USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 12
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tablishing himself in his business had increased, he found it necessary to engage in some occupation to recruit his health. The fertility and beauty of the western prairies, so unlike his rugged New England home, had attracted him on his first visit. Deter- mined to abandon the editorial life, he purchased a farm near Freeport, Illinois. At that time it took six weeks of slow and toilsome travel to get from Hamilton to his new home. He started in company with a friend. With a span of horses hitched to a sleigh, surmounted by a wagon, they left Hamilton in February, 1845. In Ohio they found bare ground, and abandoned the runners. They reached the farm in season to put in a crop of wheat, and were very hopeful, but the crop failed. They then bought sheep, but half the flock died the first winter. Mis- fortune followed misfortune, and they were sur- rounded by distress and discouragements on every side. Two years spent on this farm restored the colonel's health, but exhausted his funds and fur- nished him with all the agricultural experience he deemed it advisable to indulge in. He sold out, and determined to again engage in editorial labors. No place seemed so attractive to him then as the thriving territory of Wisconsin. Population was in- creasing from the flood of immigration setting west- ward, and Wisconsin was soon to be admitted into the Union. In casting about for a good place to settle, he found no spot so inviting as Madison, the capital of the Territory, and on reaching it he im- mediately became connected with the "Madison Express." The capital was then a small village, and there was but little business, except such as was derived directly or indirectly from the public print- ing. His duties were arduous and varied. He was, to use his own words in a history of the "Dane County Press," "editor, reporter, compositor, fore- man, and all hands." He reported the proceedings of the last two sessions of the territorial legislature, convened at Madison, and the entire proceedings of the constitutional convention. Probably no one is more familiar with the action of that body than he. He was present not only at every ses- sion, but every moment that the convention was in session, and was thus able, without assistance, to write out as complete a report as could be made by one not a stenographer. He here established a reputation for accuracy and dispatch in furnishing matter for a paper. His capacity in this respect is remarkable. He seldom hesitates in writing, and hardly ever interlines. His ideas flow in full, even
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sentences, and they come with the same readiness when engaged in debate. He is interesting, instruc- tive, practical, but brief and pointed in his method, yet he elaborates readily without ceasing to interest. His ideas are held in solution, and are consequently available without a long solving process. His pen is always ready. His mind is clear, comprehensive, analytical, his observations keen, and his memory retentive. Confident that he had found in Madison and the thriving country tributary to it, a field where the labors of his life would be rewarded, he deter- mined to settle permanently. He assumed control of the "Madison Express," which was issued tri- weekly during the session of the constitutional con- vention. The State was admitted into the Union in May, 1848.
At this time, three of the twelve or fifteen papers of the State were published in Madison. Two of the three were democratic, conducted by men of ability, aided by capital and patronage. Hard work, judicious judgment, frugality and the unfaltering courage of young Atwood, sustained the "Express " in the face of these difficulties. Of sixteen political papers published in Madison, some have changed hands twelve times, and fourteen have ceased to exist.
In September, 1852, General Atwood commenced the publication of the "Daily State Journal," and still continues it. About a year after the " Journal " was established, he associated with him the Hon. Horace Rublee, now minister-resident of the United States to Switzerland - a man of decided intellect- ual power and fine culture. The "Journal " took a leading position, became firmly established, and is increasing in usefulness. It is republican in politics, enterprising, and devoted to the best interests of the State. Its power has always been wielded for the public good. It is the life-work and monument of General Atwood. He was one of the leading spirits in the organization of the republican party in 1854, and was appointed in 1855 clerk of the first repub- lican assembly ever elected.
In 1858 he was commissioned major-general of the fifth division of State militia. In 1860 he was chosen a member of the legislature. He was ap- pointed United States assessor upon the creation of that office. He was mayor of Madison in 1868.
