USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Biographical and Genealogical > Part 79
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765
BIOGRAPHICAL.
Lucius Fairchild Post, No. 17, Grand Army of the Republic, and has completed the circle of York Rite Masonry. being affiliated with the Commandery of Knights Templar at Decorah, Iowa, while his other Masonic affiliations are with local bodies. . On September 1, 1862, Mr. Rowley was united in marriage to Miss Julia M. Brooks, who was born and reared in Madison, being a daughter of one of its honored pioneer citizens, Abiel E. Brooks, who here maintained his home for more than two score years. his death occurring in July, 1891, at the patriarchal age of ninety-one years. He was one of the prominent and influential citizens of Madison, and was the proprietor of Brooks' addition to the city, one of the most important ever platted and one that is represented in highly increased valuations. Mr. Brooks was a valued member of the board of aldermen and his influence was exerted in a helpful way in promoting the varied interests of the city which was so long his home. He was born in 1800, in Rhode Island, whence he removed to the state of New York, in its early stages of development, being prominently identified with the building of differ- ent government works, and finally becoming a contractor in connec- tion with the construction if a canal in Canada. Later he became one of the prominent pioneers of Niles, Michigan, whence he came to Mad- ison in 1847. Two years later he here organized a company. of which he was made captain, and made the venturesome overland trip to the newly discovered gold fields of California, where he remained about three years, meeting with fair success in his mining operations, and returning by the Isthmus of Panama, across the Gulf of Mexico and up the Mississippi river and then onward to his destination in Madi- son, where he made judicious investments in real estate, through whose appreciation in value he gained a fortune. Mr. Rowley is the father of three children all living-Leslie B. Rowley, an attorney and real estate broker of Madison, Eugene C. Rowley, an agriculturalist of Virginia, and Grace M. Miller, residing in Milwaukee. Mr. Row- ley has fourteen grandchildren, nine boys and five girls, seven of the grandsons .- the sons of L. B. Rowley-being named for their an- cestors in the direct lineal line back to the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth.
Edwin M. Rublee, a prominent builder and contractor of De For- est, Wis., is a native of Albion, Dane county, Wis., of Norwegian or- igin. Knudt Rublee, who came to Manitowoc county, Wis., with his family. after the death of his wife in Norway, was the first represen- tative of the family in Wisconsin. Even K. Rublee, his son, came to Albion, Dane county, in 1848, married Miss Bergit Olson, also a na- tive of Norway, and spent the remainder of his life in Albion, where
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he owned a farm. He was a Republican, but not active in political matters. Ten children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Rublee, of whom eight are living. The family attended the United Lutheran church of Stoughton, Wis. Edwin M., their son, was born April 27, 1866, at- tended the district school and the Norwegian school at Albion and worked for some time upon the farm. The young man decided to be- come a carpenter and accordingly learned that trade. In 1895, he came to De Forest and has carried on an extensive building business. He is also a manufacturer of sash, doors, tanks, etc., and does general mill work. He has built up a large and prosperous business. Since the incorporation of the village of De Forest he has been a member of the village council and is a member of the Republican party. November 28, 1897, he married Miss Maria Nordahl, who was born in Norway, daughter of N. Nordahl, and three children have blessed the marriage; Emery T., Myrtle R., and Esther B. The family attends the Norway Grove Lutheran church.
Henry Rueter is one of the successful representatives of the agri- cultural industry in Blooming Grove township. He was born in the province of Hartum, Germany, December 6, 1871, and is a son of Frederick and Mary (Schutte) Rueter, who still maintain their home in Germany. The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in his native land, where he learned the trade of cigarmaking, which he there followed as a vocation until the year 1889, when he immigrated to America, believing that better opportunities were afforded in the United States. When he left home his father gave him money with which to pay his passage and two dollars additional, this being his en- tire financial reinforcement. He arrived in New York city March 18, of the year mentioned, and had the entire sum in his possession, hav- ing worked his passage and thus retained his little patrimony. Mr. Reuter soon made his way to Wisconsin, and here he was employed as a farm hand for the ensinug eleven years. At the expiration of this period, on November 5, 1900, he was united in marriage to Mrs. Sophia Swibbie, widow of Frederick Swibbie and a daughter of Carl and Mary (Brandt) Knickimer, of Blooming Grove township, Dane county. Since his marriage he has had the management of the farm which was owned by his wife at the time of their union. Their only child. Emma Marie, born July 25, 1901, died in infancy. Mrs. Rueter had three children by her first marriage, and two of the number are living. the third having died in infancy: Marie Gertrude Hazel was born April 1, 1895, and Carl Henry August was born June 7, 1897.
