USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 31
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postmaster by President Grant, and reappointed in 1874. In discharging the duties of that office he has become popular with all parties. Under his able management, though with an inadequate force to assist him, the rapidly increasing business has been transacted with remarkable promptness and dispatch. In 1874 it became apparent that the facilities of the post-office must be enlarged, and an appropriation of thirty-eight thousand dollars was made for the purpose .. Accordingly in the summer of that year, Mr. West secured the basement of the old First Presbyterian Church for a temporary post-office,
where he remained until January 31, 1875, when it was again removed to its present enlarged and ele- gant quarters in the Custom-house. During this period Mr. West's signal ability was displayed in serving the public and forwarding mails with the same unfailing promptness and regularity which had distinguished his administration in more convenient quarters.
Mr. West was married October 27, 1841, to Miss Almira L. Kent, of Cayuga county, New York, by whom he has three children now living, two sons and one daughter.
MASSENA B. ERSKINE,
RACINE.
M ASSENA B. ERSKINE was born in Royal- ston, Worcester county, Massachusetts, De- cember 19, 1819. His parents were Walter and Margaret Erskine. Walter Erskine, his father, died when quite young, leaving his family in straitened circumstances. Massena, then a mere lad, was left to assume responsibilities and care heavy to be borne, even by those older than he. He had but little time for school, his energies and labor were required for the sterner necessities of work to help to support a widowed mother. Educational advan- tages were thus early denied him, except that of the common school of New England.
Being apprenticed, by his mother, to learn the shoe-making trade, and before he had finished it, the business became so dull that he was thrown out of employment, and obliged to seek another calling. Fortunately it was so, for it enabled him to choose a trade more suited to his taste and ambition,-that of mechanics, of which he was very fond. He apprenticed himself at Westford, Massachusetts, to a carpenter and builder, and worked at it till 1847, when he commenced business at Westford, in com- pany with another gentleman, as manufacturer of wood working machinery; remaining there till the spring of 1849, when the excitement attending the discovery of gold on the Pacific coast induced him to seek his fortune in that direction.
Arriving at San Francisco, then a small village, he obtained work in a ship-yard, of which he was soon made superintendent, having charge of building, alterations, and repairing steamboats to be placed, and running on the Sacramento and San
Joaquin rivers. His mechanical skill was here put to its first severe test. Parties who had been en- gaged to construct and place in running order those famed boats of California's early history, the Gold Hunter, New World and West Point, had failed to complete the work, when the managers called Mr. Erskine to their assistance, who carried the work to successful completion. Leaving California, Decem- ber, 1850, he returned to his home in Natick, Massa- chusetts, where he remained till June, 1852.
The great West was at this time claiming the attention of the eastern States and attracting many, among them Mr. Erskine, who sought a home in Racine, Wisconsin, where he found Jerome I. Case engaged in manufacturing threshing machines. Ask- ing for employment he obtained it in the shops, where his ability and skill soon became apparent to the proprietor, and in a few months Mr. Erskine was given the entire charge of the mechanical and machinery department of the works; a position, as employé and now as proprietor, he has never ceased to occupy. In 1863 the firm of J. I. Case and Co. was formed, Mr. Erskine purchasing a one-fourth interest. The success of this establishment has gained for it a world-wide fame, and has become celebrated as the largest threshing machine manu- factory in the world.
Mr. Erskine is a gentleman who has won the universal esteem of all who know him. In no sense is he a politician, yet he has been called to fill many important local offices; school commissioner and supervisor of the city, elected mayor of Racine in 1869, and reëlected in 1870 and 1871; he is also
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one of the directors of the Taylor Orphan Asylum, of Racine, one of the noblest charities of the West. A man of broad and liberal views, public-spirited and charitable, his support is felt in many of the leading enterprises of the city, while his benevolence is making many a heart glad.
Mr. Erskine was married at Westford, Massachu-
setts, April 7, 1841, to Miss Susan Perry, a lady whose amiable disposition, benevolence and domes- tic virtue has won for her the sincere esteem of all whose pleasure it is to know her. They have three children - two daughters, Emma and Flora A., and Charles E. Erskine, who for several years filled the position of cashier at J. I. Case and Co.'s office.
