USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 > Part 83
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H. A. J. UPHAM, younger of the two sons of Hon. Don A. J. Upham, has succeeded his father as a member of the Milwaukee bar, and maintains the prominence of a name long a familiar and honored one in this connection. Born in this city, . August 14, 1853, Horace Alonzo Jaques Upham belongs to the generation of young men who have been called upon to shoulder important responsi- bilities bequeathed to them by the pioneers who were their immediate predecessors. He received his early education in the schools of Milwaukee and then entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Ile graduated from that institution · in 1875, and upon his return to Milwaukee im- mediately began the study of law, first in the office of Wilson Graham and afterward in the office of Jenkins, Elliott & Winkler, Judge James G. Jenkins, now on the United States Circuit Court bench, being at that time the senior mem- ber of the firm. Admitted to the bar in 1877, he became identified two years later with one of the oldest law firms in the city, that of Wells & Brig- ham. In 1852 Charles K. Wells and Jerome R. Brigham formed a co-partnership which had been in existence twenty-seven years when Mr. Upham entered the firm as junior partner, and the firm name was changed to Wells, Brigham & Upham. With an established reputation as capable and successful lawyers in general practice, the mem- bers of this firm have become noted as safe, conservative and candid counselors, and espe-
cially successful in litigation where large interests and difficult questions have been involved ; and when Mr. Upham entered the firm he took at once an active part in the important matters of which it had charge. Real estate, commercial and cor- poration law, as well as the care of estates, the guardianship of trust funds, and watchfulness of financial investments of clients, areall parts of the practice of this firm, and in the conduct and man- agement of the affairs committed to his charge Mr. Upham has evinced the tact, good judgment and business ability of a capable man of affairs, as well as the care and conservatism of a well equipped and thoroughly competent lawyer.
Among the suits commenced by Mr. Upham is the one of Hawley vs. Tesch, which has been prosecuted by Mr. Upham for the past eight years, and in which judgment has been re- cently entered, and in which he has been success- ful. This suit has become noted on account of a large amount of property involved and the fact that as a result of the litigation the clients of Mr. Upham have not only won their lawsuit but also recovered their property. (See volumes seventy- two and eighty-eight of the Wisconsin Reports.) By means of this litigation the heirs of Cyrus Hawley recovered four hundred thousand dollars worth of property, none of which would they have ever enjoyed except for the successful prose- cution of this suit.
Mr. Upham is in full sympathy with progress- ive movements of all kinds, and has contributed in many ways to the advancement of business enter- prises of various kinds, and also to the advance- ment of social, moral and other reforms. He was married in 1889 to Miss Mary Lydia Greene, daughter of Thomas A. Greene, one of the older merchants, and for many years one of the best known citizens of Milwaukee.
GEORGE E. SUTHERLAND has been a mem- ber of the Milwaukee bar since 1886, and before that time he had appeared not infrequently in the courts of this city and county, as a practitioner, having been for a dozen years or more prominently identified with the bar of a neighboring city. Successful as a lawyer and highly esteemed as a citizen, the later years of his life have not been eventľul in the ordinary acceptation of that term, but interesting incidents in plenty crowded them- selves into his earlier life.
Of Scotch descent he was born in Otsego
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county, New York, September 14, 1843, a son of Samuel Sutherland, whose grandfather came to this country to escape the political persecutions to which he had been subjected in his native land. Left a half orphan when he was six years of age, by the death of his mother, for several years thereafter George Eaton Sutherland was without a permanent home, being cared for first by one relative and then by another, and deprived by force of circumstances, in large part, of the educa- tional and other advantages of a well regulated home and parental training. Having learned to read, however, he pursned, in a desultory way a course of study which gave him a knowledge of many things of which children ordinarily know nothing, displaying a marked fondness for the speeches and orations of public men and acquiring a familiarity with this class of literature which would have done credit to a much older person.
