USA > Wisconsin > The United States biographical dictionary and portrait gallery of eminent and self-made men, Wisconsin volume > Part 33
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Mr. Janes had already settled at Janesville, and the miners from the west had a settlement at Sugar River Diggings in Green county. These points he reached after having been delayed one day in crossing Rock river, from the ice and high water. He reached Mineral Point and Elk Grove without difficulty, had his writ allowed by the judge, and on his return to Sugar river found he had but two nights and one day in which to reach Milwaukee before the sale, a distance of about one hundred miles. He started east for the Janes settlement early in the evening, and as he reached the prairie he found that in places it was on fire, and with difficulty he pur- sued his route. As the night advanced it became dark and cloudy, and toward midnight the wind arose and a scene presented itself that baffled de- scription. On reaching high ground the view was extensive, and the fire with the increasing wind spread in every direction. The low grounds where the vegetation had been rank appeared to be all on fire. As far as the eye could reach, and in every direction, the flames seemed to shoot up to the clouds with increasing violence. The night was dark and not a star to be seen. The scene was
grand, sublime; it was terrific. It seemed as if the last day had arrived, and that the final conflagration of the world was now taking place. The young lawyer found himself surrounded with difficulties of which his knowledge of Blackstone and Coke afforded no solution, and he had at last to bring into use his knowledge of other sciences in order to effect an escape. He was lost on the prairie. After diligent search he could find no trace of the trail or track he wished to pursue. He was near half a day's ride from any habitation, and he could not ascertain in what direction he was going. By keeping on the high portions of the prairie where the vegetation had been light, and which was mostly burnt over, he could remain in comparative safety, but to cross the ravines or low ground, was impossible, or attended with the greatest danger. For several hours he wandered in various directions, without knowing where he was going. At last the clouds seemed to break away at one point, and stars appeared visible.
The question was to determine to what constella- tions they belonged. He was not long in doubt, for two clusters of stars appeared, which he recognized as well known southern constellations. He knew these stars must now be near the meridian, and at the extreme south. By keeping them at the right he was now able to pursue a course as far as practicable in an easterly direction, and at last reached Rock river, about two miles south of Janesville.
He now had one day and night in which to reach Milwaukee, a distance of about sixty miles. With a worn out and jaded horse, this was accomplished with great difficulty. He arrived about one hour before the sale, to the astonishment of the opposing counsel and great joy of his client, who had long been anxiously waiting his arrival.
Such are some of the incidents that attended the practice of the profession in the early settlement of Wisconsin.
The following year the government lands were brought into market, and the most important busi- ness of the lawyers was in proving up preemptions to important locations, the sites of future towns and cities. He was employed in the important case of Gilman vs. Rogan, before the land office, in proving up a preëmption to the site of the present city of Watertown, and also, among others, in obtaining a preëmption to the land where the city of Beloit is located. After the settlers had obtained a title to their land the practice was not essentially different from that in the older States.
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Mr. Upham was not a politician in the true sense of the word. He had no taste for the bitterness, animosity and personal abuse that prevailed in the party contests at this time.
He has filled, however, some important political positions. He was several times a member of the territorial council, at the earliest sessions of the legislature at Madison. He was a member of the first convention that was called to form a constitu- tion for the State of Wisconsin, and was elected president of that convention. He was nominated by the democratic party for governor of the State as the successor of Governor Dewey. He took no active part in the canvass. The contest was very close and bitter, from dissensions in the party, and the result doubtful, but the State canvassers then at Madison declared his opponent elected by a small majority. He was twice elected mayor of the city of Milwaukee, being the successor of Juneau and Kilbourn. He was afterward appointed United States attorney for the district of Wisconsin, which he held for one term of four years.
After thirty years' successful practice in Milwaukee he was compelled by ill health to retire from the profession.
