USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth county, Wisconsin, Volume I > Part 58
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
Mr. Skeels has been successful in whatever he has attempted, and as an educator in his line he has had few equals in this part of the Badger state. He is both an entertainer and instructor and as superintendent inaugurated modern methods and placed everything under a superb system. His services have been in great demand and he has been popular with both pupils and patrons wherever he has labored in this connection.
Mr. Skeels was married on June 3. 1884, to Minerva F. Alexander, daughter of Balthaser and Juliet ( Fuller) Mexander. She was born in Linn township, this county, where she grew to womanhood and received her education in the public schools and here lived until her marriage. Her father came from Germany, and lived for some time near Rochester, New York: there he and Juliet Fuller were married. She was the daughter of
628
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
John and Minerva Fuller. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander came to Wisconsin about 1845, locating first at New Berlin, near Milwaukee. About 1850 they moved to the country and located about five miles south of the city of Lake Geneva, Linn township, Walworth county, and here they established a good home and spent the rest of their lives there.
Mr. Skeels and wife are members of the Congregational church in Lake Geneva : he joined this denomination when a boy in Vermont.
Personally, Mr. Skeels is a plain, unassuming, broad-minded, genial gentleman who wins and retains the confidence and respect of all with whom he comes into contact. He believes in meeting the world, man to man, looking neither down nor up, but valuing a man for his true worth, know- ing that a person is, after all, what he does, not what he says or dreams.
BYRON S. PALMER.
One of the highly honored citizens of a past generation in Walworth county who led a life of industry and uprightness which resulted in material success and in winning the esteem of his associates was the late Byron S. Palmer, formerly of Linn township. He was born at New Baltimore, Columbia county, New York, February 15, 1852, and he was the son of Robert and Mary (Schemmerhorn) Palmer. Robert Palmer was born in Albany county, New York, September 27, 1823, and was one of nine chil- dren of Joseph S. and Polly ( Palmer ) Palmer.
During his boyhood he went with his parents to Columbia county and while living there was married to Mary Schemerhorn, of that county. She belonged to one of the old fam- ilies of New York, and her grandfather, Judge Schemmerhorn, was one of the prominent and highly esteemed citizens of that state in its early develop- ment. Joseph G. Palmer, grandfather of Byron S. Palmer, was born in Dutchess county, New York, April 28, 1794. He was a soldier in the war of 1812. Ile came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1853 and here spent the rest of his life, dying in January, 1867, at the age of seventy-four years. Joseph G.'s father was born in eastern Connecticut, November 11, 1708. but he spent the greater part of his life in Dutchess county, New York, where he settled in an early day and there his death occurred in 1799. He married Mary Gillette, who was of a Connecticut family. The Palmer family is of English origin and they emigrated to America soon after the settlement began in New England.
629
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Robert Palmer, father of the subject, farmed in the East until in May, 1853, when he came to Geneva township, Walworth county, Wisconsin, and bought a farm on which he spent the rest of his life, dying May 5. 1894. at the age of seventy years, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1880. Their family consisted of six children, Byron S., of this sketch, Frank, Joseph, Arthur, Eugene and Charles, but the only one now living is Arthur, of Geneva township.
Byron S. Palmer came to this county with his parents and here he grew to manhood and attended the public schools of Geneva township. When twenty years old he started out for himself as a farm hand. In 1873 he was united in marriage with Climena Alexander, daughter of Balthaser and Juliet (Fuller) Alexander. The father came from Germany to New York and lived near Rochester. There he married Juliet Fuller, daughter of John and Minerva Fuller. These parents came to Wisconsin about 1845 and lo- cated first at New Berlin, near Milwaukee, and about 1850 came to Walworth county, locating in Linn township, about five miles from Geneva, where they spent nearly all of their subsequent lives. The father's last days were spent with Mrs. Palmer on their farm west of Zenda where his death occurred on January 19, 1891. The death of Mrs. Alexander occurred in 1864.
In 1876 Mr. Palmer bought a farm in Geneva township and lived there five years, then sold out and bought a one-hundred-and-eighty-acre farm in section 28, Linn township, and made his home there until late in life, engaging successfully in farming, dairying and stock raising. He was a man who took considerable interest in the affairs of his community and he served nine years as clerk of the school board and was also a member of the board of super- visors.
Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Byron S. Palmer, namely : Walter A .. part owner of the home farm, married Helen Sheldon, of Lake Geneva, and they have two sons, Frank and Robert; Clarence died April 22, 1909, when thirty years old; Bertram also owns part of the homestead and is operating the same with his brother. Walter A .: Bessie, who lives with her mother in Lake Geneva, was graduated from the State Normal School at Whitewater, and has for some time been successfully engaged in teaching : recently she has been assisting her uncle. John G. Skeels, in his work as sur- veyor and civil engineer in and about Lake Geneva, and she is often seen in the field carrying on the work like an old-time surveyor.
Through hard work and indomitable industry. Byron S. Pahner ac- quired a competency and in the summer of 1909 moved to a beautiful home in the city of Lake Geneva, where his death occurred on April 8, 1910. His life was characterized by industry, honesty and integrity.
630
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
DR. WALTER ROBERT HOST.
If true to his profession and earnest in his efforts to enlarge his sphere of usefulness, the man who spends his life in an effort to alleviate human suffering in any way is indeed a benefactor of his kind, for to such men as Dr. Walter Robert Host, well known dentist of Lake Geneva, are entrusted the comfort and safety and in some cases the lives of those who place them- selves under his care and profit by his services. It is gratifying to note in the series of personal sketches appearing in this work that there remain identified with the professional, public and civic affairs of Walworth county many who are native sons of the county and who are ably maintaining the prestige of honored names. Of this number Doctor Host is one of the worthy scions of an old and influential family here, and is regarded as stand- ing in the front rank of professional men, having gained wide notoriety in his chosen calling while yet young in years, and at the same time established a reputation for exemplary character in all the relations of life.
Doctor Host was born in the town of Lyons, Walworth county, Wis- consin, on July 31, 1884. He is the son of Julius S. Host and wife, a com- plete sketch of whom will be found in the life record of Ernest Host on another page of this volume.
Walter R. Host lived in his native village until he was nine years old. then moved with the family to Lake Geneva where he lived until he was eighteen years of age, having attended the graded schools in the meantime, after which he took a position in his brother's meat market for a time. He went to Wheaton, Illinois, when he was eighteen and took a preparatory course there, completing the course in the academy and later took some col- legiate work. He entered Northwestern University in Chicago in 1907, entering the dental department, where he made an excellent record and from which he was graduated in the year 1910. He had shown such exceptional aptitude for this line of work that he was retained a year at the university as instructor, then began practicing his profession, although urged by the university authorities to remain with them. He came to Lake Geneva in July, 1911, and is building up a large and constantly growing patronage. Ile has an exceptionally well equipped office, perhaps the best and most thoroughly up-to-date of its kind in Wisconsin outside of Milwaukee. Among his appliances seldom seen is the Pelton porcelain furnace, heated by electricity to twenty-seven hundred degrees Fahrenheit. for making porcelain inlays, bridges and crowns, also a Clark improved machine for administering nitrous oxide and oxygen, a combination for prolonging the anesthesia. The
031
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
operating chair is also a model of comfort and inviting appearance, equipped with a special seat for little folks and all very admirably adapted to the work. It is equipped with an adjustable light of great power that can be focused directly on the work and various other modern improvements which enable the operator to do the highest class work known in dentistry.
Doctor Ilost has a natural mechanical skill and talent for artistic cary- ing. His recent experiments, investigations, studies and experience with the best advanced methods render him able to properly handle the highest class work and of the most difficult character. His patients come from the sur- rounding cities in all directions from as far as Janesville and Edgerton. He has succeeded in building up a large practice in Lake Geneva in a short time. his work in the university having given him an excellent reputation to start with.
Dr. Host was married on February 15, 1911. to Marie Teresa DeGrasse, a native of Detroit, Michigan, and the daughter of a prominent family. Joseph A. and Alice J. ( Carr ) DeGrasse. She is a lady of talent, culture and refinement and has long been a favorite with a wide circle of admiring friends. Prior to her marriage she was widely known as a reader for public entertain- ments, having toured all over the United States and Canada with the Schubert Symphony Club, winning fame as a raconteuse second to none of her com- peers. Her repertoire included, "if I Were King." "Sermons from Our Secular Literature" (a lecture recital), "MacBeth" (a lecture recital), "An Evening with American Authors," "One Hundred and Fifty Stories for the Children's Story Hour," "An Evening of Scotch, Irish. Negro and Children's Dialects," selections from Shakespeare, Browning, Tennyson. Burns, Long- fellow, Whittier, Homer, Lowell, Riley, Field, Dunbar. Maurice Thompson and many others.
