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. II > Part 21
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honorable and useful, and he came out of public life at Washing- ton with an absolutely clean record. His further continuing in congress was precluded by the then iron-clad rule of his district that a representative should serve only two terms. Returning to his law practice at Janesville, it was continued there with eminent success until 1875, when he removed to Madison and became assistant attorney general for a time under his brother, A. Scott Sloan, who was attorney general. While acting in this capacity and afterward he was engaged in prosecuting the Granger law in behalf of the state against the railroads violating it in Wiscon- sin and which resulted in a complete triumph for the state. For many years Mr. Sloan was in active practice of law at Madison and was accounted one of the most eminent lawyers of the state. For profundity in matters of law his reputation was high and well founded. He was a close student, and the merits of the causes he undertook were fully sifted to the bottom. As an advocate few men had the like happy faculty of presenting the points of his cases in an equally terse, concise, clear and forcible manner, while his style was courteous, dignified and convincing.
In private life no citizen was more upright, courteous and public spirited. For several years he was one of the faculty of the law department of the State University.
Patterson. At his home in Janesville, September 26, 1901, in the midst of family and friends, died Henry A. Patterson.
He was born in the town of Lindley, Steuben county, N. Y., June 8, 1829. His mother was of New England and his father of Scotch-Irish ancestry. After a common school education in his native town and a course at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary of Lima, N. Y., he studied at the Ballston Law School in Saratoga county, New York, and was admitted to the New York bar in 1854.
In 1855 he came to Janesville and at first became a member of the law firm of Noggle, Williams & Patterson. The senior members were Hon. David Noggle, later circuit judge, and Charles G. Williams, who afterwards represented his district in congress for ten years.
Mr. Patterson served as justice of the peace of the city of Janesville for five years and as member and clerk of the school board several years. He was district attorney for Rock county
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four years and proved himself an able criminal lawyer and a successful prosecutor.
In 1873 he was elected to our state legislature, serving one term. In 1875 President Grant appointed him postmaster of Janesville, and being reappointed by President Hayes, he held that position eight years with general approval.
Resuming the practice of law until 1887, he was then elected judge of the Rock County Municipal court and filled that office with dignity, ability and impartiality for six years. After that term the condition of his health obliged him to retire from all active business.
Mr. Patterson was married at Painted Post, N. Y., March 10, 1850, to Harriet C. Patterson. Their married life of more than fifty years was spent mainly in Janesville. Besides his wife he left two children-Charles H. Patterson and Mrs. A. T. Kemmett. He has also left in the minds and hearts of all who knew him the memory of a courteous, high-minded gentleman, a genial and lovable man.
Samuel J. Todd, lawyer, 1821-1902. His ancestors were Scotch- Irish ; his parents, Daniel and Mary Taggart Todd; his birth was at Preble, Courtland county, N. Y., January 19, 1821. With an education, liberal for those times, his natural bent of mind made him a lawyer and also a student to the end of his long life.
Esquire Todd came to Beloit in 1850 and from the beginning took front rank in his profession here. From February, 1850, he was a partner in the law office of John M. Keep until the latter became judge of the old First judicial district about 1857 or 1858.
In 1853 Mr. Todd married Miss Mary Hazard, of Joy, Essex county, N. Y., and of their five children the only son and the youngest daughter, Elizabeth, with the wife, survived him; but the son, Robert, died a year or two since.
For thirty years Mr. Todd was the leading lawyer of Beloit- shrewd, careful, conservative, trusted, honest. The poor and the unfortunate received the same careful consideration that he gave to those of larger means and place. He would often charge less for his services than the client himself was willing to pay. He had much to do with the legal formulation of all the important industrial progress and prosperity of Beloit.
About the year 1857 he was appointed by the governor as one of the three revisers of the statutes of Wisconsin, the work being
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published in 1858, the year in which he was elected mayor of Beloit. At various times he served also as city attorney and as a member of the school board. On the Republican ticket he was elected a member of the Wisconsin senate, 1867 to 1869.