MR. AND MRS. CHRISTIAN O. RUSTE.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
Mr. Rueter is a Republican in politics and was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church, of which his wife is a member.
Louis C. Russ, one of its native citizens, carries one of the largest furniture and undertaking business at Middleton, Wis He is of German parentage. His father, Louis Russ, and his mother, néc Margaret Knopp, were born in Whitteburg, Germany. Louis Russ was driver of the stage between Heidelberg and Mannheim for ten years and came to America on a sailing vessel in 1854. For some years he lived at College Point, L. I., where he married and decided to come west with his wife. Accordingly in 1854 they made the long journey to Wisconsin and secured a farm of forty acres of wild land in Dane county, which they proceeded to clear. Since then more land has been added from time to time until a nice farm of one hundred and eighty-four acres represents the fruits of their industry. Mrs. Russ makes her home in Middleton, her husband having died in 1886. Of their four children, three are living, the youngest daughter at home. Louis C. is the oldest son and was born October 11, 1868, and educated in the home schools. He car- ried on the work of the farm until 1898 when he moved to the vil- lage of Middleton and commenced his present business which has been successful under his able management. His integrity and business ability have made him a prominent and respected citizen, whose judgment is of value in a number of corporations : notably, the bank of Middleton, of which he is a stockholder and director ; the Farmers' Union Telephone Company, of which he was treas- urer, and the German Lutheran church, of which he is also treas- urer. In political sympathies Mr. Russ is a Republican. October 6, 1898. he married Miss Caroline Durkopp, daughter of John and Mary Durkopp of Mecklenburg Schwerin. One daughter, Mabel, and one son, Florian, complete the family circle.
Christian O. Ruste is another of the young farmers of Dane county who wisely concluded that it would be to his advantage to remain in the locality of his birth and devote his energies and intel- ligence to the basic industry of agriculture. He was born on the farm where he now resides, in the town of Blue Mounds, Septem- ber 29, 1866. and is the son of Ole Arneson Ruste and Anne (Slimsa) Ruste, both of whom were natives of Norway. The parents were married in 1850, and about the same time emigrated to America. The father was a school teacher in his native country and followed that occupation to some extent after his arrival in America. The parents settled on the farm where their son now resides, in section 30. Blue Mounds township, purchasing the greater part of the land
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
from the general government, and the subject of this review has some of the original deeds which were signed by President Pierce. The farm now contains three hundred and fifty acres. The father served as justice of the peace of Blue Mounds for thirty years con- tinuously, and he also served as assessor and in other local offices. He was the chief promoter in forming a school district in Blue Mounds in 1854, and served as an officer on the school board from that date until within a few years of his death, which occurred on May 30, 1903. He was one of the founders of the Perry Lutheran church and a member of its congregation all the remainder of his life, contributing liberally to its support. The mother is living and she makes her home with the subject of this review. Of the ten children born to these honored parents, six are living. Their names and other facts concerning them are given as follows : Anton is deceased : Inger married T. Arneson and resides in Barne- veld, Wis .; Erick has resided in South Dakota for the past twenty years ; Allen is a merchant in Charles City, Iowa; Sarah is the widow of Rev. Mr. Syftestad, and resides in the city of Madison ; Christian O. is the subject of this review ; and Anna married Martin Skindrud and resides in Klevenville, Dane county. The subject of this review was reared in the town of Blue Mounds and received his primary education in the public schools, after which he took a course in the agricultural college of the University of Wisconsin, and was graduated with the class of 1896. He is an enthusiastic member of the Wisconsin horticultural society and was president of the short course alumni for a number of years. After gradua- tion he commenced his independent career as a farmer and has fol- lowed that noble occupation during the decade that has intervened. Aside from his general farming interests, which are large, he is one of the most extensive breeders of Holstein cattle in Dane county, and has met with gratifying success in every branch of what is called the agricultural industry and its allied lines. Mr. Ruste was married on January 27, 1887, to Miss Betsy Anderson, who was born in Iowa county, the daughter of Ole and Guri (Flogum) Anderson, both of whom are now deceased. They settled in Iowa county in 1852, and the father died in 1898 at the age of seventy- three, and the mother passed away on January 5, 1900, aged seventy- five. During the last twelve years of their lives they had lived in retirement in the village of Blue Mounds. Mr. and Mrs. Ruste are the parents of seven children : Edwin, Olin, George. Anton, Anna, Viola, and Luella. the two eldest being at present in school at Northfield, Minn. Our subject is a member of the Modern Wood-
4
RICHARD V. SAGER.
