The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 105

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 899

USA > Wisconsin > Rock County > The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc. > Part 105

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JOHN R. BENNETT, was born at Rodman, Jefferson Co .. N. Y., on the 1st day of Novem- ber, 1820; he was the second son and third child of Daniel Bennett and Deborah Leeds Bennett, whose maiden name was Spicer; his father and mother were descended from English Puritan ancestors, who settled in the State of Connecticut about the year 1640. His father was born in the town of Stonington. in that State, on the 16th day of February, 1793, the fourth son of David Bennett and Rebecca Bennett,

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whose maiden name was Miner, and David was the son of Stephen and Mchitable Bennett. His mother was the daughter of William Spicer and Hannah Spicer, whose maiden name was Hannah Leeds, being the daughter of Gideon Leeds, of the city of Leeds, England. His father being a farmer in comfortable circumstances the son worked at home on the farm, attending the common district school until the fall of 1839, when he commenced attending the Black River Literary and Religious Institute, located at Water- town, N. Y., and prepared for teaching school, which he engaged in that fall, and, from that time until the month of April, 1844, continued attending this school at Watertown, and teaching district and select schools ; . he then entered upon the study of law in the office of Western W. Wager, at Brownville, in Jefferson Co., N. Y., reading with him about six months. On the 28th day of November, 1844, at Houns- field, Jefferson Co., N. Y., he was married to Miss Elsie L. Holloway, the daughter of Charles and Chloe Holloway, whose sweet and gentle influence has ever tended to lead him in the proper and pleasant paths of life, and to be under the guidance of the better angel of his nature; the purity of her life, the wisdom of her counsel and the comfort of her society, are still continued to him by a beneficent Providence, and are the sources of his greatest happiness. In the month of April, 1845, he commenced reading law in the office of Dyre N. Burnham, of Sacketts Harbor, N. Y., and continued reading with him until the 8th day of May, 1848, when he was admitted to practice in all the courts of that State. On the 2d day of October, 1848, he started for the West, reaching Janesville, Wis., Oct. 13, where he located and has since practiced his profession ; he has no children, but has adopted two sisters, Minnie and Kitty Parry, who have assumed his name and have been with him now over twenty years, and are the light and joy of his home; they have been with him since they were respectively + and 2 years of age. Mr. Bennett's prac- tice, which has gradually increased from its commencement at Janesville, is confined mostly to Rock, Walworth, Jefferson and Green Cos. and the Supreme Court of the State. From 1863 to 1867, be held the office of District Attorney of Rock Co., and, in 1860, was a delegate to the National Repub- lican Convention, held at Chicago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President ; without being a candidate, he was nominated, in 1875, by the Republican State Convention for Attorney General, but was defeated with the rest of the ticket, with the exception of Harrison Ludington, the candidate for Governor. In religious belief he is a New Churchman, or Swedenborgian, as the members of this denomination are more frequently called; they hold that the sacred Scriptures, unlike all human compositions, contain within the letter a spiritual sense as far above the literary sense in beauty, brightness and power, as the immortal soul excels the perishable body, in which it " groans in this life, being burdened;" he counts it a fortunate circumstance that his ancestors, so far as he has any knowledge of them, were deeply religious ; and for the pious instruction received from his parents, who now, he trusts, occupy the everlasting abodes of the blessed, he is under a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid.

D. M. BOND, physician and surgeon ; born in West Virginia ; moved from there to Rock Co. in 1853; located at Johnstown Center, where he was engaged in practice until he came to Janesville in 1877 ; he is a graduate of the University of Virginia and Chicago Medical College. He married Mary J. Swisher, daughter of Isaac Swisher, of Virginia ; they have three children-Florence V., Frank Lewis and Lilian M.

WALTER BRITT, farmer, Sec. 20; P. O. Janesville ; born in Waterford Co., Ireland, eight miles from the city of Waterford, in 1832; came to America in 1856 ; lived in the Eastern States till 1859, when he moved to Wisconsin, locating in Janesville, Rock Co .; owns 80 acres. Married Winifred Baldwin, born near the city of Limerick, County Clare, Ireland, in 1843; had two boys-Walter, born May 7, 1862; Francis, July 4, 1870. Mr. Britt was formerly married to Mrs. Putnam Huderly, of Pel- ham, N. H., she having one daughter by him-Elizabeth, who is now the wife of Mr. James O'Flaherty.

