History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 85

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

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Mr. Slaughter resigned the office of Register of the Land Office in 1841. In May, 1837, he came to the " City of the Four Lakes," on Section 6, in the present town of Madison, a plat of which " City " was laid out and put on record July 7, 1836, by M. L. Martin, W. B. Slaugh- ter and J. D. Doty, Proprietors. Here he opened up a farm and made his residence until 1845, when he removed to his old home in Virginia ; but at the beginning of the late war (1861), he returned to Wisconsin, and located in the town of Middleton. He afterward moved to the city of Madison, where he resided at the time of his death, which occurred July 15, 1879.

EDWARD G. RYAN.

Edward G. Ryan was born at New Castle House, in the county of Meath, Ireland, Novem- ber 13, 1810, the son of Edward Ryan, of New Castle House, and Abby, his wife, daughter of John Keogh, of Mount Jerome, near Dublin. He was reared in the full sight of wealth, but being the second son, inherited no share of it. He was educated at Clongone's Wood Cottage, where he completed his course in 1827. He commenced the reading of law in his native country, but, before completing it, he came to the United States in 1830, and resumed his studies in New

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York, supporting himself, meanwhile, by giving lessons in private schools. He was admitted to the bar in 1836, and located in Chicago, in the fall of the same year, where he practiced his profession till 1842. During his residence in Chicago, he was editor of a paper called the Trib- une, which, we believe, was the commencement of the paper of that name now in Chicago, though in reaching its present growth, it has absorbed several smaller publications. In 1842, feeling that his health was failing in Chicago, he was constrained to change his location, and, after his marriage with the daughter of Capt. Hugh Graham, he located at Racine, in this State, where he remained till 1848, when he removed to the city of Milwaukee.

Mr. Ryan was Prosecuting Attorney in the Chicago Circuit, in 1840 and 1841; was a mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention in Wisconsin in 1846, representing the county of Racine. In this body he was one of the most conspicuous members, both in committee work and in the debates on the floor of the Convention. He was the Chairman of the Committee on Banks and Banking, second on the Committee on the Judiciary, and also a member of the Committee on Education. When he took his seat in the Convention, he was a stranger to most of the able and brilliant members of that body, and when he took the floor in discussion, they were very much astonished at his power, energy and eloquence as a debater. He advocated the extreme radical features of the old Constitution. In 1848, Mr. Ryan represented his party as a delegate in the National Convention, held at Baltimore, that nominated Lewis Cass for the Presidency. During his practice in Milwaukee, Mr. Ryan had several law partners, among whom were the late Chief Justice Stowe, Matt H. Carpenter and William H. Lord.

Mr. Ryan held the position of City Attorney in Milwaukee during the years 1870, 1871 and 1872. In June, 1874, Chief Justice Dixon having resigned his position on the bench, Mr. Ryan was appointed by Gov. Taylor as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, to fill the vacancy. On receiving his commission, he is reported to have remarked: "This is the sum- mit of my ambition ; this is the place to which I have looked; but it has been so delayed that I had ceased to expect it !" He immediately qualified and assumed the place upon the bench to which he had been appointed. Shortly afterward, the Potter railroad law, enacted by the Legis- lature of 1874, came before the courts. The leading cases were appealed to the Supreme Court, and the validity of the law was affirmed, the opinion being prepared by Chief Justice Ryan. He was elected to the high position, by the people, without opposition. He was a man of vast legal learning, and a writer of masterly ability. His decisions, in point of literary style and legal research, will rank among the first in this country. He was an orator of great power, and many of his efforts equal those of the foremost men in the country. He was engaged in the prosecution of the impeachment trial against Levi Hubbell, before the State Senate, in in 1853, and his great argument in that case was remarkable for its power, its comprehensiveness, its lofty eloquence, and it ranks with the first efforts of the kind on record. He was engaged as counsel in the great gubernatorial contest between Bashford and Barstow, in 1856, on the part of the relator, and, in this case, as in all others in which he has been engaged, he exhibited ability and legal research of the highest order; and his arguments were able, forcible and effect- ive. The case was one of extreme importance, as fixing a precedent, and Mr. Ryan managed it with consummate skill and energy.

In person, Mr. Ryan was five feet ten inches in height, weighed about one hundred and eighty pounds, neither of robust nor delicate frame, but muscular, sinewy and capable of much long and continued labor. His movements were quick and his step elastic. His complexion . was florid, his hair light, his eyes blue, large and expressive.