769
BIOGRAPHICAL.
men of America, and both he and his wife are members of the Royal Neighbors and the Equitable Fraternal Union. At this writing Mr. Ruste is chairman of the town board of Blue Mounds, and he has held office continuously since he was twenty-two years of age, serving at different times as town clerk, supervisor, and justice of the peace. His religious faith is expressed by membership in the Lutheran church.
John J. Rutlin, a prominent farmer of Sun Prairie, Wis., is a son of James and Julia Rutlin, both of whom were natives of Norway, where they married, coming to America in 1847, and settling on a farm in Christiana township where John J. Rutlin was born, May 20, 1861. He was one of eight children and has two brothers living. His father was a strong Republican and member of the Lutheran church. He received his education in the common schools of Christiana township and in 1879 was graduated from the Northwestern Business College at Madison. Immediately following his graduation he was employed as a clerk in a general store at Madison for seven years, after which for several years he was engaged in the tobacco business at Deerfield, being associated with a brother and cousin. He was then employed on the farm of his parents until March 13, 1894, when he bought a farm of eighty acres in Bristol. He is now engaged in raising to- bacco, and in addition does both general and stock farming. He has always been a member of the Republican party and for three years served as town clerk. He was also elected town treasurer for two years and side supervisor for one year. During the six years of public service he won the confidence of the voters of his district. He and his family are members of the Lutheran church. On March 6, 1884, he was married to Anna Matilda Swan, who was born in Christiana in 1862, the daughter of Andrew and Julia (Gilderhouse) Swan, both of whom came to this country in 1843 from Norway. She was one of a family of three sons and two daughters. Her father was a Repub- lican in politics and in religion a Lutheran. Mr. and Mrs. Rutlin have had eight children: Julia Jensina. Amanda Gustava. Joseph Irving, Adelia Josephina, Winfred Melvin, Mabel Jerona, Otto Mon- roe (deceased), and Sanford Monroe.
Richard V. Sager, a retired farmer of the town of Cottage Grove, was born in Orleans county, N. Y .. November 28, 1835. His parents were David and Caroline ( Pangborn) Sager, the former a native of Niagara county. N. Y., and the latter of Germany. In 1849 David Sager brought his family to Wisconsin. His first home was in Janes- ville, which at that time consisted of one small store a blacksmith
49-iii
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
shop, a log hotel and a saloon. He had left all his household goods at Kenosha, then called Southport. After a year's stay in Janesville he pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Liberty Prairie in Dane county. Here he built a rude but comfortable home and during the first year of his residence assisted in the building of a log church where the few settlers of the region gathered for worship and friendly discourse. It happened that at one of the regular meetings a stranger attended. He laid his hat on a desk next to where David Sager wa- sitting, who noticed a paper tucked in the lining. Further examina tion revealed the fact that it contained the description of his own claim. He immediately left the meeting and informed his family that he was going to Milwaukee to head off a claim jumper. The trip was made on foot, and not any too quickly, for Mr. Sager had no more than completed his transaction before the claim jumper arrived with a team. The money he raised to pay the necessary remittance was loaned at twenty-five percent interest for five years. After a resi- dence of about two years on Liberty Prairie the family found them- selves in such straightened circumstances that it was necessary for the son, who had been sent to the postoffice to mail an important letter, to ask credit for the stamp. The postmaster refused to give it, but ill- formed the lad that he could work out the necessary amount. Know- ing the necessity of having the letter sent, the boy agreed to the pro- posal. and all day long he labored with a hoe in the postmaster's garden. The family's arrival was just at the time when the wheat was being grown so extensively throughout the county. The first crop David Sager planted was put in with a wooden-tooth drag. When the time for threshing came a place was selected on the prairie, the grass was cut short, and the oxen were driven around it until the grain was separated from the straw. To clean it two forked posts were placed upright in the ground and across the top another post was laid, the top being about eight feet from the ground. When a good breeze was blowing, Mr. Sager would climb to the top of his impro- vised cleaner and drop the grain by handfuls into a blanket beneath, allowing the wind to take away the chaff. During the residence on Liberty Prairie as many as thirteen families occupied the rude shanty at one time. The Sager family spent ten years on Liberty Prairie, the first five on the original one hundred and sixty acres and the rest on an eighty acre farm adjoining. After selling these two places they moved onto the farm in the town of Cottage Grove which Richard V. Sager now occupies. Caroline, wife of David Sager died March 25. 1867 and David Sager died May 23, 1894.