F. HERMAN BUCHHOLZ, carriage-maker; born in April, 1839, in Germany; came to America in 1857, settled in Janesville, and engaged in present business. Married Dretha Passain, Janu- ary, 1863; she was born in Berlin, Germany, March, 1842; they have four children-Willie, Ida, George und Carl, aged 14, 12, 4 and 4 respectively, the last two being twins. Mr. B. is Past Master of United Work men.

AUSTIN E. BURPEE, lumber dealer; came to Janesville in 1854, engaged in business as contractor and builder till 1864: for twelve years, he was U. S. Revenue Agent, having entire supervision of the revenue offices of Wisconsin, except a year and a half, which he spent in Louisiana, in the revenue service ; after leaving Government employ, he was engaged in the manufacture of cotton batting, in Janes- ville, until December, 1878; he was City Assessor in 1863; also served one year as Under Sheriff, and several years as Deputy U. S. Marshal. Mr. Burpee was born in Canada, of American parentage, but lived in Mt. Morris, Livingston Co., N. Y., from infancy until he came West. Married Miss Eliza Cha- pin, of Edinburg, Saratoga Co., N. Y.

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DR. A. P. BURRIS, physician and dentist; born in Kane Co., Penn., in 1825; came to Wisconsin in 1859, and to Rock Co. in 1862. Married to Mary Jones, in Portage Co., Ohio; they have two boys-A. J. Burris, aged 22; David Burris, aged 11; invented a steam engine to use in filling.

A. H. CALDWELL, florist; came to Janesville in the fall of 1842, with his father-in-law; in 1844, he purchased 80 acres on Sec. 3 north, of Range 12; was born in 1819, April 12, in the village of Roseland, near Edinburg, Scotland. Married Miss Helen Hislop, daughter of Robert and Janette Hislop, of Scotland ; they have three children-Caroline C., Janette E. and Helen A. He went to Cali- fornia in 1852, worked in the mines and also at his trade of bootmaking, at Downieville; returned home in 1859; he now is in the greenhouse business, with headquarters at Janesville; raises all kinds of plants and shrubbery ; is liberal in religion and politics.

ALMERINE M. CARTER. The subject of the following sketch, descended from a long line of distinguished ancestors, all tillers of the soil, realizes in his own life, perhaps as much as any other man now living, the fulfillment of the prophecy so beautifully paraphrased by Mrs. Hale, regarding those who cultivate the soil :

" ' Go till the soil,' said God to man, ' Subdue the earth, it shall be thine; ' How grand, how glorious was the plan ! How wise the law divine ! And none of Adam's race can draw A title, save beneath this law, To hold the world in trust ; Earth is the Lord's, and he hath sworn That ere Old Time has reached his bourn It shall reward the Just."

