The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 65

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

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As a writer, he was clear, terse and didactic. His great endowments of disciplined thought imparted to his hastiest compositions elaborate force and the grace of perfection. Bold in his propositions, clear in his statements, rapid in execution, complete in demonstration, he was inex- orable in his conclusions. Grant him his premises, and the result was as inevitable as fate. He did not fatigue himself with delicate metaphysical abstractions, nor bewilder his mind with speculative theories, but like an arrow impelled by a vigorous power, he shot directly to the mark. In all his qualifications as a Judge, it may be said without questioning, that he had few equals, and no superior in the State. The dignity of the Circuit Court, while he presided over it, is still spoken of as a model of excellence, and his judicial opinions have established for him the reputation of an able lawyer.

As a public speaker, he was direct and logical, addressing himself to the reason and under- standing, rather than to the passions and prejudices of men, and his conversational powers when interested were of the highest order. Before a deliberative body, he was a man of great influ- ence, but he was too much of a matter-of-fact man to indulge in popular harangues. His early political preference and party association were with the Whigs, and later, with the Republican party ; but he displayed at all times great independence and high-mindedness, never yielding his own deliberate judgment to popular applause, or sacrificing his own convictions to the prevail- ing sentiments of the day, nor was he ever a candidate for any political office.

During his last days, the excitement growing out of the disloyal and belligerent position of the Southern States became more and more intense, yet, notwithstanding his enfeebled con- dition, he watched with unusual interest all the proceedings in Congress until his feelings were roused with all the ardor of intense patriotism, and he frequently expressed a great desire to be restored to health that he might participate in the impending struggle on the part of the Union.

In person, Mr. Keep was tall, erect and rather slender; his manner dignified and graceful; his eye large, black and penetrating, and his whole countenance expressive of great energy and determination. His speech was pleasant, and all his motions seemed to partake of the unceas- ing activity of his mind, and the most casual glance upon him in action or repose never failed to impress the beholder with an instinctive sense of his superiority.

He was married, in 1839, to Cornelia A. Reynolds, daughter of John A. Reynolds, of West- field, N. Y., a lady of rare culture and Christian virtues, who still survives him.

In the family circle, the place of all others to test genuine worth, Mr. Keep was tender and affectionate, very anxious for the welfare of his children, and particularly solicitous about their education. He left four children, two sons and two daughters. He died on the 2d of March, 1861, aged forty-eight years, and, although but in middle life, few men have left such a record of private worth and public usefulness.

His death was a very remarkable one. In fact, death in its usual form never came near him. As said by Judge Conger, his end was indeed that of a philosopher, and his death the death of the Christian.

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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

For two years, his strength wasted gradually until he had not sufficient left to draw a breath, and so he ceased to breathe. The morning on which he died, he was dressed and occupied his easy chair, on which he had reposed during his sickness, looked over some papers from his safe, gave directions in regard to their disposition, conversed with his friends and neighbors, and the sev- eral members of his family separately, taking affectionate leave of each, but still, though his pulse had long ceased to beat, he was not ready to go, for he was waiting the expected arrival of his sister from Janesville, Mrs. Graham, who had been summoned to his side, and looking at his watch and noting the time of the arriving of the cars. he remarked, " I fear she has not come;" but watching the window, in a moment he said, "Indeed, she has come." After a few minutes' conversation with his sister, he said, " I am now ready to depart," and

" Death broke at once the vital chain And freed his soul the nearest way."

This brief sketch of John M. Keep will be barely sufficient to give the reader a bird's-eye view of the excellency of his life, but the more secret and minute peculiarities which most endear him to his friends, can never be known, save to those whose personal relations to him were such as to enable them to form adequate estimates of his private virtues.

His chief qualities of natural greatness were moral courage, great energy, ready decision, and an indomitable will. Few men possess these qualities in so remarkable a degree as John M. Keep, because few men are so profusely endowed with the omnipotence of genius. System- atic in the employment of his time, he was capable of doing rapidly and well what most persons could not perform without much time and great labor. Bred to the bar, his mind was too origi- nal and of too broad a cast to be bound by those narrow and confined views which bind the mere lawyer to former precedents and adjudged cases ; he combined the more noble properties of justice with legal adjudications, commingling the principles of equity with legal rule, thus miti- gating the too oft severity of legal despotism.

