USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 32
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spirit of Launcelot took some of his descendants back to England, and from them sprang the younger branches of the family, made famous by Admiral Robert Blake, who secured to England much of her naval supremacy. Again, we find it cropping out in Levi, the father of our subject, who early in 1817 left his home in Vermont and settled in Erie county, New York. During the eleven years that he remained here, Lucius attended the district schools, and was at one time under the tuition of Millard Fillmore, afterward President of the United States. His father next removed to Crawford county, Pennsylvania, where the family remained seven years, engaged in farming. But the country becoming too old for the father, he, in 1834, took two of his sons, Lucius and Sandford, and went to Chicago, Illinois, then consisting of Fort Dearborn and a small village. Here with his sons he engaged as contractor and builder, and assisted in erecting many buildings, some of which long remained as vestiges of old Chicago. Returning in the fall, he brought his family as far as Cass county, Michigan ; and leaving them took three sons, and again started westward, arriving in Chicago on the 10th of February, 1835. There providing themselves with supplies and blan- kets, started northward. After a perilous and tedious journey of several days, exposed to snows and bitter cold, they, on the 15th of February, made a claim six miles northwest of the present site of Racine, and built a shanty without a window in it. Return- ing to Michigan they soon brought the family to Chicago, and during the next two years Lucius and
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a younger brother lived alone on their claim, break- ing and fencing. Captain Blake's capacious log house, built in 1837, was a land-mark in the coun- try, and the hospitality of its proprietor gave to it the appropriate name of "Our House."
Lucius contracted to remain on his father's farm after attaining his majority, for a compensation of twenty-five dollars per month, and at the expiration of that time engaged himself as a carpenter and joiner to General Bullen and Samuel Hale, of Keno- sha (then Southport), receiving a compensation of one dollar and fifty cents per day in "store pay." He was afterward engaged at Racine in the employ of Mr. Charles S. Wright. At the age of twenty-three years he began contracting and building on his own account, and soon had a small force of men in his employ, one of whom, Charles S. Bunce, has re- mained with him during a period of thiry-five years, and is now at the head of his manufacturing estab- lishment. In 1843, having accumulated a small capital, Mr. Blake began the manufacture of farming implements, making fanning mills a specialty. Be- ginning on a scale proportionate to his capital and the demands of the farming community, he has added to his business year by year, until from his establishment, now the largest in the world in this specialty, shipments are made to Vermont on the east and California and Oregon on the west : and 1875 witnessed the establishment of an agency in Pesth, Hungary, the center of wheat-growing coun- tries of central Europe. One great secret of Mr. Blake's success has been his continuity : while every member of his father's has family gone further west, he has remained steadily employed in the place of his early adoption, and has seen it grow from the wild woods into a thriving city. As his means have
increased he has sought opportunities for invest- ment, associating with himself partners of ability and integrity. Aside from his manufacture of agricul- tural implements, he is at the head of the largest woolen mill in the West, which has gained a wide reputation for its manufacture of shawls. He has dealt extensively in real estate, and is now one of the largest property-holders in Racine, owning sev- eral public buildings, manufactories and numerous dwellings.
His political sentiments are republican, and he was a delegate to the convention that nominated General Grant for the second term. In all his active business career he has shown public-spiritedness, and has done as much as any other man to make his city what it is to-day. He was one of the first trustees under the village governinent, and succeeded his father as treasurer of Racine county. During 1863 and 1864 he served as poormaster of his county, and has been city councilman for several terms, and is now president of the council and chairman of the finance committee. In 1870 he represented his city in the State legislature, and secured the passage of several important bills. He is not, however, ambi- tious for political honors, but is willing to occupy a position when by so doing he can work for the public good. He is satisfied to enjoy the prosperity with which kind Providence and his own toil and honorable dealing have blessed him, and grateful for the assurance that his labors have resulted in good to others as well as profit to himself.
Mr. Blake was married on the 26th of December, 1843, to Miss Caroline Elliott, a young lady of Eng- lish descent, and daughter of William Elliott, of England. Their union has been blessed with five children, of whom three are now living.
HON. WILLIAM HENRY WOLF,
MILWAUKEE.
