The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 110

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

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A. HYATT SMITH. The history of A. Hyatt Smith is, in a large measure, the history of the State of Wisconsin, and more especially of its incipient railroad system, with which he has been largely connected.

He was born in New York City, February 5, 1814, and is the son of Maurice and May (Reynolds) Smith, natives of Westchester County, N. Y. His grandfather was one of the unfortunate " Sugar House prisoners," as was also his maternal grandfather.

In 1826, his father resumed his old business of merchandising in New York, but died suddenly on the anniversary of Washington's birthday, in 1828, in the fifty-eighth year of his age, leaving a family of six children (a seventh was born about a month after his decease). He died young, though the family were proverbially long-lived, his father having died in his eighty-ninth year. On the death of her husband, Mrs. Smith removed to the neighborhood of Auburn, where her father's family resided, while our subject remained in the city with his guardian, James Smith, a relative and a lawyer of eminence, who, having settled the question of his ward's profession, held to the theory that the place to make a lawyer was in a lawyer's office, and, at the age of 14, under the rules of the Supreme Court, the name of A. Hyatt Smith was registered with the Clerk of the Supreme Court as a student-at-law. He completed his education at Mount Pleasant Seminary, then under the management of Rev. Samuel J. Prime, father of the present editor of the New York Observer, and was admitted to practice in the city courts in the summer of 1835, to the Supreme Court of the State in 1836, and immediately entered upon a large and lucrative practice in partnership with his former preceptor. For six years, he worked unremittingly, without sufficient time for sleep or rest, which so impaired his health that he was advised that the only way to save his life was to move away from the sea-coast. Accordingly, in 1842, he resolved to abandon his business, and move to Wisconsin, which he had previously visited on business, and, on the 22d of November, arrived in Janer- ville during a tremendous snow-storm, and, being informed that the land on the west side of the river was for sale, purchased it, with a view to the improvement of the water-power, taking several other parties into the transaction to gain monetary aid in making the improvement. On the 1st of April, 1843, the Territorial Legislature granted a charter to A. Hyatt Smith, William H. H. Bailey and Charles Stevens, conferring the right to dam Rock River, and utilize the power thus derived. Both of these last-named gentlemen, however, withdrew, and he subsequently associated with himself James McClurg. of Western

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New York; Martin O. Walker, of Chicago, and J. B. Doe, of Janesville, and, on the 6th of January, 1846, commenced the construction of a mill, the largest then west of the lakes, which commenced operating in the following summer, and gave Janesville, which had then a population of but four hundred, its first substantial impetus.

In the summer of 1847, Mr. Smith, although a Democrat, was elected to the first convention to frame a State constitution, to represent a constituency, which, up to that time, had been largely Whig, and succeeded in preparing a report which was unanimously recommended by the committee and adopted by the convention.

In 1836, he was appointed to the office of Commissioner of Deeds in the city of New York, by nomi- nation of Gov. Marcy and confirmation of the Senate; from this office he was removed by Gov. Seward, who succeeded Gov. Marcy. As above related, he was a member of the first Constitutional Convention of Wisconsin. In 1847, he was appointed by Gov. Dodge and confirmed by the Legislative Council Attorney General of the Territory, and held the office until after the State was admitted into the Union. In 1848, he was appointed United States Attorney by President Polk, and held the office until the accession of the Taylor administration. On the organization of the city of Janesville, in 1853, he was elected its first Mayor, und, in 1857, he was elected to the same position, against his will. In 1851, while absent from the country in England, he came within two votes of receiving the Democratic nomination for Governor, without his knowledge or consent; and, again, in 1853, he stood for a long time within two votes of a nomination for the same office, but withdrew in favor of Barstow, who was elected. He was for many years Regent of the State University at Madison, having been elected from year to year by the Legislature without regard to party.

In 1847, he organized a company to build a plank road from Milwaukee to Janesville, and endeav- ored to induce the people of Milwaukee to unite with him in organizing under a railroad charter which he then controlled, but the hostility became so bitter, personal and local, as to be absolutely intolerable, and, after about six years of hard work-the best years of his life given to the public without any profit but at a sacrifice of several hundred thousand dollars of his private fortune-he did what be has not since ceased to regret, resigned, and let his franchises fall into the hands of Wall street speculators.

