History of Barron County Wisconsin, Part 163

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1922
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1767

USA > Wisconsin > Barron County > History of Barron County Wisconsin > Part 163

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Samuel Zielke, who for a number of years has been engaged in mixed farming and dairying in Arland Township, and is making good progress, was born June 27, 1880, in Russia, son of Mikeil and Anna (Kunkel) Zielke. The father died in August, 1888, and the mother in April, 1893. Samuel attended school in his native land and subsequently engaged in farm labor. In 1904 he came to the United States, landing at Baltimore and thence going to Fayette County, West Virginia, where for five and a half years he was employed in the coal mines. In 1909 he went to Chicago, finding employment in the gas works, where he remained for a year. After that until 1911 he worked in a

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stone quarry as chisel grinder and moulder, subsequently returning to West Virginia, where he resided for 18 months. In 1913 Mr. Zielke came to Barron County, Wis., and bought 40 acres in section 19, Arland Township. On that tract he made various improvements, including the erection of buildings, and then sold it in 1917. He then bought a small place in Almena Township, on which he lived for one year. In 1918 he bought 77 acres in section 7, Arland Township, of which land he has since cleared and broken a portion. He is carrying on mixed farming and dairying with profitable results, keeping mixed Holstein and Guernsey cattle and Chester White hogs. Mr. Zielke was married March 27, 1907, in West Virginia, to Amalia Frie, who was born Oct. 13, 1877, in Russia, daughter of Daniel and Christina (Feets) Frie. Both her parents are now deceased, the mother having died in 1882 and the father in 1915 during the war. Mr. and Mrs. Zielke have a promising family of children, who were born as follows: Alvena, Dec. 21, 1907; Wilhelmina, July 28, 1909; Christina, Oct. 11, 1912; Daniel, Jan. 4, 1916; Samuel, Oct. 5, 1917, and Alma, Sept. 12, 1919.

George H. Bunker, of the firm of Cornwall & Bunker, hardware dealers, plumbers, and funeral directors, Turtle Lake, is a native of the village where he now resides, born July 21, 1892, the son of John H. and Kate (Umland) Bunker. He was reared here and received his early education in the public schools. Then he entered the Menomonie High School and was graduated in 1911. Subsequently he took a course in. the Stout Institute at Menomonie, where he learned the plumbing trade. Then for two years he traveled for the Hart Manufacturing Co., of Grand Rapids (now Wisconsin Rapids), Wis. He then bought out the interests of E. W. Stone in the Stone, Cornwall Co., and with Mr. Cornwall has since continued the business under the firm name of Cornwall & Bunker. The company handles a general line of hardware, and does plumbing work both in the village and the country. It also has a funeral directing and embalming department. In 1916 Mr. Bunker further perfected himself with a course at the University of Minnesota. He is well known in the community and is a popular member of the Masonic order. Mr. Bunker was married at Turtle Lake, in 1915, to Mildred A. Blix, daughter of A. O. and Louise (Langum) Blix, the former being the oldest general merchant in Turtle Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Bunker have three children: Katherine, born in March, 1916; Albert, born in November, 1918; and Louise, born in January, 1919, all of whom are at home.

Henry Sell, a substantial farmer of section 22, east, Chetek Township, was born in Charleston, Lee County, Iowa, July 7, 1878, the son of George Casper and Kate (Gramer) Sell. The parents were born in Germany, were there reared and educated, and there married. They came to America in the early sixties, bringing their three children, Kate, Andrew and Hannah, and settled in Iowa, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Here eight more children were born, Barbara, Sophia, August, Belle, Liza, John, Lena and Henry. The father served six months in the Civil War. Both parents were solid people of probity and worth, and the family enjoys an excellent standing. Henry, the youngest of the children, was reared on the farm in Iowa, received good educational advantages in the public schools, and remained with his parents for many years. In 1913 he came to Barron County and bought 320 acres in Chetek Township. He made many improvements and carried on gen- eral farming on an extensive scale. In 1920 he sold that place and bought his present farm of 160 acres. He has one of the best places in the neighborhood, and is keeping it in the highest stage of improvement. He carries on general farming and dairying along the latest improved lines, and makes a specialty of raising Shorthorn cattle, Poland China swine, and Percheron horses. His interest in the affairs of the community is shown by the fact that he is a shareholder in the Farmers' Co-operative store at Chetek. Mr. Sell was married at Donnellson, Iowa, on Feb. 13, 1902, to Liza Ott, born in Vile, Iowa,

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on July 22, 1882, the daughter of Fred and Katie Ott. This union has been blessed with three children : Roy, Ralph and Lillie.

