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 II, Part 4

Author: Watrous, Jerome Anthony, 1840- ed
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Madison : Western Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1072

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MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY

June 9, 1863, he was promoted to first lieutenant for gallantry on the field at Brandy Station. As the regiment lacked its full com- plement of surgeons he performed the duty of surgeon as well as lieutenant, but in December, 1863, owing to injuries received in ser- vice, he resigned his commission. During convalescence he com- pleted his medical studies in the Long Island Medical College, and was graduated in that institution in June, 1864. He then re-entered the service as acting assistant surgeon, U. S. A., and so continued until the close of the war. After the close of hostilities Dr. Kemp- ster made a special study of nervous and mental diseases, and in 1866 was appointed assistant superintendent of the New York state asylum for idiots at Syracuse, in which position he remained until the autumn of 1867. He was then appointed assistant physician in the New York Hospital for Insane at Utica, which position he held until 1873, when he was appointed superintendent of the Northern Hospital for the Insane at Oshkosh, Wis., which necessitated his removal to the Badger State. He remained at Oshkosh until 1884, when he resigned his position and removed to the city of Milwau- kee, where he has since resided, giving his attention to professional matters and serving in several important positions, among which have been Special Medical Commissioner for the United States gov- ernment to Russia ; also to visit Europe and take measures to pre- vent the introduction of cholera to the United States during the World's Fair in 1893, Commissioner of Health of the city of Mil- waukee, 1894-8; and Professor of Mental Diseases in the Wisconsin College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Kempster's professional specialty is diseases of the nervous system and insanity, he having been the first physician in the United States to make systematic microscopic examinations of brains of the insane, and he was also the first to photograph through a microscope the actual disease of the brain, accomplishing the latter in 1867. He was one of the three physicians appointed by the United States government to examine Charles Guiteau, who shot President Garfield, and found him sane and responsible. In the literary field he has also won considerable recognition, being the author of "The Causes of Emigration from Europe." a valuable work in two volumes, published in 1892; "The International Dissemination of Cholera and Other Infectious Dis- eases, with Plan for Effectual Quarantine" (1893) ; and he is also a contributor to standard publications on the subjects of Insanity, Mental Hygiene, and Jurisprudence. Notwithstanding the energy and concentration of thought necessary to secure high standing in the medical profession, Dr. Kempster has found time to devote to fellowship with his old comrades of war times. He is an honored member of the G. A. R .; was Commander of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of Wisconsin, 1901, and a member of the Society of the Army of the Potomac. In addition to other literary work he has written a number of articles on military affairs, be- sides delivering lectures and public addresses. He delivered funer- al orations on the day President Garfield was buried, also on the oc- casion of President McKinley's burial. He is the author of a "His-

BIOGRAPHICAL

tory of the Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac," which is considered a valuable contribution to Civil war literature.

Henry Fink, collector of internal revenue for the First district of Wisconsin, and a veteran of Company B, Twenty-sixth

Wisconsin infantry, now a resident of Milwaukee, Wis.,

was born on Sept. 7,

1840, in Bavaria, Germany. lle

is a son of John 1 Engelhart and Catherine ( Dielmann) Fink, who, when the subject of this sketch was twelve years old, removed with their family and personal property to the United States, locating on a farm in the town of Oak Creek, Mil- waukee county, Wisconsin. The father lived on the farm until his death, which occurred Jan. 8, 1880; the mother died while her son was serving as a soldier, on Feb. 9, 1864. The subject of this sketch was the second of seven children in the family, the others in the order of birth being Mary, Engelhart, Jacob, Simon, Helena and Louise. Engelhart and Helena are deceased, the former having lost his life in the battle of the Wilderness, in which he was a participant as a member of the Fifth Wisconsin infantry. Henry Fink, after his arrival in this country, was occupied on a farm until he had reached the age of twenty. He then obtained a posi- tion as a clerk in a store in Milwaukee, continuing in that work until Aug. 17, 1862, when, at the very height of the war excite- ment in the Cream City, he enlisted as a private in Company B of the Twenty-sixth Wisconsin infantry. On Oct. 5 following, the regiment left the state for the scene of action, going direct to Fair- fax Court House, where it became a part of the Second brigade, Third division, Eleventh army corps, and with it participated in the expedition to Thoroughfare Gap, New Baltimore and Warren- ton. The winter was spent in camp at Stafford Court House, and in the spring the regiment was one of those "stuck in the mud" with Burnside. On April 27, the Eleventh corps, under Maj .- Gen. O. O. Howard, left Stafford Court House in the start of the Chan- cellorsville campaign. The crossing of the Rappahannock was made at Kelly's Ford, and on May I the corps took position on the right of the Federal line. In the terrible onslaught of "Stone- wall" Jackson's corps on Howard's command, before which the Union line wavered and then fell back, Mr. Fink was wounded, a musket ball piercing his right arm and rendering it useless. He was taken to the field hospital at Falmouth, where the injured mem- ber was attended to, and later was sent to the Judiciary square hospital in Washington. On June 26 he was transferred to Fort Schuyler, N. Y., and in November to David's Island, where he remained until removed to the Harvey hospital in Madison, Wis., on Jan. 7. 1864. In the following March he was mustered into the Invalid corps, and remained there until his discharge on May 10, 1864. Upon his release from military service Mr. Fink returned to Milwaukee and for three years was a traveling salesman. In