Mr. Carter has spent nearly the whole of his active life as a farmer, and now enjoys that respect, confi- dence and affection of his fellow-citizens which a useful and upright life alone can permanently secure He was born in Litchfield Co., Conn., Oct. 4, 1814, and is the son of Guy and Sercpta (Marshall) Carter. . of the same State; the Carters claim descent from English ancestors who settled at Litchfield, Conn., about the year 1690; their descendants, who are now quite numerous, are found in most of the States of the Union, have generally been husbandmen, imbued with Puritanic principles, aud mostly connected with the old Presbyterian and Baptist Churches; his grandfather, Adonijah Carter, a man of high moral char- acter and sterling religious principles, died at Litchfield, Conn., in 1820, in the 79th year of his age; his father moved to the State of New York in 1815, and settled at Paris, Oneida Co., where he purchased a large farm, and followed the occupation of husbandry all his life; in 1855, he removed to Johnstown, Wis., where he died in 1857; he was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and considerable local influence, and was for a number of years a Trustee of the Madison University of New York, a Baptist educational institute of some eminence ; the mother of our subject was a woman of most exemplary char- acter, intelligent, hospitable and self-sacrificing, always studying the interests and welfare of those around her; she was also noted as a musician and sweet singer, a quality which she transmitted to her posterity, and especially to our subject ; she died in 1855, leaving behind a memory fragrant with good deeds and holy precepts. Our subject was the eldest of a family of five children, three boys and two girls, and was named after his maternal grandfather, who was a wealthy merchant in Pennsylvania, and who lost his life at the burning of the theater in the city of Richmond, Va., in 1811, the Governor of Virginia and some forty or fifty others perishing in the same catastrophe ; he was educated at Hamilton Academy, N. Y., from which he graduated in 1832; determining to pursue the business of husbandry, he purchased a large farm in Oneida Co., N. Y., on which he remained until 1843, when, following the tide of empire, be removed to the Territory of Wisconsin and settled at Johnstown, Rock Co., which has since been his home; he entered a farm of Government land, the deed to which was signed by President John Tyler, and in real earnest set about the business of taming the wilderness, which, under his strong hand. guided by his consummate skill and taste, has long since been made to " rejoice and blossom as the rose; " he was one of the most successful and dextrous farmers of the West. He was never ambitious for office, but, being a gentleman of more than ordinary capacity, of high education and refined manners, he has been frequently selected by his fellow-citizens to fill positions of trust and honor, upon which he has always reflected the highest credit; he was one of the first Commissioners of Rock Co., and has beld various town offices and other positions from his fellow-citizens; he was elected a member of the Constitu- tional Convention of 1847-48, which framed the Constitution now in force in the State, serving on the committee of fifteen, of which the late Byron Kilbourn was Chairman (which mapped out the business for the various other committees, and was facetiously designated as the " breaking team "), being one of its

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most practical members; he has recently written a history of that Convention, which is quite an elaborate and racy document, containing some finely drawn pen pictures of prominent members of that body; Mr. Carter is the only one of six colleagues from Rock Co., now a resident of Wisconsin ; four are deceased, and one is a citizen of another State ; from the document referred to, we make the following extracts, which are mainly in the line of our work : " We were then a sparsely settled Territory, numbering only 210,000 souls ; now we are a large and prosperous State. Then, Wisconsin was the . Far West,' Minne- sota was not known ; now, the western boundary of population, enterprise and wealth of the nation is the Pacific Ocean. Then, our people were poor; now, there is great wealth among us. Then, no railroad had reached Lake Michigan; now, the whole country is marked into squares by the iron band, and the steam-horse snorts in every locality. The Convention was composed