History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, Part 101

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Pierce, Eben Douglas
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago Winona : H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1318

USA > Wisconsin > Trempealeau County > History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin > Part 101

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hauled over the same route by the driver. Sometimes the patient was in a cabin so inaccessible that the physician had to leave his horse in a shel-

tered nook and find his way to the cabin on foot. But Dr. Hidershide was not unaccustomed to pioneer life and conditions. He had settled in Mt. Vernon Township, in Winona County, when that township was a wilder- ness; he was not only in active sympathy with pioneer life, but was pre- pared by his own experiences to cope with its conditions. It was indeed particularly fortunate for the pioneers of Trempealeau County that a man of Dr. Hidershide's type was the one who should have cast his des- tinies in this county at the time he did. There was much sickness and much suffering. The people were poorly nourished and poorly housed. Sanitary conditions were of the worst. No quarantine restrictions were observed. Contagion was carried from family to family, and within the families there was no opportunity for isolation. To lay four or five con- tagion-stricken children in a single grave under the prairie sod was no uncommon experience. Physicians were few. The resources of the best

Le. N. Ytidershide Ju. D.

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HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

physicians were limited. The doctors were without any of the modern equipment for fighting disease. The doctors at Black River Falls, Merrillan, Whitehall, Fountain City, Galesville, Trempealeau, Arcadia and Winona, who served this entire district, were greatly overworked. They were with- out our present means of physical diagnosis, without our laboratories and experiments, our medical journals, our chemistry, our bacteriology, our Roentgen rays, our experimental pharmacology and our antitoxin serums ; abdominal surgery was considered almost an impossibility, the Dr. McDowell case in Kentucky being the only one on record at that time. Many dis- eases which now yield to treatment were considered fatal. But Dr. Hiders- hide had his eyes, his ears, his fingers, his native vigor and resourcefulness, his kindliness of heart, and his adaptability. He learned much for him- self, he kept pace with modern discovery, he readily adjusted himself to changing conditions, he put his heart and sympathies into every case. Up to the time of his serious illness six years ago he never refused a call. He always responded to the poor and gave as freely to those who could not pay as to those who were able to recompense him. In the early days the only income of the farmers came from small grains, and this money did not come until late fall. Many a farmer had hardly a single dollar during the spring and summer months. Business was done on credit. Often without funds himself, Dr. Hidershide year after year worked through winter, spring and summer, waiting until fall for the meager pay for his faithful services, only to find even then that many of the patients were unable to pay, and that he would have to wait until another fall, or sometimes forever. The long and exhaustive rides, the exposure to con- tagions, the heartaches and discouragements, the patient vigils by bed- sides of agony when his own body was exhausted by exposure and racked with pain of fatigue, the kindly deeds of charity, the reassuring messages to the despondent, the shielding of the innocent, the guarding of secrets, the numberless self abnegations of such a man cannot be chronicled. He became almost a member of the families to whom he ministered. He was the adviser in matters not always purely medical. How welcome was his coming in the stormy midnight to a lonely cabin miles from the nearest neighbor. Earnest, cheery, capable, confident, his presence lightened the burden, shouldered the responsibility and brightened the gloom. From the toils and exposures of his professional life the doctor has found surcease in his love of the beautiful in nature. Passionately fond of flowers, he has laid out his lawns in a profusion of shrubbery and plants, and his estate, situated on the slope of land which separates the flats from the table lands on the principal street in Arcadia, represents the loving care which he has devoted to its arrangement and perfection. George N. Hidershide was born in Luxembourg, June 13, 1850, son of Nicholas and Anna M. (Salen- ting) Hidershide. They were well established there, but willing to sacrifice the comforts of their position and the companionship of their friends that their family might escape from the shackles of militarism, they determined upon cutting loose from old traditions and establishing themselves in the new world. Accordingly in 1857, with their four children, Peter, now a retired farmer of Mt. Vernon Township, Winona County, Minn .; Mary

