USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Memoirs of Milwaukee County : from the earliest historical times down to the present, including a genealogical and biographical record of representative families in Milwaukee County, Volume I > Part 18
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nominated by the Democrats for governor in 1859, that being his last appearance in politics until after the war. He went down to defeat, but he lost none of his personal popularity. That April day in 1861, when the news reached Chilton that the war had begun, his law books were closed and he proceeded at once to raise a company for the coun- try's service. He was the first man to enlist in the company, and his comrades enthusiastically elected him as captain. While the Fourth Wisconsin cavalry, of which this company became a part, was at Balti- more, Captain Hobart, on the order of General Mcclellan, served as judge advocate in the trial of officers in that city. He took an active part in all the operations of General Butler's army as far up the Mis- sissippi from New Orleans as Vicksburg, and was an active partici- pant in the battle of Baton Rouge when the late Confederate General Breckenridge attacked the Federal forces under General Williams. On Aug. 21, 1862, Captain Hobart was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the Twenty-first Wisconsin, his old neighbor, Col. Benjamin J. Sweet, being the colonel. Colonel Hobart actively participated in the battle of Murfreesboro and in a subsequent movement of the Army of the Cumberland. He was in the action at Hoover's Gap, with the ad- vance upon Tullahoma, at the crossing of the Tennessee river, Sept. II, 1863, and in a fight at Dug Gap. At the battle of Chickamauga, the order from General Thomas to fall back was not received by Colonel Hobart, who continued to hold his ground until he saw the other regi- ments retreating. He then fell back slowly, contesting all the ground, until the regiment was nearly surrounded, when he attempted to cut his way through the enemy, in which movement he was partially success- ful, for the main portion of the regiment reached a safe position, but Colonel Hobart and about seventy men were made prisoners. In com- pany with 1.700 prisoners, he went to Atlanta, and a few days later was on his way to Libby prison, Richmond, riding in a box car. There he was placed in charge of the execution of the project to escape and 109 passed through a tunnel, which was excavated from the base- ment of the old tobacco warehouse under the street, the outer opening being made in a shed in sight of the prison. Colonel Hobart and his associates reached the Federal outposts near Fortress Monroe, and re- ported to General Butler. At the expiration of a furlough he rejoined his regiment in the field and was given a commission as colonel, Sweet having been promoted to brigadier-general. He participated in the capture of Atlanta and witnessed its surrender on Sept. 2. 1864, and was there promoted to command the First brigade, First division, of the Fourteenth corps, and was its commander until the end of the war. He was in the "march to the sea," under General Sherman, and
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on the capture of Savannah was promoted by President Lincoln, on the recommendation of General Sherman, to brigadier-general by brevet, for meritorious service. After the surrender of the Confederate army he marched through Richmond to Washington and led his brigade in the great review of the Federal armies. On June 8, 1865, more than four years after he had closed his law office at Chilton, this brave sol- dier, successful commander, who had won his way from a private to a brigadier-general, unbuckled his sword, parted with his command and was elected to the common council, chosen as president, and was acting to settle in Milwaukee and begin anew his professional and business pursuits. In the fall of 1865 he was again, without solicitation, nomi- nated for governor by his party, and was defeated by a small majority. In 1867 he was sent to the assembly from the Second district of Mil- waukee. He introduced and carried through a bill prohibiting, forever, the consolidation of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the Chicago & Northwestern railroads. He was the author of the bill creating the Milwaukee High School, and was the author of the eight- hour law. In 1868 he opened a law office in Washington and was ad- mitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the late Chief Justice E. G. Ryan making the motion. He was not well satis- fied with life in Washington, and in due time returned to Milwaukee, was elected to the common council, chosen as president, and was acting mayor for a time; was president of the Public Library Association and for years was a school commissioner. For a long time he managed the extensive real estate business of the late Alexander Mitchell, and per- formed similar duties for his son, the late Senator John L. Mitchell. General Hobart died on Jan. 26, 1902.