He was married in 1836 to Elizabeth S., daughter of Dr. Gideon Jaques, of Wilmington, Delaware. The Jaques family was one of the oldest in New Jersey, and descended from the first French Hugue- nots that came to this country. They have five children, the oldest of whom, John J. Upham, is now a major in the 5th Cavalry of the United States army. His oldest daughter, Carrie J., is married to Colonel George H. Raymond of Smyrna, Delaware,
the second daughter, Addie J., is the wife of Henry B. Taylor, Esq., merchant in Chester, Pennsylvania, and the youngest, Sallie J. Upham, is unmarried. The youngest son, Horace A. J. Upham, a recent graduate of the University of Michigan, is now a law student in Milwaukee.
At the close of the late war Major Upham, on his return from a trip to Europe, brought home and pre- sented to his father an astronomical telescope of large power, that had then just been introduced into England. It is portable and intended for private libraries. With the aid of this instrument his father for several years past, as his health and time would permit, has been reviewing his early astronomical investigations, informing himself of the progress made in that science during the last forty years, and verifying to some extent the computations made annually at the Astronomical Observatory at Wash- ington. Mr. Upham's life, although not character- ized by any remarkable events or achievements, has been a useful and honorable one. He has dis- charged all the duties devolved upon him as a lawyer and legislator with marked ability and integrity. As a citizen he has been public-spirited and patriotic. In his social relations as husband, father and neigh- bor his conduct has not only been exemplary, com- manding respect, but it has been characterized by affection and kindness and by genial intercourse with friends and neighbors. He is in all respects a well- bred, accomplished gentleman, and his impress is visible in his family. The biographer feels a per- sonal pleasure as well as a patriotic pride in present- ing this character to his countrymen as a model for imitation.
HON. SERENO T. MERRILL,
BELOIT.
S ERENO TAYLOR MERRILL was born Sep- tember 24, 1816, in Gill, Franklin county, Mas- sachusetts, and is the eldest of eight children of Pardon H. Merrill, and Emily nec Taylor. His father was a blacksmith, machinist and inventor, whose shop, with its trip-hammer, its lathes for turning wood and iron, its emery wheels, etc., was famous for its facilities for doing heavy mill work, and as a manufactory of " Merrill's goose-necked hoe," pat- ented in 1814, and now universally used instead of the clumsy old eye hoe. This shop was a fit nur-
sery for developing the ingenuity which the four sons inherited from their father ; and in embryo, a representative of the more pretentious iron-works of O. E. Merrill and Co., of Beloit, Wisconsin, a firm composed of three of the four brothers, whose paper machinery, water-wheels, etc., are extensively used, not only in this country, but in foreign lands. Mr. Merrill's maternal ancestors were prominent actors in the settlement of the Connecticut River valley. Mr. John Taylor came from England as early as 1639, and his descendants, each in his time, to the third and
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fourth generations, sealed with his blood his fidelity to his country. Captain John Taylor, junior, was killed May 13, 1704, while pursuing a party of Indians, and his son, Lieutenant Thomas Taylor, was wounded at Deerfield, Massachusetts, in the second attack of the French and Indians on that town, and the son of the latter, who was Mr. Merrill's great-grandfather, Captain Thomas Taylor, "as sergeant, was in com- mand of the party of seventeen men which was at- tacked by one hundred French and Indians, July 14, 1748, while on a march from Northfield to Dummer. After a desperate resistance, Taylor was captured and carried to Canada, where he was kept in close confinement until the following September. November of the same year the general court of Massachusetts, in consideration of his bravery in that action, voted Sergeant Taylor fifty pounds. He lost a choice gun worth eighteen pounds sterling, old tenor, and a pair of leather breeches worth ten pounds sterling, old tenor, for both of which he was allowed pay."-(Hist. Northfield, Mass., p. 555.)
The parents of the subject of this sketch removed during his infancy to Hinsdale, New Hampshire, where he passed his early life, receiving in the common school the rudiments of an education. At the age of seventeen he obtained leave of absence from the paternal roof, and permission to engineer his way for one quarter in the Fellenberg Academy, Greenfield, Massachusetts. The parental allowance of ten dollars sufficed to pay his tuition in advance and to purchase the few books necessary, while his brawny arm and untiring industry brought him means to meet his other expenses; thus verifying the adage, "where there is a will there is a way." Soon after his return from Greenfield an unlooked- for event changed the whole tenor of his life, and transferred him from the work-shop to the school- room. The teacher engaged for the winter session for the Hinsdale village school presented himself for examination on Monday morning, while the children waited for the opening of the school ; he. failed to obtain the requisite certificate, and the committee invited young Merrill to fill the place thus made vacant. The following Thursday he was installed as teacher of those with whom he had been associated as pupil from his earliest recollection. After his first winter's experience in teaching he was permitted to attend the academy at Amherst, Massachusetts, for one term, where he commenced the study of Latin. For four successive winters he
taught in the same school, his father bargaining and receiving compensation for his services.
