History of Dane County, Biographical and Genealogical, Part 99

Author: Keyes, Elisha W. (Elisha Williams), 1828-1910
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Madison, Wi. : Western Historical Association
Number of Pages: 998

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Charles E. Whelan, national lecturer for the Modern Woodmen of America, is a Dane county product. He was born August 26, 1862. His parents were Curtis E .. and Martha (Rowley) Whelan. Curtis E. Whelan came to Wisconsin in 1848. He was a black- smith by trade and followed this occupation until his retirement in 1895. He is now an honored resident of Mazomanie. For two generations preceding Curtis E. Whelan the male members of the family had been blacksmtihs, and on both sides were noted for their longevity. Curtis Whelan's grandparents lived to be ninety- four and ninety-eight years old, while his parents passed away at the ages of ninety-four and eighty-eight. Martha Whelan's father was Rev. Moses Rowley. a Baptist minister, who drove to Wiscon- sin from New York and was not only one of the oldest settlers of the state but one of the first Baptist ministers. He lived to be eighty-seven years of age. His wife was Lydia Barrell, a daugh- ter of Colburn Barrell, Jr., a Revolutionary soldier, as was his father, Colburn Barrell, Sr .. who died while a prisoner of the British forces on board a vessel near Quebec. Martha Rowley Whelan died April 24, 1905, at the age of eighty-six years. Both she and her husband were life long members of the Baptist church. The subject of this sketch was the youngest of their four children. The others were Alfretta L. (Mrs. Frank L. McCraken), deceased, Helen C., (Mrs. John McClure), lives in Gurnee, Ills .; C. Rowley, a locomotive engineer killed in a railway wreck, in 1888. Charles E. Whelan received his education in the Mazomanie high school and the law department of the University of Wisconsin. from which he was graduated in 1894. Previous to that time he had been a newspaper man in Madison for seven years. Imme-

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diately after graduation he began the practice of law in Madison and was actively engaged in it until he received his present ap- pointment in 1901, and for two years was assistant attorney-gen- eral of the state. His present occupation carries him from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, his lecturing being in thirty-seven of the forty-five states. It takes him just three years to complete the circuit of the states. For one term he served the city as mayor. being elected on the Republican ticket. Mr. Whelan stands high in fraternal circles. He is a thirty-second degree Mason, and Past- Grand Master of the State of Wisconsin, a member of the Knights of Pythias. the Modern Woodmen of America, the Independent Or- der of Foresters, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Knights of the Maccabees. Politically he is a stanch Republi- can and for ten years took the stump in behalf of the principles advocated by his party. On May 27, 1885 he married Bertie L., daughter of John and Jane (Grills) Wallis. Mr. Wallis died re- cently at the age of seventy-eight years, but Mrs. Wallis is still living and makes her home with Mr. Whelan. They are the par- ents of nine children, three of whom died in infancy. The others are Mary, widow of Thomas Grenfell, lives in California ; Nicholas, a Nebraska ranchman; John G., a traveling salesman who makes his home in Ames, Ia .; Anna. Mrs. John Hocking, lives in Eng- land: Bertie L., the wife of Charles E. Whelan; and Richard, who died recently in Lincoln, Neb. To Mr. and Mrs. Whelan have been born two children,-Letta H., a junior in the University of Wisconsin ; and Charles Elbert, Jr.

