USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 74
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The only surviving member of Mr. Finch's family is his daughter, Mrs. Mary Finch Papendiek, who is still a resident of Milwaukee.
FREDERICK C. WINKLER, famous both as soldier and lawyer, was born in Bremen, Ger- many, March 15, 1838, the son of Carl and Eliza- beth (Overbeck) Winkler, both of good families and antecedents in the Fatherland. His father came to the United States in 1842 and located in Milwaukee, where he established himself in the drug business. Being joined shortly thereafter by his wife and family, Frederick C. Winkler, who was the eldest son, grew up in Milwaukee. He was thoroughly educated at the German- English Academy-of which the justly renowned educator and scientist, Peter Englemann, was the controlling spirit-and after teaching school for a term or two in his young manhood, he began the study of law under the preceptorship of Hon. Henry L. Palmer, now president of the North- western Mutual Insurance Company. Ile con- tinued to teach school a portion of the time while pursuing his law studies until 1858, when he en- tered the law office of Messrs. Abbott, Gregory & Pinney as a clerk. He was admitted to the bar in the Circuit Court of Dane county in the spring of 1859, and returned to Milwaukee soon afterward, but had hardly established himself in practice when the War of the Rebellion began, which for the time being interrupted his professional career.
As early as 1856 he had given evidence of the fact that his political views were clearly defined, and that he was in full sympathy with the Repub- lican party, then conducting its first National
campaign. In 1860 he participated actively in the campaign in Milwaukee county as a Republi- can, and when the election of Abraham Lincoln to the Presidency was followed by armed resist- ance to his authority by the defeated Southerners, it was natural that he should respond to the call for armed men to suppress the rebellious uprising. His law partner having been among the first to enlist, he bent his energies to the task of settling up the affairs of the firm, and in the summer of 1862 he recruited a company of troops which was mustered into the service as Company " B" of the Twenty-sixth Regiment of Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. Of this company, which was mustered into the government service, September 17, 1862, he was commissioned captain, and left the state with the regiment on the 6th of October following. Dispatched at once to Fairfax Court House, Vir- ginia, the regiment became a part of the Second Brigade of the Third Division of the Eleventh Corps, Army of the Potomac, then under com- mand of the intrepid Gen. Franz Sigel. Shortly after their arrival at the front, Capt. Winkler was assigned to duty as judge advocate at corps headquarters, and served in that capacity during the following winter and early spring months, when he was assigned to duty on the staff of Gen. Carl Schurz, and as a staff officer participated in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.
On the first day of the battle of Gettysburg his regiment lost heavily in officers and men, four officers only remaining unhurt. The lieutenant- colonel and major were both disabled by wounds and Captain Winkler being next in rank to the colonel among the officers able for duty, requested to be returned from staff duty. IIis request was granted and he returned to his regiment which was soon afterward transferred to the West and became a part of the army of the Cumberland. On the Stlı of October, 1863, Capt. Winkler was commis- sion major to fill a vacancy which had occurred, and on November 8, 1863, Col. Jacobs being ordered to Wisconsin on recruiting service he assumed command of the regiment. Later he was commissioned colonel and remained with it from that time until the close of the rebellion, winning high renown as commander of as gallant a body of men as participated in the war. The fearful slaughter of both officers and men in the battles of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg had so depleted the ranks of the regiment, that those who re-
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mained were temporarily consolidated into five companies. During the fall of 1863 its ranks were again filled with new recruits, and it was restored to its original complement of officers and men.
Gen. Winkler accompanied his command under Gen. Hooker to the relief of the Army of the Cumberland, was in the fight at Wauhatchie, October 27, 1863, and in the thick of the battle at Missionary Ridge the November following. He later joined the expedition for the relief of Gen. Burnside at Knoxville, and the following spring his regiment was assigned to the Third Brigade of the Third Division of the newly organized Twentieth Corps, under Maj .- Gen. Hooker.