William Scharbillig, a retired citizen of Rice Lake, of many estimable and excellent qualities, is a solid respected member of the community, and enjoys a most excellent reputation among all who know him. He has lived in this county forty years and has seen it develop from a lumbering region into a well ordered dairy country. He was born in Germany Oct. 27, 1850, son of Nickolas and Eva (Kline) Scharbillig, both of whom died in that country, the father in 1883, and the mother some years later. In the family there were nine children: Joseph (first), Kate, William, Margaret, Joseph (second), Catherine, John, Susan and Peter. William received his education in the pub- lic schools of Germany and as a young man spent the three years in the army then required of all German youths. He came to America in 1881 and located at Rice Lake, where he worked out for others until 1886. In that year he bought five acres within the city limits, to which he added until he had his present 22 acres. For several years while developing this place he farmed for others and worked in the lumber woods. All the land when he purchased it was wild. He broke and improved it, erected at first a small house, and later his present sightly residence and suitable outbuildings, and continued farming for many years. He is now practically retired, and rents his land. Mr. Scharbillig was married April 1, 1886, to Barbara Beyrar, who was born in Wittenburg, Germany, May 21, 1864. Mr. and Mrs. Scharbillig have had four children: Martha, who was born Jan. 8, 1892, died in January, 1912; Mary, who was born March 18, 1893, died in September of the same year. William, who was born Oct 8, 1896, is engaged in railroad bridge work in Washington State. Annie, who was born June 18, 1898, resides at home. Mr. Scharbillig is a member of St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church and she of the German Lutheran Church. Mrs. Scharbillig is the daughter of Gotfried and Barbara (Greter) Beyrar, natives of Germany, who came to America in 1882.

Thomas Nelson, early settler of Chetek Township, now living in respected retirement in Chetek Village, was born in Norway Nov. 14, 1840, of a long line of seafaring folk, and early became a sailor. Finally he gave up the sea and located at Grand Rapids (now Wisconsin Rapids), Wis. There in 1875 he married Sarah Martinson, who was born in Norway Feb. 9, 1840, came to America as a young woman, and died in Chetek Township, this county, Feb. 21, 1917. Mr. Nelson brought his wife to Barron County in 1877 and located in Chetek Township, three miles west of the present village. The land was all wild, and he had little to work with but his hands. He erected a log cabin, started to clear up the land, and the first few years managed to get along as best he could. As the country developed he built a good set of buildings and cultivated a good farm. After his wife's death he retired and moved to the village.

William Ferdinand Liesner, an industrious farmer of section 26, west, Chetek Township, was born in Germany Aug. 24, 1878, the only son of Herman and Louisa (Albright) Liesner. The father died when Herman was but four years old, and he was brought to the United States in the spring of 1885 by his mother and grandparents. They remained at Elmira, New York, until that fall, and then came to Barron County, where Mr. Albright secured a home- stead of eighty acres of wild land, a mile and a half south of Cameron. Here he built a log cabin and started farming with an ox team. He there continued farming until his death at the age of seventy-nine. Mrs. Albright is now eighty-three. Mrs. Liesner, who was born Oct. 18, 1859, remarried, and she and her husband, Herman Theler, now live in Chetek. The subject of this sketch was reared in this county and started out for himself at the age of sixteen. For some years he was a railroad section man with headquarters at Weyerhauser, in Rusk County. Then for two years he farmed in Sumner Town- ship, this county, where he developed and improved a good farm. Next he became a railroad section man once more, this time with headquarters at

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Turtle Lake. In 1912 he secured his present farm. Here, while successfully carrying on general farming, he has made some notable improvements, until he now has one of the best developed places in the neighborhood. He re- modeled the house, put up a barn, 32 by 46 feet, a swine house, a silo, a ma- chine shed, a car shed and other buildings, fenced some of the land, and pur- chased a good supply of tools, implements and machinery. Mr. Liesner was married to Marie Nelson, who was born in Chetek Township July 1, 1882, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Martinson) Nelson. This union has been blessed with five children: Esther, Gertrude, Ruth, Frederick and Arthur.