Charles H. White is a retired farmer of the town of Medina and a well known resident of Dane county. He is a native of county Kent, England, where he was born January 17, 1848. His parents, Charles and Susannah (Sedgwick) White, were natives of Kent and came to America in 1850, bringing with them their two-year old son, Charles H. For a short time they lived near Palmyra, N. Y. and then proceeded farther west, locating on a farm in the town of York, Dane county, Wis. Mrs. White died in York and for the past ten years Mr. White has resided in Portland, Dodge county, Wis. Six children were born to them, of whom five are living. Mr. White has always been identified with the Republican party and is a member of the Church of England. Charles H. White received his education in the Dane county schools and has always been a farmer. His farm con- sists of one hundred and sixty-five acres in the town of York in a fine state of cultivation and much of the work upon it has been done by Mr. White personally. He was formerly a Republican, like his father,

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but in recent years has been allied with the Prohibitionist movement. Mr. and Mrs. White belong to the Methodist Episcopal church and are prominent members of the organization. May 23, 1869, Charles H. White married Miss Mary A. Pearsall, who was born in Saratoga Springs, N. Y., September 4. 1851. Her parents, Thomas and Melissa (Swartwont) Pearsall, were natives of Saratoga county, N. Y., and came to the town of Medina, Dane county, in 1855. Mr. Pearsall died in 1871 and his wife in 1879. Seven children were born to them, of whom one son and one daughter are the only survivors. The mar- riage of Mr. and Mrs. White was blessed with ten children : Hattie A., William N., Lewis Charles, Cora M., Lillian M., Leona L., Fred. Grant, Fletcher, Edna Estella and Earl Victor. All but Fletcher are living and have been educated in the home schools.

Amos Parker Wilder .- (Sketch written by himself for his chil- dren.) I was born in Calais, Maine, February 15, 1862. My mother (born 1830) is a daughter of George M. Porter, who was a ship owner and lumberman of importance in the St. Croix Valley. Grandfather Porter lived to be ninety ; he was strong, kind, reli- gious, one of the best of men. His picture shows it. Father's mother was a Lincoln. She lived to be ninety-three. The Wild- ers were Baptists,-plain, stern, godly folk. I recall Grandfather Wilder keeping store in his later years in Milltown, near by. The Hebrew strain in our blood was from Grandfather Porter's mother, (Marks) who was a full blood. My father (born 1824) was Amos Wilder. His brothers were. Benjamin and Moses. Father was the ambitious one and saved money enough with which to take a dental course in Baltimore about 1845. He practiced in Calais until 1869 when we moved to Augusta, Maine. He bought an interest in an oil-cloth factory at Hallowell, two miles down the Kennebec, and this was his business until his death in 1894 at the age of seventy. He was characterized by mechanical skill, precision, and a blending of sternness and humor. His character was above reproach. We had a happy and typical home life in Augusta. The first two years we lived on Myrtle street on the east side, but as father prospered we moved to the present home, on State street, where mother lives at the age of seventy-six ( 1906),-second house north of the Bla'ne home. I followed the public school course until I was sixteen. Then I spent a year at the Highland Military Academy in Wor- cester, Mass. I then took the last year in the Augusta high school, was graduated in 1880, speaking my piece in Meonian Hall. I entered Yale in the fall of that year and was graduated in 1884. My father's account books show that he spent $900 a year on me

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while in New Haven. I went to college largely through the in- centive of my mother. Strong in body, possessed of great sense. having had many advantages in her youth, of a hopeful. serene nature, always able to see a bend in the road ahead, and wont to relate all the ordering of life to prayer, mother has been and is one of the most normal and best women I have known. I matured late and so missed much at New Haven ; I trifled much of my time away. I had picked up telegraphy through Frank A. Munsey, the publisher, always my friend,- then operator in Augusta,-and worked at that at odd hours when I should have been busy with my books. As a collegian I wrote on the college papers and was elected to be "fence orator," both in freshman and sophomore years. After graduation, through intimacy with Frank Trowbridge, I went to Old Lyme. Conn., and taught for a year in the boys' boarding school that graduated him. There I made my first speech,-the Blaine campaign-in the town hall with John T. Wait, the veteran congressman of the district. I was twenty-two years of age. The school year ended, I spent the summer, (as I had the previous sum- mer) in the office of the Albany, N. Y., Journal. It was Thurlow Weed's old paper. The year 1885-6 I spent as teacher in the Fari- bault. Minn .. military school, associated with Samuel A. Booth of my Yale class. At the conclusion of the school year I went to the Philadelphia Press, as a reporter, at $12 per week. The managing editor at that time was Mr. Talcott Williams, now the cultivated editorial writer on the same paper. Mr. Williams was of a mis- sionary family, and a cousin of my college chum, Dean A. Walker. I worked very hard here; the more work they gave me the better I liked it. I was glad to do the work of the other boys after mid- night when they were weary. Some of my best friendships trace back to the less-than-a-year I was with the Philadelphia Press. Richard Harding Davis was one of us, although of late years I have scen little of Davis. I was called back to the Albany Journal and went. In reporting the Albany legislature I obtained valuable ex- perience. In the summer I lived at a suburb (Altamont) with my classmate. Edwin McCellen. I went to New Haven to become editor of the Palladium for three years and a half at $1.600 salary. I was but twenty-six when I accepted the post. I must have writ- ten a good deal of nonsense in those callow years but I did more and more public speaking which helped me. I lived at Grove Hall. a boarding house in the college district and some choice friendships date from this. I wrote an editorial the first day I went to work, turned it in and it was printed, though my regular assigned duty