He was the owner of landed property in Janesville and Chicago, valued at over a million of dollars, most of which was sacrificed in the payment of these and other complications growing out of his railroad transactions. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that he should become strongly impressed with the idea that the man who undertakes a public improvement, from pure public spirit and enterprise, is a fit subject for a lunatic asylum. Mr. Smith is still in the enjoyment of his mental faculties, and has great cause for thankfulness, in one direction at least-he has never been tempted to relieve himself of any of his obligations by the aid of a bankrupt law ; he has paid every claim, to the uttermost, for which he became officially responsible.

He lost largely in the Chicago fire, of 1871, and, added to this, came sickness and distress in his family, until it seemed as if the affliction; of the patriarch Job were trifling as compared with his. But, notwithstanding the avalanche of misfortune which lighted upon his head and the waves of trouble that rolled over him, he is to-day as hopeful and happy a man as lives in Janesville; and, with an energy pecu- liar to men of real ability, he has set himself the task of retrieving his fortune, in which, it is superfluous to say, we wish him the utmost success.

He has been for many years a leading member of the congregation of Trinity Church, Janesville. In politics, he has always been Democratic ; his first vote was cast for Martin Van Buren, and he was an earnest politician long before he was a voter. On the 4th of April, 1838, he was married, in St. Paul's Church, New York, by the Rev. Martin Eastburn, to Miss Ann Margaret Cooper Kelly, a native of Philadelphia and daughter of Philip Kelly. The fruit of his union with Miss Kelly was eight children, four sons and four daughters, five of whom died in infancy and three survive-James Maurice, May C. and Ann Kate; the last named is the wife of Charles A. Patterson, of Janesville.

ERASTUS C. SMITH, Janesville; born in 1810; came to Rock Co. in 1846 from Oneida Co., N. Y .; lived in Clinton Co. ten years, in western part of the county; was Postmaster three years; elocted to State Legislature in 1849; held offices of Assessor, Treasurer and Justice of the Peace; was County Treasurer of Rock Co. two years; School Commissioner two years. Married, in Oneida Co., 1839, Mary E. Blakeslee; one daughter-Orrie M. Predenhall, whose daughter is Alice M. Allen.

S. W. SMITH, President of the Rock County National Bank ; came to Janesville in 1843; engaged in mercantile business until 1854; from 1848 to 1854, he also carried on flouring-mills, and has extensively engaged in farming ever since he came here; in 1855, he engaged in banking business, and has been in the same business ever since; connected with the Rock County Bank at the time of its

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organization and has continued with that and its successor, the Rock County National Bank, ever since; the best evidence of his sagacity as a financier is the fact that his institution has passed successfully through all the panics and vicissitudes of hard times.

