USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth county, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 53
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At the law school he took a three years' course in two years, and had the satisfaction of showing that, although coming from farther west than any of his class, nearly all being from Eastern colleges, he had the ability to stand at the head of his class.
The domestic lite of Judge Lyon began on June 30, 1886, at St. Paul, Minnesota, when he was united in marriage with Caroline A. Bayard, a lady of culture and refinement and a daughter of William and Rachael ( Lewis) Bayard. She was born at Cornwall-on-the-Hudson, New York.
To the Judge and wife four sons have been born, namely: Bayard, born April 4. 1887. was graduated from Oberlin College in June, 1910, and is now in Tientsin, China ; William F., born November 2, 1889, was graduated from Oberlin College in June, 1911, and he is now in Tientsin, China, where he went in August, 1911, under appointment of the International Young Men's Christian Association, to teach in the Nan Kai Middle School. He was soon busy with his work as teacher and he started a football team, a band and other forms of recreation and amusements, and was in the thick of college life there when the revolution of 1911 began ; Charles E., born January 7, 1896, and George D., born July 18, 1897, are attending school.
Fraternally, Judge Lyon is a member of the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias, and in religious matters he belongs to the Baptist church.
EDWARD F. WILLIAMS.
In these days of large commercial transactions, when credits cut a large factor in the daily round of business, the province of the banker is very wide and very important. The excellence of the banks of the present as compared with those of the past gives to all classes of business men first-class security for their deposits, assistance when they are in need of ready money to move their business, and a means of exchanging credits that could be accomplished in safety no other way. In a large measure the success of the present time in all branches of business is largely the result of the present banking methods. It is quite common for the stockholders of the banks to be business men of prominence in the community,-farmers, merchants, manufacturers and pro-
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fessional men,-all of whom are known to the depositors and their standing well established. This gives stability to the bank and confidence to the com- munity. Such is the confidence in the Citizens Bank of Delavan, of which Edward F. Williams is president.
Mr. Williams was born at Delavan, Walworth county, Wisconsin, April 9, 1859. Ile is the son of Henry H. and Amanda ( Keeler ) Williams. The father was born in Dublin, Ireland, and was the son of Welsh parents. He grew to manhood in Dublin and there married Jane Curran. They emigrated to America in 1847, and after spending one winter in New York state they came to Delavan, Wisconsin. The father had been a jeweler in the old country, and he started a small shop here in the early days on the present site of the Citizens Bank. He was in the jewelry business here until he retired a few years before his death. He was twice married, and the first union resulted in the birth of six children, namely: Susan became the wife of a Mr. James and died in Kansas; Henry is living at Forest Grove, Oregon; Ella lives in Delavan with her brother, Howard: Jennie died in 1902; Robert lives at Emporia. Kansas; Nettie married I. J. Atwood, and lived seventeen years in China, where her husband was a missionary ; they now live at New- ton. Washington. The mother of these children died two or three years after coming to Delavan, and the father afterwards married Amanda Keeler, who was born near Elmira. New York, and she was a young girl when she came to Walworth county in 1837. She was the daughter of Peter N. and Sarah (Wilson) Keeler. This family located in the northern part of Darien town- ship. and were among the first settlers in the county. The first child born to the second union of the subject's father died in infancy; Howard lives in Delavan, having succeeded his father in the jewelry business ; Edward F., of this sketch, was the youngest.
Henry H. Williams was thoroughly identified with the progress of this community, and he held several local offices. His death occurred in 1903, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1892.
Edward F. Williams grew to manhood in Delavan and attended the public schools here. After leaving school he began his business career by clerking in a clothing store in Delavan with M. Gavett for five years. In 1881 he entered the Citizens Bank as assistant cashier. In 1886 he was elected cashier, and in 1910 succeeded to the presidency of the bank, the duties of which he continues to ably discharge, the ever-increasing prestige of this safe and conservative institution being due in no small measure to his excellent management. He is also a director in the Bradley Knitting Company of this place. For eight years he was president of the board of education. When
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Delavan became a city in 1897 he was elected mayor, which office he held two years, doing much for the permanent good of the town, whose interests he has ever had at heart and lost no opportunity to promote.