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was to hold copy for the proof-reader. I could not write editorial any better than my boyish associates wrote it, but by my efforts I put myself in the editorial class and came to be associated with editorial writing. A great truth lies buried here for young persons able to grasp it. I took my doctor's degree during the New Haven years and wrote a thesis on "The Government of Cities." This I read to the Chamber of Commerce and that body printed it as a pamphlet. When I went to Wisconsin I lectured on the subject under "University Extension," and gave a course of five lectures at the parent Chautauqua. My New Haven connection came to an end through a clash with a political "ring." A new manager who represented a new owner of the paper offered me the choice of print- ing an article practically repealing an attack I had made on the "ring" the day before, or of resigning. Of course there was but one thing to do. I had a number of new positions tendered, some by telegraph. I went as an editorial writer, to the Mail and Ex- press, then owned by Elliott F. Shepard, the eccentric son-in-law of the then reigning Vanderbilt. The editor was John A. Sleicher, a life long friend, who was editor of the Albany Journal when I was with that paper. This New York life for something over two years was valuable experience. My public speaking took me into all kinds of company and I met many men and women well worth knowing. The last part of my stay in New York was with the Commercial Advertiser. I had a salary that increased to $80 per week and I saved my money. I have "lost my job" a number of times and suffered great depression. One who has failed in busi- ness, or who is utterly cast down from any cause will often do well to begin life under a new environment-to move to another place. Happily I could rally my courage, and when I went out of the Commercial office I resolved that I would be happier with a paper of my own. I dallied with a literary syndicate, dragging out noth- ing but a sweet friend. Maynard; and while on a western tour fell upon Mr. II. A. Taylor in Madison. He decided that he did not need a partner with only $5.000 but on my reaching Milwaukee I received a telegram from him to come back. This was in the spring of 1894. I came back, bought half of his interest. June 9, 1894, almost wholly on credit; and May 9, 1900, bought the bal- ance of his interest-the control. I worked all the time for many years. On December 3, 1894. I was married to Miss Isabella Niven, whose father for over thirty years was pastor of the Presby- ter'an church in Dobbs Ferry. Our children's birthdays are: Amos Niven, September 18. 1895. born in the Askew house at the foot of

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South Henry street : Thornton Niven. April 17, 1897, in the Kerr hohse on Langdon street; Charlotte Elizabeth, August 28, 1898, born in one of the Frawley cottages. Mendota Court; and Isabel, January 13, 1900, born in the flat 211 West Gilman street, where we lived for six years. I was secretary of the Madison "Six O'Clock Club" from its beginning. 1899, for seven seasons. The Maple Bluff cottage was built in 1901. The mother took a foreign trip with three Madison ladies in 1902. I had a summer trip abroad in 1891. I was appointed consul general to Hongkong January 31, 1906. and we sailed from San Francisco April 7, 1906. My brother, Dr. Julian Wilder, lives in Augusta ; my sister, Mrs. George Hob- son, in Brooklyn, N. Y .: and a half brother, Geo. P. Additon, in Bath, Maine.