As a law counselor Mr. Todd was a friend and mediator between opposing litigants, an advocate of peaceful adjustment where that was possible. On religious topics he was reserved and almost wholly silent, yet always reverent toward the faith of his ancestors. He was thoroughly conscientious, something of a stoic, somewhat of a philosopher, determined to make the best of things. His habits of life were very regular. Every week day morning saw him at his office, attended and aided in his work by his youngest daughter, up to the last week of life. After a previous experience of paralysis, which caught him when in Janesville on business, a final stroke took him at his residence on Broad street, Beloit, January 9, 1902, and his useful life of almost eighty-one years quickly and quietly ended.
John J. R. Pease, of Janesville, Wis., was born in Enfield, Conn., June 25, 1817, and was of New England Puritan stock. His father, Judge Lorrain T. Pease, was a lineal descendant of Robert Pease, of England, who settled in Salem, Mass., in 1634. His mother, Sarah Marshall, was a lineal descendant of Thomas Marshall, of England, who became a resident of Boston, Mass., in 1634, and was for many years a deacon of the first organized church society of that town and also a descendant of Capt. Samuel Marshall, a son of said Thomas, who led the Connecticut colonists in the bloody but victorious assault upon the fort of the Narragansett Indians on the 19th day of December, 1675, in which engagement he and a large number of other brave men "died in the bed of honor," as recorded in the annals of New England. The grandfather of Mr. Pease on both the paternal and the maternal sides served in the Revolutionary army and shared in many of its trials and battles. The residence of Mr. Pease in Wisconsin dated back to 1840, in time to be numbered in the United States census of that year among its small body of settlers. For over three years he resided in Green Bay, spending his time as a law student and as clerk in the United States Land Office, while he also engaged in the survey of government lands. In the winter of 1843-44 he reported for the "Argus" newspaper of Madison the proceedings of the lower house of the territorial
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legislature of Wisconsin. About the first of February, 1844, Mr. Pease settled in Janesville and for a few months was a student in the law office of Hon. E. V. Whiton, then the leading lawyer in the territory. During the summer of 1844, much against his will, the law books were laid aside and for two years his time was given to surveying, there being a great rush of new settlers into Janesville and the surrounding country who wanted work done in that line, and Mr. Pease was the only person available and experienced in such work or who would undertake it. In 1846, at the beginning of the Mexican war, he was tendered a clerkship by an early friend in the navy office at Washington, which offer he accepted, and remained in that position until the close of the war. He then returned to Janesville and was soon after admitted to the bar. He continued to practice law until the year before his death.
On the 14th of July, 1851, Mr. Pease was united in marriage with Miss Cornelia Ruger, a daughter of Rev. Thomas J. Ruger, deceased, late of Janesville, Wis., and sister of Maj. Gen. Thomas H. Ruger, distinguished in the war of the Rebellion. From the early days of his settlement Mr. Pease was identified with the moral, educational, social and business interests of Rock county. Religiously he was a communicant of the Protestant Episcopal church and was warden of Christ church, Janesville, for more than a quarter of a century. In politics he was a Jeffersonian Democrat and believed that eternal justice rules through the whole people. He was elected by the people to various town, city and county offices. In whatever public position he was placed he endeavored to serve the interests of the people, having not the fear or favor of any party or person in view. Of the public schools Mr. Pease was always a friend and supporter. In 1844, when he became a resident of Janesville, there was an angry con- test going on about the erection of a public school house. He favored the project. The friends of schools prevailed and the house was built. No other public school house was constructed in Janesville until during the years 1856 and 1857, when Mr. Pease was mayor of the city. In that year two large school buildings were erected and a contract entered into for the build- ing of the first high school. The site was a grant from Rock county to the city, conditioned, for the location of the high school thereon, and the common council accepted the grant and made
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the location. The responsibility of accepting the grant and decid- ing upon the site was with the common council. In 1844 Mr. Pease was one of many citizens to contribute funds toward the establishment of the Janesville Academy and was also one of the trustees of the corporation. It was a school of high character, was for many years successfully maintained in the building erected for that purpose and was an honor to the town. It had a wide reputation and was under the charge at different periods of time of such men as Rev. T. J. Ruger, Hon. Levi Alden and others.
