USA > Wisconsin > Langlade County > History of Langlade County, Wisconsin, from U. S. government survey to present time, with biographical sketches > Part 64
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"Men who fail to achieve conspicuous success are prone to take refuge in the excuse that the day of great opportunities has passed. It is a favorite alibi in the lumber business especially. We are told that the great captains of the industry won their positions through the fortuitous circumstances of a pioneer per- iod, when the raw material was easy to acquire, com- petition nil and a developing nation clamorously de- manded their products. It is an excuse that convinces many people, but seldom convinces the pioneer lum- berman, who knows that he had his own special dif- ficulties and the special handicaps of his time with which he had to contend.
The door of opportunity is as widely open today in the lumber business as it was in the '80s. It may re- quire commercial genius; but these have inevitably been the price of real success.
There is no finer example of what the young man of today may do than is found in the life story of Charles W. Fish, of Elcho, Wis. Less than fifteen years ago he was a store clerk at $35 a month today he is the head of a million dollar proposition employ- ing 700 men, operating three sawmills, electric light plants and other utilities, and is the creator, or re- creator, of one of the most progressive communities in America-the town of Elcho, in which he lives. He is 40 years old-and now that the fact is revealed many men will be astonished that he is so young, having accomplished so much-and at that age he has taken his proper place among the great lumbermen of the United States. He is no fortunate child of a pioneer period. He hewed out his own success while other men of his age were complaining that the day of opportunity in the lumber business was past, today offering them no promise.
There is no more fascinating story than the biog- raphy of men. There is no more romantic biography than that of "Charlie" Fish, sailor, gold hunter in the
Klondike, structural iron worker out of a job and "broke"; then the door of opportunity opened an inch; he shoved his foot through and forced his way, over- coming every obstacle, until, in a rapid rise of eight years, he attained his present position.
Charles Wesley Fish was born August 28, 1877, at Otterville, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, a son of Oliver C. Fish and Priscilla (Schooley) Fish. The mother died in 1915. Oliver C. Fish has lived to see his son reach success, and is a resident of the commun- ity which is his headquarters.
The Fish family moved to Michigan in 1878, the father becoming an inspector of lumber at Manistee,
CHAS. W. FISH.
After it had opened an 'nch, Chas. W Fish shoved his foot through the door of opportunity, and by overcoming every obstacle, has attained a commanding position in the lumber world.
later managing the business at Gratwick, Smith & Fryer, of Tonawanda, N. Y., of Franfort. There were two other children besides Charles. His brother Don- ald is now associated with him in Elcho; the other brother is Dr. Edward Fish, chief of the interdenomin- ational medical missionary corps of the province in Thibet.
At 14 years Charles began clerking in a general store. Then he was a Western Union messenger at $1 a week and spent a year at it. The big steamers of the Manistee lumber docks called to him, and he became a sailor, serving on the old propellers carry- ing lumber to Buffalo.
In 1895, when 18 years of age, he joined the rush to Cook's Inlet, Alaska, before the larger Klondike
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excitement. There were sixteen adventurers in that party and his father staked him for two hundred dollars to make the trip. He prospected all of the summer of 1895 in Turnagain Arm and lost nearly all he had. One of the men had sciatic rheumatism, and the party drew lots to see which should take care of him. Fish drew the long straw, and passed up the opportunity to seek a fortune to nurse his comrade through that illness. He had a little money left and he bought an interest in a clean-up in Canyon Creek, which used everything in his belt but never paid a dividend of any kind for the investment.
One day a mail boat that came once a month touched the coast. When the captain asked for an ablebodied seaman Fish replied "I guess I'm your man." He sailed on the steamer Commodore Perry in the coastwise trade and at the close of the season returned to Lake Arn, Michigan.
At Lake Ann he married Miss Grace Vernier and went back to sailing on the lakes. He sailed for four years on the lower lake boats, attaining a second mate permit, making him probably the youngest second of- ficer on a big boat on fresh water. He had definitely made up his mind to be a steamboat man; but one night his captain had a bad evening and, disliking his language, young Fish quit the steamer at Cleve- land and at the same time quit steamboating for good. He had had enough of wandering. The family had returned to Toronto, Mrs. Fish with them. Accom- panied by his wife and his year old son he went to Manitowoc, and went to work climbing for a structural iron gang. One night he was pulled out of bed at midnight and offered a job as second mate on a ship. He refused; he was through with steamboating.