Of her work E. H. Purcell, manager of the Schubert Concert Company. had the following to say, which is certainly criterion enough for her eminent satisfaction with that popular and widely known company :
"Miss Marie Teresa DeGrasse combines a most excellent ability with a charming personality. She is a most estimable young lady, and one of the best all-around readers now before the public. In the many engagements she has filled for me. she has never failed to give complete and perfect satis- faction. In the many years of my managerial experience it has seldom been my privilege to recommend so highly a young aspirant for Lyceum honors. She is equally successful in classic tragedy or minor comedy, and looks the part' in all she interprets."
632
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Having had occasion to attend an evening's entertainment given by Miss DeGrasse, Preston W. Search, well known educator, author and lecturer, of Des Moines, Iowa, wrote to her as follows:
"I was very much pleased, indeed, by the fine rendition of beautiful selec- tions you gave us at Carbondale. I particularly admired the high character of your program, for it is not everyone who will attempt. or can bring out. before a popular audience, the rich fullness of a Browning. Your interpre- tation was admirable, your reading very effective. I shall think of your interpretation when I stand once more, this fall. in the Florentine Casa de Guido. Permit me, as a stranger in the audience, to express to you my personal appreciation of a very delightful evening."
Many press notices and testimonials of a like character were received by Miss DeGrasse from all over the country, proving beyond doubt her strong elocutionary ability and charming personality-a complete master of the diffi- cult art of expression. In fact, she was for some time a teacher of expres- sion with the Chicago Kenwood Musical College and the Wheaton Musical Institute, the latter at Wheaton, Illinois, and was exceptionally successful in training her pupils in voice building, enunciation, expressive analysis. repertoire, deep breathing, muscle building, story telling, literary analysis. English, gymnastic dancing and rhythm, relaxing and statue posing.
To the Doctor and wife a winsome and attractive daughter has been born, Helene Marie Host, whose childish prattle adds sunshine to their pleasant home.
Doctor Host and wife are worthy members of the Catholic church and faithful in their support of the same. He also belongs to the Knights of Columbus, and is at this writing engaged in organizing a local lodge of this order. He is a young man of pleasing personality, affable, obliging, energetic and enthusiastic for his work, and he and his estimable wife have won a host of friends since taking up their residence in Lake Geneva.
EBENEZER DAVIDSON.
Among the citizens of Walworth county to whom is vouchsafed an honored place in local history is the late Ebenezer Davidson, of Lake Geneva. who, through an extended period, was prominently connected with the agri- cultural interests of this locality, and who is deserving of special mention in a work of the nature of the one in hand. for those who have fought and
633
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
suffered for the state and nation in which their lot is cast are certainly worthy of having their names perpetuated, and their posterity will turn with just pride to these records of the founders and preservers of a prosperous, united nation.
Ebenezer Davidson was born at New Hartford, New York, on Septem- ber 13, 1846. He was a son of Rev. Hugh and Jane ( Hamilton ) Davidson. the father born on May 8, 1803, and he was the son of Joseph and Isabel (Crawford) Davidson. Joseph Davidson was the son of Hugh and Mary (Connell) Davidson. Isabel Crawford was the daughter of William Craw- ford. The parents of the subject of this sketch were both born and reared in Glasgow, Scotland, where their ancestors for generations had lived. They came to America in 1840 and lived at New Hartford, New York, later mor- ing to Utica, thence to Brainard Bridge, about twelve miles from Albany. The father was the superintendent of a cotton and woolen factory at Utica and also at Brainard. In 1849 Hugh Davidson and James M. Davidson, his son, by his first wife. Elizabeth McNaughton, came west and the father pur- chased a farm in Geneva township, Walworth county, Wisconsin, north of Como, which farm has been in possession of the family ever since, now owned by Ebenezer Davidson. The family came here in 1850-thus the sub- ject saw the development of the county through a period of sixty-two years. in which he took much interest. Hugh Davidson lived on his farm here until his death. He was a local minister in the Methodist church and did a great deal of good among the pioneers. He was a man of many fine traits, serupu- lously honest, charitable, always ready to help someone in need, and he had a lively and cheerful disposition. His death occurred on July 26, 1895.
Ebenezer Davidson lived on his father's farm until he went into the Union army on January 12, 1864, enlisting in Company F, Fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Cavalry. He proved to be a most faithful and efficient soklier and he was in the service until he was honorably discharged on March 27. 1866. He was at the capture of Mobile and Spanish Fort, then accompanied the army through Alabama and Georgia, to Macon, then back to Shreveport in July, 1865, thence into Texas and put in the winter along the Rio Grande, watching Mexico and Maximilian.
