History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 144

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304

USA > Wisconsin > Dane County > History of Dane County, Wisconsin > Part 144

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

EDMOND R. BRISTOL, Chief Engineer Capitol Building; born in Loraine Co., Ohio, April 18, 1841 ; his father was a machinist. In 1850, his parents moved to Milwaukee, where Edmond was educated in the public schools. He enlisted in Co. C, 44th Ill. V. I., July 1, 1861, and was honor- ably discharged at Atlanta, Ga., Sept. 15, 1864. He was in seventeen engagements ; wounded once slightly in the left ear. Since leaving the army, he has been constantly engaged as marine and stationary engineer, most of the time in Milwaukee. He was married, January, 1865, to Miss Anna Hoye, formerly of England; they had five children-lost one son, by drowning in Monona Lake, in 1877. He is a mem- her of the I. O. O. F. ; residence on Washington avenue; owns a home in Milwaukee. He has seenred several patents, both for original inventions and for improvements. He is an experienced and skilled mechanic-a successful engineer. Great economy of fuel has resulted from changes and improvements made by himself in the mode of applying heat.

CHARLES E. BROSS, was born in Pantherbrook, town of Shohola, Pike Co., Penn., Dec. 18, 1838; and made this place his home until 1858; came to Wisconsin in the spring of 1861, and lo- cated at Racine; remained there one year, and then came to Madison, where he has resided since, with the exception of six months, spent in Milwaukee and Chicago, in the latter part of 1862, and spring of 1863 ; has been engaged in the telegraph business from 1858, to present date. In connection with the telegraph business, was for twelve years agent of the Merchants' Union, American Merchants' Union, and joint agent of the American and United States Express Cos .; he has been chief clerk of the Wisconsin State Senate since 1877. Married, in Madison, May 29, 1866, Mrs. N. P. Lathrop (nee Bartlett) ; she was born at Ballston Spa, N. Y. They have one child, Gracie Winfield. He is a Knight Templar.

J. J. BROWN, M. D., was born in Rockport, Spencer Co., Ind., April 28, 1826 ; and was educated at La Porte, Ind .; acquired both classical and medical education at Indiana Medical College ; came to Wisconsin in 1847, stopping at Janesville for a few months, then he returned to La Porte, Ind., where he was located until he came to Madison, in May, 1853, with the exception of eighteen months spent in California. in 1850 and 1851. Since coming here, he has been engaged in the practice of his profession. The Doctor has been making a specialty of hygeine, ventilation and the sanitary features of health ; considers himself second to none in regard to the question of heating and ventilation ; and says if there is anything be prides himself on, it is that he is an observer of nature in a great degree. Dr. Brown was married near Elmira, N. Y., June 22, 1852, to Sarah A. Kress; she was born in Troy, Penn., Dec., 13, 1827. The Doctor is a member of the County, State and American Medical Associations.

DR. LINDSEY S. BROWN, oculist and aurist, was born in Ottawa City, Canada, April 18, 1840 ; lived there until 1847, then his parents came to Wisconsin, and located in the town of Medina, where they lived about one and one-half years ; one year they spent in Portland, Dodge Co., then removed to the village of Waterloo, where his father died. His mother still resides in Waterloo. The Doctor was educated at Rush Medical College, and took special training, under Dr. Holmes, in eye and ear practice; was in the office of Dr. Hoffman, in Madison, from 1866 to 1869. Was married, in Madison, June 17, 1869, to Amanda J. Newton ; she was born in Ohio. They have two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Bertha Louise. Dr. Brown enlisted, in Aug., 1861, in Co. C (first called Waterloo Rifles), 11th W. V. I .; served until June 9, 1863; was then discharged on account of disability, caused by sickness ; was Sergeant of his company at the time of his discharge ; is a member of the A., F. & A. M. ; W. M. for two years ; See-

960

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES :

retary Hook and Ladder Co. eight years, and Vice President of the Dane County Medical Society for three years.

