USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 30
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In July, 1832, Mr. Strong was married to Miss Caroline Frances Green, daughter of Dr. Isaac Green, of Windsor, Vermont.
In 1833 he received the appointment of deputy surveyor-general of the State of Vermont. In 1835, when the democratic and whig parties were being organized for the approaching presidential election, although Mr. Strong's father and numerous relatives were all whigs, yet the leading measures of Jackson's administration met his approval, and he cut loose
from his political associations and supported Mr. Van Buren for the presidency. In 1836, while at Washington City, he was engaged by Governor Hubbard and others to invest large sums of money in government lands, and under their directions he went directly to Mineral Point, in Wisconsin, and invested the funds intrusted to him. Upon his arrival he opened a law and land agency office, and has made that place his home ever since. In 1837 Mr. Strong received an appointment from General Lytle for surveying government lands on the west side of the Mississippi river, in what is now Jackson and Dubuque counties. In 1838 he was appointed United States attorney for the Territory of Wiscon- sin, which office he held three years, discharging its duties with punctuality and ability, and acquiring high professional distinction.
In 1841 Mr. Strong was elected a member of the legislative council to fill a vacancy, and in 1842 was reëlected for the full term of four years, in which he took a prominent and active part in all questions brought before it, and was twice elected as its presi- dent. He was elected as one of the delegates to the convention which assembled in Madison in 1846, and took a leading part in framing the first constitu- tion. This constitution was submitted to the people for adoption, and, after very exciting discussions throughout the State, was rejected. Another con- stitution was adopted in February, 1848, and ratified by the people in March of that year. In November, 1849, Mr. Strong was elected to the assembly, and at the meeting of the legislature in 1850 was chosen speaker. The session lasted thirty-four days, being the shortest ever held in the State.
Henry Handen
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In 1852 he devoted much of his time in aiding the construction of the La Crosse and Milwaukee railroad, and afterward in constructing the Mineral Point railroad. He drew up the charter of the La Crosse railroad, and its adoption was due chiefly to his efforts. He was elected its first president, and continued in its management until the financial dis- aster of 1857. He was also president of the Mineral Point railroad, which he materially benefited by successful arrangements with the Illinois Central and Galena and Chicago railroads. Mr. Strong spent six years in promoting the success of these enterprises, which withdrew him from his profession of the law, and it required years of laborious effort to regain what he had lost.
Mr. Strong, from early education and habit of thought, is a firm believer in the Christian religion, and being attracted by the beautiful and classic liturgy of the Episcopal church, he took an active part in organizing a church in Vermont, and was a member of the vestry. On removing to Mineral Point he, with a few other churchmen, organized Trinity Church in that parish, of which he has ever since been a vestryman, and in which he received the rite of confirmation at the hands of Bishop Kemper. Since then he has been a regular commu- nicant, and frequently a delegate to the diocesan convention. His religious character has nothing of asceticism in it. He has always indulged in the innocent amusements of life.
Since 1858 he has avoided public life, and con- fined himself chiefly to his professional duties in the practice of the law. His chief care for the last few years has been to provide for the education of his
son and daughter. In 1863 the two children went with their mother to New Haven, Connecticut, she remaining with them four years, when his son com- pleted his collegiate course at Yale College, gradu- ating in 1867, at the age of twenty-one. His daugh- ter during the same time was educated at the ladies' school in charge of the Misses Edwards.
Mr. Strong's son remained one year longer in the Sheffield Scientific School connected with Yale, with the view of qualifying himself for the pro- fession of a mining engineer. He was then sent to Germany, where he spent two years in the best mining schools of the country. Since his return to America in 1870 he has been engaged in railroad engineering until, in 1873, he was appointed assist- ant State geologist. Mr. Strong is gratified with the success of his efforts in the education of his children.
Nature has endowed Mr. Strong with some rare gifts, among them a vigorous physical constitution, an intellectual ability of a high order, logical, dis- criminating and comprehensive. He is an able debater, a close reasoner, an impressive and occa- sionally eloquent speaker. He has acquired an enviable reputation at the bar and in the legislative councils, in which bodies as a parliamentarian and presiding officer he has no superior in the State. But his knowledge of the principles of law, his calm deliberation, his logical power and his analytical acumen better fit him for the bench than the bar. If elevated to that position, his ability, learning and experience will enable him to reflect as much honor on that exalted station as its sanctity and dignity would reflect upon him.
