USA > Wisconsin > Marathon County > History of Marathon County, Wisconsin and representative citizens > Part 61
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On December 25, 1897, Mr. Lamont was married to Miss Jessie M. Young of Wausau, and they have four children : Alexander, James, Ma- rion and Katherine. He has long been identified with Masonry and is a Knight Templar, and belongs also to the Knights of Pythias and the Elks.
EMILE ROY, M. D., who has been engaged in the active practice of his profession at Wausau since 1907, is numbered with the eminent medical men of this city and has enjoyed wider opportunities for scien- tific training than have many of his professional co-laborers. He was
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born November 14, 1862, at Quebec, Canada, and is a son of Regis and Sophia (Ross) Roy.
The parents of Dr. Roy are both deceased. For more than forty years the father was a member of the Quebec bar and was known all over the province. He died in 1888 at the age of seventy-six years. He married Sophia Ross, who was born in Scotland, a daughter of Alexander Ross. Her death occurred in 1880, at the age of sixty years. Nine sons and four daughters were born to them and of the thirteen children Emile was the youngest born. Two sons and one daughter died in infancy. Regis, the eldest, who died at the age of thirty-three years, was a whole- sale salesman for European and Canadian merchants. Alexander is an attorney in practice in the city of New York. Elzear, now retired, for thirty years was master of languages for transportation companies. John B. is in the jewelry business at Montreal. Felix is engaged in business enterprises in the northern part of Quebec. Phileas is professor of har- mony in the New York Conservatory of Music. The three surviving daughters are all married, Hermine being Mrs. C. Guimont, of Montreal; Sophia being Mrs. George Dion of Quebec; and Elzire being Mrs. Eugene Blumhart, of Montreal.
Dr. Roy was graduated in Arts from Louis le Grand, Paris, and received his degree in philosophy at the Sorbonne, France, in 1886; was graduated in 1890 from the University of Paris, in medicine, and received his degree in surgery from Queens University. He began to practice in 1890 but for full two years following did work in surgery at Edinburgh, Paris, Berlin and Vienna. In 1901 Dr. Roy was associated with the late Dr. Fernand Henrotin, in Chicago, as his assistant : leaving Dr. Henro- tin. he went to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, where he practiced until he came to Wausau, in 1907. Dr. Roy is a member of the Marathon County Medical Society, the Wisconsin State and the American Medical Asso- ciation, belonging also to the Association of American Surgeons and the district society, and is president of the Wausau General Hospital.
In 1888, Dr. Roy was married to Miss Josephine Pronovost, a daugh- ter of Hubert Pronovost, of Two Harbors, Minn., and they have one daughter and three sons: Jeanne, Ross, Herald and Hubert. Dr. Roy is identified with the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America and belongs to the E. F. U.
EUGENE BUTLER THAYER, owner and publisher of the Wausau Pilot at Wausau, Wis., has been engaged here in journalistic work
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continuously since 1882 and was previously engaged as a printer in the various offices of Wausau, from 1863. Mr. Thayer was born April 30, 1853, at Princeton, Green Lake county, Wisconsin, and is a son of Lyman Wellington and Catherine ( Davis) Thayer.
Lyman Wellington Thayer was born April 21, 1830, at Middlesex, in Ontario county, N. Y., and was a son of Capt. Lyman E. and Fanny (Butler) Thayer. In 1836 Captain Thayer removed with his family to Michigan, and in 1850 to Green Lake county, Wis., where his wife died in 1862, his death following at Wausau, two years later. Lyman Well- ington Thayer accompanied his parents when they came to the West, and afterward entered the law school at Ann Arbor, Michigan, from which he was graduated and in 1850 was admitted to the bar. He went directly to Green Lake county, Wisconsin, and was there united in mar- riage the same year with Catherine Davis, who was born in Wales, in 1834. came to the United States with her parents in 1841 and resided at Kingston, Wisconsin. Five children were born to Lyman W. Thayer and wife, Eugene Butler being the second in order of birth. In 1854 Mr. Thayer came to Wausau after practicing law for three years at Prince- ton and Waupaca. For a time, in those early days he taught a private school and conducted the first book store in Wausau. He engaged in the practice of his profession here and was subsequently elected to the office of register of deeds for Marathon county, which office he held at the time of his death, March 7, 1860.