The death of Chief Justice Ryan caused deep and sincere regret among the people of the State. His vast intellect and well-cultivated mind gave him a high place among the distin- guished men of this country, as a writer, as a genial companion, as an orator and advocate, and as an eminent jurist. Few men possessed more refined and varied tastes than did Judge Ryan. His was a brilliant mind; and the fact of his being thoroughly read on a great variety of sub- jects rendered his conversation extremely interesting and instructive, full of originality, and at times extremely humorous. His addresses were always models in rhetoric, and filled with ele-

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vated thought. He died in Madison, October 19, 1880, and was buried in Milwaukee with honors becoming the position he had filled as Chief Justice of Wisconsin.

Upon the death of Judge Ryan, the Chief Executive of Wisconsin, Gov. W. E. Smith, issued the following order :

STATE OF WISCONSIN, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, MADISON, October 19, 1880.

Executive Order, No. 1:

It is my sad duty to announce to the people of Wisconsin, that, in the mysterious Providence of God, the life on earth of the Hon. Edward G. Ryan, the distinguished Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, is ended. He departed this life thia morning, at about 5 o'clock, unexpectedly by his family and friends, but evidently not by himself. His great mind remained strong and serene to the laat, in full comprehension of his physical condition and in apprehen- sion and consciousness of death, and he expressed clearly hia last wishes to his family, and his abiding Christian faith and hope.

A great man, an eminent citizen, and a high officer of State, to the aore bereavement of his family and frienda, and to the irreparable loss of the public service, has fallen at his post, with the spotless ermine of a great judge still upon his shouldera. Less than one week ago he presided on the hench, and the bar of the State, interested in the present call of the calendar, stood before him in the full confidence and hope that he would yet long remain to dig- nify his high judicial office by his transcendent abilities, learning and refined aense of justice.

But he has suddenly disappeared from amongst the living, and the high places which once knew him will know him no more forever. For about forty years he has been especially prominent in Wisconsin, and elsewhere widely known as one of the ablest and most eminent in hia profession, and in many offices of trust and honor, and he has now closed his distinguished career hy making especially eminent the office of Chief Justice of our Supreme Court, to which he was called by the unanimous vote of the people. To its high and responsible duties he has devoted the great learning, the clear judgment and the developed resources of one of the greatest minds of the age, as the mature fruits of his great experience and of his long and distinguished life. There remains no one who can in all respects fill the high place he has left vacant, and long years of time in our future history will but illustrate, by memory and comparison, his unequaled abilities as a lawyer and a judge, and make still more conspicuous and indelible his impress npon the laws, politica and jurisprudence of the State.

The people of Wisconsin will deeply lament his death and sympathize with his bereaved family and friends. As a mark of respect to his memory, the Supreme Court room will be suitably draped in mourning, the flag upon the capitol displayed at half-mast, and on the day of the funeral the State Departments will be closed,

WILLIAM E. SMITH, Governor.

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CHAPTER XL.

LITERATURE *- ART-ORATORY-COMMON SCHOOLS-DANE COUNTY PRESS.

LITERATURE.

ELLA WHEELER, a resident of the town of Westport, Dane County, stands at the head of the poets of Wisconsin. She has written "Drops of Water, " Shells," and " Maurine"-three distinct poetical works. The first named has been re-published in London and in Australia. Her con- tributions, both in poetry and prose, are to be seen in all the leading magazines of America. Her poetical genius is recognized at home and abroad, as of the highest order.

JOHN NADER, a resident of Madison, has in press a work of much merit, on "The Tides." Mr. Nader has published several pamphlets of a scientific character, and has contributed many articles to the periodical press upon scientific subjects.

MRS. DR. WILLIAM H. Fox, of Oregon, has recently published under the nom de plume of Toler King, a novel entitled " Rose O'Connor." Mrs. Fox is an able and entertaining writer.