T HERE is a famous speech recorded of an old Norseman, thoroughly characteristic of the Teuton : " I believe neither in idols nor demons," said he, "but I put my sole trust in my own strength of body and soul." The ancient crest with the motto of " I will find a way or make one," was an expression of the same sturdy independence and practical materialism which to this day distinguishes the descendants of the Northmen. These two quo-
tations are peculiarly adapted to the career of the subject of our biography.
He was born on the 7th of August, 1828, at Wen- delsheim, in Germany, about twenty-one miles from Mainz on the Rhine. His parents, John and Char- lotte Blumenfeldt Wolf, immigrated to the city of New York in 1836, where they remained about three years and then settled on a farm in Sullivan county in the State of New York.
Eng" by EB Hall & Sonali Barclay StVY
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After about a year of farm life Henry (as he was called in those days), who was tired of the monotony, determined thus early to strike out and seek his own fortune in the world. He had received very little schooling up to this time, simply a few months at the common school, yet he bravely set forth alone on foot with but a dollar in his pocket. He walked sixty miles to Newbury and there took passage to New York city, and arrived with a few pence in his pocket. He got employment with a butcher named Thompson, with whom he remained a year, but at the end of that time, as he did not like the business, he engaged to work at a coffee-house opposite the old Washington market, where he stayed six months. From thence he went to Roper's hotel, on the New- burg turnpike, Sullivan county, as man of all work, for six dollars per month. He worked almost night and day on the farm, hauling wood and stone, and tending bar. He slept in the bar-room to be able to attend on the passengers by the night coach. Hard work and small pay, but the boy did not complain ; he waited his opportunity and went to work driving team for the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, for which he received thirteen dollars per month. Wolf was by this time nearly seventeen years of age, and the company having need of a captain on a scow used for carrying stone, appointed him to that position and as "boss " over fifteen men. For this work he received eighty-five cents per day. He then went to work in the carpenters' shop of the company getting out material for canal locks and building coal barges, where he partially learned the trade which he clung to in after-life. He also spent about a year at Port Jervis, and about the same length of time at Honesdale, Pennsylvania.
In 1849 he drifted into the tide of immigration then setting strongly westward; reached Milwaukee in June, and got employment at once with Mr. Bar- ker, a builder at Waukesha. In the fall he went to Portage and bought some land near that place, and then got work chopping cord-wood at fifty cents per cord. In the spring of 1850 he, with five others, started for Stevens Point, en route for the pineries. They went by team to Grand Rapids, and traveled the rest of the distance on foot. On settling the fare at Grand Rapids they made Wolf, who was the recognized leader of the party, treasurer of the small amount they had left. When Stevens Point was reached it was found with dismay that one dollar and seventy-five cents was the total amount they had to board and lodge six men for two days. Then
the ready wit of Wolf stood his companions in good stead. He desired them to leave the settlement to him; so they very willingly went to the tavern and were comfortably housed and fed until Monday morning, when Wolf called for the bill, which was duly handed to him.
" Landlord," he said, "these five men are out of money, so you will have to wait until they return for their settlement," and at the same time he placed the amount of his share on the table.
The proprietor of the tavern stared in astonish- ment at the coolness of this proposition, seeing which Wolf added, with all the assurance of an old friend :
" You need not be afraid of not being paid; if they don't pay you I will."
" But who the devil are you ?" queried the host ; to which Sir Impudence replied: "If you doubt my honesty I will bring five men who will vouch for me."
The landlord saw how the case stood, and after laughing long and heartily at the talent for financing displayed by Wolf, agreed to accept his offer of taking the responsibility of the debt. We need hardly add that the amount was honorably repaid in a few weeks.
Such is one of the many instances of tact and shrewdness which was brought out by necessity from the depths of Mr. Wolf's brain. In the logging camp and on the raft, as well as in other places, he still determined to be "first man," and by his cour- age and skillfulness he was always looked up to as such. At the peril of his life he saved a pilot named Mead from drowning in the rapids just below the city of Grand Rapids. The oar caught a whirl- pool and flung the pilot several feet clear of the raft.