1867 he embarked in business on his own account, becoming a dealer in wool, hides and furs. This occupied his time until 1878, when he sold his interests and engaged in the land business. He is also financially interested in the Wilkin Manufacturing company,

MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY

makers of machinery. Politically he is an enthusiastic and zealous Republican, and as such served four years on the county board of supervisors, from 1870 to 1874, and in 1876-77 served in the state legislature. In the latter year he was appointed United States marshal, and continued in that office through the administrations of Hayes, Garfield and Arthur, his service expiring on May 10, 1885. On June 13, 1889, he was made collector of internal revenue for the First district of Wisconsin, and is still the incumbent of that office. Mr. Fink is actively identified with the E. B. Wolcott Post No. I, Grand Army of the Republic. He has been twice married. On May 13, 1866, he was united in marriage to Miss Catherine Streiff, of Milwaukee, and to this union were born three children: Albert, Edward and Emma. Mrs. Fink died on Jan. 6, 1883, and on Sept. 12, 1883, Mr. Fink married Miss Rosa Blankenhorn, a native. of Cedarburg, Wis.

Robert Closson Spencer-a member of a family more widely known, probably, than any other family in the United States con- nected with educational work-is the president of the Spencerian Business College of Milwaukee. He is the son of Platt R. Spencer, who devised the Spencerian style of penmanship, and whose name has been a familiar one in every school in the land for two genera- tions. The first American ancestor of the family, John Spencer, came to Rhode Island in 1661, and was one of the founders of East Greenwich, in that state, and Caleb Spencer, the grandfather of Robert C., served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Rob- ert was born in East Ashtabula, Ohio, June 22, 1829, and received a common school and academic education, and began his work as a teacher in Gundy's Mercantile College, in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1851, in partnership with V. M. Rice, he opened a commercial school in Buffalo, N. Y. Shortly after, in company with Messrs. Bryant and Stratton, he was employed in establishing commercial colleges in the larger cities of the United States, and was so en- gaged in St. Louis, Mo., in the spring of 1861, when the Civil war broke out, and he abandoned his educational work for a time and enlisted in the Third Missouri infantry. This regiment, mustered at the St. Louis arsenal on April 22, 1861, in the three months' service, participated in the capture of Camp Jackson, and was in the battles of Carthage and Wilson's Creek. At the close of his term of enlistment Mr. Spencer left the military service with im- paired health and returned to his educational work, coming north in the hope of recuperation. He came to Milwaukee in May, 1863, and in September following, under the name of Bryant, Stratton & Spencer, opened a commercial college, which, since 1865, has been known as the Spencerian Business College. It was incor- porated in 1873, and reincorporated in 1887, and has a strong faculty, the teachers being experts and specialists in the depart- ments of bookkeeping, penmanship, business practice, office routine. commercial law, banking, civics, phonography, type- writing, and all allied branches of study which fit a young man for practical business life. Thousands of young men, many of

