History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 161

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 161

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He evinced, from an early day, a decided aptness for instructing pupils and managing schools. Before he was 20 years old he had taught the district school which he attended in boyhood, and in the academy where he prepared himself for college. While a student, subsequently, in De Ruyter Institute, he had charge, nearly every term, of classes in penmanship, elocution, Latin and rhetoric. Upon graduating from college, he decided to engage in the work of the Gospel ministry, and thereupon he entered Union Theo- logical Seminary, New York City, where he completed the three years' course of study. Immediately after leaving the seminary, in 1856, he was called to the pastorate of a church in Milton, Rock Co., Wis. This church belongs to the denomination known as Seventh-Day Baptists, with which he has been con-

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nected since he was 14 years of age. This position in Milton he held for three years, and under his labors the church, though previously quite large, more than doubled its membership and working power. These results were attained through the most active and exhausting work in preaching and in attention to pas- toral duties. During the last year of his charge of this church, he was induced to assume the principal- ship of Milton Academy, in which he taught for a season eight years before. This institution had then been in operation as a select school and academy for fourteen years, and had gained a good standing in this part of the State. Since that time he has been at the head of the school, except during the past year and a half, when he has been serving as State Superintendent of Public Instruction in Wisconsin. Under his administration, the institution has acquired great vigor and wide popularity, the attendance of students some years reaching over four hundred. During the civil war, it took a prominent part in raising troops for the service, and not less than three hundred and eleven of its students joined the Union army, and many of them were aided by Mr. Whitford in securing good positions in various regiments of the State.

For nine years the school, as an academy, was under his charge, and in 1867 was converted, mainly by his efforts, into a college, of which he has since been, either actively or nominally, the President, serving not only at the head of the Faculty, but also of the Board of Trustees. This institution has been mainly supported by the tuition fees of its students, and old debts have been canceled, and additional rooms and other accommodations have been furnished under his administration. The task has been a Herculean one to maintain the efficiency and popularity of the school. Under its new powers, it has been steadily advanced in influence. The number of students in the regular college classes has not been less than seventy in any year, while those in the academic classes have been usually thrice that number. The graduates of the college, though not numerous, are among the most successful teachers in the common, high and normal schools, and the State University of Wisconsin. In the denomination to which President Whitford belongs, he has filled influential positions, among which is the Presidency of its annual conferences in this county, a position he has twice filled. He served over four years in an important agency of this people, visiting, in that time, most of the churches in the United States.

In 1867, he was elected to the Assembly of Wisconsin, and performed eminent service in that body, during its session the following year, as the Chairman of the Committee of Education. He was President of the State Teachers' Association for the year 1865, and succeeded in reviving a thorough interest in that body, which had greatly declined in activity and influence during the civil war. Before this association he has often presented important papers on educational topics. In 1867, he was appointed, by the Governor of the State, a member of the Board of Normal Regents, and held this position for nine years. During this time, he usually acted on the committees for the examination of the graduating classes of the normal schools, and for conducting the teachers' institutes in the State. He has been twice selected as a visitor at the State University, and has been repeatedly called to lecture before teachers' associations and lyceums. For the centennial year of our country, he prepared, at the request of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, a work containing a succinct history of education in Wisconsin-a most thorough and ex- haustive one, the result of much research on his part. This, with other contributions from the State, were placed on exhibition at Philadelphia. In 1877, he was elected the State Superintendent of Public In- struction by the Republican party, and entered upon the duties of that position in January following. Thus far in this office, he has given all his labors to preserving and promoting the various interests belong- ing to the public system of education in the State. He has made it the distinctive policy of his adminis- tration to sustain all those measures which are designed to improve the country, or ungraded, schools. In addition to the work of the office, he has been able to give addresses on educational subjects in very many parts of the State. At the State Convention of the Republican party, in 1879, he was unanimously re-nom- inated for this position, and was re-elected in November, 1879. Besides giving attention to the affairs of the college, and laboring in behalf of education elsewhere, President Whitford has often preached in the churches near his home, and in other sections of the county. He has delivered addresses at political gatherings, and at celebrations on the 4th of July, of a high order of scholarly patriotism.

