USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 10
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in business, and attributes his success to close atten- tion to business and fair dealing. In religion he is a Hebrew of the most liberal kind. He was a whig until the formation of the republican party, and has been a republican ever since. He is one of the directors of the Park Hotel. He has traveled a great deal in Europe. He married, 10th of Sep- tember, 1854, Miss Caroline Springer. They have four children, all living at home. The eldest, a son, Moses Klauber, is acting as cashier for his father. Mr. Klauber is a patriotic citizen- takes a lively interest in all enterprises calculated to promote the general welfare, is a man of strict integrity, of thor- ough business habits, of liberal views and sentiments upon all subjects, and in his social relations a most genial gentleman.
LEWIS SILBER,
MILWAUKEE.
T 'HE subject of this sketch, a native of Kalish, Poland, was born on the 28th of March, 1843, and is the son of Joachim and Rebecca Silber. While a mere boy, Lewis left home to avoid being drafted into the Russian army, and emigrated to the United States, landing in the city of New York on the 15th of September, 1859. Having no trade nor profession by which to earn a livelihood he com- menced his business career by purchasing a few Yankee notions and selling them in New York. Here he passed six months in working energetically by day and attending an evening school by night, in order to acquire a knowledge of the English lan- guage. In April, 1860, he found employment in Orange county, New York, which he pursued for four years, during which time he succeeded by strict economy in saving from his earnings the sum of four hundred dollars. With this small capital he returned to New York city and joined his oldest brother, Morris Silber, with whom he formed a copartnership, and entered into the dry-goods busi- ness in Paterson, New Jersey, under the firm name of M. Silber and Bro. After continuing in business at this place for the period of one year, and thinking the chances for a young man starting in life were more favorable in the great West, he, in company with his brother Morris, moved to Milwaukee, Wis- consin, where, in June, 1865, he opened a dry-goods store on West Water street, opposite the old La-
Crosse depot. He subsequently established a branch store in New London, Wisconsin, but as this enterprise was not as successful as he had anticipated, he discontinued it and moved to Wau- pun, Wisconsin, where, with a general stock, he commenced a business which was from the start successful. His affability, courtesy, and constant readiness to meet the wants of customers gained for him many friends and the patronage of a large extent of surrounding country ; and by able man- agement his trade increased continually, until he became the leading merchant of the town. Finally, after nine years of business success, he removed to Milwaukee and entered into partnership with A. W. Rich, the leading fancy-goods dealer in the West, and succeeded in establishing a first-class wholesale store in connection with their large retail establish- ment.
Mr. Silber is a worthy member of the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, having united with the order at New London, Wisconsin. He subsequently be- came a member by card of Telulah Lodge No. 33, of Waupun; also of Waupun Encampment No. 9. Upon joining the order he at once became an active member, and took a deep interest in its wel- fare, and his ability and zeal obtained their reward in his election to the several leading positions of grand junior warden, grand high priest, and grand patriarch of the Grand Encampment of the State.
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While holding this latter position he instituted the following nine new Encampments: Silber Encamp- ment at Hudson, which was named after him; one at Kilbourn City, Plattsville, Waukesha, Hazel Green, Sheboygan Falls, LaCrosse, Watertown, and Plymouth. In these positions he has performed his duties with eminent success; and, in 1872, as a final honor, he was elected to the office of grand repre- sentative to the Grand Lodge of the United States.
Mr. Silber was married on the 3d of January, 1872, to Miss Carrie Hyman, and their union has been blessed by a son, who was born on the 31st of January, 1873, and also with a daughter, who was born on the 31st of April, 1875.
In all his business and social relations Mr. Silber has borne a high reputation for an agreeable man- ner, and for strict integrity and ability -true char- acteristics of the gentleman and business man.
JOHN MITCHELL, M.D.,
JANESVILLE.
T 'HE life of an ordinary settler on the rough, uncultivated prairie in the early days was con- fessedly a hard one; and when to this the inevitable deprivations and discomforts of a practicing physi- cian's career are added, the climax of unattractive- ness would seem to have been realized. The part taken by the pioneer physicians of the West in its early settlement, has been a highly important one; and many of these scattered members of a noble profession have added no small honor to its already brilliant record. Of this class is Dr. John Mitchell, of Janesville, Wisconsin, the subject of this memoir.
