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 31
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He must have inherited some of his father's anti-mason ideas, as he was member of no lodge or society. Mr. Pixley and wife had six children, four born in Janesville and two in Chicago, four of which are now living in St. Joseph, Mich. Mr. Pixley's wife survived him about six years, dying in March, 1907.
Cornelius Nicolaas Vermeulen was born at Kondekerke, Hol- land, October 4, 1846, and is the son of Adrianus and Alida (van Galen) Vermeulen. His grandfather, Cornelius Vermeulen, was a man of commanding influence and business sagacity, and for forty-five years held responsible government and state offices in Holland.
Mr. Vermeulen's ancestors on his maternal side were well known and respected citizens of Holland, and were closely allied with the government for a great many years. His grandfather, Cornelius van Galen, was greatgrandson of the famous Admiral Hendric van Galen, who, during the war of 1600 between Eng- land and Holland distinguished himself as a brave and efficient
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officer. He was the pride of the Holland navy and after his death, a beautiful monument was erected to his memory by the people of his native land.
Cornelius received his education in the common and high schools of Gonda, Holland, taking a special course of study in architecture. America holding out greater inducements for young men in his profession, he decided to immigrate, and ac- cordingly in 1888 he left his native land, arriving in America with his family, and located first in Chicago, where for ten years he was engaged in a general business of real estate.
In 1898 Mr. Vermeulen left Chicago and went to Barron county, Wisconsin, where he established a Holland colony around Perley; removing thence to Sherry, Wood county, Wisconsin, he established another Holland settlement. In 1901 he moved to Beloit, where he has since been engaged in the real estate and loan business.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Vermeulen has held some local offices, such as justice of the peace, etc., and has been a notary public since 1898. On July 4, 1873, he was married to Miss Maria Clasina Jonkers, to whom has been born ten children: Maria A. C., who is the wife of P. S. Cartner; Alida M. G., wife of William B. Jones ; Clasina M. A., Henrietta, Margaretha, Alida and Johan C. N., the only son, who died December 6, 1903, from the effects of a gunshot wound received while hunting rabbits. His death was deeply mourned by his family and many friends, as one of the noblest young men of Beloit. The other five children died in Holland, before his coming to America.
Richard G. Scheibel, city marshal of Beloit, with residence at No. 340 Locust street, was born in Beloit, April 7, 1867. His parents were Henry and Hannah M. Scheibel, both natives of Germany.
R. G., our subject, was educated in the schools of Beloit, and after completing his studies worked on a farm for three years. He then engaged in the butcher business, which he conducted suc- cessfully for eight years, but his ability as an officer being recog- nized, he has been continuously on the police force for the past fourteen years, and at the present time, 1908, is the chief officer of the Beloit police force.
Mr. Scheibel is a popular member of the Elks, Modern Wood- men of America and the Knights of Pythias.
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He was married on December 25, 1891, to Miss Anna Glassell, who was born in the town of Sullivan, Jefferson county, Wiscon- sin, on December 11, 1869. There has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Scheibel three sons, viz .: Russell II., Clarence F. and George. C.
Charles H. Kai, of No. 730 Cleveland avenue, Beloit, Wis., whose birthplace was Berlin, Germany, was born July 21, 1867. His parents were Charles and Sophia (Burt) Kai, both natives of Germany, and came to the United States and settled in Beloit, Wis., in 1871, and engaged in the broom corn raising and later operated a threshing machine, which he made a successful busi- ness of, and retired two years ago for a well earned rest.
The subject of this sketch received his education in the schools of Beloit, and after completing his studies, he engaged in the business of painting, paper hanging and decorating. He also owns and operates a complete threshing outfit, which, altogether, makes his life a busy one.
Mr. Kai is a member of the Odd Fellows, and in 1895 was married to Miss Elly Madru, of Newark township, Rock county, Wisconsin, and her parents were among the early settlers of the county.
Anthony I. Schmit, M. D., who resides at the corner of Bluff and Liberty streets, Beloit, Wis., with offices in the Ritsher block, No. 355 Grand avenue, was born in Luxemburg, Germany, in 1863.
