USA > Wisconsin > Walworth County > History of Walworth county, Wisconsin, Volume II > Part 35
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marriage. She was married in Waupaca and there her first husband died, leav- ing four children. She subsequently married Mr. Humiston. He had also been married before, his first wife having died, leaving children. The death of Mr. Humiston occurred on April 21, 1880. In the winter of 1887 and 1888 Mrs. Humiston and Mrs. Stopple went to Hammond, Louisiana, and there Mrs. Humiston died on March 17, 1900. Mrs. Isaac Stopple came back to Chicago in 1903 and took a course as a trained nurse. She is one of three children of the Humiston family, the other two children having died in childhood. Mrs. Stopple has three half sisters and brothers living: Mrs. J. W. Patterson, of Clintonville, Wisconsin; Mrs. Cyrenius Rogers, of Waupaca, Wisconsin ; and James Boughton, of Oshkosh; Abbie, who married Alfred Smith, died in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in January, 19II.
Since his marriage Isaac Stopple, Jr., has continued farming where his parents lived and died. He has lived in that neighborhood now about thirty- eight years. He has a good farm with commodious barns and well con- structed outbuildings. He carries on general farming and stock raising suc- cessfully, keeping quite a herd of fine Holstein cattle. He keeps his place well improved and well cultivated.
To Mr. and Mrs. Stoppel one child has been born, Fred Isaac, whose birth occurred on September 18, 1911. Mr. Stopple is a member of the Modern Woodmen, and Mrs. Stopple belongs to the Seventh-Day Baptist church.
PHILANDER KNAPP VAN VELZER.
The life record of such a noble character as the late Philander Knapp Van Velzer, one of the first settlers of Walworth county and for many years one of the best known and highly honored citizens of this locality, is well worth perpetuating on the pages of history.
Mr. VanVelzer was born in the state of New York. He was a son of William Henry VanVelzer, also born in. New York, a descendant of one of two brothers who came from Holland and took up their residence on Long Island in the Colonial period. William H. Van Velzer was a merchant and hotel keeper and he built two large hotels in Lockport, New York. In 1835 he moved from Chautauqua county, New York, to Illinois, locating near Chicken Grove where he bought a large farm, and where his wife died. There were three children in his family, two of whom were Philander Knapp and Cornelius E.
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Philander K. Van Velzer was married in the state of New York to Pru- dence Matteson, daughter of Hendrick Matteson, a native of New York and a life-long farmer there. The subject and wife lived in Chautauqua county, New York, until their two oldest children were born. On May 1, 1835, they, together with Mr. Van Velzer's father, Robert Wells Warren and family, Greenleaf S. Warren and others, started west, with ox teams, driving cows and other live stock before them. They reached Chicago the last of May, and they went on to DeKalb county, Illinois, where they located, near Chicken Grove, William VanVelzer buying a large farm there. In April, 1836, he was urged by a Mr. Payne to join him in establishing a settlement at the foot of Lake Geneva, Walworth county, and the former made claim to land in section 35, which is now a part of the city of Lake Geneva, but during the turbulance of the first settlement he was driven from it, and he returned to DeKalb county, where he died when eighty-seven years of age.
William Van Velzer's sons, Philander K. and Cornelius R., both came .11 with the first settlers and in the spring of 1836 the former built a log cabin in the woods north of what was afterwards Seminary Park in Lake Geneva. He made claim to part of the water power at the foot of the lake, but was dispossessed. In 1837 he established a brickyard in block 14, in the village of Lake Geneva. He took up one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre and he built a frame house on it about 1839, a half mile east of his first cabin. He improved this land and later sold fifty-eight acres of it. He then built a third residence half a mile east of his second residence and there reared his family. He came to Wisconsin long before it was admitted to the Union and saw it in its wildest state, when the chief inhabitants were Indians and wild beasts, bears, panthers, wolves, lynxes, deer and game of all kinds. At that time the grass grew about seven feet tall, affording hiding places for game. In the fall Indians would fire the grass over miles and miles of territory and settlers were compelled to burn a tract around their homes in order to protect them from the flames. The red men were more or less troublesome. The day before they were to be removed to their allotted reservation west of the Mississippi river, they got drunk and invaded the VanVelzer home, compelling Mrs. VanV'elzer to give them a supply of newly baked bread, and demanded some salt pork, but that was too valuable to be given up and she refused, then they saw a barrel of vinegar and mistaking it for "fire-water" danced wildly around it; just then Mr. VanVelzer came home and scattered the intruders.