Edward Berschneider, living in Haugen, and owning 40 acres in section 17, Oak Grove Township, which he purchased in 1917, was born in Dodge County, Wis., Jan. 30, 1888, son of Herman and Ida Berschneider. Herman Berschneider was born in Germany, came to America as a young man, settled in Dodge County, Wis., worked there as a farmer and cheesemaker, and in 1911 came to Barron County, and with his son, Edward, purchased 120 acres in section 19, Oak Grove Township, where he lived until his death March 21, 1912, since which time his wife, a native of Wisconsin, has lived in Rice Lake. Edward was educated in Dodge County and did general farm work as a young man. Upon purchasing the half interest in the 120 acre farm in Oak Grove Township, with his father, he started its development. He repaired the build- ings, cleared 40 acres, and there carried on general farming and dairying until 1917, when failing health caused him to sell out. Since then he has been variously employed at carpenter work and as a section man on the railroad. Mr. Berschneider was married June 10, 1914, to Mrs. Anna Heinze Walter, born in Vernon County, this state, June 6, 1882, the daughter of Frank and Anna (Puhl) Heinze. Mr. and Mrs. Walter had two children: Hermina, born Oct. 10, 1901; and Louisa, born March 26, 1903. Mr. and Mrs. Berschneider have three children : Wallace and Walter (twins), born Aug. 4, 1917; and Roy, born Feb. 19, 1920. The family faith is that of the English Lutheran Church.

James Lester Carey, the prosperous owner of the flourishing Oak Grove Farm, section 5, east, Dovre Township, was born on the place where he now lives, April 19, 1888. He attended the district school and was reared to farm pursuits by his father. In 1914 he purchased 63 acres of the home place, and in 1920 he added 100 acres more, making a fine place of a little more than a quarter of a section. As a native of the township, and a substantial property owner, he is vitally interested in its growth and progress, and from boyhood up, has taken a firm stand for everything that he has believed to be for the best interests of the community. He is a believer in education, and has done good service on the school board. He is a deep student of scientific farming, carries on general agricultural operations and dairying, and makes a specialty of good horses, Jersey cattle and Poland China swine. Mr. Carey married Bessie May Scofield, a native of Augusta, Wis., and they have two daughters.

William Richert, substantial farmer of section 18, Stanley Township, was born in Germany Oct. 2, 1872, the son of August and Augusta (Paul) Richert. In the family there were four sons, Charles, August, Gustave and William, all of whom came to the United States. William received his early education in the public schools in Germany. He came to the United States at the age of seventeen and took up farming near Watertown, Wis. After his marriage in 1898 he went to Lake Mills, in Jefferson County, this state, and became a clerk in a hardware store there. Then he went to Washington County and farmed for three years. He came to Barron County in 1912 and rented a farm of 240 acres in Oak Grove Township. This farm was improved but the build- ings were not in the best of condition. Mr. Richert farmed there five years and in 1920 bought his present place of 80 acres in section 18, Stanley Town- ship. This is a well improved farm in every respect and has one of the most complete barns in Barron County, built in 1920. It measures 38 by 70 feet, with full cement floor, is equipped with the latest modern steel stanchions, and with running water for each cow, and also in the bull and calf pens. The

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silo is built in the barn, where it is safe from heavy winds and is convenient at feeding time. Mr. Richert's milk room is thoroughly sanitary, and equipped with separator, gas engine and running water. His water tank or reservoir is upstairs, and is filled by means of a pump worked by an engine. When the tank is full the overflow pipe takes the water to a cement tank in the milk room below, and when that becomes full another overflow pipe takes it from there to the large tank outside. Over the stock his barn is ceiled with fine ceiling lumber, thus preventing dirt and dust from collecting on the stock, and at the same time giving warmth and comfort in winter time. The ventilating system is one of the most important features of the barn. Mr. Richert is a public spirited man interested in public affairs, and while renting the farm in Oak Grove Township, served on the town board. He was married Oct. 11, 1898, to Johanna Meyer, who was born in Germany May 11, 1879, the daughter of Julius and Wilhelmina (Babst) Meyer. In the Meyer family there were seven children: Gusta, Anna, Charles, Fred, Herman (deceased), Ida and Johanna. Gusta was the first to come to the United States. Then came the parents and Johanna, Fred, Ida and Herman. Carl came the next year and then Anna, thus completing the family circle. Mr. and Mrs. Richert have nine children: Arnold, Elsie, Ella, William, Lester, Hilda, Hazel and Norma. Elsie, who married Richard Kearney, lives in Oak Grove Township. Ella is the wife of Victor Benson, a farmer in Stanley Township. The others are re- siding at home.