GEN. EDWARD E. BRYANT was born in Milton, Chittenden Co., Vt., Jan. 10, 1836; lived there until he came to Wisconsin in the spring of 1857, locating at Janesville; was admitted to the bar in the fall of that year ; in October of same year, removed to Monroe, Wis., and commenced the prac- tice of law. In 1859, he purchased the Monroe Sentinel, in connection with Gen. Bintliff; in June, 1861, he enlisted as a private in Co. C, 3d W. V. I. ; was commissioned Sergeant Major before leaving the State; continued in service until Feb., 1866 ; was three years with the 3d, serving as 1st Lieut. of Co. A; and as Adjutant of the regiment ; July 1, 1864, he was appointed Commissioner of Enrollment; was commis- sioned Lieut. Col. of the 50th W. V. I., in the winter of 1864 and 1865. After leaving the service he returned to Monroe. In the spring of 1868, he was appointed Adjt. Gen., and Private Sec. to Gov. Fair- child ; was with him until Jan., 1872, since then has practiced law with Col. Vilas; was appointed, by Gov. Ludington, Adjt. Gen. again in 1876, and is still retained in the same position ; served one term in the Legislature as Chairman of Assembly Com., on Revision of Statutes, and assisted in publication of same; was appointed, in connection with Col. Vilas, to revise the Supreme Court Reports and Decisions (eighteen volumes) ; reported thirty-seventh volume himself. Was married, at Monroe, June 29, 1859, to Louisa S. Boynton; she was born in Canada East; have four children-Elva L., Fronimay, Mertie and William Vilas. The Gen. is a Knight Templar.

HON. GEORGE E. BRYANT was born Feb. 11, 1832, at Templeton, Worcester Co., Mass. ; his father was George W. Bryant, and his mother Ennice Norcross ; he was educated at Norwich University, in the same class with Gens. Dodge and Ransom, and went through the full course of studies; he preferred the profession of law, and after leaving the university, he read law with the Hon. Amasa ! ! Norcross, at Fitchburg, Mass., and was admitted to the bar in 1856, at Worcester, Mass., and shortly after moved to Madison, Wis., and formed a partnership in the practice of his profession, with Myron H. Orton, which he continued until 1861. He was Captain of the Madison Guards, in 1860, the first com- pany to offer their services to the Government, at the commencement of the rebellion ; this company served five months in the 1st W. V. I., at the termination of which it was mustered out of service, and Capt. Bryant returned home, and was shortly afterward commissioned Colonel of the 12th W. V. I., with which he went to the Indian Territory, marching across the plains west of Ft. Riley ; returning, they descended the Mississippi River to Columbus ; thence by railroad to Corinth, where they joined Gen. Grant's army ; was in all the battles his regiment participated in ; this regiment was on the celebrated Meridian march, and went with Sherman to the sea ; upon their return to Louisville, Ky., they were discharged from the service. Upon Col. Bryant's return to Wisconsin, he retired to his farm near Madison, and is engaged in raising fine blooded stock, especially horses and cattle. He was elected County Judge in 1866, again in 1870, and again in 1874; in the latter year he was also elected State Senator. In religion, he is a Uni- tarian, in politics, first a Whig, afterward a Republican. Was married, Sept. 27, 1858, to Miss Susie A. Gibson, whose ancestors were the first settlers in Fitchburg, Mass., and were participants in the war of the Revolution, and had previously fought the Indians ; his ancestors were Irish, and came to this country shortly after the landing of the Pilgrims ; they were also engaged in the Revolutionary struggle. Col. Bryant was a member of the National Chicago Convention of 1880, and was one of the three hundred and six who always voted for U. S. Grant in that memorable convention ; he has been Quartermaster General of Wisconsin, since January, 1877, and Secretary of the State Agricultural Society since Jan- uary 1, 1878.

GEORGE BUNKER, Iumherman ; was born in De Ruyter, Madison Co., N. Y., April 3, 1823. When a small hoy, his parents moved to Truxton, Cortland Co., N. Y .; is the son of Gorham Bunker, who settled in East Troy, Walworth Co., Wis., in 1837 ; his family joined him in 1838, where the subject of this sketch lived about nineteen years, following the occupation of a farmer ; then going to Whitewater, where he was in the lumber business from 1857 to 1863, when he came to Madison and engaged in the lumher business with William Vroman, under the firm name of Bunker & Vroman, which still continues. Was married in Rochester, Racine Co., Wis., in October, 1849, to Fannie M. 'Hulbert; she was born in Oneida Co., N. Y .; they have three children-Charles H. and Mary E., born in East Troy, and Lora E., born in Whitewater. Mr. Bunker has been a member of the Common Council.

MATTHIAS BURGER, dealer in flour and feed, Madison, Wis., is the son of Benedictus and Ablonear Burger, and was born in Province of Rhine, Germany, Aug. 15, 1824; his parents are both dead ; Mr. B. came from Germany to America, and to Madison, Wis., which he reached Aug. 12, 1851 ; he worked on a farm for one year ; worked five years in a stone-quarry, and two years as a mason;

961

MADISON.

be began his present business about twenty-three years ago. Oct. 17, 1868, Mr. B. was married to Miss Catherine Stumbf; she died Jan. 18, 1880; Mr. B. has had five children-Peter, born Dec. 2, 1869 ; Rosa, born June 15, 1874; Anna, who was born July 22, 1872, and died Jan. 25, 1880; Johnnie, who died when six months old, and Louisa, who died when but ten weeks old. Mr. B. belongs to the German Catholic Church.