GENERAL HENRY HARNDEN, MADISON.
H ENRY HARNDEN, the son of Jonathan and Rhoda Harnden, was born March 4, 1823, at Wilmington, Massachusetts. His ancestors were of the Puritan stock, and came to America in 1640, and settled in Andover, Massachusetts. He had a com- mon-school education. Many of his ancestors on the mother's side were seafaring men, and he, from often hearing his uncles relate their wild adventures and hair-breadth escapes by sea, early inherited a passion for the briny deep. After leaving school, at the age of eighteen years, he sailed on a voyage,
and visited the coast of Africa, also doubled Cape Horn, and visited many of the islands of the Pacific ocean, as also the entire west coast of South Amer- ica from Cape Horn to Mexico, returning after an absence of five years to his father's house in Wil- mington. Afterward he made several voyages to the West Indies and the southern ports ; was in Mex- ico the first summer of the Mexican war, and wit- nessed the debarkation of a part of General Taylor's army at Brazos, Santiago; also assisted in bringing back the wounded of the battle of Palo Alto to New
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Orleans. Losing his health that summer, he returned home, and engaged in clerking in a store at Lowell. In the spring of 1850 he went overland to California, and engaged in gold mining. While crossing the plains the party had several encounters with Indians, who were at that time quite hostile. Not being particularly successful in California, he returned to Boston by the way of Cape Horn, his former experi- ence as a sailor being of great use in getting him a situation on a vessel at high wages. In 1852 he re- moved to Wisconsin, and settled in the town of Sul- livan, Jefferson county. Engaged first in farming, then in lumbering. He owned and operated a steam saw-mill, up to the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, employing a large number of hands in the woods and about the mill.
In religion he is a Methodist.
In politics, first an abolitionist, then free-soiler, then republican. At the commencement of the war he called his work hands together and told them the mill must stop, and that he should enlist, advising them all to do the same, which they did, to a man. At the first assembling of the Ist Wisconsin Cavalry, at Ripon, he went into camp, enlisting and muster- ing in as a first-rate soldier, soon being promoted sergeant, then captain of Company L, which rank he held when the regiment left the State. Colonel Edward Daniels was colonel, and W. Torry the major of his battalion. The regiment was first sent to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri, then in May, 1862, to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. They shortly afterward pushed into the interior to Bloom- field and to the St. Frances river, then into Arkan- sas, bringing up at Helena so decimated by sickness and death that at one time there were but three officers and sixty men who were able to ride on a scout, Captain Harnden being one and in command. While in the department of Missouri and Arkansas Captain Harnden participated in quite a number of sharp engagements with the enemy. At one time, while on a scout with one hundred men, he came suddenly upon a party of about one hundred and thirty of the enemy. A charge was made and the enemy routed with great loss, the Wisconsin men not losing a man. The rebels were huddled about a well getting water at the time, and were not able to form before our men were upon them with the revolver and saber. A moment's hesitancy in mak- ing the charge, the result might have been different. In April, 1863, the regiment was transferred to the army of the Cumberland, General Rosecranz com-
manding, and from that time to the close of the war they were identified with that army, and participated in all the battles and marches. Captain Harnden was promoted major in May 24, 1864, then in grades from third to first major, then lieutenant-colonel, all further promotion being prevented in the regular way by the colonel being in a rebel prison, but he was in command of the regiment up to the close of the war. His services were acknowledged by the bestowal, on the 15th of March, 1865, of commission of brevet-colonel and brigadier-general. General Harnden participated in upward of thirty actions, and was twice wounded in battle, and once severely injured by his horse falling upon him. His first wound was received while leading a cavalry charge near Dallas, Georgia, when serving under General W. T. Sherman, and was very severe, the right arm and shoulder being shattered by a pistol ball, not three feet distant when fired. This wound, received May 26, 1864, necessitated his removal to the hos- pital at Chattanooga, where several weary weeks were passed before he was