When he was eleven years of age he went to live with Andrew Sutherland, an older brother, who was then a teacher in the public schools of Norwich, Connecticut. It was at that time that his systematic education began, and it continued for two years, under the direction of his brother. in Norwich. At the end of that time, in 1855, he removed with his brother's family to Waukau, Wisconsin, and for the next three years he divided his time between farm labor and attendance at school. Thrown upon his own resources at the age of sixteen years, he went back to New York state, and taught school two winters near his old home, attending West Win- field Academy during the summer months of the same years. He was in New York state when the Civil War began and in the early fall of 1862 enlisted in Company " A " of the First New York Light Artillery Regiment. His regiment went into camp at Albany and from there was sent to Washington to aid in defending the capital. In the summer of 1863 Company " A," which was known as the " Bates " Battery, was on duty much of the time in Pennsylvania where its presence was thought to be necessary to quell riotous uprisings and other demonstrations growing out of the "drafts " of that year. While stationed in Phila- delphia young Sutherland embraced an opportu- nity to attend a military school in that city, and as a result acquired a thorough knowledge of mil- itary science and tactics. He then appeared before an examining board in Washington and as
the result of the examination received a captain's commission, signed by President Lincoln on the 22nd of July, 1864. Immediately thereafter he was sent to Kentucky to recruit colored troops, and a little later was placed in command of a de- tachment of colored soldiers and assigned to duty as post commander, at Eddyville, Kentucky. He arrived at Eddyville about midnight of Octo- ber 12th, and before he had time to take a survey of the situation the garrison was attacked by the Confederates. After a short but sharp engage- ment in which Capt. Sutherland was severely wounded, the Unionist force surrendered. Car- ried to a hotel, rebel surgeons made a pretense of dressing his wound, feeling apparently that for- tune had favored them in throwing into their hands a " Yankee Captain," to be experimented upon. Half dead from the torture which he had experienced while in the hands of the surgeons, he was rescued when the town was recaptured a few hours later by Federal troops, and carried aboard a Union gunboat. Sent from there to a hospital at Clarksville, Tennessee, his wound, and an attack of typhoid fever, disabled him for three months. After his recovery he served as post commander of Caseyville and also of Owensboro, Kentucky. For a time he was commissary of subsistence at Smithland, Kentucky, and served also as a member of the military commission and court martial which sat, first at Camp Nelson and later at Lexington. His services commended him to his superior officers who recommended him for promotion, but the close of the war was at hand and on the 26th of November, 1865, he was mus- tered out of the services.
Returning to Wisconsin, he entered at once npon the work of fitting himself for a professional career by becoming a student in the preparatory department of Ripon College. Ile completed his sophomore year in that institutior, and in the fall of 1868 went to Amherst College. Entering as a member of the junior class he was graduated from Amherst as one of the "honor men" of the class of 1870. During his summer vacations he studied law with Judge Willard of Utica, New York, and after his graduation completed his law studies at Columbia Law School.
Soon after his admission to the bar in 1871, he married Miss Adela Merrell of Kirkland, New York, a sister of president Merrell of Ripon Col- lege, and established his home in Ripon, where
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he began the practice of his profession. There be served as city attorney two years, and also as chair- man of the Couny Board of Supervisors, In 1874 he removed to Fond du Lac, forming a partner- ship with David Taylor, which continued until Judge Taylor was made a judge of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin. He was in active practice in Fond du Lac up to the time of his removal to Milwaukee, and was looked upon as one of the leaders of the bar in that portion of the state.
When he came to Milwaukee, in 1886, be formed a partnership with Joshua Stark and be- came identified at once with much of the impor- tant litigation in the local courts. That he was a well-seasoned, capable and resourceful lawyer, soon became apparent to his professional brethren, and his subsequent career at the bar of this city has advanced him to a prominent position among the able and successful lawyers of the state. The case of Beam vs. Kimberley, celebrated through- out the state, which was conducted by him to a successful issue in the Supreme Court, brought to him much more than local renown, and along with other cases of note increased his prestige and widened the circle of his clients.
Thorough in the preparation of cases, his ability to take care of the interests of clients in the trial of causes has been no less notable as a feature of his practice. Avoiding entirely what may be termed the pyrotechnics of advocacy, he has had a happy faculty of putting himself en rapport with courts and juries, and presenting his argu- ments in such a way as to make them forceful and effective, and few members of the bar of this city have been more uniformly successful as trial lawyers.