In January, 1870, Hon. B. F. Hopkins, member of congress from the capital district, died, and Mr. Atwood was at once elected to fill the vacancy thus created without any opposing candidate. He took
his seat on the 23d of February, 1870; and was placed on the committee on Pacific railroads, one of the most laborious committees in the house. Dur- ing that long session, he devoted himself assiduously to his duties on the floor, in the committee-room, and in the various departments of government, in behalf of those seeking assistance or information. Several important bills for the interest of the North- west were passed during that session, among which may be named, an act to render the land grant avail- able to the Northern Pacific Railway Company; an act providing for the assumption by the general gov- ernment of the improvement of the Fox and Wis- consin rivers, so as to complete a navigable water communication between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river, and an act dividing Wisconsin into two judicial districts, providing for the appointment of a judge, and for holding terms of court in four places instead of two. He obtained appropriations for completing and furnishing the United States court house and post-office at Madison. Mr. Atwood labored diligently for the passage of those bills. He declined reëlection.
During his term in congress, an act was passed authorizing the appointment of a commission for making preparations for commemorating the cen- tennial anniversary of American independence, by holding an international exhibition in Philadelphia, in 1876, and he took an active part in urging the passage of this bill, and in favor of locating the ex- hibition at Philadelphia. He was appointed a com- missioner to represent Wisconsin in that commission, and in organizing on the 4th of March, 1873, he was made the first president of that body, and spoke the first official word in it. Since that time he has de- voted much time in promoting the interests of the centennial movement.
He has been thirteen years treasurer of the State Agricultural Society, twenty-four years a director. and for five years last past the president of the Madison Mutual Insurance Company; ten years a trustee of the State Hospital for the Insane.
In person, he is of medium size, has dark blue eyes, and hair nearly white. His features are regular, attractive and expressive. His private character is above reproach. He is even-tem- pered, hopeful and frank; hospitable, and temper- ate in all things. He has decided abilities, both as a speaker and writer, versatile, far-seeing and cautious. He has been a safe guide to the repub- lican party. He has been sometimes styled "the
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Ben. Franklin of the Western press," and to those who know him best he .possesses the same character- istics.
The maiden name of Mrs. Atwood was Mary Sweeney. Her early years were passed in Canton, Ohio. In '1848, with her father, she removed to Wisconsin, and in 1849 was married to Mr. Atwood. This union was so much in harmony with nature, that her choicest blessings only could flow from it. He is the hero, to protect her from danger; she, the heroine, to encourage him in his struggles. He is the sturdy oak, to breast the storms of life; she, the
loving vine, to twine around its branches. The harmony of nature is preserved in the offspring of their union. There are two sons to sustain the father in the down-hill of life; two daughters to love and cherish the mother. One son is representing the honor of his country abroad, the other is labor- ing in his father's vocation. One daughter has ripened into womanhood, and is the ornament of the household; the other has yet her sweetest charms unfolded. These parents may, like the mother of the Gracchi when called upon for her jewels, point to their children.
A. J. WARD, M.D.,
MADISON.
D R. A. I. WARD was born March 1, 1824, at New Milford, Susquehanna county, Pennsyl- vania, the son of William and Sally Ward. He re- ceived in early life an academic education, after which he commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Case, of Howard Flatts, Steuben county, New York, remaining with him one year; he then went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and entered the uni- versity, in which he remained four years, where he graduated in the spring of 1846, at the age of twenty- one years. He commenced the practice of his pro- fession at Painted Post, in the State of New York. At the commencement of the war with Mexico he joined the army as a private soldier, and went to California, around Cape Horn. Shortly after his arrival there, he was promoted to the office of as- sistant surgeon, remaining such until the close of the war. He remained there one year after the war, when he returned to Pennsylvania. During the winter of 1849-50 he was in Washington city and in North Carolina. In the succeeding summer he came to Madison, Wisconsin, and commenced the practice of medicine. He remained at Madison until 1859, when he left for Saint Louis, Missouri, where he opened an office, continuing there one year, when he went to Pike's Peak, prospecting for gold. He spent the winter of 1860-61 at Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Hearing of the attack on Fort Sumter in the April following, he returned to Madison, Wisconsin, whence he was summoned to Washington to take charge of the 2d Wisconsin Regiment as surgeon. This regiment composed a part of what was termed
the Iron Brigade, under the command of Colonel Lucius Fairchild, of Wisconsin. This brigade com- posed a part of the first army corps. Dr. Ward was connected with this corps during the three following years, occasionally acting as brigade surgeon, and as surgeon-in-chief of the division; he also was in charge of the wounded of the first army corps after the battles of Fredericksburg and Gettysburg. After the latter battle twenty-two hundred wounded soldiers were placed under his charge. He after- ward accompanied Wadsworth's division on its march to Richmond. During the first day's fight in the Wilderness, nine hundred wounded soldiers were dressed and sent to the rear from this division alone. From this time on there was continuous fighting until Richmond was reached.