J. B. PRADT came to Sheboygan in 1856, and to Madison in 1860, where he has since resided, except for two years. Mr. Pradt has presented numerous addresses, reports and papers before the State Teachers' Association, the first in 1857, on Moral and Religious Instruc- tion in Public Schools, the last on the Kindergarten, in 1880. He has frequently lectured before Teachers' Institutes and other audiences, and among others on the following subjects : " The English Language," " The Conservative and Progressive," "The Two Orders of Intel- lect," "The Arctic Regions,"." The Two Methods of Teaching." He issued five volumes of the Wisconsin Journal of Education, as editor and publisher, 1860-65; and has been co-editor and / publisher with successive State Superintendents, in the issue of the last ten volumes of the same pub- lication, 1870-1880. As Assistant State Superintendent, he has taken part in the preparation of twelve annual reports, from the office of the State Superintendent, and of a school edition of the Constitution of the United States and that of Wisconsin. In 1874, he issued a pamphlet touching the election of a Bishop for the Protestant Episcopal Church in Wisconsin.

WILLIAM H. ROSENSTENGEL, Professor in the University of Wisconsin, is the author of nearly all of the articles on literature in Klemm's History of German Literature. He has pub- lished " Lessons in German Grammar ;" also, a work on " Irregular Verbs." He has in manu- script a " German Scientific Reader " and a " German Classical Reader." He has corresponded extensively with German papers in this country and Germany, and has had considerable expe- rience as an editor.

O. M. CONOVER is a resident of Madison. In 1850, he edited in that city The Northwestern Journal of Education, Science and General Literature. In 1864, he became Official Reporter of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. Thirty-three volumes, beginning with No. XVI of the reports of that court, have each his name as Official Reporter, upon its title-page. With four excep- tions, these have all been prepared exclusively by him and printed under his supervision. To the outside world, literary work of such a nature must, of necessity, be but little known. Not so, however, to the bench and bar-and especially to the bench and bar of Wisconsin, who highly appreciate the legal as well as literary ability displayed in the preparation, arrangement, and publication of these reports.

ARTHUR B. BRALEY, Municipal Judge of Dane County, is the anthor of numerous popu- lar and very excellent commentaries on most of the plays of Shakespeare. These have been

*Among the authors of Dane County not mentioned in this article are William B. Slaughter, John Y. Smith, Stephen H. Carpenter, John B. Fenling and W. J. L. Nicodemus. Particulars of the literary career of each of these men will be found in the biographical sketches of them, in the article entitled " Some of Dane County's Distinguished Dead."-En.

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published in different newspapers in Wisconsin, and have been widely read. Other contributions to local periodicals by him evince a high order of talent as a writer.

JAMES C. WATSON, Professor of Astronomy in the University of Wisconsin, and Director of the Washburn Observatory, has published, besides astronomical charts, a " Popular Treatise on Comets " (1860), and "Theoretical Astronomy " (1868).

PROF. DAVID B. FRAKENBURGER, of the University of Wisconsin, is the author of some excellent poetry. Of his published poems, those read before the literary societies and the Alumni Association of the University of Wisconsin are the longest. That he should have been thrice selected in seven years by the graduates of the institution, as poet, is a most emphatic recogni- tion of his talents in courting the muses. His first poem read before the association (1870) was entitled "My Old Home on a Rainy Day ; " the second (1871), " The Bells that hung at Beth- lehem; " and the third (1877), " Our Welcome Home -- To the Alumni.'

In his less pretentious efforts, there are many thoughts very beautiful indeed. Several are noticed in a poem published in June, 1870, entitled, "Like Vapor it Passeth Away "-lines dedicated to the memory of a young man accidentally killed while hunting on the banks of Dead Lake, Wisconsin. Says the writer :

" On the wings of the morn, all scarlet and gray, Death came in our midst to aadden the day."

After the particulars of the event are related, the anguish of the mother, upon hearing the ter- rible news, is thus left to the imagination of the reader :

" Draw the curtaina in close, tread soft on the floor, Tie up the bell's tongue, hang crape on the door, Let the aad-hearted mourners their lone watches keep, For loved ones must die, and mothera must weep."

Then

" In the fresh spring earth, mold out his lone bed, Where the willow trees weep o'er the home of the dead-"

ends the poetic tribute to the memory of one whose young life went out so suddenly.

The following strikingly beautiful and highly poetic passage is to be found in his last poem before the Alumni of the University-" Our Welcome Home :

" There is nothing dead in this world of ours; The rock has life as well as the flowers ; The atoms are prisoned, but living atill, Are waiting the call of a forming will ;

1 And the humble place they hold this hour, Shall be changed in the next to one of power. Unlocked by the tread of our hasty feet, In the bloom of flower and fruit shall meet ; For back of rock and hird and tree, Throbs the same great heart of Deity."