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Jane, now of Brown's Valley, Minnesota. widow of John Rodenbour; George N., the subject of this sketch ; and Mary A., now the wife of Henry D. Stevens of Winona; (Louisa, who like her husband, Joseph Meyers, is now deceased, having been born later in this country), they set sail, and reaching Minneiska, Minn., in July of that year, they settled on a farm in Mt. Vernon Township, Winona County, in that state. There the father died, and in later years the mother moved to Arcadia, where she was given lov- ing care and attention by her devoted son, the subject of this sketch. George N. grew to sturdy young manhood on the Mt. Vernon farm, attend- ing the district schools, and rounding out his preparatory education with a course in the Winona State Normal School. In the meantime he had spent a year learning English in the home of Dr. George F. Childs, in Minneiska, and this had inspired him to adopt medicine as a profession. In due time he entered the Louisville Medical College at Louisville, Ky., and was graduated therefrom in 1875. This education he has supplemented by extensive reading and study, and by post-graduate courses in the Rush Medical College at Chicago, the Vienna University at Vienna, Austria, and in other institutions, so although the whole tenor of medical practice has changed since his entering the profession, he has nevertheless kept fully abreast of the latest discoveries and the most modern methods. After a short practice in Chicago he was called home by the death of his father, and it was while home on the farm that he was induced to cast his destinies in Arcadia, with whose history his name has since been inseparably con- nected. His professional duties have taken him as far as Tacoma, Washı., Davis City, Iowa, and Jamestown, N. D. In Arcadia, where he is deeply loved and respected, he has been president of the village, president of the board of health, and president of the library board, of which last named body he is still the head. He was one of the founders of the Western Wis- consin Telephone Company, of which he is vice-president, and installed the first telephone in the Trempealeau Valley in this county. His financial interests also include stock in the Bank of Arcadia, in which he is a director, and whose destinies he has helped to shape. An active Republican in poli- tics, he was chairman of the Republican County Committee for two terms, and in the old convention days was a delegate to many a political gathering, and the center of many a hot contest. For a time he was a member of the county board and has also served in other offices. He is a Thirty-second degree Mason and also associates fraternally with the Modern Woodmen, the United Workmen and the Beavers. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the State Medical Association and the Trempealeau, Jackson and Buffalo County Medical Association, and was first president of the Trempealeau County Medical Association, and at one time president of the Western Wisconsin Medical Society, now superseded by the individual county societies. He is also an active member of the Trempealeau County Historical Society. As a patriot he has given loyal service to this state and country. At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War he offered his services to the state, and became assistant surgeon of the First Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with the rank of first lieutenant, serving through the war and being mustered out with the regiment at the close of the conflict.

MR. AND MRS. RICHARD PROCTOR

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HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

His kindly services so endeared him to the members of the regiment that upon the request of several of them the adjutant general recommended him to the governor for reappointment when the National Guard was reor- ganized. Accordingly he became assistant surgeon with the rank of first lieutenant on the staff of the Third Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, being promoted to captain in the same regiment in 1903. In 1912 he received his commission as major, and became chief surgeon of the Second Regiment. He was retired from military life June 13, 1915. Dr. Hidershide was married in September, 1892, to Joseph Agnes, daughter of Michael and Margaret (Pfeiffer) Agnes. Michael Agnes, a merchant, was the original proprietor of the townsite of Minneiska, Minn.

Mrs. Sophia Proctor, proprietor of a lumber yard in Arcadia, with a branch at Dodge, is an excellent type of a modern business woman. She was born in Waumandee Valley, Buffalo County, this state, April 28, 1861, daughter of William and Grace (Muir) Robertson. Educated in the village schools of Arcadia, she made good progress in her studies and at the age of 18 years engaged in teaching. In this occupation she continued for three terms in the rural schools and four years in the Arcadia Village schools. She made a most proficient teacher, had unusual success in instilling knowl- edge, and is still held in loving regard by those who were then her pupils. July 19, 1883, when she was 22 years old, she was married to Richard Proctor. She entered thoroughly into his life and work, assisted him with his books in the lumber and grain business, and in 1896 became his partner. Since his lamented death Sept. 3, 1904, she has carried on the lumber busi- ness alone. She is the only woman member of the Wisconsin Retail Lum- bermen's Association, and the only woman retail lumber dealer in Wis- consin. In public, fraternal and church affairs she has taken an active interest. For some years she did excellent service as trustee of the Arcadia Cemetery Association and as a member of the public library board. In Golden Rod Lodge, No. 100, Order of Beavers, she was worthy queen two years and secretary five years. In Coral Rebekah Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Whitehall, she is likewise a faithful member. The Methodist Episcopal Church has found her a faithful member as treasurer, trustee and steward, and for many years she has been a teacher in the Sunday school. Energetic, capable and public spirited, Mrs. Proctor enjoys a wide popularity both in business and social circles.