BIOGRAPHICAL

them occupying the most responsible positions in the present com- mercial life of this and neighboring states, have been fitted in this college for their successful life work. Among those who re- ceived their first tuition in business methods from Prof. R. C. Spencer may be mentioned Hon. Lyman J. Gage, former secretary of the treasury of the United States, who took his first lessons in accounts of the former in Chicago in 1858, when Prof. Spencer was in that city in the interests of the Bryant & Stratton chain of commercial colleges. Personally Prof. Spencer is a man of strong mentality and actively interested in all lines of educational work; he is liberal in his religious views, and politically a supporter of the Republican party, and while active in all that pertains to his duties as a citizen has never been a seeker after political honors. In 1890 the Republicans of his district nominated him for Con- gress, but that year was a disastrous one for the Republican party, on account of the opposition aroused by the "Bennet law." and his political opponent, Hon. John L. Mitchell, was elected. Prof. Spencer was one of the organizers of the People's Institute of Mil- waukee, for a number of years a flourishing institution. a pro- moter of the Wisconsin Phonological Institute for teaching the deaf to speak, one of the founders of the Wisconsin Humane So- ciety, and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was for some time the vice president of the Political Science Associa- tion of the University of Wisconsin. As a member of the Grand Army he has been instrumental in the inauguration of a movement for the preservation of the military, civil and family histories of the members of that order, the historical value of which will be- come greater and more apparent to the student with every added year. The survivors of that great civil conflict are fast passing away, and it will soon be impossible to collect data which has the freshness and peculiar value of personal recollections. Mr. Spencer is the originator of a movement which has gained momentum through the encouragement of many eminent citizens, the object of which is to nationalize a system of education on a liberal basis, requiring the active co-operation of national, state and municipal governments in the establishment of a system of universal educa- tion suited to the conditions and requirements of communities, and adapted to the needs of the people. His plan comprehends me- morializing the United States Congress to call a constitutional con- vention for the purpose of amending the Federal Constitution as to empowering congress to establish and maintain conjointly with the states a national system of education adapted to the needs of the people. The idea seems a feasible one, and it is to be hoped that it will be carried to a successful consummation.

James Greeley Flanders, a member of the prominent law firm of Winkler. Flanders, Bottum & Fawsett, of Milwaukee, is a native of New London, N. H., born Dec. 13. 1844. His parents were Wal- ter P. and Susan Everett (Greeley) Flanders, the former a native, also, of New Hampshire, and the latter of Newburyport, Mass. Mr. Flanders comes from a family distinguished for its legal attain-

MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY

ments, and also for its participation in the Colonial and early na- tional history, his grandfather, James Flanders, born in 1740, hav- ing served in the war of the Revolution and was also distinguished as a lawyer and legislator in New Hampshire. His father, Walter P. Flanders, was also prominent as an attorney and in political life in his native state, and on coming west, in 1848, became largely interested in real estate and the enterprises looking toward the development of the city and state. The time of his coming west was identical with the beginnings of the movement of railroad build- ing, and he was one of the chief promoters, a director and the first treasurer of the Milwaukee & Mississippi railroad, now a part of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul system. He was a man of strong personality and distinguished appearance. Coming to Wis- consin at the age of four years Mr. James G. Flanders may be con- sidered a product of Wisconsin institutions, so far as environment modifies inherited characteristics. He was graduated from the city schools at the age of fifteen, and then entered Phillips-Exeter Acad- emy in New Hampshire, in which he was graduated in 1861, passing at that time his examination for admission to Yale College. After spending two years in teaching he entered Yale and was graduated with the class of 1867, and spent the succeeding year in the office of Emmons & Van Dyke, of Milwaukee, reading law, and then en- tered the law department of Columbia College, New York, receiving his degree in 1869 and being admitted at that time to practice be- fore the supreme court of New York. Returning to Milwaukee he began the practice of his profession and has been identified with the bar of the city ever since. Following are his legal associations : Davis & Flanders, the partnership continuing for five years ; Flan- ders & Bottum, this partnership continuing for eleven years .. In 1888 James G. Jenkins, of the firm of Jenkins, Winkler & Smith, having been appointed United States district judge, the firm of Winkler, Flanders, Smith, Bottum & Vilas was organized as the successor to the firms of Jenkins, Winkler & Smith and Flanders & Bottum. This was considered one of the strongest legal asso- ciations in the state or in the Northwest. Mr. Vilas subsequently retired from the firm, Mr. Smith died in 1906, and Mr. Fawsett has since been admitted to partnership, the firm name being now as given at the head of this article. Mr. Flanders entered his profes- sional career not only well equipped professionally, but with that broad foundation of general knowledge and culture, essential to the best achievement, and while he has from the beginning of his career devoted his best efforts to his profession, yet he has found time to interest himself in many questions of public inportance, although he has never been a politician in the common acceptation of the term. The problems of political, social and industrial life have re- ceived from him a broad and statesmanlike consideration, and al- though he supports the Democratic party, he does so from a per- sonal conviction in regard to the principles and policies enunciated by it rather than from a slavish adherence to party ties. His par- ticipation in practical politics has been small, including only a posi-