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
Richard V. Sager received a very limited education in the district schools. He started life early as a farmer, living with his parents un- til their death, and then continuing to manage the farm in his own be- half. On October 15, 1860, he married Nancy Ann Nichols, a daugh- ter of Benjamin and Nancy Ann (Thompson) Nichols, a native of New York, where she was born December 14, 1837. To this union were born five children,-Charles H., November 24.º 1863, married Ella Wheeler of Iowa, and lives on a farm adjoining the homestead ; Cora Belle, April 9, 1869, lives at home ; Herbert B., June 12, 1874. at home ; Estella Evelyn, February 5, 1877, the wife of William Patter- son of Stoughton ; and Dora May, December 20, 1880, now the wife of A. H. Hoffman of Pleasant Springs. From time to time Mr. Sager added to the farm until it contained two hundred and fifty-nine acres, one acre being cut out for the cemetery, and worked it actively himself until the death of his wife, which occurred December 28, 1889, when he deeded eighty acres to a son, who has s'nce managed it. After three years Mr. Sager was united in marriage to the widowed sister of his first wife. For a number of years he has been practically re- tired, leaving the general management of the place to his sons while he oversees the details. Politically he is a Republican. and while he has often been urged to become a candidate for office he has steadfastly re- fused. preferring to exercise his right of franchise without the en- barassment which the incumbency of an office would naturally impose upon him. In religious matters he is affiliated with the Presbyterian church. Mr. Sager is wonderfully well-preserved, and his many hard- ships and deprivations seemed rather to have added to his remarkable physique than taken from it. He is of a pleasing, kindly disposition, a tra't which all of his children seem to have inherited. Socially he is one of the leaders of the town of Cottage Grove.
Erick L. Sampson is a well-known farmer of Vienna township and was the owner of the first threshing machinery in that section of the county. Lars Sampson, his father, was an early settler of Vienna, where he arrived in 1847. Mrs. Lars Sampson, who was Miss Susan Farness, came to Vienna with Lars Sampson's family and here married Mr. Sampson. Six children blessed the marriage, of whom but two are living, a daughter, wife of T. T. Erickson, and their son, Erick. Lars Sampson owned a large property in Vienna, a farm of four hundred acres, all of the improvements having been made by himself, and for many years carried on an extensive business. He was a Republican but not an office-holder. Mr. and Mrs. Sampson on the old homestead, now managed by her son, Erick; her husband joined the Lutheran Evangelical church. Mrs. Sampson still lives
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
died in March, 1879, eighty-two years of age. Their son, Erick L., was born in the farm on Vienna, September 20, 1858, was educated at the Wisconsin school for the deaf at Delavan, Wis., and the Gallauet college at Kendall Green, Washington, D. C. A farm of fifty-four and one-half acres is owned by him and he manages the farm belong- ing to his mother. For sixteen years he operated a thresher and owned a complete equipment of stacker, grain weigher, band cutter, self feeder, engine tender, clover huller, etc. Mr. Sampson is allied with the Republican party but is not an active politician. His marriage to Miss Nettie Molster occurred October 4, 1883, and four children have been borne to them: Josie R., Lawrence, now deceased, Erick and Edna. Mrs. Sampson is the daughter of Levi and Willa (Grenwis) Molster, and was born in Merton, Waukesha county, January 26, 1859. Her father was born in Phoenixville, Pa., in 1832, and her mother was a native of Holland. They were married in Merton, Wis., and had a family of ten children, of whom eight are now living. Their children were reared in the Baptist faith, but Mrs. Sampson's family belonged to the Lutheran Evangelical church. Mr. Molster was a farmer in Waukesha county and associated with the Repub- lican party.
Arthur L. Sanborn, judge of the western district Federal court of Wisconsin, was born November 17, 1850, in Brasher Falls, a little village on the St. Regis river in the northern part of St. Lawrence county, N. Y. When he was nine years of age he came with his family to Wisconsin, and Lake Geneva, Walworth county, was selected as their home, and there his boyhood was spent and his early education received. When he was nineteen years of age he removed to Elkhorn, the county seat, and there began his study of the law, which later was continued in the law school of the University of Wisconsin. He began the practice of law in Elkhorn and remained there until 1879, holding for four years of that time-from January. 1875, to Jan- uary 1879,-the position of register of deeds for Walworth county. In 1879 he came to Madison and the following year formed a partner- ship with Hon. S. U. Pinney, one of the early comers of Dane county, and a man of wide influence in the city and the state. This partner- ship under the name of Pinney & Sanborn lasted until the election of the senior member to the supreme bench in 1892. He later formed a partnership with John L. Spooner, and then with Messrs. Luse and Powell, under the firm name of Sanborn, Luse & Powell, which ex- isted until his appointment to the bench in 1905. Beside his general practice as an attorney Judge Sanborn has held various positions of
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BIOGRAPHICAL.
