History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc., Part 262

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052

USA > Wisconsin > History of northern Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development, and resources; an extensive sketch of its counties, cities, towns and villages, their improvements, industries, manufactories; biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers; views of county seats, etc. > Part 262

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).

CHURCHIES.

Its beauty of location and surroundings do, in fact, seem to have impressed a clean and bright stamp upon its people. It is an intelligent, orderly, church-going city. Seven religi- ous societies are organized-Methodist, Congregational, Episcopahan, Danish Lutheran, Danish Baptist, Scandina- vian Lutheran, and United Presbyterian.

The most pretentious church edifice in the city is that of the Methodist, on Main street. A small building, now occupied as a blacksmith shop near the present tasty structure, was erected in 1853, the first term of the Circuit Court having been held here. The society is now in a most flourishing condition, worshiping in a beautiful little edifice erected in 1874, and under the guidance of Rev. J. W. McCormick.

The Congregationalists organized a society in February, 1876, the building in which it worships being erected on the site of the old Presbyterian Church. At present there is no pastor ; membership, 50; attendance, 100.

Mention of the old Presbyterian Church revives several recollections of the Rev. Cutting Marsh, the Indian Mis- sionary, so well known throughout the Northwest. In 1848. he moved to Green Bay, making that place his home. In the course of his travels he visited Lyman Dayton, on Bear Creek, the south branch of the Waupaca, and on April 27, 1851, preached his first sermon in Pleasant Valley. The following week he visited Waupaca. At that time there were eleven families within half a mile of the Falls, at the Chandler Settlement, thirteen within three miles of each other, and at Weyauwega thirteen, besides others in the vicinity. On May 2, Mr. Marsh preached a sermon, it being the first one delivered by a Presbyterian minister in Waupaca. He built himself a house, took possession of it in December, and has the honor of being the pioneer resi- dent minister, preaching on different Sundays at Waupaca, Weyauwega, the Chandler Settlement, Lind Center, Pleas- ant Valley, Pine River and Poysippi. A little church was organized March 3, 1852, at Mr. and Mrs. Marsh's house, consisting of nine members, this being the first dis- trict Presbyterian organization in the county. Although the United Presbyterians have a society in Waupaca, it is not strong ; the Scandinavian Lutherans have rented their church for much of the time. The Danish Lutherans number seventy paying members ; pastor, Rev. A. L. J. Soholm. The society was formed six years ago. The Danish Baptist society is young and without a permanent place of meeting.

St. Marks' Episcopal Church, established in 1856, under the direction of M. F. Sorenson, erected a building two years later on Fulton street. It numbered then fifteen or sixteen members; has now some sixty communicants. A fine rectory has been added, worth $2,000. Rev. J. A. McGlove is in charge.

NEWSPAPERS.

The first newspaper in the county was published at Waupaca, by the Redfield Brothers, from 1852 to 1866, when it was sold to Leslie J. Perry and its name changed from the Spirit to the Criterion. Mr. Perry sold out to Judge C. S. Ogden, who had just commenced the Waupaca County Republican. The consolidated paper assumed the name Republican. Judge Ogden turned the paper over to C. M. Bright in 1872, who published it until October, 1879, when the present editor and proprietor took posses-

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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.

1081

sion, A. T. Glaze. Mr. Glaze commenced his editorial career in Fond du Lac over twenty years ago. The Repub- lican is the official county paper. The Post, the only other publication (both are weekly), was established in 1878 by J. A. Ogden, son of Judge Ogden, and II. K. Pitcher. Its present enterprising young editor and publisher, E. E. Gordon, commenced to issue it in March, 1880. It is Republican in politics.

SCHOOLS.

The city school-the Union-under the guidance of I. C. Stockton, assisted in the High School Department by Miss Clara Vosburg and Mrs. E. T. Bailey, is well con- ducted, and provides the full measure of educational facil- ities. It consists of five divisions : First Primary Depart- ment, 83 scholars; Second Primary, 64; Intermediate, 56 ; Grammar, 40; Free High School, 65; the total enroll- ment is therefore 308. The building is a substantial two- story and basement brick structure, situated on State street

on Main street. The building in which is the latter was erected by II. J. Stetson, one of three brothers who stand well as owners of property and business men.