able to be removed to the north. Recovering partially from his wound, he rejoined his regiment, and was present under Major-General Wilson in the pursuit of General Hood with his rebel horde, after their great defeat before Nashville. He was with General Wilson in his great raid into Alabama and Georgia, when Selma was captured, and Montgomery, Alabama, and Mont- gomery, Georgia. At the storming of Fort Tyler, at West Point, on the Chattahoochee river, Georgia, he led the party, which consisted of the 7th Ken- tucky, 2d Indiana and part of his own regiment, the Ist Wisconsin, which captured the fort after a des- perate struggle on the parapet. In this fight he was wounded in the thigh by a rifle ball, which for the time disabled him. In this action the rebel General Tyler was killed. While at Macon, in May, 1865, he was selected by General Wilson to take a detachment from the Ist Wisconsin Cavalry, and cross the country toward Savannah and head off Jeff. Davis, who was reported to be making his way south through South Carolina into Georgia. This duty was so well performed that it resulted in the capture of the rebel chief at a place, Irvingville, in the southern part of Georgia. At the capture of Davis an unfortunate affair happened, which was afterward the cause of some controversy between General Harnden and the lieutenant-colonel of a Michigan cavalry regiment, but was finally settled by Congress, after a full investigation, dividing the reward given
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for Davis equally between the two parties, and ex- onerating General Harnden from all blame in the collision of the two regiments, in which two men of the Michigan regiment were killed and several wounded, also the wounding of several of the Wis- consin men. The close of the war found him in command of a brigade of cavalry at Edgefield, Tennessee, where the regiment was mustered out of service. After his return to his home in Wisconsin he was immediately elected to the assembly from the third district of Jefferson county. In the legis- lature of 1866 he was chairman of military affairs. He was in the spring of 1867 appointed by Governor Fairchild one of the trustees of the Soldiers' Orphans' Home. The board consisted of Hon. C. C. Wash- burn, Hon. B. F. Hopkins, Senator N. M. Littlejohn, Senator W. I. Abrams, Colonel R. M. Strong and General Henry Harnden. This board appointed General Harnden financial agent to manage the financial affairs of the institution, which he did for one year, to their entire satisfaction, and then re-
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signed to take the United States assessorship of the second collection district of Wisconsin, Mrs. C. A. P. Harvey, widow of the lamented late Governor Harvey, being superintendent of the home at the time. The General was appointed United States collector of internal revenue May 20, 1873, which office he holds at the present time.
He married in December, 1848, Mary A. Lightner, daughter of John Lightner, Esq., of Boston, by whom he has four daughters. His second daughter is mar- ried to Dr. I. H. Noble, of Madison.
His forefathers were revolutionary soldiers; his grandfather was a lieutenant and his brother a cap- tain in the continental army. One of his uncles was wounded in the celebrated sea-fight between the man of war Hornet and the British ship Peacock. Two of his brothers and thirteen of his nephews were in the service of the United States, military and naval, in the war of the rebellion, being every one of the family except two brothers, whose ad- vanced age precluded them from the army.
DAVID W. PERKINS,
MILWAUKEE.
`HE subject of this sketch is a self-made man. By native force and energy of character he has won his way to the position of eminence he now occupies among the professional men of the country. He stands among the growing minds that have been instrumental in developing the great in- dustries of the country that place America at the close of the century proudly eminent among the nations of the earth. He was the third of the seven sons of Zebulon W. Perkins. He was born in the city of Rome, Oneida county, New York, in 1816. His father, in intelligence and ability, ranked above the majority of men of his day, which were devoted to the interests of his family and his country. His home was the center of knowledge pertaining to the times for all the surrounding families. Unfortu- nately for the family, he was blind the last twelve years of his life, and bequeathed no legacy to his children. His mother's maiden name was Harriet Austin, a woman possessed of great native force of character, equal to the emergency of the trying times in which she lived, mastering the affairs of life, shedding peace, purity and happiness over her household from her lovely and amiable nature.