After about two months' experience in the pineries he proceeded to Buffalo, New York, and obtained employment in a ship-yard. He then made oppor- tunity to attend evening school, and improved his education in every manner that he could. In June, 1853, he came to Milwaukee and engaged as fore- man in Mr. J. M. Jones' ship-yard, and remained with him in that capacity until 1857, when Mr. Jones failed in business. With a gentleman named Theo- dore Lawrence as a partner, Mr. Wolf started busi- ness on the site where he is now chief partner in the firm. In 1863 his firm sold out to Ellsworth and Davidson, and he went to Fort Howard where he carried on the business of ship-builder and lum=
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berman for four years, during which time he built some very fine steamers and sailing vessels, among which may be mentioned the side-wheel steamer George L. Dunlap, twin-screw propeller Favorite, bark Lottie Wolf (named after his eldest daughter), and schooners Minnie Slauson and Winnie Wing.
In the spring of 1868 he returned to Milwaukee and bought the interest of Mr. Ellsworth and be- came a partner with Davidson, under the style of Wolf and Davidson, where by close attention to detail they have succeeded in making the firm the best and most favorably known ship-building yard in the Northwest. Their business has increased rapidly, and as they possess all modern improve- ments in machinery, such as steam-derrick, chain factory, saw and planing-mills, floating and station- ary docks, they have the most complete yard in their part of the country.
There is one thing which should be here men- tioned, namely, the laying down or draughting vessels without having a model to work from, which is seldom, if ever, done. This Mr. Wolf has done
on several occasions. Among the vessels built in this manner is the schooner Saveland, a very fine looking vessel carrying forty-four thousand bushels of wheat. She is a fleet sailer, and has a tonnage of a little over six hundred tons, C.H.N.M .; also the tugs Welcome and McGordon, two very fleet and handsome tugs used for wrecking purposes, whose career will speak for themselves.
Politically Mr. Wolf was a democrat until the nomination of Fremont for the presidency, since which time he has been a staunch republican, except in local matters.
On the 26th of September, 1852, he was married to Miss Mary A. Ganthie, by whom he has three daughters and one son. His wife has been indeed a helpmate to Mr. Wolf in his manifold undertakings, and in his own words he thanks her for his success therein.
While at Fort Howard he was a member of the common council for two years, and he has also held honorable positions in Milwaukee as council- man and alderman.
HON. PETER DOYLE,
WISCONSIN.
P ETER DOYLE, secretary of state of the State of Wisconsin, was born at Myshall, county of Carlow, Ireland, December 8, 1844. When he was six years old his parents came to the State of Wisconsin and settled at Franklin, Milwaukee county, his father engaging at first in farming and afterward in mercantile pursuits. He also held several local offices. Mr. Doyle's first lessons were received at home ; there, and at the common school in Franklin, he acquired a knowledge of the ordi- nary English branches. Subsequently he pursued a collegiate course. He spent a short time in the office of the clerk of the United States district court in Milwaukee, and in 1863 entered the law office of Butler and Cottrill in that city, intending to make law his profession. Having spent about two years in the study of law, he taught school for a short time in Milwaukee, and then, having been offered an acceptable position in a railway office at Prairie du Chien, removed to that place in July, 1865, with the intention of remaining there for awhile and then resuming legal studies. Business arrangements at Prairie du Chien, however, proving satisfactory,
he continued there until his election as secretary of state, in 1873. In the spring of 1872 he was nominated by the democratic city convention as first mayor of the city of Prairie du Chien, but de- clined to accept, not desiring to enter political life. In the fall of the same year he was elected to the assembly from Crawford county, and in the legisla- ture of 1873 took an active part in the discussion of many of the important measures of the session. In September of the same year he was nominated for the position of secretary of state by the reform convention held in Milwaukee, and was elected at the ensuing election. In November, 1875, he was reëlected.
