USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > Rock County, Wisconsin; a new history of its cities, villages, towns, citizens and varied interests, from the earliest times, up to date, Vol. I > Part 30
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That this diversification of student life has not driven out adherence to the long established standards of scholarship and character appears in the record of recent graduates who in the first years of a professional career, or in business, are proving themselves men of the same type as the older alumni, who have everywhere compelled respect for their alma mater.
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In recent years new demands have been made upon all educa- tional institutions by the ever-increasing additions to the field of knowledge, by the lengthening of professional preparation, by the call for "practical" studies, and for training that shall help men in the adjustment of social relationships. Beloit has not been indifferent to these demands, but she is seeking to meet them not only without giving up her ideals of symmetrical liberal culture and Christian faith, but also by bringing these ideals to bear as direct aids in the solution of the problems of the present day.
Biographical Supplement, by the Editor.
Aaron Lucius Chapin, first president of Beloit College, 1850- 1886, was born in Hartford, Conn., February 6, 1817. He was educated at the Hartford grammar school and in Yale College, from which he graduated in 1837. Teaching one year in Balti- more, Md., and from 1838 to 1843 as a professor in the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, he at the same time studied theology and received his diploma at Union Theological Semi- nary, New York, in 1842. Under appointment from the American Home Missionary Society, in 1844 he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, Wis., serving them most acceptably for six years.
In February, 1850, Dr. Chapin was called to the presidency of Beloit College, was inaugurated July 24, and served until the com- mencement of 1886, when he resigned on account of failing health. He continued in connection, however, as president emeritus, until his deathı at Beloit, July 22, 1892.
August 23, 1843, occurred his marriage to Miss Martha Colton, of Lenox, Mass. After her death he married Miss Fannie L. Coit, of New London, Conn., August 26, 1861. His daughter Elizabeth became the wife of Rev. Dr. Henry D. Porter, M. D., a missionary in China. His son, Robert C., is now a professor in Beloit College.
MILTON COLLEGE.
By Professor Edwin Shaw.
A select school, called Milton Academy, was started in the village of Milton in December, 1844, and in February, 1848, became incorporated as the Du Lac Academy. In 1855 this was
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
reorganized under a state charter as Milton Academy, and it so continued for twelve years. In February, 1867, an act of ineor- poration was passed, and on March 13 the charter was accepted, which made this school Milton College.
Founder.
To the Hon. Joseph Goodrich belongs the honor of establishing the first sehool which later developed into Milton College. It was he who in 1838 selected the site for the village of Milton and built the first house. It was he who planned and had erected the edifice first used for the academy, and paid the cost of construc- tion, about three hundred dollars. For the first three years he had the sole management of the school, paid all the losses for the teacher's salary and the incidental expenses, and for many years after the incorporation under territory and state law was a loyal friend and a generous supporter of the institution. One of the buildings, the ladies' hall, bears his name, the building of which was in large measure due to his energy and beneficenee.
Early Years.
The building occupied by the school during the first ten years of its existence was located near the northwest corner of the public park. It was in size twenty by thirty feet and one story high ; a small "lean-to" was attached to the rear end; a cupola, with four spires and a bell mounted in it, graced the front peak of the gambrel roof; and a huge sign, painted "Milton Academy," stretched the full extent of the building over the front entrance.
There was at this time no institution of learning with the rank of a college in Wisconsin. Four feeble academies had been started in the southern portion-Southport Academy, now extinct, at Kenosha; Prairieville Academy, at Waukesha, afterwards merged into Carroll College ; Beloit Seminary, later absorbed into Beloit College; and Plattville Academy, changed in the early 70s into a state normal school. There were no graded schools. Meager instruction in the elementary branches was imparted in a very few common schools, held usually three months during the year and in small private houses.
The institution was originated with no other purpose than to accommodate the young people of the immediate vicinity. There was no expectation that it would ever become a first class acad-
DAVID H. POLLOCK.
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COLLEGES IN ROCK COUNTY
emy or a college, yet the first year there were over sixty students in attendance.