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The influence of his noble mother made its legiti- mate impression upon her son, impressing his soul with her great personal worth, which as a moulding force contributed largely to the formation of his own useful and efficient character in after life, confirming the truth of the axiom, that the paternal qualities are transmitted to their children, through the phys- ical or moral economy of our nature. David's op- portunity for acquiring an education was very lim- ited, being simply what the district common school afforded in the town of his birth. With this humble fortune added to his hands and his brain, he was thrown upon the world to force his way by intuition up the rugged steep of self-culture, mid the shifting scenes of life. Like a true philosopher he found that to conquer others he must first conquer self, and bring all the elements of the physical in subjection to the powers of his higher nature. This victory greatly accelerated the road to self-culture, to which he bent all the strong native energies of his soul in acquiring knowledge. He inherited from his gifted parents great vitality, and a commanding force of purpose. Realizing the fact that there is no royal road to knowledge, his maxim was, "Labor will
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conquer all things," and applied himself with an assiduity worthy of emulation. He was employed, at the age of ten years, by a land surveyor to bear the flag, which he accomplished under circumstances so difficult as to command the admiration of his em- ployer. The approbation thus conferred so fasci- nated him with the profession that he chose it as his for life. He soon mastered its elements and en- gaged, naked-handed, in the struggle with problems, theorems, and equations, stealing time due to sleep, refreshment and pleasure, triumphing in many a mental conflict despite the discouragements under which he labored. In this way he acquired, by using the mere intervals of time economized from the drudging school of daily toil, such practical knowledge of his profession as to secure from the State of New York an appointment in a corps of civil engineers at the age of twenty years. This position he held for four consecutive years, when the suspension of public works by the State buried the hopes of his early life beneath the smothering pall of disappointment. In June of the same year of the last mentioned event his office was consumed by fire, and the accumulations of his life reduced to ashes. Again thrown upon his indomitable will, his strong manhood had to brave the storm in a new struggle for success. No silver lining gilded the sable cloud, but his noble qualities of character shone the brighter in and bore him above the dis- aster. His past discipline had prepared him for the new ordeal. Our rise is often in our fall. Adversity is frequently the school which prepares us for a higher field of usefulness, and stations of a more elevated character. By the native elasticity of his unsubdued purpose he rebounded from the pressure of adverse circumstances, which turned the whole tide of his destiny.
In May, 1840, Mr. Perkins commenced the study of medicine in his native county, alternating it with teaching school for his support. In these he con- tinned two years, when he found a friend in Dr. H. A. Post, a dentist, who volunteered to teach him the profession. The offer was gratefully accepted by young Perkins, who soon acquired such skill as to earn sufficient pecuniary means to attend lectures at the medical college at Albany, New York.
In 1844 Dr. Post further befriended him by in- ducing him to take the office from which he was about retiring in Rome for his native place. New hopes by new prospects were infused into his manly bosom. The grand possibilities of life redoubled
his native energy, which he thenceforth assiduously devoted to elevate himself and his profession. His large endowment of mechanical ability was taxed by his new calling ; and success at an early day placed him side by side with the leading men of his pro- fession in the State. His object was to excel, and his ambition was satisfied only when successfully performing operations of such complicated difficul- ties as to baffle the skill of older operators. In 1857 his wife's health having become delicate, her brother, Dr. S. S. Fitch, of New York, advised a change of climate. For that purpose he came to Milwaukee, and after taking the advice of Drs. E. B. Woolcott and Blanchard of that city upon the probable bene- fits to be derived to his wife's health by the change, he determined to locate in that place. When he arrived with his family on the Ist of October, 1857 he at once took the front rank of his profession, and has maintained it not only, but now stands scarcely second to any operator in the entire coun- try. His reputation is the legitimate reward of un- tiring application, patient toil, together with those high moral qualities of character that win upon the confidence and affection of the community after years of acquaintance. Nothing but quality in his operations could have gained him the practice he has so long enjoyed amid the fierce competition of a great and growing city.
In 1842 he became the subject of profound con- viction upon the subject of salvation, found peace in believing, and united with the Presbyterian church. His active nature found there new opportunities for usefulness, especially among the youth, with whom his genial nature will ever make him popular. His heart is a perpetual summer, and its sunshine sheds the life radiance and heat of Christian love upon youthful society to bring them under the influence of his refined manhood and Christian example. His talents, his money and his time have ever been devoted to the benefit of his race. In every depart- ment of human benevolence his activity is felt. Knowing the beautiful humanity of the redeemed of the world, and feeling the universal kindred of mankind, his sympathies extend to all grades of human society. Self-forgetful in the remembrance of others, his charity is prolific to whatever institu- tion has for its object the amelioration of the sorrows and the elevation of the condition of mankind.