He was out of employment at the time. One day, crossing the bridge at Manitowoc, he met F. P. Jones, a lumberman whom he still defines as "the salt of the earth." "What are you doing" asked Jones. "I'm doing the hardest work any man can do," he replied, "I'm looking for a job." Mr. Jones owned a little sawmill plant at Elcho and offered him employment. The fare was $4.56. Fish borrowed $5 and went. He became a clerk in the store of the Jones Lumber Co. at Elcho at $35 a month, and sent for his wife. That was his salary for a year. Then he added $5 a month to it by looking after incoming freight for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway. One day his luck turned. A homesteader wanted to sell out. Fish gave him $50 for 160 acres, paying for it with $15 of his own money and $35 he borrowed in $5 lots. He had to live in a log cabin of two rooms and walk a mile night and morning to the store-and his work at the store was finished at 9:30 or 10 at night. One day the mill com- pany needed that 160 acres of timber in which he had invested his $50. He sold it to the Company for $3,300 cash. He had nerve and vision and, to use his own words, "I began picking up timber." That was not in the pioneer days but only a few years ago.
When the G. W. Jones Lumber Co., to whom the Elcho plant belonged, decided to get out of manu- facturing Mr. Fish bought a half interest in the plant
and, with Thomas Mullen, a traveling salesman, as his partner, organized a $20,000 concern, Fish & Mul- len. One afternoon the planing mill burned with little insurance. Fish rebuilt it; and then the sawmill burned. He was left with a planing mill and one sawmill site. He bought the stock of the others in- terested, but had nothing with which to rebuild or operate. So he went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and for one and a half years was sales manager for the Hackley-Phelps-Bonnell Co. Then he was manager of the operations of the Mason & Donaldson Lumber Co. at State Line, Wis.
But he was determined to get back into business for himself. He returned to Elcho eight years ago, built a small mill and began cutting lumber by the thousand. He cut 400,000 feet the first year. He kept adding to his operations and made a specialty of hardwood piling. The last eight years is a contin- uous story of swift and aggressive progress. He bought a store in the village. He cut 1,000,000 the next year, 2,000,000 the next, between three and four million the next. He built forty or fifty houses. He started a bank. He built a model hotel. He made Elcho a real community. Then he bought the plant of the Andrews & Roepke Lumber Co. at Birnamwood, in 1915, rebuilt the mill and increased its capacity. He bought the electric light and water plant of the town. But he still didn't have the sawmill capacity for his timber holdings, which had grown to $500,000 worth of standing trees. In 1916 he built a mill at Antigo.
The Charles W. Fish Lumber Co. (which consists of Charles W. Fish) now operates night and day a band mill at Elcho, a band mill at Birnamwood, and a band mill and resaw at Antigo. In 1918 it will ship 45,000,000 feet of lumber, 35 per cent of it hemlock, the rest birch, maple, elm and ash. The name of Fish has come to mean good lumber to the yard and factory trade of Wisconsin, Chicago, and Michigan and a constantly widening territory.
Mr. Fish's family consists of his wife, his son, Glenn H. Fish, employed at the Birnamwood plant, and two charming daughters, Blanche and Grace, students at the Milwaukee-Downer College Seminary, Milwaukee. Mr. Fish is a member of the Wisconsin Consistory, Scottish Rite Masons. No one knows of his private charities except that they are many. He has never held public office, and recently, when mentioned by enthusiastic friends for United States senator, declin- ed to be a candidate. He finds his chief joy in his family, his business and his timber-and Elcho. It is a model town with a happy and contented popula- tion, beautiful homes, a good hotel, drug store, com- missary, electric lights, a boulevard lighting system, an excellent school, and other conveniences of good living. He has one dream yet-to put 400 families on 400 40-acre lots, and to give them such a long time to pay for it that each man may attain a home of his own.
His love of the woods is genuine. In 1917 he pen- etrated northern Alberta and walked 200 miles alone
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through the woods under the shadow of the Arctic. That was his idea of a vacation.
Such is the story of Charles W. Fish, sailor, gold hunter, structural iron worker, lumberman, captain of industry, man.
C. W. VAN DOREN was born in Oshkosh, Winne- bago County, November 16, 1882. At the age of three years he moved with his parents to Birnamwood, Shawano County, where he lived until 1901. He at- tended the Birnamwood public schools, graduating from the Birnamwood High School in 1900.In 1901 Mr. Van Doren graduated from the Wisconsin Acad-
Knight and Reo automobiles for Langlade, Forest and Oneida Counties. Mr. Van Doren is a member of the Knights of Pythias and Masonic Orders. In 1922 he was elected Worshipful Master of the Blue Lodge.