The teachers in order of succession were Rev. Bethuel C. Church, from Michigan, one year. Rev. S. S. Bicknell, Congre- gationalist, graduate of Dartmouth, served two and a half years. Of the Du Lac Academy the successive principals were: Mr. Prindle, Professor J. Allen, Rev. A. W. Coon, 1849-1851; Colonel George R. Clarke, 1851, and Rev. A. C. Spicer and Mrs. Susanna M. Spicer, 1851-1858. During a part of 1853, the building being untenable, classes met in a private house, and for a part of the year the school was closed. The new brick building, forty by forty-four feet and three stories high, completed in 1855 at a cost of over five thousand dollars, was declared second to none in the state. It was paid for mainly by the stockholders of the then reorganized Milton Academy. The attendance in 1856 reached 212, with its first three graduates in the teachers' course, Susan E. Burdick, Chloe Curtis and Ruth A. Graham.
William Clarke Whitford.
After several efforts were made to secure a successor to Pro- fessor Spicer as principal of the school, the trustees prevailed upon the Rev. W. C. Whitford, then the pastor of the Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church, to assume the charge during the following fall term of 1858, and he consented to remain in the same position the balance of the year. He then resigned the pas- toral charge of the church and became permanently connected with the school as the principal. He had fitted himself for college at De Ruyter Institute; graduated at Union College in 1853, and completed the full course of studies at Union Theological Semi- nary, New York city, in 1856. From that time on till his death on May 20, 1902, a period of forty-four years, he was the president of the academy and of the college, and the history of the school for this almost a half century is in reality a part of his biog- raphy ; a part, because his life was even more extended than that of the school, for he was one year a member of the Wisconsin legislature, for four years the superintendent of public instruc- tion, and for nine years a member of the state board of regents of the normal schools. Then, he was often invited to deliver lectures and addresses wholly outside of the work of the school. He wrote many articles for newspapers and magazines, and was an influen-
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
tial force in all the departments of the Seventh Day Baptist denomination. During the first year in which he had charge of the school he had associated with him Professor Albert Whitford, Mrs. Chloe C. Whitford, Mr. S. S. Rockwood, Mrs. Flora H. Rock- wood and Mr. W. H. Clarke, a music teacher.
Academy Faculty.
During the following eight years, until 1867, when the acad- emy became a college, the names of twenty-four different instruct- ors appear on the academy faculty list.
The first college faculty, that of 1867, was: William C. Whit- ford, president (mental, moral and natural sciences) ; Edward Searing (Latin and French), Albert Whitford (Greek and mixed mathematics), Nathan C. Twining (pure mathematics and com- mercial instruction), Mrs. A. M. Fenner (English language and literature), Miss Mary F. Bailey (German), Mrs. Emma J. Utter (music), Forrest M. Babcock (penmanship), Mrs. Ruth H. Whit- ford (painting and penciling).
The present faculty (1906-1907), besides Professor Albert Whitford, who has been in almost constant service since 1872, consists of Jairus M. Stillman, who has been professor of music, with two or three vacations, since 1871; Walter D. Thomas, pro- fessor of Greek since 1884; Edwin Shaw, professor of Latin and of chemistry since 1890; Ludwig Kumlien, professor of natural history since 1891; Rev. Lewis A. Platts, professor of Bible study in English since 1898; Mrs. Emily A. Platts. instructor in French since 1898; Mrs. Anna S. Crandall, instructor in German since 1900; Alfred E. Whitford, professor of physics since 1900; Miss Susie B. Davis, instructor in English and Latin since the autumn of 1902, and Rev. William C. Deland, president, and professor of philosophy, English, history and civics, since June, 1902.
The principal changes and additions to the above, for the faculty record of 1907, are the new president, William Clifton Daland, M. A., D. D. (history, philosophy, English and civics), Albert Rogers Crandall, M. A., Ph. D. (natural history and physi- ology), Miss A. Crandall (piano), Miss Ellen Crandall (violin), Miss Agnes Babcock (elocution), Ray Willis Clark, B. S., LI. B., assistant (political science, history, jurisprudence), also instruct- ors in physical culture and military drill.
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COLLEGES IN ROCK COUNTY
Financial.