An ardent Republican in politics, Mr. Suther- land has always interested himself actively in promoting the success of his party, and while residing in Fon du Lac he served with distinction in the state senate and filled the office of post- master of that city. While serving as senator he was chairman of a committee appointed to investigate the state hospital for insane, and the result of the investigation was a report proposing radical reforms in the conduct of such institutions, which attracted much attention. The sug- gestions of the committee were embodied in a bill prepared and introduced into the legislature by Mr. Sutherland, and the passage of this measure gave to the state of Wisconsin a system of gov-
ernment for its charitable and penal institutions which has since been adopted in many other states. An active member of the Loyal Legion. he has been commander of the department of Wisconsin, and in social and religious circles has been no less prominent and popular than in his profession. A member of Plymouth Church, and for repeated terms president of its Board of Trus- tees, be has been influential in the counsels and zealous in the work of the Congregational Church, and as president of the Congregational Club of Wisconsin, is one of the most widely known lay- men of that denomination in the state.
JEDD P. C. COTTRILL for many years a brilliant member of the Wisconsin bar was born in Montpelier, Vermont, April 15, 1832. The name indicates the Irish origin of the family but several generations antecedent to that to which J. P. C. Cottrill belonged, had been residents of New England. Mr. Cottrill's father was Mahlon Cottrill, who was for many years a conspicuous figure in the conduct and management of various semi-public enterprises. Before the advent of railroads he was the owner of an extensive line of stage coaches which ran in an out of Montpelier and was also the proprietor of one of the noted old-time hostelries of that city. Ile was a man of broad executive ability, whose operations cov- ered a wide field, and in later years he was largely interested in stage lines radiating from Kansas City, Missouri, in which city he died in 1864. His wife was Catharine (Couch) Cottrill who was of English ancestry.
The son was carefully educated, being fitted for college in one of the academies of Montpelier and graduated from the University of Vermont in 1852. After his graduation he taught school for a time and then studied law. Upon being ad- mitted to the bar he began the practice of his profession in Montpelier and remained there until 1855, when he came to Milwaukee, where he prac- ticed law continuously -- with the exception of the three years, between 1867 and 1870, during which time he was in practice in New York city -- until the illness which resulted in his death compelled his retirement from active professional work. In 1865 and 1866, he was district attorney of Mil- waukee county ; for several years he served United States Court Commissioner and in 1878 he was one of the commissioners who revised and codified the statutes of Wiscon-
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sin. He also served one term as a member of the State Senate, to which body he was elected as a Democrat, in 1882. With these exceptions he held no public offices of a political character, but for four successive years he was honored with the office of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Masons of this state, and had other distinctions conferred upon him by that fraternal organization.
The death of Mr. Cottrill occurred on the 8th of February, 1889, after four years of suffering, and the tributes paid to his memory on the occasion of his funeral, and by the bar association and other organizations on memorial occasions, testify to his high character as a man and his superior ability as a lawyer. In the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, in the United States Circuit Court for the eastern district of Wisconsin, and in the Circuit and Supe- rior Courts of Milwaukee county, a beautiful and impressive memorial address of the Milwaukee Bar Association was placed upon the court records, and leading members of the bar eulogized him as a lawyer, a public official and private citi- zen.
Mr. Cottrill was married in 1856 to Miss Ellen M. Camp, of Montpelier, Vermont, a descendant of Samuel Camp, of Essex, England, who immi- grated to this country and settled in New Eng- land early in the seventeenth century, and daugh- ter of Erastus S. Camp, who was a prominent man of affairs in Vermont. Since her husband's death she has continued to reside in Milwaukee. Her two sons. Edward B. and Frank II. Cottrill, are the other surviving members of Mr. Cottrill's family.