Ten children were born to Philander K. VanVelzer and wife. of whom William was the eldest. He was born in Chautauqua county, New York, and lived in Bloomfield township, this, county, until a year or two ago, when he
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moved to Waukesha, having been the oldest living settler in the county at that time. He is now seventy-six years old. Harriet VanVelzer, also born in New York, married Earl Crofoot and lives at Delavan; Caroline, the first of the family born in Walworth county, was the second white child born in this county : she married Thomas Clifton, who was a blacksmith at Lake Geneva and Darien ; both are now deceased. George VanVelzer farmed all his life until about ten years ago when he retired and now lives at Williams Bay; Mary Jane, who married John Beamsley, lives at Delavan ; Orcelia died when six years old; Ancil lives in Clinton, Wisconsin, and is a blacksmith; Wash- ington is a cigar manufacturer and tobacco dealer and lives at Delavan; Sarah J., widow of William H. Lockwood, lives a short distance east of Lake Geneva : Ferdinand is in the ice business at Delavan.
Philander K. VanVelzer's brother, Cornelius R. VanVelzer, who settled in this county at the same time he did, was never married. He lived with his brother, the subject, for years. In 1844 he began working for R. W. Warren in his mill. He was well known to the people here of his day and generation. He remained in the employ of Mr. Warren for six years, then went to Califor- nia with the gold seekers, where he met with a fair measure of success. He returned to Wisconsin, but later made a second trip to the Pacific coast, by way of Pike's Peak. Coming back to Walworth county, he spent his last years at the home of his brother, Philander K., until the latter's death, then he went to live with his nephew, George, at whose home his death occurred about 1904, at an advanced age. He had studied to be a lawyer, but ill health forced him to give it up.
IVILBUR G. WEEKS.
Among the strong and influential citizens of Walworth county the record of whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this section, the gentleman whose name appears above has exerted a beneficial influence throughout the community where he resides. His chief characteristics are keenness of perception, a tireless energy, honesty of purpose and motive and every-day common sense, which have enabled him not only to advance his own interests, but also to largely contribute to the moral and material advancement of the county.
Wilbur G. Weeks, a well known business man of the town of Lyons, Wisconsin, was born in Spring Prairie township, this county, on March 23, 1859. He is the son of Otis and Charlotte A. (Vantine) Weeks, and a grand-
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son of Spencer Weeks, one of our pioneers, a record of whose family appears elsewhere in this work.
The subject grew up in his home community and he attended high school at Elkhorn and the Whitewater Normal School. In his youth he learned the printer's trade in the office of the Elkhorn Independent, and he was for a time engaged on the Waukesha Democrat and later on the Milwaukee Sentinel. When barely twenty-two years of age he became editor of the Delavan Repub- lican, and he continued at the head of that paper for nearly twenty-eight years. Even after he sold out he remained nearly a year longer. Then he came to Lyons and organized the Lyons State Bank, which he opened for business on September 20, 1909, and he has served as cashier of this popular and thriving institution from the beginning, in a manner that has won the hearty approval of the stockholders and patrons of the bank; in fact, the pronounced success of the bank has been due in no small measure to his influence and judicious management.
While at Delavan Mr. Weeks held several positions of honor. He was president of the Walworth County Press Association, and for several terms was secretary of the Wisconsin Republican Press Association, taking a very active interest in both. He was very successful in the newspaper business, having started with only one boy as assistant, and when he left the field he was employing nine people. He made money from the start, without any help from holding county and state offices, and by some he was called the Jay Gould of the Walworth County Press Association, and he ranked high among . his compeers in the profession in this part of the state, being not only an able financier, but a very popular local writer and a leader in public improvements.
A year after leaving the newspaper field he engaged in the Texas land business, taking many people to the Lone Star state, locating them on farms, and made money out of it.