In 1864 he participated in the engagements at Resaca, Kenesaw mountain, and Peach Tree creek, then joined the forces investing Atlanta and later marched with Sherman "to the sea." In the numerons hotly contested engagements of that year both the regiment and its commander cov- ered themselves with glory. At Peach Tree creek they repulsed a terrific assault of the enemy with fearful slaughter, capturing many prisoners and the colors of the Thirty-third Mississippi Regi- ment. Col. Winkler and his regiment were com- mended for conspicuous bravery in this action by their brigade commander in a report from which the following is an extract :
" It may be regarded as invidious to call atten- tion to individuals, yet it seems to me I cannot discharge my duty in this report, without pointing out for especial commendation the conduct of the Twenty-sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and its brave and able commander. The position of this regiment in the line was such that the brunt of the enemy's attack fell upon it. The brave, skillful and determined manner in which it met this attack, rolled back the onset, pressed forward in a counter-charge, and drove back the enemy, could not be excelled by the troops in this or any other army, and is worthy of the highest commendation and praise."
After the march to the sea, Col. Winkler marched his command to Washington, fighting his last battles at Averysboro and Bentonville, North Carolina, in March, and participating in the grand review at the national capitol in May of 1865. On the 16th of the following June he re- turned with his regiment to Milwaukee, where the command and its gallant leader were received with a popular demonstration which testified to the
fact that their brave deeds were appreciated by the loval people of Wisconsin, and that their record as soldiers and patriots reflected credit upon the common wealth.
Retiring from the service with the rank of briga- dier-general by brevet, Gen. Winkler returned at once to the practice of his profession, entering into a co-partnership a little later with Hon. A. R. R. Butler, then at the zenith of his power and prestige as a member of the Wisconsin bar. This partnership expired by limitation in 1873, and he then became a member of the firm of Jenkins, Eliott & Winkler, of which Judge James G. Jenkins, now of the United States Circuit Court, was senior member.
Upon the elevation of Judge Jenkins to the bench in 1888 Gen. Winkler became head of the present firm of Winkler, Flanders, Smith, Bottum & Vilas. His career at the bar has been not less notable than his career as a soldier. When he entered upon the practice of his profession the same chivalrous nature, tenacity of purpose, and splendid fighting qualities which had made him a great soldier helped to make him a great lawyer. His preparation for the practice had been thor- ongh, his knowledge was broad, his mind judicial and he applied himself to professional work with the zeal and earnestness inherent in his nature. Eminent success followed as a natural conse- quence, and it is hardly too much to say that he stands to-day at the head of the Wisconsin bar. While some of his predecessors at the Milwaukee bar have perhaps acquired greater distinction, his rugged honesty, his fairness and candor, his pro- found knowledge of the law, and his broad capac- ity for the solution of intricate legal problems, have given him a standing in the courts and as a counselor which few practitioners at the Wisconsin bar have attained. All his time and energies have been devoted to the law, and al- though influential in the councils of the Republi- can party, he has never been an active politician.
JEROME A. WATROUS was born in Conklin, Broome county, New York, September 6, 1840, son of Orin J. Watrous, a native of Bridgewater, Pennsylvania. He is descended from an English immigrant ancestor, who married a Scotch woman, and settled in Connecticut, in the seventeenth century. His grandfather, Major Ansel Watrous, went from Connecticut to Pennsylvania early in the present century. The father of J. A. Watrous,
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who was a lumberman and miller, married Jane E. Smith, a native of Suquehanna county, Pennsyl- vania, and removed to Wisconsin in 1844, living at Sheboygan Falls until 1847, when he removed to Forest, Fond du Lac county. The next year he went to Brothertown, Calumet county, and in 1849 to what is now Hayton, in that county. There J. A. Watrous assisted his father and brother to clear the first half acre and build thereon a board shanty. The father died the next year, and the mother re- turned to the neighborhood of her friends in New York. During the next six years Jerome worked on a farm summers, and obtained three months' schooling each year, except the last, when he worked for nine dollars a month and taught school in the winter.