Truman H. Judd, who was for many years a leading spirit among the manufacturers of Milwaukee, and one of the men who contributed in many ways to the social and moral as well as to the industrial de- velopment of the city, was born in Milton, Saratoga county, N. Y., Oct. 27, 1817, and died in San Jose, Cal., May 9, 1884. When he was eleven years of age he removed with his father's family to Chemting county, N. Y., and remained there several years, witnessing the con- struction of the Chemung canal as a boy. At a later date he lived for a time at Buffalo, and came West from that city the first time in 1836. He was educated in the public schools of New York, and developed carly into a resourceful, self-reliant young man, ambitious to make the best of his opportunities, and willing to labor earnestly and industriously to achieve hon- orable success. Attracted to the West by what he heard of its wonderful resources, he set out for Illinois in the spring of 1836. and
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first visited Chicago, then a village which was anything but attractive in appearance, and which to the casual observer gave little promise of future greatness. After stopping a little time in Chicago he extended his tour of observation into Wisconsin, then a territory and only a little time before separated from Michigan territory, of which it had pre- viously been a part. After traveling somewhat extensively through this new and promising country, he returned to New York state, and two years later, having attained his majority, engaged in business first on his own account as a contractor on the Genesee Valley canal in Allegany county. He had formed a good opinion of the West, how- ever, and in 1843 removed to Wisconsin to continue his occupation as a public works contractor. In 1844 he began building a turnpike road from Milwaukee to Muskego, a distance of twelve miles. The funds for this enterprise were furnished by subscriptions of citizens of Mil- waukee and the adjacent country who were interested in the improve- ment, and Mr. Judd completed it in 1845, this being the first public highway leading out from Milwaukee and penetrating the interior of the territory. Soon after completing this work he removed to Dodge county, where he built a sawmill and began the improvement of lands, which he developed into a farm. In 1850 he was chosen superintendent of the Milwaukee & Watertown plank road, and removed to Hartland, where he resided during the years of 1850 and 1851, while engaged in making this improvement, and for four years thereafter, during which time he had charge of the conduct and management of the road. Retiring from this position in 1856, he removed to Milwaukee and engaged in the lumber business, which he followed successfully and continuously until 1879. In addition to this enterprise he also entered into a partnership with John Hiles, another of the noted pion- eer manufacturers of Milwaukee, and engaged in the manufacture of sash, doors and blinds. In 1871 Mr. Judd erected the brick business block at the corner of Clybourn avenue and West Water street. In addition to constructing some of the earliest public highways in Wis- consin, he was also one of the builders of the Milwaukee & Water- town railway, one of the first railroads in the state. As early as 1854 he constructed two bridges over Rock river on this line, and was afterward connected for a time with the business management of the railroad. In 1879 he retired from active business other than the care of his estate, and after 1880 impaired health caused him to reside much of the time in California. For many years after the Republican party came into existence he was in full sympathy with the principles and pol- icies of that organization, but during the later years of his life did not fully endorse its financial policy. In 1866 he was elected to the lower
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branch of the legislature of Wisconsin, and in 1878 was the candidate of the Greenback party for member of Congress from the Milwaukee district.
Daniel H. Richards was born on Feb. 12, 1808, in Burlington, Ot- sego county, N. Y. At the age of sixteen he went to Canada and learned the printer's trade. In the spring of 1835 he opened a store of general merchandise near Peoria, Ill. During the same year he came to Chicago, and, in 1836, he established the Milwaukee Advertiser, as is noticed in the sketch of that paper. He made an arrangement with Col. Hans Crocker, who, for some months, was its sole editor, while its business management and the mechanical work devolved upon the former. From the time of his arrival in Milwaukee until the Civil war, Mr. Richards was much interested in the public enterprises which most concerned Milwaukee-the Horicon road, the Rock river canal, etc .- but, in common with others who dabbled in such schemes for the city's advancement, his personal gains were nothing. He invested some in real estate, and finally died at the old homestead in the Thir- teenth ward, on Feb. 6, 1877. He was a thorough Democrat to the time of his death.