Mr. Weeks is active in the affairs of the Methodist Episcopal church and has held various offices in the same and has for several years been superintend- ent of the Sunday school. While at Delavan he was superintendent of the Aram Home for Superannuated Methodist Ministers. He designed the three cottages and had them built, and had charge of the home, to which he gave his faithful attention. He is treasurer of the school board at Lyons, which village he has been very active in improving, as he was in the upbuilding of Delavan. He was instrumental in procuring a location of the Bradley Knit- ting Mills at Delavan, also promoted the organization of the Delavan Is- sembly. He is secretary of the Delavan Lake Improvement Association, an organization composed chiefly of Chicago men, among whom are Edward
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Tilden, Charles A. Stevens, E. S. Conway, H. P. Darlington and others well known in the world's affairs. This organization purchased the water rights of Delavan lake for a consideration of eight thousand dollars, and which im- proves and cares for the lake as a summer resort. Mr. Weeks is still retained as secretary, although now living at Lyons. He is showing his energetic public spirit at Lyons in endeavoring to induce various industries to locate there. Few men are more generous and accommodating and his integrity is unquestioned.
Mr. Weeks was married on December 24, 1910, to Mrs Bertha ( Skiff ) Medberry, a lady of culture and refinement and the daughter of Benjamin F. Skiff and wife, a prominent Elkhorn family, a sketch of whom appears else- where in this work. Mrs. Weeks is a native of Lyons and she and Mr. Weeks attended school together in the seventies. Her only son, Locksley Medberry. is a member of the senior class at the Elkhorn high school, 1912. Mr. Weeks has one son by a former marriage. Fred B Weeks, now living at Isleton near Sacramento, California.
FATHER JOHN JOSEPH WEINHOFF.
One of the highly esteemed citizens of Walworth county is Father John Joseph Weinhoff, of East Troy, a man who has done an incalculable amount . of good in ameliorating the condition of the people among whom he has in- termingled, and yet is plain, humble and unassuming, caring little for the plaudits of men, content to know that he is following in the footsteps of his Master.
The subject was born in Milwaukee county, Wisconsin, in 1865. He is the son of Gerard and Mary ( Rynders) Weinhoff. The father was born in Rhine province, Germany, in 1828, and the mother was born in Holland in 1835. Gerard Weinhoff grew up in his native country and he served in the German revolution from 1848 to 1851. He came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1853. and to this state came Mary Rynders in 1850, with her parents. Gerard and Elizabeth Rynders, and the death of the father occurred in Mil- waukee in 1869.
The father of the subject was a farmer in Milwaukee county. He was a Democrat politically, but not active in public affairs. He and his wife were devoted Catholics. They were the parents of six children, two sons and four daughters, all living at this writing exceept one son.
ST. PETER'S CATHOLIC CHURCH, EAST TROY
THS NEV YOKA PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LEHOX TILBEN FOUNDATIONS
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Father John J. Weinhoff was reared on the home farm, where he assisted with the general work when a boy. and he attended the parochial schools and the Normal School of Milwaukee, from which he was graduated. Later he attended the Normal School and St. Frances Seminary, from which he was graduated in 1889. He was assistant pastor at St. Joseph, Wisconsin, for one year, then went to Sullivan. Jefferson county, this state, where he remained from 1890 to 1896. In August of the last named year he came to East Troy, Walworth county, where he has since been pastor of St. Peter's church. He has also served as pastor at the church at Mukwonago since 1896. The church in East Troy represents one hundred and sixty-five families. and that of Mukwonago forty families. He has greatly strengthened the work in each place, building up these charges in a most commendable man- ner. He is known as an earnest worker, kind, obliging and willing to make any sacrifices for the betterment of his parishioners.
JOHN WAGNER.
One of the earliest German families to cast their lot in the wilderness of Walworth county some three score years ago and more was the Wagners and from that day to this they have played no inconspicuous part in the affairs of the county, developing good farms and taking an interest in general public affairs. One of the best known is John Wagner, a leading business man and representative citizen of Lyons. the able and popular president of the State Bank.
Mr. Wagner was born in Alsace, formerly a province of France, now of Germany, on March 17, 1843. and in 1844 he came to America with his par- ents, John and Katharine (Dresch ) Wagner, he being one of a family of ten children, four of whom were born in the old country. The family came directly to Walworth county, Wisconsin, and settled in Lyons township. June 1, 1844, the father buying forty acres in the northeast quarter of section 24. Two years later he sold out and bought two hundred acres in sections 13 and 24. securing a part of this land directly from the government. There he established his permanent home and, through industry and close application. developed a fine farm in due course of time and became one of the leading men of that part of the county, well known and highly esteemed. He had bought three small farms that had been partly improved, and these with the
(70)
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forty acres of government land constituted his farm, one of the best in the township. The elder Wagner sold his farm in 1872 to his son John, of this sketch, and moved to Burlington where he and his wife spent their last days, his death occurring on February 6, 1884, she surviving until in September, 1888.
