History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 143

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1044

USA > Wisconsin > Grant County > History of Grant County, Wisconsin > Part 143

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A. D. WONZOR, born in Aurelia, Can .; came to Platteville in 1867, and, in September of nat year, opened business as a barber in the basement of the old Tyler House ; a year later he removed ) a room over Wright's drug store, and, after four years, to the present Riege store ; here he operated ntil 1876, when he purchased and located in his present building, ou Main street; here he has a large ad well appointed shop, and the three chairs are well patronized; he is eminently the barber of Platte- ille ; his wife is an adept at the manufacture of hairwork, and keeps in stock everything that the ladies esire in that line of rolls, puffs, switches, etc., etc. Mr. Wonzor likewise has rooms devoted to the dye- ig of clothing which has proven a most remunerative business ; as his means have increased he has grati- ed his love for fine and fast horses; was at one time the owner of Wild Rose, a 2:35 trotter which was olen by her trainer in Milwaukee during the State Fair of 1868; Tyler's Black Hawk, one of his best orses, died on his hands in 1878. He now owns a Black Hawk mare, "Creole ;" time 2:45, and a oble stallion of the English coach, and Morgan stock, called Black Prince ; he is a fleet and powerful orse ; his pride now, however, is Bay Charlie, which beautiful horse he purchased in March, 1880 ; Bay harlie trots in 2:35, and has beaten many of the best steppers of Dubuque; his sire, Patchen, Jr., had a cord of 2:27}, and a half brother ; Sam Purdy went in 2:20}; he is a mahogany bay, with black oints, mane and tail; weight, 1,050 pounds.

B. F. WYNE, Postmaster; was born in Adair Co., Ky., in 1818; came to Illinois in 1837 and ettled in McComb, McDonough Co., where he engaged in the jewelry business which he continued in hat and Schuyler Co. till 1848; in October of that year he came to Platteville and carried on the same usiness till April, 1864, when he received the appointment of Postmaster, and has held that office ever oce; he held the office of Justice of the Peace twenty-five years, resigning in 1880; he was also Town ad Village Clerk for about fifteen years. He was married in 1846, in Rushville, Ill., to Miss Cynthia otter, a native of Connecticut, and has had nine children, seven of whom are still living.

V. H. YOUNG, photographic artist, Platteville; was born July 19, 1848, in the town of Lima, rant Co., Wis. His father, Dr. B. F. Young, was a native of New York; he came to Wisconsin in the inter of 1845, and settled in Lima, his family coming in the spring of 1846; he practiced medicine in ima and vicinity till his death, which occurred March 6, 1862, at the age of 45. Mrs. Young, whose aiden name was M. A. Barstow, daughter of Joseph Barstow, is still living in Lincoln Co., Dak. Dr. oung was a graduate of Cleveland Medical College, and attended medical lectures at Cincinnati, Ohio. le was married in Trumbull Co., Ohio, where he practiced his profession before coming to Wisconsin. V. [. Young learned photograping in Webster City, Iowa, commencing in July, 1871; be worked in various laces in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan, and finally located in Lincoln, Neb., in February, 1872 ; he mained there till October, 1877, then went to Webster City, Iowa, and from there to Platteville in 1879; le first three years of bis stay in Lincoln, he was in partnership with J. W. Chase, formerly of Chicago, rm of Young & Chase, and since he came to Platteville, has been in company with John Robertson. [r. Young was married in Ludington, Mich., Jan. 28, 1872, to Miss Louisa Voigt, and has two chil- ren-Virgil Herbert and Winnefred Louise.

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SEVER ANDERSON, boots and shoes, Boscobel ; born io Norway. In 1870, came to Madison, Wis., followed this trade, which he learned in Norway, commencing at the age of 15 years. In 1872, came to Boscobel and opened this shop. Married in 1871, to Rhoda Davison ; she was born in Norway. They have four children, two sons and two daughters. He is a member of the United Work- men ; member of the Fire Department and member of the Lutheran Church.