Carl Wilke was born in the city of Strasburg, Germany, March 20, 1837. His father, Ernest Frederick Wilke, opened his eyes upon the world a century ago, and was already an old man when he came to this country in 1871. He came first to Dodge county, afterward removing to Dane. He lived for ten years, spending the latter part of his life with his son Carl. He interested himself sufficiently with the public affairs of his new home to ally himself with the Republican party. His wife, Christina ( Hess) Wilke, survived him sixteen years, dying in 1897, at the age of ninety, at the home of her son. He had one sister in America whose home was in Iowa, and three of his five children still remain in Germany. Mr. Carl Wilke received his edu- cation in his native land, and was also married there, August 10, 1865. three years before coming to this country, ( 1868). He remained for ten years in Dodge, and then removed to Dane county. where he ac- cumulated a large property without other aid than his natural ability for patient. untiring effort and intelligent economy. His large farm of seven hundred acres, near Waunakee, has been largely devoted to stock-raising,-short-horn cattle and Poland China hogs being chiefly bred. He has affiliated with the Republican party, and all of his fa- mily are connected with the Lutheran church. His wife was Miss Carol'ne Schwem, born in Germany, February 25, 1844, daughter of Frederick and Johanna (Schmidt) Schwem, both Germans who died in their native land. Mr. and Mrs. Wilke have had ten children. Min- nie Ernestine, wife of Geo. Blank : Johanna : Frank, a farmer of Vienna township: Louisa, wife of Chas. Dahn: Ferdinand, a farmer of Vi- enna township: Otto, a farmer; Ernest, a butcher ; Gustave, a mer- chant of Waukegan, Ill .; Walter, a fireman in employ of the C. & N. W. R'y Co .; Oscar, a farmer ; these are all living with the excep- tion of the second child. Johanna. Mr. Wilkie is a man of strong

CHAUNCEY L. WILLIAMS.

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personality and unusual native ability. Among those who know him well he has a reputation for shrewdness, hard common sense and good judgment.

William Wille is a prosperous landowner in the town of Berry. The date of his birth was December 8, 1836, and the place was the province of Saxony, Prussia. His parents. Christian and Annstin (Schmitt) Wille, were natives of Saxony, where the father was a manufacturer of wool carding machinery. Of the five children in the family, Henry and William came to America; of the others, two are still living in Prussia. William Wille had but a limited education in the old country. At an early age he learned the cabinet maker's trade. In 1861, with the wife and two children of his brother Henry, who had made the trip in September, 1860. he came to America, the town of Cross Plains in this state, where the brother had located, being the objective point. For some years he farmed in partnership with his brother and then bought eighty acres of land in the same town. Later he sold this and purchased the farm in the town where he now lives, a place of three hundred and fifty acres, of which one hundred and fifty are under cultivation. He carries on genera! farming, which naturally includes some dairy business, and that he has been successful is easily seen. Politically Mr. Wille is a Repub- lican, and although he has always taken an active interest in politics. he has never held any office other than that of clerk of the school board, which position he has filled for the past twenty-five years. He is actively interested in and a member of the German Lutheran church. In April, 1866, he married Annstin, daughter of Gottlieb and Johanna Schmitt, natives of Gotha, who came to America in 1856 and purchased a farm in the town of Berry. Both are now de- ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wille have had six children,-Pauline mar- ried Ole Olson, a tailor of Mount Horeb, where she now resides ; William is farming in the town of Berry; Henry is farming the old homestead. where another of the sons also makes his home : Annstina and Elfrieda also are both living at home.