WILLIAM BECK,
MILWAUKEE.
W ILLIAM BECK, son of John S. and Louise Beck, was born on the 16th of April, 1823, at Stuttgard, Würtemberg, Germany. His father im- migrated to the city of New York in 1828, and located near the city and engaged in the business of garden- ing, including that of florist, and continued it for sixteen years. In 1844 he moved to Wisconsin and purchased a farm within five miles of the city of Milwaukee. William worked on the farm until the spring of 1847, when he returned to the city of New York, where he had previously received his educa- tion. At the close of the Mexican war he went to Vera Cruz; thence to the city of Mexico, thence to the Pacific coast at Mazatlan, where he and a party of thirty-two others bought a small vessel for the purpose of going to California. They were wrecked at Cape St. Lucas. Finding themselves destitute of any mode of conveyance and of the means of sub- sistence, Mr. Beck and three others started on foot, following the beach, and relying for food on the fish that were chased ashore from the sea by the sharks. After traveling two hundred miles in this manner they found a vessel at anchor, and all hands digging in the sands for water. After telling the tale of their disaster the captain took them on board and in due time landed them on the plat of ground on which the city of San Francisco now stands. While in California Mr. Beck purchased a surf boat to carry freight and passengers between Sacramento and Marysville. Having earned about four thousand dollars in this occupation he loaded his boat on his own account, and in consequence of striking a snag lost boat and all that he had accumulated, leaving him in debt. He and eight others determined to explore the country about the headwaters of the Sacramento and Trinity rivers. After traveling about forty miles during a very warm day they pitched their camp for the night. While lying on the grass
Mr. Beck received an arrow in the right knee, which was the first intimation of the presence of a party of hostile Indians. Rising quickly he received another on the left side of his head, which being delivered at short range, stunned him, and when he revived he found himself and one of his companions tied. hand and foot, five others lying dead, the other two of the nine escaping. After traveling four days with these Indians they were overtaken by twenty-eight miners who had been collected by the two of the party escaping, and who after a short fight with the Indians nearly exterminated the band. After his escape he returned to San Francisco; from thence he went to Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, thence to Otaheite, Society Islands, thence back to San Francisco ; thence to Acapulco in Mexico, and San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua; then to Lima in Peru, and Val- paraiso in Chili; then back to Panama, across the Isthmus to Havana; then to the city of New York. In December, 1850, he returned to Milwaukee. In 1851 he married the daughter of Joseph R. Thomas, and the same fall was elected a member of the legis- lative assembly. In 1852 he was appointed deputy sheriff to do criminal business, and in 1855 he organ- ized the present police force of the city of Milwaukee, which with the exception of a few months during tem- porary resignation, has continued ever since under his control as its chief, and partaking of his spirit and emulating his example, has attained a degree of effectiveness without a parallel in the United States.
In December, 1856, while hunting deer, one of his companions shot an ounce ball accidentally through his neck, entering the back part and coming out through the cheek. In August, 1864, he was shot again through the ankle, and again in 1872 while disarming a drunken man he was shot in the abdo- men.
Mr. Beck is one of the most remarkable men of
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the time. Nature gave him a well developed phy- sique, sinewy, active, and capable of extraordinary endurance. She gave him also a subtle intellect, enabling him to comprehend as well the motives of others as his own relations to surrounding objects. She gave him a calmness which no unexpected emergencies could agitate and a courage that would not quail under any impending dangers. He has encountered difficulties so great, braved dangers so hazardous and made escapes so wonderful, that the mere narrative would seem more like fiction than reality, and verify the remark that "truth is stranger than fiction."
In connection with these heroic qualities Mr. Beck
has a heart alive to every generous emotion, and a feeling of sympathy for all human suffering. These qualities of head and heart, however honorable to human nature, are subordinate to that unwavering sense of duty and that incorruptible integrity which are his distinguishing characteristics.