HON. GEORGE B. BURROWS. The ancestral record of the family of Mr. Burrows dates back to the pioneer era of New England settlement, but exact details have not been within reach for the preparation of this sketch. His father, the Rev. Baxter Burrows, was born at Petersham, Mass., July 22, 1804. The maiden name of his mother was Lydia Boynton, daughter of Capt. Jewett Boynton, a soldier who served his country faithfully and honorably in the war of the American Revolu- tion. She was born Aug. 24, 1807, at Weathersfield, Vt .; married March 17, 1828, and died May 12, 1871. The career of Mr. Baxter Burrows was marked by all the usual incidents of pioneer life, when Vermont was a semi-frontier State. He was a regularly ordained minister of the Baptist Church, and lived and reared his family upon a salary less than a day laborer receives at the present time. He was a man of deep and conscientious convictions, strong will and fearless independence in the advancing of what he decmed the cause of right and justice, unawed and unmoved by adverse surroundings. He was among the earliest of that noble band of Abolitionists whose earnest labors in support of the old Liberty party, after the many dark hours of tribulation, put in motion that train of causes that in the end gave freedom. to a continent. He not only advocated the cause from the beginning, but aided it in a practical form by receiving, harboring and helping on their way. through what was styled the " underground railroad," all auch fugitives from bondage as came his way in making their escape to Canada. He still survives, after much personal detraction and persecution for holding to the cause of the oppressed, to rejoice at the victory of freedom over tyranny and wrong, and to enjoy the tributes of honorable respect that follow upon righteous deeds well and timely done.

George B. Burrows was born in Springfield, Windsor Co., Vt., Oct. 20, 1832. He received a good common-school education, and by dint of industry in sweeping floors, bell-ringing, building fires, saw- ing wood and other similar services, was enabled to pay his way and achieve a higher order of aca- demic education. At a later date he was employed as clerk in several country stores in Vermont, until 1853, when he located in the city of New York and for a few years embarked in business.

In 1858, he removed to Wisconsin, locating in Sauk City, Sauk Co., where he conducted a bank for several years with a fidelity and trustworthiness that secured him the good will and gratitude of all with whom he had business relations or was associated.

The national banking system having succeeded to that of the State, he, in 1865, removed to Mad- ison, where he purchased the real estate agency of James Richardson, and soon after vastly enlarged its acope, ao that it at present embraces all the north end of the State as a field of operation, limited by no . county lines, and now ranks among the largest and most successful agencies in the Northwest, if, indeed, it does not lead all others.

Jan. 13, 1857, he married Alma Thompson, a daughter of the Hon. D. P. Thompson, of Mont- pelier, Vt. She was born in Montpelier, Jan. 13, 1837. The family was highly distinguished for educa- tion and literary ability. Her father held from time to time many positions of public trust. He was born in Charlestown, Mass., Oct. 1, 1795, and, after the death of his grandfather, who was killed in the battle of Lexington, removed with his father to the then new town of Berlin, Vt., where his earlier years were passed in the usual routine of New England farm life in the period of its infancy. By his own energy and determination in earning the means, he entered Middlebury College, from whence he graduated io 1820. After several years passed in teaching in Virginia, he studied law and was admitted to the bar of that State. He then returned to Vermont and commenced practice as an attorney. Subsequently he was elected Register, and soon after Judge of Probate of Washington Co. At a later period he filled the positions of Clerk of the House of Representatives, of the county, and of the State Supreme Court; and later was elected Secretary of State, which position he held until the close of the official term in 1855, when, owing to failing health, he withdrew from public life.

Widely and honorably known as Judge Thompson was to citizens of Vermont as a trusted and valued public officer, his memory will be longest known and treasured as the first and only novelist the State has ever produced. Intimately acquainted with the minutest details of its early annals, and fond of literary pursuits, he carefully gathered all the old stories and traditions of early settlement, and made of them the web and woof of " May Martin ; or, The Money Diggers," "The Green Mountain Boys," " Locke Ams- den," " The Rangers; or, The Tory's Daughter," " Gant Gurley; a Tale of the Umbagog," "The Doomed Chief; or, King Philip," " Centeola," and many other tales and lesser productions; while, as editor of the

962

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

Freeman, he achieved wide distinction. As a local historian, he was indeed a tireless worker, and the an- nals of the State are probably better known to the country at large through his labors than the writings of all its other authors combined. They were pleasing, home-like pictures, drawn usually on the general plan adopted by James Fenimore Cooper, and will be read by multitudes in all coming ages.