His ancestors were members of the Society of Friends - the followers of Penn. He was born on Christmas day, 1803, on the Neshaminy, near Attle- borough, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Here his grandfather, Richard Mitchell, at an early day, had purchased a farm bordering on that stream, and upon which he built flouring and other mills. After many years he conveyed this property to the Doctor's father, whose name also was Richard, and retired from active life to Attleborough, where he eventually died at an advanced age.
The Doctor's mother was Elizabeth Brown, cousin of General Brown, the commander-in-chief of the army in the war of 1812. Their fathers were broth- ers, and the founders of Brownsville, Jefferson coun- ty, New York.
Having taken possession of this property the Doctor's father was for a time associated in the milling business with a brother of the General - Judge Brown, who previously had married one of his sisters.
Subsequently his father purchased milling and farming property at Yardleyville, a few miles above Trenton, New Jersey, on the Pennsylvania side of
the Delaware, and to that place he removed with his family in 1812. Here the lad obtained his chief education, with a finishing course at Newtown Acad- emy. In 1819 he commenced the study of medicine under his uncle, Dr. John S. Mitchell, of Humes- ville, with whom he remained about two years.
In 1821 his father removed with his family to Rochester, New York, and the son, for an indefinite time, was compelled to give up the study of medi- cine. Here he became a clerk in the dry-goods store of Everingham and Brothers. In the course of some three years the proprietors of the house as- sisted him to establish himself in business at Scotts- ville in the same county. Here he carried on successfully a general country trade.
In 1834 he removed to Buffalo, New York, where he commenced a dry-goods and clothing business on an extended scale, having a separate establish- ment of each at the same time in the city. In this business he continued till the general crash of 1837, which terminated his mercantile career.
In 1838 he entered, as a student, the office of Trowbridge and Winne, eminent physicians of that city ; and with energy and perseverance that knew no discouragement, resumed the study of medicine. He continued his studies without interruption, at- tending at the same time the usual courses of lec- tures, till the winter of 1841 - 2, when he took his degree of M.D. at Geneva College, New York.
After graduating he returned to Buffalo and im- mediately entered upon practice. Although meeting with gratifying success, he decided to emigrate to the then far West.
In 1844 he removed with his family to Janesville, Wisconsin, then a village of only about three hundred inhabitants. Here he established himself perma-
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nently in his profession; and besides attending to its duties also engaged in farming and dealing in lands. A considerable portion of the city is now situated upon what was originally his farm.
In 1851 he established in the interests of his party a weekly newspaper, "The Democratic Standard," of which for some time he was editor and pro- prietor. The paper was eminently successful, and after the presidential election of 1852, a favorable op- portunity offering, he disposed of the establishment.
In 1855 he was elected president of the State Medical Society. Other interests accumulating and claiming his attention he, about this time, retired from active practice; but still for many years en- gaged in medical consultation.
In 1864, and again in 1865, the last two years of the rebellion, he was elected mayor of the city, the second term without a competitor.
In 1874, at its annual meeting, he was elected honorary member of the State Medical Society.
Dr. Mitchell has for many years been in the habit of writing for thepress, and not a few of his magazine and other articles, together with several poems, are of such merit as to deserve more perma- nent record.
Dr. Mitchell has been thrice married; his wives were sisters, and were the daughters of the Hon. Isaac Lacey, deceased, of Monroe county, New York, who for many years was a distinguished member both of the assembly and senate of that State : Elizabeth and Juliet, the first two, lived but a few years after marriage. He has also lost one child, a son, who died in infancy. Cyrena C., his present wife, with one child of each, two sons and one daughter, and an orphan, a niece of Mrs. Mitchell, constitute his family.
HON. BYRON H. KILBOURN,
MILWAUKEE.
H ON. BYRON H. KILBOURN was born in Granby, Connecticut, September 8, 1801. In the fall of 1803, at the age of two years, he was transplanted from his native State to take his chance in the then almost unbroken wilderness of Ohio. His father, Colonel James Kilbourn, during the year last named, removed, with his own and forty other families, on to a large and fertile tract of land which had been purchased by him, as the general agent of the Sciota Company, during the preceding season. His mother was a daughter of the celebrated John Fitch, Esq., the inventor of the steamboat.