He received his early education in the common schools of his native place, and his college education at the gymnasium of Luxemburg. He graduated from that institution in 1881.
In 1882 and in 1883 he studied philosophy and natural sciences at the University of Strassburg, and passed the examination for the Bachelor of Arts and Sciences in 1882, and that of Master of Arts and Sciences in 1884.
He then studied medicine at Strassburg, Heidelberg and Munich, Germany, and in 1889 passed the examination of the state board of examiners and was given a license to practice medicine in his home country.
Dr. Schmit came to the United States in 1890, and after hav- ing practiced medicine in Oconto and Sharon, Wis., he perma- nently located in Beloit, Wis., in 1903.
In society matters, the doctor is a member of the Masonic fraternity, the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of the
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World, the Elks, Columbian Knights and several other fraternal organizations.
Doetor Schmit was married November 22, 1905, to Miss Elsie Winkley, of Clinton, Wis., who is a graduate of the Clinton high school and the Whitewater college.
James A. Chamberlain, of Janesville, Wis., was born in Hart- ford, Conn., March 2, 1833, and came with his parents to Wis- consin in 1838. He was the son of James and Ann Maria (Jaek- son) Chamberlain. The father was a native of England, born March 13, 1791. The mother was born in Long Island March 29, 1797. Mr. Chamberlain moved from his old home in Con- neetient to the then new and undeveloped state of Wisconsin in 1838 and purchased a traet of land from the government in what. is now Bradford township, Rock county, where he built a home and reared his family. This was in the good old times when bear meat and venison were staples in the settlers' larder. Rail- roads and interurban trolleys were not doing much business in those days. He used to haul supplies from Milwaukee and out to the lead mines in western Wisconsin, in which expeditions our subject was an active assistant. They had their share of priva- tions which fall to the lot of all pioneers, and our subjeet has lived to realize their fondest dreams of what this country would be some day when they had all the modern improvements in way of rapid transportation and beautiful and well-furnished homes which are owned by a happy and prosperous people. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain lived long and useful lives and were honored and respected by all who knew them. He died September 10, 1874, at the age of eighty-three years, and was followed by his wife October 16, 1876, her age being eighty years at the time of her deeease.
Our subject, James A., received the usual amount of sehool- ing that was obtainable in the early settlement of the county ; at first there being no regular school houses, he learned his first lessons in a little log house, the class being taught by one of the neighbor's wives. This plan was superseded later by a sawed log building which was ereeted by the settlers for a school house, and he refers with some pride to the fact that his last terms at school were in a real stone school house on the banks of Turtle Creek, which proves that the spirit of progression was stirring in the hearts of the early settlers of Rock county, and that they
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were constantly striving for better conditions. His first venture after starting out in life for himself, was farming in Bradford township, Roek county, where he lived for three years, then re- moved to La Prairie township and purchased a farm, where he lived for sixty years, a successful farmer, always up with the times and working for the betterment of the community in which he lived. Mr. Chamberlain was the second child of a family of four, the other members of his family being Mrs. Julia A. Smith, now (1907) living in Clinton, Wis., at the age of eighty-one years ; Mrs. Sarah J. Doekstader, a widow, her age being seventy- two years, and Mrs. Mary C. Johnston, who died in 1903. Mr. Chamberlain lived on his 210-acre farm, fifty acres of which was part of the original homestead, for sixty years, when he re- tired, with a competence, to make his future home in Janesville. He is blessed with a wonderfully retentive memory, and has lived here since the earliest settlement, having seen all the im- provements made in Rock county ; his reminiscences, if properly recorded, would make a very interesting history of the county.
Mr. Chamberlain is one of the original republicans, having cast his first vote for John C. Fremont, but has never sought or held political office except in a local way to help along with school or township affairs. He is a member of the Masonic order, having been a member since 1862.