The "Milwaukee News," one of the leading papers of the State, in referring to his reelection, and the manner in which. he had performed the duties of his office, used the following language :
No man has ever occupied the department of the secre- tary of state, who has displayed a better knowledge of its duties, or greater ability and honesty in their discharge, than have characterized the Hon. Peter Doyle. Though comparatively a young man, being hut a little over thirty years of age, he shows a maturity and wisdom in his action upon public affairs which give the impression of his being
Peter Boyle
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a much older man than he really is; and his official conduct has the discretion, the dignity and sobriety which belong to advanced years. He is a thorough man of business, a well-read lawyer, and a scholar of ripe acquirements. Hle is really one of the ablest men in public life in the State. His reports and the part which he has taken in the admin- istration of the State finances, are evidences of the thorough fitness and great capacity which he brought into the office. The vigor with which he discharges all the duties which the law places upon him, and the laborious care which he bestows on not only the larger but the minor details of business, are such as have not been surpassed even by the most industrious and experienced of his predecessors.
Politically, Mr. Doyle has been a democrat, but is liberal in his views, making party interest subor- dinate to those of the State and country. He first engaged actively in political affairs after the nomina- tion of Horace Greeley for the presidency in 1872, and worked untiringly in his behalf. He favors the largest degree of personal liberty consistent with the welfare of society, and is strenuously opposed to interference by the State in matters pertaining to individual right or private conscience.
In religion he is a Catholic, this having been the faith of his parents.
Mr. Doyle is upward of six feet in height, of well developed form, and is capable of enduring much physical and mental labor. He is dignified in ap- pearance and deportment, but is modest and unas- suming, and has a high appreciation of real merit. He deliberates carefully, and acts with promptness, energy and decision. Sincere and honest in his convictions, and earnest in the advocacy of his prin- ciples, he looks only to that which he believes to be right, disregarding mere expediency. He is a forci- ble writer and speaker, is clear in his views, logical in argument and classical in style. He is fond of poetry, and is familiar with many of the works of the English and German poets, as well as the ancient classical authors. He appreciates highly the society of literary friends, and devotes his leisure hours mainly to literary pursuits. Mr. Doyle is unmarried.
HENRY N. HEMPSTED,
MILWAUKEE.
H ENRY N. HEMPSTED was born December 29, 1830, in the city of Albany, New York. His parents were Americans, his father a doctor of medicine. He was educated principally at the Albany Academy, the prominent teachers of which were Dr. T. Romeyn Beck and Dr. Bullions. At the age of thirteen he commenced the study of music and the piano. His parents intended him for a lawyer, and one year of his life was spent in contemplation of Blackstone, Chitty and other legal luminaries. The study of music, however, which was intended as a mere accomplishment, became the business of his life, and has been the foundation of such reputation and wealth as he now possesses. From the law office he went as clerk in the piano warerooms of Boardman and Gray, at Albany, where he served about two years, and this was the com- mencement of his business education. In that place he obtained an excellent knowledge, not only of the music business in all its branches, but also a thor- ough knowledge of the manufacture of pianos. At the age of nineteen he determined to leave Albany and his home and strike out for a new field. In October, 1849, he arrived in the city of Milwaukee, then a place of about twenty thousand inhabitants, and has resided there ever since. On his arrival
in Milwaukee his total cash capital amounted to about fifty cents, which sum was judiciously ex- pended in the purchase of a "square meal." He had a few good friends, however, and commenced at once as a professor of music, and managed to earn a living at it, and that was about all. In 1850 the only music store in Milwaukee failed and was sold out. He bought the bulk of the stock, amounting to about six hundred dollars, and as he had no money had to buy it on time, which was about nine months. He commenced the music business in a very small way indeed, and still pur- sued the business of music teaching in connection with it. After a few years, as his business increased, he gradually relinquished teaching and finally gave it up altogether. He occupied the position of organ- ist at Plymouth Church, Milwaukee, for twelve years, resigning in 1864. Has given considerable attention to musical composition ; commenced composing music when about sixteen. Has published a good many musical works, and has many yet unpublished. The "Light Guard Quickstep," composed in 1859 expressly for the Light Guards on their excursion to New York, is probably the most widely known of these publications, and has had and still has an im- mense sale. It is one of the standard pieces of the
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day, and has been played by every band in the country. The names of a few others may be men- tioned : "Garibaldi's March," "Iron Brigade March," "Castles in the Air Caprice," and " Rendezvous March," all of which have been favorably received. He carries on the musical business in all its branch- es, including publishing. Is publisher and editor of the " Musical Echo," a periodical now in the third
year of existence, and which has become very widely- known. His house is now the oldest establishment in this line of any in the Northwest. The sales will sometimes reach as high as a quarter of a million dollars, and the capital employed about one hundred thousand dollars. The premises occupied are on Broadway, Nos. 408, 410 and 412, and are sixty feet front by one hundred and twenty deep.