Attaining his majority, with an outfit of a new suit of clothes and one hundred dollars in money he started for Georgia, where he spent two years teach- ing in the Sparta Female Model School, one year in the Female College at Fort Gaines, and five years as principal of the academy at Cuthbert. Diligent and methodical in his habits, much of his leisure while in Georgia was devoted to the study of the languages. Greek he mastered without the aid of teachers, Latin and French with not more than a few weeks' instruction.
In 1843 he united with the Methodist church, not that his inclinations led him into that denomination, but because there were no Presbyterian or Congre- gational churches in that neighborhood.
In 1844 Mr. Merrill married at Leyden, New York, Miss Mary H. Kimball, with the understand- ing that at the expiration of two years he should leave the south, and find a home in the northern or western States. Accordingly in 1846 he is found in Beloit, Wisconsin, seeking occupation more conge- nial to his inclinations than teaching; but disap- pointed in not finding a door open for his mechan- ical turn of mind, he became the successor of the Rev. L. H. Loss as principal of the Beloit Academy, in which position he continued till his school was merged into Beloit College. The first freshman class of this institution, consisting of five young gentlemen, was organized in the autumn of 1847, and put under Mr. Merrill's charge, and so remained until the arrival of the professors elect, Messrs. Bush- nell and Emerson, in the following May. In 1849 the academy became the preparatory department of the college.
During the years 1850 and 1851 Mr. Merrill, in connection with Mr. T. L. Wright, built at Rockton, Illinois, the first paper-mill erected on Rock river ; since which time he has been engaged in, and largely instrumental in developing, the paper industries for which Beloit is famous. He is now president of the Rock River Paper Company, a corporation having two mills in Beloit, one in Marshall, Michigan, and a store for the sale of its products in Chicago.
It was under his instruction, and at his suggestion, that the first straw board for sheathing, both satu- rated and plain, was made into rolls; of which a sample was sent to architects in Chicago, and pro- nounced "just the thing." From this beginning the immense trade in building paper, that has con-
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ferred such incalculable benefits upon the country, has been built up.
In 1873 Mr. Merrill, having been appointed by Governor Washburn as commissioner to represent the State of Wisconsin at the World's Exposition at Vienna, in company with his wife spent the summer in Europe, visiting Scotland, England, Belgium, Ger- many, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France.
In March, 1852, Mr. Merrill was called to mourn the loss of his wife, a lady whose embalmed memory, and whose impress on her associates and on the char- acter of her pupils will not soon be obliterated.
In September, 1853, he married Miss Jane G. Blodgett, daughter of Rev. L. P. Blodgett, of Coop- erstown, New York. In all his domestic relations he has been blessed far beyond the common lot of mortals. Of his six children, all the issue of his last marriage, five are still living (1876).
For thirty years Mr. Merrill has been identified with the interests of Beloit, taking a prominent part in promoting not only its manufactures, but its re- ligious and educational institutions ; serving the pub- lic in various capacities, the last that of member of the legislature in 1876.
THOMAS DAVIDSON,
MILWAUKEE.
T HERE are very few men at the present time in the State of Wisconsin who have greater rea- son to be proud of their success in life than has Thomas Davidson. By sheer force and power of will he has succeeded in overcoming the difficulties of a deficient scholastic education, which to an ordi- nary mind would have been an insuperable barrier to advancement, and would have kept them in the ordinary groove of the workman, but it seems only to have stimulated him to further exertions. It too often happens that help proves enfeebling in its effects, and takes away the stimulus and necessity for accomplishing tasks which could be achieved by feeling the invigorating spur of poverty.