Eugene Butler Thayer attended the public schools of Wausau until ten years of age, when he entered the Central Wisconsin printing office owned by M. Stafford. Three years afterward he accepted a position on the Wisconsin River Pilot, owned by V. Ringle. In 1872 he was in Menasha as foreman of the Menasha Press, owned by Thomas B. Reed. Returning to Wausau in 1873 he accepted a position as foreman of the Central Wisconsin, and in 1876 bought the Central Wisconsin job office, and in 1882 started the Wausau Review. In 1884 he purchased the Wis- consin River Pilot and consolidated the papers and conducted the Pilot- Review, later making the name the Wausau Pilot, which he has owned and published ever since. During the campaigns of 1884 and 1896, he conducted a daily Democratic paper. Mr. Thayer was receiver of the U. S. Land Office under the administration of President Cleveland, from 1893 to 1897.
Mr. Thayer married Miss Delia Frances Gooding, a daughter of William A. Gooding, of Lockport, Illinois, and to them four children
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were born. In religious views Mr. Thayer is a Universalist. For many years he has been prominently identified with the leading fraternal organ- izations. He is a member of Forest Lodge No. 130, F. & A. M., Wausau ; Wausau Chapter No. 51, R. A. M., Wausau; St. Omer Commandery No. 19, K. T. and is now right eminent grand commander K. T., of Wiscon- sin. He belongs also to Wausau Lodge No. 215, I. O. O. F., Wausau, and to Marathon Encampment, No. 79, Wausau, and to Wausau Lodge No. 248, B. P. O. E.
HENRY DEGNER, architect and builder, and dealer in builders' supplies, at Athens, is one of the substantial men of this place and is con- cerned in many successful and reputable enterprises. He was born at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 3, 1852, and is a son of Frederick and Frederica (Neudahl) Degner. The parents of Mr. Degner were born, reared and married in Germany. After coming to the United States they lived for three years in the city of Milwaukee and then moved on a farm in the town of Grafton and remained there until 1882 and then came to Marathon county. Here the father continued to be a farmer as long as he was active, surviving until he was eighty-two years of age. His widow reached the unusual age of ninety years. They were well known and highly respected people and are recalled as early settlers in this section. They had the following children: Henry, Emily, wife of Gustav Teggart ; Herman; William ; and Elvina, wife of Otto Bruss.
After a rather short school period, Henry Degner gave his father assistance on the home farm until he was seventeen years of age, when he went to Milwaukee and there spent eight years working at the car- penter trade, and two years as a contractor, during which time he erected a number of church edifices. In 1880 he came to Athens, then called Black Lick Falls, commissioned to build a saw mill for Rietbrok & Halsey, and during the first ten years of the village's growth, did the main work of construction. He started also a hardware store in 1882 and continued the same until 1909, and in 1890 started what is now the E. E. Winch Heading Mill. He continued to be interested in that con- cern until 1904, about fifteen years, then made it into a stock company and was one of the partners of the same for six years, then sold and since then has taken life a little easier although still carefully looking after his investments. These include stock in the Athens Bank and in the Long Distance Telephone Company, and the ownership of a handsome residence property and two entire business blocks.
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In 1882 Mr. Degner was married to Miss Caroline Kreutzer, and they have the following children: Lydia, who is the wife of Baldwin Whip- king; Adaline, who is a teacher in the public schools ; Caroline, who is the wife of Dr. A. M. Rodermund ; Hilda, who is a teacher at Columbus, Wis- consin ; and Herbert. Mr. Degner and family are members of the Ger- man Lutheran church. In politics a strong Democrat, he has frequently been honored by his party with election to important offices and served seven years as town treasurer and is now serving in his second term as assessor.
THEOPHILUS M. SMITH, who has been largely interested in lumber for a number of years and owns many tracts of valuable timber throughout the state of Wisconsin, is at present engaged in the real estate business with office at No. 313 Third street, Wausau, handling his own property entirely. Mr. Smith was born at Punxsutawney, Pa., in 1861, and is a son of the late Dr. Theophilus and Emily ( Postlethwaite) Smith.