L. G. ARMSTRONG, M. D., born March 7, 1834, in Cortlandville, Cortland Co., N. Y., where he resided with his parents until 5 years old, when the family removed to Groton in Tompkins Co., from there to Whitewater, Wis., in 1845, and in true pioneer style laid his elaim, and began opening up a farm, where " the whole time" was occupied in driving breaking-team, building fence and opening stone quarries. In 1852, he entered the State University at Madison, where in due course of time he began the study of medicine, with Prof. S. P. Lathrop as his preceptor, where he remained as much of the time as his means would admit. To recuperate his purse, school-teaching was just to his hand, not neglecting to board around among the scholars. In the early part of 1856, he went to Chicago, where he placed himself under the special care of Profs. Davis and Evans, who furnished him odd jobs of nurs- ing their patients for ready cash. At the commencement of Rush Medical College, February, 1858, he graduated in a class of thirty-one, receiving the first honors of the class in surgery, and second honors in theory and practice of medicine. During the spring of 1858, he went to Palmyra, Wis., and opened an office for the practice of his chosen profession, where he remained until April, 1860, when he came to Fenni- more and opened an office on the Military Road, one and a half miles north west of the present village. In January, 1861, he was married to Miss S. D. Bond, of Milton, Wis., and after the burning of the Gillman Hotel, at which he lost every particle of property he had accumulated, he began houskeeping in the little cottage by the roadside, remaining here faithful to his business until August, 1862, when he volunteered as Second Asst. Surg. of the 8th W. V. I., and was assigned to duty at Corinth, Miss., in care of " wounded rebs." The arduous duties of the position, together with the unsanitary surroundings soon so much reduced his physical condition as to oblige a return to the North to recuperate his strength. After a year he was again able to take the field, this time as First Asst. Surg. of the 6th W. V. I., in the old " Iron Brigade," near White House Landing, in Virginia. Continuing with the regiment until the organization of the 48th Wisconsin, of which he was commissioned as full Surgeon, doing duty with the regiment as Surgeon through all the time the regiment was in the field, and, in addition to his other duties, filling the position of Post Surgeon, at Fort Scott, Kas., until he received orders to disband the hospital and proceed to the plains to establish a line of hospitals along the Arkansas River, extending from Fort Zaroh to Fort Dodge. After the regiment was mustered out of service, he was retained with a detachment of regular troops at Fort Larned, Kan., until relieved in February, 1866. March 5, 1866, he opened an office in Boscobel, for the practice of his profession among his old friends and neighbors, where he has continued without interruption to the present time, building up a first-class practice as a surgeon and physician. In the social circle and the private family, he has many characteristics which are too well known to the inhabitants of Grant County to require any eulogy from the present historian.

LEONARD BIEDERMANN, farmer, Sec. 35 ; P. O. Boscobel ; born in Austria. In 1848, he came to America, locating in Clayton Co., Iowa, where, for seven years, he followed the butcher business. In 1855, he came to Prairie du Chien, and, for two years, engaged in the same trade. In 1857, he came to Boscobel and engaged in the saloon and butcher business for six years ; then built the first brewery, which has since burned, and for the past six years he has been farming. He owns 86 acres of land. When he landed in America he had only $1, and all he possesses he has made by industry and per- severance. He is in fact a self-made man. He was married in 1854, to Christina Krout, who was born in Wurtemberg, Germany. They have nine children-six sons and three daughters.

A. BOBEL, proprietor Central House, Boscobel ; born in Hesse-Cassel, Germany. In 1853, came to Ohio, the following year to Milwaukee; was clerk in a stove store; from 1856 to 1861, in the wholesale grocery business ; then came to Boscobel and started a saloon, afterward opened a small tavern ; he enlarged the house from time to time; he then built his hotel known as the Central House, the finest in the county ; it was burned Jan. 7, 1881, but was immediately rebuilt. All of this property Mr. Bobel

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las acquired since coming to the State. Married March 3, 1856. Mrs. Bobel was born in Germany. They have six children, three sons and three daughters.

DR. D. W. CARLEY, physician and surgeon, Boscobel ; born in Otsego Co., N. Y. At the ge of 22, commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Charles M. Turner, Tompkins Co., N. Y .; gradu- ted at Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1856. He then came to Platteville and formed a partnership with John D. Wood; they continued about six months. In 1857, came to Boscobel. Was commissioned, n 1862, 2d Assistant Surgeon of the 33d W. V. I .; held this position till February, 1864, when he re- igned on account of ill health ; returned to Boscobel, where he has since been engaged at his profession

T. CARRIER, firm of Carrier & Co., hardware; born in Chittenden Co., Vt .; when a boy he ame with his father to Ohio ; October, 1848, came to Jefferson Co., Wis .; here he followed the wagon- aaking business for five years; in 1854 came to Grant Co., engaged in farming about four years ; in 858 came to Boscobel, started a wagon-shop which he afterward traded for a hotel, run it about eleven ears ; was elected Sheriff in 1853, served two years ; in 1875, he established the present business ; has been Chairman and President of the City Board. Married, in 1852, to Amelia Powers; she was born in Gardner, Me .; they have three daughters.