BIOGRAPHICAL

tion on the school board as the representative of the First ward of the city, and as the representative of the same ward in the state legislature of 1877. While in the legislature he served upon the judiciary committee where his legal training, sound judgment and thorough knowledge of the law was highly appreciated. In 1896 he was chosen as one of the delegates at large to the Democratic National convention, but being unable, from principle, to accept the platform adopted at the Chicago convention, he joined with those who held the convention at Indianapolis which nominated Palmer and Buckner. In this campaign Mr. Flanders inade many sound money speeches, his masterly exposition of the subject re- ceiving wide and favorable comment. Combined with his pro- found knowledge of the law, Mr. Flanders is endowed with a logical and keenly analytical mind, and rare gifts of oratorical power. Naturally he has taken a leading position in legal circles and his services have come into demand when highly important constitutional questions are under consideration, and as the ex- ponent of constitutional interpretation he has frequently appeared before the supreme court of the United States. Some of the most epoch-marking decisions of recent years were based on briefs which he has prepared. On June 18, 1873, Mr. Flanders was united in marriage to Mary C., daughter of Robert Haney, one of the pioneers of Milwaukee. Their children are Charlotte Bartlett, now Mrs. Joseph W. Simpson, of Milwaukee; Kent, who died in 1907, and Roger Y., who was graduated at Yale with the class of 1906, and is now pursuing his legal studies at the Harvard Law School. Mr. Flanders, although not devoting a great deal of time to club life, is connected with the leading clubs of the city, including the Mil- waukee, Country, Town, University and Old Settlers' clubs of Milwaukee ; the University Club at Madison; the Yale Club of Chicago ; the Yale Club of New York City, and the Graduates' Club of New Haven, Conn. He was president of the University Club of Milwaukee for two terms about the time of its organization.

Francis X. Boden, a member of the firm of Boden & Beuscher, attorneys, was born in the town of Lake, Milwaukee county, Jan. 30, 1876. He was instructed by his mother until he was sent to Marquette College (now Marquette University), at which he was graduated in 1895 with the degree of A. B. He took a post-graduate course at the Georgetown (Washington, D. C.) University, in the school of art and sciences and the college of law, receiving the de- grees of A. M., LL.B. and LL.M.,in 1898, 1899 and 1900, respectively. and in 1900 also received the degree of Ph. D. from the same uni- versity. He was president of his class during his senior year. Mr. Boden began the practice of law in Milwaukee in 1900, and in 1901 entered into a partnership with Jacob P. Beuscher, with whom he has since been associated. They have a general law practice. In politics Mr. Boden is a Republican, and received the nomination of his party for the position of district attorney in 1906, and he has been a delegate to every city, county and state Republican con- vention since 1902; was a member of the state central committee

MEMOIRS OF MILWAUKEE COUNTY

of the Stalwart branch in 1904. He takes an active interest in all political movements. He is unmarried.