CHARLES NOBLE GREGORY, a resident. of Madison, has written mainly for the Chicago Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He writes mostly in verse. His poems have been extensively copied by the leading papers and periodicals of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, St. Louis and San Francisco. He is an earnest student of Wordsworth and the German poets, but his style is essentially his own. The following exquisite verses from his pon remind one very forcibly of Thomas Buchanan Read's "Closing Scene," in their "tranquil beauty " and " dreamy thoughts : "

SEPTEMBER.

" There sounds a rustling in the standing corn ; There hanga a bright-cheeked apple on the bough ; And later lingers now the tardy morn, And even-shadowa gather sooner now.

" One crimson branch flames 'mid the maple-wood ; One red leaf hides amid the woodbine's green ; And clean-raked fields lie bare, where lately stood The tawny grain amid the summer's scene.

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" No more the fire-bird glows amid the grove ; The thrush, full-fed, flits tuneless by the way ; Robin, of all the birds that piped their love, Whistles alone his plaintive roundelay.

" The husy blackbirds drill their noisy troop, Yet, loath to leave, the Southern flight decline ; The sun-ripe grapes in purple clusters droop Amid the vineyards, or on cottage-vine :

" While the still lake in tranquil heauty sleeps, And mirrors hack broad skies and narrow shore ;

For, like a good msn's heart, its crystal deeps Earth's charms reflect, but Heaven's sereneness more.

" Only the wild fowl, winging o'er its hreast, Ripples the water tinged with sunset dyes ; Or one light zephyr, stealing from the West, Kisses the dimpling wave before it dies.

" Blue gentians show 'mid meadow-grasses sere, And, from the stubble, shrill the crickets sing ; A requiescat o'er the failing year All sounds seem sadly chorusing.

" Peaceful the thoughts these quiet hours invite, When e'en the restless wind forgets to stir ; Happy this month, since all the ripe delight Of summer, softly tempered, follows her ;

" Save that the skies, half-hid with golden haze, Bring dreamy thoughts of dear ones who are not ; Save that the soft air sighs of other days And other loves, still dear and unforgot ;

" Save that the heart, amid the silence, hears Voices of yearning hope and mem'ry speak, Until the mist of inadvertent tears Clouds o'er the musing eye, and stains the cheek."

PROF. W. W. DANIELS, of the University of Wisconsin, has written "The Chemistry of Bread Making," published in the transactions of the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society for 1870; "Some of the Relations of Science to Agriculture," delivered before an agricultural convention in Madison, Wis., 1871; " Laws of Heredity Applied to the Improvement of Dairy Cows," before the Northwestern Dairymen's Association at Elgin, Ill., January 17, 1872; "Some of the Wants of American Farmers," Monroe County (Wisconsin) Fair, same year; " The Conservation of Forces Applied to the Feeding, Watering and Sheltering of Farm Stock," Northwestern Dairymen's Association, January, 1873 ; "Industrial Education," before an Agricultural Convention, Madison, 1873; "Hard Times-a Cause and a Remedy," State Fair, Milwaukee, September 8, 1874; " Objects and Methods of Soil Cultivation," State Agri- cultural Convention of Wisconsin, 1875; "Chemical Principles of Stock-feeding," Wisconsin Dairymen's Association, January, 1877 ; " Health in Farmer's Homes," State Agricultural Convention of Wisconsin, 1878. Most of these addresses, as indicated by their titles, treated of the applications of science to agriculture.

Prof. Daniels is a member of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters; he has read before it several papers of marked ability ; one on the " Results of the Analysis of Certain Ores and Minerals ;" another on the " Absorption of Arsenic by the Human Liver;" a third on the " Results of the Analyses of Catlinite (pipe stone), from Minnesota and Wisconsin ;" and a fourth on the "Retardation of the Wind in the Wisconsin Tornadoes of May 23, 1878." Prof. Daniels has also written an able and interesting paper on these tornadoes, which is pub- lished in the report of the Regents of the University of Wisconsin for 1878, so much of which

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as relates to the county of Dane, being reproduced in the next chapter of this work. Accompanying these "Investigations " is an accurate map of the tracks of the wind. Three plates illustrate the subject. He is also the author of an article on " Agriculture in Wisconsin," which is repro- duced in the preliminary part of this history.