ALANSON CASE, meat-market, Boscobel ; is a native of Lorain Co., Ohio; worked on a arm with his father until about the age of 18, when he came to Racine Co., Wis .; continued farming here about five years, then returned to Lorain Co .; bought a steam saw-mill which he run several years ; le then came to Crawford Co., Wis., and bought a farm of 120 acres, improved and afterward sold; then vent to Pittsburgh, Penn .; remained about two years ; in 1875, returned to Crawford Co., bought and im- roved his present farm, consisting of 120 acres ; October, 1880, he removed to Boscobel and opened his meat-market; has been Chairman of the town of Marietta, Crawford Co .; was the first Treasurer of the own of Union ; is a member of the Odd Fellows and United Workmen. Married, in 1844, to Miss Eunice Kenny ; she was born in New York ; they have four sons.

HARVEY CLARK, groceries, etc., Boscobel ; born in Steuben Co., N. Y .; came to Rich- and Co., Wis., in 1856; followed the carpenter trade eight years, then came to Boscobel and continued he carpenter business till 1862, when he enlisted in the fall in Co. C, 20th W. V. I ; served about four months ; was discharged on account of physical disability, then returned to Boscobel ; soon after went . Zast, where he remained about two years ; in 1864, he returned to Boscobel, continued the carpenter rade till the spring of 1875 ; he then opened a drug store, continued it about four years ; February, 1880, tarted his present business. Married, in 1854, to Eliza J. Skiff, of Yates Co., N. Y .; they have four children-two sons and two daughters.

BENJAMIN M. COATES, deceased. He was born in New Harmony, Ind., in 1819; in bout 1837 came to Platteville, followed mining several ycars, removed to Beetown and continued min- ng ; in 1849, went to California ; returned in the winter of 1853, and, in company with Samuel Moore. built a linseed oil mill ; ran it about eighteen months, then sold out his interest to Mr. Moore ; went to Muscoda, engaged in merchandising with Jonathan Moore ; they continued about two years, when he old out to Mr. Moore, and opened another store; this he carried on till 1863, when he came to Boscobel nd commenced business, the firm being Palmer & Coates ; they closed out their business about 1866; since hen he has been engaged in banking here till his death, which occurred Aug. 27, 1880. He has held he office of Internal Revenue Collector about three years ; was member of the Assembly during 1869 und 1874. Married Miss Mildred La Follette March, 1854 ; she was born in Cincinnati, Ohio ; have one laughter-Mrs. Parr.

WILLIAM S. COATES, farmer, Sec. 34 ; P. O. Boscobel ; born in Philadelphia, Penn., Jut removed when a child with his parents to Indiana, where he engaged in farming . In 1836, came to Platteville, Wis., and there followed farming and mining until 1856, when he moved here, where he has dways resided since. Owns 120 acres of land, all the improvements upon which have been made by him- elf. Has been a member of the Town Beard several years, and has held a number of school offices. Was married in 1842 to Miss Cynthia Cain ; she was born in Tennessee. They have five children-two sons nd three daughters ; Jefferson, the eldest son, died Jan. 27, 1880, aged 37 years.

M. F. CROUCH, farmer ; P. O. Boscobel ; born in Chautauqua Co., N. Y., in 1823 ; followed arming there till 1856, when he came to Grant Co .; settled on a farm at Potosi. In 1864, removed to Fennimore and continued farming there. He owns a farm of 160 acres, also property in Boscobel. He las always been connected with school interests since coming to this county ; when in Fennimore he was Justice of the Peace two years. In 1869, he removed to Boscobel where he has since resided. Married

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in 1842 to Miss M. H. Hogle ; she was born in Genesee Co., N. Y. They have seven children, five sons and two daughters.