Mr. Williams was married in 1892 to Carrie Phoenix, daughter of Franklin K. and Mary ( Topping) Phoenix. Her father was the son of Col. Samuel Phoenix, whose record is given at length in the chapter dealing with the county's first settlement. Franklin K. Phoenix was born in Perry, Genesee county (now Wyoming county), New York, in 1825, and in 1837 he came to Walworth county with his parents. He established a nursery when a young man, which he conducted until about 1854, then moved to Bloomington, Illinois, where he engaged in the same line of business on an extensive scale, having six hundred acres under stock, making one of the largest nurseries in the world at that time. He closed out the business in 1877 and in 1879 returned to Delavan, this county, and started another nursery, which he continued for several years. He married Mary E. Topping, daughter of Thomas Topping and wife ; she was born in Montgomery county, New York. The Toppings were early settlers around Darien.
To Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Williams three children have been born : Phoenix and Lawrence are both attending Beloit College, and Edwina is attending high school at Delavan. Mr. Williams is a member of the Episco- pal ·church.
The Citizens Bank of Delavan, of which Mr. Williams is president, was organized in March, 1875, by Frank Leland. C. B. Tallman, John De- Wolf and others, as a state bank. It started with a paid-up capital of fifteen thousand dollars, later increasing this to twenty-five thousand dollars. In 1910 the capital stock was increased to fifty thousand dollars, and it now has a surplus of thirty-five thousand dollars. In 1884 they built a one-story brick building on the present site, and in 1906 tore it down and erected the present substantial and modernly appointed structure, a two-story building with two business rooms, with a stone front and all up-to-date safety devices, etc. In 1892 there was a great explosion of dynamite in the store next door which demolished the front of the building in the drug store owned by H. R. Doane, and he and a Mr. Totten were killed. Although the front of the bank building was demolished and partly blown across the street, the rest of the building was shielded by the vault near which the explosion occurred. Amid the excitement those in charge of the bank placed gold and currency in the vault and locked it promptly, quickly carrying the books and notes to the other bank. Next morning their accounts balanced to the penny. This bank has the thorough confidence of the people and has the reputation through many
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years of being ably, safely and honestly managed. A statement issued by this bank on September 11, 1911, shows the bank's resources as follows : Loans and discounts, $516,943.65 ; bonds, $62,530.22; banking house and furniture, $14,000; cash and due from banks, $145,644.65 ; total, $739,118.52. Liabilities : Capital, $50,000 ; surplus and profits, $32,262.56 ; deposits, $656,- 855.96; total. $739,118.52. The present officers and directors are: Edward F. Williams, president; R. H. James. vice-president ; A. S. Parish, cashier ; WV. F. Fernholz, Howard Williams, S. L. Jackson, D. E. LaBar, H. A. Briggs and J. H. Goodrich.
Personally, Mr. Williams is an obliging, public-spirited and genial gen- tleman who enjoys the confidence and respect of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.
EDMUND J. HOOPER.
A man who has long been influential in the advancement and prosperity of Walworth county, endorsing every movement which he believes will prove beneficial to humanity is Edmund J. Hooper, president of the State Bank of Elkhorn. His achievements represent the result of honest endeavor along lines where mature judgment has pointed the way. He possesses a weight of character, a native sagacity, a discriminating tact and a fidelity of purpose that command the respect of all with whom he is associated, being a leader in financial, business, civic and social affairs of his vicinity.
Mr. Hooper was born at Palmyra, Jefferson county, Wisconsin, Decem- ber 26, 1857. He is the son of John B. and Jane Eliza ( Lean) Hooper, both natives of Cornwall. England, where they spent their childhood, the father emigrating to America in 1844, when fourteen years old, accompanied by his father, George Hooper, who bought a farm near Palmyra, Wisconsin, and established the family home there. The mother of the subject was also a child when she was brought to Jefferson county, Wisconsin, from England by her parents, John Lean and wife, who established their home at the town of Sullivan, near Palmyra. and there Jane Eliza grew to womanhood and lived until she and John B. Hooper were married. They spent most of their lives on the farm which George Hooper settled in pioneer times, and there they reared their six children, and there the mother spent the rest of her life, dying in January, 1905. John B. Hooper, now advanced in years, still lives there, an honored and well known pioneer.