THOMAS HENRY LITTLE,

a native of Augusta, Me., was born on the 15th of December, 1832, and was the son of Thomas Little and Elizabeth P. Howard. He traced his ancestry back to the Plymouth Colony, when one Thomas Little married the daughter of Richard Warren, who came over in the May- flower. Always of a quiet, studious disposition, he graduated from Bowdoin College in 1855 with honors, and, soon after, accepted a position as teacher in the high school at Gardiner, Me. One year later, turning his steps westward, he was providentially drawn into a work which, though he then regarded it as only temporary, so engaged him that he afterward resolved to devote his life to it. Arriving at Columbus, Ohio, he engaged to teach in the Institution for the Blind. Remaining till 1859, he accepted a similar position in Baton Rouge, La., but, owing to the troubles in the South, he remained but one year, and returned to Columbus, where he taught until August, 1861, at which time he received a call to the superintendency of the Institution for the Education of the Blind at Janesville, Wis., a position which he accepted and filled till his death, which occurred on the 4th of February, 1875.

He was married, in 1862, to Miss Sarah F. Cowles, daughter of Rev. Henry Cowles, D. D., of Oberlin, Ohio, and became the father of four daughters.

Mr. Little was thoroughly and conscientiously devoted to his work. By close study and careful observation of institutions for the education of the blind in our own and other countries, he became master of the most advanced theories of his profession, and gained such a reputation that when the Institution for the Blind in Batavia, N. Y., was opened in 1868, he was invited to its superintendency. He declined the offer, however, feeling that he could accomplish more where he was. By constant work and close application to study, he so overtasked himself. that, in 1873. by the advice of his physician, he took a sea voyage and spent several months in Europe, visiting different institutions and conferring with the most experienced educators of the

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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

age. The relief from care and labor so improved his health, that he returned with renewed vigor and enthusiasm and an added experience of great value to his work.

Upon the destruction of the main building of the institution by fire, in April, 1874, in his forgetfulness of self and devotion to his pupils and the interests of the State, he periled his own life, receiving injuries from which he never recovered, and which probably hastened the termina- tion of his life. An intimate friend has written of him as follows: ".As a private citizen, he was quiet, unassuming and upright ; as a public officer, he was thorough, untiring, efficient and jealously watchful of the interests committed to his care ; as an instructor, he was a recognized leader in his profession, a disciplinarian who knew how to govern without seeming to govern at all, and who was to his pupils far more like a kind and wise father than like a superintendent, and, as a Christian, he was manly, generous, humble, full of faith, given alike to prayer and good works, seeking to know and do his Master's will, and trusting for salvation only in the merits of a crucified and personal Savior. In his death, the community has lost an upright and useful citizen, the State has lost a faithful, honest and valued servant, the Church has lost an exemplary, prayerful member and efficient officer."

The following tribute was paid to his memory by the Trustees of the institution :

"The Board of Trustees desiring to place upon the record a simple and affectionate testi- monial of their appreciation of Thomas H. Little, M. A., do unanimously adopt the following resolution :

. Resolved. That in the death of Superintendent Little, our institution has lost its best friend, the State an eminent Christian citizen, and the cause to which his life was dedicated one of its foremost men. He was a man of varied and extensive learning, of great executive ability, of indefatigable industry, and his daily life was a continued testi- monial of the faith that was in him and the motives that governed him ""'

DAVID NOGGLE.