The term for which the 2d Wisconsin Regiment enlisted having expired, it was mustered out of the service and Dr. Ward was mustered into the 43d Wisconsin Regiment.
The 43d Regiment of Wisconsin was ordered to Nashville, Tennessee, when Dr. Ward, by a general order from General Thomas, was made inspector of hospitals in and about Nashville, in which capacity he acted until the spring of 1865. After the fall of Richmond and General Lee's surrender, Dr. Ward resigned and returned to Madison, Wisconsin, re- suming the practice of medicine. Shortly afterward he was breveted lieutenant-colonel on account of meritorious service during the war.
Dr. Ward was married in 1846, at Howard, Steu- ben county, New York, to Miss Ellen McConnell. Two children have been the result of this union, one
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of whom alone is living, the wife of Charles Atwood, the present vice-consul at Liverpool. She was two years at the Georgetown Convent, in the District of Columbia, and completed her education at Madison, Wisconsin, under the joint instruction of the uni- versity and her mother, who is so admirably quali- fied by nature and by intellectual culture to impress the mind of her daughter with the wise maxims of
life, the loveliness of virtue, and the charms of culti- vated society.
Dr. Ward's advantages in acquiring a knowledge of the principles of his profession, together with his experience in the army, have acquired for him high distinction as a physician and an enviable repu- tation as a surgeon, the benefits of which he is now enjoying in an increasing and profitable practice.
PROFESSOR JACKSON J. BUSHNELL, BELOIT.
T HE subject of this sketch, a native of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, was born on the 19th of February, 1815, and received his name in honor of General Jackson, whose victory at New Orleans, a month previous, secured to the country the great valley to which the manhood of this man was de- voted. His early life was passed in his native place, where he received his preparatory education and developed that devotedness to principle and that desire to benefit his fellow-men which so signally marked his subsequent career. He early became the subject of religious impressions, whose influence never lost their hold upon him, but did not unite with the church until he reached his nineteenth year, at which time he was a clerk in the village of Deep River. His mind having turned toward the ministry, he entered Yale College to prepare for his life-work, and although he had had but one years' preparation he maintained a high standard of schol- arship during his entire course, and besides, paid his expenses by his own earnings, a fact which must be mentioned to his honor, but it is only just to him to say that he would never advise a young man to imitate his course. If it made him economical it never made him close; and if he was independent in his self-reliance, no man was ever more helpful to others; and although business occupied both his hands and half his mind it never possessed a corner of his soul. After graduating from college, in 1841, he spent a few months in the Theological Seminary at Andover, Massachusetts, and later was for several years connected with the Western Reserve College as instructor and financial agent. In April, 1848, he removed to Beloit, Wisconsin, and from that time to the day of his death was identified with the interests of Beloit College in his sympathies, and for nearly all the time by official position as professor of math-
ematics or treasurer of the college. A most thorough business manager, he never allowed secular interests to interfere with his Christian life; overwhelmed with business, he was thoroughly unselfish; most active among those who were eager for money, he did not seem to care for money; with plans the largest and most sanguine, he never seemed in haste to be rich. Active, energetic and enterprising, he was pure in all his motives, and in all that he did sought to serve some noble purpose. He was pre- eminently a Christian business man. In the build- ing up of Beloit College no one was more active than he. Entering heartily into the enterprise of establishing a Christian institution as a center of blessing for all men, for all time, he said at the beginning of his work, "We can have a college here if we will make one;" a principle which seemed to inspire him in all his efforts. In laboring for the endowment of the college, he always sought to lead the way to which he called others, thinking it easier to earn an endowment than to beg one. In working for the college, however, he did not separate it from the interests of the community; whatever would build up the city, whether a bank, a railroad, a water- power, a Sabbath-school, or a church, would strength- en the college; and thus sympathizing with and aiding in all ways to build up a Christian community. The city is full of monuments of his energy. For the endowment of the college no resources which his greatest worldly success could have brought would be more than may be brought in as the result of such an example of high aims in business life. His devotion itself was a continual endowment of vigor and soul, and even his presence a constant inspiration to his fellow teachers and pupils. As a teacher he was earnest, clear, faithful and kind; as a friend, true. What he was in one relation that was