In his religious opinions and practices, he is devoid of all cant or bigotry. Out of the abundance of his heart he is continually uttering words of encouragement and instruction, not only to the students under his care, whether in the class-room or on the play-ground, but to all with whom he comes in contact. His convictions in respect to the doctrines and precepts of Christianity are firm and ardent, and his influence in leading young people to the higher duties and labors of life have been very marked and salutary. He is in full sympathy with all movements which indicate progress, and he inspires in those under his influ- ence a deep enthusiasm in any work which improves the condition of the soul. Of the thousands of young men and young women who have been instructed by him, there is probably no one who does not cherish sentiments of respect and esteem for him. Over these he exerts a powerful influence in awaken-

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ing in their hearts the desire to realize all the possibilities of their natures. He is a most agreeable com- panion, abounding in good nature, friendly, sympathetic and generous. Possessed of strong convictions and a firm will, he is not easily turned aside after once taking hold of an enterprise. He is endowed with a powerful physical constitution, and has formed the habits of ceaseless activity. He is exceedingly fond of public speaking, and, with a full voice, earnest manner, a practical view of the subjects discussed, and a ready action of mind, he attracts and holds his audiences. His profound interest in educational problems and methods of work will doubtless cnlist his chief attention in future years, as it has for over twenty years of the past.

He has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Elmina E. Coon, a graduate of De Ruyter Institute, New York. She was a most amiable and accomplished woman, and had fitted herself for the work of teaching and missionary life. She died with the consumption six months after her marriage. His second wife, Miss Ruth Hempill, is a graduate of Alfred University, New York, and has given instructions with him a portion of the time for twenty-five years. She is a woman of superior culture, excellent business traits, exceedingly fond of her home, with ability to exert a most powerful influence over her friends and acquaintances, and possessing a moral and religious nature most highly trained. Four children have been born to President Whitford by his second wife; the eldest, Minnie, died when 5 years of age; the second, William, when he was 16 months old ; and Freddie when he was in the 12th year of his age. The young- est, Milton, is now 13 years old, and is fitting himself, by labor and studying at school, for such positions as may come to him in after life.

G. H. WILLIAMS, dealer in hair goods; was born in Campeachy, Mex., but came at an early age to Poughkeepsie, N. Y., where he learned the barber's trade, at which he worked for several years in Poughkeepsie; from that'place he removed, June 14, 1851, to Madison, Wis., and in that city until April 14, 1855, followed his trade as barber ; he then went to Portage, following the same business until May, 1858, when he returned to Madison, where, in 1863, abandoning his trade, he went into his present business; he manufactures most of his own goods, and has a flourishing business. About eighteen years ago, he married in Madison, Wis., Mrs. Carrie Larson, who had by her first husband, three children -Louis, James and Josephine.

HON. ALEXANDER WILSON, Attorney General ; was born in Westfield, Chautauqua Co., N. Y., Aug. 16, 1833; was educated at Union College, Schenectady, N. Y., graduated from that institution in 1854, then went to Dubuque, Iowa, where he was admitted to the bar in 1855; taught school in 1860 ; then commenced practice at Mineral Point; was elected District Attorney in the fall of 1860; held the office of County Superintendent of Schools, City Superintendent, member of the City Board, for ten years or more; was appointed County Judge in 1868, and served as such until 1871; elected Attorney General in 1877, re-elected in 1879 ; engaged in banking for the last three or four years, in connection with his partner, Edward Harris, known as the City Bank, Wilson & Harris being the sole owners. Married at Mineral Point, in April, 1859, Harriet Frances Sudduth ; she was born in Spring- field, Ill .; they have four children-Armista C., now Mrs. D. D. Muir, a banker of Lincoln, Neb .; Anna Lois, Amasa C. and Caroline J.

JANE M. WILSON, M. D. (nee Ingalls), homoeopathic physician, residence and office corner of Carroll and Clymer streets ; was born in Caledonia Co., Vt., Jan. 3, 1821. Her father, James Ingalls, was educated for a lawyer, but for twenty-six years was a teacher. Her preparatory education was in the public schools of her native town; from early childhood, her delight was to care for the sick, and before commencing professional study, she had local fame as nurse ; for several years she had free use of medical libraries of physicians in her native town. She was married, Dec. 31, 1844, to Estes Wilson, of Belchertown, Mass. ; he is a brick-maker by trade, and a practical farmer. In order to increase her usefulness, she completed her medical course in 1853, at the Woman's Medical College in Boston, Mass .; in the spring of 1854, they removed to this city and she opened an office for the practice of medicine, which she continues to the present time. They have three children-John I., Henry H. and Mary J .; the sons are married and are living in the South ; the daughter, Mrs. E. C. De Moe, lives with her parents. They own a farm of 40 acres in Blooming Grove, Dane Co. ; their home is an annual resort of many sum- mer visitors ; she has a fair professional patronage, and is a practical woman, genial and benevolent.