CHARLES K. DEAN, farmer, Sec. 36; P. O. Boscobel. Mr. Dean was born in Glaston- bury, Hartford Co., Conn., Sept. 29, 1820. November, 1844, he came to the West and made Michigan his first stopping-place. The year following, he came to Walworth Co., Wis., where he bought and improved a farm in this county, and remained there until 1848, when he returned to the Eastern States. Ill health admonished him to again try the Western air, and he returned to his Walworth County farm in 1851. He soon after engaged with the Milwaukee & Prairie du Chien-or, as it was then known-Mil- waukee & Mississippi Railroad, and first entered Grant County as an employe of this road in the fall of 1853. During 1853 and 1854, Mr. Dean was engaged with others in the preliminary survey, and location of the road between Madison and Prairie du Chien; while engaged here he worked the right of way, descriptions and platting of the same. In 1855, he was made Division Engineer of construction from Muscoda to Woodman bridge, his residence at this time being in the " Hall House " situated on the present site of the city of Boscobel, and for some time himself and Mrs. Dean were the only ir habitants of this site. In company with others, Mr. Dean selected a location for a railroad station, and purchased 240 acres of land covering a portion of the ground now occupied by the city. In 1856, he severed his connection with the company, and removed to his present farm on the southwest quarter of Section 36, where he again engaged in the occupation of farming. This farm, so beautifully situated, encircled hy the verdured hills, has been his residence up to the present time. While Boscobel yet formed a part of Marion Town, namely, from April, 1857, to the same month in 1858, Mr. Dean served as Chairman of the Town Board of Supervisors, and since the erection of Boscobel into a separate town, he has served twice as Assessor, and once as Chairman of the Town Board. Mr. Dean was elected to the Legislature of 1858, which had in charge the investigation of the La Crosse Land Grant Corruption, and the revision of the statutes. Of late years, Mr. Dean has resolutely set his face against all tenders of office, prefer- ring to remain one of the sovereigns, rather than scek the brief bubble fame, as a servant of the sover- eigns. On the 21st of April, 1861, two companies of troops were organized at Boscobel, hoth of which Mr. Dean had been instrumental in organizing, and of the first he was almost unanimously chosen First Lieutenant. This company subsequently hecame Company C, 2d W. V. I. Lieut. Dean served as Adju- tant of the regiment at the battle of Bull Run, and continued to serve in this capacity until honorably discharged, May. 18, 1863. At Beverly Ford, August 11, 1862, Lieut. Dean was taken prisoner, and together with Pope's officers, was given a taste of rchel prison regime during a month's confinement at the renowned Libby Prison at Richmond. Mr. Dean has been a frequent contributor to different jour- nals on a variety of subjects. Detesting the abominations in high places, which have become so prevalent during this latter portion of the nineteenth century, his trenchant pen has always been among the first to priek these unsavory bubbles as they appear. Although denied the advantages of a liberal education when young, Mr. Dean has always been a close student, which in turn has brought him to a liberty of thought that, however, is the result of well-grounded convictions. Possibly he may be impolitic, speak- ing after a worldly fashion, in this independence which leads him to a free and vigorous expression of his sentiments upon all subjects of popular interest. It is one of Mr. Dean's well-grounded articles of belief, however, that mental independence is the best expression of true manhood. Among other bits from his facile pen, is the following sentiment inscribed originally in a young lady's album: "Golconda gems; gems dug from the earth wheresoever found, are bought and sold for money, but no number of them can give luster to the mind. Ignorance and vice personified, may wear them. The inbred jewels of the mind : Virtue, affection, constancy and sympathy, best exemplified in the life of a true woman, are priceless gems resplendent in a priceless setting."

W. E. DeLAP, Postmaster, Boscobel. Is a native of Monroe, Wis .; came to Boscobel about 1860 ; was employed as clerk in a dry goods store from 1871 to 1879, when he received the appointment as Postmaster. Married in 1875 to Miss Amelia Taylor ; the lady being a resident of Platteville, Wis. They have one son.

MRS. C. H. DICKERSON, notions, toys, etc., Boscobel ; is a native of Somerset Co., Penn .; at the age of 8 years, she came with her parents to Platteville; soon after her marriage, which occurred in 1853, they came to Boscobel. Her husband soon after received the appointment of Postmas- ter. which position he held about fifteen years ; he died Nov. 10, 1876, aged 49 years. After his death, Mrs. D. held this office about four years. They have had seven children-five sons and two daughters.

H. W. FAVOR, of the firm of Sawyer & Favor, drugs, books, paints, oils and fancy groceries, Boscobel ; was born in Bristol, N. H .; worked on a farm till about the age of 16; then was employed as

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clerk in a store about eleven years ; then followed the clothing business about three years; in 1863, he came to Boscobel ; engaged in the produce business several years, then opened a grocery with Mr. Smith ; continned this two or three years ; in 1870, he, with Mr. Sawyer, established this business. Is City Clerk ; has held this office three or four years. He was married in 1860 to Miss T. H. Gage, of Enfield, N. H .; she was born in Nashua, N. H .; they have one daughter.

GEORGE COCHRANE HAZELTON was born in Chester, Rockingham Co., N. H., Jan. 3, 1833. He came of good stock, his father, William Hazelton, tracing his descent back through many generations of English ancestry. His mother, Mercy J. Cochrane, comes of an old and noted Scotch family. The homestead in which he was born had been in the possession of their family for three generations. His father was, for many years, a merchant, but finally turned his attention exclusively to the farm, and there raiscd a family of six children, of whom George Cochrane was the fifth. Up to his sixteenth year the life of George was that of a New England farmer boy. There was plenty of hard work during the summer, and the district school and chores during the long, cold winters. As was the case in such New England homes, politics was always a subject of family debate, and our young lad listened to his father and mother and the elder brothers as they discussed the questions of the National bank, the tar- iff and free trade, which was soon to be supplemented by that more absorbing topic-the anti-slavery agita- tion. In these family debates, the mother always took a leading part. At that time she was noted for the keen interest she took in public affairs, and now, at the ripe age of eighty-two years, she possesses all her faculties intact, and keeps herself well informed on the issues of the day.