In July; 1857, he returned to Calumet county, Wisconsin, and farmed summers and taught school two winters. In April, 1859, he entered Lawrence University at Appleton. At the end of one term he became an attaché of the office of the Apple- ton Crescent, and within two years one of the edi- tors and publishers. When the firing upon Sum- ter announced that men were needed at the front, he enlisted, hoping to go with the first troops that left the state. The company disbanded, and he again enrolled June 24, 1861, and went to Camp Randall, where the company was assigned as E of the Sixth Wisconsin Infantry. July 16, 1861, he was mustered in, and left the state on the 23d to become a member of one of the most famous organizations in the whole volunteer service-the "Iron Brigade," then King's Brigade, McDowell's Division, Army of Virginia. Early in the spring it became the first brigade of the first division and first army corps of the Army of the Potomac, remaining such until the con- solidation of the first and fifth corps in 1864, when the organization became the third brigade of the fourth division and fifth corps, dating its title of "Iron Brigade" from the battle of South Mountain, September 14, 1862. The first battle in which the regiment engaged was on the Rappahannock, August 24, 1862. Col. Watrous had been made ordnance sergeant of the bri- gade in January preceding, and he held the posi- tion until a week after the battle of Antietam, September 17, when he was made division ord- nance sergeant and occupied the place until August, 1864. Meanwhile he had been under fire in every action of his command, from that already
named to the fights on the Weldon Railroad, ex- cept those of Gainesville and South Mountain, when he was called elsewhere. His roster in- cludes the battles of Rappahannock river, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Fitzhugh's Crossing, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Laurel Hill, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, siege of Petersburg, and the tights on the Weldon Railroad. About the last of August, 1864, he was made sergeant major of the Sixth, and on the 19th of October was com- missioned first lieutenant and adjutant, and in that capacity served in the work of destruction on the Weldon Railroad, where miles of track and other property were destroyed and many prison- ers captured. On the return the regiment, as rear- guard, had four brisk skirmishes with the advance of the rebels. About the beginning of March, Col. Watrous was made adjutant-general of the Iron Brigade, then commanded by the late Gen. John A. Kellogg. On the 31st of March his horse was killed under him and he was taken prisoner, conveyed to Libby prison, and was one of the last to be released on the afternoon of April 2nd, the day before the occupation of Richmond by the Federal troops. For gallant conduct at Gravelly Run, on the day he was captured, he was breveted captain and, by virtue of being a paroled prisoner, he was mustered out May 20, 1865, four years lack- ing a month after his servicescommenced, June 24th.
After leaving Washington he purchased a half interest in the Jackson County (Wisconsin) Ban- ner, at Black River Falls. For a year he was the factotum of the establishment, setting about half the type, doing nearly all the editorial and press work, soliciting for his subscription list, and man- aging the finances of the enterprise. He re- mained editor and one of the publishers of the paper until August, 1869. In the summer of 1866 he was appointed to fill a vacancy as school superintendent of Jackson county, and in the fall was the success- ful candidate for the assembly for the district composed of Jackson and Clark counties. He was the youngest man in the legislature, and served on three standing committees and on a special com- mittee to investigate the affairs of the State Insane Asylum at Madison.
In 1869 he severed his connection with the Banner and became one of the editors and pub- lishers of the Fon du Lac Commonwealth, and, a year later, aided in founding the daily Common-
H. m. Finch
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wealth, remaining in that connection seven years. In 1878 he began his connection with the Mil- waukee Telegraph as a contributor, and in July following bought a third interest in that journal, becoming, after two months, a half owner. Since 1885 he has been its editor, R. B. Watrous, his son, being assistant editor and business manager. He was the Republican candidate for Congress in the Fourth district in 1870, and was made pension agent in 1885, holding the office until April, 1889. October 31, 1889, he was appointed collector of customs of the port of Milwaukee by President Harrison. He has been a Republican editor for twenty-five years, and has been active in the interests of his party. He served eight years as a colonel in the National Guard and three years as brigadier-general. He was elected department commander of the Grand Army of the Republic for Wisconsin in 1894 and served in that capacity one term.
JOHN CONVERSE STARKWEATHER, one of Wisconsin's most distinguished citizen soldiers. was born May 11, 1830, in Cooperstown. New York, eldest son of Judge George A. and Eliza- beth (Converse) Starkweather, the former a native of Norwich, Connecticut, and the latter of Troy, New York. Partially educated at Cooperstown and Gilbertsville, he was graduated from Union College of Schenectady, New York.