We cannot conclude this sketch without adding that while Mr. Beck has uniformly discharged the arduous and sometimes delicate and difficult duties of his office fearlessly and with great impartiality, he has at all times enjoyed the confidence and respect of the entire community, and counted among his warm personal friends many of the most distinguished citizens of Milwaukee.
NELSON VANKIRK,
MILWAUKEE.
N TELSON VANKIRK, beef and pork packer, was born December 11, 1826, in Murray, Orleans county, New York, son of Oliver and Jane Vankirk. His father was a well-to-do farmer, of steady and industrious habits. He encountered many difficulties and privations in early life, which taught him self-reliance and self-government, and in after life he was rigid in the government of others. At the age of eighteen, having been but a few months at school, he learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, a branch of which was that of building stills, which during the war of 1812 was very profit- able. He was a man of strictly temperate habits, and to protect his children against the evil influence of the social habits of his day, he kept them at home and employed.
To this careful and watchful training in early youth the subject of this sketch attributes those habits of sobriety, industry and economy which have followed him through life, and to which he owes his great success and prosperity in business. Unlike his father, Mr. Vankirk conceived an early abhorrence of a farmer's life, but possessing much mechanical ingenuity he would, by the use of his father's tools, during the vacation and leisure hours allotted him after the daily tasks were completed, pick up considerable practical knowledge in car- pentry and joining. He acquired his education in the common schools of his native town, together with three months' attendance at an academy. This alternate study and work, together with his self-
apprenticeship at his father's bench, occupied his time until he was twenty years of age, when he determined to shake hands with fortune, and thence- forth shape his own course. In the spring of 1847 he came to Milwaukee, where he found no difficulty in engaging with a millwright as journeyman, which occupation he followed about seven years. He at first received but a dollar and a quarter per day. The first job on which he was employed was in Genesee, Waukesha county. Here his self-training, judgment and practical skill were quickly recognized by his employer, and secured for him on his second job the position of foreman. Finding that by close and unremitting application to his trade he was likely to lose somewhat the faculty for transacting general business, being averse to routine work and desirous of a broader field than this promised, he concluded to change his occupation, and invested what he had saved from his wages in a flouring mill at Lowell, Wisconsin, which was run successfully for two years, when it was burned to the ground. By this calamity he lost nearly all the hard-earned sav- , ings of years.of toil and sacrifice. He, however, had been schooled to meet adversity, and hence would not allow a single misfortune, great as it was, to crush him. Without means, what could he do? He could not make up his mind to return to his original trade as millwright, so going to Milwaukee again he soon contracted with H. C. Bull and J. McVicker to sell lumber for them at Janesville. He remained in their employ about nine months, when, seeing an
1. Vannto
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opening by which he believed he could greatly im- prove his fortunes, and being quick to seize oppor- tunities, he resigned his position, refusing flattering inducements to continue, and proceeded to Madison to engage in the produce business. With a capital not exceeding two thousand dollars he commenced buying and shipping wheat, and as he had foreseen, met with immediate success. In two years he sold out, left Madison, went to Beaver Dam, to which point the old Milwaukee and St. Paul railway was then running, where he rented first the warehouse built in that town; he then built warehouses at dif- ferent points as the road was extended, eight in all, and occupied them as shipper of wheat for the space of two years. His receipts becoming extensive, he then concluded to remove to Milwaukee and sell his own wheat, where in 1860 he went into the general commission business, with P. McGeoch as partner, which he continued with increasing prosperity until 1872, gradually selling his warehouses. In 1867, the Roddis pork-packing house being offered at a bar- gain, and considering the firm competent, they added beef-packing to their business. In 1872 they dis- posed of their commission business, since which time packing has been made a specialty. Mr. Vankirk was generally successful in all his business transac- tions in warehousing, shipping, buying and selling wheat, and latterly in his extensive pork-packing business. Few could hope to meet with greater prosperity in so short a time and without a special training for the business, which, in reality, he drifted into. Always a careful buyer, with a far-sightedness that enabled him to act promptly and at just the right moment, prosperity seemed to follow as a mat- ter of course. Prompt in meeting all obligations, and maintaining a reputation for strict integrity in all business transactions, he has risen to an enviable position in the confidence of business houses gener-
ally, both at home and abroad. In 1872, to accom- modate a rapidly accumulating trade, a large packing house was built on what is termed the "marsh," southwest of the city, which, together with the site, cost over one hundred thousand dollars. The first year's business, which continues but a brief season, was the cutting and packing of twenty thousand hogs. The present year (1874-5) will have reached seventy thousand hogs. The direct capital now employed is upward of five hundred thousand dol- lars, but the average amount required for their daily business is upward of twenty thousand dollars. The capacity of their packing house is the slaughtering and cutting up of more than twenty-five hundred hogs per day. They run at the present time an average of about two thousand. They employ about one hundred and forty hands, at an expense of over two hundred and fifty dollars per day. They have for several years made large shipments to the Liver- pool market, where their provisions are popular and in good demand. They are among the largest ship- pers of pork, etc., to Europe, in the West.