BUSINESS INTERESTS.

Waupaca has any number of live business men, who have materially assisted in building up the place and mak- ing it what it is. W. C. and G. L. Lord are at the head of the milling interests, the first grist mill in the township having been erected by the former, in 1851. It is a frame building, well adapted to the objects for which it is used. The mill owned and run by M. L. Baldwin, is of brick ; Mr. Baldwin is a settler of 1850, and stands high in the community. Messrs. Johnson & Hensen are proprietors of a brisk tannery ; Messrs. Jardine, Poll and Paine, saw-mill owners (the former now deceased) ; Messrs. Roberts & Jar- dine and James A. Chesley, foundry proprietors, and P. A. Chesley, the oldest hardware merchant in Waupaca, are

1877

1877.

M E.H.C.BEADLESTON,

H. NOROVI :

MASONIC BLOCK.

near the river banks. It was as far back as the year 1856 that, through the influence of the Rev. Cutting Marsh, an association was formed to found an academy in Waupaca. A lady from Attica, N. Y., was engaged, but the project was not supported. Not until 1868 was the present high school established.

SOCIETIES.

Waupaca has a number of civic societies, which assist materially to bind the social elements together. Waupaca Chapter, No. 39, R. A. M., meets in Masonic Block ; Waupaca Lodge, No. 123, F., & A. M, Masonie Block ; Centennial Encampment, No. 63, I. O. O. F .: Wanpaca Lodge, No. 208, I. O. O. F .; Waupaca Temple, No. 78, T. of H., Temple of llonor HIall : the Danes' Home, social musical and literary, hall over the post office. The public halls, upon which the social and amusement loving people depend for shelter, are the Music and Stetson's halls, both

enterprising and solid business men, who give the city a standing. A prosperous planing-mill is in operation, car- ried on by Nelson Brothers, and a good sized brewery by L. Arnold. J. W. Evans, a setler of 1868. is at the head of the prosperous woolen-mills, the only ones in the county.

Of the merchants who carry on a general merchandise business, may be mentioned R. R. Roberts, the active man being R. M. Roberts; Messrs. Bailey, Woodworth, R. Lea, II. Nordvi, Miller & Brunson (the former deceased ) Orin IIall keeps a jewelry and grocery establishment, and is one of the favorite business men ; II. W. Williams, in the hardware line, is well patronized. Further particulars in regard to the standing, and past life of these men and others of like stability, will be found in the biographical de- partment. As to professions, Waupaca has gentlemen who stand well among any of their class in the State. Myron Reed and E. L. Browne, at the head of the bar, have a

1082

HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

splendid practice, and it is increasing every day. The lat- ter is a settler of 1849. Mr. Reed not coming to the city until ten years later. II. C. Mumbrue is also one of the prominent men of the city. having served several terms in the State Senate. The leading physicians of the place are Drs. D. L. Manchester, G. II. Calkins and E. S. Donald- son. The first two are men of middle age, the latter, a young practitioner. Dr. Calkins was for a number of years President of the Waupaca County Medical Society. The city of Waupaca depends upon two banks for its monetary transactions. Evan Coolidge, of the firm of Evan Coolidge & Co., private bankers, stands high in the community. The resources of his institution are given at $49,200. H. C. Mead is also prominently identified with the business in- terests, being President and Manager of the Exchange and Savings Bank.

P. A. House, proprietor of the wagon manufactory, is deserving of special mention, as the maker of the first

lic, but her leading hotels are the Vosburg, the Lewis and the Waupaca Houses. The original Vosburg House was built in 1856, by A. E. Smith, it being known as the Smith House until it was burned down May 16, 1872. Upon its site, F. B. Vosburg, present proprietor, erected the substan- tial three-story brick building on Main street, which bears his name. The structure is 50x60 feet and is the largest hotel in the city. The Lewis House, on the same street, half a block south, is kept by G. W. Lewis, an old, accom- modating and popular landlord. It was erected by Norton Raymond over twenty years ago, and has gone by varions names-the Raymond House, the City Hotel, etc. It accom- modates fifty guests, and has been under the management of its present proprietor over five years. Messrs. Curran Brothers are proprietors of the Waupaca House, the hotel at the depot of the Wisconsin Central Railroad Company.