of sixty-nine members, mostly young men, and men of energy, who had left luxurious homes in the East to seek fame and fortune in the West. They were proud of their adopted State, and had met to frame a fundamental law, under which their children should live happily. There was earnestness and determination depicted upon each countenance as they took their respective seats. To trace the after career of some of these men may not be uninter- esting. The President was Morgan L. Martin, who served in the Legislature of 1874. Two of the members have been Governors of the State-Harvey and Lewis ; while the Judiciary of the State has been largely and honorably represented by others; Whiton graced the bench from the organization of the State until his death; Orsamus Cole first represented his district ably and well in Congress, and has, for the last nineteen years, done the State distinguished service upon the supreme bench ; Larrabee has been on the judicial bench, a member of Congress, and at present is a distinguished citizen of Oregon ; Gale has been upon the bench, and scarcely has there been a Legislature since in which one or more of them have not occupied seats; twelve have left the State ; of these, Reed has been a Governor of Florida ; Reymert, a man of wealth in New York City ; Easterbrook is a prominent citizen of Nebraska, and all are occupying distinguished positions ; eighteen have died." Such is a brief extract from a document brimful of the most important historic matter, and destined to an honored place among the records of the State Historical Society. In 1868, just twenty years after the Constitution was framed, Mr. Carter was elected to the State Legislature, and served much of the session as Chairman of the House Committee on Corpo- rations; since then, he has declined all overtures to office, and has resided in ease and quietness at his home in Johnstown. He is a member of the Johnstown Fire Insurance Company. He has gone through the chairs of the Odd Fellows' fraternity, and is a member of the Granger organization, having been the presiding officer in his district since the Society was organized ; he has been for twenty-five years a mem- ber and Secretary of the Society for the Suppression of Horse-stealing, an organization which has done more toward the abatement of this species of plunder than all the laws and law officers of the State. In a word, Mr. Carter is an honest, truthful and capable man, both in public and in private life, ardently attached to those things which are true, good and just, hating oppression in all its forms, ever ready to rebuke meanness wherever it showed its head. In politics, he is a consistent, intelligent and active Republican; he ever held that all men should be unfettered in running the race of life, hence the system of human slavery ever found in him an honorable but unrelenting foe; and when that accursed system organized a rebellion against our Government, too old himself to undergo the privations and hardships of camp life, he sent an only son to uphold and sustain the just cause of his country. But the crowning excellence of his character is his quiet, unostentatious religious life ; the sweetness and fragrance of his daily walk is a constant blessing to the community in which he resides, and when he shall be finally called to his long home, it shall be justly said of him, " mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace; " he was one of the organizers of the Johnstown Congregational society in 1844, and has ever since led the psalmody in the congregation, being rarely absent from his post on the Sabbath ; he is, moreover, one of the most generous contributors to the support of the organization. He has been twice married; first, Sept. 26, 1836, in Goshen, Conn., to Miss Dolly A., daughter of Timothy Wadman, of that place ; she died in 1847, leaving two children surviving her, namely, Ellen, wife of E. L. Carter, a merchant in Mendota, Ill., and Charles, who served his country throughout the late war, and is now a successful merchant in Johnstown; Mr. Carter's second marriage was to Miss Sarah Wedge. daughter of Asa Wedge, of Warren, Conn .; she is the mother of one daughter-Frances W., a young lady of superior education and accomplishments, especially noted as a musician. The deceased Mrs. Car- ter was a lady of rare beauty of person, of the most amiable temper and engaging manners, of high intellectual and social attainments, and an exemplary member of the Baptist Church, beloved and revered by all who knew her.