Mr. Vankirk's religious views are based upon the golden rule : "Do unto others as you would that others should do unto you."
In politics, he was originally a whig, and later a republican. He has always possessed large public spirit and interested in the public weal. In Mil- waukee, in 1871, he was elected alderman, and was honored with the position of chairman of the board. He is at the present time president of the Chamber of Commerce, and has often filled important posi- tions in minor offices and committees of the Cham- ber of Commerce. He is a director of the North- western National Fire Insurance Company.
He was married, June 9, 1853, to Miss Harriet E. Richardson, of Lowell, Dodge county, Wisconsin, by whom he has one son and two daughters.
H. SCOTT SLOAN, BEAVER DAM.
H SCOTT SLOAN was born at Morrisville, Madison county, New York, on the 12th of June, 1820. His father, Andrew S. Sloan, was a lawyer; his mother was Mehetabel Conkey. He had common school and academic education, and on leaving school he commenced studying law with A. L. Foster, who represented the Madison and
Onondaga district in Congress in 1838. He studied a year with J. Whipple Jenkins, of Verdon, New York; was admitted to practice in 1842, and prac- ticed at De Reuyter, New York, from 1844 to 1847, and from 1850 to 1854.
He moved to Wisconsin in 1854, and settled at Beaver Dam, and has resided there ever since. He
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has always practiced law, except when prevented by official duties.
He is not a professor of religion, but a firm believer in the essential doctrines of Christianity. His mother was a Presbyterian and he attends that church regularly.
Was married Jannary, 1841, at Cazenovia, New York, to Angeline M. Dodge, daughter of Rev. John R. Dodge, a Presbyterian clergyman. They have six living children. His only brother living is J. C. Sloan, distinguished at the bar for his legal learning and logical power, and in the councils of the nation for his ability as a statesman. There is a remarkable coincidence in the lives and characters of the two brothers : "par nobile fratrum."
He was a Henry Clay whig, and republican from the organization of the party to 1872, when he sup- ported Greeley. He is now a liberal. He was county clerk of Madison county, New York, from 1847 to 1849 inclusive; was a member of the as- sembly of Wisconsin in 1857 ; was mayor of Beaver Dam in 1858; was circuit judge from September, 1858, to June, 1859; was a member of congress from 1861 to 1863; was clerk of the United States district court from 1864 to 1866; was county judge of Dodge county from 1868 to January 1, 1874; and
was attorney-general from 1874 to the present time. The duties of the office of attorney-general dur- ing a portion of the term which Mr. Sloan has already served have been unnsually arduous and laborious. After the passage of the act relating to railroads, known as the "Potter law," the railroad companies employed Messrs. B. R. Curtis, Evarts, and Hoar, among the most eminent lawyers of the country, who in their opinions, elaborately written, pronounced the law nnconstitutional and void. The attorney-general on the other hand, in a very learned and able opinion, held that the law was constitutional and a legitimate exercise of legislative power. Subsequently cases involving the constitu- tionality of this law were discussed in the United States circuit court and in the supreme court of the State, and the positions taken by the attorney-general were fully sustained, and his course of reasoning vindicated. Mr. Sloan has held a variety of public offices, the duties of which he has discharged with ability, integrity and honor. While preserving his own self-respect he commands the respect of others. In all of his social and domestic relations he is genial, conciliatory and scrupulously honest. If all men resembled him, judges would issue no de- crees and lawyers obtain no fees.