The city and county officers are efficient and gentle- manly. and have much to do with maintaining the good

RESIDENCE OF J. W. EVANS.

WOOLEN MILLS OF J. W. & C. EVANS.

wagon in the town, in 1855. It is still in service. now manages four shops, and does a good business.

WAUPACA WOOLEN MILLS.

The Waupaca Woolen Mills, the only establishment of the kind in the county, is located one and one-quarter miles southeast from the post office, on the south branch of the Waupaca River. It was originally a flouring-mill, known as the City Mills, and was purchased and made a woolen-mill by Dayton, Dewey & Co., in 1867. Since then the prop- erty has been owned, wholly or in shares, by William M. Dayton, J. M. Dewey, M. R. Baldwin, J. W. Evans, O. Vaughn, William Smith, H. C. Mumbrue and T. Evans. J. W. Evans, now the principal owner, bought an interest with Dayton, Dewey & Co. in 1867. About 70,000 pounds of wool are annually bought and manufactured into cassi- mere suitings, flannels, etc., etc. Fifteen male and female employes are kept busy here during three-fourths of the year.

Hotels-Waupaca has any number of private boarding- houses for the accommodation of business men and the pub-

name of Waupaca. The city roster is: A. J. Van Epps, Mayor; A. D. Rice, Treasurer ; C. J. Shearer, Clerk ; J. A. Chesley, Assessor ; Myron Reed, J. H. Woodworth, M. R. Baldwin and D. Parish, Supervisors ; A. G. Nelson, T. L. Jeffers, Chris Johnson and A. R. Lea, Alder- dermen ; P. A. Chesley, Chief of Police. The county officers are: County Judge, C. S. Ogden ; Sheriff, H. P. Briggs ; Treasurer, W. J. Chamberlain ; County Clerk, S. T. Richie; Clerk of Court, Charles Churchill ; Register of Deeds, J. II. Woodworth : District Attorney, John F. Dufur ; Superintendent of Schools, L. L. Wright. Its Postmaster is E. B. Thompson.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

LEONARD ARNOLD, proprietor of Waupaca Brewery ; was born in Bavaria. Germany, April 15. 1831. His father was a farmer, but Leonard was apprenticed to learn the cooper and brewery trade, which required three years hard labor ; after working at his trade some time he aspired to seek his fortunes in America ; he at onee set out, and in 1853 landed in Boston ; he now found his way to Milwaukee, thence to Oshkosh, where he

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HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY.

followed his trade for five years; in 1856, he married Amelia Krouis, of Oshkosh. she was born in Germany ; from Oshkosh he came to Weyauwega and worked two years in a brewery ; while there he conceived the idea of starting a brewery at Waupaca ; he hought four acres of land, paying $80 an acre for it, it now being within the city limits; he cleared the trees and grubs away so that the building could be erected, and put up a small building 20x40, and opened his brewery ; he made all his kegs and casks and ground his malt by hand. It was a hard and feeble begin - ning, but he has prospered and now owns twenty-four acres of land, and his brewery is 20x100, with an addition 14x40 for ma- chinery and cooling rooms. Mr. Arnold has eight children, all girls, except a pair of twins. His oldest daughter, Frances H., is a lawyer, having been admitted to the bar in 1880, being the third lady lawyer in the State. She studied several years in the office of E. P. Parry, of New London. About twelve years ago Mr. Arnold lost his left hand by the premature discharge of a cannon, while celebrating in Waupaca in a politieal eampaign.