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Edmund J. Hooper grew to manhood on his father's farm, where he assisted with the general work when a boy, attending the local schools in the winter months, remaining at home until he was nineteen years old, when he started in life for himself by going into the general merchandise business, in the Mitchell Brothers' store at Palmyra. In February, 1881, he went to Chicago, where he took a position with the wholesale jobbing house of Phelps, Dodge & Palmer, dealers in boots and shoes. Returning to Palmyra in 1884, he and Giles Hibbard formed a partnership in the general merchandise busi- ness, under the firm name of Hibbard & Hooper, which continued until 1887, when he purchased Mr. Hibbard's interest and continued the business alone until January 1, 1896, building up a large trade. Then he and W. J. Bray organized the State Bank at Elkhorn and opened up for business the following July, Mr. Bray as president and Mr. Hooper as cashier, the latter remaining as cashier until in January, 1910, when he became president of the bank, which position he now holds, the duties of which he has discharged in a man- ner that has reflected much credit upon his ability and integrity and to the entire satisfaction of the stockholders and patrons, rendering this popular bank one of the sound and safe institutions of its kind in the southern part of the state. Mr. Hooper is also a stockholder in the Continental and Com- mercial National Bank of Chicago. He has been very successful both as a banker and merchant, and is today one of the substantial and representative business men of the county, all through his individual efforts.
Politically, Mr. Hooper is a Republican, and while living in Jefferson county he was on the county board of supervisors for six or seven years, and after moving to Elkhorn he was a member of the Walworth county board eight or ten years, also a member of the board of education in Elkhorn for a number of years. He has been very faithful in the discharge of his duties as a public servant.
Mr. Hooper was married on June 16, 1884, to Elizabeth M. Vanden- burg, a lady of culture and refinement, a daughter of Peter and Pamelia ( Carr) Vandenburg. the father having come to this state from Amsterdam, New York, and became well established here. Mrs. Hooper was born at Little Prairie, in Troy township, this county.
The union of the subject and wife has been graced by the birth of two daughters, Winifred and Elizabeth Jane, both now at home, the latter at- tending high school in Elkhorn, the former having been graduated from Mil- waukee-Donner College, Milwaukee, with the class of 1911.
Mr. and Mrs. Hooper are members of the Congregational church, and fraternally he is a member of the Wisconsin Consistory, Delavan Command-
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ery, Knights Templar, the Elkhorn Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and the Blue Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons. He has long been prominent in Masonic circles of this part of the state, which is a criterion of his high standing among his fellow men.
Mr. Hooper has a beautiful home in one of the most desirable residence sections of Elkhorn, and here the many friends of the family delight to gather, finding an old-time hospitality and good cheer ever prevailing.
JOHN HENRY SNYDER. JR.
Among the young men of Walworth county who have forged to the front no better or worthier example than that of John Henry Snyder, Jr .. the present efficient and popular postmaster of Elkhorn and one of our rep- resentative business men, could be found. He is known to be a man of excellent judgment. Careful in his calculations, resourceful in his dealings and eminently honorable in his relations with others, people have always reposed confidence in his word and his integrity has been above criticism.
Mr. Snyder was born in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, March 7. 1871. He is the son of John H., Sr., and Eliza R. ( Munson) Snyder. The father was born in the town of Claverack. Columbia county, New York, December 24, 1834. The Snyder family came originally to this country from Holland and settled in the state of New York in an early day.
John H. Snyder, Sr., was left an orphan when eighteen months of age. and he came with his grandfather to Mukwonago. Wisconsin, in 1846, and there resided until 1869. While living there he was married, in 1857, to Eliza R. Munson, daughter of Edwin and Mary ( Carpenter ) Munson. She was born near Rochester, New York, and came to Vernon, Waukesha county. Wisconsin, with her parents when she was a young girl, and lived in Vernon until her marriage. She was descended from Thomas Munson. who came from England to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1634. She is a direct descendant of Medad Munson, who was in the Revolutionary Con- necticut troops with Benedict Arnold's expedition to Canada.