MRS. ELIZABETH WINSLADE, widow of John Winslade, who was a pioneer mechanic of Madison ; she was born in Quebec in 1816, and was married in Toronto in 1833, and came to Madison in July, 1838. Mr. Winslade worked on the old capitol ; there were then about ten houses in Madison, and most of them were boarding places for the workmen on the capitol; Mr. W. died in 1870, having worked at his trade until he saw the thick, tangled underbrush of this isthmus between the

MADISON.

lakes replaced by this Queen City of the West; much of the lake shore could be approached only by the single Indian path ; Mr. W. built the house where the family have lived for the last twenty-eight years ; be farmed a few years in Sun Prairie. Mrs. W. remembers a man coming fifteen miles to their farm to bor- row a spade, none being nearer ; it was wanted to build a dam for the first mill at Columbus, Columbia Co. Mr. Winslade, months afterward, was obliged to go for the spade, and spend the night with the borrower. Forty-two years ago, July, 1838, her family camped where Fuller & Johnson's agricultural warehouse now is; they slept several nights in their wagon-body with her three children, one of them a young babe a few weeks old ; he soon got a few boards and erected a covering, under which they lived till autumn ; all needed supplies were obtained from Galena, Milwaukee or Chicago. One of the marriage fees received hy Squire Bird, was a bushel of buckwheat and a stump of honey. She has one of the brass candlesticks which did good service in illuminating the first session of the Territorial Legislature. She has five chil- dren living-two daughters, Mary A. and Sarah E., live with her in their neat little home on Wilson street ; they enjoy pioneer memories. Family are respected members of society, and are Congregationalists.

REV. HENRY A. WINTER, Pastor St. Paul's German Presbyterian Church ; was born in Northern Germany in 1826; his preparatory education was in the gymnasium at Lemgo Lippe, Det- mold, Germany; came to the United States in 1846, and lived three years at St. Louis ; then resumed his studies in Mercersburg, Franklin Co., Penn., and remained there two years under the instruction of Drs. Schaff and Nevin ; then was one year at Heidelberg Seminary, Tiffin, Ohio, where he, in 1852, had the distinction of being the first graduate of that Theological College ; his first charge was a missionary field in the Indian Reserve, Ohio. Was married in the fall of 1853, to Miss Margaret Laux, formerly of Baden, Germany ; they have had ten children-Emily, a teacher, married and living in Kansas ; Selma, a teacher, who died in 1877 ; Albert, Otto, Augusta, Hellene, Adolph, Herman, Edmund and Paul. Mr. Winter has been a resident of Wisconsin since the fall of 1853, and since that date he has founded twelve churches, and has served six other churches ; he is now preaching in the church built in 1846-the first church erected for white people west of Milwaukee; in connection with his pastoral duties, he teaches a parochial school, having an average attendance of thirty pupils ; he also has a mission charge at Harvard Junction, Ill., and one at Middleton, Dane Co. He owns no real estate ; has put his energies and earnings in church . enterprises ; he is of a freedom-loving race ; was reared seven miles from the monument to " Herman the Great," the deliverer of Germany from Roman oppression ; in the year 9 of the Christian era, Herman anni- hilated the Roman army in the mountain forest near his early home. From childhood he breathed the air of liberty ; he is a devoted warrior in the church militant.

JOHN B. WISER, manufacturer of carriages and sleighs; born in New York in 1815; learned the trade of carriage making in Albany ; was in this business twenty years in Saratoga Springs, and has carried on the business of carriage making for forty-five years. Was married in 1837, and wife died in 1840; came West in 1856, and settled in Madison, and the same year started carriage mannfac- turing ; shop is located on Clymer street, between Pinckney street and Monona ave .; residence also on Clymer street. Married present wife in 1843 ; have no children. Is the oldest carriage manufacturer now in Madison; has sold nearly one hundred carriages and wagons in a year, but on account of the introduc- tion of Eastern cheap work, the business has been greatly reduced, except in the repair department; all of the men now in Madison in the same line of business have been in his employ ; somc have been with him for fifteen years consecutively ; he is a leading and reliable manufacturer, and has seen the development and improvement of Madison in the main essentials of a beautiful and thrifty city.