Having completed his education he came to Milwaukee in 1850, being at that time twenty years of age. Here he was connected with the law firm of Finch & Lynde for a time, but soon became a member of the law firm of Wright & Starkweather, William H. Wright being the senior member of the firm. In 1851 he married Louisa A. Hallett, daughter of William Paxon Hallett, a noted New York lawyer, and establishing his home in this city he became at once conspicuous in social and military circles. He early became a member of the famous Milwaukee Light Guard, and suc- ceeded Gen. Rufus King as captain of Company "A" of that organization. Under his gallant lead- ership the Light Guard became one of the most famous military organizations in the United States, and when Gov. Randall issued his first call for troops to aid in suppressing the rebellion, it was one of the first to tender its services to the state and government. Capt. Starkweather was author- ized to recruit a regiment, which was made up in a few days, becoming the First Regiment of Wis-
consin Volunteer Infantry. Commissioned regi- mental commander, Col. Starkweather led this regiment into the field and remained at its head until the close of its three months' term of service. In the fall of 1862 the regiment was reorganized and entered upon a three years' term of service with Col. Starkweather again at its head. He subsequently served with distinction and returned to his home with the rank of brigadier-general.
He did not permanently resume the practice of law after the war, but settled on a farm near Fow- ler lake, Wisconsin, which was known as Sunnyside farm, on which he spent the remaining years of his life. In 1869 he was again called upon to take com- mand of the reorganized Milwaukee Light Guard. and served in the capacity of company commander with his old-time vim and vigor.
Of ten children born to General and Mrs. Stark- weather, only two daughters now survive, one being the wife of Guild A. Copeland, of Boston, Massachusetts, and the other the wife of Dr. H. V. Wurdemann of Milwaukee. Mrs. Starkweather survives her husband.
HENRY MARTYN FINCH was one of the young men who became identified with the Mil- waukee bar between 1859 and 1860, who achieved unusual distinction in later years.
A son of Daniel G. and Elizabeth (Mcknight) Finch, he was a great grandson of one of the Connecticut colonists whose lives were sacrificed to the cause of liberty and independence in the Wyoming massacre of 1678, of which extended mention is made in the biographical sketch of his uncle, Asahel Finch, which appears elsewhere in this connection. He was born at Parma Corners, Monroe county, New York, December 15, 1829, and soon after, his father, who was a merchant, moved to Michigan and located at Tecumseh. When he was eight years of age his mother died. and he became a pupil, and also a member of the household of Rev. Mr. Blood, well-known as one of the pioneer ministers of Michigan and Ohio. As a boy he was energetic, industrious and am- bitious, and although he labored under many dis- advantages he made the best of his opportunities: and secured a good English education in the schools of Michigan and Wisconsin.
He came to Milwaukee first about 1846, and after spending some time here with his uncle, was sent to Madison, where another uncle (Cullen Finch) was engaged in commercial pursuits. A
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limited experience satisfied him that the life of a merchant would be distasteful to him, and return- ing to Milwaukee he was persuaded by his uncle, Asahel, to take employment on the Evening Wis- consin. Here he learned the printer's trade and became recognized as an expert compositor. But from early boyhood he had cherished an ambition to become a lawyer, and the bent of his mind was so decided in that direction that he could not be dissuaded from making the attempt to qualify himself for professional life. After leaving the Evening Wisconsin, he made a brief visit to St. Louis, Missouri, and returning about 1850, entered the law office of Smith & Palmer, the members of this firm being Judge Abram D. Smith, one of the first justices of the Supreme Court of Wis- consin, and Hon. Henry L. Palmer, now president of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany. As a law student he had numerous diffi- culties to encounter and overcome, but he evinced the same tenacity of purpose which was afterward so conspicuous a feature of his professional career and with the kinly encouragement and under the preceptorship of Judge Palmer he completed the required course of study and was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1853.
Immediately thereafter he went to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he formed a partnership with another young lawyer and began practice. At the solicitation of his uncle he soon returned to Milwaukee and entered the office of Finch & Lynde, retaining his connection with the firm as an employe, until admitted to the partnership in 1857, when the firm became Finches, Lynde & Miller.