Otto J. Manstad, a capable and respected citizen of Section 12, Barron Township, was born in Norway, Feb. 2, 1858, the son of Gilbert and Helena Manstad, who were born, lived and died in Norway, he being a veterinary sur- geon by profession. Otto J. was the oldest of eight children. He was edu- cated in his native land, and as a youth became a sailor, following the sea for ten years. In 1884 he came to America, and located in Sumner Township, this county. For several years he farmed and did carpenter work. In 1891 he purchased 80 acres of wild land in Section 12, Barron Township. He erected a log house, started clearing the land, and for a time lived alone. Then he brought his wife to the place, and they started to establish their fortunes. In the years that have passed since then, he has cleared up the land and developed a good place. At first he had but little to do with. Grain was harvested with a cradle. It was two years before he got his first cow. The wife spent her spare time in spinning and weaving, making knitted socks, mittens and jack- ets from the yarn she spun, and fine dresses and table clothes from the linen she wove. In 1907, Mr. Manstad built an eleven-room frame house, two stories high, and in 1913 he built a barn, 36 by 82 feet in dimensions, with a full base- ment, and with a silo in the barn. The place is now as good as any that can be found in the neighborhood. Mr. Manstad carries on general farming, and raises Durham and Guernsey cattle. He is a stockholder in the Farmers' Store at Rice Lake. He served three years as town treasurer and four years as town clerk, and for eleven years was school clerk. Mr. Manstad was married May 3, 1897, in the log house on his farm, to Julia Banden, who was born in Nor- way, Sept. 17, 1866, and came to America with her brother, Martin, about 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Manstad have one son, in whom they take just pride. This son, Helmer O., by name, was born on the home place, March 6, 1899. He attended the schools of his neighborhood, went through the Rice Lake High School, and took a year's course in the Hunt Business College at Eau Claire, Wis. He is now chief clerk in the office of the "Omaha" line, at Altoona, in Eau Claire County, this state.

N. S. Gordon, newspaper man and agriculturist, editor of the Barron County News-Shield for the past eighteen years, and engaged in newspaper work in Minnesota and Wisconsin for forty-eight years, was born at Richland Center, Wis., March 3, 1859, the oldest son of William and Mary Malvina (Fran- cis) Gordon. At the age of six years he moved with his parents to Janesville, Minn., where he lived on a farm, and attended school during the winter months

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MR. AND MRS. OTTO J. MANSTAD AND SON HELMER

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until fifteen years old. He then became a clerk in the postoffice at Janesville, serving as clerk and assistant for six years. The postmaster, C. E. Graham, was also publisher of the local paper, the Janesville Argus, and this is where as a young man he began his journalistic career. He went with Mr. Graham to Waseca and served for five years as foreman and printer on the Waseca Radi- cal. In March, 1885, in company with S. S. Washburn, he went to Austin, Minn., and bought the Mower County Transcript. In the fall of 1889 he bought the interest of his partner. From 1895 to 1898 the Rev. C. D. Belden was associated with him in the publication of the Transcript. In November, 1898, Mr. Gordon went to Crookston, Minn., and bought the Polk County Journal and in 1900 established the Crookston Daily Journal and published a daily and weekly paper until December, 1903. In July, 1904, he came to Barron and bought the Barron County News and he is still the editor and publisher of that paper, having consolidated it with Barron County Shield under the present name of the Barron County News-Shield. With the exception of seven months, he has been engaged in newspaper work for forty-eight years. Reared as a farm boy, Mr. Gordon has maintained a life-long interest in agriculture, especially, in dairy- ing. When he was in Austin, Minn., he had a few acres of land, and kept a few cows for the purpose of studying dairying. In this work he became associated with such men as Prof. Thomas Haecker, O. C. Gregg, Dr. Curryer and others, and with the State Dairyman's Association, of Minnesota. He was one of the very first to weigh milk and use the Babcock test for production. For six year he was a member of the Board of Control of the Minnesota State Agricul- tural Society which has charge of the annual State Fair. He was actively iden- tified with the beginnings of several of the modern movements in agriculture in Barron County, notably in the Guernsey Breeders' Associations and in the Cow Testing work. He helped to organize and acted as secretary-treasurer of the first cow testing association in the county. His intimate knowledge of agriculture has enabled him to do the editorial work which has been such an important factor in the agricultural development of the county. August 26, 1889, Mr. Gordon was married to Fannie K. Ricketson at Peru, N. Y. To them have been born six children: John Everett, June 18, 1890; Eva Lucretia, June 24, 1891; Morris E., Nov. 3, 1893; Anne Elizabeth, March 16, 1899; Ruth Mary, Nov. 18, 1902; Grace Elizabeth, Feb. 8, 1905. The first four are graduates of the Barron High School. Later, Everett graduated from the University of Chicago, receiving the degree of Ph. D. in June, 1921. He is now professor of Bacteriology at the Western University Medical School, London, Canada. Eva graduated from the Milwaukee Normal School in 1912, has taught school for ten years, and is now teaching in Minneapolis. Anne graduated from the Uni- versity of Minnesota with the degree of B. A. in June, 1921, and is now teach- ing at Tougaloo College in Mississippi. Morris and Ruth began their Senior year at the University of Minnesota this year and Grace will graduate from the Central Park High School in Minneapolis.