ORSON E. WOODBURY, Superintendent of Ball Bros. foundry and machine shop ; is a native of New York, born in Monroe Co. in 1827 ; came to Wisconsin in 1842, and settled in White- water, Walworth Co., Wis .; his father, John, was an architect and builder. Mr. Woodbury spent several yesrs in the northern part of the State, mainly at Berlin ; learned the trade of his father, and is a natural mechanic; was two years in St. Louis. Married, in 1856, to Miss Myra L., daughter of Rev. Joseph Morford, of Oswego, N. Y. ; they have one son-Milo, a law student at Wisconsin University, and Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court; Mr. Woodbury came to Madison in the spring of 1861, where he has since resided, with the exception of six years spent in Milwaukee as Superintendent of a match-factory ; one year fore- man in Garnhart Reaper Works, and has been engaged in mechanical business ever since coming here ; part of the time as proprietor of a small manufacturing establishment; was in early times a Squatter Judge three years in Winnebago Co .; resides at No. 29 Wilson street; is a veteran mechanic.

REV. JOHN E. WRIGHT, Pastor Presbyterian Church; was born in La Fayette'Co., Ind., December, 1842; is the son of Rev. Edward W. Wright, D. D., a pioneer Presbyterian minister of Northern Indiana ; received his preparatory education at Waveland Academy, Indiana, and graduated in Class of '62

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES:

from Jefferson College, Cannonsburg, Penn., and from Princeton Theological Seminary, in 1865; was then, till 1869, Pastor of second Presbyterian Church, in Allegheny City, Penn .; then in charge of the First Presbyterian Church, in Greenville, Penn., until 1874, then served the first Presbyterian Church four years, at Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, Ohio; on the 1st of June, 1878, he was settled as Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, at Madison. He was married, in 1869, to Miss Ellen M. Kerr, daughter of the Rev. John Kerr, of Allegheny City ; they have three children-Mary S., Gifford K. and Naomi, all at home. His charge is in a prosperous condition. The Presbyterian General Assembly held the session of 1880 in the State Capitol; it was a memorable occasion for the church and city.

PETER YOUNG, grocer, of the firm of P. & M. Young, Madison, Wis. ; is the son of John and Margaret Young, and was born in Verona, Oneida Co., N. Y., March 4, 1825 ; for six years, Mr. Y. was in the dry goods business in Oneida Co., N. Y. ; he removed to Madison, Wis., April 5, 1855, and in the fall of 1856 opened the St. Nicholas Restaurant, and continued in this business for about thirteen years ; his brother, Michael, was associated with him in restaurant business from 1856, and in 1868 they began, in partnership, their present business as grocers. Aug. 28, 1869, Mr. Y. married Miss Mary Jane Rathbun, who was born in Verona, N. Y., June 21, 1842; they have three children- Amy R., born July 21, 1870 ; Carrie M., born Oct. 11, 1872, and Joho, born Nov. 18, 1875. The family attend the Congregational Church.

JULIUS G. O. ZEHNTER, firm of Dudley & Zehnter, dry goods and carpets ; store No. 38 Pinckney street ; boards No. 20 Williamson street ; was born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1848; in 1853, came to the United States, and after spending two years in New York City, they came to Wisconsin and lived two years on a farm ; in 1857, located in Madison, and has lived here to the present time; in the fall of 1860, he began commercial life " at the bottom of the ladder," in the store of S. Klauber & Co .; until 1869 was clerk with but two different firms; from 1869 to 1872, was chief salesman in William Dudley's store, and in the fall of 1872, became a partner, and since that date Mr. Z. has had charge of the business. This is one of the leading dry goods houses in Madison. He is identified with several social clubs and societies ; is a capable and reliable business man.