Chauncey L. Williams was born in 1820, at La Fayette. Onon- daga county, N. Y., and was a son of Dr. Chauncey L. Williams. of that place. After living in Syracuse for some years he moved to Madison, Wis., in 1855, entering shortly after in the grocery business. In 1862 the firm of M. E. Fuller & Co. was formed, of which Mr. Wil- liams was the partner. This business was organized for the purchase and sale of agricultural implements, and out of it grew the several firms of Fuller & Williams. Fuller, Johnson & Co., and others, all dealing in machinery, and in all of which he was financially interested, and which,

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-largely through his intense industry and popularity, together with his ability to organize,-were developed into great and thriving con- cerns. Mr. Williams was noted for his promptness in business affairs and close attention to every duty and obligation both in business and society life. He was physically large, forceful and vigorous, but was a quiet, modest and unobtrusive man, with a heart full of love, always doing acts of kindness to his fellow-men. Mr. Williams was twice married, and all of his four children were by his first wife, Johanna L. Van Duzer, of Middletown, New York, to whom he was married May 21, 1848. These children were Mellie (Mrs. F. A. Frank, deceased) ; Cornelia Lillian, (Mrs. H. H. Rountree, deceased) ; Anna Myra, (Mrs. Arthur O. Fox), of Madison, and Chauncey L. Williams, Jr., of Chi- cago. Mrs. Fox and Chauncey L. are both living and have families. Mrs. Johanna (Van Duzer) Williams was a woman of much literary ability, and was also conspicuous throughout her life in Madison for her great kindness of heart. Her supreme happiness was in minister- ing to the comfort of others and especially to the poor and sick. Al- though she has been dead thirty-four years there are yet many living here who speak her name with tender recollections of her self-sacrific- ing kindness and generosity to all. Mrs. Williams was one of the earliest members of the First Congregational Church and throughout her life was one of its truest supporters. She died at Madison, March 5. 1872. Mr. Williams died May 27, 1878.

Nels E. Williams is a leading citizen and progressive farmer of the town of Deerfield, where he was born and reared, and where the Williams family has had its domicile for over sixty years. Mr. Williams was born on the farm where he now resides, December 20, 1854, and is one of seven children born to Erick and Christina (Bochtun) Williams, both of whom were natives of the province of Bergen, Norway. The parents came to America in 1844 and settled on section 32. in the town of Deerfield, Dane county, the father hav- ing first worked as a common laborer for a short time. The tract upon which he located was government land, and he preempted forty acres, which he began to improve, and he added thereto from time to time until at his death he owned three hundred and eighteen acres. He followed general farming during all of his life, after coming to America, and died December 25, 1879, at the age of seventy-six years, his good wife passing away four years later. They were the parents of seven children, as follows: Cornelius, the eldest son, who enlisted on March 3, 1862, in Co. H, Fifteenth Wisconsin infantry, rose to the rank of first lieutenant and served to the close of the war, then located in Chicago where he is still living: Julia became the wife of Will-

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iam Miller, both of whom are deceased; Christina is the wife of Nels Anderson, of the town of Deerfield; William located in St. Louis, Mo., and is now deceased; Isabelle is the wife of Carl F. Eltzholtz, of Chicago; Betsy is deccased; Knute served through the Civil War and is now employed in the hospital of the soldiers' home at Milwaukee ; and Nels E. is the subject of this review. Nels E. Wiliams received his education in the district schools of Deerfield and attended two terms of the Marshall academy. He has always had his residence on the old homestead, though at the age of twenty-six years he and one of his brothers bought forty acres of the farm from their father and began an independent career. A number of years later Mr. Williams purchased his brother's interest, and he still remains on the home- stead which marks the place of his birth and also that of his children. A few years ago he invested a part of his savings in one hundred and sixty acres of land in Spink county, S. D. Of superior natural abil- ity he has easily become a leader in the community in which he lives. He is a man of splendid physique and is well preserved, appearing much younger than the calendar of time would reckon his age. He is a Republican in his political affiliations and is now serving his sixth term as town treasurer, having also served as supervisor of the town of Dcerfield. Mr. Nelson married for his first wife, Miss Carn Pol- son, of Chicago, who died eleven months later, leaving no children. The second marriage was to Miss Caroline I. Nelson, November 4, 1880. She was the daughter of Iver and Ingeborg (Gjeitle) Nelson, natives of Norway who came to America and located in the town of Deerfield, Dane county, in 1845, and spent the remainder of their lives there. Mrs. Williams was born December 18, 1854, and died on March 23, 1891, leaving four children, whose names follow: Clara Belle, born March 14, 1882; Emma Christina, born March 31, 1884, died October 27, 1896; William Erick, born June 17, 1887 ; and Caro- line Nora, born March 14, 1891. Mr. Williams' third matrimonial alliance was with Olena Hoff, daughter of Toston and Guro Olson, of the town of Christiana, and the date of the marriage was April 22, 1893. No children have been born of this union.

