USA > Wisconsin > Eau Claire County > History of Eau Claire county, Wisconsin, past and present; including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county > Part 79
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Thomas F. was reared on the farm and his boyhood days were spent mneh the same as the usual farmer boy, attending the dis- triet schools and assisting with the farm work until he was nine- teen years of age. Ile then went to St. Paul and connected him- self with J. F. Tosterin & Son, where he learned the trade of tile setter, serving an apprenticeship of two years. Ile then worked as a journeyman seven years for the same firm, after which he went to Chicago and there followed his trade for two years. At the end of that time he returned to St. Paul and to the employ of the old firm, remaining with them from 1894 to 1906, the last eight years of the time was foreman of their large force and did
JOHN H. NYGAARD
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most of the estimating on contraets. In 1906 he came to Eau ('laire and engaged in the tile business for himself, with his office at 428 North Barstow street. In 1913 he erected a dwelling and office building on Chippewa Road and Second Crossing, and moved his office there. Ile does contracting in all kinds of tile work, mantels, bath rooms, etc.
In 1901 he married Lucy MeManus, daughter of John and Lottie MeManus, of St. Paul. To this union two children have been born : Mary Fern and Arthur Dean, the latter deceased. Mr. ()'Connell is one of the enterprising and public spirited men of Eau Claire and is always interested in the welfare of his city. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus and for twenty years he has been associated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a prominent member of the Catholic church.
Gustav K. Opheim,* who, for thirty years, was one of the most popular hotel men of Ean Claire, was a native of Norway, and born in 1855. After arriving in America he came to Wisconsin and spent one year at Rice Lake. He came to Eau Claire in 1884 and from that time on, to the time of his death, which occurred January 22, 1914, he was engaged in the hotel business and dur- ing this interval, became favorably and popularly known. He was a man of thrift and ability and made a grand success of his business, as well as gaining and retaining the good will of his fellowmen. His religious affiliations were with Our Savior's Norwegian Church and he was a popular member of the Knights of Pythias and the Sons of Norway. He was married in Chip- pewa Falls, Wis., to Miss Anna M. Christofson, and they became the parents of two children-Sever C. and Oscar B. Opheim.
M. E. Paddock is a native son of Wisconsin, was born in Ean Claire county, April 18, 1880, and is one of a family of six children, born to Edgar Alfonso and Adelia (Travis) Paddock. and grandson of Anson Paddock, the pioneer of the Paddock family in this country. The others are E. B., who is on the home farm: Clara, wife of C. W. Warner, of Augusta; Earl, who re- sides in Elkhorn, this state; Bessie, wife of Harvey Horrell and Jessie, wife of Alfred Thompson. Anson Paddock, a native of Messina, St. Lawrence county, New York, came west to Wiseon- sin, first settling on Beef River in 1856, and thenee in 1861 moved to Ean Claire county and settled on a farm in Bridge Creek township near the present homestead of the Paddock family. Ile bad four children : Bradford, deceased; Lneinda, who became the wife of Henry Curran; Edgar Alfonso, father of our sub- jeet, who died in 1890, at the age of 42. and Myron was aeci-
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dently burned to death in infancy. Anson Paddock, as well as his son, Edgar Alfonso, were men of thrift and progress, and did their full share in helping to transform Eau Claire county from its wild state to one of productive farms and pretty homes. They took a prominent part in the affairs of the county, were enterprising and industrious, and at their death, left the most valuable of all inheritances, that of an honored name.
M. E. Paddock was raised on the homestead farm, obtained his education in the public schools and helped in the farm work. Ile married in 1903 Miss Minnie Schroeder, and by her has three children : Marjorie, Marion and Edgar. Mr. Paddock, associated with his brother, E. B., under the name of Paddock Brothers, are operating the home farm of 320 acres of choice land which is in a good state of cultivation and improved with a modern residence, barns and other outbuildings. They carry on general farming, stockraising and dairying, using in their operations the most up- to-date methods. They have a fine herd of 56 full blooded Hol- stein cattle, 20 head of which are milch cows. They make a specialty of breeding and raising Percheron horses, and have in their stud some fine imported specimens. Their hogs, of which they raise large members, are of the Poland-China breed, while their sheep are of the Cotwell variety. While Mr. Paddock is among the younger class of farmers, he is considered good au- thority on many branches of farming industry, and occupies a place of prominence in the community where he resides. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, while in politics he is a Republican.