DON A. J. UPHAM, MILWAUKEE.
D' ON A. J. UPHAM was born in Weathersfield, ' He held this position for three years, at the same Windsor county, Vermont, on the 31st of May, time having his name entered as a law student in the office of the Hon. James A. Bayard of Wilmington, Delaware, late United States senator from that State. 1809. His father, Joshua Upham, occupied the homestead and farm in the valley of the Connecticut river that was first located by his grandfather, Wil- In 1835, after attending a course of law lectures in the city of Baltimore, he was admitted to the bar and commenced the practice of law in the city of Wilmington. In the meantime his attention had been called to the growing settlements in the far West. liam Upham, at the close of the revolutionary war, and which now has been in possession of the family for nearly one hundred years. The family is one of the oldest in New England. About twenty years ago the late Dr. Upham, of Salen, Massachusetts, compiled and published the genealogy of the Upham family, in which he distinctly traced the ancestors of William Upham back to John Upham, who emi- grated from the west of England and settled in Malden, near Boston, about sixty years after the first landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock.
The father of D. A. J. Upham, when he became sixteen years of age, asked him if he could determine on what business or profession he would select, with a determination to follow it for life. After some deliberation he chose the profession of the law. He was then immediately sent to the preparatory school at Chester, Vermont, and afterward to Meriden, New Hampshire, and at the age of nineteen he entered the sophomore class at Union College, New York. The late Dr. Eliphalet Nott was then president of that institution.
He graduated in 1831 with the highest standing in a class of about one hundred. In the September following he entered the office of General James Tallmadge, in the city of New York, as a law student. After remaining in this office about six months he found that it would be necessary in some way to raise means to complete his education as a lawyer. On the recommendation of President Nott, he was appointed assistant professor of mathematics in Del- aware College at Newark, in the State of Delaware.
After the close of the Black Hawk war, it was said a place called Chicago would soon be a commercial point of importance. In 1836 the Territory of Wis- consin was organized, containing within its limits the territory now comprising the States of Iowa and Minnesota. He determined to explore the western country, and seek a location in which to pursue his profession.
In the spring of 1837 he started for the West, and in June arrived in Chicago by the route of the upper lakes. Chicago was then a very small village and seemed to be located in an extensive marsh, the only high ground being a few acres on the lake shore, where the old fort was located.
He was not pleased with Chicago. In company with two friends he traveled through Illinois in a farmer's wagon by the way of Dixon's ferry, camping out as occasion required, and arrived at the Missis- sippi, near the mouth of Rock river. He visited Burlington and Dubuque, now in the State of Iowa, and also the mineral region in western Wisconsin, and endeavored to find some conveyance east through Wisconsin to Milwaukee, but was unable to do so, and was obliged to return by way of Galena to Chi- cago, and from there by a steamer to Milwaukee. The first settlement in Milwaukee of any importance was made the year before. The situation and pros-
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pects pleased him and he finally determined to locate there.
The difficulties attending the practice of the law- yers who first settled in the Territory can hardly be appreciated at this day. His first case of any im- portance was in the supreme court of the Territory. At the fall term of the district court a judgment for a large amount had been obtained against one of the most extensive dealers in real estate in Milwau- kee, and his new dwelling-house and a large amount of property were advertised for sale on execution. He applied to the young lawyer to take the case to the supreme court and enjoin the pending sale. It was necessary that one of the judges should allow the writ of injunction. Judges Frazier and Irwin were out of the Territory, and there was no person who could allow the writ except Judge Dunn, who resided at Elk Grove, in the western district, about one hundred and sixty miles from Milwaukee. There were no stage coaches or means of convey- ance through the Territory. The only practical way was to go on horseback through what is now Rock and Green counties, and the only track for a con- siderable portion of the way was an Indian trail across the prairies. He accordingly started to make the trip in this way late in November, with barely time to accomplish it.
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