In politics Mr. Perkins is a republican ; casts his vote conscientiously for men and measures for the benefit of the State and nation.
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In 1846 Dr. Perkins was happily allied in marriage to Miss Jane H. Fitch, of Sheldon, Vermont, a lady of broad culture, fine natural endowments, refined and amiable qualities of heart, with great sweetness of character. She discharges the duties of life in the relation of wife and mother with true nobility of purpose and high Christian example before her family and the world. Six children have been the fruit of their union, three sons and three daughters. The youngest, a daughter, is not living. The others are beginning to make their mark in stations of use- fulness and honor. It is particularly to be observed of this character that its central idea has been one of noble aims and purposes, faithful in every station of trust and duty, inspiring the confidence, respect and love of his fellow-men on equality with himself. The legacy of a good name, which the wise man says "is rather to be chosen than great riches," de-
scends to those who will survive him, and " his chil- dren and children's children will rise up and call hin blessed." In texture and make up of character Dr. Perkins is a true type of a native American. With transparent frankness, shrewdness and inde- pendence combined, he despises any form of fawn- ing hypocrisy. The true and beautiful in nature and art have in him a warm and true friend. His home surroundings show him to be a man of varied culture and fine taste. His life is in the yellow leaf, ripe with practical knowledge on all subjects pertaining to the interests of society, with hopes of eternal life warming and tranquilizing his bosom as he lowers the declivity toward the final rest. We trust his useful life may yet be spared many years to bless and illumine society, and when his sun of life goes down it will set in a clear sky, the world having been made the better by the paths his feet have trod.
SAMUEL C. WEST,
MILWAUKEE.
S AMUEL C. WEST, postmaster at Milwaukee, pany was organized, Mr. West was elected its secre- tary, and held the position two years ; then he bought the stock of books and stationery of Ford and Fair- banks, and continued six years in this business, hav- ing in the meantime taken in his brother, H. H. West, as partner, and subsequently selling out his own interest to S. S. Sherman. was born June 26, 1818, in Colebrook, Con- necticut, son of Hubbell and Sarah West, who re- moved to Elbridge, New York, when Samuel was nine years old. Here he received an ordinary dis- trict school and academic education, after which he entered a store as clerk. Remaining four years in this store, he so won the confidence of In religious views Mr. West is Presbyterian. His mother was in early life a Congregationalist, but while in Elbridge, New York, she united with the Presbyterian church. He was an elder in the first Presbyterian church of Milwaukee, and at the organ- ization of the Calvary church became one of its elders. his employers by habits of industry, integrity and careful application to business, that they furnished him capital sufficient to start in trade for himself in the adjoining town of Port Byron. This venture, however, did not prove a financial success for Mr. West, but he has often been heard to declare that it was " the most fortunate move" of his life, as there Politically, he was a Jackson and Van Buren demo- crat when a young man ; but after 1841, became an abolitionist, and so continued until the organization of the republican party, when he joined its ranks and has ever since been faithful to its interests. he found his wife. After two years in Port Byron, where he was engaged in the humber trade, he re- moved to Wisconsin in 1846, and settled in Mil- waukee, where he spent two years as bookkeeper in a hardware store. He then commenced the family Mr. West's military career was brief. He was lieutenant in New York militia before removing to Wisconsin, and was a loyal supporter of the admin- istration during the rebellion. Soon after coming to Milwaukee he was elected to the common council ; in 1868 he represented the fourth ward in the as- sembly of Wisconsin, and was at one time acting grocery business, and was the first merchant in Mil- waukee to convey goods to the homes of purchasers with a delivery wagon - trading a watch which cost him fifteen dollars for the first horse kept for that purpose. After four years of successful grocery trade, he sold out in order to take the position of city clerk. When the United States Insurance Com- mayor of Milwaukee. In 1870 he was appointed
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