NICHOLAS SMITH was born Oct. 31, 1836 or 1837, at Blackburn, England. His mother died in October, 1840, and the next year, he and his elder brother James, came to this country with an aunt, who settled at Fall River, Mass. His father followed a year later, and found employment as a cot- ton weaver in that city. In the fall of 1844, he emigrated West, locating near Fair Play. Grant Co., in this State. In a few months after, Nicholas entered the family of a farmer named James Virden, to whom he was bound until he should reach his majority. His father remarried in 1847, when Vir len relinquished all further claim to young Smith's services. and he went to live with his father, at Hazel Green, Grant Co. At the age of 11, he was put to work with his brother James in the lead mines. In 1849, the family removed to La Fayette Co., near Benton, where, for eleven years, the subject of this sketch worked on the farm in summer, and in the lead mines in the winter. He became a practical miner, learning thoroughly all the details of the business, from running the windlass to sinking shafts, and managing the most difficult feats of blasting. In the fall and winter of 1860 and 1861, he taught a country school for $12 per month. In April, 1861, he entered the law office of Hon. John K. Williams, of Shullsburg, with a view of prepar- ing himself for the legal profession. Never having attended school, and his education being comparatively limited, he found much difficulty in attempting to master Blackstone and Kent's commentaries. He worked hard, however, and though doing a vast amount of office work, he was admitted to the bar in April, 1862. which was an ill-timed step, but taken at advice of his friends. In August, 1862, he enlisted in the 33d Wis. Inf., and on the 14th of the same month, married J. Clara. the second danghter of the late Dr. Moses Meeker, of Meeker's Grove, Lafayette Co. While in camp at Racine. he was commissioned 2d Lieu- tenant of Co. H. On the 12th of November, 1862, the regiment started for Memphis. Tenn., and took part in the Oxford and Holly Springs campaigns. In April, 1863, he was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and immediately after the siege of Vicksburg, to Captain of Co. H. In August, 1863, he was appoint d Acting Assistant Adjutant General on Col. Pugh's staff, who commanded the 1st Brigade of the 4th Division of the 17th Corps, but he declined the appointment. Mr. Smith served in the 33d until Jan- uary, 1865, when, in consequence of an injury in the foot, he was compelled to resign. He returned to Shullsburg, became Mr. Williams' law partner, and, in April, 1866, settled in Prairie du Chien, and entered the office of Hon. O. B. Thomas, as partner. Being convinced that he was not " cut out " for a lawyer, and disliking the court business, he abandoned the profession. In 1867, was appointed Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue, a position he held till July, 1868, when he went to Waukesha, and edited and published the Waukesha Freeman until May, 1870, when he was strongly urged to return to Prairie du Chien, and elit the Union. He bought that paper, and edited it until September, 1874, when he became city editor of the Janesville Daily Gazette, and on the 1st day of January, 1878, he succeeded Gen. James Bintliff as editor of that paper. At the sessions of the Legislature, in 1871 and 1872, he was Clerk of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and during ten sessions was the correspondent of the Milwaukee Sentinel. During the first session of the XLIIId Congress, he was the Washington correspondent for that paper. Mr. Smith's family consists of three children-Paulina Lorena, Jesse Florence and Marshall Denison. Charles Fenton died April 26, 1874, aged 6 years.

WILLIAM SMITH, attorney; was born near Dover, Canada, May 1, 1841, while his parents, natives and citizens of New York, were temporarily sojourning there; came to Rock Co. in September, 1841; educated at Milton College; admitted to the bar in 1865; commenced practice in Janesville the same year ; came to this city in April, 1864. He was for two years Justice of the Peace, and four years Police Justice. Mr. Smith married Louise M. Steele at Janesville, April 9, 1868 ; she was born at Buffalo, N. Y. They have one child-Evalyn Louise, born July 15, 1872.

JOHN SNYDER, farmer. Sec. 16; P. O. Janesville ; born in Austria in 1852; came to America in 1871, settling in township of Harmony ; in 1875, commenced operations for himself on a farm owned by Mr. Sexton, of about 160 acres; raises principally corn, oats and tobacco. Married Mig Anne Zuernon in 1871. also a native of Austria; have one daughter-Amelia, born Feb. 12. 1879. His father, Francis Snyder, lives on farm with him.

FRANK G. STEVENS, manufacturer of cigars and cigar boxes ; born in Janesville Sept. 25, 1849 ; son of Charles and Eliza Stevens ; Charles Stevens came to Janesville in the spring of 1837; he was proprietor of a saw mill and a hotel for many years and was one of the most prominent and bes :- known citizens of this region. He represented this district one term in the State Legislature. Died July 13, 1863; Mrs. Stevens died when Frank was only about 4 years of age. The subject of our sketch served three years in the Quartermaster's Department with the Army of the Tennessee. For three years

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he was with the firm of Morse, Hanson & Co., furniture manufacturers, of .Janesville ; he was three years in the circus and menagerie business ; afterward, for two years, he was with H. S. Woodruff & Co., buckle manufacturers, of this place; since 1876, he has been successfully engaged in his present business. On the 26th of April, 1875, he married Miss Etta King, a native of Michigan; they have one child- Ina May, born May 1, 1876.

STEARNS & BAKER, druggists; Henry C. Stearns learned the drug business in Tarry- town, N. Y .; came to Chicago in 1869, and was in the drug business there five years; in 1874, came to Janesville, and has been in the same business since that time. Married Julia A. Joy, daughter of Hon. David Joy, of Findlay, Ohio, Oct. 27, 1875; she was born in Mannsville, Jefferson Co., N. Y. Mr. S. was alone in business here until October, 1878, when the partnership of Stearns & Baker was formed.