The parents of the subject of this sketch came to Elkhorn in the spring of 1869: they retained their farm at Mukwonago for some time after com ing here. John Snyder. Sr .. became proprietor of the Central House in Elk- horn. the pioneer hotel of the city, which was finally torn down, making place for the present Elkhorn Hotel at the southeast corner of the court
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house square. He retired from the hotel business in 1884. He had sold his farm at Mukwonago and purchased another at the east edge of Elkhorn, within the city limits, the old Latham farm, where the founders of Elkhorn pitched their tents upon their arrival here. He still owns this valuable farm and lives in Elkhorn.
Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. John H. Snyder. Sr., named as follows: Fred H., proprietor of the Frederick Hotel, St. Paul, Minne- sota ; Clifford F., now living in Munich, where he has an art studio, being a very talented portrait painter ; John Henry, of this sketch; Maude E. is the wife of William J. Riddell, of Des Moines, Iowa.
John H. Snyder, of this review, grew to manhood in Elkhorn and here he attended the high school, later took a course in the law department of Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, from which he was graduated in the year 1893. Ile then went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he practiced law successfully for four years. Prior to this time his brother, Fred H., had become proprietor of the Cataract Hotel at Sioux Falls, and in 1899 he terminated his connection with the same and was succeeded by the subject, who conducted the business until the lease expired in 1903.
In 1904 occurred the marriage of John H. Snyder, Jr., and Gertrude H. Harrison, of Sioux Falls. She was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, and from there moved with her parents, William Harrison and wife, to St. Paul, Minnesota, later to Helena, Montana. She came to Sioux Falls as a teacher of music in All Saints School, an Episcopal school of that city, her parents remaining at Helena the meantime, where they still reside. In 1904 Mr. Snyder and wife came back to his old home in Elkhorn, and here he went into the newspaper business as a partner of F. H. Eames, succeeding M. T. Park in the office of the Elkhorn Independent, the pioneer newspaper of the county, and he has continued in the business ever since.
Politically, Mr. Snyder is a Republican and has long been active in party affairs. He served two terms in the city council, being president of the same, and he was also a member of the municipal water and light commis- sion. He was elected president of the Progressive Republican legislative campaign in Walworth county, and at the primaries was elected a member of the Republican county committee, and at its organization was unanimously elected chairman of the county organization. He was appointed postinaster at Elkhorn in February. 1911, assuming his official duties in March following and he is the present incumbent of the same, discharging its duties in a manner that reflects credit upon himself and gives satisfaction to the people and the department. As a public servant he has been true to every trust
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reposed in him and has shown his fidelity to correct ideals and sound prin- ciples in all his relations with the public. For two terms he was secretary of the Walworth County Old Settlers' Society and is now secretary of the Walworth County Historical Society.
Fraternally, Mr. Snyder belongs to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Knights of Pythias, being past chancellor of the latter. Ile has been interested in the local band for the past twenty-five years, with the exception of the time when he was away, and for the past four years he has been its director.
The death of Mr. Snyder's first wife occurred on September 29. 19C9. She was the mother of two children. Theodosia Munson Snyder, born at Sioux Falls on May 21, 1902, and John Silvernale Snyder, born in Eikhorn on December 6, 1903.
The subject was again married on November 15, 1911, to Louise B. Winter, of Elkhorn, daughter of Fred Winter and wife. She was born in Lafayette township, on her father's farm, not far from Elkhorn. Mr. Winter was born in Germany, from which country he emigrated to Cleve- land. Ohio, when a young man, about 1870. His wife was also a native of Germany and she came to Chicago when young and from that city to Wal- worth county, Wisconsin.
Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are communicants of the Episcopal church, of which he is junior warden, having held that position over eight years.
Mr. Snyder has been successful in a business way in whatever he has turned his attention to, and he has been the Independent one of the most influential papers in southern Wisconsin. A plain, straightforward, public- spirited gentleman, he enjoys the esteem of all who know him.
HENRY BRADLEY.
One of the worthy and well remembered pioneer citizens of Walworth county who did much for the development of his locality in a former genera- tion was the well-remembered Henry Bradley, at one time postmaster at Elkhorn, a man who, having the old-fashioned ideas of honesty and upright- ness, left the indelible impress of his character on the people with whom he came into contact and therefore he is well remembered by a host of friends and acquaintances, and his career is well worthy of emulation by the youth standing at the parting of the ways.