The elder Hazelton was a Henry Clay Whig, and a Republican by natural inheritance, when that party came into existence; and he cherished its principles to the day of his death. In this wide-awake and intelligent New England family, George naturally grew up a firm believer in the equal rights of all men, and with decided convictions as to the wisdom of the policy of protection for American labor.

When he was sixteen years old, he entered an academic school at Derry, N. H. Here he prepared him- self for college at Dummer Academy, in Oldtown, near Newburyport, Mass., under the instruction of Prof. Henshaw, who was afterward so well known in connection with Rutger's College, in New Jersey. There was no royal road to learning for the sons of this New Hampshire farmer. A home he could give them. In all other respects they must make their own way in the world; and George soon knew what it was to teach school in country districts, and board around. By this, and similar means, he educated himself; and so well was he prepared, that he entered the sophomore instead of the freshman class of Union College, at Schenectady, N. Y. Here, he had for President of the Faculty the venerable and celebrated Doctor Nott. And here, as in other places, he supported himself until he graduated in 1858. In the same year he was admitted to the bar at Malone, N. Y. One of the curious incidents of political life in our country is to be found in the fact that Judge James, a member of the 47th Congress from New York, was one of the four judges before whom young Hazelton appeared at Malone for examination. It is needless to say that the veteran lawyer from the Empire State and the rising young advocate from the West are warm friends.

After being admitted to the bar, with the exception of a few months spent in the Treasury Depart- ment at Washington, D. C., he practiced law at Amsterdam and Schenectady, N. Y., until the autumn of 1863, when he decided to settle in the West. His elder brothers, William and Gerry W. Hazelton, the present United States District Attorney for Milwaukee, had settled in Wisconsin some year previous. To be in their vicinity was the principal reason of his settling, in September, 1863, at Boscobel, in Grant County, Wis., where he has since resided. If there is any one trait that pre-eminently marks the charac- ter of Mr. Hazelton, it is self-reliance. Our great philosopher, Emerson, in his essay on this admirable trait of American character, says: "A sturdy lad from New Hampshire or Vermont, who, in turn, tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles, keeps school, preaches, edits a newspaper, goes to Con- gress, buys a township, and so forth, in successive years, and always, like a cat, falls on his feet, is worth a hundred of these city dolls. He walks abreast with his days, and feels no shame in not studying a pro- fession, for he does not postpone his life, but lives already. He has not one chance, but a hundred chances."

Mr. Hazelton was all this, and more, for he had the profession which he had struggled to obtain, and which he still loves. With a firm faith in his capacity to make his way upward and onward in life upon his own individual merits, and having decided, in September, 1863, where his home was to be, in the fol- lowing November, poor as he was in this world's goods, but rich in more than " a hundred chances," he wedded Ellen Van Antwerp, of Schenectady, N. Y., an accomplished lady, who has been to him a help- meet in the highest and truest sense of the word. Four children have blessed this union, two of whom-

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the eldest boy, Harry, and the only girl, Alice-are deceased. George and John Hampdon still live to cheer the home and bless the hearts of their parents.

Having decided on a home, and found a wife to preside over it, the self-reliant young lawyer went to work to win that which he came to Wisconsin for-a place among men. There were no shilly-shally efforts, but direct, forcible work. He had his chosen profession. He was a born orator. The country debating schools and the college lyceums always had special attractions for him. In his new home, these natural gifts were soon brought into full play. In November, 1864, he was elected District Attorney for Grant County, and, in 1866, was re-elected for the second term. Nor did this rapid progress cease here, for we find him elected to the State Senate, in 1867, and he was chosen President pro tempore of that body. He was again re-elected to the Senate in 1869. Feeling that he must gain a more solid reputa- tion in his profession, we find him, at the expiration of his last term in the State Senate, giving five years of close and diligent attention to the practice of law in the State and United States Courts. Here he soon became known as one of the leading lawyers of Wisconsin. His success as a jury lawyer was most marked, and soon gained him an extensive practice and a wide experience.

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History of Grant County, Wisconsin, Part 143

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co. Number of Pages: 1044

Author: Butterfield, Consul Willshire, 1824-1899
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 1044