Richard Proctor, for many years a lumber dealer and grain buyer in Arcadia, was born in England in 1844, and at the age of nine years was brought to this country by his parents, who settled on a farm near Old Arcadia. He was there reared, and for a short time attended school, but was largely a self-made man. He became interested in the lumber and grain business, was grain buyer for the Cargill Company at Arcadia, and conducted a lumber yard of his own. He died Sept. 3, 1904. He was married July 19, 1883, to Sophia Robertson, and this union was blessed with two children, Lloyd R. and Mabel G. Lloyd R. was born Sept. 21, 1884. He passed through the Arcadia schools, graduated from the Arcadia high school, attended Morgan Park Academy, a preparatory branch for boys of the University of Chicago, and completed in the University of Wis-

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consin. He is now engaged in the retail grocery and bakery business at Grangeville, Idaho. He married Nora Johnson. Mabel G. was born Sept. 6, 1886, passed through the Arcadia schools, graduated from the Arcadia high school, attended Downer College at Milwaukee for two years, and in 1909 was graduated from the Northwestern University at Evanston, Ill. She then taught for two years at Biwabik, Minn. She is now the wife of W. C. Schaefer, a dentist at Dallas, Ore., and they have one child, a daughter, Jean.

Christian Haines, a pioneer of Bill's Valley, Arcadia Township, was born in Hohenzollern, Germany, Oct. 11, 1835, and in 1856 came to America with his parents, who settled at Herkimer, N. Y. Two years later the father died, and in 1858 the family moved to Canastota, N. Y., where Christian Haines engaged in the mercantile business until the close of the Civil War. He was unfortunate in business, however, and lost all he had, so to retrieve his fortunes he came west, locating first at Fountain City, Buffalo County, this state. A little later he came to Arcadia Township, this county, settling in Bill's Valley on a farm. He was a skilled apiarist, keeping numerous colonies of bees, and producing as much as 7,500 pounds of honey in one year, also taking first premiums at county and state fairs. A prominent citizen of the community in which he lived, he took part in local government, serving a number of years on the Arcadia town board. His wife, Margaret Bill Haines, to whom he was married at Herkimer, N. Y., in 1856, was born in Wilsenrode, Germany, Aug. 22, 1840, and came to America as a child with her parents, who settled at Utica, N. Y. She shared all the hardships and privations of pioneer life with her husband and also shared in his suc- cesses, being a true and worthy helpmeet. She died May 3, 1916. Mr. Haines died Dec. 26, 1914. Both were members of the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at Arcadia. Of their family of 14 children nine are now living.

Joseph W. Haines, proprietor of the Pleasant View Farm, in section 16. Arcadia Township, was born in Herkimer, N. Y., July 7, 1863, the son of Christian and Margaret (Bill) Haines, who brought him first to Buffalo County and then to Trempealeau County. He resided at home until he was 21 years old, during which time he had some schooling, though his educa- tional opportunities were limited. On attaining his majority he went to Utica, N. Y., where he entered the employ of the New York Central &. Hudson River Railway, but finding the work too dangerous, he stayed but a few months, then returning to Wisconsin. In the winter of 1886 he entered the employ of the Goodyear Lumber Company, near Mather, Wis., and remained with this firm for three years, in 1889 returning to his parents' homestead. In the same year he purchased his present farm. Jan. 7, 1890, he was married to Anna K., daughter of Jacob and Mary George of Glencoe, Buffalo County. This homestead, where the young couple began housekeeping, was a tract of 200 acres, partially improved, there being a small frame house on the property. Here Mr. Haines has resided ever since, engaged in general farming, and also in honey produc- tion, being, like his father, a skilled apiarist and putting up for sale the best honey that can be obtained in the market. He has made many improve- ments on the farm, including the erection of new buildings. His present