Mr. Van Doren takes an active interest in all civic enterprises in Antigo. His work with the Community Welfare Association alone has been unequalled.
DR. J. C. WRIGHT. Over forty years of devotion to his chosen profession is the record of Dr. J. C. Wright, prominent citizen of Antigo and Langlade County. Nearly a half century of his life has been spent in the alleviation of the ills of mankind. Such
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C. W. VAN DOREN
A well known Antigo citizen, member of the Antigo Library Board, Worshipful Master of the Blue Lodge, Masonic order, and former Superintendent of the Antigo Water Works. Mr. Van Doren is married and resides at 1015 Superior Street, Antigo.
emy at Madison, Wis., and attended the University of Wisconsin in 1902-03. He returned to Birnamwood and for six years was employed as Assistant Cashier in the Bank of Birnamwood. March 30, 1905, he married Flora Jessell at Birnamwood. For three years following he was Superintendent of the Antigo Water Works, after which he resumed his connection with the Bank of Birnamwood. In April, 1915, he erected a garage in Antigo, corner of Superior street and Sixth avenue, and has the agency for Overland, Willys-
is indeed a faithful service-a record of which no man need be ashamed. Always giving of his best ener- gies, always faithful to his trust, his life has been a useful one and he may look over that span of years with a sense of duty well done and he may take a pardonable pride in a work that has served to assist humanity as well as to add to the professional pres- tige of his community. Dr. Wright was born on a farm in Richland County, Wisconsin, March 18, 1858, a son of Rev. I. J. and Catherine Wright. His father
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HISTORY OF LANGLADE COUNTY.
was for many years a useful worker as a minister of the United Brethren church. Reared in Richland Dr. Wright attended the public schools and for four years was a student in Edwards Academy at Greene- ville, Tennessee. On leaving preparatory school, he took up the study of medicine and graduated from the oldest and the most famous school of medicine, the Rush Medical College of Chicago, where he was a member of the class of 1881-82. Soon after he took up practice at Excelsior, Richland County, where he remained a successful practitioner for more than a quarter of a century. He moved to Antigo, Langlade County, in November, 1906, where he has since been in practice. He has served as City Physician, as Secretary of the Langlade County Medical Society, as County Physician, and was the government exam- iner of the county boys who were i.ducted i.to the National Army during the World War.
In 1893 Dr. J. C. Wright was united in marriage to Miss Rose Hamilton, who for fifteen years prior to marriage, had taught school in Richland Center, Wis- consin. They have seven children, namely: John J., an attorney; Martha Marie, now Mrs. Harry Jewell of Antigo, Wis; Grace Belle, an instructor in physical culture; Mary, a student at Lawrence College, Apple- ton, Wis .; Catherine, a student at Lawrence College, Appleton, Wis .; and Hamilton and Richard, students in the Antigo public schools. Dr. J. C. Wright has membership in the Langlade County Medical Society, the Wisconsin Medical Society. the American Medi- cal Association. He is a member of the Masons, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Equitable Fraternal Union, the Beavers Reserve Fund Fraternity, the Mystic Workers, the Owls, and socially and in his pro- fession is a man of highest standing. He posseses unusual poetical ability having written many poems, including one of which has been widely read under the title "Wisconsin", and is often read at patriotic gatherings. Dr. Wright is also interested in many substantial commercial enterprises. The Wright fam- ily resides at 412 Fifth avenue.
A. M. ARVESON. Former County Superintendent of Langlade County Schools, former City Clerk and a well known insurance man, was born on February 14, 1874, in the town of New Denmark, Brown County, Wisconsin. Here he attended the rural schools. He later entered the Oshkosh State Normal. Mr. Arveson came to Antigo in March, 1893, and began teaching in the Sunnyside School, Rolling township, but a short distance from Antigo. For five years he followed his profession in the rural schools of the county and then taught five years in the city schools as principal of the Sixth Ward. During this period he attended summer school at Oshkosh Normal and the University of Wis- consin. He was elected City Clerk of Antigo in 1902 and re-elected in 1904, serving with credit in that ca- pacity. In the fall of 1902 he was elected County Su- perintendent of Schools for Langlade County, in which capacity he served for seventeen consecutive years- a longer period than any other County Superintendent
was chosen for. He retired from the office in 1919 to engage in the life and fire insurance business, in which he is now associated with G. E. Crandall, with offices on Fifth Avenue, Antigo, Wis.