After his career as a soldier, Mr. Davidson returned home and farmed the homestead. When the family first located here there was ten acres of unimproved land. This was increased to two hundred acres, nearly all under cultivation and an excellent state of improvement. The land is productive, and he was very successful as a general farmer and stock raiser. There were no railroads here when the Davidsons located in the county, and, in
634
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
fact, there were few good dirt roads ; they could drive uninterruptedly across the country to Elkhorn. The father of the subject frequently hauled his products to Milwaukee or Racine with oxen, the trips each requiring four or five days, often selling his pork for two dollars per one hundred pounds.
In 1874 Ebenezer Davidson went to Eureka, Nevada, and engaged with the mine operators as receiver and time-keeper for the Eureka Consolidated Mining Company. While there he served in the Nevada state militia and was paymaster of the Second Brigade under General Sabin, and later under General Conklin.
Mr. Davidson returned to Walworth county in 1885 and resumed farm- ing, which he continued with his usual success until 1895. His father hay- ing died in July of that year, the son left the farm in August following and located in Lake Geneva where he had a pleasant home and where he resided, until his death, March 18, 1912. He had been a member of the firm of Bur- ton. Denison & Davidson since the fall of 1903. They have built up a large and growing business as wholesale dealers in flour, feed and grain.
Mr. Davidson was married on September 23. 1869. to Ellen A. Stevens, of Toledo, Ohio. She is the daughter of James and Betsy (Scott) Stevens, and she was born in Geneva township, this county, in 1849. When she was three years old her parents moved to Toledo, Ohio, where they had previously resided. They were natives of Herkimer county, New York, the father of German and the mother of Scotch ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens spent the rest of their lives in Toledo.
Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Davidson, Florence, who married D. H. Cramer, who lives at Globe. Arizona, where he is con- nected with a mining company. They have one son, Harold Davidson Cramer. Mabel died in infancy.
Ebenezer Davidson was always an ardent Republican. While in the army in 1864 he was only eighteen years old, yet he voted for Lincoln. as did most of the soldiers, whether of age or not. He belonged to the Grand Army of the Republic, and fraternally was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, also the Masonic order, having attained the thirty- second degree, and he belonged to the Knights Templar. He was many times commander of the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic and the post in Nevada, and he has been a frequent delegate to the national en- campments. At the time of his death he was commander of the post at Lake Geneva.
Mr. Davidson was mayor of Lake Geneva for a period of six years, during which time he did much for the permanent good of the city. He
635
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
was president of the Walworth County Agricultural Society in 1893 and again in 1911, filling this important post in a manner that brought forth the praises of all concerned. He was also alderman here for several terms, and he has held a number of the township offices. He was well known and highly esteemed, frank and straightforward in his relations with the world, a man in whom the people had every confidence-a worthy son of a worthy sire, from whom he seemed to have inherited many praiseworthy qualities.
Joseph Davidson, grandfather of the subject, came to America in 1847. joining other members of the family at New Hartford. New York, and he came west with his son, the Rev. Hugh Davidson, and lived on the farm here until his death, in 1861, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. When Hugh Davidson came here he started a Sunday school in North Geneva which he kept going during the rest of his life. He had been reared a Presbyterian, but there were none of this denomination here so he joined the Methodist church and became a local minister in the same. He was born in 1803 and his death occurred at the age of ninety-three years; his wife, who was born in 1807, lived to be ninety years old. They were a grand old couple, and were highly esteemed by all who knew them.
EUGENE RITTMAN.
The Rittman family has long been one of the highly respected and suc- cessful representatives of the farming element in this section of Wisconsin, one of the worthy representatives of the present generation being Eugene Rittman, of the vicinity of Springfield, Walworth county.
Mr. Rittman was born at Munster, Kenosha county, this state, Novem- ber 25, 1861, and is the son of Frank Rittman and wife. He grew up on the home farm and was educated in the public schools. He remained under his parental roof-tree until his marriage on January 20, 1891, to Regen Iloman, daughter of Bartholomew Homan, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. Since his marriage he has lived on the home farm near the village of Springfield, where he owns one hundred and seventeen acres of excellent land, which he has kept well improved and well cultivated. He and his family are members of the Catholic church. He and his wife have five chil- dren, namely : Frank, born December 3, 1891 ; Margareth, born June 4, 1893; Eugene, born May 18, 1896: John, born December 13, 1899, and Mary, born February 11, 1903.