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he in all; and manifold as his life was it was the most simple in its character. Hopeful in adversity, genial, helpful, earnest, full of activity of body, mind and soul, he faithfully, illustrated in his life the truth that man is possessed of a divine nature which is but a spark of divinity itself. It was always morning with him, and the darkest clouds were tinged with a golden hue. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, mind, might and strength, and thy neighbor as thyself," was the great rule of his life, and most faithfully did he carry it out in his works. He was an incessant worker, and although his vivid spirit kept its glow, his manifold labors wore upon his frame, and on Saturday night, the Ist of March, 1873, he went weary to rest. During the night he was attacked with the typhoid pneumonia, and for nearly seven days lay under its power. At four o'clock on Saturday, March 8, he ceased to breathe, and his features, freed from the perpetual urgency of his spirit, assumed in their repose a nobleness which was a new revelation of the grandeur of char- acter which had been forming under that restless activity. His last audible words were, “ How beau- tiful," and when asked, "Is it Christ?" he replied,
" Yes." His favorite idea of heaven was, "work without weariness." He has gone! and though dead, he still lives, and the influence of his noble life and example shall continue to grow as the years roll away.
At a meeting of the alumni and friends of Beloit College at the Matteson House, Chicago, the follow- ing resolutions were adopted :
Resolved, That in the death of Professor Jackson J. Bushnell, we feel that Beloit College has lost an able, faith- ful and successful instructor, to whose self-sacrificing efforts it largely owes its birth amid doubts, and its growth amid many discouragements; that it was his remarkable financial ability which rescued the college from pecuniary embar- rassments, and that not only as a man of business, but as a wise counselor and a cheerful, warm-hearted Christian, he commanded the respect and love of all who came in contact with him.
Resolved, That while the intelligence of his death has saddened our hearts, it has also brought to our minds a bright example of perseverance under difficulties, faith amid trials, and devotion and self-sacrifice in the cause of education and religion, which should lead us to emulate him and to take a greater personal interest in the college to which he gave his best labors and his greatest sacrifices and his life.
Resolved, That we deeply sympathize with the afflicted family in the severe bereavement which they have experi- enced, and with the faculty of the college in the removal of an honored colleague who had been associated with them from the founding of the institution.
ROGER H. MILLS,
BELOIT.
R OGER H. MILLS, a native of New Hartford, in Litchfield county, Connecticut, was born the 18th of April, 1813, and is the son of Roger Mills and Harriet née Merrill. His father, a lawyer, was a prominent man in his State. His original paternal ancestor in this country was Simon Mills, who immigrated from Windsor, England, with Cap- tain Newbury, previous to the year 1635, as it is understood.
His grandfathers were J'oseph Mills and Phinias Merrill, the latter a captain in the revolutionary army. Until his removal to Beloit, his residence was in the town of his birth, with the exception of one year immediately preceding his coming to this State; was admitted to the bar from Yale College Law School, in 1831, and immediately commenced practice in his native town, entering into business with his father, who, not long after, retired from his professional life, leaving the son to continue the office and business, which he did successfully until the fall of 1853, when he removed to New Britain,
Connecticut, where he remained until the Ist of October, 1854, the time of his removal to Wisconsin. In the spring of 1855 he commenced the practice of his profession in Beloit, in which he has since con- tinued.