H. C. BEADLESTON, druggist and grocer, Waupaca, came to Waupaca in the fall of 1857; began business in April, 1862, and has continued uninterrupted!y since, though the fire of Feb- rnary, 1877, burned out the store he then occupied. His present store, built in the autumn of 1878, is 44x65, the upper floor being used as offices, and by the I. O.O. F. In the rear of the main build- ing is a storehouse 38x44. From 1862 to 1875 Mr. Beadleston carried an almost exclusively grocery stock ; in September, 1875, he added a fine line of drugs and medicines, and has since con- tinued this business. Mr. Beadleston has been for nineteen years in partnership with a brother, Henry Beadleston, the firm dating from April 26, 1862. Both brothers were born in Warren Co., N. Y .- Hiram C., Dec. 30, 1836, and Henry, in November, 1834.

WINSELL CHADY, jewelry and stationery, Waupaca ; born 1834, near Prague, Austria ; came to America in 1855 with his parents and two brothers, locating in Hartford, Conn .; two years later he eame to Waupaca, Wis., and began work as a carpenter ; enlisted in August, 1862, in Co. G, 21st W.V. I .; at the battle of Perryville, Oct. 8, 1862, he was struck by a fragment of a shell which cut through a blanket-roll on his shoulders, striking his right shoulder with such force as to make him insensible for hours. He lay all night among his foes on the battlefield, and was disabled for three months; was orderly in a New Albany, Ind., hospital for a year ; then rejoined his regiment on Lookout Mountain ; at Marietta, Ga., he went back on sick leave and did hospital duty on Lookout Mountain until the close of the war. On his return, finding it impossible to labor as formerly, he opened a small saloon, and after a year went into the grocery business and constantly added to his stock, which now comprises a good line of jewelry, clocks and stationery, besides groceries. He married Mary Thompson, of Waupaca, and they have three children. Mr. Chady is an Odd Fellow ; in 1879 he served as Alderman.

W. J. CHAMBERLAIN, Waupaca, Treasurer of Waupaca County ; was born April 10, 1826, in Ellsworth, Hancock Co., Maine. His younger life was spent as a mercantile elerk in his native village ; on the 14th of May, 1851, arrived in Dayton, Waupaca Co., Wis .; made a beginning on a new farm, and the following year brought out his family ; in 1856 he was in busi- ness in Waupaca, removed the next year to Rural. in this county, and was in business there until 1860; he then farmed it four years, which was followed by another eleven years' residence in Rural, of which hamlet he was Postmaster fourteen years in all ; he also served as Clerk and Treasurer, and Chairman of the town of Dayton for years ; was elected County Treasurer in the fall of 1875, and is now serving his third conseentive term ; is a stalwart Republican and an Odd Fellow. Mr. Chamberlain is one of the six stockholders and is Treasurer of the Greenwood Park Asso- ciation ; object of the association to improve the lakes about Waupaca, and to build it up as a summer resort.

JAMES A. CHESLEY, druggist, Waupaca ; born Jan. 16, 1827, in Cornwall, Ont .; in 1843 his family settled in Waukesha, Wis .; here young Chesley was at school and in his father's drug store; his father, Peter Chesley, owned a branch store in Milwaukee; he died in August, 1847, in Waukesha ; J. A. having become a druggist, began business for himself 1848, in Oshkosh; in 1851 he returned to Waukesha, re- maining until 1853, when he came to Waupaca and opened up store near the present engine house; sold out to Dr. Thayre in 1855, and for two years was clerk for Wilson Holt; in 1859 he clerked for Mr. Cameron in Waupaca and in Scandinavia ; in 1860 he resumed business and continued in active business until 1874, when he sold his drug store to HI. C. Mumbrue ; has since been Justice of the Peace two years, and is now serving his fifth term as Assessor of the city. Mr. Chesley was a founder of and has since been a most active supporter of the Waupaca Episcopal Church ; he married at Nashotah Mission, Waukesha Co., Wis., to Miss Isabel Crawford, by whom he has five sons and a daughter. Mr. Chesley has led a busy and useful life, and has earned for himself a competenee and a most pleasant home.