Robert Emmett Parkinson, the genial proprietor of the Eau Claire House, and probably the dean of hotel men in Wisconsin, was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, January 24, 1859, a son of William and Anna (Sullivan) Parkinson, and comes of English and Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father, a native of Eng- land, and son of John Parkinson, came to the United States in 1842, settling in St. Lawrence county, New York, where he was engaged in farming. There onr subject was reared nntil seven- teen years of age, receiving a limited education in the common schools. In 1876 he came to Eau Claire connty, first locating in Angusta. where he spent two years in the employ of a grain firm. In 1878 he came to the city of Eau Claire and engaged with the Eau Claire Street Car Company for two years, after which he entered the employ of the Daniel Shaw Lumber Company, where he remained three years. Since 1883 he has been connected with the Ean Claire House, then as now the leading hotel of Eau
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Claire. His first employment in this hotel was that of bell boy, being advanced later to clerk and in 1887 he became one of the proprietors, the firm being Foster & Parkinson. In 1888 Daniel McGillis purchased Mr. Foster's interest and the hotel was con- ducted under the firm name of Parkinson & MeGillis until 1895, since which period Mr. Parkinson has been sole proprietor of the hotel, which he has conducted on up-to-date principles in every respect and made it one of the most popular hostelries in Wis. consin and it is only just to say of Mr. Parkinson that under his careful, attentive and successful management, he was enabled in 1911 to come into possession of the hotel property in its en- tirety. Ilis success has been achieved by his own persistent ef- forts, always on hand to greet his guests on arrival, and he is most favorably known by the traveling public from coast to coast and familiarly known by the commercial men as "Bob," his affable and genial manner having made him one of the most prominent men in the business.
Politically Mr. Parkinson affiliates with the Republican party, while fraternally he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and is a leading member of the Eau Claire County Old Settlers' Association. Ile married May 4, 1899. Anna, daughter of William Emerson, of Milwaukee, and they are the parents of one daughter, Ione May Parkinson.
Ole J. Parker, who for twenty-two years was a member of the police force of Eau Claire. was born in Norway, November 12, 1847. When he reached the age of maturity in 1868, he came to America and first located at LaCrosse, and after remaining there one summer, he eame to Eau Claire and worked in the lum- bering industry for Chapman & Thorpe, with whom he remained until 1886. In the Spring of the last named year, he was ap- pointed to a position on the city police force and discharged his duties efficiently until 1896, when he resigned and went to Mon- tana, remaining there about two years. In the Fall of 1898 he returned to Eau Claire and was employed on the river and in the lumber yards of the Dells Improvement Company. and also the Northwestern Lumber Company until the Spring of 1900, when he was reappointed to the police force, a position he filled until September 1, 1912, when he again resigned.
Mr. Parker married Miss Thora Peterson Risem, who died September 17, 1902. To this union four children were born. viz. : Belle. Annie, Joseph C. and John P., all born in the city of Eau Claire. Annie married Mr. W. A. Clark, former principal of
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the Eau Claire training school; Joseph C. resides in Salt Lake City, Utah; John is in Los Angeles, Cal., and Belle resides at home with her father.
Earle S. Pearsall, district manager for the Wisconsin Na- tional Life Insurance Company, was born in Ontario, Canada, February 15, 1872, the son of James and Isabel (Gonsolus) Pear- sall, and is of English and Spanish extraction. He was reared in Nebraska, received his education in the public schools of Columbus, that state, and the Omaba business college. He be- gan his business career in 1888 as clerk in the dry goods store at Columbus, and later entered the First National Bank of that city as bookkeeper, but resigned that position to accept the man- agement of a gents' furnishing store in the same town, and con- tinued in that position until the breaking out of the Spanish- American War. At that time, 1898, he was a member of the Ne- braska National Gnards, which later became the first regiment of Nebraska volunteers; he served fourteen months in the Philip- pines as a sergeant in the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection. On his return home in 1899, he located at Omaha, Neb., where he was engaged for a short time in the brokerage business, and in 1900 came to Eau Claire, where he has since been connected with the Dells Paper and Pulp Company, and the Eau Claire Dells Improvement Company, being secretary of the latter corporation, and since 1911 he has been district man- ager of the Wisconsin National Life Insurance Company, also secretary of the Davis Falls Land Company, Inc.