John Wagner grew to manhood on the home farm and received his edu- cation in the public schools. In 1861 he went into the threshing business and for three seasons he hired out to the Taylors and in 1864 bought an outfit of his own and continued threshing with much success until 1896, becoming one of the best known threshers in this part of the state, having followed this vocation for a period of thirty-five years, wearing out three machines the meantime, threshing over both Walworth and Racine counties.
Mr. Wagner was married in 1872 and the same year bought the home farm of his father, as stated above. He kept the farm six years, selling it in 1878. then bought another farm of two hundred acres, of which eighty is in section 26 and one hundred and twenty in section 23, and there he made his home until May, 1910, when, having accumulated a competency, he moved into the village of Lyons, where he purchased an attractive home and here he has since resided. In the fall of 1909 he assisted in organizing the State Bank of Lyons and in January, 1910, he was elected president of the bank, which position he still holds, discharging his duties in a manner that reflects much credit upon himself and to the satisfaction of the stockholders and the patrons of the same, the rapidly increasing success of this popular and con- servative institution being due in no small measure to his able management.
Mr. Wagner was an ardent Democrat in earlier life, but in recent years has been more independent, and he has held various township offices, always to the satisfaction of the people.
The domestic life of Mr. Wagner began in 1872, as before stated, when he was married to Theresa Ursprung, a daughter of Martin and Anna (Wener) Ursprung. She was born in Bavaria and came to this county in 1847, when about a year old, with her parents, who located on the farm now owned by Mr. Wagner and here they became very well established and were highly respected. The death of Mrs. Wagner's father occurred in 1853. Mrs. Ursprung survives, living in Lyons, being now advanced in years. She remained with the subject and wife on the homestead until 1905.
Of Mr. Wagner's brothers and sisters, only four are now living. one brother and three sisters: Mrs. Elizabeth Stephen, now of Burlington, form- erly lived in Montana, where her husband died ; Mrs. Mary Griebel, widow of Lawrence Griebel, deceased, an old soldier, lives in Milwaukee : Mrs. Josephine
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David, widow of Bennert David, also an old soldier, lives in Burlington ; Joseph Wagner now lives at Clyde, Missouri. Mrs. Wagner has one sister. Agnes, wife of Jacob Hahn, of Lake Geneva.
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. John Wagner, namely : Anna, who married Joseph Voelkering, lives with her parents in Lyons : her husband, who was the son of John and Elizabeth ( Miller) Voelkering, was born in Bloomfield township, and his death occurred in 1904. Emma Wag- ner married Jacob Heck and they live on a farm in Lyons township, section 23, and have two sons, Joseph and Anthony. Elizabeth Wagner married John Vogt, owner of about two hundred acres of land in the southeastern part of Lyons township, and they have two children, Mary and Frederick. Agnes Wagner married Anthony Ehrhart and they live in Lyons township, section 29, and have one daughter, Marcella. Peter Wagner married Mary Meusler and lives on his father's farm.
Mr. Wagner and family belong to the Catholic church and are liberal supporters of the same. He is a leader in his community, a man in whose judgment and integrity his acquaintances and friends place the utmost con- fidence. He is plain and unassuming, but at once impresses the stranger as a man of force and action ..
SPENCER WEEKS.
From an early period in the history of Walworth county the name of Spencer Weeks has appeared frequently upon its records, often in connection with important public service, for he labored most effectively in the upbuilding of the community and he was always accorded that recognition which is justly due the public-spirited and progressive citizen whose unselfish efforts in behalf of the general welfare have been attended by splendid results. He had the greatest sympathy for his fellow men, was always willing to aid and encourage those who were struggling to aid themselves; yet in this, as in everything else, he was entirely unassuming, doing what he believed to be his duty as a citizen without thought of praise from his fellow men. Nothing could swerve him from a path which he believed to be the right one; friendship was to him inviolable and the obligations of home life a sacred trust. His upright life commanded universal respect, and his memory is like the fragrance of the flower that remains after the petals have fallen.