On March 26, 1856, he was married to Miss Helen J. Hum- phrey, who was a native of New York state, and was born in 1838, daughter of Frederick C. and Eliza (Yates) Humphrey, who came to Wisconsin in 1847. Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain were the parents of one child, Emma F., wife of Dr. James Mills, of Janesville. Mrs. Chamberlain died in Janesville on January 15, 1899. Dr. and Mrs. Mills are the happy parents of two chil- dren, Wallace O., born April 16, 1889, is a graduate of Janesville high school, and is now (1907) a student of the State university at Madison, Wis .; James S., born November 22, 1894, is now at- tending high school at Janesville.
Albert Whitford, who now fills the chairs of mathematics and astronomy in Milton college, is a native of New York state and was born May 28, 1832. He is the third of a family of four ehil- dren born to Samuel and Sophia (Clarke) Whitford, the others being William C., late president of Milton college; Hamilton J., now deceased, and Herbert D., of Milwaukee. His parents, who
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were natives of Brookfield, Madison county, New York, spent their lives there and in the adjoining townships of Edmeston and Plainfield, Otsego county, New York. The father was a farmer and died September 21, 1848. The mother died in July, 1888.
Albert was reared on his father's farm and received a thor- ough education. He was graduated from Alfred Academy, Alfred, N. Y., in 1853, and during the years 1854-56, and 1857-63, was instructor of Latin language and literature at Milton col- lege. In 1857 he was graduated from Union college, Schenectady, N. Y., with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and received from the same institution in 1861 the degree of Master of Arts. Dur- ing 1864-5 he served as superintendent of public schools of the east district of Rock county, Wisconsin, and during the years 1865-67 was principal of DeRuyter institute, DeRuyter, Madison county, New York. During the school years 1867-68, he was professor at Milton college, and 1868-72 professor of mathematics in Alfred university, Alfred, N. Y. Since 1872, a period of thirty-five years, he has filled the chair of mathematics at Milton college, in the meantime, 1878-80, serv- ing also as active president, thus devoting his life to the cause of education. Prof. Whitford is known as one of the foremost educators in the west, and the influence of his quiet, unpreten- tious Christian life has left its lasting impression on the char- acters of hundreds of pupils and students who have studied un- der him. He has for many years been an active and devoted member and a deacon of the Seventh Day Baptist church of Milton.
On May 31, 1857, Prof. Whitford married Miss Choloe Eliza Curtis, of East Troy, Wis., whose death occurred November 4, 1888, at the age of fifty-four years. Of five children born to them, Albert C., the eldest, is now deceased; Anna Sophia is married to Dr. C. Eugene Crandall, of Milton, Wis., and is in- structor of German language and literature in Milton college ; William H. lives in Independence, Kan .; Alfred E. is professor of physics and assistant of mathematics at Milton college, and Arthur Hamilton, the youngest, is deceased. On February 14, 1892, Prof. Whitford married Emily L. Burdick, of Leonardville, Madison county, New York, a daughter of Ruel Burdick, of Brookfield, of the same county.
William Clarke Whitford. Every great work among men
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ANTHONY I. SCHMIT, M. D.
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owes its rise, its marked progress, or its final success to some one man, who stands apart from his fellows, like stately pine tower- ing above the lesser trees of the forest. The work of other men in the same enterprise was important; his was absolutely essen- tial. The influence in some undefined and inconspicuous way has woven itself into the finished structure; his has stamped his name and personality upon the whole movement, and we see his face and feel his spirit from whatever point of view we approach it. Thus martin Luther stood among the reformers of the six- teenth century ; thus the name of Savonarola shines with a golden halo among the champions of civil and religious freedom; thus the name of William C. Whitford shines among those who have given life and its service to the work of Milton college; thus his spirit has given a glow to the wholesome atmosphere which sur- rounds the college like the pure air of some rugged mountain home.