The first railway to enter Janesville was constructed by the corporation now known as the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Company and was built from Milton to Janesville, occupying the line of the Southern Wisconsin Railway Company, and was opened about January 1, 1853. As an inducement for obtaining the road a few of the citizens of Janesville raised a bonus in cash, which was paid to the company constructing the road. Mr. Pease was active in promoting the project and contributed more than a reasonable share of the bonus required. The city of Janes- ville the same year issued and delivered to the Southern Wiscon- sin Railway Company $50,000 of 8 per cent bonds, running twenty years, to further aid in the extension of the road west from Janesville to a point on the Mississippi river. Not long after this the two companies were consolidated into one. At that time ex-Governor Dewey was president of the Southern Wiscon- sin Company, Mr. Pease its secretary, and Messrs. Pease, Dewey, Ernest, Knowlton and Sewart the directors. All claims against the Wisconsin company were paid, as agreed, by the newly con- solidated company. Mr. Pease for his services as secretary and director of the Southern Wisconsin Railway Company was enabled to recover the city bonds, before mentioned, with the interest coupons attached, amounting to $130,000, which he im- mediately transferred to the city of Janesville, and by the com- mon council they were accepted, cancelled and destroyed. Thus so great a debt of the city was extinguished without any cost whatever. Mr. Pease was interested in the establishment of the Roek County National Bank of Janesville, which was at first organized as a state bank in 1855. He drew up its articles of asso- ciation and obtained among the citizens a subscription for the amount of capital stock required to found the bank on a secure
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and working basis. At its organization he was elected vice- president of the company, serving in that capacity for ten years, and was also a member of the board of directors. In the month of October, 1855, he became a director in the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad Company, and for twelve years was an active working member of that board, filling the position after the above mentioned road had become a part of the property of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company. He was also a director of the Land Grant Railroad Company, known as the Wis- consin & Superior Company, until its consolidation with the North-Western Company. During the years of 1853 and 1854 the city of Janesville delivered to the Rock River Valley Union Railroad Company $87,000 in bonds bearing 8 per cent interest, running twenty years, the company agreeing to pay the interest and principal of the same. The company became bankrupt after having disposed of the bonds and the interest was not paid. The validity of this issue of bonds was much questioned, but men of responsibility considered them good and believed that eventually the courts would hold the bonds to have been lawfully issued. In the work of arranging this difficulty the hand of Mr. Pease was also seen. As the agent of the city he was authorized and empowered to effect a compromise with the holders of these bonds and obtain a return of the same on the best possible terms for the city. Seventy-six of the bonds, with interest coupons attached, were secured by him and transferred to the city, and afterwards by the common council cancelled and destroyed. The amount of the city debt extinguished thereby was nearly $200,- 000, at a cost of less than 5 per cent of that sum.
In the manufacturing interests of the community Mr. Pease was always an active promoter. For a quarter of a century he was trustee of the Oak Hill Cemetery Association, of Janesville, and for several years served as its president. He was for thirty- three years one of the trustees of the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company and was for twelve years one of the examin- ing committee of that organization. Mr. Pease was valued in his profession as an able and upright lawyer, of judicial mind, an authority on knotty points of the law. . He became attorney of the Chicago & North-Western Railroad at an early date and held that position for many years. In 1850 Mr. Pease formed a law partnership with Mr. B. B. Eldredge, and in 1857 Mr. Thomas H.
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Ruger, later major general of the United States army, became a member of the firm. Mr. Ruger entered the army in 1861, and the vacancy thus left in the firm was filled by Mr. William Ruger, a younger brother of the general, who entered the firm in 1865. Mr. Pease continued in the practice of the law until 1895, when failing health obliged him to retire. He died March 22, 1896, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.
Barnabas B. Eldredge traced his descent from Edward Eld- redge, who was born on the 9th of September, 1737, in Wales, and came to America in his youth and settled on Cape Cod, Massa- chusetts. On the 19th day of December, 1762, at Dartmouth, Mass., he married Miss Adna Hammond, whose mother was paternally descended from William Penn. She was born at Dart- mouth in 1735 and died in 1825. Her husband died in 1821.