In the autumn of 1844 the property of the school was worth about $400. In 1867, the year in which the academy was changed to the college, the total valuation of all the property was reported as $29,675, with a debt of $3,500. In 1876 the value had increased to $46,125. In 1881 the reported assets were $35,327, with a debt of $3,250. In 1893 the property was valued at $71,243.34, with several thousand dollars indebtedness. In 1901, the first year of the twentieth century, the valuation of the college property was reported as follows, with no indebtedness :
Real estate
$ 23,062.72
Apparatus
1,215.64
Cabinets
2,150.00
Libraries
8,658.34
Endowments
83,244.66
Total
$118,331.36
Of the endowment fund, George H. Babcock, of Plainfield, N. J., a noble benefactor, contributed during his life and by his will $70,000. In 1906 the endowment fund was reported as amounting to $116,601.
Patriotic Record.
"At every call for volunteers during the Civil War students were mustered into the service. These were drilled in the manual of arms in the chapel and on the grounds of the institution. Of the graduates and other students, 312 entered the army, and 43 fell by the bullet or by disease. The school raised, officered and sent into the service two companies, and parts of three other com- panies, all belonging to Wisconsin regiments. Sixty-nine of these were commissioned for positions ranging from second lieutenant to brigadier-general."
Graduates (1902).
The number of graduates, both ladies and gentlemen, is 306, which includes the seventy-three who completed courses in the old academy prior to 1867.
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
College Organizations.
There are three literary societies connected with the college which hold sessions weekly and public sessions once or twice during the year. The Iduna Lyceum, for ladies, organized in 1854 as the Ladies' Literary Society. reorganized in 1869 with the present name; the Philomathean Society, for men, organized some time prior to 1858 as the Adelphic, reorganized in 1861 with the present name; and the Orophilan, also for men, organized some time prior to 1858. The Christian Association dates its beginning in the spring of 1855. The most noticeable addition to the college buildings was the erection of the Whitford Hall of Science in 1906.
History of Whitford Memorial Hall (Finished October, 1906).
Milton College, like others of an early day, at first offered to students courses of study principally in the pure mathematics and the literature of Latin, Greck, German, French and English languages, together with a short course in philosophy and a quite elementary course in the so-called natural sciences. Our limited room as well as limited means forbade us to indulge our ambition of affording better facilities for laboratory practice in such sciences. We have for years realized our needs in these respects. At the beginning of this century, through the gener- osity of its friends, the college was not only free from debt, but also in the expectation that its income for the present would prove sufficient to pay the modest salaries of its dozen teachers and to meet its other ordinary expenses. At this time our late president. W. C. Whitford, determined to begin the collection of a fund for the erection of a building to be known as Science Hall. At the annual meeting of the board of trustees of the col- lege held in July, 1901, he urged the importance of entering immediately upon this work. He concluded his annual report in these words: "While the college is free from debt, it is greatly in need of funds for the construction of a new building for library and laboratory purposes. A large and imposing structure is not required. A few thousand dollars wisely and judiciously ex- pended would give to the college a building which, with the com- paratively small attendance of students, would answer our every need just as well as the palatial structures of the so-called uni- versities." He obtained the permission of the board to canvass
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COLLEGES IN ROCK COUNTY
for such funds, and in the intervals of his duties as a teacher collected a small sum of money while endeavoring to enlist the interest of some benevolent donor of large means in favor of his enterprise. His sudden death, May 20, 1902, closed these labors.
The alumni exercises held at the commencement on June 25 following were devoted to a service in his memory. They con- sisted of addresses from Professor Edwin Shaw, class of '88; Rev. J. W. McGowan. class of '83; Professor S. S. Rockwood, academy class of '61, and Rev. O. U. Whitford, academy class of '61. The theme of the last speaker was "How may we best honor the memory of President Whitford?" He proposed the erection on the ground where the commencement tent then stood a science hall to be called the Whitford Memorial Hall, to ever keep bright, as he said, "the memory of a man who was manly, a gentleman of noble Christian character, a kind neighbor. a sympathizing friend, a lover of young people, a man who, honored in public life, was ever loyal to principle, incorruptible in purpose, and one who brought honor to every public position he occupied. He urged that such a building was the greatest need of the college and that in building it the last desire and purpose of the deceased president would be fulfilled.