The site of their settlement is now known as the village of Worthington, in Franklin county, eight miles from the city of Columbus, and near the center of the State. The scene rapidly changed. The tall forest trees that sheltered the immigrants on their first arrival soon gave place to golden harvests and the pleasant homes of civilization and refine- ment. The central village grew and flourished, and the surrounding farms were rapidly improved, so that in a comparatively short time this settlement became one of the most delightful and attractive places in the State, and was long celebrated, not only for the high moral tone of its society, but was also the seat of learning, and drew to it the youth of the better class of people from all parts of the State.
It held this supremacy during the childhood, youth and early manhood of Mr. Kilbourn. Surrounded by such associations and influences, and his father being in easy circumstances, he acquired at an early age as good an education as could at that time be obtained without the advantage of a regular college course of studies. He showed an early aptitude for mathematics, and pursued his studies in that department with much avidity, especially in their practical application to navigation, surveying and engineering.
At the age of thirteen he left school for a clerk- ship in his father's store, and commenced the life of a trader in dry goods and groceries, which he con- tinued for three years, devoting his leisure time (of which he found an abundance), and particularly his evenings, to the study of mathematics and the read- ing of history and law, and also gave considerable attention to music, for which he had a natural fond- ness. The law, however, was peculiarly his favor- ite study, for the practice of which he was well adapted; but a strong prejudice in the mind of his father against the profession prevented his adopting it as the business of life, and directed his mind and energies into other channels. As he never had any relish for merchandising, and could not bear the confinement necessary to that occupation, at the age
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of sixteen, with his father's approbation, he aban- doned it for more congenial pursuits. Having a strong passion for the wild woods, he engaged in surveying, a business at that time deemed quite abstruse ; and, as surveyors were scarce, a large de- mand existed, yielding ample employment and good compensation, affording Mr. Kilbourn much time for the prosecution of his favorite studies.
During this period his father was a representative in congress, and an ardent supporter of the admin- istration of President Madison ; and during the war of 1812 he became largely engaged in the manufac- ture of woolens. His works, for some years, went on quite prosperously ; but by reason of a subse- quent change in the policy of the government the country became flooded with foreign goods, and the establishment of Colonel Kilbourn, in common with others throughout the country, went down, bankrupt- ing him in their failure. Mr. Kilbourn was about seventeen years old when he was thus thrown upon his own resources. But the experience which he had already acquired as a surveyor now furnished him with a convenient resource to commence life upon on his own account.
In the year 1823, when the surveys were com- menced by the State of Ohio for the stupendous system of internal improvements which was subse- quently carried out, Mr. Kilbourn entered the ser- vice of the State as an engineer, and continued to occupy a prominent position and act an important part in these measures, until the completion of the Ohio canal from Lake Erie to the Ohio river, and of the Miami canal from Dayton to Cincinnati, in 1832. During the first three years of this period his time was principally spent in exploring the State and locating various lines ; and the remaining portion of the time he filled the station of resident engineer in the construction and superintendence of the canal.
In the latter part of the year 1832 he retired somewhat from active service, owing to a severe and long continued attack of rheumatism, brought on by frequent exposure, and on being partially restored to health, in the spring of 1833 he undertook the superintendence of the construction of the Milan ship canal, extending from Lake Erie, at the mouth of Huron river, to Milan, an important business point on that river about ten miles in the interior. Here, in an easy employment requiring only a por- tion of his time, during the year 1833, he recovered sufficiently from his rheumatic attack to indulge in his natural desire for some more active enterprise,
and he determined on looking into that far-off coun- try to the west of Lake Michigan, which then seemed to be beyond the bounds that civilization would reach during that age.
To that distant region he took his course, and landed at Green Bay on the 8th of May, 1834, hav- ing placed himself in the unpretending position of surveyor of public lands, through a contract for that purpose obtained from his warm personal friend, Micajah T. Williams, of Cincinnati, then surveyor- general. His main object, however, was to explore the country, and find, if possible, the natural com- mercial point for all that vast extent of country stretching from the lake westward to the Missis- sippi.
That whole country, now so well known, was then almost unknown to the world, except Green Bay at the northern and Chicago at the southern extreme of the lake. That part of the lake coast lying within the present State of Wisconsin, and indeed the whole State, then constituted part of the Territory of Mich- igan, and was a vast wilderness, along whose borders a steamboat was rarely seen, although at long inter- vals such a phenomenon was even then sometimes witnessed by the native sons of the forest.