Barnabas Eldredge, a son of Edward and Adna Eldredge, was born at New Bedford, Mass., on the 25th day of September, 1768. At Poughkeepsie, N. Y., whither he went soon after the Revolu- tionary war, he married Miss Dacia Wadsworth, a daughter of Josiah Wadsworth, formerly of Hartford, Conn. Immediately after their marriage they set out for the interior of New York state and located in the town of Sharon, about two miles west of Sharon Springs, where in the wilderness he eventually erected a log building and established a supply store, and by his energy and tact founded an extended mercantile business. He also erected and operated mills for the manufacture of flour and lum- ber and for other purposes.
In 1821 he was a member of the legislature of New York. He died at Sharon, N. Y., on the 5th day of September, 1842, and his wife died at the same place on the 30th day of May, 1831.
David Eldredge, their son and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Sharon, N. Y., on the 3d day of September, 1797, and was married to Miss Sally Swift on the 9th day of October, 1816. She was born on the 14th day of November, 1798, at Cherry Valley, N. Y., and was a daughter of Thomas Swift, formerly of Rhode Island. She died at Sharon Springs on the 2d day of October, 1865. David Eldredge was the founder of Sharon Springs and was during his life a farmer, and also recon- structed several of the mills that had been erected by his father and supplied and controlled the same for many years thereafter. He died at Sharon Springs on October 8, 1865.
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Barnabas B. Eldredge was born at Sharon Springs, Schoharie county, N. Y., on the 2d day of February, 1824. In June, 1838, he entered upon a preparatory course of study at the Clinton Lib- eral Institute, Clinton, Oneida county, N. Y. He was placed under the personal supervision of the eminent linguist, the Rev. Timothy Clowes, LL.D., and of Prof. George R. Perkins, the well- known mathematician, scientist and educator, and was graduated from Hamilton College, New York, in the class of 1845.
In August of the same year he entered upon a course of study of law at the Cambridge Law School, under the direction of Simon Greenleaf, LL.D., author of "Greenleaf on Evidence" and other legal works and treaties, and of Judge William Kent, son of Chancellor Kent. He closed his term at the law school in 1847.
He continued his law studies with Samuel Stevens, of Albany, N. Y., and was admitted to practice in the courts of such state at a term of its Supreme court held at Salem, Washington county, in May, 1848, Judges Cady, Hand and Millard presiding, and dur- ing the same year began the practice of law at Sharon Springs, where he continued the same until the 1st of November, 1850, when, at the earnest solicitation of his father, who had for the first time visited the West during that year, and, like Horace Greeley, had confidence in the future of that section, he started for Janesville, Wis., where he arrived on the 9th day of Novem- ber, 1850.
Upon his arrival at Janesville, Mr. Eldredge formed a law partnership with John J. R. Pease and Isaac Woodle, under the firm name of Woodle, Eldredge & Pease, which continued until June 6, 1851, when Mr. Woodle retired, the firm remaining Eld- redge & Pease until January, 1866. In October, 1867, Thomas H. Ruger, who subsequently became a major general of the United States army, second in rank, and retired in April, 1897, joined the firm of Eldredge & Pease, which was continued as Eldredge, Pease & Ruger until the commencement of the war of the Rebel- lion, when Mr. Ruger retired to enter the service of the United States as lieutenant colonel of the Third Wisconsin Regiment of volunteers when the old firm name of Eldredge & Pease was resumed.
In 1853 Mr. Eldredge was appointed local attorney for the Milwaukee & Mississippi Railroad Company and served in that
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capacity until 1860. In 1855 he became attorney for the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad Company, now the Chicago & North-Western, serving as such until 1866, when he resigned to return to Sharon Springs on account of business matters requir- ing his personal attention. Having arranged his affairs in the East, on the 1st of July, 1868, he returned to Janesville, where he resided until his death.
He did not at once resume the practice of the law, but con- tinued legal investigations in the office of Pease & Ruger until after the death of his wife, whose delicate condition of health required the devotion of much of his time to her care, till the sad event. Soon thereafter he opened a law office in the same rooms he had formerly occupied and resumed the practice.
From January 1, 1878, until January, 1881, he was associated with Ogden H. Fethers. He then continued alone in the prac- tice until January 1, 1898, when he formed a partnership with Arthur M. Fisher.