P. A. CHESLEY, the veteran hardware merchant of Wau- paca County ; was born in 1834, in Cornwall. C. W .; nine years later the family settled in Milwaukee, and the next year removed to Waukesha, Wis .; his father, Peter Chesley, began business in Milwaukee in 1841, and died in 1847 in Waukesha. P. A. Ches- ley was educated in Waukesha, and in the historic Episcopal Seminary, of Nashotah ; he learned the tinner's trade in Waukesha and in 1853 went to Madison ; two years later he came to Wau- paca and opened, in what is now the Third Ward, the first stock of tinware ever brought into the county ; in 1856 he opened the first stock of stoves, tinware and hardware in the county, in a building opposite the present engine house ; the goods were drawn from Milwaukee with teams; a part of his present store (though en- larged and improved) was the first frame building ereeted in Wau- paca ; since his settlement here Mr. Chesley has been among the foremost in pushing forward all enterprises tending to the pros- perity of Waupaca ; in 1857 himself and a brother went into the woods near town and with their own hands cut trees for the frame of the Episcopal Church, of which they were the founders and most active supporters. Rev. M. F. Sorrenson was the first Rector. Mr. Chesley has since been prominent in the building of the M. E. Church, and is founding the Centennial Encampment; he is also a member of the I. O. O. F., the K. of P. and the A. O. U. W .; he served seven years as a member of the City Fire Department, of which he is now an honorary member ; he was elected in April, 1881, as Chief of Police.

WM. M. DAYTON, of Waupaca ; came with his father. Ly- man Dayton, to Waupaca County, April 17, 1850; Lyman Day- ton was a Connecticut man, but became an early settler in Attica, Wyoming Co., N. Y .; the town of Dayton, Waupaca Co., Wis., was named in his honor ; he made the fourth " claim " in that town, and was the first Chairman of its Board of Supervisors ; he was once or twice Sheriff of the county. Resided as a farmer in Dayton until 1875, then he came to) Waupaca, where he died in April, 1877, at the age of eighty-four years ; his second son, whose name heads this sketch, built the flouring mill at Palfreyville, in Dayton, selling it two years later to J. D. Cass. During the war he, with others, speculated extensively in stock, often shipping 100 head of cattle per week to the sonth, and besides large numbers of army horses. In 1866 he bought the old City Mills, one and one- half miles from Waupaca; in 1867 the firm of Dayton, Dewey & Co. (J. M. Dewey and M. R. Baldwin) built the City Mills in Waupaca ; much of the machinery was removed here from the old City Mills, which was at the time converted into a woolen mill ; this firm did an enormous business, dealing in lumber and stock besides the milling interests ; branch feed and flour stores were established at Stevens Point and New London, and half a dozen four-horse teams employed in hauling lumber, flour and goods. Mr. Dayton was specially interested in the lumber business and

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HISTORY OF NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

made trips to the copper region of Michigan in the interest of the firm ; he followed the old Lake Superior trail, crossing the State line near Lake Butte des Morts; hogs and cattle were afterward driven over the same route, 260 miles. The City Mills burned in 1870 and were rebuilt in 1871 by the firm ; turning his attention to railroads, Mr. Dayton, by contracts, built twenty-four miles of the W. C. R. R., and with Geo. Hiles and H. C. Mumbrue, built about one hundred and ten miles of the G., B. & M. R. R. Since that time Mr. Dayton has devoted himself to the stock business, and various speculations, some of which require his making extended trips through different States. Ile is also the owner of some costly and as yet untried horses, which are expreted to show speed ; his wife was Cornelia Randall, of Albany, N. Y. They have three children ; the family attend the Congregational Church.

E. S. DONALDSON, M. D., Waupaca ; was born July 28, 1844 in Aztalan, Jefferson Co., Wis .; his early life was spent in Oconto Co., Wis., and in Green Bay, where he studied medicine with the well known Dr. Henry Pearce, for three years; he then entered the Hahnemann Medical College, Chicago ( homeopathic) from which he graduated as physician and surgeon in 1864 ; began practice in Kewaunee, Wis., from which place he enlisted in the 44th Wis. Vol. Infty., served one year, or until the close of the war of secession, as Hospital Steward ; returning North in 1865 he located at New Lisbon, Wis., practiced there eighteen months, and married Anna Coon, of Palmyra, Jefferson Co., Wis .; in 1867 he located at Oconto, Wis., where he served as Alderman, and as City Physician, having charge, in the latter capacity, of the hos- pital, improvised for the sufferers by the Peshtigo fire. After a most successful practice of seven years in Oconto, Dr. Donaldson removed to Waupaca; here his usual snecess has attended him, resulting in his building up the largest practice enjoyed by any physician in the county.