Henry Conrad Runkel was born in the province of Nassau, Ger- many, April 17, 1834, and was a son of George P. and Anna M. (Lemb) Runkel. When he was seven years of age the family re- moved to Mayence on the River Rhine and he received the major part of his education in that city. He attended first the public schools and later the School of Arts, leaving that institution to come to America in 1851. Landing in New York, in August of that year, he remained there a short time and then came to Milwaukee, where he engaged in various kinds of employment and in teaching school until 1858. At that time he turned his attention to the study of law, and in 1862 was admitted to the bar. He began the practice of his profession in this city immediately thereafter, and drew about him a large circle of clients within the few years next succeeding. In 1877 he formed a partnership with Hon. R. N. Austin and in 1886 W. H. Austin was admitted to the firm. This partnership continued under the firm name of Austin, Runkel & Austin until 1891, when it was dissolved by the election of the senior member of the firm to the Superior judgeship. After the dissolution of this firm, which for many years had been conspicuous at the bar, Mr. Runkel associated himself with his son, Albert C. Runkel, and under the firm name of Runkel & Runkel con- tinued the practice up to the time of his death, which occurred on June 27, 1895. In 1858 he was elected a justice of the peace and served in that capacity until 1864. From 1860 to 1862 he was assessor of the
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city, and in 1868, 1869 and 1870, he represented the Ninth ward in the lower branch of the legislature of Wisconsin. For twelve years he was a member of the city school board, and in advancing the edu- cational interests of the city was a potent factor during that time. Reared a Protestant, he always affiliated with that branch of the Chris- tian church, and was a Democrat in politics so far as the national issues were concerned. A pronounced opponent of paternalism in government, and in sympathy in the main with the principles and poli- cies of the Democratic party, he espoused the cause of the Democracy with ardor, and wielded an important influence in the counsels of the party in the city and state.
Daniel H. Johnson was born near Kingston, Ontario, July 21, 1825, and spent the years of his boyhood in the Dominion of Canada. His early education was obtained in the schools of Kingston, and after coming to the United States he attended Rock River seminary at Mt. Morris, Ill., one year. From 1842 until 1849 he engaged in teaching school and in the meantime read law. At Prairie du Chien, Wis., he was admitted to the bar, in the Circuit court of Crawford county, and began his practice there. For two or three years while he was resid- ing at Prairie du Chien he published the Courier at that place, but with the exception of the time devoted to editorial work he practiced law continuously in Crawford county until 1861. He was a member of the lower branch of the state legislature in 1861, representing the counties of Crawford and Bad Axe-now Vernon county-and served as assistant attorney-general of the state during 1861 and a portion of 1862. In the summer of the year 1862 he went South and was engaged for some months as a clerk in the paymaster's department of the United States army. Returning to Wisconsin in the fall of that year, he came to Milwaukee and turned his attention again to the practice of law. In 1869 and in 1870 he represented the Seventh ward of this city in the assembly of Wisconsin. From 1878 to 1880 he was city attorney, and in 1887 was elected Circuit judge. He was re-elected to that office in 1893, and again in 1899. Judge Johnson died in 1900.
Nathan Brick was born in South Gardner, Worcester county, Mass., Dec. 24, 1820. His father, Nathan Brick, and his mother, Mary (Edgell) Brick, both died before he was nine years of age, and he was reared by a brother of his mother, Farwell Edgell, of South Gardner. After receiving a common school education he was apprenticed to a chairmaker, learning his trade with S. K. Pierce, another uncle. Hav- ing mastered his trade, and having the pronounced taste for adven- ture which was characteristic of the New England youth of sixty years ago, he shipped aboard the whaling vessel "George Washington" as
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ship's carpenter, and spent four years cruising about in various parts of the world. When he left the sea he applied himself to his trade and worked in South Gardner until 1851, when he came West for the purpose of looking up a location which should promise better returns for labor, or at least a field in which he should find more opportunities for advancement and the accumulation of fortune than that in which he had spent the earlier years of his life. Fixing upon Milwaukee as a satisfactory location, he returned to Massachusetts in 1852 and married Miss Lucy Newton, who was born in Hubbardstown in 1827. Coming to Milwaukee immediately after their marriage the young couple established their home here and Mr. Brick engaged, in a small way at first, in the furniture business. In 1880 he sold his business to his son, but continued his connection with it until 1885, when he re- tired from commercial pursuits. He was a Republican from the date of the organization of that party to the end of his life, and believing fully and unreservedly in its principles and policies he missed no oppor- tunity to promote its interests in a legitimate and proper way. He was for several years a member of the board of aldermen of Milwaukee, and in 1870 served with credit in the state legislature as a member of the assembly. Mr. Brick died at his home in this city on Feb. II, 1890, and with the majority of his old friends rests in Forest Home cemetery.