Dr. Theophilus Smith for many years was one of Wausau's most esteemed citizens. He came here from Jefferson county, Pa., in 1862, and practiced medicine in this city until his death in 1902. He was born at Clarksburg, now West Virginia, a son of Jesse and Julia Smith, and was a schoolmate of the distinguished Confederate officer in the Civil War known as Gen. Stonewall Jackson. Dr. Smith was a grad- uate of Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and was a man of both literary and professional attainments. He was twice married, first to Emily Postlethwaite, who died in Pennsylvania, survived by one son, Theophilus M., and (second) to Mrs. Harriet Millard, who survives him and resides at Wausau.
After completing his education at the Lebanon Normal School, Leba- non, Ohio, Theophilus M. Smith taught school in Jefferson county, Pa., for several years and then joined his father who had already been a resident of Wausau for twenty years. For five years Mr. Smith was identified with railroad affairs as a contractor after first coming to Wausau, and then embarked in the timber business and in later years has been in the real estate line mainly for the purpose of satisfactorily hand- ling his own lands.
Mr. Smith married Miss Mary Cooper, who died in 1907, survived by four children: Gertrude, Emily, Lawrence and Irene. Mr. Smith is identified with several branches of Masonry and also with the Knights of Pythias.
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WILLIAM F. MANECKE, who conducts a jewelry business at No. 117 Clinton street, Wausau, was born in Germany, in 1881, and was brought to the United States by his parents when one year old. His father was a jeweler and watchmaker and established himself in this business at Wausau and continued until his death in 1908.
William F. Manecke attended the public schools and when the time came for him to make a choice of calling, he turned first to photography and for several years worked for Carl Lemke, the well known photogra- pher, but then found himself more interested in the jewelry and watch- making trade, which was quite natural as his father had been a jeweler, and he worked for his father until the latter's death and then went into the business on his own account. He has a fine stock and thoroughly understands his business, carries many gems of value, and has such fav- orable trade relations that it is possible for him to procure any artistic design that his patrons may desire.
In 1904 Mr. Manecke was married to Miss Alza Pittsley, a daughter of Arthur Pittsley, of Wausau, and they have two children : Harold and Norma. Two of their little ones have passed away: William and Kath- ryn. Mr. Manecke has never been very active in politics but can always be found supporting law and justice in public matters. He is a mem- ber of the Modern Woodmen and takes a hearty interest in the Wau- sau Commercial Club, of which he is a member.
JOHN FEHL, who is the senior member of the firm of John Fehl & Sons, dealers in bicycles, motorcycles and sporting goods, occupying their own building at No. 202 Washington street, Wausau, has been a resident of this city since 1882 and is one of its representative men. He was born at Janesville, Wisconsin, September II, 1852, and is a son of Jacob and Elizabeth (Pfeil) Fehl.
The parents of John Fehl moved in his childhood to a farm in Mil- waukee county, and there he lived until he was sixteen years of age when he went to the city of Milwaukee, where he learned the tinner's trade, one that he found could be profitably followed in almost any section, and after leaving Milwaukee worked through Washington county and from there came to Wausan. Here, for several years, he was tinsmith for the Montgomery Hardware Company. In 1898 he started into busi- ness for himself, on Washington street, a few doors east of his present location, which latter he bought in 1900 and has since occupied. The situation of the building, on the corner of Second and Washington streets,
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is an admirable business site, but he has made many improvements and it is now an exceptionally fine structure, a two-story brick, with a front- age of thirty feet and a depth of seventy-five feet. Here he continued his tin shop until 1910, his son, the late Benjamin J. Fehl, being the practi- cal tinner of the establishment. After his death Mr. Fehl closed the tin department and since then has devoted his ime, as have his two other sons, Alexander and Antone, as partners, to the handling of the goods mentioned in the opening paragraph, and they also have the agency for the Indian Motorcycle Company. This is a business that is not only a constantly growing one at the present but has a certain future for each year athletics assume a more and more important place in the life of every community and the supplying of the demand for equipments becomes an exceedingly profitable line of business.
In 1875 Mr. Fehl was married, at Milwaukee, to Miss Mary Wondra, who was born in Germany, and four sons have been born to them : Henry, who died in 1908, aged thirty-three years; Benjamin J., who died June 9, 1910, aged thirty-one years ; and Alexander and Antone, junior members of the firm of John Fehl & Sons. This establishment is headquarters for the Wausau Motorcycle Club. Mr. Fehl is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America.