While a resident of Connecticut he was honored by being elected to represent his native town in the general assembly, first in 1839, and one term subse- quently, and in 1848 was elected a member of the senate from his district, and the next year was elected secretary of state. Mr. Mills was, in the succeeding year, a candidate for lieutenant-gov- ernor, put in nomination by the whig party, and defeated by one vote. He held several other offices in the State ; was judge of probate in his district some twelve years; two years chairman of the board of directors of the Connecticut State Prison, and held other appointments, all which shows the estimation in which he was held by his neighbors and the people of the State.
It was not so much the way, in that day and lati-
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tude, to seek appointments to office, as now; and it is said that Mr. Mills had no knowledge or inti- mation of his being placed in the candidacy for senatorial honors, or as secretary of state, until after he had been nominated in the conventions that presented his name for the honors which were tendered to him.
In his political views he has always been decided and pronounced-first a whig, then a republican - always according to his neighbors and friends the right to adopt and enforce their political sentiments.
In religious sentiments, Mr. Mills is identified with the Congregational denomination and church.
July 17, 1859, he married Harriet A. North, of New Britain, Connecticut, and they now have, of living children, Roger Henry Mills, junior, who graduated at Beloit College in 1874; John Ham- mond Mills, who graduated at the same college in 1875, and one daughter, Clara Burnham Mills.
The sons are law students, R. H. Mills, junior, in his father's office, and John H. Mills in Columbian Law School, at Washington, District of Columbia.
NICHOLAS M. HARRINGTON,
DELAVAN.
T HE personal history of the gentleman whose name and portrait are herewith presented, is worthy of record and a fixed place in the annals of the earlier days of Wisconsin's emergence from her once barbaric state, when the stalwart Winnebagos occupied - or later, when the wily chieftain, Black- hawk, invaded -her territory to wrest it from the in- truding white man.
Mr. Harrington may be ranked with the class called " self-made men," but his career through life thus far illustrates more than the common meaning of that appellation, in its ordinary application ; for, from his boyhood he has stood aloof and far above what usually are regarded irresistible influencing surroundings. And it is this strongly marked feature of his character, without apparent studied effort or ostentation, as best known to his boyhood acquaint- ances, that renders the history and progress of his life of peculiar value to those of coming generations who would be directed by example, and what has been and what may be achieved, as a rule and guide for life efforts and duties, rather than by the laggard plea and defense of " destiny " and "fixed fate."
Mr. Harrington, therefore, stands before his gen- eration and is an example to those who follow - as from first effort establishing himself on a pedestal of elevated moral principle, and always cultivating order and system in his habits, thus acquiring as a result perfect mastery over inclinations, passion and the directing attributes of organization, physical and mental, until he has been able to subordinate all to a rational control of judgment and really a pleasura- ble direction in the line of duties, that has marked his manhood and career. It is in this light that his
history is of special value to the coming man, as strikingly illustrative of what one may do for and of himself when once imbued with a love of being right and an ambition to climb the hill of life among those to be known and valued for their virtues and successes, always assuming as a rule for himself that the "individual is wholly responsible for the use made of the talents with which he is endowed," and that the seed of usefulness is in his own hands.
Mr. Harrington was born in Rhode Island, at West Greenwich, July 15, 1815, and was the son of David Harrington, and Amy Andrews, the widow of William Corey, a sea-captain. His paternal ances- tors on both sides were fugitives from religious per- secutions under Cromwell, in the seventeenth century, and settled in Smithfield, Rhode Island. They and their descendants participated in the French and Indian wars and the Revolution. Two brothers and a near relative on his father's side were engaged in the opening fight for independence at Lexington, and two of them were killed, namely, Jonathan and Caleb Harrington. (See "Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution," vol. I, p. 554.) The whole race of emigrants and descendants seem marked with courage, good strong common sense, sound judg- ment and vigorous intellect.
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