trust and responsibility; from 1884 to 1887 he was a member of the faculty of the law school of the University of Wisconsin; from 1893 to 1900 he was a member of the board of examiners for admission to the bar; for several years he was a member of the Madison police and fire commission; in 1898 he was placed on the commission to revise `the statutes and was joint editor in that work ; he was also a member of the commission on uniform legislation. Judge Sanborn was mar- ried in Elkhorn, October 15, 1874, to Miss Alice E. Golder, a native of Onondaga county, New York, and four children have been born to them: John Bell, Eugene. H., Katherine W., and Philip G. John B. Sanborn followed his father in the choice of a profession and is one of the most promising of the younger attorneys. He was graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1896, with the degree of B. L., received his M. L. in 1897, and his Ph. D. in 1899. He spent one year as an instructor in American history at the University of Ohio and in Sep- tember, 1901, became a partner in the law firm of which his father was the senior partner, and another office was opened in West Su- perior. Upon the retirement of Judge Romanzo Bunn from the Fed- eral court in January, 1905, Mr. Sanborn was appointed by President Roosevelt to succeed him. The following extract from the Milwaukee Sentinel fairly expresses the attitude of the public upon the appoint- ment: "Through the appointment of Mr. Sanborn the district bench will receive a valuable and conscientious accession. He is a man of highly recognized legal ability, with a standing before bench and bar that will make his appointment most satisfactory. Senators Spooner and Quarles, in recommending Mr. Sanborn as Judge Bunn's suc- cessor. have closely followed the undoubted preferences of the great majority of the members of the Wisconsin bar, and his selection will prove satisfactory to the general public as well." Judge Sanborn has no superior, possibly no equal, on the bench of Wisconsin in his knowledge of law ; this qualification, coupled his keen analytical mind and fair and impartial judgment, make him a man well fitted for his position and a worthy successor to the eminent judges who have pre- ceded him on the Federal bench.
Ernest A. Sanders, a successful merchant of Marshall. is of Swe- dish parentage. His father. John F. Sanders, was born in Sweden, October 16, 1832. as was also his mother. Emily A. (Helmer) Unger Sanders, and his paternal grandfather. Carl Sanders. The parents came to Milwaukee in 1856, the following year they went to Iowa, but in 1859 returned to Wisconsin and settled in Marshall, where they have since resided. In Marshall Mr. Sanders began
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HISTORY OF DANE COUNTY.
working at his trade, that of a shoemaker, which he follows at the present time, also running a shoe store in connection with his shop. In politics he is a Prohibitionist and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church; his wife, who died in 1888, was a Lutheran. They had four children: Ernest, the subject of this sketch; Fred; Conrad C .; Archibald. Mr. John F. Sanders enlisted as a private in Company C of the Eleventh Regiment, Wisconsin volunteer infantry, August, 1864, and served until mustered out at the close of the war, June, 1865. His son Ernest was educated at the Mar- shall academy, and began life as a clerk in the vilalge of Marshall where he was born August 5, 1859. He began his mercantile life at the early age of thirteen years. In 1881 he went in as a clerk for Samuel Blascoer, one of the oldest merchants of the village, and in 1885 began an independent business, which he has successfully followed, up to the present time, building, in 1898, the store which he occupies, a building 40x80 feet. Beside his mercantile business he is largely interested in farming, stock feeding, and poultry. He is a member of the Equitable Fraternal Union, the Modern Wood- men of America, and the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. and attends and supports both the Methodist Episcopal and Lutheran churches. He was united in marriage February 24. 1896, to Miss Harma B. McPherson, born in Marshall in 1868, daughter of Elijah and Margaret (Buchannan) McPherson, of Mar- shall. Their children are Arnie M .; Margaret Lucille; Gerald Ernest. Mrs. Sanders' parents came to Marshall in 1864, which has since been their residence. Mr. McPherson was born in Franklin county. N. Y., August 15, 1822, and his wife in Scotland, January 11, 1827 ; she came to Canada in 1840 and was married to Mr. McPherson in 1844. They have had nine children of whom seven are living. Mrs. Sanders' paternal grandparents were Moses and Sallie (Jackson) McPherson, both born in Vermont. They came to Wisconsin and both died in Peshtigo, Wis. Mr. McPher- son was a blacksmith and lived in Marshall for many years. Mrs. Sanders' maternal grandparents were Archibald and Christie (McCalpin) Buchannan, who lived and died in Scotland.
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