JOHN C. FREEMAN, now a Professor in the University of Wisconsin, published in 1872, an edition of Xenophon's Memorabilia ; also the same year the Dialogues of Lucian. Prof. Free- man was one year the editor of a literary journal-the Michigan Magazine. He has contributed quite extensively to educational and political papers.

CHARLOTTE ELIZA LEWIS was born in Carbondale, Luzerne Co., Penn., on the 23d day of November, 1836. She was educated in the common schools of Battle Creek, Mich., and in Miss Lapham's Female Seminary of the same place. She was married to Henry M. Lewis, on the 1st day of September, 1857, in Madison, Wis., where she still resides.

Mrs. Lewis commenced writing for the press in 1870. Her first contributions were pub- lished in the Wisconsin Farmer, relating largely to horticulture. She has since corresponded with the. Maryland Farmer, the Fruit and Flower Magazine, Washington, D. C., and the Western Rural-all on the same subject. Several articles have also appeared from her pen, mostly on rural matters. A few charming stories for children written by her have appeared in the Young Folks' Monthly, Chicago. Her writings are characterized by a sweet simplicity, coupled with an elegance and clearness of diction that interests and pleases the reader.

PROF. KERR, of the University of Wisconsin, though not a writer of books, has not been "silent " with his pen. His writings, as might be expected, have been largely upon educational topics ; for the professor is essentially an educationalist. His style is clear and vigorous ; his periods are well turned; his thoughts fresh and strong ; his imagination vivid and far reaching. With such a cast of mind, he could not refrain at times, if he would, from courting "the muses fair;" and, that he has done this effectively, the following brief extract, from a poem entitled " Atlantis," abundantly shows:

" Back in those shadowy halls of time, Where passed a retinue suhlime, Marching with such a sounding tread That the long echo is not dead Tho' twice a thousand years have fled, Since wept for them the fair and young-

Since mournfully the cypress hung Above them its funereal bough- Earth had her dreaming sons as now. They were the men who could discern The golden years once more return ; And in their dream of rapture, they Forgot the miseries of to-day."

There runs through many of his poetic effusions a delicateness of feeling that is really attractive; as, for example, in these verses from a poem entitled

COLLEGE DAYS.

" Let us turn to those happy days of ours That were fresh with the odor and bloom of flowers; Let us look through the hazy atmosphere That over them hangs like a mist on the mere.

"Those college days, they were wondrous fair !- They were free from the haunting visage of care; Free from the bitter draughts, we driuk ; As we sit by the wayside of life to think. .

"As wanderers on a distant shore Dream of a home they shall visit no more, And fix on the sea their longing gaze, Thus turn we to our college days."

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Professor Kerr has contributed liberally to the periodical press of Wisconsin. Several educational addresses of his have also been published.

J. W. STERLING, Vice President of the University of Wisconsin and Professor in that institution ever since its first organization, has written some excellent addresses and bacca- laureate sermons, which have been printed. A paper on "The Protection of Life and Prop- erty from Lightning," read before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society in 1874, was after- ward highly commended by Prof. Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution.

ELLA A. GILES is a resident of the city of Madison. Her contributions to various periodicals are numerous. She is the author of three works of fiction:, "Bachelor Ben," " Out from the Shadows," and " Maiden Rachel." These novels are well written and popular. Miss Giles takes high rank among American authors.

O. A. WRIGHT, Secretary of the State Board of Charities and Reform, is now a resident of the city of Madison. An "Analysis of the Constitution of Wisconsin," and an " Analysis of the Constitution of the United States," are his principal works.

SARA C. BULL, wife of the late world-renowned Ole Bull, has translated Jonas Lie's " The Pilot and His Wife," and " The Barque Future." Mrs. Bull has her home in Madison, She is now engaged upon a third translation from Lie's works, "The Man of Second Sight." These books indicate on the part of the translator much genius and learning.

J. W. HOYT, now Governor of the Territory of Wyoming, a resident of Madison for many years, is a prolific and vigorous writer. His works consist of thirteen annual reports of the State Agricultural Society, and other reports on the " Resources and Progress of Wisconsin;" on the " London International Exhibition ;" on the "Paris Exposition Universelle ;" on the " Railroad Commission ;" a report as Chairman of the National University Committee ; a work on " Uni- versity Progress," and numerous monographs, industrial, educational and scientific.

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History of Dane County, Wisconsin, Part 85

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