JARED THOMPSON, JR., is a native of New England of remote English ancestry, the founder of the American branch of the Thompson family having been Jared Thompson, an early immigrant to Vermont and a distinguished Revolutionary soldier. The residence of the family in Vermont antedates by many years the revolutionary period, and it has always been identified in a prominent way with the interests of that state.
Jared Thompson, Jr., was born in Woodstock, Vermont, March 15, 1836, the son of Jared and Frances (Hayden) Thompson. His father was a native of Mansfield, Connecticut, who was carried west with the tide of stalwart and adven- turous manhood, which flowed into Milwaukee in 1837 and laid the foundation of her commercial greatness. The elder Thompson opened a tin
store on East Water street and for many years was prominent in business, social and church cir- cles. He was a member of the territorial legisla- ture, which met in 1843, and was for many years a member of the county Board of Supervisors, a justice of the peace and a local Methodist minister, filling the pulpit with more than ordinary ability. He lived many years in the Town of Lake, where he died February 22, 1890, revered and beloved by all the early settlers.
Jared Thompson, Jr., after leaving the com- mon schools of Milwaukee entered Lawrence Uni- versity at Appleton, Wisconsin, and graduated at the end of a full classical course in 1859. Depen- dent largely upon his own resources, his expenses were paid at college by work in harvest fields during the vacations, teaching school and giving instructions in writing. In his senior year, he was assisted by a friend in the completion of his education. After his graduation he was principal of the public school on the south side of the river for a year and then read law in Milwaukee, being admitted to the bar in 1862.
During his long residence and practice in Mil- waukee Mr. Thompson has been recognized as a capable trial lawyer and safe counselor, and he has been identified with much important litiga- tion. Notable among the cases in which he has appeared as counsel may be mentioned the default- ing county treasury cases, known as the "Ehlers cases," which went to the Supreme Court from Mil- waukee, the late Plankinton Bank habeas corpus cases, and the South Side Savings Bank case aris- ing on the indictment of J. B. Koeting, cashier, for receiving deposits in his bank while the same was insolvent. Mr. Thompson was court com- missioner for Milwaukee county for five years, and then resigned ; a member of the School Board and Board of Aldermen for three years, which offices he also resigned. Ile was elected a mem- ber of the Wisconsin legislature in 1865, defeating George Burnham by about three hundred major- ity, and as a Democrat he voted to ratify the amendment of the constitution of the United States, abolishing slavery. He was district attorney of Milwaukee county from 1877 to 1879 and assistant district attorney from 1893 to 1895. Although he is and has been a consistent Democrat, so strong was his feeling against the institution of slavery in the South that his first vote was cast for Lincoln in 1860. lIe has been a member of the Masonic
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order since 1863, and a Knight of Pythias since 1878.
Mr. Thompson was married, October 2, 1862, to Miss Helen M. Abbott, who has born him seven children, three sons and four daughters, all of whom are living.
ERASTUS B. WOLCOTT, M. D .- While many able and accomplished physicians have been identified with the medical profession of Milwau- kee within the three score years that have elapsed since the city was founded, the careful student of this history can hardly fail to be impressed with the fact that one man has left upon it, to a greater extent than any other, the strong impress of his individuality. That man was Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott, who may truthfully be said to have been for more than forty years the most interesting character among the physicians of Wisconsin.