was born in Franklin, Franklin Co., Penn., October 9, 1809, and was the son of Joseph and Mary (Duncan) Noggle, natives of the same place. His father belonged to that class known as Pennsylvania Dutch, while his mother was of Scotch-Irish descent. When he was sixteen years old, with his father's family he moved to Greenfield, Ohio. Here he experienced, as a farmer, the hardships and privations of frontier life. His educational advantages had been limited to a few weeks of each winter spent at the district schools of his native State, before the age of six- teen, where, however, he developed a taste for literary pursuits and a controlling desire to become a lawyer ; but, owing to the limited means of his parents, he was somewhat discouraged in his ambitious desires. At the age of nineteen, he left home in quest of more remunerative employ- ment, and was for four years employed in a manufacturing establishment at Madison, N. Y. In 1834, he returned to Ohio. With a younger brother, he assumed the liabilities of his father, who had become embarrassed in his financial matters, and the brothers improved a water-power by the building of a saw-mill that proved a success, furnishing the means for more extended operations.

On the 15th of October, 1834, he married Miss Anna M. Lewis, of Milan, Ohio, and, two years later, he moved with his wife to Winnebago County, Ill., making the long journey with an ox team. Here they made a home in the wilderness, and made the preparation for the profession he so ardently desired to pursue as a life's calling. In 1838, after a rigid examination by the Supreme Court of Illinois, he was admitted to the bar of that State, without having spent an hour in a law office or having received direction in his studies from any member of the pro- fession. In 1839, he sold his farm in Illinois and removed to Beloit, Wis., where he opened a law office, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession, and enjoyed from the outset the patronage of a large clientage in the counties of Winnebago and Boone, in Illinois, and in Rock, Walworth, Green and Iowa Counties, in the then Territory of Wisconsin. In 1840, he was appointed Postmaster at Beloit, a position he retained some five years. In 1845, he removed to Janesville, and, in 1846, he was elected a member of the first Constitutional Convention, and Was recognized as among the leaders of that body. He stood with the progressive elements of

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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

the Convention in favor of homestead exemption, an elective judiciary, and the rights of married women. In 1854, he was elected to the State Legislature from the Janesville district, and at once took a leading position in that body. He was again elected in 1856, and was emphatically the leader of the House during the session of 1857.

In 1858, he was elected Judge of the First Judicial Circuit of Wisconsin, composed of the counties of Kenosha, Racine, Walworth, Rock and Green, and held the office for eight years. discharging its duties with acceptability and establishing for himself an enviable reputation as a sound jurist and an impartial administrator of the law. He retired from the bench in 1866, and, for a short time, resided in Iowa, where he was engaged as attorney for the Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company. He afterward returned to Beloit, where he purchased an elegant home and built up a lucrative practice. In 1869, he was appointed by President Grant to the office of Chief Justice of the Territory of Idaho, a position he retained until 1874, when failing health obliged him to resign. For a time, in search for health, he resided in San Francisco, Cal., and returned to Wisconsin in the autumn of 1875, to his old home in Janesville, where he resided until his death, which took place on the 18th of July, 1878. He was in the sixty-ninth year of his age.

In politics, Judge Noggle was identified with the Democratic party, until the organization of the Republican party. In 1844, he was a delegate to the National Convention which nom- inated President Polk, and, in 1852, to the Convention which nominated President Pierce. He was likewise a delegate to the Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln, in 1860, and was ever after an uncompromising Republican.

The name of Judge Noggle is indissolubly connected with the history and progress of Wis- consin. He was a gentleman of fine presence and commanding appearance, earnest and impressive as a public speaker, possessing great natural force and mental power. His life illustrates what can be done by a well-directed purpose, by a determined will, even though one be thrown upon the world in early manhood without influence, friends or pecuniary resources.