A portion of the spring and summer months Mr. Kilbourn spent in the region adjacent to Green Bay and in the Manitowoc and Sheboygan country, in making government surveys, and the remainder of the season to November in exploring the coast, in which he visited all the natural business localities between Manitowoc and Chicago, as well as the in- terior, and finally settled his opinion in favor of the Milwaukee river as the locality on which the largest amount of business could be concentrated, and con- sequently as the most favorable site to become the commercial metropolis of the State thereafter to be formed. The short time which has since elapsed has fully proved the sagacity of that conclusion. Up to 1834 it was a rare occurrence for a white man to be seen at the Milwaukee river. None but those connected with the army, or fur trade, or an adventurous traveler, ever ventured into this un- known region. But since that time, in the short space of thirty-nine years, a city has sprung into existence, numbering one hundred thousand inhab- itants - the commercial emporium of a State which has been peopled and organized within the same period, containing a population of over one million souls.
On Mr. Kilbourn's early visits to Wisconsin, in
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the years 1834, 1835, 1836, and including the greater part of 1837, he traveled the country on horseback, carrying his camp, blankets and provisions, and in the winter season his horse-feed, along with him, and wherever he was when night came, there was his home. Sometimes he was entertained in the wigwams of the Indians, but generally the solitary occupant of his own camp, except, as was frequently the case, he had a traveling companion. There were then no roads or highway, but only the devious Indian trail, and frequently this was neglected, and the journey pursued without any guide but the sun or pocket compass. In 1834 and the beginning of 1835 there was no white man's habitation between Chicago and Green Bay, except that of Mr. Solomon Juneau, on the Milwaukee river, who had been set- tled there many years in the fur trade with the Indi- ans, under John J. Astor's Company. Mr. Juneau was one of nature's noblemen, and was the very soul and embodiment of hospitality and good cheer. His house was a home to every straggler in that wild region, and among his pleasantest recollections Mr. Kilbourn often adverts to the cheerful fireside scenes in that wildwood home, after days of travel, toil and privation.
Having decided to locate himself at Milwaukee, he made his selections of land, embracing all that part of the city lying on the west side of the Mil- waukee river above the confluence of the Menomo- nee, and became, by subsequent purchase in 1835, the original proprietor of all that part of the city, as Mr. Juneau was, by early settlement and preëmp- tion, of the other side of the river, extending to the lake shore.
The following extract from the first directory of the city, published in 1848, is interesting in this connection :
Milwaukee cannot lay claim to any great antiquity. It is, on the contrary, of very recent origin. The city as such is but two years old. The settlement only commenced here in 1834. . . . In May, 1834, Byron Kilbourn, Esq., came to Wisconsin as a government surveyor, and during that year visited Milwaukee, enjoying the hospitality of Mr. Juneau, then the only white man residing between Chicago and Green Bay. He made a location on the west side of the river, with a view to purchase when the land should come into market. Mr. George II. Walker also visited Milwau- kee in the early part of 1834, opening a trading establishment here, and making a claim upon the tract since known as " Walker's Point." At the land sale at Green Bay in July and August, 1835, Mr. Juneau purchased the N.E. 14 of sec. 29, in Town. 7, and Range 22, on which he resided, and Mr. Kilbourn purchased the S.E. If of the same section. These two tracts, extending along the Milwaukee river, a mile in width, constitute the nucleus of the present city of Milwaukee. The proprietorship was subsequently modified by an arrangement between the two purchasers, in accord-
ance with which Mr. Kilbourn conveyed to Mr. Juneau that part of the S.E. 14 of sec. 29 lying east of the river, and Mr. Juneau conveyed to Mr. Kilbourn that part of the N.E. 14 of the same section lying west of the river. Mr. Juneau subsequently added to the original tract by purchase, extending eastwardly and southerly toward the lake, and Mr. Kilbourn, by purchase, extending westwardly and northerly toward the interior ; the entire purchase embrac- ing in the aggregate about six hundred acres, three hundred of which were owned by Mr. Kilbourn, and constituted his plat of Milwaukee on the west side of the river.
A town was organized on the west side of Mil- waukee river in 1837. The first officers elected were, Byron Kilbourn, president ; James H. Rogers, John. H. Tweedy, William R. Longstreet and Dan- iel H. Richards, trustees.