LUKE STOUGHTON,
STOUGHTON.
L UKE STOUGHTON, son of Thomas Stough-
ton, was born in a sturdy New England family, in the town of Weathersfield, Vermont, on the 10th of December, 1799. While he was still a child his father removed to Westfield, in the northern part of the State, then an almost unbroken wilderness. Here, of course, his opportunities for acquiring an education were extremely limited ; but he was trained to habits of strictest industry, economy and integ- rity. He learned a mechanical trade and followed it for a number of years, spending a part of his time in Boston, Massachusetts, and Mobile, Alabama.
Returning to his native State he married Miss Eliza Page. In 1837 he visited Wisconsin. In 1838 he removed his family to Janesville, Wiscon- sin. He entered the mercantile business, built the American House, and otherwise aided in promoting the growth of the young town. Here he resided for twelve years, and accumulated a handsome
property. In 1847 he purchased of Daniel Webster a large tract of land in the county of Dane, upon which the village of Stoughton is now located. Although in feeble health he soon bent all his ener- gies to improving the water-power, and building up a large village. He induced a number of his old friends to settle around him, started several kinds of business and influenced the railroad company to run the Milwaukee and Prairie du Chien road through the place. Stoughton is beautifully sit- uated upon the banks of the Catfish river, and in appearance resembles a New England town. It has grown into a thriving village, and is now the busy center of trade for a large extent of country, and contains several large manufacturing establish- ments.
Mr. Stoughton was a man of strong practical sense, sound judgment, a trusted friend and wise counselor. Modest, retiring and deferential to
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others, he has never sought any public position, but has held the high esteem of all who knew him. He loved truth for truth's sake, and was uncompromis- ing in his regard for justice.
His religious views were liberal. He read exten- sively and possessed a large fund of general infor- mation. His manner was characterized by a quiet but manly dignity. At his home he was hospitable in the highest degree, genial in spirit, discussed freely and intelligently the public topics of the day, in regard to which he was stable and conscientious in his opinions. In his domestic relations he was distinguished for kindness and tenderness. His
many years of feeble, failing health, a great trial to one of his active temperament, was borne uncom- plainingly.
He died on the 15th of August, 1874. The Masonic order, of which he was a member, took charge of the body on the occasion of his funeral, and at the grave read their beautiful and impressive ceremony.
Few men have lived more respected or died more regretted by those who knew him, than Mr. Stough- ton. And these considerations should afford consol- atory reflections to his family, who have been left to mourn his loss.
LUCIUS J. BLAKE,
RACINE.
T 'HE subject of this sketch, a native of Burling- ton, Vermont, was born on the 14th of March, 1816, and is the son of Captain Levi Blake and Mary née Sandford. His paternal ancestry is of Irish origin, and was first represented in America by Theophilus Blake, who left the "ould sod " and settled in New Hampshire about the year 1710. Whether driven by fate Theophilus left the Emerald shores, actuated by the same spirit which prompted those other members of the family whom Moore thus addresses,
" Ye Blakes and O'Donnells whose fathers resigned The green hills of their youth among strangers to find That repose which at home they had sighed for in vain,"
or whether for the good of his country, does not now appear. He evidently possessed a desire for adventure, a characteristic prominent in some of his descendants, and which he doubtless inherited from the originator of the name, one Launcelot Ass Lake, i.e. Son of the Lake (since corrupted into Blake). Sir Thomas Malory in his collection of stories pub- lished in 1845, says of this Launcelot, that he was one of those wandering knights whom tradition makes to grace "King Arthur's Round Table," and that following his liege lord in a victorious campaign into Ireland; and that for his valor and as an em- blem of royal favor, he was vested with an estate from the conquered lands, and lived upon it to be- come the founder of the distinguished family of Blakes, of County Galway, Ireland, containing two titles of nobility, lord and baronet; the lords known by the name of Walscourt. This restless
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