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residence is a two-story frame house, consisting of upright and wing, and piped for both soft and hard running water, the house being heated by fur- nace. He has also a full basement, frame barn, measuring 34 by 72 by 14 above the basement; a granary, machine sheds, double corn crib, and a combined ice and milk house, all the buildings being in good condition. Aside from his own farming interests Mr. Haines is a stockholder in the Arcadia Co-operative Creamery, the Arcadia Shipping Association and the Trout Run Farming Company. In politics he is a Democrat, and has been director on the Cortland school board for many years. He and his wife had a large family of 18 children, whose names are respectively : Herman, Elmer C., Leo J., Minnie E., Christian J., Henry E. (deceased), Joseph M., Elsie L., Margaret A., Henry E. (second), Norbert, Jerome J., Armilla E., Arthur F., Clarence A., Frank N., Alfred M. and Virginia A. Their record in brief is as follows: Herman, born Dec. 3, 1891, graduated from the Cortland grade schools, from the Alma (Buffalo County) Training School for Teachers, and from the Winona Business College. He has been in the employ of the Interstate Packing Company of Winona and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Owatonna, Minn., and is at present teller of a bank at Owatonna, Minn. He served as corporal and clerk with the Minnesota State Guard on the Texas border during the recent dis- turbances in Mexico. Elmer C., born March 1, 1892, graduated from the Cortland graded school, taught school for some time, and is now at Amidon, N. D., where he is foreman of the Farm Land & Coal Company. Leo J., born Aug. 17, 1893, graduated from the Cortland graded school and the Alma Training School, and has taught at Amidon, N. D., where he pur- chased a quarter section of land. He is now preparing at Ft. Dodge for service in the great war, with Battery E, Field Artillery, being kitchen and dining room orderly in charge of the food supplies in his barracks. Minnie E., born Aug. 20, 1894, graduated from the Cortland graded school, the Arcadia high school, and the Alma Training School, and has been a teacher for four years. Christian J., born Dec. 31, 1895, is living on the homestead with his parents. Henry E., the first of the name, was born April 25, 1896, and died July 25, 1899. Joseph M., born Sept. 24, 1898, resides on the parental homestead. Elsie L., born Feb. 4, 1900, is a student in the Arcadia high school. Margaret A., born July 26, 1901, and Henry E., second, born Oct. 7, 1902, are both students, residing at home. The other children living at home are: Norbert J., born Jan. 16, 1904 ; Jerome J., born Oct. 30, 1905; Armilla E., born Dec. 10, 1906; Arthur F., born April 14, 1908 ; Clarence A., born Jan. 31, 1910; Frank N., born Oct. 5, 1911; Alfred M., born Dec. 13, 1912, and Virginia, born Jan. 25, 1917. Mr. Haines and his family are Catholics in religion and attend the church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help at Arcadia. He and his wife have been fortunate in rearing their large family, as they have lost but one child. Their other children are all well trained in religion and morality and give promise of growing to useful manhood and womanhood.

Albert Bautch, a pioneer miller and millwright, was born in Germany, was there educated and reared, and became an adept in various lines of mechanics and woodworking. In 1854 he and his wife Josephine set out

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for the United States aboard a sailing vessel, the long and tedious voyage taking nearly three months, and entailing many hardships. Landing at Quebec, strangers in a strange land, and with their trunk lost, containing not only a part of their baggage, but also a letter of directions from their cousin Joseph Bautch, who had preceded them, they made their way down the lakes to Milwaukee, and thence to Watertown, landing at New Lisbon, in Juneau County, this state, Dec. 24, 1854. There Mr. Bautch opened a farm, also working as a mechanic, as a broad-axe hewer and as a logger on the Wisconsin River. Later he located in Trempealeau County. Here in 1862 he helped to build the mill at New City, near what is now Indepen- dence. Later he moved to Arcadia. In 1869 he moved to a farm in section 26, Burnside Township, which has since been the family home. There he built a flour mill, which is still in existence, having been owned for some fifteen years by a son, Albert J., and now by another son, John L. Mr. Bautch was a pioneer in the true sense, a public spirited man, and a most estimable and useful citizen. He was a member of the Catholic church and one of the organizers of the North Creek Congregation. He and his wife both died in Trempealeau. They had a family of eight children: John L .. Peter, Albert J., Anna, Mary, Julia, Kasper and Thomas, of whom the three last mentioned are now deceased.