The proposition was approved by the alumni, who appointed a committee, which reported through Mr. W. H. Ingham, its chair- man, to the board of trustees of the college a plan to raise by subscription twenty thousand dollars for the ereetion and equip- ment of the new hall. The plan was indorsed by the board and a committee was appointed to canvass for necessary funds. Later Mr. Ingham was appointed financial agent for the procuring and the collection of such funds, and Dr. C. Eugene Crandall was appointed treasurer. After a sufficient sum of money had been secured to warrant the erection of a building, a committee con- sisting of Mr. F. C. Dunn, President W. C. Daland and Professor A. R. Crandall formulated its general plan. It was to be built of briek both as to its inside and outside walls, and two and one- half stories high, on a basement wall of stone, forty-two by ninety feet, outside measurement, divided at its middle into two parts by a hall crossing it, containing a staircase reaching to the third story. The north half of the first story was designed for the library, the south half for the department of physics; the south half of the second story for the department of chemistry, and the
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
north half for the department of biology; while the third story was to be given for the use of the Orophilian and Philomathean Lyceum. The building was to have a tile-covered roof and a steam heating plant in the south half of the basement, that would warm both the college hall and the new hall. This plan was approved by the board, and Mr. C. C. Chipman, an architect of New York and a friend of the college, was selected to perfect it in all its details. This service he rendered gratuitously, with great credit to his skill. A building committee was appointed by the board at its bi-monthly meeting in March, 1904, consisting of President W. C. Daland, Dr. A. S. Maxson, Mr. F. C. Dunn, Mr. T. A. Saunders and Dr. C. Eugene Crandall. Under their direction the basement wall was finished in time to lay the corner- stone at the commencement of the college in June, 1904. The contract for covering the roof was let to the Celadon Roofing Tile Company ; the contract for completing the building according to the specifications in Mr. Chipman's plans, to Blair & Summers, of Janesville, and the contract for setting up the steam plant, to E. S. Babcock & Son. of Milton. The cost, all told, for building and equipment of the new hall, including the heating plant and the canvass for the funds, falls a little below thirty thousand dollars. The largest share of this sum came through the valuable services of its financial agent, Mr. Ingham. It was through his solicitations that the widow of George H. Babcock gave five thousand dollars for the equipment of the new building. Special thanks are also due to Dr. James Mills, of Janesville, through whose influence a gift of sixty-five hundred dollars from Mr. Carnegie came in good time to complete the sum that, with the other subscription collected or considered collectible, was con- sidered sufficient to meet all outstanding dues.
The new hall was delivered to the board of trustees by the contractors in October, 1906, and the school has since had the use of its excellent advantages.
XVI.
THE MILITARY HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.
Rock county's war record is one to which her people may ever refer with pride and satisfaction. One of the first counties in the state to respond with volunteers in the hour of gravest peril, she never faltered during the entire struggle; her old men were not wanting in counsel, nor her young or middle-aged men in true martial spirit; with a firm, unswerving faith in the righteousness of the Union cause, her citizens, without distinction in age or sex, were imbued with a determination to conquer, or die rather than survive defeat. It was this kind of martial spirit that bore the Union cause through defeat as well as victory, whenever the oft-repeated news was brought home of depleted and scattered ranks. Rock county valor is attested upon every street of her hospitable cities and villages, upon her broad section of fertile lands, and, last but not least, within the silent enclosures of her dead. It is here that, with each recurring anniversary, the graves of her slumbering heroes are moistened with tears of sorrow, as loving fingers bedeck them with beautiful flowers.
When the first alarm of the coming war was sounded, and President Lincoln called for 75,000 men to defend the cause of the Union, Rock county responded first with the "Beloit City Guards," and thereafter, until the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, made by Lee to Grant, on the "old stage road to Richmond," on the afternoon of April 9, 1865, Rock county was ever ready to manifest her patriotism and love of country. The draft was enforced three times during the war, November 12, 1863; September 19, 1864, and February 19, 1865, and filled with recruits; yet the county furnished 2,817 soldiers and up- ward of a half-million dollars to beat back the foe. Of this num- ber, 1,493, by actual count, were enlisted prior to November 11, 1861.
The subjoined roster of Rock county soldiers has been pre- pared from private records as well as from the best published
325
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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
official authorities. The editor, himself a G. A. R. man, has spared no pains to have it both correct and complete. The citi- zens of Rock county require but little help to remind them of their soldiers' deeds, or to recall the names of those who fought the good fight unto the end. Many of the "boys" who went out from home to battle for the Union, with only the benediction of a mother's tears and prayers, came back to that mother's arms shrined in glory. Many returned, having left a limb either in the swamps of the Chickahominy or on the banks of Rapidan or at Fredericksburg, Gettysburg or in the wilderness. Many still bear the marks of that strife which raged at Stone river, Iuka, Chickamauga, or on the heights of Lookout mountain, whence they thundered down the defiance of the skies; of that stern strife of battle, which marked the contests before Atlanta, Sa- vannah, and in the Carolinas.