REV. JOHN ST. MUNICH, P. P. of St. Mary's Church ; born Dec. 27, 1833, in Ger- many ; came to America in 1847, and lived in Belleville, Ill., ten years; graduated at St. Vincent College, Cape Girardeau, Mo., in 1862; was ordained at Milwaukee in 1864; was priest of St. Louis' Church at Caledonia, Wis., also presided over Oak Creek and East Caledonia Missions at same time ; was here three years, then presided at Hartford, Washington Co., Wis., five years, and next at Brighton, Kenosha Co., five years, then came to Janesville and founded the church of St. Mary's, over which he now presides.

GEORGE STOCKTON, dry-goods merchant; a native of Williamsburg, Ohio, where he had the advantages of a commercial education and a sufficient amount of practical experience in his fath- er's store to give him, at an early age, an insight into the business of a merchant; he went to New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and other large cities, where he took mental notes of the manner in which the dry-goods trade was conducted, visiting the famous establishment of A. T. Stewart; he came to Janes- ville in 1877, young in years, but old in experience, and established himself in the dry-goods business on Milwaukee street, West Side ; it was supposed by some of the old-established merchants that the business was already overdone in Janesville, and Mr. Stockton was given six months to regret his venture; two years have passed, and instead of suspending, he has been compelled to increase his stock on several occa- sions ; he now employs three assistants ; the respectable appearance of the class of patrons he has drawn about him, speaks volumes for the quality of his goods and his mode of dealing with his customers ; he is what may be termed a modern man, alive to the requirements of the age.

JAMES W. ST. JOHN, physician and surgeon ; son of Levi and Sarah T. St. John, who came to Janesville in the spring of 1836; Levi St. John engaged in farming here, his farm being within what is now the city of Janesville; he died here in October, 1861 ; his wife died in September, 1872; the subject of this sketch was born in Janesville Oct. 30, 1839: he was engaged in farming pursuits until 18 years of age; he then went to Castleton, Vt., and attended the Seminary at that place one year ; after- ward, returned to Janesville and attended the High School, from which he graduated ; in 1859, he com- menced the study of medicine. He was for six months in the United States Service as medical cadet during the late rebellion, Memphis, Tenn., being department headquarters while he served, his duties being at Memphis and vicinity. The Doctor graduated from the Chicago Medical College, Class of 1865. He held the office of Mayor of Janesville in 1875 and 1876, and is now serving second year as President of the Board of Education. Feb. 6, 1873, he married Mary E .. daughter of Ivers Gibbs, of Worcester, Ma-s. ; she was born in Vermont, but her parents removed to Worcester when she was a child.

JAMES SUTHERLAND ; was born in Smithfield Township, Jefferson Co., Ohio, on the 20th day of March, 1820; his earlier years were speut on his father's farm; he received his education mainly at the Ashland Academy and the Norwalk Seminary, institutions of learning in his native State ; he taught school in the winter season, in order to obtain means with which to attend school during the sum- mer ; owing to a failure of health from too close confinement to study, he was compelled to give up his cherished object of going through a regular collegiate course of study. He was married to Miss Elizabeth Withington, in December, 1846, and in the spring of 1847, they emigrated to Rock Co., Wis .; he took up a temporary residence in the town of Rock, but, in the fall of the same year. settled permanently in the village of Janesville, where he has ever since made his home; in the spring of 1848, he opened a book and stationery store, which, though small at the time, bas since grown to be among the largest in the State. Mr. Sutherland has always manifested a deep interest in all public enterprises which could advance the material prosperity of his adopted city, the county of Rock and the State at large; he has, therefore, will- ingly contributed, according to his ability, to aid in the construction of the railroads now centering in Janesville, and also for the building-up the manufacturing establishments, which have given a new impulse to the growth and prosperity of the place; the year prior to his marriage he spent mainly in the Southern States; it was while there, and witnessing the abominations growing out of the institution of slavery, that he resolved within himself that in after life his best efforts should be put forth to break the bonds of the