Albert J. Bautch, municipal expert, promoter, contractor, geologist and linguist, is widely known in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and has extensive interests in Canada and Texas. As a well driller and waterworks expert he has bored wells along the right of way of the Green Bay & Western from Green Bay to Winona, he has installed the extensive waterworks systems of Winona, Minn., Independence, Wis., and Spring Valley, Wis., as well as in smaller places scattered throughout Western Wisconsin. As a telephone promoter he has installed telephones in Western Wisconsin and Eastern Minnesota, and founded several leading systems in these regions. As an auctioneer he has been successsful and popular, and has served more years than any other man in the county. As a business man he established the first Independence jewelry store. As a man of scholarly attainments he is well versed in mathematics, science, geology, general history and the classics, and is the master of three languages: English, German and Polish. As a lecturer he has addressed audiences in all three of these languages, one of his favorite topics being "Natural Experiences." As a musician he has a deep appreciation of harmony and has done considerable musical teaching. With all of these broad experiences he is genial and approachable, a pleas- ant, courteous, deep thinking man in every respect. At the present time, though he makes his home in Independence, much of his attention is given to his holdings in Canada. Albert J. Bautch was born in New Lisbon, Juneau County, Wis., Jan. 13, 1859, son of Albert and Josephine Bautch, and was brought to this county by his parents. He attended the public schools of this county and the Northwestern Business College at Winona, and remained for a number of years with his father. For a while he operated the mill on his father's place, but in 1895 disposed of it to his brother, John L., and bought the mill at Independence. Mr. Bautch was married in Winona, Minn., to Paulina Rozek, who is now deceased. They

Eben De Perce

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HISTORY OF TREMPEALEAU COUNTY

became the parents of seven children: Carl F., Thomas, Della, Albert, Esther, Josephine and Sylvester, the last mentioned of whom was drowned. All the children were well educated by their father and are well qualified to make their own way in the world.

Eben Douglas Pierce, M. D., physician, historian, poet and nature lover, is a native of this county, having been born at Williamsburg, Aug. 13, 1874, the son of Henry E. and Mary M. (Morrow) Pierce, the pioneers. He lived on the home farm .until ten years of age and was then taken to Arcadia, where he was reared on a small fruit farm owned by his father. As a child he attended the district school of Williamsburg, and then passed through the public schools of Arcadia, graduating from the Arcadia high school in June, 1895. With this preparation he took a two-year course in the University of Michigan, and completed his medical course in the University of Oregon in 1899. In the fall of the same year he started prac- tice in Pickwick, Minn. In the summer of 1900 he toured Scotland, and returned to Winona, Minn., in the fall. In 1901 he moved back to his old home in Arcadia, and did journalistic and other literary work until 1904. The following two years he practiced his profession at Arcadia in partner- ship with Dr. George N. Hidershide. The years 1906-1907 found him prac- ticing at Hillsdale, Wis. But for some time he had been impressed with the possibilities of the west, and in 1907 he went to Vancouver, Wash., where he continued his practice. There, in 1911, he married Hettie M., the daughter of G. A. and Samaria (Grant) Carsley, an artist and newspaper illustrator. Together the young couple settled in a beautiful spot at Trempealeau. Both lovers of Nature and of the out of doors, they have enhanced the natural charms of the place, and there they are now making their home, the Doctor devoting his time to his practice, to his research work, and to his literary and historical writings, while Mrs. Pierce, as time permits, follows her art career and takes charge of the village library. Dr. Pierce is the author of a number of historical papers, which are pre- served in the published collections of the Wisconsin Historical Society and in the published collections of other societies, as well as in the unpublished collections of the Trempealeau County Historical Society. He is the author also of numerous poems, and has ready for early publication a book of verse called "Wild Flowers and Woodsy Ways." His newspaper and magazine contributions are widely known. Dr. Pierce has been honored with mem- bership in a number of learned and historical societies and associations. He is a member and curator of the Wisconsin Historical Society, and a member of the Trempealeau County Historical Society, the Wisconsin Archaeological Society, the Mississippi Valley Historical Association and the American Historical Association. The people of Trempealeau are indebted to him in a measure for the beautiful Trempealeau Mountain Park, his enthusiasm having been the basis of the interest which has been taken by the donor, John A. Latsch. He has also been interested in a number of other projects for the progress of Trempealeau along all civic, commercial and patriotic lines, and he has been the moving spirit in several home- coming and historical celebrations there.

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History of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, Part 101

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Pierce, Eben Douglas Publication date: 1917 Publisher: Chicago Winona : H.C. Cooper Number of Pages: 1318

Author: Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn; Pierce, Eben Douglas
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Chicago Winona : H.C. Cooper
Number of Pages: 1318