MATT J. KLIMEK, a well known business man of Wausau, pro- prietor of a grocery store at No. 1202 North Sixth street, and also of the Sixth Street Livery Stable at No. 1208 North Sixth street, owns addi- tional property in this city and has acquired his many interests entirely through his own efforts. He was born February 8, 1873, at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and is a son of Valentine Klimek, who was a native of Ger- many.
Matt J. Klimek was reared and attended school at Green Bay, and afterward went to work in a saw mill at Arbor Vitae, where he remained four years and then came to Wausau and married and returned to Arbor Vitae and worked there for five years more at lumbering. He came back to Wausau and in 1900 established his barns and three years later his store. He owns the property also on the corner of Hamilton and Sixth street to the alley that adjoins his livery stable, and has put up all the buildings on this ground, having his store and stables of brick con- struction. He carries a first class line of grocery goods and has a heavy trade. He keeps twenty head of horses and all kinds of conveyances for every purpose and additionally engages in general teaming. Mr. Klimek is one of Wausau's most energetic and enterprising citizens.
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In July, 1895, Mr. Klimek was married to Miss Paulina Weloch of Wausau, Wis., and they have seven children : Mary, Frances, John, Cas- imer, Leona, Marcella and Regina. The family belongs to the Polish Catholic church and Mr. Klimek is a member of St. Michael's Society of this church.
GOTTFRIED SCHULZ, owner and proprietor of a furniture store, at Mosinee, Wis., also in the undertaking business, has been a resident of this place since 1911, and has lived in America since 1900. Mr. Schulz was born in Germany, April 4, 1876, and is a son of Jacob and Anna (Schrade) Schulz. The father is deceased but the mother still lives in Germany. The family consisted of one daughter, Regina, and four sons: Gottfried, Jacob, August and Henry.
In Germany all boys go to school as it is the excellent law of the land, and afterward all learn a self supporting trade. The one to which Gottfried Schulz applied himself was cabinetmaking although his father was a stonecutter. After reaching the United States he came to Price county, Wis., where he remained for two months and then sought a larger place and settled at Oshkosh, in Winnebago county, and there worked at his trade for seven and one-half years, when he returned to Price county and established himself in the furniture business at Park Falls, adding undertaking two years later. In order to qualify as an embalmer he attended the Barnes School of Anatomy at Oshkosh, where he was graduated June 25, 1909. He continued in business at Park Falls until 1911 when he came to Mosinee, where he is the only dealer in furniture. He has invested capital here and owns his comfortable resi- dence.
In 1898 Mr. Schulz was married to Miss Minnie Scherwinski, who was born in Germany and they have four children: Frederick, Paula, Gertrude and Meta. The family belongs to the Lutheran church. Mr. Schulz is law abiding in every way but takes no great interest in poli- tics.
ADOLPH HOLUB, whose real estate, loan and insurance office is located in the Maibach Building on First avenue, Wausau, West Side, has been a resident of this city for thirty years and has been interested in his present line since May, 1912. He was born on a farm in Manitowoc county, Wis., December 5, 1871, and is a son of John and Mary Holub.
Adolph Holub remained on the home farm until he was eleven years old,
ADOLPH HOLUB
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his father, in the meanwhile, having died in Manitowoc county some three years before. He then accompanied his mother in her removal to Wau- sau and here, after completing his period of school attendance, became a clerk in a general store and continued until 1906, when he went into the general store business as senior member of the firm of Holub & Fenhouse. which continued until he embarked in his present business. This line offers an excellent field for business, and he handles much property, makes invest- ments, loans money and is agent for a number of old line insurance com- panies.
In December, 1890, at Wausau, Mr. Holub was married to Miss Minnie Schroeder, and they have four children : Mary, Adolph, Della, and Marvin. Mr. Holub belongs to the Modern Brotherhood of America, being president of the local lodge, and is identified also with the Modern Woodmen and the Owls. He has never been an ardent politician, but his good citizenship is above question.
HARRIS B. HANOWITZ, manager and junior member of the J. Hanowitz & Son Company, at Mosinee, general merchants, operating the largest store in the place, having floor space of 50x120 feet, is one of the enterprising and successful young business men of this section. He was born in New Jersey, the eldest child of Julius and Fannie Hanowitz. Both parents were born in Prussia and both came when young to Amer- ica, here became acquainted and subsequently married and for some time afterward lived in New York and New Jersey. They have four chil- dren : Harris B., Harry, Max and Meyer.