On June 14. 1900, Mr. Pearsall married Miss Emile Davis, daughter of David R. Davis, of Eau Claire, and has two children, Earle S., Jr., and Jane Geraldine. Captain Pearsall is a member of Christ Episcopal Church, of Eau Claire, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias. is also commander of Camp No. 27, Spanish-American War Veterans. Upon coming to Eau Claire, Mr. Pearsall joined the Wisconsin National Guards and since 1902 has been captain of Company E. Third Regiment.
Charles Pelletier,* successful business man and highly re- spected citizen, of Eau Claire, was born at Sand Rock, Canada. and is one of a family of eighteen children born to Mitchell and Sophia (Laird) Pelletier, all of whom are now deceased, but three. Besides our subject the others were Hal, Francis. Thomas, Joseph, Ida, Virginia, Adelaide, Mary, Martin, Ostin, Alexander. John. Charles. Jule, Lewis, Mitchell and Fida, and one who died
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in infancy. The parents spent their lives in Canada, where the father died in 1891 and the mother in 1896.
Raised in Canada, Mr. Pelletier received his education in the schools of his home town. He came to the United States and spent two years in Grand Traverse, Michigan, and then in 1871 came to Eau Claire where he was first employed with the Daniel Shaw Lumber Company, with whom he remained for fifteen years. He served five years on the police force of Eau Claire under Mayors Farr and Bailey, and twenty-six years ago opened a grocery store in the city of Eau Claire and for fifteen years of this time ran a bakery shop in connection with the grocery. He has prospered and has become one of the solid business men of Ean Claire, and owns at this time considerable real estate, in- elnding four buildings on the street where he lives. He is a member of St. Patrick's Catholic Church, and a member of the Order of Catholic Knights.
Mr. Pelletier married Miss Mary Maning, of Durand. Wis., who died in 1902 without issue, and two years later, in 1904. Mr. Pelletier took for his second wife Catherine Weisenfelt, of Eau Claire.
John W. Pepper,* proprietor of the Eau Claire Dray, Express and Bus line, which he established in 1876, was born in Charles- ton, Illinois, March 20, 1847, the son of Samuel S. and Doreas (Wiley) Pepper, both natives of Kentucky, and pioneers of Coles county, Illinois, where they followed farming and milling and made their home during the remainder of their lives.
John W. was reared in his home county and attended the common schools. At the age of 21, in 1868, he went to Rochester. Minnesota, and for five years was employed in a livery stable. He came to Ean Claire in 1873 and secured a position as foreman in Samuel Ellis' livery stable, remaining thus employed for three years. In 1876 he embarked in business for himself on a small scale, which has since grown into one of the largest and leading transfer lines in the city, working ten horses and two autos and employs seven men and one stenographer in the office.
On February 17, 1875, Mr. Pepper married Miss Eliza Sprague. daughter of Orrin and Cynthia (Brown) Sprague, of Rochester, Minnesota, and they are the parents of the following children: Gertie, deceased; Jessie, wife of Fred LaMerr; Grace, wife of George W. Town: John; Valeria, wife of Ray Fowler, and Guy Hamilton. Mr. Pepper is a stockholder in the Egg-O Baking Powder Company, of Eau Claire. and served as alderman from the
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First Ward for two years. His three brothers, William, Alexander and Samuel, as well as himself, were soldiers in the Civil War. Mr. Pepper enlisted as a private in Company I, 135th Regiment, Illi- nois Volunteer Infantry, May 10, 1864, and was honorably dis- charged from the service September 28. of the same year. Ile is now a member of Eagle Post, No. 52, G. A. R., of Ean Claire.
Gustave E. Petrick, assistant sales manager of the Interna- tional Harvester Company, with offices in the Harvester Company building, Eau Claire, was born in Fall Creek, this county, May 30, 1873, and is the son of William and Matilda (Reinholz) Pet- rick. William Petrick, his father, was born in Germany, and at the age of about seven years, in 1858, came to America with an older brother and first resided in Green county, Wis. He moved to Fall Creek in 1870, and was successfully engaged in farming until 1909, when he retired and now resides in the village of Fall Creek at the age of sixty-five years, where he has been prominently identified with the affairs of the village and the Lutheran ehurch. He married Matilda Reinholz, who was also born in Germany, and came to the United States in 1870. Mr. and Mrs. Petrick are the parents of twelve children, as follows: Gustave E .; Rudolph, a meat dealer in Ean Claire; William. a lumberman of Northern Minnesota; Helen married Herman Mouldenhauer; Adolph is a farmer in Montana; Otto is engaged at farming in Fall Creek; Pauline; Fred runs a restaurant in Superior, Wis .; Tillie; Amelia; Walter, and Herman.