J. B. CASSODAY, was born July 7, 1830, in Herkimer Co., N. Y .; in early childhood, he and his widowed mother went with her parents to what was then a sparsely settled portion of Tioga Co.,

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Penn .; for years, no district school was accessible, but work was an absolute necessity ; as early as when he was 8 years of age, he did much of the milling and trading for the neighborhood, on horseback ; when he was 12, he drove a span of horses during the season, and drew lumber to the railroad, a distance of about eleven miles: occasionally, by some turn of fortune, he would get the privilege of working for his board and attending district school ;. at 16, he was enabled to attend the village school at Tioga for one term, and also one term of the academy in Wellsboro. About this time, he was induced to purchase a contract for a piece of land near Tioga, in order to secure a claim of $50. which had been given to him by his grandfather; the result was, that for five years he was engaged in the severest kind of manual labor. such as cutting, drawing and running logs, attending saw-mills, farming and clearing-up and improving his land. During this time, he taught school two winters, and spent his evenings and Sundays in studying such books and newspapers as he was able to obtain ; at the end of the five years, he had paid for his place, made it much more valuable, was out of debt and had a small surplus, but his health was so impaired as to render it doubtful whether he could longer endure the severe strain of physical labor ; in seeking to recover from this condition, he naturally turned his attention to his books, and soon determined to resume the purpose which poverty had forced him to abandon five years previously ; he at first attended Union Academy, at Knoxville, Penn., and then Alfred Academy, in Allegany Co., N. Y., where he graduated, being equivalent to preparing for the Junior year in college; during these years, he taught school two winters in Allegany Co., but, on selling his land, he was enabled to continue his duties without further interruption ; on leaving Alfred, he went to Michigan University, where he remained one year, taking a select course; during his school life, he kept up a constant and systematic course of reading, and was strict in his attendance upon the lyceums, and generally engaged in the discussions and exercises; on leaving Ann Arbor, he at once entered upon the study of the law, and spent the following year in Albany Law School and a law office at Wellsboro; in July, 1857, he came to Janesville, entered the office of Judg. Conger and pursued his legal studies until November, 1858, when he became a member of the old firm of Bennett, Cassoday & Gibbs, which continued over seven years; then he was alone for two years ; then, for five years, a member of the firm of Cassoday & Merrill, and since, of Cassoday & Carpenter. Mr. Cassoday has a natural admiration and reverence for the law, enjoys a sharp legal contest and always thoroughly examines every doubtful question, and as business crowded upon him from the first, and his practice covered a wide range in some of the most intricate branches of the law, his professional career has been necessarily marked by constant attention and severe study. In politics, he has been a Republican ever since the organ- ization of the party ; as a boy, he warmly supported David Wilmot, who then represented the Tioga dis- trict in Congress; his first speech in public was in favor of the Free-Soil party, in 1848; on the disap- pearance of that party in Tioga, and on his becoming a voter, he acted with the Democrats, until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in the spring of 1854, when he openly repudiated both of the old parties, and favored the formation of a new party. On leaving the University, he delivered a Fourth of July ora. tion to his old friends and neighbors, and soon after " stumped " the county for Fremont and Dayton. Since living in Janesville, he has been more or less active in every political campaign, beginning with 1853: in 1864, he was a delegate to the National Convention of Baltimore, and a member of the Assembly of 1865, and as such warmly supported the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, taking advance ground on the status of the rebellious States, and substantially the same as Congress subse- quently took in the work of reconstruction ; with these exceptions, and occasionally attending a political convention as a delegate, he declined all public positions, until he was elected to the Assembly of 1877, over which he was chosen to preside, without any opposition in his own party. He is a member of the Congregational Church, and believes that Christianity is an essential means of inward moral growth and progress in society and government, and he believes that all political action should be prompted and con- trolled by the same broad, generous and unselfish purpose. He has a happy family, consisting of a wife and five children-four daughters and a son, and an aged mother, who, for many years, has been totally blind.

LEVI CANNIFF, furniture dealer; born May 15, 1820, in Bellville, Ontario Co., Canada ; was farming in Canada ; came to Janesville Oct. 30, 1867; worked at the carpenter's trade and in grocery business some time, and has been engaged in present business during the past year. First wife was Bar- sheba Ruttan, whom he married July 20, 1843; she died May 20, 1866; had nine children by first wife, all living-T. C., J. A., Henrietta, C. J., L. B., H. G., Sarah Ann, Ellen A., William G. For second wife, married Widow Merrell. Both members of Third Street Methodist Episcopal Church.

DANIEL F. CHAPIN, farmer, Secs. 13 and 14; P. O. Janesville ; owns 115 acres of land, valued at $30 per acre; came, in 1838, to Rock Co .; was, in 1876, Assessor of Janesville Township one term ; a native of Weathersfield, Windsor Co., Vt. ; born in 1821. Married Miss Adelia L. Love, of Cook Town, Rock Co .; children are Edwin L., Frank W., Gideon, all born in Rock Co .; Republican.

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HENRY CHAPIN, farmer, Secs. 13 and 14; P. O. Janesville; owns 1162 acres; values his land at $75 an acre ; general stock and grain-raising, lime and stone-dealer ; came to Rock Co. Sept. 3, 1838; was Treasurer of School District nine years. Born in Weathersfield, Vt., Windsor Co., July 19, 1827. Married Louisa Love, Jan. 1, 1858, at Beloit ; she was born in Rochester, N. Y .; have one child, Duet C .; three children dead-Charles H., Lavella and Etta. Democrat.

