, deer and other wild animals haunted the forest and there was an abundance of wild game. The so-called roads were nothing but paths through the woods. Notwithstanding the many difficulties and hardships of life in a frontier region, Mr. Beyer developed an excellent farm property and as the community became more thickly settled took his place among its substantial and public-spirited citi- zens.
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