He died at his home, on the 6th day of June, 1868, after many years' suffering from general ill health.

The union of Mr. Burrows and wife has been blessed by one son-George Thompson Burrows, a youth of decided literary tastes, who, in developed manhood, gives promise of continuing a career so weil begun by his ancestry. He was born at Montpelier, Vt., Dec. 22, 1865.

In 1876, Mr. Burrows was elected to represent the Capital District of Wisconsin in the State Senate for two years ; re-elected to the same position in 1878, and also again in 1880. This is a distinction which, for one so young, has scarcely its parallel in the State. If his inclinations lead him to accept or seek a public career, he is destined to reach its highest honors.

In its largest sense, Mr. Burrows may be pronounced a self-made man. In nearly all that he has at- tempted, he has succeeded. The stern training of his boyhood is a lesson not lost upon him. Whatever he does is carefully, thoughtfully and wisely done-done with all his might and concentrated effort. Of a lively disposition, active and hardy training, a temperament nervous in its energy, a pleasing address, genial conversational powers, rapid and accurate business habits, a tireless industry, and, in public life, ao honest purpose to reach and be governed by principles, discarding mere impulses, and to study and promote the real interests of his constituents-he is justly regarded as one of the most promising actors among the rising generation of public men. He is one whom success does not inflate, nor wealth spoil. He has passed every grade from privation to riches, from an unknown youth to a prominent actor in the affairs of State, and the same instinets and guiding common sense that distinguished his ancestry have been inherited by him. Wisconsin may well be proud to have enrolled so much of solid worth among its honored citizens.

C. W. BUTTERFIELD was born near the village of Colosse, Oswego Co., N. Y., July 28, 1824 ; his parents were from Brattleboro, Vt. In 1834, the family removed to Melmore, Seneca Co., Ohio. The son's early advantages for education were limited, his studics beyond the rudiments having been pur- sued wholly without instruction. At the age of 18, he commeneed teaching a district school in Hamlet, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. He afterward attended the State Normal School in Albany, for two terms ; but, his health failing, he left the institution for a voyage to Europe, returning to Ohio in the autumn of 1846.

In 1847, he wrote a history of Seneca Co., Ohio, which was published the year following. It was really the first strictly county history ever issued in separate book form west of the Alleghany Mountains. In 1847, the author was elected Superintendent of the schools of his county, and was re-elected in 1848. Early in 1849, he resigned to take an overland journey to California. The next year, 1850, he was an independent candidate in the "Golden State " for State Superintendent of Public Instruction, but was defeated by a few votes. He returned to Ohio in 1851; studied law; and, in 1855, entered upon the practice of his profession in Bucyrus, Crawford Co. During the previous year, he served as Secretary of the Ohio & Indiana Railroad Company.

While engaged in his professional duties, he found time to write a treatise on punctuation, which was published in 1858, and highly commended for the accuracy of its definitions, the clearness of its arrange- ment, and the perspieuity of its language. In 1878, au abridgement of the book was published, especially adapted to the wants of common schools. Quitting the practice of the law in 1872, he has since devoted his time to literary pursuits.

In 1873 was issued from the press of Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, Mr. Butterfield's well-known monograph, " An Historical Account of the Expedition Against Sandusky Under Col. William Crawford, in 1782." The work proved a great success. No book of its elass (Parkman's " Pontiac " alone excepted) has ever been received with more general interest and favor. It reveals to the reader, in pict- uresque language, one of the most absorbing as well as the most startling chapters in American annals. " The history," to quote the words of the Atlantic Monthly, " has a general value as a study of pioneer life and warfare, which we should be sorry to leave unmentioned; and the sketches of adventure in which it abounds add greatly to the interest of the main narrative." " Aside from the exciting recital," says the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, " of the almost fabulous and romantie adventures and escapes of many of the officers and privates, and the painful relation of the hardships of the disastrous retreat, not the least interesting are the biographical and genealogical sketches of the most prominent actors in the expedition."

The book just mentioned is, in many ways, so remarkable that we cannot refrain from giving a few more extraets from leading periodicals to show the general estimation of the work. Says the New York

963

MADISON.