Gustave E. was educated in the public and high schools of Fall Creek. Finishing his education, he became associated in 1892 as salesman with Tagert Brothers, of Augusta, dealers in farm implements, after which he became connected with the Deering Harvester Company as traveling salesman, making his headquarters at Winona, Minn. In 1906 he was appointed assist- ant general agent of the International Harvester Company, Eau Claire, which position he still occupies. He is a member of the Eau Claire Club, Y. M. C. A., Knights of Pythias, also director of the Girnan Manufacturing Co. In 1900 Mr. Petrick married Emma Bartig, daughter of August and Louise Bartig, of Augusta, and they have one son, Edward Donovan Petriek.
Forest George Pierce, who resides in the town of Brunswiek, Eau Claire county, where he is engaged in farming and stock raising, was born at Fosbroke, Dunn county, February 10, 1879. 1His father, Mervin E. Pieree, was born in November, 1849, at Paris, Kenosha county, Wis., and moved to Eau Claire with his parents at the age of eight years, and was here educated in the
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public schools and worked on a farm. When he reached the age of 21, he owned a farm in Dunn county, where he spent a few years and then removed to Brunswick township and purchased the John Winrose farm of 120 acres, to which he has added many improvements and now resides, one of the most prosperous farm- ers of his township. He is a general farmer and stock raiser and carries on an extensive dairy business. He married Sarah Brad- ford, daughter of George H. and Margaret (Cater) Bradford, of New York State, and they have the following children: Hattie married Birney Churchill, a well-known contractor, of Eau Claire ; Forest G., the subject of this sketch ; Schuyler, a farmer in the town of Brunswick; Henry resides at Rock Falls, Wis .; Edgar married Cora Morris and resides at home and carries on the farm.
George Pierce, paternal grandfather of Forest G., was born in the State of New York, but later moved to Kenosha county, Wisconsin, where he followed farming for a number of years, then moved to Eau Claire county and later to Dunn county, where he died, having spent his entire life engaged in farming.
Forest G., after finishing his education in the common and high schools, took a course in dairying in Madison, after which he returned to the home farm and assisted in its operation until he became connected with the Eau Claire Creamery Company as butter maker, a position he held for three years. In 1909 he purchased the Washington Churchill farm of 130 acres in Bruns- wick township, located on the Chippewa river, which is now known as the Riverside Farm. In addition to his general farm- ing, he is largely engaged in raising full blooded Holstein cat- tle, Percheron horses and Red Duroc hogs, and also does an ex- tensive business, selling his milk and cream to the Rock Falls Creamery. He is one of the active and progressive farmers of his town, is independent in politics and belongs to the Catholic church.
On May 20, 1908, he married Miss Francis E. Comings, daugh- ter of George F. Comings, of Brunswick township, and they are the parents of two children-Francis Willard and George Forest Pierce.
Cora Scott Pond Pope, daughter of Levi W. Pond and Mary Ann MeGowan; born in Sheboygan, Wis., March 2, 1856, and at the age of two years came to Eau Claire, Wis., one of the young- est of the baby pioneers.
I lived the uneventful life common to all young people in that new lumbering town of few inhabitants, attending our rather
1
uden Pond said he used to
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primitive schools and entering with great zest into all the out door sports of summer and winter.
At the age of eighteen I united with the Congregational church, but soon fell into trouble by refusing to partake of fer- mented wine of the Communion service. The prohibition of the Holy Writ meant prohibition for me. "If meat maketh the brother to offend," ete., meant wine in that day in this. In 1877 at the age of twenty-one, I entered the University of Wisconsin and studied there for three years.
"Bob LaFollette and Belle Case, who afterward became his wife, were my close friends. The later career of these two people have more than fulfilled their early promise and they stand to- day two of the bravest, most advanced characters in American history.
At the University I began the study of dramatic work and in 1880 went to Boston, where I continued it for four years at the New England Conservatory, under Eben Tourjee. Then I taught in that institution for a year.
I was naturally a reformer and at the age of sixteen I saw the need of reform in women's dress and abjured corsets and to this day have not worn them.