During the term of his attorneyship of the Chicago, St. Paul & Fond du Lac Railroad, Mr. Eldredge personally assisted in shap- ing the necessary agreements and the legislative enactments under and by means of which its several extensions and consoli- dations were effected, and as attorney for these railroad com- panies he participated in the disposition of many important actions wherein the companies were interested in the courts of last resort.
Mr. Eldredge's successes were confined to the field of his pro- fession, but as a man of business affairs he displayed the same capacity which crowned his professional efforts with success. He became a stockholder and director of the Rock County National Bank shortly after its organization and was president of this institution from November 19, 1881, to January 17, 1887, from which time he served as its vice-president till after the construc- tion of the works in 1881; he was a stockholder and director of the Janesville woolen mills of Janesville and president of that corporation.
As a citizen Mr. Eldredge was an active worker in the development of many of the movements that have resulted bene- ficially. He was the first to advise the sinking of an artesian well at the fair grounds at Janesville as a test for agricultural pur- poses and which by his efforts was carried through successfully
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except so far as raising water to the necessary height on the ele- vated prairies. Subsequently he took a deep interest in the ques- tion of procuring a good and sufficient water supply for the city of Janesville and strongly advocated the artesian well system for that purpose in opposition to all plans to utilize river or creek water, and was ably supported by John J. R. Pease and Judge Milton M. Phelps. A well was sunk near the west bank of Rock river to the depth of 1,087 feet above the level of the water sur- face in the river, discharging at the rate of 800,000 gallons every twenty-four hours-was voted a grand success.
In early life Mr. Eldredge was a Democrat and cast his first vote for Silas Wright for governor of New York. He was recog- nized as a local leader of his party and as a delegate to the con- vention held at Utica, N. Y., which nominated Martin Van Buren for the presidency. He gave him his hearty support. He was also a delegate to the barnburners' convention held at Rome, N. Y., with the object of consolidating the barnburners and hunkers, but which failed in its purpose. Upon the organization of the Republican party Mr. Eldredge discontinued to fraternize with the Democrats and was recognized as an active Republican.
He was appointed by Gov. C. C. Washburn one of the com- missioners, authorized by chapter 243 of the laws of Wisconsin of 1873, to hear, try and determine the claim for damages by Morgan L. Martin under a contract entered into by him with the state and bearing date of May 14, 1861. After hearing the claim Mr. Eldredge made a minority finding and reported adversely to such claim and filed the same with the secretary of state.
February 2, 1848, at Clinton, Oneida county, N. Y., he was married to Louisa Maria Hutchens, whose many excellencies of character and education challenged the esteem and love of all within the sphere of her refined and womanly influence. She was a daughter of William and Louisa Hutchens, formerly of Con- necticut and who were early settlers at Clinton.
Two children were born to them-William Mellen, the elder, was born at Clinton, November, 1848; he married in 1875 Miss Sarah C. Pease, a daughter of J. J. R. and Caroline M. R. Pease, of Janesville. Charles Chamberlin, the younger, was born in Janesville, July 10, 1856, and died in infancy. The mother, after years of suffering, which she bore with Christian resignation, died on the 29th day of March, 1877.
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Mr. Eldredge was again married on June 17, 1878, at Janes- ville, Wis., to Miss Mary A. Hunter, daughter of Rev. James Hunter, of Quebec, Canada, formerly of Galashiels, Scotland, a minister of the Congregational church. He died of cholera at the age of ninety-two years, only two days after delivering what proved to be his last sermon.
Mr. Eldredge was in communion with the Episcopal church and a member of the Christ church, Janesville. He became a Master Mason in 1853; a member of Janesville Lodge, No. 55, and of Janesville Commandery, No. 2, Knights Templar, of which he was one of the organizers.
Charles G. Williams, of Janesville, was born in Royalton, Niagara county, N. Y., October 18, 1829, of New England par- entage, his father, Deodat Williams, being a native of Hartford, Conn., and his mother, Mary Wright, of Shoreham, Vt. After the marriage of the father of Mr. Williams he engaged for a time in the mercantile business at Shoreham, Vt., from whence he re- moved to Niagara county, New York, where he took up land on the Holland purchase, and during the remainder of his life was engaged in farming.
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