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Mr. Bradley had the honor of establishing the first settlement at Elk- horn, having come here when this country was still the domain of the red man and the haunt of the denizens of the wild, but he was a man of courage, brave, freedom-loving, taking a delight in God's glorious out-of-doors, feeling cramped, like Daniel Boone, the greatest of pioneers, if he had a neighbor nearer than five miles. The men like him who live nowadays are not numer- ous ; however, he was but one of a type in his period.
Mr. Bradley was born in Delaware county, New York, December 26, 1823, and was the son of Daniel E. and Betsey (Sturgis) Bradley. His father was one of the men who staked the first claims and founded the city of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, on February 27, 1837. On January 12th of that year the families of Daniel E. Bradley and his brother, Milo E., arrived from the East at the old log cabin of the settlement. The oldest among the children of the Bradley party was Henry, then fourteen years of age. Two years later Daniel E. Bradley died. The family remained on the farm about three years longer, then commenced in the mercantile business in Elkhorn in 1847. In 1846 Henry Bradley was appointed under-sheriff of Walworth county. On April 18, 1847, he was united in marriage with Nancy J. Mallory, daugh- ter of Samuel M. Mallory. She was born in Tompkins county, New York.
In 1852 this family went overland to California and there Mr. Bradley engaged in mining. Three years later they returned by way of Greytown and Nicaragua by steamship to New York, thence to Niles, Michigan, by train and so home, at Elkhorn. Soon afterwards he was appointed deputy clerk of the court. He returned to the West, going to southern Oregon in 1859 and spent a year there, then returned to this county.
Mr. Bradley was first appointed postmaster in 1861 by President Lin- colu, and he served in this capacity for a period of twenty-four years con- tintiously, discharging the duties of the same in a manner that reflected much credit upon himself and to the entire satisfaction of the people and the de- partment. The salary was small, but he devoted his attention to the office with much fidelity. In 1884. when the Democrats came into power, Mr. Bradley was succeeded by one of the dominant party. In 1888 he was re- appointed to the local office by President Harrison and served four years more. Upon his second retirement from official duties hie ceased active busi- ness and spent considerable time with a son in Salt Lake City, Utah. He also spent a year in Europe, and, being a keen observer and widely read, he talked very entertainingly of his travels and his early experiences in the Far West and of the pioneer days in Wisconsin. He possessed a very fine store of reminiscences. He was a man whom everybody admired and respected for
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his strength of character, his industry, public spirit and general intelligence. All through his life he was an ardent lover of nature and the outdoors, de- lighting in camping trips, was familiar with the "oak openings," the lakes and the clearing from their most alluring days. He was fond of the rod and gun, because they took him into the fields and woods, "away from man with his vain conceits." He was a musician and although he interpreted little of the written score himself, the musical taste of the community along its best lines found in him helpful and encouraging appreciation. Self-reliant, men- tally vigorous, of strong but unobtrusive convictions, and of fine old-fashioned integrity, Elkhorn history was enriched by the wholesomeness of his life.
The death of Mr. Bradley occurred on August 17, 1909, in his eighty- sixth year. Few men who had made Elkhorn their home during Mr. Brad- ley's long residence here were so well or so favorably known. Mrs. Bradley is still living in Elkhorn. Of their children, William M. is an attorney at law in Salt Lake City : a daughter, Mrs. Lillian B. Kenyon, lives at Tacoma, Washington ; Anna Ruth is the wife of Francis H. Eames, Jr., and resides in Elkhorn.
FRANCIS H. EAMES.
Perhaps no one agency in all the world has done so much for public progress as the press, and an enterprising, well-edited journal is a most im- portant factor in promoting the welfare and prosperity of any community. It adds to the intelligence of the people through its transmission of foreign and domestic news and through its discussion of the leading questions and issues of the day, and more than that, it makes the town or city which it represents known outside of the immediate locality, as it is sent each day or week into other districts, carrying with it an account of the events transpiring in its home locality. the advancement and progress there being made, and the advantages which it offers to its residents along moral, educational, social and commercial lines. Walworth county is certainly indebted to its wide-awake journals in no small degree, and one of the men who are doing a commend- alle work in the local newspaper field is Francis H. Eames, part owner of the Elkhorn Independent. He has long been connected with journalistic work, and his power as a writer and editor, as well as a business man, is widely acknowledged among contemporary newspaper men and the public in general.
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