Observer: "The terrible death of Col. Crawford by torture, is depicted with so much vividness and power tbat one, in reading it, almost feels that he is a personal witness of the terrible transaction." The New York Times: "The author has taken a world of pains to gather authentic documents, reports, narratives and biographies, having reference to the men and things of ninety or a hundred years ago." Of the au- thor and his history, the Louisville Courier-Journal says: " Mr. Butterfield possesses many of the best qualities of an historian, as also unusual ability as a writer. The sketches of Col. Crawford, with whose tragic death by burning at the stake the book closes with dramatic fitness, and of his various officers, are interesting in the extreme. The work conveys an impression of those early days of the frontier, and its people living in their humble cabins, and of their mode of warfare, in a style and diction surpassed only by Macaulay upon a broader field." " Next to its historical value," says the Literary World, " the chief merit of the work is its abundance of chronicles of personal achievement under circumstances of thrilling interest-circumstances that can never be renewed, and belonging to a life that Americans must ever look back upon with emotions of pride and pity." We make these quotations because they, besides showing tbe marked popular favor with which the work has been received by the press, also convey our personal opinion in regard to it.

In 1875, Mr. Butterfield moved to Madison, Wis., drawn there by the beauty of the city and her ex- tensive libraries. In 1876, he wrote, with Dr. Lyman C. Draper, a work made up of romantic passages in our country's history. It is entitled " The Heroic Age of America," and is replete with accounts of border forays, conflicts and incidents. The book will soon be issued from the press. In the spring of 1877, he published "The Washington-Crawford Letters " ( Robert Clarke & Co.), a valuable contribution to the early history of the trans-Alleghany country. This volume was also received with marked favor by the press, in the East as well as in the West. Dr. Herbert B. Adams, Fellow in History in Johns Hop- kins University, in a paper of profound research, entitled " Maryland's Influence in Founding a National Commonwealth," read before the Maryland Historical Society April 9, 1877, and since published, highly commends the work, declaring it to be " edited in a most thorough and pains-taking manner." The valua- ble appendix to Dr. Adams' paper was occasioned "in toto" by the publication of these letters.

In the fall of 1877, Mr. Butterfield completed, for an illustrated atlas of Wisconsin, a brief history of the State-the leading article in the work. He has since edited the " Washington-Irving Letters," another addition to the Revolutionary annals of our country, of special value. His annotations are drawn from a great variety of sources in the United States, and from the State Paper office in London, England. The work has not yet been published. Mr. Butterfield has also written " The History and Biographical Annals of the University of Wisconsin," a small and unpretending volume, but characterized by the author's usual research and accuracy. He is now at work upon a " History of the Discovery of Wiscon- sin," considerable material for which he has already gathered.

Finally, it cannot fail to interest our readers that Father Hyacinthe, the world-renowned orator, is married to Mr. Butterfield's sister. Her earliest years were passed in a comparatively new country, where she was deprived of facilities for an education in schools. Her reliance, it is said, was largely upon her brother, who taught hier the common English branches at their home. From him, it may therefore rea- Bonably be presumed, she received such incentives as afterward resulted in those scholarly attainments so well known both in Europe and in America. Mr. Butterfield is a man of marked intellectual and physical vigor, and will doubtless make many more contributions to the historical literature of America .*

MICHAEL J. CANTWELL, book and job printers; office, 13 King St .; owns residence on Gorbam St .; he is a native of Ireland, born in 1837, and came to the United States in 1849, and settled the same . year in Madison ; he learned his trade in the office of the Wisconsin Express, a weekly published by Atwood & Buck. Was Orderly Sergeant of the Madison Guards, the first company tendered to and accepted by the State, and afterward known as Co. E, 1st W. V. I, three months' service-G. E. Bryant, Captain ; reën- listed in Co. C, 12th W. V. I., as First Lieutenant-Col. G. E. Bryant, commanding-and was mustered out Nov. 14, 1864 ; was first in the Potomac army, afterward in the Western ; was in the siege of Vicks- burg and capture of Atlanta; was on staff duty, as Asst. Provost Marshal, ordnance officer, and, for the last year, was Quartermaster of the 12th W. V. I. In 1866 and also in 1868, was candidate for Regis- ter of Deeds, and both times ran largely ahead of his ticket; was elected City Treasurer in 1877; was several years a Director in the Madison Institute; is a life member of the State Agricultural Society, also of the Dane Co. Agricultural Society, and has been identified with most of the enterprises of Madison. Was married, in 1865, to Miss Kate Byrne, of Fitchburg, Dane Co., Wis .; they have nine children-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 144

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company Number of Pages: 1304

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899; Western Historical Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Company
Number of Pages: 1304