REV. J. W. DONALDSON, of Waupaca, is a son of the Rev. A>a Donaldson, who was born in Monson, Mass., and died, aged eighty-eight, in Dover. Bureau Co., Ill. He was for years pastor of the Guilford, N. Y., Congregational Church. His son, our sub- ject, was born June 24, 1816, in Hardwick, Otsego Co., N. Y. At twenty years of age removed to Bureau Co., Ill., where his parents joined him in 1839. He married, in 1843, Harriet E. Smith, of Princeton, Ill. The same year they came to Dane Co., Wis., and a few years later, removed to Neenah, Wis. After two years labor here, for the American Bible Society, he was licensed to preach the Gospel, by the Rev. W G. Miller, a Methodist divine. Elder Donaldson enjoys the honor of having been the first minister ever sent by the M. E. Church to preach the Gospel in Oconto Co., Wis. This was in 1854, and he traveled both as a minister and as School Superintendent of the town of Oconto, then the only organized Township in that county. Many an exciting adventure had he in those early days of Northern Wisconsin. Indian trails and the iee of frozen rivers were his most usual routes. On one occasion he was rescued from drowning by two Indians. His horse was drowned and the Elder badly frozen before the arrival of the dusky " Good Samaritans." On another occasion the timber wolves gave him a four-mile chase. A portion of the lumber used by him in building a parsonage at Oconto was rafted from the Jones mill. After five years active labor in the M. E. Church, Elder Donaldson united with the Presbyterian-Congregational Church, was ordained in June, 1858, returned to Oconto Co., and was there until 1861. Organized a Presbyterian Church at O-onto, and, a few years later, had the pleasure of offering the dedication prayer in the new church edifice. In 1861 he organ- ized a Presbyterian Church in Kewaunee. Wis., and remained in that county until the patriotism of his members caused such wholesale enli-tments in the Union army as to break up his church. He then removed to Wyocena, Wis., preaching there and at Rio, where he practically built a Congregational Church. lle next went to Wautoma, Wis .; thence to Hancock, Wis. This was his home nine years, though his labors extended to Coloma, Coloma Station, Westfield, Deerfield, Plainfield, etc. lle traveled

over 15,000 miles in Waushara Co., and built churches at Hancock and Coloma. His home and that of his faithful wife was the last earthly home of her parents, both of whom are buried in Hancock. Owing to failing health, Elder Donaldson resigned his position as missionary of the A. II. M. S. in 1879, but traveled a year for the A. B. S. in Adams, Marquette, Waushara and Wood Cos. Since the fall of 1880 he has been enjoying a well-earned rest at the pleasant home of his son, Dr. E. S. Donaldson, of Waupaca.

JOHN F. DUFUR, District Attorney of Waupaca Co., is a son of A. Il. and Clarissa ( Howe) Dufur, and was born Aug. 6, 1854. in Geneva, Kane Co., Ill. In November, 1855, the family settled at lola, Waupaca Co., Wis., where the parents still reside. J. F. Dufur was educated in the Waupaca High School, and was two terms at Lawrence University, Appleton. He began when 17 years old as a teacher, thus earning the money to defray the major part of the expenses of his education, alternately teaching and attending school until August, 1878, when he began the study of law with Hon. E. L. Browne, of Waupaca, continuing his studies in his office until February, 1880, when he was admitted to the bar of Wisconsin. In November of the same year he was elected to his present office. For a man not 27 years of age, this is surely a good record. Mr. Dufur married April 4, 1878, Miss Arabella W. Parker. She was born near Mobile, Ala. They have two children.

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Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company Number of Pages: 1052

Author: Western historical co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Western historical company
Number of Pages: 1052