Soon after this association was formed he took an active part in the trial of many of the most im- portant cases in which the firm was retained; and it became apparent to his associates at the bar, that he was a lawyer of superior natural ability, with a marvelous capacity for hard work. The business of the firm was at that time of great magnitude and a large share of the responsibility for its conduct was shifted to his shoulders. .Among the important cases with which he was personally connected were the Wells-McGeoch lard deal, the Washburn Will case and the suit of the Wisconsin Marine & Fire Insurance Company Bank against David Dows.
A more conscientious and earnest student of the law, or a more zealous champion of
interests cominitted to his care, never practiced at the Milwaukee bar. Not having had a collegiate training, he felt that what he lacked in educational attainments of that character must be made up by a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the law, and to the accomplishment of this purpose he bent all his energies and disciplined all his faculties. In the early years of his practice all his reading and study was along professional lines, and it was not until he had stored his mind with a vast fund of that kind of knowledge which he felt would be most useful to him, that he allowed himself the pleasure and diversion of wandering into the broad field of general literature. His marked fondness for the best class of literature was shown, when he found time to turn his attention in this direction, by the collection of a large and well selected library, which he studied in the same thorough and methodical way that he had famil- iarized himself with the extensive law library of the firm.
As a trial lawyer, Mr. Finch rapidly forced bis way to a conspicuous position among the able law- yers of the city and state. His devotion to the causes of his clients was chivalrous in its charac- ter, and every contest in which he engaged be- came a contest for rights which he cherished as fondly as if they had been his own. His tastes. temperament and habits of thought were such as peculiarly adapted him to the struggles, the ex- citement and triumphs of the bar. The ardor with which he pursued his profession could hardly be kept within the bounds of reasonable exertion, and the restraints which he put upon himself were not sufficient to conserve his vital powers. In 1865 and in 1879, and again in 1882 he made trips to Europe, but the short vacations which he allowed himself did not bring perma- nent relief from the strain of overwork, and his career came to an end while he was still in the prime of life. He died March 27, 1884, after more than twenty-five years of a practice which was notably successful.
He was esteemed by his contemporaries for his superior ability as a lawyer, and his high charac- ter as a man and a citizen caused him to be no less kindly regarded by all classes of people. Never in any sense a politician, he affiliated with the Democratic party in early life, later became a " Free Soil" Democrat, and with that element of
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the old Democratic party, drifted into the Repub- lican party when that great organization was formed. He was a Presbyterian in his religious faith, and for many years was prominently identi- fied in various ways with the church work in this city.
In 1861 he was married to Miss Emily Swift Chapman, a daughter of Elijah Chapman of Tolland, Connecticut, and grand-daughter of Cap. Elijah Chapman, an officer of the Revolu- tionary army and one of the early members of the Society of Cincinnati. The maternal grand- father of Mrs. Finch was Zephaniah Swift, of Connecticut a member of Congress from 1793 to 1797 and chief justice of Connecticut from 1806 to 1819. Mrs. Finch and two daughters are the surviving members of Mr. Finch's family.
A. R. R. BUTLER, whose subsequent career entitles him to rank very high among able West- ern lawyers, entered upon the practice of his pro- fession in Milwaukee, in the year 1846, thoroughly equipped by nature and education, for the work he had undertaken.
Of both English and Irish extraction, his first ancestor Richard Butler, who settled at Hartford, Connecticut, about 1634, in common with some of his descendants is said to have been "constantly identified with the welfare of the colony, holding offices of trust and honor." Among various of- ficial positions of more or less importance which were held by early members of the family, was that of Deputy to the General Court the gov- erning body of the colony.
The later generations of the family have taken little interest in matters of genealogy, but some of its earlier members were thoroughly posted. The late Judge Baker of Michigan wrote a history of the family many years ago, based upon in- teresting documents placed in his hands by Mr. Butler's grandfather, but the book was never pub- lished owing to the fact that the manuscript and the papers were lost in the destruction of Judge Baker's office by fire a short time before his death. He was, however, authority for the statement that William Archer Butler, the distinguished theo- logian of Trinity College, Dublin, and Samuel Butler, the author of " Hudibras," as well as other distinguished men were kinsmen of its first Amer- ican representative.
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