Sylvester B. Williams, farmer and stock raiser, of the town of Madison, was born at Verona, N. Y., January 9, 1828. . His parents, Daniel and Mary Williams, were both natives of Rhode Island, but went with several others of the Williams family and settled at Verona, four miles from Rome, when the place was nothing but the primitive forest. Daniel Williams was a boat builder. He and his father built the first boat that was ever launched at New London. He also built several of the locks on the Erie canal, constructing the one near New

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Amsterdam, N. Y., when he was but nineteen years of age. For some time he was employed on the canal, and was also engaged in merchan- dising. In the summer of 1846 he went up the canal to Buffalo, where he took a steamer and came around tht great lakes to Milwaukee, and in September landed in Madison, having hired a team to take him from Milwaukee. He bought a farm at Stoner Prairie, where he began farming, burning lime and cutting stone for buildings in Madison. The following year he was joined by his wife and son and continued to live in Dane county until his death on July 17, 1876. He was twice married. His first wife, the mother of Sylvester, died at Verona in 1830, and some time afterward he married Mary Green, a native of New York state, who died in 1881. During his life he was an active Democrat, but was never an aspirant for office, and was a consistent member of the Baptist church. Sylvester B. Williams received a com- mon school education in the state of New York, came to Wisconsin in 1847. and in 1854 began farming. In 1861 he bought a small tract of land where he now lives. Since then he has bought and sold several tracts, and now owns one hundred and sixty-six acres, upon which he carries on a general farming business, devoting considerable attention to raising of livestock. All the improvements on the place have been made by him and he has one of the representative farms in the com- munity where he lives. Like his father he was interested in the pro- duction of lime and from 1853 to 1888 he conducted a kiln for that pur- pose. He has served on the school board and the town board, al- though he can hardly be called an active politician, as he usually votes for the best man, particularly .in local affairs. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was formerly identified with the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Williams has been twice mar- ried. In 1855 he married Harriet French, of Verona, N. Y., but she died the following spring. In October, 1858, he was united in mar- riage to Sarah Kenny, a native of New Jersey, and to this union were born three children, viz: James Leslie, Laura Augusta and Sylvester. James L. married Matilda Linde, a native of Germany, and they have five children: Daniel, Robert, William, Sarah and Eunice. He served for seven years on the school board and as treasurer one year. Laura A. is the wife of Sidney Davenport and Sylvester died in in- fancy. Mr. Williams is a quiet unassuming man, one of those who at- tends to his own business, though he takes an interest in all questions pertaining to the general good. He is respected for his sterling qual- ities and is generally recognized as one of the substantial citizens of the town.

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History of Dane County, Biographical and Genealogical, Part 99

Author: Keyes, Elisha W. (Elisha Williams), 1828-1910 Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Madison, Wi. : Western Historical Association Number of Pages: 998

Author: Keyes, Elisha W. (Elisha Williams), 1828-1910
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Madison, Wi. : Western Historical Association
Number of Pages: 998