But there were many who came not back. They fell by the wayside or, from the prison and battlefield, crossed over and mingled with the ranks of that Grand Army beyond the river. Their memory, too, is held in sacred keeping.
Some rest beside their ancestors in the village churchyard, where the violets on their mounds speak remembrance of the devotion of those who sleep below; their memory is immortal ; some sleep in unknown graves in the land of cotton and cane; trees which shade the sepulehers of their foemen shade their tombs also; the same birds carol their matins to both; the same flowers swecten the air above them, and the same daisies, as the breezes toss them into rippling eddies, caress the graves of both. Neither is forgotten. Both are remembered as they slumber there, in peaceful, glorified rest.
"On fame's eternal camping ground their shadowy tents are spread,
And glory guards with solemn round the bivouac of the dead."
On April 17, 1861, the proclamation of Governor Randall was published, calling upon "all good citizens to join in making eause against a common enemy," and inviting the patriotic citi- zens of Wisconsin to enroll themselves into companies ready to be mustered into service immediately. The promulgation of this address was followed by meetings held at eligible points throughout the country. On the evening of April 20, the largest meeting ever convened in Janesville was held in the Hyatt house
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MILITARY HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY
hall. It was composed of men of all degrees and every shade of political belief. Party appeared to have been for the time for- gotten, Democrats and Republicans alike seeming to be impressed with but one purpose, devotion to the maintainance of the Union and the enforcement of the laws; W. H. Ebbets presided, and, in a brief address set forth the cause which necessitated the assem- blage. He was followed by the Hon. Andrew Palmer, C. G. Williams, W. H. Mitchel, Governor Barstow, Isaac Woodle, H. N. Comstock and others. J. B. Cassody, M. C. Smith and I. C. Sloan, were appointed a committee to draft an address, inviting the people of Rock county to cooperate with the citizens of Janes- ville in aiding the subscription of money and the enlistment of volunteers to put down the rebels who were then marching on Washington. A series of resolutions introduced by the Hons. Andrew Palmer and Isaac Woodle, expressing the people's de- termination to rally at once, without distinction of party, to the defence of the country; to cheerfully respond to the call of the president for troops to aid in the enforcement of the laws, and to contribute to the support of the families of those who shall enlist and enter upon active service, where their pecuniary con- dition may require it, were unanimously adopted. The most in- tense and enthusiastic patriotism was manifested, and before the assembly dispersed, the following subscriptions, aggregating $3,730, were pledged: E. McKay, $200; H. Richardson, C. Con- rad, Andrew Palmer, Noah Newell, John Mitchell, J. C. Jenkins, J. B. Doe, R. J. Richardson, H. S. Conger, E. R. Doe, H. L. Smith, O. B. Mattison, J. D. Rexford, J. J. R. Pease, J. W. Storey and Jackman & Smith, $100 each ; C. R. Gibbs, B. B. Eldredge, James Sutherland, Z. S. Doty, Daniel Carle, J. M. Bostwick, Peter Meyers, G. F. Moseley, I. C. Sloan, W. G. Wheelock, George Barnes, J. M. May, George A. Young, Daniel Clow and Holt, Bowen & Wilcox, $50 each; J. B. Cassody, H. N. Comstock, J. Spaulding, J. L. Kimball, H. Search, C. G. Williams, C. S. Burn- ham, K. W. Bemis, J. L. Kimball, W. Macloon, S. Holdridge, Jr., E. S. Borrows, Randall Williams, H. N. Gregory, S. J. M. Putnam, C. Miner, J. C. Metcalf, Robert Hodge, B. Bornheim, F. and D. Strunk, A. P. Prichard, William Eager, W. H. Parker, Adam Andre, A. Sutherland, H. Palmer, J. R. Bennett, G. H. Davis, J. L. Ford, Charles W. Hodson, Beri Cook, G. Nettleton, Fifield & Bros., Ole Everson, Nash & Cutts, Hugh Chaplin, J. W. Allen,
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