His parents were Joseph and Agnes Davidson, and he was born at Daly, in Ayrshire, Scotland, on the 20th of March, 1828. His education, or rather his schooling (for education means something more than the mere acquisition of learning from books), was limited to about three years' attendance at a private school in early boyhood. When only about seven years of age he was thrown upon his own resources to shift for a livelihood. At seventeen he was bound apprentice to learn the trade of ship carpenter at Greenock-on-the-Clyde, and for three years he used every effort and diligence to make himself proficient. He next worked at Dumbarton for about five years ; and while residing at Dumbarton he made a voyage to the United States as carpenter of a ship, and his experience there determined him that there was the right field for his labors.
In July, 1855, he again came to America and obtained employment in the shipyard of James M.
Jones, of Milwaukee, with whom he remained for two years. It was here that he first became ac- quainted with his present partner, the Hon. Wil- liam Henry Wolf, who is a shrewd, sharp, energetic, but at the same time thoroughly honorable and reliable man.
After the failure of J. M. Jones he was engaged by B. B. Jones, of the same place, as foreman, and continued in that capacity until the spring of 1861, when his employer retired from business. He then entered into partnership with Mr. Lemuel Ellsworth, and continued the business under the name and firm of Ellsworth and Davidson. Two years after this they were enabled to buy the business and ship- yard of Messrs. Wolf and Lawrence, thus greatly increasing their facilities for building and repairing. In the year 1868 Mr. Ellsworth sold his interest in the firm to the Hon. William Henry Wolf, who is at the present time carrying on the business with Mr. Davidson under the name of Wolf and Davidson. The firm is now doing the largest business in the Northwest, and Mr. Davidson may justly feel grati- fied at the result of his labors and the many monu- ments of his skill and workmanship that are spread all over the western waters.
Although devoting much time to business he has not forgotten or neglected his religious duties. He is a member of the Hanover-street Congregational Church, in Milwaukee. The early training and pre- cepts that were inculcated in his childhood have been remembered and acted up to by him all through life; therefore, knowing Mr. Davidson's sturdy Scotch character, as well as his peculiar
IngibyHISHoll & Sons.13.Bordlay St.NY
Those Davidson
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energy and perseverance, it is not surprising that he has won his way in the world.
" This above all-to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man."
Although he supports the republican party, still he has not taken much active interest in politics, and cannot be called a partisan, or what is commonly known as a politician.
In the month of May, 1849, he was married to Miss Helen McFarlane, of Duntocher, Dumbarton- shire, and has been blessed with seven children. The eldest daughter, Agnes, married John Saveland, and died in February, 1876. His eldest son, Joseph, is foreman in the shipyard, and the names of the others are Helen Walker, Thomas Duncan and Barbara Wilson (which last two are twins), Mary Ann and Annie Lillie.
RUFUS B. KELLOGG,
GREEN BAY.
R UFUS B. KELLOGG was born in Amherst, Massachusetts, April 15, 1837. His father, a prosperous merchant and farmer, was a descendant in the fifth generation of Lieutenant Joseph Kel- logg, who was of Scotch descent, emigrated from England about the year 1640, and settled in Hadley, Massachusetts, in 1661. His mother, Nancy Stet- son, was a descendant in the seventh generation of " Cornet " Robert Stetson, who settled in Scituate, Massachusetts, in the year 1634. Mr. Kellogg was graduated at Amherst College in the class of 1858, and went directly into active business in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, first as messenger, soon after as cashier, of the First National Bank. His brother, Ansel W. Kellogg, was the earliest banker in the place, and president of the same. After the death of his brother, in 1870, impaired health compelled him to resign his cashiership, and three years were devoted to rest and travel in Europe, California and Mexico. During this enforced leisure some
attention was given to the subject of the genealogy of the Kellogg family.
On the Ist of January, 1874, the Kellogg National Bank of Green Bay was organized, of which he was chosen president. He is now a director and one of the principal stockholders in the First National Bank of Oshkosh; also has small interests in the Coni- mercial National Bank of Chicago, Merchants Sav- ings, Loan and Trust Company of Chicago, and the Bank of New York National Banking Association, of New York. The banks under his immediate management have prospered, not from rapid gains, but through absence of losses.