William Clarke Whitford was born in West Edmeston, Otsego county, New York, May 5, 1828. His ancestors for several gen- erations were of Puritan stock, and settled, in the colonial period, in New England. The nearer ancestry settled in Otsego and Madison counties in the years when such settlement meant many privations and days and years of severest toil. But it meant also the development of sturdy manhood and noble womanhood-qualities which were a better inheritance to the generation born in the midst of such struggles than beautiful homes or large bank accounts. Mr. Whitford was the eldest of four sons of Samuel and Sophia Clarke Whitford. He was con- secrated by his father to the work of the gospel ministry from the hour of his birth. As he grew to boyhood and early man- hood the question of his education gave his parents much anx- iety, for they had very little means which could be spared from the common comforts of the family to be used for this object. With heroic purpose to give his son the best possible preparation for his work, the father cheerfully subjected himself to many self-denials in order to save money for the boy's school expenses. The early death of the father not only cut off this scanty school fund, but called the son from school at intervals to do what a boy of his years might toward the support of the family. Through many hardships and after many interruptions, in Brookfield academy and at DeRuyter institute, he was prepared for college.
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He entered Union college at Schenectady, N. Y., with advaneed standing, at a time when that institution was under the presi- dency of Dr. Eliphalet Nott, then one of the few great institu- tions of learning in this country. Again his school life was in- terrupted and in 1850-51 he taught in Milton academy, then in its infancy; during the next two years he was principal of an academy at Shiloh, N. J. Meanwhile he kept up his collegiate studies and after an examination, graduated from the Union college with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. These difficulties encountered in his struggle for an education and their complete mastery, show how those characteristic qualities of indomitable courage and supreme optimism which distinguished his later life were developed. They also gave him that sympathy for worthy young men and women struggling for an education without which many of them would have given up in hopeless despair. Imme- diately after his college graduation he entered the Union Theo- logical seminary of New York city, for a course of theological study which fortunately he was able to pursue to its close in 1856.
Meanwhile he had been twice married. Before entering col- lege he had become engaged to Miss Elmina Coon, of DeRuyter, N. Y., whose health, never very vigorous, soon began to show symptoms of decline. Leaving college, he hastened to DeRuyter, where they were married, and immediately came to Wisconsin in the hope that the change would check the progress of the malady which was sapping her young life. Disappointed in this hope, they returned to DeRuyter, where she died in a few hours after their arrival. During the school work at the Shiloh academy, Mr. Whitford was married, March 23, 1852, to Miss Ruth Hemphill, who was at that time preceptress of the academy, and who faithfully shared his labors through all the varying sunshine and shadows of more than fifty years, and who followed him so quickly to their great reward.
In 1856, at the age of twenty-eight years, the young student was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry, for which he was prepared by the fervent prayers of a godly father and mother, by extraordinary native talents, by a most thorough general and special course of training and most of all by the consecration of all his powers to the Christ whose redeeming love was the supreme joy of his life. He immediately came to
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Milton pastor of the Seventh-Day Baptist church. His labors here for two years were crowned with the most marvelous re- sults the church has ever known.
In 1858 Prof. Ambrose C. Spicer, who had for nearly ten years been the able principal of Milton academy, resigned that position, and the trustees, after much persuasion, prevailed upon "Elder" Whitford to take charge of the work "until they could find a better man for the place." That phrase, which was in- tended to limit the period of engagement to a term or two at the farthest, defined his life work, for, for a period of forty-four years, the "better man" was not found. As principal of the academy for nine years, he enlarged its courses of study, greatly increased its number of students, and stamped upon it that deep Christian spirit consistent with the broadest catholicity which has ever since characterized the institution. In 1867, through his efforts, prompted by his far-sighted wisdom, the legislature of the state of Wisconsin granted the institution a college char- ter, under which it was at once organized and under which it continues to the present time. Principal Whitford was the only possible candidate for the presidency, to which office he was enthusiastically elected, and in which the best work of his life has been done, ending only when his life went peacefully out on that beautiful May morning just after chapel, May 20, 1902. Ended? No! The work of such a man never ends. The out- ward performance of it may cease, and the weary heart and brain may rest, but the work goes on in multiplying power in the lives of those who have been stirred to noble living and holy service by his spirit, his teaching, his example.