Stephen A. Harrison was born on Sept. 18, 1829, in England, and came to this country from London in 1854. In the fall of that year he came to Milwaukee, having previously stopped for a time in Chicago, where the cholera was then prevalent and where other causes operated to prevent his permanent location in that city. Before settling down to engage in business he traveled over considerable portions of Illinois and Wisconsin, visiting the lead regions, La Crosse, Madison, Portage, Sparta and other towns which were then just beginning to be looked upon as places of some consequence. For something like two years after he came to Milwaukee, he did not engage in any regular busi- ness. Early in the winter of 1856 he arranged with Mr. Ransom and U. B. Smith, who had taken a contract from the United States to build light houses on Lakes Superior and Winnebago, to take charge of a portion of their work, and his connection with public improvements in the Northwest began in this capacity. After completing his work at Menasha, he returned to Milwaukee with a cash capital of about $1,600, and soon afterward became actively engaged in construction work of various kinds. In the spring of 1857 he began business as a contractor by erecting the block of stores at the intersection of Huron and West Water streets, known as the "Waldo Block," and the same year, in
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company with a partner, constructed the first large gas holder in the Third ward, and did other work for the gas company. Until 1870 he was largely engaged in general contract work, and no one who en- gaged in this work in Milwaukee did more for the material improve- ment and building up of the city. As early as 1861 he had engaged in railroad construction, and after 1870 turned his attention entirely to this business. Prior to 1892 he and those associated with him in his various enterprises had constructed for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad company upward of 1,000 miles of railway in the states of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas. He also built the tunnel now in use on the La Crosse division of this system at Tun- nel City, which was constructed in the winter of 1875-76. Much of the railroad construction work done was difficult, one section of 212 miles in northern Wisconsin and Michigan, built in 1887, having been built through a region so heavily timbered that only fifteen miles of the right of way could be ridden over on horseback. After 1887 he gave but little attention to contract work, his old employes, William Blood- good and A. D. McDougal, to whom he attributed much of his success, having taken charge of the work in which they became jointly inter- ested. With Col. George B. Goodwin and six others, Mr. Harrison or- ganized the first Republican club in Winnebago county, in the fall of 1855, at a time when Republicanism was looked upon by a consider- able portion of the population of Wisconsin as a reproach, this little band of pioneers in the movement being held up to ridicule by "Jerry" Crowley, editor of a Menasha paper, as "Shanghais." Mr. Harrison was ever after an active and prominent member of the Republican party in Wisconsin. In 1869 he was elected to the Milwaukee common council, and served as a member of the committee which accepted the plans for the present sewerage and water systems of the city. He was also a member of the committee on bridges, and one of the first to ad- vocate the construction of permanent stone "center piers," and the substitution of iron for wood in building all future bridges across the rivers. In 1870 and again in 1875 he served as a member of the state legislature from Milwaukee, and in this official capacity rendered ex- ceedingly valuable services to the city, in helping to procure legislation providing for the construction of the present canal system of the Me- nomonee valley. He died in 1898.
Frederick A. Zautcke was born in Prussia, July 25, 1838, the sec- ond son of Ernest and Louisa (Schallock) Zautcke. His parents came to America in 1841 and settled in the town of Granville, where the son received his education, after which he attended the Spencerian Business College of Milwaukee for about nine months. In 1869 Mr.
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Zautcke was elected to the state assembly on the Republican ticket, and was re-elected in 1875. In 1869, when he was first honored by the suffrages of his friends and fellow citizens, the district was largely Democratic, but his personal popularity and sterling worth led to a Republican triumph, and he was elected over his Democratic opponent by a majority of 188 votes. He served as clerk of the Granville school board for fifteen years and always evinced a great interest in matters pertaining to education. Mr. Zautcke died in 1901.