Born October 18, 1804, in Benton, Yates county, New York, Dr. Wolcott was the son of Elisha and Anne (Hull) Wolcott, who emigrated from Connect- icut to New York state, to become pioneer settlers of the region in which they established their home. To the well-informed student of New England his- tory, of American history in fact, hardly any name is more familiar than the name " Wolcott." When Henry Wolcott-an English gentleman of character and station, who descended from one of the notable old families of West Wales- came to America as one of the early colonists of New England, a family tree was planted in this country which has been prolific of the best type of American citizenship. Taking root in the soil of New England, its spreading branches have reached out into almost every state of the union, and wherever found these branches have seemed to possess the characteristics and virtues of the parent stock. Henry Wolcott was the first magis- trate of the Connecticut colony and his immediate descendants wielded an important influence in colonial affairs. When the Declaration of Inde- pendence took form, Oliver Wolcott was one of the signers, and in the struggle to establish the civil and religious liberties of the colonies, the Wolcotts were conspicuous for their loyalty and devotion to the cause and for services ren- dered in its behalf. Since that time representa- tives of the family have shed lustre upon the name in all the higher walks of life and in almost every sphere of action. In statecraft, diplomacy and the learned professions, they have been espe-
cially conspicuous, and if a history of the Ameri- can nobility were written-a history of those en- nobled by their own acts and not by kingly enactment-many of its brightest pages would be devoted to the representatives of the Wolcott family. Of this ancestry came Dr. Erastus B. Wolcott, and along with the heritage of a good name there came to him a share of the virtues, the graces and intellectual vigor of a long line of honored antecedents. He received a thorough aca- demic education, and turning his attention to the study of medicine was graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York in 1833. After three years of special study and practice in New York state, he passed an examination of the Board of Medical Examiners of the United States, and was soon afterward appointed a surgeon in the regular army. Being assigned to duty in the West, his entrée was made into Michigan territory by way of Mackinac, where he served for a time as post surgeon. Finding this field too circumscribed, how- ever, to suit his tastes and ambitions, he resigned his position in the army in 1839 to resume the civil practice of his profession. Coming to Milwaukee at that time he became the pioneer surgeon of the city, and for forty years thereafter was one of the leading practitioners of the territory and state, and a citizen no less distinguished outside of the profession. During the pioneer era edu- cated physicians were scarce in the Northwest, and of skilled surgeons there was a still smaller number. As a natural consequence the services of Dr. Wolcott were in demand throughout a wide extent of territory, and his practice entailed upon him many hardships and required much self- sacrifice. His devotion to his profession, how- ever, was of that chivalrous character which sub- ordinated to professional duty every other con- sideration. Believing it to be the duty of the physician to relieve the sufferer when it lays within his power to do so, he answered every call, went everywhere, and was known in almost every town and settlement in Wisconsin.
During this long period of surgical and medical practice, he performed with success many rare and difficult surgical operations requiring the highest courage and the best surgical knowledge and skill. These are noted not only in the medi- cal records of this country, but in the medical and surgical encyclopedias of Europe as well.
His retirement from the regular army did not
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divorce him from military life, and no other phy- sician has been so conspicuously identified with the military history of the state. The martial spirit, the military training of his early years eminently fitted him for the duties which devolved upon him in this connection in later years. In 1842 he was appointed surgeon general of the territorial militia, and from that time to the date of his death, he served almost continuously as surgeon general of the territory and state. He was appointed colonel of a regiment of militia in 1846, and at a later date was major general of the First Division of state troops.
As surgeon general of the state his duties were not arduous until the beginning of the War of the Rebellion, but during that long and bloody conflict his energies and resources were severely taxed. Of New England antecedents, it was natural that he should hate the institution of slavery with a bitter hatred. Long before the beginning of the war he had openly allied himself with those who declared that slavery must go, that the holding of black men in bondage must cease, and that this stain upon our civizilation must be wiped out. In the famous case of Joshua Glover, a runaway slave from Missouri, who was arrested and put in jail in Milwaukee at the behest of his master, Dr. Wolcott presided over a meeting of citizens called together to express their condemnation of that legalized infamy, and to arouse public senti- ment to the enormity of the crimes which were being perpetrated by the slave-holding oligarchy in the name of law. Cherishing such sentiments as to the institution which brought about the rebellious uprising of the Southern states, a patriot by in- heritance and a loyal supporter of the Union by instinet, it was natural that the effort made by President Lincoln to suppress the rebellion, should enlist all his sympathies and receive his unqualified endorsement and support. The great majority of the people of Wisconsin were also in sympathy with the movement, and thousands gave evidence of that fact by prompt enlistment in the armies of the Union. From the beginning to the elose of the war, Dr. Wolcott was charged with the most important responsibilities, and the value of his services to the state and to the Union can hardly be overestimated. With the exception of Sur- geon General Dale, of Massachusetts, he was the only surgeon general who served through the en- tire war, assisting alike in the mobilization and
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