JAMES CHURCH, capitalist; born in Luzerne Co., Penn .; came to Rock Township, Rock Co., Wis., in 1850 ; located on Section 28; remained there about twelve years, then came to Janesville, where he has since been engaged in loaning money, building and improving his property, etc .; Mr. C. is the owner of the fine block of business buildings on W. Milwaukee street, west of River street, and also owns a farm of 200 acres on Sections 28 and 33, Rock Township ; during his residence in that township, he was Justice of the Peace four years and Supervisor two years ; since coming to Janesville he has held various positions; first, Sealer of Weights and Measures, Assessor two years, and for the last six years has served as Alderman of his ward ; in 1878, was Democratic candidate for Assemblyman of his district. Married Sarah Van Antwerp in March, 1851; she was born in Ohio; daughter of John Van Antwerp, (deceased), who was one of the early settlers of Rock Township. Five children-Harriet E., Cora, James Jr., Oliver P. and Elvira V.

GEORGE W. CHITTENDEN, physician ; was born in the town of Westmoreland, Oneida Co., N. Y., Feb. 3, 1820; his father, Jared Chittenden, was an extensive farmer, and for many years Justice of the Peace; he served in the Colonial army during the entire war of the Revo- lution, as Sergeant of artillery, having enlisted in 1775; about 1790 he moved from Connecticut, his native State, to Westmoreland, where he died in 1828. The mother of Dr. Chittenden was Asena Douglas, a descendant of the New London family of that name, whose ancestors are traced to William Douglas, who came from Scotland in 1640; her parents removed from Connecticut to Oneida Co. in 1790, when all Cen- tral New York was a wilderness; she was married to Jared Chittenden in 1804, and became the mother of six sons and four daughters; she was a woman of rare Christian virtues, and her wise and noble life, aided by careful teaching, exerted a powerful influence in molding the character of her children ; she died in the Baptist faith, in 1851. George worked on the farm until he was 19 years of age, his early educa- tion, being at the district school, was as good as circumstances allowed ; having a decided literary taste, he at this age began an academic course, preparatory for college, and, with the exception of one winter spent in teaching a district school, continued until the fall of 1843, when he was fully prepared to enter coi- lege, but the limited means at his command compelled him to relinquish this cherished design ; he therefore entered upon a course of professional study, and graduated at Albany Medical College in Janu- ary, 1846 ; in April, 1846, he went to Chicago, where he practiced a few months, during which time he devoted considerable attention, investigating the principles of the homoeopathic school of medicine; in November, 1846, he settled in Janesville, Wis., where he rapidly acquired an extensive practice ; the following year he was elected Vice President of the Rock River Medical Association, embracing Wis- consin and Northern Illinois, and in this capacity delivered the semi-annual essay ; on this occasion, he reviewed the various medical systems, urging upon the profession the duty of investigating all systems and adopting all truth; about this time he commenced a series of practical tests, to settle in his own mind the truth or fallacy of the theory of homeopathy, and its correlative minute doses, which investigation extended through several months, until he became fully convinced and felt constrained to adopt it in his practice ; at this time homoeopathy was but little known, had few patrons, and was relentlessly assailed by the allo- pathic profession, hence to adopt it involved a conflict between duty and interest. He possessed largely the confidence of the allopathic profession, and through their co-operation had acquired a goodly reputation as a surgeon. Thus, to adopt the practice of this system was to invite ostracism from the medical Associa- tion and alienation from the " regular" profession ; it included also, as a necessary consequence, a severe contest to overcome the prevailing ignorance of its merits, and the bitter prejudice intensified by opposi- tion to establish its claim to public confidence. Notwithstanding this, the Doctor, feeling confident of its ultimate success, announced himself as a homoeopathic physician and labored zealously for its propagation. After an experience of nearly thirty years, his confidence in the wisdom of this change remains unshaken. As a means of more fully preparing himself for this practice, he attended a course of lectures in the win- ter of 1849-50, at Philadelphia, and graduated in March, 1850, at the Homoeopathic Medical College of Pennsylvania. The Doctor has been a member of the American Institute of Homoeopathy most of the time since 1857, and contributed valuable articles to medical journals; he has performed several capital operations, among them being amputations at the hip joint and shoulder joint. Politically, Dr. Chitten- den acts with the Republican party though being in no sense a politician, and ever avoiding anything like political preferment; his religious views are liberal and practical, and he has throughout his career

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The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 105

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co. Number of Pages: 899

Author: Wesern historical company, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Co.
Number of Pages: 899