Since early life I have been a militant Prohibitionist. | In Bos- ton I met and became inspired by those wonderful women, Mrs. Luey Stone, Rev. Anna Shaw, Mary A. Livermore, Julia Ward Howe and others and joined with them in the work for women's suffrage and for six years I worked with them and organized eighty-five Woman Suffrage Leagues, raising money for state work by subscription and great bazaars, dramatie entertain- ments, etc.
In 1890 I was urged by Mary A. Livermore to carry that work into other states and raise money for different charities, so for the next fifteen years I gave these entertainments in most of the large cities of the United States. In 1891 I married John T. Pope, of Chicago. He had three little boys, Lester, Marshall and Clarence, who lived with my mother for twelve years, while Mr. Pope and I continued the work I had begun.
Since 1886 I had been investing in real estate in Los Angeles, and in 1905 we permanently located in that beautiful city. I have had a Enropean trip since coming here. The Los Angeles Examiner invited me to chaperon four of its young women con- testants to Europe. We were gone two months, visited twelve cities in America and twelve in Europe, France, Belgium and Ilolland, boosted for the Examiner and had the best of hotels, guides,
21. 50
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service, meals and tours in all these cities at the expense of the Examiner, one of the most remarkable publications in the coun- try. I return to Los Angeles and to real estate. If I win out in my real estate deals I hope to spend many years yet in the service , that I love, urging greater justice to the mothers of our race; to help to better the development of children; to urge the moral safeguardings of young girls and boys in order to abolish vice and to raise the "one standard" of morals for men and women, in marriage and out of it; to give justice to the great army of labor that creates all our necessities and comforts of life, and to give equal laws and equal suffrage to men and women-equality for all alike before the law for every race and clime and color. Only by so doing, as God gives me light, shall I hope for life eternal.
If I have helped in any measure I have only repaid a life of unselfish devotions given to me by my father and my mother.
"If you have a kindness shown, pass it on. 'Twas not meant for you alone ; pass it on.
Let it travel down the years, let it wipe another's tears,
'Till in Heaven the deed appears, pass it on."
Mrs. Mary A. Pond. Read at the funeral service of Mrs. Mary A. Pond at Los Angeles, Cal., March 30, 1913:
To the Memory of My Dear Mother and to Universal Mother- hood :
I am impelled to give this tribute. It is but another testi- mony to the countless millions of women martyrs who take np the noble office of motherhood-your mother, the mothers of the ages past, and for the centuries and ages to come, who has thought of them? What has been done for them to lessen their burdens? What will future ages give to these noblest of earth's martyrs who must forever enter the valley of the shadow when giving birth to humanity who people this globe?
The life of one dear mother, my mother, passes before me. Mother of eight children and one other she took in childhood- a family of nine to care for, to nurse and sew and mend and cook. We were given the most absolute devotion of a mother's care. In health and sickness, the unending duties of the day and night watches. It staggers belief that this one woman, with- out preparation, with no education for parenthood, married be- fore she had reached the age of sixteen, could accomplish what this dear mother has done.
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The family was raised in very moderate circumstances. The purse was never full. My father made a great fortune by an in- vention, but the money passed through other hands and his in- terests were kept from him.
All we had could have been used for our family for modest physical comforts. Mother needed it all, but at any time she would divide what she had with the widow and orphan children and give her bed and loaf to the stranger. The sick she nursed and gave comfort to unfortunates. When church and neighbor called for assistance she gave to the limit of her strength, and so happy was she in the giving. It was her life. All she had and all she was she gave.
Intensely devoted to home duties, her table was always spread. The story of the loaves and fishes was demonstrated when the sons and daughters and grandchildren and friends and neighbors eame to see us.
Upon Sunday evenings mother's hospitable table was ready. She would go out herself to prepare the evening meal at any time, no matter what the physical or financial sacrifice to her. Her savory dishes were known far and near. All enjoyed com- ing. Her life and happiness was in giving.
She had nearly reached her sixtieth year and had earned a comfortable and honorable release from life's severe duties, when three little motherless boys, 4, 6 and 8 years of age, were brought to her at her request. Without hesitation, not even for a moment, did she stop to consider the consequences to her. They needed her, her home and care. She took them and for twelve long years she reared those boys. Do you know what it meant to her at that age? A new family. She must begin all over again. Never in all those years did I hear one word of regret for the comfort and ease she had resigned for them.
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