Spencer Weeks was born at Norwich, Massachusetts, in 1797, and was a son of Samuel and Lydia (Williams) Weeks. Samnel Weeks was born at
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Norwich, Massachusetts, in 1764 or 1765; he served in the Revolutionary war from 1780 to 1783 as a substitute for his father and was one of the guard over Major Andre. Samuel was a son of Hezekiah Weeks, who also was a soldier in the patriot army from Massachusetts and who owned nearly six hun- dred acres of land at Norwich, now Huntington, Massachusetts. Hezekiah Weeks was a descendant in the fifth generation from George Weeks, who came from Devonshire, England, to Dorchester, Massachusetts, in the same ship with the great divine, Richard Mather, in 1635, five years after the original settlement of that state. George Weeks was prominent in public affairs, and served as a surveyor, commissioner for laying out roads, town selectman, and held various other positions of trust and honor and was active in promoting free schools and other things for the betterment of the public in general. His descendants have been in general, so far as known, people of good character and useful in a quiet way in the communities in which their lot has been cast, many of them holding positions of trust.
Spencer Weeks, the head of the family in southern Wisconsin, came here in 1843, and entered land from the government. He was married on May I, 1817, to Elvira Dimock, daughter of Thomas and Sophia Dimock. Ten children were born to the subject and wife, namely: Lewis Spencer, Almena, Maria, Elvira, Samuel Otis, Eliza, Sophia, Thompson Dimock, Harriet and George Vernon.
Lewis Spencer Weeks was born at Norwich, Massachusetts, March 3. 1818. He was married on August 22, 1841, to Elvira Florella Little, and he came to Walworth county, Wisconsin, in 1844. He was a successful farmer and lived a worthy life. His youngest son, Edgar A., was born in Lyons, this county, July 31, 1849; he married Fannie P. Aldrich, daughter of Cyrel R. Aldrich, who came to Spring Prairie, this county, in 1857. Edgar A. Weeks lives in Lyons, and he has three children : Aurelia M., wife of Erastus M. Potter. of Lyons; Phineas S., and Grace F., who is the wife of William E. Winters, of Delavan. Lewis Spencer Weeks was one of the substantial men of his part of the county, and he accumulated the largest fortune that has been known in Lyons township. Besides his son mentioned above, he had two other children, Aurelia Maria, who died November 15, 1845, when three years old. and John Millard, who was born September 20, 1847. The latter was graduated at Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin; he married, on November 6, 1884, at Appleton, Mary E. Richmond. His death occurred on April 8. 1911 : his widow and daughter, Mary Elvira, now live in Oshkosh, this state, and his son, Edgar R., lives in East Orange, New Jersey.
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Samuel Otis Weeks, the second son of Spencer Weeks, was born in Nor- wich, Massachusetts, June 28, 1824, and he came here with his parents from Darien, New York, when he was nineteen years old. He was married on Janu- ary 1, 1850, to Charlotte A. Vantine, daughter of David and Polly ( Hough- ton) Vantine. She was born in Clinton county, New York, near Lake Champlain, and she came here with her brother, Lester, in 1843. She was the sister of A. A. Vantine, the founder of the well known firm of importers of Japanese goods, A. A. Vantine & Company, whose daughter is Lady Parker, wife of Sir Gilbert Parker, the great English novelist.
Six children were born to Otis Weeks and wife, namely : Mary Adelia, Irene Keziah, Frederick William, Hobart Orrin, Wilbur George and Sher- man Harrison. The death of Otis Weeks occurred on September 3. 1903. at the age of seventy-nine years. He is remembered as a good neighbor and citizen, a man who led a cheerful, upright life.
Thompson Dimock Weeks, the third son of Spencer Weeks, was born in Norwich, Massachusetts, November 5, 1832. On June 7, 1865, he was united in marriage with Adelia M. Hall, a daughter of one of the early settlers of this section and a leading business man of Whitewater. Thompson D. Weeks became one of the foremost lawyers of Wisconsin, and he was a mem- ber of the Assembly in 1867, was state senator from 1874 to 1875, and again in 1883 and in 1895, being president of the Senate during the last year. For seventeen years he was a member of the board of regents of the State Normal School. He was a strong man in public affairs and one of the leading citizens of southern Wisconsin. A more extended account of him will be found on another page of this work. His death occurred on February 12, 1901. Two children survive, Helen L., wife of Lucius Wakely, of St. Louis, and Charles S., of Chicago.
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