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oppressed, and to restore the enslaved to their God-given rights; accordingly, he early espoused the An slavery cause, and was present at the mass convention which organized the Republican party in this Stat and has ever been a warm advocate, both in public and in private, of its cardinal doctrines. Whate cause, in his opinion, would lift humanity up into a higher and better life, he has never been afraid advocate ; on the formation of the Rock County Bible Society, in the year 1848, he was elected its Treas urer, which office he has held the greater part of the time during its history ; he has also served the Society in the capacity of Director, Secretary and President ; it is doing no injustice to any officer of that Society to say that its business has been directed largely by his efforts, and that is beneficial results may be traced, in a good degree, to his untiring energy in the Bible cause ; he devotes a due proportion of bis time to church and Sunday-school work, and has been unanimously elected for the last ten years Treasurer of the Young Men's Christian Association ; history has been one of the cherished studies of his life; accordingly, he has taken a deep interest in the success of the Wisconsin State Historical Society, by con- tributing toward its support ; he is a life-member of the same, and has been for several years one of its Vice Presidents; the citizens of Janesville and Rock Co. have, on different occasions, conferred upon him various offices of honor and trust ; on the formation of the State government, and its admission into the Union, he was elected the first Superintendent of Schools for the town of Janesville; he was, upon the formation of a city government for the village, elected its first Superintendent of Schools; after the amend- ment of the charter of the city, conferring the control of the public schools upon a Board of Education, he was, for several years, elected a member of the same ; he has served four years (two terms) as State Sena- tor from the Seventeenth District, and was three years Chairman of the Committee on Education, School and University lands ; he took an active part, while there, in exposing and holding up to public condem. nation the persons about the capital who were familiarly known as "The Forty," and who had been defrauding the school fund of the State by a fictitious sale of school lands; he introduced the first bill in the Stat .. Legislature for the establishment of a State Normal School; as Chairman of the Committee on Education, he reported back a bill, which provided for an educational fund for certain colleges, with a sub stitute, which he entitled " A Bill for the Encouragement of Academies and Normal Schools," and which was championed through the Senate mainly by his efforts, and, after being amended in the Assembly, became the law under which our State, without any direct cost to the people, has acquired an ample normal school fund, and now has the most complete system of normal schools of any State in the Union. Mr. Sutherland was a member of the extra session of the Legislature which disposed of the grant of land to this State, to aid in the construction of certain lines of railroad, and was among the few members of that body who refused a consideration for his vote, opposing every proposition for the disposition of the grant, and afterward took an active part in exposing the frauds in the disposition of the same ; he has been twice elected Mayor of the city of Janesville (during the years 1872-73), by larger majorities than were curr given for that office. In his carlier life, from too close confinement and hard study, he injured his health, and from which he has never been able fully to recover ; realizing that his strength was not sufficient to enable him to attend properly to his own business, and at the same time do justice to any public business with which he might be intrusted, he has not, in later years, aspired to any important public position ; like mankind generally, he has been somewhat ambitious of public notoriety, and to accomplish something good and great in the world ; yet, it can never be said of him that he sacrificed principle or trampled upon the rights of others, in order to accomplish his cherished objects; his motto has been the Golden Rule-" Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you."

LINDLEY M. THAYER, farmer, Sec. 12; P. O. Janesville ; born in Waterville, Kenne- bec Co . Me., in 1805; wife was born in Maxfield. Penobscot Co., Me., in 1805 ; have five children- Sarah. Elizabeth, Jessie, Mary and Abbie ; John P., dead. Belongs to the United Brethren Church ; Republican.

JOHN G. TODD, proprietor of Todd's Ale and Porter Brewery; came with his father, John Todd, together with two brothers and two sisters, from Newcastle-on T, ne, England, in the year 1853: commenced the brewing business in the fall of 1868.

ALLEN R. TOWLE, proprietor of livery stable; born in Portland, Me., Jan. 20. 1854; son of Samuel T. Towle, who served in the 10th Maine V. I. during the late war; removed to Minnesota in 1854, and resided there about seven years; Allen R. Towle was in the Government employ, Indian Agency Department, about eighteen months ; he was in the drug business at Hastings, Minn., one year ; removel to Chicago in 1873, and resided there until he came to Janesville in 1878; during the time he was in Chicago, he was one year proprietor of a restaurant, and for two years conducted a bakery, and was one year engaged in livery business ; since locating in Janesville, he has given his entire attention to the livery busi- ness, and has now one of the best conducted stables in the city.

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The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 110

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