John Watson Cary was born in Shoreham, Vermont, Feb. II, 1817, and died in Chicago, March 29, 1895. In 1831 the family re- moved to Sterling, Cayuga county, N. Y., and for a time after this removal he found employment in a country store. He had little taste for this business, however, and soon returned to the farm on which his father had settled, embracing the opportunity afforded him at that time for advancing his education through attendance at a private academy at Hannibal, then conducted by Rev. Jason Lathrop, at a later date well known in Wisconsin. While preparing himself for col- lege, Mr. Cary taught school and worked on the farm alternately until 1837. He then entered a lyceum at Geneva, N. Y., and was fitted for college under the preceptorship of Rev. Justus French and Rev. Wil- liam Hogarth, rceieving some instructions also from Martin French, who was then principal of an academy at Victory, N Y. In 1838 he matriculated in Union College, and was graduated in that institution in the class of 1842. During the last year of his college course he be- gan the study of law in the office of Samuel W. Jones, of Schenectady, and after his graduation he completed his law studies in the office of George Rathbun, of Auburn, N. Y. He was admitted to the bar in the Supreme court at Albany, N Y., in 1844, Justice Samuel Nelson pre- siding at that time, and Chancellor Walworth, the last of the New York chancellors-admitted him as a solicitor in chancery, at Saratoga, soon afterward. In February, 1844, he began the practice of his pro- fession at Red Creek in Wayne county, N. Y., and remained there until 1850, when he removed to Wisconsin, locating in Racine. At Racine he became a partner of Judge James R. Doolittle in 1851, and this partnership continued in existence until Judge Doolittle was elected to the bench in 1854. Mr. Cary became a member of the Milwaukee bar in 1859, removing to this city at that time. Devoted to his profession, he held comparatively few public offices, although he was a Democrat of the old school and took an active interest in promoting the success of his party. The first office which he ever held was that of postmaster at Red Creek, N. Y., which he filled by appointment of President Polk. In 1853 and 1854 he was a member of the Wisconsin state senate and
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was mayor of Racine in 1857. After his removal to Milwaukee he served as a member of the city council and one term in the state legis- lature. He was also at one time during the war period the candidate of his party for Congress, and at a later date on different occasions received the complimentary vote of the party for United States senator.
Frederick Vogel, Sr., was born at Kirchheim, in the German prov- ince of Wuertemberg, May 8, 1823, the youngest son of Jacob and Elizabeth Vogel. His father gave him a thorough education in the local gymnasium and afterward trained him to the tanning trade, which he followed the remainder of his life. At the age of twenty- three years he left his native land for America, arriving in New York in July, 1846. After a few weeks' stay in New York he continued his journey to Buffalo, where one of his cousins had a few years before started a small tannery. He remained in Buffalo two years in the em- ploy of his cousin, being engaged in buying hides and skins and selling leather. He then succeeded in interesting his cousin and the late Guido Pfister in a plan to build and operate a tannery in Milwaukee, and this project was carried out in 1848. Mr. Vogel served as a mem- ber of the common council, in 1856, and as a member of the state legis- lature in 1874. He was, after the Civil war, a supporter of the Repub- lican party, and believed in Republican principles, although not a strong partisan, frequently voting for the best man in local politics in preference to the candidate of his party. He died on Oct. 24, 1892, in his sixty-ninth year, while on his return from Europe, aboard the steamer "Lahu."
Carl Frederick Wilhelm Kraatz was born in Jatznick, Germany, May 17, 1835, and was the son of Carl and Caroline (Schultz) Kraatz. As a boy he attended the village school of his native town and secured a good business education. Then having to make his own way in the world, he apprenticed himself to a stone mason and learned the trade while he was still a mere lad. In 1854 he came to this country and stopped for a time after his arrival in Wisconsin, in Milwaukee. From here he went to Sheboygan, with his parents, who settled on a farm and engaged somewhat extensively also in the lumber business. Not being favorably impressed with farming as an occupation, he deter- mined to seek a new field of labor, and went from Sheboygan to New Orleans on a prospecting tour. In New Orleans he worked at his trade for a year or more, and then went to Independence, Mo., famous in the old days as an outfitting point for the wagon trains sent across the plains, and the eastern terminus of the historic Sante Fe trail. Being a Unionist in sentiment, Mr. Kraatz was compelled to seek a more con- genial locality and came North in 1861, returning again to Milwaukee.
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