REV. STEPHEN PEET,

a native of Sandgate, Vermont, was born on the 20th of February, 1797. During the follow- ing year, his parents removed to Lee, Mass., where he passed his boyhood, and at the age of sixteen united with the Church. Soon after, he went with his family to Ohio, and there, by the death of his father, was, at the age of seventeen, thrown upon his own resources, and thus early in life he developed that independence of character which so signally marked his subse- quent career. Although dependent upon his own exertions for means, he resolved to enter the ministry, and, after his primary education, completed his preparatory course of study at Nor- folk, Conn., under the tuition of Rev. Ralph Emerson. He entered Yale College in 1819 and graduated with honor in 1823. His theological studies were pursued partly under the direction of Rev. Mr. Emerson, and partly at Princeton, New Haven and Auburn Theological Semin- aries, and on the 22d of February, 1826, he was ordained Pastor at Euclid, Ohio. During the seven years of ministry in this place, his work was greatly blessed, and one sermon especially is said to have been the means of numerous conversions, including five prominent lawyers. While here he became deeply interested in the sailors on the Western waters, and the work so grew upon him that he resigned his pastorate and devoted himself exclusively to it. While engaged in the Bethel cause, between 1835 and 1837, he resided at Buffalo, N. Y., and, in addition to his other duties, edited the Bethel Magazine and Buffalo Spectator, a religious paper, after ward merged in the New York Evangelist.

In October, 1837, he removed to Green Bay, Wis., and became Pastor of the only Presby- terian Church then existing within the present limits of the Sate. Two years later, he secured the erection of a house of worship at a cost of $3,000, and heard the tones of the first church bell in the State, it being the gift of John Jacob Astor, and valued at $500. In 1839, he made a tour through the Territory in the interests of the American Home Mission Society. seeking out its moral destitutions and wants, preparatory to establishing churches. In this tour he

Piter M. Euany

(DECEASED) MILTON

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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

traveled five hundred and seventy-five miles ; visited sixty-four families and thirty-one different places ; preached fourteen sermons ; delivered one temperance address ; attended one funeral; organized one church ; administered the communion three times and baptism twice; attended the meeting of the Presbytery, and distributed many Testaments, tracts and children's books. In 1839, he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church of Milwaukee, and there labored faithfully till 1841, when he was appointed general agent of the American Home Mission Society for Wisconsin. The good resulting from his work in this capacity can never be estimated. Possessed of energy and decision, connected with business tact, zeal, indomitable perseverance and devoted piety, he was pre-eminently suited to the work, prosecuted it with an ardor most creditable to himself, and with a success which entitled him to be regarded as one of the greatest benefactors of the State. He aided in organizing a large proportion of the Congregational and Presbyterian Churches, and was influential in forming the Convention in which the Churches of these two denominations were harmoniously united. In his repeated journeys across the prairies and through the forests, he was often subjected to perils and self- denials, yet he was cheerful and happy in the work of preaching the Gospel to the scattered sheep of Christ's flock, of comforting the lonely, rejoicing with the strong and helping the weak. Though the full results of his work can never be known here, enough have appeared to attest his eminent usefulness as a faithful servant of God, destined to be crowned with honor in the great day of the Lord's appearing. Not only was his heart engaged in the work of spreading the Gospel and establishing churches, but he was also deeply interested in institutions for Christian education. He was an early supporter of the Western Reserve College, and furnished from his church one of the three members of the first graduating class, who is now a minister of the Gospel. More fitly than any one else, he may be called the father of Beloit College. Resigning his agency for the American Home Mission Society, after some eight years' service, he labored nearly three years as financial agent for the College, and was successful in securing a large portion of its early endowments. The first subscription of $1,000, from Rev. Henry Barber, came through his agency, and was followed by $7,000 from the citizens of Beloit, $10,- 000 from Hon. T. W. Williams, a relative of his family, and $10,000 from the self-denying missionaries of the Northwest. On the foundation, thus laid in faith and prayer and self-denial, the college has been built up and made a blessing to both Church and State.