In his first explorations Mr. Kilbourn had an eye to the ways and means of intercourse which were, by the topography of the country, presented for the construction of public works to facilitate trade with the interior, and formed the project of a canal com- munication between the lake at Milwaukee and Rock river, and its extension down that stream by slack water, and up the Catfish to the four lakes, and by canal to the Wisconsin river, thereby opening a wa- ter communication with the Mississippi.
During the summer and fall of 1837 he brought this project before the public by a series of articles published in the "Milwaukee Advertiser," the first newspaper established at Milwaukee. These arti- cles had a wide circulation, and doubtless did their full share in spreading a knowledge of the superior advantages offered by that region to men of business, and for the investment of capital; and no doubt aided much in producing the vast tide of immigration which for years flowed in an unbroken stream in that direction. In pursuance of the plan thus laid before the public, he drew up and circulated peti- tions, brought the subject before the legislature, and obtained the passage of an act incorporating a com- pany for the purpose of constructing a canal to Rock river, called the Milwaukee and Rock River Canal Company. That act was passed early in Jan- uary, 1838, and in February the company was duly formed. Mr. Kilbourn was elected president, and dispatched to Washington for the purpose of obtain- ing a grant of land to aid in the construction of the canal. He succeeded in obtaining a very liberal grant, being one half of all the sections along the route of the canal, ten miles wide from one extreme to the other. This grant, had it been faithfully ap- plied to the object, would have been sufficient to have secured the completion of that important work in a few years. If the administration of that land
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grant, its sale and application to the object designed, ; elected by a small majority. The Milwaukee "Cou- had devolved solely upon Mr. Kilbourn, with his rier," of May 7, 1845, contained an able article re- viewing the claims of the gentlemen who had been proposed as candidates for congress, from which the following extract is taken. After speaking of Messrs. Upham and Darling, the writer continues : experience in works of that nature, there cannot be a doubt that the canal would have been completed by the close of the year 1843, and that the whole country and the city of Milwaukee would have been vastly benefited. For the purpose of being very Byron Kilbourn is unquestionably a man of superior abilities, the characteristics of his mind being liveliness of perception, acuteness ot understanding, searching penetra- tion, indefatigable perseverance, and withal common sense. Never satisfied with any subject that occupies his attention till it is reduced to a demonstration, he is calculated to sift every word, thought, motive and action to the bottom. These powers were propagated and extensively exercised by the practice of his profession of engineering; and it may be thought that his habits of severe thinking, and of refraining from trivial conversation, have rendered him less popular with the mass than others. Ile has even been accused of being aristocratic in his feelings; but we venture to affirm that if ever democracy. found a genial habitation, it has found it in the breast of Byron Kilbourn. He would as willingly shake the hand of the farmer or mechanic, and grasp it as tightly too, as that of the first man in the nation. His whole soul is absorbed in the welfare of Wisconsin, and the breath of slander would fail to impeach his integrity ; falsehood alone could successfully asperse his character. Suffice it to say, the distinction lies here - Upham or Dar- ling would be the most effective candidate before the peo- ple ; Kilbourn would be the most efficient representative on the floor of congress. sure that the lands would be faithfully applied to the objects of the grant, the act of Congress placed them under the control and at the disposal of the legislature of the Territory of Wisconsin, prescrib- ing that they should be sold under certain regula- tions, and the proceeds applied to the construction of the canal, and for " no other purpose whatever." This act was passed in June, 1838, and the legisla- ture, in pursuance of the trust thus reposed in it, undertook the performance of its duties by passing an act in the early part of 1839, under which the work was successfully begun. But in an evil hour local hostilities arose, and local interests and feel- ings began to exert their baleful influence on the legislature, and finally the subject became mixed up in the political cauldron, and for several sessions formed the battle-ground of contending politicians. In the end the further progress of the work was arrested by the direct action of the legislature, which, in disregard of the injunctions of the act of congress, appropriated the proceeds of the sales of those lands to the payment of the debts of the Ter- ritory, and to the defraying the expense of holding two conventions for the formation of a State govern- ment. The canal grant, therefore, obtained solely through the personal exertions of Mr. Kilbourn, though it failed to produce the results aimed at by him, yielded a fund which furnished the legislature the means of paying over a hundred thousand dol- lars of public indebtedness and expenditures.
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