Under a new statute of Massachusetts the alumni of Amherst College elects a portion of its trustees. In 1875 Mr. Kellogg was the first one chosen.
On the 21st of April, 1874, he was married to Miss Ellen E. Bigelow, of Milwaukee, daughter of Dr. Thomas Bigelow, formerly of Burlington, Vermont, and Hartford, New York.
PROF. ALBERT MARKHAM,
MILWAUKEE.
T HE subject of this sketch, a native of Long- meadow, Massachusetts, was born October 8, 1831, and is the youngest son of Captain Luther Markham, and Celenda née Converse. His father, an enterprising farmer, was the son of Darius Mark- ham and Lucy née Alden, the latter being a direct descendant of the well known John Alden, of the Mayflower. Albert early evinced a strong taste for literary pursuits, and while his brothers were either at work on the farm or turning their attention
to other business pursuits, he was engaged in the perusal of books. His tastes and aspirations were so different from those of most of his boyhood associates, that he was considered by them some- what odd and eccentric; and since the life of a farmer was so distasteful to him, he resolved to prepare himself for that sphere toward which his inclinations led him. He began his school life at the Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham, Massachusetts, where he received from the principal, Rev. Dr.
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Raymond, those precepts and aspirations which he afterward looked back upon as the source of that energy and moral principle which has ever rendered him successful in his chosen profession. After a thorough preparation at the academy he entered Brown University, subsequent to which he devoted a part of each year to teaching,- an occupation in which he was so successful that he was repeatedly called to take charge of the same school at Marlboro, Massachusetts. Flattered by this success, and en- couraged by eminent professors, who claimed for him special talent as an educator, he naturally con- cluded that the teacher's profession was the one for which he was peculiarly fitted; and in consequence, after completing his college studies, he entered upon his chosen work. In the fall of 1858 he came to East Troy, Wisconsin, to . take charge of the Union School of that village. The following summer he was called to Milwaukee, to take charge of the First Ward School, of that city ; and after being con- nected with this institution for two years, became principal of the Seventh Ward School. He had not held this position long, however, when he was tendered the superintendency of the schools of Niles, Michigan. This he accepted and held for
the period of four years, during which time he per- formed its duties with such marked ability that he gained the reputation of being one of the most suc- cessful educators of the State. In the fall of 1864, after resigning his position in Niles, Mr. Markham re- turned to Milwaukee and inaugurated a movement which, through his untiring efforts, resulted in the establishment of the Milwaukee Academy, an insti- tution which has since become celebrated through- out the Northwest. It is the aim of this school to furnish the best facilities for a thorough and extended academic education for boys and young men. In its special work of fitting young men for college, the academy has no superior. The thoroughness of preparation evinced by those who enter college from this institution from year to year, have given the academy an enviable reputation among college faculties both east and west. Pro- fessor Markham has had control of the institution from its first establishment in 1864, and that success which it has achieved is attributable to him, since, by his indomitable will. untiring energy, and un- doubted ability, he has raised it from nothing to a position which renders it an object of pride, not only to Milwaukee, but to the State of Wisconsin.
JEROME I. CASE,
RACINE.
HE small city of Racine, sixty miles north of Chicago, on the lake shore, is to-day, perhaps, the largest manufacturing town of the West. The location has no advantages over other western towns; it has no water power, no natural resources of coal or iron or lumber, yet the city of Racine has devel- oped a manufacturing enterprise which resembles the activity of older States of the East. This won- derful growth of industry may, in great part, be attributed to Mr. Jerome I. Case, a sketch of whose life we here present.
Jerome I. Case was born in Williamstown, Oswego county, New York, December 11, 1819, and is the youngest of four brothers. His father was in humble circumstances, but having a family to support, he bought the right to use and sell a one-horse tread- power threshing machine, and the boy Jerome was selected to manage the machine. This trifling event determined the career of young Case. He managed the machine with skill, and felt proud when the work
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