Clark C. Post, M.D., for nearly three decades one of the best known medical and surgical practitioners of Barron County, and one of the founders and active heads of the Barron County Hospital, at Barron, is one of the substantial, solid citizens of this vicinity, and has the added distinction of having served his country with the rank of captain during the World War. He was born in Chi- cago, Ill., March 1, 1867, the son of Dr. George W. and Mary (Crandall) Post, both descended from old New York families. The parents came west in the sixties, and the father practiced for many years in Appleton, Wis., and Chi- cago, Ill. Reared in an atmosphere of refinement, Clark C. passed through the schools of Chicago, and then returned to his parents' state, and in 1890 was graduated from the Alfred University, in New York, with the bachelor's de- gree in science. Then determined to follow in his honored father's footsteps, he entered the Chicago College of Physicians and Surgeons, now one of the colleges of the Illinois State University, and was graduated in 1893. That year he came to Barron, and opened an office. In 1901, he took his brother-in-law,

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Harry M. Coleman, M. D., as a partner, and together they established the Bar- ron County Hospital. In 1920 they purchased the Jerome Coe property on La Salle street, and fitted it up as a modern hospital, with 20 beds, equipped for all medical and surgical work. The partners also have a large city and coun- try practice, and are alive to every good interest of the city and county. In ad- dition to his regular and hospital practice, Dr. Post is surgeon for the "Soo" line, a position he has occupied since 1895. His financial interests include stock in the First National Bank of Barron, the State Bank of Hillsdale, and other leading enterprises of the county. Dr. Post takes a deep .interest likewise in the agricultural development of the county, he has taken his share in the prog- ress of the dairy interests here, and takes his recreation on a fine dairy farm of which he is the owner and where he is putting into practice many of his excellent theories of stock breeding. When the World War broke out, he of- fered his services to his country in April, 1917, and in July of that year was commissioned captain. He served on the Camp Hospital Staff at Camp A. A. Humphrey, Washington, D. C., and was honorably discharged in January, 1919. To keep alive his war interests he has joined the Ben Brown Post, of the Amer- ican Legion. Dr. Post was married July 12, 1899, to Jessie Post, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dewitt Post, of Barron. She was born June 9, 1877, at Avica, Wis. Dr. Post was one of three children, the two older being George W., a Chicago physician, and Charles M., formerly a physician, now deceased.

Clinton D. Coe, Barron pioneer and banker, who, with his brother, J. F. Coe, were the first to incorporate the C. D. and J. F. Coe Bank in 1885, remained its most efficient cashier until his death, February 8, 1894, nine years later. In 1887, the bank was reorganized as Bank of Barron, as such it has remained until the present time, its stockholders and officers, with one exception, all being Barron men of honesty and strong integrity. C. D. Coe was a friend to every- one, and greatly beloved by all who knew him. He was a man of strong char- acter, possessing a rich fund of humor, generous to a fault, to anger un- known, but he was intolerant of an oppressor of the weak. He was a Pres- byterian but later this church was merged into the Methodist, which he at- tended, giving his loyal support in both time and money. He was very public- spirited and helped in all enterprises to promote the welfare of Barron. He was elected the city's second mayor in 1889. He obtained a business educa- tion in Chicago, and the early years of his life were spent in northern Illinois in the vicinity of Palmyra, the Coe family coming from Rush, New York, in 1831, and settled in Whiteside County where they spent their lives in agricul- tural pursuits. Coming from old English stock, they date their ancestry back to 1342. The Coe forefathers, who came to this country, were all patriots and during the Revolutionary War, they pledged their allegiance to the cause of liberty. In Dec. 24, 1872, Clinton Coe married Alice Hagerman of Woosung, Ill. Mrs. Coe was a woman of charming personality, and a wonderful mother to her three children, who still survive. She did a great deal of good in the com- munity and her home was a mecca to rich and poor alike, especially to the ministers who were real missionaries in those pioneer days. She died at the early age of forty. Mr. and Mrs. Coe reared two daughters and a son. Aurora M. is the wife of C. J. Borum, president of the Bank of Barron. Mabel E. is the wife of D. F. Jones, pharmacist and chemist in Watertown, S. D. Clinton H. Coe is a business man in Great Falls, Mont., having served his country as a sergeant in the World War.

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History of Barron County Wisconsin, Part 163

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1767

Author: Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge
Publication date: 1922
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1767