Mr. Arveson was united in marriage to Louise Belle Henshaw, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. Hen- shaw on September 11, 1901. To this union the fol- lowing children were born: Maurice H., Elliott R., Holly, Arthur, and Beth. Mrs. Arveson passed away in the prime of her life on October 18, 1920.
A. M. ARVESON Ex-City Clerk, former County Superintendent and well known insurance man, who has been a resident of Antigo since 1993.
A. M. Arveson has been active in state fraternal af- fairs and in 1918 was Grand Master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. During the World War he was active in the various war campaigns and served on im- portant county committees to further the Victory Fund and Liberty Loan campaigns.
The family attends the Methodist Episcopal Church.
DR. MICHAEL J. DONOHUE, was born at She- boygan, Wisconsin, on April 29, 1874, the son of Cor- nelius and Mary (Kittrick) Donohue. Cornelius Don- ohue, the father, was one of the pioneer railroad men of Wisconsin and spent forty-five years as an engin- eer on the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western and then the Chicago & Northwestern railroad. He died in Antigo in 1901, his widow surviving him until 1907.
Michael J. Donohue moved to Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, and in 1882, with his parents, he moved to Antigo. Here the future physician and surgeon at- tended the public schools and in 1890 graduated from the Antigo High School. From 1890 to 1892 he studied medicine in the office of the late Dr. J. F. Doyle of Antigo, and the two succeeding years he spent in taking a pre-medical course at the University of Wisconsin. In 1894 he entered the Medical De- partment of Northwestern University at Chicago, Illi- nois, and in 1898 graduated with the degree of M. D.
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HISTORY OF LANGLADE COUNTY.
He continued to practice alone in Antigo until 1907 when he formed a partnership with his brother, Dr. E. J. Donohue, who was graduated from the schools of Antigo and from the Northwestern University at Evanston, medical department, in 1906.
Dr. Donohue and his brother have one of the best equipped offices in northern Wisconsin, the same be- ing located in the First National Bank building. The brothers devote considerable attention to surgery in which they have and continue to gain increased pres- tige. Both are members of the Langlade County and the Wisconsin State Medical Societies and the Ameri- can Medical Association. Drs. Donohue & Donohue are members of the Roman Catholic church and they are fraternally identified with the Knights of Colum- bus and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Dr. E. J. Donohue was married to Miss Elizabeth Mueller November 24, 1913. Dr. Michael J. Dono- hue was married to Miss Mabel Cody, of Antigo, on October 7, 1915. They have one son, Eugene. Dr. E. J. Donohue resides at 521 First avenue, and Dr. M. J. Donohue's residence is at 415 Clermont street.
WALTER EDWARD WIENANDT, Dray Propri- etor, was born in Milwaukee, July 20, 1883, son of Fred and Anna Wienandt. He moved to Milan, Mar- athon County, at an early age. His parents decided to move on a farm near that village, and it was on the farm then purchased by Fred Wienandt that Wal- ter, as a boy, spent his early days. When he was twenty-one years old he moved to Athens, Wiscon- sin, where he engaged in the dray business for nine years. He came to Antigo in 1918, and a year later purchased the John Kingsbury Transfer Line, which he now operates, with offices at 613 Edison street.
Mr. Wienandt was married to Mary Albrecht at Athens, August 25, 1917. His home is at 214 Watson. street, Antigo, Wisconsin. He is an active member of the L. O. O. M.
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JOHN J. KINGSBURY. No stronger character or one more beloved by all classes or better known in Langlade County ever exceeded the late John Jer- ome Kingsbury in those qualifications. John Jerome Kingsbury was born in Dexter, Maine, the state from whence came most of the leading Wisconsin lumber- men. He was the son of J. R. Kingsbury and was born on March 25, 1852. He lived with his parents in Maine state until he was ten years of age and then the Kingsbury family moved to Portage County, Wis- consin, in 1862, residing at Jordon. From Jordon they moved to Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Here Mr. Kingsbury attended the public schools and then en- tered Ripon College, from which he graduated. He began his lumber career when he was sixteen years old, spending some time in Portage County logging for himself. In 1873 he went to Auburndale, Wis- consin, and with his brother, Forest, erected a shingle mill, operating the same until 1882. He went to Stevens Point from Auburndale and there operated a
lumber yard with his brother, the Auburndale mill having burned. Mr. Kingsbury also operated a mill at Whittlesey, Wis., for a short time. From Medford, Wisconsin, he went to the Penoki Range, operating a sawmill there. He was associated with George Rogers and Ed Winchester. In the fall of 1890 he became acquainted with Charles E. Henshaw, of Medford, Wisconsin. They formed a partnership known as the Kingsbury & Henshaw Company, and that same year they moved to Antigo. Here Messrs. Kingsbury and Henshaw operated a grist and flour mill and a mod- ern sawmill from 1890 up to the time of Mr. Kings- bury's death. The Kingsbury & Henshaw Lumber Company was one of the best known of Wisconsin manufacturing institutions and was a vital part of the industrial section of the city of Antigo.