When the parents of Mr. Hanowitz came first to Wisconsin they set- tled at Milwaukee and the father soon became interested in the cedar lumber business in which he continues to some extent. In 1904 the present mercantile enterprise was established at Mosinee and the pres- ent firm style adopted, and it has been prosperous from the start. This firm carries the largest stock of general merchandise of any store in the county outside of Wausau and draws custom from a radius of twenty miles. A large force of employes are required to handle the trade and keep every avenue of the business up to the high standard which has marked it from the beginning. It is one of the most enterprising busi- ness concerns of Mosinee.
REV. BERNARD KLEIN, pastor of St. Paul's Catholic church at Mosinee, Wis., and also serving St. Patrick's Catholic church at Halder,
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is one of the earnest, zealous and hard working priests of the Northern Wisconsin Diocese. He was born in Germany, February 26, 1859, and is a son of Frank and Walburga (Lechner) Klein.
The parents of Father Klein spent the closing years of their lives in Wisconsin. They were good, Catholic people, kind as neighbors and irreproachable in every relation of life. They had four children: Cres- zens, who became the wife of John Hallmeier; and Joseph, Bernard and Ignatius, the two last named both entering the church, the youngest at present being stationed at East Bristol, Dane county, Wisconsin.
After his preparatory studies Father Klein became a student in a German university and after coming to the United States his education for the priesthood was completed at the Salesianum, at St. Francis, in Milwaukee county, Wis., and he was ordained at La Crosse, Wis., by the Right Reverend Kilian Flasch. Prior to coming to St. Paul's parish, in January, 1910, Father Klein ministered to other parishes in the northern part of the state, where he is still recalled with rever- ence and affection. There are many Catholic families in this part of Marathon county and his time is very fully taken up in looking after their spiritual welfare, and, as a good priest, not forgetting their tem- poral affairs.
JOHN L. SELL, register of deeds of Marathon county, has been a resident of Wausau for about thirty-four years and has been identified with both city and county development and progress. He was born on a farm in Wood county, Wis., June 24, 1869, and is a son of Will- * jam and Caroline (Habeck) Sell. They were natives of Germany, com- ing to America when about twenty-one years of age and were married in Milwaukee, Wis. By trade he was a brickmaker and owned a brick yard and also was in the hotel and saloon business. He died Feb- ruary 27, 1905, and is survived by his widow and the following children : Emma, wife of Frank Hartle, of Wausau; John L .; Minnie, wife of R. H. Genrich, of Wausau; William, Walter and Hugo, all merchants at Wausau; and Anita, wife of George Hartwig, a carpenter and contractor at Wausau.
John L. Sell attended the public schools in Marathon county until he was about fourteen years of age and then went to work for Curtis & Yale, later working for Schmidt & Shoneberg, merchants, and was con- nected with the firm at Wausau for eighteen years, then was elected city comptroller and served four years in that office. Later, for one year,
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he was with the G. D. Jones Land Company. In 1906 he was appointed under sheriff of Marathon county, in 1908 was elected sheriff, and in 1910 was elected register of deeds. The above offices are all of such public importance that they are seldom held by any but men who enjoy a large measure of public confidence and esteem. Mr. Sell has served in other positions of trust and responsibility, being in office for the past twenty years. For several years he was county supervisor, thereby being a member of the county board, and served also for several years as an alderman, and throughout the whole period his record is that of an able, efficient and honest public man. He has always been identified with the Democratic party.
Mr. Sell was married in 1892, to Miss Clara Pradel, a daughter of August and Elizabeth Pradel, of Wausau, and they have three children : Gertrude, Arnold and John, Jr. Mr. Sell and family are members of the Lutheran church.
WALTER HENRY BISSELL, of Wausau, one of the best known citizens of Marathon county, and one whose name is closely identified with the great lumber industry both of this and other states, was born at Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, July 28, 1858, a son of Leonard C. and Cor- nelia (Bradley) Bissell.
Leonard C. Bissell was descended from a line of New England lum- bermen. He came to Fond du Lac from Connecticut in the forties and built the first steam saw mill ever operated there. In 1861 he returned to Connecticut and enlisted in the Union army, serving until he was discharged on account of total disability, being practically disabled for life. In 1868 the family returned to Wisconsin and it was in the saw mills of that state mainly in Fond du Lac that Walter Henry Bissell and his three brothers were trained to their life work.
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