In 1850, from overwork he was prostrated by an illness that seemed his last. His physi- cians despaired of his recovery, and he had even given directions for his funeral. At his request, he was left alone, and prayed till he became impressed with the conviction that he should recover. Calling his physicians, he said, "Gentlemen, I have all confidence in your judgment, but I am assured that the Lord has yet four or five years' work for me to do," and, to the surprise of all, he at once began to mend. His next field of labor was at Batavia, Ill., where he preached for nearly three years to the Congregational Church, and, during that time, initiated and carried to success, a plan for an academical institution as a tributary to Beloit College. The crowning effort of his his life was yet to be undertaken. He had long cherished a desire to establish a theological seminary, through whose graduates he should continue to preach the Gospel after his death. With his characteristic energy he entered upon the work. Within one year, the plan of the Chicago Theological Seminary had been matured, the Board of Trustees appointed, the charter secured and the subscription raised to the amount of $50,000. But he was not per- mitted to see the accomplishment of his purpose. Returning March 14, 1855, from the East, where he had been laboring in the interests of the institution, he called a meeting of the Directors for the 27th, to organize, elect professors and transact any necessary business. On the following day, he was attacked with chills and fever, which resulted in inflammation of the lungs, of which he died at 3 o'clock on Wednesday morning, the 21st. His work was done, and peacefully and gently he entered into his rest. His funeral, which occurred on Friday, the 23d, was conducted by Rev. J. C. Holbrook, who preached from John, xvii, 4-" I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do." His body found its last resting-place in the cemetery at Beloit, within sight of the college he had loved and labored for.

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HISTORY OF ROCK COUNTY.

Thus ended the life of a true man. He is gone, but his work still lives. The train of those who perpetuate his work is still moving on; the churches which he planted in the wilder- ness, the sermons which he preached, the schools established, the acts of charity and deeds of love, all live to commemorate his name, and their influence will be ever expanding with the lapse of time.

THOMAS J. RUGER

died in Janesville April 21, 1878. He was born in Northumberland, Saratoga Co., N. Y., February 25, 1802. In early life, he worked on his father's farm, receiving the benefits of good public and private schools, and was, when quite a young man, a school teacher for a year or more. Entering Union College, Schnectady, N. Y., at the age of twenty-two he graduated. after pursuing its full course of study, with high honors, and taking therefrom the degree of Master of Arts.

In 1830, he became the successor of Rev. Dr. Wilbur Fiske, as Principal of Wilbraham Academy, in Massachusetts, and, two years afterward, was appointed President of the Wes- leyan Seminary, at Lima, N. Y., which position he filled for a period of four years, when he resigned.

In 1836, he was ordained a priest of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and soon after became the Rector of Christ Church Parish, of Sherburne, N. Y. In 1839, he was called to the rectorship of St. John's Church, Marcellus, in the diocese of Western New York. In addition to his pastoral labors, he had charge of the academy there for a period of five years. In 1844, while in attendance at the General Council of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in the city of New York, he was introduced to Bishop Jackson Kemper, whose diocese then included the States of Indiana and Missouri, and the Territories (now States) of Wisconsin. Iowa and Minnesota. The Bishop urged Mr. Ruger to remove into his diocese and become a helper in the Master's work. Accepting this invitation, he removed in that year, with his family, to Janesville, which then was an humble place of only 200 population, and Rock County contained only 2,000.

Trinity Church Parish, of Janesville, was organized in September, 1844, Mr. Ruger being its first Rector. He officiated, also, at Beloit and Milton, holding missionary services at those points for a year or more ; at the same time, the regular services at Trinity were not inter- mitted. In this field he labored faithfully, and with a great degree of success, for more than ten years, and built up a large parish. Commencing with not to exceed ten members, the parish increased to the number of about two hundred communicants within a period of ten years. In 1855, he resigned the charge of Trinity Parish, and retired from the active ministry. He con- tinued, however, to be a member of the diocese of this State, and officiated in Trinity and Christ Church Parishes, Janesville, occasionally, at the request of the Wardens and when either parish was without a Rector, until the last few years.

Mr. Ruger organized a school, of a high grade, in this city, not long after he settled here, which was called the Janesville Academy. It offered opportunities for acquiring a thorough education in English, the classics and mathematics, and did a great amount of good and was largely attended. After relinquishing the charge of Trinity Parish, he engaged actively in the work of cultivating and improving his farm, and continued in this occupation of his youth to the time of his death, with the exception of four years, during which he was Postmaster of Janesville.

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The History of Rock County, Wisconsin: Its Early Settlement, Growth, Development, Resources, Etc., Part 65

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