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MR. AND MRS. JOHN J. KINGSBURY The late John J. Kingsbury, beloved by all with whom he came in contact, was a resident of Antigo for over a quarter of a century.
The late J. J. Kingsbury was married to Alice Paige, a native of Rock County, Wisconsin, on May 16, 1871, at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. To this union eight children were born, namely: May, Bessie and Leigh, deceased; Arthur J .; Beatrice and John E., all of Antigo, Wis .; Carl W., of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Faye, now Mrs. George Kircher, of Olivia, Minnesota.
Mr. Kingsbury died on August 2, 1917, and was buried in the family vault in the Antigo cemetery. He was a member of the Antigo lodge B. P. O. E. and all Masonic orders. He took the 32nd Masonic de- gree in 1913 at Milwaukee, Wis. The late J. J. Kings- bury was regarded as one of the busiest, most ener- getic and enterprising men of the county and his hon- orable methods of dealing with his fellow man firm- ly established him in the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact.
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HISTORY OF LANGLADE COUNTY.
VALENTINE P. RATH, pioneer citizen and County Clerk of Langlade County, was born in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, February 15, 1860, the son of Val- entine and Mary Anna (Feser) Rath, both of whom were born in Bavaria and imigrated to America in 1858, settling in Sheboygan. The father died in Sheboygan in 1911. Valentine Rath, Sr., was a soldier in the Civil War, enlisting from Sheboygan County and see- ing service in some of that conflict's severest battles.
Mr. Rath was reared in the city of Sheboygan and there attended the parochial school of the Roman Cath- olic church, of which his parents were, and he and his family are now, members. When a youth he learned the trade of a cooper and worked at that trade for two years or more and then entered the employ of Henry Rath, packing lime. When nineteen years of age he came to Langlade County, then a part of
V. P. RAT11
Veteran County Clerk of Langlade County, who, with his brother John. came to what is now Price township in 1879. Mr. Rath has been chosen County Clerk at each general election since 1902 and is now the Treasurer of the Wisconsin County Clerks Association.
Oconto County, and he is one of the pioneers of this community. He settled in Price township and was active as Chairman, Assessor, Town Clerk, and in County affairs before his election to the office of County Clerk in 1902. He held the position of Town Clerk at the time of the election. Mr. Rath has been successively re-elected to the office of County Clerk at each election since 1902 with handsome majorities. He is a member of the Knights of Columbus as well as the Catholic Knights of Wisconsin and the Catho- lic Order of Foresters, having held various official capacities in the last two named. He is at present the Treasurer of the Wisconsin County Clerks Asso- ciation, having been re-elected in 1922. Mr. Rath is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Sons of Veterans and the Fraternal Order of Eagles.
May 15, 1890, he was united in marriage to Made- lene Mary Friederich, of Sheboygan, who was born and reared in that city. To this union six children have been born, as follows: George P .; Joseph F .; William M .; John H .; Clara Mary; and Thomas E. Rath. Four of Mr. Rath's sons served in the fighting forces of Uncle Sam during the World War, Thomas E. being too young at the time, later served in the U. S.
Navy, and Mr. Rath, as a member of the Board of Exemption of the Langlade County district, and who engaged actively in other war activities, distinguished himself as a true patriot. William M. Rath, while overseas, met and afterwards married Marthe Au- bertin. This was Langlade County's only war romance.
Valentine P. Rath has played a conspicuous part in Langlade County activities for many years; he was instrumental in getting Price township detached from Polar township and was the leader of the homesteaders in their political battles in the pioneer days of Price.
When Mr. Rath first came to Langlade County he took up a residence on one hundred and sixty acres of land in Polar township, now Price township. He resided there for a number of years and then moved to Bryant, village in Price township, and was engaged as a lumber grader and cruiser, which work he fol- lowed until his election as County Clerk. He then moved into Antigo, where he has since made his home. By his capable and thorough performance of duty, his high order of citizenship and his fidelity to the county, Mr. Rath has won the confidence and highest esteem of scores of citizens all over Langlade County. The Rath family reside at 130 Lincoln street.
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