REV. ALOIS ZITTERL, Pastor of the Church of the Holy Redeemer; born June 12, 1845, in St. Oswald, Upper Austria ; was educated at the classical college of Linz, Austria, and took his theological course in St. Frances Seminary, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin ; in December, 1868, he was ordained priest by Archbishop Henni. He came to the United States in August, 1866, and immediately began his special preparation for the ministry ; his first pastorate was that of St. Martin's Church in the Township of Springfield, Dane Co., from January, 1869, to March, 1873; his second pastorate was from March, 1873, to March, 1877, at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Milwaukee Co .; his third pastorate, from March, 1877, to present date, is the Church of the Holy Redeemer at Madison ; the church and parsonage are on Johnson street ; the church building has been reconstructed and steeple rebuilt, in 1880, at a cost of fully $7,000; during each of his other pastorates he built a parsonage ; the parochial school connected with his church is taught by four Sisters of Notre Dame, and the attendance is 250; the church has a membership of 220 families.

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TOWN OF MAZOMANIE.

M. D. ALVORD, dealer in farm machinery, Mazomanie. Mr. Alvord was born in Oneida Co., N. Y., in 1834 ; his parents removed to Waukesha Co., Wis., in the spring of 1845, where his father died in 1874, his mother died in 1879. Mr. Alvord came to Dane Co. in 1858, located in Mazomanie, where he engaged as clerk for D. W. Bronson, for one year ; he went to Colorado, in 1859, and engaged in mining, ranching, etc ; returned in 1865, and engaged in buying grain for about two years, in Mazo- manie ; was Deputy Sheriff of Dane Co. for five years, after which he again engaged in the sale of farm machinery, residing for a time at Milwaukee, Chicago and Ithaca, N. Y .; located again in Mazomanie, April 1, 1880 ; has the agency for the sale of the Buckeye reaper and mower, the Osborne reaper, and of farming implements generally. He was married to Laura M. Whitney, daughter of G. Whitney ; has two boys-Frank and Stanley.

JOSEPH BENNETT, farmer and painter, Sec. 17; P. O. Mazomanie ; was born in England in 1827 ; his father, Christopher Bennett, came to Dane Co. in 1844; he was one of the first who came over under the auspices of the British Temperence Emigration Society ; his family followed in June, 1847; his father settled on the farm where his son now lives, but died soon after the arrival of his family in August of the same year ; his mother died March, 1877, aged 84 years ; Mr. Bennett has resided on his present farm for thirty-three years. He was married to Mary Kerr, daughter of John Kerr, who also with his family came to Mazomanie from England in 1844, the family then consisting of parents and eight children-five sons and three daughters ; parents and four children deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Ben- nett have three children -- Charles resides at Milwaukee, Ida and Hattie at home. Mr. B.'s farm contains 100 acres.

CHARLES BOOTHBY, retired farmer, Mazomanie. Mr. Boothby was born in Lincoln- shire, England, in 1819 ; he came to the United States in 1843 ; he lived with his uncle, near Cincinnati, for a few months ; the following winter he went to Arkansas, where he engaged in chopping wood; the following spring he returned to Cincinnati, where he remained till 1853; two years of this time he was engaged in gardening near the city, and for seven years was engaged in draying. In 1853, he came to Dane Co., Wis., and located in what is now Sec. 5, town of Vermont ; here he engaged in farming, and lived fourteen years ; he was Treasurer of the town three years ; in 1867, he sold his farm and removed to the village of Mazomanie, where he has since lived. His first wife was Miss Susan Copping, of Cin- cinnati, by whom he had two children, neither of whom are living. His present wife, formerly Eliza J. MacDonald, afterward Mrs. George Duncan, was born in the Highlands of Scotland, and came to this country in 1860 ; Mr. Duncan died in Trempealeau Co., Wis., in 1873.

S. E. BRONSON, hanker and lumber-dealer, also editor and proprietor of the Weekly Sickle ; is a son of D. W. Bronson, an early and prominent settler of Mazomanie ; was born in Waukesha Co in 1852; his father, D. W. Bronson, was born in Oneida Co., N. Y., in 1823; removed to Pennsylvania with his parents in 1833 ; he came to Wisconsin in 1843, and settled in Walworth Co .; he afterward re- maved to Eagle, Waukesha Co., where he was married to Miss Melissa E. Whitney, daughter of David Whitney; he removed to Mazomanie with his family in 1855, where for twenty-five years he was prom- inently connected with the interests of the village. He died May 19, 1880. Mr. S. E. Bronson was married to Miss Sophia Warner ; they have two children-Edith and Ethel.

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History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 161

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