While devoting his best energies to the highest interests of Milton college, President Whitford took a broad view of the duties and opportunities of the college president, deeming it consistent with his home obligations to take an active part in elevating the standard of education throughout the state. With this thought in mind he served one term, 1868, in the Wisconsin legislature, during which he was chairman of the committee on education. To the same end he served two consecutive terms as state superintendent of public instruction, 1878-81. While in this service he published a volume of plans and specifications for district school houses which secured throughout the state a better grade of buildings, both as to convenience, comfort and
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sanitation. A service even greater than this was the direction he gave to the movement for graded courses of study in the pub- lic schools of the state, resulting in the high school system, which others have caried on until the high school bids fair, in a few years, to find a place in many country districts as well as in the cities and large villages of the state. During the occupancy of this office, President Whitford was editor-in-chief of the "Wis- consin State Journal of Education," the ablest publication of its class in this country ; and his official reports are models for the comprehensive view which they take of the great work com- mitted to his supervision as well as for the elegance, clearness and force with which that view is set forth. He was honored with the presidency of the State Teachers' Association, and was for a number of years member of the board of regents of the state university. In all these positions he rendered efficient ser- vice. He was, in the largest sense of the word, an educator. He has left a deep, wide and lasting impression not only upon the individual students who came under his personal influence and instruction, but also upon the men who have helped to mould that system. The influence, power and usefulness of the college, which he felt was the object of his life work, did not suffer, but gained by these arduous labors.
Besides his eminent services in this strictly educational work, President Whitford was an earnest student of many historical subjects. The history of the town, county and state in which he lived was to him a source of great interest. With rare dis- crimination and quick perception did he note the evidences of the habits and character of the aboriginal occupants of the county as discovered in vanishing trails, in half concealed earth- works, or in mounds of fantastie shapes, beneath which were sometimes found buried treasure, rude implements of war or a ruder industry, and sometimes skeletons of fallen comrades or of the companions of such domestic life as was possible to these primitive sons and daughters of this western world. In like manner he gathered with almost endless pains the facts and in- cidents which marked the early settlements of the country, and having gathered wrought them with a master hand into pages which glow with the record of grand achievements in the sub- jugation of virgin nature to the uses of man, and in the training of man to the highest ends and noblest ambitions. He had had
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in contemplation for several years previous to his death, a com- prehensive history of the Seventh-Day Baptist people of this country. To this work he had given much thought and effort. But little has been found of this work beyond the accumulation of a considerable mass of material which he collected from old public records, the records of churches, schools and family genealogies from the earliest settlements in Newport, R. I., in the colonial days of the country, to the prairies and mountains of the west in the present generation. While much time was spent by him in these researches, he was keenly alive to living things.
The great political questions of his time, the economic prob- lems affecting the interests of all classes of citizens, were sub- jects to which he gave long and careful study and upon which he came to decided conclusions. These conclusions, when once reached, he was always ready to defend against all comers. Those who were students of the academy during the fierce strug- gles of the Civil War can never forget the hearty patriotism of his chapel talks, or the fervency of his prayers in which he often followed the fortunes of contending armies and prayed that vic- tory might rest with the Union forces, or the hearty thanksgiv- ing which was sure to be offered up to God when news of great victories came up from the bloody fields. Several trips, made in the later years of his life, into portions of New Mexico and Arizona, afforded him an opportunity to study the topography of that section and its strategic importance between the south- west and northwest. Further investigation convinced him that the important part played by the Union army in that region had never been fully appreciated or fully written. With character- istic enthusiasm and energy he took up the task of writing it, and offered, at length, a well written article to "McClure's Maga- zine." These publishers were, however, obliged to refuse the article on account of its length. He at once addressed himself to the task of reducing it to the required proportions, with the result that, instead of cutting it in two, he had wrought it out to more than twice its former length. It now lies in manuscript, with numerous maps, charts and other illustrative cuts await- ing the art of the publisher to give to the public what President Whitford regarded as by far the fullest general history of the southwest campaign of our great Civil War.
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