James Graham Jenkins, retired judge of the United States Circuit court for the Seventh Judicial circuit, was born on July 18, 1834, at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., and is the son of Edgar and Mary Elizabeth (Walworth) Jenkins, the former of whom was a well- known business man of New York City, and the latter the daugh- ter of Reuben Hyde Walworth, the last chancellor of the state of New York, which office was abolished by the constitution of 1848, the "code" doing away with the separate court of equity. Previous to the abolition of the office Chancellor Walworth had held the position for sixteen years, and before his assumption of that office was a judge of the supreme court of the state. Rev. Clarence A. Walworth, brother of Mrs. Jenkins, was converted from the Pres- byterian to the Episcopal faith, and later became a communicant of the Catholic church, and rose to the priesthood in the last named religious organization. He belonged to the order of Paulist Fathers, and acquired great reputation as an eloquent preacher. He was also prominent in public affairs, and a noted man of his day. Judge Jenkins' paternal ancestors came from Martha's Vineyard, Mass., to Hudson, N. Y., and were among the original founders of the system of local settlement, under the "Proprietors," where a few persons bought up large tracts of the country on the Hudson, and established something resembling the feudal system. Judge Jen- kins obtained his early education in New York and began study- ing law in that city with Ellis, Burrill & Davison. He was ąd- mitted to the bar by examination in 1855, and began practice in New York City. Two years later he came west, locating in Mil- waukee. Although at that early day Milwaukee contained many eminent members of the bar Judge Jenkins had no difficulty in tak- ing a prominent position among them. He was a member at differ- ent times of the law firms of Downer, LaDue & Jenkins ; Ryan, Car- penter & Jenkins; Jenkins & Hickcox; Jenkins, Elliott & Winkler ; Jenkins, Winkler, Fish & Smith; Jenkins, Winkler, Smith & Vilas. In 1863 he was elected city attorney and held the office for four suc- cessive terms. Among other important matters which came up for consideration during his term of service was the constitution- ality of the law authorizing taxation to pay soldier's bounty (Brodhead vs. Milwaukee, 19 Wis. 624), Judge Jenkins success- fully defending the law. He was a member of the Democratic party, and received the votes of his political confreres for the posi- tion of governor in 1879 and for United States senator in 1880, but was defeated in both cases. He was not, however, an aspirant for political honors, and stood as the representative of his party in each case at the demand of his constituents. In 1885 President Cleveland tendered him the position of associate justice of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, but he declined it. In 1888 he was appointed judge of the United States district court for the Eastern district of Wisconsin, which position he filled with dignity and ability until 1893, when, upon the resignation of Judge

JAMES G. JENKINS

BIOGRAPIIICAL

Gresham to enter the cabinet of President Cleveland, he was ap- pointed judge of the United States Circuit court for the Seventh Judicial circuit, becoming a member of, and, upon the death of Judge Woods, the presiding judge of the circuit court of appeals for the Seventh circuit, comprising the States of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. After attaining the age of seventy years he re- tired on April 11, 1905. Judge Jenkins was admirably qualified both by nature and training for his long and honorable career on the bench. During his incumbency of the last office he heard many cases of importance both as to the large financial interests involved and the principles which were under consideration. Perhaps the one that gave to him the widest reputation as a jurist was the de- cision in the case of the Farmers' Loan & Trust Company vs. the Northern Pacific Railway Company, et al., to foreclose a trust mort- gage of $140,000,000. An opinion rendered by Judge Jenkins in this case is considered as a monument to the legal knowledge, ju- dicial acumen, and courage on his part. (Farmers' Loan & Trust Company vs. Northern Pacific R. R. Co., 60 Fed. R. 803). The University of Wisconsin in 1893 and the Wabash College of In- diana, in 1897, conferred upon Judge Jenkins the de- gree of LL. D., in recognition of his attainments as

a lawyer and a

judge. His marriage to Miss Alice Mary Miller, daughter of Judge Andrew G. Miller, the first judge of the United States district court of Wisconsin, was celebrated on Feb. 6, 1870, and their home has always been a center of refined and cultured social life, the judge being in addition to a legal student a gentleman of broad literary culture. They have no children. Chancellor Walworth, mentioned above, traced his ancestry on the maternal side to Lord Chancellor Hyde of England, and on the paternal side to Sir William Walworth, mayor of Lon- don, who for insolence to King Richard II, during the Tyler insur- rection, killed the leader of the revolt, Wat Tyler, in 1381. Numer- ous members of the family have acquired distinction, among them being William Jenkins Worth, a cousin of Judge Jenkins, who was a major-general in the United States army and a prominent figure in the war with Mexico. A monument to him is erected in Madi- son Square, at the junction of Fifth avenue and Broadway, New York city. Chancellor Walworth, previously mentioned, was adju- tant on the staff of General Moore in the battle of Plattsburg, War of 1812, when the Americans met the British army that invaded the country by way of Canada. Elisha Bacon, a great uncle of Judge Jenkins, was for many years the United States consul at Nassau, West India Islands, the family records demonstrating that ability above the ordinary was of frequent occurrence in the ances- tors of the eminent judge whose life is briefly considered in this sketch.

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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 II, Part 4

Author: Watrous, Jerome Anthony, 1840- ed Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Madison : Western Historical Association Number of Pages: 1072

Author: Watrous, Jerome Anthony, 1840- ed
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Madison : Western Historical Association
Number of Pages: 1072