636
WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Frank Rittman. mentioned above, was born in Westphalia. Germany. March 17. 1830. He was the son of William Rittman and wife. His mother died when he was a child, in the old country, leaving four children, Frank. Henry, Gertrude and Elizabeth. The father remarried. When Frank was sixteen years old the family emigrated to America, locating first in Burling- ton, Racine county, Wisconsin, buying a farm there, but later moved into the city of Burlington.
In 1855 Frank Rittman married Josephine Wehmhoff, daughter of Henry and Gertrude Wehmhoff. She was born in the city of Dorsten. in Westphalia, and in 1845 came to America with her parents. They located in Wheatland township. Kenosha county, where they lived until her marriage. Before his marriage Frank Rittman owned a farm in Kenosha county and there he and his wife lived until 1880 when they sold the farm there and bought one hundred and sixty acres in section 5, in the northwestern part of Lyons township. He afterwards bought forty acres more, making two hundred acres in all. About 1889 he also bought another farm at the eastern edge of Springfield, one hundred and seventeen acres.
Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fred Rittman. namely : Eugenia married Ferdinand Blanke and lived between Lyons and Springfield until her death, on February 24. 1910, leaving seven children: William died when two months old: George died in infancy; Eugene married Regina Homann and they live on the farm adjoining Springfield, and they have five children : Josephine is at home with her mother : Frank died in infancy; Emil lives on the home farm with her mother and Josephine and his brother Frank : the latter is unmarried and was next in order of birth: Ida died in infancy.
Frank Rittman, father of the above named children, died in November. 1900. He was a member of the Catholic church and all the family adhere to this faith.
ROBERT CLARK COBB.
The life of the late Robert Clark Cobb was so replete with honor and duty well performed that it might well be held up as a model to the youth standing at the parting of the ways, whose destinies are matters for future years to determine. He was of a sterling New England ancestry and many of their noble traits seemed to outerop in him, rendering him a man of cour- age, stability of character and public spirit, whom to know was to honor and esteem.
637
WALWORTHI COUNTY, WISCONSIN.
Mr. Clark was born in Pawlet. Rutland county, Vermont, May 3. 1825. He was the son of Joshua and Betsey (Clark) Cobb. The immediate sub- ject of this biographical memoir lived in Vermont until he was twenty years old, and there received his educational training, and he was employed by his father in his woolen factory and later clerked in a store; his mother died in Pawlet. About 1845 Robert C. Cobb came west and located in the village of Lake Geneva and was for a time clerk in the hotel here. On April 13, 1847, he was united in marriage with Sallie Hulett, of Pawlet, Vermont. She was the daughter of Daniel and Betsey ( Woodworth) Hulett. He re- turned to New England for his bride, then came back to Walworth county and engaged in farming in Bloomfield township, on what is now known as the Hinspeter farm in the west side of Bloomfield township. He entered part of this land from the government, and bought part from his brother-in-law, Abraham Edgerton. He made his home there until about 1868, when he sold out and moved to the city of Lake Geneva, buying a block of ground west of Madison and north of Dodge street. Here he built a commodious and attractive residence for those days and sold the rest of the ground in city lots. He purchased the rest of the farm at the northwest part of the village of Lake Geneva, about 1870, and lived there, engaged in farming. He had seventy acres or more west of the Northwestern depot, and also an- other farm about half a mile farther northwest, the two farms adjoining. two hundred and twenty-five acres southeast of the Elkhorn road, extending from North street to Duck creek. He sold this land about 1886 to John Burton, and a few years later most of it was laid out into city lots and is now nearly all covered by the residences of the city, being known as Columbia addition. Mr. Cobb then bought land on the south side of Geneva street, running one-half block west from Madison street and built a home there in which he spent the rest of his life. His family consisted of two chil- dren, Ellen Maria and Harry Elbert. The former married John Melvin Wilson, May 7. 1872, he being in the lumber business at East Saginaw, Michigan, at that time. Mr. Wilson was born in Alden, New York. One daughter was born to himself and wife, Florence Cobb Wilson, who is now living in Lake Geneva with her mother, Mr. Wilson having died on August 21, 1907, at Cincinnati, Ohio. AAfter his death Mrs. Wilson returned to Lake Geneva and now lives at the home left by her father.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.